G*m*s Magazine Podcast Channel

Mage Company released 12 Realms in Kickstarter and the game was sold at Spiel 2013 with all the extras that were obtained during the crowd-funding campaign. We also did the unboxing video of this game to give our viewers a precise idea of the components of the game and miniatures and can be seen here. Now we’ve sat down around the table and played the game for the first time. And without going into details I’ll tell you it didn’t go down as we wanted. Bring a first time play we can’t say we got everything right and our opinions and impressions of the game are just indicative of the sort of issues you might find on a first time play. We don’t hold our punches, though and it’s fair to say we weren’t impressed with the game. We’re hoping to soon have the publisher in the podcast for an interview so we can talk about the things we didn’t like about the game and what we might have missed. Meanwhile, hope you enjoy the show!

Frankenstein is one of the most lovable “monsters” of literature. The nature of its genesis, the helplessness, the unfairness of the time and situation… It’s a truly sad and tragic story. To say that movies, plays, paintings, sculptures and pretty much any art expression you can think of has been used to illustrate and otherwise express what this novel conveys. And that includes games. Latest is Frankenstein’s Bodies, a work by writer and gamer Andrew Harman based on the rather excellent roleplaying game by Iain Lowson, Dark Harvest: The Legacy of Frankenstein. In this game, you take the role of a promising young doctor and scientist who’s following on the steps of Dr Frankenstein and has to put a body together in order to create the most perfect body you can with the parts available and compete for the Dr’s affections. With a quick and fun gameplay, this game fits the mould very well and now it’s in Kickstarter to raise funds to get a proper production. Here’s my interview with designer and artist

Our hobby has a nasty side sometimes and when it shows its ugly face it is very difficult to roll high enough to save for the trolls. And some trolls don’t go away even if you pour acid or burn them to the ground. That’s what happened recently with a Kickstarter project from Daring Entertainment. The company released a project to fund a FATE based super hero game and some people took it to heart that they didn’t release the game on a “Pay What You Want” basis as well as having to deal with a well known con-man called Josh Hoopes. Things got ugly and when they were on the brink of funding, the project was cancelled. Well… if you’re one of the trolls who influenced this decision, this podcast episode is dedicated to you! If you’re not one of those, I think you’ll find the episode entertaining!

Dig Mars is a quick to play game we found at Spiel 2013. In this game players must turn tiles to reveal value and gather fortunes that will allow them to win the game. A simple gameplay that promises to make it a good game for beginners, the box’ contents have an average production that, although doesn’t blow away, it does what is supposed to and does it well. But is the game any good? Michael and Max had a first play of this game to find out! Hope you enjoy the show!

Legendary Games has been creating Pathfinder material for a while now and they do indeed know what they’re doing. Our very own Endzeitgeist has written numerous reviews of their products and more often than not he’s very complimentary, which is a good sing indeed! It seems that now they’re setting themselves up for something bigger and better than anything they’ve done before and for that they’re in Kickstarter. They have teamed up with Rogue Genius Games, Kobold Press and Dreamscarred Press to create an amazing looking compendium of books to expand on the Pathfinder Mythic rules. Three books, no less. I had the pleasure of interviewing Rachel Ventura and Jason Nelson and got to ask them a lot of questions about the project, their company, their future and a lot more. Hope you enjoy the show!

Quantum is fantastic. Let me say that from the start. I saw this game at Spiel 2013 and spoke to the minds behind Funforge to find out about the game and I was sold pretty much right away. It looked gorgeous, people seemed to be having a great time playing it and it was quick and easy to play. What’s not to like, right? Well, I didn’t really know what wasn’t to like because I hadn’t played it, but now I have, which is what this podcast is all about, so we can tell you about it. Although it’s not without its problems, this game delivers big time and you might (as in should) want to consider getting a copy! Hope you enjoy the episode!

Dungeon Fighter was launched by Cranio Creations to much acclaim for being fiendishly difficult and a ton of fun to play. And silly. It’s very, very silly. This game sees you rolling dice on a strangely shaped board in order to determine if you’ve succeeded to attack monsters that inhabit… yes, you guessed, dungeons. But the way you roll is dictated by different icons that come from decks of cards during the game. I tell you, rolling dice onto a surface when you have to launch them using your elbow, or your nose, or from under the table… That is *not* easy! There’s also an expansion called Fire at Will that was released recently and we thought we’d have a go and find out how it plays and if it adds anything new or worthy to the game. In this episode is our verdict! Hope you enjoy the show!

The Mistborn Adventure Game, published by Crafty Games, took the world created by Brandon Sanderson and turned it into an excellent game. And I mean really, really excellent. Now they’ve come out with a new supplement for the game that explores and expands on the canon of the world and cities for the world. To find out more about this book and what it contains, I spoke to writers Alex Flagg and Logan Boner for a while to find out more. Hope you enjoy the show!

Relic Runners was released at Spiel 2013 by Days of Wonder and I was super keen to take a proper look. Designed by Matthew Dunstan, Relic Runner puts the players in the roles of intrepid treasure hunters who will have to search for treasure and uncover the secrets they need to obtain the relics needed to win the game. A light game with simple mechanics and great components (you wan see the unboxing video here) it’s meant to provide with an entry level game for all the family. Quick and fun too! Michael, Max and myself put this game to its paces and we had a good game and in this episode we tell you all about it! Hope u enjoy the show!

