PTFOOO: Top 5 Episodes

Looking back on 1 Year and 10 Sessions. Welcoming new readers. Checking in for feedback.

PTFO:Stonetop is off this week, but I had an evening itch to smash the keyboard a bit, and I’ve wanted to collect a few top episodes for a while now — we’ve been going for more than a year of writing, and there have been 68 episodes and counting detailing the adventures of Padrig, Anwen and Vahid. There’s no new fiction this week, so if this sort of meta-post is not your jam, send this email to archives now, and I’ll see you in your inbox next week with more adventures!

Looking Back

I don’t have an exact wordcount, but we’re likely over 200,000 words by now, a daunting sum to read through for someone coming to the project fresh. To whit, I thought a look at some of the readers’ favorite episodes so far might be interesting to see might await someone bold enough to dive into the back issues. Needless to say, spoilers abound in this recap, so if you’d rather dive in and be surprised, head on over to the project’s table of contents and get in there!

To get a sense of some of the frontrunners, I polled the subset of the readership who use Substack chat (a rarified group, to be sure!). I also did my own re-read, and pulled a couple of episodes I thought represented pivotal moments in the story so far. For your consideration, here are the Top 5 episodes of PTFO:Stonetop, arranged chronologically — let me know in the comments if you think there are any gems that were overlooked:

Session 3.2: The Nosgolau

Session 3 covered our heroes’ first journey as a party — Vahid persuaded Padrig to accompany him to Marshedge. Vahid’s intention there was to purchase building materials for a scheme to upgrade the village’s cistern, while Padrig was still under pressure from Ozbeg and the other members of his crew to re-establish contact with Brennan and see what their old gang’s next move was.

One of the hazards on the road to Marshedge the party was forewarned of was the legendary nosgolau — ghostly lights that whisper to travelers, luring them from the protections of the Makers’ Roads, where they disappear, never to be seen again. In this episode, the nosgolau made its appearance.

It was Padrig to whom the nosgolau called, in the guise of an old, close friend from his days with the Claws. Pad’s reason was overtaken, and he left the Makers’ Roads, leaving him at the mercy of the Judge of the Crossroads, the corrupted spirit of an ancient priest-judge who condemned criminals to death and enslavement in a bygone era. The party raced to save Pad from the creature, and in the end, it was Anwen who was brave enough to face the creature and clever enough to find a way to exploit its weakness, driving it off as it promised to take revenge.

This episode stands out for me because it was a moment when Anwen really burned brightly as a Would-Be Hero, and we saw what she was capable of. In previous conflicts, she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Pad, but in this episode, she used her playbook’s abilities to stand up to an opponent no one else could.

Session 5.2: Thunderhead

Session 5 was a homefront episode that covered three important arcs: Anwen undergoing the village’s initiation ritual, Padrig seeking permission for him and his band of ex-outlaws to remain in Stonetop, and Vahid exploring the ancient Maker ruins hidden within Stonetop’s cistern.

This episode saw Stonetop under attack from a dangerous threat — a thunder drake had wandered into the fields and was relentlessly making its way towards the village center. Our heroes worked together with the village militia, including their rival Owain, to turn back the beast, but not before it had slain two friends of the party — Cadoc, a young herdsman who was childhood friends with Anwen, and Aled, one of Padrig’s crew.

This was an action-packed episode. Everyone got to ‘do their thing’ — Pad commanded. Vahid used the power of the Azure Hand to protect the militia from the thunder drake’s lightning breath. Anwen saved innocents (and failed to save one, and felt big feelings about it) and slew a mighty beast. And the deaths of Cadoc and Aled were the party’s first brushes with the death of folk close to them, which showed one of the strengths of Stonetop as a game and setting — the focus on the village and its community really raises the stakes when danger looms.

This episode was written before Midjourney was available for quick-turn episode art, but here’s a take I did on the Thunder Drake for practice! // Source: Midjourney

Session 7.6: The Fate-Tree

Session 7 saw the party sojourn with the Hillfolk — horse nomads who travel between the rocky Steplands to the south and the grassy Flats to the west. Our heroes were seeking allies against the hdour who they had first heard tell of on the road to Marshedge in Session 3, and each of them connected with a Hillfolk NPC as part of their quest — Padrig with Juba, the chieftain, Anwen with Kirs, the village’s young champion and warleader, and Vahid with Katrin, their mystical spirit-talker.

