Return of the Know Direction Forums

The Know Direction podcast network was founded on community. It was born 3.5 Private Sanctuary, and meant to be the safe haven for players loyal to the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons after the announcement of 4th edition. We expected that these 3.5 loyalists, surely an otherwise abandoned minority of fantasy roleplayers, would still want to discuss books and builds and adventures from their bygone era. In addition to the podcast, we had a modest but active message board.

After Pathfinder happened and history played out very differently from what we predicted, we still had a core group of fans who came to our site to interact with us and share their thoughts. When the site needed to be relaunched, the new site included more blog content, new members of the Private Sanctuary team, and a new look, but it lost an old but important element. The forums were gone, replaced by comment sections on posts and an increased reliance on Facebook.

It wasn’t enough. 3.5 loyalists may not need the home we thought they would, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want a place they feel comfortable together. So we’ve reopened our doors and launched the new Know Direction forums. Welcome home.

Ryan Costello

What started as one gamer wanting to talk about his love of a game grew into a podcast network. Ryan founded what would become the Know Direction Podcast network with Jason "Jay" Dubsky, his friend and fellow 3.5 enthusiast. They and their game group moved on to Pathfinder, and the Know Direction podcast network was born. Now married and a father, Ryan continues to serve the network as the director of logistics and co-host of Upshift podcast, dedicated to the Essence20 RPG system he writes for and helped design. You can find out more about Ryan and the history of the network in this episode of Presenting: http://knowdirectionpodcast.com/2021/01/presenting-ryan-costello/

3 Comments

  1. Sam

    Is it weird I read this entire post with Ryan’s voice in my head?

  2. Majuba

    So Awesome! Just the weekend before last I was missing the forums!