An Interview Eric Lang - Designer of Star Wars The Card Game

Eric Lang is the designer of the long-awaited Star Wars The Card Game, which will soon be released by Fantasy Flight Games. Eric, thanks for taking some time to chat with us.

Thanks for having me!

First I just have to ask: When Star Wars The Card Game was first announced, Lucasfilm was still owned by George Lucas, and there was no hope—or even an expectation—for new Star Wars films. What’s your take on the Disney purchase, and the forthcoming films?

I am crazy excited. I was as surprised by the announcement as everyone else, but it took me only a few seconds to process … and I must admit that I did a little Snoopy dance.

Pixar, of whom I’m a giant fan, runs deep in Disney’s DNA. And the thought of new Star Wars movies with that kind of talent at the helm makes me so happy. When I read that Michael Arndt was writing Episode VII … be still my heart!

How did you first become interested in gaming? And when did you start designing games?

I’ve been designing games since I was playing them as a kid with my grandmother in Germany. It started out by modifying mass market Pachisi and Stratego clones, then I got into RPGs in high school and never looked back. When Magic: the Gathering hit in 1993, after one game I was determined to do this for a living. My first published credit was for FASA’s Shadowrun CCG (playtest and development) back in the mid-90s, and I’ve been designing full-time since 2001. I’ve designed games for a number of companies including Fantasy Flight, Wizards of the Coast, Wizkids, Mattel, Alderac Enterainment, and Z-Man Games.

Your game design resume is quite extensive; do you play a game regularly after you’ve completed it? What are some of the titles you still go back and play? Or do you move on to the next design?

Time is my enemy, and many of my own games are of the “lifestyle” sort (like FFG’s Living Card Game series). I wish I had more time to play, but I do have decks for each of my LCGs ready to go. I play Warhammer: Invasion more often than most, due to its speed of play and my short attention span.

What are some of your favorite board/card games?

A short list would include: Cosmic Encounter, Magic: the Gathering, D&D, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, El Grande, Heimlich & Co., I’m the Boss!, Crokinole, Geschenkt, and Nexus Ops.

The Lord of the Rings Dicebuilding Game uses some of the same mechanisms as Quarriors. How involved are you with the design of the LotR game, and can you tell us how it will be different than Quarriors?

Mike (Elliott) and I designed an early draft of the LOTR game, but were unable to finish it due to schedule issues. The published design (by Brett Myers and Jeph Stahl), is cooperative whereas Quarriors is competitive. It is also slightly more complex and focused on narrative, which offers quite a different experience even with shared mechanics. I think co-op players will really like it.

Star Wars The Card Game has been a long time coming; how involved were you with the first concept of the game? And how hard was it to scrap the whole thing and go back to the drawing board?

I was not involved in the first version at all. FFG made a really tough call going back to the drawing board, but I agree that it was the right one. I can’t speak to the decision process, but my own opinion was that there were some unsolvable long-term issues, and the inability for players to play the dark side, as compelling as Rebel co-op is, was really rough.

The original game had some real strengths, though, and you’ll likely see some of its influences in the current game.

Fantasy Flight has enjoyed the success of the “Living Card game” genre with several blockbuster titles (we’re BIG fans of The Lord of the Rings and Netrunner). What about Star Wars makes it stand out in the genre?

I think Star Wars is the first game to start deeply exploring what makes LCGs different from other customizable games.

The way you customize your decks is different from all other games; easy to simply jump into and play, but requiring a whole new way of thinking to really tune at a high level. I think both hardcore and casual players will enjoy this new approach, even if for different reasons.

I feel like this game captures the desperation of the Light Side and the monolithic but inertial drive of the Dark Side. I wanted to do this in a simple, intuitive way that did not bog the players down in rules exceptions, but rather let the game itself stand aside and allow card interactions to take center stage.

The gameplay is more hand management than straightforward resource management in most customizable card games. You are more focused on when and how to use your cards, than how to squeeze maximum value out of your board position. Combat is easy to grasp, but the way Edge battles work (combined with the card pool) add a psychological element that is sometimes game-defining, other times peripheral.

Overall, I feel as though the variance in gameplay in Star Wars is key. More than most card games, the same exact same two decks will play differently from game to game. All the game mechanics were designed to offer this experience.

Did Lucasfilm/Lucas Arts keep a close eye on the product and sign off on it?

Lucasfilm licensing worked closely with FFG on the game. They were really helpful with suggestions in the naming and flavor text department, too.

Did you get to meet George Lucas?

Sadly, no.

We found it interesting that the first cycle of Force packs is going to take place on Hoth; what made you decide to jump ahead to Empire, instead of working through Ep. IV first?

We wanted to make it clear right off the bat that we are not doing sequential releases, but rather “idea space” cycles. I pitched Hoth as an obvious first expansion, as it has a unique feel and milieu, and allowed us to create a nice set of cards that worked together while not reinventing the game right away.

I think it’s important for the first expansion of an LCG to deliver “more of the same, with a minor cool twist” (pun intended). Hoth’s place in the original trilogy fit that to a tee.

One Word (or Phrase) Response Section:

If you had a lightsaber, what color would it be?

The color of the sun.

If you could visit any place real or fictional, where would you go?

Mos Eisley

Favorite Quarriors creature?

Primoridial Ooze

Favorite cookie?

Mint Oreos!

Favorite author?

Oscar Wilde

You can follow Eric on Twitter @Eric_Lang.

Thanks, Eric, for the great interview. And thanks to you for reading; have a superb and game-filled Thanksgiving!

An Interview With Board Game Luminary Mark Jackson!

 

Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions, Mark!

• First tell us a little about yourself, and then tell us how you got involved in the board game hobby.

I am guy who wears a lot of hats: I'm the pastor of a small Southern Baptist church, the husband of Shari Jo (22 years!), and the father of two boys - ages 7 & 11 - who both (thankfully) love board games. I also blog on a semi-regular basis and have been a guest on a number of gaming podcasts, including The Dice Steeple.

I've played games all my life... my grandmother was a big part of that. Even as she got older, she'd get down in the floor with us to play Monopoly or whatever else I brought out of my room. And it was her daughter—my Aunt Nancy—who bought me my first Avalon Hill game (Outdoor Survival) and started me on the path to gaming geekdom.

• How has being a pastor enhanced—or run up against—your love of board games?

I've used board games in a number of different ways in ministry: as sermon illustrations, as ice-breakers in small groups, as social events (family game night) to connect people together. My church here has been gracious to allow me to host a regular gaming group in our social hall for a number of years, which helps me build relationships with people outside the "holy huddle."

• Have there been any games that you refused to play because you found the theme/ gameplay objectionable?

There are certain games I choose not to play (Hellrail, Lunch Money, Funny Friends, Chaos in the Old World, etc.) and other games I'm glad they re-themed (Twilight -> Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde) based on what I believe. I wrote some years ago that "my strongly held beliefs in Jesus Christ and the authority of the Bible obviously play a role in my hobby. (If strongly held beliefs don't play a role in your whole life, then they're not strongly held beliefs.)" That's still true.

• You’re stranded on an island, but you somehow have the foresight to bring one game with you to play until such time as you’re rescued—or die due to exposure, starvation, or the awful disease those weird-looking lizards carry. What’s that game? (We’ll assume you’re stranded with the number of people that game plays best with…)

Oooo... so difficult. If I can carry expansions with me (I'll assume i can!), it would either be The Settlers of Catan or Memoir '44. (Just one? Seriously?)

• You have a wonderful blog. Which post has caused the most controversy?

Thanks for the kind words... it's a lot of fun.

I don't seem to generate wild levels of controversy, though I got some interesting private comments about my post The M Word—which was part of a series of posts about sex, pornography & passion.

On the gaming front, I got a bit of grief over my bad attitude about FFG and Battlelore...be warned: I'm in full-on irritated fan mode in these posts,

I've also had a lot of comment about my posts about why I quit playing D&D: The Day I Quit Playing D&D, and DW, Bill Cosby & Evercrack.

• I can barely keep up with all of your updates on Goodreads. Who are some of your favorite authors?

On the theological front, I'm drawn to C.S. Lewis & Tim Keller. As a pastor, I've been mentored via books by Larry Osborne, Erwin McManus & Andy Stanley.

As far as fiction goes, I think Kurt Busiek's graphic novel series ASTRO CITY is tremendous... and Stephen Lawhead continues to write brilliant genre fiction.

My non-fiction recommendations are all over the map - though I'm particularly fond of Marc Reisner (Cadillac Desert) and Robert Andrews (The Storm of War).

• You’ve been able to play many prototypes and advance copies of games. Are there any (that you can talk about without getting a hit put out on you) that we should be on the lookout for?

Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts is a great addition to the franchise - and makes it easier for players who were overwhelmed by the previous trilogy of expansions to jump back into the game.

The Dungeon Lords expansion (Festival Season) is more of what you love IF you loved Dungeon Lords: more monsters, more heroes (minstrels!), more traps, and so on.

Matt Leacock has a fantastic prototype using his Roll Through the Ages system that I'm not sure I can say much more about - but it's a delightful twist that I've loved every time I've played it. (Yes, it's still an "ancients" theme; no, it's not a civ-building game.)

• Is your wife a gamer?

No. She'll play games - she likes cooperative games like Pandemic & Lord of the Rings - but she is definitely not a gamer.

• You have two kids with different ages. What are your favorite games to play with each of them right now?

My 7 year old has fallen in love with all things Catan - enough so that he told me the other day that he wanted to play "a game with hexagons where you get resources from rolling dice" - yes, that's kind of specific. He & I have been having a great time playing The Rivals for Catan and are looking forward to getting our review copy of the Age of Englightenment expansion.

My 11 year old has a wider variety of gamer interests - right now, we're particularly enjoying The Ares Project. He would gladly play Risk: Legacy every day if only we could convince his younger brother to join in.

Here’s the One-Word Answer section. • Favorite theologian who goes by his first two initials?

C.S. Lewis (with G.K. Chesterton a close 2nd)

• Favorite LEGO line/theme of all time?

Time Cruisers (I still have the blimp set!)

• Favorite Disney ride/attraction?

Radiator Springs Racers (CA Adventure), though Dinosaur (Animal Kingdom) is a close 2nd

• Favorite minor character in the Star Wars universe?

Admiral Ackbar

• Favorite comedian?

Bill Cosby (love me some of his OLD stuff)

• Favorite Batman villain?

Riddler (the comic book one, NOT the movie)

• Favorite Bible verse?

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Thanks, Mark, for taking the time to answer our questions! And thanks to you for reading!

Interviewing Ruse designers - Sarah Sharp and Levi Mote

Bonsai Games has partnered with Game Salute's Springboard program to launch their first major release, Ruse. Today we take a few minutes to sit down with Ruse's designers and co-owners of Bonsai Games, Levi Mote and Sarah Sharp.

Sarah, Levi, first of all thanks so much for taking some time from your schedule to answer some questions for us! Can you tell us how you decided to work together on RUSE?

LM - Thanks for taking the time to talk about Ruse with us. It really is one of the most special things we’ve ever collaborated on.
We’ve been a couple as well as co-owners of Bonsai for 4 years now and we work together to one degree or another on every project we tackle; games, stories, screenplays, etc…
SS - I will also thank you Jeremiah for wanting to talk with us. We’re always excited to share our games with anyone who’s interested.
In addition to what Levi has already said, we’re very lucky that we collaborate so well and that we share the same passions and interests. It really is a perfect partnership both personally and professionally.

So, whose brainchild was RUSE? And how did the idea first comes to you?
LM - Growing up, my mother’s favorite board game was always Clue. One day Sarah and I were having a conversation about what we liked and didn’t like about that game. I wanted to design a murder mystery game that went beyond deducing what was in an envelope. The best part of Clue is in choosing what to show the other players and using what you know about other people’s cards to deduce what they have learned from a guess. We decided that the most fun way to convey a murder mystery was to allow the players to make accusations against each other and keeping the truth about the murder a mystery right up until the very last card played.

SS - Let’s be completely honest here…Ruse came from an early morning conversation while Levi was in the shower and I was doing my hair. He had been thinking about Clue and we just got to talking. By the time he was toweling off we had the basics of the game laid out, along with a few mechanics. It’s been a very fun and relatively easy endeavor ever since.

Levi, Ruse is not your first game design; is Ruse the first title you’ve co-designed? How was this experience different than flying solo?
LM - I’ve designed several games and as the super-supportive-love-of-my-life she is, I’ve always collaborated with Sarah to some degree. This game in particular was much more a partnership as we worked out the nuances of a storytelling game. Ruse, more so than most games, had to be more than a collection of mechanics; it needed to evoke a feeling of having your back against the wall and scrambling to pin the murder on someone else before it got pinned on you. As a writer, evoking that feeling from the audience is more along her line of expertise.

Sarah, if I’m incorrect, please tell me, but this is your first experience in game design; tell us a little bit about the experience and working with Levi.
SS - Well, I’ve been exposed to game design since Levi and I got together. I’ve seen all the steps from an outside point of view and have always been, along with a few close friends and family, a sounding board for ideas as well as an avid play tester. This was the first game I’ve really been able to get my hands dirty with and have loved every minute of it. Levi is very gifted when it comes to thinking up premises and working out mechanics. I love being able to come in and help him flesh out story elements and the like.

What is your favorite element of the game?
LM - I love that you don’t know who will go down until the last card is played. I love that even in losing you get to be a star and give your dramatic explanation of why you had to do it.
SS - I love the interaction between players and how they really get into the descriptions on the cards. I also love the versatility of the cards themselves. Since Ruse is built on a traditional 54 card deck (Jokers included) it’s easy for anyone to pick-up and can be a “gateway” game for those who aren’t hard-core gamers. I’m also a sucker for Kelly’s art…it’s amazing.

Give us your top 3 games and why?

LM - Twilight Imperium 3rd edition – Epic 4x game

Ad Astra – Extremely underrated resource collection game

Risk – Secretly I want to rule the world.

SS - Rune Wars – It’s totally epic and I love fantasy.

We Didn’t Playtest This At All – We just got this and it’s so addictive! Always looking forward to playing it!

7 Wonders – The scoring is crazy, but the mechanics are stellar.

I just wanted to note that a top 3 isn’t fair…a top 20 would’ve been more like it!

Ruse is a game of accusations; ever accuse anyone of a murder? How’d that work out?
LM - Who told you about that?!? The FBI said the Witness Protection program was airtight!
SS - Look, that’s not something we like to discuss. It was a very dark period and details are a little sketchy. Next question…

Tell us a little bit about the relationship between Bonsai Games and Game Salute; how did the two come together on Ruse?
LM - I approached Game Salute through Springboard. I was looking at self-publishing some games using Kickstarter for funding and I kept seeing these “Springboard Approved” games funding successfully. I emailed them and got a reply from Dan Yarrington to call him the following day. Dan left a meeting to take my call and we talked for over an hour about why we loved games. They looked through our portfolio and picked Ruse as a project they wanted to get involved with.
SS - Yep, what he said. Oh, I will add the Game Salute has been awesome and that it was wonderful to see Levi be able to concentrate on just designing great games and not suffer the headaches of production and distribution anymore.

At the end of the day, when all the games are back on the shelf, what matters most to you?
LM - Family, I think we all define what that word means to us in different ways. Games bring families together and if we can help do that even one night a week; I’m doing work I can be proud of.
SS - I second that notion, except I would add friends to the mix too. There is something about face-to-face interaction around a game table that just makes life better. Like Levi said, it brings our family together and we have met amazing people through sharing this hobby and in return have made some really great friends and made other friends into family. It’s incredible, really.

Ruse will be crowd-funded through Kickstarter; what would you say to a potential backer who may be on the fence right now?
LM - There are few things cooler than watching multiple generations play a game together and this game appeals to multiple generations.
SS - Get off the d**n fence and pledge already! We’ve play tested this game with hard-core gamers, people who hate games, even random people in airports! Everybody loves it and you will too. Do yourself a favor and get two or three copies, because someone’s going to “borrow” your copy and it’ll never come back. Yeah, it’s that good!

Now for our favorite feature of the interview: Answer the next questions with a single word or phrase! Your answers will speak for themselves!

Dr. Strangelove or Dr. Who?
LM - Dr. Doom
SS - Dr. Who

Who wins the fight, a Jawa or an Ewok?
LM - Jawa
SS - Ewok – they won the Battle of Endor!

Favorite artificial flavor?
LM - None!
SS - Blue Raspberry

Favorite viral video?
LM - Cat-Jump-Fail
SS - Gangnam Style (thanks kids!)

Frodo or Bilbo?
LM - Bilbo.
SS - Bilbo

We would like to thank Levi and Sarah for taking some time to chat with us about their upcoming game! You can check out their Kickstarter campaign here! Check back for a review soon!

As always, thanks for reading!

An Interview with Benoit Vogt - Designer of Mythic Battles

Benoit, this is my first international interview; thanks for agreeing to answer our questions!

You are welcome.

Tell us a little bit about life in Luxembourg, and what the gaming culture is like.

I've worked and lived in Luxembourg for 7 years. In Luxembourg people enjoy getting together after work to relax and have fun… So that's a great place for gaming.

How did you first discover gaming; what game got you hooked?

I discovered gaming with RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons, and then Magic: The Gathering. Then I started extensively playing board games such as Agricola.

Tell us what games you find yourself playing the most of late, and why.

I currently play games like Ascension, Zombicide and Quarriors. I enjoy these games because they are fast-paced and there are not a lot of rules to learn.

So what gave you the idea to design Mythic Battles, and how did you and Pay & Win Games come together to get it published?

I enjoy strategy and confrontation games. I designed Mythic Battles because, with my job and family life, I could no longer dedicate a lot of time to learning new games. In addition, most confrontation games require spending quite a lot of money to play them. So I had three goals with Mythic Battles: I wanted to deliver a real strategic game, with little impact of chance. It is easy to learn, and more accessible than games of the same category. Finally, for 40 euros you can afford a game with two complete armies.

What is it about Mythic Battles that makes it unique compared to other games of the same genre?

I think Mythic Battles is unique as it is a new kind of game: a BBB (Board Building Battle). The game takes place on a gridded board (Board) on which units move. There is a strong deck-building side because the constitution of armies is like building a game in Magic The Gathering (Building). Finally, it is a battle where strategy is a key element (Battle).

In Mythic Battles, are there defined roles for the armies…such as good guys and bad guys? Or are the lines between good and bad blurred, and less defined?

Mythic Battles features battles in Mythic Greece. In this world good guys are not so good and bad guys are not so bad… Clearly good and evil is blurred in Mythic Battles. Warriors are the gods’ toys--they don't really care about their lives…

Do you think today, in the real world, there are still good guys and bad guys? Or are those lines blurred?

The same way as Mythic Battles, I think these lines are blurred in reality.

Are there any other games you’re working on designing, or will you be focusing on expansions to Mythic Battles for now?

I am currently finalizing the first expansion of Mythic Battles to be released at the beginning of next year. I am also working on other projects. I will be able to tell you more about them when they will become more concrete. Hopefully it shouldn't take long.

The next set of questions are what we call the 1-Word Response questions. They only require one word (or phrase) responses. Aaaannd GO!

Favorite country you’ve visited?

USA

Favorite American cuisine?

Burger

Favorite day of the week?

Saturday

Have you ever jumped from an airplane?

No

Sausage or Bacon?

Bacon

We'd like to thank Benoit for taking some time to chat with us about Mythic Battles! You can order your copy of Mythic Battles through Iello games right here! 

What You Missed...

Well, we're not sure why it happened, but it was a record-breaking week here at Theology Of Games! And we couldn't have done it without you. (No, seriously. That's how it works.) Thanks for reading. Here's the week's wrap-up. First we told you about the 2nd Netrunner pack that's coming (we haven't even seen the first one!).

We reviewed that great, cheap, fun, and easily-found-at-Target game Spot It!

We gave you a bonus interview, with the folks behind the Extra Life benefit.

Then we interviewed the folks behind the upcoming deck-builder Pixel Lincoln—both Jason Tagmire and President Lincoln himself!

We gave you the news that Looney Labs is launching an iPhone version of their popular card game Fluxx.

This week's Kickstarter spotlight was We are Dead, a zombie game—from the zombies' perspective...

And finally, we revealed that the GenCon exclusive adventure in the Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is now available as a print-and-play deck.

Again, thanks so much for giving us a chance. We're doing everything we can to bring you fun, interesting, thoughtful, and useful posts regarding this crazy hobby of ours. Have a great weekend.

Hail to the Chief! An interview with Pixel Lincoln and Jason Tagmire

It is with great pleasure, and an extreme sense of patriotic pride, that we bring you this week's interview, with not only Jason Tagmire, designer of the Kickstarter smash hit "Pixel Lincoln," but today he's brought along his close personal friend the pixelated President himself, Pixel Lincoln!

Jason, Mr. President, thanks for taking a few minutes to answer some questions for us today. Jason, could you explain a little bit about how you approached the President about creating a card game based on his adventurous life?

JT: I didn’t at first. I saw his shiny face on a penny and decided to use it as a token in a prototype. Eventually that penny became the main character, and I had no other choice. I made a few phone calls, pulled a few strings, and the rest is history.

Mr. President, tell us about your first meeting with Jason.

PL: He came into my office with a prototype of his game, Pixel Lincoln. Now, this was not the deckbuilding game that we all know about. This was a terrible little card game where you roll a die and move a penny around the cards. I told him to give it another shot and we would talk about it.

Jason, so Pixel Lincoln is a deck-building, side-scrolling card game; how does that work? And what’s different about this deck-builder than the others out there?

JT: It’s deck-building in that all players start out with the same basic cards in their deck, and throughout the game the players will obtain new cards, making a better and better deck.

It’s side-scrolling in that you have a meeple that moves throughout the cards that are available, simulating a side-scrolling video game.

And it’s different in that it takes a very different approach to the style of game, and will probably be compared to Megaman before it’s compared to a game like Dominion or Ascension. I designed it to first and foremost feel like a video game. The cards that are available for purchase are only available for a certain amount of time before the screen scrolls, or they are purchased/defeated by other players. There are checkpoints and boss battles that come in after so much time passes. Players can switch between levels for a different experience, with completely different cards available.

Mr. President, can I call you Link? Nevermind... Did you sign off on the game, and if so, how historically accurate did you find the game play experience?

PL: The game is 100% accurate. This was the story of my life that I always wanted people to know, but the government is pretty good at covering things up. I signed off without hesitation, and I can’t wait for the truth to get out there.

Jason, you’ve been creating games for about 5 years now, which of your previous releases still holds a warm spot in your heart?

JT: Famous Missions. It’s a game where one player provides a mission (“Dismantle A Bomb”) and the other players choose their 3 best celebrities to complete that mission. Some celebrities may be helpful in these scenarios (Chuck Norris, Albert Einstein, Mr. T.) and others less so (Paris Hilton, Donald Trump, Carrot Top). After players choose their teams of three, they get to argue on their behalf, and the judging player chooses the best team for the job.

The game is always a good time, especially with a creative group. After a few years of self-publishing it, I listed it on Kickstarter in Sept 2011 and it failed miserably. There are a few reasons why, and I’ve learned so much since then, that it turned into a very positive experience for me. But as for Famous Missions, I’m not going to give up on it. It’s too much fun to forget about. Plus it was my second game with my good friend Lincoln in it.

Mr. President, do Mary and the boys know about the game? What do they think of your pixelated adventures? I bet the boys think it’s cool that you’re also going to be the star of a video game too!

PL: Shhhhhh. I haven’t told Mary yet. She is not a big fan of the video games. But the boys are very excited about it. Although you can’t get their hands off of Borderlands 2, they do love the classics. Battletoads is a big hit in our house. That level 3 is impossible!

Jason, speaking of the video game version: What format will it be available on? Am I going to have to break out my old NES system for it? (Because I will!)

JT: It was originally being developed for DS, which was as close to NES as we could get, but we’ve switched over to Steam. It will initially be PC and hopefully Mac will follow, because I do not have a PC and I want to play! If it’s successful, we can make the transition from Steam to PS3/Xbox 360 to 3DS.

This question is for both of you. What are your top 3 games right now?

JT:

Alien Frontiers Cosmic Encounter Battle Beyond Space

I guess I’m going through a space phase right now.

PL: Food Fight Junta: Viva El Presidente Chrononauts

Jason, outside of designing games what inspires you to “carpe diem”?

Definitely my family. My wife and I have a 4 year old daughter, and 2 year old twins, and they are all crazy. We’ll play and make games together, but more often we’ll just take off and see where we end up. It’s not unusual for us to drive 3 states away just to go to some silly little burger stand.

The next set of questions only requires a one word (or phrase) response!

Jason -

Favorite time travel movie? 12 Monkeys

Favorite snow creature: Wampa or Bumble? Wampa

Who wins in a fight: Iron Man or Hulk? HULK SMASH!

Best sandwich EVER? The Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh.

Favorite A-Team member? It’s hard to top Mr. T, but I do love B.A. Baracus.

Mr. President -

Favorite non-confederate state? New Jersey

Favorite Gilligan’s Island castaway? Thurston Howell III

Favorite vampire slayer? Simon Belmont

Favorite campaign slogan? Where’s The Beef?

Captain Kirk or Captain Picard? Captain Kirk

Thanks again for taking time to answer our questions! If you want to check out Pixel Lincoln the game you can visit their Web site right here! And while you're there you can pre-order your copy of Pixel Lincoln, which is due for release this year! Thanks again for reading!

Great Big Table - Extra Life Interview

Today we're giving you a bonus interview—this time with Adrienne Jones—about the Extra Life gaming marathon that benefits Children's Miracle Network hospitals.

Thanks for contacting us about this great benefit.

First take a minute and tell our readers what Great Big Table is all about.

Great Big Table is a board games podcast that focuses on the community side of board gaming. With social media input from listeners, we like to talk about topics such as finding or creating a game group, game elements that work well for specific audiences (kids, couples, non-gamers), building a game collection, and ways game groups can influence their larger communities.

Can you tell us a little more about the Extra Life organization? Is this your first year participating in this event?

Extra Life began in 2008 when the Sarastic Gamer video gaming community worked to honor Victoria Enmon, a high school sophomore with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In her memory, 1600 participants played 24 hours of games and raised $115,000 for Texas Children’s Cancer Center in 2008. In 2009, in an effort to help children’s hospitals worldwide, organizer Jeromy Adams left his radio broadcasting career to work for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. With this change, in 2010, donors were able to raise money for any Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. And they did, raising over $451,000 (more than doubling their 2009 donations).

Last year, Extra Life was played simultaneously on every continent but Antarctica, and raised $1.1 million for 175 children’s hospitals.

On the whole, Extra Life has been a video gaming movement, but that has been changing. Joining in 2010, Myriad Games, brick and mortar board game retailers in New Hampshire, were some of the earliest board gamers to champion the cause. Their podcast, Myriad Games Presentations, helped bring the cause to the attention of other board game podcasters as well as the larger board gaming community.

Organizer Jeromy Adams is happy to see the event spread to new communities and has been particularly interested in how it can translate to board gaming which is an inherently social activity.

Tell us your story, and why this event is so special to you.

Our inspiration to be part of Extra Life is an almost 2 year old dynamo who is presently wearing penguin jammies and sitting in my lap.

Our daughter’s life is inextricably tangled up in board gaming and Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana’s Children’s Miracle Network hospital.

Back in 2010, I was seven months pregnant and looking forward to a great gaming weekend with friends to celebrate Jim’s birthday. The pregnancy had been tough and we normally hosted game night, so our regular gaming with friends had been on hiatus for months.

Two weeks before the game marathon, and six weeks before the baby’s due date, my body started shutting down. With two of my organ systems failing, our baby girl was rushed into this world.

From her first day of life, a specialist from Riley assessed and cared for her even though we live four hours away from the hospital.

We were all very fortunate, and she was released from the NICU well before her original due date. Friends and family rallied to help us keep up with the basic needs of our older kids while adjusting to her additional feeding needs.  Jim’s coworkers sent us a care package and in the card many of them mentioned that they had missed him at the staff Christmas party where he usually ran the games.

Because of those comments, I suggested that Jim organize a weekly game group at work. He sent out an email, mostly to appease me, but people responded. Now, on Wednesdays, you can usually find a group gathering near the snack machines at his workplace to fight worldwide epidemic disease, build fiefdoms, race sled dogs, or manipulate the stock market in Jane Austen’s England.

Home life wasn’t entirely normal, but gaming made it more familiar and gave us non-medical things to talk about. When the baby reached 10 months, problems with her growth and development appeared. The baby and I headed to Riley Hospital in Indianapolis for tests and answers.

It’s pretty overwhelming to realize that your child has medical needs that are larger than average. It’s hard to stay in a hospital room hours from home. Yet Riley’s very architecture resonates with the goodwill of friends and strangers. There I saw such unconditional generosity toward all children. It seemed as if the entire state was rallying behind these kids and their families as they faced individual health challenges.

We got her growth back on track that week, but we also learned that she would need cranial reconstruction surgery.  Around this time, we started a monthly game night at our church in addition to the weekly game group Jim had been running at work.  It seemed like a service we could offer to a community in economic downturn.  We definitely realized the value of getting away from difficult everyday concerns.

In February, during her 8 hour surgery, we played Lost Cities to keep from losing our minds between updates about the surgery’s progress.  Again, we were overwhelmed with the community spirit of Riley.  Our daughter ended up needing 2 units of blood (total replacement for her body weight), so even the blood in her veins was a gift from strangers.  Being given something so basic and life-sustaining impacted us all deeply.  We wanted to give back.

In 2011 Jim had heard a Game On! with John & Cody podcast episode about participating in Myriad Games’ Extra Life event.  Though I had no idea even during the surgery, Jim was already making plans for an Extra Life event at our church.

Our local community (including those great work and church gaming groups) welcomed us back home with more than enough meals for a month.  Before we’d eaten even half of the meals, Jim had laid the groundwork for this event.

We really view this as the building year for an annual event.  Because our group has many families with young children involved, a continuous 24 hour marathon seemed impossible.  Jim adapted it to be a three day event launching with our regular monthly game night.

How many people are on your team?

Technically, one at this point. Jim set up the team for the church’s game group, so I’m (presently) the captain and only member of Team Great Big Table. St. Peter’s Game Night Team is a partner to Great Big Table, so our number of registered participants is six when you include them both.

We have heard from many online friends, like Chris Norwood of GamerChris.com, mention that they are starting their own teams or joining a local event.  From our standpoint, that’s even better than joining our team because a local focus may help people gain more momentum.  We’re just happy people are joining and participating in the event.

But should anyone want to join a team, there’s always room for more folks at Great Big Table. Actually, that’s even where the podcast name comes from, the idea that we always have room for another chair at our gaming table.

The weekend event will also involve donors as well as registered players.  We’ve set aside some hours for kids’ games and some for classic card games, and we know that people will come play and will make donations at the event.  For those who don’t want to donate online, the church is accepting cash and checks and issuing receipts so in-person donations can also be tax deductible (like the online giving).  With our community, online giving may not be as appealing as in-person donations, so we wanted to offer ample opportunity to give.

What game(s) will team Great Big Table be playing during the marathon, and why?

As with our game nights, the community will share many of the games.  We have a church games library of about 30 donated games ranging from Bananagrams to Liar’s Dice to Risk to Tsuro.

Favorite games that regularly make a game night appearances are Lords of Waterdeep, Kill Dr. Lucky, Eleminis, Carnival, Hike, Can’t Stop, Alien Frontiers, Sorry Sliders, Zooloretto, Word on the Street, Dixit, Wits & Wagers, Forbidden Island, Apples to Apples, Castle Panic, and the Resistance.

Our family game closet has a lot of Euro, strategy, cooperative, kids’ and party games, and I think there is a similar composition to the game night selection.

Because we really want a lot of people playing during the event (to keep the registered participants company), we’re sure to have traditional card favorites like Clabber (a local card game similar to Euchre) and cribbage and plenty of kids’ and party games.

We hope that anyone will be able to find a game that interests them when they visit.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, and best of luck in reaching your goal!

The event is October 20th. For more information, check out the Web site here. And if you'd like to support team Great Big Table, you can find their team page here. Thanks for reading!

We Interview Jesse Catron—Designer of Salmon Run

Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions. Can you tell us a little about yourself?  Sure, I’m 35 years old and I live in Maryland with my wonderful wife and our 6 dogs.  I‘m an Optometrist by profession; my hobby is board gaming, and my passion is board game design. Your new game Salmon Run is a combination race game and deck-building game. What gave you the idea to combine those two types of games? Salmon Run was very much a theme-first design. The theme led me to develop it as a racing game.  The salmon would race each other upriver to spawn. The long and grueling nature of the salmon's journey upriver led me to develop the fatigue mechanic. Being more of a marathon than a sprint, I wanted to emulate the struggle the salmon endure and reward pacing. Having fatigue cards accumulate in each player's deck to slow them down by the end of the race seemed natural.  Having “rest” areas where players could remove fatigue also seemed logical. Since the movement (swim) deck was dynamic and changed over the course of the race, I layered in the other special cards that could be added along the way. This greatly enhanced the experience, allowing for more deck specialization and more player interaction.

What’s your favorite race game, and why? Not including my own, I have always been fond of Wolfgang Kramer’s racing system which includes Daytona 500, Top Race, Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix. I really enjoy its simplicity and accessibility, its pre-race auction, and its card-driven movement. The dichotomy of controlling both your car(s) and your opponents is fascinating and makes for some interesting decisions and some light diplomacy.

What’s your favorite deck-building game, and why? I must preface my response by saying there are many DBGs I have yet to play, so my experience is limited. That being said, I will have to stay with the original: Dominion. Often imitated and enhanced, the simplicity and genius of the design still shines through. It's fast and accessible, with multiple strategies and great replayability.

How did you first discover Euro board games? I grew up playing a lot of board games like Risk, Monopoly, Axis and Allies, and the original Survive! Later on I got into collectible card games like Star Wars and the Star Trek CCG. Games were always an interest of mine and I never really stopped playing them. One year my brother bought me the Settlers of Catan for Christmas. Perhaps it was its dry theme but it sat on my self for about a year while I continued stupidly pouring money into CCGs. Eventually I played it and became hooked, and began to expand into other euro games.  Though it's not perfect, Settlers remains the game I've played the most and I still very much enjoy playing it when I can.

Who is your favorite game designer, and which of that designer’s games is your favorite? This is a very tough question to answer!  There are many designers that I respect and admire, and the reality is I have yet to play enough of their games to form a valid opinion. A few that come to mind are Wolfgang Kramer, Michael Schacht, Antoine Bauza, and Stefan Feld. However, at this time, my favorite is Martin Wallace. I enjoy his unforgiving economic mechanics and historical themes. I admire his innovative use of deck-building in a war game in A Few Acres of Snow (despite its flaws). My favorite game of his is Steam. Steam melds many mechanics together in a very smooth and refined package while keeping in track with its theme. 

One-word Response Questions:

Creamy or crunchy? Crunchy

Burger topping? BBQ-sauce

Favorite musician/band? (This can be more than one word, as necessary.) The Beatles

Trek or Wars? Wars

Batman or Superman? Batman

Thanks to Jesse for taking the time to answer our questions. Now go check out his Kickstarter campaign, Salmon Run! And as always, thanks for reading.

When We Last Left Our Heroes...

Well it certainly has been a busy week for us here at TOG! We've had lots of exciting news, an interview, and we've got a TON of stuff in the works behind the scenes! We started the week off with a few deep thoughts about the LARP community.

Stay on Target... Or at least go to Target to grab some new titles or a few clearance gems!

We also learned a little more about the wine making community in an interview with Viticulture designer Jamie Stegmiaer.

Thursday we kicked off a new weekly feature: Kickstarter Weekly with news about the Purge: Sins of Science Kickstarter campaign.

And we brought you a heads up of the Halloween Freighters add-on for Ticket to Ride.

We are always so glad to have your support, and thank you as always for joining us for another week here at TOG! The next few weeks will be chock full of game reviews, a TON of interviews, Kickstarter info, and of course up-to-the-minute news from around the gaming community!

An Interview with Jamey Stegmaier—Designer of Viticulture

Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us, Jamey. Could you tell us a little about yourself? I’m the co-founder of Stonemaier Games in St. Louis, along with my friend Alan Stone. I LOVE board games—I’ve been playing and designing board games since I was 8 years old (I’m a haggard, weather-worn 31 now). I’m an avid reader and writer; I play soccer, and I have two cats that keep me on my toes. They were not helpful in creating Viticulture.

What was your inspiration for creating your new game Viticulture?

A few factors played into the inspiration for creating Viticulture. I had a few key mechanics that I wanted to use in a game, and I was fascinated by both the romanticism and complexity of running a vineyard. So I combined the two into a vineyard in a box.

Would someone who didn’t like wine still find something to love about your game?

Oh, definitely. At heart, this is a worker-placement game with some hand management and production optimizing, so if you enjoy those mechanics... I also think that regardless of your interest in wine, people who enjoy the following elements of gaming will really enjoy Viticulture:

1. Scalability: Viticulture is a 2-6 person game. Depending on the number of players, different numbers of worker placement spots on the game board are available. Thus the game feels the same whether you’re playing with 2 players or a larger group.
2. Conflict Without Hostility: I designed the game so that people would walk away feeling elated, not frustrated. Thus you can’t block people in Viticulture unless you can actually take the action you’re claiming. There is conflict—after all, there are a limited number of spots on the board—but no hostility.
3. Flow: Have you ever played a game where you have to wait 10 minutes with nothing to do before it’s your turn? Viticulture is not one of those games. Players place workers one at a time (not all workers for one player, then all for the next), so you have a constant stream of choices to make.

Not really a question, but I’ve never seen a money-back guarantee on a Kickstarter board game before. That’s a great idea!

Thanks! My backers are placing their trust in me to create a great game (and they’re pledging funds so that my game can be a reality), so I want to reciprocate their trust and generosity by offering their money back if they return the game within a month of receiving it. It’s my way of standing behind the Viticulture experience I’m creating.

I noticed that 3 of your top 5 games are worker placement games. Do you like any other type of games or game mechanisms? Which ones?

Sure, definitely. Dominion (deckbuilding) is high on that list, as is Ra (auctioning). I also enjoy games that feature drafting, and I love the idea behind tile-placement games (but have yet to find one that completely fulfills what I want—I might have to design it myself).

What was your gateway game?

There have been a number of gateway games in my life, each to a new level of gaming. I’d say that the biggest gateways were chess, then Risk, then Settlers of Catan, then Agricola. And lots in between. I feel like every innovative game opens a new gate.

One-Word Answers:

Buffy or Angel?

Buffy

Coffee: Iced, hot, or neither?

Neither (I drink the occasional Frappucino, but that’s it)

Favorite author?

I’m an avid reader in a variety of genres, so this question is near impossible to answer. I’ll say that my favorite author right now is Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One.

Favorite place you’ve visited?

Man, you want a one-word answer for this? So many amazing places out there! I’m trying to decide between Stonehenge or Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. Stonehenge has been around for thousands of years, so it’s not going anywhere. Thus I’ll say Fallingwater, because it probably won’t last nearly as long.

The judges have decided to deduct 5 points for not keeping your answers to only one word. Nevertheless, thanks again for answering our questions!

Thank you! Your blog is one of the first gaming blogs I started reading, so it’s an honor to participate in an interview as a designer here.

Make sure you hit up Jamey's Kickstarter campaign for Viticulture. There are only four days left! And thanks for reading!