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Total Pebble Knockdown episodes
- 62. Don't Trust Us
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- Google Stadia is dead. The cloud servers are down, the platform has ceased to be. It is an ex-Stadia. While a blow for the future of cloud gaming, there were some real lessons to learn from it’s end. What were the promises of this cloud platform and what were the problems?
Google Stadia Is Dead, And It’s A Sad Day For Gaming (forbes.com)
Stadia ☁️🎮 on Twitter
- While information continues to come out concerning D&D’s open gaming license, we are taking a moment to discuss why 3rd party content is so important. And we are not just making the case for 3rd party developers, but for the benefits to 1st party developers as well. WotC, we know you are totally watching. Take notes.
- Nathan really likes the Saints Row series, but the 2022 reboot sounded like a huge departure for the series. Anyway, he still played it and now we need to discuss it.
51 min - 61. You Gotta Power Up Your Feet
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- Alex played a game you would not expect him to play which means we are doing a GYDTWP. On this episode, we discuss Hardship Spacebreaker… cough… Hardspace Shipbreaker and the surprising joys of breaking down space shuttles for scrap. A game of physics, puzzles, survival and dying, we talk about one of the hidden gems from this past year which is already making best of lists.
- What would happen if you through lightning into a body of water? Not in real life, but in a game, such as D&D. In a Mechanically Speaking, we discuss the potentially dangerous idea of casting Lightning Bolt into water and what effect we would expect it to have. Given the situation at hand, can we really go with rules as written or do we have to expand our thinking? Also, remember when Nathan accidentally created a fantasy shotgun?
- Okay, so you’ve sat down for a brand new game and your players are discussing their characters. Then, you realize, much to your deflation, that these characters are really boring. Now what? On our first Crit Think of the new year, Nathan and Alex brainstorm ways to coax interesting stories and scenarios out of The Wet Rag Gang.
1 hr 4 min - 60. The Cat Came Extra
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- It's a new year and so let's start things off right by talking about... Diablo 4? Alex played the closed beta and now that the beta period has ended, he had some thoughts on what he saw. He got to play a barbarian, a druid and a necromancer... wait, is this Diablo 2? We'll discuss how this compares to Diablo 2 and 3 as well as other games, what he saw for micro-transactions and whether he plans on getting it once fully released.
- There's much stirring on the interwebs concerning One D&D and the Open Gaming License. While there are many emerging details at this moment, we are going to take a moment to briefly explain (poorly) what the OGL is and the history of it. We may not know the future of 3rd party content, but we can at least tell you why it was important up to this point.
- First show of the year means it's time to once again play "Save, Bury, Reboot". We're recapping some of the games we played in 2022 by determining which ones worked exactly as planned, which ones are in serious need of an overhaul and which need to be buried in the desert.
1 hr 1 min - 59. A Total Pebble Karol
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- It's the holiday season and whoopdie doo and dickory dock, don't forget to put a pebble in your sock. It's our holiday special and we are becoming Scrooge in real time. Luckily, the Pac Man ghosts have visited us so we can learn the true meaning of gaming.
- Let us go back in time to gaming past. We discuss the original board games we learned, the old school video games we remember fondly and those titles that we spent 100s of hours in that we could never play in the modern era.
- We now journey to the gaming present where we ask what games have grabbed our attention and hearts in the here and now. We ask how our experiences with 5E have gone. Also, have we really been enthralled by any recent games?
- Finally we travel to the cold wastes of gaming future. What do we hope will serve as a light at the end of the tunnel? What games are we waiting to play in the coming years? What Kickstarters are we hoping get fulfilled in 2023? What hopes do we have for the direction of gaming coming up?
1 hr 7 min - 58. 11 Pages of Ants
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- Well, it's time for a souls-like round up. Nathan has been playing Steelrising and Asterigos and has many positive things to say about them, surprisingly. We also discuss Alex's attempt at playing Code Vein and how that worked out. Badly, we're guessing.
- So more One D&D playtest material has been released and this time it revolves around the Cleric. We look at features by level and the attached subclass to see how these new mechanics are looking and if the Cleric will still be a powerhouse like it was in 5E.
- You ever play a game that bombards you with endless lore about the world right at the front, before you really get to play? That, my friend, is a lore dump. Generally, they are not good for pacing or enjoyment. In this episode of Delving Deeper we're going to look at bad examples, good examples and ways to avoid an expository overload.
