10 Candles (10 Candles) with Jay Dragon

Transcripts available at diceexploder.com

This is, at long last, the end of this Dice Exploder miniseries on larp. And I wanted to send it off by returning to the question I kicked it off with: what can tabletop designers learn from larp? To get into that, there’s few people I’d rather have on than Jay Dragon (Wanderhome, Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast).

When I pitched Jay this topic, Jay wanted to bring in the 10 Candles from 10 Candles. This is a game best known for, what else, the 10 candles you light at the beginning of play. And the act of doing so, and then turning out the lights, sets a mood that feels like a ritual, something deeper and more visceral than most tabletop games, something not exactly larp-like, but that feels of a piece with the emphasis on environment and embodiment that larp often brings…

Ad Links

Spectacula by Jeremy Melloul

Make a Scene festival

Further Reading

10 Candles by Cavalry Games

Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast by Possum Creek Games

Wanderhome by Possum Creek Games

Game Design Study Buddies on Addiction By Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll

Dice Exploder on Ribbon Drive by Avery Alder

A Dozen Fragments On Playground Theory by Jay Dragon

Socials

Jay on Bluesky and Possum Creek Games on itch and Warehouse 23

Sam on Bluesky and itch

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