Sword of Symphonies

Yes, this episode goes live on Saturday. Humor me. What are your favorite dice? What are your favorite ways to use them? How can you use random outcome mechanics deliberately and mindfully? Join our Discord! Music by Kathleen!

Listener, let’s start at the end this time. When the action is done with, and the story is told, and what sense can be made of things has been, what remains is memories. Memories are the final product of our mind’s alchemical process, the gold we make of leaden everyday events. Memories aren’t the end. They remain with us, guideposts to our mind and our identity, and so many beginnings are formed...

This week, Cat, Nick, and Kathleen talk about crunch, fashion in game design, and reasons you might want to make a very crunchy game! Join our Discord! Music by Kathleen!

It can be comforting to think that everything has an assigned place in the world, and that, like a well-ordered kitchen, things will make sense when everything is in its proper place. It can sometimes feel like we are a dish left on the counter, waiting to be put in our assigned space so that the world will make sense. Of course, the cold fact of the matter is that there is no such order in the wo...

Everything is tied together. Amylte is chained to its past, and its future will be chained to its present, by the horrors. The Noble Demons are chained to their obsessions, imprisoned by desires they barely comprehend, and the Lesser Daemons are chained to their bound masters. Rangers are tied to their gods, and to the people of the world they are trying to protect. And those people are tied to ea...

The first disappearance was a matter of money. A competitor who needed to disappear at the right time in order to clear the way for new growth. It was also an experiment, a test to see if stories passed down from one head of the household to the next were true. The second disappearance was a matter of fear. A way of sweeping away the tracks. The third disappearance was another matter of money. The...

This week, special guest Ziva of The Eternity Archives joins us to discuss the upcoming Rainbow Roll Fest, a podcast festival we’re planning to showcase queer Actual Play content! Find Ziva and her gorgeous castmates here! Find the Rainbow Roll Fest Here! Join our Discord! Music by Kathleen!

We’ve talked a little about the concept of value. I think now you understand why. You see, as human beings, value is something we can pick up and shape with our own hands, define and redefine as we like. It may be the redefining that is the most beautiful part – the ability to look at something’s value to us and decide for ourselves that it needs to change. We are not Noble Demons. We are not shac...

You may remember the Countess of the Silver River, whose love of dominion made it possible for Tissa to convince her to cease her campaign of terror. Of course you know the Ambassador in Pearl, who fought more or less alongside mortals in the hunt for a common foe. Some of you may even know the Baron of the Gallery, whose collection of unique objects recently had a new sword added to it by some ca...

Value is a funny concept. Somehow human beings turned something abstract into something concrete – what was once just the notion that something meant something to someone became a measure of worth in real, absolute terms. How much does it mean to them? Not everything can be measured in numbers, but we hold the ruler up to more and more objects, events, circumstances, and concepts anyway. In that r...

We interrupt this Sword of Symphonies feed to bring you a special previous of Cat’s next big project, Roar to Heaven! If you’d like to hear the rest of this podcast, then please follow our campaign on Kickstarter!

This week, on Cat’s Cradle! If you’ve ever idly wondered about what it would be like to make an AP podcast, let us tell you some of the ways it might be different from what you were expecting! Roar to Heaven Kickstarter is here! You can find more about Roar to Heaven on our website! Join our Discord! Music by Kathleen!

People are full of stories. When you get right down to it, we live and breathe them. So it stands to reason that any place that is full of people is doubly full of stories. Some of them are anecdotes, some of them are tales, and some of them are even legends. The more people there are in any given place, the deeper and more beautiful the library of that place, which just might be its greatest trea...

We’ve spoken before about the Noble Demons and their obsession, the single beacon of light that illuminates everything they think and do. The Radiant Prince exists to acquire, with no thought at all for what he acquires, from whom, or why. Whether or not he is even capable of questioning his urge to hoard, he doesn’t. The Lady of the River’s Origin, though she claims to hate uncleanliness, builds...

Once upon a time, there was a Duke in Stageport. It’s true. Once upon a time, so long ago that the city as it stood was wrapped in a wall of stone to defend it from neighboring city-states, there was a Duke in Stageport. In fact, there was an army in Stageport. Not like the Crusaders, mind you, nothing like that. An army hired and paid for by this Duke, retained in order to preserve the city as it...

This week on Cat’s Cradle, how do you come up with a character? Worse, how does Bill do it? Join our Discord! Music by Kathleen!

Listener, have you ever felt yourself melt out into the world around you? Felt your body relax as your mind takes its leave for a moment? In Amylte, the world responds to this feeling. When a person takes leave of themself, the world answers that courage with power. To some, it has become second nature to melt into Amylte, so much so that they have forgotten what it means. That their own heart is...

Sometimes when you see yourself slipping away, you see another self. But then you begin to understand that this self is also your self, and it is all selves. Lines of distinction begin to blur, and you realize that you are not you, and I am not me, but we are everything and we are infinite. All joys, fears, hopes, and dreams are experienced as one, all understanding is as one. And all listeners ar...

A couple days ago, the Chosen Emperor conjured a stately pleasure barge from thin air. It was crewed by eager daemons and fueled by supreme egotistical force. Spikes of coral and poison and love drove the barge away, back up the coast, away from the Coral Spirit’s precious home. The Chosen Emperor turned around in defeat but not in surrender. The spirit knew the scent of a demon, yes, but what of...

On a high plateau decorating the sacred Origin Island, where, centuries ago, a great temple one stood, there is now a ruined garden. You may remember the Conqueror’s Coin, the gold-colored flower that stirred the heart of the Conqueror, according to legends. The flower that now grows on the same Conqueror’s grave, in the ruins of his hometown, which was a humble fishing village back when he was a...

Do you remember the Conqueror, listener? The Coral Coast remembers him, even if its people have forgotten. He once collected a rich garden of different peoples and traditions under his banner through force of arms and valiant, warlike courage. The history books also give him credit for the infrastructure that made widespread trade and study possible in the region. It was in service of war. They ha...

Far to the south of Amylte, there is a chain of islands surrounded by mist and jagged stones like the teeth of a monster. Here, the Princess of the Southern Islands lies in wait for passing ships to deliver her favorite delicacy – raw human flesh, which she devours without hesitation or mercy. In a particular castle, half-sunken beneath the Veldt, overgrown by ancient orange trees, there is a gran...

The gods of Amylte sleep in their treacherous homes. Augustine rests at the center of a huge whirlpool, Hector dreams from the back of the King of the Desert. These are the gods of Amylte, and have been for as long as the people of Amylte can remember. But have they always been? Welcome to Sword of Symphonies. Original music by Kathleen~! You can find the Heroic Discord here !

This week on Cat’s Cradle, a bonus episode where the team builds an encounter all together! Join our Discord! Music by Kathleen!

This week, on Cat’s Cradle! Harmony Drive is live now, so it’s time to talk about SRDs, or System Resource Documents, the moddable hackable huggable lovable TTRPG systems we love! SRDs Mentioned in this Episode: Carta SRD by Peach Garden Games Harmony Drive SRD by Peach Garden Games LUMEN SRD by Gila RPGs 五德 - The Five Powers by WuDeRPG   Games Mentioned in this Episode: Sacred Forge by Pea...