Merely Roleplayers
Fiction & Audio Drama
About
Where theatrical people play roleplaying games. Each season our players part-improvise a story in a new genre, with roleplaying game rules providing surprising twists and turns. Jump in at the start of any season! The story continues every other Tuesday; on the Tuesdays in between, Backstage episodes shed light on the game and storytelling mechanics behind the scenes.
Episodes
- A to Z (Use Your Words Backstage)
With what words they have left, the Rogue Linguists expound on their experiences of the Forbidden Library. Coming up in the Main House – Vigil: The Long Night PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, choking sounds, violen…
- Use Your Words, Act III
Act III of III: The False Librarian acquaints the Rogue Linguists with the red acid slap of their own words. Coming next on 3 March – A to Z (Use Your Words Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, choking sound…
- Lost for words (Use Your Words Backstage)
Utterances deemed unpalatable by even the False Librarian. (The recording got giddy and I cut a lot out. Here some of it is.) Coming next on 24 February – Use Your Words, Act III PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, ch…
- Use Your Words, Act II
Act II of III: Words bleed meaning as False Librarian logophagy value extraction. Demonstration: yassified bakery explosion, lava (not hazardous), horizontal eruption, ceramic skullet Coming next on 17 February – Lost for words (Use Your W…
- Rogue Linguists (Use Your Words Backstage)
The players scry and speak their Rogue Linguists into being. (You heard a speedrun of this bit in Act I. This is longer and sillier.) Coming next on 10 February – Use Your Words, Act II PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong langu…
- Use Your Words, Act I
Act I of III: With a world losing meaning at their backs, the Rogue Linguists present their library cards and enter the nonsense that the Forbidden Library has become. Coming next on 3 February – Rogue Linguists (Use Your Words Backstage)…
- Next assignment (It Feeds Backstage)
No rest for the wicked, they of shaken faith. The players look back on the assignment – and forward to the next…? Coming next in January – Use Your Words, Act 1 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains violence, body horror, grotesque reli…
- It Feeds on Fire, Act 3
Act 3 of 3: Stockstill in the searchlight. Stand together. Yes, banish hesitation, but it’s okay to look back sometimes too. A god must feed, so can one starve? The Custodians strive for resolution. Coming next on 2 December – Next assignm…
- Altars (It Feeds Backstage)
Anywhere can be an altar, and anything can be an offering. The players offer and accept some sacred (and sometimes useful) things. Coming next on 25 November – It Feeds on Fire, Act 3 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains violence, body…
- It Feeds on Fire, Act 2
Act 2 of 3: Sky falling at the SSPC. Heavy hearts at Ornglen Unbroken. The trains don’t run any more. Nowhere to run. RUN. The Custodians have a theory. Coming next on 18 November – Altars (It Feeds Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This producti…
- Custodians (It Feeds Backstage)
The players create the unsettling, troubled trio upon whose shaken faith the fate of Ornglen now depends. Coming next on 11 November – It Feeds on Fire, Act 2 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains violence, body horror, grotesque religi…
- It Feeds on Fire, Act 1
Act 1 of 3: Stone fists on riot shields. Banish hesitation. Awe and terrify. Faiths are founded on less; who’s playing god in Ornglen? Custodians Billie, Nim and Jasper gather clues. Coming next on 4 November – Custodians (It Feeds Backsta…
- After the end (Tipping Point Backstage)
Well what the fuck happens now? PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains climate breakdown, allusions to sex, conspiracy theories, gun violence, psychic coercion, and death. It mentions people in cages and dying of thirst. What caused the…
- Tipping Point, Act 3
Act 3 of 3: Nasus, Nipperkin, Sacramento, how the fuck does your garden grow? Coming next on 23 September – After the end (Tipping Point Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains climate breakdown, allusions to sex, conspiracy th…
- The Hx network (Tipping Point Backstage)
Who’s side-eyeing who? Who’s flush with jingle a fucker could relieve them of? And who’s bartered it all away? Coming next on 16 September – Tipping Point, Act 3 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains climate breakdown, allusions to sex,…
- Tipping Point, Act 2
Act 2 of 3: What the fuck happened to Weird Sammy and them up at that house? Someone should see what Nasus knows. Coming next on 9 September – The Hx network (Tipping Point Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains climate breakd…
- Who survives (Tipping Point Backstage)
What fuckin weirdos survive and thrive in a world like this? Got plenty wrong with them, ‘s for sure. Coming next on 2 September – Tipping Point, Act 2 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains climate breakdown, allusions to sex, conspirac…
- Tipping Point, Act 1
Act 1 of 3: Who the fuck’s this Dremmer think he is, rolling in tooled up with bandits in tow? Someone should tell him what’s what. Coming next on 26 August – Who survives (Tipping Point Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains…
- How it happens (Tipping Point Backstage)
This fuckin world’s gonna burn and drown, scrap and starve. Take it from the experts. Here’s what we’re in for. Coming next on 19 August – Tipping Point, Act 1 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains climate breakdown, allusions to sex, c…
- Post-credits scene (Vigil Backstage)
What epic future storylines could these events have set up? The Shadowfall cast speculates. Coming next on x August – How it happens (Tipping Point Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, gunfire, and referenc…
- Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 5
Act Five of Five: Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Can Mayor’s unspecified scandal derail historic property deal? Coming next on 22 July – Post-credits scene (Vigil Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, gunf…
- Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 4
Act Four of Five: What happens when you mix ancient Albion’s divine magic with the gray psyche of the urban USA? Not a riddle: we’re about to find out. Coming next on 15 July – Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 5 PROGRAMME NOTES This production conta…
- Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 3
Act Three of Five: The library is a gateway to knowledge and, since they installed the revolving door, to dark places too. Coming next on 1 July – Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 4 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, gunfire,…
- Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 2
Act Two of Five: In the deepest darkest basement, the former Mayor has a lead that could go all the way to the top. Coming next on 17 June – Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 3 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, gunfire, and r…
- Other selves (Vigil Backstage)
The Shadowfall cast check the status of their characters’ relationships, and check Matt’s fit for clues. Coming next on 3 June – Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 2 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, gunfire, and references to…
- Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 1
Act One of Five: If you don’t cast a shadow, are you really there? Not a riddle: we’re about to find out. Coming next on 27 May – Other selves (Vigil Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, gunfire, and refere…
- Lingering effects (Vigil Backstage)
The cast of Vigil: Ill Wind talk about the parts of the story that came out in the wash, and the parts that might stink up the Main House for a while to come. Coming next on 20 May – Vigil: Shadowfall, Act 1 PROGRAMME NOTES This production…
- Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 5
Act Five of Five: To save Sherrydown from its own waste, someone’s going to have to get their hands dirty. Coming next on 29 April – Lingering effects (Vigil Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, retching so…
- Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 4
Act Four of Five: Did the Tailors cause all this? Yes. Can they fix it? Also yes. But maybe they’re not the only ones. Coming next on 22 April – Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 5 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, retching sou…
- Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 3
Act Three of Five: An old friend invites Peggy to get drunk. Gwynned holds her nose and flies to the rescue. Coming next on 8 April – Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 4 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, retching sounds, toxic…
- Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 2
Act Two of Five: Gwynned seeks out eyewitnesses (and nose-, foot- and tail-witnesses). Graham and Renko follow their noses. Coming next on 25 March – Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 3 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, retchin…
- Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 1
Act One of Five: Something’s rotten in the county of Brackshire. Peggy has some rotten luck and Graham smells a rat. Coming next on 11 March – Vigil: Ill Wind, Act 2 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, retching sound…
- Guest artist: The Sprouting
While you wait for the next Vigil production in the Main House, here’s a sample of The Sprouting by our friends at Blighthouse Studio. The Sprouting is an eldritch horror of a Call of Cthulhu actual play podcast, set in an apocalyptic futu…
- Her end (Many Masks Backstage)
Which questions did we decline to answer and why? The cast discusses the end of their beloved Queen’s journey. Coming next on 11 February – Guest artist: The Sprouting PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, murder, and…
- Her Many Masks, Act 3
Act 3 of 3: The Queen is under attack. After all she’s done, who of her retinue will defend her? Coming next on 4 February – Her end (Many Masks Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, murder, and eye damage.…
- Her crimes (Many Masks Backstage)
Blooper reel or pooper reel? From all the material Matt cut from the recording emerges a very tonally different parallel story. Coming next on 28 January – Her Many Masks, Act 3 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence, mu…
- Her Many Masks, Act 2
Act 2 of 3: The road behind is as perilous as the one ahead, each strewn with seeds that could prove the Queen’s undoing. Coming next on 21 January – Her crimes (Many Masks Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violen…
- Her Majesty (Many Masks Backstage)
Our Queen will emerge through play, but what’s her starting vibe? We moodboard an aesthetic with the help of For The Queen’s beautiful art cards. Coming next on 14 January – Her Many Masks, Act 2 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fa…
- Her Many Masks, Act 1
Act 1 of 3: The Queen sets out through wrack and ruin with her retinue, each of whom loves her in their own way. Coming next on 7 January 2025 – Her Majesty (Many Masks Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains fantasy violence,…
- Guest artist: I Need A Miracle
While you wait for Her Many Masks to open in the Studio, here’s a sample of I Need A Miracle, another podcast Foggy Outline released this year, written by Matt. I Need A Miracle is an original scripted audio drama where each episode is a p…
- Unpicking (Vigil Backstage)
The cast look back at Peggy’s debut. Was this the grossest Vigil yet? Coming up in the Studio on 31 December – Her Many Masks, Act 1 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, drug use, gunfire, and gory fantasy violence. DR…
- Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 5
Act Five of Five: One’s home is one’s castle. Who’s the king of this one? Coming next on 3 December – Unpicking (Vigil Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, drug use, gunfire, and gory fantasy violence. Meet…
- Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 4
Act Four of Five: Test your smoke alarms and check your boiler regularly. Otherwise your home can really hurt you. Coming next on 26 November – Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 5 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, drug use, g…
- Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 3
Act Three of Five: As the innocents evacuate, hostilities escalate. The walls are closing in. Coming next on 12 November – Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 4 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, drug use, gunfire, and gory fant…
- Peggy, the Crooked (Vigil Backstage)
Meet Peggy: grifter, scion, Crooked. Ellie builds her new character along with an identity parade of supernatural villains. Coming next on 29 October – Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 3 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, dru…
- Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 2
Act Two of Five: Search this house from bottom to top! Coming next on 22 October – Peggy, the Crooked (Vigil Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, drug use, gunfire, and gory fantasy violence. Luvvie alert! W…
- Woven together (Vigil Backstage)
The cast work out how everyone’s connected to Ellie’s new character. Coming next on 15 October – Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 2 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong language, drug use, gunfire, and gory fantasy violence. DRAMATIS PER…
- Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 1
Act One of Five: Welcome to Tailors’ Haunt. Everyone who should live here is gone, and everyone you might want gone can’t leave. Coming next on 8 October – Woven together (Vigil Backstage) PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains strong la…
- Retracing our steps (Labyrinth Backstage)
What chambers of the Queen’s Labyrinth did we leave unexplored? Join us backstage for a look back at this production. Coming next on 1 October – Vigil: Tailor Made, Act 1 PROGRAMME NOTES This production contains memory loss and dead animal…
- Labyrinth Untold, Act 5
Act 5 of 5: The Goblin Queen’s Castle. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, we have fought our way here to take back what was stolen. Coming next on 17 September – Retracing our steps (Labyrinth Untold) PROGRAMME NOTES This pro…