Updates, interviews and The Magnus Protocol Board Game

Hi folks,

Wishing you the very best for the coming week from everyone at Rusty Towers!

A huge thank you to everyone who has so far signed-up for updates and pre-pledged for The Magnus Protocol Mysteries Board Game! If you missed Jonny and Alex’s stream of the game Control last week, the stream began with a chat with Sydney Engelstein, the lead designer and writer of The Magnus Protocol Mysteries games. You can watch the VOD of the stream over at www.twitch.tv/rusty_quill – please note that due to a brief outage, it is in two parts! You can find out more about the Board Game by reading our last update here on Patreon, and by heading to www.rustyquill.com/boardgame, where you can also sign-up for free for updates and pre-pledge just one $1 to get an exclusive pack of The Magnus Protocol stickers! In the meantime, we have a Patreon exclusive – an interview with Sydney, so you can find out more about her background, and her work on the game!

Tell us a bit about who you are!

Hi! My name is Sydney Engelstein and boy is it going to be weird to see this pop up in my own Patreon feed!

First and foremost, I am a hardcore lover of the Magnus universe, but in my spare time I am also a professional board game designer. I’ve been designing board games since I was sixteen, and I’ve been the Director of Game Development for Indie Game Studios for the last six years. In that time, I’ve designed and developed almost thirty published games. And now, I’m the lead designer, writer, and project manager of the Magnus Protocol Mysteries. (You all might be familiar with some of my writing already, since it got read out during the fanfiction showcase livestream!)

The Magnus Protocol Mysteries is the culmination of all of my passions. I wanted to make a game that would appeal to fans just like me, who have their red string boards all set up for every episode drop.

What can you tell us about The Magnus Protocol Mysteries?

The Magnus Protocol Mysteries is designed to make you feel just how you do when you listen to an episode of the Magnus Protocol, but you actually get to step into the universe and participate in the case! Each case starts with an audio file being read out to you by FR3-D1, just like an episode of the show, but it won’t have all the details you’ll need to understand what’s happening. Luckily, your coworkers Sam, Alice, Gwen, and Celia have taken the time to do some background research on the event for you and have provided a whole heap of circumstantial evidence.

Your job is to read through these documents, photographs, audio recordings, and other evidentiary files to piece together exactly what went down so that you can properly catalog the incident. There’s no complicated rules, no time limit, it’s all about that immersive experience as a real OIAR employee.

Time to break out the red string!  

What are you most proud of and excited about as you work on creating this board game?

What’s making me the most excited is that the game is going to come with audio recordings from “Chester”, “Norris”, and other characters from the Protocol cast. It’s a dream come true to get to work with the Rusty Quill team and get a little chance to write for these characters I love so much. For me as a fan, this game is just as cool as a piece of memorabilia as it is as a game. We really want it to feel like an extension of the show, like your table at home might as well be a desk down in a windowless basement office in the OIAR. 

I’ve been wanting to make a game for the Magnus universe ever since I binged through all of TMA season three in a single weekend, and I’ve spent all that time figuring out what kind of game would appeal to fans of this show. I think you’re going to love this game, because I love this game, and I’ve been one of you for years. I can’t wait for all of you to get to play it!

The Magnus Protocol Mysteries Board Game will begin crowdfunding in October 2024 – if you think you’ll be interested in backing it, or just want to stay up-to-date with all the updates, be sure to go and sign-up for free at www.rustyquill.com/boardgame! As always, a huge thank you to every single one of you for your support.

Meanwhile, in this week’s episode of The Magnus Protocol, Celia is running late again. As always, this episode will be available at 4pm BST on Tuesday for Patreons and Kickstarter backers and on Thursday on the public feed.

Finally, if you enjoyed Harlan Guthrie’s episode of The Magnus Protocol from a few weeks ago, you’ll be able to check out some of his non-Magnus work in a feed drop available on The Magnus Archives/The Magnus Protocol podcast feed. The episode featured is the first episode of Harlan’s eldritch horror noir series, Malevolent. Of course, if you enjoy the first episode, be sure to check out the rest, available wherever you find podcasts, or on the Rusty Quill website.

Here is our full schedule for this week:

Tuesday 6th August

The Magnus Protocol 25 – Gut Feelings (Patreon & Kickstarter Backers) (4pm BST)

Thursday 8th August

The Magnus Protocol 25 – Gut Feelings (Public) (4pm BST)

Have a good week all!

The Rusty Quill team