Where did Eric get the inspiration for the Precision Round of the Bullseye Games? Did Julia feel good-devastated or bad-devastated when Nonny dove deep? And what do the players think of all of these fellow competitors? All this and more in the Afterparty!
Dive into our ship combat mechanics, classes from Mage Hand Press, the countries of Verda Stello, and other changes we’ve made for C3 HERE!
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Cast & Crew
- Game Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Umbi), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Chamomile Cassis), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host (Troy Riptide), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Theme Song: Lyrics by Eric Silver, music by Brandon Grugle. Vocals by Brandon Grugle, Lauren Shippen, Julia Schifini, Roux Bedrosian, Eric Silver, Tyler Silver, and Amanda McLoughlin. Available for purchase here.
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into our current campaign, a pirate story set in a world of plant- and bug-folk, or marathon our completed stories with the Camp-Paign, a MOTW game set in a weird summer camp, Campaign 2 for a modern superhero game, and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
Amanda: Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to the After Party, where we get to talk all about the Bullseye games and Small Key Island.
Julia: Weee!
Eric: Wow. Amanda, I think it's important to say where we are right now.
Amanda: Yes, me too. We are in Eric's mom's guest room, sitting side by side.
Julia: Uh-huh.
Amanda: What else am I supposed to say?
Eric: No, it's just— I'm just, there was a fun way to say it.
Julia: It's just something about saying it.
Eric: It's funny that you said the guest room, because my mom's like, this is the shrine for you and your brother so you can just stay here outside of this door. First of all, I'm looking at a 2008 Join the Party live poster right now.
Julia: Wow!
Eric: Which is signed only by Amanda for some reason.
Amanda: Oh, I never noticed that.
Brandon: 2008?
Eric: 2018.
Brandon: 18,18, 18. And I was like uh what?
Eric: Yeah, Join the Party is actually a derivative work.
Julia: Ohhh.
Eric: That's why I get all the IP royalty.
Julia: It's weird that it got signed to just by Amanda in 2008.
Eric: Yeah. I came up with Join the Party into—in 11th grade. And I've been living off the residuals ever since 2018, so that's there the entire time. So I get to look at all of our Campaign One stuff. And then next behind that outside is a Armor that has only photos of my brother and I on it. Could I say there's 20? Yes, I could.
Julia: Wow. Wow.
Amanda: It's truly a rich depository of Amanda visiting for the first time and seeing pictures of we, Eric.
Julia: Hmmm. It's an experience.
Brandon: Um, is the photo hanging up behind y'all, the one that's clearly a stock photo, but that's—that's a photo of you and your brother, right?
Eric: Oh, yeah, it's me and two other guys wearing 1950s-style suits. Yeah.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: On the beach or something.
Eric: Yeah, this is—
Julia: I like that bud.
Eric: —in— in the desert. It is like Jewish gangsters building, Las Vegas, it feels like it.
Brandon: Tight, tight.
Amanda: Again, shrine to Eric.
Julia: Things that Eric loves.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Well, guys, we have so much to talk about because in this Afterparty we're talking about not just our beginning of the arc where we get the note and Brandon visits Fun Mandy Potash, and we meet Lucky Edy, and we discovered the shipwreck, but everything that goes through it. Nonny's miraculous death and rebirth and the first round of the Bullseye Game, so lot to get to.
Julia: So much, I'm so excited.
Brandon: Well, time to take a break. Let's uh, go get a refill.
Eric: My favorite part is, you know, they're—their—hey, Brandon, just sing the girl, The Girl from Ipenema to yourself for a little bit.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: My favorite part about Brandon playing characters on Dungeons and Dragons and tabletop RPGs and Join the Party, is that 50% of the time, his characters do exactly what Brandon would do. And 50% of the time, they do the opposite of what Brandon would do. Which is usually when he opens up his mind to just access the plane of chaos and see what falls out. Now, let's play a game here, would Umbi do the same thing as Brandon, which is look at a bunch of people with swords and say, what the fucks your deal, my guy?
Julia: You guys actors?
Eric: You seem fake. What is that?
Amanda: That strikes me as eminently Umbi. Yes.
Julia: Mmmm. Mmm.
Eric: I think Brandon would also do—Brandon would also do the same.
Brandon: I'm not going to take this lying down in this After Party, because that is fully reasonable to say.
Eric: It's not, absolutely not.
Brandon: And I did not say in that manner, Umbi's asked politely what the deal was. Look, Eric, here's the thing. Again, I will say again.
Eric: Are you even a real podcaster, you look weird.
Brandon: Yeah, that's a good example, Eric. If we sold people we were podcasters, and then instead of you holding a microphone in your hand right now, you're holding a banana, people would say, are you sure?
Eric: Now what—in thi—in this metaphor, the video is so perfect, It explained exactly what you were talking about. What was Fun Mandy Potash holding that was confusing you?
Brandon: They were dressed very like fancifully, and, like very fancy piratey you know, like, like high pirates, I'll say.
Julia: Right. Because famously, pirates would not dress nicely if they're rich.
Eric: Yeah, they're in gy—they're in gym shorts.
Julia: And save us.
Brandon: Hey, Julia, have we met any pirates in our world so far that have dressed as—as nicely as they have?
Julia: No, but she's also from the Golden Age of pirates, and we have like the leftovers from the Golden Age.
Brandon: Mmmm.
Eric: Julia, could you also check the transcript and see if I said that explicitly?
Julia: Yes, I think you did.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: You did it yesterday.
Eric: Good. Thank you for checking the transcript, I appreciate that.
Amanda: MalignantSloth brings up a very good point, which is, would Umbi not have seen some fresh pirates back when he first went to the Great Salt Sea?
Brandon: That's exactly what I was gonna say next, which was nobody except for Eric, can tell me I'm wrong. Because—
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: — I was the only one that was there.
Julia: Well, luckily Eric has told you you're wrong, so.
Eric: Listen, man, it was still very funny and I enjoyed it a lot. Just like, you know, your character—you and your character are the same. Everyone who plays a PC are the same in some ways and reveals parts of it. And listen, that's just some of Brandon's fun flair is he'll make an assumption that it will be really funny. Like, for example, Umbi being cold for an extended period of time.
Amanda: Oh my god. Yeah, let's get to that. So we did not know what each other's messages were. You the listeners got some special, I was just going to say messages from the grave, that's not true.
Julia: What?
Amanda: You got some special post-production—
Julia: We died.
Amanda: —pick up, where you got to know what the messages are. And so I'm like, oh, Umbi must be making an excuse as a grandpa who's always cold and wants to go back to the ship. Brandon, would you care to take us through your experience of the Lucky Edy.
Brandon: Oh, yeah. My experience was that I got the note from Eric and there was a—this isn't a technical term, but sort of disambiguation on the comma usage or the grammar.
Eric: Yeah, it's— this is on me.
Brandon: No, no, no. It was not on Eric, it was like a cork of the—
Amanda: Like ambiguity.
Brandon: — English language.
Eric: Ohh. Hey, Anglo-Saxons, get your fucking shit together.
Julia: Get fucked.
Brandon: It was about, like, I forget if it was a pronoun, or what but like, you know, a, like a word that was referring back to a word previously in a sentence. It wa—it's ambiguous what—what it was referring to, so.
Eric: Okay, here is the— here's the message. Edy, is a young whippersnapper. I don't know, who cares, whatever. I'm thinking of a new bomb, maybe it's really cold with three question marks.
Brandon: Yeah. So the, it's there could refer to a new bomb. It could refer to like, the environment, which is how I read it.
Julia: Mmmm, mmmm.
Amanda: Technically true.
Brandon: You don't say maybe like you aw—like you always say maybe it's really hot outside. You don't say maybe the outside is very hot, you know what I mean?
Julia: Brandon, I like it, regardless of how you read it, because it does come off as like, I'm thinking of a bomb, maybe it's a cold bomb. I'm cold now and that's it. It's great. Brandon, it was great.
Eric: What if I made other people really cold? Oh, no, I'm cold where's my sweater?
Amanda: And listen, this—this shit is funny, and as another of the cast whose misunderstandings frequently cause humor in this show, I think it's brave Brandon, to— to allow your misunderstanding to stand because it made incredible podcasting.
Eric: Yeah. I'm looking at the Multitude survey, and the thing that makes us stand out from other podcasts is that two out of three of our PCs misunderstand more than every other podcast. That makes us stand out.
Amanda: So we have a Julia, so it all evens out.
Eric: And then we have a Julia, yeah.
Brandon: And that's why we— that's why they're called personal computers, Eric. So it makes sense.
Eric: True. True, true, true.
Amanda: It was good. It's good stuff.
Julia: No, but Eric, I really like that as an idea of explaining to characters what their past experience with a NPC that is established is. Because like, a lot of times, you know, you just get the characters to interact with the new NPC and you're like, alright, well, like you just figure out what the vibe is. But I really liked the idea of rolling for charisma to see how aware of the situ— like social awareness as a role is wild to me, and I really loved it.
Eric: Yeah, I mean, I think that Dungeon and Dragons can do a lot of things, one of which it's super flexible. The six abilities cover almost everything you can think of in roleplay. I know that we could go talk about what the hell is the difference between wisdom and intelligence, actually, it because it's not perfect, but it sure is wide ranges.
Brandon: You're telling me that Dungeons and Dragons and Wizards of the Coast the brainchild of Wizards of the Coast called Dungeon and Dragons isn't perfect?
Eric: No, it's not, it certainly not. I've never said that before. But you can make it happen for whatever it is. You don't have to follow the abilities. You can make a roll to be whatever. Because you know, it's more about also just like moving stuff forward, right? It's like, you just need to know how much you plus and minus your role. And I was like, hey, let's see who's the most aware in this particular situation. And then I wanted to do something that I've seen on Dimension 20, in the Mice & Murder Campaign. They did a lot of like secret information because it was like a murder mystery. But they were texting each other, and then they would put the text message on screen, which I think is a trick that so many TV shows and movies have done about texting. But I hadn't seen it before in podcasting. So Brandon and I work that out and it was really fun. I'm really happy with how it came together.
