Hello, and welcome to snows return a tabletop role playing podcast. My guest today has a star that burns bright, which is clear for us all to see. She has encountered her fair share of maidens frosty among others, and is at home in places such as Arcadia, Alexis, and on the plains. As an integral member of the community. She has worked tirelessly to produce tabletop role playing game content. This will endure as though through a permanency spell. so talented she that she thought of a single project or bestselling release must seem puzzling or prehistoric. Even with her new venture. It is an honour to welcome Dungeon Master podcaster streamer, content creator, Podcast Network co founder and now Kickstarter, Celeste, conowitch Celeste, welcome to the show.
Celeste Conowitch:Oh, thank you so much. Oh, my gosh, that was a very cool intro, I feel very special.
Snyders Return:That it's just your work rephrase to you. So you know, you have to take full credit there. So before we get into some of the points, I've hidden the intro, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got into podcasting and tabletop role playing games, please?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, of course. So I guess it's it's a pretty long story. But I started officially I guess playing really dungeon mastering Dungeons and Dragons about 15 years ago. So I've always loved this game and been a big fantasy nerd my entire life. And I can remember, even before I actually started playing the game finding like a Redbox copy of, you know, a d&d, and just thinking, wow, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I want to write this some day. I remember very clearly thinking that and you know, fast forward, again, one more decades. And yeah, about a year and a half ago, I totally walked away from my full time like marketing job to become a full time game designer. So I was freelancing for that year and a half. And I was so lucky to have so many incredible opportunities and to work with some really amazing folks in the role playing community that helped, I guess, set me on my path. So that year went successfully. And just after a couple months ago, I got hired by to see gaming as a full time game designer. So now in addition to the freelance work I'm doing with companies like Wizards of the Coast and kobold Press. I have a full time game design job, with a salary and all that stuff that we dream about this modern world. And, you know, a big part of that was about five years ago, when fifth edition came out. You know, I heard my first actual play podcast, it was I think it was called drunks and dragons at the time. And I was listening to people play d&d on a podcast. And I was like, This is incredible. I had no idea people would want to listen to something like this. So I got together with some of my closest friends. And I was like, you know what we tell really amazing stories. Let's make one ourselves. And let's do it with voices that sound like ours. women's voices, femme voices. So we made venture maidens an actual play podcast in a homebrew world of my creation. And yeah, that's been running for five years, we have a couple million downloads at this point. And now we're making a book so I guess that's like the the end of the short version of everything.
Snyders Return:You bridged a bridge,
Celeste Conowitch:the bridge, yes, the abridged version.
Snyders Return:You mentioned there, the venture maidens and this book in the Kickstarter. And I suppose that is the one of the things that everyone's going to be interested in. Especially now while a time of recording that's that's just launched and everything so would you mind sort of start filling us in some of the blanks that if someone goes to Kickstarter goes through the venture maidens? Say Twitter account and goes to the kickstart all your own? What are they gonna find?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, so we were really, really fortunate. So to see gaming the company that I worked for full time now before they even sent me the job offer. I had been talking to them about potentially bringing the world of venture maidens to a campaign guide. You know, it's something that we all have dreamed about for the basically the entire five years we've been running the show a way to you know, do give people the tools to play in the world or with pieces of the world that we've been creating and put so much of our heart and soul into. And luckily, they also thought it was a great idea. So venture maidens and tusi Gaming have teamed up to produce this Kickstarter, which is great because to see gaming has like 13, you know, successful Kickstarters under their belt, so with their production creds, and then you know, with with our story, we've begun to forge this book together. And something that's been really important for me, you know, in the year and a half that I've been a full time game designer, I have seen and worked on so many different projects, you know, that are about different things cover different aspects of role playing games. So really putting all of that knowledge together with, you know, the passion of our show, and the know how of this publishing company, we've been able to create this really amazing source for people that is up now. And it's always been so important to me that this book is valuable to everyone to people who don't know what venture maidens is two people who have loved venture mavens for five years, two players, two dungeon masters. So in this book, we really are making something that is valuable for a tonne of different people. I mean, we've got new sub classes, we've got new mechanics that help you build personal stories of your characters into the larger narrative. Just a tonne of great stuff contained in this, this guide. And this guide is not set Forgotten Realms or ever on is it's very much a land of your own creation is Yeah, yeah. So it's based off this homebrew world that we've all kind of woven together here. So the world itself is called the plains. And the basic premise of it is that this land, this material place is very close to the FE realms. So when you think of like the feywild, or you know that plane where the mischievous fairies live and politic, basically the the normal world is constantly under threat of that chaos of the FE sweeping in. So this world is also very the the gods play a big role in this world. They're more like living breathing, people that want things and are very chaotic themselves, sort of like inspired by Greek mythology. You know, where we're gods are just very cruel and petty, but sometimes really wonderful. So this Yeah, exactly. So this setting is very much about trying to survive in a world full of forces that are constantly trying to define your destiny for you. And being a hero and believing in yourself enough to create your own path.
