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Interview with Ryan McManus
25 Plays3 months ago
An Interview Ryan McManus, Editor Extraordinaire
Ironically My audio is messed up in this interview (Possible the recording took the wrong input).
We talk about the different types of puzzles, Ryan's newishness to DMing and what he may struggle with puzzles with.
Check Out his Work for the Cast Party Podcast; he is the DM for their Nocturne Miniseries!
Recommended
Transcript
Cryptic Introduction
00:00:11
Speaker
Sure, a mountain never grows And winds a toothless spider Darkness fills up the deep holes And turns an endless spider What we're here for is mysteries But puzzles yet unsolved So sad secrets lost to history As dungeon problems solve them all Dungeon's old
Meet the Hosts: Ben and Ryan
00:01:12
Speaker
Hello, my friends. Welcome to another interview of the Dungeon Problems podcast with me. I heard those creations, or Ben, or God, or Overlord, whatever you want to call me. I'm here for it. As long as you don't call me, wait for supper. And that's an old person joke right there. If you get that, congratulations. We're probably about the same age. If you don't get that, Well, thank you for listening. Today, I am joined by an amazing friend of mine that I've had the pleasure of meeting on many different occasions now and have a lot of respect and love for because he's just amazing. He just does amazing things today. I'm joined by the one, the only Ryan McManus. Hello. Oh, my gosh. I adore you. Thank you for the intro. That was that was too cute and too wholesome. And just like always, it's a pleasure to see your face.
00:02:08
Speaker
Ryan is an editing genius. and editing
00:02:16
Speaker
There's a word for like conductors or something like that. I'm sure. I don't know. ah so that's why i i like I like editing. It's it's fun. ah but yeah Ryan, what do you do in life? what Where can people find you? What are you enjoying? What are your projects you're doing? Plug yourself. Oh, always. Right now, I am the producer and also a cast member in Cast Party, a Dungeons and Dragons podcast. There's a bit of an isekai D and&D experience ah featuring some of the greatest people that I've ever had the pleasure of playing D and&D with.
00:02:54
Speaker
And on my personal time, I actually am a video editor. I just I spent too much time editing. I'm a video editor for a Magic the Gathering YouTube channel called Webby Magic Monday.
Managing ADHD and Work-Life Balance
00:03:05
Speaker
So if you enjoy magic, if you enjoy D and&D or just anything nerdy, I might be behind it. So.
00:03:13
Speaker
So if you're looking for more nerdy content to do just just devour all of the cast party socials Go you've already heard a whole bunch of the cast party people on here And now you're hearing the reason why they all sound so beautiful. It's true. That's true When in reality, they all sound like they smoke 10 packs of naps kidding So that would be so much work today. You have no idea
00:03:41
Speaker
Oh, I was about to say something to I can't. I had such a good thought on the tip of my tongue right there. Oh, I hate I hate having ADHD. It's the worst thing in the entire world. I feel that especially as an editor, I have to like ah I have to I have to plan out. I don't plan out my work. I plan out my breaks, which is funny, um because if i if I don't if I don't do that, I will find myself either.
00:04:12
Speaker
ah like I'll edit for like five minutes and then I have to go grab my phone and I'll look at like TikToks for like a second. But then it just goes right back down and I get back to work. But it's just the the constant interruptions that that suck. So I have to plan out my breaks. So this was the perfect break for me today. I started around like 8 a.m. and then I'm like, cool, that's three hours of work. And then I get to go hang out with Ben.
3D Printing and TTRPG Enthusiasms
00:04:36
Speaker
That's a perfect little just hour long chunk out of my day that I can relax and vibe and hang out and just not be working and then i'll stop and i'll oh after that that's perfect i'll get lunch after that it's perfect timing and then lunch will be done i can hang out i can chill for maybe up one o'clock that's perfect and then i'll get back into it and i'll work for like four more hours uh so my breaks are all set for the day and and you are a godsend for my mental health today but so uh
00:05:06
Speaker
That's what I strive to be. Right now, I timed all of this on me printing a mini. I'm printing a mini that's going to wrap up right as we finish this up. Let's go. What are we printing today is the real question. I have a huge problem. I've discovered there are a lot of different subscription services that give you STL files. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So many. Uh, there is, uh, Ooh, what's it called? There's loot studios that does a really good job. And I found a new one called flesh of, of gods. Uh, so I, they just came out with a new one that is a transmitter. So it looks humanoid, but it's like skin is chick. Have you ever played soul caliber? Um, only, I think soul caliber is three. Do you know who?
00:05:56
Speaker
nightmare is. He was the big armored guy with the sword that was attached to his arm. I'm looking up right now. There were veins and stuff. Yes. Oh my God. He's so cool. It's a mini that looks just like that in a way. two pictures later I'll put pictures on my Instagram too for you who are listening.
Origins of Cast Party
00:06:13
Speaker
Actually you probably not because I'll forget about that. So Ryan, the most important question Do you like puzzles? Do you hate puzzles? Are you blasé about puzzles and TTRPGs? I want to say that I love puzzles, and and I'm going to stick to that. However, I'm not that great at puzzles, which i think is is I think covers a good majority of of players, at least those that that I've played with. Puzzles are always so much fun.
00:06:50
Speaker
from the player's perspective. yeah Though, if it's one of the puzzle categories that that I might not be good at, ah it does go over my head quite frequently and I do rely heavily on my other party members to hopefully get it or get some little cheats from the DM, some sort of hints or or anything like that. I'm coming up on a year of doing this podcast now. I think I'm going to listen back on all the episodes to see what everyone's answer was and do like a, I think I love puzzles, but I stink at them is the top three one right now. You got to just hypercut every single answer together.
00:07:33
Speaker
That's not a bad idea right there. That's not a bad idea. So let's get a little framework of what your D and&D experience is. Cause I know a little bit about the origin story of the cast party where, um, if I remember correctly, you and Colin were like, we want to play D&D. You were playing like a home game and you decided to turn it into a podcast. Uh, Vince and Nigel had never really played dean D&D before, right? No, no. Vince played. probably I want to say like four or five sessions of our online home game that we had during during COVID.
