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C3 Episode 47 Reviewed Four
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Transcript
Introduction to Eberron Renewed
00:00:00
Speaker
oh um directlyly with it co to worry twenty radio your gamers role radio
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to Eberron Renewed, and actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm Jeff. I'm Madison. And I'm Eric. And because you have heard me intro the show, i every time it's different and every time it's
Recap and Listener Questions
00:00:38
Speaker
wrong. We're not playing today. We're talking about the last arc, the last eight episodes in this case of of the show.
00:00:45
Speaker
I'm going to be honest with all of our listeners. It is 10, 18 p.m. after a long week. So the recap is going to be a little shorter, but we are going to get to all the questions.
00:00:54
Speaker
So we start in the very beginning of a fight
Battle Mechanics and System Flexibility
00:00:59
Speaker
with the... yeah yeah Yes, I know we started the very beginning. Shut up. yeah It's a very good place to start. In a fight with the... When we come to find out our Donvi-influenced Silver Flame soldiers?
00:01:12
Speaker
Paladins, yeah. Paladins. Okay, fair. And it was fun. Where did that mechanic come from of them adding rules that we had to follow? Like the have to know what you're going to do and stuff.
00:01:23
Speaker
Something I really like about 13th age as a system is that it is just so Calvin ball. A lot of times with like the different class mechanics and how potentially overpowered things can get on the player side of things that it, it kind of frees up the GM. If, if you want to introduce crazy mechanics into the environment and this felt like a cool and um quote unquote, environmental, environmental,
00:01:50
Speaker
effect to have happen that like the mechanics of the game are altered in a pretty meaningful way because Don V is the plane of order. And so I, it's, it'll probably be something I continue to play with as it makes sense for the different planes that you all encounter.
00:02:06
Speaker
Um, but yeah, it was just a ah fun idea that I had that I wanted to try out. Yeah, it was a good time. And the realization that it, it was like necessary to continue.
00:02:18
Speaker
don't remember. Yeah. don't remember what it was, but it was like, do you feel that? you're like, oh yeah, you feel that. Like, oh, okay. So this is real. Yeah.
Kaz's Power and Backstory Exploration
00:02:25
Speaker
I will speak to the power jump. Like we just, starting with the next arc, we are third level now.
00:02:31
Speaker
And the spell jump from first level to third, the way Chaos Mage works is you only have, you have the same spells, they just get more powerful. And so like first level, I'm doing like 2d6 damage, third level, three or 66 damage on some of these spells. It's crazy wild. Yeah.
00:02:47
Speaker
Dang. So, yeah. Kaz is going to start mattering in fights now. We have the fight. The fight is fun. The fight is over. Nyx does her thing where she steals some of their credentials and weapons.
00:02:59
Speaker
don't think Nyx takes away in a weapon this time, but takes her credentials. And then we get into the thing that I've been thinking about nonstop since it happened, which is... but Kaz's backstory. Al Gore in 2000, thinking about that lockbox.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yep. That's a timely reference, right? yeah Yeah. Yeah. That's one that that the cast of Heathers would get. Kaz's backstory. Um... I think we've covered this. i am giving Eric a lot of latitude with Kaz's backstory. I basically just said Kaz was in Thalottis for a long time. And I think long enough that he kind of lived a couple of lives while he was there.
00:03:34
Speaker
Like I, I think I basically, what I told him was, I think there was a time where he was with the court and there was a time where he was very alone and you can decide when and what and how. And so archmage for the lady of stories.
00:03:48
Speaker
Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. And the Lady of Stories is not a character. i I've done a little Thalata stuff in the home game that I ran for a while, and I don't remember that.
00:04:02
Speaker
Oh, what they call... What they call the... Like the second Archfey. Archfey. Thank you. I do not remember that one is that Is that yours? Yes. I created this one.
00:04:13
Speaker
so Okay. Yeah. So that I could know nothing about it. Yeah. You know. And I guess it...
Plane Influences and Train Loop Setup
00:04:19
Speaker
I'm going to ask the question. I think I know the answer, but I i am dumb. um
00:04:25
Speaker
So Kaz set up the train loop for himself to find it or how did that... that's what That's the way I read it. Is that something you can share with us? it It's more of...
00:04:40
Speaker
A situation like in my brain, and this isn't, I don't think giving too much away. You all are very intrinsically tied to different planes. That's part of the character creation that we did for this campaign. And so you all kind of resonate with those planes.
00:04:55
Speaker
And so when you all are in a manifest zone or near a place that is coterminous with that plane, you're just going to tend to attract people. things from that plane to you.
00:05:06
Speaker
Okay. And so, you know, when we get Selena near a bar in manifest zone, like stuff's really going to be attracted to her and that kind of thing, which she said, well, Selena since that and kind of stayed back yeah out of the manifest zone. So yeah, that some, some things would have been a little bit different in that encounter. If Selena would have just been in the thick of it, because yeah, you all attract people.
00:05:31
Speaker
You manifest things out of out of these planar areas. so Okay. But Thelanus is an interesting one because it's so based on stories that there might be some component to where... And this is where I'm not going to get into so the spoilery stuff.
00:05:44
Speaker
But that it would be much more feasible for Kaz to set something up like that because he will know that there is a cyclical nature to Thelanus, if that makes sense.
00:05:55
Speaker
Sure, sure. I guess it there was some of the things like he has to get... like It seemed like there was such a prescribed way that it had to go. yeah seemed like it had been constructed. Yeah, I guess. Exactly. But not necessarily by Kaz. It could have been anything.
00:06:09
Speaker
I can make that doesn't make sense. But yeah, so the Baron and Kaz were frenemies, I think, in Thelanus. I don't want to ask you any questions because I don't want to ask things that you have to say. I can't tell you that yet.
00:06:25
Speaker
ah But it was really fun to learn, and I'm excited to see where it goes. ah And also, Archmage seems like a pretty big deal. Yeah. I'm hoping that as Kaz grows throughout this campaign, he may be able to actually harness some of... I will always be a Chaos Mage, I think.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, I don't see myself being able to put full power, but maybe a little more control over his magic. Maybe like when he starts flying, he can know how to do it instead of just hitting the ceiling and hoping he doesn't fall too far.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah. So that was exciting.
Pella's Watch and Jim Johnson's Creation
00:07:02
Speaker
And then we get into Pella's Watch. And from that point on, it is us just dead certain that Jim Johnson is a big bad guy.
00:07:11
Speaker
We were so certain.
00:07:14
Speaker
I will say, it was very this was one of those things where I had to really focus on what the character knew. Because... I think I mentioned it was in in passing in one of the episodes.
00:07:26
Speaker
You said in the last reviewed that you built Jim Johnson when like on the fly, which immediately signaled to Jeff, it's not Jim Johnson doing this. But we were so certain it was as characters. i was like, well, I can't suddenly be like, but what if it isn't?
00:07:43
Speaker
In fact, what if it's the thing we're supposed to be thinking it is the whole time, planar influence? but yeah Not that Jim Johnson couldn't have been a... Yeah. I mean, there was a guy from the plane controlling everything. It just wasn't Jim Johnson.
00:07:57
Speaker
It was the harmonizer. We'll get there. yeah It was a fun time in Pella's Watch meeting with all of these fake people who gave us nothing the whole time.