Snyders Return:That's an inspiring to say the least. And you've mentioned, mentioned it there. The venture maidens is someone who's listening to this podcast and has somehow not heard of the venture maidens before. Would you mind? Give us a quick precis of of what makes up the group? The party, please? Yeah, so
Celeste Conowitch:the venture maidens is, we like to call it a femme forged game. So it's a crew of all women and non binary folks who made this podcast all of us have known each other for years and years and years before and played many games before we even came together to make this podcast. So you know, there's a lot of heart to our show. And our show is very high fantasy, very character driven. One of the biggest things I think we're known for is that our show divides up into personalised campaign arcs throughout the show that are specific to each character. So it really is about the evolution of each character and how they interact with the world and the forces that are in it. So we out we livestream our show. And then we do that every other Wednesday, and we turn it into a podcast that we've been you know, launching every other Sunday, four or five years. So we're everywhere
Snyders Return:you say that would you mind giving, giving us links as to where people can find yourself on the venture maidens on social media, please?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, so the best way to follow us to keep up with the latest is to follow me on twitter at sea con, which in the show venture maidens at venture maidens on Twitter, you can also find venture maidens at venture maidens on Instagram we have a Facebook page we have our website venture maidens calm and we have an awesome Discord server full of like really just cool people that you can join if you want to get more in touch with us.
Snyders Return:Absolutely. Links to as much of that as I can find will be in the description below. So with respect to how it is character driven story arcs, I made a note you've done 90 episodes in over the four story arcs or how your podcast is is structured. How much of that life that sort of character drive has gone into the Kickstarter and and is permeated through the book itself.
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, I think I think I mean a tonne of it, you know, these things are almost inseparable at this point, we've had such an amazing community and on hands community that's helped us build the show over the course of five years. So a lot of this book is listening to them, you know, what they love about the show what they would like to see and bring to their own games, as well as playing with the elements that I think make our actual play podcast stand out from the rest, because there are a lot of actual play podcasts out there. So the question with this book was really, what is it about venture maidens that is special? And how can we give people the tools to incorporate those special things into their own games? Like one of the biggest things I think, is the the brand new heroic destinies system that we're introducing in the book, which I mentioned before, but it's all about an easy way for players and DMS to work together to put personal character plots in their campaigns easily alongside the main events, which is something that we do a lot in venture maidens and I feel like people really crave in their home games. So that's just like one example of, you know, what, what is special about our show that we want to give as a love letter to anybody buying this book?
Snyders Return:Yeah, definitely. Um, before we move into maybe some of the more sort of game mechanics sides of things involved in in the Kickstarter, you mentioned there, how much character driven story arcs, there are, how much you've all poured so much of yourselves into not only that the, the streaming the podcast, the book, so is there has there been a point over the course of the last five years in the podcast that has, has sort of affected you, personally, on a personal level and moment way, where it is hit you, as a DM as a friend, as someone within the world that you will share together?
Celeste Conowitch:Oh, yeah. I mean, it's, it's changed my life. I mean, I think just doing this show, you know, really proved that I could be a game designer. The fact that people loved our stuff, and loved our stories and wanted to listen to what we were doing. I was like, why am I not doing this with my life? Honestly, the podcast, you know, d&d, role playing games are the thing that have always made me happy, the only thing in my whole life that has ever made me happy. And the fact that I realised I could do that for a living was incredible. And I think this is something to, you know, we all talk about as a cast. Because when we started this show, one of the big reasons was because we were all kind of at that point in adulthood, when we were starting to get jobs, you know, all over the country starting to move apart, you move in with significant others, and we were all drifting away from each other, you know, the way adult friendships usually do. And this podcast gave us a reason to stay in contact to see each other every other week to, you know, make something it gave us that excuse that binding glue, we needed to keep our friendship together, which I think has just been invaluable. I feel so lucky to have this in my life and to have this group of people that I'm so close with, and I get to see so often.
Snyders Return:Absolutely. And carrying that into the story that you guys have told us is there been a moment that has, has affected you, within the story itself within the character arcs, a moment that stands out to you were, maybe it was poignant, maybe it was cinematic climactic, dramatic as they've been, as they've been a moment where you've, you've just had to take a moment and and feel the weight of that moment with your players.
