Camp Diogenes Staff Handbook, Rule #000: It should be summer all the time! And now it is and will always be!
Announcements
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- We’re streaming at twitch.tv/jtpsidequests at 3pm ET in December (and tell us if you like that time)!
- Steven is a good dude who knows what they're doing!!!!
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Cast & Crew
- Co-Host, Co-Producer, GM: Steven!
- Co-Host (Les Proenneke), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Hershele Ostropoler
- Co-Host (Carrie-Ann Price), Co-Producer: Anansi
- Co-Host (Phoebe Cooper), Co-Producer: That Thing Where You Get Sunburnt Even When It's Cloudy
- Artwork: Coyote
- Multitude: Little Steven from Bruce Springsteen’s Band and Also the Malevolent Spirit of Summer
Find Us Online
- website: Steven's Cool Website For Chilling Out and Having Fun
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- youtube: youtube.com/c/jointhepartypodcast
- twitter: twitter.com/jointhepartypod
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- tumblr: jointhepartypod.tumblr.com
- merch & music: jointhepartypod.com/merch
About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into the Camp-Paign, our Monster of the Week story set in a weird and wild summer camp, or marathon our D&D games with Campaign 2 for a modern, sci-fi superhero game and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
Amanda: Last time on Join the Party.
Eric: Weeeeelllllll. Okay, Jennii with two N's and two I's made a deal with Steven and her soul got slurped out of her body. And now Steven has a face, so he can and he is coming into camp, which is bad. But on the bright side, Phoebe and Les got on to the staff lounge, which is the secret base that was inside the cliff. But when they went in there, then Phoebe found out that Charles was controlled by Assistant Director Z the entire time, and was not like her own special thing from her. But then Carrie-Ann stood up for herself, but she was then locked in a bone cage and it was dangerous and scary, when that happened. Oh, you know what, let's not get bogged down in the details my dudes. It's summer forever, and we're never leaving camp. Let's get the party started.
[theme]
Eric (as Steven): Hey, campers. It's Steven making the morning announcements for the rest of the time. Today, it's summer, and tomorrow, it's summer. And I need you to know that I could just keep going like this for the rest of the time. But really just imagine it's summer forever. Activities include sports. Also, stay away from Phoebe, she's weird.
Julia (as Phoebe): Hey!
Brandon (as Les): Phoebe shh. He'll know where we are.
Eric (as Steven): Carrie-Ann also pretty bad. Les? Too tall. Don't like it.
Brandon (as Les): That is true. I do hit my head a lot.
Eric (as Steven): I—I can hear you because I [laughs]—Well, what are you doing? There's no food or water because you don't need it. Alright, if you have any queries, any complaints, just talk to your camp director, me, Steven. Buh-bye. And have a summer-tastic day.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): [sighs] [shouts] FUCK!
[Brandon laugh]
Eric: Alright. Hey, friends. We want to play the end of our Monster weekend?
Brandon: What do you guys think happened to Bonez Bones?
Julia: He's bones now, Brandon.
Brandon: Yeah, you're right.
Julia: Come on, stick with it.
Amanda: Alright. I think he drove out of camp because he must sleep somewhere else. And is rallying the help of those guys who definitely aren't on Steven's side at the barbecue restaurant to come help us.
Brandon: And I heard he's bringing a cannon.
Amanda: We're alone, we’re the adults now, we're alone.
Eric: Amanda if you roll on that 20 right now, that's what's happening.
Amanda: I don't have any 20s.
Eric: Oh, you can only get up to 12. oh, I'm sorry.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: Hey, that sucked.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: The face Amanda just gave you, Ooh, boy. Amanda, roll the devil's titties, prove him wrong.
Eric: She's—[laughs] Amanda just grabbed more D6.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: I did not roll the devil’s titties.
Julia: Correct.
Eric: She did not roll the devil's titties.
Brandon: Oh man.
Eric: Okay, so a lot of stuff is happening right now. If we pick up where we left off, Carrie-Ann, you're in a bones cage sarcophagus. You're watching Steven to suck the life out of Jennii, with two Ns and two I's. And she is just a pile of skin and bones on the floor. She kind of looks like when you throw your sweatshirt and pants on the floor when you don't want to put it away after a long day.
Brandon: Like a Scraggy.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, she was like the Pokemon Scraggy, but it's all bottom half.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: [laughs] Brandon, that's the funniest thing you've said on the microphone. Congratulations. Here’s a Joken.
Amanda: Wooww.
Julia: Woow.
Eric: Here's a Joken—here's a Joken and I'm giving it to you.
Julia: Yay, it's Joken.
Eric: You got a Joken
Brandon: Thanks. It only took five years folks.
Eric: Well, I only got the Jokens made recently.
Brandon: Oh, okay.
Eric: It's like the—the currency from John Wick, like between assassins.
Amanda: What can you trade them in for?
Eric: Like a sticky hand?
Brandon: Oh, sweet.
Eric: And—and favors. Like favors to each other.
Amanda: It's pretty nice.
Brandon: Can the favor be a second sticky hand?
