What’s the deal with Aunt Min and the Sight? Why does Dez only eat once a day? And how do the players feel about meeting each other’s families? All those answers and more in the Afterparty!
Housekeeping
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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 (Val Vesuvio), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host (Aggie O’Hare), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- 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
Eric: Surprise, happy birthday
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: Here's another surprise.
Amanda: It was Julia's birthday last week aka today when we were recording it!
[Everyone laughing]
Eric: Surprise!
Amanda: Hurray!
Brandon: I got you a virtual cake. You can't eat it, I'm sorry.
Julia: That's okay. That's fine. I'm not a huge cake fan, actually.
Brandon: I got you a virtual ice cream cake.
Julia: Oh, virtual ice cream cake is the way to go. I will take virtual ice cream cake.
Eric: I got you virtual pie from that one place in Long Island that has good pie.
Julia: The one that I ordered my wedding pies from yes, thank you.
Amanda: Do you and Jake call each other wedding pie? Because that's very good.
Julia: Oh, that's very cute. Now I gotta do that.
Brandon: That is very cute
Amanda: You're welcome. What I did get you, Julia, is lots of questions from our audience about Val and various things about the show.
[Everyone cheers]
Eric: Are we starting the podcast?
Amanda: Oh, it's there. We're in it.
Eric: Oh no! I didn't put my podcast voice on.
Brandon: Amanda I know what to do when you don't say " hey, hi, hello, it's the afterparty" it's after party though.
Amanda: Oh damn. I forgot that was my job, right?
Brandon:Yeah.
Amanda: Hey. Hi. Hello. And welcome to the afterparty.
Eric: Ohhh I know what we’re doing.
Julia: There it is.
Amanda: Do do de do! We have so many questions from our audience, lots of them from Instagram, which I think is really fun and we'll definitely be doing going forward. Mia would like to know "I can't read spreadsheets laughing emoji. Please explain the new audio you're going to be dropping in October. Eyes emoji."
Julia: Hmm.
Julia: That's fair, Amanda is the only one who can read spreadsheets.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: It's one of the languages on her character sheet.
Amanda: It is.
Eric:It was a real like when you're hearing people talking to a different language and like I think I understand the tone of this, but and then you just take screenshots and I threw it up there. But yeah, we are releasing six pieces of audio within about thirty days. Three of those are going to be the usual episodes, and then you just got one. One was Join The Team, then there's going to be join the team part two, which is Patreon exclusive so you should be a part of our patreon.
Amanda: Ooo, exclusie!
Eric: And then there's this like I keep trying to read the one that's on the week of Halloween, but I look at it is just skeleton bones rattling and I can't really recall.
Amanda: Yeah. I figure out how to embed gifs in Google sheets so you're really welcome for that.
Eric: It's just from Nightmare Before Christmas. Just Oogie Boogie.
Amanda: Okay, fair enough for now. We did the Patreon exclusie because we're really grateful for our Patrons and we wanted to just give them a fun little treat and we wanted to share it with everybody as well. That way you can enjoy part of it and realize that Clear Eyes, Full Hearts is a great game and also hopefully join our Patreon because like we said, you know, it's been a wild year to be a podcaster. And I am sure that will continue, and being able to rely on direct support from our audience is the reason, Multitude's a thing. So we are grateful for it. We wanted to give you an extra bonus. Thank you. And to anybody who sees fit to join, we really appreciate it.
Brandon:I joined I don't know if y'all did.
Amanda: Brandon's dad is one of our oldest patrons and I just like longest serving patrons, and I think that's fantastic.
Brandon: Yeah he genuinely loves the show, he talks to me about it often!
Amanda: That is very cute.
Eric: Oh, I like that.
Amanda: And then what could be happening on the week of Halloween? I can't really say.
Eric: I know, I don't know. I actually I looked at it again and it says "Werewolf Bar mitzvah" so I-Julia: Spooky, scary. Yeah, scary.
Eric: But that's all I can I can figure out.
Amanda: Alright, well let's get from a future speculation into past speculation and everybody. I would just like to throw out a sort of general discussion topic. How are we all feeling about our characters back stories? I feel like these last couple of eps have been a really great way to get to know our characters better, do a little more worldbuilding, sort of like establish the stakes of the world. And I, for one, am really enjoying it. How about you?
Julia: Me too.
Brandon: I want to hear more about Val, yeah!
Julia: Yeah, I'm glad we get to like really get into Val's weird, weird family because Val does have a weird family with a lot of different offshoots and intrigue I feel like.
Eric: Mhmm.
Amanda: Yeah. I feel like during the recording I have to try to not really react verbally because Eric and I are in the same room and I would ruin his audio, but I was like SCREAMING,
Eric: Please react verbally- I've said it multiple times I want people to react verbally!
Amanda: Okay, well, I was screaming inside and we met Aunt Min it was so cool!! What a set up. Oh my God. It was so spooky. I loved it.
Julia: I was genuinely, I think one of the most tense roleplaying experiences I've had in Dungeons and Dragons as a whole, and I've been playing for like four years, I think at this point. So good job, Eric.
Eric: Thank you! I appreciate that. I like in- I can really get emotions out of you. I don't know. I've probably told this story so many times, but I made Julia cry like the second time I DM'd for her and I was like, nice, nice, nice, nice.
Julia: It was sad.
Brandon: Eric, who are the gurus? I want to know who the gurus are.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: So yeah, Aunt Min is this kind of person who like only shows up in your life when they're like in your city, but it's traveling all over the place, all of the time, so it doesn't really matter who the gurus are Aunt Min is just like all around doing stuff in various places. Here's a fun fact about this that I took a photo of when Val was talking to Dom Five and he was being really, like, antsy. I'm like, I need to figure out when Aunt Min would come in. It's easy going to be after this conversation. Is before, is Val going to have an opportunity to talk to Dom and shake him down? Which we now know he was setting up to have a conversation with Aunt Min? I rolled for it. I got a Nat 20. So Aunt Min came in at the most dramatic time possible that's what that was.
Julia: Which is also really funny because you did the same thing with Emily for Emily and Aggie's meeting, and Emily also rolled a nat 20 on that one.
Amanda: Oh yeah!
Eric: Yeah, yeah. The NPC's Aunt Min and Emily have a lot in common. They know exactly what they want and they both express it in very strong ways.
[Brandon laughing]
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: That's one word for it.
Eric: Yeah, right. Emily leans in in the Sheryl Sandberg sort of way and Aunt Min is grew up in a crime family. So here we are.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I think it's worth pointing out, I guess, the complexities of Val's family just really quickly. So remember, Val's mom and dad were married and then they separated. Val's mom is the one who is in Lake Town originally and was there during the whole Dr. Morrow thing. And Val's dad was a [pronounced incorrectly] capo in the New York City Italian mafia. So like pretty high up.
Brandon: Is that what you call it? Capo?
Julia: It's an underboss. It's a [pronounced correctly] capo. Yeah, it's an underboss, basically.
