I'm back this week with part three of my interview with Neal Hallford, designer of Betrayal at Krondor. In this installment, we chat about why Ron Gilbert's Cavedog company failed followed by a discussion of Neal's book Swords & Circuitry, the best-ever guide to creating your own computer role-playing games.

Download the mp4 here.
Sadly, Neal's Thief of Dreams kickstarter failed, but a third party has emerged to back him anyway.

I was recently invited to be a guest on TPG Cast with Adam Ames and Phil Cordaro, and though Adam sadly had to miss, Phil and I had a great discussion on how I got started with Matt Chat, academic gaming, DRM, where the industry is headed, and much more. These guys are a hoot, so please check out their other episodes if you like this one.

I'm back this week with a retrospective of Larian Studio's Divine Divinity, a 2002 release. It's a brilliant take on the Diablo genre, with immaculate artwork and one of the best soundtracks ever.

Download the mp4.
Support the Divinity: Original Sin kickstarter--3 days left!
Buy Divine Divinity from GOG.com using this link. No extra cost to you, but the show gets a kickback!

In my third installment with SSI founder Joel Billings, we chat about the Gold Box series, Panzer General, and Dark Sun. If you've ever wondered why TSR chose SSI to represent its interests in the videogaming world, this is the video to see. Also check out my rad 3D effects on two of the classic Gold Box box covers.

You can download the video.

This week I roll out the first installment of my interview with Sandy Petersen, author of The Call of Cthulhu role-playing game and all-around gaming icon. Sandy has some very interesting theories about what makes a game scary for players; a lot of what he says will resonate with fans of survival horror games as well as H.P. Lovecraft's stories.

Download the video here.

This week it's all about Interplay's 1995 miss Stonekeep! Featuring awesome FMV and some truly unique characters (Wahooka!), this is not a game you want to miss if you love CRPGs. While far from perfect (backtracking from hell!), there's enough here to keep you busy for a few days at least. One note: You will definitely want the awesome BOX for this game if you can find it; it's a hologram! You'll also want a copy of the novella Thera's Awakening. But if you can do without those two assets, scoop it up from GOG for a ridiculously low price!

Download the MP4 here.

Hail, fellow adventurers! I'm back this week with one of my favorite 90s CRPGs, Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven. It's held up might well over the centuries (well, in game time!), and is still extremely fun to play today. Heck, I was so engrossed in it I had a hard time pulling away to do the video!

As always, you can download the video here, but don't forget to toss a few coins into the bard's hat. You can also buy the "Might & Magic 6-pack" from GOG for only $10, but please use my affiliate link. Thanks!

Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software has posted some Three Rules for Difficulty in RPGs, which has some great thoughts and advice for would-be CRPG designers. I enjoyed it mostly because of the obvious passion and emotion Jeff has for this stuff--his reactions to those who "ragequit" over a difficult fight are touching, to say the least.

Heck, maybe I should try to get him on the show.

Might & MagicRampant Coyote has a great blog post up that compares Dragon Age: Origins and Might & Magic Book One: Secret of the Inner Sanctum. Which is the more compelling? Well, it's no surprise to many of us that the Coyote prefers the latter game, but the interesting thing is why. Here's what he comes up with: