Conversations with Andrew Palmer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Palmer.

Hi Andrew, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Four years ago, a group of friends who’d been playing Dungeons and Dragons for almost a decade decided to collaborate with their recording artist friends to begin a collaborative storytelling project. Spending months at their kitchen table rolling dice, collectively imagining, and voice acting as fantasy heroes all in front of microphones had produced the first season of ChasmQuest, a D&D 5th edition podcast.

The story and setting were original creations from their “Dungeon Master,” or as he’s now known, “Danger Mom,” Andrew Palmer, a writer, and teen librarian. He led his players through a journey into mystical lands filled with dangerous foes and intricate socio-political intrigue. After three more years and seasons, the adventuring group called “The Rowdy Boys,” played by Brad Kinnison, Taylor Haydel, Micah Jordan, and Collin Allen, have grown their characters from level 3 to 12, and the story has yet to finish.

D&D combines the excitement of epic fantasy, as featured in Lord of the Rings or Skyrim, and the at-home joy of playing a tabletop game with friends. When mixed with quality audio, editing, and original scoring and sound effects from our sound team Alex Danner and Sam Andersen, ChasmQuest produces an audio drama-type show that immerses its worldwide audience in a collaborative storytelling experience. Fans of the show can access bonus material on Patreon, discuss theories on Discord, purchase merchandise from their website, and share fan art and cosplay on their social media.

After years of playing, recording, and producing their show, the members of ChasmQuest are proud to boast over 100,000 downloads, hundreds of subscribers, and a community of fans dedicated to seeing the narrative through till its end. It has been, at times, a tough path, but what good story doesn’t have conflict leading into resolution? With a bright future and many more stories to tell, CQ promises to keep delivering more rowdy content as long as there are nerds out there thirsting for more.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
For the most part, we can work through any team disagreements with consistent communication and intentional compromise. Voicing our expectations and boundaries is key to keeping our team motivated and enjoying the process after four years of production. The pandemic put a hold on our in-person recordings, requiring us to buy all new equipment and learn remote recording. But thanks to the generosity of our patrons and the desire to always learn new skills, our team was able to finish recording our third season and release episodes with the same (if not better) quality as previous in-person seasons. This mega-hobby regularly has its day-to-day challenges, balancing tasks with our other full-time jobs. At best, we cover production costs and would one day love to make an actual profit from our show. Still, for the time being, we will work through the multi-faceted requirements of producing a podcast, hosting a Patreon and Discord, developing merch and websites, and consistently running our social media. In the end, when we meet fans or begin new friendships with other nerdy podcasters, it all feels worth it to be creating such a loving and supportive community around our little homebrewed story.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
As the creator, co-editor, and producer of our show, I, Andrew, have achieved the ultimate satisfaction most writers only dream of, sharing their make-believe tale with the world. Hundreds are consuming my oratory narration, hanging out with my original characters, laughing out loud at our gags, and gasping at my plot twists and turns. They’re also getting to know us, the players/actors.

D&D is unique and reminiscent of telling ghost stories around a campfire, something our listeners are accustomed to, as each episode is introduced by an elder recounting the tale to an audience around a fire. The device is a fun way to get one of our players to do an ‘old man voice’ of his character. Still, it’s also utilized as a narrative tool to help recap previous episodes and lead the listener into the current episode.

All this to say, I’ve surprised myself by coming up with millions of creative little workarounds to ensure that our story is told fluidly and with an entertaining flair. My motto has been “don’t waste the listener’s time,” because if someone I don’t know is choosing to spend the next hour and a half with us. I want to ensure that time is as engaging and energizing as a feature film or television drama.

I think what I’m most proud of and what sets us apart is that we view our show as an audio experience, which I know sounds a bit cliché but hear me out. Most podcasts are designed to be conversational or deep enough that you can tune out while doing the dishes. Still, we are producing seasons of a show that could be easily adapted into an original fantasy novel series, sans the Dungeons and Dragons mechanics and the beer-fueled belch that slips out on occasion.

The introduction to our story states that ChasmQuest is “an adventure of power, identity, family, and legacy.” With my intentional writing and my player’s ability to navigate an immersive plot, I believe that is what we deliver. But what ChasmQuest does, or at least attempts to do, is draw in the listener and reward them for paying attention to detail. Entice them to seek out our maps and wiki page to dive deeper into our fantasy world, not always with dragons and demon lords, but simply with the swift dialogue between a jaded father and son full of wanderlust.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some changes you expect to see over the next five to ten years?
While we enjoy the audio medium and our endeavor to master it, we have sometimes played with the idea of adding a video element to our storytelling. We are in the very early stages of developing what this would look like for future ChasmQuest tales. Still, we see it as an exciting opportunity to grow our fanbase through platforms like Twitch and YouTube. And reach folks who aren’t into podcasts but would love to sit and watch us play around the table with maps, immersive dioramas, original tabletop miniatures, artwork/animatics, and more. Before that, we hope to grow our Patreon supporters to help cover future costs and idea implementation. Doing so means creating exclusive audio content for our patrons: audio dramas, bonus episodes, and even a musical episode reminiscent of the Buffy episode, “Once More, With Feeling,” all of which are currently in the works and some available now on our site. One last big dream of our show is to produce published material based on our fantasy setting, which would give fans the tools and resources to play their at-home adventures in the world we created and the characters we’ve lived as. Our dreams require revenue, and as with most hobbies, cold hard cash can be quickly spent. We foresee utilizing crowdfunding from websites like Kickstarter.

Pricing:

• Patreon: $3-$15 per month (best option)
• Merchandise: approx. $20 when available
• Ko-fi: Tips of any amount

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chasmquest.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chasmquest/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChasmQuest
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/chasmquest

Image Credits
Taylor Haydel