The Podcast has achieved Level 3

Normally I don't talk numbers much, but this blog is the one place where it feels appropriate.

Thank you all for listening!

It's Raining Gyrios's, Hallelujah!

 This beautiful piece is by Justin Pfeil.  Some of you will already know Justin from his comic series (find it right here: http://thekeepontheborderlands.justinpfeil.com/)

Turns out that Justin and I have been doing very similar things - telling classic DnD stories, using dice to predict outcomes, and then narrating it all as an emergent fiction.  The medium is different, but the concept is the same.

Thanks Justin for the wonderful contribution!

'Gyrios' by Simon Williams

 Another amazing drawing.  The attention to detail is spot on; just look at the image on the shield.  It is perfect.

Updated Character Sheets (INV and STATS)

HARL

S   15

I    11

W  13

D   7

C   10

Ch  14

L   8

Plate mail, battleaxe, belt pouch (14gp, 36sp, 88cp), elven waterskin. A whetstone. A leather sack. Iron rations

UMURA

S   8

I    17

W  9

D   9

C   14

Ch 7

L   10

Leather boots, layered tunic and leggings, goblin belt pouch (empty) waterskin, silver dagger, shoulderbag (quill, inkpot, hooded lantern, tinderbox, 3 flasks oil, ‘angel’ recipe notes, 2 doses of Raphinfel’s serum, “A Treatise on Theoretical Extra Planar Realities.”, Dermund’s spellbook, her spellbook, Silver necklace with sapphire worth 500gp. A spool of strong thread with both a needle and a fish hook. Owl of Thressendia. Mithridaticum Elixir (1 vial/1dose). Ring of prot +1 (now AC=8) Iron rations.

GYRIOS

S   12

I    12

W  14

D   14

C   15

Ch 8

L   14

Chainmail, flail, backpack, Kagan’s old half-helm, waterskin, good quality beltpouch(2 flasks of oil), good traveling boots, 1 gold holy-symbol-coin, silver shield with engraving, backpack (16 candles, A leather sack, a flint & steel, whetstone, flask of cheap whiskey),  boots, belt pouch Iron rations.

ARADINE

S   12

I    9

W  11

D   14

C   9

Ch 16

L   15

Prison frock, waterskin, short sword, dagger, short bow and quiver, thieves tools, goblin belt pouch (empty), 50’ rope, Bracers of Defense AC 6. (74 gp, 363sp and 195 cp). 6 expertly made, white-fletched arrows. 20 arrows and a leather quiver. Iron rations.

Shownotes for Episode 38

Theme Evan King - Enchiridion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8NkG3bhIxU

Welcome 148 Barovian Castle https://tabletopaudio.com/

Previously On Scott Buckley - Legionnaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW0vFUCzEM

Part 1 Fabian Marmet –Norudya Tavern Song  https://fabianmarmet.bandcamp.com

Some  FX: https://www.zapsplat.com

Please check out Fabian Marmet using these links:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3dPVro9Fdt09x6ow6rYHSA or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/medieval.fantasy.music/?igshid=1dcx8f83mec6u

Chekhov's Bursting Armory

 

Even though I studied English Lit in university and have taught it at the high school level for years, I really hadn't heard of (I am ashamed to admit) Chekhov's Gun until I started listening to podcasts - specifically, the Story Break and Dungeons & Daddies podcasts (largely the same people involved).  Not knowing what these folks were talking about eventually stuck in my craw enough that I looked it up.

Chekhov's gun is a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Elements should not appear to make "false promises" by never coming into play.  If there's a gun hanging on the wall in act 1, someone should fire the gun in act 2.

Huh.  How did I not know this term already?  It's kind of right in my wheelhouse.  Well, it got me thinking about how badly I abuse this rule of writing.  I leave these open plot devices everywhere in TOTM, on purpose.  I'm breaking the rule multiple times in every episode so that I will have plot opportunities present down the line, depending on how things play out.  In doing so, I leave masses of Chekhov's Guns in my wake.  Most recently (spoiler ahead) the party saves themselves from dying of thirst by drinking the holy water from the convent.  Symbolically, they were consuming 'hope'.  Well it worked out great for the story, but when Umura first found the holy water and filled a couple of vials, I had no idea if they would ever come into play.  I certainly didn't think the party would drink them.

In a way, I like that I am violating this rule again and again - it reminds me that I am not writing a novel, that the game element is a major factor & that, ultimately, chaos rules.

Techno Babble

 As a belated 1 year podcastiversary present to me, from me, I bought a little tech gizmo to help address a weird audio problem I have wrestled with over the past year.

Seemingly at random, vocal takes (narration) would get somehow corrupted and distorted... well not exactly distorted, but degraded.  No amount of messing with settings in my VSTS or elsewhere helped.  It was a real head scratcher and honestly I still don't know what causes it.

In the past,  I've had to rerecord big sections of audio, losing hours (I know it doesn't seem like it should take hours to record a vocal, but with all the editing, it takes a minimum of 30 minutes to record 10.  Usually significantly more).

I noticed that the problem didn't start until about episode 16 or 17.  Could it be that, using a template for consistency has also introduced some kind of settings-clutter? I'm not sure. In 20 years of amateur engineering I have never seen this before.  To be safe, I am starting a brand new 'session' and so you might hear an audio change (hopefully for the better) in episode 44, which I am currently recording vocals for.

I also bought this gizmo.  It's an in-line FET booster.  The Shure SM7B mic is the absolute best podcasting mic, and I love it, but it is a very low sensitivity mic and you really need to crank the preamp to get a good volume. This 'Dynamite Stick' thing I bought should provide a big 'clean' boost at the pre-preamp stage, allowing me to dial in much less gain and hopefully to absolutely kill problems with hiss and distortion.  It is cleverly designed and even runs off phantom power, which is a nice feature.

If anyone reading this is an audio engineer and has experience with 'instantaneous' corruption/degradation of voice takes, please get in touch and teach me the secret to keep this from happening again!