Planning out a city, looking back on the arcs, and never forgetting about Alonzo. This is the Afterparty, where we sit down after every episode to break down our game and answer your questions about how to play at home.
Find Us Online
- website: jointhepartypod.com
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- merch: jointhepartypod.com/merch
- music: brandongrugle.bandcamp.com
Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master: Eric Silver
- TR8c (Tracey): Brandon Grugle
- Inara Harthorn: Amanda McLoughlin
- Johnny B. Goodlight: Michael Fische
- Creative Contributors: Connor McLoughlin, Julia Schifini, Heddy Hunt
- Multitude: multitude.productions
TRANSCRIPT
[theme music]
Amanda: Today on the Afterparty, why you should be responsible when recommending TV shows to your DM because one ‘Wild, Wild Country’ recommendation later and we find ourselves in a culty culty compound.
Brandon: Alright, Eric, have you heard of this show called ‘Nailed It’? It’s like ‘Chopped’ but funnier.
Eric: Yes. ‘Nailed It’ is good.
Brandon: Can we play that instead?
Eric: No.
Brandon: Okay.
Michael: We did kind of play ‘Nailed It’ earlier.
Eric: You already played ‘Chopped.’
Amanda: How about the very placid ‘Great Interior Design Challenge,’ where a bunch of British designers redesign people’s living rooms and everyone is pretty happy with the result. How about that?
Brandon: That sounds delightful.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Interesting. We’ll run that as a one-shot.
[Brandon laughing]
Amanda: Sounds great. You’ve gotta roll for your paint drying evenly.
Brandon: But actually Pokémon. But actually.
Michael: Just Pokémon.
Brandon: Pokémon.
Eric: We can just play Pokémon after.
Brandon: I just wanna play Pokémon.
Eric: O-okay…
Brandon: Look in my eyes, Eric.
Eric: That’s not me as a DM, you can just play Pokémon.
Brandon: I wanna play Pokémon.
Eric: I don’t control your entire life. You can just go get a Gameboy and play Pokémon.
Brandon: [whispering] I wanna play Pokémon.
Amanda: Uh, ‘Wild, Wild Country’ I assume was an influence on the Noto homestead?
[Eric laughing]
Less of a question, more of a statement I guess.
Eric: Yeah, I don’t know what to say. I like the idea of everyone dressing the same.
Michael: Look, Johnny has no problem coming in as a guru to like help spiritually guide some people. I don’t think like, you know… In fact, I think he’ll relish it. I guess my only concern is exactly what the contract entails, since we weren’t clear about it, so my only thing is that I just wanna make sure that Johnny is still havin’ a good time, and nothing bad happens. So like this contract was Noto Oto will help us-
Amanda: Right.
Michael: - If I just say “papaya” and spend two weeks with them, guide them to learn the Undying Light. Technically, the argument can be made that they have held their part of the bargain by saving us from that place I guess.
Amanda: The mud melting around us, about to suffocate us...
Brandon: Now, we did not make this deal, so…
Amanda: Yeah.
Michael: No, don’t worry, this is just for Johnny to deal with, and Eric and I have talked about it, and I have a pretty good idea of what’s gonna happen, and more on that later episode I guess. Can we talk about the elephant in the room?
Amanda: Yeah.
Michael: The Alonzo of the room?
Amanda: Mhm.
Michael: Can we talk about Alonzo?
Amanda: Oh, I thought you meant my engagement, but yeah go ahead.
Brandon: I thought you meant my elephant, but go ahead.
Eric: That you blew off with a smoke bomb!
Michael: You asked me to smoke bomb us out of there!
Amanda: Oh no, I did, but let’s talk about Alonzo.
[Eric laughing]
Eric: I don’t wanna say that I’m surprised, because the relationship that you three have with Alonzo has always been complicated and tenuous at times, but like I can’t believe you charmed him.
Michael: We weren’t having it. This was like the end of the line. The kid wouldn’t talk to us, like, at all, without sending his mud people to like threaten people who just- like him- were just saved and were just stuck in the same situation, and then he wouldn’t talk to us, and then-
Brandon: How dare you do that to Chad!
Michael: Right? Why would you do that to Chad?
