Go and fill out the podcast listener survey! And while you’re there, click on us!

http://rpgpolls.com/fill/survey/2012-RPG-Podcast-Listener-Survey/brilliant-gameologists

Putting our name at the end just shows you got to the survey through our referral, so when you tell your friends, your loved ones, and that weird guy on the bus who is always trying to sell you his hair, make sure you tell them to put our name there too so we get credit.

That way we can see the stats just on the people who went to the survey through us. And that would be cool to see ’cause I’m betting you all are MUCH cooler than the average podcast listener.

So go on, it’ll only take 3 minutes, take the survey! And put some comments (about how awesome we are) in that comment box at the end. That’s what it’s for!

While you are pondering, take the Podcast Listener Survey! Now! And put in complementary comments about our fine features!

http://rpgpolls.com/fill/survey/2012-RPG-Podcast-Listener-Survey

Segments Include:

TeeeeamWork!!!

Chewing

• Wasabi Peas are awesome

People Died

• Dick Clarke
• Andy Hallett (Lorne on Angel)

Grinds My Gears

• What do you think of the phrase Dime a Dozen?

RPGs as Kid’s Shows

• Wonderpets is either brilliant or brilliantly horrible. And no one is voting for the former
• It reminds us of Burning Wheel
• What Kid’s Shows remind you of RPGs? Or vice versa?

The Culture War

• Based on the Book
• Are you Progressive or Orthodoxy?

Drinkin’

• Should you drink at the game table?

This was recorded in 3 separate settings, officially making this the longest podcast in waiting yet (that has been released anyway). 

We had fun Summer 2011!

Gencon 2011:

• The GenCon Social
  

  Tourists in New York City

• Fiasco Playset Camp Death

DragonCon 2011:

• The Bad Astronomer Phil Plait
• Geologist George Hrab
• Brian Thompson of Amateur Scientist and The Death Panel
• The beautiful, amazing Swoopy!

ColbertCon 2011:

• God Damn Stephen Colbert is awesome
  

  Colbert is a dear, close personal friend of Meg and Josh

We had a very Maine Winter Holiday

• Thanksgiving
• Jamaica Plain is super Hipster

Spring had Lambs and Lions!

• New baby! Welcome Carlie!
  

  Awww!!!

• PaxEast was fun
• PaxEast will be in Boston for 10 more years (suck it East Coast!)
• Draw Something
• Are baboons citizens?

Want to contact us?

• Email us at gm@brilliantgameologists.com
• Twitter us at @bg_meg, @bg_josh, @bg_zeke or @bg_podcast
• Call us at 206-Ha-Girl-1
• We’re on Google+! Meg, Josh
• Check out our Facebook page and LIKE us! facebook.com/brilliantgameologists

If you’re looking for your forum-fix, head on over to http://www.minmaxboards.com! Re-create your profile and start posting once more!

You can copy and paste old material over as you see fit. We’re not doing a mass import due to the above mentioned spam, and still have some fiddly-bits to work through, but we hope you like the improvements!

Sometime this morning the normally high volume of spam attacks on our boards increased so the hosting company shut down the website.  We got it turned back on, but the boards are still down.

We working to solve the problem right now.

The username pop up is to keep spammers out and your regular name and password will not work.

We return triumphantly for a 4th season.  Hot, sweaty and full of vinegar.

This episode is a teaser for what is to come this season, the first real episode will be out ASAP or sooner.

We talk about changes, hopes and expectations:

• More Listener involvement – Feedback, Questions, Free Zekey Rides,
• More Show Promotion – Get your grass roots on.
• We are going to work on a game – it worked so well for fear the boot we just had to
• Work on our Bono Fides
• Review some games
• Shorter Shows (and more of them)
• Meg will Blog
• Guests
• Funny and educational
• Battered Bear
• Moose Toe

Thursday, August 4th:

11:00-12:00 Greatest Seminar Ever (SEM1123866)

Marriott : Indiana Bllrm B

1:00-2:00 7 Words You Can’t Say While Gaming (SEM1123845)

ICC : 243

Join the hosts of the Award winning podcast Brilliant Gameologists and learn words that will bring out the worst emotions in your gaming group and will counter the real message – either names you could call players (Munchkin, Powergamer, Drama Queen, Rules Lawyer, Meta-gamer) or whining to your GM (It’s not fair! It’s not realistic! You are railroading us!). Learn alternatives to name calling that are just as fun and clarify the real problems.

Friday August 5th

10:00-11:00 am Winning At Community Forums (SEM1123979)

Marriott : Indiana Bllrm D

Your favorite game has a whole ‘nother level: the forums. Are you a troll? a lurker? a flamewar starter? Do you put up strawmen and burn them down? Come together to share ideas and learn how to formulate the one post to rule them all and get the top score on your favorite forum.

Kicking People Out of Your Game (SEM1123926)

Marriott : Indiana Bllrm C

Where do you draw the line at kicking people out of your gaming group? What are the things you should try before you kick them out? This seminar explores the hairy topic of “kicking people out of your game.”

Want to hang or say hi?

• Come to a seminar
• We’ll be at the Embassy Suites Happy Hour most evenings
• Twitter us (Meg and Josh, we’re sans Zeke again this year) as a way to coordinate!

]]> http://brilliantgameologists.com/gencon-2011-come-see-us/feed/ 0 http://brilliantgameologists.com/bg-short-for-june-13-2011/ http://brilliantgameologists.com/bg-short-for-june-13-2011/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:19:19 +0000 Josh http://brilliantgameologists.com/?p=494

This episode, like all of our episodes, is “Not Safe For Work.” Use headphones or at least look around a bit to see if your co-workers can hear.

Episode Subtitle:

This episode is part of our Casual series which includes episodes for thought and fun.

We’re joined this episode by Glenn as the 4th Gameologist. Glenn can also be found on such podcasts as… The Dandy Scotch Brawlers

This is just Part 1!

Good but…

Things that we rate are quality but individually just don’t like.

Bad but we like it

We know it’s crap but our loins are moistened

1. Twilight- Meg
2. Cleopatra 2525- Josh
3. Roswell- Meg
4. Josh- Zeke. Seriously, and by “seriously” we mean “just kidding”
5. Clue- Glenn

Good and We Likes It

Quality + Emotional investment. And even then there is disagreement!

So the conclusion?

1. The marriage of quality and fun is if all the pieces in place, if they all converge (quality), then has the potential to cause a real emotional pull (I like it)
2. For games- a good game is like a good script. A great director can still get a good performance from a good actor, but he can only take it so far if the script is bad

Any guesses as to her Top 10 list before listening??

Check out the episode!

Note- This is NOT a Brilliant Gameologists episode, but rather a “party” episode wherein we appear on other people’s shows.  So don’t start here, but if you’re interested in the people more than the show, give it a listen!

• PAX East 2011 Keynote: Jane McGonigal (she gives us school marm wood)
  

  Dickwolves?

• Parsely Games Friday, 3:30pm – 4:30pm Merman Theatre (Cause Jared is a hot hot swede)
• Game Design Is Mind Control Friday, 6:30pm – 7:30pm Cat Theatre (Meg is bringing her War and Peace to have Luke Crane sign)
• The Triple Threat: Short Subjects in Gaming  Friday, 7:30pm – 8:30pm Naga Theatre (Cause what’s so special about those GeekNights guys anyway? Oh, yeah. They rule.  Boo.)
• Everything I Know About Social Games I Learned from Call of Duty Saturday, 2:00pm – 3:00pm  IGDA Dev Center (The description mentions Frontierville!  To get why that matters, listen to Meg on The Way of the Game)
• Publish Your Own RPG – And Don’t Go Broke Doing It! Saturday, 4:00pm – 5:00pm Merman Theatre (Mostly because the panelists are the coolest people at Pax East! Epi, Emily, Vincent, Meguey– it’ll be a room full of awesome!

If you’re going, let us know!  Tweet us (@bg_meg, @bg_josh or @bg_zeke) so we can meet up!

This episode, like all of our episodes, is “Not Safe For Work.” Use headphones or at least look around a bit to see if your co-workers can hear.

Episode Subtitle: We’re going to prunch you in the pecker

Myth or Fact?

This episode is part of hour Host series which includes episodes for and about gamemastering.

Myths about GM’ing

1. Great GM’s are Born, Not Made
2. You need to MAKE people role-play
3. You must all fear and respect me and do as I command for I am god
4. You stop the clock with one second left, every time.
5. You only need to make one thing and give them 3 doors
6. Fallacious Argument: You must not have had a good GM
7. The GM is the entertainer
8. Fudge the dice
9. You have to fake it ’till you make it
10. Just kick ‘em out
11. The world will end in 2012
12. As long as they had fun, you GM’ed it right

Names for the GM

1. Harmful names
2. Alternative names

Things a Good  GM

1. Can do
2. Should do
3. MUST do

“Commercial” Break:

• Hacks for Poison’d by D. Vincent Baker

No Thank You!

This is NOT a Brilliant Gameologists episode, but rather a “party” episode wherein we appear on other people’s shows.  So don’t start here, but take a listen in prep for our post-holiday return!

http://podgecast.com/archives/tpc-119-the-burning-fellowship-player

Hint: Meg doesn’t like Burning Wheel very much!

There is some discussion of this episode at The Spookyouthouse Forums

Join us on December 11th at Middlesex Community College, Lowell, MA for a day of games- try something new or reconnect with a favorite with new people, this is a day of fun and games.

Timeline:

Games:

Location:

Parking:

Registration:

Comment / Questions

Post in the comments here, ask us on twitter, or email us!  If you have any questions, need a place to crash the night before, or want to run a game, email away!

Go to BrilliantGameologists.com/Mailer and sign up for the mailing list

RegistrationSpeed GamingOpen Gaming

Podcast of the Week:

• Narrative Control Episode 52: Indirect Effects

Hot Game of the Week:

• Fiasco!

Question of the Week

• What is your most unfortunate gaming incident?  In character or at the table.  Post on our Discussions!

Contact us!

Podcast of the Week:

• Geek Nights

Hot Game of the Week:

• Misspent Youth

Question of the Week

• Still looking for responses to:
  • What RPG’s are coming out soon?
  • What other fields of geekery do you and your group enjoy together?
• This week: What are you and your group playing right now?

Contact us!

The weak attempt is:

There is NO show this week.  Repeat, because of cons, there is no real show.  Instead, we are giving you a extra naughty bonus bit of 3 separate outtakes from our upcoming, REAL episode titled, “The Myth of the Great GM”- that one will be awesome.  This one is incredibly raunchy.

If you didn’t think the Penny Arcade Dickwolves strip or the following “We hate rapers and all the rapes they do” was one of the funniest things ever, you won’t think this is either.

Penny Arcade comic- all rights reserved

The Short for Sept 27, 2010

Where We Be:

• Josh will still be at Burning Con 10/10/10- Are you going?
• PlayDate: October 16th, Lowell, MA!!  Come, still have couch space available!

Culture Report

Podcast of the Week:

• Bear Swarm
• Short Interview with Jared Sorensen (link to his stuff)
• Long Interview with Jared Sorensen (link to his facebook)
• Fuck/Kill/Marry?
  • Jared
  • Rob from the Bear Swarm
    

    Bear Swarm Rob- Murderer or Tender Lover?

  • Luke Crane from Hipster Industries

Hot Game of the Week:

• Ascension
• Clyde, stole his idea

Question of the Week

• What other fields of geekery do you and your group enjoy together?

Contact us!

Timeline:

Games:

Location:

Parking:

Registration:

Comment / Questions

Post in the comments here, ask us on twitter, or email us!  If you have any questions, need a place to crash the night before, or want to run a game, email away!

Go to BrilliantGameologists.com/Mailer and sign up for the mailing list

• Where We Be:
  • PlayDate: October 16th, Lowell, MA!!
  • Burning Con 10/10/10- Are you going?
  • Teodoro– ok, this is an in-joke, and we need to get better about not including so much, but here’s the story so you feel included.
    • @Tresi, on the twitter, is an awesome guy and lives in the Boston area, so we go to some local cons with him.  He also went to GenCon this year.  He’s really cool.  Josh is going to room with him and @Trapcast_Jenn at BurningCon and we’ve already warned Tresi that Josh may be a bed-shitter and sleep-raper.  Teodoro is Tresi.  Now you know the full story
• News!
  • Voicemail- Call and leave feedback!