Eric: I mean, if you really want to trade that in, yeah.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Steven, with the life force, puts on a real meat face and steps over the wall. I think of this point, Conway rears up on their back legs and begins to intimate like they're going to charge it. Steven and says—
Eric (as Steven): Ah, ah, ah, only if you want to be turned into a horse-nory.
Brandon: Oh man.
Eric: As Conway lands back on the ground just goes, [Horse snorts] stomp, stomp. Like an angry— angry horse noise [Horse snorts]
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: Hey, I got—I liked that. Horse-nory, that was smart and funny.
Amanda: That was really good. Here’s a Joken.
Eric: I do—I—can I say something? I did think about that this morning.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I—I pre-wrote it down, that wasn't in fully and probably was written in my brain early on. Umm.
Amanda: Oh guys, he writes it in his brain, that’s where it’s written.
Eric: I do so much prep, I regret saying that I didn’t prep that one time.
Amanda: No you said it because it was the exception and not the rule.
Eric: That's true. Exactly.
Brandon: Hmm. Sure.
Eric: Brandon, if what—I would delight so much and all of you looking like you smelled bad milk for the rest of time by telling you I never plan anything.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: So I think as Steven continues to walk forward, like dramatically, I think he takes like big steps while raising his arms up, you know like he's a band leader.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Uh, as he steps forward and reaches out and like pulls the moisture from the trees around the leaves fall, immediately crunch, and land at his feet. So every step forward, he's taking big steps and then crunching on the leaves below him as he makes his way toward camp. I think at camp, and things start to get weird. You see kids run over to water fountains and there is no water fountain or water in the water fountains. They're just putting their little fish lips up there and they're not drinking anything. Kids are running over to big coolers of water and Gatorade and holding out their water bottles and their little paper cups for it. And they start, it’s just a little drip, drip, drip, and everything just looks a little brighter. It's like you put an Instagram filter over everything. And we're all the—the green is a little too green for your eyes and the sun is a little brighter, and like everything is a little more vibrant. And I think at that point, the sports staff guys walk over to the big shed that keeps all the sports equipment in it and say—
Eric (as Sports Staff Guy): Alright, it's field day. Get up into teams. We're playing games.
Eric: And just starts throwing all the sports equipment out on the field. Basketballs, dodge balls, tennis balls, baseballs, baseball mitts, baseball bats, cricket equipment, bocce equipment, really obscure games. There are way too many ultimate Frisbees, just throwing as much stuff as possible. And everyone just starts picking things up and starts playing pickup games all over camp. Everyone is just pulled into some game. There are intercabin games, there are boys versus girls. There is nonbinary people against the gender binary.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: The camp there's a—there are campers against staff, there's inter-staff stuff, people who are dating, they split up into teams, all these sports are happening at the same time. The fans that are in everyone's cabins turn off, like the kind of whir, go [air sound] You see the air conditioning in the office. I feel like it has those—
Amanda: Those little ribbons on the gate.
Eric: The little ribbons to demonstrate that it's working. And then they—they settle. Janine, who works in the payable accounting just goes—
Eric (as Janine): Oh, I'm gonna sweat right through my blouse.
Amanda: [whispers] Uh-huh. Janine.
Eric: I think the three of you are all outside of camp in the woods. So you don't know that this is happening. But maybe it's getting—feeling a little hot. Yeah, so all three of you are outside of camp right now. Here's my idea here, so you can either run into camp immediately right now and try to stop Steven and get the element of surprise. Or you can hole up somewhere, try to get safe and stay away from everyone who's playing field day sports. Prepare if you want to try to like research something, look into something, depending on where you will choose to hole up. And I will remove one harm from each of you. But I will be going harder on you in terms of the the soft and hard moves I can do as your keeper. Because theoretically, Steven had more time to prepare. And also people let's say, might be playing sports for those entire time that you are all holed up.
Brandon: Well, me and Phoebe don't know that Steven has walked into camp yet. We just know something bad has happened.
Amanda: What do you think, Julia?
Julia: I think that the time skip is more narratively rewarding, and also gives us time to prep against the big bad, which I think is good. And I also like I think it would be interesting, because like, for example, Assistant Director Z is also outside the camp. That's an ally that we can keep in our pocket.
Amanda: Yeah. Like if us three and—and Z you know, had just like overnighted in the staff lounge, and then it's you know, two days later, and we're figuring out how to attack it like that. That makes sense to me. I think because we're outside of camp and Steven, you know, is off doing his own thing. I think that's fun.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Us three and Z is my favorite sitcom. And I agree that I think even character-wise, I think that we would probably like want to prep.
Amanda: Regroup.
Brandon: Take a beat and try to figure out what to do next.
Amanda: Cool.
Julia: Uh, Brandon, you—you, me, and ADZ.
Brandon: There it is. There it is.
Eric: Alright. I'm gonna make a note to myself, that I need to make it a You, Me, and Dupree meme, Photoshop, I gotta have to do that.
Julia: Got it.
Eric: Yes, that sounds great. Where—where are you all thinking to hole up? You all want to try to figure it-- get there in the staff lounge?
Julia: Yeah, I think the staff lounge is the right place for us to hole up.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: So, where we left Phoebe off, Phoebe had the Charles hat, let's call it, right?
