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C3 Episode 1 Session Zero!
523 Plays3 months ago
We introduce the new players and characters for Campaign 3!
This episode is brought to you by the generous donations of our amazing Show Sponsors: Laura Pickrahn, Irene Viorritto, Darrell DeLaney, Charles Compton, Deviouspoptart, Nastasia Raulerson, David Scrams, Elizabeth Clark, Rebekah Gowman, deviouspoptart, Eðvarð Arnór Sigurðsson, Michael Clark, Jerry Theuns, Mark Stanley, and Shelby Johnson.
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Transcript
Introduction to Eberron Renewed
00:00:04
Speaker
correctly with the coach or D20 Radio, your game is roll.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eberron Renewed, an actual play podcast set in the Eberron campaign setting. I am your game master, Eric. And hi, I'm Mia. I'm a new player. I am a concept artist in the indie games and animation industry. I will be playing Valk. They go by any pronouns and they are an androgynous, willy, willowy, changeling occultist. Their association is with the plain Ozoria and I'm happy to be here. Happy to have you. I'm Phillip.
00:00:58
Speaker
I've been here the whole time playing a tiefling demonologist ah with ties to the plane of Shavaroth.
Character Introductions
00:01:07
Speaker
She has gray tan skin, short metallic black horns, and black hair with metallic red highlights that's short and a little bit spiky because long hair is dangerous when you do a lot of fire magic.
00:01:22
Speaker
True. And I'm Trevor! Just giving me looks like he doesn't believe that. I feel like that was extremely plausible. No, no, I'm like Trevor. I'm Trevor Beck. I'm going to be playing a character named V, who is Arcanite Monk. I don't know the right order to say those in yet. Plot twist, still don't know what I'm doing. but Nailed it. And V is going to be pretty awesome.
00:01:47
Speaker
ah Y'all on the spot on the spot. It's good. That's all you get. Show. Don't tell Trevor. Show. Don't tell. Say hello to your new favorite character V's. I'm Madison. I'm a new player also, and I'm really excited to be here. I'm going to be playing Selena Soverless. She's a high elf wizard, and she was very ill as a child and her family used rebar crystals to keep her alive. So she has a rebar crystal pacemaker.
00:02:17
Speaker
I'm Jeff. Y'all know me. I've been here as long as Philip. I am playing a human mage who his name's Kazimir Panerius. Everyone calls him Kaz. And he looks like your average 16 year old human guy.
00:02:33
Speaker
Love it. And welcome everyone to campaign three.
Campaign Launch and Updates
00:02:38
Speaker
Campaign two is dead. We're never going to talk about it again. No, we're excited to kick off the new campaign and let you all meet the new characters and the two new players that we have. You're very excited. As you all can probably tell now that the intros are over, Randy has decided to take a step back from podcasting. Just focus on some stuff going on in his life. He may jump into the campaign later on down the road.
00:03:02
Speaker
he may not so we are just going to you know let him do his thing and wish him well and if he rejoins us awesome if not that's totally fine we are excited to set off with the new characters so campaign three we we've just got done having our actual session zero off mic because just like campaign one campaign two you all don't get to listen to that so that we can make mistakes and be dumbed together without you all being able to criticize us. So we are now going to show you the results of that labor and also have a bit of session zero discussion around the headquarters that the players
Setting and Historical Context
00:03:40
Speaker
reside in.
00:03:40
Speaker
So campaign three, we're going to be following our party of adventurers as they are the first field team for an organization called The Lighthouse that is in its infancy. ah Literally there are only three other members at the start of the campaign, the director, the archivist, and the engineer for the organization.
00:04:01
Speaker
who do the more administrative stuff while the party goes out and actually investigates and deals with extra planar threats affecting the continent of Corvair.
00:04:12
Speaker
Also importantly, we are setting the campaign in 986 YK, which is 10 years before the end of the war, which it's cool. It's exciting. It's rad. Also eight years before the morning, we can't call it the last war because we don't know that it's the last one yet. So it's just the war right now. I mean, it's the current war, current war, but during world war one, didn't they call it the war to end all wars? Wasn't there? No, they just called it the war.
00:04:42
Speaker
Okay, fair enough. Anytime you have a really big war, everyone just calls it the war. But but in Wonder Woman, Philip, Chris Pine called on the war to stop it. I'll tell you what, if if it if at any point in the 20s I had called it the war to end all wars, I surely would not be saying that after 1942.
00:05:02
Speaker
that's true. I mean, yeah, because they and they really shot themselves calling it World War One. There has to be a sequel. You have to have sequels. Yeah, I don't know how to. So that was just there's a classic encyclopedia of Brown about the First Battle of Bora. God. Now, this this is a mystery. Now, I'm restraining myself here. So high school history teacher. Anyone who doesn't know that we are sending it at the tail end of the last war, which means Kire is a thriving nation.
00:05:32
Speaker
Morning's not happened and a lot of these nations that are nations in the everyone setting are fighting for independence during the campaign and trying to be recognized as separate nations in and of themselves. So that will be the backdrop of the campaign as it were. The actual campaign will be you all dealing with extra planar threats as I alluded to and we are hoping to be able to cross different genres for different adventures, depending on the plane in question, having some be much more straightforward, epic fantasy style adventures, others being much more mystery investigation. Uh, maybe even get a little like creepy and spooky with it from time to time. Straight up horror. Finally. Okay.