00:08:09
Speaker
But yet gave you everything. like Like nobody was like, you didn't have to make a single social check the whole time. You would just ask somebody question like, oh yeah, like I'll tell you everything. but big late and that And that was part of why I didn't trust any of it. like I did have fun hanging out with Acheron at the school that one time.
00:08:28
Speaker
I enjoyed Philip voicing Akron. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, that was very fun. Philip likes to play characters that antagonize my characters. In short bursts, like not his main character, but his side quest, his side piece likes to be mean to my characters.
00:08:45
Speaker
And it's, it's to no fault of Philip. I just have a tendency to neglect Acheron because gruv is right there and shadow raccoon is inherently going to draw my attention more than demonic dragon. So that's on me. So I'm glad Acheron got to have some spotlight in this arc.
00:09:01
Speaker
Eric's a big raccoon guy. like Yeah, you know. I try to think of anything, like i said, we're going to kind of do a quick recap. think if anything that really stood out before we get to Jim Johnson. We meet the orphans and not many of them, right? They were kind of like the ones that were out was not all of them, but and they were just they they were they were throughout the gambling hall. Yeah, they were just regular kids. Like there was nothing weird about it.
00:09:25
Speaker
A giant tiefling went up and chatted with them and they were just super chill about it. I said, I don't this is giant. That's not fair to say. To a child, anything that looks like that is going to seem giant. Yeah.
00:09:39
Speaker
And, oh, we have a vampire shows up. How, would what yeah made you decide that? Well, it was, it was Valk's, Blood of Vole connection, which also we kind of tied into, Selina's backstory a little bit, but I mean that like, I, another component of this campaign that I wanted to have be a part of it, that I haven't really gotten a chance to, is kind of that,
00:10:06
Speaker
and gothic supernatural is normal kind of vibe with like vampires and werewolves and undead things just being part of the the tapestry of the campaign for lack a better way to put it and so like that's why Henrik is a lycanthrope because I just like that that kind of thing and so ah other to eat the yes of course so Yeah, i I wanted a vampire to be introduced just as this normal entity that's sitting there drinking a goblet full of blood like it's no big deal.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:40
Speaker
And she's and she tells us she further tells us about like catacombs and things and yeah, yeah, things underground that she's investigating.
00:10:52
Speaker
One thing about the town that I didn't realize until you all clocked it and called it out is all of the children ending in a Y sound, Marnie, Sammy, and Timmy. as somebody called it out, I was like, oh, that's Eric being lazy in his writing, I guess. Okay. That's a kid thing. I bet if you know someone named Bill, I bet he was Billy when he was little.
00:11:13
Speaker
my My dad was Tommy for his whole life until he was an adult. That's just how it is. Especially in... ah you know, this town was giving off Pleasantville vibes.
00:11:26
Speaker
And that is very much a that era thing too. Especially there were a lot of juniors back then and they were the diminutive form of their dad's name. So yeah, I mean, it made sense to me. Yeah. Although you did not make Barnaby's son Barney.
00:11:39
Speaker
so did not. ah So we end up deciding it's finally time to confront Jim Johnson after we talk to we talked to the former leader of the town. We talked to Barnaby's wife. We talked to Timmy.
00:11:53
Speaker
We talked to
00:11:56
Speaker
marcus Yeah. Yeah. That you still in the gambling hall. And we kept just trying to get anything like, well, what did you do with all your money? Or how do you, well, why do, were you okay with this? And they're like, well, we just simply were okay with it. It's like, okay, we have to go talk to Jim Jones. Yeah. Just the same answers from everybody.
00:12:16
Speaker
And Jim Johnson happy and they don't understand why you, why you have a problem with that. ye And and we so we get to city hall, Mia voluntarily splits the party and gets rocked for a while.
00:12:28
Speaker
Thankfully Valk was okay. Well survived. So Jim Johnson was just a construct. He was an automaton. He was automaton.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yep. Jim Johnson is a social construct, yes. Yes, yes. the The video game Near Automata has made me really ques question every time I say the word automaton or anything like it now. Automaton. Thank you. But...
00:12:54
Speaker
book do to do thank you ah but So he was nothing. He was nothing the whole time. He wasn't nothing. He was the... So what said in the last review... Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, like what I said in last review was just the realization of, oh yes, this thing should have a face to it.
00:13:16
Speaker
Like because the Harmonizer was always kind of the play-in. But it when Kaz... asked that question about like a leader of the town. i was like, oh yeah, like they would have something that would be verbalizing and enacting their plans on the town rather than it just being kind of plainer vibes, if that makes sense. So that, that was why Jim Johnson got inserted when Kaz asked that question.
00:13:44
Speaker
was Jim Johnson supposed to be a harder fight that we kind of lucked into some really good hits or was he always just going to be a thing to get ah in the way before the harmonizer once he existed? so Yeah.
00:13:55
Speaker
I think the, the way that Vaux split the fight to keep the constructs in the hallway while you all dealt with Jim Johnson helped to make the fight a little bit easier because you all were able to just, the three of you focus fire on Jim Johnson pretty quickly.
00:14:12
Speaker
And I think there was some good like damage rolls in there that were, he, he wasn't meant to be like a super hard fight, but he also wasn't meant to be a pushover. Sure. So, so that was the, if we had all four been in there, the other constructs would have come to his aid instead of just, yeah.
00:14:29
Speaker
Cause I honestly, I thought that not that you had to give Val something to do, but it was like, then Mia stumbled upon the next thing too early, but it was no. It was it was more she held off the thing that was going to join. Gotcha. Yeah.
00:14:43
Speaker
It's not too early, but too early for Valk. We handle the fight and then we go underground. And this is where I think all of us had a different theory as to what was happening once we got down there.
00:14:54
Speaker
um Mine was very incorrect. But so we disregarding the other constructs. And the the crazy tech, not disregarding, but the things that we shouldn't have recognized and didn't recognize, but didn't make as big a deal over as we did the bodies and the crystals.
00:15:14
Speaker
Yeah. And i thought, which was kind of a big move. It's fine that everything else kind of got thrown in the backseat once those showed up because you seeing another Barnaby especially was meant to be kind of a, wait, what?
00:15:25
Speaker
Right. And it sure was. yeah And I immediately thought, these are fakes. And I think... Me too. Yeah, okay. and think i was like yeah when you all When you all started talking about destroying the crystals, was like, oh, I got to figure out a way to step in here because this is about to go so sideways.
00:15:45
Speaker
Yeah. It got to a point like we were you were talking around it trying to help us get there and then finally you just went, you know what? You rolled good enough. These are the real ones. Yeah, we needed... we were not getting married Well, part of it was it was just very confusing that.
00:16:00
Speaker
If the Barnaby that came to us was a fake Barnaby, why did he come to us? Yeah. And I'm still not 100 percent. on the understanding of that one. It's just Barnaby was so strong-willed that even his double was... Yeah, I mean, that's kind of... yeah That's what I intended the Harmonizer kind laid out, is like, Barnaby's will is so strong and so obstinate that even, like, the Harmonizers have made the mistake of perfectly replicating the mind of all these individuals into their duplicate.
00:16:31
Speaker
that Barnaby's programming just broke because the base layer of who Barnaby was refused to go along, even in a constructed clone body. Like it it was just such a, he is such a stubborn, obstinate man that he can't help, but break his brainwashing programming.
