Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Sydney Engelstein and Geoffrey Engelstein Sydney has taken close to a thousand pitches for Indie Game Studios. Geoff has taught game design and helped designers improve their prototypes for over a decade. Between them they see the same issues with designs over and over again, particularly with newer designers…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker We've been creating and publishing our own games for almost 25 years. How, why, and what does it take? Why self-publish instead of shopping your work around? How do you plot your own course, build your own audience, and measure your own success? This is about being you, the desi…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Jason Pitre Producing books is a challenge at the best of times, and the printing landscape has changed radically since the pandemic. The panel speakers will explain the process for finding companies to work with you, choosing your print specifications, and other secrets of the trade.…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Cam Banks and Amanda Valentine You've had a successful Kickstarter, you've been hired by a game publisher, you've released your work on Itch or DriveThru. You've done it! But now what? We're here to discuss the aftermath, the fallout, and how to survive that and stay doing what you love to do.…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Bill White and Avery Rosen This panel discusses the theoretical, pedagogical, and practical implications of trying to teach people to run tabletop RPGs as GMs. We're interested in understanding the best practices, the pitfalls, and the contexts in which "teaching people to GM" in any kind of formal way is eve…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Jay Dragon and Amanda Valentine Every game has a voice, from the biggest trad book to an indie zine, and this narrative voice helps a game teach itself and stand on its own. In this round table held by award-winning game designer Jay Dragon we'll talk through a number of examples of games that utilize narrati…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Tristan Zimmerman, Meghan Jaffe, Sean Jaffe The Indie Game Developer Network (IGDN) is an all-volunteer trade association for tabletop publishers, designers, and freelancers. We offer booth space at conventions, share knowledge, and work to improve the industry. Come ask questions and learn whether the IGDN m…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Jack Parra, Lissane Lake, Nicole Amato Getting high-quality art is key to making a product look professional. Our panel makes with the tips and tricks to controlling costs and Funding the Project.By Jason Pitre

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Jack Parra and Lissane Lake The panelists will touch on the process of how to find and approach artists, negotiate the contract, and then successfully work together. It's important that publishers get an artist's-eye-view of things so they can better understand what we do, the process, and the time involved a…

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Nicole Amato Join Kickstarter's Games Outreach Lead, Nicole Amato, as they discuss best practices for running a crowdfunding campaign. There will also be plenty of time for a Q&A for any questions you might have.By Jason Pitre

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Melissa Lewis-Gentry and Curt Covert. Receiving feedback is hard. Running a successful playtest is even more complicated. Our experts will share their tools for getting the most out of a playtesting table.By Jason Pitre

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Kat Millar and Curt Covert Giving good feedback is a skill. Come learn more about how to provide feedback to game designers in useful, productive ways.By Jason Pitre

Presented by Jason Pitre, Ash Kreider, Vivian Young, Eric Whalen, Tristan Zimmerman AI is a hot topic. Authors are suing over their content being used to "train" AI without their consent. Platforms and publishers are taking hard anti-AI positions. Or coming out publicly to declare that they are using AI and nobody can stop them. People who want to …

Recorded at Metatopia 2023 Presented by Jason Pitre, Jenn Adcock, Brennan Taylor, Olivia Montoya Larpwrights and tabletop game designers have long relied on the power of complex relationship webs to drive dramatic play. Crafting effective characters and their interconnections allows for a living, breathing, and often conflicted world. The panel spe…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Jon Cole, Oscar Biffi, Katherine Shane, Misha B, Olivia Montoya, Chiara Locatelli. Some small game projects are created by an auteur, who controls every aspect of production. These panelists rejected that approach to create projects working with a team on behalf of their community. How did they balance…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Jason Pitre, BJ Recio, Mags Maenad. Math is often a barrier for analog game designers of all disciplines. This panel is meant to help lower that barrier by teaching you some basic, versatile tools you can use to solve most problems. How do you figure out probabilities of success when rolling dice or dr…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Menachem Cohen, Ryan Cagle. Because of the fictional distance between player and character, TTRPGs, even D&D, can be designed and used to facilitate spiritual growth, exploration, and healing. Mechanics, role play, and setting/story also factor into this and GMed, GMful/less, and solo games work in thi…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Jason Morningstar, Tim Hutchings, Jeeyon Shim. Join us for a rollicking discussion of our worst habits and how being lazy, careless and hard-headed is often the best possible approach to game design. Do you design in layout? Is your playtest process a little shambolic? Do you cut corners and assume the…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Anne Ratchat, Jason Morningstar, and regrets from James Mendez Hodes. When writing games, a lot of topics are taboo simply because as a community, we are worried how people might take the intentionality of the design to the worst possible places. The issue created by not writing these games, we erase t…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Olivia Montoya, Acata Felton. In some circles, Secrets and Powers LARPs are dismissed as outdated or "too obscure." Our panelists flatly reject this mindset, and invite you to join them for a discussion about what Secrets and Powers games have to offer. Come learn more about this specific type of LARP,…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Mel D'Amato Anyone who makes or sells consumer goods has been watching the news about shipping and logistics in horror. The cost of freight is up. There are no shipping containers to put goods into. Products are sitting on docks in Asia. Full ships can't get to port to unload on this side of the ocean.…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Jon Lemich, Chance Feldstein, Alex White. There are many diceless RPGs, but their mechanics and design objectives vary more than most designers realize. What do you need to consider when designing a diceless RPG? Do you simply want to replace dice with cards or hidden information wagers, or do you want…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Joan Moriarity, Darren Watts, Beth Rimmels. Which is better, a game that concludes when somebody wins, or a game that concludes when the story is deemed to be complete? It's a trick question, obviously; both styles have their benefits and drawbacks, but what are those exactly? Why do certain kinds of p…

Recorded at Metatopia 2021 Presented by Eric Whalen. Lawyers secretly know that you do not read the big chunks of standardized text in your contract that have nothing to do with your obligations and how much you are getting paid / paying (called "boilerplate" text). Worse - many lawyers forget to read the boilerplate in their own contracts! Whether…

Recorded at Metatopia Online 2021 Presented by Moe Poplar, Michael Low, J Gurantz. Now kids, stop fighting! RPGs are intensely emotionally engaging, deeply moving experiences - and they're fun! Much attention has been paid, recently, to their application in therapy, helping people navigate complex emotional change. This creates a question - how doe…