The Game Kennel 011: Catan Dice Game
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Derek has been rolling for resources lately with the Catan Dice Game. Its a fun probability game of planning and building infrastructure. It is an easy one to find a home for. It is so versatile and portable. Once every day, you can play it online. |
| Catan Dice Game Publisher: Mayfair Games Style: Dice Game Designed by: Klaus Teuber Players: 1-4 Play Time: 15-30 minutes Ages: 7+ MSRP: $12.00 |
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Inside Track 044: Aaron Williams
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Derek had the long awaited opportunity to talk to Aaron Williams at the GAMA Trade show. We have all been fans of Aaron’s work for a long time. You have probably seen it on a variety of products but most directly from Nodwick, Full Frontal Nerdity, and Ps238. As always, it was a great visit. Aaron is someone we will always look forward to seeing again. Find more about Aaron at nodwick.com |
| Aaron Williams’ first cartoon was published in Dragon magazine in 1989. He was 19 years old, and it was drawn on typing paper with a flair-tipped pen. He’s come a long way since then. His work has been published in Dragon Magazine, Dungeon Magazine, and Amazing Stories. While starting his career in cartooning, he worked as an artist for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages. In 2000 he took a leap and decided to take the Nodwick cartoon strip he’d created and turn it into a comic book. It’s the story of a henchman used and abused by his companions on their many quests to save the world, find treasure, and right the wrongs done by evil. |  |
His latest efforts are to be found both in print and all over the internet. Ps238 is a comic book that also publishes pages on the web at ps238.com. It’s an all-ages look at the first public school for the children of superheroes.
Full Frontal Nerdity is a webcomic about four guys (one represented by a webcam) who delve into all things geeky, including role-playing games, movies, TV, and whatever else the elite classes of fandom are into these days.
Crispygamer.com hosts his strip, Backward Compatible. Primarily centering on video games, the cast includes the CrispyGamer staff, their writers, and anyone who has an impact on what happens when you press a “start” button.
When not cartooning or surfing the web blog-fodder, Aaron is often dragged out into the sunlight by his loving wife to both broaden his horizons and prevent his transformation into a Morlock.
The Game Kennel 010: La Strada
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Jeremiah presents La Strada. We recently talked to Martin Wallace about La Strada, making it that much more fun to check out for ourselves. Everyone is making money from the economy of the game, but how much depends on what markets you share and how many times you have to split the pie. |
| La Strada Publisher: Mayfair Games Style: Board Game Designed by: Martin Wallace Players: 2-4 Play Time: 30-45 minutes Ages: 10+ MSRP: $36.00 |
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Out of Character 048: GTS 2008
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The Game Manufacturer’s Association’s Trade Show (GTS) was an awesome good time and as always packed full of good information. Several seminars were captured and will soon be made available online. It was great to see everyone and we will certainly be looking for you at the next show. |
| We had the opportunity to play several games at the GAMA Trade Show. We would like to thank Rich Waldbiess from Six Feet Under Games, New Holland, PA for providing a picture of Don playing Lifeboat. We also played Monster Mayhem, Toledo, Portobello Market, Cash ‘n Guns, Yetisburg, and of course, Poker. We also talk about Hunter The Vigil, Catan Dice (also playable online), the Catan Expansion, Traders and Barbarians, and a few from the Indie Press Revolution. |  |
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We are now gearing up for Phoenix Con Games, Arizona’s largest gaming convention. Held at the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa, Arizona. They offer just about every type of gaming, as well as parties, contests, anime/cosplay activities and other fun events. We will be running a few games there right out of our booth in the exhibit hall, some come by and play with us! |
We talked about several folks that share the podosphere with us. Specifically, we a talked about an interview with Pete Fenlon on On Board Games. Ron’s and Veronica’s recent appearance on the show led us to mention The Games the Thing. We were extremely excited to meet with several podcasters at the GAMA Trade Show. These included Dan Repperger from Fear the Boot, Daniel Perez from The Digital Front and The Gamer Traveler, Alan Sugarbaker from OgreCave Audio Report, and Collin from Obsessed with Gaming.
