Every week, Now You Know recaps the Know Direction content of the past week, previews the Know Direction content of the week to come, and shares the thoughts on the state of the network from the director of operations, Ryan Costello.
Let’s start the new year off with the big public announcement from last week’s Know Direction Holiday Special. Vanessa Hoskins and Luis Loza join Perram as the new hosts of the Know Direction Podcast. The three of them bring uncanny knowledge of the Pathfinder system, setting, and the history of the game. Their first episode, Know Direction 267, releases next Thursday, January 13th, recorded live on Monday, January 10th.
Which brings us to the scheduling changes. To accommodate the new hosts’ schedules, Know Direction Live records every other Monday going forward. Know Direction: Beyond, Geek Together (when it happens) and the new Essence20 podcast, Upshift, will record Wednesdays. Regardless of the recording day, Know Direction recordings continue to go live at 9pm Eastern.
Circling back to Upshift, we also publicly announced it as the name of the Know Direction Network’s Essence20 news, previews, and interviews podcast. With the upcoming release of Renegade’s first Essence20 Roleplaying game, Power Rangers, followed by G.I. JOE, and Transformers later this year, and my interest and involvement in the system, we’re expanding what the Know Direction Network covers. That means you can expect other familiar content to change release dates in the name of fitting the new content in. Tentatively, we’re looking at January 26th as the debut of the Know Direction Network’s Essence20 content. That’s the day we expect to record the first episode of Upshift. We’ll announce any changes to the schedule before then, and if there’s any additional Essence20 content to expect.
Although we have some of the schedule changes in mind, the only thing we’re announcing right now is that there won’t be new episodes of Legend Lore or Valiant this week. Luis is away from his recording and editing equipment, visiting family. And I’m sure I’ve said at least once that family comes before Network content.
Speaking of Network content, here’s a recap of the podcasts and blogs from last week at the Know Direction Network:
Recap of December 26th to 31st
What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com and twitch.tv/knowdirection?
Monday, December 26th
Article
Now You Know – KD Holiday Special
By Ryan Costello
I officially announced the 2021 Know Direction Holiday Special.
Wednesday, December 28th
Podcast
Digital Divination 046 – Starfinder 2021
John and Ron wrap up the year by recapping the year.
Wednesday, December 29th
Twitch
Know Direction Holiday Special 2021 Live
With 13 Network guests joining Perram and I, surly nothing will go wrong. Surely. I meant “surely”.
Podcast
Game Design Unboxed 27: Fire Tower
Danielle talks to Gwen Ruelle, who decided that firefighting didn’t need to be cooperative. She co-designed and published Fire Tower, a competitive firefighting game. Come for fascinating facts about firehawks, stay for the keyboard cat cameo!
Article
More Lore: The City at the Center of the Lore
By Scott D Young
Scott looks at how Absalom has changed between its original publication and the Second Edition update, and dive into the lore behind Absalom and find some tidbits that can serve as the basis for characters or adventures.
Thursday, December 30th
Podcast
Know Direction 266 – Holiday Special 2021
So, that was not ideal. Between our first scheduled guest canceling for personal reasons, not being able to hear our second scheduled guest, our third scheduled guest not being able to hear us, and a scheduling misunderstanding with our fourth scheduled guest, we didn’t get to chat with a guest until an hour into the episode. The downsides are obvious. Not getting to catch up with our friends, our guests wasting their time with nothing to show for it, and on air technical difficulties. The plus side is that Perram and I can fill an hour with nothing planned, switching between talking holidays and Pathfinder. And once Michelle joined us and fixed Alex’s audio issues, every guest joined us smoothly and made the most of their 20 minutes, until our last guest, Crystal, who we lost a couple of times. Hopefully next year goes more smoothly. Y’know, if Perram, Luis, and Vanessa will have me.
Friday, December 31st
Podcast
Intrepid Heroes 076 – End of the Year Special
In this special episode the classic Intrepid Heroes cast reflects on the last year and how things went for them as a group, as well as look forward to 2022.
Article
Monstrous Physique — Costello-bot 4000 (PF2E)
By Luis Loza
I had no idea Luis planned to make the last Know Direction Network post of 2021 a unique construct based on me. And he even got Sheppi to illustrate it! As is standard for Monstrous Physique, it’s not just packed with references to the source material (in this case, y’know, me), it’s a fully functional stat block with unique abilities and lore. I totally want to see Costello-bot 4000 wander into a game I’m playing in, challenge me as a worthy opponent, and suplex me before slapping on a submission hold.
Preview of January 3rd to 7th
This is back to Block 2 of our 2-block schedule.
Monday, January 3rd
Article
Now You Know – New Year, New Hosts, New Show, and New Schedule
By Ryan Costello
New, new, new, new!
Tuesday, January 4th
Article
Fox’s Cunning
By Dustin Knight
Dustin offers expert insight and helpful tools to enhance your game..
Wednesday, January 5th
Podcast
Presenting – Rob Pontious
John Godek invests in the Know Direction Network’s own Rob Pontious.
Article
Behind The Screens – A Game Master’s Responsibilities
By Ryan Costello
I’m launching a Behind The Screens series that covers the basics of GMing.
Thursday, January 6th
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.
Now you know,
Ryan Costello
