Tabletop Throwdown

This week Sean and Mike give a bit of a ‘post-action’ report on this year’s GAMA Expo! From all of the panels Mike foolishly agreed to do, to Dungeon Crawler Carl, to Sean taking a big step towards becoming a published game designer??? Welcome to another packed episode, and if you’ve ever wondered what the game industry does when the players aren’t around, you’ll definitely want to give this one a listen!

Questions? Sugges...

The long-awaited return of Tabletop Throwdown! This time it's All-new! All-Different! Sean Brown of Mr. B and Mayfair Games has cast aside all common sense and has agreed to be Mike Dunn's cohost for the foreseeable future! Join these two silly old nerds as they talk about just how bad 2025 was for the Tabletop Industry, and what they have done about it!

Tabletop Throwdown Season 2, featuring Sean Brown as co-host, airs ev...

In the season finale of Tabletop Throwdown, Mike Dunn and his co-hosts discuss the Colorado Springs Board Game Club, its history, community impact, and fundraising efforts for Extra Life. They share personal experiences, the importance of community in gaming, and provide advice for starting a board game club. The episode concludes with reflections on the past season and plans for the future. Season Two coming in January!

C...

In this episode of Tabletop Throwdown, host Mike Dunn is joined by co-host Mark Julian and special guests Talia Rosen and Jason Matthews. The conversation explores various aspects of board game design, including the importance of accurate game duration (a callback to S1E10!) , the collaborative process in creating games, and the evolution of themes in historical gaming. They discuss the challenges of game aesthetics, the impact of ...

In this episode of Tabletop Throwdown, Mike Dunn and Dan Hinken welcome Jay Cormier, a game designer and founder of Off The Page Games. They discuss Jay's journey in game design, the development of the Mind Management game, and how comic books influence his work. Jay shares insights on the challenges faced during game development, the importance of honoring the source material, and his passion for creating games based on indie...

In this episode of Tabletop Throwdown, Mike Dunn, Mark Julian, and guest Ammon Anderson discuss their recent gaming experiences, including a charity event for children's hospitals, the success of Ammon's game Gnome Hollow, and the upcoming release of Twinkle Twinkle. They delve into the intricacies of game design, collaboration with publishers, and the evolution of production quality in board games. The conversation also ...

In this episode of Tabletop Throwdown, Mike Dunn and James Van Tonningen chat with Sean Brown, the head of Mayfair Games, discussing the relaunch of the brand and their latest Kickstarter project, Empire Builder: Europe. They explore the success of the Kickstarter campaign, the importance of reviving classic games, and the strategy behind targeting both mass market and dedicated gamers. Sean shares insights on the gaming industry, ...

In this episode of Tabletop Throwdown, Mike Dunn and Steven Starkey speak with Christian Hoffer, a prominent voice in the Dungeons & Dragons community. They discuss Hoffer’s journey from writing about comics to becoming a key figure in tabletop RPG journalism, his experiences at Comic Book, and the impact of corporate changes on the industry. The conversation delves into the OGL controversy, the current state of D&D discour...

We're back and about to go to Gen Con! Join us as we talk about games we are excited about seeing at Gen Con this year, and tease a bit about what else we are doing! 

Games we are looking forward to:

• Gnome Hollow
• Luthier
• Undaunted 2200 Calisto
• Boop the Halls
• Comic Hunters
• Seers Catalog
• Creepshow
• The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era
• Button Kingdoms
• Dead Reckoning: Port of Call
• Happy Home
• Terminus
• Gone to Gaia
• ...and mor...

Game durations on the side of the box- who comes up with those? Why do they always seem wildly inaccurate? What is the point? We talk with five luminary game designers and ask them those questions and more on this week's episode. There are definitely some spicy takes out there, but we get into the nitty gritty of what goes into coming up that number and why, as well as what it doesn't measure and why it is actually pretty...

Incredible Dream has been publishing hit game after hit game since their co-operative adventure Kinfire Chronicles, with long-time game designer and Fantasy Flight Games vet Kevin Wilson at the helm. James and Mike got to chat recently with Kevin about their latest title which just hit Kickstarter: Kinfire Council, a lovingly crafted worker placement game with a few twists! Kevin tells us a bit about his career and we dive deep int...

Mike finally recounts his magical trip to Lake Geneva, WI, where he attended Gary Con XVI, kicking off the fiftieth year of Dungeons & Dragons with current and past designers, artists, and luminaries of the game. Luke Gygax explains how Gary Con came to be, and Mike (sloppily) recounts a historical D&D tour of the tiny resort town where Gary Gygax started it all.

Find out more about Gary Con here: https://garycon.c...

We saw a lot of great games at GAMA Expo last month, and we’ve got a few quick looks at some of them on today’s podcast! In addition to several new games that we saw for the first time, we got a few updates on some that we’ve been tracking since last year’s Expo!

Some updates on games we’ve covered:
-Luthier
-Mollyhouse
-Gnome Hollow

New reveals
-Boop The Halls
-Halo Flashpoint
-Canopy Ever...

Tabletop gaming has blown up in recent years, and thanks to organizations like Games & Gaming Roundtable (GameRT) and Tabletop Alliance bringing games and game awareness into libraries and schools, that awareness is growing! We chat with George Bergstrom of GameRT and Josh Isringhauser of Tabletop Alliance about what they are doing and how you can help. Here's a few relevant links if you want to find out more:

Gam...

This week we chat with Nils Karlén (ALIEN RPG, Blade Runner RPG) and Kosta Kostulas (Coriolis — The Third Horizon, Mutant: Year Zero) about a new installment to the dark sci-fi TTRPG universe of Coriolis — The Third Horizon that just hit Kickstarter! Our special guest host is John Farrell (for at least part of the time). Check out the Kickstarter for Coriolis — The Great Dark and back it today: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

This week we dive into the genre of games known as DECK BUILDERS! Joins us as we go through as brief retrospective and exploration of the deck building mechanics and the games that use them.

This video is sponsored by The Tomb of Gyzaengaxx, the Kickstarter for a new 5E D&D Campaign from GooeyCube and GaxxWork; Embark on a mega-adventure created with Luke Gygax and other legends of the game, celebrating the legacy of G...

Things get sticky this week as Mike Dunn and Steven Starkey chat with Head Wizard of GooeyCube, Alphinius Goo himself! We talk about how he got into D&D as a young lad, what GooeyCube brings to the table for modern players, and of course, his love-letter to the game featured in the upcoming Kickstarter 'The Tomb of Gyzaenaxx'! Be sure to like and subscribe so that Mike's character in his campaign survives the nex...

This week we invited our Hobby Editor Randy Gregory II to chat about hobby painting and some of his competitions coming up, as well as his recent review of The Army Painter's Warpaint Fanatics line (which you can check out here: https://gamingtrend.com/feature/reviews/army-painter-fanatic-paints-a-collection-of-greatness/). Adam Abramowicz from The Army Painter joins us and gives us a peek into how they made this amazing new l...

Season 1 of Tabletop Throwdown starts with a BANG! This week we're looking at ten of our most anticipated tabletop titles coming out this year (not crowdfunding, these are games we should actually be able to play).  You won't want to miss our number one because we have a special surprise guest appearance!

Got questions? Ideas for topics? email us at tabletopthrowdown@gamingtrend.com!

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