Merely Roleplayers

The cast talks generational games and the joy of petty grudges. Matt talks to Ursidice, designer of Court of the Lich Queen, about what’s next for the game.

Coming up in the Main House on 25 July – Vigil: Chief/Exec, Act 1

Programme notes

This production contains political infighting, blood & guts, death & doom.

Our promo this episode is for What Am I Rolling?, a twice-monthly RPG one-shot podcast, hosted by gamemaster, Fiona. Every month, Fiona takes a brand new group of players and runs them through a one-shot adventure, testing out a different RPG game style or system.

Credits

Representing the Skeletal Duchy: Fiona Howat

Representing the Draugr Earldom: Naomi Clarke

Representing the Wraithlight Dominion: Matt Boothman

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Court of the Lich Queen (beta) by Ursidice

MUSIC BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

The day of the prophesied Dawn is at hand. As light and life threaten the Lich Queen’s dominion, her dread courtiers must stand together – or fall apart.

Coming next on 18 July – The wake (Queen’s Dead Backstage)

Programme notes

This production contains political infighting, blood & guts, death & doom.

Our promo this episode is for What Am I Rolling?, a twice-monthly RPG one-shot podcast, hosted by gamemaster, Fiona. Every month, Fiona takes a brand new group of players and runs them through a one-shot adventure, testing out a different RPG game style or system.

Credits

Representing the Skeletal Duchy: Fiona Howat

Representing the Draugr Earldom: Naomi Clarke

Representing the Wraithlight Dominion: Matt Boothman

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Court of the Lich Queen (beta) by Ursidice

MUSIC BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Tension builds between the Lich Queen’s dread courtiers as their realms crumble around them. The Wraithlight Dominion proposes a quest.

Coming next on 11 July – The Queen’s Dead, Act 3

Programme notes

This production contains political infighting, blood & guts, death & doom.

Vote for Merely Roleplayers to win Best Storyline in an Actual Play and Ernie Bering to win Best Non-Player Character (NPC) in the CRIT (Creator Recognition in TTRPG) Awards 2023!

See Matt make his streaming debut as a snake lawyer in I’m Not Lion on Actual Play UK, with Maddy and Zack from Realms of Peril & Glory, Natalia from Trolls of the Two Tonne Bridges, and Jordan from Modified Roll! Watch on Twitch or, if it’s gone from Twitch by the time you see this, find it on Youtube.

Our promo this episode is for Realms of Peril & Glory. Journey through hilarious galaxies, adventure-filled worlds and mysterious continents! Experience thrilling tales weaved at the table using a variety of roleplaying game systems, by a rotating panel of Game Masters and Players!

Credits

Representing the Skeletal Duchy: Fiona Howat

Representing the Draugr Earldom: Naomi Clarke

Representing the Wraithlight Dominion: Matt Boothman

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Court of the Lich Queen (beta) by Ursidice

MUSIC BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

A tourist’s guide to the realms of death, and a brief history of the debts and grudges that make sessions at court so lively.

Coming next on 27 June – The Queen’s Dead, Act 2

Programme notes

This production contains political infighting, blood & guts, death & doom.

Our promo this episode is for The Secret of St Kilda, an audio drama by Haggis and Dragons Productions. Follow Lockie, a charismatic con man who escapes to St Kilda with the promise that this time he’ll change his ways. Unfortunately the island and its unusual inhabitants have other ideas. He seeks redemption and they seek a saviour, but you know what they say – no change without sacrifice.

Credits

Representing the Skeletal Duchy: Fiona Howat

Representing the Draugr Earldom: Naomi Clarke

Representing the Wraithlight Dominion: Matt Boothman

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Court of the Lich Queen (beta) by Ursidice

MUSIC BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

One year before the Dawn prophesied to end the reign of death, the Lich Queen’s dread courtiers make plans to prevent it – even though it might mean working together.

Coming next on 20 June – Bad blood (Queen’s Dead Backstage)

Programme notes

This production contains political infighting, blood & guts, death & doom.

Vote for Merely Roleplayers to win Best Storyline in an Actual Play and Ernie Bering to win Best Non-Player Character (NPC) in the CRIT (Creator Recognition in TTRPG) Awards 2023!

Our promo this episode is for The Secret of St Kilda, an audio drama by Haggis and Dragons Productions. Follow Lockie, a charismatic con man who escapes to St Kilda with the promise that this time he’ll change his ways. Unfortunately the island and its unusual inhabitants have other ideas. He seeks redemption and they seek a saviour, but you know what they say – no change without sacrifice.

Credits

Representing the Skeletal Duchy: Fiona Howat

Representing the Draugr Earldom: Naomi Clarke

Representing the Wraithlight Dominion: Matt Boothman

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Court of the Lich Queen (beta) by Ursidice

MUSIC BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

We look back over the bridges we’ve burned and the unexplored waters that await us.

