Author Archives: Tyler

Carnage Royale Opens for Registration

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Note: This post links to the 2016 convention book and is made available for informational purposes only. If you’re looking for the current year’s convention book, check the sidebar, or the top of the News page, to see if it has been released yet.

Cover of the Carnage Royale convention book. The grim reaper is sighted down the barrel of a gun, holding a pistol in its hand.Carnage is very pleased to announce the opening of registration for Carnage Royale!

As in past years, you can download the convention book as a PDF — linked below, with the schedule grid — peruse the games listed and mail in the form on the last page to preregister for the convention. However, now you can also use our new online registration system to preregister for the convention paperlessly, and use Paypal for payment. Note that clicking the link above will redirect you to a second website, www.carnageconregistration.com, which is a Carnage-owned and operated web site, hosted separately for quality of service purposes. As with a paper registration form, online registration lets attendees indicate their first, second and third choices for games to play in a schedule slot. Those preferences are fulfilled on an as-available basis.

Carnage Royale, Vermont’s own tabletop game convention, runs from November 4-6, 2016, at the Killington Grand Resort in Killington, Vermont. For more information about booking a room for the weekend, visit our Lodging page. Walk-in registrants are always welcome, but we encourage attendees to preregister for the weekend to reserve seats in scheduled games on a first-come, first-served basis. And do check the web addendum for late arriving games that didn’t make it into the convention book.

  • Carnage Royale Convention Book — 2016 [PDF, 1.7MB]
  • Carnage Royale Schedule Grid [PDF, 77kB]

Your Role-Playing Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

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Mid-combat on a battle grid with figures and dice.

Photo by Moroboshi. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dungeons_and_Dragons_game.jpg

No other type of tabletop game hosted at Carnage takes advantage of the year’s theme like role-playing games do. As a genre of game that draws heavily on tropes and genre conventions from books, film, television — from Dungeons & Dragons‘ Appendix N up to the contemporary capsule pitch of “It’s like Pokémon meets Veronica Mars!”

We’ll always have our stalwarts like Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu and Pathfinder in their traditional modes and we love hosting them, but we also love it when you, our endlessly inventive GMs, come up with just the right spin to bring the year’s theme into their adventures.  Below are just some examples of spy-themed role-playing games from over the years, sometimes bringing a secret agent bent to an established world, sometimes adapting a property or creating a brand new one.

If you’re not yet sure of what you want to run this year at Carnage Royale, this list may help inspire you, or provide some direction. They are, of course, merely suggestions and fond wishes of what we’d like to see on the schedule. Ultimately, run the games you’re passionate about, because that passion helps make a good time for everyone at the table.

And a bonus inspiration source: the International Spy Museum!

Carnage Royale Opens for Game Submissions

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Death with Walther and scythe in hand, captured in the closing shutter of a lens.Care for a game, Secret Agent 802?

Carnage Royale is looking for people to volunteer to share and teach their favorite games at this year’s convention, November 4th through 6th, 2016 in Killington, Vermont. A tabletop game convention like Carnage wouldn’t exist without passionate people who step up to volunteer to run games for players, so we’re putting the call out for game submissions. Whether you’re an enthusiast looking for fellow players, a designer who wants to get their game some exposure or a publisher with a stable of titles to show off, we want to hear from you! Carnage game offerings span the spectrum from board and card games to miniatures battles of all genres to role-playing adventures.

When you’re ready, fill out the GM submission form on our site with your game’s details and send them to us. If you would like to submit more than one game, wait a moment after submitting and your web browser will be redirected to the submission page.

The deadline to have your submissions in to Carnage for inclusion in the convention book is July 31st. Submissions received after that date may still be considered, but Carnage cannot guarantee they will be included in the convention book on publication, which is the best way to get maximum exposure for your game.

Carnage Royale is a tabletop game convention that runs November 4th through 6th, 2016 at the Killington Grand Resort in Killington, Vermont. Lodging information at Killington is available. Once the convention book is compiled, registration will open to conventioneers in the fall. For further updates, you can check back at www.carnagecon.com, and follow Carnage on Facebook and Twitter.

