All spoilers for Book 1 and its accompanying Origins Episodes will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
"On the frontier of the Bastion Archipelago, a bard with a long past, a rogue guided by a blind donkey, and a self-confessed liar of a warrior come together to face unlikely threats."
— YouTube description of the Trailer
Tales Unwritten is a sub-channel of TeamFourStar. Much like TFS at the Table and its Natural Oneders campaign, Tales Unwritten is a long-term Actual Play series, with Stephan Krosecz as the Game Master, and the members of the team as its roleplayers. The series uses a modified version of Dungeons & Dragons' ruleset, taking place in a setting created by Stephan.
A long time ago, the goddess Phora defeated a great number of demons known as the Remnants. In its wake, what remains of the world is a little set of islands known as the Bastion Archipelago. On one of these islands is Tradesman's Saddle, a small farming town. From there, the viewer is introduced to Karnacus Freehorn, Maud, and Martin, who each become intertwined in a series of events that turns the world they know upside-down.
The first episode was released on the team's FourStarBento channel on August 8, 2024, with the entire first season (titled as "Books") releasing at a steady clip throughout the month. Unlike TFS at the Table, where those Episodes were full-length streams re-uploaded to YouTube, these episodes are pre-recorded and cut down, being a streamlined experience for the audience, with visuals, custom music, and artwork by Stephan. The Episodes were moved to its own channel
in 2025, with its second season premiering on June 5th, 2025.
Tales Unwritten cast:
- Stephan Krosecz as the DM.
- Nick "Lanipator" Landis as Karnacus Freehorn, AKA. Karna, a fauni bard who wishes to perform and bring joy to the world, while harboring a deep, dark past related to a tragedy that took place hundreds of years ago.
- Jesse "Nowacking" Nowack as Maud, a humble chapalu rogue who works at Lil' Deb's Bakery, having escaped a traumatic life from living in the swamps, only to find that her foster brother, Wren, has fallen into the wrong crowd and wishes to save him from it, as well as find her long-lost sister.
- Jacob Quinn as Martin, a mysterious blindfolded Paladin who is part of the cult of Augus, and a self-admitted liar. In actuality, "Martin" is Alexander Tremont, a formerly undercover apostle working for the Pontificate of Bastion, whose faith in the organization and its goddess begin to waver after adventuring with his newfound allies.
"Welcome to Tales Unwritten! The only Tabletop RPG show that has examples of the following Tropes!"
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Tales Unwritten Main Campaign
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Whenever the series isn't looking at the players, it uses 3D backgrounds and effects with 2D character illustrations made by Stephan. Combat is also visualized for viewers and the players with custom-made 3D maps made in Blender, with the 2D illustrations used for the character positions.
- Animated Credits Opening: While the show is mainly live-action, focusing on the players and DM rolling dice (albeit with some cuts to 2D and 3D illustrations or animation to convey things that are happening in-universe), the opening credits sequence is entirely in animation.
- Book 1 has a sequence that mixes both 3D and 2D animation, starting with a bottle of ink being spilled, which goes through all of the player characters and the DM, with the player characters doing a quick action in 2D animation.
- Book 2's title sequence is mostly in 3D, which starts with a bottle of ink being spilled, but instead of the characters being present in 2D animation, it shows each of the player characters on a "Wanted!" Poster, while their corresponding players' names in 3D text appear next to some of their weapons or an item that is important to them. "Martin" has also been changed out for his true identity of Alexander Tremont.
- Basilisk and Cockatrice: A cockatrice named Beatrice is used to help pull a couple's caravan, muzzled so that it doesn't bite anyone, else it turns someone into stone. The cockatrice ends up being freed because of bandits, and ends up biting a guard and turning them into stone, Martin leaving the poor guard to its fate.
- Black Comedy: The Stinger of Episode 6 picks up from what Sappho and Kassie were doing last, where Kassie fainted due to her condition and being overwhelmed by Sappho admiring her. In the background, as the two are staring at each other, the sounds of flames and screams can be heard behind them, corresponding to Pelaglius burning to death from breaching his contract.
