What would have happened if Val didn’t use the Unglasses? Has Amanda always had Emily Slaughter inside her? And what did we learn about the NPCs as we played in their space? All that and more on the Afterparty!
Here is the link to your new favorite storytelling micro-game about unreliable narrators and things that happened somewhere else.
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Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Milo Lane), Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Aggie O’Hare), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Co-Host (Val Vesuvio), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is a collaborative storytelling and roleplaying podcast, powered by the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. That means a group of friends create a story together, chapter by chapter, that takes us beyond the tabletop to parts unknown. In the first campaign, we explored fantasy adventure, intrigue, magic, and drama. In the newest story, we tackle science, superpowers, a better future, and the responsibility to help others.
Every month, we sit down for the Afterparty, where we break down our game and answer your questions about how to play D&D and other roleplaying games at home. We also have segments at the beginning of each campaign to teach people how to play the game themselves. It’s a party, and you’re invited! Find out more at jointhepartypod.com.
Transcript
Amanda: Hey. Hi. Hello and welcome to the After Party. Bro, I didn't go to the After Party last time and I heard that you had to be there so much happened.
Julia: You had to be there.
Brandon: I don't know, I was there. It was fine.
Eric: Bro, you had to be there. Brandon thought it was fine because he turned into a wolf halfway through.
Julia: He doesn't remember the rest of it.
Eric: No. So, he doesn't remember the beginning but, like, the part with the wolf lair, that was wild.
Amanda: You really did have to be there.
Julia: I literally just saw a video of someone who had an outdoor wedding, and they're like, "A bear showed up," and you see the bear like... like, eating people's food at one table. And then they've.
Brandon: I'm so glad you said food.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: And they panned to the table next to them, and the people are still just sitting there eating their dinner. I'm like--
Amanda: Whoa.
Julia: --that's a black bear.
Brandon: But black bears are so sweet and small and don't even bite.
Julia: No, they are not. All bears are killing machines.
Brandon: No, black bear you hug. That's the rule.
Julia: Don't do that.
Brandon: If it's brown you run, if it's black you hug.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: If you're listening to this and you're seeing a black bear as you listen, do not go hug it. That's bad advice.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I will go hug bear because they're my favorites. So, Brandon and I are gonna hug bear. Brandon there's like... like, everything you say there's a small nugget of truth less surrounded--
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: --by the Gobstopper of insanity you just said.
[Brandon and Julia laugh]
Amanda: Delicious.
Julia: I actually really love the phrase Gobstopper of insanity.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: I'm gonna use that now.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I mean, that's really good.
Eric: When there's a nugget of truth inside of something insane, it is a Gobstopper of insanity.
Amanda: That really... that really is the... is the ultimate goal of much of my therapy conversations, which is--
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: --hey, here are all these behaviors that don't make sense. And in the middle, a little nugget of something that does.
[Brandon snickers]
Eric: There it is. Is that black bear... black bears are the most docile and smallest out of all bears. However, you should not hug. Do not hug.
Julia: Don't even try to pet it. Don't go near it.
Amanda: You could hug a bear, it should be allowed there, but you can't because it's a bear.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Well, what a couple episodes to talk about. As we were playing these we're like, "Uh, which episodes go with which after party? Oh, thank God. Oh, good. We can talk about these two together," because there is a real, not exactly a cliffhanger, but these are... these were really fun pair for us to play. I'm so glad they... they came out in sequence that we can talk about them together in the same After Party. Players, how did you feel listening back to these episodes because we're a couple months ahead of release schedule in terms of when we're playing at this point. And in 2022 time, that's about six months that it feels like between when we played them and when we get to celebrate and hear them with the audience.
Julia: I am still just as frustrated as I was in the moment that it was a fake Gutenberg.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: It still drives me up the wall.
Amanda: It was tough. I really considered at the beginning of that fight just, like, punching the hologram right away.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: And just, like, to... to test that it was real. I'm sad I didn't.
Eric: No. Instead, you decided to figure out a basketball game to play instead.
Julia: What were we thinking?
Eric: Girl, can we start there?
Julia: Yeah, we'll start there.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah, let's start there.
Eric: Hey, here's a peek behind the screen, did not have game of chance mechanics written down for this.
Julia: I mean, the only reason we decided to do that was because it was the reveal that Fritz's powers were luck-based.
Eric: Right.
Julia: Which also led to a behind-the-scenes thing which is called Bard watch.
Amanda: Bard watch.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Where Julia tries to corner me and tell me that my NPCs are bards.
Julia: I'm like, he's giving inspiration, Eric. Is he a bar or isn't he?
Eric: Yeah, Julia came over to the studio and fucking, like, pushed me into the corner and put, like, two fingers in my chest. And like, "Is Fritz a bard?" And I'm like, "No, he's not."
Julia: Are you sure?
Brandon: Bating you with a lyre, but the best book, it was your thing, right? Like, this is the train of thought that made me go, like, while when I was editing was we went from Fritz's lucky to--
Eric: And Fritz is also good at sports, and from sport--
Brandon: No, no. no That's what happened in your head.
[Brandon and Julia snickers]
Brandon: Fritz is lucky.
Amanda: What happened in our head? Yeah.
Brandon: Let's flip a coin to see if Gutenberg will just agree to lose completely, if they--
Amanda: Listen.
Brandon: --if he loses the coin flip.
Amanda: I thought it was worth a shot, people. I thought it was worth a shot.
Brandon: The gentleman's wager to, "Oh, well, it's a N64 themed villain. Why don't we do, like, some kind of video game that he wants to play and he'll be enticing to? Here's a game of basketball. That's not the arcade game, I don't think.
Julia: It was almost NBA Jam, right?
Eric: Right. It was NBA Jam. Yeah, it... it was because I... Hey, you guys short-circuiting my brain by trying to do this instead of the... the fight I had put together.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: So, I guess the thing that I was doing is that Gutenberg would want it to make it incredibly difficult for all of you. And there's a scene in a movie that I was thinking about this in Escape from LA, the sequel to escape from New York, the John Carpenter movie that has Kurt Russell as the guy with the eye-patch.
Julia: What?
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: I know Escape from New York, I didn't realize there was a sequel called Escape from LA, which is--
Amanda: Sure is.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: --buckwild.
Eric: It is much, much, worse, but there is a scene where Snake Plissken, Kurt Russell's character gets kidnapped by, like, the big gang there. And what Kurt Russell needs to do is shoot basketballs. Like, he needs to shoot half-court shots. Like, one every 10 seconds and make them or he dies. And it's very funny and also incredibly, incredibly, incredibly ridiculous as it's happening. So, I guess I was thinking about that, and also Fritz being there, he was sports related. So, I guess, like, because you... you said, "Hey, let's flip a coin and if you lose, you fucking leave," I wanted to turn up the difficulty a little bit. And making like, "Who is going to take the shot? What are all the buffs you're going to put on the person who is going to take the shot?" And then we were going to figure it out from there. And then like, basketball shot, yeah, yeah, it was like a... it was like a Papa shot/NBA Jam thing. So, he was like, you had to shoot across the warehouse into, like, a Papa shot and that was my thinking there. Sorry, Editor Brandon to have to listen to my, my process, like, of this situation while this was happening.
Brandon: No, I just... I had to, like, make sense of the three minutes of table talk of ideas so.
[Eric and Julia laugh]
Eric: I was so sure that's what it was what was going to happen. You would all spend a lot of time doing that. And I'm like, “This is what's happening. I guess the fight is not gonna happen. And then, I, at least, I have January in my back pocket." And then Julia was like, "Oh, wait, I have glasses, that will help me with this."
Julia: Mhmm. Not enough. Didn't help me enough, but helped me know it wasn't January.
Eric: I mean, that's it. That was a big reveal. That was... that was enough-enough. I... I'm happy you're using your magic items, but I'm just like, "Shit."
Amanda: That was one question from Steph, @StephanieKay, "What would have happened if Val didn't use the glasses during the boss fight?"
Julia: I mean, it wasn't the real Gutenberg. So, it's not like he could have, like, killed January or anything but... and especially because it wasn't the real January. I think that outcome would have just been the same and maybe we would have done the basketball thing and would have either won or lost. But either way, Gutenberg would have been like, "Haha, I'm not real and neither is this bunny," and then bounced.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: That's what I do when--
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: --leave a room. I'm not real and neither is this bunny, bye.
Eric: Yeah, it wouldn't really need be a lot different. There wouldn't have been a fight. That's exactly what would have happened. If you had won somehow Gutenberg would have just been like, "Fuck you, guys," and left. But if he had lost, I think there would have been more of a threat of him going directly actually threatening for the fake January.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And making you all go into a tizzy. And then you dive at him trying to save fake January. Like, if that had happened he would have, like, created a giant sword or chainsaw out of thin air and then, like, swung it at the fake January ears, I guess, like, to make it as gruesome and ridiculous as possible. Just off the top of my head.
Julia: Horrible. How dare you?
Eric: I was still reveling a little bit in the fact that you didn't... this... You still didn't know that January was... was not there. Like, I knew that the entire time and, like, I've been waiting for you all to figure that out.
Brandon: I would have been disturbed if you didn't know that, Eric, the entire time.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: You're like, "Let's decide now whether or not January is there."
Amanda: Let's take out this date. Mmh. Delicious.
Eric: No, but like, I had known as soon as January got captured where all the kidnapped folk were.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: So, that's the other thing. I was sitting on that for, like, four sessions.
Amanda: Oh my gosh.
Eric: And I'm just like, "Yeah, you all go there as fast as you can. Save the victims."
Julia: Oh god.
Amanda: We'll get to it. First, Steph did have this follow up question, this is probably a who can say, but if Milo were to die would Anubis own Milo like humans own cats? Would Milo have his own cat tree down there?
Brandon: I think Milo, I don't know... I don't know the answer, but I think Milo would probably be kind of okay with that. Sounds like a fun, nice, like, life to be a cat or a dog, you know? Just, like, sleep all day. Get to eat all the good stuff to eating table scraps. Sounds nice.
Julia: Also, no one can own a cat.
Brandon: That's true.
Amanda: That's true. That's true, Julia.
Brandon: Have you met Tuna?
Eric: Are humans the dogs to cats?
[Julia humms in curiosity]
Amanda: I mean, yeah.
Brandon: Steep, man.
Julia: It's like how you know how humans will have the dog go get, like, the paper or, like, bring him a beer.
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Julia: That's what we are to cats.
[Brandon snickers]
Julia: It's like, "Aha, I've taught you this cool trick, human."
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: I brought you a beer cat.
Eric: Milo has to walk across the shag carpet to the mini fridge on the other side of death, and... and bring it out and bring it to Anubis
Julia: With your teeth.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Anubis puts the beer on the scale to make sure that it's cold enough. You balance... you balance the sins of someone against the beer, the beer needs to be cold enough against the sin. Julia, that's how mythology works, right?
Julia: You nailed it, gotten one.
[Brandon snickers]
Amanda: I'm bringing this back to some clarification corner from this site. Bringing it back.
Eric: So, you wanna talk about Anubis' beer?
Amanda: Bringing this back. Bringing this back. We had some great clarification corner questions from Bernie MPI. "One, is Threadbare dead that they fail saving throws, and is that why this sort of unraveling thing occurred?" And related this, one is from Deadly Kitten 98 on Insta, "The Muncher turned back into his human form, and was Threadbare never human?"
Eric: Yeah. In my head, I don't think Threadbare was ever human.
Julia: Huh?
Eric: In spite of the way or, you know, the ambiguity of comics. I feel like maybe there was a point where they lost human flesh and became yarn and unraveled.
Julia: So is he dead?
Brandon: I don't think he's dead, right? I don't know if, Eric, you want to say but, like, if I remember correct, I don't think that they lost three saving throws. I don't think so.
Amanda: Yeah, I assumed that they weren't dead and just kind of disbanded to go back to annoy us another day.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: That's what I assume too, you know?
Julia: I feel like he's probably, could be reanimated.
Brandon: No one's ever done comics anyway, you know?
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I mean, they do but they always come back.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Exactly.
Julia: No one has ever permanently died in comics.
Brandon: Yes, yes yes.
Amanda: Death is impermanent in Anubis' world.
Eric: I'm just gonna say “who can say on tha’”.
Amanda: Ooh.
Julia: Ah, damn.
Eric: I did want Threadbare to unravel because I wanted to compare something we had talked about before. It's like, the yarn that Threadbare makes in terms of, like, the quilt wall, the quilt dome, and the thing that Threadbare swings on, like, that's all the same shit as him. So, I guess that is all... that's what I wanted to emphasize there.
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric: Not human, made out of yarn, the yarn that holds the bounds of time and space together. He is a yarn person in that way.
Amanda: A couple more good clarifications from Bernie, "Is Wendy over her power anxiety or just devoted to her new friends?"
Julia: Aw.
Amanda: Aw Wendy, I think anxiety is not a thing you can get over that quick--
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: --but I think Wendy overcame it for us, you know, in that moment.
Julia: Yeah. Like, you know when your relative has, like, a bridal shower or something like that. You don't want to go to it and you have--
Amanda: No.
Julia: --anxiety about being in such a big group, but you power through because your family loves you.
Amanda: You sure do.
Brandon: You know when there's anything that involves other people outside of your home?
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Brandon: And you overpower--
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: --your anxiety so you could do it.
Amanda: No, it's... it's quite true.
Eric: I'm imagining, like, the one shot comic when someone draws, like, what Lou, Room, and Wendy ended up doing while you guys were doing your shit. What were they doing? And like, you see you fighting Mega muncher and Threadbare, like, in the background as they, like, jump from one warehouse to another. I was thinking about some of my notes that I've written down for, like, the sneaking episode where y'all had to sneak up to as close to the dome as possible. And there was one where if you had rolled well, I think, either on the, one of the ones that you didn't end up rolling, like, super good on, if you had went into a warehouse there were, like, a bunch of workers in there who were trapped.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Eric: I like the idea of, like, them was, like, stumbling in there. And like, a bunch of dudes moving boxes were like, "Oh, shit, there's a Muncher man."
Brandon: Were they trapped physically or trapped by the capitalist machine because they weren't unionized?
Amanda: Oh.
Eric: Both, Brandon.
Amanda: Damn.
Eric: So, I like the idea that, like, they unionized, and then they helped. They told of, like, a secret way to get in. Get through, like, there's a back way of getting into the Vitamin M Factory that those guys knew. So, I was thinking about that while that happened with you, that was very funny.
Julia: Cute.
Eric: I love that.
Amanda: And final question from Bernie, "Was the basketball a tech illusion or a spell, and if a spell; what spell?"
Eric: I suppose a Level 3 spell called Summon basketball?
[Brandon and Julia snickers]
Amanda: No, not a thing.
Eric: It's in... sorry, it's in Volos, guys.
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Eric: I don't know what to tell you, just check it. No, it was probably, it was a tech illusion, one that, like, Gutenberg created but I just thought it was, again, I just thought it was so funny. I really wanted it to happen. Once we had figured it all out, I'm like, "Yeah, this is what's gonna happen. Alright, I'm throwing out all my notes. It's fine." And then automatically like, "No fuck this". And Julia punches Gutenberg.
Brandon: We all had so many good ideas in order to beat the basketball challenge too. Like, I was gonna--
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: --cast heat metal or whatever it's called to expand the--
Amanda: Yeah!
Brandon: --the rim to make an easier--
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: --shot, I think. What are some of the other ones that y'all too had?
Julia: Oh, I don't remember. In my head I was just like, "You guys should just buff Val while they're in a rage so that if it's a strength or whatever, then we'd be good. I could cast Jump on myself, that kind of thing."
Amanda: I was trying to think like, "Well, like, if we have a luck advantage here, like, we will... we will never have a better shot, you know, comparatively. Like, one roll that could get us a really good outcome than this. And I don't know, I... I'm sorry to throw plans out the window accidentally, Eric, but I... I thought that was brilliant, and I... I'm sorry it didn't work.
Brandon: Well, if you're not a patron, go... go become a patron so you can hear the bloopers because they are in the bloopers, our fights.
Amanda: They are in the bloopers, yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: All of... it was all oops all bloopers.
Brandon: Oops all bloopers. Can I ask a quick question, Eric?
Eric: Please Brampton.
Brandon: What is... what was the pocket universe thing? Well, where was that? What was it? Do we know? Can you answer?
Eric: Oh, the one that you jumped through?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. So, what I wanted to do, I guess I explained this before and you all said that I sounded insane, was a Mario Odyssey with Mechawiggler kind of barreling through the area and going from one place to the other place using this sort of, like, port... portal magic shit. And I wanted that what was happening outside to also happen inside, in the actual warehouse. So, they were just, like, somewhere else. I guess, well, the thing what I wanted them to do was like, they ran through the warehouse, and then you had to, like, get the fuck out of the way, but then they disappeared. So, that you couldn't stand there and, like, hit them. So, my idea was like, they were pretty close by, but they weren't, like, right outside the warehouse. So, again, what... what Lou and Wendy and Room had done was like, "Saw them, jumped on them, and tried to, like, grapple them while that was happening." Milo was able to jump through that portal and show up there. So, it was just like, I don't know, like a few thousand feet away, but, you know?
Brandon: So, it was a physical space, it wasn't like a liminal space.
Eric: No, it wasn't a pocket dimension. It was like a teleportation portal.
Brandon: Cool. Cool. Cool.
Eric: That was tight, though. I cannot believe that you. The action economy of Dungeons and Dragons is wild if you know what to do. So, I... the fact that you were able to do all those things in one action.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And then you hit the DCS and all of that to do them, fucking wild man.
Brandon: I will say, I don't think it came out quite in the edit, but that was very much like a group call. It was very much like, "Do this. Do this. Do this."
[Brandon and Julia laugh]
Brandon: We all got excited about it.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: The Question Surgeon Michel Spurgeon would like to know, "Eric, were there any ideas/plot points you had to scrap because your players changed the script?”
[Eric snickers]
[Amanda, Brandon, and Julia humms]
Eric: Yeah, the fucking basketball game was a big one I think. Here's something I really want to talk about. I've said this before, when I was talking about in the time loop, when Dez goes to the projector and asks a question that he has to help you. And all of you guys are like, "Yeah, Dez. Do whatever you want. Ask a question about your dad, ask a question that will make you feel good. Like, fuck it, do whatever you want." And while you were saying that, I felt like I was playing Dez as if he was a PC. I was like, "Wow, I'm feeling really empowered by my party here. I'm going to do something that... I'm going to use my brain and help them in this way."