• ConReport- DragonCon
  • SkepticPimp‘s twatlog

• Featured Podcast of the Week:
  • Amateur Scientist
  • Scott Adsit from 30 Rockefeller Center from the Sun

• Hot RPG Game
  • Apocalypse World- great new RPG

• Question of the Week: Give us Feedback!
  • Feedback Outlets…

Contact us!

This episode, like all of our episodes, is “Not Safe For Work.” Use headphones or at least look around a bit and see if your co-workers can hear.

The Short for Sept 20, 2010

1. Where We Be- Come hang with us
   
   1. PlayDate-- next one coming up on October 16, 2010 at Middlesex Community College, Lowell MA.
      1. Here’s a link to the last PlayDate- don’t RSPV here, this one is expired!  But the info will be exactly the same, save the date.
   2. Greater Nashua Gamers Meetup if you happen to be in the NH/MA area
   3. Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, MA if you want to see Zeke slam

   
   

2. GenCon review
   1. Dudes making out
3. Theory from the Closet
4. Freemarket
5. Question of the Week: What games are on the horizon?  Post on the Facebook Discussion

Contact us!

This episode, like all of our episodes, is “Not Safe For Work.” Use headphones or at least look around a bit and see if your co-workers can hear.

This episode, like all of our episodes, is “Not Safe For Work.” Use headphones or at least look around a bit to see if your co-workers can hear.

Episode Subtitle: We’re swollen with hubris

This episode is a Diplomacy Episode, those which focus on getting along better with your fellow players, GM, and friends.

Doofus Behaviors:

Dynomite’s Behaviors:

Contact us!

We’ll be going to the podcasting track panels, the skeptic track, the animation track and Whedon track for the most part.

We’re also doing a live Brilliant Gameologists recording, Saturday at 7:00 (sober-ness optional) in Hilton 204.

Best way to get in touch with us is to tweet at us: @bg_meg, @bg_josh and @bg_zeke.  I’ll also use the @bg_podcast twitter to give updates on where we all are.

Podcast Survey Listener Results

Check out Meg’s (and many others) article (and picture!) in the RPGirl Zine here:

RPGirl Zine Project

Meg and Adam will be at GenCon- be sure to come find us!  Twitter us: @bg_meg or @bafadam

Check out our brand new Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/brilliantgameologists

Join Meg and Josh and the holographic, call in image of Zeke at Gen Con!

All seminars are 1 hour

7 Words You Can’t Say While Gaming (SEM1013636)

Time: 8/6 Friday 11:00 am

Location: Westin : Capitol I

Description: Join the hosts of the Award winning podcast Brilliant Gameologists and learn words that will bring out the worst emotions in your gaming group and will counter the real message- either names you could call players (Munchkin, Powergamer, Drama Queen, Rules Lawyer, Meta-gamer) or whining to your GM (It’s not fair! It’s not realistic! You are railroading us!). Learn alternatives to name calling that are just as fun and clarify the real problems.

Humor in Podcasting (SEM1013923)

Time: 8/6 Friday 12:00

Location: Westin : Caucus

Description: Join the Parsec award winning Brilliant Gameologists as the discuss what is funny, and what is not funny. Different kinds of humor and “How to be funny on a podcast.” A must attend for anyone who likes to make people laugh, or laugh themselves.

A Salon on Gameology (SEM1013637)

Time: 8/6 Friday 4:00 pm

Location: Embassy Suites : Coronation I

Description: Salon: An 18th Century term meaning “A periodic gathering of people of social or intellectual distinction.” Gameology: The study of games and the people who play them. The Brilliant Gameologists: An award winning podcast about games and the people who play them. Come join us for a facilitated, interactive discussion about Gaming, the Gaming Hobistry and some nerd-erific jargon-tastic fun.

The Greatest Seminar Ever (SEM1013686)

Time: 8/7 Saturday 11:00 AM

Location: Marriott : Indiana Blrm F

Description: Come to this seminar ready to laugh and love with the award winning podcast Brilliant Gameologists as you share your best (and worst) gaming stories. There will be punch AND pie!

Timeline:

Games:

Location:

Parking:

Registration:

Go to BrilliantGameologists.com/Mailer and sign up for the mailing list

Email us at gameologists@gmail.com and let us know you are coming! If you have any questions, need a place to crash the night before, or want to run a game, email away!

Comment / Questions

Post here!

We here at Brilliant Gameologists are working away like beavers to get the third season up and running.  And that involves the sexiest of all things- infrastructure upgrades.  So things will be changing around here over the next few weeks.

The Big News

• We have a hard date on the release of new episodes, March 28th.
• There will be another live show on the 25th (time TBD)

So keep your eves on this space.

Shoutouts!

BG_Baby aka Valentine was born on Dec 6th and already loves her D&D Board Books

• Sasha- Zeke’s long distance BFF and host of Den of Iniquity
• 8-bit Porn: WFT Did I Just Watch?.  Don’t watch it.
• The time-management masters at the Podgecast
• @BigHeadZach from HeadGames Podcast
• Mike Selinker- Rocker of the Bolo!

We’re Thankful!

• Meg is thankful for podcasts who paved the way:
  • Sons of Kryos
  • Fear the Boot
  • Have Games, Will Travel
  • All Games Considered
• Josh is thankful for new, awesome games
  • Shock
  • Misspent Youth
  • Savage Worlds
  • Burning Wheel
• Zeke is thankful for social networking

Laziness

• Not trying new
• Sometimes good and inspiring
• NaNoWriMo: National November Writing Month
  • It doesn’t need to be perfect, just do it.

We’re Not Lazy!

We’ve been busy- just not putting out shows.  Going to cons (see our “appearance schedule”!)

Time Saving Techniques

• Make an outline or to-do list for your game
• Cut out distractions
  • 10-2 Method- 10 minutes of straight work, then 2 minutes for scheduled goof-off time
• Eat first.  Schedule Pee.
• Schedule your big rocks first
• Plan with a focus group, not everyone
• Don’t reinvent the wheel
• Perfect is the enemy of done
• Doing things right or Doing the right things?
• Replace the word “time” with “money” when talking about management
  • Replace with Lubricant- too much and too little are both uncomfortable
• Don’t delegate- empower
• Steal with both hands

Worth the Time

• Learning a new system
• Know your character

Not worth the time

• Reading the entire book
• Detailed Maps!
• Don’t learn every rule- at first
• Crafting tons of NPC’s

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

Our favorite fat, bearded men

Shoutouts!

• Brant- our blamestorm includes him for being too man-pretty and distracting us.
• Adam- Thank you.  You are officially the BG’s savior.
• We won the Best Gaming Podcast at the Parsecs!!
• Epidiah Ravachol: Author of Dread, Time and Temp, Swords without Masters, and overall cool dude.

We’ve been playing:

• Mouse Guard
• Dominion
• Word on the Street

Fatbeards are ruining the Hobistry

• Fatbeard self check
• You might be a fatbeard if…
• Why they are ruining the hobistry
• How to avoid fatbeard tendencies

Contest!

Vote on when Meg is going to pop out the 4th Gameologists!

Laziness and Procrastination

We didn’t get to this.  We will have another live episode on Sunday, November 22nd at 8EST to have part 2 of this sode!  Join us to discuss why gamers are inherently lazy and time saving techniques!  We are going to try to have this as a call in episode, so stay tuned for details

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brilliant-gameologists

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

I got a clock mothafucka!

Tune in for our LIVE show November 18, 2009- Wednesday- at 9:00 EST on our ustream channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brilliant-gameologists and chime in on the topics of Fatbeards, Time-wasters and procrastination, and where we’ve been these past months.  Ask us where we’ve been!  Let us explain what we’ve been doing with our time off!  And then express your views on how Fatbeards and Laziness are ruining the Gaming Hobbistry.

Controversy and hilarity WILL ensue!

1) We have not put out a show in a while.

2) Our site and boards have been down quite a bit

3) The increase in number of vampire shows on TV seems to be directly related to outbursts in Congress?

These are actually all related.  Well, #3 isn’t, but that’s besides the point.

We have 4 episodes recorded and have been prevented from releasing mostly due to some fairly severe technology issues.  First, our sound quality for some reason plummeted and the files keep getting corrupted, and we couldn’t bring ourselves to put out such a subpar product.  They aren’t completely lost, but we have a few computer reinstalls to do to get everything back on track.

Our web issues were also a big pain in the butt.  The site was hacked and I couldn’t log in to WP to post anything new at all until about 20 minutes ago.  Things look to be pretty stable now thanks, not in part, but in 99% entirety to Adam from Spooky Outhouse Productions to whom we owe a great bit of gratitude.  Beer is on us next time we get together, dude.

So it’s looking like for the most part, #2 on the list is taken care of.  We’re going to concentrate in earnest on fixing #1 now.  #3, we’re sorry, but you’re just going to have to deal with.

http://www.ennie-awards.com/voting/ballot.asp

Best Podcast is category #17.  But if you need some suggestions for other great products (and there are a bunch!) check out our Suggested Ballot.

Please vote, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, and help us spread the word!  Help us and win prizes and help us plan our acceptance speech!

Vote today!

Show: If Elected…

Each workshop will feature an assortment of podcasters including those from:

• Podgecast
• Bear Swarm
• Narrative Control
• TrapCast
• Independent Insurgency

And hopefully many others!  When there are confirmations, we will repost. 

Thursday 8/13:

Reverse Forum for Podcasters

• 12:00-1:00
• Podcasting Track Room

This novel panel is intended to give people who have potential podcast content a chance to meet the podcasters who are interested in that content. An opportunity to meet them as a group rather than singly. If you have a product, service or event that you would like a podcaster to talk about, on their show, plan on attending one of these sessions. Also if you have an idea of something for podcasters to do, we would like to hear it.

SEM0903104: 7 Words You Can’t Say While Gaming

• 3:00-4:00
• Marriott : Indiana Bllrm B

Join the hosts of the podcast Brilliant Gameologists and learn what words will bring out the worst emotions in people and will counter the real message you are trying to convey- either names you could call players (Munchkin, Powergamer, Drama Queen, Rules Lawyer, Meta-gamer) or whining to your GM (It’s not fair! It’s not realistic! You are railroading us!). Learn alternatives to name calling that are just as fun and send the message you mean.

SEM0903105: A Salon on Gameology

• 5:00-6:00 pm
• Embassy Suites : Chancellor I

Salon: An 18th Century term meaning “A periodic gathering of people of social or intellectual distinction.” Gameology: The study of games and the people who play them. The Brilliant Gameologists Podcast: Educated type folks who talk about the science of games, gamers, and gaming. Interested? Join the hosts of the in a facilitated “roundtable” discussion about gameology, the industry, and nerd-a-rific, jargon-tastic fun.

Friday

Reverse Forum for Podcasters

• 9:00-10:00 am
  
• Podcasting Track Room

This novel panel is intended to give people who have potential podcast content a chance to meet the podcasters who are interested in that content. An opportunity to meet them as a group rather than singly. If you have a product, service or event that you would like a podcaster to talk about, on their show, plan on attending one of these sessions. Also if you have an idea of something for podcasters to do, we would like to hear it.

Secrets of the Podcasting Masters

• 10:00-11:00
  
• Podcasting Track Room

Whether you are a seasoned professional, a new podcaster or needed to google “what is podcasting” just now, if you are interested in podcasts, this seminar is for you. Come see this panel of podcasting veterans to learn a few of their tips, tricks, and secrets of the trade. The seminar will cover the basic How’s, What’s and Why’s of podcasting. Bring lots of questions because these guys can answer them.

Beyond the Podcast

• 12:00-1:00
  
• Podcasting Track Room

The mics are off, the show is published, but now what? What else can you do to build your community and listenership? What else should you do? Join podcasting veterans to learn some ways of keeping your audience and building new listenership. Between online communities, partnerships, social marketing and going to conventions your listeners are out there, let us help you find them!

