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so much more. Welcome

0:51

to the first episode of

0:54

Series 80, everyone. This month

0:56

we are covering romance games,

0:58

but not just romance games,

1:00

specifically duo or solo play

1:03

romance games. And this week

1:05

I am pleased to have

1:07

with us guest co-host and

1:09

previous guest of the show

1:11

Senda Leno. Together we are

1:14

covering the game, Breaking the

1:16

Ice by Emily Care Boss.

1:18

But before we get to

1:20

all of that, here's what

1:22

to expect in the calls

1:25

to action after the show. Did

1:27

you know that I edit a whole bunch

1:29

of stuff on the network? It's

1:31

true. I will have a run down,

1:33

quick or not, of those projects

1:35

in the calls to action after the

1:37

show. But aside from that, we have

1:40

our normal patron information as well

1:42

as our patron thank yous. With

1:44

all of that out of the

1:46

way, enjoy the show everyone. Enjoy

1:48

the show everyone. So, Welcome

2:28

to Character Creation Casts, a show

2:30

where we discuss and create characters,

2:32

the best part of role-playing games,

2:35

with guests using their favorite systems.

2:37

I'm one of your hosts Ryan,

2:39

and this month, we are covering

2:41

RPGs that have a romantic theme

2:44

to them, but are also geared

2:46

towards either duo or solo play.

2:48

This week, we are starting things

2:51

off with the athlete named Breaking

2:53

the Ice by Emily Care Boss,

2:55

a game about a budding romance

2:57

found in the Romance Trilogy by

3:00

Emily Care Boss. I am here

3:02

with my good friend, Senda, to

3:04

examine this game and create some

3:07

characters together. Senda, welcome back to

3:09

the show. I am so happy

3:11

to be here as always. I

3:13

am so glad that you had

3:16

a little bit of time today

3:18

to join us because I asked

3:20

you literally right at the end

3:23

of the night yesterday. I think

3:25

I responded to you after midnight.

3:27

You did. So thank you for

3:29

being here. Now, I know it's

3:32

been a while since we've had

3:34

you on the show. Would you

3:36

be able to reintroduce yourself to

3:39

the audience? Sure. So I am

3:41

Sanda Leno. I do the Pandas

3:43

Talking Games podcast, which is kind

3:45

of like car talk, except for

3:48

your TTRP. People send us in

3:50

questions. We talk about them. Getting

3:52

back into historical stuff. I also

3:55

did choose a super geek. And

3:57

I am in a... occasional game

3:59

writer and many times game player.

4:01

That's, I think that's pretty much

4:04

it. Yeah. Yep. Nomast as well.

4:06

Oh yeah, I do that too.

4:08

You're all over the place. I

4:11

am all over the place. Occasional

4:13

guest on this show. Yep. Well,

4:15

let's go ahead and get into

4:17

this game and we'll start by

4:20

discussing what the game is all

4:22

about. What's in a game. Okay,

4:24

so I mean, our normal format

4:27

is we ask a guest and

4:29

they respond to these questions. So

4:31

I think we'll just do kind

4:34

of like a back and forth

4:36

on each of these questions and

4:38

see how it goes. So what

4:40

are the core concepts of breaking

4:43

the ice? Well, from what I

4:45

can gather in breaking the ice,

4:47

two players take on the rolls

4:50

of a pair of characters going

4:52

on their first three dates. and

4:54

they explore what it's like to

4:56

fumble through those first impressions. Yeah,

4:59

this, I will just add a

5:01

thing, right? That I'm just, I'm

5:03

gonna call this out on us

5:06

right now. I've always been interested

5:08

to play this game, but I

5:10

never actually have. So we're both

5:12

gonna figure this out as we

5:15

go. Right. Yeah, it looks really

5:17

interesting. It's a fun looking game.

5:19

It looks fantastic. Cool, but so.

5:22

for the setting, what sort of

5:24

setting do you play in? And

5:26

I think with this game, it's

5:28

traditionally a modern day setting, but

5:31

you can get imaginative. You can

5:33

get creative about where you put

5:35

it and put it somewhere else.

5:38

Yeah, exactly. It kind of paves

5:40

the way for a modern telling

5:42

in different romance genres. Yeah. But

5:44

like. Sci-Fi, why not? Sure. And

5:47

like fantasy, throw your Dungeons and

5:49

Dragons characters into it and see

5:51

what happens. Oh, that would be

5:54

fun. I'm sure you could make

5:56

it work because I think... we

5:58

can make those types of romance

6:00

tropes work in pretty much whatever

6:03

setting you want to. Yeah, absolutely.

6:05

So the tools that you need

6:07

to play this game and how

6:10

those tools are used, basics are

6:12

the the shared character sheet. You've

6:14

got pens and pencils and and

6:16

or computers to fill those sheets

6:19

out. Obviously scrap paper for notes.

6:21

But the most thing you want

6:23

to note is you need 12

6:26

six-sided dice to play. Nine of

6:28

them are one color and three

6:30

of them in a different color,

6:33

which is interesting. But the dice

6:35

symbolize different things. You need at

6:37

least three dice though, but the

6:39

more dice you have, the faster

6:42

it'll go. And the way the

6:44

game works is during each turn,

6:46

one player will be the active

6:49

player, while the other player is

6:51

the guide. And then the active

6:53

player narrates their turn and the

6:55

guide awards dice based on what

6:58

they're hearing if their character would

7:00

like the stuff that's happening or

7:02

not. You kind of award attraction

7:05

dice and whatnot, which is kind

7:07

of cool. That is cool, yeah.

7:09

And then there are five different

7:11

roles that you have, all with

7:14

D6s. And in the order that

7:16

you play them, you get your

7:18

attraction dice and possible bonus dice,

7:21

depending on what you're doing in

7:23

the scenario. We'll go over that

7:25

later. Those are all rolled together.

7:27

And then you can re-roll failures.

7:30

And then finally, there is conflict

7:32

dice and compatibility dice that you

7:34

can roll at any time. And

7:37

those are also based on various

7:39

things. Okay. Fives and sixes are

7:41

successes, ones through fours are failures.

7:43

And just generally, if you get

7:46

three successes overall, that increases your

7:48

attraction. If you get four successes

7:50

or more. you create a compatibility,

7:53

which is like a more permanent,

7:55

like attraction for the characters. And

7:57

then the conflict dice can only

7:59

be rolled once per turn, compatibility

8:02

dice are rolled once per turn,

8:04

and rolled on any tie. I'm

8:06

not exactly sure what that means,

8:09

but it sounds really interesting. And

8:11

both of those can't be rerolled.

8:13

So we'll get into more of

8:15

the mechanics later on during our

8:18

advancement discussion, but I thought it

8:20

was a really interesting like Go

8:22

through the game and get dice

8:25

from the other player and then

8:27

roll them and figure it out

8:29

right and roll them to see

8:32

if the things you're doing you

8:34

know are working. I like yeah,

8:36

yeah, it's fun and just because

8:38

you're getting dice because the things

8:41

are working for the other player

8:43

doesn't mean you're necessarily going to

8:45

roll well, right? Like it just

8:48

increases your chances. So that's also

8:50

interesting. I like that. And the

8:52

re-rolls are really interesting. We'll get

8:54

to that later as well. Yeah,

8:57

even more interesting. Cool. I don't

8:59

know how those work at all.

9:01

All right. So for this game,

9:04

what kind of stories or themes

9:06

is it meant to explore? This

9:08

one probably really depends on what

9:10

genre you choose. Romantic comedy. going

9:13

to be different than dramatic romance,

9:15

which would be different than like

9:17

an action romance, right? I think

9:20

there are genres, like there are

9:22

there are tropes that definitely can

9:24

thread through all of those, but

9:26

yeah, you, you know, I don't

9:29

know, you can sit down and

9:31

decide what kind of romance you

9:33

want to read, play. Boy, can

9:36

you tell I've been in the

9:38

romance book club for a while

9:40

now? Wow. This is why I

9:42

asked you specifically if you had

9:45

any suggestions for games for this

9:47

series. Well, at least I had

9:49

a couple. So there are some

9:52

examples from the book specifically that

9:54

are called out as potential types

9:56

of stories or themes. and those

9:58

are romantic comedy, screwball comedy slash

10:01

quirky romance, dark humor, dramatic romance,

10:03

action, period romance, political romance, double

10:05

dating and more. There's a bunch

10:08

of films and books listed sort

10:10

of an appendix. that will give

10:12

you a good feel for each

10:14

of the genres if you aren't

10:17

familiar with them ahead of time

10:19

and you want to get familiar

10:21

before you play the game. The

10:24

overall theme of the game is

10:26

to create a fun and exciting

10:28

love story through a series of

10:31

three dates. I read a really

10:33

interesting romance book for the romance

10:35

book club last week and I

10:37

am now thinking about if it

10:40

would work for this game. And

10:42

it's kind of wild because I

10:44

don't. Like I said, haven't played

10:47

this game before, so I'm like

10:49

just putting the pieces together as

10:51

we go, but like it's lining

10:53

up so far, so. Yeah, that's

10:56

very good. If I, I might,

10:58

we'll see if I end up

11:00

bringing it up or not. Yeah.

11:03

I don't know if I want

11:05

to admit what I've been reading.

11:07

No judgment here. Right. All right,

11:09

so what do characters actually do

11:12

in this game? So as mentioned,

11:14

the game is played out in

11:16

three dates. The players tell the

11:19

story of what happens on each

11:21

date, where you describe the scenes,

11:23

you play out in character, kind

11:25

of what the characters are doing,

11:28

and you can give one another

11:30

suggestions on what to do next.

11:32

And then you roll dice to

11:35

see if the characters grow closer

11:37

or not, right? That's kind of

11:39

the standard. way to play the

11:41

game. Each date is made up

11:44

of four to six turns that

11:46

alternate between the players. So the

11:48

player whose character is in focus

11:51

is the active player and the

11:53

kind of like the narrator and

11:55

the other players the guide during

11:57

that turn. The guide awards dice

12:00

to the active player for describing

12:02

and playing out the events of

12:04

the date and the results could

12:07

increase. the attraction levels between the

12:09

characters or create new compatibility. And

12:11

then the active player and the

12:13

guide work together to turn these

12:16

die rolls into descriptions of the

12:18

couple's joys and misfortunes. Which is

12:20

fun. Yeah. And then at the

12:23

end of each date the active

12:25

player makes a reality check which

12:27

rolls for a new attraction. Sorry.

12:30

It's good. So you roll a

12:32

reality check for each new attraction

12:34

that you gained on the date

12:36

and at the end of the

12:39

third date it all figures out

12:41

like where the relationship is effectively.

12:43

And that reality track tries to...

