Brilliant Gameologists

Warm-Up:

Each time we record, we watch a video or find a picture to get us in the mood for the episode. It doesn’t always have anything to do with the episode, but frames our minds, so we’re going to share so you can be appropriately framed as well.

• Listened to a couple of songs- Mirah’s The Garden and Robyn’s Cobrastyle.  Have nothing to do with anything, but they got us in the mood.
  

Icebreaker:

• The Olympics!  We’re big fans and discuss our favorite events.  Meg reminds everyone she has a vag.

Review Guidelines:

Good, Bad, Wintry Mix

• Good:
  • Elegant
  • Fuckin’ A
  • Fiddly Bits
• Bad:
  • Idiot
  • Full of Crap
  • Asshole

Our rating scale is:

• 1= If you are only going to buy 1 book, get this one.
• 3= If you are going to buy 3 books so you have a “main game” plus a fun pickup, this is the book for you
• 10= If you are going to get 10 books for a bit more variety, get this one
• 0= Don’t buy it.

Best Writing:

Nominees:

• Changeling: The Lost, White Wolf Publishing
• Monsters and Other Childish Things, Arc Dream Publishing
• Two-Fisted Tales, Precis Intermedia
• Grimm, Fantasy Flight Games
• Trail of Cthulhu, Pelgrane Press
  • Honorable Mention:  All Tomorrow’s Zombies!, Eden Studios

The Good:

• Trail of Cthulhu: Elegant, Fuckin’ A writing, and some really good Fiddly Bits.  Rating: 1
  
• Grimm: Fuckin’ A.  Rating: 3
  

Wintry Mix:

• Monsters and Other Childish Things: Some Fuckin’ A, but Full of Shit too.  Rating: 10
  

Bad:

• Changeling: The Lost: Idiot, Full of Shit, and Asshole.  Rating: 0
  

Can’t even Review:

• Two-Fisted Tales: This should not have been in this category.  Not good nor bad.  Just like the writing in every other book. Rating:10

Best Rules:

Nominees:

• Aces and Eights, Kenzer & Company
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition, Wizards of the Coast
• Witchhunter:  The Invisible World, Paradigm Concepts
• Epic Roleplaying Game Manual, Dark Matter Studios
• Trail of Cthulhu, Pelgrane Press
  • Honorable Mention:  Traveller, Mongoose Publishing

Good:

• Aces and Eights: Fiddly Bits.  So so so many fiddly bits. Rating: 1
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition: Fuckin’ A and Elegant. Rating:1

Wintry Mix:

• Witchhunter:  The Invisible World: Fuckin’ A, Fiddly Bits, but also Asshole. Rating:3
• Trail of Cthulhu: Wish the game had been “completed”.  Fuckin’ A, Fiddly Bits, but also Asshole. Rating:1

Bad:

• Epic Roleplaying Game Manual: Needs refinement and an overhaul.  Not fair to review at this time. Rating:10

Best Game:

• Aces and Eights, Kenzer & Company
• Og, Firefly Games
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition, Wizards of the Coast
• Monsters and Other Childish Things, Arc Dream Publishing
• Witchhunter:  The Invisible World, Paradigm Concepts

Good:

• Aces and Eights: Fuckin’ A, Fiddly Bits, Elegant. Rating:1
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition: Elegant, Fuckin’ A. Rating:1

Wintry Mix:

• Witchhunter:  The Invisible World: Elegant, Full of Shit. Rating:3
• Monsters and Other Childish Things: Fuckin’ A, Asshole. Rating:10

Bad:

• Og, Full of Shit, Asshole. Rating:10

Product of the Year:

• Aces and Eights, Kenzer & Company
  • Josh and Zeke hope this wins.  Rating: 1
• Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition, Wizards of the Coast
  • Meg hopes this wins: Rating: 1
    
• The Savage World of Solomon Kane, Pinnacle Entertainment Group
  • Rating: 1
• Grimm, Fantasy Flight Games
  • Rating: 3
    
• Witchhunter:  The Invisible World, Paradigm Concepts
  • Rating: 3
    
• Monsters and Other Childish Things, Arc Dream Publishing
  • Rating: 10
    
• Changeling:  The Lost, White Wolf Publishing
  • Rating: 0
    
• Pirate’s Guide to Freeport, Green Ronin Publishing
  • Didn’t get the product in time to review
• Pathfinder #8: Seven Days to the Grave, Paizo Publishing
  • Didn’t review.  Didn’t get enough “notice” to deserve this category
    
• Traveller, Mongoose Publishing
  • Not interested.
    

