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Death and Rebirth at Samhain

So, here we are, and it is almost Halloween again! Of course, it doesn’t really feel like it this year, what with the Pandemic messing up all of our spooky plans. Normally, My Lovely Bride™ and I go all out for Halloween, but not this year. We don’t want to encourage Trick or Treaters, so we aren’t decorating, and we (obviously) won’t be handing out treats, either.

Our plan instead is to stay in, and watch scary movies. So, basically the same as any other Halloween, sans the kids in costumes.

Anyway, Halloween (or Samhain) is a time of death and renewal, for endings and beginnings. As such, it is an appropriate time to close out one era, and begin another, wouldn’t you say?

So, “Knights of the Tabletop” is ending. The last episode will be tomorrow, October 26th.

Now then, with every door that closes, another opens, and so you shall find here. Starting on Monday, November 2nd, I have a brand-new Actual Play podcast beginning. It will simply continue on the same feed as KOTT, so those of you who are currently subscribed to that podcast (and why wouldn’t you be?), will simply start receiving the new show, as if nothing had changed.

Anyway, so what is this new show, then? How does it differ from KOTT, being that both are Actual Play, roleplaying podcasts? Well…

It’s solo.

As in ‘devoid of other players’, or to put it succinctly: A Cast of One.

No Game-Master. Just me.

So the show is called “Ronin Roleplaying”, and – like KOTT before it – is a series of one-shot adventures, broken up into roughly half-hour adventures in a given period of time. Unlike KOTT, “Ronin Roleplaying” focuses on a single game for two months, with either two, month-long adventures, or a single, two-month one-shot included. Then we move on to another game, keeping things fresh, and avoiding burnout at the same time.

I have been recording RR for some time now, and by the time you are reading this, should have all of the episodes for 2020 and 2021 done. Seriously. Why, you ask? Because I can, and recording/editing/producing a solo podcast is way simpler and easier than doing one with multiple people, especially when they are all over the Internet, which causes all manner of sound and connection issues.

You see, this – among other things – was the ultimate downfall of KOTT. We tried recording it over Discord, because we couldn’t play in person due to the pandemic, and the issues it caused were simply untenable. Despite our best efforts, the sound quality, drops, echoes, and so forth were simply too much to clean up, and the show suffered for it. There was also a lot of frustration building up (you can hear that in the last episode of KOTT), and with my health situation, I simply called a close to the show, as it was best for all concerned in my opinion.

So you have a show ending, but a new show beginning, and I think you will enjoy it. We are starting off by playing my favorite tabletop roleplaying game of all time, “Feng Shui 2”. While not all of the shows are perfect, and I started out having never done Solo Roleplaying before in my life (I’m sure it shows, too), I think overall it’s still a lot of fun.

NOTE: There is still the possibility that My Lovely Bride™ may join me on RR for the occasional cooperative, one-on-one session. We’re still discussing it, and if it happens you won’t hear those shows for a while (like I said, I’m quite a bit ahead already), but this is something that might occur at some point.

NOTE, again: By the way, how in the Hell did I manage to get so far ahead on RR, in the first place? Well, I have weekends, I don’t Livestream anymore, and I can talk for literally hours. It’s a skill. So what I do is record four or five shows, basically a month’s worth, on one weekend night, then record the next month’s shows the following night. By doing this every other weekend or so, I have built up a rather impressive collection of shows, all waiting to be delivered to your tender ears, in due time!

NOTE, the Third: When you have been literally aching for any sort of roleplaying you can find, and you have as many different RPGs as I do, a show like “Ronin Roleplaying” is really easy to create. We plan to start playing Beoulus’ D&D5e campaign in person again soon, which will allow me to slow down some on the solo play, but it won’t stop or replace it.

NOTE, the Final: I have added an Episode 0 to this series, which is a bonus, Preview episode, just for Halloween! It was just recorded, so is a bit more polished than those coming up in the next few months, as I’m a bit more used to solo roleplaying at this point. Anyway, in this Preview episode of “Ronin Roleplaying”, I will be delving into “Seekers Beyond The Shroud“, a very interesting Urban Fantasy/Horror game I back on Kickstarter some time ago, and which finally released earlier this Summer. I hope you enjoy it!

Anyway, Happy Halloween!

Scormus
I'm the editor, publisher, and primary "talent" here at Scormey.com.
https://scormey.com

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