We Interview Nigel Pyne--Designer of oddball Aeronauts

Today we’re with Nigel Pyne, co-founder of Maverick Muse, the company behind the current Kickstarter game oddball Aeronauts. Thanks for joining us Nigel. First, will you tell us a little about yourself?

You’re welcome. Sure: I have a beard. There you go, will that do? Okay, wow, a little bit about myself. I guess this little intro says a bit about me on its own doesn’t it?

Anyway, I’m a game designer by night and as my alter ego I design, build and maintain computer networks. I love games, books, movies and comics in that order. I live with my wife, Debs, and two dogs--Mr Jones the Schnauzer and Lt. Ripley the Welsh Terrier. If I could survive off protein alone, I would, but I also love crumble puddings. Oh and coffee. I could go on?

You have a terrific little game on Kickstarter. Tell us about oddball Aeronauts.

Thanks guys! oddball Aeronauts is a light strategy, two-player card game that you can play without a surface and as such is incredibly portable. For anyone 9 years and older, the players go head-to-head in a dirigible duel in the skies of an oddball fantasy, steampunk-esque world. All I would add to that is don’t be fooled into thinking it has no depth of play.

Where did the in-the-hand idea come from?

I grew up playing Top Trumps but it really is just for young kids. A few years ago I thought it would be great if there was a game with more...game, that had the same features--no surface, play in the hand--that kids could get into once Top Trumps no longer did it for them and so started to design one.

Where’s the strangest place you’ve played a game of oddball Aeronauts?

Up a tree. Obviously a shameless stunt for promotional purposes, but still pretty strange.

So...I make my living as an editor, and I just have to know: Why don’t you capitalize “oddball”?!

Because it’s then just like the word itself - oddball.

The artist, Lloyd Ash Pyne, has a remarkably similar last name to you. Is he your brother?

That’s funny because you would think that was the case, wouldn’t you? And, in fact you’d be absolutely right. He’s one of my three brothers and we both got into D&D at the same time and have been playing games and designing worlds together every since.

Was there a watershed moment that drew you both into the gaming world?

Yeah, it was when my teacher at school introduced me to D&D. I had grown up playing games but D&D just kick-started my imagination and I’ve never looked back.

The artwork is striking and evocative. That’s not really a question; I just wanted to say that…

Thanks--Ash is a talented guy and has done a great job with the artwork and Debs’ design work and eye for detail complements it fantastically.

These characters seem to scream for a back-story, and then a quick look around your Web site makes me think that might, indeed, be the case. Is there already a world at work in the background? Or is that something you have planned?

Yes, there is. The world came first--the oddball Realms--and the story in that world influences the game and the game has influenced the world. This definitely comes from our role-playing days. Quite quickly after starting to play D&D, Ash and I started creating our own worlds and that’s a major part of what we do as a design studio. It’s surprising how much a game design can influence the world--for example, I work out a cool game effect and then we look at the world and realize nothing exists to match that effect so we go ahead and create something that does. The end result--we hope--is a world that blends with the game and a game that integrates with the world.

Are there any plans for expansions?

Absolutely, yes. We have 6 new factions being developed and have other ideas for expanding the game as well. Here’s an exclusive for you. In the full version of the game available this August, you’ll get Princess cards--and in the oddball Realms, Princesses have magic. Magic is a Trick that you can use even if the Princess card is your 2nd or 3rd card--but as you can only use 1 Trick a round you couldn’t then use the Trick on your Top Card. But, a third of each player’s faction cards will have a ‘magic’ symbol on them down in the bottom left hand corner. If you decide to use your Princess Trick and your opponent’s Top Card has the ‘magic’ symbol on, then the Trick fails and you don’t get to do any Trick that round--your Princess fails to control that extra surge of magic energy.

Magic is just one idea we’ve had for expanding gameplay. We’re not saving that for an expansion, but others we are.

We know you’re neck-deep in your campaign, but are there any on-the-horizon projects you can tell us about?

There’s the oddball Adventure game. Up to 6 players split into two teams and race in their dirigibles from air island to air island following a trail to fortune and glory. Then they sit down and play the board game :)

Here’s the rapid-fire section. We ask the questions, and you answer them with one word (or short phrase). GO!

No, I’m not ready. Ahhhhh.

Too bad! Favorite faction in oddball Aeronauts?

Um, er, um--The Pendragon Pirates--Pirates that have defected to the Pendragon or Pendragon who have turned Pirate?

Favorite steampunk novel?

Oh, I know this one! I actually haven’t read a lot of Steampunk but out of what I have read, it would have to be ‘Mortal Engines’ by Philip Reeve

Favorite Blood Bowl team?

Skaven.

Game you seem to like more than anyone else?

Ahhhh, now you’re asking. I don’t know. I don’t know. Just give me a minute. Stop pressuring me. Oh, I know...no, not that. Oh, why can’t you think of anything when you’re put on the spot? I actually don’t think this applies to me if I’m honest - sorry.

Favorite Pixar character?

Pixar? What’s Pixar? Just kidding - it would have to be that big blue, horned dude from Monsters Inc. What’s his name? Sulley, I think. Is that right?

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Nigel! Check out the Kickstarter campaign right here! And here’s our review of this fun game.

We Interview Crash Games' Patrick Nickell, and Designer Jason Kotarski, About their New Games

Today we’re joined by two gentlemen who are, in their own ways, shaping the face of indie gaming as we know it today. Patrick Nickell, founder, el presidente, and Grand Poobah of Crash Games. And Jason Kotarski, designer of last year’s Great Heartland Hauling Co., which made our top 10 games of 2013 list.

Patrick, Jason, thanks for joining us today!

Before we go much further Patrick can you give us a quick recap of 2013 for Crash Games?

Patrick: It was a busy year for Crash Game in 2013. The best way for people to see what we accomplished is to check out our 2014 State of Crash Games at http://eepurl.com/N1wG1

Some of the highlights include: 1. Shipped out The Lost Dutchman to backers worldwide

2. Kickstarted Paradise Fallen and shipped it out to backers worldwide.

3. Kickstarted Council of Verona and shipped it out to backers worldwide.

4. Kickstarted a true, pay-what-you-want campaign for Where Art Thou, Romeo? and shipped it out to backers worldwide.

5. Attended six conventions including Spiel in Essen Germany.

What was the biggest surprise of the year for you?

P: Council of Verona, and how amazing and fast the project came together. I had a great game designer in Michael Eskue, a phenomenally talented artist in Adam McIver, and my awesome graphic designer, Darrell Louder, was able to wrangle everything together. And my manufacturer Panda Games did a good job of making things happen in a very short amount of time.

Jason, since the release of Heartland Hauling, you haven’t been resting on your laurels--you’ve been working away, designing. How many designs have you completed since then, and how many are you working on currently?

Jason: Since Heartland came out I caught the bug. That was the first game I ever designed, but since then I’ve been working on something like 8-10 more. I published a game called FrogFlip with Sprocket Games, and another game is coming this spring from White Goblin Games, as well as another half dozen that are in varying degrees of development. It’s a fun space to create in. An idea pops up and I know pretty quickly whether or not I have to work on it. Then, I get to it until I get stuck and move on to something else until I get unstuck.

Now, you guys have known each other for some time, but you most recently sat down and talked business at Unpub 4. And there’s some big news that came about from those talks...do tell!

P: I have been a big fan of Jason’s ever since hearing his story back when he first met up with Dice Hate Me Games and recorded a “State of Games” episode on Chris’ podcast. I backed Great Heartland Hauling on Kickstarter and have been enjoying playing it to this day. Jason and I always chatted at various conventions and I felt we had a really good vibe going. When we met up the evening before the official kick-off of UnPub4 I had the opportunity to play Dead Drop and I really enjoyed playing it. Later in the weekend I heard all the commotion inside the venue and went over to discover that it was coming from another of Jason’s games, this time it was Sunset Shuffle. After playing the game I knew that it fit a very specific type of game I was looking to add to the Crash Games catalog--not to mention IT WAS A BLAST! I was very happy to walk away from UnPub4 having signed both Dead Drop and Sunset Shuffle, which I am now calling Sunset Showdown.

This is really cool news! First, let’s talk a little bit about Dead Drop. Jason can you tell us a little bit about the game, and how it plays? And Patrick, what drew you to the game and made you decide to publish it?

J: I guess Dead Drop started as a way to explore the microgame space a bit. I had a lot of fun making FrogFlip with my daughter, which consists of just 12 cards, and wanted to dig in a little deeper and out of my comfort zone. The idea hit me as I was watching the Alias television series this past year with my wife. In the show, the secret agents were always leaving sensitive information for each other in public locations. It was a way to pass on key information while keeping the agents’ identities a secret. So from there I worked on the idea that various organizations were racing to be the first ones to discover this secret piece of information that had been hidden. At its heart it’s a simple game of deduction and maneuvering, with some elements that make memory really important.

In the game there is a secret card, numbered 0-5, dealt face-down to the middle of the table. This is the “drop.” Then there are a number of cards that are dealt face-up to the “cache” as shared information, and the rest of the cards are dealt evenly among all the players. On a player's turn they can swap a card with another player's, swap a card with the cache, or add two cards together from their hand to demand that another player tells them whether or not they have a card equal to that sum, or to guess the card that’s in the “drop.” It’s a light deduction game but the twist is really in the maneuvering of the cards. You can’t just guess the card that's in the drop and say it out loud. You have to have two cards in your hand that add up to the number on the hidden card. I’m terrible at memory and deduction but it’s still fun for me to play and to watch others have these huge “a-ha” moments.

P: I have always been a big fan of games that have a little footprint. It just isn’t realistic to drag your copy of Railways of the World to play with you at Denny’s. When I decided to publish Council of Verona I started dreaming about an entire series of small games that people could take with them anywhere and play in a very small space. This dream resulted in the Pub Series and Dead Drop is an amazing fit into the Pub Series. Dead Drop at its core is a deduction game, which is one of my favorite mechanisms. I really enjoyed several of the mechanisms in the game and with a small amount of cards and tokens it was difficult to say no to.

Okay, now let’s do the same thing for Sunset Showdown! Aaaannd go!

P: Well I first heard people playing the game while I was having a discussion with another publisher. Once that talk was over I went over to see Jason teaching the game, and my nephew Spencer and I got in on the next game. I had the most fun that I had the entire show playing it, and I've been looking for a game like Sunset for quite awhile now.

J: The response to Sunset Showdown at Unpub4 was amazing. We made such a ruckus with that game. This one is a real-time dice game where players each have six dice that represent their family members who are spending a week trying to get the best spot on the beach to witness the sunset each night. Everyone rolls their dice trying to get pairs that match the three open beach spots for the round. But there is a Life Guard die that comes into play that slows folks down and gets passed around hot-potato-style. It’s a really simple, fast game that just keeps bringing great experiences out with whatever group I’ve tried it with. Think of the fun, intensity, and ease of entry of Spoons or Dutch Blitz, but with dice and some nice twists.

Will either of these games be an addition to the Pub Series for Crash Games?

P: Dead Drop will be a Pub Series game, but Sunset will not.

We’re assuming these will be crowd-funded through Kickstarter. Do you have a timetable for when we’ll see them hit our favorite Internet crowd-funding site?

P: Right now there isn’t a specific time table for either game but I would really like to try and have Sunset on Kickstarter this summer. Crash Games is publishing 8 games this year and it would be foolish for me to try and pinpoint when each one is going up on Kickstarter since there are so many parameters outside of my control.

So, what was your favorite game of 2013 that neither of you were involved in?

P: Machi Koro, which I tried to license and did not get. I also really enjoyed Keyflower and Trains.

J: That’s tough. I love Daniel Solis’ Belle of the Ball, which isn’t out yet, but I got to play the prototype a bunch at GenCon last year. And I’m pretty into Guildhall and Rampage, too.

The Lightning Round! Answer these questions with one word… or less!??

Favorite game you’ve backed on Kickstarter?

P: This is going to sound horribly biased, but my favorite game that I’ve backed is also the game that I play the most: Great Heartland Hauling Company.

J: Good answer, Patrick! I’ll say CoinAge. It’s just ridiculous.

Favorite Winter Olympic Sport?

P: Speed Skating, Luge and Bobsled. I really like too many.

J: Snowboarding

Favorite X-Man? (Which could be an X-Woman…)

P: Rogue

J: Wolverine

Favorite YouTube video?

P: “Biggest Zit Ever”

J: “Inspired Bicycles - Danny MacAskill April 2009”

The movie Groundhog Day… Love it or hate it?

P: Love it and I don’t watch it enough. We better get going if we’re going to stay ahead of the weather.

J: Never made it all the way through. I’m sorry.

An Interview with Draco Magi Designer Robert Burke

It’s time for another sit-down and chat with a game designer, and this week we’re chatting with Robert Burke of Robert Burke Games, co-designer of the currently Kickstarting Draco Magi, among other things.

Robert, thanks so much for taking some time during your Kickstarting to share your thoughts with us and our readers.

First, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a husband and father of two from the Charlotte, NC area. I’ve been designing games for a few years now, and hope to continue since I have so much fun with it! I still have a full-time “real job,” but found that designing games is an excellent creative outlet for me. It’s also a great way for me to rationalize board game purchases to my wife. “But honey, if I’m going to improve my designs, I need to own and play more games!” :-)

What can you tell us about Draco Magi?

Draco Magi is a strategic and thematic card game where you play a Dragon mage apprentice vying for the throne of the dragon king. You do this by commanding dragons into battle on different landscapes to win gems. It’s a contest to become the head honcho.

Robert Burke Games is an “indie game publisher,” but you have some pretty heavy hitters who have contributed to Draco Magi. How did you get so well connected in the industry, and how did you manage to assemble this cast of characters to help develop the game?

Well I guess it boils down to two things. The first was putting out some games that were recognized--namely, Cartoona and Battle For Souls. And the second is, I was lucky enough to meet some great people in the industry, whom I meshed very well with.  I value the friendships I’ve made since I’ve entered the fray more than anything else.

You and Richard Launius co-designed Draco Magi; where did the concept of the game come from? And can you share a little about the design process?

The short version:

1. Draco Magi started as an abstract strategy game that was in my head for some time. It was just cards of numbers and colors.

2. I saw the dragon artwork of Kerem Beyit and fell so in love with it that I purchased a seed license to use it in my game

3. I played it with Richard Launius who loved it, but rightly let me know it had no connection to the theme, so we developed a partnership to design it together

So the rest is history. We think we have an excellent 30-minute game that is highly strategic and thematic, has world class art, and that we can sell on Kickstarter for $15. We hope this is the right combination for success.

The design process was fantastic mainly because we had two different perspectives and play testing groups helping to develop the game. The collaboration really forced us to look hard at every change since there was always another designer to review it, critique it, and streamline it.

You’re no stranger to Kickstarter, and the process of getting a game from idea to market. What is the most crucial piece of advice you would give an aspiring designer/developer before they jump into a Kickstarter campaign?

Get the word out from day one. Show people your design process publicly. You can’t be fearful of people stealing your idea. That won’t happen! Show them your art as you find it. Be transparent about what the game is. Make as much media available as possible: review copies, art, rules, videos, podcasts, etc. If you wait until your Kickstarter begins to do this you’ll have a difficult road indeed.

We know you’re neck-deep in the Draco Magi campaign, but is there anything on the horizon you can tell us about?

Yes, I am working with Steve Avery on a dungeon-delving card game with a traitor mechanic called Doppelganger. You have to complete quests as a team, but one player is a doppelganger trying to kill a party member off.

And another is a still-untitled, bluffing game. It was inspired by Coup, a game I love, but that I have some issues with. Namely, the limited number of roles and the player elimination. For this one I am focusing on removing player elimination and will have a lot more roles. Money is the key to victory in this. It should end up being small and inexpensive, but pack a lot of interactive punch.

You’re a self-described “music freak.” What does that mean, exactly, and what are five bands that we might not have heard of that we should be listening to?

I love and play music, and I write playlists for Yahoo Music and the brand new Beats Music.

Here’s a link to my top 100 albums of last year.

Hopefully, that’s better than 5. :-)

Okay, it’s time for the Rapid-Fire Section! We ask the questions; you answer them with one word (or super-short phrase)! And, GO!

Favorite dragon in Draco Magi?

Brass Dragon

TP: over or under?

OVER!

Favorite minor character in a book or movie? Queequeg

Smaug vs. Draco? (You know, the dragon from Dragonheart… Ok, maybe this one doesn’t need answered.)

Smaug

Favorite Kickstarter Game You’ve Backed?

Fleet

We'd like to thank Robert for spending some time with us today!

We've reviewed Draco Magi and you can find that review right here, and you can still get in on the Kickstarter campaign of the game for a meager $15 until Feb. 21, 2014 by clicking right here!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy TOG, we'd love it if you subscribed to the blog over on the right, and if you liked/shared us on Facebook, followed/tagged us on Twitter and Instagram, Subscribed/commented/shared our YouTube Channel, and subscribed/shared/reviewed our Podcast on iTunes!

An Interview With Zeppeldrome Co-Designer Anthony Gallela

Today we’re joined by Anthony Gallela of 12SP Entertainment, co-designer of the currently Kickstarting Zeppeldrome: a zany zeppelin, puzzle, race game.

Anthony, thanks for joining us today!

Thank you for having me!

So for those who don’t know much about you and 12SP, can you give us a little back story?

I’ve been in the game industry since the 80s. I started as a play-tester and a convention-runner (including KublaCon), and then moved on to being a game broker, game developer, and the like. I’ve managed a couple of game stores, run the Game Manufacturers Association (including Origins and GTS), and, of course, designed a couple of games.

12SP Ent is a new company I’ve started with my friend, and “Zeppeldrome” co-designer, Jeff Wilcox. We’re looking to publish a few titles that we’ve been working on over the years while we’ve been helping other folks get their games to market.

Tell us a little about Zeppeldrome.

“Zeppeldrome” is a humorous strategy game for 2-4 players where players race dirigibles through a silly and hazardous, floating obstacle course. The course is laid out next to a giant, floating zeppelin castle, and the dirigible pilots use anything at their disposal to help themselves, and to hinder their opponents.

The game is played with cards that are either your planned route for the turn (top half of the card), or actions that you play to hinder other players or to help yourself (bottom half of the card). “Zeppeldrome” has four sections that each have interchangeable boards. This modular board allows players to set a different courses each time they play.The core game comes with four boards for each of the four sections. The four for each section includes one blank and three with hazards. The blank board is for players to use with downloadable hazards that will be available on our Web site. These boards are both puzzling and challenging in game-play, and funny and lighthearted in theme and artwork.

Lately zeppelins have become a “thing” in the gaming world: There have been a few popular titles on Kickstarter featuring zeppelins, with a few more on the way. Did the theme come before the game design, or did the game design push you into the zeppelin-air-race theme? Or was it just because the name wouldn’t make any sense with another theme?

We’ve been working on “Zeppeldrome,” off and on, for about ten years. The idea came from a long-time love of, and interest in, airships. As we’ve worked on the game over the years, steampunk has become more and more popular. This is great for us, of course, though it might seem like we’re coming late to the party.

I think that the idea that you’re negotiating obstacles in a flying machine works quite well with dirigibles. Other kinds of flying machines feel too fast and uncontrollable to really have the silly fantasy of a floating obstacle course. I don’t think that “Zeppeldrome” would work with anything other than the “zeppelin-air-race” theme, and that’s great, as Jeff and I both love the idea of crazy airships.

Why do you think steampunk is so popular right now?

I have no idea, of course, but I think that it’s because 1) science is popular, 2) science fiction and science fantasy are popular, 3) cosplay is popular, 4) many people like the idea of a seemingly more civilized society, and 5) it’s just so cool. I think that steampunk feeds nicely into several trends: those I’ve mentioned, the rise of geek culture, the hipness of stylized dress … it’s just the right time for it.

This is the second time you’ve launched a Kickstarter Campaign for the game; what’s the difference between this campaign and the last—what lessons did you learn?

We learned that we needed to give folks a thank-you -- a bonus -- for backing us right away. Rather than paying MSRP ($35) for a copy of “Zeppeldrome,” when you back us, you’re only paying $29. We also learned that our page needed to be more graphical, and that we needed some lower reward tiers. And that getting any press we can toward the beginning of the project was important too.

What are some of the fun rewards and stretch goals you have set up for the game?

First off, rather than paying MSRP for a copy of “Zeppeldrome” when you back us ($35), you’re only paying $29. Additionally, we’ve (mostly Jeff) designed a two-player-only, mini version of “Zeppeldrome” that backers get for free as a PDF.

Our higher backer levels let you get in the game by being able to name cards, the airships in the game, different characters in the game, and more.

Why do you hate lemmings?

We love lemmings! So why do we have a hazzard board called the “Tragic Lemming Migration,” where the last-place player controls lemmings who slowly fall in the way of the racers? Well … we have no good excuse. They do fall slowly, though. They flap their little arms, and when their tokens falls off the bottom of the board, they do come back to the top to be used again …

So aside from Zeppeldrome, what else does 12SP have on the horizon?

We will be republishing my (and co-designer Japji Khalsa’s) award-winning board game, “Dwarven Dig!,” with it’s yet-unpublished expansion, “Ancient Rivalries.” The expansion adds six more dwarf types, allowing you to build your party before the game. We’ll also be coming out with a brick bridge-building game called “Hoshi.” It will come with MEGA BLOKS- / LEGO- type bricks (though neither of those brands). Each player rolls dice in an interesting way, and uses the results to determine which bricks he or she will use each turn to build a bridge as expeditiously as they can.

And later, we’ll be publishing Jeff’s awesome adventure game, “Phantasy Realm.”

Okay, it’s time for the Rapid-Fire Section! We ask the questions; you answer them with one word (or super-short phrase)! And, GO!

Favorite race movie?

“Cannonball Run”

Favorite Zeppelin song?

“Since I’ve Been Loving You”

Favorite hazard board in Zeppeldrome?

Four Old Folks Looking for the Farmer’s Market

Favorite steampunk novel?

Agatha H and the Airship City

As you’re walking through the woods one day, you pass an old woman struggling to make her way home. She drops her basket of bread just as you’re walking by, and you help her pick up the bread. She thanks you, and tells you that as a reward, she will cook you your favorite meal in the whole entire world—once-a-week, for an entire year. You just have to tell her (and us) what that meal is…

Italian Sausage and Sweet Peppers in a Red Sauce

Well that's it! We'd like to thank Anthony Gallela for joining us today. Zeppeldrome is on Kickstarter right now, and it needs some help to make it to the funding goal! A mere $29 gets you a copy of the game shipped to your door. And it's a good game--just check out our Double-Take Review and see for yourself. Thanks for reading!

An Interview With Michael Coe: Tiny Epic Kingdoms, Dungeon Heroes, and More

Joining us once again is Gamelyn Games guy, Michael Coe. Today we get to have a little chat about some exciting news as Gamelyn has launched a Kickstarter Campaign for Tiny Epic Kingdoms!

Michael, thanks again for joining us; we appreciate your time!

So before we get started on Tiny Epic Kingdoms: Last time we chatted we were discussing Dungeon Heroes. We can only assume most of your efforts recently have been directed toward Tiny Epic Kingdoms, but has there been anything new in the works for Dungeon Heroes? Expansions? Multiplayer mechanics?

