Digital Gonzo 150: Gonzo Adventures #1 – Tower of the Sorcerer

Posted By Alex Shaw on Oct 4, 2013 | 3 comments

Welcome to the first of an ongoing monthly series of role-playing game podcasts. Inspired by the episode of Community ‘Advanced Dungeons & Dragons‘ each episode  will be a single, sit-down gaming session conducted over Skype with myself as Dungeon Master and my guests as a team of adventurers. To kick us off we’re using the flexible, simple ruleset of Advanced Fighting Fantasy by Graham Bottley which itself stems from the gamebooks of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Deathtrap Dungeon) and detailed in the starter book Dungeoneer. The first of the two adventures within that book is what we have for you tonight. Next time I will be writing an original, continuation adventure… for the survivors of this one.

I wanted to bring you guys something different, in the style I have honed over the years so there’s music and sound FX as well as a hefty chunk of silliness and getting into character. The lengthier fights have been edited for pacing but you can hear them in their entirety if you have access to Backstage Gonzo. The team that begins this story comprises of the following.

Thrale Copperhelm: A tough-as-nails dwarf, played by Neil Taylor of GameBurst
Lastern Darkfire: An elf fresh out of the forests, played by Mark Reay of The A.I. Bots
Kellis Payge: A human mage from the city watch of Chalice, played by Sharon Shaw of Do Try This at Home
Harron Brondyn: A sarcastic thief played by Matt Ramsey of Do Try This at Home

Ideally this is going to become a series with a constantly shifting setting. Focus will be on character and story over action and complex systems, almost closer to an audio drama than the recording of a game. The guest soundtrack for this week is the original World of Warcraft OST by Jason Hayes, Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, and Glenn Stafford. As far as bringing in other players, there may be future opportunities to guest as NPCs who could end up recurring or coming back as an adventurer in later stories. I do want to keep the party numbering around four to ensure combat is brisk, the characterization rich and that the story moves along smoothly. Many thanks to my guests, who played brilliantly and went easy on me in my first-time role as Dungeon Master. The combat rules were still being learned by all of us and should be tightened up by episode 2, now that we’re more familiar and practiced with them. Also Gonzo is an adult podcast and we use adult language in this.

And thank you all for making this one of the warmest, smartest, funniest communities on the internet for 150 episodes of Gonzo. Here’s to 150 more.

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