379 thoughts on “Tabletop, Kingdom Builder, and Screwing Up the Rules”

1. Tabletop is one of the main reasons I got into G&S and have purchased most of the tabletop games that I now own. You’re doing an amazing job despite the setbacks and you’ve consistently owned up to those moments when the rules have been misunderstood/altered/however you want to phrase it. Because of that, I haven’t once felt as if you’ve let me down in any way, shape or form. Keep up the good work and I look forward to a Season 4 (it better happen, I’ll be sad otherwise. You don’t want to see me sad)

   Plus, I’m pretty sure I’ve never actually played a single tabletop game correctly. And any time I play with my parents, at some point my father will start making up his own game. So, I’m pretty sure you’re doing just fine. We’re all used to it in some way.

   ALL MY LOVE, WIL.

2. I appreciate that you are taking ownership. But it’s a bit unprofessional to throw that producer under the bus so publicly.

   1. I have to agree that doing this sort of thing to the producer is pretty harsh since unless they’re going to be replaced, which seems to be a big possibility in on itself, this could brew drama in the future behind the scenes.

      That said — I’m glad that Will is also taking a share of the blame for the confusion that’s been going around this show and I do hope there’s another season of TableTop.

   2. I was thinking the exact same thing. I was expecting Wil to say, guess what? I was that producer!
      You do not publicly point fingers at someone (especially if your job is to make sure they do their jobs)

   3. To be fair the producer through Wil under the bus with there incompetance. Also Wil didn’t name names. The onscreen talant is the face of the show so they get the blame regardless if it is correct or not.

   4. He doesn’t name the producer, so while the team probably knows who it is, the public at large doesn’t…

      1. We will know sooner than later…

   5. I agree, especially as the earlier statement…

      “I don’t know if this producer was careless, overwhelmed, didn’t care as deeply as previous seasons, or just didn’t do the same amount of preparation that was done for the first two seasons.”

      …is answered just a few lines down with…

      “I spent my time and my energy on other aspects of production, instead of diligently reviewing the rules before every game like I’d done the first two seasons”

      There’s a good chance the producer didn’t do anything different, just that Wil caught things himself more often. If there’s a thing that you can pin-point as being different between seasons 1-2 & 3 then it’s probably that.

      It seems to boil down to misplaced assumptions and expectations, which should probably have been caught before it ever got to becoming public like this. Also I think there’s a better was to handle “I don’t know”.

   6. It’s not “taking ownership” if you’re passing the buck.

      I concur – it’s super unprofessional. Do you know play the board games yourself before you do it on camera Wil?

3. Despite the rule issues this season, Tabletop remains my favorite show on the internet (although it may soon be surpassed by Titansgrave). It’s always fun to watch and I think it continues to excel at its goal of getting people to PLAY MORE GAMES! But maybe the tagline should be changed to “Play more games! …But first read the instruction manuals.” But seriously, thanks for your candor, your passion for your work, and for sharing it with us!

4. Wil,
   Tabletop is my favourite web series bar none. I’ve spent SO much of my money on board games because of you… and had a bunch of great fun with friends in the process. My thanks to you and all of the crew.
   Mistakes happen. I am sure most reasonable people will enjoy the show anyway in the spirit of fun in which it was created.
   Now, off to play more games!

   Cheers,
   Robbie

   1. Same. Don’t worry about it, Wil. Tabletop is a great show, but it is not a replacement for the rulebook. I watch tabletop to get an idea of the game and some cool people make jokes and fun. It does a great job of showing the fun of games which is seldom about the rules

5. I’m not keen that Wil elected to finger the producer as the reason for why the rule butchery occurred. He simply should have just stated, as he did later, that he is the executive producer and that he accepts responsibility for the show’s shortcomings this season. Imagine if Steve Jobs had a press release that stated, “Darn, we really wanted to get the latest iPhone into your hands, but they guy I trusted in engineering let me down.” No, it’s not professional. As they say, “Praise in Public, Chastise in Private.”

   1. especially since we can be 90% sure it is Boyan who they openly call for rule checks for.

6. This might be an opportunity to invite the game developers to join you on-set (at their option/expense) during production to oversee some of these issues.

