We're Celebrating 10 Years of Podcasting Today!

Summary

Dark Dice Podcast Episode Summary

Title: We're Celebrating 10 Years of Podcasting Today!
Host/Author: Fool and Scholar Productions
Release Date: June 24, 2025

Introduction

In this milestone episode, Travis Van Graaf and Ka Stats of Foolen Scholar Productions celebrate a decade of creating immersive horror and fantasy content through their podcast, "Dark Dice." The hosts reflect on their journey, accomplishments, challenges, and future endeavors, offering listeners an intimate glimpse into their growth and passion for storytelling.

Reflecting on the Beginnings (00:00 - 02:44)

Travis and Ka kick off the episode by reminiscing about the early days of their podcasting venture.

• Travis Van Graaf opens with a lighthearted acknowledgment of their ten-year journey, saying, “[00:15] I kind of feel old.”

• Ka Stats shares the origin story: “[00:40] We started podcasting because we wanted to do something creative while I was at university and I needed to not be studying.” This led to the creation of their initial project, "Liberty."

• The transition from their first project to the successful "White Vault" is highlighted. Ka notes, “[01:21] We wrote the outline for Liberty... And then you wrote Liberty and you sound designed and produced Liberty.”

Growth and Success (02:05 - 04:30)

The hosts discuss how "White Vault" marked a turning point, enabling them to pursue podcasting full-time.

• Ka Stats emphasizes the audience's positive reception: “[01:33] Everybody just really enjoyed the White Vault and they picked up on it...”

• Travis Van Graaf attributes their ability to go full-time to their supporters: “[02:25] ...because of the extreme generosity of our Patreon folks who make our lives... possible.”

• They express deep gratitude towards their community: “[02:37] If over these last 10 years, you have supported our shows in any way, then thank you so, so much.”

Community and Personal Connections (03:28 - 05:12)

Travis and Ka delve into the profound impact their podcasting has had on their personal lives and community.

• Ka Stats reflects on the dual nature of the internet: “[03:28] The Internet is both this anonymous group... and all of these amazing people that we respond to comments from...”

• A touching anecdote is shared about their cast members forming real-life connections: “[03:40] It has been unreal because we were at a wedding a few years ago in Iceland for our cast of the White Vault, who met each other through all the stuff that we're doing, and they got married.”

• Travis Van Graaf recalls a memorable moment when airport security questioned their online friendships, highlighting the real-world bonds formed through the podcast.

Expanding the Portfolio and Future Projects (05:12 - 07:45)

The conversation shifts to their diverse range of projects and upcoming ventures.

• Ka Stats mentions moving beyond "White Vault" with projects like "Vast Horizon," "Daafwigma," and "Dark Dice," and introduces their new anthology series: “[04:17] we're making now, and I'm really excited for it.”

• Travis Van Graaf outlines the ongoing work on "White Vault" and other series, signaling continuous creative output: “[05:12] we're recording in like an hour and a half for one other actor and we're done.”

Celebrating Ten Years: Special Projects (07:09 - 08:26)

To honor their decade-long achievement, Travis and Ka announce special initiatives.

• They are re-releasing their earliest work, "Tales from the Tower," enhanced with new sound effects, aiming to present "better, darker versions." Travis notes, “[06:05] for a 10 year special thing, we've got a thing we're doing as a celebration of sorts.”

• Ka Stats expresses pride in their growth: “[06:40] Both of us have gotten so much better over the last 10 years. Myself as a writer, 100% I am better.”

• Additionally, they are translating ten episodes of "Tales from the Tower" into Japanese, expanding their reach: “[08:07] we are also translating 10 episodes of Tales from the Tower into Japanese and it'll be released in Japanese in Japan or everywhere, I guess on Spotify.”

Adapting to Changes and Maintaining Balance (08:26 - 10:15)

The hosts discuss the evolving landscape of podcasting and their strategies for adaptation.

• Travis Van Graaf reflects on technological advancements and the necessity to stay current: “[08:26] how do you feel? Our lives have changed and our workflow and the industry maybe has changed.”

• Ka Stats touches on the challenges of work-life balance and the demands of running a creative business: “[09:05] We still don't have work life balance.”

