Category: Tabletop

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Tabletop Season 4: Status Update

Posted on By Wil

Reader T asked me in an email if there were any updates about, or news I could share about Tabletop Season 4. T mentioned that he liked the constant updates Geek & Sundry sent out during the production process of last season, and that he missed that sort of thing.

I began to reply that there “isn’t much to share, because there isn’t that much going on, except” … and then I wrote a bunch of stuff that disproved my original thought.

So, considering that T may not be the only person on this planet who wants to know what’s going on with Season 4, here’s the stuff that’s going on with Tabletop Season 4 which can be announced now:

We’ve taken a longer than usual hiatus because I was burned out, frustrated and unhappy after a really terrible experience with a (formerly) trusted friend last season, and wondering if I even wanted to do another season of the show. After a long hiatus that has allowed me to work on other things and rediscover the joy of playing games for the sake of playing games, as well as time to heal the wounds from Season 3, I’m back to work with my team, and starting to get things together for Season 4. We are in the game review process right now. From an original list of over 450 submissions, we’re actively play testing about 85 games, and that will be reduced to 18 or 20 games for the season. It’s 18 or 20 because we’ll probably do another one or two episodes that are two parts, but we won’t know for sure until we get down to about 20 games.

We’re not going to do gag reels and stuff this season. I don’t think they’re necessary, and they’re more trouble than they’re worth. We’ll still have a bi-weekly release schedule. I’m not sure if there will be something different to release on the off weeks.

One of the biggest changes this season affects me on a personal level as well as a professional one. We have asked the game publishers to send someone from their company to consult with us on rules and gameplay during production, so we don’t have to rely on one person to know the minutiae of 18 to 20 different games.

We are going to focus primarily on boardgames, as usual, but I have a couple of RPGs on my list that I really like, that I think could be really fun to showcase. We’re also going to look at more family games than we have in the past, because it turns out that families who watch together make up an enormous part of our audience. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to choose “kiddie” games, but that I’m looking at games that are fun for parents and kids to play together. For example, Tsuro, Ticket to Ride and Sushi Go! are all games that are really fun for adults and kids to play together, but they’re also fun for just adults to play together.

I have chosen two games already. They are Lanterns and Code Names. I’m also looking very seriously at Tiny Epic Galaxies.
We are planning to go into production near the end of April. We’re going to shoot for three weeks instead of two, so our schedule is a little less grueling. We don’t have an official release date, but I think the first episode of the season will be around the beginning of June.So, as you can see, maybe there’s more to share than I thought, and there it is. Play more games!!

 

Tabletop Submission Criteria

Posted on By Wil

While I was at GenCon meeting with game publishers, I learned that a longtime friend who I completely trusted to be a liaison between me (and Tabletop) and game publishers was abusing and betraying that trust in the worst way. Among several profoundly upsetting revelations, I learned that  our submission criteria was not being clearly communicated to designers and publishers. This isn’t fair to anyone who has a game they think would work on the show, and is personally upsetting to me, because I probably missed more than a few potentially awesome games.

I have taken significant steps to ensure that the problems we experienced in season three as a result of that betrayal will never happen again. As we get ready to select games for next season, I want to ensure that everyone knows how we choose games to play, so nobody’s time, money, or resources are wasted.

So what follows is a copy of the email we are sending to all the publishers we met. It is also published on geekandsundry.com, where anyone can view it. It’s also here, because I want to make sure that everyone who needs or wants to see this can see it.

To the Publishers:

At GenCon this year, after meeting with dozens of game publishers, it became clear to us that our submissions process for TableTop was broken. The first step toward repairing this process is better direct communication between us at TableTop and the publishers we hope to work with. Rather than rely on a single person to communicate our submission criteria, we are publishing it online and in email, so everyone has access to the same information.

