Little Metal Dog Show Interview

Jul 01

universalheadBoard & Miniatures Games 2 Comments

Little Metal DogI was recently interviewed by Michael Fox, who runs an up-and-coming games podcast called The Little Metal Dog Show, about my boardgame rules summaries.

This is the first time I’ve done something like this, and I’m a tad horrified at how I sound in the interview. The low quality audio through my MacBook mic doesn’t help either—the lack of detail makes me sound like I have a much broader Australian drawl than I do in person. I also seem to have a rude habit of not letting other people finish their sentenc—!

—anyway, vanity aside, check it out if you wish to hear my incoherent ramblings. I’m off to get some elocution lessons.

PS Sorry Blackbeard: you’re not that bad, really, I was on the spot.

2 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. Lloyd
    Nov 30, 2010 @ 04:35:08

    Fear not about your voice. No one likes listening to himself. A good guest talks. Listeners don’t tune in to listen to the questions, they want the answers.

    I’d have asked about copyright issues. You state clearly on your pdf files that you use graphics without permission, and the rule systems themselves are presumably somehow copyrighted. I wanted to hear how you get around that problem. My guess is that the game makers don’t mind, since they see your reference sheets as free support for their games.

    Keep up the good work.

    • universalhead
      Nov 30, 2010 @ 09:28:22

      Thanks Lloyd – in my defense the sound quality is pretty bad too! 😉

      As for copyright, as you mention, I state clearly that I make no claims or have any rights to any copyrighted material, and also make it clear who the publisher is. That, and the following facts, seem to have ensured that in six years I’ve never had any company ask me to remove a summary:

      – in many cases the rules are supplied online in PDF form by the company anyway
      – my site has no advertising of any kind and I therefore make no money at all from the sheets, so I’m not profiting from their work
      – the sheets are free advertising and promotion for their game and help to sell copies

      Some companies, like Fantasy Flight, have even taken the trouble to write to me direct to thank me for their work, and have linked to my site from theirs. In fact, FFG used my Arkham Horror summary sheets during their recent ‘Arkham Nights’ event!

      Once I was asked to modify a sheet slightly (I gave away a bit too much info in the first version of my WFRP v3 summary), and once a company asked me to add an ‘official’ legal copyright line, but that has been the extent of company concern.

      Game summaries are very common on places like BoardgameGeek.com, but by doing all the above I try to treat the publisher with as much respect as possible.

      Thanks for writing!