0:01

Welcome to the final episode

0:03

of Series 81, everyone! This month

0:06

we covered Shadow Dark with designer

0:08

Kelsey Dion. This episode we are

0:10

finishing our discussion, and we get

0:12

to some great fanfick. But before

0:14

we get to all of that,

0:17

we do have some calls to

0:19

action coming up after the show.

0:21

Here's what to expect. Join

0:23

us here after the show

0:25

where we will be telling

0:28

you about Kelsey's latest Kickstarter,

0:30

a setting supplement for Shadow

0:33

Dark, that is over 19,000%

0:35

funded, which is quite a

0:37

feat. We will also have

0:40

our normal patron information as

0:42

well as our patron thank

0:44

yous. With all of that out of

0:46

the way, enjoy the show everyone.

1:24

the last episode of character creation

1:26

cast. We learned a bit more

1:29

about Kelsey's origin story in the

1:31

RPG world and started analyzing Shadow

1:33

Dark together. We're picking up right

1:35

where we left off last time.

1:37

Enjoy. No, but I think the

1:39

game is very honest and up front

1:41

too, like in character creation, that

1:43

like, the K, stuff is hard in this

1:46

game. Like, you know, your level one

1:48

characters are, you know, which I

1:50

always appreciate in games when they're

1:52

like. Things are kind of squishy, you know,

1:54

just so you know. You've got something you

1:57

have to strive for right out the gate,

1:59

which is survival. Right, right, because it

2:01

clues you in though, like, okay,

2:03

it's gonna be a big deal

2:05

if we do make it, and,

2:07

you know, also don't get to

2:09

it hatched, because... Indeed, yeah, those

2:11

first couple levels are pretty harrowing,

2:13

and I love the idea in

2:15

game design of write the blog

2:18

posts that you would have had

2:20

someone write explaining your game design

2:22

decisions, like just write those into

2:24

the book, because like... How many

2:26

articles have we read, or at

2:28

least I've certainly read, online that's

2:30

like explaining the secret math behind

2:32

5E monster design? And I'm like,

2:34

well this could have just been

2:36

in the book and then someone

2:38

wouldn't have had to reverse engineer

2:41

this just to make a monster

2:43

accurate to the rules. So that

2:45

was very present in my mind

2:47

when I was writing this game.

2:49

Like I'm going to preempt the

2:51

internet and just put this in

2:53

the book itself to explain how

2:55

to engage with these rules. Yeah,

2:57

which I feel like helps me

2:59

as a player because I am

3:01

I am not a gym. I

3:03

don't like to run games. I've

3:06

done it like once and it's

3:08

not my thing. But it helps

3:10

me as a player to be

3:12

like, oh, okay, this is what

3:14

you want me to do with

3:16

this. Oh, yeah. This is what

3:18

I'm supposed to, you know, like

3:20

I know going into it, like,

3:22

okay, I'm going to make a

3:24

character this way because this is,

3:26

you know, what I'm going to

3:29

be doing, the choices I'm going

3:31

to make are going to impact

3:33

things in this way, all of

3:35

that kind of stuff. So true,

3:37

so true. Kind of feels like

3:39

we've been answering the next question

3:41

as we've been going. Yeah, a

3:43

little bit. Yeah. So our question

3:45

is, how does the process of

3:47

character creation reinforce the feeling of

3:49

play, which is in a really,

3:51

like, what have, by creating characters,

3:54

what have we learned about what

3:56

our experience will be if we

3:58

sit down to play this game?

4:00

Because I think there are, you

4:02

know, like, I was explained, there

4:04

are, there are, there are some

4:06

games where you make a character,

4:08

and like, that's its own thing,

4:10

and then you sit down to

4:12

play the game, and it has

4:14

like nothing to do with what

4:16

you just did in that experience.

4:19

Like, it doesn't, you know nothing.

4:21

Right. This is so, well here,

4:23

so like I guess I could

4:25

pose this as questions to you

4:27

both since you just made characters

4:29

for the first time. Did you

4:31

struggle to have enough space to

4:33

carry the things you wanted to

4:35

carry? I did not. I struggled

4:37

to have enough money to get

4:39

the things that I might want.

4:42

Oh, you did. You're all pretty

4:44

low on your money. I did

4:46

have one little struggle of do

4:48

I buy a weapon? Oh yeah,

4:50

so you both you both answered

4:52

like the first two questions I

4:54

was going to ask which was

4:56

either I had to make a

4:58

decision about what inventory to carry

5:00

just as a part of my

5:02

character creation process and I didn't

5:04

have enough resources to get all

5:07

the gear that I wanted. So

5:09

your character already you're already getting

5:11

coached about how the game works

5:13

just with that decision-making process. Your

5:15

inventory space is precious. you're going

5:17

to have to dump some of

5:19

it to carry treasure, but man,

5:21

do you need that treasure? Because

5:23

you need to buy yourself some

5:25

better gear so you can survive.

5:27

So those are two major driving

5:30

gameplay elements in the game. And

5:32

so it took some finesse to

5:34

get the character creation process to

5:36

sort of subconsciously reveal that information.

5:38

That's brilliant, yeah. I mean, it

5:40

takes a lot of trial and

5:42

error too to figure out like

5:44

how much can I give people

5:46

into creation before we get to.

5:48

Yeah. It's just how many goal

5:50

pieces can I give people before

5:52

it's like useless and everybody can

5:55

get whatever. Exactly. And then you

5:57

dangle the adventuring craft kit. that

5:59

has like seven slots worth of

6:01

stuff in it and it's like

6:03

it's only seven gold what could

6:05

go wrong? And now your slots

6:07

are all full and you can't

6:09

fit a club in your backpack.

6:11

That's it. You could only get

6:13

one of the two shields that

6:15

you wanted. I had to carry

6:18

your rations. Fair, fair. If I

6:20

didn't have two sheets I could

6:22

have held my club. You could

6:24

have gotten rations and then eaten

6:26

them and then you would have

6:28

inventory. Yes, okay. It is on

6:30

me for wanting to shield a

6:32

priest. Oh my gosh, and it's,

6:34

Ryan, I have to tell you

6:36

something so funny too, like the,

6:38

the. the Shadow Dark game master

6:40

that lives in my body, the

6:43

soul of me, was so delighted

6:45

when you were trying to decide

6:47

what to put in your inventory.

6:49

And you're like, oh, I don't

6:51

need a torch. I'll just throw

6:53

it out. And I was like,

6:55

yes, throw your torch out. Definitely

6:57

do that. You know, that's like

6:59

the number one thing that after

7:01

a few sessions of Shadow Dark,

7:03

everybody's like, never drop your torches.

7:06

Anything about the torches, you know.

