Haunted Fortunes Part 1: The Reading | Pathfinder played with Nimble
Part 1 of our new actual play fantasy adventure!
Watch as a full video episode on YouTube!
Welcome to Narrative Damage, the actual play TTRPG podcast where authors swap their pens for dice and see where the story takes them!
On the edge of Conqueror’s Bay sits the city of Korvosa, the jewel of Varisia. Ruled by a line of monarchs from atop the Crimson Throne, King Eodred II is its latest ruler. But as whispers of the King’s declining health concern the nobles of Highgate, people wonder if the deadly curse of the Crimson Throne will ever be broken.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of Korvosa’s citizens are preoccupied with a much more immediate task: surviving until tomorrow. In the slums of Old Korvosa and the West Docks, justice is often abandoned by the law and claimed instead by the desperate. Tonight, a story of haunted fortunes begins as we follow four such souls - individuals tied together not by blood or status, but by the scars left by a single man.
In part one of this three-part miniseries, we play through an adapted version of Haunted Fortunes, the opening scenario (written by Nicolas Logue) of the epic Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign for Pathfinder from Paizo.
To bring this world to life, we are using the brilliant Nimble system by Evan Diaz, a super-streamlined, tactical fantasy RPG.
The Cast
Anna Stephens: Author of the Godblind and Songs of the Drowned trilogies.
Annabel Campbell: Author of The Outcast Mage and its upcoming sequel, The Void Dragon (Out this October!).
Claire Shultz: Author of Even Your Bones Would Do (Also writing as Claire Rose, author of The Cove).
Modupe H. Ayinde: Author of the epic fantasy A Song of Legends Lost and its newly released sequel, A Dance of Burning Blades.
Credits & Assets
PC Character Art: Czepeku
Music: Monument Studios
VTT Assets: Featuring the Pathfinder Harrow Deck, played on Foundry VTT.
This podcast uses trademarks and/or copyrights owned by Paizo Inc., used under Paizo's Fan Content Policy (paizo.com/licenses/fancontent). This podcast is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo. For more information about Paizo Inc. and Paizo products, visit paizo.com.
Thanks to DMDorga for their adaptation of Curse of the Crimson Throne to the Nimble system - get that conversion here: https://dmdorga.itch.io/nimble-curse-of-the-crimson-throne-chapter-1
Timestamps
0:00 - Opening Monologue: The City of Korvosa
1:39 - Welcome to Narrative Damage!
2:35 - Meet the Cast & Author Intros & Favourite Fantasy Cities
7:23 - Let the Adventure Begin...
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Author/Cast Member
Claire Schultz is a writer, editor, and academic.
Her short fiction has been featured in literary journals including Coffin Bell, Crow & Cross Keys, and more, and has won the Hotel Commonwealth Emerging Writers Prize. She works primarily in the overlap of fantasy, horror, and literary fiction, and her debut adult novel, Even Your Bones Would Do, will be published by Berkley Books & Daphne Press in early 2027. As Claire Rose, her debut Young Adult novel, The Cove, will be published by Wednesday Books in spring 2026.
A central New Jersey native, she holds a BA in English Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Chicago, an MPhil Education (Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature) from the University of Cambridge, and is pursuing a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh. Her academic research specializes in the intersection of literature, fantasy, and childhood play, from the Brontë juvenilia to Girl Games of the 1990s. As an editor, she has worked for Titan Books, a leading UK independent publisher.
Author/Cast Member
Annabel writes fantasy with fierce female characters and disaster wizards, and believes everything is improved by dragons.
She lives in a tiny village in Scotland, where most of her neighbours are sheep. She has a PhD in cardiovascular science, and when not making things up for a living, she works as a Medical Writer.
Her other joys are red wine, playing games, or showing you too many pictures of her dog.
Author/Cast Member
Anna Stephens is a UK-based writer of epic fantasy, and the benevolent overlord of the Magic & Mayhem Author Academy, which offers writing courses, and mentoring and editorial services to writers at all stages of their careers.
She is a second Dan black belt in Shotokan Karate, and trained in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), particularly Italian longsword, for a couple of years, too.
And she's absolutely obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons.
Author/Cast Member
Modupe H. Ayinde was born in London’s East End and studied English Literature at university. She’s worked as a video games reviewer, magazine sub editor, and television researcher, and now tinkers with spreadsheets for a large media organisation. She is a runner, a screen time enthusiast, and a lapsed student of martial arts, including Wing Chun and karate.
She is the Sunday Times bestselling author of A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST (Orbit UK/ Saga Press), the first in an epic fantasy trilogy. Modupe has been a finalist for the Ignyte Awards, the Nommo Awards, the British Fantasy Awards, the Locus Awards, and the Compton Crook Award.
Her short fiction can be found in FIYAH Literary Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Omenana, and elsewhere, and she was the 2021 winner of the Future Worlds Prize.
She lives in North London with three generations of her family and their Studio Ghibli obsession.