G*M*S Magazine Podcast Channel

After a while in which we’ve kept the room under lock and key, we are back to discuss all things role play and cover topics gaming related that might, or might not, be of interest to you, our lovely listeners. Together with the furniture, we’ve made some changes to the hosts. Or maybe I should say an addition. I am very pleased to announce that Jim Pinto, of Postworld Games will be joining us on a permanent basis to co-host this podcast with VickeyBeaver and myself. Jim has a wealth of experience in the world of RPG and boardgames with more designs in his portfolio than most, though he’s also less well-known than most. However, I have read a few of his games and backed his most recent Kickstarter and the suspicion that he has some sort of super power or alien heritage, because few other people can write as much apart from him and Endzeitgeist. Anyway. In this episode Jim explains why fads are a thing of the past and why cosplayer shouldn’t have a place at games conventions. We also find out why I am a horrible human being around Halloween. Enjoy the show

I haven’t played an Euro with good theme since O2. And that wasn’t a game for beginners either. In fact it was quite a hard day. Michael Chamberlainwas very excited about this one but, since for him a headache induced by a game is the best way to rate how good a game is, I was a bit apprehensive. The fact that this game is by Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer did put me at ease a bit, but not much. It sounded like a heavy game and I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy it. Then we started to play it and I have to say this game surprised me… a lot. As well as looking totally gorgeous, the game plays with some mechanics and mechanisms that surprised me in the best possible way. Hope you enjoy the show

For a long time now I have been looking forward to playing Serpent’s Tongue, a gameI came across at Spiel at the Arctic Union booth. The game looked just gorgeous and the premise was seriously alluring; two magi battle by casting spells against each other. Presented like that you’d be forgiven for thinking I am just getting carried away and that there are many other battling games out there. You’d be right, but no… you’d be wrong. This game has something unique. In this game you actually have to cast the spells by reading the symbols of magic and learning their pronunciation and their somatic component. You actually have to learn what sort of spell it is, how topronounce the beautiful magic alphabet and develop your strategy to defeat your enemy. The game comes more than a hundred spells, of which you can only use a handful in each battle, thus having a bit of deck building element to it. So Michael Chamberlainand I got together, pulled the spells book and followed the walkthrough to learn to play this game. This is our experience! Hope you enjoy the show

I have learned to trust Michael Chamberlainwhen is about games. He kinda knows things I don’t. Tons of things. One of the things he knows how to do is spot great ideas and great sounding games in Kickstarter, and that’s exactly what he has done with Scoville. We got together with Ed Marriot and interview him about hisgame of chilly peppers farming. Must say itsounds a great deal more promising than I expected. I am not particularly into farming games and I need theme in euro games for me to be interested in them. Scoville certainly has that. A game in which you cross-breed chilli peppers to get the best plants out there. Result! Oh… and it looks gorgeous too! Hope you enjoy the show

By Paco Garcia Jaen Time travel is one of those subjects that fascinate people throughout the Science Fiction and Fantasy spectrum and Timewatch wants to do something about it. There are tons of movies, novels and games that do their best with the subject, but with something like traveling the waves of time, it’s tough to come up with something truly convincing, specially if you have or want to interact with it. That is what Timewatch attempts to do. The role playing game by Kevin Kulp uses the Gumshoe system, which powers Trail of Cthulhu, Night’s Black Agents and other games published by Pelgrane Press. With a very successful campaign that saw the game funded in a matter of days and then unravelled stretch goal after stretch goal, I wanted to find out why it had attracted so much attention, so I had Kevin Kulp around the interview room to have a chat and find out about him and his game. As someone who was very sceptical, I had quite a few questions to ask. And I got some really convincing answers! Hope you enjoy the show

Star Wars has been at the heart of Science Fiction and geek culture since the first time it was screened in 1977 and the X-Wing has been one of the most iconic space crafts in the series. Thus it was no surprise that Fantasy Flight chose that very name for their Star Wars based miniatures game when they obtained the license from Lucas Arts. No doubt it was a big and pricey gamble for the company and they had to ensure they hit the nail on the head with this game. With the talent and passion of Jay Little behind the overall design of the miniature game as well as the Role Playing Game, the whole operation was set for a good start. However, no matter how good the designer behind the scenes is and how gorgeous the miniatures look, no game is fit for everyone and we had to check for ourselves if this was actually as good as people say. So we sat down and played the game so we could tell you all about our experience. Hope you enjoy the show!

