Brilliant Gameologists

This is a Bonus Episode which is fancy talk for “The dogs ate the shownotes so we can’t do our normal episode so we totally wung this”.

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

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

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

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

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

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Analogies are a way to illustrate a point, so listen as we compare GM’ing/ gaming to:

• Cooking
• Fantasy Baseball
• Directing and Producing a Play
• Surgery
• Running a Business which has a Board of Directors
• Dealing with old people
• Teaching 7th graders
• Alaskan crab fishing
• Supervising a manufacturing line
• Golfing
• Manually masturbating caged animals for artificial insemination
• Posting on message board about what gaming is like

Gaming is NOT like storytelling.

Sorry.

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