Humble Supplicants,

Seekers of knowledge, I bring to you a conversation with one of our game design titans — Greg Costikyan. Greg is a designer of war games, board games, computer games and roleplaying games. His roleplaying games credits include Bug-Eyed Monsters, Toon, Paranoia, Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, The Price of Freedom and Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed.

We talk about his start in games as an eager, earnest 14-year-old playtester who evolved into a developer at game designer at SPI and West End Games.

A few things that we touch on with Greg during the interview:

• Poverty is a motivator for young game designers.

• System must be tailored to setting.

• Defining games is fascism.

Please help us continue Hypothesizing by visiting our Substack.

Or if you'd prefer a non-Substack donation link.

You can find Greg's clear-eyed 2002 essay here.

Fiends,

There was no guarantee that we achieve this momentous step. And yet, through sheer grit and determination, we have arrived at the first episode of our third volume. In this episode we talk about podcast money, why we make games and then dive deep into Gregor Hutton's 2008 masterpiece, 3:16: Carnage Amongst the Stars.

To learn more, see some cool images, comment, and potentially optionally support our endeavors, visit our now-free Substack!

Ad Astra!

-Luke

Tyros,

As by now you have detected, when we make promises we move our heavens and earths to deliver on those promises. This episode is one such example. We promised to divulge to you the secrets of selling 5,000 copies of your game and in this very recording, Christopher divulges his mystical secrets! Not only do we learn that Christopher is indeed a werewolf, but we gain his formula for successfully birthing a game into this burning and damned world of ours.

If you have not been following this saga closely, Interceptor, the game Luke developed publicly on our Substack, is near completion. We'll launch it this summer, likely in June.

This is the last episode of this Volume. But we're not throwing in the proverbial towel just yet! If you're enjoying listening to us, please do rate and review this podcast on whatever platform you partake. And join us next month for more insights, more stories, and more alchemy.

Hello seekers of knowledge,

There exists a silent force at every table. It does not take turns. It has no victory condition. And yet, it determines whether your game lives or dies.

This episode, we turn our attention to the most underestimated element of game design: how players learn.

How do we transmute a designer's intent into a player's understanding? We dive deep into the arcane architecture of the manual, the tactical utility of the reminder card, and the subtle art of the "teaching aid." We explore the friction between a comprehensive reference and a functional tutorial, and ask the forbidden question: can a game truly teach itself, or are we all just wandering in a wilderness of unread errata?

We examine the layered ecosystem of understanding:

• First contact (the rulebook)
• Guided onboarding (a teacher or tutorial)
• In-play reinforcement (reference materials)
• Long-term mastery (internalization and memory)

Best to listen first. Then ask your question on our Substack, armed with context.

-Luke & Christopher

Squad,

Focus yon mind, tense thine muscles. Here in we explore forbidden and speculative lore.

In this tenth episode of our second volume of recordings, Luke enlists Sam and Christopher to speculate on a world in which RPGs possessed the might and support of the culture-media juggernaut that is the National Football League.

• How do we form teams in the league?

• How do the teams compete?

• How are the commercial breaks inserted?

• How does color commentary work?

Listen and discover our answerless answers!

The NFL started paying some of its taxes in 2015.

NFL 2025 Rules document

Chuck Klosterman's book, Football.

Join the discussion on our substack!

Tyros,

Pour the ablutions, purify thyself and cast spells of warding for the words we speak in this episode are words of secret knowledge and power. To come at them unprepared and you risk self-destruction.

In this ninth episode of our second volume of recordings, Christopher dispenses true knowledge: the process for publishing a tabletop game. Numbers, figures and procedures swirl from his lips like stars in a constellation.

Delirium and the Incompressible Work of Publishing

Christopher and Luke return to the mic still deep in the ever-shifting flavors of delirium, including a callback to the legendary Philly Taco and an unsuspecting bystander's awakening.

From there: finals are in, grades are posted, and Christopher talks about last semester's biggest win and biggest regret, including a painfully familiar story about perfectionism, momentum, and failing to land the plane.

The rest of the episode lives in the sticky boundary layer between game design and publishing: how to find an audience, why "I have a game, now I'll find a publisher" is often wishful thinking, what conventions are actually good for, and why "self-publishing" is not a magical third option.

Links and references

• What is a "Philly Taco," really?
• PAX Unplugged
• Origins Game Fair
• itch.io
• If you're forming an LLC and need an EIN: IRS "Get an employer identification number" page

What conversations precipitated the need for such links? You must listen and learn…

If you want more episode, more show notes, more information, and whatever new alchemical residue this conversation leaves behind, the Ludological Alchemy Substack is where it all goes to congeal. You can read along there, subscribe, and get the next episode delivered straight to your inbox before delirium changes flavor again.

Hopefuls,

On this eve of this pagan night, we pray we are unvisited by the terrible saint, punisher of children. To propitiate the saint, we present an auditory offering to you.

In this eighth episode of our second volume of recordings, we interview storied game designer Tim Hutchings. Tim is an artist, the founder of Plagmada and the author of games like Thousand Year Old Vampire.

Fun fact: Luke's favorite thing that Tim has created is his Homage to the Player's Handbook.

To see it and to get more notable show notes, check out our Substack!

Yule love it.

— Luke & Sam

One and all,

Beyond the confines of our small, forlorn tower, Marraskuu, the Month of Death, is in full bloom. Life withers as the days grow ever shorter. Within our fastness we huddle around a wavering flame, watching and waiting.

But tonight, we do not wait alone. Trapped in here with us is one Robert Reichle, a friend of ours and now an (unwitting) guest on our humble podcast. In our discussion, we touch on two major topics: the purpose of visual design in games…and the purpose of a Philly cheesesteak married to a piece of pizza.

There are images aplenty on our Substack.

Best to listen first and look later.