00:08:12
Speaker
While we were all in lockdown, I mean, we're we're all family, so we just wanted to so find a way to enjoy each other's company while still being locked inside. So, we yeah, yeah we we started this home game. Colin had been playing for a long time before that, and ive I had only played maybe three or four sessions of a home game that I kind of got dragged into. ah Which I'm thankful for, I'm always thankful for it because it it kind of started my interest in D and&D. Though it probably wasn't the best experience that that I've had. ah be Not due to the group or the DM, just to due to my naivety of Dungeons and Dragons as a whole. I used to work at GameStop and
00:09:00
Speaker
the the assistant manager had kept trying to get a D and&D game together with with some of the the the employees. Because we all had ah expressed interest at one time or another. And finally, one day, they came in and they said, here's a paper. We're getting together in my house on Wednesday. And I have made characters for all of you based on who you are as people. So it's kind of like you transported into the fantasy universe, which kind of is Cast Party, basically. ah But it was us as our D and&D characters, which was kind of fun. The lack of choice there was was meh, but I probably I ended up being a bard because I was a musician before this. And that's what everyone really knew me as was a musician. So I remember it was a half elf, half elf bard. I don't remember his name.
00:09:54
Speaker
um And we got there. And it's so funny because I was just talking to ah Raquel, our other cast member about this during our behind the scenes that we did. um I had always thought that D and&D was just, you're sitting around and you're just waiting to fight shit. And I'm so sorry, can I curse on this? Oh yeah. Okay, I just wanted to double check. She cursed a lot. All right, would have redone that line for you. But yeah, I thought we were just, I thought it was like, okay, ah the DM gives you a scenario and you just wait until you can swing things and and kill monsters.
00:10:35
Speaker
So I think that's what we were all kind of waiting for was sitting around. We were eating snacks and doing our little setup before the fight. And then I was like, okay, cool. Now we're fighting things. But then we started playing the home game of Colin when, when lockdown happened and. Uh, with Brie and Allie and Vince, and we all just kind of wanted to get together and and play a game. And that's when I learned like, Oh, D and D is ah is a lot more than just rolling to hit and doing your damage. It's the, I fell in love with the role play. Uh, we had a couple of puzzles that we did from, from Colin's perspective, which were.
00:11:15
Speaker
really intriguing and especially interesting to figure out online is always it a a interesting way to go about puzzles because everyone kind of has to picture it like near perfectly if no visuals are are set in place but But yeah, that's that's that's kind of my experience. We did the home game and then we decided, hey, we have all this recording equipment from being musicians. What what if we record it and drop it to the world?
From Music to Podcasting
00:11:42
Speaker
And that was four years ago. So, sheesh. I think the most beautiful thing I've learned about interviewing is that sometimes the people, the guests that I have on will just A, create so many, like,
00:11:54
Speaker
I'll already to be thinking of a question and they'll bring it on so it's a seamless transition. And no one's to remind me. yeah This is what I was going to say earlier. oh yeah If you didn't know, the two McManus brothers were in a band yeah from lions to lambs or from lambs to lions. or From lambs to lions. Yes, we are a we were. Sorry, we were. I have to say that because it's sad. ah We were a post hardcore metalcore band. ah Very fun, catchy choruses ah mixed with some heavier kind of riffs and and vocals in there. ah Very fun, very catchy. I like to say this to everybody. Even if you don't like the heavier stuff, we always have a song that someone can enjoy. So yeah, if if you like that kind of music or not, we should have something that you like.
00:12:44
Speaker
Yes, definitely. And their YouTube is still up and like you know all their music is on YouTube. So I'm averaging about 15 to 20 listeners right now. So if you 15 or 20 listeners, tell 15 or 20 of your friends to go watch that YouTube, we could bring this band back. oh gosh but We can revitalize it. That's my goal. we We have, oh my gosh, we've we've wanted to do We've wanted ah to do music again for a very long time. It sucks because like, I mean, I'm getting old. Colin's getting old. We're getting old. ah It doesn't mean we can't not do music. It means that the part of music that I was so excited for is kind of...
00:13:26
Speaker
not really doable now, ah which was touring. i yeah we' We've done a little bit of it. ah We went ah across the East Coast a little bit. We went out towards like Michigan and and a little past that. um Traveling for shows and seeing the world is something that I've always wanted to do, but I wanted to do it through music. And I kind of got there, but not as much as I would hope to. So if we ever do music again, it would probably be dropping some music videos and just just having the experience of writing with with my brother again and being in the studio and hanging out with our producer and everything.
Challenges of Portraying Puzzles in Podcasts
00:14:04
Speaker
But yeah, it it's I wouldn't say it's off the table, but
00:14:09
Speaker
The part that I want is off the table. Well, we can always dream as your fans and listeners. Welcome, my friends, to the new and improved Dungeon Problems podcast, where now it's all about music. Yes. every Oh, I still have to reach out. There was an old D and&D podcast I listened to called Bombarded, which was a band who did D&D and they wrote a song every episode. I reached out to them a while ago.
00:14:40
Speaker
about potentially getting the DM because I want to talk about puzzles and music because they did it. I need to redo that. i need to That's one of the big troubles. spot there a hundred Back to puzzles. I really enjoy the fact that you were like, when you first encountered D&D, it was all about just swinging and attacking monsters in combat. Because I feel like that's the vibe. People picture old D&D ads, 3.5, D&D 2E. I feel like that's very much, because it did originally start off as a war game way back when, before any of us were alive. And then it's evolved very much. Like right now, the current iteration of D&D is very role play heavy.
00:15:27
Speaker
Which I'm a fan of and also I love combat and I love puzzles and I think it's I Think it's very beautiful if you can meld all three That's one of the reasons I love Colin because he has done that when you mentioned it's tough doing it virtually Because you kind of have to do here to the mind when you do you remember when he first presented D&D puzzles and kind of how Your brain worked with that. What were some of the challenges? Oh Gosh I wish I could remember the the first puzzle he did for Cast Party. um We've done so many sessions and so many episodes that they all kind of mesh together. um I think the first one he did was the one where you were in the tavern hunting down someone and there was a crystal on a statue or something.
00:16:23
Speaker
and would make that That sounds right, but my brain can't piece it all together. um I mean, it's been three years since you started to ask for me. That's a lot of sessions. There's one. It could have been a tavern. I don't think it was. I think it was in the ah the winery. weirdly yeah the wine ah This is the most recent one that I remember. There was one in the winery upstairs, which I think involved a crystal, and there was different paintings on and the walls.
