Episode 156 – The Episode That Almost Wasn’t

Between your hosts either getting knock-out sick or being scheduled to the hilt, we had to come up with an alternate plan for this newest episode of Game Store Prophets. So while I do tell you about the games I’ve been playing – namely Guild Ball and a solo RPG called Quill – this episode is dedicated to answering questions sent in by the community.

If you want to see episodes like this in the future with a bit more planning that includes all three of the hosts – be sure to leave us a comment and let us know. I know I had fun doing this one.

Bonus Content – Mike @ GameChurch Academy East

Just a few short weeks ago I was hanging out with folks in Whippany, New Jersey to talk about tabletop gaming and it’s powerful place in ministry contexts. My topic was what I referred to as ‘incarnational gaming’ – aka how online gaming is great, but nothing beats sharing physical space with those you play with.

In that context, it makes sense that I can’t share all of the audio from the weekend, because the folks at GameChurch (as well as those of us at InnRoads) want you to be there. However, I got special permission to share the audio of my session with our listeners.

If you missed out and either live on the West Coast of North America or don’t mind epic road trips – GameChurch Academy West is happening later this year, and you can find information on their site. Otherwise, be planning on joining us on the East Coast next year!

Episode 155 – Tired of Explaining Ourselves

Coming off of not one, but two major events – GameChurch’s Academy East conference and the third annual Tavern Con – Daniel and I sit down to talk about some things. Daniel talks about playing Carrotia with his kids, and seeing them plan out deeper strategies in a simple game.I talk about playing Scythe, and how it has now officially claimed my #1 spot in the collection – as well as talking about what happened at the events and how I even took a shot at painting miniatures.

But all of this work is tiring – especially in a ministry where so much of what we have to do is dedicated to explaining to people that this is ministry and not just a social club for Christian gamers. When you have to throw yourself into relationships constantly wondering if you’re doing any good at all. It is always encouraging to be with those who know exactly what that feels like.

If you’re not in the tavern, you can find us HERE.

Episode 154 – Almost Live from GameChurch’s Academy East

I let Jeff, and Daniel take a pass this week as I got to hang out with the folks from GameChurch at their conference called Academy East. This is the first time that they’ve held it out here, and I was honored when they asked me to speak at the very first session of the event.

Episode 153 – The Natural

Daniel has a “Come to Jesus” meeting where he admits that he played Phase 10 and Uno and doesn’t like the Dark Souls Video game, and I talk about the games I somehow managed to squeeze into a very busy week. We also talk Dark Souls (the board game), Paperback, Patchwork, and finally getting to try Seafall! Talking about piratey goodness, we then move into talking about The No Preaching Rule and how you don’t need manufactured talking points about a subject you’re passionate about. It’ll just happen.

There’s still a little time left if you are interested in coming to hear me speak at GameChurch’s Academy East. And more than enough time to plan on coming out to our annual fundraiser called Tavern Con the following weekend.

Episode 152 – A Completely Different Page

Daniel and I start off this episode talking about International Tabletop Day – bringing up his son’s first board game purchase, my opportunity to get a new game to table, and some of what made ITTD great this year. As such, a facebook post with a number of confused comments from other gamers that didn’t even know that International Tabletop Day was a thing reminded us that you can’t just assume that everyone is on the same page.

We reference a couple things in this episode:
The Kotaku article featuring the folks at the Bodhana Group.
Our bonus content interview episode with Geoff Engelstein

Bonus Content – Geoff Engelstein

The board gaming community is great for a number of reasons. One of them is that all sorts of people that are big names in the industry are often also incredibly approachable and kind. So when I discovered that Geoff Engelstein, designer of games like Space Cadets, Fog of War, and Dragon & Flagon to name just a few, lived within a short drive of me, I knew I had to get him on the show. After a criminally over-long stretch of time, I finally got that interview scheduled and recorded to share with you folks.

In this episode of bonus content – we talk about the board game community, game design, and some of Geoff’s upcoming titles.

Hope Is Important

We’d like to congratulate the Fishers on the birth of their newest little gamer, but that means that Daniel is too busy on daddy-duty to come out and record with us. He did, however, jump on to the beginning of the episode to remind us about his contest to give away a set of dice of the winner’s choice. Get your entries in by April 30th for your chance to win.

That said, Jeff and I are still going strong talking about exchanging games that don’t make it to table to get excited about new stuff, Onirim coming out in app form, and talking about our upcoming game of The Sprawl leads to a discussion of dystopia and the transformative nature of hope.

Episode 150 – Changing Our Methodology

In this, sadly Romo-less episode, Daniel talks about how his daughter and her crew are just two cool to play something mainstream like D&D 5e. We spill a thousand thank yous for the person who made it so that Daniel and I will both be getting our grubby hands on Rising Sun in 2018, and I talk about how playing the Lanterns digital board game app with Suze made me question my approach to gaming from trying to get her so excited about games that she’ll up and become a gamer in her own right, to figuring out why she’s playing and enjoy my time with her.

Episode 149 – Losing Well

In this episode, we talk about some games that our friend and InnRoads site contributor T.R. Knight sent Daniel, talk about Universal Rule from Chip Beauvais and the folks at Button Shy Games, briefly touch on the upcoming Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn War Within event and upcoming expansion plans, and an RPG kickstarter with plenty of time left if you’d like to back it called Noir World – a game based on the Apocalypse World system.

We also use a story from Daniel’s game night about kids cheating at One Night Ultimate Werewolf to talk about the concept of learning how to lose well. Winning doesn’t teach us anything – it’s just executing what you already know. Losing is how we learn and develop new skills/strategies.