   1. This is such a fantastic idea. I hope it is considered seriously and I hope the designers/developers/authors take part (I’m sure many of them would love to).

7. Wil,

   It’s regrettable. Whenever things like this we always want to tell ourselves it could have been avoided – but reality is these things happen, both in making mistakes and in people having challenges. As long as you own it and take steps to change it, you’re good – that’s all anyone (including yourself) can expect.

   And on a higher level note, what’s the real goal of the show? If it’s to get people engaged in gaming, you succeeded despite the mistakes. if it’s to have fun, you succeeded despite the mistakes. If it’s to boost sales of the games, you’ve succeeded despite the mistakes. So sounds to me like whatever your goal is, you’re still knocking it out of the park (unless your only goal was to make sure your presentation of the rules was flawless, which would be a really shallow and boring goal).

   Finally, if you’ve learned you can’t rely on someone – for whatever reason – that’s OK. But we all make mistakes, so don’t hold it against anyone (even yourself).

   Stick to the goal, move on. And don’t burn any friendships in the process. Good stuff comes from focusing on what’s ahead, not what’s in the rear view mirror.

   And thanks for the show!

8. You totally need new business cards that say “Wil Wheaton: He’s Built For Gaming”

9. mistakes happen. unfortunately, during the playing of these games (especially the more involved ones) someone can’t have their nose stuck in a rule book & say “you can’t do this move because of ____.” i’m sure that rule mistakes happen to everyone one now and then & it’s sort of amplified when you have a situation like this where you’re filming a lot of games in a day.

10. I think you need a complement from Non-Judgmental Ninja.

    What’s the purpose of a game? To have fun, yes?

    So you had fun even though you completely butchered the rules? Doesn’t that still make it a bad-ass game?

    At the same time, yeah, you got a point about identity and all. But I really got the feeling that as you wrote this you were WAAAY to hard on yourself. Cheer up!

11. Tossing your producer under the bus like this publicly is both unbecoming and awful.

    1. Wil didn’t toss the producer under the bus publicly. I have no idea who the producer is, and that’s because Wil didn’t tell us who it is. He made it very clear why he is so upset, and I appreciate him coming forward and nipping the problem in the bud. He has high standards for this production, and it looks like he learned not to rely on trust alone. Every team needs checks and balances to ensure that the audience gets the best show possible.

       “Tabletop is more than just a show where we play games. Tabletop is where millions of people from all over the world go to see how games are played, and to discover new games. We have a responsibility to our audience, and we have let a lot of you down. This is even more infuriating to me this season, because this season was literally made possible by people reaching into their own pockets and trusting us with their money. We had a responsibility to take good care of that, and we didn’t.”

       1. Check the credits for a person labeled “Producer”

          1. Check co producer because it’s almost certainly boyan

             1. This is probably even a reaction to this article:
                https://twitter.com/thegamesmith/status/611749282056568832

          2. watch any of the episodes out takes for the last three years and see him ask Bo questions

          3. There are multiple producers on a show.
             Wil didn’t throw them under the bus, I think he probably got fed up with multiple blunders over the rules, while ALSO thinking, “we are all overworked/underpaid for this thing we are doing and I’ll cut the producer some slack…” The thing is, there are only so many times you can do that before you start thinking, “perhaps I have the wrong person doing this job…”
             But hey, I like how one or more people on this message board volunteered a name as the offending producer. /sarcasm

             Personally, I’m so thankful that Wil and the G&S team do this show for OUR entertainment! I love these shows, and I have spent money on games because of it. (and “infected others with the desire to play Munchkin, among other games)

             As other folks have mentioned, sometimes we flub the rules, that doesn’t mean we haven’t had fun, or won’t play a game again.
             I am hopeful with the new G&S production deals that Tabletop comes back for another season. It is SUCH a fun show to watch and would be a shame for it to go away so soon.

             Thank you, Wil, Geek and Sundry, and all the production teams (made of people) that make this show happen!

             Walter (The Southern Gentleman)

       2. Yes he did throw him under the bus. You don’t do that publicly

       3. It’s pretty obvious it is Boyan who they call for rule checks for by name specifically during international table top day. Anyone who closely watches the show can piece that together.

