Yaruki Zero Podcast #18: Cel*Style With Jake Richmond

Yaruki Zero Podcast #18 (45 minutes, 19 seconds)

This is Jake Richmond’s second appearance on the podcast (the first was Episode #11, back in late 2009), and he joined me to talk about Cel*Style, his new games, and his experiences selling and promoting those games at anime conventions like SakuraCon. I’m also a contributor to the tabletop gaming news site MiniEnt, and a more succinct written article is available there.

1. Let’s Talk About Neat Things: Jake is interested in the food cart scene in Portland and wants to start one to sell awesome noodles. Ewen’s been geeking out about Slayers because of Dragon World.
2. What is Cel*Style?
3. Some other neat Cel*Style Games; Anima Prime, Tulip Academy
4. Girl x Boy
5. Panty Explosion Perfect
6. The infamous head-punching incidents (also recounted on Found in the Alley, but this is the extended version)
7. Selling at Anime Cons
• Ben Hsu of Dubious Company joined them at SakuraCon.
8. Future Games

This podcast uses selections from the song “Time Machine” by To-den from the Grünemusik album of the same name, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website or via Jamendo.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #17: Malcolm Harris

Yaruki Zero Podcast #17 (60 minutes, 13 seconds)

I became acquainted with Malcolm Harris because we’d both been invited as guests of honor for A-Kon (an anime convention in Dallas) in 2010. He’s the driving force behind Channel-M Publishing, an independent publisher of comics and RPGs, including Witch Girls Adventures. I’ve met very few people who are quite so passionate about creating and sharing their creations, and his enthusiasm is wonderfully infectious.

We finally got around to connecting on Skype to record a podcast, and Malcolm shared his insights on Witch Girls Adventures and how with it he’s designed and marketed a role-playing game aimed at teenage girls. He also talks a bit about the Witch Girls movie short he’s working on, as well as other games (Macho and Nemesis: Remix) and forthcoming Witch Girls supplements. He’s a really busy guy, to put it mildly.

1. Introduction
2. What is Witch Girls Adventures?
3. A Drama Diaries Game
4. Marketing to Girls
5. Daytrippers; volunteers who hand out fliers at events
6. Witch Girls as an (introductory) RPG
7. How do girls play RPGs?
8. Witch Girls as YA fiction
9. Witch Girls: Beyond Convention, the forthcoming Witch Girls short film, plus forthcoming WGA supplements
10. Macho, Malcolm’s over-the-top action hero RPG, due out this year
11. Nemesis: Remix, a superhero RPG for fans of superhero comics, due out in late 2012
12. Even more stuff on the horizon for Channel M!
13. Malcolm says believe in your self!

Technical Notes
The technical quality of the recording wasn’t quite what I hoped; my voice is too loud, while Malcolm’s is too quiet (usually it’s the other way around) and has just enough of a background hum that it’s hard to boost without reducing the audio quality. (Plus you can hear me breathing far more than I’d like.) I hope you’ll bear with me all the same, because this is probably my most interesting podcast episode so far.

This podcast uses selections from the song “Time Machine” by To-den from the Grünemusik album of the same name, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website or via Jamendo.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #16: Steven Savage

Yaruki Zero Podcast #16 (24 minutes, 48 seconds)

This episode presents a succinct but interesting interview with Steven Savage, the man behind both Seventh Sanctum and Fan To Pro. In the interview, Steven talks first about the Seventh Sanctum generators site and his philosophies of how randomness can inform creativity, and then about how RPG gamers can leverage the things their hobby involves into career stuff.

This is my first time recording a podcast with a guest in the same room (using my little Sony digital recorder), so there’s a little bit of background noise here and there, but I think it turned out surprisingly good considering.

This podcast uses selections from the song “Time Machine” by To-den from the Grünemusik album of the same name, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website or via Jamendo.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #15: The Big Picture

Yaruki Zero Podcast #15 (34 minutes, 58 seconds)

This episode is an attempt to unpack certain underlying “big picture” things in role-playing games that I’ve been thinking about lately. It’s not about how they fare in the marketplace (though there’s a little bit of that), but RPGs are and how they work. There’s a good chance other (smarter) people have said this elsewhere, but I need to put it out there in my own words.

