Intertextual Experience: A Board Game Podcast

Daniel Newman, board game designer and New Mill Industries owner, joins the show today to talk about a bunch of really fun topics. The conversation includes, but is not limited to, New Mill, trick-taking games, punk rock, and how one could make impromptu card stands. With a focus on making different designs more readily available and finding work that might be a little too niche for the mainstream market, Daniel’s vision and work in the board gaming space fills a very unique and important space.

Check out the site for some pre-orders: https://www.newmillindustries.com/

Introduction (0:00)

What sort of things Daniel was playing and then designing and how that all led to the awesome publishing company he’s running these days.

“Punk Rock Starter Pack” (9:08)

A little bit of a discussion as to what punk means- its ethos and message and how that ties to Daniel’s vision- is followed by the show’s first ever Genre Starter Pack. Daniel brings up some awesome musicians and texts that capture the aforementioned ethos.

Focus and Design (24:45)

The evolution and increased output of New Mill demand different things from the publishing standpoint, so we talk about that balance and considerations regarding Daniel’s designs and how he’s looking to publish them.

A Couple of Trick-Takers (39:16)

With the preceding “twist” of the episode revealed by now, Daniel talks about a couple of his favorite trick-takers, with and without the additional mechanisms (twists, wrinkles, etc.).

Indie Games Night Market and Wrap-up Questions (45:45)

After briefly talking about the Indie Games Night Market previously in the episode, the little chat about it here ties well to the wrap-up questions (primarily the many things to look out for from Daniel and New Mill in the future).

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Vodcast 3 - Summer Solo-stice: ROVE (a great solo game) and all Solitary Things

A hair shorter than the last couple of “Vodcasts,” and that was a part of this episode’s solo challenge. With that mild dose of brevity, there are some interesting thoughts here, and they’re a bit punchier. In this episode, I break down the awesome solo game, ROVE: Results-Oriented Versatile Explorer. Additionally, and hopefully in a not “preachy” way, I just talk about some of the ways in which I’ve enjoyed doing all sorts of different things “solo,” how I have held myself back from doing others, and what sort of things might stand in one’s way when trying to jump into something new. The whole message is just meant to be a positive one, hopefully encouraging both you and me to keep pushing towards doing the things we truly want to do.

Happy June Solstice and Happy Seasons to everyone, wherever and whenever you’re listening to this episode.

There's another giveaway! Fill out the General Feedback Form in the contact information below if you're interested in the first official VOLPG, or "Vod Offloading Lightly Played Games." Listen to the episode to find out which GAMES(!) are being given away to a lucky winner. The one thing I forgot to mention in the episode is that this would be US only due to shipping. That said, if you're elsewhere in the world, please fill out this survey anyway, and I'll see if I can enter you in a future drawing or send something fun your way, somehow.

Fill out this feedback form to enter!

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Insanely talented artist and creator, Tyler Miles Lockett joins the show to talk about some upcoming projects. Tyler is creating the art for Renier Knizia’s Ichor, Lockett Studio (a really exciting project that we chat about for a bit!), and his HUGE upcoming book, Lockett Studio: Greek Gods and Heroes. Through a long time of traveling and creating, Tyler is looking to bring forth stories from throughout history and the world.

Check out Tyler’s work through this Linktree.

Additionally, be on the lookout for Bitewing game’s upcoming Kickstarter that has Ichor as one of two Knizia games specifically designed for two and put in a Greek Mythology setting.

In the interview, Tyler asks for some “casual game” recommendations. At the end, I said I’d send them over and put them in the show notes. So you’ll be privy to all of the words that I shared (some behind the scenes stuff here so as to not be left out. Due to that, I’ll just title the sections and timestamp them instead of going into depth for each.

Convergence of Art and Mythology (0:00)

Digital Nomad (26:34)

Lockett Studio (41:56)

Wrap-up Questions [Text on Mind & Things to Look out for from Tyler] (1:02:14)

GAME RECOMMENDATIONS

Santorini (2) - You mentioned Chess, and this one is an “abstract” like that, but much simpler. It’s really dynamic and has fun physicality. It’s typically quite quick; it’s my most played game of all time (has the slightest “Greek Mythology” setting to it with the special powers, but I hardly use those anyway).

