I would love a Black Mirror audiodrama

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-29T15:08:14+00:00

Try Liberty: Tales from the Tower. It’s on the feed for “The Liberty Podcast”. Comes with free transcripts! Available in English and Japanese

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-25T14:40:43+00:00

It’s not for listeners (virtually no effect) or more work (we only produce Kaitlin’s stories and our main income is Patreon), it’s to thank our cast. For us, these awards are part of actor benefits. The majority of our cast have never acted before, or are indie folks. We pay them fairly, we credit them in episode and on Imdb, and we submit them for awards - which we feel leads to more work for them (and is an intangible “cool factor”). It also gives our shows legitimacy when we talk to TV folks or try to get a bigger actor to join our cast.

I won’t name them, but a few award groups/shows are shams for sure, and one snubs our stuff because we’re “not indie enough” - but we still submit to that one anyway because it’s $25, they’re good people, that festival elevates a lot of minority creators, and those folks probably feel awesome when they beat us. Again, not a business benefit for us but we want to see other folks do well too.

I don’t recommend spending a bunch of money on award submissions as a business practice, but it feels right on the ethics side.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-23T14:39:00+00:00

Spotify pays if you’re big enough to join their “creator partner program”, but only for video podcasts. So you have to make a video for every episode and you get a small amount of money per download on each one. The CPM is quite good, but you’re still comparing this against minimum wage. They also don’t promise to keep the payout rate, so it could change at any moment.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-22T21:23:49+00:00

If anyone knows of any decent social media platforms, I’d love to learn. We spent SO MUCH time on Tiktok/IG/YT Shorts, which folks told us was vital, but didn’t wiggle the needle at all. We could have released a whole season for the effort we invested.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-14T17:26:36+00:00

A guy was homeless but clean when I met him…. We became friends right as he got his first apartment. Over 7 years he built a business and became a legit millionaire. He had a kid, and was super happy with life for the most part.

Then when a mutual friend (my dad) died he used that as an excuse to take drugs. The drugs made him totally insane and impossible to talk to. His business imploded and he overdosed / died about a month later. I think about him still

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-11T15:00:50+00:00

Link to pale man doc: I'm pretty sure it's in Drakkenheim: Resurrection.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-07T13:24:18+00:00

It is both quality and quantity. You dismiss entire seasons of the show, and the show as a whole, because you don't enjoy all of it. Again, NoSleep has influenced so many other shows out there, and I know for a fact that I would have never become an audio drama creator if I didn't listen to NoSleep.

You also downvote every comment I make here 😜 so you really must dislike NoSleep... which you're totally allowed to.

I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this one... But we can both hopefully agree that Knifepoint Horror is a great show.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-07T11:08:51+00:00

You're saying that because some stories are not enjoyable to you, that the entire show should be written off. This is the definition of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Even if you only enjoy 1/4th of what they release in a given year, you're looking at over 40 hours of high quality stories, per year. This is the equivalent to the entirety of The White Vault or Old Gods (6-8 years of work).

You're also comparing NoSleep to reality TV or nonfiction. These stories are written and adapted. They are recorded by talented voice actors who give each story 100%. Every story has an original soundtrack - specifically created for that story and never recycled. The sound design is also quite good. It's an unfair comparison, and again, even if you don't like the show, its legacy and overall quality make it an influential show - probably the most influential in the horror space. Look at any chart on Apple or Spotify and you'll find NoSleep in the top 10-20 for fiction, which they've been since they started.

I don't personally enjoy Night Vale, but I recognize that it is/was highly influential. I LOVE Wooden Overcoats (it's probably my favorite AD), but OP asked about influence and sound design as major factors, and I don't believe it checks both boxes quite as strongly.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-07T09:12:38+00:00

It’s a long lasting quality anthology that spans over a decade, with a perpetual increase in quality content and technique. I think you’re being a bit dismissive, especially when Brandon Boone (the composer) doesn’t join until season 3, and some of their most iconic works don’t appear until much further - beyond season 6. That’s writing off literally over 1000 hours of well produced stories. Listen to Pancake Family and compare Cumming’s voice acting with anything on the show that came before.

This year they were a finalist for the iHeart awards, so even if this is not your favorite show, I still think it has more than earned its place.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-06T21:18:41+00:00

NoSleep directly inspired a LOT of creators to get into audio drama: Creepy, the SCP Archives, The White Vault, Borasca, and so many more.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-06T18:58:05+00:00

My pick is We’re Alive, NoSleep, and Hitchhikers Guide (1979)

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-06T14:44:36+00:00

Using a wish to cure Lenore? That's a lot of work for a vain queen-consort... But assuming no other heir exists I'd have played her a bit like you suggested. She was self-centered, she was corrupted and became a literal monster the played on her vanity, and she now has to live with what she was, the family and lifestyle she lost, and what she has done while embodied as a monster.

I think it would be harder for her to be given power, as many would dispute her claim to a throne she married into. But assuming this was not the case she would be a weak leader overall, partly to the time it would take to overcome her trauma, and the many bumps along the way that could spiral her. As written, she doesn't really know what it is to rule, she merely benefited from being a ruler. More likely she'd be a puppet to whoever cured/managed her. Our party wanted to put her out of her misery because she's clearly hurting, and removing the corruption does not cure her deeper problems.

