Tag Archives: sword and sorcery

Carnagecast 26: Tales from the Fallen Empire

Posted on by

In episode 26 of Carnagecast, James Carpio of Chapter 13 Press returns to tell us about his latest endeavor, Tales from the Fallen Empire, a sword and sorcery campaign setting for Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics role-playing game.

James tells about the world of Leviathan, formed from the carcass of a primordial dragon, and the people who scratch out a living after the fall of the Sorcerer Kings of old. It’s a world that samples from the buffet of history and fiction, where the elephant golem of Shesh carries a market on its back around the land of Kesh and the Draki people seek a way back to their home dimension. As a sandbox setting, James wanted Tales from the Fallen Empire to recapture the freeform nature of old school gaming, where the players’ choices kept the GM on his toes.

The conversation turns to the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG as well, and how it differs from its root sources, such as the character funnel leading up to a first level character, the hazardous, unpredictable nature of magic and the other alterations made to the core classes. Additionally, Tales from the Fallen Empire introduces its own variants, such as the sorcerer, drawing inspiration from the original pulp fantasy tales of Howard and Lieber, the pirate and the witch.

Since recording this interview, Tales from the Fallen Empire is now on Kickstarter! From now until the drive ends on July 18, 2012, backers can pledge money to fund the project and receive special rewards, which include the book itself, but extend to elements within the world of Leviathan. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:23 — 51.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

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

Posted on by

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 →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:55 — 45.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS