Pulp Gamer Hard Core

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 062: John Wick

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:54:08 -0500

Don spent some time with John Wick at RinCon in Tucson Arizona. The new Houses of the Blooded was a large part of the conversation, but significant talk was also given to Seventh Sea and Legend of the Five Rings. John is currently a co-owner of the Wicked Dead Brewing Company.

Pulp Gamer Out of Character: PGOC 063: Stocking Stuffer Games

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:06:50 -0500

We were inspired with a gift basket question to start addressing small and affordable games for stocking stuffers, secret Santa gifts, or other office celebrations over the holiday season. This turned out to be quite a list. Enjoy looking more closely at these titles:

Catan Dice, Family Business, Megastar, Bison, Gloom, Once Upon a Time, Mad Scientist University, Fluxx, Are you a Werewolf, Chrononauts, Treehouse, Dungeoneer, Treasure Fleet, Liar's Dice (play online here), Coloretto, Set, Take 6, Iliad, Jungle Speed, Citadels, Management Material, Marriage Material, and playing cards from Gemaco.

Other games include Ron's review of Last Night on Earth. Mayfair has also announced a new train series by Martin Wallace, based on Age of Steam. We have also been playing Intrigue and To Court the King.

Our gateway RPG discussion continues with RECON, Microlite20, Tunnels and Trolls, and Tactics. The discussion on roleplaying tips also continues. Tim offers one of his blog posts for more.

RinCon is done for the year. Jess shows us some of her pictures. We have more excitement coming up. We will be starting to think about Phoenix Comicon very soon. Join us in Tucson to game by visiting SAGAgamers.com. The most recent game days added to Tucson's schedule will be taking place on Wednesday nights at Safehouse. You will definitely want to join us in the Caribbean, though. There is still time to register for this cruise.

We are in a winning mode. Jeremiah was sent a prize from the Wandering Geek podcast. Derek won a drawing sponsored by Game Daze at RinCon.

We also took a look at American Nerd by Benjamin Nugent. Jeremiah reads a small excerpt and have a good time with it, including shamelessly plugging the Ramsey County Public Library. Jeremiah also mentioned some Cthulhu Cycle books.

The Game Kennel: PGGK 023: Megastar

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:47:20 -0500

Derek gives us Megastar, a music band themed card game of market manipulation. There are a few things to work out such as how much to invest in certain bands and how much to just ride the market. Looking into the future is a tricky business with so many uncertainties, but if you watch closely you can at least get an idea of your competition's motives.

Megastar
Publisher: Mayfair Games
Style: Card Game
Designed by: Friedemann Friese
Players: 2-5
Play Time: 45 minutes
Ages: 10+
MSRP: $10.00

Pulp Gamer Out of Character: PGOC 062: Gateway Roleplay

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:04:54 -0400

We had a great time with a number of things in today's show then we are off to RinCon for the weekend. The GAMA Trade Show Seminars are complete. The Gen Con panels are up and running at full speed. We touched on Twitter. Continuing on our Games as Art discussion, The Philosopher's Zone talked about what qualifies as art. You must also check out the Citizens of Virtue.

We kick the day off by taking a look at the book, The Elfish Gene written by Mark Barrowcliffe and published by SOHO Press. It is easy to relate to this account of growing up geek. It's humorous and a lot of fun. We took turns reading our favorite passages to each other. On the same topic, we also talked about a youtube video we found linked on the author's blog that was a lot of fun as well.

Our main topic was Gateway Roleplaying games. What is the best game to introduce someone new to? Perhaps even your mother can play. Those mentioned include Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Prime Time Adventures, Risus, Call of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, The Fantasy Trip (Wikipedia),Long Live the King, and Once Upon a Time.

Some podcasters that came up in today's show or otherwise deserve credit in today's discussions include Antti, Tim, Ryan, Ross, Ron, and Paul.

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 061: Richard Borg

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:16:40 -0400

While at Gen Con, Jeremiah was able to get some time with Richard Borg. He is in more places in the game industry than his name appears and his design ranges from Yatzee Free for All and Liars Dice to BattleLore and Memoir 44. We also mentioned Wyatt Earp, and Stonehenge in today's show. Richard was a blast to visit with and is full of good information.

Richard’s professional game credits cover a broad spectrum, which includes over 50 titles. Milton Bradley published his first game, ‘Liars Dice’ a family dice game, in 1988. Following up this initial success were AD&D games (TSR), X-Men games (Pressman Toy) and another hit for Milton Bradley ‘Times to Remember’.

In 1993 ‘Liars Dice’ went to Europe as ‘Bluff’ and won the German Prize ‘Spiel des Jahres’. Richard was part of the ‘Star Wars’ customizable card game design team and involved with a number of other collectible card games. Some of his recent designs, that are currently available, include: Hera & Zeus (Rio Grande Games), Memoir ’44 (Days of Wonder), Commands & Colors: Ancients (GMT Games), BattleLore (Fantasy Flight) and Stonehenge Anthology (Paizo Publishing). Richard's newest family game design, Yahtzee Free For All (Parker Brothers) is already receiving acclaim from the game community.

Because his body of work does encompass so many age groups and genres, you just may have one or more of Richard’s designs in your personal game collection.

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 060: Jean Vanaise

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:39:47 -0400

Jeremiah has the opportunity to visit with Jean Vanaise at Gen Con to talk about music, the economy, and of course, games. Jean has been producing games with his own company Flying Turtle for years but has also produced for such companies as West End Games, Iron Crown Enterprises, Ravensburger, and Mayfiar Games. Some of his titles you may be familiar with, to include Shark, Dicemaster, the Hobbit Adventure Boardgame, and the most recent Egyptian themed tile game, Horus.

The Game Kennel: PGGK 022: Theophrastus

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:13:30 -0400

Derek picks up the mortar and pestle and takes direction from Theophrastus. His alchemy skills will grant him the ability to become his next apprentice. He may have the best brew, or just mess with the others bad enough to beat the curve.

Theophrastus
Publisher: Mayfair Games
Style: Card Game
Designed by: P. R. Chase
Players: 2-5
Play Time: 30-45 minutes
Ages: 9+
MSRP: $25.00

Pulp Gamer Out of Character: PGOC 061: Spooky!

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:37:13 -0400

Most of us agree that Halloween is our favorite holiday. This Halloween, we will be at RinCon. The preregistration is coming down upon us, so get signed while you can. Also upon us is an important date for securing your spot on the Caribbean Gamer Cruise. There is limited space available, so you will want to secure your spot now. Oh, and here is that list of things to do in Jamaica we promised you.

During feedback, the topic of Accent Your Character comes up. We were also sent some pictures from our friends from the Wrecking Crew.

Games to play this Halloween...

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 059: Ethan Skemp of White Wolf

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:24:50 -0400

Jeremiah catches Ethan Skemp at Gen Con. Ethan has a long list of credits with White Wolf. There is a lot of talk given to the contrast between the new and the old versions of the many White Wolf roleplaying games, such as Vampire, Werewolf, and Changeling.

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 058: Erik Yaple of Privateer Press

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Jeremiah had the pleasure of visiting one of the biggest and baddest men in gaming, Erik Yaple. Erik has taken over the Monsterpocalypse project with Privateer Press. This is a very appealing game of monstrous combat. He caught him between games at Gen Con where he spent a lot of his weekend showing the game with a horde of fans.

Pulp Gamer Out of Character: PGOC 060: Clubbing Up

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:56:18 -0400

Our headline topic is about meeting other gamers and finding space to build your group or a full fledged club. This is such a huge topic that we can barely scratch the surface, but some great ideas came to light, like game stores, conventions, meetup.com, or even just google.

