1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000 This podcast is produced by Student Media. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Student Media is a student organization at the University of Evansville. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Student Media produces the Crescent Magazine published online and in print 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,000 three times a semester. Student Media produces several podcasts 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000 and utilizes design, photography, video, and sound 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,000 towards experiential and academic learning in journalistic endeavors 7 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,000 and engaging storytelling. 8 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,000 Student Media elevates the voice of the student body 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,000 and connects the campus and community to important information and points of view. 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,000 To learn more, visit Crescent.Evansville.edu. 11 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,000 Hello players who sit in the same exact spot for every session 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,000 and when someone else sits in their seat make them move because I'll be damned if I am moving 13 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,000 from my fucking assigned spot. 14 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,000 That was a lot in DMs. 15 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:53,000 To make everybody at the table cry on a one-shot one-off event 16 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000 in a story that's pre-existing to never go back to that particular universe ever again. 17 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Welcome back to Table Talk Season 2. 18 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Season 2. 19 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,000 I'm Maddie. 20 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,000 And I'm Robert. 21 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,000 And I immediately like a middle-loss. 22 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,000 We don't have, so this is like, okay, if you're a long-time listener, 23 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,000 which if you're not a long-time listener and this is your first time tuning in, 24 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000 welcome. We're so glad to have you. 25 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,000 You should listen to our other episodes too. 26 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:22,000 But this is going to be kind of reminiscent of our session zero from last season. 27 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Jesus fuck. 28 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:24,000 It's been... 29 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,000 This is the vibe of some of our sessions. 30 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:28,000 It's chaotic. It's all over the place. 31 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,000 We have lots of different things that we like to talk about. 32 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,000 This season we're hoping that we're going to start rolling in segments. 33 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000 So like reoccurring portions of each episode. 34 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,000 We're going to try and roll that a little bit in today. 35 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:40,000 We'll see how it goes. 36 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,000 But session zero for season one was very much similar. 37 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000 It's kind of chaotic just to catch up, tell you who we are, 38 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 the kinds of things that we do during our week. 39 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 What we've been up to. 40 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Systems, yeah. Just sort of our nerd stuff. 41 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000 Maybe we'll talk about highlights of ours from the last season. 42 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:04,000 This is just kind of a casual hangout, a casual chat of sorts. 43 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Because it's been a while since we've actually been in the studio recording. 44 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:14,000 Because we pre-recorded a bunch of episodes while we were on break. 45 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:19,000 And the only thing that we've come in and recorded since 2023 is... 46 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 Hang on, there's just a loose wire. What is that supposed to connect to? 47 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,000 I'm 99% certain that it took us centuries to figure out where this wire was supposed to go. 48 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000 I don't think that one connects to anything. 49 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 I think it got plugged into something. 50 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,000 No, I think that's the one that when someone is like bringing someone in on Zoom or something, 51 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,000 they use this. 52 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Because I think that... 53 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Okay, yeah, I don't know. They've changed things. 54 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Anyways, our space is constantly getting touched by other people. 55 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,000 And I mean, to be fair, it's a shared space. 56 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,000 Well, it's not ours. 57 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 But listen, we reworked the whole thing. 58 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 We moved tables in. We put the computer stuff. 59 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,000 We built a new studio. The two of us built a new studio. 60 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,000 And now people are changing fucking computer settings and things aren't the same anymore. 61 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 If the camera died and I am close to tears, but... 62 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000 That's the general vibe. 63 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,000 We're here. And that's what matters. 64 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000 So what have we been up to? 65 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:20,000 Well, this past weekend has probably been both of our biggest weekends in terms of, like, 66 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,000 tabletop gaming and everything just because this is the first weekend that we've played. 67 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,000 In a while. 68 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,000 In like almost two months. 69 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:28,000 Yep. 70 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:33,000 And I DM'd my first session ever. 71 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:39,000 I'm still not like a DM. I'm still calling myself player first in every capacity. 72 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 You also didn't DM in like 5e. 73 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000 So you're not a real DM. 74 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Wow. 75 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Significantly harder system. That's all I'm saying. 76 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,000 It's a wholly different ball game. 77 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,000 This isn't that argument. 78 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,000 I'm a G and I'm a Game Master. 79 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000 I do not want to be a DM. 80 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,000 I'm a bloodlust. 81 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 I don't want to touch 5e with a 10 foot pole from behind the screen. 82 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,000 I think you'll eventually touch it. 83 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,000 I think it's just going to take some time. 84 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,000 I'm not going to have to at some point. 85 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000 But that's not either here or there. 86 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,000 For those that are unfamiliar with the terms, DM is Dungeon Master and GM is Game Master. 87 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,000 They're used pretty interchangeably. 88 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,000 Some people use DM specifically when talking about D&D because it's Dungeons and Dragons. 89 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,000 It's trademarked there. 90 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 And GM is a much more broadly used term because it can work for pretty much any system, 91 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,000 any TTRBG. 92 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,000 I mean, you name it as long as you're in control of it. 93 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,000 You might as well give yourself the title. 94 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Basically in this capacity, Madison would be a GM, not a DM, 95 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,000 because she did not play in the D&D systems. 96 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Oh my God. 97 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,000 I don't give a shit. 98 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 I just think it's funny to draw the line to be like, 99 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,000 you actually can't call yourself that because you didn't play in the system. 100 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,000 Yeah. If you're taking that stance, neck beard behavior. 101 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:52,000 I do have a neck beard right now. 102 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,000 I need to shave it off. 103 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,000 So. 104 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,000 But yeah, so I did a... 105 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Well, this is kind of a practice because I have some friends that go to Purdue 106 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000 that eventually are going to be coming down. 107 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,000 With the test dummies. 108 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Yes, they are there. 109 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,000 My fucking little guinea pigs. 110 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,000 And it was a Percy Jackson themed one shot. 111 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Woo. 112 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:14,000 That's going to be longer than one. 113 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,000 On the Kids on Bikes system. 114 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,000 I kept all the original stats, but I did make fun little custom character sheets. 115 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,000 And I ended up writing, I shit you not. 116 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000 As of right now, it's 35 pages and it's still growing. 117 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,000 She has her own source book. 118 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,000 Source book for myself because I really love Percy Jackson. 119 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:38,000 And it's a world that's already so pre-established that it's not something that I can bullshit on the fly. 120 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Having your own lore all in one place is really easy. 121 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000 And just kind of advised. 122 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Honestly, having 17 different tabs open is definitely a way to do it. 123 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:53,000 But to have one general document where you can control F or command F if you're on fucking Mac, I guess. 124 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:54,000 I'm not happy about that. 125 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,000 And just be able to do it that way is so much easier. 126 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,000 We've all seen the people that run 25 different tabs up at the same time. 127 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,000 My computer is always screaming for help. 128 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,000 I'm guilty of it occasionally, but I do my best to keep them decluttered. 129 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:14,000 And having all of your data and your information and your stat blocks either on the same app or relatively between the same two or three documents. 130 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,000 Highly advised. 131 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:21,000 Because otherwise, if you don't know your content like the back of your hand, someone's going to ask you a question that you weren't prepared for. 132 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,000 And you're going to have to go, uh, give me a second. 133 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:25,000 Talks amongst yourselves. 134 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:30,000 And then you're going to listen to the world's most awkward role play as none of them know how to make casual conversation. 135 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:31,000 Correct. 136 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,000 And it was, this was something where I was pulling. 137 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,000 So the premise for the one shot was basically cool. 138 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:42,000 This group of like, um, fucking 13 to 15 year olds, um, are all, uh, arrive at Camp Half-Lud in the same week. 139 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,000 They're newbies. 140 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Uh, they haven't been claimed by their godly parent. 141 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,000 This was basically a fun little one shot where they get claimed by their godly parent. 142 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,000 And the next time we play, uh, they're going to play a game of capture the flag. 143 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:51,000 It is very simple. 144 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,000 Um, I was not trying to do anything crazy. 145 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,000 And I was also working with people who had varying levels of like knowledge of the prison Jackson world. 146 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Yeah. 147 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:01,000 This is crazy. 148 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:02,000 This is, this is a sidebar. 149 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000 Robert has only seen the movies. 150 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:05,000 Yep. 151 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:06,000 I haven't read the books. 152 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:07,000 I haven't watched the TV show. 153 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:08,000 I've only seen the movies. 154 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,000 And when I first started watching the movies, I had no idea that the books were a thing. 155 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,000 Like I didn't know that they were based off something. 156 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,000 I did not know that these people actually existed. 157 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:22,000 Like I don't understand how much of a like advocate I am for watching movies first and reading book, reading books second. 158 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,000 Which is a crazy thing. 159 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,000 Because you will ruin your fucking, like, listen, there are some movies that have been objectively, not based on the content. 160 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Are funny to watch and are a good ride. 161 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,000 No, I'm not. 162 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:32,000 And are super enjoyable. 163 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:38,000 And then you go and read the books and it's like, holy shit, that fucking movie was Dogwater. 164 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:39,000 Yeah. 165 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,000 So I'm just an advocate for watching first and reading second. 