Both actually, Dungeon Heroes offers a rich canvas in which to paint multiple expansions and variants. I’m currently working hard on putting together a 4-player Dungeon Heroes. Likely, a new game altogether but keeping true to the original concept and engine of Dungeon Heroes. Along those lines, I’m excited to announce that Dungeon Heroes will be coming to iOS this summer!!

If yes, do you have any estimate for a timetable that these plans will be unveiled?

I’d really like to have something ready to show this summer. I plan to release Dungeon Heroes on iOS at Origins this year. I hope to have a new DH to demo there are well.

You recently posted photos of a hard copy of Fantasy Frontiers over on Kickstarter; How soon will Fantasy Frontier show up in the mail for backers, and on the shelves at our FLGS?

Fantasy Frontier is on schedule for an estimated delivery to KS backers in May. It will be released to general distribution at Origins 2014 in June.

Describe the feeling of actually holding, and opening a copy of your game after so much time and effort has gone into it. Is there anything you would have done differently with Fantasy Frontier? Or any lesson you learned that will be applied to the Tiny Epic Kingdoms campaign and production?

Assuming you played with LEGOs as a child, do you remember the feeling of completing a large set? Setting that last brick into place… taking a step back and looking over your masterpiece? There was an intangible and magical experience that went along with that. An experience that is difficult to capture as an adult. That is how it feels to open a copy of a game you made!

So far, the conception through production of Fantasy Frontier has been a dream project. The plan I set forth has been both enjoyable and successful. The only thing I would have changed, and will not likely do in the future, are the GIANT Meeples. Yes, they were their own project as well but I offered some with Fantasy Frontier too. They look great! But ultimately they are too heavy and I end up losing too much money on them.

Okay, let’s talk about Tiny Epic Kingdoms! So...It’s a game about kingdoms that are both tiny AND epic… Give us, if you would, a quick overview of the game—its style and mechanics!

Tiny Epic Kingdoms is the biggest game you will ever play in a small box. It is a quest and conquer game. Players will use a community action selection system to eXpand, eXplore, eXploit and eXterminate. TEK manages to deliver a rich 4x experience in a short and small package. Something that has not been done this well in the past.

How did Gamelyn Games end up with this title?

Scott caught wind that I was taking submissions for small games and gave me a holler. I looked it over, played it, and told him, “You let me publish this game and I will do wonders with it!” The rest is history in the making.

What has been different about preparing to publish a game that you haven’t designed?

Getting to know the game inside and out. Getting the game to the table enough to be accused of eating, sleeping, and breathing Tiny Epic Kingdoms. As a publisher, it’s important to have a second-nature relationship with the game you're creating. This occurs naturally as the designer but takes some special attention when not.

What can you tell us about any stretch goals that you have planned for the campaign?

Stretch goals of all sorts have been unlocked. This includes many material upgrades, extra factions, extra maps and even a mini-expansion is on the horizon if we can reach 200k.

If all goes as planned, when will we see Tiny Epic Kingdoms hit the shelves?

The game is scheduled for an estimated delivery to the KS backers by September 2014. I would like to release into general distribution at this year’s BGG.CON in November.

Okay...time for a TINY and EPIC Lightning Round!

Favorite Smurf?

uh… papa!

The theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey or Flight of the Valkyries?  

Space Odyssey

Billy Barty or Kenny Baker?

ooO both legendary and both in movies I love. I’m going Billy Barty on this one!

Favorite short story?

The Neverending Story! That’s short right!? ;)

Great Wall of China or the Grand Canyon?

Not fair; I live near the Grand Canyon so I may suffer from a case of “the grass is always greener”... nah, I don’t! Grand Canyon!

Thanks so much, Michael, for joining us today. And head on over to the Kickstarter campaign and get your very own copy of Tiny Epic Kingdoms. They're CRUSHING it, and have already knocked off 17 stretch goals.

Thanks for reading!

The New Podcast is Here!

Yeah, so...we're behind on podcasts. We have good reasons for it, but you don't really care what they are. Just know that we're back in the groove, and a new podcast just dropped.

AND, we have another one in the hopper, so look for that soon! (ish)

You can find the new one here. Or if you've already subscribed, then just go look! Because it's there!

We talked about some of the newsworthy stories coming out of the gaming world. Then we introduced a fun new segment called  Fill In the Blank! (Complete with impromptu theme song.) And we had an interview with Lance Hill about his recently Kickstarted game Kings Of Israel. Plus, we introduced another new segment, called Fire & Eis! And finally, we reviewed Mayfair's recent viking game Asgard's Chosen. That's a bunch!

Thanks for reading and listening!

An Interview With Ninja Dice Designer Rocco Privetera, and Jeff Gracia of Greenbrier Games

Hey, thanks for joining us today, as we talk with Rocco Privetera, designer of Ninja Dice, and Jeff Gracia, of Ninja Dice publisher Greenbrier Games.

Guys, thanks for joining us today!

Rocco: You are most welcome! Gonna have to squeeze this in between various day jobs, the Kickstarter, and my nightly nervous-Kickstarter-fretting schedules!

Jeff, Rocco, tell us a little bit about yourselves—is there any random thing our readers should know about you?

Rocco: I’m an ex-professional Jazz pianist, comedy improviser, and a kitten just crawled through my window a few weeks ago. I named him “Ninja”. Now that we’re funded I guess I get to keep him?

Jeff: I’m a software engineer by day and game designer and publisher by night.  Zpocalypse was my first creation, self-publishing the game paved the way to design and publish more games.  Such as working with Rocco on the design and publishing of Ninja Dice under the Greenbrier Games banner.

Jeff, can you tell us about Greenbrier Games—what you've been able to accomplish, and what your goals are?

