Over The Tabletop

We got out and saw some stuff and now we're back! This week, we discuss a local game con, the Boston Festival of Indie Games. It's a great way to try out some new games and games in development, including Phoenix Covenant, Visitor in Blackwood Grove, Druid Dice, Adventures of the Cimmerian Forest, Pinball Showdown and more! It's also a great opportunity for us to test out our editing skills after some really bizarre tangents. Join us!

This week, we take our drift compatibility out for a spin with Zothren Invasion, a semi-cooperative card game that pits pieces of giant robots against somewhat reptilian alien invaders! Aw, darn, we didn't discuss the movie Alien Invaders. We do, however, chat about Pacific Rim, the genesis of Erin's love of square dancing, and why sometimes house rules are necessary in gaming.

This week, we're rolling them stones, wood, and possibly house-themed dice with Castle Dice! It's more commonly known around the Over the Tabletop royal court as one of the few resource management games James enjoys. Join us as we discuss some quality castle movies (Bitchy Paul Giamatti in Ironclad!), make up some inappropriate parody songs about college football, and score a hat trick of cursewords!

We return to our regularly scheduled program of editing the more ribald of our game commentary with The Twelve Doctors, an obscure print-and-play game that we both enjoy, despite Erin being terrifically bad at it. Join us as we discuss our favorite Doctors, come up with a stunning array of synonyms for boners, and offer up some stern words for avocado toast fans!

We'll be honest, friends, we go a little off the rails (primarily in good ways) in this mostly-unedited episode as we find ourselves playing a game that's entertaining in lots of ways and also not in a few key other ways. Thrill to James' tight five on eliptony and Erin's childhood misunderstandings of classic horror movies! 

This week, rather than playing a game, we bring you our tried-and-true advice for having a .... well-rounded experience at GenCon, the nation's premier gaming convention, which kicks off its 50th event this week in Indianapolis. Over the Tabletop knows gaming AND knows Indianapolis. so listen up as we give you all the tips that are fit to print and the ones that aren't, including proper photo etiquette, curiously detailed commentary on where and how to imbibe your favorite gaming spirits, and why Erin feels no one should wear costumes with wings, ever.

We flex our head-to-head fighting muscles this week with Exceed from Level 99 Games, a great game that always does exactly what you might think to our expectations! We also discuss one of our favorite kickpunching movie stars, Scott Adkins, and debate exactly how many Universal Soldier movies one really needs to watch to understand the mythos. We also select winners of our custom dice bag contest! Spoiler alert, everyone wins!

It's a combat for the ages .... mostly between Solstice and Erin's unattended feet, as we dive into Ophidian 2360, a futuristic gladiatorial card game! Join us in our game ludus as we discuss our fervent love for TV shows about gladiators including 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' and James calls for challengers on a particularly controversial pop culture topic.

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! Join us for some arts 'n' Lovecrafts as we flee toward the eminently speakable enjoyment of Lost in R'lyeh, an Uno-esque card game from Atlas Games. Will Erin rise from the deep by actually winning a game? WHO CAN SAY?

Join us as we weave a rich tapestry of words, as our heroes find love, get scorned .... and lost ... and otherwise embattled in a run through Z-Man Games' "Tales of the Arabian Nights!" Apart from a few valid questions about dated terminology, we quite love this game, win or lose. Mostly lose. But it's all about the journey!

James hates word games, but he's making an exception (it's my birthday!). See what happens when we discuss Word Domination, Scrabble, and a few other games that scratch our particular linguistic itch!

To the victor go The Spoils .... and also a fair bit of profanity, be forewarned. We just enjoy this game so effing much, that's our excuse for all the "violent and voluptuous" language contained herein. Oh, oh, oh, it's not Magic, you know!

This week, we delve into America's pastime with Strat-O-Matic Baseball, a precursor to fantasy sports and a game with tons of replayability, even if you're lukewarm on baseball! James plays a curious number of baseball-related games for someone who doesn't like baseball and Solstice joins the show to bite Erin, probably in retaliation for some terrible jokes.

Over the Tabletop goes Into the Echoside, as we play an Insane Clown Posse/Juggalo-themed deckbuilder and .... we actually like it? Grab some Faygo and join us as we reveal ourselves to be evil-clowns-in-pop-culture partisans, discuss deckbuilder mechanics, and extol the virtues of Gwar. Apologies for street noise, it was way too hot to shut the windows!

Go on, we dare you! This week, we play several press-your-luck style games including Meow, Luchador, Batman: The Animated Series dice game, Cosmic Wimpout and more! I'm not trying to be coy; I just don't remember if that's all of them. Taped sur la terrain in Montreal, we also debate the platonic ideal of The Joker and definitely do not sing any Steve Miller Band songs.

This week, we attempt to crack the case of why Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper is such a darn good game -- and if it hadn't been for that meddling James, Erin totally would have won. Other topics include fun tourism and pop culture tie-ins and a few harmless but creepy observations.

Join us as we discuss Legends of Wrestling, a delightful dice game made by Filsinger Games that we feel really captures the spirited back-and-forth of professional wrestling. Minus all the sweat. Well, there's some sweat, we do play with gusto. And, as promised, James in his Shinsuke Nakamura-esque red jacket.

Join us in our inaugural episode of Over the Tabletop(!) as we play a game of Epic, an offering from White Wizard Games and one that promises "mythic battles." This round certainly inspires some playful animosity. In this episode, we learn that Erin thinks possibly only one half-step ahead at all times and James is ... slightly craftier than that. Like what you hear? Email us at overthetabletoppodcast@gmail.com and we'll get back to you as long as Erin remembers the login credentials. Art credits for Over the Tabletop go to Joshua Hollis, who patiently listened to descriptions of Solstice the Cat in crafting the wonderful logo and banner.