60-688: TableTop is a web series about games, directed by Jennifer Arnold. It was created by Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day and was hosted by Wheaton. TableTop was published on Felicia Day's YouTube channel, Geek & Sundry . In each episode, following a brief explanation of one or more tabletop games , Wheaton plays the games with one or more guests—usually web or TV personalities. A wide range of hobby gaming titles have been played, from classic German-style board games and family games to RPGs and card games . It has been described as "like Celebrity Poker meets Dinner for Five , where interesting people got together for tabletop games." After two seasons,
120-457: A spin-off RPG series. The campaign exceeded its goals, eventually closing with $ 1,414,159. Evidence presented by a Canadian online game retailer showed that games featured in TableTop received a boost in sales after the episode aired: this was dubbed "The Wheaton Effect". Game publisher Days of Wonder has said that having titles featured on the show had significant boost on sales. After
180-718: A "Lethal Ladies" programming block, but spent most of her time online, appearing in 100 webisodes. As broadband bandwidth began to increase in speed and availability, delivering high-quality video over the Internet became a reality. In the early 2000s, the Japanese anime industry began broadcasting original net animation (ONA), a type of original video animation (OVA) series, on the Internet. Early examples of ONA series include Infinite Ryvius: Illusion (2000), Ajimu (2001), and Mahou Yuugi (2001). In 2003, The Spot executive producer and head writer Stewart St. John revived
240-469: A big old announcement." On October 15, 2016, it was announced on Twitter that Season 4 of TableTop would premiere on November 2, with the first two episodes released on both YouTube and Legendary Digital Networks ' subscription streaming service, Alpha, and the rest of the season initially only on Alpha but to be released on YouTube in early 2017. A Reddit comment made by Wheaton on January 13 stated that episodes should be released publicly on YouTube starting
300-522: A firm release date. After filming ended in May 2016, Wheaton revised the estimated release to July 2016, but mentioned that he actually has no say over the release date. The list of games was released April 22, 2016, but not the final order or release dates. On July 28, 2016, Wheaton announced that release of season 4 was delayed, saying " Legendary has decided to delay the release of season four until later this year. As soon as we know exactly when it is, I'll make
360-495: A monetary bonus for building certain cards) until it is covered by a subsequent tile. Players score points for the number of tiles they play. The second expansion is Great Projects of Babel . A building of a certain color is put into play. Whenever a player plays a card of the same color, they may choose to pay a cost to participate in the building of the Great Project. If the project succeeds, all players who participated get
420-483: A naval board for each player and four ships: red, blue, yellow, and green. When playing a card of one of these colors, players may pay an additional cost to advance the corresponding ship along the board. Advancing each ship grants different bonuses: the red ship grants naval strength, which is compared to all players at the end of the Age, not just neighbors; the yellow ship grants money; the blue ship grants victory points; and
480-533: A new "political victory". A whole new game based on multiple decks and wonders of different bits and pieces which the players construct. The publishers stated that it was more family-friendly than its predecessor but still deep enough for "gamers" to enjoy. The game was recommended for the 2022 Spiel des Jahres . An expansion to 7 Wonders: Architects. First, this expansion includes two new wonders — Ur and Rome — to give players more choices for what to build. Second, new science tokens exist that can be mixed with
540-516: A new Internet studio, EQAL, and produced a spin-off from lonelygirl15 entitled " LG15: The Resistance ". Mainstream press began to provide coverage. In the UK, KateModern ended its run on Bebo . That site also hosted a six-month-long reality/travel show, The Gap Year , produced by Endemol UK, who also made Kirill , a drama for MSN . During MipCom, in October 2008, MySpace announced plans for
600-478: A new original series created by Craig Brewer that brought together the indie music world and new media expansion. Joss Whedon created, produced and self-financed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog starring Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day . Big Fantastic wrote and produced Foreign Body , a mystery web series that served as a prequel to Robin Cook 's novel of the same name. Beckett and Goodfried founded
660-470: A player to avoid military conflict for one Age, and monetary loss, which forces the player's opponents to either pay coins to the bank or lose victory points if they cannot or will not pay. The addition of city cards takes the total number of cards playable in each age to 56. This means that eight-player games – or team games with four teams of two – are possible. In the team game, partners are allowed to see each other's cards and discuss which ones to play, and
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#1732781094347720-572: A range of titles from modern classics to indie RPGs to thousands of new players." TableTop won the gold ENnie for Best Podcast at the 2013 Gen Con EN World RPG Awards for its Dragon Age episodes. The award was accepted by Chris Pramas on behalf of Wil Wheaton. TableTop won the Origins Award for "Best Game-Related Publication of 2013". The Doubleclicks wrote a song about TableTop , featured on their 2014 album Dimetrodon The first International TableTop Day, founded by Boyan Radakovich,
780-451: A reward, and non-participants get nothing. If the project fails, participants get nothing and non-participants receive a penalty. These expansions add new Leaders cards and new Cities cards, with new effects. The new Leaders are all powerful women of history: Aganice , Agrippina , Arsinoe , Cornelia , Cynisca , Enheduanna , Eurypyle , Gorgo , Makeda , Nitocris , Octavia , Phryne , Roxana , Telesilla , and Theano . Armada adds
840-535: A second series and indicated that it was in talks with cable network Foxtel to distribute their first series on network television. Additionally MySpace spoke of their plans to produce versions of the MySpace Road Tour in other countries. The emerging potential for success in web video caught the attention of top entertainment executives in America, including former Disney executive and current head of
900-401: A series of video interviews featuring actors and directors like Guillermo del Toro , Santiago Segura , Álex de la Iglesia , and Keanu Reeves , which were distributed through his own website. lonelygirl15 , California Heaven , " The Burg ", and SamHas7Friends also gained popularity during this time, acquiring audiences in the millions. lonelygirl15 was so successful that it secured
960-441: A spin-off of the syndicated television series Weird TV . The web series featured dozens of shorts, comedy sketches, and mini-documentaries produced exclusively for MSN video. The video-sharing site YouTube was launched in early 2005, allowing users to share television programs. YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim said the inspiration for YouTube first came from Janet Jackson 's role in the 2004 Super Bowl incident , when her breast
1020-430: A sponsorship deal with Neutrogena . In 2007, the creators of lonelygirl15 followed up the series' success with KateModern , a series which debuted on social network Bebo , and took place in the same fictional universe as their previous show. Big Fantastic created and produced Prom Queen , which was financed and distributed by Vuguru , and debuted on MySpace . These web serials highlighted interactivity with
1080-499: A structure, a player may choose either to discard an Age card to earn three coins from the bank or to use the card to build a stage of his or her wonder. The Wonder boards have from two to four stages, shown at the bottom of the board. To build a wonder stage, a player must pay the resource cost listed on the stage, then put an age card underneath the wonder board in the appropriate place. There are seven types of Age cards, representing different types of structures, which are determined by
1140-404: A wider range of creators to develop web series. As well, since web series are made available online, instead of being aired at a single preset time to specific regions, they enable producers to reach a potentially global audience who can access the shows 24 hours a day and seven days a week, at the time of their choosing. Moreover, in the 2010s, the rising affordability of tablets and smartphones and
1200-494: A year. Rogers Media will help fund and distribute Vuguru's upcoming productions, solidifying a connection between traditional media and new media such as web series. Web series can be distributed directly from the producers' websites, through streaming services or via online video sharing websites . The Webby Awards , established in 1996 by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), and
1260-447: Is a board game created by Antoine Bauza in 2010 and originally published by Repos Production (part of Asmodee Group). Three decks of cards featuring images of historical civilizations, armed conflicts, and commercial activity are used in the card drafting game 7 Wonders. The game received critical success upon its release, and won numerous awards, including the inaugural Kennerspiel des Jahres connoisseurs' award in 2011. 7 Wonders
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#17327810943471320-565: Is a dedicated deck card game that features ancient civilizations. At the start of the game, each player randomly receives a gameboard called a "Wonder board". Each board depicts one of Antipater of Sidon 's original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . Players place cards representing various materials and structures around their Wonder boards. The boards are double-sided; the wonders on side A are generally easier to build, while those on side B grant more interesting benefits. 7 Wonders
1380-744: Is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos , generally in episodic form , released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web ), which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single instance of a web series program can be called an episode or a webisode . The scale of a web series is small and a typical episode can be anywhere from three to fifteen minutes in length. Web series are distributed online on video sharing websites and apps , such as YouTube , Vimeo and TikTok , and can be watched on devices such as smartphones , tablets , desktops , laptops, and Smart TVs (or television sets connected to
