Rascal Radio Hour

This holiday special features Caelyn Ellis, a passionate journalist on tabletop games, and Lin Codega, a sharp-witted writer and critic. The duo dives into the cultural impact of Apocalypse World, shares recommendations for Ghibli-esque RPGs, and hilariously debates the worst licenses for a Monster Hearts hack. They reflect on the importance of crowdfunding ethics and the evolving tabletop landscape, while highlighting must-try duet games. With engaging banter, they celebrate the vibrant future of tabletop gaming!

Chase and Caelyn return from Dragonmeet to show off the games, memories, and various illnesses they collected over the weekend. Later, the pair discuss DriveThruRPG's heavily criticized Partner Shipping Program, two big evils within trading card games (licensed crossovers and speculative markets), and how fun it is to flick orcs. Finally, the Question Dungeon summons the ghosts of conventions past and asks us to name a ton of cool worker-owned websites that deserve your time and patronage. -- Games we discuss: Mappa Mundi Gallows Corner Into the Espers Space Gits Pokemon TCG Magic: The Gathering Girlframe Dungeon Pulp -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Lin Codega Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social).‬ Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Hear that? It's the sound of well-ground axes. Of longstanding grudges. Thomas watches Chase remount a vertiably parade well-trod soapboxes on today's episode. These include the transient nature of Discord, crowdfunding platforms, and valorizing dungeon mastery as work done in the service of play. Chase tries to keep the griping to a minimum because we've got a Kickstarter union win and Satanic Panics to discuss. Mostly the pair dive into the fascinating and lovely emergent culture inside Over/Under, Chase's thoughts about RPGs and comics mixing at the recent Thought Bubble convention, and Adam Serwer's recent Atlantic article about Musk and Co. wanting to reclaim D&D from The Woke. Afterwards, it's a cavalcade of game recommendations and advice on approaching design from the outside as the duo land on an exoplanet called Question_Dungeon and explore its rugged expanses. Good luck to everyone flying for PAX Unplugged and/or the impending US holidays! -- Games we discuss: Orbital Blues Orbital Blues: The Wanderer Dungeons & Dragons Oddfolk Mothership/Cataphracts A Modern Prometheus Our Time on Earth In This World For The Queen An altogether Different River The Quiet Year Harvest Last Train To Bremen Ex Novo Beak, Feather and Bone Stewpot World Ending Game Deadline Signal to Noise Ironsworn & Starforged im sorry did you say street magic Gun&Slinger -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social). Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

It's a board game bonanza this week as Chase and Thomas are joined by BoardGameWire's Mike Didymus-True to discuss a news week heavily skewed towards the meeple-side of the tabletop industry. The crew talks about Spiel Essen, the largest trade show-convention hybrid in the world, and some of the most interesting games Mike saw while in Germany. They also discuss the state of content creators and criticism as it pertains to board games but manage to wrap back around to a conversation on actual play's future. Later, the trio dig into two different troubling crowdfunding stories: Altered TCG's publishers profess a mea culpa after telling backers their massively successful campaign may not be enough to secure the game's future; and Steamforged's deluxe version of Terra Mystica fails to garner enough, er... steam at launch, so they're dramatically whacking down the price. What can we extrapolate from these case studies? And how much is Chase just grinding his ol' battleax? Finally we answer your questions about old trading card games that should come back from the dead, along with a long tangent into Catan's weird recent licensing. What does a basketball team, Netflix, and the phrase "interactive concourse activations" have in common? Why, it's everyone's favorite board game about sheep, wood, and walls. Games we discuss: Gibberers Collect Castles of Burgundy Altered TCG Terra Mystica Summoner Wars -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social) and special guest Mike Didymus-True (@boardgamewire.bsky.social). Find Mike's work at BoardGameWire. Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Chase is joined on this episode by writer, critic, academic, friend of the show, and hater of Commander: Cameron Kunzelman. The two wax long on the current, Fortnite-ified state of Magic: The Gathering, as well as its carefully and expertly maintained past. How does one square financial success and wide availability with an anemic playerbase and eroding creative identity? Later on, the pair discuss how tabletop companies deal with the new 130% tariffs against China, Cameron's home plastic extrusion setup, Chase's deepening concerns with both Daggerheart and the Cosmere RPG, and the precarity shared between journalism and academia. They wrap it up with a discussion of trashy reality television. Cameron has a new book coming out soon! Everything is Permitted: On Assassin's Creed explores the sprawling series and its effects on video games as both creative and economic product. What does it mean to be "an Assassin's Creed game", and what can we learn from the real-world histories portrayed through the eyes of parkouring time travelers? You can buy the paperback now through MIT Press. Games we discuss: Magic: The Gathering Necropolis Michigan Dogman Consume Me (video game) Daggerheart Cosmere RPG Apocalypse World: Burned Over -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Cameron Kunzelman (@ckunzelman.bsky.social).‬ Find Cameron's other shows on the Ranged Touch Network. Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Chase and Thomas professionalize the tabletop podcast space one news story at a time. GAMA makes some serious-sounding moves -- including the surprise resignation of executive directory John Stacy -- but that includes a not-so-serious "rebranding". Kickstarter workers go on strike. Game designers aren't getting paid by itch.io. An updated Cypher System somehow earns over $1 million. And that's just the first half! Later on, the pair discuss the joy of oracles, what it means to roleplay revolution, and the importance of good graphic and information design in tabletop games. Finally, they face off against the Question Dungeon's latest threats: mono-system concerns and the threat of Harry Potter entering Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond. -- Games we discuss: Ironsworn: Sundered Isles MIRU Revolt Shadowrun Notorious -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social).‬ Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Thomas returns to the podcast to discuss the two chunky investigations he produced since we last had him in front of a microphone. Zatu and Brandfox are not only depressingly common stories within the tabletop industry but also criticially important ones to tell. We talk inside baseball regarding how we structure stories and what it means to center a specific person within a broad narrative. The pair also discuss Wizards of the Coast's president, John Hight, and his weirdly specific love for AI -- and why doesn't he ever mention D&D? Later, crowdfunding's place in the tabletop industry, two popular games failing to connect on the table, and why a small academic press got involved wit fulfilling a famously late Kickstarter campaign. Later, Thomas and Chase wonder about the place adventures, supplements, and splatbooks fill within the tabletop industry's commercial ecosystem, and then they predict where all of these fantasy heartbreakers will end up in one year's time. -- Games we discuss: Daggerheart Draw Steel Cosmere RPG Oh Captain, My Captain! The Mountain Witch Dog Eat Dog Princess with a Cursed Sword Planet Shark Agon -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social).‬ Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

(Hey gang, Chase here. My audio produced this very strange, high pitched whine throughout. I've done my best to either cut or minimize it, but this could still be an unpleasant listen for some folks. My apologies -- will have this sorted by the next episode.) Two members of the newly founded Rogue.site, Ryan Gilliam and Cass Marshall, join Chase and Rowan to talk about their worker-owned video game website. More than simply "Rascal but for video games", Rogue is a continuation of human-centric writing from some of the best voices lost in Polygon's layoffs earlier this year. Afterwards, they discuss Rowan's changing place within Rascal's team. She's stepping away for several well considered reasons, but that doesn't mean she's out of the crew -- only the spotlight, for now. The site has a news writer, now: the excellent Khee Hoon Chan. Also, upcoming changes to subscription offerings, possible price increases in 2026, and a bunch of other important housekeeping. Oh, and we do eventually talk about games. Promise! -- https://www.rogue.site/ https://bsky.app/profile/roguesite.bsky.social -- Games we discuss: Hollow Knight: Silksong Cosmere RPG Rise, Wizards (currently playtesting) -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Rowan Zeoli (@rowanzeoli.bsky.social). Guests include Ryan Gilliam (@rygilliam.bsky.social) and Cass Marshall (@cassmarshall.bsky.social).‬ Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Um, actually, it's pronounced 'PEE-dunt'. This is the slightly grating but technically correct energy that Caelyn and Chase bring to this episode. After discussing more tariff nonsense, the pair discover that most of the news is a huge bummer and they'd rather delve into their experience creating characters for the Cosmere RPG. Caelyn talks about hidden information and futzing about in Foundry, while Chase feels trapped by D20 combat assumptions. Later, both of them fondly remember a certain green box full of mutants while traversing the Question Dungeon. Someone has asked about trad RPGs that should (or are currently) making comebacks -- why don't we see more of that? -- Games we discuss: DIE RPG Magic: The Gathering's Standard format Cosmere RPG Gamma World Traveller 1990s-era Dungeons & Dragons -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social).‬ Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

The crew psychoanalyze each other at least twice during this episode of the Rascal Radio Hour, which features everyone but Rowan (she brought home an illness souvenir from Gen Con) wading through a dense thicket of tabletop news from the last two weeks. They discuss two new RPGs adapted from book licenses and what exactly is gained when making that jump. Later, they break down White Wolf's new creative director and an unfortunate (but ultimately not substantive) brush with AI. Oh, also, Gen Con happened! The back half of the podcast breaks down some of the more interesting bits that happened at, and around, the biggest US convention of the year. Gen Con is staying in Indianapolis through at least 2030, Shadowrun goes solo, and Brennan Lee Mulligan takes the reins of Critical Role's fourth season. Somewhere amongst it all, the crew manage to spelunk through The Question Dungeon and finally answer a really important questions: are y'all burned out? Also, it's History Week at Rascal! We've published some incredible articles to celebrate our August Subscriber Drive. You can get 25% off the first six months of a subscription by using code DJNAY. -- Games we discuss: Streets of Jade (unreleased) Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG (unreleased) Draw Steel Cyberpunk Red/Cyberpunk 2077 Beyond the Pale Mythic Bastionland Reach of the Roach God Daggerheart Lancer -- Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Lin Codega (@lincodega.com), Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social), and Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social).‬ Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).