Realities Collide in CHANNELS: The Brand New Monster of the Week AP from The Monster’s Playbook
A late-90s online RPG is bleeding into the real world, and it’s up to an unlikely trio to keep reality from falling apart. Premieres June 3rd.
Introducing the Sophomore Campaign from The Monster’s Playbook
Your podcast pals at The Monster’s Playbook are delighted to announce the launch of CHANNELS, the upcoming actual-play campaign using the Monster of the Week game system, written by Michael Sands. Their previous campaign, “The Cover Story,” found enormous success in the system’s ability to balance bombastic supernatural set pieces with intimate character-focused drama, and the creators and cast are excited to take everything they learned over that years-spanning adventure and put it into action in a totally new setting. No prereading required, CHANNELS is a perfect jumping on point for new listeners.
These Are the Players, but This Is No Game
Set in the fictional midwestern city of Broken River, Minnesota, CHANNELS follows reformed thief Jaqueline “Jack” Harrow, mild-mannered janitor Robert V. Slaughter and taciturn vampire Sutton Malone through two worlds of weirdness. There are holes in the fabric of reality. And beyond these portals lies the world of a long-dead MMORPG for the Sega Dreamcast–the Kings of Bolera. People from the real world are being sucked into the fictional realm of Bolera. And even low-level monsters can cause real havoc on the streets of a mundane riverside town.
But it’s not all digital goblins and pixelated warriors. (Did we mention that one of our PCs is a literal vampire?) Supernatural mystery lurks on the edges of the map on both sides of reality in CHANNELS. And even though some of the dangers come from a fictional world, things are bound to get very, very real.
What is Monster of the Week, and why is it Our Very Favorite TTRPG?
Monster of the Week is a rules-light, improv-heavy game system that empowers the players to engage with high-stakes, world-changing action, while saving space for smaller moments that make the characters feel human and the world feel alive. Sessions are structured to play like your favorite monster-of-the-week TV series, like the X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Supernatural. If you like shows like that, you’ll probably like a show like this.
Realities collide in CHANNELS, premiering June 3rd.
About the Monster’s Playbook
The Monster’s Playbook is an actual-play podcast that combines the action and intrigue of monsters and magic with the gentle devastation of feelings and friendship. Through long-form campaigns, bite-sized one-shots, a wide range of miniseries and even the occasional freewheeling roundtable discussion, we’re here to sing the praises of the TTRPGs we love and share some of the magic that can happen when you play games with your friends. Find us wherever you get your podcasts, and most of the places where you get your social media.
