Episode 14: Origins 2013 Report - Part 1

This is going to be an interesting podcast because I am not on it. Why do you ask my one fan, my niece, because Marty had an incredible time at Origins and got lots of interviews and we don't want to sit on this too long. 

We had always planned to do an Origins show when Marty and his family returned, but it was going to come out in July. Well, some of this material is just so good it can't wait till July. Matter of fact, I will get to listen to it at the same time as everyone else.

Enjoy!

Episode 14 Segments:
01:37 - Catalyst Games Labs - Shadowrun Products
09:50 - Adventures on the Tabletop Documentary
27:20 - Cool Mini Or Not - Kaosball, Zombicide, Dark Age 
34:45 - Break From Reality - Damage Report, Disaster Looms
44:35 - Wizkids Games - Star Trek: Attack Wing, The Hobbit Strategy Game, Trains &Stations


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Keep Tuned to Twitter - Contest for a T-shirt

As you know if you listened to our Episode 13 podcast, Marty is going to be Origins later this week. Sometime during that week, Marty will announce a way to win one of our new T-shirts (one size only) with our logo. Just be sure to follow our Twitter feed for how to win the T-shirt. 

I am not 100% what he has in store to win it, but I am sure it will be fairly simple like bring him some Ore, or a picture with a semi-celebrity,  teach him a new game at the Board Game Room, or who knows. Good luck and love to see a tweet with you wearing it.

Episode 13: Planning, it's your best friend

First, we want to say apologize about the length of this episode. We know it is a bit long, by almost 45 minutes, but it was so stuffed with good information on Game Convention planning, we had a tough time cutting it down. Another way to look at it is, you can spend 4 to 5 hours surfing the web, looking at forum posts, and reading multiple articles or just listend to us for about 2 hours and get good info. We already did the work for you. You are welcome :)

We also had a guest on the show, Ron McClung, and we thought the interview would be 30 minutes long because he is such a busy guy, but it turned into one hour and we really hated cutting his information. Ron, as you will find out from the podcast, helps organizes RPG/Gaming conventions in the North and South Carolina area. We were very lucky to get him on the show and glad he joined us.

So, instead of reading a whole bunch of words on the screen and thus cutting your time to listen to the show down, just going to leave you with a Table of Contents to help you along.

Initial Yuck it up	3:30
Lodging at cons	5:50
Driving, got to park	11:00
Event Scheduling	13:30
SWAG, Convention Bonus	20:00
Daily survival guide	24:00
Survival Bag	27:00
Let's get funky	30:00
What is Justus Productions	38:00
Picking your first convention	50:00
Location, Location, Location	1:00:00
Scoop!!! RDTN first ever!!!	1:05:00
Gamerscodex website	1:24:00
Final thoughts	1:33:00

As always, please leave us any comments here or at Boardgamegeek or send us a Tweet. If you would like to be on the show or have something you would like us to include, please let us know. 


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Bueller, Bueller...Where have we been?

Yeah, we have been kind of absent from our duties on the blog as of late. Sorry about that. Spring is here and we have had some incredible weather in the Carolinas. What that means is the opportunity to do more chores outside. We haven't neglected gaming, just getting things posted and doing a few recordings. We are in sort of a crunch with Marty heading to Origins in two weeks. We need to get two shows done in a shorter time span than normal and we have been trying to line up people to come on the show. What does that have to do with anything? We are just running out of time. So, to catch people up this has been what is happening:

I am in the process of putting final touches on a game review for thegamerscodex.com. This has been probably one of the harder things that I have had to do in awhile. Not sure why, but the words just aren't flowing. Anyway, it should be out next week so give it a read.

Marty has tried out some new games, Tzolk'in and Terra Mystica. I hope to get over there and give them a try, but time is not looking good.

As we stated in Episode 12, we are running an Iron Kingdoms group and I am the next GM on the calendar, that happens Tuesday night. Might want to finish that up.

Marty and I have the Netrunner Tournament next weekend, so need to tweak the decks a bit if we have any hopes of not being in the bottom. 

Marty is working on other projects for the podcast that we reveal this week when we post Episode 13. The editing of that episode is really eating up his time.

Well, time to go clean out the garage. Don't you just love spring!

Episode 12: Where's the tavern?

In this episode, Marty and I explore our various dives into Role Playing Games (RPGs), what we enjoy, and why have they seem to be gaining popularity again.  I will be the first to admit that RPGs were not top on my list of games to play through the years and mainly because of the experience I had with my first adventure in AD&D. But times have changed and many RPG systems have made some great additions to a genre that would often scare the average gamer away. Plus, the Internet and technology have really made an RPG session into more of a tabletop game at times with miniatures  terrain and other components to help those, such as myself, become more engaged in the adventure.

• RPGs have changed over time 08:00 (Mazes and Monsters)
• What RPGs have we tried or hope to try   35:00
• >Savage Worlds
• Dragon Age*
• Pathfinder
• Star Wars - Edge of the Empire
Dark Heresy
• Shadowrun
• Iron Kingdom Role Playing System   54:45

Don't forget to check out Free RPG Day

*I screwed up when talking about Dragon Age when I was talking about what happens when you roll doubles and the stunt points you get. When you roll doubles, your Dragon Dice determines the number of stunt points you get. Sorry about that.


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The Quest: Expansion to Pillars of the Earth

Ever since I played Pillars of the Earth at Origins last year, which I can't attend this year, I have been looking forward to owning it. Fortunately, I finally was able to get a copy and very happy that I did. I wrote about the game experience and since then, have played a couple more times and even taught it to the wife and neighbors who really liked it. However, I was asked if more than four people could play and since I didn't have the expansion, the answer was no. Therefore, I decided I "needed" the expansion and my quest was on.

First, I asked the owners at Your Local Game Store if they could get me a copy and they were like sure can, but wait, they couldn't. It seems Mayfair had stopped printing that expansion. What?!?! How could you stop printing the expansion and yet, we can still get our hands on the main game? But they had, so straight to the internet to see if some of my favorite retailers had any copies in stock. Nope, everyone had it on backorder or out of stock. So, a quick search on ebay should result in a find, but nope, not going to happen. So, this quest seemed to be on the scale of Don Quixote and his battles. (OK, I have never read Don Quixote, but I understand he had a battle windmills and that is all I know)

Well, over the past few months, I have been doing some traveling for work and if by chance I could find a game store, I would visit it. Each time, I would experience another Epic Failure. I was loosing hope. But on my last trip, I visited Firefly Games in Lexington, SC which is just outside of Columbia, SC. And I am glad I did. First, it is a very nice store with a nice setup for all types of gamers. Not sure about the BBQ place near it, but would recommend you stopping by Firefly Games if in the area. Second, they had the expansion and I snapped it up.

Anyway, can't wait to get it on the table, just happy I found it and can now play up to 6 people if needed.

5 Minute Initiative: Whatcha' playing?

So how do you respond to the question "Whatcha' playing?" Do you take time out to explain the game in simple terms or even invite the people to sit down and watch? If it is in your local game store, you probably have no issue with this question and welcome the inquiry. What about when you are in a more public place like a fast food location, how do you respond? Marty and I discuss our responses in this 5 Minute Initiative.

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