System Shop

In this relatable episode, we’re joined by special guest Avery Alder - creator of Monsterhearts, Dream Askew, and The Quiet Year - to talk about relationship mechanics. How does your game change when you model relationships as variable stats, states of being, currencies, cycles, roles, or power dynamics? How do you provide mechanical handles for specific types of relationships, while allowing them to be messy and emergent? What happens when two characters have wildly different interpretations of their mutual relationship? Where do relationships even exist, in terms of the physical sheet or game component that bears them? Avery sees the kids for the trees. Violet hassles her vassals. Freya sticks to the classics. Avery seizes the means of narration. Violet doctors the narrative. Freya draws her friends close. *** Check out Avery’s Stuff! *** https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/ *** Check out JourneyMon! *** https://ilgingell.itch.io/journeymon *** Check out Freya’s Blue Skies Sabbatical, Volume 1! *** https://severalseals.itch.io/drake-barcode-morse-inspector https://severalseals.itch.io/foleynauts *** Timestamps *** No mailbag this time! Intro to topic [*1] - 0:15:16 Why mechanise relationships? - 0:20:37 Design questions - 0:31:00 History - 0:53:47 Three angles on the Taxonomicon - 1:01:30 Rivalries - 1:07:51 Digression about Shock and conceptual poles - 1:13:45 Authority hierarchies - 1:21:46 Peer relationships - 1:30:49 Relationships as a resource - 1:39:00 Parasocial relationships - 1:45:16 Odds and ends and anecdotes - 1:53:17 Difficult relationships (and more Monsterhearts) - 2:02:16 Design Dreams - 2:12:27 Wrapup - 2:27:45 *** Design Dreams *** Freya: the League of Super Frenemies Violet: Hand Inarticulate Hand Avery: Love’s Letters Lost Bonus: The Dream Ghost Conspiracy [*2] *** Games discussed *** Monsterhearts Dream Askew / Dream Apart The Quiet Year JourneyMon Underwhelming Acolytes of an Ageing Immortal [-] D&D 3.5e D&D 4e AD&D Good Society The Deep Forest Masks Exalted Essence Vampire: The Masquerade Delta Green Pendragon Sagas of the Icelanders Girl Frame Hot Guys Making Out Star Crossed Interstitial Riddle of Steel Burning Wheel Blades in the Dark Reign A Place To Fuck Each Other Thirsty Sword Lesbians Lady Blackbird Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Dogs in the Vineyard Apocalypse World Masks Dungeon World Bluebeard’s Bride World of Darkness (assorted) Aberrant Genius: the Transgression Over The Moon Tournament Arc Transit Shock Lasers & Feelings Avatar Legends Flabbergasted The Between Pathfinder Everyone Is John Belonging Outside Belonging Mad Alien With A Box Golden Sky Stories Blue Rose The Serpent’s Tooth Lost Kingdom (The many gm one streamer game) Dialect Going For Broke Smallville Last Fleet Exalted (not Essence) The Thunder Perfect Mind Silver And White [-] Microscope Children of Time [-] [*3] Seven-Part Pact [-] Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast Voidheart Symphony Midnight Muscadines *** Other media discussed *** Earthborne Rangers Steven Universe (obliquely) The L Word Animal Crossing Homestuck (inevitably) Kingdom Hearts Beastieball Pride & Prejudice Jeeves & Wooster Dr Who The Order Of The Stick Mage Knight Gloomhaven Battlestar Galactica [*4] Final Fantasy XIV Buffy the Vampire Slayer [*5] Dispatch Persuasion Portal 2 Philosophers in Space A Psalm for the Wild-Built A Close And Common Orbit Shogun (the board game, not the show) The World Ends With You: NEO *** Notes & Links *** [*1] …and apparently a local dog immediately goes wild in the background of Freya’s audio, sorry! It doesn’t last forever. [*2] if you know of a game that already implements Dream Ghost Conspiracy’s mechanics, tell us about it! It saves us having to write it ourselves. [*3] Predictably, the Children of Time crowdfunder ended some time before we finished editing this episode. [*4] the board game, but also the licensed RPG I guess! [*5] all this Monsterhearts talk and it took us two hours to mention Buffy. Spoilers at ~2:12:00! [-] games with this tag are unpublished (not yet released) or un-published (un-released). It is a fact universally acknowledged that when you make a joke and say “that was rubbish, you can edit it out,” that makes it funny enough to leave in. According to the dictionary wot I done red, a pastiche does not have to also be parody. The term, delightfully, is derived from a name of a pie with a melange of many ingredients. Sorry, Francis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man *** Contact us! *** Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email [email protected] *** Additional Credits *** Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ System Shop is made by humans. We do not use generative AI at any stage of our process, from research to editing.