12:46

See if your connection endures the

12:48

test of the dates effectively. Yeah,

12:50

okay. And the dates themselves don't

12:52

need to be traditional dates like

12:55

going to a movie or like,

12:57

you know, going to a park

12:59

or whatever, right? They can they

13:02

basically just represent three significant times

13:04

that the two characters spent time

13:06

together in their relationship. So it

13:08

could be Pretty much anything at

13:11

that point as long as they're

13:13

together and experiencing it together. Yep.

13:15

Still thinking about the book I

13:18

was reading. Perfect. What is unique

13:20

about this game? So we're going

13:22

to see in character creation when

13:24

we start doing it. Oh, that's

13:27

exciting. But during character creation, we're

13:29

going to create a word web

13:31

together based off of a favorite

13:34

color of our characters. These words

13:36

are used to inspire your characters

13:38

traits. And there's also a really

13:40

interesting mechanic where you define real

13:43

world traits that you personally have

13:45

and swap them with your partner.

13:47

Then each of your characters embodies

13:50

the other players traits in some

13:52

way. That is so cool. and

13:54

is totally a thing that I

13:56

have also used for bleed purposes

13:59

in a game. Definitely have also

14:01

done that. Also of note, the

14:03

game does have optional rules to

14:06

support up to 10 players or

14:08

in the other direction to support

14:10

solo play. So is it 10 players

14:12

all dating each other at the same three

14:15

days? I honestly don't know.

14:17

I didn't look into the

14:19

optional rules, but like I'm

14:21

sure there is like polyspecific.

14:24

sort of play. There might

14:26

be like a bachelorette sort

14:28

of play style, you know,

14:30

I mean, if we could,

14:33

this game is a

14:35

wide shoes, sounds great.

14:37

Sure, perfect. Yeah, I'm

14:39

very interested with

14:42

the options that

14:44

this game supports.

14:47

So this game

14:50

was first published

14:53

back all the

14:55

way. 20 years

14:58

ago

15:02

in 2016. The

15:05

second edition was

15:07

put together into

15:09

a trilogy called

15:11

the Romance Trilogy,

15:13

and that is

15:16

alongside two other

15:18

games, Shooting the

15:20

Moon, a game about two

15:22

individuals competing for the love

15:24

of a third character, as

15:26

well as Under My Skin,

15:29

a game about a circle

15:31

of friends finding romance arising

15:33

outside of existing relationships. So

15:35

both of those games look fascinating in

15:37

and of themselves. Shooting the moon

15:40

is another dual game. Yeah, two

15:42

players for that one. You can

15:44

do three with that one if

15:46

you want to. Yeah, I think

15:48

there's three. There might even be

15:51

more. Honestly, you could have,

15:53

what does the rules thing say

15:55

here? Up to six with modifications.

15:58

Yeah, I think the originally. game

16:00

is two to three. Yeah.

16:02

Yeah. And then under my

16:04

skin is four to eight

16:06

players. So not a duo

16:08

or solo game, but definitely

16:10

an interesting group game. And

16:12

each of those other two

16:14

games were also originally released

16:16

in the 2005 to 2006

16:18

time period and brought into

16:21

the romance trilogy as second

16:23

editions. Yeah, I really like

16:25

Herbasa's games generally. Yeah, you

16:27

know, these ones are very

16:29

interesting to me. Basic terms

16:31

and concepts, we may need

16:33

to know before we start

16:35

character creation. Are there any?

16:37

I don't, I don't think

16:39

there are any, probably for

16:42

this game. I guess we're

16:44

gonna find out when we

16:46

dive in. Yeah, I mean,

16:48

I think we covered most

16:50

of it through the mechanics

16:52

and everything. It's a lot

16:54

of just kind of follow

16:56

the rules of character creation

16:58

and you'll create your character.

17:00

Yeah, I don't think there's

17:03

anything that really stands out.

17:05

We talked about the Word

17:07

Web, which is different. It's

17:09

like a brainstorming session effectively,

17:11

right? Yep. And yeah, we'll

17:13

get into it when we

17:15

get into it, which is

17:17

right now, are you ready

17:19

to make some people? Yeah,

17:22

let's make some people. Okay,

17:24

so now we need to

17:26

actually look at the book.

17:28

And I believe the first

17:30

thought is veils and boundaries.

17:32

Yeah. Actually, very first thing,

17:34

ratings and genre probably would

17:36

make the most sense, right?

17:38

Sure. So like a lot

17:40

of the words in this

17:43

book describe things in kind

17:45

of like a movie sense,

17:47

right? So if we were

17:49

going to be playing this,

17:51

like what sort of rating?

17:53

would we be comfortable with

17:55

from like G to R

17:57

I guess, right? Yeah, I

17:59

mean, I think, I think,

18:01

and maybe this is the

18:04

easy way out, but my

18:06

general preference for playing romance

18:08

at the table with people

18:10

who are not maybe intimate

18:12

partners of mine already, is

18:14

to, is a fade to

18:16

black, right? Which makes it

18:18

really easy to do, which

18:20

means like kissing and stuff

18:23

is on the table. But

18:25

if you start taking off

18:27

people's clothes, then you just,

18:29

you know, fade to black

18:31

and then you start again

18:33

from, you know, putting on

18:35

your boots. It's effectively a

18:37

PG13 zone, right? Yeah, I

18:39

think so. Yeah, yeah. I

18:41

think that's that's pretty appropriate.

18:44

We can we can stick

18:46

around there. That should be

18:48

fine. Sure. I think we

18:50

figure out the genre next.

18:52

Let's see, so what sort

18:54

of genre do you like?

18:56

There's quite a bit. So

18:58

sometimes it's easier to narrow

19:00

it down by things that

19:02

I'm not interested in and

19:05

then see if that pings

19:07

anything for you. I'm not

19:09

usually into like Western romances.

19:11

Or like small town, I'm

19:13

like, eh, but it can

19:15

be fun to recreate like

19:17

hallmark romances and like period

19:19

romances are fun. I do

19:21

like period. I also like

19:24

weird and different like like

19:26

I was saying sci-fi or

19:28

like fantasy style would be

19:30

would be would be a

19:32

fun creative exercise. Yeah. To

19:34

figure out what sort of

19:36

dates you go on at

19:38

that point? I'm thinking about

19:40

there's a book on my

19:42

TVR right now that is

19:45

a time travel sappic romance

19:47

that I really want to

19:49

read. But I haven't read

19:51

yet. I think time travel

19:53

might be challenging in a

19:55

game. I think that But

19:57

we don't need to play

19:59

it. Well, no, that's true.

20:01

We just need to create

20:03

characters for it. What? Oh,

20:06

no. See, now, now, now

20:08

I'm having this. Time travel

20:10

is my jam. Time travel?

20:12

Like, 100% my jam. I'm

20:14

having this is how you

20:16

lose the Time War. Feels

20:18

about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

20:20

Do we want to do

20:22

time travel roll bands? Yeah,

20:25

does that does that from

20:27

a genre perspective tell us

20:29

enough about what we're? Creating

20:31

or do we want to

20:33

say it's sci-fi with time

20:35

travel in it? I mean

20:37

it would be it would

20:39

be sci-fi as a given

20:41

right for time travel I

20:43

mean it could be fantasy

20:46

technically could be steam time

20:48

travel right like that's true.

20:50

Yeah I do like the

20:52

thought of like let let's

20:54

do like sci-fi time travel

20:56

time travel. So we're talking

20:58

like a device is what

21:00

powers the type travel effectively,

21:02

right? Yeah. Yeah. Because I

21:05

would also be fine with

21:07

magic in a fantasy setting

21:09

is the time travel, but

21:11

like the fantasy setting is

21:13

like real life effectively or

21:15

whatever. Yeah, I don't know.

21:17

I think I'm more interested

21:19

in sci-fi time travel. Is

21:21

it like... more of a

21:23

like dramatic sci-fi trying to

21:26

have a little more. Are

21:28

you feeling tone-wise? Are we

21:30

leaning in on light fluffy?

21:32

Are we in a Becky

21:34

Chambers book? Or are we

21:36

like... Now I'm trying to

21:38

think of something else. Are

21:40

we in a Katie Robert

21:42

book here? Like what are

21:44

we doing? I think more

21:47

towards the dramatic sounds interesting.

21:49

Yeah, I'm good with that.

21:51

Cool. So dramatic sci-fi, time-travelling

21:53

romance. Perfect. You know, that

21:55

really st- It's very standard,

21:57

yeah. Exactly. They have a

21:59

little section for it in

22:01

the romance section. It's just

22:03

separated out because there's so

22:06

many of them. Right. Okay,

22:08

so let me, I should

22:10

probably record this summer. I

22:12

will just open up a

22:14

notepad for that. Here we

22:16

go. Okay, so dramatic, sci-fi,

22:18

time travel, romance is our

22:20

genre. For some reason that's

22:22

not on the list. I

22:24

know. That's weird. I don't

22:27

know why. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay.

22:29

So, uh, veils and boundaries.

22:31

I mean, for character creation,

22:33

I don't know how much

22:35

that will come into play.

22:37

But, like, I mean, for

22:39

me, anything goes within reason.

22:41

And I know you and

22:43

trust you, so like my

22:45

veils and boundaries are common

22:48

sense. Yeah, well I think

22:50

we have pretty similar ones

22:52

just based on past experience.

22:54

I think what I would

22:56

say for this game, and

22:58

especially since we are just

23:00

making characters, is I would

23:02

be very comfortable with calling

23:04

out any veils or boundaries

23:07

that we need to as

23:09

we create the characters if

23:11

we discover anything that we're

23:13

like. No, thank you. Yeah,

23:15

we can we definitely employ

23:17

like an X card sort

23:19

of thing for that that

23:21

should be fine right I

23:23

mean because I am I

23:25

am having trouble thinking of

23:28

anything just from a character

23:30

creation perspective to throw out

23:32

there Especially since we've given

23:34

it a PG-13 rating right

23:36

like yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah,

23:38

I think that should be

23:40

fine Let's see, now we

23:42

get to agree on a

23:44

setting. So, as we begin

23:46

to create a parakered, just,

23:49

yep. Now that we're time

23:51

traveling. So what we have

23:53

to probably decide is what

23:55

setting is, quote, real time.

23:57

Where and when they are?

23:59

That's interesting. This is the

24:01

default setting for this game

24:03

is the present day, but

24:05

you could choose any location

24:08

and pretty much any time

24:10

it looks like. Okay. Well,

24:12

I mean, if we're talking

24:14

about technological time travel, the

24:16

base setting should be future,

24:18

right? Yeah. Dr. Who future?

