Of the many tabletop game/actual play podcasts out there, Rusty Quill has been one of the ones making stories from the beginning. Rusty Quill gaming had been a podcast lasting almost seven years, so it could be seen as a daunting task to create a brand new program instead of just using the branding and feed of RQG, but if the first three weeks are anything to go by their new actual play podcast Chapter and Multiverse brings a new interesting spot to the Rusty Quill lineup.
The concept of Chapter and Multiverse is that each of the games they will play will take place in or around a place named Chapter, often a city, and each game they play will be in a different universe. The format of the series is also a but different than other actual play podcasts. While others may follow a long form story in one system, Chapter is dedicated to do something a little different. The show is broken into pats, with one section telling a longer form story over a season, and the other dedicated to more one shot type stories often completed in about three episodes. So far the two games they have played is Masks, and an original game titled Vampire Cowboys.
The Masks campaign so far seems to tell a typical super hero story. Four young characters are recruited to form a team to fight against evil in the city of Chapter. Its difficult to fully state how this campaign will truly go only a few episodes in, but so far it seems to be filled with a number of interesting characters and "totally real humans," and powers that could prove interesting in action scenes as well as in the narrative.
The second game played is Vampire Cowboys, a one shot type experience following a group of vampires in the old west that are recruited to turn a jerk into a vampire for a pack of werewolves. Of the two games so far this one is the more explicitly comedic tale, with characters such as an old vampire named Squishy Chewing, and another who faints at the sight of blood. The game was a fun tale told over three episodes, and offer a nice bonus to the mainline tale of Masks, while also being its own nice thing.
One of the few downsides to the podcast so far is the role of the storyteller. The storyteller introduces each episode as a multiverseal narrator, describing each tale and what had happened previously, all shaped around how they had encountered the heroes of each story. The issue is that they just seem a bit redundant, as so far the GM seems to do a fine job starting out the episode on their own. It is possible for the role to be improved upon, but it needs to find its purpose first.
Chapter and Multiverse brings a fresh entry into the actual play podcast sphere, so far bringing the best of long form campaigns and one shots to the table. If it can keep up the storytelling quality and find its use for the multiversal narrator, Rusty Quill have a worthy successor to Rusty Quill Gaming on their hands
