Diegetic Games - Randy Lubin's Game Studio

Announcing Three Generations Eternal Empire

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Three Generations: The Rise and Fall of the Eternal Empire is Available

I’m excited to share the beta version of new game that I’ve designed with Sam Dunnewold. In Three Generations: The Rise and Fall of the Eternal Empire, you’ll tell the story of the rise and fall of an empire across three eras as you build a network of cities and describe the journeys of characters who travel across its lands. Play by drawing cards from a deck, answering the questions on them, and assembling them into a map of people and places.

Key Info:

Time: 60 minutes
Player count: 1-5 players, no facilitator
Themes: empire, exploration, trade, travel
Designed by Randy Lubin and Sam Dunnewold
Inspired by Desperation by Jason Morningstar

Play Overview

In Three Generations: The Rise and Fall of the Eternal Empire, players collaboratively tell the story of an empire and the lands it once governed. First, players build the map by adding City and Connection cards to the board. Then, players explore the history of the empire as they draw cards that represent specific characters traveling across the land. As characters travel, they change the world; some add new locations, others add resources or abundances to the places they visit.

Go play the game!

The game is currently in open beta playtesting. It lacks art but otherwise contains all the text and components necessary to play. The designers are keen to hear feedback from playtesters, which they can leave in the comments on the Itch page.

Players can download it on Itch and either print a copy to play at home or use the digital platform playingcards.io. The full rules of the game are available in this rules document.

Available Now Working The Case

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Working the Case is Now Available

I’m excited to share that the digital version of Working the Case is now available to buy on Itch: https://randylubin.itch.io/working-the-case

Working the Case is a 30-minute cooperative murder mystery game that’s playable online via Playingcards.io. So far there are three playsets: Fantasy, Space Station, and Cyberpunk.

Key Info:

Time: 30-60 minutes
Player count: 1-5 players, no facilitator
Themes: murder, mystery
Playsets: fantasy, space station, cyberpunk
Style: writers room

Through play, you’ll collaboratively tell a murder mystery story from the perspective of the investigators who are working to solve the case. Start by quickly establishing the setting, victim, and crime scene. Then, dive into the core of the game – revealing one piece of evidence at a time and linking it to one of five suspects. At the end of each round, eliminate a suspect until only one remains. Finally, confront the culprit and determine if justice is served.

The case details and culprit are not determined in advance. You’ll tell the story such that any of the suspects could be the murderer and then you’ll find out the truth at the end of the game. The full rules of the game are available in this rules document.

Working the Case is perfect for mystery lovers and its simple rules make it an approachable game for novice storytellers. It’s short playtime (less than an hour) allow it to easily slot into a busy schedule – play it over lunch or during date night.

You can listen to an actual play of Working the Case on the Party of One Podcast, where Jeff Stormer and I investigate a murder on a luxurious vacation space station.

Working the Case is one my favorite creations – it consistently generates a satisfying mystery through a fun, brief play session. I’ve prototyped a physical version of the game and some day I hope to publish that version of the game too; it likely won’t be soon, though.

Once again, if you’d like to buy a copy, you can grab one at: https://randylubin.itch.io/working-the-case

If you like this style of game, you may want to check out Seizing the Crown, which uses similar mechanics to create a political fantasy epic of rival factions vying for control of a kingdom. That game is in late-stage playtesting and you can grab a free beta version to test it out.

Big Bad Con 2024

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

This past weekend was Big Bad Con 2024 and it was a blast. I got in 10 game sessions and they were all wonderful. Even better, I had a slew of lovely chats with amazing game designers and friends from around the world. Here’s a quick rundown of the games I played and ran…

Are You an Adventurer?

Karen Twelves and I collaborated to design “Are You an Adventurer” – an opening-night experience that was somewhere between larp and interactive theater. There was a trailhead near the registration desk where our Hawker had a big sign and encouraged attendees to form adventuring parties and go on a quest.