Braggart is what happens when Michael goes Christmas shopping. He gets games for his friends. In this case for Max, who gleefully and expectantly opened this game with tears in his eyes at the thought of what wonderful time we were going to have playing this cute looking card game. After all Braggart is a very cute looking game and who doesn’t like the idea of bragging about the many adventures and mighty deeds you’ve performed in the name of fame, fortune and glory? And who doesn’t like to mess with your friends and turn their stories into hilarious parodies that’ll ridicule them in front of other adventurers? Exactly. So we sat down and had a go at this game. Hope you enjoy the show!

Once again we’re Jim and I are back ready to talk RPGs to our hearts content and, hopefully to your heart’s satisfaction. Firstly Jim talks about systems that don’t manage to match the rules and the setting. We discuss how to go about choosing a set of rules for your game and when it’s more appropriate to create one’s rules and when choosing an existing set of rules. We talk about my game, Deimonorum and how I’m using the ORE system to get a cinematic setting that an reflect how dangerous everything is and make it flexible enough so people can decide how much risk to add to their actions.  We talk about Wild Talents 2 and The One Ring too! Another topic we tackle is FATE. I (Paco) am having difficulties getting to understand how it’s applied and how it plays with a specific setting, so Jim and I discussed how abstraction in rules can be difficult to get to grips with sometimes. Lastly, Jim decides to have a go at the Marvel RPG game.

Slavery has played a horrific role in the history of many countries for a very, very long time. Far from being a thing of the past, slavery is still very present in modern day and efforts to eradicate it continue. Learning from history is probably the best way to understand where we come from and where we’re going. Freedom – The Underground Railroad does exactly that. Taking a massive risk, Academy Games has created a game that explores the efforts to free slaves. The players take on the role of historical Abolitionists who will try to save as many slaves a possible between the 1800’s and the Civil War. A careful balance between raising funds for the cause and moving the slaves from location to location will be the key to save enough slaves and win the game. However every time the slaves are moved, the slave catchers will be alerted and will capture the slaves to send them back into slavery. The game has received a great deal of praise and we were very curious to find out how it worked and if it re

I have been looking forward to seeing Mindjammer for a long time. The Space Opera game that will probably set a new precedent for future sci-fi games is finally almost here and I am seriously looking forward to seeing what Sarah Newton is going to bless our gaming shelves with. I came accross Mindjammer years ago when Sarah Newton published her first novel. I read it in a lot less time than I was expecting and it already gave me all I needed. Great characters, great technology, believable settings in an incredible way… the formula was there. I never looked into the first edition of the game, Mindjammer, the only reason that the second one was coming and, knowing Sarah, it was bound to be a lot better than the first. Now that the game is in pre-order, I had to interview the author and find out even more about this fantastic setting. But before we talked about Mindjammer, we also talked about Monsters & Magic, a new take on the Old School type of games that truly and genuinely take the old rules

Mage Company, the guys behind Wrong Chemistry and 12 Realms, have now gone to Kickstarter to fund their latest game, Hoyuk, a game in which you take on the role of a human 10,000 years ago trying to erect a village. Although Hoyuk was released in 2006 as a print and play, the game has been reworked to be produced as a physical product and bring it onto the table. As always, I was very curious about how they’re doing this and what plans they have for the game, so I got together with our friends from Mage Company to ask them lots of questions about the game, the new features they’ve brought into the system, the production values they’re aiming for and a lot more. Hope you enjoy the show!

Published in 2012 by AEG, Dominare is part of the Tempest series of boardgame that the prolific company has released and that includes Mercante and others. In Dominare you try to gain control of the city of Tempest by spreading your influence through the city and developing a network to control the different areas of the city. Designed by Jim Pinto and with gorgeous artwork by Andrew Hepworth and Jeff Mimmelman, this game is a very promising edition to the series. Michael, Cesare and Max sat down at the table and had a first play at this game. Considering they like deep games with tons of options that make you think time and time again, will this game satisfy the intellectual demand of our intrepid players? Let’s find out!

Doctor Reddy, Paco and Kara mingle a bit to bring you some reviews and conversation on the world of boardgaming.00:00:00 Introduction00:03:30 What games have Paco and Dr Mike been playing including Ghost Blitz and Duko00:06:15 What Paco and Dr Mike got for Christmas including Ligretto, Lego Heroica and Pandemic and a chance to win Dungeon Roll00:16:28 UK Games Expo Guests and Workshops including Chris Barry and and a chance to win some Red Dwarf paraphernalia, and X-Wing discussion00:30:10 What games have we been playing (again) including Firefly: the boardgame, Council of Verona, Cornish Smuggler, Fleet, Pandante, Aquarius and Lego Heroica00:47:09 Our hopes for 2014, including:Firefly: the RPG, Salute, UK Games Expo, Emperor's New Clothes, You are the Hero: the history of Fighting Fantasy books, Torn Armour, Cthulhu Wars, 3D printers00:50:30 X-Wing speculation, includingQuick Snitch, Counters the Board Game Cafe00:57:57 Torn Armour update00:59:12 Discussion with Kara about the Leisure Games Game Redesign Co

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 Vickey Beaver 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

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 Chamberlain was 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 game I 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 to pronounce 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 Chamberlain and I got together, pulled the spells book and followed the walkthrough to learn to

I have learned to trust Michael Chamberlain when 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 his game of chilly peppers farming. Must say it sounds 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!