Luke Herr has never been one for half-measures. It’s apparent in the way he has decided to end Exiled, an actual-play RPG podcast based on the comic Exiles, which Luke DMs. Some would wrap-up a nearly three-year long story in a nice bow, giving the players a chance to say their goodbyes and save the day. In a word, hyper-focused.
Luke, however, decided to go big.
The final story-arc of Exiled, Assault on Camelot Eternal, is massive. There are twelve, one-shot episodes filled with characters from all over comics, running alongside the main team listeners have followed for the last three years. While the core cast has tended to be riffs on existing Marvel characters, with a stray Doom Patrol mash-up here and there, Assault on Camelot Eternal pulls from all comics. There are characters as diverse as Cathy from the newspaper strip, or Ghost Lawyer, the Ghost Rider who is a lawyer. All going up against the imperialistic, inter-dimensional, Captain Britain Corps.
In choosing this final adventure Luke said “I wanted Assault on Camelot Eternal to be a big ending, like the War of the Realms was for Jason Aaron’s Thor run – hinting at a bigger world and set of events that were going on and also just fascism bashing. I was inspired by the Spider Day event that Critical Bits did where they had 9 teams who did short RPG encounters as part of one continuous event, so I wanted to tell 12 similar connected adventures. ” Adding “Also I am an idiot and wanted to challenge myself.”
Exiled has been a joy from the beginning, starting as a simple spin-off from the bonus episodes of Luke’s other podcast, MultiversalQ. It was four friends playing the 80s Marvel FASRIP RPG and goofing off. With the death of everyone’s favorite good alien robot space teen Warlock at the end of the second arc, listeners soon realized that this wasn’t just going to be jokes. There was heart behind these gags, emotional ties that would last for years.
Through it all, Luke was never afraid to push the limits of what a reasonable person might do as a GM. In one arc, he painstakingly split the island of Manhattan into punk gangs ala the 80s cult classic, The Warriors. In another he set up a massive fighting tournament, complete with tons of minor comics martial artists. The care put into these details reflects in how the players interact with the worlds. They feel lived in, even when the teams would only be there for four hours.
In a real way, Assault on Camelot Eternal feels like a true culmination of everything Luke and the players have been building on. A diverse group of players from all walks of life, celebrating all things comics. All the one-shots, massive arcs, emotional beats, they will all collide here. It’s an ending, yes, but it’s never over. In Luke’s words “Everybody keeps asking me what am I going to miss about Exiled like this is the forever end. It’s the end of it being a weekly part of my schedule to edit and prepare […] but I don’t think it is going to feel like it is gone.” For some, this will be a sad occasion. For others, it’s a triumph. For Luke “It’s there […] to return whenever I want to or until I get a cease and desist from Marvel or a job.”
Exiled: Assault on Camelot Eternal, is airing now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
