Every town needs a library, an ice cream shop, and of course a water-based trade route. Hear us build these landmarks and more in our latest pregame episode!
Follow along with the game document and our final town map here!
We drew inspiration for our worldbuilding game from Avery Adler’s The Quiet Year. Check out Avery on Twitter @lackingceremony and her games on her website.
Housekeeping
- Schedule: There is one episode left in our weekly pregame series: next Tuesday, where we turn our town into a city. Then, on April 7, 2020, Episode 1 debuts.
- Patreon: Our Patreon is now monthly! Check out our new tiers and become a member at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. Join by March 31, 2020 to get your name permanently in the credits of Episode 1!
Multitude
- NEXT STOP is our newest show! Listen to the trailer at nextstopshow.com or in your podcast app and follow us @NextStopShow on Twitter and Instagram for behind-the-scenes content leading up to the April premiere.
- Get your Join the Party enamel pins, Eric’s Labor Party modules, and new merch for all Multitude podcasts at jointhepartypod.com/merch! Our TeePublic (jointhepartypod.com/teepublic) will remain up through the spring.
Sponsors
- DungeonCrate, a monthly RPG subscription box designed to enhance your tabletop experience. Get $5 off a new subscription with the code JOINTHEPARTYDC at dungeoncrate.com
- Multiverse, an online video game platform making it as easy as possible to make, play, stream, and share tabletop role-playing games. Check out their Kickstarter between March 17 and April 17, 2020; afterward, visit playmultiverse.com!
Find Us Online
- website: jointhepartypod.com
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- tumblr: jointhepartypod.tumblr.com
- music: brandongrugle.bandcamp.com
- merch: jointhepartypod.com/merch
Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master: Eric Silver
- Co-Host, Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host, Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host, Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Creative Consultant: Connor McLoughlin
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is a collaborative storytelling and roleplaying podcast, powered by the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. That means a group of friends create a story together, chapter by chapter, that takes us beyond the tabletop to parts unknown. In the first campaign, we explored fantasy adventure, intrigue, magic, and drama. In the newest story, we tackle science, superpowers, a better future, and the responsibility to help others.
Every month, we sit down for the Afterparty, where we break down our game and answer your questions about how to play D&D and other roleplaying games at home. We also have segments at the beginning of each campaign to teach people how to play the game themselves. It’s a party, and you’re invited! Find out more at jointhepartypod.com.
Transcript
Amanda: Guys, I really like maps.
Julia: Shocking.
Amanda: That's my cold open. I just really like them. And I'm really excited that we're all gathered around the table with some blank paper in front of it. It's a metaphor. It's optimism. It's endless possibility. It's charting our own course. It’s Join the Party Season II.
Julia: I can't believe we're starting the episode with this shocking revelation about you and Max.
Brandon: I didn't think we were gonna do True Crime so early or Life with Multitude.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Where you start with the solution? Is that how True Crime does --
Julia: Mhmm.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. Good.
Eric: Plink, plink, plink, plink, plink, plink, plink, plink. I met Amanda when she was looking at a map. Plink, plink, plink, plink, plink, plink.
Amanda: There was a sale at the Shrimp Shack.
Eric: Plink, plink, plink, plink. All right. So, the reason why we are all gathered here is we are going to play a map making game to establish the town and then eventual city that we are going to live, and breathe, and play in in Join the Party Campaign 2, The Join Campaign. I've been thinking about this a lot in terms of title. And I --
Amanda: Ooh.
Brandon: That’s a reveal.
Eric: So the last thing – the last one was The Party Campaign. I think this is the Join Campaign. And then all of the titling is gonna be Join the or Join something.
Julia: So, Season III is gonna be The.
Brandon: Season III, The – The campaign.
Julia: The. Cool.
Eric: If we get to Season III, I'm going to do something different.
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: Oh, I can't wait. So, wait, do you mean that we are going to be basing our campaign around one city instead of a traditional adventuring map with many cities?
Eric: Yes, because we are in a modern campaign, I do want to keep it a little tighter to give you more of a space in which to live and work in and for people to understand you. And we're gonna end up talking about this a little later, but I'm shooting for like a city somewhere in between the size of Pittsburgh to Portland. So, Pittsburgh is, like, 200, 000 to 300,000 people, and Portland is, like, 600,000. So, like, in terms of size, I'd say, like, Level C. Like, if New York City and LA is A. And then, like, Chicago and Dallas and Philadelphia is B. I'm gonna shoot for, like, a C-sized level city.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I like it.
Eric: So, the way that we're going to do this is I did a games thing.
Amanda: Of course, you did.
Julia: Yay.
Eric: I did.
Brandon: The Gamesman did the games thing?
Eric: The gamesman did the games thing. That's true.
Amanda: Strikes again.
Brandon: Eric, why are you wearing a cape?
Eric: I'm always wearing a cape. This is actually the --
Amanda: Eric, where did you get that Zorro mask? Is it on sale after Halloween?
Eric: Well, everyone --
Brandon: Put the blade away.
Julia: I like the rapier actually.
Eric: No one knows that I'm not using this stuff at all times.
Amanda: It is weird that he carries an adventurer’s pack with him everywhere he is.
Eric: Listen, you --
Julia: It’s just a lot of rope.
Eric: You'll never know when you'll need rope, and candles, and caltrops.
Amanda: Yeah, but, like, why does adventurer’s pack have 10 darts in it?
Brandon: Why does it have 14 things of Chapstick?
Amanda: I don’t know.
Eric: That's your – that’s your backpack.
Brandon: Oh, right.
Julia: So chapped all the time.
Eric: Totally different thing.
Julia: All the time.
Amanda: I do keep a tube of chopstick in the pocket of every coat I own --
Julia: And as you should.
Amanda: -- and always the left one.
Brandon: Oh, that's just smart.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: 14 is a bit excessive.
Amanda: I don't think I have 14 coats. No.
Eric: So, this has nothing to do with the game that I came up with.
Amanda: Yes.
Julia: Tell us about the game.
Eric: All right. So, I love Avery Adler. She is one of my favorite game designers, game creators. And she created a game called A Quiet Year, which is all about mapmaking and building community from scratch over the course of the year. And she also has a game called Monsterhearts, where you play as a teenage monster in, like, a high schoolish world. Very Riverdale. Very melodramatic.
Julia: My real life.
Eric: Yes, where Julia is just a ghoul in a love triangle.
Julia: Mhmm. Yep. That was my high school experience.
Eric: Sounds about right. I really like the way that Avery allows players to be a part of the math making. Even though there is a DM or GM or someone who's running the show, it's really about everybody putting the stuff together. So, I did hack a lot of the stuff from A Quiet Year in the ethos that's inspired from Monsterhearts for all of us to put this together and make it. So, there is gonna be some reading. Also, this is the first time that all of us have done this. I have not told Amanda, Julia, or Brandon how we're going to do this. I did introduce kind of the history that doesn't really affect them as people. They have, like, a rough idea. And I'm not really gonna get into those events, but I am going to give events that are going to spur all of us to be map makers together and how we're going to chart the course of this small town becoming a larger city. So, I'm going to read out the document that I created. I'm definitely gonna post this document later in the episode description. So, you guys can all kind of follow along as well. So, welcome to The Map Game.
Amanda: Ooh.
Brandon: Thank you for welcoming me.
Eric: There you go.
Amanda: Hello.
Eric: I also wrote in, “Let everyone say hello back to me.”
Amanda: We did.
Brandon: Hello.
Julia: I just sang Map Game at you. Is that okay?
Eric: Map game. Yeah, that's acceptable.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: Map Game.
Eric: Yeah, there it is. The plan is to create a small town together. And then we're going to slowly grow it over four periods totaling three decades. So, we're going to shoot from 1988 to 2020, where are we going to end and where the campaign is going to pick up.
Amanda: Wait, it's 2020. We're living in the future.
Eric: Right now, it's 2019. When people are listening, it's gonna be the future.
Julia: The City of Tomorrow.
Amanda: City on the move.
Eric: So, we're – Jesus Christ. So, we have two maps in front of us. They are these two blank pieces of paper. The, first, we're going to turn into the small town in which we start. And then, on the second map, we're going to use the small town as a locus point to grow a big city around it. So, since we're all doing this together, our roles aren't to control specific characters or necessarily act out specific scenes where you own characters. Instead, we all act as abstract social forces within the community. At any point we might be representing a single person or a great many. This is a story about social forces and their impact on land rather than being about specific individuals. However, if specific individuals come up, we'll make sure to note them. As we introduce interesting challenges for the community and then figure out how to address them, tensions will emerge that ultimately reveal the character and future of the community. One of the players will be acting as a closet DM, which is me, as I've prepared the events that delineate what the eras are. And I have some ideas about what the reasons are of why things are happening. I'm also gonna introduce some characters and some elements that I want your opinion on as we establish the setting for the campaign. We're gonna be using this as an introduction to D&D. So, it may feel a touch railroaded, but only because we all kind of agreed on what the larger history would be. So, I feel pretty secure that we're on the same page. And I feel like everyone kind of bought in, which is different than what a usual game of A Quiet Year where you start from scratch and everyone needs to, like, have a conversation.
Amanda: So, basically, instead of like coming to session one, and you giving us a map, and then figuring out what happened, we get to make the map with you. And then, in session one, we figure out why all those things happen.
Eric: Exactly.
Brandon: How to break your map.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Or how to live in it and how you are going to put other things in there.
Amanda: Brandon, I think we have different philosophies of D&D.
Eric: I don’t know how you could break a city. I think –
Brandon: Is on the challenge?
Eric: I'm making this too big that Brandon can't ruin it. It's like, “Well, Brandon's character destroyed the bridge, I guess.”
Julia: Whoops.
Brandon: Whoops.
Julia: These things happen.
Eric: So, the first thing we're going to do is establish the town map. We are now going to start the game, guys.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Yay.
Brandon: Yay.
