Talkback: Draw Steel
Rascal News
Book club episode! We respond to people's responses about my discussions questions regarding Draw Steel. Party Members can nominate games for this series about GM advice Show Notes: Games mentioned: D&D, Pathfinder, Lancer, Daggerheart, Dolmenwood Caio's youtube channel, My article about and also, just for good luck, my article about . The music used for this show is by Nihilore and is licensed under a . The opening track is So Does Hope and the closing track is Something Beautiful Is Going To Happen. For more from us, visit
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Rascal Radio Hour E36: Scouting Days, feat. Mollie Russell
Rascal News
Check out the ! Rascal is partnering with five other independent outlets and creators to offer a group subscription at 50% for the first month. -- Chase and Caelyn are joined by Wargamer's resident haunt-lover, Mollie Russell, to discuss (among other games) Call of Cthulhu's campfire scouts-meets-cosmic horror RPG -- Campfire Tales. The crew also explore the new union with Magic: The Gathering Arena's team and their plea to Hasbro for voluntary recognition. After that, Mollie describes D&D's official actual play, Dungeon Masters, and its distinct offerings. In the Question Dungeon,...
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Reading Club: Draw Steel
Rascal News
Book club episode! We discuss Draw Steel by MCDM. Read As always participate in the talkback episode, either post in the discord thread associated with this podcast or write to . Discussion Questions What do you think of Draw Steel? What do you think of the GM being called a Director? What differences does the evoke from simply the GM? Does it sound cooler than just Gamemaster? What do you think about the idea that Mothership and Draw Steel have a different ideology about what rules do? Do you think Apocalypse World has a different view from Draw Steel? Do you think a GM of Draw Steel is a...
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Rascal Radio Hour E35: Countless Bridges, feat. Austin Walker and Tyler Crumrine
Rascal News
Chase and Thomas invite Austin Walker and Tyler Crumrine onto the show to discuss the upcoming science fantasy RPG, Realis. Austin explains his history of facilitating tabletop games and how writing the book's GM sections forced him to imrpove his craft. Tyler shares his love for big, beautiful books made as much for the hand as the shelf. Bridges are for the sickos (complementary). -- Hosted by Chase Taylor-Carter (). Featuring Thomas Manuel (), with special guests Austin Walker () and Tyler Crumrine () Find and . Theme song by Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (). -- Games we discuss:...
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Talkback: Deathmatch Island
Rascal News
Book club episode! We respond to people's responses about my discussions questions regarding Deathmatch Island by Tim Denee & Evil Hat. Read Party Members can nominate games for this series about GM advice Show Notes: Games mentioned: Apocalypse World, Mothership, Last Train To Bremen, Cairn 2e, Dream Askew/Dream Apart, Blades in the Dark, The Wizards Grimoire Jason Morningstar on (mentioned by Sam Dunnewold) Yochai Gal on The music used for this show is by Nihilore and is licensed under a . The opening track is So Does Hope and the closing track is Something Beautiful Is Going...
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Rascal Radio Hour E34: AI Can't Replicate My Terrible Sense of Humor
Rascal News
Chase and Caelyn grind a pair of well-worn axes in this episode, beginning with crowdfunding campaign culture before moving onto to generative AI in creative fields. Later, they discuss the games hitting their personal tables -- Chase has dipped into a rare sequel, while Caelyn is discovering why Sword World has remained so cherished over the decades. In the Question Dungeon, the pair find a surprising adversary in a simple ask: must rulebooks explain what an RPG is? -- Hosted by Chase Taylor-Carter (). Featuring Thomas Manuel () and Caelyn Ellis (). Theme song by Cover art logo by Johan...
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Reading Club: Deathmatch Island
Rascal News
Book club episode! We discuss Deathmatch Island by Tim Denee & Evil Hat. Read As always participate in the talkback episode, either post in the discord thread associated with this podcast or write to . Discussion Questions What do you think of Deathmatch Island? What do you think of its GM section? Do you think that it needed a more robust GM section? Do you agree that the combination of a tight procedure and clear setting is much more robust GM support than any generic advice? What do you think of the idea of player advice? Do you think that there is the sense that “players don’t...
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Rascal Radio Hour E33: Attempted Aura Farming
Rascal News
Suffuse with expected ribaldry is the only way to describe this episode, where Thomas and Caelyn join Chase to create a Rascal trifecta. The news? Discussed. The Question Dungeon? Delved. Tangents and meanderings? Absolutely assured. From the cancelled Neopets RPGs to pedantic arguing over the definition of a licensed RPG, the crew cover all expected bases. -- Hosted by Chase Taylor-Carter (). Featuring Thomas Manuel () and Caelyn Ellis (). Theme song by Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (). -- Games we discuss: Girl Frame Children of Time: The Roleplaying Game (Cancelled) Neopets RPG...
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Talkback: Apocalypse World
Rascal News
This is the talkback episode for our Rascal Reading Club about the MC section of Apocalypse World. Listeners wrote in with responses to the discussion questions. As usual, there was a range of responses: people agreeing, disagreeing, finding stuff I didn’t see, telling me about stuff I didn’t know. Today, I'm joined by my colleague and journalist Lin Codega as well as game designer Luke Jordan. Check it out! Show Notes: Games mentioned: Harvest, Grand Guignol, The King is Dead, The Emperor is Undead, Sorceror. Vincent Baker article about and My review of The music used for this show is...
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Rascal Radio Hour E32: Printing Popularity, feat. Joe Parlock
Rascal News
Despite what Chase says in the intro, this is the 32nd episode of the Rascal Radio Hour. He and Thomas welcome Joe Parlcok, editor-in-chief at new TCG website Booster Pack, to talk about tabletop's most vibrant and financially dubious product category. Later, the crew discuss alleged unfair labor practice against members of Kickstarter's union, a final look at how Dungeons & Dragons will be releasing books and supporting the RPG in 2026, and a discussion of what we've been playing recently. -- Hosted by Chase Taylor-Carter (). Featuring Thomas Manuel () and Joe Parlock (). Support...
info_outlineToday, we're launching a new podcast. The host, Thomas Manuel, talks about Warden's Operations Manual 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 thomas@rascal.news 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 guide should have more advice about running pre-written adventures? If so, is there something you would cut from the existing manual to keep it to 60 pages?
- Do you think there is a line where advice becomes so critical to the vision of play that it should be incorporated into the rules design at some point? What do you think about my statement that the core mechanic of the game is "underdesigned"?
- Are there Mothership adventure that plays with horror that feels "real" but isn't economic horror? More gendered or racialized horror, maybe?
- If the rules of Mothership point towards one question, is it "are you dead yet"?
Show Notes
Alfred Valley's Mothership in One Rule
The OSR dreams of having it all, my article about OSR sandbox design
Chris McDowall's ICI Doctrine
A Pound of Flesh
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
The music used for this show is by Nihilore and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. The opening track is So Does Hope and the closing track is Something Beautiful Is Going To Happen.
For more from us, visit Rascal News.