51 thoughts on “demons worry when the wizard is near”

1. So when you say “really complex” in referring to Terra Mystica… Is it the kind of game that takes all day to play, or just many, many times to really understand and master?

   1. There’s a lot to pick up and understand, but it only takes about 30 minutes per player when every player is experienced.

2. Glad to read you’re doing better. Gonna have to check out Terra Mystica. My husband, our son and I are big game night fans. We’d all rather be playing a game, card or table top, than watching tv. I like the beginning of your story so far, it has the quality of drawing a reader in with anticipation for the next chapter.

3. Love the Sabbath reference at the end of this! The more I read your stuff, the more I dig you as a dude!

4. Thank you for this piece. Depression did not win and now I am learning about new games to try. One step at a time.

5. Thanks Will. That little bit in there about the depression part of your brain in the drivers seat wanting to tell you that you where stupid actually touched a deep theme throughout my life. It made me look back on all the times I let it win and it filled me with regret at the lost opportunities for fun with my friends and family.

   I will take this as a lesson and apply it to my present and future. It’s amazing that a small sentence such as that can trigger something so profound in me.

6. I’m so glad to hear you’re doing better. I’ve been thinking about your last blog a lot and it’s been inspiring quite a bit of contemplation and soul searching on my part, so I thank you again for being so authentic. And thanks for the perfect game for my husband for Father’s Day 🙂

7. Hey Wil, I’m so glad that you don’t hide your depression away. I have anxiety but only share that with a few people, unfortunately i have to remember who I’ve shared that with, which isn’t always easy.
   Keep up the good work, your story sounds intriguing.
   Take Care
   Felicity

8. I’m up to November and I’m LOVING the game. Funny part is, yours is the 3rd other game I’ve been following and each one of us has ended up with a different colour disease! Our yellow scourge is bad and has made some damage into North America.
   Glad to hear things are doing a little better and inspiration is striking. Hopefully Clark is sitting by in his pudgy plushy way and “helping” 🙂
   Oh, and Terra Mystica now added to “Want to try this” list…

9. I am spending my day in the hospital battling another what isn’t a stroke so far or a seizure, but really a mystery for doctors. Wil your reads always seem to put me at rest and thank you for tabletop . It has brought family game night into our home when I’m not here in hospital. I really enjoy the fun of figuring out how to play a game. Good luck, Godspeed , wheatons law.

   1. I hope you get better. I love reading what everyone posts and it can make me feel so happy inside. I know that you did star trek a while ago but it still is my favorite thing to watch. In fact, I am watching it right now.
      Godspeed.

10. So glad to hear you’re feeling a bit better Wil. Finding something else to focus on like your story, and getting out with friends and not just sitting alone with the demons is best thing you could do. I hope the sleep thing is getting better too.

    I hear you about the joys of introducing new people and especially kids to gaming. We have a weekly family gaming night which has been reinvigorated by Tabletop – we’ve added Gloom, Ticket to Ride, and Elder Sign to our collection so far after watching the episodes. I will always remember the feeling of pride I had watching my 12 year old daughter very carefully outmaneuver me and steal the big scoring field from me in Carcassonne. That moment where she “got it”, spotted that I had two many meeples committed, and got me fair and square for the first time (not the last :)) – amazing feeling. The big message I see in TableTop is that gaming is FUN and it’s a great way to spend time and interact with friends and family and not the hyper- competitive rules-lawyering crapfest that the power gamers can make it (and I say that as a bit of a reformed power gamer from my youth).

    I like the story snippet – definitely has some hook to make me want more.

11. Now I need to listen to that song! I love that one so much.

    I like your insight on table top games. I really like them a lot and don’t get enough time to play them. Having young kids means when we do play, we play Candyland and Chutes and Ladders, which are fun, but not so complicated. I am looking forward to playing more complicated games with them in the coming years.

    1. No clue if you, the person I’m replying to, will see this, but maybe. When my son was young, he demanded to play with us, no matter what. We had an ever-other-wednesday game night, and everyone was kind about fetching the dice he’d flung off the table in between nursing. (Yes. That young.) Years later, before he was reading, it was getting desperate… we got introduced to two games, then. One was Robo-Rally, which was good because any reading needed is public knowledge, so it didn’t matter that we all knew it. And another was Ricochet Robots, which has the advantage of no reading at all, and in some ways decidedly non-linear thinking. This was all circa age 6, with a kid who had a speech production issue (not sure what to call it, really, it wasn’t ever really diagnosed tho it was treated) and so was effectively a bit behind in a lot of social ways, so maybe this is useful for you with ‘young kids’.

