Welcome back to the One Shot Derby, the character creation competition between three different TTRPGs! After we play all three games, The People will vote on the game in which we’ll play out the one shot.
This week, we’re playing Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova. Will we fall for the golden girls to win it all?
Housekeeping
- LIVE IN PORTLAND, March 23! Get your tickets at jointhepartypod.com/live
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Cast & Crew
- Game Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host, Co-Producer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host, Co-Producer: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host, Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- One Shot Derby edited by: Mischa Stanton
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
- Multitude Podcasts: https://multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into our current campaign, a pirate story set in a world of plant- and bug-folk, or marathon our completed stories with the Camp-Paign, a MOTW game set in a weird summer camp, Campaign 2 for a modern superhero game, and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
[theme]
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): Oh, hello. Happy New Year. It's 1942 and it's me, Scout McGarry here at the One Shot Derby. A lot's changed in the war effort. There is a war, now in America and the world, I'm a little flustered, I must admit, as we begin this year, because programming-wise, we are still doing the same thing, and yet everything has changed. Hello, here, me Scout, RIP to Buttons, but I do have a brand-new horse, and his name is Gloves. Welcome to the One Shot Derby.
Eric: Wee!
Brandon: Wee!
Julia: I can't believe you dropped that Buttons died, but now there's Gloves. What a rich person thing.
Brandon: I was gonna say, the rich person's horse.
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): If your gloves have buttons, you're rich. And if they don't, you're poor.
Julia: That is true. That's actually true.
Eric: In this situation, as it's 1942, I feel like Nazis killed Buttons and the United States government gave Scout a new horse. And I don't think that's a rich person thing. I think that's just what happens.
Amanda: Hmm.
Brandon: Well, I hate to rain on this parade, but I don't think America has entered the war effort yet.
Julia: I thought last we left off, it was December and Pearl Harbor was—
Amanda: It was December 15th, 1941 when we ended the last episode. I wrote it down.
Julia: Pearl Harbor was about to happen.
Amanda: Pearl Harbor happened, and then we said, the vibe has changed.
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): Here we are in early 1942, we've gotten through Christmas and a new year, and a lot of our resolutions are about killing the Nazis.
Amanda: If I got the year of Pearl Harbor wrong, I do need to know.
Brandon: No, it's December 7th, 1941.
Amanda: Okay, great. So we are eight days post-Pearl Harbor at the end of episode one. We are a month and a half post-Pearl Harbor in episode two. Welcome, folks, to the One Shot Derby where, of course, we play the character creation sections of different tabletop role-playing games, and then let you, the people, decide which one we play out into a full one shot. My name is Amanda—
Brandon: Wee!
Amanda: —McLoughlin, aka the voice, but not the intellectual property creator of Scout McGarry, daughter of Scoot McGarry, daughter— son of Jerry McGarry.
Brandon: I was gonna say the voice, but not the body of Scoot McGarry.
Julia: Well, you can't prove that.
Amanda: We'll see.
Eric: No, I'm like Stan Lee. I'm Eric Silver. I own the IP of Scoot McGarry.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: That's right, and that's why you appear in the background of every Scoot McGarry feature.
Brandon: That's true.
Eric: In the Scoot McGarry cinematic universe.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: And even when you die, we'll continue that tradition, Eric.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Thank— yeah.
Amada: We'll just have AI slap your face onto Tom Cruise's face in more and more unrealistic Mission Impossible movies.
Eric: Yeah, but I'm letting Brandon control only this portion of my post—
Brandon: Yes.
Eric: —death in existence.
Brandon: Eric, if you give me even this inch, I will fuck you up in death.
Eric: I really want a Succession situation where Julia, Amanda, and Brandon fight over my life rights.
Amanda: Your life right.
Julia: Brandon, can I suggest that after Eric dies, you create some sort of sound, much like the Wilhelm scream—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —that other sound designers can put into—
Amanda: Oh, that's very good.
Julia: —the cinematic universe of some kind.
Eric: Can it be my klaxon? That would be great.
Julia: That would be great.
Brandon: That's really good and also very practical and smart and honest, and good and genuine. I was hoping you would say, "Brandon when Eric dies, you were gonna create a puppet of him and just pretend to Marionette him on every JTP episode?"
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: No, I want the one Julia said. If I could say something about that, I want the thing Julia said.
Brandon: You're dead. Shut the fuck up.
Eric: I'm not dead yet, motherfucker. Bop, bop, bop, bop. Here are my guns I have from World War Two. They're not that good.
Julia: Now, Brandon, you could, like, you know, do what Eric suggested, which is his excellent Klaxon or you could just pick a really embarrassing sound.
Brandon: Oh, let me see what I have in my folder—
Julia: Oh.
Brandon: —of Eric embarrassing sound.
Julia: Oh.
Eric: Oh, you definitely have—
Julia: Oh.
Eric: —this folder. I know you do.
Brandon: Yeah, I definitely do. I have one for everyone.
Julia: Oh.
Brandon: Let's see. For Eric, we've got Eric's, "Eh!" We've got his Godzilla. We've got Eric saying, "Good fucking idea." We've got Eric's, "Heh!"
Julia: Wait, how are those two different? Just real quick?
Brandon: One has an H at the top and one doesn't.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Brandon, can you play one now?
Soundboard: "Eh."
Eric: And I'll play the other one.
Sounboard: "Heh."
Eric: Love it.
Amanda: Distinct.
Brandon: I also got Eric saying, "Shut the fuck up." And I've got Eric saying, "That's called a Yes, And."
Julia: Nice.
Eric: I want That's Called a Yes, And. Put that in the background of so much, so many scenes, like someone in a crowd, regardless of what's happening, says that in the background.
Brandon: Do you want to guess what Julia's funniest— Julia is, by far, the most racy out of all of ours.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yes. Julia is—
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: —definitely, "I just got back from getting my dick sucked."
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I don't have that one, actually—
Julia: What?
Brandon: —because it was Twitch and it was hard to find.
Eric: Oh, sure.
Amanda: The stream, yeah.
Julia: No, it's only YouTube. Yeah, it was the last one of whichever Twitch stream it was.
Brandon: I've got— that one was so funny. I've got Julia saying, "Hole so deep." I've got Julia saying, "I'm furious!"
Julia: I'm furious!
Brandon: And I've got Julia saying, "Pussies."
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: Oh, I've also got Julia saying, "Skin blue, dick's out."
Julia: "Skin blue, dick's out."
Eric: Yo, you didn't see that one the first time? It was hidden. You had to like—
Amanda: Page two, page two.
Eric: Brandon had to move a curtain aside to see it.
Julia: It's redacted.
Amanda: Incredible.
Brandon: I've also got Amanda saying, "Oh, the devil's butthole."
Julia: Yeah. I like that you remember the intonation of each.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brandon: I've listened to them so many times.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Brandon, I don't think you need to keep any for Amanda, because one, she's gonna live forever, and two, she's gonna say something nonsensical every single episode.
Brandon: Yeah. Well, at some point, I will put these on a soundboard so I can use them as little like, I guess, responses, like—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: And I've got nice ones for Amanda. Like, I mean, I got Amanda going, "Oh, my God, I love that."
Julia: Cute.
Amanda: That's great. I do just want to say that if anyone in the Join the Party audience is proficient at coding, like, the equivalent of a flash-based website in the mid-2000s and they want to code a virtual Join the Party soundboard.
Brandon: Oh.
Amanda: I, for one, would be very open to putting that just available for free.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: To sort of spread our influence.
Julia: I like it.
Eric: Well, this is a certain amount of Eldritch horror underneath a cozy and comfy situation, isn't it?
Amanda: Hey.
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Much like we're seeing in our game that we're playing today, called Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova.
Julia: Yay.
Brandon: Wee.
Amanda: Yay.
Eric: I'm just gonna read from the introduction, because I'm so excited about it. I just want to read exactly what this game is, if you haven't heard about it. This is a role-playing game about a group of elderly women members of the local Murder Mavens Mystery Book Club, who find themselves solving actual murder mysteries in their quaint New England town. They become aware of a dark occult conspiracy connecting the murders and will eventually have to defeat that dark conspiracy to save their community.
Julia: Hell, yeah.
Eric: God, this game, it rips.
Brandon: Love it. Uh-hmm.
Julia: So this was one of the games that, I think, you suggested, Eric, and in reading the playbook, which is usually like, for me, at least, feels a little tedious sometimes. Like, "Oh, I have to go through the rule book, like that's kind of annoying."
Brandon: I'm above the rules.
Julia: I have not liked a game so quickly as—
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: —beginning to read Brindlewood Bay.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Well, I— I'm gonna tease this for the audience. In a few days, you're gonna listen to an interview that I did with Brindlewood Bay creator, Jason Cordova.
Brandon: What?
Amanda: Whoa!
Julia: Whoa!
Eric: Because I needed to talk to him about this game. I'm— I've been so interested about it, but it's like— so this is a Powered by the Apocalypse type game. It is based on the game Apocalypse World. We've talked about this because this is also the basis of games that we've played before, like Monster of the Week and one of my favorite tabletop RPGs called Masks. It's very much a form, follow, and function type game. You use this setup of like rolling 2d6, you know, fail, mix success, and success. And ordinarily, these games have playbooks. Remember back in Monster of the Week, how we had— what were the three of your playbooks? Do you remember?
Julia: I was the spooky.
Amanda: I was the acolyte.
Brandon: And, yeah, I was the archivist.
Eric: Very much about, like, giving specific playbooks so that you can inhabit specific types of characters from fiction. You were all different characters from Buffy or from X-Files or whatever. In this game, Brindlewood Bay, you're all Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote style old women.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: And the— so the character creation we're going to do is much more similar, except you all have, like, specific— closer to, like, personality types or qualities, or abilities that are going to define you and it— they're all very similar women. It's like— the character creation is going to be very more straightforward, and yet, like, propulsive because of the choices that we're going to make here during this character creation episode.
Amanda: It's the opposite of you meeting in a tavern, isn't it? Like, it's not randos who cross paths in a place where randos are known to cross paths.
Eric: Right.
Amanda: It's, "Hey, we have established relationships. We are friends because we have things in common." And our character creation begins with that premise, which for me, is very cool and creatively stimulating.
Julia: Yeah, I like that a lot.
Brandon: Is the opposite of that a breakup at a AA meeting?
Eric: Yes. Yes, it is.
Julia: Huh.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: This is also probably the most modern game that we've played. Like this game was written four years ago. It also got expanded from a 32-page playbook to a 168-page playbook a few years ago—
Brandon: Shit.
Eric: —based on a Kickstarter.
Julia: That's wild.
Eric: So it's like this is very much post-modern as opposed to, you know, Inspectors and Fiasco came out 10, 15 years ago.
Julia: Wild.
Eric: Even Monster of the Week is a legacy game. This almost feels like it's in conversation with the boom that happened to tabletop RPGs over the last 10 years, and Jason, like, pushing that forward in the way that Monster of the Week is supposed to recreate the story of a Monster of the Week style TV show. This is mashing up Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, '70s, '80s, '90s TV and mysteries with the occult and murder mystery storytelling, which I find so interesting.
Amanda: And Eric, you mentioned that the specific character creation, like episode one mechanics, really worked for you as another reason why this game was so good.
Eric: Yeah. The One Shot Derby was created to spotlight games that had really good character creation. So we're gonna go through the session one, step by step guide that is in the Brindlewood Bay book.
Brandon: Hell yeah, dude.
Julia: Woo.
Eric: Hey, how do we all feel about playing older women, or how do we feel about Golden Girls, or Murder, She Wrote, or these types of TV shows?
Julia: I like Murder, She Wrote. I haven't watched a ton of episodes, but I would die for Angela Lansbury, if she wasn't—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —already passed away. RIP.
Brandon: You can still die for her. She doesn't have to be alive for you to die.
Julia: I know. Well, I feel like I— dying for her when she's already dead, I don't know if that works, really.
Brandon: The ultimate sacrifice.
Julia: Yeah, well. And then I also— I love, like, small, sleepy town that has hidden, dark, ethereal, occult secrets underneath, like that is so my shit.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: I love that.
Brandon: Yeah, I am not— I have not watched a ton of the— like you might need to explain some of the references in here to me, but I love the esthetic of it. I think it's super fun. And I also am an old lady on the inside, so—
Amanda: This is true.
Brandon: —it works. Yeah.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Now, Brandon, you only one layer on right now. Is that okay for you in this space here?
Eric: I was just thinking this.
Julia: Do you want to go get a cardigan?
Brandon: Shut up, guys.
Eric: Brandon has accepted, after living on this Earth for 80 years, that he's always cold.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: I— see the thing is that I'm from Texas, and so my average room temperature is, like, 82.
Eric: Honestly, Brandon, I really hope that you play a Texas granny who's moved— because we're all now living in this New England town.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I'm definitely going to play like a New York transplant. I'm very excited about this.
Amanda: Incredible.
Brandon: Of course you are.
Amanda: And I absolutely eat this shit up. I love a cozy mystery. I love Miss Marple, a— for Brandon, sort of, like, canonical detective character, of like the old lady who was underestimated because she is a sweet, old lady actually solving shit in her town. There's, like, Father Brown, who is a priest or a reverend, whatever they call him, who does similar things, like the English cottage town. But also, my grandma is a huge reader, and we have a two-person book club where we read grizzly murder mysteries. She is bored by the cozy murder mysteries. You can definitely read lots of series where it's like, "I run a cupcake bakery and, like, accidentally, like, there was a hand in my flour. Aaah." And Gammy's like, "No, no. I need more." So we read, like, grizzly murder mysteries together, so—
Brandon: She, like, saw the novelization.
Amanda: I mean, basically.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: So I am so excited to live what I hope is my future and my fantasy of being in a murder mystery book club that also solves real murders.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Brandon: You ever worry that your grandma's gonna murder someone?
Amanda: No, she'd be really good at it, though. She did just get a new hip, so she is, like— she's good to go.
Brandon: Spry as fuck?
Julia: She could be out there now.
Amanda: She's spry.
Eric: Your grandma is one of the— would do one of the plots where, like, you grow a specific flower, and no one knows what that flower is.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Eric: But, like, its pollen can be reduced to be a specific poison that gets slipped into a baked good. She would 100% do that.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Gammy's growing a peach tree so that she can use the arsenic inside of the peach pit or whatever the fuck.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Oh, don't worry. Brandon's putting on a cardigan. It's okay.
Julia: Oh, there we go.
Amanda: Yay.
Julia: Oh, no, it's the sweatshirt that I know.
Brandon: It's not a cardigan, guys. It's not a cardigan.
Amanda: It's a layer.
Brandon: I'm not that cool. It's just a fucking hoodie.
Eric: Even I don't love this specific genre of storytelling, I watch quite a lot of Golden Girls because my friends are very much people who watch a lot of Golden Girls and stan Angela Lansbury, so I know a lot of these references. But also there's a lot of just like straight up '70s, '80s, and '90s TV show references that I know, but I love a post-modern examination of a genre and the fastest of the genre that this— I'm just super stoked to be a part of this. So—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —here's what we're going to do. We are all going to create characters and go through the session one step by step guide. Whoever ends up being the keeper, I think their character should die.
Amanda: Retire.
Brandon: What?
Amanda: Retire permanently.
Julia: Well, retire? They're the first victim.
Eric: It's part of the mystery.
Amanda: No, I know, I know.
Julia: Their first victim.
Eric: And then we'll thread that into the storytelling of where we're at here.
Julia: Cool. I'm into it.
Amanda: And best for three players, so one keeper, three players is what the manual calls for.
Brandon: Love it.
Julia: It also says, "Dear God, don't do more than five."
Brandon: And—
Julia: Which is very funny.
Eric: For real.
Amanda: I'm gonna shout out to anybody who ends up purchasing and reading this excellent book, which you definitely should. I love that it tells you what to do, and it says, "Don't do this. Please do this."
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: "Hey, it's not fun if you, you know, do this or don't adhere to this rule. Like it is good to read. It is well written. I am just such a fan, right away, of reading this book. Just like you said, Julia, it both, like, made me excited to play it, and also made me think like, "Yes, I do want you to give me the recipe. Like, please give me the recipe for fun."
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And this game very much feels like that.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah, I was telling y'all before we started. Like, this is by far the best written TTRPG handbook I've seen.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: And granted, you know, it obviously goes on the backs of giants, but like the way it details how your session goes and, like, all of the X-Card stuff, how you set up your narrative session, it's just really well written out. It's beautiful.
Julia: Yeah. It's tight as hell.
Eric: We are going to be using the 168-page because we bought it, because we pay for our tabletop RPGs.
Amanda: Hey.
Eric: But it really is worthwhile for how much care has been put into the expanded version.
Julia: I might buy a physical copy of this, like, genuinely.
Eric: I kind of want a physical copy.
Brandon: The art is beautiful, too.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: All right, folks, you want to get started?
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Okay. So we're literally gonna go step by step here. It also includes time estimates for each step.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I absolutely love this. Okay.
Julia: It's really like taking care of the people who are going to be playing it. Like, it's like, "Hey, look, we know maybe you don't want to sit here for, like, four hours doing character creation. Here's how long everything is going to take." I love that.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: When to take a break, yeah, scripts to say, which I find so helpful, if I'd never GM before.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And I was like, "Okay, welcome to my table." Like it gives you an excellent sense of how to get started.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Not that you need it, Eric, but you know, for others.
Julia: For others.
Eric: Yeah. Okay, so step one is read the text. I've bought— I bought the game a few weeks ago. I sent it around to everybody. We've all read it. I read it kind of back to front, in case I am the one who ends up being the keeper, also for me to just kind of better understand some of the mystery elements of how the game runs. Remember, in Monster of the Week, how it was set up in this way of you trying to unpeel things. There's a real, like, you all trying to figure out the clues, sort of thing, which is the basis of how sessions are run from the, like, keeper towards players perspective.
Brandon: Yep.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: All right. Step two, we gather play materials. We won't need dice, but we will when we're playing. We'll need index cards to make character name tents, which I think is really cool. We'll also need to track clues and suspects, so keep that in mind. We're gonna need notes if we end up playing this. A pencil, everyone needs a pencil. Enough character sheets for each player to have one. We all have character sheets. Copy of the reference sheet with all of the moves and stuff that we're going to need. Copy of our Maven move sheet, we're going to get to that in a second. A mystery sheet and our conspiracy sheet, that's going to be for the keeper to keep track of all the stuff that's going on.
Julia: Yep.
Eric: Step three, gather participants. We're all here.
Julia: We've gathered.
Amanda: Hi.
Brandon: Oh, wait, hold on. Okay, I'm gathered.
Eric: Okay, good. Thank you.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: This is what Amanda was talking about, can I read it out loud?
Eric: Please.
Amanda: "Brindlewood Bay works best with one keeper and three players. One keeper and two players, and one keeper and four players also work well. Avoid playing Brindlewood Bay with five or more players."
Eric: I honestly kind of love that this game is good for two players.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: We've always had this tension on this show, which is three players and one game master felt like the minimum.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: But this game is like, "No, you're fine. Don't worry about it."
Amanda: "Yeah, you're okay. You're good. You're good."
Julia: "It works."
Eric: Step four, player and keeper introductions. We can go around the table. We should say our name, our pronouns, and anything else the group might find interesting about them. You could skip this step if you're playing with a group of friends who know each other.
Brandon: We're not gonna skip this step, all right?
Amanda: We're not gonna skip this step. Thank you.
Eric: I agree.
Amanda: I thought the exact same thing.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Okay. Amanda, you want to go first, then?
Amanda: Yeah, sure. Hi, my name is Amanda.
Brandon: I'm sorry, I mean, player number one, do you want to go first?
Julia: You in the gray sweater.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Who came in from the cold.
Amanda: My name is Amanda. Pronoun, she/her. I'm cool with the they. You can throw that in there. I'm fine with that. And a fun thing about me is that—
Brandon: This is why I wanted Amanda to go first.
Amanda: Well—
Eric: You guys are so ridiculous. I was like, "No, we're doing this step." And then it's like, "I don't know. What am I supposed to say?
Brandon: "I don't know. What am I supposed to say?
Eric: "I don't know. What am I supposed to say?
Amanda: My fun fact is that even though I am lactose intolerant, my favorite cheese is goat.
Brandon: Ooh.
Julia: Nice.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: It's worth the pain.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Hi, player in the other cute sweater, who are you?
Julia: My name is Julia, she/her. I guess you could throw in a they if you're nasty. I like that.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Julia: And something interesting about me is I like to embroider, and I like French knots the best.
Amanda: Ooh.
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: True, true.
Amanda: A cozy hobby.
Brandon: Oh, oh, oh.
Julia: Oh, oh, oh.
Brandon: Hi. My name is Brandon.
Eric: Hi, Brandon.
Amanda: Hi, Brandon.
Julia: Hi, Brandon.
Brandon: First time, longtime, my—
Julia: Are you here to break up at the AA meeting?
Brandon: Yeah. My pronouns, I use he/him, but I don't really care. You can call me rat if you want, whatever.
Eric: Just don't call him late for dinner.
Brandon: Just don't call me late for rat dinner. Rat dinner.
Amanda: Rat dinner. It's a dinner, you're a rat. Rat dinner.
Eric: Please, please, guys, let's take two minutes only.
Brandon: Something that you might find interesting about me is that I played— I recently played pickleball against my not old parents but not young parents, and we won only three games to two, me and my brother.
Amanda: Great.
Julia: Damn.
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: They have more practice than you. It's fine.
Brandon: Oh, it wasn't fine, Julia. It was really embarrassing.
Amanda: That is a good fact.
Julia: And you with the striped shirt.
Amanda: Cutie whose wedding ring matches mine, how interesting.
Eric: Oh, my God. I'm Eric. Pronouns, he/him, and I've invited you all here because there's been a murder.
Amanda: Whoa!
Julia: Whoa!
Amanda: My dream.
Eric: All right, let's go to step five, which is called CATS. It's an acronym that stands for concept, aim, tone, and subject matter. This is presented by the keeper and helps to establish some basic expectations of how the game is going to proceed. It's a low stakes way for the keeper also to get accustomed to being the spotlight. So I think reading text out loud and people listening to them, which I think is actually really good.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: So here's the script, I'm gonna do CATS. It's an acronym, boop, boop, boop. Here's the concept, Brindlewood Bay is a role-playing game about a group of elderly women, members of the local Murder Mavens Mystery Book Club, who frequently find themselves investigating and solving actual murder mysteries. They become increasingly aware that there are supernatural forces that connect the cases they're working on, and in particular, a cult dedicated to the dark, monstrous aspects of the goddess Persephone will come to vex them.
Julia: Hey. I know her.
Eric: I've heard of her. The game is directly inspired by the television show Murder, She Wrote, but also takes inspirations from the cosmic horror genre, mystery books, cozy crime dramas, and American TV shows from the '70s, '80s and '90s. Aim, the aim of the characters in the story is to keep their community safe by investigating the murders taking place there. Our aim as players is to learn more about these characters, as well as paint a vivid picture of the town of Brindlewood Bay, a responsibility that we all share.
Brandon: Oh, man.
Eric: The aim— Brandon, you know some people do say that. The aims of today's session are to create and introduce our characters, learn the basics of how the game works by playing it, and then have a debrief period at the end. So we're going to go through nearly all of the steps and then stop before the actual mystery starts.
Julia: Gotcha.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Tone— and actually, I want to talk about this a little more, because I'm very interested in this part of the game. Tone, the tone of this game bounces between cozy and creepy. Most of the time, the game will be fairly light-hearted, but occasionally, it will get very dark and menacing. Some kitschy, campy humor is permissible here, and very much in keeping with some of the game's inspirations. But above all, your characters should take everything they do very seriously, even if we're having a bit of a laugh from time to time. There's also some game mechanics that facilitate this, which I find really interesting. Like—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —there's always this phrase that goes around when we— in this, like, new style of storytelling tabletop RPGs, where it's like, be a fan of the players. Like, it's not—
Julia: yeah.
Eric: —my job as a keeper to kill you. It's my job to make sure everyone has a good time. But there's actually things that the keeper can do to make that happen, and there's two that I want to talk about really quickly. One is the crown, where you can— there's things on everyone's character sheets where you can either put on the crown of the queen or the Crown of the Void, where you—
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: —reverse failures into successes by, like, putting yourself out there. It's almost like a luck mechanic, where the more you use it, the worse the repercussions are.
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: But you should do it if you need to and then you explore things inside of your character, either you as a woman and your— you as a family member and things about your character, which is what you do with the crown of the queen. Are you accessing the terrible cosmic horror parts of yourself with the Crown of the Void? And you get to—
Brandon: Hell yeah.
Eric: —choose which one you're going to explore that.
Brandon: Love it.
Julia: Love it.
Eric: The other thing that I really like is that if something really bad happens, the keeper can cut to commercial.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: So good.
Brandon: This is my favorite mechanic of any RPG I've ever read.
Eric: It's, honestly— it's so good.
Julia: Can we just do a full mini session of this? Like, you know, like, I just want to do a little mini session already.
Brandon: No, only if the people vote for it, Julia.
Julia: Oh.
Amanda: I'll— listen, we can tell people what we think, but ultimately, it is their ranked choice voting that determines what happens here. So I— I'm feeling great about this so far.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I still want to do the murderous. Like, I'd be down to do either one at this point. I really want to say that.
Brandon: As long as the electoral RPG College votes for it, then.
Eric: But you can cut to commercial, and then the person who failed has to do the commercial, that when he—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: —directed towards people watching the Brindlewood Bay TV show. And if they do a good enough job, you immediately switch it to a success. But I love that I—
Julia: Wow.
Eric: —that you're supposed to play out the repercussions if you had failed. But then it's like in this alternate timeline we're now in, where you succeeded, what do you want to have happened?
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Nice.
Eric: Which I love. It's like you see all aspects of what this story could be.
Amanda: It's so respectful to what happens and what the dice tell you to do, while also acknowledging that I'm gonna have an emotion about that.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: And, like, giving me the option to put myself out there to change it if I really care about it that much.
Brandon: And some soft improv for people who are scared of improv, which I like.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: It gives you a lot of suggestions of—
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: —commercial, so—
Eric: Soft improv is when you talk about like having sex with a pillow, right?
Brandon: Gross, Eric. Inappropriate for this children's game.
Eric: This is not a children's game. We are exploring the womanhood of these elderly women in Brindlewood Bay.
Amanda: Yes, we are.
Eric: Yeah. So I like that we're gonna be able to bounce between failure and success, but also bouncing between horror and cozy. So it's like even when bad things happen, we're gonna have to return to our coziness. Both in terms of, like, the way that we use coziness as a— an escape from our lives, but also making sure that we're not only in toxic positivity and actually move stuff forward, both in terms of the plot, but also us having fun together, and needing conflict to tell a story.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric: So let's talk about subject matter, murder of all varieties, threats to animals and children, ritual magic, human sacrifice, and other dark subject matter come up in this game from time to time. We'll talk about safety tools in a moment. But in the interest of setting expectations right now, you should know that while the game is generally light-hearted, some intense subject matter can come up. All right. Let's go to step six, safety tools. We've talked about some of this stuff before. We've talked about the X-Card before, where you can either— usually, you would point or touch a card which has an X on it, on your table, say, "I don't want to do this anymore." There are lines and veils, which is where, "I don't want to cross this line. I don't want to talk about this subject," or veils where, "Hey, let's just kind of fade to black on this subject and not play it out." I feel about veils with sex a lot. I'm like, "You know what I don't want to do? Is listen to Brandon talk about his character getting his dick sucked."
Brandon: But what if I talk about having sex with a pillow, Eric?
Julia: Hmm.
Eric: Oh, that's funny. That's funny and good.
Julia: That's veiled.
Eric: And there's something called the open door policy, which I think is interesting, that I haven't seen written out here. You can leave the game for any reason and you don't have to explain yourself. Just let us know you have to go. No one here will ask any questions about it, which I think is interesting.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: I think it's really good. And Jason also cites the sources and the origins of all of these mechanics, which I have never seen done in a game before. So thanks, Jason.
Brandon: Me, neither.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Eric: Hell yeah. All right, let's go to character creation. That's where we are, step seven. Before we begin character creation, I want to tell you a little bit more about the things these women have in common. First, they all had a life before Brindlewood Bay. They had a career and a partner who is now deceased.
Julia: Aw.
Eric: They may or may not have children, but pets count. And so—
Brandon: As do plants, Amanda.
Eric: And I was gonna say—
Amanda: Thank you.
Eric: —pets count, plants count. You don't need to dwell on their backstory too much yet. We'll discover more about them as we play the game, but start to think about these basic details as you create your character. At this point, I'm gonna pass out character sheets, which we all have, and have everyone make their Maven. Players can do these steps as they wish, but they should stop when they get to the section of the character sheet called a cozy little place. So here's what we're going to do now. We're going to choose a name. There's some name suggestions here. We're going to choose a style of how you dress and your whole vibe as an older woman. We're going to circle a cozy activity. Each of us need to have our own cozy activity that we do on our own, our own little hobby. We're going to add one point to one of the abilities that we have here. We have abilities like we do in other Powered by the Apocalypse games, which kind of dictate the pluses and minuses we will do with moves. We have vitality, composure, reason, presence, and sensitivity, I think, to the occult.
Julia: Ah, okay.
Eric: Not like emotions.
Julia: I— listen, I would trust a game that told me what my sensitivity level was in terms—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: —of my emotional state.
Brandon: I love that.
Amanda: Sensitivity (ghosts).
Eric: And then we're going to choose a Maven move from the Mavens move sheet. There are so many of these, because Jason is a benevolent god.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: We have a set of Maven moves that are inspired by '70s, '80s and '90s TV shows. And we also have some Maven moves which were the alternate versions that got added for the Kickstarter, that are inspired by mystery stories, so like—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: —detectives. The funny thing about it that I read in the book is that all of the moves are named after men, because the women are the characters and the men are the props, which I find very funny.
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: That's really funny.
Eric: Which I love. So we're all going to do this, and then we're going to come back together and share our characters.
Julia: Hell yeah. Let's do it.
Brandon: Let's do it.
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): While you gather all the extra tin in your house for the wire effort, we'll be right back.
