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All posts filed under “Project 12”

June 6, 2017

Episode 105: Time Spanks Tom Hanks

First Keith talks about his recent trip to Portugal, where, among other things, he enjoyed seeing the roof cats of Porto. They discuss the mystery of why we have different names for foreign geographic locations than the names used by the people who actually live in those places. Keith mentions a couple of books including Anno Dracula and Last Call. Andy reports on some of the stuff going on at Looney Labs, then talks about TARDIS technology and the time traveler known as The Plumber. They discuss Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 without being very spoilery, along with The Americans, Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans, Rouge One, and the BBC series from the 80’s called The Tripods.

May 16, 2017

Episode 104: Tom Cruise’s Time Cruise

First Keith talks about getting his computer fixed, and other things he did this weekend. Andy talks about developing two-player rules for his party game Choose One, which works for 3-10 players as published. They discuss a recent top ten list of great games published by Paste Magazine, and they discuss stories about normal people discovering the world isn’t what they thought it was. Media topics include: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Legion, Fargo’s season 3 opener, The Big Lebowski, American Gods, The Americans, Deutschland ’83, Logan, The Goldbergs, and Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans.

May 9, 2017

Episode 103: Keith in a Sportsball Cap

First the guys get caught up on each other’s lives. Andy talks about his vintage video game Icebreaker and its innovative “Level Grid” interface, and Keith considers his options for getting a 3DO multiplayer again. Keith talks about the start of season 3 of Fargo, and they discuss the challenges of learning Bridge. And any game for that matter. Then they discuss the issues relating to system mastery in RPGs. And any game for that matter. Then they lament the news of pending cancellation of TV shows they’ve been enjoying. Then they discuss “embarrassment humor,” and the conversation turns into a comparison/contrast analysis of The Office and Parks and Rec. Keith also compares & contrasts the American show House Hunters and the British show Escape to the Country.

April 25, 2017

Episode 102: No Cookie for Old Men

First the guys discuss the merits of various types of chocolate chip cookies. Then they talk about Andy’s book, The Empty City, and the stories within it which inspired Icehouse and the entire Looney Pyramids system. They also discuss Illimat and Tak, new board games which also started as imaginary games. Then they talk about the time travel conundrum of showing a young artist who will become successful examples of the works they will eventually create in the future. Andy talks about the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Keith talks about stories he’s written (and wants to write) for his fantasy role-playing worlds. Andy talks about time traveler characters he’d written into a couple of his earliest game design projects, back in the early 80s, and provides a breakdown of the various machines and methods time travelers use to get around, triggered by the ring used TimeRider in the new series Dimension 404. Other media topics include season 2 of Fargo, and season 1, and the entire Coen brothers filmography. Keith and Andy give their answers to the question of which Coen brothers movie they like best.

April 18, 2017

Episode 101: Ready Player 101

First the guys talk about cats. Then they talk about playing video games, with Keith rambling on about the Mass Effect series. Then they talk about cats some more. Next, they discuss time travel shows, specifically the just-canceled Time After Time, Making History, and episode 3 of Dimension 404. Next, they talk about cats again. After that, they get into a lengthy, spoiler-filled discussion of the book, Ready Player One, followed by a spoilery discussion of the most recent episode of the Americans. Lastly, they talk about racism in fantasy worlds, with one more mention of cats.

SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers inside.

April 11, 2017

Episode 100: Ducks Don’t Read

The guys note that this is their 100th show and give their answers to a common question: what are some of your all-time favorite games that you did not design? As part of this discussion, Keith mentions an interesting new poker variant, called Hollywood Squares. Regarding work, Andy talks about Drinking Fluxx, and the new rules that make it both awesome and dangerous, and talks about finally finishing the new edition of Nanofictionary, one change to which will be a new rule for who goes first, which they discuss. When they get to media, they have a long, spoiler-filled discussion about the season 1 finale to Legion. Other topics include the Americans, The Good Place, Rick & Morty, and the 8th episode of the fan series, Star Trek Continues.

SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers inside!

March 8, 2017

Episode 96: Designer Whiplash

First the guys talk about the JoCo cruise, for which they depart in just a few days. Then Andy talks about Toy Fair and the newest products Looney Labs was showing off there, including Andy’s Amsterdam Coffeeshop coffee table book, which he’s been working on a lot recently. Andy talks about “Designer Whiplash,” a game inventor’s problem in which playtesters get burned out by too many rule changes. Keith talks about his newest RPG project, which he’s hoping to have more replayability than most RPGs which can only be played once. He also talks about Project Ex, which will no longer be secret within weeks, and Andy teases his new game Time Breaker. Moving on to media, they discuss the Batman Lego Movie, Legion, Powerless, This is Us, Emerald City, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

February 22, 2017

Episode 95: You’ve Ruined Groundhog Day!

Keith talks about things that happened in a recent RPG he’s been playing, in which a turning point was a moment when a magical fox said something rude to him. This leads to a discussion of what people enjoy about role-playing, and in specifically what his wife Jenn likes — and doesn’t like — about role-playing. We learn that Jenn dislikes close-up magic acts. They talk about a new song by the Doubleclicks that mentioned Gloom and Fluxx, then they talk about Codenames. Media topics include Legion, Infinity Train, Tim’s Vermeer, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Powerless, and The Lego Batman Movie. Keith hints again about Project Ex, and Andy talks about his new time travel board game in the works, Time Breaker. Keith mentions his dog, Ping, and Andy talks about Dave Bondi’s doggie. Lastly Andy talks about the return of Nanofictionary and he rants about a flaw he recently observed in the classic film, Groundhog Day.

February 14, 2017

Episode 94: That’s Not How Time Travel Works!

Keith talks about an RPG he’s playing, which leads to discussions of books by Tim Powers and Roger Zelazny, and also games involving tarot cards and objects that look different from what they actually are. Then they reminisce about classic kids shows, in particular The Electric Company. Andy talks about being interviewed about the early days of Live Action Role Playing by author Jon Peterson. Moving on to media, they discuss Timeless, mostly just complaining about how time travel supposedly works on that show. Other topics include Steven Universe, Fringe, Jodorowsky’s Dune, and Rick & Morty.

December 21, 2016

Episode 86: Fun with Math and Chemistry!

Keith talks about a new role-playing system Will Hindmarch is developing, and a scenario called Homecoming which Keith wrote for this system. Keith also talks about something else he’s working on, called Dungeon Dogs. Then Andy talks about the design for Chemistry Fluxx and a couple of cards he’s finding problematic. He also mentions a last minute addition to Math Fluxx called Plan C. Lastly they talk about the series Timeless, including some ranting by Andy about the Apollo-11 episode.