The following criteria will help you determine which of your games are most likely to be played on TableTop:

  1. Your game must be available at retail outlets when its episode of TableTop airs. We will not consider games that are in development, in stages of crowd funding, or otherwise not available for gamers to purchase and play.
  1. We have 4 players on each episode of TableTop, so your game should work best with 4 players. This does not mean that it can be played by only 4 players, but it should really shine with 4 players. A good example is Bang!, which technically works with 4 players, but is at its best with 7 or more. As much as we love Bang!, it just won’t work on Tabletop.
  1. Games can not require simultaneous play, or need to be played in real time. Games like Escape: The Curse of the Temple or Jungle Speed are super fun, but the simultaneous play makes them impossible to film and edit.
  1. Your game should have a strong, good balance of strategy and luck. We want everyone who plays to feel invested throughout the episode. Skewing too far in one direction or the other may leave some players out.
  1. Your game should look good and be produced on quality materials. TableTop is a visual show, after all, and we need the games we feature to look awesome.
  1. Games need to be playable in about 90 minutes to fit into our production schedule, and to allow us edit the final cut to about 35 minutes. Longer games are occasionally okay for two part episodes, but those are rare exceptions.
  1. For season 4, we’re very interested in seeing and playing games that are accessible to families. We’ve seen that a huge portion of the TableTop audience is made up of families who watch together, and we want to play some games this coming season that they’ll love to play together. This does not mean that we’re looking for children’s games. Rather, we are looking for games that can be played by a wide range of ages. For example, Catan Jr. is a game you can play with your kids that is not a kid’s game. Smash Up is probably a little complex for a 7 year-old, but a 10 year-old shouldn’t have any trouble with it. Both of those games can be fun for adults to play with or without their kids.

We want you to know that games fitting all these criteria are the most likely to end up on the show. We anticipate over 200 submissions this season, from which 18-20 will be selected for TableTop, so a game that fits all 6 of these criteria will probably edge out one that fits only 4. However, if your game doesn’t fit all of these rules, but fits most of them, we’d still love to see it. If your game breaks one of these rules in a spectacular and interesting way, we’d also love to see it. Please let us know in your submission if this is the case, which criteria you did not align with, and why you think we’ll love it. Please note, Rule 1 is non-negotiable.

Rather than send product, we’d like to save you time and money. Please submit information about your game to Ryan Copple & Claudia Sanchez at tabletopsubmissions [at] geekandsundry dot com. We’ll need to know the title and designer of your game, the core mechanics, playing time, target age, and when it will be available in stores. You may include marketing materials if you think they will be helpful for us.

We will compile a list from these e-mail submissions and reach out to those of you who have games we believe could be a good match for our show. At that time, we’ll ask you to send those games to the Geek & Sundry offices, directed to Ryan & Claudia’s attention. We are asking for a minimum of 2 copies of your game. One copy will go to Wil Wheaton, to play with his family and his game group. One copy will be played by the offices of Geek & Sundry. Going forward we do not require more than 2 copies of a game in order to consider that game for Tabletop. If you are able to send a 3rd copy it may help us ensure as many people as possible can play the games, but 2 will be enough for consideration.

Titansgrave Chapter 9: Nightmares

Posted on By Wil

It’s Titansgrave Tuesday!

Chapter Nine isn’t in the book, it wasn’t in the schedule, and it wasn’t something any of us thought about until the day before.  If you want to know more details, keep reading. I recommend that you don’t continue this post until you’ve seen the episode, though I avoid any specific or direct spoilers.

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The Titansgrave book goes on sale this Thursday. If you’re watching the show and plan to get the book, please read this first.

Posted on By Wil

I wanted to have the whole series finished and released by today, so we could have the book come out after the story had wrapped up. Life happened, and now we won’t wrap up the whole thing for another two weeks.

This means that on Thursday, the script for Titansgrave — including the two unaired episodes — is going to be available. This means that anyone who wants to can find out how it ends.

I’m not the boss of you, but I beg you not to skip ahead, if you’ve been following the story week to week. I watched an edit of the finale yesterday, and it really is some of the best stuff we’ve done. If you know what happens before you watch it (at least, according to the module), you’re going to rob yourself of some cool stuff.

I want you to buy the book. I want you to love the book. I want you to run The Ashes of Valkana for people who haven’t watched the show. I  want you to have your own adventures that are inspired by the book.

But I don’t want you to spoil the end for yourself, or for anyone else. So please, read carefully.

Thanks for listening, and if you do get the book, I hope you have fun in our world.

Oh, speaking of Titansgrave … here’s today’s episode:

And here’s a delightful song a young woman wrote about Jeremy:

Finally, if you have found or created Titansgrave fanart of any kind, I really want to see it so I can share it with the cast and the team. I’d love it if you’d leave links in the comments.