[theme]
Amanda: Hey, everybody. It's Amanda. And this week's soothing midroll is brought to you by a cup of tea at the perfect temperature. When you almost forget about your tea and then you're like, "Oh my God, I hope it's still warm enough." And then you go to pick it up and, ooh, that's exactly the right temp to start sipping at that tea. Welcome. Thank you, and a special welcome to our newest supporter on Patreon, who this week, is a mystery recipient of a gifted membership. Is it you? Check your inbox. Did you know that you can give a month or even a full year of Patreon membership to a friend or loved one. If you are loving the One Shot Derby and want to make sure all of your pals can listen to the final episode, sign up now. Remember, only patrons will hear the final One Shot, though, everybody's voice can be heard as we vote at the end of the derby for which of our games we will play out. We can only make this show because of your support on Patreon, so if you want to get the final Derby One Shot, if you want to get ad-free episodes, early access to episodes, our biweekly Party Planning podcast, and, of course, access to our patron-only Discord, you gotta come on over to patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Hey, folks, we are having a live show in Portland, Oregon on March 23rd. Come on through. If you are within driving distance of Portland, if you want an excuse to visit Portland, it's pretty affordable in March, because that's not like high tourism season, come on over. Or if you know somebody in the Pacific Northwest and you want to make them go so that you can say that your friend went, do it. Get your tickets now at jointhepartypod.com/live. Tons happening over at Multitude these days, and I would love if you checked out Big Game Hunger, a weekly comedy show where Jenna Stoeber and friends craft the next big video game every dang episode. Every single Monday, Jenna and pal start with a randomly generated genre, concept and vibe and go through the, like, logical extent of these ideas, taking it far enough that they could, in theory, pitch it to a shadowy board of rich investors. Big Game Hunger is an incredible time. I promise you're gonna love it. If you loved the time loop episodes in campaign two, you might be interested in what's going on in Big Game Hunger right now. So go on over into your podcast app, open it up right now, click that search icon, and type in Big Game Hunger.
[theme]
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): Hello, have you brought all your tin cans to the post office and to exchange them for milk ration tickets?
Brandon: No.
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): If not, you should. I'm Scout McGarry. A lot of you been asking about my new horse, Gloves, and one great thing about him is he loves alfalfa.
Brandon: Oh.
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): Happily, that is a type of crop that is not currently very useful for the war effort, so Gloves is having a great 1942. Now, back to your program. Support the war. Don't ask about internment camps. Goodbye. Back to your program.
Eric: All right. I need to take this away from—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Hold on. All right, so we're gonna go around and introduce our characters. Because it's important for us not to have the same qualities, we're going to go around in the same order and say our name, our style, our cozy activity, and our Maven move, and we're gonna, like, fight to the death.
Brandon: Huh?
Eric: About holding on to our qualities for our Maven.
Julia: Do we—
Eric: So who wants to go first?
Julia: Yeah, I was gonna say, do we want to determine an order similar to how we do with Fiasco?
Amanda: Who has the most number of denim shirts?
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: I mean, it's two.
Julia: It's also two.
Brandon: I don't think I have any anymore.
Eric: I think it's one.
Amanda: Well, actually, probably— actually, I think I have—
Julia: Okay.
Eric: Oh, it's Amanda.
Amanda: All right. I should go last, then, because I have the most denim shirts and that's embarrassing. So the order is going to be Brandon, Eric, Julia, Amanda.
Julia: Fair enough. Fair enough.
Brandon: Okay, great. Well, I'll start with my name, then. And I was immediately, like, first thought, best thought, Amanda style, attracted to the—
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: —name Violet. I don't know why.
Amanda: Nice.
Julia: Aw.
Brandon: But I like Violet.
Eric: Good one.
Julia: I like that a lot.
Amanda: It's a great name.
Brandon: And then I looked up sort of like Jazz-Age old last name to see what would sound good with it, and I think it's gonna be Violet Buford.
Julia: Ooh, I like that.
Eric: Ooh, good name.
Amanda: Great name.
Brandon: Yeah. So nothing funny.
Julia: She sounds elegant.
Brandon: But I think Violet Buford.
Julia: Nice.
Eric: I love Violet already. I was attracted to the name Billy. I think it's great when older women have men sounding names, because you know someone had to do that, gave them that nickname when they were playing stickball in the Bronx.
Julia: Yes. Yep.
Brandon: Or that their parents were hoping for a boy.
Eric: It could be— it's both, Brandon. You know it's both. So I'm gonna go with Billy Blitzer-Reinsdorf.
Julia: Reinsdorf, that's fun.
Eric: Reinsdorf.
Brandon: Fuck, Eric.
Amanda: Now, Eric, what historical athlete did you take that from?
Eric: I took that from two owners of NBA teams.
Brandon: Yep, that's good.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: Yep. So Billy Blitzer-Reinsdorf.
Amanda: Oh, I thought Blitzer was a nickname. Great.
Julia: Oh, she hyphenated it. Got it.
Eric: She hyphenated, yeah.
Julia: Got it.
Amanda: Very progressive, Billy.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: I didn't pick a name from the list because I was—
Brandon: Shocked.
Julia: —feeling inspired.
Brandon: Shocked.
Julia: Shocked. Everyone's shocked. I went with Sybil.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: Good one.
Brandon: Okay.
Julia: And then I was trying to— it was just a first thought, best thought, Sybil Valentine.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Good.
Amanda: Yeah
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Julia: It sounds like it's from something, and I Googled it, and I think it's someone's character from a Final Fantasy game. I don't think it's a canonical character from a Final Fantasy game.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: You're combining. So Valentine is a last name that I think a lot of fictional characters have.
Julia: Yeah, definitely.
Eric: So— but that's good.
Brandon: I like it.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And Sybil is very Final Fantasy coded.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: And my name— so I named myself in campaign two after my grandmother I didn't know, Margaret Aggie McLoughlin.
Brandon: Oh, I don't think I knew that.
Amanda: And— yes, yeah.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: And I am naming myself today after my living grandma, whom I love, Joyce, and my character's name is Joyce Melon.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Joyce Melon.
Brandon: Joyce Melon.
Julia: Oh.
Eric: Sniped. Joyce Melon.
Julia: That's my favorite type of melon.
Brandon: One of my grandmas was also named Joyce.
Julia: My grandma's also named Joyce.
Brandon: We have—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: My grandma's name was Melon.
Amanda: Julia's grandma Joyce and my grandma Joyce once met on a beach, and my grandma walked away being like, "I think Joyce doesn't like me." And I'm like, "That's not true, grandma."
Julia: No, she's just like that.
Amanda: And she was like, "I don't know."
Eric: "No, grandma, she's Italian. It's fine."
Julia: Joyce is decidedly German.
Amanda: So is mine. I thought they had so much in common, but—
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: —you know, you can set your grandmas up on play dates, they don't always, yeah, they don't always become BFFs.
Eric: I've started trying to set my mom up on playdates too, and she does not know what to do.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Fair.
Brandon: What the fuck do you do on a play date with an adult, Eric?
Amanda: It'd be like— we can get coffee or hike.
Eric: Yeah, you just, like, tell them to, like, go do something.
Amanda: Go talk, yeah.
Brandon: Imagine yourself as an older adult Eric and tell me exactly what you do on a play date.
Eric: But they're better at talking to people than I am.
Julia: Go play tennis or something. I don't know.
Eric: Yeah. Like, they— go into synagogue together.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: You know? Okay, let's go to style. So there were some suggested styles, both are fashion-styled, I think our whole vibe that we're bringing.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Some references to here. There's Jackie O, there's Martha's Vineyard, there's Blouse Barn. There's some really good ones here. Brandon, you get first pick. What is your style?
Brandon: Well, you guys shouldn't have let me get first pick, because my first thought, when I was reading this, was, "I'm gonna play a very sex-positive old lady."
Julia: Hell yeah.
Eric: Yes.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Hell yeah, dude.
Amanda: What flavor, up in pumps or high femme?
Brandon: I'm just calling it sex positive. I don't know what up in pumps exactly meant, but that was the one—
Amanda: Oh, okay.
Brandon: —I thought was probably closest. But I don't know what that exactly meant.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. Up in pumps to me is giving like a Miranda Priestly, a Miranda from Sex in the City—
Brandon: No. Okay. Not that.
Amanda: —like the lawyer.
Julia: Oh, I thought that was like—
Amanda: Not that.
Julia: —Office Hours in my mind, but—
Amanda: Got it.
Brandon: Got it.
Julia: —interesting.
Brandon: Mine is more like— it's the sweet old lady who does the cozy activity that I will name later.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Who then starts talking about how to find a clitoris, and you're like, "Whoa."
Eric: Hmm.
Amanda: And so are we like flowy kaftans or are we, like, push-up bra and like, "Oh, she's still got it."?
Brandon: No, flowy caftans kind of situation.
Julia: Oh, you're—
Eric: Oh.
Julia: Oh, God. You're Barbra Streisand in Meet the Fockers.
Brandon: Probably, yes. I haven’t seen that in a long time.
Eric: Hmm, I like that.
Brandon: Yes.
Julia: Gotcha.
Amanda: Can I— Brandon, may I call this style sex therapist? Because that is giving sex therapist.
Brandon: Yes.
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: I like that.
Julia: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: A 100%. You know, it's like— I do this at high school. I could just do it for you right now.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah, I love that, Brandon. I think it's great. One jumped out to me really quickly, I got to do this. All the cardigans for this boy right here. For my cardigans, I want all of my cardigans to have, like, intricate pastoral—
Julia: Murals.
Eric: —landscapes on them.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Like someone has—
Brandon: That's really good.
Eric: —stitched many a sunset, many a forest, many a sheep in a barn, sort of situation on the backs of them. I wanted them to be really, really intricate.
Julia: And if this was a TV show, it would be like a little reference to what the mystery is going to be about based—
Amanda: Yup.
Julia: —on like— you see the first scene, you're like, "Oh, she has a sunset cardigan on. What's gonna happen in this episode?"
Brandon: Hmm. I love that.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: That's great.
Eric: I like that. I've already started thinking about this, but because the game tells you this is a small New England town, and you had a life before this. The entire time, though, is like Billy definitely grew up in New York City in the '60s.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Eric: And, like, knows people from there and now, like, lives here.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: The other thing— I also promised one thing about my character to Jason Cordova and I'm not going to tell you what it is. It might come up in play, but you can listen to the interview and you could— you can hear what I— I'm going to say.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: Are you gonna be dropping for free on Friday as a bonus episode for everybody on jointhepartypod.com?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: What? Oh, shit, I got to edit this.
Julia: Whoa!
Brandon: So hold on.
Julia: I decided for Sybil, I'm going hippy-dippy.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Those are Birkenstocks.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: There's overalls happening. There's like—
Eric: So crunchy.
Julia: —no bra ever. It's just— it's all hippy dippy, baby.
Brandon: She's never worn a bra in her life.
Julia: Never in her life.
Brandon: Not once.
Eric: Never ever.
Amanda: Well, she did, then she burned it.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Oh, okay, okay.
Amanda: And since the '60s has been— it's been— no.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Yeah, she burned it and she said, "Never again."
Brandon: Never again.
Amanda: Never again.
Eric: "I owned one bra, and then I burned it outside of LBJ's house."
Julia: True. It's true.