Game System and Features
00:06:14
Speaker
And also something that we discussed in the final review for campaign two, but just since this is campaign three content, we're using 13th age second edition as the system. ah The Kickstarter just wrapped for, for the, the system this past month.
00:06:31
Speaker
And we are excited to have a developing relationship with Pellegrain Press to support the show as we support their system. More details on that to come as things develop in that regard. But we're, yeah, we're excited. Something nice about second edition of 13th age though, is that it is backwards compatible with all the content they have made.
00:06:52
Speaker
So classes like the occultist, the demonologist that our first edition classes will work with the second edition base rules. Whereas Madison playing a high elf wizard, all of that content is from the second edition in and of itself. So you can, you can cross pollinate is the word that came to my brain. I know that's not the right word, but it's definitely not the right word. Apply.
00:07:17
Speaker
We can cross the fly. It's all compatible with itself. So yeah. Anyway, you all have gotten a little mini introduction to the characters. What we are going to be doing though, after this episode is we're not going to be jumping straight into the campaign.
Character Mini-Adventures
00:07:31
Speaker
We're not going to get into the details of what these are going to be. That's something that we discussed off mic, but we are going to be doing little intro episode adventures, kind of the reduced style episodes that we've done in the past.
00:07:45
Speaker
to let you all see a glimpse of the background of each of these characters and the circumstances they found themselves in that got them recruited by the lighthouse. So there will be little mini adventures for each player character with a small group of NPCs that are with them that will be played by some of the other players and those NPCs might show up later on down the road.
00:08:09
Speaker
But yeah, that'll be a fun little way that we'll introduce each of these characters in their own, give each character a chance to have the spotlight ah before we bring everyone together and start the campaign proper once those have run their course. So yeah, any thoughts or questions from the assembled before I move on to the next part of our little session zero?
00:08:29
Speaker
Should I have described Valk? If you would like to, you're more than welcome to describe Valk physically. Well, I mean, I have to do my my briefed version. but So Valk is a changeling there. They have silvery white hair. I say that as I look at the drawing and it is technically purple because of color theory. Love that.
00:08:50
Speaker
They have amethyst eyes, so deep purple eyes, puffy eye bags, and they have a really cool cloak. They're really accessorized. This is much better in a drawing than words. This is why I'm an artist that I'll stop now. I love it. Eric. Yeah. In my introduction, did I say my character's name? I'm now just second guessing everything about it. It's called Dix. I don't remember your name. Give us a clean one. What's her name?
00:09:18
Speaker
nyx in yx nyx like the cosmetics what there's a brand of cosmetic called nyx goddess of night not aware of that well that's what i thought it's good it's affordable good quality good prices I mean, I'm just thrilled that it's not frustratingly close to my name this time around. It's not Charis this time. Charis thought about it. Now maybe I have to change it because apparently I'm a corporate brand. The corporate brand is based off of you. You both went from the same source. All right. Yeah. So what we're going to do with the rest of our session zero
00:09:54
Speaker
is establish the headquarters for the lighthouse. So the high level concept of the lighthouse HQ and the thought that I had is it is an old abandoned estate that one of the probably the director but perhaps perhaps the archivist ah was able to through legal maneuvering gain the rights to.
00:10:21
Speaker
And so they are using that as a base of operations for the lighthouse.
Headquarters Location and Details
00:10:26
Speaker
But it is in a great state of disrepair. A lot of the rooms aren't functional. And so over time, we're we're going to have some mechanical stuff to allow you to do upgrades as you all adventure and gain more resources and things like that.
00:10:42
Speaker
to add on new rooms or uncover new rooms that exist in the space or even hire help and new either field agents or more administrative type roles at the headquarters. And so that'll be something that in between adventures during like downtime that you all can spend a different type of experience on to build out the space.
00:11:07
Speaker
But for the sake of session zero, I want to keep it much more narrative and figure out just different aspects of the headquarters. So the first thing that we need to determine is a group. And I also know that not everyone has the same level of knowledge about Eberron as everyone else at the table. So don't stress about using proper nouns. And I'm going to try to keep the discussion very very narrative in that way, so that then we can apply the Eberron stuff to the decisions that we make as a group. So essentially, there are five nations right now on Corvair, and we need to pick where the headquarters for the lighthouse are located. So I guess... What makes for a good location, Eric? is it
00:11:57
Speaker
like near a population center, somewhere remote. mean I mean, I don't know how we're going to be traveling around. So yeah. So no, I mean, you all will have like horses and care like it will be very kind of like at least starting out kind of more mundane travel. Obviously, everyone has lightning rails where you all can go to a lightning rail station and hop on the train if you need to go.
00:12:24
Speaker
far afield, ah but you all aren't going to have access to an airship to hop in and like, traipse about the place. how butdd time How easy is travel during the war though? I mean, it it it will be difficult insofar as it's interesting. Like, no, but there is still international travel. Yes. Okay. There will be like border checks and stuff like that, obviously, because there's a lot of tensions going on. I was going to ask if I need a passport. so you'll You'll have your papers, your identification papers.
