Railsend Mysteries
Four monster hunters in the middle of the Ozarks.
New in Town?
The Ozarks have a mythology of monsters and mysticism all their own. The Monster Intelligence Agency (MIA) and a reclusive sect of monster hunters have sent agents to learn about and resolve the "Ozark Matter" in Railsend. Agent John Ericson and his off-the-books partner Avice Osborn hesitantly team up with Initiate Gwyneth Appleton and her sketchy associate Aaron Aaronson in this actual-play podcast of Monster of the Week.
If you want a bit more info on what Railsend Mysteries is before diving into the story, look no further. This bonus episode is a primer on the what, where, and who of this podcast.
Railsend Mysteries is an actual-play Monster of the Week podcast. If you want to know more about the system or play it yourself, check out Evil Hat.
Everyone Looks Fancy in Black
New to Railsend Mysteries? Get started right here with episode 1.
If you’d rather jump on the train at the start of season 2, we’d suggest starting with “Bonus Episode: Where Season 1 Left Us”. It’ll help you get up to speed!
Curious about the Ozarks?
Here’s what our Keeper has to say about our setting.
Why set an actual play podcast in the Ozarks? There’s three reasons that were obvious to me when I started as the game master for Railsend Mysteries, but now that Fletcher’s made this website I reckon I ought to explain those reasons to you.
First of all, the Ozarks are my home. It’s always good advice to write about (or game master) what you know, and I know the Ozarks. It’s not just that I know where places are on a map or where to catch trout, it’s that there’s no place else on this Earth that I know deep down in my bones like I know the Ozarks. I spent enough of my adult life outside to see the Ozarks with fresh eyes when I returned for good. I know that there are lots of places with stories to tell, but almost all of the stories I know well enough to tell are rooted in the Ozarks.
Stories are the second obvious (to me) reason to set an actual play podcast in the Ozarks. This is a land of storytellers. Of all the things I found peculiar about my time living elsewhere, probably the most peculiar was how few storytellers there are on the outside. Ozarkers love a good story, whether they’re telling them or listening to them. As Ozarkers go through life we gather up stories from family and friends and the old widow lady up the hill. We tell and retell them without much concern as to whether our audience has heard them before; and then when we’re the ones in the audience, we listen and don’t much object if we’ve heard one before. Since Railsend Mysteries is an exercise in collaborative storytelling, setting it in a land of storytellers just makes sense.
Finally, let’s face it: the Ozarks are spooky, and that makes them an ideal setting for a Monster of the Week podcast. Ozark folklore provides us with our own menagerie of monsters and haints, which are by turns amusing and terrifying. And if you’ve ever been alone in the woods on a dark Ozark night, it’s not too hard to believe that there could be something lurking in a cave or behind a tree or down in a holler. I’m not saying that those spooks really are out there, mind you, but I ain’t saying they ain’t out there, either.
Season 1
If you or a friend are interested in Railsend Mysteries, but perhaps a little intimidated by the 24 episodes in season one, this is the special episode to listen to. We introduce the protagonists and briefly recap what happened at the very end of season one. Listen to this and you should be all set for season two!
In the finale of the first season of Railsend Mysteries, the hunters face off with Tabernacle for a final showdown.
The hunters move to disrupt the sacrifice before the night of the solstice, but they find more than they bargained for awaiting them in the hills.
The hunters have some surprising successes and take a key instrument from the Healing Cavern Tabernacle.
The hunters take some time to check in on their allies and with their bosses. With the solstice only a couple days away, the team struggles to come up with a plan.
The hunters prepare for a final, desperate fight against the Healing Cavern Tabernacle as the enormity of the cult's evil plans becomes more and more apparent.
The hunters take the fight against the Healing Cavern Tabernacle to a cave. What could go wrong?
The heroes plunge into the mystery of the missing animals--and into the Healing Cavern Tabernacle. Things get out of hand.
As animals continue to go missing in Railsend, the hunters scramble to come up with a plan. Falling back on past experience, the hunters head to a familiar cave.
The holidays have come to Railsend! A Christmas parade leads our heroes to trouble at the local animal shelter.
The Healing Cavern Tabernacle do a number on the hunters' allies. The hunters take an aerial approach to tea delivery.
