Boards & Swords

Netflix is making a Ravenloft show? A new Pax is coming to Houston, and Magic enjoys its competition? Also, there's SO MANY good crowdfunding campaigns going on right now! So we go through and talk about some cool campaigns and help you decide if its worth your money or not!

Space Marines are dead, long live space marines? Also, Lorcana is working on a digital version, there's some cool looking D&D games coming, and what really happened with that "The Monolith" Kickstarter? Then, I take a look at "The Game Master's Book of Magic & Mayhem For Kids" from Media Lab Books. Amazon Affiliate Link

That's....a lot of people. And I'm talking about the 74,000 that were at Gen Con this year, not the 80,000 the convention wants to get to. Also, if you loved the 2nd edition of Arkham Horror, you'll have another shot at getting it. And I take a look at the "Book of Blades" by Kobold Press, an expansion to their Tales of the Valiant RPG.

All sorts of new stuff coming to D&D5.5, a board game version of Satisfactory, and a new version of Vampire the Masquerade? Plus, Wil Wheaton is doing a new tabletop gaming show! We talk to about that, and make sure to get in some dirtbag RPG advice along the way!

Remember last episode when we talked about the new Lazy Gamemaster Kickstarter campaign? Well, now you can hear it from the man himself! Mike Shea joins us to talk about the campaign ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slyflourish/rise-of-the-lazy-game-master ), how Paizo is ending long term licensing deals, and CMON continues long term terrible decision making.

Wingspan will soon fit in your pocket, Spirit Island is getting a new publisher, and the Lazy Gamemaster has a brand new kickstarter campaign! Speaking of being a GM, if you want to be a better one, you’ll want to check out our review of “So You Want To Be A Game Master” by Justin Alexander (amazon affiliate link). Then, we’ll give you some examples of “great” GM advice in our Ask A Dirtbag GM seg...

One of the pillars of 40K has passed away, Asmodee is making buckets from CMONs failures, and apparently D&D is a big deal? Who knew!?! Also, we've got some dirtbag GM advice to give as we dust off our vacation clothes.

Hasbro's CEO apparently has a lot of thoughts about D&D and how you should be playing the game. (Methinks maybe he should keep his mouth shut....). Also, there's a new survival horror game from the makers of Draw Steel, and Roll20 has a dungeon generator that ISNT AI! Plus, we've got Marc-André and Martin Lavoie, creators of the new board game “Questline” from Thunderworks Games! (https://thunderw...

We've got ad managers denying Satanic board games, D&D flying into outer space, and *possibly* a Dragon Ball Z board game coming to fruition finally. What a time to be a gamer! We're on vacay right now, so enjoy this pre-recorded episode where we go through a bunch of recent news stories before taking a look inside the new Warhammer 40k box and drooling over what's coming soon.

CMON apparently has enough money for NFTs, we get convinced to give Brass: Pittsburgh a try, and Philip finds his new favorite barbarian options in D&D! Also, I review Monster Vault 2 from Kobold Press for their Tales of the Valiant RPG, and we’ve got some answers in our Ask a Dirtbag GM segment!

BackerKit has a huge selection of great RPG campaigns this month, speaking of crowdfunding, CMON might be back? And also, time to get dangerous in your D&D games! Plus, we have Alex Kimerling from Hootenanny Games on the show to talk about one of their newest board games, Sneaky Scallywags!

Lots of great announcements at Adepticon - you know, like that BattleTech new lineup of products? That’s what has the internet abuzz, definitely not the 11th edition of a certain Games Workshop game. Plus, Cyberpunk TCG is raising all the cash on Kickstarter, and we’ve also got our first “official” Ask a Dirtbag GM segment!

Gundam Assemble details are here! Drama in the board game sphere appears to heat up, and the Neopets TTRPG gets cancelled! Plus, we've got an interview with Alberto & Andrea, part of the team behind the Isekai anime TTRPG “Gates of Krystalia” that just recently finished a Kickstarter for an expansion to the game. Lastly, we had on the CEO of Rollacrit talking about their Bag of Holding, but what d...

AEG guy learns his actions have consequences, Hasbro trying to mess with D&D again, and goodbye Star Wars Shatterpoint? We barely knew thee. Also! We’ve got an interview with Grant Howitt to talk about their newest game “Royal Blood” (https://rowanrookanddecard.com/product/royal-blood-rpg/)!

Looking at 2025 and forward to 2026 (FREE Bonus Bits!) Some free (but delayed) bonus bits talking about last year and what we want to do this upcoming year!

Where won’t they put a Pokemon vending machine next? Also, Female custodes are coming along with new Starcraft minis. Plus, we’ve got Ulianov from the website Spraygunner (https://spraygunner.com) to talk about Airbrushes and how to go about getting started and/or next steps in airbrushing!

I just love it when CEO’s bless us with their “wisdom”, Warcrow is about to get more mechanical, and a Total War is coming to 40k. Plus, we never talked about Pax Unplugged, so join us for this double sized episode of goodness.

Halloween might be over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still get our horror gaming in! This week, we’ve got Chris Spivey from Darker Hue Studios (https://www.darkerhuestudios.com/) with us to talk about the great TTRPGs he’s been making. Also: more daggerheart stuff, a couple of companies not doing so well, and FFG crowdfunding??

What world am I living in? Munchkin second edition? Catan sponsoring basketball? The Dice Tower saying something inappropriate? Actually, that last one tracks. Plus, there was a BUNCH of new GW releases announced, so you know we’ll talk about that as we get excited for Pax Unplugged!

Remember the ThinkGeek Bag of Holding? Meet the crew that brought it back! (Surprise, its actually some of the same people!) Also, more info on the Starcraft minis game, plastic minis for Trench Crusade, and a Catan movie now?

What’s it like to get paid to paint someone else’s models? Or to dress up as your favorite characters? Get your magnifying glass out, because we have Drew from One Inch Heroes (https://www.oneinchheroes.com/) on to talk to us about other ways to enjoy this hobby!

If you’ve ever used waterslide decals on minis, you know they kinda suck. Brent from Goblin Hobbies (https://goblinhobbies.com/) is here to show us a better way! Also, more stuff coming for Halo, convention options for other parts of the world, and a documentary about 40k from Napoleon Dynamite?

I’m trying to hang on to the magic of Nova Open as long as possible, so we’ve got Ted Wysocki from TNT Laser Works (also the Nova Open RPG lead) on to talk about his game “Sage Stones”. And it’s a game Philip and I BOTH have played!

I’m still breathing as I type this, so you can tell it’s been a busy Nova Open! We held our first live show in over 2 years! Mike & Kyron from the Nova Open staff join us for more hijinx than we can probably withstand.

I promise we’ll get back to interviews next time (Nova Open LIVE show btw!!), but for now we’ve finally got more news out of Gen Con to talk about, along with what was “hot” during the show.