Eric: So, we're gonna establish the landscape. As we play, we're going to add to this map to reflect the town's growth and the decisions we make along the way. We talked about starting our town as a summer community of about 100 families. So, let's talk about where the houses go. Where were the summer community be centered around or near? In Lake Placid, there's a lake. Maybe you’d like – is it around a forest? Is it around a river? What do you think is, like, the central feature of this neighborhood?
Julia: I got to go lake.
Brandon: I mean, yeah, it has to be water of some kind.
Julia: Got to be lake.
Amanda: I’m into it.
Eric: Yeah, a lake’s fine.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Like river, either one.
Brandon: Maybe it's a lake that feeds into an ocean or some other larger body.
Amanda: It could be like an eddy of a river. Like a river and then it has a little like cove almost that the town is centered around.
Julia: Mhmm.
Brandon: Mhmm.
Eric: Yes, I did send you guys the map before. So, it's – what's interesting about this is that this town is very close to the Hudson River, which, for those of you don't know, runs on the right side of New York State in between New York and Vermont and Connecticut and all those other states over there. So, we're going to be pretty high north. So, this is going to be the division between New York State and Vermont. So, this totally can lead into the river --
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: -- if that's what – something that we’re interested in.
Julia: I think that does make sense --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- from just like a – if a major city is going to develop around it, you need to have a port of call so to speak.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, like, you need to have a way for them to transport things in and out that isn't just by, like, rail.
Brandon: Yeah, I think it has to. Like, even, even today, now, like, something like – I'm making this up, but something like 70 or 80 percent or whatever of international trade is by boat. And I assume, if we're going to do the Clean Energy type game, some of that would be shipped internationally too.
Julia: Mhmm.
Brandon: So, we'd have to have some sort of port.
Eric: Sounds good to me. All right. Cool. So, for everybody, we're gonna post the photos of this map as well. So, I made a small lake in the middle of the piece of paper. I'm just using regular computer paper. I put a small lake in the middle with a little tributary that is going to eventually lead back to the river. And I made little boxes with hats on them to represent the larger houses. I assume that – and this might be a thing that – since I've been to Lake Placid and I know Amanda has as well. Like, there's a lot of houses that are directly on the lake.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Or some that are a little bit behind. So, I'm just representing them with the – these little housing things that are around. Another thing about A Quiet Year, which I love, is that, like, you don't have to be good at drawing. It's just like enough to represent the thing that we're doing. We're really going to try not to use words. And it's all gonna be like cartography, and simple symbols, and things that we might understand.
Brandon: I like this idea of, like, how to – how to draw a house. Square with hat.
Eric: Square with hat.
Amanda: It's right.
Eric: And, now, we're gonna go around and introduce one detail about the local terrain, either it's gonna be natural or manmade. And then you're going to draw that onto the map. So, anyone can go, because I already did my thing. So, I want you all to have a shot to put something in this town. It could either be, like, an environmental thing. Like, “Oh, there's a hill over there. There's a different river that leads into the Hudson. Or there's, like, a big rock that people sit on.” And then – but also you can put stuff in the town. Like, I don't want to name businesses, but, like, little – either a business, or a service, or a different neighborhood that's a kind of a place that's off of it. So, go ahead.
Julia: So, we have a lot of residential area over here. I think it would make sense to have sort of a business district.
Eric: Mhmm.
Julia: And I think it makes sense to kind of locate the business district on either the north or south end of the river leading into the lake.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Because that's kind of the drive into town. And then, if we have the residential surrounding the lake, you know, we're driving in and out of town to get to the businesses. So, what do we think? North or south?
Amanda: I think, if we're talking about New York State, people tend to drive from the south of the state north. So, I think it makes sense to have the town on the south side of the river.
Julia: OK.
Brandon: Julia is drawing one long rectangle. And she's dividing it into multiple boxes.
Amanda: Like little Main Street.
Brandon: Little Main Street.
Eric: I like that.
Amanda: Yeah. Cool.
Brandon: Cool. Yeah. I think I'm gonna do a geological feature.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: I think there's gonna be some sort of like elevation among these houses. So, generally speaking, at least in the like late town communities that I've seen, there's, like, the normal wealthy houses. And then there's, like, the ones that are, like – oh, like, Bill Gates definitely lives in that house, right?
Eric: 100 percent.
Amanda: Yeah, like in the hills surrounding the town.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: It’s the one with the view always.
Amanda: Oh, with view, yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. So, the – because the river is leading to the center of the page from the right of the page – and this is a portrait style paper. On the left quadrant, I'm gonna make a sort of a hill over here.
Eric: Nice.
Brandon: And it's gonna sort of be sectioned off from the --
Amanda: Cool.
Brandon: -- rest of the town.
Amanda: It's like the opposite side as the river.
Eric: Like, the left houses are, like, elevated?
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Oh, so, it kind of overlooks the lake and also the business district. I like that.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: That is cool.
Amanda: Nice.
Julia: Cute little town.
Amanda: Can I do like a public service?
Eric: Yeah. No, that sounds great.
Amanda: Knowing, you know, summer towns as well, there's always kind of like the townie part, where maybe tourists come in for the summer and hang out on Main Street, but the townies are somewhere else. So, on the left hand side of the lake, kind of near the base of the mountain range that Brandon just indicated, I want to do like a public dock and kind of swimming zone, where townies go to, like, you know, launch their kayaks into the lake or hang out or go drink at night.
Eric: Sounds good.
Amanda: So, I just drew a little dock. It looks kind of, like, a centipede.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: On the left hand side of the lake.
Brandon: Oh, no, giant bugs.
Amanda: A little bit – a little bit below the foothills of Brandon's mountain range.
Eric: Wonderful. I did the lake in the middle. So, I'm gonna take the first crack at the businesses.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: I want there to be, like, a really small Public Library.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I feel like, especially when you're up this far, like, you need to have a public library in at least the cute small town nearby, because there's only so many in all these places. So, I'm gonna pick this one. And I like – it's like we're zooming in on it like when you're looking at New England. It’s like, “Oh, that is where Delaware is. I didn’t even know that. So, I'm gonna pull that out. And I'm gonna make a book.
Amanda: So, Eric's doing a little bit toward the right hand side of town but very in the middle of the Main Street.
Eric: And then I think it's just gonna be the name of town public library. And we are gonna get naming the town later.
Julia: Excellent.
Amanda: In actual Lake Placid, the ice cream shop used to be next to the library. So, I would love to put an ice cream shop right next to the library right in the middle of town.
Julia: Do a little cone.
Amanda: I like to do a little cone.
Eric: You have a name for the ice cream shop.
Amanda: Ma’s.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: It's Ma's Ice Cream Shop.
Julia: So, for the shop closest to the lake, Amanda took me to a very, very good coffee shop when I was in Lake Placid for my bachelorette party.
Eric: Oh, that place is dope.
Julia: It is very, very good. It's very like farmy in a lot of ways. And, so, I kind of imagine everyone goes there for their morning coffee kind of thing. And there's always like cute little pastries and croissants and whatnot.
Amanda: I love it.
Julia: And they make it dope. Like, really thick hot chocolate.
Amanda: Nice.
Julia: I'm going to name it Thorn Hills.
Eric: Thorn Hills Coffee.
Amanda: Love it.
Julia: What are you gonna add, Brandon?
Brandon: The thing that was always in these like suburban Texan towns, because every Texan town likes to think that they're still from, like, the 1950s. So, there's always either a roller rink or a bowling alley.
Eric: Bowling alley
Julia: Or a combo roller rink and bowling alley?
Amanda: I got my roller rink. I got my bowling spot. I got my combination roller rink and bowling spot.
Julia: I got my bowling alley. I got my combination roller rink and bowling spot.
Brandon: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, they're a roller rink.
Amanda: Yes, Brandon.
Brandon: Tuesday, Thursday, they just bowl on rink.
Amanda: This is the kind of innovation that you bring to the Join the Party team.
Brandon: Yeah, I think it's actually probably almost like on the outskirts of town.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: So, I'm gonna put it over here.
Amanda: Ooh.
Eric: Oh, man, I bet 100 percent there's a shitty bar in there, huh?
Amanda: Incredible.
Julia: Oh, my god.
Eric: 100 percent.
Julia: I mean, like, there's gonna be a shitty bar in the district, the Shopping District II, I think.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Julia: But there's also definitely like a $1 mega lobe ultra-special out there.
Brandon: They're known for their – they only sell one drink. And it's a shareable drink. And it's an orb. And they have, like, a bunch of different multi hyper colored liquors that looks like a swirling bowling ball.
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: It’s very 80s. It’s gonna be 80s.
Brandon: And it’s called the Bowling Ball.
Amanda: I’m into it.
Eric: And then someone --
Brandon: And you only get three straws, because there’s only three holes in bowling.
Julia: That’s absolutely fair.
Eric: And then everyone else was like, “Can I just get a beer?” And they're like, “No.”
Julia: You can get your mega global drink in town.
Eric: If you wanna a highlife, get over there.
Brandon: It looks like I just drew like a spooky ghost with a shoe.
Eric: But that's fine. That's fair.
Brandon: I think I'm stealing this from an N64 game, but I'll just call that ash – like Astro Lane.
Eric: Astro Lane is good.
Amanda: Yay.
Brandon: I like that.
Eric: That’s good.
Brandon: They're always, like, weirdly sci-fi themed.
Amanda: Oh, no. My mechanical pencil that's so helpful for math making ran out of led. I need to go to the tool shop. Tool shed. That's what I want to say. I need to go to the tool shed. Excuse me.
Brandon: You over the tool shed. It’s just reams and reams of pencil led.
Eric: That makes sense.
Julia: Mhmm. Checks out.
Eric: It makes sense for me.
Midroll Music
Eric: Hey, it's Eric. Usually, we do something a little bit out of time, a little bit out of place here. But I think that it's just kind of nice if you just hear me talking about something that I like. And I'm just honest about it. I'm sure your couch is really nice. My couch is really nice. I have a blanket that I throw over myself when I'm at home. I'm spending time talking to my friends. We're all fully prepared on the internet to talk to each other by Skype, by Google Hangouts, by Zoom. I actually know how to use zoom, which is really fun. And, you know, it's, it's definitely scary outside. I'm not saying that it's not. And intentionally isolating yourself and knowing that it's a thing that you need to do to keep your community safe is difficult. But the thing about humans and what we learn from Dungeons and Dragons is that they're resourceful, and they're resilient, and they get great feats. So, I think that we're going to, ultimately, be okay, but the responsibilities that we just need to be nice to each other. And remember that it's not about whether or not you get sick. It's about whether or not the people around you do and you're being considerate to others. Ultimately, it's okay. Also, all of the TV show, Slings & Arrows, which is about Shakespeare and Ghosts is on YouTube. And there's a really young Rachel McAdams in it. So, you should just watch that. Welcome to the Midroll.
First of all, thank you to everyone who has joined our Patreon; I Am Renegade, Scarleto, Kylie, Sue, Sarah, Brooke, Hunter, Austin, Zoe B., Elizabeth, and My Moon. You're just in time, because we're doing something special for the start of Campaign 2, The Join Campaign. To immortalize everyone who's decided to support art that they love with their human dollars, we're going to read the name out of every single Join the Party patron in the credits of Episode 1 of Campaign 2. That's right. That's everyone. That means anyone who is an active patron on March 31st, 2020, both our current crew and anyone who joins the next couple weeks, we'll get their name immortalized in the credits of the first episode of Campaign 2. So, join by March 31st at patreon.com/jointhepartypod for access to our patron-only Discord, bonus material for both campaigns, and even early access to episodes. That is patreon.com/jointhepartypod.
Dungeon Crate is a monthly RPG subscription box designed to enhance your tabletop experience. We've got a sample box last month and we've been using all the tools and little items that they sent in for the new campaign. There's the metal coins that you can use for gameplay. There’s tabletop terrain. There's mini pins, and patches, and buttons, dice and, of course, original encounters that can be played in any campaign setting. So, make sure you check out dungeoncrate.com. D – U – N – G – E – O - N – C – R – A – T– E.com and claim your $5 discount on new subscriptions with the code, JOINTHEPARTYDC. That's $5 discount with the code, JOINTHEPARTYDC.
I also want to tell you about Multiverse. I found out about Multiverse on Twitter late last year. And I have to tell you I'm so excited that the kickstarter launch is today. Multiverse is an online gaming platform dedicated to making gaming more intuitive, more inclusive, and more accessible. That sounds like us. Their tools make it as easy as possible to make play, stream, and share tabletop role playing games with the marketplace for creators. You can build with Pixel art, both on PC and mobile. You just jump into your next adventure with friends, whether across the table or across the world in just a click. That means you can do battles on screen, which is super cool. Their library of combat animations and effects let you play out exactly what's happening onscreen. You can even stream on Twitch. So, everyone gets to see everything that you're doing. So, check out their kickstarter running through April 17 using the link in the episode description. They're also at playmultiverse.com.
Okay. We'll see you next week with our last Pregame Episode, The City. We’ll have a little treat for you in the following week. So, look out for that. But, until then, on April 7th, Campaign 2 officially begins. But, for now, let's get back to the world building.
Theme Music
Amanda: Okay. We're back.
Eric: All right. So, now, we're going to move to another phase in the town building. And we're going to name our resources. So, I'm gonna put a little table at the bottom. And one side is gonna be abundance, and the other side is scarcity. This is something that I took directly from A Quiet Year, which I really love. And the way to make a better idea of what the town is dealing with is you want to name the important resources for the community. And something might be in abundance. There might be a lot of it. Or something might be in scarcity. And there's not a lot of it. And we can come up with examples that are, like, services. Like, infrastructure. So, one example I have is transportation. We can have something that’s literal – a literal resource like fish. Or we can have something that's more of an idea or the way that people interact with each other or like sociological. Like openness. So, we're all gonna go around and choose a resource. And that makes it important if it wasn't already. So, If you pick gasoline, it’d become something that our community wants and needs even if it has – has it or doesn't have it. So, what I did and what we had talked about before is that I want to add science to the abundance list.
Amanda: Science.
Eric: And, just because I'm the DM, I'm just gonna drop it in there. But we're gonna choose which is an abundance or scarcity out of the ones that you guys come up with. So, I chose Science, because we talked about that there is a mad scientist or a reclusive inventor who lives in the area. So, I want to ask everyone where do you think their house is.
Brandon: They're not wealthy yet, right?
Eric: No, they are just mythical creature to the community at the moment.
Brandon: I, I think they might be, like, either a little far back into a forest or farther back on the hill. But, like – like, they were on the hill before they started building the fancy houses there or whatever.
Eric: Mhm.
Brandon: I think they'd be a little farther back.
Amanda: Like, kind of the back ridge or like top-left corner.
Brandon: Yeah, it doesn't have to be like Witch and Hansel and Gretel far back.
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: But, yeah. I feel like they would have built their home. And they would have been living there for a while before it started, like, really cropping up, because they were like – they built their house here because they wanted to get away from everyone.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Right.
Brandon: And then it started, like, popping off in terms of a really nice place to live.
Eric: I would like to put it in the bottom right.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I do like the idea of the – of that it was in the rich part, but I also kind of want it to be like farther away. Like, you gotta take a totally different road to get there.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. And they got like an old dairy farm for cheap or something.
Eric: Oh, I love it like that. Yeah. That's the other thing. Is there anything interesting about their house? What makes it stand out?
Amanda: Mmm.
Julia: I like the idea of kind of, like, an old farmhouse that probably was bought for the cheap with the hope that someone would renovate it. And then it wasn't really renovated.
Brandon: It definitely has a barn where, like, that’s their workshop.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Like a – or like an old silo that doesn’t work anymore.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: I was just thinking silo.
Julia: Old silo.
Amanda: Yay.
Julia: There's that really specific one when you're driving in and out of Lake Placid.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It's just like a big stone one that’s like half assembled.
Amanda: Yeah. Heck yeah.
Eric: All right. Wonderful. So, now --
Brandon: I forgot to give the silo a hat.
Julia: No.
Eric: Does a silo have a hat?
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Sometimes.
Julia: No, it’s broken down.
Amanda: Oh.
Brandon: Oh, okay. That's fair.
Eric: It has no hat. It is a broken – a broken silo.
Julia: A broken silo.
Amanda: No hat. Where’s its hat though?
Brandon: It blew off.
Amanda: Big silo, no hat?
Brandon: Big silo, no hat.
Eric: This, this game is fun. So, I want you all to name your resources. What do you think the town cares about?
Julia: Seafood. Obviously, like freshwater seafood.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: But specifically because I love flavor and, also, by flavor, I mean cuisine. Crayfish?
Amanda: Yay.
Eric: Yes.
Julia: Also known as crawdads. Also known as mountain lobsters.
Brandon: Are they different from crawfish?
Julia: So, it depends. There's different, like, names for it and different species. But this is like the subspecies. And I used to – when my family members lived up in kind of the Albany suburbs, every once in a while, we would go to a river. And my cousin and I would flip rocks and grab the little, like, crawdads. And --
Brandon: Hmmm. I love that.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: I didn't know we had this Upstate.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Do you just want to say like shellfish in general? So, like, have seafood and shellfish that are available in this area of the world.
Julia: Yes, I like that. I'm just thinking like what the town specialty will be like 30 years from now as well. And I want it to be mountain lobsters.
Eric: This is hilarious. Remember this for later.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: But, yeah, let's say – I want to say shellfish.
Julia: Got you.
Eric: And that's what we’re gonna call it
Julia: Perfect.
Amanda: I am going to say opportunity. And, in my mind, it is a scarcity. Like, having an economy that kind of caters to like a summer population, you're going – like, it's hard to take risks. And people expect things to be the way it was the summer before.
Eric: Mhmm.
Amanda: So, if you want to start a new business, if you want to do something weird, if you don't want to run a coffee shop, we'll be like, “Where's the coffee shop?” And there's just, like, an expectation that things will always be the way they were, both for the people who, like, run the town and the businesses and also for those coming summer after summer.
Eric: Yeah, 100 percent.
Julia: Super like that as an abstract.
Amanda: Yeah. Maybe change is a better word. Like, it limits the amount of change that can happen in the town.
Eric: I like change.
Julia: Okay. Which is ironic given the point of this game, but I love it.
Eric: Change is interesting. I'll do opportunity/change. And we'll figure out how that shakes out.
Amanda: Okay.
Julia: Cool. Okay.
Brandon: I do want to do something about openness or welcomeness. It’s a resource right now. I think that the town right now is still small. It is still open and welcoming to outsiders, because they support their economy. And then I'm interested to see how that changes.
Eric: Cool. Is there a difference between welcomeness and openness? Or is there one that you're shooting for? Like, openness is like, “Yeah, come through to wherever you want.” But welcomeness is like, “You can come.”
Brandon: I think it's more of the welcomeness then.
Amanda: Mhmm.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: You're welcome in this way only.
Brandon: Yes.
Eric: Yes. I like welcomeness. I think that's very interesting.
Julia: It's super, like, Amity at the beginning of Jaws.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Where they keep telling her – they’re like, “You'll never be an islander, but welcome.”
Brandon: Or like any southern town that exists.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: It’s interesting. I think it could be a character, like, telling them what we want as an abundance or scarcity.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: But it can be scarce in that you're welcome in only this way or it could be abundant --
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: -- and like anyone is welcome under these rules.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Well, let's make our choices.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: So, I think it's up to you three which would you like to be the abundance; shellfish, opportunity, or welcomeness.
Julia: Shellfish.
Brandon: Wait. You only have one abundance?
Eric: Mhmm. And the other two are gonna be scarce, because I chose – as the DM, I chose Science.
Brandon: Ooh. What if the other word is better most?
Amanda: Openness?
Brandon: Openness as a scarcity makes more sense?
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I think that makes sense.
Amanda: I think so. Because it's like, “We are open in this limited way,” which is as many people can come spend dollars here.
Eric: Let me throw a wrench into this.
Julia: Mhmm.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: What if we did welcomeness as an abundance? And then shellfish was scarce, but it is a delicacy.
Amanda: Okay.
Brandon: It makes sense. Yeah.
Eric: And then it – because I think what Brandon was trying to get out before is that whether or not they hold on to their welcomeness as things change.
Brandon: Yes.
Julia: Mhmm. Cool.
Eric: And that's the tension.
Amanda: I’m into that.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: And what will happen to shellfish? More shellfish?
Julia: More shellfish.
Amanda: Less shellfish?
Julia: I mean --
Amanda: More shellfish though.
Julia: -- I could talk about this more as the town grows.
Amanda: Shellfish have hat? Shellfish have hat?
Julia: Shellfish. Wait. Hold on. How, how shellfish have hat?
Amanda: The shellfish, no hat?
Eric: Okay. So, now, everyone is going to take the one that they have. And they're going to put a feature on the map to demonstrate the fact that there is an abundance or scarcity of the thing that they suggested. So, Brandon, since you are abundance, I want you to go first.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: How would you demonstrate that there is an abundance of welcomeness in this town?
Brandon: Hehe.
Julia: Mayhaps a Welcome Center.
Eric: Mayhap.
Amanda: Mayhap some welcome sign.
Brandon: Mayhaps a giant crawfish.
Julia: Yay.
Amanda: Yay.
Brandon: That waves its claw back and forth.
Amanda: Mountain lobster. Mountain lobster.
Julia: Good boy. Wait. I think we just came up with the hockey team name.
Amanda: The Mountain Lobsters.
Eric: The Mountain Lobster. All right. I'll put – I'll put that under my hat for later.
Julia: Thank you.
Amanda: Fuck. I want this merch so bad.
Julia: Mountain lobster. Mountain lobster.
Amanda: So good. Caving across the river from Main Street. Hello. I am lobster.
Brandon: It's mechanical. His, his claws just waves back and forth all day long.
Julia: Oh, he’s incredible.
Eric: What I – what I also like about this is that the bowling alley --
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: -- is outside of it.
Brandon: Yep.
Julia: He’s got to be neon too, right?
Eric: Or --
Julia: Like he’s outlined in neon.
Amanda: That’s like --
Brandon: No, I don’t – I don't think he's neon. I think he’s like olden and rusted.
Amanda: Weathered paint.
Julia: Oh, okay. Yeah.
Brandon: But he does have spotlights --
Eric: Of course.
Amanda: Uh huh. Uh huh.
Brandon: -- on the bottom. So, he's always lit.
Amanda: I love that.
Eric: And that's what welcomes you in the town?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Wonderful.
Brandon: And there – there's like probably writing either on him or a sign that says like, “Welcome to blah, blah, blah. Population, four.”
Eric: Yeah, 100 percent.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: That's like, when people give directions, like, “Well, you go down to the river. And then you turn right at the lobster.”
Amanda: That’s very good.
Eric: And they’re like, “What?” And they’re like, “Exsqueeze me?”
Amanda: Exsqueeze me. Go to the left?
Brandon: You can't miss it. It's a giant lobster.
Eric: It's a – it’s a giant mountain lobster. It’s not a real lobster. It's a crayfish.
Julia: He is. He’s a crayfish.
Eric: Julia, you can decide whether or not you want that to stand for shellfish as well. But you do have the chance to put what a scarcity of shellfish looks like in the town.
Julia: I think that there has to be like one restaurant in town that serves that specialty, but no one else does.
Eric: 100 percent.
Julia: Okay. Cool.
Brandon: Because they've murdered everyone else who tried.
Julia: I'm just gonna do, like, a plate with a small lobster.
Eric: That's great. So, that one is gonna be our seafood house.
Julia: Yes. So, I put the Seafood House on the most right corner of the town.
Eric: The first thing people see when they come into town.
Julia: Pretty much. Yeah.
Eric: Very good. I like that.
Amanda: Cool. Cool.
Eric: And then, Amanda, how does a scarcity of opportunity look?
Brandon: Now, I do have a question. Did Seafood House original owners put up giant crayfish?
Julia: Ooh, I like. I like that as idea.
Eric: I think --
Amanda: That was so successful and iconic.
Eric: And I like that now, like, there's not enough shellfish to, like, sustain their business, but they have to stay.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: They have – they cannot change.
Amanda: Umm. I don't know. Maybe you guys can help me think of a way to draw this. My first thought was, like, maybe the high school has no career office. And, and that is what represents it, because it's kind of like, “Oh, well, you know you're gonna do because that’s a family thing.”
Julia: Underfunded high school?
Eric: Yeah, put in an underfunded high school. 100 percent.
Julia: Mhmm.
Amanda: Mhmm.
Eric: It could be a K through12 too.
Amanda: I think it should go in the upper right hand corner.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Because the bowling alley was probably built originally to, like, serve, you know, midtownies.
Julia: Just walk down hill to --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: -- to the bowling alley.
Amanda: Cool. So, I'll kind of center it in, like, the upper-right quadrant.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Great.
Brandon: Like it.
Julia: Amanda, did fantastic stairs on that. Look at that. So fancy.
Amanda: So, I made a long school with center doors, some stairs leading forward, and then a, a, like, track ring around the front yard.
Eric: I like that. I like that.
Brandon: How do you draw so many disaffected teenagers too? It’s amazing
Julia: Whoa.
Julia: They’re all like kind of smoking blunts, but you don't know.
Amanda: Yeah. Mhmm.
Eric: Now, is it – is it --
Brandon: So many jewels. What?
Eric: Is it a high school? Or --
Amanda: Not in the 80s.
Eric: No, it's tobacco and pipe. Is this K through 12 or is it a high school?
Julia: I think K through 12 makes the most sense given that it is a pretty small town.
Amanda: Yeah, I think it's same complex. We have a K to 6 building and then a high school building.
Eric: Great. Love that.
Amanda: Yeah. And it's possible that maybe another K to 6, like, somewhere else in a neighboring town feeds into this high school.
Julia: Mhmm.
Eric: That’s true.
Amanda: Which happens in a lot of places.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, Julia and Amanda.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Would you like to name your buildings?
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: I do like Seafood House. Let’s just call it Seafood House.
Julia: Yeah. Or perhaps Crawfish House.
Eric: Chris Crawfish House. I do like that.
Julia: Oh, sorry. Crayfish House.
Eric: Crayfish House. We're gonna have to get the --
Julia: The terminology. Yeah.
Eric: Crawfish when in Louisiana, but crayfish Upstate.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. But also, like, there's crawdads too and a bunch of other different names.
Oh, we can list out the names.
Brandon: I like Mountain Lobster.
Julia: Mountain Lobster is my favorite of the names.
Eric: We'll come to – we'll just call it Mountain Lobster House for now.
Julia: Got you.
Eric: And we'll come back to it if it pops off. Amanda, would you like to name your high – your K through 12?
Amanda: Yes, I think the K to 6 is John Brown Elementary School. And the high school is the North Country High School.
Julia: Ooh.
Amanda: Because that's what locals call the upper half of New York. It’s the North Country and John Brown, famous abolitionist, lived up there near Lake Placid.
Julia: Love it
Eric: All right. Let's pick the name of our town.
Julia: Ooh.
Eric: So, if you have something whole cloth, we will do it. But you must provide a town suffix at least. Like, Burg, Ville, Town, all that stuff. What I will pose – and this is only because I – this is what I've written down as a name saver and Amanda kept telling me that she liked it. I was just calling it Lake Town.
Julia: Yeah, sign me up for Lake Town.
Amanda: Lake Town. Lake Town. Lake Town. Lake Town.
Julia: Mostly because I am with Amanda, where I want it to turn to Lake Town City.
Eric: That’s true.
Brandon: That’s really funny.
Amanda: Lake Town City, baby. Lake Town Mountain Lobster.
Brandon: It sounds like the island Yu-Gi-Oh for a dueling tournament.
Julia: Yes, it’s correct.
Eric: I like that. Okay. This – I would – are we agreed on Lake Town?
Julia: Lake Town all the way, lady.
Amanda: Lake Town. Lake Town. Lake Town.
Eric: And then becoming Lake Town City?
Julia: Lake Town City.
Amanda: Lake Town. Lake Town. Lake Town.
Eric: All right. You guys take a nap. Brandon, what are you liking?
Brandon: It's not good, but I like it.
Eric: I agree. I 100 percent agree with that.
Brandon: That's true.
Julia: Lake Town City.
Eric: I do think it's LakeTownCity all in one word.
Julia: It’s so good.
Eric: Which I find very interesting.
Amanda: I thought it was just Laketown as one word.
Eric: Well, they could be, but then, when it comes to city --
Brandon: Laketown?
Eric: -- it's – yeah. It’s Laketown.
Amanda: People say, “Laketown, right?’ You’re like, “No, no, no. It's Lake Town.”
Julia: No, it’s Lake Town.
Brandon: Yeah. That’s really funny.
Eric: And then --
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: It’s the opposite of what every other town does.
Eric: And then, as it expanded, it had to be Lake Town City and broken out.
Julia: Lake Town City.
Amanda: Maybe
Julia: Yes.
Eric: Okay.
Julia: Oh, I love it so much.
Brandon: I’ve heard your famous mountain lobsters in Laketown. No, no, no.
Julia: No, no, no. Lake Town.
Amanda: Lake Town.
Julia: You’re clearly not from around here.
Eric: All right. Now, we have our map for Lake Town? This is going to be Lake Town, 1985.
Brandon: Sent wave.
Eric: All right. Now that we've named this Lake Town and then the eventual Lake Town City, that concludes the town portion of the map game. Tune in next time where we talk about what makes the city a city.
Brandon: Map game.
Julia: Lake Town City.
Eric: Lake Town City. Follow your dreams.
Amanda: Lobsters. Yeah.
Transcriptionist: Rachelle Rose Bacharo
Editor: Krizia Casil