Ludology

Welcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the how’s and why’s 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. Ludology is made possible by the support and donations of listeners like you. We encourage you to visit us at our guild on Boardgamegeek to get involved in a continuing discussion of our topics. Ludology is part of The Dice Tower Network, the premier board game media network.

Pros and Cons Ep 16 01/13/2026

Pros and Cons Ep 16 Recorded live at Gen Con 2024, Sen interviews Sarah Dahlinger, a comparative anatomy fueled creature creator who's made some of your favourite monster art and sculpted the minis as well for companies such as Cephalophair Games, Monte Cook Games, and more. Sarah is also the author/artist behind Astra Fauna: Expeditions and hopes to bring her world of science and adventure to life on the tabletop. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/39711525

Ludology 351 Better Health Through Gaming 12/15/2025

Ludology 351 Better Health Through Gaming Erica and Sen talk with Dr. Joe Macisco, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine. Joe has been working on designing serious games for use in the public health field. Joe discusses how and why games can improve pro-health and pro-social behavioural changes. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/39406645

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 24 12/08/2025

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 24 Sen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, to talk about some of the ways in which theme can be measured and how that affects game design. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/39324295

Ludology 350 Beneath The Trees 12/01/2025

Ludology 350 Beneath The Trees Sen and special guest host Doug Levandowski (Kids on Bikes) talk with Noxweiler Ignatius Berf (or "Nox" for short) about his work on the storytelling game, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, based on the comic series of the same name. They discuss the game and it's mechanisms, how it stays true to the comic overall, and how it diverges at times. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/39217215

Ludology 349 Reindeer Games 11/16/2025

Ludology 349 Reindeer Games Erica and Sen welcome Jordan Goddard of Indy Game Lab to talk about his company's newest product - family games that are packaged inside of Christmas ornaments. Currently on Kickstarter, Jordan discusses why he chose to create games that might only come out once a year. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/39014280

Ludology 348 Only Murders in the Script 11/02/2025

Ludology 348 Only Murders in the Script This episode, Sen welcomes Pete, Felix, and Daniel from Zed9 Mystery Club (www.zed9jubensha.com) in Richmond, BC to talk all about Jubensha (a.k.a. Murder Script Games). Originally developed in Chinese-speaking countries, Jubensha have been making their way to wherever the Chinese diaspora has settled and now English speakers can partake in these immersive murder mystery role playing experiences as well! The Zed9 team explains what these games are, how they're designed, hosted, and played. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/38639120

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 23 10/19/2025

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 23 Sen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp as she hosts her Thinking Beyond Mechanism series. In this episode, she discusses the permissions that games and their rules give us to break social conventions within the construct of the so-called "Magic Circle". /episode/index/show/ludology/id/38595990

Ludology 347 Sail Away 10/19/2025

Ludology 347 Sail Away Erica and Sen welcome designers of the award-winning Endeavor: Deep Sea, Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray, along with their publishers, Helaina and Josh Cappel (Burnt Island) and Marc Specter (Grand Gamers Guild) to talk about the past, present, and future of the game. What has changed over the years and what does the future hold for this excellent exploration system? /episode/index/show/ludology/id/38632405

Ludology 346 That Seems Familiar 10/05/2025

Ludology 346 That Seems Familiar It's the return of Erica! Sen got to goof off most of the summer without her, but now she's back and she has a great topic to start off Q3-Q4 of 2025 - Familiarity. Erica and Sen discuss how designers and publishers may want to think about familiarity when producing games. While the saying usually goes something like "familiarity breeds contempt," Erica and Sen argue that a little familiarity goes a long way to increase a game's approachability. *Audio note* Sen's mic was acting up during recording; please excuse the subtle phasing you may hear. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/38379755

Ludology 345 Out of the Dungeon 09/21/2025

Ludology 345 Out of the Dungeon Sen is back after a short hiatus, this time speaking with fellow podcaster, Kristin Vermilya, about her endeavour to document the 50+ year history of role playing games in her forthcoming audio documentary series, Out of the Dungeon. For more information on Kristin's work, check out: We look forward to Erica's return in 2 weeks for a whole new season of Ludology! /episode/index/show/ludology/id/38138910

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 22 09/14/2025

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 22 Sen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp as the host of the Thinking About Mechanisms segment. This episode, Sarah talks about social distance as one of the main differentiators between video games and tabletop games. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37970535

Pros and Cons Ep 15 09/07/2025

Pros and Cons Ep 15 Once again, Sen catches a wild game designer at Origins 2024! This time, he captures Josh Derksen of Lynnvander Games and gets the chance to talk about Josh's work. In particular, Sen is interested in the campaign modes that Josh has devised for several miniature battle systems. What started out as a fan mod (Heroes of the Aturi Cluster for X-Wing) has lead Josh to design campaign modes for Star Trek Dominion and BattleTech Alpha Strike alongside the other projects Lynnvander has their hands in. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37970315

Pros and Cons Ep 14 08/24/2025

Pros and Cons Ep 14 Sen met with new designer but veteran writer Nathan Long (several Warhammer novels, the screenplay for Guyver: Dark Hero, and the scripts for the Wastelands and Bardstale video games) at Origins 2024. Sen had the opportunity to play Nathan's game, Shanghai Noir prior to this so he wanted to discuss how to build narrative in games. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37924815

Pros and Cons Ep 13 08/10/2025

Pros and Cons Ep 13 Sen speaks to David Gordon at Origins 2024 before all of his games hit shelves in 2025. From Monkey Palace to Floristry, we chat about David's entry into game design and what the future holds for this international man of mystery. Did any of it come true one year later? /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37712900

