Mystic Muses: A D&D Podcast

Article by Philip Clark

An all queer cast. An all femme ensemble. A non-binary Dungeon Master.

Throw in some quality story-telling and role playing too, this sounds like a whole lot of fun!

If any of the previously mentioned things has piqued your interests, then I implore you to check out Mystic Muses. You can find this wonderfully crafted podcast where you can find all your other favourites including Spotify.

There are currently four episodes out. Episode 0 is the prologue and character introductions, and I have to say it is very well put together! The intro to each episode is cleverly crafted, with the players and DM each sounding off a sentence to bring us into the game space.

Speaking of bringing us into the game space, Adam, the talented DM sets the scene for the story very nicely. A descriptive, yet concise introduction to the environment gives both the players and audience a vibe of what we're in for.

Then come the delicious character introductions that give vivid descriptions of each character as they're brought into the story, if you'd like a visual of each character the artwork is posted on their Instagram page here. The story beats hit pretty consistently throughout the first few episodes, and the way that Adam trickles in little smatterings of information to flow the story is masterfully done!

The music and score used in these episodes goes unnoticed at times, as its mostly background music to help set the scene. I would like to point out one use of score change in Episode 0 where the music blends from a mellow tune into a faster tempo as Adam is describing the combat with the lightning elementals. Simply wonderful!

Episode 1 is where the story starts getting a little more complex. All the characters get to meet each other and the chaos snowballs from there. From the very first roll of the campaign you can tell that these players are going to bounce off each other very well.

The most interesting and unique part of this podcast so far has to be the use of Lord Elderwood's voice. For reasons unknown as of yet, Aster's character is only able to speak telepathically; which leads to an echoed voice whenever the character is communicating. This leads to a weird and wonderful conversation of what it feels like when this happens, and what frequency the person's mind is on. Apparently these things have a taste to Lord Elderwood, and so far we've seen a lemon dessert, the perfect chip from a steakhouse and a slightly metallic chocolate ganache. I hope this is something the players, and DM continue to explore throughout the campaign.

In a marshland ripe with undead, of which we get the migration pattern of, the focus for the group is the mushroom field they're currently standing in; and researching in. Understandably it takes the party about half of the episode before they do any sort of introductions to each other and come to a general consensus that everything seems above board.

That is until the fanciest of zombies, wearing an immaculate tuxedo, enters the vicinity and delivers a summons for tea and crumpets!

Time to dig in to Episode 2 and the mysterious Milagros, who lives in a tree deep in the marshlands. Perhaps this person is just Shrek in disguise and is trying to rid his swamp of the zombie infestation. This, very sadly, does not appear to be the case and she is in fact just a cooky lady living in the marshlands who owns a crow named Donald. Which led me to thinking about a swampy, marsh variant of a little sailor's shirt and cap, now picture that on Donald the crow; you're welcome.

Some information is revealed to a party member about Marvin the Salmon, the party's ranger; Svend's companion. I'm calling it now, Marvin is the BBEG, the big bad evil guy of the campaign. He's just biding his time, swimming circles in his little bowl.

The story beats continue with a bright pink flash in the distance that appears to be a part of the zombie migration and we get the first potential merch idea. A "Flop the Flap" t-shirt anyone?

If you're a fan of fun and wacky people bouncing off each other, you need to listen to this podcast. If you're a fan of TTRPG's and want to experience a fresh new setting, you need to listen to this podcast set in the homebrew world of Perdition. If you're a fan of good story telling and character development and growth, you need to listen to this podcast.

Basically what I'm saying is you need to listen to this podcast.