00:12:54
Speaker
But an important aspect of the campaign that it's worth delving into. There are going to be elements of Eberonian lore that shock of shocks for our audience. I'm going to fiddle with a little bit. And so certain creature types.
00:13:11
Speaker
are going to be more plainer in nature than perhaps traditionally so like vampires are going to be heavily touched with mabar like they are going to be kind of ma barn creature lichenthropes are going to be tied to lamania which i've kind of are As you all take prisoners or even build contacts, because I want this to be very. Men of men in black kind of vibes to where there might be extra planer creatures that live on ever or that live on the material plane that are chill enough that it's like, listen, they're not causing problems and there'll be a good contact. So let's go talk to the vampire three doors down to see if he's heard anything weird going on.
00:13:53
Speaker
So if you all are in a dense population center, you're going to have some weird people coming over to visit. So that might draw unwanted attention to the lighthouse, but obviously if you're more remote, then it'll be more difficult to like have access to resources and things like that. So it's a, it's a give and take. So do you all like the idea of being more remote or being in more of a population center? I will say I would love for us to avoid sharn just because the whole last campaign was set in that city. And I'd love to not repeat that.
00:14:22
Speaker
Well, I was gonna say that from just a perspective of irony and because there's no other campaign where we can do this, it would be fun to locate it in Kyre. Yeah, start in Kyre, yeah. ah Kind of a non-starter for longevity, but we don't know yet. Sure. Yeah. Clearly, the Lighthouse Consortium has moved, but I don't know any cities in Kyre. I mean, I'm unfamiliar with it because I've never looked at it. I've got a map. I don't know, I didn't only know a couple of them, but I pulled up a map of it.
00:14:47
Speaker
So Metrol is the capital of Kire. There's a smallish town on a lightning rail next to a forest that could perhaps have some hills on which a creepy old manor could be. It's called Aberdeen, which is a town in Scotland. Yeah, it's a real place. It's a very normal name. There's also a gossler along the way.
00:15:10
Speaker
I'm just looking at names along a lightning rail because that seems convenient. There's a couple of port towns. I see a town called Swaz. I kind of like that. What? I don't know. It's up in the far north of Cryer. It's F-W-R-Z. There it is. Swaz. Feels like a name you have to overpronounce for anyone to know what it said, what you said. Which one did you say is the capital? Metrol. There, I see it. Yeah. Yeah. Over on the edge. I'm fine with being in Cala's art.
00:15:37
Speaker
Is that what the one that she said was on the lightning rail? Or am I just reading that one down? That's the big, that's the big city on the lightning rail. Yeah. Maybe a bit outside of town. Yeah, I think so. Between Cal... Where this definitely haunted estate is. Right. We're somewhere between Calisart and that large forest. It's right to the east of it. Northeast of it. Trying to find the map that you all are referencing. I just Googled Kire map.
00:16:00
Speaker
Yeah, same here. And I clicked the one that said Kyrie really big, so I knew it was right. Pretty sure it's from five nations, but I could be wrong. Okay, I see. Yeah, Kalazar. Sure. Kalazart. That's where Eris was from. No way. That feels that feels great. I can't wait till other Eris shows up in this campaign. Feels like a fun way for me to continue to torture Philip after the campaign. I hope that's not going to happen.
00:16:23
Speaker
You don't know Eric. Okay, so yeah, set the location of the headquarters is Kalazar in Qayr. Love it. Okay. The creepy hills outside of Kalazar. Okay. Like the manor is best viewed in the flash of a lightning strike. But we're not on the creepiest hill. I mean ridiculous. Well no. We're on the one next to it. Yeah. Guy lives in the creepiest hills.
00:16:45
Speaker
You don't want to mess with that guy. That's the vampire next door. Okay so the next thing that I'd like to establish is so the two big areas that will definitely need to be functional and to a certain extent is the library within the home because that's where the archivist is going to keep the records and do a lot of the research and things like that. And then the lab is where the engineer is going to be building the gadgets and the, the anti-planar stuff. But Eric, can you tell us how long we've been at the manor when the campaign starts? Just so that we kind of have a metric of yeah to the degree to which our characters would have had any opportunity to put our stamp on this place.
Manor Design and Inspiration
00:17:30
Speaker
Let's say a month. Okay. Does this place have a name? Are you going to turn that question around on me? Probably.
00:17:36
Speaker
Right. Well, Philip, Philip volunteered to come up with a name. but Okay. Let me ask this for the collective and you all can. So the way I'm going to do this is I'm going to ask some questions of the collective group so that you all can discuss and kind of figure out what you all like best as a party.
00:17:52
Speaker
And then I'm going to drill down and ask each of you individually to define some things about the manor, either in relation to your character or you as an individual player as your preference. Okay. So first like big group discussion is how big is the manor?
00:18:10
Speaker
is it Is it a large sprawling estate? Is it fairly modest? Obviously we want it to be more than like a hovel on the hills. Can it can it be charmed to be more comfortable and accommodating once you're in it? Just wanna make a TARDIS. I wanna do some magic things in the magic game. Bigger on the inside. Can it be like ramshackle kind of sprawling?
00:18:35
Speaker
I'm just trying to make it look haunted. That's what I'm trying to do. I guess how expensive was it to get? Because that's going to typically determine the size is the ah cost. that Well, that that's something we can follow. us So my thought process is either there was some crafty legal maneuvering or like the director, it was in their family. Like they discovered that like, Oh, my great uncle died and left this creepiest state to me. And I had to spend the night in it in order to earn the right to stay here. Can I ditch? Can we all Google Google image manner and then the second image?
00:19:13
Speaker
Second image should be like a dilapidated patina stone. Oh, I love that. Well, like the right. Yeah. The second image when I did Google the shirt oh is like a new build McMansion. So I don't want that. I'm so sorry. i got It's ah can I find its name? But I can imagine it's the oh, I cannot say that. I will put it in the chat. Yeah, drop it in the chat. Asshole Hampton.
00:19:38
Speaker
I wasn't going to try this. I appreciate it. With your tortured linguistic combinations. Hey, I got, I got the same second image as you Mia. My habits are similar. That's actually my, that's my first first image. yeah ah yeah i got that one too Riveting, riveting radio once again.
00:19:56
Speaker
Sure, I'm I'm good with Assel Hampton Manor. Can Assel Hampton Manor, though, like also have some sort of creepy tower like attached to it? Just to sure. Yeah, like there's a turret tower or something. It's got a turret and it's definitely mossier hours. and Yes, certainly. Yes, yes. And yes, there can be some magical chicanery, though, Jeff, that it it looks that the configuration of the manor once you're inside of it does not match. Yeah.
00:20:24
Speaker
the exterior. How about like there's it like there are enchanted for the outside is enchanted to look like it's missing windows. There's holes in the roof. It's not livable. But once you're inside, it's it's solid and keeping the property tax down. It can be solid and whole. I do. I do want it to piss off the HOA. I do want it to be in a bad state, though, inside in certain parts, like certain wings are inaccessible initially. And that's part of the space.
00:20:50
Speaker
cool i would like to request is all i'm saying it doesn't yeah look like it would yeah because that that can be your for a single those creepy old houses there's um aviary broken down aviary or like or like a greenhouse you know on the side conservatory a greenhouse an atrium yeah Well no, I wanted it to be for birds. We all see some freaky gargoyles outside. yeah okay okay Can they be actual gargoyles? Like like the like the D and&D creature? Trevor's cultivating a theme. yes I can't remember if the air cooker thing was on the air now. I don't think it was. No, it wasn't. it was Well, and in last campaign he kept dressing up as an owl. He did. That's true.
00:21:26
Speaker
What? No. He's got a bird thing. I don't want that. He's got really skinny legs. I don't want that to be my thing. yeah Sounds like your thing.
Key NPC Roles and Backgrounds
00:21:37
Speaker
Then quit running face first into it. OK, so it's based on Athelhampton Manor with a creepy tower and more moss. And it is in the hills. Apparently Trevor's committee. It's in the hills outside of Kalazar in Kair, Kalsart.
00:21:53
Speaker
And it is enchanted to look worse on the outside. And Trevor has forcefully requested that an aviary be included because Trevor has a bird thing. It could be a greenhouse if we really want it to be. Brain. It's pronounced bird brain. Wow. I just pulled it up on Google maps. It's really quite sprawling. Yeah. When I when i started typing it, one of the, like the second auto complete was wedding packages. So it's clearly not not quite as dilapidated as it looks in the picture that we've all seen. Wow.
00:22:23
Speaker
but it is it is perfect, I absolutely agree with you, it's great. Hooray! And it can it can be that sprawling, it's just, it it looks like crap right now. It's that sprawling, we can't sprawl in it yet. Yes, go visit the river cottage at Ethelhampton. Parking situation looks abysmal. Really, really imposing, pyramedic pruned trees in the garden though. I'm not missing that. Like sinister looking trees in the garden.
00:22:51
Speaker
I think that needs to be a feature of ours. yeah Something a cultic happens there. I'll do it. I was going to say I'll do that. And that's one of the reasons people stay away is because the house is dilapidated and for some reason. Something is still keeping those trees. Those trees are expertly manicured. A ghostly white figure swimming the trees into a pyramid. Into creepy cones.
00:23:13
Speaker
There is a, it looks like a tile and like stone shop near Athol Hampton called Martyr Martyr Merchants. Oh my gosh, there it is. Cannon. ah Which, yeah, i've i mean I've noted that as being a shop near the house. They don't do tile work. I don't know what modern merchants does. It sounds like an assassination-like mercenary group. We're the modern merchants. I thought that's just where you could go pick up your sacrifice. You put one on order and swing by. That's where all the cults go. Yeah, we need a human sacrifice.
00:23:47
Speaker
Perfectly between the agents of 35 and 42 based on the prophecy that we have to fulfill. I can do 28 at best. And if you need a version, it's gonna take a while. It's gonna cost me. The body of water just out just out back of Athelhampton Manor is called the River Piddle. Yes! Mia, you didn't even know how perfect it was. You just like, they called to me. The River Piddle. Jesus.