Coming next on 13 June – The Queen’s Dead, Act 1

Programme notes

This production contains violence (including gun violence), possession, and death by fire.

Dramatis personae and other definitions

Persephone ‘Percy’ Byron: A Victorian monster hunter and half-sister of Ada Lovelace. Percy tried to time travel from 1852 to 1666 to stop the summoning of an apocalyptic demon, but something went wrong, and she landed in present-day Sherrydown instead.

Mick Mason: Sherrydown’s favourite builder and bricklayer. His life has been getting weirder since he dug too deep and hit a leyline.

Brier: A mischievous shapeshifting púca, the fae guardian of Sherrydown’s Rosebrier Forest.

Ed Kincaid: a once promising, now disgraced MI5 agent assigned to investigate the more … esoteric threats reported to the national security hotline.

Department of Omissions (DO, DoOm): The UK government department tasked with preventing harm to citizens from supernatural phenomena. Severely defunded under Tory austerity policies and currently prioritising major urban population centres.

Sherrydown, Brackshire: A historic English market town. One of the first towns to lose its DoOm office.

Omission effect: The rejection of certain beings and phenomena by long-term memory. Can be suppressed by concentration, mnemonic techniques, hypnosis, trauma, or the light of the full moon.

Credits

COMPERE: Matt Boothman

STARRING:

Ellie Pitkin as Percy Byron, the Exile

Dave as Mick, the Mundane

Strat as Brier, the Monstrous

Chris MacLennan as Kincaid, the Professional

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Monster of the Week, designed by Michael Sands

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

SOUND DESIGN BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Act Five of Five: In which the full might of the Great Fire, the Searing Tongue, the Smothering Haze, is unleashed on Sherrydown.

Coming next on 6 June – Burning questions (Vigil Backstage)

Programme notes

This production contains violence (including gun violence), possession, and death by fire.

As the curtain falls on this production, throw us a rose emoji on any of our social media accounts – Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter! 🌹

While you’re on our Instagram, check out The Feed: our now-complete actual play of Unreal, the video-journalling game of weirdness in the Big Brother house, by Josh Fox of Black Armada Games.

Natalie Winter, Strat and Helen from Merely Roleplayers joined Fiona from What Am I Rolling? for a two-part livestreamed game of the The Between, a horror mystery against the backdrop of Victorian London, run by the game’s designer, Jason Cordova. All four parts are now available on the What Am I Rolling? podcast (for real this time).

Nominate for the Creator Recognition in TTRPG (CRIT) Awards by 1 June.

Our promo this episode is for the Fiction Podcast Weekly, your source for audio drama and fiction podcast news, resources and opportunities.

Dramatis personae and other definitions

Persephone ‘Percy’ Byron: A Victorian monster hunter and half-sister of Ada Lovelace. Percy tried to time travel from 1852 to 1666 to stop the summoning of an apocalyptic demon, but something went wrong, and she landed in present-day Sherrydown instead.

Mick Mason: Sherrydown’s favourite builder and bricklayer. His life has been getting weirder since he dug too deep and hit a leyline.

Brier: A mischievous shapeshifting púca, the fae guardian of Sherrydown’s Rosebrier Forest.

Ed Kincaid: a once promising, now disgraced MI5 agent assigned to investigate the more … esoteric threats reported to the national security hotline.

Department of Omissions (DO, DoOm): The UK government department tasked with preventing harm to citizens from supernatural phenomena. Severely defunded under Tory austerity policies and currently prioritising major urban population centres.

Sherrydown, Brackshire: A historic English market town. One of the first towns to lose its DoOm office.

Omission effect: The rejection of certain beings and phenomena by long-term memory. Can be suppressed by concentration, mnemonic techniques, hypnosis, trauma, or the light of the full moon.

Credits

COMPERE: Matt Boothman

STARRING:

Ellie Pitkin as Percy Byron, the Exile

Dave as Mick, the Mundane

Strat as Brier, the Monstrous

Chris MacLennan as Kincaid, the Professional

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Monster of the Week, designed by Michael Sands

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

SOUND DESIGN BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Act Four of Five: In which Percy discovers that even the best laid plan never survives contact with the enemy.

Coming next on 30 May – Vigil: The Great Fire, Act 5

Programme notes

This production contains violence (including gun violence), possession, and death by fire.

Nominate your favourite roleplaying game people and products for the Creator Recognition in Tabletop Roleplaying Games (CRIT) Awards by 1 June! If you like, you can even nominate us. Vigil: Quarry and Monumental Exit are both eligible in various categories – check our Tumblr and Instagram for details and nominate here.

