Today is our second episode Kingdom Death: Monster. This is our full spoiler episode where we talk about the unfolding story and discuss the ever problematic nemesis encounters. This episode is a little longer because there are so many hidden secrets in this game and wonderful little twists and turns to explore.
Hello once again everybody, Jeremy here! Once again I’m writing this blog post because I feel that John has earned a little bit of time off. Now I figure that we’ve spent two whole episodes talking about Kingdom Death: Monster and that you’ve probably already made up your mind about that game so instead this time in the blog post I’ll pull back the curtain a little bit and talk about how Save Vs Rant came into being and what all goes into making an episode for you guys to listen to.
So what made us decide one day to make a podcast about our geeky, nerdy obsessions? Well back in the day, in the bygone year of 2010, I, along with John’s brother, used to produce a gaming review show called Gaming Disconnect on YouTube. Now, while it was fun to make, the episodes were often very hit and miss. Whenever a new episode would come out I would inflict them on my gaming group. John found the episodes entertaining but sometimes lacking in substance.
Around the same time that I was producing Gaming Disconnect, John was preparing to host monthly lecture series called How To Be A Better Dungeon Master at his friendly local gaming store. He wrote a number of classes on a wide variety of topics but found that times and availability were extremely hit and miss. He mused for a little while about converting the lectures into a YouTube series in which he and our friend Jacob would have impassioned discussions about different RPG rules and styles. Unfortunately this never materialized but the proposed name of that series, Save Verses Rant, held my interest.
Six years go by, it’s late 2016, and I ask John what ever happened lecture notes. He mentions that he still has them in a binder somewhere and that he wishes that he could have done something with them. I mention that I have been listening to a number of podcasts lately and that he should try recording the lectures and turning them into a podcast. The name Save Vs Rant is the first and only name that was proposed.
So John and I got together and recorded the first three episodes of the show all in one night. I took the audio files home and edited them together into a few sample episodes. They were rough but good enough to keep both of our interests. I asked my roommate, Timmy Skittles, to create a theme and logo. A few test screenings, a couple of edits, and a few months later and we decide to release the podcasts online for everyone to enjoy. We split the editing work evenly, John takes every even episode while I take every odd episode. John hits on the idea of pairing each episode with a blog post to give our audience a little more information about the topic at hand, often things we missed while recording.
Making an episode is and involved but straightforward process. One day every few months we sit down and brainstorm a list of topics we want to discuss. On most Wednesday nights around 11 PM John and I get together to play games and talk about the episode. After a walk to the local convenience store for snacks and drinks we sit down and outline the episode. We write notes and bounce ideas off of each other to try to distill the topic down into its most relevant points. The outlining and discussion often takes twice as long as the actual recording. When we are ready we hit record and start rambling and ranting. While we don’t have an actual script we do try to stick to the notes we made beforehand and try not to go off the rails too often.
One of the greatest parts of making this show is getting to spend time with one of my oldest and closest friends. Life is hard and we can’t always find time to see each other. Sometimes family drama or work gets in the way. But having this show gives us a reason to get together and hopefully the fun we have making Save Vs Rant comes through. It’s been a wild ride this season and we can’t wait to continue next season producing this show for all of you to listen to. Thank you very much for listening.