00:16:57
Speaker
and I think it had to do something with shining one of the lights that were on the pedestals through the through the crystal and hitting the painting that kind of matched that sort of theme. yeah i could be I could be wrong, but but if that's that's the one that I always remember is the one with the paintings because I remember the paintings. um
00:17:25
Speaker
but But puzzles have been interesting, especially from, I mean, we are we're a podcast, so going audio only. being able to portray the puzzle properly is really important because sure, we can see things while we record, but we can't reiterate that to our, there's no way to present that to our audience except through our vocals. So so I give enormous props to Colin for being able to portray the puzzles in a way that
00:17:57
Speaker
people can visualize them on their own. um and And he's been doing this since the start because a little fun fact when we started Cast Party for probably the first six months or so, we didn't have our webcams on, which was weird. i I don't know why. I think when we started, we were like, I mean, it's a podcast. We only need our voices. And then one day Anna turned on her webcam to show us one of her new dice sets, I think it was. And Nigel was like, wait, I have a webcam. I could just turn this on. And we and then I was like,
00:18:36
Speaker
turn on my webcam. And we're all like, we can just play like this. It might be might be fun. um But yeah, even going back to those days and Colin giving ah giving us these puzzles to go through, I mean, he didn't didn't send us any graphics or anything. So it's it's one of those things where I had to make sure that I was focusing to like the best of my ability because I didn't want to miss out on any of the small details that might have led to hints on how to complete the puzzles so we could all move forward. And even if I did find myself kind of going in and out of focus, the the good part is you have your other party members to piggyback off of, and you also have the dice rolls to to help you out if you think you want to hone in on a specific portion of the puzzle or just an overall, can I do an investigation check? I'm sorry, I kind of missed the first half of that description sort of thing.
00:19:27
Speaker
but
Excitement for Future Campaigns
00:19:28
Speaker
that yeah that's so We a little bit about ADHD in this. You just brought up something I think that is so tough. I hate being a player. I absolutely hate being a player because I have such focused issues when I'm playing. Uh, and it can be fine for combat. It can be fine for role-playing if you're not the main person, but I find it is the worst for puzzles because you can just miss something. Yeah. i It's, it's been tough. Sorry, please continue. Oh no. It's just like, I think that's one of the things I try and do, although many of the DMS I have don't really like puzzles as much as I do. So I don't have to super focus, but when I have a puzzle, luckily I'm able to focus in.
00:20:16
Speaker
and I have felt, ah i've I've felt myself staying a lot more focused as a DM now for Nocturne. When I'm in the DM seat, the ADHD is gone and it's so weird. I wish I could tell you why, but it's... I don't know if it's my brain knowing that I have to be on at all times, and or it's because I have something to engage with that whole time, being roleplay amongst the party members or just describing scenes or anything like that. But yeah, as a player, it's it's tricky. And I found myself going in and out of focus a lot during campaign one.
00:21:01
Speaker
but I think that's because we only had a party of four. So if it's kind of like being a DM where you're somewhat always on, but I found myself drifting out a little bit more than I should have. But campaign two has been really nice because we have these two extra cast members. And I'm curious to see how that moves forward with like with the puzzles, with combat, with just role play and different scenes in general, because I'll find myself ah It's nice to have a little break. ah So like say if I'm in a scene and then we switch to two other cast members who are doing their own thing over somewhere, I know I'm probably not going to talk again for like 20, 30 minutes. And just being able to to sit down and relax and know that I don't have to be on. And I can just enjoy the scene. I can change my music if I want to, to to fit the to fit the vibe.
00:21:52
Speaker
ah It helps with the ADHD a lot. And I am excited for it Colin to drop that first puzzle on us because, oh, is that spoilers? Oh no. No, spoilers for the, no puzzles for the first four episodes.
00:22:12
Speaker
Actually, that's funny ah because I guess I didn't really think about this, but ah Even discovering little lore bits could be is a is a puzzle and I never really thought about that until Right now because we were I don't know when this is coming out. So I'll be a little ah a little vague bit, but we we had come across the location that through investigating we had found a small journal and it had a
00:22:46
Speaker
little bits and pieces here and there of here's a here's a schedule that you had to abide by or that the owner of this journal had to abide by each day. But it involved this certain object that was outside in a barn and We were like, OK, but how does that correlate with the the object in the barn to this schedule? What are these names that are on this schedule? Why is there quantities of this object listed under each name? I never thought about that, Ben. Thank you. yeah So first off, honey this this is coming up in about a month. So if you need me to edit anything out, just let me know and I will 100% edit out whatever
00:23:29
Speaker
Oh no, that's good. That means I can actually be a little more spoilery. so ah Well, so invasive species five comes out in two weeks. Okay. ah now I'm beautiful. It's all coming full circle because I had a question I was going to ask and then the conversation went elsewhere. In your kind of intro here today, you mentioned like one thing that you struggle with puzzles. Is there puzzles that you are very good at that you can get excited about?
Complex Combat and Role-Play Puzzles
00:23:59
Speaker
But then like others that other players probably like better take the lead on. And you just discovered more puzzles. Yeah.
00:24:08
Speaker
Which I've been discovering all these different types of puzzles, lore puzzles, battle puzzles, puzzles that you have to find out in the middle of battle. The traditional like locked room puzzles. There's so many different puzzles. What puzzles do you think you are best at and why do you think that is?
00:24:30
Speaker
Ooh, I would say I think the lore puzzles, now that I know that, yeah, that's kind of a that's kind of a puzzle puzzle in and of itself, ah are probably my favorite because I love piecing together. I mean, Colin has spent so much time fleshing out this world and and building the lore and all these different scenarios and guilds and just NPCs as a whole. I love being able to piece that together and figure out Okay, this episode did come out, technically already so I can be a little, a little more spoilery with it. um We went outside the walls, and we found this barn house. And inside the barn house, my character and Louisa's character found a journal of a list of names, and it was
00:25:16
Speaker
ah like one bottle per day next to him or two bottles per day or anything like that. And I'm like, OK, but what are the bottles? And then come to find out through more investigation throughout the house, the bottles were bottles of wine that had been micro dosed with this almost disease. So they were ah they were kind of building up their resilience to this disease, quote unquote. Um, so it would keep them safe from the disease that was, that was about, and we kind of had to piece that together by going from room to room and figuring out who these people were in their lives and, and why they were even outside the walls to begin with. And just, I love discovering the, the hidden lore that, that Colin had slipped in there because I know Colin as a DM, he is an overprepper to the stars.
