The Risk Sheet (Psi*Run) with John Harper

Transcript

On the season 3 premiere, I’m joined by John Harper, designer of many games featured on past episodes of Dice Exploder including Blades in the Dark, Lasers & Feelings, and Agon 2e.

John brought in the Psi*Run risk sheet, a fairly complex dice resolution mechanic, known generically as Otherkind Dice. The risk sheet is such an elegant piece of design, packing essentially a whole game onto a single sheet of paper, and being so clear in both how it works and how you might tear it apart for your own ends. If you’re a new designer, or even just looking to get back in touch with the basics, John and I agree that hacking this thing is a great place to look.

It’s good to be back.

Further Reading:

Psi*Run’s risk sheet

Vincent Baker’s original 2005 post on Otherkind Dice

Vincent’s 2022 Otherkind Dice SRD

Psi*Run by Michael Lingner, Christopher Moore⁠, and Meguey Baker

Annalise

Socials

John’s website, onesevendesign.com, and itch page.

Sam on Bluesky and itch.

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