Celeste Conowitch:Definitely, I think, you know, our players in the game are, our characters in the game are so closely bonded by friendship that has just become stronger over the course of this show. And I think as our friendship in real life, has solidified and grown stronger, and it is always really interesting to deal with in the story, the events that are happening in our real lives, because five years is a long time, a lot changes over the course of five years. So there have been you know, big events where maybe one of our players had to stop playing for a while because of personal reasons or stresses or, you know, opportunities. So building those, those moments to step away or to dive deeper into certain things because of what's going on in our real lives has certainly shaped the flow of the gate game. I mean, one of our players, Brittany, she basically she got this awesome opportunity to go on like a four or five month like tattoo road trip across America, right? And we were like, what are we gonna do? Like, we know she's gonna be on the road travelling, like, how are we going to keep the show going? So we invited another player Katie, who I had played with on a couple streams and invited her on to the show to kind of like be that guest. And well, Britney was gone. I mean, we grew to love Katie so much. And she was such an instant fit and like in our lives that were like, you know what you should stay on forever. And we had now when Britain came back, we had four cast members. So it's just, it's amazing how real life and being flexible and creating something together really influences the stories you tell them the games you play in ways you really didn't expect?
Snyders Return:Definitely, definitely. And the way the world you guys have created presented in the book, this almost sort of strange barrier between sort of the fate and and what is the land of the planes? Just just reading, what's in the release, please go and have a look at the promos. If you can get to it before it's it's released to be backed. It's so evocative. What is it that's beyond that veil that really caught your imagination the most?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, so I think you know, at the centre of this world is this this tight knit civilization that is just trying to maintain order and rigidity, so people can flourish and live and thrive, and just be on it is, you know, these, this borders full of these, these wild untamed jungles and these areas that defy mapping because literally, the FE will step in and out of existence at that point. And inside the FE, it's interesting, there really is just an exact parallel, almost of what is happening where the civilization is trying to survive and have ground out there in the FE there are seven of these, we call them the sovereign fake courts that are warring with each other and with the material world for control of the fairy realms. So these seven sovereign courts, you know, they kind of preside over different aspects of nature, but they're always looking to incorporate more members or to corrupt individuals from the material world to work with them on their behalf. So it's all schemes and politics and warring against each other. So we have, you know, like the blossom court, for example, oh, yeah, they're the court of plants and flowers, they look a lot like flowers. But of course, they have all of that dark underpinning of vanity and just like brutal need to take over things and make them look the way they want to. Whereas we have like the slithering Court, which is all about the nasty creepy crawly, dark aspects that aren't, you know, afraid to get dirty in the urban societies of the material world. So all of these courts are playing against each other and with each other at times, involving the heroes in their their struggles,
Snyders Return:but sounds mind bogglingly brilliant, to be fair,
Celeste Conowitch:and say love, I love Fe. So this book is just like, full of good stuff for that.
Snyders Return:Well, that that was what I was gonna say. So a DM presents this to the group and says, we go in here and they say, okay, we will step in through these borders. What have you What have you created for the players to sort of embody as they take on these adventures, both within that sort of rigid constraint structure and into the the ever changing political war zone that is the sort of the fee the fee wild?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, so we've provided a lot and so this book introduces yet 12, new subclasses so new sub class for each of the the core classes that exist, and all of these classes are inspired by pieces of lore and mythology from the world of venture maintenance, but we did also want to make them easily at home in any campaign setting. So one of my favourite, I think subclasses that we're doing is the covert operations rogue. So you know, this is your like, gadget spy rogue. Because one of the big organisations in of course, this world is this mercenary group called the Sisters of sorrow, which are beholden to the three fates and this concept of they are enacting fate themselves. So they, you know, move around, they dance around the the, the politics of both of these warring realms just to get things done in the name of their gods. So having, you know, really strong themes, I think, to those subclasses or things to explore is going to be really fun like, in the promo document we have our Warlock patron of witches, the Titan, so in our world, which does have some heavy Greek mythology, inspiration, the Titans, like in mythology were the ones who created the world. They literally forge the world and the gods And of course the gods, their traders, children came up and we're like, No, we don't like having anyone more powerful than us and killed them in mass. So now there are only one or two, a handful of these Titans hidden away from the gods in the world. So when you become a warlock with a Titan, you're making a pact with one of these entities who is in hiding and hoping to get their place once again in the world. And of course, you know, as these warlocks they give you some of their powers of creation, you actually get a shard of creation that you can scope and shape into different objects. So you know, really emphasising ties and cool stories and giving imaginative threads so people can really weave a place in this world has been super important for all of our player options. There's some great ones listed above all of them are listed in the promo for the subclasses but oath of blood Paladin, circle of the grove Druid, a school of caneta Mansi.
Snyders Return:Is that the correct pronunciation? Yeah,
Celeste Conowitch:so manipulation of like forces and gravity for the wizard? Yeah. And then the the monk the yet the way of the Chronicle. That's what I'm really excited about a scroll keeping sort of your Franciscan monk that we haven't really seen in ffiv yet,
Snyders Return:lots to get excited for. And you mentioned their fates weaving. How much outside of these Titans who have fallen? Where did the fate sort of pull their strings from? And how do they How can they affect a player's journey through a campaign set in your world? Yeah, so
Celeste Conowitch:the the fates are one of the gods in the world. So they are one of these these God forces that helped, you know, kill the Titans off. And the fates play this role in keeping mortals basically tied to them because the fates have woven a tapestry of destiny, right and written in this tapestry is the fate is the destiny of everyone. So they can pull and manipulate those threads to pull and manipulate individuals in this world. So it's this this constant fight between a destiny that has been pre written for you, and of course, breaking out of that breaking out of their influence to find your own place in the world. But the fates are just one of many of these gods that are constantly trying to define who you are. I mean, they literally give, you know, clerics and paladins their power, and they are not afraid to take it away from you in this world, because it's a gift from them. And it's something you know, you really have to pay attention to. So that element of the religious and faith is also a pretty interesting thing to build on if you're playing in the the venture maidens campaign Southern. Absolutely. And
Snyders Return:just having a quick look at the hero destinies that are listed here in the promos. And these are going to say the brilliant because they are Do you have a favourite? Or would you give one to a character? If you were to step out from behind the screen into the world you created? Which of these heroic destinies Do you think you would give a character of your creation?
Celeste Conowitch:Oh my gosh, that's so hard because they're also good. So what I wanted to do with the the heroic destinies which we talked about a little, basically, when you do decide to play a heroic destiny, everybody at your table has to buy in and pick one. And what I wanted these to be, were the narratives that we think of when we think of like, okay, like character journeys, like go What do we have the what are people seek it? What do they want? Because I always feel like maybe it's my theatre background, but I'm always asking, what's your motivation? What's your motivation, right? That's the thing that really gets me excited and into a character. So each of these heroic destinies was built around like what is your motivation? So Oh, man, okay, I'm just gonna look at the list and see what characters I've played. Because I feel like there's so much I've definitely played celebrities before when I play bar, it's like your dream is just to become famous. No matter what you do is just become famous. I really like the the symbiosis one that I chose to do it in full in the promo was something that I felt a lot of people would really like the idea like that you become close with a creature type other than yourself. I love the idea of somebody you know, they save a Gryphon from a trap and then they formed this bond and you know, 20 levels later we see them as the Gryphon, writing hero you know of this war. I think that story is so cool in such a an important narrative and a lot of fantasy tales. I also like the idea of the wielder. So this is somebody who either takes up an artefact or the artefact finds them, and then it's about their story. So you're looking at, you know, your Lord of the Rings, like Frodo would be a great example of this. Or like King Arthur or finding Excalibur, you know, these these amazing objects that define their lives and their stories. I also, I mean, personally, I really like the idea of a virtuoso. I feel like this speaks to so many stories of like, I just want to be the best at whatever I do. I want to be the best fighter in the world. I want to forge the best sword in the world. Those I think are all the ones that I really personally relate to. But I mean, things like Avenger Explorer, fortune seeker, I just really wanted these to be instantly evocative. And you could think of like three or four characters in your mind who fit this description of absolutely, absolutely do that without a shadow of a doubt they are something die by steal from the promo for use,
Snyders Return:what would you play? I'm going to turn it back on you which of these feel like something you would want to play? That is an excellent question. I quite like the idea of The Guardian, because it can tap into a few of the others but but it has a very core, to me that appeals to my sense of adventure of a fellow party member or a family member,
Celeste Conowitch:or an ideal
Snyders Return:to and these are so easily applied to so many things as you say that the perfect for courage creation and story, story arcs and mentioning characters there. Do the characters from the venture maidens have? Do they sort of turn up through the Booker's as it's laid out? Do they offer tidbits? And
Celeste Conowitch:yeah, so something we're doing that's really fun is that we are going to have pull the curtain aside like blocks of text where the characters from our show are actually speaking to the reader of the book. So you might have you know, khara brunhilde our barbarian telling you in a sidebar about this monster, the best way to kill it, you know, in the creature Compendium, or, of course, you might have you know, Farah or sorcerer or giving you leadership advice, when you're looking at the the leader heroic destiny. So we are, you know, having the characters sort of that that cheeky, like, back and forth, that is going to be happening that I think will really delight our fans, and then also make the book you know, a little bit more fun, a little bit more accessible. I love I love designs that incorporate a little bit of humour, or a little bit of, you know, on the nose, like, Hey, we're all playing games here. Let's, let's play it. So that is something I'm really excited to, to pepper through the book.
