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.

This week marks the last week of regularly scheduled Know Direction Network content of the year. Starting next Monday, the 21^st of December, until the first Monday of 2021, January 4^th, the Know Direction staffers have the option to take the week off. Unlike October’s Guest Blogger Takeover, this hiatus is optional. That leaves the option open for year in reviews, holiday themed articles, or just getting out the next installment of a series.

I for one can use the break. A few weeks ago, I mixed up my Adventurous release weeks and stayed up late accidentally getting an episode out a week early. Last week, Danielle got me the latest episode of Game Design Unboxed ahead of scheduled. And I posted it ahead of schedule. And this week, I had the weirdest time figuring out whether to use my Week 1 template or my Week 2 template for Recall Knowledge.

I’ll still post Recall Knowledges over the next two weeks, and there will still be a live Know Direction on December 30^th (a Holiday special with Know Direction staff guests rotating in and out). But I’m going to hold off on releasing Adventurous 51 until the New Year. It’s recorded, but with Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Fridays, our usual recording day, we won’t get another episode recorded until hopefully January 8^th. If we have to take a release off, it makes more sense for it to coincide with other KD content on a holiday hiatus.

Speaking of Know Direction Network content, here’s a recap of what you might have missed last week from the Know Direction Network:

Recap of December 7^th to December 12^th

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

Monday, December 7^th

Article

Recall Knowledge – Chaotic Neutral Ninja Turtles

Not satisfied with a chunk of podcast content dedicated to defending alignment in RPGs, I wrote about a scene in a Ninja Turtles episode I just watched that perfectly illustrated how valuable a storytelling tool alignment can be.

Tuesday, December 8^th

Patreon

Private Sanctum 10

Another episode of Patron’s Private Sanctum for the listening enjoyment of our $5+ backers.

Podcast

Legend Lore 016 — Druid

This episode features the debut of The Viking Test. Loren messaged me saying “Luis has his Batman test, I want to have The Viking Test.” My first reaction was “Wha?” I hadn’t picked up on Loren’s tendency to create a Viking themed character for Legend Lore Class Features. We talked a bit about it and she convinced me this can be an entertaining and insightful addition to the Class Feature formula.

Article

Fox’s Cunning – Exploration Tracker

I love these game aids that Dustin puts together. His combination of cleverness and experience shines through in how useful they are. Also worth noting, Dustin updated and added to his original article after it was published. If you read it early in the day, you might want to check it out again to see if you have the updated version.

Wednesday, December 9^th

Twitch

Geek Together – Geeky Gift Guide 2020

You might be confused by the branding. Perram called this Know Direction Gift Guide 2020 and used the KD dressing for the video, but this was an episode of Geek Together. However, he, Luis, and Dustin talked about specifically about gamer gifts so if you are a KD listener looking for gifts for your group, this episode is worth a watch.

Podcast

Presenting – George “Loki” Williams

Loki spends as much of his interview talking about New Orleans as he does his extensive game design and writing bibliography. That suits me just fine, because I love New Orleans.

Article

Guidance: Kitsune in My Teenaged Wasteland
By Alex Augunas

You might associate Alex with kitsune but might not know why. Alex summarizes what he likes about them before going into their role in the homebrew Starfinder campaign he’s running.

Thursday, December 10^th

Patreon

100 Backers!

The Know Direction Network Patreon reached the 100 backers milestone. It made me feel good, so I wrote a quick post about it, reiterating what we’ve done with our Patreon money and what our future goals are.

Within a few hours, we lost a backer. Not faulting them, but it took the wind out of the sails of that accomplishment.

Podcast

Valiant Episode 6: In Which They Chat At Nana’s House

When I shared this episode to Facebook, I made a reference to Double Hats and Tiny Little House Gods. Both are Owen K.C. Stephens’ halfing bard Seren D. Pious quotes from the episode.

Article

Investing In: Ace Adventure and the Flying Royal Flush
By Rob Pontious

The opening paragraph, taken from Ace Adventure’s Kickstarter page (and presumably the rulebook) makes a big and bold political point that the last 1-4 years resemble dystopian alternate history fiction settings. In case you doubted a roleplaying game can make political points. 

Friday, December 11^th

Podcast

Geek Together Holiday Guide 2020

Still got gamers to get gifts for this holiday season? Perram, Luis, and Dustin have suggestions no matter what your budget!

Article

Monstrous Physique — Robot Santa (SF)
By Luis Loza

Being a lover of popular culture, I often click on the latest Monstrous Physique and just say “yes!” Do I play Starfinder? No. If I did, would I run a Robot Santa encounter? Probably not. Did seeing Futurama’s Robot Santa stated out for Starfinder make my week? You bet!

Saturday, December 12^th

Podcast

Game Design Unboxed 004: Hold That Face

Hey, a Torontonian! Montreal may be as far from Toronto as it is from New York (about a 6 hour drive), but when I was working in board games, I felt much more connected to the Toronto game design community than the Montreal one. Toronto has community members like Pam Wells spearheading events. And to no surprise, Pam’s alpha tendencies helped her get a game signed with Hasbro.

Oh, also, I scheduled this a week early. Oops. The next episode releases December 26^th, and then we’re moving Game Design Unboxed to every other Wednesday. Much easier to track.

Preview of December 14^th to December 10^th

This week is Block 2 of our 2-block schedule.

Monday, December 14^th

Podcast

Adventurous 050 – Nothing Can Be Said To Be Certain

I love that our episode 50 coincided with an in character festival that we’ve been planning for months. Is it a coincidence, or the magic of Crystal Frasier?

Article

Recall Knowledge (available now)

Tuesday, December 15^th

Podcast

Digital Divination with John and Ron

Article

Burst of Insight by Andrew Marlowe

Wednesday, December 16^th

Twitch

Know Direction: 239 – Advanced GM Screen and More with Logan Bonner

We were as surprised by the announcement of the Advanced GM Screen as we were the extremely positive reception it’s received. Pathfinder Lead Designer Logan Bonner joins us to breakdown what makes it such a popular Pathfinder 2e accessory. Then Logan sticks around to talk the Pathfinder 2e Beginner Box, preview Bestiary 3, and who knows where else the interview goes.

Article

Phantasmal Killer by Crystal Frasier

Thursday, December 17^th

Podcast
Know Direction 239 

Article

Something Creates by Andrew Sturtevant

Friday, December 18^th

Podcast

Intrepid Heroes

Article

Bend The Knee by Loren Sieg

Now you know,
Ryan Costello