Total Pebble Knockdown

We have returned to Pools to finish the game. In this video we meet a new friend, admire some statues and start get our entendres doubled.

Let's take a stroll down Liminal Lane and see the elements of liminal space games that it uses. Will we be able to swim? Can we kick the ball? Is this the '50s or the '90s? All this and more will be revealed!

Alex dives deeper into Pools.

Alex is in the hot seat this time, playing liminal space game Pools. In part 1 we run through the first level, which may involve cameras, ducks, hands and high jumps into the void.

Back to cleaning up, Alex and Nathan try Level 4 and 5 in Backrooms Cleanup Crew. But they also look for secrets, find secret corners of the game and get a strange message from an alarm clock.

Alex and Nathan decide to cooperate for a change and play Backroom Cleanup Crew, combining the surreal horror of the backrooms with the quiet satisfaction of Power Wash Simulator. Watch us they clean up sigils, chuck tires into a trash cart, have some odd encounters with an alarm clock and find out what is in that vent.

Nathan has finally gotten back to playing new titles after getting lost in Anemoiapolis. So, let's catch up with his time playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed and Atomfall.

On the show today:

We wind up in the backrooms and see the conclusion to Anemoiapolis. Our final thoughts and uneasy feelings.

#anemoiapolis #videogames #liminalspace

On the show today:

We are back in Anemoiapolis and exploring a lazy river and a claustrophobic golf course. Also, there's some locker rooms that are totally normal and an elevator with a pitch black sign outside. No big.We are also discussing what anemoia actually is, why malls are no longer around, the disorientation of water, atmospheric gameplay and slides. Also, Alex has thoughts on Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo.

On the show today:Nathan and Alex get a hands-on experience playing Anemoiapolis Chapter 1 while discussing architecture, psychology, horror, illogical level design and mannequins.

On the show today:

For several years now Nathan has put out a Best to Worst list of new games he played from the previous year. However, 2024 was a unique case. Because of this there will not be a list this year and on this episode we discuss the reasons why. And also, we go over what the list was going to be for those who are curious.

Steam Next Fest brought us many interesting demos for upcoming games. Alex and Nathan got ahold of several and wanted to discuss them on this episode. We have vampires, zombies, radiation and scariest of all... fishing!

We have a few D&D questions from Reddit. What happens when we become and vampire AND a werewolf? What happens when we want to switch our character out mid-campaign? What if our players keep trying to unionize everyone? Let's discuss.Reddit – bit by a werewolf and a vampire – https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1h2xdkq/one_of_my_players_got_bit_by_both_a_vampire_and_a/Reddit – switching characters – https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1hks2fa/dm_is_being_weird_about_me_switching_characters/Reddit – unionize – https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1iz7g4e/my_players_wont_stop_unionizing_people/

Sometimes, we need to get some fiber in our gaming diet. Today, we discuss some nutritional games that help us better understand and appreciate the medium of video games.NOTE: Nathan made a mistake when talking about Deus Ex. Let us know in the comments if you catch it.

On the show today: Sometimes we load up on empty calories. Video games are no different. But what are junk food games and which ones do we binge on in an unhealthy fashion? Could there be a real benefit to playing them or are they a waste of our time.... comparative to playing other games.

Sometimes you just want to play something familiar that has a special place in your heart. Much like comfort food, we will occasionally revert to playing comfort games. Let's talk about a few examples from our experiences and what we get out of the experience.

NOTE: Apologies for the audio issues. Much of the episode is done in voice-over since the original audio was so poor.

On the show today:

There are many reasons why we stop playing games. Some of those reasons are a natural end to a great experience, some because they are unplayable and some are far more complicated. Nathan lays out his 7 cases of why we stop playing a game, from best case to worst case.

In the course of a year, we often play many games that are not new releases. In this episode, Nathan goes over 5 games he played in 2024 that released before the year that really impressed him. And quite a variety it is. We discuss a survival crafting game, a card game, secret horror title, soul-like and open-world shooter. A little something for everyone.

On the show today: It's that time to play Save, Bury, Reboot. What games do we save from destruction, which will we throw into the E.T. pit and which will get a whole new coat of paint? Bonus: we have some other game related things to bury while we are here. Now that 2024 is behind us, we can look at our Steam spider graphs to see what kind of games we really got into this last year. What were the 6 major tags on our playlist this year and what games took up most of our time? Every year, people start the year off with resolutions. But, we find that too definitive. So, we are talking about goals for 2025. These are the things we are planning to do coming up this next year.

On the show today: Nathan returns to Palworld. Nearly a year ago, the game rocked the video game industry with record sales. But we haven't really played it since February. So, what is it like now? Lucas Pope is a talented game designer with unique ideas. Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn are critically acclaimed games with accolades aplenty from gamers. However, today Nathan has a criticism sandwich for Pope and it has everything to do with game interface and UI. Could you play your character's child? One Reddit question asks this very thing and frankly, we have some modifications to that formula. Perhaps we spend too much time asking if you could that we forget to ask if we should. https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1gl5h56/would_it_be_weird_to_play_my_last_characters_child/

On the show today:

It's the 10-year anniversary of the "Too Much Water" meme from IGN's Pokemon review. Sometimes a bullet point of game analysis misses the context you need. And sometimes the point is not warranted. Let's discuss which one this was. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/too-much-water Can you play D&D by yourself? Also, should you? One Quora answer explains how you could theoretically make it happen, but whether it seems fun or interesting is worth exploring further. https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-play-D-D-by-myself Congratulations on overthrowing the tax collector. Your players are now set to get a massive windfall from his earnings, but that seems game breaking. So, how could you create a story where the tax collector actually had lost all the money? https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1gkvcbd/i_need_a_fast_way_to_waste_a_lot_of_money/

On the show today:

Survival crafting and horror sound like a match made in spooky heaven but after Nathan tried the demo for upcoming Project Mist, he started asking if these two should ever be near each other. We discuss why the mechanics of these genres has trouble meshing.

Jump scares are just not as scary as horror can be by building atmosphere. We talk about the idea of tension and release and some games that prove to be scary without relying on jump scares.

Mascot horror has probably showed up many times on your Steam discovery queue but frankly, Nathan doesn't understand the appeal. Surely there are reasons they keep getting made and also what people get out of them. Also, we think about mascot horror ideas we would create.

On the show today: Alex has played over 70 hours of Warhammer: Space Marine 2. Having already been familiar with Space Marine back in 2011, Alex wanted to discuss how the new game follows up with the story and mechanics of the first, so he's going to do that. Dredge has an interesting mechanic called Panic, which accrues when you stay up too late at night. Suddenly you see things that aren't there and get attacked by monsters that don't exist. This is similar to sanity meters in other games and works well in the context of a Lovecraftian game such as this. Let's discuss how it works. There are stairs in the woods and they lead to nowhere. Your party has just stumbled upon them and has some questions. We discuss the phenomenon/urban legend of stairs in the woods and how you could use them as a creepy encounter for an RPG party. Wendigoon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOQ8tQXGLbg

On the show today: Elon Musk took issue with the Fallout slogan "War Never Changes" back in May. Instead of simply complaining, we take a moment to look at how players can see the same information in different ways and how to better inform players to the themes of the game. https://futurism.com/elon-musk-fallout-tweet https://x.com/girldrawsghosts/status/1815417466509463757 Josh Sawyer (of Black Isle and Obsidian fame) had a video talking about breaking game balance in Fallout: New Vegas. There are different ways of approaching open world games when it comes to how truly open the world is to players at the start. We discuss what we enjoy between balanced and imbalanced game worlds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnR1Y3GlTqs If you have a game set in a nuclear post-apocalypse, you probably have radiation mechanics. We discuss some of the games we played that have these mechanics, which ones were fairly basic and ones that were more complicated. Also, what new ways could we use this mechanic in tabletop games?

On the show today: DC Lasair is here to explain how he runs tabletop game streams, the tech he uses, the way he structures games and how to move story along when you are playing live. How long can you hold an audience's attention? What do you have to go over with your cast ahead of time? How much prep do you need? DC has run many charity livestreams. How do you set those up? What resources are available? What kind of incentives can you give for donations? Also, there is a cold cut beard involved. We remember the 1980s. Maybe more the '90s when we start discussing it. But there are many cartoons, games and other media from our childhood that has influenced our games today. We discuss which of those stuck with us the most. Also, which classic cartoon would make a great RPG character? DC's website: https://www.dclasair.com/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/dclasair  Electrum Chef: https://youtube.com/live/0jhWZimC9mU  Charity Stream playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi8OQBTRM60x6yth1kdudrCRQWCyxnCSJ

On the show today: Oh Deer asks you to act like an NPC in a video game lest you get shot by an increasingly unhinged hunter. The TPK crew played this to hunt each other for sport and came away with a sense that it was unlike other gaming experiences because of it's structure. What does it feel like when you have to act like you are not playing a game? Getting a player acclimated to a new game can be a daunting task. Tutorials and training can become too overbearing or sparse for players to engage. So, what would we want to see from player orientation when we boot up the latest banger? Oh no, your players have become archfey and now your D&D campaign has to become a political thriller. We've all been there. How would we handle this situation? Is there a way to implement social combat? Reddit question on archfey - https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/1etb41t/all_my_players_became_archfey/ Our episode on Bastions in D&D - https://youtu.be/ATZhEunOM30

