http://wanderinggeek.podbean.com

The Wandering Geek podcast is a great new media show out there for the geeks that are often on the road. Curt does a great job reviewing games and grades them on how well they travel and guess which game made the cut? High School Drama scores big for it’s accessible theme, compact box and high production value.

Curt’s review of HSD is incredibly thorough and should be considered a must-listen to anyone interested in learning about the game. The Wandering Geek does a fantastic job describing the game and walking everyone through the freshman year. Check it out the Game Bag Review Show here!

Also, the HSD Button Men have been hitting the road alongside their board game sibling. Check out what everyone has to say about the new HSD Button Men set on a separate episode of the Wandering Geek Episode 13. I’m having a lot of fun listening to the show, so make sure you add the Wandering Geek to your podcatcher and hear what’s up!

www.pulpgamer.com

First off, I have to say that I was genuinely surprised that High School Drama was placed on the review block for Pulp Gamer King’s Court episode 33. It’s true that Jeremiah asked for a copy of HSD (which I happily signed for him), but I just thought it was it was a present. I really had no clue Jeremiah was going to do the review!

I’m sure you all think I put the guys up to the task because we’re friends and I’ve guest starred on their show before, I honestly only just found out about this today — several days after the review was actually recorded and even posted!

www.dicetower.com

If you feel like you’d prefer a more detached expert opinion, please read Tom Vasel’s incredibly well-written review of HSD. Tom Vasel is an icon in writing game reviews, and it’s a real honor to have his words praise my first game design. He says that, “High School Drama is a well-themed game that I think will surprise many gamers with just how good it is.” Please make sure to read his review of HSD by following The Dice Tower link above; and while you’re there, please check out all the other amazing work he does for the gaming community! (more…)

www.wikipedia.com

I’m still decompressing from the summer convention season and all the crazy stuff going on in my life at this time, so I don’t really have too much to report at the moment. But I did want to take this time to thank all the fans of High School Drama out there. You guys are awesome — all the emails from the fans, the encouragement from players at conventions, all the retailers who support me. There’s no way I could be doing this without you all. Thank you!

Also, I have to give a special shout out to the person (or persons) who created the HSD entry on the community encyclopedia, Wikipedia. No, that wasn’t me shilling my product. I have to imagine that it was one of the many fans out there that wanted to expand the HSD community. Whoever you are, you are the awesome! I’ve noticed that I’m getting some good click-through traffic from Wikipedia to this site and that’s wonderful. Thank you, whoever you are!

www.pulpgamer.com

I am always happy to help my friends in the hobby games industry, so when Don and Derek called me up to fill in the third spot on their highly acclaimed podcast I just had to say yes! I was filling in for their normal commentator,  Jeremiah, as he was away training for the national guard. In fact, I recorded three episodes with them. So, check them all out!

And if you’re not listening to the Pulp Gamer podcast, what’s wrong with you? It’s a fantastic show (and not just because I was invited onto it!) and they would love to add you to their growing number of listeners. Listen live from their website (as I do) or download the shows to your favorite mp3 player.

www.thespiel.net

Can’t stop the signal!

I ran into Stephen and David, the hosts of the wildly popular gaming podcast the Spiel, at Origins last week. And it was my honor to give an interview with them for their Origins show. So, you better make sure your hobbit hands click through to their website and check out all their great shows! (more…)

www.gametrademagazine.com

Alliance Games, the largest hobby games wholesale distributer for the United States, just put out their June trade magazine issue, Game Trade (the one with the Optimus Prime cover) … and guess who got a featured spot? High School Drama!

To give you a sense of scale, roughly 80% of the retail game stores in America get their merchandise through distribution contracts with Alliance. That’s big! And it’s a real honor to be featured in their “Between the Lines Review” section. I have a very good feeling that we’ll get a lot of great buzz because of it! (more…)

www.boardgamebabylon.com

You can listen to the continued media coverage for High School Drama over at Boardgame Babylon. Please follow the link above to Eric’s podcast and check out my latest interview! If you live in the Southern California region, you really should be listening to his feed. It’s a very good show with lots of topical interview series. Plus, Eric helps organize lots of gaming events in SoCal.