Amanda: This isn’t a philosophical disagreement anymore. Like, especially in that moment, you know, I- and I think all of us- really felt that acute danger of like he is controlling the force that has, you know, oppressed and put our lives in danger for the last week. He is clearly feeling highly charged about what is happening to him. He doesn’t have any memory. He doesn’t know why he’s here, he doesn’t know what’s transpired. He doesn’t know who he’s loyal to and not. And so I would love to just like hang out with Alonzo one day, in a safe room, and- or outside, and talk about our differences and have a heart-to-heart, but we needed to secure our safety first and foremost, and his included.
Michael: I think it’s totally fair for Alzono to be like angsty and upset and stubborn, and I think that’s totally fine with his age. You know, Johnny is a much, much older gentleman with a different perspective and view of the world. Tracey is also semi-timeless in terms of age and experience. Inara, certainly way more mature than her age would suggest. And so, I get that. However I would also say that what bothered me about Alonzo’s argument was like, “Well how can I trust you? You do this, this, and that,” was like there’s a clear delineation, there’s a line where all of his examples were before Johnny literally died for him, or died in a battle where he was alongside Alzono. And all of the examples Alonzo-
Brandon: It was for Alonzo. Like the whole purpose of that mission was to get rid of the Bonefish to help the city-
Michael: Which was ultimately-
Amanda: Which was Alonzo’s charge.
Brandon: Yeah, in order to rectify the political entanglements. And that was all for Alonzo and the Speaker.
Michael: And you know, if Alonzo isn’t going to like get that all of his examples were from before that time, and I’m saying we became equals, or I should have become and equal in your eyes when I literally died for you. If he can’t get that, I have no- Johnny has no issue, and then Michael as a player has no issue like being done with him. I think I said this, and I believe my companions agree, I’m done chasing after him.
Brandon: The fact that I literally… as soon as he showed up, Tracey literally went to his side to like protect him, and then he won’t even give and inch to like, talk.
Amanda: Yeah, that was something I was gonna say in the moment is like we have extended so many hands of friendship, and we give him the benefit of the doubt, and even though it might come off like snarky or whatever when we actually talk to him, we went to this city, again dropped everything we were doing to come rescue him, and suffered through this like stupid adventure, put our life at risk multiple times, you know, to do this. So to me, I completely empathize with him as a person, as Amanda, but in character it feels like we are trying again and again to kind of reset and level up the relationship between our characters and Alonzo, and he continues to treat us like dead weight instead of like partners and teammates. And I hope that we can talk about that and change that, because I think our values are ultimately aligned, and I think we want to help improve the situation in Concentra.
Michael: To clarify, we didn’t think the adventure was stupid, it’s just that our characters were like, “We don’t wanna be a part of this! We were here to save Alonzo!” That’s what I think you meant.
Amanda: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: For sure. No, I got you.
Brandon: I think it’s interesting that this path we’ve gone down of we were initially- it was just a job.
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: It was just for funsies. And now we’re down-
Eric: To not be in jail.
Brandon: Well, yeah, to not be in jail, but also like the thrill of adventure, like I think we all had that.
Amanda: Yeah, for sure.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: So there was that time before the last arc started- before this arc, before the last arc, where we could have had an out. We were like- had a break. We could have quit if we didn’t want to do this anymore. But I think it’s grown into something more. And the fact that Alonzo can’t see that is frustrating for our characters. Yes, we’re getting paid, yes it’s a job, yes blah blah blah blah blah, but…
Michael: And I think ultimately, our three characters have things we wanna do, and people we wanna be and grow, and if we can do that while working with Alonzo and protecting him, great. But if that’s not something Alonzo wants, that by not even being willing to talk to us unless under a charm spell, it doesn’t have to be done in the name of- alongside the name of protecting Alonzo- it can just be done. And-
Brandon: I also wanna clarify real fast that this is all super fun and interesting, but we’re only saying this because we love Eric, and you made a very rich tapestry, and we are not mad at you in any way.
[all agreeing]
Eric: Oh yeah, no I’m hearing this only as Alonzo.
Brandon: Okay, great.
Eric: I wanna say two things on behalf of Alonzo in his character.
Michael: Sure.