Brandon: Capo's a guitar thing. Yes. Thank you.
Eric: Yeah. He he holds everything to a D chord.
Amanda: He presses strings real good.
Eric: Yeah, he holds the strings in more ways than one. So now Aunt Min is back and although she has it's only Julia and I have talked about a lot, is like Val's dad has a lot of connections in New York City. But now we do know that there are relationships between Lake Town City and New York City because of the light rail that connects the two. We're now seeing that there is organized crime. There has always been in Lake Town because of the docks and everything that has happened in Little Italy because of it. So like like, what is Aunt Min doing there? Who is Salomony? I think those are the questions. Like it's what is Val's relationship to their family. And their capital F Family.
Julia: Mm, yeah.
Brandon: And how did Aunt Min get that big, big scar? Is the other question that I have.
Julia: A great question. Who's to say?
Brandon: A tiger? Probably.
Eric: Yeah, probably a tiger but it was like a liger. "Oh, darling, this scar, I got it. We're fighting the ligers of Burma!"
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: This is a very nice reference, but there are like Aunt Min gives me a very like Manhattan psychotherapist who lives on the Upper West Side vibe. Where it's like an older woman with, you know, like a lot of kind of artifacts from different countries. But it's kind of creepy and like a little bit possessive the way she talks about them. I just it's a it's so specific in my mind. I'm like lots of statement glasses and scarves. And it's it's like slightly like I don't know if that was a racist comment, but it kind of felt like it?
Eric: Yeah, I think that is a thing like she just travels the world doing the things. Like she she reminds me of all those people who go to Thailand and is like, "oh wow, I went to the temples, but then I went snorkeling afterwards!"
Julia: Well, it's really funny because, Eric, when you introduced the character for the first time after the session I messaged you, I'm like, "have you watched Sopranos?" And you're like, "No, not at all." Because this character reminds me so much of Tony Soprano's sister, Janice, and I was like, I love this dynamic, though, as part of the family and as part of like Val's family, because in my mind, Val is not the black sheep of the family, Aunt Min kind of is. Yeah. And so to kind of have them both feel like outsiders in different perspectives when it comes to the family is really, really interesting for me to explore as a player.
Eric: Absolutely. I think Val's kind of like a free agent. You just have no affiliation with anybody, but you have ties to two distinct mafias, which I find very interesting.
Brandon: I hope they have some affiliation with our team at this point.
Amanda: That's true.
Julia: We’ll see.
Eric: Oh, Dr. Morrow's in the Yakuza. But I haven't gotten to explore it yet.
Julia: Makes sense.
Amanda: I feel like that's a real, like child of separated parents privilege where everyone is like, is so eager to, like, respect your choices that when you don't make a choice, you're kind of allowed to get away with it longer than you were if you had a together, parents who are like, "hey, you must show your affiliation, come home for Christmas." And then like, "no, mom, I'm going to go to Nashville!"
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: Hey, Eric, I have a question for you.
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: Was Dominic scared, or horny or both?
Eric: Yeah. Let's let's ask these. There are a bunch of questions. There is relationship here.
Julia: Go ahead.
Amanda: Okay, so diceobsession on insta. I would like to know "were Dom 5," which is written D O M and the number five. I love it. "And Aunt Min on a date. Or was it mob stuff because that knife work hot damn. Hot."
[Eric and Brandon laughing]
Eric: Oh I playing someone who is flustered by the two other people in the room is incredibly fun. So no it was, it was I can think, I can just say it was not a date but that doesn't mean the sexual tension wasn't there. That I played with myself.
Brandon: They're not related right?
Eric: No!
Julia: Dom and Min? No.
Eric: No, that was that was just kind of tying up. But there was another question about this. This is tying back to the briefcase from episode one and episode two about the powered cannon right in the in the bag. So it was really it was related to that.
Amanda: Yeah. That's Mimi in Discord who asked "how long you been holding on to the briefcase, returning as a plot point."
Eric: Yeah. Episode two!
Amanda: Oh and good follow up. DameOHaha on Insta wants to know what, a: what is Aunt Min's deal and the B: divination question mark?
Brandon: Yeah, same.
Eric: I think this is I mean, I'm throwing this Julia. Julia, you're the one who said that one of your aunts had the sight and I'm like, yes, yes, they do.
Julia: I did say that I don't know how much Val believes that Aunt Min has the site or not, I think Aunt Min 100% believes that she has the sight, and so whether or not that is just she is a very like insightful person is able to read people very well, or if it's like an actual supernatural ability, I think is kind of up in the air, at least for me as a player. But, yeah, I think it could go either way.
Eric: When you mean the sight, do you mean like divination? Because that's how I took it a little bit. But I also knew it was just like a sixth sense, generally.
Brandon: Like intuition.
Julia: Yeah, like I think it's like a sixth sense kind of thing, like sometimes things speak to me that I can't explain and they tell me that I can't reason out why I would know that kind of stuff.
Eric: Got it. So she's a Long Island medium, is what you're saying.
Julia: Yeah, she is. [laughing] She's the Long Island medium. You got me there. Doesn't look like it though.
Eric: I also want to make a point here, because Amanda said made a point of this and I'm like, I'm three steps ahead of you. So she said, "Agatha, do you know an Agatha?" That is not Aggie's real name.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: It's Margaret.
Eric: It's Margaret. But I did roll for this as well. This is no different than if I made it insight or like detect thoughts if we're playing straight up D&D. But like, I did roll on that and I rolled like middling. So I like the idea that from whatever information that she has, she's like "Agatha, do you know an Agatha" and Val's like "No who's Agatha? Christie?”
Julia:Agatha Christie?
Amanda: Right person, wrong name. It's a good middling. Yeah, it's a good middling result. Yeah. Chrissie Mac had some great questions. Is Aunt MIn just kind of like known globally as Aunt Min. Like Ma is known globally as Ma?
Eric: Very similar there. I don't, I didn't realize that I did that, but I made two people who are known from the confederacy of younger people below them that they're now known as like a familial sort of name. She's Aunt Min in the way that like Mafia people are of quote unquote, family, which is similar to the way because Ma was literally the head of a crime syndicate, but in a different way. It just wasn't the Mafia. This is truly Aunt Min to Val, but also Salomone, who was also related to Aunt Min in some way because Salomone is Val's second cousin. So kinda, yes or no, I would say.
Amanda: And secondly, from Chrissie, what is the deal with her fancy lady shawl and lack of warm weather clothes? Is she also powered and somehow impervious to cold, big time envy since I live in the frozen tundra and I'm always cold, unamused emoji.
Julia: My assumption is she's not powered in the way that Milo, Aggie and Val are powered. Because I don't I mean, like I feel like you would have told me if Aunt Min was also like there for the exposure that we all that all of our parents were there for.
Eric: Yeah, I'm with you on that. This is not like- Milo also does it. Because like young white men also love wearing shorts when it's 30 degrees outside.
Julia: That's true.
[Everyone laughing]
Eric: But no shout out to friends at the table that turned me on to this feel like using in a way, because it's a podcast. I really like using fashion as a way to describe who people are and what we know from them. So I was using the Met archive to describe her and there was this- I need to emphasize how massive this pashmina was and it's more like it was a shawl. Imagine she had just gotten out of a town car threw the shawl over herself and then walked in. So she wasn't outside for that long. But this was a very warm shawl. And she was also probably wearing, like I described it was like she was wearing long sleeves underneath. So that might be just like not gotten across what I was describing it. But it's like she was outside for that long in this pashmina is heavy and big.
Brandon: It's kind of like like in Texas, like you just everyone still wears jeans and stuff, but you're only going outside for, like, all of two seconds from the car to the air conditioning, so I'm sure, like I said, it's heated everywhere.
Eric: Yes 100%, 100%. I can also include a link to that in the episode description because I have the links or I can just find it again.
Amanda: The Met archive and any museum archives is such a good tool for GM's, for writers, for artists, for anybody who wants like a an object, you know, to fold into your art in some way. It's so fun.
Julia: Also picturing that Lenny Kravitz, giant scarf.
Eric: Yes! Very similar.
Amanda: YepStillGarbage in Discord wants to know during Val's conversation with Aunt Min, she asked Val about finding their purpose. Val brushed it off confidently, but does Val ever worry about them not having a, quote, full jigsaw puzzle inside them, that just seemed like such an intense thing to bring up in a casual conversation.
Julia: So here's the thing. Aunt Min, I think, and we talked about this both on and off, mic Aunt Min is the kind of person that I feel like a lot of her philosophy is very surface level, so when she says stuff like that, I think Val has learned at this point to kind of brush it off because it's like fortune cookie colloquialisms, basically like Val knows "okay, well, she read that in a book somewhere, or she went to like a mountain retreat for a weekend, and now she's trying to talk to me about my soul being a jigsaw puzzle." And that's nonsense.
[Brandon and Eric laughing]
Julia: So I think I think, Val, just like it's like when you go to a family dinner and your relatives start spouting nonsense, you're like, "alright, alright, Aunt Min, okay, cool. Sounds good. Let's talk about the mountain lobster game! Alright."
Eric: "Who watched the game last night they really destroyed the Canucks." Yeah, yeah. I 100% agree with that. I think it's really fun when you make an NPC to give them intention about what they want to do because you, as the DM know what the interaction is going to be. So you want to give them intention. And Val and Aunt Min believes in people trying to put themselves together and have a purpose. So, of course, you came in with your own intention and that's perfect. And that's how interactions work. And it's really, really good and fun. I think there is a bit of dramatic irony here, which I find. Which is just like any piece of art is like because we're listening, the audience is listening to Aunt Min say that stuff you can have that thought that we just had from the question. Great listening. Thank you. But of course, Val has a different thought because Val lives in the world and has experience with Aunt Min. So I feel like there is that tension there, which is like art. Yeah, yay art! Art is good!
Amanda: Toruno824 on insta wants to know, is that fact about onions real?
Eric: That fact about onions is real. Yes.
Brandon: Well, it's it's really believed, I don't know how actually true it is, you know.
Eric: Oh, thanks. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Thank you. Thanks for coming in on that. Yes, that is a real folklore thing. I was looking up a lot of winter folklore stuff, and that was something that I came up with.
Brandon: In the middle of the episode, what Eric said that I was because it wasn't my scene, I was like fiercely Googling this because it's so interesting in the bloopers, as I sang, the rhyme that goes along with it.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: It's also something that we covered on an episode of Spirits about divination practice.
Eric: Oh, that was the—
Julia: That's where I knew it from!
Eric: The divining things with weird shit episode. I love that episode.
Julia: Yes! My favorite!
Amanda: One of my favorite roundups. Let's move from Val corner to Milo Corner!
Julia: Milo corner!
Amanda: Brandon, talk to me about how the scene went from your perspective. And then I have a couple of questions as well.
Brandon: Yeah, I think it was nice to actually be able to play with Eric's creation of my dad in the scene. It was like a like a really idealized version of what I imagine Eric idealizes of that as it was really nice, you know, like it was a really great dad, great supportive dad.
Eric: 100%. I'm so glad you got that.
Brandon: Yeah, but no, it was good. Yeah. I think it's sort of like I don't think Milo had like planned of anything, but he's he's sort of like a guy that would hedges bets a little bit and sort of not be a 100% sure what he's doing at all times.Like without a plan or not having a plan. He's, you know, he doesn't know exactly what he's doing all the time.
Eric: I think that's interesting tying Val and Milo's intentions together, Val, is being intentionally cagey because that's what you do in a Mafia movie, and Milo doesn't know what he's doing. So he's accidentally being cagey.
Brandon: Yeah, he kind of just defaults to being in the middle.
Eric: The only thing that you're trying to do is like preserve your secret.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: Is what I got from that is like, "no, he's not giving me any intention that he knows anything. So I'm not going to give him good answers because you're not asking good questions."
Brandon: Right.
Eric: But of course, even if your dad wants to be as helpful as possible and yes, I totally was doing an idealized dad nad pod has such good dads. Brian Murphy is from New Jersey and has like a very specific type of dad who's like, "hey, son, I don't understand anything about you, but good job!" That's not what I'm trying to do necessarily. But Hank is like much nerdier, which I think is a dad. I know more. This is also like leading up to that is all of Dr. Morrow and Hank Lane fanfic.
Brandon: Oh good lord.
Eric: So it was very funny that we actually meet him now and he's just this big nerd who might as well just be Agent Coulson and which is our lodestone for so many things.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So I just thought that was really fun.
Brandon: I also, I'm interested as a player in sort of what you sort of teased out with Dr. Morrow being, I think, a part of the agency that created the agency of technology.
Eric: Yes.
Amanda: I was silently like fist pumping, like, oh, what a good plothook! I love it!
Brandon: So the fact that she created the agency and the agency doesn't have any files on her, is very suspect.
Eric: Yes, that was kind of the thing that was like there's nothing there and either there's nothing there or someone cleaned it and that's the the unless you dig, like, that's all you, you know, is like, is it a hole or just nothing was ever there.
Brandon: Right.
Amanda: Joe Minnoche in Discord would like to know if my dad knows about his powers because Milo seemed to act like he didn't.
Brandon: Yeah, I don't think he does. I think like, you know, like all parents, they have some inkling of like, oh, something is off with you, you know. But yeah, I think Milo, when he discovered it, like he especially as an adolescent, you know, he's embarrassed by anything that makes it different. So and it's like not very visual, especially when he didn't have control over it. You know, it's just like it can be invisible and no one can see the cat but him. So, yeah, I think he's sort of like, hit it.
Eric: I had the thought in the first few episodes that no one knew about it and then the only people who figured it out were Aggie and Val because they literally knew what they were looking for.