Brandon: Now nobody has noticed yet, but if you look at your podcatcher your phone while you're listening at that moment, it will pop up and say the text message so.
Amanda: And then it will say go to twentysidedstore.com and use code Pirate for 20% off your order.
Eric: Yeah, we put out—we put a mid-roll in the—in the text message.
Julia: Man, I wish that type of technology worked.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And then it will say give Brandon $20.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And that's great. I've made no money.
Eric: I'm really stoked when that came out. We actually took that from—or my example was through a game that they were playing on Hey Riddle Riddle. That they did something like that to like, talk about secret information and tell it to the audience. But I hadn't seen it like in conversation like this before, so I'm pretty stoked about it.
Brandon: Yeah, it was fun.
Julia: It's—it was very cool.
Amanda: It's always super fun to have a little secret in the game.
Brandon: My favorite my who— my favorite part of the whole thing was when Eric did the pickups for talking to the audience about what was happening. And you were like, doing a couple of different takes of like, you know how to—how to say it. And if you— if you listen to the bloopers, which I'm not sure if they're out yet, but they will be soon if they're not already.
Amanda: They are.
Brandon: Oh, they are. There's one at the very end, I think, where Eric is like, not a clickbait, Brandon's text message reads-- that’s really funny.
Julia: Yeah, very, very good.
Amanda: Good shit.
Eric: Doing the extra stuff is the fun part. I mean, like, actual play is an art form, it's a—the creative form. Let's try to experiment it and do something that folks haven't seen it before. I've never heard that in podcasting, or taking something from video and trying to make it seamless in audio. So I'm really stoked of how that happened.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: No one's doing it like us, folks. Tell your friends.
Eric: Tell your friends.
Julia: Tell your friends.
Brandon: Tell your friends.
Amanda: Alright. A few more questions here about episode 13 the first of the Bullseye games. From Sebolicious, Sil's voice effect creeps me out. Is this due to the effect of their magic creation, or is it some kind of indication that they are evil? If so, when will they turn on the crew?
Brandon: Spoiler, we don't know. I don't know. Only Eric knows.
Amanda: Eric said this is Sil's voice effects, and we all said oh boy.
Eric: I thought it would just be the voice effect to have them stand out and also putting a little bit of like demon shake on it. I think I said like 15% demon on it.
Brandon: Yeah, it was very small. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, just to like, I mean, you uh— drink a batch of liquid, and then Sil's there. I think this a real early who can say in here, but I'm more just one of the two of them to sound different because I think they're both gonna have similar Eric voice and cadence. So I want to make sure they stood out.
Julia: Cool.
Amanda: It's good stuff. I couldn't Kelp myself says, I was explained to a couple of friends about Troy the ultimate himbo. And I realized I basically described Joey from Friends. Amanda, how much inspiration was drawn from Joey when he read the V section of the encyclopedia? As you can tell from my tone of voice, perhaps I have no fucking idea who or what this is.
Julia: I was gonna say I don't think Amanda's ever seen a single episode of Friends.
Amanda: No.
Brandon: I know exactly what you're talking about, that's very funny.
Eric: Amanda was babysitting.
Julia: Amanda, Joey's the one that does the how you doing? And that's all you need to know about Joey.
Eric: That's who he is, yeah.
Amanda: I may have seen that as a GIF
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Joey's the only person in Friends who's actually a good person, so you're good.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Interesting.
Eric: Man, he's cheated on so many women. That's saying something for all the—
Brandon: Joey?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Joey doesn't cheat.
Eric: Oh, Joey doesn't cheat?
Brandon: No, Joey is the most respectful towards women out of all the men on the show, and he is the most faithful.
Eric: I mean that's not saying something with those two, but your 100% correct?
Brandon: That's true. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: He's the only one that sees women as people.
Eric: That's true.
Brandon: Including the other women.
Eric: Yeah, good point, good point.
Julia: Hmmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: So the answer is no inspiration, but I fully support your headcanon.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: It's not headcanon. I've watched Friends more than all of you combined.
Eric: That's true.
Julia: That's fair. Brandon, I was about to say I don't know enough Friend lore to really like counteract you on this, I was watching Seinfeld during those years.
Brandon: Yeah, I—I didn't watch any Seinfeld, so that was— that's the trade-off, so.
Julia: That's fair, that's fair.
Brandon: But what I'm saying is that Troy is— is the best himbo because Troy is thoughtful and good. So it works.
Julia: They are.
Eric: I guess I was confusing Joey having small emotional problems being like, I want to date these two hot women, what do I do?
Julia: Only date one of them.
Amanda: He’s been thinking about their feelings.
Eric: And then Chandler's like, could I be any emotionally oppressed? That was a Friends reference.
Amanda: Thank you. I—I know you're George references by now but not the Friends one.
Eric: Right. Amanda was there when I watched all Seinfeld.
Amanda: What's the deal?
Brandon: So the encyclopedia bit though is there's a traveling door-to-door salesman where they're selling up encyclopedias, which is thing that used to happen before—
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: —any of us were born.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: And I wanted them so bad.
Brandon: And he only had enough cash to buy one book, and he was showing the example of the V book, so he bought the V book. And he wanted to sound smarter at his friends so we started talking about—
Amanda: Great.
Brandon: —V things.
Amanda: Nice.
Brandon: And they kept changing the subject to things that didn't start with V, it is comedically funny.
Amanda: He drew it back.
Julia: That's a Troy's book of barrels but the—
Amanda: Exactly right.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Dang.
Amanda: Exactly right. Well, there you go.
Julia: There you go.
Amanda: Endorsed. I like it. Good job kelp. Here's a question from Absaaw13, as one of the rootin-tootinest lawyers who listen to JTP, Julia's is it a secret or is it hearsay? Those are two different things to Orello in episode 13. Crack me the F up.
Amanda: It wasn't a question but I wanted to include it because—
Julia: Thank you.
Eric: —they made multiple references from Episode 13 in this particular statement.
Julia: Excellent, I—I love that.
Eric: My—my favorite thing also I include these every once in a while because it's like here's the thing, we forget what we say immediately.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: You think that it's because it takes a while from the episode to come out from when we record it. No, we forget about it on our after we do it. It's like good and then—
Julia: That's true.
Eric: —and we empty the recycle bins in our brain.
Brandon: That's called heard, but not say. That's called not heard say that's something in there you know.
Amanda: Good.
Brandon: You know.
Amanda: We're percolating, we're figuring it out.
Eric: We're working on it, it's good.
Amanda: We're working on it. Another not question but comment from Julie_tte_, this isn't a question but Bulls Eye Games one had me lol multiple times. Love JTP <3.
Julia: Yay!
Amanda: Thank you.
Eric: We're pre— we were—we were pretty funny in this episode.
Amanda: We are very funny in this episode.
Julia: I, solidly funny on this one, truly.
Amanda: Alright folks, we of course set off at the end of episode 13 toward the Bullseye Games and ran into a shipwreck which reveal has Troy's BFF Threelips on it.
Julia: Woah!
Amanda: So let's get into Episode 14.
Eric: Can I just say I was like sitting on my hands that entire episode I'm like.
Julia: I can tell.
Eric: Oh yeah, let's spend more time with— talking about Lucky Edy. Great.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Well, what a jerk. Oh my god.
Brandon: Who's fault is that for including a very cool mechanic that we wanted to explore, Eric?
Amanda: Interesting rainbow carrot NPC.
Julia: Yeah. Damn you for including that mechanic, you fuck.
Eric: Yes my fault, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: God. God. Dominique wants to know something that I also want to know, which is why did you give us such a heart attack with Nonny disappearing?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Hey Ju—hey, Julia, do you have anything to say to me?
Julia: I hate you. Fuck you.
Eric: Fair.
Julia: But also I had a feeling that something like that was going to happen when you were stressing like, yeah, you have to go like pretty deep if you want to get some— some cool stuff. And I was like, well, I have a familiar who can see in the dark and also breathe underwater. And I'm just staring at you being like, don't fucking—don't you fucking do anything. Don't fucking do it.
Amanda: But it made real emotional stakes.
Eric: I mean, how many times have you put Nonnny into a possibly dangerous situation, then you're like, nah, it's fine.
Julia: Only once before this I feel like at this point.
Amanda: In the book depository?
Julia: Yes.
Eric: I'm thinking about that—
Julia: With the word sharks.
Eric: —I thought there were some other ones before.
Julia: For the most part, she sticks with me, baby.
Eric: That's true. But you were—I mean, I thought it was interesting because it's like you forget you can resurrect your partner like that.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: And I was like—
Julia: Find familiar is good that way.
Eric: And I'm like, yeah, Julia, sorry, get F.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Get absolutely F.
Amanda: No one was more upset than Troy who really risked life and limb to—to bring Nonny back.
Brandon: I get it. We don't know like, yeah, you can resurrect your familiar but we don't know like, because Nonny can't talk.
Amanda: Is she the same Nonny? Yeah.
Brandon: Is the experienced traumatic? Is it painful?
Eric: Right.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Is it—yeah?
Eric: And you forget all of that when it actually happens like a big claw grabs your little octopus, and then—
Amanda: You feel it.
Eric: —and then dot dot dot.
Julia: Yeah. I just want to shout out to Brandon for keeping in a line that I really liked from that episode, which is hold on, I need a second to roleplay correctly.
Amanda: You're going through it?
Julia: Yeah, sometimes that's like a real— a real feeling. There's one other scene like that that's coming up at a future episode where I was like, I need a fucking minute to roleplay correctly, because I'm so overwhelmed by the thing that just happened.
Amanda: Eric's delighted.
Julia: Mmm.
Eric: Oops.
Julia: Oops.
Amanda: Don't lie, don't lie.
Eric: Oops.
Amanda: No oops here. MalignantSloth wants to know something that I was also curious about. Was there a chance for the crew not to notice the shipwreck? Or would one of them noticed eventually? Would that have meant Threelips wouldn't have made it to the games at all if we never picked him up?