Trading in the Land of the Lost, Carnage of the Lost World’s No-Ship Math Trade, Is Now Open

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As previously foreshadowed, Matt Golec is coordinating the now-annual Carnage math trade, wherein people offer games up for trade, compose want lists of what others are offering for trade, and then a computer program sorts it all out to optimize the trading. It’s pretty cool, and a fun way to turn over your game library. The types of items you’ll find in the math trade include board games, role-playing games, other gaming paraphernalia and even things outside the scope of Boardgamegeek.

From now until October 29th, 2015, people can post games offered for trade to the Trading in the Land of the Lost geek list on Boardgamegeek. After that deadline, participants have until November 2nd to submit their want lists, identifying the things they would like to receive and what they would be willing to give away in exchange. Then Matt will run the program, list the results and the exchanges will happen at Carnage of the Lost World the following weekend. It’s just that easy!

Carnage of the Lost World’s Convention Book is Available for Download

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Note: This post links to the 2015 convention book and is made available for informational purposes only. If you’re looking for the current year’s convention book, check the sidebar, or the top of the News page.

Carnage of the Lost World convention book cover: Death, wielding an elephant gun, stands with one foot on the neck of a dead tyrannosaurus.Carnage of the Lost World’s convention book is now available for you to download as a PDF, as well as a schedule grid to help plan your weekend. Check out the addendum page, explained below, for the latest game news. Once you’ve picked out the games you would like to play, fill out the preregistration form at the back of the book and send it in before the first week of November. There are no guarantees in preregistration, of course, but sooner is always better, and it never hurts to include a second choice.

GMs, if you would like to sign up to play in addition to running games, send in the pre-reg form, noting on it that you are a GM.

Once that’s taken care, all you have to do is sit back and relax and get ready for Carnage of the Lost World, November 6-8, 2015 at the Killington Grand! You could also rustle up some games to offer for trade in the annual no-ship math trade, Trading in the Land of the Lost, too.

  • Carnage of the Lost World Convention Book — 2015 [PDF, 2.6MB]
  • Carnage of the Lost World Schedule Grid [PDF, 110kB]

Addenda, Errata and Other Updates

Now that the convention book is published, we’ll be using the addendum page to list late additions, corrections and cancellations. Visit it often to see the latest and greatest of what Carnage of the Lost World has to offer. Any questions can be directed to info@carnagecon.com.

New Spaces, Venue Changes

Carnage has access to some new convention spaces this year in the Snowshed building: the Ticket Room, the Pods and Snowshed-Gateway are all rooms on the ground floor, below the Snowshed ballroom, which most convention-goers know as the main role-playing game space. The new rooms are all pictured in the map on page 29 of the convention book.

Additionally, the Killington resort is in the process of renovating, which changes some of the routes prior attendees may be used to, and the availability of some amenities. Check out our rundown of what’s to eat and where for details.

Prepare for Trading in the Land of the Lost This November at Carnage

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One of Carnage’s newest traditions is the no-ship math trade, an opportunity for gamers to swap away unwanted games for something new and fresh. What, specifically, is a math trade? This Boardgamegeek geeklist explains it nicely: “In Math trades people offer the games they want to trade and then say the games they want to swap for from those on offer. The organiser uses a piece of software to maximise the number of trades.”

The no-ship part means there’s no postage involved. Bring your trade to Carnage of the Lost World this November and walk away with your new goodies. In the math trade, you’re likely to find board games, role-playing games, and other gaming and maybe non-gaming goodies. Check out Invest Diva reviews to see how their course can help you navigate the financial landscape with confidence.

Like how a good platform like Cointree is necessary for crypto trade, there are a few necessities for math trade. Matt Golec, coordinator of the math trade lo these years, has laid out a timeline for Trading in the Land of the Lost, a no-ship math trade:

  • October 12th, 2015: the math trade geek list opens. Post the games you want to trade away, start scoping out what other people are offering.
  • October 26th, 2015: the for trade submission period for the math trade closes. Start composing your want list, noting what you would trade for and wouldn’t.
  • November 2nd, 2015: the want list submission closes. Matt runs the trade program and announces who’s trading what to whom for what.

