The Lost Bay Podcast
A show about and with indie tabletop role-playing creators and artists, their sources of inspiration, creative processes, and business strategies.
Episodes
PART 2 - Goblin Archives & Josh Domanski, Liminal Horror Deluxe Edition
This is the second episode of a two-part series on Liminal Horror and modern horror RPGs, featuring Goblin Archives and Josh Domanski, the co-designers of Liminal Horror. Episode two covers their modules and games, and particularly Liminal Horror Deluxe Edition which is crowdfunding right now. Listen to episode 1Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/goblin-archives-josh-domanski-liminal-horr
Goblin Archives & Josh Domanski, Liminal Horror Deluxe Edition
This is the first episode of a two-part series on Liminal Horror and modern horror RPGs, featuring Goblin Archives and Josh Domanski, the co-designers of Liminal Horror. Episode one is focused on Goblin and Josh’s origin story as RPG designers, and why horror is such a good genre for Tabletop RPGs.Episode two covers their modules and games, and particularly Liminal Horror Deluxe Edition which is c
Adam STATION, I don't belong here
Today The Lost Bay Podcast’s guest is Adam STATION.Adam is best known for designing modern horror RPGs, with a surreal twist. Their games and modules have two unique features. First they are heavily procedural, based mostly on tables and nested tables. Second they are inspired by modern and contemporary music, to the point some of them are actually partially sampled from song lyrics and titles.Tod
Jesse Ross, Trophy Dark
This episode's guest is Jesse Ross, designer of Trophy Dark. Trophy Dark is a narrative game about doomed treasure hunters venturing into a forest that doesn't want them there.I'm a late discoverer of Trophy Dark; I read it just a few months ago, and it radically changed the way I see and play RPGs. The book delivers such a strong and consistent gameplay experience with a very simple mechanical ar
Amanda Lee Franck, Crush Depth Apparition, Vampire Cruise
This episode's guest is Amanda Lee Franck, a really unique voice in the RPG scene. Amanda is both an illustrator and a game designer, and has blessed us with a series of iconic titles like Vampire Cruise, Crush Depth Apparition or You got a job on the garbage barge. In this episode, we will talk about Amanda's origin story and journey as a creator. We'll also chat about pens, inks, museums, why Sh
Côme Martin, Meanwhile in the Subway
Today, I'm taking you to Paris, France, to chat with Côme Martin, a prolific and uber-creative French designer. Côme's best-known titles include the iconic Meanwhile in the Subway, Broken Cities, Feathered Adventures, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss Côme's journey as a designer, from the first one-pagers to his most innovative games, how the Norwegian indie scene influenced
David Blandy, ECO MOFOS!!
David Blandy is the designer of the post apocalyptic weird hope game Eco MOFOS!!
The game is powered by the Into the odd/Cairn engine. Fast rules and character creation. Fantastic art by Daniel Locke. In this episode we talk about David's journey as a creator, and how his work as an artist informs game design. We also discuss Weirdhope, a unique genre of his own creation that teaches us that w
Goblin Archives, The Parthenogenesis of Hungry Hollow
The Parthenogenis of Hungry Hollow is an adventure module and campaing setting for the Mmodern horror tabletop RPG Liminal Horror. In this espisode with returning guest designer Goblin Archives we talk about bees, flesh, a weird baby shower, and an American Pacific Nothwest town being corrupted by an owerwhelmind deity and cult.
The Parthenogenis of Hungry Hollow on Backerkit
https://www.backerki
Yochai Gal, designer of Cairn 2e Boxed Set
Yochai Gal is the designer of the forest fantasy RPG Cairn. Right now, Cairn second edition boxed set is live on Kickstarter. In this episode we talk about how Yochai grew the first edition of Cairn into this new expanded RPG marvel.
Cairn Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1557907976/cairn-2e-boxed-set
Yochai's first two appearances on The Lost Bay Podcast
https://podcasts.ap
Chris McDowall, designer of Mythic Bastionland
Chris Mc Dowall is the designer of the rules light flavor heavy trifecta of games Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland and Mythic Bastionland. In this episode we talk about Chris' latest game Mythic Bastionland, its sources of inspiration, design process, and the spirit behind its ruleset.