00:26:08
Speaker
Uh, and I love that about him. I love that about him because it leads us to these sort of things. I mean, we could have basically, we went to this farmhouse to grab a device that we found that device immediately. We could have left. But just upon one single investigation check from myself and Louise, we found this journal, which led to finding the bottles of wine, which led to going out into the barn and finding the storage of wine and everything. And it's just one thing after another that that leads to this very fun reveal when you put it all together.
00:26:41
Speaker
um So that I think is definitely one of my one of my favorite portions of puzzles, I guess you could say. And i I don't know if we've experienced any, but I do like battle and combat and stuff. But I like utilizing my surroundings and figuring out different ways to go about combat rather than just swinging and hitting. So I guess that's considered a puzzle, maybe. ah I like the the certain things that you have to do in combat that isn't just Okay, 1v1 or yeah, do you have a monster here, go beat him up. I like having the different objectives inside of a combat that you have to figure out what they do, how to go about them in the most strategic way while still keeping enemies at bay, you know? So I do that. That's a battle puzzle right there. I just thought of a different type of puzzle that I hadn't really thought of before. And since we're giving random names, battle puzzle, lore puzzle, stuff like that,
00:27:41
Speaker
roleplay puzzles. Cause you don't think you think of role playing. It's just, Oh, you're talking to someone, but in a way it is a puzzle. How do you get them to give you the information you need? How do you get them to do yeah what you want? Uh, you know, yes, there's persuasion checks. Yes, there's, uh, insight checks and stuff like that. But there's also a way of manipulating the conversation, yeah yeah figuring out what's kind of how to make it so they have no choice sir
00:28:11
Speaker
stuff like And I feel like that's a puzzle that you would be good at, just figuring out how to talk to someone the right way. Oh, yeah. That's what I live for. So I could definitely see that added to the list. And that's something that I, again, never really thought of. Like, yeah, even just talking to an NPC can be a puzzle sometimes, depending on what you find out or what you found out previous. I imagine it would be very much kind of like a video game where like, you know, like you start off with, hello, traveler, welcome to my end. And then based on what you respond with, it unlocks like hidden texts, you
Nocturne Campaign and Horror Puzzles
00:28:52
Speaker
know? Cause like I was just reading something about Baldur's Gate three where there's like several like things that just have not been discovered yet. Oh, that doesn't surprise me at all. That's a possible, how do you discover this stuff? How do you find this stuff?
00:29:06
Speaker
Ah, that's so fun. You've brought up Nocturne now, which you are, this is, you've done some DMing on like the, like small scale for your tab, right? Stuff like that. Yeah. But this is your first full on DMing experience. I want to say yes, technically. ah We did do a home game with Curse of Strahd, but it only lasted about eight or so sessions. So that was kind of like a normal home game. So that was kind of my my practice run for DMing, I guess you could say. as And cursive being Curse of Strahd definitely helped because that's what we're running now. So, yeah.
00:29:55
Speaker
I know you are also a plug-in for the Patreon off Cast Party. Go do it. There's a lot of fun stuff. One of the biggest things is you get access to their Discord, even as a free Patreon, where there's a lot of stuff and you learn a lot of fun information up behind the scenes, like the fact that they've apparently recorded a whole lot of Nocturne that we just have not heard yet. Have you done any puzzles in Nocturne? You don't have to reveal them, but have you or have you thought about doing puzzles with it? Because it's kind of a different feel. It definitely is a different vibe compared to like your your usual D and&D experience. the The horror aspects of it are very fun to play around with. There are there have been, I mean, I'm trying to i'm trying to like go through everything now and see technically what might have been a puzzle to the players. um Because I came in and I was like, dang, maybe I haven't run any puzzles. But now I'm like, I think I've run some puzzles.
00:30:54
Speaker
um ah there's There's definitely been some some NPC and I guess you could say ah RP puzzles, just trying to ensure that they get certain information out that they they might not have been able to I mean, in one of the I think it was episode four or five when they met with the priest inside of the cathedral. I i was just about to say that one. Yeah, he had he had locked his son in the basement. And you know when you hear that, that's assuming something is is terrible. i mean His son is locked in the basement, and he's screaming for help trying to be released, and saying that he's so hungry. like He's screaming at the top of his lungs in agony.
00:31:39
Speaker
And you go in and you talk to the father who is also the father of the cathedral.
00:31:47
Speaker
only to find that, yeah, he ended up locking himself down there, the the son, and begged the father to put the lock on it. And he had made a dumb decision of trying to storm Castle Ravenloft and take down Strahd and had gotten bit and placed back in front of the church to basically wait and simmer until the vampirism took over and ah lay waste to a small village, pretty much. When the transformation happened, he was able to control himself for a moment, figured out what was going on, and locked himself in the basement. And he did this out of his own good. And it's not just a ah father torturing his son. It's the son trying to keep the town safe, even though the... He he could beg for help and the vampirism is slowly eating away at him. He knows what he did was was good. And the party wouldn't have found that out. I mean, they were ready to, at least one of our cast members was ready to go in guns blazing with a sword out. Not calling out any names. No, never.
00:32:59
Speaker
um Which is so funny because i we had gotten to that point in the home game and that is exactly what they did. they And Vince was in this home game. They went in, they heard in- Not calling out any names. Again, yeah, of course not. um And instead they heard, oh my gosh, he's been bitten. He's locked up in the basement. What if he gets out? we They went downstairs and they killed the son in the home game. ah because they just thought he was he was full vampire he was feral and they didn't go through that role play puzzle to figure out what happened to him what was his story what led him to being in the basement and why isn't he out now um so seeing that information come out and come to light in nocturne and have that situation go completely different because
00:33:54
Speaker
Nocturne technically completed the puzzle. They didn't have the consequences of not going through that conversation. I think that that brings up the very, one of the most important things about puzzles, D and&D, everything. Get all the information you can. Gather all the information you can when trying to deal with puzzles, anything in TTRPGs, because you never know how much it can helped you out and yeah in one of the games that I play in with some friends. They're all relatively for new at D and&D, and we're doing the dungeon crawl. And the DM made it a little bit easier for us because we're new they're new at it, where we actually have a map that goes the right way. So they started just really following it and not exploring anything else. And out and i my play my character, just like me, is very yeah
00:34:49
Speaker
energetic and goes off on tangents. So I would start exploring and it allowed us to find so much more. And in fact, I don't want to you know give myself all the credit here, but we discovered that one of the people that we're traveling with is evil purely because, you know, I was like, oh, I'm going to go straight ahead. Just saying all my players, all the other players can at me for that.
00:35:16
Speaker
So have you thought about any like more traditional puzzles that you might have to do in Nocturne? Are there any more traditional puzzles that you think you could? Because if I remember Curse of Strahd, which I haven't read fully into it, but I know the lore, you are going to go into Ragemoth. You're probably going to tackle the castle where there might be some traditional puzzles. Have you thought about it if you're going to do that or do you think that's not the vibe you're going to go with? No, I definitely would like to. I think Ravenloft is the the perfect spot for those puzzles as well ah because it's meant to be this this haunted castle with corridors leading to God knows where and it's meant to be this big mystery to the players. It's not just a straightforward castle. There is this deep history to it and I love the
00:36:11
Speaker
hidden horror of the puzzles in there. So I have not read up to Castle Ravenloft yet. Well, I've read through Castle Ravenloft. I have not gone in depth onto what the puzzles consist of there because they aren't going back anytime soon. Thank God.
00:36:30
Speaker
But yes, i I did know of the the regular puzzles in Castle Ravenloft. I think there's some soon, which spoilers in Argenvast Holt, if I remember correctly, I think there's there's a couple or or there's at least one puzzle in there, which is a kind of mausoleum old base of a dragon warriors in the Barovia, which would be fun. So I hope I'm correct in remembering that because I have to start prepping that soon to be fun. But I would love to because I think it's something that we definitely
Designing Listener-Friendly Puzzles
00:37:10
Speaker
haven't tackled. I mean, we've recorded 21 episodes already.
00:37:14
Speaker
And I'm going to speak for all the patrons right now and say hurry up and release them. You can do them. You can do them two times a week, you know, Monday and Friday. We technically could at this point just because of how far ahead we are. It's ridiculous. Um, but i do that in part so the patrons are coming after you. Oh, they already do. It's okay. Don't worry. ah But it is something that that I would love to at least start incorporating on my own and and put these little homebrew puzzles in there whenever I can find a ah time to do so. I think it'd be very enjoyable. What do you think, since you might be prepping this soon, what do you think is going to be your most difficult challenge as a relatively new DM for those puzzles?
00:38:00
Speaker
I think ah it being a production, I think making sure that I have everything written out to a T to ensure that the listeners are able to visualize whatever puzzle that I'm trying to convey. I think that's going to be where I struggle the most because I can provide my players with graphics and maps online through Roll20 or OwlBear, whatever. um But I think making sure that I get it perfect for the listeners is going to be probably where I hone in and spend the most time on. ah Do a couple of run-throughs and everything. I think that's probably where I'm going to struggle the most. Where do you think you're going to do the best for that? What do you think is going to be your greatest strength going into those puzzles? I think
00:38:51
Speaker
portraying the hints in fun and clever ways because I just love i love little descriptions and and giving these little slight hints here and there for anything really. So I think that'll be fun. I think the the middle part, the meat of the puzzle is is where we'll be most fun. ah I would love to say that I could put in put a nice spin and twist on like the description and start of a puzzle. But I think the big old chunk of meat in the middle is where I would i would thrive the most. i I completely agree with that. I'm going to throw a curveball at you to hopefully alleviate maybe if you have any stress about it. yeah I think another great strength you have is you have some wonderful players who are going to be able to use what you give them.
00:39:45
Speaker
a that will help you as well. I could not agree
Bjorg's Puzzle Adventures
00:39:51
Speaker
more. I'm i'm so, so lucky. Now I say this as a not to toot my own horn thing, but goddamn, I'm so good at casting, man. It's ridiculous. but
00:40:05
Speaker
What? What? What? The show would not be as good as it was if the players didn't exist as a whole. I am so beyond honored and privileged to to be able to share a table with them and to be their DM because they, every single episode, they they blow me away. Whether it's their creativity or their role play or anything, they are phenomenal. I could not ask for a better party. Oh god, that's gonna kill me for the rest of the day. When I edit this, I'm gonna hear that. I'm just gonna be like, yep, there goes Ryan's head. Just a bit, just a bit. Well, I think it's time to see if Ryan can solve some dungeon problems.
00:41:00
Speaker
Oh gosh, all right.
00:41:04
Speaker
I have two puzzles for you today. yeah I have one that I crafted myself an hour ago. okay And I actually crafted two this morning, but I decided to go and it was really blessing because it's Japanese themed. And then I have an official one that I found that from an older edition, so it's a different feel, kind of. It's an interesting feel. And i I'll explain that a little bit to you after we tackle it. See if you concur with this. Which one would you like to tackle first? Let's do yours first. Okay.
00:41:43
Speaker
Mine first. Now, when I say i I wrote this earlier, I literally just wrote like 10 bullet points because I'm good at it. Thank you. There goes mine getting bigger. So do you do you have your character for season two on D&D Beyond? I do indeed. let's uh introduce your character first so uh in case you don't listen to the cath party and you listen to this don't listen to season two it's a perfect time to jump in and you get to hear this character uh and their adventures and good old biorg jorgensen the jewel of debauchery uh biorg is a tiefling artificer he is a
00:42:28
Speaker
totally legit jewelry salesman. ah hey He crafts ah handmade jewelry, he sells it on the streets. He loves to tinker and make devices that help him in his day to day. And the jewelry making is what funds it all. So that is his kind of kind of spiel. ah Yeah. He's a beautiful character with a name that's going to haunt my dreams forever. But frankly, I don't know how sometimes players and DMs can get it all straight together. What was his first name again? I always am bad with first names.
