This is the episode where Shawna Benson coined the phrase Friday Night Death Slot referring to how networks increasingly scheduled shows they thought would fail on Friday evenings.
Showing posts with label Geekerati Radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geekerati Radio. Show all posts
Friday, December 27, 2019
[From the Archives] Episode 24: An Interview with Jeff Mariotte and a Discussion of Vampires and Other Things that Prefer the Night
This is the episode where Shawna Benson coined the phrase Friday Night Death Slot referring to how networks increasingly scheduled shows they thought would fail on Friday evenings.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Episode 166: Jim Pinto Talks About D&D as "Work," Player Agency vs. Consumer Agency, and the DM/Player Compact
Episode 166: Jim Pinto Talks Player Agency and the DM/Player Compact
Our guest for episode 166 is the prolific game designer Jim Pinto who has some interesting thoughts about current trends in role playing games and how they present challenges to all game masters, novice and experienced alike.
Jim Pinto has worked on products like Legend of the 5 Rings, The World's Largest Dungeon, and Shadow of the Demon Lord. His most recent work at Post World Games, including the Protocol and Praxis series of games, have challenged traditional role playing game dynamics and have become influential to designers like Greg Gorden.
While there are a lot of books discussing how to be a good game master and how to run the best role playing sessions, not a lot has been written about what responsibilities the players have to the game master. In the most recent episode of Geekerati Radio (Episode 166), I chat with game designer Jim Pinto of Post World Games about how each edition of D&D has made game mastering more like work and less like play and about what the proper role of the game master is.
As always, I don't want to reveal too much about the discussion here. I want you to listen to the episode after all, but I have provided a list of some of the products and concepts we talk about in the episode below.
Concepts
- Jim's concept of reliant focused play.
- Game master's fiat.
- Player Agency vs. Consumer Agency.
What is the proper role of the game master?
Products and Outside Articles
- Glen Blacow's "Aspects of Adventure Gaming" which was published in Different Worlds #10 (which you can still purchase from the publisher here).
- Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering
- A Theory of Fun
- Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition
- The Goblin Crown by Robert Hewitt Wolfe which I reviewed here.
- Critical Role
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Episode 165: Chatting with Doc Wyatt about Alien Bones and Super Dinosaur
Episode 165: Chatting with Doc Wyatt about Alien Bones and Super Dinosaur
We were lucky enough to connect with Television and Film Producer Doc Wyatt a couple of weeks ago to discuss a couple of his newly released projects. While Doc's producing credits include films like Napoleon Dynamite, our discussion focused entirely on his work in comic books and animation.
His most recent comic book Alien Bones is an adventure tale in the emerging "Dim Dark" genre. Tomorrow's post will include a review of the book as well as role playing game stats for some of the characters, which should give a suggestion of what I thought of the book. HINT: I liked it and so did my daughters.
Doc's a busy content creator, who's work includes a wide variety of animated series. If you like super heroes and/or Star Wars, it's likely that Doc and his writing partner Kevin Burke have worked on your favorite show. He's currently working on a number of series, but Episode 165 highlights his work on the recent Super Dinosaur series, which is an adaptation of a comic book by Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead fame. Super Dinosaur is a mash up of Science Fiction, Super Hero, and Hollow Earth tropes that is currently airing on Amazon Prime.
I don't want to reveal too much of the interview here, but here are a couple of things we touch on during the interview.

The Dim Dark genre and books like the new Warhammer Adventures series. Let's just say that if you like Alien Bones, you'll like Warhammer Adventures and vice versa.
The Spelljammer setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game, a setting of wild fantasy adventures in outer space.

The classic Vincent Price horror film Witchfinder General and the comic book of the same name by Doc Wyatt.
The short lived Jeph Hephner series Agent X that ran on TNT in the early 2010s.
The amazingly entertaining Disney Junior series Octonauts that my family loved so much I had to order toys from England as Christmas presents.
The old show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which is the live action adult equivalent of Octonauts, cool ships and all.