Julia: Yeah, like if we had just booked it straight to the island and not like stopped to check the wreck, would that have doomed Threelips?
Eric: Hmm.
Brandon: I'm sure he would have made it somehow, like just narratively. He needed to be at the games, you know.
Julia: I mean, he didn't need to be in the games. How would he have gotten to the island, it was half a day's sail.
Brandon: Maybe he like jumped on a dolphin you know?
Julia: Oh, hold on. Verda Stello that please.
Brandon: Maybe he just like jumped on a bell sprout?
Eric: Yeah, he jumped on bell sprout.
Julia: That's what I meant.
Amanda: Yeah, good, good, good.
Eric: I can't say what would happen next. I feel like I would have figured that out. However, yes, you 100% could have missed Threelips, that's why I made you all a roll for it. And just to see—and you could have also not stopped at the shipwreck.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: As well. There were a lot of opportunities to—to skip that but—
Brandon: I mean, that's like saying having a dog not want to eat cheese, you know? Like that's—
Julia: Yeah, the dog could have just not eaten the cheese.
Brandon: —you know the classic thing? That's what people say.
Eric: That's true. The dog will eat the cheese regardless of whether or not it's good for the dog.
Brandon: Exactly. Yeah.
Eric: Good point.
Julia: It's called the cheese tax.
Eric: Yeah. Brandon also has the cheese tax. You don't see it, but I—I have to send him cheese.
Brandon: That’s also very much true.
Julia: That is also a 100%.
Amanda: Every time Eric eats cheese, he mails a little bit to Brandon’s house.
Julia: I don't—I don't pay my taxes, cheese tax or not. So.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: I have an—an accountant who consolidates all my cheese tax. And then I just send it all--
Julia: You mean an actuary, Eric, please.
Eric: Stupid, so stupid. But yeah, I can't say what would happen. I think that Threelips would have made it. But he would have had a bad time, someone else would have picked him up. I know, we don't know anything about NPCs getting involved with other NPCs to detriment. I'm—I'm not looking at anyone, in particular, looking at the sea like, so we would assume—we would just would have seen what would happen.
Amanda: That's really interesting. If we didn't stop at the shipwreck and got to Small Key Island early. I know you were talking about kind of like, you can do stuff if you get there earlier. You cannot if you don't get there early. What were some of the things we could have done if we'd gotten there sooner than we did?
Eric: Oh, maybe you could have just like messed around in town, maybe met more of the competitor NPCs. before? It was— I mean, it was more like, hey, do whatever you want, and then I'll figure out what you want to do.
Julia: I could have done my Hoover Dam trip earlier.
Eric: You could have went to Hoover Dam, for sure.
Amanda: True.
Eric: I— you know, it's hard for me to say like this is what would have happened if you done this. Because the situation is totally different. I would have done like—
Amanda: Yeah, that's not how we roll.
Eric: —you would have—what you would have done. So I can—I can only who can say myself in this particular situation.
Brandon: I can guarantee we would have gotten some good street food, though.
Eric: Yeah, you could have gotten street food.
Julia: Eric, I think this is a great time to ask because at the end of episode 14 is when we get introduced to all of the competitors. And where—where did these come from? Where—where in your brain did you pull these genius–genius creatures? And I want to know—
Eric: Thank you.
Julia: —everything about them.
Eric: Thank you.
Amanda: And their weapons, please.
Eric: Yes. You know, I knew that there was going to be seven competitors. We had two of them already, right? Troy and Threelips.
Julia: Big fans of Troy, meh on Threelips.
Eric: Well, I want to ask as we do this, I want to ask all of you how you felt about them, right when you came upon them? Or and when we like introduce them in the bi—in the wipe at the end of 14 and then the time that you spent with them in episode 15.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Listen, we have been— we have brought up the separatist movement in the Crags, where they speak French. Too many times for me not to include someone like this. I think that whole thing was also like, why are they there? Because there are some people who are there because they got invited in because their actual sharpshooters and there are other people who are there for like political reasons or not political reasons, like with Threelips being there because each of the countries get an invitation to the Bullseye Games via the Olivepiad. So it was just—
Amanda: That’s still an all-time pun.
Eric: Thank you, thank you. I appreciate it. So it was just like kind of figuring out why they're there. What are they trying to do? And then what's their whole vibe. With Framboise Bousier, I was coming up with French names and I had to include this and I thought it would just be a fun, like, a fun thing for Troy. And then of course flushing that whole thing out about La Multitude de Mains, which is actually a name for a forest in Fre— and it's like a phrase for a forest that folks use and I thought I wanted to include that as the like everyone in the Crags lives in a bad place for good reason. And then like the big forest with the megafauna in it, and the mega flora, I thought was the reason why the separatists live, while they lived in the forest. And I thought a blunderbuss would be fun for dung beetle to carry.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. Troy was fascinated by fellow Crags person. So that's the— that's the person that I think he was most excited to talk to, as we all know, didn’t go great.
Brandon: Did you roll on your table or did you come up with these on the fly, or do you come up with them beforehand? Three options.
Eric: This —yeah, I definitely came up with them beforehand. Some people had said I hadn't used enough bugs so I was really making sure I use bugs in this and balancing everything out. But now that I had everyone in front of me, I could be like okay, Troy's a bug, Threelips is a flower, let's make sure to flat make—at least some sort of balance. Especially like when there were other people I super wanted to do like the Cactus for Kids Cervantes.
Amanda: Let's get to that stiff elbow demand.
Eric: I love him. I just love him. That's my most one PC out of all of them. There's like a real— there's an incredible swordfighter who just moves around on like a raft with a single sail on it. And he's—and he's incredible. So that was a Kid Cervantes escaped from that. And of course, Brandon, I wanted to make the Star Wars-sy ass name possible for Kid Cervantes, and I'm just like this, yeah, let's just do that.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: And of course, I had the water gun the whole time.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Because I was really—I was really interested—
Amanda: Of course.
Eric: I was really interested in cushion.
Brandon: As soon as you described him, I was like, oh, that's—that's my favorite of all time. That's that.
Eric: Yeah. It's pretty. It's a—it's a Kid Fisto reference, which is the best name ever created.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Who is that?
Eric: Kid Fisto is—
Brandon: Oh, Kit Fisto.
Eric: Oh, thank you, Kit. I always thought it was Kid because I only hear Chris Gethard say it really fast.
Brandon: Oh, no, I didn't know either, I just Googled it.
Eric: Yeah. Kit Fisto is like a mid-level NPC in the Star Wars universe.
Amanda: Got it.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And he has the best name of all time, so that was a sort of reference there.
Amanda: True.
Julia: He's like a Jedi Master during the Clone Wars.
Amanda: Love it.
Eric: Same.
Julia: He's got cool tentacle hair.
Eric: He's— He's so cool. What a good name, what a good dude.
Amanda: Bitches love tentacles Julia, you know that.
Julia: Bitches love tentacles. I'm gonna send Amanda a photos so she can see how cool Kit Fisto is.
Amanda: Thank you.
Eric: Yeah, what did you think of—what did you think of Kid Cervantes showing up on his fan boat and not saying anything.
Julia: So cool. I love a silent character, especially in a podcast, like the vibe is there. You know what I mean? And like, I just I liked his whole, like, I don't know where he's from, that has this kind of like American Southwest vibe. And now I want to know, I'm like, is this part of Hothouse? Is this like a— like—
Amanda: Very into it.
Julia: —very deserty part of Overstalk like—
Amanda: What is—
Brandon: Rolling out on a boat with no name, you know?
Julia: Mmm.
Eric: Truly. I thought it was important to have some people who are straight-up pirates as well. I was trying to balance like countries versus pirates or like Kid Cervantes was pirate, well-known pirate sharpshooter. And then Radbert as just— just a—
Julia: That's Radbert.
Eric: —absolute Radbert, just like dandelions filled up armor. I just thought that was fun, and I wanted him to be like a jobber, a guy who's just like out there being a pirate who cares where he’s from?
Brandon: He's on pirate Fiver
Julia: Love a jobber.
Amanda: Exactly, Piver. And I think this is—
Brandon: That’s a different app Amanda, that's where you get pie.
Amanda: Oh, sorry, so sorry. Yeah.
Eric: Task-Ribbet.
Amanda: Good.
Julia: You know frogs, famously bugs.
Eric: Famously one of those guys in our world.
Amanda: I think that the reveal of Radbert's voice has got to be my favorite in any episode of Join the Party at all time.
Julia: Wow
Eric: Wow, really?
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: This voice just charms the hell out of me and Radbert, us not knowing that Radbert was there and Radbert would just be like hi guys, was incredible.
Julia: Did I say this in the episode but it has real Brainy from Hey Arnold energy.
Eric: Oh, no.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: That's cool.
Brandon: Yeah, I agree completely Amanda, I like it—you know, he has skeevy vibes, but like, his introduction and his voice and the way he's like, played just makes me want to be his best friend forever in real life and in the game.
Amanda: I know. I just want to protect him. It's so good, I love him.
Eric: Sometimes, there was something about this, like, hey, no spoilers, but Radbert's not good at this. Like he's not that great. Like, why is he—why is he in the games? Why is—is he just like hanging out, he's just doing his best.
Amanda: Yeah, he was immediately like, okay, you can take the prize, that's fine.
Julia: And he get an invite.
Brandon: I mean, he gave us great information already, you know about—
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: —like that is going to— someone's gonna try to steal the thing probably to get rid of it.
Amanda: Oh, yes.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: That was helpful.
Brandon: And we don't know, Eric, that he's not good at it. We've only seen one event, you know?
Julia: That's true.
Eric: In my head—in my head he's not as good as everyone else, right? Like in my head he's just like, hey, I'm gonna do my best. [grumbles]
Amanda: He gives distinct mediocre vibes and TBD, we don't know.
Brandon: I mean, Threelips is in the game, so.
