GMS Magazine Podcast - RPGs, Board Games reviews, interviews, advice. Mostly Asian and Indie games.

Plenty of people think that zombies are done to death, and considering that zombies are walking dead, it kind of fits nicely.

What I think people mean though, is that too many games with a zombie theme have been published to date. I guess that means that for someone to want to come out with yet another Kickstarter project for a game wit a zombie theme is, to say the least, brave.

Yet, that’s what Jeremiah Lee has done. He’s set up Stupid Awesome Games and launched Zombie House Blitz, a fast paced card game in which you have to get out of the house to survive, even if you  have to leave your grandma behind…

Dr Mike Reddy interviewed Jeremiah to find out more about this project… see what you think!

Also our dear doctor has had a nostalgia attack and he muses on games long gone from his childhood (also long gone).

Another episode of the podcast in our new format of just one topic or segment per episode to make them a bit shorter.

Having said that, this episode is nearly 50 minutes, but I assure you is well worth it!

Tabletop Day is the latest initiative from the Geek and Sundry team, who are hell bent on making sure as many people as possible are aware and, hopefully, join the board and role playing game fan-base.

Tabletop Day invites gamer to get out and play games in a public space. At your local games store, your library, a pub, in the street… Any game you like (be sensible!) and that you think people will like. Get it out there and start enjoying the crowd.

To hear and learn more about it, I interviewed Boyan Radakovich, associate producer of the show Tabletop. I got to talk to him about the how and why of Tabletop Day, the genesis and the ideal future the whole production team would like to see coming true.

And a couple of announcements about some very special places where some games could be played. And I kid you not when I tell you some are out of this world!

For the last few minutes, we have a message from our site and I explain what to do if you’d like us to take a look at your game and review it!

As always, we’re more than happy to receive your feedback and to do so you can email us on [email protected] or leave a voice message by clicking the tab to the side!

Look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy the show!

Once again we put word to microphone and, with our tongue so stuck in our cheeks that we’re amazed it doesn’t pierce through our faces, we bring you another episode of the podcast with much hilarity and a very healthy dose of silliness.

And a lot more, of course.

We have a good discussion about Tabletopday.com and Kara gives us her opinion from the point of view of someone who works in a games shop. Just in case you don’t know, Tabletop Day is the initiative that Felicia Day, Will Wheaton and their team have come up with to encourage and incentivise people to get out there and play games in the open. A pub, a library, a restaurant… if it has a table, play a game. If it doesn’t have a table, get a deck of cards out!

Me, having played Cosmic Encounters for the first time a few days ago – even though I’ve had the game for two years. Don’t ask… – and I was quite taken by the simplicity of the game and how easily it can turn anyone (and everyone!) around the table into a ruthless negotiator thirsty only for colonization. Tremendous!

Dr Reddy, on the other hand, has been playing X-Wing and he’s hooked! All my fault, I have to say. I was the one who told him that the UK Championships will take place at the UK Games Expo and now he wants to win. But he plans on doing it in a different way…

And talking about Star Wars, we mention the full size Millennium Falcon project, which is something I didn’ tknow about and the people behind the project deserve a huge amount of credit. It’s truly terrific!

Lastly, we answer a question from one of our listeners, Joe Salinas, about the game Nuts.

As always, we’re more than happy to receive your feedback and to do so you can email us on [email protected] or leave a voice message by clicking the tab to the side!

Look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy the show!

Despite Kickstarter not being everyone’s cup of tea, it is unquestionable that without it, we wouldn’t be able to see some games published. Story War is probably one of those games, though now we’ll never know because they designers decided to go the Kickstarter route and thus the traditional route didn’t really have a chance.

Some like Kickstarter, some don’t, but the fact is that it is successful and Story War has done extremely well out of it.

In Story War, the players take on the role or warriors who have to fight in fantastic locations using even more fantastic weapons and items. Every round one of the player will act as the judge and will decide who’s used his/her character to the most effect to tell the story of how said character crushes enemies and conquests lands.

Of course, the player with more won fights at the end of the round wins the game.

That is a very easy and simple premise, but does it stand up to scrutiny? And have the designers done the most the could to get a great game out?

And what are they going to do with the money they’re getting?

All of those questions, and quite a few more, in this just over half an hour interview for you.

Hope you enjoy the show!

Welcome back everyone to a new, shorter episode of the podcast.

First of all in this episode we announce the winner of our “leave us iTunes feedback” competition. Cloudster, you’ve got yourself a prize!

We also talk about Tabletop Day, the new, and rather awesome, initiative by the nice guys at Geek and Sundry, to get us gamers to go out and play somewhere else: A public space! Video below!

And our topics for this episode are “How do you handle difficult situations at the table” and “how do you protect your game”?

