Which 2010 YouTubers inspired Bones Body? What exactly is Danny’s problem? Can I get JUICE!!!! in Australia?! All those answers and more in the Afterparty!
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Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Milo Lane), Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Aggie O’Hare), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Co-Host (Val Vesuvio), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is a collaborative storytelling and roleplaying podcast, powered by the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. That means a group of friends create a story together, chapter by chapter, that takes us beyond the tabletop to parts unknown. In the first campaign, we explored fantasy adventure, intrigue, magic, and drama. In the newest story, we tackle science, superpowers, a better future, and the responsibility to help others.
Every month, we sit down for the Afterparty, where we break down our game and answer your questions about how to play D&D and other roleplaying games at home. We also have segments at the beginning of each campaign to teach people how to play the game themselves. It’s a party, and you’re invited! Find out more at jointhepartypod.com.
Transcript
Amanda: Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to the Afterparty. Julia and Brandon, I just wanted to start this with a little just like a moment of transparency for you guys, which is this morning, as we were walking to work, Eric stopped in the middle of the rainy New York City sidewalk and said, "I know what the next three arcs are!!" And then proceeded to giggle to himself and go, oh, shit, to himself as we walked to work. And I asked no questions. I have no details. But that happened.
Julia: I'm scared.
Brandon: Yeah, I don't like it when you discover your evil machinations literally while you're walking in the rain, which sounds terrible. So.
Julia: Mmmhmm. Seems bad.
Eric: Happy last day of 2020 everybody!
[Everyone cheers]
Amanda: But I'm excited and terrified.
Eric: Yeah. It's, this is for a long time I've been following the Griffin McElroy advice which is like figure out your very large arc and your small arcs will come together just as you figure that stuff out. I've had a lot of ideas bouncing around, but for the first time I saw clarity because this this arc we're currently working on Join the Channel, I think is really kicking some shit off as we will talk about and we've recorded nearly all of the episodes of Join the Channel. So we also I feel really clear and resolute about that as well. But I'm like, oh, now I can do this. Then this will happen and then this will happen in terms of what I can control as the DM. So like I'm very excited. I can see a real path for what's happening here. And again, this is like these are the bones, but you guys fill in the meat and the organs. But everything it's fine. Like everything's fine around that. And I'm really happy with that.
Brandon: You can't say the word bones without me thinking of this. YouTuber now.
Julia: Bones!
Amanda: Oh, thank you for the Segway Brandon, because that is the first topic we're going to tackle in today's Afterparty. Um, I can't help but just think of all of the YouTube and streamers that we have been watching throughout lockdown. But how did you fellow players feel about this, this little tangle here?
Julia: This guy sucks.
[Everyone laughs]
Brandon: I love it. I love like it's a it's a trademark Eric Silver joint to bring in a shitty YouTube, ah, into the fray. And you always do it so well. It's always it always gives you a good belly chuckle.
Julia: He feels like BuzzFeed unsolved meets ghost hunters, but like in the worst way possible.
Eric: Yes. I can tell you. Yeah, I can tell you specifically what the inspiration is.
Amanda: Well that was Yost's question, whose name I think I pronounced wrong last time. So thank you for telling me how to say your name, which is where did the inspiration for Bones Body and Jacked O'lantern come from? Loved them!
Eric: Yes. So you're totally right. This was half BuzzFeed Unsolved, which is very it's like hipster ghost hunters, like two guys. Two two guys definitely live in Brooklyn, go into scary houses. And that's where the "Hey Ghost what's up, it's ya boi!" That gif comes from very much like putting herself in the middle of a strange situation. And that's like kind of their weirdness, youyoutubers. I didn't want to just to be confined to ghosts. And obviously we're dealing with powers and stuff, so weirdness youtubers. But the other side is half Buzzfeed Unsolved and half Epic Meal Time. Do you -
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: I remember that mentioning that during the recording.
Brandon: WHAT?! [Laughing]
Eric: Do you all remember when we were like all in high school watching Epic Meal Time? For those of you who don't remember, it was just this very giant Canadian man named Harleigh who would make the most ridiculous food ever. He was like he was like six feet tall, massive beard. And it was like, we're going to make a lasagna out of out of McDonald's cheeseburgers.
Julia: That's exactly the one that I was thinking. Oh, yeah. What I was going to use as an example.
Amanda: He was one of the first viral YouTube is like one of the first like famous from YouTube, YouTubers, which I just think is very interesting from a digital media history perspective.
Eric: It's funny, though, because, again, this is something that I love to talk about just in terms of genre. When you look at the first of a genre or of a archetype, you're like, oh, this isn't that interesting. This is like I've seen this so much times before, but they were the first ones to do it. This is like when you watch, like, really old heist movies or crime movies, it's like, oh, I've seen this before. What are you talking about? Like, no, this was the first one. They invented this genre. So like they were bro-ey YouTube but also they were like food YouTube in a way that there wasn't for the first time.
Amanda: I think all like extreme desserts on Instagram owe their success to Epic Meal Time because before Instagram, you know, was a thing that was the only place that you could see, you know, like a cake made of chicken nuggets or something like that.
Eric: Yeah. Also, mukbangs come from there as well.
Amanda: What is that?
Eric: A mukbang is like it's a I don't remember what country it originated from either Korea or Japan, but it's a type of YouTube now where you, like, eat tons of food and it's a lot of them doing it.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So I guess the Epic Food genre has also come from Epic Mealtime. The reason why I was so interested in it, because there was a cast of characters as well. There was Harley and like all of his friends. Well, one guy, his name was Muscles Glasses, and he was just jacked and had aviators on. And I looked into it and it was really funny. This guy got fired after a little while because he didn't like it. But Harley owned the character of muscles glasses.
Julia: Oh, no! Gave him the IP!
Eric: Yeah, he owned the IP. So I love the idea of this derivative. And like, he fits with a whole spookiness thing, but he's like doesn't speak just like Muscles Glasses does. And it feels like a shell that this YouTube has put on his jacked friend.
Brandon: Muscles glasses is the funniest thing I've ever heard.
Eric: It's so funny!
Amanda: It's incredible.
Julia: That's like in wrestling when the WWE fires someone and they have to change their name and entire persona because WWE technically owns that quote unquote character.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: The overtaker!!
Amanda: Or recasting a TV character in like season four. And no one mentions it. But speaking of wrestling, oneeyedwonder would like to know if Bones had a YouTube beef with someone, who would it be and why?
Eric: They've all gotten into it with Jake Paul, right. Like that's just a given.
Julia: Oh, hundred percent.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: I feel like there's probably some high, low stuff happening with, like CGP Grey or like what it looks like really like really educational, like he's probably scrapped with Hank Green at some point being like, "hey, you're so old, get the fuck off of TikTok!" And Hank is like, actually, "that's not how time works!" And I think it's a lot like that.
Julia: He 100 percent has Twitter beef with Zak Bagans.
Eric: Yeah. Oh yeah.
Julia: Hundred percent that is not even a question.
Amanda: Oh yeah. And probably the Long Island medium. Or maybe he really loves Long Island Medium and they do like a crossover.
Julia: Yes, I like it.
Brandon: I think it's that!
Julia: I like it! Theresa's like "no you have to eat lasagna and then we'll go talk to the ghosts!"
Brandon: You can't talk to ghosts on an empty stomach.
Amanda: Julia and I got perhaps the best email of our careers several weeks ago. Somebody actually I didn't understand what the email was. I just kind of wrote it off to being spam. But then Julia parsed its meaning correctly, which is somebody emailed spirits trying to book the Long Island medium on her podcast.
Julia: It is because the Long Island Medium has a podcast called Hey Spirits.
[Everyone laughing]
Amanda: Yes!
Eric: That's the funniest thing. Yeah, that's the nugget.
Julia: And the problem was with the email was that they never listed the woman's full name. So they were just like, we really love Theresa's work and we know that Theresa has that new book out and I'm like Google search. I'm like Theresa and then the name of the book. And I'm like. Oh, oh, no.
Brandon: And then Julia pretended to be the Long Island Medium. And it was a whole heist situation.
Amanda: That's what we were saying, is we could just respond and be the Long Island media because we make media, and we're two mediums. You know?
Brandon: Mhm mhm!
Julia: Hey, we could do that. Probably it's an option for us.
Eric: If if Theresa makes a media company, it's Long Island Medium Media.
Amanda: That would be very good.
Eric: And then if you get shirts and you have to order them and you have a specific size, then you need medium Long Island medium media.
Julia: Booooo!
