The Listening Club TTRPG Special - Episode 1

Summary

The Magnus Archives: The Listening Club TTRPG Special – Episode 1

Date: December 11, 2025
Host / GM: Jonathan Sims
Players: Anusha Battersby, Lorianne Davies, Ian Hales, Pip Gladwin
Special Guest (Intro): Alexander J. Newell

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Overview:

This special episode marks the launch of "The Listening Club," a lighthearted actual play session of the newly released Magnus Archives tabletop RPG by Monte Cook Games. GM'd by Jonathan Sims (Jonny) and featuring a cast drawn from both The Magnus Archives and The Magnus Protocol, the episode focuses on character creation and establishing the premise: a group of enthusiastic fans of the fictional horror podcast "The Armitage Library" who are about to be drawn into their own supernatural investigation.

Main Theme:
A meta, comedic, and collaborative creation of new TTRPG characters set in the Magnus universe, exploring friendships, archetypes, and the joys of geeky podcast fandom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

[05:07] – [06:47]: Special Intro and Context

• Alexander J. Newell sets the scene, explaining recent Rusty Quill activities, a break in Magnus Protocol production, and the inception of this TTRPG special.
• The episode will feature both fun, non-canon gameplay and charitable/fan engagement updates, including the return of the Rusty Fears writing competition.

"So, with that in mind, I get to introduce the Listening Club, an actual play of the Magnus Archives tabletop roleplaying game by Monte Cook games, GM'd by our very own Jonathan Sims."
— Alexander J. Newell [06:09]

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[07:04] – [10:00]: Introducing the Table and Premise

• Jonathan Sims introduces himself as GM and welcomes the players.
• All players introduce themselves and clarify pronouns.
• The premise: The characters are everyday listeners of "The Armitage Library," described as a horror fiction podcast with an unreliable narrator who’s grown increasingly paranoid.

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[10:00] – [11:59]: Establishing the Group Dynamic

• Discussion on how their podcast fan group interacts:
  • Discord server, in-person meetups at cafes or bars, Only Murders in the Building vibes.
  • Set weekly listens for new podcast episodes.
• Deliberate emphasis on familiar, friendly dynamics as a counterpoint to horror.

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[11:59] – [14:23]: Character Creation – Descriptors

• Players select character descriptors, influencing personality and play style:
  • Anusha: No-nonsense, scholarly, fastidious
  • Ian: Cynical
  • Lowrie: Fastidious (especially focused on accuracy)
  • Pip: Inquisitive

"Being inquisitive is always a deeply suboptimal trait to have in a horror story. So let's go."
— Pip Gladwin [11:48]

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[14:23] – [15:56]: Character Creation – Roles & Foci

• The four available roles: Investigator, Protector, Elocutionist (talky), Occultist.
  • Anusha: Elocutionist
  • Lorianne: Investigator
  • Ian: Occultist
  • Pip: Protector
• Character “foci” (special traits):
  • Anusha: Infiltrates
  • Ian: Would rather be reading
  • Lorianne: Never says die
  • Pip: Looks for trouble

"I'm gonna go for 'Looks for Trouble,' because again, terrible trait to have in a horror story. … He's wearing a red shirt is what I'm saying."
— Pip Gladwin [14:46]

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[15:56] – [23:51]: Stat and Skill Assignment

• Jonny walks each player through core stats (Might, Speed, Intellect) and abilities.
• Characters gain unique skill sets according to descriptor, role, and focus (e.g., researching, forensics, tracking, performance, etc.).
• The system is streamlined for the session’s sake, emphasizing roleplay over rules.

"In this game you have three stats, four if you count the stress that you will be accumulating across the course of the game."
— Jonathan Sims [15:16]

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[24:02] – [29:12]: Player Character Introductions

Anusha Battersby as Margot Maria Bradley

• 27-year-old bar worker; short, with big glasses and a stylish look; always with a tote bag. Has a “no-nonsense elocutionist who infiltrates” vibe.

Ian Hales as Alphonse Platt

• 42-year-old “loper” (tall, elegant limbs); runs a magical book imprint; owns three rats (Rod, Jane, Pushkin); covered in protective tattoos; classic “cynical occultist who would rather be reading.”

Pip Gladwin as Barry Knapp

• Early 50s, bouncer, recent podcast convert thanks to Margot. Protective of group, especially Margot, relishing the sense of community. Described as an “inquisitive protector who looks for trouble” and is humorously aware of his redshirt status.

Lorianne Davies as Elodie Jones

• 40, jeans and wool jumper, always carrying a neatly organized backpack. Accountant by trade, obsessed with order and structure, and with detailed notes about the podcast; a “fastidious investigator who never says die.”

"She has mugs that say things like, tidy desk, tidy mind. And this is, like, such a very special thing to her. Like, this is separate to the rest of her life, and she loves it."
— Lorianne Davies [28:40]

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[29:21] – [31:36]: Relationship Web and Group History

• Margot and Barry’s connection: Margot works at a bar where Barry is a bouncer. She introduced him to the podcast, forming the initial friendship.
• Elodie is Alphonse’s long-suffering accountant, despite the negligible income; this establishes comic rapport and some ready-made social ties among the group.
• The bar in Manchester, “The Angler’s Head,” becomes the group’s social anchor.

"Is this London or Manchester? ... Let’s do Manchester."
— Jonathan Sims [30:52]

“I can look at them for you. Give me the sheets.”
— Lorianne Davies (as Elodie) to Ian/Alphonse [31:22]

"I just think it's better to do it right, you know? That's all I'm saying."
— Ian Hales (as Alphonse) [31:27]

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[31:37] – [31:48]: Sign-Off and What’s Next

• Jonny teases the coming horror, promising the true investigation will kick off next episode.

"Well, we will see what horrible trouble these four podcast listening misfits get up to in the next episode."
— Jonathan Sims [31:37]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Roleplay and Humor:

• “I'm stripping down the rules a bit, but you know, have a good time.”
  — Jonathan Sims [07:09]

• "You've undermined it. I'm sorry. Please move on from me. I'm very sorry."
  — Pip Gladwin, self-deprecating after some comedic RP [14:20]

On the meta setting:

• "You are all fans of the popular horror fiction podcast series the Armitage Library… you all like to listen together, but how does this work?"
  — Jonathan Sims [09:34]

• "Margot will adopt them if all else fails. She loves rats."
  — Anusha Battersby, on Alphonse’s pet rats [26:30]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Start | End | |:-------------------------------------------|:--------|:--------| | Rusty Quill Update & Protocol Recap | 05:07 | 06:47 | | GM Introduction & Cast Greetings | 07:04 | 08:47 | | Group Backstory Discussions | 09:34 | 10:53 | | Character Descriptors | 11:00 | 11:55 | | Roles & Foci Selections | 12:22 | 15:00 | | Stat/Skill Assignment Walkthrough | 15:00 | 24:02 | | Character Descriptions | 24:10 | 29:12 | | Relationship Web & Social Anchor | 29:13 | 31:27 | | Final Group Cohesion & Sign Off | 31:27 | 31:48 |

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Episode Tone

The tone is enthusiastic and irreverent—rich in inside jokes, character-friendly teasing, and a sense of meta-camaraderie. Though horror looms, this session is as much about celebrating friendship and genre fandom as it is setting the stage for future weirdness.

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Takeaway

This episode is a delightful, accessible entry point for new listeners and TTRPG fans alike. It relishes in its meta premise and character-driven banter, skillfully blending the supernatural legacy of The Magnus Archives with the warmth of found family geekdom. Expect horror to sneak in next time—until then, enjoy the loving chaos of character creation and podcast camaraderie.

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Next Episode Preview:
The investigative horror really begins as the “Listening Club” gets swept into an uncanny conspiracy, exploring what happens when fandom meets the inexplicable.

Transcript

[Rusty Quill Announcer]

Rusty Our legendary horror writing competition is back. As with previous Rusty Fierce competitions, seven winners will be chosen to have their stories performed, produced and published right here on the Magnus Archives feed. Choose a theme, write your story and submit your entry before 14th December 2025. To view the list of themes, find the submission form, and for T's and C's, go to rustyquill.com fears that's rustyquill.com fears.

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[Eva Longoria]

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[Jonathan Sims]

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[Pip Gladwin]

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[Jonathan Sims]

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[Pip Gladwin]

False.

[Lorianne Davies]

That's gotta be true again.

[Jonathan Sims]

Carvana will pick up your car from your door, or you can drop it off at one of their car vending machines.

[Lorianne Davies]

Sounds too good to be true.

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So true.

[Jonathan Sims]

Finally caught on.

[Pip Gladwin]

Nice job.

[Jonathan Sims]

Honesty isn't just their policy, it's their entire model.

[Pip Gladwin]

Sell your car today too. Carvana pickup fees may apply.

