Magnus returns and introducing Last Dance

Hi folks,

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who joined us for our Birthday Stream this weekend! It was a lot of fun – with highlights including an extremely chaotic Jeopardy(ish) quiz, and even more chaotic in-character Among Us with the cast of The Magnus Protocol.

As well as fun and games, we raised an amazing £2000 for two charities: SpecialEffect and The Trevor Project.

If you missed the stream, you can watch the VOD on our Twitch page. You can still donate via the donation pages for a short while longer, or of course, donate to them directly:

• SpecialEffect donation page (or donate here once page closes)

• The Trevor Project donation page (or donate here once page closes)

Thank you again for your generosity, and for celebrating the last ten years with us. It has been fantastic to share our shows with you for the last decade, and we’re very excited for you to see what else we have for you in the future!

Next up, The Magnus Protocol returns this week! As always, episodes will be available for early access supporters on Tuesday at 4pm BST, and on the public feed on Thursday at 4pm BST.

To celebrate the beginning of Season 2 Act 2, we’re also hosting another listenalong Drop here on Patreon! Knights and Nobles are invited to join us on Tuesday 1st July at 6pm BST to listen to episode 41 and chat with other members of the community. We hope to see you there!

Finally, today we are very pleased to announce a new show joining the RQ Network! Last Dance is a dark fantasy audio drama, following a battlefield scavenger who finds himself unexpectedly at the centre of an ungodly conflict.

(Image description: Podcast artwork for Last Dance. Our the outside is a celtic-inspired pattern, framing the centre of the design. In the centre, two long snake-like skeletons form a circle, each eating the others' tail, reminiscent of an ouroboros. Encircled by the skeletons is a black cirlce, surrounded by light, reminiscent of an eclipse. In the centre in a gothic font is the title: Last Dance).

As always we spoke to creators, Max Blair and Mark McKibbin, for an exclusive Patreon interview to find out more about them and their show.

Tell us who you are and a bit about Last Dance

We’re Blackabbey Productions, a two-man production team composed of Max Blair (Showrunner) and Mark McKibbin (Technical Director). We’ve been working together for a while now on various short film projects, but moved into audio drama with Last Dance in 2023.

Last Dance is a dark fantasy show set in a world without gods where your body is literally your temple. The story follows the perspective of Jericho Raeke, a battlefield scavenger who is forced to pick through the front lines of the most brutal war his home has ever known. When he discovers the find of a lifetime, he also finds himself dragged right into the middle of the conflict…

If you’re looking for a show that feels a bit like you took Tumanbay, the Silt Verses and Malevolent, then shook them all up in a bottle, we think you’re going to love Last Dance. We’ve got a full cast of Northern Ireland’s best emerging talent, alongside some industry veterans like The Walking Dead’s David Morrissey and another exciting cast member that we’ll be announcing very soon…

What got you into podcasting?

“You want to turn that fantasy idea you had into a podcast?” Is the TL;DR version, but we turned to audio drama through a shared frustration of not being able to tell the kind of story we both knew we were capable of. When we first started, Mark worked for a local podcast agency and he was able to access the studio outside of usual office hours when the building was empty, which is what gave us the space to be able to adapt Max’s TV pilot script for Last Dance into an audio drama.

And then it all got very out of hand very fast, in the best possible way. 13 recorded episodes later and a second series now in the pipeline, here we are! 

What are you most proud of about Last Dance?

Max: For me it’s the performances from the cast. There are a few moments in the show where I got to stop directing and just be the audience - and I wrote the thing!

Mark: The enthusiasm of the 40+ people involved, including writers, actors, sound designers, visual artists, videographers and more, and their commitment to making the project as good as possible. It’s been incredibly rewarding to be able to showcase the best emerging local talent, bringing people together to make a show they can all be proud of.

You can listen to Last Dance wherever you find podcasts, or on the Rusty Quill website. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving a rating or a review, as this is the best way to support a show.

Here is our full schedule for this week:

Tuesday 1st July

The Magnus Protocol 41 – Internal Investigation (Patreon & Kickstarter Backers) (4pm BST)

KNIGHTS+ - Drop: MAGP 41 Livelisten (6pm BST)

Thursday 3rd July

The Magnus Protocol 41 – Internal Investigation (Public) (4pm BST)

Have a good week all!

The Rusty Quill team