Rascal Radio Hour E30: A Postage Stamp Is Not A Paywall
Rascal News
Rascal's article about , and that of its creators, sparked a significant amount of interest, questions, and criticism. The team decided to dedicate this week's podcast episode to a larger and more casual conversation tackling those inquiries. Thomas and Chase start by discussing the reporting process and the limitations this article faced, paired with frustrations regarding how tabletop news is discussed online. In the second half, the pair tackle some direct questions and criticism sent in by readers. It's a long episode, and maybe not as fun as our normal fare. But if you're curious about...
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Reading Club: Warden's Operations Manual
Rascal News
Today, we're launching a new podcast. The host, Thomas Manuel, talks about from Tuesday Knight Games, as a part of the Rascal Reading Club. If you'd like to participate in the discussion, you can respond to Thomas via email or on the official Rascal discord before Feb 3rd 2026. If you're a member of the Party Member tier, you can nominate a book to be next in this series, where we look at how books talk about GM advice. Discussion Questions Do you have thoughts about the Warden's Operations Manual? Do you have a favorite part that I didn't mention? Do you think that the Mothership GM...
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Episode 29: The Mothership has Landed, feat. Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah
Rascal News
The Rascal crew are joined this week by Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah of the recently launched (and you definitely pronounce the "dot"). The former Polygon editors discuss their website's goal of publishing smart and inclusive writing about games from a feminist angle and talking about media in ways that corporate journalism just cannot, or will not, support. Later, everyone discusses Wizards of the Coast's video games, Games Workshop's proud ignorance towards generative AI, whether the Decemberists' front man designed Illimat, and why romancing Shadowheart is not a basic take. You should...
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Episode 28: Holiday Special 2025
Rascal News
Ho-ho-howdy, Anklebiters! The crew bring you a hefty podcast episode to get your through the final days of 2025, wherever they may take you. Caelyn, Lin, and Chase spelunk deep into the Question Dungeon to clear out as many lingering inquiries as possible before someone's bottle of, er... cheer runs dry. Topics include Apocalypse World's historical impact, your friendly neighborhood Warwick Davis, and Lin's career as a professional hater and cackler. Travel safe, everyone, and happy new year! See y'all in 2026. Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (). Featuring Lin Codega () and Caelyn Ellis ()....
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Episode 27: Orc Flickin' in Blighty
Rascal News
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:...
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Episode 26: Bring out your Soapboxes
Rascal News
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 ...
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Episode 25: Crunch's Catan Activations - ft. Mike Didymus-True
Rascal News
It's a board game bonanza this week as Chase and Thomas are joined by '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...
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Episode 24: Stare The Devil in the Face and Walk Forward - ft. Cameron Kunzelman
Rascal News
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...
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Episode 23: Trickle-down Gamenomics
Rascal News
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...
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Episode 22: Fear of Hights
Rascal News
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,...
info_outlineThe 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.
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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
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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).