Episodes
Reading the feed…
Reading the feed…
I purchased more solo-mode historical conflict games than I can possibly learn right now. You can vote and help narrow down the field for what I learn next. Before and after, I take you back to Philly in the late '80s with selections from Schoolly D and Steady B. Philly was on fire in '87-'88.
The delightful Frances Wiley shows us how to review our way to intimate characters arcs with Yap. Two years after my first taste of the action, I return to Stalingrad and tangle with Pavlov's House for a whole week. Two banging Public Enemy remixes. Play it loud.
We interview Phil Yates about Angels One Six, a reimagining of what a WW2 dogfighting minis game can be. Copywriter Nate Tyler documents four generations of play around his family's table. We tack on some "back in the day" Golden-Era hip hop cuts for good measure.
A guided tour of an amazing vintage Fantasy Flight Games collection from Noisy Andrew and deeper thoughts on Cartographers, the hit flip-and-write I tried a couple episodes ago. In between we’re doing musical interludes with Mantronix and the Freestylers, including the funk and hip hop lineage of their 2004 track, “Punks,” from the Raw as Fuck LP.
Space Hulk: Death Angel is on the table. I have three days to turn my friend into a proper Space Marine from Warhammer 40,000.
This summer the famous Ghost in the Shell cyberpunk franchise becomes a playable TTRPG. Last summer the tumultuous streets of Chicago in 1968 also became playable. I talk to the designers of both.
Some queen tells a gnome they have to map a bunch of real estate she just acquired. Hear about my first sit with this widely loved pencil-and-paper terrain-maxxxing puzzle. Also: A look back at Citadels (Fantasy Flight Games) and a new Thunderbolt Apache Leader session.
175 years of Comanche history is on the table in a complicated fight against the inevitable; the Fantasy Flight retrospective continues with a look back at Eric Lang’s towering masterpiece, Chaos in the Old World…plus I wanted to know how a publisher that specializes mostly in tabletop miniature wargames teamed up with The British Library to make a cooperative family game about remixing fairy tales for points and laughs. One of the designers hopped on the line and told us.
Tearing it up in the Demon Wastes with your fellow Metal Queens, tarot learns some new tricks, nightmares continue in the Dwelling solo journaling RPG, and Keith Murray shows us how to lead off a posse cut properly.
Binge-learning Final Girl: A Knock at the Door, challenging The Moms in Scrabble, recounting more Fantasy Flight glory with Kenny. Plus my favorite Latifah remix by the Ultimatum team.
Kenny Katayama of the Shelf Stable podcast talks his Living Card Game favorites from Fantasy Flight Game's golden age.
Escape the AI wasteland with our plucky and inventive ninjas, plus you'll love these tracks from Troubleneck Brothers, Freakin Inglish and Now Born Click.
Win some cool indie games I bought and take a look back at Tannhäuser, a high-production attempt at a franchise skirmish game in 2007.
Ninja Borg lets you hack your way through your own '80s ninja fantasy; Matt Thrower weighs in on Fantasy Flight Games' Golden Age.
Getting off my depressed ass to learn SETI put my cold asteroid of a heart back in motion.
Light, rascally trouble in the countryside of Ryuutama; bad news in the basement of Dwelling; the perpetual slaughter of Space Hulk: Death Angel.
Fox in the Forest designer talks about trick-taking games he likes to play — and teases his new design in the genre.
Breakup Gaming Society contributing writer Fritz Godard talks about his very first experience with the hit solo horror game, Final Girl.
A preview of SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and a deep-dive interview into the rancid alleys of the Lichoma meatpunk TTRPG.
An interview with Cave Evil co-designer Nate Hayden about the game's resurrection and its ever-expanding warren of tunnels, items and ideas.
Win a bit of Breakup Gaming Society swag when you help name our Chief Mixologist's whiskey and homemade plum liqueur thing. Also, Faraway rules.
Resist! — a solo game about the guerrillas who fought on after the Spanish Civil War — caps a summer of playing David Thompson designs.
A delightful indie 2p card game that plays in no time flat, plus two dystopian TTRPGs that will flatten you.
My first belt of Kansas City Whiskey from West Bottoms, a review of the accessible Battle Card Print-and-Play WWII solo series, an interview with two guys trying the hardest-to-finish wargame ever, and Kurtis Mantronix shows off on "Megamix '88."
Hear about all the indie tabletop games I just got from small designers, including merciless roleplaying games with mercifully light rules, a few easy-to-learn solo historical wargames, and a disarming two-player small-box design about fireworks.