The quest consisted of a chain of six professional actors in the role of fantasy characters. Each character roleplayed with the participants, giving them information or challenges as they learned more about their quest. Groups that reached the end had to decide what to do with the magic amulet they acquired, having several clear options but also the ability to come up with their own resolutions.

We had 12 groups go through the whole experience and about 50 people in total. They seemed to love it and we received great feedback!

Seizing the Crown x4

Seizing the Crown is my political fantasy game with mechanics inspired by Working the Case. In this game, you tell the story of rival factions working to take control of a fantasy kingdom. It plays in under an hour with 2-5 players.

I ran two scheduled sessions and two off-books sessions – they all went well! The game is in late-stage playtesting and it was satisfying to see players enjoying it. I’ll share more information about the game and how to playtest it here on the site, later this year.

(Two out of) Six Space Larps

Jason Morningstar brought a collection of 4-player, 1-hour space larps and I played two of them: The Coup and The Coronation. Both were tense scenarious that unfolded in delightful and dramatic fasion. I’m looking forward to playing more of them when they’re released!

Zhenya’s Wonder Tales

Jason also ran an off-books game of Zhenya’s Wonder Tales that I got to check out. Zhenya’s is a collection of 4-player, 1-hour rpgs inspired by Eastern European folklore. Each pre-written character has three associated cards with plot beats; when they occur in the story you flip the card over and see the consequences. It’s a fun format and might be a high-water mark in beginner-friendly design. The game will crowdfund next year and I’m looking forward to backing it!

Band-aids and Bullet Holes

I played in Sam Dunnewold’s Band-aids and Bullet Holes which told a fast-paced tale of revenge a la John Wick or Kill Bill. The tight character creation and core scene setting worked well and the our story climaxed in an epic brawl in a subway station. Sam’s work is great and you should definitely check out his podcast Dice Exploder for great discussions about game mechanics.

Greeting (from the Xenolanguage anthology)

I was also able to play Greeting by Alex Roberts a forthcoming game about alien first contact included in the Xenolanguage Anthology. It has one earthling and one alien ambassador discuss each other’s cultures and decide whether or not the two species should formally make contact. I played opposite Tim Hutchings and together we crafted two mirrored civilizations that had a lot to offer each other but were perhaps a dangerous influence as well. It was great!

Final Thoughts

Overall, another great year! Big Bad Con continues to be one of my favorite gaming events and I highly encourage anyone curious to check it out. I look forward to returning next year.

Behind The Magic Kickstarter

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

I’m excited to announce that Behind the Magic is live on Kickstarter! In it, you’ll tell the story of incompetent heroes going on a quest to save the world, which they’ll likely fail.

I launched the digital version of Behind the Magic in 2018 and a German print version was released in 2022. Now there will finally be an English print version and I’m looking forward into getting more folks to play the game!

Story Synth: Hexmap Format

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 17:00:00 +0000

I’m thrilled to share a new Story Synth format: Hexmap. In this format, you can create and share maps made of hexes and players can move around on those maps.

Hexes contain custom icons or images that show up on the main map, which is scrollable and zoomable. Hexes can also contain extra information that is available under different circumstances: players are at that hex; players are looking at that hex without traveling there; someone is looking at that hex in facilitator mode.

Maps can be visible to all or have a “fog of war” where some of the map starts hidden until players move closer. In facilitator mode, you can swap the hexes in realtime and change their visibility.

As with all Story Synth formats, it’s entirely powered from a Google Sheet. However, this format is only available on larger screens (no mobile devices for now).

This format was built off the earlier Hexflower format, which was co-designed with the incredible Raph D’Amico. His advice was indispensable extending Hexflower to this Hexmap format. Thanks Raph!

Hexmap is still in early beta so reach out if you have any questions, find any bugs, or have any suggestions!

Dungeon23 Template

With many designers excited to participate in Dungeon23, where you create a new bit of content each day for the entire year, there is also a 365 tile hex, with shaded regions for each month. Check out the Dungeon23 Hexmap template.

