Tabletop Mentorship Stories

I had my first meeting with my mentor Aaron (from Boards Alive ) and as I mentioned in my last blog post, I really wanted to focus on three things: Improving the sound and content of my podcast, improving my reach, and reducing my editing time.  With Aaron's help, I've already started to work on all three of these!   Let's start with reducing my editing time, which has become my #1 priority.  This was taking up much of my free time, as I was averaging between 8-12 hours to do as single hour long episode.  With a full time job, this was cutting into my time to do other things (not to mention playing games to generate content for the channel).  Aaron gave me the advice to "let it go".  I was deleting every single "um", "but yeah", and other crutch words that I frequently use.  Part of the process is trying to not say them so much, but the other part is to let a couple slide occasionally, which actually helps the podcast sound more organic and not...

 When I signed up for this mentorship, I was surprised that they included content creators. It's daunting sometimes to see the level of work, creativity, and iterative process that goes into designing and creating a game. What's become more and more apparent over the last couple of months, however, is that good good content creators have a really big role to play in the development cycle. Really? You think so? When you take the bigger players out of the picture, the massive studios and publishers, there's a real dogfight going on for the space that's left, and all those smaller voices can easily drown one another out. Through groups and channels that I'm now a member of, I see how many requests for coverage go out to reviewers and content creators. A good review on a channel with thousands, or even just hundreds of viewers gives these folks a voice. It's made me realise there are two really important jobs that any reviewer or content creator (like me) should be ...

I will never forget my first, and only, GenCon experience. After years of playing the modern 'classics' with a small group of friends, refining my Kickstarter preferences, and working through the overwhelming regret of missing out on the 50th anniversary, to simply say I was excited for GenCon 2018 would be an egregious understatement. Even the anxiety of traveling with new friends to a new city, to attended the largest board game convention in the country, was not enough the dissuade me. But despite all the incredible experiences I had during those four days, there was one, specific instance that challenged me to try my hand at game design and ultimately lead me here. I was wandering the main hall with my best friend, demoing games, when we came across a cooperative, ninja-themed board game that peaked our interest. The woman at the booth was very friendly and walked us through a scenario where we attempted to assassinate a crime boss (you know, as ninja's do). Then at the...

I have a fulltime job in the crazy world of robotics and automation. I won’t say which company, but during crunch time, it’s reasonable to expect 60+ hours weeks. I’m heavily involved in my church, especially this past year, as they’ve relied on me almost exclusively to move services online during the Covid crisis. I have a family. My oldest child has autism, and my youngest is all of 7 weeks old. My wife is also quite busy, trying to get her new business venture off the ground. I said all of that to say that when I read about people who describe their morning or afternoon or weekend routine where they’ve set aside a few hours to work on their game project, I stand up and salute those people! I wish I had my act together to be able to do that. Mad props to those who are able to pull that off. I am not one of those people. But, the good news is that it is still possible to make progress. I keep a notebook with me and try to make notes about ideas or cards during my lunch break. Hold...

Hi everyone!  Arwen from the Cardboard Time Podcast here. A bit of background: The Cardboard Time Podcast is about my journey to reduce my shelf of shame (unplayed games) from what was a massive 330+ games down to 0.  I release it every two weeks.  Honestly at this point, it's as much about being a driving force that gives me a structured excuse to play my games as it is providing content for people to consume and give another data point as they look to make informed purchasing decisions.   I've always been involved in media production in some small shape or form ever since I was young.  I grew up operating cameras, editing videos, and operating live production equipment at my local Public Access station (I remember using Amiga computers for graphics and Betamax tapes for recording, so that might date me a bit).  I was involved with making videos with friends and ultimately made a full length movie that I might talk about...eventually.  I was a Tw...

  I have never made a game before.  I have written a great deal. I have edited videos. I have blogged . I have designed robots . Lots of robots . I have a family, two cats, and a willingness to try almost any food that's ever been put in front of me.  But, I've never made a game before. I discovered modern games at a relatively late age. Growing up, we had Monopoly, Clue, Risk, Mouse trap, and half a dozen puzzles, but that was about it. It was not until my mid-twenties that I cut my teeth on Settlers, Ninja Burger, and discovered Board Game Geek. I've since become hooked, and have a running list of games that I want to get and play.  Current game closet. Unfortunately, my family does not enjoy games as much as I do, so many remain in shrinkwrap for now.  I think this is the natural progression of that enjoyment. Now that I've had a chance to enjoy so many creations, I want to add to the pool with something of my own. That does not mean I'm not intimidated. It's...

 Anyone who's ever learned any kind of programming has almost certainly seen those words a few times - "Hello World!".  It's what many languages get you to do in your first tutorial, as if to say, 'Hey, you're up and running now, good job!'.  So it seemed fitting for me to choose it, given my day job involves a lot of nerdtastic things like programming, and that these are my first steps in the Tabletop Mentorship Program. My name's Adam, and I'm forty-something and live in Cornwall, that bit on the south-west of England that sticks out into the Atlantic. I'm a would-be board game reviewer who set himself up with a site ( hey look, a link the the very same site! ) and a purpose last year. I've really enjoyed what I've done so far, and really enjoyed the people I've met, and the things I've learned by myself. I was scrolling through Twitter a little while ago when I saw a tweet about this program go by, so I stopped and took the t...