166 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:46,000 Because the worst thing that happens when you read the book after you watch the movies, you're like, wow. 167 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,000 There's a point of. 168 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:48,000 His book is so fucking cool. 169 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,000 Well, because- 170 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:50,000 These characters are so much more interesting. 171 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Yeah, because the movie's never going to be able to like fully show that. 172 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,000 Unless you do it over like 35 movies like Doon's Planning on Doing. 173 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,000 Oh, yeah. 174 00:07:58,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Oh, Doon, yay. 175 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,000 Or the MCU. 176 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000 The colossal amount of comic book character stuff they have to pack in. 177 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:08,000 But so I was working with people like Robert, who had all, which is still so crazy. 178 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Only seeing the movies and I heard about the books. 179 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:19,000 Who like, I read the books and like, I was like, I have like, it's not really a secret that I read as someone who's very much been on Tumblr for a very long time. 180 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,000 I thought these people were fake. 181 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,000 I didn't think there were people out there that actually had like only seen the movies and didn't even know they were books. 182 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:26,000 That was crazy. 183 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,000 There was a crazy conversation for me to have. 184 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,000 So I had people like that and then I also had people who had read all the books. 185 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,000 But it had been a couple of years. 186 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,000 And then- 187 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:36,000 That's a shirt for Camp Jupiter. 188 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:37,000 Yeah. 189 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:44,000 And he talks about how much certain characters mean to him and pretty much spent the whole session fanboying over individuals that he made camp. 190 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:45,000 He was so cute. 191 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:54,000 So I knew that since I was like going to be working, I wanted to do something introductory and then with that also, with it being such a pre-established world, it's not something where someone can be like, okay, get it. 192 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:55,000 Cool. 193 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:56,000 Like, what do I see around? 194 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:05,000 Because like in the Kids on Bike system and the thing that I love the most about it, and we'll probably do a whole episode this season about Kids on Bikes just because I love it so much. 195 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,000 It's so collaborative. 196 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Like it is like, yeah, there's a GM, but the players also have a like huge chunk in creating the world and shaping the world and like kind of GMing the world because they get like full control over their actions and certain points and stuff. 197 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,000 And this was kind of difficult to balance with that system just because it's so pre-established. 198 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:33,000 So I was like working with like, I was putting together, I was like rereading some of the books and like taking like chunks of text out and then I was going from like fan wiki pages and like putting all this together. 199 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:34,000 Yep. 200 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,000 So I put a fuck ton together and I wanted to have it printed out because I learned very quickly. 201 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,000 I want my physical stuff if I'm behind this. 202 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,000 I mean, I'm good either way, man. 203 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,000 I want physical, I want paper. 204 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 I don't want to be on my computer. 205 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:57,000 I think there's just a lot to be said about choosing to place a campaign in a world that already exists and already has source material versus like making your own from scratch. 206 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:58,000 Yeah. 207 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,000 Or kind of doing it in between. 208 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,000 And I think the collaborativeness can exist in D&D as well. 209 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:15,000 I think the biggest issue is that D&D specifically, fifth edition is so rule heavy and so text based and it really takes some, and this is not to say that you can't get into it. 210 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:32,000 I mean, pretty much all of season one was dedicated how to get into 5e specifically, but it takes a certain kind of person and group of people in a DM to make a collaborative space in a world that is so bogged down by mechanics and spells and classes and subclasses and multi classes. 211 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,000 And kids on bikes, kids on brim just doesn't really come with a lot of that. 212 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:41,000 So you can put a significantly bigger emphasis on the role playing aspect of it and less on the mechanics of the world. 213 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,000 So it just, it kind of depends. 214 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,000 I think you can achieve the same thing in both. 215 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:55,000 I think you just have to work a lot more to get that to happen in 5e as opposed to something like kids on bikes, kids on bikes, kids on brims that kind of happens a little bit more naturally. 216 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:56,000 Yeah. 217 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:02,000 Because you don't have 76 different spells to look at at any given time and you don't have a movement speed to pay attention to and you don't have an AC to keep in mind. 218 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:12,000 It's a lot more, it's free and I like that because I'm someone with more of a background and like stage improv and like less of like, I'm very good at the like. 219 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:25,000 And Robert helped me a lot and I do have to give him a shout out with the night before we ended up switching the days that we were going to play because we were going to play mine one shot on Sunday and we were going to play our kind of like one off of our regular campaign. 220 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,000 Yeah, which we'll talk about after hers and you'll understand why we made that switch. 221 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:35,000 Yeah, but we decided to switch like the night before at like 10 o'clock and I'm sitting there and I like at one point look at Robert and I'm like, I need fucking help. 222 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,000 I don't know how mechanics work in this like I'm mechanics are not my strength. 223 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,000 I'm great with the like creativity aspect of it. 224 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:49,000 I'm cool with coming up with names and puns and plot hooks and story hooks and story beats and like all of the creative aspects of it. 225 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,000 But when it comes to like making it tangible that part is very scary for me. 226 00:11:52,000 --> 00:12:00,000 So I had Robert help me a lot setting a stat block or figuring out how a specific thing works or what kind of a DC or an AC or that sort of thing to set for things is very difficult. 227 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:09,000 And I think that's why fighting in particular is so impenetrable to people that are more improv and background and want to GM or want to be a player. 228 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,000 But they don't necessarily know how to get into the game. 229 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:18,000 It's because there's so much to learn and there's so much to get bogged down in and there's so many mechanics to memorize that it's just impossible. 230 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Personally, I think you should start. 231 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:24,000 I think anyone who wants to get into it should start with listening to our podcast. 232 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,000 Listening to our podcast. 233 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:26,000 Listening to our podcast. 234 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,000 One of our friends. 235 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:33,000 I have six episodes is basically just straight how to play the game from both the human player side. 236 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:43,000 I think this is the fastest shout out to one of our friends that now listens to the podcast and he came over one night and he asked Robert legitimately and he goes hey. 237 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:51,000 And all of our friends are like hyper aware that we have a podcast because I talk about it a lot and like we mentioned a lot only one of our friends can sit like listens to it. 238 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,000 Everyone else is like oh we'll get around to it. 239 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,000 Oh we'll get around to it and we're like OK that's fine. 240 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,000 I'm only a little bit better about that but it's fine. 241 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:06,000 And he came over and he asked Robert he was like do you have a good like D&D podcasts that I can listen to and Robert started giving other recommendations. 242 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:14,000 Yeah I didn't even mention our before our podcast and then he tossed it over to me because he was like oh Maddie she knows like a lot more about like different podcasts and stuff and I do. 243 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:21,000 And she'll like kind of toss it over to me and I was like I looked at Robert and I was like are you being fucking serious right now. 244 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,000 I was like just it feels weird plugging your own shit. 245 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,000 I have no problem I'm shameless. 246 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:41,000 Yeah I mean you're also a lot more experienced with the social media stuff and I mean I'm in a world where I have to ask people for a lot of different things but I'm a lot more comfortable asking somebody for hundreds of thousands of dollars than like asking them to go listen to me talk for a couple hours so we can get a couple streams. 247 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,000 No I'm like I my job is so opposite of the spectrum. 248 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000 Begging on my hands and knees for people to support my artwork. 249 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,000 So this is nothing for me. 250 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:55,000 I'm just going to give you some small presentations and fucking budget package numbers and look at this look how pretty that is. 251 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:03,000 Wouldn't it be cool if you had your name on that if you just gave us a little bit of extra money like very different ways of approaching it but yeah she did great. 252 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,000 All I truly all I helped was mechanics and figuring out. 253 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:24,000 This person this is this item what does it do and even in other systems that aren't 5VM there's there's a lot to figure out in terms of how an item or a class feature or this or that works because ideally the things that you give your players augment their 254 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:36,000 experience as opposed to they constantly have to keep track of it or maintain it like there are some magical items out there that in mechanics that are just an absolute fucking pain in the ass to work with because there's a negative to them or you have to keep track of how many 255 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:47,000 times you've done this or how many times you've done that and it adds an option to combat or an option to role play and it's like cool I would love to just get the thing and not have to press the button every time. 256 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:52,000 Or it's like well did you forget that you had to maintain concentration on like shit like that. 257 00:14:52,000 --> 00:15:05,000 And kids on bikes is good and there wasn't a really I didn't need to give everyone magical items I wanted to because fun experience Jackson world if you know a lot of the demi gods will have like gifts from their godly parent so like 258 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:21,000 Annabeth has her little hat that makes her invisible and Luke RIP had a pair of shoes that grew wings and Percy Jackson has ripped ties and so I was like OK it would also be fun for these players because of the way that they built their stats 259 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:33,000 I will also say this was another really fun discovery from playing this game so I love everyone to death and I've talked about this before on this podcast of I play at a other than me it is a all male table. 260 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:50,000 At this point this is a PSA if you know anybody that is like between the ages of like I don't know if I can 19 to 23 that is a female and that plays like a female that would love to play in another setting or the table please please send them this direction. 261 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:55,000 I love my male friends there's some of the best friends I have please. 262 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:02,000 I am constantly there's this I thought everybody at that fucking table was going to take the same goddamn highest. 263 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:16,000 So the way that the kids on bikes and I'll get into this more later is basically a dice for each for each one of your stats and you do D 20 for your highest that and then D 4 for your lowest that so basically all the characters are min maxed. 264 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:31,000 Yep which is a fun mechanic and so I'm working with everyone one on one and I'm like working them through because they've never played in the system before and I'm explaining how it works and I shit you not every single one of them with the exception of one of them chose either fight. 265 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:44,000 Or grit as they're like as their D 20 fight is your brain fight is your like your all of that ability to fight as opposed to brawn which is like brute strength and then grit is like street smarts. 266 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:56,000 So you can imagine why a group of teenage boys or at least the characters that we were playing was would all choose one of those two to be really good at it when it wasn't it was like all of their stats were basically the same and I was just like okay. 267 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:13,000 See I didn't fault myself too much because I went in with a really specific idea of what kind of character I wanted to play and then I got there and realized that I needed to be a wholly different character just to assist Madison and with ropeling purposes because I wanted to be like cool kid like cracks a few jokes like blond hair blue 268 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:28,000 white like the popular guy that everybody wants to be that doesn't slay you know and then I realized very quickly that that just wasn't gonna work with the group of people we had because they already had very similar personalities like two of the people I feel like have very similar personalities 269 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:47,000 and have that like cool guy very few lines of dialogue gonna make jokes like hit the gritty like shit like that so I did I chose to be a lot more like a pretty and high energy and nervous and it worked really well and I think that's something that I've talked before about like feeling conflicted of like when you're playing 270 00:17:47,000 --> 00:18:02,000 as a character that you've built to be kind of selfish yourself centered and then you get to the table and you quickly realize okay that's not gonna work with this group is nobody else is gonna take no one else is gonna take the initiative to interact with each other and maybe that's just 271 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:15,000 because people aren't as comfortable I don't have as hard of a problem is just leaving motherfuckers like when I was like cool I'm gonna just go back and grab my shoes yeah it's like I'm just leaving y'all can go look at fucking swords I guess I don't 272 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:29,000 have interest in that but I'm gonna send as much hurt time leaving people know I do and that's why I was like like I'm one of our previous campaigns I was playing a character Magnolia who I talked about for and she's extremely selfish like the most selfish 273 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:45,000 to the core to the core just one of the most selfish people in the like literally in the multiverse like canonically that was true and there were times at the table I was like well I guess she's gonna double back and get someone because nobody else is going to 274 00:18:45,000 --> 00:19:03,000 she is up now I've got to play fucking friendly even though I don't want to and there's no reason for my character to it is just me as a player looking at Robert and Robert being like you gotta do something because I can't rely on anyone else in this moment to get it like to pick up what I'm putting down and that's also part of because we 275 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:17,000 understate what the other person is trying to do a lot of the time from GMN I mean the podcast has been a thing and we also do a lot of we I think we talked the most outside of the games about decisions being made on either side of the board so just trying to be there is a player or a 276 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:34,000 DM for the other person I think is a lot easier and a little bit like it is to an extent it's like hey I need this session to go really well I need everyone to stay on point I know that I'm gonna have to wrinkle a few of you can just like heard them from the inside yeah which I would love to have a relationship with all of my 277 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:48,000 players but they come in with their own agenda things that they would like to do and that's fine that's the game we're playing but when I've spent the last four steps four sessions playing damage control and I just need to get us back on track 278 00:19:48,000 --> 00:20:00,000 y'all just you gotta cooperate you gotta bend the knee you gotta take the L I would love for you to all be your main characters will get there I need you to just shut the fuck up and strap in and just watch the storytelling unfold and tell me yes or no 279 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:10,000 it's okay to have a plan to the table that's that's what I'm saying at the end of the and I would love for all of my players to be plants at the table but they they wouldn't all respond the same way that Madison does so 280 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:24,000 I love direction also that's an actor thing but it was really fun one of my highlights from the session so Robert was playing a character who was unclaimed he came in I knew from the beginning that I wanted one person at the table to be a child of Nike 281 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:32,000 because I think that that's really fun to me so I was really proud of the the magical item that he got which was a retro pair of Nike sneakers 282 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:45,000 it's clean and like oh my god what was it it was either like it was like a plus three plus all things you see anything's plus two to all failures and then all of my adversity dice or adversity tokens are worth double 283 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:57,000 yeah which is crazy I made everyone beyond broken and that's going to come back to bite me in the ass later I'm sure maybe for sure when I have players and one shot that you go like one more session to get through and then yeah 284 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:09,000 we'll probably take a significant break between the next one yeah I'm not too stressed about it but that was really really fun that was my question for viewers and also just out of my curiosity so you mentioned 285 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:20,000 the highlight what was a low light of the session like as being a DM that was one thing that you hit me or like shit I'm trying to decide how honest I want to be one thing in particular that was more you focused on this player 286 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:33,000 this is more me focused I think that I've always said before the main reason that I don't GM or DM is I've got too many control issues and I think that I think I did a pretty good job all things considered for myself 287 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:51,000 but I think there were times where I definitely felt like a lack of control and just kind of like okay I guess I guess that's what we're doing and it's not even in a way of like in something where it's like no I want to choose the decisions that you make 288 00:21:51,000 --> 00:22:05,000 it was like and I'm gonna cite a specific moment because Robert and I have talked about it in length already because we have our debrief sessions after every session that we play it's basically girl gossip but it's about Dungeons and Dragons 289 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:21,000 and there was a part where I was like okay here's this giant map and I mean like I paid $5 on Etsy for someone for someone's map and it was like incredible it had a list of like I think maybe 15 to 20 locations 290 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:29,000 it was a lot to look at from the player perspective I mean I was to the point where I was like cool I'm gonna close my eyes I'm gonna put my finger on the screen and that's where we're going 291 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:41,000 I had like 25 to 30 activities for them to choose from from what they wanted to do I had 40 character names written down in case anyone wanted to talk like I was when I say I was prepped 292 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:51,000 I was prepped to a point where everyone else at the table was like when I was sitting down there like planning and they were all like sitting down playing fucking magic and some shit and they were like that's you can stop 293 00:22:51,000 --> 00:23:01,000 you have like more than enough to continue this is good I think that's more than enough but there was a moment and it wasn't even that because I enjoyed the prep process and I really like that it was when 294 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:11,000 okay the first place they wanted to go was where I had anticipated them going and I tried not to anticipate that too much but I just know that this is a table full of teenage boys at this point 295 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:23,000 two of us had a 20 in fight so it was natural for us to want to go there the combat arena first because I know my players and I know the people at the table and I know that that's what they're going to choose so I had counted on that 296 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:35,000 what I didn't count on however was for these characters who after I had like spoken to the players none of them were martial like they had some high fight things but all of them were high in fight in like a very scrappy way 297 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:49,000 none of them were martial characters and they shouldn't be they're fucking 14 and this armory there's an armory there where it's got like swords and shields and I was so glad that that was the part that I dipped out of 298 00:23:49,000 --> 00:24:05,000 the way that I was like okay where do you all want to go next there's a lake where you can like you can go fucking canoeing you can go swimming there's an archery field there's a climbing wall that like shoots lava at you was at this point that I said hey I got a pair of shoes waiting for me back at the 299 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:19,000 cabin and a dip in a fucking swank ass orange shirt that everybody else seems to be in and I'm all about fitting in and being the best and looking cool so I'm going to go put on those swing shoes and then orange shirt y'all have fun so he dipped and everyone else was like armory and I was like 300 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:33,000 okay armory and this was like the one place where there was not an activity like all when I mean there were activities there were like Pegasus stables where if they chose to go there they could go horseback riding like each activity had looked so best way to fucking Pegasus 301 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:43,000 like each location had activities where you could do and that's what I love it should hear some of the activities you could do at these different locations and blah blah blah blah blah and they all chose they were like armory and I was like 302 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:57,000 what the fuck do I do this isn't a place and they were like can we like see which weapons called us and like this is a fucking Harry Potter I'm sorry there's not a wand that calls to you but like this is a world in which yeah you use these weapons when there is a 303 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:07,000 legitimate fucking war and we need to arm you because that is a thing that cannon will happen you are going on a quest and we need to give you weapons or when you're training in the fucking combat arena 304 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:21,000 they aren't like weapons that you can keep this is them basically like like I so I think from the player's perspective I think this is where as a DM you have to be careful about what kind of themes and sort of tones you're setting I don't think it was anything intentional 305 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:29,000 but the the whole theme or one of the big themes of the session was like finding the thing that was yours right so being claimed by your godly parent 306 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:43,000 you know like your magical item your shoes your glasses your shirt your this your that and so I think this idea of like finding the things that call out to you immediately on day one and then like those being your thing 307 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:54,000 I think some of us again I didn't go there so I'm gonna exclude myself from this some of us got caught up in the idea of like cool so like there's gotta be a weapon that calls out to me then or this or that 308 00:25:54,000 --> 00:26:02,000 and so I think just that theme of finding things and it becoming yours for the rest of time was just like enticing enough that it's like cool 309 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:10,000 I'm gonna go to the armory and see what weapon basically has my fucking name written on it in Greek you know what I'm saying and that was one of those moments is why I wouldn't there be that there like that makes fucking sense 310 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:19,000 and that was the moment where me as a GM I was being like okay this is what my players want to do and I want to to reward that and I want to like 311 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:32,000 encourage that and encourage them to do the things they want to do however this is the one fucking spot on the map that I have nothing for there's nothing to do and it is simply because there's fucking nothing to do it to shed 312 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:43,000 with weapons in it so and I was like and it's the imprevious I think this is where fire in your shoes and I had nothing prepared I think I would have said something along the lines of it's down for repair 313 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:51,000 or I would have named dropped a character and been like so and so gotten to a fight it got carried on over there it's down for repairs to the art don't go there 314 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:59,000 and then I would have directed them somewhere else or I would have had them run into somebody or something on the way to the armory that would have fully just sidetracked and been like hey let's go to this right now 315 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:12,000 like me and you right now and just completely ignore the fact that they want to go there yeah I think you don't always have to beat them over the head with a switch but sometimes you just got to be like hey man respectfully I don't have anything for you so here's the world's largest 316 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:23,000 fish hook that I'm gonna shove you on whether you want to put it in your mouth or not and then I'm just gonna yank you left and it definitely felt like I was doing that at points yeah now there were for there were for sure times and that was another thing as a GM where I was trying to figure out 317 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:32,000 and be like am I shoving something down someone's throat to a point where I'm like this is an okay thing for me to do because they're not picking it up or is this a point where I give up 318 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:41,000 but what's crazy though what's crazy is that those hooks were so beyond fucking visible and then not a single one of them except with the exception of a few a handful of times 319 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:51,000 knew that they were hooks they were just like damn that's a cool thing I guess let me do it again yeah let me do it again like I can do this one thing let me do it again 320 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:58,000 they were trying to get claimed by their godly parent and I was like huh it seems like you have a natural affinity for this or like this is going your way 321 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:10,000 they were like huh that's neat next and I'm like yeah they were like that's so cool I'm gonna go to the next thing you don't want to explore that like the whole and I think it would be different if the goal of the session was not to get everyone claimed by their godly parent 322 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:21,000 because that was a point where I'm like cool I can't make you ignore this because we only have three hours and that's it so you have to do this actually 323 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:32,000 and it was just kind of that like balancing control and like letting play and also like manufacturing and this is gonna sound kind of fucked up but making your players think they have more control than they do 324 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,000 100% I mean I think that's 325 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,000 trying to find that balance of like tricking people into thinking things are their idea 326 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:49,000 I think that's a huge skill that comes with doing it over time and why I would advise anybody that's done it for the first time and is like damn I wish I could have had them do this or I really wanted them to do that 327 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:57,000 like it's a game that you set out several hours for multiple times in a month if you're lucky to play because it takes a long time 328 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,000 yeah 329 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:05,000 and you'll very quickly realize that you put people in a world where they can do anything they want to with the pace they want to do it in the way that they want to do it 330 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:15,000 they are not going to do what you want them to do unless you are particularly good at it hooking people and sending them to the places and the things that you want them to do without doing it overtly and even then sometimes it doesn't work 331 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,000 yeah 332 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:26,000 because it's a it's a creative system people are well aware that it's a creative system and so it's not as simple as saying hey here's a really big golden key and there's a really big golden door 333 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000 there are some guards over there so you should figure out how to get the guards away and then open the door 334 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:36,000 like you're three sessions deep and they're like trying to become politicians to get to the room behind the door 335 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,000 and it's like okay 336 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:47,000 and they've had a key for like basically 24 48 hours in real life in in-game time and it's like you really could have just been like hey guys what's that 337 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,000 and rolled like a DC 15 Christmas check and then opened the door 338 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:51,000 yeah 339 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:55,000 but instead we're we're choosing to like rule the town to get control of the building to then 340 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,000 re-hire new guards that are on our payroll to then open the door 341 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:04,000 like it's just kind of one of those things when you set people loose in a world where they can do whatever they want however they want to 342 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,000 that's exactly what they're going to do 343 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,000 yeah 344 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000 and it just takes time to get better at not letting them do that 345 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:10,000 yeah 346 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,000 or to let them do it in the ways that you want them to 347 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:13,000 oh yeah 348 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:17,000 but yeah so that was that's kind of my soapbox and my big thing 349 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:25,000 but overall I think it went really well and who knows maybe I'll even GM a one shot this season we'll see 350 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:26,000 whoa 351 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:27,000 exciting stuff 352 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,000 still the player though this is still the little vacation for me 353 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:39,000 I was fine enough for those that haven't listened for a while I started as a player and then have sort of become a forever DM 354 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:43,000 I really really really enjoy doing both 355 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:48,000 I just don't always fall naturally into both 356 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:56,000 I enjoy being a player but it's almost frustrating sometimes just because I'm so used to having that not level of control but 357 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:02,000 the sort of difference in agency you have as a player versus a DM is very different 358 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:12,000 like having made the mechanics for a world and having like having set all of the boundaries and the limits for a thing and then having to be on the other side of that and go 359 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:19,000 internally I really want to look at the DM and go that doesn't make any fucking sense and you know that was an ass pool 360 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:26,000 but I can't do that because that's disrespectful to you as a player and as a DM so I'm just going to accept that I can't do this thing 361 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:35,000 it's just it's difficult especially whenever at like you're the pod that you plan everyone's a very different DM so it's some people are more lenient rule of cool 362 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,000 other people are like this is what I've said that's how we're going to do it 363 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:44,000 and so to be a player and somebody is a different style and you don't agree with the decision or like a world building piece 364 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,000 it's just like I roll and keep going so 365 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:57,000 you know down the line I'm going to be a problem for sure because I'm very loose with I very loose with my my GMing style and very like yeah that sounds cool 366 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,000 sure let's do it fuck it 367 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:12,000 like very very loose and very malleable as opposed to like actually paying it I'm not mechanic focused and I'm sure that that's going to be fucking infuriating for some of the people that we play with who love the mechanics 368 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:19,000 and who love the rules and don't get me wrong I do too but when I'm in control I like to ignore those because it's easier for me 369 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:26,000 and this comes to like what's your what's your more versed in right like I don't do a whole whole lot of role playing myself because it's not 370 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:34,000 it's not what I'm most vested in it's not where my sort of forte is in terms of all of the skills you have to have as being a DM 371 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:43,000 the mechanic side of things and the DC and the plot twist and the really hard mechanics and fun story points like that is what I consider myself pretty good at so 372 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,000 hey this shit sucks do you have something you want to send in to make it better? 373 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:53,000 criticisms, topics you'd like to see discussed or an advertisement you'd like to run maybe you even want to sponsor an episode 374 00:32:53,000 --> 00:33:05,000 if so shoot us a message at mc460 at evansville.edu or dms on instagram at crescent magazine or we'll never get better like these fucking guys 375 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:14,000 usually it's a lot of players talking amongst themselves interacting with maybe two to three NPCs in a session and then figuring out plot things or you know like playing combat 376 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:22,000 and getting really involved in the mechanics or like that's just more my stuff yeah so it's nice to see sort of two different styles but speaking of my style 377 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:27,000 I think it's a good way to segue into the session that I had which is way different 378 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:34,000 so I have been a DM now for I think two years maybe going on three I've lost track 379 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:42,000 and I've been DMing for the same group of people for a while that transition once we came back from studying abroad I now DM for about five people 380 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:46,000 four of which I've known for or three of which I've known for a really long time 381 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:55,000 and then the other two I met in the last two years but we just started playing in superhero campaign not that long and in one of the previous episodes I talk about just how off the rails it got 382 00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:08,000 in terms of story like it just we were on track I had I had hooks crazy turns I had I had players in the right places I had NPCs I had plot lines 383 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:18,000 and then a particular player and kind of on my behalf as well as a DM I let things get a little bit too crazy and I let a certain player make a lot of really insane decisions 384 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:26,000 and we wound up basically in Flashpoint which for those that don't know a lot about comics sort of an offshoot of the main DC timeline is called Flashpoint 385 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:35,000 it's basically where if the flash goes back and saves his mom and she dies it's a canonical event to his story and by saving his mom he never becomes the flash 386 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:45,000 and then a whole bunch of crazy fucked up things happen Batman goes dark his fucking wife is is the Joker his son like it's it just goes crazy 387 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:54,000 it's not Bruce Wayne that becomes the fucking Batman it's Thomas Wayne Bruce is the one that got shot in the alley also Batman kills motherfuckers Aquaman is a terrorist 388 00:34:54,000 --> 00:35:08,000 like it just goes off the rails Superman's locked up in a fucking prison because he's an alien like it ends with fucking it's not doctor Manhattan but somebody else that's kind of on that level basically blows himself up and 389 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:16,000 eviscerates the whole world yeah so then flashed ends up having to run back in time stops himself from saving his mom and then the whole thing gets reset 390 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:28,000 but the the universe is kind of very similar in the way that I decided that I wanted to play one last session set in the what if flashpoint version where I just let that players bad decisions lead to bad consequences 391 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:43,000 it was it was one of the most fun sessions I've ever played however comma and it was like one where I was like I wish we had recorded that because we've talked about recording some of our sessions and I was like because that was like it felt like it was one of those where it felt like a perfect session 392 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:59,000 however I know that it was one of those things where it was like this me this will mean nothing to anyone else in the world but god damn it was it was brutal and it was like not as brutal as I thought it was going to be or it could have been 393 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:08,000 and it definitely could and talking to Robert he was like yeah I could have gone down that like really dark path and I mean it was pretty dark to begin with very dark 394 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:23,000 but it was an interesting experience to be on because I've done one shots before but never in like the primary universe with the primary characters that I was playing and this was just kind of a way to like reset the timeline because essentially the way that we left off was the last session we had before we went to break 395 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:37,000 I talked to the player who made the decisions and I was like hey listen I think everybody is at a position where we all really just want to get back to the way we lost the plot things have gotten really serious and really dark really quick the stakes are really high for level five 396 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:56,000 and level seven characters like we are at like basically DC fucking or yeah like like difficulty rating twenty to twenty five level stuff like we are end of times and you all have just barely cracked like teen Titan level power 397 00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:09,000 like not even that they are infinitely more competent than you all are as a team because you haven't had the time to become a team yet and we now have to go basically fight Superman and the fucking government like it just got insane so 398 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:19,000 I was trying to find a way to creatively like Doctor Strange, Spider-Man No Way Home like just fucking whoop just flip it all back 399 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:30,000 and just say everybody forgot about what happened so that way we could keep some of the story points and the plot points that we liked the most while getting rid of all of the bad 400 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,000 there was a lot of doxing it was crazy 401 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:39,000 there was a lot of doxing but I didn't want to just do it in a one day you all wake up and forgot everything that happened 402 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:51,000 Merry Christmas we're back on the road I wanted to do it in a more creative way and so I had spoken with my fiancee who's an English major she loves writing she's read a lot of fantasy stuff and we started talking about a time jump 403 00:37:51,000 --> 00:38:02,000 and then going forward from there but then there were still some issues that people have with characters because they were like I don't want to play this version of the character or I don't necessarily know if that person would want to continue being a hero 404 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:12,000 and it wasn't just one person there were several people that were thinking this like I don't know why my character would continue being a hero in this really shitty universe if we're just going to do a two year time jump 405 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:18,000 like nothing good has come of this person being in a superhero career so like why would I continue to do that 406 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:31,000 so I wanted to give people the chance to play that same character while also getting to export the natural end because I'm a huge consequences for your actions DM it's one of my favorite things to do it's like every action has a equal and opposite reaction 407 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:44,000 every like there are always consequences to your actions and I let that get away from myself in a particular character I kept setting consequences and I kept setting higher consequences in bigger consequences to be like please stop doing this 408 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:53,000 and he just like stepped on the gas and said you know what now fuck that I'm going to do it as many times as I can to see how long it takes to get to a reset 409 00:38:53,000 --> 00:39:07,000 so I just a moment at the table and Robert like had message all of us he was like everyone level your characters up to 15 and we didn't really know like quite like I kind of knew what was happening but like didn't know exactly what was happening because I've talked to Robert and everything 410 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:21,000 we had very long conversations about my character in particular and I told people to expect a reset and it's like level up to 15 and then we get a text message saying level up to 15 I had just gotten in the previous session to level five 411 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:35,000 level three so we had a level jump so we were like cool this is crazy and at one point at the table while we're playing the session the character who had made some decisions looks to all of us he went hey guys I speed read his to level 15 you know 412 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:45,000 yeah and that was unhinged yeah but it was basically my approach to the session was everything at this point that could go wrong has gone wrong 413 00:39:45,000 --> 00:40:01,000 and how does that play itself out in the next two to three years so I did a three year time jump and leveled everybody up from wherever they were to 15 and then basically sat down with each of them and said okay what happens between basically the end of last session to the beginning of this next one 414 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:17,000 and then I did a three year jump also gave them a setting I said okay so here's what's happened Marshal law has been instituted in this particular city the bots that are basically like fucking sentinels from X-men they essentially are made to adapt any kind of deviation and any power 415 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:33,000 they have been publicly announced on live television that they are real they exist so those have now been implemented because there's no reason to keep them behind the scenes if the public just knows they exist our number one hero basically stand in superwoman has just gone missing 416 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:49,000 has not been seen since the last big battle that she almost died in who is in theory the only person that could fix the situation and things are just bad like heroes are being executed deviants in general are being executed the equivalent of like Superman and the justice like kills the 417 00:40:49,000 --> 00:41:05,000 rest of the justice league on live television yeah like it was oh yeah the the equivalent of fucking Superman in the justice league basically goes and then I guess that the appropriate thing would be more captain america's that's kind of what his character is like captain america proceeds to basically one off 418 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:21,000 the bulk in everybody else on live television and so then society just goes cool well we can't do anything about that like we have these murder bots that are able to adapt any kind of power we have rogue captain america who's basically executing anybody that the government tells him to execute 419 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:37,000 marshal laws in like is implemented heroes are allowed to be heroes villains are being prosecuted like it's just it's all bad it's all right where's your character yeah I say cool so during that they were three year period where everything is going south what is your character 420 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:53,000 doing and they all took really different directions which is really cool we had one person that basically said I'm no longer a hero I'm helping with like essentially the underground and moving people from place to place we had another person that like attempted to be a hero for a while and then some limbs get removed 421 00:41:53,000 --> 00:42:13,000 by another character and now they're being a holy different hero and everyone thinks they're dead and somebody else that was like cool I'm a terrorist now I am responding in kind to what the government is now doing like they kill one of us I kill one of them they execute one of us 422 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:29,000 I'm maybe eating the bodies I'm draining their their bodies of energy on live television I'm sending a very public message that says fuck with us we fuck with you back and nobody appreciated that because all it did was escalate like the tension 423 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:45,000 and then one of our last character basically or I guess we had two more characters another character who's kind of the person started the problem decided he wanted to go on a redemption arc teams up with a villain a villain that is very well known to the team at this point who basically kicked off the sessions 424 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:59,000 kicked off our first half of the campaign and works with her hand in hand to basically create a device that's going to fix everything and then our last hero gets taken he's a he's sort of a robot one of these murder bots that has gone rogue 425 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:15,000 