00:16:49
Speaker
Right. Tolliver, Marcus Tolliver. It had been bugging me. So I did love just the little things like Mia realizing actually they, we put the first guy on the table. She better pull them off the table or you were yeah you were absolutely just going to stack them up.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yep. Plop them on top of each other. You love catching us in that stuff. I also love that they immediately started fighting with each other. Like, it's like, oh, okay, these guys really are just the worst. Like, i want I wanted, like...
00:17:16
Speaker
There was a small part of me that wanted there to be, and I understand why there wasn't, but I wanted that like interaction of them immediately start fighting and just like being the worst to your point to there be like the slightest inclination of Is this town better being returned to what it was like? it Is it really going to be better for everyone here?
00:17:41
Speaker
Or is there a slight part of this that is like good for these people kind of thing? I understand why there wasn't because free will and all that stuff. But I think I think that's what we had. We have a a willful party that is yeah that is.
00:17:58
Speaker
proud of their own obstinance. Now, is it a town I would rather be in? No, but I don't have to be in it. So I think i was like, I'm going to watch my hands of these awful, awful people.
00:18:12
Speaker
Yeah, like I'm not going to visit Pella's watch again. I may have if we weren't able to fix it. Yeah. We go deeper in and this is where I got to hear the phrase
Harmonizer's Impact on Morality and Mechanics
00:18:23
Speaker
partial orphan. What was it? Half made orphans? Half built orphans. Yeah.
00:18:27
Speaker
Something to that effect. oh And that's where my theories went completely off the rails and just very, very wrong. I don't know about you. ah By that point, I was like, I have no theories. I'm just here to see what's happening. I don't know.
00:18:41
Speaker
I thought they really were bringing in orphans and then replacing them like they have with everybody else and not just wholly constructing new orphans too.
00:18:55
Speaker
seed Eberron with Donvi controlled constructs to eventually, i mean, bring about the order they thought it needed. i that was That was the goal.
00:19:12
Speaker
Or just Aerie, maybe not Eberron, but the nearby... it It's one of those things where, like, especially for the Harmonizer, like, the the the Orphan Automata, just like Jim Johnson as an automata, are just tools to an end, which is...
00:19:32
Speaker
providing this town with a sense of order and lawfulness that it is currently missing. And so the idea of like providing this town with what they would understand human or humans, humanoids view as helpless creatures, like children without any kind of caretaker is just a very easy thing to like introduce and do. Can you be like here, care about something other than yourselves.
00:19:59
Speaker
So there wasn't even really a nefarious plan from the Harmonizer to like see to these little constructs everywhere. It was just like i which is why they weren't getting adopted. Like it was just like we we need this thing here for the community to be built around like which is the orphanage.
00:20:16
Speaker
So right. There were notes, though, about like. like How can we up the cuteness factor or whatever it is that we need to get them adopted? Because certainly if people in Pelos Watch start adopting the children, then they will care more about those children. And so it's like, well, joy fair. it's i I was trying to convey that like it's not an overnight thing. like These people are still, to a certain extent,
00:20:41
Speaker
selfish enough to where they wouldn't want to give up whatever freedom they still have by taking care of a child. And so it's like, okay, we need to like continue pushing the needle to where they're just adopting these kids and bringing them into their homes and things like that.
00:20:54
Speaker
So, and and then the next door led us to the harmonizer. Yes. And, Madison said, let's go ahead and hit that compass and get this thing started because this is terrifying.
00:21:08
Speaker
That was a very scary thing that you described. That was a just straight up horror movie description. What is the name of that class of creature? Inevitable.
00:21:19
Speaker
In the inevitables. That's right. There's like three different kinds or something. wow Yeah. I remember having to look them up for something I did with my home game, I think. But But the Harmonizer himself, this guy is not something that's in ah in a source book. This was... and No, he he is a type of inevitable. He is the...
00:21:43
Speaker
The Zellekut. Zellekut? Z-E-L-E-K-H-U-T. Yeah. Yeah. So, that is the type which are those that enforce the inevitability of justice.
00:21:56
Speaker
So, yeah. And if I'm not mistaken, like one of them is more, one of the three types of inevitable is like very wrathful. And this is not that guy because he was trying to correct reason it or explain at first.
00:22:13
Speaker
The Koliaruts. Koliaruts. I don't know how to pronounce fancy words. They like punish people. We break oaths or contracts. And then Maruts are the ones that enforce the inevitability of death.
00:22:25
Speaker
So and go anybody tries to escape death will be hunted by them. So. what thats Like spending a long time on another plane and then coming back. I think we're both in trouble. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The Harmonizer.
00:22:40
Speaker
fit into a classic archetype of Eric NPC, which is the guy that there simply is no reasoning with. there there They're clear-headed in their ambition, and their ambition is pure as far as they're concerned, and there's nothing you're going to say change their mind.
00:22:58
Speaker
So you pretty much just have to fight them. i i I at least like in this campaign that I have the fallback of most of the bad guys that are going to be that way are manifestations of a concept. And so there's right like, well, and that's what I was going to say was, and I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of those guys because they are. Yeah, they are. They're they're plainer avatar.
00:23:20
Speaker
I've said that twice now. Yeah, it's not like it's not as common as Philip and I were joking about it being that type of guy, but they definitely have existed in all of the campaigns. And they do tend to be the the true believer of a cult or the leader of a thing like that. Like, not...
00:23:37
Speaker
And I will say that my bad guys will become more malleable and flexible the instant the player characters also become more malleable and flexible in their worldviews. I feel like there's a lot of pot calling the kettle black in this recording. so just Yeah, it's just that my worldviews are are so correct.
00:23:54
Speaker
but My character's worldviews are so correct. My worldviews are all over the place. so I'm the hero of the story. How can I not be right, Eric? but Okay, we are the heroes of the story. And we always agree so much on everything. DCs that...
00:24:09
Speaker
Fun fight. starts Start pops off with Nyx summoning swords. And I loved that you were like, hey, if you guys hadn't set off the compass and ruined things, I could have picked my own spells. What were some of the other things that were going to have have it? we We were able to stop him from doing something by doing it too. I can't remember what it was.
00:24:29
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, it was on his monster card. Let me see if i can find it. There was another one where basically anybody who had something that was... you know If you roll ah a certain like a natural odd or naturally above 16, it was always going to trigger.
00:24:48
Speaker
like there would It was going to remove any kind of chance. to like If you hit and you had one of these conditional things, it would just trigger. Got you. Similarly, if you missed and there was a similar trigger, like mia's a lot of Mia's powers have it where if she misses...
00:25:07
Speaker
really badly, she retains her focus so it's not wasted on something that she really beefed it on. So that always would have triggered to where if she's using a spell that she gets to keep her focus on a certain role, she would have gotten to keep her focus.
00:25:21
Speaker
okay So it's basically just removing not all the chance because you all are still rolling dice, but like basically turning everything into a pass-fail as opposed to degrees of success almost. He was able to take away our ability to cast spells Yeah, that was really inconvenient considering that was the one thing I could do.
00:25:40
Speaker
Yeah, you know. Very vindicating for Nyx. Yeah, Nyx was having a good time with that. Telling us you should have a sword the whole trip.
00:25:52
Speaker
Well, not wrong. I maintain, what would I have done with a sword? I've never had one. yeah i That's also very true. I attempted to throw a dagger and missed terribly and then had to walk of shame to go pick it up. and Yeah, go retrieve your dagger.
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah. I can't find the monster card. It was something neat. yeah But yeah, there was just yeah just some cool mechanics similar to the Paladin fight that because you are in like the the nexus of order for this area that would have made things very regimented.
00:26:24
Speaker
um So, yeah. It is fun. you know we We don't do a lot of things like difficult terrain or things like that. And so it is fun when you throw other little sticky things at us during combat.
00:26:40
Speaker
yeah not i'm I'm looking forward to what at the other planes can manifest for us in those things and how we can try to think our way around them. Because that is also fun. like This character is the first character I've had that does more than just hit.
00:26:55
Speaker
And so it's been a good time doing that. But also like putting a little bit of a puzzle into the fight is always is always a good time. talk more A deeper puzzle than which of these guys is the one I should hit or should I do a heal now?
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah. yeah
00:27:12
Speaker
But at the same time, it was four on one and early on in the campaign. So we won. I'm so sorry. I'm dying for the listener. sir it's It's been a long week of this.
00:27:29
Speaker
But we win the fight. We close the manifest zone and... and We go pack past these morons still fighting with each other.
00:27:42
Speaker
this And we just... You all beat feet. Yeah, you get out of that of town. Well, there is that we did we did go to the orphanage first. Both Kaz and Nix wanted to go to the orphanage and just saw the non-carnage carnage of all these bodies laying on the ground.
00:28:01
Speaker
Yeah. which I think was very affecting to both of them in different ways that Kaz plans on asking about for sure. Yeah. But then, yeah, we got out of there There was nothing for us there. It really sucked. The people were awful.
00:28:15
Speaker
And we had another would we stay? Right. And we had another thing
Bunker Discoveries and Magic Items
00:28:20
Speaker
we wanted to do. You know, we, I think, all are in agreeance that we want to find out what these bunkers are as players. I don't know.
00:28:28
Speaker
Kaz is interested in it because it's something... to occupy himself with when he's yeah back at home other than just trying to find things about his life that he's still not sure if he wants to know.
00:28:44
Speaker
um So we do. So we go to the bunker and we go in and some people find magical items. Yeah. Come for them. Yeah.
00:28:55
Speaker
Do you want to tell the people? Yeah. I found a sword, a magic sword. Just about your re respect, your general respect. Oh yeah. Save that for the episode. when yeah what i mean, if you want to talk about it here, Madison, you can, or if you want to save it for the episode, I'll leave that up to you.
00:29:12
Speaker
I'll save it for the episode when I've got it built out. Yeah. Exciting things coming for Selena. Yes. Big changes. Yeah. um But yeah, so Madison finds a magical sword. Selena finds a magical sword.
00:29:26
Speaker
Valk finds an amulet. Is that right? Or is it just crystal? It's a shard from a, it's a page. It's a page from a spell book. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. That I thought we all knew about, but I forgot that Mia doesn't always share everything with the group. Like I'm so used to with Philip and Randy.
00:29:45
Speaker
And so, and then I found out that it was really old, which was cool. You rolled a 12. I don't know what want. I know. No, yeah, yeah. No, for sure. yes Nothing cool like a magic item, that's for sure. I dirt're definitely don't want one of those.
00:30:00
Speaker
No, I got my thing this arc, for sure. I got my big backstory yeah stuff. so And then the recording. And Eric, I would love to hear you talk about the...
00:30:13
Speaker
How I suddenly heard like a dozen of my friends' voices in my ears. Yeah. Very he surprised. Very surprised. Yes. I had to keep like walking back in. I'm like, okay, wait, listen to what they're saying. Not trying to figure out who is who.
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They, and so that this concept, the bunkers, without getting too far into what they actually are, is an idea that literally I've had gestating since the very first time we talked about campaign three, which was like 40 episodes into campaign two, like feels like a lifetime ago.
00:30:51
Speaker
um And I knew that I wanted to have these ancient recordings of all these different figures talking, but obviously you all sitting there and listening to me voice all these characters for five straight minutes sounds like a nightmare for everyone involved.
00:31:07
Speaker
And i just kind of realized like, oh, I'm involved in theater and have some talented friends who can act. So what if I give them a script and just have them perform? And i you know, we had the initial bunker that was just me on it.
00:31:25
Speaker
And then I wanted to have the rest of the characters be able to be voiced. And so, yeah, was able to write out a script of this radio S drama and have everyone come over and record it. And I had to lie to my dear friend, Jeff, about why I needed two of my microphones back because I realized that I needed all the mics for the recording session. So, yeah.
00:31:48
Speaker
Eric and his wife lied to my face several times about the day after your wedding. Oh, yeah. And then a couple days later, I was like, so why don't you guys record for... i thought Miley has a YouTube presence, for those of you that don't know. And I was like, what you record for the vlog that she had the microphone? And she was like, nothing.
00:32:06
Speaker
ah You will have to find out when you watch it. was like, all right. So, yeah. The performers are myself, Miley Hopkins, my wife, Kirby Rodman, Christina Stewart, and Connor Sharp, Harper Sharp, Alex Sabina, Tanner Rippey, Riley Herring, Garrett Wheeler, McKinley Routon, Aubrey Herring, Philip Newcomber, and AJ Garrett.
00:32:27
Speaker
So huge thank you to all of them that contributed many hours of their life recording that not to spoil things, but there are more recordings out there for you all to find.
00:32:39
Speaker
Um, in fact, there's one recording per bunker. So there's a lot of recordings out there for you to find, and I'm sure they will be bummed if not all of their hard work is heard on the show. Now, if, if, if not all the bunkers are found, i will air them as like during the final review or something as a, ha, here's what you could have found thing, but.
00:32:58
Speaker
I'm so excited. I wonder how many eagle-eared listeners heard Kirby who played Jokonos in our first campaign. Yep. Very different voice. He he really went for it in the voice department. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:33:10
Speaker
Yeah. But... No, it was it was super fun. And it was super fun, like... So the final script... was I think 57 pages for all of the logs, not just that one.
00:33:23
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. I spent like a few months writing it and kind of editing it, figuring out exactly like the structure that I wanted and stuff like that. And then I decided like, let's do a read through just so everyone understands the context of what they're reading when we actually go to record it.
00:33:39
Speaker
And then the read through took like just shy of two hours and I went, oh no, this is going to take a lot longer than I thought it was going to. So yeah. Because, and this this is like just my college theater brain, like when you're reading ah play, generally speaking, it's about and a minute per page when it gets to be performed on the stage. So if you're reading a 70 page script you're looking at about an hour and change plus an intermission thrown in there kind of thing and so when I wrote 50 pages forgetting that you know a play script is right tiny right and so when I wrote 57 word document pages like oh that'll be just under an hour no big deal so yeah but was lot of fun
00:34:26
Speaker
So following from that, before we get into listener questions, I have a question. You told me and Philip, I think one day that this story, this adventure, this arc was the thing that put you on the path of developing the Lighthouse Consortium and building this whole campaign three through line.
00:34:47
Speaker
yeah So I don't know what you can share in that regard, but just I i i think it'd be interesting to see what what it was about this adventure, this idea when it popped into your head that led to this whole world that we're building now.
00:35:00
Speaker
Yeah, like I.
