That’s right, our friends at Evil Hat are going to be publishing Rangers of a Broken World, and you can get in on the open playtest by going to Evil Hat's Website

The next project from Cosmos Cameo Studios is live on Kickstarter! We're playing Animon Story, a Pokemon and Digimon inspired game by Zak Barouh.

Join Misha, Syd, and Alexis as they go through the mirror to the mysterious City Spectacular, meet their reflections, and help avert a disaster coming for both worlds!

Support the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peachgardengames/afterschool-wonderland

Check out Animon Story at

https://www.animonstory.com/

The ironclad Invincible drifts up Amylte’s coast, casually knocking aside the ice floes that decorate the surface of the ocean this far northeast.

The Admiral of the Glacier Legion stands on the deck, looking out over the shoreline, a hot drink in his hands. He can see a glint from the coast.

The tundra surrounding a small ancient shrine is no longer bare – now, it is covered in steel grass and flowers sprouted by the Princess Of The Shrine of Blades. Just like the scouts reported, she has left her shrine and taken up arms against the Swarm for the first time.

He does not know what to do with the idea that the Princess will no longer permit herself to be predicted.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies

Original music by Kathleen~!

You can find the Heroic Discord here!

Five years ago, the immovable Glacier Legion was shattered at the ancient port of Naca. The Swarm burst through the stone gates despite the devotion and effort of the Glacier engineer corps and tore through the line of defenders. Naca had been held by humankind since before the Cataclysm, since old Rhinehold, and now the gallant Archknight Gaius Lucian lay in pieces on the red snow alongside so many of his fellow Crusaders. The survivors swallowed their pride and took to the sea in retreat down the coast. Later, their last ranking officer, a Commander, tried to return to Naca in search of other survivors. Finding nothing but ice, he was forced to turn back rather than risk adding the ship and its crew to the dead.

Today, he has returned, though he no longer holds out hope for survivors.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

For a hundred years in Amylte there have been horrors. Now that Amylte's history sleeps under the mud, the horrors may just be people's best way of learning about their past. A horror's presence says clearly – blood was shed here. There have been deaths here. Somewhere in time there was suffering, right here.

The people of Amylte can never forget the wrongs of the past. At least, not without Rangers.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Let's talk about session prep, GM notes, and other advice for running TTRPGs in general, and Heroic Chord in particular!

One hundred years ago, Amylte was changed forever in the Cataclysm. The melting mountains swallowed the Interior and turned the highlands of Rhimehold into tundra.

Off the coast of Rhimehold, the sediment did what sediment does and conjured a labyrinth of ship-destroying shoals - the very shoals the Westbreaker must now navigate.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Last night, a lone soldier sat in dim golden lamplight, in the center of a spreading chaos of papers and tools, slowly and gently brushing caked-on earth from the surface of an ancient weapon, clearing the soil of the Veldt from its engraved surface., its seams, and its plated hide. A tuft of dead grass fell to the floor, and a panel was freed. 

As soon as it was freed, it began to move.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

One hundred five years ago, a battle raged in the shadow of the Cloudcomb Mountains. People, normal people more or less like us, killed one another, as many others as they could find. To accelerate the deed, they built arms and armor far beyond anything still found in Amylte. 
Today, the crew of the Westbreaker is learning exactly what those arms can do.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

We normally talk about history in the past tense, but where does that leave Hrangad? There isn't much of a past tense to explore in a town that still smells of sawdust and pine resin. The arrival of the Westbreaker made history in the infant town; it was in fact the first ship to make port in what would one day be the base of the Aurora Legion First Fleet. Cobb, Tissa, and Penelope are its first visitors, too. What else about their visit will make history?

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

The party continues! Vi keeps it together, Miller discovers his true calling, and May swoops in.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Thanks for a wonderful year! To celebrate, the dirtbags are going to a ritzy party. Miller reads the fine print, Vi makes an impression, and Mei knows somebody, sib.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Once upon a time, there was war. People destroyed one another en masse, once upon a time. Sometimes they did it for reasons that seem like they make sense, like survival or revenge. Other times, they did it for reasons that probably made no sense even to people at the time, much less to a modern listener. Amylte is lucky enough to be able to refer to the Age of War as a past era, a relic, a chapter of history texts and little else.

This is because Amylte has other things to worry about.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

In an abandoned hall half-buried in the Veldt, the emerald Duchess opens her eerie green eyes to the sight of light filtering in through the one window that remains.

This is her place, and until now that has always been enough for her.

But, this morning, she emerges from the hall and stares out over the world of green that surrounds her, moved by a longing she doesn’t understand. Or rather, by a longing she used to understand but had forgotten.

Her venomous daemons swirl around her on the air, in the shapes of birds and beetles and any number of shining green creatures. Idly, she thinks what a long time it has been since she has been in the city.

So she begins to walk.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Original music by Kathleen~!

You can find the Heroic Discord here!

A couple of days ago, the Westbreaker pulled into Stageport, and now it is time to pull away again. Such is the way of things. It's time to bid farewell to friends new and old, and take to the sea once more. Farewell, Stageport!

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies!

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Five years ago, two men came to a small, secluded spot in an abandoned part of Stageport. One, a stranger, had only the clothes on his back. The other, a local, only the urn he rested in. The two were not alone, however; a young woman who had taken it upon herself to protect this part of the town stumbled upon them and watched as the man in the urn was returned to the house he lived in so very long ago.

To this day, the woman still doesn't know why, but she struck up a conversation with the stranger, and the two have been fast friends ever since.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies!

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

The defeat of the Glacier Legion was absolute and devastating, but we’re not here to talk about that right now. A year after the defeat, two men met in an art gallery, one trying to avoid talking to an old subordinate, and one hoping to find someone to talk to about the beauty in the world. And they did talk. They talked all day. When they parted, they arranged to meet again.

And no matter how far apart they found themselves over the following years, they talked. They sent letters, they sent messages. Letters about art, about beauty, about travel. Letters about – and they both found this very funny – meeting new friends.

Most importantly, they argued over when they would find themselves parted for the last time.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies!

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

History is soft. It doesn't take much to leave a deep mark; sometimes these marks come about my sheer chance.

One hundred twelve years ago, a predator walked the streets of Stageport. A human predator: the worst kind. Their mark was left, not by their own deeds, thoughts, or feelings, but by the scars they left on others. Those scars, given time, took form.

Now, they seek to inflict similar scars on history, and will leave a deeper mark unless brought to an end.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies!

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Five years ago, the Glacier Legion was shattered. The survivors, left directionless in the wastes, were faced with a sort of terrifying freedom; the burden of choosing for themselves what comes next.

Their god said little to help.

Some joined other legions, choosing to continue the fight for the North. At least one gave up, and went in search of a new front line to preserve.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies!

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Ready for Heroic Chord’s next edition? The zine is live at Peach Garden Games, so check it out!

Five years ago, the Glacier Legion was defeated, its remnants scattered, and found new lives for themselves. Eight years ago, the merchantman Red Lotus put in at Stageport, and left a few crew members lighter. Two years ago, there was a fateful meeting at an art gallery, not far from the docks.

Now, because of all of this, Stageport has the Albatross Legion. Their wingspan isn't very broad, and they're not really even much of a legion, but they're the Albatross Legion, nonetheless. Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies!

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

One hundred years ago, the Cloudcomb Mountains crumbled to mud, flooding the interior of Amylte with earth, and burying most signs of human occupation under the Goathome Veldt. They buried the battlefields of the Last War, yes, and the Old Capital too, but also countless farming villages, small towns, and homesteads.The flood stopped short of a ring of cliffs they call Miracle Bluffs today, held back from swallowing the seaside trading city of Stageport.

Now, with the Old Capital dead and buried, Stageport is Amylte's greatest city, depending of course on how one measures greatness.Today, the crew of the Westbreaker puts ashore in this ancient city to see its greatness, or, what passes for greatness, for themselves.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies!

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

How do you make a podcast? What is a bus? How does Kathleen get the seagull noises into the podcast?

Listen up, listeners, and find out!

Next week, it’s back to the story, but for now, learn about the process of turning jerks playing a game into a stirring audio drama!

This week, it's patch notes! It's a playtest, after all; Cat's still working on the game behind the scenes. What changes are coming to Sword of Symphonies next season?

The Radiant Prince hops off his altar, in the darkness of the shrine called Escape Route of the South Wind, content to be the only light in the stone ruins. His odd little courtiers watch him as they go about their business sweeping up the shrine for him, and all is right with his world.

He runs a hand along the carved surface of the shrine’s walls, and a memory startles him, as if waking him from a deep sleep. Visions of the past, of the people who carved these walls, of the offerings once laid upon the altar where he sits, a magic spell meant to convey to him the value of the place and its memories.

When the spell was cast, he hadn’t really understood the idea that history was a treasure, and somehow today he does.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Original music by Kathleen~!

You can find the Heroic Discord here!

Last summer, a pair of engineers under an unfamiliar Commander made the journey south from the frigid Aurora Fortress to begin work on the prototype that would become the Aurora Legion First Fleet. The prototype passed into new hands as a schematic from the Age of War rose from the seabed. In a sleepy seaside village, it saw a side character become a hero and an orphan become a pirate. From a bay near the forest, it saw a reckless fool…well, it didn’t see her learn much. In the wild seas off the southwest coast, it saw its owner become its Captain. Now, the Westbreaker, under repairs in the great city of Stageport, is preparing to meet its own destiny in the ice floes of the West, under the hands that have become its crew.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Water, be it freshwater or salt, shapes everything it comes into contact with. Over ages, it shapes a species into a fierce maritime predator. Over centuries, it shapes a stony island into a lush beach. Over decades, it shapes a man into a sailor, and a sailor into a Captain.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Sixty-five years ago, a young man from a place beyond the oceans landed on Amylte. Fifty years ago, his son sailed back across the ocean to discover more about his family. Twenty years ago, that son, now a Captain, picked up a crewman in a quiet town north of Stageport. Over the next fifteen years that crewman learned a great many things from the Captain, from the practical applications of swordsmanship and seamanship, to the esoteric, ideology and philosophy. But perhaps the most important lesson eluded him: why?

Welcome, everybody, to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Some days, we hold our legends before us like a lantern, trusting them to illuminate everything uncertain on the road ahead.

Some things are not in the stories.

We'll discover those things, illuminated or not, when we come across them. 

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

As people sail around the world, they pick up tales like their ships pick up barnacles. When they come out of danger, they bear scars and stories in equal measure, as do their decks. And the heroes of these stories make it around the world – tales of Rum Runner Ramsay, or Captain Redcloak, or Lady Arrowhead make it to every port in Amylte – and even some much further away.

But – and please do remember this part, because we’ve discussed it before, you and I – none of these legends were always legends. Lady Arrowhead grew up among the flowers of the Coral Coast, an awkward little child with quiet eyes, and Redcloak himself was once one of Stageport’s many orphans. Every legend you have ever heard of was once something smaller, and humbler, before the stories attached themselves to their hull.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Some ten years ago, the crew of the Carnal Sin, fleeing pursuit for a crime they definitely did commit, put ashore in a sandy chain of misty islands where an intemperate wind lashed the trees and brilliant flowers garlanded the woods. Some say, and it is hard to tell how trustworthy they are, that Captain Ramsay, unwilling to give up her spoils in the event of her capture, buried the loot somewhere in that ghostly archipelago, somewhere the sound of the waves couldn’t reach. Of course these same people, regardless of how trustworthy one finds them, say that it still waits there – the Last Haul of the Carnal Sin, which departed the island without so much as naming it.

Now, stumbling in the footsteps of the Carnal Sin, the Westbreaker, injured and limping from a sudden storm, has found itself in a sandy chain of misty islands, lashed by an intemperate wind and, in more ways than one, rudderless.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

My friends both my friends, do not fight both my friends. Two voices, three voices, my voices all, and between them such silence? Between them such silence, a fool is my friend, and between my friends is silence, but do not fight both my friends. Voices of friends like seafoam, voices of friends like driftwood, voices of friends like mud tracked over a clean floor, around and around I can hear where they go, they can hear where they’ve been, voices of my many friends, but between them silence. A friend of mine is a friend of mine and many are my friends and yet between them, silence. I love my friends, they are fools.
Welcome, my friends, to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Kersten's not here so Cat's Gonna Stats!

That's right, this week on Cat's Cradle we talk stats, accessibility, representation, and iconoclasm.

Check out our website at PeachGardenGames.com, and download the current manual here.

Original music by Kathleen.

Over one hundreds ago, generations ago, a small village paid tribute to a powerful neighbor with a ceremony whose origins have been mostly lost to time and short, feeble human memory.

Some years ago, a young farmgirl followed the voice of Windswept Tomyris, and several weeks ago, was reminded of her home.

A few days ago, the remnants of the annual festival were resurrected in the small village and, following a brave ranger, the village was reminded of its neighbor.

And yesterday, a disorganized and scattered person put these thoughts to a coffee-stained piece of paper.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Two hundred and twenty-four years ago, the Sage King of Forlatean began construction on a magnificent palace, one planned to rival even the great Golden Rose Pavilion. Before it could be completed, the Sage King fell ill and, surrounded by bad advice and greed, passed into death and obscurity, and the unfinished palace fell to two monarchs, three despots, and finally, the wilderness.

Sixty-two years ago, it gained a new tenant, like so many of the old world’s abandoned places. A divine creature that could trace their roots back, in part, to that same Golden Rose Pavilion, this new tenant now, today, is watching as three heroes, a farmgirl queen, and her knight approach the ruins the Sage King labored over.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

This week on Cat’s Cradle, hop in the car with us! We’re joined by Bappy from The Eternity Archives! We’re going on a roadtrip, and it’s time to answer the eternal gamer question:

What should we play?

Join our Discord!

Music by Kathleen!

One hundred and fifty years ago, much of the world was destroyed. One hundred and seventy-five years ago, some of the world was destroyed.

There is, at all times, something that is threatening to destroy everything. There is at all times a buried history, an endless series of cataclysms.

And there is at all times something waiting. Something that has survived. Something that peers forward through history unblinking to watch what cataclysm swoops down on the present.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Nobody remembers the name of the Old Capital now. It had a government, and it fought in the Last War, but the rest is lost. The people of the Interior clutch their memories tight, treasure their old borders even after losing them to Veldt. Rhimehold is fallen, and its corpse long buried.

But the Old Capital was once a trading post. The barons and dukes of the Interior were once just individuals, the King of Rhimehold once a common warlord. And a teenage farmgirl has become the Queen of Acorn.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

When people depend on nature for their living, they learn its rhythms and its pace. They listen as the world breathes in, and they feel it as the world breathes out, keeping time with their dance partner. Every day is a step, a beat, a change, and as nature leads the dance into winter, people add their own turns and flourishes. It's time for the festival!

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Hundreds of years ago, people lived together. Apart, yes, apart enough to fight their wars, but together, sheltering in their nations and cities. They flew standards and pressed coins and gave what they could to communities they called States, Republics, Kingdoms, and the like.

After the Last War, it crumbled to dust. But dust, given time, can become fertile soil, and something new can grow.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

The Dirtbags have found the papers, but they're not out of trouble yet!

I mean, they might be. It can be hard to tell with this crew.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Here to help Penelope learn that it’s sometimes good to plan ahead, meet Raede, a real jerk. Just a real piece of work. A magical asshole.

Check out our website at PeachGardenGames.com, and download the current manual here.

Original music by Kathleen.

Vi, Mae, and Miller explore a college campus and make some new friends. Somehow.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

OooOOoooOoOo! It's time for a very spooky Cat's Cradle! Spooky and haunted. Wanna talk monsters, philosophy, who the real monster is, and early takeaways from Kersten's Training wheels? Hop on board!

Suggested Listening: Episode 10 of Behold Her for more in-depth discussion on decolonizing the TTRPG space.

Check out our website at PeachGardenGames.com, and download the current manual here.

Original music by Kathleen.

The Dirtbags do their investigation.

Just kidding, they have a slumber party.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Are you an inexperienced GM? Maybe a little intimidated by the whole process? Worried you can't match the beautiful storylines and breathtaking scenes of your favorite GMs?

Look, it's not as hard as you're making it out to be. Join Kersten as she discovers first-hand that even when your players are jerks, the game's designer is right there judging you, and everyone makes fun of your NPC names, being a GM is all about having fun.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

The sky over the eastern desert is enormous. Standing on the sacred plateau where the remains of the deilith Benevolent Zhuge are collected, one can see from horizon to horizon, an endless world under an endless sky.

The torches that adorn the plateau flicker.

Moved by the sight, and terrified by the thought of being moved by the sight, the Chosen Emperor places his face in his hands and begins to weep.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Original music by Kathleen~!

You can find the Heroic Discord here!

Last night, two wanderers in an echoing cavern made quiet conversation in a blur of cloth and promises.

Last night, an artist and a soldier had a long conversation.

Last night, for eight little ones, the world changed forever.

And now it's time to wake up.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, a wanderer came to the mouth of the Silver River. It was an empty, peaceful place then, full of the echoing cries of seabirds and the soft waves of a river that glittered, radiant in the sunlight, full of leaping fish. And in that peace and emptiness, the wanderer, completely alone and peerless, declared herself Countess.

Today, a wanderer came to the mouth of the Silver River. It is a cheerful place now, full of the shouts of people and the creaking of boats that wait, their sails bright in midday, in a harbor full of people and goods from all over the continent. She came in just one of many boats, just one of many travelers from just one of many places.

Right now, the two are about to meet.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!

Longer ago than it feels sometimes, a wanderer set off to find the voice in her head. A decade ago, a lost traveller was returned to her family. A year ago, a village survived a drought thanks to an underground spring located by a stranger. A month ago, a Commander of the Aurora Legion was told a trio of adventurers had found his home's salvation. Weeks ago, a Tidal Navigator found a new crew.

And a few minutes ago, twelve people found each other, as far from home as they had ever been, and prepared to confront a power that could destroy them with a thought.

Tissa was certain that she merely rode history's arrow. What she didn't understand was that she, even in her own small way, was steering it.

Welcome to Sword of Symphonies.

Play along with us! Download the manual for free here and let us know what you think on our website!

Original music by Kathleen~!