Listen to the episode above, or via iTunes.
We’re joined by special guest Stephen Dewey, designer of the Ten Candles roleplaying game, to talk parties! Episode CW for discussion of alcohol and Stanford rape case.
Intro Segment & Media Check-in
- Alanna: 500 Days of Summer expectations vs. reality party scene (shown above)
- Alanna: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Where the Wild Things Are episode
- Hannah: Love, from Judd Apatow and Paul Rust, on Netflix
- Stephen: How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Neil Gaiman, full text here. And the Dark Horse comic version!
- Stephen: Don’t Say Goodbye, Just Ghost, Slate article by Seth Stevenson
The Players
- The party shark, the party jellyfish, the party sea cucumber
- And the aquarium keeper herself!
Parts of the Game We’re Most Interested In
- The art of hosting
- The delicate game of bringing someone else to a party
- Alcohol
Designing the Party Game
- Why don’t parties, like game conventions, have community guidelines?
- Hidden objective games
- The game of Clue, and moving from room to room
- We almost argue about LARP vs theater
- Cats at parties
Extras
I had to cut down the episode for time, which means that Stephen’s final analogy about the game Two Rooms and a Boom didn’t make it into the final version! Not only is it a party game, but it’s the perfect gamified version of a party. In Stephen’s words:
- You have to move around and talk to people. Even if you don’t want to, that’s just how you do it.
- Everyone has their own hidden objective. You have no idea how any individual person is expecting the night to end.
- You may have friends, but not know where they are. Even if you find them, they may go off to another room leaving you behind.
Stephen’s Work
Stephen was a fantastic guest. Support the heck out of his work!
- Check out Ten Candles at Cavalry Games
- Support Stephen Dewey on Patreon
- Follow Stephen on twitter @shiftyginger