Auto generated & summarized transcript (disclaimer: may contain errors/incorrect context)
Good morning everyone! Happy Monday! It's April 20th and we actually got a lot done last week — here's the full rundown of what happened and what's coming up this week.
Quick heads up: I'm heading to a doctor's appointment today, so I'm keeping this moving, but I'll be catching up on the rest of my tasks throughout the week.
Podcast & Organization Updates
I went through all of the podcast episodes, categorized them, and wrote summaries for the public feed. It took a while but it's done! If you're listening and notice anything wrong — a typo, a mislabeled episode, anything — come find me in the Discord or ping me in the Benefactors chat if you're a Patron.
The Patreon-exclusive versions are untouched since they were already categorized separately — those are all good.
We also delisted Warhammer Fantasy. We were a little ways into it when the Warhammer IP situation happened a while back, so we pulled it. There are early talks about wanting to do Warhammer Fantasy again in the future — there's even a potential guest in mind — but we want to make sure it's fully planned and done right this time. No guarantees yet, just early conversations.
We also fixed some duplicate episodes that were showing up on Apple Podcasts. Jers flagged that for me and I got it sorted — everything should be labeled correctly and in the right season now.
I went through all of our cloud storage and got everything properly organized so it's easier for everyone to find what they need.
We implemented ClickUp as our project management tool. We've used it before but stepped away from it at one point because it felt like a second office job for some folks. Coming back to it now with automations set up has made a real difference — it's been helpful for Skelly, Mikura, and EzeDoesIt especially.
Show Updates
WarHams: A Chaos Odyssey (Black Crusade)
EzeDoesIt has been getting the preview versions of Chaos Odyssey episodes out for YouTube members — here's how the release schedule works going forward:
Patreon gets episodes first, as always
YouTube members get a preview of the next episode after the current one goes public
Then that episode goes public for everyone
The next Chaos Odyssey episode should be out on the 23rd, with the YouTube membership preview following on the 27th.
Black Crusade recording is happening this Wednesday!
I'm waiting on Thurston to send me his art order list so I can get everything scheduled and ready for the next batch of Black Crusade content.
Rotgrind
A Rotgrind episode should be coming out on April 30th, then we go back to the normal schedule with another episode on the 7th, then Chaos Odyssey on the 14th.
I'm still working on the Rotgrind bestiary — specifically a new monster for the Conservator, which is basically a priestly protector archetype tied to the conservative religious faction in the Amari lore. I've got the stat block mostly done, just need to finish the lore writing.
Also got the dragon map fully done and delivered to Thurston in multiple versions — that's ready to go for the orange arc.
We're hoping to wrap up Rotgrind this year. We all love everyone involved and we're genuinely excited for what comes after.
I also fixed the nameplate bars that were disappearing during recordings — we'll find out tonight if that's fully resolved.
Tales of Bravos — Season of Ghosts
The Season of Ghosts group has been doing really well. The majority of them have sent me their mood boards and character art details, which means I can start putting in art orders for their characters.
Skelly is sick right now so I'm going to give her a breather and look at offloading some of the art work to someone else in the meantime — nothing urgent, just want to make sure she can rest.
I'm also looking into having Mikura do an animated intro for Season of Ghosts. I really want this show to have a lot of love put into it and I want you all to enjoy it.
My goal is to get through the Season of Ghosts book at least twice this month, front to back, with notes and reference cards so I'm fully prepared.
We'll still be doing a couple more test sessions with the group to make sure everyone is locked into their characters and comfortable with both combat and roleplay before we start proper production.
The show will be Patreon exclusive. First episode goes on YouTube so people know it exists, then everything comes here.
A reminder on why the first episode matters so much: in tabletop shows, the first episode is your first impression. We saw really strong retention from episode one to episode two with Chaos Odyssey, and I want to match or beat that. That's why we're taking our time to do this right.
Upcoming Schedule
Black Crusade recording — Wednesday April 23rd
Chaos Odyssey episode on YouTube — April 23rd
YouTube membership preview — April 27th
Rotgrind episode — April 30th
Rotgrind episode — May 7th
Chaos Odyssey — May 14th
Note: Someone on the team will be on a business trip sometime in May, so there may be some disruptions — I'll keep you updated.
Other Updates
OBS was overloading during last Wednesday's session. I'm pretty sure it's because our reaction images are too high resolution and we're running a lot of browser sources, which OBS doesn't love. Working on condensing that this week.
Merch and ads stuff is still in progress — everyone's been very busy with their day jobs, we're getting there.
Animations are queued up and performing well on YouTube. Some are hitting 50K, some are spiking past 500K — it's random with the algorithm but we're very happy with how they're doing. Mikura is doing a fantastic job.
The NPC chat module filter for live streams is still on the back burner while I handle higher priority items.
Plushies are on hold for a bit given how things are in the world right now — I'll update you when there's more to share.
Marketing and social media posts have been falling behind because everything else has been taking priority. That's my focus this week — getting content scheduled across all platforms.
SpeakerD has mentioned wanting to run something — it's just a matter of finding the time. Keep in mind that I'm the only full-time person on this project. Everyone else — Skelly, Mikura, EzeDoesIt, Thurston, Odo, SpeakerD, Airdnale — all have full-time jobs and then come do this on top of that. I'm incredibly grateful for all of them.
Early talks are happening for Warhams Second Edition with Maledictum. I now have a small dedicated bookshelf for it, so I'm ready.
Thank You
Things are catching up and momentum is building. Hopefully no more sicknesses and no more surprise problems — just smooth sailing from here. We've been going at a breakneck pace since the start of the year and I want to make sure everyone gets a little breathing room soon.
Your month-to-month support is genuinely what keeps all of this going. It pays for our animators, our editors, our artists, Thurston's time, the players' time — everything. We don't exist without you, and I mean that.
Love you all so much. See you next week!
— Zoran & the Narrative Declaration Team