PODCAST · leisure
Modifier
by Meghan Dornbrock
Modifier sits down with designers of all stripes and looks at what it takes to make a great game! With a focus on homebrewing and otherwise modifying existing games to meet your storytelling needs, these interviews dig deep into how changing the rules enables better storytelling. Hosted by Meghan Dornbrock.
Episodes
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83. Sig: City of Blades
Jason Pitre is back with more Sig, this time a Forged in the Dark reimagining titled Sig: City of Blades. Here us chat about this new take on Sig, life in the Hellyear 2020, and the online incarnation of Metatopia!
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82. Brinkwood (It's a Metaphor)
Brinkwood: The Blood of Tyrants is a Forged in the Dark game about Robin Hood vs Vampires, created by Erik Bernhardt. Come join us as we talk about eating money, making deals with the fae, and fighting for justice.
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81. Princess World with Kevin Petker
Princess World, be Kevin Petker, is a PbtA game about cooperative world building, storytelling, problem solving, and being girls who rule. We chat about how the game evolved out of a request from his daughter into this clever, colorful, collaborative adventure.
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80. Descent into Midnight
Rich Howard, Richard Kreutz-Landry, and Taylor LaBresh are the design trio behind Descent into Midnight. This aquatic PbtA game about community and emotion defies genre, so we make a bunch of ocean puns and get really heartfelt about stuff.
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79. Burnout with Tracy Barnett
Return guest Tracy Barnett is here in friend capacity this week for a heart-to-heart with Meghan about burnout, asking for help, and where they are right now in that journey.
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78. Into the Heart with Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor
Grant and Chris are back, and things have only gotten weirder. Below the Spire lies the Heart, an ever-changing district of chaos and horror where you really shouldn't be going. You're going anyway? Of course you are. We talk about why that's a terrible, terrible idea. (CW: Body horror)
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77. The San Jenaro Co-Op with Dyer Rose
Dyer Rose is a member of the San Jenaro Co-op, a creator-owned group that makes RPGs together. Dyer fills me in on how the structure works, what games they have in production, and what industry issues they're trying to address with their approach.
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76. Quietus with Oli Jeffery
Quietus is a melancholy horror RPG that uses the Blades in the Dark system to tell heart-wrenching narratives in a one-shot. Game designer Oli Jeffery shares how he utilized the system to take full advantage of the genre.
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75. Afterlife: Wandering Souls with Liz Chaipraditkul
In Afterlife: Wandering Souls you play as a Wanderer collecting memories of your life and discovering who you were when you were alive. Liz Chaipraditkul talks about discovering your character over the course of the game and how the mechanics evolved to support this unique and affecting player...
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74. The Orpheus Protocol with Rob Stith
The Orpheus Protocol is an RPG as well as an actual-play podcast. Creator Rob Stith takes us through the evolution of the game and how running an AP as a living playtest has affected his process.
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73. CAPERS Noir with Craig Campbell
Craig Campbell of NerdBurger Games is here to talk about CAPERS and CAPERS Noir - a superpowered gangster game and its mysterious supplement - that utilize playing cards to enhance the play experience.
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72. Going on a Zine Quest with Aaron King
Aaron King chats about what a zine is and what RPG zines offer to the gamespace. We talk about format, function, and selling out with Kickstarter's Zine Quest.
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71. Doug Geisler Will Help You Beat the Boss
Long-time union organizer Doug Geisler was trained to help people using role-playing, and now his new role-playing game will train you to organize a labor union so you can Beat the Boss! We talk about learning through narrative and failure.
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70. More Kittens with Cheyenne and Stentor
The Glittercats are BACK with More Kittens! Cheyenne and Stentor take us through all the new new new to be found in this supplement to Laser Kittens - new cards, new playsets, and new kitten games! So much modifying, where do we start?
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69. Worldbuilding Through Character Creation with Aaron and Jeff
Hosts Aaron Catano-Saez and Jeff Stormer of All My Fantasy Children are here to celebrate their addition to the network and to have a real NICE chat about how they build the world of Fantasy one character at a time.
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68. Design and Redesign with Jason Morningstar
Jason Morningstar is here to talk about Fiasco In A Box, among many many other things. We chat about redesigning your own work versus redesigning that of someone else, as well as how to know when it might be time to pass the reigns. We talk about game formats, zero-prep RPGs, and social...
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67. Aviv & Eran's Crystal Heart (A Savage Worlds Setting)
Aviv & Eran, the team behind webcomic Up to Four Players, are here to talk about their original Savage Worlds setting: Crystal Heart. We talk about their creative process, with game writing and comic drawing acting as supports and influences for the other, and about the emotional range of stories...
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66. The Games Collection at SVA Library West
This week we're on location at SVA'S Library West where Instruction & Periodicals Librarian David Pemberton and Circulation Manager Christopher Bussmann share with us what goes into building and maintaining a library's game collection and how games librarianship affects the games and the players.
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65. Turn with Brie Sheldon
Brie Sheldon returns to talk about Turn, their game about shapeshifters in a small town. We look at destructive & deconstructive approaches to PbtA, as well as why the small-town setting is so integral to the play experience.
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64. Dana & Hamish Cameron are Dinosaur Princesses
Dana & Hamish are here to discuss making Dinosaur Princesses an approachable and fun game for players and GMs of all ages and skill levels. From its core of cooperative play to fun coloring-book elements, Dinosaur Princesses is about all kinds of friends supporting each other's creativity.
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63. Mission: Accomplished! with Jeff Stormer
Jeff is back to talk about his own game this time, Mission: Accomplished! It's about super spies, office meetings, and really coming face to face with the arcane horror that is your day job. We talk about comedy in games, designing around secret information, and the impact of having winners and...
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62. Taylor LaBresh and the 13 Demon Princes
To get us started in this, the spookiest month, how about a game FULL OF DEMONS? Taylor is here to chat about his Singularity hack, 13 Demon Princes, a hellish dating game full of contestants with unforgettable names and lots of demon blood. Cute!
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61. Something Is Wrong Here with Kira Magrann
Something Is Wrong Here is a game built to evoke the unsettling experience of watching the works of David Lynch. Kira is here to discuss what building from the inspiration of a specific artist is like, how she mechanizes bleed, and her approach to structuring a one-night game.
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60. How Games Changed Tim & Kristen Devine
Tim & Kristen, longtime friends of the show, are here to talk all about their games, game hacks, and how designing together affected their relationship. We talk a lot about how they change games, but also how games changed them.
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59. Roll20's Charactermancer with Nolan T Jones
Nolan drops in again with another exciting development at Roll20 - the Charactermancer! We talk about how this tool changes gameplay for new and old players alike, how licensing comes into play, and what we can expect to see in the future. We also chat about community involvement and whats in our...
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58. Behind the Masc with Brie Sheldon and Tracy Barnett
Behind the Masc in a game zine looking to re-envision masculinity through the eyes of non-cisgender masculine creators. Brie Sheldon, the project lead, and Tracy Barnett, one of the contributors, join me to talk about what's in the zine and why it's so important. Behind the Masc is on Kickstarter...
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57. Rebuilding Legacy with Jay Iles
Jay Iles joins us this week to talk about Legacy, a Powered by the Apocalypse game that examines all the ways one might create a legacy as their family rebuilds itself in a strange new world. We chat about his LARP inspired design choices as well as the diverse new scenarios other writers brought...
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56. The New Velvet Generation
Rich Ranallo and Scott Leaton are here to talk about the evolution of their game Velvet Generation, an RPG about the rock & roll revolution. We discuss how it's changed over the years and why, and what this revolution looks like in our new modern age.
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55. Learning from Your Own Games with Aleks Samoylov
The Spiral is an original genre-less game system, built to simplify the RPG experience for any story you might want to tell. Parable of the Pit is a Powered by the Apocalypse game without playbooks that puts the ordinary players in a terrifying dungeon from which they must escape. Aleks Samoylov...
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54. Earworm with Aaron J Amendola
Are you ready to party? That's nice, how about this podcast instead. Aaron J Amendola is here to chat about his party game Earworm, which is all about vocalizing your favorite jams for that karaoke bar experience in the comfort of your own home. We talk about the unique aspects of party games and...
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53. Hack the Planet with Fraser Simons
Fraser is back with another cyberpunk adventure, this time a climate-fiction inspired take on Blades in the Dark. We talk about the vastly different ways players can interact with the lore and how this cli-fi blend looks at old cyberpunk tropes in a new way.
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52. The Backstory of Tension with Alex Roberts
Alex Roberts joins me for maximum pod-feed confusion, but mainly to talk about her first game, codenamed Tension. Inspired by Dread and romance games like Kagematsu and Hot Guys Making Out, this is a game about the emotional tension in a tricky relationship. We look at the game's evolution,...
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51. Pasion de las Pasiones with Brandon Leon-Gambetta
Roughly translated as "the sexiest RPG on your shelf", Pasion de las Pasiones is the telenovela RPG from Brandon Leon-Gambetta. We talk about: Latinx representation in games, telenovela tropes, statless playbooks, Hugh Jackman, and Pippin the Corgi. (There are tangents.)
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50. Going on an Expedition with Todd Medema
Expedition is an RPG system that combines cards and a mobile app (all free, all open-source) to streamline the RPG experience, allowing you to play the way you want to. Built to be modded, Todd shares the strengths and challenges of playing the Expedition way, and may be just the project you were...
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49. #280rpg
John Harness got 280 characters on twitter before it was the norm, and decided to turn it into a game design challenge. Paul Czege answered the call. We talk about the challenge, what we can learn from small games, and take a look at the amazing contributions.
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48. The Many Forms of Iron Edda with Tracy Barnett
Iron Edda is a game that exists across several systems and has a second edition in the works, and Tracy Barnett joins us to talk about how it got that way. We discuss what makes something an Iron Edda game, what different systems bring to the fiction, and where it's headed next.
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47. Exploring New Settings with James Mendez Hodes
What goes into bringing an existing game into a brand new setting? How should you approach writing settings that are unfamiliar to you? James Mendez Hodes talks about all that and a bunch of other cool stuff!
