Welcome home.
This is Audio EXP for the 18th of May and the episode title is “A new form of storytelling?”
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #242]
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Calamity Punk Publishing won the RPG Publisher Spotlight this month.
It’s still radio silence from the Punks, I’m afraid. I’ve tried their contact form, social media, Discord and I’ll keep plucking at communication but this might be one of those rare spotlights without involvement from the publisher.
I talk often about tabletop roleplaying games in Audio EXP. I’m here to chat through the weekly highlights of Geek Native, trailers are hard to do on a podcast and so it’s easy to see why RPGs dominate my banter.
Meet me in real life and I can add digital marketing and what I’m going to eat next to my collection of things I can talk about, but that’s about it.
Today, we’re going talk about stories, and I guess RPGs are a type of story, but having said it’s hard to do justice for trailers let’s try.
Why? Bronwen found and blogged Squirrel with a Gun.
Coming from Maximum Games and due on a host of platforms, including PC, Xbox and Playstation, Squirrel with a Gun begins its trailer like a nature documentary. We’re in suburbia and watching a squirrel happily frolic.
Then we’re watching as the Squirrel, somehow, from somewhere, produces a very large gun.
Chaos results and the action flicks between GTA-style rampage and Portal-like science tests.
It’s a worry for me since I live by a glade and am surrounded by squirrels. I hope it’s only American squirrels with access to this much in the way of weaponry, and in the meantime, I’ll keep watering my local population to keep them sweet.
I’ve not just seen a lot of squirrels this week but I also got to speak to Agnes Kozera. Agnes has previously sold companies to Audacity, that’s the podcast recording software many people use, and another company to Google.
Agnes’ current project, of which she is the co-founder, is Storiaverse.
It’s an app and I asked if it was a bit like a motion comic. Nearly, but no. Storiaverse stories are more interactive than motion comics. Are they games? No, although at least one creator on the platform also sells TTRPGs via Itch.
So, I think they’re a bit like motion game books or a hybrid of animation and games. The app is out now, for Android and iOS, and you can see for yourself as the stories show you clips of animation, then some text and then respond to your touch.
Storiaverse is a marketplace where authors can sell their creations and with animation software getting very cheap, the rise of AI as animator assistants, then the number of people with stories to create, animate, branch and pop on the platform is growing.
I think it’s an area that virtual tabletops could trek into, with due caution, although Storiaverse has the advantage with their optimisation for a full-screen vertical format.
Suspecting that many listeners would also be interested in Agnes’ experience working with influencers, I asked about tips.
Firstly, follow your passions, and that’s not just because it’s fun but because you’re more likely to be good at it. Secondly, collaborate with others and don’t try and get one over on your audience. Lastly, Agnes suggests that consistency is key to maintain momentum. If you can maintain momentum then all you need is time.
On the note of time, I’m going to jump around a bit now, and hopefully quantum leaping helpfully.
Starting with the heads up that time is running on 200 limited edition The Joker prints signed by Brian Bolland at Forbidden Planet.
The shop has the exclusive of these high quality prints of Batman’s nemesis from The Killing Joke. Each print costs only £30, and it’ll surely be much higher on ebay when all 200 sell out, but that feels like fantastic value.
Next, let’s leap to deadly combat. The second edition of the tabletop RPG the RedHack is out. You can pay whatever you want from it.
It’s a simple RPG of less than 100 pages, including a Bestiary, using a d20 system.
New in RedHack2e are Drives, which replace Feats. If you don’t know it at all then it’s a deadly system, in a low-ish fantasy setting of your choice and does away with character classes.
Since we’re battling time tonight, let me move on the Traveller4 deal on the Bundle of Holding as that’s finished on the 20th.
Traveller4 is the controversial edition of the sci-fi master. It was created just when the Game Designer Workshop closed, took just months to make, and needed loads of edits. However, it also set about adjusting the course of Traveller to better align with what some, not all, in the community wanted.
Traveller4 is absolutely one for collectors and the bundle deal seems like the best way to get it.
There’s a double discount available for listeners with the Awesome Manga Stories deal at Fanatical. I’ve got this one myself in preparation for the UK Games Expo travel.
Everyone can get up to 97% off at the top tier but Geek Native podcast listeners can add the coupon code Fanatical10 at checkout to get a further 10% off.
Lastly, and with a few days left, Geek Native is running a book competition for people in the US. The book is Heavenbreaker and it’s by Sara Wolf. It’s mech combat in a brutal world. In fact, it’s mechsuit jousting, but I imagine there aren’t any horses. I can’t tell you for sure as it’s not out yet and I’ve not read it, so winners get very early access here.
On that note, beware mechwarrior trained squirrels, and I’ll see you next week.
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