Sword of Symphonies

Listener, about two weeks ago I knocked a bowl off my kitchen counter onto the floor, where it shattered. I swore a little, and then set about sweeping up the pieces and safely disposing of them to p…

This week on Cat’s Cradle, we talk about levels, gear, abilities, mechanics, and other ways that characters change in a long-term roleplaying game!

What does it mean to level up? When should abilities…

(Content warning: Trauma, trauma responses, claustrophobia)
One hundred million years ago, there was a river. Most people can’t conceive of one million, let alone one hundred of them, but it’s true. B…

The thing about organic life is that, while it can be broken, wounded and damaged, it cannot be repaired. We are not bridges, or knives, or clocks. We are not doors or garments or wheels.

We can’t be …

In our chaotic world, everything is changing.

Things change in dramatic, explosive, powerful ways. They change in subtle, invisible ways. Every action changes the world, and the world in turn changes…

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 Di…

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 produc…

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 sometime…

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…

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 pas…

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 go…

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 l…

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 f…

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…

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…

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…

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 …

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…