Snyders Return:So there's there's the guidance from the characters. There's the adaptability of the hero destinies and the the ever changing political landscape of the fable just beyond the borders. But you've also, from what I understand the built in adaptability and personalization of creatures to take into the feywild. And sort of make your own and unique if you wouldn't mind expanding on that.
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, so the monster templates. Yeah, this is this is something new that I've, I grew up mostly running 3.5. And a big part of 3.5 edition for d&d was monster templates. So this idea that you had all the rules in front of you this little block that you could put onto any existing creature to make it undead or to make it you know, well, now I'm just thinking like, Lich Draco, which I don't know why I'm on an undead kick, but to be able, or like, you know, a werewolf there was a lycanthropy template. And this is something that I've always really liked and appreciated, because it just enhances the value of all the books you've already purchased. Right? So I wanted to introduce these templates for the FE courts. So each of the seven courts has three templates that's going to come with it. So basically, you can make any creature any creature that you have a member of one of these courts, because I didn't want to just exclude it to fe because the FE are always trying to get people involved in their schemes, you know, they're, they're kidnapping people that are coercing people that all kinds of options so I wanted you to be able to have a troll and make it a member of the blossom court or to you know, take a take an Archmage and make them the queen of a court and so I've given the templates in here so people can easily do that with any creature loves that's
Snyders Return:gives some sort of another tool in the many toolbox oxes
Celeste Conowitch:more tied to
Snyders Return:the Swiss Army Knife of tools. This book for DMS to use and so that allows the adaptability and into changing of monster types, taking them into certain areas where characters may not to say everybody meta games, but some people might go Oh,
Celeste Conowitch:yeah. And then you're like, Oh, no, there are flower petals flying out of it. What is it doing? Oh my gosh, I'm sure. That kind of fun. I love giving those those twists in those tools. You know, something I've really learned over. Game designing over the past year and a half is I've learned so much what I wish was there for me to use as a tool to make my life easy. So my design just aims at making things easy for people. Because I learned the hard way. And I don't want other people to have to learn the hard way how to do this?
Snyders Return:Well, I'm sure people will get plenty of value out of it. And with the adaptability coming from everything you provided, what is what is a constant in your world? Is there a specific race that sort of runs that structured civilization? How How does normal inverted commas civilization look when compared to what's beyond these borders?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, so in my world, we have a basically a version of the Aladdin. So not not quite the ones you would see in modern kinds Thoma foes, but essentially, these folks who were descended from the Fei and became more and more mortal over time. So they're really the main governing force that's keeping this kind of bastion of civilization in check. And their like religious and political views are, are very different, I think, from the the traditional idea of the Aladdin, because in their minds to Fay descended from the feywild, that they now called the mother and the father. And they walked away from the feywild, and decided to make this island of safety in this material world for their children, the ladder. And so they have become very modern, since then, they're like, we don't need the FE like, they're, they're a mess, they're a mess, we have, you know, our mother and father, we worship them, that's good. So, you know, they have a two party rulership system where, you know, the the leaders are sort of like the living embodiment of this mother and father who care for the country. And of course, you know, they, they are very, they have universities, and they have things like universal health care, things that, you know, they really are trying for this utopian kind of society away from their chaotic past. So members of all different races and cultures are certainly allowed to live in this world. But the face of the ladder and their system is definitely the dominant force over this world and so there's there's their own political issues kind of navigating that, you know, if you're going to be a cultist of another god making trouble in this world, you're probably going to have a pretty hard time getting getting around in this place. So that's why these like mercenary organisations like the Sisters of sorrow are constant pain to this legend ruling force that's like, hey, like we we really want you to just be cool and operate within the law gang. So there's just a lot of opportunity for conflict and for choosing sides. Even if sometimes there isn't a right side, everybody's trying to make you choose sides, I think in the world of venture maidens
Snyders Return:tough choices ahead, I fear
Celeste Conowitch:Yes. We, we love our tough choices on the venture beta.