Amanda: That's great.
Brandon: And then it came on to you, and it was really weird.
Amanda: Yeah. Always.
Eric: God. That President talked about his penis a lot, true story.
Julia: Too much.
Eric: True.
Brandon: He didn't talk about it. He took it out all the time.
Eric: Brandon, I didn't— no, I know. I know, I know.
Julia: That man love to take meetings on the toilet.
Amanda: Joyce Melon's fashion is going to be equestrian.
Eric: Wow.
Brandon: Ooh, I like that. I like that.
Julia: Oh, what's going on there, Amanda? You're making shit up.
Amanda: I am making shit up. My grandma rode horses with me when I was a kid, and she was in her, like, 50s and 60s, and I think it is very cool and going to tie into my cozy activity, provided that I can get it. But I don't think any of you were gonna chose the one I'm going to choose.
Brandon: Now, you do mean, like Northeastern equestrian, not like cowboy, right?
Amanda: That's right.
Brandon: Yeah, okay.
Amanda: So this is— yeah, this is in the sort of, like, Martha's Vineyard— it's like a Martha's Vineyard sub-genre, so she'll wear a lot of, like, you know, like—
Brandon: Riding boots and stuff.
Amanda: —nice sort of jeggings—
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: —tucked into a boot. A, you know, like a turtleneck, or, like a close fitting sweater and then, like a barn coat over it. So well, you'd imagine Martha Stewart.
Brandon: Right, right, right, right.
Julia: And a helmet.
Amanda: And a helmet when riding horses.
Brandon: Yeah. I only asked because my grandma also rode horses with me when I was younger, and she was in her 50s or 60s, whatever it is, but she—
Amanda: Oh.
Brandon: —wore, you know, more like denim shirts—
Amanda: Jeans.
Brandon: —and jeans and stuff.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: I like it.
Amanda: No, northeast equestrian. Thank you.
Eric: Lovely. All right, let's go to the cozy activity. There are some really good suggestions here. This is also important. No two mavens can have the same activity. That's been underlined, so another blood bath here.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Yes. I'm happy to change stuff, so let me know if anyone has their heart set on this, but I chose baking as my cozy activity.
Julia: Okay. Okay.
Eric: I also chose baking.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Now, this—
Brandon: Yes.
Eric: I tied mine to my move.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: But I can change mine as well, but baking worked the best for me.
Brandon: Let me do—
Eric: Because I wanted to make something.
Brandon: Let me do pottery then, because I think there's a lot of—
Eric: Okay.
Julia: That's what I thought you were gonna go with, Brandon, because—
Brandon: Honestly, Julia, I didn't see it 'till just now.
Julia: Okay. I was gonna say, Brandon's gonna go either painting or pottery, and it's going to be all nudes.
Brandon: I think pottery is better because she can make toys.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Brandon, you can make—
Julia: Fair, fair.
Eric: —much like Val's mom from Campaign Two, you could make mugs with boobs on them.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I could.
Julia: You could also do sculpture. I think that's a fun one as well, Brandon.
Brandon: Oh, sculpture's fine. Let's do sculpture. I like that, Julia.
Eric: Sculpture is good.
Amanda: I picture how genuinely useful a spoon rest in the shape of the vulva would be. Like, if you just think about it for a second, that's very—
Julia: True. Fucking true.
Amanda: That's nature's— I'm not gonna say nature's spoon rest, but—
Brandon: It is nature's spoon rest, though.
Amanda: —it is pretty helpful.
Brandon: Honestly, that's gotta exist. That's really good.
Eric: See, Brandon, you don't need to keep a file on her. She'll just say it.
Julia: She'll just say it.
Eric: Yes. I would really like to do baking and—
Julia: Okay.
Eric: —you'll see with my Maven move, what I'm looking for.
Brandon: Great.
Julia: Cool.
Amanda: Cute.
Julia: Mine was cooking, so this is gonna be fun.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Nice. I'm gonna go a little off script, so one of the ones that I was really drawn to is antiques and furniture.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: And I was like, ooh, furniture restoring would be really interesting, but you know what I'm gonna do specifically? Leather work.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: That's what I want to be Joyce's hobby.
Brandon: Oh.
Julia: That's wild. I love that.
Brandon: And Violet can tell you maybe how to use leather work in a different way.
Eric: Hey, ho.
Amanda: You know what?
Brandon: Consensually.
Eric: Hey.
Amanda: If Violet has friends who want to commission specific pieces, I think Joyce would find that really fun to work on.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: A couple of harnesses.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Not for the horses.
Brandon: Maybe for the horses, but—
Julia: Probably not.
Brandon: —consensually.
Eric: All right. And now, we're going to our Maven moves here. So there's a few different— again, Maven moves are really the defining thing that your character can do that other characters cannot do. It might help you in being a detective. It might help you just with a stat bonus. It might give you something extra, something from your experience in your past life that helps you here. Brandon, I would love to go first.
Brandon: Go for it.
Eric: Okay. The reason why I want to do baking is because I think that Billy bakes too much. She does not know how to bake less than 24 at a time.
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Right?
Brandon: My favorite kind of friend.
Amanda: Relatable.
Eric: And she spends a lot of time giving her baked goods out to everyone in town, whether it's to, you know, people that she sees on the street, whether it's to people she wants to bribe. Here's a muffin here, a cookie here. But I think it's important, because she really likes to bake, because it keeps her relationship going with the murderers that she knows in the jail.
Julia: Are you doing the Clarice Starling?
Eric: I would love to do the Clarice Starling.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Shit, man.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: This move has no function until you solve a mystery and put a suspect behind bars as a result. Therefore, you can put— you can name an imprisoned suspect as your consultant. Once per mystery, you can go to the prison the consultant is being held in and ask them about the mystery. This triggers the Meddling Move, as it would when questioning any other character, but the consultant's answers and behavior are affected by your most recent mark on the Crown of the Void. I— yeah. I want to bake so that I can get information from bad people.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Brandon: I love that. That's great.
Julia: That's dope as fuck.
Eric: I'm not afraid of them. I think they like me because I bring them a muffin, I bring them a scone, and then I'll be able to ask them what's going on. I think this is also helpful, because, again, we talked about the crowns. I think that I will also definitely indulge the Crown of the Void more if I end up playing this character and I'm excited to, like, push myself in that direction.
Brandon: I love that.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Brandon: That's great. Now, isn't Clarice a woman or is that just in the movie?
Eric: The alternates were named after people from mysteries.
Julia: Right.
Brandon: Oh, I see.
Eric: But, yeah, I think— if I could do that, I would love this.
Julia: Hell yeah, I'm into it.
Brandon: Yeah, I love that. Do it.
Amanda: All for it.
Eric: Wonderful. Thank you.
Amanda: Enjoy.
Brandon: I— there's a lot of good ones and I just want— first, I just want to say that my Brandon's real life one is the Frank Columbo one, which is something about you causes the elite of society to not take you too seriously, what is it? And then, once per mystery, when you do the Meddling Move in a place occupied by the rich and famous, you can add an additional clue, even on a miss. So that's just my personal move.
Eric: Hmm.
Brandon: Just wanted to say that.
Eric: I thought your personal move was Encyclopedia Brown, where you introduce a piece of real world trivia about something and that’s a clue.
Brandon: That you learned on an airplane?
Eric: —and it's a clue.
Amanda: Eric, that's only in the air, that's only in the air. We talked about this before.
Brandon: Encyclopedia Brown has never been on an airplane.
Amanda: Ugh. That bitch is only like 10.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: So I'm— going back and forth seeing two of them, maybe y'all will help me solve this mystery of which one I should do here. On the one hand, I really like the Jim Rockford one, which was at the beginning of each session, the keeper will narrate an entry machine message you received. The message is always from the same unknown person and they will ask you to do some particular task seemingly unrelated to the mystery. If you complete the task in the same session it was assigned, marked XP, the messages and tasks will get increasingly strange and disturbing the more marks you have on the Crown of the Void.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: I think that was just really cool.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: The other one, which I thought would be fun, was Milton Hardcastle, which is just says you have an additional end of session question that is always marked. Quote, "Did you inflict extrajudicial punishment on a wrongdoer?"
Eric: Well, I think it has to do, Brandon, with whether or not—
Julia: Did you beat up that man?
Eric: —you want your sex— positive sex therapist—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —to constantly hurt people really badly.
Brandon: I don't know, man. I think it's pretty fun. I don't know. What do y'all think? Which one's more fun?
Amanda: I feel like as a player, you often want to do the thing that is right for your character and the plot, but doesn't necessarily advance the story that Milton Hardcastle gets at. Like in the longer notes for the move, it says, like, you should choose this if you like a character of a strong moral compass, and I think your characters always have that.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: So my vote would be for the Jim Rockford because I feel like— and again, I mean, sex therapist as a fashion, not a profession—
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: —is, I think, that you would have a variety of interesting people leaving you interesting messages.
Brandon: That's true, true.
Eric: I also would love— I would love to put my vote towards Milton Hardcastle, because if this is a question you ask at the end of session, if the answer is yes, you get XP, which leads to your advancements.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: So that's the bo— that's the real bonus that you have here. If you end up doing justice, then you get more XP.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. And Julia, what's your vote? So it's one to one right now.
Julia: I like the one that is the answering machine one.
Eric: Classic Julia.
Brandon: Okay.
Julia: I do. I like an answering machine.
Brandon: All right.
Julia: I like to move things along.
Brandon: I think it's— I think— for Amanda's point and for the vote, I think it'd be fun to do the answering machine Jim Rockford move and I think it'd be funny if every time it was a client.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Julia: I think it was very fun.
Brandon: Or if— it's always the same unknown person, so maybe it's some old client of— yeah.
Eric: You just assume it's one of your old— it's one of your clients, and then they increasingly tell you to, like, go do stuff. That's crazy.
Brandon: So yeah, I'm gonna do that, Jim Rockford.
Eric: Love it.
Julia: Beautiful. All right. So I'm between a couple. I was originally kind of interested in the Frank Dowling, which is you have a strong religious background, describe it. When you use this move, describe how your faith is helping you resist the void. Because in my mind, again, Sybil is hippy-dippy. I think Sybil is very like spiritual.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: I also think she is high out of her fucking gourd 90% of the time.
Amanda: Sybil loves a Tibetan prayer flag.
Julia: Yes. Now, the problem with the Frank Dowling is you can only use the move once. So that's like a little— I'm not entirely sure, right?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: It's also about, like, unmarking every box on your Crown of the Void.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Which is, like, interesting and kind of cool.
Amanda: Long term.
Julia: But that's a long term one, and it wouldn't really impact—
Eric: Yeah, especially because Brandon and mine also involve the Crown of the Void at this point.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: So that I wonder if you can go in a different direction.
Julia: All right. I think this is the one I'm gonna go for, and it's because, again, in my mind, I'm creating my backstory for Sybil. I think she, like, used to own a health food store.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: Or maybe like a— like vegan diner or something like that.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Julia: So I really like the Frank Columbo, and I think I'm gonna use that one.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Julia: Which is--
Amanda: Hey.
Eric: Love a Columbo.
Julia: Something about you causes the elite of society to not take you too seriously. What is it? Once per mystery, when you do the Meddling Move in a place occupied by the rich and famous, you find an additional clue even on a miss.
Eric: And it's being crunchy, right?
Julia: Yes. Well, the thing is, I remember the pilot episode of Columbo, how he's talking and he just makes the biggest fucking omelette ever while he's talking. And I'm like, "I think because my thing is cooking, I'm just constantly being like, 'Yeah, let me, like, whip you up an omelet and tell me about that murder."'
Eric: I just love you walking on to, like, a yacht and going to the galley and making the largest green smoothie you've ever seen.
Julia: Yeah. And when they try to interrupt me, I just turn the blender back on.
Eric: It's like, "Oh, there's the spirulina."
Julia: "Oh, what was that?"
Eric: And she just grab, "There's the— the $60 an ounce bee pollen that I needed," and throwing it in there.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Now I must ask, are you going to pull on Amanda and have granola in your pockets at all time?
Julia: Yeah. Yeah.
Brandon: Great. Great.
Julia: Yeah. And also weed.
Brandon: Don't mix those up.
Amanda: Oh. Okay. First, I have to remember which move I thought Julia would take and then lost a hundred dollars.
Julia: Oh, yes. So Amanda told me, "Oh, I know exactly what move Julia is going to take, and I'm betting against myself a $100." And I said, "Great, tell me."
Eric: Was it the dream one?
Amanda: It was one of the— yes.
Brandon: I thought it was gonna dream one, too.
Eric: Yes. Yeah. Well, Julia—
Julia: I wanted to stay away from what I did for Phoebe, you know?
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: I wanted to separate the babies a little bit.
Eric: That was the Dale Cooper.
Julia: Hmm. Which is— again, if I was playing myself or playing like a different character, that would be appealing to me, also the Encyclopedia Brown. If I was just playing Julia, I would do the Encyclopedia Brown one.
Amanda: Of course.
Eric: If I was playing Eric, I would have done the Milton Hardcastle. Well, I also want to give a shout out to Jason again. I think this game is so good. It's like, he's taking something which the dream sequence, as a tease of the session. It's something that is so PBTA coded.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: But yet, he's like, "You know what I'm gonna do? Is I'm gonna put the Twin Peaks layer on top of it. You know, the prestige TV dream sequence, whether we're talking about Twin Peaks or The Sopranos, which we've talked about before, like it's so ridiculous and so much more different than, I think, the one that we tried to do inspired by Buffy.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: That we did during the Camp-Paign.
Brandon: Yep.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Thank you so much. Sorry, Amanda. We lost Amanda a $100. The move that I like the best, for me, because it's the kind of thing that I know I would really enjoy, but also for Joyce, as a leather worker, is the MacGyver.
Brandon: Ooh.
Eric: Yes.
Amanda: So we improvise in a situation using whatever is at hand. Ask other players in the keeper to name three objects you find in the environment. So long as you can give a plausible explanation for how these three objects together are helpful in the current situation, you get an automatic 12 plus on a single associated dice roll, and this move can be used once per mystery.
Brandon: I love that one, too. That was really fun.
Julia: It's really good.
Amanda: Yeah, I'm very much from a family where it's like, "The tin can of wires is over there and, like, let's see if it's helpful in the situation." But also, leather workers can do all kinds of stuff with all kinds of like rivets and scraps of leather and tools, and I think it'd be very Joyce.
Julia: Hell yeah, I love it.
Brandon: I love it.
Julia: I also want to give a shout out to the Phoenix Wright, which I think is very fun. Which is, whenever you find a clue that is an object, you can physically manipulate the object to uncover a further secret about it, a hidden detail, a secret compartment, a scrawled message, et cetera.
Brandon: Oh, that's cool, too.
Julia: This extra detail is added to the clue. It cannot cause the clue to conclusively solve the mystery by itself.
Eric: I also lost a $100 to myself. I guess that one of you three would choose something, but it's one of Jason's favorites, so I'm gonna keep that on lock.
Amanda: Did I consider doing the Michael Knight? Which is where you have a trusty mode of transport and make it a horse. I thought about it, but I like the MacGyver better.
Eric: That would've been really funny, though. It's like you're fast traveling and you hop on a horse.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Like the horse doesn't appear any other time other than when you're traveling.
Amanda: No, no.
Julia: I also like— when you read it, you have a trusty mode of transportation that has gotten you out of more than one sticky situation.
Brandon: Yep.
Julia: But it's a horse is very funny.
Amanda: You know, Joyce in her middle 80s, you know, can't be leaping up on horses and doing kind of high-risk activities like that anymore, but she sure can fashion anything she needs out of a garage sale.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Brandon: I love that.
Eric: One thing that I want to note, just because we love numbies here, is that we are— I want to talk about the abilities for a second. We have modifiers here. Each of our characters start with a zero in vitality, a one in composure, a one in reason, a zero in presence, and a negative one in sensitivity. Vitality is about strength, dexterity, endurance, athleticism or physicality. Composure is anything that requires a steady hand, a calm disposition or concentration. This is— or avoiding fear. Reason is about studying or anything that has to do with mental faculty. Your presence is trying to charm someone, intimidate someone, or capture someone's imagination. And sensitivity is if the Maven's action involves a cult or supernatural forces.
Amanda: (Ghosts).
Julia: Hmm.
Brandon: I think I'm gonna do composure, because I think it takes a certain level of like—
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: —ignoring social mores and norms to be this type of sex positivity person, you know? So I'm not gonna do that
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: You can't be shocked.
Brandon: No.
Amanda: She's seen it all.
Brandon: Seen it all. Can't be shocked.
Amanda: I'm adding mine to vitality, because I think— I mean, leather working is a very physical hobby, and I think Joyce— you know, is important to her— to keep her body as spry as she can.
Brandon: Her riveting muscles are huge.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Julia: I was originally thinking composure as well, just because, like, if Sybil worked in, like, a kitchen for most of her life, that would make a lot of sense. But I think because I like this idea of her being hippy-dippy and very spiritual, having it for sensitivity.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I think that's the move, yeah.
Amanda: Totally.
Eric: I like only you having a zero, while we all have negative one.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: It's very Julia coded.
Eric: And I put one in presents. I thought, you know, being able to— it makes it a little bit easier when you give someone a scone to ask them a question.
Julia: And when you have such like conversation starting cardigans.
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah.
Amanda: I think the end credits of this TV show would be like— what's that very famous, old quilt about the Norman Conquest?
Julia: The Bayeux Tapestry.
Amanda: Bayeux? Oh, of course, it's French, not English. Okay. Anyway, I think our end credits would be embroidered in— on the screen for Eric's cardigans.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. I love that.
Eric: Okay. So now, we're gonna go around and have each character describe three aspects of their backstory, deceased partner, if they have children, pets are okay, and so are plants, and their career before they retired to Brindlewood Bay. And then the rest of us are gonna name one object that can be found in our Mavens home in Brindlewood Bay.
Julia: Oh, so we introduce a object that is found in the other players'—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: —home? Oh, I like that a lot. That's very fun.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Brandon: Yep. I think for my deceased partner, I was hoping they would put a parenthetical S at the end of that, because—
Amanda: Oh, sure.
Eric: Oh, of course.
Brandon: Of course.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: You can have multiple, yeah.
Brandon: Violet had many, many, many husbands, wives, partners, non-binary folks. I think— so, you know, countless people that she's going to bring up at an opportune moments to be like, "Oh, yeah, my ex-partner used to do that."
Amanda: Are they all deceased?
Brandon: Yes.
Amanda: Did— okay. All pre-deceased.
Julia: That's devastating.
Amanda: Cool. Devastating.
Julia: A trail of death.
Brandon: Yep.
Julia: Have we considered that she's a black widow?
Brandon: We have not.
Amanda: Julia, she's just old and fucks.
Brandon: But the most recent deceased partner, I think, is going to be a man named— Julia, tell me if there's a better name, but like something like Bill, or something like average, you know? Because I think he's sort of like that—
Julia: Jack.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Gotta be a Jack.
Julia: Gotta be a Jack.
Amanda: Very youthful. Youthful hot Jack.
Brandon: Yeah, Jack, but he's, like, that, sort of, like, not bumbling, but exceedingly average man that's like, you know, balding but— and, like, always smiling, and just, like, sort of a happy-go-lucky white guy that's just like, you know, "Why are you two together?"
Eric: Oh, Brandon, can I suggest something?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Can his name be Dick?
Brandon: Yes, his name can be Dick.
Julia: There we go. Thank you.
Eric: And what he always used to say is, "Well, she heard my name and got confused."
Brandon: Yep. Or got excited. "She heard my name and got excited."
Eric: Yeah. And she never looked back. I love that of, like, her— it's like, "You know what? I need a nice man."
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Eric: And then, of course— and now that time ran out and now she's looking for something else.
Brandon: Well, it's not that she needs a nice man, because all of her partners have been nice. But he's just like— you— it's one of those things where you just don't get it unless you're, like, watching them fuck and he—
Eric: Oh, sure.
Brandon: —and, like, Dick is really good.
Eric: Okay. No, I understand. I thought it was like— I need— my life has been too— like, the thing you do when you get older is settle down and he needed to settle down with this boring person.
Brandon: No, no, no.
Eric: But I like that he's not— I like that Dick is not. She's just like—
Brandon: —always been very mature and all of her partners have also been matured, they just died.
Eric: Got it, got it, got it.
Brandon: I think children— yeah, I have a bunch, probably, like, three, maybe four, all college age, and we have a great relationship. And they're all like— you know, growing up, they were embarrassed with their mom, but now they're, like, super proud that they have, like, the cool mom, you know?
Amanda: Aw.
Eric: Hmm.
Brandon: And, oh, my career before I retired. I don't want it to be actual sex therapist, right?
Julia: You could be.
Eric: It could be.
Julia: Why not?
Amanda: Maybe a psychologist and, like, got into that. You could be like a columnist. Remember that Ask E. Jean?
Brandon: Uh-hmm. I like columnists. That's fun. Let's do that.
Eric: That's good.
Brandon: Yeah. I will be a former columnist in a well-known magazine.
Amanda: Love it.
Eric: You are the best sex columnist in Fort Worth, I'll tell you that much.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: Damn right.
Brandon: Goddamn right.
Eric: Not in Dallas, but in Fort Worth. Okay. Oh, God. I don't think I ever married. If I had a deceased partner, I think probably the closest person who I worked with is related to my career before I retired to Brindlewood Bay. I think I was a PI, a private investigator.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: Damn.
Eric: Again, like, you know, when we talk— we're talking about, like, movie cops here, of like, supposedly they know what they're doing and do it. But again, like, I don't want to be like a formal police. I want to be PI. I think that being a woman in this situation— again, like, I grew up in New York— I lived in New York City for an extended period of time, allowing me being a woman, allowed me to do things where people didn't expect me to, take— go to places, take photos.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And I think that I had a partner who I was close to and died under mysterious circumstances.
Julia: Oh, no.
Amanda: Oh, unresolved thread.
Eric: No children, but I do have a big slobbering dog who I give all of my— who I give a lot of leftovers to.
Brandon: That's what's his name.
Eric: Brutus.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Does Brutus have any cardigans or sweaters for the winter time?
Eric: Oh, you know Brutus got sweaters. You know Brutus got sweaters.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: You know it.
Eric: I've had— I've also had, like, 10 Brutuses.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Oh, no.
Julia: He just— he's the Brutus the 10th.
Eric: Yeah. Like, this is Brutus X but, yeah, I just don't bring it up, and they're all just like the same, slobbering bulldog.
Brandon: I love that.
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: English bulldog?
Eric: Yeah, yeah, a 100%.
Julia: Fuck yeah. I think Sybil's former partner's name was Caroline.
Brandon: Oh.
Amanda: Cute.
Eric: Nice.
Julia: I think she was like the handyman around town.
Brandon: Aw.
Julia: You know, like, do a lot of fixing.
Eric: Cute.
Julia: And I think they had a son together, who Sybil named Orion, but he hates it, so he just goes by Ryan.
Eric: That's awesome.
Julia: And Ryan has actually taken over her former business, which is like the health food store/cafe in town.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, sure.
Amanda: Cute.
Eric: So is she from Brindlewood Bay?
Julia: Yeah, I think she's a Brindlewood Bay original.
Eric: Love it. Okay.
Amanda: Can we give Caroline a memorial bench and, like, saw a sharpener at the local hardware store?
Julia: I think definitely there's a bench. I think Caroline was also really into, like, bird watching, so, like, maybe there's a, like, a bench in the park for Caroline.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: Is there like a tea blend, or like a granola that's named after Caroline in your kitchen?
Julia: Oh, yeah, definitely. There's a granola, for sure. And a particular smoothie.
Brandon: Love it.
Julia: It's beans.
Brandon: Ooh.
Amanda: Caroline thinks you need more fiber.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Caroline knows you need more fiber.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: You're right. Incredible. So Joyce's name popped into my head because I want her deceased husband to be named Morty Melon. Mortimer Melon.
Julia: Morty Melon?
Eric: Morty Melon?
Brandon: Morty Melon?
Amanda: Yeah, Mortimer. Mortimer was a scholar of Yiddish and a professor and writer, and because Joyce is in her mid-80s, that was enough to support the both of them. So Joyce spent most of her work and life as, like, a full-time homemaker. I think they had a bunch of, like, informal or, like, foster kids. Like they never had biological kids—
Brandon: Hmm.
Amanda: —but there were a lot of people who were either students of Morty's or just like, you know, teens and people who needed somewhere to go, that they have tons and tons of people who, like, send them, you know, Christmas and Hanukkah cards, and, you know, sends Joyce flowers on Mother's Day.
Brandon: Aw.
Amanda: And all of them are grown and scattered. And she, you know, talks to somebody on the phone every day, who treat her as a mom or grandma.
Brandon: That's really sweet.
Julia: That is really sweet.
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: It's really cute.
Eric: All right, let's go around and put some stuff in our friends' houses.
Amanda: Yay.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Beautiful. Let's do Brandon's first.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: You know what's already in there, so don't even go there.
Julia: Oh, I was gonna say, I think you have a sculpture of one of your previous lovers. It is full size and, like, erect.
Brandon: Maybe I hang my hats on the—
Eric: Oh, 100%.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Well, certain parts would be at handbag height.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly.
Amanda: So helpful.
Julia: Yeah. Well—
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: —if— unless it's on a pedestal.
Amanda: Oh, that's true.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah. You know, scarves, hats, gloves, whatever.
Julia: The real Hot Frosty of it all.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Violet has an original painting by Georgia O'Keeffe in there.
Brandon: Oh, is it not—
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: Is it— we each get one object?
Eric: Yeah, where each—
Julia: So each of us gets to assign you an object.
Brandon: Oh. Oh, cool. I thought it was one object total.
Eric: No.
Julia: Oh, no.
Amanda: Eric, that's very good.
Eric: Original Georgia O'Keeffe. Like you knew her, she gave it to you at— you were visiting the Southwest, and you met her—
Julia: She has fucked.
Eric: —like you— yeah, you could have fucked, but she gave you an original.
Amanda: That's incredible.
Brandon: Love that.
Amanda: And I think the last thing is that you have, like, a very high-powered pottery kiln. I think like a— you know, a local, like business or university or something was, you know, going out of business or needed to get rid of it, and you have, like, a, you know, way too powerful, commercial grade pottery kiln.
Brandon: Fuck yeah.
Julia: Hell yeah. Love it.
Brandon: Is that where my own partners went? Who can say?
Amanda: I do think it's an outbuilding—
Eric: Oop. Oop.
Amanda: —of your property.
Eric: Oop. Oop. Oop. All right, folks, Bill— let's put some stuff in Billy's house.
Julia: Key to the City for New York City.
Amanda: Yay!
Eric: Yeah, Mayor Dinklage gave it to me.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Wow.
Amanda: Incredible. I think, Billy, that you have a collection of old-timey magnifying glasses.
Eric: Ooh.
Julia: Fuck yeah.
Amanda: And there is one specific magnifying glass in the collection that you use both to read the obituaries, but also is your favorite. Much to like see extra stuff, like you really pay attention. You break it out for special occasions.
Eric: I love that.
Brandon: I think you have the world's either largest— you can help me out with this. Largest or—
Eric: Okay.
Brandon: —most pristine DVD set of your favorite television show.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, God.
Brandon: But I think it's probably a— you know, like, a Columbo or something, but you can choose whatever you like.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Brandon, you know Billy love Seinfeld.
Brandon: Yeah, Seinfeld. But like, yeah, it's like you've been on the news for it, because it's so— like, you have episodes that have never aired, you know?
Eric: Oh, sure. Yeah.
Julia: You've got, like, the original copy of the pilot.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. So I have any secret Seinfeld memorabilia.
Julia: You have the uncut version of the pilot. You have all the raw footage.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: You have all the actors in a glass box in your backyard.
Amanda: Well, you helped out a DP back in the, you know, early '90s in New York City.
Eric: I know Larry David, please.
Julia: Yeah, that's it, that's it.
Amanda: That's true. You're both from New York.
Julia: She's got the key to the city. She knows Larry David.
Eric: I know. Yeah. Oh, God. I love that I got the key to the city, but also, no one cares. Like, no one showed up to that.
Julia: Yeah. It was on a Tuesday at, like, 1:00 pm.
Eric: Yeah, there wasn't even a ceremony. They sent it to me. They called me like pro— like a problem consultant. They never--
Julia: Cool.
Eric: — describe what it is.
Eric: I love that.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Sick.
Amanda: Sybil.
Eric: Sybil.
Julia: Sybil.
Brandon: Sybil.
Amanda: I think you have, you're gonna sense the theme here, a commercial dough mixer, like a Hobart dough Mixer from the '60s. Not like the gigantic ones in commercial bakeries, but like a person size, but like, not for personal use. Like, very powerful. If you take the cage off, it could take off a hand —
Eric: Hmm.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —mixer.
Julia: Love it.
Amanda: And the mixer has a name, and it's up to you to figure out the name.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Clara.
Brandon: You have the grossest, slimiest, most large kombucha SCOBY that you've ever seen—
Eric: Hell yeah.
Brandon: —in your fridge. It has a name. You feed it every, you know, week, or whatever you need to do, and it's been alive since, like, '61 or whatever.
Julia: It's SCOBY-Doo.
Eric: I love that. I will— I'm gonna give you something big, Julia.
Julia: Cool. Damn.
Eric: I think because you've been living here so long, because you're a hometown hero, that you have this— something that people are envious of, but you didn't know it was important when you put it in, in '75.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: You just thought it was something that would be good for you. You have an entire out built sauna.
Julia: Cool.
Eric: Like a shed that Caroline built for you and it's like— it's— again, think of how expensive this would be now, if you were putting it in now.
But you just—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: You've had it forever.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: And it works incredibly. Like—
Julia: It's wet and dry.
Eric: Wet and dry, depending on if you put steam in there or just hot coals. It's like— it's also probably long house-shaped. I think it's like the size—
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: What was that show, the British show, where people put in— do insane—
Amanda: Grand Designs?
Eric: Grand Designs, yeah. Where people would do incredibly ridiculous home renovations. So one did an entire thing that was based off of, like— it wasn't a long house, but it was like— the shape was like 10 or 12-sided buildings that were supposed—
Julia: Cool
Eric: —to fit together in this way. And I just love it being— this, like, big octagonal sauna that you have in your backyard.
Julia: Love it.
Amanda: Hell yeah.
Julia: That's cool as hell. I like that this is supposed to be my cozy, little place, and you gave me a sauna.
Eric: Yeah. You know?
Julia: Cool as fuck.
Eric: Whatever.
Amanda: Well, one of the moves also allows you to be, like, rich and have crazy stuff in your house, the [1:08:37] wolf.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: So I like that we're still playing in the universe of the game.
Brandon: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm.
Julia: Hell yeah. I love it.
Amanda" All right, folks, what does Joyce got at home?
Eric: Oh, well, you have 50 books written by a Morty Melon.
Amanda: Yeah, of course.
Julia: Yeah. 50 books written by Morty Melon himself. Dr. Morty Melon.
