Game Mechanics as a Poem Structure: Self-paced TTRPGs with Satah [S4E9]

In this week's episode, we chat with Satah about the distinction between games and writing exercises, the social expectations of GMing, and a table writing 150,000 words of fanfiction about their own campaign. We get into some of the themes that have been bubbling up through Campaign Spotlight since the beginning: the role of the GM in guiding the gameplay, player expectations around telling a cohesive story, and the way games changed in 2020 during the lockdown era. In the months since we recorded this interview, this conversation has changed how we've incorporated writing exercises in our own home games.

Satah runs Folio, a very cool podcast about solo and epistolary games. Go check out their Itch for some very cool TTRPGs they've released. They also make music as People You Meet Outside of Bars (which Jake has been listening to for a decade now) and Piloting the Animal.

We discuss a whole lot of TTRPG systems in this episode:

• Mothership, which we previously heard about in this onsite session at Vulpine Taproom
• Galactic, a Star Wars-inspired space opera game
• Masks, which we discussed in this interview with Garrett and the Bucket Buddies
• Strange Places and other AdventureByMail games
• Fiasco, which we heard about our interview with Erika about using multiple systems to build the campaign
• Furyya, a solo survival journalling game
• Monsterhearts, about the messy lives of teenage monsters
• Dungeon World, which we discussed with Prim way back in our very first season
• Alone Among the Stars and all its hacks on Itch

Satah was also kind enough to share with us the letters generated by playing the AdventureByMail game The Resistance of New Holloway, which you can read here.

Thanks to Lavitts for providing the introduction to this week's episode! Beep boop.

This episode also marks the end of Season 4. This has been our longest and most ambitious season yet, with some incredibly thoughtful guests and a very busy schedule of onsite recording sessions. Thank you to all the guests who's taken the time to share their games with us - and to all the listeners who keep tuning in, telling us what they think of the episodes, and supporting the production on Patreon. We're getting right back into the studio to record some more interviews and try some new episode types. Get ready to hear more of Jake and Reilly rolling big handfuls of dice in Season 5.

If you like the music on the show, go check out more of Reilly's music.  You can also listen to Reilly's DJ sets on Mixcloud.

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also get episodes right from the source at our RSS feed. If you enjoy Campaign Spotlight, consider subscribing to our Patreon or supporting us on Ko-Fi. A special thanks to Hannah W, Jake K, Perry C, Elvin Prince, Jason K, Smokie Derg, and Maureen H for supporting us on Patreon!

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What is Campaign Spotlight?

This show explores the creativity and originality of home tabletop games. We interview GMs and players to hear about the unique worlds they build and the stories they tell.