Julia: Aw.
Eric: And in those moments, when Dr. Morrow was standing there seeing Gutenberg and you all talk shit about him, and you would talk to Dr. Morrow, like, about the responsibility of all of this and like, how her powers, like, interacts with the world here, and how people were in danger. I also... I felt like I was in Dr. Morrow's head, especially when she was reading out Gutenberg intern form, which I also want to point out, Amanda freestyled.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: That was not written down. Amanda just did that off the top of her head.
Brandon: In the moment, I thought Amanda was reading off of... off of something.
Julia: I think you even asked her like.
Brandon: I did.
Julia: "Did Eric write that down for you." And Amanda is like, "No?"
Amanda: Well, I was looking at my... I think I looked at, like, my phone or the computer just, like, in character, but no, I was just, you know, listen, I've written lots of internet stuff at my time.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: None of them were that bad.
Eric: Yeah.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: That's why through to you I really wanted you to write that down. I thought that was great. And I... and while that happened, and all... everything was happening around. I'm like, "Yeah, Dr. Morrow realized she... she's caused a lot more problems than she created, and decided to make a big move, especially when they realized that the video... that this was being streamed." So, I want to say that the actions of all of you put Dr. Morrow in a position that she wanted to do something to kind of take herself out of this story, and out of everything that was happening. So, I didn't know I was going to do that until we sat down.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: There were things, and weapons, and inventions in that back, and I didn't touch them. The only thing I'd used was the intern document. And then she put it away. If Dr. Morrow wanted to fucking get it on, and especially if she had thought that January was actually in trouble, the fact so that's another thing. If Julia hadn't used the glasses, Dr. Morrow would have pulled out, no pun intended, the nuclear option.
Julia: Oh, no.
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: So, I think that was a big thing. And I was very, very impressed and moved by the stuff that you had all talked about that I felt like that it changed the... the story in that way.
Brandon: Sure it would have had been great to have some help from Dr. Morrow in that fight.
Julia: You're only saying that because you almost died.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: The guy who canonically, it is some class, it's much harder for him to die.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I guess that's the thing I would love to... I want to ask, Amanda, specifically this question, that during this fight you were one... brought to a totally different plane of existence where you... everything was wonderful. And then, you were a camera man basically. It's like, did you feel... I felt like I was putting... making you complicit in this thing that Dr. Morrow was doing.
Amanda: Oh really?
Eric: Which is kind of the thing that Dr. Morrow does is like, "Hey, can you hold my phone while I do this?" It's very much a Dr. Morrow thing to do.
Amanda: No. I mean, I... I didn't feel removed from the action in an unfair way at all. Like, it was a complete, you know, I failed throw. Like, I... I rolled... I rolled like shit in that episode. And as much as I am enjoying my, have totally had them the whole time, stretching powers, like, I also like participating in the campaign and in the action in other ways. And I felt a little bit like I was able to redeem myself from my complete missed opportunity of calling on Danny in the time fight to think a little bit about that. And I just... I really enjoy that character moment as well. I have no notes. I'm sorry to my compatriots. I wasn't as useful as I probably could have been, but you know, that's the way the dice go. And like, that's the beauty of the game, you know, you... you find yourself in a situation, you have to figure out the best way to contribute to, like, you know, you look at the character sheet, "What can I contribute here?" And sometimes it's role playing, sometimes it's not to the best interest of everything, but it's what your character would totally do. And I don't know, I felt like I... I got to, you know, do some really fun role playing this episode.
Julia: There was at no point during that fight that I felt like, "Man, I wish Amanda was doing more." So, don't worry about that.
Brandon: Without your knowledge of knitting and crochet and... and fabric--
Amanda: That's true.
Brandon: --we would never gotten into that silly warehouse.
Amanda: That's true. That's when I was like, "Eric, I was like, fucking, people talk, Eric, you know, I know how to unravel any knitted objects like."
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Eric: I also want to say you also got stuck in that position, because something I wish had happened is you would activated more of my reactions that I give in Gutenberg in this boss fight.
Amanda: Oh, that's right.
Julia: Too bad.
Amanda: Okay, so.
Eric: All good fun. Fucked over here.
Amanda: So, for anyone who is a patron, and you should be, patreon.com/jointhepartypod, if you've watched or listened to Party Planning, our new kind of, like, behind-the-screen, you know, how to roleplay well, and... and run good campaign series.
Eric: For... for both GMs and players who play any sort of game, join the Patreon.
Amanda: The first episode we ever recorded was, like, later that day, or the day after we recorded Episode 41. And Eric, after we recorded the episode, when we're just chatting and debriefing, after... after the recording stopped, I was like, "Holy shit, I completely forgot about this entire layer of mechanics that I had set up for this fight. And that would have made this a lot harder. Shit!" And so, that's why one of the topics that Eric and I talked about in the first installment of Party Planning is, like, the care and keeping of your DM, and DM regret, you know, what to do when your DM is like, "Oh, no, I poured so much effort into this." And then, like, things kind of went away, I didn't plan. So, Eric, tell us a little bit about the legendary reactions. And, you know, walk us through that moment for you of ending the fight and being like, "Oh. Oh, no."
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Yeah, I had a lot of DM regret on this one. I think that... So, the main thing of how you make monsters hard in Dungeons and Dragons is giving them legendary actions, when they act in different portions of initiative other than when they get to go, because then it would just be like a bunch of PCs punching and you want to get to go once. But what I like to do are reactions, so reactions is a... a thing you can do in the DND economy, where like, if something happens, someone else gets to do something. So, like, the PCs do it a lot. I think Julia, Julia, you do it quite a lot, where it's like, "Oh, if... if this enemy runs this way, I'm going to tackle them," or something like that.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: So, I try to justify it a little bit, because I think legendary actions are like, all of a sudden, they get to go again. So, the thing that I had regret about is that I do like to hold myself to a high standards of reaction, because it's like, this guy has done a lot of recon on all of you, right? So, his reaction would be specific to things he think you would all do. And I didn't get the chance to activate a lot of it, because the wording I'd written down in my notes were different than what played out in the fight. And I'm like, "Shit, should I have done it anyway?" It was very frustrating. So, for example, the one that happened was as soon as Val goes into a rage, Gutenberg says, "Hey, catch," and throws something that will activate them to go to a reverie in some way. You make charisma saving throws. Um, I had one written for all of you, Aggie, you went to the forest, Milo would have been sent to a Star Trek style spaceship.
Julia: Incredible.
Amanda: Ooh.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: And Val...
Amanda: Oh, he never would have come back.
Eric: He never would have come back.
Amanda: Alright, bye.
Eric: And Val would have been in kind of like an infinite coat rack. Like, The Matrix, you know, like, when... when all those guns are revealed to Neo.
Julia: Uh-huh.
Eric: It would have just been like clothes, and clothes, and clothes, and clothes, and clothes.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: And then, like, in a totally white room.
Julia: Like Val didn't--
Amanda: Julia looks surprised.
Julia: --already own just one outfit.
[Brandon snickers]
Eric: Yeah, St. Peter would try to get Val to get a new... new jacket.
Julia: Sure.
Brandon: St. Peter does exist as Anubis.
Julia: Hey, excuse you.
Eric: Yeah.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Yeah, but the other thing that didn't happen was one, if Multitool stretches... stretches up high towards the video camera, I would have used Tidal Wave as a spell to knock you down. However, Tuna did it instead of Multitool. So, I'm just like, "Oh, that's not what I wrote down, and I... Tuna is stealthy enough and I feel like maybe Tuna made a stealth roll or something." They're like, "Oh, [stutters] Gutenburg would have... wouldn't have known that." The other thing that I wrote down was when... if Kilonova tries to enchant someone, I would have done, like, a Mega man style leaf shield. That would have--
[Amanda and Julia laugh]
Eric: --I would try, I would've tried to reflect the spell back a Flails Snail, which is in the Monster Manual.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: And that didn't explicitly happen. It was like a this man.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: There were... there were different smells, but it wasn't enchantment, necessarily.
Brandon: No, it was. I think that was the thing. We just didn't realize it was enchantment at the time.
Eric: Right.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So, and then I missed it. And I'm like, "Fuck," but so I missed it. But you know, when you're playing the game, it's just like, "It's flying past you, and you try to remember your notes while it's happening, but you want to stay in the moment." So, I had... I had a bunch of DM regret on that, that I wanted to make a little harder, but, you know, it is... That's... it plays out as it plays out. I justified it to myself later that Gutenberg had used his big power on putting fucking Mega muncher in that weird dental cage.
Julia: Mmh.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: And instead, he... he focused, like, his legendary action on that and was aggravated by that. So it's like, you know, it plays out in the way that it plays out.
Julia: Was that a planned reaction that you had that, like, if Dr. Morrow was injured by someone that wasn't Gutenberg, Gutenberg would punish them, for lack of a better word?
Eric: Yeah, I had had that in my head. It was... it was, like, separate from these reactions that are written down. So, like, you know, there were two different parts of the stat block although you're not reading at the same time, those are things. So, I ended up going with that and instead of doing the... the Flail Snail enchantment thing, but you know, I feel like that made more sense, right?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Like, if Dr. Morrow got hurt, he would have flipped. He would have flipped out because he's... as Gutenberg said, "He feels possession over punishing Dr. Morrow for being better than him and making him feel bad. So...
Julia: It felt very true to the character in the moment, for sure.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda: Well, guys, there is much more to discuss. But first of all, I've been recipe testing for Thanksgiving. So, I'm just gonna go grab some, like, apps and some stuffing. Did Turkey--
Brandon: Do you have pie?
Amanda: -- like airfryer? Oh, I have little individual pumpkin pies.
Amanda: [Brandon exclaims]
Amanda: Pecan crust, does that work for you?
Brandon: Yes.
Julia: Heck yes.
Amanda: That's it? Okay, alright. I'm gonna grab it.
Eric: It's so good. Brandon's voice went up 10 octaves.
[Brandon howls]
Amanda: I'll be right back.
[Midroll music]
Eric: Hey, it's Eric. I've been talking about a lot of Fall stuff over the last few midrolls here. And I want to shout out probably the thing that I'm the most excited to the newest change to fall, that we've all kind of agreed on. We've talked all about pumpkin spice, but let's talk about pumpkin flavoring. We've decided from coffee; to waffles; to pastries; and everything in between, that pumpkin is the new flavor, and that is so, so good. I thought I could only have pumpkin if I was going to make myself an actual pumpkin pie. Well, we've all fucking got on board. And that makes me really happy. Welcome to the Midroll. I got you a pumpkin muffin. It's warm. You should have it. Thank you to all of our patrons joining us on the Patreon, especially to those who's joined us recently: Brittany, Ingrid, Corey, and LadyEvie. Welcome! This show is made possible by our incredible patrons, and we could not do this without you. I would literally not be able to spend all this time doing stuff if I didn't have all of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you want to support Join the Party, get access to all of our incredible bonus content and join the best place on the internet, our patron only discord. This is your chance when you go to patreon.com/jointhepartypod and we are getting so close to the big round number of 500. And it'd be really nice if a lot of you joined, and we got over 500 and maybe more. That'd be pretty cool. I'd love that, patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Also, you should check out the other shows that are part of the Multitude collective. I think you'd like The Newest Olympian. Is Percy Jackson the YA Series we should have been reading all along, other than, like, bad wizard house school? Well, we're going to explore that with Mike Schubert, first time PJO reader on his quest to find out in The Newest Olympian. 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Whether you're working out, running errands, or hanging out at home, these clothes will make you feel comfy. And I've been wearing my sweatshirt all the time that I got from Girlfriend Collective. Yeah, it says Girlfriend Collective, but I'm more of a Boyfriend Collective and me boyfriend wearing a sweatshirt, a fiance wearing a sweatshirt. For listeners of the show, Girlfriend Collective is offering $25 off your purchase of $100 or more when you go to girlfriend.com/jointheparty. How they got the website Girlfriend? I don't know. girlfriend.com/jointheparty, that is $25 off $100 or more when you go to girlfriend.com/jointheparty, girlfriend.com/jointheparty. Finally, this podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp online therapy. The best way to think about therapy is through a bunch of analogies. We get our car service to prevent bigger issues down the road. 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[Midroll music]
Amanda: Alright, guys, I'm back. What do you think of the sumac-rubbed Turkey legs?
Julia: Oh, Amanda.
Amanda: I'm a fan.
Julia: It's so good. Did you... did you dry rub this?
Amanda: I did a 48-hour dry brine in the fridge.
Brandon: Smart.
Amanda: And then, we got our friend's airfryer when he moved to Vienna. So, that's cool.
Julia: And it fit the whole turkey in there? Damn.
Amanda: They don't... It fit a turkey leg in there.
Julia: Whoa.
[Brandon humms]
Amanda: Gotta do it in parts. That's what Solo taught me.
[Julia humms]
Brandon: It's like a... like a Fair Park, fairgrounds turkey leg. I put a butcher... some butcher paper around and walk around my apartment with it. It was so good.
[Amanda laughs]
Julia: Yeah. Incredible. It's like you were at Disneyland.
Eric: After he moved to Vienna, we had talked to... talked to him. We're like, "Wow, we really liked having the airfryer. Thank you for giving it to us." And like, and then he said, "Oh, did it smell like fish?" And we're like, "What?" He's like, "Oh yeah, I tried to air fry a fish in there and it didn't go that well. And it still smelled like fish." We're like, "Thank you. Thanks."
Amanda: He's... he's a real like, "I hate how this smells. Do you want it?" kind of friend.
Julia: What?
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: What a weirdo.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I feel like if I was a bad friend, and this person was a bad friend, I would just start spraying his items that I personally want with, like, sprays. So like, he'd be like, "This smells bad. Do you want it?" I'm like, "Yes. Thank you."
Amanda: Oh, thank you. I do.
Eric: Bold. Should have done that. Yeah, I didn't think of that one, Julia.
Brandon: Your 401 case smells like a fish. You want to give it to me?
Julia: [in a high-pitched voice] Oh, thank you.
Amanda: [in a high-pitched voice] Oh, sure. Yeah.
Eric: I think your 401k is actually really ugly, but I'll take it.
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Amanda: Listen, I think this is an untapped area of grifting that I would encourage people to try.
Eric: It's very funny.
Amanda: Only to... only to bad... for only people who are bad, though.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: So, guys, as we get into Episode 42, Jazzielle Insta asked a question that I thought was a really lovely way for us to begin. "What was it like for each of you to play this campaign from the perspective of NPCs? Did it help you understand any of the characters and NPCs better, and will that impact how you play your PCs or for Eric NPCs moving forward?"
Julia: Amanda, I think that's the best question for you to start with--
Brandon: Mhmm.
Julia: --seeing as you've just fully embodied Emily Slaughter for a good five minutes.
Amanda: I did. I had a real out of body experience. Someone also asks later, "Am I okay?"
Julia: Are you?
Amanda: Because that moment really seemed to hit. And I will say, I was extremely stressed and not having a good time during playing these two episodes. But I feel like I tried to channel as much as I could not because of the game to be clear, just like life and work, but I was able to, you know, like, lots of good role playing, channel it helpfully into the character that I'm playing. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I'm glad it was useful/funny, because it was... it was therapeutic for me, in a way.
Brandon: I think it's, I'm going to start pointing out moments that I'm going to call No-edit-Amandas. This was a no edit Amanda.
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Amanda: Oh, thank you.
Julia: Just let her go.
Brandon: Occasionally, we get a No-edit-Amanda Midroll, and it's like... it's like a little present for me.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: But yeah.
Amanda: Thank you.
Julia: Sometimes I'm editing it for the After Party so I'm like, "Is she gonna do it? She's gonna do it."
Brandon: Mhmm.
Julia: She's gonna be no--
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: I had the same exact fucking thing in my head.
Amanda: Aw.
Eric: I love the idea of you two for being like, people in a baseball dugout, you know?
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: When the pitcher has, like, a perfect game or a no hitter going you, like, leave... you, like, don't talk to them. You don't look at them. Like, the idea of you're like, "If I don't say anything, Amanda is gonna keep having nice tape for another 2 minutes."
Julia: I hope we didn't psych you out by telling you that.
Amanda: Brandon has mentioned before, like, "Ah, nice no edit Midroll." So, I... it is in the back of my head. And when I do have to stop I'm like, "Alright, well, it's not gonna be one of these." But I did recently keep a tasty blooper in there for Brandon.
Brandon: Oh, yeah. It was delicious.
Amanda: I... I mistyped someone's name. It was like... it was like the name Jason. And then I typed, like, Vason. And I'm like, "That... that feels wrong." Then I had to--
Brandon: It was like Kyle.
Amanda: --the recording. Oh, yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: It was Kyle. Yeah, and I wrote Jyle. And in the tape I was like, "That can't be right." Then I stopped it, looked at my email, it was Kyle. And then it came back and I was like, "Brandon, normally, I'd re-record this, but I'm just gonna leave it because the name was just Kyle."
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Yow, shout out to Jyle. We really love our patrons.
[Amanda and Julia snickers]
Amanda: But how about everybody else? I love the chance. I mean, I love every part of this. This felt like some of the world building episodes where we all got to, like, ask questions and be Brandon's intern, you know, in episode one, or like, toss our kind of thoughts into the world building of Laketown City. But this to me is like the example of why I love the show and campaign 2, specifically so much. So, Julia, Brandon, how do you guys feel about this episode?
Brandon: No, I loved it. I... I don't think I embody any NPCs, just perchance, but I really loved the sort of like, hand on the ball or, like, you know, like, Sharpie that we get to mark on... on your notes for a moment, Eric, you know?
Eric: Mhmm.
Brandon: Because, like, we got to create some things we got to, like, Yes, and some things that you've laid down. And like, they have consequences. And like, for a moment, we don't have to think about, like, the consequences for our individual characters. We just get to be, like, what's cool and fun. Let's fuck it up.
Julia: Well, let's talk about that, Brandon, because you created an invisible NPC.
[Brandon and Eric laugh]
Amanda: You did. You did. We're gonna have to deal with the consequences of that moving forward, I guess.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: But we... We don't. Us three players don't, our characters do.
