D&D Session Prep with This Dungeon Is Occupied

lewis]: 00:00:03

welcome back to how to be a better d m today i am joined with

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some awesome guests and before i introduce them and before we even go any further

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let's jump in with the warm up that we like to do in show really

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like getting to the story as fast as possible so ladin bone daddy and thorn

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here's the prompt i want you to think of the last group that you deemed

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for okay just take a second think about that group in your mind imagine the

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scenario the story all the players now describe for me the character if if you

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weren't playing a character in that group described for me the character that you would

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like to have created and played as a player of that group even while you're

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deeming

[illideen]: 00:00:50

uh

lewis]: 00:00:51

anyone can go first or whatever

[illideen]: 00:00:52

yeah i'll take this one there is a race of people in my world that

[illideen]: 00:00:59

i'm dmingcurrently that

lewis]: 00:01:01

oh

[illideen]: 00:01:02

they are dragon

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yeah

[illideen]: 00:01:02

born sorcerers but they are forced into

lewis]: 00:01:05

oh

[illideen]: 00:01:05

being a dragon born sorcerer so

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yeah

[illideen]: 00:01:08

i use the the ionic crystals so each

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m

[illideen]: 00:01:12

character had

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oh

[illideen]: 00:01:12

a c ionic crystal somewhere on their body you know usually a forehead or in

[illideen]: 00:01:16

the arms things

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m

[illideen]: 00:01:17

like that and that kind of transforms

lewis]: 00:01:19

hm

[illideen]: 00:01:20

a code unquote regular n b c into that dragon born sourcer i would love

[illideen]: 00:01:24

to play one of it just seems like a really cool back story you know

[illideen]: 00:01:30

instead of just the regular i was i used to be a slave it's like

[illideen]: 00:01:34

now i was a magic slave and you know you

lewis]: 00:01:37

yeah

[illideen]: 00:01:37

can get a little bit a little

weyland]: 00:01:38

m

[illideen]: 00:01:38

bit more fun and creative with it because the ionic crystals especially like in third

[illideen]: 00:01:44

and three point five edition they had a lot of stuff to it

lewis]: 00:01:49

m

[illideen]: 00:01:49

and the ionic magic and five kind of uses it a little bit and so

[illideen]: 00:01:55

i just home brood some extra rules so

lewis]: 00:01:58

oh

weyland]: 00:01:58

nice

lewis]: 00:02:00

that's super interesting

[thorn]: 00:02:02

no

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would like to go

[thorn]: 00:02:03

i'll

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next

[thorn]: 00:02:03

go next the last gaming session

lewis]: 00:02:06

oh

[thorn]: 00:02:06

i did was actually world of darkness so i'll go back to the last d

[thorn]: 00:02:11

n d session i ran which was with a bunch of new people he were

weyland]: 00:02:16

great

[thorn]: 00:02:16

all played for less than three months interested wanting

lewis]: 00:02:21

yeah

[thorn]: 00:02:21

to do big things so i just did the the dragon queen and started

lewis]: 00:02:30

oh

[thorn]: 00:02:30

out great but they all nobody played a tank

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yeah oh

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um

[thorn]: 00:02:37

there was no front line players

weyland]: 00:02:38

m

[thorn]: 00:02:38

and it was it was all sorcerers it was all wizards and a couple rogues

[thorn]: 00:02:45

i mean it was there was no front line players in there at all so

[thorn]: 00:02:49

to be honest one of my favorite front line players is just a fighter just

[thorn]: 00:02:54

a champion fighter it's very basic but

lewis]: 00:02:57

m

[thorn]: 00:02:58

i would do it i always like to do them with a twist so i

[thorn]: 00:03:01

kind

lewis]: 00:03:01

yeah

[thorn]: 00:03:01

of either take them from the fighting pits or i take them

lewis]: 00:03:04

m

[thorn]: 00:03:05

from just a a person that that has

lewis]: 00:03:08

oh

[thorn]: 00:03:08

taught himself to fight so it's different

weyland]: 00:03:11

oh

[thorn]: 00:03:11

than anything so you got different moods you almost got like the drunken master in

[thorn]: 00:03:15

there and just a little different things in there just to make it more interesting

[thorn]: 00:03:20

and i always

lewis]: 00:03:20

oh

[thorn]: 00:03:21

like to either if i'm playing a full tank i'll do like you

lewis]: 00:03:24

oh

[thorn]: 00:03:24

know goliath or anything like that but to be honest the way they were spread

[thorn]: 00:03:29

around

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oh

[thorn]: 00:03:29

with races and everything i would have just done dragon born

lewis]: 00:03:32

oh

[thorn]: 00:03:33

just did a dragon born fighter and i would have named him seth so

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love

lewis]: 00:03:38

m

weyland]: 00:03:38

it

[thorn]: 00:03:38

plain and simple

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m i love that all right bone daddy

[bonedaddy]: 00:03:43

all

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your

[bonedaddy]: 00:03:43

right

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turn

[bonedaddy]: 00:03:45

so the last game i ran was the dragons campaign it was a fusion between

[bonedaddy]: 00:03:50

strict haven the curriculum of chaos and also the domains of dread book so what

[bonedaddy]: 00:03:57

i did was i did a continuation of like in the domains of dread there's

lewis]: 00:04:02

yah

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:03

there's like the domain lords

lewis]: 00:04:04

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:04

and one of them escapes and like the actual canonical like story in the domains

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:10

of dread and it's a lith by the lich by the name asvonrex escapes and

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:16

so i did a continuation story where i he was like the headmaster at the

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:21

strict

lewis]: 00:04:21

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:21

haven academy for magic and

lewis]: 00:04:23

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:24

he was like trying to teach and hide

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oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:26

at stricaven and so the players we're trying to figure out why why the domains

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:33

of dread were ceping into

lewis]: 00:04:34

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:35

the world like the demi playing that the school was built on they were slowly

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:39

starting to see an it's because the entities were looking for for aslant put him

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:43

back where he where he belonged and i basically i turned all strad and all

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:48

the other

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m

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:48

domainloids into kids i had them like

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m

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:51

sleeper agents in the school and so there was

weyland]: 00:04:54

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:55

it was

lewis]: 00:04:55

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:55

it was just a wild little adventure

lewis]: 00:04:57

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:57

that i had put together for my friends

lewis]: 00:04:59

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:04:59

and i i would have loved to play in that one because it was like

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:03

half like school murder mystery half half like there was like this whole world to

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:09

like sandbox world that they could kind of go to and see the different schools

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:13

that were offered if i had to play a character

lewis]: 00:05:16

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:16

in there i would have loved to play like conspiracy this like kids it's like

lewis]: 00:05:22

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:22

he's like really into the domains of dread like he's like he's like yeah and

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:27

they're here and

lewis]: 00:05:28

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:28

like you don't even know and he's like

weyland]: 00:05:30

ah

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:30

takes a puff smoke

weyland]: 00:05:31

yah

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:31

of a cigarette and he's just like oh and

weyland]: 00:05:34

uh

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:34

that would have been

lewis]: 00:05:35

ah

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:36

to kind of just

weyland]: 00:05:37

h

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:37

be like investigating these things he's like determined to prove to everybody there here he's

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:42

like it's strad it looks like trade look at him and he's

weyland]: 00:05:45

ye

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:45

like that's a kid guy

lewis]: 00:05:46

uh

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:46

like what are you talking about because vampires exist on strict

weyland]: 00:05:49

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:49

stevens world so like just

lewis]: 00:05:50

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:50

a vampire why you so like you know like what's wrong with you

weyland]: 00:05:55

he's like look

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:55

and so

weyland]: 00:05:55

at the shadows you can tell

[bonedaddy]: 00:05:57

okay o everywhere look at the mist that's rolling in and like now that's just

[bonedaddy]: 00:06:02

weather bloom

lewis]: 00:06:03

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:06:03

like y're doing their experiments

lewis]: 00:06:05

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:06:05

like

weyland]: 00:06:06

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:06:06

no crease

weyland]: 00:06:07

h

[bonedaddy]: 00:06:08

yeah

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i love that that is so funny well listener welcome back to how to be

lewis]: 00:06:15

a better d m i'm justin lewis and together with my cohort

weyland]: 00:06:18

oh

lewis]: 00:06:18

tanner wayland we help you craft better

weyland]: 00:06:20

oh

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stories for yourselves and your players d m sessions of d and five e regardless

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of how much time or money you have and today we are joined by some

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awesome guests the voices behind this dungeon is occupied podcast we have laden thorn

[thorn]: 00:06:36

yah

lewis]: 00:06:36

and bone daddy i'll actually let them share their real names later with you if

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they want but first let's go through a couple of house keeping items first of

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all remember that we

[thorn]: 00:06:44

yah

lewis]: 00:06:44

have the next one shot coming up in september tanner is actually the game aster

lewis]: 00:06:49

for that and we have all the spots filled but if you're interested in what

lewis]: 00:06:52

in that one shot as a spectator you can go to better dungeon master dot

lewis]: 00:06:56

com slash audience at the time of the one shot and enjoy just a fun

lewis]: 00:07:01

show for a couple of hours but if you are interested in signing up for

lewis]: 00:07:05

the next one shot it will actually be in october and we'll be hosted by

lewis]: 00:07:09

one of our guests here bone daddy he is a huge fan of horror so

lewis]: 00:07:13

we thought it was appropriate to have him host our

weyland]: 00:07:15

oh

lewis]: 00:07:15

horror themes halloween one shot and if you have trauma from that blame him

[thorn]: 00:07:19

yeah

lewis]: 00:07:20

but you can go to better than

[thorn]: 00:07:22

yeah

lewis]: 00:07:23

you can go to better dungeon master dot com slash one shot sorry one dash

lewis]: 00:07:28

shot to sign up for that lastly we just want to thank you for all

lewis]: 00:07:31

your support we really appreciate everything you do for us and with every episode we

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strive to give you ever better content so please if we're doing something wrong or

lewis]: 00:07:40

even something right go ahead and tell us but now let's get to today's show

lewis]: 00:07:45

so let's get into our discussion topics like i said feel free and when you

lewis]: 00:07:53

know you answer one of these questions you you put a comment if you want

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to introduce yourself talk about you know some of your history and experience but don't

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feel like you have i figure i think people will more so appreciate who you

lewis]: 00:08:08

are by the value

weyland]: 00:08:09

m

lewis]: 00:08:09

that you bring because in our last conversation we were actually on their podcast we

lewis]: 00:08:14

had a lot of fun and you guys do bring a lot of values i

lewis]: 00:08:17

figure let's just give

[thorn]: 00:08:18

oh

lewis]: 00:08:18

them what they want so today we are talking about preparing for sessions and actually

[thorn]: 00:08:24

yeah

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in our conversation before we started recording you guys were mentioning some of the antics

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with one of your previous campaigns and all the gold that thorn you were accruing

lewis]: 00:08:37

and all the preparation that you had to

[thorn]: 00:08:39

yah

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you had to do laden so i guess it's it's it's a good place to

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start

[thorn]: 00:08:46

yah

lewis]: 00:08:46

how do you know when enough is enough with preparation and sometimes when enough is