It’s just that easy! Keep an eye on the Carnage news feed and Facebook page for news of when the math trade opens, and other Carnage of the Lost World developments.

Get Your Games in for Carnage of the Lost World

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We’re nearing the end of the game submission period for Carnage of the Lost World. The last day to get the games you want to run submitted in time to be included in the Carnage convention book is July 31st, 2015. GMs, if you’re still thinking about whether or not to run games at the convention this year, now is the time to act! A game convention is nothing without the hard-working GMs who put in the effort to teach their favorite games and create new and inventive adventures and scenarios for eager players. Use our handy GM sign up form to send in the details of the games you want to run. If you have questions about running games at Carnage, you can reach us through our contact page, or leave a comment below.

Carnage of the Lost World runs from November 6th through 8th at the Killington Grand Resort in Killington, Vermont. Subscribe to our news feed and follow us on Facebook to keep up to date on convention developments, including when preregistration opens!

Carnagecast 60: Winter Weirdness 2015

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Carnagecast logo. The grim reaper leaps in the air, strumming a power chord on his scythe-guitar.In episode 60 of Carnagecast, Tyler flies solo: no co-host, no guest! News of Carnage 2015 is soon to come. This past weekend the Green Mountain Gamers held their Winter Weirdness game day in Barre, Vermont. Games were played, money was raised for the Vermont Center for Independent Living and fun was had. Tyler talks about the games he got to play: three favorites and a brand new one. Where else can you run into Carnage folks in New England: MEGA Spring Meltdown, TotalCon and PAX East, to name a few.

Tyler wraps up with some of his other tabletop interests at the moment, including a live play show on YouTube called Decked! and dabbling in Doomtown. Carnagecast now has a voice mail box. Call in and let us know what you think!

Subscribe to Carnagecast on iTunes! Like Carnage on Facebook. Follow Carnage on Twitter: @Carnagecon. Leave us a voice mail at (802) 448-2019. Go behind the jump for the show links. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:08 — 20.3MB)

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Carnagecast 59: One-Shots and Campaigns Colon Showdown of Destiny

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Carnagecast logo. The grim reaper leaps in the air, strumming a power chord on his scythe-guitar.In episode 59 of Carnagecast, it’s that slow time between Christmas and New Year’s when we are all sluggish with egg nog. Ray and Tyler discuss two of the most common modes of role-playing games: the long form campaign and the short form one-shot. Each mode has its relative strengths and weaknesses, so we discuss them for anyone who’s yet to try one or the other. Turns out that the two complement each other pretty well, and it’s not so surprising they’re possibly the two most common and well-known of role-playing modes.

If you have suggestions for topics or games you’d like us to cover, write to us: podcast@carnagecon.com!

Subscribe to Carnagecast on iTunes! Like Carnage on Facebook. Follow Carnage on Twitter: @Carnagecon. Go behind the jump for the show links. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:07 — 58.1MB)

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Carnagecast 58: A Recap Full of Carnage

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Carnagecast logo. The grim reaper leaps in the air, strumming a power chord on his scythe-guitar.In episode 58 of Carnagecast, we talk about A Fistful of Carnage, the game convention Carnage held at Killington, Vermont last month. Yes, it’s been a month. We’ve recovered and are back, ready to talk about the fun we had and games in general in the coming year. Highlights of the weekend include, but are not limited to: the resurgence of interest in Dungeons & Dragons with the arrival of the fifth edition, Golden Goblin Press running Call of Cthulhu, Andre Kruppa’s own Lucid Dreams game, the pageantry of Miss Phoebe’s steampunk LARP and the metamorphosis of Gygax Magazine’s pub quiz into the less explicable pub calvinball.

Subscribe to Carnagecast on iTunes! Like Carnage on Facebook. Follow Carnage on Twitter: @Carnagecon. Go behind the jump for the show links. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:07 — 32.3MB)

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