Game Store Prophets

Alright – I could tell you about what goes on in this episode – but that will take away the wind from the sails of a big announcement at the end of it. So, at the risk of being called out for “click bait”  – I’m just going to tell you the games that get mentioned:

Other than that – you’ll have to listen to the end of the episode.

Alright – here’s a hint:

it involves these men:

This episode is light on banter because, well, there was just too much to talk about.

We start off nice and simple with one of our patent-pending  5×2 lists of the announcements from GAMA that we are most interested in, and then hit the ground running with two controversial issues that have been all over the gaming interwebs. Days of Wonder’s decision to take the slaves out of Five Tribes, and, of course, the announcement that Gencon is threatening to leave Indianapolis at the end of their contract if a new RFRA law is not changed.

We realize that when you talk about this sort of thing, you can’t make everyone happy. Rarely is that even possible with an issue that has reached this sort of magnitude. What we don’t want to see is a comments section breaking down into two sides drawing clear battle lines and shouting over each other. There is enough of that other places, and we hope to take one step towards bringing the humanity back into this equation.

In this episode we sit back and talk a bit about expansions. While some game expansions just add more content to the games we love without necessarily changing the way it plays, some are quite literally game-changers. We talk about the science of expansions and how adding something new to what may seem old and played out can breath new life into it – and yeah, the same works for the ways in which we come to God.

As we take one step closer to episode 100, we talk about some of the discoveries we’ve made in the gaming world.

Luke talks a couple of games that sound more like hobbies OTHER than boardgaming – Quilt Show and Paperback.

Mike does a follow-up about Kings of Israel after playing it with the rules as they are actually written as opposed to how he thought they were (Sorry again, Funhill Games!) as he explains the value and potential for Tabletop Simulator. All this leading to a discussion on the established “call-out culture” we see on the internet and within the church. Want to know how we get there? You’ll have to listen.

And, as promised, here is the link referenced in this episode to a Christ and Pop Culture article on the nature of getting caught saying something awful on twitter and being called out on it.

For this one, I called in our friend Peter Martin from Saving the Game to talk about a game both of us have been tearing into lately. Darkest Dungeon is what you get if you throw gothic horror, the art style of Mike Mignola, and an old school dungeon crawler. Not only do you have to worry about the physical dynamic of your party, but their mental state. Both the emotional and physical baggage they carry from delve to delve is key to victory.

In the short version – we both recommend it whole-heartedly. Why would we say that? You’ll have to listen.