Eric: Yeah. In my head, Radbert is just like at a work conference, you know?
Amanda: And he has like three special polos that he packs.
Eric: Right. Yeah, exactly. Hey, Julia, how did you feel about Continuous Thankful?
Julia: In the same vein as me, we didn't talk about this yet, me choosing and then shooting myself in the foot by choosing Havana Tropicana to be a religious doctor.
Amanda: Oh, we're going to talk about it.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Oh my god.
Julia: That's how I felt about Continuous Thankful, and—
Amanda: You we're like, uh-oh.
Julia: Yeah. You know like, in choosing Openfields for Cammie's background, I knew that I was gonna have like some character trauma around religious figures. But I didn't think it was gonna be this like devastating to me as a person while playing it. And that's on me like these are all my own choices and this is what continues to happen in all of the campaigns that I play. So that's on me, you know.
Eric: Julia's like oops, I dropped my house key, I hope so no one robs me.
Julia: Yeah, basically that's the vibe. I'm like victim blaming myself here.
Amanda: Oh, no. Well, Julia, let's— let's cul de sac here real quick because MalignantSloth wants to know, do you yet regret picking the religious path for Havana?
Julia: A 100%.
Amanda: I think I can answer this for Julia, she regretted it immediately.
Julia: Yeah. I did it and then he started talking about the path and I was like, oh, no, what did I do.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Brandon: How did you not foresee this when you were choosing between the— I think we had two choices. We were like religious and the--
Amanda: And necromancy I think.
Eric: There are four—there are four choices which again, I am surprised that Julia chose religious.
Brandon: Sorry. We came down to two choices. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: Oh, right, right.
Amanda: Between those, yes.
Eric: Yes. I mean for the—I'm still surprised you chose religious out of the four because it was like one was like crunchy nature. One was regular doctor, one was like, weird black hat doctor, and then religious doctor. And I'm like, oh, she's gonna choose one of the other three.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I feel like you'd got to put cleric on the board. That's what happens in Civilization Six. There is a religious paths you could take.
Julia: I almost did crunchy.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: And like, to some extent, I do kind of regret it. But I think from a storytelling perspective, it's very good.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: And that's part of the reason why I ended up picking that because I like kind of having emotional turmoil in character arcs and stuff like that. But I think I also thought that maybe Havana would be religious in the way that Cammie currently is religious, rather than going full like youth pastor really, really into it. So I think that is, again on me an assumption that I made and I've regretted in terms of like, Cammie is suffering because of it, but I don't regret it in terms of like, interesting storytelling. But every time Havana talks about the path, you guys can't see my face, but the people on this call can see my face and I'm just like, hngggg.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Just a full grimace.
Amanda: MalignantSloth describe that as Cammie is crying, but Julia is thriving. And I—I think, I think Julia is like cringing, but exhilarated.
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: It's so funny.
Amanda: Like the ascent of a roller coaster is.
Julia: Yes. Exactly.
Brandon: There was a thought. I don't remember what we said, but there was a reason we gave the religious one as an option.
Julia: It was because we know that one of the quote-unquote “big bads” of this campaign is Audrey, The Rotten Queen, who deals in like necrotic magic. So having a cleric—
Brandon: Yes.
Julia: —who's potentially like more celestial magic would be a good counter point.
Brandon: That's what what it was. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Incredibly hilarious.
Eric: And all he—and he's just really fucking annoying.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Alright Eric, take us through these other NPCs please. These other competitors.
Eric: Yeah. I also love the conversation that we had about what a Paladin of the path looks like.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Someone suggested—- someone who sent a message that was like, oh, this is real, like, tent revival energy
Julia: It does, it really does.
Amanda: It does.
Eric: And I like that, it's like someone is like the Paladin shows up in your town, sets up a tent. And then while wearing a three piece suit, goes and takes care of the monster. And then it's like, alright, well in exchange all of your coming to services.
Julia: Yeah. I think I kind of mentioned that in the episode where I said this does have kind of like big tent revival energy, but yeah, 100% agree.
Brandon: Yeah, we talked about, that was the initial thing. And then Eric was like, this is more like we landed on an FBI agent coming into your town.
Julia: Mmm,mmm.
Amanda: Yeah, like relentlessly helpful.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: And therefore you really can't turn away. Like it's a little bit like, what if a medicine show actually cured all your syphilis? And then you're like, oh, I mean, yeah, I guess I gotta do this now.
Eric: I feel like there's a lot of spooky stuff. I'm trying to think this is kind of like Twin Peaks, where it's like, people really like the CIA agent who's in town.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: But of course, they still work for the CIA.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It's like X Files.
Eric: But they—they do stuff like this in Gravity Falls and they did stuff like this in the first half of the Avengers Zone Amnesty, where it's like, the FBI agent is there but they're they come into town, they're an NPC. And then it's like, you got to deal with them. Can I continue to do shenanigans if an FBI agent is in town? And I feel like that's kind of how it feels like when I— when a Paladin rolls into town like that.
Brandon: Where did you get the name Continuous from?
Eric: Oh, Continuous Thankful straight up from that list.
Amanda: Oh, the Quaker list?
Eric: The Quaker list.
Julia: The Quaker list.
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: Yeah, I found—someone compiled like a bunch of a list of Quaker names and threw it on Twitter and—
Amanda: The scholar, yeah. She was like, why is nobody using all of these names all the time, these are incredible.
Eric: Yeah. And that was—I think Continuous Thankful was either—Continuous was the first name of the person and I think Thankful also might have been from like a different list of Puritans or of Amish people that I had originally from the beginning of the campaign that they sent to Julia so yeah, it's Continous Thankful part of the whole like virtue as name that I wanted to include.
Brandon: Continuous was such a weird name for—even for like Quakers or Puritans. I don't understand.
Julia: I will say Eric, I think Continuous might have been from your own creation, because I'm seeing several constants on this list.
Eric: Oh, sure.
Julia: And I think you took it a step further with Continuous, which is great.
Eric: I think I mashed-- I must— much like girl talk, I mashed up two—two names—
Amanda: I love it.
Eric: To create something wild.
Julia: I love that.
Brandon: That's what we always say about you when we describe you as a DM, it's like girl talk.
Eric: It’s just like Girl Talk
Julia: Famously so.
Eric: I'm more of a Super Mash Bros DM. Sorry, everyone who went to NYU in 2010 really loved that reference.
Brandon: I know. Only Gen Z-ers out there. Girl talk was a—was a DJ.
Eric: Remember ma—mash ups. Mash up—
Amanda: Mash up, Mash up.
Eric: —where a really, where a really big thing. And then of course, I had to do something. I had the future builder prospect there the entire time. I knew that was happening.
Amanda: So cool.
Eric: Y'all didn't really investigated in the Book Depository stuff, but I knew that I wanted something like that. And then of course, someone who is deeply self serious has to be a part of it for the builder games, and Archimedes is just—he's just out here, being a big moth, trying his best, having no self awareness and having a giant laser rifle.
Julia: Lessons hard.
Amanda: Yeah. I think there is perhaps no funnier trait in an NPC than self seriousness. Like it's just— it is— interacting with them in any form makes like incredible comedy, and I am enjoying it so much.
Eric: I'm so glad that he got got and he got to DNP for—for the first rally.
Julia: Trully incredible.
Amanda: I know. Well, we have a lot to talk about, about the mechanics of the precision round. But first, folks, let me run back into the kitchen and refill our little party platter right here.
Brandon: Thank you.
Amanda: I got you a munchie mix.
Brandon: Ohhh.
Eric: Sorry, my mom said we're out of munchie mix, so we just have a bunch of carrots. Is that okay?
Amanda: Ohh, is that good?
Brandon: No, that's trash.
Julia: Yeah, that’s fine.
Brandon: Trash.
Amanda: You guys don’t want the puffed quinoa chips?
Julia: No, I want them.
Brandon: No, the puffed quinoa chips are great. I don't want fucking carrots.
