📜 Today’s Side Quest ❗
Welcome to 🎙️Side Quests & Save Points💾 – the podcast where ignoring the main quest is half the fun and even the dialogue options go off-script.

This time, I’m back with Annie VanderMeer – narrative designer, writer, and world-builder whose resume runs from Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir to Guild Wars 2, Destiny, Unpacking and beyond.

We dive deep into the wild world of publishers vs. developers, behind-the-scenes chaos of canceled projects, lore drops that never made it into the final cut, and why old-school RPG mechanics still haunt our save files.

🎮 Episode Content Overview
📚 From Castlevania and childhood gaming memories to writing sequels for cult classics
🕹️ The unmade Taxi Driver game and how Hollywood IPs nearly broke the dev cycle
⚔️ Obsidian years: Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol, and the canceled Aliens RPG
🐉 Building Guild Wars 2’s “personal story” and making choice matter in an MMO
💀 Lore drops that never saw daylight (Lyra the goddess of illusion lives… maybe)
🚪 Side quests that spiraled into chaos (Monkey Island insults, frog puns, and more)
🎲 What it’s really like working with publishers and IP holders behind the curtain
🌌 Dream RPG settings Annie would love to write for: Fallout and Star Wars

🔗 My Links
🍻 Join 🍻The Tavern Discord🍺: https://discord.gg/73KfecTgEW
🎮 Twitch: https://twitch.tv/chefmonkeygaming
🐦 X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/ChefMonkeyGames
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefmonkeygaming
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chefmonkeygaming
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chefmonkeygaming
🌤️ BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/chefmonkeygaming.bsky.social

🎙️ Follow Side Quests & Save Points Podcast
🐦 X (Twitter): https://x.com/sqsppodcast
🌤️ BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/sqsppodcast.bsky.social
📺 Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL59mESx4aCcWhq2l2P4YcYh9KLMfCDv6N

🎙️ Guest Links – Annie VanderMeer
🎧 Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@frienda_podcast🌐 Website: https://www.annievandermeer.com/

🧵 Threads of Fate#SideQuestsAndSavePoints
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