G*M*S Magazine Podcast Channel

Since the OGL came into place a lot of years ago, there has been a totally unprecedented amount of work published for a lot of role playing games. Mind you, that doesn’t take much because RPGs are pretty young, so anything can be “unprecedented”. But the point is that it was. It still is. But is it a good thing that there are so many products? Is it good that we can have access to all of them? Jim Pinto, Liz Mackie and I discuss. And you can discuss it too!

A couple of weeks ago I brought you an interview with Sarah in which we talked about the game and the Kickstarter campaign. However we left behind some important aspects of the game, like the illustration and the physical products, as well as the schedule for the production line and the Traveller version of Mindjammer that has already been backed. So here we are again, having another chat with the rather talented Sarah Newton and her no-less-excellent Kickstarter campaign for the line of Mindjammer products.

By Paco Garcia Jaen Those of you who know me at all, or listen to the podcast, know that I am in love with Mindjammer and its universe. I liked it when I read the novel, I liked it even more when I read the book and the adventure Hearts and Minds consolidated what I already knew with a superb setting packed with action. Of course the whole concept is by Sarah Newton and I still believe she’s probably one of the most promising RPG writers out there. As far as I’m concerned, she’s a genius. Now she’s on Kickstarter for the first time to create a new adventure for Mindjammer and, aptly put, kickstart a whole new line of products for the game that will allow her to create material much more quickly and frequently than planned. I got together with her for a while to talk about the original Mindjammer, the journey from first publish till now and what her plans are for the game, adventures and supplements. Hope you enjoy the show!

Thanks to Piotr Żuchowski, I managed to get my hands on an early production copy of Heroes a few months ago. Since then, I’ve managed to do the Unboxing video and play the game a few times and must say loving it every time I play. This is a weird thing for me to say because, to be perfectly honest, I don’t like real-time dice-throwing games. They make me very anxious and the lack of chance to think between dice rolls drives me potty. And Heroes has a real-time dice-throwing mechanic. The difference is, though, that at times the game stops and you can think about what you want to do. Anyhow, I am getting ahead of myself. Heroes is a game for two to four players in which the players create a deck of creatures and spells that they use to attack the enemy and inflict enough damage points on the adversary’s general and win the game. With gorgeous artwork and pretty frantic gameplay, Heroes mixes dice and deck building very, very well with a dash of strategy – no ta lot, but enough to make it matter. I asked Piotr to come to the podcast to talk with him about the game and some of its aspects that were the most innovative or caught my eye. This is the interview. I hope you enjoy the show!

Rome: Rise to Power is another history based game, this time from Golden Egg Games, creators of City Council and Athlas Duel for Divinity and also with a nice twist: A trademarked mechanic system. It’s all in the podcast… Also very interesting is that this time the game is also going to be finished, printed, produced and delivered in time for Spiel… And it has four days to finish! Hope the interview will give you all the excuses you need to look at the game and become a backer!

Prime Time Broadcast Tycoon is the latest offering from Golden Egg Games, a company that keeps coming up with great game after great game. This time they are offering a TV channel simulator in which the players have to create their own shows, arrange a weekly schedule and compete to get the most audience and generate sales through advertising. That sounds very much close to real life… And they keep meeting some very tight deadlines too! The Kickstarter is going at the time of releasing this podcast and yet they are going to deliver in less than two months at Spiel… How? Well, I got together with Elad Goldsteen, designer and mastermind behind Golden Egg Games to find out about the game and their strategy. Hope you enjoy the show!

For those of us who are on the other side of the planet, GenCon is a very difficult to reach convention. And that can be frustrating because, inarguably, GenCon is the best RPG convention in the world and the biggest. And we can’t be there. Or I can’t. However both Vickey and Jim do get there and spend a lot of time working and doing cool stuff and can tell us all about it. And we discuss the Ennies and the usefulness or futility of pursuing awards like it. Yep…. we’re going controversial! Also, Jim M. Ward, one of the legends of RPG is going through a rough time at the moment. As it tends to happen in the USA too often, when people get ill. they face huge bills and that is Jim’s situation. He is a genuinely good man and doesn’t deserve to be in this situation. A GoFundMe campaign has been setup to help gather some funds for him. Please, if you can, donate anything you can. If you can’t help, please share this page and let people know. Thank you for your support.

Heroes is a deck building game for 2 to 4 players that combine real time dice rolling mechanics with deck building and battling all in one. And it looks truly stunning. Now, I am not a friend of real-time dice-rolling mechanics. It just drives me mad, but in this occasion it works really well and the game is a joy to play at every single level. The battle side of things is also pretty cool and I loved this game. Want to know more? It’s all in the podcast. Hope you enjoy the show!