Eric: Dr. Morty, yeah. The funny thing I had in my head was, like— this comes up on Reddit a lot as like a today, I learned, but like, a rapper mentioned Morty Melon's book series in a very popular song.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: And then, like, genius and all of those music— like a music YouTube and like all these things, it regularly comes up, like, where this came from.
Brandon: I love that.
Julia: Here's the thing, Eric, it was a Snoop Dogg song.
Eric: Right.
Julia: Because what I'm going to give Amanda is correspondence with Martha Stewart.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: Thank you.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: You know, letters—
Brandon: That's really good.
Julia: —from Martha Stewart from the past 20 years, because you guys are pen pals.
Amanda: Incredible. Thank you.
Eric: I love that.
Brandon: I think you are the person around town that goes full out on holidays.
Eric: Nice.
Brandon: So, like, you have a huge collection of— well, you could choose your holiday of choice, if you'd like. But like, I was thinking, like, Hanukkah decorations, or whatever it is.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. We do full Purim. We do full Succoth.
Brandon: Yeah. Like—
Amanda: Oh, yeah.
Brandon: —huge, big, old, like, things you put in your yard, lights everywhere. Like—
Julia: Amanda's got a 12-foot tall skeleton.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Arbor Day, Election Day, Halloween, New Year's Day.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Julia: That'd be such a wild move for the game to have built in, which is like, holiday celebrant, and it's like, whatever you need décor-wise, for whatever holiday, you have on hand.
Amanda: Uh-hmm.
Eric: I just laughed because I looked down and I wrote down secret Seinfeld memorabilia.
Amanda: Yep, good game.
Julia: Yep.
Brandon: It's not secret. It's public. They wrote an article about you.
Julia: Uh-hmm. Uh-hmm. I'm trying to figure out if you got the key to the city before or after your obsession with Seinfeld, and which one would be funnier.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: I mean, I definitely got the key first.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: No one cares.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: But I have it.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: All right. So, yeah. So ordinarily, we would use this time to take a break, because that would be—
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): Is it time for me to talk about rationing the game?
Eric: No, we already done that.
Brandon: Nope, nope.
Julia: No, we already did that.
Eric: If anyone over the break had— this is step 10, if anyone had new lines and veils they wanted to introduce, that would be here. And then step 11, we would begin the session of the actual mystery.
Amanda: Oh, actually, Eric, can I add a line or veil?
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Just for—
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: Just to demonstrate what that's like.
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: Is I— it was something I noticed in the book that I loved is that typical areas of discrimination are not like a social limiting factor in Brindlewood Bay.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: And Joyce is deaf, so I just wanted to point that out.
Julia: Oh cool.
Amanda: And I wanted to put that in her character info.
Julia: Hell yeah.
Eric: Great.
Brandon: Great.
Eric: So ordinarily, we would start the beginning of the mystery, because there's like end of session stuff or beginning of session stuff that some moves have. But we can just go right to step 12, which is where we're gonna end. And I would love each of us to do a short, cozy vignette of our Mavens enjoying their life in Brindlewood Bay. This thing should be light and breezy or warm and cozy. They should show the Maven enjoying her hobbies, helping with the community project, or working around her home.
Julia: Aw. I love that.
Amanda: Yay.
Brandon: That's cute, yeah.
Julia: I'll go first.
Eric: Sure.
Julia: I'm picturing drone shot over Sybil's house, and it goes over the house into the backyard to her huge, outbuilt sauna.
Amanda: Hmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: And inside the sauna, she is like, wrapped in a little towel, her hair, which I imagine is like, very, like— it's like bird's nest-y, you know, and, like, very like silver and kind of— actually, I think she's like, salt and pepper.
Eric: Uh-hmm.
Julia: You know what I mean? And it's all kind of tied up in a big, messy bun at the top of her head, and she's, like, reclined and is having a brownie, and just enjoying that. And just like, you know, checking her phone to see if Orion has any messages about the business, just in case he needs anything, some— more of the granola mix that she usually makes on a weekly basis. And it's just vibing out and having a great time, you know?
Brandon: Yeah. Hell yeah.
Amanda: What she's listening to? Is there something on the TV?
Julia: Ooh, a podcast.
Amanda: Ooh.
Eric: Ooh.
Julia: I think it's like a weird, like spirituality podcast, being like, "You know, sometimes we all have to let our energy into the universe, and whatever we let out into the universe, it comes back to us threefold."
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: It's nice. So true, so true.
Brandon: So true.
Julia: So true, Bestie, so true.
Eric: We get a shot from inside of the oven as Billy— as we just see Billy's eyes looking at a souffle which is rising. We just have, like, the little light that's lighting everything. Then we go back into her kitchen, and she has an oversized— like, a really big egg timer that she is staring at intently. She's counting along with the egg timer, "Nine, eight, seven, six, five— oh, I can't help it." And she hits the egg timer over. She opens it up, she pulls out the souffle, she takes out a ruler, and she measures the puff. She's like, "It's not good enough. Another one for Brutus." And she pushes it off— she pushes it off the side, and it falls right into Brutus' oversized dog bowl—
Julia: Oh, my God.
Eric: —to accommodate the full souffle being pushed into it, and Brutus bounds over to it and starts eating.
Brandon: So now we know why there's been 10 of these dogs.
Julia: It's not a chocolate souffle, Brutus is fine.
Eric: Regular. It's regular souffle.
Amanda: I don't know if a dog should eat that much flour, but good for him.
Julia: Yeah, whatever.
Eric: Brutus is fine.
Amanda: Which is the constitution of Winston Churchill.
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: Brutus 10 is fine. Brutuses one through nine, not so fine.
Julia: Uh-hmm.
Eric: Brandon, I have had Brutuses for 60 years. Most of them are fine.
Julia: Brutus 11 waiting in the wing.
Eric: Oh, I gotta connect out in Ronkonkoma who breeds dogs for me.
Amanda: Uh-hmm. You know it.
Brandon: I think for Violet, it's one of those sort of, like, really light and breezy camera shots where it's like post coitus, and they're sort of like looking at each other through sheets, and there's like, you know, fabric everywhere, and like—
Eric: A real dead wife—
Brandon: Yeah, exactly, real dead wife.
Eric: Real dead wife shots, yeah.
Brandon: Dead wife shots.
Amanda: Vaseline on the lens.
Brandon: But her partner is not dead as, in fact, a - let's say, the lady who works at the post office.
Julia: Great. Hot.
Brandon: And they get out, and you see another shot where they're, like, sharing a breakfast in bed. And then you see another shot where they've gone to her art studio, where Violet is teaching her how to do sculpture.
Julia: Sexily.
Brandon: Sexily. And then, yeah, they're both wearing, like, really nice silk robes, and yes, it's a really nice day of what their activities get up to. You know?
Eric: Violet, I still need your signature.
Julia: You still have to pay for those stamps, bud.
Brandon: That's crime.
Amanda: A federal crime to not have you sign for your package.
Eric: Violet was so wrapped up in the set, she forgot to sign for her package.
Julia: So funny.
Amanda: Who hasn't, man?
Brandon: She does this every time she gets a mail person— a new mail person, they're like, "Can you sign for this?" And she's like, "I can sign for your package."
Eric: Well, you have to come inside. I can't see with light—
Brandon: Would you like some lemonade? I made some.
Amanda: I can hold a pen with my yoni.
Eric: Goddamn. Joyce, come on, Joyce, give us a scene. Give us a scene.
Amanda: All right. Joyce's vignette begins with the shot is on a piece of what looks like skin, and it's like a light, sort of like tan color. And then you see a nail placed on it, and then a thwack, and it pulls back, and it's a piece of leather, not a piece of skin. Not human skin, at least. And she is putting in some, like, holes to what's going to become a belt. And she is— like, you— she has a special like holder that, like, holds the leather in place, and a special hammer to, like, nail the things in. Then she puts in some nice rivets, and then holds it up to the light and says, "Lenny will love this." And she's gonna bring it down to her friend Lenny at the grocery store, who's been— had a frayed belt for years, and she decided to replace it.
Brandon: Aw.
Julia: Suspenders just don't look good on him. You know?
Amanda: Yeah, they don't. And her workshop is like an external garage the size of, like, one car, but she's turned it into her, like, carpentry leather work workshop. And the main thing in the middle is basically like a big bench, almost like a saddling bench, but like a leather work, you know, station—
Brandon: Uh-hmm.
Amanda: —where it's like all scarred, gnarled old wood, like a butcher block vibe, or like a drafting table type thing. But it has a lot of, like, clamps and a nice, ergonomic seat where she can sit nice and high in a stool, and have a good posture and adjustment over her leather work.
Brandon: Love it.
Amanda: So, yeah, she's just hanging out wearing her vest, and then she hears the phone ringing inside, and pushes up her stylish, like, museum Granny, oversized, colorful glasses, but these ones are safety glasses.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: And she pushes them up into her hair, wild mop of white and gray curly hair, and gets down— dusts off her hands from the saw dust that's just permanently around, and walks inside to her kitchen to answer the phone for one of her foster kids.
Eric: And on each of our calendars, the waterproof one in the sauna, the waterproof one for Violet.
Amanda: Splash zone.
Eric: Yeah. The word of a day calendar stained with egg wash in Billy's kitchen, and also the hanging calendar next to the phone in Joyce's sitting room. Tonight is a meeting of the Murder Mavens.
Brandon: Wee.
Julia: Yay.
Amanda: I love them.
Julia: I'm so excited. I love them so much.
Brandon: Now, Amanda, how do these people make this one shot happen?
Amanda: Sorry, I really thought you were gonna prompt me to talk as Scout.
Julia: Hold on one second. So Scout, how do— if the people want to hear more about our Murder Mavens, how do they do that?
Amanda (as Scout McGarry): Well, you can go to patreon.com/jointhepartypod to vote in the free poll that everyone can vote in, to see which one is going to be good. But don't— but hey, hang on, hang on. Loose lips sink ships and early votes don't count, so make sure you wait until after next week when our third Derby episode airs. I don't know what the year it'll be, hopefully one where things are better. Certainly, it won't get worse for the next few years at all. And then you can go ahead and vote, because once you vote, and once we see which character creation episode we make into a full one shot, only our patrons can hear it. Okay? So get yourself ready and join up at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Also, further, the sax was getting away from me. Don't mention the internment camps, okay? Seriously.
Julia: We're gonna wrap this war up in under a year.
Amanda: Things get worse before they get better.
Eric: Great. Let's add that.
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