Carnagecast 25: 7th Sea and Heroes of Altamira

In episode 25 of Carnagecast, we switch up the format. Mark Edwards comes on the show to talk about the role-playing game of swashbuckling fantasy 7th Sea and the living campaign he runs in the game’s world of Theah, Heroes of Altamira. 7th Sea combines the tropes of swashbuckling adventure movies and European history’s greatest hits with fantasy role-playing. Nimble fencers and sorcerers square off in the palaces and plazas to save the day — or ruin it.

Heroes of Altamira is a living campaign, one in which the actions of players affect future events and characters created in the first episode can, if their players desire, carry on all the way through the twenty-four episode arc. Mark also talks a bit about his philosophy of bringing new players into existing living campaigns and gives a peek ahead to what comes after Heroes of Altamira.

Additionally, discover the truth of DOMINGO GIGANTE! Continue reading

Carnagecast Extrasode 5: A Dark and Stormy Night

In extrasode 5 of Carnagecast, Munk, Rachel, Sarah and Tyler drive home in the driving rain from Spring Meltdown in Lyndonville, one of the Green Mountain Gamers’ game days held around Vermont. How do you pass the time during a two hour ride from Lyndonville to Burlington? Talk about what you did during the day, of course.

Conversation gets into some of the new games played — Nefarious, Power Grid: The First Sparks, Lords of Waterdeep and more — the subtleties of certain personalities in the local Battlestar Galactica cadre and whether it’s okay for caribou and mammoth meeples not to be scaled to each other. Continue reading

Carnagecast 22: Brad Younie of Carnivore Games and The Day After Ragnarok

In episode 22, Interview with the Gamer prowls the lonesome back roads of New England to find Brad Younie, president of Carnivore Games. Brad tells us about the games he ran at Carnage in Wonderland and goes a bit more into The Unexplained, his role-playing game of paranormal phenomena investigators. He even lets slip the name of a hard science fiction setting on which he’s working. Additionally, you can catch actual play recordings of one of Brad’s games from that weekend over on the New England Roleplayers Association’s feed — part 1 and part 2.

Autopsy of a Game takes on its biggest cadaver yet, the Midgard Serpent itself, tackling The Day After Ragnarok with our friend Joe. In the poisoned ruins of Earth after the end of a World War II in which the Germans summoned Jormangundr itself and the Allies destroyed it with atomic fire at the cost of a globe-shattering cataclysm, the remnants of civilization struggle to piece themselves together. Aside from the two-fisted alternate history of the 20th century leavened with sorcery and weird science, Joe relishes the open canvas of the world after the Midgard Serpent fell, which gives the players room to move and the GM space to invent. Continue reading

Carnagecast Extrasode 4: Escape from PAX East

In extrasode 4 of Carnagecast, Sarah and Tyler talk about their PAX East 2012 experiences while heading north to Vermont. They talk about what they did and didn’t get to do, the games they played, the scale of PAX East and the thrill of that much energy and buzz filling a convention center.

It turns out that both Sarah and Tyler are getting to that stage in their lives where they’re more appreciative of handsome, well-made furniture than they are the latest game releases. Furthermore, Sarah was most interested by the Chevrolet display in the exhibition hall than anything else . . . Continue reading

Carnage Noir Now Accepting Game Submissions

Listen up, youse mugs. There’s a new racket in town: Carnage Noir. This thing of theirs is a good, old-fashioned game convention. And they want a taste of your GMing action. Board games, miniatures, whatever your specialty is, there’s a place for you at the table.

Head over the GM Sign Up page to get your game’s details in. The deadline for getting entries in the convention book mailer is July 27th — and that’s a lead pipe cinch.

Carnagecast 18: Bethany Creaser and Conspiracy X 2.0

In episode 18 of Carnagecast, Bethany Creaser of Border Board Games and Green Mountain Gamers tells the story of how she and her husband first came to Carnage and then talks about hosting game days and nights in Vermont for Interview with the Gamer.

To learn about Conspiracy X 2.0, Autopsy of a Game turns to the game’s own line developer, Dave Chapman. He peels back a few of the outer layers shrouding the aliens, paranormal experiences and conspiracies in the heart of the American government that agents of AEGIS may encounter. Continue reading

Carnagecast Extrasode 2: Carnage Round Table Convention Roundup

In extrasode 2 of Carnagecast, Christy, Chuck, Robert and Rod gather for the first Carnage round table discussion. The topic at hand is conventions and games. Where have we been, where are we going and what are we playing on the way?

If you’re at any of the upcoming conventions and game days, look for the folks in Carnage shirts and say hello! Continue reading

Carnagecast 16: Nik Palmer and Dominant Species

In episode 16 of Carnagecast, Interview with a Gamer features Nik Palmer, longtime GM and former Carnage board member — and since recording, winner of Iron GM 2012 at TotalCon — talking about the multi-table Call of Cthulhu event which he co-ran at Carnage in Wonderland, using props and aids to fire player imagination, awesomeness versus accessibility, self-publishing and more.

Chuck, Robert and Rod cut into Dominant Species for Autopsy of a Game. Rod likens it to a worker placement game that ebbs and flows as species dominance rises and falls. While enjoying the mechanics, Chuck points out that it’s over-long for such a game, often taking three or more hours. Robert dislikes the whole business, given how a random card can undo all one’s thought and effort. Continue reading

Carnagecast 14: Robin Lea of Peryton Publishing and Betrayal at House on the Hill

In episode 14 of Carnagecast, we go back to Peryton Publishing, this time to speak with the dark empress Robin Lea. She talks a bit about the games she ran at Carnage in Wonderland and her upcoming projects, both role-playing and fiction. Autopsy of a Game turns the incisive minds of Dan and Tyler upon Betrayal at House on the Hill, a horror game with a cult following. Continue reading

Carnagecast 10: TotalCon and The Resistance

In episode 10 of Carnagecast, Interview with a Gamer talks TotalCon with Angelia Heroux, the event’s media director. The Massachusetts convention includes movies, discussion panels and tournaments in addition to the traditional role-playing and board game fare.

Then, in Autopsy of a Game, Rod, Chuck and Sarah talk about The Resistance, a social game in which players are either resistance members trying to succeed at missions or undercover spies working to thwart the resistance’s efforts. Rod thinks The Resistance is good for non- and casual gamers with its high strong social interactions, but still meaty enough for hardcore, strategy-oriented gamers to get into.

But then, Rod is always a Cylon. Continue reading