Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
C1 Ep. 4 Inside Eberron Renewed: Dancing With Shadows
998 Plays8 years ago
https://thegeekpantheon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/erepisode4.mp3
This week on Eberron Renewed we are doing something a little different. Eric and Jeff sit down to discuss the campaign, both what has happened and where it’s going. We get a deeper look into Lyle’s character and motivations, along with some insight of where Eric drew inspiration for the campaign. Jeff also gets Eric to reveal the big mistake that he made during the game, and find out how Eric adapted to it and is happier now that the mistake was made. Come join us for an inside look at Eberron Renewed.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Eberron Renewed Ep. 4
00:00:09
Speaker
D20 radio, your game is roll.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the fourth episode of Eberron Renewed, an actual play fifth edition D&D podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting.
New Episode Format Discussion
00:00:36
Speaker
I am your dungeon master, Eric. I'm Jeff. And this week's episode is going to be a little bit different. We are going to kind of do a, recaps the wrong word, but discussion. I'm going to take some time and ask Eric some questions as our dungeon master. We're just going to parse out everything that happened. I want to get his take on how he feels. We reacted to some of the things that he put in front of us.
00:00:57
Speaker
and just kind of get into the story and where he's heading and where it's heading a little bit more. One, because I want to know and we hope that you guys are interested as well. And then I'm going to have a discussion with Jeff slash Lyle slash
Character Spotlight: Dex and the Big Reveal
00:01:12
Speaker
Dex.
00:01:12
Speaker
just about his character and the big reveal that you all got last episode in regards to his character and how he felt that went and just where he is both a player and a character are at in the story so far and kind of how they feel. So the whole point of this is I'm going to try to trick Eric into telling me things he doesn't want to tell me so I can play the game better. So yeah, I'll start with this. This if you guys listen to the D&D thing that we did on the Geek Pantheon, that was a structured, pre-written
00:01:40
Speaker
I don't know the names of the people who wrote it, but released by Wizards. And this is, and I know this is not necessarily something new for a lot of people who play role-playing games. Eric is making this up out of whole cloth. The lore and the setting are established, you know, Eberron and the history of Eberron and things like that.
00:01:59
Speaker
But the narrative is all Eric. And again, I know that this is not a new thing for people who play, but for me, who's like half literate at best, I find it amazing. And I'm excited to see where it goes. So I guess the first question that I'd like to ask is, are you pulling from something?
Incorporating Eberron Setting into Narrative
00:02:15
Speaker
Are there themes or ideas that you're pulling from? Or is this all just Eric's dome?
00:02:19
Speaker
Well, one of the greatest things about Keith Baker, the guy who wrote the Eberron campaign setting, and he had his hand in a lot of the source books that Wizards put out back during third edition. He has this phenomenal tendency when he's describing a town or an area, like there's an entry for the city of Miss Marsh, and there's an entry for the faded forest in the Eberron campaign setting. I think it's actually the Five Nations source book, and he'll just have one sentence
00:02:46
Speaker
that says like in the Miss Marsh, I did not make up the fact that a high ranking senator slash the prime minister of the country, his son is the sheriff of that town. That was in the source material and I thought that was interesting and wanted to run with that. And then with the faded forest, it talks about the fact that it has this weird archway in it that kind of connects to another plane of existence on this certain day of the month. And so all of that stuff, it just provides you as a dungeon master little kind of
00:03:14
Speaker
hooks to read into and more importantly because Jeff smirking like I just gave something away adapt and adjust based on the story you're going to say question one I already got you we didn't know there was a certain day of the month yeah and so and now it's not because you said it so cool my poker face is not what Jeff doesn't realize is I've been dungeon mastering for long enough and have players poking me for info for since I've started dungeon mastery yeah but you ain't never met a man like me
00:03:41
Speaker
So you just if you read through these source materials, they're written in such a way to where it's like a history book almost. I'll admit I did. I got so much more into this after playing on the Pantheon. Yeah. And we'll get into this. I clearly read a lot a lot of stuff like
00:03:59
Speaker
I know so much that I maybe shouldn't.
Player vs. Character Knowledge
00:04:03
Speaker
I don't know. How do you feel about, how would you have felt if Philip or I or Trevor had told you, yeah, we've read everything about Eberron now? Well, Philip is a perfect example because we co-ran a game set in Eberron that lasted over three years. So Philip knows as much, and there are certain aspects about the world that he knows more than I do.
00:04:23
Speaker
Right. Like, for example, and this is just in the last episode, when the bad guy crushes the stone and the little dragon is released, is that a dragon shard? Like, that's a thing that I've read about now. Like, so we each have a or yeah, so each we each have a piece of or an artifact that contains a dragon shard. And like, that's something that I know. Is that okay, that I already know that is something you were hoping to reveal?
00:04:45
Speaker
Well, it's okay for you as a player to use your knowledge for a frame of reference to think, okay, so dragon shards are a thing in this world that got crushed and the shape of a dragon came out, so it's probably a dragon shard. Where the line has to be differentiated is Lyle slash Dex probably wouldn't, I mean, he would be aware of what dragon shards are, so he might have that same inclination, but he does not know as much as you do about the world because of what you've read.
00:05:12
Speaker
And so that separation of knowledge, I do not mind if my players know a lot about the world. And when I say the name of an area, they immediately think of all the things that they know about it, as long as you can separate that from your character. And
Recording Process and Audience Engagement
00:05:26
Speaker
also, because I'm writing this story whole cloth, the fact that these things are potentially Dragon Shards is not the big twist. Right, sure.
00:05:32
Speaker
And I'll say this just so everybody knows, this is coming out as the fourth episode. We're recording this right now. Only the first episode has been released up. Philip lives three hours away from us. So the way that we're doing it, it's different than most actual play podcasts. We're recording four hours at a time and then breaking them up and releasing them. Yeah.
00:05:48
Speaker
So if you want to put a helpful suggestion on how we can make it better on the Facebook page or something, please allow four to six weeks for delivery because you may be like, please stop doing this. I'm like, yeah, we really should, but we've already got three more episodes in the can. So just chill for a minute. Sorry about that.
00:06:04
Speaker
But we do want to hear back from you guys on what you want to hear and how we can make it better. Because while Eric and Philip have both been playing D&D for a long time, it's been for self-fulfillment and not to entertain a mass audience. And I don't know anything about anything. So I certainly could use tips and tricks. Just please, I know that my character voice is weak at best and phases in and out. I'm going to work on that one. I don't need to hear it from everybody.
00:06:29
Speaker
Okay, so let's get into the story. You know, we decided, I knew nothing before we sat down about Phillip or Trevor's characters, and they didn't know much about mine, but we did decide that we were going to, not in media res, but we weren't going to meet each other as part of the- You were going to be an established group of people. Yeah, we had been working together with the ephemeral echo who comes and goes as we remember he exists. Yes. Basically, when we needed someone to translate Goblin,
00:06:56
Speaker
So we start in the thing and the first thing you give us is this locket and we completely disregard it. Did you have something planned for that or was that just something to get action moving until Trent ran in and said his son was gone? That's actually a funny story. Probably not. No, I talked to Philip that later on that night after we played and he mentioned the locket and I just kind of in my head went, oh crap.
00:07:17
Speaker
So the third episode, the caverns that they were going through and they encountered the corrupted goblins that had the shadows crawl out of like their shadows came to life after they died. That's not originally how any of that was going to go. There was actually like I think four rooms to that cavernous network before you all got to the archway for the big finale.
00:07:37
Speaker
but because we started running into time issues and we were having to wrap up by a certain time. Yeah. If the third episode seemed kind of truncated to you guys, we had been recording for hours and my five year old son was forced to be here and he's a great kid, but he was, you know, and he had entertainments and things like that, but he was getting antsy. And so Netflix can only do so much. Right. So, and you know, I kind of felt like
00:07:58
Speaker
Oh, this is my Saturday with my son, and I am here. And so we're not going to do that again. So we cut it a little shorter for that. It's actually the longest episode though. Oh really? And for Philip to get home. But anyway, there was a room with the corrupted goblins, then another room, then a room with the shadows, and then the archway. So there were three rooms total.
00:08:19
Speaker
That second room was just going to be an empty cavern. And if you all passed a perception check, you were going to find the locket. Okay. And so I kind of, when Philip brought it up, I mentioned that to him was like, Oh, you all were definitely supposed to find that. So we have a real check offs locket situation. Well, no, I mean, the, the beauty of being a dungeon master is adapting your story based on not only character actions, but your actions as the dungeon master. When you forget something.
00:08:44
Speaker
And I have already gotten, I sat down and thought about what I'd originally intended the locket to be, what it could be instead. And I am so happy that you all did not find the locket because the ideas that I've come up with and injected into the story surrounding that thing is so much better than you all finding it. So yeah, I'm very excited for what that stupid little piece of jewelry is going to mean.
00:09:09
Speaker
So you made a comment at the end of the first episode saying, every fight I tried to get you guys in, you weaseled your way out of. And I'm going to tell you now, I think I mentioned it. That was absolutely my plan for two reasons. One, I've only ever played as a tank. I've only ever played one other time before. And I, I'm used to having a 15 AC and like 18 or more as we progressed hit points. And now I have like a 12 AC and 10 hit points. I was like, I'm not going to die in the first episode. I am not going to get bested. And then also.
00:09:39
Speaker
didn't want for us to be hack and slash yeah and I wanted for you know I I haven't I don't have a problem saying that there are a couple of podcasts I listen to now they're D&D and one of them is the glass cannon and the reason I like it it's good and it's funny but they are telling a story because they're invested in their characters and I decided unilaterally that I was gonna try my best to avoid
00:10:00
Speaker
Starting a fight and use that as a chance for us to develop our characters. Yeah more than we would have otherwise So were you frustrated that we I mean because you had what three fights set up in there already that we there was the one in the bar and There was the one with the goblins at the fire and that's where the episode ends. So maybe it was just the two Yeah, and obviously when I was originally crafting the episodes, I mean in the second episode
00:10:21
Speaker
the goblins around the brazier and the patrol that came up behind you and stuff. That was going to be this really cool dynamic fight where after the third round, all of a sudden these other goblins showed up and it was like, oh no, now Barrick who's at the back has to turn around and fight these other people that have just showed up and oh crap, they have a caster. I think we're three episodes in now and I think the only fight that we started was one that we built in the narrative to say you got attacked by a black bear and then you
00:10:47
Speaker
Right. Well, not even that one. I'm talking about with Dreck. Yes. We started that fight because we had said, we'll take your guy down if you'll help us. Yeah. And so it wasn't needless murder. Yeah, it wasn't. We see things that are different. It wasn't like the first episode of the Geek Pantheon where you see cobalt in the woods and fire. Well, no. And I guess saying, I tried to get you all into fights and you weaseled your way out of them is the incorrect phrasing because it being the first session that we played together.
00:11:11
Speaker
That's kind of my time to feel out what you as players enjoy about the game most. And so presenting those pillars of D&D of exploration, role-playing and combat to allow you all to get a feel for the game. And you all clearly were far more invested in the role-playing aspect than combat. And so I wasn't trying to force you all to get into fights. They were presented to you and you all elected to take another path, which is right.
00:11:37
Speaker
Perfectly fine. And I
Dex's Character Evolution
00:11:39
Speaker
think a lot of that comes out of with this, and of course, you know, Phillip has always done this for a long time. When we did the Pantheon episodes, we had pre-built characters. We weren't invested in anything. This one, I built this character. And as we learned in the, you know, midway through or towards the end of the third episode, way deeper than it seemed initially. So I already had an idea, like we've already talked about this when I originally built it, because he's a rogue and because it's kind of archetypical for a rogue to be chaotic neutral, I was
00:12:06
Speaker
playing around with that alignment but as we kept going and you know there were points where because Barrick is so obsessed with the forest and wanted to get into the forest and because Trevor was just having fun talking to people I ended up being the driving force to keep saying no we're here to find the boy the boy is missing we need to find the boy and just in the course of that I realized this character is more compelling if even though he's a rogue and even though I'm going to do you know some things that are a little shiftier than a good
00:12:36
Speaker
you know, waffle-aligned character. I think I'm going to have to play him as a more benevolent character. And that changed some things, but it made it exciting. You know, we talked about, and we'll talk about it more, when we talked about fleshing out Dex's backstory, I don't want for him to, even though he was in a Thieves' Guild for a while, the one that he was in, none of the people were evil. There wasn't an evil-aligned character because Dex wouldn't align himself with those people. And that goes into even more backstory about Dex that I assume will be revealed throughout the... I don't want to go too deep into it right now.
00:13:22
Speaker
If you are one as well, then you know that it consumes your life to a point that you filter everything through it. And so when we went to that house and you said, yeah, go up to their room and talk to them, Phillip and I both had this look on her. Like we shot each other at a glance. Like clearly Eric doesn't have kids because that is never apparent would say, yeah, you adults just go to my kid's room and interrogate them as police officers. We're cool down here. I even says like, you want to, you want to bring them down? And you're like, nah.
00:13:30
Speaker
You all have to keep listening to find that out.
00:13:46
Speaker
I feel like they had a good justification for it. Do you remember what they said? Yeah, they'd be more likely to tell the truth if we weren't there, which is probably potentially true. But I still would have said, we'll bring the living room and go to the kitchen. Well, and I was operating under the the facts that you all were like,
00:14:03
Speaker
police officers in the town. It was a small town and they presumably knew you all well. And it did lead to the great moment of a demon looking guy waking up a sleeping child to really bad cop them for a little while. So that was pretty great.
00:14:19
Speaker
Well, and I actually had in my notes because obviously you all were going to have to coerce them a bit to get them to talk about what Jacob did because they wanted to protect their friend and they didn't want to get in trouble because they knew what he did. And so I actually had in my notes, it was a persuasion check with this DC to get them to talk. If an intimidation check is attempted, they just start screaming and calling for their parents and the parents come in assuming that you. Which screamed at them. If someone had said, I'm going to roll for intimidation, I would have said, no, no, no.
00:14:49
Speaker
No, you're not. You aren't. I will talk to them and roll for persuasion, or hopefully not even have to roll for persuasion, because I know you are malleable enough that if a good argument had been presented to a child in a way that one should talk to a child, you may even say, well, that was good enough that they're going to talk to you without a persuasion check. I think you may have.
00:15:08
Speaker
Generally, you all had to make a role for that. But the way that I operate as a dungeon master is good role playing generally yields a lower number on your check. So I initially had it set at a 15 is what you had to get better then.
00:15:24
Speaker
But because of the, I mean, initially I actually bumped it up to 20 because of Trevor's goof up of waking them up with his scary horns and bright red skin. But then through your auls, talking them down and talking to them and just the tone that you took with them, I lowered it to a 10. Okay.
00:15:42
Speaker
And the lowest you can reasonably go with a dice check like that is a five. That's what's listed as easy in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Because unless you just completely biff a roll, then you're going to get that. Which we do have a history of. Yeah, of biffing rolls. But any character that is, quote unquote, statted out to be a talky character, you're going to have persuasion.
00:16:05
Speaker
Proficiency and persuasion would get which gives you a plus two and then presumably you'll have at least a two charisma modifier So at that point you have a plus four So you literally can't do worse than a five on your role, right? So and I and I you know It's it's it's funny when you look at my character sheet and by the way We're gonna start like a tumblr or something so that people who want to I'm gonna do little write-ups on it You're gonna get tired of me
00:16:26
Speaker
I'll just say that. I'm not pleasant and I'm really into this, so I'm going to do things. But we'll put character sheets, stats up, you know, if there's, I was talking to, during the Pantheon thing at one point, Trevor said, Trevor Tinsel, Trevor, said something and I screamed, damn it, that's canon now. And a couple of days later, I was like, that would be a hilarious title for an occasional article on this, on this blog of one of us says or does something that we immediately regret, but it's canon now.
00:16:52
Speaker
Well, and that I want to take the opportunity to talk about that moment that happened in our first session with Trevor Rodman. Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So man, that was so and he and he mentions it on the episode as well.
Memorable Role-playing Moments
00:17:04
Speaker
But boy, what a goof him up. This is one of my favorite D&D moments probably ever in all the years that I've been playing this game, because it is so easy when you make a mistake, especially when dealing with your character.
00:17:16
Speaker
Cause I as the dungeon master am never going to be contentious with you about a character choice, especially in a role playing moment. Right. And so you would have let him retcon if he had wanted to. Yeah, absolutely. And I would have edited the episode to take out his initial flub up and just have him going beer, please. Right. But the fact that he rolled with that.
00:17:36
Speaker
and just completely through his entire personality that he had spent time kind of crafting in his head to make this really amiable chipper tiefling is phenomenal. It's funny to me because obviously most people who listen may not know Trevor. He's such an amiable, pleasant, sweet person that I think I wonder how bummed he is that he's not getting to step outside of himself, which leads to another thing. Man, people love tinsel.
00:18:05
Speaker
I know this is like a couple of people that I have connected with through the, there's another great podcast, My Brother, My Brother and Me. And I've connected with people through their Facebook page and asked them to give our podcast a try when we were doing it on the Pantheon. And after the first episode, somebody that I talked to sent me a thing, said, here's a couple of things. One, everything about tinsel is great. And when we posted this, they're like, is tinsel going to be on this? And I have to assume it's because tinsel as an idea was really fun and funny and weird. What they don't realize
00:18:33
Speaker
Is that tinsel is what trevor would be if he had magic. Yeah, he would be a weird kind of scary very impulsive uh Generally safe and fun to be around just all id yeah like like and I think that's like like we saw a glimpse of if trevor had unlimited power This would be a force in the real world
00:18:54
Speaker
But we love him and we miss him. Yes. Yes. As I said to one person who commented in the D 20 radio Facebook group, Trevor M has family here. And so presumably he'll be back in town every once in a while. So if we can get him to show up and we may get to see tinsel pop up for a one shot adventure thing, like
00:19:12
Speaker
Just because I think tonally the narrative that we're kind of creating in this one, it's got its lighthearted moments, like the stuff with Bessie or thinking the barracks of vampire. But he is absolutely, I'm really interested to see. Because again, we aren't talking. Trevor and Philip and I are going to do our best to not talk to each other outside of what we think we can all do to make better radio.
00:19:39
Speaker
Like we're going nuts and bolts stuff. We're gonna talk but I've yet to talk to Philip or Trevor about What do you think is next? How are we going to we'll have a little bit because? Eric told us before the next episode There's gonna be a bit of a time lapse and I think we're gonna have to off-air Talk about how we spent it. We'll do a little bit on air. I mean, it'll be the next morning. I mean, it's not a big time job
00:20:02
Speaker
Okay, it's just okay. You all are back in the town. So we won't we won't even have necessarily spoken to Trent yet or anything Well, I guess we do that first. Yeah, we'd come back and do it if we want to do that, but I just but so we're not talking about it And so I am anticipating hopefully as much as or hopefully you're anticipating as much as I am What is up with Barry?
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah, I thought I had a real fun character twist that was coming up and I think it wore out to be kind of fun. But man, my cards are on the table now and we still know nothing about why Barrick, you know, is a human wilt. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's that's the thing that I love the most about the three of you independently of each other, especially you and Philip crafting backstories with a built in gap in knowledge between what I know and you know, as the player and what the other players are aware of.
00:20:48
Speaker
Not just in terms of history. I think Trevor certainly has that as well.
Secrets and Storytelling
00:20:52
Speaker
I mean obviously there's something for him to be born a tiefling and end up a paladin and he made a brief mention, a glossing over of, he met up with, he had a Jean Valjean moment is what he did. Somebody who he was trying to screw over took pity on him.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah. But there's a lot in there that he can flesh out. Oh, yeah. And we've actually started fleshing a lot of it out. But it's not secrets, which is what Philip and I both chose to do. I mean, you were hiding who your character actually was from the rest of the party for months slash years, depending on how long you said Lyle was in Miss Marsh. And that's why I made a point to say, because I've kind of changed to try to be a more good, I don't like using alignment terms, but that is what it
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's why I explicitly said I've never acted a way. It's just the name and the face are different. The person you have been with for the last whatever wasn't a put on necessarily. It's just, and we can get into this more later, in the world of Eberron, changelings aren't trusted.
