Carnival du Vael Preview: Spooky New Mini-Series from Realms of Peril & Glory

This Monday (October 16th), Realms of Peril & Glory released the first part of their new 3-part mini-series, Carnival du Vael!

For the uninitiated, Realms of Peril & Glory are an Actual Play production group who produce well crafted audio dramas through Tabletop Roleplaying Games. For more on Realms of Peril & Glory, have a look at this UK Actual Play groups article, and this review of their recent live show at the London Podcast Festival.

Carnival de Vael is part of their larger Vael series set in the game, 13th Age. This 3 part series is set 1 year after the first full season of Vael. It features all of the original cast (in some form or another) plus special guest, Jasper William Cartwright.

As you can see with the artwork and the trailer below, there’s something very mysterious going on with this carnival. It will be up to our heroes to find out what’s going on and (hopefully) save the day once more!

I got to listen to the first episode of this series ahead of time. Read on for my first impressions and expectations for the rest of the series.

Carnival du Vael is part of Realm’s of Peril & Glory’s wider Halloween Season offering. You can see their full offering for the second half of October in the calendar below and on their website.

Realms of Peril & Glory have got a lot in store for us this spooky season!

If you want to find out more about Realms of Peril & Glory, be sure to check out their website. You can listen to their shows by searching ‘Realms of Peril & Glory‘ wherever you listen to podcasts or by heading to their YouTube channel. For extra exclusive content, including exclusive content, you can support them on their Patreon.

Story – Just What is Going on at this Carnival du Vael?

Carnival du Vael features the return of the core characters of Vael’s first season. Fans of Vael will hear the familiar voices of their favorite characters and learn what they’ve been up to since last time. New listeners are also welcomed in with some light context setting for key characters and events.

One character is notably absent, and that is the party’s Orc Rogue, Zongroff. The premise is quickly established that Zongroff disappeard whilst investigating a carnival just outside the city of New Harbour. 

And so we have our call to adventure! Our heroes will need to investigate the carnival themselves and save their friend. 

This first episode draws you in with its intriguing mysteries as to the nature of this strange carnival. We then get the pleasure of meeting Jasper’s character, an eccentric professor, Andros Vir Sindarin. He has been studying instances of structures such as this appearing out of nowhere. He offers a lot of insight but also a lot of questions. Could this carnival have come from a separate plane of existence? Why are people so compelled to enter? What happens once they’re inside?

This first episode partially answers some of these questions, but as things go on, we definitely get more questions than answers. By the end of the episode, I was definitely left eager to find out what happens next. October 23rd can’t come soon enough!

Characters and Performances – Old Friends and New Combine for a Grand Adventure!

As a fan of previous installments of Vael, it was a joy to hear the dulcet tones of the original cast members. New listeners to the show will quickly get a sense of who the core characters are through the introductions and their improvisation skills. There are some lovely comedic moments with Pip Gladwin as Torbrennan trying to figure out technology in front of his younger, more tech savvy companions. I’ll not reveal too much, but Maddy playing Isadora trying to get Laura’s character, Maerydyth off work was brilliant. Hats off to James for playing Mearydyth’s long suffering boss and the many other non-player characters in the story!

Whilst the obvious absence is Liz Campbell, who plays Zongroff, we do get a few pre-recorded lines from her, including in the prologue wherein Zongroff disappears whilst investigating the carnival.

Whilst the original cast all have great chemistry and familiarity with their characters, Jasper fits in beautifully. Without skipping a beat, he inhabits his character and feels very much a part of the world that Zack and the cast have created.

For those unfamiliar with Jasper’s Actual Play history, he’s good! He is currently one third of 3 Black Halflings, Game Master on the Rotating Heroes Podcast and a presenter on Games & Feelings. He has also guest starred on many other Actual Plays including Oxventure, RPGeeks, and is in the current series of Dimension 20‘s Burrow’s End.

His performance as the eccentric Professor Andros Vir Sindarin is a joy to listen to. He very much plays the character larger than life, tip toeing the verge between quirky and just plain crazy very well. His self-acclaiming ramblings, his whittering voice and lack of regard for social cues make his performance very enticing, as well as his ability to bounce off the rest of the cast. 

Sound – Immerse Yourself in the Carnival du Vael

James Barbarossa, as with other Realm of Peril & Glory productions, composed and produced the soundtrack for Carnival du Vael. As a fan of Vael Season 1, it was really reassuring to hear old soundtracks again. Certain tracks meant that without anyone saying anything, I knew we were now in Café Pirelli. James’ music has that transformative power to help make these places come to life in your mind, especially as you get more familiar with the show.

With the new setting of the carnival, we also had new music. A lot of this music is bright and bouncy like what you might expect at a circus or a fair. Some of these tracks have wild and manic undertones to them. Others have a more melancholy feel, hinting at the dark mysteries to unravel. As ever, sound effects really help with the immersion, from technology augmented voices to other more supernatural occurrences.

Editing and Pacing – Another Finely Produced Mystery

The team does a good job of keeping the action pacey, whilst giving the listeners time to get their bearings. New listeners are given time to get context about the characters, setting and rules of the game. At the same time, seasoned fans are kept engaged with new events and interactions keeping the action moving.

Zack and his players do a great job of moving the action along at a steady pace. There is clearly a sense of when time should be taken to establish context and when a scene has run its course. This episode has also clearly been editing to make scenes roll into each other in a natural way. The action ramps up nicely at the end. Just as the team feel like they’re getting a handle on things, they get rushed off their feet into the final reveal which is… Oops, got a little carried away there. You’ll have to watch the show and find out! 

Realms of Peril & Glory: Carnival du Vael will be premiering consecutive Mondays. Episode 1 will be out October 16th, Episode 2 October 23rd and Episode 3 October 30th. For more Actual Play features like this, keep an eye on future articles from KeenGamer.