7:08

Yeah, yeah. I just got like

7:10

one one little set. I got

7:12

like the 20th start and yeah.

7:14

That's good for now. That's enough

7:16

at first level. I can pull

7:18

them out of the dead body.

7:20

I've got weird spikes in a

7:22

pinch. I've got a javelin if

7:24

it gets really hairy. Yeah, those

7:26

are reusable. I really love that

7:28

question you guys about how does

7:31

the character creation process teach you

7:33

about the game. I hope that

7:35

it does. Yeah, yeah, I think

7:37

it definitely did. I think I've

7:39

learned a lot about my character

7:41

just from the stats. So much

7:43

all my weaknesses. I just realized

7:45

one of my spells if I

7:47

can cast it gives me to

7:49

AC of 17. Which I'm gonna

7:51

be unstoppable at that point it

7:53

feels like. That's quite tanky. I'm

7:56

just ashamed that you have like

7:58

minus three on your spell casting

8:00

checks. You have to hit an

8:02

11 total so your chances are

8:04

somewhat low. Oh no. You know

8:06

I didn't spray self and that's

8:08

fine. That's okay. Yeah. Oh funny,

8:10

so fun. Perfection honestly. Uh-huh. Everything

8:12

about it. Absolutely. Okay, so one

8:14

of the questions that I love

8:16

to ask game designers that come

8:19

on the show is in your

8:21

opinion What is one of the

8:23

biggest flaws of character creation and

8:25

shadow dark? And what is your

8:27

favorite part of character creation in

8:29

this system? Yes, it's so funny

8:31

because we did like this is

8:33

something I hinted at earlier I

8:35

do think that rolling 3D6 down

8:37

the line is a flaw it's

8:39

a flaw because if we were

8:41

to go back and try to

8:44

design a stat generation process that

8:46

drew from modern game design it

8:48

would not be that so it's

8:50

deeply unbalanced unpredictable and generally leads

8:52

to your character having a lot

8:54

of flaws you know and so

8:56

it that was one of the

8:58

first decisions I made in the

9:00

game was we have to use

9:02

we have to stick with this

9:04

process because it's so integral to

9:07

the D&D experience, the old school

9:09

D&D experience, that I couldn't imagine

9:11

not having it despite its flaws.

9:13

And then it's like, well then

9:15

how can we build the game

9:17

around it to accommodate results? How

9:19

would I still make it playable

9:21

knowing? We know that they're going

9:23

to have bad stats. We know

9:25

that they're going to have bad

9:27

stats. We know that automatically defined

9:29

some of the character progression things

9:32

that we would, we... I don't

9:34

know why I say we, because

9:36

this was me sitting in my

9:38

room just typing for three years,

9:40

but like... It's the royalty, I

9:42

guess. I bounced a lot of

9:44

these ideas off of playtesters and

9:46

people, so they're really, really, the

9:48

game was designed by the collective

9:50

week. And so that was a

9:52

big thing. The 3D6 stats are,

9:55

I believe, it's primary weakness. And

9:57

I think the thing I most

9:59

like, though, about character creation is...

10:01

I love how the confluence of

10:03

just three simple things very strongly

10:05

defines your character, which is your...

10:07

your class and your background. Those

10:09

are sort of very mix and

10:11

matchable things that tell you a

10:13

great deal about who you are

10:15

as a character. And man, you

10:17

could just generate character ideas, just

10:20

rolling that set of three things

10:22

randomly over and over again, and

10:24

just seeing like, oh, I got

10:26

a former minstrel who is now

10:28

a fighter that specializes in whips.

10:30

Okay, you know, like, you know,

10:32

like, you know, something like that.

10:34

Oh, I don't know. Yeah, they're

10:36

not in the core rules, but

10:38

whips are, you know, like, whatever,

10:40

whatever it may be. So, um,

10:43

I just, I just love how

10:45

powerful those three elements are to

10:47

telling you who your character is.

10:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'd like, you

10:51

end up with a lot out

10:53

of, like, I just gonna roll

10:55

some dice. Yes, yes. I don't

10:57

know I was thinking about it

10:59

and I was like how much

11:01

more stable is like you know

11:03

46 dropped the lowest and then

11:05

I was like I don't know

11:08

I rolled all of my stats

11:10

twice and I'm not sure that

11:12

dropping the lowest would have helped

11:14

me much because it would have

11:16

been a one now like I

11:18

roll a one every single time

11:20

I rolled. It's the buddy system

11:22

though. The more dice you have

11:24

per roll the buddy system ensures

11:26

that one of them is going

11:28

to roll better. It might have

11:30

helped. I do like the re-roll

11:33

if everything's under 14 though, because

11:35

Lord. It happens. The amount of

11:37

characters I have made in the

11:39

past that have been like, these

11:41

stats are abhorrent, but this is

11:43

what I get, so. Yeah, and

11:45

you don't want a character to

11:47

be so bad that the player's

11:49

first thought is like, well, better

11:51

figure out how to end this

11:53

guy's life. Yeah, better go ahead

11:56

and make another one just in

11:58

case. And it just went into

12:00

the goblins and then, you know,

12:02

new character time. Like, that's, you

12:04

don't want, you don't, it's a

12:06

fine balance between. I'm so bad

12:08

that I just can't even be

12:10

played versus like I'm slightly bad,

12:12

but in a charming way, you

12:14

know, so. Yeah. I get up

12:16

from the warmth of the campfire

12:18

and walk off into the darkness

12:21

without a torch. Exactly. Very risky.

12:23

I got two shields and no

12:25

rations. Here we go. I do

12:27

think it's fascinating to really start

12:29

with that concept of like, okay,

12:31

I'm going to start with. creating

12:33

stats in a way that 40

12:35

years of game design have informed

12:37

us are really bad and I'm

12:39

gonna build my game around that.

12:41

Like that is a bold move.

12:44

It felt like trying to, you

12:46

know, it felt like trying to

12:48

drive. Right. It was riding a

12:50

tricycle to the store. Like I

12:52

could do this. It's not the

12:54

best way to shop for groceries,

12:56

but I could do this. I

12:58

can do this, should I? No,

13:00

I know. Everyone would say no.

13:02

Only the fool would try it.

