The summer flu strikes again and Jesko is out of commission but the rest of the game sallies forth! First we talk about out first attempt at going back to a campaign we played 3 years ago. Then we take a question from a listener asking us what new Dungeons and Dragons class we would create. And finally in our discuss first time game masters and some tips that will help get you started on the right foot!
Aug 14, 2019•1 hr 13 min
Hey Now Everyone! In today's episode Chris has some family things to take care of but we have Don sitting in for the show! We talk about some great games we've been playing and give you a feature review of Carnival of Monsters from the legendary designer Richard Garfield. Then Tony T takes over the mics to give you all the most important tabletop gaming news stories out there while the rest of us chirp in the background. And finally we discuss emergent narratives in board games. Carnival of Mons...
Aug 07, 2019•3 hr 15 min
In the 50th episode of The Secret Cabal Express, the whole gang, Jamie, Tony, Chris, Steve and Don, who are rolling out to Gen Con 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana get together to discuss the shenanigans they plan on getting into at the convention, talk about Steve's first time going to Gen Con and what to expect, some advice to new convention attendees and then talk about a giant list of games releasing that they're excited about.
Jul 24, 2019•1 hr 37 min
It's Wednesday again and the gang is back for more Cabal nonsense. Unfortunately, Jamie is still under the weather with a not so great voice but that doesn't stop the Cabal from rolling. Steve takes over the announcer role today so I hope you enjoy the temporary change. In today's episode we give feature review to Heroes of Land Air and Sea from Gamelyn Games featuring two special guest reviewer, Don and AC. Then we look back at one of our favorite games, Gaia Project from Z-Man games. After Ton...
Jul 17, 2019•3 hr 1 min
The gang starts out by talking about the brand new announcement of Cyberpunk Red, the companion tabletop RPG top the hot upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077 that will be coming out at Gen Con. Then AC tells us all about his purchases at Origins and how they're going to turn his life around. The Lords take a question from a listener regarding the need to create balanced adventuring parties and finally do a roundtable discussion about the need for player goals in your campaigns to keep players moti...
Jul 10, 2019•1 hr 13 min
The Founders are back in full force with a new episode of The Secret Cabal! Today the Chris, Jamie and Don take a look at Capstone Games' new economic euro, Pipeline. Then the gang gives you a double feature look back of Dinosaur Island and A Feast for Odin one year later. The latter half of the show is Tony T solid with his wildly popular tabletop gaming news segment and then Tony puts on his robes and breaks out his gavel see justice done in the Cabalist's Court where we hear the complains, ar...
Jul 03, 2019•3 hr 13 min
The plague patients are joined by Aaron from Lords of the Dungeon and our good buddy Don to about Origins Game Fair froggy voices and all. Then we go back in time two weeks to join the rest of the founders and discuss what games we've been playing. The Origins gang then returns to do a feature review of Clans of Caledonia from Karma Games. Tony T storms back onto the show to give us the best damn tabletop gaming news segment of all time and the show ends with another Short Topic Extravaganza inc...
Jun 26, 2019•3 hr 34 min
In today's episode the Lords start out by talking about the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon and the Brazilian car commercial recreating it in live action. Then the gang talks about the new Alien role playing game and the trend of RPGs being board gamifyied with cards, tokens and player boards. Then the Lords take a question from a listener asking if we prefer preexisting published campaign settings or homebrewing. Then finally the group lists many of the campaign settings that they would like to tr...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 8 min
In episode 184 the gang is back for a jam packed episode! Today we review Fantasy Flight's newest app driven board game, Lord of the Rings Journeys in Middle Earth and look back at Big Trouble in Little China one year later. Then Tony T gets down and dirty with the best damn tabletop gaming news segment in all of gaming media while the rest of us quack in the background. Then finally we have an in depth discussion about replayability in board games and what it means to us. Lord of the Rings Jour...