And our topics for this episode are “How do you handle difficult situations at the table” and “how do you protect your game”?

Hope you enjoy the show!

As usual, any feedback can be sent to [email protected] and we very much look forward to hear what you have to say!

In today’s episode Dr Mike Reddy and I talk. A lot.

There are a few announcements to make, starting with the X-Wing UK National championship that will take place at the UK Games Expo in May, as well as a couple of very interesting projects and releases that we’ve heard of. And you’ll like to hear of too!

Dr Reddy has launched a new section in his blog to remember and commemorate old games that, even if they’re not good games, have a space in our hearts and memories. A worthy cause indeed!

Since I’ve been playing recently and we also did the unboxing video for Phantom, I decided to spend some time reviewing the game and telling all about the gameplay and production values. I liked it better than Dr Reddy!

Codinca also graced my table! The still-to-be released game from the creators of Guards! Guards! gets a review and some comments. Probably not a game for everyone (but then, what game is?), but one that should get a lot of love!

Last review of the show, Dr Reddy reviews Evil Baby Orphanage. I have to say, it sounds totally hilarious in a rather disturbing way. You’ll have to make your own mind up about that one!

Are rating lists any good? We discuss also about how rating lists like the ones at the Boardgame Geek can be pretty bad for the games if the public decides to be derogatory or simply start a campaign against the game or publisher. What say you, though?

Hope you enjoy the show. As usual, any feedback can be sent to [email protected] and we very much look forward to hear what you have to say!

Another episode of the podcast, and this time is just an interview, since we’ll be changing things in the podcast soon, and the Kickstarter that this interview is related to is finishing soon.

Being a Kickstarter related episode, I wanted to make sure it was a truly worthy project and, coming from James Wallis, the man who, quite literally, invented a whole genre in role playing games, we can’t go wrong with it.

Alas Vegas is a seriously fun-sounding game in which the players are characters who wake up in Las Vegas unable to remember anything from their past. The story unfolds as the game progresses with some twists and turns and a lot of surprises along the way.

But since I don’t want to give it all away, and James talks about his past and future as well, I’ll write no more and will let you get on with the episode and enjoy it.

I hope.

To finish with the two special episodes and we’re going to do it with a bang!

Since its birth just a few years ago, Game Salute has gone, not just from strength to strength, but has also helped greatly to shape the way games funded in Kickstarter have reached the backers.

Starting as a fulfilment company and reaching the publisher status with terribly successful games, as well as incorporating companies like Clever Mojo Games to the portfolio of acquisitions and gathering an 18 strong team, Game Salute’s success can only be consider a meteoric.

So I thought it’d be interesting to have a chat with Dan Yarrington, the mastermind behind Myriad games and Game Salute to see if we could unveil some of the secrets that have made his companies so successful.

We got a lot!

But of course the podcast wouldn’t be as amazing without the intervention of Dr Mike Reddy and Kara Gander. This time we discuss if using freelancers in gaming is a good or a bad idea… What do you think?

Hope you enjoy the show!

As always, feedback is extremely appreciated and you can send us an email at [email protected]. We very much look forward to hearing from you!

Two years have gone by and they’ve barely registered in podcasting terms. It really feels like yesterday since I started the podcast, barely knowing what I was doing and how to do it.

I can’t say now I know how to do it, and I only know marginally better what I am doing, but it’s been the hell of a ride, mostly good, and I am extremely pleased that I embarked on this adventure.

Cheesy as this might sound, I have to thank every single person who’s come to the podcast for interviews. Without the gracious and generous people who’ve donated their time to come to the podcast and let me ask some questions, this show wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting as it is. And without the hosts who’ve come and gone, and those who stay, it would also be pretty boring and I would have probably lost you, my dear listener, or lost interest. I can genuinely say I have been very blessed by the people who’ve been with me during the last two years. So thank you guys, I owe you a great deal.

But enough is enough. This anniversary is going to be commemorated with a two episode special. The first one, in this post, features an interview with Mr JT, owner and mastermind behind The Game Crafter.

As a business, The Game Crafter creates professionally produced boardgames at reasonable prices and in very low quantities, so if you want a nicely produced and polished prototype for your game, this is your company. Dr Mike Reddy pinned JT down for some questions and some very, very interesting and sometimes surprising, answers.

But it seems not every one considers polished prototyping to be necessary… In fact one of our co-hosts thinks they’re not necessary at all!

Listen and marvel!

As always, feedback is extremely appreciated and you can send us an email at [email protected]. We very much look forward to hearing from you!

We talk the reprints from Dungeons & Dragons, interview with Ian Lowson and Phil Harris about Dark Harvest: The Legacy of Frankenstein, and discuss games that have their roots in literature.