It's a great conversation and we'd love for you to listen.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Episode 164: Greg Gorden Discusses Torg Eternity and Game Design
In Episode 164 of Geekerati Radio, we had the honor of speaking with award winning game designer Greg Gorden about his work on the Torg Eternity Role Playing Game and his thoughts on game design in general. Greg Gorden is one of the most influential game designers in the role playing game industry and his design work includes James Bond 007 for Victory Games, DC Heroes for Mayfair Games, Earthdawn for FASA, Deadlands for Pinnacle Entertainment Group, and Torg for West End Games, and Torg: Eternity for Ulisses Spiele. He has also worked on the Star Wars Role Playing Game for West End Games and many editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Many of his games have gone on to win Origins Awards in their respective categories. He is Ulisses Spiele's line developer for the Torg Eternity Role Playing Game.
In the first segment of the episode, we talk about Torg Eternity and its innovative concept of "invading realities" as a role playing game setting. During this segment, we begin to see some insights into Greg Gorden's continuing efforts to bring player agency into role playing games.
In the second segment, we do a deep dive into Greg's past role playing game design work and explore where he came up with the concepts of "exploding die rolls" and using "dice as attributes." These are only some of the elements of our discussion, but it's a great chat. Have a listen and feel free to share your thoughts.
Segment 1
In the first segment of the episode, we talk about Torg Eternity and its innovative concept of "invading realities" as a role playing game setting. During this segment, we begin to see some insights into Greg Gorden's continuing efforts to bring player agency into role playing games.
Segment 2
In the second segment, we do a deep dive into Greg's past role playing game design work and explore where he came up with the concepts of "exploding die rolls" and using "dice as attributes." These are only some of the elements of our discussion, but it's a great chat. Have a listen and feel free to share your thoughts.
Segment 3
Episode 164 wraps up with our "Dungeons and Dilemmas" segment featuring Game Master Extraordinaire David Nett. This time we discuss the challenges of designing one shot adventures for three different audiences: your home game, a gaming convention, and for an online streaming show. David's experience working on Geek & Sundry's Starter Kit show and his recent show on ShoutTV! provide him with a wealth of experience on the topic. Give him a listen, then read his followup Twitter thread, and join in the conversation.
Products Discussed
Every episode, we discuss a wide range of popular culture. The discussion can include references to role playing games, comic books, television series, and films. As a part of our mission to share the things we love, we always include a section of the blog post dedicated to highlighting the things we mention so you can check them out and see why we love them so much.
- James Bond 007 -- Victory Games
- DC Heroes -- Mayfair Games
- Earthdawn -- FASA
- Deadlands -- Pinnacle Entertainment Group
- Torg -- West End Games
- Torg: Eternity -- Ulisses Spiele
- Tunnels and Trolls -- Flying Buffalo Games
- Starter Kit -- Geek and Sundry
- Always a Sword -- Shout TV!
- Protocol RPGs -- post world games
- Ten Candles -- Cavalry Games
- Krull -- Columbia Pictures
- Hawk the Slayer -- ITC Entertainment
- Shout TV!
- Over the Edge -- Atlas Games
- Smallville -- Margaret Weis Productions
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Episode 163: Toy Wizards, Pop Lurkers, and Running Mysteries.
Episode 163 is filled with reviews and interviews and comes in at one hour and 52 minutes!
Segments 1 and 2: Something Old/Something New
The books are described as "all the information you need to start building your own characters and putting together your adventuring party," but are they? Listen and find out.
The Supercrew by Tobias Radesäter is a rules light roleplaying game of superheroic action. Like the old Masters of the Universe Role Playing Game, the rules for the game are presented in a comic book format. Supercrew's central conceit is that the players are playing super heroic versions of themselves, which provides game masters with an interesting opportunity that I discuss in my review.
Does The Supercrew work as a role playing game, or is it a mere novelty item?
Segment 3: An Interview with the Toy Wizards
Toy-Wizards is one of the go to websites for toy collecting news and we had the honor of interview to of the Toy Wizard crew, Loryn Stone and Scott Zillner, in this episode.