Jun 05, 2019•3 hr 5 min
In episode 49 of the Secret Cabal Express, Jamie welcomes Honorary Founders Rodnedy Smith of Watch It Played and Marty Connell of Rolling Dice and Taking Names to talk about Origins Game Fair 2019 in Columbus Ohio, the shenanigans they plan to get into and the food and games they're looking forward to. Then The Three Amigos discuss fandom (spoiler free) including Game Conventions, board games, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Twin Peaks, Lord of the Rings, Games Workshop, Privateer Press and more. Pl...
May 22, 2019•1 hr 12 min
In episode 183 the Founders start out by announcing the dates of the Origins and Gen Con meetups, Chris talks about his trip to Michigan and a wardrobe mishap and then we chat about a bunch of the games they've been playing. Then the gang jumps into an overview and review of Space Gate Odyssey from Ludonaute and a look back at Lords of Helas from Awaken Realms with the Cabalists thoughts thrown in. Then Tony T joins the party to give us the best damn tabletop gaming new segment of all time while...
May 15, 2019•3 hr 14 min
We start the episode by talking about Jesko's first game of the End of the World roleplaying game published by Fantasy Flight Games and transition into talking about Aaron's continuing bad luck with rolling dice. Then we talk about a couple of announcements from this week including Alien The Roleplaying Game and Shadowrun 6th Edition. Then finally we have a discussion about what we want out of roleplaying games and the importance of communicating with your group so that everyone's needs are addr...
May 08, 2019•1 hr 12 min
You have 3 more days to get in on our 2019 Kickstarter to help the Cabal continue for another year! Jump over the Kickstarter now to support! First off we talk about the Great Chicken Wing Scandal, cow manure interrupting a game day and the $160 miniature presentation. Then we give a feature review of Fantasy Flights newest game, Star Wars Outer Rim and look back at Thanos Rising one year later. After Tony T blasts the tabletop gaming news all over us, we get down and dirty with That Junkie Feel...
May 01, 2019•3 hr 10 min
In episode 48 of the Secret Cabal Express, Tony and Jamie dig into Quantic Foundry's new Board Game Motivation Profile tool meant to collect market research data on the motivations of board gamers found at https://apps.quanticfoundry.com.
Apr 24, 2019•57 min
Alrighty Cabalists, Wednesday is back with another episode of The Secret Cabal and today we go back 5 years to take a look at a reimplimentation of the classic dice allocation game in H.P. Lovecraft's Kingsport Festival from Passport Game Studios. Then we take a look back at Civilization A New Dawn, the streamlined tabletop port of the popular Civilization video game series from Fantasy Flight Games. After Tony T hooks us up with a damn fine tabletop gaming news segment, the gang hosts a short t...
Apr 17, 2019•2 hr 52 min
Bender is starting a new campaign with some friends using the Mutants and Masterminds ruleset and he talks about his character and learning the new system. Then the gang discuses the new Fallout roleplaying game based on the popular video game franchise. Finally we discuss using the voice and text chat software, Discord, as a supplement to their role playing campaigns. The group us split on how we should be using it and we come to an agreement that works for everyone.
Apr 10, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Hey Now Cabalists! Today is the big day, our 2019 Kickstarter is live! First, stop the podcast, jump over to Kickstarter and support the Cabal for another year of podcasts and video goodies. Now that you did that, press play again. Today the gang talks about Wingspan and how crazy expensive this game is right now. Then after we go though a bunch of the games we've been playing we take a deep dive look at Wingspan and look back at The Pursuit of Happiness one year later. Tony T picks all the best...
Apr 03, 2019•3 hr 9 min
In episode 47 of the Secret Cabal Express, Jamie, Chris and Steve start off by talking about making Top 50 list videos and our upcoming Kickstarter. Then we jump into a story about a game we recently played that wasn't so good but how we managed to have fun anyway. We discuss some other games that even though they aren't the best designed games of all time, we still manage to like them.
Mar 27, 2019•50 min
Hey Now Cabalists! Today we dive right in with some conversation about Shadows of Brimstone, Funko Pops and get into some the games we've been playing over the past couple of weeks. Then we hook you up with a feature review of a game everyone is going bananas for, Vindication and look back at Rising Sun one year later. After Tony T brings you his award winning news segment with the gang chirping in the background, we host another short topic extravaganza featuring topics about which one of us wi...
