Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day team up for Tabletop, a show about tabletop games

Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day have teamed up to produce a new webshow called Tabletop, "like Celebrity Poker meets Dinner for Five, where we got interesting people we know together for tabletop games." It's a fantastic idea, and the trailer makes it look very promising indeed. Day and Wheaton are two of my favorite indie geek media people, and this is quite an exciting moment!

In season one of the show, we play games like Settlers of Catan, The Last Night on Earth, Munchkin, Small World, and Alhambra. Some of the players include Grant Imahara, Sean Plott (better known as Day[9]), Dodger Leigh, Ryan Higa, Beth Riesgraf, Phil Lamarr, Morgan Webb, Garfunkle and Oats, Veronica Belmont, and Colin Ferguson.
My ulterior motive with Tabletop is to show by example how much fun it is to play boardgames. I want to show that Gamers aren't all a bunch of weirdoes who can't make eye contact when they talk to you, and that getting together for a game night is just as social and awesome as getting together to watch Sportsball, or to play poker, or for a LAN party, or whatever non-gamers do with their friends. I want to inspire people to try hobby games, and I want to remove the stigma associated with gaming and gamers.
I'm pretty sure we succeeded. By the second day of production, our crew was grabbing games out of our games library to play at lunch. All of our interns and production assistants have become complete game fanatics, and whenever I edit a show, all I want to do is go home and play that game until my face falls off.

This is my new show, Tabletop

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: awesomesauce • Games • happy mutants • tv • video • youtube

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http://twitter.com/NikolasAdair Nikolas Adair

Uh, what? I don’t get it. Why would I want to watch strangers play board games?
- Gutierrez
  
  Why do I want to watch strangers review movies?
  Why do I want to watch strangers talk about football?
  Why do I want to watch a MakerBot print Yoda’s head?
- xzzy
  
  Because it generates comedy?
  The Penny Arcade + Wizards of the Coast podcast of playing a D&D game was brilliant entertainment, and one of them even had Wil Wheaton playing.
  Prior to listening to it, I would have figured that broadcasting an RPG would be a miserable failure.
- Guest
  
  Why would you want to watch strangers blog?
- SoItBegins
  
  Indeed, why would I want to reply to strangers’ blog comments?
- howaboutthisdangit
  
  Because poker has been done.
http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

Speaking of Wil, NO ONE can narrate a John Scalzi novel like Wil Wheaton. Perfection. I have no complaints for William Dufris, he’s good, too. But Wil is the best. More, please.
- http://twitter.com/petitepoubelle petite poubelle
  
  I agree. I picked up Fuzzy Nation because I liked Wil’s narration of Ready Player One so much.
  - Bonobo
    
    Seconded. (thirded?)
  - http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux
    
    Wasn’t Ready Player One a treat? Thanks, Cory for recommending it. Try Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars read by Wil, next.
Corso

Day[9] is instant gaming cred
SolaceInRage

I really hope this isn’t some mean early April Fools joke. I can’t wait to see this in it’s entirety.
- http://twitter.com/random_tangent Drew Coombs
  
  It’s not. They’ve already shot a year’s worth of episodes which will post/air every other week. The channel launches on the 2nd of April.
  
  I am super jazzed.
LinkMan

Does he cheat at board games like he cheated Leonard and Sheldon at bowling?
dculberson

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Edit: OH God! And Phil Lamarr!! And Garfunkle and Oates! I’m having a total meltdown here.
- marilove
  
  OMG! Garfunkel & Oates! I saw them live last October at Tempe Improv. They are ridiculously amazing. I am going to have a total melt down with you!
  
  This is awesome.
- http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
  
  Beth Riesgraf!!!!! I didn’t expect to see her so I’m quadruple excited!
franko

he had me at “this is my new show.”
- Guest
  
  he had me at felicia day
LogrusZed

What is the game that looks like a scaled-up version of Car Wars? Also need Blood Bowl!