Snyders Return:So and with all of this going on, and you sort of taking the full time job, congratulations at to see your, your body of work that sort of probably stands from floor to ceiling, the amount of things you've worked on and continuing to do. So. You've you've had great success with things like dyno weld, and the puzzle release on through the DMS guild and things so what has been outside of the venture maidens? What have been some of your favourite projects that you've worked on? Yeah, I
Celeste Conowitch:am. I am so lucky that I get to work with companies like cobalt press and MC dm productions lately, I mean, being part of Arcadia through MC dm. So Matt Cole, Phil's game Empire has been such a great opportunity to work with a bunch of folks to create this. This magazine, getting the opportunity to do 10 spells you need and 5g it was so much fun. Because I love that format of like these are you know, magazines that come out like similar to like dungeon world from the past, you know, that just have a bunch of articles and tools all over the place. And so being there and being in that community getting to work with all the the writers and artists on that project is just so fun. And such a great way to stay plugged into who's writing out there. And just working with people has always been my favourite part of this getting to know people in the community and you know, supporting their work, and just cross cross working on things. It's just so much fun. So I'm so glad I got to be part of that. And kobold Press keeps inviting me back to do awesome stuff that I'm just like, Yes, I want to do that. Yes. Like, recently, I think so my Warlock layer just came out, which is called Moonlight Sonata, which is very fairy dream, like exploring this strange dream vault. And the fact that they let me do things. So great. They're like, Hey, we need a lair pitch one. I was like, oh, what if we did fairies and dreams and they're like, love it. Or, you know, like the bear folk Warlock, I got to do with them where they needed me to make 30 honey themed items. And I'm like, Alright, I don't know about this. But let's go. Let's do it. So I really, it's so important to keep freelance work up in accordance, like with whatever you're doing for a full time job. Because stretching your brain in strange ways to make different products is so helpful for design in any aspect or for running games. You know, it's kind of I feel like, you can always tell what a Game Master is watching or reading. If you pay enough attention to the games they're reading, as you know, all of a sudden, it's like, oh, I've been rewatching Naruto. There's a lot of ninjas showing up in this game, what's going on? You know, little things like that. Just just staying plugged in to what's going on. And all the different projects that are in motion is vital to my creative process.
Snyders Return:Under new toes, a great show. And yeah, staying with the honey reference. I did touch on Dumbgeons and Dragons. Looking for bees. That was true. By the way. I love that show.
Celeste Conowitch:I can't believe it. They that hadn't even come up. Yeah, I think I just send off my final draft to cobalt press. And they're like, Hey, can you come on the show and be a honey badger. And I was like, I have so much knowledge. Let's do it. So it's funny how things worked out like that.
Snyders Return:Night was a brilliant episode and bought a couple of episodes as it panned out. But now you were brilliant. And do you get to sort of guest on other podcasts being as busy as you are, especially now with you co founding a podcast network with Lisa.
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, pen which studio? Yeah, I do get to every once in a while guest on other shows, I certainly am reducing the amount of time I've been streaming and I can't really commit to long term projects anymore. You know, I don't have those nights to jump into a bunch of games anymore. But whenever folks are like, hey, like, oh, man, you know, I would love to have you as a guest on the actual play show, you know, we have this great idea. Like for folks that I've worked with before or you know, we've we've met up with especially, there's a really tight community of actual play podcasters out there. And you know, we're all going through the same trials and tribulations. So whenever I have a chance to jump in, to guest on the shows, I love to do it, I'd love to, you know, help out and stay and just roll some dice with other people is always really great. And of course, you know, whenever folks are like, hey, I need to dm for charity or for a charity stream, I you know, always try to prioritise those. Because giving back is really important and you know, supporting your community is is extremely important as well. So whenever I can I make myself available.
Snyders Return:It's the, again, the amount of work you do behind the scenes, as well as in front of a camera or on social media is phenomenal. So I'm in awe of that I have to be honest and and speaking of work and the fact that you're you're writing full time and sort of looking to the future. What is next in the to z pipeline slash freelance pipeline after this sort of Moonlight Sonata?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, I am still so I am I am accepting contracts. So for freelance work with MC dm and with cobalt press, so keep your eye on both of them. First of all, cool. Yes, I James James and I have been good friends for a while. And I just, I'm thrilled every time he asked me to do anything I'm like, Yes, absolutely. So keep your eye on both of those companies for what's coming down the line. And I mean, to see gaming is doing a billion things, a lot of my focus is definitely going to be on, you know, making this book after it hopefully funds and blows through all the stretch goals. And I have the problem of, I really want the problem of writing all the extra content from the stretch goals. So that's great. And more big things to come that we're going to be announcing soon for TC gaming. So really keep your eye on their stuff. And I'm so excited to be on board learning so much from this, this company that's just gotten so good at turning out these projects, I feel very privileged to be sitting here and like looking at the process from the inside is
Snyders Return:amazing. And sticking with you as a content creator. When you are given a project or you are working on on a project, what is your sort of was the process you go through? How do you outline? How do you put go from mental image down to finished work?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, I think probably what you call a panic producer. So I think about what I want to do for a really long time probably too long, I just kind of have it floating around in my brain. And then usually close to when I need to have things on paper, I will sit down and like spew all my ideas out onto a page. And then I like to take a couple days to walk away and then come back to it and then be like, Oh no, this is this is this is garbage. Or this is amazing, you know, and then kind of assess what I have. Add what I don't polish it up, edited a couple of times and then send it send it to the editor because you know, you should still try before it goes through. So I spend a lot of time on the ideation process. I feel like I really have to live with projects and themes for a while. And then once it sparks, you know, the engine goes and so I'm very much a sit down and like do it in 76 hours. When you've been thinking about it for three weeks. kind of person. It's driven people at my past jobs. Absolutely. Just bonkers. I think to deal with that. But yeah, that's a explosive creative. Maybe that's a better way than than panic. Creative. There you go.
