GMS Magazine Podcast

M80 is a very interesting game that has been produced in a record time, play tested in a record time and sent to Kickstarter in a record time too, which makes it a very interesting project in my eyes. I first met Hack at Spiel 2014 and he is a very impressive man who can work more than most people and faster than a good number of super-heroes. When he told me about M80, I had to find out more. Not...

Sleepers is a conspiracy horror game published by Death Spiral Games and written by Ben Counter, veteran of many Warhammer novels. This game has been in development for a number of years and puts the players in the shoes of agents with super powers who have just woken up after a long slumber and a post cold-war disaster that’s changed how the world works. At the time of this recording this game is...

The Next Great American Game is a documentary movie conceived and brought to life by producer and director Douglas Morse. In this documentary, we’ll follow Randall Hoyt as he pitches his game, Turnpike, to  publishers in order to get it published. As you can imagine, that is a task easier said than done and in this movie we’ll get some very good reflection of what is like to try and break it as a...

Spirits of the Rice Paddy is the latest design and offering by Philip DuBarry, who recently was successful with Skyway Robbery and has a number of games under his belt already. However Spirits of the Rice Paddy certainly looks and sounds different. This a farming themed game, but unlike other farming games, this one has an oriental game and a much more focused and thematic farm: Rice. But this gam...

The Mistborn Dice Kickstarter project is the latest and most recent project by RPG publishers Crafty Games. The creators of the Mistborn Adventure Game, based on the novels by author Brandon Sanderson, also released a series of customised dice at the time of releasing the game just over two years ago. Those dice flew off the shelf and I was lucky enough to get a couple of sets for posterity. Now t...

There is a lot to be said for ethics in games journalism. The fact is that it’s a very grey area because most of the journalism that goes on is done by amateurs for the love of it. Whether it is for boardgames or roleplaying games, there are just a handful of professional websites that are businesses. And those numbers are *tiny* compared with the number of bloggers and video-bloggers out there. P...

Paranoia stormed on the tables of gamers all over the world in the 80 and has remained an iconic game that lots and lots of people were rather looking forward to see rebooted. Hence it’s no surprise that when it came out in Kickstarter just a few days ago, it smashed its funding goal in less than a day and it’s still gathering a lot of money. And rightly so! The authors chosen to bring this new ed...

A bit later than expected and planned, our tenth episode of the RPG room, where  Vickey Beaver, Jim Pinto and myself talk about games. This episode was meant to come out on time for Halloween, but life in the shape of a Kickstarter and another crowd funding campaign in Spain have taken me away from everything I should actually be doing! I apologies for the delay. Anyway, how do you add atmosphere...

Realms of Twilight is a fantasy campaign setting created by Daniel Marshal and BJ Hensley from Silver Crescent Publishing currently being funded in Kickstarter. Now, Pathfinder setting campaigns are three a penny (or a dime, if you will) and it is actually rather hard to find something that’s different and adds something new, not just from the point of view of setting originality, but also to what...

When Sentinels of the Multiverse came out, it rightly turned some faces. Because the game is rather terrific. Or I think so at least. Not everyone liked it, like my colleague Michael, who found it too bland for his card games tastes. To each their own! Now, after a few expansion, a few more hundred illustrations, more heroes, more villains and more games, Greater than Games has brought to us a new...

Superhuman: Rise to Power is the super hero based boardgame by newly created company Thought Tank Games LLC, from Alburquerque, NM. Superhuman: Rise to Power puts the players in the shoes of heroes saving a city or villains trying to destroy it. Which is really cool. Shawn Avery, Forest Agee and Russ Sanchez are the three minds behind the game and after having seen the prototype they very kindly s...

Fire in the Blood is the second book Erin M. Evans has published for the epic series of “The Sundering”. The Sundering is a collection of novels by some of the best writers out there in which the Forgotten Realms suffer an enormous transformation to bring the world of Dungeons & Dragons into its most recent edition. In this installment of the series, Farideh reaches Cormyr as the war the Sundering...