Prey Another Day (4-5) - This one feels as social of a card game as it gets. It’s kind of like “double think” the game. Your group will make up metas and counter-metas and just be vocal through the whole experience.

Ra (2-5 [two seems polarizing though]) - On the higher end of the casual spectrum, but I don’t think it’s too challenging to learn and teach. Designed by Reiner Knizia himself, so the game does a lot with its minimal ruleset.

DroPolter (2-5) - New to my collection, but I think this one will always be with me in a game bag. It’s a dexterity game where you try to drop certain pieces from your hand. If you win a round, you gain a bell as a victory point. That bell gets added to your hand, and you do not want to drop it. This game is great.

Sprawlopolis (1-2) - I’ve only played this one solo, but it’s a puzzly game using just eighteen cards. For me, it’s one of several Buttonshy Games that I’ll bust out if I need a quick break to play a game but do not have much time.

Just One (4-7+ [the plus would need some extra white boards or paper could work too) and So Clover! (2-6) - I’ve had Just One longer but have technically played So Clover! more. You can’t really go wrong with either, but I do think that Just One needs more people in order to make it a better experience. They’re both just really social word-party games.

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Artist of a million different things (with many of those most recent projects being board games), Alisha Giroux joins the podcast to discuss art, board games, some neat stories about how some collaborations came to be, AI, and a whole bunch of other great insights.

Check out Alisha’s work in these links below:

Store

Portfolio

Linkpop for Instagram and other pages

BoardGameGeek

Art 101

Alisha’s background in graphic design and how that’s been a base for which the ever-present passion for art has grown.

Games and Collaboration and Redwall and Creative Advice (17:02)

The third “and” in Redwall ties to the other elements extremely heavily, and it’s a special story about how Alisha was able to work with legendary artist, Gary Chalk. Additionally, Alisha shares how some of the cats in Cat Blues: The Big Gig were created. This is a really special and inspiring portion that makes you think about all of the stories that show the love, circumstances, and unique ways in which things happen are behind the art that we consume.

AI AIn’t It (1:01:42)

A little over a year ago, Alisha gave a presentation titled “The Creative Fingerprint” at CreativeMornings Ottawa. This talk goes over what’s being done with AI in art, and this section of the episode goes over what’s changed since then.

Projects (1:12:45)

A look into some of the aforementioned different mediums where Alisha is creating.

Wrap-up Questions (1:17:06)

A “current hyper-fixation” and what to look out for from Alisha.

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A just me episode where I (start to) discuss "balance" in board games, other mediums, and life in general. A lot of the purpose of the episode is to introduce future topics while bringing up some of the things I've been up to that made me think about those topics. There wound up being some interesting connections in here too, and I'm looking forward to many future guests/topics mentioned here. The episode then thinks about ways in which board games use expansions/new versions/etc. to follow up an initial entry. And then there's a brief ramble about Hades II.

There's another giveaway! Fill out the General Feedback Form in the contact information below if you're interested in the first official VOLPG, or "Vod Offloading Lightly Played Games."

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General feedback form - (your thoughts are appreciated!)

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The end of a trilogy. Brett J. Gilbert joins me to cap off a wonderful set of episodes. As one of founders of the Cambridge design group that both Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson from the last two episodes are a part of, it was such a great time going back to the beginning. The oddly constructed chronology of this episode kind of does the same, so join the end of this current “Collabstraction” journey.

Brett's board game website.

Beginning of the End (0:00)

A little bit of introductory talk. A little bit of trilogy talk.

Cambridge. Collaboration. Curator. (14:55)

Brett discusses how the group came to be and how it’s changed throughout the years. There’s some other collaboration talk and one question that showed up in the other two episodes.

Restrictions and Distillations (49:43)

The ethos of Brett’s designs was clear from the beginning of the episode, but we discuss it a little bit further here with the specifically small project, “Good Little Games,” and in other capacities as well.

Beginning at the End (1:03:36)

For some reason I forwent asking about Brett’s gaming background early in the episode, but it worked out well here. There’s some additional talk about abstraction and complexity in this section.

