Undertow Update #1: Refresh
The podcast formerly known as Eidolon Playtest is now Drawn from the Undertow!
Welcome to Undertow Update, your monthly newsletter describing what awaits you in the next month of Drawn from the Undertow. This month, we've got a lot!
Threadspinner is now ready for a full playtest, and we're going to do it in not one, not two, but three long-form campaigns that will serve as the backbone of this podcast for the next year and a half:
Threadspinner FLAME
Players: Iris, Maxie, Tyberius
GM: Luke
Editor: Iris @stiltsthegm
Threadspinner SPARKPlayers: Crystal, Morgan, ZoeGM: LukeEditor: Luke
Threadspinner GLOW
Players: Lexi, Mike, Molly @yerfriendmolly
GM: Luke
Editor: Mike @mikelovesrabbit
May is going to be a transitional month between Eidolon and Threadspinner, where we will look back on the latest round of Eidolon miniseries while rolling out details about Threadspinner Playtest, which will officially debut on May 25th! The full schedule is below:
Monday, May 4: Eidolon ISLAND/FLASHBACK/ADULT GM Postmortem with Crystal and Maxie
Wednesday, May 6: We will reveal the cover art, opening music, and premise of Threadspinner FLAME!
Monday, May 11: Eidolon ROMANCE/+MACHINE GM Postmortem with Crystal, Iris, and Zoe
Wednesday, May 13: We will reveal the cover art, opening music, and premise of Threadspinner SPARK!
Monday, May 18: Eidolon TOOL/PROTO GM Postmortem with Crystal, Luke, and Mike
Wednesday, May 20: We will reveal the cover art, opening music, and premise of Threadspinner GLOW!
Monday, May 25: Threadspinner FLAME Session #0
Monday, June 1: Threadspinner SPARK Session #0
Monday, June 8: Threadspinner GLOW Session #0
Welcome to the podcast, Morgan!
@girlnextvore is joining as a permanent cast member of Drawn from the Undertow! Everyone loved her performance in Eidolon ADULT, and we're lucky to have her as part of Threadspinner SPARK!
We're not playing EIDOLON in the near future, so "Eidolon Playtest" isn't really accurate. But we're also not done with EIDOLON forever, and more RPGs will come in the future, so "Threadspinner Playtest" would only be temporarily accurate. Instead of changing the name over and over, we're using a permanent name that is inclusive of EIDOLON, Threadspinner, and everything else that we do: Drawn from the Undertow.
In the past, we split our 9 non-GM players into groups of 4 and 5. We noticed that the 5-player groups consistently struggled to keep up the pace and give each character equal spotlight. For the recent round of Eidolon miniseries, we experimented with 3-player groups and found that they reliably avoided the frictions of larger groups. In addition, 3-player groups are easier both to schedule and to edit.
With 3 players in each campaign, FLAME, SPARK, and GLOW will be smoother and more consistent productions than our previous long-form series. We're also using these three campaigns to showcase the thematic diversity that Threadspinner can offer. We hope that each one has a different style and dynamic!
