Ludonarrative Dissidents

Our livestream for October 2025!Watch it on Youtube.⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

Trabajo (Hebanon Games, 2019) is a 32-page ‘portfolio’, part sourcebook and part adventure pack, for the Red Markets post-apocalypse RPG of economic and undead horror, written by Ludonarrative Dissidents’ own Ross Payton. We analysed Red Markets last season and liked it a lot, as you can imagine, and this episode is an opportunity to hear more about how it looks in action, and get Ross’s insights into how he went about constructing this compact, intense supplement.Our previous episode covering Red MarketsTrabajo at DriveThruRPG Red Markets at DriveThruRPG, ridiculously good value at just $5Read the full show notes here.⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord.

JAILBREAK is a one-session scenario for Unknown Armies, originally written by Greg Stolze of this parish, in 1998 as a demo adventure for conventions, and subsequently published in the One Shots adventure anthology. It has since been described as one of the great horror adventures for any RPG. Greg is, of course, one of the creators of Unknown Armies, along with John Tynes, and his insights here into how the adventure came together, its structure, how it works and how it’s played are fascinating. Enjoy the episode! Read the full Show Notes HereJailbreak for UA first edition at Atlas Games, a free downloadThe full One Shots adventure collection on DriveThruRPG, also for UA 1eJailbreak slightly revised version (for the Elemental rules), also a free downloadThe Unknown Armies game line at Atlas GamesUnknown Armies 3e on DriveThruRPG

RIFTS is a role playing game designed by Kevin Siembieda and originally published by his company Palladium Books in 1990. In this episode we examine the Rifts Ultimate Edition from 2005, a revised and expanded version of the original game rulebook. Like it, hate it or previously unaware of it, there’s nothing like it on the market today and we enjoyed the chance to delve into what makes it work.Read the full show notes here.See the original Rifts rulebook at DriveThruRPGSee the Rifts Ultimate Edition at DriveThruRPG. We can’t speak for other Rifts PDFs but this PDF is a scan of the print book, every page is an image, the text is not searchable, there is no indexing or bookmarking. It’s like an artefact from a more primitive time.See the Rifts game-line at the Palladium Books websiteSee Savage Rifts at DriveThruRPG

We talk a bit about conventions - Greg visited a small con called Forge Midwest and Ross prepares for Gencon this year with 7 events. We also answer audience questions.Watch the livestream if you want to see the visuals.⁠⁠Discuss this episode on our Discord server!

James went on vacation to Pompeii, so he's sharing his photos and discussing ancient Roman history. If you want to see the video version with the photos, it's on Youtube. Discuss this episode on our Discord server!

THIS EPISODE COVERS DOGS IN THE VINEYARD, a 2004 game by Vincent Baker, who is better known as the co-designer of Apocalypse World, the game that the entire Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) RPG design movement is based on. Dogs in the Vineyard is no longer available for sale, for reasons that we discuss in the episode.“Mormon Judge Dredd” – Greg StolzeRead the Full Show Notes HereSee the Wikipedia entry for Dogs in the VineyardSee Vincent Baker’s homepageTalk about this on the LND Discord!Today's episode is brought to you by the Tabletop Arts Fund! The Tabletop Arts Fund is a community nonprofit dedicated to supporting independent TTRPG and actual play creators through professional development, networking opportunities, and charitable grants. Are you an independent creator with a game or scenario nearing the finish line? Submissions open February 15th for the first round of TTRPG Creator Grants, providing financial support for art, editing, layout, and other professional services. Full details on these and other projects are available at tabletopartsfund.org, or via social media at tabletopartsfund.org.