Tabletop Game Talk

This week we talk about the amount of content in campaign or legacy games.  Are we getting to the point of, "whoa whoa, too much, pull back, enough, please no more!"  Or is it just fine?  How much is too much and what type of content is worth having more of? If you want to enter our 2021 giveaway, details are below. And if you're a winner this is the current list of games you get to pick from (mor...

This month our RPG episode focus on why it's fun to be a player in the game (as opposed to the Dungeon Master or Game Master).  From story to power gaming, there are all kinds of reasons to like RPGs, but winning and losing typically isn't among them.  Why do we like being players in the game, listen to find out... And other miscellaneous stuff. We also announce our next 2021 game giveaway winner!...

This week we we go back to the basics with The Board Game Book glossary.  We cover 51 terms often used when talking board games that not everyone (including Fletcher) has a full understanding of.  This is kind of an evergreen episode, so, "Hello future listeners!" If you want to enter our 2021 giveaway, details are below. And if you're a winner this is the current list of games you get to pick fro...

This week we talk about how much story matters in games and what drives us to keep coming back to a game.  Most games don't have any story at all, so why do some try to put so much story into the game and is it at a cost of solid mechanisms? If you want to enter our 2021 giveaway, details are below. And if you're a winner this is the current list of games you get to pick from (more will be added t...

Chris and Fletcher go it alone this week and they talk about game balance as it pertains to three kinds of games, 2 player dueling, competitive multiplayer, and co-op games.  And eventually they fall into a discussion as to whether balance and difficulty can really be separated at all. If you want to enter our 2021 giveaway, details are below. And if you're a winner this is the current list of gam...

This is our first, monthly, role playing game episode.  Not our first role playing game episode in general, just the first where we make it a regular thing on the first Tuesday of each month.  Anyway... In this episode we talk about common misconceptions about RPGs.  Are they evil?  Hard to play and learn?  Do you have to be a good actor or story teller?  And other miscellaneous stuff.   We also a...

This week we have a new logo!  And we talk about Magic the Gathering.  The basics anyway and how you can try the game without spending much (if any) money. If you want to enter our 2021 giveaway, details are below. And if you're a winner this is the current list of games you get to pick from (more will be added throughout the year): Krosmaster Quest, Arkhanos, Catalyst, Quest: Time of Heroes, Bloo...

This week we reminisce about what conventions used to be, what we miss about them, and what our dream convention would be (those get pretty dreamy).  We also make some announcements including our first winner of our ongoing 2021 giveaways!   If you're a winner this is the current list of games you get to pick from (more will be added throughout the year): Krosmaster Quest, Arkhanos, Catalyst, Ques...

This week we talk about how hard Spirit Island is.  And the difficulty of other games as well.  Where should the difficulty of CoOp games sit?  Is too hard bad, how about too easy?  Is there such a thing as a sweet spot for all of them?  No.  but we wish there was... Oh, and some people really like stats: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1591774/statistics-2000-games-pandemic Go to http://Tabletop...

This week we talk about box inserts.  The good, the bad, and the worst.  Why should we all just throw them out?  Chris tries to answer that (except for one kind that he doesn't know the name of but really likes). Oh, and we announce that we'll be getting a new logo soon (updated artwork) as well as new giveaways for 2021. Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com/live to learn how to be part of our live a...

This week we look forward to 2021, and seem to be the only podcast that decided to put out an episode this week!  (ok, that's probably not true, but it feels like it's true)  In any case, we briefly sum up 2020 and then talk about all the cool things we hope for in 2021.  From kids to conventions, weddings to games, and a whole lot more. If you want to bring in the new year with the destruction of...

This week we look back at the Kickstarters we backed in 2020.  Or more accurately Kitty and Chris do and Fletcher tells us why he doesn't use Kickstarter.  We also start talking about some Christmas traditions and end with a debate on D&D alignments. If you want to bring in the new year with the destruction of the Death Star, start your Disney plus version of Star Wars: A New Hope at 10:02 and 43...

