Brain Trust (Adam Vass & Will Jobst)

We’re back! Talking about shirts, mousetrap, making zines, and Adam’s game Sweet Revenge. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.
Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

Season 1, Episode 2b Bonus: In this episode, we enter the Therapy-G zone to talk about how to run dungeons while playing digitally!

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

Appendix N:

Western Kabuki

Wolves Upon the Coast

Dungeons and Dragons (disrespectful)

Dungeon Robber

In this new sort of game, everyone in the world is a target. Or an opportunity. The only thing you have are your devices, a personal code, and a lifelong commitment and understanding of the trifold axis of our new world. Seek the mysteries of the forebears, extract your pound of flesh, get points in exchange for advanced techniques, and choose your path. Savior or scourge? Do you walk alone or do you work with other for your ends?

For solitaire, I believe it’s an old game played by trees. Grow high and blow down in the wind. Give your twigs and branches and leaves and arms to the forest floor, and let the restorative blaze cycle the woods. The game is over next summer.

Sign up to back Adam’s brand new Kickstarter Protest Singer 2e, launching June 9th right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/protestsinger.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

We answer questions about reengaging with WIPS, designing the roleplaying out of rpgs, and the three new questions of design.

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Fighting bats, finding fun, and brain storming Cybermetal and Torq. We talk about modern/violent settings that don’t use guns, debt as a core activity, and making alt-futures.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

On this episode, we talk about the new Pokemon, the differences between storage lockers and graveyards, and make a game after our favorite Cabinet of Curiosities episode!

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

I'm moving y'all, no time for shownotes.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

We're live, at the Olympics! We talk about things in threes, Boston glory, and make a game about rock docs called ROCK DOC. 

Adam's ARTIST STATEMENT bundle is available here--get it now: https://itch.io/s/54879/artist-statement-rpgs

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/RxX9Gw5E

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

AN ILLUSIVE NIGHT RECORDING. Spoilers for the $tranger Thing$ 3 in-car soiree.Drive-in experiences. 11 casting call. The quarry. Cars. This episode is wheeling and dealing, just like the D&D drive through. What rules minutiae question would you ask? I would ask if Tensor’s Floating Disk could hold another Tensor’s Floating Disk on it. Then you could just multiply the weight requirements and just straight up Death Stranding this whole thing. That game is great because MF DOOM will tell you: You got it Sam! I need you to make another delivery. This time, we need you to connect Bucko Knot City. Check the terminal for more details.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Great to be back in beautiful Indiana, the home of Cattail Wheatseed. What else? Necronautilus funded day one. No big. What else? We talk safety mechanics, modes of play, and table tools. Also haircuts, the ren faire unicorn, and more.

Adam has a Kickstarter going, check it out right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/necronautilus.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

What If The Joker Could Beatbox, other Halloween costumes, reclaiming hobbies from our work, and more!

The Good Luck Press Halloween Zine Goodie Bag is here: https://goodluckpress.co/products/halloween-game-goodie-bag?variant=41018502250690.

Preorder CAMPFIRE at braintrust.rocks

Presave CYBERMETAL 2012 HERE: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/iu788d7wrgt8w71nb52tbyfwxfp#/

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

We talk about tabling zine fairs, Kickstarter, blockchain, memory rewrites, BEANS, and more!

Get CAMPFIRE at https://www.worldchamp.io/store/campfire-anthology-horror-storytelling

Presave CYBERMETAL 2012 HERE: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/iu788d7wrgt8w71nb52tbyfwxfp#/

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

We’re back, we’ve been back. While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

In this episode, we’re talking all about hexes, inspired by Adam’s hex jam (https://itch.io/jam/hexjam) and his hex pack (https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/world-champ-hex-kit)! Hexes are a type of gon. Gon is math for shapes. Different gons mean different things. We’re going to get pretty technical here, so buckle up. Will gets caught in a roll and Adam is in a plain old good mood. We talk about bees. We know we’re wrong. There’s nothing you can do.

We don’t mention solitaire on this episode, but the rules are like this: see what you can do on a community level to support BIPOC LGBTQIA+ lives. In your town, city, or state, see what you can do and do it.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst.

