In this episode, I talk to Michael O'Sullivan of Full Motor Productions 
about his heist game, Criminal Element (whose development version is 
currently available as a free download). This is the first show I've done 
from my home and I was very grateful to Michael for coming up to see 
me and talking with me about his game.

This episode is 1:03:51 long and 87.7 MB big.

01:16: CE is a heist movie game that came out of the 24 Hour RPG Design contest
01:38: Scott McLeod
02:20: Phil Reed's vs. Monsters and Fred Hicks's PACE
05:00: Tell us about the (blackjack-based) system
05:48: Ron Edwards compared the system to Over the Edge
07:00: Vices, personal weaknesses that create opposition for the crew or
the mission
07:22: Betting on your hand with Drama Points
08:35: The Director's (GM's) currency: Meltdown Points, freaking out
according to your Vice
11:00: Meltdown Points and Tension
11:44: Meltdown and Drama: player currency, not character currency
12:30: Flashbacking
13:02: Obligatory Judd Karlman reference
14:30: Heist (Heat) vs. Caper (Ocean's Eleven)
17:28: How the mechanics model the drama of these flicks
18:05: Heist creation before character creation
19:35: Why did you want to design a game?
19:43: Obligatory Forge reference
20:01: The Mountain Witch, Dictionary of Mu, Universalis, Dust Devils,
and Sorcerer
20:27: Why did you design this game?
22:29: The spoiler mechanic
23:44: Other games that came out of CE?
24:32: Ray Winninger's Underground
24:55: Shock:
26:52: Warren Ellis, The Authority, Planetary
27:49: Who did you steal from?
28:25: Obligatory Spirit of the Century reference
30:00: Mozambique Drill
30:29: What got dropped from the game?
31:07: Game Chef
33:21: Playtester feedback
33:56: Intent, Initiation, Execution, and Effect (IIEE)
34:30: Obligatory Dreamation/DexCon (Double Exposure, LLC.) reference
35:09: Star C. Foster Charity Auction funding a scholarship for Star's high
school
35:38: Slouching Towards Bedlam interactive fiction game by Star and
Daniel Ravipinto
36:35: Obligatory Vincent Baker reference
36:54: The Sons of Kryos
38:59: Ashcanning CE? Ryan Macklin
39:06: Misspent Youth
39:44: Know Thyself
40:23: The hardest thing to fix
43:18: The nascent production process of Criminal Element
46:28: Cthulhutech
46:56: How will art be used in the book?
50:16: Paying for/compensating models
51:17: Marketing the game
54:49: What is success for Criminal Element?
56:43: One shot or ongoing?
57:24: Luke, Emily, and Tobias Wrigstad (of Jeepform) at the Indie Game
Designer's Roundtable

Closing music is Everytime by the Hub City Stompers
Logo courtesy of Daniel Solis: http://danielsolis.com/

In this episode, I speak with Brennan Taylor of Galileo Games about his game,
Mortal Coil. As Brennan is also a co-owner of Indie Press Revolution, we also discuss a
bit about how that business works and what implications there are for him as a client and
owner of IPR.

 

This episode is 78.2 MB big and 56:55 long.

01:08: Tell us about the game
02:09: Originally a World of Darkness hack
03:51: Why this title?
04:04: The CRPG, Darklands
04:36: The title, Nine Inch Nails, and horror
06:02: The grungy exuberance of Flaming Taft
06:37: Magic that feels magical
07:52: The Price of introducing magical facts
09:11: "I'm a Neil Gaiman fan"
09:31: The bidding system in the game
09:38: A stronger GM than many indie players are used to
10:27: Polaris
11:36: Players' major powers to introduce facts
12:37: Problems in the game
13:29: Second edition
14:54: Who did you steal from the most?
15:02: Primetime Adventures
16:12: Things you had to let go of
17:15: The fruits of playtesting
17:49: The NYC RPG Playtest group with Thor Olavsrud, Mayuran, et al.
18:16: Judd Karlman
20:44: The new game, How We Came To Live Here
22:49: The hardest thing to fix
24:38: Making an economy work
24:25: (Lack of) game balance in Mortal Coil
27:00: Deciding what printer to use
27:31: Alphagraphics, buy-outers of RPI
28:16: Costs of production
30:00: Indie Press Revolution
34:16: How do you use art? Jennifer Rodgers
34:40: Bulldogs!
36:27: Clinton R. Nixon, Dresden Files RPG
37:58: The trifecta of cock, Mortal Coil, The Dictionary of Mu, and It Was a Mutual Decision
38:14: Keith Senkowski
39:29: Layout
41:26: What doesn't work in the book?
45:46: Why this form factor?
46:10: Dogs in the Vineyard and Burning Wheel
46:50: The new Star Wars game
47:06: Fred and Rob of Evil Hat
47:59: Marketing
49:24: Paul Tevis, the other half of The Voice of the Revolution
56:10: DexCon and Dreamation (Double Exposure)
51:33: Defining success for Mortal Coil
53:56: How Mortal Coil saved my life

 

Closing music is WTFIU? by the Hub City Stompers
Logo courtesy of Daniel Solis: http://danielsolis.com/