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: This is like you bought it at Disney.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Like you got—you got the Charles ears.
Julia: So the Charles ears allow Phoebe to embody what is the physical form of what Phoebe considered to be Charles before, right?
Eric: Well, it's kind of so—yeah with the—the—the assumptions you can make from what you—from what you're figuring out. Yeah, well as you put—you put it out like VR glasses and you look down and you were a big old moose.
Julia: Yes. And [laughs] as we kind of made a joke of before, Phoebe was able, or at least Carrie-Ann was able to hear Phoebe as the moose.
Eric: Oh that's right. [laughs]
Julia: So I think that when Phoebe puts the hat back on, she must be fairly close in moose form to where Carrie-Ann is?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: So I would like to in moose form go and free Carrie-Ann with my giant antlers from the bone cage and bring her back to where the staff lounge is.
Eric: Incredible.
Brandon: Fuck. Yes. Fuck, yes. Loving that. Good plan.
Eric: I—I did see this coming.
Julia: I—because I did ask about [laughs]
Eric: I did feel like when I made Mickey Mouse moose ears. And I want to say that these are the special Jack Skellington ones that you could only get in October.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Phoebe, role + weird.
Julia: You got it.
[dice roll]
Julia: Oh baby that is a 10 + 2 for a 12. Let’s absolutely go.
Eric: Yeah, dude, what does this look like?
Julia: A giant majestic magical moose.
Eric: You can start to see some bones and whose covered in fungi and lichens.
Julia: So this creature kind of lumbers through the forest, and appears near the wall in front of Carrie-Ann.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Charles, I know you would come.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Charles): Oh, Carrie, we have so much to talk about.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Great because there are many problems. And Jennii, I think is dead. Never really wanted that to happen. I mean, I'm not like that sad, but it's a problem. I think.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia (as Charles): Oh shit. Jennii's dead? Fuck.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah. Can you—can you like sneeze on her and bring her back to life or something?
Julia (as Charles): No. Oh—oh, buddy. Okay, I'm gonna free you.
Julia: And then the moose uses his big ol’ horns, to just kind of pry the bone cage off of the ground and away from Carrie-Ann.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Thank you.
Eric: I want to make a special note to Brandon. Brandon, please continue to use the xylophone noise as the bone—[laughs] as the bone sarcophagus falls apart.
Julia (as Charles): I guess climb on my back, and I'll take you to where me and Les are.
Amanda: Now Eric, is Conway still next to me?
Eric: Sorry if I didn't say he's explicit. Conway ran away. Steven threatened Conway and Steven is fully just heading towards camp. Steven is not around anymore. But when you do look over, you see that there's like, almost like someone Zambonied their way through the woods with just like dead leaves, dead grass, dead everything. There are some dead birds and some—some--
Amanda: [whispers] Oh no.
Eric: Well almost looks like roadkill. Like, in—on the—on the way as well.
Amanda: I wanted to know because, if Jennii's body was still there, I think Carrie-Ann would have to deal with it. But if Conway like you know, gathered her up and took her away.
Eric: No, Jennii's body's still there. It's a big skin sack with some—some bones in it.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Umm, thank you, Charles. Uh—I am—one second I'll—I'll climb on in a sec.
Amanda: And then Carrie-Ann like,
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): [sighs]
Amanda: Does a big sigh and takes off her sweatshirt.
Julia: Not your vintage one?
Amanda: Yeah. And kind of like—
Eric: No, that's the 1982 one that says, it's radical to go to Camp Die.
Amanda: She kind of like—
Brandon: That was limited edition.
Amanda: Folds Jennii’s like legs and torso together, and gathers it up into a bundle, and then jumps on Charles's back.
Eric: That's the sweatshirt that says better than new coke [laughs] Camp Diogenes. And then they got sued by the Coca-Cola company.
Brandon: It was Crystal Camp Diogenes.
[Eric laughs]
Julia: Yeah, we got sponsored for that one season.
Eric: Yeah, you can scoop up Jennii's skin and bones for sure.
Julia: We have to make jokes Amanda because that's very sad.
Amanda: I kind of just like hold it off to the side slightly and uh, and climb on Charles's mossy back.
Brandon: Now Eric, I do have a quick question that's not really relevant, but I do. I am curious. Now when I'm picturing Steven, I am picturing one of that 12-foot, 10-foot, 6-foot, whatever skeletons for Home Depot walking through the woods. Is that correct?
Eric: 100%. I think that as Steven starts to suck up more of the nature in camp, I think he grows and now he fully looks like one of those Home Depot 15-foot skeletons with sunglasses on. Well now he has a real face so his sunglasses make sense, attached-- he has his ears too.
Brandon: Now question on that too. Is he just like fully like skin face masking, like Leatherface or whatever? Or like did he grow his own face back?
Eric: I think the latter. I think the latter is what is—is what I was going for.
Amanda: Like a head on a skeleton.