1440-477: Is equal to the number of players. This means that each age now consists of seven play of cards. The city cards can have quite an impact on gameplay, as many of them are more powerful but expensive versions of existing cards; for example, the Age III "Contingent" card provides five shields as opposed to the three provided by Age III red cards. The cards also introduce some new concepts such as diplomacy, which allows
1500-455: Is featured in the rulebook. Playing with the Leaders expansion changes the game mechanic, as the second thing done in the game after choosing a Wonder board is to choose leaders. Four leader cards are dealt to each player, and the cards are drafted. At the start of each Age, players may recruit one leader, paying its coin cost and putting it into play. To compensate for this extra expense, with
1560-411: Is played over three ages totalling 18 turns, known in the game as Ages I, II, and III, each using its own decks of cards. In each age, seven cards are randomly dealt to each player. The game uses a card-drafting mechanic in which, once per turn, each player selects a card to play from his or her hand, then passes the remaining cards (face-down) to the next player. This process is repeated until five out of
1620-547: The Great Wall of China , Stonehenge , and the Manneken Pis of Brussels (the hometown of the game's creators). Babel consists of two expansions that can be added separately or together. The first expansion is Tower of Babel , in which players can choose to construct the tower . By discarding a card, players can place a tile on the tower that affects play (for example, taxing the construction of Wonders or granting
1680-475: The Indie Series Awards , established in 2009 by We Love Soaps, recognize independently produced comedy, drama, and reality TV entertainment created for the web. In 2009, the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) was founded with the mission to support and recognize artistic and technological achievements in the digital entertainment industry. It administered the selection of winners for
1740-540: The Streamy Awards , (which awards web series content) in 2009 and 2010. Due to the poor reception and execution of the 2010 Streamy Awards, IAWTV decided to halt its production of the award ceremony. The IAWTV followed this decision by forming the IAWTV Awards (which recognize creators, cast, and crew of short form digital series from around the world) in 2012. 7 Wonders (board game) 7 Wonders
1800-520: The "Caesar" card grants two shields and "Midas" grants one extra victory point per three coins held at the end of the game. The expansion comes with four additional guild cards and one extra Wonder board – the Colosseum of Rome , which grants abilities related to the new leader cards. The Cities expansion introduces nine city cards (with a black background) to each of the Age card decks. The number of city cards that are shuffled into each age's deck
1860-432: The Internet with a media streaming device ). They can also be released on social media platforms. Because of the nature of the Internet, a web series may be interactive and immersive. Web series are classified as new media . Web series are different from streaming television series, as the latter is purposed to be watched on streaming platforms such as Netflix , Amazon Prime Video , and Hotstar . Although
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1920-433: The Leaders expansion, players start with six coins instead of three. As with the Age cards, instead of recruiting a leader, a player may choose to discard the card to gain three coins or build a Wonder stage with it. The leaders grant various abilities, including additional means of gaining victory points, resources, or coins, resource cost reductions, commerce benefits, additional shields, and scientific symbols. For example,
1980-537: The Rooster Teeth website, acquiring over 100 million social media views during its run. Rooster Teeth would eventually create RWBY in 2013. In 2004, Salad Fingers was created, which amassed a cult following. Sam Has 7 Friends , which ran in the summer and fall of 2006, was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award , and was temporarily removed from the Internet when it was acquired by Michael Eisner . In 2004–2005, Spanish producer Pedro Alonso Pablos recorded
2040-747: The Streamys and IAWTV also cover programs on streaming platforms. Most major award ceremonies have also created web series and digital media award categories, including the Emmy Awards and the Canadian Screen Awards . There are also several web series festivals , most notably in Los Angeles and Vancouver . In April 1995, "Global Village Idiots", an episode of the Bloomington, Indiana -based public access program Rox ,
2100-541: The Tornante Company, Michael Eisner. Torante's Vuguru subdivision partnered with Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Media on October 26, securing plans to produce upwards of 30 new web shows a year. Rogers Media agreed to help fund and distribute Vuguru's upcoming productions, thereby solidifying a connection between old and new media. The rise in popularity of mobile Internet video, along with technological improvements to storage, bandwidth, and bitrates, led to
2160-417: The audience in addition to the narrative on relatively low budgets. In contrast, the web series Sanctuary , starring actor/producer Amanda Tapping , cost $ 4.3 Million to produce. Both Sanctuary and Prom Queen were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award . Award-winning producer/director Marshall Herskovitz created Quarterlife , which debuted on MySpace and was later distributed on NBC . In 2009,