       He eventually proved to us that he could read by demanding that he could play Unexploded Cow with us, the first time we unboxed it, and was actually following the directions on the cards.

12. I’m glad your Giant Meerkat is being kept at bay sometimes. Sunday I left a group of friends without saying goodbye because my Giant Meerkat and The Warthog of Anxiety kept screaming at how I should be running errands and preparing for my trip back home and NOT spending time with people I like. I’m still ashamed it won that day.

    But I’m going to spend about a week back home with family and friendkin and humidity because LOS ANGELES IS A DESERT AND MY SKIN REFUSES TO ACCLIMATE. So hopefully my meerkat and warthog will also take a vacation, maybe to Fiji, so I will have some time to write and plan the YouTube series my bestie and I are doing. Also to hug my Momma and Grandma and best friends and the thirty-odd family members I’ll see at Easter dinner.

    I’m glad you were able to play more games with friends and to make a thing. The fantasy nerd in me is excited about the thing and hopes when you’ve got it finished you’ll share with us all. 🙂

    P.S. (and I hesitated adding this and restarted this bit a bajillion times. A BAJILLION, MR. WHEATON) If you do end up making that short film and you need actors to say a line or two or someone to walk in the background *waves I do that kinda thing.

    *Bajillion may be an exaggeration and also a word I made up.

    1. I don’t know if it’s going to be a story that has more than two characters, but if it does, I’d love for you to be part of it, Beth.

       1. Oh gosh, really?! Well you know where to find me totally did not make a shrill noise in the back of her throat because she is a GROWN-UP I can PA if you don’t need another actor. I am tops at fetching snacks; I have references. 🙂

13. You sorta reversed my Sunday (3/20) where out group started with Terra Mystica (first time we ever played it, too) and followed with … well, Say Anything but THEN we followed with Pandemic Legacy. We were in August, after losing August the previous week, which was our 2nd loss (I think we got crushed in May the first time).

    I’m looking at your pics and (not to worry you) but it just gets more challenging from there. April was bad for us but as I mentioned, May was just devastating. So… have fun! 🙂 Seriously, though, as deflating as a loss can be in this game, even losses can be fun. Plus, as I’m sure you now know, you get a couple of Event cards next time if you do lose. See? Positive!

14. Thank you, Wil Wheaton. I like to hear what’s bouncing around in your mind 🙂

15. Please write the script for the short film. Even if that’s all you do in the end – you might like to share it with us instead of filming and so on, but just write it down. Then you can say you wrote the idea at least down. I know, some stuff might not get done in years, because something else comes up. But when you have it on paper (or in a doc) it can’t be forgotten.

    Otherwise I’m glad you are a bit better. You have no idea how glad I am to read about this. Not because I like to see you suffer, far from that – it just makes me feel less alone with the fucking depression, the self-doubts, the anxiety and all the shit that comes with it. (In my case it’s usually a shit load of tears.) I think all these “mental illnesses”, even though unified under a name, can still be unique. I know that most people that see me have no idea what I’m battling with. It’s often not just the depression but also suicidal thoughts – and they can still come pretty easy but currently they also leave that fast. It’s not as bad as it has been – but what is sometimes so terrible that you don’t know how faw you might fall the next time or when that next time will be.

    I know we all have the usual drama in our lives. We worry about friends and family, care about things, have stuff to get done. And the road blocks that other people just pass somehow can sometimes be the things that get us down. Often there are things when I suspect something can get me worse, but sometimes it’s the least that I expected. Oh, and when I see the light at the end of the tunnel I still always think it’s a train heading my way. Unfortunatly more often than not I am right and it is a bloody train making things worse. Take care, Wil! I won’t tell you how lucky you are in some areas – because we know depression lies. But I can remember that a dog snuggling up to you when you are feeling down can make a difference. (Unfortunatly I don’t have a dog, and might never have. I don’t have enough support to be able to cover for times away or other situations and that wouldn’t be fair on that dog. So do me a favour and cuddle Marlowe for me. I don’t know why but I feel this special connection with her even though I have only seen the photos you and Anne have posted.)

    (Boy, that was longer than I expected. Sorry for typos and grammatical errors. I think you know that English isn’t my first language – plus it’s late and I will head to bed now.)

