It Came From the Tabletop! Podcast - The Bloody Inn and Starship Samurai

I love mechs. Like, a lot. I haven't played Starship Samurai because I can't fucking read that board state. The lack of colored bases or any kind of identifier from one hunk of plastic to the next is a huge pain in the ass.

I also have serious trust issues with Plaid Hat right now. Would like to play it eventually, but I feel like other people have already completely written it off so it'd probably mean I'd have to buy it, and ehhhhhhhh.

I'd just like to say this this, this, was a tour de force of an episode. Remarkable. Imagine how good it would have been if you had been stoned as well. Food for thought.

On a more sober note, I think this is filling a niche in the podcasting landscape that I don't see other places. You're riffing on the nature of games and the nature of gaming, and in this episode in particular you had Tuchman moments where you paused the main topic of conversation to speak to the broader subject matter. There is nothing in the Dice Tower network that is even attempting this, at least not from what I've heard. The other main-line podcasts don't do it either, though a couple of them attempt to. Here's hoping you get a few listeners with it.

I had not heard anything on either of the two featured games though I had see Bloody Inn at the store and thought it looked like a shitty Kickstarter game. Turns out it's French instead. I don't mind that I haven't heard of either title. In fact that's sort of refreshing, especially when you take the time necessary to describe the feel of the play. Bloody Inn is a game I have interest in now.

So here's the question on it that I'll throw to anyone that has played -- does it call for larger-than-life players to ham it up with funny accents and quips on how the narrative is unfolding? At one point during my drive to work with you in my headphones I found myself thinking "there's a dead body propped up in the passenger seat and the cop just told both of us to get out of the car." Some games encourage that sort of diversion with their mechanical aspects, others don't. I can't decide if Bloody Inn is one of them. At first I thought yes, then as you proceeded the game sounded more mechanically-oriented.

Bloody Inn is a dense, tense, thinky game, where players will be sitting silently studying their hand and puzzling over the board state trying to figure out WTH they are going to do - and then someone will blurt out something like - "Okay, if you can bribe the cop, I'll can kill the dwarf" or "How many dead bodies do you have?"

So hamming it up or speaking in funny accents isn't where the humor comes from.

The natural dialog when playing the game makes me feel like I am in a really odd movie. Also, as Al and Josh mentioned, you definitely will get to point where you feel like you have seriously gotten in over your head, and you will panic and do something stupid that you will regret.

Another excellent episode, and what this podcast is doing for me that I've found few other podcasts doing is talking about actually playing games. Not what the rules are or how "deliciously complex" the choices are, but what happens for you and the other players while you are playing.

I don't care about the elegance of a design unless it noticeably affects how it feels to play it. I don't care about the coolest looking component unless something about it makes a difference in it being there other than "I am looking at this thing instead of a different thing". You guys aren't trying to sell me a game or even get me to try it, you're describing the experience, how the game delivered it, and how it was to play. That's what I want out of something like this.

You mention the community here and it's the same thing that keeps me coming back. I don't want to talk about buying or owning or anticipating games, I want to hear about playing them in a way beyond just checking them off a "played that!" list.

I think Legomancer's post is basically like the core value of TWBG vs. other sites (in all facets).

Thanks everyone! Words can’t describe how happy I am that you like what we’re doing. I’ve been podcasting for years and no show has given me the satisfaction this one has. You guys get it.

Haven’t listened yet, but anything getting the word out about how cool Bloody Inn is, gets a thumbs up from me.