2220-530: The biggest changes in terms of abilities. Leaders, Cities, and Armada also received changes in the second edition in terms of graphics and abilities. 7 Wonders: Duel is a two player version of 7 Wonders in which players alternate drafting from an overlapping pyramid of cards. A version of the game for iOS and Android was released by Repos Digital in 2019. An Ars Technica review stated that "[the] game's three win conditions—civilian, scientific, and military—ensure that you're always juggling several plates, and
2280-420: The brand for online audiences with a new cast, and created a separate mobile series to air on Sprint PCS Vision-enabled phones. St. John and partner Todd Fisher produced over 2,500 daily videos of the first American mobile phone soap, driving story lines across platforms to the web counterpart, The Spot (2.0). The same year, Microsoft launched MSN Video, which featured the original web series Weird TV 2000 ,
2340-411: The color of their background: Brown and grey cards only appear in the Age I and II decks; purple cards only appear in the Age III deck. At the end of each age, military conflicts are resolved between neighbors. This is done by comparing the number of shield symbols on the players' red cards, and awarding victory points accordingly. Once all three decks have been played, players tally their scores in all
2400-514: The designing of a web series can be similar to that of a television series their development and production does not entail the same financial investment required for a television series. The popularity of some web series, however, have led to them being optioned for television. As of 2021, a number of awards have been established to celebrate excellence in web series, like the Streamys , Webbys , IAWTV , and Indie Series Awards , although
2460-817: The different developed areas (civil, scientific, commercial, etc.). The player with the most victory points wins. In the base game, there are seven means of obtaining victory points: This expansion introduces the white-backed leader cards, which can be recruited to aid a player's city. The 36 leader cards are based on real historical figures or legends: Amytis , Alexander , Archimedes , Aristotle , Bilkis , Caesar , Cleopatra , Croesus , Euclid , Hammurabi , Hannibal , Hatshepsut , Hiram , Hypatia , Imhotep , Justinian , Leonidas , Maecenas , Midas , Nebuchadnezzar , Nefertiti , Nero , Pericles , Phidias , Plato , Praxiteles , Ptolemy , Pythagoras , Ramesses , Sappho , Solomon , Tomyris , Varro , Vitruvius , Xenophon , and Zenobia . A brief biography of each leader
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2520-491: The effect of diplomacy is modified. The Cities expansion also contains three new guild cards, six leader cards ( Aspasia , Berenice , Caligula , Darius , Diocletian , Semiramis ), and two Wonder boards (the Hagia Sophia of Byzantium and Al Khazneh of Petra ). Many of these new additions have abilities specific to city cards or to the new concepts introduced. This expansion adds four Wonder boards: Abu Simbel ,
2580-427: The erasure of accessibility and affordability barriers. This meant that high-speed broadband and streaming video capabilities for producing and distributing a web series became a feasible alternative to "traditional" series production, which was formerly mostly done for broadcast and cable television. In comparison with traditional TV series production, web series are typically less expensive to produce. This has allowed
2640-733: The first web series festival was established, called the Los Angeles Web Series Festival . In 2008, major television studios began releasing web series, such as the ABC show "Squeegies", the NBC show Gemini Division , and the Bravo show The Malan Show . Warner Bros. relaunched The WB as an online network beginning with their first original web series, " Sorority Forever ", created and produced by Big Fantastic and executive produced by McG . Meanwhile, MTV announced
2700-524: The game Tsuro was featured, demand was so high that the publisher exhausted all stock reserves. The game was, for a time, unavailable in Europe as production tried to cope with US demand. In 2013, the web series won the Diana Jones Award , citing that " TableTop has brought a new energy and humour to the board-game field: its blend of good humour and gameplay is pitch-perfect and has introduced
2760-539: The games shown were King of Tokyo , Rhino Hero , Fuse , Dread Draw , Codenames , Dread RPG , Tsuro , Attack on Titan and Dark Souls . The sixth International TableTop Day took place on April 28, 2018, and the games shown were The Climbers , Grimm Forest , Flip Ships , World Wide Wrestling , and Marvel Contest of Champions – Battlerealm . The seventh International Tabletop Day took place on June 1, 2019. Web series A web series (also known as webseries , short-form series , and web show )
2820-552: The green ship allows players to discover islands, which grant extra bonuses. The second edition of 7 Wonders was released in 2020. The graphics, wonders in the base game, and cards cost and chains were slightly modified. Most notably in the base game, the Strategists' Guild was replaced by the Decorator's Guild, which grants 7 points if all of a player's wonder steps are built by the end of the game. Olympia and Babylon received
2880-503: The original ones, tokens that give you the ability to, for example, keep military cards that you would normally discard or always have the cat ability available to you. Finally, this expansion includes a new game element: medals. The game is highly regarded, and has won more than 30 gaming awards, including the inaugural Kennerspiel des Jahres connoisseurs' award in November 2011. The game has been cited by leading designers as one of
