Archive for September, 2007
Out of Character 033: Clad in Kilt
We had a great time today going over a number of topics in your feedback. After issuing a massive toy recall, Mattel then apologizes to China about it. We talked in the past at some great length about Ghoulash. We looked at a hard copy today that is now in stores. We also give away a singed copy of Who’s Your Daddy? Some other folks mentioned in today’s show include Paul of Cthulhu, Jeff from Sons of Kryos, Michael from Brainy Gamer, Stupid Ranger, and RPGPodcasts.com.
We have a feature interview with Guido Teuber and talk mostly about Mayfair’s re-launch of the Settlers of Catan. The basic game and several others in the series have some outstanding new art, updated packaging, and a frame to hold the game in place on the table. We also want to congratulate Mayfair for taking the Deutscher Spiele Preis with The Pillars of the Earth. We also learn about the coming international version of Catan Online.
We play a final sample from our Accent Your Character series. Today’s treat is Scottish. Be sure to get a hold of these CDs to add some depth to your dialect for your roleplaying. They have a fun discussion thread going on at Paizo where they are now available. Join in the fun.
Coming events you have told us include White Wolf Game Dayz at Gamer’s Inn in Mesa Arizona on November 9th and 10th. We also learn about NeonCon at Circus Circus in Las Vegas over October 12th, 13th, and 14th. Some of their featured events include Living Greyhawk, Warhammer, Call of Cthulhu, Flames of War, Darkage, Starfleet Battles, and The Spoils.
After watching Celebrity D&D at the NeonCon web site, you may also want to check out DM of the Ring. It is a hilarious tale that presents the Lord of the Rings as a fantasy roleplaying adventure.
Zach Ashmore from the Groovecast sends us some cool stylized logo designs we wanted to share with you. Thanks Zack!
Polymancer helps us work with the rules lawyer in the group. Polymancer magazine is a multi-genre magazine about roleplaying games (RPGs), miniature wargames, LARPs, and more. Articles are written so that they can be useful to gamers of all kinds, no matter which rules they prefer to use. This is done by making the articles “system-independent.” There is a complete adventure scenario in every issue. This is not an e-zine, but the real thing: an honest to goodness, printed magazine for gamers. Find out more at www.polymancerstudios.com.
Kings Court 032: Patrician
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Don gives us something we can all enjoy. Patrician is about building prestige in the middle ages of Italy by building tall towers. It is a great game that casual players will be able to get into easily alongside the more serious gamer that will appreciate good strategy. |
| Patrician Publisher: Mayfair Games Designed By: Michael Schacht Players: 2-5 Play Time: 50 minutes Ages: 10+ MSRP: $35.00 |
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Gen Con Panel 005: The Interview
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A great stream of content for many of us is to go directly to the source. Learning how to conduct an entertaining and informative interview will bring your audience closer to their favorite designers, artists, authors, or publishers. Our group today covers topics that will help you prepare and polish the interview for your audience. |
Panelists include Christopher Perrin from The Cannon Pucture Show, JJ Lanza of Fist Full of Comics & Games, Jeremiah Lynch of Pulp Gamer, and Ryan Macklin from The Master Plan.
GTS Seminars: Hyperworking Your Inventory
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Marcus King and Robert Moses tell us how best to put your inventory to work. They discuss ways to keep your inventory moving and maximize its potential. They touch on all types of games and several other entertainment products. Finding your place in today’s world is a challenge that Marcus and Robert tackle well. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are available to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
Inside Track 032: Mike Selinker and Lone Shark Games
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Today we kick back with Mike Selinker and have an obvious good time. Some topics include the Guardian 6 events at Gen Con, Cowpoker, drinking, geocaching, curling, Mendel’s law, and the suspicious performance by James Ernest. Also, for our fellow Stongehenge fans, we mention the Stonehenge Library. Be sure and pay it a visit to download more games for Stonehenge. Oh, and don’t forget the Nocturne Expansion. |
| Mike Selinker is the president of Lone Shark Games, Inc., the design studio behind games like Pirates of the Spanish Main, Stonehenge, and Gloria Mundi. He is the former creative director at Wizards of the Coast, where he helped revitalize Axis & Allies, Dungeons & Dragons, and the occasional game without an ampersand. His happy crew of mercenaries includes James Ernest, Teeuwynn Woodruff, and many other game creators and hedgehogs. You can check out more at www.lonesharkgames.com. |  |
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Another of the games in today’s discussion was Key Largo. It is 1899 and you have limited time before the hurricane hits to explore as many shipwrecks as you can and sell the found treasure to the locals. It was created Paul Randles and developed by Mike Selinker and Bruno Faidutti. Titanic Games will be releasing the English version in November of 2007. |
| Mike also shares a peek at his and several other contributions to the coming book, Hobby Games: The 100 Best. The top names in the industry choose and share their favorite games and what makes them special. Green Ronin releases the book in August 2007. |  |
Gen Con Panel 004: The Game Review
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A common component across all of the gaming podcasts is the game review. Today we will answer questions about presenting a review your audience can both trust and enjoy. Each of our panelists take a different approach to sharing their enthusiasm with their fans. |
Panelists include Carol Hardy of All Games Considered, Stephen Conway and David Coleson of the The Spiel, Derek Rex of Pulp Gamer, and JJ Lanza of Fist Full of Comics & Games.
Kings Court 031: Dungeon Twister
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Erin joins us once again to share her experience with Dungeon Twister. It is easy to tell she had a great time with this modular dungeon crawl. Your pitted against the other parties in the dungeon. Escape with as much of your party intact as you can while grabbing treasure and fighting off your opponents. |
| Dungeon TWister Publisher: Asmodee Editions Designed By: Christophe Boelinger Players: 2 Play Time: 60 minutes Ages: 11+ MSRP: $29.99 |
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GTS Seminars: Buyer’s Training
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Dave Wallace adds a new seminar to the GTS line-up this year. In Buyer’s Training Dave goes beyond what you can sell in your store, but how to make decisions on what to carry and how it affects your big picture. The next time you walk through a showroom floor, you are going to be glad you gave a listen to these insightful tips. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
Gen Con Panel 003: Before Turning the Microphone On
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There is a lot that goes into a podcast before you start to record. Preparation single most important attribute to a good show. We start at the beginning with naming your podcast and talk through format, hosting vs co-hosting, scripting, and warming up for a good performance. |
Panelists include Mark Kinney of All Games Considered, Jeff Lower of Sons of Kryos, Mark Fender of Fell Calls, and Daniel Perez of The Gamer Traveler Podcast.
Inside Track 031: Jeremy Stomberg of Fantasy Flight Games
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It is with great pleasure that we were able to talk to Jeremy Stomberg. With Jeremy’s love for games, he is a natural fit for marketing at Fantasy Flight Games. We were able to spend some time with him during the last day of Gen Con to talk about Fantasy Flight and some of their treasures. |
| Tannhouser was talked about at good length. It is an alternate history of 1949 where World War 1 has not ended. Jeremy compares and contrasts it to the coming release of Dust, where World War II hasn’t ended and Nazi expeditions are uncovering some remarkable technology making the world a much different and very violent place. |  |
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From one game to another, the Mutant Chronicles live on. This time, as a collectible miniatures game from Fantasy Flight Games. Its set in a dark and brutal future. Megacorporations war across the terraformed planets of the solar system for resources. This game has caught a lot of attention and is expecting to be on shelves very soon. |
The big games that had people lining up from around the corner at Gen Con were Tide of Iron and StarCraft. Like all of the big games by Fantasy Flight, these are an impressive armful of quality components.
GTS Seminars: Advanced Convention Operations – Marketing
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Trey Reilly and Christine Brucker of the Game Manufacturer’s Association tag team this presentation and give some excellent insights into marketing your convention. These tips are valuable for whatever event you are planning. We consistently hear how people wish they would have known these things before they started working on their show. |
This presentation was recorded at the 2007 GAMA Trade Show. Hand-outs and show notes are avilable to members from the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
Out of Character: 032: We Won!
Right on the heels of Gen Con, Jeremiah returns home from Dragon*Con. Between both of the conventions, we have a few notes to share. The podcasting panels at Gen Con are steadily being posted. The Dragon*Con panels are also up and available. Jeremiah participated in the panel, “Podcasting for Games and Gamers.” We also talk quite a bit in today’s show about The Signal and Skepticality, a couple of other Parsec Award winning podcasts.
While at Dragon*Con, Jeremiah claimed our trophies from the Parsec Awards ceremony. We were really pleased to receive such an honor from such a great organization. Inside Track was selected as Best Gaming Podcast. Out of Character was chosen for Best Infotainment Cast. Wow.
Mur Lafferty, Michael R. Mennenga & Tracy Hickman founded The Parsec Awards in 2006 to celebrate Speculative Fiction Podcasting, under the banner of Farpoint Media. Podcast shows are nominated by fans, and finalists are chosen by a yearly steering committee. Those finalists are then voted on by an independent panel of judges from outside of podcasting. Awards are given in several categories ranging from content to audio quality.
The feature interview for today’s show is Michal Lisowski from Q-Workshop. They have beautiful and intricately crafted dice. They are certainly something to covet, but even more something you will want to have at the top of your collection. Visit their web site and see for yourself.
Listen to today’s show to hear how you can get a free signed copy of “Who’s Your Daddy?” Chris Clark (Inner City Games Designs) does a wonderful job at exposing his sense of humor in this game, though he denies it in the rules to ward off aggressions from anyone sensitive to the subject. Your paying child support, having more children, and claiming child support from everyone else at the table. This one will certainly pull some laughs from your friends.
We continue the tradition of playing short clips from the Accent Your Character series. This time we choose Irish. Be sure to get a copy of the CD to polish your Irish accent and bring your characters to life.
We took a look at a movie we brought home from Gen Con entitled Fellowship of the Dice. I laughed out loud on several occasions. The characters were so convincing I could have sworn I had met them before. Its about a lonely recovering party girl (played by Aimee Graham) that finds herself in a group of roleplayers when searching for new friends. This proves to be an experience unlike one she has ever had.
Today, Polymancer talks about freelance writing. Polymancer magazine is a multi-genre magazine about roleplaying games (RPGs), miniature wargames, LARPs, and more. Articles are written so that they can be useful to gamers of all kinds, no matter which rules they prefer to use. This is done by making the articles “system-independent.” There is a complete adventure scenario in every issue. This is not an e-zine, but the real thing: an honest to goodness, printed magazine for gamers. Find out more at www.polymancerstudios.com.
Gen Con Panel 002: Podcasting Hardware and Software
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We continue our panels with the hardware and software it takes to get the job done. We emphasize mostly where to begin but touch on what you can look forward to when you are sure this is where you want to spend your money. Some useful resources mentioned in today’s show include Audacity, the LAME mp3 encoder, Guitar Center, gbncom.com, and rpgpodcasts.com. |
Panelists include Ben Belestra and Mark Kinney from All Games Considered, Zach Ashmore from the Groovecast, and Ryan Macklin from The Master Plan.