Table Talk

The second publisher featured on our Industry Insight series, Jamey Stegmaier (Viticulture, Scythe) of Stonemaier Games (Wingspan, Pendulum) discusses the lead up to COVID, the adaptations made in 2020, and where things go from here - for both publishing and retail. Nothing is off the table.

Find all previous casts, as well as products, subscriptions, and blogs, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

We've kept up with Brenda and Paraic of Knight Watch Games since they won the Power Retailer Award at GAMA (after which we interviewed the former), watching their space improve and their vision come to life. What happens, though, when COVID injects uncertainty into those long term plans? How can retailers adapt? Let's find out. Find all previous casts, as well as products, subscriptions, and blogs, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

If you've been in this hobby for any amount of time, you've probably seen a video from Rodney's iconic Watch It Played YouTube channel. In this continuation of our Industry Insight series, join us for a closer look at content creation in the age of COVID, and the impact it might have on the future of tabletop. Find all previous casts, as well as products, subscriptions, and blogs, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

"The only way to stop us is to kill us." Kicking off our Industry Insight series, Giacomo and Riccardo share the inspiring (and terrifying) story of PvP Geeks' first foray into tabletop games - right as COVID-19 shut down the world. Find all previous casts, as well as products, subscriptions, and blogs, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

In our final episode of the "How to Ruin a Game" series, and our final episode of Season 3, we embrace one of the most sacred necessities of any modern business - what to say, how to say it, and perhaps most importantly, when to say it. It's particularly relevant for community-driven games, where even a day of silence can compromise everything.

We'll be back after a few weeks with Episode 150 to kick off Season 4!

Find all previous casts, as well as learning content and products, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

The ultimate buzzword for any business, marketing is yet another way that tabletop games can fail - and effective marketing is a particularly unique quandary in this industry. Join us for an exploration of marketing considerations for every publisher, from our perspective as an online and local retailer.

Find all previous casts, as well as learning content and products, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

There's a hard reality behind every expandable game. The system can be perfectly designed without extraneous, floating information and rules bloat. The content can stick to first principles while adding exciting new decision points. The organized play program can be robust and focused on the right things. But if production is erratic, delayed, and uncertain, none of it matters.

Find all previous casts, as well as learning content and products, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

Expandable card games thread the middle ground between the fixed costs of board games and the evolving meta of collectible games, but non-cooperative titles have struggled to survive in the standard three tier system. Join us for a discussion about the fundamental reasons for this difficulty, and a potential solution to them - one we're pioneering in partnership with Plaid Hat Games.

Find all previous casts, as well as learning content and products, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

Organized play is so much more than tournaments, and so often a tremendous source of dysfunction for the long-term health of an expandable game. It's incredibly important, and surprisingly simple - but few publishers understand that it's as critical as the content being printed.

Find all previous casts, as well as learning content and products, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com

On our second installment of this hyperbolically titled mini-series, we spotlight how information can build during the course of a game - or even before it begins - to the point that meaningful decisions cease to exist. Stacking an ever-growing burden of need-to-remember information does not give a game more depth, just as taxing a computer's RAM is usually a crutch for sloppy development. Will new games like Skytear and Flesh and Blood keep things clean, or, as many others, will they fall into the trap? Find all previous casts, as well as learning content and products, on our website: https://teamcovenant.com