Bastionland blog & Patreon
https://www.bastionland.com/
https://www.patreon.com/bastionland
Mythic Ba
Samantha Leigh, designer of Outliers
Samantha Leigh is a multi-faceted tabletop RPG creator and has released some of the coolest solo games of the indie scene. She’s been recently kickstarting Outliers, an award-winning game inspired by her own experience as a lab researcher. In this episode we’ll talk about her sources of inspiration, editing secrets, and future projects.
Outliers
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marx-of-high-w
Watt, designer of Cloud Empress, Life and Death
Watt is the designer behind the Nausicaa inspired ecological space fantasy game Cloud Empress. After a successful launch in 2023 Cloud Empress returns to Kickstarter in 2024 with two new books/settings.
In this episode we talk everything shop, from writing and layout strategies to game mechanics and their impact on the players and the gaming experience.
Back Cloud Empress, Life and Death
https://w
Evangeline Gallagher, dark fantasy illustrator
Evangeline Gallagher is an illustrator with a taste for dark fantasy and horror. Their art is inspired by 80s and 90s media. Evangeline is one of the most productive and striking artists of the TTRPG scene and beyond. In this episode, we talk about their sources of inspiration, their practice, a mental directory of faces, and why red is their favorite color.
Follow Evangeline Gallagher
https://ww
watt - Cloud Empress
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
Pelle Nilsson & Johan Nohr - Mörk Borg
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 abou
Emiel Boven - The Electrum Archive, DURF
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
Goblin Archives - Liminal Horror
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
Iko - and The Weekly Scroll - Skyrealms
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, illus
Alfred Valley - Thousand Empty Light
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 cas
Ian Yusem - Hull Breach
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.
Get Hull Breach here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/y
TTRPG IRL Community copies - with Sean Patrick Cain - Yochai Gal - Caverns of Heresy
This is the second episode of a three part mini series on TTRPG zines, the physical objects, we love, make, read and use to play role playing games. The first one is and interview with Leo from L.F. OSR, maker and publisher of limited editions of bespoke RPG zines.
If you play RPGs you're probably familiar with the concept. Community copies are free copies of RPG games or adventures, people
L.F. OSR - publishing RPG zines
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 indi
Zines as Paper Objects
Today what I have for you is a very short episode, I’m working on several episodes of a mini-series that require intense editing. This is why I don’t have the usual interview to offer this week.
But I didn’t want to let you with no content at all, so I’m going to give you a short tour of what is going to come in the next three episodes. We'll be talking about zines, as objects, as paper objects.
A
Paolo Greco - The Book of Gaub
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
Zedeck Siew - A thousand thousand islands
Zedeck Siew is the writer an co-author of the zine series A thousand thousand islands. These TTRPG fantasy game neutral zines are inspired by South Asia.
In these episode we talk about being nerds, South Est Asia, writing as a craft, running a Kickstarter, cockroaches and The reach of the roach god, the first A thousand thousand islands campaign book.
The book is being kickstartered until th
Sean McCoy - Mothership
Sean McCoy is the author of the SciFi horror tabletop role-playing game Mothership. Winner of a 2019 Gold ENnie Award for Best Game, and heavily inspired by classical horror movies like Alien or Event Horizon, Mothership is redesigning, and giving a new youth to the SciFi horror genre in TTRPGs.
In this episode we talk about specific game design choices, building a company, community support, bein
Seb Pines - Dwelling
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.
You can buy Seb's game in its digital form on itch.io
or as a physical book from
Season 2 lineup preview
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.
You can help The Lost Bay Podcast grow by becoming a patron.
Check the Scissors and Glue TTRPG Jam, it's running until November the 23rd.
Ava Islam - Errant
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.
You can preorder Errant here
Or read Ava's blog here
Support The Lost Bay Po
Perplexing Ruins - Broken Luck/Darkess Moves
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
Sam Leigh - Anamnesis
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
Batts - My body is a cage
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
Ian Yusem - The Drain / Picket line tango / Moonbase blues
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
Anna Blackwell - Delve/Rise/Umbra
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 eme
Vi Huntsman - Collabs without permission
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
Chris McDowall - Electric Bastionland
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 time
Ben Milton - The Waking of Willowby Hall
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
Leo Hunt - Vaults of Vaarn
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&nbs
Yochai Gal - Cairn
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:
cairnrpg.com/print.html
Or in pdf:
yochaigal.itch.io/c