    2. Not if said producers job is to ensure the rules are understood and played correctly. If my job at work was to ensure only red products be sold and I’m also selling blue and green products then of course my boss has every right to explain to those who received the wrong product that it was my fault for something being done incorrectly.

       1. If I ever ask why my order was wrong, and they told me “it’s Kevin down on supply lines” I’d be more annoyed than before I asked.

          Imagine an email from Amazon, “sorry your order is delayed, Michael felt it necessary to book a last minute holiday and didn’t get us chance to get cover”.

          Or from Sony “your email address and person information have been obtained by hackers. Steve didn’t set the password to be as strong as the guidebook says”.

       2. You do see the difference between explaining a problem to a customer and publicly publishing this, right? If you screwed up on the job, would you think it okay if your boss put an article in the newspaper about it? You handle internal issues internally.

       3. This is not correct. The company is to blame and must take responsibility. I’ve held leadership positions in businesses all my life. You deal with the subordinate in private but the leader must take responsibility. This is leadership 101.

          Leaders who pass the buck find themselves without jobs very quickly.

    3. A.) Wil has Always been transparent so I don’t consider it “throwing someone under the bus” by pointing out he had someone on the team responsible for keeping him honest in these games who failed to do that. He did own up to the problem, in the end, being his to bear.
       B.) though most all of us who have been paying attention to Tabletop since the beginning (especially the gag reels) knows who he is referring to, he did not name names.
       C.) even in his disappointment he goes out of the way to give said producer every benefit of a doubt as to why this happened, where many would have said much worse.

       In all, I think he handled it fine. Has to be particularly frustrating given their production schedule (film all the shows at once, then post-production), and given the number of errors popping up now having to look at each episode even more critically (try to catch the broken rules before the YouTubers) in editing…

    4. Agreed. I kept expecting Wil to jokingly state the he was the producer in question, but this ended up being a completely unnecessary public flogging.

       1. Would’ve been an extremely endearing way to go about this, imo.

    5. He isn’t throwing the producer under the bus. He is explaining that this producer, for whatever reason, dropped the ball this season and did not do their job correctly or effectively. Wil is taking all of the responsibility even though he doesn’t have to. I hope the producer got fired or at least got their shit together so things like this don’t happen again. If Wil was really trying to throw this person under the bus he would have named the person and yet he didn’t do that. I don’t think you have a very firm grip on what this issue is about, Brendan.

       1. I believe you are incorrect. #1 it seems from the other comments that the person’s identity is pretty easy to discover, and even if it wasn’t, you handle internal issues internally. If you screwed up on your job, would you expect your boss to make public pronouncements about it?

          1. Happens all the time in high profile, public facing roles. Politics is an easy one. Sacrificial lambs are marched out all the time, sometimes for things they didn’t even do!

             Not to mention this “throw under the bus” thing is a bit heavy handed. Yes, Wil is the overall person in charge, but he can’t run and watch EVERYTHING. That’s why you hired people you trust to help you run things. For two seasons, he acknowledges this person did a good job. As you prove yourself, you generally take on more responsibility (this is how you move up in careers, generally). The producer dropped the ball. If anything, this producer should’ve posted his own article apologizing for his mistakes and either resign or make damn sure he minimizes his errors in the future.

             I think Wil handled it fine. Placed the blame where it resided and why it happened, named no names, and ultimately took responsibility for hiring the wrong person.

    6. I’m not sure why anyone would think this is “throwing the producer under the bus”. If Wil’s only mistake was thinking that someone who’d previously done good work could continue to do good work without being micromanaged, and that person was unwilling/unable to do so but didn’t admit that they couldn’t perform at the expected level, then all Wil has done is state the truth.

       I once worked for a weasel of a boss who would take forever to return emails and phone calls. When higher-ups got angry that projects were overdue, he’d insist that he was blameless because it was his employees’ fault for not sending him additional emails reminding him to reply to their original emails. THAT’S trying to throw people under the bus.