[Amanda snickers]
Julia: Yes, but as... as the players of those characters we do. But I just remember listening back to it and being like, "Brandon, why?"
[Amanda laughs]
Julia: Like in the moment, it didn't strike me as like,--
Amanda: It's fun.
Julia: --Oh, yeah, an invisible bad guy, whatever. Now I'm like, "Ugh, fuck, really?"
[Amanda humms in disagreement]
Brandon: I think I slightly panicked in that moment. And also, I just think... I have, like, a cartoon brain sometimes, and it's just really funny for, like, when the camera pans out, like, it's been a very intense scene for like 10 minutes, and the camera pans to a corner and it's just a guy eating chips.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: That gets me every time.
[Amanda and Julia laugh]
Eric: [Stutters] Confirmed, that was very funny for me and I clearly, Brandon, there's a... a thing of what you're saying, I... you get to come in and write all over my notes, but then it's like, you came over and wrote in my notes, and when I look at it later it's like, "Why did Brandon write down his social security number here?"
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Eric: And then I'm like, "Alright, well, I guess he wants me to--
Julia: Open a credit card to his name.
Eric: --identity thief him. I will, you know?
Amanda: Eric, did this go how you expected? What were you thinking? How are you planning this episode? Where did the idea for these mechanics come from?
Eric: I had been wrestling for a while of how we were going to tell the story of what happened, because I started to feel a little bad over time that like, "Oh, this is such a bait and switch in so many ways." Like, Gutenberg was explicitly bait and switching all of you by: One, he wasn't actually there, and Two, the kidnappees weren't there either. They were in an underwater base in between Vermont and New York the entire time. So, like, I wanted to give you all agency in telling that story and being a part of it. I am trying to, like, write... Like, I was gonna be like, "Do I want to give them character sheets for NPCs?" Like, but no, that would have been too much. So, I ended up thinking about this in terms of a world building exercise or tabletop RPG, which is why I pulled together: Bro, you had to be there! And I've been thinking about Wyvern so much now that he brought him into main cannon.
Brandon: Mhmm.
Eric: And I'm like, I needed to use him more. And he felt like the perfect unreliable narrator for us to tell the story. The ask-questions-and-see-what-happens game is kind of my favorite, short tabletop RPG. This is very much was inspired by A Quiet Year by Avery Alder, and then the work that I done turning A Quiet Year into RPG city planner. I'm like, "Oh, you're just asking questions. Like, that's it." And then, just writing up those questions, letting you roll on a table to see what happens. Some of the questions are answered, some of them aren't. It was very, very fun for me. And then, adding the extra mechanic of: 'Bro, you had to be there!' was very fun for me.
Brandon: I thought it was brilliant. Yeah, I loved it.
Julia: It was so much fun.
Eric: The idea of getting to go on someone else's turn I think was the thing that got in my head, that, like, you could use it... the exaggeration token at any time. I loved a lot.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Um, I also have cleaned up Bro, you have to be there, and the link is in the episode description.
Julia: Whoa.
Eric: So, you can check that out. I'm going to post it on Tuesday as well. So, all patrons are getting a notification for it. Anyone can access to it. And I'm going to clean it up. And I'll... I'll still give a little bit of guidance at the bottom for using something like this in your own campaign because I'm going to use the actual text of what I've written down. So, you don't have to put Wyvern in your campaign.
[Julia laughs]
Brandon: But you should.
Eric: Yeah, but you should.
Amanda: You should. You should.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: And Julia, I love that you kind of broke the seal on using that mechanic. So, how did you enjoy playing Episode 42?
Julia: I thought it was great. I really, really enjoyed it. I, like Brandon I didn't feel like I was embodying any of the characters. I felt like I was kind of just, like, the guy in the corner with chips watching everything happen, and being like, "Oh man, how... how did that happen?"
Brandon: See it got me again. Just thinking about it, it got me.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: I know exactly what to do, to hit Brandon's buddy bow. This is great.
Eric: There is some dramatic irony I thought was very fun. I was very intentional, I think is intentional about this game is that you need to have the story and people participating in the story at the same time. So, the dramatic irony of Wyvern thinking Ant Myn was... was Val's grandma and mom. And then Ant Myn was a good person and they should take their job was just like, I intentionally leaned on that hard because I'm like, "Yeah, Wyvern doesn't know. He's a fucking idiot." He just likes that this, like, this woman is giving him attention.
Julia: Yeah, and I mean, that was one of my favorite mechanics of the game, was being able to, like, flash forward back into present and have our characters react to the shit that Wyvern is telling us.
Amanda: Yeah, this is really good.
Julia: Val being like, "You fucking idiot. How did you not get killed by Ant Myn by calling her a grandma?"
[Brandon snickers]
Julia: It was very fun for me.
Amanda: I think it's a classic, like, Eric Silver joint TM DM-ing of, like, taking a, you know, sitcom flashback episode or a procedural flashback episode and... and applying it to a D&D game. Like, I... it felt so natural. I love this so much. And I think because much of my RPG experience has been with Eric designing the game, I probably take for granted that this happens a lot. But like, this is what I'm here for. It's just so exciting. I love it so much. More of this. Yes, please. Grabby hands.
[Brandon and Julia laugh]
Amanda: That's the sound of grabby hands.
Eric: It was good. I've been thinking... I've talked about this a lot, but I've been thinking a lot about the way that serialized cartoons have been told, like Batman: The Animated Series, or Batman Beyond, or Teen Titans. And also, how this relates to how anime is told. How like sometimes you leave the main people and go somewhere else. And this is something I think that Dungeons and Dragons and these games that we play are able to do as well. So, I wanted to do this as long as you have a game mechanic for it. Like, we just need to give you 60 minutes of storytelling and, like, however we do that is kind of just like up to us, you know what I mean? So, being able to do it in these fun ways has been very freeing and it's kind of nice.
Amanda: Evety asks on Instagram, "Did the events of 'Bro, you had to be there' change what happens in the future?" I mean, totally right? Like, this is all... this is all real. This is all happening.
Julia: Invisible guy exists now, so...
Eric: True.
Brandon: It is interesting because, like, yes and no, right? Because like, technically no, because technically it already happened, where it's--
Eric: Right.
Brandon: --just describing what already happened, right?
[Brandon snickers]
Julia: But the details.
Eric: A very important part of this mechanic is what... everyone is safe already. How did it happen?
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: So, Brandon, you're touching on why this... this is in... I didn't want you to be like, "Hey, like, so do all the kidnapped folks die?" Because like that eliminates all the stakes because you're gonna say, "No," why would any of them die? I love all of them.
Amanda: Right.
Eric: So, like, you need... setting the parameters of the game is very important. And I think that that's why you could all have fun doing buckwild shit because ultimately, the end of the game is who saves the day, who comes... becomes the hero is very important. That's, like, literally the end.
Brandon: Mhmm.
Eric: So, I think that, Brandon, you're... you're hitting on something that's integral to this... this particular game and the storytelling technique.
Julia: I mean, to be fair, and not to be too much of a tease, but who can say, I will say that we might have seen in, like, the episodes that we've already recorded, some of the things that were mentioned or established--
Eric: Sure.
Julia: --in this episode, come to fruition.
Brandon: Some of our favorite things.
[Julia laughs]
Eric: Can we talk... can we talk about the Somalia yay and Shannon Red Wine?
Amanda: We definitely can. We definitely can.
Julia: I mean, we can, but I feel like we should talk about it more later?
Amanda: I know. There's... there's a... there's a bit of a who-can-say vibe here and I will just flash forward into spoily-corner with Napona Multiverse, who's very, very prescient question is, "Now that the Somalia and her Red Wine have a taste of heroism, do you think she'll kick start her own Heroes-for-Hire company or possibly team up with our other lovable supes against a shared enemy?"
Julia: Who can say?
Amanda: Who can say?
Eric: Who can say? I also want to give the... I like to do this every once in a while, like this is the power of tabletop storytelling, right? Me rolling a Nat1... Well, for it, let's go all the way back.
Julia: Yeah, all the way back.
Eric: The Somalia showing up in a little black dress, then made Julia being like, "What the fuck are you doing here?" Julia then knew she was work-for-hire. Julia decided to activate on that. I rolled a Nat 1, which made her go to this place. But then, I also rolled on whether or not she knew where the kidnapped folk were. That's another thing I had done behind the scenes; who could figure out where the kidnapped kids actually were, because you guys didn't know but she figured it out because Emily Slaughter was helping Tough Stuff at the time, telling her where to actually go. And then they ran into each other and that's what happened, and now everything is... everything is starting to change in it's very way. Just from Julia making a good perception check in my Nat 1 this story, even if it's a C story has diverged, very, like--
Julia: Dramatic.
Eric: --very acutely, and dramatically, yeah.
Brandon: Unfortunately, now it's the A plot and now we're just living in this power couple of--
Amanda: Mhmm.
Brandon: --Shannon Red Wine and Tough Stuff.
Amanda: And speaking of consequences, Evety also said, "Does Emily Slaughter lose credibility because she lost face here?"
Julia: Gosh, I hope so. Gosh, I hope so.
Amanda: Gosh, I hope so. Gosh, I hope so.
Brandon: More like Emily Manslaughter. Manslaughter is less than slaughter, right? What's less than slaughter?