Show Notes

1. Intro
• A-Kon – Lots of receptive people, my thoughts and observations seemed really new to most of those folks.
• Got to meet Malcolm Harris of Channel M Publishing, Jonathan Thompson of Battlefield Press.
2. Text vs. Play
• Old-School D&D
• The Perrin Conventions (Word doc)
• Traditional RPG play
• Are skilled GMs really that common?
• Structured RPG play
3. Artists vs. Consumers
• Non-Commercial Gaming
• Gaming as Consumption
• Structured RPGs and Creativity
• Consumption as Shortcut
4. Rules vs. Not-Rules
• Redrawing the Lines
• “Missing” Rules
• Naked rules vs. Clothed Rules (Guy’s posts on Blinders)

This podcast uses selections from the song “Time Machine” by To-den from the Grünemusik album of the same name, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website or via Jamendo.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #14: Maid RPG

Andy Kitkowski and Ben Lehman join me for this long-overdue overview of Maid: The Role-Playing Game, and our experiences discovering, translating, publishing and playing what wound up being the first Japanese tabletop RPG ever released in English.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #14 (72 minutes, 7 seconds)

Show Notes

1. Introductions
2. What is Maid RPG?
• Penguin Musume Heart
3. What’s neat about it?
• Yellow Submarine, one of the major tabletop gaming stores in Japan.
• Ryan Macklin in Tangibility in Mechanics
• A prior YKZ podcast where Jake Richmond mentioned getting punched in the head over Panty Explosion.
• Urusei Yatsura, a classic anime series you need to see.
4. Producing and Selling Maid RPG
• Ewen’s Gen Con Indy 2008 photos, including the booth and crazy guys from Kentucky.
• Emma, a fairly serious and historically accurate manga about a maid.
• We shared a booth with Jerry Grayson of Khepera Publishing and Mike Fiegel of Aetherial Forge
5. Controversy!
• JGC (Japan Game Convention), Japan’s major tabletop gaming con.
• When all is said and done, haters gonna hate.
6. The Future!
• After we recorded the podcast I decided to start posting my original Maid RPG material online: Maid RPG 120%.

This podcast uses selections from the song “Time Machine” by To-den from the Grünemusik album of the same name, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website or via Jamendo.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #13: Genres

Per multiple requests (notably from Clyde Roher and Jake Richmond), this episode starts off with some commentary on the different genres of anime and manga. From there I get into how genres work in general, and then how we view genres in role-playing games. This also kinda sorta marks a new “season” of the YKZ podcast, hence the new font in the title image and new theme song.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #13 (42 minutes, 44 seconds)

Show Notes

1. Anime and Manga Genres
• Ogiue Maniax on OEL Manga and Screentone
• Anime/Manga Titles Mentioned: Dragon Ball, Once Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Card Captor Sakura, Fruits Basket, Monster, Black Lagoon, Hellsing, K-On!, Bamboo Blade, Battle Vixens, Eagle, Gunsmith Cats, Parasyte, Alien Nine, Honey and Clover, Sgt. Frog, Tokyo Mew Mew, Record of the Lodoss War, Slayers, Minky Momo, Sailor Moon, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Tetsujin #28, Giant Robo, Macross, Gundam, Evangelion, Nadesico
• Dreamland Japan by Frederick L. Schodt, a 1996 book that examines manga culture at length.
2. Genre Cycles
• Neal Stephenson on Science Fiction and Genre
• Lost Garden: Game Genre Life Cycle Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
3. RPG Genres
• A very old blog post I did about video games and genres in RPGs

This podcast uses selections from the song “Time Machine” by To-den from the Grünemusik album of the same name, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website or via Jamendo.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #12: More Random Thoughts

Much like Episode 7, this time around I briefly talk about a number of different topics, notably Nechronica (Ryo Kamiya’s forthcoming game), A-Kon (an anime con I’ll be attending as a guest of honor), Neko Machi (the webcomic I write for), and Adventures of the Space Patrol (a game I’m working on).