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[Alexander J. Newell]

Everyone, this is Alexander J. Newell, founder and CEO of Rusty Cool Limited and voice of Norris on the Magnus Protocol podcast. Just taking a moment to introduce some special holiday content along with some updates from Rusty Towers. In case you didn't know, production for the Magnus Protocol has been on a bit of a break while we previewed our original theatre production, Magnus Live the Hilltop in London, England. The initial run of this new work for stage, which features original cast performances from both the Magnus Archives and the Magnus Protocol, has now finished. But no worries if you missed it, these first shows were just a demo and since it went so well, we can do more showings in the future along with making a recording of the last preview show available online for anyone who couldn't make it. So keep an eye on our socials for the latest info on all that. With that sorted, we're now back at Rusty Towers and working hard for Protocol to return in spring 2026. But in the meantime, we thought we'd give you a little thank you for everyone's patience and support during this period. So, with that in mind, I get to introduce the Listening Club, an actual play of the Magnus Archives tabletop roleplaying game by Monte Cook games, GM'd by our very own Jonathan Sims. This lighthearted adventure follows an investigation into a mysterious podcast company called.

Mouldy Pencil Productions and features Anusha Battersby, Lorianne Davies, Ian Hales and Pip Gladwin as players. We'll also be releasing some different TTRPG content at a later date as part of our fundraising stretch calls for Protocol. Lastly, before I hand over to Johnny's thinly veiled assassination of everything I stand for, I just wanted to let you know that Rusty Fears, our fan favourite horror writing competition, is back. If you want your work featured on this feed as part of our effort to showcase new and undiscovered writing talent, then be sure to head over to rustyquill.com spheres for more information. That's all for now. We hope you enjoy this latest Mouldy Pencil production and as always, thanks for your.

[Jonathan Sims]

Support.

Hello everybody and welcome to a very special episode with me, your host, Jonathan Sims. You might remember me from such podcasts as the Magnus Archives or the Magnus Protocol, but today we are going to be playing a short session of the Magnus Archives role playing game from Monte Cook Games. I say we'll be playing it. I'm stripping down the rules a bit, but you know, have a good time. Joining me are some voices you will hopefully know as well. Anusha. Hello. Who are.

[Anusha Battersby]

You? Hello Johnny. I'm Anusha. I play Gwendolyn Bouchard in the Magnus Protocol and I'm a big RPG nut, so I'm very, very excited for.

[Jonathan Sims]

This. Fantastic. Ian, who are.

[Ian Hales]

You? As you might imagine, I am Ian. Ian Hills and I play various Trevor Herberts in various Magnus titled.

[Jonathan Sims]

Things. Magnuses, Magnusons. Pip.

[Pip Gladwin]

Hello. Hello there. I'm Pip Gladwin. You'll of course remember me as Taxi Driver from a Close to the.

[Jonathan Sims]

End, the first series of Magnus Protocol Fan.

[Pip Gladwin]

Favorite. Of course. I can hear everyone cheering. So pleased that Taxi Driver is.

[Anusha Battersby]

Back. Very happy to be here, really driving the.

[Pip Gladwin]

Series.

I've also appeared in Chapter of Multiverse. I've also appeared in a little bit. I think I was in a trailer for Try Forgotten. I was not a taxi driver, but close. And also cry havoc. Drusa said cry havoc as.

[Jonathan Sims]

Well. That was me. Finally.

[Lorianne Davies]

Lowrie. Yeah, hello. I am Lowrie and I play Celia in both archives and the Magnus Protocol. And my pronouns are she.

[Jonathan Sims]

Her. Oh yes, I'm so sorry. My pronouns are he, him, zanusha.

[Pip Gladwin]

Minus she, her, Pip, he.

[Ian Hales]

Him. This is.

[Jonathan Sims]

Ian. I'm he, him. To be clear, the lovely people who have joined me are not playing their characters from the.

[Pip Gladwin]

Podcast. Okay, I'll cross that out then. I had Taxi Driver written down.

[Jonathan Sims]

Here. So instead we are going to start with a little bit of character creation. We have been through the various safety tools, lines and veils X card stuff before the recording, so a little bit of introduction to the conceit of the game. It's non canon in the sense that it doesn't take place in any of the Magnus universes that we have visited thus far. The title of this adventure is the Listening Club. You are all fans of the popular horror fiction podcast series the Armitage Library, in which the narrator, Arthur G. Neville, will take various strange spooky stories and happenings, narrate them, investigate them. Oh, he's been having a bad time over the last sort of three series. He's fallen down a bit of a paranoia hole in the fiction because, well, obviously the podcast claims to be real, but obviously it's fiction. Now you all like to listen together, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts on like, how does this work? Are you all a group that like goes around someone's house to listen together? You will hit character creation itself in a second, but I want to get a sense of the group. How are people.

[Lorianne Davies]

Feeling? I love the idea that we have a discord and maybe we get together for the big ones to listen.

[Anusha Battersby]

Together. Yeah, I'm getting a very only Murders in the building vibe where we all end up in a cafe or.

[Lorianne Davies]

Same a hundred percent a bar just.

[Anusha Battersby]

Like every so often and just with our maps spread out on a table.

[Lorianne Davies]

Like. Is it a weekly.

[Jonathan Sims]

Podcast? It is weekly, yes. Although it goes on some weird long hiatuses sometimes that like there's clearly something happening production wise behind the scenes. So it's. But you know, when it's. When it's coming out, it's definitely weekly. So we are going to go through character creation. This is going to be a slightly abridged version of the cipher system character creation, which is in itself very quick and simple. You will broadly end up with a three part descriptor which is a blank blank who blanks, essentially. So Anusha, does anything leap out.

[Anusha Battersby]

There? I quite like something along the lines of the more no nonsense, scholarly, but also quite.

[Jonathan Sims]

Fastidious. I like the idea of you picking no nonsense simply because I know in real life you are extremely high.

[Anusha Battersby]

Nonsense. I'm full of.

[Jonathan Sims]

Nonsense. I'm quite enjoying the idea of giving you this roleplaying challenge. Ian, do any of these words leap out to.

[Ian Hales]

You? I mean, I don't know what it says about me, but cynical came front and centre with lights on.

[Jonathan Sims]

It. Yeah, cynical, Ian. We got no nonsense, we got cynical. We're shaping up to be a hard boiled listening club to a fiction horror podcast. Lowry, what about.

[Lorianne Davies]

You? I mean, Fastidious was the one that leaped out for.

[Jonathan Sims]

Me. Fantastic. And.

[Pip Gladwin]

Pip. Being inquisitive is always a deeply suboptimal trait to have in a horror story. So let's go.

[Jonathan Sims]

Inquisitive. Fantastic. Next you want to pick one of the four sort of classes, I guess four character types which will determine kind of what your role is. There is the investigator who sort of looks into things. There's the protector who punches things or protect things or does physical stuff. There is the elocutionist, who is the talky one. And there is the occultist who knows a bit about, you know, the.

[Anusha Battersby]

Occult. I don't know what this says about me as an RPG player, but I'm weirdly drawn to.

[Jonathan Sims]

Elocutionist. You could be a no nonsense.

[Lorianne Davies]

Elocutionist. I mean, investigator sounds like a fastidious.

[Jonathan Sims]

Trait. Can't go wrong with investigator. So that leaves Ian and Pip, occultist or protector. Maybe we go with the inquisitive protector and the cynical.

[Ian Hales]

Occultist. Yep, I'm fine with.

[Pip Gladwin]

That. Let's go for.

[Jonathan Sims]

It. All right. And finally, we will want a character focus. These are bits that go on the end. The first one on the list is carries a gun, but this is set in the uk, so I don't think any of you carry a gun. So your options are it's a Nerf.

[Ian Hales]

Gun.

It's back on the.

[Jonathan Sims]

List. You know what? I'll keep it on the list. With the caveat that, like, you don't actually. Let's start with Pip for your inquisitive protector. Which of these leaps.

[Pip Gladwin]

Out? My brain immediately went to where's a badge? And then just wanted to define it as just being like, yeah, it's just like a.

[Jonathan Sims]

Badge. Not like a police officer, just.

[Pip Gladwin]

Like. No, not even close. They just have a badge, which doesn't help with character creation at.

[Jonathan Sims]

All. I will say that, like, mechanically, because you get little special abilities from these or where's a badge generally denotes some sort of authority. So you will need. You would need to decide what sort of official body you worked for. Was it the Environment Agency? Is it the Office of National Statistics? Are you an Ofsted inspector? For international listeners? Ofsted is the body that assesses and ranks schools. Have a think about what sort of badge you might.

[Pip Gladwin]

Have. I'm not necessarily going for where's a badge? But I'll. I'll think on it. I was more being.

[Jonathan Sims]

Silly. I'm sorry, Pip. I'm sorry, Pip. You were being.

[Anusha Battersby]

Silly. That's good.

[Jonathan Sims]

Though. During.

[Pip Gladwin]

Character. During character creation. I.

[Shahan]

Was. Yeah, I.

[Pip Gladwin]

Know. I'm so sorry. This is why I only get to play taxi.

[Jonathan Sims]

Drivers. I bring a serious horror story to delight, to thrill and you're undercutting the tone.

[Pip Gladwin]

Pip. I've undermined.

[Jonathan Sims]

It. You've undermined.

[Pip Gladwin]

It. I'm sorry. Please move on from me. I'm very.

[Jonathan Sims]

Sorry. All right, Ian, can you rescue us from this pit of.

[Ian Hales]

Ridiculousness? I was going to do the badge bit as well, but. No, would rather be reading. Really. Does, I think, work with.

[Pip Gladwin]

It. It's.

[Jonathan Sims]

Nice.

[Pip Gladwin]

Absolutely. I like.

[Jonathan Sims]

That. A cynical occultist who would rather be reading.

[Lorianne Davies]

Perfect. Lowry never says.

[Jonathan Sims]

Die. Never says.

[Anusha Battersby]

Die. Anusha.

[Jonathan Sims]

Infiltrates. I like.

[Pip Gladwin]

It. I like it. I'm gonna go for. Just to round it out, just to double down on the inquisitive thing. I'm gonna go for Looks for Trouble, because again, terrible trait to have in a horror story. It's like, go home first to die. He's wearing a red shirt is what I'm.

[Jonathan Sims]

Saying. Anusha, you are a no nonsense elocutionist who infiltrates. Ian, you are a cynical occultist who would rather be reading Lowry you are a fastidious investigator who never says die. And Pip, you are an inquisitive protector who looks for trouble. Now I'm going to give you all some stats to reflect that. In this game you have three stats, four if you count the stress that you will be accumulating across the course of the game. You have might, which is your sort of physical beefiness. You have speed, which is your quickness, your dexterity, your precision. And you have intellect, which is your thinky brain stuff. How this manifests is you have pools. When I ask you to make a roll, you will be rolling a 20 sided dice and trying to hit a number based on the difficulty level. It goes up and down in threes. For a level one challenge, you need to roll a three or higher. For a level four challenge, you need to roll a 12 or higher. If you really want to do something, you can lower it by one level by spending three from the appropriate pool. So if you have like 10 points in your might pool and you're like, oh, I really, really want to punch this guy, you can spend three of those points to lower the difficulty from, I don't know, a nine to a six. So let's start with Anusha. Your starting value for being an elocutionist is 10 might, 11 speed and 13 intellectual. Okay, you have an edge in intellect of one. Edge means that it's slightly cheaper for you to spend intellect points, so you only need to spend two points of intellect to do some effort and lower.

[Pip Gladwin]

Stuff. Thank.

[Jonathan Sims]

You. Could you choose two of the following skills? Skills automatically lower things by one level. Deception, discerning motive, intimidation, persuasion, or.

[Anusha Battersby]

Performance. I think performance and discerning.

[Jonathan Sims]

Motive. Perfect. So if you can jot those down, there's also special abilities and that sort of thing. But you know what? I just don't feel like you guys are special enough. You know, I'm so fastidious, kind of a bit.

[Lorianne Davies]

Normal. We all now have badges that say.

[Jonathan Sims]

Special.

So no nonsense. You hate frills, chit chat, gossip and anything else that obscures what's important. You pry straight talk and focusing on the facts. You recognize that sometimes your severe manner can hurt other people's feelings, so you moderate it for your friends. But not so much that you compromise your goals with unnecessary distractions. You get plus two to your might pool. You have an additional skill which is researching. You are resilient, so you can ignore the first three points of stress you would otherwise take from.

[Pip Gladwin]

Shock.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay. And you infiltrate. You get a couple more skills which is you can choose deception, disguise, lockpicking, pickpocketing or.

[Anusha Battersby]

Stealth. Right, it's.

[Jonathan Sims]

Pickpocketing. Perfect. There's also various things to like, you know, make connections within your group, but we've established that you're all just, you're all just a group of friends. Just cool friends hanging out. So, Ian, your cynical occultist who would rather be reading. We'll start with occultist. Your starting pool values are a might of 9, a speed of 11 and an intellect of 14. You also have an intellect edge of 1 and you are trained in occultist. And you may pick one other knowledge skill. So astronomy, biology, geography, history, mathematics, philosophy, physics, psychology or researching astronomy. Marvellous. And you have artifact affinity, which means any task involving interacting with a sinister artifact is going to be one level easier.

[Ian Hales]

Excellent. Good.

[Jonathan Sims]

Good. Cynical. You can't help but question claims taken for granted by others. You're not necessarily a doubting Thomas, a skeptic who refuses to believe anything without personal experience. But you've often benefited from questioning the statements, opinions and received knowledge presented to you by others. So you get another plus two to your intellect pool and you get the skill discerning motive. And you can have another science skill if you like. How about physics? You want some.

[Ian Hales]

Physics? Yeah, let's get, let's.

[Jonathan Sims]

Go. Yeah, yeah, you can have some physics. Right. And you would rather be reading. Yeah, you start with a bunch of books. I haven't bothered to give any of you any equipment because I don't feel like there's a lot of equipment people carry around to sort of listen to a pod. But you definitely have a pile of books just on you at all times. You also get two other non combat skills in which you are not currently trained, but you will be trained shortly. Do you want.