and got sort of hooked up with the team and just started becoming a real boy like Pinocchio style learning how to be a person whole thing and then all of a sudden they figure out how to basically bring him back and fix his code and he becomes like the flagship the number one for this bot like army 426 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:31,000 and so he's basically been the face of all of this really heinous execution rounding up deviance type stuff and it was really sad for his character because at some point in the session we made the connection that he was the one that caused the disarmament of his previous teammate 427 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:43,000 and also thought that she was dead the whole time like everybody thought she was dead and he was the reason for that I think one of my favorite decisions that I ended up making was faking my character was the one that got her arms ripped off by the way 428 00:43:43,000 --> 00:44:01,000 and I think one of my favorite decisions I ended up making was faking her death I didn't realize how much of a like impact that was going to be and that was a really cool thing to see because I think one of the things we also struggled with kind of as like a table or at least in in Robert and I's eyes was cohesion we didn't feel like a team 429 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:23,000 it just didn't feel like we had a lot of investment in each other like we were around each other but we weren't like interacting that much and then to flash forward into this world where it's like cool team fucking disbanded we haven't seen each other for three years and we all joined up for the first time and even though we were split up for most of that like session because we had to be because we were like attacking different parts of the city at once 430 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:39,000 but it felt like for the first time that we were fighting as a unit and like as a like jet like it was a jazzing and figuring out where people were going and whose powers were best suited for what task yeah and it was it was a really cool like team building in a way like they're like 431 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:59,000 like we're going to play out the possible worst things that could happen to these characters and everybody cried at least once people cried I cried like I didn't expect to everyone cried and the tears came so much earlier than I expected and it came from places I didn't expect it was investment in each other's characters and finding out what happened to other people 432 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:13,000 they got people misty eyed first which was crazy to me because it's like you're just hearing about what's happening to someone else during this time jump and we all know that this is going to be reset we know that this isn't the end but like it still felt that like scary and that real 433 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:37,000 yeah the consequences like and I preface the session going into and I said hey guys I want you all to be prepared and to know this going into it because this session is going to be painful this is going to be reset I don't care how I have to do it by the end of this session none of the actions you make today are going to matter in the long run except for your performance at the table and how you would like to see your characters sort of send themselves off in this one off scenario 434 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:53,000 and I think that's kind of why I didn't really expect people to get as invested as they did because the consequences were very much like we knew that everything was going to get reset and I think it almost kind of had this like it doesn't really matter what you do feel to it but people still got very invested right away 435 00:45:53,000 --> 00:46:15,000 and I think part of that was at least in my world building in my setting up of it I didn't want to treat it like it was going to be just a one off I wanted people to play like this is the world that you are leaving like this is essentially your send off like what is your character do in the final moments of this universe like are you just going to lay down and hide in the bunker somewhere and like hope things go right 436 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:31,000 or are you going to like really stand up and be a hero and sort of embody that that whole theme and messaging of the campaign and that's exactly what everybody did everybody got invested from the very beginning everyone was really into what had been going on on the other characters lives 437 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:53,000 the character Madison's character sort of really serves a catalyst for bringing everybody back together because when we were talking Madison's character previous to all of this was like this up and coming really colorful really bright really like what it means to be a hero kind of hero and then everything kind of ends very abruptly for her and then of course with like super woman basically going 438 00:46:53,000 --> 00:47:21,000 MIA right around the same time it's like oh who do we look to like our number one two three and four basically all gone like Captain America's gone rogue our number two guy disappeared in the last big fight super woman basically self exiled herself so we're going to look to the only other person that's like up and coming who's this like really bright shining character who continues to operate in the dark days and then she fucking dies yeah and she dies and like in the public's eyes she dies in a really terrible fucked up way so it's like 439 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:34,000 there's no way we can recover from this is a society like it is just all bad and I think having that background and having that story really brought everybody together because everyone got super into the role play aspect of it and be like holy shit you're alive 440 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:48,000 yeah and that means so much like even to these characters that had really spent a lot of time together everyone I think felt responsible for the events that happened in the session before last and so I think that paired with just the seriousness and the sadness of it it was like 441 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:56,000 no where we like we're not responsible for her dying but in this weird way because we disbanded and we made all these decisions and we let these things happen we are 442 00:47:56,000 --> 00:48:04,000 yeah and so this is an opportunity for us to come together as a team like in the end days and really try and make something count and that's a hundred percent when everyone dead 443 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:07,000 and I think that's why it was as good of a session as it was 444 00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:25,000 and it was the the moment that my character basically ended up working with the superwoman and is like trying to put together one last like fight against this organization and as I'm like sending out this message and I'm like doing a little speech or something that was like really bad because it was fucking nine in the morning and I was tired 445 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,000 he's all very improv-y out the clock 446 00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:42,000 and I was at you or someone at the table was like are you like wearing like are you in front of your mask off yeah basically being like did you take your mask off and I was like oh I didn't even think about the fact of like yeah I've been operating these past several years is like a hero is a different character 447 00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:50,000 she dies goes underground basically stops putting on the the main character costume and then puts on another one which is just relevant for the moment she's she's talking about 448 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:58,000 and so I was like oh well I guess that makes sense for me to like be kind of like as a final fuck you have like actually you can't stop me bitch 449 00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:00,000 you never really killed me motherfucker 450 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:06,000 and like I thought that that was just gonna be like a fun texture point and then that was like one of the points that like kicked off and um 451 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:14,000 yeah that was kind of how we like began the session was sending out that call to like the rest of the city's deviants not even just heroes it was like anybody that still wants to fight 452 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:21,000 power or I guess deviation no deviation powers no powers like it doesn't matter a hero villain everybody is welcome at the table 453 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:27,000 which is what everyone said right up until our terrorist players showed up and everyone stood up really quick and put in guns at him 454 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:37,000 and then he was like whoa guys what's going on and everyone's like you literally have been a like you've been a terrorist like you've been torturing people on live television I don't 455 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:45,000 what do you mean why am I pointing a gun at you man like you people now and he was like no I eat the bad guys which works 456 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:55,000 he rolled high enough on his check which works but yeah it was it was an incredible session as telling everybody I think I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to top it 457 00:49:55,000 --> 00:50:04,000 I'm sure I will just because we'll actually have time to world build and hopefully when that final session comes on the regular timeline when things are not time jumped 458 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:11,000 it'll mean just as much when we get there and I'm hoping to have another session similar to that but yeah I was really impressed with everyone's role play just because 459 00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:18,000 it was insane especially everyone really in a world where you know your your actions don't have consequences because that's what this world was 460 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:27,000 people were more invested in this one than they were in previous sessions were like consequences of actions yeah where actions had real consequences and consequences had real actions it was 461 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:36,000 interesting which is nuts it was weird for sure it was a weird feeling to see everybody invested in like this one off fuck you we're never playing it again 462 00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:48,000 which was crazy and it was so cool also seeing because one of the things that I going back to kids on bikes because it is not a combat oriented system a lot of the times that you're like in a like a 463 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:59,000 conflict situation you're using other means to solve it as well so you're using your words and stuff and I think that this very easily with us being like level 15 characters for the first time and getting to be like cool 464 00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:08,000 I now have a power called black hole where I can make a fucking black hole and there are black holes of people like you you would think that you would have an inclination to basically just pull out the 465 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:19,000 fucking our level nine shit and our equivalent of like level nine spells and just use those but there were people who were like dealing with with conflict and combat situations in non combative ways 466 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:34,000 yeah which surprised me and was really interesting and I thought that also really helped like the compellingness of like a lot of this like the nature of like yeah I'm going to cause problems and like try and solve these situations without like just throwing 467 00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:46,000 hands immediately yeah it was really cool very contradictory to the way that like previous sessions have been played and it's interesting I don't know if it's a system I'll continue I think I still wouldn't introduce formal combat and things like that 468 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:57,000 but sort of the way that I played it was I said listen guys you know me I like combat I like doing the like combat on session and the combat off session and kind of rotating between just because I think it's a good balance to give people that are more into role play role 469 00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:12,000 play role plan people that are more into hitting things hitting things but the one thing that like kids on bikes kids on brooms offers is combat that still has a pretty big focus on narrative so it's it's like you're you're rolling a post scores it's like fight 470 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:23,000 against brawn or flight against brain or shit like that and I wanted to I wanted to operate the session similar as I said listen we don't have time for combat if we did the session would probably take twice as long 471 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:39,000 there's just no way you all are dealing with 15th level stuff and we have four hours like that's it people got to go to work so I basically I didn't really institute like a formal initiative order I didn't really do combat and part of it too was the 472 00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:53,000 the stakes in the levels that these people were playing at to do combat would just be unfair yeah and that's because basically the way that I done it was I rolled 2d10s and I said listen whatever this number comes out to be that's how many of these murder bots are there 473 00:52:53,000 --> 00:53:09,000 are so many atlas bots are present in the city and atlas bots are if you've been listening to the episode and you haven't put this together atlas bots are basically the one thing that like can take down basically anybody are superwoman character fought one of them at the end of the session before this and almost lost 474 00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:25,000 yeah which was insane I didn't even think that was gonna happen I spent hours building this character and I was like no way she's gonna even get touched in this fight and then she came away with like a quarter of her health yeah so you're basically fighting potentially hundreds of these 25 level 475 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:43,000 fucking bots I rolled there were like 45 of them in the city and so to do combat in that way would have felt like an extra layer of cruel because it's if we actually do combat and you actually have to deal with the stats and the abilities that these things have you're going to lose before you even get a turn 476 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:57,000 yeah because the level of damage that these things can put out in the level of health that they have even if I take base and don't roll for them it's just gonna be fucking unfair and there's a level of like cruelty of like cool you die before you can even get to the 477 00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:15,000 that's right I mentioned ahead of time I was like some of you might not even make it to the final plan like you might get through strategy and you could die on the way there like if you fail your stealth check cold one of those bots picks up your location you are now in a situation where several of them are on their way to you and 478 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:30,000 you can run the risk of them showing up to your strategy or like strategy meeting which was already like a risky move that the characters were making them all in the same place yeah we were rushing against the clock because one of the the bots knew where we were and was actively coming so it was like 479 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:41,800 a bit the soak that someone took it from you and below it was like four people dead and it had werde on there no specific 피야거 any way different or any way from here nobody has been at all to have like five mind 480 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:47,300 If we tell this group of like 45 people that fucking murder bot number one is on their way here 481 00:54:47,300 --> 00:54:50,100 No one's gonna stay. Yeah, no one's gonna be interested in talking 482 00:54:50,100 --> 00:54:53,960 No one's gonna put it together because it's very much about self-preservation mode at this one 483 00:54:53,960 --> 00:54:58,700 It's like how many of us are gonna walk away from this room alive and basically just remain characters 484 00:54:58,700 --> 00:55:02,220 Those are the only people to lift. Yeah, everybody else died. Holy shit 485 00:55:02,220 --> 00:55:07,800 Everybody in that room with the exception of the the main characters died not a single other person walked away 486 00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:13,760 I mean, I guess prodigal was there and she was the crazy chick she was working with fucking lived. Yeah, she lived just barely 487 00:55:14,420 --> 00:55:19,080 She had a few in Parker made it one of the NPCs 488 00:55:20,700 --> 00:55:25,040 Think Parker prodigal with the only two non-player characters that walked away from that alive 489 00:55:25,300 --> 00:55:27,300 Smyther died boulder died lolly died 490 00:55:28,620 --> 00:55:30,620 He wasn't there. He wasn't present. Yeah 491 00:55:31,100 --> 00:55:34,140 The gang and the cops died Commander Sloan died 492 00:55:34,780 --> 00:55:36,780 Ricky died 493 