00:43:08
Speaker
your b j o r g Bjorg. So Bjorg has come to this cavern. They've been walking through these caves for a while, exploring, doing adventures. And they've come to this tavern that is kind of large. And as they walk through the entrance out of the gloom, they find three torii gates standing in a row.
00:43:41
Speaker
These, for those of you who don't know what Tori gates are, those are the Japanese kind of, you would think of them at like their temples and stuff, like those big wooden ones with like the arches on top. Those are what a Tori gate is. These three red Tori gates in a row leading up to the exit to the tunnel.
00:44:07
Speaker
Curious, okay. My first thought, and it's terrible, would be to try to walk through the first one and see if there's anything in in particular. You walk through the first one and you get through it. You're now in between the first one and the second one. oh I would take take a little looksie back if there's anything that might be on the backside of this gate that just taking in the grandeur of the of the good old Torrey Gates. All right, give me an investigation check. You got it. Oh, 18. 18, beautiful. You look at the backside of this Torrey Gate. And also, if I'm pronouncing that wrong, please any japanese people at me
00:44:59
Speaker
i would very much love to know how I'm pronouncing that wrong. And you see the archway of it, it's kind of a sloping archway, and on the top of it, in but like hanging over it, you see a small wooden plank hanging down with a picture of a phoenix on it. Hmm, it's probably not tall enough to reach, right? No, the gates themselves are pretty tall. I mean, you could maybe jump up and touch it. but ah Taking that in, just noting the Phoenix, I would walk back to the front just to double check that I didn't miss anything on the front side.
00:45:50
Speaker
It's a double-sided panel. So you see on the front side, a the same picture of the Phoenix. So it's kind of like reversed. Perfect. Noted. I would then continue to the the second gate and see if there happens to be that same Phoenix or perhaps a different portrayal of something. You pass under the first gate, you get to the second gate, and you see a very similar panel, but this one has an Ouroboros pictured on it. Oh. Taking it in. Noted. Phoenix. Ouroboros.
00:46:29
Speaker
And onwards to the third, as long as you pass under the second to the third one. And there is no, no, there is a wooden panel. Again, this one has a Kappa on it. For those of you who don't know what a Kappa is, they are like, they're frog people with, uh, usually like half a lily pads on top of their heads. It's a mythological Japanese creature. Oh, I just looked that up too.
00:46:58
Speaker
See a PPA. Okay, noted.
00:47:06
Speaker
And then a Phoenix is a flaming bird and a or bar is the snake that's devouring its own tail.
00:47:15
Speaker
ah Gosh, oh I'll keep moving forward if I just think this might happen to be some sort of tunnel. you You pass underneath the third one and you're now standing at the exit of this cavern and there's the dark gloom of the tunnel before you.
00:47:38
Speaker
All right, as long as I don't feel like I i had missed anything, the the tunnel awaits. All right, you walk through the dark tunnel and there's a small light ahead of you. You come out of that light and you find yourself from the same exact capper. There's just left.
00:48:02
Speaker
All right, now the confusion comes in. All right, can I walk up to the first gate then? ye
00:48:19
Speaker
Is there is there anything in particular, or I guess out of the ordinary, from what I could see from like a normal Phoenix? Does is there any of anything of note on this, this plaque or this portrayal of the Phoenix that I might be able to take note of and decipher? Give me a history check. Hmm.
00:48:48
Speaker
Oh, that's not too great. That's only an eight. Based on your knowledge of Phoenix's their giant flaming birds, and that is exactly what's pictured here. You do know that they are often counted as immortal birds. When they die, they burn up and turn into an egg, or maybe they just get reborn as a baby or they become fire incarnates. You're not 100% sure about that, but you have heard them called the immortal birds.
00:49:21
Speaker
oh Okay. Curious.
00:49:34
Speaker
Can I shoot a Firebolt at the plaque? You shoot a Firebolt at the plaque and it burns up. Give me a dexterity saving throw. Oh, no. Oh, that's bad. That's a six. A six. This Firebolt is going to come back at you and you are going. I don't have any dice on me. one I actually moved my dice. You are going to take five points of damage. Please do not update your sheet because I don't want a mess.
00:50:09
Speaker
but
00:50:14
Speaker
I'm just imagining, do you guys like use the Dean Deviographer at all to be at home right now and be like, why why is Ryan rolling for it? Well, it just failed me twice. So I i did grab my physical dice. So we'll be doing that for the rest of it. So you've taken some damage as this fire bolt hits you. But that plaque has burned up and is gone now.
00:50:41
Speaker
OK. So it's gone completely from both sides? Gone completely. Or do you think just the first one? Just the first one. Just the Phoenix. OK. But yeah, it's the whole black. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, that hurt. But the the thing's gone, so that's a good note. And I would try to move forward. And my brain, the only thing I can think of is just looking down at my nice little suit and rolling up the sleeves to about the forearm. And I'm just gonna take a nice little chomp out of myself, just hold my teeth on my my forearm as I walk through the second gate.
00:51:24
Speaker
You walk through the second gate and nothing happened. Darn. I don't taste that good. That didn't work.
00:51:35
Speaker
Oh, this one I'm a little confused on. Aurora Boris, they're little snakeys, but they're eating itself. But this is the second thing that came to my mind. Can I walk through the second gate and loop around the outside and then come back through the gate a second time? Like, so I would loop around like the left pole and then go back again. You can. Yep. That's what I'm doing. You do that and you are now facing the third gate. Darn.
00:52:13
Speaker
All right, I'm going to walk through and hop like a frog through the third gate. Hop like a frog through the third gate and you are now facing the exit out of this cavern. I'm going to try the exit again. You try the exit again. That familiar light in front of you appears and you've found, and you've wound up in the same cavern, but the Phoenix thing is still gone. Okay, okay. So that's one, I don't know how to do the second one. These these might have, a these these last two got me stumped a little bit. If the Phoenix one is even correct.
00:52:59
Speaker
um Is there something that I might be able to do to the second gate to gather another hint if I just sit and ponder it for a moment at the Ouroboros? Okay, just give me a straight intelligence roll on this one.
00:53:20
Speaker
14. 14. You kind of looking at these again, you did really well on your investigation so you can see all of it. And you notice that these wooden panels are not built into the gate itself. They can be removed.
00:53:42
Speaker
they're kind of like latched on.