Julia: I think that brings up an interesting question, I guess, for both you and I, Amanda do Aggie's parents know about all of their kids powers?
Amanda: I think they are not very interested, and I kind of get the feeling that, like, I don't know if Aggie would ever have told her siblings about her power, except for the fact that she, like, watched them and had to heal them so much as kids. And so I think he just came up a lot. And all the siblings, it's sort of like an understood thing that all of us can do, like pretty exceptional stuff, some of which is due to the powers and some of which is just due to like being, you know, very
Brandon: O'hare
Amanda: Attractive and good, yeah, like just seven kids in a family.
Eric:This is the thing that we touched on a little bit when we were doing the world building originally. Well, like Aggie's parents are the quintessential like generation one generation two example, but like, oh, they probably have cool shit going on and they don't, they just take that for granted, and was like, "oh, hey, you can you can do fire. That's pretty neat." And they're just like "they're dealing with it. We dealt with it, but and we and they've had it for their whole lives!" So maybe they do know about it, but just like haven't- don't care enough to look into it and develop it in that way.
Amanda: Yeah, and I you know, there's a big tradition of people like making communes and sort of, you know, doing their own kind of societal experiments in upstate New York, and so I think Aggie's parents are kind of a version of that, where they are like the kids of hardworking Irish immigrants who are who were like very opposite and who wanted like rebel like grew up in the 70s and just want to do their thing, man. And so I think that that is the the reason that they just sort of like had seven kids and then were like, great, the youngest one's 18 bye-bye! And then going like Jetset and probably, you know, are on the same beach as Aunt Min in some, you know, coastal resort somewhere.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: They're on a black sand beach together, learning like really intense yoga.
Amanda: Yeah. And somebody asked if Aggie's family is rich. I don't think they're rich. I think they're just like retired and have pensions, which none of us can really conceive of, and are living cheaply, you know, as they like chill in Southeast Asia or whatever.
Eric: Yes, that was something we've teased out a little bit, but they both worked for Morrow Corp. It's like, imagine if someone worked at IBM for 35 years and then had a full pension and got to retire. And now it's like, look at dan's deals. I can get tickets for so cheap, what is Kayak? And now they just like do that and can stretch their their retirement really, really easily.
Brandon: That's the dream.
Eric: Yeah. If only we started working in 1977.
Julia: Yeah I know.
Amanda: Brandon, why is Lucas so close with Milo's dad? Or Eric was that something you made up on the spot? What's the back story.
[Eric laughing]
Brandon: Yeah I think it's something that Eric just made up on the spot but it makes sense. I mean, like I think my dad Hank is is a good dad. So he took an interest in my friends growing up. And Lucas has been Milo's best friend for a very long time. So I think it just makes sense.
Eric: There is and I find this so funny, like in shows where your friend is more close to your parents than you are.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Eric: I find that so funny, and like, it's not even something we need to deal with at all. It was just like a little cut away that like Lucas and Hank hang out, which I believe I just found really funny, and obviously Lucas is the kind of person because he's so Shasti in so many different ways that he's like, oh, no, parents love me. It's fine.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: And I thought that was really funny.
Brandon: Especially one of those things where, like, when they finally become adults and they're like, "yeah, oh yeah. We could just like go to a Formula One race now, like you're an adult!"
Amanda: Yeah you want a beer?
Eric: Yes, exactly.
Amanda: As the quieter half of a lot of my friend groups and duos growing up, my parents were always like, oh man, Julia, she's so great. Oh, man. I just I love her so much. My third daughter just like Julia over. And I'm like, "I get it, mom. You can hang out with Julia, I guess."
Julia: It's okay, I'd rather hang out with you.
Amanda: Aw thanks hun. That was for Megan Corner, by the way. Love Megan Corner. And second question, "why doesn't Milo get cold? Is this power related to The Onion's/weather"
Julia: Do you have onion powers?
Brandon: Yeah, definitely whenever an onion is still slightly too thick or slightly too thin, I don't get cold.
Eric: You're the druid of onions. You have lots of layers. Your AC gets higher depending on how many layers you have on.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly. No, I mean, I think we dive into a little bit more, but I think good observation.
Amanda: Well all this onion talk is making me hungry, but not for olives because I can't eat them. So I'm going to go into the kitchen and get us some more apps. I'll be right back!
[Transition note]
Amanda: Hey it’s Amanda, is there anything better than your softest pajama shirt? I am an aficionado of loungewear particularly as it’s starting to get colder outside and I just want to shout out the t-shirt I have had since middle school that is softer than any fabric has any right to be and still holds itself together. And just the perfect sleep shirt that I look forward to putting on every night. Shout out to sleepwear. Welcome to the midroll!
Thank you so much to the newest members of our Patreon family: Tina, Amy, Gicla, Mickey, Madeline, and Bra. I see your CE/FH reference, Bra, and I love it. Thank you for joining! We hope you enjoyed the first part of Join the Team. We made in thanks for all of you who set aside $5 or $10 or $20 a month to support independent podcasts like ours. You make it possible for this to be our jobs, and we’re so excited to bring you the second part of that game next month. If you’re able to chip in, we want you to be a part of our community too! Today is a great day to join us for as little as $5 a month at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Enjoy access to our thriving JTP Discord chat forum, bonus content from Campaigns 1 and 2, and so much more, at patreon.com/jointhepartypod
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And now back to the after party.
[Transition note]
Amanda: Alright, back from the kitchen, there's onion dip for all of you, but I will have some vegan sour cream with my crudité instead.
Julia: That sounds really nice.
Brandon: I'll have a water.
Eric: I brought a bloomin onion from home, I'm fine!
Julia: Oh hell yeah!
Brandon: Oh, yes. My sister the other day she got altbach for like takeout or something. And they have a bloomin onion like fried chicken now, like a chicken fried steak. And now I want it real bad.
Julia: I might get that for my birthday meal. Not gonna lie.
Eric: Is this Munch Squad a podcast within a podcast.
Brandon: Yes.
Amanda: What do you think is like the most recent fast food craze in Lake Town City? I feel like a savory milkshake would be an interesting direction.
Brandon: Sorry did you say a seafood milkshake?
[Brandon laughing]
Amanda: Savory my friend. I'm not I'm not that depraved.
Eric: Well, here's the thing. And this is why, speaking of Munch Squad, I feel like brands are really losing their mind because everyone's stuck, so it's like "let's do something fucking weird as a brand!" Which is how we got the Mountain Dew-rita from Red Lobster and such. So I'm trying to take myself out of this quarantine like wild mindset everyone has and trying to think of like what are regular things people used to do in 2017?
Brandon: Eric, you know, that double down was invented, pre-quarantine, right?
Eric: And the double down is so relatively tame. It's like, oh, yeah, two chickens, yeah, that's fine.
Julia: Speaking of savory milkshake. I feel like a black sesame, or tahini-based milkshake would be really good.
Brandon: Oh yeah. I would make that today, that sounds delicious.
Eric: Miso, definitely miso.