1 hr 25 min - 57. Re;ACT - The Arts of War (w/Ming)
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- Ming from BrotherMing Games is joining us on this episode to discuss his Kickstarter for Re;Act: The Arts of War, a game where artists do battle with cards. Can you dance your way around a calligrapher? Inquiring minds want to know.
You can find more information about Re;Act here - Re;Act - The Arts of War | Brother Ming Games
- Ming started out making fan board games. He discusses his early experiences making Fire Emblem games, the collaborations he did and the importance of brands to embrace the fan community.
- It may not be immediately apparent what the best practices are to hire artists for a project. Ming had some thoughts on the way you can think about art, the artists and what it should be worth to companies.
1 hr 20 min - 56. Tickle Me Elmo Isn't Killing People Anymore
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- Black Friday is right around the corner and thus the deals are all over the place. However, how does that translate to games? Not as well as you might think. We’ll look at “deals” for the PS5, the arcade cabinet you totally wanted and a few tabletop sales. Also, has Black Friday changed in the last few years and is that a good thing?
- Vampire Survivors is one of the biggest surprises of the year. The reason comes from it’s almost stupifying simplicity. Nathan has been playing it continuously for days. Let’s discuss how the most mechanically straight-forward game imaginable becomes so utterly addictive.
- It’s the holiday season and that means that we might want to pick up some games. We take a look at our Steam wishlists to see what the most recent entries are, why we have them on there and what the likelihood of buying them will be.
57 min - 55. Just Pretend it Doesn't Exist
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- A close encounter with an old-school D&D player left Alex with a lot to ponder. And so, we're discussing how older versions of D&D were played as opposed to the newer versions, what changed, why it changed and how everyone could benefit from the input of others. Open worlds, rich mechanics, grand storytelling, personal journeys, complex customization and more are on the table today.
- You may have noticed the word "Simulator" used quite frequently if you have ever visited a Steam homepage. But that means the games are all over the map in terms of what they do and why. So, we're going to try categorizing them for the sake of organizing them in our minds. From flight to goats, we must find a way to make these make sense.
- Have you ever thought about turning a ranger into a glass of water? Apparently someone back in the 2E days did and asked such a question in Dragon Magazine. One of the oddest questions Nathan has ever seen will require more analysis than that and so we try to figure out how you could actually do that. We likely failed.
1 hr 6 min - 54. Second Ignition (with Breeze Grigas)
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- Breeze Grigas joined us on this episode to discuss the upcoming Kickstarter for AEGIS: 2nd Ignition. Who would not want to enjoy combining robots in a tactical game? Well, all the people who enjoyed the first game can now enjoy the new one. Can we think of ways to combine games about combining robots? Yes. Kickstarter launches Jan. 17th.
The Kickstarter page - AEGIS Combining Robots: Season 2 by Breeze Grigas — Kickstarter
Zephyr Workshop - Zephyr Workshop
The AEGIS Linktree - aegisrobots
- Media is flush with giant robots from anime to kid’s programs to blockbuster movies. But what are the best giant robots of all time!? Breeze and Alex break down which robots are good and which ones are not. Then Nathan pulls out a Top 10 list from Gizmodo and everything went badly.
Top 10 Greatest Giant Robots Of All Time (gizmodo.com)
- A Reddit question asks about the validity of Roll & Move at a board game mechanic. Luckily, Breeze has made some board games and so we discuss if there is any space in modern gaming for Chutes and Ladders.
1 hr 34 min - 53. Poke Poke Literature Club
On this episode of Total Pebble Knockdown:
- Once upon a time, Nathan backed a Kickstarter for a game called Coral Island. Although he did not play the alpha when it released a year ago, he has been playing the early access version that released on Steam and other platforms 2 weeks ago. But it has become evident over 30+ hours that big chunks of the game are not actually developed yet. So, let’s discuss what it does, what it doesn’t do and why Nathan may be stepping away from it for awhile.
- Game length is always a discussion for the gaming community, but rarely do we weigh the difference between quality versus quantity in content. So, let’s talk about that. Why would someone want a 3 hour game over a 300 hour game? Are the empty carbs of open world games really considered game time at all?
- Well, it’s happened: we are now old and are starting to say things like “back in my day.” Here we find ourselves doing so with the way games are made now compared to the past. What changed focus from the early days of video gaming to the present AAA market? Are there limits to nostalgia-based pixel graphics? Where are our priorities now?
1 hr 9 min
About Total Pebble Knockdown
From the publisher's feed
In weekly discussions that result in absolutely no clear answers, Nathan and Alex delve into the endless choices that make up games. What can we learn from video games, storytelling, and the real…
world, and how can we apply that to tabletop games?