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.
At Gen Con 2018, Crystal Frasier and I discussed the possibility of Green Ronin content on the Know Direction Network. She loved the idea of promoting a company and product that she was passionate for and personally involved in by way of content that our audience would enjoy, but she wanted my opinion of the fit. After all, she said, Know Direction is a Pathfinder network.
That was definitely true for a long time, but no longer true by then and even less true now. I’m not just talking about the expansion to cover Starfinder with podcasts Know Direction – Beyond and Stellar (and eventually Intrepid Heroes and Digital Divination), and the freedom for our bloggers to expand their coverage to include Paizo’s now three year old sci-fi game. When the Pathfinder 2e playtest launched and I did not like it, we realized that all of our network’s eggs were in the Paizo basket. If I felt about 2e how I felt about the playtest, there was a worst case scenario where the network’s relationship with Paizo fractured and the access to Paizo staff that defines our network to a lot of our fans was lost.
Luckily that did not end up being the case, but in January 2019 we expanded our coverage to broaden the perception of the network. Andrew Marlowe’s Burst of Insight is a great example of how the network started covering more than just Paizo games. Along similar lines, when we brought Rob Pontious on board, we saw him as an individual to be a good fit for Know Direction. Investing In came later, and only came about because the network was at a place where blogs without a dedication to Paizo products were now a benefit and not an oddity.
When Pathfinder 2e came out and the staff’s response was overall positive, a lot of in-case-of-emergency plans remained behind unbroken glass. However, we did not see those plans – many of which involved Green Ronin- as cancelled. They were no longer urgent. It took us a little longer to get back to them than I think most of us expected, but last week we finally produced our first 100% Green Ronin dedicated content, a conversation about the AGE system, Blue Rose, and Mutants & Masterminds with Green Ronin designer Steve Kenson, and Green Ronin/Know Direction team members Crystal Frasier and Owen K.C. Stephens.
More Green Ronin KD content will follow, starting July 15th with the first installment of Crystal Frasier’s new blog, Phantasmal Killer. Phantasmal Killer is a GMing blog with a focus on creating subsystems to suit your needs. It will be one part system-agnostic theory crafting, and one part example written for a Green Ronin system. Additionally, we plan to launch actual play one-shots and mini-series in which we dabble in different systems, with a focus on Green Ronin.
Naturally we are thrilled to bring Crystal onto the KD team in a greater capacity, but there is a serious concern that needs to be addressed. As much as I am known for my “this could be content” philosophy, I am aware that we have added a lot of content to the network, especially recently. Will the KD network reach its content critical mass?
I think this move, to add breath to our coverage rather than more Pathfinder depth, balances our taking advantage of opportunities to grow with our desire to not overwhelm our audience. As much as we love the idea that there are fans who appreciate everything Know Direction puts out, we don’t expect everyone to consume all of the content we put out. Now fans of Crystal’s get more Crystal content, fans of our actual plays get more actual play content, and fans of Green Ronin can come to Know Direction to get Green Ronin content.
If you really are a fan of all of our content and are worried you won’t be able to stay on top of it all, I guess I’m sorry we keep putting out more awesome content?
Speaking of awesome content, here is a recap of the Know Direction Network content from last week:
Recap of June 29th to July 3rd
What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com and twitch.tv/knowdirection?
Monday, June 29th
PODCAST
Stellar: 010 — Gaping Plasma Hole
There was actually a major recording issue with this episode, but you wouldn’t know it based on how smoothly Vanessa handled some additional dialogue recording and some deft editing. We also didn’t have the greatest episode title in Stellar’s run so far!
ARTICLE
Recall Knowledge – June 22nd to July 3rd
I talked about how we got an episode of Legend Lore on teamwork thanks to teamwork.
Tuesday, June 30th
TWITCH
More like “Green Ronin surprise!” A good surprise.
PODCAST
Digital Divinations 007 – Campaign Themes
If you’ve been following John’s health situation, this episode concluded the Godek kidney saga with a happy ending. They also talk about how theme impacts your campaign.
ARTICLE
Burst of Insight—Dabbling in Cosmic Horror
By Andrew Marlowe
Now that his children are teenagers, Andrew is dipping back into horror RPGs for the first time in (presumably and appropriately 13) years.
Wednesday, July 1st
ARTICLE
Fox’s Cunning – Summon-Dex Part 2
By Dustin Knight
Dustin’s indispensable tool for 2e conjurors and anyone else who plans to summon a lot of monsters expands to cover Aberrations, Constructs, Dragons, Giants and Plants.
Thursday, July 2nd
ARTICLE
Something Creates – An Adventure (Quest #2 Outline)
By Andrew Sturtevant
I love reading Andrew’s insight into his process. On top of outlining adventures, he includes thoughts like the benefits of keeping all skill DCs within an adventure the same, or at most a High/Mid/Low. Not something I considered before but really appreciate having read.
Friday, July 3rd
PODCAST
Intrepid Heroes 038 – At the Core of Noma!
As I’ve mentioned, I am still catching up on Intrepid Heroes (on episode 17!) and so can’t comment on the current episodes. Based on the write-up, the Intrepid Heroes venture into the core of a sun. Fun!
ARTICLE
Bend the Knee – Grown-up Fables
By Loren Sieg
What is an RPG other than grown ups playing make-believe?* Loren crafted a clever question about adapting favourite childhood tales to the tabletop, and posed it to Adventurous artist Sebastian “Sheppi” Rodriguez; Adventurous GM Crystal Frasier; and Know Direction listener Dom Ellis.
*If I’m being honest, the answer is “math”.
Preview of July 6th to June 10th
This is back to Block 1 of our 2-block schedule.
Monday, July 6th
PODCAST
Adventurous 0040 (available now)
Our confrontation with Cygnus goes about 5% as planned.
Know Direction Special – Green Ronin Interview (available now)
You know all of the cool Green Ronin games that people like Perram, Crystal, and Owen casually mention on our podcasts? We give them and Steve Kenson a proper forum to go into why these games mean so much to them.
ARTICLE
Recall Knowledge (also available now)
Announcing more KD content, now available in green.
Tuesday, July 7th
PODCAST
Legend Lore 007: Initiative
Initiative in 2e became more dynamic, but also more complicated, with rules spread across the Core Rulebook and the Game Mastery Guide. Luis and Loren take turns breaking initiative down.
ARTICLE
Groundbreaking by Randal Meyer
Randal returns to his summoner from his previous installment, exploring the origin of Ida Lone.
Wednesday, July 8th
TWITCH
Time to talk about the vanguard. As someone with only passing familiarity with Starfinder, the vanguard eludes me. Looking forward to having it broken down and explained.
PODCAST
Presenting: Paizo freelancer Tineke Bolleman
ARTICLE
Thursday, July 9th
ARTICLE
Friday, July 10th
TWITCH
PODCAST
“Beyond on Friday?” you ask! Yes, as of this episode Know Direction: Beyond releases on Fridays instead of Thursdays.
ARTICLE
Monstrous Physique by Luis Loza
Important Reminders
Like a bulletin board of all the adventures you should be on.
- Gen Con Online – July 30 to August 2: Somehow we live in a world where Gen Con is this month and my first reaction to realizing that is “Oh yeah…” Details are not finalized but we have started talking with Paizo about how Know Direction can help bring Paizo’s Gen Con seminars to an Internet audience.
Now you know,
Ryan Costello
