Rascal News

Rascal News
  • 5.0 (10)
  • ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Rascal News is an independent, worker-owned outfit composed of Chase Taylor-Carter, Thomas Manuel, Caelyn Ellis, Rowan Zeoli, and Lin Codega. Join them in exploring the tabletop industry and its associated online spaces across two shows: Rascal Radio Hour is a biweekly show where the crew dig deeper into the biggest news and newest games; and Rascal Reading Club allows Thomas to wax long on RPG rulebooks.

  1. Reading Club: Warden's Operations Manual

    1D AGO

    Reading Club: Warden's Operations Manual

    Today, 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.

    1h 38m

  2. JAN 16

    Episode 29: The Mothership has Landed, feat. Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah

    The Rascal crew are joined this week by Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah of the recently launched Mothership Dot Blog (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 subscribe to Mothership, where they're offering a lifetime 15% discount until January 26th. Follow Mothership on Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Hosted by Chase Taylor- Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social), with special guests Maddy Myers (@midimyers.com) and Zoë Hannah (@zoehhannah.com). Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social). -- Games we mentioned: Runecairn Lancer Magic: The Gathering Illimat The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

    1h 58m

  3. 12/22/2025

    Episode 28: Holiday Special 2025

    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 (@chasecarter.bsky.social). Featuring Lin Codega (@lincodega.com) and Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social).‬ Theme song by People Need Goals. Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

    2h 39m

  4. 12/05/2025

    Episode 27: Orc Flickin' in Blighty

    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).

    1h 56m

  5. 11/20/2025

    Episode 26: Bring out your Soapboxes

    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).

    1h 39m

  6. 11/07/2025

    Episode 25: Crunch's Catan Activations - ft. Mike Didymus-True

    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).

    2h 14m

  7. 10/24/2025

    Episode 24: Stare The Devil in the Face and Walk Forward - ft. Cameron Kunzelman

    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).

    2h 19m

  8. 10/07/2025

    Episode 23: Trickle-down Gamenomics

    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).

    1h 29m
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About

Rascal News is an independent, worker-owned outfit composed of Chase Taylor-Carter, Thomas Manuel, Caelyn Ellis, Rowan Zeoli, and Lin Codega. Join them in exploring the tabletop industry and its associated online spaces across two shows: Rascal Radio Hour is a biweekly show where the crew dig deeper into the biggest news and newest games; and Rascal Reading Club allows Thomas to wax long on RPG rulebooks.

Information

  • Creator
    Rascal News
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Rascal News

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