Patron Spotlight: Jason of "Adventure They Wrote"!

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I’m really excited to share this month’s Patron Spotlight with you all, featuring Jason aka PunkJr of the Adventure They Wrote D&D Podcast! Jason is an avid gamer and podcaster who has been involved in podcast creation off and on for the last 10 years, and has been working as a radio producer for even longer.

A proudly self-proclaimed “huge geek and radio nerd”, Jason has been a TTRPG gamer going way back. “It's funny, my first D&D memory is playing with our Pastor's kid in the basement of the church my family attended while we were stationed in Germany when I was in 5th Grade,” he says. In addition to playing all kinds of TTRPGs (I was today years old when I found out that TMNT has a RP game), Jason also DMs regularly for a 5e game. He says, “I finally had the opportunity to DM with a small group and we played an "All Bards" campaign run where they mashed up Josie & the Pussycats with Dragonslayer style action.  Ever since, I've been either playing or DM'ing almost every week.”

Jason has a ton of experience on the production side, as well. He’s been a radio producer in Seattle since 2004 and previously produced and recorded over 200 episodes of a Roller Derby podcast. It’s no surprise he was able to combine this experience with his love of D&D to create such a popular and entertaining game podcast. They were even picked for early access to the Wildemount Guide to run an episode, which I was lucky enough to play in as a guest!

If you aren’t familiar with the campaign that Adventure They Wrote has been playing,   

Jason describes it as “basically Sherlock Holmes in D&D.”  He says “I'm REALLY hoping that Wizards does another ‘Podcasts Of’ series for Rime of the Frostmaiden.  I'm a huge Icewind Dale fan, so it would be a lot of fun to have the Waterdeep Detective Agency (or their Ten Towns equivalent) play in the frozen north.”

Interested in following along with the podcast? He recommends starting with the first episode, Deep Trouble or the standalone Wildemount episode.  If you get into the campaign, it won’t take you long to get to Jason’s favorite episode. He says, “My FAVORITE episode is probably The Amnese Dragon - Episode 5, where Max, Ledger, and Doran investigate the Gnomish Home Security company.  Max touches a trapped lockbox & has an encounter with a Unicorn.  It was nuts.”

I asked Jason what sets his podcast apart when there are SO many D&D podcasts out there, and I think his response hit it right on the nose. “Our premise is fun, we don't take ourselves TOO seriously, and we don't let the material drag us down too much.  Noir doesn't always mean DARK, and I feel like we've been pretty good about keeping the humor alongside the mystery.”

I think a lot of us can relate to the difficulty of having a regular game during COVID-19, and Adventure They Wrote is having much the same experience, though Jason hopes to get back to weekly episodes soon. The good news is that it gives you an opportunity to listen and catch up with the campaign, in the meantime. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!