Get Content With Your Content

• 3:00-4:00
  
• Podcasting Track Room

The most important thing about any podcast is what you say while the mics are on. And the best thing a podcaster can do is to increase the quality of that content. Join us if you want to learn how to make your podcast better or see what goes into a high quality podcast. We’ll cover interviews, product discussion and original material creation.

Industry and Podcaster Round-table

• 4:00-5:00
  
• Podcasting Track Room

Gaming Podcasting: A hobby about a hobby. Join panelists from each side of the table- those within the gaming industry and the podcasting “media.” who can make or break a product within their own circles. Watch true synergy in action as the two groups hash out ideas about how they can help each other, and maybe you’ll see history being made.

Saturday

SEM0903107 : On the Critical Analysis of Games

• Saturday 8/15 11:00-12:00
• Embassy Suites : Chancellor 1

Can RPG’s be rated? Can they be classified as “good” or “bad”? How subjective/ objective can a review be? Is a RPG review a summary, or is critical analysis possible? Join the hosts of the podcast Brilliant Gameologists who are driven to answer these questions and help sway the argument one side or the other.

Reverse Forum for Podcasters

• 1:00-2:00
  
• Podcasting Track Room

This novel panel is intended to give people who have potential podcast content a chance to meet the podcasters who are interested in that content. An opportunity to meet them as a group rather than singly. If you have a product, service or event that you would like a podcaster to talk about, on their show, plan on attending one of these sessions. Also if you have an idea of something for podcasters to do, we would like to hear it.

SEM0903106: The Airing of Grievances

• Saturday 8/15 3:00-4:00
• Marriott : Indiana Bllrm F

Celebrate Festivus in summer! Need to get something off your chest about the game-o-sphere? This will serve to be a safe haven to do so (though laughing may be encouraged. Any games tick you off? Mad about video games taking over the “Gaming” tag? Have a beef with the Brilliant Gameologists podcast? Welcome home my friend. Welcome home.

• All Games Considered
• Brilliant Gameologists
• Order 66
• Return to Northmoor
• The Voice of the Revolution

Voting will begin on July 24th and close August 1 by visiting http://www.ennie-awards.com.

We need your vote!  Get your friends to vote, your family, your co-workers, strangers, whatever!

We’re going to work on Campaign Slogans to show how worthy we are of this prize.  Check this thread for updates!

Go us!!!

And while you’re at it, consider voting for Mouse Guard for Product of the Year.  It was the underdog that won the Origin’s Award and totally deserves this one too!

We explain what this podcast is about. We also offer our two major warnings:

We use naughty words and describe adult situations

This podcast uses “humor”

This is not a regular episode. However is a good place to start listening. Listen to this episode first and then one of our regular episodes.

I) We lead with some warnings.

Q: Why all the warnings?

A: Much of the criticism leveled at the show is from people who have not listened. And in fact never will listen because this is not their type of show. Not liking a “type” of show is perfectly natural. But if you would not listen to a comedian, like our patron saint George Carlin, don’t complain that our show is too much like him. Similarly, if you don’t think George Carlin, Lewis Black or Lambchop are funny, you are not going to like this either.

I am not saying all this to bring you down. I am putting it all out there so you stop bringing other people down.

II) Then we talk about the podcast, afterschool special style

The highlights: We are trying to “Build a Community.” Our aim is to bring new people to the hobby, introduce people to new games and to move people along in their understanding of the hobby.

III) Our Mission statements.

We sat down and said “here are our goals for our podcast” then we worked with those goals for two years. During that time they grew and evolved. We discovered how important some topics are and how unimportant others are.

Now we present these topics so you can provide feedback. Are we meeting these goals? Are we not? What could we do better? And so forth.

Listen to the episode for all the information, but here is a list that summarizes:

• We are trying to be informative and helpful.
• We seek to help new gamers and help old gamers branch out.
• We talk about gaming theories.
• We want people to get out and play.
• We focus on adult level game play.
• We want you to play games well.
• We want to grow “the” community and “our” community
• We offer useful honest reviews.
• We seek to be entertaining.

Discuss This Episode on Our Board

Twitter: bg_meg, bg_josh, bg_zeke

Join our Facebook Group!

Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!

Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Music by Uncle Monsterface

Instead of just posting the answer, we decided to release the answer in .mp3 format.

So last night, after recording a normal episode, we pushed record and just let the mics catch what we came up with.  Warning- this is completely off the cuff and at times very innappropriate.  It was past midnight and we got loopy.

At one point we have a Survivor: Podcaster Edition and made up characters based on voices we felt like doing at the time- this is NOT commentary on any of the following people! It is meant to just be completely silly and ridiculous.

I kept editing light in this- I cut out our laughter and moved some things around to make it more interesting to listen to, but what you’ll hear is basically what we came up with on the spot.

Podcasters mentioned:

• TrapCast Jen and Sara
• Adam from the Podgecast
• Bearswarm Rob
• Sean from Narrative Control
• Robert Bohl from Independent Insurgency

But the real reason for this bonus clip is NOT to accidentally offend other podcasters, but to make a big announcement about the real Gameologists behind the mics.

Talk about the new addition to our crew here and the episode here.

If we convince you to buy some of the excellent choices below, why not order from Myriad Games- our partner Friendly Local Game Store.  You’ll get a great game and we’ll get some product to give away as prizes!

BOARD GAMES

Agricola
Z-Man Games, Inc.
Uwe Rosenberg

Ninja vs. Ninja
Out of the Box Publishing
Tushar Gheewala

Pandemic
Z-Man Games, Inc.
Matt Leacock

TOMB
Alderac Entertainment Group
John Zinser

Wealth of Nations
TableStar Games
Nico Carroll

CHILDREN’S, FAMILY, AND PARTY GAMES

Backseat Drawing
Out of the Box Publishing
Peggy Brown

duck! duck! Go!
APE Games
Kevin G. Nunn

Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The
Mongoose Publishing
James Wallis

Living Labyrinth
Bucephalus Games
Julie Haehn

Rorschach: The Inkbot Party Game
Bucephalus Games
Dan Tibbles, Jeremy Holcomb, Joe Huber, and Stephen McLaughlin

Say Anything
North Star Games
Dominic Craphuchettes and Satish Pillalamarri

CARD GAMES

Dominion
Rio Grande Games
Donald X Vaccarino

Monty Python Fluxx
Looney Labs
Andrew Looney

Red Dragon Inn 2
Slugfest Games
Geoff Bottone, Colleen Skadl, and Cliff Bohm

Ticket to Ride Card Game
Days of Wonder
Alan R. Moon

Trailer Park Wars
Gut Bustin’ Games
Lisa Steenson

NON-FICTION

KOBOLD Guide to Game Design, Vol. 1
by Wolfgang Baur, Nicolas Logue
Open Design

Lost Leaves From the Inn of the Last Home
by Margaret Weis
Margaret Weis Productions

No Quarter Magazine
editor-in-chief Nathan Letsinger
Privateer Press

Things We Think About Games
by Will Hindmarch & Jeff Tidball
Gameplaywright Press

Tour de Lovecraft: the Tale
by Ken Hite
Atomic Overmind Press

MINIATURE FIGURE GAME RULES/ MINIATURE FIGURE OR LINE OF MINIATURE FIGURES

Monsterpocalypse Collectible Miniature Game
Privateer Press, Inc.
Matt Wilson, Bryan Cutler, Jason Soles, Rob Stoddard, and Kevin Clark

ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

CthulhuTech
Catalyst Game Labs
Matthew Grau, Fraser McKay, and Mike Vaillancourt

Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Players Handbook
Wizards of the Coast
Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, and James Wyatt

Mouseguard Role-Playing Game
Archaia Studios Press
Luke Crane and David Petersen

Star Wars Saga Edition Core Rulebook
Wizards of the Coast
Chris Perkins, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Rodney Thompson

Trail of Cthulhu
Pelgrane Press Ltd
Kenneth Hite, Robin D Laws, Jerome Huegenin, and Simon Rogers

More Information

Full list of nominees can be found HERE.

Contests!

We have some of these games to give away as prizes!

Contest #1: Post about your experience with any of the games we talk about or help review a game we didn’t see (200 words or more) and you’ll be entered into a drawing!

Linkages:

How dry do you want it?

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

Some additional teasers

• This is the last episode with music from the podsafe music whatchamacallit (www.podshow.com)
• Pictures of the Gameologists will be released into the wild.
• There is footage of bgzeke playing the traditional Irish nipple-banjo
• No one knows why they call it a clam.  But there is a reason.
• We are finally releasing episode 0.
• We will be releasing an episode on GMing, Jiffycon and the Origins awards ASAP
• We will be releasing shitloads of reviews even ASAPier
• Major format changes with lots of format stays the same.
• Big changes on the website, Big changes on the message boards.

The Pig has been kicked and the 4th Gameologists is announced.

• Brief overview of JiffyCon Greenfield on June 6th
• Is there a “line” when it comes to taste in gaming podcasts?
• Revisit our “Kicking People Out is a no-no” stance
• Chris perfectly illustrates why we say this
• Most people have no balls
• Feedback we’ve gotten from our 7 Things We Hate episode
• Enormous respect we have for Sons of Kryos and Paul Tevis
• How far is too far for each individual show?
• Meg defines where the line is for Brilliant Gameologists
• Josh’s opinions on Gaming Networks
• Meg’s opinions on the “Geek Guys Rule!” show that KitDB did in which the last 20 minutes or so was reacting to the roundtable she joined with Geek Girls Rule Part 1 and Part 2
• Gaming cons cross as a venue for costumes, minature painting, and kink
• Women in RPG’s is ok- why so few minorities?
• BG upcoming Season 3 sneak peak! (Announcement!!)
• Our porn preferences
• Lots of masturbation talk
• Josh, why DO they call it a clam??
• Justification for making fun of certain groups
• Is Josh an asshole?
• DragonCon vs. GenCon
• Meg can’t go to DragonCon
• BG panels at GenCon ’09
• Magical Bum Adventures at GenCon
• Meeting people face-to-face- do they live up to expectations?
• No Picture Policy- abandoning for Season 3
• Josh’s Twitpict and Meg’s Twitpict
• Music legality

This is simply a repost of Kicked in the Dicebag’s show- if you like the freeform, explicit nature, check them out.

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.

Linkages!:

This is our Last episode…

of the second season

Getting the Group Together and Heading Off Problems Before They Start

Favorite Season 2 moment:

• Josh: They call it a clam, for a reason
• Zeke: Faux GenCon
• Meg: Birthday episode and Zeke Orgasms

Big changes for season 3, Zeke will be nude.

Walter Cronkite is dead

Two primary situations:

1. You have a group
2. You have a bunch of people to draw a group from

1) You have a group

You need:

• Ideas from everyone
• Everyone needs to be invested and excited
• Do not fixate on your own nuance, explicitly discuss it
• Be open about what means what

Trust Me

2) You have a bunch of people to draw a group from

• Be honest
• Ask everyone explicitly don’t assume

low player count,

• Group then game
• pick a night(figure out game)

high player count

• Game then group
• pick a game (figure out night)

Bounce Your Boobies – Bhu

Zeke likes Songs and fried eggs hanging on a nail

Holly Dolly – emisairy666

Holly Dolly is a Donkey From the country who dreamed of being a big star

Sheeps – Meg’s Aunt

The only form of pure art remaining, Zeke makes up some names “Rivers Cuomo” “Barak Obama”

The GM tips

• You are not the boss of them
• Do not “dispense wisdom”
• Be honest open and bring everything to the game
• No one is just an asshole, they have a reason for what they are doing
• Don’t say “what do you like?” say “what do you want to do?”
• As soon as they start fighting with you, even slightly, figure out why. T
• Try to make sure people know their chances before they roll the dice
• You want to catch problems before people even know they are problems.
• You must reduce the complexity of the game to the aggregate of the players.
• Do not be afraid to change games, mod games or create house rules.
• Check to be sure you have the game right before you go changing things.
• Eat the frog

People don’t like low magic

• people enjoy the presence of something cool
• or the absence of an irritant

Poisonous Ideas

There is a persistent idea that adventures should hold to a “realistic” or “balanced” framework.
Adventures ideally should give everyone in the group what they are looking for.
Anything more is a waste of effort and anything less could be done better.