Campaign Inspiration and Themes
00:35:04
Speaker
So when the idea of Everon Men in Black kind of came into my head with the lighthouse, there was some trepidation.
00:35:13
Speaker
Because the last thing that i ah that I wanted this campaign to feel like was fantasy border patrol. Like, I didn't want you all going around be like, hey, you don't belong here. Get back to where you came from.
00:35:24
Speaker
Because, yikes. And so so I really spent a lot of time gestating on this campaign concept. And is there a way to make it compelling in a way that you all are actually protecting people it in unique ways. Cause you know, fire elemental gets from the plane of fire and starts burning crops in a countryside. Sure. Like that might be an adventure that comes up down, down the way when I'm tired and grumpy and don't have time to play in a cool adventure, but that can't adventures like that can't make up a whole campaign in my opinion.
00:36:03
Speaker
And then I had this idea of like, these You referenced it earlier, Jeff Pleasantville slash Stepford Wives of like, what if there is a planar entity? So just rewind a little bit further because the idea of like an angelic presence coming down and providing for a town. and is also something that could be done. And you know, you all coming in stepping in and saying, Hey, you, you don't belong here. You're like messing up the ecosystem of this town. or Yeah.
00:36:36
Speaker
Yeah. But that once again felt like, well, but why would you want to stop something that is just being benevolent? Like helping people. Yeah. yeah If the town is down with it, who are we to be like, yeah, exactly. You're making it too easy for these people.
00:36:51
Speaker
Yeah. And so then that's when I finally landed on the concept of something like the harmonizer that is doing it, but without consent and being like, oh, I know what's best for you. Here's the right way to do things.
00:37:04
Speaker
And that would be an interesting investigation for the party to undergo surface and then have a really strong, well, we have to stop this kind of reaction.
00:37:15
Speaker
And then there was part of me when I was actually designing it, up is there a way I can make it to where there is kind of a moral question of, ah is it possible for a town to be so bad that this is a just fate for them and of like being able to, to be orderly and, and sound in that way.
00:37:34
Speaker
But yeah, so once I landed on that adventure concept, I was like, okay, so there is a way to do this that is interesting and compelling from a narrative standpoint. And yeah, literally Stepford Wives meets Pleasantville was, was kind of the, the nugget of an adventure that got me really rolling on the lighthouse consortium campaign.
00:37:57
Speaker
It's awesome. Okay, let's get into some questions. If you would like to ask questions about the show, you can do so on our Discord. The easiest way to find the Discord is to check out our pages on the socials that we're involved in. Instagram and Facebook being the easiest ones to find.
00:38:17
Speaker
so I mean, the the the Discord link is in the description of all the podcast episodes also. Oh, so of course just of course. Yeah, if you look there, you can find the invite link. So, yeah. Now on Deezer, apparently. Yes.
00:38:29
Speaker
So ah we would love to
Community Interaction and Music Selection
00:38:31
Speaker
have you join the Discord. It's a lot of fun. There's a lot of listeners in there talking about both the show, but then just, you know, TTRPGs in general, board games, movies, geek stuff, pets, lots of pet pictures. Who could be mad about that?
00:38:45
Speaker
Man, that chihuahua was so cute that just got posted the other day. All right. Anyway, Irene asks a question for Eric. How do you decide on the intro music for each campaign? ah So campaign one, i just liked the sound of it. It was upbeat, boppy and had a good fantasy vibe to it. That's literally all that went into picking that one.
00:39:05
Speaker
For campaign two and three, I put a lot more thought into it. Campaign two, I wanted to have kind of a... HBO premiere television series vibe, like the, the intro music, just having that you could see the names like scrolling across the screen kind of thing.
00:39:25
Speaker
And I think also the daredevil Netflix show, like was also kind of ah an intro idea of what I wanted it to feel like. And so that's where I got the intro music for that.
00:39:36
Speaker
This one, I wanted something like the True Blood theme song. This kind of that like Delta Blues style. And it was very hard to find something like royalty free Delta Blues music is a really niche genre that bra took a long time to find.
00:39:56
Speaker
And we don't use AI music around these parts. So yeah. So I'm very fortunate to have found the music that we did for this because I love the intro and the outro music. So yeah.
00:40:08
Speaker
and I will admit that I still sing the campaign one theme song in my head every time you say, and that we'll call that an episode or we'll see you next time. yeah to do the do Campaign one.
00:40:22
Speaker
what What kids we were back then? Right. I did say the other day, Derek, I was like, it's we've been doing with this for eight years. And Miley goes, eight years? He's like, yeah, man. Okay, Derek, Darren wants to know, and I do too, what did you initially have planned that ended up getting replaced by Jim Johnson?
00:40:39
Speaker
It just would have been you all would have gotten into City Hall and there would have just been like kind of the automata that Valk found of just like fit nameless bureaucrats in suits that attacked you like it.
00:40:53
Speaker
It just wouldn't have had that figurehead of Jim Johnson to it would have been what would have been missing. So, yeah. If there hadn't been a Jim Johnson, how do you think this is a Jeff wants to know if, if you, if there hadn't been a Jim Johnson, how do you think you would have explained the sudden change of heart everyone had?
00:41:13
Speaker
Or would it have just been more like, this is obviously a supernatural thing. They would have talked about city hall instead of Jim Johnson. Oh, well, okay we heard it from city hall. Like it would have come. So it would have been this like monolithic entity, the sydney key of yes, I'm with you.
00:41:31
Speaker
I think I used that word right. Hit me. Punch it in. and Nathan asks, for everyone, as players and in character, what makes the reaction to the discovery in episode 45 so different than your reaction to the Warforged?
00:41:49
Speaker
I'll speak for, as Kaz, he didn't know what a Warforged was. He wasn't super comfortable at first, except for that everybody else knew what it was. And so, and it was kind, like it was obviously helping this town.
00:42:04
Speaker
Arumi, I shouldn't be say it. Yeah. Once we learned his name, like Arumi was helping this town, doing its part, whereas these things felt, I think part of it is just like we knew Jim Johnson was a bad guy doing bad things, controlling people against their will.
00:42:18
Speaker
So him and anything related to him, i I'll be honest, I believe episode 45 is just when we found out, we saw the other constructs. And Jim Johnson found that Jim Johnson was one. Like I just knew they were bad guys.
00:42:29
Speaker
Or Kaz did. Yeah. The Orphans were that episode too, right? Later on, yeah. Yeah. yeah And then, as a player, it's just I knew that I was supposed to have a problem with them because i i met a lot of everything.
00:42:47
Speaker
And I knew I wasn't... I assumed I wasn't supposed to with Ruby. I always err on the side of... yeah As a player... expect for Eric to expect you to be kind to the oppressed classes in Everon.
00:42:59
Speaker
Because yeah know my friend Eric and like, you we're not a, we're not a kick them weather down kind of, kind of crew. So, yeah.
00:43:09
Speaker
Well, I think Selena...
Character Morality and Eberron Lore
00:43:11
Speaker
because she's used to having something so different about her. So like with the Warforged, like she wasn't going to judge that or go into it. Like she understands what it's like to be different.
00:43:22
Speaker
But I think it does come back to just knowing that like in episode 45, that everything just stemmed from a bad situation and like that lack of consent about what was going on. So like knowing that, that it was, it was different.