In our need to continue reminiscing about Gen Con, we talked about the Q-Workshop Dice, Midnight Syndicate's trailer to The Dead Matter, and The Dead Gentleman's movie, Dorkness Rising. Our discussion of media continues to talk about Journey to the Center of the Earth and Igor. And in our own kind of media, Polymancer releases their podcast, DiceCast. We welcome Polymancer to the world of podcasting.

Coming conventions of note include RinCon over Halloween weekend and the Caribbean Gamer Cruise. We also had correspondence regarding FlatCon and Gamer's Reunion.

Be sure to check out our dialect training CDs for roleplayer's, storytellers, and other casual pretenders. Accents include the Queen's English, Cockney, Irish, and Scottish. Accent Your Character can be found at Paizo, Lovecraftiana, and RPG Now.

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 057: Nicolas Logue

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:25:36 -0400

Jeremiah was able to catch Nicolas Logue at Gen Con and uncovered a wealth of interesting thoughts. Nick talks about the crossover between improv acting and roleplaying and about several projects he has been working on. We most recently know have been seeing his work on Paizo's Pathfinder, several great articles in Kobold Quarterly, the Open Design Project, and of course, Sinister Adventures. We wish him well on his adventures to come and hope to see him again very soon.

Nicolas Logue works for Paizo Publishing and Wizards of the Coast as a freelance game designer. He has also recently launched his own design studio: Sinister Adventures (www.sinisteradventures.com). Nick has done extensive work on Paizo’s new Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting and the Eberron Campaign Setting for Wizards of the Coast. His recent credits include numerous adventures and articles in Dungeon and Dragon magazines, Crown of the Kobold King, Voyage of the Golden Dragon, Eyes of the Lich Queen, Monster Manual V, Dragons of Eberron, Carnival of Tears, Hook Mountain Massacre, Edge of Anarchy, Hangman’s Noose and City of Stormreach.

Nicolas is also a Fulbright Fellow, an award winning stage actor, produced playwright, budding screenwriter, fight director and a Full Instructor with Dueling Arts International who has performed and taught theatre and stage combat in New York, Honolulu and throughout China. He is a member of the avant garde theatre troupe Cruel Theatre, based in Hawai’i and Manhattan.

His next horizon of adventure: Nick was recently hired to head up the World Theatre Program at the University of Essex’s East 15 Acting School. England beware.

The Game Kennel: PGGK 021: Journey to the Center of the Earth

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:40:19 -0400

Derek gives us a look at Journey to the Center of the Earth. Its an adventure game based on the Jules Verne novel by the same name. You work together with your opponents to move the party through treacherous terrain, over the underground sea, and then get shot out a volcano. The one that emerges with the best collection of treasure will be the victor.

Journey to the Center of the Earth
Publisher: Mayfair Games
Style: Board Game
Designed by: Rüdiger Dorn
Players: 2-4
Play Time: 60-75+ minutes
Ages: 10+
MSRP: $49.00

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 056: Justin Achilli of White Wolf and CCP

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:16:01 -0400

While at Gen Con, Jeremiah was able to to spend some time at the White Wolf/CCP booth and visit with Justin Achilli. We all had a great time with the whole crew and are always eager to get caught up with the newest releases. With Justin's long list of credits at White Wolf, we were able to learn about the evolution of the game over time and catch a glimpse at what may be coming in the future.

Justin Achilli is a game designer for CCP Games. He comes from a pen-and-paper roleplaying games background, in which he developed the award-winning Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: the Requiem properties. He's now working on CCP's World of Darkness property. When he's not playing video games, he enjoys nightclub DJing, cooking, writing, and making rude gestures toward whoever's playing against the Dallas Cowboys this week.

Pulp Gamer Out of Character: PGOC 059: Ahoy Maties!

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:48:51 -0400

Talk like a pirate day is upon us, and we are adding some flavor with a variety of pirate themed games, but we can't stop there. We talk about a bunch of titles to include Seventh Sea (and Swashbucker), Plunder, Treasure Fleet, Jamaica, Pirate's Cove, Pieces of Eight, Anno 1503, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Tomb, Hunter, and Delta Green.