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Image Source -- Toy Wizards |
Her writing has been published on other pop culture websites such as Cracked, LoadScreen, Nerdbot, That Hashtag Show, and Temple of Geek. Her toy collection is comprised of Megazords, Gundam, miscellaneous robots and trinkets, Sailor Moon, Snoopy, Otaku Garbage, and Mystery Science Theater 3000.
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Image Source -- Toy Wizards |
As a Professional Artist, he worked on Disney’s 2010 Tron Legacy film, painting the light bikes and toys in young Flynn’s room. The same year, his Tron Stich collectible vinyl sculpture from Disney was released.
Segment 4: Dungeons & Dilemmas -- Running Mysteries
In our second Dungeons and
Dilemmas segment, writer/director David Nett and I discuss the challenges Dungeon Masters face when running mystery themed adventures in role playing games. David came to the discussion with three key recommendations, but the conversation ended with five. Along the way, we make a number of pop culture adventures and give insight into our own personal game campaigns.
Episode Segments Featured Discussion of the Events and Products Listed Below:
- Toon Con (November 10, 2019) - A new convention that celebrates all genres and eras of animated entertainment.
- Powermorphicon - The largest convention dedicated to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
- Japan World Heroes (August 16-18, 2019) - A convention dedicated to Kaiju, tokusatsu, Giant Robots and more.
- D&D Basic Set - This is the Tom Moldvay Basic Set that inspired a Generation of young kids.
- The Veiled Society - One of the first D&D modules to break out of the dungeon and into the city.
- The Tomb of Horrors - The dungeon Gary Gygax wrote to put power gamers in their place.
- Players Essentials: Heroes of the Fallen Lands - While the early 4th edition books didn't capture the imagination the way some hoped, the Essentials series was fantastic.
- The Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit - This game set is exclusive to Target. Hunt it down. It's worth it.
- The Dungeons & Dragons Starter Kit - All you need to start playing D&D.
- Monster Slayers: Heroes of Hesiod - An adventure for young players written by Susan J. Morris.
- Monster Slayers: Champions of the Elements - Another Susan J. Morris adventure for younger players.
- Warriors & Weapons -- by Jim Zub, Stacy King, and Andrew Wheeler.
- Monsters & Creatures -- by Jim Zub, Stacy King, and Andrew Wheeler.
- The Supercrew -- by Tobias Radesäter
- A Study in Scarlet -- by Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Dune -- by Frank Herbert
Tuesday, July 09, 2019
Episode 162: Not So Tiny Conversations About Tiny d6
It's time for Episode 162 of Geekerati and this one is a doozy, coming in at approximately 2 1/2 hours of content.
Segment 1:
The first segment of episode 162 is a 30 minute interview with Alan Bahr of Gallant Knight Games who joins us to discuss GKG's wonderful catalog of role playing games. During the interview we go into a detailed discussion of Tiny Supers, Tiny Dungeon, and GKG's other Tiny d6 role playing games. We also discuss how Alan's company runs the gamut of the indie rpg world from OSR style games like For Coin and Blood to one shot pick up and play narrative games like Beach Patrol. It was a great conversation and our experience with the Tiny Supers role playing game inspired us to write up quick statistics for The Human Torch and The Invisible Woman using the Tiny Supers rules set. You can find those characters down below and we'd love to hear your thoughts on how you would adapt the characters to the Tiny Supers system.
Segment 2:
Since we were highlighting Tiny d6 games in our main interview, we thought it would be a great opportunity to expose listeners to a delightful Kickstarter project launched to support Tiny Dungeon 2nd Edition. The Micronomicon Kickstarter features new spells, new archetypes, and more importantly new "micro-settings." John D Payne and Gregory Israel stopped by to chat about this wonderful project and to share their love of the Tiny d6 system in general. It's a wonderful discussion.
John D Payne is the editor of The Micronomicon and he has a Patreon account which supports his game design efforts. The Patreon has a large number of backer supported extras that you might want to check out.
Gregory Israel's designs have been featured in the Tiny Dungeon 2nd Edition rulebook and in issues of Tinyzine, an official online magazine that supports the Tiny d6 line of games. Gregory is also the author of Between Sun and Shadow, a setting for the Tiny Dungeon system.
Segments 3 and 4:
Segment 5:
Segments of this episode discussed the products and blogs below.
Products Discussed/Featured in this Episode
- Tiny Supers by Alan Bahr from Gallant Knight Games.
- Tiny Dungeon 2nd Edition by Alan Bahr from Gallant Knight Games.
- Beach Patrol by Alan Bahr from Gallant Knight Games.
- Tales from the Floating Vagabond by Lee Garvin.
- Gingerbread Kaiju by Stan! from Rogue Genius Games.
- Tiny Zine Issue 10 featuring Swords Against Deviltry from Gallant Knight Games.
- The Micronomicon Kickstarter by John D Payne.
- Between Sun and Shadow by Gregory Israel from Blue Oxrat Games.
- Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (Book 1 of the Codex Alera)
- The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (Book 1 of The Cinder Spires)
- The Dresden Files book series by Jim Butcher.
- Jason Statham's Big Vacation a Free Indie RPG by Grant Howitt.
- John D Payne's Patreon for Exploding Seed Games.
- Gallant Knight Games' Patreon.
- Geek & Sundry's Starter Kit Show.
- Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition by Modiphius.
- My First D&D Experience (Pants Issues) by Christian Lindke
A Glimpse at Two Quick Tiny Supers Characters
No post should be without gaming content if we can help it, so here's this post's weekly does of gaming goodness.
While the Fantastic Four has never quite been able to translate successfully to the big screen, they are among Marvel Comics' most iconic characters. The brother and sister team of Johnny Storm and Sue Storm-Richards are particular favorites of the Geekerati crew, so we jumped at the chance to convert them to the Tiny Supers role playing game system as a way to test it out. It's a pretty good fit, but maybe your take would be a little bit different. Feel free to give us your ideas for how you would adapt these or other characters to this quick and easy to play super hero role playing game. Is Johnny a "Striker"? Is Susan Richards best defined as a "Defender"? Would you use a different mix of powers?
Friday, June 21, 2019
From the Archives (09/17/2007) -- The Geek Quiz
In 2007, GEEK MONTHLY magazine published their Geek Quiz article which readers could use to measure how deep their geek goes. We used that quiz as a way to launch a conversation and then proceeded to stump one another with a series of trivia questions. We all thought we would do well with each others' questions, but alas and alack we were wrong. In the overtime, we continue our discussion of the Friday Night Death Slot and the future of streaming programming.
Join us for this glance into the early days of Geekerati.
Monday, June 10, 2019
Episode 161: Geekerati Returns with a New Format and an Interview with Dom Zook of Saving Throw Show
The Geekerati Podcast was founded in 2007 and streamed 160 episodes before going on hiatus in 2014. It was meant to be a brief hiatus as the Geekerati panelists coordinated their busy schedules, but it ended up lasting almost five years. With this episode Geekerati returns with new Bi-Weekly prerecorded episodes with new guests and new segments. We are proud to relaunch with an interview with our friend Dom Zook. Dom is the Executive Producer of Saving Throw Show a Role Playing Game Live Play streaming channel on Twitch. If you're a fan of Critical Role, or any other live play show, you should give Saving Throw Show a look.They are currently running a number of gaames online, but their Savage Worlds show launches its new season during the channel's Fundraising Marathon on June 21st!
This episode also sees the introduction of our first new segment, Something Old/Something New. This segment will be a regular review segment and will be joined by other segments including our Dungeon Master advice segment Dungeons & Dilemmas in the near future. Our current segment reviews the old Conan Roleplaying Game by TSR and Attack of the Necron, the first entry in Warped Galaxies the new YA Warhammer Adventures book series from Games Workshop.
If the discussion in Something Old/Something new piqued your interest in the system used by the TSR Conan Roleplaying Game, you will want to take a look at its Open Content successor ZeFRS and download the pdf rulebook.
This episode featured the following sound effects from Plate Mail Games: 1950s Space, Inside the Internet, and Space Battle.
Monday, June 03, 2019
From the Archives (09/03/2007): The Pulps and Their Modern Legacy -- An Interview with Win Scott Eckert Discussing Barsoom, Hyboria, and Urban Mean Streets.
Listen to this blast from the past as the Geekerati panel discusses Win Scott Eckert's book Myths for the Modern Age and the long lasting legacy of pulp fiction. It's a conversation about John Carter of Mars, Tarzan, Doc Savage, The Shadow, French Pulps, and Dashiell Hammett. Who could ask for more?
Win Scott Eckert is one of the leading experts in pulp fiction and one of his major contributions to the continuation of pulp fandom has been his work on the Wold Newton Family and its universe of tales. The Wold Newton Universe was a creation of Science Fiction Grand Master Philip Jose Farmer who asked an interesting question, "What if many classic tales of fiction, literary and pulp, all happened in a shared universe?" Farmer uses the real world occurrence of a radioactive meteor landing in Wold Newton England as the cornerstone event of his shared universe, a universe in which Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Elizabeth Bennet, John Carter of Mars, Doctor Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and many more reside. Our conversation with Win begins with a discussion of his book on the topic, but expand into a conversation about what made the pulps successful and why they continue to inspire creators today.
During the Overtime segment, Shawna Benson discusses an unaired pilot for a new Phillip Marlowe show. It is currently available on YouTube if you are interested in seeing whether you think the networks should have picked it up.
In this archive episode, I've re-edited the episode into segments using Anchor.fm's functionality. All future episodes will be edited into segments and new episodes (our first one is coming next week) will have distinct segments with unique and consistent introductions.
Monday, May 20, 2019
From the Archives (August 27, 2007) -- Interviewing James Lowder About HOBBY GAMES: THE 100 BEST
In 2007, Green Ronin Publishing released one of the best books on hobby gaming ever written. Their book, Hobby Games: The 100 Best,
featured thoughtful articles highlighting some of the best games in the
history of the gaming hobby written by some of the best game designers
in the industry. Some of the games were well known and are played by
thousands of gamers on a regular basis, others were rare games that
influenced the creation of the games people play today. One thing is
certain, the game became a Christmas Wish List for many gamers and
started an internet meme where game hobbyists listed the games they
own/play.
Your average consumer isn't a collector of games and doesn't have room in their house for 1000+ board/card/roleplaying/family games and resources like these two books allow for those consumers to purchase games based on the opinions of individuals who have a great deal of experience in designing and playing games.
In August of that year, I and my fellow Geekerati panelists had the honor of chatting with editor James Lowder about the book and added some of our own recommendations. You can listen to the episode here:
The list of games in this edition a wonderful selection of the popular and the rare and consumers cannot go wrong with any of the games on the list.
In case you are wondering, I have provided a copy of the games included in the new volume below. Those games that are in bold are games that I own and those games that are italicized are games that I have merely played. Some of the games I now own, like Apocalypse (aka The Warlord) and War & Peace, were purchased because of this book.
Your average consumer isn't a collector of games and doesn't have room in their house for 1000+ board/card/roleplaying/family games and resources like these two books allow for those consumers to purchase games based on the opinions of individuals who have a great deal of experience in designing and playing games.
In August of that year, I and my fellow Geekerati panelists had the honor of chatting with editor James Lowder about the book and added some of our own recommendations. You can listen to the episode here:
The list of games in this edition a wonderful selection of the popular and the rare and consumers cannot go wrong with any of the games on the list.
In case you are wondering, I have provided a copy of the games included in the new volume below. Those games that are in bold are games that I own and those games that are italicized are games that I have merely played. Some of the games I now own, like Apocalypse (aka The Warlord) and War & Peace, were purchased because of this book.
Which of these games do you own or have you played? Which games from the past decade should be added to the list?
