Gnoll Country for Old Men

This Labor Day, we're taking some time off working to discuss games where you decide how and where people work! Worker placement games have been a fast growing type of modern board games. But what are they? What makes them interesting? Which ones do we like? Learn all this and more on this episode of Gnoll Country for Old Men.

Well, Spelljammer came out for 5th edition DnD. It's not what we were hoping for. This podcast is mostly just complaining about the lack of new features and lore, and pointed references to what could have been.

What makes a science fiction setting (or franchise) good? What makes a universe good for playing games, either RPGs or wargames? What's that noise at the airlock? We discuss, and take the opportunity to talk about some of our favorite science fiction worlds.

What if Mad Max were a DnD setting? Welcome to the world of Dark Sun, a dying-Earth apocalyptical wasteland abandoned by the gods and ruled by ruthless sorcerer-kings. A great place for adventurers, although maybe not a great place if you want metal armor.

Perhaps the most popular wargame setting, it's World War 2! We're talking about all the games set during the 20th century's most destructive conflict. Also, why we prefer alternate history if you want to do a "historical" RPG.

It's fantasy, in space! Spelljammer, the classic DnD setting where you sail between the crystal shells and pilot your ship to distant worlds, with strange new life and new civilizations! Also, there are miniature giant space hamsters.

We've talked about bad game mechanics, but what about good game mechanics? There are things that we like to see in board games, war games, and RPGs. So game designers, if you're listening, do more with these sorts of things.

They're not as forgotten as you might think! The Forgotten Realms is one of the most details and beloved settings in the Dungeons and Dragons game. We talk about it, and probably don't do it justice.

Happy 4th of July! We interrupt the scheduled discussion of DnD settings to take a look at some of the fearsome beasts, legendary monsters, and cryptids in American folklore. From the Wendigo to Mothman, we look at classics and forgotten favorites and determine how they might be used in a TTRPG.

It's time to talk about the oldest board game that is still being played competitively! Go! From it's origins in China more than 2000 years ago, to the recent developments in AI that can beat humans, to how nice it would be to own one of the fancy expensive board for the game, we get into many of the game's details.