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are two big fangs. We’re Weezer now. Life’s going to be a little different, out here in the g’rage and Beverly Hills. Adam unveils 500 years of vegan secrets and outlines new editions of Babes in the Wood and Protest Singer. Will recounts a citrus meltdown and makes an enemy of Frank. We made a game on this episode that really asks: what that mouth do? This is our Green Album. This is our Vampire RPG. (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

It’s our fiftieth episode! No celebration. Will and Adam talk about bespoke RPG items and how making small runs and micro runs and runs of one is good. Also minecraft. Is Steve smiling? Or is it a beard. I’m not asking you to tell me the answer. I’m suggesting you think long and hard. We also talk about games that don’t take for granted the hangups of the medium.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

We’re back, talking about monsters we could take on, Cybermetal, TORQ release, and an obtuse lifestyle.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Back Soulburner right now at dying.day.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Bottoms up, and the devil laughs. We crack cold ones (caffeinated drinks) before we crack gold ones (ideas). We’re talking about pseudo-live games with artboards and demon blood and boxing machines and all of that. It's the day of the big meat and I know this judge likes minions.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Take a little break with the Brain Trust. We’re talking week two of Gen Con, Necronautilus playtest, and random generation. Beans by Highlite and Fazenda. Burr and blade. That’s us: the Brain Trust. We're still doing this, we've carved a niche. We've poured a cup.

Adam has a Kickstarter going, check it out right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/necronautilus.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

Imagine this: pickle talk. Phantom city. Prequels. Well, you don’t need to imagine it any more, because we recorded a podcast about it. Adam dives into the line design of DARTS, including their Y2K prequel.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/Q6D7UTse

for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/Q6D7UTse

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

This is a big “catching them all” episode. Also Psycho Goreman, Kickstarter’s interpretation of itself, and more! We bash together a game of legendary proportions. 

Get Babes in the Wood 2e right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/babes.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

It’s been a year since we funded, so we take a look at the episode where we melted down. So, let’s melt down again! Inside this special director’s cut DVD Blu-Ray commentary we realize the Brain Trust’s Adam and Will have the same conversations over and over and over and over again. About nothing. Maybe, and this is just a thought, our patterns of politeness are so consistent that we recapitulate the same niceties and conversationality almost verbatim. It’s actually a sign that we’re really good and kind. And smart and funny. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

BACK CYBERMETAL 2012 TODAY: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/iu788d7wrgt8w71nb52tbyfwxfp#/. We talk CYBERMETAL, emo cowboys, macho man, metallica, and more!

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are a weird hand gesture. We are sundials on your walk. We are apples and milk, but worse. In this episode, we talk about layout, failure, and building a relationship with your work. Will might still be in an infinity library of their own design. Adam chats his new game, Aurora, available today at https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/aurora. What fruits do lizards like? We don’t talk about solitaire, but here’s how I’d describe it: the goal solitaire is to build a canon of saints. Cards are revealed and placed into mismatched columns, representing their mortal lives. When they are ascended into the four suites, describe their saintly works. What was the context of their lives? When you’ve filled heaven, stop playing.

Here’s a list of graphic design resources to help you on your journey:  https://www.shillingtoneducation.com/blog/50-essential-free-resources-graphic-designers-2020-update/

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

On this episode, we talk about our 2023 goals, what vape carts go with what RPGs, the Jobst Style Guide, Adam’s consulting, giving back to the community, making a million dollars, and more!

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

On this episode, we chat about what happens when we send games to print, and the eternal struggle of supporting systems with adventure releases. How do you build a play culture?

Check out this link for a list of zine quest projects: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XGdtJVXGD5FD3XMcsS_FXdLN6OuRvmaYlm7Zfyo6zVs/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Find Adam Vass’s Midnight Marathon here: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/7608ff96-13c1-4dd9-aa9b-c7a50f762b1e/landing?ref=bk-discover-user-profile

Find Seb Pines’ Underneath here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spines/underneath-2

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

The direct midpoint. You’re there and we’re on the way. What’s the direct midpoint of this podcast and you? The space between your thumb and a screen? The headphone cable or static air? The bones in your ear? The little bones playing blacksmith? We’re talking trailers, we’re talking schlock, we’re talking double features. Once I went to go see a grindhouse movie at the Brattle and I had to cover my ears for every gunshot and scream because the 70s audio mixing was so bad it was ice-pick level. The movie was called Snape Island and the reel was so corroded the movie was pink.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

Lifepaths, maze paths, unboxing, and bank robberies.

