Author Archives: Tyler

The Curiouser and Curiouser Carnage Math Trade

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The rapidly approaching traditional Carnage math trade has launched on Boardgamegeek.com. Again helmed by Matt Golec, the Curiouser and Curiouser Carnage Math Trade provides an opportunity for Carnage-goers to offer up unwanted games in hopes of getting something they’d prefer in return.

Matt’s introductory post goes into the whys and hows of a math trade, but in short it’s a computer-coordinated arrangement that maximizes the number of exchanges among participants based on their stated desires.

Start hoeing out your libraries to find some trade fodder!

Download the 2011 Carnage in Wonderland Book

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Note: this is the 2011 convention book! For the current year’s convention book, which traditionally publishes in early fall, visit the news page.

Stealing across the highways and byways of New England like an army of white bond ninja, the Carnage convention book has by now found its way to your mailbox, rookery or other communiqué receptacle. And thus we unleash its electronic doppelganger into the ether as well! Below you will links to not only the convention book, detailing the many pleasant ways to pass the hours of November 4th through 6th in the confines of the Lake Morey Resort, a registration form with which to communicate your heart’s desires, but also a schedule grid, allowing the forward-thinking convention-goer to most efficiently pack their weekend with tabletop gaming goodness.

In addition to the delights contained within these files, keep a weather eye firmly fixed on the Convention Book Addendum page. Late arriving games and unexpected changes alike will make their beds there.

  • Carnage in Wonderland Convention Book [PDF, 1257kb]
  • Carnage in Wonderland Pre-reg Form [PDF, 45kb]
  • Carnage in Wonderland Schedule Grid [PDF, 60kb]
  • Carnage in Wonderland Schedule Grid [ODS, 31kb]
  • Carnage in Wonderland Schedule Grid [XLS, 26kb]

2011 Living Forgotten Realms Events Now on Warhorn

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Photo by 8one6.

The Carnage in Wonderland page on Warhorn.net now lists the weekend’s offerings in Living Forgotten Realms adventures from the RPGA. Hie thee hence to whet thy palate for Dungeons & Dragons action this November!

Please remember that Warhorn is a scheduling tool used by the RPGA coordinators. It is not affiliated with Carnage, nor a part of the convention registration process. Attendees wishing to preregister for Carnage should utilize the form in the back of the convention book, in addition to signing up via Warhorn for RPGA-run sessions.

We’re All Mad Here: The Genius Schemers of Carnage

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There’s a special gleam in the eye that comes from one of only two sources: a surfeit of mercury vapor in the hat-making process and the feverish dreams of a Carnage role-playing GM. Such visions cannot be contained within a single skull for long, of course. They must be freed to propagate through all the psyches of the gentle, unsuspecting populace.

Get a sneak preview on what’s in the 2011 program book by seeing what the GMs themselves have to say about the games they’re running at Carnage in Wonderland:

Do you have information to share about what you’re running at Carnage? Let us know in the comments section below.

Not Sure What Role-Playing Game to Run at Carnage in Wonderland?

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June is that magic time when a Carnage GM’s fancy lightly turns to “What the heck am I going to run this year?”

As always, a GM should runs the thing that inspires them the most. We’ve all been at the table when the GM’s heart just wasn’t into the game of the moment. And that’s no fun at all. So first ask yourself what games have your attention — and probably still will in November.

For those of you looking for more firm inspiration, check out this wish list we’ve put together of games, old and new, we’d like to see at this year’s convention, behind the jump. To be clear, the games our stalwart GMs run year in and year out — your specialties, which are far too numerous to mention even in passing — are always wanted. Those games are your signature events, the ones for which you’re known, and we’re always happy to have them.

That said, if you’re a GM waffling over system or setting, knowing just that you want to run “something,” you might find a nudge in one direction or the other here. If there’s a game you’re hoping to play, mention it in the comments. Maybe someone will be inspired, knowing there’s a kindred soul out there.