Amanda: Let's let's back out of this cul de sac that was extremely good thank you.
[Everyone laughing]
Eric: Calling it a cul de sac. It's such a goddamn burn oof.
Amanda: Thank you. Let's move on to our many, many Dr. Morrow related questions. Anybody feel the type of wave I Dr. Morrow these last couple episodes?
Brandon: I think Milo does.
Julia: Yeah, Milo certainly Milo. Sorry I had to look out your dad like that.
Eric: Oh what happened? Anything what particularly happened between -
Julia: Dr. Morrow and Hank. They fucked.
Amanda: That Schitt's Creek meme was outstanding.
Brandon: At least was probably greater than one.
[Everyone laughs]
Julia: You know what's really funny about the image of the locket, how you described it to me, Eric, I almost picture it like they're dancing, but it's like a 1940s, like World War Two,
Amanda: Like USO dance.
Julia: Yes, exactly. Not like in the 80s when it probably took place.
Eric: Oh, 100 percent. I feel like I did that as well. I had this image of like when you saw photos of like the Manhattan Project, and it's just like the scientists hanging out. It's like, look at these people who created the atom bomb, but they're like drinking gimlets.
Amanda: Yeah. Or like the Brooklyn Navy Yard had, you know, like entertainment division.
Eric: Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like putting it in the locket, she had to cut it out and put it in there like it was a photo and then she had to transpose it into the locket. It wasn't like two ovals. Yeah. 500 percent. I totally agree with you on that. Yeah. In my head it was sepia tone, kind of like there's no reason why.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: She just feels older.
Brandon: That is how you originally described the episode. You were like weirdly they're dancing and then you realize it was a photograph. So there's no way to know that they were dancing.
Eric: They were like mid tango or something or like she she had just been spun out in the dance and that's the photo they had to take.
Amanda: On Instagram would like to know what was the incident that sparked the party's distrust for Dr. Morrow and answering for myself first. Maybe I would say that like Aggie doesn't distrust her specifically. It's more like you have to put a lot of trust in somebody in order to do the kind of work that we are doing. And and I think everybody just kind of inherently questions a good deal. And so I think that's just Aggie like normal sense of like New Yorker self-preservation that's going on. But I would say that she's she's chosen to trust Dr. Morrow and the rest is just trying to be, you know, always looking out for herself and her friends just as a person in the world.
Julia: Yeah, I think for a Val, given their background, it's not distrust. Rather, it is frustration with Dr. Morrow because they know Dr. Morrow knows things that they're not telling the party. And that comes with the territory of being a mob kid. But I don't think that Val distrusts Dr. Morrow because of it. I think Val just wants more information and is willing to be like, alright, you need to tell us more things now, why they're chasing you, why are you cool with bear chasing you?
Amanda: Yeah, I feel like Val sees everything by necessity as a kind of differential of power and information is power in that way. Like everything is transactional. Everybody could owe somebody something if you do something for them. So like let's put cards on the table, you know, why hold something from me if you're not trying to hold power over me.
Brandon: I owe this bear 10000 dollars.
Julia: Makes sense.
Eric: I was actually very surprised that you started asking me those questions. I was not prepared for it. I thought Dr. Morrow was just going to, like, call a meeting so we could figure out the thing that we ended up talking about, which is the media thing, getting your brand out there, making sure that you're challenging, like what's happening if there's an anti-weirdness, YouTube or being there. I think Dr. Morrow in a way that we don't question our heroes in, like action movies, she's just like, yeah, I my life is scary and sometimes bears follow me like, I don't know, it just this is my life. It just it is what it is. It's I don't question it. I've been a dangerous person for a long time. This is the same thing. If you were talking to like a spy, it's like, hey, why was that person shooting at you? And they'd be like, you know, the regular reasons, espionage, like, I don't know, I'm just going to preserve myself. And you don't have to worry about it because you're not Dr. Morrow. So I thought that was interesting that you were you're asking. She was just like, I don't I don't know. I'm not sure I do. It's I can show you documents. It's just the life I live. I don't know.
Brandon: I loved hearing that on tape when Amanda started asking those questions and you were like, oh, and then you improved and entire hour episode. Yeah, it was great.
Eric: alright. But listen, I, I'm very aware of the character. She had the same - that wasn't me. That was Dr. Morrow. She doesn't have a thing to say about that. Like she doesn't know.
Amanda: Also when you're the most powerful person you've ever known for decades, you know who asked you questions?
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I think for for Milo, it's like it's funny because I think this is one of those like few instance for instances for me where, like, I disagree with a character, like I'm I'm totally with you. Eric like I think Dr. Morrow is just like a weird Doc Brown type. And just like forgets to say things because that's so normal for her, you know. But I think Milo, the incident that set it off from Milo is that the like first couple episodes, the pod person, the pod ghost, like someone died under her care and she hasn't said anything. It's not in any books. The Ghost didn't didn't seem to know what happened exactly. And then I think the now obviously the mistrust of her dating his father is something you would say to a normal person once you once you meet them, you know,
Amanda: Hey, we got to find out what happened to that guy, please.
Julia: Hey.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. What about the pod person?
Eric: Great question.
Brandon: But at the same time, Dr. Morrow has been nothing but good to Milo. You know, I don't think he's like fearful or anything, but he just wants to get to the bottom, sort of like Val of like what is Dr. Morrow not sharing and why, you know?
Amanda: Yeah. Brae would like to know in discord, is Dr. Morrow okay emotionally, does she need a hug? Does January give her hugs? I'm very invested in whether or not she gets hugs.
Eric: I really wanted to pair these two questions together. It's like some people are very distrustful of other people. Just want Cassandra to to have a little hug from her little rabbit friend at the end of the day, she's fine. She's not on the same wavelength. She's too busy inventing new vegetables and Energy 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold, like she's fine.
Julia: Ready to talk about those vegetables or?
Eric: Nope! We're not going to talk about okay. Yeah, I totally agree with this read that that Brandon you just said is like she just she just does science. She'd rather talk about the shit she's doing than for her feelings. And that's fine by her. I realize it's unsatisfying, but like, man, welcome to trying to talk about your feelings with other people, population, lots of people.
[Brandon and Julia laughing]
Amanda: And finally, there were a lot of questions about energy 2, and inventing vegetables.
Eric: I just keep trying to come up with this shit that Dr. Morrow is working on. Like ever since that she split Electron's and found out New Electron's that one episode a little while ago. I'm just like, she's doing random shit. She's just working on stuff.
Julia: Who can say? Only the doctor.
Amanda: Let's move into more emotionally dicey territory with a Danny Corner!
Brandon: Danny corner!
Amanda: I have a perspective on this players, I didn't discuss this with you guys before we did it. What did you think and feel when this scene happened?
Julia: I was really, one I'm always excited when we get another Aggie sibling, like, I think everyone is always excited when we get another Aggie sibling that's just like par for the course. It was really interesting to see Aggie's relationship. I think we've really only seen your relationship with, like the really younger siblings, the ones that are separated by many years, and Danny being the second oldest and like has his life together and it's like reputable, but in like a way where he has a family and a wife like responsibilities was super interesting because we haven't seen a lot of other super responsible O'Hare siblings yet.
Brandon: Yeah, I was just I love the character, but me as Brandon was like if my sibling talked to me like this, I would be so fucking mad.
Amanda: That's because you're youngest sibling, Brandon.
Eric: Yeah. Let's talk about how this happened. I think that this is a fun time to do it. What I really loved about this was that this was entirely Amanda's idea of right. When we started this arc, Amanda was like, hey, I would love it if I met more of my siblings and saw more of their powers. And I'm like, okay, which one do you want? And Amanda is like probably Danny like Danny like a like an artist. And it probably has something to do with their powers. I'd love to explore that. I'm like, okay, great. And then we did it. And then I remember right before we started the scene I was like Amanda we're doing the thing we talked about. And then we started to scene.
Brandon: Yeah, I think like I was listening back to the tape because I remember seeing you guys sort of off mic talking to each other. And I was obviously I couldn't hear you because I think one of us or Julia was speaking. And I look back on the tape and I was like, oh, one of y'all was like, "hey, are we doing this?" "Yeah, we're doing this."
