The Raspy Raven

In this one-off, we talk about running and playing in The King of Santa Fe, the core rules campaign of Effekt Publishing's Tales of the Old West. We discuss the system, the setting, how we used FoundryVTT, and some of our most memorable moments.

Thanks to Alex, Jon & Nick for their thoughts and to Gemma and Toby - all of them making up a wonderful group of RPG players.

Apologies for the echoing voices later on, hopefully I've de-reverb'd them enough to make them listenable.

Links

• https://theraspyraven.carrd.co/
• https://buttondown.com/theraspyraven/archive/the-king-of-santa-fe-session-one/
• Effekt Publishing - https://www.effektpublishing.com/

In the season finale, we sit down with Sarah Cole. Sarah is the author and designer of Darkened Hill and Dale and Terminus, two hit Kickstarters set in her hauntingly atmospheric world, This Blighted Isle. Both are system-flexible horror scenarios, and in this episode, Sarah walks us through her process for crafting and preparing this style of adventure, as well as the common pitfalls every writer should watch out for.

Sarah Cole on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/irny.bsky.social

The Raspy Raven Discord - https://discord.gg/gU9GA4MhQP

The Rasy Raven Blog - https://buttondown.email/theraspyraven

Terminus, pledges close 1/Oct - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/patchworkfez/this-blighted-isle-terminus

More on This Blighted Isle - http://patchworkfez.games/

Shop This Blighted Isle - https://shop.patchworkfez.games/

Trick or Retreat - https://trickorretreat.uk/

Another week and another episode. Our penultimate one of this season, as we meet up with power duo Becky Annison and Josh Fox, also known as Black Armada Games, to discuss writing scenarios for their emergent sci-fi mystery Kickstarter, Ex Tenebris. The bastard offspring of Warhammer 40,000 and Brindlewood Bay, this dark, supernatural sci-fi investigative game will take your hand and drag you through the Tenebrium and out the other side, to solve the darkest mysteries of the universe.

Back it - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackarmada/ex-tenebris

Visit it - https://blackarmada.com/

Watch it - https://www.youtube.com/@blackarmada8030

Chat Becky - https://bsky.app/profile/beckyannison.bsky.social

Chat Josh - https://bsky.app/profile/armadajosh.bsky.social

Join us - https://discord.gg/gU9GA4MhQP

We're back after a break, with episode 4 of 6. Here we meet up with Sue Savage. Sue is a notable gamer, running her own scenarios and others at gaming cons around the country. She's also a writer and game designer, writing for Liminal, Cthulhu Dark and designing her own Brindlewood-esque game of UK cosy mystery, Matrons of Mystery.

You can find Sue's blog of her campaigns, games and gaming conventions https://savagespiel.blogspot.com, and she's often on the socials as SavageSpiel.

Here you can purchase Matrons of Mystery in PDF and print, or watch some actual plays.

In more Actual Plays, Sue runs and plays in Liminal for Chambers of Roleplay https://youtu.be/IFQu2COlU3U?si=v9NtlPsge93T4k_E

Cthulhu Dark Actual Play for Symphony Entertainment https://youtu.be/YDPfi1OOuw4?si=kUfKtmX0jOBZTZXo

and Kult: Divinity Lost at the Illusion Horror Con https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDELwjhCtxM

Welcome to episode three of six. In this one, we are lucky to entice Dr Paul Mitchener, the Tweedmeister himself, to impart many useful tips for writing cases for his Liminal RPG.

Paul generously shared the New Official Liminal site, including the Liminal SRD. Note, there is some tweaking before a fanfare of promotions, but have an early look.

There are three more episodes to come in September 2025.

The Raspy Raven Discord

The Raspy Raven Blog

Paul Mitchener

Official Liminal site (pre-launch)

Liminal SRD

The Mitchester Arms Discord

Liminal Casebook pdf

Pax Londinium pdf

OpenQuest

Beyond Dread Portals

Mythic Britain: Logres

Age of Arthur (2e coming soon)

The Grey Lady

Rivers of London Books and RPG

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

The Lost Boys (not The Goth Boys!)

Graham Spearing

Sue Savage

Neil Gow

Neil's Kickstarter, The Journal of Paranormal Research

Paul Baldowski

Dave Paterson

Frankenstein's RPG Podcast

Barbican

Google Street Map

Jason Behnke Art

Faeries and Folklore Art (the next Liminal release, fall/autumn 2025)

That Werewolf art aka Accalia the Lonely

Reboot the Future Kickstarter (Liminal system for Cyberpunk)

Graham Walmsley took time out from a busy Kickstarter project to discuss with us how he goes about coming up with ideas for Cosmic Dark scenarios. Some darkly humorous discussion and fascinating insights.

Thanks again to Graham Roewe for his editing expertise.

You have until Tue, June 17 2025 11:00 PM BST to back Cosmic Dark, and you can also pick up Cthulhu Dark & Stealing Cthulhu as part of the Kickstarter.

Links:

The Raspy Raven Discord

The Raspy Raven Blog

Cosmic Dark Kickstarter

Graham's Patreon

J. G. Ballard

The Singing Statues

Stanislaw Lem

Solaris

The Employees by Olga Ravn

Agatha Christie

On The Raspy Raven Discord, we are running a roleplaying game writing competition, with a deadline of 15th September 2025. Raspy Raven members are writing adventures for The Dee Sanction, and the winners will run their scenarios as part of a season of Dee Sanction games in November and perhaps receive a prize!

In this inaugural episode, the writer and designer of The Dee Sanction and Cthulhu Hack, Paul Baldowski, talks about how to write for The Dee Sanction, a fascinating talk packed with useful tips and ideas.

Many thanks to Graham Roewe for organising and editing, and to The Raspy Raven members for their questions and turning up for the talk.

Links:

The Raspy Raven Discord

The Raspy Raven Blog

The Dee Sanction Monad Late Pledge

The Dee Sanction

Paul Baldowski on Bluesky

The Dee Sanction Adventures

5 Room Dungeons

Haunter of the Dark

Window of the Soul

Maelstrom

A Discovery of Witches

Elizabeth

The X-Files

Millenium

Fringe

A Field in England