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Looking for transcripts? Click here for the Out of Sight episode listing!

Down these mean streets a man must go…

Are you in the market for some paranormal cyberpunk detective action? Consider Roy Kaplan, a detective audio drama inspired by old time radio classics like Richard Diamond but taking place in the cyberpunk future!

If you need something found or something found out, Roy Kaplan is the man for the job. With the ability to talk to ghosts and bypass any lock, there’s no mystery that’s beyond his reach, and no trouble that’s big enough to scare him off. Kaplan, with the help of his ghost roommate Wes, navigates his hostile cyberpunk city life to investigate missing persons, blackmail, murder, and everything in between.

Roy Kaplan (or Roy Kaplan, Private Investigator if you prefer) is written, edited, and produced by Jesse Peng (that’s me!), with the earliest scripts being written in 2019. It’s a mystery of the week series flavored with paranormal happenings, a lot of breaking and entering, future crime, and a small side of post-apocalypse. Its main focus is on the detective part of “paranormal cyberpunk detective audio drama” with intentions to mostly stay episodic even as the story progresses. Right now, Roy Kaplan consists of one season, Out of Sight, with potential to eventually be expanded to four seasons (whether we get there does depend heavily on listener support). To listen to/read the specific episodes, check the season page linked further down.

Where to Find Roy Kaplan

Roy Kaplan is hosted using Pinecast, which will allow you to listen to the show through any podcast aggregator that accepts RSS feeds. You should also be able to find Roy Kaplan on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. (There are currently some issues with Apple Music because I can’t seem to make an Apple account to submit the RSS.)

You can also listen to the episodes directly on this website by going to the individual episode’s main page, linked through the season page. There, you’ll find the episode’s audio player, full credits, and transcript, which should be viewable on both desktop and mobile. I’ll also be posting writer’s commentary blog posts on the episodes as releases go on, which will also be linked on the season page. So look forward to that, if you’re interested in that kind of thing!

If you want to keep up with Roy Kaplan, consider subscribing on whatever platform you use! If you want to get episode notifications directly to your email, you can sign up for The Pinwheel Lab newsletter:

I’ll only use the newsletter for episode releases and major project updates (I don’t especially enjoy sending out emails, if my posting history hasn’t already made that clear).

Out of Sight

Cover art for Roy Kaplan: Out of SightIn Out of Sight, Kaplan will have to solve all kinds of mysteries, from the petty scams to the conspiracies to the diabolic murders, and come face to face with parts of his own past. But as Roy keeps an eye out for trouble, he’ll soon find there’s trouble with an eye out for him…

This first season consists of 12 episodes, each 30-40 minutes long, and will run from December 28, 2024 to May 31, 2025. The format is episodic, so each mystery is self-contained, letting you jump in at any point in the season (except the last episode anyways). Production is currently ongoing–we’re just cleaning up the episodes at this point. Out of Sight includes the voice talents of 35 voice actors across the season as well as a custom soundtrack.

Click here for the main Out of Sight page, where you can start listening right in your browser! You’ll find the full episode listing, which includes release dates, episode summaries, and links to episodes, their credits, and their transcripts.

Support Us!

If you enjoy listening to Roy Kaplan, let us know! I always like to hear what people think :)

The best place to comment on specific episodes and respond to other listeners is on YouTube. If you want to discuss the show (or any of my projects), there is The Pinwheel Lab on Discord. If you want to tell me, specifically, what you think, you can send an ask on the roykaplanpod Tumblr or you can send an email to roykaplan [at] thepinwheellab.com. Please don’t send me spam?

“Do you have a Twitter or Bluesky or Instragram or etc.?” No, managing updates on three websites (this, Tumblr, and Patreon) is already exhausting. There’s a reason I have minimum social media to begin with. Of course, you are free (and encouraged) to share links to this website however you like.

And don’t forget, the best way to show your support is by sharing the show with others. Mysteries are more fun with friends!

Support Us…Financially?

As you might have noticed earlier (I wasn’t terribly subtle about it), the fate of future seasons does depend on support from listeners. Every episode of Roy Kaplan generally costs 200-300 USD to produce, the overwhelming majority of which goes to paying voice actors (and the cost is only that much because I do not pay myself for my voice work or editing, which would otherwise easily triple the cost). Out of Sight was funded out of my own pocket, and it’s just not sustainable for me to spend three thousand dollars in addition to a thousand hours on every single season moving forward.

This does present a problem because I fundamentally don’t like to paywall things, and I also don’t like deliberately making a product worse so I can charge people to make it less worse–for this reason, Roy Kaplan has no paid exclusive content and no ads. I also don’t feel comfortable doing a crowdfunding campaign because I have no incentives to offer and I can’t guarantee a production schedule (me being only one person and this very much not being a profitable project) and I really don’t want to get myself into a situation where I’m sitting on money for a project I might not be able to deliver.

So, I have provided these options below to support production and help recoup my costs and thus make season 2 more likely to happen. I’ll expand on all of this a little more in the near future with prices etc.

  • Patreon – You can buy individual episodes or you can make a monthly pledge, either of which lets you hear episodes early. Does require a Patreon account.
  • itch.io – You can buy the promo pack (which allows you to pay what you want) to make a one-time donation. Does not require an itch.io account.
  • Pinecast – You can contribute to the tip jar. I believe it allows one-time and recurring donations, and does not require an account?
  • Digital downloads – At the end of the season, I will release digital downloads: the full season bundle in higher audio quality, the annotated script book with essays and commentary, and the art book which includes cover art sketches and character art as well as my commentary. These will be available on both Patreon and itch.io. Links will be added here at the end of May.

You’ll also be able to buy the soundtrack for Out of Sight after the series launches. That money goes to Beacon, the composer, and I do recommend it because it’s definitely worth it.

Anyways, by no means should you feel pressured to donate, especially before you’ve actually heard Roy Kaplan and decided whether it’s worth it (the whole point of this model is that you should actually listen to Roy Kaplan before giving me any money). But if you do enjoy Roy Kaplan and want more seasons, please consider supporting production, because season 2 isn’t going to happen unless I actually have the funds to make it.

For your convenience, I have all the relevant Roy Kaplan links compiled here in one place instead of scattered all across this post.

There’s lots of adventures to come, so stick around, won’t you?