Perhaps you’ve sat down for a seventeen-hour session of Monopoly. You roll dice, you take cards, you pay fake money, and you build houses. But you can also imagine yourself as a budding real estate tycoon, trying to avoid jail, consolidating your own personal Potterville in which to squeeze every last penny out of your competitors. As you play, you can also be part of the story the game furnishes.
Tabletop games are an often overlooked avenue for storytelling because they present their story differently. This episode, hosts Timothy Deal and Nick Hayden talk with former game developer Aaron Brosman about the process and possibilities of developing a story in tabletop games.
Then, in the second half, they bring out their trusty “words in a hat” routine to create a variety of eccentric new tabletop games in the always creative What If? segment.
Whether you stick to classics like Candyland, enjoy collecting wheat and rocks in Settlers of Catan, or delve in the deep lore of Magic: The Gathering, you’re sure to find something interesting in this, the 130th episode of your premier podcast on storytelling, Derailed Trains of Thought.