"I sometimes have regrets." - Impediment Reed

Our first arc of the Iron Immortals podcast has been an amazing experience. The last time I regularly ran RPG game sessions was back when I was working on Red Dead Redemption down in San Diego. That campaign died, however, when the regular 80-hour work weeks sent me to the hospital for the second time. If I tried to do more than sleep and work, I would collapse. I just lacked the fortitude to go on.

"If you and your organization are honest with me, we will go far." - Kaija Wellsmythe

I was fearful of sharing the Iron Immortals world with my friends. It was a creation that Briana and I made together during a harrowing roadtrip from Texas to California and back again. Driving a borrowed truck, we dragged my whole life halfway across the United States. It was like parading the corpse of some over-ambitious charlatan. That charlatan was me. I'd failed and fallen. I lived homeless on the couches and beds that would have me.

Iron Immortals is a setting carved out of that ride. It's a world where death is certain and necesary and holds both promise and terror. It's a world of nations all teetering on the brink of revolution. All of them bad and beautiful in equal measure.

A lot of good blossomed out of that journey. Briana and I are married now. Iron Immortals has become a novel, a game, and now a podcast told by a group of friends both old and new.

"Turns out, you got played." - Isolde Heisenberg

This is what The Crooked Thimble is about. It's about friends gathering together to tell stories, play games, and endure against this world that can be so cruel. 

Play is an incredible thing. It let's us outsmart and surprise each other. It lets us open up about our fears and ambitions. Play creates so much more than what goes into it. It invigorates those that participate, and it creates stories which can invigorate others.

I'm so thankful for the people that have supported us and for those that will support us in the future. Find your friends. Hold them close. Play.

You'll be glad you did.

Sincerely,

Trick Dempsey