Snyders Return:So outside of the the creativity side of things, I was gonna say panicked again, but
Celeste Conowitch:it's all excitement, panic, very fine line.
Snyders Return:adrenalin so good. So how, how are you still doing the community side of things that you and the other two still getting together? Is that still an ongoing process? Are we seeing more more from you, as the three of you, your workloads independently? are, you know, sky high?
Celeste Conowitch:Right. Yeah. So community, unfortunately, I did say announced that I was leaving the show, when I did get this full time job. It's always difficult. I feel like as a content creator with your finger in so many pies, to make those decisions of when to end projects or when to you know, close things down or start something new. I feel like that is probably the hardest part of being a full time content creator is you know, listening to your instincts, and trusting yourself to understand when it's too much, or if you really can take on something else. I definitely had, you know that year and a half of freelance, well, it was really successful, and I was able to pay rent. I it was it was hard, emotionally physically hard. I'm grateful I survived it and learned so much from it about my limits. And, you know, I know a lot more about myself and what I can handle. Now at this point. So while I did have to say goodbye to community, it was the right choice for me and my work. And I know Lisa and Hannah are just also doing an amazing, like billion list of things. So they're gonna be okay without me.
Snyders Return:You bring up an important topic there. So sort of having worked yourself tirelessly, potentially to your detriment, maybe at some point.
Celeste Conowitch:Absolutely.
Snyders Return:What do you do now for downtime? How do you sort of give yourself time?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah. It's hard. Because I am one of those people who you know, I if I'm not working on something I feel stressed out and guilty. You know, like, Oh no, I should be I should be working, you know, even though it's nine o'clock at night, and I'm watching TV, I'm like, No, I can't I need to be working. So it's taking a lot of time and effort to unlearn that, like very cruel, mental mind state. And honestly, I'm still working on it, I have to work on it every day. Like I know, this weekend was the first weekend in a long time, I just did not work on anything I like I made sure I didn't open you know, those programmes, the emails, the drafts, and it was hard. My poor partner was watching me, you know, panic stress, like walk around because I wasn't doing something. So but it's so important to learn and set those boundaries. So I'm really trying to pick up hobbies that don't involve screens is a big one. So I've done a lot of cooking, like figuring out cooking this year, trying new recipes and I got a lot of houseplants so you know, figuring out gardening and like cooking food. And you know, I bought like a sketchbook and been doing some sketches, but really having a hobby that is separate from my desk and separate from my screens, has really helped me at least start the process of trying to carve out a space that isn't all work in my life. Yeah, absolutely. So
Snyders Return:I'm going to stick with the recipes and the cooking now.
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah,
Snyders Return:I given this time to relax and learn a new skill because that's effectively all you what you've been doing. You've learned something new nuancing of cooking. Good effort, cuz I'm still learning myself. What has been your favourite thing to have cooked so far? What what of what's been the dish where you've gone? I made that.
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, yeah, I mean, so it's also interesting, too, because a couple of years ago, I went vegetarian. So it's been really interesting learning how to cook and like eat food in a totally different way. Which is kind of helped like me really get into it, because I'm like, oh, man, now I need to figure out how to make this taste good, because I'm using ingredients that I wouldn't normally. So I've gotten really good at making fake meat, which is something that I I'm very proud of. So like Satan, and like learning to make my own Tempe and stuff you know, that kind of stuff that you usually just buy and like plastic packages and gets kind of expensive when you buy all this personal process stuff. But like, when you I don't know, there's something weird about like taking soy beans and like stewing them down and putting them in a little mould and stringing them through the thing and like, freezing it for a while. And then Wow, I made this block of tofu like this is amazing. I feel so powerful. So just doing learning those basic things that you're like I have no idea how people get from this to sitting in a package has been really valuable and I'm very impressed with myself.
Snyders Return:I'm very impressed too because that sounds like a lot of work.
