It was a really good season. I had the most fun I’ve had since the first season, primarily because I reclaimed much of the stuff that had either been taken from me, or I’d given away.
We played games that we wouldn’t have been able to play in previous season, like Fury of Dracula and Eldritch Horror, and rather than try to go for lots of games that are heavy on strategy, I recalled my primary focus in the first two seasons, and looked for games that were accessible and varied, so that more people in the world will want to play more games. I played games that I never would have considered, because they have a lot of luck involved, but are still fun because they’re fast.
I stopped worrying about what The Audience was going to think, because I realized that I had allowed my fucked up brain to turn The Audience into The People On The Internet Who Hate Whatever I Do Anyway So I’ll Show Them. Recognizing that (with clarity I wouldn’t have had without my reboot) gave me permission to make the show that I wanted to make, the way I wanted to make it.
And I can’t overstate how good it was to clean house and get rid of the toxic garbage that was dragging me and the show down. If I’d only done that, this would have been the best season, ever, from a personal standpoint.
I also won a game this year, so that’s a thing.
I’m tired, but it’s a good tired that feels earned instead of imposed, if that makes sense.
So the last few games we played this year were:
Fate Core RPG with John Rogers, and Felicia Day, GM’d by Ryan Macklin. I realized about halfway through this play session that it was running a lot more like a demo than a story. It was fun for us to really get into the guts of the system, but that’s not what I wanted the audience’s experience to be. I mentioned this to Ryan, and the second half was more like the narrative experience I wanted for the episode. It’s going to be interesting for me to see how it comes together in the edits.
Steam Park with Jonathan Coulton, and Paul and Storm. Oh the poop jokes. So many poop jokes.
Welcome to the Dungeon with Janet Varney, Rhea Butcher, and Hector Navarro. This was surprisingly intense.
Harbour with Kyle Newman, Matt Mercer, and Nika Harper. Oh, the amazing Nika Harper meltdown in this episode.
So at this point, we don’t have an episode order locked down, but my producing partner and I are working to figure it out. I’ll share that information when I have it. One significant change this year is that I have no say at all over the actual schedule for release. I’ve asked for episodes to come out every week once we start, but I don’t have the authority to demand it. Luckily for me, Legendary is pretty awesome and supportive of what we want to do with the show, so hopefully we’ll either make that happen, or some compromise that makes me and the bosses happy.
As far as I know, new episodes will be released starting in July.
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Yay! Yay, yay, yay, yay, yay!
“I also won a game this year, so that’s a thing.”
For crying out loud, Wil. Spoilers! :-p
I’m kidding, of course. It sounds like you got back to the roots of why you love these games in the first place, and hearing that in many (if not all) cases you had the designers on hand to make sure you played correctly was something that certainly seems like a bonus! Looking forward to a great season! Congrats!
Very cool, Wil. I’m so looking forward to this watching the new episodes. And you got Jonathan Freaking Coulton as a guest – amazing!
As I’m sure you know better than most, the internet can badly distort the amount of negativity towards anything. The majority of the people who love something will by and large quietly enjoy it, while the miserable souls who feel the need to crap on things to justify their own pathetic existence will post and post and post until their voice starts to define the overall message. Some of them seem to get additional jollies from taking a swipe at a celebrity (“Hur hur hur – I dissed Wil Wheaton today – now I am a man! Maybe now I can move out of Mom’s basement and even talk to a girl!”). You are very open and honest and make yourself accessible online, which is one of the really cool things about you, but it does make you vulnerable to these idiots.
I thought that Felicia nailed it in season 6 of The Guild where the creator was obsessively reading every negative hate-filled post until he was ready to quit. Then when he finally talked to the player base in general, he realized how special the thing he had created was to vast majority of them. Tabletop is like that – you’ve created something awesome and the vast majority of the audience loves it. Make the show you want to make, and don’t let a few loud idiots convince you otherwise.
Very well said!!
Dude, you and I have the same set of Fate Dice! 😀
I’ve wanted to run or play in a Fate Core game for a whike now, but I always get bogged down in setting building or rules balancing without focusing on plot or story iseas. This leads me back to writing campaigns for the Forgotten Realms with 5e.
I have, however, been able to come up with and run a few one-shots of Fate Accelerated Edition, which I would describe as the ultimate pick-up-and-play RPG. Highly recommend you check it out for next season! It’s basically a more streamlined Fate.
::trying to shout louder than the fake people in your brain:: I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT!!! GET IN MY EYEBALLS RIGHT NOW!!
Also, on a personal level: screw any and all so-called “hardcore” haters. Gaming isn’t just about the things they like and they need to accept that. Tabletop is a lot of fun and I love to watch it!
I’m glad you overcame your personal obstacles and were able to follow your ambitions in this season.
Oh, please tell me there was singing in the Steam Park episode!
Congrats from my heart! =)
You did really well in all senses
If I wasn’t such a Leverage nerd, I wouldn’t be doing the happy dance I am doing to see that John Rogers is going to come back. 🙂 (Although if I wasn’t such a Leverage fan, I wouldn’t have met you in Pioneer Square in Portland like five years ago and gotten most of my fangirling out of my system back then).
I’m glad you feel like this season is more what you’ve wanted for the show and I can’t wait for new episodes so I can discover new games (and how to play them) so I can drag my friends to GameHaus so we can play more games. 🙂
So looking forward to this season.
From looking up a random vid on YouTube and stumbling across the X-Wing episode, to my friends brother randomly asking a bunch if us to try out this new X-Wing game he picked up, to watching every episode and now having a great election of games between myself and a couple of friends. That’s down to you, sir. Thank you.
July!!!! That could be the best birthday present.
Happy to hear that you really enjoyed the season and I am dure it will show in the final product.
Did you considered Potion Explosion for the series 5? Is a very fine game of an italian publisher (Horrible Games) and I make good fun of it also with casual gamers and relatives during boring dinners. Was also one of the best seller in Essen 2015.
Most important: will you ever come to Essen? LOL. Take care!
JANET VARNEY!!! ahem also awesome to see Matt Mercer rounding out the Critical Role roster’s appearances. This is probably going to be the most memorable season yet. Can’t wait.
I’m so happy you found your way back to happy, Wil. I can’t wait to start watching this season.
Take a little rest break. You definitely deserve it.
“I’m tired, but it’s a good tired that feels earned instead of imposed, if that makes sense.”
Makes 100% sense. I am not sure I have ever written that so succinctly, so I threw it in a notepad doc to share when I need to (with proper attribution.)
Glad you had fun, even though it was exhausting (but in a good way.)
Yo. Prolly already saw this interesting read at Ars…
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/i-have-suicidal-depression-and-board-games-saved-my-life/
Also, still waiting for the all Robbie Wheeling episode where you all get lost in the tunnels under Glendale.
Also also, I’ve penciled in 2018 for my first TT appearance.
The game? Something with trolls.
will just say thank you… so looking forward to the show.. you really made me play more games.. opened up a world i sadly forgot about.. which I loved and can’t stop with agian.. the time i got her, with friends.. meeting my girl over a boardgame date.. i will just say thank you for a season more.. the way you inspirede my to paly more i use them to inspire more and more of my friends to introduce bigger and bigger games 🙂 you and your crew really make something great.. just a gamer from denmark.. thanks..
Hey Wil. Would you do me a solid and tag me in the Arya Starbucks I created that you posted? That would be rad!
From Instagram? Sure. Give me a link and I’ll use it.
I’m sick of seeing tabletop on YouTube when I search for boardgame stuff. I refuse to watch this show because I have run out of money buying all the freaking games . ha-ha, I have picked up takenoko, coup, the resistance and sherrif of Nottingham and sushi go. Essentially, I can’t afford to watch your show anymore. If i go to that local game store one more time, i know ill break and get tokaido and forbidden desert. I just went to get sleeves for coup today and came out with the resistance. I forgot the sleeves….Wil Wheaton, you disgust me. I dont think its a coincidence that your initials are W.W. You’re the Walter White of boardgaming and boardgames are the blue meth that you peddle…..bitch. Good day sir…….I said good day.
I am the one who knocks… and reminds you to PLAY MORE GAMES!
Indeed lol
Voxers on TableTop! Too much awesome – can’t, sentence, properly.
Is it July yet?
I’m so glad you had fun this season. It makes me all the more excited to watch it. Thanks for the show, Wil. This show is my favorite and has reignited my passion for tabletop games.
Wil, I’m glad that your reboot has helped you realize that you can’t focus on the haters. No matter what you do, there is always someone who will see the negative side or focus on what you did wrong. I know that’s hard to ignore sometimes, but there are many more great people out there who are with you all the way.
Obviously, you have a great audience who loves the show (including me) as evidenced by how fast season three funded. I love your work (not just Tabletop, TV Crimes is awesome!) and am excited for the new season!
Play more games!
Strong work, sir. It will be fun seeing the lovably neurotic Felicia Day on TT again.
“Luckily for me, Legendary is pretty awesome and supportive of what we want to do with the show…”
Is there a lede that got buried there? Or did I miss a memo?
This is really exciting, Wil. As I told you, this already had a big effect on my life (and has continued to have since we last spoke). I am fairly certain that, thanks to you, I will be making profit as a creative person for the first time in my life. I can’t begin to express how happy that makes me. It’s literally a dream come true. Thanks, man.
Huzzah! I am beyond excited for this season! I truly love TT.
I am 29 years old and this past year have fully, unabashedly accepted the little geek girl that was timidly hidden inside for years due to other people pressures and self-doubt, depression and all the crap that comes in that wheelbarrow.
I love games and sci-fi and fantasy.
The internet has given me a way connect with others who share those passions and embrace who they are and you, sir, are tops in my opinion.
So thanks for being you – and being honest about your path. You encourage us to do the same 😀
Really enjoyed watching your and yours playing these games!
Will Weaton you ROCK!!!
I’m glad this season wrapped on such a huge positive note for you. Do you think that your new habits and changed lifestyle has helped shape more positive events in your career and life?
I think it helped, because part of rebooting is taking control of and responsibility for my own happiness.
I’m just too old and too busy to cram in the schedule we’d done in previous years, and I told the team that if that was the schedule again, the show would have to happen without me. We were able to make it all work out.
But, honestly, the best thing I did was firing a supremely toxic and dishonest person who I’d trusted for years, when I realized that he wasn’t worthy of my trust and friendship. It’s incredible how much getting rid of one person changed the entire atmosphere on the set for the better, and how much of a weight it took off of my shoulders. In some ways, it’s like being in an unhealthy relationship: you don’t realize how unhappy you are and how bad it is until you’re out of it for a long time.
Brutal rpg award winning check it out!
If you don’t mind… I’d love if you take a look at a Spanish rpg made locally at a small editorial there. It’s the first game made in Spanish specifically for children and it is slowly being introduced in some schools and even in other countries to help kids to teach Spanish as a second language. But what is really, really important is that this is the dream of a small group of people who fought against monsters until this project saw the light, and even more important, because one of the illustrators of this book happens to be one of my best friends, I deeply admire her and I think she deserves the credit for such inspiring work. Beyond that I share no relation with the book or the editorial so no advertising is intended.
Here’s the link: http://www.nosolorol.com/nuevo/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-vmblend.tpl&product_id=345&category_id=11&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=12
My son and I have been eagerly awaiting the new season! We’ve been a little lax on board games lately (I’ve been teaching him a few computer games like Don’t Starve, Star Trek Online, etc). But I’m realizing we need our Friday Board Games Night again, sharing pizza and laughs.
Speaking of TT, I just saw this video article on CNN about Catan:
http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/settling-the-score-meet-the-master-of-catan?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool
The one thing I haven’t really done was look into the history of some of these games. I think Steve Jackson’s games are the only ones where I really know the history, since I played Car Wars WAYYYY back in the day (and recently reacquired it on eBay), and have been following ever since. I’ve been perusing eBay a lot over the last year, trying to reacquire all the games I remember from my childhood that I’ve lost or have been seriously damaged over the years, mainly because of TableTop. Mostly RPGs (the original sealed “pink box” D&D, among others).
I want to thank you again for all the time and effort you put into this series, and the joy its brought to me and my son.
Hey Wil,
I find it a little bit shocking to hear, that the show tabletop or at least some people involved gave you so much trouble. Because you brought a lot of joy in to my life with boardgames. I hated boardgames, I really did. But your show changed that and I have lots and lots of fond memories because of you. I never had the impression that making the show gave you so much discomfort, because yes their are probably haters and trolls but I really can’t imagen why anyone would criticize the hard work you have done or why you would take it serious. I know this is easier said from the outside….but man I hope you get as much joy back as you gave to us.
il?
P.S.: Could you delete the first comment? thank you sry!
So second try.^^
I just wanted to say thank you for all you have done. Again I don’t know why people would criticize you for how you make the show. The only thing I could think of is that they wish you would play their favorite game on tabletop (like 7 Wonder 🙂 ), but that is no reason to give you a hard time.
So it is a good thing you keep making tabletop and I’m super glad, that you played Eldritch horror (love that game)! Again you brought so many hours of joy for me and I guess many people, so never doubt yourself (too much)!
Great news! My daughter will be very happy that new episodes are now only a few weeks away. Thank you so much for sharing your passion for games with us (even if that does mean you sometimes have to deal with troublesome dice 🙂 ). If you ever have any doubt about the positive effect you have, consider this: My daughter was recently invited to a birthday party for two of her friends (who happen to be twins). When asked what she wanted to take as a gift, she immediately said that she wanted to buy them each a game that they could either play by themselves, or share with whoever else was visiting. When we discussed it a little more, my daughter explained that she liked playing non-computer games with them because “we have fun, and we talk to one another”. Communication, and fun. I can’t think of anything more important for a happy life.
“turn The Audience into The People On The Internet Who Hate Whatever I Do Anyway So I’ll Show Them.”
I was fortunate enough to get a free social anxiety therapy treatment at my work place. The reasons, yada yada yada. Through the treatment I came to realize most people are empathetic. In one key session I was asked if I saw someone giving a speech and stammering, how would I feel for them. Would I snicker and laugh? Would I hate them or feel malice? No, I would feel bad for them and hope they succeed.
The point, I realized I was putting imaginary thoughts in people’s heads about me. The wrong ones. The silent majority is most likely on your side or at least wants to support you. (end of mushy mushy talk)
I am so OVERJOYED that Tabletop has new episodes this July!! I’m a fan from the Philippines and the board game community is slowly growing here! Big thanks to you and the Tabletop team for encouraging me to play more games!! I discovered board games because of your videos and got them for myself! (I am currently building my tabletop empire, I have Takenoko, Ticket to Ride Europe, Small World, 7 Wonders, Resistance, etc…) Now all my friends are addicted to the games and want to try more! I really enjoy your episodes and I am so looking forward to the new season.
I cannot wait! I started watching tabletop when it first came out and your show inspired me to buy and play more games. Through board games I’ve gotten closer and become friends with my girlfriends brother and cousin, as well as having and hosting our own games nights. I now have a list of games I want to get and hearing you had as much fun as you did on the first season making it makes me excited to watch it.
Bit late now, but just wanted to say Yay for new season, Yay for successful reboot, and boo on the haters. I was wondering why so long for new season, so was googling around hoping I would NOT find that it had been cancelled/abandoned.
I was a pretty hardcore gamer for so many years then life, kids, career, etc put the kabosh on that and I drifted away. After a friend pointed me to TT back in season 1, I was inspired to get back into it. Now I have a monthly GURPS campaign with friends, a bi-weekly D&D campaign with my daughter and some of her friends (noobs, gotta love that!) and a weekly family game night. Thanks for reigniting my love for gaming and also for prompting me to share it with kid.
Is that Rhea Butcher and Janet Varney??? So hyped for this season!
I am so excited for a new season. I am glad you were able to move past things that were taking the fun away from you in doing it and get back to making the show you wanted because we love it.
This seriously is a show that me and a buddy will sit down in his shop and watch and then figure out which games to go get and try. It has been something that has allowed us to involve the kids in new and creative games and they love them just as much.
I hope we keep seeing tabletop for years to come and I know myself as probably many others will as well will always be willing to help crowdfund it.
I would rather get rid of cable sometimes and give all that money to you and channels like G&S to keep with great content like Tabletop, Titansgrave, and Spellslingers.
Good to see you reinspired Wil. Looking forward to the games!
I am calling it right now. In this season, Wil is gonna roll a ton of 1’s in a single go and there will be a montage timed to ‘Hello darkness my old friend’.
Just saying…. i am calling it RIGHT NOW.
Hello Wil.
It breaks my heart to hear you feel this way but I have something to say that might cheer you up. The last name of all my Dnd characters is elhromane, and they were married to Aeofel. Your character was an inspiration and source of happiness for me in a time where I avidly tried to escape a harsh reality at fourteen- the reality that my mother was passing away. You are amazing! And I can’t thank you enough for giving me a reason to be happy during the lowest point in my little life. I still play DnD and went on to run the katy high dnd club. I wish you luck with your reboot! And if you are writing could you write one of my characters a sappy love letter from Aeofel I could keep framed?
Much Admiration,
Diana M. Lara
I’m excited to see the new season. Wil is a great host. It’s like getting back together with old friends to play some new games. Always make the show you want and don’t try and make it for the audience. We’re just along for the ride.
I’m SO glad that you’re doing TableTop, Wil. Thanks for bringing one of my favorite shows back, and I hope you’ll be into doing more!!!!
Thank you Wil Wheaton!!! Please never stop. To be honest, Tabletop games have been quite a hit here in the Philippines. Back in the days, you only know the classic board games of Monopoly etc, but right now board game cafes are popping out one by one. I really love how Tabletop games just makes the people around you put their phones and tablets down and just get on to interacting and playing. So, please, do keep continuing Tabletop as much as possible. I am actually a game master at a board game cafe but it’s because of Tabletop that I learned a lot of games and their mechanics. Thank you Wil Wheaton!
Thank you Wil, I’m glad to see the show come back, if it weren’t for your show I would be in a pit of darkness. If it weren’t for your show and the people you bring on it. I wouldn’t have found that love of board games and RPGS again and in better place than I was that i was a few years ago.
I just wanted you to know Wil that the excitement in my heart from tabletop season 4 has overflown into a waterfall of hype so vast its flow has cut through the fabric of space and time. Seriously though, tabletop is easily the greatest Youtube series ever created, I can count myself among many in saying it has changed my life. Coming to you from my little dark corner to your north, play more games (so I can watch the shenanigans that ensue) thank you Wil Wheaton