S1E3 - Once I Loved Corn Chips and Snack Cakes, But Now I Must Kill (The Reaping Tale)

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 19:44:09 -0000

Once I Loved Corn Chips and Snack Cakes, But Now I Must Kill

Hi. I'm Cameron Southwell. I am not a real person. This is not a real podcast.

Today's A-Side moves us outside the city, past the highway that no one uses to leave, into a endless grey plane of dirt and ash called the Wastes Between Worlds. We follow Seif, the story of how the world ended given physical form, as they explore the wastes, discover their purpose, and kill the stories they find there.

For this episode I played The Reaping Tale from Quintessential Games, a game about a story that kills other stories. Our story, Seif, has no idea why they are killing stories but has some theories. The game itself is surreal. The player plays a game of Klondike Solitaire and as they move cards to their final destination, they answer questions in the order the cards are moved. This resulted in a story focused on the eponymous weapon, the Reaping Blade, Seif's wool cloak, Seif's movement through the world, and Seif's victims. It has an introspective feel, like reminiscing on the distant past. I very much enjoyed it and highly recommend both it and a similar game from the same designer called Lost, in which you are trapped in a maze.

This story was meant to feel humorous, gruesome, and sad, sometimes all three at once. Seif pines for things that might feel trivial and is emotional about every story, feeling reverence even as they slay them. Seif's actions are often horrific and the story shies away from describing them directly, the gore is unavoidable even if it is often only implied.

In terms of content warnings, this is probably the one that has the most important content warning. I would recommend listening to it in full before proceeding. Among other things, this story has cannibalism, murder, food imagery, brutal violence, references to the USA invasion of Vietnam, references to the plight of people in long term healthcare institutions, and a character longing for death.

In terms of continuity, we don't know when it takes place compared to the first two stories, but that will be revealed in planned not too distant episodes.

Metaphorically, the story is about how a story can be tenacious and sticky, erasing other narratives both those related and unrelated in the process of being retold. We're seeing that right now in the news as one of the battlegrounds is just what story is told and retold about the pandemic and the BLM protests.

Seif believes from the beginning that they are truth and that by taking in other stories, that they get to stop being lies and get to become part of their truth. Whether Seif is a true story or not never occurs to them, it simply is a fact that they believe and that gives them the will to participate in the horrific murders that they commit and rationalize them after the fact.

One thing I wondered as I listened to this episode before I uploaded it: Is Seif even actually story? Are any of them stories? What if they're just people? Seif claims it to be otherwise but even they recognize they do not know how they know that. I don't know and won't know until a future episode covers that. What do you think?

Since these stories are emergent, very little is pre-planned and though I have ideas, the truth is only revealed to me shortly before it is revealed to you. This is an intentional part of the process. The truth is formed in the telling of these stories and must conform to what has come before, though where it will end up is anyone's guess. Like any listener, I have theories and am making guesses but we will have to see together.

I'm curious if anyone can identify all the stories harmed in the making of this episode. Let me know if you have guesses.

The cover art for this podcast is by Francita, an artist and graphic designer. Take a look at the links below.

In addition to the games I mentioned, I also used the fantasy deck from the Gamemaster's Apprentice from Larcenous Designs to come up with details and in particular to suggest the encountered stories.

Links

The Reaping Tale https://quintessential-gaming.itch.io/the-reaping-tale

Quintessential Gaming https://quintessential-gaming.itch.io/ https://twitter.com/q_game_design

Lost https://quintessential-gaming.itch.io/lost

Larcenous Designs https://www.larcenousdesigns.com/

Gamemaster's Apprentice Fantasy Deck https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/213131/The-GameMasters-Apprentice-Fantasy-Deck

Francita's twitter, portfolio, and etsy shop https://twitter.com/byfrancita https://www.behance.net/francitasoto https://www.etsy.com/shop/byfrancitadesigns

Cameron Southwell's contact information: https://twitter.com/southwellstylez Southwellstylez@gmail.com

Please send me a message if you have feedback, suggestions, or just want to say hello.