Amanda: It's our - that's our also our highest code phrase as it happens. That was for me, the the first thing I knew about Aggie is that she was one of many kids and kind of folding the siblings into the narrative. Like Quinn was surprised on me. I didn't know we were going to hang out with Quinn when she came on to the scene. So I loved that and I just wanted more of it. I have an idea as to what Danny's power is, and I think I intimated in that phone call like he has had to sort of reconcile his profession and his power. So we're not sure exactly how those things interact, if it's related to his successor, if it's not like that's kind of a larger sort of O'Hare sibling mystery. But I think that Aggie. Yeah. Needed to deal with the fact that, you know, this is increasingly a part of her life. And like many older siblings, myself included, coming to your younger siblings for advice, it's always a dicey thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes just makes you feel bad. And there are a lot of questions from people about like, is Danny the worst O'Hare? Why is he an asshole? Like what made him so bad? And to me, is this really this really rings true as like no one knows you like your siblings do, and particularly for - so I'm the oldest and I think that I am I am tolerant of and know my younger siblings in a way no one else does in their in their lives. Like Danny is married, has little kids, by the way, I think his kids are probably like three or four and like their preschool science fair, which is extremely funny.
Julia: I think that's the most O'Hare shit.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, I think he and Monique have twins that are like either two or three. And they're in like a preschool science fair, and he's extremely, you know, a hyper parent about it. So I think when he is sort of just like has to be on all the time in public and has to, like, give interviews and meet people and like, that's sort of what I think Eric was getting out with the science fair. Like when you're around other parents and people, you have to be a person. But when you're in the middle of work and someone who you know is going to love you no matter what calls, then you can kind of like take the artifice off. So I guys, don't worry. I don't think he's a villain. I don't think he is terrible. I think it's just, you know, your older sister calls when you're in the middle of doing something and you're like, what do you want?
Eric: Yeah, that was 100 percent what it was. I there was just moments I think I did come up - he would have been really pissed that he couldn't do his art right now. Like, from what I understand about painting, it's very difficult. Also, he was like doing it outside on a roof that was like what I had in my head while I was out, like up on he was like like a 20 story building and it was windy. And that's where he was painting that day. That was like we never really got into that. But that's what I was envisioning. And it's like, "no, it's fine. Margaret, hello. What do you need?" And it's just a lot of him talking to his family. He does not act like that to anybody else. And like you can also, Monique seemed like which you told me that Daddy had a wife named Monique. And I'm like, that's great. Monique definitely seems like the kind of person who, like, keeps him in line. "It's like I'm not dealing with your shit. Don't be a sourpuss." Like, you need to be nice.
Brandon: Don't be Sour Anthony!
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, she knows Sour Anthony from way back. And that was he's like only allowed to be prickly with the people who know him closest and Aggie will just deal with it and not push back on him. So which is why he was like that.
Brandon: Hey, I love his character. It's a great character choice. I'm going to say for everyone out there, don't be particularly to the people that you love, don't take that for granted. Be even more nice to your family, please.
Amanda: Not a Danny.
Eric: Yeah. Keep your heart open with laughter and love.
[Everyone laughs]
Amanda: I do understand, though, from from friends of mine who are parents that, like you carve out three hours of your week to do something on your own and like, by God, you are going to use them. So I kind of empathize with his reaction to being called to that moment.
Eric: The thing underneath is like even though Danny doesn't like the artist world, he's like, these are massive institutions that need me to do things like, "hey, the Guggenheim needs me to paint today and nope, I can't do it because I'm talking to my big sister. Okay, alright. There we go." So I just think that he's tied up in a lot of stuff, but we'll see how is the relationship and what his stuff does and what his power is as it ties into stuff that happens later. Who can say?
Everyone: Who can say say?
Amanda: DiceObsession would like to know if Danny's kids have powers and what is the worst superpower for a toddler to have? I think the first part: who can say? But second part, what do we think, guys? I think, like telekinesis would be really bad.
Julia: I wouldn't say teleportation or invisibility really bad for a toddler.
Brandon: Invisibility would be the worst.
Julia: It's just awful. You'd be like, "alright, we're holding it. And where did you go?!"
Amanda: Or teleportation, like, you can't have a cute little backpack. You can't have a harness, can't have a stroller. Because if they want to go, you know, hug Mickey Mouse like, oh, no. Oh, no.
Julia: All of a sudden you're at Space Mountain.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: They are on top of Mickey Mouse, 200 yards away. What do you do?
[Amanda laughing]
Amanda: I would like now to move to a category that Eric called Hank Lane: Dad of the Year.
Julia: Oh, yes.
Brandon: Yeaaah!
Amanda: Y/N? What do you guys think?
Brandon: Y!
Julia: Why such a good dad? Such big dead energy?
Amanda: I teared up. This interaction was so wholesome. I loved it.
Brandon: I love the relationship between Milo and his dad. I think like of the of the two people in this secret clandestine relationship. Like, it totally makes sense why Milo dad would tell him about a relationship, even if it was with the mayor, like, why would he discuss his previous dating life? So, like, I think this boy is just a sweet, sweet, innocent, good corporate man. And he's a nice he's a nice man.
Eric: He just works for the CIA and loves keeping accidentally keep secrets even when he doesn't even know. Hey, here's another thing. I didn't know what was going to happen. Brandon is like I need to talk to my dad and I'm like, "alright! Let's do it!"
Amanda: But instead of discussing the thing that was on your mind, you reveal your other deepest, darkest secret.
Julia: Only two deep, dark secrets to talk about today.
Amanda: What the hell Brandon?!
Brandon: In the scene I was going to do both like I was I was initially going to like. The thought was I was going to talk about the photo, but then the idea was, why not put all my cards on the table so I can explain why I need to talk about this photo.
Amanda: Sure.
Brandon: But the scene went so well and had a natural conclusion that I was like, no, we'll just talk about this for now. You know?
Amanda: I loved it.
Eric: It was so funny the moment when we realized that you were deflecting to one secret to go to another secret. We all we all just we all just laughed. Yeah. I loved I like being surprised, being a surprised person in my own campaign. It's very nice. You all surprised me all the time. But I don't necessarily get to be surprised because I need to have a firm grasp on the wheel and say, what happens next? So when I'm just like, oh, I don't have to do anything. Hank drops his glass. It was like WHAAAT?! And that was really satisfying moment for me.
Brandon: I think it's also nice for Milo because now he has someone who's not, you know, a colleague and a boss to, you know, get advice from.
Eric: You don't get advice from Lucas, who I was going to say great advice.
Julia: I was gonna say!
Brandon: Well, he could get advice from Lucas, but it's mostly his advice is just like yes, sign my poster and I'll sell it on eBay. So it's not really useful.
Eric: That sounds really useful. That sounds like a great making money thing.
Julia: There you go.
Eric: How are you supposed to go to Coachella if you don't have money from this money?
Julia: Is Milo the kind of person to go to Coachella?
Eric: Lucas wants to go to Coachella with Milo money. That's what he wants to do.
Julia: Fair, fair.
Brandon: What's like the Coachella is it like - like
Amanda and Julia: It's Comic-Con.
Julia: C'mon bro, what are you doing?
Eric: He wants to go to Pax East, really badly.
Amanda: It's not buying a ticket to Comic-Con, but being in San Diego for Comic-Con.
Eric: Listen, all we have to do is sell like 20 posters, five baseballs and one meet and greet. And both of us are going to meet Nathan Fillion.
Amanda: Andrew Rothstein would like to know and Brandon feel free to axe card this question if you have to. How weird or awkward was it when my dad gave him the talk?
Brandon: [Laughing] I don't think it was very awkward at all. I think all parents need to give their children the talk as early as is appropriate because children need to have the knowledge and information they need to go into a fully consenting sex life as they age into their puberty stages. And I think it was wonderful. I think Hank did a good dad. Question over.
Julia: There we go.
Amanda: Great. Next, Kiko Mocky on Instagram asks, I think the most profound question we've ever been asked on the show since he technically belonged first to Milo dad. Does Tuna know about him and Dr. Morrow?
[Julia gasps]
Brandon: Oh oh that's a good question.
Eric: The answer is yes, but Tuna would never tell you.
Amanda: Yeah it's true.
Eric: He's like yeah heck yeah. Daddy.
Eric (as Tuna): Daddy went into the room and wouldn't let me in and it was fucking bullshit.
Brandon: I think you're just like the R2D2 of this universe for like R2d2 knows literally all of it, but has said nothing to anyone about it.
Amanda: The next stop on this journey together we're taking was titled "UHHH VAL???" Yes, I think that's a very appropriate general question to begin with. I was riveted by the scene. I loved it. I would watch several movies of it. I would like watch an HBO prestige miniseries about it. I'm here for it.