This week, inspired by The Queens Gambit (on Netflix) we talk about Chess.  Everything you ever wanted to know, except maybe chess rankings, we just forgot to talk about those.  But everything else, we talk about.  It's crazy entertaining to learn about Chess... no really! And we also announce who won our gift card giveaway! You can see all the pictures here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t5...

The first rule about 2020 is that you shall not talk about 2020... or at least that's what it seems.  Monday night Kitty's audio recorder corrupted her audio (and Chris didn't have a backup recording) so we had to re-record on Tuesday night.  Tuesday night Fletcher's audio was all static for the first 20 minutes (but this time Chris learned from Monday and had a backup recording, but it's not as g...

(Audio Note: Fletcher's audio is bad in his intro, but only the intro - we promise it sounds find later on.) This week we talk about how games end and what we like or dislike about those endings.  What is your favorite way for a game to end?  Have you given it any thought?  After this episode you will... On Dec 14th (all entries must be in by the 13th) we'll be drawing a name to win a $250 gift ca...

This week we try and talk about gaming over the holidays with the pandemic in mind.  And we do that, a bit, but we also have a few tangents here and there.  We may have scheduled a D&D session (Chris isn't sure).  We play a bit of heads up.  And at the every end we give you homework.  But doing that homework gets you entered into our holiday giveaway! On Dec 14th (all entries must be in by the 13t...

This week we're a day late, but maybe not really since this will still be Tuesday (in the US) when it finally goes out... but late Tuesday.  Anyway...this week we talk about games that have inspired us to do things outside of the game.  And we talk about litter boxes.  And D&D.  And there's a surprise give-a-way too. The link all about the book House of Leaves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_...

This week we are NOT talking about the size of the box.  No no, we're talking about the SIDE of it.  Ok, we're really not talking about that either.  What we're really talking about is the info the publisher puts on the box (often the side) for player count, time and age.  What's up with that and why is it almost never right? Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com/live to learn how to be part of our li...

This week we talk about creating characters in role playing games.  We also talk about playing role playing games, and to bring it full circle we talk about character death.  This one is a bit long, but we were having so much fun talking about this subject, Chris couldn't bring himself to cutting it any shorter. Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com/live to learn how to be part of our live audience. F...

This week we're kind of all over the place.  We start with our usual banter, and then talk about the Oculus Quest 2, then finally get on topic, mostly.  We talk about games (video and board) and books that are in our collection even though we don't plan to play or read them.  We also talk about barbies.  And kickstarter.  And flying with pets.  But it was all fun! Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com...

This week we Josh replaces Fletcher for our discussion of real time games.  Why do these tend to be a love 'em or hate 'em category of gaming?  How many of these are in the top 100 games on BGG?  Top 1000?  What are the pros and cons of real time games.  Is realtime one word or two? Listen to Josh ask Elon Musk a tough question: https://youtu.be/iU-poglarHc (Starts at about 3:11:50 - yes this is a...

This week we talk about multiplayer solitaire games and why we like them but also why the term tends to be used to describe a negative aspect of these games. Also, next week we talk about realtime games and this is the game Kitty was describing that is both multiplayer solitaire (literally) and realtime: https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/nerts/ Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com/live to learn ho...

This week we talk about the randomness in our games.  Input vs. output randomness.  And games without any random elements at all.  And we talk about some games that blur those lines (actually most games probably blur it in some way). Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com/live to learn how to be part of our live audience. Follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/TabletopGameTLK http://twitter.com/GameMa...

This week we talk about BoardGameCo's two recent YouTube videos on the 10 best value games and the 10 worst value games.  We don't really agree with his criteria, so we come up with some of our own. You can check out those videos at: 10 worst value games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gumHfmbw_pE 10 best value games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euI2yk1tK1k   Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com...

This week we look at the rest of the top 100.  And do exactly the opposite of what Kitty says we're going to do at the beginning of the episode.  That is to say, we look at every one of them...  Well almost, some we had no idea about. Go to http://TabletopGameTalk.com/live to learn how to be part of our live audience. Follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/TabletopGameTLK http://twitter.com/GameM...