       1. Correct! People don’t know what the phrase means I think. Blaming someone who has failed at their job duty in a key role and in publicly consumed entertainment? He should’ve owned up to the rules mistakes himself instead of letting Wil take flak. We seem to have so many people these days who believe it’s terrible that a person take responsibility for their own work.

          Now if it comes out that this producer was doing his job and Wil was fucking up the rules and looking for a scapegoat? Now THAT’S throwing someone under the bus.

12. The way you’re singling out this one producer is pretty awful. The most disappointing thing about all of this is your attitude. It’s highly unprofessional. Also, aren’t these supposed to games you really like? If that’s the case you ought to know the rules.

    1. I think you really need to grasp what he is saying. In the end he did say that he WAS ultimately responsible. If he gave that responsibility to the producer than the producer should do their job. One person cannot do everything

       1. It doesn’t work that way. You don’t get to spend paragraphs pointing at someone else and saying “it’s all their fault”, and then say you’re claiming responsibility.

13. What do you mean “if” there’s a season 4? You’re making me nervous. . . . 🙁

14. I’m sad that you broke your own rule…

    Don’t be a dick.

    1. +1

       It’s a grossly unprofessional post, trying to adopt the conciliatory tone of ‘leading from the front’ whilst in the same breath, singling out one of his subordinates for a flaming. You can’t (legitimately) have it both ways, in my opinion.

       Shame – He presents himself as a ‘nice guy’ but then behaves like this. Hopefully just a blip?

15. I’ve never been one to care too much about rules violations, and I don’t really hold this against you, Will. I think the vast majority of people who would otherwise be inspired to buy the game and play more games are still going to.

    I do think you have the right idea, trying to fix this, because even if it doesn’t have a major negative effect, it is still a problem that somebody needs to fix. So, kudos for addressing it.

16. Hire Rodney Smith from Watch it Played… absolutely the best at rules explanations that’s out there.

    1. Rodney’s awesome, but I have to imagine he too would admit that he makes his fair share of mistakes. It happens. Even rahdo has to go back and correct things nearly every time.

17. The Internet has allowed extensive word-of-mouthing where you no longer have to wait for experts to publish encyclopedias. Lots of ordinary fans are eager to make polished tutorials — but may make mistakes. Then others copy them, and others watch it, and so on and so on.

    No big deal, just do what you can to polish up your process to find out the correct way to play a game with speed and accuracy. Make sure to use approved company sources.

18. I’ll do it! I read the rules and play games by myself to learn it before i introduce to friends. I also don’t let my people deviate from rules when it’s a new game (count to 3 in Cash n Guns? You MUST count up 1-2-3, not down!) 😛
    [i know you probably already have people in mind, but there’s bound to be some good commoners who could do it!]

19. I get why you’re so mad about it the rules fumbles this time. You benefited from the double-oasis power which should not have been, and ended the game early because of it. However your evident shame through this blogpost is the sign of someone with integrity, and I’m impressed you put this post up.

    Here’s an idea for next season: if you send me the name of the games you’ll be playing next, I’ll play them with my local game group and completely master the rules (I mean, if I haven’t already..Not to brag but I am what is known in some circles as “Nerdcore.”). Then we sit down for a 20-minute Skype discussion about the game and go through the rules in detail before one of your upcoming recording sessions, so you know the rules completely by discussing them with a complete stranger who does not live in Los Angeles. Believe me, I have friends who live in Los Angeles. They can’t remember anything. Its a weird place that ruins people’s math skills and short-term memory.

    Keep your producer, or hire a new one to keep the rules straight on set for sure. But this way you’d secretly know the rules yourself by having discussed them beforehand with some know-it-all from Wisconsin (the home of D&D, I might add). I don’t ask for anything in return, except maybe once you’d be a guest on my po-dunk podcast if it works out. Alternatively you could get the Dungeon Bastard to vett your rules-lore. That guy is legit, local to you, and knows his stuff for sure.

    But regardless of any rules-fumbles, Tabletop rules, and all us nerds here in the land of beer and cheese love it! Game On!

    1. Wait.. There are two locations with oasis tiles… why wasn’t he allowed to take one from each? Only rule fumble I found was location tiles have to wait till next turn. Everyone did the same, so don’t see that it mattered much.