Eric: Yeah, absolutely. I have the inspirations for this. There is a scene. One of my favorite novels by my favorite author is called Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon. It's kind of like an all in one summer novel in the tradition of like The Great Gatsby and Goodbye Columbus. There's this graduate student who, like, goes through life in love in one summer in like Carnegie Mellon. And so it's all set in Pittsburgh. But the side story is that he is the son of the egghead of the mob in Pittsburgh, like his dad runs all the numbers for the mob. This novel is incredible. So there's a moment where he meets this one of his friends whose name is Cleveland, he's this six foot five giant named Cleveland with like a leather jacket and really fancy Clark Kent glasses. He's very funny. And there's a moment where Cleveland is working as like muscle or like pickup and delivery for the mob. And there's a moment where he kidnaps Art, who is the main character and brings him on pickups, picking up debts from a bunch of different places because Art has never gotten his hands dirty to understand what his dad's business is, because like, oh, my dad just does numbers for this thing. And it's like the the mystique of crime. And I feel like this is what Salomony was trying to do with Val as well, is like you've been able to just float on and work on this pizza place and these and your dad and Aunt Min are going to tell you to like, oh, we're going to try to get you and how great you are and how big and strong you are. Great. But you're going to have to fucking do the job one of these days. So that's what Salomony was doing, forcing Val to like actually participate in the action of of mob stuff, which. We've we've been touching on a little bit like, oh, cool organized crime mob like this is what the mob is. It's collecting money through threats of violence and weapons like that's welcome to organized crime.
Julia: Yup.
Brandon: It was really interesting to see Val be so calm and cool in the situation. Like, I don't know for sure, you guys can tell me if he's done this exact thing before, but like is almost like blase to a point where, like I'm curious as to what Val's next move is like, is Val just sort of going to let go along with this? So to not rock the boat or as Val going to sort of try to get out of the game kind of thing, you know?
Julia: Yeah, I think that when it comes to Val, Val just kind of like. Knows what organized crime is and is familiar with the steps that are taken in order to make money for these people, you know what I mean? So when you say that Val is blase, I think Val just didn't want to escalate the situation more than it needed to be.
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: And so when like, that's why they acted so quickly when Salomony went to go break the chair.
Amanda: It was awesome.
Julia: And I would like you know, that's what Val can do. Val can stop things physically and Val can intimidate. That is their area of expertise. So it makes sense for them to be brought on this kind of job. But at the same time, it also makes sense for them to be able to stop things from getting worse than they actually are.
Brandon: It also seemed that like Salomone was trying to almost egg Val on Eric like trying to get something out of them. Like I don't. So I don't know. Salomony knows something about Val or suspects something, but yeah, I thought that was an interesting interplay.
Amanda: What was Val's exposure to mob stuff growing up like where they just kind of, you know, the kid in the back of the restaurant, like as their dad carried out business?
Julia: Jake and I have been watching Sopranos. And there is a moment there's two moments that I remember. They do flashbacks to Tony's childhood in The Sopranos. And one of them is where their dad, who is also a mobster, takes one of his daughters to an amusement park because they were all bring their daughters to an amusement park as an excuse to do business there where it wouldn't look suspicious to the cops. And there is another scene where Tony is like they're picking up money from basically the butcher and the butcher owes them money, has been avoiding them. And Tony accidentally wanders back into the back room as they're threatening the guy and cut off his finger. So I think I don't know if Val specifically saw that kind of violence, but I think they definitely saw someone get shaken down before.
Brandon: Well, I think it's interesting, though. There is that like. What if Tony had superpowers, you know, like, I don't think you can you can force Val to be in the mob because Val can literally just snap you and a half like.
Julia: Yeah,
Brandon: Like so. So this is a little bit of a conscious decision to not rock the boat for Val, you know, so I'm curious to see where that goes.
Julia: I think Val doesn't respond well to threats.
Eric: Yeah, I think that this is also paired with the fact that Val also knows that their dad is very, very rich, considering how they just get shit all the time. That is kind of like the setting of that, is that this is still happening. Business is booming, Val that has multiple families. That's how I do. Yeah, I was totally thinking of that scene. I feel like Val seen some sort of guy getting beat up and like there being guns and things like that, and also their mom trying to shield them from this as much as possible. So there's really the tension with this. But I think there is a there are two questions that where we can address address this stuff.
Amanda: Yes. Hakuna Your Tatas in discord. Yes. I said I said the name. It's very good. I would like to know, does Salomony know about Val powers? Sal comments at Val is stronger than they look. And then later about how fast Val is. And to me, that sounded like Sal has suspicions that are unconfirmed. I had the same view.
Julia: Well, the whole reason that Val is doing this favor is because Salomony saw them fighting the Gigaba and helped out. So I have to assume that Salomone knows about Val superhero persona and also their powers.
Eric: I think it's fair. I thought that was pretty well implied. But then Brandon you said you didn't know that. So I really want to say this explicitly here. Yes, Salomony was the one who texted Val and gave them the giant cannon shot through the through the window. And so Salomony yes does know about the powers.
Brandon: Was Val in costume? I forget in the museum.
Julia and Eric: Yes.
Brandon: So Salomony just like made the connection?
Eric: There were a few there were actually a few perception roles that I asked y'all to do like a bunch of times during that. That's that section. And I did a few and yeah, Val was being tailed that entire time and Val just never saw.
Julia: I never saw it.
Eric: Yeah. There was like the combination of the drug of like the little drones that happened that were sent out by Gutenberg and also Val getting tailed by the mob. So those were those little rolls that you might not have known it were an explanation for. I don't know. Listen, I liked knowing when people don't get crumbs that I've laid out, it's very much worthwhile. So I'm more than happy to say definitively. This is why they know this is also something that we didn't have a problem with last time, which is, oh, I need to know whether people are interacting with these people with costumes on or not and or both. And that's very important and something I'm trying to keep in my head.
Brandon: Well, to to make you feel better, I just want to say that I am notoriously unobservant. So.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Yeah, but it balances out because you listen to every episode like four times right now, you're like the perfect audience.
Amanda: And we're always happy to clarify. So this is a good opportunity to answer FennelSauce's question on Twitter. As someone with less gangster movie knowledge, I struggled to understand motivations during the scene with Salomony, mostly the finer points on the type of person the restaurant owner was. What did Val think was going on and why did they feel so strongly about it? It's a great question. We're happy to answer it.
Julia: So we already talked about the fact that Val mostly wanted to de-escalate the situation. And I think part of Val motivation for a lot of this scene and a lot of this arc, to be honest, is Val loves their neighborhood. And so the idea that a mom and pop place like El Pulpo has to be taking out fifty thousand dollar loans from the mob in order to stay in business really worries Val, because like we've we've talked about it in the worldbuilding episodes a little bit, but like there is a little bit of a threat of gentrification for Little Italy with the very fancy hipster bar docks going in there and the ports kind of being closed to the like, underground mob world. It's it's concerning because Val loves their neighborhood. Val loves their neighborhood with the love that Daredevil has for Hell's Kitchen for no reason.
Amanda: They're about the same size.
Julia: But Val really does care about their community and their neighborhood. So, yeah, Val doesn't want to see things like this happen. They don't want to see businesses like El Poppo threatened.
Brandon: I've always wanted to know at what Avenue Daredevil stops caring.
[Everyone laughs]
Julia: You hit Midtown you've gone too far.
Amanda: Eighth avenue is the answer.
Brandon: Sixth Avenue?! Fuck them.
Eric: And if you get on a subway, Daredevil's like, no, no, no, you'll only be able to walk. You can only walk my territory.
Amanda: Yes. To be clear, the restaurant owner had taken out a loan from the mob because they needed money and the mob was coming back to collect on the payments. So that was what Salomony was doing there. The restaurant owner was like, uh, I, I will, I promise. And Sal was trying to use Val intimidation wise to be like you make your payments please.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Salomony also showed up early, which is bullshit. That's not what you do.
Eric: He did that. So he did what Brandon was saying. Yes. Salomony. I don't know if this is something you knew about, Salomony has some machismo, didn't know about him, but yeah, he intentionally came and was like "Hey I'm oh, I'm here two days early! What are you going to do? I have the superpowered friend here, and I'm going to kick the shit out of your shit and you need to pay it back." The thing that happened. Let's talk about that nat 20 though, about the because I thought it was going to pop off. I gave the restauranteur the gun to shoot Salomone in the back with with the fucking Tommy gun with ice powers. And Joe and Joseph were there too, like, let it go down.
Julia: Joseph,
Brandon: Joey and Joseph, Esquire!