Hello, systemic shoppers! This is (hopefully) part one of a 2-part bonus about the nominations for the 2026 Ennies: the annual public-vote awards for TTRPGs. We realised that the games tended to fall into either “I own and have played this” or “I haven’t even heard of this”. Now, we’re not going to talk at length about impressions of games we haven’t played, because judging a book by its cover is only appropriate for the games nominated for Best Cover Art. But we are going to each pick one game, give it a spin in the near future, then reconvene with part 2 to talk about our experiences. ****** Voting will have closed by the time this episode goes up (it’s only open for like a week!) but the list of categories and nominees is on their website: https://ennie-awards.com/2026-nominees/ ****** The Girl Frame review Freya references is by Caelyn Ellis of Rascal News: https://www.rascal.news/girl-frame-confidently-stomps-its-way-into-a-niche-mecha-genre/ ****** We also had a discussion about Deadline: A Clockwork Press that was definitely comedy gold, but (ironically enough) didn't make the cut because we’d decided to end the recording immediately before it. Whoops!

Vrrrroom! (Sorry, I had to). In this all-hands-on-deck episode, we’re talking about vehicular play and the scale shifts it introduces as it opens new horizons. What happens when you bring a knife to a tank fight - and how do you avoid trivialising the whole game when you’re the one in the tank? How do you set stakes when everyone might go down with the ship? And when does hyper-specialisation for crew roles actually cripple your cooperation? Violet puts the cart before the oars. Freya mounts her soapbox. Violet rigs the game. Freya floats a flotilla. *** Timestamps *** Mailbag - 0:09:02 Topic intro & design questions - 0:17:34 History - 0:49:20 Comparing Wildsea experiences - 0:55:59 Taxonomicon - 1:03:13 Freya admits her serial salvage surplus & shipmate shortage - 1:41:59 to 1:52:05 Design Dreams - 1:53:23 Freya’s insectile aspiration announcement - 2:12:01 Wrapup (and oops, more bugs) - 2:12:54 *** Design Dreams *** Violet - Record of a Spaceborn Fugitive Freya - Disney Pixar’s Cars: The Driver’s Licensed TTRPG Violet - Wormhole Long Haul Freya - Transform and Role Out *** Games discussed *** Tool Team[*1] Bestial Princess Disease: A Torture Chamber[*1] (can be seen here: https://files.catbox.moe/5mb50b.webp) Several collage contributors Drake Barcode: Morse Inspector [*1] Shadowrun (2e, specifically) Pathfinder Lancer D&D 5e Scherzando! [*2] Break!! Sword World Pico Classified Rifts Traveller Mothership OD&D D&D 3.5e Star Trek Adventures Wildsea Last Caravan Ribbon Drive Car Wars GURPS Heavy Gear Apocalypse World Scum and Villainy Blades in the Dark Edge of the Empire / Genesys Fate Homeworld [*3] Mothership: Gradient Descent Transit Horse Girl My Girlfriend Has Turned Into A Car (And We’re Escaping This City) Savage Worlds Cypher The Magnus Archives RPG [*4] Electric Bastionland Mythic Bastionland Intergalactic Bastionland Wanderhome Stars Without Number Eberron Ion Heart Last Fleet Songs for the Dusk Pasión de las Pasiones Honey Heist Good Society *** Other media discussed *** Affinity Publisher (does that count as media??) Magic: the Gathering Camel Up, Heat, Thunder Road, and Magical Athlete The works of Adrian Tchaikovsky (as usual) Shadowrun series (Harebrained Schemes) Fuga: Melodies