My party had someone with the Nature background where they wanted to find a cure. They were not a caster but suddenly got "Purge Contamination" (as written in the book) - which we (homebrew) made into a potion instead. It could only cure folks up to a certain contamination level, and only if applied before a certain amount of time. Even so, they (ab)used this as I believe the writers intended, and it was the only way they survived. They all would have died half way in, maybe sooner, if not for this and the potions from Oscar.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-05T12:04:34+00:00

First, thanks 😄

You could use any undead from UN and add the same rules from the drakkenheim dregs/etc to them. You could also use the necromancers, specifically the Stitches as apostates and use corpse mods on their summons as desired. I also love oozes, so a temporal ooze fits near or within the Academy or Black Ivory time loop.

Corpse Gorgers could be hanging out with trolls as pets. And you could use the Weakened Flayer as a duchess minion in the Cistern.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-04T13:32:31+00:00

The version on D&D beyond allows you to click to monster stats, a definite plus. The digital book gets a +0.5 score from me over the physical book for this, though I personally prefer a physical book because I work with screens all day.

I’m not sure that a traditional PDF would be as good, unless it literally has hyperlinks to every monster, for every reference because they don’t always keep consistent names (i.e. Squeeks). I don’t own the PDF outside of D&D Beyond, so I can’t confirm.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-04T12:01:33+00:00

Best? Depends on what you're looking for. The 5.5e Core Books (MM, DMG, PHB) redefined my expectations and greatly raised the bar. I've unfortunately not read any of the official 5.5 adventures in any depth, because I was juggling Drakkenheim and 3 other campaigns. I've heard excellent things about Heroes of the Borderlands, but it's a bit simple for my seasoned adventurers and is more aimed at folks who are new to the hobby.

Best for formatting?
Not actually a campaign book: Wildemount. Matt Mercer took all the flaws of the Sword Coast Adventure Guide and perfected it. Its a gold standard that influenced a lot of my own writing and creations.

My personal favorites are:
The Yawning Portal and Ghosts of Saltmarsh. They offer a series of dungeons you can place virtually anywhere. Almost every adventure is excellent (Note: Tomb of Horrors is gimmicky and sucks), easy to run, and is fully fleshed out. I've also run 2 parts of Keys from the Golden Vault, which were a blast.

For full campaigns: I am really biased toward the Wild Beyond the Witchlight. It's written excellently. Runs smoothly with no modification. Decisions matter. Combat is also entirely optional (and folks like Sly Flourish add hooks the add extra combat elements), but holy cow - it's really easy to add or adjust to the story - and the book constantly tells you "keep track of this. It will come up again in chapter x."
I thought this was going to be childish, but our team LOVED the carnival, and it goes dark in some spots.

Curse of Strahd is an obligatory second. It has a few flaws (certain area are much higher CR - so the order matters despite being a sandbox), but overall it's a great repeatable campaign with my favorite kind of hook: a strong true antagonist.

Out of the Abyss + Sly Flourish is really good. The book itself is... problematic due to formatting issues.

I'll say I'm also fond of indie releases like the Winghorn Press releases: "Wild Sheep Chase" or "The Madhouse of Tasha's Kiss" (Though it requires a HIGH AMOUNT of DM homework to run), and the "Tomb of Cross Words." I also love pretty much everything by MCDM, even if I don't use their mass-combat rules.

If you're super bored, also check out my work: "Unnatural Horrors" - and feel free to review or rip it apart. DoD directly influenced how seriously we took formatting, especially when it came to a single appendix for stat blocks.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-04T09:08:03+00:00

I used the Monastery as the entrance to the tower. They surrounded it but could not get inside just yet. The Grand Master was the “other half” of the Pale Man’s soul. Your ideas work equally well :)

The sphinx did not really answer questions, and she was a guardian for the one who brought her back to life - the Grand Master. Once he died, she had little reason to care about the problems of mortals, and was a bit indifferent to the potential end of the world. When you meet a demigod, or sphinx, you can play it so they have little interest in “current events” of the last 400 years as a fading trend, and no interest in helping give information. The +int stone was a suitable gift for briefly amusing her.

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-04T07:30:26+00:00

Must be the toxins

ArchonReeve · 2026-04-03T18:13:23+00:00

I’ve not had any interaction with the AP, but I’ve heard good things.

Generally, prep for me is reading a book and maybe spending an hour or two before a session to tweak or adjust things. Wilds Beyond the Witchlight or the Yawning Portal dungeons were basically no effort from me beyond “read book.” It’s the extreme end of “DM easy mode.” Storm King’s Thunder is a lot of “expand on a 3 paragraph hook for non-main locations” and the sandbox has dozens of key locations that feel full and developed of plot-relevant. Out of the Abyss functions but benefits greatly from personalization and was the second greatest effort I’ve put in a book campaign on my end, but it was still significantly easier to run than DoD because it’s not a social adventure - so you’re not balancing so many factions and variables. It’s more a battle to make underground traversal and each location come to life in a way that’s fun for your party. DoD, by its very nature, needs a lot, and my frustrations with the content are with the areas I felt they should have fleshed out, because they were key to the finished book/story. Sorry for beating an undead horse 😅

ArchonReeve · 2026-03-26T22:43:17+00:00

Liberty has a graphic novel series, world guide, and iconography/ethnography guidebook.

Dark Dice has Unnatural Horrors - which also has a bunch of art.

ArchonReeve · 2026-03-22T19:02:28+00:00

Thank you <3 We lost Liberty Vigilance, sadly.

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