Greenbrier Games is a board game company created by a group friends. Due to the success and support of Kickstarter our dreams became a reality, and thus Greenbrier Games was born.  The long and short of it is we are a bunch of people working day jobs to support our addictive habit of creating board games!  For those interested in the in-depth story of how I convinced my friends to following me down the rabbit hole, check out our About Us on our Web site:  http://www.greenbriergames.com/gbg/index.php/home/aboutus/

Rocco, Ninja Dice sounds really fun. Can you fill us in a little on the genesis of the game, and how it plays?

Rocco: Ninja Dice was created because a different publisher put out a call for submissions for a push-your-luck dice clone. I was trying to learn game design from a “how do you actually finish something” perspective, and thought it would be a good choice. Ninja Dice is a tight game with 15 dice and some money in its basic version. Every turn the active player is trying to beat a House formed out of House dice that show challenges in the House: Guards, the Residents, and Locked areas. The active player rolls and re-rolls Skill dice to get the Skills necessary to beat the House: Fighting, Sneaking, and Lockpicking skills (as well as Wilds and die-boosting-Fortunes). Meanwhile, while this is happening the other players are rolling dice to slow him down, which may stop him, while they are also stealing money from the active player—and each other!

So what sets Ninja Dice apart from other push-your-luck dice-rollers?

Rocco: Unlike a lot of “multiplayer solitaire” games, everybody is involved and interacting all the time. The inactive players are rolling Threat dice to use up the active player’s time and to steal money from the active player and each other, so you are never sitting around waiting for your turn. Also while it’s definitely a casual game, it has a surprising amount of strategy—you never just roll the dice and “do the one obvious thing” like a lot of other PYL games. It also plays in three rounds instead of to a point limit—thanks to the interaction, there isn’t a clear winner sometimes until after the last arrow is fired and the last coin stolen, which leads to a lot of dramatic close finishes.  And, of course, it has my fun “arc of fire” mechanic, which leads to a lot of dramatic and interesting gameplay.

How did you come up with the awesome idea of an arc of fire depending on how the dice land?

Rocco: I was doing some odds calculations and was trying to find a way to make a specific die face come up less often than 1 in 6 and thought “well, what if it only works when something is on side of the die? That’s about 50% of 1 in 6,” and went from there. Now that we’ve used it, of course, I can imagine a lot of other similar mechanics that can be derived from the idea.

You've pushed past the funding goal, so Ninja Dice will be brought to market (congrats!), tell us a little about the stretch goals you've got planned?

Rocco: There’s a bunch of them! We’ve got some that enhance the base game, like plastic money coins instead of cardboard tokens to keep score, and colored Threat dice so everyone using them has a unique color. Then exclusive promo cards for other games Greenbrier works with, like Zpocalypse. And a bunch of new gameplay add-ons called “Location Cards” that add some advanced gameplay options to the game.

Jeff: Little do people know our location cards have turned into a full-fledged expansion. Being a game addict, I wasn't satisfied with just giving the Kickstarters a few cards to tease them.  After some math-crunching, and some easy convincing of Rocco, we turned the few promo cards into a full-blown expansion, more than tripling the card count.  I can’t wait till Kickstarters realize the extra bonus they are getting!

What are some of your favorite games? (Besides Ninja Dice, of course…)

Rocco: Well Zpocalypse is my current Zombie fave, of course. :) Other than that, my group tends to vacillate based on who shows up. We’ve been enjoying Deadwood Studios, Shadows over Camelot, Pandemic, and, of course, a few of the next designs of mine I force… I mean... encourage my group to playtest.

Jeff:  Some of my top games are BattleStar Galactica, recently Rampage, Race to the Galaxy, Mage Knight, and many more!

Are there any other projects (from either of you) that you can share with our readers?

Rocco: My life consists of my stumbling from one creative project to the next (all on hold while the Kickstarter finishes). You can go to http://www.privetera.com for an overview of everything. It’s a lot.

Jeff:  Early February we'll be announcing our next project; please stay tuned for another announcement :P

It’s time for the Versus Version of 1-Word Answers! Who would win?!

Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris?

Rocco: I want to say Bruce Lee but Chuck might be listening. Chuck Norris.

Jeff:  Chuck Norris—after all, that’s not a chin under his beard—its another Fist!

American Ninja vs. Karate Kid?

Rocco: Jaden Smith Karate Kid < American Ninja < Macchio Karate Kid

Jeff: Karate Kid!

Jackie Chan vs. Jean-Claude Van Damme?

Rocco: Mostly Jackie Chan, but Van Damme is aging much better, so a few years from now…

Jeff: Jackie Chan!

Jet Li from the Matrix vs. Jet Li from Lethal Weapon 4?

Rocco: Software Jet Li!

Jeff: Jet Li from Lethal Weapon 4

Crouching Tiger vs. Hidden Dragon?

Rocco: I’m a Shaolin Long-fist practicioner. I’d be be way more scared of Tiger guys!

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us!

Rocco: Thanks for the opportunity! And thanks to Jeff at Greenbrier Games for giving me the opportunity to make the game with them!

Jeff: Thank you all for taking the time to check out our latest project!

Ninja Dice already funded on Kickstarter, but you can check out the game on Greenbrier's Web site, or on the Geek. Thanks so much for reading!

An Interview with Yehuda Berlinger—Designer of Candle Quest

Today we're talking with Yehuda Berlinger, designer of It's Alive!, and the recently released Candle Quest, which uses the same mechanics in a game about Hanukkah.

Yehuda, thanks for taking the time to chat with us!

Happy to oblige.

Candle Quest, the original theme of the auction game It’s Alive!, has finally been released by Victory Point Games. Was the theme/holiday the motivation for the game? Or were you creating an auctioning game and looking for a theme to work within?

The original original theme was actually an “electrical safety” game. The eight items you needed to collect were safety tips for handling electricity. The idea of collection came pretty easily, and the idea of three simple choices on each turn, and there being an auction, was inspired by the simplicity of Reiner Knizia’s designs. I hadn’t seen any games where the auction didn’t come back to you, so I went with that. It turned out to be a new and interesting mechanic.