00:24:09
Speaker
We are translating that over one-to-one as well. We're obviously not calling this place Atalhampton Manor, but out back is in The town near Atalhampton Manor is Puddle Town. We're the worst podcast ever. England is great. Okay. England play stands are great. So we have the Martyr merchants nearby. Trevor, do you actually want... So I was going to allow everyone to establish one functioning room right now, or at least not functioning, but accessible room. Would you like yours to be an aviary? Let's let's do it like a greenhouse instead of ah an aviary.
00:24:46
Speaker
Like when those old glass like birds can can be in there. Yeah, there's a hole in the roof, so it's full of birds. yeah Birds are welcome. Birds can hang out. It's a part of the habitat. It's good for for plant growth.
00:25:01
Speaker
to sign on the greenhouse, plants needed birds. And then Trevor wrote, Eric okra is looking for. So Phillip, what but what room would you like to establish that is accessible, not necessarily functional, but accessible within the estate? And when I say room, it doesn't have to be a room, just an aspect. It could be a garden or something exterior to the home as well. Hmm.
00:25:35
Speaker
Uh, let's say there is a, sorry, I'm, I'm torn between two ideas. If you want to verbalize them or if you don't, well, it seems like an old chapel is very in keeping with the sort of creepy manner and aesthetic. Yeah.
00:25:51
Speaker
I would like there to be some space here where so I've I've made it a sort of. You guys would your characters would know this by a month, a month in that Nick's compulsively collects weapons and that she has just stored them in some place. And so I was going to say there's like a formal fencing salon in this house. But I think I like chapel attached to the creepy old manor that were because that just feels that just feels right for it. There's there's a chapel to whatever religion, the original owners observed. It's going to be something creepy. It's fine. Nix has filled it with weapons all over the walls. So it's awesome. Mia, do you have any ideas for an aspect of the manner that is currently accessible?
00:26:36
Speaker
I have to go on brand and I want a creepy dank basement. Got that dank basement. Yes, I would also like for there to be dank. Okay. Because i I didn't know somebody was going to say this, but I thought somebody would say basement. Mia, what lives in the basement?
00:26:55
Speaker
friend can we Can we pause and come back? Sure, yeah. And is this like any creature, magical, non-magical? Could be a creature, could be a ghost, could be animal, beast, extra planar creature, whatever. Preferably be not just a person. That's John. He was here when he got here. That's basement Carl. Give me a fingernail. It's our basement doctor. Okay. Yes.
00:27:20
Speaker
We just call it seller-dweller and we don't know what it is yet. I'm not sure. It's the thing in the basement. It just stands in the corner and stares at me. I can also be very funny. It's my sleep paralysis demon. I'm not sure. We've never seen the whole thing. It's definitely got a hat. It's my hat man. There's always something in the shadows of the basement that just can't seem to get it in the light.
00:27:42
Speaker
I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's what makes him scarier. Madison, got any thoughts? Yeah, I think every creepy haunted manor has to have secret passageways. Okay. Love it. Good call. Secret Passage Network. Love it. Character's name is Selena, right? That's the pronunciation? Yes.
00:28:00
Speaker
Selena, what is Selena find in a secret one of the secret passages the first time she went in there? Could Grub have been in there? Or would she have already had Grub? I would love to find Grub there. Yes, love it. Oh, I don't think I mentioned. Grub is my familiar. You have not mentioned so. Yeah. Introduce Grub. I have a familiar, he's a shadow raccoon named Grub and apparently I found him in the secret passageways. Was he already wearing a cape when you found him in the secret passageways? He was, that's what made it extra creepy. And he would not let her take it off. Nope, he really likes his cape. Awesome, love it. Jeff. you I'm also torn between two. I think that I'm gonna go with, it can't be a proper manner without an old library full of books that are in various states of disrepair, but definitely have some that are contemporaneous with Kaz's actual life from a couple hundred years ago.
00:28:56
Speaker
I will say I gave you all a library for free beginning. I thought that you said that. I couldn't remember. Okay. In that case, I'm going to go with the other one. Well, then I have that condition for the library. And the other thing I thought of, I mean, it's not, it's not dissimilar to the fencing salon, but I would like an armory with good thick walls where I can go to try to tame this magic that I can't see. Oh, nice. yeah handle Okay. A room where one might do dangerous things. Right. ah Yes, exactly. Something, something of the kind of that. Hazard space. Yes. A conundrum closet.
00:29:25
Speaker
I don't know if it's stocked with anything. Maybe it's just like got old cannonball sitting on the floor now, but it was a thick wall to place. No, I love it. Cool. He might blow up, but no one else will. Yeah, ah that's great. Cool. all Alrighty. Mia, do you have any thoughts about what lives in the basement yet?
00:29:42
Speaker
I do not. I kind of like the the concept of like it's just an amorphous shadow figure that keeps changing and then down the line it can probably solidify and manifest into something. I love a knowable entity for now. Nope. Cool, there's a mimic in the basement. He's my friend now. Not my familiar, but we're cool. It's just grub screwing with you all. It's always grub. He's a troublemaker. Awesome. So I'm not going to ask you all to come up with names because I'm not mean, at least yet.
00:30:19
Speaker
But I would love for you all to work with me to come up with, so we have the director, we have the archivist and we have the engineer that are the three other people that are members of the lighthouse. I would love to discuss with you all their backgrounds and how they came to form this organization, ah just because I think it would be fun to have your input for that. So the director, anybody have any strong thoughts as to the person that would be heading this organization and their background and why they would want to do such a thing? um I think they I think I would.
00:30:54
Speaker
I'm gonna start over. It would be very cool if they came from an academic background, and this began as an academic pursuit, I think. I was gonna say more of like your, how to say this in not a weird way, like a really fit grandpa elf. He was like a wizard guy. Have you ever seen hot Santa from the Toronto Mall? Something like that. I think it's Toronto. I'm gonna have to Google it. Yeah, we're gonna have to look it up. Just for personality typing, Mia, if you were gonna cast this,
00:31:23
Speaker
Oh my. Fit grandpa elf. Who would play them in a movie? So the worst part is I actually don't know actors. Who's that? Let me double check my people. Play me a judge. Not him. He could work. Desperately want to know who you just. So he I quickly said he could. So the first one was George Clooney and then the second.
00:31:50
Speaker
is James is Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah, I see that apologies to Jeffrey Dean Morgan for calling him a but grandpa. I mean, he's 58. I was going to say, I feel like that's that's not unflattering. Prime hot grandpa. Cool. OK, but came from an academic background. This was like academic pursuit.
00:32:09
Speaker
that then became much more actualized and real in terms of what needed to, to be done about it.
NPCs' Relationships with Icons
00:32:17
Speaker
So like kind of once it became an abstract exercise to a concrete threat, they realized, okay, I'm the only one who knows about this and would believe it. So I guess I'd better start figuring out a way to contain it. Cool. Love it. I'm going to see if I can drop a picture of Hot Mall Santa in the chat for you guys. Cannot.
00:32:38
Speaker
his His name's Paul. If you Google Paul Mason Santa, you'll see him. Oh my God. I mean, I don't know what you could have expected when I said hot Santa. I really don't know what I was expecting. Love it. Okay. The next thing that I wanted to ask regarding the director, and I'm going to ask this for the rest of them. So for those of you that are not familiar with the 13th age system that are listening to the podcast, a very important part of that system is the icons list.
00:33:07
Speaker
ah which are a list of 12 entities is how many that I did for this campaign that are impactful in some way to, well, not in some way, in a very big way for the world. So to introduce that for the campaign to you all that I can then, not to you all, but to the audience. ah So then I can pivot to asking my question. The icons that we have for the campaign are the Arcane Congress,
00:33:32
Speaker
The Chamber. The Platinum Concord. The Sea Princes. The King's Citadel. The Keeper of the Flame. Oallien. Lady Vol. The Daughters this sort of Soracel. The Twelve. The Cabinet of Faces. And the Lords of Dust.
00:33:49
Speaker
These are all Eberron things. Eberron Wiki is your friend rather than me getting into the nitty-gritty of who all of these different entities are. ah But the players have gotten a bullet point list of who all these entities are. What icon is does the director have an association with? I would say either the Platinum Concord or the Arcane Congress. I was i was thinking the same.
00:34:12
Speaker
I was thinking platinum. platinum i mean How else is he going to get that house? I will say if they've recruited me and I i have established that I have a conflicted relationship with the platinum. So I think there's maybe should be positive because if they were negative. I was going to say it would be interesting to be positive and then you're kind of kept as like It's like a little secret. It's like they can't hurt me because I'm too important. I'll be their little secret. Cool. Okay, cool. Moving on to the next individual, and I'm assuming since we described them as fit grandpa elf, this is a masculine presenting individual, the director. Archivist. Let's talk about them. So this is going to be the person that helps with a lot of the research, maintains
00:34:57
Speaker
the books for The Lighthouse and also helps maintain the library, keep that up to date, and also assist you all with with researching threats insofar as you need help with that. I have a look in mind already. Unfortunately, nothing else. Give me a look. Okay. Okay. You know the Disney movie Atlantis, The Lost Empire?
00:35:18
Speaker
Yeah. Milo, but more androgynous. I was hoping you were going to say the prospector character. That would be against the side for the archives. The cookie? That's for sure. Cookie? Whatever. Cookie? I was going to say it's a Medusa, so this is very cool. Oh, that's pretty cool, too, actually. I'm happy to go with that. I was going to go with Claudia, who's Newman from The Boys. Victoria Newman. I just love her. I will include her in some way, don't worry. I mean, have any of you seen Drop Dead Gorgeous?
00:35:46
Speaker
This is so obscure. I mean, I have seen it. It's been a very long time. Years ago, yeah. Okay. I don't know the actress's name, but she's always cast as that mousy little, like, assistant. Kristen Dunst. Straight blonde hair. Well, she's in it, but it's not her. It's too obscure. This actress is way too obscure. But she doesn't say, she doesn't have any lines, but she's in the whole movie.
00:36:12
Speaker
and she's just like in the background being the assistant. You remember that extra? She just has like a movie 20 years ago. No, she she has't she has a name and she has like she's in other stuff but she always plays this kind of character. Never mind. Are you talking about the one that was also in I'm looking at her right now. The video I'm trying to think of is not listed to here. I think she was in White Chicks. Jesus. Just so many topics in the movie. yeah Well, when you bring up a movie from the 90s, I'm going to also go with a movie from the 90s. I didn't bring it up. I'm the one complaining about it. Sorry. When one brings up 90s. I kind of like getting weird with one of the members. So what about a Medusa that looks like Claudia? I don't know how to pronounce her last name.
00:36:58
Speaker
I don't know. I apologize. I can Google it. That would be fun. Yay. Wait, who, who, who does it look like? I don't know who we're talking about. Dumit. Claudio Dumit. Newman from the boys. Okay. I watched like three episodes of the boys and decided. Oh, you wouldn't know. No, i'm I'm done with that. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Just great eyes. Fantastic.
00:37:21
Speaker
Don't look at him though. That's what makes her dangerous. eyes like She She keeps like a dispelled magic just at the ready. Well, fortunately, I think this is true, Phillip Kermit. In Eberron, Medusa's have control over her. I think that's true. I think they can choose. Yeah, they they can decide to not turn you into stone. I'm not sure if that's Wizards cannon or Baker cannon, but I think it is the case. Very.
00:37:48
Speaker
Yes, they can choose to employ petriprising gaze. Okay. Why, what's the archivist's background? Why did this Medusa join up with the fit grandpa elf to form the lighthouse? Maybe more of like a security thing. I kind of like that. I'm probably also playing into like the adoptive like father figure that's super popular in sci-fi right now. Where it's just like, yeah.
00:38:15
Speaker
You're my child now, but so just like she said it's a sense of protection. Then probably no, it doesn't have to be young, but okay just it's ah it's more of like protection from things that may be seeking her. Yeah. I mean, Medusa's are not going to be trusted figures amongst the general population. Like people are still going to be scared of Medusa's. So what icon is the archivist associated with? I mean, I really want to go daughters of Sora Kell.
00:38:44
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense. Even though we're pre-drone. I like it. Positive or negative? Are NPCs allowed to be conflicted? Sure. Okay. And what in their background makes them well suited to be the archivist for the lighthouse? You can read a whole bunch of books at once because of the snakes.
00:39:11
Speaker
That moment is silent. Eric's going to see that and think that it's a place to cut because that's how we mark them. But no, do not cut it. I'm so proud of Phillip. Been around you for a long time now. Snakes can't read though. That's the problem. That's the problem. The real problem is they act like they can. They're just making stuff up.
00:39:28
Speaker
No, I'm so sorry. ive I've already lost sight of the questionnaire. Why is this character the archivist? What makes them good at that job of them being able to read a bunch at the same time? Okay. Maybe something, I mean, we're going, this is kind of a BPRD thing. So let's go kind of weird. Daughters of Sora Kell are night hags. So maybe she's got some, some occultic ability.
00:39:55
Speaker
for like seeing the future a little bit or fortune telling or that kind of thing. And so she can see beyond the practical, I don't know. How is that like a cultic like in theory or as in like the class? Because there can only be one. In the general usage of the term. Okay. She talks to the ghosts for us. me Right. She can figure out what's yeah sort what tax and like can you She knows she just won't tell us. ill nipote I kind of like the idea of that, that she's the archivist, but in ways that like you all can read the books, like she has other tools and means that can also assist in that effort in addition to readings. Did we establish how she and the director met or just their relationship?
00:40:47
Speaker
just the relationship. yeah I mean, I feel like if she if she's an archivist and that interests her, then could they have met? He allowed her after hours into a university facility to do work and because he trusted her despite her background. Yeah, sure. And showed her that kindness and that kind of started that paternal feeling. Yeah, love it. And the engineer.
Engineer Backstory and Conclusion
00:41:10
Speaker
Can it be a can of? Yeah. I thought maybe a can of that got disaffected when they started making I don't want to call warforged weapons of war, but that's what they were when they were built. That's what they weren't during the war. So that's a thought at least. Yeah. I like that. Leaving all aspects up, but a runaway Kenneth would be kind of neat. I don't know if dragon marked or not. I don't know. Probably not considering they'd be pursued. I will explain what that is.
00:41:35
Speaker
I'm assuming that's kind of like a warforged? Kenneth is a dragon-marked house that is basically the military-industrial complex for everything. Oh. They created the warforged. Yeah. Oh, okay. That makes sense why the images are being very weird. Oh, sure. yeah Okay, yeah. Yeah, no, they're just... They're elves, right? Humans. Humans. Okay. um I had a 50-50 shot. I was gonna say one or the other. So they were disinfect with the house's actions during the war and...
00:42:04
Speaker
left if i want to steamroll that one it was just a thought that i had if you guys are i kind of want to steamroll like i'm not gonna i like it this is just a personal thing probably because of my love of x-men and me just went interject something can they be a werewolf yeah sure I was like beast. Oh, there you go. I was like, I don't think Wolfsbane is a scientist, but now what what are you doing? Yes. And his it is his name is is Hank and that's fine. and canne Hank to Kenneth. Hank to Kenneth.
