Nathan and Eppy finally turn in their spring semester homework, discussing where they are at with The Marian and Robin Roleplaying Party Game (and spinners!), and Fair Winds and Following Seas (and music!), respectively. Informed by both formal exploration and input from Scholars over at our Discord, both of these games are starting to get somewhere.

Show Notes:

• Two Hundred a Day "Live" Episode with Emily Care Boss
• Numberphile "Cones Are Messed Up" (Martini Glass Video)
• Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (BBC series)

Games Mentioned:

• Remember Tomorrow
• Bullwinkle & Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Jason Morningstar’s The Skeletons
• Rogue Trader (2009), but Nathan was probably playing Dark Heresy (2008)

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst

No, this isn't about games we don't like; following up on a question from our Wisdom Episode, we talk about the parts of making games that are not fun, from merely boring all the way to actively hate. This turns into a conversation about how we get through those periods, how the unique nature of truly true roleplaying games makes perfection impossible, and harnessing the hate that flows through you for good. We balance that out with an update on something we're loving right now, the incoming artwork for Swords Without Master!

Nathan's game Mortal Skein is out! Here's the playtest materials on itch.

Show Notes:

• Great Courses: English Grammar Boot Camp
• CSS
• Tailwind CSS
• Pomodoro Technique
• Forest Timer App (the tree-growing one)
• Will Jobst's Plasmodics: Mutant Freaks in the Weird Future

Swords Artists:

• Shel Kahn
• Jabari Weathers
• GORAN
• Simon Roy
• Big Bluesky Thread of the Swords artists

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst

As is tradition on this first day of April, we're going through some of the wisdom we've accumulated as self-publishers over the years, in hopes it'll help out those who are starting their game design journey. We try to address some of the basic questions that you might not know you should be asking, and talk about the core work of finding an audience, benefits and drawbacks of different kinds of conventions, designing your business like it's a game, and starting small in order to give yourself the space to learn and grow. If there's any fools today it's going to be us, but hopefully this is helpful - and if raises further questions, please get in touch so we can continue this conversation!

Show Notes:

• Tabletop Game Alliance of Washington State
• Heart of the Deernicorn
• itch.io
• Drivethru
• Indie Press Revolution
• Payhip
• 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars
• FreeTaxUSA
• Vast and Starlit

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst

In this episode, we visit the mailroom to field some listener questions! We discuss design rituals that we each have, the experience of having games or mechanics fall flat for us in play, and some potential homework for future episodes. The conversation includes digressions into spinner design, playtesting our way out of mechanics that don't work, and how we approach disappointing experiences as something to learn from. Thanks for all the mail!

Shoutouts to: Playtest Tuesday, The Imaginauts, and Paul Czege

Games Mentioned:

• Bullwinkle & Rocky Role Playing Party Game
• Slugblaster
• Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game
• A Sword Points South (a work-in-progress from Eppy)
• Night’s Black Agents / Dracula Dossier
• GURPS
• Wushu: The Ancient Art of Action Roleplaying
• Imp of the Perverse

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst

In this episode, Nathan and Eppy report back about their "do this with that" homework assignment. Eppy debuts The Marion and Robin Party Roleplaying Game, and Nathan outlines how Remember Tomorrow reconfigures Fair Winds and Following Seas. Then, we reflect on how using other games as the basis of new work (hacks, if you will) can be a really helpful part of the game design process.

Show Notes:

• Eppy plays Swords Without Master with New Edge Sword & Sorcery
• New Edge's 2026 Backerkit (runs through March 14!)
• List of Games that Blew our Minds, courtesy of Camilla Zamboni

Games Mentioned:

• Remember Tomorrow
• Bullwinkle & Rocky Role Playing Party Game
• PSI'RUN
• Otherkind Dice

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst

Nathan and Eppy assigned homework off-mic, to discuss some games that showcase thinking about games in a way we never would have, or that made such an impression on us that we've made them part of our toolkits. We discuss what we mean by our minds being blown, then go over our lists. Then, we assign homework for next episode: to sketch out what one of our works-in-progress would look like, if we used one of our mind-blowing influences as a model! We're still aiming to make new games this season, and this was a really productive conversation to help us both along.

Show Notes:

• Friday the 13th: The Series
• Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Avery Alder
• Central Michigan University Press is republishing The Mountain Witch Art & System: Games for Expanded Play

Games Mentioned:

• The Mountain Witch
• Teen Witch
• Still Life via Golden Cobra
• Remember Tomorrow
• Bullwinkle & Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• 1001 Nights
• Black Sun Deathcrawl
• Darkpages (Aschan)
• Apocalypse World (Read a Sitch, specifically)
• Urban Jungle

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst

In this episode, Nathan and Eppy respond to listener feedback, talk about a recent play experience, and then go through some of the projects we're each working on or thinking about that are not the One Without Master. It's a high-level survey of where we're at, game-design-wise, going into 2026!

Check out Soapbox Game Mechanics! It's from All My Friends Are Stories (Patreon), they have some of the games for sale here, and here's the youtube channel. Eppy's episode hasn't been posted at the time of recording, but should be up eventually!

Show Notes:

• At the Edge: Art of the Fantastic (Allentown Art Museum)
• Bryant Johnson
• Jennifer Adcock - check out The Price of Coal and Dollhouse D.R.A.M.A.
• Kenny Omega vs Haruka (age 9)
• Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan (TWO invisible wrestlers!)
• Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Games Mentioned:

• Quest RPG
• Mork Borg - Bare Bones Edition (the plain text version)
• Necronautilus
• Gamma World 7E
• Prince Valiant Storytelling RPG
• Five Star Match
• Plasmodics: mutant freaks in the weird future

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst

In this episode, we sit down with friend, artist, game designer and art director for Swords Without Master Shel Kahn to talk about... all of those things! We touch on the different roles of art in game design, working with abstract imagery, refining your taste as a chooser-of-images even if commissioning original art isn't realistic, and the ways artwork and visual design elements help out the game design endeavor. Art... it's good!

Show Notes:

• The Swords Without Master Kickstarter - funded now, runs through February 13th 2026!
• Shel's website and webcomics
• Buy By Crom!
• The Beguiling Bookstore
• Elemei (our glyph artist for Swords)
• Movies: Captain Blood, Don Juan and Troy

Games Mentioned:

• Traveller and GURPS Traveller
• TORQ
• Shel’s Pocket Dungeons
• Wolfspell

And there's more:

• Unwritten Earths Symposium
• Our Patreon
• Join the Discord
• Nathan's games
• Eppy's games
• Music by Will Jobst