of Steel Slay the Spire Captain Sonar Star Trek (Voyager & DS9 specifically) Sunless Sea Rogue Trader Get in the Car, Loser! Subnautica Star Wars: Galactic Racer X-Wing Radio On (1979, dir. Christopher Petit) One Piece Live Action Season 2 Pacific Drive Magic Mike XXL (and other roadtrip movies) Revolutionary Girl Utena Shut Up & Sit Down Gaslands Akira Hot Fuzz Bug Fables The Wandering Village Dunecrawl Star Trek: Armada XCOM Moby Dick Railsea Embassytown Record of a Spaceborn Few Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters Battlestar Galactica Disney Pixar’s Cars Rocket League Iron Lung Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture) Transformers Thunderbirds Nowhere (1997) Cowboy Bebop Shadows of the Apt *** Notes & Links *** [*1] if you haven’t heard of these games, that’s because they’re ours and some of them aren’t released yet. [*2] now with canon-compliant exclamation mark. [*3] which is indeed published by Modiphius. [*4] the Magnus Archives RPG is indeed based on the Cypher system. Some research thanks to my local tank museum (and also, totally normal people on the internet) suggests that modern tanks have dedicated commanders among a crew of 4, and WW1 tanks had crews of 8 or more because they were huge and horrible and required a lot of manual labour. My tolerance for military history forums hit its limit at that point so I refuse to research WW2. American Psycho (Wet) - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eY9ccvv7Nlg Living spaces in space, from Cowboy Bebop - https://www.tumblr.com/bluedelliquanti/123202722454/one-of-my-favorite-things-about-rewatching-cowboy Random bug generator - https://perchance.org/bug-species My chair is unusually creaky in this one, so keen ears will probably pick it up occasionally. Sorry about that! *** Contact us! *** Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email [email protected] *** Additional Credits *** Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this bonus episode, Violet discusses the games she ran and played at Con-Pulsion 2026…. Which she in-con-veniently forgets to name during the recording. Whoops! ***** Timestamps ***** Panels & speakers - 02:55 Unravel - 06:01 Unravel… again! - 13:57 Spoilers for the Unravel quickstart scenario - 15:39 to 16:53 More mechanical discussion of Unravel - 17:39 Freya’s extremely subjective opinions about Earthborne Rangers - 21:40 The Thunder Perfect Mind - 25:08 Dream Askew - 34:57 Reflection & Wrapup - 43:13 ***** Games discussed ***** Unravel Liminal Horror Delta Green Lasers & Feelings CBR+PNK Earthborne Rangers The Thunder Perfect Mind[*1] Vampire: The Masquerade Daggerheart Dream Askew PbtA Wanderhome Mad Alien With A Box Gloomhaven ***** Other media discussed ***** Black Wave, by Michelle Tea Cross stitch (like, the actual textiles hobby) Elder Scrolls 3 : Morrowind Arkham Horror (the card game) Arkham Horror (the board game) Elder Sign (the other Arkham Horror board game) Orphan Black Trios ***** Notes & Links ***** Unravel quickstart: https://studio-mothmen.itch.io/unravel-the-work-is-in-good-hands Discord link: https://discord.gg/cMP257y8 [*1] the game by Tanya Floaker, not the 2,000 year old poem Freya will be wandering the halls of UK Games Expo in May, wearing her white JourneyMon t-shirts as usual. (In related news - the digital edition of JourneyMon has now released to kickstarter backers! Exciting!).