Eric: I’m gonna say these two things: One, Alonzo knew the least about what was going on out of everybody. And I also want to point out, because I had some stuff planned, the fact that all three of you defended- automatically defended him and stood by him, like there is a reason that he sent the mud people to stand by all the contestants and not you three.
Amanda: Sure.
Eric: So that’s one.
Michael: I mean-
Amanda: I believe that he believes that we wouldn’t kill him.
Eric: Well I’m saying it as like- those that’s one and two. One, I think he trusts you enough that he didn’t send the mud people to protect him in whatever state he was in, and two, he knew the least about what was going on and just woke up.
Amanda: Sure.
Michael: Sure.
Eric: I would also say that we have had examples of when Alonzo does not like it when Johnny talks down to him and yells at him in his face.
Brandon: Oh, totally.
Michael: Oh great.
Eric: So there you go.
Brandon: I think this is every kid’s relationship with their parent. Like this is the same fight I’ve had with my parents, this is the same fight I’m sure most of y’all have had with your parents. Your dad or your mom or whomever is telling you to do a thing because it’s the smart thing to do, but you can’t just yell, “This is the right thing to do,” at someone and have them actually understand it.
Michael: You know what I think about the most when I think about Johnny and his like issues with Alonzo? I think about less patient General Iroh from ‘Avatar the Last Airbender.’ Like with his nephew-
Eric: Yeah with-
Michael: Zuko. Iroh is like the patient, joking all the time but like, is really trying to make Zuko understand that he is going down the wrong path, and he can say it at all times, he’ll be thrown in jail all the times, and Zuko does whatever he wants, but he’s going to keep saying the same thing until finally Zuko understands. And I mean that’s at least how I’ve been thinking about Johnny’s relationship with Alonzo.
Amanda: It really is sort of a capital-t Tragedy to me. It really does, I think Brandon, remind me of some of my teenage squabbles, you know, with my parents, where it felt like the stakes of my actions and decisions were so much higher than they could understand. Like, “But you guys don’t understand that like I am making this choice, and I am struggling with stuff, and I am doing things,” and the fact is my parents had been through that and more, and had their own reasons for doing things, but didn’t necessarily communicate them to me, and I didn’t necessarily have the skills to communicate the stakes of my struggles back to them.
And so it was a situation where everyone felt misunderstood or not trusted. And that’s why like at the end of last episode, Eric usually asks us at the end like what we wanna do next time, if we have any requests, and I was like, “Yeah I really just wanna talk to Alonzo for like three hours about his motivation.” You know, and that is really what I want to do. We have a lot more in common than not, but in the moment, especially with the stakes being that high, and the fact that he knew so little about it made it dangerous, and we didn’t know how he would react, and he didn’t know some of the stuff that we knew. So you know this is not the way that I prefer to handle conflict-
Michael: Oh, sure.
Amanda: -or resolve things, but you know, Inara didn’t disagree with Johnny enough to stop him.
Michael: And I asked the group, “Is it okay that I’m doing this?” and-
Brandon: Yeah. Totally
Amanda: We said yeah.
Michael: And just...
Brandon: I think we’re all feeling this because we role played this so hard, and I think that’s great, and it’s amazing that we were able to step into these characters. I think it’s also interesting that we’re sort of- I don’t want to speak for your two characters, but at least Tracey's at a certain place now where I think there's a belief where you need to let people make their own mistakes, and if they’re not willing to meet you where you are in your path, like in your life at your point, at what point do you say, “I have to wring my hands of you,”
Michael: Yeah.
Brandon: Like “You have to be able to make your own mistakes and I can’t be in the backlash of your mistakes right now. Hopefully we can meet in the middle at some point.” But I think Tracey is now in this decision point of like, “We’ve done literally all we can for you, Alonzo. Do I still want this job? Is it worth it for me? My best friend died for you at one point. I’ve learned a shit ton. Is the gold still worth it?” Apparently we’re not friends according to Alonzo.
Eric: You guys are butts to Alonzo though.