We are participating in a contest at podcastawards.com and are asking for your nominations. Please take a moment to fill out this form with your favorite shows. We are encouraging the GAMA Trade Show seminars for Best Business Podcast, Family Night for Best Educational Podacst, and this one, Out of Character, for best Gaming Podcast.

Our travel itinerary is filling up. We are delighted to be sponsoring the open gaming for Tucson's premier gaming convention, RinCon, and will be hosting the Chaos Challenge there. We will also be setting sail for a Caribbean Gamer Cruise in March. We invite you to join us on both of these occasions. As an added benefit to joining us on the cruise, you will have a chance to win a trip to Gen Con for the North American Settlers of Catan Championship.

We talk about a host of friends on today's show, to include Ron from The Game's the Thing, and Yog-Sothoth. Paul (of Cthulhu) is putting together a massive collection of Yoggie stuff for a DVD and invites you to participate in the production and to be privie to some added benefits. We also mention Fear the Boot and World-Wide Wing Night on November 8th.

Jeremiah also sings praises to another favorite game store of his. Games by James has shown him excellent support in demonstrating games in their store and helping him make a selection for a gift. Jeremiah usually frequents The Source and is always pleased to shop there as well.

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 055: Pete Fenlon of Mayfair Games

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:39:53 -0400

Jeremiah was able to visit with Pete Fenlon at Gen Con about his roots in the gaming industry and the workings of his current position at Mayfair Games. Pete started with a love for Middle Earth's a cartographer and an avid roleplayer. His professional career in games began with with Rolemaster at Iron Crown Enterprises. Now, he is the CEO and studio director for Mayfair Games.

The Game Kennel: PGGK 020: Catan Traders and Barbarians Expansion

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:03:25 -0400

Chaz shows us how to expand our Settlers of Catan game with Catan Traders and Barbarians. This expansion has several variations and scenarios that provide even more variety and depth to what was already one of our favorite titles. Add some economic complexity or beat back the barbarians while you struggle to settle the island of Catan.

Catan Traders and Barbarians
Publisher: Mayfair Games
Style: Expansion, Tile Game
Required: The Settlers of Catan
Designed by: Klaus Teuber
Players: 2-4
Play Time: 90-120+ minutes
Ages: 10+
MSRP: $42.00

We would also like to the fine folks at the Parsec Awards for giving The Game Kennel a trophy and the title for Best Gaming Podcast. We are grateful to them and everyone else that make it posible for us to spread two of our most favorite pasttimes, gaming and podcasting.

Pulp Gamer Out of Character: PGOC 058: Geeks and Freaks

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:35:06 -0400

Today's focus is on Dragon*Con and the good time Don had at the show. One of the highlights this year was the Mad Scientists Ball, where ArcAttack entertained the crowd of evil geniuses with their singing Tesla coils. We also got caught up to most of the feedback leading up to the convention continuing on topics such as the role-playing table tips and opening a new topic on gaming with friends you don't like to game with.

Some of the board games discussed on the show include Pandemic, the Kingsport Horror expansion to Arkham Horror, Amuse Amaze, Ilium, Nautilus, Agricola, Jungle Speed, Theophrastus, and Settlers of Catan.

Pulp Gamer Inside Track: PGIT 054: Corey Konieczka of Fantasy Flight Games

The Pulp Gamer Crew — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:38:16 -0400

While at Gen Con, Jeremiah was able to spend some time with Corey Konieczka of Fantasy Flight Games.

Corey Konieczka has designed numerous strategy and adventure games for Fantasy Flight Games. He has worked on numerous other strategy games and expansions including Warrior Knights (2006), Tide of Iron (2007), Battlestar Galactica (2008), and the Origins Award Winning StarCraft: The Boardgame (2007). Corey works as a senior game designer, developer and producer for Fantasy Flight Games. Originally from New Hampshire, Corey and his wife Shannon now live in the frosty depths of Minnesota.