You Meet in a Tavern
Welcome back, wanderers.
It’s been a little while since our last gathering. The previous Dispatches from the Realms was published on December 22, 2025 — nearly three months ago.
Some of the reasons for that pause are shared in my recent Prove Life Wrong post, “Learning to Pause.” I’ll touch on that more later in this update, but in short, the time away was both necessary and meaningful.
Even during the quieter stretches, the worlds of Other Worlds Than These have not stood still. New music has been taking shape, stories have continued to unfold, and plans across the studio and the table have been steadily evolving.
So pull up a chair and settle in — here’s a look at what’s been happening across the soundscapes, story realms, and game rooms since our last dispatch.
Paths Through the Realms
Prove Life Wrong
One of the reasons this Dispatch took a little longer than usual is something I wrote about recently in a new Prove Life Wrong™ post titled “Learning to Pause.”
At the end of December, while returning home from an annual meeting with my new team in Austin, my car decided it had reached the end of its journey — breaking down just fourteen miles from home. That moment became an unexpected signal to slow down and reassess rather than simply push harder.
The past few months have been less about stopping the work and more about shifting the threads of it. Starting a new job, adjusting finances, and reevaluating priorities meant some projects needed to move slightly later while others quietly moved forward.
One of those shifts led me deeper into developing the tabletop role-playing side of Other Worlds Than These, expanding the worldbuilding behind The Infinite Weave: Epica and its companion adventures.
The loom never stopped.
I simply chose a different thread for a while.
If you’d like to read the full reflection — including the story behind the breakdown, the reset that followed, and how it’s shaping the next phase of OWTT — you can find it here:
🔗 Learning to Pause
https://otherworldsthanthese.com/plw-learning-to-pause/
If you’d like a tangible reminder to keep pushing back, you can also find the Prove Life Wrong™ Collection here: https://shop.otherworldsthanthese.com/collections/prove-life-wrong
Rise. Build. Thrive.
And as always… Prove Life Wrong™.
From the Studio
The studio has been anything but quiet lately. New signals are emerging, stories are deepening, and the threads between sound and story are pulling tighter with each release.
Jade (The Enchanted Relic) Released!
March 6th, 2026 saw the release of Jade (The Enchanted Relic), the first song in the next act of The Infinite Weave: Epica.
For my Patreon members, I also shared a deeper look into the creation of the track through a new episode of Musical Mysteries & Alchemy: Behind the Music, where I explore how the piece evolved across multiple stages of my creative life.
🎧 Musical Mysteries & Alchemy: Behind the Music – Jade (The Enchanted Relic)
https://www.patreon.com/posts/152323683
What many listeners may not realize is that the earliest form of this composition appeared years ago on Songs from the Wounded Heart, during a very different period of my life and creative process. The music from that album came from a deeply personal place, where composition often served as a way of translating emotion into sound.
Later, the piece resurfaced again in the original Epica release, where it began to take on a new identity as my ideas around world-building and narrative music started to take shape.
Now the music returns once more as Jade (The Enchanted Relic)—a newly reimagined single that will appear on the upcoming album The Infinite Weave: Epica. In this new form, the piece becomes part of the larger mythology unfolding within that world, serving as both a musical story and a key thread in the narrative tapestry of the project.
The Infinite Weave: Epica
You may have seen the announcement in a separate email, but let me share with you what The Infinite Weave: Epica is all about.
At its core, The Infinite Weave: Epica is a story-driven, cinematic music project told across multiple acts — a larger narrative that The Awakening (EP), Whispers of The Witch (The Haunting), and Remote Isolation (The Silence) are all a part of. It’s a world where symbols, relics, and whispered phrases carry meaning, and where each track is both a standalone piece and a fragment of a much bigger tapestry.
The project follows threads of mystery, destiny, and consequence — how a single choice, a single voice, or a single fracture in the Weave can echo across realms. Some of those threads surface in the music, some in the accompanying lore and artwork, and others will appear in future projects that connect back to Epica in surprising ways.
The Awakening (EP) marked Act I of that journey — the point where the quiet signals you’ve been hearing finally start to reveal the shape of the story behind them. More acts (and more clues) are already in motion, and over time, you’ll see how everything you’ve heard so far fits into one interconnected Weave.
Now our Adventures begin to gather the resources and artifacts needed to face their challenges ahead.
You can read the full announcement for The Infinite Weave: Epica here: Announcing The Awakening and The Infinite Weave – The Music of Keith Richie
The Infinite Weave: Epica – Official Vinyl & CD Kickstarter Trailer (Delayed)
To support the full journey of The Infinite Weave: Epica — including planned Vinyl and CD editions — I’m preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign soon. The timing has shifted slightly to better align with other developments unfolding across the Realms, and the current target is mid-April for the campaign launch.
The goal remains the same: to create collector-worthy physical editions that honor not only the music, but the mythology and world-building that surround it.
As part of that effort, I’ve produced an intro trailer for the campaign, offering a first look at how the music, lore, and physical editions all connect within the Weave. It’s a great way to get a sense of the larger scope of the project and how the upcoming album fits into the unfolding story.
The campaign will include more than just standard Vinyl and CD options. I’m also planning several additional tiers designed to deepen the experience of the world behind the music, including things such as:
Companion booklets exploring the symbols, phrases, and narrative threads woven into the album
Bundle editions that combine the album with artwork and printed materials into cohesive collector sets
Additional ways to experience The Infinite Weave as more than simply a listening experience — but as a world you can explore
More details — including the official launch date — will be shared soon. In the meantime, the Kickstarter pre-launch page is already live. If you’d like to be notified the moment the campaign goes live, you can follow it here:
Kickstarter Pre-Launch: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owtt/the-infinite-weave-epica-vinyl-and-cd-release
Reviews from the Aural Realms
The Aural Realms have been busy once again, with two new explorations into music that each approach storytelling through sound in very different ways.
Unfolding Skies by Craig Padilla & Marvin Allen,
The first is Unfolding Skies by Craig Padilla & Marvin Allen, a sweeping ambient work that invites the listener into expansive sonic landscapes. Their collaboration blends atmospheric textures with a sense of movement and discovery, creating a listening experience that feels both meditative and cinematic.
Paint Them Black by Rosewood Boulevard
he second review takes a turn toward the folk-rock side of the spectrum with Paint Them Black by Rosewood Boulevard. The track highlights the band’s growing identity and emotional storytelling, carried by strong instrumentation and heartfelt vocals that continue to define their evolving sound.
Read the Review
Another voice will rise from the Aural Realms before long — perhaps it’s already calling.
And if you’re an artist wandering these realms and would like your own music to be featured in a future review, you can learn more about my Review Services here: https://owtt.lnk.to/servicesWE
From the Table
Not all stories are written — some are rolled. Around the table, laughter, chaos, and fate still intertwine as dice carve out legends one critical success (or failure) at a time. This is where the realms come alive through shared imagination, and where The Old Bard continues to spin new tales.
Whiskey & Worldbuilding – Updates on The Infinite Weave: Epica Adventure and Sourcebook
As mentioned earlier, part of the quieter stretch over the past few months has been spent diving deeper into the tabletop role-playing side of Other Worlds Than These — specifically the development of the Epica adventure and companion sourcebook designed to align with the unfolding story of The Infinite Weave: Epica.
A large part of that time wasn’t focused on writing finished material, but on building the foundation the story stands on. I began organizing my working drafts inside Obsidian, mapping out how the adventure itself unfolds while documenting locations, factions, characters, and the connective threads that shape the world surrounding it.
Behind the scenes, a new adventure has been taking shape during a couple of late-night “Whiskey & Worldbuilding” sessions — the second of which I shared a photo of recently. During those evenings I’ve been sketching out pieces of the next story while sipping some excellent fantasy-themed whiskey from Quest’s End (you can explore their realms here:
https://findfamiliarspirits.com/pages/fantasy-realm).
These sessions have quickly become something of a ritual: maps spread across the desk, notes filling page after page, half-legible ideas in the margins, and the slow unfolding of a world that I’m excited to eventually bring to the table.
Worldbuilding rarely happens in a single burst of inspiration. More often it emerges through these quieter moments — connecting ideas, discovering how locations relate to one another, and slowly watching a setting take shape.
I’m also planning to record some of these worldbuilding sessions in the future. They may not always include whiskey, but they’ll likely live under the same banner: Whiskey & Worldbuilding — a small window into the creative process behind the worlds of OWTT.
Let me know what you think — would you enjoy seeing more of that process shared?
From the Game Room
Not every journey needs spellbooks and starships — sometimes it’s a controller, a keyboard, or a clacking arcade stick that opens the next portal. In the Game Room, I share what’s been happening over at Maestoso Gaming — the new home for my gaming content, unboxings, and digital adventures.
The Empire Strikes Back
The game room has been a little quieter lately, but there was one small addition to the collection. I recently received a notice that the Intellivision Sprint was back in stock, so of course I had to grab one while I had the chance.
Once it arrives, I’m considering putting together an unboxing or playthrough video. If that’s something you’d enjoy seeing, let me know — I’m always curious which corners of the game room people want to explore.
I also still owe everyone the second part of my video review for The Old Bard Rides West: Red Dead Redemption 2. The first part is already live over on Maestoso Gaming, and the follow-up is still very much on the list.
Coming Up
Every Dispatch tends to mark a new turning of the wheel, and this one is no different. Several threads are already beginning to pull forward into the next chapter.
In the studio, another single from The Infinite Weave: Epica is currently being prepared for release next month as we continue moving toward the Act II EP release. Each of these songs reveals another piece of the larger narrative woven throughout the project, and I’m excited to share the next chapter soon.
At the table, I’m hoping to spend some more time with Thornwood’s Shadow and continue shaping the Epica adventure itself. There’s also a good chance another Whiskey & Worldbuilding session will happen before the next Dispatch — another quiet evening of maps, notes, and slowly discovering where the story wants to go.
And as always, there are a few other ideas quietly forming behind the scenes across the Realms — the kind that tend to reveal themselves only when the moment is right.
In other words, the Weave continues to grow.
Until the next door opens
The wheel keeps turning.
Thank you again for being part of Other Worlds Than These — whether you come for the sound, the story, the game room, or the strange in-between places where all three meet. Your presence, messages, and encouragement continue to breathe life into everything I create.
If you’d like to help keep these realms growing, there are many ways to lend a hand — from joining the Patreon to sharing posts, streaming the music, visiting Maestoso Gaming, or exploring the full list of support options here:
🌐 https://owtt.net/support
See you in the next clearing…
and we’ll palaver a while.
Rise. Build. Thrive.
And as always… Prove Life Wrong™.
Long days and pleasant nights,
— Keith Richie
Maestoso – Gunslinger of Sound | The Old Bard