Mythic Magazine Podcast #19

Greetings Mythicists!

This month's episode of the Mythic Magazine Podcast is a special Halloween edition, using Mythic Magazine #58's "Moonlight Radio" rules to create a radio drama without any preparation. That article is designed as an exercise in creating NPC dialogue in solo adventures.

I play The Host, and I do the narration of the guests using the article's tables to generate inspiration for what they say. I used the Voicemod app to change the sound of my voice for the callers and to increase the bass for The Host to sound more like a radio show. It distorted my voice so much with some of the callers that it's hard to hear what I'm saying. Honestly though, I think that only adds to the strangeness of the episode.

Every step of this dramatized actual play was rolled and created as I played. The resulting conversations were always surprises, some better than others but all of them interesting. I chose to keep the mechanics out of the recording to maximize the drama, rolling and consulting tables but only recording the interpretations of the results.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it :)

P.S.: If you're familiar with "Moonlight Radio", below are a few game mechanical tidbits including the final Revelation. I'll drop it down a little lower just in case so you don't see any spoilers before hearing the show. You can always come back here, and see how the show you heard lines up with the Revelations that follow. There is also a PDF attachment showing the completed Caller Log Sheet.

The show lasted a total of 12 Segments, netting a Revelation Score of 21. That's just enough to generate a Revelation.

Revelation Focus: I Think It All Means Something

Key Segment 1: Mr. Nothing, the caller that begins with "Why did you take that last call?"

Key Segment 2: Crow Witness, the guy who related the story of seeing a woman in his youth who summoned crows.

Key Segment 3: Chief Gibbons Announcement #1, the PSA about helping helpless strangers but be prepared to flee.

My interpretation:

The Host sat back after turning off the microphone. The office was quiet. They thought about the show, the voice of Mr. Nothing repeating in their head over and over.

And that guy who called about seeing the crow woman. Now that The Host thought about it, the neighbor they remembered was also a birder. Could it have been the same woman? And what about the lady who called about the crows they heard outside? Were they all the same person?

Could this also be the "classy stranger" Chief Gibbons warned about. Help the helpless, but DO NOT give a ride to that person.

Something niggled at The Host's thoughts. These things all seemed connected. Somehow. There was something to this, more than just another night of interesting callers.

The woman had said that crows know truths that we can't understand. Mr. Nothing said something similar.

A growing unease crept over The Host. What if ... the Crow Lady was some kind of harbinger? Mr. Nothing seemed to imply that reality was coming to an end. The Nothingness at the root of the universe. The woman said crows know things, things we can't understand. Mr. Nothing said something similar. Maybe the crows know reality is coming to an end. Maybe they always knew it.

Maybe these are all signs ... of what?

The Host got up out of their chair, shaking. They stepped to the window and peered out, wondering if they might see or hear crows gathering. The night was silent, the stars shone brightly. Then, one by one, the stars began to disappear. The Host stared, shocked, as the Nothing beneath all reality rose up through the levels.