Curse of Radiance Chapter 4, Episode 2 - Old Blood for New Money

In this episode, the party stops off in the town of Dagger Falls to rest their horses and wash the road off themselves. But seeing that the dale is under the iron fist of the Zhentarim, they learn of an underground resistance fighting back, and naturally they decide they need to get involved. Where might this ragtag group of adventurers end up? Find out by listening!

I'm going to let you all in on a little secret: I'm pretty sure this is my favorite episode of the entire campaign. Whenever I would plan a session it was always kind of difficult in situations like this, because I don't want to force the players on a specific path but I want to have something prepared for anywhere they go. So whenever the party didn't have a clear goal in mind or when they expressed some interest in going somewhere but they weren't really sure, I always had to prepare like four or five different potential sessions. In this case, I didn't know for sure they were going to stop at Dagger Falls- I know I set it up as the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode, but at the start of this one I was being genuine when I told the players they could just continue on if they wanted. So while I wasn't going to plan out an entire session in Dagger Falls, I at least needed to read up on it so I could improvise some content if they did. (And, spoilers, in next week's episode, they had a similar choice- and you'll see whether they take it or not.)

So the end result is that this session is, basically, 100% improvised from all of us. I didn't have anything prepared, I just knew who the important NPCs were and the general vibe of the town. (Maybe that shows. Maybe someone out there is an expert on Daggerdale and they're going to spend the whole time going "That couldn't have happened in 1357 DR. Randall Morn was off in Mulmaster at the time" or something. I don't know.) And I absolutely loved what we got out of this. I think everyone was on their A-game, and we were all playing off each other the whole time. It was great.

There's still a bunch of episodes to come that I really like, but listening back this one is probably going to stay at the top for me. Hopefully you all feel the same way!

Thanks for listening, and catch you next time!

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Chapter 4, Episode 2: Dagger Falls Resistance

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 4, Episode 1 - Nothing Seems to Go Right

The start of a new story arc, the Zhentarim arc, is upon us!

In this episode, the party tries to secure an appointment with Elminster the Sage, but they fail spectacularly. They they try to save some people attacked by some giants, but they fail spectacularly. At least maybe they can just find Dagger Falls to be a safe and friendly place... and you can guess they probably fail spectacularly.

Real talk for a moment: I think this story arc is my favorite one from the whole campaign. Don't get me wrong, there's still some great episodes and chapters to come- but I really have a lot of fond memories of these next few episodes (though a lot of that goes hand-in-hand with some fraught conflicts we had while making them; I might go into these in a future post or something, or I may not). I am VERY happy with how this one turned out, and I hope you all like it too!

Also, one more thing- every October I watch and review 31 horror films and post them on my blog, Gabe Reviews Horror. This year I'm reviewing 31 holiday-themed horror films, so if that sounds interesting, give it a look!

Enjoy, and see you all next week!

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Chapter 4, Episode 1: Too Little, Too Late

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 7: The Lore Dump Episode

We're back in the present! Finally, we're back!

After a month of dungeon crawling and an extra week of travel, the podcast has arrived back in the present day in the town of Shadowdale. Fennec was instructed by an old goatherd to go meet someone in the Tower of Ashaba, where he met the Nameless Bard, whom the party met on their way to Tilverton. So this week, they're going to hear a tale from this enigmatic figure that might shed some light on the situation they'd been dealing with... or it might raise more questions. The operative one being, can they trust this guy at all, after he admits to being involved in the creation of their tattoos?

This was an interesting episode to make, because on one hand, I was really happy to be able to get out some of this exposition (most of which was just describing the plot of the novel Azure Bonds by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak), and see what the party did with that information. But on the other hand, can I really release an episode that's just 75% me rambling about a bunch of plot that doesn't directly involve any of the players? I don't know, but we're going to find out together.

I hope you all enjoy this episode, and really I hope you all enjoyed this entire story arc. Because next week, we're starting on the Zhentarim arc! And after that... just you wait!

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Chapter 3, Episode 7: A Lasting Legacy

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Two Episodes For the Price of None

Hello, everyone! We're back this week with another episode of Curse of Radiance- where we finish out the prologue flashback and bring us right back to where we started. But also... what's this? Is that a SECOND episode I see, over on the Inter-Party Conflict podcast feed?

It IS! What a surprise!

I'll explain it a bit more in the actual episode, but last year I spent quite a bit of time trying to track down the rights holder to the original theme music of the Curse of the Azure Bonds video game, and (after lots of dead ends) it eventually led me to get in contact with David Warhol, the composer of said music! He agreed to an interview, and I think it was a lot of fun and you should all check it out.

Speaking of music, I've finally gotten around to updating the Music Credits page from the sidebar, with full music credits for every audio track used in this podcast thus far. (I'm a bit embarrassed that it took me this long, I kept thinking "Oh, nobody's even noticed that link so it doesn't matter" but as of this writing that page has like 150 views, so to anybody who's been eagerly awaiting some music credits for the past four months, I humbly apologize.) Now that I've gotten everything in order it should be trivial for me to update it as more episodes come out, so you should expect it to be up-to-date whenever you see it.

Anyway, it's been a tumultuous week for me as always, so I hope all of you at home are having a better time. See you all next week!

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Curse of Radiance - Chapter 3, Episode 6: Prologue - The Nameless Bard

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Inter-Party Conflict - Supplemental Episode - Interview with David Warhol

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 5: A Warlord, a Cleric, and a Giant Sorceress Walk Into a Bar

Our three heroes reach the end of the dungeon: the tomb of Hob Kraven, a figure whose evil was so powerful he corrupted the order of paladins entombed with him. Will Torunn, Fennec, and Ildana be able to defeat his shambling undead form? And will they find out the last mystery of this divine prison?

This episode marks the end of the dungeon I created for this introductory adventure (but bear with me one more week, as we've still got one final episode to the prologue sequence). I know I complained about the pacing of this adventure a couple weeks ago but I'm pretty happy with how the dungeon turned out overall; there wasn't a ton of roleplaying from the players but I still think they were able to let each of their characters' personalities shine through exploration and combat. The end of this episode provides some much-needed lore and Faerun history (needed by me, not necessarily needed by anyone else) and helps tee up the last portion of this prologue sequence and set the players on their journey to Tilverton so the campaign can start.

Fun fact: "Hob Kraven" is entirely my own creation, and I came up with the name by scrolling through Facebook and looking for something I could use as inspiration for a name. I'm part of a Calvin & Hobbes meme group, so it caught my eye, and I turned "Hobbes Calvin" into "Hob Kraven". I think I'm pretty clever sometimes; whether this is one of those times is up for debate.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a better week than I am. (As bad of a mood as I was in last week, I got some terrible work-related news right after posting last week's blog entry so just remember, however bad things are, they can always get worse!)

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Chapter 3, Episode 5: Prologue - Unintended Consequences

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 4 - This Year Officially Sucks

Still in the flashback to their first adventure in Phlan, the heroes have located both keys they need to progress. But an encounter with the tomb's hungry shadows leaves them drained, and they're about to find out that they were woefully mistaken about the nature of this dungeon...

Folks, I need to take a moment and step away from the typical episode blog post. This has been a rough week for me, and really a rough whole year. Those of you who know me personally probably already know about all of this but I'm still working through it so please bear with me.

This week in particular started off really good, actually. Let's focus on that for a moment. After basically three years of production (the very first day I recorded an episode was 8/15/22) this week marks the final session of primary recording for this podcast. Scheduling has been a nightmare for the past six months or so- we had literally a three-month-gap between two episodes a little while ago- but I had this week off from work and had enough advance notice to make sure we had a few days everyone was available so we could finally knock out the last few encounters. It went great, and now I've got like six months to get these episodes edited. (I still need to get with each player individually to record an epilogue, but otherwise, the campaign is done. It still doesn't feel real.)

In addition to finishing the podcast, I had a really cool opportunity to record an interview with someone involved in the computer game that this campaign is based on! (It'll eventually go out on the Inter-Party Conflict podcast feed, so keep an eye out. It'll have its own blog post when it goes live.) So that was really exciting. I also got some friends over and played an in-person RPG off-mic, which I haven't done in years. So that was cool too.

But... it's not all good.

If you follow me on any other social media or if you've heard Inter-Party Conflict then you almost definitely know about my dog, Super Hans. He just celebrated his ninth birthday last month (which is pretty old for a great dane) but has spent most of this year battling some persistent health issues. We found out last year he was diabetic, he went blind in January with cataracts (although we were able to get him surgery to restore his sight in June, albeit at great cost and requiring a constant medication regimen to recover from), and we also learned in June that he most likely had some kind of sinus tumor that caused him long-lasting discomfort and breathing issues. But, of course, he's our boy, and we would do whatever it took to keep him happy and healthy.

Well, this week, he passed away. He started having seizures one night (likely due to the growth of the sinus tumor) and by the next morning they had gotten so bad we had no choice but to put him to sleep. It's been so difficult coming to terms with this in the days since- was there nothing else we could have done? How do you move on after losing something that was such a big part of your life for nearly a decade? How do I even walk around my house without expecting to see or hear him around every corner? And... how do I move on, without feeling like I'm turning my back on his memory?

It's been tough. The whole year has been so stressful, with all of his health issues and my own stresses at work. Releasing this podcast has simultaneously been an escape from the stresses of my life, and also a source of more of that stress as I panic over the last-minute revisions and quality checks I require of myself now that it's gone out to the public. I love this podcast with so much of my being but damned if it hasn't been a massive, massive burden I've willingly taken on.

Anyway.

This week marks the end of an era in several different ways, and I sincerely hope that the coming weeks will allow me the time to rest and recover.

Thank you all for listening, and reading, and I hope you enjoy this week's episode.

And if you have any pets, please go give them an extra hug today. And tomorrow.

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Chapter 3, Episode 4: Prologue - Shadows

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 3 - Torunn Hates the Sewers

It's another Flashback episode!

In this week's Curse of Radiance, the party continues on through the ancient crypt beneath the Cracked Crown tavern in Phlan. They've got an ominous riddle instructing them along their way, and have to wade through waist-deep muck in order to find the Guardian's Guardian in their search for two keys needed to get through the dungeon. Can they find what they're looking for, or are they going to face the long shadow of defeat?

I mentioned in the disclaimer at the start of this episode that I learned an important lesson about dungeon crawls when making these episodes; another lesson that goes hand-in-hand just has to do with pacing. I'm not going to give myself too much crap since this was my first real outing into the Actual Play space, but the pacing of this adventure leaves a LOT to be desired. (When I first wrote this adventure, I really expected it to be over in one session, two tops. It ended up being four sessions just for the dungeon, let alone the aftermath.) So if nothing else I hope listeners might be able to see how different this adventure is from what the podcast will eventually become; I really learned to pace things better as we went. Or, at least, that's what I hope people will think!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one, because we've got a couple more like it coming up!

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Chapter 3, Episode 3: Prologue - Bones

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 2 - Titles Be Damned

We're taking a brief detour, back to the beginning: when the three adventurers met, before being branded with cursed tattoos, in a town called Phlan. Come join Torunn, Fennec, and Ildana as they delve into an unearthed crypt and receive ominous warnings of the dangers lurking behind every corner!

It's already explained in the disclaimer at the beginning of the episode, but in case you haven't listened yet, I'll briefly explain it here: this episode (the next five episodes, actually) is a little bit of a diversion from the plot. These next few episodes were actually recorded before the podcast began (before the party woke up in Tilverton with five unwanted tattoos), as a little test/practice before we got into the campaign proper. It's mostly unrelated from the story so far, but now that I've found a good opportunity to slot these episodes into the main plot of the show, expect elements from these to show up later on!

