Ludology

This week, Erica and Sen speak with Dr. Marc Engfield and Shawn Roske about the game they co-designed to explore and address issues surrounding managing Chronic Pain. Using Sarah Lynne Bowman's theories of Transformational Play as the backbone, "The Pain Clinic" has pairs of players take on the roles of a patient who is experiencing chronic pain and the doctor who is treating them. For more information about this game, please contact the creators at: marcengfield@gmail.com or shawn.roske@gmail.com

Sen and Erica talk with Steenz (www.oheysteenz.com), a St. Louis cartoonist and professor, about the graphic novel she illustrated, "Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying Games". In the book, Steenz and co-creator Samuel Sattin take readers on a journey through time and space as they look at the historical roots of Roleplaying Games around the globe. Steenz talks about her own relationship with RPGs as well as what she found most fascinating while doing the research for the book.

Erica is just getting back from Japan and Sen is in Montreal for FLIM, so we're going to drop an interview from last year's inaugural Festival Ludique International de Montreal in which Sen speaks with designer, Herb Stanway, about the multi award-winning game, Crash Factor. To help you see exactly what Sen and Herb are talking about, check out the images of Herb's prototype on BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6850545/crash-factor

Sen and Erica are joined by Marc-Antoine Doyon, organizer behind the Festival Ludique International De Montreal ( www.leflim.com ), a free outdoor gaming festival that takes place from July 24-26 in Montreal's Latin Quarter. Marc-Antoine talks about what it take to bring something of this magnitude to life and what attendees can look forward to in the festival's second year.

Sen and guest host George Drayer (formerly from Meeple Syrup) speak with Jesper Myfors, the original art director of the game that changed the face of modern nerdom, Magic: The Gathering. They talk to Jesper about his involvement with the game, his role as art director, and his insight on evolution of the M:tG.

Erica and Sen speak with game designer and educator, Kathleen Mercury, about the second annual Game Design Academy that runs concurrently with Gen Con. The Game Design Academy is an official professional development and formal education track that takes full advantage of the convention space as the lab for learning more about game design and the hobby gaming industry. For more info, check out: https://www.gencon.com/gen-con-indy/game-design-academy

Sen flies solo and interviews Yeonsoo Julian Kim, narrative designer behind "The Fog Knows Your Name" and "Undying Fortress" on Choice Of Games, about interactive fiction games, TTRPGs, horror, and more!

Erica and Sen speak with author and academic, J. Rey Lee, about his book entitled, "Unsettling Catan: Detached Design in Eurogames". They discuss Catan's impact on the hobby, what detached design actually is, and what game designers can do to avoid detached design in practice. Check out https://lookingglance.com/ for more information and musings about boardgaming!

Sen and Erica interview George and Jack Furnival, the couple behind Carrooka - the tabletop snooker game. To see exactly what we're talking about on the podcast, check out pictures on their website: www.carrooka.com Be sure to listen to the companion episode about Crokinole featuring Jeremy Tracey on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ludology

Sen talks to Chris Chung at BreakoutCon 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Chris talks about the origins of Lanterns, his work on the My Little Pony deckbuilder, and online playtesting.

Erica and Sen speak with Spenser Starke about bringing Daggerheart, one of the new generation of tabletop role-playing games, to life.

Sen and Erica speak with Peter Williamson, co-founder and partner at barometerxp.com and the executive director at gamegenius.org about creating tabletop experiences for non-profit organizations or doing professional development and team training to facilitate practical learning outcomes.

Sen and Erica speak with Liqin Gu and Mitch Zhang from Longpack Manufacturing to delve into the ins and outs of how boardgames are made and why they're predominantly made in China.

*Special Note* This episode is being released out of order. We will resume our previously scheduled numbering system in two week! Sen and Erica talk to Heather O'Neill and Hunter Johnson, members of the Unpub Board of Directors, about the upcoming Unpub Festival 2026. Hunter and Heather discuss what people can expect, why they should attend, and a few of the special events that will be featured at the Festival which takes place in Maryland from March 12-15, 2026.

Sen speaks with Kristen Mott at Gen Con 2024 about her designs and publications leading into 2025. We talk homeschooling, scouting, co-design, and horses, of courses. Then we take a look into the crystal ball and make a predication that came true... sorta! Sen and Erica will be back with their regulars shows in February, so stay tuned!

Recorded live at Gen Con 2024, Sen interviews Sarah Dahlinger, a comparative anatomy fueled creature creator who's made some of your favourite monster art and sculpted the minis as well for companies such as Cephalophair Games, Monte Cook Games, and more. Sarah is also the author/artist behind Astra Fauna: Expeditions and hopes to bring her world of science and adventure to life on the tabletop.

Erica and Sen talk with Dr. Joe Macisco, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at Wright State University's Boonshoft School of Medicine. Joe has been working on designing serious games for use in the public health field. Joe discusses how and why games can improve pro-health and pro-social behavioural changes.

Sen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, to talk about some of the ways in which theme can be measured and how that affects game design.

Sen and special guest host Doug Levandowski (Kids on Bikes) talk with Noxweiler Ignatius Berf (or "Nox" for short) about his work on the storytelling game, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, based on the comic series of the same name. They discuss the game and it's mechanisms, how it stays true to the comic overall, and how it diverges at times.

Erica and Sen welcome Jordan Goddard of Indy Game Lab to talk about his company's newest product - family games that are packaged inside of Christmas ornaments. Currently on Kickstarter, Jordan discusses why he chose to create games that might only come out once a year.