Composure (Antiquarian Adventures) with Michael Elliott

Transcript

This week, Sam talks with Michael Elliott about Composure, a player resource mechanic from Ash McAllen’s game Antiquarian Adventures.

Michael is currently Kickstarting his game Nasty Brutish and Long, a simple RPG about lives complicated by revolution.

Some topics discussed today:

* Failure and conflict, why they're great, and mechanics that encourage players to embrace them

* Genre and mechanics that support it

* Simplifying mechanics when hacking, with Blades in the Dark as an example

* Passing the spotlight at the table

Games mentioned:

* Antiquarian Adventures

* Blades in the Dark

* Fiasco

Sam’s blog post whether conflict is necessary in RPGs

James Mendez Hodes’ website and blog

Pam Punzalan’s blog post “The Unbearable Otherness of a Global South Creator”

Asians Represent podcast on Twitter

Michael’s on Twitter, dice.camp, itch.io, and other places @NotWriting 

Sam is @sdunnewold on Twitter, dice.camp, and itch.io

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