Curse of Radiance Chapter 1, Episode 7 - Behold, the Consequence of Our Actions

The end of the first story arc is here! One tattoo down- four more to go.

In this week's episode, the party has a moment for some downtime after the encounter with the Fire Knives. This leads to some introspection, some unnecessary subterfuge, and the righting of many wrongs (as best as some wrongs can be righted). And when all that is said and done, the road map of the campaign is laid out in front of the players- three destinations, three goals, with one big mysterious question mark at the end.

I really, really like this episode. My goal was to take a little bit of time with each of the players and resolve some part of their journey so far, and also to give them the freedom to dictate where the campaign goes from here. That's really what made me want to run this module for so many years- I had played the computer game of Curse of the Azure Bonds many times, and while that game is more "open-world" than most games were at the time, there's really only so many things the player gets to choose. I wanted to put the players in charge of the pace and the direction, and I'm really happy with the result. Also, all three players were doing some of their best work in this episode, and I think the end product is better than I could have hoped for.

So I hope you all enjoy this episode, and check back next week for the beginning of the next arc!

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Chapter 1, Episode 7: Making Amends

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca!

Curse of Radiance Chapter 1, Episode 6 - Ninjas to the Left of Me, Ninjas to the Right

This post is going up a couple days late; I apologize. Our dog had eye surgery a few days ago, and I've been pretty preoccupied with taking care of him for the past few days so this slipped through the cracks. Sorry!

This week's episode is a big one- the party encounters the first of the creators of their cursed tattoos, Radatha of the Fire Knives. This is our first episode that's basically 100% combat- like, there's a little bit of monologuing at the start and a little twist at the end, but otherwise it's like 80 minutes of tactical, rules-heavy and dice-focused combat. I've always been worried that episodes like this won't go over well in an audio medium, but I guess time will tell. As with all of the episodes so far I've listened through to this one loads of times and I think it flows well enough (after many hours of intensive editing, of course) so hopefully you are able to coast along for the ride!

I hope you enjoy this one, and I hope your week has been pleasing and uneventful!

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Chapter 1, Episode 6: The Fire Knives

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca!

Curse of Radiance Chapter 1, Episode 5 - Into the Assassins' Den

Another week, another episode of Curse of Radiance!

In this episode, Torunn, Fennec, and Ildana infiltrate the hideout of the Fire Knives, the notorious assassin's guild that is responsible for one of their five tattoos. While they manage to find safe passage through the complex, they discover some things they were looking for, some things they weren't looking for, and they find out that the pursuit of knowledge might be more dangerous than they thought.

So, looking back, this is the last in a series of episodes that made me realize that dungeons don't really work in an audio format. I mean, they can- I've used them thus far and will continue to use them in the future, to some degree- but when I was adapting this adventure from an old-school tabletop experience to a podcast played remotely, I was trying my best to stick to what was in the book as much as possible, including all of the dungeons. (I had the entirety of the Tilverton Sewers mapped out, for example, as well as the entirety of the Fire Knives hideout, not that the listener- or even the players- saw more than like 25% of it.) 

But dungeons don't play well with audio- unless the design is incredibly basic, it requires a LOT of work from the GM to communicate the experience to a listener, and in most cases it's going to sound like "Okay, you open the door and you're in a room with three doors. Which door do you choose? The left door? Okay, you open that door and now you're in a room with two doors. Which door do you choose? Okay, you open that door and now you're in a room with two doors..." I'm fine with how these episodes have turned out, but don't be surprised if most of the rest of the campaign after this streamlines the dungeon aspect of the game so as to keep it moving at a nice clip. Because while it can be argued that complex dungeons are an integral part of a tabletop game (I don't agree, but it can be argued), it's clear that when this particular module was written, it was not intended to be listened to in audio form on someone's daily commute.

Anywho, enough rambling. I hope you enjoy this week's episode, and are excited for the next one!

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Chapter 1, Episode 5: Secrets Best Left Hidden

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Curse of Radiance is a member of the Uncharted North podcast network. For more of their shows, check them out at UnchartedNorth.ca!