Julia: I want carrots. Ignore Brandon, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
[theme]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. I am back from vacation. And listen, I'm sure I've said it before, but there is truly nothing like a first shower after being away from home in your own shower. I have all my products. My body knows the distance between all of the you know, knobs and the curtain and they're not going to be scared by how cold or hot the water is right away. You know what, it takes longer to warm up in other places, but hey, it's mine and I know exactly how to use it. So welcome to the mid-roll. And welcome first and foremost to our newest patrons. There have been so many of you over the last couple of weeks. Thank you so much for joining Dominique, Cassandra K, Cath, Barbie, AJ and Moon Cat Charlie. What a—a fabulously good looking and charismatic bunch you are. Only in part, partly just because you are. But partly because you have chosen to carve out some money in your budget to help make this independent podcast possible. We can only make the show because of the contributions you make to us on Patreon. We take so much time to make this show and we love it, and we love you all. And we know that not all of you are in a place where you can support us financially. But for anyone who can spare $5 a month or more, we extra superduper appreciate you. You can join the Patreon for things like party planning, Julia and Brandon did publish a real banger last week. Our patron only Discord which has been my favorite place on the internet for years, and all kinds of extras like bonus scenes we released, like we were talking about here on the episode, the other two rounds of the precision themes for all of our patrons at any level. So join us today at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. And hey, if you can't afford to support us financially right now, absolutely no shame, we totally get it. Share the show with a friend that is just as useful to us. Send them to jointhepartypod.com/start where they can listen to any of our campaigns. This week at Multitude there is so much going on, and I gotta be honest with you guys, one of my very favorite podcasts not just at Multitude but of all time is Pale Blue Pod. This is an astronomy podcast for people who are overwhelmed by the universe but want to be its friend. Every Monday astrophysicist Dr. Moiya McTier and comedian Corrine Caputo demystify space, one topic at a time. Recently, they talked about the 52 constellations of the southern sky and handed out some absolutely wacky awards. And make sure you stick around to the end of the episode to figure out which is the horniest constellation in the southern sky. Again, new episodes every Monday, so listen to Pale Blue Pod in your podcast app now. We are sponsored this week by Volante Design, which are the creators of gorgeous clothing and cosplay items. You've seriously got to just go to their website at volantedesign.us to believe how beautiful they are. Like me saying you can buy a Starfleet Leather Jacket is not going to really communicate to you how beautiful the Starfleet leather jackets are. Can you tell I want a Starfleet leather jacket. Holy shit, they're so pretty. So anyway, they're a fantastic small business, all about clothing, pop culture and making people feel badass. They have wonderful cosplay items like Lord of the Rings gowns or a ninja collection that will legitimately make you feel like a rogue in real life. But also things that you could totally wear, like not in a fandom setting or even to work, like this beautiful kind of asymmetrical red vest in a Victorian Gothic style. Oh my god, they're so beautiful. And best of all, they're offering listeners of Join the Party $30 off your purchase at volantedesign.us with code Join the Party at checkout. So that's V O L A N T Edesign.us. But don't worry they ship all over the world and the code is Join the Party. If you have any issues with the code or getting it shipped to where you are just email their support, they are super quick and super friendly. Again, it's volantedesign.us the code is Join the Party and the offer is $30 off your purchase. We are also sponsored by Cornbread Hemp. and I know I mentioned coming home to my shower and how nice that is after being away. But I also really appreciate that I have my CBD oil and my CBD gummies and the only brand I buy these days is Cornbread Hemp. This is a CBD company based in Kentucky. They are USDA certified organic and in the process of becoming a certified B Corp which is awesome. And their products are flower only TM TM full spectrum. That means no seeds or stems make their way in. And most of the products are also vegan friendly, including the CBD oils and gummies which I know can be a huge pain. If you are vegetarian or vegan and looking for CBD products. They're family owned crowdfunded. They used to live in Greenpoint. They are super super cool guys. They are all grown and made in Kentucky and certified by independent labs with reports published on their website. I really rely on CBD products for muscle pain and also to sleep. So if you want to check them out, go learn something about CBD on their website and buy it now. Go to cornbreadhemp.com and use code Join the Party for 25% off your order. That's cornbreadhemp.com and the code is Join the Party. Finally, the show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sometimes in life, we are faced with some tough choices, and the path forward isn't always clear. Now here's a very small example. Coming home from vacation Eric and I were scheduled on flight, I was supposed to leave at like 8pm. We were going to a wedding the next day, we were supposed to get home like 11 or so and then leave at about 11 the next morning. Now as we're packing for the airport, we get a text that our flight is 10 minutes late, 30 minutes late, 2 hours late, 4 hours late. Oh my god. And finally, our flight ended up leaving Nashville at about 2 in the morning and getting back to New York at 5 am. This was terrible. So in that moment, sitting at home packing, frozen with fear that I'm going to miss this wedding or miss our rental car or miss our plans, I use some of my therapy techniques to take deep breaths to focus on the outcome and what I could control. And you know what, guys, we found a different flight on a different airline that was leaving on time. We got home earlier than we would have otherwise, and went to the wedding and it was super fun. And I am really grateful that even in those small moments, maybe especially in those small moments where there's a dilemma or a stressful situation, I have tools that I'm learning in therapy that can make sure that I know how to deal with it and deal with those stresses when they do come up. And if you're looking to get into therapy, but you're kind of not sure how to start maybe you can't access therapy safely or affordably where you are, Better Help is a super convenient way to do it. It's flexible and totally suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. I did this several times when I was using BetterHelp and it was really useful to know that if I didn't vibe with a particular therapist, I could switch and find somebody new at no additional charge. So let therapy be your map with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/jointheparty today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterHELP.com/jointheparty. And now back to the after party.
Amanda: Alright folks, I'm back. The only carrots were frozen for the dogs. So instead I did bring you watermelon lemonade ice cubes with blueberries in them which Eric and I have been snacking on.
Brandon: That's very good. I like that.
Julia: Yum.
Brandon: I like that.
Amanda: Delicious.
Eric: We have bought two watermelons that we have fully went through all of them because we blended in juiced a lot of it.
Julia: Nice. Solid. Good choice.
Amanda: Alright, pals, we have got to talk about perhaps the best mini game in my memory in Join the Party since the maps in Campaign One.
Brandon: Wow.
Amanda: For me.
Julia: Wow.
Amanda: Let's talk about the precision round.
Brandon: Fuck yeah. So I wanted to ask Eric like what was your approach, like what— how—what was your thought process? How'd you get to using like real games as a tool in your fantasy game? Was this— was there was there like an inspiration like you had for Mice and Mansions and Murders or whatever the fuck it was called or—
Julia: Of Mice and Murder.
Eric: He can't even remember the thing I said, 20 minutes ago, incredible.
Brandon: I know the thing you're talking about, I just don't know what it's called.
Julia: He just doesn't care.
Eric: He just put--he put the word mansions in the middle. It was—it was yeah, they mashed up a— there were mice in the haunted mansion, there in actual Disney World and you play mice trying to get in.
Brandon: Honestly that sounds tight.
Julia: It's kinda cool.
Amanda: That's the most Brandon game of all time.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: That's Brandon's goat party in—
Amanda: Yes, yes.
Eric: —Mice and Mansion—Mice and Mansions and Murder.
Brandon: Ohhh.
Julia: Write it down, Brandon.
Amanda: Write it down. Brandon, Brandon, write it down.
Eric: Write it down, write it down.
Amanda: Brandon, write it down.
Eric: Yeah. So I've been thinking about this a lot, just in terms of how tabletop RPGs are set. The whole thing with tabletop RPGs is you play a game, and then you get a resolution. And then the story continues, right? You take these little stops along the way, much like running around in the tall grass than a Pokemon pops out, right? Then, for many tabletop RPGs, it's just roll a die, right? Or and do— or do a move, and then that will encourage something that will happen. So I've been thinking about this since the ship battles mechanics that I made where the mechanics are rock, paper, scissors, right? So I'm like, okay, let's do something that has everyone involved. And let's kind of figure out how we're going to resolve. It's like, we're gonna play a game, and then we're gonna see how well everyone does. And then the scores are done, right? That's ultimately what it is. And then I want to do something fun that have everyone involved. So I did this, and then of course, I had two other games that I prepared, which we didn't end up going to because we had so much fun in the locker room, which is fine by me.
Amanda: But it's been released for patrons. So if you're not a patron, and you want to hear us do two more different kinds of mini-games for the precision rounds, you got to join.
Julia: Got to do it.
Eric: But I— celebrity was my favorite, and I'm really glad that we did it. So yeah, that's what I was thinking like playing a game, seeing how it resolved, and then using that as I mean, especially because like we're doing a game within a game by having a tournament arc inside of a tabletop RPG thing. So I was like I wanted to make it feel a little bit more real before we were gonna move on.
Brandon: That's why it sort of like surprised me because like we already had—this already the game. Like the— the easiest thing to do there as a DM was just be like, alright—
Amanda: Troy, shoot in now.
Brandon: —shoot an arrow and roll, roll attack roll, we'll see how well you do. But it was just brilliant to like zag there. I don't know. I don't know. I just I would never thought— thought to do that, so.
Julia: And plus it gets all of us involved, which I think is a lot more interesting and fun. Like, listen, I will never be mad about Troy Riptide being in the spotlight because I fucking love Troy Riptide.
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: But like getting to help with the competition in a way was—was nice for us as players, I think.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Yeah. Well, yeah, no, I, you know, I just thought it would be more fun. And I think that it ended up being really interesting and play and hearing how it went. I think that Brandon, you're bringing up something that a lot of people run into, because like Dungeons and Dragons is a dice game, right? And then you got to use dice to literalized what's happening? You think about this all the time, this problem that DMs run into all the time when they're first starting is like, oh, I want to do some tavern games. I want to do some carnival games, what do I do? And then it's like, alright, well, we're gonna do poker, but it's dice, right? Or something, or we're gonna play Yahtzee instead. It's like you're I—using dice to literalize a game is not always the best medium. So that's why I did the whole precision justification, right? Is like be precise with your language, we're going to use this as the literalization. Especially for something like the precision round, it's just about points. Or, like in a Mario Party game, it's like how well did you do out of 100%?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Which is also how they came up with the scores for everyone else. I was like, alright, I assume that by skill, everyone else's percentage is going to be this, this, this. So that's how Troy came in tied for third, right?
Julia: Pretty good Troy, pretty good.
Eric: All of this is a game, right? But we're just using a different game that isn't the D20, the D10, the D12, the D6 to make it happen.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: It's good shit, man. Good shit.
Eric: You all— you all took it seriously and I'm very happy with that.
Julia: Oh my God. Yes.
Amanda: Oh my god, of course.
Julia: I was stress.
Amanda: Eric I— playing it and then listening to the edit and then listening to the final episode and my heart rate like doubled. It was I— I have never felt so much pressure. It was amazing.
Brandon: I also just love playing celebrity. I think it's always a fun game, so.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It is.
Amanda: And it—it gives us some control too. It's not just like roll the die, I hope it works. Like because especially in a structure competition, it's not like I could approach initiative and say, okay, like, what are the ways that I could be a creative thinker, you know? And like, use my skills to the best possible outcome. It's like, okay, hit the target. You know, yes, Troy is built for that, but you know, how interesting or climactic can that possibly be? So that's fully what I expected to happen and you fully surpassed my expectations. It was so fun and led to a moment that I think everybody enjoyed. Brandon, thank you for your heavy finger on the bleep button there.
Brandon: Oh, don't give me credit for that. That was an Amanda idea that I put it into practice.
Amanda: Perfectly executed.
Julia: I also just want to shout out Brandon because he by far had the most difficult category of the— of all of us and like—
Amanda: That was— that was tough.
Julia: —I appreciated it. It was a tough one.
Brandon: It was fun.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: We did it. Grace Robisheaux also gave Brandon some kudos by saying. how amazing is it when Brandon thought to learn some support skills before the Bullseye Games
Julia: Brandon, that's so nice of you. Look at that.
Amanda: So good.
Brandon: I play good game. I played D&D good.
Julia: He played D&D Good.
Amanda: MalignantSloth wants to know Eric, how sad did I look when Framboise said no to playing three card manny with Troy. In my recollection, like somebody kicked me out. I’m like what?!
Eric: Here's he— hey, let's take a second and zoom in on this moment with Troy Riptide, right?
Brandon: Too close, too close, too close.
Amanda: Always baby. No, no, no. Get better, get better the closer you get.
Julia: Zoom back.
Eric: Man, we're really seeing what his eyes look like, it's weird. Troy Riptide proud Cragish Greenfolk walks up to rebellious separatists saying, wow Crags are great. Love the-- me, love the Crags.
Julia: Big fan of the Crags.
Amanda: No, actually, it's not that big about them anymore of do I play games?
Eric: And then she is like, what the fuck are you doing? It sound like she doesn't automatically know what your whole deal is when you walked in going Crags, Crags, Crags.
Amanda: Yeah. No, he didn't hide it at all. Should he have, probably.
Eric: Probably.
Amanda: Did he? No.
Eric: Yeah, especially because like the Crags also sent a representative to set Threelips. So it's like she has two people in this locker room. Two out of seven and one is herself who was from the country that she is currently trying to secede from. I don't think that she likes it.
Amanda: No.
Eric: And that was so much fun to play with this—this French accent.
Amanda: Yeah, it was it. Yeah, it was so, so well done. Sloth also asked Eric, I want to know how that timing worked out with Archimedes dropping at exactly the perfect comedic moment. Is it just the time he would touch his ring for luck?
Julia: Did you just give Brandon a gift? Was that what happened?
Amanda: I know Brandon, those shenanis worked out so well.
Julia: Good shenanis.
Brandon: Well, we— yeah, we— I mean, we talked about in the episode like specifically choosing the item that would be at the opportune moment, but then Eric just use his great comedic timing to be like, and now.
Eric: The thing that I was thinking is that Archimedes. So Archimedes failed the roll, right? I had that, I rolled that I knew it in my head. Archimedes as a person would try so hard, so hard to fight off falling asleep/passing out in a public space.
Julia: Just got a power through it.
Eric: Just he—Archimedes was just trying to power through it. And I didn't know when I was going to do it. But I knew I was going to make it happen at some point. And I thought the whole thing with Troy was just so funny, I had to do it at that moment. It's like I kept it in my pocket. I also wanted Brandon to like feel a little—especially because it was ambiguous and Archimedes is imposing as a just a character. I wanted to keep it in my pocket. It's like did I do it? Did it work? Because I—I rolled it and I didn't say anything. So I— more just wanted to keep that in my pocket.
Julia: So it was a little gift to Brandon, that's what I'm hearing.
Brandon: I knew what's gonna happen. I knew I was just waiting for. I was— I was like licking my chops waiting for the good Eric joke. And I was like, oh, give me those giggles, Eric. Give me those giggles.
Julia: He was waiting for his cheese tax.
Eric: You were looking, you rolled, you were also like, hey, what—how's Archimedes doing as he's walking out? And he like, looked grim, he— just like straight face. Not trying to move, it's like you're trying to hold in a barf. It's like if I don't move my face, I'll be fine.
Amanda: That’s work really, hon.
Eric: Yeah. So that's why— that's what I was trying to do. And it was just— it was just a fun thing to do.
Amanda: Now, folks, some questions about the game, our characters, Verds Stello as a whole. So this—this was just a what do you say? A little less to sort of inspiration from SneakySloth, are some Greenfolk nocturnal, such as flowers that only bloom at night or funky nighttime bugs? And Jaya chimed in to say, what a firefly Greenfolk wear pants with the butt flap or no pants at all? I think a skirt and they flip it up.
Julia: I was gonna say I think there's just a like when you see characters that have tails in fiction—
Amanda: A little cutout.
Julia: —there's a hole in the butt. Yeah.
Brandon: I think no pants.
Eric: I also think no pants. I like skirt though, skirt was good.
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: Or like maybe, you know how they have those apron dresses that like are supposed to tie like around a dress but sometimes you don't wear anything underneath so your butts hanging out just a little bit, that.
Brandon: What are you talking about?
Julia: You never seen an apron dress? Come on, Brandon.
Brandon: I'm looking it up right now.
Julia: Yeah, thank you.
Eric: This could also be like a 19th-century dress, where it has like the cage.
Amanda: Oh, like the bustle and stuff. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. With a full bustle. So it's like you have the bustle then like, but it's protecting the firefly butt.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: The point is, yes, I think some Greenfolk are nocturnal, just like people.
Julia: The point is yes.
Eric: Just like people, where some dad are nocturnal.
Amanda: There you go. There you go.
Julia: All I'm hearing now in my head is like love shack, but what was the phrase funky little bugs? Funky little bugs. [sings]
Brandon: That's very good.
Eric: I have a D&D campaign in the fall with plants.
Amanda: You do. That's true. Maureen also wants to know, I'm sure this is a very rude and personal question to ask of a butterfly, but did Troy and maintain consciousness during his chrysalis “goo” phase? What do butterfly folks' parents put their chrysalis is when they're in there? Tell me it's a closet and they all have parties when they come out. Question for the group. What—what do we think?
Julia: Well, do we need to establish that in Verta Stello, Caterpillar stay caterpillars, and butterflies are born butterflies, like there's no chrysalis goo phase it's like—
Brandon: No, you said both? I—I'm pretty sure you said both are true. There are caterpillars that say about caterpillars are butterflies to stay butterflies and there are some that do transformation, right?
Julia: Interesting.
Eric: That sounds like some—that sounds like the thing I said and I agree.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Because also I want it— because like I also don't want like you can just go up to a butterfly Greenfolk and being like, so how was your chrysalis?
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: And you can't go up to a caterpillar be like, hmm, so when you change in gym?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It's a real trends allegory.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: We're always doing one over here.
Julia: Always.
Eric: I think that's um, yeah, I think that they maintain consciousness. I really like Maureen, like having a social and like familial tradition surrounding this.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: This is also very similar. I talked to Dr. Moiya McTier about what does it say about the Pokemon world that trainers are 10? And what is—is that like the— the age of adulthood in the Pokemon world? So I kind of like this as it's related to this sort of thing. Like this is your— this is your bug mitzvah. See you later nerds. Woo!
Julia: Eric got up from the place that they're sitting. He's leaving, He's leaving now. Goodbye, Eric.
Amanda: Incredible.
Brandon: Alright—
Julia: Incredible.
Brandon: —here's is a section where we talk about how good Eric is things.
Julia: Don't tell them.
Brandon: Shhh.
Amanda: Don't tell him. Guys he doesn't listen to his own voice. He won’t listen to this afterwards.
Julia: He won't listen to this episode.
Eric: Nooo.
Julia: We can compliment them all we want before he puts his headphones back on.
Amanda: Too late. Okay, timeout, timeout, timeout.
Eric: You're all talking about how great bugs mitzvah was?
Brandon: It is good.
Amanda: You’ll never know.
Brandon: I like it.
Julia: Pretty good, pretty good.
Eric: So no, Maureen, I love that a lot. That's great.
Brandon: I don't think that Troy should maintain consciousness though, that would be bad.
Julia: That's up to Troy, baby.
Brandon: Like that would sounds like it'd be really painful and weird, like rearranging your atoms, you know?
Eric: I guess but it's also like, for Pokemon, it's like well, whatever the middle stage, you know, like when you— when you become a Cucuna.
Amanda: I think it's not weird. And that Troy is like, yeah.
Julia: What if you were a weird Cucuna?
Amanda: I got gooed. Like, you just get all blended up and you wait your chrysalis and you chill, got a big nap, think about things. And then you come out and everyone's like, oh, that's your pattern. Nice.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. But yeah, the big nap is important, Amanda, you know?
Amanda: Yeah, but like, not all the time. Like, you know how when bears hibernate there and actually sleeping, they just kind of like slow their whole process down.
Brandon: That's true, that's true. Yeah.
Amanda: And they're just like, you know, hard chillin? I think that's what its like.
Eric: Hard chillin.
Julia: Hard
Eric: Hard.
Amanda: Exactly, right.
Eric: Yeah, I think it makes sense. I also like I don't want it to speak for bugs. But that would be a bad evolutionary—
Julia: Why not?
Eric: —you have that evolutionary process.
Amanda: They're not gonna like hear and talk back to you.
Eric: Well, like if they hurt. I don't want to talk badly about Mother evolution, Mother Nature—
Amanda: True, yeah.
Eric: —but like—
Julia: Fair.
Eric: —I feel like bugs would be unhappy if like, oh, this is gonna hurt. And you're lucky it feels like you're in acid for—for a long time and then you come back together as goo— after goo like—
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Oh, I hate to tell you this Eric, but I'm pretty sure it hurts.
Eric: I don't know. I don't know.
Julia: Like growing pains for humans.
Brandon: They literally rip apart their atoms.
Eric: But like, do we know it hurts?
Julia: Do we know that they have pain receptors?
Eric: Is that's what I'm trying is yes, that's what I'm saying.
Brandon: It's a good point, I don't know about that.
Amanda: I do not consent to knowing the real answer about whether actual butterflies hurt in their chrysalis, so nobody tell me.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: Nobody tell me.
Julia: This reminds me of when Brandon told us that fucked up fact about butterflies. And now I don't want to think about it anymore.
Amanda: Yeah, no, me neither. All we have is Troy Riptide perfect himbo. Alright, DavidTheChemE, so which I think stands for engineer, you'll see why. Says I love all the world-building in this campaign. As an engineer, I was so drawn to Hothouse, understandably, with three players it was going to be left out, but will we ever get some Hothouse focus?
Julia: Who can say?
Amanda: Well, you have a future builder right here.
Julia: Yeah. That could be a little taste for you.
Amanda: We'll see. We'll see. The question surgeon, Michellespurgeon wants to know, how does everybody know about the crew's involvement with the explosion at the Book Depository?
Julia: Great question.
Amanda: Michelle, would you believe this never occurred to me.
Brandon: Gossip runs fast in the pirate world.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I mean like, do you think people would know you if you like, stole Donald Duck from Disney World and then blew it up?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Like, like, would people know your name, if like Epcot Center fell apart and then you took Donald Duck?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, they would.
Julia: Did we take Bookie? Did I miss that part?
Amanda: Julia, we haven't checked that cabin in years. Nobody knows what's in there.
Julia: He might be in the haunted cabin. We don't know.
Amanda: He might be in the haunted cabin.
Brandon: I'm sure Tessie like also probably like started talking shit but like definitely like spreading the information around.
Amanda: I mean are our faces on wanted posters—
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: In Book Depository Island. I bet.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Potentially.
Amanda: You know, she came after us, she just gave us a fair gentleman's headstart.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, I thought it was important that you all got a little bit of renown. I was teasing it because like Edy knew, even if you didn't admit it. The Bullseye Games folks knew it. So it's definitely something that you're—you're a little well known for, because it's— I mean, a lot of people go through the Book Depository, both pirates and civilians, so I thought— I thought it would been cool.
Julia: And also pirates are gossipy bitches, so.
Eric: Yes, they are.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: True.
Eric: Established.
Julia: Established. Canon.
Brandon: I like to imagine it's like, if it's July 4, so everyone, all the employees are gone for the building, but someone blew up the NSA, and it's like, yeah, the government's gonna go after you and like, put you on the shortlist. But like everyone else is going to know your name and be like—
Julia: Cool with it.
Brandon: —you—you stopped the surveillance program? That's pretty tight.
Julia: It's pretty tough, actually.
Eric: And then you take Donald from the NSA.
Brandon: And you take Donald from the NSA, who's just a guy named Donald.
Julia: We steal the American Eagle. That's NSA’s mascot.
Amanda: Brandon, that was—that was Campaign Two. That was your dad, Hank.
Julia: Oh, yeah. But their ego worked for the company.
Amanda: Yes. Alright, folks, anything more about the plot of these episodes or our characters before we get into some podcasting and IRL questions?
Julia: Hey, Eric, you're just good at your job. Just want to say that like right off the bat. Good job.
Eric: Thanks, dawg.
Julia: Good jorb,
Eric: I am— I am. I'm really trying to do some—some stuff. I mean, I think that— I think about this a lot that a podcast called Not Another D&D podcast began in 2018, right? And it feels like that we've—
Amanda: It's so old.
Eric: —all been doing the same stuff in actual play in D&D, right? Like, oh, now the bow now it's being filmed and it's— it's an anthology like Dimension 20 does it and now critical role as a kajillion dollars, right? And now people are doing it live and stuff. But like the form, the stuff that we do is just like, yeah, let's make some jokes and do improv for an hour and a half, and then bing, bang, boom, we're done. And maybe we'll play a different game. But I think that like the stuff we're doing, like, if we're comparing this to TV and movies, right, this is cinematography, almost the gameplay, and cinematography and sound design are what we have. So let's do something different. Let's— let's do some Dutch angles, right?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: And that's what I'm— that's what we're trying to get out here a little bit, is like, I want to do stuff that we haven't seen before. Both, so all three of you have a good time, like, well, we had with the messages. That means keeping stuff secret and the stuff with the celebrity, but also so the audience can see that we—you can do different stuff and this form that's been around. Got kind of got like, old really fast, right?
Amanda: I totally agree.
Eric: I also, I hope you're all having fun.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I’m having a blast.
Amanda: Having extreme fun, which is why our first question—
Eric: Julia— Julia says, looking down at her shoes.
Julia: Yeah, I'm having fun.
Eric: Despite—despite my own best efforts, you really haven't—I'm having a good time at camp this summer.
Amanda: Well, James wants to know, what is it like having the best DM in podcasting, and perhaps the best players in TTRPG podcasting?
Julia: Wow, I just complimented Eric and now we're back to back complimenting him. Fine, I see how it is.
Amanda: It's just—fuck.
Julia: I didn't know that that question was coming. So I was just like--
Amanda: I know. That's why I added it. For me, it's just— it gives me freedom to focus on having a buck-wild interesting, distinctive character who sometimes, you know, hopefully, distinctive and interesting, but like, who doesn't always do what's best for the plot, because it makes me feel like I can just make whatever choices Troy would actually make. And I know that the mechanics is going to work itself out. And I've spoke about this before, but like in Campaign One, and even into the beginning of Campaign Two I was worried about making the wrong choice for the group and for the party and for the plot. And now I know that the wrong choice is not making a choice and the you know, doing what my character would do, Eric knows that and can do whatever he wants with it. And I know that Julia and Brandon will have my back I know that we'll be able to workshop things and that will ultimately like do what's interesting for the show, and like discover new things in the world. So that is what it is like playing with the best DM and the best players in podcasting.
Julia: Damn.
Brandon: I was gonna say lucrative.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Rich. Yes, I am podcast rich and I own three houses.
Brandon: That was a yoke.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Don't worry, Umbi would—
Julia: We don't own three houses.
Eric: We own four—
Amanda: But between four of us, we own one house.
Eric: That's true.
Julia: That's true.
Amanda: I know.
Julia: Congratulations, everyone.
Brandon: Oh, that's so depressing.
Amanda: Living the dream.
Eric: Yeah. Also, that's the same response Umbi would— would say.
Brandon: Shut up, Eric.
Amanda: Alright, alright. Here we go. Joycepoice wants to know if you are fruit, what fruit would you be? Quick.
Amanda: Pomegranate.
Julia: Apple. Brandon, go ahead.
Eric: I'm going last, I'm waiting for Brandon.
Brandon: I mean grapes immediately came to mind, but I hate that.
Julia: Nope, your grapes now, too bad.
Brandon: But I hate grapes.
Julia: First thought, best thought.
Brandon: Okay.
Amanda: Eric?
Eric: I also was gonna say apple, but I think strawberry.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Just like a little strawberry.
Amanda: Yeah a little hot.
Eric: Going hihihihi.
Amanda: That's really good. A question for all the Julia's out there. Aisydayz wants to know, do you have a favorite shanty or shanty band? And then they add, I love all the references in the episode descriptions. And I gotta say, folks, if you're not reading the episode descriptions, you've been missing Eric doing oh, good. 13-14 sea shanty riffs in a row as the episode descriptions. They're incredible.
Julia: My favorite is obviously the theme song for Campaign Three, but the one that I sing in my head probably most often is Spanish Ladies, so.
Amanda: Good shit. Brandon, do you have any, I know you listen to a lot.
Brandon: No, I don't actually.
Julia: Or you had to listen to a lot to do the theme song.
Brandon: Oh, yeah, yeah. I did listen to a lot for research. The one I really liked on Julia's playlist, though, when I was doing research was called Haul Away Joe. I don't know the group in particular, but I liked that tune a lot.
Julia: I believe that one on my playlist is Pierce Campbell.
Amanda: Right on.
Eric: I just really like, you know, seeing claps stumps and then like a banjo or mandolin, or one of those types of instruments thrown in. I just think that's kind of like the driving stuff as you can see from us making Brandon's put in the Ho! into the—into the campaign.
Brandon: I said that stuff.
Eric: But yeah, that's a hot shot. I mean, the Wellerman is really good. Like, I know that it's the most like Instagramming, it's the most well known for because a valid blow up on Tiktok. But like, the form makes the most sense to me. It's like, I'm going to sing a little bit and people say some stuff. I'm going to sing some other stuff and people sing some stuff. And then everyone comes in together on the chorus. And then another person sings the verse and then the column response. So I think it's the best laid out, which is why I think people respond to it so much. There was one particular one that I also if you go back to the party planning, where Brandon and I talked about how we made Campaign Three.
Eric: Another reason to become a patron of Join the Party at patreon.com/jointhepartypod.
Brandon: What?!
Eric: Where we talked about what we were going through to make the sea shanty in the first place, there was another one that had really good structure similarly to that stuff. And that's also related to a lot of like, folk songs and religious songs that I've sung at camp where it's like, I'm going to do some stuff right now and you're gonna sing some stuff, and then everyone comes together and does a chorus and then another person does a chorus.
Brandon: Yeah, call and response.
Eric: Yeah. That particular thing of like, not just like, have a breaking up like that. Like you do one line and the column response—
Julia: It's a work song.
Eric: —happens in the verse. Yes.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: The column response happens in the verse, and then everyone sings the chorus together, and then a different person can pick up the next verse, instead of it just being one person leading.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Good stuff. Westie-impostor asks, what are the phrases that we use to get into character? I can see Troy's being bruh, Cammie's being well that is wonderful. And Umbi's being what? Mine is just Troy Riptide.
Julia: No, mine is something like oh, that's so nice. Like stuff like that.
Brandon: Yeah, I mean, definitely now that I've logged into it I just say what, but originally it was, they want you to take the roles, which is a line from Boy Meets World. So that's where I got that voice from.
Julia: Incredible.
Eric: Julia, you've really come to Avast Ye, that's been a really good one.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Avast Ye!
Amanda: It's incre—every time you say it, I clap like someone said the name of the movie.
Eric: It’s just Kramer. Kramer shows up.
Amanda: Exactly.
Julia: Hey man, that’s how things just happened.
Amanda: And here fittingly, is our final question from Plate, Actually A Druid?, which they termed as an after-party question for whenever. you'll see why it's fitting. Does the time between recording an episode and when it actually airs, decrease your excitement for it at all? I work as a graphic designer for packaging, and I can be working close to a year out from when the product will hit the shelf.
Eric: Oh, like Don Draper knows.
Amanda: Exactly. I'll be super excited for it in the moment, but by the time it launches, I'll have almost forgotten about it. Do you experience any of that? Or because you're creating for a specific audience that lets you know their reactions, is it not that much of an issue for you? I was thinking specifically of how long ago the season intro song was created versus when it aired when I thought at this question.
