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The Case of the Stickering Statue

July 23, 2020Sam Dunnewold

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Aug 31, 2023

Ranking Stuff, Awards Shows, and My Top 10 RPGs of All Time

Aug 31, 2023

I have complicated feelings about ranking things. When you start ranking art, you start deciding what makes one art “better” than another, and that often leads to trouble. But also… it’s fun?

Aug 31, 2023

Aug 10, 2023

Google Slides: The Easiest Virtual Tabletop Around

Aug 10, 2023

The thing about Google Slides that makes it my favorite virtual tabletop is that everyone knows how to use it. No setting up accounts, no learning a new service, you just get right to playing. It’s easy to navigate and remember where things are. And if all you’re doing is dropping in jpgs of character sheets and putting text on top of them, maybe with a few extra slides for session recaps and notes, Slides is fully functional. You’re killing it even.

Here’s a tour of how I use it.

Aug 10, 2023

Jul 27, 2023

Calvinballing a Whole Campaign

Jul 27, 2023

I’m kind of obsessed with this article over on the excellent Indie Game Reading Club. It’s a guest post by Jason Morningstar in which he describes his process for throwing together a game in an hour. And I don’t mean prepping for a session, I mean soup to nuts all the mechanics and everything, done in 60 minutes.

This post is more or less a love letter to that article. Here’s how my playgroup did that and what we learned.