To gain insight into the character and motives of their enemy, Vahid and Katrin traveled to a strange, sacred place and sought a vision quest. Our young Seeker partook of some strange mushrooms growing from what appeared to be the grave of a titan, and tripped his everloving face off. In the throes of his visions, he glimpsed the hdour’s past, experiencing a pivotal moment in his enemy’s life and gaining insight into his grandiose aims to ascend to some sort of godhood and return his people to greatness.

This episode stood out to me because it would’ve been very difficult to run at a traditional table — it was tightly focused on one player character to the exclusion of the others, it involved that player portraying a different character for part of the session, and it involved a lot of descriptive exposition that, for many players, would’ve been a bit much. Most likely, if this had been at a traditional table, I’d have run something like this entirely via email or in a specially-scheduled 1-1 session. It is probably the moment when Vahid becomes the Seeker — Sessions 6 and 7 see him change and grow dramatically more powerful. This moment is really the culmination of his journey from curious scholar to budding magi.

Session 8.3: Only Glory

Session 8 was the last in our arc with the Hillfolk — it began with the Sun-Spear Band, our heroes’ hosts and new allies, under attack by the Stormcrows, assassins sent by their sorcererous enemy, the hdour.

This episode was the climax of that fight — Anwen confronted one of the assassins who was marked by his master with the power of the storm, while Padrig tracked another over the Flats, seeking to take him alive.

Like Session 5.2: Thunderhead, this episode had a lot of high-stakes, dramatic action where the PCs each got to do their thing. It was also another big moment on Anwen’s journey — she lost someone she had grown quite close to in a short period of time, and she once again showed her tremendous potential as a warrior, mastering her fear and facing down and overcoming a foe who fought with the strength of the storm.

Session 9.6: So Must it Be

The last of our Top 5 was a bit of a toss-up between this one and Session 9.7: Sacrifice. These two episodes cover the duel between Anwen and Owain, the town strongman, which concludes an important arc in Anwen’s journey. There had been friction with Owain going all the way back to our Sessions Zero, and they came to a head here.

This episode covered Owain’s accusations against the party (that one of Padrig’s warriors had broken the truce between them and committed murder), Anwen’s counter accusation (that Owain had secretly engineered the bloody confrontation that left one of his men dead), and the opening blows of the subsequent duel between them.

This episode stands out for me simply because it saw the beginning of the end for one of the series’ main antagonists. After a year of Owain being a thorn in the party’s side, it was enormously rewarding to see him brought to the brink of defeat. I also especially liked the reader poll for this episode, leaving Owain’s fate up to you folks was very satisfying for me, as I hope it was for y’all.

Wishes and Stars

This newsletter has grown a lot since we started back in October 2021 — back then, I had 15 beta readers drawn from my personal friends (a few of whom are still reading today, Rainmaker smile on them), and this month we passed 150. As far as Internet followings go, it’s still pretty small — but this project was always been a niche in a niche in a niche¹, and I’m extremely grateful for every one of you, whether you just started reading now or whether you’ve been with us since Session Zero.

Way back in June, I mentioned an old TTRPG custom — ‘Wishes and Stars,’ an end-of-session exercise that creates a space for creative feedback for the GM and the players. ‘Wishes’ represent wishes for the future and critical feedback — things you want to see in the story or for the characters but aren’t currently being done, or things you wish were approached differently. Stars are things you’ve enjoyed so far, and hope to see more of. I want to take this opportunity to invite you — particularly if you have just started reading! — to share any Wishes or Stars you might have in the comments for this project.

As always, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week with the opening of Session 11, as our heroes search for Elder Kirs in the hopes he can lead them to Stormcatcher’s Crown!

1. For those doing the math — TTRPGs are a niche, Actual Plays are a niche within that niche, and AP Fiction is a niche within that metaniche