00:21:53
Speaker
because of what they can do. Everyone's wary around them. And so it's easier to pretend. It's called becoming. You choose a life or several, you know, in fact, I'm going to play around with that a little bit. You don't live as a changeling. You might live as a half elf and a human and a half orc at the same time in different scenarios, as long as you can keep them all going. Now there are, and again, this is deep stuff that I read out of the races of Eberron from 3.5.
00:22:19
Speaker
There are changelings who are like purists and think that being a changeling is a high power. The mystiques of the world. Yeah, they're called reality seekers. Anyway, and they live as changelings, but they're the vast minority. I think we can jump, unless there's something more about the first episode you want to say, I think we can jump to the second episode and I'm not necessarily trying to go chronologically. It's just this is how I'm thinking of it. Where we continue our diplomatic tour of Everon. Yes. But I do want to ask the thing that sticks out the most to me, I doubt it really does with the listener,
00:22:48
Speaker
but it is me and Philip stumbling our way to solving your riddle. And I could tell that that made you fresh. I don't think I like pissed you off, but it was clear like, well, they did it. You did the thing that you had to do. And they were getting close, but then after we had accomplished it, we were still focused on this. Yeah, going into the third episode, you all were still trying to figure out the riddle and Akko finally had to step in and just be like, guys,
00:23:15
Speaker
You got it. No, I mean, it was just one of those things that was hysterical D&D shenanigans. I mean, it wasn't anything otherworldly. It was just you read this thing and then you asked Beric, like, hey, you wrote that down. What did the other thing say? Was it like a riddle also? And so he just read through it, not realizing it's the solution to the riddle that you're presented. Right. And so it was perfect. Yeah. And so we were thinking we have to figure out this second one to open another door.
00:23:44
Speaker
And that wasn't the case of course what we did learn in the besides that I still don't understand how battle mechanics work is That Barrick doesn't need us I think I took six hit points total in that in that fight with direct and the two goblins Yeah, and
00:23:59
Speaker
Barak killed everything. He's nuts. Powerful right now. And that is great. No, I missed almost everything. It wasn't necessarily that I don't have the means to hurt somebody. Well, and also, I mean, at no point during any of those fights were they attacking Barak directly. I mean, they were focused on Draconos and Eiko pretty heavily. Right, right.
00:24:22
Speaker
And so, the big thing to remember, and I don't know if you're even aware of this, the Hexblade subclass that he's working with with the Warlock is from one of the unearthed Arcana releases that Wizards did via their website, which is playtesting material. It's meant for people to try it out and then give feedback to them so that down the line, when they put it in a published adventure, they can tweak some things. Right, yeah, I know I am aware of that.
00:24:47
Speaker
And so, Philip has already said once slash if they release Hexblade class in quote-unquote proper form, he will adjust his character to be in line with that. And so, it may be a balance issue. I don't know if it is. Philip rolled phenomenally well throughout most of the session in both terms of attack rolls and damage. Yeah, I know he really is. And you mentioned the UA stuff, the other Tarkanis stuff. I mean, that's where my character comes from.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, is they they released an unearthed Arcana Eberron thing and it had a couple of races at what shifter changeling and warforged Yep, and I saw the changeling one and I was just like this could be fun Yeah, and I immediately began pestering you to let me do it, but we can get into that later
00:25:26
Speaker
So yeah, but we did have the fight and it went well for us and you talk about this statue and that we almost completely gloss over again and we may have missed something there except for the plaque at the bottom like you talk about the big weapon and then and Trevor tried to make You know waves with the big weapon and I think we did him short shrift by not letting him play that out Yeah, unfortunately, but it's not like we can't go back to well I mean the the weapon was because I had kind of because it wasn't my thought was it wasn't a usable weapon it was part of a statue
00:25:56
Speaker
Yeah, it was part of, it was the statue. It wasn't like a statue holding a actual weapon. It was stone. This is kind of getting into another element that was in the third episode, but Lyle's reveal that he is a changeling because the statue is holding the ribbon. Oh, was the weapon a ribbon weave? Oh, okay.
00:26:34
Speaker
the potential for you to
00:26:42
Speaker
I honestly, I think the reason is because when you were talking about them with the black milky tentacles and everything, it was out of context for us.
Dungeon Design Inspiration
00:26:52
Speaker
And then once we get to the archway and see the black milky tentacles, I don't think any of us had to ask. Yeah. Are those the same ones? Because we know you as a storyteller and we're all again, Philip and Trevor are very intelligent and I walk upright most of the time.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah, and we put it together. So, well, that's just I mean, I wanted to throughout the entirety of that dungeon, which, by the way, if any of you are fans of Matthew Colville and watch his YouTube channel, and more specifically, watch, I think it's his first episode of his running the game playlist, know that I
00:27:25
Speaker
I just, stealing's a strong word. I took his advice and adapted it to my needs because the oath riddle, the trap in the hallway, all that stuff was stuff that he posited would make a good, compelling, quote unquote, starter dungeon for an adventure. Oh, I forgot about the pit. Yeah. Barrick falling through the floor and coming out with more hit points.
00:27:46
Speaker
Well, yeah, he came out with more hit points, but that was one of Akko's first level spell slots he had to burn because Beric fell down. And so later on, you all were really wanting that first level spell slot back. But yeah, I wanted to start giving those hints of these hobgoblins fighting this weird, alien-esque force so that once you all hit the archway and saw those things manifest, there wouldn't be a lot of questions you would instantly know.
00:28:11
Speaker
Oh, okay, that's what's going on. And so I just loved and appreciated the fact that, and this was partially because we knew that we were recording this for a podcast, but also I think just the way you all are as players, the level of investment and buy-in that you all had from even the first episode, but especially it came into fruition in the second episode, because we had been in real world terms playing for an hour. The session was in motion at that point to where you were speaking in character. There was very little metagaming.
00:28:41
Speaker
And the reasoning behind talking to the goblins and wanting to communicate with them wasn't born out of. I played with a lot of people that they would have said to me, well, we just fought that black bear. I don't want to take any more hits. I'm already kind of low on hit points. I don't want to get into another fight. So let's just.
00:28:58
Speaker
Let's use diplomacy against these goblins. You didn't view it from that way. You viewed it from a storytelling standpoint of we know that these things aren't innately evil. We've been told by these other goblins that they hate their leader, so maybe there's a leverage point there. Also, my thing, and this was towards the tail end of the Pantheon run as well, is we needed to be able to talk to people.
00:29:21
Speaker
Yeah, and in my head it's more likely to get it could go both ways if we kill everybody but one of them We might get the right answers or truthfulness from him if we walk in and say we're not here to hurt you. There's a
00:29:35
Speaker
I keep slipping into his voice now. We're not here to hurt you and we want to find this kid and that's all that we're here for the odds of us getting real answers is and of course there's always the inside check and that's that's the big thing with just goblins racially well culturally I'll say because it's not defined by the fact that they are goblins it's just the culture that if you hadn't told me that there's no way that the first set of goblins in the first steps around the fire we're gonna survive
00:30:01
Speaker
If you hadn't told me the racial traits as far as personality and action don't really exist here, it would have been, I would have knocked an arrow before the goblins saw me. That's why I like Eberron because it operates under the assumption that if a creature in this world can speak and has a level of agency to it, then it is not defined
00:30:24
Speaker
by its external form, which makes everything to be more colorful, more fun. Just culturally, goblins are notorious for the fact that if you would have gone in there, killed all the one of them, and grabbed the last one and said, you're going to tell me what I want to know, or else you're going to die and did the intimidation thing.
00:30:40
Speaker
They will tell you whatever they think you want to hear, regardless of truth, lie, even if they're going to self-preserve. Swear to me that you're telling the truth. Absolutely I'm telling the truth. They only care about surviving when they're in a fight or flight situation. They will fly. And so, yeah, you all took the very smart approach of being diplomatic with them and being like, okay, so what can we do for you to get you on our side?
Diplomacy vs. Combat
00:31:05
Speaker
And we made a friend in Blurred, who brought me back to life later.
00:31:09
Speaker
Okay, so let's go to the crypt, the tomb, and the fight there where I learned that. Just because you find out, hey, blunt things work better doesn't mean you're going to be better with a blunt thing. Crowbar, man, it would have been neat, but boy, it would have failed. So let's talk about the artifacts.
00:31:27
Speaker
Okay, we'll talk about the ribbon. We've lost cuz that's the one that I have an investment in but did you decide? That in that tomb there was going to be a thing for each of us and it was going to benefit there was one thing that would benefit each of us and Just happens to obviously I was going to
00:31:43
Speaker
make it end up where I got the weapon but I mean Trevor Trevor went for the armor naturally and that's the one that you had planned for him yeah right so that was just a kismet yeah I'm not really the I think there's a fine line to walk in terms of being a dungeon master between
00:32:01
Speaker
just giving the players whatever they want because actually in fourth edition in one of the source books it told dungeon masters to do that. Just ask your players what magical weapons they want because they had a system set up to where a character could break down magical items into this thing called residuum and then make it into another magical item of equal level. So they're gonna be able to get what they want anyways to just give it to them versus being contentious as a dungeon master especially in a situation where I'm writing it and throwing you all a long bow even though none of you
00:32:31
Speaker
use a longbow and be like, well, that's the treasure you found. Sorry about you. Right. And so I like to... Well, yeah, I mean, you definitely have a benevolent streak to you in giving us stuff that's going to be useful. Well, and I wanted there to be something for each of you. And also this is kind of in between session talk, but at the end of the last episode, they leveled up to level two and I informed all of them that by virtue of them leveling up,
00:32:57
Speaker
these items that they found in the tomb unlocked new properties because I kind of am of the ilk like you watch these epic movies whether it be sci-fi with like star wars or lord of the rings or anything at no point does aragorn kill an urokai and pick up his axe and go oh this this is way sharper than the sword i have and he throws his sword on the ground and takes the battle axe
00:33:21
Speaker
Well, and also, since these things have magical properties, they have special things. Eventually, if it didn't grow with me, there's a chance that I could outclass my weapon. Yeah. And you don't want that. Like, that's what happens, right? You even if it is a magical weapon, once you hit level five, because it's magical, we can it can grow with this. Well, not magical may not be able to.
00:33:40
Speaker
Non magic or magical non magical typically don't this is something that I am pulling from a source But a 3.5 source but called weapons of legacy. Okay, that's where they introduced this idea of leveling weapons and weapons that Grow with the hero to incentivize them to keep this weapon that can kind of be that defining trait of that character and like Aragorn sword or Legolas's long bow and
00:34:04
Speaker
you don't ever out level your gear that grows with you. Because that's how epic heroes work. Aragorn has that sword that signifies that he is the king of Gondor. And so I pulled that in and have been adapting it to 5E to allow you all to keep these weapons that will grow with you. Okay, so we'll talk a little bit about my weapon.
00:34:25
Speaker
When I was building this stuff and I read the Races of Eberron to find out more about changelings for a narrative purpose, we are not using any of the 3.5 stuff that changelings get, like the plus to bluff when I'm in a different form or any of the, like there's a changeling rogue archetype that one could follow in 3.5 and we're not following that either, like it's just, anything for 3.5 is just for story purposes.
Changeling Identity and Gameplay
00:34:50
Speaker
Mechanically, it's the 5E thing, which essentially is at least as far as stats and stuff as a human that can shape. And the reason that we don't play with those rules where you get a plus two to, it was called bluff, now it's called deception I think, is because as the dungeon master,
00:35:06
Speaker
I am obviously going to give you, if you morph into a person that you know this person knows and talk like them, you get advantage on that role. Right. And also, I mean, honestly, when I was building the character, I just lucked into rolling pretty well on a lot of things. And so I've got some, I mean, I'm walking into the game with 19 decks. And because I chose the rogue class, like my, uh, and I think I have 16 is intelligence that persuasion and stuff things off of. No, charisma.
00:35:35
Speaker
I think I got like 16 charisma, so my persuasion check is plus six. Like it's almost silly, but it's also awesome because I do so much wrong that I need the numbers to buff. So as I was reading it and I saw this ribbon weave thing and I was like, this is way too cool to not bother Eric until he lets me use it. And so I sent him a text message and I believe my exact words were, this thing is cool as F and I want to use it. And his response was, yes, it is cool as F, we need to
00:36:03
Speaker
make it work though. Yeah. And luckily, Eric, honestly, you went beyond my wildest dreams. I just wanted the weapon and you made it magical and gave me a spell that I can do with it. And I'm going to continue. So you know, to bother you about it. I've already said, if it's got a 15 foot flexible thing, and there's two bad guys within five feet of each other, I ought to be able to wrap them both. You know, why not wrap around one guy hit the other guy in the back of the knees. I think not actually. And Eric has already told me no, and I'm going to continue wearing him down. As is my want.
00:36:33
Speaker
And actually another thing about, I think you did, was it grapple? Grapple check? I can, is that the next level? If you do a grapple check with the intent to trip, then no, that's just property of the locum that I told you about. Yeah, because the reason that there had to be some adaptation is because in previous editions of the game, 3.5 specifically, ribbon weave has a crit range of, I think 19 to 20.
00:36:54
Speaker
Yeah, and then I think it goes to 18 to 20 once you get past a certain level. And crit ranges in 5e are abilities that you unlock by virtue of certain classes and archetypes. No weapons, no items have a crit range on them. And so that was something that I just wanted to remove from it, but then because I'm removing a thing, I felt compelled to add something to it to kind of balance that out. And so that's where the adaptation kind of came in.