Eric: Yeah. So I really wanted the threat of violence there. Just so happens, Val, you're right. Val is a superhero in a mob movie, which kinda takes some of the drama out of it, you know. When you can just, like, pull the clip out of the gun, the gun can't shoot anymore and then you throw all the bullets into the sun. And what are you supposed to do?
Brandon: But then I think that's why it's so interesting because, yeah, it changes from a mobster movie into a character study movie like then it's all about Val. And like it's more akin to like, I don't like Breaking Bad or something, you know, like it's a it's a single personality and how they decide to navigate that world. It's interesting.
Eric: Yeah, I listen, we're going to we're going to touch on some other stuff that happens when it's hundreds of other stuff as it escalates in join the channel. Absolutely.
Julia: There absolutely was a moment where me as a player was like, maybe I should just let him get shot. And that's one less thing to worry about. But no, he's family and then Val made their move.
Brandon: Do you think Val would be okay with letting anyone get shot? Like what is Val tolerance for violence?
Julia: I don't think Val is 100 percent antiviolence. I say that as the barbarian of the group. But I don't I don't know. I think Val has been exposed to a lot of violence in their life, and I don't think that is necessarily made them anti violent, because I think in certain circumstances violence can solve problems. But I don't think Val would ever let someone that they are associated with get hurt if they could help it. It's a trolley problem kind of thing, I feel like.
Eric: But for Val, it's standing in front of the trolley and take the hit because you get half bludgeoning damage.
Julia: Yeah, that tank life, though.
Eric: Which is like, yeah, hey, file the class. You're not a fighter, you're not a damaged dealer, you're a tank. And I think that that has something to do with the way that you respond to that stuff. And I love it.
Amanda: Yeah, well put. Well, I'm going to go duck into the kitchen and get us some more calamari. So, guys, I'll be right back!
Julia: Oooo! Spicy marinara!
Brandon: Bring the marinara!
Eric: The red sauce!
[Transition note]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda, this is not a particularly glamorous anecdote to begin this with, but I love the feeling of there's like a corner in your house with a bunch of boxes you have to go through or returns that you have to make or packages that you have to unpack or holiday presents that have to find a home in your home. And it's just like for me, a corner of shame that I'm going to have to deal with.
But what really motivates me to actually deal with it is the feeling of looking at the empty corner after you have dealt with all of those items being like, wow, that was a problem and now it's not. And it's because of me and the things that I did. And it is just such a concrete before and after that. I feel like there are so few of in this life. So this is brought to you by the space where a shame corner used to be. Welcome to the midroll.
Hello and welcome to our newest patrons, April, Jane and Peter. Thank you so, so much for dedicating some of your money to support a podcast that you really like. We really appreciate every single person who has decided to do so on Patreon. You make it possible for this to be our jobs, particularly in a tumultuous and uncertain time. We love talking with you every day in our thriving discord. Shout out to the new puppies who have joined us this year. And if you want to check out these adorable bagels and cat's shaped like loaves and puppies with sweaters, you can please join our patron today for as little as five dollars at Patreon . com / join the party pod. If you haven't checked your Patreon in a while, do so. You can look at things like our exclusive. Join the Team three part mini series. But you got to make sure that you're on one of the new tiers because several dozen of you are still on the old one and you're not getting access to your rewards. So please go ahead and check it out and listen, we get that monetary support is not an option for everyone. So it really genuinely helps us a lot. When you tell someone about the show, when you recommend the show to a friend and, you know, putting it on social is really nice, but it's actually really effective and really personal to text or message somebody who you think would like the show and say, hey, I think you'd love this podcast because and tell them why and recommend that they start with a certain episode, whether it's our Mothman or Goat Party One Shots or Campaign one or two. As you know, we have intro episodes that teach people how to play D&D a great link to send them is join the party pod . com / start where we have the first episodes and new beginners start here episodes for each of the arcs. So it is super helpful. And listen, whether or not you can pledge any money to us on Patreon, that's okay. But if every one of you could recommend the show to just one friend who you think would like it, you would make a huge difference for us. So New Year, new podcast, listening club. Start one with someone you know and send them the link to join the party pod . com / start.
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Amanda: Alright, everybody, I hope you enjoy my house made marinara.
Julia: Oh, thank you. It's got a little bit of kick!
Brandon: This is my favorite marinara of all time. I need the recipe.
Amanda: Well, we've three corners left. I'm very excited.
Eric: Wait. WOO WOO WOO WOO WOO WOO WOOOO WOO WOO WOO! Sorry, I don't - there's an alarm going off of my phone? I have a special report, I'm breaking news here. Hello. This is a new section, a new emergency section of podcasts that are podcast I like to call Join the Party listeners have really awesome jobs that interest us and give us back seat information on some stuff.
Brandon: Did someone from the mob contact us?
Eric: No, it does not involve mob contacts.
Julia: Okay, good, good.
Eric: I want to shout out our good friend Erin, who's @erinhockizzle, on Instagram, who is going through campaign one right now. But they reached out to us to say that they were on Chopped and want to tell us all about what was like being on Chopped.
[Everyone gasps]
Amanda: Oh, my God. My favorite television program.
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: Tell me everything about Ted Allen.
Amanda: I would I also just want to say Eric as a person who censor's sad things for movies for me, I only want to know good things about Food Network, please.
Eric: Yes, absolutely.
Brandon: Sorry, can we get them on the phone? Can you just give them a quick call real quick?
Eric: Brandon. I will amuse your bouche by saying the first thing is that tzAaron heard a Ted Allen say, "aw fuck. Let me try that line again."
Julia: That's really good.
Eric: Alright. So let me set the scene. First of all, Erin has not listened to anything past like the middle of campaign one. So I'm intentionally doing this so that Erin can just listen to these time codes of this thing.
Amanda: Oh, I'm going to say hello from the past, Erin.
Eric: Hello from the future Erin, you're here and we're happy that you're here. Okay, so Erin was on a special Meet Your Match episode, which had only female butchers, which is incredible.
Amanda: Oh, and I love that episode!!! WHAT?!!? AHHH!
Julia: That was very good.
Brandon: Why is it meet your match?
Eric: It's meat. Meat, you know, meat like meat.
Brandon: Oh like like your match. Like your your your competition match?
Amanda: It's other women butchers.
Julia: It's not a dating show for butchers.
Brandon: I thought it was a dating show.
Amanda: And the things that all the candidates said in their like talking head moments everyone was like yes, really cool to meet other women butchers like this is great. Yeah.
Eric: It's incredible. So they had something specific where they had to break down stuff with butchering and then they had to add a plate like an entree or an app out of it. So I asked how if they asked if the baskets were actually secret, they only had ten minutes of seeing the basket before it was being filmed. They had no idea what is going to be, but they shot like an initial sort of like reveal and then they did another one that was going right into it. So like they really only had like eight minutes to think about what food they were going to do from the basket.
Amanda: It's very impressive.
Eric: Her judges for that episode were it was Alex Guarnaschelli. Marc, I don't remember who Marc is.
Amanda: He grew up in Italy, in France with the spiky hair.
Eric: Oh, yeah that guy.
Julia: Yeah of course.
Eric: And then the special judge was Kari Underly, who owns the Chicago School of Butchery. So that was a big deal because that's one of Erin's like big idols. Alex is actually the nicest person on set. And the edit is rude.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: Yeah, I could see that she spent time talking to everyone. She was the only judge to leave her seat every single round and check things out. And she reached out to everyone after the episode to say how happy she was to participate in it.
[Everyone awws]
Amanda: Oh, so good on Instagram too. What Mom energy.
Brandon: Well now I feel better about going to her restaurants or whatever.
Eric: Yeah Alex Guarnaschelli, everyone go to butter.
Amanda: It's the bread and butter is so good.
Brandon: When you get a vaccine
Eric: Yeah that's true. "There's liquor on the shelf to cook with and no one can stop you from drinking it" which Erin did every single round! Spoiler for this episode of Chopped, but Erin came in second. She lost by only two points at the end. Apparently there's a very intricate point system. So that's - I didn't know how they decided that.
Brandon: I thought was just like a yay or nay vote from the judges.
Eric: They make it seem like it's like, oh, you did this like a little bit. Not great. So that's actually really interesting. Just, um, for just some stuff, all ovens are set to 350 and you get a full pot of water at full boil before everything starts.
Amanda: Smart smart.
Brandon: I did notice that. Yeah, they also pull stuff from the fridge each round that have to do with the basket ingredients like to make sure that you're actually doing the basket ingredients.
Amanda: Oh like if it gives you a kind of cheese, they don't put other cheese in there.