It definitely felt risky including these episodes in the main show (especially when placed after a plot-significant cliffhanger like at the end of last week's episode) but I think it'll pay off in the end. So please bear with me, stick with us for a few more episodes, and soon enough the party will be right back on track and you'll all be better for it!

Oh, one more thing: this episode marks the unveiling of what was originally going to be the theme music for the whole podcast- a piano rendition of the title music from the computer game Curse of the Azure Bonds (as well as its predecessor, Pool of Radiance). We didn't use this music at first because we weren't sure who owned the rights and obviously hadn't gotten permission to use it- but there have been some recent developments on that front (expect some sort of related announcement in future weeks)! The music as you're hearing it was arranged and performed by Jay's sister Erin, based on the original music composed by Dave Warhol. (Some day I'll get around to finishing the music credits page on here, so expect some links whenever that day comes.) We're using this new (old?) theme music for these five prologue episodes, but expect the music to return to the regular theme after that.

Thanks for listening, and please let us know what you think!

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Chapter 3, Episode 2: Prologue - Ghouls

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 3, Episode 1 - Gabe Does a Passable Accent

And a new chapter begins!

In this week's episode, the party leaves Battledale on their way to their next destination. But along the way, they take a detour towards Shadowdale- a town famous for the adventurers that frequent it, as well as the Archmage Elminster, whom the party hopes to entreat for aid dealing with their cursed tattoos. Once there they stay at a colorful inn and learn about an artifact of Lathander- but then a ghost and a goatherd point Fennec towards an unlikely reunion with someone from his past, and it seems the plot has begun to thicken...

This was an interesting episode to make, and listening back to it (a year and a half after it was recorded) I'm impressed with all of the little details and easter eggs I managed to sneak in here, both referencing other things in Forgotten Realms lore as well as other things that are coming up later in the campaign. (There's even a tiny easter egg I hid in here that ties back to a previous iteration of this campaign, that we recorded three years ago and then scrapped before I started over with the current group of players, that I don't think anybody will ever notice. But it's there for me.) 

This episode is likely to be a bit confusing for listeners (which will... hopefully start to make sense as the next few episodes roll out) but I knew that going in. I'll explain a bit more next week.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and we'll see how it goes!

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Chapter 3, Episode 1: The Old Skull Inn

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 7 - Good Adventurers Use Every Part of the Dragon

Hello everybody!

In this week's episode of Curse of Radiance, the party has defeated Dracandros the Mad and removed the second of their tattoos. But this curse is still weighing heavily on Torunn, who seeks help from the local priest Mumford & Sons Mumfrey Mimly for guidance. Fennec studies the remnants of Dracandros' destroyed helmet, as well as the mad wizard's journals. Ildana gets a sweet cloak. And, most importantly, they all level up!

This was a fun episode to make, and utilized some things we hadn't done before (like Torunn's dream sequence). One thing I really liked about this campaign is that the players were really in control of where they went for each story arc- and of course, they always went in the direction I didn't expect them to. But that's D&D for you!

Thanks for listening, and see you next week!

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Chapter 2, Episode 7: The Light on the Horizon

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 6 - Dracandros of the Crimson

We're back again, with another episode of Curse of Radiance! This time, we start off with a confrontation that will end either with the party instigating a war with dragonkind and dooming the Dalelands, or with Dracandros the Red Wizard lying dead on the top of his tower. Which one will it be? If you don't know how stories work, you'll have to listen to the episode to find out!

