Merely Roleplayers

Act Two of Five: In which Percy names the battlefield, and Mick marshals his strength for a skirmish.

Coming next on 2 May – Vigil: The Great Fire, Act 3

Programme notes

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

April is Adopt A Listener month! Find someone who says “podcasts aren’t my thing,” and give them a thoughtful recommendation. Something that will get them hooked.

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. Both parts are now available on both the What Am I Rolling? Youtube channel and the podcast.

The Feed continues on our Instagram: @merelyroleplayers

Our promo this episode is for Snyder’s Return, a UK based tabletop roleplaying game podcast featuring actual play, content creator interviews and game master/player guides.

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 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

We rub our characters together to create some sparks.

Coming next on 18 April – Vigil: The Great Fire, Act 2

Programme notes

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

Our promo this episode is for Monster Hour, a narrative-driven actual play podcast that combines equal parts comedy and horror with crisp production value and original scoring. Season 2 of Monster Hour steps through the looking glass and into surreal suburban town of Somewhere (USA?). Join Claire, Duncan, and Max as they navigate a rambunctious community, fiendish bureaucracy, outlandish adversaries, and plenty of entropic horrors in this Absurdia actual play.

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 One of Five: In which Persephone Byron’s centuries-spanning cold war begins heating up for the final clash.

Coming next on 11 April – Kindling (Vigil Backstage)

Programme notes

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

The Feed continues on our Instagram: @merelyroleplayers

Our promo this episode is for Monster Hour, a narrative-driven actual play podcast that combines equal parts comedy and horror with crisp production value and original scoring. Season 2 of Monster Hour steps through the looking glass and into surreal suburban town of Somewhere (USA?). Join Claire, Duncan, and Max as they navigate a rambunctious community, fiendish bureaucracy, outlandish adversaries, and plenty of entropic horrors in this Absurdia actual play.

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 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

The cast rounds up the loose ends of this convoluted case.

Programme notes

This production contains violence, intimidation by police, and offscreen murder.

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

STARRING:

Vikki Weston as Cadence Fairchild, PI

Ellie Pitkin as Camilla Parnell

Alexander Pankhurst as Reginald Skinner

Helen Stratton as Stella Sylvester

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Fate (Condensed), published by Evil Hat Productions

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Cadence Fairchild, PI, finds herself at the centre of a devious house of cards. Can she bring it all down without falling along with it?

Programme notes

This production contains violence, intimidation by police, and offscreen murder.

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. Don’t forget to tell us what name and pronouns to use for you!

Our promo this episode is for What Am I Rolling?, a twice-monthly RPG one-shot podcast, hosted by game master 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.

Lately those groups of players have mostly been us! Matt Boothman, Natalie Winter, Alexander Pankhurst and Strat joined Fiona on the podcast for a two-part game of Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast (both episodes now available). And Nat, Strat and Helen joined Fiona on Twitch 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; the audio from part 1 of the stream just hit the podcast feed this weekend.

Credits

STARRING:

Vikki Weston as Cadence Fairchild, PI

Ellie Pitkin as Camilla Parnell

Alexander Pankhurst as Reginald Skinner

Helen Stratton as Stella Sylvester

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Fate (Condensed), published by Evil Hat Productions

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Let’s relive the mystery, the tension, and the carnage we found back when we rolled into A Town Called Amnesty.

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

A body in the back room. A mysterious figure fleeing the scene. What’s a newbie PI to do but give chase?

Programme notes

This production contains violence, intimidation by police, and offscreen murder.

Matt, Strat, Alexander Pankhurst, and Natalie Winter from Merely Roleplayers are recent guests on What Am I Rolling?, joining host Fiona for a game of Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast: a slice-of-life tabletop RPG about a heartless witch, a peaceful house, and all the folks who have made their home inside. Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast uses pre-set characters, quick-play chapters, and an adaptable ruleset unlike anything else out there.

Tickets are now on sale for the first Interactive Soup of 2023, on Tuesday 14 March at Theatre Deli Leadenhall, London. Interactive Soup is a quarterly dinner, networking and community funding event supporting interactive performance. Find out more and get your tickets!

Our promo this episode is for Snyder’s Return, a UK based tabletop roleplaying game podcast featuring actual play, content creator interviews and game master/player guides.

Credits

STARRING:

Vikki Weston as Cadence Fairchild, PI

Ellie Pitkin as Camilla Parnell

Alexander Pankhurst as Reginald Skinner

Helen Stratton as Stella Sylvester

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Fate (Condensed), published by Evil Hat Productions

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

The players create their characters’ high concepts and decide what they’re great at.

Programme notes

This production contains violence, intimidation by police, and offscreen murder.

Our promo this episode is for Monster Hour, a narrative-driven actual play podcast that combines equal parts comedy and horror with crisp production value and original scoring. Season 2 of Monster Hour steps through the looking glass and into surreal suburban town of Somewhere (USA?). Join Claire, Duncan, and Max as they navigate a rambunctious community, fiendish bureaucracy, outlandish adversaries, and plenty of entropic horrors in this Absurdia actual play.

Credits

STARRING:

Vikki Weston as Cadence Fairchild, PI

Ellie Pitkin as Camilla Parnell

Alexander Pankhurst as Reginald Skinner

Helen Stratton as Stella Sylvester

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Fate (Condensed), published by Evil Hat Productions

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

Cadence Fairchild’s first big case washes up on her doorstep one rainy night in Fosshythe.

Programme notes

This production contains violence, intimidation by police, and offscreen murder.

Tickets are now on sale for the first Interactive Soup of 2023, on Tuesday 14 March at Theatre Deli Leadenhall, London. Interactive Soup is a quarterly dinner, networking and community funding event supporting interactive performance. Find out more and get your tickets!

Our promo this episode is for Monster Hour, a narrative-driven actual play podcast that combines equal parts comedy and horror with crisp production value and original scoring. Season 2 of Monster Hour steps through the looking glass and into surreal suburban town of Somewhere (USA?). Join Claire, Duncan, and Max as they navigate a rambunctious community, fiendish bureaucracy, outlandish adversaries, and plenty of entropic horrors in this Absurdia actual play.

Credits

STARRING:

Vikki Weston as Cadence Fairchild, PI

Ellie Pitkin as Camilla Parnell

Alexander Pankhurst as Reginald Skinner

Helen Stratton as Stella Sylvester

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Fate (Condensed), published by Evil Hat Productions

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

Find us

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

On Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com

We look back at Vigil: All Aboard, and imagine what lies down the track for our fellow travellers.

Programme notes

This production contains persistent peril; exploitative relationships, including manipulation and coercion; sibling tragedy; mind control, loss of memory and self; and violence, including blood and gun violence.

Dramatis personae and other definitions

Jess Butterworth: a twenty-something shift worker, Sherrydown born and bred. While working the tarot tent at Amazement Park, she was approached by Kit, a being claiming to be her spirit guide.

Gwynned: a former shieldmaiden of the triple goddess Morrigan. For the crime of saving a mortal man from the Morrigan’s cruel whim, the goddess exiled Gwyn to live as a duck, overlooked by mortals. Recently freed from the curse, Gwyn is negotiating a new relationship with her mistress.

Calistarius Softbinding: a local horror writer with a cult following, who sponsored the construction of a whole new wing of Sherrydown’s library. Calistarius Softbinding is a nom de plume.

Harper: a US exchange student trying to sever her ties to the Shadow realm she sometimes enters through revolving doors.

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:

Ellen Gould as Jess Butterworth, the Spooky

Natalie Winter as Gwynned, the Divine

Chris Buxey as Calistarius Softbinding, the Expert

Marta da Silva as Harper, the Searcher

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 Twitter @MerelyRoleplay

On Instagram @MerelyRoleplayers

On Tumblr @merelyroleplayers

www.MerelyRoleplayers.com