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: I don't know. Like, bodily harm, grievous injury?
Eric: Yeah. Emily Grievous Injury.
Julia: Emily Misdemeanor.
Brandon: Emily Misdemeanor, there it is.
Eric: Shout out to the real Emily Slaughter. I love your name. You're perfect. This is wonderful
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I also want to give extra credit. I'm gonna shower more praise on Amanda.
Amanda: Oh.
Eric: For embodying Emily Slaughter.
Amanda: Oh, thank you.
Eric: Because like the thing I was worried about was someone going a different direction that I had not seen, that I thought was out of character for folks, but none of you did and you all killed it. But like, everything you did as Emily Slaughter, her losing her mind and her being on edge and, like, Taxonomy fucking up and not in, like, she's stranded and only has, like, one of her team, and everything is falling apart. Like, that all makes total sense that she would lose the facade and just kind of break there.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: And I'm just like, "Yeah, I'm so glad I didn't have to play that scene." Like, I'm glad that didn't come out of my brain and someone else did it and it was on point. So, that was... that was a very wonderful surprise for me.
Julia: Hey, good job bud.
Brandon: Wyvern falling in love with Monty, it was very in character.
Amanda: Mhmm.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Bringing back Monty!
Amanda: Oh my gosh, the whole Monty third act of that episode.
Eric: Oh my god, I was so hoping Monty would show up.
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: Putting him... putting y'all in the river was just that.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: Was waiting... was one Monty to showing up and... and the fact that Vermont and New York, neither of them had jurisdiction so they both couldn't help you were the two jokes I hope would show up and both did and I was so happy.
Amanda: We also had a really fun thread in the discord between Blue Spectre, Athenavine, and Alley about did Dr. Morrow and January like, did they cuddle it when they got home? Athena was like during 'Bro, you had to be there' was Dr. Morrow just watching January sleep. Alley wants to know. Does January have a stuffed animal to cuddle like a stuffed bunny or a giant stuffed carrot.
Julia: Stuffed carrot.
Amanda: And Athena finally caps this whole thing off by saying, "Can I put forward, Dr. Morrow has a carrot onesie in which to cuddle January."
[Brandon moans in surprise]
Julia: Yes, excellent.
Amanda: Are we just making all of them just canon?
Julia: Canon.
Eric: Yeah, that's all canon.
Amanda: Yeah, right. It's all just canon, right?
Eric: That's all canon.
Brandon: Is that, like, May being cuddled by someone in a cheeseburger outfit?
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: I love that.
Eric: Are... are you wearing a cheeser? Oh, no. Dr. Morrow is wearing the onesie.
Brandon: Yes.
Amanda: Dr. Morrow is wearing the onesie.
Eric: Oh, okay. I understand. No, I like that.That's very good.
Amanda: It's adorable.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Getting into some game and character questions. And the Question Surgeon Michelle Spurgeon says, "Doesn't Gutenberg realize that having Dr. Morrow step down only gives her more time for science?"
Julia: But now she has less political power.
Amanda: Less political power. That's true.
Brandon: Do you need political power when you have all that science, you know?
Julia: Yes.
Eric: It's a real Iron Man 3 situation, where she's doing science but she's sad.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Well, I mean the problem is--
Amanda: Very true.
Julia: --Brandon, we have this office of technological advancement that kind of controls the science that comes out of Laketown City. So, yeah, she does need some political power to kind of be like, "I do science, whatever I want to do," and they can't say yes to that.
Brandon: I have a response to that, but I also want to say, "Mad science? More like sad science."
Julia: Oh my god.
Eric: Whoo!
Brandon: Whoo!
Eric: Wasn't... wasn't that the tagline of Iron Man 2?
Amanda: Yeah, now I just... really sad.
Brandon: But I wonder, because I think you're right Julia. While Dr. Morrow had political office, I bet she felt like she had to be understanding or hospitable to the OTA, but without political power, she's just a regular private citizen. So, go full... full Ironman? Ignores... ignores the Soviet Sokovia Accords, who can say?
[Amanda and Eric snickers]
Amanda: Presumably a really rich one, though.
Julia: Mmh.
Amanda: So, we don't know. We don't know what Dr. Morrow's immediate future looks like.
Julia: Who can say?
Brandon: Who can say?
Eric: Bet she's gonna grow a goatee.
Eric: [Brandon laughs]
Julia: Oh hell yeah, dawg. She'd look great with a goatee. Let's be honest.
Amanda: No, that's true.
Eric: 100%.
Amanda: That's true. Also from Dr. Spurgeon, "How much coffee did Carmen drink while nervously waiting for the LT3 to respond?
Eric: So much!
Amanda: So much. She probably has nighttime-- she probably, like, switches to kombucha at some point and like has a perfect ecosystem of both coffee and kombucha.
[Brandon Laughs]
Amanda: Like, repairing the damage done to her esophagus.
Eric: I want to give a shout out to the 2 Nat 1s Brandon and Amanda rolled.
Amanda: Yep.
Julia: Truly incredible.
Amanda: We did that. We did that.
Eric: And it's just like you both lost. I couldn't think of what... it was so improbable. I couldn't think of what it was and be like, "Oh, you two lost your fucking phones, you idiots."
[Julia laughs]
Eric: Like, I just didn't know what else to do. It was so fucking...
Brandon: My favorite thing that have said was how Julia said like, "That can't be canon. Their pockets are perfect."
Julia: Multitool has so many pockets. How would she lose her phone?
Brandon: Your delivery was so perfect.
Eric: And only... and only two Nat 1s at the same time would have had Multitool lose something of hers.
Julia: Truly. Truly.
Eric: I also like the idea that, like, any... maybe if Multitool drops something but she can, like, stretch and grab, like, the falling object before it hits the ground.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I know. I'm not quite the flash, but I can like get there quick. Napona asks, "If the Somalia had a D&D class, what would it be?" I mean, we shouldn't actually have one. We don't know about that, Napona.
Eric: I understand what you're asking and I want to meet you at the fun fan thing that you're saying here, and I think that there is a rogue or a fighter archetype where you always have a... a weapon on you that they could do, but I also want to say that the fun thing about NPCs is I don't have to adhere to classes.
Julia: Fair.
Eric: Julia. So, he's not a bard.
Julia: Bard watch.
Eric: So Fritz is. So, Fritz isn't a bard and a lot of these folks don't have, like, I make set blocks and I give them abilities to the... honestly, the fact that I don't have to adhere to that is incredibly flexible and freeing, and the best part about being a DM. So, I want to say none but a fighter who always has weapons on them.
Julia: Got it.
Brandon: And I want to say that I thought you meant, like, classroom class and in my head it was like a paint by numbers wine D&D class.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Also good.
Julia: Like, it's fist and paint?
Brandon: Because my brain is not good.
Eric: No
Amanda: Stitchy06 on Insta says, "How does Laketown City select a new mayor?" Good question.
Eric: Great question. We tell... we actually... we will touch on this a little bit.
Amanda: Oh, that's true.
Eric: I have thought about this so get ready for me explaining political world building like episode one of Star Wars.
Julia: Whoo!
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Julia: So, the... the trade union comes in and.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Yeah, we're gonna talk a lot about the Interdimentionalist Trade Union, the how the Gungans fit... fit in. It's gonna be a whole episode.
Brandon: If there's not Gungans in our campaign, I quit, Eric.
Amanda: Bray would like to know, "Are Monty and Champ, Lake Champlain's resident lake monster, friends? Do they hang, are they dating?
Brandon: Ooh!
Julia: They're dating. 100% dating. Like, it's not even a question.
Amanda: They're 100% dating. Yes.
Eric: Yes.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: Oh, God, what... what would their potential, like, offspring look like?
Julia: Well, just because... they're not that serious, Brandon.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: And we don't know if they want kids.
Brandon: You're right. I shouldn't have presumed.
Amanda: They're figuring it out. They, they live... They live near each other. They're figuring it out. They're having fun. Let them be.
Eric: I like the idea that this is like a Punnett Square that, like, either it's Giant Mountain Lobster or Loch Ness Monster-esque like plesiosaur.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Like, there's... it's not a combination of the two. It's one or the other. Like, you know, when you see, when sometimes like Kermit and Miss Piggy have kids, and then there's, like, three small pigs and three small frogs? It's like that.
Amanda: It's pretty, it's pretty cute.
Julia: That is my least favorite trope in all of cartoons.
[Amanda laughs]
Julia: Is whenever it's like, "Oh, these two different species of animals had kids together," and all the girls look like the mom and all the guys look like the dad. I hate that.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: It's my least favorite thing.
Amanda: I know. I mean, some... something about Champ and... and Monty being in a relationship is inherently queer so I think we can just... we can just, you know, queer this whole trope and say that they'll adopt a bunch of... they'll have a bunch of, like, found family more like a drag house than like a biological offspring.
Brandon: They like, adopt a bunch of other, like, cryptids from across the world?
Amanda: Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
Julia: Adorable.
Eric: The New Jersey Devil is in a tough situation.
Brandon: Yep.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Moves upstate.
Amanda: They run like a mutual aid network. Yeah.
Brandon: I love it.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Kathleen Graham on Insta says, "As a Type I diabetic, I've now headcanon January as diabetic and we love to see it."
