Author Archives: Tyler

Carnagecast 43: Role-Playing with Gaylord

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Carnagecast logo.In episode 43 of Carnagecast, Gaylord joins us to talk role-playing games. His personal history with the form goes back to watching his stepson play with college friends in the dining room, including a notable encounter with the lich Adolf Hitler. From there, he went on to Vampire: The Masquerade, Call of Cthulhu and more.

Gaylord specializes in convention games, so we talk about the different needs of the four hour format versus home games. How does one handle the various kinds of players one gets at the table, particularly those who play their characters “sensibly” and those who are there for the glory of adventures followed to their gory conclusions? This leads to discussing the different levels of abilities and needs that a GM may encounter in a convention setting. Gaylord has related stories ranging from Call of Poohthulhu to Terra Incognita.

And, perhaps most importantly, we ponder whether spending a Willpower point in a Storyteller game is cheating. What do you think? Leave a comment behind the jump and check out the show notes for Tom’s Firefly pole dance. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:45 — 72.1MB)

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Carnagecast 42: Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar

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Carnagecast logo.In episode 42 of Carnagecast, after a teaching session at the Green Mountain Gamers’ spring game day, Rod and Sarah discuss Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar, a worker placement game which draws inspiration for its mechanics from none other than the titular Mayan calendar, particularly interlocking wheels that move pieces around the board. In addition to the usual crunch of never enough resource and actions for players to do everything they’d like to, the discussion touches upon how the addition of something so spatially and visually oriented as the wheels affect how players think about the game.

Who do Sarah and Rod think should give Tzolk’in a try? Listen in — and check out the show notes behind the cut. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:22 — 34.4MB)

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Carnagecast 41: Crowdfunding Tabletop Games

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Carnagecast logo.In episode 41 of Carnagecast, Rod and Tyler discuss the boom of crowdfunding, the process whereby individuals contribute money to the creation of an item or event in exchange for backer rewards, and the tabletop game hobby. Before the meat of the conversation, they talk Carnage on the Mountain, the way to reserve rooms at Killington by calling the hotel directly and Green Mountain Gamers’ Spring Meltdown, a full day of tabletop gaming at the Lake Morey Resort, beloved stomping ground of Carnage-goers.

What is crowdfunding? How does it differ from a preorder system like GMT Games’? The role of crowdfunding as a tool for established publishers and a means for new designers to make their mark. Crowdfunding removes barriers to entry, which has positive and negative consequences. Rod expresses concern about whether those dropping barriers allow more sub-par games to make it to the market, as they’re propelled directly by the people to whom they appeal.

Wrapping up, they speculate about the future of crowdfunding. Listen in for astonishing predictions!

Enjoy extensive, comprehensive notes behind the jump! Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:09:10 — 73.1MB)

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Carnagecast 40: Gygax Magazine and Gary Con

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Carnagecast logo.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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:46 — 49.3MB)

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Carnagecast 39: Carrion Crown: Broken Moon

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Carnagecast logo.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 setpiece 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.

Also! Like the official Carnage page on Facebook. It’s page-riffic. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:56 — 55.3MB)

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Carnagecast 38: Unity Games XIX

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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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:51 — 26.4MB)

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Carnagecast 37: Carrion Crown: Trial of the Beast

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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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:21 — 75.1MB)

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Carnagecast 36: Back from Hiatus

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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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:32 — 26.9MB)

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Fiasco at Carnage Noir

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The New England Role Players Association (NERPA) had its recorder out and rolling at Carnage Noir last month. Freshly released in their actual play podcast is a session of Fiasco that went down on Saturday of the convention.

Fiasco is more of a story-telling game than a traditional role-playing game “about ordinary people with powerful ambition and poor impulse control.” Players construct the basics of the story and guide the arc of the plot by drawing from pre-written lists of characters, MacGuffins, locations and more. Turn by turn, they frame and play out scenes in a story built to break bad on a scale worthy of the Coen brothers.

Thanks to NERPA for not only recording at Carnage, but making the episode available as part of their podcast.

Here’s Trading With You, Kid: A Carnage Noir No-Ship Math Trade

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Thanks to the efforts of Matt Golec, Carnage-goers once again have the opportunity to participate in Here’s Looking At You, Kid, a no-ship math trade with their fellow conventioneers. As Matt explains, “Math trades are a great way to swap games you no longer play for games you’d love to add to your collection. You can read all about math trades here, but in short, instead of trading between two people, the computer orchestrates huge trades among many people. You give one of your unwanted games to somebody, and in exchange somebody else gives you a game that you did want.”

Matt’s post at the top of the list explains the details of the format more, but in short: list the board games, card games, miniatures and RPGs you want to swap away by 9:00pm on October 21st. Then create a want list from the gamers offered by others using the On-Line Want List Generator by October 28th at 9:00pm. Then wait for the good news of what you’re swapping and what you’re receiving.

Go now and list all the games you know will do better in someone else’s hands.