News:

1. Reminder: The Brilliant Gameologists are leading 3 seminars at GenCon! If you’re going, you won’t want to miss it.

Gamers in the Press: Blogs, Podcasts, and Print at GenCon

http://www.pulpgamer.com/gencon/

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit and is Not Work Safe. It is intended for adult audiences.

 

 Review08: ENnies [78:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The BG’s review BSG in the last of our full Origin’s review series.

Battlestar Galactica is published by Margaret Weis Productions.

Our rating scale is:

• 1= If you are only going to buy 1 book, get this one.
• 3= If you are going to buy 3 books so you have a “main game” plus a fun pickup, this is the book for you
• 10= If you are going to get 10 books for a bit more variety, get this one
• 0= Don’t buy it.

Fair warning: we are not fans. At all. This episode is part review, part bullshit, and part GenCon stories. Listen at your own risk!

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

 

 Review006-BattlestarGalactica [28:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In our 3rd full Origin’s Review, we look at Firefly Games’ Faery’s Tale Deluxe.

We had a lot of issues with this book. I feel it works as a structured “let’s pretend” for kids, but the concept wasn’t clear. To say that this could be for adults misses the mark.

It has some use though, so we gave it a 10 on our rating scale:

• 1= If you are only going to buy 1 book, get this one.
• 3= If you are going to buy 3 books so you have a “main game” plus a fun pickup, this is the book for you
• 10= If you are going to get 10 books for a bit more variety, get this one
• 0= Don’t buy it.

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

 

 Review005-FaerysTale [15:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In the second full Origin’s review episode, we take a look at the Savage World of Solomon Kane.

http://www.peginc.com/games.html

We love this one and hope it wins the Origin’s Award for best new RPG. It’s a 1 on the rating scale because this is a complete book of a game which could be a long-term campaign and it’s really interesting:

• 1= If you are only going to buy 1 book, get this one.
• 3= If you are going to buy 3 books so you have a “main game” plus a fun pickup, this is the book for you
• 10= If you are going to get 10 books for a bit more variety, get this one
• 0= Don’t buy it.

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

 

 Review004-SWSolomonKane [17:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is the first of our full Origins’ Awards Reviews– we’ll release 1 review per day to complete the series!

In this episode we review Grimm, published by Fantasy Flight Games.

We give this a “3″ on our rating scale:

• 1= If you are only going to buy 1 book, get this one.
• 3= If you are going to buy 3 books so you have a “main game” plus a fun pickup, this is the book for you
• 10= If you are going to get 10 books for a bit more variety, get this one 0= Don’t buy it.

This game would be a ton of fun for a few one shots or to pick up when you’re normal game is sidetracked for a couple of weeks. Very intesting concepts, great flavor, good production values– a good book overall. The lack of clarity and that everything is written in text blocks (I mean everything- there is not a single formula or chart in the book that says “Attack = Scrap vs Defense -> Inflict Wounds”) is insanely frustrating, but other than that, it’s a good book.

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

 

 Review003-Grimm [27:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode we quickly discuss and review the books nominated for the 34th Annual Origins Awards in the categories Publication, Non-Fiction and Best RPG.

We separated each into the classic Trichotomy- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The nominees are…

PUBLICATION, NON-FICTION

UGLY

Grand History of the Realms Published by Wizards of the Coast Written by Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood

No Quarter Magazine Published by Privateer Press Nathan Letsinger, editor-in-chief; Eric Cagle, editor; Josh Manderville, art director

BAD

Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl’s Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game Published by Wizards of the Coast Written by Shelly Mazzanoble

GOOD

40 Years of Gen Con Published by Atlas Games Written by Robin D. Laws

Hobby Games: The 100 Best * Published by Green Ronin Edited by James Lowder

* 99% Ed Greenwood Free!

ROLEPLAYING GAME

Ugly

CthulhuTech Published by Mongoose Publishing Written by Matthew Grau and Fraser McKay

Aces & Eights Published by Kenzer & Co. Written by Jolly R. Blackburn, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson, Dave Kenzer, Jennifer Kenzer and Mark Plemmons

Bad

Battlestar Galactica Published by Margaret Weis Productions Written by Jamie Chambers

Faery’s Tale Deluxe (Debatable as to which category it really belongs) Published by Firefly Games Written by Patrick Sweeney, Sandy Antunes, Christina Stiles, and Robin D. Laws

Good

Grimm Published by Fantasy Flight Games Written by Robert Vaughn and Christian T. Petersen

The Savage World of Solomon Kane Published by Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group Written by Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams (with Shane Lacy Hensley)

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

 

 Review002-Origins07 [28:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Brilliant Gameologists review the CthulhuTech RPG.

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

 

 Bonus002-CthulhuTech Review: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download