16. What somebody badmouthed Tabletop? Not possible. We cant wait for the next season. Ok maybe not as much as game of thrones but really we cant wait. a bottle of wine, some friends, and and Table top is a great time for all!

17. I love all the little details you fit into just that small snippet of story. 🙂 I hope to read the whole thing someday. I have a book I keep putting off finishing because sometimes I read it in rewrites and think it’s genius, and other times I read it and think it’s tripe. I need to pull a Shia LaBeouf and Just Do It. ^_^ I guess the demons of anxiety and self-doubt are running rampant throughout the land.

    Hope you’re feeling better. I just want to add that you’re one of the most perpetually positive presences out there, and you really do make the world a better place, so thank you for that. 🙂

18. glad to hear from you today — you have been on my mind all day idk why. i was having trouble getting on your blog before and i felt kind of lost without it. – like a part of the world that understands was gone. idk – just a really weird feeling kind of day.
    Never talking
    Just keeps walking
    Spreading his magic — love it.

    never give up. we still have your hand. be well.

19. Magic lives in the light and to remain strong must be shared. Thank you W.W. for continuing with gaming, writing and spreading what should be the gamer ethic (It matters not whether one uses avatars of pixels or pieces of plastic, but that you play).

20. All I can think is “demons run when a good man goes to war”

21. I just discovered Tabletop and I love it! We love videogames but our family board game night have become amazingly epic thanks to you. We’ve discovered so many great new games on the show. Thanks for doing the show. Keep on swimming! You’re amazing, and bring joy into people’s lives who also struggle with depression.

22. Wil, I always feel so awkward, like any words I might say would be redundant, or as many of my busy friends examples would show: ignore-able. I really enjoy your blogs, and then you do something as stellar as quote a Sabbath tune to endcap it today?

    Thank you so, so much for being you.

23. I’m a new tabletop gamer thanks entirely to you. I started about 8 months ago after watching Tabletop, and have a very slowly growing collection of games, many of which are ones I saw on your show and fell in love with.

    I’m also a writer and fellow person who fights the depression monster on a regular basis. Your post inspired me to pick up my pen and scribble out an idea that I haven’t written because I’m afraid it’ll suck. And, you know what, it kinda does, but it’s also got something there that can become something that doesn’t suck.

    So, longwinded comment to say thank you for this post, thank you for Tabletop, and thanks for the continued inspiration.

24. Great share and a very interesting game like no other I’ve seen. I tend to observe more than I play games nowadays. I used to get…quite addicted. Then in turn others would join forces to repeatedly blow my base into smithereens, when they were done swearing of course lol. Anywho….such a unique game and your writing style is very engaging. 🙂

25. Hey Wil,

    It’s because of TableTop that we bought Pandemic and love it. Thank you for TableTop. Keep it up.

    Cheers.

26. So, the last paragraph, where you mention making making the short film, it triggered a remembery in my brain about this post Liz Gilbert wrote the other day. Here’s a quote from the end of it, with regard to why we should be creative: “It’s for love. It’s for curiosity. It’s for trying a thing. It’s for communion. It’s for walking on the edge of the cliff of nervousness. It’s for remembering that we are not just put on this earth to work hard at our jobs, pay bills, and die. It’s for the weird magic of making something out of nothing. It’s because two days ago, there was not this song in the world…and now there is this song.”

    You can read her post, or not, but the upshot is… she wrote this book about how being creative is being brave, and it’s ok to be brave and be creative, and she shares your sentiment that we should make things where there weren’t things before. And since she wrote that book, she’s felt a personal responsibility to face down the voice in her head that says she can’t, shouldn’t, isn’t good enough, no one will ever see it anyway, and go ahead make things.

    The song started out as a poem she felt ill-equipped to write and then turned into a song, and then into a recording.

    Please make the movie. Make it for yourself and if you never show anyone outside your own family, it’s still worth making.

    Here’s the blog post I’m referring to: https://www.facebook.com/GilbertLiz/posts/988303594585089:0

    She also says, “I can’t believe the stuff I’ve had to do in the last year because of this.” which makes me wonder what I could have made in the last year if only I’d been brave enough. You make your movie, and I’ll make my thing. And we’ll both be happier for it.

27. I’ve been a bit worried about you since reading the last blog. I saw this article “I told the truth in my sister’s obituary, so that others might choose to live” in The Washington Post and wanted to share it with you. Hopefully the link will come through – https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/03/23/i-told-the-truth-in-my-sisters-obituary-so-that-others-might-choose-to-live/?hpid=hp_rhp-more-top-stories_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory.

