Quests N’ Answers | Inside Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode Ep. 13

Summary

Podcast Summary: Quests N’ Answers | Inside Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode Ep. 13

Introduction

In Episode 13 of Quests N’ Answers, host Dan Casey and the cast members Danielle Radford, Amy Vorpahl, Jason Nguyen, and Ross Bryan delve deep into the latest developments of Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode. The discussion centers around their favorite combat encounter, character dynamics, narrative twists, and the emotional aftermath of pivotal events in the campaign.

Favorite Combat Encounter

The episode kicks off with Dan Casey expressing excitement about discussing what he considers his favorite combat encounter of the campaign.

• Dan Casey [02:41]: "Cause we're gonna get into maybe my favorite combat encounter of the entire campaign so far, which is saying something because it's a doozy when you have to fight yourselves."

The highlight of this encounter revolves around the characters facing their shadow selves in a metaphorical library filled with their own memories. This setting creates a horror-movie-like atmosphere where internal conflicts come to the forefront.

• Dan Casey [03:17]: "It felt like a horror movie where we're just in this library full of our own memories, facing our shadow selves."

Notably, the encounter introduces various ghostly entities, including a racist gelatinous cube and disincorporated ghost Tippi, adding layers of complexity and dark humor to the narrative.

Character Conflict and Plot Twists

The discussion shifts to the intricate battle mechanics and the emotional stakes involved when characters confront their inner demons. Amy Vorpahl highlights the narrative satisfaction of the encounter, where the evil aspect of her character, Phil Varel, takes control.

• Amy Vorpahl [04:20]: "It seemed like you loved it all day. That was his goal."

Dan Casey reflects on the duality of his character, Phil Varel, who struggles with his identity and past memories, leading to a betrayal that fuels inner conflict.

• Dan Casey [06:15]: "Phil Varrell represents that aspect of himself that he has been searching for... Seeing the embodiment of, yeah, I'm you... was just such a… I loved that sort of inner conflict that was raging within."

Ross Bryan adds humor by recounting a critical moment where he missed picking up a "memory bomb," leading to unexpected consequences.

• Ross Bryan [07:02]: "What a sweet man you are. To pick up the memory bomb I completely missed and threw it in the ground like, 10ft in front of you."

Mechanics and Storytelling

Jason Nguyen praises the blending of character development with game mechanics, particularly the use of "enslave undead" and possession dynamics.

• Jason Nguyen [05:19]: "It was so cool, like, right up top. When suddenly the battlefield... wrestle for control over the will."

The cast discusses how these mechanics enrich the storytelling, allowing characters to evolve and reveal deeper layers of their personalities and motivations.

• Amy Vorpahl [06:07]: "And if it is the part of you that wills, that acts... the arrogance of the will is like, no, no, you're mine."

Dan Casey emphasizes the narrative satisfaction derived from such encounters, where plot and character development intertwine seamlessly.

• Dan Casey [04:20]: "It felt so narratively satisfying to have the evil aspect of my character take control, because that was his goal."

Aftermath and Emotional Resonance

Following the intense combat, the conversation moves to the emotional aftermath and character growth. Danielle Radford highlights the balance between player agency and character perception during and after the encounter.

• Danielle Radford [12:55]: "We can extra see. Oh, I don't like that third act. We get to build our world."

The cast reflects on the implications of their characters' actions, particularly how the resolution of conflicts leads to personal development and shifts in relationships.

• Amy Vorpahl [17:17]: "It blew. I mean, it blew my mind... burning the entire building down that had your memories, and then you gallivanting off going, we run together."

Ross Bryan shares a personal anecdote that parallels his character's struggles, adding depth to the role-playing experience.

• Ross Bryan [22:23]: "It was like it was going to be my first kiss... I've never stopped thinking about it. And now."

Character Relationships and Development

The episode delves into the evolving relationships between characters, particularly focusing on romantic subplots and emotional bonds formed through shared struggles.

• Danielle Radford [25:05]: "It turns out Busy is a late in life lesbian."

Amy Vorpahl appreciates the nuanced portrayal of love and healing within the fantasy setting, acknowledging the challenges characters face in expressing their true selves.

• Amy Vorpahl [20:55]: "I do love the amount that Busy... it's about leaving the past behind, moving forward."

The cast explores the complexity of their characters' relationships, emphasizing growth, acceptance, and the overcoming of personal traumas.

Narrative Techniques and Metaphors

Amy Vorpahl discusses the use of metaphors within the ethereal realm battles, highlighting how emotional and psychological elements are woven into the gameplay mechanics.

• Amy Vorpahl [27:57]: "This whole ethereal realm situation is so hard to get away from metaphor here because it's like... emotion driven or, you know, like true love's kiss will wake."

The metaphorical representation of internal struggles through fantastical elements underscores the depth of the storytelling in Goblin Mode.

Conclusion

Dan Casey wraps up the episode by acknowledging the intricate storytelling and emotional depth explored throughout the recent campaign, expressing gratitude to the cast for their contributions and inviting listeners to continue following their adventures.