In this foolish episode, we…. Wait, what is it we do here again? I… I can’t remember… we’ve got a long road ahead of us if we’re going to make sense of all this. (Seriously. It turns out we can’t even begin to answer this question without talking about the nature of storytelling, improv, kayfabe, the role of GM, the purpose of rules, being instructed to *break* those rules, what it means to “play”, the promises made when a game describes itself… this was meant to be a silly joke episode, dangit!) Freya turns her lovers into fighters. Violet collates a collaborative coventure. Freya is drawn to a new role. Violet explores the past pre-tense. Freya breaks free of her bindings. Violet imagines a world without imagination. *** Timestamps *** What’s new - 02:56 Mailbag - 11:07 Intro to the topic - 18:30 History - 25:12 Taxonomicon - 40:16 Actual start of the taxonomicon - 41:06 Just kidding, it’s a discussion of the spectrum between ‘board game’ and ‘improv theatre’ - 41:07 Could this be the taxo- oh, no, now we’re talking about the nature of rules - 46:32 Listen, I think we’re just not going to have a normal taxonomicon in this one - ?:??:!? Wait! A list of games in quick succession! This must be it! - 53:20 Discussion about Wanderhome and Kishotenketsu and game Promises and- are we sure we actually know what this podcast is about at all? - 01:05:36 Who’s Game is it anyway? (Discussion on the nature of GMs) - 01:21:08 The Counterexampliad, whatever that means - 01:27:25 Exclusive unlocked patreon content preview [*1]: international paper size deep dive - 01:31:51 to 01:33:17 Design Dreams - 01:56:58 We made it! - 02:12:59 *** Design Dreams *** Two Truths And A Lie-Fall Parasocial Investigations Diararchaeology Redaction RPG PBTA Chaos Draft Co-Op Adventure QWOP RPG: Rebus-Picto-Glyphs *** Games discussed *** D&D 3.5e Heavy Gear D&D 1e Pathfinder 1e Eat the Reich Unravel Stories from the Grave Wildsea Eberron GoGo Golf Kagematsu Triangle Agency Hyborea Coventry [*2] Tunnels & Trolls Pasión de las Pasiones In Nomine Satanis / Magna Veritas Vampire: the Masquerade Apocalypse World Dogs in the Vineyard World Wide Wrestling Monsterhearts A Song Of Ice And Fire RPG Genesys Fellowship Masks Do: Fate of the Flying Temple Avatar Legends Yazeba’s Bed And Breakfast Troika Mausritter Golden Sky Stories Savage Worlds Wanderhome Journeymon Alas for the Awful Sea Transit Lancer Chuubo’s Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine Slugblaster Interstitial Pitcrawler Triangle Agency Mothership Cypher RuneQuest II Monster of the Week Brindlewood Bay Scherzando Lost Kingdom Belonging Outside Belonging Colostle For Small Creatures Such As We Wreck This Deck Hot Damn Deadly Alien Overlord Au Pair [*3] Tacklebox For The Queen Our Queen Crumbles The Tragedy of GJ237B Paranoia Toon Microscope I’m Sorry Did You Say Street Magic Acts Of Evil [*4] “Messed Up Little Guy” [*5] Goblin Country Dream Askew Band of Blades Ars Magica Everyone Is John Star Trek Adventures This Discord Has Ghosts In It Goblonia Everything Is Tables Your Body A Landscape Spire De Profundis Apothecaria *** Other media discussed *** Mass Effect The Twilight Zone (and its ilk) Majora’s Mask Final Fantasy Tactics Advance The Elusive Shift Kriegsspiel [6] The Lord of the Rings Battleship Mastermind Kiki’s Delivery Service Star Wars: Empire At War FTL Nier Final Fantasy XIV Fighting Fantasy Grapefruit (Yoko Ono) Foundation Unwritten Earths Symposium October: Ten Days That Shook The World Spyfall Pacific Rim Dicey Dungeons City of the Six Moons Wildermyth Penny Arcade *** Notes *** [*1] This is a joke, we don’t have a patreon and if we did we’d serve you something better than this gag, probably. [*2] As you’ll discover when listening, this and several other entries on this list are debatably proto-RPGs. I’m giving them the honour of not being relegated to the ‘other media’ zone… [*3] Once again - I’m sorry, world. [*4] The author’s name is Paul Czege. [*5] By Grant Howitt. This is a paraphrasing of the game’s name, but delightfully, you will find it if you google this. [*6] Unlike Coventry, this one definitely goes on the ‘other’ list. Because it definitely is a wargame. It’s in the name. *** Links *** The term “ashcan edition” derives from quick, low-quality mockups used in the comics industry to quickly establish trademarks, and not intended to be read: something you’d take one look at, then thrown in the (tr)ashcan. In publishing, the term has shifted to mean early promotional materials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcan_comic Ironically, if you haven’t seen this xkcd, we may have overestimated your familiarity. https://xkcd.com/2501/ “Fafhrd”, of “Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser”, probably isn’t pronounced the way Violet valiantly attempted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser Violet quotes from The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia, by ludologist Bernard Suits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusory_attitude Freya only references webcomics if they’re at least 17 years old. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/03/20/in-search-of-a-robust-cosmology *** Contact us! *** Thank you to everyone who has emailed into our mailbag - If you too have a question, idea, or interesting game you’d like to share with us, email [email protected] *** Additional Credits *** Our intro music is "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/