On the show today: It's not used very often, but tremorsense is an extrasensory ability some monsters use in D&D. There are some interesting scenarios that utilize this, but it's often a secondary thought. What is tremorsense? What are some fun ways to utilize it? Also, could there be something similar for water? Flanking maneuvers are common in warfare, but less common in RPGs. But they can provide good tactical advantages for you as a player. They can also backfire on you or be utilized by the enemies. How can we use flanking in our games? Also, be aware that there is an extensive digression into flank steak. Prone is a position you might not want to end up in, lying on your belly, waiting to get back in the action. However, in war games, prone can be a great advantage to create a lower profile, stabillize your weaponry or make you harder to see. This is not typically how it is used in D&D, but let's imagine that we could. Also, are we actually prone or supine?

On the show today:

We recently made a pros and cons episode on modding games and it got Nathan to thinking about something. What if he modded a game he had already played and beaten several times? And so, this is a tale of playing the modded version of KOTOR.

Can you actually categorize all video games into "Parkour" and "Menu"? A Calvin & Hobbes meme seems to think so, but it might not be as simple as all of that. Let's discuss what these terms actually refer to and if this assessment is legitimate.

Can you play Dungeons and Dragons with two people and no dungeon master? An interesting idea and possibly one to try out, but how exactly would that work? Is there a work-around to this question? And why does it have to be D&D at all?

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1ed7btz/is_it_possible_to_play_dnd_with_only_two_people/

On the show today:

The Exit 8 is not a long game, but it's not a bad thing. Can you imagine an Exit 80 just to pad the runtime? Some gamers want to maximize the amount of content, but it doesn't always apply. What do we want to experience in a game and how long is too long?

Traditional thinking is that villains are more interesting to play than heroes, but perhaps that's just because heroes were not written with complexity. Instead of just reacting to the villain's dastardly plans, the hero can have all sorts of character motivations, growth and history to flesh them out. Let's discuss how to make a more interesting hero and some examples of how that has taken shape in popular media.

Today's Reddit post is almost a decade old, so hopefully the poster found a resolution by now. The question involves a demon, a wish, a village turned to stone and a monkey's paw gone wrong. Three years into a mega dungeon campaign, will the party go out in a very silly way or live to tell the tale?

On the show today: Green Hell may have the most extreme level of survival mechanics Nathan has ever seen. It is unapologetic in how many ways you can die and presenting you with a world that wants you dead. It can be frustrating and will likely make you paranoid. It is also one of the best survival crafting games he has ever played. Why does this level of mechanics work so well for Green Hell and why can't you recreate it for other games in the genre? Mods can break a game but they can also enhance them. Nathan has traditionally tried to avoid using them until it becomes a necessity, but Alex uses them all the time. We will discuss kinds of mods and what the benefit or issue with them can be. During Steam Next Fest we played many demos, but there is also a rise in "Prologues" for upcoming games. Some of these serve as a stand-alone version of the demo, but others are their own thing. What would we like prologues to be, why do they exist and how could we distinguish them from demos?

On the show today: Have you ever started playing a survival crafting game where you wash up alone on an island? I know, it's never happened before, but for the sake of this conversation, we're going to talk about how this is a common trope and we can change up the formula. Maybe it's not an island. Maybe you're not alone. Maybe you went there intentionally. Also, we brainstorm a survival crafting version of Oregon Trail. A traditional RPG storyline involves a very powerful character who is specifically suited to kill a god. We discuss some ways to subvert this idea. Maybe you aren't special. Maybe the stakes are smaller. Maybe the chosen one is someone you need to stop. Your grandpa left you his farm. Welcome to Stardew Valley. Also, welcome to the basic structure of Harvest Moon, My Time at Portia, No Place Like Home, Blue Oak Bridge and so many others. But, what could we do to change this formula? Maybe you have to save up to afford the farm. Maybe you just have a backyard garden. Maybe you end up turning your farm into condos.

