SuperWhoLock Never Died, We Just Evolved

I would never pay money for a redbox. if you ask politely and are very very persistent (i.e. annoying) they will let you take it away

here's my dad and i taking it away

luckily there are no shortage of freaks like us who will just take them away on our own volition. we did it all "by the book", too: we set up cones and caution tape, disconnected electricity properly, used an angle grinder to grind down the bolts in the concrete so nobody would trip on them, then cleaned everything up afterward and sealed off the electrical panel so the store would know everything is safe and tidy. though they were hesitant when we were first contacting them, they were honestly very relieved and grateful when we finally took it away, especially once they saw that we "knew what we were doing" (we don't) and look like we've "done this before" (we haven't).

the fun part: the reason why this redbox, in particular, was completely full and unraided is because the computer hardware inside had failed some months before the bankruptcy, and a failing company sure as hell wasn't gonna send a tech out to our podunk dipshit city to fix it, so it was impossible to rent movies or take any discs out. plus, for who knows how long, people were returning old redbox discs to this machine and not taking any out, leading to a much higher variety of movies than your average redbox.

there is a thriving community of redbox hackers and modders out there, as well, creating open-source software for repurposing the machines and not letting their very interesting and robust disc-management hardware go to waste. this one belongs to my brother (who was very annoying persistent and did all the legwork of contacting managers and securing permission) who is a programmer by trade and will be hacking it into a family-access movie library, with whatever discs we want. i mean the machine is completely weatherproof and has a built-in AC unit, it would be such a waste to not try to turn it into something cool.

if we get another one, i'm gonna try to mod it into some sort of art or zine vending machine. the disc boxes are just the right size for small print art or stickers. would make a great "little free library" too.

It has taken me SO long to respond to this because I really want to give a comprehensive answer so HERE GOES:

First, One Shot is a podcast that's been on the air for over 10 years, showcasing a different tabletop RPG, very often by indie designers, in self-contained one-shots with a rotating cast of performers from the Actual Play, Voice Acting, and Improv worlds. It was created and hosted by James D'Amato, until I took over the host position just over 2 years ago.

If you are already into games, one way you can decide where to start is to start with a game you find interesting (or one that hones in on a genre you really like). Our episode titles are the game titles (with rare exception) so this is an easy way to search our feed. You can also try to pick a series to start with by checking out episodes with performers you already know you like.

For instance, if you love Persephone Valentine OR love star-crossed lovers, check out You Know Me Still. If you love Amelia Som OR pastoral horror, check out Under the Autumn Strangely. If you like Christian Divyne or raucous teen comedy, check out Slugblaster. etc etc

If you aren't terribly familiar with a lot of games or names though, you here are my recommendations for One Shots that are just really great. (They're all pretty great, but these are just some offhand favorites.)

Bloodbeam Badlands

Vampires in an apocalypse where the sun never sets. The game is such a unique take on vampires, and is completely unlike the more popular vampire games, with deeply original setting-specific character types. Features the game's designer, Viditya Voleti, and two of the best Vampire the Masquerade players on earth - Josephine McAdam and Laura Tutu.

Husband Daddy Protector Hero

A true beer & pretzels, best friends around the table nonsense game wherein my best friends and roommates play a game I wrote high as a fucking kite. We get full Tim Allen Santa Claus'd. Part One features game designers Viditya Voleti, Elliot Davis, and Robin Ekberg, and in Part Two we add in games journalist Rowan Zeoli.

Under The Autumn Strangely

An eerie pastoral horror game where two people embody The Terror, two embody The Arcadians (or the world itself) and one is the Traveler, the protagonist being affected by the others as they wander through a disturbing wood. Features Amelia Som as the protagonist, Apollo Pierce and Fiona Howatt as The Terror, and myself and Brian Flaherty as The Arcadians.

Campanions

If you've ever played games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or Baldur's Gate and wondered "what are the rest of my companions doing back at the ranch?" This game answers this question in such a fun way. We told a very steampunk tale of adventurers who were tossed aside by their leader in favor of her latest favorites. Featuring voice actor Candace McAfee, Robin Ekberg, and Kai Ferreira.

The Time We Have

A two-player game about brothers in the zombie apocalypse. One has been infected, the other hasn't, and you play on opposite sides of a closed door during the infected brother's final days. I play my first in-person One Shot recording with the game's designer and one of my best friends, Elliot Davis.

Last Train to Bremen

A fully improvised MUSICAL (including the singing and musical accompaniment). The game at base follows a four-piece band who made a deal with the devil for their success, on the run as he finally comes to collect. I partnered with the cast of RPG Major, an improvised musical Actual Play, and flew to their studio to record such a uniquely special One Shot - which is the only One Shot to have it's own album on streaming and Bandcamp.

VOID 1680 AM (aka One Shot 100.1 OSN)

My ambitious 100th episode celebration, playing the radio show-inspired RPG VOID 1680 AM. Guests from my 2 year run hosting the show returned, playing their characters calling into my radio show to speak with me. Me, me. Not characters I've played. Truly one of the most magical pieces of actual play I've ever made, and I am bragging about it.

Classic Adventures: Typical One Shot Adventures, our characters discover their mission and jump into the action, a healthy mix of roleplay and combat.

Story Driven: Playing games that are mechanically centered around a specific story or emotional beat, usually with a more serious tone.

Beer & Pretzels: Light mechanics and heavy on the goofs. Friends at the table vibes. There's for sure a story, but it's not exactly the point.

World-Building: Playing games that are specifically about world-building, character creation, and collaborative brainstorming. There may also be story, but the building is the center point.

