Bastionland Podcast - Tabletop Roleplaying Game Design · Chris McDowall

Mark Diaz Truman's Rule of Three

·51 min·3 clips

Steal Away Jordan assigns characters a worth measured in dice.

1. Bastionland Podcast - Tabletop Roleplaying Game Design focuses on Mark Diaz Truman’s rule of three and the games that shaped his design choices. 2. Chris McDowell hosts the conversation, and Mark Diaz Truman appears as a guest and Magpie Games co-founder whose own games are mentioned throughout. 3. The episode asks what three games matter enough to influence Mark’s design decisions, not just what he likes to play. 4. Mark opens with Mouse Guard, which he is actively running in 2025 for two new players in a longstanding group. 5. He says those players wanted something heroic, gritty, and crunchy without being cartoonish or overly complicated. 6. He places Mouse Guard between Mouse Ritter and Redwall on a fantasy-mouse spectrum. 7. Mark explains that Mouse Guard gives mice a concrete size chart, so a weasel can be fought differently from a bear. 8. He says the setting works because the mice are small, the world is unkind, and bravery becomes part of the premise. 9. Mark compares Mouse Guard’s simplified pass/fail test structure with Burning Wheel’s more demanding obstacle system. 10. He says Mouse Guard gets “80% of the good with 20% of the work,” which makes it easier for new groups. 11. He describes a table moment where Marissa tells a new player, “When mice fight snakes, they usually die.” 12. He calls that kind of moment “reverse bleed,” because long-term play turns system mastery into character voice. 13. Mark also praises Mouse Guard for being usable in one session, four sessions, or 15 sessions, including conventions for players with no RPG experience. 14. He links the game’s visual design to character definition, using equipment like a spear, hook, shield, and blue cape as identity markers. 15. Mark says those mechanical and visual choices fit licensed products especially well because the comic and the game reinforce each other. 16. He says Mouse Guard is hard to beat as a licensed RPG because it turns a comic property into a clean, playable game. 17. The conversation is informal and reflective, with Chris prompting examples and Mark moving between design analysis and personal anecdotes. 18. The energy is conversational rather than academic, and the episode spends a lot of time unpacking how systems, settings, and procedures interact at the table. 19. Designers interested in RPG mechanics, setting integration, and licensed games. 20. Listeners wanting pure narrative recaps or fast entertainment.

As heard by us

A design interview about the games that shape how a creator thinks, and why they matter.

Mark Diaz-Truman's turn on Bastionland is less a roundup of favorite games than a look at how a designer decides what to keep. The setup is plain enough: three games, one still in active campaign play despite its age, and two others that shaped his sense of what games can do.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Three games, one designer, and the campaign pick that helped Mark Diaz-Truman rethink what role-playing games can do.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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