Get CAMPFIRE at https://www.worldchamp.io/store/campfire-anthology-horror-storytelling

Presave CYBERMETAL 2012 HERE: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/iu788d7wrgt8w71nb52tbyfwxfp#/

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

Today we’re talking about support for jams, as we’re in the Summer-long TORQ-toyathon! Sign up for the jam for TORQ today: https://itch.io/jam/torq-design-derby

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Heat, eboys, and the sun. Key rings and zines that are maps. And character sheets. And even more. Adam and Will get ever closer to the illusive game island while also evading the Ring Fit strong dragon. What’s a good heart rate? I’m asking hypothetically, as I keep mine as low as possible. I’m talking voting-age BPM. We whip up a rightly weird dungeon crawler and then explore our modular format across genres. Most notably, the fair.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

BACK CYBERMETAL TODAY: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/iu788d7wrgt8w71nb52tbyfwxfp#/. We talk 2022 trends, guns (or the lack thereof) in games, writing, a special word from BEANS, and more!

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are your drive-time DJs on 69.3 AM, your home for funny number bands. We are again apologizing to the gamers, recollecting radio stations past, and definitely specifically not at all trying to say anything on the Brain Trust bingo board. We make three games involving other games, experiences on top of experiences, like a double decker bus but for games. Do you understand? Adam remembers the bill of a lifetime and Will debuts some impressions from fucking 50 years ago. In this episode: people placement games, adding phases to Destiny, and an earnest try in describing how to play solitaire. I’ll try again right here. You’ve got a deck of cards and you slowly spread them across the table. Doesn’t matter what side is facing. Spread them all out and make a contiguous island. That’s called “solitaire island”. Pull cards together that look like they should be together. You so many tectonic plates ripping up solitaire pangea. Play for 299 million years and then stop.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

Talkin’ tactics, our own special way. Fictional triggers for mechanics, circles in Minecraft, and a live playstorm of a new game!

Check out TECH JAM TACTICS here: https://itch.io/jam/tech-jam-2-tactics

Presave CYBERMETAL 2012 HERE: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/iu788d7wrgt8w71nb52tbyfwxfp#/

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/Q6D7UTse

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

On this episode, we talk to game designer, podcaster, and collage EXPERT Aaron King about Patchwork World, wonder cabinets, loud neighbors, and play a game of our own creation!

____

Find Aaron’s games at https://erinking.itch.io/ and listen to RTFM at http://www.rtfmcast.com/

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

Season 1, Episode 10: In this episode, we answer listener questions, specifically about monster design, art, and “quiet innovation”. 

Appendix N: 

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/rock-paper-scissors---a-method-for-competitive-game-play-design

Made Out Of Meat: Health Systems In Video Games

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

Season 1, Episode 7: In this episode we join our hosts mere minutes after the end of a successful Kickstarter. 

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Send us your zinequest picks! Send us your Spiral: Book of Saw picks! Send us your very best medicine because we are metaphysically sick!

Get TORQ: rallyraid roleplaying right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/willjobst/torq

Get Babes in the Wood 2e right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/babes.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Season 1, Episode 2: In this episode, we talk about the meta roles at the RPG table, asymmetrical stats, and a playstorm where we go goblin mode. 

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

Appendix N:

Sixth Sense

Scanners

Plasmodics: mutant freaks in the weird future

Disco Elysium

Among Us (amongus)

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5

Kim Diaz Holm

Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering

Campfire

Into the Odd

A Ship of Theseus RPG

Oblique Strategies

Occult Strategies

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

On this episode, we review a leaked copy of One D&D, that we absolutely acquired. It devolves into Adam and Will playing “keep one and leave one” for all the mechanics of D&D until it’s something we like. Wet dragon.

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Nobody extends a metaphor like tabletop game designers. It’s a survival tool, you play inside the metaphors. Metaphors, we call them. I truly hope any fish listening can understand where we’re coming from. I’m linking NONE of the tiktoks or pictures we mentioned on the show. I’m sorry. If you came here to check please @ me on twitter and I’ll try and find them.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Season 1, Episode 5: In this episode, we talk about shock jocks, graphic design, and studying adventures, and in the middle we design the Born to Die TTRPG! Listen to part two of this episode only on Ko-Fi, on 2/6. 

Find the Born to Die RPG at https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/.