This whole story arc was kind of difficult to plan out. As-written, it seems like it just can't (or at least shouldn't) work. The events leading up to this point were basically written as just "Go through this dungeon, fight these encounters. Then go through this next dungeon, fight these other encounters. Go through this other dungeon, fight some more encounters" which isn't really very fun. Then, there's the fact that no matter what level the PCs are, the ending confrontation just doesn't seem believable: the party ends up on the top of this tower, and they're literally surrounded by dragons. How is that supposed to go? Is there a universe where any DM would actually run that like a straight battle? (The computer game technically allowed it, if you do everything wrong, but the fight was basically unwinnable, because obviously it was.) So in my case, the best solution I found was to have everyone treat Dracandros like the madman he was, and basically acknowledge in-canon that he's an idiot with a dumb plan. Because the alternative just doesn't work in a game like DnD or Pathfinder.

Anyway, I think there's a lot of fun stuff in this episode, and I hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 2, Episode 6: Dracandros the Mad

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 5 - For More Info, Read Azure Bonds by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak!

Alternate Alternate Title: How Much Canon Can We Fit Into One Episode?

In this week's episode, the party has a moment to recuperate after last episode's decisive battle, and Akabar Bel Akash exposits for a little while about the origin of their tattoos (for more info, read Azure Bonds by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak!). After that, Ildana takes the opportunity to sleuth around the now-empty village- until an unexpected ally makes themselves known. This ally may be able to deliver the party directly to their destination- but is that what they truly want? Listen and find out!

This episode was both fun and not fun to make, because a large part of it involves just kind of... giving the PCs a lot of information that they may or may not care about. I think it turned out well in the end, but I feel like there may have been better ways of doing it; though I also think there may have been way, way worse ways of doing it too. (Fun fact: one of the players made it known to me that they were NOT too pleased with how this episode shook out. As the weeks go on, see if you can figure out which player!) But this was a necessary part of the story, especially for the podcast audience, so in the end I'm happy with the result. I wish I could have done a bit more with characters like Akabar and Silk (another fun fact: Silk is completely absent in the printed module, I cribbed her involvement from a cameo she has in the computer game) but hey, there's only so many hours in the day and there's more story to get to. Onward and upward!

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Chapter 2, Episode 5: The Enemy of My Enemy

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 4 - Two Efreeti for the Price of One

(Whoops! Looks like this post is going out a couple days late. Many apologies.)

In this week's episode, the party has defeated one group of dark elves and liberated the townsfolk, but it seems more of the mercenaries are holed up inside the nearby barn. With the aid of a traveling merchant who has agreed to help the villagers, the party confronts these drow and their otherworldly commanders!

This was a fun episode to record, for a few reasons. First, whether it comes across in the finished episode or not, the battle was very tense and much more difficult than the players were expecting (but the rewards will be great, don't worry!). Another reason is the character of Akabar- for those not "in the know", Akabar bel Akash was one of the protagonists of the Azure Bonds novel (as well as the later book in the Finder's Stone trilogy, Song of the Saurials) and so it was nice to be able to include this cameo in the podcast. (Will he stick around long? Wait and find out!) Oh, and one other thing- this episode has the first mention of an artifact that many, many people are probably very familiar with!

I don't really have much else to say about this one, it's a fairly straightforward episode. Stay tuned for next week, when things get a little crazy!

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Chapter 2, Episode 4: Fire and Shadow

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 3 - Dark Elves in the Sheets

Hello again, everyone! We're back once again, with another episode of Curse of Radiance!

In this week's episode, the party has traveled to the village of Hap to confront the Red Wizard Dracandros, one of the creators of their magical bonds. But it seems the village is overrun by dark elf mercenaries under the Red Wizard's employ! Can the party stop this menace without (too much) collateral damage? Listen and find out!

I don't really have a ton to add to this one- though I will mention that I think this is the shortest episode of the entire campaign. There's like two or three episodes that are just barely sub-1hr20m, but this one caps out at 1hr17m and I don't think any of the others go quite that low. But don't worry, there's still plenty of fun packed into that (ever-so-slightly-smallest) package!

Thanks for listening, and see you next week!

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Chapter 2, Episode 3: Drow in the Streets

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And speaking of which, let me take this moment to congratulate them on completing their flagship podcast, Stemming the Tide! They are currently doing an AMA on Reddit, so go check that out right now!

Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 2 - Attack of the Intellectual Property

Here we are, another week, another episode! In this week's outing, the three cursed heroes- Torunn, Fennec, and Ildana- are beset upon by a pack of Displacer Beasts, until an unexpected threat cuts that encounter short. Once they have a chance to rest, however, Fennec is contacted by one of the long-term denizens of the Vale of Lost Voices, who shares a troubling past and an even troubling-er future.

Wanna know something? Displacer Beasts are my favorite DnD monster, and I think it's because I first encountered them in the computer game this campaign is based on. One of the difficulties of putting them in a Pathfinder 2e campaign, however, is that there are no official stats for Displacer Beasts in Pf2e- because Displacer Beasts are one of the monsters that are specifically held under copyright by Wizards of the Coast (along with Beholders, Mind Flayers, and some other iconics). So, I had to play with a bit of homebrew this episode, and... well, you'll see how well that turned out.

I think this is a fun episode, and I hope you all do too!

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Chapter 2, Episode 2: Monsters and Visions

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Curse of Radiance Chapter 2, Episode 1 - On the Road Again

With one story arc down, the second has begun!

In this episode, the heroes Torunn, Fennec, and Ildana leave Tilverton and set out across the Dalelands to confront the next of the creators of their cursed tattoos- Dracandros the Crimson, a Red Wizard of Thay also known as Dracandros the Mad. Along the way they test out the limits of their curse, they argue about the dangers of their situation, and Torunn receives some advice from someone who lost a bet. And after all that... monsters still lurk in the shadows.

There's a lot of interesting information gained in this episode; when I started the campaign I was really excited to see how the players would take to experimenting with the tattoos and seeing just how they react to various things. So, we'll see how that progresses as the campaign goes on!

I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 2, Episode 1: Testing and Doubting

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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 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 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!

Curse of Radiance Chapter 1, Episode 4 - Another Sewer Episode

We're back! Last week simply couldn't contain all of the sewer we had on offer, so naturally we had to come back for another dose. I hope you enjoy.

In this episode, the party continues their journey through the Tilverton sewers on their way to confront the leader of the Fire Knives. But along the way, they run into some snags- an assassin guardpost, a bunch of ghouls hiding a fancy magic item- and ingratiate themselves with a god or two for good measure. And then, at the end of the episode, a dramatic hook for the next! Who could have expected?

Fun fact: this episode contains quite possibly my favorite moment in the entire campaign, and it's when Chris yells out "Yes, adventurers, to arms!" I always crack up when I think about it.

Anyway, enjoy this week's episode, and be sure to tune back in for the next!

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Chapter 1, Episode 4: Dead Man's Float

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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 3 - Too Many Sewers

Another week, another episode of Curse of Radiance!

Despite having recorded and edited this episode over a year ago, I am amazed at my ability to micromanage and stress over every last detail until the absolute last second. But now the episode is out, and I can't change it anymore! (That's totally a lie; last week's episode had a glaring mistake that I missed before release and I had to scramble to fix it. But in service of full disclosure, I am required by law to mention that that glaring mistake happened entirely because of a last-minute edit I felt the need to do the night before release.)

Anyway....

This week's episode marks the start of the players going on the offensive, now that they've had a moment to recuperate from having been mind-controlled and forced to attempt regicide. So they have to go through everyone's favored terrain- the sewers- to find the hideout of the people responsible. This episode also has the first example of what sort of became a trend in this campaign: having an NPC join the group to potentially shore up some weaknesses in the party makeup, only for the players to find an excuse to get rid of them as soon as is humanly possible. (That's a bit of a joke, nobody was happy to see Thalia go but it was the right thing to do at the time.)

