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Mark Johnson's occasional & opinionated podcast about family strategy boardgames

Monday, June 20, 2005

Upcoming shows

As expected, my flurry of podcasting last week is being followed by 7-10 days of no podcasting at all. Was I right in deciding to just shoot those previous shows out as quickly as I recorded them? Or would you prefer that I dribble them out at a more steady pace...even though that means holding some back? (It's more hassle for me to work to a regular schedule, so I don't expect to do it. Just curious what my listeners think.)

I have some website maintenance to do around here, too. That web-poll has been up forever. Time to tidy that up. Some links need updating, too. I've got a friend working on a logo right now, and I might even go for some wallpaper around here. Who knows?

As for upcoming shows, here's the long-threatened list of ideas. Any feedback on these? Of course the audio session reports will be sprinkle in amongst these theme shows. I'm also going to get Mike Mayer and some other people on the air for some back-n-forth review/opinion shows.

  • History of the hobby through the Internet (including the secret mailing list)
  • German/Designer/Family Strategy/TGOO . . . what to call them
  • Microgames
  • My mostly nongamer wife (and the few games she likes)
  • Lite wargames pt. 1 (wargaming intro for eurogamers)
  • Lite wargames pt. 2 (the ones I like best, others I wish I could find)
  • My CCG experiences (Magic, some Netrunner, even less Jyhad)
  • Steve Jackson Games (my time there, why they aren't clicking with me anymore)
  • What the *&%$ do I--does anybody--mean by game theme?
  • My gaming resolutions revisited
  • Game curmudgeon--the oldies I'd still rather play than something new
  • Curmudgeon pt. 2 --New games with buzz...and little else. (Or no appeal to me.)
  • Not the curmudgeon--The handful of new games that made the cut with me.
  • Checking back in with the kids (games we missed last time, anything new we're playing)
  • My PWAs (pretty wooden abstracts--I only like some of them)
  • Game designer wannabe--the ideas in my head
  • Why I don't like most game reviews (but hardly do any myself)
  • Geek in Denial (self-explanatory)
  • Update of my how-to-podcast show (after I learn a little more)
  • Session reports aren't for everyone else--they're for your game group
  • When I met Ken Tidwell at a Wendy's to sell him Cosmic Encounter (true, but not yet enough for a show)
  • Meeting distant gamers on business trips

And here's Mike Mayer's huge list of ideas for me. First for little segments in the show...

  • Mark's top five list of the day. (Today, best five abstract strategy games)
  • Mark's missed rule of the day. (brief discussion follows)
  • Mark's select odd rule I found in a game.
  • Mark's advice of what game you should buy this week
  • Marks favorite component of the day
  • Mark reads email comments
  • Mark's quiz: read a rule from a game and have listener guess what its from,then give answer at the end of the show.
  • Mark's favorite BBG comment of the day

...and then he adds some "favorite games geek topics." Things like :

  • games you might have missed
  • games I'll never play again (and why)
  • games for your family (non-gamer)
  • games that won't embarrass you to play work
  • holy grail games for you
  • games as an art form
  • earliest game memory
  • games that make me go "wow!"
  • german games in the eyes of a newbie.
  • german games then and now
  • crokinole boards
  • theme vs. no theme
  • how to teach rules (Yeah, right. I should describe how NOT to teach them!)
  • how to decided what games to keep, what to trade
  • strategy vs. tactics
  • games that should be reprinted
  • how to trade games
  • how to buy from overseas
  • how to put together a games day
  • conflict and good sportsmanship
  • Playing in restaurants, around non-gamers

Has anyone been keeping track of the future shows I say I'm going to do? Usually with something like, "Oh, I'll have to talk about XYZ in a future show..." but haven't done so yet.

Email Mark Johnson

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! What a great list of future topics Mark. They all sound interesting, particularly "History of the hobby through the Internet", "Lite wargames" and "Steve Jackson Games". It looks like you've got plenty of ideas to keep the BTGT podcast going for a long time. That's good news!

Regarding frequency... I'm ambivalent. I like to listen to 'casts as fast as you can pump them out, but I can see the wisdom of doling them out over time too. Either way, I'll be listening.

12:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I haven't listened to any of the boardgame related podcasts that have sprung up recently. (I find listening to anyone other than professional speakers cringe-inducing.) Your list is rather intriguing though and may be enough for me to give yours a listen. The ones that I'm especially interested in are:

* Microgames
* Lite wargames pt. 1 (wargaming intro for eurogamers)
* Steve Jackson Games (my time there, why they aren't clicking with me anymore)
* Curmudgeon pt. 2 --New games with buzz...and little else. (Or no appeal to me.)
* Why I don't like most game reviews (but hardly do any myself)
* Session reports aren't for everyone else--they're for your game group

7:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re: frequency - pump them out!

Re: topics, I would rather have you decide which ones you are most interested in and do them, rather than do what you think people might be interested in. If its driven by your interest, its more likely to be interesting to listen to...

1:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Howdy... I love listening to these podcasts... in fact, I just bought my first "german" game, Carcassonne, yesterday (in Toys R' Us, oddly enough...).

Anyway, my request for a show is pretty selfish... I'm a stand up comedian who's on the road a bit, usually with my fiancee... so we've been looking for 2 player games, more than anything else... So, 2 player games is my suggestion for a show.

Keep up the good work,
Deric Harrington

8:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Enjoying your podcasts - keep up the great work! Some ideas I'd love to hear you do:

History of boardgames

History/evolution of specific games

Games grouped by designer / designer career review

Game genres and games that cross genre boundaries

Games Day: How to Run One

Favorite games for given numbers of players

Games for non-gamers

Gender and Games and Gaming

12:13 PM  

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