RPG R&D: Recent Episodes
NerdBurger Games and Wannabe Games
RPG R&D is a discussion podcast where Craig and Jess speak with game designer guests about GMing, game design, and other geeky topics.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sean Jaffe discuss when to abandon a storyline as a GM and when to abandon a game mechanic as a designer.
Craig Campbell and Jess Geyer discuss the current state of each of their game design companies and ongoing work.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sebastian Yue discuss designing special abilities like spells, psionics, cybertech, superpowers, etc.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Evan Torner discuss GMing and designing for criminals, troublemakers, thieves, and pranksters.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Joie Martin discuss pre-casting characters as a GM and designing games with pre-set characters.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Brennan Taylor discuss narrating cutscenes as a GM and developing examples of play as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Matthew Orr discuss when to switch games as a GM and iterating on game rules as designers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Jason Pitre discuss making factions and organizations memorable from GMing and design perspectives.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Starshine Scribbles discuss making an RPG on little or no budget.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sebastian Yue discuss GMing and designing time travel in RPGs.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sharang Biswas discuss GMing and designing for ghosts in your game.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Coyote Crow discuss GMing players portraying androids/replicants and designing for android/replicant characters.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Ben Sandfelder discuss GMing and designing planes of existence.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Steffie de Vaan discuss GMing in a known world and writing for an IP.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Navi Drake discuss solo games from a playing and design perspectives.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Jason Morningstar discuss playing to lose from player, GM, and design perspectives.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Liana MacKenzie discuss isekai and using it as a GM and designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Derek Kamal discuss getting out of a rut as GMs and game designers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and DM Sarah discuss worldbuilding for GMs and game designers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sean Jaffe discuss the intersection of technology with RPGs in both GMing and game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Jason Pitre discuss GMing and designing relationship webs.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Eddy Webb discuss rectifying big mistakes as a GM and as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoff Bottone Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoff Bottone discuss creating NPCs and lore your players will care about and knowing how complex to make the rules as a deisgner.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Rich Ranallo discuss presenting violence in GMing and in game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Evan Torner discuss how you start a new campaign as a GM.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Brennan Taylor discuss GMing cut-to scenes and fast-tracking a product.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sebastian Yue discuss how to prep for running your games and offer their thoughts on choosing fonts for your product.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Pete Petrusha discuss how the play experience changes with number of players, from both GMing and design perspectives.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Ben Sandfelder discuss lessons RPG designers can learn from video game design and the share GMing stories and what they learned.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Viditya Voleti discuss beginning a game design, in particular with regards to providing the right and enough info for GMs.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Carlos Cisco discuss GMing curses and diseases and designing for curses and diseases.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Spencer Campbell recap GenCon 2023 and discuss the hidden costs of convention attendance.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, Starshine Scribbles, and Liana MacKenzie answer more listener questions in the second half of the super-sized Episode 100.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, Starshine Scribbles, and Liana MacKenzie answer listener questions in the first half of the super-sized Episode 100. Second half coming soon.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Viditya Voleti discuss GMing “social comabat” and designing “social combat.”
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sebastian Yue discuss GMing character relationships and designing for character relationships.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Ben Sandfelder discuss shaking up initiative as a GM and designing initiative systems.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Austin Taylor discuss GMing sessions/games where characters are always low on health and designing for HP/health and how it influences the game.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoffrey Golden discuss GMing downtime and designing for downtime.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Derek Kamal discuss GMing and neurodiversity as well as RPG design for neurodiversity.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Joie Martin discuss using religion/spirituality as a GM and designing for religion/spirituality.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and DM Sarah discuss finding the fun in random tables as a GM and designing random tables.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sean Jaffe discuss GMing with vehicles and spaceships and designing for vehicles and spaceships.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Simon McEntire discuss using GMing animal companions and designing games with animal companions.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Evan Torner discuss teaching a new system to players as a GM and the strengths and weaknesses of some well known RPG systems.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Eddy Webb discuss getting from vague campaign idea to full outline as a GM and getting from vague game idea to actual rules/setting outline as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Michael Ross discuss handling players having narrative control and designing systems that give players narrative control.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sharang Biswas discuss keeping combat moving as a GM and designing the action economy for your game.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoff Bottone discuss encouraging players to break away from cliches as a GM and breaking away from cliches as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Starshine Scribbles discuss GMing action and designing for action.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sebastian Yue discuss GMing players whose characters are high level and have many options and designing for such characters and analysis paralysis.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Matthew Orr discuss borrowing from other games while GMing and writing for supplements of other folks’ games.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Liana MacKenzie discuss running heists and designing for heists.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Jason Pitre discuss how what the GM focuses on tells the players about the game and what book presentation tells the reader about the game.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Brennan Taylor discuss GMing to make social rolls engaging and designing for social goals and conflict.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Viditya Voleti discuss GMing exploration-heavy sessions and designing for fun and engaging setting exploration.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoffrey Golden discuss GMing mini-games within your game and designing mini-games.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Pete Petrusha discuss GMing anime style games and designing for anime style games.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Ben Sandfelder discuss GMing to use languages to their full potential and designing for languages.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Simon McEntire discuss retconning when GMing and knowing which version of a rule to keep when designing.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Derek Kamal discuss GMing side treks and designing zines.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Pam Punzalan discuss GMing games where you don’t roll the dice and designing games where dice aren’t a big part of things.