It is quite interesting how many people in the games industry have gone to do other things in unsuspected fields. That’s what happened to my guest in this episode of the podcast. He went onto becoming a creative consultant for the series Alias, published more novels I can remember, worked on graphic novels… And he comes with some gaming pedigree too: The CCG Cyberpunk released in 2003 was his desi...

Charisma +1: The Guide to Convention Etiquette for Gamers, Geeks & the Socially Awkward is the rather long and descriptive title of the book by Jessica Brawner that aims to give pointers and share experiences at conventions for those who are less skilled at the social interaction. With all the recent – understandable – talk about the matter in the last few months, to have this book at hand is some...

Ever since RPGs were published and Gary Gigax and Dave Arneson had a dream of turning Dungeons & Dragons into a commercial product, art has place a huge part in the visual identity of roleplaying games. Probably one of the areas in which Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror has thrived the most and in which it has been taken more seriously. And also probably the one that’s given more chances to new...

Since its release, Eclipse has seen a lot of success. It’s *very* highly regarded by people who play it and the digital version of the game is truly superb, it has to be said. Of course it’s not a game for everyone. It’s rules heavy, long and very, very deep with tons of things to do. After all, conquering a galaxy is no easy feat, is it? In this podcast episode we’re changing the format a bit and...

Oh no… Invasion! is a small coop game by FableSmith and designer Joost Das, the same clever guy who brought us Ortus. This time, far from being a competitive game, is a cooperative one. And one that holds no punches in being difficult to beat. Our planet is being invaded by a number of aliens that come in many shapes and sizes and we have to ally our forces to defeat them. Sharing resources and ta...

Cimmerian Space is a project by Nick Fallon, a 3D programmer with enough passion for games and the industry to give up his job and create a project that sets the basis for a service boardgamers will be very interested in… Cimmerian Space is a real time browser game that uses the latest technology to render gorgeous spacescapes in which you can fight your enemies and customise your ships and is now...

Skyway Robbery is the product of designer Philip duBarry, the same Philip duBarrry who designed Canalis, Courtier, Kingdom of Solomon… Yeah… he’s pretty good. This time he’s turned to Kickstarter to try and get the funds and produce Skyway Robbery, a steampunk stravaganza in which the players have to put together the biggest heist they can. Assembling a cast of professional criminals, your task, a...

The Veranthea Codex is the creation from RPG industry veteran Mike Myler. Ennie winner, Myler has now decided to create a product with a campaign setting, a section with NPCs and yet another section with a whole lot of new archetypes, professions, feats… The interesting thing is the idiosyncrasy of the setting. A world that comprises a whole country of steampunk goblins must be worthy of some atte...

Ark of Animals is the most recent game from the Polish company Historical Games Company and the first they target to a younger audience rather that to heavy gamers. In the games, players have to fill Noah’s Ark with animals and be careful where they place them to make sure animals are compatible with each other. No matter how much they need to survive, a lion in close proximity with a gazelle will...

Cubicle 7 has been for the last few years the flagship of RPG publishing in the UK. Of course that can be argued, but with successful licenses like Dr. Who and The One Ring, it is safe to say they are at the forefront of the RPG publishing business. Now they are back on Kickstarter with a new proposal, this time for younger players, with Lone Wolf. A roleplaying game after the successful adventure...

Interjection Games has created in the last few years some supplements for Pathfinder that have taken Vancian Magic, turned it around, messed with it, added some flavour, put some touches of genius on top and created some really interesting products that really push boundaries. Now, after a long time in development, Bradley Crouch has started a Kickstarter campaign to release Strange Magic. This ne...

The Titanic is probably the sea tragedy that’s capture people’s imagination the most up to date. Movies, books, museums, songs… and games have been created around it. And my favourite French games design company, Ludonaute, has done just that, create a game around the Titanic. Designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc, this is a cooperative game for one to eight players. A variant of the trad...

And here we are again, in the RPG Room discussing if games should come with campaign material or just the rules. A lot of games come with a lot of information. Spells, equipment, combat, rules for travel, rules for talking, abilities, skills, bonuses… And some games come with setting and campaign information and others don’t, but do they need them? Should games come with some sort of setting infor...