Swords Against Madness
Swords Against Madness is a weird fantasy actual-play podcast built around an old-school solo role-playing game. It follows a lone player through strange and dangerous adventures in a grim fantasy world. The show emphasizes emergent storytelling, dice-driven decisions, and classic RPG sensibilities. It is produced by Stormhead Productions.
Episodes
Swords Against Madness presents Red Bay
Fear. Isolation. Discover. This is Red Bay
Red Bay is an anthology of found footage horror stories by Brian Rideout and Jon Cohen made using the Red Bay writing tool by Jon Cohen.
Red Bay is intended for mature audiences. Listener discretion is definitely advised.
Visit our website at rebday.media
Say hello on Bluesky @RedBayPod
And try out the tool for yourself on DriveThr
Episode 42: Hall of the Dead
Miria and Kale navigate the City of the Dead, Duat-Nar hoping to find their lost companions. They find much more than they bargained for, including blood, redemption, and strange secrets.
This Episode was Swords & Wizardry at its most entertaining for me, with Mythic GME throwing curveballs every few minutes.
I feature a custom monster inspired by the classic D&D monster, the Yel
Episode 41: Stygia
Miria and Kale tell stories to fight off the numbing effects of the land of the dead as they search for one of the Demenses where the recently passed await judgement. In a flashback, Silas, Tom, and Tina delve one of Yanghu’s dungeons seeking a way home.
WARNING: This episode has lots of graphic violence. Even more graphic than usual for this podcast. It includes gory sounds and r
Episode 40: In the Land of the Dead Goddess
A summary of Episodes 31-39
Swords Against Madness episode 40 is a summary of the plot from episodes 31 through 39. An opportunity to catch up on the plot or just refresh your memory. It adds nothing to the main plot-line.
Music in this Episode
From the Free Music Alliance:
King Edward by Mister Smith (CC-BY) from the Free Music Archive
From Pixabay:
“Crossr
Episode 39: California
California 1974: four friends make a strange discovery while star-gazing that kicks off a strange journey across space and time that intersects with Miria’s own journey.
The story of three teens in San Benito County, California that discover a meteor that drags them across time & space.
This is the origin story of Tom Foreman, creator of the wizard van, and his allies Cyrus
Episode 38: Elemental
Crossing the Ashlands of Muspellsheim, Miria and Kale face a being far beyond their ability to fight...
Voice Talent:
Jon Cohen plays The All-Knowing in this Episode.
Music on this Episode:
From the Free Music Alliance:
"King Edward" by Mr. Smith a CC-BY song released through the FMA
From Pixabay:
"Acidcore" by Jumping Bunny
"Country Rock" by litesaturation
"Orchestral Nebula" by Diogodelassivlav
Episode 37: Warships
Miria and Kale begin a perilous journey through Ice, Fire, and Eternal skies to rescue their fallen friends.
Episode 36: Detour
Miria goes deep within her mind to commune with the All-Knowing and prepare herself for a dangerous journey.
Episode 35: A Gateway to the Stars
We turn our attention to Yanghu as he hunts for those who had meddled with his Gorum and Carver tech.
This session was played extemporaneously using Swords & Wizardry and the Mythic Game Master Emulator.
Sometimes you just want to play the bad guys for a bit, and figure out what the heroes are really up against.
The Master
The Master was once a gifted and driven chiru
Episode 34: Crocodile
Edryk, Miria, and Kale face a terrifying onslaught on the dismal beaches of Abzû.
This game sues the crocodile stats from Swords & Wizardry, It also delves pretty deep into the Dungeons & Dragons theory of the Soul that was made central to the concept of planar travel in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons starting later in the 1st edition and refined in the Planescape setting.
Episode 33: Abzu
Miria, Kale, & Edryk cross the shimmering plane of Amber, and then into the darkness of Abzû, beset on all sides by monsters and mysteries.
This episode includes a classic Dungeons & Dragons monster: the Aurumvorax, reproduced here based on the stats in the AD&D2e Monstrous Manual for Swords & Wizardry.