00:42:38
Speaker
I don't know why Hank the Canid is just a funny sounding Henri. Henri. Okay. Why did they join up with the fit grandpa elf and the Medusa?
00:42:50
Speaker
Well, it seems like in addition to being disaffected, they're also a werewolf. Yeah. Which seems like it makes life difficult. yeah It started to sound like Hot Grandpa just takes in Misfit Toy. Can it really be that he ran away from a can of, they ran away from a can of facility in, in the vicinity and being a werewolf, they looked for a slightly creepy place to hide out while being a werewolf. They were there. just um Just came to this manner. cool Maybe they know it's in the dank's men.
00:43:16
Speaker
he did with the house They came with the house. That's very funny. Yeah. What actor slash actress does this person look like since that's become a Kelsey Grammer, obviously. Nicholas Holt, who else played Beast? All of my options are too pretty. I think I like a eccentric. I'm thinking like an it's eccentric engineer is the is the picture in my head. How would they have to be to have had trouble had had a problem with Warforged production? Like when did that start in the war? That might it would be pretty.
00:43:46
Speaker
It would be fairly recent, I think. Yeah. So they could be. Can I? any Young, yeah. I have a name I could throw out. Yeah, Mia, please. It's very specific, so I'm sorry. You're going to have to look it up again. 2021 Dev Patel. So this is like Green Night. I think I know what you're going to Green Night Dev Patel. Yes. Yeah. yeah with With the hair and the and the the goatee. Yeah. Yeah, I don't hate that. OK, yeah. I like Dev Patel. I've infiltrated the NPCs now.
00:44:14
Speaker
We had a right to say the most 2021 death tale. Thank you. Which is funny because that was also the visual reference for my D&D character on the other actual play Kyber shards. Oh, that's right. That's right. I remember that. So, perfect. What icon does the engineer have a relationship with? I think we said the 12. Yeah, it's got to be the 12. Okay. Negative.
00:44:38
Speaker
For sure. I haven't explained dragon marked houses in any capacity of Madison. So I have a feeling there's a significant conversation happening. I'm going to have a lot of questions. They're corporate monopolies that control ah an area of industry. Canis is all about manufacturing. Okay.
00:44:55
Speaker
So there's one that's all about like hospital care. And there's one that's bioengineering and everyone is fun because it's, it's fantasy with late stage capitalism in it. There's one that's all about hospitality, but what they're actually all about is spycraft. So there's a lot of, okay. I have a lot to learn that the hospitality one invented McDonald's. Yeah. Cool.
00:45:19
Speaker
love these three characters because they are so different from what I would have come up with. Let me know if you need names for them. I'm not going to trust you with that. Please don't do that. Sorry, Jeff. We named based on whatever billboard CC sign Jeff saw in the drive home today. Hey, I promise I won't name any of them bulk mulch.
00:45:38
Speaker
I've done that. I've done that once in know the entire. And it was green egg event. Yes. Doesn't even sound like a name. like Okay, cool. All right. So we have our headquarters that is based off of Athelhampton Manor in England, outside of Puddletown ah by the River Piddle. It's pronounced Piddly. No, it's pronounced Piddo because it's God in it. We do have British listeners. Sorry, guys. Yeah.
00:46:06
Speaker
outside of, they have had to deal with my terrible British accent for seven years now. It is in the hills outside of Calzark in Kyre. And we have a library and a lab for our engineer and our archivist. And then Trevor established a greenhouse. It is enchanted, it's a greenhouse for the birds. It's enchanted to look worse on the outside than it does on the inside.
00:46:29
Speaker
Philip has a chapel that his character is filled with weapons. Mia established a creepy basement with an unknowable entity that lives down there to be determined later. ah Madison established that there's a secret passage network that her character found Grub in.
00:46:44
Speaker
And Jeff created a armory slash danger room for his character to kind of figure out their powers. Awesome. Okay. This is where we're going to call our session zero episode. Thank you all for listening. Thank you all the players for your participation in the things that I was throwing at you.
00:47:01
Speaker
I'm very excited to kick off this campaign. ah So keep an eye on your podcast feeds. Once again, scheduling right now is crazy. So can't guarantee that we will have the first introductory adventure ready to go by next week. So keep an eye on your podcast feeds for the next episode to drop. But we are excited to get rolling with it.
00:47:19
Speaker
And yeah, we're going to call it there. Thank you all so much for listening. If you want to be part of the discussion surrounding campaign three, you can check out our discord, the link to which is on all of our socials, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. We also have a YouTube channel, youtube dot.com slash the pantheon, where I post TTRPG videos. Phillip, plug the other YouTube thing. ah There's another YouTube channel called The Laughing Tree, where we have another actual play that's, yes, wrapping up when this, airs sorry. But we've recorded everything, so it's still wrapping up. Called Kyber Shards, and we'll be starting a new campaign soonish. Yes. We also have a Patreon if you want to financially support the show. You can do so over there, patreon dot.com slash The Geek Pantheon. Or we also have merch at thegeepantheon.com if you want to check that out. Yeah, I think that's all the plugs. Thank you all so much for listening. I've been your game master, Eric. I'm Mia. I'm Philip. I'm Trevor. I'm Madison. I'm Jeff. We will see you next time.