• Dan Casey [30:05]: "Does Tippi not want the world to see him because he doesn't think they'd understand? That is B A N A N A S. That about does it for us on Sagas of Sundry Quests and answers."

The episode concludes with a promise of more engaging discussions and adventures in future episodes of Goblin Mode.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Dan Casey [03:17]: "It felt like a horror movie where we're just in this library full of our own memories, facing our shadow selves."
• Amy Vorpahl [04:20]: "It seemed like you loved it all day. That was his goal."
• Danielle Radford [12:55]: "We can extra see. Oh, I don't like that third act. We get to build our world."
• Ross Bryan [22:23]: "It was like it was going to be my first kiss... I've never stopped thinking about it. And now."
• Amy Vorpahl [27:57]: "This whole ethereal realm situation is so hard to get away from metaphor here because it's like... emotion driven or, you know, like true love's kiss will wake."

Final Thoughts

Episode 13 of Quests N’ Answers offers an in-depth look into the complexities of Goblin Mode, highlighting how game mechanics and storytelling converge to create memorable and emotionally resonant experiences. The cast's candid discussions and personal anecdotes enrich the narrative, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the campaign's progress and the characters' development.

Transcript

[Dan Casey]

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[Dan Casey]

Sweet dreams are made of these and memories are made of goo. We'll find out on a brand new episode of Sagas of Sundry Question Answers. I'm Dan Casey. Today we're gonna talk about the latest episode of Goblin Mode. Now, if you haven't seen it yet, spoilers ahead. So go watch it or listen to it now. But in the meantime, let me introduce my amazing cast.

[Danielle Radford]

Danielle Radford, Amy Vorpahl, Jason Nguyen, and Ross Bryan.

[Dan Casey]

And now spoilers, folks. Cause we're gonna get into maybe my favorite combat encounter of the entire campaign so far, which is saying something because it's a doozy when you have to fight yourselves.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yes. Yes.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah.

[Amy Vorpahl]

How about that? Yeah.

[Ross Bryan]

That was awesome.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Your guess of fiendish people trying to play a trick on you came true. They were lying the whole time.

[Dan Casey]

I can't believe I always knew I was lying to myself. Yes.

[Danielle Radford]

Yes. We need therapy is what it is.

[Dan Casey]

I don't need therapy. I have dd.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah, there it is.

[Dan Casey]

So I want to talk about this encounter because I loved the setting. It just felt like a horror movie where we're just in this library full of our own memories, facing our shadow selves. And then we also have this disincorporated ghost Tippi coming in. We have the ghost of a racist gelatinous cube. And we have the ghost of statues past.

[Amy Vorpahl]

That's right. Yes. Many, many things to many tools in your tool belt. By all rights, should have been able to take these ghosts out, but instead, they beat you to a crisp. I wanna talk a little bit about the attacks that we had, which was like, enslave undead, which was a new thing. And it worked. That was so interesting. Cause when I was Minestora, I also can possess people. And it was like, well, yeah, let's have a battle of the possessions. We're in the ethereal realm. What did that do for you? Flavor wise? It seemed like you loved it all day.

[Dan Casey]

I loved it 100%. Normally, in games, like in tabletop RPGs, it can be frustrating when your turn or your agency gets stymied, but here it felt so narratively satisfying to have the evil aspect of my character take control, because that was his goal. That was Phil's goal. I'm like, well, yeah, that's great. That's exciting to me. What am I gonna do now that I'm a bone puppet? And the answer was stab everything. Stab everything or miss horribly. I was rolling crazy.

[Ross Bryan]

Yeah.

[Dan Casey]

Whoa.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

What was on the table?

[Ross Bryan]

Lows and high highs for you?

[Dan Casey]

Just the exquisite joys of the horrible failures of critical fails. It was ones and twenties across the board.

[Jason Nguyen]

Amazing swings.

[Amy Vorpahl]

I love the choice that you made to first attack Bizzy. Like, get them out of here. And then when it whiffed, you chose for Phil Varel to turn the dagger in on himself and I thought that was so ingenious, just seeing that.

[Jason Nguyen]

I didn't even. Just looking over the sheet. I was like, enslave undead.

[Dan Casey]

Wait a minute.

[Jason Nguyen]

I know who's undead. But that was so cool, like, right up top. When suddenly the battlefield. We're already in etheric space. And then the battlefield literally moves to the mind of one of the characters as people are, like, wrestling for control over the will.

[Amy Vorpahl]

There's not a better way to do it than D20 versus D20, I guess. Classic.

[Dan Casey]

Super cool.

[Jason Nguyen]

But it's also so. I don't know. It's very interesting to think of this as one character who's been split into component parts.

[Amy Vorpahl]

And if.

[Jason Nguyen]

And if it is the part of you that wills, that acts, and the material stuff that does it, then, yeah, the arrogance of the will is like, no, no, you're mine.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah.

[Jason Nguyen]

It felt all too natural of like, what the sort of megalomania of Fil Varrell would have wanted.

