Rascal Radio Hour

Chase Carter

Rascal Radio Hour is the official podcast of Rascal News. The team discusses recent news from the tabletop industry and its myriad online spaces, as well as sharing games they've recently played.

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 09/05/2025

    Episode 21: Rogue's Gallery

    (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).

    1h 43m
5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Rascal Radio Hour is the official podcast of Rascal News. The team discusses recent news from the tabletop industry and its myriad online spaces, as well as sharing games they've recently played.

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