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

Appendix N: 

⁠Born to Die⁠

Ali on TikTok

Sinix Design

Elliotisacoolguy

Shannon Swales

Struthless

Electric Bastionland

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Lancer

Kill Five Billion Demons

Ten Million HP Planet

Hardspace Shipbreaker

Good Friends of Jackson Elias

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

We supercollide games together for the Game(s) Jam, running now! Find it here: https://itch.io/jam/games-jam-2022.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

It is it Harry Potter or Dragon Ball? How would you end a campaign? What if it’s all a simulation? How can we hang out? These are not questions to consider, they are questions that would be answered in synaptic moments. The answer is available and it’s about dedicating the correct amount of brain electricity to divine it. It’s a microtransaction for your amygdala. We’re still on the way back from Gen Con.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are random entries. We’re in a treasure appendix and you always fudge the numbers a little bit to get us. In this episode, we generate an episode of the Brain Trust podcast. Will chats about their new game, shipwrights, available today at https://willjobst.itch.io/shipwrights. Adam propagates some mechanics from his strategy game draft Ossuary. I think this is how you play solitaire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuJiUscfjQw.

Want to generate your own episode of the Brain Trust podcast?

Start by talking about (d6): 

1. the show itself
2. small horror of quarantine
3. some shit from the discord
4. anecdote about entertainment
5. doing a bit
6. roll twice and use both

Modified by our recent release (d4):

1. this discord has ghosts in it
2. a guide to casting phantoms in the revolution
3. kickstarter
4. faker shit

Then, take a break and then make a game about (d4):

1. media property
2. a joke
3. a suggestion
4. a mechanic

Cross reference with quality (d3):

1. farts game
2. serviceable game
3. lovely good game

Do this a couple times and then say "brain emoji, handshake emoji"

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

Sandbox design, interpretive scene design and how do we approach both! Goalsetting within purely player driven games, and CYBERMETAL 2012 chat.

Preorder CAMPFIRE at braintrust.rocks

Check out TECH JAM TACTICS here: https://itch.io/jam/tech-jam-2-tactics

Presave CYBERMETAL 2012 HERE: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/iu788d7wrgt8w71nb52tbyfwxfp#/

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

In this preliminary episode, our hosts Adam Vass and Will Jobst discuss the Brain Trust (the podcast, the kickstarter campaign, the roleplaying game, and the community). We go over the different pledge levels, how we break kickstarter, how you can *play with our campaign, and how the podcast will work moving forward. Visit our kickstarter campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/braintrust

Adam Vass and Will Jobst bring ten game pitches, and whittle them down to five. In the meanwhile, Will flips a coin three times, Adam discusses killing your darlings, and we both submit our five options to the BRAIN TRUST , to decide the game we make over the next five weeks. Check the Kickstarter out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/braintrust Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Adam Vass and Will Jobst chat with game designer, writer, and graphic artist Nathan D. Paoletta. On this episode, they discuss the winner of the pitches, the “big three” questions, and expansive design. Check the Kickstarter out here: http://kck.st/2JMjohW. You can find Nathan and his work at ndpdesign.com, and the | BLACK | RED | WHITE | Nonexistent Games Kickstarter here: http://kck.st/2LXpXjy. Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst chat with game designer, musician, and creative Takuma Okada about creative sparks, game jams, physical items used in gameplay... and Bionicles. We also discuss some physical artifacts that could appear in our game and ask you to help us choose the next step. Check the Kickstarter out here: http://kck.st/2JMjohW. You can find Takuma Okada’s games at noroadhome.itch.io and their music at soundcloud.com/noroadhome. Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst chat with tabletop roleplaying game designer, larp designer, and writer Banana Chan about prototypes, developing physical objects, Gen Con, and the power of whiteboarding. We also discuss the voice that our game will communicate in and ask you to help us choose the next step. Check the Kickstarter out here: http://kck.st/2JMjohW. You can find Banana Chan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bananachangames and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/banana.chann. Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst chat with software developer, game designer, and writer extraordinaire Nell Raban about the courage of putting your ideas into the public eye, the roles of cops in fantasy, and intentional and unintentional antagonism in roleplay. We also reveal the tone of our game that you voted on and we offer up the very big final poll: the name of our game. Check the Kickstarter out here: http://kck.st/2JMjohW. Find Nell Raban on Twitter at twitter.com/nell_do_well and her games at nell-raban.itch.io. Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

On the final week of their Kickstarter Campaign, Adam Vass and Will Jobst chat with Diana Jones award winning game designer of Starcrossed & For The Queen: Alex Roberts! We talk about designing game systems to be hack-friendly, our early childhood game designs, and roman candle fights. We also reveal the title of our RPG that you helped decide in last week’s poll. This is the final 48 hours of the Brain Trust kickstarter campaign! Show your support here: http://kck.st/2JMjohW. Find Alex Roberts online at helloalexroberts.com, Twitter at twitter.com/muscularpikachu and support her on Patreon at patreon.com/helloalexroberts Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Episode 7: Funded

We funded? YEAH WE DID. In this episode, Adam and Will collectively exhale, talk about the future, and plan their break. We’ll be back in your feeds later this month, but for the meanwhile, we’re going to take a beat. We chat about exhaustion roleplaying, the last exciting days of the campaign, and more. This episode is a thank-you note to our backers, that made this podcast and campaign possible. 

Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are a world apart, but the brain keeps trusting. On this episode, Will talks to Lucian Kahn, game designer, pentagram expert, and absolute wit. We talk about luminiferous ether, geezer energy, the Kickstarter union, what pipe cleaners are for, and the mythic wit of Lucian Kahn. We also chat about the upcoming MALL GOTHS VS VISIGOTHS Kickstarter. Adam checks in via phantoscope at the end of the episode, live from Australia. 

Find Lucian Kahn online at https://twitter.com/oh_theogony and his games at https://necromancy.itch.io/. Catch MALL GOTHS VS VISIGOTHS, coming to Kickstarter on October 1st!

Want to talk to us? Record a voice memo and send it to jointhebraintrust@gmail.com

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst
Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are back in the same country, time to catch up! On this episode, Adam brings a hack of Alex Roberts’ For The Queen where the word “Queen” is replaced with “Game Design.” It’s devastating. It’s really just, a lot. Adam and Will get ready for a season of design by talking about what makes them feel beautiful, the Kickstarter union, made-up cons, and our Nardwuar presents.  Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst bring back the wonderful For The Queen hack “For The Game Design” and bring it on the road to Big Bad Con 2019 with a flurry of amazing designers and friends drawing cards. Adam & Will also have a nice discussion in-studio about player skill progression from repetitive play and start to re-assess where they are with the design process of A Guide to Casting Phantoms in The Revolution. Keep up with all of the designers who made appearances on the show this week: Suzanne Schenewerk a-sputnik.itch.io @smoreofbabylon Jason Brown https://blooperly.itch.io/ @blooperly_ Alex Roberts helloalexroberts.com @muscularpikachu JR Goldberg jrgoldb.itch.io @wrestlingbubble Mabel Harper @maybeitsmabel Nell Raban https://nell-raban.itch.io/ @nell_do_well Taylor LaBresh riverhousegames.itch.io game closet podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/game-closet/id1091145623?mt=2) Adira Slattery adira.itch.io @adiraslattery Viditya Voleti vidityavoleti.itch.io @vidityavoleti Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are two cars passing in the night. Adam’s about to leave on tour, and Will is back! On this episode, we clear the sticky-note docket, compare Gallaghers, and test dream games. Adam debriefs after Big Bad Con and Will presents the newest luxury RPG product. Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are together in the same room! Live and direct for Worcester, MA, Adam and Will reunite! They talk about Pokemon (Shield), the status of A Guide to Casting Phantoms in the Revolution, Adam’s upcoming game Cobwebs, and the joy of gaming with new players. Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst give the definitive ranking of everything, including: best games you haven’t read yet, most questionable lunches, and, well, slaw. They talk about ghosts of episodes’ past, their favorite games of the year, and Pokemon. Who’s Auld Lang Syne anyways? I’m going to look it up and get back to you. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

I looked it up. Auld Lang Syne is a type of complicated bread. Wow!

Adam Vass and Will Jobst get lit. What does 2020 hold? Will gets grim, fast. Adam explores Doozle and the goblin conundrum. Then they crescendo into music games, with notes and pianos and clapping and that certain TikTok noise. This episode features a playstorm of my car is in the front yard, now available on at willjobst.itch.io/my-car-is-in-the-front-yard. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst bluesky the next actually good corporate game. As with every movement in games, it’s one of two things. Call of Duty or Spiderman. Chipotle or Taco Bell. They talk about the scariest character sheets, zines ahead of ZineQuest 2020, and a deep dive into Adam’s coming-to-Kickstarter game Cobwebs (January 28th, mark it!). For more information, check out Adam’s mailing list right here. 

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst set off fireworks in celebration of Cobwebs funding! We prepare our minds to enter the green realm of Zine Quest 2 by highlighting some of our most anticipated zines. Adam ponders what his own catalog, the bounds between heavy metal fucker shit and kid shit. Will recounts a scary noise from the woods. They both chat about a Guide to Casting Phantoms in the Revolution and hint toward a mysterious break in the episode. Huh. 

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst discover that for every thing, there is an anti-thing. Matter. Malls. Games designers. We chat about reinvention, kickstarter peeves, and wonder why you were nodding along in the first place. Adam looks at the katamaris (the game of cousins), the long view of one’s catalog, and gets ready to wrap up the Cobwebs kickstarter (while previewing what’s to come). Will anatomizes the anti-designer, and then becomes it. They also hack up a lung and think about that nice western doctor, that they’re gonna just go ahead and google the name of right now. Dr. Amos "Doc" Cochran. Ye-haw. Adam and Will both chat about the future of the show, and the shape of the Brain Trust to come! 

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst. 

Adam Vass and Will Jobst take it all apart piece by piece and put it back together again. We’re back, baby, in the same zip code. Hell, we’re even in the same room. Locking eyes and bass boosting fives. The California sun is nice, I’m not afraid to say it. In this one we talk about playing A Guide to Casting Phantoms in the Revolution (Together! In person!), how screen printing techniques inform game design, and chopping and screwing game systems.  Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.  Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst tear it up, materially-speaking. We tear it up, generally, too. But today it’s specific. You get it. In this episode, we design three games revolving around the destruction of zines, with at least one of them about LOST. If you love something, sometimes you have to rip it up into 1,000 pieces. This episode is ready-made with everything you need: foley experiment, Adam and Will getting the mind-blown feeling, and minimal references to the reason we’re all inside.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

Our new zine, Brain Modification or An Archival History History of Ego Death is now available for preorder at https://worldchampgame.co/store/brain-modification-or-an-archival-history-of-ego-death-by-adam-vass-amp-will-jobst.

While you’re there, you should hire Adam for illustration, layout, writing, design, project management, or consulting. Just saying.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst enter online, again. We derail fast to talk about supermarkets, blueboxes, and Will’s friendly upstairs cult. Adam give a Quietus play report, and we both talk about playing games online. Will debuts a brand-new joke and Adam reveals himself to be something of a music guy. Wow! A programming note, in these quarantine-days, we’re going to switch from biweekly to weekly! You’ll get episodes like these, in which we check-in, go wild, and exchange grocery store pincer formation strategies. You’ll also get episodes in which we bash together a game, live! Last episode, we dreamed up Total Station, a zine-ripping, map uncovering game. Look for progress of that throughout April. Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst brainstorm and brainproduce three games using online. What kind of games lean into the crosstalk and overspeaking of voice chat, the private space around your computer, or the haunted house that is Discord? We got you. Adam unveil a very good impression of our favorite LOST character, Will doesn’t analyze the significance of twos, and we both consider what makes a flakey, fresh, homemade brain crust. Bazinga count for this episode: 1. Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst. Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

In an attempt to assist future attempts to catalog this podcast, the actually good stuff we talk about are hexing a story map, storying a hex map, and a visual description of something complicated. We bash a game about Starship Troopers within a complicated hex framework. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are against the owlbears. Not "against" so much as "attempting to coexist". They induct a new Pokemon into the Brain Trust-Certified Favorite Pokemon club, talk about the playtest of THIS DISCORD HAS GHOSTS IN IT (available now: https://willjobst.itch.io/ghosts), dive into what early access means to us, and remember the name of the music website. Spin? Stereogum? We plot out an open development release for the mapmaking game TOTAL STATION.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

Season 1, Episode 11: In this episode, we tackle a question from Ethan Yen about creating competitive TTRPGs. 

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

Season 1, Episode 1: In this episode we talk about the structure of the show, how we plan to make it, and what kind of things we’ll talk about. We introduce the Techlab with our first topic: what makes a good first sentence or intro paragraph of an RPG? 

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

Appendix N:

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Wolves Upon the Coast

How to Summon a Spirit

TORQ: rallyraid roleplaying

Plasmodics: mutant freaks in the weird future

Cybermetal 2012

We’re chatting about collaboration, Guns n’ Roses, and how we like to work with each other!

1978: The Night THEY Came Home. Go to 1978.games and reserve your copy today! 

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

We have an exciting new opportunity for you, and some tickets to sell. We chat about mentorship and how to knowledge share with others, and preview some upcoming games! 

