Adventuring Academy Season 6 Episode 6

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Transcript

00:00:00Hello and welcome back to Adventuring Academy, the show where we talk about all things tabletop,

00:00:12actual play, performance, RPG, craft, and all the amazing, wonderful performers.

00:00:16Come here to sit down with me and talk about the amazing things they do here at Dropout.

00:00:20I'm your humble dungeon master, Brennan Lee Mulligan.

00:00:21With me today is one who needs no introduction, but they're going to good and goddamn get one.

00:00:27You know them from all over Dropout and College Humor.

00:00:32My fellow College Humor castmate back in the day, one of the co-creators of Total Forgiveness,

00:00:37you know them from every Intrepid Heroes season of Dimension 20.

00:00:41You can catch them on the incredible improv team, Yeti, each member funnier than the last.

00:00:46You know Yeti, you love them.

00:00:47You've seen them perform.

00:00:48You've seen their special here on Dropout.

00:00:50Catch them on their podcast, Gender Spiral.

00:00:52Please welcome my friend and yours, the last of the intrepid heroes to appear here at the Academy,

00:00:58Allie Beardsley!

00:01:00Hello!

00:01:02Welcome back to Adventuring Academy Season 6.

00:01:05I'm Allie Beardsley, and you're here with Brennan Lee Mulligan!

00:01:09I'm just going to be back here, I think.

00:01:13Great.

00:01:14Is this reading?

00:01:15Did we get this on camera?

00:01:17Did it work?

00:01:18Did it work?

00:01:19Allie, it's so lovely to see you.

00:01:22It's great to be here.

00:01:23It's crazy to see it empty.

00:01:25I know.

00:01:26No little things.

00:01:27A little dude.

00:01:27How are you?

00:01:29Hey, it's great to see you.

00:01:30Hey, put it right there.

00:01:31It's good to see you.

00:01:31It's been years.

00:01:32It's been years.

00:01:33For folks watching at home, because I don't know when this will come out, we just did Gauntlet at the Garden.

00:01:38Yes.

00:01:38We just did Madison Square Garden.

00:01:40We just did Madison Square Garden, which felt like my wedding.

00:01:44I had, like, childhood best friends show up, family members.

00:01:50Yeah.

00:01:51It was a lot.

00:01:52And it was beautiful, but it was a lot.

00:01:54It was a wonderful, wonderful time.

00:01:56But, yeah, that guest list was like managing a wedding.

00:01:58It was, it felt very, I've never had a wedding, you see, but if I did, I'm positive I'd be dissociated the entire time.

00:02:04Yes, well, I, my wedding was the best day of my life, and aside from when my beautiful child came into the world, and the wedding was like, you know, it is everyone you love all being in the same room.

00:02:19And then for Dimension 20, its wedding was everybody all being in the same room.

00:02:23I don't know if you remember the pop when I said, if you're directly related to me or Allie Beardsley, make some noise.

00:02:29And a sizable percentage of a 20.

00:02:32A big percentage.

00:02:33A big percentage.

00:02:35Like, I would say it's a 20,000-person venue, so 1% is 200 people.

00:02:42Yeah, which it had to have been.

00:02:44We are two large Irish families in upstate New York and surrounding states.

00:02:51If you said it was 1% of the crowd, your family, I'd say no.

00:02:56If you said it was 0.1% of the crowd, your family, I'd say you've got to go up.

00:02:59You've got to go up.

00:03:00Up from 0.1.

00:03:01It was more than 0.1% for sure.

00:03:02Definitely.

00:03:04Yeah, we really had to level with the rest of the cast, who also have, you know, large-ish families.

00:03:10But we had to be like, look, we're splitting up these comps, and it's just not fair.

00:03:16Splitting this evenly will not be fair.

00:03:18We have an amount of cousins that we would have to foot the bill for that is just not fair.

00:03:24And I think we can all agree.

00:03:25I think we can all agree.

00:03:26And it's not my fault that my cousins are wonderful.

00:03:29It's not my fault that my cousins made T-shirts saying, no one rolls like a mulligan.

00:03:34That's hilarious.

00:03:35They were very sweet.

00:03:36They were really sweet.

00:03:37No one rolls like a mulligan.

00:03:38I got there, and I was so happy because my shirt, they had a shirt ready for me, and it had number seven on the back.

00:03:44And people were like, what's number seven?

00:03:46And I was like, the birth order.

00:03:48I'm the seventh grandchild.

00:03:50Wow.

00:03:51Do you believe in, never mind.

00:03:52What do I believe in, Allie?

00:03:54You've already stepped in.

00:03:55I know you so well.

00:03:56I don't need to say the words, do you believe in numerology?

00:03:59So let's move on.

00:04:00No!

00:04:03Well, I will say that I have pattern recognition, so I have little superstitions around, like, but those are compulsions.

00:04:11Those are not sincere beliefs.

00:04:13That's the meaning-making that you do with your child brain where magic exists, and you explain what's happening to you when you have no control.

00:04:22Yeah.

00:04:22So, yeah.

00:04:23Don't step on a crack or you'll break your mother's back.

00:04:25And in your head, you're like, that's preposterous.

00:04:27Yeah.

00:04:27And then someone's like, step on the crack.

00:04:28And you're like, no.

00:04:29You're like, no, and I will carry this truth with me into my adulthood.

00:04:32I won't step on a crack.

00:04:35I know it won't do anything, but it's so easy to not do it.

00:04:39It's so easy to not do it.

00:04:40And I need a little game.

00:04:42I need a little game.

00:04:42I need the illusion of control.

00:04:44The more stressed out I am, the more I'm like, well, if I count back and forth on my fingers, that will extrude out into reality.

00:04:53If I push my little toe down every time we pass a telephone pole in the car, that's a good look.

00:04:59I do the, me and Iz have the opposite ones, kissing the roof.

00:05:04She does it over railroads.

00:05:06I do it through yellow lights.

00:05:08Yes, I've been in the car with you before.

00:05:10We are constantly running yellow lights.

00:05:12I got places to be, okay?

00:05:16And I'm doing the ritual.

00:05:18We gotta go, baby.

00:05:20We gotta go.

00:05:24Allie, you played D&D for the very first time in episode one.

00:05:30Episode one.

00:05:32Talk to me about the fact that Dungeons & Dragons, a game that, like, I've never, when I think about the conversations we had,

00:05:42going into fantasy high, you brought your characteristic of, like, a grounded enthusiasm that I think can be misread by people as being laid back, but is actually just,

00:05:59it actually, I would describe it as a grounded enthusiasm.

00:06:01It is like a, yes, I am bringing my full self to this with a level of calm to, like, to be, have awareness and alertness.

00:06:11When it was like, hey, Allie, do you, and we, and how long have we known each other when we started doing fantasy high?

00:06:15Not long.

00:06:16I think, like, probably a year.

00:06:18It couldn't have been more than two years, right?

00:06:22Because you had started at CH, but we knew each other before that from UCB.

00:06:26But just, you know what's funny?

00:06:27Barely.

00:06:27The reputation that you had, like, when I got to College Humor doing part-time question writing for him, actually, was, it was like, oh, Allie has just started at College Humor.

00:06:39They were a, like, they were, like, light speed on Herald Night, and the only thing I knew about you was that you had left Herald Night to go to Boom Chicago.

00:06:48Yes.

00:06:48And it was like, whoa, what does it mean for someone to leave Herald Night willingly?

00:06:53That's a person with some chutzpah.

00:06:55Yeah.

00:06:55And it didn't pan out.

00:06:58A little look behind the curtain as I came back from Boom Chicago, auditioned, and did not make Herald Night again.

00:07:04I auditioned for Herald Night three times and did not get on.

00:07:08That's crazy to me.

00:07:09But you were on Herald Night in New York.

00:07:10So I was on Herald Night in New York for many, many years, moved out to L.A., was teaching right away.

00:07:16It's fake.

00:07:17It's fake.

00:07:18I almost punched someone in the back of the head at your audition.

00:07:21I don't know if you know this.

00:07:22I don't know if you know this.

00:07:23Is that true?

00:07:24I just didn't like his attitude.

00:07:25I literally almost punched someone in the back of the head full strength during your audition.

00:07:30Oh, my God.

00:07:31What was the attitude the person had?

00:07:32He just annoyed me.

00:07:33He was kind of snide about you, and I was kind of like, you don't know this guy.

00:07:37Wow.

00:07:38Oh, that's very kind.

00:07:38Oh, you were auditing the audition?

00:07:40Yeah, I had made it.

00:07:42I didn't make it.

00:07:43I was going through a really hard time, and then someone dropped, and they called me, and they were like, you're an alternate.

00:07:48Would you like to be on Herald a year later?

00:07:50Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

00:07:51That's just later on.

00:07:52Well, I hope that that snide person has found the Lord.

00:07:56Oh, yeah, exactly.

00:07:58Yes.

00:07:58Exactly.

00:08:00The last time I did the Herald audition there, as we were doing Zip Zap Zop, someone leaned over and said, I'm a big fan.

00:08:07And I went, well, this is the last time, unfortunately.

00:08:10You're like, I can't go through any possible rejection while someone is happy to see me in the mix.

00:08:19I was like, I can't have a parasocial relationship with someone who's about to watch me bomb.

00:08:23You understand?

00:08:24I got it.

00:08:25We got to wrap it up.

00:08:27No, but it's wonderful to look back at that time now, and especially because of how deep in the pit of despair I was when I first came out to L.A., and that better days were right around the corner.

00:08:40Right around the corner.

00:08:42And one of those better days was getting to collaborate and work with you.

00:08:45You had been a cast member for about six months when Zach moved on to go do Adam Ruins Everything, and they had just done a big game.

00:08:54Casting push that was like you, and I think it was you, Rekha, and Raph, who all came on at the same time.

00:09:00And then they had just done a big casting push, and then Zach bounced.

00:09:04And I think they were like, we're not going to read 400 scripts again.

00:09:07Yes.

00:09:07And so I got drummed up.

00:09:09And I had submitted and made it to whatever round I made it to in the casting thing.

00:09:14And then immediately started doing Dimension 20, like prepping that.

00:09:18Because that was the moment where everyone got a blank check.

00:09:23Yeah.

00:09:23To just do a show.

00:09:25Total forgiveness.

00:09:27Kingpin Katie.

00:09:28Kingpin Katie.

00:09:29Rank Room.

00:09:31There were so many.

00:09:32Um, Actually.

00:09:32The third floor of the IAC building was the dome, the original dome that was an actual dome.

00:09:38Yeah.

00:09:39The office that we put a single B in and Grant had to stay in.

00:09:42What other iconic locations were up there?

00:09:46It was Um, Actually, and then it was Rank Room.

00:09:49Rank Room, yeah.

00:09:49Were the three sets.

00:09:51And Um, Actually was standing all the time.

00:09:54And Game Changer came up and down in that flex one.

00:09:57Yes.

00:09:58Yes.

00:09:58Um, but I remember talking to you about it and being like, hey, we're doing, because I had played D&D with everybody but you.

00:10:06I know.

00:10:06And I was like, hey, do you think you want to play D&D?

00:10:09And you were like, sure.

00:10:10Yeah.

00:10:11Yeah.

00:10:11I was like, I'm a fantasy bitch.

00:10:13Yeah.

00:10:13So get me in there.

00:10:15It sounds really fun.

00:10:16And I remember talking to you in those early characters because you were, I was like, what's your, what's your character's name?