/They had me at Dinner For Five.
- http://twitter.com/morlockhq Jim Jones
  
  I believe it is Last Night on Earth, a zombie game.
http://profiles.google.com/keithdtyler Keith Tyler

Wil and Felicia make an awesome team, and they appear and work together so much, I wouldn’t be surprised if Anne (Mrs. Wil) Wheaton had a special dagger set aside just for Felicia.
Guest

I hope they have contests that let viewers win a seat. I’d love to play Arkham Horror with any of these people.
Xof

“I Hit it with My Axe” was there first. And that one had porn stars.
- http://mordicai.livejournal.com Mordicai
  
  I’d watch the rest of those episodes if they ever found a home.
- http://twitter.com/morlockhq Jim Jones
  
  A lot of other people were there WAY before “I Hit it with My Axe.” After all, the concept of the show comes from the Poker All Stars. Beyond that, Wil actually was a player on the Penny Arcade Dungeons and Dragons sessions which had a similar look and feel and also predate IHiwMA.
  
  Besides, it doesn’t matter who got there first. It looks like a lot of fun and I think thats the main point.
  - Xof
    
    Yeah, but did any of them have Justine Joli? I think not. I think not.
  - Bear Naff
    
    Actually, getting the DM from IHiwMA on the show would be pretty sweet.
http://www.facebook.com/CaptainHammer Charles Matulac

Obvious: When they start in on Catan, I want to be the first to comment, “I’ve got wood for sheep! And Felicia!”
http://www.facebook.com/people/Peter-Card/100002001092477 Peter Card

But do they play Research Lab?

”The physics is theoretical but the fun is real”
Improbus Liber

Game Request: Risk
Guest Request: Jim “Sheldon Cooper” Parsons and/or Kaley “Penny” Cuoco
cap cavern

I was wondering when this might finally arrive here . Cool.
Here a francophone version ,less Soap oriented :) .

http://www.trictrac.tv/
http://newnumber6.livejournal.com Peter

If they do D&D or other roleplaying games, I’m in. Others… not so much (but maybe, depending on the stars).
- http://twitter.com/RevBobMIB Robert ‘RevBob’ Hood
  
  I’d rather see board/card games, myself. Easier to grab-and-go, lower learning curve…these make it easier to focus on the social aspect.
  
  I really hope they serve beer and pretzels.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness
    
    Unless the board game is Diplomacy. Steep learning curve there.
    - Guest
      
      unless you’re innately sociopathic
- marilove
  
  While D&D and roleplaying games are fun, they wouldn’t really make for good TV. Too intricate, there really isn’t a winner or ending, and just way too time-consuming.
  - http://twitter.com/morlockhq Jim Jones
    
    You should check out the DnDwizards channel on YouTube. Go back a ways and watch the saga of Acquisitions incorporated. Some really funny stuff in there.
    - marilove
      
      I know what you’re talking about, but it’s not really the same thing as what they are doing here.
- SoItBegins
  
  Ex-al-ted! Ex-al-ted!
- http://twitter.com/morlockhq Jim Jones
  
  It looks like there may be a session of Fiasco in there. I know Wil is a big fan of it and it’s the only game that I can account for with those black and white dice pools.
Teller

Extra *** if someone flips the spread.
- http://twitter.com/morlockhq Jim Jones
  
  Looks like a Geek Chic table. Those suckers are H-E-A-V-Y!
pfooti

Seems like the geek and sundry channel in general (of which Tabletop is just a part) is looking pretty darn cool. I wish youtube had better support for subscriptions (both the RSS and email feeds seem to take a long time to update).
- http://twitter.com/morlockhq Jim Jones
  
  I’ve also been enjoying another premium YouTube channel called CrashCourse by the vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green.
Daemonworks

At first I was like ^.^ then I realized it was about board games, and was like T.T
http://twitter.com/nesnora nesnora

If you haven’t already, see “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising” first— it’s a great D&D comedy from a small handful of filmmakers. I found it on Netflix, so it’s easily accessible.

“Hide behind the pile of dead bards!”
http://oddboyout.blogspot.com/ oddboyout

I can’t imagine it being better than http://www.shutupshow.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=672779446 Dennis Brunzell

Yea! It’s like EPSN for people like me. Beware of Catan, it’s a gateway drug.
Gregwashere

Yeah. Duh. …This is just a step below Christians discovering sex: “Oh, that was actually a good time. Can we do that again please?”
JayeRandom

Seconding the Shut Up and Sit Down recommendation (shutupshow.com). Frequently hilarious reviews of board games filmed in their living rooms and neighborhood surroundings by a couple of excellent English gents with zero-budget and excellent comic writing and timing.