    Here’s the take away for you and all the others with Depression (I’m quoting the article’s author Eleni Pinnow):

    “Here is the truth: You have value. You have worth. You are loved. Trust the voices of those who love you. Trust the enormous chorus of voices that say only one thing: You matter. Depression lies. We must tell the truth.”

28. So what happens with the Magician? Does he find an apprentice? Does he become a Wizard?

    If you do decide to clean it up and want to make it available, I would like to read it. I’m guessing others here would as well.

29. Thank you for the Tabletop games discussions. I’m trying to break out of my Catan / Puerto Rico rut, and am on the hunt for suggestions. Today is a good day for that, as I am stuck home in the blizzard…

30. “If you’re one of the hundreds of people who reached out and offered a bit of kindness, thank you.”

    It’s one of the things we’re here for.

    That prose is pretty damn good for a puke draft. I find that after I write the first draft of some fiction, I’m so happy to have just done it, I love it and think I’m actually a pretty good writer. A little while later I’ll reread it and find SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH IT that I hate it. But it still manages to keep some of my demons at bay, which is such a relief. I’m giving you 56 GOLD STARS for just writing something despite the depression, because fuck depression.

31. Tabletop ignited my board game habit, so thanks for that. Enjoy Pandemic Legacy. It’s awesome. Best board game experience I’ve ever had.

32. Dear Wil.

    Drinking a cup of freshly made coffee and freshly baked pie I’m like Cheers for you and your decision to write a story. I am crazy, totally obsessed by stories. Stories are all! I can prove it! They come out of your head, pass by all your previous experiences, take a bit/a lot from your feelings, catch some memories and come out, so vivid, fresh and so yours, turned, packed into the crunchy shimmering package of your imagination. (Please don’t laugh- I am a girl and English isn’t my native language). So when I unwrap it- it is structured by a plot. And thus, not falling apart… So I start reading, layer by layer watching you and here comes my interpretation of this all…
    And I keep something
    And I leave something
    And I like that!
    It’s like a gift.

    So, maybe for you, story writers, it will be good to know that story listeners are waiting.

33. Hey Wil – love the bit of prose.
    Would you mind if I used it as a lead-in/writing trigger to practice writing short stories?

    Also Blogomatic Editor says: autocorrect missed the “be” meant to be “me” in “shitty to be.” It is shitty to be a nikpicking munchkin about games, so, Freudian truth slip.

    Game On.

    1. Sure, have fun with it.

34. Always think of you this time of year, Mr Wheaton. : )

    my birthday ritual (for so many decades now!) = playing board games (monopoly then risk now pandemic or CardsAgainstHumanity) with loved ones, watching StarTrek marathons (preVCR we stayed up to watch the late movie on tv and sang the national anthem as transmission ended for the day) and

    MOST IMPOTANTLY:

    eating Wheaton Rd sheet cake from my grandmother’s 1930’s recipe…pre-1954, before marshmallows could be commercially produced and my mother’s generation bastardized the whole concept of birthday cakes! — How’s that for odd trivia and TMI personal spewing combined?

    Having watched original airings of StarTrek with my dad and uncles, I had no plans to try TNG until I saw a blurb of your cherubic young self playing a character dealing with the fuck of child prodigy syndrome AND you were named Wheaton to boot! I couldn’t resist watching it. Plus,you look so delightfully like my nephews – but it is your personal charm and humor have kept me coming back to all of your work since. Not your characters. Not your looks. Not even your multiple skills and talents. Just you. An interesting stranger willing to share part of his reality with the hive.

    Hang in there. Know that you are appreciated for your honesty and openness. Just keep bringing your special self to the world and take care of yourself.

    When you are someday happily celebrating your senior birthdays, I hope you will fondly recall many, many strangers out there in the digisphere that have brought you the kinds of joys you have brought me.

    Happy birthday to me, and thanks for all you do.
    from some lady

35. The beauty of falling behind and ending up binge-reading is that I was JUST reading about your latest bout with Depression, JUST hearing you tell us about Booking the Audition, and I got to IMMEDIATELY learn that you are ALREADY doing/feeling better! And that you Made a Thing! Congratulations, Wil.

    And even though Beth has already volunteered to be your ONE Background Artiste, I would love to volunteer to be your non-union, pen-and-paper Script Supervisor, should you require one (or maybe I can have a nonversation in the Background with Beth, because I do that, too). {I’m all over the place in this industry in this town, and MY giant meerkat keeps telling me I shouldn’t bother to find ONE good headshot to attach to my non-represented LA Casting Profile. But that’s my battle.}

    You keep fighting yours, Wil. It would appear that you are currently Winning.

36. I missed that you were doing poorly, Wil. I’m sorry. I hope things continue to improve from here on out, but on the darker days, remember: this too shall pass. As you once said to me, keep writing and be awesome. 😉

37. Yep, pollen is likely part of it. It’s a bugger this year. I’ve been grumpy and stupid and tired this past month — and it’s all allergies — because fortunately I don’t battle the meerkat. Was going to write that, but have been brutally busy since mid Feb. Sorry to not have made the time to be supportive.

    Glad to hear you’re writing – you are a font & the world is a better place when you’re creating.

    Terra Mystica. It’s on the short list to try. My wife & I have learned a few new games this year. Akrotiri is surprisingly cool and addictive once you get the hang of it. We finally learned Race for the Galaxy – very good game. Star Realms is a neat little shoot-em-up, kind of a “Race for the Galaxy-lite”. It’s very fun & fast, but it’s swingy if one player gets a few good draws early on, so we modified the rules by adding a card draft up front. Do the normal setup, but instead of starting the game, pull 8 cards off the top and lay them out two at a time and draft them. First player gets the choice of the two cards, then the second player gets the choice of the second two cards etc. After four pairs have been drafted, begin the game normally, but start with 60 points, not 50. The ten extra points extends the game time just a smidge which gives a person enough time to build suits so that special powers start to trigger in an accelerated way. The last few hands can be intense – you might heal for 6 but get hit for 20. Brutal. It makes shields and regeneration more important, so there’s a little more strategy in card usage / building suits / scrapping to winnow your hand & etc. It’s not a heavy game by any means, but with the card draft and extra 10 points, it feels a lot like a good game of base Dominion but with very little setup. Also, having some powers cards to begin with makes a swingy game less likely and best of all, it sort of jumpstarts the game. Normally the first two hands are a near throwaway (like in Dominion, because you start with basic buy/hit cards, making the first two hands pretty near a draft anyway, but not enough of a draft to get the game off to a good start.) With a four-pair draft at the beginning, the game gets off to a rolling start.

    But I digress… lol… this isn’t supposed to be a Star Realms primer, it’s just me wishing you a great rest of the week.

38. easter is approaching, and i hope you have a very good one 🙂

39. I really look forward to reading your short story when it’s finished. I already like the beginning!

40. I am yet another person who sadly really gets your references to anxiety and depression. Getting things accomplished while in the grips of whatever flavor of dysfunction your brain chooses is so draining that it is easy to slip into the why bother mentality. I am always encouraged by your efforts and want to thank you for keeping on when I know it’s tough. Also, while I very much enjoy your acting and Tabletop, I really, really love your writing. I think you have far more talent then you give yourself credit for and hope you will pursue it more! Just one old lady’s opinion!

41. Keep going Wil. Glad you are managing to control it. I have a big admiration for what you’re dealing with and how you are handling it. Last couple of days I’ve been struggling with feeling “down”. I’m finding if I keep myself focused on something, it keeps the bad feelings contained. But it’s hard.

42. Greetings from Olds , Alberta , Canada! I just wanted to take a few minutes to congratulate you on the work you have done with regards to tabletop and RPGs in the past years . You have many fans up here that are very grateful to you for bringing tabletop games back into the limelight . Hope you are doing well and feel good ( understandably some
    Days are darker than others). Will there be more episodes of titans grave or tabletop ? If you are ever in the area please come and play some boardgames at Pandora’s Boox and tea up here in Olds ( just north of Calgary) . Thank you as well for you continued acting ( you are doing great). Sincerely Jason Bethune

43. I’m so glad you’re feeling better. The bit of story you shared has something lyrical about it. I would love to read the rest of it–he’s a character I want to get to know and cheer on or lend a supportive shoulder to lean on which looks like he’ll need…or not…I’d love to know. I’m a bit of a reader.

44. Your last three lines are so haunting, illustrative, and tinged with its own inspired music. Beautiful. Like a Dixit card.

45. Getting caught up here

    “power gamers are shitty to me about Tabletop”
    Powergamers like that can eat a great big bag of saaaawk it!

    Tabletop is awesome! It changed my, may have saved my, marriage and my life!

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