Hopefully you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

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Chapter 1, Episode 3: Into the Sewers

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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 2 - 'Tassins, 'Tieves, 'Tieves, and 'Tassins

The second episode of our podcast is here! You didn't think we would give up after one episode, did you? (If so, you're wrong. Most of the show is already recorded and edited, so it would take something pretty significant knocks on wood to stop it from coming out in its entirety.)

In this week's episode, the party finds out firsthand- in a regicidal-type-of-way- what these strange tattoos are capable of, and then they have to deal with the fallout of the actions forced upon them. But who better to help them out of their predicament than the enemy of their enemy?

A little bit of behind-the-scenes drama about this episode: since we recorded it (about two years ago!) I've never been quite happy with the last portion of the episode. It felt like it was missing something after the initial record, so I re-recorded some parts at the end, but then the re-recorded bits didn't quite mesh with the rest of the episode so I kept going back and tweaking it... it wasn't until literally last night- something like eight hours before the episode was set to go live- that I managed to "fix" the end of the episode. So the version you all got is the first version I am truly happy with.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this episode, and I hope you're excited for future episodes! They're coming, whether you want them to or not.

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Chapter 1, Episode 2: Assassins and Thieves

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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!

[Also: I'm trying to get verified to post about this show on /r/Pathfinder2e so hello mods, I am the creator of this show!]

Our new podcast, Curse of Radiance, is here!

Hellllllloooooo, everyone!

Welcome, welcome, welcome! I am very proud to announce that today is the beginning of a new podcast, that's been in the works for a VERY long time. 

Honestly, it all started somewhere around 1995, when I discovered that we had a computer disc in our basement for the old TSR Dungeons & Dragons computer game, Curse of the Azure Bonds. I didn't know anything about DnD at the time- I wouldn't get into the game for another seven or eight years- but I loved the sword & sorcery theme, I loved the artwork, and I loved the music (what little of it our home computer could render at the time). Almost ten years later, after I'd gotten into the RPG scene proper, I was browsing a gaming store in a nearby town and imagine my surprise when I found out there was a paperback module of this game I played so many years ago! Naturally, I bought it immediately- and then realized everything inside was greek to me, since I didn't know what THAC0 was or how I was supposed to read any of the statblocks contained within. (And, to be honest, I didn't even know very much of the story just from playing the computer game, so beyond the appeal of that striking artwork, I didn't really have much motivation to actually read the module I had bought.)

Fast forward another seven or eight years. I was in a used book store, and I was perusing the fantasy section when my eyes came across the familiar words- Azure Bonds. I had been vaguely aware that this computer game I'd loved was based on a book- or was a sequel to a book? I didn't know. That all changed when I actually read said book. I loved the story- a mercenary named Alias woke up with five magic tattoos on her arm, and had to travel with a wizard, a halfling, and a dinosaur to figure out how to get rid of them. By this point I was well familiar with the Forgotten Realms (it had been many years since my favorite character, Ichi the Undead Slayer, walked the Realms) but this book re-ignited the fire in me.

Again, we fast forward. Inter-Party Conflict, my first (and to date, longest) foray into podcasting was coming to an end, and I knew I wanted to make an Actual Play podcast- not only to make something people would want to listen to, but also to prove to myself I could do it. I had a couple other ideas in the hopper but eventually there was only one inevitability: I had to run Curse of the Azure Bonds for myself.

It's been an ordeal. Nearly three years as of this writing, and it's still not done. Literal hundreds of hours' worth of work on my end alone. So many setbacks I've considered scrapping the entire thing on more than one occasion (and one time, I literally did start over from scratch). But, with this posting, the first episode has finally gone out to the public. And over the next year, I promise the rest of it will follow.

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Apologies for all of that preamble. Curse of Radiance (the name changed for SEO purposes) is a labor of love created by me, Gabe Kleinert, as well as the wonderful people who have helped me make this dream a reality. In the first episode, meet our players- Jay, Chris, and Alan- and then hop into the world of the Forgotten Realms as their characters- Torunn, Ildana, and Fennec- wake up in the town of Tilverton, after being ambushed on the road. They discover their arms have been branded with five magical tattoos, and thus begins their search for information- what are these tattoos depicting? Who created them? What is their purpose? And as the party learns more about these tattoos, the most important question pushes to the forefront: how the hell do they get rid of these things?