00:10:21And you were like, Kristen.

00:10:22And I was like.

00:10:23And it didn't change.

00:10:24It didn't change.

00:10:25As I got to know the format more, it turns out.

00:10:28Well, it was great because the first character you picked, we were pitching all these characters and I was like, it's Breakfast Club.

00:10:32It's high fantasy.

00:10:33And you were like, what if I was the school nurse and I was selling pills to the kids?

00:10:38I essentially pitched nurse Jackie.

00:10:41You're like, what if I was Edie Falco?

00:10:43Can you imagine?

00:10:45Can you imagine season one of fantasy high?

00:10:48Yes.

00:10:48And Gilear stuck around.

00:10:50Why not a hot nurse?

00:10:50Yeah, but Gilear wasn't with the bad kids the whole time.

00:10:54I disagree.

00:10:56I think he could have been there a lot more.

00:10:57I think.

00:10:59Just him.

00:11:01No, yeah, it's a bad idea.

00:11:03I think, and I also wanted her to be named Edie.

00:11:07Traison.

00:11:08There was, oh God, that's so funny.

00:11:11If our flagship IP as Dimension 20 was a constant reference to Nurse Jackie.

00:11:18You all know Nurse Jackie?

00:11:20Beloved.

00:11:21I didn't even watch Nurse Jackie.

00:11:22I know you didn't.

00:11:24I know you didn't.

00:11:26I don't think I've seen a single episode.

00:11:28I can look in your eyes and see the kaleidoscope of pop culture references.

00:11:33I can see it.

00:11:35I can see it.

00:11:36I see the look you get in your eye.

00:11:37It's they both rotate in different directions.

00:11:40You can't catch it on camera.

00:11:41I'm, like, unlocking a safe.

00:11:43We're doing real math in here.

00:11:45Nurse Jackie.

00:11:47Yeah, junior year, everyone's, like, worrying about finals.

00:11:51Nurse Jackie's going through a divorce.

00:11:54I think it could have played.

00:11:56It could have played out.

00:11:57There's no Kristen.

00:11:58There's no Cassandra.

00:11:59There's no tracker.

00:12:00It's just Nurse Jackie who's got, she has to get foot surgery.

00:12:05She immediately gets sucked into a pamplecest.

00:12:08Palimcest?

00:12:09Palimcest, yeah.

00:12:10Pamplemousse.

00:12:11She immediately gets sucked into a pamplemousse.

00:12:12I talked to you, and I was like, so your character, and you pitched Kristen.

00:12:16And I was like, what's Kristen's name?

00:12:18And you were like, Kristen.

00:12:19And then we sort of paused, and I was like, does she have a last name?

00:12:21And you went, Applebee's.

00:12:24And I was like, we're in it.

00:12:26Yeah.

00:12:26We're in it now.

00:12:26You're like, I don't know if we could use that.

00:12:28And then we were able to, and you were like, the only rule is you have to say, you can't make it about the restaurant.

00:12:35It has to be no relation.

00:12:36And then I kept saying, Applebee's, no relation.

00:12:39Yeah.

00:12:40Because I thought that's what I had to do.

00:12:42Yeah.

00:12:42But it turns out I could have just chilled.

00:12:44Did you have a relationship to D&D prior to starting the show?

00:12:51Because I had played with four of our squad in a separate home game.

00:12:55And then Lou I had met separately doing IO West shows.

00:12:58I was doing.

00:13:00I didn't know that.

00:13:01So Lou I met doing the, now very, like touring around, Fuck This Month, which is an incredible improv show.

00:13:10Yes.

00:13:11Very, very fun.

00:13:11They do shows with The Elysian and Dynasty Typewriter and all over.

00:13:14But they had a show called Fuck This Week, which was a weekly show at IO West.

00:13:18And that's where I met Lou.

00:13:19And we just bonded doing shows together there.

00:13:22That is so cool.

00:13:24But you came to D&D that way.

00:13:26Did you have any association with the game prior to sitting down for the first time?

00:13:31Oh, I had plenty of association.

00:13:33I just didn't have any experience.

00:13:34So I was really excited to get in the mix and do this kind of collaborative storytelling.

00:13:41Like, I was like, oh yeah, that sounds really crazy.

00:13:45I was very nervous the first day because I thought that it would feel really corny to speak in a character's, like to all of a sudden switch into this like character's voice in front of everyone.

00:13:57And I was like, oh my gosh, like, will this feel like a weird, like, table read for like an animated movie?

00:14:05Are you going to be, like, you're in character.

00:14:07Like, when you're doing an improv scene, you're fully the character.

00:14:11You're fully the character and then it wipes and you go away.

00:14:13In D&D, you're the character from the waist up and then are, like, popping out of character.

00:14:20Popping out to be like, oh, can I borrow some dice?

00:14:22You know, it's like.

00:14:23Yeah.

00:14:23But it felt so effortless and everyone was, like, so committed and it was really immersive in, like, a really sick way.

00:14:32And I don't think no one's in that first season doing, like, a really crazy voice.

00:14:39No.

00:14:40Like, I remember Murph's first choice for Riz was a way crazier voice and he was like, I don't think I can withstand this and I don't want to do this.

00:14:48The biggest vocal swing was probably Lou as Fabian, right?

00:14:51Like, that was the one.

00:14:53But, yeah, other than that, it was very, like you're saying, it was, you know, people's voices were close.

00:14:58It was all very close to home.

00:14:59And I think in the concept, because Unsleeping City was pitched as a potential first season.

00:15:06Oh.

00:15:07I had Unsleeping City locked and loaded.

00:15:10But Fantasy High was always the one where it's like, this is a coming of age story.

00:15:14Yeah.

00:15:14The first episode is called The Beginning Begins.

00:15:17Yeah.

00:15:17And it's like, this is the way to start.

00:15:19Did you have any negative associations with D&D from childhood at all?

00:15:24Because I know some people that haven't played or didn't grow up nerdy are like, from a spectrum from like, oh, this is like for nerds and dorks, all the way to like, this is devil worship shit.

00:15:34Yeah.

00:15:35I didn't have either of those associations.

00:15:38I do believe I didn't come across it because other people thought it was devilish.

00:15:44So I think maybe that's why it wasn't like in my circles because I grew up very religious.

00:15:49So it's very like youth group, church kind of stuff.

00:15:51I definitely didn't think it was like nerdy.

00:15:53But I was also super like in probably sophomore year all the way through the rest of high school.

00:16:01I would just leave at lunch and go to a quiet classroom where people were playing Yu-Gi-Oh!

00:16:07And my friends were like, did you get a job?

00:16:09Or like where?

00:16:11We never see you at lunch.

00:16:12We're kind of realizing that.

00:16:13I'm like, no, I'm in the classroom.

00:16:15That smells like wet chimichangas playing Yu-Gi-Oh!

00:16:20And getting my ass kicked by like true Yu-Gi-Oh! savants.

00:16:28So there was never like, oh, D&Ds for nerds.

00:16:30I was like, no, these are my, I really love crunchy mechanics and like that kind of stuff.

00:16:35So I was very excited when you asked me to do it.

00:16:37I've been asked a lot of times over the past couple weeks especially to like summarize many years of playing with the intrepid heroes.

00:16:48And sort of like characterize you guys as players.

00:16:54And it's been really wonderful because it's been, it's like looking back on many, many years of playing.

00:17:02Everyone has a style and everyone has superpowers.

00:17:05And much like the, sort of like the X-Men or whatever, there are things that everyone has in common where it's like the number one thing is everyone's lightspeed funny.

00:17:12And there's just no like, it's like that's the headline.

00:17:15It's almost boring to relate it, but everyone's lightspeed funny.

00:17:18And then within that you see people have these gifts of performance and storytelling and stuff like that.

00:17:24As a performer, the thing I've always said specifically about Yu, because there's all the funny stuff of the pop culture references or the incredible dice rolls.

00:17:32But I was like fundamentally, the gift Ali gives to any GM is curiosity.

00:17:39And a deep curiosity about the setting and an instinct to go for the jugular in a way that doesn't read as aggressive.

00:17:50But is very much like running and punching null.

00:17:55Or like having these, where I think that you have a shark-like blood in the water sense for truth, big and cosmological setting, character.

00:18:08And I feel like over each season, the moments I've been the most grateful to have you at the table for have been moments where a mystery suddenly unravels in a moment where you take great personal risk to charge into the heart of something.

00:18:23Wow, high praise, honestly.

00:18:26I do like, I like it when we talk before seasons about theme.

00:18:32I think that we both think about theme in a kind of similar way or kind of like deeper stuff going on.

00:18:38And I think that that also kind of enables me to be like as stupid as possible in some moments because I'm like, I still have my eye on the thematic part, hopefully.

00:18:46Yeah.

00:18:47But can take kind of these like kooky like side quests.

00:18:52I think it's funny, this is like, I don't know why tarot jumped to mind for me, but there's a very...

00:18:56Because you believe in it so much.

00:18:57Because I believe so strongly in it.

00:18:58I will say tarot bugs me way less than some of the others.

00:19:01The numerology.

00:19:02The numerology.

00:19:04Well, interpreting life through symbols is...

00:19:08That's true, that's true.

00:19:09Is neither, as long as it's not predictive, I fuck with it.

00:19:14Yeah, yeah.

00:19:14Or predictive or prescriptive.

00:19:16Yeah.

00:19:16But I think you're talking about like, in response to me talking about your incredible sense for locating deep truth in these settings, you immediately went to like, and it enables me to be silly.

00:19:30You can't help but think of the classic fool archetype.

00:19:33I was going to say, exactly, yes.

00:19:35Yeah.

00:19:35That is so...

00:19:36Because I think that everyone at the table is really chaotic in their own like bursts.

00:19:41Yes.

00:19:41And I've been at tables where I'm the least chaotic.

00:19:44Or, you know, like we all just kind of find our room for making those kind of choices.

00:19:50I feel like Emily is so, so brilliant at like knowing mechanics down to like the finest point decimal.

00:20:01You know, it's just like she like knows her character so well and is being like batshit crazy.

00:20:06And then it's like, and then I action surge or whatever.

00:20:10But I'm like, I don't have necessarily the knowledge about the mechanics of deep.

00:20:17I am still like feeling very much like a baby in this world.

00:20:21Yeah.

00:20:21And so I'm kind of like, oh yeah, the fool is literally perfect.

00:20:25I'm like dangling upside down from a tree over water being like, how did I get here?

00:20:29I love that.

00:20:30Well, actually, that card you're referencing is my favorite card, which is the hanged man, which is the one that I vibe with the most.

00:20:35Oh, you're right.

00:20:36The fool is the person who's about to step off the cliff.

00:20:38You're right.

00:20:39The fool has a little dog and is about to step off a cliff.

00:20:41Wow.

00:20:42The term sophomore literally is like fool and wisdom intertwined.

00:20:48Wow.

00:20:49There is that, which, so I think about your characters like a Pete the Plug or like a Liam Wilhelmina.

00:20:53Liam starts as the most naive, the most childish.

00:20:58Yeah.

00:20:58And then peers through the veil of reality, goes deep into the darkness and comes back out to the light.

00:21:03It's like real Odin on the tree shit that you bring these characters through.

00:21:08Do you see, I see your characters as having relationships a lot of times.

00:21:13Like in terms of themes people explore with their characters, your characters exist exploring themes of innocence to wisdom, naivete to experience.