00:55:36,780 --> 00:55:39,060 Um, Godfather wasn't there, but he also died 494 00:55:39,700 --> 00:55:42,020 Yeah, it was rough man. It was bad 495 00:55:42,020 --> 00:55:48,380 It was it was also a return of every NPC that we'd ever met was in this meeting was kind of me 496 00:55:48,380 --> 00:55:51,980 Just being like I want to touch face with the other players to figure out what we're doing 497 00:55:51,980 --> 00:55:53,980 so we're not all attacking once 498 00:55:54,300 --> 00:55:58,800 And it was that was another like very painful moment of like cool 499 00:55:58,900 --> 00:56:04,460 You're standing in the even some people that like hadn't met to there are some people that I introduced for the first time in this session 500 00:56:04,460 --> 00:56:11,380 To just kind of be like I mean realistically these few people in my source book. They're they're surviving. Yeah, I guess Rexford lift 501 00:56:12,420 --> 00:56:15,820 Yeah, I guess non-Batman Bruce Wayne lived 502 00:56:16,900 --> 00:56:19,820 He was such an interesting character. Yeah 503 00:56:20,380 --> 00:56:22,380 Yeah, it was 504 00:56:22,500 --> 00:56:26,760 But yeah, it was in one of the comments that Madison made after the fact was that it felt like a funeral home 505 00:56:26,760 --> 00:56:29,580 Because it was like she was the person that was like hey guys 506 00:56:29,580 --> 00:56:34,500 Here's a picture of superwoman. She's alive in the background. She can't talk right now 507 00:56:34,500 --> 00:56:40,980 Also, I've been dead for three years like no, I'm not you all should come and meet up at this very specific place that everyone knows about 508 00:56:40,980 --> 00:56:44,220 And that a lot of people died in and we should have a strategy meeting 509 00:56:44,220 --> 00:56:49,220 Yeah, and then basically proceeded to stand at the front of the room and like wait for people to walk in 510 00:56:49,540 --> 00:56:52,240 So then she had to like greet them and shake their hand 511 00:56:53,020 --> 00:56:55,300 And this is her first time meeting a few of them 512 00:56:55,300 --> 00:57:02,260 This is also the first time meeting several people that thought she's been dead for three years and had a really vested interest in her being like alive 513 00:57:02,380 --> 00:57:03,740 it was 514 00:57:03,740 --> 00:57:09,700 One of the most painful and that was one of the moments where I was like I feel bad because I feel like I'm taking up a chunk of time as a 515 00:57:09,700 --> 00:57:15,640 Player but seeing everyone at the table be equally as invested. Yeah, everyone is like waiting to see the reactions to 516 00:57:16,060 --> 00:57:18,100 NPCs that walked in it was crazy 517 00:57:18,100 --> 00:57:21,380 And it was one of the most brutal like even just from an acting standpoint 518 00:57:21,380 --> 00:57:27,060 One of the most brutal things the good there was a moment where I told Robert the night before so my character 519 00:57:28,220 --> 00:57:30,500 has this best friend named Parker and 520 00:57:30,980 --> 00:57:34,740 It is he's her everything. They're inseparable 521 00:57:34,740 --> 00:57:35,940 blah blah blah blah blah 522 00:57:35,940 --> 00:57:40,220 And I've mentioned him before on this podcast of like making a joke of like if it's Parker versus the city 523 00:57:40,220 --> 00:57:45,780 She's choosing Parker and I told Robert and then she didn't and then she didn't and then I did it 524 00:57:45,780 --> 00:57:47,780 And it was one of the hardest 525 00:57:47,780 --> 00:57:53,260 And then she did not and there was a moment where I was like you have to let me say goodbye to this character 526 00:57:53,260 --> 00:58:00,340 Yeah, and the moment that he walked through that that could buy between Parker and Daisy was one of the most painful moments 527 00:58:00,340 --> 00:58:02,860 I've ever had at the table sucked just it was that was 528 00:58:03,300 --> 00:58:06,860 It's like that you're so nervous and you're so choked up in the moment 529 00:58:06,860 --> 00:58:09,500 It's like none of this is real but also at the same time 530 00:58:09,500 --> 00:58:15,500 I have to potentially tell my best friend who by the way previous to this Parker thought along with everybody else that she 531 00:58:15,500 --> 00:58:19,660 Was dead for three years like has already mourned her passing found out she was a superhero 532 00:58:19,660 --> 00:58:20,660 That's a web blast 533 00:58:20,660 --> 00:58:25,940 We don't even get to know how he deals with that and then finds out actually no it's my best friend and now she's dead 534 00:58:26,060 --> 00:58:31,860 Yeah, it was like I found out that my best friend was a superhero in the same breath that I find out that she's dead 535 00:58:31,860 --> 00:58:34,660 And I'm never gonna see her again and then three years later 536 00:58:34,660 --> 00:58:36,260 I see her face on a television 537 00:58:36,260 --> 00:58:42,460 He balls and then he shows up and he's like hey ready to join the fight also we have to talk before we leave like 538 00:58:42,460 --> 00:58:49,060 What the fuck it was that was painful and that was a moment where I was also like really deeply affected as a person seeing 539 00:58:49,060 --> 00:58:53,020 Other people be affected at the table because they were like it was misty-eyed for everyone 540 00:58:53,180 --> 00:58:59,420 Everybody was really invested seeing like some of the conversations that happened in characters on a percent. It was just it was brutal 541 00:58:59,820 --> 00:59:04,180 God it was brutal. It was rough, man. It was a hard session for sure, but I think 542 00:59:05,020 --> 00:59:06,380 I 543 00:59:06,380 --> 00:59:10,380 Think I played it as well as I could I told everybody it was gonna be dark 544 00:59:10,380 --> 00:59:14,420 But the more that we started playing I was like a man. I really want to give these guys a chance 545 00:59:14,420 --> 00:59:16,420 I don't want it to be one of these things where 546 00:59:16,940 --> 00:59:24,220 Yes, realistically these level 15 characters are going to get fucking wiped because the level 25 character that I built based off 547 00:59:24,220 --> 00:59:29,340 Superwoman almost lost a 1v1 with one of these things. There's no fucking way that these people walk away alive 548 00:59:29,460 --> 00:59:34,540 Yeah, but I was like, you know what give me some roles. Tell me what power you want to use 549 00:59:34,540 --> 00:59:35,620 We're not gonna do combat 550 00:59:35,620 --> 00:59:41,780 Just tell me what thing on your list of fun bags or fun tricks in your bag you have and give me a role and tell me 551 00:59:41,780 --> 00:59:44,780 What that dice number is and I'll tell you if you live that encounter and we just 552 00:59:45,060 --> 00:59:46,860 There was one particular 553 00:59:46,860 --> 00:59:50,260 Encounter where it was basically we had two different teams that ended up splitting off 554 00:59:50,260 --> 00:59:56,340 We had distraction team and infiltration team. So there was what's crazy was this whole thing was basically on a gamble 555 00:59:57,220 --> 01:00:03,580 There was this idea or this piece of information that was discovered really early on in the campaign that yes these robots 556 01:00:03,580 --> 01:00:07,280 They have a switch. It's basically a manual override. We don't know who holds that switch 557 01:00:07,280 --> 01:00:10,680 We don't even know where that switch is but we have a pretty good guess 558 01:00:11,740 --> 01:00:17,220 Also, we now have a bomb that sets off all electronics, but it's also a hydrogen bomb combined 559 01:00:17,220 --> 01:00:20,420 So it's not only a blitter obliterating everything within a certain radius 560 01:00:20,460 --> 01:00:22,980 It's also frying all technology permanently 561 01:00:22,980 --> 01:00:26,100 So the best bet at this point is to try and get that bomb as close to 562 01:00:26,740 --> 01:00:30,780 Wherever the command center is for these bots and just hope that they drop when it goes off 563 01:00:30,780 --> 01:00:33,200 Yeah, so we're gonna set up two different teams 564 01:00:33,200 --> 01:00:39,500 We're gonna set up team one which is gonna go to the other end of town and basically set off a distraction to try and draw as many of 565 01:00:39,500 --> 01:00:46,160 Those bots to them as humanly possible and then team B team 2 is gonna go to the building where we think fingers fucking crossed 566 01:00:46,540 --> 01:00:48,540 This command center is 567 01:00:48,700 --> 01:00:52,980 Because it's the most heavily fortified place in the city and it doesn't make sense for it to be anywhere else 568 01:00:53,660 --> 01:00:59,520 And so distraction team goes basically starts kicking up a bunch of shit one person loses control of their character 569 01:00:59,520 --> 01:01:06,520 It was kind of like venom doubt starts destroying buildings throwing like throwing cars almost ends up killing some of our NPCs 570 01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:09,760 Like is going nuts a storm kicks off in the same place 571 01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:12,480 And every single by road for it 572 01:01:12,480 --> 01:01:14,960 I got a number higher than the amount of bots that we had in the city 573 01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:15,920 It's all 574 01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:23,280 44 remaining bots that were our 40 remaining bots that were on standby all go to that end of the city like all of them and we had 575 01:01:23,280 --> 01:01:31,040 What we had two player characters there one NPC that didn't have powers. What it be for the vibes another NPC 576 01:01:31,040 --> 01:01:32,040 That also didn't have powers 577 01:01:32,040 --> 01:01:37,920 But I guess knew how to use a gun a guy that could teleport and a couple of gang members and a couple of cops dressed up in superhero costumes of 578 01:01:37,920 --> 01:01:40,320 Superheroes that had had died. Oh, yeah 579 01:01:40,320 --> 01:01:44,760 So that way they would draw more attention and then a fucking fish that could fly and generate water 580 01:01:45,760 --> 01:01:47,880 And that was it and it was like cool 581 01:01:47,880 --> 01:01:52,680 So it's this rag tag group of people two of which have worked together the rest of them would never be caught in the 582 01:01:52,680 --> 01:01:54,240 Same room together 583 01:01:54,240 --> 01:02:00,320 Basically fighting an army of robots that are specifically designed to kill people significantly stronger than all of them put together 584 01:02:00,320 --> 01:02:02,880 Yeah, like I think if I had actually done combat 585 01:02:02,880 --> 01:02:05,280 I think they could have taken out maybe two 586 01:02:05,320 --> 01:02:10,520 Yeah, like to it max like if I had played really smart the way that I've designed these bots to be 587 01:02:10,720 --> 01:02:13,820 That by that fucking combat would have been over within a turn 588 01:02:13,840 --> 01:02:17,120 Oh for sure within a turn like it just wouldn't have happened that way the play 589 01:02:17,120 --> 01:02:21,920 Distraction team and this is kind of fucked up to say when like looking back at the way we designed the plan 590 01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:27,060 Distraction team was not the most marshally capable. We were not expecting every body city to roll out there 591 01:02:27,060 --> 01:02:32,360 Distraction team is like I hope you guys live long enough for infiltration team to make their way into the fucking building 592 01:02:32,360 --> 01:02:38,360 And that was the goal pretty much it was rain just hope that people live it was like cool distract not fight distract 593 01:02:38,360 --> 01:02:43,360 Yeah, it was also very much like everyone that signed up was was very much cool 594 01:02:43,360 --> 01:02:49,520 This is so this is the suicide team like this is we go there was we hope that you all can set the bomb off and the bomb 595 01:02:49,520 --> 01:02:52,400 Works the way it's supposed to which it didn't in the new side squad 596 01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:55,980 It's team a when they live the one with like fucking Pete Davidson and 597 01:02:56,480 --> 01:02:58,500 Yeah, they all stormed the beach and they're like 598 01:02:58,920 --> 01:03:01,280 Bail us to fuck out and Amanda Waller's like nope 599 01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:05,740 This is where you're supposed to be and then they all die and then there's actually be on another beach 600 01:03:05,740 --> 01:03:09,600 It's like crawling in to the country. That's exactly what that was 601 01:03:09,600 --> 01:03:13,380 Yeah, it was like a deeply fucked up plan, but it was like listen 602 01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:20,240 So then we're gonna send superwoman in like three other people maybe four max to go into the building and just hope that they can get to 603 01:03:20,240 --> 01:03:25,600 The top yeah, so but what I was talking about how long one of these interactions on went on 604 01:03:25,600 --> 01:03:27,040 So at the very end of the session 605 01:03:27,040 --> 01:03:33,120 it was just distraction team left and they again had 44 bots and I'm like if I play this 606 01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:35,400 Realistically you all die within minutes 607 01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:42,320 And again not a single NPC with the exception of Parker because one of our one of our player characters threw them a pretty far ways away 608 01:03:43,120 --> 01:03:48,080 Everyone of them died like they get pulled apart. They get beaten. They get shot like it's it's brutal 609 01:03:48,760 --> 01:03:54,240 But our player characters every DC by the way every DC with the exception of a few that I said at 15 610 01:03:54,240 --> 01:03:56,040 There was not a single 611 01:03:56,040 --> 01:03:59,900 Difficulty that I had set for this table on this session that was not less than 20 612 01:03:59,900 --> 01:04:07,540 And so I was like you know what this is how I allow people to win if people can roll 20 or above and they continue to use their 613 01:04:07,540 --> 01:04:11,900 Abilities then maybe I will let them get out of this alive and they did I don't know how they fucking did it 614 01:04:11,900 --> 01:04:16,220 But they did one character took out 50 bots by himself another character took out 615 01:04:16,220 --> 01:04:18,380 I think 10 or 20 or I think it was 10 616 01:04:18,940 --> 01:04:22,620 Our flying fish man cod father ends up killing five by himself 617 01:04:22,620 --> 01:04:25,580 That was I think the one moment that I cried at the table was him going out 618 01:04:25,580 --> 01:04:30,060 Not even an NPC I was deeply attached to but I was like in that moment 619 01:04:30,060 --> 01:04:34,460 I said some really sad shit on his way out and everyone was like what the fuck and then he dies 620 01:04:36,260 --> 01:04:38,460 Yeah, so it was it was rough 621 01:04:38,460 --> 01:04:43,940 But somehow our player characters and distraction team made it and our player characters all but one 622 01:04:44,340 --> 01:04:46,660 An infiltration team make it out alive as well 623 01:04:47,300 --> 01:04:51,580 There was a really cool moment at the end of infiltration teams run where one of the characters is like cool 624 01:04:51,580 --> 01:04:55,140 You press start on the bomb and then I TPS out and I was like hey guys 625 01:04:55,660 --> 01:04:57,540 This isn't really something that's been discussed 626 01:04:57,540 --> 01:05:01,140 But like you have to be one of these characters has to be present for this bomb to go off 627 01:05:01,140 --> 01:05:03,740 And it can't be the one that can teleport so 628 01:05:04,180 --> 01:05:09,260 You got one option and that's to basically make sure that the main guy lives long enough for bomb to go off 629 01:05:09,260 --> 01:05:13,420 And then the other guy TPs out before the bomb goes off. Yeah, if that's how this works 630 01:05:14,060 --> 01:05:20,060 And one of them kind of came in clutch with an ability speaking what that particular player was super rule lawyer that whole time 631 01:05:20,060 --> 01:05:22,460 He was a Madison's ass several times 632 01:05:22,460 --> 01:05:27,900 I was like every mechanic the only formal combat we had was between two different two different PCs 633 01:05:27,900 --> 01:05:32,900 And it was the the the bot and then my character and it was like it was brutal 634 01:05:32,900 --> 01:05:36,620 It was a it was a intense fight because there was one chance for this for this 635 01:05:37,460 --> 01:05:41,460 For the bot to be basically brought back into the fold so crazy character prodigal 636 01:05:41,660 --> 01:05:47,860 She was an antagonist for the first part of the campaign and basically what we discovered about her was that she was really 637 01:05:47,860 --> 01:05:51,500 Obsessed with grooming this team of heroes to be like her arch nemesis 638 01:05:51,500 --> 01:05:56,100 This is what she wanted so she will she goes out of her way to learn everything she can about these characters 639 01:05:56,100 --> 01:05:59,380 So that like oh, they're gonna win no, they don't oh, they're gonna win 640 01:05:59,380 --> 01:06:01,820 No, they don't because it's like I can't manufacture my own 641 01:06:02,140 --> 01:06:04,940 Like wins if I don't know everything about them 642 01:06:05,020 --> 01:06:09,480 So one of the things that she brought to the table was hey listen, I know you guys have a problem with the main guy 643 01:06:09,480 --> 01:06:11,480 Who's been out there killing everybody? 