After I completed the first version of the game, which didn’t take long, the people who asked me to do the game said that the opportunity with the Israel Electric Company had passed, but that they might be interested in making the same game with a different theme, something to do with space aliens. They created a mockup with stock alien pictures in spaceships. After very little development, they offered me a small sum for the game, and I said I would have to think about it. Less than 12 hours later they had decided to work with someone else to make a game instead.

My game group and I, especially my friend Nadine Wildmann, played around with the game again, changing some more rules (making the bad cards less bad, mostly) and tossing around ideas for collection themes, including eight candles for a menorah, eight reindeer for Santa’s sleigh, etc. Eventually I did a mockup for The Menorah Game and took it to BGG.con in 2005 in order to sell the game to publishers. I brought prototypes with me to give to publishers, and I mailed some out, but BGG people bought all of the rest of them (even though they were pretty crappy).

I don’t remember the path that got from there to Jackson Pope at Reiver Games, but eventually it did, about a year later. He changed the theme to Frankenstein and the name to It’s Alive, and added cartoonish gory pictures, assuming that such a theme would sell better to gamers than a menorah-themed game would. He was probably right, but it also limited the audience to gamers, and older ones, in my opinion.

After I got back the rights, Jeremy Maher asked me to license him the game to make an app, which is currently available in both Android and iOS editions.

What was still needed was a game that would appeal to non-gamers and families. Nadine and I, as well as friends of ours Bill and Shirley Burdick, tossed around some more ideas. Turns out that Bill, Nadine, and I were all working on new games, and we thought it would be good to publish It’s Alive again in a more family friendly version as part of a new company, which we called Gilead Games. The new game would go back to the Hanukkah theme. This would appeal to Jewish families, since there are no other good Hanukkah games available, and hopefully to all families, since there is little Jewish about the game other than the fact that it has a menorah and the coins are called shekels.

Nadine did most of the work; Bill, Shirley, and I provided encouragement.

Before Victory Point Games picked up Candle Quest, you made an attempt at bringing the game to market via Kickstarter. What did you learn through that process?

Well, I actually learned a lot from the article I wrote on Purple Pawn (How to Succeed or Fail on Kickstarter), and we knew that we would either get to 10% funding within 24 hours or we would probably not succeed. I thought that I had enough people who would be interested because many people know my blog and BGG persona. Unfortunately, most of these people are gamers who already own It’s Alive (or don’t want to) and are not the target audience for Candle Quest.

A smaller amount of support came from friends, family, and synagogue members, but it was quickly clear that this was nowhere near enough. Your fan base really determines the type of support you can expect on KS. We had a mismatch between the game we were making and the audience that needed to support it.

I think the audience for Candle Quest is HUGE. There is simply no other good original Jewish-themed game, anywhere, other than something like Jewish-themed Apples to Apples or Jewish-themed Chess, etc. Candle Quest is a gateway game with crossover appeal to non-gamers and easy for kids to play, but a real solid game for Eurogamers and adults. It’s not for everyone, of course, but so far about 80% of the people who play it like it, and some are real fans who want to play it over and over. It plays quickly and rewards experienced play without letting experience dominate.

So the simple republishing of the game through VPG is not the end of the story, but just the beginning. We have to get the game out to Jewish distributors and stores and hopefully hit a tipping point where it catches on with the public (and friends tell friends, etc). The KS process helped us focus all of that: how to estimate the publication costs, how to figure out the market, etc. And in the end, how to find the right publisher.

Now that Candle Quest is published, what’s next for you?

I hope Candle Quest will come out as an app, like It’s Alive did, and I see no reason not to also use the base game to create the Santa’s reindeer version, or other themed versions, for that matter.

Nadine is currently showcasing her own board game prototype to publishers and Bill is polishing up an RPG he created that has gone through extensive playtesting. He/we are considering how to change its theme to something biblical, since we think Gilead Games could occupy a niche as a publisher of biblically themed games. There are some publishers of Jewish games, but they publish bad games or re-themes of other games, and there are some publishers of Christian games, some of whom are not bad. But it’s still a large market with few serious players.

We’re a talented bunch of people with some good ideas, and we’re having fun with the ideas.

What are some of your favorite board games right now?

I love Go, though I’m bad at it, and I’m still a huge fan of Puerto Rico. I also love Bridge and other partnership card games like Tichu, Anagrams, and Scrabble; Magic: The Gathering (but only for fun playing with random cards, not constructed), and the other games I rate highly on BGG of course.

How is gaming different in Israel than here in the States?

I’ve written about this a few times. It depends on what you mean by gaming.

For Eurogames, we have some loosely organized forums and groups and about a 500-1000 players. If you include Settlers of Catan, Munchkin/Steve Jackson Games, and Fantasy Flight Games (i.e. the publishers who actually have reps in Israel), the number would jump to something like 3-5,000, I estimate. Add CCGs and RPGs, and you’re talking about 10,000.

But most gaming here refers to the classics. We have huge amounts of Chess and Backgammon players, a few large Bridge and Scrabble clubs, and a lot of people playing Monopoly, Taki (like UNO), and other bad games, many of which have Jewish or Moslem moralistic themes.

Access to Eurogames and CCGs is hard, and so expensive, because the market is small so it all has to be shipped, and taxes are high (VAT on everything sold).

Language is a barrier, since most people read Hebrew or Arabic, and while many adults can get along in English, they would prefer not to have to. So many importers try to provide the games with Hebrew instructions or republish the game in Hebrew. I don’t know much about the Arab market, but some Moslem populations, like some ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations, frown on the imported culture, lack of modesty, and fantasy themes that are prevalent in board games.

Ok, the rapid-fire section! We ask the questions; you answer them with one word (or super-short phrase)! And, GO!

Favorite movie with a numeral in it?

Terminator 2

Favorite Bob Dylan album?

Fairytale by Donovan. :-)

Last meal on death row?

All you-can eat Chinese with an unlimited time to eat it? What am I doing on death row? Help! Probably fasting, since that is the appropriate Jewish action for doing penance (like on Yom Kippur).