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too much

[illideen]: 00:08:53

so i'll take this one listeners i'm ladin i have been playing d and d

[illideen]: 00:09:01

for about sixteen years now d d ming for almost half that time you know

[illideen]: 00:09:08

it's enough once it stops being fun i

lewis]: 00:09:11

oh

[illideen]: 00:09:11

am a writer so i love writing i have binders upon binders of just story

[illideen]: 00:09:17

plots and plot hooks that i've come up with um that have either been played

[illideen]: 00:09:22

or are

lewis]: 00:09:22

oh

[illideen]: 00:09:22

just sitting as a tool box that i can pull out

weyland]: 00:09:26

oh

[illideen]: 00:09:27

and it's one of those things that if you know in the case that you

[illideen]: 00:09:31

were talking about about the gold i was doing exile spread sheets of gold and

[illideen]: 00:09:37

salaries and you know they had the towards the end of the campaign we went

[illideen]: 00:09:42

all the

lewis]: 00:09:42

m

[illideen]: 00:09:42

way

weyland]: 00:09:42

oh

[illideen]: 00:09:43

to level twenty towards the end they had

lewis]: 00:09:45

oh

[illideen]: 00:09:46

a keep that they had with employees and so i had to make sure that

[illideen]: 00:09:50

okay well this money is coming in but this money is

weyland]: 00:09:53

m

[illideen]: 00:09:53

going out we had it was constant bookkeeping and i almost paid for quick books

lewis]: 00:09:58

m

[illideen]: 00:09:58

for my campaign because it got that serious and at that point i was like

[illideen]: 00:10:03

all right we need to

lewis]: 00:10:04

oh

[illideen]: 00:10:04

did it chill a little

weyland]: 00:10:06

yeah

[illideen]: 00:10:06

on the finance but

lewis]: 00:10:09

ah

[illideen]: 00:10:09

it was still fun i mean every time that i did it you know it

[illideen]: 00:10:12

was obviously hard to do all the math especially when you're thinking like okay one

[illideen]: 00:10:17

gold is equal to thirty six point seven dollars u s so how much how

[illideen]: 00:10:21

do i figure that out towards a beer okay well a beer is a copper

[illideen]: 00:10:25

it is just

weyland]: 00:10:26

oh

[illideen]: 00:10:26

it goes on forever but as long as it's fun i mean you're you're having

[illideen]: 00:10:30

fun that that's all there is to it that's that's the big thing for us

[illideen]: 00:10:34

on our podcast is just always have fun and that's if it was a point

[illideen]: 00:10:39

to where i was like okay i really i need to sleep or i need

[illideen]: 00:10:42

a beer you just

weyland]: 00:10:43

m

[illideen]: 00:10:43

stop

lewis]: 00:10:43

m

[illideen]: 00:10:43

that's that's all it is

lewis]: 00:10:44

m i like that i like

weyland]: 00:10:48

yeah

lewis]: 00:10:48

that oh bon daddy were you going to mention something

[bonedaddy]: 00:10:55

oh no i didn't i moved

weyland]: 00:11:01

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:01

i moved

lewis]: 00:11:02

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:02

awkwardly

lewis]: 00:11:02

sorry

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:03

my back

weyland]: 00:11:04

well

lewis]: 00:11:04

my

weyland]: 00:11:04

that

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:05

yeah

lewis]: 00:11:05

you're fine

weyland]: 00:11:06

that

lewis]: 00:11:06

you're

weyland]: 00:11:06

works

lewis]: 00:11:06

fine

weyland]: 00:11:06

perfect because i actually had a question for bone daddy

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:09

oh

weyland]: 00:11:09

in the warm

lewis]: 00:11:10

uh

weyland]: 00:11:10

up prompt you were talking about

lewis]: 00:11:13

yeah

weyland]: 00:11:14

i mean you just casually mentioned that you used ree different like settings to create

weyland]: 00:11:20

an adventure and brought in a bunch of different you know enemies you know a

weyland]: 00:11:25

lot of depth that i could see other people just it's stewing over for

lewis]: 00:11:31

m

weyland]: 00:11:31

months just making sure they got everything right

lewis]: 00:11:33

m

weyland]: 00:11:34

how did you avoid doing that or or did you do that

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:38

well i so with one of my favorite things to do when nuts brought it

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:47

up is to i love cutting and pasting like the modules together because i like

[bonedaddy]: 00:11:52

seeing what the two settings would look meshed um it's it's how i pray for

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:00

games that when i know that people want to play in certain settings but i

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:03

always like to keep it fresh because the source books

lewis]: 00:12:05

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:05

are so readily available that people will read through them because there are really cool

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:09

stories going on but i also want to keep people on their toes so i'll

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:13

usually introduce like a different concept into the game for example i've done rhyme of

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:20

the frost made in and propping for that was he rimwiththe frost maidens

lewis]: 00:12:23

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:24

like

weyland]: 00:12:25

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:25

ten towns

lewis]: 00:12:26

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:27

beginning and i fused it with setting

lewis]: 00:12:30

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:30

that had to do with it's called witch

lewis]: 00:12:32

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:32

plus craft that i had purchased and it's a it's

lewis]: 00:12:35

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:35

a setting book that has like a really really

lewis]: 00:12:38

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:38

fun and cute like intro about like a world

weyland]: 00:12:41

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:41

that that you can you can add

weyland]: 00:12:44

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:44

a more intricate system to basically creating alchometic components but i took that world and

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:52

the fused fused it with the ten towns world and then i also took some

[bonedaddy]: 00:12:56

aspects from from raven loft that i that i particularly enjoyed that i thought would

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:01

fit in well with the theme of the story and i created a little

lewis]: 00:13:06

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:07

essentially a

lewis]: 00:13:09

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:09

map in my head of where we were going to go

weyland]: 00:13:12

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:13

and kind of just placed these places into the map

lewis]: 00:13:15

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:16

that you could cross over in the way they interact would interact together and what

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:20

it meant for this concept to exist in this world and how that wouldn't act

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:26

later parts of the story so that's usually how i'm prepared for games if i'm

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:31

running modules i haven't ridden myself like so someone as like i want to play

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:35

around with frost and i was like we could do that not going a look

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:38

the same but it's going to follow a similar trajectory

lewis]: 00:13:40

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:41

i'm not going to throw things at you that you know how to beat i'm

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:43

gonna i'm going to send things like different little creative things that you're not expecting

weyland]: 00:13:47

yah

[bonedaddy]: 00:13:47

at you so

weyland]: 00:13:49

yah nice

lewis]: 00:13:52

so doing stuff like that obviously takes a lot of preparation that you can't really

lewis]: 00:14:02

equate to like session preparation it's more like like behind the scenes preparation so you

lewis]: 00:14:09

know directed to all of you guys what sort of things are you guys doing

lewis]: 00:14:13

kind of on a regular basis that you feel is transferable across any session any

lewis]: 00:14:20

any game campaign and anything like that

[thorn]: 00:14:22

and i'll start this one thorn for all the listeners i've been playing d and

[thorn]: 00:14:28

d and other arpgs for right around thirty three years

lewis]: 00:14:31

oh

[thorn]: 00:14:32

been been ming or story weaving is like we like to call it for run

[thorn]: 00:14:37

about twenty five off and on and the last campaign i did was was a

[thorn]: 00:14:44

world darkness campaign because we after a lot of stuff we have other friends there

[thorn]: 00:14:50

into other tabletop games and so i have done world darkness off and on for

[thorn]: 00:14:55

a long time so i did one and my preparation versus their preparation way different

[thorn]: 00:15:02

because i don't like to write it's okay

lewis]: 00:15:05

oh

[thorn]: 00:15:06

if the d m s and in story weavers everythin if you don't like to

[thorn]: 00:15:09

write that's fine i will do some studying i actually came up with this campaign

lewis]: 00:15:17

oh

[thorn]: 00:15:18

um

weyland]: 00:15:18

oh

[thorn]: 00:15:19

a thing that i saw on youtube called forever verse it's run by ivan van

[thorn]: 00:15:23

norman who is an amazing amazing g m and his thing was he too ok

[thorn]: 00:15:31

his character s from world

lewis]: 00:15:32

m

[thorn]: 00:15:33

darkness and did like a time travel back to world war two

lewis]: 00:15:36

m

[thorn]: 00:15:36

and then he actually after that was over he actually went to a different table

[thorn]: 00:15:40

top game he put them into

lewis]: 00:15:42

m

[thorn]: 00:15:42

seven s which i've never played and always have wanted to since i've listened to

[thorn]: 00:15:47

this because it sounds great but i took that a little bit and just put

[thorn]: 00:15:51

it in world darkness and it did kind of a time travelling episode so my

[thorn]: 00:15:55

game whole

weyland]: 00:15:56

m

[thorn]: 00:15:56

thing was like they fought against this

lewis]: 00:15:58

oh

[thorn]: 00:15:58

thing in modern day and then all of a sudden they're

lewis]: 00:16:02

m

[thorn]: 00:16:02

transported back to jack the ripper so it's england you know jack the ripper

lewis]: 00:16:09

m

[thorn]: 00:16:09

era and it's all that's going on while they're trying to figure

lewis]: 00:16:12

m

[thorn]: 00:16:12

what's going on and then after that one ended it was back to the the

[thorn]: 00:16:17

salem witch trials so i was using history in it

lewis]: 00:16:20

m m

[thorn]: 00:16:20

and i would have i would research it and i would look at this this

[thorn]: 00:16:24

is what happened these are the people these

lewis]: 00:16:25

m

[thorn]: 00:16:25

are the names this is what's going on but other than that i let them

[thorn]: 00:16:29

run wild n each section that i came up with had a time limit they

[thorn]: 00:16:36

had this many things this many sessions to actually finish this if they didn't they