You know the adage “if you don’t know, make it up” gets tossed around?
Don’t listen to them.  Here’s why.
The people who say that, say it, because that’s what they do and it works.
Because a)they know the game or b)they don’t care about the rules anyway.
The first guys are just not expending effort and doing it right anyway
The second guys suck.

Cliffhanger

Trivia:

Last week’s answer is revealed!

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

This week we were joined by

• Rob Bohl – Writer of Misspent Youth and host of Independent Insurgency

We discuss our trip to I-con

Once again Rob joins us to carve Easter pumpkins

Meg talks dirty (really dirty)

Meg has Dr Horrible Goggles

We love Pickles

We cannot pronounce “Long Island“

We went to I-con

Zeke is a Red Sox‘s Fan

Putting a flute in your pussy is not for beginners

Meg is a Jedi

Zeke fights with a crusty grognard (who wrote this game “continuum”)

Girls in Gaming

Zeke Can Read (but he can’t do math)

Jess Hartly- Really Great Panelist

In the future all of our computers will have English accents

Islandia has a good Hooters

Folklore in fantasy

Holly Black – Spiderwick

Jane Yolen – Many, Many Books

Nicki Clyne was at the Con, hotter in person.

“Science Fiction in Education”

Alex Jakubowski

Ritch Calvin

SFRA

What is the Difference between YA and A?

The Hunger Games

Peeps – Scott Westerfeld (I left that in)

Tithe – Holly Black

State of The “Industry”

• If every game company shut down, the hobby would continue along just fine.

• It is the sworn goal of Indie game designers to take food out of the mouths of “real” game designers babies.

Dr Horrible is awesome (NPH, Call me)

Gary Gygax was neck deep in shorties and blow.

Josh has a delicate little girl stomach

Argentinian Steak House – Sweetbreads are delicious

“Sexuality in Genre Fiction”

• Horror is misogynistic

“7 words you can’t say while gaming”

• Grace Hsu, sexy elven guest panelist

Zeke wants to go to the prom

Holly Black is cool

She is Rob’s neighbor

Nipple banjo, you read me correctly

Gamer Sex Panel

• Anal sex is not an epic Quest

Cosplay Burlesque

Favorites

Josh – Delerium/Starbuck (Madison)

Meg and Rob – Penny/Dr Horrible/Amber Sweet (no link)

Zeke – Mrs the Monarch (no link)

Our other favorite was the MC James Hatton

“Reading in the future”

Jen Crawford (no link)

Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas

Panel #3 Secrets of Podcasting – Rob on Fire, Josh very informy

Summary – Icon was fun, the panelists were excellent, very disorganized

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

SEM0903104: 7 Words You Can’t Say While Gaming

• Thursday, 8/13 3:00
• Marriott : Indiana Bllrm B

Join the hosts of the podcast Brilliant Gameologists and learn what words will bring out the worst emotions in people and will counter the real message you are trying to convey- either names you could call players (Munchkin, Powergamer, Drama Queen, Rules Lawyer, Meta-gamer) or whining to your GM (It’s not fair! It’s not realistic! You are railroading us!). Learn alternatives to name calling that are just as fun and send the message you mean.

SEM0903105: A Salon on Gameology

• Thursday 8/13 5:00-6:00 pm
• Embassy Suites : Chancellor I

Salon: An 18th Century term meaning “A periodic gathering of people of social or intellectual distinction.” Gameology: The study of games and the people who play them. The Brilliant Gameologists Podcast: Educated type folks who talk about the science of games, gamers, and gaming. Interested? Join the hosts of the in a facilitated “roundtable” discussion about gameology, the industry, and nerd-a-rific, jargon-tastic fun.

SEM090310: On the Critical Analysis of Games

• Saturday 8/15 11:00-12:00
• Embassy Suites : Chancellor 1

Can RPG’s be rated? Can they be classified as “good” or “bad”? How subjective/ objective can a review be? Is a RPG review a summary, or is critical analysis possible? Join the hosts of the podcast Brilliant Gameologists who are driven to answer these questions and help sway the argument one side or the other.

SEM0903106: The Airing of Grievances

• Saturday 8/15 1:00-2:00
• Marriott : Indiana Bllrm F

Celebrate Festivus in summer! Need to get something off your chest about the game-o-sphere? This will serve to be a safe haven to do so (though laughing may be encouraged. Any games tick you off? Mad about video games taking over the “Gaming” tag? Have a beef with the Brilliant Gameologists podcast? Welcome home my friend. Welcome home.

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.

• D&D Song thanks to Irthos Levethix!
• WTF Camels?? thanks to Bear Swarm Rob!
  

Linkages!:

• We have some great projects on our Message Boards!
  • Food for Thought Master Thread
• Zeke once again added to background noise with his pug PJ
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Cognitive Coaching
• High/Scope Educational Approach
• Catch Phrase (the game)
• Zeke loves the movie Rounders
• Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.  ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Problem Solving #2) The list of Do’s

• Communication Musts
• Mediating a problem at the table
• Solving a problem you’re involved in
  • Full list available on the Message Board post

Ideas from the episode:

• It is your fault

Trivia:

Last week’s answer is revealed! Which one of us had rats as pets?

This week’s question: Which one of us was once accused of buying a suit for a gorilla?

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

http://spookyouthouse.com/survey

Due to recent negative backlash, that my behavior has caused, I need to offer an apology.  My behavior was irrational and inexcusable and for it, I apologize.

I am working with my cohosts to “rebirth” Brilliant Gameologists.  Same humor, less hate-er-aid.  It is my hope that this podcast will continue to entertain and inform its listeners for many years to come.

Josh
4/10/2009

(here’s the rss feed)

While Z did not invent drunken podcasting, he did invent drunken podcasting month, endearing him to all BG fans.

Nerd music shares an important philosophical cornerstone with the gaming community.  Nerd music is a culture of participants.  It is not a passive “turn on the radio and buy the CD.”  In fact the only micro culture I know that has as large a percentage of Producers to Consumers is gaming.

Nerd music inspires, not just emotion, but action.  Either directly or indirectly.  Directly by making people want to make their own music, raps, or mashups.  And Indirectly by inspiring other nerd activities like computers, zombie survival and fucking.

Reminders

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter , Zeke’s Twitter and Z’s Twitter.
• Lots of good stuff on our Facebook Page!
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

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.

• Aww!  This dog wants to catch the squirrel of his dreams so badly!
• Do you remember the Watchmen Saturday Morning Cartoon?
• We retold our Writer’s Retreat in Las Vegas stories.  Funnier than any link we could follow.

News!:

• We went to Jiffycon
• Josh went to Unclemonsterface
• We are going to Icon
• We went to Las Vegas on a writers retreat
• Strippers are cool, some of them are from Hawaii
• Meg went to St Louis
• People from St Louis are surly
• Bearswarm Rob is cool
• Luke is awesome (and an awesome doctor)
• Adam is a wholly owned subsidiary of Melina Enterprises
• Adams Dad is cool
• Lap Children
• Meg is too much of a pussy to describe Serenity on mic.
• And is really nice in describing the Serenity adventure
• Zeke is now forbidden to drink during the podcast (that’s what that noise is).

Meg played:

• Cold War – Confusing
• Bohnanza – Incredible
• Inspectres – Really Good
• Serenity – Utter Shite

We ask for feedback

Problem Solving #1) The list of Don’ts

1 – Criticize someone while talking to them

“if you weren’t so lazy or stupid we wouldn’t have these problems.”

criticizing, blame, judgments, put downs, diagnoses

2 – Deny responsibility

Putting responsibility on some thing else (a person thing or institution)

“Daddy and I are splitting up because you cry”

take responsibility for your own actions

3 – Use words that imply evaluation not observation

“I feel raped”

I statements are shit

attacked, blamed, criticized, insulted, isolated

4 – Fail at active listening

No autobiographical statements – don’t “one up” them

“You think you have it bad…”

No inquisitive questions – don’t interrogate them

”really? How far up the ass?”

5 – Try to solve their problems

“What you need to do is grow a beard”

this is “problem solving” not “actually solving problems”

Additional Fun!

The Diminutive Nick Name – Try these out in your next conversation

Ace, Boss, Champ, Chief, Junior, Kiddo, Scooter, Skipper, Slick, Slugger, Sparky, Sport, Tiger

Babe, Cupcake, Cutie, Darlin’, Dollface, Hotlips, Princess, Pumpkin, Shorty, Sugar, Sweetheart, Toots

Ideas from the episode:

• It is your fault

• You are contributing to the Problem

• It just takes 1 person to think win-win

• people are not being jerkbags for no reason

• Actual inappropriate behavior

• what about the quiet and timid? The passive wallflower is just as bad as the aggressive asshole, maybe worse

• logistical problems

• Making threats or ultimatums

• justifications of punishment

• don’t let it fester

• Tyranny of the Hawt

• Make serious medical inquiry’s and be nice to people with crippling medical conditions

• You’re not playing the game right

• You are responsible for your own decisions

• “oldest Johnas brother” is a call on trait

• post hoc Justification

• stand behind any reasoning’s you use in a game

• example of taking responsibility

• Fuck E-Prime

• you don’t have to say everything that you feel

• take responsibility for your feelings

• don’t be passive aggressive, be aggressive aggressive

• retards disease is a serious problem

• don’t just wait for your turn to speak

• the reason we have a podcast

Trivia:

Last week’s answer is revealed! Which one of us was a nerd because of Star Trek?

This week’s question: Which one of us kept rats as pets?

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

News:

The BG’s have one more event coming up.

• April 3-5: I-Con, Long Island New York- we are featured guests and are going to record some of the guests in attendance! We have panels on Saturday and promise special prizes to anyone who comes and finds us!

This week we were joined by

• Joshua AC Newman – Writer of Shock and media darling
• Rob Bohl  – Writer of Misspent Youth and host of Independent Insurgency

Icebreaker: We Discuss Negativity on (our) Message Boards

Main Topic: We Discuss Rob’s Live Journal Post about creativity.

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

News:

The BG’s are attending two conventions and one concert coming up soon!

• March 19: Uncle Monsterface concert at TT and the Bears in Boston. Good times for nerdcore!
• March 21: JiffyCon Boston. Our favorite real-play con is coming to our area! If you are anywhere in the area, we STRONGLY recommend attending! It’s a good time!
• April 3-5: I-Con, Long Island New York- we are featured guests and are going to record some of the guests in attendance! We have panels on Saturday and promise special prizes to anyone who comes and finds us!

Icebreaker:

There Are only 3 arguments More contested than kicking people out of your game

1) Who would win in a fight, a caveman or an astronaut?

2) Which is cooler, Ninjas or Pirates?

3) Who would win in down and dirty street hoops, Gandalf or Yoda?

Kicking People Out Part 1: Don’t Do it

Part 1: Defining terms and laying out the groundwork

• Don’t Kick people out of your games

Part 2: describing the phenomenon

• How often does this happen?

• Are they your friends?  (The counter argument is “it is ok to treat people like shit” OR “kicking people out is not shitty”)

• What about using creative ways to kick people out?  Changing the game night, not calling them?  = passive aggressive = grow up

Part 3: When giving advice

• It drowns out useful conjecture. A person looking for advice is looking for actual help. They know they could kick the guy out. They do not need dozens of yes man sycophants, going on about kicking the guy out. They need, and want, actual help.

• Justification seeking behavior. Some people have made up their minds to be mean to their friend. And rather than down half a bottle of Jack to get their courage up, they are looking for reassurance that what they are doing is right. And it’s not. If you are going to be mean also be an adult about it.

• You will not actually see it. Statistically the likelihood of someone needing to be kicked out is extremely low. The problem here is margin of error and false positives. If you advise 1% of cases to kick out a players you are drastically over prescribing. 1% means that you will be misdiagnosing over 100 good games for the 1 real case.

• You Wont Need to. Because you will use problem solving

• Do Not Consider Failure. This is a big point we call “Assume success” If you assume you will succeed
  • You can work backwards to a solution
  • You will not be preparing for failure

Part 4: The Ethics of Kicking people out

• Kicking people out is bad. It is immoral of you to force out and shun your friends.

