Night 1 of Meeplefest's podcasting roundtable extravaganza begins with awesome designers and podcasters hanging out around the table discussing design and development. On the mics for this part:
Tom Lehmann: (Race for the Galaxy, 1846, The City, Pandemic, and Res Arcana)
Joe Huber: (Caravan, Burger Joint, Ice Cream, Scream Machine)
Scott Caputo: (Kachina, Whistle Stop, The One Hundred Torii)
Opener: Bukiet (Bloom) Closer: BGG's new look This isn't the first time I've attended the Origins Game Fair, one of the United States' larger national game conventions. But my previous times were once in the 1990s...and once in the 1980s! As far as we're concerned, that's a completely different era. It was before the current wave of boardgames, even before CCGs had their wave. Now in 2019 the event was dominated by our style of boardgaming, with a subset of CCGs, RPGs, and wargaming around the edges. Those other times I attended Origins was back when it moved around--different cities in different years. I went when it was local to me, and I only went for a day or two. Now, of course, the event has its permanent home at the Columbus, Ohio convention center. To get there I had to fly cross-country, staying with friends in a rented apartment for an extended weekend. In fact, these were friends I barely knew before Origins. I knew David already, and his other two buddies I met over Skype. It's another example of what's so great about this hobby, the good people. Partway through our time at Origins, these newfound friends & I gathered around my iPad to record our thoughts. The audio is good enough, I think. Like I always enjoy, we had some meta conversation about the convention itself, the venue, people, and overall experience. Then we dive into the games themselves. The funny thing is that we played a bunch of older games, not all new stuff. I swear I'm not responsible for this (not entirely)! These guys were as excited to play some older titles as the new hotness. We had some of both, as you'll hear (or see below). Wednesday (travel day): Red7, Wildlands, Blood Red Skies, El Grande, Imhotep, The King is Dead, Railroad Ink, The Mind, No Thanks Thursday: Tigris & Euphrates, Silver & Gold, Ringmaster, Museum, Exit (Catacombs of Horror), Cockroach Poker, LAMA Friday: War Chest, Keltis Way of the Stones, Musketeers, Piepmatz, Wingspan Saturday: Gnomopolis, Undaunted: Normandy, unpublished prototype, Shifty Eyed Spies-Mark
Kellen graces us with his absence, which means it's time for Mark and Neilan to start talking numbers. Specifically, player numbers. We're talking about optimal player counts for games, whether games ever mean what they recommend on the box, and how well they scale. Before we count to ten, we talk about Vindication, Royal Palace, Throw Throw Burrito, and Pipeline. 05:40 – Vindication 12:05 – Royal Palace 17:28 – Throw Throw Burrito 21:37 – Pipeline 29:48 – Optimal Player Counts 31:51 – Eternal: Chronicles of the Throne 32:50 – Caverna: The Cave Farmers 33:13 – Alien Frontiers 34:19 – Dead of Winter 37:13 – Throw Throw Burrito 38:20 – The Resistance 39:17 – Inis 39:45 – Rising Sun 40:09 – Maria 43:48 – Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant
In this episode, we take a look at Pipeline, Mystery House, Clank Legacy, Aftermath, The Taverns of Tiefenthal, and Dragoon. We also answer questions about games that we knew would be perfect, the popularity of Battletech, the disorganization of the board game industry, the "alpha pack" syndrome, and telling others when they make mistakes. Finally, we end the show with our top ten seven player games!
Note: This episode was recorded in front of a live Facebook audience. If you want to join us for our next show, tune into the Dice Tower facebook group on Thursday, August 29th, at 8:30 PM EST.
Ann Losito, Twitch streamer with Twist Gaming, discusses how to engage with media as a game designer.
In today’s world, designers and publishers are more and more having to be on top of their media game in order to be successful. Ann and I get into what that looks like.
In episode 189 we start out with a big announcement that will take the show to a new level of awesome! Then we go through our Gen Con 2019 retrospective featuring Steve's first impressions, scooters, sunlight killing mold and bacteria, and more. Then we dive deep into Matt Leacock's newest design, Era: Medieval Age. Then we have a double feature look back of both Thunderstone Quest and The Reckoners. Then Tony T gives us a tour through all of the board game media news while we chirp in the background. And finally, we host another Short Topic Extravaganza featuring the waning of our gaming enthusiasm, gaming with fictional and historical characters and gaming with designer commentary. Era Medieval Age Overview 01:34:43, Era Medieval Age Review 01:39:09, Thunderstone Quest Look Back 01:59:58, The Reckoners Look Back 02:07:30, News with Tony T 02:11:36, Short Topic Extravaganza 02:45:49
There are happy stories. Stories of social serendipity, where you like them and they like you, and all opinions are as one and there is harmony. Where no awkward conversations need be had and no unfortunate lines drawn. Where no one is annoyed, and no one is harassed, and no one must bury their preferences so as to placate another. These are not these stories.
Jon takes the lead during this GenCon episode to give folks a chance to hear about GenCon as it happened. He is joined by Chad, Aaron, Bardlee, and many members of the Lord of the Rings: The Card Game community. Thank you to all the Patrons who make the podcast possible - this special episode is on us!
Epic Intro from Morten.
Wednesday night hopes and dreams and predictions which are almost immediately proven wrong.
Special Listener Event interviews with Owen Weber, Chrisjxn, Samthemangamgee, some dude named Caleb selling some Marvel game, Nhoj263 and Verdesalice, Brosie Cotton, and Morten (spoken word only this time).
True Dungeon tales - or rather, tales from True Dungeon.
Jon interviews NATE [Morgul Dolphin]-ing FRENCH at After Dark!
Sunday morning wrap-up. You can't handle the energy.
We assemble a group of renowned designers to examine the process and protocol that goes into iterative game design. Panelists: Ted Alspach, Tom Lehmann, Justin Gary, Elizabeth Hargrave, Ben Rosset
Matt, Quinns and Ben are circling podcast #100 like talkative nerds circling a numerical drain. Quickly! Before they slip away, why not listen to them talk about the games?
On this podcast there's chat about party game We're Doomed! (02:23), classic card game For Sale (10:00), 2010 smash hit Alien Frontiers (15:40), the enigmatic Wooly Wars (23:26), hot new box Air, Land & Sea (30:03) and Kickstarter behemoth Cerebria: The Inside World (40:11). There's also a lovely reader mail this week asking which games have the best Endgame Energy
Also, if you're a geologist who would like to contribute to our discussion of sand, please do leave a comment. We're clearly idiots, and we need all the facts that we can get.
We're running components through our fingers this week, because we're ranking our favourite games that require dexterity. Whether it's flicking, stacking, or balancing, dexterity games tend to offer a respite from brain burning crunchiness, and a chance to exercise actual muscles. Before our hands tremble, we talk about The Wizard Always Wins, Genoa, and Paku Paku.
01:29 - The Wizard Always Wins 06:36 - Genoa 13:55 - Paku Paku 17:53 - Listener Mail 21:59 - Our Favourite Dexterity Games 22:53 - Riff Raff 25:14 - Flick 'em Up!: Dead of Winter 27:25 - Bugs in the Kitchen 29:31 - Junk Art 31:46 - KLASK 35:44 - Hamsterrolle 37:28 - Animal Upon Animal 38:56 - Meeple Circus 42:18 - Drop It 44:57 - PitchCar 46:42 - Safranito 51:47 - Puzzle Dungeon Fighter 56:08 - Crokinole