Transcript
Speaker: Captain Poe from when I ran Pirates of the Spanish Main. He sounded like the Swedish chef and it I was so happy with my port, port, port joke. Like I was.
Speaker: Hello friends. Welcome to Tabletop Tangents, a podcast about running tabletop RPGs, writing stories, and the sometimes meandering paths we take in pursuit of creativity and inspiration.
Speaker: Tangent number 21, the good stuff.
Speaker: The really good stuff. Yes. Yes. Well... We'll see. We'll see. i don't I don't know. This is one of my crazy ideas that I throw at Dot and Chris, and then i say, yeah anybody else got anything? And then they don't come up with anything, and here we are.
Speaker: It's celebration-based, and that's what I like. This is yeah this is a positive, uplifting, happy let's you know topic. positivity Okay, well, so the idea here is to not to stroll down memory lane and bore everybody with our stories, but there will be a little bit of that.
Speaker: want to tell you about my character. Yeah, let tell you about my character. Yeah, well, I'm sure there will be a little bit of that. But by way of trying to describe the experiences that we are after...
Speaker: when we roleplay maybe coming up with some strategies or things that we have done or things that we hope to do or whatever in the future to facilitate creating those kinds of moments again in our roleplaying.
Speaker: And this can be from the perspective of a GM and a player. And um in as much as players have control of this kind of thing, and I think they do, um and GMs have control of this kind of thing, and they kind of maybe do, it depends, right? So I don't know. I just want to explore the idea. it seems to be one that Chris is not completely comfortable with, which is perfect. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, because I'm like, well, then we'll have this discussion and we'll we'll maybe find some something out. Where is this coming from? Like, well, I mean, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just asking where it's coming from. Because I am to it, Chris. Oh, OK. I am yeah nine. I'm minigram nine. I can read minds practically when there's discomfort in the room.
Speaker: Dang. I still haven't done that. I need to do that. I need to, if you, wait, hold on. Tangent. If you were to guess what mine would be before I take the test, what would you say it is, Tracy?
Speaker: I mean, I don't, I'm not super familiar with all of them, but I would, my, my, my initial guess might be a two. oh which is the helper.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. That's fair. Because you are nurturing. Well, now I want to know what your guess would be for me. Yeah. mean, besides a flat zero. No, I think I don't... i don't there's There's a few that I don't know very well, and I think that you would fall in one of those. So um I don't...
Speaker: i don't I can't hazard a guess. I don't think you're a nine, which is what I am. Okay. I don't think you're an eight, which is kind of what Daryl is. Although Daryl, he's never taken it. and you know I don't know. This is just a guess. of of And um a seven is Booth. Booth is... Dot, you might have some seven in you, but so of but she is very...
Speaker: out there in your face doing stuff like not, not necessarily extroverted, although she is sometimes, but, but more just free. Really? Oh, I don't know if that's me. Yeah. I don't, I don't think so. That's why I think too, but there's the the four fives and sixes. am not clear on exactly what they are and ones. I don't think that's you either. Chris, that's rule follower to the extreme. Oh, gosh, no.
Speaker: No. i don't think that's you either. So I think you're probably, you know, three, four, five, six, somewhere in there. But I don't know what. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I only stop at stop signs if there's a car in front of me that's come to a complete stop. so Okay. absolutely Absolutely not. Wow.
Speaker: okay Well, anyway, we're we're off. We're already off on a tangent. but Sorry, I had to ask. I mean, i I brought it up. But but but yeah, so um that's – I don't know. I just want to explore it and and that's why I'm thinking Chris is uncomfortable with it because he he was struggling to come up with ideas.
Speaker: But I think that will be an interesting point of discussion. I think Chris does really well at improv. Yes. and And, we give him the fuel and he just, he just throws a match on it. And then, and then there's the idea. Okay.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. So I'll just make some stuff up and you won't know if it's real or not. Sure. Yeah. Okay, sure. Very nice. Very nice. know. You did put some notes on a piece of used scratch paper. I Which is very Chris, by the way. i ah Economy of economy of paper. Yes.
Speaker: Economy of paper. That's sure. Let's call it that. Right. um So ah yeah the idea here, our best moments in gaming, like what is it that keeps us coming back that we are chasing is Is my idea here.
Speaker: And I've had lots of gaming experiences, of course. I think we all have. Right. Many that I've forgotten, many that I will never forget and some that I will never forget, but I'm forgetting right this minute.
Speaker: Yeah. Right. yes Yeah. Yeah. um But I wanted to kind of cover a gamut of of of what you might be looking for. And it could include anything from, i want that moment of triumph, or I want that moment of connection, or I just want to laugh at the table, or any number of other things, including role-playing to learn or role-playing to be somebody else.
Speaker: Yeah. Role playing to facilitate problem solving. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I'm interested to hear from you two about it. So talk, talk to me. I think that's an interesting point to make because i have always come from the I've always come from the perspective of every character that I play. There is a small part of me in that character. Sometimes, sometimes larger than others, but i don't ever play a character to feel like I'm portraying someone else. I'm portraying myself in an environment that I could fit in.
Speaker: I think, I think that's what it is. yeah, while there are absolutely still elements of characters that I've played and what have you that are far beyond my real life skillset.
Speaker: i think that that has always been something that I have strived for to represent myself in all of my characters as well. Even Creepo.
Speaker: e Oh God. Yeah. Creepo. Yeah. I mean, without getting too, um, on the, on the border of, of real content warning problems there, there is a topic of conversation and we can, we can discuss it in the discord if we really want to go there. So if, you know, while you're listening to this, you have to go into the discord and you have to say, Dot, what's the thing you were talking about to see if I actually remember what I was going to tell you guys. Um, but it, it
Speaker: it broaches a a point of uncomfortableness, but it's something that I am very strangely okay with to a weird degree.
Speaker: And, and that's definitely where some of the creepo stuff comes into play. Yeah. And you're willing to do it in front of other people, which is pretty brave. Yes. In a way. it's There's a lot of stuff that I'm not willing to do in front of other people.
Speaker: My, my, I do what I want. And mixed with the, the, I could give a fuck gene. They, they are too strong.
Speaker: And so Unless it is something that I know is going to seriously either derail or become detrimental to the overall flow at the table.
Speaker: I could give two farts. Like if I know that something is going to make someone uncomfortable, I absolutely won't push that boundary, but I will walk to the line and I'll kick it with my toe a little bit.
Speaker: Yep. and And I mean, I admire you for it and that's what makes you, you. Yeah. Right. So seeing this is why all my characters end up a little bit like me.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I hear you. i hear you So it's getting into the character thing, ah are are we all here to play characters? is that is that what we're Is that what we're role-playing for? Chris, what is your what is your thought about this?
Speaker: I mean, like, what is what am I chasing? Is that the question? Yeah, kind of like, you know, the the whole title of the episode. Yeah.
Speaker: it's almost impossible for me to pin down a singular reason um as to why I do it. I think, because I think that there's, I think that there's a lot. And I'm not looking for a thing. obviously everybody, we're all looking for something, kaleidoscope of things, but um the, the absolute escapism, the ah social aspect built around a construct of an activity.
Speaker: um that is a definite thing for me. um i think I think the, for me, it's the visual stimulus of what's being created.
Speaker: So whatever whatever the scenario I'm in, whether in whatever side of the screen I'm on, um it has always been, being a very visual person,
Speaker: ah the I like to imagine what is being described or what I am describing and what you know what's coming at me, what I'm giving out and putting all of that together you know in in my mind. So I like being able to have those images and leave the table with all of those images. you know um Since we talked about Violet Evans a lot in the last episode.
Speaker: All of the scenes that we were in there was so much that we never talked about that is absolutely part of the imagery that I created internally while we were doing those scenes. So like I could tell you exactly what that bait shop looked like when we were doing that scene. I know specifically...
Speaker: the size, the dimensions, shit that was on the walls and shelves and all of those kinds of things, what it looked, what his counter looked like, the amount of wear and tear on the, on the the guy's counter, um, where he had the Jersey displayed all of those things, because that's what I was imagining, even though we didn't really even describe that stuff. Yeah.
Speaker: But that's, that's for me. Um, uh, that's one of the biggest things for me, I think. The secondary answer, um and this, I don't know if this is this is being a vulnerable answer, but the secondary answer, I think I'm chasing something that I had in like my first decade of role playing.
Speaker: There was some sort of feeling, some sort of something that came out of that. One that kept me playing, you know, 40 years later. um And I think every time I sit down, i think I'm looking in some way, shape or form to try and find that particular feeling again.
Speaker: you know yeah I'm chasing the Barry Manilow song, trying to get that feeling again. um Great. And maybe sometimes i have, or maybe and and maybe I've found it enough times over the years with varying degrees to get me to keep coming back to either experience it again or to see if I can find it again.
Speaker: Do you know what it is? No. Nope. That's the thing. And I think that's part of the reason why I was struggling at the beginning. Because, like, I realized that that was part of what I was, you know, what I am chasing, for sure. Yeah. But um ah have I actually ever gotten it? i Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know. So, Dot, you were going to say something. Did you forget? No, I did not forget. um i was just going to say i did the same visual. I do the same visual thing like throughout a ah game. um I will build the scenery in my head. I i mean, I know exactly what...
Speaker: yours's hut looked like I know exactly what that village in my head looked like and where everyone else was in proximity to her or you know the longhouse or what have you right I did the same thing with Violet Evans but for me it wasn't the bait shop it was the pavilion that we were at in the park mm-hmm And I could so vividly see all of that because like that was my youth too. i I remember just hanging out at a park pavilion with some of my friends. yep
Speaker: So I was, it was so easy for me to just transpose that in my mind immediately. Okay. Wait, so hold on. Pop quiz. Was it square or circular? Square. Okay.
Speaker: Was it completely open air with just pillars or was there closed off walls? Open air. There's a roof, but open air. Okay. Yes. Yeah. With um like those picnic table style benches, but not like the plastic great ones. They were wooden benches. Okay.
Speaker: That's pretty close. We were pretty close. Okay. Yeah. i think of please give concrete benches inside of a ah Ramada in the park. For sure. Okay. Well, yeah, I mean, there I think for me there is a little bit of that magic of when I was young doing this. the The things that are really hard to recapture, things that probably can't be recaptured, which is the I'm in the basement with my friends playing champions for eight hours. Yeah.
Speaker: Or I'm doing, you know, I'm playing a game and then all of a sudden we decide we're going to go and, i don't know, go outside and do stupid stuff at the school. You know, we weren't breaking into anything. We're just in the in the nod the yard. But yeah, we were we were bad. but But it was also just, I don't know, we were just messing around.
Speaker: And then we come back and continue playing. You know, it was it was just, we weren't tired. We didn't have we didn't get tired. it it It was those moments of... being with my friends, playing in a structured, like dr Chris said, this is a structured social interaction. Yeah. Which for somebody who's shy and somebody who is not like freewheeling, and i'm because I'm not, that is good. This is why I like board games. It's why I like role-playing games, is we have a ah ah plan for you to do something, not just...
Speaker: talk aimlessly right yeah and which only have so much energy for well and ah i think that brings up a really good point because you know ah barring any stereotypical experiences of like not having a not having a safe environment to practice this hobby right like Obviously all of us have had those moments where you're at a table or you're playing a game online or what have you and shit goes sideways. Someone gets uncomfortable. Someone makes the the wrong kind of joke or, you know, things kind of come to a screeching halt. Like barring those one-off experiences
Speaker: It is a relatively safe environment to be fully creative in a very vulnerable way. Like you are representing yourself, your ideas, your thought processes to a group of people that are either strangers to you, like in a con environment or to some of your closest friends. So there's that extended bit of trust that,
Speaker: between all of you of like, okay, well, I'm going to do this thing and you're not going to judge me or make fun of me or tease me for enjoying this and doing this thing because we're doing this thing together. and that's what makes it fun. Yeah. I think for me, that feeling started when I was like,
Speaker: six years old, like my son's age, because that was when my dad was taking me to his friends so that he could game with his friends.
Speaker: And i can remember like sitting in his lap with his character sheet in front of me and his little blue Tupperware bowl that had all of his... dice in it and I can remember playing with his dice and then handing him the ones that he would need and essentially just experiencing the most epic version of story time. Like it it and that that's like a core memory for me. hmm.
Speaker: And I think that is the feeling that like I'm getting to a point where I want to be able to invite Magnus to that feeling as well.
Speaker: Yeah. So let's, let's concentrate on the, on the game itself for a second. So the, the, you know, there are, there are memorable moments for me, like so many, but, but, but the like one of the, one of the big ones, for example,
Speaker: is 50 fathoms. Uh, Daryl ran us through that years ago. Um, he was very excited because he loves 50 fathoms and, um, I had never played it, seen it, knew anything about it. I didn't know.
Speaker: And so he was, he, he had a ah group of us and it was, it was legit. Great. Um, And part of what made it great for me, part of what what the thing that I am not necessarily now chasing, but that that that makes it memorable, that that is like, this is why it was great, is not because of the clever stuff in it, which is cool, not because of the the varied...
Speaker: you know, between horror elements, political elements, all that stuff. That was very cool. But what made it awesome for me was the character development of going from nothing, from a shipwreck on an island where you're trying to put together some ship so that you can get off of this island, to my character became an admiral.
Speaker: And, you know, of of of um of multiple ships. And we dealt with the sea hacks and saved the world. Right. And so it it was from nothing to greatness.
Speaker: And then what happens after that? Right. So, so the end of the campaign is, ah you know, we went through all this stuff and I was the captain of the ship, became the admiral of the fleet.
Speaker: And, um I was reasonable until I wasn't, and it was ridiculous when I wasn't. Like we had the whole hat thing that was going on. I think I mentioned that to you, where I had a rivalry with one of the other, with with Daryl's sister about who got the biggest and most ridiculous hat. And when we faced Blackbeard, I was like, the first and only thing I care about is to get Blackbeard's hat.
Speaker: And then after that, I'll help you with the fight. But but i I finally sort of trumped everything when I did that. But the whole point was that I finished it. And then Karina Cape, who led this this thing, um she doesn't know what else to do.
Speaker: Right. And so she sails off to the edge of Charybdis where who knows what's out there. And that's the end of the that's the end of the story for her. And that's very memorable for me because i I got to create a character that went from nobody to somebody legendary.
Speaker: And from a GM standpoint, the same thing happens, I think, if I do it right in Han Cluster. Where you're nobody and then you become legendary.
Speaker: and And you feel like you've earned it. right That's the whole point. So that's one, that's just one thing that I that i am after and that I was after when I wrote Han Cluster because I'm like, this 50 Fathoms experience was so profound for me.
Speaker: I want to create that in my way, in the Tracy way and ah not mimic it, but... You know, get inspired by it. Create something similar to it in that way. is what What's one for you guys, if you if you can remember?
Speaker: On that level, for me, player-wise... Well, okay, hold on. I'll back it up a little bit. um GM-wise, we'll go chronologically. It was probably the the The running and then conclusion of my first actual full campaign.
Speaker: me And the thing I think that kind of when I think, look back at it, let me try that again. When I look back at it, I think what surprises me the most about that is how long it took for that to actually happen. This didn't conclude really until like 2001. So it was probably about a two, two and a half year campaign. So this didn't, this was...
Speaker: I'd been gaming for, you know, almost a decade and a half before I actually had a campaign that had to start, it had to finish. And I think what made it stand out so much for me is, it was a fully developed story on my end, uh, in my own homebrew world. so it was my own setting, all of this stuff that was of my own creation.
Speaker: And, I was able to integrate all of the characters' backstories into the central plot so they all had stakes in what was going on.
Speaker: um And then we had characters switching in and out, and I was still able to do that um to a satisfa to what i felt was a satisfactory degree And the final conflict, which kind of resolved a lot of this stuff, had some real stakes in it for a lot of the characters. And...
Speaker: I think that that became an eye opening experience for me. One of maybe how I had sort of advanced beyond some sort of, you know, i don't know, for lack of a better term, juvenile sort of gaming type of experience is something that was a bit more mature, a bit more like adult in that sense. And Everything I have done from that point, so basically everything and from the last 25 years, whenever I've run a campaign, has its seeds in how that one campaign played out. yeah Seeds in the sense of I'm still taking things that I developed from that and in it doing them now. Yeah.
Speaker: Um, and you know, for good or bad, I guess, yeah but, uh, extremely impactful on me. And I think really was an eyeopening thing to the, the, the larger potential of, you know, like, I don't know what this can do as a hobby for, uh, for me.
Speaker: and and And everybody had a good time, you know, and that was that was the other part of it, too, that they just really enjoyed it. um And that that, you know, that meant that meant a lot to me. And and this is this is part of the reason this is part of the reason why I have said before, like, I've never had a fully...
Speaker: realized player experience. um The closest I ever got with um ah Brent, who was in Young and Hold. He ran a adapted version of the GDQ series.
Speaker: um using fate instead of Dungeons Dragons. Yeah. ah Became a completely re different telling of that particular tale. We only made it through the first three modules effectively of that series. Yeah.
Speaker: um and before we had to end it And i was very upset because the arc that my character was taking, and this was a version of the same character that I had played several times before.
Speaker: And i really wanted to see her arc arc. completed. I had an internal idea in my mind from the moment I had created her way back when, and I wanted to try and finally realize that with this. And ah just couldn't get there because we ended things too early.
Speaker: Um, uh, and it's still, it's, it's something that I still think about today. Like I wish we could have, I wish we could have done that because he ran it good. it was a, like I said, it was a completely different experience than when I had played it back in like second edition days.
Speaker: Um, and it was great. I mean, it was really, really good. Um, and I got so close, you know, but then we had to you're just breathing heavy.
Speaker: I was. it was i just I edged that whole third module. The Fire Giant King. And it and it was, but yet it's still strangely fulfilling. So, um yeah. ah Absolutely.
Speaker: ah mean Really enjoyable. very Very bittersweet, I think, would be the best way to describe it. Yeah. God? Yeah, I mean, think that...
Speaker: As a GM, i don't have enough experience yet to really, really, really like pinpoint a particular thing. But if I were to choose any of the moments I've got so far, it would absolutely be Captain Poe from when I ran Pirates of the Spanish Main.
Speaker: Because I successfully... gave him and accent and kept it up the entire game. Yeah, I did not i did not deviate. This was not, you know seven degrees of accents for Dot. It it was one. he he he sounded like the Swedish chef.
Speaker: And it i was so happy with my port, port, port joke. Like, i was... It was probably one of my most fulfilling moments as a GM to date because i I had been waiting for it. I knew it was going to happen. And I was like, when is the opportunity going to arise? And it did. And I was like, oh, thank goodness I i could make the joke.
Speaker: um and then life fulfilled. yeah right? I mean, I'm always going to be chasing another creepo. I want creepo 3.0 like you would not believe.
Speaker: My version of not being able to fulfill a character art is Creepo 2.0. She had plans. i I wanted so much out of that character. And I knew with the trajectory that the campaign was going, I absolutely could have gotten there. But alas, it has ended. And I mean, we could go back to it. I would never say no.
Speaker: um i think the thing that I'm trying to find, though, like that that thing that I'm chasing, i i don't know if it's all about spotlight.
Speaker: Like, I'm looking for those moments where I can make the funny joke, where I can, you know, influence the table, where I have... that moment where my character does the cool shit that I have been waiting for my character to be able to accomplish. Right. yeah Or the weird fucked up shit that I absolutely love doing too.
Speaker: Or is it that I am trying to give the GM fuel to then conversely fuck with me?
Speaker: Like, I mean, I've also I've always given the open invitation to any GM that there are three things that you can add to a game that will absolutely torture me. But they are fair game.
Speaker: And it's it's mazes, mannequins and worms. those Those are like three of my irrational fears. And They are safe enough fears that I know that it's not going to absolutely derail me from being able to continue a game. But it's also just one of those things that I'm like, do it. I dare you because I'm going to get to react to it.
Speaker: e And that that's what I mean. Like, i'm I'm wanting to, like, give my GM in that moment an opportunity to mess with me so that I can chase that reaction.
Speaker: you know, like as a player, I think that's one of the things that I'm i'm I want to be able to do. That's where I feel satisfaction. It's the gaming version of a roller coaster.
Speaker: you You know that you're safe, but at the same time, you're absolutely terrified in having the reaction. And so, yeah oh he yeah. I mean, we've talked about it before, but cannibalism is that way for me.
Speaker: It has to be handled in a certain way, but at the same time, it's like if I know it's coming and um you do it, you do it right, you're going to freak me out.
Speaker: See, okay. And I'm going to get to react to it. that's that's the thing that i was referring to earlier so see there you go guys it it it got said um i am far too okay with cannibalism it's kind of scary like in my own head i'm like dot this shouldn't be okay but Also in my head, I'm like, but it's really fucked up and kind of creepy. And like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Push that button. See what it does.
Speaker: And I mean, for crying out loud, Creepo, the original Creepo, Creepo OG, she had her teeth filed into points so that it was easier to eat people. Like, what do you want me to say, Tracy?
Speaker: this is me. This is me. yeah um Okay. Yeah, that would be. oof It never actually happened. It never actually happened, but like one of my idea of it is enough.
Speaker: Oh gosh. One of my favorite moments with her. i she was the healer of the group. She was a she was a Darfari witch doctor. And I kept doing this thing where any time and I never i didn't tell Eric that I was going to do this. But any time would like perform any sort of medicine or healing check on a fellow party mate or whatever,
Speaker: I would take my thumb and I'd push it up against one of my fingers so that it started bleeding a little bit. And I would like Simba them. Like I would just wipe a little bit of my blood over their forehead. Right. And after one of the sessions that I had done that for like the second or third time, and I described it exactly that way at the end of the session, before we're all getting ready to pack up and leave, Eric was like, dot why the fuck do you keep doing that? And I was like, I'm marking not food. Hmm.