[Brandon snickers]
Julia: Adorable.
Eric: Yeah, January--
Amanda: Yeah, for sure.
Eric: --is diabetic. Yeah, 100%. I didn't think of it at the time but like, you know, there's health complications from changing your whole diet and becoming--
Amanda: Sure.
Eric: --vaguely human.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, yeah.100%.
Brandon: The only thing we didn't want to do was, like, it wasn't that we didn't want to make January diabetic instead we didn't want to put January, the diabetic in a situation without their insulin because that's not fun--
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: That would be terrible. Come on/
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Amanda: But I think instead what has happened is that January is diabetic and Dr. Morrow just over the course of a weekend bought the insulin patent, made it all free. Like, it kind of solves all the insulin distribution problems that--
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: --exist. It's now, like, very easy free and, like, kind of chic to like have your insulin pumped, you know?
Brandon: Mhmm.
Eric: Yeah. It's called minsulin now. She added an M to it. She reverse engineered how to make insulin so that--
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Eric: --the current patent.
Amanda: To get out of the patent.
Eric: Right.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: It's obsolete--
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: --and then she... and then she universalized it.
Brandon: Yeah,--
Amanda: She made--.
Brandon: -- Aunt Minsulin.
Eric: Peninsulin.
Julia: Oh no.
Amanda: There you go.
Julia: No.
Amanda: Yeah, and that's great. Oliviaas19 on Insta said, "What would the PCs Bro, you had to be there, dramatizations be from earlier episodes. Like, if you could go back in an earlier episode and do a Bro, you had to be there. What would you choose?"
Julia: Bro, you had to be there. There was this nerdy ass motherfucker at this thing, and then all of a sudden there was a panther there and he looked, like, scared but not surprised.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: That's true.
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Amanda: That's really good.
Brandon: That's rude.
Amanda: That's really good.
Eric: How about, I... here's one. Yo, you had to be there. John Paul was holding the N64 and then instead of talking about it, Amanda was like punching.
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Brandon: Bro, you had to be there on the weekends. When Milo was off duty, he just went down to the lake and... and did some, like, waterskiing behind Monty for fun. I've seen it.
Eric: Damn..
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: That's awesome.
Eric: Damn. I like how yours was... was not having any drama involved. It's just a beach day.
Julia: Here's a cool thing Milo did.
Brandon: Mhmm. Just some beach day,
Amanda: Bro, you had to be there. One time, Quinn was using her sticky powers to sabotage some bro's game of beer pong, and they kind of caught on but then she started a more intense drinking game named Tequila Pong and by the end of the night no one remembered.
Julia: Amanda, you can't just use stuff from my personal past. That's not fair.
Amanda: That's why I changed it to tequila and not whiskey, Julia. We'll get out for you.
Brandon: Don't play beer pong with liquor.
Amanda: No, don't do it.
Brandon: It's a terrible idea.
Amanda: Don't do it. Don't do it.
Julia: Well, tell that to me 10 years ago, Brandon.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: That's why Julia can't look at brown liquor anymore.
Julia: It's true.
Amanda: It's true. It's true. Let's move on to some podcasting and IRL questions, which I always love, so please, more of these. Blue spectre in Discord said, "I need to know why there isn't a January plush for sale. Ideally, two because summer and winter types. We expect that the only reason is because it's very expensive to make plushies. It takes a very long time and you have to order, like, literally 500 or 1000 of them in order to, like, get a stuffed animal made. We've looked into it."
Julia: Maybe we'll kickstart or something like that.
Brandon: Yeah, I was gonna say if you guys want to do, like, a fan funding thing where you find, somehow find the money and we'll make it happen but--
Julia: Yeah..
Brandon: --otherwise, yeah.
Eric: Oh, that's not a bad... that's not a bad idea is doing--
Amanda: We could theoretically, yeah, we could do like... like a long term pre-order, like do pre-orders and then, like, six months from now we have the plushy. So listen, I'm not saying it'll never happen just that it's, like, logistically complicated.
Julia: I think that's what they did with the paw-paw plush for Paw pod.
Amanda: That's true.
Eric: Yes. Yeah. Especially now with supply chains, everything is the supply chain.
Amanda: Yeah, it's true.
Eric: [in a high-pitched voice] I also... I do want to say though, even there are January plushies, maybe there's merch coming from Join the Party the next.
Amanda: [in a tiny voice] Who can say? Who can say?
Eric: [in a high-pitched voice] Who can say?
Amanda: [in a tiny voice] Who can say?
Brandon: Eric, are you okay?
Julia: No.
Eric: [in a high-pitched voice] Yeah.
Amanda: Alright. Let me, let me. [in a low-pitched voice] Maybe it has to do with January. Okay, I tried it low.
Julia: [in a low-pitched voice] Who can say?
Amanda: Was that... was that good?
Eric: [in a high-pitched voice] Well, maybe... maybe there's stuff happening as the holiday season and then maybe after that there's also new merch, we have a lot of different new merch coming.
Brandon: Eric, where did you go?
Julia: Where is... January's just here.
Eric: I turned into helium. I like, when I'm nervous, I also turn into cloud. It's like Milo. So, I turn into a cloud, and that's my cloud voice. [in a high-pitched voice] But, yeah, just keep an eye on our merch. Merch is [59:56] then afterwards, just do what you would do.
Amanda: Yells Farmkeeper of Lawn Gnomes on Discord says, "Did Amanda actually send herself a certificate declaring that this Discord is the best place on the internet? Can we see it?" I haven't, but you're welcome to send one to us at jointhepartypod.com. You can click on contact and our address is there. You can send us there.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: Thanks.
Amanda: So, I'm just gonna... I'm just gonna put that bright back on you, guys.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Bray would like to know, "As spooky-season comes to a close and winter festivities approach, can we expect another collection of Laketown City themed winter songs from Eric this year? Also, will Taylor Swift be making an appearance with the imminent release of Red (Taylor's version)?"
Eric: Well, I'm gonna have to do it huh.
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Eric: I'm gonna have to look back at the Patreon poster while I wrote more and make sure I--
Amanda: That's true.
Eric: --don't do other ones. And then you all need to tell me Christmas songs that exist.
Amanda: Have you... have you burned through the Hanukkah music canon?
Eric: Oh no. Maybe I can do a crazy nights of all the Jews in Laketown City.
Amanda: That's pretty good.
Julia: I love that.
Amanda: I love that.
Eric: All I want for Christmas is Room.
[Julia exclaims in excitement]
Amanda: Oh, I love it.
Eric: I'll do that.
Brandon: I just wanna say to everyone out there who's listening, go tell HeroForge that you want other slam episodes so we can play a holiday themed slam. Thanks, that would be great for me personally.
Julia: I wanna do a Christmas through Thanksgiving one, that'd be fun.
Amanda: Hanukkah slam would be pretty fun.
Brandon: Hanukkah slam!
Amanda: Come around and do combat when you think about it.
Eric: That's true. It's gonna be a lot of--
Amanda: Menorah autocrats on--
Eric: Yeah.
[Eric and Amanda laugh]
Amanda: --on flame spells.
Eric: It's gonna be a lot like full court miracle V. The Disney Channel original movie about a Jewish high school's basketball team that's related to the Hanukkah story. Y'all need to watch this, Julia's making a face--
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: --you need to watch this fucking play.
Julia: Never heard of it.
Amanda: It's up there with the Rugrats Hanukkah episode it's like most important Jewish media of the last 40 years. Vishnork on Discord would like to know, "Do you have a timeline for this campaign? I was getting we're wrapping this up vibes but now I'm not so sure." It's a good question, Vishnork. I would say that we are firmly, I think in, like, the kind of third act of the story. I feel like there have been some important reveals and shifts. There may or may not be more coming in the next few episodes, so look out for it. But it...
Brandon: I don't think so. What happens, Amanda. I don't remember anything wild.
Amanda: Who can say? Who can say?
Brandon: I don't know, man. Oh, yeah. Everything's fine.
Amanda: Everything is fine.
Brandon: Nothing weird happened.
Amanda: Everything is fine and the same, and as it was. Nothing changes.
Eric: Guys, let's just spoil it. January gets a mech suit.
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Amanda: You certainly could.
Julia: Eric you can't say that because now I want it.
Amanda: Now I want it. Listen, whenever and if... if and when we have a final battle, January better fucking show up in a mech suit, Eric.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: I will be disappointed if it doesn't happen.
Eric: Write it down.
Brandon: It should be there.
Eric: Write it down, January in a mech suit.
Julia: You write it down.
Eric: There you go.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: It's in my... Julia, it's in my brain. It's definitely happening.
Amanda: Anyway, where, [stutters] I completely share, Vishnork, you're feeling, like, we are picking up steam, stuff is happening, this... this train is moving towards some kind of conclusion, but we can definitely say that, like, there will be a campaign three. We love Laketown City. We're not going to close a chapter on it for it never to come back. So, we're figuring out those details, but more to come. We promise.
Eric: We are thinking about what happens after campaign two. We are actively having these conversations so...
Amanda: And there will definitely be stuff.
Eric: I'm writing on whiteboards, I'm putting together flowcharts, I'm texting Brandon at two in the morning. It's all...
Julia: His time or your time?
Eric: Both.
Brandon: I wake up at 2am to a text that just says, "Legos?"