I did take liberties with the speed of the aurumvorax to make it
Episode 32: Cruel
Miria contemplates her past as she, Edryk, and Kale cross the Divine Seed of Amber, a place of beauty, perfection, and cruelty.
This episode draws its inspiration from the setting of the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny, one of the top six inspirations for Dungeons & Dragons listed in AD&D‘s Appendix N.
This scifi-dense story is mostly told in flashback. Much of my
Episode 31: Where Time & Space Don’t Really Matter
Miria, Edryk, Kale, The All-Knowing, and the Squid set sail across the Astral plane and discover that it is anything but empty.
This episode uses a mix of planar travel rules found in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e, and the D&D3.5e Planar Handbook, as the players travel across the Astral Plane.
It also features a monster from Dungeons & Dragons3.
Episode 30: Strange Journeys
A summary of Episodes 21-29.
Swords Against Madness episode 30 is a summary of the plot from episodes 21 through 29. An opportunity to catch up on the plot or just refresh your memory. It adds nothing to the main plot-line.
Cast
This episode includes performances by:
Jon Cohen from Tale of the Manticore
Music in this Episode
From the Free Music Alliance:
King E
Bonus: Bullets Against Madness 1: Wahpettons
This is a special bonus episode of Swords Against Madness featuring my new TTRPG, Undeadwood: Weird West RPG. Follow the Lost Soul Carson Swift, as he tries to help a bounty hunter track down a stolen item, only to be dragged into a battle between a powerful land-owner and a dark cult of alien mystics.
This episode is played using my Undeadwood: Weird West TTRPG system, and its dark, Americ
Episode 29: Wizard Wagon
Miria, Edryk, and Kale finally reach the place where the All-Knowing believes there is a means to travel to the planes. The object they discover is far stranger than anything they could have imagined.
In this session I reference the amazing role-playing game Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG from Goodman Games. DCC catches the strange psychedelic vibe of the books that inspired D&D – and
Episode 28: Friend
The party may have destroyed the Dread Silkworm, a half-giant-caterpillar-half-god monster… but there are still more creatures devouring the juju garden, and a mission to fulfill.
This episode opens with rounds 8-14 of a brutal gruelling battle! The Dread Silkworm may have fallen, but it is far from the only threat that the party was facing!
This is an AI-free episode of Swords
Episode 27: Silkworm
The party attempts to help the Nilkin clear the Ravenous Caterpillars from their sacred garden, only to find the threat is much greater than anyone anticipated.
Mythic Game Master Emulator throws a number of crazy curve-balls at the PCs this session, showing just how wild and unpredictable it can make a game become…
…Especially when you are willing to truly let your imagi
Episode 26: The Nilkin
The Party joins the mysterious wild halflings, the Nilkin, in their village in hopes that the local shaman might be able to help them find the planar travel device. The Nilkin are not as firendly as they might seem, and have a dangerous task that needs doing.
This episode of Swords Against Madness includes a discussion of the Dungeons & Dragons module Hot Springs Island by Jacob Hur
Episode 25: The Devouring Wilderness
Miria, Edryk, Raxon, Berle, & Kale brave the untamed norther jungles of Nar, to find that the wilderness itself seems to hunger for them…
This episode features a reinterpretation of the Vine Horror from the epic Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG module Sailors on the Starless Sea, a legendary module that helped define DCCRPG and secure it as the most popular Old-School RPG around.
Episode 24: The Pirate’s Tale
With the help of the All-Knowing, Miria delves into the terrors of Haalu’s mind to learn more about the cruel and enigmatic Master.
This episode includes an encounter with a monster that in Swords and Wizardry is referred to as a Carrion Worm. Other pseudonyms have included the Carcass Crawler, Corpse Worm, and Tentacled Horror, but they all refer to one classic and horrifying Dun
Episode 23: The Surgeon’s Tale
The Miria, Edryk, Berle, Raxon, and Kale have their showdown with Haalu; we explore a piece of Edryk’s past, where it crosses with doctor Haidran.
This episode includes my quick and dirty rules for fighting manoeuvres in OSR games:
Roll your attack as normal.
If you hit, the DM will cut damage dealt in half or down to 0.
The effect goes through.
In the case of grappl
Episode 22: Spiders & Flies
The party makes a narrow escape. Miria, Edryk, Raxon, Berle, and Kale secretly prepare for treachery.
This episode includes an encounter with a classic Dungeons & Dragons monster that isn’t included in Swords & Wizardry: the Phase Spider. The version I used was from one of my all-time favourite D&D resources, the AD&D2e Monstrous Manual. With a massive selection o
Episode 21: Conspiracy
Miria and Edryk recruit new followers and head into the jungle, but discover that one of their own party is plotting against the rest…
Episode 21 begins a fresh hex crawl with 3 additional PCs:
Berle a human fighter.
Raxon, a human fighter.
Kale, a half-elf fighter/mage.
Kale uses a simplified half-elf for Swords and wizardry.
The party has also hired Haalu, who w
Episode 20: Desperate Measures
A summary of Episodes 11-19.
Swords Against Madness episode 20 is a summary of the plot from episodes 11 through 19. An opportunity to catch up on the plot or just refresh your memory. It adds nothing to the main plot-line.
Come and find your next favourite solo rpg semi-actual-play podcast on soloroleplayersnetwork.com
Episode 19: Lamentation
Miria & Edryk return to Nar with the All-Knowing and another pile of treasure. The All-Knowing reveals a path forward, but will the people of Nar trust Miria enough to risk more lives to help her?
Apologies for the delay! This episode is coming out 1 week late due to extreme illness.
In this Episode, Miria & Edryk both return safely to the village of Nar with a pile of treasu
Episode 18: Alien
Miria and Edryk face a terrifying trap and life-altering choices push on to the deepest chambers of the Fane of the All-Knowing.
In this episode Miria and Edryk narrowly escape a trap that borrows its inspiration from the AD&D2e spell Maximillian’s Stony Grasp, and the D&D3e spell Stone Fist that evolved from it. I discuss spells – and getting them wrong in the episo
Episode 17: Villainy
While Miria & Edryk face a deadly trap, The Master & his acolyte Halu conspire to murder Miria, and Yanghu extracts a bloody revenge on the crew of the pirate ship Xur.
This epsiode uses a ship layout diagram from Cepheus Deluxe as its dungeon map, but is played entirely with Swords 7 Wizardry. It focuses primarily on the activity of the campaign’s villains. It includes se
Episode 16: Rupture
Note: Due to an error, this entry originally pointed to episode 14. This has been fixed and the correct episode should now play.
In the aftermath of the battle in orbit over Orbos, space pirate comb the hulk of the Ko-Dan for treasure. Miria and Edryk push deeper into the Fane of the All-Knowing, and Miria reminisces about her past.
This episode continues to use material from Cepheus
Episode 15: Shock
As Miria, Edryk, and Nala press deeper into the trap-laden Fane of the All-Knowing, the Ogre-Mage crime-lord Yanghu deals with a vicious sneak attack on his starship.
This adventure mixes classic RPGs, using Swords & Wizardry to simulate D&D as it was played in 1977, along with scenes from Cepheus Deluxe, a modern re-imagining of the 1977 version of the classic Sci-Fi TTRPG Trav
Episode 14: Machines
Miria, Rayya, Nala, and Edryk search for their lost companion and the mysterious all knowing in a dungeon full of strange traps, mechanical constructs and deadly illusions. In space, a conflict mounts between the Trassi syndicate and a treacherous business partner.
This episode includes logic puzzles, deadly traps, and a custom monster featured in the show notes. It also has the terribl
Episode 13: Doors
Miria, Rayya, Nala, Garland, and Edryk enter the Fane of the All-Knowing: a labyrinth of traps, illusions, and deadly guardians. Nothing in their path is what they seem. Especially when the traps force the group apart.
This episode discusses solo gaming tools that I use at length, and includes the classic D&D monster, the Piercer, lightly reskinned to fit the dungeon theme.
Episode 12: On a Wing
Miria meets one new ally and sets out to fulfill the Prophecy and wake the All-Knowing, taking to flight in her newly acquired spaceship with a team of new allies.
A new dungeon crawl begins in this episode!
This episode features a classic low-level D&D monster, and shows off an equally classic magic item!
Episode 11: A Moment’s Distraction
Miria gathers new allies, and tries to buy time as the radiation begins to consume her. Rayya and Miria draw up plans for war. Two new allies join the party, each separately seeking ways to do penance.
This episode includes some much-needed downtime where Miria recruits some new party members and seeks medical attention for her radiation poisoning. It includes some detailed notes on how
Episode 10: The Lady Who Fell From the Sky
A summary of the first 10 episodes of Swords Against Madness.
Miria, a space-faring smuggler crash-lands on the world of Orbus, near the Island of Nar. Nar is a poor former colony of a failed Oligarchy full of conflict between its two religions, and is plagued by seeming indestructible monsters.
Miria steps right into the conflict by giving them the holy words she guessed had been engin
Episode 9: Flight
Miria, Olan, & Rayya make a desperate ploy not just to escape Yanghu’s showroom, but to escape in style… but the Gorum are still hunting, and the lizard-man starfighter pilot Sshosk is still between them and freedom.
This episode features transcripts thanks to the openVINO tool kit for Audacity!
The Weapons I’m Using
I have created a set of simple science fi
Episode 8: Gorum
Miria, Rayya, & Olan make a break for freedom as the carnage continues in Yanghu’s Showroom.
The chaos continues in one of the most insanely busy dungeon crawls in which I have ever been either the player or the GM. It includes multiple NPC villains, Orcs, Kobolds, Lizard-Men, as well as two custom monsters found in the SvM Bestiary.
The Dungeon Map
Where to Get Sci
Episode 7: Mayhem
Rayya and Kalmek clash as the Gorum awake and swarm the party from within the facility, while Trassi soldiers hunt them from without, and Mormont makes a desperate escape attempt.
This episode includes custom monsters found in the Bestiary page of the SvM homepage, as well as the villains Kalmek, Yanghu, and Mormont, and includes my custom hacking rules below.
The Dungeon Map
Thi
Episode 6: Mind Control
Rayya struggles under Mormont’s mind control as he debates to which faction he wants to sell out Miria. An unfortunate communication and a careless intruder cause danger to awaken on every side. Making escape seem increasingly more perilous by the second.
This episode begins a fast and furious dungeon crawl designed using the Five-Room Dungeon method, and includes another custom m
Episode 5: Heresy
Rayya, Olan, & Miria fight for their life against giant centipedes, we learn about Rayya’s history with the church, the PCs are stalked by a man with a grudge, and find their way barred by an enemy who declares Miria and all she stands for Heresy.
This episode features a new NPC villain that I rolled up using the same character statistics as a Player Character.
Mormont
Episode 4: The Grim Work
Miria finishes the task of slaying the Gorum, and struggles with the guilt of destroying helpless foes. As she struggles with her thoughts she makes a bond with a psisquid, and is then interrupted by a call from an old enemy.
In this episode we discuss the use of alignment in OD&D and Swords & Wizardry and why it matters. We also continue to feature the Gorum, shared in the Bes
Episode 3: The Dagger
Rayya, Olan, and Miria set out to acquire a magic dagger from a local miser to use against the immortal space barbarians known as the Gorum. This drags Miria into the religious cold war that runs through the Island’s culture.
This episode includes a brief battle using the deadly and fast grappling rules from Swords & Wizardry, and I opt to use the more granular B/X Morale Rule
Episode 2: Burn
Miria awakens in a hut at the edge of the ruined village, covered in blisters, and discoveres that she may well be living on borrowed time, and so is the A.I. on her ship, The Empyreal’s Coin. As a madman plots her death, she stands before the council of the village to tell them a terrible truth about their beliefs…
In this Episode, we establish some custom rules for radiati
Episode 1: The Sorceress and the Squid
Miria, a smuggler awakes next to her sinking starship on a strange world, alone, with holes in her memories, and only the clothes on her back and her wrist computer. If she’s going to survive, she is going to need to find a way past the strange alien cephalopods circling her vessel like hungry sharks…
Episode 1 of the podcast introduces us to Miria at level 1, and has her su
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