Many people hear the words “historical games” and immediately get the unavoidable urge to yawn. Loudly. Yet, Academy Games has challenged that yawn reaction time and time again, and time and time again they’ve been successful. With an impressive collection of games of which their series Conflict of Heroes continues to succeed and draw new fans, Uwe (pronounced “oova”) Eickert and his team of merry humans take a no-nonsense approach to games that are carefully crafted to reflect history accurately and uncompromisingly. This includes tackling subjects as sensitive as the abolitionist movement and, in the near future, more modern wars and social movements. Kickstarter has also played a great role in helping the company grow and to say that Academy Games’ have enjoyed great results would be a disservice to how well they’ve done. With a project going on at the time of publishing this podcast called Fief that has already obtained more than ten times the initial amount they were aiming for, we had the pleasure of catching up with Uwe Eicktert and ask him a few questions about the company, he games and what the future might bring

By Michael Chamberlainand Max Murray In this podcast episode Michael and Max took a look at Rasputin, a game by designer Bob West and published Blue Panther. The premise of the game is to infiltrate the Winter Palace and destroy the menace that is Rasputin. Which is a lot easier said than done, btw. Interesting about this game is that it has, probably, the most durable tokens ever. They’re not made of cardboard, they’re made of wood! A game that Michael considers to be one of the best balanced games we’re going to see this year! Hope you enjoy the show

By Paco Garcia Jaen, Michael Chamberlainand Max Murray Firefly, a boardgame with the simple motto Find a Crew, Find a Job. Keep Flying. Can it do justice to the series that inspired it? Fireflyis a very much loved Science Fiction series. It surprised everyone when it turned out to be very, very decent, and it has a legion of loyal followers– and rightly so!– who are claiming and longing to see more of the series. So it was kind of expected that, at some point, a board game would be released. I think by now we can start relaxing a bit when we see a licensed game. There are lots of very good games out there that have been licensed. Firefly happens to be one of them! Produced by Gale Force Nine, the game tries to re-create the flavour and atmosphere of the series with a well looked after and detailed art direction, plenty of photos and plenty of game. There are lots and lots of parts to this game indeed! But does it play well? We learned the rules, sat down and recorded our impressions after playing the game for the first time. Hopefully will help you decide you want this game! Hope you enjoy the show

I’ve been waiting for Hero Forgefor years and years and years and years. A company that can produce customised and bespoke minis, printed on demand and to a such a high standard that there is no difference between those minis and those produced by more established companies. At least that’s what they claim and that’s why I thought it’d be a good idea to invite the two instigators and chief thinkers of the company to find out what their plans are, what sort of miniatures, the artwork behind the minis, how are they going to avoid problems in the future and also what plans they have for the future! Joshua Bennet and Teagan Morrison joined me to discuss all sorts of things and face some unnerving questions they probably weren’t expecting! Hope you enjoy the show

By Paco Garcia Jaen The Gameratihimself has been into creating, promoting and playing roleplaying games for a very, very long time and in that time he’s learned a great deal. A great deal that he’s more than happy to share that knowledge. From helping create Eden Studios to setting up the Gamerati Network, Ed Healy has been enthusiasticallypromoting not just games, but gamers;celebrating our idiosyncrasies andshowcasing how our differences only make us richer. But who’s Ed Healy really? Where does he come from and why is he so keen on games and gaming? And what drives him? As I suspected, an interview worth listening to. Ed is probably one of the nicest men our hobby has ever seen

By Paco Garcia Jaen, Michael Chamberlainand Max Murray Steam Park comes from the company that entertained us with Dungeon Fighter released this lovely looking game at Spiel 2013. With cute looks and some delightful art work by the same artist that gave Dixit its idiosyncratic and recognisable feel, the assembly parts that come with this game do promise quite a lot. The charming theme, creating your own theme park to entertain and delight your visitors. Simple, right? Not so fast! You’ll have to keep your park clean and well looked after to earn money, and if you also complete your missions successfully, you’ll make even more money! And all this in a family game! We sat around and had a game to find out if Steam Park is as family friendly and as lovely as it seems. Hope you enjoy the show

