Welcome!
Welcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the hows and whys of the world of board games. Rather than news and reviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, as well as discuss game history, game design and game players.
We post a new Ludology episode every other week. In these episodes, hosts Erica Bouyouris and Sen-Foong Lim deep-dive into a single topic within game design, often with a well-regarded guest from the game industry. We generally focus on tabletop game design (mainly board games and RPGs), but we often pull in experts from all forms of games, from video games to escape rooms to slot machines.
On weeks where there is no flagship Ludology episode, we will alternate between two smaller mini-sodes. Erica and Sen are happy to announce that Sarah Shipp of Shippboard Games and Stephanie Campbell of TTRPGKids will be joining us for the next year, providing additional content between our longer episodes.
Sarah's segment, Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, is a monthly feature that dives deeper into the other aspects of games beyond the dice and cards we're all familiar with.
Stephanie's segment, TTRPGKids, explores how parents and teachers can use role playing games with children in the home and in the classroom.
We hope you enjoy the additional content!
Our History
We aim for most Ludology episodes to be timeless, so you are welcome to explore our entire catalog. Most of it should age quite well. The podcast was started in 2011 by Geoff Engelstein and Ryan Sturm, with Mike Fitzgerald taking over for Ryan in 2015. Gil and Scott joined the show in 2017 when Mike stepped aside, and Emma joined in 2019 when Geoff ended his tenure as host. Emma left in 2021, and Erica and Sen joined us. Since then, Scott stepped down in 2022 and Gil will be hanging up his mic in 2023, leaving Erica and Sen to carry on this amazing legacy.
Erica and Sen are working to bring new voices to Ludology and have some great things to announce as gaming expands to include even more people!
Contact Us
Have your own thoughts about our topics? We encourage you to visit us at our guild on Boardgamegeek to get involved in a continuing discussion.
You can also email us at hello@ludology.net.
Ludology is part of The Dice Tower Network, the premier board game media network.
If you have questions that you'd like answered on Ludology, let us know by filling out this Google Form; you can also leave an audio question that we can use on the show, if you wish!
Burning Questions for Ludology
Support the Show
Ludology is made possible through the support and donations of listeners like you.
We currently have 3 "First Listen" series that will go out to Patrons well in advance of the audio being released to the wider audience.
- The Memories that Made Us (monthly) - memories about gaming experiences that helped shape the people that bring modern games to life
- Tales from the Designer Toolbox (monthly) - tips and tricks from industry pros learned from both success and failure
- Ludology Live - recordings from conventions around the world
Patrons will also get extra consideration for any giveaways that we might have!
You can also make a one-time or monthly donation here. The link will take you to Erica's account. People who donate in this way will not have access to the Patreon page - sorry!
May 3, 2020
Emma and Gil sit down with Chris Rowlands of Funko Games to discuss the design of IP-based games, and what it's like to design as part of a group collective.
SHOW NOTES
0m00s: Playtest safely online with Gil and Emma!
4m11s: Mox Boarding
House is one of the premier board game stores in Seattle.
(Here's hoping they can stick around until everything is able to
reopen!)
12m21s: The Frosthaven
Kickstarter project.
16m45s: Personal plug:
Abandon All Artichokes is Emma's newest game.
19m47s: Power
Grid is the #36th ranked game on BGG. (Rankings are not
absolute, objective measures of quality, of course, but still. It's
a big game.)
24m01s: Beth
Hawley was responsible for the amazing art in Chris' game
Under My Bed.
27m18s: Disney
Villainous, in which each player is a Disney villain with
unique special powers, is one of their more well-known titles.
29m05s: The party game Yeah
Nope.
30m52s:
Funkoverse, the tactical minis game using modified Funko
figurines.
32m33s: All of "Prospero Hall's" credited
games on BGG.
34m04s: The games Horrified
and Jaws.
38m17s: Prospero Hall's website.
43m28s: The
"tracer" scene from Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy. (Explicit
language warning)
50m31s: Personal plug: Avowel is
currently available on Android, and coming to iOS soon!
54m10s: The game
Jurassic Park: Danger.
1h02m35s: Paper Girls
and Manifest
Destiny
1h03m26s: Sea of
Thieves
1h03m48s: Infocom's original
help guide entry to the horrible and notorious Babel Fish
puzzle in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy video game, written
by Douglas Adams himself, is an absolute wonder to read. Keep
clicking "Next Answer." Favorite quote on step 19 of the hint: "At
this point, brave men have been known to break down and
cry."
1h05m11s: Building
the Game, a podcast on game design.
1h06m34s:
Some articles about
wrestling's current
audience-less format.
1h12m04s: Our episode on ludonarrative dissonance was
Ludology 192 - Diabolus in Ludica.
1h14m04s: Back
to the Future: Back in Time and Last
Defense!