We talk about the return of Kingmaker, a board game first published in 1974 with a loyal fanbase. Alan Paull joins us in a nice pub in Cambridgeshire to discuss reworking the game for a new edition to be released by Gibson Games via Kickstarter later in the year. Kingmaker, originally designed by Andrew McNeil, is a game set in the War of the Roses and uses a flood of modern mechanics we take for granted, such as area movement, mutli-use event cards, asymmetrical forces and a bit of tableau building.   We have a write up on Kingmaker, and many other games new and old in the latest ..read more

Airecon 2022 Report: Blitzkrieg Sequel ‘Dogfight’ Announced and Moon First Look We headed up to Harrogate on Friday to  bring you this podcast report from the show. We get the exclusive announcement of PSC’s third title in the Blitzkrieg line, Dogfight. Dogfight is an innovative but simple aerial combat game that promises you that you can win the fight for the skies in 20 minutes. Plus, MOON, the new game from Sinister Fish and Haakon Gaarder about building a new moon base, using a pick-and-pass method and some clever interactions. And we get the scoop on Baseball The Card Game ..read more

We talk to James Naylor about the recent Kickstarter scandals about distributed ledger technology (i.e. blockchain/nft/crypto adjacent stuff) and get his top five "deep" board games (by which we mean, games that he's really played to death over the last couple of years). James is a London based board game designer and publisher who is passionate about product design and its role in creating game experience. James is the creator of Magnate: The First City, a midweight city building/property game released in 2021 to critical acclaim and commercial success. He now works full time building a pip ..read more

We get your “why 5e?” questions answered. Dark Souls The Roleplaying Game was announced this week by Steamforged Games. We got in touch with the game’s designer, Richard August, to discuss the kind game that it is and how it’s all going to work.  The announcement also came with the news that it would use a Fifth Edition compatible system. Many fans of the videogame series complained about this online, partly it seemed because of the natural distaste players have for the world’s most popular roleplaying game (i.e. because popular things are popular to dislike) and the existence of t ..read more

We caught up with Chaosium’s Mike Mason and Lynne Hardy to have a double-dip on Rivers of London RPG, Call of Cthulhu and tease a couple of new book coming from the publisher of Lovecraftian horror. First: Mike Mason tells us about a new six part ‘College of Cthulhu’ campaign that sees investigators start as “spotty college kids” and over the the course of the proceeding years of horror, become grizzled investigators in the local area. Next: Lynne Hardy talks Regency Cthulhu, briefly, and discusses some of the Sharpe-led inspiration for the new book. Our music is by Body In The Thames:  ..read more

We spent the day wandering a busy but safe Dragonmeet chatting. The show is still on today (Sunday 5th) – so head over to Novotel Hammersmith if you're on the hunt for your next gaming fix. Apologies for some of the rough and ready editing here, or: enjoy the ambience! Find Dragonmeet and buy tickets here: https://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/  Our music is by Body in the Thames: https://bodyinthethames.bandcamp.com/ And you can subscribe to the magazine here: https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/store/subscriptions/tabletop-gaming/  ..read more

Call of Cthulhu is 40 years old – and to celebrate we’ve put together a low-budget low-talent actual play of the solo adventure Alone Against The Tides. We’ve used some ambient noises from ZapSplat to flesh it out, and, to give it that special something, recorded it very tired with a bit of a cold.   We’ll be at Dragonmeet on the 4th December – come say hi. If there’s something you think we should definitely check out, then leave us a review telling us exactly what that is.   NOTE: I say that an extreme success is a quarter of the skill value, when in fact, it is a fifth. Sorry ..read more

We sit down with Chris Bissette to talk about his new Fighting Fantasy style adventure book for Troika, Down in Yongardy. We discuss his motivations for creating the game, and a little bit about the setting and The Law.   We give Troika a light roasting as well as explore its potential and why it has such a large following.   Plus, we talk about Chris’ Random Adventure Jam, using Twine to create interactive fiction, and the Rainy Day Games feature in the magazine, which he contributes to. (I thought this wend up on Thursday last week actually, no idea which gremlins got involved to ..read more

We chat to Ben Maddox of Five Games For Doomsday about his recent foray into the solo indie RPG Thousand Year Old Vampire. Ben has been recording an actual play podcast of the game with dramatic readings and a touch of audio theatre. We discuss the game and it's usefulness to writing, Ben's experiences of the game, and untangle the idea of 'progress' in a journaling game. FG4D Website: https://fivegamesfordoomsday.com/  Ben Maddox on Twitter: https://twitter.com/5games4doomsday Buy the mag: https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/Store/Back-Issues/tabletop-gaming  There's only ..read more

Welcome to issue 60, which will be landing in your local shops or on your doormat on the 22nd of October, just in time for Halloween. We’re celebrating this spooky time of year with an exclusive scenario for Vaesen: Mythic Britain. Over 14 pages in the magazine we offer up a full, unreleased scenario for you to get started dealing with the folklore of Britain.  Chris and Charlie chat about the scenario, and the opportunities that this kind of roleplaying brings. They also discuss Call of Cthulhu and the excellent Scritch Scratch scenario, just released in paperback form. Next we move o ..read more