Rascal News – Details, episodes & analysis

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

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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

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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).

Someone on this podcast doesn't like Belonging Outside Belonging games, and the other doesn't find much use in industry awards. Both Chase and Thomas showed up ready to ruffle feathers on this week's podcast, but only after discussing BackerKit's new self-crowdfunding plans, impressions of UK Games Expo, and what Cephalofair's Price Johnson is doing at the US capitol.

Elsewhere, the pair have been watching their friends reap what they sow in Blades '68 and describing a beautiful but largely meaningless ecology in Mappa Mundi. The Questing Dungeon befuddled our adverturers so completely that they forgot to do the diegetic bit, but they still somehow managed to defeat some of your questions -- and recommend a heap of tabletop-related media.

https://www.rascal.news/

https://moreblueberries.shop/en-gbp/products/rascal-anniversary-zine-preorder

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Hollandspiele on YouTube

No Pun Included on YouTube

A.A. Voight on YouTube

Weird Place on YouTube

Game Studies Study Buddies podcast

Dice Exploder podcast

RTFM podcast

Daydreaming About Dragons podcast

Idle Cartulary's Playful Void

Analog Game Studies

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Hosted by Chase 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).

Magic: The Gathering's crossover with Final Fantasy drops on June 13, but unfortunately Chase doesn't know much about the storied Japanese RPG video game series. So, he brought in a couple of bona fide experts to talk about this already massively successful set. The Verge reporter Ash Parrish and TCGPlayer/ChannelFireball content manager Emma Partlow discuss FFxMTG's mechanical quality, the secret ingredient that uplifts fan service, a bevvy of blorbos, and so much more.

Also on the docket is the effect of licensing fees on an already expensive hobby, the creeping takeover of Universes Beyond, and what other video games could make the jump to cardboard. Ash makes very good jokes about sports games to the wrong audience. Emma reveals herself as a screenshot hater. Chase regrets his past financial decisions.

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https://www.rascal.news/

https://moreblueberries.shop/en-gbp/products/rascal-anniversary-zine-preorder

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Hosted by Chase Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social).

Featuring Ash Parrish (@adashtra.bsky.social‬) and Emma Partlow (@emmapartlow.com‬).

Theme song by People Need Goals.

Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Uh, oh. It's another episode with just Chase and Rowan. Time to get punchy, and we're not only talking about our favorite way to bully the disappointingly nerdy fascists ruling reality. The pair dig through a chunky layer of news that includes Rowan, Rook and Decard's decision to not attend Gen Con this year, Itch.io's negligence in distributing charity funds to a group saving lives in Gaza, and Goodman Games' ruffling a bunch of feathers by doing business with previously ostracized bigots.

Later, they talk about a deliciously smooth Triangle Agency campaign and a solo RPG that pulls a neat magic trick. Rowan's a wrestling girlie now, thanks to Dimension 20. Chase still can't pronounce listener's names correctly. The Question Dungeon goes noir as they build a better Itch.io -- or a different one, anyhow.

https://www.rascal.news/

https://moreblueberries.shop/en-gbp/products/rascal-anniversary-zine-preorder

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Realis

City State of the Invincible Overlord

Dungeons & Dragons

Triangle Agency

Mechs into Plowshares

Transgender Deathmatch Legend II

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Hosted by Chase Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social).

Featuring Rowan Zeoli (@rowanzeoli.bsky.social), Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social), and Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social).

Theme song by People Need Goals.

Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

The entire crew gather to mourn the sudden and untimely death of games media outlet, Polygon. Along with Giant Bomb and the Daily Dot, Polygon's sale to Valnet -- and the immediate layoff of nearly every staff member -- constitutes an unnecessarily tragic blow to games journalism. Included in the layoffs is Charlie Hall, the outlet's one-man tabletop desk and an indelible piece of Rascal's own creation. The team discuss what this loss means for the industry going forward, the limits of independent websites like Rascal, and how this cycle of executive malfeasance robs journalism of its own future.

It's not all doom and gloom, though: the crew also delve into The Question Dungeon after discussing SALUTE, Hasbro's MTG-shaped tariff insulation, and Rascal's first real toe into OSR waters. Finally, Dungeon World is getting a sequel from a surprising team who want to take the game in a fresh direction.

[Note: After Chase completely bungled speaking both Florence Smith Nicholls (they/them) and Mike Cook's (he/they) names, he then later accidentally misgendered Nicholls. He sinerely apologizes for the error.]

https://www.rascal.news/

https://moreblueberries.shop/en-gbp/products/rascal-anniversary-zine-preorder

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Games mentioned:

Dungeon World 2

ArchaeOS

Realis

MIRU

Doomsong

board games???

