Carnagecast Announcement Thread (48 posts)

Topic tags: board games, card games, carnage, miniatures, podcasts, role-playing games
  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 11 months, 3 weeks ago:

    In episode 26 of Carnagecast, James Carpio of Chapter 13 Press returns to tell us about his latest endeavor, Tales from the Fallen Empire, a sword and sorcery campaign setting for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game.

    James tells about the world of Leviathan, formed from the carcass of a primordial dragon, and the people who scratch out a living after the fall of the Sorcerer Kings of old. It’s a world that samples from the buffet of history and fiction, where the elephant golem of Shesh carries a market on its back around the land of Kesh and the Draki people seek a way back to their home dimension. As a sandbox setting, James wanted Tales from the Fallen Empire to recapture the freeform nature of old school gaming, where the players’ choices kept the GM on his toes.

    The conversation turns to the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG as well, and how it differs from its root sources, such as the character funnel leading up to a first level character, the hazardous, unpredictable nature of magic and the other alterations made to the core classes. Additionally, Tales from the Fallen Empire introduces its own variants, such as the sorcerer, drawing inspiration from the original pulp fantasy tales of Howard and Lieber, the pirate and the witch.

    Since recording this interview, Tales from the Fallen Empire is now on Kickstarter! From now until the drive ends on July 18, 2012, backers can pledge money to fund the project and receive special rewards, which include the book itself, but extend to elements within the world of Leviathan.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 10 months, 3 weeks ago:

    In episode 28 of Carnagecast, Ben T. Matchstick, Dungeon Master at large, comes on the show to tell us about founding a tradition of gaming in the local public library, and bringing the tabletop hobby to the next generation. At Montpelier, Vermont’s Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Ben brought comic books and tabletop games into the mix. In addition to running Dungeons & Dragons for children, he taught them to run it for their peers.

    The motivations range from passing on a beloved hobby, to providing social encounters for a generation predisposed to video games, to bringing youth in general and boys in particular back into the library, to encouraging reading. As Ben points out, everything that happens at the table is life lessons: courtesy, cooperation, patience and more. With the advent of the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, young gamers have a great opportunity to learn that ultimately any game they run is belongs to them. If they’re having fun, they’re playing right.

    Ben closes with a challenge to game masters to bring their gaming hobby to the public library, getting more people, children and their whole families, involved in the hobby. “It’s important that kids can be heroes again and create a game of their own.”

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 10 months, 1 week ago:

    In episode 29 of Carnagecast, we bring news of Carnage Noir. The convention’s coming up the first weekend of November in Fairlee, Vermont. Game submissions are rolling in, but the deadline looms at the end of July for submissions to be included in the convention book.

    Rod brings news of CCGs and board games, including special multi-table sessions of Battlestar Galactica and A Game of Thrones (second edition), plus the return of the kids’ gaming area for the younger set.

    Griff’s got the miniatures pulse, with Centuries of Conflict covering the 20th century in historical miniatures — not the 19th, as Griff states in the recording — plus Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, Warmachine and maybe even some Flames of War.

    Gaylord talks through the GM’s dilemma of fitting role-playing scenarios into noir and hits on a switcheroo solution that should pique the interest of no small number of players.

    Update! The Winter Kotei has moved to allow for a Saturday Legend of the 5 Rings tournament at Carnage.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 9 months, 3 weeks ago:

    In extrasode 7 of Carnagecast, Sarah and Tyler spend some of the drive home discussing this year’s Summer Game ‘n Grill, hosted by Green Mountain Gamers in Middlebury, Vermont. It turns out Tyler spent most of his day locked in some sort of cooperative effort or another, while Sarah stretched her gaming muscle — also known in medical circles as “the brain” — after six weeks off the tabletop circuit.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

    In episode 30 of Carnagecast, the gang discusses Lords of Waterdeep, an Euro-style board game from Wizards of the Coast based on the perennially favorite world of the Forgotten Realms for Dungeons & Dragons. Rod runs down how the game works, then the conversation breaks out into how this game may appeal to different groups of people. Rod and Chuck point out that as Lords of Waterdeep mixes contemporary board game trends with a traditional role-playing world, it can bring the world of Forgotten Realms to a new audience beyond tabletop role-players, and potentially introduce longstanding Dungeons & Dragons players to a new kind of game for those nights when the whole group can’t get together for the campaign.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    In episode 31 of Carnagecast, Dan, Hunter, Toby and Tyler talk about their experiences playing the Pathfinder role-playing module The Haunting of Harrowstone, first part of the overarching Carrion Crown adventure path. Filled with horror tropes, from the Gothic to the Hammeresque, Carrion Crown kicks off a tour of the Pathfinder campaign world’s Transylvania analogue, Ustalav, with the charred remains of a prison teeming with ghosts and supernatural phenomena.

    Prospective players beware, this is spoil-all episode as Hunter pulls back the GM curtain to give a peek at how he chose to use and modify the written adventure. Dan, Toby and Tyler share their perspectives as players in the campaign, as well as some insight into their characters.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

    In episode 32 of Carnagecast, Dr. Nik joins us, fresh from his travels to GenCon 2012. Nik tells us about Iron GM, an event which turns gamemastering into a competitive sport, and his experiences competing on the regional level — having become an Iron Contender at TotalCon — and the national at GenCon. Iron GM pushes Nik to stretch outside his usual GM style to develop his skills at “play[ing] without plan,” following the will of the players and facilitating epic action, as the competition demands that one “go big or go home.”

