The Vintage Gamer: Recent Episodes
James M. Van Verth
At long last, the annual Origins episode of The Vintage Gamer. As this is the third year, this officially makes it a cherished tradition. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) there was no podcasters panel so instead I went around and did some interviews at some of the small press booths. A big “Thank You” to all […]
Oh my stars and garters, it’s another Vintage Gamer! This time I cover the 80s conspiracy game, Illuminati. Lie to your friends, stab them in the back, all to take over the world (sounds like Diplomacy — or a bizarre version of Lifeboats). All this, plus some Vintage Gamer news and feedback! Show Notes: I’m […]
And so The Vintage Gamer returns to its regular yet irregular schedule. In this show I spend over an hour talking about one of my secret loves: chess variants. I talk about games of the past, games from other countries, and some other unusual variants. (and this barely scratches the surface). In addition, our new […]
The Vintage Gamer begins its triumphant return with a special interview episode with the Tic-Tac-Toe Champion of the World. If that’s not enough, we have a new sponsor! And the usual intro and outro music. So yes, it’s a chock-full episode. Show Notes: Intro Interview Closing Links: Tic-Tac-Toe Uncyclopedia entry Final thoughts: Real show in […]
Back from the abyss with an actual game review show. This time I talk about the darkly humorous game Nuclear War, designed by Doug Malewicki and published by Flying Buffalo, Inc. I also cover what’s been happening with me over the past few months, discuss some recent gaming news (vintage and otherwise), and talk about […]
It being the second year in a row, I now present the traditional recording of the gaming podcasters panel. The panel this year was organized by Scott Nicholson, and featured board game podcasters. Sorry about the delay on this — I used two recorders to get full coverage of the panel so there was some […]
After an even longer hiatus, I’m back — at least for the moment. This week I have an interview from GDC 2007 with another gaming luminary, Eric Goldberg of Crossover Technologies. We talked for forty-five minutes about his history in the gaming industry — covering wargames, tabletop RPGs, boardgames and briefly about his later work […]
After a long hiatus, I’m back. This week I have an interview from GDC 2007 with gaming luminary Greg Costikyan of Manifesto Games. We talked for half an hour about his history in the gaming industry — covering wargames, tabletop RPGs, and his later work in online and independent digital games. Show Notes: Apologies for […]
Back to board games with this episode, where I do double-coverage by talking about both another paragraph-based game and another Eric Goldberg game. The game is Tales of the Arabian Nights, originally published by West End Games in 1985 and republished and revised by Edition Erlkonig in 1999. In this one, you and the other […]
As it’s been a while since I’ve done a pure computer game, I decided to do another blast from the Macintosh past. This time the game is The Fool’s Errand, designed and created by Cliff Johnson, and originally published by Miles Computing. It’s a puzzle game that should hopefully appeal to you pencil puzzlers out […]
Finally I return to games that most would consider “vintage,” this one being both 20 years old and out of print. The game this week is Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, a paragraph-based deduction game from Sleuth Publications. I also talk a little bit about the Politika pair of shows, and the continuing Politika board game […]
This month is the 10-year anniversary of the founding of Red Storm Entertainment. As a commemoration, I’m doing a two-parter [go here for Part 1] on my experience as lead designer on Tom Clancy’s Politika. Not a well-rated or beloved game by any stretch, but I thought that relating our experience would help any aspiring […]
This month is the 10-year anniversary of the founding of Red Storm Entertainment. As a commemoration, I’m doing a two-parter [go here for Part 2] on my experience as lead designer on Tom Clancy’s Politika. Not a well-rated or beloved game by any stretch, but I thought that relating our experience would help any aspiring […]
And right on the heels of the last episode, a Halloween-themed show, where I cover some vintage board and card games with horror themes. Show Notes: Theme Music: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J.S. Bach, performed by James Clarke Intro Arkham Horror (and Curse of the Dark Pharoah and Dunwich Horror) (The) Fury […]
This week on The Vintage Gamer, I cover one of the few threats to Dungeons and Dragons in the fantasy role-playing game market — and one of my favorite RPGs from my past: DragonQuest. Show Notes: Intro New website! Sound issues solved Thanks to BoardGameSpeak Domain of Apokolipz format change New podcast: The Square One […]
This week on The Vintage Gamer, I do reviews of three books about games — one about history, one about art, and one about business: The Oxford History of Board Games, by David Parlett Asian Games: The Art of Contest, edited by Colin Mackenzie and Irving Finkel The Game Makers, by Philip Orbanes Show Notes: […]
This week, the monster movie game The Awful Green Things from Outer Space. So grab some popcorn and a big orange drink and settle in for a good old fashioned tale of horror. Show Notes: Intro The Return of Van Overbay Listen to Random Signal! Game theme and flavor Monster turn Crew turn Strategy Variants […]
A few days late, but better late than never. This week I give an overview of my time at Dragon*Con (promoting a lot of other podcasts in the process: I expect compensation) and follow up with a quick review of the 1997 — or is it 1999? — board game Moonshot. Show Notes: Intro Goin’ […]
This week, I cover Pente, the game of capturing and five in a row, as well as a number of other traditional five in a row games. I also talk a bit about DragonCon and review some listener feedback. Show Notes: Intro News – DragonCon gaming panels News – Lancelot Biggs: Spaceman at Dragon*Con News […]
This week, I am joined in the studio by my lovely podcasting wife Mur, of Geek Fu Action Grip, I Should Be Writing and Pseudopod. We discuss the Empire Builder series of games from Mayfair Games, as well as drift into some other random topics. Show Notes: 0:00 – Intro 0:22 – News 3:48 – […]
This week on The Vintage Gamer, there is a distinctly non-vintage theme as I review or give impressions of many of the games I saw at Origins. A bit late in coming, but hopefully still appreciated. Start your timers as I cover 14 games in about half an hour… Show Notes (and links to Board […]
My Origins report show is coming soon, but until then, enjoy this recording that I made of the Saturday podcasting panel, organized by Paul Tevis. The panelists were: Paul Tevis (Have Games, Will Travel) Mike Sugarbaker (OgreCave Audio Report) The Mad Three (Gamer: The Podcasting) Don Dehm (Pulp Gamer) Yours truly Tom Vasel (The Dice […]
This week, it’s the World War I flying ace game from Nova Games, Ace of Aces. Fly gracefully through the air with your buddies as one of those amazing young pilots in their flying machines — and then shoot them down to buy the farm below. Show notes: Intro Look for Paul Tevis, Tom Vasel […]
This week, Dani Bunten Berry’s M.U.L.E, a multiplayer classic of the 1980s computer game era. Develop, trade, consume, make a buck and crush your friends! All this and a nifty musical theme… Show notes: Intro Hello to all the people I saw at Balticon (Geek Fu Action Grip, Random Signal, Escape Pod, The Survival Guide […]
This week, the classic game of mergers and acquisitions: Sid Sackson’s Acquire. So take a break from your ticker tape, or cancel your plans to defenestrate, and give a listen. Show notes: Intro Gamebooks on All Games Considered 2300 A.D. on Godzilla Gaming Podcast Help save Palladium! Game description Variants Publication History Tentative Strategy Session […]
This week, both The Fury of Dracula and Fury of Dracula, the horror hunt game from Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight. Pull up a comfy chair, it’s a long one. Because of that, I’ve added times to the show notes so you can skip around a bit, if you want. Show notes: (00:00) – News […]
This week, the paragraph-based solitaire game Barbarian Prince. If that’s not enough of a mouthful, it’s also a Dwarfstar game. Sorry about the delay on this one. Show notes: Any GDC feedback? Cooperative Diplomacy AI Promo! Podcasting track at Dragon*Con Die Macher reprint Barbarian Prince actions Sample game Thoughts on Barbarian Prince Feedback from Episode […]
More from the Game Developer’s Conference in San Jose, California. This covers the remainder of the conference, focusing mainly on the MMBG I mentioned earlier and the game developer’s rant. As before, it’s presented raw and wrrrriggling. Update: added pictures to my Flickr account. Show notes: RPG notables in passing The world’s largest Monopoly board […]
This week I’m at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Jose, California. Schmoozing and learning are on the schedule this week (yes, in that order), but I’m taking a little time out to do a few podcasts. This one is mainly about the first three and half days of the conference. There is a little […]
This week, the espionage roleplaying game Top Secret. Pick your cover carefully, and don’t forget your watch with the sawblade. Show notes: A song of spring and iTunes Basic character creation Common gameplay: shooting, fighting, obtaining information Brief coverage of Top Secret/SI Thoughts on Top Secret today Next time: GDC reports Top Secret Links: Wikipedia […]