Julia: I think, for me it doesn't decrease the excitement for the episodes and in fact increases the excitement for the episodes because I forgot what's happened. And so I can re-relisten to stuff and be like, oh my god, I can't believe I said that knowing what happened, you know, five episodes later because that's what we just recorded.
Amanda: I'll often remember like an item or a line or a question I wanted to follow up on like, I take notes and I you know, remind myself of things. But hearing it in the moment I'm like, oh, interesting, that didn't strike me at the time. But now again, with the context or, you know, thinking back on stuff, so that really excites me. And also just remembering like, you know, those, those packets that you put in your gloves or your ski boots to keep your— your pitsies and hands warm.
Eric: Oh yeah.
Amanda: It's like that remembering the devastation that you guys are going to feel when you hear some of the shit that happens five episodes from now. Like it, it just carry that around with me—
Brandon: Keeps you warm on those cold winter nights.
Amanda: —it just keeps me warm on the cold days and cold on the warm days, baby. Like it's— it's delicious.
Julia: Nice.
Brandon: That's really funny. I mean for me, like, because I work on them, I—at some point, it becomes sort of mechanical, like you sort of like detach from the actual, like, story emotional part of it when you're trying to like make it. So it's— it's my like connection to it comes when we play it first. And then yeah, when I hear y'all as an audience react to it. So thank you for doing that.
Eric: Brandon, how is it for you knowing that you listen to the podcast, at least probably at least three times, and you still get surprised by things that I say.
Brandon: I mean, it's good.
Eric: It's goo—it's a good experience, it's good.
Julia: Fun time, fun time, bruh.
Amanda: What do you think, Eric? Because you're also planning for things going to do five episodes from now?
Eric: Yeah, I mean, I think that I am excited to for you all to hear what we're going to say. So I'm similarly to Brandon, it's like, I am very engaged when we're playing. And then it's like, oh, they're gonna hear this thing. But then we're so far ahead it's like, oh, but I want you to get there, right? Is like every time I want you all to catch up to where we're at. So we definitely want your responses. We want to hear what you're excited about. So that we can know–-I suppose, like, I mean, when we play, I have an ear to like what people are going to enjoy and hear like, the audience is always in the room. But it's kind of funny, knowing that, like you're gonna hear it weeks later, even though— even if I'm cheating out towards you, that won't pay off until you hear the episode weeks later. So it's like we do need your response to like, finish the loop.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Almost.
Brandon: And Eric that's why, that's why I still get surprised is because when I'm working on it, I'm not thinking about the story. I'm thinking about the continuity of the sentence, you know. So I'm not like—
Eric: That's what I was asking you.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah. So it's not that my memory is that bad, it's just that it's normal bad.
Amanda: That's fair. That's fair.
Eric: Right. Nothing's funnier than when people are doing a re-listen like when Julia and Amanda do a listen-through before the episode comes out. And then one of them were like, oh, you— you seeded that! And I'm like, yes it is.
Julia: I literally did that today, where I was like, you son of a bitch, you mentioned it in this episode. Fuck you.
Eric: It's a hard balance. Because it's like, I want to tease things for the three of you. But also we play a week separated too.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: So it's like, everyone's having this issue of holding things, remembering things, writing things down. And then it's like, Is this too hard for my players? Is this—but is it going to be super obvious on re-listen when the audience gets to it. Like sometimes I put in clues that I don't know you're going to pick up, or you do or you don't, and then I just see what happens, you know?
Amanda: That's very tough to guess. And I don't know how you do it, but it seems like you strike a perfect balance. Because people notice things that I didn't put together. But also I noticed enough to like, make the conclusion, you know?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Right.
Amanda: Like, I feel like I catch you know, 75% of it, which feels just about right.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, I'm thinking about like, Esca Island, right is like, well, did you know that in Esca's little light bubbly thing on a—
Julia: No.
Amanda: No, no.
Eric: —Angler fish like no, but at the same time, I think the three of you also super didn't trust what Hondo was doing but like, what are you going to do, not continue—
Amanda: Not go. Yeah.
Eric: —not go. And that's the only thing that the characters have right now. And we got to finish the thing. So you're gonna be suspicious but then also mandatorily you got to participate in the current, not even like do what I say, but participate in the situation that's in front of you.
Amanda: Not— not often though. You don't often put us on a thing where it feels like we have kind of one choice ahead of us but that was— listen, all of us were excited to get treasure, we did get some Amber, we also did almost get murdered so—
Julia: It's true.
Amanda: Yo ho ho, a pirate’s life for me.
Eric: Yeah, it happens.
Amanda: Alright folks, let's end here with some spoil the plank.
Julia: Weee! Avast Ye!
Eric: Avast Ye!
Amanda: First from Moss, what happened in that conversation TM between Amanda and Eric about Threelips?
Julia: Hmm. I don't know there's a screenshot apparently though.
Brandon: Do we? I— cause you definitely took a screenshot of it. Or you said you did at least. I think the whole thing we've seen that screenshot.
Julia: No.
Eric: No.
Amanda: No. Players can now hear it, but people cannot yet.
Eric: Yeah, it was something that I didn't feel like we had to reveal. So that's why we didn't put it in unlike the other— unlike the other thing.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: A future After Party, we're happy to go into it. Michellespurgeon the question surgeon, do you guys think the keys are necessary to unlock whatever? What if you can't win them or steal them?
Brandon: I don't like your attitude, Michelle.
Julia: Then we failed the main task, baby-like, yeah I don't know.
Amanda: I know. I can't— I can't think of it. I haven't thought of it. I just gotta plow ahead.
Brandon: I don't know that we're gonna win or not, that—that's up in the air, but we're definitely gonna get the key
Julia: Yeah, doesn't matter, we're pirates. We'll get what we want.
Amanda: By hook or by crook, you know.
Eric: We'll see.
Amanda: And then finally, Eric, what the heck other kind of minigames are we going to play in the Bullseye Games?
Eric: I don't want to spoil anything obviously because it's exciting but—
Amanda: Spoil the plank.
Eric: —the—
Amanda: Spoileee! Spoilee! I’ve have two coffees today. Wooo!
Eric: There’s a lot happening. This one is probably the most abstracted from what the actual game is the precision thing of you playing celebrity for precisions. The other ones are going to have you involved because you— the whole thing about the team, the team performance, Troy's gonna do some stuff with— with the other characters and then we'll—we'll get there. We'll see what the— we'll see what the duels are like.
Amanda: Arghhhh! So exciting. And one last spoil the plank from the question surgeon herself. Julia, was that the witch talking to you? Do you want to address who was talking to Cammie when you resuscitated Nonny?
Julia: I mean I— It's—it's in the transcript that I'm literally editing right now and Eric and I talked about whether or not to include it and like yeah, it's Baba Rutabaga.
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: Yay.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: That root veg. That, love it.
Julia: Root veg.
Eric: Yeah. I don't think it's a secret. I—it was more like, hey remember 10 episodes go?
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Like it definitely— I wasn't trying to hide it. It was just like a voice you hadn't heard for 10 episodes coming out of nowhere.
Brandon: That's the voice we heard once that was like 10 episodes ago, so.
Amanda: A while ago, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, right.
Brandon: But if you listen back they do they are— they are good in the thing. a
Eric: We're the same.
Amanda: Hell yeah, dude.
Eric: Yeah. I'm sure that will come up later.
Julia: Yeah, I'm sure that's not feeding anything particularly interesting or stressful.
Eric: No, no, no, no, no.
Julia: No,no, no, no.
Eric: Shout out to Magehand Mike and Magehand Press for the witch class. I hope you all enjoy that. It's good. Get some, get some.
Amanda: Alright, folks with that, you know there's some hot shit coming up the pike coming over the horizon perhaps—
Eric: Wow.
Amanda: In this campaign for you. Thank you as always for giving us your questions, your thoughts, your reactions, your fan art that has been off the chain recently. We have the best community in podcasting. And we are so grateful for you.
Brandon: Aye, I like that.
Eric: Wow.
Amanda: Hell yeah dude. Well until next time everybody.
Brandon: Umm. Uh. Uh.
Amanda: Just say goodbye, that's all you do.
Julia: Just say the—
Brandon: Right out of Frito chips scoops, I'm gonna go get some. Byee.
Julia: Later.
Eric: My mom won't let me come outside so I have to stay inside.
Amanda: Well, you know there's one game you could play inside.
Eric: Oh, what is that?
Amanda: With just a 20-sided die and your imagination.
Eric: Is it like Celo?
Amanda: Celebrity.
Eric: Oh, celebrity. It’s celebrity.
Amanda: May your roles trend ever upward.
[theme]
Eric: Oh, you know what I'm going to close the door behind this because it also looks like the Babadook is going to come out.
Brandon: Nooo!
Julia: I don't want the Babadook to come out. I would not like that.
Amanda: I would love it.
Brandon: Neither of your names really work with Babadook that well.
Amanda: Yeah, Eric got some floral-like basketball short pattern shorts and they are, are very nice.
Brandon: Very nice.
Julia: Brandon, you're a liar because the Amandadook works perfectly for that.
Brandon: Well, that's was— that was the best one, but I was trying to do like Amanda-Banda-Babadook or something like something fun, you know?
Julia: Okay, sure.
Amanda: Sure. Well, there are some bloopers for you Julia.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: A Bibbidi Bobbidi Dook.
Amanda: Nice. That's good.
Brandon: It’s a good thing that Eric’s named Bibbidi Bobbidi.
Eric: That’s what Brandon said.
Amanda: Yeah, I made our wedding hashtag really hard. But you know, we—we got through it.
[theme]
Amanda: Um, I think I have one more question before we get into gaming character. Where was it?
Julia: Please.
Amanda: Where did I put that one? I'm a little further than I normally am from my computer.
Julia: All good. Tell your eyes to get good.
Amanda: Honey, it's good. I would love to join.
Julia: That's what your glasses are there for.
Amanda: Yeah right.