• Kicking people out is insanely passive aggressive – it is a lack of maturity on your part.

• don’t fix douchery with douchery

• You also miss out on picking on the sucker – schadenfreud

Part 5: what to do and who does it

There are three ways to look at responsibility

1. Everyone is Responsible
2. The GM is Responsible
3. The Venue Owner is Responsible

Trivia:

Last week’s answer is revealed!

This week’s question: Which one of the BG’s is a Geek because of Star Trek?

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

News:

The BG’s are attending two conventions and one concert coming up soon!

• March 19: Uncle Monsterface concert at TT and the Bears in Boston.  Good times for nerdcore!
• March 21: JiffyCon Boston.  Our favorite real-play con is coming to our area!  If you are anywhere in the area, we STRONGLY recommend attending!  It’s a good time!
• April 3-5: I-Con, Long Island New York- we are featured guests and are going to record some of the guests in attendance!  We have panels on Saturday and promise special prizes to anyone who comes and finds us!

Icebreaker:

Having a system for games not usually thought of as having a system

• Zeke and Meg have a system for Yatzee.  Their book is soon to be released.
• Josh has a strategy for Jenga.
• The King of Kong had the nerdiest strategy ever.

How to Min/Max Part2: The Rinse-Wow Method

• Initial Arbitrary Decision
• Focus and Expand or Expand and Focus
• Rinse
• Repeat

Download your very own (clean) copy in .pdf format here!

Trivia:

Last week’s answer is revealed! Which one of us uses a ballet inspired ballet program?

This week’s question: Which pair of us never worked together?

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

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.

• Jonathan Richman’s I was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar
• Clitter!

Icebreaker:

Strange sources of inspiration for gaming

• Zeke was inspired by Tweeter and the Monkey Man and Moist Towellets
  
• Meg wants to make a game based on Rocky Raccoon
• Josh likes movie credits
• Our guru, the always inspirational, Vince.

How to Min/Max Part 1:

Before listening, you should be familiar with

• Min/Max Basics
• The joy of Min/Maxing

The Rinse-Wow Method

Note: To compete this exercise, get a piece of paper and something to write with along with your normal character creation supplies

The Rules:

1. There are no rules
2. Never Cram
3. Don’t try to do everything
4. Be flexible
5. Cast a wide net
6. Hold nothing sacred

Defining Terms

1. Goal- What you’re trying to accomplish in a character, your intentions for that character
2. Element- The choices you make in terms of system specific stuff.  The building blocks of character generation.

How to Start:

Step 1: Initial Arbitrary Decision

• Get inspiration!

IAD’s can fall into several categories

• A specific race or class or other game element (put on element side)
• A game mechanic or concept
• A background or dramatic concept

Brainstorm and Stormbrain

Follow the Steps:

Download your own sheet here!

Trivia:

Last week’s answer is revealed! Which one of us was kicked out of catechism?

This week’s question: Which one of us uses a ballet inspired dance program?

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

In the meantime- check out Part 2 of the Geek Girls Rule Roundtable.  Not as structured as part 1, but Meg announces a “secret”…  wait for it… wait for it…

Reposted from Mickey’s site.  Enjoy!

***********************************

Geek Girls Rule! Podcast 9, Part II – Attack of the Girl Gaming Podcasters

Attack of the Girl Gaming Podcasters – The final chapter.

Kristin of This Modern Death, Meg from the Brilliant Gameologists, Jenn from the Trapcast and myself finish our conversation from Part I.

Gamestorm:  http://www.gamestorm.org/
Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress
Magic the Gathering
Wizards of the Coast
Burning Wheel
Prime Time Adventures
Ryan Macklin
GenCon
Babeland
Valerie Strangiato
Charlie’s Kids Evolution Map
Skepticality
Skepchick
Pharyngula
DragonCon
Bad Astronomer
George Hrab
Twitter
Design Toscano

Mickey from the podcast “Geek Girls Rule” had me, Kristen from This Modern Death and Jenn from TrapCast on to talk about Gaming Girl Sterotypes.  We recorded over skype, so excuse the quality, but it was a blast to nerd up with some other ladies.

This is just a repost of Mickey’s show.

*********************

Geek Girls Rule! Podcast #9 Part I – Attack of the Girl Gaming Podcasters

Ok, so this is part one of the Girl Gaming Podcasters Podcast hosted on Geek Girls Rule!  Kristin from “This Modern Death,” Meg from “The Brilliant Gameologists” and Jenn from “The Trap Cast” joined me via Skype for over two hours of giggling chaos.

In this half of the podcast, we discuss how we got into gaming, bad gamer girl stereotypes, the health of my hedgehog Wash and other critters, and what we’re currently playing, as well as pimping our separate podcasts.

Brilliant Gameologists – Meg
This Modern Death – Kristin
The Trap Cast – Jenn

Dungeons & Dragons
Little Fears
Grimm
Unhallowed Metropolis
GURPS
Warhammer
Burning Wheel (don’t let the front page fool you)
Shadowrun
Faery’s Tale
Bad Female Gamer Archetypes
Bad Male Gamer Archetypes

Josh is an asshole.

Peer into the inner depths of each of the following podcasters and join us in Josh’s healing process.

Intervention Moderator:

• Meg- Brilliant Gameologists http://brilliantgameologists.com/

Intervention Participants:

• Adam/ David: The Podge Cast http://podgecast.com/
  
• Luke: The Podge Cast http://podgecast.com/
• Rob: Accidental Survivors http://accidentalsurvivors.libsyn.com/
• Rob: The Bear Swarm http://www.bearswarm.com/
  
• Zeke: Brilliant Gameologists http://brilliantgameologists.com/

Intervention Target:

• Josh: Brilliant Gameologists http://brilliantgameologists.com/ was lured to the intervention on the promise of awards for “Mr. Sexy Gaming Podcaster 2008″.
  

The music featured was Adhesion’s “Float Up from Depth” found on the Podshow’s Podsafe Music Network

This intervention was recorded over skype.

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

Part 1: Pre-recording!

Join the Brilliant Gameologists on January 8th at 9:00 EST/ 6:00 PST P.M. on UStream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brilliant-gameologists. Come in and chat with us and we’ll answer questions live on air. Plus, it’s a chance to say Happy Birthday to Meg!

The official topic is Gaming Parties- how to throw your own gaming themed party- birthdays, holidays, “because it’s Saturday” etc. Play role-playing games, tabletop games and board games for fun and profit! Well, fun at least.

Let us know if you’re coming! Comment here, RSPV on our Facebook event page, or on UStream or on our boards in THIS thread.

Part 2: Post-Recording!

Here’s the show, completely unedited and as heard by the 31 members in our chatroom!  Warning- we are all over the place and it won’t offend us if you don’t listen to it!  This is complete total bonus and has zero gaming advice.  We will do some of these periodically for those interested in our personalities, but know that if you tune in for gaming content, just skip these ones.

We listed some of our favorite podcasts in this show based on a question from the chatroom.  They are:

Comedy:

• You Look Nice Today
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/YouLookNiceToday
• Nobody Likes Onions
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/nlo
• Distorted View
  • http://www.distortedview.com/show/index.xml

Information

• Hardcore History
  • http://www.dancarlin.com/dchh.xml
• Hometown Tales
  • http://hometowntales.com/htpodcast.xml
• MuggleCast
  • http://www.mugglenet.com/mugglecast/mugglecast.rss
• Secret Identity
  • http://secretidentity.podomatic.com/rss2.xml
• Sex is Fun
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/GSGPodcasts
• Skepticality
  • http://skepticality.libsyn.com/rss/
• Skeptoid
  • http://skeptoid.com/podcast.xml
• Skeptics Guide to the Universe
  • http://www.theskepticsguide.org/rss.xml
• The Word Nerds
  • http://thewordnerds.org/?feed=podcast
    

Music

• Coverville
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/coverville
• Radio Free Hipster
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/RadioFreeHipster

Gaming:

• 2d6 in a Random Direction
  • http://www.2d6feet.com/?feed=rss2&cat=3
• Accidental Survivors
  • http://accidentalsurvivors.libsyn.com/rss
• Bear Swarm
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/BearSwarm
• Geek Girls Rule
  • Feed: http://sirriamnicast.libsyn.com/rss
• Independent Insurgency
  • http://independentinsurgency.libsyn.com/rss
• Master Plan
  • http://masterplanpodcast.net/rss
• Ogre Cave Audio Report
  • http://www.ogrecave.com/audio/podcast.php
• Pulp Gamer
• Sons of Kryos
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/Sonsofkryos
• Stabbing Contest
  • http://stabbingcontest.libsyn.com/rss
• The Podge Cast
  • http://podgecast.com/feed
• This Modern Death
  • http://thismoderndeath.libsyn.com/rss
• TrapCast
  • http://trapcast.trapdom.com/xml/trapcast.xml
• Theory from the Closet
  • http://theoryfromthecloset.com/feed/
• Virtual Play
  • http://virtualplay.podbus.com/?feed=rss2

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Check out Meg’s Facebook Page!
  
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

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.

• Funny or Die’s Mystique is Pregnant
• Funny or Die’s 40 Inspirational Speeches in Two Minutes
• A montage of the Best Viral Videos of 2008. Must be seen to be appreciated:

News:

It’s Meg’s birthday this coming Saturday, January 10th!  To celebrate, we are having our first special LIVE episode this Thursday, January 8th!  Come on in and chat with us in real time!  See this blog post for more information.

Icebreaker:

Podcast resolutions!

• Meg wants more charts and graphs and wants to say “douche” and “fantastic” less
• Josh wants to do more reviews
• Zeke wants to party like it’s 1999.

7 Gaming Resolutions

Get your own bingo card and play along! Get Bingo (or “GAMER” as we eventually decided) and get your very own Official GAMER card! We’re playing too! Track our progress on our message boards.

1. Play New Games- a new story game, new action-adventure game and a new tabletop game.
2. Pay it forward- convince someone new to play a game.
3. Put together a character you wouldn’t normally consider
4. Learn how to play a game differently- use a mechanic you normally avoid, find a new way to solve an old problem or find new problems to solve.
5. Play with strangers 3 different times (in order to get all 3 checks- playing once with 3 new people doesn’t count!)
6. Go to a convention- a regional con (under 500 people), a state con (500 or more people), and a national con (2,000 or more).
7. Why so serious??
   1. Play a crazy game
   2. Convince others to play a game crazy
   3. Put together a fun/silly character in a real game
   4. Do something fun and unexpected in a game
   5. Play with someone crazy or a stranger in a strange spot
   6. Let yourself out of the box- play a character in real life at a con

Reminders-

• The answer to last episode’s trivia question is contained! Think you know the answer to this week’s? Post on the thread about this episode here.
• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Lots of good stuff on our Facebook Page!
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

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.

• T-Pain’s song Apple Bottom Jeans
• We went through our favorites at Failblog. Got a kick especially out of this one:

Icebreaker:

Strange places we’ve gamed:

• Josh had fun in the blackout party!
• Zeke played in a schoolbus.
• Meg played at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico.

The Grid:

Miscellaney

1. The answer to last episode’s trivia question is contained! Think you know the answer to this week’s? Post on the thread about this episode here.
2. A challenge to next to V3 event. Many will enter. One will win.
3. Submit your board game fanfic to GM@BrilliantGameologists.com!

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Lots of good stuff on our Facebook Page!
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

Nominations for 2008 Zeekies are still being accepted! Share your favorite holiday commercials, please! The field is looking grim.

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.

• We watched (and rewatched) The Lazy Town/ Lil John Mashup. Very NSFW! A lot of the show is in reference to this, so you’ll need to watch it!
  

Icebreaker:

What we want for Christmas

• Meg wants a new sound board and Brilliant Gameologists fanfic.
• Josh wants either Bacon of the Month or Stripper of the Month.
• Zeke wants Ham of the Month and will take Josh’s bacon.
• Meg wants fanfic! Board game fanfic and Brilliant Gameologists fanfic. Make this a very special Christmas and email her!

Gift Ideas:

Cheap:

• Dice
• Dicebag
• Personal Care Supplies
• Office Supplies
• Initiative Tracker “Kit”
  • White Board, Magnetic Trackers, Folder Tabs
• Make your own Dog game
  • Board image
• Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition ($10)
• Coupon Books
• Make a CD of Podcasts
  • You Look Nice Today, Coverville, Hipster, Please!
• Cheap books- cookbooks, atlas, baby names
• Cheap DVD’s to use for inspiration
• Misspent Youth- paypal $12 directly to author Robert Bohl
• Story Games Name Project (we were wrong about price) $10.97

$20-$30

• Caper $21
• Burning Wheel
• Zombie Cinema
• Dread
• Primetime Adventures (pdf is $12)
  
• Spirit of the Century

Games People Should Have

Gateway Games- games to play with your non-gamer family/friends

• Bohnanza ($20)
• Modern Art ($25)
• Vegas Showdown ($45)
  
• Hollywood Blockbuster ($39.99)
• Poison ($15)
• Aquädukt ($27.99)
• Citadels ($25)
• Blokus ($35)

Party Games

• Apples to Apples ($20-$40)
• Word Blur ($20)
• Wits and Wagers ($30)

The Real-Nerd’s Essentials:

• Race for the Galaxy ($35)
  
  • Expansion ($25)
• Dominion ($45 and worth every penny)
• Pillars of the Earth ($49)
• Stone Age ($45)

High Price/ High Profile

• WiFi Printer
• Sultan Gaming Table
• Sex Ramps

Gaming Girl

• Apparel- Teeshirt Hell
• Pink Dice

Gaming Baby/ Pet

• Plushy Cthulhu
• Germs

Kits

Brilliant Gameologists Kit: CD of our shows, boob card, ShamWow, Crown Royale, Con shirt worn in protest, Hatorade, Burning Wheel with pages stuck together, Vampire Toilet paper, cake

Gifts to you!

• Hug Coupon from Josh and Smearless Hug Coupon from Zeke
• Boob Curve Cards

Miscellaney

1. The answer to last episode’s trivia question is contained! Think you know the answer to this week’s? Post on the thread about this episode here.
2. A challenge to next to V3 event. Many will enter. One will win.
3. Submit your board game fanfic to GM@BrilliantGameologists.com!

Shout-Outs

1. Podgecast and V3 event
2. Phil, friend of Podgecast and of The Gaming Grid
3. Myriad Games, our Friendly Local Professional Game Store. Support the show by buying game supplies online and say we sent you- more prizes to give away!

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Lots of good stuff on our Facebook Page!
• Join our Facebook Group!
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

Nominations for 2008 Zeekies are now being accepted! Share your favorite holiday commercials.

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.

• We went back to our standard favorite: The ShamWow (real commercial)
  
• And then went on to find the greatest parody ever.
• Icky Thump by the White Stripes
• Did Jack White provide vocals for Electric 6?

Icebreaker:

Rules we have at the normal, day to day table.

• Meg hates forks on teeth.
• Josh gets uncomfortable seeing 2 girls kiss
• Zeke won’t repeat himself

Douchebag of the Week:

The Bait n’ Switcher

Table Roles and Table Rules

Part of our Jargon Series. Part 2 of Sode #24: Rule 0/ House Rules

Player Roles at the Table

A Real World Need

• Cupomancer
• Caterer
• Court Jester
• The Handler

An in game need:

• Initiative Tracker
• Quartermaster
• Scribe
• Encyclopedia

Table Rules

1. Dice Rolling
2. Everything Else
3. Take-Backs

Miscellaney

1) The answer to last episode’s trivia question is contained! Think you know the answer to this week’s? Post on the thread about this episode here.

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Lots of good stuff on our Facebook Page!
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

JiffyCon Lowell/ V3 is almost here! Sign up today! Or visit the event on its Facebook Page!

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.

• Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T’s
  
• I’m Yours by Jason Mraz

Icebreaker:

Things we used to like that we overdid

Douchebag of the Week:

The Deflater

Overdone Payouts:

Part of our Jargon Series. Part 2 of 2.

What happens when someone gets their payouts at the expense of others at the table?

GNS Theory: Gamist, Narrativist and Simulationist.

1. Munchkins
2. Powergamers
3. Rigamarole Players
4. Simulation Turds
5. Stuck in a Fantasy World

Miscellaney

The upcoming Brilliant Gameologists’ game now includes:

• Captain Kangaroo
• The Moose
• Lee Marvin
• Fred Rogers
• Daniel the Cat
• Lady Elane Fairchild

Chicken wing on swords is a joke from You Look Nice Today‘s Aunt Nancy episode. Hilarious.

Some additional info:

1) The answer to last episode’s trivia question is contained! Think you know the answer to this week’s? Post on the thread about this episode here.

Reminders-

• We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter, Josh’s Twitter and Zeke’s Twitter.
• Lots of good stuff on our Facebook Page!
• Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is tagged Explicit. It is intended for adult audiences.

JiffyCon Lowell, combined with Veni, Vidi, Venatus (I came, I saw, I gamed) is a chance to come and play a new game with other cool folks- including of course, us! The JiffyCon side will feature one shots of indie games- some published, some not, and the Game Day side will feature some more popular traditional games that you haven’t had a chance to try. There will also be a Board Game Corner so you can be introduced to new and exciting board games you’ve never even heard of!

Where: Middlesex Community College- Lowell Campus

When: December 6, 2008

• 9:00-10:00 Registration and Game Sign up (when they are full, they’re full!)
• 10:00-1:00 Game Session #1
• 1:00-2:00 Lunch
• 2:00-5:00 Game Session #2
• 5:00-6:00 Prizes, recap, hang out, plan for the after party!
• 6:00-? Hang out with the Gameologists!

Specials!

• Lunch is included
• Everyone will be entered into a drawing for fabulous prizes provided by Myriad Games in Salem, NH.
• Free copies of a special, new, quarterly newsletter will be given to all attendees!

RPG Games Scheduled so far:

• D&D 4th Edition
• Factions at War (run by BG Zeke)
• Misspent Youth (by author Robert Bohl)
• Zombie Cinema (run by BG Josh)

Other Tabletop Games in the Board Game Corner (run by BG Meg):

• Race for the Galaxy
• Stone Age
• Pillars of the Earth
• Thurns and Taxis
• Vegas Showdown
• Ticket to Ride
• Card Games include: Bohnanza, Citadels, Guillotine, Gloom, and Bang
• Classics include: Carcassone, Risk, Settlers of Catan
• Too many more to list!

GM’s Still Sought! Games we’d like to see run include:

• Burning Wheel (one of the published adventures)
• Shock
• Dread
• Savage Worlds

GM’s get in 1/2 price! Let us know your ideas!

To Register:

• $10 if you register in advance (Thursday Dec. 4th or before) or $15 at the door. There is no limit to how many people we can host!
• RSPV “Yes!” on the Event’s Facebook Page or
• Email Meg at Meg (at) brilliantgameologists.com

Children’s Track

• If there are 3 or more children (3-11) attending (with their parent or guardian!) we will have a children’s track led by a first aid/ CPR certified teacher. Must know by Wed December 3rd!
• Cost: Children pay normal admission which will cover the cost of the child care provider.

Any questions?

Email Meg at meg (at) brilliantgameologists.com or post on our forums HERE

• Sucotash
• Captain Kangaroo
• Tooti-fruti hats
• Cougars
• The word “turd”

These are all items that are included in Episode #28 which due to New England Fan Experience and the holiday is being pushed back to a release date of November 30th.

Happy holidays everyone!

Reminder!  One Shot Game Day/ JiffyCon is December 6th.  Sign up today!

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.

Our warm up was entirely un-electronic. Zeke yelled at Meg’s neighbors and we had a heated discussion about some posters on our Message Boards.

Icebreaker:

Non RPG’s that we enjoy and the payouts that make us happy.

Race for the Galaxy– great game. Support a great Friendly Local Gaming Store and buy your copy today! With the expansion!

Douchebag of the Week:

The Novelist

Payouts:

Part of our Jargon Series. Part 1 or 2.

What do you like about role playing? What makes you excited? The Payout Model explains why people are different elements to use to fire up your game and players.

1. Character Payouts- Getting stuff for your character
2. Player Payouts- What do you enjoy at the table?
3. GM Payouts- GMs can have fun too!
4. Visceral Reaction Payouts- Gaming feels good!
5. Intellectual Payouts- Gamenugen
6. Creative Payouts- Dra-ma!
7. Scholarly Payouts- Meg loves her drumlins
8. Kinesthetic Payouts- Cosplay= ok. Furries = BAD

Some additional info:

1) This is our first shot at a Trivia Question of the Week.  Submit your answer in the thread about this episode on our message boards!

2) We lowered the quality again on this episode to try and keep the file size manageable.  Let us know if it went too far.

Reminders-

We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter. Don’t miss out!

Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

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.

November 22nd: New England Fan Experience

Brilliant Gameologists are presenting two panels at NEFE and will be hanging from the Friday night through Saturday night at the con hotel. If you are going, make sure you stop by and say hi!

Where: Hyatt Regency Cambridge, MA

When: November 21-23, 2008

Panels:

10:00 A.M. WILLIAM DAWES B: A Salon on Gameology

8:00 P.M. THOMAS PAYNE A: 7 Words You Can’t Say While Gaming

Check out the full schedule!

December 6th: JiffyCon/ V3: One Shot Game Day

JiffyCon Lowell was rescheduled for December 6 and is now combined with Veni, Vidi, Venatus (I came, I saw, I gamed) led by the PodgeCast. A chance to come and play a new game with other cool folks- including of course, us! The JiffyCon side will feature one shots of indie games- some published, some not, and the Game Day side will feature some more popular traditional games that you haven’t had a chance to try- perhaps some Burning Wheel or 4th Edition D&D for example. There will also be a Board Game Corner so you can be introduced to new and exciting board games you’ve never even heard of! This event is proudly supported by Myriad Games in Salem, NH.

Where: Middlesex Community College- Lowell Campus

When: December 6, 9:00 am to Question Mark!

See This post for information

or contact zeke@brilliantgameologists.com with any questions.

Only a couple of days!

JiffyCon is this Saturday!! Enjoy new, indie games and play with the Gameologists! www.jiffycon.com

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.

We’ve been watching a lot of Saturday Night Live clips…

• Gov. Palin and Senator Clinton
• Gov. Palin squares off with Couric
• Mark Wahlberg
• Fix it!

Dudes playing chicks/ Playing something you ain’t:

1. Don’t be a douche
2. Be Sensitive
3. Just be the character
4. Don’t have it be the only interesting aspect of the character
5. Don’t constantly talk about being a _____
6. Sex is not the only decision a girl makes

Playing a girl- something different:

• Mother
• Old Lady
• Maiden
• Historical game stereotype
• Intrepid Girl Reporter
• Empty Nester

Other things you ain’t:

• Gays/ Straights
• Philosophically or ethically different
• Kids
• The “Other”
• Crazy
• Elderly
• Disabled
• Bromance

Getting Into Character:

• Stanislavski’s System
  • What is your character’s goal?
  • Aspects of the character?
  • Use your memory “bag”

• Change your voice:
  • Pitch
  • Tone
  • Volume
  • Speed/ Pacing
  • Sayings
  • Laugh

Shout-Outs:

Geek Girls Rule

• After we recorded and called Mickey etc. out for not putting out a show, they went and did. So yes, there is a more recent episode now.

Reminders-

We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter. Don’t miss out!

Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

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.

In celebration of our second “quarter” we are changing the format very slightly of the shows. Can you spot the difference?

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.

• Walking on Air
• This is Halloween
  • In Japanese (stumbled on this one)
  • In Russian (we think this is the creepiest. Some of the voices are really scary, especially the creature under the stairs)

Our Fears

• Whale captured on video –Meg admits to her paranoia of whales. This video she had to watch through her fingers.
• Oarfish- They just shouldn’t be. Freaky.
• Parasites- Josh. He’s infected.
• Zombies- Zeke. He’s prepared, are you?

1. Cthulhonic

• Cthulhu Mythos
• Chaosium’s Call of Cthulu
• Meg’s fear of sea creatures comes in here.

2. The Undead

• Halloween (a poster on our forum)’s excellent post about “contrasting for horror”.
• 28 Days Later
• Cell by Stephen King
• Serenity
• Terminator

3. The Siren

• The Mythological Siren
• Dracula
• Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Little Shop of Horrors
• The Firm
• Star Wars

4. Sidhe

• The Celtic Sidhe
• The Borg
• The cenobites
• The Predator
• The Gripping Hand
• Ghosts

5. Nature

• Jaws
• Razorback
• The Perfect Storm
• Killer Bees
• Cujo
• The Happening totally sucked
• Those freaky whales!

6. Technological

• The Ring
• Security Systems gone awry
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Midnight Meat Train

7. Madness

• The Creepy Events Thread @ WOTC
• The Creepy Events Thread @ BG
• Possessions
• Sixth Sense
• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Werewolves

8. Odd

• Parallel Worlds
  • Sound of Thunder
  • Sliders
  • Knee Penises
• Stepford Wives
• The Matrix
• The Lottery
• Lost Boys

9. Primal Horror

• Jersey Devil
• Windigo
• Kelpie
• Spring-heeled Jack
• The Black Dog

Bonus!

• We each list our scariest creatures that weren’t mentioned.

Reminders-

We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter. Don’t miss out!

Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

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.

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.

• Probably the Funniest Cat Video You’ll Ever See –Hilarious. Thanks to Dan2 on our boards for linking it in this thread!

News:

• Couple of days left for the Secret Code Contest! Get your entries in by October 17th!
• We make an apology of sorts for one of the items listed in the “7 Things We Hate” episode.
• JiffyCon! We meant to have a news item about this and … oops. But at least it’s written! JiffyCon is almost here- we’re still looking for another GM or two, specializing in little known or Indie Games, and of course would love to see anyone who can make it to come! We’ll help you… nay… guarantee you’ll have a good time!

Icebreaker:

• Josh went to Providence Anime Conference and rubs it in our face. Won some cool (and sexy) prizes including one for being voted “Biggest Whore”

Douchebag of the Week:

• The Sycophant

Main Topic:

Rule Zero

• Rule 0 etymology and definition
• Oberoni Fallacy
• House Rules used to mean:
  • Game Design
  • Modding
  • World Building
  • House Rules
• Corner Cases
• Fudging Rolls
• GM= God?
• Cows… From… Space!

Commercial Break

The Brilliant Gameologists’ Message Boards are sure to cure whatever ails you!  Did you know we have areas for:

• Talking about the Show including giving ideas for future episodes
  
• Off-Topic Fun (including Media, Cons, and politics)
• Min/Maxing!
• Non- RPG tabletop games
• Mature Topics
• Play by Post

Almost better than Porn!

Random Plugs:

Oberoni Fallacy- as originally stated:

Originally posted by Oberoni on the D&D general board July 23, 2002:

This my my take on the issue

Let’s say Bob the board member makes the assertion:

“There is an inconsistency/loophole/mechanics issue with Rule X.”

Several correct replies can be given:

• “I agree, there is an inconsistency/loophole/mechanics issue with Rule X.”
• “I agree, and it is easily solvable by changing the following part of Rule X.”
• “I disagree, you’ve merely misinterpreted part of Rule X. If you reread this part of Rule X, you will see there is no inconsistency/loophole/mechanics issue.”

Okay, I hope you’re with me so far.
There is, however, an incorrect reply:

• “There is no inconsistency/loophole/mechanics issue with Rule X, because you can always Rule 0 the inconsistency/loophole/mechanics issue.“

Now, this incorrect reply does not in truth agree with or dispute the original statement in any way, shape, or form.

It actually contradicts itself–the first part of the statement says there is no problem, while the last part proposes a generic fix to the “non-problem.”

It doesn’t follow the rules of debate and discussion, and thus should never be used.

Simple enough.

Reminders-

We put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter. Don’t miss out!

Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

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.

Warm-Up:

This episode is our response to Radio Free Hipster‘s “September is Drunken Podcasting Month”.  Therefore, our warm-up included:

• 4 22-oz beers
• Lots of Rumplemintz
• Several Meghan-tini’s
• Jagermeister
• Eagle Reserve Whiskey

We attempted to have this be Drunken Podcasting, not wasted Podcasting, but one of us utterly failed.  (Hint- it was Meg)

As a result, before listening, read the following warning:

This episode is NOT a normal episode.  There is actually VERY LITTLE gaming discussion and an overabundance of hanky-panky talk.  The subtitle of this episode should be “Jesus Likes Anal”.  If that turns you off, you may not want to listen.  Fair warning.

Also, this show has little editing.  We left in some of the mistakes and re-records on purpose.  A LOT was cut though.  Mostly because it was just TOO off topic but also a lot more that was far too sexual and personal.  We may put those clips together or the full thing for some secret bonus prize at some point.  If you’d like to hear the entire thing, let us know!

Icebreaker:

Our favorite fake holidays:

• Festivus
• Steak and BJ Day
• Feb 14th (Reimagined)
• Indian Fighting Day
• World Wide Wing Night

Before recording we had planned to talk about Talk Like a Pirate Day as it too was in September but … well… drunk, remember?

Main Topic:

Drinking while Gaming.  This is the first 1/10th  of the conversation.  We started to talk about drinking at conventions but didn’t really get anywhere with it.

Random Plugs:

• The Accidental Survivors. Sorry guys!
  
• The drunk thread Meghan was posting to while recording
  

Reminder- we put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter. Don’t miss out!  She twittered while recording as well so go back and check them out!

Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is explicit! It is NOT work safe.

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.

• The Easter Bunny Hates You –Hilarious. Thanks to bhu on our boards for linking it in this thread!

Icebreaker:

• Since we’re doing a contest with 4 other podcasts, we thought it only appropriate to introduce you to them! And what better way to meet them than by a gameshow. Introducing the first episode of “Who Wants to Date a Gaming Podcaster?” with your host, Chaz!

Douchebag of the Week:

• The Boardtard

Main Topic:

The 7 Things We Hate About the Gameosphere

1. Douchebaggery
2. Ed Greenwood
3. Video “Gamers”
4. World of Darkness
5. Gaming Reviews
6. Fear the Boot
7. … you’ll have to listen to find out!

Random Plugs:

• The Bad Astronomer debates Joe Rogan about the Moon landing
  
• This Modern Death
  

Reminder- we put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter. Don’t miss out!

Email us at GM@BrilliantGameologists.com

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Warning: This episode is roughly PG-13′ish rated. Our usual episodes are Explicit but we tried to stay “clean” with this one, though it still may not be work safe.

What do Atomic Array, Brilliant Gameologists, Ogre Cave Audio Report, The Podgecast and The Tome Show have in common besides all being gaming podcasts? They are all offering fabulous prizes from Noble Knight Games!

Listen to the Secret Code Episode of each episode (releasing on or around September 26th) and get the code disclosed in the episode. When you have all 5, send your entry to secretcodes@moonstew.com by 17 October 2008 along with your full name and contact information. 10 correct entries will be randomly drawn and will win a $25 gift certificate to Noble Knight Games.

Participating Shows:
Atomic Array episode 006: New Gods of Mankind

Brilliant Gameologists episode 23: 7 Things We Hate About the Gameosphere

Ogre Cave Audio Report episode on September 12: Ogre’s Choice 2008

The Podgecast episode 11: Professional Min/Maxer (Check out the special guesthost for this episode- hint- it’s Meg!)

The Tome Show episode 85: Wyatt at GenCon

Spread the word and enjoy!

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.

• Gaybar by Electric 6 for 2 reasons. 1) We love Electric 6 and are stocked about going to see them (again) on Fri 11/21in Cambridge MA at the Middle East. 2) Hotpants. It reminds us of one of the Brilliant Fanologists at Gencon who wore hotpants for Meg. Thanks Woodrow.

Icebreaker:

• DragonCon recap. Meg represented the Brilliant Gameologists at DragonCon and the Parsec Awards. Big thanks to Adam from the Podgecast for offering up hotel space and to Cam Banks from Margaret Weis Productions for a great conversation and Jamie Chambers, also of MWP, for socializing even though we trashed your game.
  • Listen to Meg talk about DragonCon during the con on the Podgecast DragonCon Recap!

Douchebag of the Week:

• +1 Guy

Main Topic:

Don’t be the 7 Dwarfs

1. Sleepy
2. Sneezy
3. Bashful
4. Dopey
5. Grumpy
6. Happy
7. Doc

Plugs

• Misspent Youth by Robert Bohl
  
• DragonCon TV
• New England Browncoat Yahoo Group

Reminder- we put show updates and random goodies on Meg’s Twitter. Don’t miss out!

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.

We talked about quite a few products in this episode:

Favorite Publishers:

Cam Banks and Jamie Chambers from Margaret Weis Productions

Pelgrane Press with Robin Laws for the Gumshoe System

Fantasy Flight Games for Grimm

Paradigm Concepts for Witch Hunter: The Invisible World

McNeil Designs for Reader’s Digest vocab game

Dark Matter for Epic RPG

Interesting Buys:

Mispent Youth by Robert Bohl

Factions at War by Other Court Games

Cool People:

Luke Meyer from The Podgecast

Daniel Perez from The Gamer Traveler and The Digital Front

Rob and Fraser from The Accidental Survivors

NPH

The Brilliant Fanologists!

The ENies:

We gave the prepared statement:

“The ENnies need to make serious format changes if they’d like to be taken seriously as an award.”

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread and find out how you can get your very own boob-curve business cards!

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

We’ve been home from GenCon for 6 days and are still recovering…

It didn’t help that we each had very heavy-duty weeks IRL. This past week is one of the busiest for me professionally, Josh had a killer week at work playing

catch up, and Zeke moved. So we haven’t really had time to pause and recap GenCon.

But we are set to record our Post-GenCon show this week! So stay tuned!

Also, if you haven’t checked it out, we each Twittered our experiences and have kept up with some folks we met and the “afterglow”:

• www.twitter.com/bg_meg
• www.twitter.com/bg_josh
• www.twitter.com/bg_zeke

We picked up some new games and hope to review some others in the next couple of months. Stay tuned for that as well.

I also have a whole rant about the ENnies… let’s see if that ever goes anywhere.

We have our own pictures we’ll upload at some point. Not a ton, but hopefully enough to show some highlights. The Penthouse Suite upgrade was a huge highlight of the trip.

This GenCon was the year of Bears vs. Robots. We made 1000 postcards and handed them to everyone we came in contact with. At the last minute I needed a design for the front, and made an extremely silly picture and the rest is history.

If you didn’t get a postcard yourself, bask in the glow here:

In other news…

As soon as we returned, we found out that Brilliant Gameologists was nominated for a Parsec Award in the Best Gaming Podcast category! Super cool! We weren’t planning on attending, but this was just enough of an excuse to make it happen and Meg will be at Dragon*Con Saturday-Monday. If you are going, send a message her way! This is her first time at Dragon*Con and her first time going to a con alone in general, so some friendly faces are high in order.

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.

While we’re at the con, we will be updating on where we are and what we’re doing on our twitters:

• www.twitter.com/bg_meg
• www.twitter.com/bg_josh

We’re staying at the Embassy Suites and our general schedule is:

Wednesday:

Our plane arrives at about 7:00. Hoping to meet up with some friends Wed night and hang out.

Thursday:

• 10:00-11:00 AM: Introduction to Podcasting - (Westin Congress Rooms)
  • Zeke is on this panel led by Ethan Parker of The Gamer’s Haven Podcast
  • Full Description
• 2:00-3:00 PM: How to Talk: Podcasting, Marketing Yourself, and Selling your Product (Embassy Suites Chancellor 3 room)
  • Meg, Josh, and Zeke lead this panel with special guest Luke from The Podgecast (was formerly on Fear the Boot)
  • Full Description
• 6:00-7:00: A Salon on Gameology (Embassy Suites Coronation I)
  • Meg, Josh and Zeke will lead this roundtable discussion.
  • Full Description

Friday:

• 10:00-11:00 AM: Setting Up The Studio (Westin Congress Rooms)
  • Meg is on this panel led by Ryan Macklin of The Master Plan Podcast
  • Full Description
• 11:00-12:00 PM: The 7 Words You Don’t Say While Gaming (Embassy Suites Coronation I)
  • Meg, Josh, and Zeke lead this panel with special guest Luke from The Podgecast (was formerly on Fear the Boot)
  • Full Description

Saturday:

• 10:00-11:00 AM: Content is King (Westin Congress Rooms)
  • Josh is on this panel led by Ryan Macklin of The Master Plan Podcast
  • Full Description
• 7:00-9:00 PM: Media Meet & Greet – (Westin Congress Rooms)
  • Meg, Josh and Zeke will join all of the podcasters and fans for networking, socialization, and miscellaneous Meeting and Greeting

We also have a lot of panels we’re looking forward to attending and of course, spending time in the dealer room. This year we have Press Badges so we’re hoping to get a good look at some new games and a deeper look at some favorites. Then of course there is the obligatory eating, drinking, and socializing.