Michael: I will continue to push back about the fact that we are being butts to him, because I think action of our characters and what our characters say mean more than the words on mic but out of character about Alonzo. And I think that in action, and on-mic in-character stuff, we’ve done nothing but like try our best to try to save him. We were trying to find ways to break this game to try to find him. We dropped everything as soon as we saw that arrow. Johnny died. We dropped everything as soon as we found out that he had left and disappeared. These are all-
Brandon: But he also doesn’t know this, though, which is interesting.
Michael: He doesn't.
Amanda: Yeah.
Michael: And that’s totally fine-
Amanda: And that’s why it’s kind of a tragedy, is that people are-
Brandon: Totally.
Michael: And that’s what super sucks, I think. I know Inara just generally has a different view and relationship when it comes to Alonzo. I feel like, Amanda, of the three of us you see the most…
Brandon: Redeemable qualities or something?
Michael: Yeah, you see the most redeemable qualities, and the most connectedness to Alonzo than definitely I, Michael, and Johnny, and Brandon and Tracey does.
Amanda: Mhm.
Michael: And that’s not to throw shade at you, obviously, it’s just that’s...
Amanda: Yeah, I know, no obviously, I mean I do, and I want really badly to be able to reset that relationship, or reconnect and improve our communication. And just as a person, Alonzo as a character is familiar to me in a lot of ways and a lot of different contexts, and like the idea of giving up on a person like that, is like deeply upsetting. Like to me, giving up on Alonzo is not an option as a person, and probably also as a character.
Brandon: I think that’s lovely, by the way. I- I wanna make sure as human Brandon that I agree, and I hear you, and that’s lovely.
Amanda: Yeah, but also like Inara is like a pet who imprints on their owner. Like whether it was leaving home too soon and needing a new family to fall into. Like Autumn is right, like I shouldn’t be traveling with a group of people, and I shouldn’t be protecting Alonzo over seeking out potential missions from the guild that I wanna join. But I am. And so I think when Inara kind of had that moment of thinking about her origins, and why she left home, and why she found herself here, like there are the things that Inara would be excited to accomplish, and the things that Alonzo wants to do, and there’s a lot of overlap there. And so when people say that we hate Alonzo, it’s not true and it makes me sad almost.
Michael: Yeah.
Amanda: Because I wish that weren’t the way that- that it’s gone, but I’m not giving up on him, and I don’t think this is the end. I think also like I was just kind of really role-playing in the moment and not making a conscious choice, but I’d rather pursue Alonzo than marry Hannah Brinks.
Michael: Oh, yeah!
Brandon: It’s the chase.
[Eric laughing]
Amanda: There’s lots- I know right? There’s lots of reasons for Inara to act as she did, not the least of which is that it’s a lot easier to crush on somebody from afar than actually to turn, take their hand, and say, “Yes, you’re my partner. Let’s do this.”
Brandon: Now, is there a spinoff podcast where it’s just the domesticity of you two?
Amanda: Most certainly, but in this moment, I don’t think Inara wants a public proposal. I don’t think she wants say yes without thinking in front of a bunch of people she doesn’t know, much less when she is tired and muddy, or not muddy, thank you Johnny for Prestidigitizing. Lots of stuff there, but one of the major ones is that stuff is unresolved with Alonzo, and rather than potentially see him run out to Fidapolis, get lost, get hurt, be on his own, Inara tried to kind of contrive the most comfortable possible setting for him to calm down and gather himself. And hopefully we can meet in the morning and hash it out and figure out what’s next.
Michael: And I think that like we’re talking with some level of finality, but that’s just not true. I know that in my head Johnny has to spend some time with the Noto Oto ‘Wild, Wild Country’ people, so-
Eric: Okay this is not- I just wanna say, this is not ‘Wild, Wild Country.’
Michael: Okay.
Eric: They just are wearing all the same color. It’s more like an artists’ collective than anything else.
Michael: Oh, okay. I totally-
Eric: But high powered, like imagine it’s a high powered artists’ collective.
Brandon: How big are these flowers?
Eric: They’re nice.
Brandon: Are they like oversized?
Amanda: Are they hibiscuses?
Brandon: Or can I put one in my hair or something?
Eric: You can.
Michael: You have hair?!
Eric: Wait hold on-
Brandon: No, me Brandon.
Michael: Oh!
Brandon: Also true though.
