The Lost Bay Podcast

watt is the designer of Cloud Empress, an ecological science fantasy tabletop RPG inspired by works like Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind, Dune, Full Metal Alchemist. Cloud Empress is both a hack and a campaign setting for the Sci-Fi horror TTRPG Mothership. The game has a striking universe both harsh and tender. In this episode we talk about the genesis and the design choices behind a game that is expected to be one of the most notable releases of 2023.

Mörk Borg is a Swedish tabletop role-playing game by Pelle Nilsson & Johan Nohr with a strong pitch-black apocalyptic fantasy vibe. The fantasy setting features a dying world, where all is dark and gloomy, even the characters you play. The book itself has a unique visual style, wild and colorful reminiscent of the 80s Punk-Rock zine scene and of Doom Metal music.

In this interview we talk about the creative strategies of the two designers, the Swedish alternative to Dungeons and Dragons, Nostradamus Prophecies, historical vampires, an incredible set of Character Generators, font sourcing and how to succeed at creating a masterful visual style.

Emiel Boven is the writer, illustrator and designer of the games DURF and The Electrum Archive. Emiel has stumbled across the tabletop indie scene only a couple of years ago, and since then he's been extremely productive: He wrote several adventures and modules, two games and contributed to build an international community of creators. He’s one of the designers you definitely want to keep two eyes on.

In this episode we’ll talk about biking, becoming a full time RPG designer, the power of game testing and a mysterious ancient alien civilization.

Liminal Horror is a modern horror tabletop RPG. It started a year and a half ago as a hack of the game Cairn, and since then its ecosystem has significantly grown. It has been published in print, counts two official modules, and is supported by a vibrant community.

In this episode we'll talk about Goblin Archives' journey as a game designer, how to write horror, crowdfunding using itch.io, growing supported by the community and giving back to it, and the two first official modules for the game: The Mall inspired by John Carpenter's 1982 movie The Thing, and The Bureau an adventure of corporate horror.

Find the zines in print at Exalted Funeral:

Today I have a very special episode for you, where for once I get to be interviewed. I’ve been a guest on the Weekly Scroll. It’s a super cool stream part of the Adventure Archive where Hunter and Ryan interview TTRPG designers, do reviews of indie games or unboxing of TTRPG Kickstarters.

In this episode we'll be talking about SKYREALMS, a system neutral fantasy sourcebook and coloring book, illustrated by Evlyn Moreau and with a super cool roster of international contributors. As I release this episode Skyrealms just entered its last funding week on Kickstarter.

Be sure to check SKYREALMS on Kickstarter

Alfred Valley is the writer, designer and publisher of several TTRPGS characterized by unique setting and mechanics. In particular he wrote Lay on hands, a solo RPG in which you play as a healer in a post apocalyptic RPG, and Thousand Empty Light, a solo adventure for the Sci-Fi Horror RPG Mothership. In this episode we talk about the coziness of darkness, the art of haggling, cryptography and cassette tapes. 

Episode produced by Iko

Editing supervision by Laura Elle

Music by Avery Isles

Full credits, info and transcript here

Ian Yusem is publisher editor and writer of Hull Breach, an anthology book, collection of adventures and articles for the Sci-Fi horror RPG Mothership. In this episode we talk about Ian's experience both as an author and as the editor/publisher of Hull Breach, the importance of layout, playtesting techniques, and how to write horror RPGs.

Leo is very active in the RPG scene, particularly on the OSR side of it. He writes, makes art, he even just has released a dungeon synth album called Lost Fellow. But Leo also makes zines, like in crafting and publishing them, with his printing shop/publishing house called L.F. OSR. Their publications are quite unique in the scene, one hundred percent handmade, bespoke and special editions of indie zines.

In this episode we talk about hacking printers, hand stamping zines, bone folders, being a nerdy craftsman, and the future of the indie RPG zines in these uncertain times of paper shortage and supply chain disruption.

Paolo Greco is the writer and designer behind the RPG press Lost Pages. They have recently successfully finished the Kickstarter campaign for The Book of Gaub, a game neutral spell book, and anthology of horror micro fictions. In this episode we talk about magic, real magic, studying it, understanding it, and how it can help writing better RPG magic, a kid fascinated by the occult, and a lost and beautiful font.

Seb Pines is the designer of the solo journaling horror RPG Dwelling. The book is amazingly beautiful and playing it literally gave me the chills, both in a scary and in a pleasant way. In this episode we talk about an old spooky haunted house, insomnia, notebooks, mourning, solo RPGs, game design and much more. 

Discover the lineup preview for the upcoming The Lost Bay Podcast season 2.

The show becomes weekly, and will give space to talented creators, writers, designers, artists, who make amazing games and zines.

Ava Islam is the designer of Errant a med fan rpg she has successfully kickstarted during Zinequest 3 - The system totally rethinks and rebuilds the D&D game engine in a fascinating and innovative way.

In this episode, we talk about power, race, game design, bets and wagers, Neapolitan pizza and much more.