If you’re going to Gencon, stop and say hi!

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.

• Purely awesome fight scene
  

Icebreaker:

• TV character that would suck to play with

Douchebag of the Week:

• The Secret Keeper

Main Topic:

4 Steps in the 12 step Healing Process

Strategies for healing a diseased group, or to build cohesion in an already healthy group

1. Choosing the Right Game

• D&D 4th Edition
• Spirit of the Century
• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Bad Choice: Burning Wheel

Side conversation:

The 4 roles in D&D 4e compared with the 4 Ninja Turtles:

• Leader: Leonardo
• Controller: Donatello
• Striker:Raphael
• Defender: Michelangelo

2.  Making a Cohesive Character

• Force a backstory
• No secrets
• Plug: Misspent Youth

3. Running the Game so everyone plays nicely

• DM= Part Facilitator, part Antagonist
• DMPC’s- usually bad, but if you’re gonna, do it right
• Take time to practice the mechanics so everyone can fight together before it comes up for real

4. Playing the Game so everyone gets along

• Buddy System
• Appropriate Behavior
• Why are we together?
• Think Win-Win

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/

2. We are slowly but surely joining the full ranks of Web 2.0.  Check out Meg’s Twitter.

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.

Check out the “Promote” Page.  A “clip show” has been added for your listening enjoyment.  Share with your friends and use it to introduce new folks to the Brilliant Gameologists Podcast!  It’s a 10 minute segment that includes clips from 3 of our shows in “Year 1″- August 2007-April 30, 2008. Enjoy short clips from:

• Episode 5: Game Balance- listen to a typical Ice Breaker which we use to start each show
• Episode 10: Who Do You Owe- hear an introduction to a main topic and
• Episode 9: Min/Max Basics- Experience our banter and witty remarks.

Play like you have to!

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.

• YouTube Video- 30 minutes of 90′s Cartoons

Icebreaker:

• Favorite TV show opening songs and scenes.

Douchebag of the Week:

• The Braggart

Main Topic:

Scope and Boundaries

• How wide or deep should you go?
• Meg’s analogy: Establishing Shots from movies/ TV
• Kinds of groups you can be in an RPG
• Published Campaign worlds
• Media Worlds (Star Wars and Superheroes)
• Historical Settings
• The problem with Forgotten Realms
• What to do with this huge world setting

Promos:

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.

Salon: An 18th Century term meaning “A periodic gathering of people of social or intellectual distinction.”

Gameology: The study of games and the people who play them.

The Brilliant Gameologists Podcast: Educated type folks who talk about the science of games, gamers, and gaming.

If this sounds of interest to you, join the hosts of the in a facilitated “roundtable” discussion about gameology, the industry, and nerd-a-rific, jargon-tastic fun. (Doesn’t hurt that this is during Embassy Suite’s “Happy Hour” which includes free snacks/ drinks downstairs for guests- of which the BG’s are, so good chance this will start in the official room and move down if there is room.

When: 8/14/08 6:00-7:00 PM

Where: Embassy Suites Coronation I

Quantum Mechanix who does movie replicas, has partnered with Dark Horse to have a Firefly-themed give away.  Spreading the word:

Ever wanted to hit a “big haul” like Malcolm Reynolds did in the first issue of Serenity: Better Days? Well now you can.

A huge pile of Alliance cash and other prized Serenity collectibles will be awarded in the Serenity: Better Days Big Haul Giveaway from co-sponsors Quantum Mechanix Inc. (QMx) and Dark Horse Comics. Inspired by the piles of cashy money seen in the first issue of the Dark Horse comic, the Serenity: Better Days Big Haul Giveaway features one-of-kind Serenity items including a whopping one million in official Alliance credits, a signed prototype Kaylee maquette, a Malcolm Reynolds stunt pistol replica with card signed by Nathan Fillion and much more. No purchase necessary.

The promotion runs from June 30, 2008 through Sept. 30, 2008. No purchase is necessary. Enter by downloading, printing and mailing in a completed entry form, available at www.qmxonline.com/bighaul, or by visiting the QMx website at qmxonline.com. Limit one entry per household; void where prohibited.

Is wung a word? Winged?

In this episode we discuss Gaming at Conventions. Well, that and a LOT of just banter. (This is what we’re like when we are just hanging out but this time happened to have a mic capturing it all. And only Josh had been drinking! Also, the dog did actually chew through Meg’s headphone cord so the whole experience was fairly surreal and much less organized.)

NEWS ITEM: Brilliant Gameologists chosen to lead GenCon seminars

PROMO: (A real one!) Gamers in the Press- Blogs, Podcasts, and Print Seminars (http://www.pulpgamer.com/gencon/)

Discussion Topics:

• Gaming at GenCon: GenCon Indy
• Gaming at Small Conventions: Arisia
• Gaming at Indy Game/ Ashcan Venues: JiffyCon
  

Games we played at JiffyCon:

• It’s Complicated
  
  • Story/ Pass-the-stick game where everyone has an internal struggle and some visible manifestation.
• Traveller
  • Old-school. Terrible system but Zeke had a ton of fun regardless.
• Caper: A Game of Pros and Cons
  • Pull off a criminal caper. Josh’s group tried to steal Jerry Seinfield’s cars.
• Misspent Youth
  • Meg’s dream game. Dystopian young-adult type scenarios. Game involves building the world. The Ashcan version will be available at GenCon at the Play Collective booth. The early non-official review gives this a 3 on our scale.
• Red Sky A.M.
  
  • Play Space Marines and their loved-ones back home.

Just Announced!

The Gameologists will help organize JiffyCon Lowell- November 8, 2008 @ Middlesex Community College, Lowell, MA.

Other stuff from this Train-Wreck:

Wrong Hole Montage

Independent Insurgency Podcast from Rob Bohl

Discuss this episode on our message boards!

SEM00242: 7 Words You Don’t Say While Gaming

Join the Gameologists as they lead a seminar dedicated to the 7 Words You Should Never Say While Gaming- our podcast episode released on May 18th.

Gameplay should be fun. Collaborative. Positive. But there are words that will bring out the worst emotions in people and will counter the real message you are trying to convey- either names you could call players (Munchkin, Powergamer, Drama Queen, Rules Lawyer, Meta-gamer) or whining to your GM (It’s not fair! It’s not realistic! You are railroading us!). Learn alternatives to name calling that are just as fun and send the message you mean.

This seminar will be on Friday, August 15th at 11:00 AM in the Embassy Suites Coronation I room.

SEM00241: How to Talk: Podcasting, Marketing Yourself, and Selling your Product

Join the Gameologists and their quick witted, content rich voices and learn their secrets for yourself in this GenCon seminar.

Do you have a podcast or vidcast? Trying to sell your product at the con? Come learn tricks and tips for marketing yourself first so that thing you are pushing seems even better. Learn theater techniques and games to practice speaking on air and directing the “talent” on mic. Learn insider tricks to marketing yourself before you ever pull out the book/ game/ apparel so that whether on air or in person, customers buy you first, product second.

This seminar will be held on Thursday, August 14th from 2:00-3:00 in the Embassy Suites Chancellor 3 room.

In this episode we look at the peritextual elements of quite a few books– all of the things that aren’t the content– and how they relate to the feel of the book and our impressions about it.

The links all show example pictures to help illustrate the point.  There are a few still to come, but this is a pretty comprehensive list as is!  Some of the pictures are from the publisher and some I took myself.

Size and Shape

D&D 4th Edition- The standard in gaming. Hardcover, 8.5×11 inches. 4th Edition’s difference is that the 3 books come in a handy-dandy sleeve.

Hero 5th Edition Revised- The same shape as D&D but text-book thick.

Burning Wheel- 5×7 and softcover. Still has same number of pages as D&D, but they are mini pages. Makes the book much more portable.

Savage Worlds: Explorer’s Edition- Also softcover, but a bit longer and wider than Burning Wheel (which means neat, orderly shelving will be screwy).

Star Wars Saga- A square. Made to fit on bookstore’s shelves.

Covers

Rifts- Pretty picture, shows action, clear title, publisher, and author, and of course, boobies.

Paranoia XP- comical, funny, bright colors and the back cover entirely in the style of Paranoia. Draws in new people but also provides a callback to previous players.

The Savage World of Solomon Kane- Only a few words, but great illustration and the glossy and matte finish make Meg happy.

Cover opened to see front and back together

Dread- Extremely simple but sets the stage beautifully. A bloody thumbprint? What’s not to love?

Burning Wheel- Red on Red. Hard to see, confusing, boring. Doesn’t say anything about the game.

The Trail of Cthulhu - Green on green, but spooky, mysterious

GURPS: Alpha Century- cover of book is cover of Sid Meier’s video game. Good marketing if you like the video game (which we did).

Front Matter

First few pages of a book before the content actually starts. Can include publication information, credits, acknowledgments, table of contents, and introduction

• Pastedown- the page pasted to the inside of the cover (hardcover only)
• Flyleaf- the page opposite the pastedown

Spirit of the Century- has fun with the credits

Grimm- Pastedown and Flyleaf are at least red. Introduction WAY too long (download full introduction).

Deadlands Reloaded- Personal acknowledgments, Font in table of contents very appropriate and there is “white space” so text doesn’t feel claustrophobic. Introduction is a old-timely newspaper format. Back Cover

Dark Heresy, Warhammer 40,000- Pastedown and Flyleaf show an illustration of a star map

Borders:

Are illustrations confined in a border to make it feel like you are looking as an voyeur, or do the touch the edge of the page to draw you in?

• Bleed- when the illustration touches the edge of a page
• Full Bleed- when all illustrations touch all edges

Deadlands Reloaded- full bleed

d20 Future- Standard. Page number in border (on side)

GURPS- Transhuman Space- Dark border with white boxes with text. Dark borders give it a space theme.

Grimm (download of first chapter)- Very appropriate, very approprite. Page numbers in spider body and intricate

Expeditious Retreat: Magical Society of Ecology and Culture and Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition- Old timey paper feel to border.

Interesting Content

Cyberspace. Almost whole book in table or chart. Lower corner of each page gives extra material to book in terms of a year-by-year timeline.

Nightbane- Very first thing in book is a warning to prevent claims of Satanism.

Earthdawn- All peritextual elements completely vanilla (written in 1995) except two full pages of punch-out cardstock cards.

Illustrations

Pictures in books should show you things you may play, things you may fight or goals or ideas you may have as well as set the stage for the book. The feel also needs to be consistent throughout. The media used can change, but don’t mix styles!

D&D 4th Edition- Player’s Handbook has detailed pictures of the types of characters you are going to play (Person), the Dungeon Master’s Guide shows places you will go (Place), and the Monster Manual shows the things you are going to fight (Things).

Mutants and Masterminds- Very comic book feel to illustrations, some complete with speech bubbles. Very consistent throughout.

Dark Heresy, Warhammer 40,000- Extremely detailed, dark, gritty illustrations.

Rifts- almost entirely black and white inking. Art very evocative of the world, but not enough of it and the color plates in the middle of the book don’t match.

Serenity- Beautiful cover, but almost all of “illustrations” are screen caps from the movie. Says not, “We’re trying to adapt the movie” but “We’re trying to make the movie.” Borders are good except top of every page says “Serenity the Role Playing Game”. Seems too self-congratulatory and constantly reminds us it is “official“.

Star Wars Saga- nice mix of screencaps and illustrations, but again, too much of a mix of styles.

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.