In this foolish episode, we…. Wait, what is it we do here again? I… I can’t remember… we’ve got a long road ahead of us if we’re going to make sense of all this.

(Seriously. It turns out we can’t even begin to answer this question without talking about the nature of storytelling, improv, kayfabe, the role of GM, the purpose of rules, being instructed to *break* those rules, what it means to “play”, the promises made when a game describes itself… this was meant to be a silly joke episode, dangit!)

Freya turns her lovers into fighters. Violet collates a collaborative coventure. Freya is drawn to a new role. Violet explores the past pre-tense. Freya breaks free of her bindings. Violet imagines a world without imagination.

*** Timestamps ***

What’s new - 02:56

Mailbag - 11:07

Intro to the topic - 18:30

History - 25:12

Taxonomicon - 40:16

Actual start of the taxonomicon - 41:06

Just kidding, it’s a discussion of the spectrum between ‘board game’ and ‘improv theatre’ - 41:07

Could this be the taxo- oh, no, now we’re talking about the nature of rules - 46:32

Listen, I think we’re just not going to have a normal taxonomicon in this one - ?:??:!?

Wait! A list of games in quick succession! This must be it! - 53:20

Discussion about Wanderhome and Kishotenketsu and game Promises and- are we sure we actually know what this podcast is about at all? - 01:05:36

Who’s Game is it anyway? (Discussion on the nature of GMs) - 01:21:08

The Counterexampliad, whatever that means - 01:27:25

Exclusive unlocked patreon content preview [*1]: international paper size deep dive - 01:31:51 to 01:33:17

Design Dreams - 01:56:58

We made it! - 02:12:59

*** Design Dreams ***

Two Truths And A Lie-Fall

Parasocial Investigations

Diararchaeology

Redaction RPG

PBTA Chaos Draft

Co-Op Adventure QWOP

RPG: Rebus-Picto-Glyphs

*** Games discussed ***

D&D 3.5e

Heavy Gear

D&D 1e

Pathfinder 1e

Eat the Reich

Unravel

Stories from the Grave

Wildsea

Eberron

GoGo Golf

Kagematsu

Triangle Agency

Hyborea

Coventry [*2]

Tunnels & Trolls

Pasión de las Pasiones

In Nomine Satanis / Magna Veritas

Vampire: the Masquerade

Apocalypse World

Dogs in the Vineyard

World Wide Wrestling

Monsterhearts

A Song Of Ice And Fire RPG

Genesys

Fellowship

Masks

Do: Fate of the Flying Temple

Avatar Legends

Yazeba’s Bed And Breakfast

Troika

Mausritter

Golden Sky Stories

Savage Worlds

Wanderhome

Journeymon

Alas for the Awful Sea

Transit

Lancer

Chuubo’s Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine

Slugblaster

Interstitial

Pitcrawler

Triangle Agency

Mothership

Cypher

RuneQuest II

Monster of the Week

Brindlewood Bay

Scherzando

Lost Kingdom

Belonging Outside Belonging

Colostle

For Small Creatures Such As We

Wreck This Deck

Hot Damn Deadly Alien Overlord Au Pair [*3]

Tacklebox

For The Queen

Our Queen Crumbles

The Tragedy of GJ237B

Paranoia

Toon

Microscope

I’m Sorry Did You Say Street Magic

Acts Of Evil [*4]

“Messed Up Little Guy” [*5]

Goblin Country

Dream Askew

Band of Blades

Ars Magica

Everyone Is John

Star Trek Adventures

This Discord Has Ghosts In It

Goblonia

Everything Is Tables

Your Body A Landscape

Spire

De Profundis

Apothecaria

*** Other media discussed ***

Mass Effect

The Twilight Zone (and its ilk)

Majora’s Mask

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

The Elusive Shift

Kriegsspiel [6]

The Lord of the Rings

Battleship

Mastermind

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Star Wars: Empire At War

FTL

Nier

Final Fantasy XIV

Fighting Fantasy

Grapefruit (Yoko Ono)

Foundation

Unwritten Earths Symposium

October: Ten Days That Shook The World

Spyfall

Pacific Rim

Dicey Dungeons

City of the Six Moons

Wildermyth

Penny Arcade

*** Notes ***

[*1] This is a joke, we don’t have a patreon and if we did we’d serve you something better than this gag, probably.

[*2] As you’ll discover when listening, this and several other entries on this list are debatably proto-RPGs. I’m giving them the honour of not being relegated to the ‘other media’ zone…

[*3] Once again - I’m sorry, world.

[*4] The author’s name is Paul Czege.

[*5] By Grant Howitt. This is a paraphrasing of the game’s name, but delightfully, you will find it if you google this.

[*6] Unlike Coventry, this one definitely goes on the ‘other’ list. Because it definitely is a wargame. It’s in the name.

*** Links ***

The term “ashcan edition” derives from quick, low-quality mockups used in the comics industry to quickly establish trademarks, and not intended to be read: something you’d take one look at, then thrown in the (tr)ashcan. In publishing, the term has shifted to mean early promotional materials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcan_comic

Ironically, if you haven’t seen this xkcd, we may have overestimated your familiarity. https://xkcd.com/2501/

“Fafhrd”, of “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser”, probably isn’t pronounced the way Violet valiantly attempted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser

Violet quotes from The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia, by ludologist Bernard Suits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusory_attitude

Freya only references webcomics if they’re at least 17 years old. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/03/20/in-search-of-a-robust-cosmology

*** Contact us! ***

Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email systemshoppodcast@gmail.com

*** Additional Credits ***

Our intro music is

"Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/