00:21:25If you think about the far extremes of that being like Kristen's arc over many seasons or thinking about the Liams of the world versus like the Pete who we find kind of in the middle of that all the way to like Margaret who's far on the other end.

00:21:39Totally.

00:21:40Totally.

00:21:40It seems like a theme that you explore a lot.

00:21:42Getting into D&D on camera, as someone with a tremendous performance background going into that and a study of like philosophy and religion formally, do you feel like you're moving from D&D as a totally fun but alien thing that maybe was going to be corny or we're not sure how it's going to work.

00:22:07Do you have an experience of the transition that playing tabletop's game took where it moved from a novelty and a thing you were learning on camera for the first time to being something that was like a tool at your disposal to do your art?

00:22:28To like, was there a moment where you're like, oh, this thing is not as unfamiliar as it once was and I'm going from the task before me was learn the game to, no, no, I've learned the game and now the task is use the game to do what?

00:22:45Yeah, okay, so I will say it happened almost immediately and it's in freshman year and that only happens with people at the table so having your back.

00:22:56Like, I remember being like, I feel so stupid.

00:22:59Is there like a website that I can go on so I can just like memorize these dice and like what happens when?

00:23:04And I remember Emily very much being like, whoa, like don't be hard on yourself at all.

00:23:09Like literally, who cares?

00:23:11Just like do your best and like ask questions like you'll be fine.

00:23:13And I was sitting next to Murph and Murph would be like, do this, do this.

00:23:17So everyone was like so helpful.

00:23:18I didn't ever feel like, like I, I don't know, like I was like flailing.

00:23:27So I was able to like jump right in and it was really fun to play like the church camp girl who was like, please get on my text message prayer chant.

00:23:35You know, I was just like, this is fun.

00:23:37Like, oh, D&D can be anything and you can pick like extremely autobiographical things to like work out.

00:23:44And so I think it took off like right away in that kind of way.

00:23:48That rules.

00:23:49Yeah.

00:23:50And it never felt corny also.

00:23:52I think that that's like, there's like a sincerity and like a, like my own, I think just like part of my own maturity is like not worrying about looking cringe or, you know, like I think that everyone, this is like just such a common theme.

00:24:10I think of like growing up, but you're just like, oh, if I just do something that feels a little bit scary, it's completely rewarding versus just like not doing anything for fear of being made fun of.

00:24:21It's like, yeah, go for it.

00:24:23I mean, probably the best thing that ever happened to me was the, the brutal and cruel awareness that I couldn't be different.

00:24:32You know what I mean?

00:24:33Like as a kid being like, oh man, this is not popular.

00:24:39I am, I am, these other kids don't like that I'm reading animal fact cards.

00:24:45Totally.

00:24:45And taking any kind of effort to blend in and having it immediately fail.

00:24:50Yes.

00:24:50And being like, you cannot blend in.

00:24:52And then being like, well, I guess I'm just going to do this because I can't achieve another thing.

00:25:00This is what I'm going, I'm just going to do what I love doing.

00:25:02And then you do that.

00:25:03And then 20 years later, the entire world adopts it as a hobby.

00:25:07Yeah.

00:25:08And you go, well, that's crazy.

00:25:09And then Forbes magazine is interviewing you.

00:25:12And you're like, what is Forbes doing talking to me about this board game?

00:25:16Does Forbes know you're here?

00:25:18Yeah.

00:25:18Yeah, it's really a, yeah, it's a very special thing, I think.

00:25:27Yeah, the freedom of going like, is this going to be corny?

00:25:32And then going, well, actually, every meaningful good thing, I can't imagine a deeper pit of hell than being concerned about how the things that bring you joy will be perceived.

00:25:42Yes, exactly.

00:25:44Exactly.

00:25:44It's very, you know, it's kind of, it's very be yourself, but it's like, yeah.

00:25:49Yeah, truly.

00:25:50Because, yeah, it's the only way to get through.

00:25:54Be yourself, everyone else is taken.

00:25:56And then just do a slow zoom.

00:26:01Be yourself, everyone else is taken.

00:26:05Slow zoom.

00:26:05We're going to go ahead and carry on to our first segment, which is Contested Role.

00:26:25Welcome to Contested Role, the segment where normally we engage in a battle of hot takes to find social clips.

00:26:33But this is, I'm too agreeable.

00:26:37You're too agreeable.

00:26:39I'd be like, yeah, you're probably right.

00:26:40Besides, when you're talking about roles with Allie Beardsley, there's only one kind of role that you're going to talk about.

00:26:45And that is the clear Beardsley blessed role.

00:26:50Now, here's the thing, statistically, I don't even have the most crits.

00:26:55You don't even have the most crits, but that's not what it's about.

00:26:58There was a classic baseball thing in New York, I forget the player, but it was like, had the most home runs.

00:27:03And I remember some old guy at my bar being like, yeah, he's got the most home runs, but never when it counts.

00:27:10And I loved it so much as just, never when it counts.

00:27:13Never when it counts.

00:27:14And you have the most Nat 20s when it fucking counts, my friend.

00:27:18Wow.

00:27:21Let's holler at him.

00:27:23We got, spoilers for all of the seasons of the show we've done.

00:27:28Prompocalypse Nat 20.

00:27:30Save everybody.

00:27:31Oh yeah, can I just come back to life?

00:27:33On a Nat 20, yes.

00:27:34Yeah, that was very funny.

00:27:35That was also us playing the game for the first time and being like, wow, we've really painted ourselves into a corner.

00:27:41Yeah.

00:27:42With this encounter.

00:27:43With this encounter.

00:27:44Can we have something?

00:27:45And it was literally like, you were already stabilized.

00:27:48You'd already stabilized.

00:27:49You weren't going to get any more debt savings.

00:27:51Totally.

00:27:51But I felt bad.

00:27:52It was your turn.

00:27:52You're like, I can't do anything.

00:27:53Can I just roll in the video of 20?

00:27:54That was crazy.

00:27:55It's also, I love that clip too, because we're both so resigned.

00:28:00It almost feels like we're delirious.

00:28:01It's like, can I just fucking, and you're like, sure.

00:28:04Sure.

00:28:05And then, so much electricity runs through the circle.

00:28:09Nat 20!

00:28:10So fun.

00:28:11Also crazy to be the healer your first time ever playing, and you're like, which one is the D4?

00:28:15And someone goes, the one with four sides.

00:28:17And you go, right, I'm in charge of healing us all.

00:28:22Okay, chill.

00:28:23Chill, chill, chill.

00:28:25We have that one.

00:28:26We have other, I'm thinking of other huge roles.

00:28:30Oh, is it against the American Dream?

00:28:32Yeah, it was against the American Dream.

00:28:34Insight check?

00:28:34Yeah, yeah, totally.

00:28:35Nat 20 insight.

00:28:36And then you cleared the dome, I think.

00:28:37Was that how it worked?

00:28:38Yes, cleared the dome.

00:28:39One-on-one, yeah.

00:28:41Well, it was, and I said, you on that Nat 20 insight, we had that people came in one by one,

00:28:47but you were watching the monitor and got to see everybody's scenes.

00:28:50So you saw everything.

00:28:51Oh, yeah.

00:28:52That was fun.

00:28:53That was cool.

00:28:54Okay, you know, this is all about me, but I do feel like you, the way that you've described your DM style is you're like,

00:29:02I like to make fun toys for my friends to play with.

00:29:04You're like a little toy maker.

00:29:06You're a tinkerer.

00:29:07Tinkerer.

00:29:08A little peddler.

00:29:08And you're a little peddler.

00:29:10And it is just so, it's a fucking delight.

00:29:14It's just an actual total delight.

00:29:17And it just, stuff like that, where you're like, that is so cool.

00:29:21You just came up with that in the moment.

00:29:23You were like, you go and watch the monitor at Video Village, and we're going to have people come in one by one.

00:29:28And I was just like, this is so fun.

00:29:30It feels like a jackpot in an escape room.

00:29:35Just like a huge, you know, you're like, oh, my God.

00:29:37And this, you know, yeah.

00:29:39Your payoffs are cool.

00:29:41Let's go, man.

00:29:42I'll put that feather in my hat.

00:29:43That feels great.

00:29:44Thank you, my friend.

00:29:46Well, that's a delight.

00:29:48And I'll tell you what we're looking at here is we're looking at a bunch of sets of dice.

00:29:51And we'd love you to go through them and kind of give us a, almost like a dice sommelier.

00:29:56Give us a feeling, and then we want to roll.

00:29:59Roll them around in my mouth a little bit.

00:30:01Yeah, if you could put each in your mouth and spit it into the dice tray.

00:30:04I'll do it.

00:30:04And then we have this set here as well.

00:30:07And I just want to see how they're rolling, how you feel about them.

00:30:09And we'll just see if we collect any meaningful rolls here.

00:30:13It's a little scientific experiment.

00:30:15Okay, I like this.

00:30:17Now, I don't know if we can do a peek behind the curtain.

00:30:19Feel free to cut this.

00:30:20But this, I was approached by our marketing team, and they were like,

00:30:26we think it's really funny if we make a loaded dice and call it Beardsley Blast.

00:30:31Blast.

00:30:32And I was like, I love, you're endlessly creative.

00:30:36You have no idea how many people on the street are like, got your journalism style being like,

00:30:45and of course you use like loaded dice, right?

00:30:47Yeah.

00:30:47Oh, you have like, oh, and the rolls are fake, right?

00:30:49And I'm like, it would be so unfun to come to this job if we were faking rolls or doing any of that.

00:30:57Like, it really is just like live wire doing this job.

00:31:00There are so many ways making an actual play show to put your thumb on the scale.

00:31:05Yes.

00:31:06And to have to resort to fudging a die roll is just, it's a bad tool.

00:31:11Yes.

00:31:12It's a bad tool.

00:31:12Totally.

00:31:13We have never, to anyone watching, we have never fudged a die roll.

00:31:15We've never fudged, so I'm like, I think it's very funny to sell a loaded die,

00:31:19but I'm like, you are feeding a very dangerous narrative out there.

00:31:26Conspiracy theory.

00:31:27For me personally.

00:31:29So I'm glad that we're doing this because I love the dice that we already make.

00:31:33This is something that I do when we're on the road and people ask me if I'll bless their dice,

00:31:39which I think is hilarious being a religion major.

00:31:42Yeah.

00:31:43I do this thing where I will bless people's dice.

00:31:46Yeah.

00:31:47And the rule is I'll bless as many of the D20s as they want, but I roll them all at once.

00:31:54And if any of them come up a nat one, their dice are not blessed.

00:31:58They're now cursed.

00:32:00So we're going to roll all of these at once and see if they're blessed.

00:32:07Wow.

00:32:07So as you're doing them, I'll go ahead and look to camera.

00:32:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:32:11Let's talk about them.

00:32:12So Starstruck, a Starstruck Odyssey.

00:32:14Here's our D20 from Starstruck.

00:32:16It says right on is the nat 20.

00:32:20Any feeling coming to you from the Starstruck D20?

00:32:23Oh, these are incredible.

00:32:24I mean, obviously Starstruck.

00:32:26They're all such fun seasons.

00:32:28But Starstruck just had this kind of like, what was it?

00:32:33It was like we felt comfortable enough in our ability.

00:32:36It's our first time back in the Dome altogether.

00:32:38Yes.

00:32:38Post, yeah.

00:32:39Post-COVID, it was like very connected but very silly.

00:32:43And then it had like, we were paying homage to your freaking mom.

00:32:48Like, huge.

00:32:50So, yeah.

00:32:51It just had a lot of like, cool DNA to it.

00:32:53The moment at the end of the season where my mom got a standing ovation and all of you got up on your chairs, Dead Poets Society style.

00:33:00Yeah.

00:33:01I think that's like a career highlight.

00:33:03Yeah.

00:33:03Like, yeah.

00:33:04For sure.

00:33:04That was so cool.

00:33:05So, yeah.

00:33:05These are fantastic.

00:33:06I love this like, cosmic, star-dusted purple.

00:33:11We have our Dimension 20, our core branding.

00:33:16This one says, hell yeah.

00:33:18Hell yeah.

00:33:20Encouraging statements in the place of the Nat 20.

00:33:23All right.

00:33:24Let's go to Ravening War.

00:33:25Here we go.

00:33:26Ravening War dice.

00:33:26All right.

00:33:28Oh, these are, what?

00:33:30These are really pretty.

00:33:31They are lovely.

00:33:32Whoa.

00:33:33They're like spotted lizards.

00:33:36Little vegetable dice.

00:33:37Little vegetable dice.

00:33:41Oh, this is a little crown.

00:33:43Yeah.

00:33:43Classic.

00:33:44Classic.

00:33:45Classic.

00:33:46Now, again, these don't have to come up as a Nat 20.

00:33:49No.

00:33:49They just, none of them can be a one.

00:33:51None of them can be a one.

00:33:52And if they're one, they're all cursed and we will discontinue all of them.

00:33:56Randy.

00:33:57Randy.

00:33:57Randy, we will discontinue all of them.

00:34:01All right.

00:34:01Oh, these are stunning.

00:34:04Wait, what is in there?

00:34:06It's like a crumpled up diamond.

00:34:08This is toxic fiberglass.

00:34:11No, I'm dying.

00:34:12I don't know what's in there.

00:34:12That's so cool.

00:34:13Insulation?

00:34:14Insulation.

00:34:14I don't know what's in there.

00:34:15It's beautiful.

00:34:16Oh, my God.

00:34:16It's asbestos.

00:34:19Another crown.

00:34:20Hell yeah.

00:34:21Okay.

00:34:21And last.

00:34:22Oh, no, no.

00:34:22We have more after this.

00:34:23But I'm going to do these separate.

00:34:24Okay.

00:34:25Oh, yeah.

00:34:26Dropout.

00:34:27Classic.

00:34:28Oh, I love the font.

00:34:30Whoa, these are great.

00:34:31And does it say anything?

00:34:33It's the dropout symbol.

00:34:34It's the dropout symbol.

00:34:35It's the little smiley face emoticon.

00:34:36It's the little happy face that people send you on dating apps that is an immediate red flag.

00:34:42Okay.

00:34:45Always accompanied with a little, like, just looking for a response to my last text.

00:34:49Yeah.

00:34:50How was your week?

00:34:51How was your week?

00:34:51You're like, I would love to answer that in person.

00:34:54Why are we texting?

00:34:55Okay.

00:34:55So, we've got five dice here.

00:34:57Honestly, stunning.

00:34:59Like, I'm not even, like, a company man.

00:35:01I'm just telling it how it is.

00:35:02Stunning.

00:35:04Wow.

00:35:04They look great together.

00:35:05Okay.

00:35:05Gorgeous.

00:35:06Here we go.

00:35:07This is the moment where we're, like, signing stuff and talking to someone.

00:35:10And in my mind, I'm like, please don't roll a nat one.

00:35:12Because I don't want to curse anyone's dice.

00:35:14But if it happens, it happens.

00:35:1620.

00:35:16Nat 20.

00:35:1719.

00:35:17Four.

00:35:18They're blessed.

00:35:19Wow.

00:35:19Every single dice in the dropout store is officially blessed.

00:35:25This goes from my hand to the Amazon warehouse where they are kept on getting...

00:35:29Now, I will say that our nat 20 was the beautiful cosmic A Crown of Candy die.

00:35:35Yeah.

00:35:35Stunning.

00:35:36There were a lot of crits in that season, I think, as Liam.

00:35:39Because I had so much advantage.

00:35:41So much advantage.

00:35:42Liam crit a lot.

00:35:43We had an incredible last crit from Amathar.

00:35:45Yeah.

00:35:46Oh, my God.

00:35:47That was such a fun...

00:35:49That was fucking crazy.

00:35:51We're due for a lethal season again.

00:35:53We really are.

00:35:54Because I think that was a very expansive season for me as a new to D&D player.

00:36:01It was like, oh, you can do this, too.

00:36:03Because I had watched Critical Role before, of course.

00:36:06And I knew D&D as this kind of more dramatic...

00:36:10Epic fantasy saga.

00:36:12Epic fantasy thing.

00:36:13And then I was having a lot of fun with our version of, like, kind of more silly, more comedies.

00:36:19Still, like, a lot of extremely heartfelt moments.

00:36:21But then when we did Crown of Candy, I was like, oh, Siobhan just barfed and Emily is bawling.

00:36:26So...

00:36:27D&D can look like anything.

00:36:30D&D can look like anything.

00:36:32And I think, too, that you have a moment of, what is it?

00:36:38The Kristen, her story, Pete, his story.

00:36:44Then you get to Liam.

00:36:45And all of a sudden, Liam's like, oh, this is a child fighting for his life.

00:36:50It just got to...

00:36:51It's like, Crown of Candy is an intense, gruesome, epic story.

00:36:56Yes.

00:36:57Totally, totally.

00:36:58So, but God, I love Liam Wilhelminas so much.

00:37:01I love Liam.

00:37:02You and Lou share a distinction from that season in that I really tried to kill you.

00:37:06Yeah.

00:37:07I really tried to kill you both.

00:37:09Yeah.

00:37:09Which is the difference, because every season is potentially lethal.

00:37:13Yeah.

00:37:13But it's the difference between me being a neutral arbiter and a Crown of Candy where I'm actually trying to make something happen.

00:37:22All right, we have our Fantasy High Bad Kids dice.

00:37:26Yes, we do.

00:37:27Who do we have here?

00:37:28We have...

00:37:29I was trying to figure it out as well.

00:37:30I'm pretty sure I know all of them.

00:37:33That feels like a Riz dice to me.

00:37:35I believe this is Riz.

00:37:37I believe this is Gorgug.

00:37:40Yeah.

00:37:42This, I believe, is Fabian.

00:37:46Yeah.

00:37:46This, I believe, is Fig.

00:37:48Cool.

00:37:48With the gold?

00:37:49With the gold.

00:37:49Or maybe that's...

00:37:50Those are the two I'm confused about.

00:37:52Yeah, maybe that one's Fabian and this one's...

00:37:54This is Adaine, for sure.

00:37:55Adaine, for sure.

00:37:55And then this one's...

00:37:56And then this is Kristen.

00:37:57Hell yeah.

00:37:57We'd love...

00:37:58Ooh, more...

00:37:59Tied-eyed rainbow.

00:38:00Fiberglass.

00:38:03All right.

00:38:04Now, if we get a nat one here...

00:38:06Yeah.

00:38:06That person's fired from the show.

00:38:08That person...

00:38:09Okay, any...

00:38:10So this is not about cursing the entire set, because it is 6d20.

00:38:14Yes.

00:38:14But if any intrepid heroes die comes up as a nat one, they are fired from the show.

00:38:18How about this?

00:38:19Great.

00:38:20If I roll a nat one for any of these...

00:38:23That person that it represents...

00:38:25Yeah.

00:38:28Let's...

00:38:29Like, the next season...

00:38:30They barf in real life.

00:38:32They barf in real life.

00:38:33Well, I actually...

00:38:34Okay, I don't...

00:38:35We didn't show Siobhan barfing, right?

00:38:37That'd be crazy.

00:38:38That's a different website altogether.

00:38:42Siobhan had a cold, and I was like, oh, let me help you out.

00:38:45I have oil of oregano pills.

00:38:48So she took a small capsule of pure oregano oil, which, if you've never had, is the strongest

00:38:55shit ever.

00:38:55And I think that's what made her barf.

00:38:57So I actually made her barf.

00:38:58You can't just be taking pills.

00:39:02You can't just be taking pills.

00:39:04You can't just...

00:39:04You can't just be taking loose pills I fished out of my backpack.

00:39:08Can I ask a genuine question?

00:39:12And I don't mean this in a bad way, because I don't mean to dunk on numerology and oregano

00:39:16oil.

00:39:16But what I mean, what I wish to ask in this moment is, before you gave our sick friend

00:39:22a medicinal herbal pill bomb...

00:39:26A heroic shot of medicinal herbal plant material.

00:39:30Plant material.

00:39:31How much time in minutes had been spent looking into what that was or what it did?

00:39:38Looking in my backpack for the loose pill itself?

00:39:41No, no, I mean, like, reading any text, talking to any medical professional.

00:39:46Look, when you go to the fancy stores where everything is sold in glass and not plastic,

00:39:52they have juice blends, and a lot of them have oregano oil in it.

00:39:57It's like a cold buster shot.

00:39:59So that counts as reading.

00:40:01Now I'm going to wait.

00:40:03So someone hands you a fucking smoothie, and you go, what's this oregano pill about?

00:40:09And they go, well, that.

00:40:10And you go, it's fine, I'm buying it.

00:40:11It's fine, I'm buying it in bulk.

00:40:13And I'm just going to kind of shake it, salt and pepper shaker style, into my backpack.

00:40:18And I'll remember that it's in there when my friend is sick.

00:40:21And then she's going to barf, and I'm going to slide her some paperwork saying,

00:40:24don't press charges.

00:40:29All right.

00:40:31Yeah!

00:40:31We have our dice.

00:40:32We have our dice.

00:40:33All right, let's start off with Kristen.

00:40:35Am I fired?

00:40:36I mean, yeah, that just counts, I think.

00:40:40Just beards-leaded off the table.

00:40:41Look at that.

00:40:43Now, hold on.

00:40:43Get it in the tray.

00:40:44Okay.

00:40:45I really am trying.

00:40:46I believe you.

00:40:4914!

00:40:5014!

00:40:50Solid.

00:40:51Pretty good.

00:40:52Okay, great.

00:40:53All right.

00:40:53Who do we want to go next?

00:40:55Let's go Fabian.

00:40:58Okay.

00:40:58The one that we think is Fabian.

00:41:0310!

00:41:04Okay, okay.

00:41:04Lovely.

00:41:04Halfway to an at 20.

00:41:06Boink.

00:41:06All right.

00:41:07I want to do Fig.

00:41:08Let's see.

00:41:09Let's do Fig.

00:41:09Here we go.

00:41:10Okay, that doesn't count.

00:41:11Doesn't count.

00:41:1413!

00:41:15Lovely.

00:41:16Okay, okay.

00:41:16Great.

00:41:17We have you, Lou, and Emily coming back next season.

00:41:19Lovely.

00:41:20That's great.

00:41:21Love that.

00:41:22Now, who's the, who are they getting subbed out for if I roll an at one?

00:41:28I think we need to figure that out.

00:41:29Is it, um...

00:41:32Probably we do, probably we do a raffle.

00:41:36Yeah.

00:41:37Or for, like, the fans?

00:41:39Yeah.

00:41:39Because I think it'd be kind of fun to get, like, Lindsey Graham.

00:41:47Lindsey Graham?

00:41:48Trump, Toadie, and Spice.

00:41:49You need to somehow gracefully exit the public eye from the political space to the personal,

00:41:56and I do feel like he would be down.

00:41:58The idea of taking...

00:42:00Taking one of these three absolute angels and replacing them with a toad gremlin?

00:42:07The idea that we come back for senior year, and instead of Gorgug, it's like,

00:42:11Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham.

00:42:14I'm one of the architects of the downfall of America.

00:42:17His wife or mother or whatever is just off camera.

00:42:24Okay.

00:42:25I think that is what the plan is.

00:42:27But if you would rather it be a sweet fan, that's better.

00:42:31I was going to say that I think that Dropout's at a position right now where we need to be

00:42:35thinking about lateral moves in the entertainment space.

00:42:38So I would think any cast member from Suits would be fine.

00:42:41There are audiences...

00:42:46Is The Rock in Suits?

00:42:49I'm certain that he's not.

00:42:53I always get Suits and Billions confused, which makes sense.

00:42:57He's not in Billions either, but the important thing is...

00:43:00Oh, but he may...

00:43:02Yeah, he is a billionaire.

00:43:04No, but the...

00:43:05What, you think he spends all that money on COD?

00:43:10He has to be a billionaire.

00:43:12I mean...

00:43:13I mean, I really don't think so.

00:43:17I think he has hundreds of millions of dollars, but I don't think he's a billionaire.

00:43:20Damn.

00:43:22Wow, where were we?

00:43:23Where were we?

00:43:24All right, okay.

00:43:25If I roll a nat one, this one is Gorgug.

00:43:29Okay.

00:43:30He's being replaced by The Rock.

00:43:31Okay.

00:43:32Okay.

00:43:3414 over time.

00:43:3614, 14, 13, 10.

00:43:37Okay, now this one, next one is Adaine.

00:43:41Adaine.

00:43:42Siobhan.

00:43:44And if this is a nat one, she will be replaced by Dwayne The Rock Johnson.

00:43:49Dwayne The Rock Johnson.

00:43:50Great, great.

00:43:50Okay.

00:43:5317.

00:43:54Lovely.

00:43:55Can I just say Portent is so fucking cool.

00:43:58It's so good.

00:43:59That's one of my favorite mechanic, and she uses it so well.

00:44:02It's really fun.

00:44:03A tip, a little mechanical tip for our friends at home, never underestimate things like Bend Luck, Portent, The Lucky Feet.

00:44:15These abilities are more powerful than their strict numerical advantage suggests because of what we just talked about with that baseball guy being like, never when it counts.

00:44:27Yep.

00:44:27Because the game cannot mechanically solve for which roles matter the most.

00:44:34So Portent being that thing that gives narrative control to the players for when the chips are really down are always going to, I think, be an overvalued.

00:44:46Like, if I'm a character that has Lucky and Portent and Bend Luck and all these other things like that, the ability to influence roles on a dime is always going to be overpowered.

00:44:57You have so much utility because now it's up to you when advantage is introduced, et cetera.

00:45:01Yeah, very great.

00:45:02And I know she just loves being like, no, you didn't.

00:45:06Yeah.

00:45:06You gotta, and I'm just like, I love that interplay.

00:45:09Siobhan, Siobhan really comes for me.

00:45:13You know, she really, and I think chooses her abilities for those moments where she's going to make me eat my dice, and I would have it no other way.

00:45:20Yeah.

00:45:20All right.

00:45:21Where is the ball of gut gag?

00:45:22Yep.

00:45:22Now this is your, now this is, this is an irresistible force versus a movable object.

00:45:28Exactly.

00:45:29This is Ali Beardsley.

00:45:30This is the two crew being rolled.

00:45:31By Beardsley Blast.

00:45:32This is Beardsley Blast with Murphy's Law.

00:45:35Yeah.

00:45:36Now, I think we gotta make this one what we've both been dancing around for a long time.

00:45:41If this is a nat one, Hunter Biden enters the dome.

00:45:48Murph gets to play his Nintendo Switch the whole time that we're filming.

00:45:52Hunter Biden's?

00:45:52Yeah.

00:45:53Gotcha.

00:45:54Great.

00:45:55Are you ready?

00:45:56I'm ready.

00:45:56Let's see if Hunter can make it.

00:45:58Come on.

00:46:0216.

00:46:03How about it?

00:46:04Very solid roll.

00:46:05These are crazy rolls.

00:46:07All good rolls.

00:46:08These dice are approved.

00:46:10They are Beardsley Blast.

00:46:11Yes.

00:46:12And you can head over to the Dropout store and get them right now.

00:46:16Randy, I hope that this segment did everything that you wanted it to.

00:46:19Yeah, and I just want to say, earlier when I said that they're all located at the Amazon warehouse, I'm almost positive that's not true.

00:46:26It's not true.

00:46:27Okay, yeah, great.

00:46:27Yeah.

00:46:28Our fulfillment is through a much more ethical company.

00:46:35Incredible.

00:46:37Gorgeous.

00:46:37There they are.

00:46:38Gorgeous.

00:46:39The final tally.

00:46:40And with that roll being done, we're going to move on to our next segment, which is Constitution Save.

00:46:44There is nothing more important at your gaming table than having snacks at the ready.

00:46:57Calories count when you're rolling damage against those fearsome monsters in those dungeons, and you need some sweets and snacks to keep you going.

00:47:05We here at Adventuring Academy encourage snacking above all else, and a part of snacking, and hey, and a part of snacking that we've neglected for, dare I say, a little bit too long, is the snacking of beverages, a.k.a. having soft drinks at the ready.

00:47:24Folks.

00:47:26Wow.

00:47:27Shall we?

00:47:28I, all right, can we start with enchilada?

00:47:32Ooh, enchilada soda.

00:47:35I haven't read the labels, and what you just said was a little panic attack for me.

00:47:40Incredible.

00:47:42Oh, nasty business.

00:47:46So this is just kind of like a mukbang kind of situation that we hit.

00:47:52Well, we're trying to get our audience, because there's a lot of tables where they shame snackers, and we say boo to snack shaming.

00:47:58That's true.

00:47:58We here love to snack, even if what we're snacking on, a little UCB bar opener, even if what we're snacking on is Lester's Fixin's Enchilada Soda.

00:48:11Say when.

00:48:13When.

00:48:14Yesterday.

00:48:14When yesterday.

00:48:15And that one's for you.

00:48:17And then a little bit.

00:48:20Great.

00:48:20Say when.

00:48:21When.

00:48:21Great.

00:48:22When stop?

00:48:22No, when stop.

00:48:23Yeah.

00:48:24Oh, my God.

00:48:25You nasty.

00:48:26All right, hey, sláinte.

00:48:29Sláinte.

00:48:36Oh.

00:48:37Delightful.

00:48:38Yeah.

00:48:38It's like a sweet cumin soda.

00:48:41Lester, you dog.

00:48:43Lester, you dog.

00:48:44Wow, he's really done it.

00:48:46Wow.

00:48:46I mean, that's like a delicious, there's no way to say this other than I can feel Lester's eyes glaring at me going, now tell me that's not a delicious enchilada soda, which is exactly what it tastes like.

00:49:01He's rocking back and forth in the dark, and you're there.

00:49:06It has the, like, herbal profile of the seasonings of the enchilada.

00:49:12And then a sweet, bubbly soda finish.

00:49:15I think the answer is if you, because this is pure cane sugar, I think if you put enough sugar into something, you can put whatever else you want into it.

00:49:26How did he get that enchilada flavor?

00:49:29That's crazy.

00:49:30It's also ice cold.

00:49:32That's another big part of it.

00:49:34And for a palate cleanser, we'll do yammy dried sweet potato.

00:49:36Okay.

00:49:37What does that mean?

00:49:38For a palate cleanser, we'll do yammy dried sweet potato.

00:49:41Okay, yeah, thanks for repeating it.

00:49:46Mm, now that looks soft.

00:49:49Well, it's hard as a rock, and...

00:49:51But what it is, is very sticky.

00:49:58What about, like, Doritos, huh?

00:50:01And Dr. Pepper?

00:50:02Could we have done that?

00:50:04Could we have done that, Brennan?

00:50:06Finish your enchilada soda.

00:50:07Did you finish it?

00:50:09I was done.

00:50:09You crazy.

00:50:11I put it on the ground.

00:50:12Okay.

00:50:14Oh, wow.

00:50:15Now...

00:50:16Oh, wow.

00:50:17Now, the thing about this is they've made it somehow so wet and dry.

00:50:23So, I don't know that you would be able to quickly...

00:50:27Oh.

00:50:29This is, like, taffy.

00:50:31I was...

00:50:32I thought you were going to say tack.

00:50:34Like a blue tack.

00:50:34This is an attack.

00:50:36This is an attack on everything I hold dear.

00:50:39Okay.

00:50:40I'm kind of having the realization that I'm on hot ones, but for gross shit instead of spicy.

00:50:47And so...

00:50:48This...

00:50:49Okay.

00:50:50That's the yummy sweet potato.

00:50:51Okay, that's the yummy sweet potato.

00:50:53Let's...

00:50:53I'll tell you what.

00:50:54Let's be normal people.

00:50:55I brought this just for myself for the episode.

00:50:59But this is going to be my palate cleanser.

00:51:01This is a classic D&D snack.

00:51:03But the issue is this.

00:51:06Now you've got to roll dice.

00:51:07Yeah.

00:51:09I don't want Darwin of Gal Gadot covered in a thin layer of Cheeto dust.

00:51:13No.

00:51:14That's why you have a gorgeous napkin in your lap.

00:51:17Almost like you're at a five-star restaurant while you're playing D&D.

00:51:21Absolutely.

00:51:21Well, the thing about lightly salted roasted almonds is that they are always going to...

00:51:28Now, we have some other ones here.

00:51:32Ooh.

00:51:33Yeah.

00:51:34What fresh hell is this?

00:51:36Lester's Fixin's Bacon Soda with Maple Syrup.

00:51:39No.

00:51:39Oh.

00:51:40Okay.

00:51:41Actually, judging by the last one, I bet this will just taste like maple with a little bit of a smoke as the herbal kick.

00:51:49Oh, it's that color.

00:51:52That is the color of meat.

00:51:54Say when.

00:51:54That's a when.

00:51:55That's...

00:51:56I need to go to the hospital.

00:52:04It feels so right.

00:52:06Oh, no.

00:52:07Give it a smell.

00:52:08Oh.

00:52:19How crazy is that?

00:52:21It smells like getting your head stepped on.

00:52:27There is something that in blunt force trauma is released in your brain that you can taste, and it's in this.

00:52:34Yeah.

00:52:34Cheers.

00:52:35Hey, slánchevá.

00:52:36Slánchevá.

00:52:36Here you go.

00:52:41Oh, no.

00:52:42Oh, but then the aftertaste is pure maple.

00:52:48Lester, you freaking.

00:52:49Freaking.

00:52:50You dog.

00:52:51You dog.

00:52:52You did it again.

00:52:55Again, you put enough...

00:52:56Oh, actually, that got me on the back end on the second one.

00:53:00It's heavy.

00:53:01There's heaviness.

00:53:02It's heavy.

00:53:02There is meat in this.

00:53:04Yeah.

00:53:04Like 100.

00:53:05There's like the taste of flesh.

00:53:07I got a chunk.

00:53:08Yeah.

00:53:08There's some floaters.

00:53:09There's some floaters for sure.

00:53:12Okay.

00:53:12Wow.

00:53:13Wow.

00:53:13That's really despicable.

00:53:16But, again, pure can sugar is nice.

00:53:19It's not corn syrup.

00:53:21It's a good...

00:53:21I think there's maple in there because it was so maple-y.

00:53:25Well, that's the thing is it feels heavy.

00:53:26You ever look at it as a kid, you know, it's like, hey, do you want to finish your bacon soda?

00:53:32I thought maybe you would have it.

00:53:34Okay, great.

00:53:36Do you ever as a kid do the thing where it's like, I'm going to be crazy.

00:53:41I'm going to drink maple syrup straight out of the, like, and it's like the Butter's

00:53:45Worth or the Aunt Jemima.

00:53:46It's that, like, very...

00:53:46It's the mass-produced, mass-sold.

00:53:48Viscous, yes.

00:53:48And you're like, I'm going to drink it.

00:53:50And you go glug.

00:53:51And immediately you're like, this was bad.

00:53:53This was bad.

00:53:53Mom was right.

00:53:54I don't want this.

00:53:55But I have to keep...

00:53:56Your body shuts down.

00:53:57Your body shuts down.

00:53:58You're like, no, not good.

00:53:59Good on pancake.

00:54:01Good on waffle.

00:54:01Not good to drink.

00:54:03I don't know if it's the soda or not, but I immediately have to go to the bathroom.

00:54:08It's the soda.

00:54:08Okay.

00:54:10Wonderful.

00:54:11Okay, extremely full.

00:54:13Okay.

00:54:14Great.

00:54:15All right, so what are we working with?

00:54:17What's left?

00:54:17I'll have another little pallet.

00:54:19PB&J.

00:54:20I think we have time for one more.

00:54:22Oh, that's great.

00:54:23Peanut butter and jelly.

00:54:25Pumpkin pie.

00:54:26Oh, that'll be good.

00:54:27Sweet corn and buffalo wing.

00:54:31Let's each try one.

00:54:31You want to try pumpkin pie?

00:54:33I'll do buffalo wing.

00:54:34Let's do it.

00:54:35Okay.

00:54:35Great.

00:54:35So then we can cover more ground.

00:54:37I'll take your word for it.

00:54:38Beautiful.

00:54:40That's so kind.

00:54:41It is kind.

00:54:42I'm giving you pumpkin pie.

00:54:43I'm about to have buffalo wings.

00:54:45Exactly.

00:54:46All right.

00:54:47Here we go.

00:54:48And a funny thing that I wanted to ask you in terms of your history of snacking.

00:54:51When?

00:54:52What's that?

00:54:52When?

00:54:53Oh, to stop?

00:54:53When?

00:54:53Oh, my fucking God.

00:54:55Great.

00:54:57It's really messed up that they make it the exact color of cactus cooler.

00:55:01And you're like, this is going to be good.

00:55:03And then it's buffalo wing.

00:55:04And then it's buffalo wing.

00:55:05It looks angry.

00:55:07It looks bad.

00:55:08Hey, my friend.

00:55:10Oh, I think you only half filled yours.

00:55:13I think maybe you made a mistake.

00:55:15Oh, you want more?

00:55:15Yeah.

00:55:16I want more for you.

00:55:18Because I love you.

00:55:22Gasp.

00:55:23Okay.

00:55:23One, two, three.

00:55:24Slancho.

00:55:28That's a perfect soda.

00:55:30Do they make, is this real?

00:55:32Or do they, is this something for the show?

00:55:33Oh, there's cayenne in there.

00:55:35Whoa.

00:55:38Oh.

00:55:39This is so delightful.

00:55:41Pumpkin pie soda.

00:55:44Wait, that's so interesting.

00:55:45This one is the first one that doesn't taste like what they're saying it's going to.

00:55:48This is very sweet orange soda with cayenne pepper in it.

00:55:51Let me get ahead of that.

00:55:52Yeah.

00:55:55Lester, you dog.

00:56:00Yes.

00:56:00I think this is a, ooh.

00:56:03Yeah.

00:56:03Kick at the end.

00:56:04Yeah, the kick is crazy.

00:56:07Yeah, Lester, Lester, a rare miss from Lester.

00:56:10Yeah, rare miss.

00:56:11And how the pumpkin pie was good?

00:56:13Delightful.

00:56:13Here, take a little, just to cleanse.

00:56:18It smells like a candle, and it tastes just like cinnamon and vanilla.

00:56:25Yeah, it's a delightful cinnamon, vanilla, pumpkin-y soda.

00:56:29If I had that, October rolls around, you'll catch, whenever October rolls around, you'll catch me with Lester's Fixin' Pumpkin Pie Soda.

00:56:38Are these episodes sponsored?

00:56:39Sponsored by Lester's Fixins.

00:56:42Get your fixins, kids.

00:56:43Lester, he's coming for you.

00:56:45He's got a wagon full of soda and a metal pipe in his hand.

00:56:48He's barefoot in your kitchen right now.

00:56:51Lester, he can't be seen looking at him straight on.

00:56:55Only out of the corner of your eye.

00:56:58Lester, when you look in the mirror, he'll be right behind you.

00:57:05Lester's body feels exactly like Yanny's.

00:57:07No!

00:57:08Dense, wet, and dry, all at the same time.

00:57:13Good God.

00:57:14Thank God for these Cheetos.

00:57:15Sponsored by Chester.

00:57:17Chester's my Chester Cheeto.

00:57:19Cheetos are so good.

00:57:21Oh, wow.

00:57:23And that's Constitution Save.

00:57:25Keep snackin'.

00:57:30That's Constitution Save.

00:57:32Thanks for snackin' with us.

00:57:33And coming up next, it's reaction time.

00:57:35Ooh.

00:57:36These questions, you only have less than two seconds of time to consider before you answer.

00:57:45Yeah, this is like...

00:57:46Yeah, immediate.

00:57:47Are you ready?

00:57:49I'm ready.

00:57:50Applebee's or Chili's?

00:57:51Applebee's.

00:57:51Pazooki or Chocolate Lava Crunch Cake?

00:57:54Triggering.

00:57:55I worked at BJ's for a very long time.

00:57:58Pazooki, though.

00:57:59Pazooki's great.

00:57:59Axe or Old Spice?

00:58:00Axe.

00:58:01Gremlins or Cuties?

00:58:04Cuties.

00:58:04Dammit, what the fuck?

00:58:06War guy or Seed Guy?

00:58:08War guy.

00:58:09And I'm not proud of that, but it was more fun.

00:58:12It's like how Republicans all have boats.

00:58:15Yeah, it's like that.

00:58:17Clowns or Jesters?

00:58:19Oh.

00:58:20Oh.

00:58:21Oh.

00:58:22Jesters.

00:58:23Persuasion or Intimidation?

00:58:25Oh.

00:58:27Intimidation, because it's always funnier.

00:58:28Yep, love it.

00:58:30Crocs or Slides?

00:58:31Crocs.

00:58:32Chet Hanks or Frankie Jonas?

00:58:36It's Chet Hayes.

00:58:38Sorry, it's not Chet Hanks?

00:58:40It's Chet Hayes, everybody.

00:58:43Soundcloud.com backslats Chet Hayes.

00:58:45You heard it here first, folks.

00:58:47Chet Hayes, Intimidation, and War Guys.

00:58:51That's the energy.

00:58:52And Crocs.

00:58:54The age of the war, guys, upon us.

00:58:56Gird your loins and prepare your battle, Crocs.

00:58:59So strap in, prepare for profundity.

00:59:02This is Insight Check.

00:59:12Insight Check, where we get questions from our audience.

00:59:15Thank you so much for submitting these questions.

00:59:18AJ asks, thank you, AJ.

00:59:19In Fantasy High, you play an agent of chaos.

00:59:23But in Never Stop Blowing Up, you keep everyone on track.

00:59:28How do you decide when to be focused and when to be chaotic?

00:59:32How do you decide that, Allie?

00:59:34That's so interesting.

00:59:36I do think I didn't have any control over how chaotic I was being in Fantasy High.

00:59:41That was the experience of it.

00:59:42And then, by the time we got to Liam, it was fun to kind of try to be a little bit more, like, crunchy and kind of, like, use the mechanics in a way that felt like, oh, I'm so proficient at this.

01:00:00So then I was kind of starting to get my sea legs.

01:00:05I think by the time we got to Never Stop Blowing Up, it was just fun to be with so many new friends.

01:00:10Yeah.

01:00:10And, like, just people I love hearing their brain about.

01:00:14So it felt fun.

01:00:16It was kind of like, I just felt like I had had my time in the Dome to go buck wild.

01:00:24And I just wanted to kind of support a little bit more and let people be in the bounce house.

01:00:30This, I love that.

01:00:31This is a tender question to ask because I've experienced it both ways.

01:00:34I've had moments where I called the shot to be chaotic, where I was like, I'm going to do something funny.

01:00:41And then there are moments where I'm like, no, I'm being reasonable.

01:00:45Why is everyone laughing?

01:00:47Why is everyone laughing?

01:00:49Do you feel like you can perceive a difference?

01:00:55First of all, do you agree that occasionally there are moments of chaos where you have absolutely called the shot and there are moments of chaos where you are surprised to find that your behavior is being labeled as chaotic, even by your peers at the table?

01:01:09Interesting.

01:01:10Like, is it always one to one?

01:01:12Does it flop one side or the other?

01:01:14I know we've all had moments at the table where someone's, you know, like the moment in sophomore year when everyone's like, Lou, you're about to kill your character.

01:01:21And he's like, no, this is exactly what Fabian would do.

01:01:24You're streaming down his face.

01:01:26He's laughing so hard.

01:01:27Yeah.

01:01:29That is very interesting.

01:01:31I feel, I do feel kind of like there can be some kind of like remorse in being like, wow, I didn't know what I didn't know.

01:01:39Those early seasons are kind of like, oh, was that just like stealing a lot of focus or not being a team player?

01:01:45And I feel like I've worked through a lot of that of being kind of like, those are really special years.

01:01:49How cool.

01:01:50There's a lot of people watching the show have never played before.

01:01:52It's kind of fun to have an insert character.

01:01:55That's kind of like, what?

01:01:56But, you know, like, so I'm like, oh, yeah, that was actually like fun and cool.

01:01:59And, you know, we still work together.

01:02:01So it wasn't that bad.

01:02:03But I do think now I feel a little bit more calling the shots.

01:02:07Yeah.

01:02:08Unless, and there, I think that this has to do with our shooting schedule because we just shoot so fast, you know, just like so long.

01:02:16Yeah.

01:02:17I can get to a place of pure id.

01:02:20Yeah.

01:02:20And what is coming out is raw, unfiltered, blimey.

01:02:24You have the highway.

01:02:28There's, I talked about it when I was an improv teacher of the, can you build a highway in between your actual gremlin gut response, pure impulse.

01:02:42Right out the mouth.

01:02:43Right out the mouth.

01:02:43Right.

01:02:44The removal, the removal of the checks.

01:02:47The defense mechanisms, the decorum that you have spent decades building falls away.

01:02:55Yeah.

01:02:55You say, I said, blimey.

01:02:57I said, I said, I don't know if you heard me.

01:03:01I don't know if you heard me.

01:03:02I said, blimey.

01:03:03All said without an accent.

01:03:05Yeah.

01:03:05Is my favorite part of that moment.

01:03:07None of it was in a British accent.

01:03:09I'm just saying blimey in an American accent.

01:03:11Yeah, no.

01:03:14So that is, that's a little less I'm calling my shot.

01:03:16Because I definitely wasn't like, well, maybe some of me when the moment came up where I was like, is K2 going to do this?

01:03:23Like, that doesn't make any sense.

01:03:25Do we put our finger on the scale of how nonsensical it is?

01:03:28I maybe did some of that math, but most of it was just, this is stupid, let's go.

01:03:35This is stupid, let's go.

01:03:36I must commit to this.

01:03:37It's very funny.

01:03:38I think the term chaotic gets used fairly and unfairly in discussions of the choices of D&D players.

01:03:46I think certain types of players maybe unfairly get labeled chaotic more than others for making similarly, like, big swings.

01:03:54Like, one person's chaos is another person's big swing, depending on how people choose to interpret the player or their choices.

01:04:03But I think that there is a spectrum of things that all of the intrepid heroes do, which I really love, which is, one is the big swing, which I would categorize as a calculated, surprising, dramatic deviation from the safe choice.

01:04:19Those are beautiful.

01:04:20Those make seasons.

01:04:21Totally.

01:04:21There is the chaos of, like, reacting to a dice roll to someone else's choice to spur the bit on.

01:04:30Yes.

01:04:30You know, I think about Emily being like, I disguise myself as the dwarf, and me being like, you're trying to trick him by being the one person he knows?

01:04:41Like, he's experiencing life in first place, and you and Murph immediately going like, you're dead.

01:04:45Yeah.

01:04:46You're dead.

01:04:47We freaking ate you.

01:04:48Like, there's that, which is the great improviser, like, get on the train.

01:04:55And then there are those moments that really do feel, like, blimey, where it's like, no, no, the time for fun has arrived.

01:05:03It's arrived.

01:05:04And it's here.

01:05:04Yeah.

01:05:05Yeah.

01:05:06It's time to do something big and stupid.

01:05:10And Charles Manson didn't act alone.

01:05:11He acted with Maya Hawke, the actor.

01:05:19Boy.

01:05:20So that would be an example of a chaotic thing to do.

01:05:26So my question for you is, as someone who makes Fetty Wap real, as someone who has these sort of, like, creates time loops and anachronisms, takes giant swings, what are you, four dogs?

01:05:44You know, like, has these moments of big, big swings.

01:05:50There has not been a character that was more of a plot hound, keep us on the rails character in any season than Margaret Encino.

01:06:03Totally.

01:06:03I was literally making to-do lists as the character during the episode.

01:06:07So, yeah.

01:06:08As you're during the episodes.

01:06:10Did that feel like you had to rearrange the switchboard of your own mind?

01:06:17Yes.

01:06:17Or it did?

01:06:18Yes.

01:06:18What did it feel like?

01:06:20This, Margaret Encino, is who I date.

01:06:24Historically.

01:06:24This is just an homage to every woman who has ever loved me.

01:06:30And I've spent so much time with these people that I can put myself in that mindset.

01:06:36So that was not me, but it was me being like, what would she do?

01:06:40I have had, and, like, thank God.

01:06:44Like, this is, like, unpaid education that these people have run me through of, like, here's how you make a budget in Excel.

01:06:54Like, some of it is crazy.

01:06:56And I'm like, oh, thank you so much.

01:06:58Like, this really changed my mind.

01:06:59You know, it's like, and maybe I'm teaching, you know, let's not even, who knows what I'm offering.

01:07:04But that's what they've offered me.

01:07:06So I was just kind of playing that person.

01:07:10It's really wonderful because it's rare when an informed characteristic actually happens, like, diegetically.

01:07:18By which I mean, you can say Margaret has the high intelligence and she's the successful businesswoman and she's going to, like, in other words, there are, like, a lot of inciting incidents in Star Trek.

01:07:30You could say the inciting incident is Skip's, Skip, you know, Prince Val Drenor.

01:07:34You could say the inciting incident is Jan de la Vega and the, you know, the egg substitute, right?

01:07:40Yep.

01:07:41The inciting incident is Margaret buying the ship.

01:07:45Yeah.

01:07:45Like, Margaret being like, oh, you bozos, let me get us on track.

01:07:51Totally.

01:07:52And it didn't just happen as an informed characteristic, which is like, informed characteristic is like when the character in the show that's funny people laugh at even though the jokes aren't funny.

01:08:01We're like, we're just going to make it true using fiction.

01:08:04Yes.

01:08:04No, Margaret whipped that place into shape and it was due to your to-do list and everything else like that.

01:08:13Did that season, I obviously felt like it was awesome.

01:08:17Margaret's one of my favorite PCs and I love all of her combat spent banking and her just tumbling out of a crow's nest in the Las Vegas fight.

01:08:26Yep.

01:08:27Did that season have a different, was that season more stressful?

01:08:31Did it require more work?

01:08:33Was it more exhausting to be that order-focused character or was it just fun in a different way?

01:08:37It was totally fun in a different way.

01:08:39Yeah.

01:08:40Yeah.

01:08:40It was like, it was like flexing a muscle that I am personally working on in myself.

01:08:45So, it's not like I'm devoid of any of those characteristics.

01:08:48It was just like, oh, what if I was just really good at not, I mean, it's the perfect, like, this is all fantasy.

01:08:54You can be whoever you want.

01:08:55So, I'm like, what if I was this?

01:08:56What if I was so on top of it, I was doing this?

01:08:59And then I think it's also fun because I feel like people like that who are so buttoned up have to let go in a crazy way.

01:09:06So, she has that, like, fake Reddit account or whatever she's doing.

01:09:09You know, I was like, that was fun to play, too.

01:09:11Sending nudes to the Reddit, yeah.

01:09:13The moment with you and Lucy and Rex in the interrogation room where she says something like, what am I supposed to do?

01:09:18And you're like, uh, kiss me?

01:09:20Yeah.

01:09:21And then, where it's like, you're so buttoned up that the moments of chaos are that much more exciting because it's like, what did Margaret just do?

01:09:31Yeah, totally, totally.

01:09:32Yeah, it feels great.

01:09:33Or even, yeah, just seeing you in a position in that sheriff fight where you're like, okay, he's taking the money.

01:09:38Let's get out of here.

01:09:39And then it's like, Emily goes, I cast a buff spell on myself.

01:09:42And you're like, uh-huh.

01:09:43And Murph goes, uh-huh.

01:09:44And you're like, wait, we, uh-huh.

01:09:45And Zach goes, I got your Prolder's license right here.

01:09:48So good.

01:09:49It was just so fun to watch you in that position of that character being like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

01:09:54Yeah, totally.

01:09:55Yeah, that was very fun to play.

01:09:59I love it.

01:10:00Jenny would like to know, how did you go about creating Pete for The Unsleeping City?

01:10:05Ooh.

01:10:05Was it a direct influence of your real-life transition, or did you have the concept in mind earlier?

01:10:10Also, any advice for portraying queer characters with sexualities and identities that are different from your own?

01:10:16Oh.

01:10:16Ooh.

01:10:17I mean, I think that this is sexuality, all different identities.

01:10:21I think it's the same answer that I just gave from Margaret, where you're just like, oh, it'd be fun to try this on.

01:10:26This is, you know, a part of the kaleidoscope of identities that I hold.

01:10:31Maybe not my main one, so let's try it on.

01:10:33So I think the only advice I could give is like, oh, just try your best.

01:10:38And I feel like there's like a thinness to when you're playing like a caricature of something that you can hopefully pick up on.

01:10:46And it's just fun to like be curious about that in yourself.

01:10:49So just say like, oh, this person, am I making assumptions about this person that seemed to fall flat at the table?

01:10:56Yeah.

01:10:56That's great.

01:10:57Time to go home and do like, I know Emily does some journaling like as her character.

01:11:01I think stuff like that is really cool.

01:11:04There's a really beautiful, so the amount of people I know who had an identity as a D&D character before they had it IRL.

01:11:12The amount of people I know who discovered like, oh, I played a character that liked women.

01:11:17And then later that, you know, like.

01:11:19Totally.

01:11:20Totally.

01:11:21And there's an interesting, I think there's like an interesting thing in this in terms of the weight of respect and study and representation involved with playing.

01:11:34Especially for those who GM and have to like sort of portray a diverse world.

01:11:38Yeah, totally.

01:11:39There's a weight and have to do that as authentically as possible.

01:11:43Yeah.

01:11:44But I also have and have seen some queer authors online talking about gaming and talking about the ways in which identity and play around identity is very important.

01:11:55In that I think that this person's question is like advice for portraying those queer characters.

01:12:02That I think that like study, journaling, just starting with like a full dose of humanity.

01:12:08Like remembering that everybody is fully human.

01:12:11Totally.

01:12:11Even when they're a fucking centaur, they're fully human.

01:12:13Yeah.

01:12:13But also that there's a spirit of playfulness that is really good because one of the authors that I read was basically like the playfulness around identity helps people get there who need to get there faster.

01:12:29Yeah, it can be a catalyst.

01:12:31Yeah, totally.

01:12:32You know, there's something like, okay, if someone goes like, I think I might want to play a character who's interested in this sort of partner.

01:12:40I might want to play a character who relates to their gender identity in this way.

01:12:43Totally.

01:12:44And that you want to put the appropriate respectfulness and weight on that in terms of the portrayal of those identities.

01:12:49But you also want to leave the door open to invite people to come be playful as they're exploring.

01:12:55Yes, totally, totally.

01:12:57I think for me when I was researching Pete, I was already like watching all of these YouTube videos that were like, here's my six-month transition.

01:13:06And I'm like watching people start tea.

01:13:07I'm watching like things about post-op surgery.

01:13:09And it's kind of like that thing where it's like if you have to take an online test that's called, am I gay?

01:13:16You're probably gay.

01:13:19So you're kind of like, oh, I'm watching, I'm just consuming all these videos.

01:13:22Oh, I just think it's very interesting.

01:13:24But it was fun to be able to be like, I'm doing this as research for a character.

01:13:28And then you get to try that on and have everyone at the table be very like supportive.

01:13:35Getting referred to as he-he.

01:13:36Yeah, there's like a million and one ways to try this like in not at the table, like in the dome.

01:13:41Like you can go to a coffee, if you're thinking of a new name, it's fun to go to a coffee shop and give that name.

01:13:46It's fun to like get a magazine subscription and a new name if you're thinking about trying something else on.

01:13:50Like these little like bursts of recognition can be really, really fun.

01:13:56And I think D&D is just that mainline.

01:13:58You are living in that reality for three plus hours at a time.

01:14:02You know, it's like, it's just very cool.

01:14:03So, I think it's, that's definitely, maybe the thing I'm asked about the most is like my gender identity and Pete the Plug, how it helped in that.

01:14:16And it's just so true.

01:14:16It's like, just like a really fun play space to be in.

01:14:21And gender is just one of the many things that you can explore with D&D that's like just super fun.

01:14:26Do you think there's, I remember talking to you, it was really important to you in that season because Pete's transition, our very first scene was establishing him with top surgery.

01:14:39Yeah.

01:14:39Right?

01:14:40And very quickly, his life became about his lack of community, his addiction, bad relationships, becoming a dream sorcerer.

01:14:53The fantasy elements be having this sort of like falling through, having the vision, you know, talking about like seeking cosmic truth.

01:15:01Pete's very first scene, he stumbles through the puddle and sees Nod.

01:15:03Totally.

01:15:03And there was a moment within that where I remember talking to you and you were specifically like, I want Pete's gender to be an extremely present part of his identity and for his adventure to be about these themes.

01:15:22Yeah, yeah. I don't want a trans character whose transness completely eclipses them.

01:15:28Yeah.

01:15:28Like there's this kind of, I wanted to start, we are already past. He's already on testosterone, hormone replacement therapy. He just got top surgery. We are, this isn't a, oh, should I, or I feel, I feel stuck in the wrong body kind of like story.

01:15:44It's like, he is trans and then what? Like, you know what I mean?

01:15:48And so that was really fun to just kind of like be a top speed through the fantasy stuff and be like, he's still trans, but like, we're not just talking about that because that can get boring.

01:15:58There was a moment in the second season of doing something in terms of like how we as a show think about representation and taking someone like Pete and being like, his identity is so textured and his sexual identity is one part of that.

01:16:16And then his relationship to insomnia and mental health. It's like, and of course, all of them intersect and are fully integrated. So there's no part of him that is not touched by all the other parts.

01:16:25I remember there was a part in the second season where I was like writing the little fairy poem that his ancestors have in Ellis Island.

01:16:36And there was one, there was a line in it. It's like, a son will be born to your family who will know his name before any other.

01:16:42And taking something that is a part of that experience and putting it in this like fairy language.

01:16:48So sick.

01:16:49Where it was like, it was, there was something about, about being like, um, let's acknowledge that this experience is as old as humanity itself.

01:16:58And let's acknowledge, you know, like, and that he is very much the wizard, the magician, to go back to the tarot.

01:17:05Totally.

01:17:05He's the magician archetype, you know, like you, we want to go back and see that no part of the archetypality of his story is off limits to him.

01:17:14Because he is undergoing these very modern medical experiences that they'll share.

01:17:20Totally, totally, totally.

01:17:21Yeah.

01:17:21That was a really fun mixture of kind of like ancient and contemporary or something for him.

01:17:26Yeah.

01:17:27Which I'm like, is the trans experience.

01:17:29Totally.

01:17:29Yeah.

01:17:30Athena asks, when it comes to playing a flawed character, how do you manage to make decisions that are essential to their growth and characterization?

01:17:38Even if those decisions might come across to the table as wrongheaded or immature, Athena, thank you for your question.

01:17:50It's an interesting question here.

01:17:52It's a very loaded question.

01:17:57How do you play characters that are so wrong?

01:18:00How do you do that dumbass thing over and over?

01:18:02No, but I completely agree.

01:18:04I think Kristen, I wanted her to be as annoying, or like, you know what I mean, quote unquote annoying as possible.

01:18:09But other characters too, that I'm like, oh yeah, we want like a teen that's figuring some stuff out and it needs to be a little bit messy.

01:18:17I'll say from my experience as well, especially like looking at junior year, Kristen's fumbling with Cassandra is one of the biggest gifts as a dungeon master I've ever gotten.

01:18:29Totally, yeah, you need drama and you need loss.

01:18:32Conflict.

01:18:38Can I take it?

01:18:41Great.

01:18:44Hi, Lester?

01:18:48Oh God, you're right behind me.

01:18:51He says he's here.

01:18:52He says he's here.

01:18:55Get water bottle.

01:18:57That's an alarm, I guess I said.

01:18:59I'm set to remember to get my water bottle that I left here last time.

01:19:06So, flawed characters, wrongheaded.

01:19:14No, I think that there's a, the, how do you make decisions that are saying, well what this really comes down to is D&D's a game and a story at the same time.

01:19:23And occasionally the pressure that the table feels to make optimal, do you feel like there's table pressure sometimes to make optimal choices?

01:19:30Even if the optimal choices are not what the story needs in that moment.

01:19:34I don't know.

01:19:35This is just like a literal pressure-free table.

01:19:38Yeah.

01:19:38Like what an absolute gift to have this be like my first experience.

01:19:42And I do think like, with stuff that like Murph and Emily do where they have like D&D court, I love this like side show that they make.

01:19:50It's like people writing in with like etiquette questions.

01:19:52People are at tables with people who are a little bit more like mean-spirited.

01:19:57Are you know what I mean?

01:19:58And I've never experienced that.

01:20:00So, I'm like, there are times like when I think about early Kristen or like being like a healer and people going down and I just didn't have the mechanics to do that.

01:20:10I do, I am kind of like, damn, that sucks.

01:20:12But I've never felt pressure from other people to have done that.

01:20:16I think everyone's just very understanding.

01:20:18It's very weird.

01:20:20Occasionally people will reach out to us now.

01:20:21Especially because of where the show's gotten to and doing Madison Square Garden and other stuff.

01:20:25You get people that reach out to you being like, I want to talk to you about like the D&D space.

01:20:29And you go, man, I don't have a perspective that is like, you're coming to a very weird corner of the experience if you're coming to me.

01:20:39Yeah.

01:20:40What I have, like, you know, and I'll see it when we get big groups of questions in.

01:20:46The amount of questions that are like, my dungeon master showed up at my house and kicked my animals to death.

01:20:53Should I mention it at the next, and you're like, what the fuck are you talking about?

01:20:57Totally.

01:20:58Like, these tables out here sound rough, man.

01:21:01Totally.

01:21:01And it's heartbreaking when you see people that are like, I'm at a table where, you know, that's hyperbole, but like, I'm at a table where my character's not being respected.

01:21:09I'm at a character where I'm not being allowed to do what I want on my combat turns.

01:21:13Just like playing with jerks.

01:21:15Totally.

01:21:15And it's really hard to just look at the camera over and over each time a question that gets asked and being like, it sounds like there's a sort of a question behind your question.

01:21:23Yeah.

01:21:24Which is that you're playing with not very nice people.

01:21:26Who do you hang out with?

01:21:27Yeah, totally, totally.

01:21:28So I think like, yeah, that's very funny.

01:21:32I think that there are like these kind of sub-optimal choices that have been made in character, and I feel like full freedom to be able to do that because I do kind of have trust in the fact that it will work out, or if it doesn't, that's also a good story.

01:21:48Yeah.

01:21:48So it just feels like there's just kind of like ultimate freedom, which I think we all kind of are, we're all like very obsessed with freedom.

01:21:54Yeah.

01:21:55Oh, good.

01:22:00Oh, hello.

01:22:02To you.

01:22:04Lou doesn't even like abilities that make you re-roll once.

01:22:09You know what I mean?

01:22:09Like, Lou's like, I want that.

01:22:11He loves a failure.

01:22:13And I think there's a lot of that in us, which is like, when it's time for things to blow up, God, let it rip.

01:22:20Yeah, totally.

01:22:21I think Em, before each episode, will roll a bunch of dice and see who's rolling spicy, so she keeps all the ones and 20s.

01:22:28Love that.

01:22:28So, you know, it's like both are going to be big.

01:22:31Yeah, we love the extremes.

01:22:32You don't want an 11.

01:22:34It's a very, it's a thing, this is like, and listen, to have a little like TTRPG opinion, I know that there are games that don't use D20s and use dice pools instead, and there's a lot of really fun, there's a lot of great games that use dice pools.

01:22:48But I will say, as someone that has the home rule of automatic failure, automatic success across checks on a D20, having explosively unusual results 10% of the time is not great for verisimilitude or realism, but it is great for storytelling.

01:23:06Great for storytelling. But it's also, it's not even like, we want to tell like epic, like by the book stories, which we do, that's in there too.

01:23:15But there is something like surrealist about adding a dice to what you're doing.

01:23:20It's very, it's almost like cut up technique, like you're just like, I want to do this, and then it just completely recombines into a whole new thing where you're like, oh, I failed on that thing that's really central to my personality.

01:23:31Okay, now we got to like reverse engineer and all come together and figure that out.

01:23:36Yeah.

01:23:36And I think this kind of like great randomizer is what gets you like brand new things you never could have thought of.

01:23:41And that feels really fun, because they're always honored by you, and we're always like crying, laughing when weird shit like this happens.

01:23:48Yeah, like I don't know which moments I've loved. I mean, the Nat 20s or the Nat 1s, where you go like, God, and especially too, the Nat 20, I mean, as comedians, I think our favorite ones are always the Nat 20 when it shouldn't work.

01:24:03When it shouldn't work.

01:24:03And the Nat 1 when it should.

01:24:05When it should. Or when Murph's like, all right, I'll roll. And like when we all like almost threw him out of the dome.

01:24:10I got just as good a chance at rolling good as any.

01:24:14So funny, yeah.

01:24:16It's incredible. And I think that we have the making decisions that are essential to their growth and characterization.

01:24:22Thinking about like choices that are made.

01:24:27And I think that I speak for this table and for you as a player as well when I say,

01:24:32I don't think you guys are making your characters do stuff that's not in character to fail for a story purpose.

01:24:41I think you guys are playing the truthfulness of the character.

01:24:44Yeah.

01:24:44When they beef something, I don't think it's like, seems like it's time for a downbeat.

01:24:49I'm looking at my story watch and it feels like, it's a totally intuitive thing where it just feels like,

01:24:54no, I think I fucking bombed this.

01:24:57Yeah, totally.

01:24:58You know, Kristen going to the steel metal.

01:25:01We make steel.

01:25:05I love that scene.

01:25:10And Emily in German shepherd mode.

01:25:13Oh God, it's just, yeah, it's so good.

01:25:14The, if there was a table, I mean, and that's the hard part is like, for someone looking for advice for this,

01:25:22the real advice is like, get a table of people that are all on the same page.

01:25:25But that's really hard to do.

01:25:26Yeah, yeah.

01:25:27But more and more, when people are asking me about D&D, I'm like, go to an improv class.

01:25:34Yeah.

01:25:34Start a D&D group with your improv group.

01:25:37Like, you're all studying the same thing, which is like, don't say no to stuff, say yes, build, collaborate.

01:25:43I think, too, it's a great thing.

01:25:46Finding your people is the project.

01:25:48Building community is the project.

01:25:50Building community is the human project.

01:25:52Totally.

01:25:53And I think that there is a degree of the first step to this question for the asker for Athena

01:25:58is probably something along the lines of vocalize that at the outset where you go,

01:26:03hey, I'm not here to, like, blow up the game, but I want to know if we're in a situation where my character needs to make a heroic last stand,

01:26:15even if we could all escape with our lives, or if my character would be overcome by emotion talking to this big NPC

01:26:23and would maybe blab and spill the beans, which I think is what this question gets at,

01:26:27is people being like, no, don't share that secret, even though you probably would.

01:26:32Totally.

01:26:33That's bad.

01:26:33Now we're going to lose.

01:26:35Totally, totally.

01:26:35Like, I think it's good to have an above-table conversation where you can talk to people and go,

01:26:39hey, occasionally I'd like to see a moment that is truthful, even if it fucks us.

01:26:45Yeah, yeah, totally.

01:26:46Totally.

01:26:48Well, Allie, we've got to finish all that soda.

01:26:53Yeah, Lester's sitting there with a stopwatch.

01:26:56Yeah, Lester's sitting in, naked as a jaybird, sitting in the corner of our vision,

01:27:01whistling on a giant pan flute, looking at a watch with a loaded gun on the counter next to him.

01:27:07Yeah.

01:27:09Body like a yammy.

01:27:10Body like a yammy.

01:27:12From everyone here, Dimension 20, to everyone at home, body like a yammy.

01:27:16And we'll see you next time.

01:27:18We'll see you next time.

01:27:19We'll see you next time here on Adventuring Academy!

01:27:22Ciao!

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