Speaker: And he was like, that's really messed up and I kind of hate it, but also good one. Okay. Listen, this is what you have to work with.
Speaker: Well, okay. Speaking of the horror experience, that's that's another one. it's there's There's two times when when I've really hit where I want to be.
Speaker: With horror, usually, i mean, horror me is is a complicated relationship, right? So I don't generally go for the traditional horror movies, for example, which Dot has discovered. But I'm i'm i'm also at the same time, like, open to...
Speaker: discovering them i you know whatever's interesting to you are my friend and therefore i want to see who you are right i feel like i have i feel like i've skirted that line very delicately in the movies that i have introduced you to i feel like i've done okay so far you've done okay so far i'm trying to be respectful I mean, you know, the hours was, not the hours, but the others. The others was amazing. Yeah, that's a good one. And the one we just watched, the Crimson Peak, was also quite, I mean, I was like unsure first hour or so. And then I was like, oh, okay.
Speaker: Oh, and that's what happens. She's just batshit crazy is what she is.
Speaker: And so anyway, my horror thing, like cannibalism is one of those things. And if we've talked about it, and I don't want to belabor it, but, but it is, it is very disturbing to me.
Speaker: And as, as a reality thing, it's very disturbing. Like it, it, it really bothers me. But as a gaming thing, that's that's fodder for that kind of like, oh, but and yet fascinating.
Speaker: Right. um And Red Tide bumps right up against that, um which is Shane's adventure for the the maze, um the new Deadlands, mysterious maze stuff. Yeah.
Speaker: And it's a campaign. Dracula comes to Tombstead Deadlands. It was amazing. And it had history of Deadlands aspects that really hit me in just the right way. And I will not forget it because of that.
Speaker: And um I hesitate to say too much more without spoiling stuff, but it was it was cannibalism related. it was also a a specific major villain in Deadlands history related. And there was some lore associated with that. And it was just...
Speaker: awesome It was really cool to be able to just to to to see some of this, this is where it happened moments. And to have the creator of Deadlands and the creator of that character present it to you made it even more meaningful.
Speaker: And um I told him so. And then Torg Eternity Trifling Matter, which is the one I wrote for Torg Eternity along with Brian Reeves. As a GM, there's horror in that one that...
Speaker: um I love, I'm proud of and yet is also very, very steeped in empathy and ah humanity and all those things that i that that is what I'm chasing.
Speaker: Right. It's, it's, it's not only a triumph over extreme ah adversity, which is, there are moments in that campaign that are just like, I've had players go, that's impossible.
Speaker: This is impossible. i'm like, I know you're up on the top of a 30 or a 20,000 foot mountain in a technology that barely can sustain oxygen bottles at this point. You don't have them.
Speaker: So good luck. you know And you're facing supernatural shit at the same time. So it was really hard, but that's part of what makes it so compelling when you triumph over it.
Speaker: And along with that comes some really just affecting, I think, horror. And I'm very proud of it.
Speaker: um And I've not experienced it from the player's perspective, but I've run it that way. And and it's memorable that way. And and Shane actually said later, he says, one of the best campaigns I've ever been in.
Speaker: And i was like, all right, mission accomplished then. But, um, but anyway, so yeah, that's, that's my horror thing, but that, that, that's certainly something I'm also, when I'm in the mood chasing.
Speaker: Yeah. And I think that's the thing is that, I mean, everybody will always do that certain level of suspension of disbelief when it comes to that.
Speaker: um but But I think that there are those those singular moments when for some reason everything is clicking just right and you can get the spooks working really well. um it It can be absolutely magical. you know For me I had this This in this way has only ever happened once.
Speaker: And but it was a perfect storm of circumstances and it just worked out great. It was a literally was a dark and stormy night.
Speaker: And me and my buddies, we are playing in my parents' basement um and the power went out. And we i grew up way out in the country, so there is no, you know, it's the light pollution is non-existent.
Speaker: And we didn't let that stop us from gaming. And so out come the candles and they're set up around there. And we go to start exploring this dark crypt, you know, and we're down there and and it's lightning out and you can hear the rain and we've got the ambient light from the, from the candles and It just got everybody's minds going. And I was hitting my strides as a GM running this and was able to come up with all kinds of additional descriptions and things and all these other little details that I had always glossed over before. And they got they absolutely embraced everything that was coming at them you know and was was giving it back. and
Speaker: Well, it wasn't horror. It was absolutely creepy and scary and spooky. And it was wonderful, you know, and tried it again. you know, a couple of months later, kind of a similar thing, but tried to recreate it the the setting and or the the feel absolutely didn't work. You know, so it was just one of those particular moments that just really, really ah worked and everything fired in all the proper cylinders. was wonderful.
Speaker: Yeah. um I think that... the other The other thing that i that i love and that I game for, that i and I think most of us want this, maybe not everybody, but I want laughter.
Speaker: I want it. I want the jokes. I want the the the the the being able to play off the tropes of what you're doing and saying, okay, this is Star Wars, so we're going to have a, I don't know, we're going to do what Stormtroopers, we're going to make jokes about Stormtroopers in Star Wars. That's what we're going to do. We're going to make jokes about college students in ETU. We're going to make jokes about whatever. And one of the one of the most consistent just groups I have that is able to do this consistently and like to the point where we're hurting because we're laughing so hard is Mac's games on our Tuesday night group. My friend Mac who wrote, you know, Ghosts of Vicar's Haven.
Speaker: ah the new hu cluster adventure He does such a great job creating these NPCs that are just hysterical and having these interactions with them that we can just, you know, they're such punching bags that we, like, he's got one that he's he's like, I'm Ace. My name is Ace. I fly the plane. I'm like, and and we're we're all we're all like, well, did you get three kills in war?
Speaker: You know, he's like, no. Yeah. It's like, well, you can't be an ace then. we're to call you Jace. And it it becomes this whole running joke of and and him, you know, trying to push back and all this stuff. But that's just an example. It's just stupid stuff like that.
Speaker: While we're in the middle of a supers adventure and all this other stuff, it's just hysterical. And with people that I grew up with that I've known since, you know, grade school, like I'm after that too. And I'm after that as a GM and to create that kind of environment where people can make those jokes, even if we're doing a horror game.
Speaker: So I'll make the jokes at the table, at the con table, encouraging other people to make the jokes as well so that we can, I don't know, we can laugh together.
Speaker: And that is certainly something I'm after too. Oh, yeah. it's That's one of the the absolute building blocks of that social and community experience. once Once you can all communally laugh together like that, then it becomes...
Speaker: More than just a collection of whether it's a con event and it's six strangers at a table um or if it is, you know, your regular group, it just reinforces what's already there. Yeah, it's that's that is one of the best parts of it, because it also helps create those memories, too.
Speaker: Yeah, and yeah you'll you'll you'll come come away with friends after four hours. That's the kind of stuff that happens. So how can we, like, ah are there strategies that we can implement to try to facilitate this, to create these things that we've talked about, to recreate them?
Speaker: Like, do you guys do things in order to do that, both as a player and a GM? Yes. I think to a degree. i mean, certainly i will make the effort to.
Speaker: It depends. It depends if I'm if I'm GMing. um I'll absolutely do what I need to do to set proper tones for certain things. um I'm always happy to get the jokes moving unless it is a particularly serious particular moment, you know? So like every time, um every time when I run warrior, i always take that moment in the beginning when I'm trying to explain to the players who their characters are and why this is important. Why, why is the the tale of the warrior important?
Speaker: It doesn't matter what race or species you might be. Why is this culturally important and why you are who you are as the chosen? um That becomes very, very serious because I have to, that' that's a key element to that adventure to motivate the PCs in a certain direction. So I have to be serious. I have to make sure I drive that point home.
Speaker: After that, yes, we can absolutely take those time and we can we can joke about certain things. At the very end, when you meet the warrior, Well, we have to go back to the serious part and we have to be serious and we cannot joke about this.
Speaker: And because there's a very tough decision that needs to be made. So, um, as a player, i will usually, I'll try and read the table to see when I can make a joke. Yeah.
Speaker: You know what I mean? If that's appropriate to do. Um, Because I don't want to, I want to respect the whatever vibe the GM is trying to put out there. Yeah.
Speaker: You know, so, I mean, that's, I don't know if you call it a strategy, but that's certainly a mode of behavior on my part. Sure. So Dot, Warrior, I know you want to talk about it.
Speaker: I love it. I love it so much. This is Chris's fabled adventure. Warrior needs food badly. Yes. Yeah. You have played it, Tracy. I have.
Speaker: I just, I think and that that adventure was formative for me because because it was my first like real con experience, honestly.
Speaker: And so I think that energy plus just
Speaker: that moment, not to be spoilery or anything like that, but that moment where you meet the warrior, the vibe changes dramatically. and it, I,
Speaker: i
Speaker: I don't want to say that I have not experienced this with other GMs because I'm not about to try and say that in front of Tracy. um But the complete presence shift that happened when Chris went from I'm just GMing to I'm portraying the warrior I still think about that moment and I'm like, that's what I want to do. I know that I can do something like that and I just need to find the opportunity. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And i i think that it did. I think I did have that experience with you, Tracy, during Violet Evans, because you hit me in an emotional place that I wasn't anticipating, but in a way that was.
Speaker: Provoking, like positively provoking, like i I want to be able to connect with players on that kind of an emotional level that is somewhat unanticipated.
Speaker: yeah And I think, I think both of those things comparatively, like that, that's the best way that I can kind of describe it is that, you know, i'm I'm always collecting little mental notes of things that I see or experience from other GMs and how I could put that into practice for myself.
Speaker: And honestly, in a way, it kind of leads that kind of leads nicely into the dots, thoughts, spot. Okay. Don't you think? And now it's time for Dot's Thoughts Spot with Dot.
Speaker: Go. Okay. So the the the thoughts today are about the struggle of IP and that's imposter syndrome and intellectual property.
Speaker: So I think
Speaker: Some of what I was just referring to is absolutely the imposter syndrome aspect of things. Like i i see my peers doing this thing. I want to be able to do it well, but there is still those times where I'm like, yeah, I'm never going to do it like them.
Speaker: I'm not, it's never going to happen. And I need to pull myself out of trying to emulate exactly and just take the energy and apply it to myself.
Speaker: I know what I need to do. i just need opportunities to do it.
Speaker: But the intellectual property side of things, how do you take like a story concept or idea that you have enjoyed and other forms of media and make it yours enough to not get called out for like taking that thing.
Speaker: Right. so do you mean like, how do you turn star Wars into space conflict? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like if I wanted to, if I wanted to run I'm blanking on so Star Wars. Yeah, let's just use Star Wars, for example. Right. I i want to have a
Speaker: Science fictiony type of vibe. I've got X, Y and Z NPCs and, you know, one of them just happens to be a smuggler and his mechanic bestie.
Speaker: who also happens to be, you know, a big hairy monster of some sort, right? Like, how do you, how do you navigate that? How do you thread that needle without having everyone at your table turn around and be like, okay, well, this is just Star Wars. Like you're talking about Han and Chewie.
Speaker: Well, it I mean, if you want to do, if you want to take every aspect of it and copy it, then that that's that's that's a problem, right? i mean it it's not I mean, if you're just running a con game or whatever, who cares? If you're publishing something, well, it's maybe technically fine, but but you're going to get that.
Speaker: You're going to get that, well, right okay, it's just Star Wars. you know you're just You're just ripping off Star Wars. But generally what we latch on to with these IPs is not every single aspect of them. Now, some people love Star Wars to the point where they just want to play Star Wars and for whatever reason they want it to not be Star Wars.
Speaker: Like, I get it. like but But generally, we're looking for specific things. Like, what is it about Star Wars that you like, that you want to recapture? but Not necessarily Han and Chewie. Maybe it is. But it's it's that feeling of, I don't know, swashbuckling space combat. Or it's that feeling of irreverent droids or whatever. Like, these these aspects of Star Wars that you bring into it. But you're generally...
Speaker: generally we're not looking for complete mimicking of the thing. And so I don't know. My my best method is if if I'm if i'm taking filing the serial numbers off of something, generally I'm only taking certain things from it and I'm incorporating into my own thing. Uh-huh.
Speaker: that's that's That's what I do. If I'm playing that thing, then I want to play all of that thing. If I'm playing Star Wars, let's do Star Wars. if i'm playing If I'm going to run a Horizon Zero Dawn game, I want to make it feel exactly like the Horizon Zero Dawn game if I can.
Speaker: And same with Harry Potter. I spent months writing that so that it felt like you were in the Harry Potter universe. Yeah. Not in serial numbers filed off universe, not in like facsimile, like ah super, like superficial Harry Potter. No, no, no. I wanted to go deep so that people who knew the series got something out of it.
Speaker: So, and but I'm, in that case, I'm running Harry Potter. And and if i'm if I'm running just students at a wizarding college, that's a different thing. And that becomes, okay, now it's your responsibility to take what you want from it and then make it your own somehow.
Speaker: Turn it into something that is uniquely you. I mean, that's that's my take on it. I don't know if Chris has another answer. No, I actually, that that's a much more eloquent way to say that than what I would have said. so and i but but And I completely agree with you. I mean, if you look at certain existing IPs, they do emulate other IPs with just...
Speaker: a particular aspect pulled out of it. You know, you could have the hot take and say that Firefly is pretty much Star Wars without the Jedi. a Except it's all focused on it. Nope. See, there's your face, but you've got your spaceship, you got your crew. It just happened to be more than two people and they're flying around.
Speaker: Worlds are kind of backwatery. They're are kind of on the run from a larger Imperial type force. Yeah. There's a big weapon amongst them. the there's aspects there.
Speaker: There's but absolutely influence there. Of course. But it is not the same. It is its own version. It's like David S. Pumpkins. It's its own thing.
Speaker: So, yeah and and I mean, really, isn't Dungeons and Dragons, as it was incarnated, wasn't that essentially an adaptation of Tolkien and other types of fantasy of that nature?
Speaker: I mean, it kind of is. no but its But it's its own thing. But it's its own thing. It's become its own thing. it is it it It has its own personality in its own way.
Speaker: knowha But yeah, absolutely. it It originates from all this other stuff. and i think And I think adapting, and the important thing is is that it's absolutely something that should be done because yeah your particular flavor of whatever that IP might be um There's going to be people who like that better.
Speaker: I guarantee you there are people out there who like the movie Message from Space more than Star Wars. And if you don't know what Message from Space is, look it up and tell me it's not Star Wars because it's effing Star Wars. I don't Message from Space is.
Speaker: All I can say is you got glowing walnuts. That's all. it's Okay. Yeah. It's an old Japanese sci-fi movie. Anyway, um I'm pretty sure it's called message Message from Space. I hope it's called Message from Space.
Speaker: Oh, gosh. Yeah. i could be um i could be I could be conflating two things. so Sure. I would absolutely say that ho Cluster is very influenced by 50 Fathoms. It's heavily influenced by lord of the Rings, heavily influenced by Mass Effect, but it is not none of those things.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. It is none of those things. I believe it's fairly original. Mm-hmm. even though it has influences in lots of different places. it has influences from Gilmore Girls, for God's sake.
Speaker: So, i mean, it's... it that i Influence is good. You know, like like we that's how we iterate. That's how we create art.
Speaker: But I think if the problem becomes when you just want that thing in its entirety, whole cloth, and then you want And then you want to create your own version of it that is exactly the same. That's that's a problem.
Speaker: Sure. that's thats That's a problem. But when you want the aspect of, I want to be able to have a space opera type thing where we don't where we ignore physics in space, where we just have whatever. We have dogfights in space, right? That's absolutely a Star Wars thing.
Speaker: but you're going to bring in influences from other places to integrate your own little version of what that is. That's just something you took from Star Wars.
Speaker: Now, whether you, whether consciously or not, You probably did because Star Wars is heavily influential. You can't get around it. You know, same with Tolkien. Tolkien, you can't get around Tolkien if you're doing fantasy. It's really hard, right? Yes.
Speaker: So that's okay. That's my thought on it anyway. What what are your thoughts on it, Dot? Is this something that's plagued you – or I think I was burned once and it's now just kind of a fear.
Speaker: i don't want to, and don't want to have that experience again. And unfortunately the the way that it did happen to me was very widespread and I got a lot of flack for it and it wasn't even my fault.
Speaker: Um, it was It was art for a stream that I was on for an extended period of time. I gave a picture of art and sent to an artist. And I was like, this is the inspo pic. Like, this is the inspiration. This is, you know, these are the aspects of her that I want to try and...
Speaker: carry over to my character, but obviously artistic interpretation, this is, these are the changes that I would want made and et cetera. Right. Well, the artist took that and just kind of did a copy paste of the character.
Speaker: And so it wasn't my fault per se but I didn't do enough to like really correct it early enough. Yeah, sure. Sure. And I got a lot of really like nasty private messages and and comments that were like, you rip this off of this thing, you know, get some original art and whatever. And it's like, okay, we paid our artists a lot of money to do this thing. And then I had to go back and ask our producer to shell out more money to have it redone. And like, this is, this is artwork that's on books. This is artwork that's on DM screens that I can't take back. And it it plagues me. Yeah. That sucks.
Speaker: That, that, I mean, that there was, there was moments in the art direction of Han Cluster where I had to say, oh yeah, this looks too much like this. You have to kind of change it.
Speaker: like it It looks too much like this very popular sci-fi property. It has to be changed in some way. And it's hard to catch all that. i haven't seen every sci-fi thing.
Speaker: haven't. artists sometimes are too literal with your references. That's that's that's a subject for another time. yeah But if you're going to give them references, boy, you better make sure that's exactly what you want.
Speaker: Or you better be very clear about what you don't want in it because otherwise they're just going to copy like you're going to say, i want the shoes from this and the in the in the you know the hairstyle. And they're going to take other things from it that you didn't want.
Speaker: And you have to look out for it. It's it's just just one of those things that whether intentional or not, that's what they do. Yeah. But the other thing that I want to mention is there's a difference between you creating something that's very close to something that already exists. And then there's some, there's a different problem. And I think this is on the other side of the reductionist stuff.
Speaker: I hate reductionism stuff. People saying, oh, this is just this plus this. This is just this plus this. When they try to reduce Han cluster to, you know, this is this IP plus this IP.
Speaker: Or, you know, like, ah oh, it's just this. And i'm like, no, it isn't just that. I mean, you know, it's it that it reduces your... effort and work and pain and sweat and tears into just ah a derivative, something that they're saying, this is oh, that's nothing.
Speaker: It's already been done. It's already, it's already done. I'm like, no, it isn't. And it hasn't. And even if it has a little respect anyway, please.
Speaker: Yes. Agreed. 100%. So there's ah there's a problem on the other side of that, too. When people are too reductionist about things and they just want to look cool because they know...
Speaker: their sci-fi or they know their fantasy. Yeah. They, they want to look cool. And so they say, ah, that's nothing. It's just this. and And it's, I hate that.
Speaker: I hate reductionism and I don't, I don't like to do it to other people and I don't like it done to me. And so there's, I only mention it because sometimes it's not your problem.
Speaker: Yeah, that's fair. That's a fair perspective to have as well. But yeah, those are my thoughts. Just, you know, it's one of those things that is always kind of nagging at the back of my mind. And it's something that I've struggled with in other projects as well, like Bite Size Tales. I will overanalyze my writing to the point of being like, this isn't too much like this, is it?
Speaker: yeah and And I think that that's why I struggle so much with
Speaker: producing in in a larger capacity. um Not to mention the perfectionism, but that's a that's a conversation for another time. after After Tracy's soliloquy there, i'm glad i didn't I'm glad I didn't make the reductionist comment that Game of Thrones is really just battle tech without mechs and set in a fantasy world.
Speaker: yeah See, that's exactly the kind of stuff. I know. But it kind of is, though. Now that I'm thinking about it. What the hell?
Speaker: And yet... but it's not i still love it and i i tend i i really don't like when people do that yeah yeah no that's fair sorry no it's fair it's it's fair the it so okay i don't think that that's so much as a reductionist statement as it is like can't you see how it's kind of like this In more of a encouraging capacity, not necessarily like a, this was a rip off.
Speaker: i i I see it from a different perspective there because i would, I would rather come from the point of view of this is a cool thing that I noticed about this cool thing that we both like. Isn't it cool that this is the thing that we noticed?
Speaker: Yes. Yes, agree. Yeah, and that's that's different, right? and but But I think those questions that you have of like, is this too much like something Those are fair questions, especially when you're publishing. Oh my God.
Speaker: i I went through it. I'm like, okay, I have to change this because of this. i have to change this because of sensitivity. i have to change this because of this. Like little stupid names that just you have to Google because you want make sure that it's not some big thing you haven't heard of. And that everyone's going to associate it with that now.
Speaker: Yeah. You know, like it's, it's really frustrating and hard. And when you're starting to say, okay, I want to publish this. Right. And just, I'm throwing it out there for whoever, you know? Yeah. All right. Are we done?
Speaker: Thanks for hanging out with us. Whether you're behind the screen, at the table, or lost in your own story, we hope you found a little inspiration. If you enjoy our tangents, be sure to connect with us on Discord and follow us on socials to keep the conversation going.
Speaker: Until next time.
Speaker: That reminds me, we did not get to talk about either the games that we don't get to play enough or the genres that we are still waiting eagerly to try.
Speaker: Are we leaving that to the Discord? Oh, we're definitely leaving that to the Discord.