• They share their philosophy on navigating the rapidly changing podcasting industry, emphasizing resilience and flexibility.

Journey and Growth as a Company (10:15 - 11:03)

Travis and Ka highlight their professional growth and the transformation from hobbyists to seasoned creators.

• Ka Stats reminisces about their humble beginnings: “[10:13] Like a very famous and influential pub where people like Tolkien and many other famous writers would go and then read and write their works.”

• The hosts express profound gratitude for how podcasting has shaped their lives: “[10:15] Podcasting has literally become our careers. It has allowed us the life that we have.”

Looking Forward: New Content and Continuous Creation (11:03 - 12:12)

As the episode approaches its conclusion, the focus shifts to their ongoing and future projects.

• Travis Van Graaf teases upcoming seasons of "White Vault" and encourages support through Patreon: “[11:03] It has allowed us the life that we have. And the opportunity to work in a creative career is something that should never be laughed at or taken for granted.”

• They introduce their special release for the anniversary: the updated first episode of "Tales from the Tower," titled "Imposter," complete with new sound effects.

Featured Story: "Imposter" from Tales from the Tower (12:12 - 25:12)

The episode concludes with a dramatic reading of "Imposter," a revamped episode from their earlier work, showcasing their enhanced storytelling and production capabilities.

• Peter Joseph Lewis narrates the story, which involves a tense and eerie journey through a deserted train station, culminating in a horrifying encounter with a transformed individual.

Closing Remarks (25:12 - End)

Post-story, Travis provides credits and final acknowledgments.

• Travis Van Graaf expresses heartfelt thanks: “[25:12] Thank you for listening to Tales from the Tower... Thank you for listening. May the Archon watch over.”

• Listeners are directed to visit libertyanders.com for more information about their universe.

Notable Quotes

• “[00:15] I kind of feel old.” — Travis Van Graaf
• “[02:25] ...because of the extreme generosity of our Patreon folks who make our lives... possible.” — Travis Van Graaf
• “[03:28] The Internet is both this anonymous group... and all of these amazing people that we respond to comments from...” — Ka Stats
• “[06:40] Both of us have gotten so much better over the last 10 years. Myself as a writer, 100% I am better.” — Ka Stats
• “[09:05] We still don't have work life balance.” — Ka Stats

Conclusion

This celebratory episode of "Dark Dice" not only marks ten years of creative excellence but also underscores the enduring passion and dedication of Travis Van Graaf and Ka Stats. Their journey from initial projects to becoming full-time podcasters highlights the power of storytelling and community support. As they continue to evolve, listeners can look forward to more gripping tales and innovative storytelling from Foolen Scholar Productions.

Transcript

[Travis Van Graaf]

Hey, everyone. I'm Travis Van Graaf.

[Ka Stats]

And I'm Ka Stats.

[Travis Van Graaf]

And together we are Foolen Scholar Productions.

[Ka Stats]

And we have been Foolen Scholar productions now for 10 years.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Wow, that's a lot of time.

[Ka Stats]

A decade of podcasting.

[Travis Van Graaf]

I kind of feel old.

[Ka Stats]

We are old.

[Travis Van Graaf]

We just started tiktoking too. So it's like we're extra old.

[Ka Stats]

We feel older now than we did before. And that's how old works.

[Travis Van Graaf]

No, but yeah, I thought it'd be cool to reminisce for a few minutes about what 10 years of podcasting looks like, what's changed, what's new, and kind of like what our future is looking like. So let's talk about our start.

[Ka Stats]

We started podcasting because we wanted to do something creative while I was at university and I needed to not be studying. So we wrote Liberty.

[Travis Van Graaf]

More aptly, we wrote the outline for Liberty. And then you wrote Liberty and you.

[Ka Stats]

Sound designed and produced Liberty. And this was Liberty Critical research. This was like OG we were playing multiple people.

[Travis Van Graaf]

We were half the cast.

[Ka Stats]

Liberty.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Yeah, that was a lot. And at some point we visited Iceland, and you got this idea for a horror story. And when we got back to Florida, because we were living in Florida at the time, you wrote this script called the White Vault and handed it to me, and I was like, what is this amazingness?