2940-523: The original, and was complimentary to the new draft system. In 2020, Repos Production released a print-and-play mini expansion, 7 Wonders Duel: Solo , the first solo boarding experience in the 7 Wonders series. The expansion to 7 Wonders: Duel added new abilities to the game via a rotating pantheon of gods, as well as two new wonders. Adds a Senate with new play mechanics based on new senator and "conspirator" cards. The expansion includes two new tokens and two new Wonders based on this while introducing
3000-399: The resources available may pay his direct neighbors to use their resources, normally at two coins per resource, if available. Some cards also belong to free construction chains. Cards played in previous ages can allow players to construct cards in ages 2 and 3 for free. For example, many of the science cards allow players to build several age 2 and 3 structures for free. Instead of building
3060-669: The rising ownership rates of these devices in industrialized nations means that web series are available to a wider range of potential viewers, including commuters, travelers, and other people who are on the go. The emerging potential for success in web video has caught the eye of some of the top entertainment executives in America, including former Disney executive and current head of the Tornante Company, Michael Eisner . Eisner's Vuguru subdivision of Tornante partnered with Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Media on October 26, 2009, securing plans to produce over 30 new web shows
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#17327810943473120-420: The seven cards have been played. At this point, each player must choose to play one of his remaining two cards and discard the other. Each age card represents a structure, and playing a card is referred to as building a structure. To build a structure, a player must first pay the construction cost, in coins or in one or more of the seven resource types, then lay it down by his or her Wonder board. A player lacking
3180-532: The show announced that its third season would be crowdfunded via Indiegogo , and was the most successful digital series campaign on that site until Con Man broke its record in March 2015. The series ended in 2017. On December 31, 2015, Wil Wheaton announced the fourth season of TableTop would begin production in April 2016. Wheaton estimated early June 2016 for the release of the first episode but did not provide
3240-523: The title of Infoseek's "Cool Site of the Year," an award which later became the Webby. In January 1999, Showtime licensed the animated sci-fi web series WhirlGirl , making it the first independently produced web series licensed by a national television network. In February 1999, the series premiered simultaneously on Showtime and online. The character occasionally appeared on Showtime, for example hosting
3300-438: The week of January 30. Geek and Sundry announced via their Facebook page on January 31 that episodes would begin streaming on YouTube the next day, February 1. On April 5, 2014, Wil Wheaton announced the launch of a campaign on Indiegogo to fund the creation of a third season. The target amount was $ 500,000 to produce 15 episodes, with additional targets of $ 750,000 to produce a full season of 20 episodes, and $ 1,000,000 to film
3360-422: The whole thing plays like a lightning-quick, board-less match of Civilization ". The game also appeared on a New York Times list, with the reviewers praising its multiple ways of victory, the game arc, complexity, replayability, and strategy, but was criticised for its difficult learning curve. Dicebreaker also considered it to be one of the best card drafting games. IGN considered it to be superior to
3420-461: Was exposed during her performance, and later from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami . Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, which led to the idea of a video sharing site. From 2003 to 2006, many independent web series began to garner and achieve significant popularity, most notably the series known as Red vs. Blue by Rooster Teeth . The series was distributed independently using online portals YouTube and Revver , as well as
3480-401: Was held on April 5, 2014. The event was again live-streamed on YouTube, and the games shown were KrosMaster: Arena , Tanto Cuore , Rampage , and Love Letter . Events were held in over 80 countries. The third International TableTop Day was held on April 11, 2015. The fourth installment took place on April 30, 2016. The fifth International TableTop Day took place on April 29, 2017, and
3540-488: Was held on March 30, 2013 and was live-streamed on the Geek & Sundry channel on YouTube. Games included Takenoko , Ticket to Ride , 7 Wonders , Smash Up , and Star Trek Catan ; with several of the first season guests returning to play. It aired in two segments hosted by Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton, with an extra wrap-up segment uploaded later. Events were held in 64 countries. The second International TableTop Day
3600-457: Was uploaded to the Internet, making Rox the first series distributed via the web. The same year, Scott Zakarin created The Spot , an episodic online story which integrated photos, videos, and blogs into the storyline. Likened to Melrose Place -on-the-Web , The Spot featured a rotating cast of characters playing trendy twenty-somethings who rented rooms in a fabled Santa Monica, California beach house called "The Spot". The Spot earned
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