Sometimes people have great ideas and they need to go to Kickstarter to get them realised because money is tight. That’s the whole principle of Kickstarter, I know. But I also know that some people have grown increasingly cynical of some projects that go to Kickstarter for the marketing and not the need. This is not one of those situations. The Bespoke Geek is a newly created company that wants to bring cosplaying into every day dressing by creating gaming related clothes you can wear to work. Or the park. Or the cinema. You get the point. And this is something else that’s very cool about this project. It’s creative, games related but not a game and it’s been created by a gamer who’s got other interests too. And just for that, this project deserves backing. But to make sure you get all the facts, here’s this interview with Kara Gander, the designer behind the project.

I came by Soulfall, from Smallbox Games, after my friend Alf Seegert recommended it and I pretty much right away backed the game based on the artwork alone. With dreamy and very evocative illustrations, this game for two to four players already had something to pull me in even though I knew nothing about the theme or mechanics. It didn’t matter. This time I was buying out of a recommendation from a friend I trust and my eyesight who knows what I like. Fast forward a few months and I have with me my copy of the game. A bit squeezed “thanks” to the postal service, but looking good. After I sat down with my friends to play it, I can finally bring you my impressions and they’re good ones. Hope you enjoy the show!

Some of us have friends all over the world and with social networks and convention attending, it’s very easy to meet people with a common interest. And continuing with a game you start while away, or simply when you’re on holidays be able to attend your weekly game and keep the paladin doing paladin stuff. Virtual tables have been the topic of much talk in the last few years and they’re getting better and better, though some people are still reluctant to use them. Me included. So I decided to get together with virtual tabletop creator and podcast listener Carl Pinder, who is on the process of creating a truly interesting and versatile platform called Tabletop Connect. He did get me a lot closer to be looking forward to using  the software and I have to say there are lots of features that I think are very, very interesting. Please remember to take a look at his website and watch the videos and hope you enjoy the show!

I think it’s safe to say that every single roleplaying games out there has, at some point, wanted to write games. Whether it is for their own adventures, new classes, professions, spells… and fully fledged games too, of course. The RPG industry relies quite heavily on freelancers because few companies can afford to hire full-time writers. And when they do, they can afford to hire the best of the best. Also a lot of *incredible* writers decide to become freelancers anyway because that gives them a lot of freedom to do different projects and never become stagnant. But how does one become a freelance? Well, Jim Pinto has been a freelance for long, long time and has worked with more than can (or wants to) remember. Vickey Beaver does a lot of work with a lot of freelancers and I have a few of them at the office and help with the recruitment process in my company, so between the three of us know a thing or two about becoming one. And if you want to become one, follow this pro who’s making a career as a freelance: http://www.freelanceknight.com/

In 2005, Green Ronin published a pretty different fantasy game called Blue Rose. It defined itself as a Romantic Fantasy Roleplaying Game and it made a point of having social inclusion and diversity as part of the setting and ethos of the whole game.As oftentimes happen, the game became in need of some updating and TLC and it languished for a few years despite the fact that it was far from forgotten.Now the time has come and Green Ronin is once again gathering a team of writers, illustration artists, game designers and the team needed to get a new and better edition of the game out next year.For starters it’s expanding on the lore of the game and also changing its system from True 20 to AGE.In Kickstarter at the time of recording this podcast, funded and having cracked a few stretch goals, I decided to talk to its line and lead developer, Steve Kenson, to find out more about Blue Rose and what we can expect from this new edition. Hope you enjoy the show!

Playing RPGs is a source of joy and entertainment for those who play them, but sometimes, just sometimes, things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes there’s someone who ruins your game. And it can be you ruining it and not even realise. In this episode, Jim Pinto and I talk about some of the bad experiences we’ve had at the table and we air some dirty secrets, as well as a few tips on how to stop it when “it” goes awry. And we swear a bit in this episode. Sorry… Hope you enjoy the show!

Legendary Games has been creating some impressive material for quite some time now. With a great ability to surround themselves with terrific writers, they hit the mark very, very often. Now Legendary Games have joined forces with a terrific plethora of authors to create Legendary Planet Adventure Path, a very interesting take on the fantasy and science fiction games with this new adventure path for the Pathfinder RPG. I got together with Neil Spicer and Mike Shel, two of the leading people behind this project, to find out more about what it entails and what’s all about. Legendary Planet Adventure path is funded in Kickstarter and I strongly recommend you take a look at it. It looks pretty amazing! Hope you enjoy the show!Apologies for the audio quality in some parts. I tried to clean it up a bit but alas some of it is not great. :(