00:53:46
Speaker
Okay. But I wouldn't be I wouldn't be tall enough to grab the the panel itself. I'm sorry, can be removed. Yeah, so it's like have like a door thingy. I have English a degree. I know. Um, ah just for fun. I have a revolver. Can I just take a shot at it? sure
00:54:12
Speaker
Seventeen? Seventeen. You shoot that horror bores plaque and it shatters and splinters to the ground. OK. That's another one for good there. um Potentially, I would like to gather up at least one of the pieces just for funsies. Okay, you have the piece where the mouth and the tail have come together. Perfect. That's the one I wanted. I'll just tuck that into my pocket. And the last one, the frog. I've got I've got nothing for the frog and I don't want to keep shooting these plaques. I feel disrespectful.
00:54:55
Speaker
yeah Does this one happen to look any different? Is there any way that I might be able to like climb one of the sides or is there some sort of- Yeah, you can make an acrobatics check. Yeah, any any indication of ah like markings, whether they're chipped or shot or something in there. You said athletics, I'm sorry. Athletics or acrobatics, whatever you want. 16. This is why we do this for Bryce. 16. Yeah, so you you climb up.
00:55:27
Speaker
and you get to the top and you're kind of looking around, you see all three. You notice that there are a lot of burn and slash marks on the first two, but this one has not been touched at all. It seems like this this archway has never taken any damage or anything. Okay. I'm gonna halt. on this one, because if I'm noticing it's kind of in like more pristine condition and it's a little more of a, ah pete i I guess Phoenix's are kind of peaceful, but this being more of an innocent creature, I guess you could say, I'm gonna try the tunnel one more time and just leave this one at peace to see if anything happens. You walk into the gleam and you see a light ahead of you.
00:56:22
Speaker
and you find yourself in a completely different cavern. Your adventure continues. Let's go. And there you go. You have solved the puzzle. Oh my gosh. Now, you solved the puzzle. Do you have an idea? Now, the beautiful thing about puzzles, in my opinion, is sometimes you have no idea how you solved it. Do you have a thought on how you solved it? uh my brain went phoenix fire first of course and luckily i had firebolt so i was like i'm just gonna try that because it's the only thing i can think of the the ouroboros i wasn't too sure on i wasn't sure if it was a physical thing i had to do if i had to
00:57:03
Speaker
hurt myself to go through it, because it's kind of what Ouroboros does, or anything of the sorts. The last one I wanted to keep peaceful, because the campus are so cute. they're They're just little chill creatures. So I'll i'll say two things. This was a odd running escape room, and one of the most dangerous pitfalls in escape rooms is overthinking. You destroyed the first one, Phoenix, because you were thinking fire Phoenix. That's a good one. The trick of this was actually really just destroying. When you destroyed the Ereboros, nothing bad happened to you. If you had destroyed the kappa and had destroyed the Phoenix, you would have been attacked back. Because the Ereboros is the snake that devours himself, a never-ending circle, kind of like what you were doing with this cavern.
00:57:57
Speaker
Oh, okay. And it's it's a tough one because the Phoenix is a moral so I can see why that would uh I did I really wanted to give it to you with your idea of going through and then like circling around and avoiding the other two because this was a two-part puzzle the very first part puzzle which obviously wouldn't have played too much here is If you had never gone through the archways and just continued down, like just went around the archways through, you wouldn't have triggered the track. Oh, man. Say I thought about that too, but I was like, no, you got it. You got to revel in the beauty of the gate. So you saw that though, you escaped and you didn't take too much damage. I'm level three, so. Yeah, that would have been dangerous. All right, on to the second puzzle.
00:58:49
Speaker
And i think I think this might be a good idea. this This is good that we did the second one, because now you have that first one, you're warmed up, you're ready for this. You've come to a smoky room, which lies behind the fireplace that you just opened. Glittering through the smoke, gold, silver, and copper coins lie scattered around a closed chest. The fittings on the chest tell of a great of great workmanship. Attached to the east wall are two torch scones. The southernmost scones hold a torch with an intricate metal base. The other is empty.
00:59:32
Speaker
There's a skeleton of a man lying against the wall in broken plate armor. His right hand is on his throat while his left hand holds a torch.
00:59:45
Speaker
Well, that's terrifying. Uh, just because it's all smoky in here, my first, or at least Bjorg's first thought, Bjorg's first thought would be to grab the torch. is the Is the one on the east wall, and I apologize if I got the the directions wrong, is the one on the east wall? Southern, okay. i Is the one currently in the sconcelet? Uh, doesn't say, and we're going to say yes. Okay.
01:00:18
Speaker
i will I will take the torch lying by the the skeleton and head over to the the second sconce, light the ah first torch with the the currently lit torch, and then attempt to place it in the the empty sconce to just have some more light in the room. You do that, and the wall behind the chest opens up and reveals a secret tunnel out. Okay that's helpful.
01:00:52
Speaker
ah I'm still terrified to open the chest, but we're here. oh can i Can I look to see if the the chest is is locked without, because there's coins already on the ground. Can I tell if those coins had potentially fallen from the hands of the the skeleton that are over there, or if this chest was opened and like some coins spilled out by chance?
01:01:21
Speaker
but but The chest, you can look at it and it is unlocked. There's no locking mechanism on it. There are a whole bunch of coins scattered around it, but it is closed.
01:01:37
Speaker
Okay. is there Are the coins all the way around it? Or does it happen to be like there's coins on the right side and trickled into the front? or They are all around it. OK. Huh? Man, if I have the weight, can I pick up the chest? Give me a step left check. Let's see how heavy this is, because if I have all four. You cannot pick up the chest. It is darn. at I don't have a very good strength either, so.
01:02:18
Speaker
Yeah, you cannot pick up the chest. It is as made of excellent workmanship, but it's a heavy, solid wood. Crafty wood, okay. Because my first thought was if I if i have a secret tunnel out of here, I might as well just grab it and go. But yeah, I'm going to the i'm gonna go around to the backside of it with my back facing the tunnel and just open it from the backside and just not overthink this too much. I'm just going to back You go and you open it from the backside and out comes a plume of green smoke, but you're standing behind it, so it doesn't hit you in the face. And you see the chest is completely empty. Dang it. All right, I'm going to stick low to the ground and try to just scoop up some of the coins, slide them in my pocket, and I'm just leaving.
01:03:13
Speaker
and you have solved the false treasury puzzle slash trap. Oh gosh. I like this because you very much were like, I'm not going to overthink this. Yeah, I tried. It just went in. So I figured if it was if it was unlocked, and I wasn't sure if the coins were from the chest or not, that but then I was like, All right, maybe the coins were from the guy and he opened something. It looked like he was choking. I wasn't sure if he took the torch off the wall and something hit him, or if he had tried to open the chest being unlocked. He probably opened the chest. He got hit with something. So I'm like, all right, if something's in there, I'll just go from the back. At least I'm going to get hit and maybe see what's up. Did you stop it?
The Philosophy of Puzzles
01:04:00
Speaker
So, some notes about this puzzle. This is an official, this is from AD&D for the first edition of D and&D from one of their most popular ah modules that came out. Curious, okay. Ravenloft. Oh, no way! This is from Ravenloft. The thing with old D&D puzzles, in my opinion, is there was not a lot to them. They were very much, like, very simplistic, like, here's your puzzle. There's not even a, like, the big thing on this is not to fall for the false treasury and just to move on. Because what I was going to do is if you fell, if you opened up a chest, fell unconscious because of that poison gas, um yeah you would have woken up in the clutches of Count von Strahd.
01:04:52
Speaker
yeah and you would have failed the puzzle. The official thing it says is like, oh, if they do that, then have a wandering monster come up on them and hurt them. Oh, that's so fun. But a very simple puzzle. That's curious. I love that. i wrote This is entirely the reason why I found this puzzle. I was to kind of see. So what did you think of the two puzzles? They were fun. They were intriguing. They got my brain working, which was really nice. um I'm so not used to puzzles because we do them so infrequently that it does take a bit of, I mean every puzzle takes a bit of critical thinking regardless, but
01:05:37
Speaker
Yeah, when you're in that mindset, I mean, I feel like the the second one was a lot easier because I would have already been yeah warmed up and stuff. So I felt like if I do this more often, things things might get a little easier. But i I always love puzzles regardless. Even if I'm terrible at them and someone else solves it for me, I'm like, that was really cool. I will posit this to all listeners and you. I think the thing I really liked about the second one is it took you maybe two minutes, three minutes. It was a very quick thing. And in my opinion, and
01:06:10
Speaker
as a listener, listening to you solve it, and hopefully as you, I feel like there was a great, like, boobie, I did this, I solved this, I was successful. ah And we got, I think one of the big things of D and&D, feeling that you've done something great in two minutes. So a lot of people think these puzzles have to be giant works of, you know, oh, there's a ball coming down or like, like the old mouse trap. from the ninety s big affair
01:06:40
Speaker
it's really just it can just be a simple little thing
01:06:45
Speaker
That's so yeah, I whenever I think of puzzles, it's exactly that I always think of this this elaborate maze or all these different buttons and levers that you got to hoops that you got to jump through all that. And and yeah, it can still be something so simple that that is that but it's still so rewarding and satisfying to actually get through. So I love that. You saw two for two today. cheering and clapping all around. Thank you. Thank you.
01:07:27
Speaker
Which means it's time for the final question. What has been your favorite puzzle in anything? It can be D&D, TTRPGs. It could be Pokemon, because Pokemon is an entirely giant puzzle game. Yeah. Yeah. No joke. I think it's ah how I ended up here right now. um Because. I felt like ah every weird decision and choice that I've made has been just a a step in a puzzle to me finally
01:08:05
Speaker
I'm 31 right now. Uh, as of last month, uh, to me, uh, to me finally feeling like complete, like things are, things are finally. I felt like over the years, each little puzzle pieces has fallen into place and sometimes I make a choice and I realized, okay, that puzzle piece is not where it's supposed to be. And over trial and error, I found what I like what I'm good at, what makes me happy, and people around me that do the same. And everything has finally like locked itself into place. So we'll get a little philosophical with it. A puzzle of life. I like it. I like it because it's very, I was already free you to say Magic the Gathering, constructing a deck that can beat your friends. Honestly, yeah, that do. That do.
01:09:01
Speaker
But yeah, that's, I mean, that's the crux of it. Life is one giant puzzle. And I've mentioned this a couple of times, but the best thing you can do for puzzles is practice. And it's the same thing with life, you know, just practice and try and get better at thinking of it objectively, working at it, gathering all the information. And you'll be able to solve the puzzle with life. Boom. Easy peasy. Everyone listening, that will be $500 for our self-help session we've just given you. 8L, FMO, anything you liked. One of my friends, you've done it again. You've spent another hour listening to puzzles, mania, weird stuff, laughs, hopefully some fun things that really got your mind working.
01:09:54
Speaker
I'm at those creations. You can find me everywhere that you want to find me, except for my house. Please don't come to my house. The puzzle is not finding where I live. It's as you. It's as you're helpful. It's actually really helpful. The restraining order the reward.
Credits and Social Shoutouts
01:10:10
Speaker
The theme song today was written, composed, and partially performed by the Dungeon Meister on TikTok and Instagram. Go check him out. He does some amazing work. And the special guest today has been the amazing, the spectacular, the Splendiferous Ryan McManus. Ryan, where can they find you? What projects do you have upcoming, and what are you excited about? I have been Ryan, I don't know what I'll be tomorrow, but for now, I'm Ryan, you can find me at ry.mcmanusatmypersonals, or running the Cast Party socials at Cast Party D and&D. If you like good old actual plays, listen to some Cast Party. If you like Magic the Gathering, you can find my work at wubby Magic Monday on YouTube. You won't see my face, but you'll see my funny ha-has. Yes, go check out the Cast Party. I've said it every single time that they've been here. They are amazing people with an amazing community.
01:11:02
Speaker
Uh, go vote for, uh, several of you guys are in the crit awards, aren't you? I know yeah we are, uh, we have, uh, ourself as best series for the crit awards. And then Christian is nominated for his role in Nocturne for best player in a D and D actual play. If the voting's not done, go vote. Uh, I think they're still good. Yeah. If the voting is done. so Pay attention for next year and vote again. yeah Thank you all so much for listening. Have fun, do your best, and remember, we believe in you. Goodbye.
01:11:43
Speaker
they