HeyJaredPTFO
Fantasy and sci-fi stories serialized on Substack. PTFO stands for Play to Find Out: The stories here are written and published live, using game mechanics and interactivity to create living stories. Currently writing: PTFO:Stonetop
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 11
- Latest publication
- Sep 28, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
Session 18.2: Stormcatcher’s Abode (Part 2) (opens the original)
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Last episode, Vahid brought Erwann to the Ruined Tower in search of weapons to turn against Cirl-of-the-Storms. Izzak’s warnings went unheeded, and the two rode the wind across the Flats, the old spirit-talker finding joy in a flight he had never known. But that joy faded as they approached Stormcatcher’s abode, where ancient works still flickered with power amid the ruins.Erwann found spirits bound into the tower’s devices, their elemental force intact but their minds silent. He asked whether V
Session 18.2: Stormcatcher’s Abode (Part 1) (opens the original)
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Last episode, we began Session 18 with our heroes taking on new guises for their journey into Cirl’s camp. Anwen shaved her copper hair and adopted an oath of silence to conceal her uncertain Steptongue; Mado became a thrall, wearing Youenn’s mark like one of the old meistr’s horses; and Padrig lost his beard and took up the lotus pipe, all in service of passing for a Hillfolk warrior. Youenn of the Golden Band leads their little company, hoping his reputation for wanting to join the sorcerer wi
Session 18.1: Kin of old (opens the original)
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Welcome back to PTFO:Stonetop! I hope your summer is coming to a gentle close — not so for our heroes, who ride to meet their fates. Session 18 is shaping up to be the final session of our campaign. Before we forge ahead, we’ll briefly recap the events of Session 17. We opened with Vahid flying alone to the fate-tree, where he received a vision of a traitor in Cirl’s camp: Katrin, the Sun-Spear’s spirit-talker, who left her people to join the sorcerer’s host under false pretenses. Vahid also lea
A House in Queen's Gate (opens the original)
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What is this thing? Where’s Stonetop? PTFO:Stonetop will return next week, September 14. I’m wrestling with a bit of GM’s block—closing out the story after so long is a daunting project. As for this: It’s a little historical-fiction short story, unconnected to any other PTFO tales that I noodled with during my hiatus. It may become the first in a series on the topic of the demimonde, a word with many meanings. It was coined by Alexandre Dumas fils — the great novelist’s son — in an 1855 play cal
Session 17.7: Feast on Ashes, Concluded (opens the original)
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Welcome back! This is something new for PTFO: an episode coda. On Monday we left Session 17.7 unconcluded — Vahid standing before the war council with Izzak’s demand lingering: If you are truly our ally, you will swear. The Seeker’s answer was the subject of this week’s poll, and it was a nailbiter, decided by the margin of a single reader. I’ll exercise my authorial privilege to play a little coy here, and reveal the results in the prose, rather than in the preamble. What follows is a short clo
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