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.

Carnagecast 35: 24 Hour Charity Gaming Marathon at Quarterstaff Games

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In episode thirty-five of Carnagecast, Jeff Durochia and Brennan Martin tell us about the charity gaming event Extra Life and the 24 gaming marathon they’re hosting at Quarterstaff Games in Burlington, Vermont to raise money for the local Children’s Miracle Network hospital, Fletcher Allen Health Care.

This October, Quarterstaff opens its doors from 8:00am Saturday the 20th to 8:00am Sunday the 21st to host 24 hours of tabletop gaming to raise money. Highlights include midnight Draft ‘Til You Drop for Magic: the Gathering, A Game of Thrones utilizing the Dance with Dragons scenario, a warlord rumble for Warhammer 40,000, many more board games, role-playing games including Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Legend of the 5 Rings and more — Brennan is crafting three dimensional tiles for Settlers of Catan. One twist for Extra Life players that Quarterstaff offers: a $5 entry donation gains players tokens they can use to bend rules of the games they play. Those tokens translate into more donations for the Team Quarterstaff fundraising efforts.

Whether people come for the full 24 hours or drop in as their schedule allows, Jeff hopes to provide a mini-convention atmosphere, allowing people to try games and experiment with new and untried games. And, of course, people can contribute whatever they’re able to the fundraising efforts. Donations are just as important as pledges.  With his perspective analyzing birth statistics for the health department, Brennan reminds us there are living, breathing people who will benefit directly from the money raised through Extra Life. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:16 — 31.5MB)

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Download the 2012 Carnage Noir Convention Book

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Carnage Noir book cover.

Click to download the convention book.

Note: this is the 2012 convention book! For the current year’s convention book, which traditionally publishes in early fall, visit the news page.

All right, you mugs. The big score’s less than two months away. It’s a three day job and I don’t want anything to go wrong. So we’ve got it all planned out, see? Right here in these pages is how the whole weekend goes down.

You can now download the Carnage Noir convention book, along with a preregistration form and a schedule grid in variety of formats to assist in planning out your greatest gaming weekend since Carnage in Wonderland.

These documents reflect the schedule as it stood at the time of printing. For updates, alterations, amendments and new arrivals, check the Convention Book Addendum regularly.

  • Carnage Noir Convention Book [PDF, 890kb]
  • Carnage Noir Pre-reg Form [PDF, 17kb]
  • Carnage Noir Schedule Grid [PDF, 60kb]
  • Carnage Noir Schedule Grid [ODS, 31kb]
  • Carnage Noir Schedule Grid [XLSX, 13kb]

Carnagecast 34: Arthur, King of Time and Space

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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.

In addition to our usual show links below, Paul has provided his own annotations and links to the episode’s conversation over on his Livejournal. Check them out! Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:45 — 38.3MB)

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Carnagecast 33: Council of 5 Nations XXXV

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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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:25 — 26.2MB)

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Carnagecast Extrasode 8: Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok

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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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:29 — 50.8MB)

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Carnagecast 32: Nik Palmer and Iron GM 2012

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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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:07 — 34.9MB)

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Carnagecast 31: Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone

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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. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:02 — 86.9MB)

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Game for Extra Life at Carnage Noir

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Extra Life logo.By playing games, Carnage-goers can help raise money for sick children by participating in Extra Life. Extra Life is the biggest gaming charity event of the year and this year, Carnage and Green Mountain Gamers encourage their fellow gamers to help.

To participate, sign up at Extra Life, join or create a team, choose a Children’s Miracle Network hospital to support, ask friends and family for donations, and sit and play games, any kind of games, for a total of 24 hours.

Leading the way in supporting this excellent cause, Green Mountain Gamers is organizing a dedicated team of gamers to test their mettle in a 24 hour gaming marathon, Friday night to Saturday night of Carnage Noir. Visit www.greenmountaingamers.com/about/contact to ask for more information about this opportunity.

During the convention, Carnage will offer special Extra Life T-shirts, with all proceeds going to the Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Healthcare.