Perplexing Ruins is an illustrator and a writer. This episode might be a little different from the previous ones, maybe a little longer, and a little more intimate. Because Perplexing is a friend. He is one of the first members of our little indie RPG scene that I’ve met. 

In this heartfelt episode, we talk about ancient German castles, gouache paintings, witches, the Midwest, bigfoot and so much more.

Anamnesis is a journaling RPG for one player designed by Sam Leigh. In the game, you wake up with no memory whatsoever of who and where you are, and through a series of beautifully designed questions, and with the help of a deck of tarot cards you recover bit by bit your memory.

In this episode, we talk about the Rider Waite Colman tarot deck, memory loss, solo gaming, walking downtown on a sunny day, and much more.

You can download Anamnesis on Sam's itch.io page 

John Battle, aka Batts is the designer of the RPG My body is a cage. In the game, there are two worlds, the one you live in during the daytime, very much like the one we live in ourselves, and the one you dream of. When you dream, you go exploring dungeons, you fight monsters, you collect treasures, you try to make a better life for yourself.

In this episode, we talk about the inescapable duality of life, D6 dice pools, mecha games, movies, screenwriting, game design, and much more.

Batts is running a Kickstarter campaign for My body is a cage Extended Edition, a hardcover book, that features tons of brilliant collaborators and artists. The project graphic design and game design are awesome, the Kickstarter is in its last week, be sure to check it here:

Ian Yusem is the designer of the Mothership rpg adventures Moonbase blues, Picket Line Tango, The Drain. Ian has also a great blog called Uncanny Spheres in which he writes with a lot of honesty about his experience as an indie rpg designer. He posts detailed postmortems of his games where he addresses the financial reality of being an indie TTRPG designer and he writes a lot about community. What does that mean to belong to a community of creators ? How does one even find their own community ?

In this episode we talk about finding solace through RPGs, Dissident Whispers a charity collective RPG book in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, making a living out of TTRPG design, Kickstarter, a utopic future for the indie RPG scene and much more.

Anna Blackwell is the designer of the solo RPG Delve, or rather the solo RPG series Delve, Rise and Umbra.

Delve is a map-drawing game in which you run an underground dwarven hold. As you dig underground you encounter magic, treasures, evil forces. The game is played with dice and a standard card deck. It involves exploration, resource management, and drawing, and it's built to create a strong emergent narrative experience.

In this episode, we talk about the fear of the dark, caving, drawing, solo RPGs, emergent narrative and game design.

Vi Huntsman runs a Crazy youtube channel called Collabs without permission. They do great video reviews of TTRPG zines. In March they shared a review of the game Mothership filmed at Bonneville Salt Flats. It’s a super brilliant review of the game, and it looks amazing, like a short Sci-Fi film. 

 Vi has been collecting zines for years. We did the interview via a conferencing app. And as we were recording I could see behind Vi shelves literally filled with zines.

In this episode, we talk about Vi’s collection of Zines, a romanesque encounter with Malaysian designer Zedeck Siew, a Dada clown army, Kickstarter, Mixam, risograph printing, and a possible future of RPG zines.

Chris McDowall is the creator of the RPGS Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland. Both games share a fascinating weird industrial early XXth century setting and have been extremely influential to the indie RPG scene for the way they handle game mechanics. As a matter of fact, if you’ve listened to previous episodes of this podcast you might have heard other designers mention Chris’ games a few times.

In this episode we talk about Fear, a strange fascination with the London Underground Railway, a rural English county nobody knows about, one hundred failed careers, miniature wargames, and Intergalactic Bastionland.

Buy Electric Bastionland here:

Ben Milton is behind the popular YouTube channel Questing Beast where he does reviews and flip throughs of RPGs and OSR books and zines. Watching his reviews, I've been struck by the constant attention he has for the layout or the design choices of the books, and how these choices might affect the playing experience. Ben is the author of Maze Rats and Knave, two rules-light RPGs, that had a great influence on the OSR scene. Ben recently published the Waking of WIllowby Hall, a fairy-tale med fan adventure in a Haunted Manor.

In this episode, we talk about mathematician Edward Tufte, teaching Game Mastering to kids, an angry cloud giant, Ben's obsession with rules, and how a childhood bool can affect game design choices.

Find Ben Milton's games here

Leo Hunt is a multi-faceted creator. He wrote four novels, and in the last year, released two issues of VAULTS OF VAARN, a science-fantasy rpg. In this episode we talk about his inspirational sources, the difference between writing a novel and an rpg, game design, the American anthropologist David Graeber, and above all, about the colorful, fascinating world of Vaults of Vaarn.

Vaults of Vaarn is available as a printed booklet from online stores, find the full list here

In October 2020, Yochai Gal released CAIRN, a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game. Cairn is, among other things, inspired by Yochai's love for the forests and forest-fantasy fiction. Actually, from the window of his own house, one could see the edge of a forest.

Cairn is available as a printed booklet from online stores, find the full list here: