Watch as a full video episode on YouTube!

Welcome to Narrative Damage, the actual play TTRPG podcast where authors swap their pens for dice and see where the story takes them!

On the edge of Conqueror’s Bay sits the city of Korvosa, the jewel of Varisia. Ruled by a line of monarchs from atop the Crimson Throne, King Eodred II is its latest ruler. But as whispers of the King’s declining health concern the nobles of Highgate, people wonder if the deadly curse of the Crimson Throne will ever be broken.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Korvosa’s citizens are preoccupied with a much more immediate task: surviving until tomorrow. In the slums of Old Korvosa and the West Docks, justice is often abandoned by the law and claimed instead by the desperate. Tonight, a story of haunted fortunes begins as we follow four such souls - individuals tied together not by blood or status, but by the scars left by a single man.

In part one of this three-part miniseries, we play through an adapted version of Haunted Fortunes, the opening scenario (written by Nicolas Logue) of the epic Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign for Pathfinder from Paizo.

To bring this world to life, we are using the brilliant Nimble system by Evan Diaz, a super-streamlined, tactical fantasy RPG.

The Cast

Anna Stephens: Author of the Godblind and Songs of the Drowned trilogies.

Annabel Campbell: Author of The Outcast Mage and its upcoming sequel, The Void Dragon (Out this October!).

Claire Shultz: Author of Even Your Bones Would Do (Also writing as Claire Rose, author of The Cove).

Modupe H. Ayinde: Author of the epic fantasy A Song of Legends Lost and its newly released sequel, A Dance of Burning Blades.

Credits & Assets

PC Character Art: Czepeku

Music: Monument Studios

VTT Assets: Featuring the Pathfinder Harrow Deck, played on Foundry VTT.

This video uses trademarks and/or copyrights owned by Paizo Inc., used under Paizo's Fan Content Policy (paizo.com/licenses/fancontent). This video is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo. For more information about Paizo Inc. and Paizo products, visit paizo.com.

Thanks to DMDorga for their adaptation of Curse of the Crimson Throne to the Nimble system - get that conversion here: https://dmdorga.itch.io/nimble-curse-of-the-crimson-throne-chapter-1

Timestamps

0:00 - Opening Monologue: The City of Korvosa

1:39 - Welcome to Narrative Damage!

2:35 - Meet the Cast & Author Intros & Favourite Fantasy Cities

7:23 - Let the Adventure Begin...

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Watch as a full video interview here

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of the critically acclaimed Shadows of the Apt series, the Echoes of the Fall series and other novels, novellas and short stories. Children of Time won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, and Children of Ruin and Shards of Earth both won the British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel. The Tiger and the Wolf won the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel, while And Put Away Childish Things won the BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction.

We had a fascinating conversation with Adrian about how his deep love of TTRPGs act as a primary engine for his prolific literary career. He explains how he uses roleplaying sessions as a form of prototyping to test complex world-building and create authentic, multifaceted casts of characters. We also discuss how the unpredictability of a gaming table helps him break out of authorial habits, his preference for blending hard sci-fi mechanics with high-fantasy stakes, and how decades spent behind a GM screen prepared him for the monumental task of managing the sprawling narratives in his award-winning series. Plus, he tells us about the new Children of Time TTRPG coming to crowdfunding soon...

Links:

Buy Adrian's books here

Follow Adrian on Bluesky

Learn more about the Children of Time RPG

Don't forget you can still win a Call of Cthulhu Starter Set! All you need to do all you need to do is subscribe on YouTube and leave a comment below one of our Loki's Gift videos! Once we hit 250 subs we will pick our winner! Plus - double your chances: Head over to our Instagram to enter there as well.

Follow on Instagram

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube

Kieron Gillen is a British comic book writer and former video game journalist. He is best known for his work on high-profile titles such as Star Wars, X-Men, and The Eternals, as well as his acclaimed creator-owned series The Wicked + The Divine and Die. A longtime enthusiast of tabletop roleplaying games, he famously helped to develop a standalone RPG system to accompany his Die comic series, bridging the gap between narrative fiction and interactive gaming. He is currently working on new projects like Power Fantasy and Meta Dungeon.

We had an absolute blast chatting TTRPGs with Kieron and hearing about about his early, slightly confusing start with Middle-Earth Role Playing at age ten. We chat about why believes the skills of a writer, like spotlight management and the perfect cliffhanger, are directly transferable to the world of games and vice versa. We also talk about this love for idea-dense indie RPG writing, talk about the recently crowdfunded DIE Metadungeon, and hear about a new game he is working on.

Links:

Follow Kieron on Bluesky

Visit Kieron's Website

Visit Kieron's gaming blog, Old Men Running the World

Don't forget you can still win a Call of Cthulhu Starter Set! All you need to do all you need to do is subscribe on YouTube and leave a comment below one of our Loki's Gift videos! Once we hit 250 subs we will pick our winner! Plus - double your chances: Head over to our Instagram to enter there as well.

Follow on Instagram

Follow on Bluesky

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.