By Paco Garcia Jaenand Endzeitgeist Welcome friends to the first of hopefully many episodes of a new show, the RPG Review Room, in which we’ll bring the most prolific reviewer out there, Endzeitgeist to bring us reviews of the best and worst products he’s recently read. To make sure he’s not the carrying all the weight of the reviews, which would be very unfair on him, I will endeavour to also read and therefore review, as many games as possible. So in this occasion we start with Kobold Press, The Rise of the Drow Kickstarter and something to do with lycanthropes that Endzeitgeist has actually authored and not just reviewed. Yep! That’s all I’ll say… you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out more! It’ll be worth it! We also talk about: Panataxia: One of the Four Dollar Dungeons,a series ofstandalone adventures designed to be logical, entertaining, challenging and balanced, and easily integrated into any campaign world. Each adventure has enough material to last two to three playing sessions and enough experience to raise four characters of the appropriate level up by one extra level. Treasure is commensurate with the encounter challenges faced. Scaling information is included for adventuring parties of five or six. It Came from the Stars Campaign Guide: TheIt Came from the Stars Campaign Guidebrings the mystery of the unknown and the weird to your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game with new player options, new monsters and other GM options, and new adventures. Mystery, wonder, and terror from the starry vastness await you. Whether you play in a world that is already aware of what lies beyond or that has been so far oblivious, it’s about to get ugly. The Slaver Caves of Dorden: In the dark winter months near the hamlet of Baruth, a menace is growing. Locals have been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the mines to the north. Recently liberated from a cold and calculating dictator, the town seeks heroes to mount a rescue. Far beneath the foreboding Mountains of Dorden, an evil that has remained hidden for centuries will soon be unleashed on the realms unless someone intervenes to save those kidnapped and stop the growing evil. Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Campaign: Where the dungeon ends, another adventure begins! Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Ultimate Campaign takes you on a guided tour through the parts of the game that happen between monster attacks and quests for ancient artefacts. As some of the most powerful and prestigious heroes around, do your player characters want to build up a kingdom of their own, or lead an army against a neighboring nation? Perhaps they want to start a business, craft magic items, or embark on a quest that will come to define them. Whether you’re looking for help generating a young character or seeking ways to challenge adventurers who’ve grown bored of fighting monsters one-on-one, this book has everything you need! Ultimate Rulership: If your characters are building a kingdom, you cannot miss this 40-page product! Designed as a perfect complement to the newly revised kingdom-building system, Ultimate Rulership contains a dazzling array of new options including new Edicts for royal commissions and endowments, espionage and festivals, and militarism and recruiting new armies. Add nearly 20 new buildings for your cities from Aeries to Tunnels, Hanging Gardens to Crematoria. Guidelines for population and military recruitment, and for integrating settlement attributes, kingdom events, and danger levels; naturally advantageous sites and exotic city locales from cliff dwellings to treetop towns to cities under the sea! Achtung! Cthulhu: Achtung! Cthulhu brings you a two-fisted wartime CALL OF CTHULHU roleplaying game setting packed full of fiendish Nazis, terrifying ancient mysteries, legendary war machines, and enough writhing ten

Apocalypses are something that all sorts of media have been attracted to and using all the time. For a long, long time books, movies, theatre, games… This game, Chaosmos, takes the apocalypse to a new level because it is the universe that’s about to end, not just a world that’s about to end, or a country or a civilisation… nop… it’s the universe! This is a game for two to four players in which they play an alien race looking for an item that will allow their race to survive the apocalypse and travel into the new universe to thrive again. With gorgeous artwork and some interesting bluffing and trick playing mechanics, this game is very promising and being funded in Kickstarter at the time of publishing this podcast. Hope you’ll take a look and that the interview sounds interesting

Everyone knows that angels and demons are going to fight, like they do in Kingdom. That’s what they do because… because they’re angels and demons. And there are kingdoms to conquer and one can’t stand each other. Who needs any more reasons? Exactly. Black Locust Games decided to make a game based on the theme. This is a card game for two players full of absolutely gorgeous looking cards in which the players rage a battle to win control of the universe. The copy we received was a pre-production copy, so we can’t comment on how good or how much better the final product will be, but it is pretty good already and the cards felt very nice, so I can imagine the final version will be pretty stunning. Although the game wasn’t in Kickstarter when the podcast was recorded, it’s getting funded at the time of publishing this podcast and we sincerely hope you’ll take a look at it because it’s certainly well worth it. Michael Chamberlain and Max Murray have taken a look at the game and they liked it… that’s quite an endorsement! Hope you enjoy the show