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: KlaytonCalix joins us to discuss Steam Next Fest Summer 2024. He wanted to tell us about playing Drill Core and Ova Magica, which were among the 12 games he got to this time. Alex tells us about Viking survival in Aska and why it worked better for him than Valheim. Nathan attempts to explain what you do in Goblin Cleanup, the most unique and bizarre game he played during Next Fest. What has Steam Next Fest done to game demos? Once, we would have demos up and they would stay there even after the game released. Next Fest takes all of those demos, hundreds of them, and condenses them into a week, with many of them leaving right after, never to return. Klayton joins us in discussing the good and bad that has come with the Steam Next Fest model. Also, we brainstorm some ideas on how to make it more comprehensive for the average gamer. Alex and Klayton really wanted to discuss World of Warcraft's Mists of Pandaria Remix. The problem is that they wanted to discuss it with Nathan. So, this is not a video about the WoW Remix. This is a challenge video where Nathan needs to stay awake while discussing the WoW Remix.

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:

We are back from vacation and Nathan wanted to discuss his time at Hancock Shaker Village because it got him thinking about how fantasy tech works. We will talk a bit about the round hay barn, the water turbine and how pre-industrial societies handled common day-to-day life. What does this teach us about the world-building of your RPG?

Nothing says relaxing vacation like hiking up a mountain. So, Nathan went up Monument Mountain and stared over a cliff at his potential demise. And that got him to thinking about difficult terrain and how to expand on the idea of making the environment an obstacle itself.

Alex went off to LA and all he brought back was a giant D20. Also, his experience on the West Coast got him thinking about facets of a city that remain hidden from view, even by those who live there. What should we think about when building urban environments in RPGs?

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:

It's our first episode recorded in front of a live studio audience! Some folks listened in to our episode before we went on vacation and had some comments to add to this discussion of weird questions from Reddit.

The player wants to kill off their character because they did stats bad. But, like, why would you do that? Perhaps they can just go to an adventuring tavern upstate.

Can you hard boil a red dragon egg? What qualities would the egg have that are similar to the dragon? How did the poll for this question wind up so close?

We are going to talk about chemistry. It is a completely normal, very simple conversation and not morbid at all. It may contain discussion of skeletons, necromancy, acid and decomposition. But in a completely normal, not weird way.

Sometimes you create items in a game that are useful, but other times you create items that just mess with the players. We discuss some things that will make characters question their morality and annoy them profusely.

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Candyland may not be a very feature-rich game, but perhaps it could be used as a mechanic for another game... for reasons. We look at a post suggesting this and ask the question about what these mechanics could be if we really wanted to whip out this board game from the back of the closet. Candyland as a mechanic? - https://twitter.com/riseupcomus/status/1783156398752203009 How hard should you play with the mechanics of a game so you can do a very simple thing? How lost in the weeds can we get when playing with a system? Well, Nathan ran across a Reddit question from many years ago that takes minutia to a new level while making a D&D monster. Weird Question - https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/5qf5kw/weird_question_i_need_less_hp/ Games can often prove frustrating for the sheer reason that they are difficult, but also suffer from a lack of saving. This was mentioned by The Librarian in relation to Rain World, but Nathan also has an example from his own experience last year: 9 Years of Shadows. The Librarian clip - https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxiOtqSi8wrm2s8hzUSfCS6jxQnv2hsiOQ

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Fallout got a TV show and Nathan thinks it did a really good job at representing the series, even for people who have no previous experience with the series. Let's talk about how the characters help introduce many of the big themes about Fallout. Also, how can you adapt one medium into another, especially when you move from an interactive to non-interactive one? Demos can really help sell a game to skeptical players, but they need to succeed at a handful of things. What are those things? We are going to discuss what we look for in demos for them to work. KlaytonCalix gave us an odd article where the former president of Blizzard suggested tipping for great games. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this idea. There is absolutely no way to exploit this monetization. And so, let's discuss how game companies will absolutely make this work perfectly. https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/former-blizzard-president-suggests-you-should-be-able-to-leave-a-dollar10-or-dollar20-tip-for-the-devs-because-some-games-are-that-special/

On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown: Nine years ago we released the 1st episode of Delve, a podcast about game mechanics. On this episode we revisit some of our early topics from the show. What are some of the RPG skills that don't get represented in games? Can you build small machines or mediate a discussion between others? We talk about the skills that are often not listed in the player's handbook. We just keep going back to hit points. It's a problem and we understand that. Today we try to figure out why so many games will revert back to this system and how it is represented on the screen. Perhaps it should be hidden behind the screen? Perhaps this is also about user interface... The Design Delve video Alex won't shut up about - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHdY7956gwg In D&D there are two ways we determine Armor Class. One is by the armor you are wearing and the other is by your dexterity score. Although these are functionally different, they are mechanically the same in the game. Can we make them less similar? Maybe we can play off the different ways we derive this stat and how it affects our character.