I will say that ALL of these overlap in some way in at least one other section - Slugblaster is also pretty classic adventure, All's Fair is also story-driven, Rise, Wizards! is very much a Beer & Pretzels. But I sorted them based on what I feel stands out the most.

In addition to this helpful "which One Shot should I listen to" guide, I'm adding a new segment called "which One Shots are the gayest"! Now, are there queer elements to lots of One Shots? Yeah, because I'm the host and my rotating roster has like 2 token cishet performers in total. But these are the shining rainbow stars.

I Have the High Ground - two washed up, old space-knight men with a grudge fight, but secretly want to touch each other through their slutty little space armor.

HUNT(er/ed) - A lonely man in love with the sea itself is a lot of things but I know for certain that it isn't straight.

GODKILLER - A repressed town where gender and sexuality would be open and fluid if not for a controlling God who suppresses all emotion that does not flow toward him, until one person uses her favor with him against him.

You Know Me Still - YEARNING. YEARNING AND REGRET AND REVOLUTION AND YEARNING. Exes on opposite sides of a war and did I mention yearning.

Can You Host? - Literally a bunch of queers trying to hook up at a gay club while being interrupted by a straight girl's bachelorette party. Subtext abandoned.

Last Train to Bremen (Broadside's All That Remains) - Toxic lesbians and an evil bisexual in a band together goes very wrong. Mostly because they made a deal with the literal devil but the toxic lesbian and evil bisexual thing definitely help.

if you are making something featuring multiple flags and you put in the asexual flag, you better put in the aromantic flag.

if you put in the aroace flag, you better put in the aroallo flag.

^ the aromantic flag

^ the aroallo (aromantic allosexual) flag

& just btw, aromantic erasure is so bad that on pubmed, many of the very few studies that have looked into aspec people specifically, categorize us as a type of asexuality. from this study:

Our findings highlight that aromantic people wish for aromanticism not to be considered a part of asexuality—a practice that has dominated contemporary literature (Antonsen et al. 2020; Carvalho & Rodrigues, 2022; Clark & Zimmerman, 2022; Hall & Knox, 2022; Zheng & Su, 2018). Many participants clarified the distinction between their sexual identity and romantic identity and highlighted that though they may be connected for some, they should be considered independently as unique contributors to an individual’s identity and experience. This aligns with a previous aromantic community survey that showed 72% of the sample did not identify with asexual terminology (AUREA, 2021a). In combination with our findings, this suggests that a tendency to conflate and describe these identities as the same or linked may be to the disadvantage of a significant portion of the aromantic community.

this is why it is so important to include aromantic people as our own group and to specifically include non-asexual aromantics. i hope y'all can understand how frustrating it is to be erased through a group that is already erased.

asexual representation is sparse? all aromantic rep is asexual and most of the time people don't even bother to remember that "aromantic" is its own thing. i can't count how many times i've seen a character talk about not experiencing romantic attraction, only for people to go "wow asexual rep!" even though sexual attraction was never brought up.

asexual community & resources are sparse? when i try to look up groups for aromantics, i get resources on "ace & aro groups" that are literally all asexual-focused. at best asexual-focused with a mention of aromantic people. which isn't really helpful when you are aroallo and don't really want or need a group that is clearly meant for alloro asexuals and aroaces.

asexual history is sparse? i've literally never seen anything even trying to talk about aromantic history. the most impactful thing on aro history is that one tumblr post talking about a woman at a nursing home who heard the term and realized her best friend was likely aro. see above with the character situation as well.

my point here is not "aros have it worse than aces" because we are both aspec and both get fucked over by the same forces and in fact, a LOT of asexual aromantics are also very frustrated by aromantic erasure! i've even heard some people talk about not identifying as strongly as asexual, even though it fits them, because they feel their aro identity is more important to them but gets constantly erased by their asexuality.

my point is that it is so fucking disheartening to be aro even in queer spaces that are trying to be asexual-inclusive, even in supposedly aspec spaces, because it swiftly becomes apparent that people see your entire identity as just a footnote for asexuality. so many people never even realize they are aro because they aren't asexual and don't realize that you can be aro but not ace. i dealt with some really intense arophobia as a teen after realizing i was aro, feeling broken and alone. it hit much harder than any internalized homophobia or transphobia did for me at the time. i did not meet another person who identified as aromantic irl until this year. any resources and community that i had as a queer teen, as a trans teen, did not exist for me as an aro teen and does not exist for me as an aro adult, really.

and big problem is that, because people think of aromanticism as just a footnote of asexuality, they implicitly assume that more asexual rep, more asexual resources, more asexual visibility will automatically serve aromantics too. and when it doesn't work like that, aro people continue to suffer as a result.

There are two ideas you need to understand when you're trying to post media on AO3. Those two ideas are hosting and embedding.

hosting means (basically) storing and sharing. You upload a file to a host and that host then serves your file to the people or websites that try to access it.

embedding is (basically) displaying or presenting.

The host holds the file and shares it with AO3 when you embed it in your work. It then gets displayed when you post.

Both archive.org and soundcloud.com are hosts that can embed directly into AO3. Other hosts might not work but I know that those both do.

Since you're new to podficcing, I'm also going to recommend Azdaema's Newbie's Guide to Podficcing and GodofLaundryBaskets' Keep it Simple: A Highly Biased Podfic Guide for Absolute Beginners.

Podficcers - please add in any other resources you think might be helpful!

Podficcers who work with Duck Prints Press also threw together some tips we have here:

Heated Rivalry Season 1 is officially being released on physical formats: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray collectors edition with an exclusive, yet to be revealed cover art and a runtime of 5 hours. All 3 editions are reportedly releasing on April 30th, 2027.

Pre-order available on Amazon