24:20

Or, oh, yep, yep. Sorry,

24:22

I had to calculate, I

24:24

had a moment of calculating

24:26

those two expressions. I kind

24:29

of like Star Trek future.

24:31

But obviously time travel has

24:33

to not be an issue,

24:35

like not be against, you

24:37

know, the rules. Right, not

24:39

against the rules of the

24:41

Federation. Yeah, like it has

24:43

to be a thing that

24:45

they've figured out if you

24:48

can do it safely as

24:50

long as you, you know,

24:52

do X, Y, Z, right?

24:54

Yeah. So there's like leisurely

24:56

time travel allowed. Yeah, because

24:58

I think if we're doing

25:00

time travel as... you know,

25:02

a romance, the whole reason

25:04

to throw time travel out

25:06

is that obviously our dates

25:09

are going to happen potentially

25:11

in different times. Right, like,

25:13

because instead of being like,

25:15

I don't know what restaurant

25:17

you want to go to,

25:19

I might be like, I

25:21

don't know what time period

25:23

do you want to go

25:25

to, right? Yeah. So it's

25:27

a wild thing to have

25:30

to worry about. But like,

25:32

but I think if we

25:34

don't kind of open that

25:36

up as a possibility, then

25:38

where will time travel come

25:40

up, right? Yeah, I do,

25:42

I do like a kind

25:44

of exploratory, like star fairing

25:46

society. Right? Sure, yeah. That

25:49

also has time travel. Right.

25:51

That is available as much

25:53

as teleporters are available. Right.

25:55

Or like it, or like

25:57

available. was like, you know,

25:59

what's my call in the

26:01

hollow room? Yeah, the hollow

26:03

decks. The hollow decks, thank you.

26:05

I'm bad at words. No, that's fine.

26:08

I've watched a lot of Star Trek,

26:10

but I cannot promise. That's a

26:12

wild thought of like the holidays

26:14

are replaced effectively by time travel

26:16

chambers. Well, it said that there

26:18

are still totally things you could

26:20

do in a hollow deck that

26:22

you couldn't do. That's fair. Real

26:24

time travel if you were actually

26:26

going a place. Yeah. But I

26:28

wonder if maybe it works kind

26:31

of the same way, right? Like

26:33

you go into like sort of

26:35

a time travel chamber and like

26:37

whatever happens within that chamber is

26:39

happening like in that time for real.

26:41

But like as long as it happens

26:43

within that confined space it doesn't impact

26:45

the rest of the timeline or something.

26:48

Yeah, it creates like some sort

26:50

of like. paradox prevention bubble

26:52

or something yeah and so you

26:54

can't you can't just like wander the

26:56

whole world but like you or do whatever

26:59

you want right right you get these

27:01

like really like specific area time

27:03

bubbles over a specific thing for

27:05

while you're in there or something

27:07

along those lines. Have you seen Loki at

27:09

all? The series? The series, Loki on

27:11

Disney? I watched the first season and I

27:13

didn't, I watched like the first couple of

27:15

the second season and I keep meaning to

27:18

go back to it. But then there was

27:20

a lot. Right. I mean the first

27:22

season should be enough for what I'm

27:24

thinking of, right? Yes. The whole concept

27:26

of pruning the timelines and stuff, right?

27:28

Yeah. Like, I like the thought of

27:30

it being like. You go back in

27:32

time, you can do whatever you want,

27:35

experience whatever you want, be as active

27:37

or not within that time, and when

27:39

you go, it resets back to the

27:41

way it's supposed to be. Yeah, interesting.

27:43

So like you can't affect

27:45

the timeline, you're just time

27:48

tourists effectively. Yeah, you

27:50

can just go look at it.

27:52

I mean, you can affect it

27:54

for a personal experience, but like when

27:56

you're gone, it goes back to the way

27:58

it should have been. Yeah. the multitude

28:00

of potential time branches that

28:02

would creative people are just

28:04

using this as recreation is

28:06

just like a lot. So

28:09

this is a society that

28:11

apparently doesn't care about that.

28:13

Exactly. Because it's not an

28:15

issue, it's hand waived by

28:17

science fiction. Sure. They just

28:19

go away. The time panels

28:21

just go away. Yeah. This

28:23

is, so the game that

28:26

I'm playing with Phil right

28:28

now, which if you listen

28:30

to Penn is talking games,

28:32

then you have heard about

28:34

this before, but. playing a

28:36

game called Long Live the

28:38

Queen and it does involve

28:40

branching timelines and the society

28:43

that is in science fiction

28:45

traveling backwards in these timelines

28:47

thinks that when they leave

28:49

the timeline just closes and

28:51

goes away but it doesn't.

28:53

Like that's the thing is

28:55

they go back in these

28:57

timelines they mine all the

29:00

resources out of them and

29:02

then they leave and everybody

29:04

is like oh it'll be

29:06

fine this timeline just disappears

29:08

but it doesn't you've just

29:10

left this strip mind. The

29:12

version of the timeline behind

29:14

you. Oh, that's horrible. This

29:17

is what I'm now thinking

29:19

about. Yeah. Maybe it's that.

29:21

Sure, we're not going to

29:23

think about that. This is

29:25

a romance game. No, we

29:27

don't want tragedy in our

29:29

romance game. Yeah, whatever. I

29:31

mean, it is a dramatic

29:34

romance. So maybe a little

29:36

bit of tragedy is a

29:38

treat. We can have a

29:40

little tragedy as a treat.

29:42

I don't know if a

29:44

setting like this has come

29:46

out. I'd be very curious

29:48

if anybody that's listening knows

29:50

of a setting that's like

29:53

this. Let us know because

29:55

this sounds fascinating. Yeah, I

29:57

only know the personal one

29:59

that I'm playing in. Yeah.

30:01

Yeah. Okay. Character creation. Now

30:03

that we have our setting,

30:05

we've got our genre and

30:07

our rating effectively, we agreed

30:10

on a setting. Now we

30:12

get to work on making

30:14

a switch. So this is

30:16

a very interesting part of

30:18

character creation. And the switch,

30:20

begin by considering how you

30:22

are different from your co-player.

30:24

This is me Ryan and

30:27

you send a how we

30:29

are different. Okay. So we

30:31

will chat with one another

30:33

to find out our commonalities

30:35

and differences and examples of

30:37

differences between players, gender or

30:39

sex, town region or country

30:41

of origin, sexual orientation, ethnicity,

30:44

politics, social group, job, age,

30:46

etc. So we basically pick

30:48

a category. of something that

30:50

we have differences on. And

30:52

this becomes a character trait

30:54

for the other person's character.

30:56

Okay. So for instance, you

30:58

will, I am different in

31:01

the same way, switch the

31:03

difference with your partner. Okay.

31:05

Yeah. So, like, for instance,

31:07

I am demijendered. Yep. Your

31:09

character would then become demi-gendered.

31:11

Yes. If we chose that

31:13

as the difference. Yeah, and

31:15

then you would be cisgendered.

31:18

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, what are

31:20

you, what are you interested

31:22

in? I mean, honestly, almost

31:24

anything is, I mean, it

31:26

makes sense. Because like I'm

31:28

pretty sure we're we're pretty

31:30

similar on politics. Yeah, I

31:32

imagine that we are. Yeah.

31:34

I mean country of origin

31:37

is pretty much the same

31:39

and yeah, I don't think

31:41

that one's as interesting. We

31:43

have very similar jobs even.

31:45

We do have very similar

31:47

jobs, right? I'm sure our

31:49

social group structure is relative.

31:51

the same as well. Pretty

31:54

similar, yep. Yeah. Um, ethnicity

31:56

seems to be pretty much

31:58

the same as well. I

32:00

know we differ on gender

32:02

or sex and sexual orientation.

32:04

Cool, we can do either

32:06

one of those and I

32:08

am good with that. Yeah,

32:11

and an age, of course,

32:13

but I don't know. I

32:15

think I've been closer age

32:17

to you than... you are

32:19

to fill. I'm in the

32:21

in between. I'm going to

32:23

be 45 this year. So

32:25

yeah, you are in the

32:28

middle, but I am closer

32:30

to you than I am

32:32

to fill. Yes. Yeah. So

32:34

I think gender or orientation

32:36

might be the most interesting

32:38

ones to play around with.

32:40

Yeah, I think I'm good

32:42

with either of those. What

32:45

is your orientation? Maybe we

32:47

should just... Are we okay

32:49

having this out on the

32:51

mites? Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm

32:53

perfectly okay with it. Yeah,

32:55

no, I'm a straight poly.

32:57

Okay, cool. Yeah. I'm pan.

32:59

Nice. And I don't know

33:02

about the polyam part. It's

33:04

been a region of exploration

33:06

for me. So, we'll see.

33:08

That's interesting. Do we want

33:10

to go with that for...

33:12

Is it different enough? I

33:14

mean, technically, kind of, I

33:16

mean, like, I am. Sure.

33:18

Why not? Sure, why not?

33:21

That works for me. Okay,

33:23

I am. Oh, so the,

33:25

the boxes on the character

33:27

sheet, then, are the ones

33:29

labeled switch. Is that what

33:31

we're filling out? Perfect. That

33:33

is the switch. Awesome. So

33:35

it looks like, honestly, it

33:38

looks like we share the

33:40

character sheet. So I don't

33:42

know if you want me

33:44

to fill out my on

33:46

by sheet or Oh, I

33:48

see it's both sides on

33:50

the same one. Yeah Yeah,

33:52

it's wild. Interesting. Okay, we

33:55

can do whichever you want.

33:57

I feel like, uh, yeah.

33:59

Do you, I think if

34:01

you end up doing it,

34:03

you'll end up doing all

34:05

the typing. Is that cool

34:07

with you? I'm fine with

34:09

that. Okay. So, uh, so

34:12

I'll be putting mine on

34:14

the left and yours on

34:16

the right. Sure. Why not?

34:18

That means I should probably

34:20

go look at your character

34:22

sheet instead of the one

34:24

that I'm looking at. Oh

34:26

yeah, I don't know if

34:29

it'll update automatically, but you

34:31

can probably hit refresh or

34:33

something. I'll just save after

34:35

every edit. That'll be fine.

34:37

It'll be fine. Oh, interesting.

34:39

Okay, so, that's all we

34:41

know currently about our characters

34:43

is my character will be

34:46

Pan, sexual, and your character

34:48

will be Polly. Yes, perfect.

34:50

That's really interesting, a mechanic.

34:52

like a little bit of

34:54

vulnerability. Yeah, right up front,

34:56

you have to build a

34:58

connection, right? You have to

35:00

build a trust. Very similar

35:02

vibes to the passing the

35:05

character sheet in Star Cross.

35:07

Yeah. Okay. Um, let's see.

35:09

So we don't need to

35:11

go through examples. We write

35:13

the switch traits in the

35:15

character sheet. Um, and then

35:17

unless that trait switched is

35:19

gender, there's no restriction on

35:22

what. Gender your character will

35:24

be Except that they have

35:26

to be someone that the

35:28

other character would be attracted

35:30

to yes, that would make

35:32

a lot of sense, right?

35:34

Yeah Okay, so I guess

35:36

Like what's so I guess

35:39

it depends on what your

35:41

character's gender is at that

35:43

point I guess it was

35:45

good. I was gonna say

35:47

I guess it depends I

35:49

I have to admit that

35:51

I usually default to she

35:53

her because it is my

35:56

realm of experience But I

35:58

am Also totally willing to

36:00

do something else if you

36:02

prefer. No, I think that

36:04

wouldn't make sense. And then

36:06

I will probably just go

36:08

with he they at that

36:10

point. And then cool, we

36:13

just make it really easy.

36:15

Yeah. Don't have to memorize

36:17

new pronouns or anything like

36:19

that. All right, I'll put

36:21

that up in the character

36:23

name column and we'll get

36:25

actual names in there later.

36:27

But that should work. Interesting.

36:30

Now we get to do

36:32

this interesting exploration of the

36:34

characters favorite color and the

36:36

word web Okay, so we

36:38

choose our characters favorite color

36:40

and then we write that

36:42

on the character sheet And

36:44

then each player will also

36:47

write that in the middle

36:49

of a blank sheet of

36:51

paper to do a word

36:53

web. I don't know if

36:55

I have one readily I

36:57

have a pencil. Okay, cool.

36:59

So, we choose which player

37:01

goes first. We're set. Apologies

37:03

for the paper sounds and

37:06

all the weird voices of

37:08

rearranging. They're now occurring. Okay,

37:10

that's fine. We're set. I

37:12

have a pencil. Okay, cool.

37:14

So, we choose which player

37:16

goes first. And on your

37:18

turn, you draw a circle

37:20

around your. own characters' color

37:23

and choose a different word

37:25

inspired by the color. For

37:27

example, if the color was

37:29

red, the player might say,

37:31

passion. And then you write

37:33

the new word on the

37:35

page and draw a line

37:37

from the color to the

37:40

first word. And then the

37:42

other player thinks of a

37:44

different word, inspired by either

37:46

the color itself or the

37:48

word that the first player

37:50

wrote on the page. So

37:52

some word association going on

37:54

here. Yeah, cool. which is

37:57

interesting. I don't know. For

37:59

interesting. Neat. What? Do you want to

38:01

go first or do you want me to

38:03

go first? Um, I mean, we can

38:05

probably start with mine. That's

38:08

fine. Sure. All right, I'm just

38:10

gonna be simple and go with

38:12

my favorite color, which is teal.

38:14

Oh no, I'm just gonna say teal.

38:16

Okay, now I have to pick up

38:18

a different color. It's okay. You

38:20

go, you go. That's fine.

38:22

Okay, teal. Technically dark teal.

38:24

If we want to get

38:26

semantic about it. I know.

38:28

Have you seen walls in

38:30

my office? Those look, those

38:32

look, those look like pretty

38:35

base walls. I really

38:37

like them. Okay, dark teal.

38:39

So then I have to

38:42

write that on my sheet of

38:44

paper. Put a circle

38:46

around it. Put a

38:48

circle around it. And the

38:51

first word that comes

38:53

to mind is ocean. Cool.

38:55

That's. kind of along the

38:57

lines of what I was thinking

39:00

too. So you have dark teal

39:02

or ocean to work with. Yeah,

39:04

I think I'm gonna tell you, I

39:06

think I'm gonna tell you, quiet

39:08

strength. Oh. Is that too many

39:11

words? Because it's due words.

39:13

I think it's technically fine. We

39:15

can do what we want. I

39:17

think we should just do it.

39:20

What is that stemming off of?

39:22

Ocean. Ocean. Quiet strength.

39:24

Okay, now I just need

39:26

to figure out how much

39:29

we have to do. Yeah, how

39:31

many words? A total of

39:33

12. So not counting the

39:35

color. Each player gets

39:38

six words for this.

39:40

Okay, so we've each had

39:42

one. Okay, so then I'm

39:44

also going to branch off

39:47

of ocean and say water.

39:49

I'm gonna tell you also

39:51

off of ocean salty. Salty.

39:55

Good. Good, good. I'm

39:57

going to go off

39:59

of... dark teal and go

40:02

with calm. I'm going to

40:04

go off of salty and

40:06

say sarcastic. Sarcast, that's perfect.

40:09

Halfway there. Let's see, I'm

40:11

trying to think of maybe

40:13

another one off of dark

40:16

teal. I just have to

40:18

have a weird favorite color,

40:20

that's all. Yeah. It's not

40:23

like an easy one, like

40:25

stop nice. I know, right?

40:28

Magical. Oh, sure. You know,

40:30

I think I'm going to

40:32

go off of, if you

40:35

want to just connect to

40:37

this to both Dark Teel

40:39

and magical, I would like

40:42

to say shiny because it's

40:44

giving me like mermaid scale

40:46

feelings, right? If you like

40:49

that. Cool. Hmm. I'm trying

40:51

to think of the word

40:54

that I'm thinking of. Right,

40:56

there's a lot of really

40:58

good visuals that I get

41:01

from Dark Teal. Sometimes difficult

41:03

to express in like a

41:05

word. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

41:08

All right, I'm going to

41:10

go off of, let's see,

41:12

Dark Teal, musical. Interesting. I

41:15

think I want to go

41:17

off of ocean and say

41:20

clear. Or actually, why don't

41:22

you do water? to clear.

41:24

Water, sure. We got one

41:27

more each. Yeah. Okay, a

41:29

lot is coming off of

41:31

ocean there. Yeah, ocean. Ocean

41:34

has a lot of inspiration.

41:36

Okay, off of magical, I'm

41:38

going to have mysterious. Mm-hmm.

41:41

And you get one last

41:43

word. Yeah. Why don't you

41:46

do off of mysterious, do

41:48

cloaked? Why not? All right,

41:50

we got our 12 words.

41:53

Okay. Interesting. And so I

41:55

think we do the same.

41:57

for you as well. Yeah.

42:00

So since you took teal.

42:02

Yeah, sorry. Okay. I offered

42:04

you going first. I think

42:07

that I'm going to just

42:09

say and I'll make it

42:12

a little bit easier for

42:14

us. I'm gonna say green.

42:16

Okay. I think my first

42:19

word is going to be

42:21

off of green is going

42:23

to be leaves. Leaves okay

42:26

off of leaves. I'll do

42:28

forest off of leaves. I'm

42:30

gonna do I'm gonna do

42:33

soft. Oh nice Let's see

42:35

off of green I think

42:38

I'm gonna do lagoon interesting

42:40

I like that tropical yeah

42:42

that really like Green, blue,

42:45

green water. Yeah. Actually, off

42:47

of lagoon, then I'm going

42:49

to do warm. I think

42:52

we've done three each right

42:54

now, or I've done three

42:56

and you've done two actually.

42:59

Yeah, interesting. Off of soft,

43:01

comforting. Off of green, I'm

43:04

also going to do glowing.

43:06

Off of glowing. Off of

43:08

glowing. Off of glowing. Let's

43:11

do bright. I'm looking for

43:13

a word. Like this is

43:15

one of those interesting moments

43:18

that would describe the way

43:20

that you like see a

43:22

firefly like light up and

43:25

then go dark and then

43:27

light up again and go

43:30

dark. Yeah. Maybe, maybe. Oh

43:32

my goodness, I forgot to

43:34

mute my phone. I'm a

43:37

professional. like fleeting or like

43:39

I'm like the action of

43:41

the glowing well like the

43:44

like the like appear disappear

43:46

like yeah the but it

43:48

returns right I don't know

43:51

if I have a word

43:53

for that that's what I'm

43:56

looking for yeah how do

43:58

you encapsulate that concept into

44:00

a single word Firefly. I

44:03

think that's good. I think

44:05

that's there. That might have

44:07

been the word right? Like

44:10

why did we? Why did

44:12

I go down that? These

44:14

are concepts. That's right. Yeah.

44:17

Yeah. Firefly off of glowing.

44:19

Okay. Excellent. Okay. Okay. We

44:22

each get one more. Yeah.

44:24

Cuz that was a 10.

44:26

thinking this gets harder it

44:29

really does like you get

44:31

more words but like yeah

44:33

but then you're like you

44:36

have to think more about

44:38

the concept because you've done

44:40

a lot of the easy

44:43

ones for sure off of

44:45

forest I'm going to put

44:48

I'm going to put quiet

44:50

quiet okay very nice very

44:52

nice very nice Because I

44:55

don't know if we use

44:57

all of these as our

44:59

traits or if we just

45:02

get inspiration about our traits

45:04

from these. Sure. But off

45:06

of Lagoon, yeah. Let's put

45:09

lively. Yeah. Awesome. And I

45:11

think that's 12, right? One,

45:14

two, four, five, seven, eight,

45:16

nine, nine, ten. Perfect. All

45:18

right? Interesting. Yeah. Okay. So

45:21

these words are used to

45:23

inspire characters traits. So now

45:25

brainstorming for traits we look

45:28

at the word web around

45:30

your character's favorite color and

45:32

imagine what it might tell

45:35

you about your character. What

45:37

personality traits do these words

45:40

suggest? What jobs might they

45:42

represent? interests would follow from

45:44

them. Are there other words

45:47

they bring to mind? So

45:49

you make notes on the

45:51

page and share your ideas

45:54

with your co-player. If you

45:56

find connections between the two

45:58

characters include them in your

46:01

brainstorming. Okay, cool. Well, the

46:03

lagoon in the ocean is

46:06

a definite connection point. I'm

46:08

not sure how that will

46:10

necessarily connect for us in

46:13

terms of traits at this

46:15

point, but just to keep

46:17

in mind. Yeah. I mean

46:20

we get to pretty much

46:22

make up whatever. Totally metagaming

46:24

it. Yeah. Perfect. I like

46:27

that. Cool. Create treats as

46:29

false. But I think so

46:32

what jobs might they represent?

46:34

This is. Yeah. I mean

46:36

we get to pretty much

46:39

make up whatever job we

46:41

want because it's sci-fi, right?

46:43

Right, exactly. So let's see,

46:46

what does it say from

46:48

these words? I need you

46:50

as you create traits as

46:53

follows. Traits are words or

46:55

short statements about the character.

46:58

Many games in this volume

47:00

use traits in breaking the

47:02

ice, they are divided into

47:05

the categories self, work, and

47:07

play on the character sheet.

47:09

So there are different self

47:12

traits, work traits, and play

47:14

traits that you can have.

47:16

Self includes temperament, personality, home,

47:19

pets, family, friends, work, includes

47:21

career, vocation, or calling, and

47:24

play includes hobbies and interests,

47:26

and new traits can be

47:28

created at any time. That's

47:31

really interesting. So, like, you

47:33

wanna choose four to six

47:35

traits total with at least

47:38

one in each category, it

47:40

sounds like. And then you'll

47:42

add more, many more traits

47:45

throughout the game. So I

47:47

think four to six is

47:50

a good thing to shoot

47:52

for, right? Yeah, that sounds

47:54

good. Yeah, so like we

47:57

look at our own personal

47:59

web. and kind of

48:01

also look for the

48:03

connections. Like I would say

48:05

firefly and magical or

48:08

shiny. Both of them would

48:10

kind of connect. Yeah, shiny

48:12

and glowing. I mean, so

48:15

what I'm starting to

48:17

think about this person

48:19

is that she, like I don't

48:21

know why this combination

48:23

of things. And

48:27

maybe

48:30

doing

48:33

something

48:38

like

48:42

maintaining

48:47

the, um,

48:50

Large ship thing! Are we talking

48:52

about the engines or the time travel?

48:54

Just the ship, it's like if we're,

48:57

I get, we're, I've sort of decided

48:59

that we're on some sort of large

49:01

ship apparently. Sure, that makes

49:03

sense. Oh, okay, space station.

49:06

That's what I was going

49:08

for, right? Like, if you're

49:10

living on a space station

49:12

and like somebody's got to

49:14

be maintaining some of this

49:16

stuff, right? There's probably more

49:18

than one person. Yeah, there's a

49:20

lot. This is like the

49:22

Miles O'Brien of DS9 fame.

49:24

Right. Except like the like

49:26

cute, girly ADHD version.

49:28

Who likes bright shiny lights

49:31

and is excited to tinker

49:33

with things and see if

49:35

she can make them better,

49:37

which probably sometimes works and

49:39

sometimes doesn't. But I think

49:42

that she may be also

49:44

is sometimes better at machines

49:46

than people because she has

49:48

this quiet. on her on her

49:51

sheet also. Yeah, right.

49:53

That's interesting.

49:55

Now I've got like

49:57

cloaked mysterious.

50:00

You're playing the sci-fi version

50:02

of magical Mr. Mistophiles. It's

50:04

really interesting. I'm trying to

50:06

think of my character's position

50:09

because I'm going to go

50:11

out in a limb and

50:13

say we're both inhabitants of

50:15

the same space station. I

50:18

feel like that makes life

50:20

easy. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

50:22

so space stations are big,

50:25

space stations are big, or

50:27

bigger, right? You know, the

50:29

big ship thing. Yeah, the

50:31

big ship things that stay

50:34

in one place. In place,

50:36

yeah. Like, and they have

50:38

thingies, and then you like

50:40

swirl around with the camera

50:43

with really slow music. I

50:45

got you. Yeah, with epic

50:47

orcustral music playing. Yeah, those

50:50

guys. But I mean, I've

50:52

got the, like, the quiet

50:54

strength, the calm. This is

50:56

somebody that's, like, good in

50:59

the crisis. Yes, it is.

51:01

So this is somebody that

51:03

is, I'm wondering, because, like,

51:05

okay, we've got the call,

51:08

we've got the quiet strength,

51:10

mysterious and cloaked. What if,

51:12

I'm, like, a security officer,

51:15

or so, like, for the

51:17

station, trying to keep people

51:19

safe and whatnot. That makes

51:21

sense. To me. Yeah. Yeah.

51:24

Security officer and the mechanic.

51:26

Going on a date. Going

51:28

on a date. That's awesome.

51:30

I love it. So yeah,

51:33

so under work, that's an

51:35

easy trait to define. Right.

51:37

I think we just figured

51:40

that one out for both

51:42

of us. Yeah. Are you

51:44

the head mechanic? Sure, yeah,

51:46

that makes things more interesting.

51:49

Oh, well, okay. Well, I

51:51

am either the head mechanic

51:53

or I'm like the lowest

51:56

apprentice, right? So one of

51:58

those two. I like the,

52:00

I like, let's both be

52:02

like the heads of our

52:05

department. Okay, cool. Because that

52:07

might be some interesting conflict.

52:09

So yeah, the head station

52:11

mechanic and the head security

52:14

officer, which would happen if

52:16

this were a sci-fi television

52:18

series, right? Absolutely would. Yeah,

52:21

because the main characters would

52:23

be the people in charge,

52:25

right? The head people, yes,

52:27

100%. This makes sense to

52:30

me, perfect. So we got

52:32

our jobs, so that's one

52:34

out of four or six

52:36

traits. One down, three to

52:39

five to go. Right. Let's

52:41

see. So it's kind of

52:43

work, self. Yeah, self. Interesting

52:46

examples they have in the

52:48

book for self for this

52:50

character that they were working

52:52

with. Fast driver lives at

52:55

parents house, short temper, dog

52:57

owner, foodie, shy, right. I

52:59

think I actually said to

53:01

some when we were talking

53:04

about this because I think

53:06

so too. Yeah, because there's

53:08

the one that I can

53:11

immediately think of that I

53:13

said was better with machines,

53:15

right, than people. That's definitely

53:17

a self-treat. Yeah, better with

53:20

machines than people, certainly. And

53:22

I think she's really, let

53:24

me think about the wording

53:27

for this, right? I think

53:29

she's really interested in. I

53:31

think she likes to theorize

53:33

and then prove a theory,

53:36

right? Like on how to

53:38

make things better. I'm trying

53:40

to think of how to

53:42

say that in less words

53:45

as a trait. So maybe

53:47

she's an experimenter. Would that

53:49

be self or play? Interesting

53:52

question. Because I could see

53:54

it working for both too.

53:56

You know, I, so I

53:58

think itself in this case,

54:01

because I don't think that

54:03

it embodies a hobby or

54:05

a thing that she... does

54:07

for fun. I think that

54:10

it encompasses her work and

54:12

her play and potentially her

54:14

approach to everything, right? Like

54:17

that makes sense. Yeah. Would

54:19

ADHD be another self? We

54:21

don't have to give my

54:23

character ADHD just because I

54:26

have ADHD. I know. So

54:28

for my traits for self,

54:30

I put currently good in

54:32

the crisis and keeps to

54:35

himself in the crisis and

54:37

keeps to himself in Yeah,

54:39

yeah, mysterious. Totally mysterious. I

54:42

do like that, I do

54:44

like that salty sarcasm. Yes.

54:46

That's good. Let me think,

54:48

and like, I feel like

54:51

we should put something in

54:53

play and then see if

54:55

that makes us feel like

54:58

we're rounded out enough. Yeah,

55:00

exactly. I put salty sarcasm

55:02

with friends. In play, that

55:04

makes sense. Is it play?

55:07

Yeah, you'd play. Yeah, that

55:09

would make sense. Uh, let's

55:11

see. I think, okay, I

55:13

think that, um, I think

55:16

that this person is an

55:18

amateur, um, an amateur gardener

55:20

of subterranean plants. I think,

55:23

okay, just underplay, you could

55:25

just put subterranean plants, right?

55:27

Because they glow. Nice. Maybe

55:29

she like has a collection

55:32

that she tends of like

55:34

glowing plants basically. Oh, I

55:36

love that. I play an

55:38

instrument. Oh, yes. What instrument

55:41

do you create? Hmm. He's

55:43

an instrument that we know

55:45

or is it a sci-fi

55:48

instrument? Yeah, that's a very

55:50

good question. Because like, I

55:52

think either way it could

55:54

be interesting. What sort of

55:57

instruments? What sort of instrument

55:59

would look fun in... zero

56:01

gravity too. Because I'm sure

56:03

there's going to be some

56:06

of that. Oh, well, so

56:08

do you know image and

56:10

heap by any chance? So

56:13

she has that instrument that

56:15

she like she puts it

56:17

on her hands and then

56:19

what she does with her

56:22

fingers like I saw that

56:24

it's wild. Yeah, like imagine

56:26

doing that in zero G

56:29

like you could do more

56:31

than just your hands. It

56:33

could be the placement of

56:35

your entire person. Yeah, yeah,

56:38

yeah. Uh, so cash, what

56:40

would that be called? It's,

56:42

it's like, body music or

56:44

something? I don't know. Body

56:47

rock? Body rock, oh man.

56:49

Oh man, he's a body

56:51

rocker. Body rocker, yeah, yeah,

56:54

yeah. But like, uh, body

56:56

controlled, uh, music, I don't

56:58

know. Because once it's digital

57:00

you can make a lot

57:03

of different sounds out of

57:05

it. Yeah It's almost like

57:07

kind of like an orchestra

57:09

Like like a conductor. Yeah

57:12

So maybe it's maybe it's

57:14

like a self-body conductor. Yeah

57:16

like self self orchestra orchestra

57:19

solo solo body. Yeah, solo

57:21

body orch. Solo body orchestra.

57:23

Yeah, solo body orch. That's

57:25

cool. We just invented a

57:28

new genre of music. And

57:30

someone out there should create

57:32

this instrument now for us.

57:34

It sounds really neat. It

57:37

technically might exist. Who knows?

57:39

Yep. You just, the zero

57:41

G power would be difficult

57:44

to make it happen. Yeah,

57:46

we don't we don't have

57:48

easy access to that right

57:50

now. Not really. Yeah. Okay.

57:53

I think that's cool though

57:55

a nice musical instrument there

57:57

trying to think Oh, I

57:59

I think that my

58:02

character, one of her

58:04

other play traits, is

58:06

that she is a swimmer.

58:08

Oh, that's lovely because

58:11

I was thinking water

58:13

polo. There you go,

58:16

right? Cool. So they

58:18

do water sports, but

58:20

not in the dirty

58:22

way. Right, exactly. Perfect.

58:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

58:27

Water polo and

58:29

swimming. That's beautiful.

58:31

I like that. Wamadi, do I

58:34

have three, four, five, six? I

58:36

have six. Yeah, I think that

58:38

gives me five. So I think

58:41

that's probably pretty

58:43

good. Yeah. And of course

58:46

there's space for a whole

58:48

bunch more as we go. So

58:50

that should be fine. So that

58:52

just means that we have a

58:55

name. off to do for

58:57

a character. The hardest part.

58:59

We haven't done so

59:02

already. I know it

59:04

is the hardest part, isn't

59:06

it? This is the part

59:09

where I go out to

59:11

the internet and I say

59:13

sci-fi name generator. And then

59:16

I end up with

59:18

things like Adele Misland

59:20

that nobody can spell.

59:22

It's true. All right.

59:24

Space maybe? No, it's

59:26

boring. I do like

59:28

the cyberpunk names. Oh,

59:30

they've got like Star

59:33

Trek universe or

59:35

Serenity, that's cool. Okay,

59:38

generate names. Oh, wow, this

59:40

one just generated me

59:42

names in addition to

59:45

like little blurbs

59:47

about them. Oh, which is

59:49

really cool. Like it just crafted

59:51

like little one blurb sentences about

59:54

who they are. I'm going to

59:56

ignore that part because I don't

59:58

care but... I think... that my

1:00:00

character is Lyra Voxis. How

1:00:03

you spell that? L-I-R-A and

1:00:05

then last name Voxis V-O-X-I-S.

1:00:07

Nice. My upcoming D&D character's

1:00:09

name is Lyra. Oh, interesting.

1:00:11

Only with a Y. Yeah.

1:00:13

Okay, so what is my

1:00:16

character's name? Head of security.

1:00:18

Space names. Serenity names? That's

1:00:20

not a bad one. Vincent

1:00:22

Ward. Oh, that, yeah, that's

1:00:24

good. Vincent Ward, he they.

1:00:26

And Vera Voxes. Commander Ward.

1:00:28

Yes. we get to choose

1:00:31

a conflict. After traits have

1:00:33

been chosen, you have some

1:00:35

sense of your character as

1:00:37

a person take turns asking

1:00:39

each other the following question.

1:00:41

What is problematic for your

1:00:44

character about going on this

1:00:46

date? Oh no. Good. What

1:00:48

is problematic for my character

1:00:50

about going on this date?

1:00:52

Is there an issue with

1:00:54

like... fraternizing or are we

1:00:56

leaving that aside because they're

1:00:59

both the heads of our

1:01:01

departments I think as long

1:01:03

as it's lateral it's fine

1:01:05

yeah okay I mean so

1:01:07

many people in the space

1:01:09

station are employed by the

1:01:12

space station like you can't

1:01:14

expect them to not have

1:01:16

relationships with each other exactly

1:01:18

super valid okay good okay

1:01:20

let me just I might

1:01:22

just verbally process some stuff

1:01:24

and yeah please help me

1:01:27

narrow it down So it

1:01:29

is interesting because you are

1:01:31

the head of security. I

1:01:33

feel like there's probably something

1:01:35

about you being the head

1:01:37

of security specifically that is

1:01:39

potentially an issue. Maybe we've

1:01:42

had a conflict before over

1:01:44

somebody getting in trouble for

1:01:46

a thing that was against

1:01:48

the rules, doesn't mean it

1:01:50

was wrong. I guess, so

1:01:52

I guess is there a

1:01:55

conflict in that maybe? Maybe

1:01:57

there's a chaos versus law

1:01:59

spectrum piece here that is

1:02:01

not quite aligned. That's an

1:02:03

interesting approach. Yeah, I think

1:02:05

that would be a valid

1:02:07

conflict, right? Yeah, I mean,

1:02:10

is it, is that okay

1:02:12

with you and does it,

1:02:14

would it interest you in

1:02:16

play? Yeah, I think so,

1:02:18

because like, you know, ahead

1:02:20

of security, you got to

1:02:23

follow the rules, I'm sure

1:02:25

he bends them. Right. Right.

1:02:27

Right. Right. I don't think

1:02:29

he'll ever break the rules

1:02:31

per se. Yeah. Unless he

1:02:33

has to for the greater

1:02:35

good. Right. Yeah. So I

1:02:38

like that chaos versus law

1:02:40

conflict. Yeah. And I don't.

1:02:42

Could definitely come into play.

1:02:44

Because this conflict mechanically is

1:02:46

we invoke this during each.

1:02:48

seen or turned, you can

1:02:51

invoke the conflict to roll

1:02:53

extra dice. Interesting. Yeah. Okay.

1:02:55

So like, then I think

1:02:57

it has expressed itself in

1:02:59

the past with Lira sometimes

1:03:01

disagreeing with some of the

1:03:03

calls that Vincent has made

1:03:06

in specific situations about security.

1:03:08

Oh, that's spicy. Yeah. Okay.

1:03:10

I like that. For Vincent,

1:03:12

I think he worried about

1:03:14

being distracted from his duties.

1:03:16

Yeah, that's he doesn't want

1:03:19

to make a critical mistake

1:03:21

because you know his heads

1:03:23

in the clouds. Sure, yeah.

1:03:25

Yeah, those are interesting conflicts.

1:03:27

I am just going to

1:03:29

call out some of the

1:03:31

first one on the sheet

1:03:34

as an example is is

1:03:36

babysitting a leopard. What? What?

1:03:38

Like the other ones make

1:03:40

sense? The other ones are

1:03:42

like, you know, has dated

1:03:44

the other character's older brother

1:03:47

or something, right? But like,

1:03:49

is babysitting a leopard? You

1:03:51

know, I guess it's brilliant

1:03:53

that that's included because it

1:03:55

just shows the wide range

1:03:57

of what your conflicts could

1:03:59

be. I mean, that would

1:04:02

be a conflict for me

1:04:04

dating someone if I was

1:04:06

scared to go to where

1:04:08

we were having the date

1:04:10

because there was a leopard.

1:04:12

Yeah, don't mind my leopard.

1:04:14

I'm just babysitting for a

1:04:17

while. Just my friend's leopard.

1:04:19

Yeah, it's just chilling in

1:04:21

my house, right? Yeah. It's

1:04:23

awesome. Okay. So the conflict

1:04:25

you chose will be a

1:04:27

theme throughout the game. So

1:04:30

yeah, I think we got

1:04:32

some good juicy conflict there.

1:04:34

Absolutely. Beautiful. And compatibility during

1:04:36

the game, characters gain special

1:04:38

traits called compatibility. The characters

1:04:40

share these traits. Competibilities are

1:04:42

created when four successes are

1:04:45

achieved during a turn. And

1:04:47

we don't have to worry

1:04:49

about that right now because

1:04:51

we're not playing. But that

1:04:53

is good to know for

1:04:55

the future. And that's character

1:04:58

creation. That is character creation.

1:05:00

We did it. Wow, that

1:05:02

was cool. I really like

1:05:04

the word, the word bubble

1:05:06

part. Yeah, that was so

1:05:08

interesting. I guess there's more

1:05:10

of a structure about how

1:05:13

we should have a conversation

1:05:15

about this if I actually

1:05:17

go back to your notes.

1:05:19

So I appreciate you. And

1:05:21

I appreciate everyone listening for

1:05:23

being patient with me as

1:05:26

a stand and host. Yeah,

1:05:28

absolutely. No, I want to

1:05:30

get into some quick discussion

1:05:32

about the process that we

1:05:34

just went through. And I

1:05:36

think we'll do this in

1:05:38

the D20 for your thoughts

1:05:41

segment of the show. D20

1:05:43

for your thoughts? So what

1:05:45

sort of story do these

1:05:47

character sheets tell us about

1:05:49

the gameplay experience before we

1:05:51

even sit down to play?

1:05:54

Yeah. I didn't notice they

1:05:56

were two-sided for the same

1:05:58

game at first. Right. That's

1:06:00

very cool. I didn't notice

1:06:02

it at first either and

1:06:04

I think, I mean it

1:06:06

says a lot about the

1:06:09

fact that like... you're really

1:06:11

just sharing kind of the

1:06:13

same information. And I imagine

1:06:15

if we were sitting at

1:06:17

a table playing, we'd probably

1:06:19

each have the sheet in

1:06:21

front of us, but it

1:06:24

would have the same information

1:06:26

on it. Yeah, but it

1:06:28

tells me that you're playing

1:06:30

a couple, right? You're playing

1:06:32

two people that are bound

1:06:34

together through these dates and

1:06:37

sharing the attraction, sharing the

1:06:39

compatibility. Those are down the

1:06:41

middle. Right? Yeah. And then

1:06:43

your, each of yourselves are

1:06:45

on the other side to

1:06:47

the sheet. And then you

1:06:49

have like a very bare

1:06:52

bones of the rules below

1:06:54

all of that, below your

1:06:56

traits. It's very simple, straightforward.

1:06:58

And really kind of, it's

1:07:00

in tune with the whole

1:07:02

point of the game. I

1:07:05

have to say that I

1:07:07

love it. It's one of

1:07:09

my favorite things when there's

1:07:11

space on the character sheet

1:07:13

for just the super brief

1:07:15

like quick version to keep

1:07:17

you going so that you

1:07:20

don't have to reference the

1:07:22

book itself. I'm a really

1:07:24

big fan of that in

1:07:26

games in general. And I

1:07:28

don't think that this is

1:07:30

any exception, right? Like, and

1:07:33

so it just means that

1:07:35

it's there as you're doing

1:07:37

it. But it also speaks

1:07:39

to the style of game

1:07:41

that it is from the

1:07:43

perspective of like rules complication

1:07:45

that you can get. It's

1:07:48

a very brief summary. If

1:07:50

you needed to know how

1:07:52

any of these mechanics worked,

1:07:54

you would need to go

1:07:56

back to the rules, right?

1:07:58

having already read the rules

1:08:01

you could just glance at

1:08:03

this and be like oh

1:08:05

yes this is the step

1:08:07

we're on right exactly yeah

1:08:09

and like the roll steps

1:08:11

are in there like okay

1:08:13

set the scene now we

1:08:16

roll your attraction dice roll

1:08:18

your bonus dice do your

1:08:20

re rolls yeah like it

1:08:22

gives you the order you

1:08:24

need to follow and it's

1:08:26

there's a very ritualistic like

1:08:29

aspect to figuring out the

1:08:31

rolls and and everything in

1:08:33

this game which is really

1:08:35

cool yeah agree What do

1:08:37

we think of character creation?

1:08:39

And how does breaking the

1:08:41

ice character creation stack up

1:08:44

to other games we played?

1:08:46

I know both of us

1:08:48

have created many a character

1:08:50

for many a games. Yeah,

1:08:52

I have never done a

1:08:54

word bubble for any other

1:08:56

character creation. Yeah, and I

1:08:59

think that that's that was

1:09:01

very cool. And it did

1:09:03

kind of give me a

1:09:05

really good starting point to

1:09:07

start creating traits from. I

1:09:09

really enjoyed that. I think

1:09:12

I touched every single one

1:09:14

of them. Yeah, I think

1:09:16

I did too. And the

1:09:18

fact like, it was seamless,

1:09:20

but the fact that we

1:09:22

were back and forthing on

1:09:24

each other's characters. Yeah, yeah,

1:09:27

means was fascinating. It means

1:09:29

that we were creating aspects

1:09:31

that then got... pulled into

1:09:33

the traits from us personally.

1:09:35

So I really like in

1:09:37

games that expect you to

1:09:40

have or require an emotional

1:09:42

investment from the player. I

1:09:44

really like having aspects where

1:09:46

you know you have some

1:09:48

direct input on that to

1:09:50

to fake your way through

1:09:52

that initial connection, right? without

1:09:55

having to spend a lot

1:09:57

of time with that character

1:09:59

playing them before you get

1:10:01

that emotional investment. And I

1:10:03

think the word bubbles kind

1:10:05

of did that, right? Because

1:10:08

it invested you and my

1:10:10

character and me and your

1:10:12

character, because I have a

1:10:14

bunch of words on yours

1:10:16

and you on mine. Like in

1:10:18

addition to the take a real thing

1:10:20

about yourself and switch it. Which is

1:10:23

really smart. That was like, that

1:10:25

was such an interesting. Like we

1:10:27

went pretty basic. because you know

1:10:29

we know each other and we're

1:10:31

very similar to one another so

1:10:33

like well what are our differences

1:10:35

yeah that are fast enough to

1:10:37

do in a podcasting format right

1:10:39

because like I can I can

1:10:41

imagine having like an hour-long conversation

1:10:43

with the other player if you

1:10:45

don't know each other especially yeah

1:10:48

like going into it and be

1:10:50

like okay well you're you're literally

1:10:52

on a date making your characters. Making

1:10:54

a date. And this game does have

1:10:56

a reputation for being the kind of

1:10:58

game that you would play on an

1:11:00

actual date too. Yeah, it's wild. And

1:11:02

I could totally see why, right? Because

1:11:04

you have to share some things about

1:11:07

yourself. And some incidental things. about yourself

1:11:09

just in the process of the

1:11:11

word bubble again because you're you're

1:11:13

sharing things about how you make

1:11:15

connections right and like connect with

1:11:18

stuff so I think that's really

1:11:20

interesting yes psychological word association I

1:11:22

so in the game turning point

1:11:24

which is a game that I

1:11:26

wrote with Phil Vecchio and we

1:11:29

did something similar to the switch

1:11:31

part also as a specific bid

1:11:33

for emotional investment in a character,

1:11:35

right? And so seeing it in

1:11:37

this game, I'm like, oh man,

1:11:39

this is the game that preceded

1:11:41

us, like, that created that possibility

1:11:43

for us, because, I mean, maybe

1:11:45

it started before this, right, but

1:11:48

we're talking about 2005, and Emily

1:11:50

Care Boss was a very smart

1:11:52

game designer. So like, it is

1:11:54

totally possible that this is the

1:11:57

source material that created that connection

1:11:59

for us, too. Absolutely. Yeah,

1:12:01

it's really interesting to see,

1:12:03

like, especially from 2005, like,

1:12:06

that was kind of the

1:12:08

initial, you know, turning point

1:12:10

of RPGs, you know, pun

1:12:12

intended. Turning point. Where things

1:12:15

started going into that more,

1:12:17

like, story forward narrative sort

1:12:19

of experience, right? Yeah, there

1:12:21

were a lot of people

1:12:24

experimenting. Yeah. Yeah. And seeing

1:12:26

how those experimentations kind of

1:12:28

evolved over time is really

1:12:30

cool to see. Yeah. Cool.

1:12:32

I like this a lot.

1:12:35

Me too. Okay. So now

1:12:37

we have to ask, and

1:12:39

this is funny to ask

1:12:41

in this situation, I think,

1:12:44

how would the story play

1:12:46

out? for these characters. And

1:12:48

I think I have to

1:12:50

ask for these characters in

1:12:53

this situation instead of as

1:12:55

individuals, right? Yeah, exactly, because

1:12:57

like, okay, so, head of

1:12:59

security and the head of

1:13:01

engineering effectively, right, for the

1:13:04

space station, in a world

1:13:06

where we can time travel

1:13:08

to wherever we want. Yeah,

1:13:10

I want them. to work

1:13:13

out and live happily ever

1:13:15

after. Absolutely. But my question

1:13:17

is, where is the first

1:13:19

place they go? Where would

1:13:22

they go? Where's the first

1:13:24

time they go? Oh man.

1:13:26

Oh, let's see. Water polo

1:13:28

swimming. Like, would they do

1:13:30

something water related that had

1:13:33

a cool historical element, right?

1:13:35

Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to

1:13:37

think maybe what that might

1:13:39

be. Let's go swimming with

1:13:42

some dinosaurs. That sounds frightening

1:13:44

though too, right? Slightly terrifying,

1:13:46

but if you're, you know,

1:13:48

sci-fi future, maybe you've got

1:13:51

the right diving equipment to

1:13:53

deal with that. Yeah, I

1:13:55

do like the thought. of

1:13:57

like like how dangerous is

1:13:59

it going back in time

1:14:02

like if you die do

1:14:04

you do you get like

1:14:06

zapped back before you actually

1:14:08

die die right right is

1:14:11

this is this somewhat similar

1:14:13

to a very realistic hollow

1:14:15

experience or is this like

1:14:17

you are facing the dangers

1:14:20

of the time period that

1:14:22

you jump to yeah I

1:14:24

don't know I I do

1:14:26

like the thought of it

1:14:29

having an adjustable level so

1:14:31

like thrill seekers can go

1:14:33

to the past to like

1:14:35

be like I'm fighting for

1:14:37

my life here yeah but

1:14:40

if you're just casuals going

1:14:42

on a date yeah you

1:14:44

know maybe you have the

1:14:46

setting the safety settings are

1:14:49

all the way up yeah

1:14:51

so like if danger gets

1:14:53

to the point of deadly

1:14:55

you get just zapped back

1:14:58

and and now everything's back

1:15:00

to where the way it's

1:15:02

supposed to be yeah yeah

1:15:04

that makes sense to me

1:15:06

So let's go swimming with

1:15:09

dinosaurs. Let's go swimming with

1:15:11

dinosaurs. Perfect. Why not? Why

1:15:13

not? That's really cool. Yeah.

1:15:15

Good. Second date. Okay. It's

1:15:18

tricky because we might have

1:15:20

found more attractions on the

1:15:22

first date. Yeah, because I

1:15:24

was going to say like

1:15:27

addendum to the first date.

1:15:29

So in with dinosaurs, afterwards

1:15:31

picnic on like a thing

1:15:33

overlooking the ocean. Oh yeah,

1:15:35

sunset, right? Oh yeah, perfect.

1:15:38

Yeah, it's like literally solidile,

1:15:40

like the only two people

1:15:42

in the entire world. Literally

1:15:44

in the world, yes. Yep,

1:15:47

that's cool. Second date, gosh,

1:15:49

um, let's see, subterranean plants,

1:15:51

kind of, what if we

1:15:53

go spelunking? Yeah. Yep. Yep.

1:15:56

I could do that. That

1:15:58

could be interesting. That could

1:16:00

be interesting. Not only not

1:16:02

not like on earth, but

1:16:04

like on an eel. world.

1:16:07

Yes. That is known for

1:16:09

like really exotic like cool

1:16:11

glowy plants of sorts. I

1:16:13

love it. Yeah. I feel

1:16:16

like that would be successful.

1:16:18

I think that would be

1:16:20

fun. Yeah. Third date. Third

1:16:22

date. I mean it's interesting

1:16:25

right. We have to assume

1:16:27

that it's going well. Right.

1:16:29

Because we've decided that we

1:16:31

want them to have a

1:16:34

happy ending. Third date, one

1:16:36

of his solo body orch

1:16:38

concerts. Oh, right? Yeah, yeah.

1:16:40

And then followed up with

1:16:42

like date night after. Oh,

1:16:45

I like that after show,

1:16:47

sort of deal. What if

1:16:49

I moonlight my solo concerts

1:16:51

like in a different time

1:16:54

period? Oh, yes. So like

1:16:56

I go to different time

1:16:58

periods and put on this

1:17:00

one night only, this one

1:17:03

night only wild show, right?

1:17:05

So it's like the world's

1:17:07

fair and it's like you're

1:17:09

showing it off as a

1:17:11

new invention or something, right?

1:17:14

Yep. And yeah, just blow

1:17:16

everybody's mind. Blow everybody's minds

1:17:18

and then you leave and

1:17:20

it's like it never happened.

1:17:23

Yeah, perfect. That sounds really

1:17:25

cool. Yeah. One time engagement.

1:17:27

Mm-hmm. Perfect. That sounds amazing.

1:17:29

Yeah, I think these two

1:17:32

would hit it off. I

1:17:34

think so. I think they've

1:17:36

got enough in common. Yeah,

1:17:38

I think they can get

1:17:40

past their conflicts. You know,

1:17:43

I mean, he already moonlights

1:17:45

as, you know, a like

1:17:47

historical, you know, body synth

1:17:49

orchestra person. So, I mean,

1:17:52

once she knows that she

1:17:54

might be more interested. Yeah,

1:17:56

exactly. Now, I think that's

1:17:58

really cool. I like that

1:18:00

a lot. Yeah. Okay. So this is

1:18:02

the part where we take things

1:18:05

up a level and talk

1:18:07

about character advancement in

1:18:09

this game. Take it up a level.

1:18:12

Take it up a level.

1:18:14

And obviously, there are not

1:18:16

level ups that you have,

1:18:19

but your relationship advances.

1:18:21

That makes more sense. So

1:18:23

this is like the nitty

1:18:26

gritty mechanical details of how

1:18:28

that works. During each turn

1:18:30

on a date of which

1:18:32

there are four to six

1:18:34

turns per date, the guide

1:18:37

player awards dice to the

1:18:39

active player for like narrative

1:18:41

decisions that happen. So you

1:18:43

start with your attraction dice

1:18:46

pool. And if you do

1:18:48

up to three things in

1:18:50

the menu for play, there's

1:18:52

like a menu in the book

1:18:54

that has things you can do

1:18:56

on your dates. If you do

1:18:59

three of them that are positive,

1:19:01

you get up to three more

1:19:03

dice for this pool as bonus

1:19:05

dice. You roll all of those

1:19:07

together at the same time. Rolling

1:19:10

those gives you your attraction

1:19:12

role. And every five or

1:19:14

six is a success in one

1:19:16

through four is a failure. And

1:19:19

if you have enough successes to

1:19:21

gain an attraction level, you may

1:19:23

choose to stop and gain a

1:19:26

new attraction level. Don't want

1:19:28

to stop, you can actually choose

1:19:30

to re-roll any number of

1:19:32

the failures. And for every re-rolled

1:19:34

failure you choose to do, you

1:19:36

need to narrate one thing that

1:19:38

goes wrong or puts you into a

1:19:41

bad light. Amazing, I love it. It's

1:19:43

very good. I gotta go play this

1:19:45

game. I do too, it's amazing. And

1:19:47

then if you get four successes,

1:19:49

you get that compatibility, which

1:19:52

are basically compatibility traits that

1:19:54

you share. with one another,

1:19:56

which is really cool. And

1:19:58

those compatibility... are permanent, but

1:20:01

you can also try for

1:20:03

multiple attraction levels or a

1:20:05

mix of these rewards. So

1:20:07

the more successes you get,

1:20:09

the more blend of cool

1:20:11

stuff you can get. Yeah,

1:20:13

cool. You could also choose

1:20:15

to fail the failures as

1:20:17

well and just let it

1:20:19

be where it is. And

1:20:21

also once per turn at

1:20:23

any time, you can bring

1:20:26

a conflict into the narrative

1:20:28

which gives you those three

1:20:30

bonus dice, those three conflict

1:20:32

dice to be rolled. on

1:20:34

which you have a 66%

1:20:36

chance of rolling a failure.

1:20:38

Uh-huh. Yeah, I need to

1:20:40

die, but like the chances

1:20:42

of getting an extra success.

1:20:44

Yeah, might be good. Not

1:20:46

too bad. Not too bad.

1:20:49

Yeah. Yeah. We all have

1:20:51

rolled 3D6 for our D&D

1:20:53

characters at tributes at times

1:20:55

and have gotten wonderful results

1:20:57

in all of them. Across

1:20:59

the board somehow. Last night

1:21:01

I was playing cortex and

1:21:03

I had 2D8s and a

1:21:05

D10 and I rolled 3-8s

1:21:07

and I was like, which

1:21:09

ha! Apparently attraction levels can

1:21:11

fluctuate in the game, but

1:21:14

compatibility is there forever. And

1:21:16

then once the date is

1:21:18

over, you roll that reality

1:21:20

check like we talked about.

1:21:22

And that's one die for

1:21:24

every attraction level that you

1:21:26

acquired during the date. And

1:21:28

then five and sixes, you

1:21:30

can make that attraction level

1:21:32

permanent. And then all the

1:21:34

additional attraction levels, you have

1:21:36

to get rid of at

1:21:39

the end. If you don't,

1:21:41

if you don't get them.

1:21:43

get them interesting yeah and

1:21:45

that's how you advance your

1:21:47

relationships with one another amazing

1:21:49

it's it's pure luck after

1:21:51

you do a lot of

1:21:53

work yeah no that's I'm

1:21:55

sort of here for that

1:21:57

though so yeah it's an

1:21:59

interesting mechanic yeah yeah yeah

1:22:02

cool cool I love it

1:22:04

Are we ready to close

1:22:06

this out then? I think

1:22:08

so. Perfect. Thank you so

1:22:10

much for joining us. Well,

1:22:12

I mean, me as a

1:22:14

guest. No, us. Thank you

1:22:16

so much for joining the

1:22:18

Character Creation cast for the

1:22:20

first episode of duo and

1:22:22

solo romance RPG series episodes

1:22:24

where we started with breaking

1:22:27

the ice. And thank you

1:22:29

to everybody for listening. Please

1:22:31

join us next week for

1:22:33

another romantic duo game called

1:22:35

You Never Tolt Me by

1:22:37

our guest today. Send a,

1:22:39

whooo! Call to watch action.

1:22:41

Yeah, like that. I was

1:22:43

so glad that Sendo was

1:22:45

able to join me for

1:22:47

this episode. I know Amelia

1:22:49

is recovering from ECT, so

1:22:52

we all wish her well,

1:22:54

and she is also extraordinarily

1:22:56

busy. nowadays, hopefully that will

1:22:58

settle down soon, but send

1:23:00

a very, very last minute,

1:23:02

just the night before, agreed

1:23:04

to join me to record

1:23:06

this, the night before the

1:23:08

release of this episode. And

1:23:10

it went really well. This

1:23:12

was a lot of fun.

1:23:14

I really enjoyed learning about

1:23:17

this game. I really do

1:23:19

want to play it. It's

1:23:21

giving me some major star-crossed

1:23:23

vibes in a completely different

1:23:25

way. It's really cool. I

1:23:27

loved it. Emily Care Boss

1:23:29

is a phenomenal game designer

1:23:31

and has done so much

1:23:33

for the TTRP community as

1:23:35

a whole. I highly recommend

1:23:37

checking out this romance trilogy.

1:23:40

It is so worth it.

1:23:42

I wish we could cover

1:23:44

all the games in it,

1:23:46

but we just do not

1:23:48

have the time for that.

1:23:50

But if this peaks your

1:23:52

interest, check the show notes

1:23:54

and we'll have a link

1:23:56

to the romance trilogy. for

1:23:58

you. But before we let

1:24:00

you go for the day,

1:24:02

we do have some calls

1:24:05

to action. First up, exciting

1:24:07

things keep happening over on

1:24:09

the OneShot network. You can

1:24:11

check it all out at

1:24:13

one shot podcast.com. Here are

1:24:15

the shows that I personally

1:24:17

have a hand in editing

1:24:19

and have episodes coming out

1:24:21

just this week. Tomorrow. Mystery

1:24:23

County comes out with another

1:24:25

episode continuing their fourth season.

1:24:27

It is a hilarious show

1:24:30

as usual. And if you

1:24:32

missed the last couple of

1:24:34

episodes, it is worth catching

1:24:36

up for if you're behind

1:24:38

on it. A new public

1:24:40

Starwall is also coming out

1:24:42

tomorrow as well, and we

1:24:44

are getting into the final

1:24:46

episodes of the first season

1:24:48

of the show. Very exciting

1:24:50

episodes. So now is a

1:24:52

phenomenal time to get into

1:24:55

that if you haven't yet.

1:24:57

Also coming out tomorrow should

1:24:59

be another episode of Skyjost.

1:25:01

Then on Wednesday Camping Skyjacks

1:25:03

continues the Jolly Jack Ark

1:25:05

with Margaret and finally Adventure

1:25:07

Capitalists tea Bentley should be

1:25:09

out on Wednesday as well

1:25:11

with Team Chicago set for

1:25:13

this coming Friday. We're getting

1:25:15

to the end of both

1:25:18

Adventure Capitalists and Skyjoust so

1:25:20

the weeks are packed but

1:25:22

this means you have some

1:25:24

time to catch up before

1:25:26

the finale's it. Next, if

1:25:28

you haven't checked out the

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Patreon or the Discord yet,

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now is a great time

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to do so. We have

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over 19 stickers we would

1:25:38

love to send you at

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the $10 level, some custom

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C3 dice, as well as

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personalized thank-you carts at the

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$5 level and up, and

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bonus chit-chat episodes and more

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at the $1 enough level.

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Even bonus outtakes and other

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periodic information is out there

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for our free patrons. and

1:25:59

a future newsletter that we

1:26:01

are hoping to get back

1:26:03

to once things settle down.

1:26:05

We just can never predict

1:26:08

when that will happen. You

1:26:10

can check all of these

1:26:12

out at patreon.com/character creation cast

1:26:14

or join us on the

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discord for discussions and the

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latest show announcements at discord.

1:26:20

character creation cast.com. In addition to

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all of that, we like to

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thank our current patrons every episode.

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Your support truly helps out a great

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deal, so let's do that right now.

1:26:31

DJG, A.K.A. Tigranasaurus, Eric Bonds, and

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Darrylle Howlady II, we are so

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grateful to have you here. Thank

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you. She didn't come all. The

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shyest barbarian and Benjamin Sweetie. We

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can't thank you enough, but we

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will keep on trying anyway. Rob

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Fletcher, Kevin Brown, and Tentacle Duck. We

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are so grateful to all of you

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as well. Thank you. John Adamus, A3

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sketch pad, and Cole McCallum,

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you rock. Thank you. Carlos

1:26:58

Salazar, Ericas, and Ian Potmayer,

1:27:00

thanks for your continued support.

1:27:02

Thanks to Liam G, Brian Colm,

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and Garden GM. We are so

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glad to have you here with us.

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Thank you, Tanglefoot, Blue Crypt Night,

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and Danny, so glad to have

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you backing us. Thank you, Nicole

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Trainer, Liam Murray, and Kenny, your

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support brings us so much joy.

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Thank you. Brian Kurtz, Mark

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E. Fair, and Drew Owen,

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thanks for making all of

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this possible. And finally, Oz.

1:27:29

Thank you so much. And

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thank you to all of our

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future patrons. This is where we need

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your help right now. Our patron currently

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doesn't quite cover our operating costs every

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month between the podcast costs and the

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patron rewards. So we need you to

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help us get back to a

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sustainable level. Just one or two more

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campaign level patrons will certainly get us

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there for now. But if you are

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able to chip in even a little

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bit or even just sign up for

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the free tier to. get exclusive

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updates, that would mean the world

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to us. Our community is fantastic

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and the patrons have been a

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huge part in making it a

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beautiful place. So check it out

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at patreon.com/character creation cast and help

1:28:14

us out. That's all we have

1:28:16

for today's episode. Join us here

1:28:18

next week where we'll be covering

1:28:20

Send Us Game. You never told

1:28:23

me. And we might even have

1:28:25

Senda back with us to cover

1:28:27

that one as well. We'll see

1:28:29

if we can line that up.

1:28:31

Until then. Take care everyone, stay

1:28:34

safe, drinks and water, and keep

1:28:36

making those amazing people. We'll see

1:28:38

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Creation Cast is a production of

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Creationcast.com. Head to the website to

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this show, and even our press

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our Discord server at Discord. Character

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Creationcast.com. I'm one of your hosts,

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Siriah Bolter, and I can be

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at Lord Neptune or online at

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Lord Neptune. Our other host, Amelia

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Antrim, can be found on Twitter

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and Blue Sky at Ginger Reckoning.

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Music for this episode is used

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with a creative comments license or

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with permission from the podcast they

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originated from. Further information can be

1:31:00

found within the show notes. Our

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main theme music is Hero, Remix

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by Steve Combs, and is used

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podcast is owned by us under

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by Ryan Bolter. Further information for

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the game systems used in today's

1:31:18

guests can also be found in

1:31:20

the show notes. If you'd like

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to support our show, find us

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on Patreon. Get access to bonus

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at patron.com/character creation cast. Thanks for

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joining us. And remember, we find

1:31:34

that the best part of any

1:31:36

role-playing game is character creation. So

1:31:39

go out there and create some

1:31:41

amazing people. We'll see you next

1:31:43

time.