- Blended Beastfolk: The chapalu race have traits borrowed from D&D's tabaxi, being a race of Cat Folk (with parts inspired by Cath Palug from Celtic Mythology), have long ears like rabbits, but also have the ability to swim like otters. Some of the chapalu that the heroes free in Episode 5 act a bit like Playful Otters, swimming away in joy.
- Character Portrait: Sometimes, if there are multiple NPCs in a scene, their portrait will be put next to Stephan to clarify which character is talking at the moment.
- Content Warnings: Certain Episodes will have a content warning in the opening seconds, asking for viewers to check the description for certain triggers or sensitive content, such as blood, violence, and gore, sometimes including timestamps for its viewers to skip.
- Corrupt Church: The Pontificate of Bastion is eventually revealed to be this. While its intentions were originally something noble that Alex revered, his faith begins to waver when he sees them capturing Karna and doing morally dubious actions, from enabling the Jack of Aces to continue unabated despite implementing several Magically Binding Contracts, simply because he's bringing in a lot of profit, to invading Greener Pastures to round up various fauni for practicing Wild Magic. At the end of Episode 10, Alex decides to cut ties to Phora, and chooses to follow in a new pantheon's footsteps.
- Dramatic Unmask:
- In Episode 1, after defeating a couple of bandits who were accosting them and a caravan that the party were guarding, Maud removes the mask of someone that Billie had been fretting over and Stephan been rolling death saves for; under the mask is Wren, Maud's foster brother at Lil' Deb's Bakery.
- In Episodes 9 and 10, the assassin on-board takes off their mask. The person behind the mask is Delamiir, the Lost Lenore from Karna's backstory, much to his shock.
- Dream Intro: Episode 6 starts with Alexander Tremont dreaming about being back in his home, underneath the Goddess Tree. When he reaches his house and knocks on the door, it's answered by his younger self, asking where his dad is. Alex then hugs his young self, saying he's sorry. As the younger Alex maliciously whispers "You should be", the tree branches of the goddess tree converge on Alex, making him cry out "It wasn't right!" before he wakes up, in Greener Pastures.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: In Episode 6, Alex and Karna find someone to be under a Magically Binding Contract, believing it to be the Jack of Aces' doing. When Alex tries to see if there's any traces of the Jack of Aces' magic, he finds magic, but it's not of the Jack of Aces. As Alex explains that he gave the Jack of Aces' contracts to the Magistrate, he comes to the realization that he essentially gave the Magistrate leverage over the Jack of Aces, someone who helps give great profits to the church, and now the church can use the Jack of Aces' powers as they please.
- Fake-Out Fade-Out: Parodied in Episode 5: Maud and Wren hire a bunch of prostitutes for their plan, looking to use them to distract someone in order to steal their boat. Lani then quips "after all, prostitutes are great with seamen." Lani then points at the camera, while Jesse and Quinn look at it at the same time, with a fake Sitcom-esque credits sequence playing.
- Fantastic Drug: In Episode 8, the party needs to stay awake all night so that they can prepare for an attack. At the behest of Karna, the party takes a small baggie of "Party Powder", which has similar properties to cocaine. Karna snorts it, Maud swallows it, and Alexander's attempt at snorting it goes pretty bad. Like cocaine, the Party Powder gives them tons of energy, making it so the party won't suffer from Exhaustion, resulting in Karna and Maud talking several miles a minute. Episode 10 has Maud and Alex succumbing to its after effects, crashing from its high and passing out.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Chapalu and its language are equivalent to French from the real world, which has Jesse and Stephan peppering their dialogue with Gratuitous French on occasion.
- Fauns and Satyrs: The fauni race are Long-Lived satyr-like creatures who have goat or sheep-like features, having settled on the island of Greener Pastures. Notable fauni in the campaign include Karna (Lani's player character), Kassie, and Uncle Fergus, with the party meeting many of them in Book 2.
- Global Currency: Instead of using the gold pieces from D&D, the campaign uses a currency called "bits", which Stephan hands to the players physically while playing.
- Great Escape: Episode 5 is focused on Karna trying to break out of the cathedral's prison, with Maud and Wren as their getaway boat. Alexander Tremont also undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, assisting Karna, freeing him and several wrongfully imprisoned citizens.