Craig Campbell and Jess Geyer discuss their backgrounds in playing, GMing, designing, and publishing RPGs and share some stories and lessons learned.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Chris Challice discuss GMing for younger players/kids and designing for them.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Alex Sprague design the bones of an RPG from the ground up.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Starshine Scribbles discuss running mysteries in RPGs and designing for mysteries.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sean Jaffe discuss running games set in the present day and designing modern tech for your game.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Joie Martin discuss pulling from your own experiences in GMing and design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoff Bottone discuss GMing and designing for PvP (player versus player).
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Evan Torner discuss GMing for first time players and designing for first time players.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Bob Carnicom recap their GenCon 2022 experiences as GMs and designer/publishers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyter, and Kalum discuss structured storytelling for GMs and iterative design and release for designers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Brennan Taylor discuss what happens when the campaign you’re GMing fails and defining success/failure as a designer.
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Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Edward Larmore discuss GMs railroading and stealing liberally from other games as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Jason Pitre discuss outfitting your GMing on a budget and designing economics mechanics.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Linda Codega discuss making magic more magical and designing magic systems.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Banana Chan discuss non-RPG games and activities for when players are missing and best activities to replenish your creative well.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Liana MacKenzie discuss GMing players with different likes and dislikes as well as designing with inclusivity in mind.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Simon McEntire discuss GMing for min-maxed characters and trimming your game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sebastian Yue discuss sharing campaign info outside of the game session and press kits.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Pete Petrusha discuss GMing games with lots of rules and rules and norms to know in publishing.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Ben Sandfelder discuss GMing for character death and designing for death and other serious penalties.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoffrey Golden discuss GMing for actual play/streams and designing games suited to actual play/streams.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and DM Sarah discuss the many roles of the GM and the many roles of the publisher.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sean Jaffe discuss using visual aids and handouts as a GM and what designers should know about copyright and trademark. We are NOT lawyers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Tyler Omichinski discuss starting a new campaign and starting a company.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Derek Kamal discuss the perfect gaming environment and the perfect design environment.
This is our ENnies submission clip. It’s an excerpt from Episode 39, featuring Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoff Bottone discussing game mechanics and inventing a system on the spot.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Chris Challice discuss organizing your GM stuff and organizing your designer stuff.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Eddy Webb discuss GMing the one hour adventuring day and time management for designers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Joie Martin discuss GMing one-shots and designing one-page RPGs.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Starshine Scribbles discuss developing recurring themes as a GM and naming your game and the product cover.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoff Bottone discuss giving players more narrative control as a GM and designing games with player narrative control systems.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Brandon Gutowski discuss making fear and horror work as a GM and getting over imposter syndrome as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Mitchell Wallace talk GMing unbalanced parties and designing for game balance.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Pam Punzalan discuss making enemies that are actually scary and designer pitfalls to watch out for.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sharang Biswas discuss surprising longtime players as a GM and designing romance into your game.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Matthew Orr discuss recruiting players as a GM and pitching your game as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Jason Pitre discuss leveling up, from the GM perspective and from the game designer perspective.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Evan Torner discuss GMing puzzles and figuring out what your game is really about.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Liana MacKenzie discuss using loot and treasure as extrinsic player/character motivations and incentivizing action in game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Edward Larmore discuss shared GMing and collaborating on game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sebastian Yue discuss safety tools in both GMing and game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Banana Chan discuss ending a campaign and knowing when to give up on a design that isn’t working.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Pete Petrusha discuss GMing games at your FLGS and networking as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer and Brennan Taylor discuss Encouraging players to spend points and designing currency/points sub-systems.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Ben Sandfelder discuss GMing convention games and convention survival 110.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Litza Bronwyn conduct a GMing and game design Q&A at NerdBurger Con.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Simon McEntire discuss sharing the spotlight at the table and making your game setting or part of it integral to the mechanics.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and DM Sarah discuss incorporating PC backstories as a GM and integrating character relationships into game mechanics.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoffrey Golden discuss remembering the GM is a player and setting boundaries as a designer.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Tyler Omichinski discuss GMing theater of the mind and designing for theater of the mind.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Derek Kamal discuss addressing GM burnout and tell stories from the trenches as designer/publishers.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Eddy Webb discuss getting players to not focus on stat stuff too much and character sheet design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sean Jaffe discuss GMs creating the entire world vs collaborative worldbuilding and how much setting you should create for your game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Morgan discuss handling player conflict at the table and conflict resolution mechanics.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Starshine Scribbles discuss fudging dice and how the randomizer you use influences your game design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Chris Challice discuss heavy roleplay sessions vs. heavy mechanics sessions and traditional vs. narrative/story style design.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Geoff Battone discuss creating interesting adversaries and creating your own game mechanics.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Joie Martin discuss house rules and hacking other games.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Brandon Gutowski discuss engaging all players at the table, your game's graphic design and layout, and our favorite IPs.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Sharang Biswas discuss GMing romance, hiring artists for your game, and interactive fiction.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Evan Torner discuss adapting modules and settings into your homebrew game, editing in RPGs, and cult cinema.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Mitchell Wallace discuss improvisation, RPG product options, and LARPS.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Matthew Orr discuss GMing evocative descriptions, your RPG product, and history podcasts.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Pam Punzalan discuss portraying characters, representation in game design, and transposing one media into another.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Austin MacKenzie discuss planning your RPG session, playtesting your game design, and anime.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Jason Pitre discuss planning your RPG campaign, designing your own game mechanics for your RPG, and xenobiology.
Craig and Jess discuss favorite horror tropes as well as a bunch of different horror movies and their themes.
Craig Campbell, Jess Geyer, and Brennan Taylor discuss different ways to play RPGs, using existing systems in your game design, and fantasy literature.