Eric: Like they pull cheese out of the fridge. For this specific episode which Erin did look into, all of the unused hunks of meat were made for lunch for the crew and any remainder was delivered immediately to a food shelter.
Brandon: That's great.
Julia: Aww good!
Amanda: Thank God.
Julia: So we're all good, nice things about Food Network and Chopped.
Amanda: Guys, I'm sorry. We're pivoting the podcast to JTP. Listeners have really interesting jobs and one of them was on Chopped.
Brandon: Can you ask? Erin, the only other question I have left is how long from when they plate do the judges taste it? Because it's obviously cold, right? Because they gotta do like beauty shots and all that kind of stuff.
Eric: Yeah -
Amanda: My understanding is that they can keep things either under a heat lamp, not under a heat lamp, or in a fridge or freezer. Like if you have a dessert, they do let you keep it in the freezer. So I would love to know if that's true. And like what the kind of storage and timing is between, like, okay. Time is up and then someone eating the last person's dish.
Eric: Well, Erin did ask say that I should hit them up and they love listening to Join the Party, especially when they're cooking with their with their partner and how wonderful it is. So it's just a Chopped crossover in so many different ways.
Brandon: I love you, Erin.
Amanda: Incredible. Thank you. This is such a present. I appreciate it.
Eric: Thank you, Erin. Alright. Now, stop listening because we're going to talk about stuff you don't understand.
Amanda: Well, I am reeling, but luckily we have the fantastic Poppy corner. We got a fantastic, wonderful I said that twice because it's just so good email from Poppy with some excellent questions. Firstly, if Aggie, Val and Milo and NPCs of your choice Eric were to play D&D together, what character would they play? I think Aggie would play a wizard because she likes having lots of little things to look at.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: Huh? I think Milo would play a druid, ironically, but like a straight up druid, like he would like to play with animals, you know?
Amanda: Yeah,
Eric: But like, I want to turn into a tiger.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly. How about January and Dez, Eric? I'm got to know.
Eric: Dez would be an artificer because what is the point of having all this knowledge if I can't use it in dramatic scenes? I think January would be a barbarian. So it's like a really jacked person with like a rabbit head.
Brandon: No, but what is January in this fictional D&D game, Eric?
Eric: Ahhhh! There it is.
Julia: I think Val'd go warlock.
Amanda: Yeah, that makes sense.
Eric: Val would go what this fucking game for nerds? And then flip books. Like "fuck reading"
Julia: Oh man. I could sell my soul to the devil. Hell yes, how punk.
Eric: Alright, I'm back in. But if this ruins my relationship with Jesus I'm out!
[Everyone laughs]
Amanda: Next question is JUICE!!!!! Worldwide? Can I get myself a celery juice in Australia, please?
Eric: JUICE!!!!! Is a local chain, I'm sorry, you can get a juice and all the other juice bars everywhere, it's the same as every other juice bar.
Amanda: What are January's pronouns? I think I've heard both they/them, and he/him.
Eric: He, him, but I also feel strange because January is a rabbit, so, you know, it's more like not it.
Amanda: I think January is agender. Yeah. And it's like they/he whatever doesn't matter. I'm a I'm January.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah, he's awakened. And he doesn't need the concept of gender.
Amanda: He transcends it.
Eric: Exactly.
Brandon: I feel like it's kind of a similar thing with with the cat too, you know.
Amanda: Right.
Julia: With Tuna.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. I think it's more just about personhood as opposed to being like an animal. And then Tuna is just like a magical creature, like whatever chillin' just. Just the spirit has no gender, you know what I mean?
Brandon: Exactly, yeah.
Amanda: Does the ghost hand that comes out of Milo's chest look like the Mickey Mouse glove like Inara's magehand.
Brandon: No, it does not. But in your fanart, it does. So hit us up.
Julia: Let's all list weird things that Milo's hand could look like: a baseball glove,
Amanda: All bones, just skeleton.
Brandon: [Laughing] All bones?!
Eric: Swords.
Julia: Cool, cool, cool, cool.
Amanda: The twins, Joseph and Joey, is Joey short for something?
Eric: Yeah, they're both named Joseph.
Julia: Do they have different middle names, at least?
Eric: No, they're the same.
Amanda: You can't do that! They have sequential Social Security numbers!
Eric: Yeah, but like, they're both being named after the same grandfather. So that would be disrespectful.
Julia: They're actually different grandfathers.
Eric: Yeah, and they're both Joseph. Yeah!Julia: He's after Grandpa Joseph Bahbahbah this one's named after Grandpa Joseph Ehdahdah
Eric: Grandpa Joseph from Sicily and Grandpa Joe from Italy. Right.
Amanda: Oh, my God. Alright.
Julia: Same country. Calabria is one.
[Everyone laughs]
Amanda: This is a question from both Poppy and BiologyBecca on Instagram, I am listening to Next Stop and heard Average Bear mentioned there, too. Are they set in the same universe?
[Eric laughing]
Brandon: Oh no it's the ECU! The EPU?
Julia: He's broken down.
Eric: Yeah. Oh, it's 100 percent the ECU.
Amanda: That's the Eric Cinematic Universe, by the way, a play on Marvel.
Julia: Shouldn't it be EPU? The Eric Podcast Universe?
Eric: It's the EFU.
Amanda: Julia, we're really we're getting up there. We're just reaching.
Eric: It's the Eric fictional universe.
Amanda: There you go.
Eric: So I'm going to put Average Bear in the eventual novel that I write.
Brandon: It's the FU.
Eric: It's the fuck off, just just enjoy it. Um, yes, I 100 percent put that in there intentionally. I think it's very fun. Instead of like putting the same character in the things that I like, I like putting in the same media company, which is just a BuzzFeed. It's like, yeah, BuzzFeed isn't anything. It's whatever BuzzFeed you want is Average Bear.
Amanda: I love that so much. And here's a D&D question. I've started DMing my first campaign. One of my characters is Chaotic Evil. Do you have any tips as to how I can, for lack of a better phrase, deal with that?
Eric: Aw man.
Brandon: I would say, number one, don't be chaotic to a point that is distracting to the other players and the DM, like there's a very fine line of fun, chaotic and disruptive, chaotic, especially when you're evil.
Julia: Don't let evil characters in your party if that's not something you want to deal with. You're the you're the DM. You make the rules.
Eric: Yeah, that's what I would say. I think you need to talk to this person and be like, hey, what are what are you doing here? Is this what you actually want? Like, how is this going to function within the rest of the party? And then saying the thing that Brandon said, which is like chaos, is a very fine line and really is more of an opportunity to give people who don't want to collaborate full carte blanche to be like it's what my character would do. So I think just really laying out the the priorities here. I just also don't understand why a chaotic, evil person would want to be in like a traditional party adventuring party. Like, why are they there is a really interesting question.
Brandon: I think the only way you can really, like, possibly play an evil character and still be a good player andn coplayer-
Amanda: Collaborator.
Brandon: Is like defining evil as like someone who is like a quote unquote evil character, like a mob boss or like a, you know, some kind of like, quote unquote, evil person where they are not evil to themselves, like based on perspective, but like to the rest of society, they might be, quote unquote, evil, like an anarchist under a corrupt government.
Julia: This is also just a problem that I have with the I like D&D alignment in general is that no real like person thinks of themselves as evil. And in my home game we use the magic, the gathering color alignment, which I think is much more like flexible and versatile and deals with like goals and how you achieve them rather than being like, I'm good and I'm lawful.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: I think that moving away from that is definitely maybe an easier way to think of it because like also yeah, good and evil doesn't work. I like lawful, chaotic and then active passive because again it doesn't have to do with whether or not you yourself or the laws, because the thing is it's like good and evil is so subjective. But I guess we're assuming that like society and the laws of society are calling you good or evil and like following the social mores. But then it's like, do you ascribe to those laws or are you chaotic around those laws? And then do you do something about it or do you not do something about it that I feel like might help and then really figuring out what is happening. But again, you could just say don't do this. Please don't do this. I know it's something you want to do. Please. It's not going to be fun for anyone but you please trust me.
Amanda: Yeah and like as a as a player, I don't think it it was obvious to me early on, especially how much work the DM is putting into the game and how much you could disrupt that plan and everybody else's experience with, like, individual character choices. So I think, you know, saying, hey, this is what I'm trying to achieve. This is how your actions impact me. You know, this is what I like. What what do you want to get out of this game? And, you know, let's figure out a way together for both of us to get what we want. Maybe the answer is this is not exactly what you were looking for. And we can gracefully exit. And maybe it's. Oh, you're right. Let's let's twist the motivation or twist the character or reframe them in this way to make it more of a collaboration. Because, you know, nobody tells you necessarily unless somebody tells you, like the game doesn't teach you that this is a collaborative enterprise, that you have to think about everybody's experience hanging out together and not just like, what is my character going to do to, like, beat the monsters?