- Hogging the Bathroom: While Karna is playing a concert at The Lucky Break, Maud uses the opportunity to break into the Jack of Aces' office by squeezing through the single bathroom's window and scaling the building from the outside. Maud does this twice, which by the time she returns to the bathroom the second time, someone outside is banging on the door, asking her to hurry up. Maud can only excuse herself by saying she's taking a really bad shit because of some bad fish she ate.
- Improvised Lockpick: In Episode 5, Karna uses the shards of his sword, Sunder, to pick the lock of the jail cell that he's in, successfully getting out.
- Knights and Knaves: Discussed and attempted to be invoked by Maud in Episode 10, where she lies about how Alex killed his father. She then says between Alex and her, one of them tells lies and one of them tells the truth, which Apostle Bishop instantly pins her as the liar. Alex then points out if she was the liar, then both he and Maud could be telling lies or truths, and that the person who is a part of the puzzle shouldn't be saying what the puzzle itself is. It doesn't go anywhere, as Bishop is left confused about what the party wants with him.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: Every time a new Episode starts, Stephan welcomes viewers by saying "Welcome to Tales Unwritten, the only Tabletop RPG show that/with [X]", with X being replaced with something different each time, such as "where the balls touch", "that comes with free muscle building advice", and "with this specific episode", among other gags.
- Magically Binding Contract:
- For most of Book 1, Wren is under one by the power of the Jack of Aces, who gives Wren the ability to use magic himself. If Wren tries to defy him, his arm that contains the magic brand on it will begin burning. The only way to destroy Wren's tie to the Jack of Aces is to burn the contract itself. In Episode 4, Maud steals the contracts from the Jack of Aces' office, and Alex burns the contract when no one is looking in Episode 5, freeing Wren from its control.
- In Episode 6, Alex and Karna witness the consequences of the contract, where if someone were to say too much information, their contract will have the person who is branded instantly and magically burn away. At the end of the Episode, both of them watch in horror as this is what happens to Pelaglius after he reveals that someone at the Summer Renewal Festival looking to disrupt the ritual.
- On the Next: The episodes feature a brief preview of what will happen next, usually as compilation of out-of-context quotes.
- Origins Episode: The three episodes "Karna's Story", "Maud's Story", and "Martin's Story" has Stephan and just the player of each character playing out their character's origin story and background, taking place before the events of the campaign.
- Platonic Prostitution: Invoked by Maud in Episode 5, though with a poorly conceived plan that is salvaged thanks to Wren. Maud uses all of her money and all of Karna's money to get 7 prostitutes from the brothel Karna was just at for 20 minutes, planning to have them sit or squat at the cathedral Karna was captured in. Problem is, the church is heavily guarded, in the middle of the lake, and not easily accessible, despite the fact Stephan having told Jesse this exact same information earlier. Stephan, as Wren, suggests using the prostitutes to distract a fisherman so that they can steal a boat. The prostitutes all manage to charm a fisherman for 20 minutes before going back to the brothel, with Maud and Wren successfully and stealthily stealing the man's boat without notice.
- Previously on…: The episodes feature a brief recap regarding the previous one's events to get viewers up to speed in an easily digestible format. Book 1 does this using various clips interspersed together, while Book 2 onwards has Stephan narrating a summary of what happened in the prior Episode.
- The Reveal:
- In Episode 6, there are two reveals near the end of the episode that immediately tells the cast that they aren't safe: Alex and Karna learn of a mole at the Summer Festival from Pelaglius, who is later revealed to be Karna's beloved Uncle Fergus.
- In Episode 7, after the heroes and Elders of Greener Pastures manage to conduct the ritual to strengthen the island's wards, the Hill Billies calls for everyone to Lookout Falls. The Pontificate, who had been spending the past two weeks looking for the heroes, can be seen in the distance, about to arrive at Greener Pastures.
- Episodes 9 and 10 has the assassin on-board take off their mask, revealing it to be someone who is very familiar to Karna: Delamiir, someone that Karna saw die in his backstory, where she was rebelling against the Pontificate. Unfortunately for Karna, her memories have been wiped and she's been Reforged into a Minion.
- The Shadow Knows: In Book 1's intro, Martin's shadow first is a solid shape, but then spreads out into a tree, which corresponds to his double life as the undercover Pontificate agent and his dedication to its goddess, Phora. In Book 2's intro, when it shows the vial of Phora's sap (the item most connected to Alexander Tremont), it at first Casts No Shadow before forming into branches of the Goddess Tree.
- Shout-Out:
- Book 1 is filled to the brim with references to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton, from an NPC based off of Miranda himself to various bits of the team members quoting lyrics from the Hamilton soundtrack. Lampshaded by Stephan in Episode 5:Alexander: I will handle that.
[...]
Jesse: Alexander handle-that.
[the whole table cracks up]
Lani: Seeing as that I am outmanned, outarmed, and naked, uh, I will follow.
Stephan: [chuckling] How much Lin-Manuel Miranda referencing are we gonna get in now? - Maud hunting for fish using a hammer is compared to Gollum from Tolkien's Legendarium by the players; like Gollum, Maud also likes to eat raw fish.
- Episode 5 introduces an orange fauni named Philadelphos, but everyone calls him Gridty, named after the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers' team in the National Hockey League, Gritty.
- Book 1 is filled to the brim with references to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton, from an NPC based off of Miranda himself to various bits of the team members quoting lyrics from the Hamilton soundtrack. Lampshaded by Stephan in Episode 5:
- Spontaneous Human Combustion: In Episode 6, it's revealed that someone who is under the contract of the Jack of Aces will instantly burst into flames if their Magically Binding Contract is breached. Pelaglius, after revealing to Alex and Karna that someone is at the Summer Renewal Festival looking to disrupt the ritual, is immediately and almost instantly immolated, despite Karna and Alexander's attempts to stop it.
- Starts Stealthily, Ends Loudly: Episode 5 has both Karna and Alex throw together a plan, with Alex trying to go inside to free Karna using the prison cell's keys. Due to poor rolls on Quinn's part, his actions and attempt to take the keys immediately cast suspicion on himself, resulting in him taking direct action and fighting off the guards stationed guarding the cells. Once the guards have been subdued, Karna casts Shatter on the prison walls, making a giant hole and causing a giant explosion for them to escape with. Their escape from the prison also goes out with a bang, as Maud and Wren's rowboat get attacked by guards after going undetected for a while. Thanks to Karna's Thunderwave magic, it creates a giant tidal wave that gives the heroes a very explosive exit.
- Stock Scream: Invoked in Episode 5: Stephan rolls a Natural 1, which causes an entire cannon to explode and several enemy soldiers to fall off the cathedral into the water. He mentions that one of the soldiers caught in the blast "definitely" does the Wilhelm scream, leading to Lani and Stephan to briefly imitate the scream.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: In Episode 1, Stephan has everyone roll a perception check. Martin sees that there is a symbol on a tree, along with a tree that is also knocked over. Martin then alerts everyone to the imminent danger by pointing out the tree and to look past them. However, no one gets his warning, as it sounds like he's just pointing out there's a tree in the middle of the road, which is also pointed out by Maud. Martin gives up and warns them that they're approaching an ambush, making Maud say there isn't a bush, but a tree.
- That Came Out Wrong: In Episode 6, Alex says he's waiting for Elder Corrina to "rock on those horns", which make Maud and Karna slyly comment on the innuendo.Maud: Yeah! Hehehe...
Karna: You dog!
Alex: No, not like that!
Maud: And I thought the fauni were horny.
Alex: I just meant if she needs to sit down, she just rolls her head back. - Time Skip: Episode 6 takes place two weeks after the events of Episode 5.5, with Karna, Alex, and Maud having stayed at Greener Pastures while waiting for the heat to die down.
- Toilet Humour:
- In Episode 3, after Wren makes a groaning noise that the group brushes off as him having stomach problems (in actuality, his Magically Binding Contract burning his arm), there are plenty of jokes made about he needs to go to the Hive's bathroom, which all have bidets, an invention of the pixies. The players and DM make several jokes about the luxury in using a bidet to wash one's self after taking a shit, including a random cut to the episode being sponsored by bidets. In Episode 4, Jack of Aces reveals he has a bidet in his private bathroom after Maud asks where a bidet is in the local restroom.