Thank you all for listening, and please send any questions or comments to InterPartyConflict@gmail.com!

Chapter 1, Episode 1: The Five Tattoos

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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!

Episode 251: We're Back, For One Night Only!

Holy moly! Has it been three years already? (And then some?) It's wild how fast time flies. Well, we're back- not for good unfortunately, but after so much time had passed I thought it would be fun to get together with Jeff and record one more episode for old time's sake. Come join us as we reminisce and catch you all up on the many things we've been up to since the podcast ended, and also listen in on the announcement of my next big project!

Normally at this point I would plug all of the other content creators on the Critnation Fellowship- but sadly I think most of those creators have either moved on or at least put things on hold. But the OG creator, Crit Academy, is still kicking (though in a bit of a different format) so go see what they've been up to!

So welcome back everyone, and I hope you'll stay tuned for my next project, coming out in a few weeks!

Episode 251: Remake, Rebirth, Reunion

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Question(s) answered this episode:

1. Hey Gabe and Jeff, what have you been up to for the past three years?

2. How Is the recording and editing process for the actual play different from IPC?

3. Have you guys been guests on any other podcasts?

4. During the last few episodes of the podcast you mentioned playing Pathfinder: are you still playing that (privately)? And how do you like it?

5. What systems have you been playing? Has the "main system" shifted (as in, "used to play mostly 5e, and a little of 2e, now it's mostly 2e" or something like that)?

6. Are you still as passionate about TTRPGs? Why / why not?

7. Did you play Baldur's Gate 3 and how did you like it?

8. Dinner-Party Conflict time. What have you been cooking?

9. How has your (turkey) smoking journey been going Gabe?

10. Any new and exciting RC Cola flavours / stories you want to tell us about?

11. Is RC still the greatest?

12. Are you all interested in maybe hitting up some conventions like gencon in the future?

13. How are the dogs doing?

14. Gabe, how's your brother doing?

15. Will the new show be on the IPC main stream?

16. Are there any new game systems you're interested in trying out soon?

17. Will there be a return to Cloudstralia in the future?

18. If you absolutely had to do it, what do you both think would be the best starting point to making a Final Fantasy-themed campaign setting? 

19. Are y'all following Daggerheart at all? What do you think of it? Think it has any real staying power? With Critical Role campaign 3 wrapped up, do you think they'll give a shot moving to it as their main game?

20. Do you feel obligated to throw out the old edition the moment a new one comes out or do you wait until they work the bugs out?

21. Will we finally find out what Gabe's mystery metric was for the episode titles?

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Noteworthy Links:

Jeff's Twitch Channel

Gabe's Horror Blog

Star Wars needs more rocks

Uncharted North, the Canadian-based podcast network that will be the future home of Inter-Party Conflict's projects. Previous collaborations can be found on their Uncharted Explorations page!

The episode of Encounter This where Gabe ranted all about the 5e tarrasque

Blood in the Water, a short 5e interlude I guested on from the Kaleidosphere podcast

Tens & Aces Podcast, a podcast that I was surprised to learn was using my voice for their intro

My Immortal, an audiobook of the worst fanfic ever written, read by me

The Film Reroll

A Bug in the Program, a short story written by Ken MacGregor where I get killed

Steam Deck

Get Played's coverage of  Baldur's Gate 3

Vincenzo's Plate Authentic Bolognese, the recipe I've made so many times over the past three years

Nowhere Man: The Nowhere Man Project

Fall of the House of Usher

The Adventure Zone: Steeplechase

Dawn of Worlds (2nd Edition!)

Chrono Trigger

Monster Hunter Wilds

Look at this cool d20 I got

 

Just wanted to show that off. Nothing else.