00:37:24
Speaker
I just, you know, it was funny when you were describing how the skeleton was using the weapon and what it was, I was watching Trevor and Philip and their eyes were getting big and they were like, I don't know if they were thinking, this is awesome, I want it, but they're telling me this is awesome. And I was like, I'm gonna have to do something to make it to where I get it. And so that's why I dropped the changeling thing.
00:37:43
Speaker
And I think it fit well narratively. There are certainly more heroic ways that it would have been fun like I change into something that we're battling and we use it to escape a battle that we're losing or something. There are plenty of ways it could have been different. But I think it worked well. For sure.
00:38:02
Speaker
It would maybe have had some more fun character stuff if if trevor and philip were like really aware of what a changeling was They were both going like Okay, you're changeling. All right. Ne Ne Ne Ne Um, but uh, and I had a joke that I was too late by the time I thought of it But if I could oh man, you should have seen the looks on your faces and go well here Let me and then just changed into each of them looking such I would have been a real good joke but well and and I think part of the issues is that philip played with a lot of players that have played as changelings and they
00:38:30
Speaker
did not invest as much time or effort as you did researching the culture and their role in the world and stuff like that. And so for Philip, it was like, oh, another change. Yeah, you're changing. That's crazy that you didn't tell us that sort of thing rather than you're a cheat. Yeah. So right. But I'll tell you what, because of that, I didn't think about it until maybe
00:38:53
Speaker
Yesterday, when I was listening to it again, we could because of what I can do and because of what they already are, we could walk into a situation looking like the scariest three people that have ever done anything. Yes. I mean, a tiefling and a vampire looking monster. And I could I mean, Ork, Eric okra, anything that's anything that is humanoid and medium sized. Yep, I can change into. I think it made it actually I don't know if I made it because you haven't edited the third one yet.
00:39:18
Speaker
It's really explicit that it's purely cosmetic. I'm not going to get any extra abilities, any extra strength. I don't even. It's not like wild shaped for a druid where you take on the ability or true poly more for anything. And in fact, you know, one of the things we're going to have to work in is I'm going to have to start carrying in my pack
00:39:34
Speaker
extra clothing. Yeah, because if I I mean, I will absolutely be changing into multiple characters male and female. And so I will need a chair, I'll need a dress or a bodice or whatever. Yeah, fantasy women wear so that I don't roll in just like a woman or looking like a female.
00:39:56
Speaker
half-orc, but wearing human rogue's clothing. Because that's the other thing is, I'm going to spend the majority of the time, anytime we're around other people, I'm not going to look like a change.
00:40:05
Speaker
If it's just the two of us or three of us traveling or something, it's not like it's an effort to be something else. So I may be Dex sometimes. I'm going to speak as Dex because the voices are put on as well. Lyle's voice is not Dex's voice. And I'm just trying to figure out what Dex sounds like because I'm not very good at accents. Dex is from El Paso in the mid 19th century because that's what people who are in my family sound like because
00:40:32
Speaker
We live in Oklahoma, and it's the voice I've heard my whole life. Yeah, so it's exciting. It's going to be fun to see where it all goes. Yeah. I think that's enough parsing and breaking down, maybe. OK. Do you have more that you want to? Well, I guess just we talked about it a little bit after. I guess there is the big finish. We stopped recording. But yeah, I wanted to ask your thoughts as both character Lyle and then Jeff Player, what did you think of the ending of the session and just that? Well, I think it's pretty clear in the fact that we were all
00:40:59
Speaker
Super speechless like yeah, cuz we didn't know that we were done with that episode necessarily like we knew it was getting close It's a time but like you describe what happened and and the ako being killed and the and the dragon shard being crushed and Jacob being passed through the void and the hands reaching out and then you stop talking and You know when I was listening back to it. This is what you hear you go
00:41:22
Speaker
And then you finally free us from the tension at the end of the episode. And that's how I felt and that's how I feel. Like clearly, this is the, I don't know if it's the overarching big bad of the whole campaign, but it's something that we're going to have to
00:41:38
Speaker
Wait to confront. Yeah, for sure We're not ready either from a meta standpoint with leveling up and stuff or from a character standpoint of Weird that was terrifying and clearly he's way too strong for us. Yeah I mean he one-shotted your right companion. Well any any brick walled? Yeah, Eric when he tried to jump for him. I mean it's I
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah, so and these these amazing magical things that we just found he was completely unimpressed by Yeah to the point of destroying one. So so yeah, I mean, I think I think that it's it's Lyle Dex is is Terrified but also I think Filled with enough Anger about it that he's not running from it. Mm-hmm. I think Lyle and I think
00:42:26
Speaker
I don't want to speak for the other two and their characters. Dex's thing now is prep for this. This is your life now. If not getting Jacob back, making sure it doesn't happen again.
Campaign Pacing and Narrative Balance
00:42:40
Speaker
And that was the big thing. I had a lot of intention behind with the Jacob reveal and you all seeing him again was not having him knocked out. I wanted you all to be painfully aware
00:42:54
Speaker
that he was alive and lucid and struggling so you all wouldn't. I want you as characters and players to have hope that you might still be able to get him back. Which I do. I absolutely do. It really depends on if we're talking about we're not ready to cross that portal for months. I think the hope might dwindle but the purpose, the resolve will remain because that's just how that works.
00:43:19
Speaker
and that's something I've been thinking a lot about in terms of pacing the adventure and how long between now and potential end game or at least end of first act going into second act like what when do I want you all to
00:43:37
Speaker
have the ability to directly confront the portal or try to make the effort to get Jacob back and feel like you can actually succeed at that because it can't be the end of the campaign. We can't be playing for six months to a year and finally have that payoff of potentially getting Jacob back because I don't know at this point whether or not you're going to be able to get him back.
00:43:59
Speaker
because it's going to have less impact if you all go on all these other crazy adventures and then kind of remember, oh yeah. Oh yeah, Jacob. That kid. Yeah, I know, sure. I mean, I'm looking at this as an arc inside of the campaign, and we will, if not resolve, at least reach a point where we know enough of what's going on by the end of the arc. Well, in six, eight, 10 episodes, basically. Yeah. And this will be kind of a... But again, I'm pulling that complete... That is coming directly from my butthole because I am not in charge of any of this.
00:44:29
Speaker
Well, and this will be kind of a fun preview for both Jeff and the listeners of what's to come going into our next session. Because a problem that a lot of campaigns run into is if you have an arc like this, where there's this singular focus of we have to get this boy back, we have to deal with this portal thing, just anything like that.
00:44:49
Speaker
You can get really slogged down because you're doing not the same thing, but you're acting with the same purpose constantly. Right. It can get redundant. And so essentially, you all as characters are probably pretty well aware, and as players, you all are going to require outside assistance to deal with this situation. You're going to need to know more. You're going to need to. And we always need our redshirt cleric. Yeah.
