An Important Brainwaves Announcement

Over the last year or so I’ve been changing up what I do with The Giant Brain. I’ve focused more on RPGs, taken to writing a little less regularly but taking more time with the pieces I do. I’ve been enjoying this change, feeling less pressure to keep to the schedule that was entirely self imposed.

As I think about the future of The Giant Brain, I want to keep putting out my best work as much as possible be that writing or podcasting. Brainwaves has been part of The Giant Brain for 7 years, and over that time I have been incredibly proud of the work we have done. When we first started out no-one was really covering the industry news in the way we were. Even the early casts that were more sketch based took a serious look at what was happening across the tabletop gaming world. The cast has taken a more serious tone over the last few years, keeping a focus on what matters to the health of the hobby all the hosts love.

In the last couple of years others have taken up the cause of reporting the tabletop news. Mike over at Boardgamewire has done great work in the board game space, attending conventions, interviewing people at the centre of important stories, and applying his journalistic skills to elevting the reporting of tabletop news. The team over at Rascal started out doing the same in the RPG space but have expanded their remit taking a hard look at news across the industry.

This change in the landscape has meant that Brainwaves has become more of a digest of the news that others are reporting on. I’ve felt unsatisfied by that for a while now, and it has felt like we’ve been treading water. The cast has felt more and more like work. With actual journalists taking up the mantle of covering the news I have made the decision to bring Brainwaves to an end. The last Brainwaves will go out before the end of the year and then we are planning an interview special with hosts present and past to wrap things up with a bow.

I would personally like to thank all of you for your emotional and financial support for the cast over its run, and I know my fellow hosts feel the same. I understand that for some of you the end of Brainwaves may mean the withdrawl of the financial side of that relationship. The cast hosting lasts until September next year and after that I’ll shift it to some free hosting.

The site will continue and I intend that the time I get back from ending Brainwaves will be funneled back into it. I also hope to keep covering the news in a written form. The newsletter I’ve been working on will include a news section from the start of next year and I would like to turn my hand to some more investigative work when the time feels right.

It is the end of an era for me and the site but it feels like the right time to make the change. I’ve been privileged and honoured to work with some fantastic friends on the cast in its many iterations and I would like to thank everyone who has answered our enquiries, appeared on the cast, or given us their time in any way over the last 7 years.

Love to you all

Iain