00:43:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. I'm so sorry I lost where I was at. There we go. And for Eric, how would Sigil and Arumi have reacted to the situation and to the other adventurers' reactions had they been there?
00:43:48
Speaker
I think ah think certainly Sigil from campaign would have had a greater understanding of what was going on than roomie or honestly the player characters, just cause Sigil is tapped into magic in a pretty unique way.
00:44:06
Speaker
And i think Sigil would have had a problem with it because the, these are constructs that are copying something They're not like Warforged that are unique humanoid entities that have at least some semblance of a soul or consciousness or uniqueness to them.
00:44:27
Speaker
You know, these these orphans are being programmed to operate in a certain way a cadence. And that's what I wanted to really kind of convey when you all were talking to people in the town.
00:44:40
Speaker
especially constructs like Jim Johnson and the orphans is that there was no uniqueness in the way they were speaking. Like it was canned responses. It was, you know, this, this is what I'm saying.
00:44:52
Speaker
And even the former leader of the town, when you all asked, how is she talking? It was like, well, it's very canned. It's very repetitive. because she was also a construct. And so I really tried to kind of signal that, whereas you don't get that with a roomie, you don't get that with sigil or other war forge. They are unique entities that have thoughts and feelings and can express them.
00:45:11
Speaker
Right. I think a roomie would have been unsettled by the half finished children hanging from the wall. Um, yeah like everyone else was, but a roomie just would have been like, well, the, these people don't seem happy. These things don't seem happy. So we should stop what's going on them.
00:45:29
Speaker
I do remember towards the end of campaign to Hob took sigil to his favorite restaurant, the consistent bird. And you mentioned like sigil was put off by the automata there, but more than uncanny Valley way than they're using these robots for labor kind of way.
00:45:50
Speaker
Yeah. So that made sense to me.
00:45:55
Speaker
Darren says, Eric, how much fun did you have directing a mini radio play? It was stressful as hell, Darren. Mostly because it took so long. Like, I mean, people people got to my home at, I think we started at like two o'clock, three o'clock in the afternoon.
00:46:14
Speaker
And people didn't leave until like 9 45, 10 o'clock. Like it was, it was a long day of recording. It was fun. And most everyone seemed to really enjoy it the entire time. ah Some performers faded quicker than others, but we prioritize their recording and let them go home sooner.
00:46:29
Speaker
So, but no, it was a lot of fun and it was fun getting to see people like read things that I had written and perform them and then internally go, Oh, I should have written that line better because it sounds clunky, but you know, that's such, such as the curse of the creative mind.
00:46:47
Speaker
So yeah, but it was a lot of fun. Those are people that would be hanging out together anyway. So at least that must have been nice. Yes. Yes. Yes.
00:46:56
Speaker
Ophelia asks, how is this spending years playing in this world? How has it changed over time and seasons from the early days? Madison? yeah So funny. I know enough to be dangerous now, I think, is part of it.
00:47:11
Speaker
Both. I mean, when we started, I didn't know. Everyone knows this, this is not a secret. I had not played much D&D. I'd played a couple hours of D&D and knew nothing about Eberron.
00:47:22
Speaker
i I found changelings by chance and got a lot of things wrong about them when I was building decks that I had to fix over time. ah Or just ignore well than my initial thoughts.
00:47:34
Speaker
I know Eberron now. that's I don't know 13th Age, and I don't know Chaos Mage, and I i knew Genesis okay when we started doing that. So the system keeps surprising me, but it's fun for me now, like when Eric brings up, I mean, try to think of a good example, but a lot it's from Campaign 2 because I also did a lot of stuff in Shard in my home game.
00:47:57
Speaker
When Eric mentioned something and I know what it is, I get to play the, ooh, what do I get to think Kaz knows about this now? but What in this world that I know does my character know where it used to be like, hey, what does my character know about this because I don't know anything?
00:48:11
Speaker
Yeah. And so that is a lot more fun. I sure haven't gotten bored of ever on. That's for sure. I would say that we've probably we've explored 25% of it.
00:48:22
Speaker
ah Yeah. So I think that's the biggest thing that's changed is just like, I get it now. I, yeah, I catch jokes. I can make little jokes aside to fill up that are up the world. And that was certainly not something I could do in the past.
00:48:34
Speaker
So yeah. did you have more Jeff? No, no, I said because I have to fill time. Yeah. and and dead Dead spaces with my voice. For me running for so long in this, this world and getting to play a little bit on Kyber shards and blades and banners over on the laughing tree YouTube channel.
00:48:57
Speaker
But getting and running this long in the the system, I've i've just gained a lot more confidence in it. Like I have to spend less time looking stuff up because I feel like I have a baseline knowledge of the world now that if I have to pull something out of my butt, it's at least going to roughly align with the lore.
00:49:16
Speaker
and ah Also by the end of campaign one, people that really had a big problem with the way that I treated the lore of Eberron, were gone by that point. yeah So we should now are fine with it.
00:49:28
Speaker
I'll still poke into the Eberron discord sometimes to see what people have to say about me, but it's fine. And so, but. I really love this world could be as Jeff said, there is so much depth to it and so much breadth to it. Like you can explore so many different topics and so many different facets of it.
00:49:47
Speaker
And I i really liked the fact that we rewound the clock. And so. And I love that you all decided to have the headquarters for the lighthouse in Kair because yeah that is it's a part of the world that most campaigns don't get to explore because in the normal timeline of the setting, Kair is destroyed.
00:50:09
Speaker
And it also adds an interesting narrative wrinkle because, well, at some point, you all are going to have to move. So maybe not in the campaign, but in the in the larger timeline, you all have to get out of Kair eventually. So yeah, very cool.
00:50:26
Speaker
Yeah. Matson, what do you think of Eberron first blush? You haven't gotten to see much of it yet, but... Seems great. this Okay. I'm having a good
Radio Play Reactions and Time Speculations
00:50:34
Speaker
time. Flame asks, in a continuation of Darren's question about the radio play, what was going through everyone's head when it started playing?
00:50:40
Speaker
I was just thinking, I was picking out my friend's voices. Yeah, for sure. i i did It took me a second and then I was like, wait, I know that voice. And I was like trying to pick out who was who. And then I was like, wait a minute, pay attention to what's being said. You need to know this.
00:50:55
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely recognize the the first voice is our friend Christina, or one of the first couple of voices. And I definitely recognize that and Eric's voice. And at one point, I thought eric Eric's brother and sister-in-law, Miley's brother and sister, were a part of it. then realized that was not the case.
00:51:13
Speaker
ah Part of it was just, I mean, I i like my friend Eric's ideas. And otherwise, I wouldn't have be still be playing this game eight years later. And I was excited to see what he was coming up with. i i I did have the wherewithal to presume it was written and they had not been improvising these things.
00:51:29
Speaker
So I was pretty sure that Eric could come up with it all. Although Christina is a level three improviser, to be fair. That is true. Yeah. So, ah but i was just excited to hear it. I'm i'm never upset to let Eric lore dump on us. So.
00:51:43
Speaker
but Yeah. but Yeah. I was a little stressed once I hit play because the way the soundboard in Zencaster works is you click it, it starts playing. And if you click it again, it stops and it will start over from the beginning.
