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.
Perram and I don’t cancel Know Direction live recordings often, usually replacing the host who can’t make it with one of the talented staff members of the Know Direction network. On one occasion, replacing both of us.
I’m easy to replace. I may cover a lot of behind the scenes tasks on the network day to day, but during life episodes, my only duties are on air. Perram produces the episodes. When we need to replace him, the number of qualified candidates shrinks considerably. So when we cancel a podcast, it’s because either we both suddenly became unavailable, or, as in this case, Perram became suddenly unavailable (losing Internet access for hours late in the afternoon of the day we were scheduled to record) and a replacement wasn’t available in time.
Canceling always stings, but this one stung particularly bad. First of all, we lined up two authors of Pathfinder: Lost Omens – The Mwangi Expanse, Allie Bustion and Jabari Weathers. We wasted their time and got them excited for an opportunity to promote themselves and their work that we ultimately had to take back through no fault of theirs. Secondly, we received our review copies of The Mwangi Expanse early enough that logistically, everything else about this episode lined up perfectly. Thirdly, Luis Loza -Know Direction Network member and one of the development leads on Pathfinder: Lost Omens – The Mwangi Expanse, was available to replace Perram as co-host. We didn’t invite Luis and Eleanor Ferron on to talk about the latest Lost Omens hardcover this time because we wanted to spotlight the authors of the book, but the idea of an episode with Luis, Allie, and Jabari exites me. The only obstacle to making that episode happen? Me.
My uncles used to own an Irish pub in downtown Montreal. I remember one of my uncles telling me that an owner should know how to do every job at their business, in case one of those jobs needs to be filled in. Sadly, when it comes to running the Network, I don’t know how to produce a live episode. The last time I tried, I couldn’t get the video to work. So I streamed two hours of audio over a blank screen to Twitch.
Thus, I have a new goal. I need to learn to produce a live episode of the podcast. Our next scheduled episode is Wednesday, July 14th (either the originally scheduled Mwangi Expanse crunch episode, or the rescheduled Mwangi Expanse lore episode). Ideally, I’ll be ready by then to fill in as back-up producer if anything goes wrong on Perram’s end.
By the way, if you’re a subscriber to the Know Direction Twitch channel, you might get random notifications through the week as I test streaming. It will likely just be videos of me messing around with layouts, and not actual Know Direction network content.
Speaking of actual Know Direction network content, here’s a recap of what you might have missed last week from the Know Direction Network:
Recap of June 28th to July 2nd
What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com and twitch.tv/knowdirection?
Monday, June 28th
Article
Recall Knowledge – Expansive Reviews
By Ryan Costello
Ah yes, this was a rare instance of hyping the upcoming episode of KD. Of all the episodes to cancel. :/
Tuesday, June 29th
Podcast
Digital Divination 033 – Transitioning to In-Person Gaming
John and Ron enter the airlock, awaiting the pressure change that indicates to them they are free to step outside again.
Wednesday, June 30th
Podcast
Game Design Unboxed 18: Stripes
I love how Danielle mixes up the guests for GDU. Last episode featured an emerging titan of the industry, Daryl Andrews. This week, she shifts focus to Maxine Ekl, designer, co-owner of a game company, co-organizer of a significant gaming meet-up, but someone who might be flying under the radar because of her lack of social media presence. I know I went from not recognizing her name to respecting the work she put into the industry after listening to this interview.
Article
Guidance — Interrobang Episode 1 — Warpweave Theory, Or How You’re Literally Expanding Reality By Noticing It
By Alexander Augunas
Alex and I talked about this article a bit after he posted it. I didn’t get it. I assumed the opening paragraph was setting the tone for what I otherwise expected to follow the formula of an installment of Guidance. I was a few paragraphs into it before I understood that I was reading in-world fiction, based on ideas introduced in Pop Culture Catalog: Infosphere Shows.
Alex went in a new direction with this post. If you have any feedback for him, you can let him know your thoughts in the blogs-discussion channel on Know Direction’s Discord server.
Friday, July 2nd
Podcast
Intrepid Heroes 063 – The Resistance!
I know this episode is all about the Intrepid Heroes joining a (if not The) resistance, but when I think back to it, my main takeaway was the idea of psychic locks. What a cool concept, and one I’d love to read up on for future implementation in my own games.
Article
Bend the Knee Heightened – Loaded Dice Rollers
By Loren Sieg
Our friends at Loaded Dice Rollers ride into town on the back of… something. They describe the fantasy mounts they chose and why.
Preview of July 5th to July 9th
This is back to Block 1 of our 2-block schedule.
Monday, July 5th
Article
Recall Knowledge – Improving My Craft
I have two weeks to produce results.
Tuesday, July 6th
Podcast
Legend Lore 028 — Gnomes
Luis and Loren finally tackle gnomes, the most underrated and ripe with roleplaying potential ancestry in Pathfinder. Yeah, I said it.
Article
Fox’s Cunning by Dustin Knight
Dustin offers expert insight and helpful tools to enhance your game.
Wednesday, July 7th
Twitch
Know Direction Beyond Live!
Podcast
Presenting – Gamers Making Games: Lyz Liddell
Former Pathfinder designer for Paizo, and current Editting Manager for Magic: The Gathering for Wizards of the Coast, Lyz Liddell talks with John about breaking into the industry, her time at Paizo, and her transition from designing for an RPG to a management position on a lore rich card game.
Article
Behind The Screen by Ryan Costello
I offer insight to my fellow GMs about running games that are inclusive and fun, because different people play the game for different reasons.
Thursday, July 8th
Podcast
Valiant episode 20
Luis mentioned that for a few episodes starting with this one, he improvises everything as the Valiant heroes zagged when all his notes said “Zig”.
Article
Investing In by Rob Pontious
Rob shares what he loves about the RPGs he’s been playing lately, and why you should check them out.
Friday, July 9th
Podcast
Know Direction: Beyond 60
Alex Augunas and James Ballid cover the growing universe of Starfinder.
Article
Monstrous Physique by Luis Loza
Luis makes a monster.
Now you know,
Ryan Costello
