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.
Contrary to what you may have read, I’m not dead. I’m fine. Better than I’ve felt in a month, in fact. And while I wouldn’t blame you for suspecting this might be Loren posing as Ryan, my March long hiatus from Know Direction audio and video recording ended Friday with the recording of the latest Adventurous.
I’m not more an April Fools guy. I enjoy a well-executed prank that mystifies rather than tricks. Your Google Nose or Kirby Roomba. But I rarely participate in April Fools pranks myself. Outside of the network, that is.
For whatever reason, in April 2017, the Know Direction Network collectively decided we would post a prank article. Since then, it’s been a Network tradition to craft an April 1st article with a headline that’s just believable enough to raise one eye brow per face, and reveal within a few paragraphs of the article that no, this isn’t real.
It occurred to me that we don’t tag the articles as April Fools articles, making them hard for someone wanting to read our past pranks to find them. To solve that, here’s a glossary of the Know Direction Network’s April Fools articles:
April 1st, 2017
Upcoming Pathfinder Releases Leaked!
A variety of fake Pathfinder products, with a mix of wordplay, Pathfinder enthusiast in-jokes, and absurdity, topped with Perram’s perfect mock-up of the headscratching new hardcover, the Advanced Beginner Guide.
April 1st, 2018
WotC Announces Legacy of 3rd Edition Edition!
A timely gag about Wizards of the Coast releasing updated and cleaned up Legacy versions of past editions of Dungeons & Dragons, and how Paizo beat them to the punch with 3.5e by about 10 years.
April 1st, 2019
Ryan Reviews 2nd Edition
I reviewed 2nd edition. But it was not the upcoming Pathfinder 2nd edition, like you probably assumed. Ho-no, ho ho! It was 1989’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. Got ya!
April 1st, 2020
Dashing Dwarves Rush To Join Know Direction Network
Our trickiest gag to date, we reported following up on importing Intrepid Heroes by importing Adventure Path Actual Play Speed Runners podcast, Dashing Dwarves. I know I’m laughing at my own joke, but I am still so proud of how clever and believable the name and concept of Dashing Dwarves is at a glance.
Know Direction Die Rolling App!
Also in 2020, Dustin revealed a dice app unlike any other: The Know Direction Die Rolling App, complete with microtransactions to improve your rolls!
April 1st, 2021
Loren Sieg And Vanessa Hoskins Take Over Know Direction As Full Time Hosts
The most fun part about this was how real life informed the joke. March 2021 saw less of Perram and I than any other single month since he joined the network. At the same time, Loren and Vanessa did a great job filling in for us on Know Direction 245, even joking that they weren’t giving the network back. Because the headline was so believable, we got to the joke and went more absurd with the humor than usual, ensuring that anyone who got past the headline knew this was just the latest Know Direction Network April Fool’s content.
Speaking of network content, here’s a recap of what you might have missed last week from the Know Direction Network:
Recap of March 29th to April 2nd
What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com and twitch.tv/knowdirection?
Monday, March 29th
Podcast
Legend Lore Special Edition: One Shot Part 2: It’s a Trap… Door!
I am shameless in how many episodes of content we are stretching out of this one shot. This is the third episode, the conclusion of the episode. Next week features each player’s character creation session followed by their impressions of 2nd edition.
Article
Recall Knowledge – Fast March
By Ryan Costello
The editorial that informed the April Fool’s joke.
Tuesday, March 30th
Podcast
Legend Lore 023 — Hazards
I haven’t talked up how much I enjoy 2e hazards, so let me take the opportunity. I think the systematic design that unifies traps, haunts, and environmental obstacles was a great idea and perfectly executed. The hazard stat block is easy to follow and includes everything you need. Even that, an analysis of how hazards work by Luis and Loren was appreciated.
Article
Fox’s Cunning – Free Archetypes
By Dustin Knight
Not exactly a hot take, but Dustin provides intelligent analysis as to why he thinks every campaign should use 2e’s Free Archetypes optional rule
Wednesday, March 31st
Discord
Geek Together – Map Together
Alex took to the Geek Together voice channel on the Know Direction Discord to crowdsource dungeon design for his Teenage Wasteland campaign.
Podcast
Presenting – Alison Cybe
Alison Cybe has an impressive writing resume, and they provide excellent insight into how they established themselves as a writer.
Article
Guidance — What Are Thooooooose … Technomancer Spells?!
By Alexander Augunas
You’ll recall that Alex recently went over five thing he didn’t love about Starfinder, which fit into two broad categories: equipment and spellcasting. This week, he talks about his issues getting into a technomancer build, a class that overlaps equipment and magic.
Thursday, April 1st
Podcast
Valiant Episode 13: In Which They Jump Into A Pit
Really enjoying how the PCs interact with the shadow guardian.
Article
Investing In: Bite Marks
By Rob Pontious
Bite Marks is a Powered by the Apocalypse game that scratches Rob’s werewolves RPG itch.
Loren Sieg And Vanessa Hoskins Take Over Know Direction As Full Time Hosts
By Ryan Costello
Or was it by Ryan Costello?
Friday, April 2nd
Article
Monstrous Physique — Winter Soldier (SF)
By Luis Loza
Other than leaving out rules for arming a racoon animal companion with an automatic weapon and performing a spinning hail of gunfire, Luis nailed his Winter Soldier for Starfinder build.
Preview of April 5th to 9th
This is back to Block 1 of our 2-block schedule.
Monday, April 5th
Podcast
Adventurous 054 – You Get What You Deserve
This is the second week in which a selection of our preshow banter makes it into the episode as a preamble. I’ll only do that when the preamble sets the tone for the episode or gets referenced later on, both of which happened here.
Article
Recall Knowledge – The Fool Who Follows
By Ryan Costello
The real trick is that it’s already April 5th!
Tuesday, April 6th
Podcast
Digital Divination 027 – Invisibility
John and Ron talk about invisibility in Starfinder, a solid topic handled with full transparency.
Article
Burst of Insight by Andrew Marlowe
Andrew Marlowe shares GM and design advice for and from other game systems.
Wednesday, April 7th
Twitch
Know Direction 247 Live – Bestiary 3 Review
Perram and I are back together to review Bestiary 3!
Podcast
Game Design Unboxed 12 – CTRL
Danielle, Ben, and Denice talk with Julio Nazario about CTRL from Pandasaurus Games.
Article
Groundbreaking by Randal Meyer
Randal Meyer brings a Pathfinder campaign setting to life, one blog post at a time.
Thursday, April 8th
Podcast
Know Direction 247 – Bestiary 3 Review
The latest episode of Know Direction, the Know Direction Network’s flagship podcast.
Article
Something Creates by Andrew Sturtevant
Andrew Sturtevant creates Starfinder content, and shares insight into his decisions and his struggles along the way.
Friday, April 9th
Podcast
Intrepid Heroes 57
An actual play podcast of the Starfinder Adventure Path Dawn of Flame from Paizo, currently GMed by book 4’s writer, Paizo developer Ron Lundeen.
Bend the Knee – Heros Shade
By Loren Sieg
Loren asks members of the Heros Shade actual play podcast what their stat blocks would look like in real life.
Now you know,
Ryan Costello