Eric: Yeah, like a head and the—head and hair on a skeleton for sure. As he grows, but of course his sweatshirt, his ripped sweatshirt grows with him. The—the watermelons don't. So he kind of like reaches into the woods and pulls up like a full giant handful of watermelons and just like tosses it into his mouth like M&Ms.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Mini M&Ms, like,
Eric (as Steven): That was my watermelon stash.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Uhh, I think the—the moose trots back through the woods riding-- with Carrie-Ann and the sack of Jennii, riding as well.
Amanda: Yeah. Carrie-Ann's monologuing the whole time to Charles being like—
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I'm so glad you're here. I don't know why Steven did this. I—he's— he's—he burst into the camp and like Jennii took a deal.
Amanda: And I—I—you know, just like talking through the entire thing, with the assumption that Charles is going to make everything better right away.
Julia (as Charles): Wow. That's a lot.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): You know, I feel like you and Phoebe have had a real kind of effect on each other.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Because your voice is sounding a lot like hers. And honestly, she's the best person I've ever met apart from my other best friend. Like they're both just equally the best. So it makes a lot of sense that you're learning from her because like, why should she just learn from you because she's allowed to teach, you know?
Brandon: Uh oh. Do we have a love triangle on our hands?
Julia: You watch a giant moose cry.
[Brandon and Amanda laugh]
Eric: A giant tear rolls out of the moose's milky white eye.
Amanda and Julia: Full of algae and stuff.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah.
Brandon: Oh gross.
Eric: It’s so disgusting. Yeah. Absolutely. I—I think the moose then charges through the woods. I think you also see the uh—Phoebe as you're going through. You see that there are little stone Johnnie statues that are pointing to the way towards the staff lounge.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): So yeah, are we going to like meet all of your other friends, like are we going to meet like all the other you know, primordial beasts of the forest? Because I think there's going to be like, no offense, maybe like three or four of you are going to be needed to—to—beat um—to beat this skeleton here. Because Steven like grew a lot and he kind of like sucked up in energy and like made a face and I feel like having a face makes you more powerful. And like no offense, because your face is kind of half a face, but like I’m just really glad that you’re here because I—listen. I can’t handle this one of my own.
Julia (as Charles): Oh, buddy, we have so much to talk about when you get here.
Brandon: Umm, Eric, if you could in the future, just please um, Charles in charges through the forest. If you could just—
Julia: Fuck you.
Brandon: Thank you.
Eric: Brandon. I thought you were gonna tell me that like I wasn't in front of my microphone.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Oh no.
Eric: Give me—give me your joken back. Give it back to me.
Julia: Return the joken.
Eric: Return it. I don't care that you already spent it on two sticky hands. Give me your joken back.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I think that, Les—all the fairies have flown away. What are you doing after the fairies have floated away and fought on your behalf?
Brandon: Oh, yeah. I mean, I've just been hoofing it back to Phoebe, to meet back at the staff lounge.
Eric: Okay, cool. So then you probably yeah, you meet back outside of the staff lounge cave opening. [laughs] Carrie-Ann, Carrie-Ann with something in her sweatshirt, on top of Charles the moose.
Brandon (as Les): Uhhh. Hey, Carrie-Ann
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Oh, thank God, are you okay Les?
Brandon (as Les): Ye—I'm fine. You're riding a giant ghost moose?
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, this is Charles you know, Phoebe's friend.
Brandon (as Les): Charles is real?
Julia (as Phoebe): Uhhh... Yes, and no?
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Brandon (as Les): Uhhhh. That's a weird thing for Charles to say.
Julia (as Phoebe): Uhh. You guys should come inside.
Brandon (as Les): Okay.
Julia: And then Phoebe is going to le—and then Charles is going to lean down, let Carrie-Ann off and Phoebe is going to take off the moose hat.
Brandon: Blah.
Amanda: Uhh.
Eric: Absolutely. Carrie-Ann, as you hop off and I guess we're cutting if maybe before split screening this, Phoebe, you see Phoebe taking the moose head off. Charles turns around and then like slowly pads their way back into the forest.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Wait, but we need you. Oh, you know what? No. I'm so silly Les, he’ll probably just teleport inside.
Brandon (as Les): Uh-huh, yeah.
Julia: Ohhh, Carrie-Ann.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Idiot.
Eric: Stupid. So stupid. Obviously.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Oh, Jennii died. I have her bones though.
Brandon (as Les): Oh. Shit.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah. I felt pretty bad for Conway and also Jennii. Umm, but I—I got them. So hopefully Charles could just like breathe on it or something, and then she can you know, pop back to life.
Brandon: And Les looks over, it's just a sweatshirt full of like blood and bones and skin.
Eric: No no, I want to be very clear. There's no blood.
Brandon: Oh. right. Yeah, yeah.
Eric: It's just bones and skin.
Julia: The driest damn skin you've ever seen.
Eric: Just so dry.
Julia: Crinkly in many ways.
Amanda: Surprisingly light.
Brandon: Puddles of Jenniifer is my hair puddles of mud cover band. [whispers] Okay, let’s continue.
[Amanda giggles]
Amanda: Did Les see how to get in?
Eric: I think the—the cave mouth is still open.
Brandon: Okay, okay, 'cause I don't think he did.
[Brandon and Amanda laugh]
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: We should also close it behind.
Amanda: Yes, we should.
Julia: Just as a recommendation.
Amanda: Yeah. So yeah, I think uh, Carrie-Ann will just march forward into the cave.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Alright.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): New party camp, can't wait.
Brandon: And Les bravely goes in behind Carrie-Ann.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Alright, Carrie-Ann and Les, you're seeing the same thing that Phoebe saw before, you walk in. It's a cave [laughs] with fluorescent lights. There's like a table with some like, strange magical items on it. There's like some IKEA couch [laughs] and some chairs that someone probably donated from their old—old cabin that they didn't need anymore. There's a—there's an arcade machine in the corner. And sitting in the center of the room is Assistant Director Z, who is like very intense in thought. There is energy radiating off of him. He has his hands on a fairly large stone Johnnie statue pile. And the word protect is written on the top rock, and he is focusing his energy into it and is deep, deep in that. And then Phoebe is standing there. [laughs]
Brandon (as Les): Uhh... Pheebs, cool hat.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah. Phoebe, Charles rescued me. You gotta tell him to thank you.
Julia (as Phoebe): Uhhh...
[Brandon giggles]
Julia: And Phoebe like, from behind her back reveals the hat. And it's like—
Julia (as Phoebe): So, Charles both was and wasn't real? Like what's real in that, like, I was talking to a magical moose. But not real in that he is not the manifestation of nature, but rather this motherfucker behind me.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: And she pointed at Assistant Director Z.
Brandon (as Les): Oh, what?
Julia (as Phoebe): Yeah.
Brandon (as Les): How?—um... Phoebe, I don't want to like lump you into like, all—all magical stuff. Because like, you know, that's not fair. But like, I don't understand how any of this works. Do you have any idea?
Julia (as Phoebe): Les, I have no—I have less of a fucking clue than I did before this, which is saying a lot because I didn't have a lot of clues before.
Brandon (as Les): Gotcha. Gotcha. I assume we shouldn't wake up ADZ right now, right?
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): No, because Steven did kill Jennii and then enter camp. So,
Brandon (as Les): Shit.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): That's the thing that we have to deal with.
Brandon (as Les): I assume it's like, you know if you—like sleepwalking. Like if you wake up with a sleepwalker, they die? Is what I've heard.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Oh, well, I won't. I won't do that then.
Brandon (as Les): Well, I just meant like as—as a metaphor or a simile, for what's happened with ADZ—like we shouldn't—
Eric (as Charles): Should we plan to figure out what to do with Steven?
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, yeah, no, I was thinking about waking up Dougie Juice next time he has a nightmare, by drowning him in chocolate chips. But I, unfortunately, I might have to wait for next summer for that.
Brandon (as Les): Yeah, he's probably dead.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Oh.
Brandon (as Les): I mean, his last name is Juice. And Steven does want to drink things. So that will be my first move from our Steven.
Eric: Oh, 'cause his name is Dougie Juice. Nice.
Brandon: Yeah. Yeah.
Amanda: Does ADZ seem like he's hearing us or is he just like fully entranced?
Eric: Fully entranced.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: I mean, like, this is not to say one way or another. This isn't like waking up a sleepwalker, he won't die [laughs] if you—if you talk to him. But I'm not saying one way or another if that's a good idea or not a good idea. I'm just saying that like, you won't kill ADZ If you talk to them.
Brandon: Eric, I know that.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: No, I just want to be clear.
Amanda: I still don't think it's a good idea to interrupt his protection if he's actively fighting the—the dino.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: Cool.
Amanda: So maybe we can like decamp over to the couch and—and compare notes about what we've experienced.
[theme]
Eric: Hey, it's Eric. I want to give a special shout-out to eating wherever you want. Whether you are sneaking food into a movie theater, or a sports game, you are eating standing up with your holding your—your bowl or you have it on a kitchen island, or you were sitting on your couch and you're precariously balancing a bunch of stuff on your knees. Shout out to wherever you eat and however that makes you happy. Welcome to the mid-roll. I just spent all of Thanksgiving eating standing up at my mom's kitchen island and her yelling at me, but it's the perfect height for me and I love eating standing up. So I'm giving a shout-out to that. Anyway, we have so many announcements for Join the Party. So I want to start by shouting them out. Now. I have made two new pieces of digital merch that I think you're gonna be really excited about. You can find them at jointhepartypod.com/merch, or in the links in the episode description. The first is called More Monsters to Mash: A Monster of the Week Bestiary, this is where I've included all of the Homebrew that I've made for the camp paign that has 13 monsters and eight custom moves spread out over nine mysteries. You can also find the mystery that I made that we didn't record, that involves the curse of Mario Party-esque video game. So you can run that for yourself. I hope you saw that sounds fun for you. There are questions and prompts to incorporate my monsters or moves into your own game so you can pick and choose what you want. There are also incredible custom Pixar portraits made by Zoli, Paul Dano, who makes a lot of our Art here at Join the Party, she's the absolute best. The second is called Three Short Games to Build Stories is just $5. It's a compendium of all of the world-building games that I've run on Join the Party, which is city planning. That is— this is what my camp is like, which is the name of the game that I did for the camp paign, and I'm going to be doing for campaign three. And of course, campaign two's finest bro, you had to be there, where you tell a story about something that didn't happen, which was done by Wyvern, as you remember. You can get that at the merch store. I'm really, really happy that I got the chance to work on this. And I really hope that all of you use it in good games, and good times, and in good health. So yeah, go pick it up. I worked out and right before the wedding, it was so helpful to like de-stress my mind. I think you're really really gonna like it. Make your Monster of the Week game or any tabletop RPG game that you have feel as deep and as fun as Join The Party with these pieces of digital merch. Another announcement streams at twitch.tv/jtpsidequests, we're moving them to 3 pm Eastern for December, noon pacific. And I'm not sure where it is anywhere else outside of the United States. I'm so sorry. But this is going to be so people in Europe and in that area can en—enjoy it so everyone can watch as much as possible. We're trying this also because of December and the holidays. So we're going to see how this works. And if people like this time, just let us know. 3 pm Eastern for streams instead of 6 pm at twitch.tv/jtpsidequests. And a final reminder for those of you who are listening to this week, we're going to be at PAX Unplugged. The premier non-video game gaming convention is in Philly, and we are going to be there from December 2nd to the 4th come through. We're gonna have a Multitude booth. I'm gonna have to Join the Party merch. We're gonna have Grumfungo stickers. I'm doing a Games and Feelings live show. If you're in the area, if you're coming if you're there, please come say hi. There are a bunch of announcements. Thank you again to our newest patrons Rachel, Katherine, Lexa, and Marius. We are doing all this stuff and we would not be able to do it without the support of 600 strong of you, we always want more. We're always doing more fun stuff at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. The other thing that lets us do what we do, is the fact that Multitude, the business, the podcast company continues to flourish in 2022 and beyond. But I would love to ask you to support your friendly local podcast collective. Multitude is a small business that helps creators make a living in the modern media landscape which is not easy to tell you. For $5 a month you can join the multi-crew, which is where you can listen to our weekly friendly debate podcast, Head Heart Gut. You get access to our pen pal exchange, you get access to monthly live shows, and much much more. Your dollar goes further when you support indie creators like us at the multi-crew, which you can check out and multicrew.club. Whether you spread the word or spread the love with your dollars, shop, small, and support Multitude on this Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, and Small Business Saturday past. Just tell someone about Multitude and consider becoming a multi-crew member. We are sponsored today by Inked Gaming. Inked Gaming can be your go-to shop for gaming needs. It's a great company to keep in mind. It's built by and four people who love games and know what you want. Whether you want personalized products with unique designs, whether you're just looking for a game or some accessories for your GM or a friend or just to make your own gaming setup a little bit cooler, you got to check them out. So sweeten the deal for Join the Party listeners. You can get 10% off only if you do what we say. Simon says heads in your head. Simon says touch your knees, touch your toes, ah go to inkedgaming.com/jointheparty and use promo code Join the Party at checkout. Simon says the discount is automatically applied once you check that out. That is inkedgaming.com/jointheparty and use promo code Join the Party at checkout. We are also sponsored today by Backblaze. They provide an unlimited computer that has unlimited computer backups for Macs and PCs. It is just $7 a month. Recently, again, I was hanging out with my mom and she was complaining about the price of Starbucks drinks. Like listen, spend that money on however you want. I'm not gonna judge you. But like if you get like an extra pump of vanilla and an extra espresso until like a latte, that's just $7. You could spend that money on that very specific latte in order on backing up your data forever. You can backup documents, music, photos, videos, drawings, and all of your data backed up on the cloud. And you can access it using the Backblaze ios or android apps. They have restored over 5 billion, billion with a B files for customers. They are the premier backed-up people, and they know how to keep a cool head when you are in a bad place when all of your data is gone. You can get a free fully featured no credit card required trial at backblaze.com/jtp. That is backblaze.com/jtp for a free full-featured trial. And finally, this show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I wish I had a hard restart button that would make everything so much better. Because like I'm not even talking about like an off button. One that would make you just like to go to sleep, which I would also love. But just like a hard restart button while everything's happening, I can just like hit that. And then I'm fine. Turns out, it's like sit on my couch and playing Pokemon for 36 hours, which isn't great in different ways. But it sure does hard to restart my whole brain. And I need to be like eating food needs to be readily available at all times. But of course, it took me a really long time to figure that out. Because my brain doesn't have a user manual. But the closest thing we have to user manuals for our brains is therapy, and BetterHelp online therapy can be the best way to get that therapy. As the world's largest therapy service. BetterHelp has matched 3 million people with professionally licensed and vetted therapists available 100% online, plus it's affordable. Just fill out a brief questionnaire and a match with a therapist. If things aren't clicking, you can easily switch to a new therapist at any time. It couldn't be simpler. No waiting rooms, no traffic, no endless searching for the right therapist. Just learn more and save 10% off when you go to betterhelp.com/jointheparty. It's better H E L P.com/jointheparty and now back to the show.
[theme]
Eric: Okay, so is there anything you all want to do, that isn't like mystery related? Are you—all of you talking to each other just about what—what's going on?