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S1E2 - Heroes Die, Humans Live (You Are An Adventurer)

Fri, 01 May 2020 21:59:08 -0000

Heroes Die, Humans Live

Today's A-Side, Heroes Die, Humans Live, tells the story of the adventurer Omar as he tries to survive as a courier in an oppressive magical city on the brink of collapse. If you pay attention, you may notice a couple characters from the first episode showing up unnamed.

This episode's content warning includes: Wealthy people being overly familiar making their hired help uncomfortable, Some minor fantasy violence, A growing problem in the city that might be a disease, lack of a cohesive government response to a citywide problem, classism (the government responds much faster to issues in the richer parts of the city than the poorer parts), a child who goes missing and might be in danger, and a spoiler so I'll put it at the bottom of the notes.

The story is primarily told using the game You Are An Adventurer by Takuma Okada, a wonderful solo role playing game cutting through to the core of the standard adventurer's experience in table top role-playing and guiding you from a bare bones starting character to an interesting well-rounded character. The primary mechanic is picking what adventurer you go on, numbering it, and then filling in some blanks about what happened. There is a lot of embellishment before and between filling in the prompts in this story but playing the game to its conclusion was a key part of the narrative arc.

The game is currently PWYW on itch.io so take a look and give it a try even if you haven't played a table top role playing game before. It's an interesting introduction to what they can be. While there I suggest taking a look at other games such as Together Among The Stars, We Made Them Look Like Us, and Stewpot. There's a lot of creative and interesting things to see.

Before beginning play, I used the map maker from Spindlewheel Microgames by Sasha Renoau to generate the city and the surrounding area. You might remember the Spindlewheel deck from the first episode wherein it provided a number of running themes as we explored the forest. Most notably in this story the mapmaker provided the prompts that created the Arbiter Divine, the fifty foot tall clockwork angel statue with a flaming sword in the western part of the city. However, the mapmaker also provided the basis for each of the districts as well as for City Central, the area around the governing palace. The mapmaker is an interesting alternative to standard map generating tools which focuses more on concept and form than on terrain and distance. I found it very useful.

The cover art for this podcast is by Francita, an artist and graphic designer. Below you'll be able to

Links

You Are An Adventurer https://noroadhome.itch.io/you-are-an-adventurer

Takuma Okada's twitter, patreon, soundcloud, and itch pages https://twitter.com/takuma_okada_ https://www.patreon.com/noroadhome https://soundcloud.com/noroadhome https://noroadhome.itch.io/

Spindlewheel Microgames https://22to22.itch.io/spindlewheel-microgames

Spindlewheel https://www.teacabbage.com/spindlewheel

Sasha Reneau's twitter, patreon, itch, and portfolio https://twitter.com/sasha_reneau https://www.patreon.com/22to22 https://22to22.itch.io/ https://www.sashareneau.com/

Francita's twitter, portfolio, and etsy shop https://twitter.com/byfrancita https://www.behance.net/francitasoto https://www.etsy.com/shop/byfrancitadesigns

Spoilered Content Warning: The ending is ambiguous as to whether Omar lives or dies at the conclusion of the story.

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Introduction: This is Not A Podcast (B-Side)

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 03:46:57 -0000

Words are sounds we sing to each other and it's ok just to enjoy the music.

In this episode, I explain the basics of how Quarantine Quest works and what the goal is.

Some of the topics covered along brief summaries of the answers:

• Quarantine Quest is a spoken word concept album.
• It tells the story of a world on lockdown, the overseers, and my attempts to put this together.
• There are two types of episodes: A-sides and B-sides.
• A-sides are long episodes telling stories.
• B-sides are short episodes on a variety of topics.
• A-Sides are main tracks and B-sides are outtakes and the weird things that don't fit in.
• At the start of each episode I'll talk introduce the episode to help you identify what is coming up and give you the knowledge to know if you want to or should skip a specific episode.
• Zoning out while listening is valid.
• I write with a focus on how things sound as well as what they mean.
• If you just listen to the sounds instead of worrying about the plot, that's great.
• If you focus on the plot or themes, also great!
• I'll try to mention and remind if significant elements come back.
• So don't worry if you miss something or fell asleep listening.
• We're trying to relax here, not rewrite T.S. Elliot's the Wasteland.
• Can we do both? Maybe we'll try.

Reach out: On twitter @southwellstylez Email southwellstylez@gmail.com

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S1E1 - We Do Not Speak of What Happens To Bad Children (We Forest Three)

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 18:14:00 -0000

Episode Notes

Quite by accident the first episode of Quarantine Quest launches on April First. I am certainly a fool, but I am also certainly serious, perhaps the best quality in a fool. I meant to release this yesterday, which is fitting.

This is a main episode, which I am calling A Sides. These focus on telling the story of the Quarantine, those who live in it, and those who maintain it, building a larger narrative by telling small stories set in a common world.

Today's episode, We Do Not Speak Of What Happens To Bad Children, tells the story of the witchseeker Bandit, who ventures into the hidden forest surrounding an isolated city to save it from an unspoken but dire threat and ends up forever changed.

I tell this story using the game We Forest Three by Jamila R. Nedjadi of Sword Queen Games, a wonderful role playing inspired by Philippine folklore designed for solitary play. The text of this tale was primarily a haphazard mix of Jamila's pre-written prompts from the game and my own contributions.

I highly recommend you click the link to read about We Forest Three. The game involves numerous interesting threads including the aforementioned Philippine folklore, non-physical threats, replayability, and SWORDDREAM ideas to name a few. Please take a look. While you're there, check out some of the other Sword Queen games as well. Jamila has a great visual style and if you are in financial hardship, there are usually gratis community copies of some games or some itneresting pay what you want games available as well.

I used two play resources to generate add ideas or information as needed. The first was the Spindlewheel deck by Sasha Reneau. Each card of the deck is an element with two facings. In this tale I primarily used them to add detail to some of Bandit's elements as well as to the government palace. They are an interesting game tool with several interesting games using them available. Spindlewheel is currently in beta and you can find a link to it as well as Sasha's contact info in the links section. Some of the language from these cards ended up repeated as Bandit's character shifted over the course of the story to the point that anyone familiar with Spindlewheel probably recognized the cards I drew immediately.

The second resource I used was the GameMaster's Apprentice Base Deck from Larcenous Designs. Each card has numerous bits of information for use as writing prompt or role playing game aid including sense details for sight, smell, sound, and touch. In this tale I used them to flesh out the depiction of the Familiar. Right now, due to the pandemic, Larcenous designs has made the PDF editions of their GameMaster's Apprentice Decks available for pay what you want and I highly suggest taking a look at them. I find them an excellent tool for getting ideas when I need some inspiration. In the links section you'll find their web page and the DriveThru Cards page for the Base Deck.

The cover art for this podcast is by Francita, an artist and graphic designer. She is currently running a Kickstarter for Critically Pins, a series LGBTQIA pride pins. Take look from the link below.

Links

We Forest Three https://temporalhiccup.itch.io/we-forest-three

Jamila R. Nedjadi's twitter, patreon, and itch pages https://twitter.com/temporalhiccup https://www.patreon.com/swordqueengames https://temporalhiccup.itch.io/

Spindlewheel https://www.teacabbage.com/spindlewheel

Teacabbage Studio twitter https://twitter.com/teacabbage

Larcenous Designs https://www.larcenousdesigns.com/

Gamemaster's Apprentice Base Deck https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/125685/The-GameMasters-Apprentice-Base-Deck

Francita's twitter https://twitter.com/byfrancita

Kickstarter for Critically Pins https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/basiliskonline/criticallypins

Cameron Southwell's contact information: https://twitter.com/southwellstylez Southwellstylez@gmail.com

Thank you to kitten for listening first and giving me much needed feedback and encouragement.

I welcome your feedback. Please be gentle.

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