Favorite character in a TV show?

Lorelai Gilmore

Last great book you read?

Yoreh De’ah of the Shulchan Aruch :-)

Ok, The English Patient.

Thanks for answering our questions, Yehuda! And thank you for reading! You can check out Candle Quest right here.

Jeremy Hogan, Designer of Dreaming Spires—An Interview

Today we’re joined by designer Jeremy Hogan, whose most recent game, “Dreaming Spires,” is being Kickstarted right now via Game Salute.

Jeremy, thanks for joining us. First of all, would you take a second and introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi, I’m Jeremy, I’m a game designer living in London, UK. I work as a designer in the video game industry and make board games the rest of the time!

Can you tell us a little bit about The Secret Games Company?

The Secret Games Company is a group of people in London, and further afield, who love to make games around our other, better-paid jobs! We set it up to release our two games,; one is Dreaming Spires, and the other is Rise, which is a board game-inspired video game that will be ready next year.

So, Dreaming Spires, an old school game… And by “old school” we’re, of course, talking about Oxford… Where did you get the idea to theme a game around Oxford?

I studied at Oxford, and while I was there I kept hearing these amazing stories from its history. It’s so old—900 years—that it has seen so much of English history and produced some extraordinary people along the way. When I was sitting down to begin a new game project, I decided I wanted to do something with a really strong theme and a lot of research and writing in it, as I felt this was an area where we could do a good job. Oxford was the obvious choice as I knew a lot about it already, so I looked into it and there has never been a board game about Oxford’s history, so we felt like we’d struck gold!

How would you summarize the game play and “feel” of Dreaming Spires?

Dreaming Spires is a building game using tile placement like Carcassonne, with two card systems layered on top, which allow the player to accrue reputation in different areas, which is then crunched by our innovative scoring system to determine the winner in the end. The Scholar cards allow the players to use a lot of different special abilities, which are based on the person in question. For example, Adam Smith’s is called ‘Wealth of Nations’ and lets the player spend any money coin (1, 2 or 3) to draw two more randomly. The Scholar cards each also have beautiful illustrations and their own quotes on, so they bring a lot of theme. The Event cards have stories on them recounting a famous event from Oxford’s history and initiate a quick auction or other type of activity that the colleges compete in for a reputation boost in an appropriate area.

How did you land with Game Salute, and how has the game changed since they’ve come alongside you to get it ready for market?

Game Salute have been really supportive but they have left us to get the game ready and focused their efforts on helping us to promote it and prepare it for production with Panda GM, who are our manufacturers.

So, why tabletop games? And what got you into game design?

I have always been crazy about games. I played a lot of cards with my Grandmother as a kid—she was a real card shark! I also played chess with my Dad and used to start crying as soon as I could see I was going to lose, so he would switch the board round at that point so I could play with his pieces; that cheered me up! My Grandfather and I played Mah Jong with a beautiful old set of his, so all my family have played their part in my ending up as a game designer!

Which type of gamer are you going after with this game? The casual player? The Family Game Night players? The "in-it-up-to-their-eyeballs" heavy player?

As you can probably tell, the game is really thematic. It’s a medium weight with simple systems, so anyone can play and have a good time, but there’s a lot of variety and interesting decisions so seasoned gamers will still be honing their strategy after loads of plays. We have had good reports back from testers at all points on the gaming spectrum!

What's the timeline for release of the game?

We are doing our final pass on the art files now, so we hope to submit them to Panda in the next couple weeks. Then there are a few steps to the production process before the games are put onto boats and shipped to the US and UK. We hope they will arrive in early May next year, but we have said June in our Kickstarter to give ourselves an extra month in case of any delays.

Now that Dreaming Spires will be brought to market, are you working on your next greatest thing? Will we see expansions for Dreaming Spires?

We also have our video game project Rise, which you can check out on our website: www.secretgamecompany.com. As for Dreaming Spires expansions, we have a lot of ideas. We would only do one, but we’d put everything in there including a 2 player variant. It all depends on how well the game does next year; our fingers are firmly crossed!

Ok, the rapid-fire section! We ask the questions; you answer them with one word (or super-short phrase)! And, GO!

Have you ever not "minded the gap"?

I am the gap.

Every time you call someone in the States, do they answer singing "London's Calling"?

It’s more like: “Awww, say that again, you sound so cute! So do you know the queen?”

Favorite Monty Python member?

Michael Palin because he is in Dreaming Spires!

We heard you crashed the Royal Wedding; is that true?

My lawyers have asked me not to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation.

Are you terribly annoyed at the narrow scope of the last four questions?

Not at all, I wish I could answer all interview questions this way!

Jeremy, thanks so much for joining us today, we wish you the best of luck with Dreaming Spires and your further endeavors with The Secret Games Company!

You can find Dreaming Spires on Kickstarter until November 30, 2013.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to subscribe over on the right --->

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An Interview with Alan Gerding—Two Rooms and A Boom!

So a few Saturdays ago, I (Jeremiah) sat down to play games for 24 hours straight, as a part of the Extra Life charity fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network of Hospitals. Great people, great cause! We had a lot of fun, raised some money, and made new friends.

One of those friends was Alan Gerding, co-founder of Tuesday Knight Games and co-designer of Two Rooms and a Boom! Alan and his wife (Crystol) stopped by later in the evening and introduced us to Two Rooms in a Boom.

We played about 7-8 (or more) games of the title, which is currently blazing hot on Kickstarter. Then, at sometime past 1:00 AM, Alan and I sat down on camera and had a chat about 2R1B, Tuesday Knight Games, and whatever else you chat about with someone you just met at nearly 2:00 in the morning.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9p2Dw1fsZY&w=560&h=315]

Thanks for tuning in; please don't forget to check us out all over the Web, and to subscribe to the blog over on the right! We love our subscribers!!

Also check out our podcast, where we are constantly giving stuff away—this month it's a copy of Pixel Lincoln! Download episode 3 for all the details!