Tabletop

Game design, wargaming, and board games.

Design notes, session reports, and analysis of analog game systems.

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Log Entries

• Games Played 2025

  
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• Beyond Solitaire Podcast: Episode 220

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• Echo at SDHistCon 2025

  
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• Variant: Shinjuku Airports

  
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• Interview: 5 Games for Doomsday

  Ben Maddox and I discuss making music, game design feedback, and turning hobbies into jobs.

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• Interview: The Players' Aid

  Grant and I discuss the design of Echo from the Dark.

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• Posts from the Dark #1: A Shifting Population

  First design diary entry on the InsideGMT blog, covering the population mechanics.

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• Echo from the Dark Preview

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• Echo from the Dark Makes the Cut

  Thanks to your support, Echo from the Dark has passed 500 pre-orders and “Made the Cut” to proceed towards production.

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• Polygon's Best Tabletop of 2024

  Cole Wehrle selects Red Dust Rebellion as a favorite for 2024.

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• 5 Questions With... Armchair Dragoons

  Talking about Echo from the Dark and Red Dust Rebellion.

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• Interview: El Wargamero Novato

  I discuss Echo from the Dark and the Irregular Conflicts Series.

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• Echo from the Dark Added to P500

  Echo from the Dark joins the P500 list, bringing the Irregular Conflicts Series to a new sci-fi setting.

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• Solo Variant for Shinjuku

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Red Dust Rebellion Added to P500

  Red Dust Rebellion has been added to GMT Games’ P500 pre-order list.

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• Prototype Zero: Tactical Programming Race

  Prototype Zero is a fast-paced, two-player racing game designed for the 18-card Button Shy contest. Inspired by classic arcade racers like Rad Racer, Spy Hunter, and F-Zero, it challenges players to program their movement and outmaneuver their opponent on a modular track.

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• Sorcery Without Master: A Tarot Mod

  Sorcery Without Master is a modification for Epidiah Ravachol’s Swords Without Master. Instead of the standard two six-sided dice, this mod uses a Tarot deck to drive the narrative and determine the tone of the game.

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• Temporary Alliances for Condottiere

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Legend of Metroidvania: a 2-4 player "roll-and-write"

  The Legend of Metroidvania (working title, obviously) is a 2-4 player dungeon crawl where you draw the map one room at a time.

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• Curse of the Archmage

  Curse of the Archmage is a trick-taking game for 3 to 5 players that plays like a cross between Scopa and Spades, but with a more flexible player count and no bidding. It uses a standard deck (plus a few jokers for some variants).

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• The Survivor Variant for Fuji Flush

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Deal Out the Deck

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• The Council

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Odd-Maker's Dice

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Mafia de Cuba: Dealing Roles

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Battle of the Bards

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek. Became Battle of the Bards.)

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• Hyperborea is a game about timing

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek and G+. This review is after ten plays with all powers and player counts up to five.)

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• Time Management for Fliip

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Characteristics of Games: Thunder Alley

  Thunder Alley (TA), designed by Jeff and Carla Horger, is a positionally-oriented racing game with hand-management and great amounts of narrative.

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• The Young Queen's Palimpsest

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek as “Applied Phlebotium”. Became The Young Queen’s Palimpsest.)

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• Sniper: A Quick Dueling Card Game

  Sniper is a fast-paced, 5-minute dueling game for 2 players that emphasizes predicting your opponent’s moves (yomi) and managing your limited resources.

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• Contraband: A Smuggling and Bluffing Game

  Contraband is a bluffing game for 3 to 6 players where you take turns acting as smugglers and customs agents. It is designed to be played with a standard 52-card deck, poker chips, and a simple hand-made board.

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• Negative Points for Blanks

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Sorcerous Futures

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek as “Speculation”. Became “Speculation” on the wiki, and then renamed to Sorcerous Futures.)

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• Multiplayer Netrunner: N+1 Corps

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Upgraded: A Mech-Themed Tactical War Game

  Upgraded is a tactical war game where players pilot mechs and lead an army to secure strategic positions. The design focuses on a card-driven action system, similar to Combat Commander, but with a unique evolution mechanic.

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• Interleaved Actions for Strain

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Humans vs. Zombies (4-player Semi-Coop)

  Designed for an “Easy-Build Contest” on BoardGameGeek, this is a 4-player semi-cooperative game that pits three survivors against a growing zombie horde.

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• Wormhole: Galactic Conquest with Pen and Paper

  Wormhole was born from a personal challenge: design a complete game using nothing but a pen, a piece of paper, and a few dice. Inspired by the tactical depth of Cosmic Encounter and the auction mechanics of Ra, it’s a game of galactic conquest for 2 to 4 players.

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• 3,268,760 Ways to Spend a Half-Hour

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Symbolic Manipulation For The Win

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Choose Your Own Adventure: The Board Game

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• The Cycle of War

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Knizia's Masterpiece

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• The Decline and Fall of the Seafaring Elven Empire

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Have you seen Novice Guy?

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Dixit: How to make friends and influence people

  (Originally posted on BoardGameGeek.)

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• Review: Cosmic Encounter

  Archiving my review of Cosmic Encounter from BoardGameGeek. It is no longer the highest rated game in my collection as of 2026. :-D

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