Julia: I think I want to like assist ADZ. I want to like stop that being like a nebulous thing whether or not he can defeat the Bonezilla.
Eric: Right.
Julia: So whether I can do that through magic or by donning the Charles hat again and sending the moose out to fight as well?
Eric: Sure, why don't you give me to use the magic roll to see how you can be of service here.
[dice roll]
Brandon: Are the fairies also helping Eric?
Eric: They are helping, they're just also being affected by Steven. And now that Steven is like a 20-foot skeleton in there with summer powers, he has changed the whole landscape here, he has everyone under a certain amount of thrall within the area of Camp including the fairies themselves. The fairies were able to subdue and distract the Bonezilla as it was happening. But I think that they're also playing like, I guess what can only be described as basketball but in three dimensions. So like they're also kind of involved in every—in everything that's happening, especially and maybe I didn't get to touch on this before, was like Greenbrook and Steven had a relationship that like for all intents and purposes, Greenbrook being the head of the fairies was like—almost like he was there like, I don't know, like the mafia to John F. Kennedy. You know what I mean? Or like to a corrupt mayor. They were this muscle or this magical power, while Steven was in-- kept outside of the wall of camp. So without Greenbrook, there's no—the fairies are like, fuck this guy. But the fairies are no longer allies of Steven. So they are also just getting totally summer-afied, just as much as they're all the cumin, campers, and staff. So the—I think the fairies are no longer helpful. Unfortunately.
Amanda: I think that I would probably try radioing the director, but that is all that I would want to do before we kind of go into the next phase.
Eric: So wonderful. What I would like to do and we can do all of this stuff after we established this. I would love to like, you know, Monster of the Week revolves around a mystery. So let's establish the mystery here. So let's do the beginning of the mystery stuff. Pheebs, let's give me a premonition, and Carrie-Ann, uh [laughs] let's see what your sect move does.
Julia: I rolled a 7.
Eric: Ooh a 7. That's—this is interesting, something ambiguous.
Julia: Yeah, clouded visions of the future.
Eric: Phoebe, I think that as you were able to pull yourself together and you're telling everyone what happened and how you—and how you got in and what the password is to get into the staff lounge. You do one more That’s So Raven-ing as you get pulled somewhere else. You are in a very hot room. It is dark. There are candles on the floor, and the three of you are all holding hands and concentrating very hard.
Julia [as Phoebe): Blegh.
Amanda: Good vision.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: You—you come back and you're like, am I still—did I sweat through my T-Shirt?
[Brandon giggles]
Julia (as Phoebe): Am I still sticky? Eughh.
[Amanda laughs]
Julia (as Phoebe): Or I will be sticky? Huh.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Okay Julia, once a day you're gonna get sticky but you don't know when.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Incredible.
Amanda: For the beginning of the mystery situation, my sect move requires being in good standing with my sect, which I don't think I am.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: What do you guys think? I mean, I just—I feel like Carrie-Ann is not advancing the camp's best interest. She's advancing her own judgment right now. And I think instead if you would permit it, Eric, I would love to use my move, mentor, which is to contact my mentor for info. Rolling + sharp.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: And try to radio the director. On a 10 plus, I get an answer to my question. 7 to 9. They're busy and can't help or they answer but I owe them a favor. And then if I miss, my question causes trouble.
Eric: That's fair. I think that we can start there. Before even we—we learn anything about the mystery itself.
Amanda: Thank you.
[dice roll]
Amanda: Ooooooh. Guys?
Brandon: Hmm?
Amanda: It's the devil's titties.
Brandon: Yeaaaaaah!
Julia: [shocked] The devil's titties!
Amanda: Plus sharp is the 13, baby.
Eric: Let's go. Alright, so what do you get? What do you get from hitting that real hard?
Amanda: I contact my mentor for info and get an answer to my question, no problem.
Eric: Sure. On the wall I think that there is like a—I guess can only—I can only explain it as what looks like a very—it's like a CIA phone [laughs]
Brandon: What?
Eric: Like, it looks ominous. It has a big flashing light next to it. And it's just kind of like installed on the wall of the cave.
Amanda: Eric, I love this piece of world-building, but I—I do want to first try the radio that I had passed to Les and Phoebe because I don't want her to know where we are, necessarily.
Eric: Oooh.
Amanda: Can I try that first?
Eric: Yeah, I mean with a crit, you definitely can do that for sure.
Amanda: Okay. So I'm going to—I'm going to say,
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Walkie me!
Amanda: And then hold out my hand.
Julia: Phoebe just tosses it at you.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, best friends.
Amanda: And then I'm going to depress the button and say—
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Carrie-Ann for the director over.
Amanda: I depress the button.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Have you gotten eaten by Steven yet, over? Are there a lot of watermelons around, over?
Eric (as Boo): Oh, it’s my friend Carrie-Ann, what’s up?
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Oh my God, Boo I'm so happy to hear your voice for once. How are you? Are you okay?
Eric (as Boo): Umm, hold on. Let me ask my mom. Mom, am I okay?
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): No, no, Boo, talk to me, talk to me.
