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Good morrow, students! The history we shall cover today belongs to you. It is the story of how the Kai were restored and a bulwark against the future was secured. The New Order was forged in the fires of the Darklands War, doused in the blood of the First Order, and tested against foes greater than even the Darklords. (Additional reading: a detailed exploration of the gamebook crash)

Seven Stones... their names are mostly hidden from you, yet plague the edges of your consciousness like a foul odor that flees your attempts to catch it. Though the day is warm, you shiver as echoes of screams long ago unleashed whisper through your mind. The Darklords do not keep stories, they only keep their confidence. Their atrocities are lost to all but them, who keep them the way we might keep favorite books, opening them from time to time to savor memories of blood.

Seven Stones... their names are known to you. Now you find their stories, buried among ancient texts thought lost when the monastery was destroyed. Reading the words set down by hands long turned to dust, you are taken back to days of darkness and uncertainty, where the Kai Lords did not yet exist, and the spies of the Darklords were everywhere. Here, a man dared to chase destiny and in so doing, set the world on a path towards hope.

Closing your eyes, you cast your mind into the infinite possibility of what ifs. A swirl of faces swims in your mind, some famliar, some new. Making sense of it all proves difficult, showing that retelling the story already told is no easy feat. One thing remains certain: in all versions there was but a small beacon of hope and the threat of eternal darkness if that light went out. For the dark door had opened and would never fully close again.

You come to the top of the rise and settle your back against a bare pine. The lands you came from are shrouded in mist yet a map exists in your heart of the journey you have taken so far, the twenty or so milestones you have passed to make it here, not to mention the many side quests. As you reflect, new thoughts come to you, dark secrets of the Pentad. The mists grow cold. You shiver, and summon the voices of friends to warm your nerves. It will be time to move on again, soon, so you take what respite you can to celebrate your achievement.

It took 20 adventures and just as many dead Darklords to finally make Naar curse. August and Jonathan do not deliberate on what the swear word was, instead choosing to use this episode to delve into greater mysteries of the universe. For the first time, we go into details about the Planes of Light, unveil how Naar got a hold of the Moonstone, and reveal what Naar's equivalent to the Sommerswerd is. This episode is a straight hour of lore, a start-to-finish gauntlet of answers to some of Magnamund's best kept secrets.

Cast your mind back to a time when gamebooks and Lone Wolf were selling in the millions of copies. In this time, Hugo award winner John Grant/Paul Barnett was given the task of turning the Lone Wolf franchise into a novelized series. What emerged from this was an entirely new take on the Lone Wolf experience, both diversive and innovative. Today, August, Jonathan, and Shane dive into the first book of the series, exploring its themes, the poly-cosmos, and why we are excited to see it coming back into print.

The penultimate book in the series, Light of the Kai, is due out this spring. And so the podcast welcomes for the first time Ben Devere and Vincent Lazarri, co-authors of books 29-32, to discuss this finale, the writing of it, and what fans can expect. Consider this a preview of Book 32! For those who want to limit spoilers, we broke the conversation down into three sections, each with an increasing number of spoilers ("mechanical", "broad story", and finally "some specific story" elements). We offer easy places to jump off the spoiler-train whenever you like and craft your own adventure fear-free in this episode of Journeys Through Magnamund.

August and Jonathan's final words about Rockstarn contain spoilers for characters and events that occur in the latter half of the video game, while providing answers that a sequel never got to. But these are not just our last words -- Joe Dever's voice ends this game, and while it isn't the final tale that he got to tell in Magnamund, this was his final narration.

With a total of four Acts, each broken into multiple chapters, the Lone Wolf video game has too much to offer to cover in a single episode. In August and Jonathan's follow up episode, you will explore what makes Drakkarim swole, learn about the Kai fighting style, dive deeper into Shianti machinations, discover what Pure Bronin is (and why you shouldn't make a mace out of it like Jonathan did), and take a glimpse into the ranks of the Vordak to find out why they are more frightening than most of us who read the gamebooks are aware.

In 2013, Joe Dever realized his dream of turning Lone Wolf into an epic video game experience. Far from the primitive trappings of earlier attempts, Blood on the Snow would incorporate the latest gaming innovations of its time and full 3D models to present Magnamund as never before. For this adventure, new lore would be written, lore which today Jonathan and August explore. Find out all about the game's character of Leandra, what the art tells us about Magnamund, get Jonathan's tips for first time players, and hear behind the scenes details shared for the first time by August, who worked on the game.

The episode you didn't know you needed and a topic that stretches across the entire history of Lone Wolf, starting back in 1984 as a co-release with the very first books in the series. From the ZX Spectrum to the Nintendo Switch, August and Jonathan trace the eclectic and often tumultuous history of Lone Wolf video games. Learn what ended Hutchinson Games, discover what parts of Mirror of Death are cannon, why we should have gotten a Greel game, and get information about the development of the Forge Reply game from August (who reveals for the first time the level of his involvement in the game). All this and more, in this packed-to-the-brim retrospective of one of the most overlooked video game licenses. For information on the cancelled Ksatria game: https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/LoneWolfKsatriaArticles

We asked you if there was anything you wanted to know that you felt had been missed in the podcast so far. And you said... yes! And then sent us more than a hundred questions. In this episode, August and Jonathan tackle as many as they can, breaking them down into the categories of Joe Lore, Kai Lord Lore, Other Lore, Gamebook writing, and extras that don't fit anywhere else. Learn what system August ran for Joe, how many New Order Kai Lord were at the siege of the monastery, why Agarash couldn't throw the Lorestones into space, whether we'll see The Huntress again, and who August and Jonathan would romantically pair Lone Wolf with.

Hungry for more Journeys Through Magnamund? Hungry like... the wolf? Setting aside 80's pop references, August and Jonathan tackle one of Lone Wolf's stranger adventures, a chase across an alien world for a shape-shifting foe, culminating in one of the biggest reveals of the original series. Such an odd adventure comes with lots of lore. Learn who Naar likes better, the Manoyd or the Drakkarim! Discover what Wolf's Bane character sheet might look like! Hear the story of why this adventure features a map of an area you hardly explore within the book!

Dragons sneak their way into many a fantasy world and Magnamund is no different. Though the final dragon saw its final sunrise many ages ago, an army of them now marches towards the Kai Monastery. And yet, August and Jonathan seem to talk about everything except Dragons, with the discussion leading them instead to examine equine abuse, fallen princelings, promotions of Sommlending captains, and a certain fan favorite baroness.