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46. 7th Sea: Khitai with John Wick
7th Sea is a game about being an awesome hero, but there's more than one way to be a hero. John talks about the Western and Eastern hero archetypes, and how they've been working on modifying the existing 7th Sea system to tell new kinds of hero stories.
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45. Get Acquainted with the Unfamiliar Heroes – Part 2
Fay Onyx, the mastermind behind the Unfamiliar Heroes podcast project, and two of its GMs, Anna Murray and Jordan Green, chat about what it’s like to run an actual play with diverse players and characters at the core. This second part of our conversation focuses on mechanics that aim to recreate…
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44. Numenera 2 with Monte Cook
Monte Cook of Monte Cook Games is here to dig into what Numenera 2: Discovery & Destiny is all about. We look at how Numenera & Cypher System's unique structure allows this new edition to work seamlessly with the one on your shelf right now, and the cool new cyphers coming your way. Monte Cook &...
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43. Get Acquainted with the Unfamiliar Heroes - Part 1
Fay Onyx, the mastermind behind the Unfamiliar Heroes podcast project, and two of its GMs, Anna Murray and Jordan Green, chat about what it's like to run an actual play with diverse players and characters at the core. This first part of our conversation focuses on addressing the needs of players,...
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42. How To Catch Them All with Jonathan Barron's MajiMonsters
Jonathan Barron joins me to discuss the difficulties of converting the monster-catching genre of video games and TV into a tabletop experience. His game MajiMonsters relies on an original system that tracks a player character as well as multiple unique monsters, all complete with their own skills...
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41. Enter The Dungeon Dome with James D'Amato!!!
The Dungeon Dome is part Dungeons and Dragons, part professional wrestling franchise, all streamed live online for your viewing pleasure. James is here to talk about how he's building this new type of games entertainment, the stories he's hoping to tell, and his thoughts on the future of RPGs....
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40. The Spire with Grant Howitt & Chris Taylor
We talk about Grant & Chris' upcoming game The Spire, which is definitely about a Drow resistance but is also about a bunch of other cool, weird, complex things that I won't even be able to do justice here. It's a really fun chat and also: blood witches. THE RESISTANCE Grant twitter Chris twiiter...
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39. It's Hannah Shaffer Day!
Break out your baggiest jeans and your tiniest backpack as Hannah Shaffer takes us back to the 90s with her heartwarming one-shot storytelling game about a music store on the brink of disaster - Damn the Man, Save the Music! We talk about the continuing evolution of Questlandia and building a…
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38. A Youth Misspent with Robert Bohl & Kimberley Lam
Misspent Youth, an RPG about punks and friendship, is getting a reprint as well as several new settings and hacks! Author Robert Bohl and hacker Kimberly Lam are here together to talk about what it's like to tackle a game from both of those angles. Bonus topic: how weird is it to have Wil Wheaton...
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37. Pandas Talking Hacks
Senda Linaugh & Phil Vecchione, the eponymous Pandas, are here to chat about hacking the 1-page RPG Lasers & Feelings. We talk about the challenges and opportunities that come with hacking such a small ruleset, as Senda and Phil turn this sci-fi story game to cyberpunk and magical girls! PANDAS...
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36. The Cascade & Fraser Simons' Cyberpunk Book Club
Fraser Simons is here to break down cyberpunk, roleplay with feeling, and tell us all about his upcoming supplement to The Veil, The Cascade. Get a pen ready, you're going to want to read everything on his list. THE PUNK Fraser on g+ Fraser on twitter THE BOOKS The Cascade Kickstarter The Cascade...
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35. The White Box: A Game Design Workshop In A Box
Jeremy Holcomb and Jeff Tidball are all about helping you make great games, and now they're developing a kit to help you do it! We talk about what The White Box has in it, what you can do with it, and what's in store for the future. THE BITS Jeremy Holcomb Jeff Tidball GamesPlaywright Atlas Games...
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34. The Imposters and 7 Games About Conspiracy
I've crammed three people into the show this week because it's harder for Them to get you when you're in a group, right? Right. Josh T Jordan, Banana Chan and Todd Crapper are all here to talk about The Imposters, an anthology of games about conspiracies, werewolves, psychogeography, intelligence...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Modifier sits down with designers of all stripes and looks at what it takes to make a great game! With a focus on homebrewing and otherwise modifying existing games to meet your storytelling needs, these interviews dig deep into how changing the rules enables better storytelling. Hosted by Meghan Dornbrock.
HOSTED BY
Meghan Dornbrock
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Modifier have?
Modifier currently has 83 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Modifier about?
Modifier sits down with designers of all stripes and looks at what it takes to make a great game! With a focus on homebrewing and otherwise modifying existing games to meet your storytelling needs, these interviews dig deep into how changing the rules enables better storytelling. Hosted by Meghan...
How often does Modifier release new episodes?
Modifier has 83 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Modifier?
You can listen to Modifier on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Modifier?
Modifier is created and hosted by Meghan Dornbrock.
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