[Ka Stats]

So the White Vault was our second show, and one day I kind of just wrote a script and I showed it to Travis and I was like, we're gonna. We're gonna make this one next. And he's like, I didn't know there was a next. All right. And it was really cool.

[Travis Van Graaf]

And that made us effectively able to become full time podcasters because it got very successful kind of quickly.

[Ka Stats]

Yeah, I mean, everybody just really enjoyed the White Vault and they picked up on it, and it was really an overwhelmingly wonderful experience to have people listening to the stories that I was writing and that you were creating and then that we had made into these podcasts. And technically, fool and Scholar wasn't a company at that time. It wasn't a company for a couple more years because we couldn't afford to be full time podcasters.

[Travis Van Graaf]

That's true. We did podcasting at that point for three years already.

[Ka Stats]

Yeah. And eventually we were able, after moving and creating more shows and going through a lot of stuff in our life, we actually were able to become full time podcasters. One of us first. I started first as full time, and then later Travis was able to quit his job and become full time as well.

[Travis Van Graaf]

And that is because of the extreme generosity of our Patreon folks who make our lives, which feel so impossibly imaginative and unreal, possible. And that's so cool.

[Ka Stats]

If over these last 10 years, you have supported our shows in any way, then thank you so, so much.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Seriously. Thank you.

[Ka Stats]

And if you've ever thought about supporting Foolen Scholar Productions, we're still around. We're still indie, and we still survive and thrive and get to create because of our supporters. There's these two ideas, right? Like, the Internet is both this anonymous group that does everything in the world, but the Internet is also all of these amazing people that we respond to comments from and we talk with on Discord and all of these really fantastic fans who make our entire productions possible. And it's. It's just like the Internet goes two ways. Either you're my friend or you're like an anonymous person. It's so strange.

[Travis Van Graaf]

It is. It really is. It's been unreal because we were at a wedding a few years ago in Iceland for our cast of the White Vault, who met each other through all the stuff that we're doing, and they got married.

[Ka Stats]

Our podcasts change lives.

[Travis Van Graaf]

It really does. And I remember the first time we all got together, the TSA stopped one of our actors and said, you met these people online. They're not really your friends then, are they?

[Ka Stats]

I have a lot of Internet friends.

[Travis Van Graaf]

It's been a very big transition and life change for us. So that's some of the stuff we've been doing. We've done other podcasts, of course, between like Vast Horizon, which was amazing. Daafwigma, Dark Dice, our lovely D and D podcast. And now you're actively writing and making stories for an anthology series where every season is its own story. Don't mind.

[Ka Stats]

Don't Mind. That's the one that we're making now, and I'm really excited for it. It's. I mean, I know we're looking back on 10 years, but I also feel like we're looking at the future.

[Travis Van Graaf]

And it's the statsverse.

[Ka Stats]

It's.

[Travis Van Graaf]

You're building the statsverse.

[Ka Stats]

It's all of my ideas for the mysteries and horrors and tiny terrors that fill the world or could fill my world. And I'm really excited for Don't Mind. I mean, I. Of course I am. I'm the writer. That's so silly to say, but, yeah, it's looking at the future of what I'm going to be writing, and it's just so open and that feels amazing.

[Travis Van Graaf]

And let's clarify. We've been working on the White Vault for eight years. I'm working right now with Finner and Drega on the last season of it. We're recording in like an hour and a half for one other actor and we're done. And then we'll get sound design in that. But that's eight years of a story. One story, effectively, that's kind of continuous and it ties well.

[Ka Stats]

It's one main story. And then Goshawk and the miniseries. Yeah. And all of the miniseries, which sort of tie. And I'm like, yeah, like for me, because I already wrote the finale of Goshawk. That's in my past.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ka Stats]

So that part, that chapter of fool and Scholar for me is over. And I know that people haven't heard it yet, but for me I'm like, oh, I wrote that a while ago. That's done. Now I'm working on all these other things. For me, the future is. Don't mind the future is more horrors in Dark Dice and maybe some other things down the road. There's just so much going on and it's so weird to look back on 10 years and be like, oh, yeah, I also wrote Vast Horizon and that was three seasons that I love so much. I know it didn't like pop off. It wasn't our biggest show, but that was my sci fi opera kind of thing.

[Travis Van Graaf]

It's one of my favorite stories. I'm a little biased, but I really do love that one too. So much. But for 10 years, for a 10 year special thing, we've got a thing we're doing as a celebration of sorts. Our oldest horror stories are being turned into a Japanese language audio drama. And part of doing that was going back and looking at the scripts for Tales from the Tower Liberty again, anthology horror. And now we're going through and looking at it and we are adding new sounds. We're looking at the scripts again because you wrote them a very long time ago.

[Ka Stats]

Both of us have gotten so much better over the last 10 years. Myself as a writer, 100% I am better. So much so than I was 10 years ago. I've learned so much about writing in general, about stories in general, and more so about writing for audio.

[Travis Van Graaf]

So instead of just releasing the better Japanese language versions, we've updated the first season ish of Tales from the Tower and we'll be releasing those every. Every two weeks, effectively for like the next 20 weeks.

[Ka Stats]

Yeah. So we will be releasing, if you've already heard them. That's great. Now you can hear the newer, better, darker versions. And if you've never heard Liberty Tales from the Tower, you're in for a treat. It is our sci fi world. Our first sci fi world. Not connect. Vast horizon. And it is so fun to go back and see the world again because it's kind of been on hiatus. We don't regularly release it, but it's not officially dead because sometimes I get an inkling for a story and then we write a Tales from the Tower for kind of out of the blue.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Those are a lot of fun too. Below us was. Was really a blast. And I loved Minds and Mysteries. That was. That's still one of my favorite ones in the series.

[Ka Stats]

The narrow.

[Travis Van Graaf]

The narrow two. But we're basically going to be re releasing the first season and maybe one or two other episodes, so.

[Ka Stats]

And that's. That's out. I was gonna say ALF English. That's in English.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Yep.

[Ka Stats]

But we are also translating 10 episodes of Tales from the Tower into Japanese and it'll be released in Japanese in Japan or everywhere, I guess on Spotify. And we're really excited for that too. We think that a whole new market of people could be scared by our stories.

[Travis Van Graaf]

We're super excited for it. So what's changed now? We've talked about what we've made in the past. We're working on new. Don't mind. We're working on new Dark dice. We're working on perhaps at some point more Liberty Tales from the Tower. But as far as trends that have changed over the years, I had to go back and edit a bunch of things while we were migrating our RSS just last year and I was going through and hearing some of our oldest interviews. We were talking about, like, this is the best and latest and greatest in podcasting technologies, and boy, was some of.

[Ka Stats]

It a bit dated because it's 10 years old.

[Travis Van Graaf]

How do you. How do you feel? Our lives have changed and our workflow and the industry maybe has. Has changed.

[Ka Stats]

We still don't have work life balance.

[Travis Van Graaf]

That's true.

[Ka Stats]

That's true. Well, now that we've been a company for a while, we have employees, which is different. We still work obscene hours. And I mean, as business owners, anybody who owns their own business knows that you just work obscene hours, but our employees do not.

[Travis Van Graaf]

We're benevolent dictators.

[Ka Stats]

I mean, I just feel like we've grown professionally because now we have a better handle on what's happening. But I would also say that the world of podcasting is changing. So Fast all the time. That anytime we get a handle on one thing, two months later, it's changing.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Yeah.

[Ka Stats]

And I think at this point, we're pretty ready to roll with the punches when it comes to changes, because we've already had to do that so much.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Yeah.

[Ka Stats]

I mean, we. We live in a completely different country now than actually since we've been podcasting. We've lived in three countries.

[Travis Van Graaf]

We have. I still can't believe that we started with the first scripts of Liberty. We decided that we're going to go to it. The Bird and Baby.

[Ka Stats]

Well, Eagle and Child.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Sorry, the professional name.

