From the brains in jars behind Ludological Alchemy come words for your ears! The Hypothesis is a monthly podcast about the whys and wherefores of games, how they're designed and developed, and what they mean. We release episodes the final Wednesday of each month at 11 AM, Eastern time.
Seekers of Truth,
This year at Gen Con Christopher and I altered our traditional format and instead ran a traditional game design advice panel at Gen Con in the guise of your humble Ludological Alchemists. We had a fair turnout, many of whom had not heard of our stygian recordings of our maundering.
For the topic, we elucidated nine questions that Alchemist Luke had posed to his students regarding their final assignments for his Tabletop RPG Design class in April.
9 Questions for RPG designers
What is the game about? What's the concept? What genre or format does the game take? What materials does the game use? The number of players and their roles. Session time, number of sessions. What is the content of a session?
What themes does the game address?
What is the setting of the game? What is the critical problem of the setting? How does the problem in the setting reflect theme? What's causing this world to fall apart? How is this fatal flaw reflected in the theme?
Who are the characters that the players adopt? How are they affected by the world's fatal flaw? What tension prevents the characters from simply curing the world's problems? How is the theme manifested in the characters?
How do we create characters? How do the players use their characters to address the world's flaws? Again, how is this interaction tied into the game's theme?
How do to the characters' abilities connect to the uncertainty system?
How do the abilities and uncertainty systems simulate activities, conflicts and challenges for the characters?
How do the players interface with the uncertainty system and simulations? Are there incentives or disincentives for them to earn and spend? Who operates the uncertainty engine and how?
How do the rules address the players as individuals, friends, strangers, etc.? What are the roles in the operation of the game? How do the rules address the social layer of the people at the table?
You might have reached this point in reading this post and think, "Could you give an example of how to answer each of these questions?" To which We respond:
Kagematsu
Blue Beard's Bride
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Edition
Lacuna and the Girl from Blue City
Polaris
3:16: Carnage Amongst the Stars
These texts all answer each of these questions in flavorful and even provocative ways.
As ever we are—
—Your Humble Alchemists
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29 Jul 2026
The Hypothesis Volume 3: Episode 03
Star Knights,
Long ago, the people were dying at the end of the world.
But hope was not yet lost, for Christopher and Luke discuss one of the most fascinating RPGs of the past 20 years: Polaris: Chivalric Tragedy at the Utmost North. Polaris confronts the most persistent problem in all RPGs: how to resolve conflict through dialogue alone. It's ambitious design, dripping with flavor that cloaks its unique system.
Listen to your alchemists seek the deepness in this sacred text!
Please help us continue Hypothesizing by checking out our Substack.
Or if you'd prefer a non-Substack donation link, this one might do.
24 Jun 2026
The Hypothesis Volume 3: Episode 02
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.
I Have No Words but I Must Design
You can find Greg's clear-eyed 2002 essay here.
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