Don is criticized for his British ignorance in our discussion of Accent Your Character, our casual dialect training. CDs and digital downloads are available at paizo.com and lovecraftiana.com.
We had some great feedback today from friends from several companies and game stores. Some of these include Myriad Games in Salem, NH, The Kid in Me in Milford, DE, and Blitz Games.
We will, no doubt miss Boyan’s steady contribution to Out of Character, but duty calls him to join PSI in Georgia. We hope to have him on from time to time, but you will best keep up with him from his podcast and his blog at Shifting Skies Games.
Finding Good Homes for Great Games
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What started out as a training interview turned into a discussion made public on fitting games into the right hands. The intent is to provide insight to anyone that sells or promotes games on what to present and who to present them to. This is the premise of The Game Kennel and we want you to get the most out of it. By providing additional support to the customers that walk in your door, you can apply your expertise in a way nobody else can. We aim to help arm you with that information on every episode of The Game Kennel in less time than it takes to drive to work. |
| The discussion today is with Bob Carty and Alex Yeager of Mayfair Games. We have been extremely pleased to work with Mayfair. They have a commitment to the community at the grass roots level, a commitment to educational outreach, and a commitment to quality entertainment. All this has helped us to shape our values and our programing to the betterment of everyone that participates. |  |
Inside Track 043: Anthony Gallela and the Game Manufacturer’s Association
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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
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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 |
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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
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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. |  |
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 |
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Inside Track 041: Martin Wallace
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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. |  |
Out of Character 045: Gaming Infidelity
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We have a lot of fun today talking about cheating at the game table. We have all been witness to such a blight of character and it makes for some great stories. We talk about quite a few games today to include China Rails and Pillars of the Earth. Pillars just one Best Advanced Game in Japan. We also are preparing a new Pathfinder campaign. Paizo made some important announcements about its future. |
| Everyone, join us for our Catan Online party on Sunday, March 30th after 5 PM PST. You will need to download the client software and perhaps allowing it to update when logging on for the first time. When you get into the world, click on your backpack and move to the World Village, the English speaking community. Remember, the software is still in beta, so some translation bugs are still being worked out. For more information and discussion, join is in the forums. | |
For those of you holding on to an older version of Catan, Mayfair now has the Adapter Kit. This provides an outer frame to enclose the hexes that make up the island of Catan, stabilizing them on the table.
Several bits of community and convention news have come up during the show. We learn that Bo is headed to Game Storm, an adventure the rest of us are envious of. The Southern Arizona Gamers Association announces RinCon in Tucson, Arizona. This will be a don’t-miss event. We are introduced to the Collegiate Association of Table Top Gamers. The troops are starting to be rallied for something called MideastCon.
Its always fun to reach out to other folks with media to share. Of course, we are especially delighted to call your attention also to Accent Your Character. This dialect training series for role-players and other casual pretenders is reviewed in great detail by the Wandering Geek on his Game Bag Review Show. You can purchase them on CD or digital download from paizo.com. We also mention today about the new video from Ghoulash.
Point Blank Episode 2
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Episode 2 of POINT BLANK gears up for the GAMA Trade Show and invites listeners to participate in our PSI Game Night event Tuesday evening during the show. I also explain the details of the exciting new promotion that White Wolf is running called Exalted: Graduate your Game where I literally give players FREE copies of this popular RPG simply by trading in their old books. |
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| I am granted the honor of concluding the show with three POINT BLANK interviews - The Wiretap features a phone call with Avalon Hill developer, Mons Johnson discussing the special 50th Anniversary edition of Diplomacy, followed by Valley Games’ owner Torben Sherwood showcasing the exciting reprinting of Titan, and finishing it all off with the White Wolf Confidential that takes a sneak peak at the awesome new Vampire Clanbooks with developer Joseph Carriker. | |
| The total length of the show is roughly 30 minutes, which should still be ideal for the average commute time. | |
| Please email all questions and comments to boyan [@] pubservinc.com. | |
POINT BLANK Special Presentation: Joseph Carriker
PGPSI 002: Joseph Carriker [10:47m]: