🦉 Michael Schofield

🦉 Michael Schofield

@schoeyfield.com

Serial-hobbyist making fantasy podcasts, audio dramas, and actual plays like #TheThief (http://thiefpodcast.com). Engineer. Librarian. Janeite. #AmHiring voice actors, artists, AP players. Reviewing at AmListening.substack.com.

636 followers236 following2.2K posts

A select group of audio drama or actual play creators who ask nicely can now Claim their show on Bard, which will let you control how it's presented. In the future you'll have special metrics (and, maybe ... migrate entirely to Bard's hosting). #indiedev #podcasting #audiofiction #actualplay #ttrpg

🦉 Michael Schofield reposted

This strikes right at my indieweb soul. Hell yes, niche apps!!

Amira Najjar@loremistress.bsky.social

As someone who listens to a frankly unreasonable amount of audio dramas, I'm pretty excited about Bard. A podcast app specifically for audio fiction & actual plays? YES PLEASE. Really excited to see how it develops. And it's made by a librarian (@schoeyfield.com) so you know it's 👩‍🍳💋 playbard.fm

A random harangue after noticing that it is already October 24: I am angrier at 2026 than 2025. Because of work stress (#startup) it absolutely flew by, and because of the general spaghettification of our nationstate, I still haven't gotten an IRS refund.

I monetize my hobbies like actual plays and audio dramas - as in, paying for services, actors, people's time - to write them off in taxes, but if I can't trust that the tax system works then I can't invest in those small businesses. So, this year, I've accomplished none of my AD/AP goals. Zip.

I can build software because 1.) that's what I do anyway and b.) it's a solo endeavor that I can make pay for itself. But it is not the same as writing or producing art. And that just makes me ugggh. Because I don't think 2027 will be better than 2026.

🦉 Michael Schofield reposted

As someone who listens to a frankly unreasonable amount of audio dramas, I'm pretty excited about Bard. A podcast app specifically for audio fiction & actual plays? YES PLEASE. Really excited to see how it develops. And it's made by a librarian (@schoeyfield.com) so you know it's 👩‍🍳💋 playbard.fm

playbard.fmBard: a podcast player for audio drama and actual playA better listening experience for fiction podcasts. Made by a librarian on the weekends with love.

The sort of good problem to have is that my Bard costs are going up by another $25 per month as I've reached an egress limit on my plan, this means that there are more users and generally more activity. Buuuut I'm going to be hawking ad sales a bit and Bard Pro, which might be annoying on social <3

You might be interested to know that the Apple App Store will reject a new version of your application if you happen to mention Android in the change log (as in, "on Android, such and such works now").

I am "organically marketing" by reposting one of my favorite internet linguists (s/o to other language-science BAs!) to, uh, shill playbard.fm I literally can't afford the bandwidth for video podcasts, so Bard shan't! In fact, @nightvaleradio.bsky.social sounds _extra_ nice in your ears on Bard.

playbard.fmBard: a podcast player for audio drama and actual playA better listening experience for fiction podcasts. Made by a librarian on the weekends with love.
Gretchen McCulloch@gretchenmcculloch.com

Oh god the pivot to video, it's driving me up the wall (High-fives in independent podcaster trying to wear all the hats)

1. AI Fiction Is Suppressed. Bard won't force that in front of you. 2. Bard makes podcasts' patreons/ko-fi links (and, soon, newsletters) waaaay more visible - because you should support these shows. 3. The only ads on Bard are for other audio dramas or actual plays. (click it app.playbard.fm)

app.playbard.fmBard: a podcast player for audio drama and actual playA better listening experience for fiction podcasts. Made by a librarian on the weekends with love.

Kind of wild to me, about two thirds of the people who sign up for Bard literally never press play. A listener who never hears an episode just can't get hooked, so I've been thinking about how to fix that #buildinpublic #podcasting #audiodrama

Varud RPG is an actual play where a family tries to cross Iceland on foot, in winter, during a zombie apocalypse. Three bad ideas at once. They wrote their own infection rules for it, which I respect. #actualplay #ttrpg #zombies #amlistening

FYI for people outside of the U.S. who are curious about my little podcast app

🦉 Michael Schofield@schoeyfield.com

Hey there. It totally will be yours and other EU countries just have actual rules and I have to do something to be compliant with them, such as publishing a personal address. I need to basically set up some stuff so it's less personal because I just don't want that going in the wild but soon!

By the end of the year, audio dramas and actual plays will actually be able to be hosted on Bard, and I'm trying to solve the it's-hard-to-social-share-fiction-podcasts problem. Here's an audiogram from The Thief made in Bard. #podcasting #ttrpg

We saw Buena Vista Social Club last night and there is a dance when the main character is packing for the airport to catch one of the last planes out of Cuba before the revolution, and that dance was devastating. I'm still thinking about it.

It's Michael, Saul, and Angel from @werealive.com looking off the top of their building at the hundreds of Bards swarming on the streets below, with one Bard covered in tattoos, smelling poorly. (playbard.fm)

🦉 Michael Schofield@schoeyfield.com

An eldritch guardian of @whitevault.bsky.social emerges out of the snows of Svalbard but it's just playbard.fm wearing a leather face mask and it has really awesome bright red fingernails. (help my adhd is taking over over)

An eldritch guardian of @whitevault.bsky.social emerges out of the snows of Svalbard but it's just playbard.fm wearing a leather face mask and it has really awesome bright red fingernails. (help my adhd is taking over over)

playbard.fmBard: a podcast player for audio drama and actual playA better listening experience for fiction podcasts. Made by a librarian on the weekends with love.
🦉 Michael Schofield@schoeyfield.com

My next idea is commissioning #Malevolent slash art where John is dressed sexy and the king in yellow is actually just the best darn podcast player you can enjoy Malevolent on.