00:51:55
Speaker
So i was like, man, if I'm, if we're two minutes in and actually click that button, boy, that's going to remove any momentum or that we have to this. So I didn't even think about the fact that that was on the soundboard. I wish you would accidentally push the did did it did a button instead.
00:52:10
Speaker
Darren asks a question that I don't understand, so it's definitely for Eric. Did you end up evaluating the cipher system for this campaign? Yes, I did take a look at the cipher system, and it was in contention for being the system that we would have used.
00:52:25
Speaker
I mean, i Part of what it came down to is i got feedback from some potential players for this campaign that the Cypher system of rolling under ah number just doesn't feel as good as rolling high. So you roll low number good. So rolling a natural one is a critical success and rolling a natural 20 is a critical failure.
00:52:46
Speaker
And that just doesn't feel as good from a system standpoint. and So that was part of the reason why it ended up getting shunted down the list, but. Did I play test to that one? don't remember. No, I don't think you did.
00:52:57
Speaker
Yeah, I'm good. I thought Cypher system may have been something inside of 13th age, but that makes sense. No, Cypher system is a completely different system. I really like it. It's cool. The GM never rolls in it, which is fun, but yeah.
00:53:09
Speaker
Okay. I mean, my favorite system, the GM never rolls. So let me some kids on bikes. Yep. Flame asks, Eric, are there any other fun Donvi battle rules or mechanics you didn't get to put into use? We talked little bit about talked about that early. Yeah. i didn't know if there was more.
00:53:23
Speaker
And then Flame asks for everyone. How much do your friends and family, excluding fellow podcast members, know about your role on the Everod Renewed podcast or about the podcast in general? I mean, I'll i'll speak like, i think most people in my life know that I have a podcast.
00:53:40
Speaker
Mostly because Miley talks about it a lot. Like my Miley hypes me up a lot more for my efforts here than than I do myself socially. Now in terms of what it is, but i have no idea.
00:53:52
Speaker
Shout out to all my friends and family that are listening right now, if you are, but yeah, I, I have no idea who actually listens. Lots of people will ask me for the name of it. And then once I'm done spelling it for them, ah they write it down, but yeah.
00:54:04
Speaker
So I don't know. Nobody at all. No, no, they don't, they don't know what it is. They have no clue. but Yeah, no, no one in my family, they ah ah like Eric said, all of my family is aware of the podcast. I think my brother has listened.
00:54:21
Speaker
And then like he he listens for a bit and then gets off and then catches back up and then steps off. So I know he finished campaign one, I'm pretty sure. I am excited one day to yeah ask my son, hey, do you want to listen to this thing your dad did you know years ago?
00:54:38
Speaker
and Hopefully it's still doing, but you got to start at the beginning. Come on. Completionist. My coworkers all know about it through no effort of my own.
00:54:49
Speaker
A student at my school listened to the podcast, unrelated to anything, just found it and told his teacher. And then everyone knew about it, would ask me about it. And I was just like, yeah, it's fun. It's a thing I do. If you want to listen, here's how you find it.
00:55:03
Speaker
And no one has. So... My wife did not listen to the podcast even after she found out she was joining it. So that's where I've listened to some of it.
00:55:14
Speaker
So it is, it is it we I would never force my friends or family to to do consume anything I've created. i I invite them to the place that I'm in, but I've never had any hard feelings of someone not showing up.
00:55:28
Speaker
And the podcast is the same way. If you're a colleague or a friend or family member and you're hearing me say this, let me know. That'd be and that'd be fun to find out. Yeah.
00:55:38
Speaker
Okay. Kevin has a handful of questions. Jeff, how much timey-wimey BS are you theorizing from Kaz's past? Have you wondered if it's an alternate universe Kaz? No, I have not wondered that. I think we're pretty clear that this Kaz is that Kaz.
00:55:53
Speaker
The experiences that were had in Thelanus are unknown to him, but it is the same guy. ah Eric's smiling at me, but i I don't think I'm wrong about this. I'm telling Eric.
00:56:06
Speaker
How much timey-wimey stuff, I have no idea what Eric has decided the time dilation. I told Eric that I wanted for Kaz to have been in Thelonis for a long, long time.
00:56:18
Speaker
Like I said, long enough to have kind of lived... I keep saying several lives. I don't mean that he died and was resurrected. I mean, like, he had eras, as one might say. ah But, like, extensive ones. Long ones. so But I don't know what the time dilation is. I don't know any of that stuff. Am I expecting some BS? Yes. Is it timey-wimey? I am unsure.
00:56:42
Speaker
Madison, can you explain wizard magic in 13th Age and your impressions of it so far? ah Well...
Selena's Magic Frustrations and Upcoming Changes
00:56:51
Speaker
Selena's going to be having some big changes surrounding that pretty soon, but it's been...
00:56:56
Speaker
Good to start as that, I think, because there's some level of like familiarity just with like wizards in general. And coming into it not knowing really anything, that was, I think, a good one to start with. there I've had some frustration with everything being, like nothing being close quarters. like That has been difficult in a lot of circumstances, so I'm excited for the changes that Selena's going to go through to give her a little bit more freedom surrounding that.
00:57:24
Speaker
Okay. He then says, I'd ask the same of Jeff, but there limitations to verbal explanations, diamond drains. know if that means he thinks I talk too much or the chaos may just, just weird and difficult to explain.
00:57:36
Speaker
And he's right on both. both Things can be true. yeah both Yeah. I can hold things in both hands.
00:57:43
Speaker
Eric, how much delighted mischief were you suppressing over the party's misread on the majority of the fellas watch situation? That was epically dumb. Well, thank you, Kevin. It was fun. It was fun to like see the theories getting thrown around and things like that. And, you know, when you're running a more investigative type adventure, it's it's fun to see like i I consider it well done because none of the theories were so far afield that they were going to head in the wrong direction.
00:58:13
Speaker
Like nobody was like, I think the military base has something do this and we so we should leave town and go investigate there. Like, so when you're running an adventure like this, you kind of want them to be grasping at straws, but still headed on the right road.
00:58:27
Speaker
And so I really, it it was fun because they ended up in the correct spot in spite of their theories as to why they needed to add there, if that makes sense. but The added NPCs intended to provide information were fascinating.
00:58:41
Speaker
Did you expect the reactions, interactions you got from the initiating PCs? Y'all really mean to some really nice people. I mean, just you say y'all throwing that about a little bit.
00:58:54
Speaker
the The malcontents among our party were very mean. These some pretty nice people. No, I, yeah, I just like the idea of if you are headed into a pleasant real situation, that why would you need to roll to charm these people? Those be like, oh yeah, like you want to know stuff? Sure. Yeah, let's talk. Like more than happy to talk to you about it.
00:59:14
Speaker
So yeah, it was a lot of fun.
00:59:18
Speaker
They were fun to talk to. Like after a point, it was like, all right, they're all going to say the same thing. But it did not keep me from want to be like, OK, but also you tell me how you're going to say this part. And then last Kevin's last question, I will say oh it is very fun when like like I think Philip was the one that picked up on the fact that like everyone referred to him as fully Mayor Jim Johnson.
00:59:41
Speaker
And that wasn't something I was doing intentionally. That was just like Eric saying it that way. And Philip picks up, with ah they all say Mayor Jim Johnson. So I'm going to see if they'll like trip up if I just call him Jim Johnson. And so that it was it's fun when things that I'm saying in a certain way get picked up on and I don't even realize that I'm doing it that way. Like it's just, yeah, it's fun.
01:00:03
Speaker
Anyway, as you were. du I did appreciate that you called back the fish cloud. That was very funny. That was so funny. Which is, I just could not think of a prank that would be like really dumb.
01:00:17
Speaker
And like, that was the first thing that I thought of was like, what if you just create a miasma of smells? There's a river nearby. Here we go. Yeah. Um, There's not really a thing called the fish cloud my knowledge. is And if there is, like, I have heard of people hiding a fish in someone's car.
01:00:33
Speaker
Yeah. Definitely. Don't do that to people. Or fish, for that matter. Yeah. get And Kevin's last question. I've been getting some interesting similarities between Kaz's story and, again, a question I do not understand.
01:00:48
Speaker
The House of Balance from Kingdoms of Amalur. Was there any inspiration from there? So here's the deal, Kevin. I adored the game kingdoms of Amalur way back when it came out before that studio founded by Curt Schilling folded and the state of Rhode Island sued him for fraud.
01:01:08
Speaker
Oh, is that, that, is that, that game design, your developer that or that? Yeah. so Yeah. I love kingdoms of Amalur. Very sad. It never got a follow up. I played all of it and I played all of it. Like.
01:01:20
Speaker
15 years ago so there may very well be some inspiration from house of ballads that is layered deep somewhere in my hippocampus that is now manifesting in kaz's story if there is i can't tell you what it is though like i i love the game i as soon as you said house of ballads i went that sounds vaguely familiar so yeah i did play the game and i loved it I will admit looking up when I saw kingdoms Amalur being a video game, was like, well, it's not the kind of video game I play anyway. And then I saw how old it was.
01:01:54
Speaker
And then I looked at house of bowels like, Oh, this is way deeper than I'm willing to go right now in like my 20 minute break at work. Yeah. So, but that's, that's, that's fun.
01:02:04
Speaker
It's a good game. I'd highly recommend in playing it. The graphics are dated, but it's a good game. think it's, I will look and see if it is somehow available to get with like PlayStation Plus, considering the fact that the publisher has, uh, it might still be a litigation with the state of Rhode Island. I read a book about that.
01:02:24
Speaker
kit Oh, what's his name from triple click, the triple click podcast. Games journalist. He wrote a book about it, and I and i read most of the book. but You can get it on Steam for $40.
01:02:39
Speaker
might get it on Steam for $40, I think is what you meant to say. that Okay, last two questions are from Laura. They ask, all of us, what would your dream guest on the show
Dream Guests and Favorite NPCs
01:02:52
Speaker
be?
01:02:52
Speaker
Derek, think you should take it first. i i I want to jokingly say my wife, just because there is a better shot of us getting Brennan Lee Mulligan on this show than Melody Hopkins showing up on Ever After You. No, obviously you you have all the heavy hitters in the in the actual play space, but I think that somebody that I would be...
01:03:12
Speaker
Equal parts delighted and terrified to have a guest, be a guest player on the show is Emily Axford, just because I think that she would ruin me as a ah GM.
01:03:24
Speaker
It's what she does. Yeah.
01:03:27
Speaker
But that that would be an incredible person to have on the show. Eric's wife. You know what? I'm only partly kidding. I think that would be fun, but I don't really know enough to to pick somebody else.
01:03:38
Speaker
ah Or just any, any, from any celebrity or author. i't Sarah J. Maas. That would also be very fun. Let her scrutinize my world building.
01:03:51
Speaker
this Yeah, I think from the actual play realm, I would want you know what are the one of the people that's known for bringing the chaos, like Caldwell Tanner or Allie Beardsley or Izzy Rowland or...
01:04:07
Speaker
Oh my goodness, i've I've completely lost your name. Critical Role Jester, Laura Bailey. bailey Because I just think it would be very fun to sit across from somebody who is a complete wild card. Like we always surprise each other, but when it's just like, i don't know, they are specialists at pulling the craziest things out.
01:04:31
Speaker
ah So think that would be a lot of fun.
01:04:35
Speaker
I don't know, in the general populace. I don't know. Like somebody like Michael Schur, like somebody who's a creative writer, but also like seems kind and fun ah would be great.
01:04:50
Speaker
And the last question from Laura, if you could have any NPC from campaign one or campaign two in this campaign, who would it be? Doesn't matter. You wouldn't recognize them anyway.
01:05:02
Speaker
Whoa. She's... Trayna was there and nobody... Yeah, I know. I missed Trayna. I'm sorry. I mean, the Lighthouse Consortium that we met in the last campaign feels very much like something that Orianna would be a part of. Yeah.
01:05:19
Speaker
And I think that that would be fun to see her there. if i could If I could expand it to pieces... I would love to play the scene where somebody tried to recruit Thorin into the Lighthouse Consortium and explain it to him and he just tries to wrap his head around it for a couple of days. yeah That would be very fun.
01:05:36
Speaker
As far as second campaign NPCs, besides the King of Sharn, obviously, I guess...
01:05:46
Speaker
Oh, oh, I've lost his name, but Hobbs Minotaur friend. Those were always fun scenes to play. Narn? Narn. Narn, that's right. Um, and I will never be upset if Kath and Sana appear in things.
01:06:02
Speaker
Yeah. Even given- Those poor women. was like, slight, slight spoilers. I guess not really. It's, you know, it's, it's Dungeons and Dragons or it's not as Genesis, whatever.
01:06:14
Speaker
Uh, things don't always go well for NPCs that the party adopts, despite what became of Kath and Sada or, or what was done to them by Eric.
01:06:24
Speaker
Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. that I would love to see early campaign to Kath and Sada appear yeah and turn up in anything. so Yeah. but I think Sigil would be a lot of fun. i think Sigil would have a good time like investigating planes and stuff like that.
01:06:42
Speaker
Lucian, the the vampire would be a lot of fun to have bring back just because he's a fun NPC to play because everyone hates him so much. So that would be fun. forgot about him.
01:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, you do that. um Man, that that was... If it happened pre-pandemic, you're lucky that I remember anything.
01:07:05
Speaker
I know. I'm just giving you a hard time. I'm really sorry. I am genuinely sorry I forgot about Trayda. It's fine. Trayda, my trader. But yeah. those Those would be the ones that I really like to see come back. And I guess I'm in control of that. So, you know, who who knows what I'm doing.
01:07:19
Speaker
Madison, who are your favorite NPCs from campaign one and two? I will listen. i will listen. promise. She loved Vigo and Graham.
01:07:31
Speaker
Oh, Graham. I guess Graham technically cast a lantern from the... The wine cellar. Yep. right. Someday I'll understand. Yeah. that You'll get all there were good jokes. I was literally just naming the other names I could remember.
01:07:45
Speaker
Castellaners. Funny. That is the last question. Thank you all so much for listening. We will be back next week with a new arc.
01:07:56
Speaker
And we will see you then until that time. Oh, please listen to or watch Blades and Banners. ah Yeah. The second campaign over at The Laughing Tree on YouTube, DMed by Philip.
01:08:09
Speaker
Eric is a player. ah And I think that's all the plugs. Patreon. Financially supports the show. Patreon.com. There it is And having said all of that, I am Jeff.
01:08:23
Speaker
I'm Madison. And I have been Eric. And we will see you next time. Goodbye.