News
By Tyler on December 12, 2012
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.
Posted in Role-Playing Games | Tagged actual play, bully pulpit games, fiasco, nerpa, podcasts, Role-Playing Games
By Tyler on October 9, 2012
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.
Posted in Board Games, CCGs, Miniatures, Role-Playing Games | Tagged Board Games, boardgamegeek.com, card games, carnage noir, ccgs, math trade, miniatures, Role-Playing Games
By Tyler on September 25, 2012
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]
Posted in Board Games, CCGs, Field Marshal Reports, Miniatures, Role-Playing Games | Tagged Board Games, carnage noir, ccgs, convention book, conventions, miniatures, Role-Playing Games
By Tyler on September 24, 2012
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 “Carnagecast 34: Arthur, King of Time and Space”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:45 — 38.3MB)
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Posted in Carnagecast | Tagged arthur king of time and space, arthurian mythology, Carnagecast, comics, fantasy, paul gadzikowski, podcasts
By Tyler on September 17, 2012
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 “Carnagecast 33: Council of 5 Nations XXXV”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:25 — 26.2MB)
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Posted in Carnagecast | Tagged Board Games, conventions, council of 5 nations, david cheng, historical, miniatures, new york, Role-Playing Games, schenectady, schenectady wargamers association
By Tyler on September 12, 2012
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 “Carnagecast Extrasode 8: Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:29 — 50.8MB)
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Posted in Carnagecast | Tagged andrew valkauskas, Carnagecast, fantasy, fate of the norns: ragnarok, pendelhaven, podcasts, Role-Playing Games
By Tyler on September 10, 2012
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 “Carnagecast 32: Nik Palmer and Iron GM 2012”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:07 — 34.9MB)
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Posted in Carnagecast | Tagged Carnagecast, GMing, GMs, iron gm, nik palmer, Role-Playing Games
By Tyler on September 3, 2012
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 “Carnagecast 31: Carrion Crown: The Haunting of Harrowstone”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:02 — 86.9MB)
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Posted in Carnagecast | Tagged Carnagecast, carrion crown, dan, fantasy, horror, hunter, pathfinder, Role-Playing Games, the haunting of harrowstone, toby
