Episode 133 – Scythe, Shots, Shut Downs, Sun, STEAM, and Serve

It’s post Gen Con life for many of us, so this episode’s title explains it all. I get jealous that Daniel brought home a copy of Scythe, we talk about Gen Can’t gaming and the Summer of One Shots, mourn the upcoming loss of weekly Gamerstable, postulate about the Invisible Sun RPG kickstarting the same day you may be listening to the episode, InnRoads showing up on Ladies of the Round Table to talk about games and STEM, and the importance of serving first – doing everything else second.

The kickstarter for Invisible Sun is but hours away, so to whet your whistle, I’ll point you to the mirror on the wall that wasn’t there a minute ago.

If you’re looking to see me on LORT, you can find me in their archive here.

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Episode 91 – Creating a Moral Universe, Part 2 (with Kris & Katrina Ehrnman-Newton)

(Part Two.) Kris and Katrina Ehrnman-Newton, hosts of the inimitable Gameable Saturday Morning Podcast (and its previous Gameable Pixar and Disney iterations), join us for an episode so monstrously huge we had to make it a two-parter! This time, we’re talking about design considerations for a “moral universe”—the assumptions built into a fictional setting about the consequences and decisions that affect characters’ moral efforts. We start with our Patreon backer question, this time about potential real dangers of gaming. Then across two episodes, we cover the design aspects of a moral universe in great detail, and wrap up talking about the challenges and opportunities these present at the gaming table. Thanks again, Kris and Katrina—we’re looking forward to joining you to talk about Saturday morning cartoons soon! […]

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Episode 91 – Creating a Moral Universe, Part 1 (with Kris & Katrina Ehrnman-Newton)

<p>(Part One.) Kris and Katrina Ehrnman-Newton, hosts of the inimitable <a href=”http://gameabledisneypodcast.tumblr.com” target=”_blank”>Gameable Saturday Morning Podcast</a> (and its previous Gameable Pixar and Disney iterations), join us for an episode so monstrously huge we had to make it a two-parter! This time, we’re talking about design considerations for a “moral universe”—the assumptions built into a fictional setting about the consequences and decisions that affect characters’ moral efforts. We start with our <a href=”http://www.patreon.com/savingthegame” target=”_blank”>Patreon backer</a> question, this time about potential real dangers of gaming. Then across two episodes, we cover the design aspects of a moral universe in great detail, and wrap up talking about the challenges and opportunities these pre […]

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Episode 132 – Gen Con 2016 Preview

Whether you’re like Daniel and gearing up to leave for Indianapolis in a couple days to enjoy Gen Con’s wonders, or you’re like Jeff and myself planning to stay in our pajamas flashing GenCan’t badges, you’ve probably been watching news and reviews of the releases going on at the event.

Enjoy our blitz preview as we run through the games that have caught our eye, the games you should check out if you’re going to be there, and be ready to mock us if you listen to this podcast later and find out the hype was way off of the titles we’re loving.

Link round up:
Jeff’s Dungeon World intro/wrap up
Mike’s Initial Gen Con Game write-up
The BGG Geeklist of Gen Con Releases Continue reading

Episode 90 – The First Council of Nicaea (Historical Heresies 5)

After answering a short, fun, and humorous Patreon backer question, Grant and Peter dig into one of the most fascinating, important, and gameable events in all of church history: the First Council of Nicaea. In addition to establishing a lot of church orthodoxy that has lasted to the present day, it also gave us the Nicene Creed, and it was a unique and fascinating event in the history of the world.

Note: Listeners wanting full context for this episode should listen to Episode 89, “Arianism” first, as it provides a lot of the background for the events we cover in this episode.

Links:
The Nicene Creed
The Elenium, by David Eddings
Our Patreon

Scripture:

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Episode 89 – Arianism (Historical Heresies 4)

Grant and Peter Tackle an interesting Patreon supporter question about sandbox games and then move in to the very meaty and historically-important topic of Arianianism, a Christological heresy named after a guy who didn’t come up with it, and also responsible for the first council of Nicea.

Links: Our Patreon page, Episode 70: Adoptionism and Ebionism

Scirpture: Proverbs 8:22-23, 1 Corinthians 8:5-6

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Episode 130 – You Are Not Alone

As usual, we start off talking about games we’ve played over the past couple weeks and about some brief updates, but this episode has us revealing some stuff about ourselves on the mics.

Inspired by folks at Saving the Game and Fear the Boot getting episodes out there that talk about long-standing emotional wounds and mental health, as well as spending some time hanging out with the folks from the Bodhana Group, we got together to talk about some of the ways gaming has helped us work through our own personal struggles as well as those endured by people we love.

If you find yourself in a place where you feel alone, hurt, and that no one cares about you – be sure to talk to somebody about it. We’re not professional counselors in any way, but we’ve all served in ministry and have either directly or indirectly been in the place you are. Know that you are seen, you are known, and you are loved – by the guys on these mics and especially by God. We will get through this together.

Link round up:
You can find my write up about the Button Shy Board Game of the Month club HERE
You can find the episode of Saving the Game I mention HERE
And you can find the 2 part episode of Fear the Boot discussing mental health and gaming at the following: Part 1 , Part 2 Continue reading

Episode 88 – Dark Dungeons and Lingering Pain (with Rev. Chris Ode)

Rev. Chris Ode joins Peter and Grant in a very personal episode this week! Chris is a Lutheran pastor, and an actor and religious consultant for Zombie Orpheus Entertainment. We cover a lot of ground in this discussion, including: Zombie Orpheus’s new project, “Attacking the Darkness” (Kickstarting now!); ZOE’s “Dark Dungeons” movie (an adaptation of the original anti-D&D Chick tract); the lingering effects of Dark Dungeons and other anti-RPG material on the Church, gamers, and gaming; scapegoating; and our own Patreon campaign[…]

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Episode 129 – Tonal Shift

This episode starts off with us having a lot of fun. There’s a Tavern Con 2016 report, we talk about playing One Night Ultimate Werewolf with kids, Arctic Scavengers, and shenanigans in the Tavern. Oh, and we also talk about this video…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx8sl2uC46A

…Then the tone dropped.

Guys we talk about the tragedy that happened recently. There have been some folks using tags and search terms about that tragedy in an attempt to just up their click count. I have no desire to do that – so you can just listen to the episode, hear what we have to say, and join us in mourning with those who mourn and doing what we can to impact those around us with the powerful love of God. Continue reading

Episode 87 – Healing and Injury

Grant and Peter take a few moments to catch up on-air, and then discuss two exciting upcoming projects, Game to Grow and our upcoming Patreon campaign, before discussing a surprisingly meaty topic: Healing and Injury. The discussion that follows touches on both the gaming-related and spiritual aspects of healing and injury and also discusses why you should be sure to remember that hospitals exist as more than just hit point dispensers in your games.

Links:

Game to Grow

Gameable Pixar Podcast

John Q

Spoon Theory

Scripture: Isaiah 58:11,

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