Mar 20, 2019•3 hr 12 min
Today the Lords start the episode by revealing the winners of the Art and Arcana books and then go into a campaign update for their current Dungeons and Dragons game. Then we announce a new contest for two cabalists who entered the Art and Arcana contest, we play the Opening Announce Game Show in which Jamie sees if the other Lords can figure out what settings the locations from the previous 24 episode's announces come from.
Mar 13, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Alrighty Cabalists, the Founders are back for another wild and crazy episode of The Cabal! Today the gang talks about Chris' Top 50 games of all time and runs down a bunch of games they've been playing. Then we have a feature overview and review of Shadows of Brimstone from Flying Frog and a look back at Empires of the Void 2 from Red Raven Games. Then Tony T goes ape delivering the best damn gaming news segment of all time while the peanut gallery quack in the background. Then finally the gang ...
Mar 06, 2019•2 hr 36 min
In episode 46 of the Secret Cabal Express, Jamie welcomes Honorary Founder Dan King, The Game Boy Geek, to discuss what traits and qualities games can have that will get us fired up, frothing at the mouth, jumpin out of our pants and wild to buy, play and keep a game in our collections - We're discussing what makes up a board game's X-Factor.
Feb 27, 2019•59 min
Hey Now! It's time for some more Secret Cabal Nonsense! Today we chat about some games and hobby junk we've been getting into including: Shadows of Brimstone, Nemesis, Discover Lands Unknown, Hand of Fate Ordeals, Hand of Fate on Steam, Architects of the West Kingdom, Auztralia, Chronicles of Crime, Villainous, Magic the Gathering: Arena, and Evolution Digital on Steam. Then we get into an overview and review of Wendake from Renegade Games and a look back at Gaslands from Osprey Publishing. Afte...
Feb 20, 2019•3 hr 8 min
Hey Now Cabalists! Today the lords start out by reviewing the recently released book called Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History and present a contest to win a copy of the book. Then the gang takes a question from a listener wondering how we manage getting in gaming while life continues to get in the way which transitions into playing role playing games online via video conferencing. Then the main topic of the show regards playing characters with humanity and understanding the r...
Feb 13, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Today the founders go bananas with a feature review of the newest dinosaur park management game, Dinogenics from Ninth Haven Games and designed by Richard Keene. Then the gang takes a look back at Stefan Feld's Merlin on year later. Since Tony T is traveling this week, Steve fills in as the news host giving a rundown of all the happenings around the tabletop gaming world. Then finally the founders host another Short Topic Extravaganza including games we used to love but don't want to play, pirat...
Feb 06, 2019•3 hr 3 min
It's the fifth Wednesday of the month and the normal podcasts have a week off so Jamie takes the opportunity to give The State of the Cabal Address. In this podcast Jamie discusses the podcasts, the video production, side projects, fundraising and how the money is used, sponsorship, reviewing and other behind the scenes aspects of The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast.
Jan 30, 2019•50 min
In episode 45 of the Secret Cabal, Steve and Jamie take a break from talking about games to discuss some of the movies and TV shows they're excited about coming up in 2019!
Jan 23, 2019•55 min
Today the founders get busy with a review of the newest game from Awaken Realms, Nemesis and talk a look back at The Expanse one year later. After Tony T busts out the greatest news roundup in the history of tabletop gaming media the gang talks about their hopes and predictions for the new year. Nemesis Overview 01:07:53, Nemesis Review 01:13:24, The Expanse Look Back 01:43:33, News with Tony T 01:49:30, Hopes and Predictions for 2019 02:19:10
Jan 16, 2019•3 hr 10 min
The gang is back together to kick off 2019 with a listener submitted question about disruptive and mischievous behavior in role playing games. Then end the episode with a full discussion about giving your characters flaws and hindrances to make them a more well rounded and realistic character.
Jan 09, 2019•1 hr 2 min
In episode 44 of The Secret Cabal Express Bender, Aaron and Jamie talk about the joy the find in the miniatures hobby. They discuss the tools you'll need, assembly, priming, painting, basing, and a bunch of techniques they've learned to use over the years.
Jan 04, 2019•1 hr 7 min
