Drawn from the Undertow

YOU can vote in the Fan Art Contest through August 7th! Come see 12 amazing works of art from some of our best fans, and vote for your favorite!

Threadspinner Playtest really started settling into a rhythm in July, as the campaigns finished or approached the endings of their first regions. A lot of the changes in Threadspinner Draft 4 were inspired by the events in these episodes, including major revisions to how regions work. We hope the second set of regions will be even better!

As a memento of each region, Luke has asked one of us to draw a map every time we finish one. We'll be sharing our maps of each campaign's first region on the $3 tier this month, as part of the GM Notes collection!

We new have official Threadspinner GLOW character art from illustrator installationwizard! Our ability to commission artists is made possible thanks to your generous support on Patreon!

We're still waiting on all of the official Threadspinner SPARK character art to come in, so we'll be rolling it out more slowly. I will add the official character art for Magnolia Kane to this post when the Fan Art Contest reaches 69 votes! (The most artistic and beautiful of numbers!)

(08/05/2026) Goal Achieved! Here is Magnolia Kane from the talented illustrator Rhigu!

Molly and Luke's personal lives will settle down a little later in August, so get excited for a new Threadspinner draft and accompanying Design Session! They have a lot of playtest data to pore over!

This month's Grab Bag will be another episode of Let's Get Sick, Luke and Maxie's Pathologic 2 Let's Play!

This month's Eidolon Playlist will either be a Syr Violet inspired playlist or a Xalatan inspired playlist that serves as sequel to Wizard Jams! We haven't decided which one will release in August yet, but we'll probably try to record both this month. Which other character playlists do you want to see?

The Threaded determine the fate of the Mylor Plutocracy, giving its existence meaning in the eyes of the Guild.

CREDITS:
Iris Christianson as Syr Violet of the Coiling Vine
Max Knightley as Thistle, the Bastard Daughter
Tyberius Wilson as Xalatan, Sage of Wind and Shadow
Luke Varner as The Threadspinner

Edited by Iris Christianson, with assistance by Crystal Zaslavchik
Music by Max Knightley
Cover Art by Tavish Buchanan

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Crystal, Morgan, and Iris discuss Chris Prynoski's Downtown, an obscure yet beloved 1999 animated series about ordinary young adults living in the East Village. With its unique audiovisual style, complex characterization, and feminist themes, Downtown deserves its devoted fanbase!

Check out the behind-the-scenes interviews conducted and archived by EnWaiSee!

Edited by Crystal

This episode is possible thanks to all $3 and up Patreon subscribers! If you're listening to the 5-minute preview of this episode, then you can listen to the full episode by subscribing today!

The Threaded discover the source of the song that pervades the paradise of Verdanda.

CREDITS:
Lexi Waltner as Stan Stickley, aka...
Mike Painter as Velnias
Molly Rhinebeck as Heiress, Discarded Queen of the Golden Haven
Luke Varner as The Threadspinner

Edited by Mike Painter
Music by Max Knightley
Cover Art by Tavish Buchanan

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Luke, Crystal, Molly and Iris reconvene to talk about the conclusion(?) to The Protomen saga. Join us as we learn the baffling history of how this album came to be and discover that Dr. Thomas Light is still a threat.

Listen to the playlist here!

Edited by Iris

This episode is possible thanks to all $3 and up Patreon subscribers! If you're listening to the 5-minute preview of this episode, then you can listen to the full episode by subscribing today!

The Threaded travel to the heart of civic power in the Seven Lanes District, and learn that purifying corruption does not always look like how they imagined it would.

CREDITS:
Morgan Taylor as Love the Uncut
Crystal Zaslavchik as Reverie, the Waking Dreamer
Zoe Tunnell as Magnolia Kane
Luke Varner as The Threadspinner

Edited by Luke Varner, with assistance by Crystal Zaslavchik
Music by Max Knightley
Cover Art by Tavish Buchanan

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Support us on Patreon!
Join the Discord!

CONTENT WARNING: Intense violence, decapitation, threats of being buried alive.

Our Threaded investigate the astrologers of Mylor and their connection to Orchod, the constellation who governs the fabulously wealthy city.

CREDITS:
Iris Christianson as Syr Violet of the Coiling Vine
Max Knightley as Thistle, the Bastard Daughter
Tyberius Wilson as Xalatan, Sage of Wind and Shadow
Luke Varner as The Threadspinner

Edited by Iris Christianson
Music by Max Knightley
Cover Art by Tavish Buchanan

Buy our book!
Support us on Patreon!
Join the Discord!

For the month of July, we are accepting submissions for a Fan Art Contest! The rules are as follows:

1. From July 1st to July 31st, send us a message on Patreon that includes a new piece of DFTU fan art you created! This can be for Threadspinner, Eidolon, or anything else related to the podcast!

2. From August 1st to August 7th, we will run a poll for the audience's favorite piece of fan art! Any free or paid Patreon member can vote in this poll! This poll will include a copy of your fan art with credit and any title or description you would like to include!

3. On August 8th, the Top 3 artists in the poll will win a full year of Grab Bag membership! That is a $96 value!

4. On August 8th, all runners-up will receive one month of Grab Bag membership as a thank you for participating! That is a $10 value!

To be absolutely clear: no purchase is necessary to participate in this contest, and you retain full rights to your art. We encourage you to post your art to your own personal accounts!

We now have official Threadspinner FLAME character art from illustrator Garin! (By the way, you can also support Garin on Patreon!)

This month, we will reveal official character art for Threadspinner GLOW from illustrator installationwizard! Our ability to commission artists is made possible thanks to your generous support on Patreon! Here's a preview:

This month's Eidolon Playlist will cover The Protomen Act III: This City Made Us, concluding the cast of Eidolon PROTO's commitment to discuss the music that influenced the miniseries! If you haven't listened to Eidolon PROTO, you should, because it's one of the best miniseries!

This month's Grab Bag will be a video of Luke and Maxie playing Pathologic 2, one of Luke's favorite games, and a less-obvious influence on Threadspinner!

A new draft of Threadspinner will still be posted this month, but due to scheduling difficulties there won't be a new Design Session. However, we would still like to post some other behind-the-scenes content on the $3 tier to make up for it. So I ask the question to you, the audience:

What behind-the-scenes content you like to see?

We never said we'd get it in one! While we're very happy with the core mechanics of Threadspinner, as we continue to record episodes across all three campaigns, we've begun to take note of some design flaws that need addressing.

One of the dangers of making the game rules diegetic is that the PCs know that they're in a story and can try to exploit the narrative structure to shortcut the game! We don't really spend enough time in each Region for it to feel as well-realized as we'd like it to! Kinda sucks if you have 0 Thread and want to continue participating in the game but can't! Maybe The Fae shouldn't be able to generate up to 15 charges to copy a powerful enemy's strongest ability!

The show's called a Playtest for a reason, and this month we have a variety of large and small design problems to tackle, while still making time to talk about whether we should get around to watching Mad Men. We should probably get around to watching Mad Men.

Edited by Luke

This episode is possible thanks to all $3 and up Patreon subscribers! If you're listening to the 5-minute preview of this episode, then you can listen to the full episode by subscribing today!

Iris, Crystal and Maxie meet up to talk about Angel's Egg, a classic experimental animated film created by Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano. It's a movie that deliberately leaves us with far more questions than it does answers, and it leads us to contemplate the purpose of the characters, the visual language it uses, and what philosophy means to us.

Edited by Iris

This episode is possible thanks to all $10 and up Patreon subscribers! If you're listening to the 5-minute preview of this episode, then you can listen to the full episode by subscribing today!