[Ka Stats]

Like a very famous and influential pub where people like Tolkien and many other famous writers would go and then read and write their works. And we decided, okay, we're going to go to this pub because we. We lived in Oxford at the time and we're going to write. And we snapped a little photo of ourselves and we thought, oh, this is cute. And now that's the photo from about 10 years ago that we always think back on. Yeah. It's insane. Podcasting has literally become our careers. It has allowed us the life that we have. It has changed our lives significantly for the better. And the opportunity to work in a creative career is something that should never.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Be laughed at or taken for granted. It's so much work, but we really enjoy it. And I am excited to continue making more of these stories. I know you said the White Vault Goshawk is over for you, but that's the next 20 weeks of my life that I'll be working on that I've already been working on for quite a while with the cast with Reggae. Again, a huge shout out to everyone who supports us on Patreon during these summer months when we're not releasing White Fault content, but, boy, are we working on it. I think you can safely hear the tired in our voices because we have been working a lot over the last weekend and weekdays on some cool stuff. So today we've got something special for you. Like we said, it's been 10 years and we're going to share here the first episode of Tales from the Tower. Completely updated. We hope you enjoy it. If you want to hear more, you can find it on Liberty, specifically the Liberty Podcast. And however you found us, we are so appreciative you're here and we thank you so much for listening to our stories. So completely redone. With new sound effects, we present Imposter.

[Peter Joseph Lewis]

It was a busy day. I had spent the majority of the morning alongside my colleagues in the lab trying to solve a simple but project halting flaw in our recent prototype. We did not overcome it this morning, but we were set on figuring it out by our shift's end later in the day. But as the time for the break grew nearer and nearer, the conversation shifted from solving our problem to solving our stomachs. My colleague's collective attention span never seemed to match my own. Dr. Shale was celebrating her new research grant and there was a consensus to go out for celebratory drinks during the break, an action greatly against every safety regulation. As the last few minutes of the morning shift ticked away, I grew excited and checked my data pad. There was a flashing light in the upper left hand, denoting I had missed a call. I excused myself from the off topic chatter of my fellows and listened to the voicemail. Dr. Will Wallace it was the voice of My Floor Super Mr. Miles, there appears to have been a.

[Ka Stats]

Problem with your residence mid morning.

[Peter Joseph Lewis]

Please come back to the apartment as soon as possible so we can address the issue. I'll be waiting. Mr. Miles was an older gentleman who was prone to underplaying the importance of an issue, so I excused myself from the upcoming drinks session with my colleagues and instead promptly left for the sky railing. It was a dark day, or perhaps it wasn't. The weather never seemed to change, but the sun could cast odd shadows at particular times. The streets and tunnels leading to the station seemed empty, usually during break or shift changes. The sounds of hundreds and thousands of voices echoed off of the wall and the whole of the city felt alive. Empty. It just seemed so sterile, with halls of untarnished metal and towering buildings that cast dark lines everywhere. I was walking quickly, quite unsure of the train schedule at such an abnormal time. I thought about quite a few things in the silence of the walk to the sky rail. What was wrong with my apartment? When was the next train available? Was this station supposed to be closed? Is. Is that why it was so silent? To drown out my thoughts? I switched on the short wave and picked up some news chatter. I had heard it before, more advertisement than news. The chipper woman pitched a news face cream offering all the help you need.

[Ka Stats]

To bring life back to your eyes.

[Peter Joseph Lewis]

She was just about to say the pitch again as the station came into sight. As I stepped up to the automatic door, the woman pitched again, all the.

[Ka Stats]

Help you need to bring life back to your eyes.

[Peter Joseph Lewis]

As I stepped through, the short wave twitched.

[Ka Stats]

All the help you need to bring life back to your eyes. All the help you need to bring life back to your eyes.

[Peter Joseph Lewis]