       1. He used the oasis power the first turn (rather than waiting) to get a second oasis power. Normally it would have had to wait for the next turn for him to get the second oasis, and he possibly would have had to expand next to a desert without the second oasis.

          1. Ok, thought OP was saying he should not be allowed to have two oasis ever which wasn’t a part of the rules I’d ever seen. Thx

20. Thank you for your honesty and transparency.

21. Continue the show, please. Its been a great show to share with the family and has opened us up to a number of great games to play together. Mistakes happen, and by seeing them in the show, they take the pressure off of my kids with accidents or screw ups.

    Its good to see your passion and I understand the frustration and shame one feels of letting mistakes through, especially when you strive for the best. But relax and know that your show is wonderful.

22. Maybe these would be good opportunities to point people in the direction of other gaming media and the greater gaming community(The Dice Tower, Watch It Played, BGG, etc.). Perhaps if you guys are aware of extensive rules mistakes before you put up a new episode, throw on a disclaimer in regards to that and point people to those other places as supplement to the episode so they can see where you guys made mistakes. It might also help expand the games your viewers are aware of and purchase. Tabletop is a great show and has phenomenally helped the hobby, but I’ve always been afraid that many of the viewers who get introduced to gaming through it stick to the games on the show instead of branching out and with such a well done and highly produced show you can’t put out the amount of content of others online. Maybe these would be good opportunities to point people to places that can put out a lot of content. Anyway… I’ll quit rambling. The show’s great and even with messing up rules, this season has been my favorite so far. Also, the RPG show is great. Keep up the good work. And oh yeah, I saw you wearing a Bauhaus shirt in some video… cool.

23. Well this is embarrassing and unprofessional. Why don’t you take some accountability and stop blaming everyone else. It’s YOUR show and YOU collected everyone’s crowdfunding money. Apologize for YOUR complacency.

    1. Ninja beats Troll! That rule is always true.

24. Where do I sign up to be considered for “Game Rules Consultant”?

25. You got me into Fortune an Glory. You messed up those rules. It was not the rules that got me into the game. It was the fun I saw you and you guests having when playing it. So, thank you Wil. As for anyone that cares that you messed up the rules of Kingdom Builder. F’em if they can’t take a joke.

26. If you need a new rules producer, I am sure Kaja from our video review series would be happy to help.

27. Early morning light. A groggy, frizzy Wil opens one eye. He reaches out of bed, down the hall, through the front door, and on to the porch to pull his morning comics delivery into bed. His confused fingers instead trace out the shape of a strange shoe on on an unexpected foot connected to the Rules Producer hopeful at the front of a long line stretching off into the still rising sun.

28. I don’t think I’ve ever played a single game and gotten the rules 100% correct. Even games that we play over and over again have rules forgotten or left out for balance. Don’t sweat it, did you have fun? Did that come across?

29. I’m gonna be honest, when I first saw your show on YouTube (the first season of tabletop) I honestly did not “like” you. That was thanks to the parts you’ve played on the shows I’ve seen you in, like Eureka and partly the Big Bang Theory (before you became friendly). I guess that was all thanks to you actually doing your job well and playing the character you were supposed to play, because, watching you play games on TableTop has really boosted my interest in games.
    Before I watched the show I enjoyed board games, but it was limited to trivia games with the family, monopoly (I know I know), Ticket to ride and Elasund.
    After watching your show, I realized that board games could be so much more. Today my collection is ever growing, I’ve bought settlers with loads of expansions, Galaxy trucker, Smash up (and all the expansions (yes, I’ve ofc got the Geeks), Get Bit, Zombie Dice, Star Fluxx (a big success with my girlfriend), Betrayal at house on the hill, Shadows over camelot, Munchkin (with all the base expansions (those with the same color as the original box)), Formula D, Dead of Winter, Cash n’ Guns, Escape and countless more games that I just can’t be bothered to type up. You have awoken something, and I’ve enjoyed myself in the company of others countless times as a direct consequence of that. After watching your show, I’ve also discovered other shows which cover board games (DiceTower and Shut Up and Sit Down), and this has in turn given me more great tips on games to buy. So if you are gonna take something away from your experience with tabletop, it should be this. Your mantra “play more games”, is being followed to the letter, across the world.