Julia: Oh yeah.
Eric: I feel like Asian flavors are now a big thing in Lake Town City because I think it took a little while. I know this is like a big Asian fusion is a 20 in 2010s thing for the rest of the country. But I feel like there's so much French influence, like other cuisines coming in is a little harder. So maybe it's like an Asian fusion thing, like black sesame miso milkshake, 100%.
Brandon: I'm into it.
Julia: Oh that sounds good. Miso peanut butter is actually a really good flavor combo.
Eric: Oh my goooooosh.
Amanda: Pretzels or something.
Brandon: Mountain lobster milkshake.
Eric: Someone's definitely done that. Like every conceivable. It's like it's the shrimp monologue form Forrest Gump, right. It's like I made mountain lobster muffins, mountain lobsters baked shrimp.
Amanda: That said, we have gotten candied salmon before and I feel like there is a root to doing candied, you know, mountain lobster in some kind of sweet application.
Eric: Oh yeah.
Amanda: It's not exactly sweet, but it's not really fishy either. Like it's a it's a cool kind of middle ground.
Eric: Yeah, it's like smoked and salted and then it's candied. So that's definitely I'm surprised that there isn't something with shrimp because that's so palpable.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Speaking of Asian influence, it's also like all those shrimp and fish crackers like the.
Julia: Yes!
Eric: So maybe there's something like that. That's a new thing now there's like one Japanese food store, like there's a Sunrise Mart now in Lake Town City.
Amanda: I was picturing like an M2N and these are all New York City, like Japanese food chains. I'm picturing that like instead of, you know, 7/11 like that is the you know, the place that you run to buy like a little bit of milk and a tempura like appetizer.
Eric: Yeah. Like milkbread and stuff. Yeah. 100%.
Brandon: I dig it.
Julia: I'm hungry now, thank you for that.
Brandon: I know, I want some green tea Kit Kats.
Julia: Mhm.
Eric: Oh yeah baby.
Amanda: Brae in the Discord would like to know what Aggie's favorite flannel is and I'd like to hear from everybody else as well. "Where does she buy them? As a fellow flannel addict, I must know this most important tidbit of information." So Aggie really likes the Land's End men's flannel lined work shirts. So they are denim on the outside, flannel on the inside. And I think she just has various weights, Land's End everything from a lightweight flannel that's all year round, all the way to like a rugged, you know, like flannel shirt as like semi-coat outerwear. So I think she just chooses them and they're arranged in her closet just by weight, you know, from like from lightest to heaviest left to right. It's actually on sale right now with code Rake at Land's End dot com. I have emailed them about sponsorship. They do not get back to me.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: As we've established it was established, also, Aggie is currently wearing Carhartt and they've been wearing Carhartt for fifteen years.
Amanda: Yeah, yes. Do the three of you as people have flannel destinations that you really enjoy?
Eric: I think I'm currently wearing a Land's End flannel.
Amanda: You are, yes. Eric's wearing like the red, blue and white and yellow, kind of like jaunty plaid. It's like mostly dark blue with like a yellow and red highlight. It looks much it looks strange on the website. It looks great in person.
Julia: I feel like Val is the kind of person who wears the like just black and one-color ones, like the classic red and black one and like probably like a yellow and black one and then like a
Eric: Val and yellow and black 100%.
Amanda: That just hit me as very right as well. Yeah. I feel like every time I wear those colors, I wear it, I look like a bumblebee. But I think Val would look like a fucking awesome wasp.
Julia: They would.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: I only wear like super lightweight flannel. Like I think what Eric you're wearing right now.
Eric: This one is relatively heavy.
Brandon: Okay, but like the super just like shirts, you know, and I'm sure Milo has like a flannel that like his dad handed him down from like the 80s. And it's like, you know, like very grunge.
[Julia aww's]
Eric: I have one of those. I have one from my dad. It's like the there's only like four buttons on it. I'm like "what the fuck?"
Amanda: What were you guys doing?!
Eric: Why was there a button shortage in the late 70s.
Brandon: Grunge was all about the lack of buttons, Eric.
Amanda: That you can put on more safety pins. Kira on Instagram wants to know Agee and Val are both in relationships/have love interests. Is Milo the friend that gives relationship advice despite being single, because same.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Guys, your Instagram comments were so good. I love these questions from Insta. I feel like you were like just really snappy. Got it done in just a few sentences. I'm I'm in here for it.
Brandon: I love it, Milo's definitely the the guy in the group that gives relationship advice to his group of friends, but no one listens to it and then they go ask Apple instead.
Julia: Yeah, that makes sense. It checks out.
Eric: This is also a thing that Brandon and I have talked about. But in Scott Pilgrim, Scott has no idea that, like two of his friends are dating. And I'm like, that is the most Milo thing I've ever heard.
Julia: Hundred percent. Yep. I feel like Zach Rose also would give very good relationship advice. I like very quiet ones. Just be like, "just listen."
Brandon: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't think Zach Rose would ever offer advice unless, like, really pressed. You know?
Amanda: I think also Apple might like find you at a party when you really need to talk, you know, and like might not actually listen to you or remember any of it the next day, but just be like, "yeah I had a heart-to-heart with Apple once"
Brandon: It changed your life!
Amanda: Yeah like at 3:00 in the morning at Astros and it really changed my life and everyone like me too!
Eric: Apple has definitely said "that sounds like something I'd say" a lot. I want to ask a question just about Aggie is more about your character development.
Amanda: Yeah.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: So how do you feel about Quinn being in your life? And now we're getting more of an idea of some of your other siblings, like being more whole. Like we've met Ryan, we've met Quinn a lot. So how are you feeling about, like, being responsible of your younger siblings?
Amanda: I do feel like this is kind of a transition point for Aggie or a kind of like two roads situation where much like myself, like you're as the oldest child of a family, you're going to, you know, as an adult, you come to know your siblings, not as you know, your small charges, but instead as people and, you know, get to know them and realize that they're awesome, you know, hopefully, or that they are people who are more complex or have different interests or personality traits than you thought they did. And so I think for Aggie, especially now that she has like stuff going on in her life, it's not like she's just kind of going about her day and everything's pretty similar. And her siblings are the most chaotic thing in her life. Like now there are much more chaotic things in her life. And I think ultimately that's really good. And, you know, for myself and for Aggie, I think she's working on, you know, being less concerned with helping other people avoid hard things or avoid situations where they, you know, could mess up and more on like getting to know people and I don't know, like really, truly trying to understand them, and sometimes that might mean that they are messy or make mistakes or, you know, they do something that you knew was bad, but they have to learn on their own. And I think that depending on how she answers and what happens with this, you know, call or invitation from Dr. Morrow. Either, you know, she'll invite Quinn to know her better or she will continue to try and have this kind of firewall between her heroing and her life.
Brandon: Who can say?
Julia: Who can say?
