The Darkened Threshold: Recent Episodes
Jason Cordova, Alex Rybitski, J.D. Woodell
The Darkened Threshold is a tabletop roleplaying game podcast about the mystery and horror genres, with a specific focus on the games Brindlewood Bay and The Between
This is the first in our series of episodes looking at the new playbooks coming to The Between as part of Shadow Society, this time about The Legacy.
Come hangout with Alex and Jason on Discord!
Our friends at PlusOneXP are doing a crowdfunding campaign for three short-form Carved from Brindlewood games: By Endurance We Conquer, Beach Blanket Body Bag, and DEAD-PILLED! Jason sat down with Tony Vasinda to discuss these three games, the design of the short-form structure, and what folks can expect from the campaign, which launches on July 21st!
Follow the campaign here.
Alex and Jason talk about some games they've been playing, and then discuss the topic, the State of Carved from Brindlewood. They finish with some media recs!
Come hangout with Alex and Jason on Discord!
Alex and Jason begin by talking about some games they've been playing, and then dive into the topic: The Trophy Gold Combat Roll Part 3: MONSTERS! They finish with some media recs.
Come hangout with Alex and Jason on Discord!
We're back! In this episode, Alex and Jason catch up on what they've both been up to the last few months, and then have a discussion about bizarre indie film, OBEX.
Jason's Ixaroth Struggle: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xFGA2ahJaOh8_o9UK2w4PO12oiiRE2nj/view?usp=sharing
Come hang out with Alex and Jason on Discord!
Public Access is coming to Kickstarter March 17th!
In this special podcast episode, Matt and Jason do a deep dive on Public Access—what it is, how it works, and how this edition differs from the version released in 2023. Then, Jason gets very personal talking about the game's inspirations. Finally, Matt and Jason run down what folks can expect in the Kickstarter campaign itself.
Check out the campaign here!
Opening Segment
01:05 - A surprise from The Between players
04:03 - The Lands Remaining stuff
Topic
08:00 - Being an effective Carved from Brindlewood player
Media Recommendations
45:10 - Dungeon Crawler Carl
46:40 - Searching for a World That Doesn't Exist
Come hang out with Jason and Alex on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:14 - Putting the finishing touches on Beach Blanket Body Bag
03:35 - Trophy Dark: The Pit
Topic
06:35 - Cinematic Gameplay
Media Recommendations
43:31 - The Seance of Blake Manor
45:05 - All Hallows
Come hang out with Alex and Jason on Discord
Games We've Been Playing
01:15 - New Public Access campaign
04:04 - The Secret of Castronegro
Topic
08:32 - Reincorporation
Media Recs
37:00 - The Salt Grows Heavy
38:56 - Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions
Come hang out with Alex and Jason on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:15 - Public Access with The Bad Spot
Topic: The Backrooms
08:30 - Kane Pixel's The Backrooms
34:58 - Game design discussion
Come hang out with Jason and Alex on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:25 - God’s Teeth
05:05 - Dead-Pilled
Topic
10:00 - Short form Carved from Brindlewood games and By Endurance We Conquer
Media Recs
45:45 - The Terror (show and book)
48:36 - In the Heart of the Sea
50:45 - Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
Pick up By Endurance We Conquer here.
Come hang out with Jason and Alex on Discord.
Jason and Alex continue their preview of Arkham Herald!
Come hang out with us on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:36 - In-person game of The Between
04:33 - Defensive play
Topic
15:08 - Arkham Herald Preview (Part 1)
Media Recommendations
05:10 - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
54:37 - Things We Lost in the Fire
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:30 - Crown of Salt
Topic
12:35 - Trophy Gold Combat Part 2: Risk Rolls, Ranged Weapons, and Rituals.
Media Recs
57:10 - The Amulet
59:15 - Blue Prince
Come hangout with Alex and Jason on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:30 - The end of Near Enough to Hell
04:46 - Kicking off The Company of Salt & Iron
Topic
13:10 - Keeper’s Notebook: Reactions
Media Recommendations
44:04 - Million Dollar Secret
47:00 - The Lies of Locke Lamora
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Games We’ve Been Playing
01:18 - The Girls of the Genziana Hotel
04:30 - Running the new edition of The Between for The Bad Spot
Topic
10:20 - Combat Roll basics
Media Recommendations
53:40 - Hearts of Wulin
55:08 - R.E.P.O.
