Every week, Recall Knowledge recaps the Know Direction content of the past week, a preview of the Know Direction content of the week to come, and the director of operations, Ryan Costello, thoughts on the state of the network.

Editing an actual play is an art unlike any other podcast editing I’m familiar with.

There’s a section of last week’s episode of Adventurous that I considered cutting. Spoiler-free summary: Our Adventurous heroes have a problem to solve, and a lot of freedom for the solution. So we come up with an extravagant plan. Then we realize it’s too extravagant, so we go simpler. Then we go simpler still. It’s 10-15 minutes long, or at least felt that way.

I ultimately left it in, but I had Venn diagramy reasons to consider dropping it. An actual play is part game, part performance. This planning was completely game-based. It went against Chekhov’s Gun, a theatre rule that says you do not set an idea up without paying it off. It went against Say Yes, the improv rule where you build on what’s been previously presented. It was just characters making multiple plans until settling on the best one. That kind of scene only happens when the early plans are clearly awful, like Ducky and Bunny’s plans to get the keys in Toy Story 4.

I left the early plan in because editing audio is like pulling sticks out of a Plinko. If the audio that’s cut leads to callbacks and shifts in tone, you might have to pull later sticks that relate back to earlier sticks, and you’re always one load-bearing stick away from losing your marbles.

All that to say, I admire how cleverly Luis handled a recording catastrophe.

In case you missed it, last week marked the debut of the Know Direction Network’s long awaited 2e actual play, Valiant. The episode featured an introduction of the players, characters, GM, and setting, then two sessions of the game. At least, that was the plan. After the introduction, the episode cuts to Luis explaining that the first session’s audio was lost. He sums up the important moments that were missed, then the episode jumps into session two.

First of all, Luis has all my sympathy. I’ve lost recordings before (most recently, we had a recording issue that meant we lost a recent Patron’s Private Sanctum. But all that we lost was that episode. Losing an episode of an actual play impacts all episodes before and after it. Obviously the circumstances weren’t ideal, but Luis’ solution may have helped the episode.

In media res is another great literary device which states that the later into a story you can start and the story still makes sense, the better. Because the players and characters had a session together before we meet them, there’s already a camaraderie amongst them. They each reference an event that is now shared backstory, and they are all on the same page about it.

Luis took his time and crafted a show that reflects his passions, put together an amazing cast -Rob Pontious, Avi, Owen KC Stephens, and Jessica Redekop- a combination of familiar and new names and voices. There’s a lot to be excited about. If you haven’t checked Valiant out yet, you should.

Valiant and Adventurous aren’t the only network content that came out last week. Here’s a recap of what you might have missed last week from the Know Direction Network:

Recap of September 14^th to September 18^th

What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com and twitch.tv/knowdirection?

Monday, September 14^th

PODCAST

Adventurous 044 – Killed ‘em Jed

Just when we thought we’d solved all of Stachys’ problems, Old Jed dug up a new one.

ARTICLE

Recall Knowledge – September 8th to September 18th

“I assure you, our enthusiasm for 2e has been sincere” was not a sentence I thought I’d have to write on this site, but KD 232 left a weird enough feeling over the network that I had to address it.

Tuesday, September 15^th

PODCAST

Legend Lore 011 — Rarity

2e’s rules of rarity go largely undefined in the Core Rulebook. They’ve since been expanded upon in blog posts and supplemental releases, clarifying them but scattering that clarification. Personally, the majority of my understanding of 2e rarity came from conversations with Luis. So when Luis and Loren came looking for topic suggestions, that was one of the fist to come to mind. This episode of Legend Lore, though unofficial, might be one of the most comprehensive sources for information on 2e rarity available right now. 

ARTICLE

Fox’s Cunning – PFS Quest Round-up
by Dustin Knight

Dustin is at it again with his comprehensive guides, this time covering PFS Quests (including the one he wrote and recently ran for the network).

Wednesday, September 16^th

TWITCH

KD Plays – Pathfinder Secrets of Magic Playtest

Speaking of Dustin running his PFS quest, Wayfinder Origins, for the network (and before that, speaking of sincerely enjoying 2e), Dustin ran our actual play playtest on Wednesday to a large and happening live audience.

PODCAST

Presenting – Mark Seifter

Hey, it’s Mark Seifter! Between the many responsibilities of his role at Paizo, his regular appearances on con panels, and his own podcast and server, Arcane Mark, odds are you know Mark Seifter. In case you don’t, this podcast is a great introduction to who Mark Seifter is and what he’s all about.

ARTICLE

Iconic Design 5e: The Cat Whisperer
By Alexander Augunas

I felt bad about this, but I chose not to share Alex’s latest Iconic Design, his first 5e build, to social media. I was just worried it would spark or fuel rumours that Know Direction was moving away from Pathfinder. Which is a shame because Alex’s Iconic Designs are always fun. They’re the articles that first brought Alex to my attention.

Thursday, September 17^th

PODCAST

Valiant Episode 1: In Which We Meet Our Heroes

It is so exciting to announce that Valiant is here. I already love these characters, as well as the setting and the tone of this actual play podcast.

For those keeping track, Valiant fills the one podcast release gap in the Block 1 schedule. We now only have one gap, Wednesday of Block 2, before we are officially releasing a podcast episode every weekday.

ARTICLE

Investing In: Pathfinder 2E Subsystems
by Rob Pontious

Another surprise, Rob dedicated his latest Investing In to Pathfinder. Normally Rob talks about other game systems that might interest Pathfinder and Starfinder enthusiasts, and he still does here, in a way. Rob talks about the Gamemastery Guide subsystems he plans on implementing in his upcoming campaign. So it’s a different game system, from a certain point of view.

Friday, September 18^th

PODCAST

KD Plays – Secrets of Magic Playtest

I took a risk and made a magus I was worried wouldn’t work, which is good for playtest results but ify for content. While I’d still like some more action economy flexibility, overall I thought it played as the class is intended. Unlike Alex’s summoner, who was a big blob of rules legal weird. Fun, but weird.

ARTICLE

Monstrous Physique — Link (PF2E)
By Luis Loza

Hey, Luis made a monster!
After a month of ramping up for Valiant, Luis took no recovery time, immediately diving into a returning Monstrous Physique to create a 2e statblock for Nintendo’s Link.

Preview of September 21^st to September 25^th

This is Block 2 of our 2-block schedule.

Monday, September 21^st

PODCAST
Stellar

ARTICLE

Recall Knowledge (available now)

The latest edit-ion!

Tuesday, September 22^nd

PODCAST

Digital Divination with John and Ron

ARTICLE

Burst of Insight by Andrew Marlowe

Wednesday, September 23^rd

TWITCH

Know Direction Live – Pathfinder 2e Hacks and House Rules

We flesh out some of the 2e house rules we’ve been thinking about, focusing specifically on character creation. Then we discuss the recent announcements of a Mwangi hardcover and adventure path, and circle back to how the Secrets of Magic playtest went.

ARTICLE
Phantasmal Killer by Crystal Frasier

Thursday, September 24^th

PODCAST

Know Direction– Pathfinder 2e Hacks and House Rules

ARTICLE

Something Creates – An Adventure by Andrew Sturtevant

Friday, September 25^th

PODCAST

Intrepid Heroes

ARTICLE

Bend The Knee by Loren Sieg

Now you know,
Ryan Costello