Eric: I think that's something that's really fun for me, is your other siblings are NPCs. So I do like the bare bones kind of personality stuff that I write and I just kind of write some adjectives of what I think people are. But I think that you, Aggie, doesn't even necessarily see that yet because you only see them as your siblings. And in so many ways, it's like they don't have a personality. They are just my sibling and they act the way that my sibling acts. So it's funny because, like, Quinn is like talented and quick thinking, but also like impetuous and like acts quickly. Even if she doesn't necessarily think about that, I think you're figuring that out now as what she's like as a person. I think we also saw that with Ryan. I'm like, hey, sometimes your siblings have bad qualities and are assholes. And I think that that's also worthwhile to reckon with.
Amanda: Yeah, I mean, it's such a potential risk. You know, I feel like you're you're like exposing your soft underbelly to the world, bringing siblings into a situation where they could get hurt, especially something like this where like, you know, literally Quinn is famous, has a lot to lose. And, you know, bringing her into dangerous situations could be really dangerous. So I think it's just it's very high stakes. And I love that. And I love interacting with my siblings because I feel like it helps me get a sense of who Aggie was before all these events began. And now it really highlights for me kind of what she's becoming and what she's moving toward and who who she wants to be.
Brandon: Is Quinn, the youngest?
Eric: Yes, yeah.
Brandon: Yeah that makes sense.
Julia: Think of the order in your head, Brandon, you Quinn's last.
Brandon: Alright I was gonna say like
Amanda: I should have done some kind of acrostic poem with their initials. It didn't really occur to me. I thought mostly about how it would sound when I said, but yeah, that oldest, youngest bond is definitely a thing.
Brandon: Yeah. It's so interesting to hear you talk about this because I'm the youngest and like, none of this makes any sense to me, and I'm just like, yeah, I just show up. What do you mean?
Amanda: Yeah. I mean, it's like you you're like stopping your siblings from burning themselves on the stove. Then suddenly one of them's at a party and someone thought, your sister's hot, and you're like, I'm going to go "fuck you like a punch you in the face!!!" Like that's how it feels, it's wild.
Eric: Oh incredible.
Amanda: We have few more questions and then getting into spoiler corner, which I'm very excited about. Sarah B asks if any of us could have a low key superpower not cool enough to be like a real superpower, not enough to make cosmic or massive motion picture. What would it be?
Brandon: I already have this this has been my answer for everything.
Amanda: Go.
Brandon: I want the superpower, I call it a superperk, because it's not really a power.
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: I want the ability to always have an umbrella on me when I need it. So if I'm ever outside and it's raining, I just magically have an umbrella on me, and that's my superperk.
Eric: I like that a lot. It's like if there's an impetuous genie in front of you and they're like, it's like, make sure, okay, you can have a wish, but it can't be too wild. That's very good.
Julia: I think mine would be knowing the exact meal that would make me the happiest at the moment that I get hungry.
[Everyone ooo's]
Brandon: That's good!
Eric: Yeah, I like that. I wish I could maintain the cleanliness of my shoes at all time.
Brandon: That's good too!
Eric: Like it's just that one facet of prestidigitation. But just for shoes.
Julia: Mmhmm.
Amanda: I think mine would be being able to clean all of the air around me in like a six foot radius of, like, allergens and pollen.
Brandon: Ooo that's nice!
Amanda: That's that way I could- I could hang out with dogs and, like, not sneeze for some of the year.
Brandon: I like it. Eric have you seen that like cement, like paint on cement, shoe, rubber stuff that's supposed to keep your shoes, like, waterproof and dirt proof?
Eric: I yeah, I've seen stuff like that. It kind of like it does make it look weird.
Brandon: Yeah, I don't think- I don't know if it works, but it's cool.
Eric: I think it's interesting that it exists.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Let's move it to Dez corner. I see here listed under the "good joke" section of the agenda "Dez has his own food thing?"
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Oh God yeah. That literally I could not keep it together. I couldn't stop laughing.
Julia: It makes me happy but we break you.
Brandon: Yeah. That was my most favorite time in breaking Eric in this entire series history so far.
Eric: Oh yeah. Dez is a really complex dude. I think that he's also a person because he's just a very smart guy. I don't think that's a spoiler or anything. He's just done a lot of stuff. Like I said, that he was a baton major at Grambling. Like he he has his own cool motorcycle. He knows how to build all this stuff. Like he's a really interesting guy. And maybe he ascribes to, um, like macros and stuff like that. But he only eats once a day. And I thought that was a funny thing to say. But then you you all made me do it a bunch of times.
Brandon: I know.
Eric: The funny thing about recording that was that Amanda went first and then Amanda had to take a phone call. So then I did the rest. I did the rest with Julia and Brandon. And Brandon leaning on me and pushing me to do that so that I had to come later. I'm like "Amanda..."
Amanda: I was like "what happened?"
Eric: We talking about Dez’ food thing a bunch of times.
[Everyone laughs]
Amanda: I feel like in the way that engineers have systems, you know, kind of optimize different things. I definitely saw it as being kind of in line with that. But that mindset of like, I'm just going to do this as efficiently as possible.
Brandon: Oh, yeah. Like our colleague and co-host, Multitude Mike is a past engineer and he definitely makes a bunch of food strategically in the beginning of the week. He's like, alright, I know you have exactly eight, eight days to feed myself, so I want to make eight servings of chili.
Amanda: I feel that way when talking to Moia all the time too where I'm like, oh, hey, could you, like, get this thing to be in the next two days? And she's like, I'm an astrophysicist. It's fine, like, yes, I can. She doesn't say that, but that's always I always feel silly for asking her if she can do something, she's like, yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Let me look at the stars first I got it!
Amanda: A few little episode thirteen questions. If you could create a buddy for Clippy, what would it be like and why?
Brandon: Smaller Clippy!
Amanda: Smaller Clippy or smaller January. Both of them would be very cute.
Julia: Shoulder mounted Clippy on top of Clippy.
Brandon: Ooo I like that!
Amanda: Then you could just start a paper clip chain all the way to the moon!
Eric: Ahhh!
Brandon: And you could trade it to a house.
Eric: Ahhh more paper clip humor.
Brandon: Oh, Eric, I have a question about that, actually.
Eric: Yeah?
Brandon: In episode thirteen year old man, questionmark?
Eric: Yeah. Yeah.So the old man, I think that Dr. Morrow has been doing tech for a really long time, so I think that she sees these training games as like like an old FMV video game or like Zork like those old like text based adventures. So she's like, alright, I'm going to make a room and you need to interact with the room, like in an old school 90s, like first type of 3-D sort of video game. So Clippy was there obviously to be your help, to be a helper and be like your truly your NPC. And the old man is like, "hey, you should in when you do quests, you should talk to people because they help you!" So the thing with the old man.
Brandon: I dunno, sounds suspicious.
Eric: Yeah, right. The first thing Brandon said, was like, "no definitely, a demon!" Like NO!
Julia: We're like, nope. Avoiding that old man. Terrible.
