Coalition Deadboys Special Episode! Book Review

Greetings, Citizens.

The Coalition Propoganda Department Coalition States Department of Awesomeness would like to remind you that the book, Chicks Dig Gaming has been out for a little less than a week. Since its release, it's hit Amazon's #1 spot for the Gender Studies genre, which is a great accomplishment. Not just for Mad Norwegian, but for the gaming community at large.



If you haven't already, check it out. Amazon has it at a discount, but as an author, I always recommend trying to buy directly from the publisher, if possible. But hey, that's my opinion.

I have to perform a mea culpa of sorts, though. I mentioned in the recording that I didn't think there were hard copies or that you could only get them through print-on-demand, I think I was wrong. It seems the Amazon Marketplace has paperback copies available, so you can probably also get those from the publisher.

Whether you look at my Amazon review or listen to this episode, just know that although I gave it four stars, it is a great book. Some people get it into their heads that only a five-star rating is satisfactory, or that they will only read books that get five stars. Don't be one of those people. Be one of the people that contribute to the discussion by actually reading the book and leaving a review of your own.

Anyway, that's the end of my rant.

Carry on, citizens.

Episode 8 - The Order of the Pants

Hello, citizens!

First of all, let me again apologize profusely for the delays in getting this episode to you. There was a little bit of trouble with a Xiticix hive near our location, but we've naturally got the situation well in hand.



Today's episode features a very special guest: Maddie, from Matt's current campaign. And man, can she kickbox!

We also delve into two different topics for this episode, although we got the normal order confused. First, we get to the Job Fair, where we discuss the Necromancer O.C.C. Apparently, they're not all evil...

And since we have someone of the female persuasion on the podcast, Matt and I were also naturally eager to learn a little more about how to best make gaming accessible to women--and more than that, how to make it enjoyable enough that they will want to continue doing it and make it less and less a "guy thing."

Until next time, keep your dice rolling.

Carry on, citizens.

Delays, Delays

Sorry about this, but life has been quite hectic. I'm hoping to have the newest episode posted sometime today, but don't hold me to it. Regardless, this episode is well worth the wait.

~Jeff

Episode 7 - Social Contracts Players Sign

Hello, and and happy Halloween to you, human-enough subjects!

Real life seemed to try conspiring against us this time, but we showed it who was boss.



Anyway, I know I've said this before in a post, but I think this is one of our best episodes yet. Up to this point, we've been talking a lot about what a GM needs to do to engage players and things like that, but today, Matt had a great idea. What does a player need to do to fulfill their part of the social gaming contract? What is the social contract when it comes to gaming, and how does it even break? What are the effects if someone breaks it?

And somehow, we came back to talking about rules lawyers. What is it with those guys?

Anyway, we're glad to be back on track with our schedule. Sorry the Episode 6 came out so early—that was a mistake on my part, but one I'm not planning to repeat. Also, because real life played such havoc with the editing schedule, I wasn't able to include the additional feature in this episode. BUT, in lieu of that, we have a fun little section where we learn that Matt's dice really are cursed.



Sound effect provided by Raccoonimator on freesound.org.

Episode 6 - Return of the Walrus Girl

Hello again, humans and humanoid-enough subjects!

You've heard about her for a long time. If you listened to the previous episode, you've been expecting this. Now is the time. Ellen, the Walrus Girl herself, is here.

Ellen was great to bear with Matt and I as we bungled through our first guest interview, and was really good-natured about it. She not only was able to provide us with some really great insight into how a woman gets into gaming, but also gives advice about how to make gaming more accessible once the wall is down, as well as how to help make it a good experience.

Many, many thanks go out to Ellen for her time and voice (and I'm sure, the headache that followed) for being our guest on this episode. She will be the first of many, so stay tuned.

Also, a shout-out goes to Mad Norwegian Press and their upcoming book, Chicks Dig Gaming, due for release on November 11. As time goes on, we can put a more comprehensive review of it up.

Question for readers and listeners: Do you want to keep this blog solely dedicated to episode releases, or would you like to see other things as well? For example, on the weeks we don't record, would you want an analysis or discussion of M.D.C. news, or short releases to let you know what's coming up? I'm pretty sure I can create a second page under this one to put that kind of stuff if that's the preferred method.

Here's the embedded episode, but feel free to download the MP3 file, as well.



Have a great day, and carry on, citizens.

Episode 5 - The House Rule Strikes Back

Hello, human subjects!

This week's episode comes in response to an email we received a while back.

Just how do you play your games? Are you a by-the-book kind of person, or do you try to be flexible like the proverbial willow? House rules can breathe a special, unique life into a game that might have grown stale. Think about playing Monopoly: do you put $500 in the middle of the board so Free Parking helps your bottom line? Or do you read the instructions and follow everything it says?

This week, Matt and Jeff discuss their views on running games, and we've even sweetened the pot: but I don't want to give it away. Let's just say that We want everyone within the sound of our voice to choose a side, and leave comments.



In this episode, we're even more organized than we've been in the past--meaning, we included all the segments we'd hoped to: S.D.C. News, M.D.C. News, Discussion, Creature Feature and the Palladium Travel Agency (not a comment on the local PTA, though).

We also wanted to give a few shout-outs to some folks specifically. First, Pioneer Book is a local bookstore that both of us love. Although it doesn't directly deal with gaming, it's an amazing store. If you can find a recent picture of their store, you're in for a treat. Second, Blue Table Painting, which produces some of the best painted miniatures...well, anywhere. Finally, we'd like to mention Dragon's Keep. We both get a lot of our gaming material from there, and it's gotten to the point where the shelves are starting to make things a little crowded!

As always, please let us know what you think about the show. We're always eager to make the show better, but we can't do anything if we don't hear from you! You know how to get in touch with us.

Carry on, citizens.

Episode 4 - A New Hope for Published Scenarios

Greetings, citizens!

Here is the second part of our discussion covering sandbox and published campaigns. You don't have to have listened to the first part, but it helps if you have. This episode builds on those ideas, and hopefully gives you a better idea on how to build better stories in your games.

Also, since we recorded this at the same time as the first part, we didn't have a chance to discuss any M.D.C. news. However, I hope all the Kickstarter backers have gotten their Robotech Tactics boxes by now and are enjoying the figures. And you can be sure I'm looking into getting a copy of the Northern Gun 2 print that Palladium is putting out.

Anyway, that's all for now. Next time, we're going to try including a Creature Feature, a segment focusing on O.C.C.s and the news. It'll be good to be back to normal.



Thanks for listening!
Carry on, citizens.