Jul 27, 2023

May 2025
- May 20, 2025 Clarity (Changeling: the Lost 1e) with MintRabbit May 20, 2025
- May 13, 2025 Question Oracle (Stoneburner) and rolling the dice again with Ray Chou May 13, 2025
- May 6, 2025 10 Candles (10 Candles) with Jay Dragon May 6, 2025
April 2025
- Apr 29, 2025 Experience Design with Caro Murphy Apr 29, 2025
- Apr 22, 2025 Safety Tools, and Players Are More Important Than The Game, with Sarah Lynne Bowman Apr 22, 2025
- Apr 15, 2025 Beats (Heart: the City Beneath) with Aaron Voigt Apr 15, 2025
- Apr 8, 2025 Zenith Abilities (Heart: the City Beneath) with Aaron Voigt Apr 8, 2025
March 2025
- Mar 31, 2025 Elf Motors with Chris Duffy Mar 31, 2025
- Mar 24, 2025 Fateplay Scenes (House of Craving) with Sharang Biswas Mar 24, 2025
- Mar 18, 2025 Spotlight Scenes with Moyra Turkington Mar 18, 2025
- Mar 11, 2025 Shadows with Elin Dalstål Mar 11, 2025
- Mar 4, 2025 Workshops with Marc Majcher Mar 4, 2025
- Mar 3, 2025 Dice Exploder is on Patreon, plus Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast Mar 3, 2025
February 2025
- Feb 25, 2025 Embodiment with Kate Hill Feb 25, 2025
- Feb 18, 2025 Just Read the Card (Ghost Court) with Randy Lubin Feb 18, 2025
- Feb 11, 2025 Mule (Last Train to Bremen) and Pregenerated Characters with Aaron Lim Feb 11, 2025
- Feb 4, 2025 Coloring Book Character Sheet (Two Hand Path) with Jeeyon Shim Feb 4, 2025
January 2025
- Jan 28, 2025 Podcast Transcript: Flauros the Demon (Wreck This Deck) with Audrey Stolze Jan 28, 2025
- Jan 1, 2025 A Mirror Dungeon Jan 1, 2025
December 2024
- Dec 31, 2024 Some Jokes and Manifestos Dec 31, 2024
- Dec 13, 2024 I Made a Book (and So Can You) Dec 13, 2024
- Dec 10, 2024 Podcast Transcript: 2024 Year End Bonanza Dec 10, 2024
November 2024
- Nov 26, 2024 Podcast Transcript: The Challenge Deck (Wickedness) with Audrey Stolze and Seraphina Garcia Ramirez Nov 26, 2024
- Nov 12, 2024 Podcast Transcript: AMA with Merrilee Bufkin Nov 12, 2024
- Nov 3, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Deep Cuts with John Harper Nov 3, 2024
October 2024
- Oct 22, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Dice Forager: a Dice Exploder zine Oct 22, 2024
- Oct 21, 2024 Silly Cairn Oct 21, 2024
- Oct 21, 2024 Hospitality, Safety, and Calibration Oct 21, 2024
September 2024
- Sep 18, 2024 Podcast Transcript: The Sooth Deck (Invisible Sun) and Custom Oracles with James D'Amato Sep 18, 2024
- Sep 12, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Keys (Keymaster) with Caro Asercion Sep 12, 2024
- Sep 4, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Love Letters (Apocalypse World) with Aaron King Sep 4, 2024
August 2024
- Aug 21, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Speak Your Truth (Desperation) with Jeff Stormer Aug 21, 2024
- Aug 13, 2024 Podcast Transcript: THAC0 (AD&D 2e) with My Dad Aug 13, 2024
- Aug 6, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Rule Zero (D&D) with Ema Acosta Aug 6, 2024
July 2024
- Jul 30, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Prestige Classes (D&D 3e/3.5e) with Sam Roberts Jul 30, 2024
- Jul 23, 2024 Podcast Transcript: The Adventuring Day (D&D) with Tristan Zimmerman Jul 23, 2024
- Jul 17, 2024 D&D Miniseries Intro (Homage to the Player's Handbook) Jul 17, 2024
- Jul 16, 2024 Podcast Transcript: The Queen Is Under Attack (For The Queen) with Kimi Hughes Jul 16, 2024
June 2024
- Jun 13, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Designer Commentary: Northfield (with Jason Morningstar) Jun 13, 2024
May 2024
- May 15, 2024 The Space Fam Scenes Menu: Revisited May 15, 2024
- May 15, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Designer Commentary: Space Fam May 15, 2024
- May 2, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Game Exploder Jam Roundup May 2, 2024
April 2024
- Apr 25, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Everyone Adds a Detail (Stewpot) with Lee Conrads Apr 25, 2024
- Apr 18, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Playlists (Ribbon Drive) with Takuma Okada Apr 18, 2024
- Apr 17, 2024 World Ending Game (Sam's Version): Designer Commentary Apr 17, 2024
- Apr 10, 2024 More on Apocalyptic Principles Apr 10, 2024
- Apr 9, 2024 Apocalyptic Principles and Miller's Law Apr 9, 2024
- Apr 4, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Fan Mail (Primetime Adventures) with Meguey Baker Apr 4, 2024
March 2024
- Mar 28, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Playbooks and Communication with Moe Poplar Mar 28, 2024
- Mar 28, 2024 Dice Exploder After Show: Rules For Your Cool Sword Mar 28, 2024
- Mar 21, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Exploding Dice with Mikey Hamm Mar 21, 2024
- Mar 18, 2024 Highly Structured Games Are Good Mar 18, 2024
- Mar 14, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Innovation in Game Design with James Wallis Mar 14, 2024
February 2024
- Feb 29, 2024 The Dice Exploder Podcast Style Guide Feb 29, 2024
- Feb 29, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Solo Game Prompts with Seb Pines Feb 29, 2024
- Feb 29, 2024 The Ink That Bleeds: Review and Response Feb 29, 2024
- Feb 22, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Character Sheets with Emanoel Melo Feb 22, 2024
- Feb 22, 2024 Dice Exploder Aftershow: Character Sheets Feb 22, 2024
- Feb 15, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Pity Points (Kagematsu) with Alex Roberts Feb 15, 2024
- Feb 13, 2024 Play Advice: Get to the Goods Feb 13, 2024
- Feb 8, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Third Party License (Mork Borg) with Strega Wolf van den Berg Feb 8, 2024
- Feb 1, 2024 Podcast Transcript: Rumor Tables (Lorn Song of the Bachelor) with Nova Feb 1, 2024
January 2024
- Jan 25, 2024 Podcast Transcript: The Risk Sheet (Psi*Run) with John Harper Jan 25, 2024
November 2023
- Nov 21, 2023 Recommendations for New RPG Designers Nov 21, 2023
October 2023
- Oct 19, 2023 Dice Exploder Aftershow: The Boogeyman Oct 19, 2023
September 2023
- Sep 26, 2023 Agon's Secret Sauce: Story Game Modules Sep 26, 2023
- Sep 14, 2023 Dukk Borg, Gem Room Games, and Me Sep 14, 2023
August 2023
- Aug 31, 2023 Ranking Stuff, Awards Shows, and My Top 10 RPGs of All Time Aug 31, 2023
- Aug 24, 2023 Dungeons & Dragons Is A Comedy Game Aug 24, 2023
- Aug 10, 2023 Google Slides: The Easiest Virtual Tabletop Around Aug 10, 2023
July 2023
- Jul 27, 2023 Calvinballing a Whole Campaign Jul 27, 2023
- Jul 13, 2023 The Book of Gaub: An Essay from The Awards 2022 Jul 13, 2023
June 2023
- Jun 29, 2023 Design Your Character Sheet First Jun 29, 2023
- Jun 15, 2023 Is XP a Good Design Carrot in Storygames? Jun 15, 2023
- Jun 1, 2023 Dice Exploder Aftershow: Do Games Need Conflict? Jun 1, 2023
May 2023
- May 19, 2023 Couriers: Designer Commentary May 19, 2023
March 2023
- Mar 13, 2023 The Space Fam Scene Menu Mar 13, 2023
- Mar 10, 2023 Apocalypse Keys is a Wonderful, Frustrating Game Mar 10, 2023
- Mar 9, 2023 Space Train Space Heist: Design Commentary Mar 9, 2023

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