I received a very unique text one day from my father-in-law. One of his patients had designed a game, and he shared with her that his son-in-law (yours truly) was a game podcaster. So, we connected, and I invited her and her co-designer onto the show. Here is that show. Anna Purves and David Schwittek joined me to discuss Dead Poets Rise, a unique game about writing poetry. I had the pleasure of watching some games take place at a library near me. Funny enough, David lives close to where I live, and Anna lives close to where I work. The game brings players into a world where they are trying to ..read more

Kelp me! Kelp me! All joking aside... this is a serious podcast... Carl Robinson, the designer of the 2-player game Kelp, joined me to talk more about his games and expand upon frustrating games in general. We discussed his game in detail, but we also branched off into games that use frustration in good and bad ways. Check out Kelp, live on Kickstarter right now if this sounds like something you are interested in ..read more

Joe Slack, a frequent guest of the show, joined me once again to help me dip our toes into the conversation about AI art in board games. We did our best to explain AI art from our knowledge base and to explore some of the uses of it so far and even what future uses should look like. I have an ongoing cough, so I did my best to remove those loud coughs. I asked ChatGPT to write me a script for a podcast about AI art. I will release that as an episode in December. Also, I asked ChatGPT to create an Arkham Horror trick-taking game. The game is enclosed in quotation marks. "Absolutely! Let's call ..read more

Jason Peercy, co-designer of The Real Thing RPG, joined me to talk about the expansions he is crowdfunding titled Angel Dust and King For a Day. You might remember The Real Thing RPG as the Faith No More inspired RPG. Jason and his co-designer Jason took the themes and stories they heard in Faith No More's The Real Thing album and created an RPG system out of it. Well, they are back at it again expanding the world they created through 2 new books. We discussed the reaction to the game, working with a band as an IP holder, and more. If you are interested in the game, please check it out on Back ..read more

I planned to have on Jeff Warrender to talk about his game Lost Adventures, out on Kickstarter now, but Jonny Pac and the always fun Ben Maddox happened to join the podcast. We had a blast on this one. We mostly stayed on topic focusing on some of the interesting design decisions in Lost Adventures. If you have any interest in this game, check it out on Kickstarter now ..read more

Becky Annison, designer of Wreck This Deck and co-owner of Black Armada Games, joined me to talk about her latest design up on BackerKit right now. Wreck This Deck is a solo-journaling RPG where you trap demons in playing cards and wreck those cards in all sorts of artistic ways, whatever you fancy. You can burn cards, fold them, paint them, cut them, etc. Becky encourages players to go ham on that deck. She sees the game as an opportunity for players to let their creativity fly. We discussed the genesis of the game and how it developed and is still developing. We also talked briefly about Leg ..read more

Nick Accardi, co-designer and artistic director for The Boys: This Is Going to Hurt, joined me to talk about this game from Dynamite Entertainment. We discussed the intricacies of adapting a licensed property into a board game. Nick talked about how the game doesn't follow the comics exactly, but instead crafts its own plausible story, so players can get immersed in something new. We also discuss set building and prop work because Nick is interested in some of that, and set building was my previous profession. This game follows the comic and not the Amazon TV show. If you are interested in get ..read more

Gonzalo and Will joined me to talk about their game called Nawalli. It's a head-to-head card battling game with some incredible artwork inspired by the Aztecs. It's an easy game to learn and play because of its relative language independence (once you know it all). I was drawn to this game because of its artwork and knew I had to find out more. What better way than have the designers on the show. Also, the Cardboard Edison Award is here again. All submissions must be in by Jan. 31. Check out www.cardboardedison.com/award for more information. They did not pay me to say this, but they should si ..read more

Jonny Pac, co-designer of Unconscious Mind, joined me to talk about the design of this big game. We focused on the way this game keeps players involved thematically and helps keep these various mechanisms flowing intuitively between one another. If you are interested in this game, check it out on Kickstarter ..read more

Joe Slack, designer of Relics of Rajavihara and the forthcoming 14 Frantic Minutes, joined me for another threepeat of episodes. The first one explores the idea of a game being "done." How does one know when to call their design done and move on to the next phase of its life? Joe and I attempt to provide some insight into this quesiton. Joe also has a Kickstarter campaign for 14 Frantic Minutes. He speaks briefly about his own game and when he decided it was done. Check it out if you are interested ..read more