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 independe...
May 06, 2025•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 13
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 p...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 12
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 ...
Apr 05, 2025•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 11
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 d...
Mar 21, 2025•1 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 10
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. Talsor...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Welcome to a special episode of the Rascal Radio Hour! Chase sat down with Remap Radio 's Cado Contreras to talk about something near and dear to her heart -- Android: Netrunner. Fans of Remap and Cado especially will know this is something they have been threatening for years, and we made it happen to promote Rascal's First Anniversary Pledge Drive . The pair discuss the winding history of this TCG-turned-LCG-turned-something else entirely, and how a concerted fan effort not only gave it a thir...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 40 min
Buckle up for a genuinely unhinged episode, y'all. Rowan and Chase are left alone to nurse their emotional wounds, inflicted by the fascistic psychosis blanketing the United States. The antidote? A lot of weighty sighs and really terrible jokes. Rowan recounts her followup conversation with the creators behind January 6th insurrection-based wargame Fight for America! and the disappointment it fostered. Chase explains the wall and the hard place that Asmodee finds itself. Then, they delve into th...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Most of the crew huddle against the dark winds of reality, their only light and warmth a microphone and news from the tabletop industry that they must share with you. After expunging a bit of the poison they've absorbed over one hellish week, Rascal's intrepid journalists talk about a fairly beefy news section that includes AI guidelines, weird rules about Warhammer parades, and hobby subreddits ousting Twitter. Plus, questions and what we've been playing lately. Rascal is gearing up for a pledg...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 56 min•Season 1Ep. 7
The crew gather for the first Rascal Radio Hour episode of 2025, and they somehow manage to keep it under two hours. Please clap . Caelyn regales us with her time as a gym leader while Thomas and Chase keep accidentally reinventing video games. Meanwhile, Rowan is--as the title suggests--hungover on a Thursday. We talk through our recent industry-focused article , along with its clarifying followup. Rowan and Caelyn apparently have friends to play a ton of games with, and our latest delve into t...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 6
The entire Rascal crew celebrate their first holiday season together by recording what might be their most chaotic episode yet. Chase jokes too close to the edge about kinks, Thomas digs up a piece of his mysterious pre-Rascal backstory, and Caelyn introduces everyone to Big Divorced Energy. Everyone waxes passionate about the website's first year, and then we plunge into what is eventually dubbed The Question Dungeon. Rascal is still hosting a couple of holiday subscription deals for our Friend...
Dec 28, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Chase and Caelyn tackle the podcast beast as an adventuring duo this week. They weather a flurry of news about Funko accidentally taking down itch.io, union wins within New York City game stores, and another corporate media company feeding its writers' work into the mouth of a generative AI grist mill. Elsewhere, MTG renames a world, a board game company gets screwed by Meta, and tariffs continue to loom. Rascal is still hosting a couple of holiday subscription deals for our Friendly NPC tier. S...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Chase, Caelyn, and Thomas belly up to the podcasting table for a heaping helping of tabletop RPG industry news. What's going on with new EU trade regulations? Why is everyone mad at an OSR YouTuber? Why is the Battersea Transformers store so shit? All of these answers and more lie within the Rascal Radio Hour By the way, Rascal is hosting a couple of holiday subscription deals for our Friendly NPC tier. Sign up at this link and get your first two months of access for a whopping $1 per month - th...
Nov 30, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Chase, Rowan, and Caelyn gather around microphone once again to chat about trench demons, legal threats against Dropout TV, and a very suspicious email in the Rascal inbox. Also, Chase talks with fellow tabletop journalist and Dungeons & Dragons expert, Christian Hoffer, about the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. How does it hold up against the admittedly shaky version from 2014? What are the best bew additions? What's the deal with Bastions? https://www.rascal.news/ https://www.rascal.news/building...
Nov 18, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Rascal News has a podcast! In our first episode, the crew talks about the wild tribulations of World of Game Design, German tabletop RPG The Dark Eye, and Chase's ambivalence regarding the future of Magic: The Gathering. We also discuss DriveThruRPG's new levers for filtering AI-generated content and the multivarious games the team has been playing lately. Is our audio still pretty wonky? Yes (sorry, we're working on it). But the camaraderie and vibes are immaculate from the jump. And we keep it...
Nov 02, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 1
