Tabletop Special

About this episode

The hosts discuss various tabletop RPGs and their mechanics with guest Ian Peters.

While Mark is off on a Star Trek cruise, the rest of your nice hosts invite Lydia's husband Ian Peters to discuss tabletop games, specifically RPGs! We've split this supersized episode and topic into three different acts for your listening pleasure. 0:01:58 Holistic Connection of Theme and Mechanic Blades in the Dark Evil Hat Productions GURPS: Generic Universal RolePlaying System Steve Jackson Games Thirsty Sword Lesbians Evil Hat Productions Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies Thorny Games 0:33:41 Dice Call of Cthulhu RPG Chaosium Inc. Does a crit always mean success? Molaschi Reddit Dread the RPG The Impossible Dream Kids on Bikes Hunters Entertainment 1:00:28 Flexibility Lydia had talked about tabletop mechanics in her Untitled Memory Mechanic Nice Thinking episode Untitled Memory Mechanic Citizen Sleeper Jump Over The Age Steam

People in this episode

Hosts: Mark, Lydia

Guest: Ian Peters

Topics covered

• tabletop games
• RPGs
• game mechanics
• dice games
• flexibility in gameplay

Keywords

• tabletop games
• RPGs
• game mechanics
• dice
• flexibility

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Evil Hat Productions, GURPS: Generic Universal RolePlaying System, Thorny Games, Chaosium Inc., Kids on Bikes

Books & works: Blades in the Dark, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies, Call of Cthulhu RPG, Dread the RPG, Untitled Memory Mechanic, Citizen Sleeper, Jump Over The Age

More episodes of Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

• Vehicle Design (with Kris Roberts) · June 11, 2026
• "I need less squidgy." Part-time Work; Hint · June 4, 2026
• Dark Patterns (with Sam Liberty) · May 28, 2026
• Working with Voice Actors (with Yuri Lowenthal) · May 21, 2026
• Interactive Fiction Communities (with Andrew Plotkin) · May 14, 2026
• "Look who's old now!" Exhibiting Your Game; Design Investigations · May 7, 2026