[Amanda laughs]
Julia: Yeah, that's our nice campaign. It’s a Lego campaign.
Amanda: Legos!
Eric: Yeah, it's a Lego Movie D&D.
Amanda: Only...
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Only we... we haven't gotten the sponsorship so we have to call it legume.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: It's just about beans.
Julia: The bean campaign!
Amanda: It's the bean campaign.
Eric: It's true.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Also, this is the perfect time for us to reveal that Chris Pratt is voicing someone--
Amanda: No!
Eric: --one the legume campaign.
Brandon: Yes, they do like lasagna.
Eric: Did you see Garfield? He's Garfield too.
Amanda: Oh no.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Oh no.
Eric: He's Garfield. Why?
Julia: Why are we doing that again?
Eric: I don't know.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Did they not learn from Bill Murray's Garfield?
Eric: Yeah, tale of two kitties is in... is in my canon. I don't know why we would take that away.
[Brandon snickers]
Amanda: Alright folks, let's... let's bring this train into its terminus, that's what you call the last stop on a train line by the way, for any... any train-heads out there. Let's do the spoily-corner. First, what is the invisible guy's superhero name?
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: We don't know.
Julia: Who can say?
Brandon: Who can say?
Amanda: Who can say.
Eric: We don't know. We haven't met him. We haven't met him at all. He just showed up for, like, one panel, so let's see if he comes back.
Julia: Did he show up though?
Brandon: He's there in every panel. You just can't see him.
Eric: Great qui-. Good point. Good answer. Brandon.
Amanda: Oh, damn.
Eric: Good answer. Good answer.
Amanda: If you put your comic under a blacklight you will see him making lewd gestures in every frame.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Yeah, just doing the jerk off motion the entire time Emily Slaughter is talking, that's very funny.
Amanda: Doessheyell on Insta, "Is Fritz the Knight of Mirrors?" Who can say and at the same time a Little Miss Marty 1 on Insta, "Is Knight of Mirrors Gutenberg?"
Julia: No!
Amanda: We can't say guys.
Julia: God I hope not. That would be terrible.
Amanda: BogWitch on Insta, great username. "Is there an alt universe in which the Dr. Morrow thing ends differently? Butterfly Effect?"
Eric: Yeah, I said it. I laid that out for you. Yeah, there's 100% of world where Dr. Morrow takes us out a very powerful weapon from her bag and shit goes down.
Amanda: Delicate98 on Insta, "Is Dr. Morrow going to question whether or not she should stay with the group now that she's experienced losing January?"
Julia: Who can say?
Brandon: Who can say?
Eric: Who can say?
Amanda: Sarah Barra, "Now that Dr. Morrow has no other reason to interact with normal people as the mayor, will she lock herself in her lab and create something cool and dangerous for months and months? Will the LT3 see her only when snacks are involved, like a 3am Gremlin?
Brandon: Almost certainly.
Julia: Who can say?
Amanda: Almost certainly. Yeah, no, that's... that's very close. And finally, Kristin Chappa Pass on Insta, "What holiday parties is Ant Myn going to invite Wyvern to now that they are best friends?"
Julia: None of them. He's not allowed to go to any of them.
Eric: Julia, is there, like, an obscure Roman Catholic feast that Ant Myn is gonna try to invite Wyvern to?
Julia: I mean, is he getting invited to the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve?
Amanda: It sounds pretty, that sounds pretty right.
Eric: Oh boy.
Brandon: Wyvern is old enough to party, that's what we learned in this episode.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: That's what he says.
Eric: Yeah, just like McLovin. Wyvern has an... has an ID that just says Wyvern on it. He's from Hawaii, and he's 29. This is our episode just before Thanksgiving. So, I do want to wrap up and have all of us say the Thanksgiving dish that we love the most. Thanksgiving is my problematic fave. It is my favorite holiday, although all the things that it comes from is terrible, but I love cooking and I love Fall foods and Fall weather. So, hey, what... What Thanksgiving foods are you guys looking forward to?
Julia: I always do a scalloped potato and fennel recipe every year and--
Eric: Oh fuck.
Julia: --it's like, a favorite thing to eat and also to cook.
Brandon: Please send that to me.
Julia: Okay,
Eric: I want that. I don't even like fennel and I want that.
Julia: I don't even like fennel either, but it tastes delicious in this meal.
Amanda: Is it like the... the... the burly part of the fennel?
Julia: The bulb, yeah.
Amanda: Mix in with the potatoes? Yeah, okay.
Brandon: The burly part?
Eric: The burly part.
Julia: Okay so, you... you slice it really thin and you sauté with some onions. I guess, Amanda--
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: --if you were gonna make it you just would--
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: --do without the onions. And it's just like gooey and crispy at the edges and delicious, and it's great. And it's also something that you can make, like, the week before.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Oh yeah.
Julia: And just heat it up the oven day of.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: That sounds really good. Nicole Perkins, with whom Multitude makes this as good for you, had a recipe in a recent episode of her podcast for, like, Southern Turkey Gravy. And it involves, like, cans of soup, you know, and like soup mixes--
Julia: Of course.
Amanda: --that you put in with, like, turkey bits in turkey stock. So, I am very into that. As a kid, we would get, like, jarred chicken reef gravy that my mom served with a big chicken and like two nights of the week, every week. And so, that kind of flavor of, like, Campbell's Soup back to gravies is very nostalgic to me.
[Brandon and Julia humss in agreement]
Amanda: So, I definitely want to try that this year.
Julia: Tight.
Brandon: Yeah, my mom used to make that same thing too. It's just like MSG and salt in liquid form as well.
Julia: Hell yeah, dawg.
Eric: That's perfect.
Amanda: We are packing our MSG to put in our turkey brine this year, our dry brine. So, yeah, our turkey improvements are going to be, I think, 48 hour, Brian said 24, because Zola told me I could and I will. And bringing... bringing MSG from home to... to put in with the salt and sugar and pepper in.
Eric: Nice. Nice. Nice.
Julia: Nice!
Brandon: I'm always a pecan pie stan. I love pies, pies are the best desserts. I always make mac and cheese. I saw a friend-of-the-show, Roan, talked about this mac and cheese with, like, bread crumb topping, but it's stuffing. So, I'm definitely gonna make that.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Brandon: I'm gonna eat that up.
Eric: Yeah! I'm just fucking excited. I... here's the thing that people don't touch on on Thanksgiving is what do you eat the morning of Thanksgiving.
Amanda: That's true.
Eric: And I've been trying to crack this for a very long time, the closest thing that I can think of is, like, some sort of like egg tart thing or like a jammy yolk. Like something... like somewhere like deviled eggs on one side or like a ramen type egg on the other side. Some sort of egg thing and then coffee with whiskey in it. Some sort of coffee cocktail is the thing I've been trying to crack for a very long time because coffee will inhibit your appetite while you're drinking and cooking. So, I've been trying to, like, crack the combination of whiskey, cold brew maple. I think the closest thing that we've figured out is, like, shaking, cold brew, some sort of creamer, maple syrup, and whiskey together. Like, shake it as much as possible in a martini gla- [stutters] in a... like a cocktail shaker. If you have cold brew ice cubes as well, that will be helpful and then pouring all of that into rocks glass is the closest thing I've gotten so far.
Julia: Tight.
Brandon: If anyone likes cornbread go order your Anson Mills cornmeal now because it's the best --
Eric: Yes!
Brandon: --cornmeal of all time and I made it for the first time, like, last year . And I will never make any other kind of cornbread.
Julia: Hot damn.
Amanda: Oh damn. I normally do the Trader Joe's box which is like a sweeter corn bread which I personally enjoy a lot but I'm going to try that out.
Julia: And it's got soup corn in it too which is really good.
Amanda: Oh yeah.
Brandon: Amanda, that's corn souffle which is also delicious, but.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Not... not cornbread.
Amanda: I'm... I'm not claiming that they're... I'm not claiming that they're the same. I just very enjoy that and Eric's mom does, like a stuffing with cornbread that I love so much. Well, everybody, thank you so much for joining us for this after party. Thank you for your support we, you know, record these episodes and we put them out and we're like, "We'll be like it," so every single person who tweets and tags on Insta story and, you know, live blogs or episode in the Discord, we appreciate you so, so much you make this, you know, this experience making this podcast what it is for us. So, keep it coming and we'll see you next week with a hot new episode, things are gonna keep happening.
Amanda: Yep.
Brandon: Why? What happens? I don't know what you're talking about, Amanda.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Everything is totally fine.
Eric: We need to put that in our show description, "Things keep happening," it's very good.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: They just keep happening.
Amanda: They do keep happening.
Brandon: Bye guys!
Julia: Later.
[Garbled singing]
Amanda: May your rolls trend ever upward.
Eric: So much to do, so much to see.
Brandon: We're gonna get to montage, Eric.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: You never know if they don't go.
Eric: Oh no. I won't get five cents for my YouTube ads.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Hey, now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go. We'll see you next week.
[JTP Theme Music]
Brandon: Cola Nova is my superhero branded soda that I put out.
Amanda: Love it.
Eric: It just has your face on it. Thank you.
Julia: Thank you for giving me something to put at the end of the credits.
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Transcribed by: John Matthew Sarong
Edited by: Krizia Marrie Casil