Lore MasterClass: What You Can Expect Next (Patreon)

Hey everyone,

I’m sending this update out to everyone, as I wanted to share what’s happening with Lore MasterClass during Part Two of RETRY: Elden Ring in case you wanted to enrol ahead of the new term.

If you don’t know, Lore MasterClass is a monthly live stream where I explore the game’s lore in greater detail with patrons on our Producer Tier.

Here’s a playlist of previous streams available right now on Patreon. Previously we’ve pieced together Elden Ring’s overarching timeline, gone on a guided tour of Raya Lucaria and recounted the history of sorcery, and even had some end of term drinks.

Firstly, I’m delighted to announce that a new season of the show kicks off this Sunday at 6pm BST | 1pm EST | 10am PST | 3am AEST

The topic for the stream is ‘What Did Ranni Know?’ We’ll be going through and evaluating all the evidence regarding her involvement in the Night of Black Knives and who else was possibly involved.

I’ll be sending out a link for that stream tomorrow for all RKG Producers. 

But today I wanted to tell you more about how I see the show developing in the coming months.

So what’s the plan for Lore MasterClass during Part Two of RETRY: Elden Ring?

Lore MasterClass was something entirely new for our Patreon offering when it launched last year, and for me, as a creator, too. You can have a design in mind during the planning stage, but it almost always changes once you begin the messier act of building. Only when you put down your tools can you reflect on what needs to be changed.

Having a little break in between RETRY: Elden Ring has been great for that. It’s given me time and space to reflect on what I thought worked and what didn’t. I’d like to explain some of that thinking with you.

Firstly, the reception to the initial run of lectures was brilliant. I’m so thankful for everyone who watched them, live or on demand – you’ve all been so enthusiastic and supportive. Genuinely, it means a lot to me.

But I always want things to be better. During that initial run of streams, I frequently found myself trying too hard to be comprehensive – bringing together every single thing I could in a single stream. Ultimately, this demanded a lot of preparation and produced long and tiring streams, with very little time for interaction, which sort of defeats the purpose of a stream.

I want to address this. So I’m now approaching these streams less as lectures and more as seminars. I’ll still present a researched topic, but it’ll be more discrete and specific, with a format that will allow for more discussion and digression.

Instead of feeling the pressure to get through a mass of information, I want to spend the time exploring ideas I find personally interesting. My hope is this will result in not only a more creative format for me to work on but much more original and valuable content for you.

There’s another reason why I’m taking this approach with Lore MasterClass. You may have noticed Roundtable Hold is featuring more and more rudimentary lore discussion. As we’ve gotten further in the game, it’s become really useful to revisit key concepts on Roundtable Hold in greater detail, which we think makes for a much better companion show.

But if you’re watching that show, there’s very little point in me retreading those ideas again on Lore MasterClass even with added detail. And if you’re watching something called Lore MasterClass, you probably already have a certain level of fluency with the game’s basic lore – but that can be an advantage. It can allow us to go down some much more interesting lines of inquiry together.

I realise that may sound a bit abstract, so here’s an example of what I talking about.

On the latest episode of Roundtable Hold, we go through a primer for the Crucible, stitching together the essential lore from what we’ve found in the game so far. Previously, Lore MasterClass may have expanded on this, bringing in every single pertinent item in the game, and probably would’ve been 3 hours long. And you know what, those videos already exist on YouTube.

But we have the opportunity to do something much more interesting together. We can discuss how societies have defined what is sacred and unclean across history and use these ideas to unlock new perspectives on Elden Ring. I’ve seen plenty of videos on the Crucible but haven’t seen it approached through understanding how taboos are created and maintained.

I also want there to be more time to hear from you lovely and insightful bunch, and explore these ideas together, rather than me lecturing you… quite literally.

To give you a more concrete sense of what I’m planning, here are some ideas and working titles I’m exploring for future streams…

• Dynasties Built on Blood

• Ideology and Language in Elden Ring

• Undoing the Fundamentalism of The Golden Order

• The Geometry of Great Runes and What It Reveals

• A Closer Look at Sculpture in Elden Ring (Can you tell I went on holiday to Florence recently?)

So that’s a brief overview of what you can expect from Lore MasterClass in the months ahead.

Ultimately, my desire is to make something more engaging and valuable for you, our wonderful patrons. I also think this format will better complement what we’re doing over on Roundtable Hold, and I’ll find it more creatively satisfying, too. And if we’re ticking all those boxes, I reckon we’re doing alright.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you may have, either in the comments here or over in the LMC channel on Discord.

Love,

Krupa x