We have put together a new board game podcast called On Board Games, and are looking for people willing to listen to the first episode (OBG1) and provide feedback. That will allow us to improve the next few episodes before we do a big announcement about this new resource.

If you are interested, visit http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/ in the next few days and check out Episode 1. Comments can be posted here or e-mailed privately to onboardgames.net@gmail.com .

home site http://onboardgames.net/

Episode 0 is not review worthy, I've learned a lot since then, but you can give a listen if you like.

Thanks!

-Donald Dennis

Just started listening...the host sounds like Lou Dobbs.

The roundtable discussions that included Scott Nicholson were great. The interview with Mike Cardwell wasn’t that interesting and the review of Santy Anno was on the long side. The sound quality was good for the most part. During the Tide of Iron session report, Scott sounded fine but you sounded far away from the mic. Overall, I enjoyed it and will listen to it if the topics are compelling. Good job.

Lou Dobbs... I don't really know how I feel about that. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Yes, sound quality is an issue, and I image it is something we will continue to deal with.

We had talked about cutting the rules segment on Santy Anno, but in the end thought it was kind of needed for talking about the modifications for playing with kids or whatnot. So do you think it was uninteresting because I was nervous, the delivery was wooden, the topic uninteresting, or was it just not needed?

Thanks for the feedback!

Lou’s voice is good enough for TV, so I’d say it’s a good thing.

I lose patience with the rules explanation of games pretty quickly, and enjoy the analysis more than anything. I always thought Doug Garrett did a great job of balancing rules and opinion. Anyway, it’s a totally subjective thing, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

The first episode was great btw. Who wouldn’t want to listen to Scott N. talking about his gaming history and interests?

Yes, but a piratey version - both Lou and pirates are good things Don.

Listened to both episodes and thought they were well done. In most cases the sound quality was excellent. I liked that the three of you have differing tastes in games. It's nice to hear differing opinions instead of all the hosts just agreeing with each others thoughts. I like the traffic light rating system. Look forward to your next episode.

The show was nice. I agree about the Sante Anno rules; the advantage Scott has when he explains game rules is he has video. Unless you can do video, I would drop long rule explanations. You will just be talking fast trying to get through the explanations, a brief review would be fine. I would not be able to play this game after listening to those rules. The interview with the parent is a very nice touch though.

If you disagree with me about the sound quality (I'm the guy with the "ear infection" geeklist, hence an ear infection :cry The sound quality with Scott's interview sounded "echoey" and sound seemed to fade in and out from time to time...

I was going to complain that you guys were talking over each other waaaay too much, then I realized I had two podcasts running at the same time at different points in the podcast. hehehe

Thanks to Todd, Dave and Eric for the feedback. (And Ron. Avast Ye! )It's better than I expected - I thought we'd be criticized more on sound quality. Don't fear though, our Sound quality will improve, we are just learning the ropes.

In the future we'll avoid lengthy rules explanations and stick with reviews or criticism.

(edit to fix the pirate smiley.)

Great podcast! I think podcasts are at their best when 3 or more people are on. Your discussions were very good and got to the hear of the issue. The only thing I would suggest is to have some specific element of the show that sets your podcast apart from all the others. Maybe a unique segment (like The Speil) or a list (Dice Tower's top 10) or something new.

Keep up the good work!

P.S. Maybe I missed it on the first episode, but is Erik local or does he fly in from Oklahoma for each podcast?

I started a new blog a couple days ago ( www.boardgamer.blog.com) although I haven't really gone public with it yet. I'm going to be doing a weekly podcast review as part of the blog. Do you want me to review your first podcast on my site (I'd be happy to do it first) or do you want me to wait until a later edition?

Jason

Good idea. We have a couple ideas, but at this point nothing has stood out as a great signature section. We hope to have 1-3 signature sections by the end of the first season.



Nope, we do it all over the computer. None of us are in the same room when we record, except for the Tides of Iron preview and sometimes on interviews.

We'd love to have you review us, but let us get a couple more episodes under our belt. Right now we don't even know how things will evolve so it would probably not be fair to your readers to try and explain what it is all about.

Would you like us to mention your blog on the podcast?

Wow, you have really good sound quality considering everyone is at a different location! I can't imagine you are using Skype, so what the heck do you use?

Thanks! We do indeed use Skype. I need to invest in a new microphone headset, I'm often the one with an echo and I suspect that might be related to some strange condition issues my microphone has.

The key to getting clean Skype is to close out everything else on your computer, including any unneeded background programs. If you are running other stuff while Skyping, you will see your voice fade in and out.

I'd love to have you mention my blog sometime. If you want to let me know when you have a couple podcasts up (brownjj2@hotmail.com) then I can write a review as one of my entries.

I'm going to put up a post about my blog tonight...so after that I'll be trying to stir up some more traffic.

Jason

HI Guys,

I like the show so far. Episode 1 did have a bit of echo, but other than that, the sound was good.

I have to disagree on the lengthy rules. I like to get a good feel for the game rules. Without it, I feel lost when anyone starts discussing any type of strategy about a game if I don't already know how to play it.

I think the answer to how to handle lengthy rules is this:
Who are you targeting with your podcast?

Someone who already knows the game, or someone you'll be introducing to the game? Figure that out, and you'll determine your answer to how to handle the rules issue.


Good work so far, keep 'em coming.

Episode 002 is up.

http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=198470

Let me know what you think!

After this we may try to post them more frequently, but we will get one up every two weeks until I get out of grad school.

I can't get episode 0 to play. It seems the link is not working.

Episodes 1 through 3 work fine.

Works from here. http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/

I'll make sure the site links are fixed tonight.

Donald,

I've been listening backwards, so I haven't heard episodes 0 or 1 yet, but overall I like the show.

My favorite part is that you have a theme or topic for roundtable discussion. While I like some of the topics better than others, I enjoy the discussion and especially the fact that its not just one or two guys' ramblings or one guy interogating another, but an actual discussion.

My least favorite part is the review of each game. I'd like them to be a bit longer and more detailed. Its not that they're bad per se, just sort of analagous to eating a bag of potato chips instead of a meal.

One other suggestion: I'd like to see guests. Like the Weeks podcast, you could have BGG users, rather than exclusive guests like designers. Just my two cents.

Overall, I think you guys are doing a great job. Keep it up, and I'll keep listening.

First, your avatar is mighty.

Second, thanks for the feedback, we can never have enough of that.

We have some guests lined up, but those will probably start appearing after episode 6. There were technical issues.

I'm glad you like the round table, it was our goal to have it be a free-form guided conversation. We have some talking points but not a script or list of questions, though as a host it is usually up to me to point the finger at someone to get us started.

Reviews are kinda tricky and more feedback from listeners would be great. We have pretty much decided we don't want to try and teach the game on the podcast, most of the time that does not work. (At least it is not a skill I have honed as learned when creating the Santy Anno segment.)

What we'd like to do with the bulk of our reviews is offer listeners an idea of what makes a game good or bad, what to look out for, and which target audiences should either avoid or buy the game. (As a group we are all pretty fond of concise instead of rambling.)

Do people want more? Perhaps including one larger review in each podcast along with the capsule reviews would be a good solution, but I'd like to keep all of these under an hour, preferably under 45 minutes if possible.

When you listened to it backwards, did you hear Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, or Crocodile Pool Party mentioned?

Just throwing out an idea, but I'd like to see a round table review of a game. Instead of three short, independent reviews, maybe one review of a game where all three of you critique it?

No. Just Outdoor Survival, over and over again.