Working the Case: Playtesting

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 18:00:00 +0000

I have a new game that’s entering playtesting and I’d love for you to give it a try! The game is a 30 minute murder mystery with the tentative title: Working the Case.

The Pitch

Collaboratively tell the story of a murder mystery as from the perspective of investigators who are working to solve the case. You’ll start by quickly establishing the setting, victim, and crime scene. Then you’ll dive into the core of the game – revealing one piece of evidence at a time and linking it to one of five suspects. Over the course of the game, you’ll eliminate suspects until only one remains: the culprit. Finally, you’ll confront the culprit and determine if justice is served.

The case details and culprit are not determined in advance. We’ll be telling the story in such away that any of the suspects could be the murderer and we’ll find out the truth at the end of the game.

Playtest Info

I’m playtesting the game via PlayingCards.io, which is super easy to use and great for rapid iteration. It also allows for realtime multiplayer.

If you’re interested in playtesting the game, read the instructions for the rules and a link to the PlayingCards.io file. If you have a chance to play, I’d love to hear how it goes – please fill out the short feedback form.

Next Steps

I’ve had a lot of fun designing and testing the game so far and I’m thinking about where I want to take it next. I’m considering making a physical card-based version, which should be fairly straight forward. I’ve played the game with a few different theme packs (space station, fantasy, modern) and I’ll have to figure out how many themes I want in the base game.

Stay tuned for more info!

Story Synth: Hexflower Format

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 18:00:00 +0000

I’m excited to share a new Story Synth format: Hexflower. Check out the Hexflower Demo and the accompanying template Hexflower Template Spreadsheet.

Hexflowers are tools for randomly exploring narrative spaces, shaped like a big hexagon made of small hexagons. One hex is selected at any point and it contains information relevant to the game. Over the course of the game, other hexes are selected through a variety of random or non-random means.

The Story Synth Hexflower format was co-designed with game and design luminary Raph D’Amico and he did a phenomenal job making the format look and feel great.

There are a bunch of customOptions that are unique to Hexflower format: randomization, warping, staring hexes, and more. You can read more about them in the documentation.

Hexflowers were popularized by Goblin’s Henchman and the Hex Flower Cookbook has plenty of examples and thoughts on how to make and use Hexflowers. I also recommend checking out Emily Short’s blog post on Narrative States as she has great insights on interactive fiction that translate well to Hexflowers.

Inspired by Emily’s post, I’m noodling on a game about a revolution that leverages her diagram approach.

I’m going to keep adding features to the format so if you have requests let me know. Also – if you end up creating a Hexflower game, I’d love to hear about it!

Nontransitive Resolution Systems

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 16:00:00 +0000

I just published a one-pager looking at ways to apply nontransitive resolution (e.g. Rock, Paper, Scissors) to storytelling games. Check it out on Itch!

Story Synth One-Hour Game Jam

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I hosted the Story Synth One-Hour game jam and it was a lot of fun!

My goal was to show off how easy it is to design with Story Synth. We had 6 participants from around the world and, within 60 minutes, everyone made a playable game!

We had a great time and I’m excited to see some of the prototypes turn into published games. Based on how easy and fun it was to run this, I anticipate running another one-hour game jam later this year.

Æthelred's Academy for Aspiring Heroes

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 19:00:00 +0000

I’m excited to share a new game that my brother Greg Lubin and I just released: Æethelred’s Acadmey for Aspiring Heroes

Æthelred’s is a for-profit, non-accredited institution and players tell stilly stories about heroes going on quests in an attempt to earn certifications in specific adventuring skills.

The quest giver, quests, and certifications are all randomly generated, leading to adventures like: The Corrupt Mayor tasked you with Securing a Strategic Alliance and you must use this quest to demonstrate your skill in Interior Decorating.

We’ve had a lot of fun designing and playtesting it and we’d love to hear if you play it! Here’s the link again: https://storysynth.org/Games/Aethelreds-Academy/