13:04

Yeah, I know. But I'm going

13:06

to do it and I'm going

13:09

to win awards for it. Oh,

13:11

that was the vindication for all

13:13

of that madness. Yes, everyone who

13:15

said I shouldn't take that. Take

13:17

that. Yes. Oh gosh. We're now

13:19

at my favorite part of the

13:21

podcast. This is, we call this

13:23

our fan fiction section, because we

13:25

don't play our characters. But we

13:27

love to talk about what we

13:29

think would happen if we tried

13:32

to play a game. So, you

13:34

know, like, I'd love to talk

13:36

about, like, why is this group

13:38

of people? Like, how did we

13:40

end up here? What would happen

13:42

if we tried to do? something,

13:44

you know, we talked a little

13:46

bit about this being sort of

13:48

like our New Year's resolution, eat

13:50

pray love, let's say like better

13:52

ourselves, kind of like I'm gonna

13:54

do what I'm more stat kind

13:57

of situation. Yeah. Yeah. I mean

13:59

we all worship the same deity

14:01

right? Yes, like I think that

14:03

kind of links us right there.

14:05

You're the only one that has

14:07

like the real like cult background.

14:09

I don't know if it is

14:11

that like has anything to do

14:13

with Geed. I don't think it

14:15

does. Okay. I want to say

14:17

it's like the opposite of Geed

14:20

is this cult but I just

14:22

couldn't tell. You could, well, because

14:24

you have no wisdom. I bought

14:26

into, yeah, I bought into the,

14:28

like, cell phone. Yes, I have,

14:30

yeah, I do not have that,

14:32

yeah. Like, no, that sounds nice.

14:34

A group of people gathering and,

14:36

you know, going through these rituals,

14:38

that sounds cool. Yeah. It's nice

14:40

when people get together for a

14:42

common goal. Yeah, I like to

14:45

bond with my fellow. You know,

14:47

sure, there's a lot more robes

14:49

than I anticipated, but, you know,

14:51

I've been trying to make new

14:53

friends. You gotta, yeah, you gotta

14:55

have, gotta make new friends somehow.

14:57

It's really hard to do that.

14:59

It's hard these days. Yeah, meeting

15:01

people is just not easy. I

15:03

did something to imagine. What's self-improvement?

15:05

Were you hoping to gain? I

15:07

need to know, like, what is

15:10

the self-help that you were like?

15:12

I was trying to get more,

15:14

uh, that more reading people, like,

15:16

like, doing well in group situations

15:18

and stuff like that, like, like,

15:20

trying to, like, easily that charisma.

15:22

Yeah yeah yeah yeah because you

15:24

know it was it was a

15:26

lot of like I don't really

15:28

understand what most of these people

15:30

are doing and this group seems

15:33

to like understand what everybody's doing

15:35

in the group. This is like

15:37

a how to make friends and

15:39

influence people kind of like seminar

15:41

ten-talk situation. It went to a

15:43

seminar and it was a cult.

15:45

The person that ran the seminar

15:47

was very charming and I was

15:49

immediately... Yeah, exactly. Yeah, well this

15:51

can only improve my life. Yes,

15:53

I love it. That's such a

15:55

good explanation for why you're a

15:58

cultist. Yes, but we also discussed

16:00

that you were so phenomenally bad

16:02

that they asked you to leave.

16:04

Right, exactly. I think I think

16:06

I just didn't know the right

16:08

things to say or do. And

16:10

so like I was constantly bubbling.

16:12

Is this like, is this like

16:14

a multi level marketing? I feel

16:16

like it is. You were like

16:18

straight up telling people that it

16:21

was. You were like, I think

16:23

convince everybody if I let them

16:25

know, is it like, hey, come

16:27

on my multi-level market. You're not

16:29

supposed to tell that hard. You

16:31

know, I tell the secrets part.

16:33

You're like saying the quiet part

16:35

out loud. It's an ML that's

16:37

supposed to sell stuff and they

16:39

self-obscribe within the group that it's

16:41

for sure a scam, but it's

16:43

a great way to make money.

16:46

but then I tell everybody that.

16:48

It's a scam. Yeah, but you

16:50

can also get in on our

16:52

scam. It's a scam, but like

16:54

you can get in on it.

16:56

There's like three people above me

16:58

and like if I get three

17:00

people below me, I can totally

17:02

make a lot of money off

17:04

of this, but I also make

17:06

a lot of friends and that's

17:09

what I really want. It's so

17:11

innocent. You're like, that's okay. It's

17:13

kind of evil. But if I

17:15

just tell people it's evil, I

17:17

mean, they're, then they're informed. If

17:19

you're up front and honest about

17:21

it, that's not evil. Yeah, then

17:23

they know. Yeah. Then they know.

17:25

They did not like that though.

17:27

I can imagine Brenna in the

17:29

confessional just being like, they keep

17:31

telling me, you know, I got

17:34

a, you know. defend myself better

17:36

so that's why I have two

17:38

shields now. Oh no and maybe

17:40

you're like just slightly useful enough

17:42

they didn't want to totally kick

17:44

you out but now they're sending

17:46

you on like absurd impossible quest

17:48

just to like get you away

17:50

for a while. You can earn

17:52

ultimate supreme mega gold level if.

17:54

Yes. So I'm doing all of

17:57

the go-for-work, basically. Yes, I love

17:59

it. Oh my gosh. Oh my

18:01

gosh. So how did we all

18:03

get entangled? Well, I don't have

18:05

great wisdom either, or intelligence, really.

18:07

Yeah, any of us have good

18:09

wisdom? I might, let me look.

18:11

I'm at a negative one. I

18:13

have 12 wisdom, so I have

18:15

a plus one wisdom. Okay, so

18:17

I like to think that I've

18:19

been recruited to this, that like.

18:22

I mean, but like I'm fully

18:24

in it for what you're selling,

18:26

not like, I haven't been to

18:28

like any like full cloak meetings

18:30

or anything, like I'm fully on

18:32

board with like whatever it is

18:34

you're doing. That's amazing. Because I'm

18:36

like, you know what, I'm broke,

18:38

I could use the money. And

18:40

it seems like it's working. Maybe

18:42

I like you both enough that

18:44

I feel bad, so I joined

18:47

it just to like make sure

18:49

that you're not getting yourselves in

18:51

too much. Yes, and to prove

18:53

it, be like, see, it's a

18:55

call. And you're like, no, we

18:57

don't see it. We don't see

18:59

it. We don't see it. Not,

19:01

not. But like, look how much

19:03

money we're making. Yeah. Yeah. But

19:05

how much money are you spending

19:07

buying the tapes? Yeah. Yeah. But

19:10

how much money are you spending

19:12

buying the tapes? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

19:14

That's why we have to go

19:16

adventured, because I ran out of

19:18

that's why we have to go.

19:20

get more money to spend money

19:22

to make more money. Well, right.

19:24

Yeah, we got to get money

19:26

to buy the tapes. Right. I

19:28

got to invest. How am I

19:30

supposed to know what to do

19:32

if I don't, if I don't

19:35

get the scrolls, right? Right. What's

19:37

that called the grind life where

19:39

you're like just work all the,

19:41

yeah, hustler life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

19:43

If we, if we get to

19:45

level, level five within the organization,

19:47

then they take us to the

19:49

secret room that tells us. Exactly

19:51

what we're missing out on. We

19:53

just have to get there. It'll

19:55

take a few thousand gold, but

19:58

you know, I think it's worth

20:00

it in one. Right, but like

20:02

obviously once we get there, we'll

20:04

be the ones making that gold

20:06

back. Yes. So. Return on investments,

20:08

that's when they happen. Right, right.

20:10

Yeah. I mean, I just tell

20:12

three friends and then you tell

20:14

three friends, you know. Right. Yeah.

20:16

It will be no problem. I

20:18

say with a negative two for

20:20

my career as well. Yes. I'm

20:23

like fully in. I'm like, right.

20:25

I'm like, yes, because I got

20:27

to get out of the army,

20:29

like this, you know, like I'm

20:31

full in and I can't sell

20:33

it to anybody. No, like no

20:35

one is buying what I'm selling.

20:37

None of us are good at

20:39

selling. None of us. And we're

20:41

only slightly, slightly wise enough to

20:43

know that like, well, I think

20:46

I, my character is slightly wise

20:48

enough to be like, there's something

20:50

really fishy about this. But my

20:52

intelligence is six, so I can't

20:54

figure out. Yeah, maybe I just

20:56

need to stay. It is profitable.

20:58

Oh no. Oh no. It's clear

21:00

like that it would make money.

21:02

It's just I don't understand like

21:04

I'm not making the money like

21:06

I don't understand where it's going.

21:08

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think a

21:11

few trips to the Shadow Dark

21:13

will get us what we need

21:15

to make it to the next

21:17

level within the organization and then

21:19

I think we'll be able to

21:21

understand the math better. Right. This

21:23

is our motive. I love this.

21:25

I mean that's the thing is

21:27

that like we just haven't seen

21:29

you know like the full business

21:31

reports because we're not at business

21:34

level yet. We have to get

21:36

to business level and we're not.

21:38

Yeah, we're gonna earn the trust.

21:40

They don't just let anybody do

21:42

it. You have to prove yourself.

21:44

Right. Yeah, exactly. This is too

21:46

bad. We have just made Shadow

21:48

Dark MLMs and I don't know

21:50

if that's ever like what you

21:52

envisioned for this game, but you're

21:54

welcome. I want this very much

21:56

for Shadow Dark. Oh,

22:00

that's so good. Yeah. Yep. I

22:02

do like that I can basically

22:04

get put on the front lines

22:06

in combat and be okay enough

22:08

for a while. Yeah. As long

22:11

as I stand behind you. I

22:13

think that's the whole thing. Yeah.

22:15

Yeah. Yeah. Or you're on my

22:17

shoulders. Oh, yeah. Which makes a

22:19

side of a regular person then.

22:21

That would be amazing. You like

22:23

pop up and shoot and then

22:26

back down again and. picturing two

22:28

kite shields from my character. Like

22:30

not bucklers or not tower shields,

22:32

but two kite shields are as

22:34

big as me. Yeah, we just

22:36

stand a hallway. Jump back down,

22:38

like shoot, jump back down to

22:40

reload behind your shield, hop back

22:43

up. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And

22:45

you're just blocking them in the,

22:47

they can't get past you because

22:49

you're blocking the hallway with your

22:51

shields and then word is popping

22:53

up. I'm trying to cast a

22:55

spell but accidentally like singeing the

22:58

back of your head with a

23:00

miscast every time because I'm so

23:02

bad at being a wizard. Yeah,

23:04

I think like definitely like both

23:06

of us have like permanent ball

23:08

spots on the back of our

23:10

heads. Just burn marks from my

23:13

bad magic missile castings and like.

23:15

I am counting the days that

23:17

we can get better armor so

23:19

I can afford a helmet. Oh

23:21

yes. I have faint at the

23:23

sight of blood, so. Yeah, yeah,

23:25

yeah. We've got to stop the

23:27

blood. Whenever you shoot, I move

23:30

the fields up a bit more,

23:32

so you don't have to see

23:34

the results. You have to look,

23:36

just aim and then close your

23:38

eyes, you know. Yeah, there's somebody

23:40

standing behind me. You need to

23:42

at least open your eyes while

23:45

you're shooting. No, it's so gross.

23:47

I don't like the sound it

23:49

makes. I really do, because you're

23:51

very dexterous, right? Yeah. So I

23:53

picture Brenna being very stocky and.

23:55

like solid so you're able to

23:57

like just climb all over me

24:00

like step ladder up you and

24:02

then back down again like doing

24:04

yeah like tiny parkour up to

24:06

the top yeah yeah it's like

24:08

a go going up a mountain

24:10

face like there's just footholds like

24:12

yep yep it's like it's like

24:15

rocket raccoon and groot yes exactly

24:17

exactly except that you are also

24:19

a dwarf so It's not that

24:21

high up. That's why I said

24:23

I was like, the two of

24:25

us on top of each other

24:27

are like regular human size at

24:29

this point. The height achievement is

24:32

not impressive, but you know, it

24:34

does what it does. But you're

24:36

much more nimble, so that's what

24:38

makes up for it, right? But

24:40

we do, it's important to like,

24:42

you know, when you have to

24:44

make eye contact with people. I'll

24:47

just do it, you know. Part

24:49

of our sales pitches me standing

24:51

on top of you in a

24:53

trench coat contact. Yeah, the trench

24:55

coat maneuver. Yeah, you're the face

24:57

with my negative secret. You just

24:59

sit on my shoulders. We put

25:02

a trench coat over you. It's

25:04

just like this big blocky bottom.

25:06

It's like a like skinny gabbled.

25:08

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's good. Good

25:10

visual. That's a really white knees.

25:12

It's fine. I mean, like,

25:15

purely by the accident of our

25:17

roles, like this. Like, yeah, knees,

25:19

right? It's just like where his

25:21

shoulders are is like. Yeah. Just

25:23

like a block. Absolutely has the

25:25

muppets written. It really does. It

25:27

has that energy. Yeah. Uh-huh. I

25:29

mean, like, purely by the accident

25:31

of our roles, like this. We've

25:33

gotten a moment. There's no way

25:35

for this to be anything but

25:37

comedic just given. Yes. How things

25:39

turned out, you know, like the

25:41

moment you rolled to be a

25:44

spellcaster with no wisdom, it was

25:46

over. Yep. This game was decided.

25:48

Like, okay, well, I guess. We

25:50

are a comedy true because that

25:52

can only the only explanation for

25:54

why we're doing this. Yes. Yeah,

25:56

but we don't use that comedic

25:58

value. Like we, no, actually we

26:00

wouldn't be a good comedy true

26:02

because we still don't have any

26:04

charisma. Yeah. I'm like, could we

26:06

switch to comedy? No, we could

26:08

not. We don't know that we're

26:10

funny. Only outside observers know this.

26:12

Right. Yeah. We're not, we're not

26:15

on that joke. Not at all.

26:17

Definitely a lot of slapstick humor

26:19

going on there. But we take

26:21

it all very seriously. It's so

26:23

serious. You gotta work our way

26:25

up? We gotta be. You can't

26:27

work our way up if we

26:29

keep getting knocked out. No. No,

26:31

and we need Super Mega Gold

26:33

Platinum Plus status. Exactly. Yes. Tenth

26:35

level. MMLM. Amazing. Oh, I love

26:37

these. these amazing people. So good.

26:39

I feel like we just played

26:41

D&D. Right? We just played Shadowdark

26:43

just now. We were like in

26:46

character. Yeah. Beautiful. Uh-huh. Well, let's

26:48

wrap things up and get into

26:50

our advancement discussion and take it

26:52

up a level. Take it up

26:54

a level. Take it up a

26:56

level. Take it up a level.

26:58

Take it up a level. Take

27:00

it up a level. In this

27:02

segment we cover character advancement and

27:04

growth in the system. So first,

27:06

how do characters advance and what

27:08

happens mechanically when that happens? Yes.

27:10

So we've touched on it a

27:12

little bit, but yeah. True, true.

27:15

It's come up that, you know,

27:17

characters advance and get minor increases

27:19

to their survivability. So increase hit

27:21

points. Advancement works by accruing experience

27:23

points which are tied to the

27:25

treasure, the value of the treasure

27:27

that you find. And one thing

27:29

I'll just note about that I

27:31

think is... is very old school

27:33

is that it doesn't matter how

27:35

you got the treasure. And that's

27:37

an important point to emphasize. Shadow

27:39

Dark is not a game about

27:41

going and having combats all the

27:43

time. It's really a game about

27:46

how can you get treasure, you

27:48

know, by stealth, trickery, negotiation, or

27:50

combat, or something else. So it

27:52

encourages creativity on that front as

27:54

long as you get the gold

27:56

out of the dungeon. And when

27:58

you gain a level... you will

28:00

always be getting hit points. The

28:02

core four classes in the book

28:04

have minor advancement on even levels.

28:06

Like you'll have a bonus that

28:08

goes up by a point, for

28:10

instance, or you'll get a new

28:12

spell, if you're a spellcaster. And

28:15

then on odd levels, you will

28:17

also get a random talent role

28:19

on the talent table that your

28:21

class has, which is the random

28:23

advancement portion of Shadow Dark. And

28:25

it confers a... a themed bonus,

28:27

but one that you can't really

28:29

predict is coming. So it kind

28:31

of helps alleviate the idea of

28:33

needing to min-max build and to

28:35

plan out builds for your characters

28:37

because you can't. And that actually

28:39

removes a lot of pressure from

28:41

the players to try to play

28:43

in an optimized way and to

28:46

just kind of let their characters

28:48

develop into a unique iteration of

28:50

a fighter that, you know, isn't

28:52

going to be like the other

28:54

fighter at the table. And then

28:56

what's also implied with this is

28:58

that, you know, gaining levels is

29:00

not the only progression in the

29:02

game. The treasure that you get

29:04

is also in a lot of

29:06

ways helping make your character more

29:08

survivable, whether that's magic items or

29:10

even boons, like something, getting things

29:12

of value, including like secrets or

29:15

blessings, can give you experience points

29:17

and shadow dark. So the idea

29:19

is that you're merging treasure and

29:21

incremental gains that your character is

29:23

getting into a sort of... whole

29:25

upward trajectory into being more powerful.

29:27

Yeah. I do find it interesting

29:29

that multiple times it's kind of

29:31

come up that it's like hard

29:33

for you to like plan. the

29:35

head on your character. Like how

29:37

important was it to you that

29:39

like people couldn't do that, that

29:41

it was, that you couldn't really

29:43

mid-max. It was crucial to me

29:46

because I think the mid-maxing mentality

29:48

creates two negative outcomes, which is

29:50

the need for some people, the

29:52

need that some people feel to

29:54

at the cost of fun to

29:56

try to maximize effectiveness. And so

29:58

like a lot of times like

30:00

players, there's this effect where... Players

30:02

will engage in something that isn't

30:04

fun if it will improve their

30:06

character's survivability. And this is why

30:08

we get things like XP grinding.

30:10

That is a perfect example of

30:12

that. It's actually not fun to

30:14

XP grind, but people want to

30:17

do it because they want to

30:19

gain levels. So I was looking

30:21

for ways to remove that sort

30:23

of forced grind mentality while also

30:25

ensuring that different... fighters are different

30:27

from each other. Like it's very

30:29

statistically likely that they will not

30:31

be identical in their progression. They're

30:33

going to have... Yeah, that you

30:35

could sit down and play a

30:37

fighter every time and not have

30:39

the same character. Exactly. You're not

30:41

always going to be just making

30:43

the same choices because you want

30:46

to be a sword fighter who

30:48

has the optimized sword fighting path.

30:50

Like, yes, you can be a

30:52

good sword fighter, but you're going

30:54

to have different strengths than the

30:56

fighter next to you who is

30:58

also a sword fighter. So both

31:00

of those things. in progression. Not

31:02

everything is totally random, but enough

31:04

is that you can't predict how

31:06

your character is going to come

31:08

out. Right. Yeah, I mean, I

31:10

think there are definitely points too,

31:12

you know, where like you could

31:14

roll and we were like, yeah,

31:17

let's roll. But it, you know,

31:19

like we could have picked a

31:21

class, like we could have said,

31:23

you know, like, yeah, I want

31:25

to be a wizard. Like, okay.

31:27

Yes. Obviously, like, we can give

31:29

him the choice to roll, Ryan,

31:31

and I will roll, especially on

31:33

this show when there are no

31:35

consequences. We don't have to follow

31:37

through with any of the choices

31:39

that we've made. But yeah, you

31:41

know, you could sit down. I

31:43

do think it's interesting, though, that

31:46

you could sit down and you

31:48

could say, like, I'm and play

31:50

a goblin fighter and I could

31:52

sit down and play a goblin

31:54

fighter every time, and it wouldn't

31:56

look the same. Yeah. Absolutely. And

31:58

with a game with as simple

32:00

of level up mechanics as this,

32:02

it doesn't feel like there is

32:04

a, it doesn't follow the narrative

32:06

of what you're leveling up into

32:08

because it's effectively these minor boons

32:10

every now and then. Right. Yeah,

32:12

so you don't run into my

32:14

cade diving chip building concern. I

32:17

learned sailing after spelunking. Yeah, that's

32:19

like, yeah, it was like when

32:21

you can just pick any skill

32:23

and it's like, or it tells

32:25

you what skill you get. And

32:27

it's like, you get sailing and

32:29

it's like, but our entire adventure

32:31

was cave. You know, cave diving.

32:33

Why do I know sailing now?

32:35

That makes no sense. Yes. Yeah,

32:37

it solves that problem of like

32:39

where it's like stat increases or

32:41

you know, like you can carry

32:43

more stuff or you know, like

32:46

rather than like, oh, you learned

32:48

the skill that has nothing to

32:50

do with what you were doing

32:52

and makes no sense for you

32:54

to have now. Right. You know,

32:56

you're so right about that. Yeah,

32:58

it's very flexible in its interpretation

33:00

because it's tied basically to your

33:02

stats. You know, we talked to

33:04

Grant and Chris at Roanrock and

33:06

Deckard. One thing that they always

33:08

talk about is no dead levels.

33:10

You know, that like you don't,

33:12

there is sort of the impetus

33:14

sometimes to be like, well, if

33:17

I don't take this at level

33:19

four, I can't take it again

33:21

until I'm level 36 or, you

33:23

know, what is it? The like

33:25

Genesis and like Fantasy Flight Star

33:27

Wars and stuff. It's like, you

33:29

basically have to spend all your

33:31

points in character creation increasing your

33:33

stats because you don't get to

33:35

touch those again for the rest

33:37

of the rest of the rest

33:39

of the rest of the, you

33:41

know, you know, you know. And

33:43

so that feeling of like, you

33:46

know, there's no impetus like I

33:48

have to take this now or

33:50

I'll never get it again. You

33:52

know, you'll leave somehow alleviates a

33:54

lot of anxiety sometimes. Yeah, that's

33:56

something. That's a thing. I always

33:58

like, I don't want people to

34:00

feel pressured to have to make

34:02

their character a certain way because

34:04

yeah, you can't, you can't choose

34:06

wrong. That was the that's the

34:08

hope for that style of system.

34:10

Yeah. Yeah, because I do feel

34:12

like there's nothing bigger but less

34:14

I'm like, okay, like I finally

34:17

leveled up and it's like, oh,

34:19

I get plus one to this

34:21

role and that's it for the

34:23

rest of the left. But if

34:25

I don't take it here, I

34:27

won't be able to get what

34:29

I want later. Right. And that's

34:31

just, I don't know. It doesn't

34:33

feel good. So, right. Yeah. I

34:35

do like the randomness. Kind of

34:37

like the whole, it's almost a

34:39

gamble of what you're going to

34:41

get, right? Because it could be

34:43

just, it's always something small, but

34:45

like when you roll those big

34:48

numbers, you're like, ooh, now it's

34:50

something really good. Yeah. But I

34:52

think even getting to roll on

34:54

it has that feeling of like.

34:56

opening a loopbox or something where

34:58

it's like, I don't know what

35:00

I'm going to get. It could

35:02

not be very helpful, but just

35:04

the idea that I get to

35:06

do it, that little bit of

35:08

gambling, like tickles your brain too.

35:10

Like, oh, I get to do

35:12

the thing. I get to, you

35:14

know, pull the lever or whatever.

35:17

That's very insightful because that was

35:19

absolutely a factor too. Like it's,

35:21

you know. I know what it's

35:23

like to grow up cracking Pokemon

35:25

card packs hoping for the Char

35:27

as hard. Like that's very fun.

35:29

It's actually very fun to do

35:31

that and I wanted to incorporate

35:33

that feeling too. My son has

35:35

an app where that's like all

35:37

it does is like open Pokemon

35:39

cards. He gets to open like

35:41

one or two packs a day.

35:43

Like they don't, I think they

35:45

finally like. two years into having

35:48

this app, like you can trade

35:50

now. Like it was literally just

35:52

opening packs of Pokemon. He's like,

35:54

oh, it's time for my pack

35:56

today. And I was like, there

35:58

is something that tickles your brain

36:00

that you're like, this is useless,

36:02

but I love it. But I

36:04

love it. Right. It's so true.

36:06

It has to be knowledge. Not

36:08

that, you know, the things that

36:10

you get for leveling up are

36:12

useless, but there is something to

36:14

be said just for the fun

36:17

of like, So yeah, absolutely. Oh,

36:19

it's so good. I think that's

36:21

everything. It feels like every Are

36:23

we ready to wrap it up?

36:25

Do you have anything else that

36:27

you want people to know? You

36:29

all we've covered so so much

36:31

that I am just so grateful

36:33

of the insights that you had

36:35

and the questions that you asked

36:37

me I think you guys are

36:39

you had just wonderful questions and

36:41

it was such a delight to

36:43

get to talk about some of

36:45

these things yeah I was like

36:48

worry sometimes to get to talk

36:50

about some of these things yeah

36:52

I was like worried sometimes when

36:54

we have people on them like

36:56

if you answered this question 85

36:58

thousand times already that you're like

37:00

yes this is how you do

37:02

it's I've never gotten to do

37:04

something like this something like this

37:06

characters this one time with me

37:08

like you noticed a lot of

37:10

things about it. It is surprising

37:12

like I don't think I realize

37:14

it even when we started this

37:17

show like how much you learn

37:19

just doing the character creation like

37:21

how much you can tell about

37:23

you know like obviously this is

37:25

a game that I've you know

37:27

read and interacted with before but

37:29

we'll have some sometimes that it's

37:31

like I've never touched this before

37:33

and I'm still like so does

37:35

this mean this and they're like

37:37

how did you know that? Yeah,

37:39

very interesting. Game works, it means

37:41

it does what it's supposed to.

37:43

Yeah. I mean, we're, okay, we're

37:45

coming off of two series of

37:48

like solo or dual play. Did

37:50

I see that there's a solo

37:52

version on your site? There is,

37:54

there is, it's a free PDF

37:56

and it's, you know, it's something

37:58

that I made as originally sort

38:00

of a part of a stretch

38:02

goal from the Kickstarter. I was

38:04

gonna, I did a little solo

38:06

gameplay YouTube show with Shadow Dark.

38:08

And in creating that show, realized

38:10

I needed to create custom solo

38:12

rules for Shadow Dark because I

38:14

am too much a game designer

38:17

at heart and just couldn't, I

38:19

wanted to make it custom, you

38:21

know, so. Well, I'm here, I

38:23

might as well write rules for

38:25

it. Yeah, like I tried using

38:27

other things and I was like,

38:29

it's not quite right. I just

38:31

need to make a Shadow Dark

38:33

specific. So yes, it's it's very

38:35

very simple. It's a super simple

38:37

Oracle system and prompts tables and

38:39

it gives some advice about how

38:41

to use the real-time elements of

38:43

Shadow Dark when you're playing solo,

38:45

which is different. And that's why

38:48

it's a free document. I think

38:50

it's just a neat little add-on

38:52

that gives you, it's meant to

38:54

work with the core rules. It's

38:56

not meant to stand on its

38:58

own. Like you need the core

39:00

rules to be able to use

39:02

solo dark. So yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

39:04

Cool. I just thought that was

39:06

a really cool find when I

39:08

was looking into the game. Oh

39:10

good. four, six solo games for

39:12

the show. Yeah, you have a

39:14

bunch by yourself. Yeah, for the

39:16

show. And like, that was my

39:19

first examination of solo RPG play.

39:21

Oh, yeah. And like, seeing the

39:23

similarities of the Oracle systems across

39:25

all these different games and how

39:27

it handles story generation is just

39:29

fascinating to me. Yeah. It's really

39:31

cool to see that. Yeah, good.

39:33

Kelsey, thank you so much for

39:35

joining us to talk about Shadow

39:37

Dark. This was truly a delay.

39:39

This was so much fun. I

39:41

had a blast. Thank you so

39:43

much for taking the time to

39:45

do this. This was great. I'm

39:48

glad we found here to talk

39:50

about this one, because yeah, it

39:52

was almost. Absolutely. Awesome. Can you

39:54

remind everyone where they can find

39:56

you online and the sorts of

39:58

things you're working on? Yes, my

40:00

website is the arcane library.com and

40:02

that's where you can find all

40:04

my shadow dark work and some

40:06

five-y work I've done. And I'm

40:08

currently working on, and it might

40:10

even be actively kick-starting when this

40:12

show comes out, an official setting

40:14

for Shadow Dark RPG that's really

40:16

my personal game world that I've

40:19

been running for at least the

40:21

last 10 years, and it's built

40:23

up naturally over time through gameplay,

40:25

and I'm publishing it. It's called

40:27

the Western Reaches. I should have

40:29

said that. We'll have it in

40:31

the show now. It's pretty good

40:33

to look at. Yeah. This will

40:35

be airing all like every Monday

40:37

in March. So it'll be live

40:39

in March. March 11th. Does it

40:41

go live? So. Oh, okay. Oh,

40:43

there's definitely. That's actually cool. That

40:45

lines up really. Good. Yeah. Good

40:48

timing. So we can. It's almost

40:50

like we planned that months ago.

40:52

Yeah. Honestly, we might have in

40:54

hindsight. I don't know. Who knows

40:56

what any of us were doing

40:58

months ago? I don't know. I

41:00

mean, this could come out in

41:02

April and then I wouldn't know.

41:04

Congratulations passed itself. Yeah. Exactly. We'll

41:06

put links to all of it

41:08

in the in the show notes

41:10

and everything for people to find.

41:12

Because that's exciting. That's exciting. That's

41:14

fun to have more. happy about

41:16

it. It's been one of the

41:19

most fun things I worked on.

41:21

That's so cool. Well, thank you

41:23

again for sitting down with us

41:25

and thank you to everyone for

41:27

tuning in. We'll be back in

41:29

a week. Call to watch action.

41:31

Yeah, like that. Well, thank you

41:33

everybody for your patience with the

41:35

release schedule for this series Some

41:37

real-life personal stuff came up in

41:39

my department and I was not

41:41

able to get to things always

41:43

in a timely matter But I

41:45

am glad that we have the

41:48

series out there. This is such

41:50

a good game. I checked out

41:52

the Kickstarter for the setting books

41:54

and there's some really sweet Tempting

41:56

options for special editions of Shadow

41:58

Dark and Kickstarter exclusive editions and

42:00

special special editions and All sorts

42:02

of goody slipcases for like the

42:04

the books with like Gold filigree.

42:06

I don't know this like there's

42:08

like a lot of like good

42:10

tactile Stuff that's going to be

42:12

coming out of this Kickstarter, which

42:14

is probably why It's great. I

42:16

mean, I'm going to be honest,

42:19

this game kind of took a

42:21

hold of both myself and Amelia

42:23

because we just fell in love

42:25

with the simplicity of the the

42:27

OSR sort of style of play

42:29

presented here in Shadow Dark and

42:31

I thought it was really cool.

42:33

Kelsey was a fantastic guest. I

42:35

really really loved having her on

42:37

the show and would have would

42:39

have her back in a heartbeat

42:41

for anything in the future. So

42:43

really really glad how this series

42:45

panned out. But before we let

42:47

you go for the day we

42:50

do have some calls to action.

42:52

First up is the aforementioned Kickstarter

42:54

for Shadowdark's official campaign setting called

42:56

The Western Reaches. For just the

42:58

next week, you can get in

43:00

on this campaign by going to

43:02

the link in our show notes.

43:04

They are sitting at just over

43:06

$1.9 million out of a $10,000.

43:08

goal and they smashed through all

43:10

previous stretch goals and are now

43:12

working towards a $2 million stretch

43:14

goal for a super special edition

43:16

cover. I think the last time

43:19

I looked they were three backers

43:21

away from 10,000 backers which is

43:23

amazing. It is an impressive campaign

43:25

with some really great collectible rewards

43:27

so it is worth checking out

43:29

if you haven't yet. Speaking of

43:31

checking things out, if you haven't

43:33

yet, have you gone to see

43:35

our Patreon or Discord yet? We

43:37

would love to do more for

43:39

the community and for the show

43:41

itself, but in order to do

43:43

that, we need either time or

43:45

money. And since we rarely have

43:47

time nowadays, a bit of assistance

43:50

here with some monthly pledges, we'll

43:52

go an absolutely long way. I

43:54

would love to bring someone on,

43:56

maybe even one of our listeners,

43:58

to help us out with updating

44:00

our website every month. This would

44:02

be a paid position. I would

44:04

love to pay this person for

44:06

the couple of hours or so

44:08

that it takes, but we need

44:10

to get a few more patrons

44:12

to get to that point. I

44:14

think $160 a month. will get

44:16

us there. And then if we

44:19

get to 200 a month, we'll

44:21

be able to double that amount

44:23

of effort and let them kind

44:25

of. wild on the backlog of

44:27

stuff that needs to get up

44:29

on our site, all the games

44:31

that we've covered, we want to

44:33

have links to supplemental materials, and

44:35

we want to be kind of

44:37

like the one-stop shop for the

44:39

games that we cover, so you

44:41

can kind of go there and

44:43

get to everywhere on the internet

44:45

that you need to to buy

44:47

the game, to get character sheets,

44:50

all that sort of stuff. It

44:52

would be really fun to have

44:54

that resource at hand. and we

44:56

just do not have the time

44:58

to take care of it ourselves.

45:00

So hiring somebody is the next

45:02

best thing that we can think

45:04

of, but again, that takes money

45:06

and your help will help get

45:08

us there. To help Sweden the

45:10

deal we have over 20 stickers

45:12

that we will be able to

45:14

send to you at the $10

45:16

level And we also have some

45:19

custom C3 dice as well as

45:21

personalized Thank You cards and bonus

45:23

episodes at the $5 an up

45:25

level and we have our bonus

45:27

chit-chat episodes and character sheets from

45:29

the episodes as well as a

45:31

bunch more at the $1 enough

45:33

level And we even have our

45:35

bonus outtakes and other periodic information

45:37

for our free patrons, including a

45:39

potential future newsletter if we ever

45:41

get around to that. So you

45:43

can check all of this out

45:45

at patreon.com/character creation cast, or you

45:47

could also just join our discussion

45:50

and find the latest show announcements

45:52

on our Discord at character creation

45:54

cast. In addition to all of

45:56

that, we'd like to thank our

45:58

current patrons every episode. Your support

46:00

truly helps out a great deal,

46:02

so let's do that right now.

46:04

DJG, aka Tigranisaurus, Eric Bonds, and

46:06

Dural Holiday the second, thanks for

46:08

believing in us. Thanks to Shinimi

46:10

Cabal, the highest peribrarian, and Benjamin

46:12

Sweeney, so glad to have you

46:14

back in us. Rob Fletcher, Kevin

46:16

Brown, and... we can't take you

46:19

enough but we'll keep trying anyway.

46:21

John Adamus, A3 sketch pad and

46:23

Colm McCallum, many thanks to you.

46:25

Carlos Salazar, Eric S, and Ian

46:27

Pottmayer, we're happy to have you

46:29

here with us, thank you. We

46:31

appreciate your support, Liam G, Brian

46:33

Colm, and Garden GM, thank you.

46:35

Tanglefoot, Blue Crip Tonight, and Danny,

46:37

thank you all so much. Nicole

46:39

Trainer, Leah Murray, and Kenning. You're

46:41

the best, thank you. Brian Kurtz,

46:43

Mark E. Fair, and Drew Owen,

46:45

thank you for your support. As

46:47

James McGinley and Sean Metcalfe, thank

46:50

you so much. And finally, Robert,

46:52

thank you so much for your

46:54

continued support. And thank you to

46:56

all of our future patrons. If

46:58

you want to join this phenomenal

47:00

group of individuals, please head on

47:02

over to Patriot.com/Character Creation Cast and

47:04

help us out. We are getting

47:06

very close to covering our operating

47:08

expenses every month, and with more

47:10

assistance, like I mentioned before, we'll

47:12

be able to make those website

47:14

upgrades to make exploring your favorite

47:16

games that much easier, including links

47:18

to resources for the games and

47:21

more. That's all we have for

47:23

today's episode and for this series.

47:25

Next week a brand new series

47:27

comes right at ya. It is

47:29

going to be drum roll salvage

47:31

union. We are pleased to bring

47:33

lead and penny both the designers

47:35

for salvage union into the studio

47:37

with us and it is gonna

47:39

be a fantastic type. So stay

47:41

tuned for that. Take care everyone.

47:43

Stay safe. Drinks of water and

47:45

keep making those amazing people. We'll

47:47

see you next time. character

48:00

creation cast is a production

48:02

of the one-shot podcast network

48:05

and can be found online

48:07

at wwww that character creation

48:09

cast network and can be

48:11

found online at www. character

48:13

creation cast.com. Head to the

48:15

website to get more information

48:17

on our hosts this show

48:19

and even our press kit.

48:21

Character Creation Cast can also

48:23

be found on Twitter and

48:25

Blue Sky at Creation Cast.

48:28

Or on our Discord server

48:30

at Discord. character Creationcast.com. I'm

48:32

one of your host, Siriah

48:34

Bolter, and I can be

48:36

found on Twitter and Blue

48:38

Sky at Lord Neptune or

48:40

online at Lord Neptune.com. Our

48:42

other host, Amelia Antrim, can

48:44

be found on Twitter and

48:46

Blue Sky at Ginger Reckoning.

48:48

Music for this episode is

48:51

used with a creative comments

48:53

license or with permission from

48:55

the podcast they originated from.

48:57

Further information can be found

48:59

within the show notes. Our

49:01

main theme music is Hero

49:03

Remix by Steve Combs and

49:05

is used with a creative

49:07

comments license. This podcast is

49:09

owned by us under Creative

49:12

Commons. This episode was edited

49:14

by Ryan Bolter. Further information

49:16

for the game systems used

49:18

in today's guests can also

49:20

be found in the show

49:22

notes. If you'd like to

49:24

support our show, find us

49:26

on Patreon. Get access to

49:28

bonus episodes, exclusive merch, and

49:30

much more at patron.com/character creation

49:32

cast. Thanks for joining us.

49:35

And remember, we find that

49:37

the best part of any

49:39

role-playing game is character creation.

49:41

So go out there and

49:43

create some amazing people. We'll

49:45

see you next time. In

50:00

the universe of Star Wall Odyssey,

50:02

space is made out of the

50:04

collective imaginations of all the thinking

50:06

beings who live on various planets.

50:08

These worlds are connected to each

50:10

other through imagination. Common themes and

50:12

ideas are strings between universes. And

50:15

to get between them, people fly

50:17

wooden ships that look like animals,

50:19

which are powered by emotions. Also,

50:21

people communicate with each other by

50:23

contemplating orbs. The only way you

50:25

can take pictures is getting stared

50:27

at by a big psychic bug.

50:29

and people have already declared victory

50:31

in a war over the very

50:33

concept of evil. But I'm getting

50:35

ahead of myself. Starwall Odyssey follows

50:38

the adventures of the hapless inhabitants

50:40

of the Lucky Finn Tenement Building,

50:42

who suddenly find that their apartment

50:44

is actually a spaceship, and that

50:46

they're lost in a sea of

50:48

boundless imagination. It's an actual play

50:50

starring me, James Damado. Mel Damado,

50:52

Allie Grower, and Drew Merzieski as

50:54

we play test The No King

50:56

System, which will hopefully one day

50:58

be the Skyjacks role-playing system. It

51:01

toes the line between weird and

51:03

wonderful slice of life and high-flying

51:05

space fantasy. You can sample the

51:07

first five episodes by searching for

51:09

Star Wall Odyssey on your favorite

51:11

podcast app or get the whole

51:13

thing by heading to patreon.com/one-shot podcast

51:15

and signing up for $5 a

51:17

month or more.