    Find out what GMing muscles Iron GM stretches, what Nik stocks in his GMing toolbox and his most consulted tables in the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

    In extrasode 8 of Carnagecast, Andrew Valkauskas joins us to share his role-playing game Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok, now celebrating its twentieth anniversary with a third edition on Kickstarter. In Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok, players delve into the grim fantasy of a world without the sun or moon, when Fimbulwinter lays heavy on the nine worlds.

    Hear about the rune-based resolution system Andrew developed, where a character’s essence and destiny play a hand in their success or failure, as well as how outside the traditional character progression, a meta progression provides a mechanical kick for hearty warriors not only to relish every battle that may be their last, but enhances the social aspects of role-playing, even in traditionally asocial aspects.

    We also talk about the history of Fate of the Norns, from its conception as a computer game to the iterative development it goes through today from player feedback, and the success of the Kickstarter campaign, in how that process has informed the publishing of the game, particularly showing the need to reach a worldwide market.

    Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok has currently reached its funding goal on Kickstarter, but the project doesn’t end until Sunday, September 16th. Visit the Kickstarter page to learn more and see the physical components of the game.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 8 months, 1 week ago:

    In episode thirty-three of Carnagecast, Dave Cheng of the Schenectady Wargamers Association brings news of Council of 5 Nations XXXV, coming up this October 5-7 at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, New York.

    Historical miniatures are a showcase of gaming and craft at Council. Among other miniatures is a stellar Starfleet Battles tournament that outdraws Origins and attendant player base that welcomes newcomers and lapsed captains. Further gaming tracks include Boardgamegeek Top 35, train games, living campaigns from Pathfinder and the RPGA and games friendly and/or intended for younger players.

    Council of 5 Nations boasts a friendly, welcoming group of conventioneers for newcomers looking to sample the convention scene or get their preferred flavor of gaming.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 8 months ago:

    In episode 34 of Carnagecast, cartoonist Paul Gadzikowski joins us to talk about his early brushes with tabletop role-playing, cartooning, his on-going series Arthur, King of Time and Space, the changing ways in which we create and consume stories, plus his long-standing interest in the Arthurian mythology and how its characters have been interpreted over the years, such as Arthur’s multiple faces, from high king of a fairy tale realm to warlord in post-Roman Britain.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 3 months, 3 weeks ago:

    In episode 36 of Carnagecast, we emerge from hiatus just in time to still be able to wish everyone a happy new year. Pillar of the Carnage board Rod Sheldon is with us to talk about the highlights of this past Carnage Noir, the gaming we’ve gotten in over the holidays and plans for 2013: both at Carnage and conventions across New England.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 3 months, 1 week ago:

    In episode thirty-seven of Carnagecast, Dan, Hunter and Toby return to the show to discuss their further adventures in the Pathfinder adventure path, Carrion Crown, following on from their first excursion in The Haunting of Harrowstone. From the sleepy village of Ravengro, the heroes stride further to the relative metropolis of Lepidstadt, embroiling themselves in the trial of a monster and nefarious doings of the Whispering Way.

    Trial of the Beast saw the birth of Ustalav’s pickle motif, viz. the “mob of angry pickle farmers,” plus some of the most fun Toby’s had in the campaign to date in the titular court proceedings, but also warrants critique on the topics of tacked-on dungeons for the purposes of leveling and deprotagonization of player characters during narrative climax.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 2 months, 3 weeks ago:

    In episode thirty-eight of Carnagecast, Sarah brings tidings from Unity Games, a one day board game extravaganza held annually in Massachusetts. Highlights of the day include teaching Power Grid: The First Sparks, learning Hansa Teutonica and Stone Age, plus the chance to meet up with Carnage friends outside the Carnage convention itself.

    We also talk a bit about teaching games, Sarah’s particular techniques for doing so, and finding the balance between achieving fluency in games one already likes versus trying every new title that comes out of Essen.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 2 months, 1 week ago:

    In episode 39 of Carnagecast, Dan, Hunter and Toby return to discuss the third chapter of the Carrion Crown adventure path, Broken Moon. Our heroes ventured into the Shudderwood of Ustalav, wherein Victor the unflappable coach driver made his debut, resolute against the strains of ethereal music. At an exclusive hunting lodge and in the depths of the forest, there was a cavalcade of every NPC in Golarion, their names all embroiled in a “Slavic consonant pile-up,” as Toby put it.

    Broken Moon is somewhat characterized by that cavalcade of NPCs, many of which monologue about the minutiae of local lupine politics. Still, the adventure works in a fun final set piece which sees a showdown with Auren Vrood, whom the characters have chased since The Haunting of Harrowstone. Dan marks Broken Moon as his favorite chapter in the path to date. Hunter reveals just how much he loves to play the ghost NPCs.

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  • Profile picture of Tyler Tyler said 1 month, 3 weeks ago:

    In episode 40 of Carnagecast, James Carpio, games editor of Gygax magazine, joins us to talk about the launch of the periodical, the process of assembling a magazine’s worth of content and finding the balance in the old and new schools of role-playing. He also shares some of his trip this past March to Gary Con, an annual gaming convention held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in memory of Gary Gygax, one of the progenitors of role-playing games.

    Through all of James’ endeavors — designing games, publishing content, running games at conventions, putting on conventions and more — there runs the common thread of the positive influence games can have on people’s lives as a social outlet.

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