Amanda: I feel like it's a first half of campaign, one hanging over is us being like every NPC is out to get us.
Eric: The old man was going to tell you in like a roundabout story sort of way that you shouldn't touch the balls because you'll stick there and get caught in the heat.
Amanda: Well, that would have been good to know.
Eric: Except, though, if you have, he was going to give you a cup with ice in it, which would make you be able to do that.
Amanda: Aww.
Julia: That's cute.
Brandon: And then he was going to eat your soul!!
Eric: Yeah. Then if you say if you do the wrong, if you do the wrong dialogue prompts he attacks you with a broadsword.
Amanda: Andrew G on insta wants to know why was the Corgi calling for help. Eyes emoji.
Brandon: Can you do all the time for me, Eric. It's my favorite thing.
Eric: What did I do?
Brandon: The corgi voice.
Eric: Yip yip! Hello. Help me [robotic voice] Val. [Regular voice] Yeah. That was another like old school 90's video game thing, you had something to distract and again like this it was almost like a morality play. And so I think it was like the devil created these. That was something to distract Val and see if Val would deal with the key. Of course, Val did it really well and kept the Corgi with them at all times. So it didn't really work out, but but yeah, it was it was like a morality play for somebody to see if they would save save the dog instead of doing the actual challenge.
Amanda: And Melnik wants to know, was the good boy based off of my dog Simon? Actually, don't answer it. They were, and it's canon now. Sounds it sounds like it's canon now. Yeah.
Brandon: Canon.
Eric: Who can say really?
Amanda: Julia does Val have a favorite type of pizza Megan would like to know in Discord. Grandma, plain, meatball, etcetera.
Julia: I think Val is a I feel like I answered this question before, but I think Val is like a good peperoni like when you cook it properly, the edges start to curl up and it gets crispy, that kind of pepperoni.
Eric: That's right. We add a whole bit about Val being a traditionalist like "you want fucking chicken on this, get the fuck out of here!" I think we did the whole thing.
Amanda: Yeah. Dan on Insta would like to know, current season versus last compare and contrast, tone, worldbuilding and fun factor. And Julia, as you were a guest player, you can as well.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Can you can you do each one in succession. I couldn't remember all three.
Brandon: Same.
[Eric and Brandon laugh]
Amanda: The first one's tone!
Eric: Just for I am like I've said before, this feels a lot more intentional. So it isn't like fantasy realm. But again, this is similar is like I'm giving you jobs and purpose, which I think is important. But I that's like a regular, normal, real world thing. And it was like I was crafting stories I like on top of a fantasy setting, but now I feel like it's more appropriate. So it's more like it's fun. I'm very glad we're not doing the fantasy anymore because then it's like we're just doing it. So I don't know if that's tone necessarily, but more like we're doing the same thing, but like finally releasing the trappings that, like felt mandatory because of a Dungeons and Dragons game.
Julia: I also think that there is always going to be a tone shift when you switch genres. So we're not adventurers in this season. We're superheroes and we are living in the place that we are also fighting crime in. So you're not traveling from city to city and learning new things. You're existing in the world that your characters have been existing in for up to, oh, close to 30 years.
Amanda: Especially with World Building, which is the next in the list of three. I- that wasn't a dig. Sorry,
Eric: [Laughing] That was very funny, I appreciate that.
Amanda: I feel less like I did in campaign one where it was like we had a map that was getting filled in as we did the different arcs and went to the different cities. It was like blank. Then it gets filled in with with something. And this is like I have the map, it's hanging on our wall and we're zooming into different neighborhoods as different stuff happens. And it it makes me feel really invested and really excited. I also am more confident as a player. So it's hard to kind of ascribe that to the campaign. But I feel much more just personally like confident and less worried about like messing up during combat.
Eric: No, I agree with that. I think, again, this is about the genre filling in a blank map with things that you discover is very fantasy and very like quest. But if we're all living in the neighborhood and we're just exploring the neighborhood, that's good. I do like having this whole world. I'm really glad we did those worldbuilding episodes to start because the I wouldn't be able to do the entanglement chart. I just wouldn't because we need to know all these places and then maybe we sketch them in as you go there. But just because you've never been to the hospital doesn't mean you don't know what a hospital looks like and also where it is, you know what I mean? It's like you can drive by the hospital. It's like, oh, the is next to the college. But that doesn't mean that like oh what's what is a hospital like what will it look like. What is it? Are there dungeons in there? You know, which is very freeing to me because it's also like I feel this really just about fantasy and a modern genre as well. I'm like, man, I don't care if you use a phone, like use a phone, you know, like we all look shit up. It's not a big deal. But then again, it's like what you do with the information is the interesting thing. I think I like that idea that not everything is cloaked in mystery because we're discovering what this fantasy world looks like, like this is the real world, plus some other stuff. And we can look at the other stuff, and what does it mean to have powers and all these other things? But of course, like I agree with Amanda, I like knowing what the thing we are doing is to start with, and then we can dive deeper if we need to dive deeper.
Brandon: Yeah, it seems like it lends itself to a larger focus on character relationships, too, which is nice because you don't because the the overarching plot is not like a giant black map, you know. So, yeah, we already we don't have to spend brain energy on the blank parts of the map and we can just focus on relationships.
Amanda: Yeah, it's less like quest style. I feel like there are just sort of progression hooks of like I need to complete this one thing to access the next level. And, you know, if I don't use my items right, then I get it wrong and like, I can't get out of the dungeon or I can't get out of the puzzle. And a lot of I think was just baggage from D&D that I brought in, not necessarily how you ran a campaign one at all. But I do think that having a modern campaign where we live here anyway, we have phones like we're going to be stranded, you know, and like lose all our HP and, you know, like get have like a highway robber, you know, take all our food away. It's it's way more focused on, you know, what do we want to do, what's happening. Like stuff is happening in the background. And that's not like surprising or a gotcha because we are all here and we know what happens. And I feel like I have a lot more freedom to to move around and kind of focus on relationships and plot, which I love.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: To that last point, a fun factor. I'm not going to make you guys tell me that you're having more fun in this game now than-
Brandon: 10/10 they're both tens!
Eric: But I will say I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to do things that would surprise you in this one, because in the previous campaign I'm like bachelorette tournament surprise. But I can still do shit like this because it is a comic book. So it's like, yeah Ma's now in a mech. Congratulations. January is a fancy rabbit with a bow tie. Congratulations. Dez has an auto male arm and I'm really happy I can still surprise you in these ways, even if the genre is not fantasy, where fantasy are allowed to do whatever the fuck you want and it's fine.
Brandon: Yeah. It's always more surprising to me.
Amanda: Yeah. I was thinking that.
Brandon: With fantasy it's this no holds barred, you know, barred.
Amanda: It's like I guess this is normal. I guess. I guess this is just in this world. I don't know if it's surprising to Inara or not, but I know. I know that Aggie’s surprised to see January.
Brandon: Exactly.
Eric: Yeah, that makes me happy.