I got a chance to sit down and do the interview with Eric and my friend jim pinto at my last Strategicon event (see archives) and now the feed is up on his site. (more…)

www.sjgames.com

It’s always nice getting some good buzz about your company. But it certainly is better coming from people you really admire. In promoting their own Origins Awards nomination, Paul Chapman of Steve Jackson games mentions High School Drama and Shifting Skies as “rising stars” of the game industry. Make sure you go check out their website and don’t forget to buy all their great stuff. It should not be a surprise to anyone that knows me or has played HSD that Steve Jackson and his game company have been inspirational in getting me into the game industry. I joke openly about HSD being the bastard child of Steve Jackson’s classic game Illuminati. (more…)

www.ogrecave.com

Lee, at the Ogre Cave is the first to report the full list of 2007 Nominees for the Origins Awards. And if you didn’t believe it the first time you saw it, here’s your second chance at it! Yes, it’s true … High School Drama has been nominated for the 33rd Annual ORIGINS AWARDS for the category of Best Non-Collectible Card Game or Expansion or the Year! (more…)

GAMA Trade Show (GTS) was absolutely the best! I don’t know if I could have asked for a better show or to be any more blessed. High School Drama was really well received, our booth in the dealers room generated a lot of traffic and Tuesday night’s Prom had everybody in the industry talking. But there’s even better news to report from GTS –

High School Drama has been officially nominated for the Origins Award in the category of Best Non-Collectible Card Game! The Origins website does not reflect the new nominee list; however, as soon as that list comes out, I’ll be sure to send you all a link to their site. I sense a sticker party in our future!

Now that I’ve had a chance to catch up on my sleep debt, it’s time to report back all the exciting news from GTS. And I really feel that it was a resounding success for Shifting Skies. It was a very long and extremely fruitful trade show for us; so, here’s your Reader’s Digest version of the events of last week. (more…)

www.toydirectory.com

During the Games Expo, we were lucky enough to run into Julie and her cameralady from the Toy Directory. Toy Directory and TD Monthly are online tools and directories geared at helping retailers find that perfect new game to add to their shelves — games like High School Drama!

You can watch my 30 second pitch for High School Drama on their website by scrolling down until you see HSD and Shifting Skies Games. Click on the video link to watch me fumble my way onto online video. I hope you enjoy!

I just wanted to remind people that they can find a beautiful advertisement for High School Drama! in the current spring edition of the Games Quarterly Magazine. Our spot is on page 12, immediately adjacent to the GenCon ad and under the “Hot Hot Hot” segment.

http://www.jenniferogren.com

I have to thank my very talented graphic designer friend Jennifer Ogren for all the help she gave in creating such a beautiful print advertisment. You can find more information about Jenn by following the link above. I highly recommend her professionalism and creative sensibility. I’ve been very blessed to be surrounded by such incredible artists like Joel Sigua, Chris Kennedy and Jenn Ogren. Before I turn into a blubbering fool here, I’ll kindly ask you all to go see out ad.

So, you should all run to your nearest Barnes & Nobles, Borders or favorite local bookstore and pick yourself up a copy of the Games Quarterly Magazine (Spring 2007 issue #12). I’m getting a lot of great exposure from that spread. So, let me know what you think about it!

www.thegamesthething.com

That’s right, three podcasts in three weeks. The first podcast show that I did was with the great guys at Pulp Gamer a couple weeks ago. The week after, I did an interview with Eric from Board Game Babylon at Orc Con. That interview hasn’t been released, but as soon as it does you know I’ll link back to the episode so that you can get your drama fix. And this past week, I was fortunate enough to do an interview with Ron Blessing at The Game’s the Thing. I am pressing the airwaves to get the message out about our great new game.

