Design Doc
Episodes
Making Things in Hard Times
17 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How do you keep making things when life throws the unexpected your way? We're learning what that looks like now.
Social Dynamics at the Table
13 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A good GM can step up to manage social dynamics at the table. But in Questlandia 2, there is no GM, so the rules we write need to do that work. How ca...
You Can Kill a King, but You Can't Make a Marinara
18 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What happens if a player achieves their big character goal in the very first scene of the game? We found out.
Romancing the Wall
18 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
With no GM, players in Questlandia 2 are responsible for framing their own scene types. As a result they animate objects, make holy voyages, and befr...
The Worst Ideas We've Had so Far
23 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Good games are often built on an avalanche of bad ideas. We talk about the worst ideas we've had so far, and how to turn them into something useful.
Deadline Motivated
23 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We talk about deadlines, and the whooshing noise they make as they go by.
Mosslickers
04 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The first playtest that takes us all the way through character creation. Meet beasts of burden, puppeteers, and the queens who inhabit Mosslicker Alle...
The Symbol Reader
16 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We experiment with a customized alethiometer to explore stories and build new worlds.
Collaboration
25 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Make Big Things team talks about making games as a cooperative.
The First Playtest
28 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With one playtest down, we talk about what went right, what went wrong, and what we'd like to change.
Preparing the Playtest
16 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We attempt to put theory into practice as we prep for Questlandia's first playtest.
Plumb Bobs
29 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What makes for a good RPG toolkit? We explore dice, cards, dactylomancy, and some of the weirder tactile tools you can bring to the table.
Worldbuilding
14 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How we built worlds in the original Questlandia, and what's to come.
Metaplot
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A discussion of worlds within worlds within worlds.
Welcome To Questlandia!
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hannah and Evan embark on a journey to redesign their first roleplaying game. Welcome to Design Doc, our year-long experiment in transparent design! ...