I shut it off the station had bad signal, it seemed. I was left with my thoughts. The station was empty. I had never seen such a sight, but when I looked at my clock, I knew it was due to the odd hour. No one was on break, no one was on shift change. Classes were in session, and this wasn't a very prime location for recreation creation. There was a ding and a flash of light to declare the incoming train, but there was no announcement. All trains out of this station stopped at the next as well, which happened to be my stop. Regardless, the train pulled up, reflecting flashes of light into the darker corners of the station hall, and the polite chime of the doors ushered me onto the train. There was no one in the train except for an older man sitting at the very end of the car. He was gangly, with tufts of white hair peeking from the end of his grey hood and a generally clean appearance overall. He had taken one of the larger end seats reserved for disabled patrons and carried a hefty cane in his hands as he sat. I was anxious about my apartment and going to disembark at the next stop, so I forewent a seat even though all others were free. The train chimed again and the doors hissed closed. The emptiness of the station slowly slid away as the train began moving. As buildings passed by, the train was cast into alternating sessions of shadow and illumination. I took sideward glances at the old man at the end of the train. He looked a little less ragged after the lights flashed by, even less so several flashes later. The wild white hair from under the hood seemed absent. Shifts of the light can do rather odd things. I jumped. The short wave had twitched on. It ran again and again over the same line. I switched it off and chuckled, giving an embarrassed nod to the old man. He didn't look up, but I could see his lips curled back into a wide grin. He didn't look too old anymore, or too frail, and the wide, downcast grin didn't seem to be fading. I looked away, and in that moment I heard a loud knock. The man had forcefully planted his cane onto the train floor, but it no longer appeared as a cane. The handle appeared like the curve of a pipe, and the shaft was stained, rusted, and metallic. I then took notice of something I could only barely make out from afar. No mark. He had nothing. His hands were dirty and stained, but held no trace of citizenship. Upon closer inspection, lights flashing by. His clothes were dirty, no, filthy and frayed, if not ragged. I finally brought my eyes up to his face. He stared right at me, some horrible intention pushing through his expression, his grin was lopsided, one end stretching past natural boundaries, exposing gums and molars rotting and brown. He locked his eyes on me and stood. This was impossible. The clean old man was now some atrocity before me. Approaching me, I dashed to the back of the train car and into the adjacent car. I could hear. I could hear him approaching, not quickly, no running, but the sound of metal scratching metal as the pipe end dragged along the floor. I went to the next car and the next. All of them were empty and I had reached the end of the train. He was in the next car over now, still grinning and dragging the pipe. I looked around for a weapon, anything to defend myself or attempt to. The thing before me now held no mercy in its eyes, and I am a small, weak person. The box under the seat read in case of fire and contained a fire blanket. I promptly ripped it free and wrapped it around my fist. I thought maybe I could break a window. I punched hard and screamed as I heard the audible crack of my bones. He was at the end of the previous car now, opening the doors. The train should have reached my stop by now. The train should have reached the next two stops by now. There should have been people at the station. There should have been people on the train. I stood at the very end of the train as the man walked towards me, the pipe tapping the poles along the way. That smile was not a smile. As he drew closer, I could see metal wires peeling back the skin around his mouth. And under his jacket was a shirt weaved from what I could only think of as hair. Looking down at me, he raised the pipe. I flinched as it came full force to my leg, but then only he tapped me slightly. This time he tried to smile with the wires, a practice swing. Then the full force of the pipe crashed into me, and from there on, my memories of black and searing white. A shouting woman awoke me in a blur and medical staff buzzed around me. I was picked up and the world moved around me. There were so many people now at the station, in the halls, so many fuzzy people. They tell me that when they found me, it was morning. I had been in a train that was out of service for the night, and no one was sure how I had gotten there. The woman who found me had called for medical help. My legs were indistinguishable from the browned blood of the floor smashed into the grain of the train. My hood had been torn from my head and my hand had been mauled, the skin of my mark removed and the bones of my thumb and pointer finger exposed. I overheard the nurses talking. It looked as though it had been bitten off. The doctors told me yesterday that I may never be able to walk again, but at least all of my hair will grow back.

[Travis Van Graaf]

Thank you for listening to Tales from the Tower. Impostor was written by KA Statz. Tales from the Tower is co created by KA Statz and Travis Vengrough. Impostor was read by Peter Joseph Lewis with additional voices by KA Stats, Travis Vengrough, Mike Cayotta, and Joshua Steelman with production and sound design by Travis Vengrof, music by Brandon Boone, mixing by Dane Leonardson and mastering by Finner Nielsen. If you would like more information about the world of Liberty, Please check out libertyanders.com this production is copyright 2016 and 2025 by Foolen Scholar Productions and Liberty is a trademark of Travis Vengraff. Thank you for listening. May the Archon watch over.