Ready to launch

Hi folks,

We hope you’ve had a good week. There’s a lot to cover in today’s newsletter, so let’s get straight to it!

Firstly… Enthusigasm launch week is here! On Thursday 7th October, we’ll be releasing two early access, extra-long episodes of Enthusigasm to our Patrons, plus the series trailer. Joining host, Helen Gould (one of the best Rusty Quillers), in episode one will be:

· April Sumner, Rusty Quill’s Executive of Production;

· Frank Voss, voice actor for Basira in The Magnus Archives;

· Hannah Preisinger, producer for Rusty Quill Gaming and Inexplicables; and

· Jonathan Sims, writer and creator of The Magnus Archives.

They will be discussing Urban Legends, campfire stories and unexplained tales, from haunted theatres to jackalopes and creepy pasta – and that age-old question: do you believe in ghosts?

Episode two features:

· Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, host of the podcast Overinvested and writer at the Daily Dot;

· Jeffry Nils Gardner, Mastering Editor at Rusty Quill;

· Marisa Ewing, Dialogue Editor at Rusty Quill; and

· Tessa Vroom, Sound Designer for Rusty Quill.

Along with Helen as they will be discussing Helen’s absolute favourite best pet subject… the NBC television show, Hannibal! Tune in for deep dives into plot and character motivation, honest reviews and the fashion within this psychological horror-thriller.

Not only that, but we have a third extended episode releasing on Patreon on Sunday 10th October where Helen, is joined by:

· Becky Annison, award-winning game designer of Lovecraftesque and many more;

· Ben Meredith, who plays David 7 in Stellar Firma, Zolf in Rusty Quill Gaming, and also designs video games;

· Jonathan Sims, of The Magnus Archives fame, horror writer and tabletop game designer with MacGuffin and Co.; and

· Travis Vengroff, co-creator of The White Vault and DM in the Dark Dice podcast.

They will discuss Role Playing Games, from Dungeons and Dragons to Warhammer and beyond.

Whether you’re a fan of these topics, or they’re brand new to you, through nerdy deep dives, irrelevant spicy takes and half-remembered facts, Enthusigasm will give you an insight into why they are loved by our guests. Public, standard-length versions episodes one and two will be released the day after the Patreon versions, on 8th October, with the third episode being released publicly on 11th October.

And… pause for breath – that was a lot of information! We’re counting down to Thursday when you’ll get to hear the first episode, and we know you’ll enjoy listening to Enthusigasm as much as we enjoyed making it.

Something else new coming this week is The Pets of Rusty Towers! Check back here at 5pm BST today, to find the first instalment of this series of comics, written by our very own Tessa Vroom. In this first comic, The Moth, we’ll meet Casper Brankin Newall, as well as some other furry friends. What mischief will they get up to? Ongoing, we’ll be releasing new instalments on the first Monday of every month.

We announced a couple of weeks ago that RQ Streams, our Twitch channel, would be paused temporarily throughout September. We have now decided to continue this pause, right up to RQ Gaming and Giving, which is taking place 4th-5th December 2021 (more information on our charity fundraiser is coming soon!). This is not goodbye to RQ Streams however, as we are working on some exciting plans for a pivot and reformat for the channel that will take a bit of development time. We will keep everyone updated as we have more information to give.

Last time, we announced that Rusty Fears is returning this week – now, we can reveal the talented winners of our horror short story writing competition. We asked you to write stories based on one of five themes:

1. It came from below

2. Hooked

3. Out of place

4. High Stakes

5. Spark of Life

After much deliberation, our panel of judges picked five winning entries, which will be professionally recorded and produced, featuring some familiar voices from Rusty Quill cast and crew. Without further ado, congratulations go to:

· Matrim Tait for Inheritance

· Sarina H for Casting Line

· Josefin Berntsson for Derailing

· Cormack Baldwin for Final Sale of the Remaining Works of E. Cutler

· Jennifer Hunt for Tower

The first Rusty Fears receiving the Rusty Quill treatment is Casting Line – make sure to tune in on Wednesday at 4pm BST to hear Karim Kronfli read this eery tale.

Finally, please see the below update on transcripts. As always, this is also posted publicly on our website.

Update: 4/10/21

We have been working solidly to achieve our goals of creating good transcript templates, engaging professional service providers, and setting up effective working pipelines.

Many thanks for your patience and support so far. Here is the second update!

Transcription of Rusty Quill Gaming is now with a professional transcription company, and we have paid in full. So far, this company has completed some great transcripts with a high degree of accuracy and have formatted them to follow the template which we have designed to be a standard across all of our shows.

Meanwhile, we have several completed transcripts in hand for Enthusigasm, with three more episodes in process with a professional transcription company. We are confident that Enthusigasm will have transcripts releasing alongside each episode, with separate versions for public and Patreon episodes due to the additional content for our Patrons.

We have full transcripts for 76 episodes of Stellar Firma and 200 episodes of The Magnus Archives. Currently we are working to improve their accuracy, and then format them into our standard template. This is an extensive task, but will result in consistent, legible transcripts. We will update on the progress of adapting these show transcripts as we have updates to give.

Here is our full schedule for this week:

Mon 4th October

CITIZENS+ Bonus – Pets of Rusty Towers: Episode One, The Moth (5pm BST)

Tue 5th October

RQG 213 – Be Prepared (Patreon) (4pm BST)

Wed 6th October

MAG – Rusty Fears 5: Casting Line (Patreon) (4pm BST)

RQG 213 – Be Prepared (Public) (4pm BST)

Thu 7th October

EGSM 0.5 – Trailer (Patreon) (6pm BST)

EGSM 1 – Urban Legends (Extended Cut) (Patreon) (6pm BST)

EGSM 2 – Hannibal (Extended Cut) (Patreon) (6pm BST)

MAG – Rusty Fears 5: Casting Line (Public) (4pm BST)

Fri 8th October

CITIZENS+ Bonus – STL art (4pm BST)

EGSM 0.5 – Trailer (Public) (4pm BST)

EGSM 1 – Urban Legends (Public) (4pm BST)

EGSM 2 – Hannibal (Public) 4pm BST

Sunday 10thOctober

EGSM 3 – RPGs (Extended Cut) (Patreon) (4pm BST)

Have a good week all!

The Rusty Quill team