#330 Xenolanguage with Kathryn Hymes

This week, Dirk and David are joined by Kathryn Hymes, co-owner of Thorny Games and former co-host of the show. Together, they discuss Kathryn’s new game Xenolanguage, a roleplaying game where players take the role of humans tasked with deciphering an alien language. They give their thoughts on designing GMless games, especially focusing on how to facilitate interesting experiences within the rules. Topics include an in-depth look at Xenolanguage’s design, the breadth in experience of GMless games, approaching the business side of GMless games, and what future games may look like in the field of language.

Episode Outline

0:00 Beginning of Show

1:03 End of Intro

1:14 What Kathryn’s been doing

4:12 What is Xenolanguage

8:19 Xenolanguage Play Length

10:08 Designing GMless Games

13:48 The Deck

18:29 How do you approach the business side

23:54 How do you provide an entertaining experience

27:18 AI in game design

41:18 Getting satisfaction from GMless games

46:13 Future games in language

51:51 Outro

52:56 End of Show

In this Episode

Kathryn Hymes - @katehymes , thornygames.com
David V. Heron - @davidvheron
Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer