Archive for April, 2008
Inside Track 043: Anthony Gallela and the Game Manufacturer’s Association
 |
We welcome Anthony Gallela to todays show and get involved in a lot of conversation about the benefits of the Game Manufacturer’s Association (GAMA). We had a great time at the GAMA Trade show. You can expect to see the seminars posted very soon. |
Anthony has been involved in games and gaming in one way or another for some 30 years. He started as a consumer, playing D&D and Avalon Hill and SPI games in elementary school. In high school, Anthony played just about every game he could find. He also began running gaming events at Sci-Fi conventions.
| In his late teens, Anthony moved on to running whole game programs at Sci-Fi conventions, and was play-testing games as well. He began learning the ins and outs of event management through this work and also through running teen events and mall fashion shows. In 1993, Anthony published the Theatrix dice-less role-playing game with some friends under the banner of Backstage Press, and in 1994, he started running the ManaFest game convention in the San Francisco Bay Area with Japji Khalsa. He also helped to open an manage a retail game store in the Bay Area in the mid-90s. Between all of these projects, Anthony worked in most other areas of entertainment–film, T.V., stage, music, newspapers, and magazines. He also did a great deal of marketing and business consulting–somewhere in there earning a degree in Journalism and several management training and teaching certificates. |  |
He also spent the 90s writing articles for gaming publications, consulting on game design, brokering games, designing board games(he is the co-designer, with Japji Khalsa, of the Origins Award-nominated Dwarven Dig! from Kenzer and Co.) and running conventions–the most notable being KublaCon, (formally ManaFest), his share of which he eventually sold to his partner.
Anthony has worked for GAMA since 2001, starting as the Event Coordinator and moving up to land in the Executive Director spot in 2004. As the Executive Director for GAMA, Anthony oversees the running Origins Game Expo, GAMA Trade show, and several industry programs. He still does some consulting and designing (look for Tales of the Arabian Nights, 3rd Edition, from Z-Man Games), and he has a few other interests as well.
The Game Kennel 009: Entdecker: Exploring New Horizons
 |
You can never go wrong with the Catan series of games. This time, Ron presents Entdecker. Its a tile exploration game of area control. It is packed with decisions that will make or break your success. |
| Entdecker: Exploring New Horizons Publisher: Mayfair Games Style: Tile Game Designed by: Klaus Teuber Players: 2-4 Play Time: 60-90 minutes Ages: 10+ MSRP: $49.00 |
 |
 |
You can learn the game by playing through this tutorial by professor easy. The single player online game, Oceania, will give you a great feel for the exploration component of the game. There is so much more too it, though. Learn more about the back ground story and the Origins of Catan. Join us online to meet and experience several other Catan games. |
Family Night 006: Comprehension
 |
There are more and more groups meeting all over the Southern Arizona area to try out new games. If you know anyone in the area, be sure to refer them to our meetup group or the Southern Arizona Gamers Association. Todays topic is about reading and comprehending informational text. This is an important skill to learn. It is convenient that every game comes packaged with a lesson called the rule book. |
| We dive into a fun party game that works really well in mixed company with mixed levels of experience. Good Question is by Asmodee Editions. Your challenge is to ask questions that are easy enough to get the answer you want, but not so easy that it is guessed on the first try. |  |
 |
In the Mayfair Game, Megastar, you are managing a radio station. Your goal in this one is the influence the top pics with a little bit of play and keep your bands on the top of the charts. But if you play them too much, you will not have anything left to show for it. We learned this one and were having fun in no time. |
| A favorite of ours has always been Domaine by Mayfair Games. This one is a little bit more strategically intense, but still easy to learn and play. You will be moving your boarders back and forth between your domains while trying to encompass the most valuable resources. |  |
Out of Character 047: Network Overview
 |
If you are joining us for the first time, we welcome your visit with an overview of the network. We’ll see you next week for the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas. We have a lot of things planned and hope to see you there. Stop by our booth (#1114) and attend our seminar on Monday at noon. Today’s topics also include Ides of Gaming in Arizona and the convention we are brewing, RinCon. |
We bring up a few games in todays show. In particular, we want to direct you to Frederic Moyersoen’s blog to learn more about Bacchus’ Banquet. More information is also available for Alpha Omega, to include a starting scenario and pregenerated characters.
| The dialect training series, Accent Your Character is now available at Lovecraftiana in digital format. You can learn more about it at Yog-Sothoth.com, award winning Call of Cthulhu web site and host of the famous Yog Radio. |  |
We also heard from Dan from The Gamer Traveler. It sparks a discussion about one of his episodes on gamer cruises.
Inside Track 042: Skip Williams
|
We were very excited to have arranged a meeting with Skip Williams. He had an impact on many years of our lives. Skip is a co-owner in Crystal Unicorn Enterprises where you can find his forums. A bunch of his and Penny’s work can be found in the Vicious Venues Archive. He also mentions some fiction in Time Twisters. Apart from today’s show, you can learn more about Skip Williams in an entertaining interview with Monte Cook. |
| Skip Williams professes a love of old things, such as classic Hollywood movies, musty old books, vintage airplanes, his wife, Penny, and the century-old farmhouse he shares with her-though not necessarily in that order. |  |
Skip has numerous role-playing game credits, and has dabbled in many other things. Skip pens the Ask the Kobold feature in Kobold Quarterly and has recently completed a work for Dungeon Magazine.
When not contriving dire plots to bedevil role-players, Skip putters in his vegetable garden and orchard (which keep many deer and rabbits fed), and works to reclaim the fields around the farmhouse from the obstinate weeds that blanket them. He also paints toy soldiers.
The Williams house is the site of an annual Christmas cookie bake that draws friends from both sides of the Atlantic; it’s also the permanent home to a growing pride of unruly housecats.
The COW: Catan Online World Radio, Meet the Moderators
 |
We are delighted be in discussion today with the Catan Online moderators, KayakPete, Aero, and Sloejack. Each of them are strong community members and add a lot of value to our experience online. They keep the forums in check and spend a lot of time helping new players with the online games. Their guidance has made a positive impact on a lot of players. |
| There are several ways to participate at PlayCatan.com. There are a handful of web games that only require the free account to play. Just by signing up you can also participate in Settlers of Catan games in the Catan Online World. With a premium account, several more Klaus Teuber titles are available to you as well as the meta game, where you as a play can collect resources and contribute to the Catan world. Join us in the forums to visit with our moderators and schedule a game today! | |
Please comment on the COW Radio topic in the Catan Online World forums.
Out of Character 046: Wish List
|
We are joined today by Ron and Veronica Blessing. They are hosts of The Games the Thing, a podcast about table top games. Ron also manages the Tucson Mall location of Game Daze. We follow up on some demographic discussion and then go right into a wish list of what we hope to see in games of the future. |
Some of the games that get a high degree of mention in the show include Savage Worlds, Alpha Omega, and Aces & Eights. Savage Worlds is one of Ron and Veronica’s main topics on their podcast, so you can imaging they play a lot. As excited as we are to get into the others, we haven’t quite yet made that leap. We talk about why in the show. On the board game side, we are excited to soon dig into Mutant Chronicles.
| We have come across another great discussion on Accent Your Character. These are our dialect training series (which, by the way, are available now from Lovecraftiana). Fear the Boot has a nice introduction and then goes on in a later episode to have a great discussion on dialog and character. Fear the Boot is a great show and we encourage you to listen. | |
A lot of podcasts get some mention in todays show. These are obviously The Games the Thing and Fear the Boot, but we also mention our old friend, Paul of Cthulhu and Yog Radio, and welcome Ed to the world of podcasting with Dark Whispers.
The Game Kennel 008: Bacchus’ Banquet
|
Bacchus’ Banquet is a card game with a Roman dinner party theme. Everyone comes to the dinner with their own agenda making variable winning conditions for each player. Its a light hearted fun game of deception, scandal, and intrigue. |
| Bacchus’ Banquet Publisher: Mayfair Games Style: Card Game Designed by: Frederic Moyersoen Players: 3-5 Play Time: 30 minutes Ages: 8+ MSRP: $20.00 |
 |
Inside Track 041: Martin Wallace
|
Martin Wallace has been designing some outstanding game titles since the mid 90s. Some you will recognize include La Strada, Runebound, Age of Steam, and Struggle of Empires. His work can be seen on the shelves from several different publishers, including his own company, Warfrog Games. He loves to work with historical themes and has an educational background which inspires some great conversation in today’s show. |
| The game that got the most attention today was Toledo. It is scheduled for release in June of 2008. In keeping with Martin’s love of historical themes, we work in 17th century Toledo, Spain to gather the right resources and have the finest and most beautiful swords crafted to present to the emperor. Toledo sounds like a dangerous place where protecting your honor may require some swordplay. We will be looking closer at Toledo very soon. |  |