00:45:16
Speaker
And by the way, I was not joking. I have already rolled my second character ready to jump in at a moment to know this when Dex eats it. So my intention going forward to keep the adventures in the campaign and the sessions varied and kind of forcing you all
00:45:32
Speaker
as characters and players to deviate from your singular purpose is these people that you go get help from. And this is just a campaign design tip for anybody out there that is a DM or wants to. I'm stealing this kind of from video games, specifically Bioware like Mass Effect or Dragon Age.
00:45:49
Speaker
when you find this potential quote-unquote companion that's going to help you in your quest, these are characters that are not beholden to you and just waiting for you to come talk to them. There's a reciprocity that has to happen. Well, not even that they are actively involved in a thing and like, well, I have to deal with this situation right now, then I will be freed up to come help you. So if you want me to help you. Right. And that's what I meant. Yeah. I mean, we've already seen the minigame version of that with the goblins. Yeah. We needed them to help us find the kid. They needed a
00:46:17
Speaker
deposed ruler, and we took care of it. And I like that. I'm excited to see how far afield of mistmarsh we go. There's not a lot of, you know, if it's a home base thing, obviously it has to be because that's where the arch is. And eventually we have to, if not keep checking in, get back there.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah. But if that becomes a kind of a home base between arcs, we go back to Miss March, we recuperate. Dex is going to be always practicing with his ribbon weave. Yeah. I mean, because I don't think what we made clear, because this is our story choice. The ribbon weave is not a common weapon that is used now. It was an ancient weapon of the changelings.
00:46:51
Speaker
And the hop goblins appear apparently well that one at least and so you know I think that that's not a that's not a thing that he has a proficiency with I'm not saying he'll gain a statistical You know numbers proficiency, but he needs to learn how to use it properly yeah
00:47:06
Speaker
You know, and I because I'm an idiot and I and I just like to get as I like to explore all options with anything that I have and see what you let me get away with like I'm already thinking in my head that he's going to learn how to use it as much as a projectile because if you look at the picture of it, there's a knob at the end that provides the weight.
00:47:26
Speaker
Like, when the ribbon pops out, there's a little knob of the cane still at the end that provides the weight to whip it around. Well, if I can learn to kind of aim a touch with that for some blunt damage, you know, that would be fun. Especially, I'm going to ask you this now. This is going to be canon. It's on the spot. How much of that thing lights up daylight? Is it the whole staff? No, it is the purple gem in the handle emits light. Okay. That I would be holding on to all the time. So I can't start shooting light at shadows. No. You ruin everything. Sorry. You ruin everything.
00:47:57
Speaker
Anyway, and so I like the idea of going back to missed March missed Marsh, but I would love to have to quest to other areas, you know hand wave the travel as much as we can because yeah, I mean if we had to go to demon waste or if we had to go to well into our I'll go ahead and tell you right now because it happens within the first it's a scoop for 15 minutes of the next session you all are leaving miss Marsh and
00:48:23
Speaker
next episode. Rad. Good. Good. Yeah. I hope Bessie waits for me. We've been touching on your reactions as both a player to character kind of throughout as you were asking me questions. But yeah, when you were crafting decks and then had the idea to have Lyle there as well, you talked about being originally chaotic neutral and kind of being out for yourself and stealing from the town. And that's the reason that you're a cop is because it's easier for you to take stuff and do. Right.
00:48:50
Speaker
And that might not necessarily be going away. The idea that I can use my station to further my own, it may change from my own divide or my own good to the good of the team, but that's not going away. I don't think that necessarily abusing the power
00:49:12
Speaker
That's part of the chaotic thing, abusing the power I have before the greater good is something that would totally still fall on my wheelhouse. But I guess just what inspired you, kind of break it down for me when you were building this character from, you already talked about discovering the changelings, but building a rogue, the backstory that you kind of created, give it to the backstory that they know.
00:49:35
Speaker
but yeah just walk me through kind of your inspiration and what you pulled from if there were any other characters or anything you pulled from or if it was just purely a desire to be something different or yeah sure okay so um honestly a lot of the backstory
00:49:48
Speaker
is justification for a changeling being there. You know, I'm not going to go too deep into it, but there is an area on Eberron has a high concentration of change. Sarlona. Sarlona. And so I built the backstory, the deep backstory of Dex, just as a means of getting him to Corvair and getting him to Breeland or Brolander. I hear that people are very particular about how it's pronounced and I don't want to make anybody mad, but we're saying Breeland. We're saying Breeland.
00:50:16
Speaker
Philip actually pronounced it pronounces it Breland. So I actually pronounced it Cleveland and so But no to just justify getting him there and I think it's a need backstory I don't want to reveal too much of it because I think it'll come up. I hope it comes up Oh, yeah mechanically or not mechanically and naturally narratively narratively is another good word
00:50:33
Speaker
We got all the words. We got the best words. So I did all of that. Now, the part that I already shared about Lyle is a mirror of Dex, that he was in Thrain and chose to not fall the silver flame and his family kicked him out because just like every D&D character eventually, at some point his family died or kicked him out.
00:50:50
Speaker
So his family kicked him out and he fell in with a thieves guild and fell in love with that lifestyle, learned the tricks of the trade, began to trust his guild as his band of brothers and revealed himself. He had been living as a human there too, or a half-elver who gives a crap. He'd been living something else there too, and so that's what they thought he was. He chose to reveal himself as a changeling because he thought that it could help with
00:51:15
Speaker
Heists help with the machinations you getting who's going but instead he became a victim of it was his first real brush with the discrimination against changelings even the people that he'd been working with that could trust him as much as a group of thieves could trust each other and he was
00:51:31
Speaker
not an underling by this point. He had been with this clan for a while and had been risen to the right. He wasn't the top guy or anything. But anyway, when he revealed himself, they disowned him. They shunned him. He was gone. He was out of it. And that was his first brush with that. And that's why he left and became Lyle and moved to a new place and began to live more
00:51:53
Speaker
Really quickly, the three classes, we talked about reality seekers, we talked about newcomers. There's another group called passers, and what passers do, of changelings, and what passers do is they just live a life as a different person. They choose a race, they choose a life, and they live that life. It gets sticky with progeny, because you could potentially, you have a 50-50 chance of having a changeling kid if you're a changeling. So that gets sticky. So he actually flirted with the idea of just living his life forever, but couldn't do it. He's at his heart, he's a newcomer.
00:52:21
Speaker
And even where, I don't even know if I've told you this yet, there are other denizens of Ms. Marsh or regular visitors of Ms. Marsh who are Dex when he needs to get it out of his system. And those haven't come up yet. I don't know if you and I need to talk about it or if I just need to knock one in sometime for fun. But yeah, that's a thing I've decided. You just have to limit it to people that we've already seen Dex in the same room with. You have to eliminate them.
