Our new episode, 18, explores the depths of Gradient Descent, a space-station megadungeon for the Mothership SF-horror RPG. Click here to go to the audio.

Our Kickstarter backers have early access to episode 19, hunting a missing friend and swapping text messages in the critically acclaimed Alice is Missing. Click here to read the shownotes.

Find out more and join the conversation on our Discord server

ABOUT

Ludonarrative Dissidents is about roleplaying games, their culture, design and play. Each episode deep-dives on one tabletop RPG, book, mechanic or style of game, taking it apart to see how it works, and putting it back together to understand how people play it.

It’s playful, insightful, informed, and thoroughly entertaining. New episodes drop every 2–3 weeks, plus we do a livestream once a month: check the Discord for dates. 

Your hosts are Ross Payton, Greg Stolze and James Wallis.

Read more

 

SUPPORTING US

Ludonarrative Dissidents is funded by our generous Kickstarter backers, sales of merchandise, and affiliate fees.

If you want to support us – and get access to new episodes a month before they go public – then you can by clicking here to go to our Ko-Fi page. 

SEASON 1

Our first season kicked off in August 2021. Across 16 episodes we cover:

• Apocalypse World
• Blades in the Dark
• Outlaws of the Water Margin
• Lancer
• Nights Black Agents
• Delta Green
• Continuum
• Bluebeard’s Bride
• Ars Magica
• The Quiet Year
• Thousand Year Old Vampire
• 13th Age
• Unknown Armies
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
• Base Raiders
• Dueling Fops of Vindamere (actual play)

Click below for links to the episodes and our notes on them.

Click here for all Season 1 episodes

SEASON 2

The second season ran for 18 episodes. This time we also look at specific RPG mechanics and design tropes.

• Card mechanics in RPGs
• Coyote and Crow
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th edition
• Red Markets
• Metacurrencies in RPGs
• The Laundry RPG
• MÖRK BORG
• Eclipse Phase 2nd edition
• Initiative systems
• Call of Cthulhu 7th edition
• Planet Mercenary
• Dread
• Tales from the Loop
• Diceless RPGs
• Fiasco
• Experience points
• Mongoose Traveller 
• Pendragon 6e
• Hole In The Sky  for DCC (actual play)

Click below for links to the episodes, and notes on each one.

Click here for all Season 2 episodes

SEASON 3

Season 3 will be 27 mighty episodes, each one with its own page and extensive show notes.

0: DCC: Hole in the Sky

1: Heart The City Beneath

2: Delta Green: Convergence

3: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition

4: Night’s Black Agents: Double Tap 

5: James Bond 007 RPG 

6: Alien: Chariot of the Gods 

7: Vampire: the Masquerade 5th edition 

8: Ars Magica: Grogs

9: Dogs in the Vineyard 

10: Paranoia: The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues

11: Cyberpunk Red 

12: Cyberpunk Red: Black Chrome

13: Rifts RPG  

14: Unknown Armies: Jailbreak 

15: Brindlewood Bay

16: Red Markets: Trabajo

17: End All Be All (EABA)

18: Mothership: Gradient Descent 

The LND crew ventures into this megadungeon for the SF-horror RPG Mothership. If they survive, will they emerge… changed? 

19: Alice is Missing 

Teens, text messages and a disappeared friend make a unique one-shot game. Did the team connect with their inner children?

RIGHT NOW THE AUDIO FOR THIS EPISODE IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO OUR BACKERS. CHECK BACK SOON TO HEAR IT!

Click here to go to all Season 3 episodes, plus livestreams