[thorn]: 00:16:41

got pushed and i was keeping kind of the score between them and the b

[thorn]: 00:16:46

b

lewis]: 00:16:46

m

[thorn]: 00:16:46

b g just trying to figure out where they were going to land so it

[thorn]: 00:16:50

was a lot of prep as far as the studying of

lewis]: 00:16:54

oh

[thorn]: 00:16:54

the history of it but i was using real history so it was a lot

[thorn]: 00:16:57

easier and you know i've done the big campaigns where i've wrote stuff out i

[thorn]: 00:17:02

just don't like it um

weyland]: 00:17:04

yeah

[thorn]: 00:17:05

me personally i fly off the hook i'm off the cuff i let them do

[thorn]: 00:17:08

what they want and i react

lewis]: 00:17:09

oh

[thorn]: 00:17:09

to it i think it goes

lewis]: 00:17:11

my

[thorn]: 00:17:11

pretty well for me and not everybody can do it but it seems to work

[thorn]: 00:17:15

well for me

weyland]: 00:17:18

and with that being said so

lewis]: 00:17:21

oh

weyland]: 00:17:22

do you do a lot of prep just like for the campaign in general and

weyland]: 00:17:27

then make the each session prep a little bit lighter

lewis]: 00:17:30

m

weyland]: 00:17:31

or do

[thorn]: 00:17:32

yeah

weyland]: 00:17:32

you guys kind of do it a revert yeah okay the

[thorn]: 00:17:34

that's

weyland]: 00:17:34

first

[thorn]: 00:17:34

what

weyland]: 00:17:34

one then

[thorn]: 00:17:34

i do these guys right here these are all written out binders

lewis]: 00:17:37

oh

[thorn]: 00:17:37

these guys do amazing these

lewis]: 00:17:39

oh

[thorn]: 00:17:39

are two of the best and i'm saying from a lot of

lewis]: 00:17:42

yeah

[thorn]: 00:17:42

experience they are two of the best gems i've ever played for i mean they

[thorn]: 00:17:47

are

lewis]: 00:17:47

wow

[thorn]: 00:17:47

amazing and it's been so much fun

lewis]: 00:17:50

wow

[thorn]: 00:17:50

doing it and

[illideen]: 00:17:52

oh

[thorn]: 00:17:52

i true

lewis]: 00:17:53

yeah

[thorn]: 00:17:53

i make characters that kind of wreck their

weyland]: 00:17:55

m

[thorn]: 00:17:55

plans

lewis]: 00:17:57

oh

[thorn]: 00:17:57

but i'm known for saying chaos is good r p and that's what i do

[thorn]: 00:18:02

so i do it well

lewis]: 00:18:04

yeah

weyland]: 00:18:05

yeah

[illideen]: 00:18:06

ah yeah if then i can add with with prepping either for a big campaign

[illideen]: 00:18:14

or even for a session if i've definitely slowed down

lewis]: 00:18:19

m

[illideen]: 00:18:19

on writing even as much as i like writing i kind of take it as

[illideen]: 00:18:25

a writing outline now you know a little bit of bullet points

lewis]: 00:18:28

oh

[illideen]: 00:18:29

and as you as you get

lewis]: 00:18:31

oh

[illideen]: 00:18:31

i want to say get better but as you continue to

lewis]: 00:18:34

oh

[illideen]: 00:18:34

d m and n do even as a player

lewis]: 00:18:37

m

[illideen]: 00:18:38

you are able to do a lot more

lewis]: 00:18:40

m

[illideen]: 00:18:40

improve and kind of go off of things that are um

lewis]: 00:18:45

oh

[illideen]: 00:18:46

because second nature i mean mark twain says

lewis]: 00:18:48

yeah

[illideen]: 00:18:48

that you know there's no longer a original idea everything is going to be

lewis]: 00:18:53

oh

[illideen]: 00:18:53

based off of something else whether it's reference from a movie reference from a book

[illideen]: 00:18:58

poetry it doesn't matter what it is you i mean there's been so many humans

[illideen]: 00:19:03

on the planet now that

lewis]: 00:19:05

m

[illideen]: 00:19:05

there's not going to be an original idea completely

lewis]: 00:19:08

m

[illideen]: 00:19:08

it's just going to be twists of something else um let me look at the

[illideen]: 00:19:13

difference between star wards and harry potter

weyland]: 00:19:15

yeah

[illideen]: 00:19:16

you know

lewis]: 00:19:16

oh

[illideen]: 00:19:16

hm one orphan to another orphan it's kind of the same thing

weyland]: 00:19:19

oh

[illideen]: 00:19:20

but still that

lewis]: 00:19:21

hm

[illideen]: 00:19:22

nice different twist

lewis]: 00:19:22

my

[illideen]: 00:19:23

um it's kind of the same thing when you're when you're prepping if you're if

[illideen]: 00:19:27

you haven't this idea for a story if you have something like knowbondaddy was saying

[illideen]: 00:19:32

a source book use the source book but at the same time make it your

[illideen]: 00:19:36

own because there's no way that you're going to memorize i mean maybe matt mercer

[illideen]: 00:19:42

but there's no way that you're going to be able to memorized the

lewis]: 00:19:45

yeah

[illideen]: 00:19:45

entire source book the entire

lewis]: 00:19:47

yeah

[illideen]: 00:19:47

lower behind something that's been going on longer than you know some of us have

[illideen]: 00:19:52

been alive so trying to trying to do that just puts undue stress so have

[illideen]: 00:20:00

your bullet points you know use

lewis]: 00:20:02

m

[illideen]: 00:20:03

other sources i am a big user fantasy name generator dot com because i'm not

[illideen]: 00:20:10

coming up with a thousand names for my cities i have a city with a

[illideen]: 00:20:14

population

lewis]: 00:20:14

yeah

[illideen]: 00:20:15

of one million i based it kind of off of san antonio i'm coming up

[illideen]: 00:20:20

with all those names so i have a little bank of fifteen to twenty names

[illideen]: 00:20:25

that i haven't used for the party and it's on the side of my computer

[illideen]: 00:20:29

i used world anvil

lewis]: 00:20:29

m

[illideen]: 00:20:30

to keep my notes organize um so when i'm when i'm there and you know

[illideen]: 00:20:36

go into a shop i'm just looking at the name and going get that one

[illideen]: 00:20:39

and then i copy and past it to a note and then it just makes

[illideen]: 00:20:43

it easier so i think that that's more my prep now is just having a

[illideen]: 00:20:48

couple of quick power point or bullet point notes that i can look at and

[illideen]: 00:20:53

go all right this is cool let's run with it

weyland]: 00:20:56

okay

lewis]: 00:20:57

i love that head

weyland]: 00:20:59

no

lewis]: 00:20:59

tenner

weyland]: 00:20:59

it's just interesting i think i'm noticing from a lot of you you're saying that

weyland]: 00:21:04

kind of like hey do a lot of the bulk of your prep maybe early

weyland]: 00:21:08

on like when you're riding the campaign

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:10

m

weyland]: 00:21:10

but and for each session afterwards you know don't don't stress over the nittygrideo of

weyland]: 00:21:16

each session am i wrong about that

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:19

m yeah that's

[illideen]: 00:21:20

no yeh

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:22

right

lewis]: 00:21:22

oh

[illideen]: 00:21:23

go ahead

weyland]: 00:21:23

go ahead

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:24

um that's so when i think like the bulk of the campaign at the beginning

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:31

with my notes and and things along with nature usually the way i

lewis]: 00:21:37

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:37

start my beginning book prep is i look at what the goal of my campaign

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:43

is going to be so i have my story in mind and i break down

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:47

specific story points that i want to touch on thing so the end of course

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:52

like what i want my ending to kind of shape and look like the general

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:56

goal

lewis]: 00:21:56

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:21:57

and then i break down what needs to happen in the story and

lewis]: 00:22:01

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:01

i kind of branch it out like so there's possibilities that can go from each

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:05

of these points but these are points that i want to hit on and that

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:07

makes it a little easier to kind of kind of rep for me because at

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:11

that point i am a little more flexible so as long as i reach

lewis]: 00:22:15

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:15

point

weyland]: 00:22:16

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:17

or a general form of point than i can doesn't matter how they get there

lewis]: 00:22:21

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:22

so like it gives it up portunity for for improve is the opportunity

lewis]: 00:22:26

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:26

for any kind of

lewis]: 00:22:29

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:29

offshoot they want to do and m and i kind of just weave it around

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:34

that essentially it just branch off there and then it does not and it's not

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:38

always a straight line they will always go down the path that i present to

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:41

them so it's kind of like a curve around

lewis]: 00:22:43

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:44

but i definitely i'll write out notes on the side i'll be like in case

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:47

this happens this is a possibility i'm just kind of to think about it and

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:52

then i just play it off when they get there so like i

lewis]: 00:22:56

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:56

think of what

lewis]: 00:22:58

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:22:58

what would be the next reaction will be the next thing they do and then

[bonedaddy]: 00:23:00

i'll play my story off from there

weyland]: 00:23:04

okay

[bonedaddy]: 00:23:05

m

lewis]: 00:23:05

i like it you wanted to add to that i think

[illideen]: 00:23:09

yeah it's kind of the difference between railroad and sand box campaigns you know railroading

[illideen]: 00:23:15

is a very direct line there's there's these

lewis]: 00:23:17

oh

[illideen]: 00:23:17

walls kind of like a bowling alley you know you can only go one direction

lewis]: 00:23:21

m

[illideen]: 00:23:22

the sand box it's a little bit wider i do like to think of a

[illideen]: 00:23:26

sand box you know it's still a box so you still have the parameters of

[illideen]: 00:23:30

your campaign but your characters and your players can go

lewis]: 00:23:34

m

[illideen]: 00:23:34

basically

lewis]: 00:23:35

oh

[illideen]: 00:23:35

wherever they want um and one of the things that i like because i've been

[illideen]: 00:23:39

a player in a railroad campaign and you know

lewis]: 00:23:42

yeah

[illideen]: 00:23:42

sometimes it works but

weyland]: 00:23:46

m

[illideen]: 00:23:46

if you are the type of person that

lewis]: 00:23:48

oh

[illideen]: 00:23:48

kind of gets upset if if your players don't follow a plot hook

lewis]: 00:23:52

m

[illideen]: 00:23:54

instead of saying no no no this is how it's going to go you know

[illideen]: 00:23:57

and forcing the sto that way take the plot hook and move it in the

[illideen]: 00:24:02

sand box there's nothing wrong with your the town that they didn't go to just

[illideen]: 00:24:07

move it if it doesn't make sense that you know if you're in

lewis]: 00:24:10

oh

[illideen]: 00:24:10

a ocean town and everybody was mur

lewis]: 00:24:14

m

[illideen]: 00:24:14

folk and sea elves and things and now they're in the desert well great i

[illideen]: 00:24:19

mean now they're good nose now they're dragon born whatever just and just that you

[illideen]: 00:24:24

don't have to change the names you don't have

lewis]: 00:24:26

m

[illideen]: 00:24:26

to change

weyland]: 00:24:26

oh

[illideen]: 00:24:27

the towns all that other hard work that you did that you

lewis]: 00:24:30

m

[illideen]: 00:24:30

thought of or even just looked at and copied

lewis]: 00:24:33

yeah

[illideen]: 00:24:33

copy and paste it somewhere else it's kind of rail rody but it doesn't feel

[illideen]: 00:24:38

that way anymore

lewis]: 00:24:39

m

[illideen]: 00:24:40

so you

weyland]: 00:24:40

yeah

[illideen]: 00:24:40

can still use

lewis]: 00:24:41

ah

[illideen]: 00:24:41

those things and still have fun with it instead because being in a railroad a

[illideen]: 00:24:45

true railroad campaign can be extreme

lewis]: 00:24:47

yeah

[illideen]: 00:24:47

boring

lewis]: 00:24:50

m it's less rail rody and more stress reducing for the g the

[illideen]: 00:24:56

right

lewis]: 00:24:56

d you know uh kind of talking about how you got i kind of preferred

lewis]: 00:25:02

to do a lot of prep work up front in the campaign what sort of

lewis]: 00:25:08

things do you need or do you think need to be covered or at least

lewis]: 00:25:13

thought about just for you know for our nub listener out there who wanting to

lewis]: 00:25:18

run the

[thorn]: 00:25:19

yah

lewis]: 00:25:19

first campaign you're saying hey if you're if you're going to start a campaign you

lewis]: 00:25:23

need to have these things at least started

[thorn]: 00:25:27

yah

lewis]: 00:25:28

in your mind in order

[thorn]: 00:25:29

yeah

lewis]: 00:25:29

to start correctly

[thorn]: 00:25:30

well the one thing i would say and it kind of sounds counter intuitive is

[thorn]: 00:25:36

you have to think about the ending use all campaigns

lewis]: 00:25:39

m

[thorn]: 00:25:39

come to an end at least an arc does you have to think about how

[thorn]: 00:25:43

you imagine it ending and you can't be hurt if it

lewis]: 00:25:48

m

[thorn]: 00:25:48

doesn't in that way so what i do

lewis]: 00:25:51

oh

[thorn]: 00:25:51

is i think of how i want this to end i think of the campaign

lewis]: 00:25:54

oh

[thorn]: 00:25:54

and everything and how i want it to end and

lewis]: 00:25:57

oh

[thorn]: 00:25:57

then you kind of work backwards okay could so they got to go to her

[thorn]: 00:26:00

they

weyland]: 00:26:00

oh

[thorn]: 00:26:00

got to go to hear these things need to happen or they don't

lewis]: 00:26:03

oh

[thorn]: 00:26:04

there's ways around it like me i am known for just changing mind on the

[thorn]: 00:26:08

fly so if your characters come up with a good

weyland]: 00:26:11

my

[thorn]: 00:26:11

idea or if they come up with a really roundabout

lewis]: 00:26:14

oh

[thorn]: 00:26:14

way or just something that's very creative to

lewis]: 00:26:16

yeah

[thorn]: 00:26:16

get them to a certain step in it let them do it because it makes

[thorn]: 00:26:21

for a better story i mean you don't have to think of everything that's one

[thorn]: 00:26:25

thing i've learned over the years i've playing as you do not have to think

[thorn]: 00:26:28

of everything because your players can think up of a lot use them but i

[thorn]: 00:26:34

think the i think one of the most important things to think of is just

[thorn]: 00:26:37

the ending you got to figure out how you wanted to end because it can't

[thorn]: 00:26:40

go on forever

[illideen]: 00:26:44

i think

lewis]: 00:26:45

oh

[illideen]: 00:26:46

i think with with a specific prep the most important

[thorn]: 00:26:50

oh

[illideen]: 00:26:51

thing would probably

lewis]: 00:26:51

oh

[illideen]: 00:26:52

be just a blank notebook uh because your players like like thorence said you know