00:52:48
Speaker
I am Bessie. No, it's going to be something like, you know, when Dex is on leave from the detective ship, from the Constabulary, and then some merchant comes through town. And it's just no one puts together that that, you know, it's not, you ever seen Clark and the Superman in the same room? No one puts that together. Or a roving band of gypsies, who knows.
00:53:12
Speaker
Well, and that's why just giving you some insight into my planning as a dungeon master. That's why I had originally built up a set piece moment for Dex's big reveal at the end of the episode when you were dealing with the big scary guy who killed Akko. I was going to have him use magic to force your polymorph to drop.
00:53:31
Speaker
because I wasn't sure, based on the backstory that you sent me with the Thieves' Band and all that, if Dex would ever get to a point where he could trust other people like that again and reveal himself. Right, and I think you were right in feeling that way, which is why I played it as he sees this thing and loses himself for a second. He did not make the decision to out himself. He said the wrong thing in a moment of... Weakness or absentmindedness. ...confusion or even passion even, seeing this thing that means something to him.
00:54:01
Speaker
Um, cause, cause he is the only changeling that he knows, um, for multiple reasons. Um, but, but, and, but again, I'm not going to reveal too much of his deep backstory. He is the last of his family as well. Um, which is why he left Sarlona in the first place to strike on something else. And there's a story there that we'll probably get to eventually. Um, so seeing a connection to that touched him on a level that he dropped the cafe to put it in wrestling terms. And I think that worked out well for both of us.
00:54:29
Speaker
I didn't have to be like, oh, but now he trusts everybody. And you didn't have to force my hand in and revealing. It really worked out well. We're very, very good at stumbling into it. Yes. I wouldn't say we're good at this. I'd say we're good at falling forward. Failing upwards. If you're going to get tackled, fall forward.
00:54:49
Speaker
Okay, well, I hope you've enjoyed this discussion. If you guys liked this thing, we would love to continue doing it because, I mean, Eric and I are friends, we see each other multiple times a week, but we also talk about D&D, or not just D&D. This is among the things that we would be talking about anyway, so we may as well record it. Like I said, we're recording this between the drop of the first and second episodes,
00:55:12
Speaker
but I think if you guys like it, we'll wait and record it after the episode, the all three, because we're not gonna, this is not an edit heavy thing, so we can get out pretty quickly. After all three or four episodes that we've recorded have already dropped, and if you guys want to shout questions to us that we can, in the future, shout questions to us that we can address on this, or complaints, and we can try to appease you a wrath. And there will be complaints, because I'm terrible at this. And you will get mad at me, and I'm fine with that.
00:55:41
Speaker
Well, and I, I've discovered through talking to other GMs via Facebook and stuff that a lot of you probably hate me for the way that I operate as a dungeon master. Like I'm, I have my own particular style. And as Jeff said, I'm typically pretty benevolent with a my rulings at the table and be things that I give out and stuff like that. And so if you have questions for me as a dungeon master, um, I mean, firstly, go check out the knowledge check podcast where Phillip and I talk about
00:56:09
Speaker
absolutely from a dungeon mastering and player perspective but also you can shoot me questions here if you have specific questions about the campaign so right but basically we want to make the best show for you guys like we are gonna have fun playing whether the show is good or not so the goal is to make a good show and we want to make we want to do that collaboratively with you
00:56:30
Speaker
If you shoot at suggestions, they probably won't be on this. This is going to be for questions and ideas and things like that. But please let us know how we can be better, be more entertaining for you. One thing that we've done here that we didn't do on the Pantheon ones is Eric's added the
00:56:45
Speaker
Ambient music and the sound effects and that makes it so much more pleasant to listen to well. Thank you I do want to give a shout out to Kevin McLeod is the composer of all the music that I use for Editing and he has a website called free PD music which he is a professional conductor but a lot of his stuff sits on the shelf for years and just doesn't get sold and
00:57:06
Speaker
And so he decided one day to set up a website and release all of it to the public domain So not even Creative Commons like he he does not require me to give him a shout out But I want to because yeah, I think we need to drop his name every episode. Yeah But if you are looking for good music even to use at your table game I mean obviously you can use copy written music if you're just playing around a table at home But I've gotten contact by a lot of other people that want to or have started their own D&D podcasts And so go go check out it is getting to be a saturated market
00:57:36
Speaker
And there's something for everybody in it is what's good and again because it is such a saturated market We want to thank d20 radio for allowing us to be their 5e representative Yeah, I mean there are a lot to choose from you know we of course We already had a relationship with them through the pantheon, but um but man It's a good family to be involved in I actually just joined the Facebook group recently Yeah, I said thanks for doing it and have gotten a great response So you guys are awesome your d20
00:57:58
Speaker
D20 people are awesome, our Geek Pantheon people are awesome, the people who know us personally and still want to spend more time listening to us for some reason, also awesome. And the people that don't fall into that, any of those categories that maybe just stumbled upon this episode randomly, go back and listen to the first three episodes, you're awesome. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, man, anybody who's listening to this, it boggles my mind that you would be willing to give us some time out of your day and we really appreciate it. Yeah.
00:58:22
Speaker
Let us know if you enjoyed an episode like this, if you want to hear us kind of dive into the campaign again, and we might have Phillip on for an episode, or Trevor, or we'll just see. Or it may just be a me and Jeff thing, because we already hang out a majority of our time anyway. I promise, if it stays on me and Trevor's thing, we won't do a lot of decks. I'm Eric.
00:58:42
Speaker
We do hang out a lot. If it becomes just me and Eric thing, it will drop some of the building out decks stuff because that's not fair to the narrative. It may be a thing where I do all the dungeon master parsing out the episodes, but then Phillip is also here and they can talk about Eric for a little while. It's very fluid because we don't know what we're doing. Just two guys talking about being neat.
00:59:03
Speaker
Yeah, so let us know if you like it. And again, just we really appreciate you guys for listening and we would love for you to take a more active role in it. Yeah, absolutely. You know, let's I mean, I would love if our Facebook group was just hopping after every episode drops with theories and thoughts and
00:59:19
Speaker
And, and, and, and lauding a congratulations on another great episode. Or please guys quit sucking so much would be fine too. But we'd love to see it grow. For sure. I mean, obviously we'd love to see it grow. We're, we're as much fun as we're having. This is effort. And we'd love to see the fruits of it be more people getting to
00:59:36
Speaker
Um, and enjoy the thing that we do, you know, at our heart, three of the four of us, uh, Phillip has, is involved in, in the creative arts for sure. But Eric, Trevor and I all have theater backgrounds. Uh, I mean, they were both theater majors in college. I was not that, but I've always been involved. And so, you know, there's a, there's a part of why do this, if not four people, uh, thing that is going to always be in the back of our minds. Yeah. So.
00:59:59
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening. Once again, I am your dungeon master, Eric. I'm Jeff, and we will see you next time on Eberron Renewed.