Our promo this episode is for Cybertopia, an actual play podcast using the indie RPG of the same name, run by its creator with a rolling cast of a variety of members from the tabletop community. Set in a near future sci-fi world, the player characters take the form of corporate agents working on clandestine missions to protect their business's interests and reputation.

Dramatis personae and other definitions

Persephone ‘Percy’ Byron: A Victorian monster hunter and half-sister of Ada Lovelace. Percy tried to time travel from 1852 to 1666 to stop the summoning of an apocalyptic demon, but something went wrong, and she landed in present-day Sherrydown instead.

Mick Mason: Sherrydown’s favourite builder and bricklayer. His life has been getting weirder since he dug too deep and hit a leyline.

Brier: A mischievous shapeshifting púca, the fae guardian of Sherrydown’s Rosebrier Forest.

Ed Kincaid: a once promising, now disgraced MI5 agent assigned to investigate the more … esoteric threats reported to the national security hotline.

Department of Omissions (DO, DoOm): The UK government department tasked with preventing harm to citizens from supernatural phenomena. Severely defunded under Tory austerity policies and currently prioritising major urban population centres.

Sherrydown, Brackshire: A historic English market town. One of the first towns to lose its DoOm office.

Omission effect: The rejection of certain beings and phenomena by long-term memory. Can be suppressed by concentration, mnemonic techniques, hypnosis, trauma, or the light of the full moon.

Credits

COMPERE: Matt Boothman

STARRING:

Ellie Pitkin as Percy Byron, the Exile

Dave as Mick, the Mundane

Strat as Brier, the Monstrous

Chris MacLennan as Kincaid, the Professional

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Monster of the Week, designed by Michael Sands

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

SOUND DESIGN BY: Matt Boothman

SFX AND INCIDENTAL MUSIC INCLUDES: Gathering Darkness and Ritual by Kevin MacLeod (both CC BY 4.0); and may include others made available to use without attribution.

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Join us for an incredulous look back at the arts of crime, business and seduction, as we remind ourselves why we first said: hey. Let’s Get Gideon.

Programme notes

Replay is a Backstage strand where Josh takes an in-depth look back at all our past productions, revisiting the memorable moments and asking the unanswered questions.

Got a question about any past production from Parallax onwards? Email it to [email protected] (either as text or as an attached audio file) and it could be featured in a future Replay episode.

Credits

COMPERE: Josh Yard

WITH: Matt Boothman

MUSIC BY: Matt Boothman

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Josh Yard and Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Act Three of Five: In which the hunters take a pawn or two, and move into position for checkmate.

Coming next on 9 May – Replay: Let's Get Gideon (Backstage)

Programme notes

This production contains violence (including gun violence), possession, and death by fire.

By some counts, this is our 250th episode! If you’ve enjoyed any of those 250 episodes, would you be willing to leave us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, or wherever you listen?

Pitch submissions are open until 15 May for Interactive Soup, a community funding event for interactive performance taking place in London on 13 June. How would you use £200-£250 to benefit an interactive performance, or the interactive performance community?

Our promo this episode is for What Am I Rolling?, a twice-monthly RPG one-shot podcast, hosted by gamemaster, Fiona. Every month, Fiona takes a brand new group of players and runs them through a one-shot adventure, testing out a different RPG game style or system.

Dramatis personae and other definitions

Persephone ‘Percy’ Byron: A Victorian monster hunter and half-sister of Ada Lovelace. Percy tried to time travel from 1852 to 1666 to stop the summoning of an apocalyptic demon, but something went wrong, and she landed in present-day Sherrydown instead.

Mick Mason: Sherrydown’s favourite builder and bricklayer. His life has been getting weirder since he dug too deep and hit a leyline.

Brier: A mischievous shapeshifting púca, the fae guardian of Sherrydown’s Rosebrier Forest.

Ed Kincaid: a once promising, now disgraced MI5 agent assigned to investigate the more … esoteric threats reported to the national security hotline.

Department of Omissions (DO, DoOm): The UK government department tasked with preventing harm to citizens from supernatural phenomena. Severely defunded under Tory austerity policies and currently prioritising major urban population centres.

Sherrydown, Brackshire: A historic English market town. One of the first towns to lose its DoOm office.

Omission effect: The rejection of certain beings and phenomena by long-term memory. Can be suppressed by concentration, mnemonic techniques, hypnosis, trauma, or the light of the full moon.

Credits

COMPERE: Matt Boothman

STARRING:

Ellie Pitkin as Percy Byron, the Exile

Dave as Mick, the Mundane

Strat as Brier, the Monstrous

Chris MacLennan as Kincaid, the Professional

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Monster of the Week, designed by Michael Sands

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

SOUND DESIGN BY: Matt Boothman

SFX AND INCIDENTAL MUSIC INCLUDES: Ritual by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0); and may include others made available to use without attribution.

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com