Once you know what you want to run, hop on over to the GM sign-up page and put it to good use. Continue reading →

GM Submissions Open for Carnage in Wonderland

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As we kick things into gear behind the scenes for Carnage 14, we’d like to invite all our hard-working GMs to let loose the ideas that simmered away all winter, just waiting for the right moment.

The right moment, of course, is that the GM sign-up form is back and ready for action. Pour all your glorious, incandescent thoughts and strokes of genius into its samite fields, from where they progress to take form in the crucible of our mighty event database.

If you’re new to the sign-up form, take a look behind the jump for more information about filling it out the maximum happiness of all parties involved. Continue reading →

Down the Role-Playing Rabbit Hole to Wonderland

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"One, two! One, two! and through and through / The vorpal blade went snicker-snack." Art by John Tenniel.

Carnage’s theme this year comes from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. With a literary starting point like that, the role-playing GM is veritably besieged by ideas to borrow, spindle and mutilate to their desire. Beyond visiting the book itself for inspiration — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass are both available to read online for free, thanks to websites like Project Gutenberg — you can see how Alice’s adventures inspired future authors. The Looking Glass Wars books by Frank Beddor reinvent Carroll’s books as distortions of the true history of an alternate universe. Jack Chalker’s Wonderland Gambit trilogy draws on imagery as part of a reality-bending tale. An episode of Warehouse 13 pitted agents against the mind-swapping properties of Lewis Carroll’s mirror.

Variations on Alice and her Wonderland companions have shown up in plenty of role-playing games, too. Dungeons & Dragons‘ vorpal sword comes from Through the Looking-Glass, in the poem “Jabberwocky.” Alice, Queen of Hearts is one of the most notorious villains of Empire City in the super hero game Silver Age Sentinels. Wonderland is a setting of surreal horror in which characters plumb the depths of layers of reality — or fight back against incursions from below. In the world of WitchCraft, the sleeping Red King dreams of the realm of Hod, sephiroth of dreams; if he woke up, the whole sephiroth would vanish.

One can also easily imagine a slapstick Toon caper through Wonderland, a cyberpunk thriller in which the Red Queen is a malevolent AI preying on deckers talented enough to enter her domain and a fantasy dungeon crawl through underground warrens to rescue the king’s youngest daughter from the avatars of primeval chaos.

Do you know of any other references or homages to Alice in Wonderland in role-playing games? Tell us in the comments section.

Carnage at the Castle in New Hampshire

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This mild-mannered storefront conceals a den of hot tabletop gaming action.

On March 5th, the Carnage gang will be at the Game Castle in Londonderry, New Hampshire hosting a day of gaming. We’ll be there with some of the best and greatest in board games and role-playing. Won’t you join us?

And if you so desire, you can RSVP via Facebook.

Carnage the 13th Schedule Grid

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The schedule grid for Carnage the 13th is now free for the downloading. Linked below, you’ll find it in three tasty flavors: PDF, Excel spreadsheet and Open Document spreadsheet. With it, you have a visual guide to pinpointing the intractable conflicts in your weekend at Carnage. Good luck making that decision!

This grid is based on the one Frank Perricone whipped up for Carnage 12 last year, which turned out be a big hit beforehand and onsite. Thanks for blazing the trail there, Frank.

Blood-curdling grids of scheduling horror for Carnage the 13th:

July Role-Playing Games Update

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Photo by Rocco Pier Luigi.Carnage the 13th is just over three months away. That can seem like a lot of time, but behind the scenes, we’re already getting games lined up, so you can read all about them when the convention book is mailed out and available for download in September.

We can’t let too many cats out of the bag, since we’re still tallying events, but here’s a quick sampler of what’s on tap for 2010:

Plus longtime favorites like the Realms LARP, the traditional Bar Room Brawl from Jim Doyle, story games orchestrated by Charlton Wilbur, whatever genius the inestimable Dr. Nik has concocted and the horrific imaginings of Andre Kruppa.