[Ian Hales]

Biology?

[Jonathan Sims]

No. You want medicine? Oh, you could have.

[Ian Hales]

Publishing. Ooh, we're going for.

[Jonathan Sims]

Publishing. Okay, so we'll say publishing. And how about religion? Oh, history. History, yeah.

[Pip Gladwin]

History.

[Ian Hales]

History. We'll go for history.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah. Marvellous. And that's.

[Ian Hales]

You.

[Jonathan Sims]

Fabulous. So let us figure out what our fastidious investigator is like. Hello.

[Lorianne Davies]

Ray. That's.

[Jonathan Sims]

Me. You, your starting pools. You have a might of 12, a speed of 11, an intellect of 11. You have a speed edge of one and an intellect edge of one. Both your speed and your intellect are slightly discounted. You can have two of the discerning motive, forensics, intimidation, perception, persuasion, researching.

[Lorianne Davies]

Or tracking forensics.

Tracking or persuasion tracking. Because I think it's funnier if she's just trying to persuade everything of the things she's deduced and no one will believe.

[Jonathan Sims]

Her. Perfect. I'm also going to give you decipher as an ability, which means you can spend an intellect point to make an intellect roll to try and decode anything written in like cod language or messages. Ooh, Fidius, you're a stickler for accuracy and detail. You can't stand a mess, whether it's your home or office or a conceptual mess stemming from a failure to plan. Your stuff is neatly catalogued and perfectly ordered so you never have to dig around looking for something meticulous you believe is never.

[Lorianne Davies]

Wrong. I like.

[Jonathan Sims]

That. So you are careful. You have plus two to your intellect pool. Oh.

[Lorianne Davies]

Great.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah. Oh, you're already trained in forensics, so I'm going to say that you will also get the skills researching and identifying. And you, as I recall, never say die. Basically, you can make a recovery roll as an action. Normally recovering from stress takes a 10 minute break. You need to actually sit down and be like, ooh. You can do it as a single action. Put down improved recovery. And at some point, once per session, I'm going to say, let me know, oh, I'd like to get rid of some of this stress, please. And you'll like, grit your teeth, borrow your brow and power on through. And finally, an inquisitive protector who look, trouble, that's.

[Lorianne Davies]

Me. So that you can protect from.

[Pip Gladwin]

It. Yeah, you got to know where it.

[Jonathan Sims]

Is. Yeah, absolutely. Of course. So, Pip, you are a protector. You start with a might pool of 12, a speed of 12 and an intellect of.

[Rusty Quill Announcer]

10.

[Pip Gladwin]

Yeah. Strong, fast and.

[Jonathan Sims]

Dark. You start with one point of edge in might and one in speed. You get a skill in one of discerning motive, forensics, intimidation, perception, stealth or.

[Pip Gladwin]

Tracking. Let's go. Perception. Because I got to know where that trouble is. I don't want to double over other people. So let's go, let's go.

[Alexander J. Newell]

Intimidation.

[Jonathan Sims]

Okay. And I'm going to give you the ability protector. You designate a single character to be your charge. It says in the description you can change this freely every round, but I'm gonna say that one of the other characters is your.

[Alexander J. Newell]

Charge.

[Jonathan Sims]

Sure. And as long as they are near you, their defense tasks are a lot easier because you're there being like, excuse me, back up please. To a monster, you know, and inquisitive. You can add two to your intellect pool. So you're not quite, as you know, you're actually pretty even across the board. You seek to learn the mysteries, wonders and occult secrets of the world. Your inquiries are often made by examining what lurks in the archives of organizations dedicated to researching the astonishingly esoteric. And the weirdest. Learning something new is its own reward, even when it's sometimes.

[Pip Gladwin]

Unsettling.

[Jonathan Sims]

Excellent. You're trained in researching. And do you want astronomy, geography or.

[Pip Gladwin]

History? Let's go.

[Jonathan Sims]

History. Lovely. And finally, you look for trouble. Yeah, you're a fighter. You're a scrapper. You relish taking off the kid gloves and confronting your opposition in the most direct way possible. I'm gonna give you fists of fury. You inflict two additional points of damage with unarmed attacks. This is very funny to me because I don't know how much punching there's going to be.

[Rusty Quill Announcer]

In.

[Jonathan Sims]

Excellent. I think you might spend the entire game looking for something to punch and not doing.

[Anusha Battersby]

So. But, you know, I mean, if I don't have lock picking, you will have many doors to punch down.

[Pip Gladwin]

Potentially. I will punch every.

[Jonathan Sims]

Door. What if none of the doors are locked? I think that should be everything in this somewhat abridged character creation I'm going to go through. And I would like you to introduce your characters with their name and a little bit of a description. So, Anusha, can we meet your.

[Anusha Battersby]

Character? You can indeed. So her name is Margot Maria Bradley. She is 27 years old. Description wise, she's around 5 foot 3, 5 foot 4. She's got a kind of smooth dark bob with a full fringe, very piercing dark eyes, tanned skin and that, you know, those big framed glasses that I could never pull off. Like those ones with like the really thick frames. She's got some of those. She wears lots of very big jackets, like big denim jackets that look far too heavy for her and kind of swamp her a little bit. They've got lots of patches and badges and things on them, usually in docks or converse. And she, despite the fact that she has several tattoos and piercings in her ears and things like that, she has nothing on her hands whatsoever except one ring on her left middle finger. And she always carries a sizable tote.

[Jonathan Sims]

Bag. I feel like I know.

[Anusha Battersby]

Margot.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah. Ian, could we meet your cynical.

[Ian Hales]

Occultist? Yes. If you're very lucky, you will find Alphonse Platt scurrying sort of. Well, no, no, he's not a scurrier. He is a loper. 42 year old. He's tall, so well over, I would say 6 4. One of these people with very elegant limbs. He doesn't move quickly. I want to say sallow as a.

[Jonathan Sims]

Descriptor. Sorry, I'm just, I've Got to highlight elegant.

[Anusha Battersby]

Limbs.

[Pip Gladwin]

Excellent. Elegant.

[Lorianne Davies]

Limbs. He's a dancer, is.

[Anusha Battersby]

He?

[Ian Hales]

Slenderman?

Yeah, kind of.

[Pip Gladwin]

Yeah. Can we put that as an extra special ability, please? Elegant limbs.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah. You have elegant limbs. Just remind me if I set a task too difficult, be like, I have elegant limbs. Will they help? And I'll be like, no, they.

[Anusha Battersby]

Won'T. He's a ballet dancer in his free.

[Pip Gladwin]

Time. Have you factored in the elegance of my.

[Ian Hales]

Limbs? Yes. Yeah, okay. That will happen. He runs an imprint, online book imprint that does occult, magic, and philosophical printings of other people's stuff. He has three rats. Rod, Jane, and.

[Jonathan Sims]

Pushkin. Oh, no. I'm gonna feel so bad about killing.

[Ian Hales]

Him. Nope. The rats are really well trained, and they live in this house that basically they could live off for about three.

[Anusha Battersby]

Years. Margot will adopt them if all else fails. She loves.

[Ian Hales]

Rats. Absolutely. Yeah. He has scratchy tattoos that aren't about adornment. They are very definitely wards to keep things, you know, ticking.

[Jonathan Sims]

Over. Pip, please introduce us to your inquisitive.

[Pip Gladwin]

Protector. My character's name is Barry Knapp, spelled K N a P, and he's in his sort of mid-40s. He's getting, like, slightly too old for the job that he does now, which is working as a bouncer. And I think he got into podcasts very recently. You know, when you try and have a conversation about podcasts with, you know, maybe mid-40s is too. Is too young, maybe.

[Billy Hindle]

Let's.

[Pip Gladwin]

Let's. Let's push him out to early.

[Jonathan Sims]

50S. Oh, wow. Okay.

[Pip Gladwin]

Okay. Nothing wrong with going up to early 50s. I don't.

[Jonathan Sims]

Know. I plan to myself, you know.

[Pip Gladwin]

But yes, I think he's got into podcasts quite recently. You know, he's not super knowledgeable in that regard, but I think someone who's had what they perceive to be quite a boring life and now sort of taking some. Some real joy in this little group and being part of a little community and getting to kind of indulge a special interest kind of thing. And I think he's getting to be himself late in life. Not late in Life. The early 50s is not late in life. But you know what I mean.

[Jonathan Sims]

To be fair, he is. He's now a player.

[Pip Gladwin]

Character. I'm walking it back. I'm walking it.

[Jonathan Sims]

Back. He's now a player character in a horror rpg, so it is probably quite late in his.

[Lorianne Davies]

Life. I mean, he's practically.

[Pip Gladwin]

Dead. He's like. He doesn't know that. Yes, absolutely. You're absolutely.

[Jonathan Sims]

Right. And, Lowry, could you introduce us to Your fastidious investigator, Elodie Jones.

[Lorianne Davies]

Is. I'm gonna go for about 5, 5, 6, 40. On any given day, you would see her wearing maybe jeans and, like, a wool jumper. She has long, brown, curly hair and always has a backpack on her with, you know, notebook folders and, like, various organizing stationary items in it. And I was toying with the idea of her being an accountant. Or is it more fun if her job is actually quite.

[Jonathan Sims]

Chaotic? Honestly, I don't think it's going to torpedo the. The whole conceit of the. Of the game. If you're an accountant, feel free.

[Lorianne Davies]

To pull the trigger on that then. Yeah, she's an accountant. She's very organized. She has routine. You know, she gets up, she has her smoothie. She has the right amount of nutrients that her body needs every day. You know, that's been calculated. And she has mugs that say things like, tidy desk, tidy mind. And this is, like, such a very special thing to her. Like, this is separate to the rest of her life, and she loves it. And I think maybe to her, she's like, wow, it's like, chaotic. But actually, the notes. I mean, she keeps notes on the podcast.

[Jonathan Sims]

Right? She has notes, yeah, absolutely. So we have Margot, Alphonse, Barry, and Elodie. Barry, who is your charge as.

[Pip Gladwin]

We'Ve gone through, and I think this is just because of. Who is the youngest person in this.

[Anusha Battersby]

Group. Very much Margot, Then it's.

[Pip Gladwin]

Margot. Whether Margot likes it or not, I think just instinctively he's just gonna be like, no, this young person must be.

[Anusha Battersby]

Protected. Margot hates.

[Jonathan Sims]

It. Do Margot and Barry have any sort of relationship, familial or similar, outside of the group? Did they know each other before, or is this simply, like, this is a young person and I'm a bouncer who just generally gets between sort of of the more vulnerable people in.

[Lorianne Davies]

Trouble. Could Margot be the reason that Barry got into the podcast because he protected her from something.

[Jonathan Sims]

Or. Oh, Margot occasionally went to. Is Margot more a pub or a club sort of.

[Anusha Battersby]

Person? I think.

[Jonathan Sims]

Pub. Pub, yeah. So Margot periodically went to a pub that you did some bouncing for, and you gradually got to know Margot, and Margot was like, listen to this. This is really cool. And so for the last five, six months, like, every time you've seen each other, you'd be like, oh, I've been listening to that podcast you.

[Anusha Battersby]

Like. Margot would actually be like, yeah, working at the bar as.

[Pip Gladwin]

Well. Oh, that.

[Anusha Battersby]

Works. She does gigs and stuff. So, yeah.

[Jonathan Sims]

Yeah. Margot really does feel like someone who works behind a bar. Now that all makes.

[Anusha Battersby]

Sense. What would we call this.

[Pip Gladwin]

Bar? Do you want to make it a thinly veiled Magnus.

[Lorianne Davies]

Reference? Is that what, the Angler's.

[Jonathan Sims]

Head? The Angler's Head, yeah. Oh, lovely, lovely. The Angler's Head. I'll be honest. Is this London or Manchester? Could be either. Because those are the two places that are in my head at the.

[Pip Gladwin]

Moment. Those are the two places in the world that.

[Jonathan Sims]

Exist. Let's do Manchester.

[Lorianne Davies]

Manchester.

[Jonathan Sims]

Manchester. Brilliant. So we have now met the listening club. So that will probably be it.

[Lorianne Davies]

For. Can I just check before we do this? Ian, would Alfonso be the kind of person who has an accountant? Am I your.

[Ian Hales]

Accountant? Yes, I think he probably.

[Lorianne Davies]

Does. Your long suffering.

[Eva Longoria]

Accountant. Oh my.

[Ian Hales]

Gosh. Put it this way, you don't get much work from him. No, there's not a lot of money going through the.

[Lorianne Davies]

Books. Yeah, I'm like, I just don't know if you need one.

[Jonathan Sims]

Really. But.

[Lorianne Davies]

No. Okay, I. I can look at them for you. Give me the.

[Jonathan Sims]

Sheets. That's brilliant. I love.

[Ian Hales]

That. I just think it's better to do it right, you know? That's all I'm.

[Lorianne Davies]

Saying. You know what? You know how to get me, Alfonso. That is.

[Anusha Battersby]

Right.

[Billy Hindle]

Bless.

[Jonathan Sims]

Perfect. Well, we will see what horrible trouble these four podcast listening misfits get up to in the next episode. Thank you very much for joining.

[Alexander J. Newell]

Us.

The Magnus Protocol is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial share alike 4.0 international license. To subscribe, view associated materials or join our Patreon visit rustyquill.com Rate and review us online. Tweet us TheRustyQuill Visit us on Facebook or email us via mail rustyquill.com.

Thanks for.

[Jonathan Sims]

Listening.

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