In this episode, the gang begins with hype about Outer Worlds becoming available on Xbox Game Pass thanks to a primer by Kotaku. With the discussion quickly disintegrating away from Outer Worlds, the game transitions talking about Console vs PC gaming flame wars.

After Myron laughed at Tom about playing Into the Breach during the recent Dungeons and Dragons session, the gang chatted about the 2019 Game of the Year, Just One. The experience of Anna and Myron playing the game led to some conclusions on why Just One was game of the year. 

Finally, the gang circled back to Dungeons and Dragon to discuss the most recent game session. Myron started the discussion by explaining his motivation behind the epic conclusion of a storyline. This sparked a dialog with Anna, JT, and Tom about their impressions of the session. Anna remembered fondly that Caisis pushed a giant into a pool of lava. JT set a group record with total damage done in a turn by Bella. Leaving Tom to ruminate on what events caused Tolan to fall in combat. Spoiler Alert, keeping track of new powers. Anna and JT demanded retribution for Myron’s critical happy dice. During the discussion, a lively exchange of the difference between trophies and gifts occurred on behalf of Caisis and Tolan.

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

In this episode, the gang begins with discussing black holes, both real and Fortnite. JT emerges with the most knowledge on Fortnite, mostly because of being surrounded by youth shedding tears that a black hole swallowed Fortnite forever, but not really. The new season showed up and the game is as healthy as ever with player engagement up, thanks to their black hole ending. Myron admits to watching Fortnite play-throughs and we all were less than impressed. He did compare Fortnite with Dancing with the Stars, one of the best yet strangest non-sequiturs to emerge from a host. Anna admitted that she’d watch CBS Soap Opera has-beens dance if given the opportunity. Tom then becomes desperate to insert a transition to the next segment.

Five Minute Dungeon was reviewed with much praise. All but Tom has played the game and he was seemingly unimpressed with the description of the game. Five Minute Dungeon and its sister game, Five Minute Marvel is a tabletop game with a board and cards, made into decks for each player. From there, the groups have five minutes to run a gauntlet of five or six villains, Myron was unsure of the precise number. The game is paired with an app that keeps track of the time and taunts the players, much to JT’s chagrin. Myron prefers playing the paladin, not to anyone’s surprise, especially Anna. The game got 5 pieces of bacon from Myron, but only 4 pieces from Anna and JT. They all really liked the game and would recommend anyone to play it. Tom was skeptical but warmed to the game ultimately being accused, by Myron, for Hashtag-Making-Crap-Up. 

Tom lead a discussion about Galaxy of Heroes and its current state of health. He began lamenting the new character; General Anakin Skywalker. He quickly declared the game on life support, calling the new character an Immortal Lord who unbalanced the game. JT shared her challenges in playing Galaxy of Heroes discussing her strategies for collecting her favorite characters and playing to her standards. JT questioned the purpose of always chasing a marquee event. Tom began explaining the purpose of distracting players by having marquee events with Myron adding some psychology of gameplay knowledge. Anna remained unmoved in her position of not playing Galaxy of Heroes. Tom coached JT to stick to her goals and play the game at her pace. Success in Galaxy of Heroes comes from focus and planning. 

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

After a six month hiatus we finally managed to dust off our D&D campaign. But first Anna and Myron share exciting news from Pandora. Borderlands 3 has landed and so far it’s a rootin’, tootin’, lootin’ good time. Borderlands 3 feels more like Original Recipe Borderlands, with Legendary weapons a’plenty. Anna thinks it will be her game of the year, but only time will tell.

Meanwhile Myron finally pulled the plug on a VR set-up, first springing for the Occulus Rift before quickly switching to the Occulus Quest. The Quest doesn’t require a PC connection and truly allows for a “wire-free” experience. Myron thinks it’s the wave of the future, but JT and Tom are still skeptical of the long-term appeal.

Finally, we discuss our latest adventures in Faerun where after a six month hiatus we got back to our lovable band of Villain Smashers. Tom introduced his new character, Tolan the minotaur leader, and Myron introduced a bevy of skill challenges to take the adventurers through a lot of story in a minimal amount of time. The cobwebs are gone and the adventurers are ready for blood. 

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

In this week's episode we wrap up our GenCon interviews with Pathfinder 2.0 from Paizo Publishing. But first, Anna is dying to tell everyone about the Void VR Experience called Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. After 2 years of anticipation Anna finally had a chance to dip into the world of virtual reality and she was impressed. Check out Void at a location near you. 

Once everyone is back to reality the team moves on to their interview with Luis, a developer for  Pathfinder 2.0. With this new edition of Pathfinder Paizo took the lessons learned from their first edition and wanted to simplify gameplay. By introducing things like 10 steps character creation, the ABC’s of character creation (Ancestry, Background, and Class), and a simplified Action Economy Paizo wanted to give fans of Pathfinder what they were asking for, while making the system accessible to new players. 

Luis shares some stories from the games he’s been running, giving us some pointers on character combos and synergies. It sounds to JT and Anna like Luis likes Fighters the best, but Tom and Myron didn’t quite hear it that way. Listen for yourself and you decide!

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

In this week's episode JT and Tom take a trip out to Woodstock, IL to Anime and Things. Listen in as they interview Janet, the owner and former public accountant, and learn all about the exciting store in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Janet's love of reading and geeky things led her to open a store to cater to many different geeky tastes. From anime, to D&D, Funko, and authentic Japanese sodas and candies, there’s a little bit of everything to be had.