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Hosted by Chase Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social).

Featuring Rowan Zeoli (@rowanzeoli.bsky.social), Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social), and Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social).

Theme song by People Need Goals.

Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Rowan rejoins Chase to unspool the myriad and unclear ways tariffs have already begun affecting the tabletop industry. From clarity on book exemptions and companies already shuttering production for the year to determined stands against economic despotism by Canadian designers, the Tariff Era (or maybe Tariff Wars? we're still workshopping) has arrived.

Later they discuss what it means for Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins, the dual faces of Dungeons & Dragons, to retire from their very public posts. The pair also discuss building worlds where babies have jobs, dungeon delving on your birthday, and whether tariffs might kick off another surge of innovation in the virtual tabletop space.

https://www.rascal.news/

https://moreblueberries.shop/en-gbp/products/rascal-anniversary-zine-preorder

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Games mentioned:

In This World

The Electric State

Dungeons & Dragons

Gloomhaven RPG

Wickedness

MIRU

Mazes

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Hosted by Chase Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social).

Featuring Rowan Zeoli (@rowanzeoli.bsky.social).

Theme song by People Need Goals.

Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Chase and Caelyn convene the first Brits-only episode of the Rascal Radio Hour, talking about everything but the April 2 tariffs (check the website for those bits). The pair go heavy on the deluge of miniatures news that came out of Adepticon 2025, including a shot in the arm for Caelyn's favored Star wars: Legion, an East Asian-inspired Warhammer 40k faction that doesn't immediately sour our tastes, and Battletech Goes Full Catholic.

The most recent skirmish in the Question Dungeon reveals the surprisingly complicated topics of video games adapting tabletop RPGs and what the crew think is the next big innovation on the player side of the tabletop industry (hint: it's not virtual tabletops again).

https://www.rascal.news/

https://moreblueberries.shop/en-gbp/products/rascal-anniversary-zine-preorder 

https://cannibalhalflinggaming.com/2024/08/15/invention-and-innovation-in-ttrpgs/

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Games mentioned:

Cyberpunk: Combat Zone

RiverBank

Star Wars: Legion

Star Wars: Shatterpoint

Warhammer: 40K

Battletech

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Hosted by Chase 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).

Most of the Rascal crew, plus guest Lin Codega, chew through a heavy news week that includes the shuttering of Sigil, Wizards of the Coast's own virtual tabletop, and one Texas Representative's crusade against imagination that might harm roleplayers in its evil intent to demonize trans (and transgressive) youth. Rowan regales with stories from their time at Breakout Con in Toronto, and Caelyn reminds everyone how cool transparent plastic electronics were.

They have also been playing a bunch of different games, including a newly started Rascal campaign of Realis and phone-based pirate shenanigans. Finally, they once again venture into the Question Dungeon to compare their pettiest table tales.

https://www.rascal.news/

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Games mentioned:

Daggerheart

Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game

Realis

Bloodbeam Badlands

A Land Once Magic

City of Mist

O Captain, My Captain!

Deathmatch Island

Monsterhearts

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Hosted by Chase Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social).

Featuring Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social), Rowan Zeoli (@rowanzeoli.bsky.social), and Lin Codega (@lincodega.bsky.social).

Theme song by People Need Goals.

Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).

Ever wondered what a tabletop RPG version of Catan would look like? Of course you haven't because that's a silly thought exercise, but that didn't stop the Rascal crew from indulging. Thomas and Caelyn join Chase as he returns from the 2025 GAMA trade show to discuss tariffs, distribution, and all the fantastic stories he missed while knocking back Old Fashions in Kentucy.

The trio also discuss the new D&D beginner set, licensed RPGs for both Invincible and Terraforming Mars, Paizo and R. Talsorian's search for smaller designers, South Korean gaming communities and wee tiny rank-and-flank wargames. No Question Dungeon this time because the team has been playing a veritable heap of games since we last met.

https://www.rascal.news/

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Games mentioned:

Daggerheart

Age of Sigmar

Magewinds

Hearts of Wulin

Delta Green

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Hosted by Chase Carter (@chasecarter.bsky.social).

Featuring Caelyn Ellis (@caelyn.bsky.social) and Thomas Manuel (@newmadras.bsky.social).

Theme song by People Need Goals.

Cover art logo by Johan Nohr (@johannohr.bsky.social).