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.

Yesterday, after my kids opened their presents and before going to my parents for Christmas dinner, I found myself with the rarest gift of all: Nothing to do. So, for the first time in I don’t know how long, I read a Pathfinder sourcebook for pleasure. I sat down with Impossible Lands for a few hours.

I haven’t read much Pathfinder in 2022. We’re coming up on the first anniversary of my last episode as a full time host of Know Direction. When I was hosting KD, even if I thoroughly enjoyed the book and intended to read it anyway, the combination of obligation and deadline made reading the rulebooks feel a bit like work. Work I enjoyed, don’t get me wrong, but different from just reading a book. It was particularly tough when 2e transitioned the softcover setting books -which we traditionally cherrypicked- to hardcover books -which we reviewed all of, one exception that won’t be named aside. Even though we loved the majority of the Lost Omens books, the constant churn of content that we felt the need to cover made it easy to forget how much we loved these books.

Old habits die hard, and I was taking mental notes for an Impossible Lands review that I have no intention to record. And it wasn’t long before reading such brilliant writing got my creative juices flowing and I put the book down to go writing. Still, for that brief period, I enjoy indulging in a hobby purely for the love of it.

I’m definitely not far enough into Impossible Lands to give the book a valid review, but as usual when it comes to the Lost Omens line. The reinforced content warning in the introduction served as a good reminder of the unpleasant (in-setting) history of this part of Golarion. And while I knew these areas individually, and vaguely understood that they shared borders, I didn’t realize the relationships these countries shared.

Will I finish the book? I hope so. Despite the negative brush I painted the read-for-review era, it did force me to actually read the books. Here’s hoping I have the time and don’t need a looming deadline to read a book I’ve enjoyed so far.

Speaking of what we do for the network, here’s a recap of the Know Direction Network content from the last week:

Recap of December 19th to 23rd

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

Monday, December 19th

Article

Now You Know – Out With The 2022, In With The 2023
By Ryan Costello

Not knowing if I would get today’s editorial written (I did!) I wrote a year end editorial a week early.

Tuesday, December 20th

Podcast

Young and Adventurous 014

This concludes the second Young and Adventurous adventure. Unfortunately, the future of Adventurous, in any incarnation, is up in the air. The availability of the cast for recordings and my ability to stay on top of the edits continues to fluctuate. In case this marks the end of Adventurous, I want to thank both GMs, Crystal and Scott, my fellow cast members, Perram, Loren, Vanessa, Jason, Cathy, and Ari, and our amazing artist, Sheppi Rodriguez. Adventurous is easily my favourite campaign I’ve gotten to play in, with Xavier one of my favourite characters to play. We’ll see what the future holds for these characters, but for now, I am thankful for Adventurous and everyone that made it happen.

Wednesday, December 21st

Podcast

Presenting – Shan Wolf

I wasn’t familiar with Shan’s work, but he’s been on the Paizo forums for forever, and his enthusiasm for the game shone through this interview.

Thursday, December 22nd

Article

Investing In: Dread
By Rob Pontious

Hey, I know Dread! I played my first session this Halloween.

Rob breaks format to interview his storyteller about their recent holiday themed session.

Preview of December 26th to December 30th

Block 1 of our 2-block schedule.

Note: Because of the holidays, some of the below content might not see release this week.

Monday, December 26th

Podcast

Intrepid Heroes 102 – Looking Forward

Even though our Intrepid Heroes just did a retrospective for their 100th episode last month, that covered several years of the podcast. In this episode, John and Ron reunite to look over the last year, specifically, and look ahead to 2023.

Article

Now You Know – Impossible Landing
By Ryan Costello

I’m reading Impossible Lands. Hence, the self-explanatory title of this article.

Tuesday, December 27th

Podcast

Game Design Unboxed 53: Batman TAS – Gotham City Under Siege

Danielle Reynolds speaks with Michael Guigliano about Batman: The Animated Series – Gotham City Under Siege.

Article

Eldritch Excursion
By Nate Wright

Nate Wright’s journal of flavour and mechanics.

Wednesday, December 28th

Article

Behind The Screens
By Ryan Costello

Veteran Game Master Ryan Costello talks with his fellow GMs on their side of the GM screen.

Thursday, December 29th

Podcast

Digital Divination 73

John and Jason talk Starfinder.

Friday, December 2nd

Podcast

Upshift 009

Jason and I talk Essence20.

 

Now you know,

Ryan Costello