Designing like a Dungeon Master (with Katrina Ostrander and Jon Kiehne) [Nice Replay]

#247 Designing like a Dungeon MasterInterview 2021.12.10

Your nice hosts (Ellen, mainly) conduct a double-interview, with a consummate professional and a committed amateur, on the subject of game design though the lens of tabletop game mastering. Subjects include the dynamic between system design and session design, the balance between planning and improvisation, and how players can be encouraged to participate in the process.

Designing like a Dungeon Master Game DesignNarrativeTabletopAlternity - Sasquatch Game StudioMDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research - Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek, Northwestern UniversityDread, a game of horror and suspense - The Impossible DreamThousand Year Old Vampire - Tim HutchingsRobin's Laws of Good Game Mastering - Robin D. LawsUnpossible Game LabsCon of the North Katrina imagined a future with "Westworld as a video game," which coincidentally was a topic in one of our first episodes: "It's against the law to stop."Katrina OstranderGuest

An editor for over a dozen media tie-in novellas spanning multiple genres, and the Creative Director of Story and Setting for Fantasy Flight Games, where she oversees the internal and licensed development of the studio's proprietary IPs.

Besides her work as an editor of tie-in fiction and developer of IPs, Katrina has written for or developed over a dozen roleplaying game products, including adventures, supplements, and core rulebooks.

External link WebsiteTwitterThe Great Clans of Rokugan: Ice and SnowDescent: Legends of the Dark Jon KiehneGuest A "committed amateur" of tabletop role playing games, Jon is a longtime Dungeon Master who created a wholly unique campaign setting for his regular group (including your nice host Ellen) which he has been running for over six years.