[all laughing]
Eric: The greenhouse itself just has a lot of stuff in it, is what I was saying. It’s a very large greenhouse.
Amanda: Agriculture, decorative flowers, what are you thinking?
Brandon: Hydroponics in the cool way, not the bad way…
Eric: The dank kush.
Brandon: Oh that’s not what I meant. I meant like tomatoes, you know.
Eric: Oh yeah.
Amanda: Like that one ride at Disney that’s just about agriculture, you know?
Brandon: That is literally, literally my favorite ride at Disney.
Amanda: I love it so much!
Eric: And there is-
Brandon: Of all time.
Amanda: And the Presidents.
Eric: There is both vegetation and produce, as well as flowers.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: My thought for Tortipolis, and we talk about the politics of all of our cities a lot- my thought for Tortipolis is like this is a functioning city, but there has been a lot of political upheaval, and life still goes on regardless of who the Representative is.
Brandon: Yup.
Eric: Five elections in one year is not good, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t bars. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t an artists’ collective that is like doing their own thing and like has a greenhouse. It shows, though, that like you need to give the people what they want still, which is kinda what I was talking about with the colosseum. You’ve still gotta give people their bread and circus, but yet they still have lives.
Amanda: I thought that was really poignant though, because this whole time we have been feeling so monitored and on stage, subjected to that in a way that we didn't choose. And so not to see the public as this like antagonistic other, but to actually see people, you know, putting their kids to sleep, is just a really good way to recognize that it’s not like the public doing this to us, it’s like individual people, actors, forces, trying to manipulate this idea of the public when actually it’s people living their lives, trying to do better for their kids than was done for them.
Brandon: Which is why they do what they do on reality shows, which is seclude people.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Exactly, because you want them to go-
Amanda: Lose context.
Eric: Yeah, I also really wanted to establish like this idea of mass media, because fantasy novels implicate large swaths of people, because there’s always like direct interaction.
Amanda: Mhm.
Eric: It’s like, oh this beggar and this rich person are having a scrap on the street and then the constable comes and arrests the poor person and that’s that. But like there- that’s not how society works, like there are levels of remove. They can still be complicit, but not actively terrible.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: It’s like the fact that these people are looking at this and are like, “Hey, that’s entertainment!” That’s bad, but like they weren’t there being like, “Murder everybody! Murder everybody!”
Brandon: That was just me.
Michael: Aw, why not?
Eric: Because my-
Brandon: I mean, they sort of were-
Eric: Because my world is infinitely complex.
[Michael laughing]
Brandon: Well here’s the question though, I mean they were sort of were- who were the people in the colosseum who were in the audience? I mean, who were those folks? We don’t know yet, exactly- were they the normal citizens? I don’t know.
Michael: Were they mud people?
Amanda: Yeah.
[all talking at once]
Eric: They’re not- we talked about the Matrix!
Michael: They’re not mud people. They’re not mud people.
Brandon: Are they two-dimensional cardboard cutouts? I don’t know.
Eric: I mean, who were the- just because people like watching violent things doesn't make them bad. Or does it?
Brandon: No, I think that’s interesting-
Michael: Video games don’t cause violence.
Eric: Or people who watch football games, to be honest.
Amanda: Or people-
Eric: Or UFC, or yeah.
Amanda: Like a person who, you know, for the first time in a year and a half gets offered a ticket to free entertainment, and you know they have sick kids at home and bills to pay, and they for an hour can forget about their life. You know, to the person in the colosseum they look out and say wow people are monsters, wow this is what they choose to do with their time, but you don’t understand the context of a person’s choices all the time.
Michael: Also objectively, the events that happened in the colosseum weren’t that bad. The first one was we were playing against mud creatures.
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: That’s true.
Michael: It’s like the idea being like if we were hit, it was mud, so we’d survive.
Amanda: Yeah.
Michael: The second one was a ring toss-
Amanda: They’d think that we were like highly paid professionals who like doing this and there’s no- you don't’ know.
Brandon: They didn’t know that Crews died.
Michael: They didn’t know Crews died, and it just- and whatever happened to that centaur that got sent to a different dimension.
Eric: Yeah, we haven’t talked about that.
Amanda: Uh-oh.
Michael: That was actually pretty bad. That was the only one that would be a problem.
[Amanda laughing]
But then that’s why the only reason the Zoo Cube came and that bad time happened was because everything, like- the seams broke. Like that wouldn’t have happened in the regular game had things progressed normally.
Eric: But even then, it’s like monster versus person.
Michael: Right-
Eric: Which is okay.
Michael: Like it’s still- like it would have been a lot more controlled then.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: It might have been more of a really a “Hell in a Cell” sort of wrestling match.
Michael: Yes.
Eric: It’s more like a pit fight. Which is not-
Michael: It’s not not dangerous.
Eric: That’s like violent entertainment.
We have a bunch of After Party questions. Remember, you can hit us up on the Discord, you can hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and our email at hello@jointhepartypod.com to ask us questions that we will read and answer during the Afterparty.
Amanda: Question from Katie for Brandon: when you’re talking as Tracey, do you find yourself thinking about how it will sound after the vocal effects? Do you ever lean into that voice, like mimic it? So, explain to people how you speak during the game.
Brandon: Oh, okay. If you guys don’t want to hear the shitty Brandon voice that turns into Tracey, turn your headphones, skip ahead fifteen seconds now.
[all laughing]
Here’s the unaffected, bad Brandon voice.
[speaking high-pitched and enthusiastic] Tracey feels great!
[in normal voice] That’s what I do.
Amanda: It’s very sweet.
Brandon: When I was actually making it for the first time, I just made the voice and that’s the normal voice, and then I was like, “How do I robot this up?” So the voice was there before the affect, so-
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: So I just play the voice, and that’s how I play it.
Amanda: We have a question to the email from Ramón, thank you Ramón. And remember, y’all, you can email us hello@jointhepartypod.com all your questions. So Ramón asks: For DM Eric, based on Alonzo's constellation and the five different champion items, I sense an overarching story. Do you already have the endgame in mind? If so, how far did you come up with it?
Brandon: And also I want to add what is it, and can I have it now?
Amanda: And also what is the answer? Just like turn the newspaper upside down, like what is the answer to the answer key.
Brandon: Yeah, I want that too.
Amanda: That’s all. Ramón is asking, not me, so.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Let me scroll through my notes [sound of computer clicks]. Okay, so, uh, it turns out that Greg is actually the terrible person all along and he’s trying to kill all of you slowly.
Amanda: Noooooooooo!
Eric: Ah!
Brandon: Ah, couldn’t have guessed that!
Amanda: Greg was just in love!
Eric: So-
Brandon: This game’s all just been revenge for me chopping his leg in half.
Eric: Okay, yes, I did start by knowing what the overarching story was going to be. I actually pulled this from advice that Griffin McElroy from ‘The Adventure Zone’ said- make sure you have one overarching story and you know what the beginning and the end looks like, and then you can fill in every arc accordingly. So I made the structure of the five cities plus the capital city. And I knew that they were probably going to go to each city and do something there. Yeah, I had the constellation from the jump, and I came up with the champion items a little bit later. But I knew that from the first time that we started playing D&D.
Brandon: I’m really looking forward to the city we go to where it’s just an enjoyable romp through a pleasant city.
Amanda: Yeah, it’s just like a really pastoral vision.
Brandon: Yeah, right.
Amanda: Where it’s just- there’s some sheep, there’s a nice like village pub.
Brandon: There’s no fights. We can-
Amanda: We just hang out.
Brandon: Maybe- maybe get some radishes from the ground.
Amanda: Play chess maybe?
Brandon: Play chess, and-
Eric: Yeah that’s in Fronphopolis. It’s underground and you just kind of like hang out and chill.
Brandon: Great. Sounds great.
Eric: Yeah. it’s weird you haven’t been there yet.
Michael: No, it’s- the name would be Funtropolis, the city of fun.
Eric: That’s Döove and Boösters actually.
Michael: Ah. Right.
Eric: It’s the secret under- the secret city.
Amanda: Another question we have here from Katie, who says some very sweet things about us that we very much appreciate, and asks, “What’s your favorite story arc so far? Mine is definitely Pool Party,” she says. And also, “What is your favorite role playing video game?”
Brandon: Eric, walk us through the arcs again.
Eric: So the arcs so far- the first one is Wedding Party, the second one is Political Party, the third one is Pool Party, and the fourth one is Bachelorette Party. I’ll start. I like Bachelorette Party the most. I put a lot of thought into this, and I really wanted to pull in all of these reality competitions, which I talked about earlier in Bachelorette Party, and I feel like it’s the most cohesive and the wildest of all of the ones that I’ve done so far.
Amanda: I really like Wedding Party. My like eyes got round as saucers when I realized that it was two men getting married, and I don’t know, like that’s my first game of D&D that I ever played. And learning just how to like get my feet under me, meeting some of these characters that we still interact with- both royal families, and the Speaker and everything like that- it was great, and that was also, you know, us figuring out the show. And it was a nice period of time. And it just feels like every single bit of this adventure kicked off then. Like if you rewatched the movie you’d be like, “Oh no! There it is! The first star going out! Oh my god, Greg, Alonzo, ah!” And I liked it.
Brandon: So I have a couple answers. One, I think the most inventive has definitely been Bachelorette Party, and I think from a purely like D&D DM perspective, like very cool. Good job making that- not only making a thing into a D&D module, which is hard and cool to do, but also then being able to break it, and being able to go into a really interesting places. That was awesome.
I think, though, without giving any spoilers, I’m hopeful that- we’re a little ahead of the listening audience- I think the arc that is upcoming, I think, is going to be my favorite. Because of the mechanics that I think are going to be happening, and I think a lot of story stuff is going to be answered. And a lot more story questions are going to be put forth. But I also do share that nostalgia of like the first arc was like sort of-
Amanda: A year ago, yeah.
Brandon: -a simple time for our character as well.
Amanda: [giggling] It really was.
Eric: Oh man, remember some of the NPCs like Maximillian Kiko?
Brandon: Right.
Eric: What happened to that guy? The chef in the kitchen who you knocked out?
Amanda: Black bread!
Brandon: Oh yeah.
Michael: Black bread.
Eric: Charlene.
Brandon: I liked her. She was great.
Michael: Huey, Dewey, and Louie will hopefully make a return. I want them to. Mine would be Pool Party. I really liked finding the Bone Whale and dying. That was a cool thing, and it was something that I knew was on the horizon for Johnny, and Pool Party is also when he started getting real into the journey of figuring out what his belief system is gonna like pan out for this chapter of his life. And it kind of like sets in motion things that hopefully, you know, continue as we continue on. Without spoiling spoilers.
Brandon: I also think the Zubi little mini-arc, little mini story thing is like definitely one of my favorite fleshing out of a character that we’ve done so far, I guess.
Amanda: Yeah, that was my favorite role-playing moment, I think, was out of nowhere being able to and then having to talk to Zubi.
Brandon: And then for me being able to compose to that moment was like, ugh, one of my most favorite things to do.
Eric: Tight. Does anyone have video games, really quickly? I’ll say quickly Skyrim. I sunk too many hours into that.
Brandon: Is Pokémon an RPG?
Eric: Yeah, totally.
Michael: Yeah.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Brandon: Then Pokémon.
Amanda: Pokémon Sapphire.
Brandon: I like Red and Blue originals. I like Yellow for like a novelty aspect of it.
Amanda: Oh no, what have I done?
Brandon: And I like Black and White.
Michael: Uh, the new Zelda’s probably a full RPG, you could say right now. That’s a good answer. I’m disappointed that I don’t have a better answer than that, but the- ‘Breath of the Wild’ would be my current.
Eric: No, that’s really good. That’s like reinventing the open world game.
Amanda: Seamus wrote in and asked, “Would you rather have the ability to conjure up real things at will, or to create fantastical powerful illusions?” This question apparently caused quite a controversy in their D&D group.
Brandon: This is a really good question.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Alright, let’s game this out.
Eric: [laughing] Oh, what everyone loves.
Michael: [singing] Cost-benefit analysis
Amanda: Okay, there’s illusions, but then there’s real stuff, and I could have all the stuff I wanted immediately.
Brandon: Does money count as a stuff?
Amanda: Sure, why not.
Brandon: I don’t know, do you need money when you can create illusions is the other question.
Amanda: Yeah, you can’t eat illusions! You can’t sleep on an illusion.
Brandon: But you can make someone think that you gave them money.
Amanda: Yeah, but that’s just another step to getting a thing that you could otherwise make, in my opinion.
Brandon: That is true. This is a fun game! I like this game!
[Amanda laughing]
Eric: I’d go with fantastical powerful illusions. I think regardless of whether or not it’s tangible or not, like you wanna do the bigger thing, and that’s what I would do.
Michael: I’ve made it clear I just wanna not like worry about sweating or-
Amanda: Oh yeah.
Michael: I just want ease of-
Amanda: You wanna be a garbage person but be able to walk around in the world.
Michael: Thank you. [laughing] So, yeah. Real things. I mean, I’m not gonna go hog wild and, “Give me all the million dollars.” But, eh, I don’t know, just be more comfortable.
Brandon: I think I’ve gotta go real, because like okay- so if you go real, you could live a normal life. Like here’s the difference. If you go real, you’re like a practical down-to-earth person who just wants to like live their life, but live it to the best of your ability, best of your financial situation, blah, blah, blah.
Amanda: Yeah, but like your illusion could come crashing down at any point. Like your lie could be discovered.
Brandon: Right, but I think illusions- exactly, I think illusions you could put yourself more forward in the world, you could be more powerful, you could do more things. So do you want like political power or like whatever power, or do you want just to live a comfortable life?
Michael: The question is-
Brandon: I love this game.
Michael: -the illusion could mean I have an illusi-ary- illusory… I have a top hat. I could give myself a top hat that is made by an illusion, or I just don’t have a top hat because- Or I just make a top hat, excuse me. Either way I get a top hat. So I’m good with either option because there’s a top hat involved. Because I need a top hat apparently.
Amanda: You know, I guess it depends how much active management these illusions take, because if I could have an illusion to like have makeup on and my hair done, and like some stylish outfit, but in actuality, I’m wearing pajamas around all day long- if that’s true then, eh, that’s a pretty compelling argument.
Michael: That’s a compelling argument. Then top hat.
[Amanda laughing]
Eric: This one is from Squared. And Squared asks, “Why do you end the podcast with ‘You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,’?”
Brandon: Squared, thank you for listening to the credits, we really appreciate that.
Amanda: We do!
Eric: And the reason is is that I love the song ‘Closing Time’ by Semisonic, and I thought it was a fun thing to say.
Onto the next one, I guess. I’m very excited to see what’s next, and the next arc is going to be a buck-wild- I think we’re going to have one more episode of Bachelorette Party, and this is going to be similar to the one we did in between- after Pool Party. It’s like we’re gonna- we have some stuff to resolve, we’re gonna level up-
Brandon: Can we have a little hint? Can we have a little hint?
Amanda: Just a hint?
Eric: About...
Amanda: Please.
Brandon: Just a hint, please.
Amanda: Please sir may I have a hint.
Eric: I think this is- the next arc is going to be a reinvention of a classic D&D structure.
Amanda: Ooh. Tavern Party.
Michael: Yeah you walk down the road, enter the first tavern. Do you set it on fire, or you get into a fight with people?
Brandon: Set it on fire! Set it on fire!
Michael: Obviously.
Amanda: Bucket of wine or buckets of wine?
[all laughing]
Brandon: Well we gotta get the buckets of wine out first, then we start the fire.
Amanda: Thanks so much for joining us. If you have questions for our Afterparty or hot takes on the stuff we’ve discussed today, please let us know. We’re @JoinThePartyPod on all the places. And as always, the most helpful thing you can do if you enjoy the show is to share us with a friend. Find somebody you know would like the show, would like the characters, would have opinions that you would like to debate, and show them how to download podcasts. Send them to jointhepartypod.com/recap, which is where you can see a quick kind of trailer about the podcast, all of our character intros, and links to all of the episode arcs.
Eric: And we did a really nice summary of the first two arcs, if you want to just hop in.
Amanda: And until then, we’ll see you later.
Brandon: Buh-bye!
Eric: See ya later!
Michael: Undying Light be with you.
[theme music]