Yaruki Zero Podcast #12 (40 minutes, 1 second)

Show Notes

1. Nechronica: The Long, Long Epilogue is a forthcoming game by Maid RPG designer Ryo Kamiya.
• My blog post about the general concept.
• The Tsugihagi Honpo site (some NSFW content)
2. I’m going to be a guest at A-Kon 2010!
• I wrote a book called Open Anime for Battlefield Press
• Malcolm Harris, creator of Witch Girls Adventures, will be there too.
3. Neko Machi, my webcomic
• A collaboration with the awesome C. Ellis.
• Story Gamers: ["Webcomic Model"] How to use this for RPGs? and The state of webcomics and its similarity to indie games
• Jonathan Walton, Levi Kornlensen, and S. John Ross, game designers giving stuff away for free.
• Still grappling with issues of reincorporation, as discussed on Master Plan and then at great (excessive?) length on Theory From the Closet
4. Adventures of the Space Patrol is a game I’m working on currently, and nearly ready to playtest.
• Other FATE Games: Spirit of the Century, Starblazer Adventures, Diaspora
• Partly inspired by the art of Shane Glines (especially this piece) and others.

This podcast uses selections from the song “Click Click” by Grünemusik, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #11: RPGs For Anime Fans

In this episode I’m joined by Jake Richmond–one of the designers of Panty Explosion and other great games–to discuss anime fans as a potential market for RPGs. We discuss our experiences running games at anime conventions (particularly his experiences at Kumoricon in Portland, Oregon), and how best to design games that can appeal to anime fans.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #11 (46 minutes, 57 seconds)

Show Notes

1. Introductions
• See games by Jake (and Matt and Nick!) at the Atarashi Games website
• Jake Richmond Interview on Geekorner Part 1 and Part 2
2. RPGs at Anime Cons
• Kumoricon, a local anime con in Portland, Oregon
• GameStorm, a local gaming con in Washington.
• Go Play Northwest
3. Designing For Anime Fans
• High School Debut, one of Jake’s favorite manga.
• Tales from the Floating Vagabond
• Mike Holmes talks (rants) about combat systems and photographers.
• Playtest doc for Ewen’s Azumanga Daioh-inspired Raspberry Heaven game.
• SaiKano (Saishuu Heiki Kanojo/She, The Ultimate Weapon)

This podcast uses selections from the song “Click Click” by Grünemusik, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #10: Wild Blue Yonder

In this episode I’m joined again by my friend Jon Baumgardner to talk about Blue Ocean Strategy and how it might be applied to designing and marketing small-press RPGs.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #10 (43 minutes, 14 seconds)

Show Notes

1. What is Blue Ocean Strategy?
• Tom Peters
• Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean; existing vs. untapped market space.
• Joe Pine & Jim Gilmore
• Blue Ocean Thoughts: Sell Me On…, a post from this blog on “fair process.”
2. Innovating the Medium
• Serial Homicide Unit (and the mp3 demo)
• D&D Podcast on WotC’s structure for selling miniatures, an example of Dungeon Tiles, and the Dungeon Delve supplement that explicitly references Dungeon Tiles.
• Disposable Heroes paper miniatures from Precis Intermedia
• Joe McDonald’s Ribbon Drive
3. Innovating in Marketing
• Evil Hat’s PDF Policy, and the episode of That’s How We Roll where Fred talks about his views on PDFs.
4. Addendum: Overcoming Objections
• Natural 20 Podcast
5. Any questions you’d like us to discuss in the future? Please comment!

This podcast uses selections from the song “Click Click” by Grünemusik, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #9: Everyday Magic

In this podcast I give an overview of a talk between Ryo Kamiya (designer of Maid RPG and Yuuyake Koyake) and South (current publisher of Witch Quest) about “everyday magic” RPGs that appeared in a doujinshi they collaboratively produced called “Doko ni Demo Aru Fushigi.” They discuss the challenges of heartwarming, nonviolent RPGs.

Yaruki Zero Podcast #9 (20 minutes, 9 seconds)

1. Introduction
• The RPG Haven Podcast
• Doko ni Demo Aru Fushigi’s Cover, from Tsugihagi Honbo (some NSFW content)
• Witch Quest, from Majo no Kai
2. Games Without Combat
3. Assembling Scenarios
4. Conventions & Catharsis
5. The Limitations of Classes/System Does Matter
6. Kamiya’s Early RPG Experiences
7. A Fantasy Countryside
• Beast Bind
• Double Cross
• Tokyo NOVA

This podcast uses selections from the song “Click Click” by Grünemusik, available for free from Jamendo.com. If you like the song, consider buying some CDs from Nankado’s website.

Very awesome caricature of Ewen courtesy of the talented C. Ellis.