The third season of Ludonarrative Dissidents began its crowdfunding on 4 March 2024 and closed on 7 April, having raised $11,066, or 368% of its target. That means this season will have 27 episodes, plus a year of livestream episodes, a zine and more. Huge thanks to all our backers for their support.
Each episode of season 3 will have a full set of show notes, which means each episode now gets a page of its own. One day we will revise the entries for seasons 1 and 2 to do the same, but we’re going to have to start earning a bunch more from affiliate fees to make it worth doing. Hint hint.
00
Dungeon crawl classics #86: HOLE IN THE SKY
This single-session OSR adventure by Brendan Lasalle was played by the Ludonarrative Dissidents crew and guests in the last episode of season 2. But what did we really think of it? How faithful is it to the spirit of the ‘classics’ it invokes? Is there a dungeon or, for that matter, much crawling? Only one way to find out!
Click the episode title to go to the recording and extensive show notes.
01
Heart: The city beneath
Heart: The City Beneath by Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor is a game of unconventional fantasy adventurers who are drawn to enter, explore and lose themselves in a very corporeal underworld beneath the city of Spire. They’ll face horrific foes, bizarre locations and an eldritch subway system, plus bees. It’s from the same designers and publisher as Spire, it’s an award-winning indie darling, but what will the Ludonarrative Dissidents make of it? Will they locate the life-ending revelation they seek in its fleshy realms? Will Heart find a place inside their ribcages, or just turn them into a big ol’ train?
Click the episode title above to listen to this episode and read the show notes.
02
DELTA GREEN: CONVERGENCE
Delta Green: Convergence was the very first adventure set in the world of Delta Green, written by John Tynes and published by Pagan Publishing in 1992. The LND team are reviewing an updated but substantially similar version released by Arc Dream in 2023. How has this foundation-stone of modern Lovecraftian horror stood the test of time? Is it still the best portal for new players to enter the desperate world of Delta Green operatives? What will noted not-a-horror-gamer James make of it all? Dare you find out?
Click the episode title above to listen to this episode and read the show notes.
03
SAVAGE WORLDS ADVENTURE EDITION
Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE) is a generic rules system of cinematic action, with a historied pedigree and an amazing range of sourcebooks, but how does it fare against more rules-y games like GURPS or narrativist darlings like FATE? We take it apart to see what keeps its motor running, mechanically and stylistically, then put it back together to discuss how that affects play. Along the way Greg fails a SAN roll and is reduced to helpless laughter–but which member of the team is capable of such a thing?
Click the episode title above to listen to this episode and read the show notes.
04
NIGHT’S BLACK AGENTS: DOUBLE TAP
Night’s Black Agents: Double Tap is a ‘gear book’ from 2013, a collection of new equipment, background and game material for GM and players of Night’s Black Agents, an RPG of modern tactical espionage and vampires, written by Ken Hite and published by Pelgrane Press. It’s a really interesting book whether you play NBA or not, and we think you’ll enjoy our far-ranging discussion.
05
JAMES BOND 007 RPG
James Bond 007 RPG came out in 1983 from the nascent Victory Games, and was acclaimed as one of the RPG world’s great licenced titles, up there with Star Wars and Ghostbusters. This was the sine qua non of tech espionage in the 1980s, but like Bond himself, how has it been able to keep up with the times and faster, slicker rivals?
Right now this episode is only available to our Kickstarter backers. It will be available to the public in November, so please check back then.
PLUS LIVESTREAMS!
One of our Kickstarter stretch goals was a series of regular livestreams, which are going out monthly. The dates of future sessions are publicised on the LND Discord, and past sessions are all archived on Spotify.
March 2024 – The LND Kickstarter, plus the D&D adventure that NASA published
April 2024 – Season 3 episode list reveal: all 27 games and books we’ll be covering over this season
May 2024 – Choose Your Own Adventure and the solo gamebook as a form
June 2024 – Superhero RPGs and build-a-bag mechanics
July 2024 – no episode, on our holibobs
August 2024 – Gen Con wrap-up, conventions generally, and new trends in game design
September 2024 – James’s Game Design Masterclass, Greg’s fiction, how to support independent creatives, The Terror, Kaos, Pluto, Scavenger’s Reign, the Superbabes RPG, Stardust the Super Wizard, the Fall of Delta Green, why the .io domain is a bad thing, and more! And Spotify has changed its embed link back to a blocky box, sorry about that.
October 2024 – no Spotify embed link for this yet, but we cover the biggest tabletop show in the world Spiel Essen; the cast’s favourite novels; the Salvage Union RPG; junk robots; Horse Girl, and more. Click here to listen on Youtube.
Next livestream will be in mid-November. You can find more information on the Ludonarrative Dissidents Discord and join in with the chat while you’re there – it’ll be great to see you.