So, please make sure you check out Ron’s site by following the link above. When I find a little more time, I’ll be sure to give you guys the behind the scenes expose that you’ve become accustomed to.

http://www.pulpgamer.com/

When the guys at Pulp Gamer gave me a call the other day to do a full interview for their show, I was very excited about the opportunity to promote HSD! When they told me that their regular host Jeremiah wasn’t going to make it and that they wanted me to fill in for his spot, I got a little nervous because I’ve never done a radio show or anything like it. But I swallowed my pride and sat in on Episode 14 of their Out of Character segment. I must say: I absolutely had a great time doing it!

Special shout out to Don, Derek and Jeremiah! If you guys ever need me to fill another spot, please don’t be afraid to ask. For my regular readers who are interested in the behind the scene’s perspective, you can read on to get all the things I meant to say.

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http://www.originsgames.com/aagad/academy

The kind people at the Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts and Design have informed me that HSD is officially in for the Origins Award for “Best Traditional Card Game for 2006.” Now this is definitely news to celebrate but don’t break out the bubbly just yet — there are two rounds of voting that have to take place before any official titles are given.

But don’t worry. I’m fully confident that HSD will make it to the final round because we have two excellent reasons why we did actually put out one of the best traditional card games for 2006 — 1) the production value of the professional-quality game itself, and 2) a fully-themed gaming experience that gamers and non-gamers can relate to!

(more…)

http://suicidegirls.com/news/geek/20058/

As if I needed another reason to join the awesome community at SuicideGirls — Wil Wheaton’s personally mentioned High School Drama! in his remark about looking for cool new games to play.

“While you may be able to save a few bucks on the latest d20 source book in that same bookstore (if they stock it, that is) don’t count on stumbling across any new games, like the boxed version of Kill Doctor Lucky, or High School Drama.”

Wil, if you’re reading this for some reason — I hope you come to OrcCon next month so that I can personally thank you for the support you’re providing. You’re a fantastic ambassador for geeks everywhere. And keep up the great work with your blog!

http://www.fantasybookspot.com/node/1559

It looks like HSD made a bigger impact on the attendees of Dark Con than originally reported. HSD plays a prominent role in Fantasy Book Spot’s wrap up of the Dark Con experience. Author Patrick Bergeron II indicates that HSD “is an outstanding and well thought out concept” and that our booth “stood out above the rest.” I think there were a lot of excellent dealers at Dark Con and it’s certainly kind to even be considered their equals. For all the people who missed me in Phoenix, make sure you follow the link above to get Patrick’s fairly extensive run down of the con experience. (more…)

http://www.pulpgamer.com

Guess which one of your favorite games made another mention on a popular podcast out there? Yup, HSD was mentioned in a brief spot on Pulp Gamer’s Out of Character segment. It’s not a full review, because those segments are reserved for their King’s Court segment (a feature that I really like about their popcast, btw). So, if you haven’t been to their site, you really should go check them out at the link provided above. And make sure to check back here and on Pulp Gamer again soon for when their full review comes out.

(more…)

www.boardgamebabylon.com

Please make sure you check out the fantastic review that Eric Burgess has put out on Board Game Babylon (BGB) in his nifty podcast. High School Drama! is featured as BGB’s “lovely little offering” for a “humorous and witty” stocking stuffer that would appeal to casual and non-gamers. There is a nice picture of the Game Master on the site as well as a link to this site among many others that you’d find interesting. I have to say that it’s quite an honor to even be listed on the same line as the award-winning master designer Reiner Knizia. (more…)

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/26522

Board Game Geek (BGG) is a fantastic website for the gaming community specializing in analog games (non-computer) like HSD! Once you get your copy of the game, please visit the website and post any reviews, images or write-ups of your gaming sessions.

If you’re already a member, you know what a good source of information it is. If you’re not yet a member, signing up is easy to do. Especially going into the holiday season, this will be a good place find tips on exciting new releases … like HSD!