- A lot of poop jokes are made at Wren's expense by Maud in Episode 4, who tells him to shit his pants as a distraction, much to Wren's discomfort (one instance of Maud calling a bathroom break for Wren managing to give them a break from the Jack of Aces), and Maud not understanding why shitting his pants wouldn't help their situation as a distraction.
- "Wanted!" Poster: After Book 1, Karna, Maud, and Alexander have been put on these types of posters by the Pontificate of Bastion, branding all three as Incantare criminals for practicing Wild Magic, alongside other (falsely attributed) crimes committed against the Pontificate.
- Weird Trade Union: The Entertainer's Guild is on strike in Episode 4, something that Karna completely misses and the Jack of Aces takes advantage of; because Karna's a popular music talent who will play for less pay, this ends up being a case of him unintentionally crossing the picket line for his fellow bards. As a result, the bards the party met in the bazaar earlier in the episode arrive at the bar to kill Karna for disrupting the strike.
- Wham Episode: Episode 4 shakes up the series up in a significant way by revealing Martin's true identity: Alexander Tremont. From there, his actions are reframed from simply trying to find who stole the caravan's magic goods to trying to take down the Jack of Aces, but doing so requires betraying his new allies, Maud and Karna.
- World Tree: The goddess Phora became a giant tree that is colloquially known as the Goddess Tree, and is the source of magic for the Pontificate of Bastion. It's located in Vitega, and casts a shining light above the city that it can be seen from Alex's house when he was really young.
PROJECT: SCYLLA One-Shot
- Air-Vent Passageway: To try and get around the Security Drone in front of them, Richard tries to maneuver through the vents in order to get to the control room and turn the power back on. His attempts don't go so well, where the noise in the vents alert the drone.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Content Warnings disclaimer advises viewers to be wary of violence, depictions of self-harm, and references to Naruto.
- Halloween Special: Released on Halloween, this one-shot special is divorced from the world of Bastion, with the events taking place on a derelict underwater research station, being an Oceanic Horror story rather than a fantasy adventure.
- Neck Lift: The drone gets Rich in a chokehold, lifting him by the neck and trying to suffocate him.
- On Three: Francine has to help relocate Richard's dislocated hip, so she eases him into it by counting down from 3. When she has to do it one more time, she says 3, 2, and then snaps his leg on 2 instead of finishing.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Near the end, Francine finds herself about to drown, with Tommy presented with the choice to either save himself or sacrifice himself to save Francine's life. Tommy chooses to jump into the water to save her, but is unable to do much in order to save her. Rich is then presented with the opportunity to try and save them both, but because he was tasked to Leave No Witnesses, he leaves them both to drown, meaning Tommy's attempt to sacrifice himself to save Francine would have been All for Nothing regardless if he was successful or not.
- Special Guest: Lani takes up the role as the one-shot's DM instead of Stephan, and there are two guest players, alongside Jesse as Tommy: Edward Bosco and Katy Johnson as Rich and Francine respectively.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Francine's purse is filled with several pieces of mint candies, which Tommy partakes in, used for their anxiety.
- Underwater Base: The setting of the one-shot is the Deep-Sea Research Depot, Calyptus; an underwater research station for all manner of supernatural creatures beneath the ocean.
- Unnecessarily Creepy Robot: The security drone is exceptionally creepy, where it is essentially a mannequin, moving both very quickly and has a lot of strength. The first time the party sees the drone, it is standing still like a statue.
- Wham Line: Right at the end, Rich is confronted with the choice of trying to save either Francine or Tommy, right before the research station sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Bosco then says Richard isn't going to reach out his hand, which changes everything that the viewers have known about Rich, followed by his character's motivation, after both Tommy and Francine tumble into the ocean and drown.Bosco: I'm so sorry.
[cuts to a flashback, with Bosco reading his character's motivation sheet]
Bosco, as Rich: This deep-sea research depot has been compromised. You are a member of Bravo Team. Cold, calculating, efficient. [...] Your team is tasked with destroying the facility and eliminating any witnesses.