”The End,” a tabletop RPG about the Apocalypse

The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

”The End,” a tabletop RPG about the Christian Apocalypse

Episode Introduction

Josh and Brandon discuss 1995’s “The End” from Scapegoat Games. It’s a role-playing game based on the Christian Apocalypse and was kicked out of GenCon for its use of religious imagery. It’s bleak, interesting, and maybe came before its time. They also start down a rabbit hole of investigation and mystery as they try to get in touch with its creator to talk about how it came to be. Hopefully there will be a Part 2 to this with interviews!
- Full show notes after the jump -
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Main Topics

• We’re chatting about 1995’s “The End,” a tabletop roleplaying game from Scapegoat Games – their only release if I’m right. It’s the end of the world as we know it. Discussing the overall setting and themes of the game. Rapture, the Four Horsemen, all that jazz.
  
• Written by Joseph Donka, who we cannot get ahold of. Does anyone out there know him? Because We’d love to talk to him about this.

• GenCon controversy and ban.

• The cover art is evocative of Planescape from the 90s. The artist, Richard Kane Ferguson, is known for (among many other things) illustrating Magic: The Gathering Cards. His work tends to have themes of dark fantasy. Just this year, the original oil and acrylic he did for Dakkon, Shadow Slayer, was sold for $31,000.

• There’s also that second-edition revival attempt in the early 2000s from Tyranny Games. A few releases there, but they also appear defunct now. Josh makes some headway finding some information about the principal owner of this new company.
  

• The book reads so much like a setting description from “The Walking Dead.” Almost as though it came a few decades too early to ride the wave of post-apocalyptic media popularity.

• The investigation begins.

• Tell us your favorite post-apocalyptic stories @goblinsgrowlers on Twitter.

Additional Resources

• “The End” on Abebooks.com. This list includes the attempted second-edition revival from Tyranny Games in the late 90s/early 2000s, so be sure of which one you’re buying if you decide to make a purchase: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-home-_-Results&an=Joseph%20Donka
• "The End" on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_(role-playing_game)
• Richard Kane Ferguson's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rkaneferguson/?hl=en
• Richard Kane Ferguson's portfolio: https://scryfall.com/search?as=full&order=name&q=a%3A%22richard+kane+ferguson%22&utm_source=mci

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The Goblins and Growlers Podcast is produced by Goblins and Growlers, a Richmond, Virginia-based tabletop-roleplaying-game content and events company dedicated to inclusivity through TTRPGs.