    Thank you for the show, and may we have many more like it.

    1. Ehm, and I kinda forgot to say, I now find you likeable and charming, those roles you played did you no favors 😉 I guess I should have watched Star Trek 😛

30. It’s your show buddy. As much as you want to throw someone under the bus, you’re the one who signs off on it making any mistakes on your shoulders.

    Stay classy Wil.

31. So Meta. The don’t become a dick guy became a dick.

32. LOL he’s throwing the producer under the bus, but he’s listed as the exec producer. The jokes on us!

33. I’ve known Wil for years and know him to be hard working, full of integrity, and kind. I know Wil is not the kind of person to “throw someone under the bus” or to have public disclosure without there being many many chances for that person to have owned up to their mistakes and given them the opportunity to move forward with Table Top. I’m sure there’s a lot that we, the public, don’t know about the situation, but I know Wil and I trust that he did everything possible before going public with the situation.

    1. I’m sure there were reasons for dismissing the guy, but how does it benefit ANYONE, be it Wil, his viewers or (failing) producer for the Exec Producer to flame the employee publicly? It could have been dealt with behind closed doors with equal effectiveness whilst making Wil’s attempt at taking full responsibility for the errors (the buck stops with me) far more successful.

       Just my two bucks Amy.

34. Don’t sweat it, Wil. We enjoy the games, even if the rules aren’t followed to a T.

    BTW, you should consider the girls who host the video reviews on starlitcitadel.com for the producer role(s). They do a great job with the reviews and are very thorough in their understanding of the rules of the games.

35. I’m glad you’re addressing this. I take the time to carefully learn the rules to the games I play, and I like to see new games played properly on Tabletop, as changes in rules affect the way the game plays.

    Perhaps you’d consider replacing your rule-correction animation? I really don’t like the graphic/animation you use when you acknowledge the correct rule. Rather than simply owning up to the mistake and posting a correction (so those of us learning the game from your video understand it properly), the owl pushing up his glasses and saying “well, technically” makes it seem like you’re suggesting anyone who would offer such a correction (and anyone who cares about rules) is an overly-pedantic nerd.

36. How can I help, I love games, I love accuracy! I would love to help produce your show, and be part of something that I love and would always want to see fourish

37. Blaming someone else for what is ultimately YOUR show where you’re playing games that YOU enjoy personally is pretty unprofessional. Rules mistakes happen, and it’s forgivable, but don’t point the finger elsewhere. Show your inner Klingon and have some honor!

38. Dude! It is a fantasy of mine to one day play a game with you.
    And I wouldn’t sweat it about the rules. Some people are way to picky. And everyone gets rules wrong sometimes, especially with new games.

39. I love TableTop! That show changes lives–and it’s certainly changed mine.

    That being said, I’m sad that this post throws your producer under the bus. This doesn’t help anyone. Your producer feels flattened, and other people will think twice before working with you in the future if they can’t trust that the relationship will be 100% professional all the time. Were I in your producer’s position, I would want and expect to have any perceived shortcomings addressed in private.

    Having said all this, my guess is that this is a process problem, not a people problem. Learn from it, fix it and move forward with Season 4!!

40. This “apology” is disappointing and without class. I would expect this type of self serving explanation from an immature child. Thanks for making sure I don’t make the mistake of backing any of your future projects.

41. “Tabletop is more than just a show where we play games. Tabletop is where millions of people from all over the world go to see how games are played, and to discover new games. We have a responsibility to our audience, and we have let a lot of you down. This is even more infuriating to me this season, because this season was literally made possible by people reaching into their own pockets and trusting us with their money. We had a responsibility to take good care of that, and we didn’t.”

    WOW, thank god reading over-acting isnt fatal. This paragraph only works if i replace “Tabletop” with “Chemotherapy for Kids with Cancer”

    The reason season three sucks is because you have changed, as you admit in many places, from the formula from seasons 1 and 2.