[illideen]: 00:26:57

your players are goin to come up with something and if you're let's say you're

[illideen]: 00:27:01

in a murder mystery and the person was actually colonel must with the candlestick but

[illideen]: 00:27:09

the player was like you know what i'd be really interesting if it was the

[illideen]: 00:27:12

maid um and you know write that down and it's a way cooler to the

[illideen]: 00:27:19

players go i told you it's that thing it's you know

lewis]: 00:27:22

m

[illideen]: 00:27:22

that's that's the i knew it the whole

lewis]: 00:27:24

yeah

[illideen]: 00:27:24

time ten sessions ago

lewis]: 00:27:26

m

[illideen]: 00:27:26

instead of

lewis]: 00:27:27

hm

[illideen]: 00:27:27

know i guess that it could be cool to still have a twist you know

[illideen]: 00:27:31

and and maybe they think it's the one person

weyland]: 00:27:34

look

[illideen]: 00:27:34

the whole time and it turns out to be a party member but if the

[illideen]: 00:27:39

if the cool ending isn't cool for the party you fail it has to be

[illideen]: 00:27:45

fun it has to be that i'd like to say it's the rule of cool

[illideen]: 00:27:49

if it's cool and you guys are talking about it ten years later over drinks

[illideen]: 00:27:52

then you've won that's that's the only way to win any table top game um

[illideen]: 00:27:58

but aside from that it would be

lewis]: 00:28:01

yeah

[illideen]: 00:28:02

you know like i said maybe a bullet point of a couple of names so

[illideen]: 00:28:06

that way you know like i said if if i'm writing a whole binder full

[illideen]: 00:28:10

of campaign work and then they say oh well what's this guy's name yeah i

[illideen]: 00:28:15

can't remember you know

weyland]: 00:28:16

oh

[illideen]: 00:28:16

it's not the only like

weyland]: 00:28:18

yeah

[illideen]: 00:28:18

that's why i said like matt mercer can do it and and the other awesome

[illideen]: 00:28:21

professional

lewis]: 00:28:21

m

[illideen]: 00:28:21

d ms because they are that's their job they're paid to do that but

lewis]: 00:28:25

hm

[illideen]: 00:28:25

a lot of us have and er two extra jobs on top of being a

[illideen]: 00:28:29

story

lewis]: 00:28:30

yah

[illideen]: 00:28:30

weaver

lewis]: 00:28:30

yah

[illideen]: 00:28:31

and trust

lewis]: 00:28:32

yeah

[illideen]: 00:28:32

me story weaving can sound like a job and i know you guys have talked

[illideen]: 00:28:37

about it on an episode before but you guys are starting to do an hour

[illideen]: 00:28:41

or two hours of prep work every time you have a session and it's weekly

[illideen]: 00:28:45

now you're starting to get almost into a full time job you know starting to

[illideen]: 00:28:48

think about it

lewis]: 00:28:50

m

[illideen]: 00:28:51

so if you're not going to be able to remember and a player says hey

[illideen]: 00:28:53

what's this this tavern's name instead of saying

weyland]: 00:28:57

m

[illideen]: 00:28:57

hold on let me look at my binder and take ten minutes

lewis]: 00:28:59

m

[illideen]: 00:28:59

to turn the page to the right spot just have names up there and you

[illideen]: 00:29:05

know you kind of get a field for where your players are going to go

[illideen]: 00:29:09

if they're traveling from point it point b somewhere in between there if you have

[illideen]: 00:29:14

a plot hook and you know it's going to happen so just have that little

[illideen]: 00:29:17

spot there don't have the whole twenty page book or a whole bunch of ideas

[illideen]: 00:29:24

and it does help if you have a little bit of improve of experience or

[illideen]: 00:29:28

practice improving because then you like what's that guy's name that's george the guard he's

[illideen]: 00:29:34

eighteen years old and he's holding a pike and he he's stopping you and you

[illideen]: 00:29:40

know he maybe he had a a a late puberty and his voice is still

[illideen]: 00:29:44

still messed up and then you can throw out a fun voice and that will

[illideen]: 00:29:48

be

lewis]: 00:29:48

oh

[illideen]: 00:29:48

more memorable and then you just write that down

lewis]: 00:29:50

yeah

[illideen]: 00:29:50

i had george the pike guy at the guard door and that's all you need

[illideen]: 00:29:56

and then you can just go from there and i did that reference because

weyland]: 00:29:59

m

[illideen]: 00:29:59

that's exactly what happened

weyland]: 00:30:00

yeah

[illideen]: 00:30:00

with my wife she really wanted the guard to

lewis]: 00:30:04

yeah

[illideen]: 00:30:04

have a name and i was like all right you know what yeah he's got

[illideen]: 00:30:08

this weird crackly voice and he was like stop you need to wait at the

[illideen]: 00:30:14

gate and she just she died

lewis]: 00:30:16

oh

[illideen]: 00:30:16

and

weyland]: 00:30:16

yeah

[illideen]: 00:30:17

so i was like all right well he's he's in the campaign now so

weyland]: 00:30:21

that's

lewis]: 00:30:21

m

weyland]: 00:30:21

amazing

lewis]: 00:30:23

yeah i love those

weyland]: 00:30:24

well well justin i feel

lewis]: 00:30:26

um

weyland]: 00:30:26

like it's a perfect

lewis]: 00:30:27

go ahead tenner

weyland]: 00:30:27

time to go into the continuation of the warm

lewis]: 00:30:30

oh

weyland]: 00:30:30

up because he did mention betrayal

lewis]: 00:30:33

yes

weyland]: 00:30:36

yeah

lewis]: 00:30:37

so another thing we like to do lately is kind of continue to warm up

lewis]: 00:30:43

and progress it nother step so think of that character you described at the beginning

lewis]: 00:30:49

of today's show now describe the moment in which that character you described betrays the

lewis]: 00:30:55

other party member

[thorn]: 00:30:59

this is so

[illideen]: 00:30:59

okay

[thorn]: 00:30:59

up our alley you have no idea

weyland]: 00:31:02

oh

lewis]: 00:31:03

yeah uh

[illideen]: 00:31:03

i can see all

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:04

um

[illideen]: 00:31:04

of us nodding

[thorn]: 00:31:05

yeah

lewis]: 00:31:05

uh

[thorn]: 00:31:06

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:06

i'll go

[illideen]: 00:31:06

bone

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:06

i'll

[illideen]: 00:31:06

dad you

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:06

go

[illideen]: 00:31:07

want to take it

lewis]: 00:31:07

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:07

yeah so as i was saying

lewis]: 00:31:09

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:10

the curriculum of chaos

lewis]: 00:31:11

yeah m

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:11

and the domains of dread as he refused together aslinret has escaped his

lewis]: 00:31:17

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:17

imprisonment and the entities

lewis]: 00:31:19

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:19

that that

lewis]: 00:31:20

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:20

that keep the prisoners in the

lewis]: 00:31:21

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:22

maids of dread are seeking him out so they send the domain lords as like

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:26

sleeper agents i'm really intimate of the gathering so i keep saying sleeper agents because

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:31

i'm like for axent leeper agents

weyland]: 00:31:33

uh

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:33

but

lewis]: 00:31:34

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:34

the

weyland]: 00:31:35

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:35

i'm like

lewis]: 00:31:35

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:36

yeah and so my

lewis]: 00:31:37

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:37

character is working with the party and then

lewis]: 00:31:41

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:41

as on rex finally reveals himself and my my characters head like explodes

lewis]: 00:31:47

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:47

there's like a little like little weird like elder brain in there like a tiny

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:52

elder brain and it's like finally because

weyland]: 00:31:54

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:54

one of the main lord is an elder brain that's completely

weyland]: 00:31:57

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:31:57

crazy and so it's like finally why he's like he's so crazy is because it's

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:03

it's the elder brand just like kept itself dormant for a little while until the

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:07

right time he's just

weyland]: 00:32:09

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:09

slowly

weyland]: 00:32:09

my goodness

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:09

been reading everybody's information off their heads so the reason he's crazy is because he's

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:14

like consistently getting feedback where everyone's like thoughts and so that would that would be

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:19

the moment he'd betray them as once

weyland]: 00:32:21

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:22

evil is done and then he open portals to let mindflayers into the school

weyland]: 00:32:28

oh my goodness so he is the greatest

lewis]: 00:32:30

yeah

weyland]: 00:32:30

conspiracy theory

lewis]: 00:32:32

yeah

weyland]: 00:32:32

and in and of himself that's amazing

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:35

yeah

lewis]: 00:32:37

that's awesome

weyland]: 00:32:38

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:38

he's like i

lewis]: 00:32:39

awesome

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:39

knew

[illideen]: 00:32:39

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:39

it

lewis]: 00:32:42

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:42

oh

weyland]: 00:32:42

it was me all along

[bonedaddy]: 00:32:44

yeah

lewis]: 00:32:46

mind blown

weyland]: 00:32:46

yeah

[illideen]: 00:32:48

that's funny

lewis]: 00:32:49

i love it

[illideen]: 00:32:50

for mine because on

weyland]: 00:32:52

m

[illideen]: 00:32:53

the whole

weyland]: 00:32:53

okay

[illideen]: 00:32:54

quote unquote slavery thing and being forced into this dragon born sorcerer with the ionic

[illideen]: 00:32:59

crystal i would add that in his deep back story

lewis]: 00:33:05

m

[illideen]: 00:33:06

he volunteered

weyland]: 00:33:07

m

[illideen]: 00:33:08

maybe

weyland]: 00:33:09

m

[illideen]: 00:33:09

maybe the b b g helped him some time in his life or you could

[illideen]: 00:33:13

even if you wanted to get really spicy you could multi class him in a

[illideen]: 00:33:17

warlock and his patron is the the thing that he's trying to

weyland]: 00:33:21

m

[illideen]: 00:33:21

help especially arch lich patrons it is really awesome

lewis]: 00:33:25

yah

[illideen]: 00:33:27

patron

lewis]: 00:33:27

ah

[illideen]: 00:33:27

to have the spells and they are amazing

lewis]: 00:33:29

m

[illideen]: 00:33:30

but i would have it where you know the patron

lewis]: 00:33:34

yeah

[illideen]: 00:33:34

asked him you know to do this thing and he's well i need a little

[illideen]: 00:33:39

bit extra power and he gave him a scionic crystal instead of just

lewis]: 00:33:43

yeah

[illideen]: 00:33:43

giving extra spells you know along the warlock list here's this crystal it takes a

[illideen]: 00:33:48

sacrifice and

lewis]: 00:33:49

yeah

[illideen]: 00:33:49

just jabs it in and he's now he's a

lewis]: 00:33:52

yeah

[illideen]: 00:33:52

dragon born sorcerer slashed warlock

weyland]: 00:33:55

m

[illideen]: 00:33:55

and i guess that you know the

lewis]: 00:33:57

oh

[illideen]: 00:33:57

betrayal would would be revealing that the entire time

lewis]: 00:34:01

oh

[illideen]: 00:34:01

that they've been working with the party

lewis]: 00:34:04

oh

[illideen]: 00:34:05

every time that they've gone behind scenes

lewis]: 00:34:07

m

[illideen]: 00:34:08

if they split up you know we're just a day in the town let's go

[illideen]: 00:34:11

shopping great i'm i'm going to go over here i wanted to get some some

[illideen]: 00:34:16

items for potions

weyland]: 00:34:18

yeah

[illideen]: 00:34:18

and maybe there's some behind the scenes work with the d

weyland]: 00:34:20

m

[illideen]: 00:34:21

m of trying to subvert the parties missions or try and get something to line

[illideen]: 00:34:30

up to where it's the big reveal is we get to the b b g's

[illideen]: 00:34:34

layer and you know maybe there's a monologue and the sorcerer just walks across turns

[illideen]: 00:34:39

around and is now on the b b g side just looking

lewis]: 00:34:42

m

[illideen]: 00:34:42

at the party that that would be fun

lewis]: 00:34:45

yeah

weyland]: 00:34:45

yeah

[illideen]: 00:34:46

i'm gonna have to write that down

lewis]: 00:34:47

that sounds amazing m

[thorn]: 00:34:49

so

weyland]: 00:34:49

yeah

[thorn]: 00:34:49

with mine being with it with a

lewis]: 00:34:51

yeah

[thorn]: 00:34:51

beginner party i would i think it would be very dramatic and which i'm

lewis]: 00:34:56

oh

[thorn]: 00:34:56

big on is like the big review to do it early on so you

lewis]: 00:35:00

yeah

[thorn]: 00:35:00

got this dragon born character that secretly follows t met and they're in the first

[thorn]: 00:35:06

castle setting in hard the dragon queen when they're fighting all the co bolds and

[thorn]: 00:35:10

everything like that and he's just helping them through that

lewis]: 00:35:13

h

[thorn]: 00:35:13

and everything

lewis]: 00:35:13

m

[thorn]: 00:35:13

and it comes of the part where the dragon comes on

lewis]: 00:35:15

oh

[thorn]: 00:35:16

and he kind of helps through that and then you got that one off

lewis]: 00:35:19

m

[thorn]: 00:35:19

that one on one versus the

lewis]: 00:35:22

oh

[thorn]: 00:35:22

the big dragon born like general

weyland]: 00:35:25

hm

[thorn]: 00:35:25

and have have seth just walk out like here like he's going to challenge him

[thorn]: 00:35:29

and then just falling behind him and revealed to the

lewis]: 00:35:32

m

[thorn]: 00:35:32

party

lewis]: 00:35:32

m

[thorn]: 00:35:33

that he is

lewis]: 00:35:33

m

[thorn]: 00:35:33

actually part of the bad guys

weyland]: 00:35:37

all along my

lewis]: 00:35:38

love it

[thorn]: 00:35:39

yep

weyland]: 00:35:39

goodness

lewis]: 00:35:40

yeah

[thorn]: 00:35:40

ah we are big

lewis]: 00:35:42

ah

[thorn]: 00:35:42

fans of the betrayal

lewis]: 00:35:43

i love

[thorn]: 00:35:44

so

lewis]: 00:35:44

all those

weyland]: 00:35:46

all the players betray each other

lewis]: 00:35:47

yeah

weyland]: 00:35:47

and they're like

[thorn]: 00:35:48

yes

weyland]: 00:35:48

wait

lewis]: 00:35:49

yeah

[thorn]: 00:35:49

a

weyland]: 00:35:49

what

[illideen]: 00:35:51

well

[thorn]: 00:35:51

yeah

[illideen]: 00:35:51

and it can be fun

lewis]: 00:35:53

yeh

weyland]: 00:35:53

eh

[illideen]: 00:35:53

you know when

lewis]: 00:35:54

yeah

[illideen]: 00:35:54

we've we've talked about this before but when you're going to do something like that

[illideen]: 00:36:01

it does take a certain table to

lewis]: 00:36:02

oh

[illideen]: 00:36:03

play a betrayal like a player betrayal some people

lewis]: 00:36:05

yeah

[illideen]: 00:36:05

don't like it some people

lewis]: 00:36:06

hm

[illideen]: 00:36:06

don't like p v p but if you have a table that's willing to accept

[illideen]: 00:36:11

it a fun one is to allow everyone at the table

weyland]: 00:36:15

oh

[illideen]: 00:36:15

to know that it's going to happen hey guys steve is the bad guy the

[illideen]: 00:36:23

people know

lewis]: 00:36:24

oh

[illideen]: 00:36:24

but your characters do

lewis]: 00:36:25

m

[illideen]: 00:36:25

not

lewis]: 00:36:26

m

[illideen]: 00:36:26

uh you know try not to met

lewis]: 00:36:27

yah

[illideen]: 00:36:28

a game but let's play it that way we

lewis]: 00:36:29

ah

[illideen]: 00:36:30

know that that happening and it can be a really fun brain teaser because now

[illideen]: 00:36:34

you're you're thinking about okay well my character doesn't know this

lewis]: 00:36:36

m

[illideen]: 00:36:37

i have to figure out how my character would act and that forces you is

[illideen]: 00:36:43

player to get better at

lewis]: 00:36:47

m

[illideen]: 00:36:47

role playing and getting into your characters

lewis]: 00:36:49

oh

[illideen]: 00:36:50

mindset you know because otherwise you're like well i mean i know he's

lewis]: 00:36:53

m

[illideen]: 00:36:53

a bad guy so i'm gonna i'm gonna go ahead and follow

lewis]: 00:36:56

oh

[illideen]: 00:36:56

him every time he tries to separate the party but your character

lewis]: 00:36:59

uh

[illideen]: 00:37:00

would your character do that does your character actually trust him

lewis]: 00:37:02

oh

[illideen]: 00:37:02

because he saved your life a couple of sessions ago you know like okay yeah

[illideen]: 00:37:06

that's probably true so you have to dig in to your care actermindset and

lewis]: 00:37:11

m

[illideen]: 00:37:12

i've played a campaign like that and

lewis]: 00:37:15

m

[illideen]: 00:37:15

believe thorn has done something similar and it just really helps get into to that

[illideen]: 00:37:21

that mind set get into better r p and then you can use those tools

[illideen]: 00:37:25

later on for other campaigns

weyland]: 00:37:28

yeah nice

lewis]: 00:37:29

wow i love that

weyland]: 00:37:31

yah

lewis]: 00:37:31

on that note you mentioned that you know one of the best things for preparation

lewis]: 00:37:37

is to be really good at improve or at least have some practice so what

lewis]: 00:37:42

sort of things have you guys done or have you heard of other people doing

lewis]: 00:37:46

or would you recommend for practicing improve or getting better at it so that way

lewis]: 00:37:52

that aspect of session preparation or camp camp preparation is taken care of

[illideen]: 00:37:56

my favorite game to play is what if and it's all it is and i've

[illideen]: 00:38:03

been doing it since i was a kid because my my dad likes to write

[illideen]: 00:38:05

and so he likes story telling and we always think of of these what if

[illideen]: 00:38:10

scenarios so what

lewis]: 00:38:12

m

[illideen]: 00:38:13

uh you're walking in the in the woods and you see a paul print and

[illideen]: 00:38:19

you want to take a look at it what are you doing and you know

[illideen]: 00:38:22

of course my dad did

lewis]: 00:38:23

m

[illideen]: 00:38:23

thirty

lewis]: 00:38:23

oh

[illideen]: 00:38:24

years in the marine core and i was in boy scout so a lot of

[illideen]: 00:38:26

it had to do with real life he was kind of teaching me life lessons

[thorn]: 00:38:29

oh

lewis]: 00:38:29

oh

[illideen]: 00:38:30

but we took it a step further and added on that fantasy level because obviously

[illideen]: 00:38:35

you know if i'm a kid i like well what if what if

[thorn]: 00:38:38

yeah

[illideen]: 00:38:38

the bear was was flying and he landed right there and i mean my dad

[illideen]: 00:38:44

would just take it and go with it but if you play that with your

[illideen]: 00:38:47

friends or even with you know playing by yourself and thinking about it through your

[illideen]: 00:38:52

head like what if this

lewis]: 00:38:52

m

[illideen]: 00:38:52

happens what if that happens you kind of

lewis]: 00:38:55

oh

[illideen]: 00:38:55

build your own tool box until kit

lewis]: 00:38:58

m

[illideen]: 00:38:58

of improve stuff so when thorn the chaotic dude that he is

[thorn]: 00:39:02

yeah

lewis]: 00:39:02

oh

[illideen]: 00:39:02

throws a a

[thorn]: 00:39:05

yeah

[illideen]: 00:39:05

new

lewis]: 00:39:05

yah

[illideen]: 00:39:05

mercer a group

[thorn]: 00:39:06

yeah

[illideen]: 00:39:06

of warlocks at me

lewis]: 00:39:08

oh

[illideen]: 00:39:08

i go great yeah there's mercenary warlocks they all dress exactly the way you describe

[illideen]: 00:39:13

your character and they are now the divine and on and write that down cool

[illideen]: 00:39:21

the divine divine an has obviously it's a mercenary group so they have a head

[illideen]: 00:39:25

guy

lewis]: 00:39:25

ye

[illideen]: 00:39:25

and the head guy is going to be

weyland]: 00:39:27

m

[illideen]: 00:39:28

i don't know bobber and just keep on go and from there but all you're

[illideen]: 00:39:32

doing is is

lewis]: 00:39:32

oh

[illideen]: 00:39:32

just playing that what if that add on game and just adding to it a

[illideen]: 00:39:37

lot of that came from reading background i read

lewis]: 00:39:41

m

[illideen]: 00:39:41

a lot of books i watch a ton of content i mean i

lewis]: 00:39:46

m

[illideen]: 00:39:46

keep mentioning mat mercer because i've seen almost all of critical role

lewis]: 00:39:50

m

[illideen]: 00:39:51

you know dimension on all those things if you watch those things

lewis]: 00:39:53

oh

[illideen]: 00:39:54

it's absolutely impossible not to soak up some of that creativity because

lewis]: 00:40:00

oh

[illideen]: 00:40:00

i mean even watching a regular t regular

lewis]: 00:40:03

m

[illideen]: 00:40:03

v show on like netflix or something

lewis]: 00:40:06

m

[illideen]: 00:40:06

you're getting somebody else's story and so now that story

lewis]: 00:40:10

hm

[illideen]: 00:40:10

is at least in the very back of your

lewis]: 00:40:12

m

[illideen]: 00:40:12

mind and if something just happens to trigger it you know then you can you

[illideen]: 00:40:17

just play off of it

[thorn]: 00:40:20

now

lewis]: 00:40:20

ah i love

[thorn]: 00:40:21

i

lewis]: 00:40:21

that

[thorn]: 00:40:21

did something

lewis]: 00:40:21

i love

[thorn]: 00:40:21

very

lewis]: 00:40:22

that

[thorn]: 00:40:22

similar like back in high school we would start a story like we

lewis]: 00:40:27

oh

[thorn]: 00:40:27

i had a pretty large group of just like nerves

lewis]: 00:40:29

oh

[thorn]: 00:40:30

friends you know we were all just

lewis]: 00:40:31

m

[thorn]: 00:40:32

playing the indian stuff like that so we would one person would start a story

[thorn]: 00:40:37

the next person will take it over and then the next person will take it

[thorn]: 00:40:39

over and when you do that with you know five or six people you can

lewis]: 00:40:43

oh

[thorn]: 00:40:43

get a pretty in depth story going on and so it was very similar what

[thorn]: 00:40:49

wlilidin said but we were just telling

lewis]: 00:40:53

m

[thorn]: 00:40:53

whichever kind of story you want and i mean it was fun we do

weyland]: 00:40:57

oh

[thorn]: 00:40:57

it i mean sometimes we do it for hours just in a circle

lewis]: 00:41:00

oh

[thorn]: 00:41:00

just in go keep going and it really taught me a lot about improbleabout coming

[thorn]: 00:41:04

up with stuff just on the fly but one thing that we've done for raven

[thorn]: 00:41:09

because she wanted to learn more about coming off the cuff is she just ran

[thorn]: 00:41:13

a campaign with no prep and

weyland]: 00:41:16

wow

[thorn]: 00:41:16

had us

lewis]: 00:41:17

m

[thorn]: 00:41:18

in it

weyland]: 00:41:18

oh

[thorn]: 00:41:18

and that's always a lot of chaos so it really it's tater a lot about

[thorn]: 00:41:23

about

weyland]: 00:41:24

oh

[thorn]: 00:41:24

where to go when somebody brings up something that you're not expecting and it really

[thorn]: 00:41:29

is tater a lot about improvin coming up both of the stuff just off

lewis]: 00:41:32

m

[thorn]: 00:41:32

a fresh mind

weyland]: 00:41:33

o

lewis]: 00:41:36

i love that

[bonedaddy]: 00:41:36

also one thing i like to do with newer players that i play with is

[bonedaddy]: 00:41:42

if we're if they're trying to learn how to work more off the costan off

[bonedaddy]: 00:41:46

of in proof is that i'll have them i'll have them come to a campaign

lewis]: 00:41:52

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:41:52

with no idea

weyland]: 00:41:52

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:41:52

with what they're going to expect like no back story no nothing and just bring

[bonedaddy]: 00:41:57

the barest bone

lewis]: 00:41:58

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:41:58

of character of their like just a basic idea of what they want to be

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:03

then from there we'll just build on it together like we'll go through and i

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:08

will present situations

lewis]: 00:42:08

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:09

and scenarios like the what if situations that team is talking about and from those

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:13

situations i'll build on to their characters for them and they'll write it down and

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:18

write down like this is an aspect of their story and i have them come

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:21

out but they're on the spot and i'll i'll provide like if their stuff which

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:25

is a very common thing and i'll provide a little like anecdotes like i'd be

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:29

like oh like do you think this is something they would enjoy and then like

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:33

kind of they would

lewis]: 00:42:34

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:34

work off of that presented idea and it would kind of like spark something else

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:39

in them that we eventually just by the end of it they build a character

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:42

and we've gone through like a little scenario that it could lead somewhere it couldn't

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:47

like i mean

lewis]: 00:42:48

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:42:48

it's just little situations little conflicts we're dealing with yeah

weyland]: 00:42:55

uh

lewis]: 00:42:55

it's awesome go ahead

weyland]: 00:42:56

oh

lewis]: 00:42:56

elden

weyland]: 00:42:56

yeah

[illideen]: 00:42:56

yeah

lewis]: 00:42:57

m

[illideen]: 00:42:58

there is a a way for the story

lewis]: 00:43:01

m

[illideen]: 00:43:02

weaver to help new players select a bonded as saying is giving these prompts

lewis]: 00:43:07

m

[illideen]: 00:43:07

um if you are

weyland]: 00:43:09

yeah

lewis]: 00:43:10

oh

[illideen]: 00:43:11

let's say just in the middle of combat and they well

lewis]: 00:43:13

m

[illideen]: 00:43:14

i i cast fireball okay cool you cast fireball how does that happen how describe

[illideen]: 00:43:21

the fireball does it come out of your hand is it a laser beam is

[illideen]: 00:43:25

that you know whatever it is describe that and that is the simplest way

lewis]: 00:43:29

m

[illideen]: 00:43:29

to use the word lightly but force the player to roll play because they

lewis]: 00:43:35

m

[illideen]: 00:43:36

have to think of the detail

lewis]: 00:43:38

yea

[illideen]: 00:43:38

you know think of a color of the spell think of how you know it

[illideen]: 00:43:41

shoots out do you have tattoos does your character i use that tattoo to flow

[illideen]: 00:43:46

um and it it kind of gets those juices flowing and the other thing that

[illideen]: 00:43:52

i love doing

lewis]: 00:43:52

m

[illideen]: 00:43:53

is if they have a paragraph of back or just a paragraph can make a

[illideen]: 00:43:59

full on

lewis]: 00:44:00

oh

[illideen]: 00:44:00

book worth of story it it can make an entire campaign and if you are

[illideen]: 00:44:06

in the campaign and these

lewis]: 00:44:07

oh

[illideen]: 00:44:07

players have come they they come to you with even one sentence back story okay

[illideen]: 00:44:15

i was raised by wolves great you know what's going to happen to your wolf

lewis]: 00:44:18

m

[illideen]: 00:44:18

pack and you know

lewis]: 00:44:21

uh

[illideen]: 00:44:21

it's it's something that you can you can twist especially

lewis]: 00:44:24

yeah

[illideen]: 00:44:24

if you're doing a horror story hey that wolf pack they're now wear wolfs um

[illideen]: 00:44:29

and you have to either try and hear the licenthroppe maybe you get bit you

[illideen]: 00:44:34

know things like that can happen and it can

weyland]: 00:44:37

m

[illideen]: 00:44:37

really be anything one of our favorites that we like to talk about is thorn

[illideen]: 00:44:42

and i used lady hawk the movie

weyland]: 00:44:45

yeah

[illideen]: 00:44:46

to come up with his dual

weyland]: 00:44:48

yeah

[illideen]: 00:44:48

characters he played two characters at the same

[thorn]: 00:44:50

oh

[illideen]: 00:44:50

time that were twins and we we just kind of home bred a little bit

[illideen]: 00:44:56

of a mechanic

[thorn]: 00:44:58

ah

[illideen]: 00:44:58

and you know by day you know the the sister was awake and the brother

[illideen]: 00:45:04

was a wolf and the you know the opposite was true the sister was the

[illideen]: 00:45:09

hawk the brother was the elvin form and it was interesting that we came up

[illideen]: 00:45:18

with the basic concept and then i said you know what ud be interesting if

[illideen]: 00:45:24

bain was the person who changed your your forms maybe it was a curse and

[illideen]: 00:45:30

using his back story putting it into the campaign we had a whole i don't

[illideen]: 00:45:36

know six or seven session story arc just for his characters and because of that

[illideen]: 00:45:42

it made thorn really have to think about his back story how does it affect

[illideen]: 00:45:47

the care actors themselves how do they react

lewis]: 00:45:49

oh

[illideen]: 00:45:50

you know differently to other players because they've already been scorned once by a god

weyland]: 00:45:55

yeah

[illideen]: 00:45:55

how are you how re they going to react to other n p cs and

[illideen]: 00:45:59

things that so if the story weaver can just use even a small port their

[illideen]: 00:46:06

back story it

lewis]: 00:46:07

m

[illideen]: 00:46:08

can really get them to engage

weyland]: 00:46:12

okay yeah

lewis]: 00:46:12

yeah

weyland]: 00:46:13

that's great

lewis]: 00:46:15

m

weyland]: 00:46:15

one question i've had you know since we're talking a lot about like you know

weyland]: 00:46:19

we've talked about how hey you can avoid having to prep a lot for a

weyland]: 00:46:23

session if you've done a lot of preparation for the campaign in general we've also

weyland]: 00:46:27

talked about i improve

lewis]: 00:46:28

oh

weyland]: 00:46:29

so i'm wondering in your guys's opinion is there any specific like say that you've

weyland]: 00:46:35

done all

lewis]: 00:46:36

m

weyland]: 00:46:36

that right you're fairly good at improve you've prepared

lewis]: 00:46:39

m

weyland]: 00:46:39

for the campaign in general is there any

lewis]: 00:46:42

oh

weyland]: 00:46:42

kind of specific and

lewis]: 00:46:46

m

weyland]: 00:46:46

h n do get preparation before each session that you can make the can kind

weyland]: 00:46:51

of elevate the session

lewis]: 00:46:52

m

weyland]: 00:46:53

like or do you think

[bonedaddy]: 00:46:53

oh

weyland]: 00:46:54

it's not really necessary to

lewis]: 00:46:56

m

weyland]: 00:46:56

write any paragraphs or prepare specific things i'm just curious

lewis]: 00:47:00

m

[thorn]: 00:47:01

yah no i think you can you can prepare

lewis]: 00:47:03

oh

[thorn]: 00:47:03

specific things you can write your paragraphs you can write down

lewis]: 00:47:06

m

[thorn]: 00:47:07

like simple back stories or just what

lewis]: 00:47:09

m

[thorn]: 00:47:10

you what you want out of that session that day

lewis]: 00:47:13

oh

[thorn]: 00:47:13

um i personally when i do it i make sure i try to read back

[thorn]: 00:47:19

on the previous session

lewis]: 00:47:20

m

[thorn]: 00:47:20

notes because you want to be prepared for what has already happened for sure um

[thorn]: 00:47:26

but

lewis]: 00:47:26

m

[thorn]: 00:47:26

you really if you if you want the party to go a certain way or

[thorn]: 00:47:30

if you want to set forth certain specifics that you want to happen that session

[thorn]: 00:47:35

write the bullet points down down what you what you want to have come up

[thorn]: 00:47:40

because believe

lewis]: 00:47:41

m

[thorn]: 00:47:41

or not it's not always just pure chaos you do have a bit of control

[thorn]: 00:47:46

and pointing that gun and aiming it and firing it doesn't mean you're goin to

[thorn]: 00:47:49

hit exactly where you want to you can't be upset if it doesn't that's where

[thorn]: 00:47:54

the improve comes in but if you want to set those specific bullet points down

[thorn]: 00:47:58

there that's perfect that's what you need that's you want to hit that's where you

[thorn]: 00:48:02

want to lead the party

lewis]: 00:48:03

m

[thorn]: 00:48:03

i'm not saying railroad em i'm saying that's where you want this this session to

[thorn]: 00:48:08

aim towards um

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:10

m

[thorn]: 00:48:10

if you play with a bunch of dams like i do that never have as

[thorn]: 00:48:14

it never really goes

lewis]: 00:48:14

oh

[thorn]: 00:48:15

the way you wanted to

weyland]: 00:48:16

yeah

[thorn]: 00:48:17

but that's okay as

lewis]: 00:48:18

oh

[thorn]: 00:48:18

long as everybody is having fun that's fine but they got

lewis]: 00:48:21

oh

[thorn]: 00:48:21

definitely write down the bullet points and see where the general direction you wanted to

[thorn]: 00:48:24

go

lewis]: 00:48:25

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:26

and then adding to that

lewis]: 00:48:28

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:28

it does get a little easier

lewis]: 00:48:30

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:30

prepicfosession in the beginning as

lewis]: 00:48:33

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:33

you as you play longer with a group because

lewis]: 00:48:36

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:36

initially my minutes are very when i when i start with a new

lewis]: 00:48:40

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:40

group my notes are very like this is there's some ideas that i have for

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:44

this first session that we could touch on this is the goal that i'm working

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:47

towards i break it down even further

lewis]: 00:48:49

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:50

than that and i'm like this is either the conflict or the story

lewis]: 00:48:52

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:53

point i want to touch on like possibly within like the first

lewis]: 00:48:56

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:56

session or session number two and then like kind

lewis]: 00:48:59

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:48:59

of gently leave them there like it's

lewis]: 00:49:02

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:03

just they like ilidinwas

[illideen]: 00:49:05

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:05

saying like

lewis]: 00:49:05

ah

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:06

moving moving story beats story points around so that way like they still reach that

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:10

goal is just but they're still doing what they want to do in the thing

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:14

but when you play with people that you play like when you play with them

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:18

for a while it gets easier to know

lewis]: 00:49:22

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:22

and because i like playing with torn and iladean

lewis]: 00:49:25

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:26

they play in a game

weyland]: 00:49:26

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:26

of mine i know that i can expect chaos from tourin know i can expect

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:31

laden to work off the chaos from thorn and also slightly chaotic as well a

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:36

little less but a little but also like i know that that's

lewis]: 00:49:38

yah

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:38

going to happen when they're playing together

lewis]: 00:49:40

h

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:41

so i know what

[illideen]: 00:49:43

yes

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:43

i can present and what would work well during that session prep and it's just

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:48

getting to know your players like their play styles what they're what they're looking for

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:52

in

lewis]: 00:49:52

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:52

there in their game in the in the game that they're playing and what their

[bonedaddy]: 00:49:56

care de how their character reacts to things so that's that's one of the ways

[bonedaddy]: 00:50:02

that i prefer my sessions

lewis]: 00:50:07

i like that i really think it's important to know your caryouknow your players and

lewis]: 00:50:14

to your point and kind of what you were talking about earlier thorn about you

lewis]: 00:50:18

know letting your players also add to the prep is there any anything you guys

lewis]: 00:50:25

do specifically saying hey this week you

[illideen]: 00:50:28

m

lewis]: 00:50:28

are prepping this specific aspect player and not necessarily like the whole session but hey

lewis]: 00:50:36

player i need you to write this back story for this n p c or

lewis]: 00:50:40

d you guys do anything like that and if so how do you manage that

lewis]: 00:50:43

and what do you prefer versus what do you not prefer

[illideen]: 00:50:46

thorn and i have a novels worth of text messages back and forth

lewis]: 00:50:51

m

[illideen]: 00:50:52

a lot of things

lewis]: 00:50:53

h

[illideen]: 00:50:53

we do is behind the scenes and i've we have another player penny who he

[illideen]: 00:51:01

loves world building and so i have i have this idea for a council called

[illideen]: 00:51:08

the veiled assembly and i had

lewis]: 00:51:10

m

[illideen]: 00:51:10

the seven characters i had aim for the person i had the general idea

lewis]: 00:51:18

oh

[illideen]: 00:51:18

i said penny here's two

lewis]: 00:51:19

yeah

[illideen]: 00:51:19

sentences you're creating the character and you know luckily

lewis]: 00:51:23

yeah

[illideen]: 00:51:24

like my my group luckily is all d ms so when i say hey create

[illideen]: 00:51:30

a character they're like great i stated

lewis]: 00:51:31

oh

[illideen]: 00:51:31

it i've got a back story

lewis]: 00:51:32

yeah

[illideen]: 00:51:33

here the name here's a

lewis]: 00:51:34

yeah

[illideen]: 00:51:34

here's a secondary if you need

lewis]: 00:51:35

yeah

[illideen]: 00:51:35

it and just go on from there

lewis]: 00:51:38

may

[illideen]: 00:51:39

and a lot of times we'll either get on a zoom call or text back

[illideen]: 00:51:42

and forth but when we did when thornton did the lady hawk thing we i

[illideen]: 00:51:47

mean for weeks we were talking back and forth and it was fun because both

[illideen]: 00:51:51

of us ended up having to re watch the movie

weyland]: 00:51:54

yeah

[illideen]: 00:51:54

to get a lot more in depth you know we were research right so

weyland]: 00:51:58

yeah

lewis]: 00:51:59

m yeah

[illideen]: 00:52:00

it was

lewis]: 00:52:00

yeah

[illideen]: 00:52:00

it was a lot of fun i definitely say as far as like specific prep

[illideen]: 00:52:05

work if it's you know like bone daddy said if it's a bunch of friends

[illideen]: 00:52:09

lot easier to not have to prep um and to your question you know if

[illideen]: 00:52:13

you want to ask them to come up with

lewis]: 00:52:14

m

[illideen]: 00:52:14

something or you know tell them that hey i'm totally okay with you coming up

[illideen]: 00:52:19

with something on the fly just like the example i gave with thorn and that

[illideen]: 00:52:23

that mercenary warlock

lewis]: 00:52:24

m

[illideen]: 00:52:25

that was in the middle of a session that we were

lewis]: 00:52:26

m

[illideen]: 00:52:27

we were talking and his character just said yeah i'm a part

lewis]: 00:52:30

yeah

[illideen]: 00:52:30

of a mercenary warlock mercenary group but i was like

lewis]: 00:52:34

m

[illideen]: 00:52:34

great yeah write that down cool

lewis]: 00:52:36

m

weyland]: 00:52:36

oh

lewis]: 00:52:36

h

[illideen]: 00:52:37

so you

lewis]: 00:52:38

m

[illideen]: 00:52:38

know but if

lewis]: 00:52:39

ah

[illideen]: 00:52:39

it's i do the most prep work oddly enough for a one shot i have

lewis]: 00:52:44

m

[illideen]: 00:52:45

the entire story planned out i have all my bullet points my computer is just

[illideen]: 00:52:50

laden with stuff and

weyland]: 00:52:52

oh

[illideen]: 00:52:52

the last one shot i did i actually had to compute ready to go i

[illideen]: 00:52:57

had everything the story wise on one side i had all my

lewis]: 00:53:01

yeah

[illideen]: 00:53:01

n p cs and towns on the other so that way i didn't ruin the

[illideen]: 00:53:06

emersion ou know like

lewis]: 00:53:07

m

[illideen]: 00:53:08

and do i do i remember who this guy was okay coote like instead i

[illideen]: 00:53:12

could just look over really quick and it helps to have i've volunteered at a

[illideen]: 00:53:19

it's called san and it's a animate convention here in san antonio and bone daddy

[illideen]: 00:53:26

did it as well i had hand outs for the for the players and just

[illideen]: 00:53:30

let em you know hey this is what's going on this is how we're going

[illideen]: 00:53:35

to do things

lewis]: 00:53:36

m

[illideen]: 00:53:36

and do that with our group there is no way i'm doing that i'm not

[illideen]: 00:53:41

printing anything out for these guys there you

lewis]: 00:53:43

yeh

[illideen]: 00:53:43

know

lewis]: 00:53:44

m

[illideen]: 00:53:44

i have been playing with them long enough to where

weyland]: 00:53:46

yeah

[illideen]: 00:53:46

i know that if i kill thorn's character he's totally cool with it he prefers

[illideen]: 00:53:50

it because of the drama

weyland]: 00:53:51

yeh

[illideen]: 00:53:52

and it's great

weyland]: 00:53:53

yeh

[illideen]: 00:53:53

because everyone else at the table even though like let's say raven she hates

lewis]: 00:53:59

m

[illideen]: 00:54:00

her character is dying

lewis]: 00:54:00

oh

[illideen]: 00:54:01

and will do everything in her power in including begging like different gods are arch

lewis]: 00:54:07

m

[illideen]: 00:54:07

and she became a clerk for a god because she didn't want her her character

[illideen]: 00:54:10

to die

weyland]: 00:54:11

yeah

[illideen]: 00:54:11

it was interesting so it was a wizard a wizard cleric

weyland]: 00:54:14

yeah

lewis]: 00:54:15

yeah

[illideen]: 00:54:15

multi

weyland]: 00:54:15

m

lewis]: 00:54:16

yeah

[illideen]: 00:54:16

class but with thorn if i ode unquote accidentally kill his character the rest of

[illideen]: 00:54:23

the table still gets that feeling of drama but i haven't hurt thorns feelings you

[illideen]: 00:54:28

know we've talked about it

lewis]: 00:54:28

m

[illideen]: 00:54:29

many many times

weyland]: 00:54:29

yeah

[illideen]: 00:54:30

you know hey what can i get away with your character he was like i

[illideen]: 00:54:32

don't kno rip an

lewis]: 00:54:33

m

[illideen]: 00:54:33

arm off it's fine you know it's just what we do

lewis]: 00:54:37

ah

[illideen]: 00:54:37

so like i said like playing with friends you can get away with a lot

[illideen]: 00:54:40

more

[bonedaddy]: 00:54:43

don't know how many

lewis]: 00:54:44

excellent

[bonedaddy]: 00:54:44

cons died

lewis]: 00:54:44

so it sounds like oh go ahead

weyland]: 00:54:46

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:54:47

don't know how many tons of diet in illidene campaign so i'm

weyland]: 00:54:51

m yeah

[thorn]: 00:54:52

blots

[bonedaddy]: 00:54:53

the

lewis]: 00:54:53

yeah

[thorn]: 00:54:55

he died

lewis]: 00:54:56

yeah

[thorn]: 00:54:56

ten minutes

lewis]: 00:54:56

that's excellent

[thorn]: 00:54:57

in

weyland]: 00:54:58

amazing

[thorn]: 00:54:59

ten minutes

weyland]: 00:54:59

you

[thorn]: 00:54:59

in

weyland]: 00:55:00

always

lewis]: 00:55:00

yeah

[thorn]: 00:55:00

he died

weyland]: 00:55:00

love that got

[thorn]: 00:55:01

it

weyland]: 00:55:01

to

[thorn]: 00:55:01

was

weyland]: 00:55:01

love

[thorn]: 00:55:02

great

weyland]: 00:55:02

it

[thorn]: 00:55:02

and he did it so

lewis]: 00:55:03

yeah

[thorn]: 00:55:03

great it was amazing

lewis]: 00:55:04

yeah

weyland]: 00:55:05

oh

lewis]: 00:55:06

yeah

[thorn]: 00:55:06

yeah

lewis]: 00:55:07

well

weyland]: 00:55:07

yeah

lewis]: 00:55:08

well that's awesome well i think we're coming down to the end of the time

lewis]: 00:55:12

we have scheduled with you guys tanner are there any final questions you have for

lewis]: 00:55:17

this dungeon is occupied

weyland]: 00:55:18

okay if you could give one way for for a new d m to just

weyland]: 00:55:27

improve their session prep

lewis]: 00:55:28

oh

weyland]: 00:55:29

give one tip real quick at the end

lewis]: 00:55:32

oh

weyland]: 00:55:32

for each of you

[thorn]: 00:55:37

oh that's a good one that's that's that's hard because i remember being in

lewis]: 00:55:40

oh

[thorn]: 00:55:40

new d m and it sucked

lewis]: 00:55:42

yeah

[thorn]: 00:55:43

it was

lewis]: 00:55:43

m

[thorn]: 00:55:43

horrible

lewis]: 00:55:44

yeah yeah

[thorn]: 00:55:45

the biggest tip is is don't be a to mess up honestly

weyland]: 00:55:49

okay

[thorn]: 00:55:50

you're going to make mistakes the store is going go monkey you're goin to mess

[thorn]: 00:55:54

up roles you're not going a know what roles to ask for it's okay

lewis]: 00:55:59

oh

[thorn]: 00:55:59

this is a learning thing you have to learn to do this and to do

[thorn]: 00:56:03

it well

lewis]: 00:56:03

oh

[thorn]: 00:56:04

i'm not saying you can't come in and be amazing from the start but i

weyland]: 00:56:06

ah

[thorn]: 00:56:07

guarantee united

lewis]: 00:56:07

oh

[thorn]: 00:56:07

percent of the people aren't don't let it discourage you and as long as you

[thorn]: 00:56:13

have good friends at the table and people that are supporting you you're going to

[thorn]: 00:56:17

be fine so just don't

lewis]: 00:56:19

oh

[thorn]: 00:56:19

be afraid to make a mistake because everybody does it

lewis]: 00:56:21

yeah

[thorn]: 00:56:22

i made so many so that's

lewis]: 00:56:25

m

[thorn]: 00:56:25

what i've got

weyland]: 00:56:25

love that

lewis]: 00:56:27

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:28

and i would say just just wholeheartedly follow

weyland]: 00:56:33

m

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:33

if you if you feel like something is working for you then do it like

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:37

everybody works differently one thinks differently and don't let don't let

lewis]: 00:56:43

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:43

anybody

lewis]: 00:56:45

yeah

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:45

i tell you that what you're doing isn't the correct way to do like have

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:49

confidence in what you're doing so if it's working for you if you feel like

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:52

taking if you feel like going in and doing like five pages worth of prep

[bonedaddy]: 00:56:57

like writing a hand written like single space working for you then

lewis]: 00:57:00

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:57:01

you do that like as long as it as long as you're reaching the goal

[bonedaddy]: 00:57:04

that you want to do you want to have for the game then there

lewis]: 00:57:08

oh

[bonedaddy]: 00:57:08

isn't any reason the way you're doing it is any better or worse than how

[bonedaddy]: 00:57:13

anyone else does it

weyland]: 00:57:16

great

[illideen]: 00:57:17

yeah and kind of adding on to that something that we say in

lewis]: 00:57:22

oh

[illideen]: 00:57:22

our patriot podcast part is steal everything and have fun that is our rule for

[illideen]: 00:57:29

table top because if i can take star wars and change it into d and

[illideen]: 00:57:35

five everyone at our table loves star worse why the heck not let's do it

[illideen]: 00:57:39

or that whole story

lewis]: 00:57:40

hm

[illideen]: 00:57:41

if you want to be luke sky walker let's

lewis]: 00:57:42

oh

[illideen]: 00:57:43

go for it we're going to do it

lewis]: 00:57:46

m

[illideen]: 00:57:46

and the thing is is if i'm not having fun why am i playing a

[illideen]: 00:57:51

game it's in the word play so just have fun with it and you know

[illideen]: 00:57:56

like thorn and bone daddy said like

lewis]: 00:57:57

m

[illideen]: 00:57:58

if if you're just going to sit down and you're going to do all this

[illideen]: 00:58:04

prep work that we've been talking about all episode and then you get to the

[illideen]: 00:58:07

table and you're like man i'm i am

lewis]: 00:58:09

oh

[illideen]: 00:58:09

not feeling this

lewis]: 00:58:10

yah ah

[illideen]: 00:58:12

i just have to stop like

lewis]: 00:58:13

m

[illideen]: 00:58:14

that's going to ruin i mean that could ruin friendships

lewis]: 00:58:16

ye

[illideen]: 00:58:17

like you know like if you guys all plan this out and then you get

[illideen]: 00:58:20

here and you're ike you know what f your story man like i'm done with

[illideen]: 00:58:24

this like that's that's

lewis]: 00:58:25

m

[illideen]: 00:58:26

going to be heartbreaking so just make sure that you're having fun if it becomes

[illideen]: 00:58:30

a job if it's a shore like man

lewis]: 00:58:32

oh

[illideen]: 00:58:32

i've got to i've got to pray for this next session like then we've got

[illideen]: 00:58:36

to slow down maybe talk to your party so hey guys i need a break

[illideen]: 00:58:39

from deming for a little bit

lewis]: 00:58:40

oh

[illideen]: 00:58:40

who wants to take next you know to change the story up do

lewis]: 00:58:44

oh

[illideen]: 00:58:44

one shot that's something that we've done as well is like if we're playing a

[illideen]: 00:58:48

campaign

lewis]: 00:58:48

oh

[illideen]: 00:58:49

and i'm noticing that the table is starting to slow down you know the

lewis]: 00:58:53

oh

[illideen]: 00:58:53

players are not quite into it as much guess what we're doing at one shot

[illideen]: 00:58:58

is the one shot part of the world i could make it that way but

[illideen]: 00:59:02

if we're going to go

lewis]: 00:59:02

m

[illideen]: 00:59:03

down to

lewis]: 00:59:03

m

[illideen]: 00:59:04

sugar cane candy land and play with some i don't know ginger bread n p

[illideen]: 00:59:09

c we're just going to do it

lewis]: 00:59:11

oh

[illideen]: 00:59:11

for fun and it's going to be great

weyland]: 00:59:12

m

[illideen]: 00:59:12

and bone daddy's done halloween sessions before we've done a christmas session with a ol

[illideen]: 00:59:19

cat those different things and it's funny because

lewis]: 00:59:23

m

[illideen]: 00:59:23

we did the one shot we got our our juices flow and we kind of

[illideen]: 00:59:26

relaxed a little

lewis]: 00:59:26

m

[illideen]: 00:59:27

bit everybody laughed and you know we had some egg nog at the same time

lewis]: 00:59:32

m

[illideen]: 00:59:32

the items that we got from the one shot it over into the the regular

[illideen]: 00:59:36

campaign because why not it's there it's fun and then

lewis]: 00:59:39

oh

[illideen]: 00:59:40

all hell broke loose because one of our

lewis]: 00:59:43

m

[illideen]: 00:59:43

party members had a staff that when it did magic it was like all christmas

[illideen]: 00:59:48

trees

lewis]: 00:59:50

yeah

[illideen]: 00:59:50

and and like ten els and things like that

lewis]: 00:59:53

oh

[illideen]: 00:59:53

and so like you if we were in the halloween town and like right here's

[illideen]: 00:59:57

a christmas tree

weyland]: 00:59:59

uh

[illideen]: 00:59:59

so

lewis]: 00:59:59

m

[illideen]: 01:00:00

but

weyland]: 01:00:01

h

lewis]: 01:00:01

hm

[illideen]: 01:00:01

you know just just having

lewis]: 01:00:02

oh

[illideen]: 01:00:02

that fun it lets you breathe that's that's the most important part

lewis]: 01:00:09

well all of that is super insightful i yeah i don't know if i can

lewis]: 01:00:15

say anything else that would supersede that or be better so i think we better

lewis]: 01:00:21

leave with giving our audience an opportunity to reach out to you support you or

lewis]: 01:00:25

see what you're up to so how and they get in touch with all of

lewis]: 01:00:28

you or or however

weyland]: 01:00:30

yah

lewis]: 01:00:30

you prefer

[illideen]: 01:00:30

yeah firstly i mean thanks for having us on it's been awesome honor and honestly

[illideen]: 01:00:37

every thing is in our link tree so link l i n k t r

[illideen]: 01:00:42

dot slash

lewis]: 01:00:44

m

[illideen]: 01:00:44

this dungeon is occupied

lewis]: 01:00:45

yeah

[illideen]: 01:00:46

pod and we're on

lewis]: 01:00:49

yeah

[illideen]: 01:00:49

all the platforms were on we're technically on tik tok i haven't done a video

[illideen]: 01:00:53

and ages but we're on

lewis]: 01:00:54

yeah

[illideen]: 01:00:54

tik tok ere on instagram facebook and all that jazsowe'll have that link over to

[illideen]: 01:00:59

you for the show notes but

weyland]: 01:01:01

erfect

[illideen]: 01:01:01

that's the easiest way to get in contact

lewis]: 01:01:05

excellent yeah listener all of that will be in the show notes make sure you

lewis]: 01:01:09

reach out to them and they do have an extra special patron part of their

lewis]: 01:01:15

podcast which if you want you can actually see some behind the scenes talk when

lewis]: 01:01:20

tanner and i were on their show so go check out their patron and make

lewis]: 01:01:23

sure you guys sign up for that

weyland]: 01:01:25

yah

lewis]: 01:01:25

i think i think that was a good show guys i think we did it

lewis]: 01:01:28

anything

weyland]: 01:01:29

ah

lewis]: 01:01:29

else anyone wants to say before we let our listener

weyland]: 01:01:31

oh

lewis]: 01:01:31

go

[thorn]: 01:01:32

now just thanks

weyland]: 01:01:32

yeah

[thorn]: 01:01:32

for having us this has been an amazing experience for us we've

lewis]: 01:01:35

yeah

[thorn]: 01:01:35

never been interviewed for another

lewis]: 01:01:36

yeah

[thorn]: 01:01:36

podcast before so this has been a blast just

lewis]: 01:01:40

oh

[thorn]: 01:01:40

really just thanks for having us

lewis]: 01:01:42

oh

weyland]: 01:01:43

erect love to having you guys

lewis]: 01:01:44

thank you guys and agreed like you would never have known that this was your

lewis]: 01:01:50

guys first time you guys are naturals and hopefully with you guys

[thorn]: 01:01:55

oh

[illideen]: 01:01:56

oh

lewis]: 01:01:56

on many more podcasts rather than just on how to be a d m and

lewis]: 01:02:00

this tension is occupied

[illideen]: 01:02:02

yeah

lewis]: 01:02:02

but

[thorn]: 01:02:02

ah

lewis]: 01:02:02

listener thank you guys for thank you

weyland]: 01:02:04

oh

lewis]: 01:02:05

this tension is occupied for being

[thorn]: 01:02:06

yah

lewis]: 01:02:06

here with us and listener make sure you guys come back next week for another

lewis]: 01:02:10

awesome show but until then let's go ahead and a roll

[thorn]: 01:02:12

yah