No tricks, just treats

Hi folks,

Happy Hallowe’en from Rusty Towers! We’ve reached the end of October and the culmination of the frightsome month here, but we’re not letting up on the treats to come just quite yet…

First off, this is a reminder that Daylight Savings Time has now ended in the UK– which means that, for those regions that are still on it, the usual show release timings will be out of sync with those time zones for the next little while. Please ensure you check your timings against GMT/UTC, so as not to miss out.

Secondly, we have staff announcements, as we’d like to introduce the esteemed Jeffrey Nils Gardner as our new Mastering Editor! They come to Rusty Towers with a fantastic audio drama background, having produced/directed Our Fair Cityand are presently the showrunner for Unwell, A Midwestern Gothic Mystery. Once up to speed with our processes, they will be shouldering the task of ensuring our shows have the RQ polish we want them to have and freeing up some of Alex’s workload.

And speaking of roles to help ease some of the load, I am also pleased to announce that Suzanne King is coming on board in a full-time capacity in the dual role of Head of HR and Executive Assistant! This EA position aims to streamline things so that leadership needs, and in particular, Alex’s time, are best organised. I hope you’ll join in me in welcoming both Jeffrey and Suzanne to their new roles.

Congrats have to go out to Mike for making it through his Scary Games Season with the minimum of swears and the maximum of jumps, as he managed to survive the terrors of his least favoured game genre, and even made it through all five nights at Freddy’s! The spirit of the month continues this week on RQ Streams as Nico takes on dark puzzle adventure Creaks (from the makers of Machinarium) and Anil wanders a cruise of cosmic horror in Dread Nautical.

But the main event comes this Saturday, on the hallowed, and harrowed, day itself as Alex Newall, Hannah Brankin and special guests Alasdair Stuart & Marguerite Kenner of EA Podcasts, team up for a walk though Little Hope, the next instalment of interactive narrative survival horror in the Dark Pictures Anthology from Supermassive Games! Kicking off at 2pm GMT, the plan is to play the story through in its entirety in one session, so expect a late ending to this stream. Check out the trailer for the game HERE (note: trailer is NSFW / 18 Rated).

As we fast approach the return of Stellar Firma later this year, we have one more ask of you for suggestions to go into the show. Third & final season, third & final prompt… This time the Board are looking to identify threats to Stellar Firma Ltd! Who doesn’t have the company’s best interests at heart? What dastardly corporation is looking to see a stellar failure? Let us know by providing your intelligence HERE! The form will be open for approximately three weeks to collect your valuable submissions.

Now… we’re less than a week away from the TeePublic store launch and the new Fear designs! We showed off the full artwork for The Stranger last week, and I left you with teasers for three more… well, you can see the full pictures down below of The Buried, The Spiral and The Dark! As these come with content warnings for horror art and potentially disturbing imagery, I am placing them below the schedule so you don’t have to scroll down that far if you don’t want to.

We’re just waiting on Mark Anzalone to apply some finishing touches to the final designs and then we’ll be able to show off all 15 new designs to you ahead of Saturday’s launch! Expect a separate post with them all to come, probably on Thursday, for you to enjoy. We will also be doing a public showcase/reveal on a special RQ Streams announcement at 1pm GMT, ahead of the big crossover stream, and setting them live at that point.

And, here's what you can expect from us this week (all shows release at 4pm UK time, unless otherwise stated – remember your times may vary as UK clocks went back this last weekend):

Mon 26th October
RQ Streams – Nico plays… Creaks (4pm)

Tue 27th October
RQG/STL – Hallowe’en 2020 Special, Part 2 (Patreon)

Wed 28th October
MAG185 – Locked In (Patreon)
RQG/STL – Hallowe’en 2020 Special, Part 2 (Public)
RQ Streams – Anil plays… Dread Nautical (5pm)

Thu 29th October
MAG185 – Locked In (Public)

Fri 30th October
EGSM003 – ‘Insert Creepy Noises’ – Horror, with Alasdair, Jonny & Tai (6pm)
Citizens+ Bonus – Mike: Unboxing the New Stream Rig
RQG/STL – Hallowe’en 2020 Special, Part 2 (Public)

Sat 31st October
RQ Streams – Public Merch Launch (1pm)
RQ Streams – Alex, Hannah & EA Podcasts play… Little Hope (2pm)

Sun 1st November
RQ Streams – Mike plays… Skyrim w/ Gary Catman (2pm)

Have a good week all!

Anil
Community Manager

THE DARK

THE BURIED

THE SPIRAL