Celeste Conowitch:It's just it's so bizarre because you just have to find what those weird ingredients are that you would never normally like look at in the supermarket and then figure out how they work and sort of I guess the food science the chemistry behind why you can turn this bean into this like block it's it's fascinating to learn and you know picking up those little things it is it's it's engages the the brain and the hands and just not at my computer so it meets all my qualifications.
Snyders Return:Why you going up dad sounds sounds brilliant. I probably should stand in the kitchen more often. That's why the by that's a personal we've, we've covered a range of different topics. Is there anything that we haven't touched on? The we'd like to bring up?
Celeste Conowitch:I mean, no, I think we've we've kind of covered it. I guess I just you know, want to say if any of you out there are interested in like game design or you know, podcasting or anything like I started from nothing five years ago, I didn't even know how to turn on a headset. And you know, we made a podcast, I had to buy a webcam. I got on Twitter, I had no idea what that was. So I got on Twitter. And you know, it's been a long five years with a lot of hard work. But it's amazing what you can do for yourself. If you really give it your everything. So definitely, just don't give up anybody. You've got those dream projects, and you can make them happen. I'm doing mine. And you can do yours too.
Snyders Return:I'm trying to do mine on doing all right.
Celeste Conowitch:Exactly.
Snyders Return:One last question then before we close it and I possibly should have asked it before That last one with tabletop role playing games changing and the community growing and, you know, we want to bring the inclusivity and diversity in all these these things that should have potentially been there before but are now starting to catch up and in many respects are we are ahead of certain other entertainment areas and other things. Where is it that you want to see the hobby go next?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, I, when I design it's really important for me to make a game that bridges the classic fantasy world that I love and that I grew up with, you know, with all of its its problems. You know, and legacy, of course, I grew up, you know, loving movies like Conan, and reading all of those grimy paperbacks you see in thrift stores now. So it's, it's all about marrying that world and that legacy into a place where it can be approachable by anybody and safe for anyone to enjoy. So, finding the hybrid, you know, not forgetting where fantasy and these games came from. But taking that and reimagining it in a way that anyone can understand they can walk up to and instantly understand what the heck a dragon is. And like why it's fun to throw a fireball, you know, really focusing on that and just opening up the game making it really easy to understand, easy to join up easy to start a game, I think is what I want to see I want anybody in the world to not be afraid to play these games because they've meant so much to me. And if more people can have that experience that's awesome.
Snyders Return:Speaking of experiences in game worlds, would you like to remind everybody where they can find you? Eventually? The Kickstarter please?
Celeste Conowitch:Yeah, yeah. So the best way to keep up with all like the instant news, you know, the 12am like I have an announcement news is to follow me on Twitter. At see Connor which, or to follow venture maidens at venture maidens on Twitter, you can also find venture maidens on Instagram, and on Facebook and venture maidens everywhere you can check out the venture maidens website, venture maidens calm if you want to see the full catalogue of my work, everything you can buy all the shows I'm producing, you can go to Celeste con which calm to check that out. And the Kickstarter now is out and live at this point. So if you head to Kickstarter and just type in venture maidens, you will see it on the the tusi Gaming page, you will see the venture maidens campaign guide, but if you follow me anywhere else, I am sure you will see me constantly. So I would really love if you checked it out. Even if you don't want the book, we have a$5 level that's just like a support it because you believe in it. Every dollar goes towards helping you know FEM voices stand loud and proud and make stuff in this community. So every backer is so special and amazing. And please do consider checking it out.
Snyders Return:Consider mine, one of those many backers and Celeste is it's been an absolute pleasure to learn more about yourself and and the venture maidens and the Kickstarter and everything you're involved with it. It's been a real pleasure to have you on the show.
Celeste Conowitch:Thank you so much. This was so fun. And I really appreciate you let me letting me get here and just, you know, like scream love about this project. I really appreciate it.
Snyders Return:Not a problem. That's all the pleasures, all mine. And I'd love to have you back on the show in the future, depending on if it's more about the venture meetings or future projects you're working on. I'd love to have you back for another interview.
Celeste Conowitch:Absolutely. I'm sure there'll be something interesting going
Snyders Return:on. Right. Well, I will make sure there are links to everything that you have mentioned in the description below. It has been a real pleasure. Thank you, Celeste.
Celeste Conowitch:Thank you.
Snyders Return:Thank you for listening. If you'd like to learn more about the show, then go to www dot smanos return.squarespace.com. Alternatively, you can find us over on Twitter. At Return Snyder, you have a link tree link in the description of this episode. And if you want to support us, come and join us over on Patreon. And we also have a Discord server. Please leave us a review because we'd love to learn how to improve the channel and provide better content out for for those who are listening until we until we speak again. Thank you