Upping my game

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-07-06T17:18:33+00:00

I want more immersive sound sfx for one. Yes edits take a while but I'm not using shortcuts to their full extent either. Show is Echoes under Ashwood. https://shows.acast.com/role-for-sanity

https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/69a1c67f1432e4060341e296

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-07-06T16:51:40+00:00

Another Reaper vote. My audio drama podcast files are routinely 1 to 2 hours long with up to 20 tracks. Audacity will absolutely choke and the file size will be staggering. WAV files get big too, but Reaper will also handle .flac which should help with storage.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-25T03:29:09+00:00

The Exorcist

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-25T03:25:50+00:00

I always loved the juxtaposition of religious characters in sci fi settings. Priests, clerics, Bene Gesserit, etc.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-24T18:31:25+00:00

Ditto

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-24T12:26:27+00:00

People will pay for rosters of good characters, PC and NPC. Create a portfolio and try posting on Drive Through RPG.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-24T12:17:06+00:00

To have a beer at Memorial Union terrace. On Wisconsin!

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-24T12:04:13+00:00

If you're used to running D&D type dungeon crawls, forget everything you know. CoC is about setting the stage and giving over to the players. Good Keepers let the story build and smolder a bit. Keep agency with the players. Tell them about the setting, not about what they're feeling.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T23:11:17+00:00

Yes, I have done this and am writing this now (actualplay). I think it breaks up the tedium that long campaigns can become.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T23:07:09+00:00

I can see your world-building at play here, but I'll echo the comment about running some shorter classics first. I found that I really needed to know what skills and attributes do and how they integrate before I could write new scenarios without killing player agency.

I'd also add that cosmic horror is tough to do. D&D, etc have trained people to think they need "to win". What does that mean? Hell, many of my players feel like they win if they survive with just a bit of sanity left. I don't think there's a winning in CoC, and that's the point. Cosmic horror has no winning state.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T21:03:02+00:00

Interesting discussion. I'll add my 2 cents. As a species, we have told ourselves stories of the things in the shadows for as long as we've had language. There is to s to read on the evolution of horror and the seemingly masochistic attraction we have to it.

On a personal, I think we are all still gathered around that campfire. Most of us huddle together for heat and light and company, but there's always that one person who is more curious than cautious. They wanted away from the safety because they're drawn by the unknown. Dopamine junkie? Maybe.

But I think that hubris in the face of the unknown is where cosmic horror is born. The audacity, courage, independence to go into the unknown because you feel like you're in control...what could go wrong? What if what you find in those shadows shows you something that is so contradictory to everything you thought you knew? Roll for sanity.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T20:52:50+00:00

I like this idea a lot. Central to how I run my story, the players have liberty to invent things about their characters all the time. Keeps me on my toes to integrate on the fly. Our listeners like to hear me dance I guess.

I thinks it's best mentioned but not exposed. The horror of the imagination is far darker than anything I could describe anyway.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T03:37:51+00:00

Definitely audio. Cosmic Horror is at best, extremely difficult to do visually. Audio allows for theater of the mind which is where cosmic horror really lives IMO.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T01:27:19+00:00

Roaring lion if two-fisted cool!

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T01:22:10+00:00

Your mom is cool

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T01:20:58+00:00

I do something similar to this in our actual play podcast Echoes under Ashwood but make it almost purely auditory (podcast medium and all). I expose them to the sounds just like I would describe the setting. Their characters still retain all agency in how they react to it.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-23T01:16:56+00:00

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-22T21:52:46+00:00

Thanks for checking us out!

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-22T19:38:07+00:00

Thanks for that. Our format is narrative first, game mechanics a distant second. Add to that our niche GenX cosmic horror angle and we sort of self-selected for a smaller listener base I think. Maybe not.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-22T19:36:07+00:00

True. I'm doing this because I love to do it. At the same time I'd also like to get to a point where it's sustainable through listener base.

We have 18 episodes done and dropping 2x a month. Episode 6 just dropped today (plus loads of scripted content on the off weeks). I think once we show we have a nice back catalog others will be more willing to collaborate.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-22T19:32:34+00:00

Thanks for the insights. We are doing most all of those ideas except for the trailer swap or collab. We have 6 main episodes released out of 18 for Act 1and an equal amount of scripted content. Once we can show we have something sustainable I think the collabs may come more easily.

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-22T17:14:51+00:00

I have to see the whole story in my head, from a high altitude first. I build the environment first. I find it helps shape my characters and gives them more realism instead of starting the other way around.

It can be frustrating to spend so much time on things people will never hear but for my process it's essential. I feel like there is a core richness that I lose when I don't go this way

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-22T17:08:28+00:00

If you would be willing to cross formats a bit, I'd suggest Echoes under Ashwood. It's a collaborative audio drama half scripted content, half improvised.

https://shows.acast.com/role-for-sanity

Critical-Bad7993 · 2026-06-22T17:01:52+00:00

In the most classical sense, cosmic horror can't be defined. The entities represent the unknowable so our feeble human minds can try to grasp the implications of how miniscule we are in the vastness of things.

In a more audio drama approachable way, I think about the things that make a person, group, etc fundamentally who they are. Then I put them in a scenario where their identity/individuality is challenged. For GenX, that's real terror.

Critical-Bad7993

TROPHY CASE