0:02

This this special episode of

0:05

for dot dot dot is dot, a

0:07

dot. is part

0:09

of a on the special report

0:11

on the purported End Times. based

0:13

It presents information based in

0:15

part on theory and conjecture,

0:18

drawn from both science science, not

0:20

be may not be science, and

0:23

ancient prophecy drawn from

0:25

historical accounts, disclaimer may not

0:27

be historical. The

0:29

producer's purpose is to present

0:31

some possible explanations, but not

0:33

necessarily but not for

0:35

the mysterious ones, for the

0:37

some say phenomena that some say foretell

0:40

the imminent end of the world.

0:42

Part 4. Lessons from the Time

0:44

of Judgment After inspiring

0:46

inspiring years of vigorous speculation and

0:48

inquiry, the celestial body known as

0:51

Wormwood has vanished from the night

0:53

sky, and with with it, the

0:55

much needed urgency that it lent

0:57

to the field of eschatology. With

1:00

With their ivory towers

1:02

once again safe from

1:04

asteroid impact, no tower is 100%

1:06

safe from asteroid impact, the vast vast

1:09

media astronomy complex has begun

1:11

to assert that despite

1:13

hanging inexplicably in the

1:15

night sky like a malign heat

1:17

for nearly a decade,

1:20

decade, the so Red Star Wormwood

1:22

was nothing nothing but a

1:24

object rendered temporarily visible by

1:26

chance alignment, the the

1:28

astronomical equivalent of swamp gas. gas.

1:30

As As evidence they point

1:33

to the fact that wormwood

1:35

never struck or approached the Earth,

1:38

ignoring the fact it it

1:40

hurtled through space in a

1:42

distant and stable orbit

1:44

but hurtled nonetheless years. while human civilization

1:47

helpless. If

1:49

these were not the end times, they were a they

1:51

were a harrowing drill, drill. on its And

1:53

based on its results, chances of chances

1:55

of meeting safely in the parking lot

1:57

in the event of a real

1:59

apar... The apocalypse seems slim. The question

2:02

of whether or not global civilization

2:04

was nearly ended by Wormwood remains

2:06

a subject of scholarly disagreement. Disclaimer

2:09

refers to disagreement with scholars not

2:11

by scholars. In this episode, the

2:13

producers wished to entertain the possibility

2:16

that Wormwood did nearly bring about

2:18

the end of life on Earth,

2:20

and that hidden forces, both mystical

2:23

and technological, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, intervened

2:25

to save a world that could

2:27

not save itself. If the apocalypse

2:30

was narrowly averted, what traces might

2:32

have been left behind by the

2:34

higher and hidden powers that averted

2:37

it? How and why was humanity

2:39

judged? And how might we better

2:41

ourselves in light of the verdict?

2:44

Join us, as we range from

2:46

the roots of Earth's most massive

2:48

living organism to the horopilating layline

2:51

junctions of Pluto, in search for

2:53

dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, lessons

2:56

from the time of judgment. All

2:58

right, this has been a long

3:00

season. I don't feel any obligation

3:03

to be long-winded in this final

3:05

episode. The right, yes, but not

3:07

the obligation. So we'll see what

3:10

happens. And I also don't feel

3:12

the need to be formal. We've

3:14

been at this for a year together,

3:16

right, from like Christmas 2023 to Christmas

3:18

2024, roughly. No need to stand on

3:20

ceremony. I'm just gonna reach the outline

3:22

of what I'm about. And then I'm

3:24

going to talk about it. First of

3:26

all, I'm going to give you my

3:28

thoughts on this story specifically, the Crucible

3:30

of God. Then I'm going to do

3:32

a little bit of an overall, like

3:34

all the texts we looked at and

3:36

how they fit into the different eras

3:38

of vampire. And maybe some thoughts on

3:40

how it worked out, and how they

3:42

fit into the different eras of vampire.

3:44

And maybe some thoughts on how it's

3:46

going to point out. I repeated that

3:48

turn of phrase last episode without crediting

3:50

it. I liked them a lot and

3:52

that's why I repeated them. But yeah,

3:54

we'll talk a bit about that. I

3:56

want to give some general

3:58

thoughts about and the

4:00

the world of darkness.

4:03

Now that that we've kind of looked at the ways

4:05

in which it was dumb over its whole history. From there,

4:07

I'm gonna talk a little about some loose ends. about

4:09

the narrative of this season. of get

4:12

excited, not much. get you're not gonna get

4:14

a lot of information right this minute lot of the

4:16

right this minute about the Existence of existence of

4:18

and ginger and so on Ginger and that

4:20

may be coming down the pike more

4:22

on that later pike more on that talk a

4:25

little bit about little bit about what... Season

4:27

6 related content still needs to come out, what

4:29

you can expect on this feed in the near

4:31

future. I'm also gonna talk about

4:33

what's coming up for I'm also

4:35

of to talk about Once again, keep expectations low. I'm

4:37

not gonna tell you what I'm talking about, but I'll

4:39

tell you about when season seven is gonna start, and

4:42

then I'm gonna do some low. I'm gonna do some

4:44

plugs, to and that's gonna be it. So let's get it.

4:46

about, but I'll tell you about when season

4:48

7 is anyone else notices,

4:50

this is going to of five

4:52

of going to do some plugs. dot,

4:54

dot series on. to it. the

4:56

end times. there is There is not another one coming

4:58

in the near future. I'm saving

5:00

the last one one I suspect that someday

5:03

I am gonna be coming back to

5:05

back to Club. Drama that's to

5:07

talk about, for example, a scenario

5:09

from V example, a the end of

5:11

the initial line, the end maybe whether

5:13

it's to talk about maybe scenario, about

5:15

a V5 scenario, Vampire In any case, the

5:17

next time I talk about talk about

5:19

Vampire Drama Club, I'll have. the the

5:22

final episode of this in search for

5:24

dot, series dot to go. to go. to

5:26

kind of bridge the gap. So you won't be

5:28

getting won't of this five part series for a while.

5:30

Just to head off that question to away. off that

5:32

So all right, right on all of God. on

5:34

the The thing about it is, and I meant to

5:36

mention this in an episode where I talked about. in an

5:38

episode where I with the way that

5:40

God is portrayed and used in

5:42

the scenario. The book Gehenna, a

5:44

number of different scenarios that all do different

5:46

things. And, you know, some of them

5:48

are better than others. them There is one

5:50

that is just, it's very small. small. It's very

5:53

personal. It is vampires

5:55

taking refuge from the withering,

5:57

essentially, in this church. in this

5:59

church and That story really is

6:01

like a confrontation. with

6:03

yourself grappling with what

6:05

it is to be a

6:08

vampire And in that

6:10

context. with the latitude that

6:12

scenario gives, that sort of thing can work

6:14

really well. The stuff about submitting to God

6:16

and sort of like. Becoming selfless,

6:18

part of the problem with that

6:20

is the fact that it's in this

6:22

scenario, the crucible of God, Because

6:24

each of these scenarios does a different thing

6:26

and something that might work really well

6:28

in one scenario seems out of place in

6:31

another. With that said, The

6:33

Crucible of God is a super gonzo

6:35

over the top, dumb ass fireworks show

6:37

of a finale for the world of

6:39

darkness. I don't think that's probably the

6:41

best way to end the world of

6:43

darkness by any stretch, but in a

6:45

book devoted to different ways of doing

6:48

things, The Crucible of God really does

6:50

its job as the big goofy one, and

6:52

it's at its best when it is

6:54

fully investing in that. And that's kind of

6:56

a nuanced take. Like, I'm not saying

6:58

your world of darkness chronicle should probably end

7:00

with Godzilla. But if it is going

7:02

end with Godzilla, if that's the choice you

7:04

picked off the menu. It

7:06

should be real big tall city stomping Godzilla,

7:08

not a kind of sort of Godzilla,

7:11

which is what we got at least stats

7:13

wise in this scenario. So where I

7:15

have problems with the Crucible of God, it's

7:17

really that it didn't go far enough

7:19

or when it tries to veer into something

7:21

that is outside its strength as a

7:23

scenario. I would, obviously, I mean, the evidence

7:26

is right before you in your podcatcher.

7:28

I would steer more in the direction of

7:30

bigger, sillier, more bombastic, more

7:32

set piece, less personal horror, because if

7:34

I wanted something different, I would

7:36

play a different scenario. I don't, honestly,

7:38

I don't even think this is

7:40

necessarily best as a vampire

7:42

Gehenna scenario, as like this

7:44

would be a good basis for.

7:47

a kitchen sink world of darkness where it's

7:49

like mage player characters, werewolf player characters

7:51

and vampire player characters and like a changeling

7:53

in the mix and everything. even

7:55

though it's very vampire centric as

7:57

the in search for dot, dot,.episodes, it

8:00

can easily be opened up to the

8:02

rest of the world of darkness because

8:04

we're talking about like big monster fights

8:06

and like Post -apocalyptic tropes and everything

8:08

when we're doing like a little story

8:10

and a little church about what it

8:12

is to be a monster That's very

8:14

vampires specific Whereas ancient vampires rising up

8:17

to consume humanity and each other, you

8:19

know Yes, that is an issue in

8:21

the vampire community But also anybody can

8:23

fight those vampires anybody can be affected

8:25

by those vampires And as we saw

8:27

with kind of connecting the red star

8:29

across these different scenarios It's very easy

8:31

to tie in the distinctive like threats

8:33

and themes and situations of the other

8:36

lines into what's happening in the crucible

8:38

of God I think specifically because it

8:40

is very big and action oriented as

8:42

Opposed to being like small and delicate

8:44

and driven by the specific themes of

8:46

the line there is a major flaw

8:48

in the scenario which is that too

8:50

much happens that is Beyond the control

8:52

or even knowledge of the player characters

8:55

such that I can imagine players getting

8:57

frustrated at not even Being involved in

8:59

or even witnessing or or touching at

9:01

all the major events of the plot

9:03

But I also think that similar to

9:05

return of the succubus club This is

9:07

a scenario where that shortcoming can be

9:09

overcome by either really rowdy smart players

9:11

Who make their own fun and pick

9:14

their own fights or a deft GM

9:16

Who's able to weave a narrative on

9:18

the spot that does center the player

9:20

characters in the middle of these larger

9:22

events? So I think that legitimately is

9:24

a flaw of the scenario but it's

9:26

also a flaw that a good storyteller

9:28

and a fun group can overcome as

9:30

opposed to a scenario that is just

9:33

like so illogical or lacking so much

9:35

Inspiration that kind of the best you

9:37

can do is get through it as

9:39

a player group I think this could

9:41

be a really good scenario for a

9:43

group that is prepared to Make up

9:45

for some of its shortcomings now Let

9:47

me take a minute to talk about

9:49

all of the various texts that we

9:52

talked about in this season I talked

9:54

about each of them individually including the

9:56

Crucible of God just now remember, but

9:58

I also want to talk about them

10:00

as a group. and do a and do a little bit

10:02

of a compare and contrast. maybe talk

10:04

a little about why I chose

10:06

each one. Alien Hunger not only the was not only

10:08

the first scenario that I talked about

10:10

chronologically in this season, was also the first

10:12

book that I picked. And the big

10:14

reason was the big reason was the reveal. Pasteur But it's

10:16

also the fact that also the fact was

10:18

so the masquerade at that time. at that time.

10:21

came out so early so it captures

10:23

captures kind of before it solidified into

10:25

what it would be. would be for

10:27

most of its run. run. And I want

10:29

to be up about the fact

10:31

that my goal on MDC is

10:33

never to people doing people doing

10:35

difficult creative work. sometimes sometimes creative work

10:37

creative work produces some clunkers

10:39

a that's a normal part

10:41

of the process. mean, God

10:43

knows. This podcast has not

10:45

hit has day, every season. I

10:47

think it's fair game it's fair

10:50

game to find the the comedy

10:52

and like the flaws in those clunkers,

10:54

but it's also important to recognize

10:56

that sometimes that comes out of

10:58

a creator creator to take a

11:00

difficult turn. turn maybe not making

11:02

that turn that gracefully, I

11:04

did target alien for for exactly that reason.

11:06

This is a book by creators coming out

11:08

of out of a totally different role

11:10

-playing game culture who are trying to make

11:12

a transition into something that vampire wasn't it

11:14

it wasn't quite there. It hadn't really,

11:16

like there wasn't a template for

11:18

it yet. So Alien Hunger is only

11:20

a is only a success as a scenario.

11:22

In fact, I think it would

11:24

be a stretch to call it a

11:26

success at all, but it is

11:28

definitely movement in the direction of what

11:30

would be. in the direction of what

11:32

of the world of great but

11:34

also of the world of hunger has a

11:36

lot of stuff in it. hunger

11:39

become a huge part of stuff in it that blood

11:41

potions, right? part of vampire later, turning out to

11:43

be historical personages. right? happens from time to

11:45

time in the rest of the line, but

11:47

having so many vampires turn out to

11:49

be somebody you've heard of from real life,

11:51

that's more characteristic of of vampire, I would

11:53

say. would say. Alien Hunger is just an interesting

11:55

book. I I think it is more interesting

11:57

than it is good, especially at this

11:59

point. remove. One thing I will say, and

12:01

this may come as a surprise to

12:03

those who followed. the whole arc of the season

12:05

who like paid attention to the fiction. I

12:08

did not choose Alien Hunger on the basis

12:10

of its pre -gens, who were

12:12

like. the greatest gift.

12:14

that any creator involved in any

12:16

of the texts the season gave

12:18

to me, those pre -gens are killer.

12:20

Marcus, Terry, Flash, Monica, and Emerson are

12:23

genuinely good characters. And not only

12:25

are they good in their own right,

12:27

but they successfully convey, I think.

12:29

Even if you weren't going to use

12:31

them in a chronicle, they convey

12:33

to players, this is what you want

12:36

for vampire. You want something approximating

12:38

real people, but geared for tragedy and

12:40

conflict. Not elevated to superheroes, but

12:42

the kind of characters you could

12:44

write a really good play around,

12:46

appropriately enough. I chose Alien Hunger.

12:48

before I was sure I would

12:50

be following its characters forward and the

12:53

pre -gens in Alien hunger. as much

12:55

as like they grew far beyond what they are

12:57

in Alien Hunger over the course of the season,

12:59

the starting point that I got from Alien Hunger.

13:01

turned out to be. a huge asset

13:03

to the season, a huge asset

13:05

to the story. And if nothing else

13:07

in Alien Hunger succeeds in its

13:10

mission. of telling the storyteller and

13:12

players like, this is what Vampire the Masquerade

13:14

should be, the pre -gens do the job. And

13:16

they set you up for that

13:18

good first edition vampire role playing, where

13:20

we're doing like small street level

13:23

personal horror stories, shit like The Hunger

13:25

or Lost Boys. Yeah, it's

13:27

really good stuff. Awakening

13:29

Diablery Cole in Mexico. I picked

13:31

for the season mainly because it's different, mainly

13:33

because it's a dungeon crawl, which is not so

13:35

common with Vampire the Masquerade. It's a

13:37

pretty simple scenario, and I would say not

13:39

a good one. I'm not going get too deep

13:41

into it here, except to say. I'm

13:43

really glad I chose it for this

13:45

season. It turned out for a number of

13:48

reasons. intrinsic and extrinsic

13:50

to the text to be. important

13:52

to the whole season, that certainly does not

13:54

mean I would ever recommend that you play

13:56

it. There's just no reason to play

13:58

it. The best thing we got from

14:00

Awakening Diablery. and Mexico was ginger and

14:02

she's not actually in it. So interesting

14:04

as a failed effort to figure out

14:06

what Vampire of the Masquerade is, but

14:08

that's about it. Angel of Mercy oddly

14:11

ended up being the only story we

14:13

talked about in the second edition of

14:15

Vampire the Masquerade, which I think of

14:17

anachronistically perhaps as like the heart of

14:19

the original run of vampire. And it's

14:21

not even a vampire scenario, it's a

14:23

mage scenario. I picked Angel of Mercy

14:25

partly for its length, partly for hitting

14:27

second edition vampire, which I thought was

14:29

very important to include in some way

14:32

without making the season too long by

14:34

picking a longer scenario. It also allowed

14:36

me to mix game lines, which I

14:38

thought was very important because if you

14:40

remember from back in the day, a

14:42

lot of people ran mixed world of

14:44

darkness games. When I think of second

14:46

edition vampire, I don't think of people

14:48

just playing vampire. I think of goofy

14:50

games where people were playing everything. And

14:53

although Angel of Mercy is written as

14:55

mainly a mage scenario, it explicitly suggests

14:57

throwing vampires into the mix too and

14:59

has some texts that kind of addresses

15:01

the uncomfortable overlap of like, do the

15:03

Camarilla talk to the technocracy? Like, do

15:05

they ever step on each other's toes

15:07

as two worldwide conspiracies? So it was

15:09

good to talk about for that reason.

15:11

I kind of like Angel of Mercy

15:14

as a scenario to run. It has

15:16

problems like a lot of world of

15:18

darkness scenarios with too much happening off

15:20

screen, but those are relatively fixable problems.

15:22

And honestly, they're just as easily fixable

15:24

by cutting the off screen material as

15:26

anything else. Like we didn't really talk

15:28

about Kjarl, who's the real villain of

15:30

the scenario on the podcast at all,

15:32

except for like maybe a couple of

15:34

episodes. And one of them was just

15:37

like his character sheet. It was not

15:39

even part of the story. You could

15:41

just cut Kjarl and have Marco be

15:43

not only a Nazi shithead vampire, but

15:45

also a diabolist who's trying to summon

15:47

a demon himself and everything would work

15:49

just fine. And your players wouldn't feel

15:51

like they were missing something by having

15:53

a lot of the action of the

15:55

plot happen off screen. I love that

15:58

like first edition mage technocracy. like

16:00

the black hats and mirror

16:02

shades, the cyborgs. That stuff to

16:04

me feels like a little quaint

16:06

now, but still fun and still

16:08

potentially vital. Like don't have

16:10

to run it sarcastically. It

16:13

can be fun as written, I

16:15

think. And the big demon

16:17

emerging from the angel fountain at

16:19

the mall? That's just such a

16:21

world of darkness. set piece. To me,

16:23

world of darkness, it has a

16:25

bad habit that when big dramatic things

16:27

happen, they tend to get shifted

16:29

to like ancient temples or castles in

16:32

other dimensions or like cairns or

16:34

nodes or whatever. To me, world of

16:36

darkness is at its best when

16:38

the action is In locations that

16:40

we recognize from our daily lives, World

16:42

of Darkness is at its best when it's

16:44

in like back alley or an apartment

16:47

building where there's a wizard duel happening in

16:49

like a storage unit somewhere, or like

16:51

when a werewolf is tearing somebody apart at

16:53

an abandoned bus station. in a

16:55

fight club. So to me. the

16:57

stuff at the mall. even as goofy

16:59

a setting as a mall is

17:01

in a certain way, it rings truer

17:03

to... the urban fantasy underpinnings of

17:06

the world of darkness than some of

17:08

the other stuff. And I felt like

17:10

Angel of Mercy also was a great

17:12

ramp up into the multi -game line

17:14

weirdness that we were. incorporating into the story

17:16

more as the season progressed, especially in

17:18

Week of Nightmares, newly added to Patreon, by

17:20

the way. So if you're a Patreon

17:22

who only really listens to things on the

17:24

Patreon feed, you'll see that the Week

17:26

of Nightmares is now up in a giant

17:28

Megasode that you can listen to in

17:30

the pinned post at the top of the

17:32

Patreon page. You'll find a link to

17:35

that Megasode. The Week of Nightmares is not

17:37

really a scenario. It's just a thing

17:39

that happened. But I think it is both

17:41

a huge advance and a huge mistake

17:43

in a certain sense. Like it's tipping point

17:45

in the world of darkness that

17:47

you have this big explicitly unified

17:49

setting event that happens across every

17:51

game line and really is only

17:53

coherent in those terms, like the

17:56

technocracy kills an antediluvian, so

17:58

you can't really extract. to

18:00

the game lines from one another anymore. This

18:02

is inherently a crossover event. I don't

18:04

know if the market for it exists, but

18:06

covering the week of nightmares really left

18:08

me wanting a great week of nightmares scenario.

18:11

After that, we covered two scenarios from

18:13

Knights of Prophecy. The hunter's hunted, which I

18:15

think is a very bad scenario. Again,

18:17

I would not recommend. It's not as

18:19

bad as Awakening Diablery colon Mexico, but it

18:21

was also a revised vampire product that

18:23

should have known better. There had been longer

18:25

to figure things out and the hunter's

18:28

hunted just does not work for me for

18:30

reasons we talked about during the season.

18:32

I included it mainly because I needed something

18:34

about that length. So I wanted to

18:36

use one of the other scenarios in addition

18:38

to return the Psychopus Club from Knights

18:40

of Prophecy, but it also just ticked

18:42

a lot of other boxes. Like I wanted

18:45

to introduce the character of Sugar. I

18:47

wanted to hit another location other than Denver

18:49

that was near enough to Denver that

18:51

it wouldn't distract from Denver events too much.

18:53

I wanted to talk about hunters because

18:55

I wanted Colombo to be one. So it

18:57

was just sort of a convenient fit

19:00

content wise, but the hunter's hunted, I would

19:02

say is pretty much a failure as

19:04

a scenario. I also chose it because

19:06

of Creepshow. The idea of like this cheesy

19:08

B monster movie themed casino is very

19:10

silly and almost reaches a level of camp

19:12

that I can appreciate as an alternate

19:14

take on the world of darkness. In the

19:17

right hands, Creepshow could really be something.

19:19

I don't know if I got it to

19:21

that level of camp. mean, only you

19:23

the listener can say, but to me it

19:25

was also a good fit for this

19:27

Chronicle. I was stitching together from all

19:29

these different disparate scenarios because Vampire Drama Club

19:31

had gotten to such a goofy place

19:34

by this point. Given the arc of the

19:36

season, I knew we weren't gonna like

19:38

pull back from the goofiness of the week

19:40

of nightmares having spirit nukes and mini

19:42

Blucifer and War on Mars and all that

19:44

stuff. I knew that we weren't really

19:46

gonna like refocus and do another great gritty

19:49

age for Vampire Drama Club. So given

19:51

that, it was nice to have something big

19:53

and campy. I expected Vampire Revised to

19:55

have less of that stuff, but actually

19:57

I found that that strain of goofiness. from

20:00

early vampire didn't so much so

20:02

much disappear in later of a separate as

20:04

it became a sort of a separate

20:06

strain within the game vibe and other things

20:08

things have that vibe and other things

20:10

don't as opposed to everything having

20:12

a little edge of goofiness, a little

20:14

edge of camp. So if that's

20:16

the kind of vampire you're interested in,

20:18

you could definitely find support for

20:20

it in vampire revised You just have to

20:22

be selective of which sources you

20:24

use just as as if you wanna play

20:26

something more grounded. and and more

20:29

focused on a horror, you just have

20:31

to be selective with the revised material

20:33

and avoid stuff like stuff like the From

20:35

there, we went to it. of the there

20:37

club. I felt like succopus club. I felt like as a

20:39

revised scenario. harkens back

20:41

to first back to was a was a

20:44

perfect fit for the show. Since I

20:46

was kind of looking at all the

20:48

different eras of ears of hitting something that

20:50

was itself retrospective seemed right. right. I also

20:52

just thought thought structure was interesting. Its

20:55

NBC's were interesting. And I really

20:57

wanted to talk about an

20:59

adventure set specifically in Denver and

21:01

Denver. And other other vampire the masquerade adventures. are

21:04

set in set in Denver by default,

21:06

I think, other than alien hunger, But

21:08

but. number of There are a number of adventures

21:10

that tell you this can set this in

21:12

whatever your home city is. That's what Angel

21:14

of Mercy says, that's and that's what of the Succubus

21:16

Club says. So that gave me a chance

21:18

to do the Denver version of. of

21:20

Big City hosts the Succopus Club. And then that

21:22

brings us to the Crucible of

21:24

God, which I thought, of given I

21:26

thought like, given how story of this season

21:29

has been has the fact that I don't

21:31

think it would be fun to end

21:33

it on like a big downer or like

21:35

a big poignant note. a big downer God was

21:37

a natural choice and I think it

21:39

worked great for what it was. mean a

21:41

this season of the show gives me a

21:43

new appreciation for the it of God because

21:45

a campaign of easily find itself in a

21:48

situation where it needs a conclusion like

21:50

the Crucible of God where there are are like...

21:52

big fights. sun gets blotted gets are out.

21:54

hordes at the gates, in at the gates pay off order

21:57

to pay off what the chronicle has been

21:59

to that point, especially if you've been playing

22:01

like an increasingly God's chronicle, that's

22:03

a legitimate need that this scenario does

22:05

serve. So it was the perfect

22:07

ending, I think, to this. season. and

22:09

I appreciate it being in Gehenna as an

22:11

option. even if nobody's gonna identify

22:13

it as like the default ending of the world

22:16

of darkness or even a vampire. Overall. and

22:18

this is not going to be like a long thing.

22:20

I just want to say I fucking love vampire.

22:22

I loved vampire the masquerade coming into this.

22:24

I still love it. Having seen some

22:26

of the dumbest shit that the world of

22:28

darkness has to offer, I love the

22:30

world of darkness. I love what it's trying

22:32

to do, and I am charmed by

22:35

the ways that it fails to do it

22:37

sometimes. It's just a great set of game

22:39

lines to get into the highs and

22:41

the lows are both very interesting, especially

22:43

I think if you were there or

22:45

if you understand the context, because the

22:47

original world of darkness represents a moment

22:49

in gaming history for me. And maybe

22:51

you wouldn't get as much out of

22:53

it if you grew up on games

22:55

that already had the influence of the

22:57

world of darkness in their DNA. But

22:59

if you can still see the world

23:01

of darkness games with fresh eyes, whether

23:03

out of nostalgia or whatever, then I

23:05

think there's a lot there and. And

23:07

these are just like. great compelling

23:09

settings that hold up. And And I

23:11

mean, it's hardly an original observation that

23:13

this is part of the reason why. the

23:16

20th anniversary lines have

23:18

had such success people didn't want to

23:20

give up these settings They didn't want

23:22

to give up these NPCs. original world

23:24

of darkness was just so engaging and

23:27

hit so many people at such an important time

23:29

in their lives and in their gaming careers,

23:31

it's like reading a novel series or something where

23:33

it's like... Yeah, I have my problems

23:35

with this series, but I don't want a

23:37

new, better fantasy novel. I want part seven

23:39

of this shit. because these are the

23:41

characters I know. These are the characters I care

23:43

about. This is the world I care about. I've

23:45

invested a lot of time in it and I

23:47

want to see another chapter of that. Speaking of

23:49

the characters we've invested in, there's a little bit

23:51

of unfinished business with Vampire Drama Club. I'm

23:54

not going get into any great

23:56

detail about any epilogue or anything

23:58

like that. Partly because there is. more.

24:00

more coming with Vampire Drama Club.

24:02

just to give you a basic, like

24:04

this is where we're leaving them,

24:06

history's kind of rewritten around them by

24:08

the events of the very end

24:10

of the Crucible of God. So there's

24:12

a little bit of like a

24:14

back to the future or DC Comics

24:16

like crisis thing happening where they're

24:19

returning to a world that is different

24:21

from the world they've been having

24:23

adventures in, but the people around them

24:25

are not largely aware of that

24:27

change. They're all still vampires. They're all

24:29

still operating in Denver. They've still

24:31

got ginger with them. So like there's

24:33

room for Vampire Drama Club as

24:35

we know them to have further adventures.

24:37

Other characters, it's case by case,

24:39

but I would say at least Jefferson

24:41

Leakey pretty much knows what happened,

24:44

at least, and probably the other mages

24:46

do too. I did deliberately set

24:48

up Aracel's presence/obfuscate effect on the satite

24:50

temple outside Las Vegas to exclude

24:52

the temple and therefore like sugar and

24:54

Niko and Zip from pretty much

24:56

any effects of Gehanna including this like

24:58

reality of rewriting that Zemishi did

25:00

at the very end. So sugar, Niko

25:02

and Zip are also still out

25:04

there as vampires remembering what has gone

25:06

on between them. So we're not

25:09

losing the whole sugar, Niko kind of

25:11

side story. That's all intact and

25:13

ready for future stories. And in fact

25:15

that leads us neatly into the

25:17

next thing I wanted to talk about

25:19

what else is coming out in

25:21

the Vampire Drama Club universe. First of

25:23

all, Ginger Gaiden. It's about 15

25:25

minutes away from being fully edited finally

25:27

and it's about to come out.

25:29

No later than next week, it's almost

25:31

done. After that, I intend to

25:33

do a third and final Ginger Gaiden.

25:36

It's gonna be set sometime during

25:38

the Crucible of God and once again,

25:40

it's gonna be an actual play

25:42

with Megan Bob as Ginger the Howler

25:44

Monkey with me as the storyteller.

25:46

And I would really like this last

25:48

Ginger Gaiden episode to tie up

25:50

some loose ends to like address some

25:52

plot threads and things that people

25:54

might wonder about that I was. wasn't

25:56

able to cover in the main

25:58

series. So I've got my own ideas

26:01

for what I'd like to cover,

26:03

but I want to invite everyone listening.

26:05

If you write too, make a dumb cast

26:08

at gmail .com. with the subject

26:10

line Ginger, Guidance 3. When I record Ginger

26:12

Guidance 3, I will do my best

26:14

effort to answer or at least address any

26:16

questions any of you have. about

26:18

like dropped plot threads, things

26:20

you wonder about. that were

26:22

never covered in the main season. Like for

26:24

example, whatever happened to those nukes that Vampire Drama

26:27

Club stole. Or, hey, what about

26:29

Don Alonso? Anything like that. I

26:31

will try to cover as much as I

26:33

can in Ginger, Guidance 3. There's also

26:35

gonna be more sugar and Nico stuff. You'll

26:37

remember that the stuff between sugar and Nico,

26:39

the embrace of sugar. leading

26:41

into the stuff that came out on Megan Bobb's

26:43

OnlyFans, That all takes place at the very beginning

26:45

of the 21st century. almost a

26:47

decade prior to the events of the Crucible of

26:49

God. So there's a lot of to still

26:51

to between sugar and Niko, even before

26:54

we get to whatever happens to them. Post -Gahena. So

26:56

I would expect to see more of that

26:58

on this feed. More on Megan only fans

27:00

Also, not a plug. I'm just stating facts.

27:02

So yeah, I'm kind of enjoying them as

27:04

like a side. like very

27:07

tonally darker, like almost a vertigo comics,

27:09

like they exist in the same world

27:11

as Vampire Drama Club. but the

27:13

vibe is very different. I really enjoy

27:15

that, and I would expect a lot more sugar

27:17

and Nico stuff to come out eventually, but

27:19

there's nothing immediately on the agenda. The

27:21

very next thing that is going to

27:23

come out on this feed, however, is also

27:25

something. slightly sexier than I would normally put

27:27

out. it's on the, uh, $3 level

27:29

on Patreon. Uh, you'll remember that I instituted

27:31

this new $3 Patreon level mainly so

27:33

that people could opt in or opt out

27:35

of content that would be like right

27:38

at home on the hard choices feed that

27:40

Megan Bob runs, but a little sexier

27:42

than would normally be here on Mega Dumbcast.

27:44

There's a new podcast series that Megan

27:46

Bob and I have started called Unicorn Ranch.

27:48

It's a bit similar to their show,

27:50

Hard Choices, where they rate the fuckability of

27:52

fictional characters, but instead of rating it

27:54

kind of abstract, and impersonally, on

27:57

Unicorn Ranch, it's Megan, Bob, and I as

27:59

a couple talking about... about which fictional characters

28:01

we would enjoy inviting into our beds

28:03

as like our third and threesome. I

28:05

think it's a great show that's like

28:07

a great look at couple dynamics. I

28:10

can't wait to have guest couples on the

28:12

show. We've got some lined up that I

28:14

think are gonna be really fun because I

28:16

want see how other people approach this too,

28:18

how other couples have this kind of conversation.

28:20

Other episodes of Unicorn Ranch are gonna start

28:22

dropping very soon over on Megan Bobb's Hard

28:24

Choices feed, but. a special episode about

28:26

the characters of season six of

28:28

Dumbcast is gonna drop. at the

28:30

$3 level on Patreon in the very

28:32

near future. I'm actually about to record it

28:34

with Megan So if you're

28:37

interested in that, you can sign up

28:39

to the Patreon, patreon .com/mega dumbcast at the

28:41

$3 level. That's how you'll get that

28:43

episode and find out how Megan Bob

28:45

and I think like Flash Simpson or

28:47

sugar would be as a third in bed. And

28:50

if you're not interested in that, then don't

28:52

sign up at the $3 level. and our

28:54

smutty podcast will never darken your ears.

28:56

So So the system is working.

28:58

It is your choice. What's coming for

29:01

Mega Dumbcast after and

29:03

all of the miscellaneous, straggling season

29:05

six content. I do know what I'm

29:07

gonna be doing for season seven. I'm gonna keep

29:09

it pretty close to the vest for right now, but

29:11

I'll say that I think it's gonna be my biggest

29:13

season. I expect it to be

29:15

as long or longer than season six. It's

29:17

to require a lot of prep,

29:19

so. the Patreon is gonna be

29:22

pretty slow until then. There'll

29:24

be the occasional thing that comes out, but. for

29:26

the most part don't expect to see

29:28

much from me and maybe don't expect

29:30

to see anything at all on the

29:32

daily feed, like the pod mean feed,

29:34

until about August 2025, which I know

29:36

is a long time from now. That

29:38

is when I have tentatively scheduled season

29:40

seven of MDC to start. If all

29:42

goes well, it's gonna run almost without

29:44

interruption. for a year probably at that

29:47

point. So I want to put in the

29:49

work up front to get that ready to launch.

29:51

So I'm very excited about that. I think

29:53

you will be too. At some point I'll do

29:55

an announcement of what I'm going to be

29:57

talking about, but you can expect new daily episodes

29:59

to begin. around August 2025. If

30:01

you want to hear me in the meantime. obviously

30:03

there's a huge backlog, especially if you

30:06

go to patreon .com,/make a dumb cast again.

30:08

Again, You can find Megasodes for all

30:10

of the previous seasons. You can find

30:12

the whole Fuck Mary Slay series. You

30:14

can find all kinds of bonus content

30:16

for season six and the previous seasons.

30:18

there's now a pinpost at the top of the

30:21

Patreon that links to that stuff. Because at this

30:23

point, I have put out a goddamn ton of

30:25

podcast and I'm linking to more of the old

30:27

stuff all the time. If that isn't enough

30:29

for you, I do a lot of work on the

30:31

hard choices feed that Megan Bob runs. If

30:33

you search for hard choices

30:35

on your favorite podcatcher or

30:37

you go to hardchoices .com or

30:40

patreon .com/hard choices, you can

30:42

find. big episodes. of

30:44

hard choices and hard choices bonus

30:46

content, many of which feature me.

30:49

I have done. Jesus, Star

30:51

Trek, Disney villains, vampires. Doctor

30:54

Who, Gargoyles, The Clue Board Game,

30:56

Nick at Night, Looney Tunes. What

30:58

we do in the shadows, very relevant to this

31:00

season. Movie monsters, park and rec,

31:02

street fighter, there are probably some I'm

31:04

forgetting, tarot cards of the major arcana.

31:06

So that's a great place to find

31:08

lots and lots of me content. If

31:10

God help you, you've already cleared out

31:12

the Megan Patreon and listened to everything

31:14

there. There is yet more on the

31:16

hard choices Patreon and just the regular

31:18

hard choices feed. Also, I

31:21

was recently on Wonderful

31:23

World of Dark Lords, a podcast

31:25

by my friends Rachel and

31:28

Tom Kohler. It is a Disney/Ravenloft

31:30

podcast that adapts Disney animated

31:32

movies into the world of Ravenloft

31:34

for Dungeons and Dragons. I'm

31:36

on the Peddlers Tale bonus episodes

31:38

of that show. I

31:41

just recently did one. that either just

31:43

came out or is about to come

31:45

out about Yu from the movie Mulan. I

31:47

also did one about Home on the Range.

31:49

I did a Cruella Deville episode with

31:51

them. I was also on their main episode

31:53

about Hunchback of Notre Dame. I recommend

31:55

their podcast, and I'd say especially if you

31:57

liked this season of MDC and also season

32:00

five, where you're following. are

32:02

continuing. fictional narrative that

32:04

wraps around some kind of RPG

32:07

analysis that's out of character,

32:09

that's quite similar to what they

32:11

do on. Wonderful world of dark

32:13

lords. So Do check that

32:15

out if you're interested in either the like fictional

32:17

framing part of it or just good

32:19

quality RPG talk with the Colors

32:22

are. like great people and like

32:24

I loved the gaming that I've done

32:26

with them, so I recommend their show. Finally,

32:28

it remains only to say thank you to some,

32:30

but certainly not all of the people who

32:32

deserve to be thanked for this season of MDC.

32:34

First of all. all of the

32:36

patrons for waiting so long for season six

32:38

for MDC to come back and for

32:40

being so generous and supportive to the show

32:42

throughout. I really appreciate it. This has

32:44

been a weird season. in a lot of

32:46

ways. and I appreciate the support.

32:49

I want to especially thank my wife, Katrina,

32:51

who as always with MDC has backed me

32:53

up in all kinds of indispensable ways

32:55

to make it possible for me to keep

32:57

putting out episodes of the show. despite

33:00

everything. I wanna thank Megan who

33:02

not only convinced me to make

33:04

this very season of MDC, I'm

33:06

like, actually come back to MDC

33:08

and continue the podcast. But they also

33:10

inspired many parts of this season

33:13

in various ways And They supplied

33:15

you, the listener, with bonus content this

33:17

season by playing both a monkey and

33:19

a stripper, the range on this envy.

33:21

My God. And also, if that

33:23

were not enough, they bought me.

33:26

dinner and drinks tonight for this

33:28

recording. to help me complete the

33:30

season. They bought me fish and chips,

33:32

of course. They are a fan. They know

33:34

what I like. And they also

33:36

bought me two cocktails, some kind of

33:38

a strawberry something. I

33:40

don't know, they ordered it, I didn't. was a

33:42

strawberry something. it was delicious. And then they

33:44

ordered me a Bloody Mary to immediately drink after

33:46

that because they are an agent of chaos.

33:48

And I guess they just wanted to see what

33:51

strawberry juice and tomato juice would get up

33:53

to together in my human belly. And

33:55

it was great. It was delicious. And it was a

33:57

huge help tonight. Thank you to Megan Bob. Thanks also

33:59

to the aforementioned... to Tom and Rachel who were

34:01

very patient with me. me. I was I was

34:03

trying to get them audio for their show

34:05

at the same time that I was

34:07

finishing up this season. season. So my

34:09

podcast schedule was full I made

34:12

I made them wait and wait and

34:14

wait and I greatly appreciate

34:16

their understanding. And And finally, I I

34:18

want to thank all of the

34:20

huge talents at White who made

34:22

the world of darkness such a a

34:24

formative part of my gaming experience. This

34:26

This season works partly because the

34:28

world of darkness is dumb in

34:30

places but also partly because it's

34:32

very good in places. in places. I

34:34

would be remiss not to not to

34:36

point out that a lot of my

34:38

work this season depends upon the excellent

34:40

work of the creators who wrote these

34:42

texts that I've talked about. going to I'm

34:45

not gonna list names there are a bunch

34:47

of them and they go beyond the main

34:49

texts that we discussed in different parts of

34:51

the season, the but thank you to everyone

34:53

who made. who made... vampire in particular,

34:55

and the world of of general, in such

34:57

a huge huge creatively fruitful part

34:59

of my life, to to and

35:01

including this season of There is some great

35:03

is some great stuff. of Darkness of

35:05

darkness books in these books we've talked about I

35:07

encourage those who encourage those who are interested to

35:09

go take a look for themselves. it. That's

35:12

it, six. If you're a If you're a stay stay

35:14

tuned to the Patreon feed for a

35:16

little bit more bonus content for updates

35:18

on. what season seven is is gonna

35:20

be and when it's coming. coming.

35:22

in any case, case, or otherwise, thank

35:24

you for listening and please join

35:26

me and in the vicinity of

35:28

August, in the for season seven of for

35:30

season 7 make a dumb the Mega Dumbcast.

35:32

This has been Mega

35:34

Dumbcast. New has been

35:36

Mega every New episodes drop every day

35:38

except for Sundays, when all the

35:40

week's previous episodes drop in one

35:43

big one big on the Patron's the

35:45

RSS feed. If you'd like

35:47

to access that feed and support

35:49

the show, that visit and .com the show,

35:51

Dumbcast. This episode's theme

35:53

song is song is by Yeti

35:55

Yeti whose work you can

35:57

find at you .io. -P -P -B

35:59

-E -S. Dumpheads, I will catch

36:01

catch you next time.

36:03

time.