Brandon: It's especially hard if, like, if this is your first game, like, to get that without experience.
Amanda: Yeah, it is. Well, good luck, Poppy, we we believe in you moving into some random assortment game and character questions. Amy Noel would like to know what is Val's Yelp game like?
Julia: Val only leaves positive reviews.
Brandon: As everyone should!
Amanda: Very good. This is a little bit of an emotional swing here. Deadly kitten asks, Was Tuna ever in real danger? What would have been the consequences if the LT3 had failed?
Eric: Oh, yeah, 5000 percent, Tuna is in real danger. Absolutely, I think that I do not know necessarily was going to happen at the JUICE!!! Stakeout. I think that would have more than Knight of Mirrors. And then with Bones showing up, really kind of shook everything up in general. And Tuna, while you all were hiding, Tuna was in the line of fire and they're like, "oh, sicl, a ghost!" And grabbed it. And then, of course, you all made the the the really the really fast acting plan to get Tuna back. Like I didn't know Tuna was going to get captured. And then I didn't know until it happened that Bones was going to show it at a massive presentation like. Bones doesn't think that far ahead until he's like, "look at the sick ghost I have!" So I didn't know what's going to happen. 100 percent Tuna is in danger. I do not know any of that was going to happen. But the lightning bolt and Aggie's fast acting, grabbing tuna back definitely was happening on the fly. I mean, Milo still has still has the HP penalty. So there is there are still consequences.
Brandon: Thank you, Aggie.
Amanda: Oh, you're welcome. I just - no one's taking this cat away from us.
[Everyone laughs]
Brandon: But I still think it's important to for the character of Milo to know that it is dangerous or was genuinely dangerous, because I think there's a shift there that will dive into more of of Milo taking it more seriously after that event.
Amanda: Yoast asks, did you have the history with Milo state and Dr. Morrow planned out from the start?
Eric: Nope, Brandon said, I hope this didn't happen. And then I made it happen.
[Everyone laughing]
Brandon: Did I really??
Eric: You 100 percent did. You're like you're like, "man, I really hope that they don't date." I'm like, boop boop boop boop boop boop boop.
Amanda: Lack of Cheese, Not happy asks what county Aggie's family in Ireland is from getting strong Mayo vibes. My family are from County Galway County, Leitrim. So that is kind of like the west of Ireland is sort of my idea. I haven't been to other places, so I cannot tell you. But that was kind of my idea is like a big family outside Galway, which is like a small, lovely, a little bit hippie city in Ireland is lovely.
Brandon: I want to go.
Amanda: Yeah. And personally, I just think you Eric you put this bullet here to remind to remind me, shout out to Upper Jay, shout out to Sugarhouse Creamery, the wonderful socialist Cheese Creamery and farm store in Upper Jay, New York. Just shout outs all around.
Eric: Yeah. We're going to put in as much upstate New York bullshit in there as possible. Get ready!
Julia: I'm hype. I love cheese.
Eric: The cheese was so good Julia. It was like I got a cheese that was called Poundcake. It was, it felt like a pound cake. It was that creamy. It was so good.
Julia: Hey, bring me back some next time.
Eric: Well now that I know it's there and I already ate all of it, I definitely will.
Brandon: Can you only get it in pounds?
Eric: Yeah. They sell it in - yeah. So the funny thing about this creamery is that like it was self-service. I don't know if it's always self-service because of COVID it was like -
Amanda: Honor system farm store.
Eric: Yeah. So it was wrapped like, hey this, take this pastry, take this pie. So yes, the answer is yes.
Brandon: It's an honor system?! That's it is frickin cool and scary for me.
Amanda: Listen, people trust each other in communities. I don't know what that's like but which is great. And Julia actually Hakuna asked what cheeses did Aggie get. I don't know any. So I turned over to you.
Julia: Well, I think your creameries that you listed probably have specific cheeses. So I would go with that poundcake one that Eric just said, that seems dope.
Eric: Yeah, I got the two cheeses I got were Dutch Knuckle and Poundcake and those are all-
Julia: Very good!
Eric: Those are the names of my fists.
Amanda: Yeah, very good. And our final corner before spoiler corner. We have a few podcasting related questions, which I always love getting. So KellanSap asked on Instagram, How long do your sessions usually last?
Julia: Usually like a little under two hours. Does that feel right?
Brandon: It's about 90 minutes now.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: We're getting better and better at this. I remember we used to record for, like, three hours during campaign one, and edited and edited down to like, what, 45 minutes? And now I think we're getting really close. Like we record for 90 minutes to two hours, depending on how spicy I am and how willing I am for Brandon to forgive me. And then we get down to like 75 minute episodes.
Amanda: How do we feel about listeners who listen at 1.5 or 2X speed?
Brandon: I feel very bad about them. Stop that!
Julia: I don't I don't love it because, like, both as an editor and a sound designer, you're kind of taking away from the experience. But like, do you I guess.
Eric: Hey, come over. Hey, come over here. We're going to leave Brandon to Julia over here.
Julia: Hey!
Eric: You know, I just. I have to go get sandwiches like. I know. Just leave me over here.
[Hard cut]
Eric: Hey, it's fine.
Amanda: It's it's fine.
Eric: It's your personal thing. We can't judge you.
Amanda: We'd rather have you listen than not listen.
Eric: Yeah. Please just listen. Please listen to our podcast. I will say I'll admit I'm getting better. I'm now down to one point one, but I need to keep skip silences on because people are not as good editors as Brandon.
Brandon: Well, yeah, that's that's the thing that is frustrating one. I do appreciate that Eric you listen faster because I like to have someone who does that so they can tell me if it sounds bad faster, you know, but two I think the the frustration, it's not a real frustration, obviously, like do you but the my frustration is that like, yeah, we edit Julia and edit intentionally. So the pace is quickened enough that you don't notice that it's like at one point. Oh speed you know.
Amanda: Yeah. I have shows that I listen to where like sound design is a big part of the experience that I do at at 1.0 flat speed. And for me it's it's as a person who's like trying to, you know, slow down sometimes like the intentional. But my medium, like, scroll less for me. It's fun to be immersed in the tension or in the, you know, emotional build of the moment. And I listen to lots of just chat shows that like 1.5 skip silences because I want to just kind of like get the content. So I say I would prefer if people listened at 1.0 and heard it the way that Brandon Julia intend for it to be listened to. But we're not going to kick you out or yell at you on Twitter if you listen the way that you want to listen to.
Brandon: Of course, if you listen to Next Stop, though listen at 1.0 speed please, please.
Julia: Please, that one is fully sound designed.
Amanda: A lot of work into it. Listen to Next Stop! That happened in 2020.
Eric: Oh, God. So long ago. It feels like five years ago.
Amanda: Well now you have to you to be a be completionist because Average Bear lore is established in Next Stop.
Eric: That's true, you need to listen to NextS top and you have to listen to the Clear Eyes Full Heart campaign to really understand everything now that that's all canon.
Julia: Tegan and Cam are technically co-workers.
Amanda: I was just going to say picture Tegan's desk right next to Cam, and Tegan rolling their eyes that everything Cam does.
Brandon: That is so funny to me.
Amanda: Right?!
Eric: Tegan was there for Cam's ascendent rise and Tegan was like, I'm reporting, can you just use our CMS properly?
Amanda: Blame Sydney Forever on Discord asks how far from the mic do you have to sit Brandon to yell JUICE!!!!!
Brandon: Let's see, [he leans away] JUICE!!!!!
Julia: A full lean back.
Brandon: That was like two feet maybe?
Eric: Yeah you got to lean back from the mic. I do a lot of shouting like for Apple. I do it like a full foot back and my head up to make sure that doesn't, it doesn't blow out anyone's ears.
Amanda: Yeah. I have to plug my ears a little bit sometimes when you're yelling as Apple because our heads are like 20 inches apart.
Eric: What is the problem.
Amanda: Yeah,
Eric: With the way that I speak!? Everyone loves it! I don't know what you mean.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Brandon: Milo also has to do that sometimes Amanda so that's fine.
Amanda: CLoudYou asks what's your personal connection to D&D right now? Escapism, nostalgia, etc..
Brandon: What a good question.
Julia: Escapism 100 percent. I look forward to every session I do because it means I get to leave the world for two to four hours.
Amanda: Yeah me too. And I like, I like living in an ideal city where transportation is free, police violence is as low as it can be with police still existing. You know, there's enough housing for people. All that stuff we we can we can make the kind of world that we hope we will one day live in.
Brandon: I think for me, it's weird because, like, it's none of those things at this point. Like, I don't play D&D and I don't think outside of this anymore just because I'm tired and old. So, like, for me, it's just like I get to spend two hours playing this game. It's not really a game. It's like I get to spend two hours hanging with my colleagues and friends outside of quote unquote work, even though it is technically work, you know, where we get to just be ourselves and tell a fun story together.
Eric: Honestly, I think I mean, is the other side of the coin from Brandon is that I use it as my creative outlet right now. And it's very funny just in the context of Multitude, I think I said I'm okay in 2021. I actually feel very creatively fulfilled by Join the Party. Can we just like get some work with bullshit work that I need to make some money. Like I just feel very creatively fulfilled by this and now I want to do like corporate, it's not like corporate stuff but like things that I don't need to speak to my soul that will just make money. So that's what I use to Join the Party for, is creative fulfillment. And it's wonderful.
Brandon: I also I forgot that also is one of the major parts I love. To see the creative output of all three of you like, I love to get surprised by choices you all make or plot devices you use Eric. It's it's always like super satisfying.
Eric: Thank you. I really appreciate that. And listen, I also I also do use this and very funny. I use this is like my creative practice. Like pushing myself to be better at things is really like DM is DMing. I think that I've really started identifying like strength and not like weakness. Yeah. Like strengths and weaknesses of my favorite DM's and ways that I see my own weaknesses and things that I can push myself on and the things that I'm good at. Like I've really been trying to push myself on character voices. I've really been trying to push myself on game mechanics, and I've really been trying to push myself on giving every single character intention so that it all threads together, regardless of what you're doing, which I think has been going pretty well. And I'll keep escalating that in 2021. And now I got to get comfortable with trying to be on a video camera in case anyone wants me to go on their stream.
Brandon: Your stream where you played mothman, or whatever it is, was very good. And you were very you were very natural on video, so.
Eric: Oh, thank you. That was so that was fun. Shout to Fortunate Forse. Our good friends who let me play. Oh, no Mothman with a bunch of people who had never met before. And that was super fun.
Brandon: You never met with people before?
Eric: No, I never met any of those people before.
Amanda: He met them like fifteen minutes before the show.
Eric: Yeah! Our good friend Taylor Moore, who runs Fortunate Horse, was like, hey, you want to do this? And I'm like, get out. I'll do whatever you want. It's like, alright, here are some people from around the Internet. Go play a game for them.
Amanda: Alright. And now a little tour around spoiler corner cul de sac here. I'm mixing my metaphors. Alright, everybody ready?
Eric: Yeah,
Julia: Let's do it.
Amanda: Deadly kitten, I really hope Milo's dad and Dr. Mayor Morrow aren't the big bads. I also hope this isn't a government conspiracy questionmark.
Brandon: I hope so too.
Julia: Same. Who can say but same.
Amanda: Amy Biard is the family part of the mushroom business JUICE!!!!?
Everyone: Who can say!
Amanda: Ruth exists? Are the characters suspicious of Morrow and how she talks about fighting the Upcountry Keepers? Will they ever act on those suspicions?
Amanda and Julia: Who can say?
Brandon: Dr. Morrow doesn't talk about fighting Upcountry Keepers?
Julia: No, we talked about fighting.
Brandon: We talk about it. And I don't think any of that was very serious.
Eric: And Dr. Morrow was like, hey, we're not going to go punch Emily Slaughter in the face. We have so many other things to do.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: And Val was like, I agree. As long as it's not in front of cameras,
Eric: We're going to have a superhero rumble.
Amanda: Hayley Gunderson, I know it's not ending anytime soon, but what are your plans for campaign three?
[Brandon and Eric laughing]
Julia: I know what I would like to do.
Amanda: Oh, really?
Eric: What is it? What is it?
Julia: Well, you and I have talked about like a sci fi space campaign before, and I've told you what my character would be if we did that.
Eric: You did say that.
Brandon: Yeah, mine's Anakin Skywalker. So.
Julia: Okay, cool, cool, cool. Cool.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. Everyone is Darth Maul. You're just gonna have to deal with that.
Julia: Chill, is it the Clone Wars, Darth Maul or is it the first one?
Eric: It's the first one.
Julia: Okay,
Eric: I think it would be interesting if we did do Space, which I don't I think D&D is the hardest to bring to space, so maybe we do like a short one, but maybe if you I want it to be very Firefly where you all work together on the ship because I feel like that's a thing where everyone needs to know each other first. In terms of bringing the thing together like you are, you are all like a Star Trek, like you all worked on the on the ship together.
Amanda: I want to bring a touch of like systems maintenance, like a touch of the kind of, you know, tracking like food, weight and gold part of the body. Like I would find that very fulfilling myself. So keeping some kind of track of that would be really fun. So I like being a monk because I get to keep track of my ki and stuff like that.
Brandon: Average Space Bears the space program.
Amanda: No! It is an average space, their sponsored spaceship.
Eric: If there is like a lightweight space tabletop RPG, maybe we can go explore that like somewhere in between, like beam saber and lasers and feelings like it needs to be a little lady in between. So I don't know. I'll look into it. Maybe we'll do it like in between. Maybe we'll take a break and play space and then come back to comics. I don't know. We'll figure it out.
Julia: The company that we work for is normal ursa.
Amanda: And finally, in in our spoiler corner, there's actually a cute little like recessed niche in the wall, like, you know, where you can put your shampoo in the shower type situation. And this is the waiting room with questions. Surgeon Michelle Spurgeon or Dr. Spurgeon, to you
[Everyone laughs]
Amanda: Where is the line going to be drawn for Val on family versus the trio?Who can I can say???
Julia: Very excited to say at some point.
Brandon: If you choose the family over the trio I'm going to be mad.
Julia: Who can say since.
Amanda: Since Tegan wrote that article about Aggie's fam, are they a threat to her anonymity?
Everyone: Who can say.
Amanda: Damn it Tannis, are we going to start seeing new regulations regarding powered folk?
Everyone: Who can say!
Amanda: Is Fritz Brightstone open about his powers. Why was he on the dais?
Everyone: Who can say?
Eric: Who can say?
Amanda: And finally, just how far reaching is the people's river? Those YouTubers have very intense tech, you can say Dr. Spurgeon. Well, thank you, Dr. Spurgeon. Thank you, everybody who submitted questions. We were getting so many great questions and I am delighted that we could give you a nice, long, chunky AP today as you're, you know, easing into the New Year.
Eric: Absolutely. I'm very, very excited about everything. I'm literally at the end of this. I'm going to just talk to all of you about what we're going to do next. And I'm very interested the way that comic books are laid out, like these arcs are not necessarily going to be the same as the arcs in campaign one. They can be much shorter. There are opportunities for us not to explore the main area. We're moving in different directions. I think about this more as a comic book, a run of a comic book, and then dividing it into softcover anthologies as how I've been thinking about the arcs.
Julia: Mhm, mhm.
Brandon: I'm looking at my pages of notes and episode 20, and episode 21 are on the same page, and let me just say up to twenty one. It's a banger.
Julia: Buck wild episode. One of my favorites, I think.
Amanda: By the next Afterparty we might have to have an even longer Afterparty because so much goes down Eric. I think there are two of the best episodes you have DM'd to date and I cannot wait to hear them again.
Eric: Thank you. I'm really, really excited about them. Yeah, it's going to be like, I don't even know we're solicited questions. I think we just need to talk about these next two episodes are chockablock with stuff.
Amanda: Well, we hope you enjoy episode 21, a week from today and episode 22, three weeks from today. We cannot wait to bring them to you.
Eric: Oh, thank you everyone for listening to the end of the Afterparty. We have an episode coming out next week. Thank you to everyone who listened to Unsleeping Party as well. Tell Brennan Lee Mulligan I should hang out with a more. That would be pretty cool and neat for me.
Julia: I would also like to hang out with Brennan Lee Mulligan.
Eric: We'll all hang out with Brennan Lee Mulligan and live. Listen next week! See you later guys.
Brandon: Bye guys!
Julia: Later!
Amanda: May your rolls trend ever upward.
Brandon: Aw, I got a one.
[Theme music]