- Bruce C. Shelley -- Acquire
- Nicole Lindroos -- Amber Diceless
- Ian Livingstone -- Amun-Re
- Stewart Wieck -- Ars Magica
- Thomas M. Reid -- Axis & Allies
- Tracy Hickman -- Battle Cry
- Philip Reed -- BattleTech
- Justin Achilli -- Blood Bowl
- Mike Selinker -- Bohnanza
- Tom Dalgliesh -- Britannia
- Greg Stolze -- Button Men
- Monte Cook -- Call of Cthulhu
- Steven E. Schend -- Carcassonne
- Jeff Tidball -- Car Wars
- Bill Bridges -- Champions
- Stan! -- Circus Maximus
- Tom Jolly -- Citadels
- Steven Savile -- Civilization
- Bruno Faidutti -- Cosmic Encounter
- Andrew Looney -- Cosmic Wimpout
- Skip Williams -- Dawn Patrol
- Alan R. Moon -- Descent
- Larry Harris -- Diplomacy
- Richard Garfield -- Dungeons & Dragons
- William W. Connors -- Dynasty League Baseball
- Christian T. Petersen -- El Grande
- Alessio Cavatore -- Empires in Arms
- Timothy Brown -- Empires of the Middle Ages
- Allen Varney -- The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
- Phil Yates -- Fire and Fury
- William Jones -- Flames of War
- Rick Loomis -- Fluxx
- John Kovalic -- Formula Dé
- Anthony J. Gallela -- The Fury of Dracula
- Jesse Scoble -- A Game of Thrones
- Lou Zocchi -- Gettysburg
- James Wallis -- Ghostbusters
- James M. Ward -- The Great Khan Game
- Gav Thorpe -- Hammer of the Scots
- Uli Blennemann -- Here I Stand
- S. Craig Taylor, Jr. -- A House Divided
- Scott Haring -- Illuminati
- Dana Lombardy -- Johnny Reb
- Darren Watts -- Junta
- Greg Stafford -- Kingmaker
- Lester Smith -- Kremlin
- Wolfgang Baur -- Legend of the Five Rings
- Marc W. Miller -- Lensman
- Ted S. Raicer -- London’s Burning
- Teeuwynn Woodruff -- Lord of the Rings
- Mike Breault -- Machiavelli
- Jordan Weisman -- Magic: The Gathering
- Steve Kenson -- Marvel Super Heroes
- Gary Gygax -- Metamorphosis Alpha
- Greg Costikyan -- My Life with Master
- John D. Rateliff -- Mythos
- Chris “Gerry” Klug -- Napoleon’s Last Battles
- John Scott Tynes -- Naval War
- Erick Wujcik -- Ogre
- Marc Gascoigne -- Once Upon a Time
- Mike Bennighof -- PanzerBlitz
- Steve Jackson -- Paranoia
- Shannon Appelcline -- Pendragon
- JD Wiker -- Pirate’s Cove
- Richard H. Berg -- Plague!
- Martin Wallace -- Power Grid
- Tom Wham -- Puerto Rico
- Joseph Miranda -- Renaissance of Infantry
- James Ernest -- RoboRally
- Jennell Jaquays -- RuneQuest
- Richard Dansky -- The Settlers of Catan
- Ken St. Andre -- Shadowfist
- Steven S. Long -- Shadowrun
- Peter Corless -- Shadows over Camelot
- Dale Donovan -- Silent Death: The Next Millennium
- Matt Forbeck -- Space Hulk
- Ray Winninger -- Squad Leader
- Lewis Pulsipher -- Stalingrad
- Bruce Nesmith -- Star Fleet Battles
- Steve Winter -- The Sword and the Flame
- Jeff Grubb -- Tales of the Arabian Nights
- Shane Lacy Hensley -- Talisman
- Douglas Niles -- Terrible Swift Sword
- Ed Greenwood -- Thurn and Taxis
- Mike Fitzgerald -- Ticket to Ride
- Thomas Lehmann -- Tigris & Euphrates
- Warren Spector -- Tikal
- David “Zeb” Cook -- Toon
- Mike Pondsmith -- Traveller
- Zev Shlasinger -- Twilight Struggle
- Kenneth Hite -- Unknown Armies
- Sandy Petersen -- Up Front
- R. Hyrum Savage -- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
- George Vasilakos -- Vampire: The Masquerade
- Kevin Wilson -- Vinci
- R.A. Salvatore -- War and Peace
- Jack Emmert -- Warhammer 40,000
- Chris Pramas -- The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
- Steve Jackson -- The Warlord
- John Wick -- Wiz-War
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