    Put down the Cross youre so exhausted from bearing that no one asked you to pick up. Just play games and enjoy them, and let us watch. It is obvious from the Valkana and season 3 eps that you are forcing them out under an enormous strain to make them some kind of miracles of production quality.

    Fire Wil the Executive Producer and re-hire Wil the Gamer.

42. If you carefully reviewed the rules the first two seasons, then stopped, it seems like the difference here is you. The Producer you mentioned could have done exactly the same amount of preparation that he/she normally did, but without your review, it was harder to explain the rules.

43. “Praise in Public, Chastise in Private.”

    Wise words…

44. Wow, I would have never known.
    Wil, we love and keep playing games.
    I want a season 4 so I can see new games, but, dude, it still needs to be fun for you!!
    I hope to catch you in the new year.
    PS Since you didn’t name the producer I took it as an explanation, not a bus throwing. And you took ultimate responsibility I often say at work, this isn’t’ an excuse, but a reason, I know it still shouldn’t have happened.

45. I am very pleased with the season so far and I bought many games after I’ve seen them on Tabletop S3. I didn’t realize you screwed up many rules, but I am also one who screws up rules on a regular basis. But as a show host you have to keep higher standards than when you play at home where only friends see it, I understand that. I will still support you and Tabletop when it comes up for Season 4.

46. I hope when you said “if we do another season of Tabletop” you meant “when we do” it!!!

    Plus a message from the Non-judgmental ninja: It’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes.

    Besides, Tabletop is not about the rules, it’s about the experience of playing games, isn’t it?

47. Theres always house rules on any game, its not that big of a deal if sometimes things dont go strictly by the rules. Its all about having fun!

48. Wow, judgemental much, people?

    Look, Wil is very passionate about this show, and I can understand the frustration. The ball got dropped and the one who he believed to take up the slack fumbled as well. Perhaps Wil said some things out of anger, but guess what? HE’S HUMAN. “Don’t Be A Dick” might be Wheaton’s Law, but even Wheaton can break his own law sometimes.

    Wil, if for one second you think I am upset about the errors you made in rules, forget that notion. I too have been the rules master for my friends’ board game sessions (to the extent that when a new game is broken out, the rulebook is usually thrown at my head.) I have lost count of how many times I’ve messed up the rules in these games, and not one single time have we been disappointed in the inaccuracies. (That’s not to say we were disappointed by some games we played. HOOOOO boy have we played some real turdbombs.)

    Tabletop isn’t about playing the game by the rules and doing everything 100 percent accurate or not at all. Tabletop is about getting together with people you like to escape from the stress of life together. I mean, look at all the inside jokes and running gags that have spawned from this series! Owlbears, 5 gold and a party, Nic Cage, pooping position, on and on and on. If you did a season 4 indiegogo campaign right now, I’d be one of the first to pledge my money.

    Whether you look back at this entry and regret posting it or stand by it, it doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that you have fun playing the games you play.

49. I primarely watch Tabletop to see people having fun playing games. Whether I’ll buy that game (if available in my region), I decide by how much I can see you guys having fun playing it and whether the game generally is my kind of game.

    Rules in games I usually handle as mostly guidelines – the main goal is having a good time and not fussing about paragraphs. And I’d wager most of the viewers even didn’t realize when rules were bent.

    Reading all the comments, I’d say: Wil, it’s commendable that you take it seriously for Tabletop to “play by the rules”, but don’t grow gray hairs about when it doesn’t. If you’d worry whether Tabletop’s fans would stop supporting the show (season 4?), be sure we won’t be shooed away that easy.

    Keep up the good work, and PLAY MORE GAMES 🙂

50. Wow, I watch table top because it’s amusing and shows me diffrent games (thankyou very much for my addiction to Betraly at house on the hill Will. Lol)

    At most I would use table top for ideas of how to play not to be an instruction manual last time I checked they come in the box or can be found online.

    Also no one can tell me they haven’t sometimes changed the rules of a game to make it more fun of so less players are needed. I have and I’ll do it again to.

    That’s not justifying that the rules have slipped, according to Will, but that’s a complaint Will should have with his games man, not us complaing till Will gets to writing out a statement. If people are that fussed then they can make their own show.

    Good show please do another season 🙂

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