Pros and Cons Ep 12 07/27/2025

Pros and Cons Ep 12 In this episode of Pros and Cons (where we talk to game industry professionals at conventions), we go back to AnimeNorth 2024 where Sen chats with TTRPG designer and writer, Daniel Kwan about anime, wuxia, martial arts, combat and his project that JUST FUNDED on Kickstarter in 2025 - Wandering Blades! /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37519880

Ludology 344 Indie Games Night Market 07/13/2025

Ludology 344 Indie Games Night Market While Erica is on vacation, Sen takes the opportunity to speak with Daniel Newman about how his love of trick-taking games lead to the inception of the Indie Games Night Market. If you're interested in selling your games at this year's IGNM at PaxU 25, please check apply at /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37338385

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms EP 21 07/06/2025

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms EP 21 Erica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to give her take on how we can combat anti-intellectualism using games with intentional design. Sarah has started to provide transcripts for her segment on her blog, available at /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37290260

Ludology 343 It's Alive! 06/29/2025

Ludology 343 It's Alive! Erica and Sen discuss some of the games from their childhoods that featured electronic components heavily and wonder if, in this day and age when smartphones are ubiquitous, the hobby is ripe for another wave of games that are facilitated by quirky little bespoke electronic devices. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37206320

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 20 06/22/2025

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 20 Erica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to discuss cognitive load and addressing the impact of it through intentional design. Read Ludology co-founder Geoff Engelstein's article on the subject that Sarah refers to here: /episode/index/show/ludology/id/37043895

Ludology 342 Games on the Big Screen 06/15/2025

Ludology 342 Games on the Big Screen This episode, Sen and Erica talk to Simon Ennis, professional filmmaker and avid boardgamer, about his most recent release, "The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop", that features game designers, reviewers, and community members alike. Check out the as well as the . Erica and Sen will be at the June 18th showing of The Hobby at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, ON, Canada along with Elizabeth Hargrave, Daryl Andrews, and Eric Lang. Find Canadian show dates in Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, Hamilton including select Q&A sessions with Simon and Elizabeth Hargrave. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36976300

TTRPGKids Ep 24 06/08/2025

TTRPGKids Ep 24 In their final segment, Steph Campbell talks about using TTRPGs at home or in the classroom to teach social studies. Sen and Erica thank Steph for their dedication to the use of games in education and wishes them all the best with TTRPKids in the future! /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36692275

Ludology 341.5 Oh Canada! 06/01/2025

Ludology 341.5 Oh Canada! Erica and Sen recorded this episode live in March 2025 at BreakoutCon in Toronto, ON, Canada. They spoke with guests Helaina Cappel (Publisher, Kids Table Board Games and Burnt Island Games) and Daniel H Kwan (Designer, Ross Rifles and Wandering Blades) about what makes a game "Canadian", advice for Canadian designers and publishers in the current economy, developing a Canadian identity and community as games industry creatives, and more! /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36691720

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 19 05/25/2025

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 19 Erica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to discuss how designers might approach the dreaded human factor we call "Analysis Paralysis" or AP. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36665815

Ludology 341 Accesorize Your Games 05/18/2025

Ludology 341 Accesorize Your Games Erica and Sen welcome Dekan Wheeler to the show to talk about his work at UltraPro, making accessories for many of the hobby's most beloved games. We discuss card sleeves, digital calipers, bead towers, diamond corners, Delicious in Dungeon, and more! Note: Dekan has since moved on from UltraPro and is now a brand manager at Critical Role. Congrats, Dekan! We'll have to have you back to talk about the ins and outs of that position! /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36555920

TTRPGKids Ep 23 05/11/2025

TTRPGKids Ep 23 Erica and Sen welcome guest host Steph Campell on this week's installment of TTRPGKids. In their segement, Steph talks about the power of writing and journaling in TTRPGs and how writing in game can positively impact writing in the classroom. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36508075

Ludology 340 Corporate Game Play 05/06/2025

Ludology 340 Corporate Game Play Sen and Erica talk with Ellie Dix about her work in making corporate games. Whether they're to increase brand recognition or for team building and training purposes, Ellie describes her process when designing games outside of the hobby sphere. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36458050

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 18 04/20/2025

Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 18 Erica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to talk about events in game design. Sarah talks about how to use well-designed events to provide variety, increase challenge, change up the narrative, and more when it comes to design a tabletop game. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36237425

Ludology 339 History of the Game - Pandemic 04/14/2025

Ludology 339 History of the Game - Pandemic Erica and Sen welcome Matt Leacock to talk about one of the hobby's staples - Pandemic. First published in 2008, the Pandemic system has been expanded and used to fight viruses, rising tides, Elder Gods, and now - the forces of evil that seek the One Ring. They talk all things Pandemic, from it's ideation to its many iterations, from fighting back chain reaction of diseases on Earth to fighting back hordes of orcs and other minions of Sauron in Middle Earth. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36124195

TTRPGKids Ep 22 04/06/2025

TTRPGKids Ep 22 This week, special guest host Steph Campbell discusses the importance of why learning should be fun and how TTRPGs can bring fun to what can be a very complex situation. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/36025740

Ludology 338 America's Top Model(er) 03/29/2025

Ludology 338 America's Top Model(er) Erica and Sen talk to Matt Gubser, modeler and comedian, about his work in the tabletop industry and the shift from traditional to digital modeling techniques. /episode/index/show/ludology/id/35919235

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