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

In this one, we talk about Open World RPG, available on itch.io right now! We chat special sauces, play experiences starting from the rules or from the head, and shirts that fell off the truck.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Pan-shot! Dinosaurs versus yetis. We’re talking about other methods of crowdfunding, looking at traditional publishing, pre-Kickstarter ransom projects, and more! How do we take Kickstarter mentality and not give 10% to unionbusters and credit card companies? What’s a creatively sustainable alternative to Patreon?

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Craigslist, pickup truck space, Yahtzee, and more. Adam reveals a mysterious new type of nostalgia. We make table games, not computer games for computer and gameboy.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

Vote for BABES IN THE WOOD for Best Family Game in this year’s ENnies: https://vote.ennie-awards.com/vote/2022/ballot.php?category_id=9

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

We’re live in Indy, tailgating for Gen Con 2022. We talk about the True Dungeon meta, the dentists that came before us, and answer questions from the Brain Trust.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Some St. Anger on this one. We talk more in-depth about bounty-board style crowdfunding, season of design, and licensing. We talk about our dream license, listening to a lot of Bastionland podcast, and giving our phone numbers to Robert Eggers. We chat about Will’s work-in-progress MORK BORG post-apocalyptic car world hack TORQUE [BORG]. How do we implement some system-doesn’t-matter energy into story games? And vice versa?

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

On this episode, we talk about Halloween and make a game about the seasonal Halloween megastore: Spirit Halloween! We chat about Dragonball, Resident Evil, making small games and big games and the struggles with both!

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

In this episode, we brainstorm a new type of jam, the Tech Jam! Join here: https://itch.io/jam/tech-jam. Also, we figure out what games want, airdrop violence, and more! Cannot call this the slurp episode, but that won't stop you, will it.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst.

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/wypnwWMn

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

We’re still somewhere in Indy, plotting an anti-con. We talk about Action 5 News and make a game inspired by it!

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are Hollywood again. This is the beginning of a new era of Brain Trusting. A computerized world. For art and likes. And Dew. In this episode we dramatize game design, ask: what is owlbear?, and get into your innards. Adam dives into ForeverDex: a game about monster and mail at https://worldchampgameco.itch.io/foreverdex, and Will talks about just getting your head right and taking it easy and saying “fuck it” it’s okay to not do anything and also to do anything, I don’t know, I'm surrounded by black rectangles. We also cover our plans going forward with Ghosts.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

It’s like an attract mode of an arcade cabinet but for a headstone. That headstone is for Adam Vass, inventor of Reggs. We create two games to play on another podcast, both with [R]eggs. Look it’s election day and I just want to get this podcast to you. The box has a name.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Go out and watch Speed Racer (2008) right now. Also, we put up a bounty board for zines we want.

Get Babes in the Wood 2e right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/babes.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Anxiety podcasting like the best of them. We’re excited on this one! Predictions for the short and long-term, Control inspirations, and Vasstradamaus.

Get Babes in the Wood 2e right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/babes.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Today, we debut Adam’s newest RPG and crowdfunding campaign: 1978: The Night THEY Came Home. Go to 1978.games and reserve your copy today! 

We chat about all things 1978, the shared nightmare of being in school again, triangulating where a game fits in the world, and updates on our projects and lives. 

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Torq, Cyber Metal, serialized rpgs, instragram endless scroll, Norman Reedus, box QWOP, and more. We really don’t stop until we’re done on this episode. Plans for ZineQuest 2021, Will’s moving tips, and applying comix publishing to game zines. This year has felt slightly longer than other years, no?

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

In this episode: the reverse funnel, dungeon spirits, multiplayer AI, and the a LOT of Wizard of Oz. 

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

Procedural generation, Signs of the Sojourner, and more! We go deep on an upcoming game and the procedural tools used to explore every avenue of play.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/wypnwWMn

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

The Brain Trust podcast is a foley-centric soundscape for those invested or interested in the heard world. Also, we explore different styles of campaign play, focused around living worlds with multiple groups playing in a shared space or time. Kill Dick Dastardly. Save the world. 

We don't talk about solitaire on this episode, but it's a game in which you read old letters. 

The Brain Trust is hosting a shared world Lancer RPG, if you’re reading this, come check it out in the discord!