The hunters escape the Healing Cavern Tabernacle and find refuge in the ghost town of Jacobs. After a bit of a recovery, they visit the Maiden of the Wood. Alas, the hunters discover that they brought danger to Jacobs.
The hunters find more trouble than profit at the festival at the old iron works. Who had the bright idea of putting the Healing Cavern Tabernacle's booth across from Aaronson's Mystic Delights?
As our heroes recover from saving the MoMos, new information and new connections in the community become available.
In the finale of this arc, the hunters face off against the Healing Cavern Tabernacle in a desperate attempt to save the MoMos. As the situation grows more and more dire, it's up to the most unlikely member of the team to save the day.
Splitting the party in two doubles the trouble for our hunters.
The hunters ally themselves with Prof. Lackler and begin laying a humane trap for the MoMo. Gwyneth and Agent Ericson head out to investigate the Healing Cavern Tabernacle meeting and discover more than they bargained for.
A Missouri Monster (MoMo) visits Railsend. Our heroes have conflicting instructions. Oh, and there's a cult.
Obviously nothing bad could happen when our supernatural monster hunters visit a possibly haunted Victorian style mansion the night before Halloween.
With the first mystery concluded, the hunters try to get oriented in Railsend.
Guess what? We have listeners! Some of those listeners have asked what this podcast is, what we're doing, and where this is all happening. In this bonus episode, Hannah and John answer those and other questions, and maybe even wax philosophically about the nature of RPGs and the Ozarks a bit.
The hunters get to the bottom of the Spooklight, fighting Old Man Lawson and the fire-fearing beast in this action packed arc finale.
The hunters plunge into the wilds of the Ozarks to investigate the Spooklight. They make a grisly discovery.
Aaron takes the lead in investigating the mysterious light. His methods may be atypical, but he's the only one getting information around here.
This week our protagonists make it to Railsend and quickly encounter some Ozark strangeness.
A reluctant team is assembled to investigate the Ozark Matter.
Season 2
Gwyneth faces revelations about the organization she serves as the hunters move to combat the mysterious Project Persephone.
Something big is brewing in Railsend. Old friends appear and powerful magic rises in the town as the final mystery of season 2 begins.
The Mule Skinner may be gone, but tensions still run high around the monster hunters in Railsend. Angry superiors and conflict between team members keep Gwyneth, Aaron, John, and Avice busy even without a mystery at hand.
The hunters frantically try to stop the Mule Skinner’s explosive plans. The resulting conflict is far more violent than expected.
An attempt at chasing down the Mule Skinner gets messy. The hunters continue searching a way to stop their adversary as the deadline of his ultimatum looms.
The idea of 'the Bunny Rider' was far more amusing the real guy. The hunters scramble to find a plan as the magnitude of the threat begins to dawn on them.
A new threat appears in Railsend. What starts as a whimsical investigation in the park turns into a dire situation.
With another mystery solved, the hunters take a break and make some surprising discoveries.
The hunters get to the bottom of the 'angel babies' mystery. Mostly, they listen to Ivy.
The hunters try to get to the bottom of the vanishing vases mystery and cause minor chaos at a gardening store.
When vases go missing in town, the hunters start investigating. They find leads in unexpected places.
The hunters seek solace in old friends as they recover from fighting the James Younger Gang.
The James Younger Gang has plans to destroy Railsend and our 'heroes' are the only thing in their way. It's time for another showdown in the woods!
Having realized the problem is bigger than "just" battling factions of ghosts, the Heroes fight to save Railsend from an unexpected invasion.
Being caught between Jesse James and the Pinkertons has been hard on our heroes, but things manage to get much, much worse.
The party has split up to investigate the second coming of Jesse James, the James-Younger Gang, and a whole mess of Pinkertons. What could go wrong? Other than making a deal with outlaws and getting arrested, that is.
Dealing with the second coming of Jesse-Freaking-James was bad enough, but then some dude calling himself Allan Pinkerton shows up looking like he's from the Nineteenth Century. Our heroes hit it off with Pinkerton even worse than they did with Jesse James.
After the anachronistic train robbery, our heroes investigate the matter with limited success. Then comes an unexpected visitor.
Season 2 of Railsend Mysteries begins with an old-fashioned train robbery. Because, Railsend.