Amanda: Alright, everybody, are we ready for spoily corner?
Eric: Yes, let's do it.
Amanda: We got a lot. It's a. The full corner, big corner.
Julia: Go for it.
Amanda: Noah is Aunt Min a white walker?
[Eric laughing]
Julia: I don't think so.
Eric: Who can say?
Amanda: [Whispering] I don't think so Noah, but I'm going to just say it for fun. [regular voice] who can say!
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Laura on Insta Mayor Dr. Morrow is sponsoring both teams, is secretly setting the party up to be the villains??? Question mark. Question mark. Question mark.
Brandon: Oh, man, that's real. Who could say who can say?
Eric: Who can say, oh, sorry. We didn't even get to talk about your interaction with Emily at all, Amanda, but oh, my God. Playing Emily as as being so lean in and trying to get you to join the Upcountry Keepers. That was so much fun for me. Also the image of Sour Anthony holding a digital camera in 20XX brought me so much joy.
Brandon: Why was he being such a creep? I don't understand. Who can say?
Eric: Who can say you?
Amanda: That commercial that you tweeted is just excruciating. I can't get out of my head of the sauers.
Julia: The mullet guy?
Eric: Oh yeah, that guy is definitely Sour Anthony sorry, Sierra Nevada, but that's that's part of our Dungeons and Dragons game now.
Amanda: An old favorite in spoily corner is Dez the Knight of Mirrors?? Question mark, question mark.
Brandon: Who can say? Probably not.
Julia: Probably not. The voice and tone is very different.
Amanda: It is very different. Asta would like to know, is Sour Anthony secretly following everyone?
Brandon: Yes.
Julia: Well, Milo did see him outside of the bowling alley and he was on the roof for Aggie's meeting with Emily. I think he is. That's me personally.
Brandon: I think is the biggest creep to ever have creeped and say yes. Yeah
Amanda: On Insta would like to know, will we see more Tegan?
Julia: Hopefully.
Brandon: Hopefully.
Eric and Amanda: Who can say?
Eric: Tegan's to even work like ghostwriting a book all Winter.
Amanda: Anita and instead wants to know will there be a chase scene on snowmobiles? It's winter in upstate New York. Aren't they everywhere?
Julia: Oooo snowmobiles
Brandon: Who can say you?
Amanda: Who can say.
Eric: Who. Can. Say? If only we had some onions to look at to see if it was going to snow or not? Yeah, we need snow first.
Amanda: SashaDesch on Insta wants to know what happened to the charismatic mayoral candidate from the world building episodes?
Eric: Thank you for listening to my podcast. That makes me feel really good. But yeah, this is just the thing about the worldbuilding episodes is that that was like a jumping off point for a lot of things. It was like those are plot hooks and see how they move and and what's happening there. So it might not be explicit, but I did take a lot of that into consideration as we move forward. So who can say?
Brandon: It's also not super fun to talk about a charismatic politician taking over the world right now.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As we said during the world building episodes, I don't know how on the nose it's going to be, but that idea of someone going up against Dr. Morrows governmental policies and as it relates to powers in a very axman sort of way is very interesting to me as an exploration of xenophobia and blah, blah, blah and all that stuff, because it's also the real world anyway, point is, it might not be explicit, but I am thinking about it, I promise.
Amanda: And finally, Michelle Spungen on insta, how will Val deal if when their family and close friends end up on the other side of a mission?
Brandon: Ooooo.
Eric: Michelle also included "WCS" for who can say, and I'm like, thank you.
Brandon: That's so good.
Amanda: Aww I love that.
Julia: It's adorable.
Brandon: Who can say?
Eric: WCS? Who can say?
Amanda: WCS.
Eric: I'm sure Aunt Min with her ties to do them to the Mafia would never use a person they see as a powered weapon and also related to them in more ways than one and using them for their own personal gain, regardless of what their own personal relationships are. That would never happen.
Brandon: Yeah, of course not.
Val: Yeah definitely not.
Brandon: And Milo definitely won't be completely caught off guard and surprised by this revelation.
[Brandon and Julia laughing]
Julia: Has Milo not figured it out that Val's associated?
Brandon: Absolutely none.
Julia: Okay great.
Amanda: Truly who can say, well, everybody, thank you so, so much for your questions. We'll definitely do the Instagram story Q&A thing again next month when we get our after party questions in order. Because you really came through and I love that. Oh, actually, we had one final question, which is from Asta! What do you need from us to get even more Clear Eyes, Heart games?
Brandon: More people on the Patreon!
Amanda: Patreon!
Eric: Join Patreon and say it's because you really like Clear Eyes, Full Hearts. This was really fun. I mean, creating the game with Misha was incredible, but being able to play a role playing game with Misha, Josh and Marquez, they're also incredible. I feel like I'm forcing Misha. There's like Misha stop editing and can play a game with me. But like, Marquez is one of the best RPG people I know, and forcing Josh to do voices for me is truly my greatest accomplishment and the greatest joy.
Julia: I think it's forcing Josh to do voices for you and also to pretend he knows anything about football.
Eric: Well, Josh knows and like Misha and I can compensate. But what Josh knows is drama and his character of Off the Chonk is so wonderful and creates so much drama, just like a fucking whirlwind around around Chonk, is just so incredible.
Amanda: And Marquez, GM's, our mask's campaign. And it's just it's so fun for me to see him as a player as well. And just Misha's fantastic. It's so good. I love it.
Eric: Like I talked about in the beginning of this campaign Masks has been a really interesting jumping off point about like having feelings and superheroes and as they relate to villains. But this game the Marquez has been running reminds me of the different types of quote unquote fights that a hero has with a villain. Like it's not always like, oh, I'm robbing a bank and then I punch you even though that's where you start. But then you do all these different things routinely. I'm like, Marquez, I'm stealing this for Join the Party. "Okay" which is incredible. Yeah. And go listen to Marquez's RPG podcast with our other friends, a Tabletop Potluck where they play games that are not Dungeons and Dragons.
Brandon: Nice.
Amanda: But yes, we are so grateful for people who are on the Patreon. And if making more bonus content helps more people, you know, find an excuse to sign up, then we'll make more bonus content. That's how it goes.
Eric: I'll do it, man, I this is the only podcast I have at the moment, so like I'll just keep playing.
Brandon: I'll find the most esoteric one player RPG and just do it myself.
Eric: I'll do it. I literally did one player RPG!
Julia: It was good too!
Amanda: I'll GM any one page RPG. But yeah we know that you know five bucks a month is is not nothing and might not be possible for everybody. But for those of you who make room for us in your budget, we we really appreciate it. It adds up a lot and it goes a long way toward helping us keep being independent podcasters in the year 2020, which is a hard thing.
Brandon: Yes. Thank you.
Julia: Thank you.
Amanda: Alright, everybody, we will see you again next week with another episode and several more times before Thanksgiving. So don't worry.
Brandon: Bye, guys.
Julia: Later.
Amanda: Bye.
Eric: You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.