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

On this episode, we rank the best stuff of 2022! For spoilers and links to our favorites, check them out below:

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Most useful randomizer

Adam: hand-made oracle cards

Will: hand-churned google sheets randomizers

Character of the year

Will: John Locke from LOST

Adam: Pumpkin kid from @hh_toys_inc

Worst WIP

Adam: SOULBURNER

Will: Heckhead

Clutchest graphic design asset

Adam: Blkmarket dust and scratch pack (https://blkmarket.com/product/dust-and-scratches/)

Will: A ruler and a square

Shape of the year

Will: Pringle

Adam: Klein bottle

Best font

Adam: Glassure (https://www.behance.net/gallery/80102797/Glassure-Typeface-v10)

Will: Work sans (https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Work+Sans)

Zoo animal (from Adira!)

Will: Emu

Adam: Capybara

Dice result

Adam: 1

Will: 0, 00

Snack (from Kayla!)

Will: Almonds

Adam: El Matador tortilla chips

Immaculate vibes (from Dan!)

Adam: Frankenstein (the doggie)

Will: Warhammer: Darktide clutch

Most tone (from Dan!)

Adam: Bloodbeam Badlands by Viditya Voleti (https://vidityavoleti.itch.io/bloodbeam-badlands)

Will: Cybermetal 2012 (https://www.worldchamp.io/store/cybermetal-2012)

Fav Brain Trust episode

Will: Gen Con episodes

Adam: Games jam

Fav game you read

Into the Odd, by Chris McDowall (https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/into-the-odd/)

Favorite video game

Adam: Horizon Forbidden West

Will: Citizen Sleeper

Favorite social media alternative

Adam: Coffee shop

Will: Playing rpgs with friends

Most outlaw rpg (from Dan!)

Adam: TORQ (https://goodluckpress.co/products/torq)

Will: ad&d

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Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

Season 1, Episode 0

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are back with another season of the Brain Trust podcast, starting this Thursday! In this preview episode, get to know our new format, release schedule, and how to support us. 

Visit https://ko-fi.com/thebraintrust and throw us a few bucks a month to hear seasonal bonus episodes, get access to merch sales, and more! 

Find us at https://braintrust.rocks/.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

Adam Vass and Will Jobst are two game designers making a podcast! If you're new, start here—we'll catch you up.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB.

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

Today we’re talking about zines, available across the internet for Zine Month 2023!

• The Lovers
• Plasmodics
• Sweet Revenge 
• Horse Girl
• Chiron’s Doom
• Electrum Archive #2
• Miru 2
• Strictly Between Us
• Contact
• Low-Res Futures

____

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

What would all our projects look like under a different lens? We look at A Guide to Casting Phantoms in the Revolution, This Discord Has Ghosts in It, and Campfire, and see if we can’t skew our view.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

CAMPFIRE: the anthology horror storytelling game is live on Kickstarter now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/braintrust/campfire-0

In this episode we chat about Campfire, boxed games, what we got out of everywhere we’ve lived, imaginary games, and then a BIG chunk on Wastelanders! If you want to get caught up with Wastelanders design, check out this episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-trust/id1473715893?i=1000514149278

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/Q6D7UTse

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

CAMPFIRE: the anthology horror storytelling game is live on Kickstarter now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/braintrust/campfire-0

In this episode, the agony of designing a playmat, Kickstarter mentality, and classic Coeus.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/Q6D7UTse

While you’re here, contribute to AAPI support networks (https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/) and Black Lives Matter (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/).

On this episode, we talk about CYBERMETAL 2012, available now at https://www.worldchamp.io/store/cybermetal-2012. We make characters and a gang for you to put in your Cybermetal game!

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discord.gg/vGB9UYYveK

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

We’re just looking at a bunch of marble. That’s what a podcast is--it’s just wave forms and chisels. We talk about meta metacurrencies, micro and mecro transactions, and bloon.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

It’s us again. We’re here at Gen Con, week four, this time the convention center is empty. In this sonic and physical playground we have fun, and escape the spectre of one gaping golem. Also, accounts. Also, we look at battle royale aspects inside of tabletop games. Adam finished the Sopranos and discusses nostalgia while Will brags and brags. We chat about creating in deep quarantine and the self discoveries about our relationships to our work. The Paizo man is out there.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB

While you’re here, contribute to Black Lives Matter in whatever way you can: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.

This is a podcast with two corners, at least. Beach towels have four corners. Adam has a Kickstarter going, check it out right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adamxvass/necronautilus. We are railing and derailing. We are oscillating. Thanks for being here.

Find Adam on Twitter at @wcgameco and Will at @will_jobst

Music by Will Jobst, available at https://soundcloud.com/willjobst.

Also, there’s a discord! We’d love for you to join! Find the link here: https://discordapp.com/invite/SgnU8ZB