Eric (as Boo): My mom says, she's shaking her head sadly. I can't really read adults well. What does that mean? Over.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Um, I mean I'm—you're—you're still there. We've—we've practiced leaving your body and going back into it before right?
Brandon (as Les): What?
Eric (as Boo): No. What?! Are you to—were you going to help me with it?! If you didn't believe me when I told you I did that.
Eric: Remember Boo said that, Boo was sneaking into the candy. Was sneaking into top shop and the candy shop.
Amanda: Right.
Eric: And pulling out candy for people, and he said that you did not believe him. You thought that he was using his mom's key to get in there.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I'm sorry I didn't believe you Boo, I have learned a lot of things about camp that I did not think were real in the last few days, over.
Eric (as Boo): Okay, it’s fine. What’s up?
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Uh, where are you guys right now, because I am hiding in the woods because Steven just killed—I mean um did—did some things that were against rules, um in front of me, over.
Eric (as Boo): Um, I’m not allowed to be-- in case someone’s listening to that, my mom told me I’m not allowed to tell you where we are.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Okay, sure I—I won't do that either then over um not—not over.
Eric (as Boo): There are spies that could be listening to us so I can’t tell you where we are.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Okay, um, director if— if there is something um that I should know about this sort of like doomsday situation, and what we should be doing to solve it, I would really like to know that, please. Because I don't—I don't want to die like the more annoying counselor that has slept under my bunk bed all summer So can someone just like fucking help me, over.
Eric: I mean you did crit. Umm...
Julia: Damn those dice.
Eric (as Boo): Okay hold on, my mom is asking for the walkie-talkie. Okay bye, bye Carrie-Ann.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Love you, Boo, over.
Eric (as Boo): Okay, bye.
[everyone laughs]
Amanda: Never been happier to hear that voice.
Brandon: So are we to assume that Boo is back into Boo's body or is Boo using the radio as a spirit box?
Amanda: Yeah, that's what I think it is.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Who can say? I'm gonna write that down. That sounds pretty cool. I don’t know if that’s what’s happening. That's pretty cool.
Eric (as Director Löw): Carrie-Ann, this is the Director, over.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Hi, Director, over.
Eric (as Director Löw): Hi, Carrie-Ann, over.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Please answer my question. I'm really tired of this. What should we do, over?
Eric (as Director Löw): I'm not su—I'm not sure. I'm still trying to figure that out. There isn't anything in the camp handbook about what happens when Steven comes in. Because the whole thing-- we're doing—we've been uh—there's plenty of things in the camp handbook to keep them out. We don't exactly have a Steven is making eternal summer happening plan, over.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Okay. I mean, it seems like your whole thing about being neighbors with the weirdness um, sort of like, you know, their tree fell in our backyard. So what—what—like, is there something that we can do? Over.
Brandon (as Les): Carrie-Ann, Carrie-Ann, asked if we needed to like, make winter. Like, is that a thing? Do we need—can we do that somehow? We have like a snowblower?
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Umm, Les, I'm not trying to be critical, but I don't think that making winter is going to help. Um again, since it—okay fine. Should—Les wants to know if we should like make winter or is there a snowblower, over?
Eric (as Director Löw): Do you know where Assistant Director Z is? Over.
Amanda: All three of our heads comically turn to look at him.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I think we can probably find him, over.
Eric (as Director Löw): Okay, if you do see him, he might have something on him that might be able to help. Do you know how Steven got into camp?
Brandon (as Les): Is it a snowblower? I bet it’s a snowblower.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, um, Jennii pro—Jennii made some kind of deal with him and promised him that he could come in in exchange for two more weeks of summer. And then he like, sucked her body dry and then grew a face, over.
Eric (as Director Löw): Oh, hmm.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): Yeah, I was pretty traumatized. I have her bones though, over.
Eric (as Director Löw): Okay. I—hey, Carrie-Ann, I'm sorry, you were traumatized. I'm going to say something that's going to feel a little callous. Just brace yourself. Honestly, one of the best ways we could have been betrayed, honestly. So there are actually two solutions you can figure out. I don't feel secure enough to say this over the walkie-talkie. But it's actually quite good. If you're able to talk to Assistant Director Z, in person or if you can find me, if we ended up running into each other, I can tell you exactly what I'm thinking. Unfortunately, I am hunkered down at the moment, I cannot tell you where I am. Boo is with me.
Brandon: In spirit.
[Amanda giggles]
Eric (as Director Löw): So don't worry about finding him okay?
Amanda: (as Carrie-Ann): Okay, over.
Eric (as Director Löw): Thank you. Good luck, over. Stay safe. I know you can. I believe in you.
Amanda (as Carrie-Ann): I love you.
Amanda: And then Carrie-Ann turns off the—the walkie-talkie.
Brandon: And then throws it on the ground and smashes her with her foot. [laughs]
Amanda: Not quite, but I do turn the volume off fully. So I can't hear her response.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Wonderful. Alright. So I think that we have a little bit more information here about establishing the mystery. And I think we've gotten the beginning of mystery moves out of the way. Right now I can tell you that the mystery is on.
[Ending music plays]