644 01:06:11,860 --> 01:06:16,540 Here's basically a key that can turn him off and then turn him back out like we're gonna hit the hard reset switch 645 01:06:16,540 --> 01:06:22,780 So there was one chance for that to happen and it almost didn't several times because he had a fucking AC of 24 when he 646 01:06:22,780 --> 01:06:27,420 Shielded yeah, and so it was it was brutal and he's sitting on the other end of the table and I'm like 647 01:06:28,060 --> 01:06:31,460 Sweatting in like trying to he's like he's like facing hands 648 01:06:32,460 --> 01:06:38,020 Wait a minute. He's turned away when he's like running away, so that's flanking right? It's like yeah flanking she gets advantage 649 01:06:38,020 --> 01:06:44,420 Yep, it was crazy, man. It was a lawyer behavior in the way of like I'm like a defendant and this is my client 650 01:06:44,420 --> 01:06:46,660 He was like chomping at the bit every time I was like cool 651 01:06:46,660 --> 01:06:50,380 This happens and it really sucks because the thing that we were all hoping happens doesn't happen 652 01:06:50,380 --> 01:06:52,380 And then he was like wait a minute wait a minute 653 01:06:52,380 --> 01:06:58,580 And it's like that's a testament of how involved other players were yeah, cuz no one else's role lawyer to me that hard before it was 654 01:06:58,580 --> 01:07:03,980 It was so I had respect that I was like, you know what there the mechanics work the way they do 655 01:07:04,820 --> 01:07:06,700 Let it happen 656 01:07:06,700 --> 01:07:12,980 Yeah, she was crazy man. It was absolutely fantastic session. We said everybody cried everybody had a moment that it was just like wow 657 01:07:12,980 --> 01:07:17,500 That's insane. That's sad. That's fucked up. That's so awesome 658 01:07:18,380 --> 01:07:20,660 And then we had our reset at the end and we got it 659 01:07:20,660 --> 01:07:25,860 We get to go back to the main timeline because the hero that fucked everything up sacrifices himself bomb goes off 660 01:07:26,460 --> 01:07:30,580 And a very flash pointing kind of way is like this is how I fix things 661 01:07:30,660 --> 01:07:33,660 Here's an opportunity for you to right your wrongs and that's exactly what he did 662 01:07:34,820 --> 01:07:40,740 Yeah wild session man wild session. I think now is a great point to move into our little segment that we're introducing 663 01:07:40,740 --> 01:07:44,660 Where we're doing a viewer submitted questions 664 01:07:44,660 --> 01:07:48,660 So these are going to come and we'll probably have a name for this later 665 01:07:48,980 --> 01:07:53,420 But please feel free to submit any questions. You were submitted questions. That's what we got going right now 666 01:07:53,420 --> 01:07:57,660 Yeah, well we'll workshop it but these are gonna come from Anthony 667 01:07:58,300 --> 01:08:04,300 And we're very very thankful for reaching out our first viewer submitted questions. So we're super excited. Do you want to pick one first? 668 01:08:05,300 --> 01:08:08,180 I figure I'll just read the whole thing and then we'll go sort of one by one 669 01:08:08,180 --> 01:08:13,060 So the question says I'm an inexperienced DM that wanted to ask some questions for table talk 670 01:08:13,060 --> 01:08:18,340 Do you know the best ways to play with six or more players? What fantasy books do you think you would? 671 01:08:19,340 --> 01:08:26,220 You think would be the best to adapt to D&D. Do you have any other RPGs like call off Cthulhu or fallout you guys like to play? 672 01:08:26,980 --> 01:08:29,740 How much do you think real-world luck affects the game? 673 01:08:30,740 --> 01:08:34,140 Good luck with your podcast. Thanks for reading. Thank you Anthony for submitting a question 674 01:08:34,140 --> 01:08:38,620 I'll probably hit the ones that are a little bit more DM focused. So the first one 675 01:08:39,300 --> 01:08:41,780 Do you know the best way to play with six or more players? 676 01:08:43,820 --> 01:08:49,860 Yeah, no, I mean to an extent to an extent it's don't to an extent it's like it's also a lot more fun 677 01:08:50,500 --> 01:08:55,620 For an inexperienced DM the more people you involve the more difficult it's gonna be 678 01:08:56,220 --> 01:09:01,940 But in a way, it's also a lot easier because it means that you don't have to focus on a particular 679 01:09:01,940 --> 01:09:05,340 Character as much as you would with like four or five 680 01:09:05,700 --> 01:09:07,700 Like finally have four people at the table 681 01:09:07,860 --> 01:09:12,820 I'm gonna have to spend a lot more work writing for them and I'm coming up with plot hooks and magical items 682 01:09:13,020 --> 01:09:18,820 Because they're only one of four people that are gonna be in rotation in terms of talking and role-playing and yada yada yada 683 01:09:18,820 --> 01:09:24,420 But if I have six seven people at the table, it's like everyone has this understanding that they're not gonna get a whole lot of time 684 01:09:24,420 --> 01:09:29,220 In each session because unless you're playing nine ten hour sessions, which is like almost half your day 685 01:09:29,220 --> 01:09:35,380 What time are you gonna get like you are one out of seven and that's just kind of something that comes along with playing with that 686 01:09:35,380 --> 01:09:38,940 Many people at a table. I think in terms of how to do it 687 01:09:39,940 --> 01:09:47,300 Being is organized as Madison was sort of talking earlier not for every session, but for your session zero slash session one 688 01:09:48,020 --> 01:09:53,900 You want as much information as you can possibly gather about your world in one place before you start that session 689 01:09:53,900 --> 01:10:00,460 That does not mean that you need to know 40 NPC names that does not mean that you need to know 20 magical items 690 01:10:00,460 --> 01:10:02,300 That does not mean that you 691 01:10:02,300 --> 01:10:08,060 Need to know six different dungeons that they could go to that just means that you need to know enough about the world 692 01:10:08,060 --> 01:10:10,980 That you're playing and that if somebody says what's that building over there? 693 01:10:11,140 --> 01:10:15,060 You can think for a second or look at your source book or look at your notes and go 694 01:10:15,060 --> 01:10:17,300 That's what this building is and that's what happens there 695 01:10:17,460 --> 01:10:20,620 Maybe this is the name of somebody that's there if you live in that town 696 01:10:20,620 --> 01:10:27,060 You need enough you need to know enough this when someone says so has there been like has there been a war in the last 697 01:10:27,060 --> 01:10:32,540 I don't know 10 15 years in this area. You can go yes and no this is who it was between this is who won 698 01:10:32,540 --> 01:10:37,440 If you want to know more go to the library pick up a book or go talk to that veteran in the corner 699 01:10:37,440 --> 01:10:41,100 Who I haven't convenient name for here on fantasy name generator like yeah 700 01:10:41,100 --> 01:10:45,940 You just need to know enough to get you through your first session and then the rest of it will start to fall in place 701 01:10:45,940 --> 01:10:52,740 Because you really have to get a vibe and a feel for how your players are gonna interact with you in the world before you can start 702 01:10:52,740 --> 01:10:56,100 Planning for them. Yeah at the end of the day. You're not prepping for like this 703 01:10:56,580 --> 01:11:02,460 Like non-living inorganic session world-building your planning for people. Yeah, you're prepping for people 704 01:11:02,460 --> 01:11:08,140 You're prepping for people's interest in the things that they're gonna want to interact with and the NPCs that they want to know more about 705 01:11:10,060 --> 01:11:12,340 And it's just kind of something that unfortunately 706 01:11:12,340 --> 01:11:17,640 I have to say will come naturally to you and you're really just kind of have to jump in but I think if there's any tip that I can 707 01:11:17,640 --> 01:11:22,300 Give you for playing with that many people know enough about the world that you can answer some really basic questions 708 01:11:22,300 --> 01:11:27,220 And if you can't answer those questions or if they dig deep or say go to a library go talk this NPC 709 01:11:27,220 --> 01:11:32,040 Yeah, and that'll get you through you just got to figure out where people are interested in going and what they want to do 710 01:11:32,040 --> 01:11:37,400 Yeah on a more mechanic level. I think with that many people leaning more role play focused 711 01:11:37,400 --> 01:11:42,560 And I'm like taking combat encounters a little bit easy just because combat does take so long 712 01:11:42,920 --> 01:11:49,660 Yeah, that's something you'll figure out very quickly combat especially with seven player economies or six or seven player economies 713 01:11:50,240 --> 01:11:57,440 Which action economy is just like a it's a term that basically refers to how many different things you can do with an action or two actions and 714 01:11:57,440 --> 01:12:01,120 A given turn in fifth edition or in any other TTRPG 715 01:12:01,320 --> 01:12:06,560 The action economy for fifth edition for any given player, especially when you move past level three 716 01:12:06,560 --> 01:12:12,400 gets insane you have free object interaction you have regular interaction you have 717 01:12:12,800 --> 01:12:18,360 Oh, what is the fucking feature that allows you to take an additional action action search which it gives you a whole other action 718 01:12:18,400 --> 01:12:22,360 You have actions that then turn that one action into two attacks instead of one 719 01:12:22,520 --> 01:12:25,920 You have the action to ready a spell you have disengage 720 01:12:25,920 --> 01:12:31,480 I mean there's the list of things you can do in fifth edition specifically when it comes to combat is as long 721 01:12:31,480 --> 01:12:37,740 As it basically is as tall as long as you are like it takes a while to figure that out with that many players 722 01:12:37,740 --> 01:12:39,540 I think it would be more 723 01:12:39,540 --> 01:12:44,140 Beneficial to fight like one big thing as opposed to like an army or something 724 01:12:44,140 --> 01:12:47,380 Yeah, those are fun when your players know how to kill them 725 01:12:47,380 --> 01:12:50,420 But like if you're just trying to get combat out of the way to get like a 726 01:12:51,400 --> 01:12:54,800 Something because when you've got one target you've got all these people working towards one target 727 01:12:54,800 --> 01:12:59,960 It's gonna be easier to manage fight a large thing or fight one my favorite thing one large thing at the end of a room 728 01:12:59,960 --> 01:13:05,980 And then maybe three or four small guys that are just there to support that gives you enough enough people enough 729 01:13:06,040 --> 01:13:09,480 Targets enough bodies for people to explore and figure out combat 730 01:13:09,520 --> 01:13:14,920 Well also giving you as a DM one large thing that you can then use to interact within that combat itself 731 01:13:15,440 --> 01:13:20,640 Because having a way for you to actually control the battlefield as a DM is a lot harder than you think it is 732 01:13:21,000 --> 01:13:25,160 Because unless you really know your stat blocks of your fucking your enemies very well 733 01:13:25,160 --> 01:13:27,680 You're gonna very quickly find out that you have two things you can do 734 01:13:27,680 --> 01:13:32,640 One of them makes sense to do every time when the other one only happens in a very specific circumstance 735 01:13:33,040 --> 01:13:41,000 That is never going to happen in this combat correct because you have seven players and by the time what before fucking enemy a gets close enough to 736 01:13:41,000 --> 01:13:45,320 Player one players fucking three through seven are gonna see a kill that they can take 737 01:13:45,760 --> 01:13:50,960 Your enemies not even gonna get close. Yeah, so you can also hit random encounter generators 738 01:13:50,960 --> 01:13:56,880 I cannot recommend those enough you put in how many players you have what level you're at or what level they're at and 739 01:13:56,880 --> 01:14:00,960 Then it'll spit you out a bunch of enemies with stat blocks readily available 740 01:14:01,000 --> 01:14:05,120 And it's just like a fun little kind of random combat thing you can do, you know 741 01:14:05,360 --> 01:14:07,360 You can also simplify it like I do 742 01:14:07,720 --> 01:14:11,120 If your combat's going too long and just take averages 743 01:14:11,480 --> 01:14:16,840 Never tell your players how many hit points they have left in combat. Don't don't roll in front of the board 744 01:14:17,640 --> 01:14:22,360 So that way you can make shit up as it goes because it's like cool. We've been in this combat for fucking two hours 745 01:14:22,360 --> 01:14:28,560 We still have three enemies left all of my players are taking forever to get through their actions because they've never played the game before 746 01:14:28,600 --> 01:14:29,880 Oh 747 01:14:29,880 --> 01:14:35,400 You did you did 10 damage and had dirty health, but now it has nine. How do you kill it? Yeah, it's 748 01:14:36,160 --> 01:14:38,760 Congratulations, it's some of those things where it's like, okay, cool 749 01:14:38,760 --> 01:14:41,640 Or if it's a situation where it cool you took down the big guy all the little guys drop 750 01:14:41,760 --> 01:14:43,480 We're done with that part 751 01:14:43,480 --> 01:14:47,080 kind of situation but um one of the next one was what fantasy 752 01:14:47,080 --> 01:14:50,080 Yeah fantasy books. Do you think would be the best to adapt and DD? 753 01:14:50,080 --> 01:14:54,600 I already I was about to say Percy Jackson works really really well. We just did that 754 01:14:54,600 --> 01:14:58,200 I think superheroes. I know those aren't fantasy books or comic books 755 01:14:58,200 --> 01:15:01,040 Oh, I think those adapt really well 756 01:15:01,040 --> 01:15:06,880 I think picking any universe that has a wiki for it already is gonna help you a lot bonus points 757 01:15:06,880 --> 01:15:13,080 If you can find one that's adapted to fifth edition the more information you have about this world the easier 758 01:15:13,080 --> 01:15:16,160 It's gonna be yeah, I would not recommend as an inexperienced 759 01:15:16,160 --> 01:15:21,040 DM especially trying to create your own world off rip unless you've been working with it for a while because 760 01:15:21,680 --> 01:15:27,760 Shit just gets difficult man. I did that myself very first time I'd ever DMed. I made it a universe 761 01:15:28,360 --> 01:15:31,560 Based around one location. I found on one random wiki page 762 01:15:31,560 --> 01:15:35,720 No other information about it no stop locks no mechanics and nothing and just went from there 763 01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:37,880 Yeah, it's rough. It was fun 764 01:15:37,880 --> 01:15:43,480 I think like I lean towards like classic fantasy books as well just because anything like a lot of reading 765 01:15:43,480 --> 01:15:47,760 I think Brian Sanderson any of his stuff. I have my own thoughts on him whatever 766 01:15:47,760 --> 01:15:49,760 They're easy books you can get in 767 01:15:50,960 --> 01:15:52,960 There's wikis for them 768 01:15:53,040 --> 01:15:58,080 Basically you want to pick the fantasy books in the fantasy universe is that when you say what did this part like what powers 769 01:15:58,080 --> 01:16:02,220 Did this person have it directs you to a wiki dot page where you have a nice little convenient list? 770 01:16:02,520 --> 01:16:03,640 Right in front of your eyes 771 01:16:03,640 --> 01:16:08,560 I think also like classic and there's gonna be this kind of my like bogey, but like classic children's literature 772 01:16:08,560 --> 01:16:13,240 I think it's also a really fun jumping off point if you've got your worlds like Wonderland Neverland Narnia 773 01:16:13,880 --> 01:16:16,240 All of those kind of things I think are really fun 774 01:16:16,240 --> 01:16:19,920 I mean Lord of the Rings and like the Hobbit obviously translate pretty well 775 01:16:21,960 --> 01:16:25,960 But I think that yeah anything that's traditional fantasy like you're gonna go cool 776 01:16:25,960 --> 01:16:28,040 I would combat encounter with fucking Nazgul 777 01:16:28,040 --> 01:16:34,320 You're just gonna look up a fucking spirit stab block or you're gonna look up Nazgul fifth edition in some nerd is already gonna 778 01:16:34,320 --> 01:16:37,440 Have the stab look right there for you on Google images like people have already 779 01:16:37,440 --> 01:16:40,720 Adapting everything you can think of to fifth edition 780 01:16:40,720 --> 01:16:47,640 Yeah, when you stick with mainstream fantasy you will be in no shortage of information that you'll want or could possibly not want 781 01:16:47,640 --> 01:16:48,960 Oh, yeah 782 01:16:48,960 --> 01:16:54,280 And in terms of other RPGs that we like I've been really wanting to play Call of Cthulhu 783 01:16:54,280 --> 01:16:59,760 I just haven't got around to it because we mostly play in fifth edition like I said I cannot hype up kids on bikes enough 784 01:17:00,000 --> 01:17:02,520 Kids on bikes is so much fun. I'm also I 785 01:17:02,520 --> 01:17:08,560 Would this is what I haven't played but I really like I like vampire masquerade a lot and prime as great 786 01:17:08,560 --> 01:17:13,360 It's sick as hell you have so much information and so many jumping off points or vampire the masquerade 787 01:17:13,560 --> 01:17:16,280 There's I've been seeing it all over my Instagram 788 01:17:16,280 --> 01:17:21,000 But somebody just recently came out with a free vampire the masquerade specific character sheet. It's all online 789 01:17:22,520 --> 01:17:27,760 There are so many fucking modules for vampire the masquerade as well that like you can start pretty much anywhere 790 01:17:27,760 --> 01:17:30,360 I think other systems similar to that like 791 01:17:30,360 --> 01:17:36,960 Any of your like a boxed setting things like alien is a pretty popular one 792 01:17:36,960 --> 01:17:42,560 There are several different versions of the alien universe that are all one-off modules where it's all pretty simple and straightforward 793 01:17:43,920 --> 01:17:48,920 We haven't dabbled a whole lot outside of the fifth edition particularly with modules and things like that 794 01:17:49,240 --> 01:17:55,200 Yeah, mostly just a timing thing, but if you're looking for things with in fifth edition that are a little bit different 795 01:17:55,200 --> 01:18:01,200 Curse of strad is pretty good. There's also so many different versions and different people's takes on Curse of strad 796 01:18:01,200 --> 01:18:05,360 There's any of the source books you can pick up at your local game store are gonna have 797 01:18:05,640 --> 01:18:09,440 one shots and modules that you can run that sort of take off some of that pressure 798 01:18:10,080 --> 01:18:17,360 And a lot of those source books too are a really good place to start for new new DMs because it's gonna tell you how to approach 799 01:18:17,480 --> 01:18:21,400 Certain situations based on how many players you have and based on how experienced they are 800 01:18:22,160 --> 01:18:24,160 So that that really helps quite a bit 801 01:18:24,160 --> 01:18:30,520 three others that I personally like slash I have a lot of interest in but haven't played are 802 01:18:31,240 --> 01:18:32,720 I 803 01:18:32,720 --> 01:18:38,640 Love all of my like little like small systems. I just haven't got a chance to play them monster of the week is really cool 804 01:18:38,640 --> 01:18:47,000 It's really fun. It's very like it's you can recreate basically Buffy the vampire slayer super natural all of those like literal monster of the week TV shows 805 01:18:47,760 --> 01:18:53,640 Which is super super cool. There's also one that I haven't played yet, but I'm dying to called thirsty sword lesbians 806 01:18:53,640 --> 01:18:56,760 It is a queer focused RPG game 807 01:18:57,280 --> 01:18:58,600 That seems like a lot of fun 808 01:18:58,600 --> 01:19:01,760 I think there's a sequel to it that also has like a fun funky little name to it 809 01:19:01,760 --> 01:19:08,480 And then there's also a superhero themed one called masks a new generation and those all kind of at least 810 01:19:09,240 --> 01:19:10,680 kids on bikes 811 01:19:10,680 --> 01:19:15,080 Monster of the week and masks a new generation all kind of fall into the same like umbrella category for me 812 01:19:15,080 --> 01:19:16,960 Yeah, I don't know what it is about them 813 01:19:16,960 --> 01:19:21,280 But they have a lot of like really good like they fall into like a lot of the character creation falls into these like tropes 814 01:19:21,280 --> 01:19:26,840 And so you're choosing like a character trope as you're like starting off and that really helps with role-playing purposes 815 01:19:26,840 --> 01:19:31,760 Because it's like I don't necessarily know how to play this person who's from this random town and has this really complete a backstory 816 01:19:31,760 --> 01:19:33,760 But I can sure as shit play like the 817 01:19:34,320 --> 01:19:37,520 Smart nerd who doesn't know what so you know like yeah 818 01:19:37,520 --> 01:19:42,080 You can play tropes and stereotypes for your first time as a player a lot easier and even as a DM 819 01:19:42,080 --> 01:19:46,800 Then you can like a random character with fucking essays worth of backstory that you've never played 820 01:19:46,800 --> 01:19:53,240 It's it's easier to play the tropes are there for a reason. Hmm. I mean characters real world luck affecting the game 821 01:19:53,360 --> 01:19:57,360 That could be an entire episode in of itself for those that have listened to previous episodes 822 01:19:57,360 --> 01:20:00,880 You all know that I love I love my philosophical topics 823 01:20:01,640 --> 01:20:03,760 Real world luck affecting the game 824 01:20:03,760 --> 01:20:09,120 I mean specifically with fifth edition and D&D it is and like it truly is 825 01:20:09,120 --> 01:20:13,080 I think it depends on your DM kind of all luck. I think yeah, I think a lot of it is DM 826 01:20:13,080 --> 01:20:16,000 I think as a DM you can control your DCs 827 01:20:16,000 --> 01:20:21,160 And accept roles a lot easier than players can sort of interact with those systems 828 01:20:21,160 --> 01:20:25,240 I think as a player it will always feel like luck to an extent 829 01:20:25,240 --> 01:20:32,320 Oh, and I think what's most fun from the player perspective is that you get to take that luck into your own hands by adding mechanics by adding spells by adding 830 01:20:32,320 --> 01:20:37,880 Systems that you can learn inside and out and mastering your action economy as a particular player 831 01:20:38,520 --> 01:20:40,120 But I think from the DM side of it 832 01:20:40,120 --> 01:20:45,080 You will very quickly find out that luck really only is present at the table if you want it to be yeah 833 01:20:45,080 --> 01:20:47,640 I can set a DC for something 834 01:20:47,640 --> 01:20:50,320 A specific player at our table who rolls nat ones 835 01:20:50,320 --> 01:20:56,200 Oh, yeah, and you'll find people too that just fucking unnaturally roll a lot of either high rolls or low rolls and 836 01:20:56,720 --> 01:20:58,320 So I mean it just depends 837 01:20:58,320 --> 01:21:01,680 Because it's one of those things where you can do a really cool thing and be like yeah 838 01:21:02,440 --> 01:21:07,080 Narratively this is totally gonna work and then you roll your dice and you get a nat one and you're like 839 01:21:07,560 --> 01:21:09,080 Well damn 840 01:21:09,080 --> 01:21:15,720 I or you do something really really cool. There was a ballsy decision. I made last session and I was like I 841 01:21:16,160 --> 01:21:20,560 I had rolled a nat one on my previous attempt and I did something basically 842 01:21:20,560 --> 01:21:26,080 I was about to fight this character and I decided you know what I'm gonna fucking balls to the wall instead of fighting this character 843 01:21:26,080 --> 01:21:27,480 I'm gonna like drop my armor 844 01:21:27,480 --> 01:21:32,180 I'm gonna drop my fighting stance and I'm gonna let them hit me and I'm just gonna really really hope that 845 01:21:32,180 --> 01:21:39,940 The situation role works and I just don't get eviscerated right now and that was one of those moments where it felt like that's crazy 846 01:21:39,940 --> 01:21:42,400 Like I I rolled in that one 847 01:21:43,340 --> 01:21:50,180 Mm-hmm. I I'm fucked. Yeah, and I think what it's something that we've mentioned in previous episodes 848 01:21:50,180 --> 01:21:56,020 I think specifically one of the ones where I focused on like how to be a good DM versus like being a shitty player and those kinds of things 849 01:21:56,020 --> 01:22:03,860 Don't forget that as a DM just because this question seems to be really focused on the DM excited things that you 850 01:22:04,260 --> 01:22:11,020 Can set the DC however you want to and you can accept roles even if in your mind they didn't pass the DC 851 01:22:11,740 --> 01:22:16,100 Like you can be as nice and as luck-based as you want to be 852 01:22:16,100 --> 01:22:22,760 It's entirely up to you if it is like all of the players actions are riding on this one really cool thing 853 01:22:22,760 --> 01:22:30,340 And in your mind you were like cool DC 18 all you said at the table was give me a charisma check and they roll a 17 854 01:22:30,380 --> 01:22:36,580 You are allowed. This is from Robert to DM Robert to you personally you are allowed 855 01:22:36,580 --> 01:22:43,060 I give you permission to say that just barely passes or holy shit that passes. What does it look like? 856 01:22:43,060 --> 01:22:45,060 What do you say? Yeah 857 01:22:45,140 --> 01:22:49,860 You are all there to have fun at the end of the day in some way shape form reasons 858 01:22:49,860 --> 01:22:53,100 So do not be afraid as a DM to let your players and yourself 859 01:22:53,340 --> 01:22:57,060 Have fun despite the mechanics and the DCs that you've set for yourself 860 01:22:57,300 --> 01:23:02,140 You can lie you can fit. Yeah bullshit. You can make things up change things last minute 861 01:23:02,420 --> 01:23:08,180 Just have fun. Enjoy yourself. Let your players enjoy it when talking about luck. You can't not bring up 862 01:23:08,940 --> 01:23:11,660 I'm gonna bring up Ali Beardsley from dimension 20 863 01:23:12,620 --> 01:23:18,780 In one of the craziest moments in fantasy high season one spoiler alert last fight 864 01:23:18,780 --> 01:23:24,580 I'm gonna talk about our own table now. I said fucking for bodega man. Oh my god. Yeah, we have our own mode 865 01:23:24,580 --> 01:23:25,660 That example 866 01:23:25,660 --> 01:23:27,980 We had a sort of a robot character 867 01:23:27,980 --> 01:23:33,780 There were sort of two personalities with Mhen one that had been assimilated and been sort of made into this construct to work for 868 01:23:33,780 --> 01:23:36,300 The government that took over the body and then the other one who's like this 869 01:23:36,500 --> 01:23:42,460 Kind of like a newborn in the world trying to figure out how to have like kind of like a Frankenstein character where it's I have all 870 01:23:42,460 --> 01:23:45,420 This power and I'm strong and whatever but I don't really know how to interact with people 871 01:23:45,420 --> 01:23:48,260 I don't know what emotions are. I don't know what friends are 872 01:23:48,260 --> 01:23:53,700 And he finally made a friend in one of our last sessions before everything went to shit 873 01:23:53,700 --> 01:23:58,180 Who I just called bodega man who is basically the owner of a bodega store that was down the street? 874 01:23:59,020 --> 01:24:03,260 From the base and he basically stopped in wandering the world and was like hey man 875 01:24:03,500 --> 01:24:08,100 What's going on with you and he goes well I'd be a lot better if my fucking cash register would work and he was like 876 01:24:08,100 --> 01:24:14,660 I can help with that. I'm a robot and then fixes it and made a friend and so we were at the table and we were trying to decide 877 01:24:14,660 --> 01:24:18,820 Okay, how much does the government know about your life? 878 01:24:19,300 --> 01:24:27,060 Pre like previous to being taken back into the fold like were you as chip the alt like the alternate personality within the main Atlas body 879 01:24:27,060 --> 01:24:31,940 How well were you able to keep the information that you know about your superhero friends to yourself? 880 01:24:32,140 --> 01:24:38,260 He rolled like a fucking three or a four which is definitely not what he wanted and everybody was like let me roll 881 01:24:38,260 --> 01:24:40,660 Let me roll and I was like, you know what for bodega man 882 01:24:40,660 --> 01:24:45,580 Go ahead and give me a give me going re-roll it because that's bullshit. I don't agree with that role either 883 01:24:45,580 --> 01:24:50,500 And you roll a fucking natural 20 and so I was like cool. They didn't crack anything out of you 884 01:24:51,000 --> 01:24:53,380 You have kept all of that information to you 885 01:24:53,980 --> 01:24:57,660 Personal and private nobody knows anything that you know like yes 886 01:24:57,660 --> 01:25:03,220 You're still a personality trapped within the larger robot, but like you didn't fucking tell anybody anything 887 01:25:03,220 --> 01:25:05,220 You kept your goddamn mouth closed. Yep 888 01:25:05,580 --> 01:25:08,780 And it's like really cool stuff or just like for the narrative, you know 889 01:25:08,780 --> 01:25:13,260 20 says a lot that the dice have a story to tell and I believe that to my core 890 01:25:14,260 --> 01:25:19,860 Sometimes you were just fucking doomed if you listen to our lap the season one finale 891 01:25:19,860 --> 01:25:24,900 I rolled four Nat ones insanity at the beginning of the session and it was like cool 892 01:25:24,900 --> 01:25:33,500 The story is that I'm I can't do shit is yeah, I'm sorry in this moment. I've cracked. I'm just too much pressure 893 01:25:33,500 --> 01:25:40,360 It's me against like six of these guys and then there's other get her where you ask to do some bullshit thing 894 01:25:40,500 --> 01:25:45,620 For no reason and you get a Nat 20 and you change the rules of the universe. Yep 895 01:25:45,940 --> 01:25:49,220 Like cool. I give you whatever you want. Yeah, oh fun 896 01:25:49,220 --> 01:25:53,500 This little side tip before we end things here because we're finally coming in the rabbit end of our episode 897 01:25:53,500 --> 01:25:58,380 I think another piece of advice I would give to an inexperienced EM six players five players three players. I'm gonna shit 898 01:25:58,380 --> 01:26:04,540 Let people do what they want on their own Nat 20s as long as it is within the confines and the rules of the universe 899 01:26:04,540 --> 01:26:05,900 You're playing in 900 01:26:05,900 --> 01:26:11,740 Also, if you let your players have that much fun on a Nat 20 and give them consequences funny stupid serious 901 01:26:11,740 --> 01:26:15,380 Whatever you want to on natural ones because it makes your dice tell a significantly 902 01:26:16,180 --> 01:26:23,500 Better story and more fun story and an interactive story when there are numbers on the dice that can change the entire game 903 01:26:23,500 --> 01:26:28,860 At its very core and it doesn't always have to be you fucking like die. Yeah, you 904 01:26:28,860 --> 01:26:33,600 You can do goofy shit. Yeah, like you fucking tear your Achilles heel on a Nat one dexterity Jack 905 01:26:34,020 --> 01:26:38,760 Congratulations, you're now paralyzed from the waist down for the next two sessions like yeah, it's like no 906 01:26:39,500 --> 01:26:45,220 You trip it each shit and I'm gonna roll a d6 for how much bludgeoning damage you take like it doesn't have to be stupid 907 01:26:45,220 --> 01:26:47,760 Sometimes you can make Nat ones do fun things to whatever one shots 908 01:26:47,760 --> 01:26:53,740 I made a Nat one send a character on a really fucking stupid quest to solve a riddle and in the end it worked 909 01:26:54,180 --> 01:26:59,820 So, you know, you don't always have to make it the world's like the world's ending consequences are like well 910 01:26:59,940 --> 01:27:05,500 Looks like you slip and fall on an icicle and now your brain so make a new character see it 911 01:27:05,500 --> 01:27:07,740 I'm not ones are always like 912 01:27:08,780 --> 01:27:10,500 When someone it's like cool 913 01:27:10,500 --> 01:27:13,660 I'm doing like an inside check and then you get a Nat one and they're like hey 914 01:27:13,660 --> 01:27:17,500 Guess what you know without a shit without like oh, I love 915 01:27:17,980 --> 01:27:23,760 People on natural one lying to people on that one's is the it will never not be funny like that is a bit because it's 916 01:27:23,760 --> 01:27:30,220 It's the one time when somebody rolls something on the dice where the player knows that whatever comes out of the DM's mouth 917 01:27:30,220 --> 01:27:36,800 Next is total bullshit and I can lie to you and you just have to take that like you got a now on inside 918 01:27:36,800 --> 01:27:38,820 He wants to have sex with you right now 919 01:27:38,820 --> 01:27:44,820 And it creates some of the funniest moments at the table because those are moments where you as a player you're like you have to commit to the 920 01:27:44,820 --> 01:27:48,780 bit committing to the I rolled in that one on it like it fucking lore check 921 01:27:48,780 --> 01:27:50,500 I have to commit to the bit man 922 01:27:50,500 --> 01:27:54,420 We're in like investigating somewhere in the way that Robert chose to do that 923 01:27:54,420 --> 01:27:58,500 He was like you're so distracted because this guy is your celebrity crush. He's so hot 924 01:27:58,500 --> 01:28:03,620 It's like such an unlikable person, but you think he's the hottest man on planet earth and he's so fucking hot 925 01:28:03,620 --> 01:28:07,140 You're so in him and I'm like cool. This is this is when we commit to the bit 926 01:28:07,140 --> 01:28:08,740 It 927 01:28:08,740 --> 01:28:13,420 Created one of the weirdest moments this campaign has had truly. Oh, it was odd 928 01:28:13,420 --> 01:28:16,500 It was there was an almost threesome happened. It was crazy 929 01:28:16,500 --> 01:28:22,100 It's like funny moments like that or would you get to like also kind of take that failure into your hands 930 01:28:22,100 --> 01:28:27,140 That's like the whole gorgug asking people who their who is that is in fantasy high season one if you've seen that 931 01:28:27,660 --> 01:28:30,860 It's just it's I love I love the bullshit 932 01:28:30,860 --> 01:28:36,860 I love it also means that when you don't know how to handle the situation when somebody fails that that bad or when somebody wins 933 01:28:36,860 --> 01:28:40,460 That well you can just go what happens. Yeah, what do you do? 934 01:28:40,460 --> 01:28:43,220 What does this look like because you don't have to make it up now? 935 01:28:43,220 --> 01:28:48,160 It's on the player personally every nap one insight check you should just lie and be like oh 936 01:28:48,660 --> 01:28:50,660 100% it's gotta be some bullshit 937 01:28:50,660 --> 01:28:56,820 So funny every now one inside check is basically you looking at somebody trying to figure out what they're thinking or what they're like 938 01:28:56,820 --> 01:29:02,460 What their intentions are and then making your own assumption on a horribly wrong read and going they want to have sex with me 939 01:29:02,460 --> 01:29:07,180 And then you as a player are confident that because you don't know you got in that one yeah 940 01:29:07,740 --> 01:29:13,340 Then like the character that you're playing has no idea that he's the he or she or they has just rolled a natural one 941 01:29:13,340 --> 01:29:17,340 But what they do know is that they're awfully fucking convinced that this guy wants to have sex with them 942 01:29:17,340 --> 01:29:21,660 Yeah, it's so now you get to operate as a character in a very tense situation be like so like 943 01:29:22,940 --> 01:29:29,460 What are you doing later? Yeah, and like they're like an incredibly powerful politician who like actively has a significant other and you've chosen 944 01:29:29,460 --> 01:29:31,180 this moment to try and like 945 01:29:31,180 --> 01:29:36,380 Charisma check them up at the table in front of everybody because you think they want to fuck you it's it's so funny every time 946 01:29:37,340 --> 01:29:43,020 Awesome, I think we're gonna call it a here. Thank you all for our first successful segment of 947 01:29:43,500 --> 01:29:49,260 Sort of doing a little talk back and answering viewer questions also for joining us on session zero of season two 948 01:29:50,020 --> 01:29:53,740 If you haven't listened to all of season one, this is a requirement 949 01:29:53,740 --> 01:29:57,540 I'm setting homework as I do for my players you have to listen to all 20 950 01:29:57,540 --> 01:30:04,140 Ish episodes before you come back to episode one. It's a requirement. You're not allowed to listen to the next one 951 01:30:05,420 --> 01:30:06,420 That's your homework 952 01:30:06,420 --> 01:30:11,900 So hopefully by then you will be the equivalent of a level 15 listener and we'll know everything there is to know 953 01:30:12,300 --> 01:30:14,300 Totally and we'll see you next Thursday 954 01:30:14,300 --> 01:30:28,300 Bye-bye