Come hang out with Alex & Jason on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:12 - The Sketterich family
Topic: The Vast of Night
15:44 - Film discussion
45:23 - Game design talk
Come hang out with Alex and Jason on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:24 - Introducing a new Legacy
05:12 - Kicking off Crown of Salt
Topic
09:52 - The Hunt Roll
Media Recommendations
52:30 - Indiana Jones & the Great Circle
55:18 - Balatro
Join us on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:26 - Alex’s The Pirate Queen’s Gambit campaign
07:30 - Further thoughts on West Marches Trophy
Topic
15:17 - Lost Transmissions
35:00 - Public Access: Double Feature Writing Contest
Media Recommendations
50:17 - The Roottrees Are Dead
53:02 - In Search of Darkness I-III
Join us on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:12 - Wrapping up Skinny Jeans playtest
Topic
13:54 - The Risk Roll
Media Recommendations
01:03:01 - The Detective & The Log Lady PLUS reflecting on David Lynch
Join us on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:15 - Bringing a group back from a long hiatus
05:45 - West Marches Trophy?
Topic
13:08 - Trophy RPG overview
Media Recs
57:45 - Ari Aster films
01:00:34 - It's a Good Life
01:02:30 - The Ruins (book from 2006)
01:04:32 - Scarlet Hollow
Come hang out with us on Discord!
Topic
01:10 - Looking ahead to CfB in 2025
Media Recommendations
47:45 - Dread Delusion
49:55 - EoH Found Footage Miniseries and Horror’s Greatest S2E3
52:31 - Don’t Feed the Muse
54:14 - Possession
Come hang out with us in Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:40 - Roots of Old Kalduhr
08:14 - Classic Mastermind campaigns
Topic
14:40 - Having a successful CfB Session One
Media Recommendations
01:02:03 - Skeleton Crew
01:05:14 - Severance
01:07:06 - The Troop
Join us on Discord!
It's a new year! Come hang out with Alex and Jason on The Gauntlet Discord server!
For this episode, Alex and Jason reflect on PAXU 2024. Later, they each discuss some of their favorite pieces of horror media from 2024. Enjoy!
The Between is coming to BackerKit on September 24th! Alex Rybitski sits down with creator Jason Cordova to talk about the game, its mechanics, and the crowdfunding campaign. Follow along with the campaign here.
Time Codes 01:45 - What is The Between? 02:59 - The Mystery System 05:10 - The Chicken or the Egg? 08:04 - The Between's Gothic Emulation 12:17 - The Playbooks 18:52 - The Play Cycle of The Between 21:10 - The Day Phase 21:57 - The Night Phase 24:10 - Character Backstories in The Between 25:50 - What are the Janus Masks? 28:40 - Revealing Character Backstories 36:07 - Character Width vs. Depth 38:08 - The Fun of GMing the Night Phase 43:25 - The Unscene 50:28 - A Talk about XP in The Between 51:11 - The BackerKit Campaign Details 55:23 - Book One 57:19 - Book Two 59:36 - Book Three 1:02:47 - Other Materials in the Backer Kit Campaign 1:07:55 - A Note About Previously Published Material for The Between 1:08:13 - A Little Preview of Something New for Backers
Join us on Discord!
The Between is coming to BackerKit!
Discussion
01:30 - The Factotum
Media Recommendations
29:57 - Sherlock (again)
30:38 - Downton Abbey
31:52 - Batman Caped Crusader
33:30 - The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
34:40 - Pride and Prejudice (2005)
The Between is coming to BackerKit! Sign up to be notified when the campaign goes live!
Discussion
02:15 - The Explorer playbook
Media Recommendations
43:25 - Sherlock (2010)
43:44 - Bridgerton
44:10 - Apocalypse Now!
44:24 - The Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries
45:10 - Ain’t Slayed Nobody actual play of The Between
Come hang out with Alex & Jason on our Discord server!
Join us on The Gauntlet Discord server!
Discussion
01:35 - The Undeniable playbook
Media Recommendations
34:04 - The portrayal of Dorian Gray in Penny Dreadful
35:15 - Hellraiser and The Hellbound Heart
36:22 - Memoirs of a Geisha
37:00 - Castlevania Netflix series
38:43 - Bad Times at the El Royale
39:10 - Monkey Man
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:30 - The Between game with a homebrew Mastermind
08:00 - The Between actual play campaigns
Discussion
12:40 - Design Diary: Reflecting on our 4-day Pizza Time! writing binge
Media Recommendations
41:50 - Dark Harvest and Maggie’s Grave
43:50 - Ted’s Caving Journal
Join us on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:45 - Near Enough to Hell
08:05 - A God Must Feed
Discussion
15:43 - Design Diary: Pizza Time
Media Recommendations
51:25 - The Resolution and The Endless
53:42 - Fallout TV show
58:01 - Disco Deathtrap
01:01:03 - Delicious in Dungeon
Join us on Discord!
Discussion
01:60 - The American playbook
Media Recommendations
37:00 - Deadwood & Justified
38:37- The Light Sublime trilogy
Games We’ve Been Playing
02:33 - Shadow Society
05:07 - Dr. Murdoch
Discussion
09:04 - The Mother and the Orphan
Media Recommendations
44:59 - The Autopsy of Jane Doe
45:40 - Scully autopsies in The X-Files
Join us on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:45 - Alex's game of The Between: Empire of Shadows
Discussion
07:01 - The Vessel
Media Recommendations
41:10 - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
42:32 - Our Share of Night
Join us on Discord!
First Segment
03:14 - Reflecting on the release of The Silt Verses Roleplaying Game.
Topic
20:07 - A deep dive into The Silt Verses Roleplaying Game
Media Recommendations
01:36:20 - I Am in Eskew
01:37:35 - When Evil Lurks
01:39:37 - Kentucky Route Zero
01:41:23 - Eeler’s Choice
01:42:33 - Norco
Games we’ve been playing
01:25 - White Mountain Rescue: Without a Trace
09:03 - The Between: The King in Shadows
Topic
17:11 - The Unscene
Media recommendations
49:25 - Alan Wake 2
54:00 - Let’s Go Play at the Adams’
57:24 - The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix series)
01:00:00 - The Others (2001)
Join us on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:15 - Jason & Alex talk about their campaign of The Silt Verses RPG.
Discussion
21:05 - What Counts as Horror?
Media Recommendations
59:32 - The Reaping
1:00:57 - Gideon the Ninth
1:04:00 - Interview With the Vampire (AMC TV show)
1:06:53 - Calls (Apple TV+ show)
Games We've Been Playing
01:10 - The Silt Verses RPG playtest
14:20 - The Between: Ghosts of El Paso
Discussion
25:33 - Writing Moves
Media Recommendations
59:07 - Paperbacks from Hell: The Nest and When Darkness Loves Us
01:01:32 - Myhouse.wad
01:05:11 - Road Warden
Join us on Discord!
Games We’ve Been Playing
01:11 - The Between: Extraordinary
07:20 - The Between: Ghosts of El Paso
Discussion
14:04 - Day/Night Move
Media Recommendations
50:22 - Excavation of Hobbes Barrow
51:50 - HORRORSTOR
53:00 - Video Night
53:52 - Deadwood
Join us on Discord!
Join us on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:20 - The Between: Ghosts of El Paso
10:20 - The Scoundrel’s Quarter
Discussion
14:09 - Conditions
Media Recommendations
45:23 - Malevolent
47:37 - Clown in a Cornfield
49:53 - The Last Kingdom
52:53 - Skinamarink
Join us on Discord!
First Segment
00:02:00 - Reflections on the first days of Public Access release
Discussion: Public Access
00:10:00 - Where did the idea come from?
00:21:00 - Game development
00:39:40 - Mysteries
01:02:05 - Campaign
Media Recommendations
01:13:30 - Kane Parsons’s The Backrooms
01:15:54 - Penpal
01:17:27 - Mystery Flesh Pit National Park
01:18:59 - Public Access Spotify playlist
Join us on Discord!
Games we’ve been playing
00:00:58 - Brindlewood Bay: The Ninth Step
Topic
00:13:54 - Revealing a Clue
Media Recommendations
00:57:21 - Poker Face
01:00:05 - Harvest Home
01:00:57 - The Outer Wilds
Join us on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:10 - Brindlewood Bay: The Ninth Step
Topic
11:40 - Carving from Brindlewood: Key Questions
Media Recommendations
48:40 - Writer’s workshops
49:15 - The Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain
49:50 - Haunted City
51:07 - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
51:48 - Candle Cove
Join us on Discord!
Games We've Been Playing
01:13 - Alex runs The Retribution Tree from Trophy Dark
10:00 - Jason is challenged by The Cross-Stitch
Discussion
16:40 - The conspiracy campaign structure
Media Recommendations
51:12 - Radio Rental
53:10 - Dark Air
55:56 - Chucky
57:45 - Inscription
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Games We’ve Been Playing
01:24 - Pirate Borg
08:07 - The Scoundrel’s Quarter
Discussion
13:35 - My Kind of Horror
Media Recommendations
45:48 - Shudder Documentaries
46:53 - House of Leaves
48:06 - The Left Right Game
49:29 - The White Vault
Join us on Discord!
Timecodes
Games We've Been Playing
01:47 - Jason wraps his campaign of The Between: Ghosts of El Paso
09:23 - Alex readjusts his thinking with Blades in the Dark
Topic
17:36 - Mysteries and Threats
Media Recommendations
47:26 - Red X
49:39 - Glass Onion
52:52 - My Best Friend’s Exorcism
53:20 - Pentiment
Timecodes Recent Play Experiences01:12 - Alex has an interesting failed roll in an recent game of The Between. 08:51 - Jason plays Cthulhu Dark: The Secret of Castronegro Discussion14:12 - Character backstory Media Recommendations 36:45 - Start of media recs
Join us on Discord!
Support the show on Patreon!
Timecodes
02:13 - Recent Play Experiences
11:00 - Discussion: The Brindlewood Bay Mystery System
33:25 - Media Recommendations
Join us on Discord!
Support our show on Patreon!