I talked with Aaron Ryan about two of his book series, Dissonance and The End.

Dissonance is a near future world where aliens have attacked, killing most humans and animals on Earth and driving humans into hiding underground. Humans finally develop technology to fight back and the war enters a new stage while the characters also struggle to determine the motivation for the alien invasion and nefarious actions of the government.

The End is a Christian End Time series based loosely on the events described in Revelations. A man calling himself Nero has risen to rule over the world and he has outlawed Christianity. Robots called Guardians hunt Christians throughout the world, murdering them on the spot if they don’t recant their faith. A resistance movement works in the shadows against Nero, but things aren’t looking good for them.

We talked about the basics of those settings along with how they could be adapted for RPG campaign settings. My main recommendations were Ashes Without Number, Spire, and Blades in the Dark.

If you’re interested in reading Aaron’s books you can find them at most any bookstore or library. Both of the series are also being adapted into movies, but aren’t publicly available yet. Aaron’s website is https://authoraaronryan.com/ for the latest updates on his work. Next up for Aaron is the Talisman series that covers events within the “Aaronverse” in the decades between Dissonance and The End.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

76 – Flying Island Worlds (Alan and Fractus) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Alan tells us about his Daggerheart campaign setting, Fractus, that is launching on Kickstarter soon. Fractus was a normal planet until it exploded and stopped halfway through. Now bunches of asteroids rotate a swirling magical maelstorm at the center of the planet. The people of Fractus survive on the asteroids which are large enough to support life. The land is now separated by air rather than oceans, resulting in a different path for technology along the lines of flight rather than sea travel.Fractus is available on Kickstarter at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/icv1/fractus-the-broken-worldAlan also has a big catalog of TTRPG products he's produced in the past that you can check out on DriveThruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/17830/alan-tuckerIn addition to his TTRPG writing, Alan has written a few novels that you can find links to on his website: http://www.alantucker.net/ For the latest updates on what Alan's doing you can follow him on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tuckerauthor.bsky.socialOur website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 76 – Flying Island Worlds (Alan and Fractus)
  2. 75 – Masks, Capitalism, and Coming of Age (Joel and Critical Bits)
  3. 74 – Kylie and Fallout: Garden of Atom
  4. 73 – Duncan and Extraordinary Locations
  5. 72.5 – Calico and Psychomortis (Part 2)