Wrap-up Questions (1:20:59)

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In the rare sequel that’s just as good as its predecessor, David Thompson joins the show for “Collabstraction 2: The Collabstractioning.” We talk about some similar ideas in the topics of collaboration and abstraction, but we also discuss the ideas of sequels/iterations/expansions. It was really interesting getting to hear the slight differences in the overall approach to design and the fact that David has designed in the solo and historical spaces a little more, and, obviously, it was just a blast.

Collab-introduction

From growing up in “board game adjacent” spaces of RPGs and skirmish games to how David’s background in different types of systems led to early designs to David’s response to a couple of the questions that the “Grim Reaper” received in the previous episode, there are many stories and laughs in this part.

“His Favorite Color is Chrome” (1:01:53)

Hearing David talk about chrome and “chrome budget” (I love that phrase/had never heard it before) brought about the title of that ridiculous 2001 Trace Adkins song. I was going to link it, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So if you seek it out, that’s on you. Anyway, David discusses why certain choices are made for certain games and talks about the Valiant Defense series of games, which are wonderfully interesting solo war games.

Following-up (1:13:30)

As this is a part two, I have some questions and thoughts that almost come out as questions about some of the aforementioned sequels/iterations/expansions. Naturally, David answers them wonderfully.

Wrapping-up (1:24:43)

A text on David’s mind and the many things to look out for from him soon!

David on BoardGameGeek & Twitter

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A wonderful collaborative discussion here with a designer that only designs in collaborations, Trevor Benjamin. Designer of one of my favorite games of all time in Mandala, everything that has Trevor in the design credits is guaranteed to be a fantastic game. Speaking of fantastic, I think this episode is quite fantastic too, so thank you for tuning in.

Trevor on BGG and Twitter.

Introductory Questions [Time stamps coming! - weird technical hang-up - should be set by 4/9]

What got Trevor into board games and how that has inspired his designs The conversation goes on about Go and other abstract games, cooperative games, and intuitive/simple designs (I’m not sure if those words capture that part the best, so check it out to hear how this brief description almost matches that discussion).

Cambridge - “Family” (56:30)

What really sticks out in this section is how close Trevor is to his co-designers. Through discussing how these partnerships came to be and have turned into lifelong friendships, it makes sense why the games created between Trevor and Brett/David/Roger/Matthew click so well.

Collab-specific Questions (1:16:00)

What title best fits Trevor in his design partnerships.

A question brought to you by “Indeed” (not sponsored)

Wrap-up Questions (1:32:38)

Trevor discusses a masterpiece of modern television and games to look out for from him this year.

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The first ever "Vodcast." So while a warning that this one is just me is potentially apt, it's a huge step up from the "Yearly Reflection" episode. Part of the reason this exists is due to the fact that now is my turbo-busy season. Another reason it exists is because there are some good thoughts in here that I want to keep continuing in this Vodcast format, whether that's due to being too backed up to have scheduled interviews or not, and elsewhere. The show discusses this in more detail. Future episodes will have less administrative stuff too, but there is a lot of gratitude being expressed in the early part of this episode, so thank you for being a part of my board gaming journey.

Apocalands/Duel Intro (22:12)

Radlands Intro (30:42)

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In this super sweet episode, Ruel and I have a fantastic talk about all of the things he’s currently working on, some of his life’s stories, and connections between books and board games.  To put most of everything in one spot (and that EVERYTHING is a lot), this is Ruel’s Linktree.  The Linktree isn’t enough, as he is also on Rahdo and Good Time Society (and other channels too!).

Intro (0:00)

Out of all of the things I enjoy with this podcast in general, my favorite is easily listening to peoples’ stories.  Ruel’s reflections on family, how he came to love reading, different types of work he’s done in the past, and his overall passions culminating into his current work just created a super beautiful discussion.  

Books, books, books… (26:15)

The conversation starts off by talking about what sort of message games that present themselves as books promise, some games that are based on books, games that use the idea of books, and several other things that fit somewhere around those topics.

*Thinking about words, sometimes (often) mine fail me.  When I was talking about Ruel’s “Words on Wednesday” episodes and the graphic novel Saga, I was trying to say that I haven’t been into graphic novels much but am trying to do so more now.  That latter part just never materialized.  So that’s just another cool thing that Ruel is doing with his channel.

Wrap-up Questions (52:45)

I now have a fountain pen because of this portion.  

Check out GOOD MORNING SOCIETY. 

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