You’ll also get to hear Tom and Will talk about world-building and DM’ing in D&D, their favorite kinds of adventures and homebrew. Finally, JT and Tom talk to Jeremy, a teacher who uses D&D to help his students with emotional and behavioral problems learn teamwork and how to handle challenging situations. It turns out that D&D can be a powerful teaching tool for middle schoolers. It’s engaging and educational and gives Jeremy’s students agency and the ability to tell their story. 

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

In this week's episode, we share a couple more interviews from our Excellent GenCon Adventure. But first, Tom shares a funny story from the world of obsessive gameplay and Pokemon GO. Turns out Myron’s crazy broken arm bike riding story isn’t the worst example of obsessive Pokemon GO gameplay, as a man in Washington was recently pulled over for playing on 8 phones while driving. The team discusses what goes wrong when people take their gaming to absurd and sometimes, dangerous, extremes.

After the laughs from the realm of absurd gaming news, the team moves on to the GenCon interviews with Starling Games and Funko Games. Beginning with Brenna from Starling Games, we get an introduction to the beautiful world of Everdell and the new Pearlbrook expansion. Brenna gives an overview of the new worker types, citizens, resources and sideboard addition to the original game. Anna is intrigued to find out more about the new structures called Wonders which are like the Events from the original game, but are worth up to 25 points. Listen in to find out more about the exciting changes introduced with the Pearlbrook expansion.

Next up is Stephanie with Funko Games to discuss the new Funkoverse Strategy Game that debuted at GenCon. JT was so excited for the blending of her Funko obsession with board gaming that she waited in long will-call lines to be one of the first to play the game (and of course bought most of the game sets). Stephanie walks us through how they selected the starting sets of Funko Pop! characters and what might be on the horizon for future releases. JT is quite excited to play a mashup between Harry Potter and Golden Girls characters, and Myron wants to make custom powers so he can play with Mad Moxxi and Hillary Clinton. With the huge arsenal of Funko Pop! characters available the possibilities seem endless.

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

In this week's episode the gang discussed coming home from GenCon and the record-setting attendance. Starting with Thursday an immense number of people and moving through the weekend discussing how busy we were, with early mornings, much to the chagrin of Myron. Despite of the activities, it was a great experience for everyone. Transitioning into the desire to keep up the gaming pace despite being in the world. 

The conversation quickly transitions into discussion of the games; Someone Has Died and Tiny Tina's Tea Party. Both outstanding experiences where the gameplay can rise or lower to the level of the players. 

The gang shares interviews for Tattoo Stories with Eric Slauson and It's Blunderful with Brooke Schwartzman. During Tattoo Stories, the team asks Eric about his experience creating and developing the game. Then, we play the game with the creator; really setting the tone of how the game is played. We argue our tattoo designs to Eric to win some points. Then, Tom just cannot say Totoro. The group then waxes poetic about social, drawing games. For It’s Blunderful, we ask Brooke about this more grown-up game where betting points and answering awkward personal questions to earn enough to win the game. Then, the team discusses strategies of playing the opponents more than the cards to maximize bets.

@stmgames  @bicyclecards #GenCon #HaveFunAndPlay
#bicyclecards #drawatattoo #boardgames #havefunandplay

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

In this episode, we welcome back Chris Cormier from Geeky Goodies to share a review and join in our discussion of the evolution of House Rules and Homebrew rules in RPG’s and board games. But first, Myron kicks things off by spreading some love and hype to the Switch. Marvel Ultimate Alliance has been released and Myron is 100 percent onboard the Nintendo train. Tom watched the teaser video and thinks it might be time to buy the Switch. A simple co-op beat-’em up game sounds like fun for the whole family to enjoy.

Meanwhile Chris has just played Mord im Arosa (by Alessandro Zucchini) again and discovered that he still enjoys the unique game mechanic based on sound. In this game players are guests, investigators and suspects in two murders that occurred at the hotel Arosa. Using a unique hollow nesting tower design, each player drops player token clue(s) into the tower and listens intently to try to hear which level the the clue(s) landed on. Guess right and you might be able to incriminate your opponents or clear some of your own evidence. Guess wrong and you leave more evidence behind to be found. Chris gives it 3 strips of bacon for its simplicity, fast-paced gameplay and unique sound-based game mechanic. 

Finally, Tom leads a discussion on the evolution of Homebrew D&D rules and House Rules in board games. From D&D special Homebrew items, to House Rules in Monopoly and Munchkin tune in to find out each podcaster’s favorite custom rules.

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

We're live from Gen Con with our second broadcast with an even larger audience. Day 2 and 3 at the Con were amazing. Everyone pretty much arrived bright and early Friday and Saturday morning to get to work. We did a lot of interviews and saw a bunch of great games and met a lot of great people. We covered a lot of ground at the con over both days (we have the step counts to prove it)

In this episode, the group went through the highlights from each day and had an in-depth discussion about Pathfinder 2.0 and other games like D&D from various editions. We hope you enjoy our coverage of Gen Con 2019!

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!

We're live from Gen Con with our first ever broadcast with an audience. Day 1 at the Con was eventful and quite crowded. Anna and Myron arrived bright and early Thursday morning to find the gaming halls already full. Usually things don't fill up until Friday and Saturday so it seems like this Con is going for more attendance records.

Despite the crowds, the podcasters had a great first day with interviews with Bicycle games and a demo of their new cooperative drawing game Tattoo Stories. Coming out in October, stay tuned for the full interview with the Creator if the game.

Remember to look for all episodes of our podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Make sure to subscribe to the show so you’ll never miss an episode. Also, you can keep up with us on our website: havefunandplay.com. We are constantly thinking about adding new content, so roll the dice and come join us!