Brilliant Gameologists

This episode is part of the Secret Code Contest! Get your entries in by October 17th!

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (61.1MB)

Warm-Up:

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

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

Icebreaker:

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

Review Guidelines:

Good, Bad, Wintry Mix

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

Our rating scale is:

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

Best Writing:

Nominees:

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

The Good:

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

Wintry Mix:

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

Bad:

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

Can’t even Review:

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

Best Rules:

Nominees:

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

Good:

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

Wintry Mix:

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

Bad:

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

Best Game:

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

Good:

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

Wintry Mix:

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

Bad:

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

Product of the Year:

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

News:

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

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

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

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (143.0MB)

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

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

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

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

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (32.5MB)

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

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

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

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

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

Discuss this episode on our Message Boards in THIS thread!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (50.1MB)