[Dan Casey]

And there's such a conflict there for fibs because Phil Varrell represents that aspect of himself that he. He has been searching for. Cause he's woken up in this skeleton body, like, five years ago with no sense of his former life. Had these flashbacks throughout the campaign. And then seeing the embodiment of, yeah, I'm you. Here's all of our memories. I can share all of this with you then. To have that be turned into a betrayal was just such a. I loved that sort of inner conflict that was raging within.

[Jason Nguyen]

And it was such a cool twist of it too, when you sort of made a memory bomb to detonate psyche.

[Dan Casey]

Of all the memories.

[Ross Bryan]

What a sweet man you are. To pick up the memory bomb I completely missed and threw it in the ground like, 10ft in front of you.

[Jason Nguyen]

How could I not? Just Ross the player was like, gotta know where.

[Ross Bryan]

It's important.

[Jason Nguyen]

But also it's like the innocent, guileless face of Ghost Tippy is like, oh, it's just. And it had been such a whiff. No shade.

[Ross Bryan]

Such a whiff.

[Jason Nguyen]

Very big. I think there is a world where he was just like, oh, this guy just dropped that.

[Emily Axford]

This wasn't in the jail.

[Ross Bryan]

In a way, he did.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

And then just, like, the fact that it's obviously one of your core memories, this memory that you love, the first.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Time you ever saw Lyla, the love.

[Danielle Radford]

Of your life, and it's just irreparably corrupted by Goblin face.

[Ross Bryan]

That was a great moment we shared. I love that so much.

[Amy Vorpahl]

It was amazing.

[Jason Nguyen]

It was also such a hilarious and, like, disturbing Image of you becoming slowly more and more engulfed by this ever enlargening goo monster.

[Ross Bryan]

He might be racist, but he's effective.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Oh, yeah. Maxwell don't play. But he also. I mean, he does have Engulf. And it was like I didn't stat him out. Let's just be honest. I didn't know Maxwell was gonna play a little part here. But the gelatinous cube was like. Well, he's just part of a gelatinous cube, so maybe it's less effective. But Engulf is engulf. And if he's got ectoplasm to pull from to become more. It makes a little bit. It makes a lot more sense. Not to mention Ministora also possessing her. And I think I might have said. The only thing I'll say about myself is I think I might have said ectoplasm a little too many times in this place.

[Ross Bryan]

Well, there's another way to say ectoplasm.

[Danielle Radford]

Is there another way to say it's good, it's goo.

[Jason Nguyen]

People are gonna be running to their thesauruses. More words for goo.

[Danielle Radford]

I know there aren't. It's just the one.

[Ross Bryan]

It's just the one.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. I'm both going to miss this plane and be very happy that we're out of this plane.

[Ross Bryan]

The goo plane.

[Dan Casey]

We're being sent to a very dry place.

[Amy Vorpahl]

No slime.

[Dan Casey]

No slime.

[Ross Bryan]

No.

[Dan Casey]

Just a packet of silica gel.

[Ross Bryan]

It's so funny that something as silly visually as fighting in the goo realm is, like you said, one of my favorite encounters, because it's felt like fighting a boss fight. But then the bosses we fought have been these beasts or these things that are hard to. They don't talk back at us like that. Right.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. Just kill them, that's all.

[Ross Bryan]

Yeah. So it felt to me very cinematic. Like the whole encounter, the possessing of fibs and you getting angry and distorted and pushing down bookshelves.

[Dan Casey]

Ross, your descriptions of Kil Varrell's face shifting around his body as he loses his absolute. So good.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Really disgusting.

[Dan Casey]

Yeah.

[Jason Nguyen]

I feel like any D and D that I just ends in some sort of body horror.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Well, yeah. No one asked me if I could. Maybe I should.

[Dan Casey]

Well, don't put me in the goo realm if you don't want Body Horror Nights.

[Amy Vorpahl]

That's right. We did that last time. We were safe.

[Ross Bryan]

Amy, did you. I have a question to ask you.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Oh, no.

[Ross Bryan]

Do you want us dead? Would you like us to be on.

[Jason Nguyen]

He was talking a big game before we started. Just like, don't. This will Be a pretty easy.

[Ross Bryan]

Literally easy.

[Dan Casey]

Before we start, you say whatever you do, don't die.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Don't die. I really do.

[Ross Bryan]

We're stacked against two magically very powerful beings.

[Danielle Radford]

Here's what I think happened. I think that the dice heard you, and when they said don't die, they're like, oh, we're die. She means, don't die.

[Jason Nguyen]

We won't.

[Dan Casey]

We won't.

[Danielle Radford]

We're good.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. Cause they didn't die. I will say, the way the lore works, if you die, then you go to the abyssal sea. That's a whole other plane. You turn into lemures, which are like blobs of souls that don't really have a personality.

[Dan Casey]

Gross person from Fiends United.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Norty.

[Ross Bryan]

Norty's a character.

[Dan Casey]

I'd rather make a new character.

[Amy Vorpahl]

There's a version of this where we do that. I have done it before. It is really basic and weird, and it's like, yeah, look, no, I did not want you to die for so many reasons. I've got so much stuff to pack in here for the last few episodes that I really want to get to.

[Dan Casey]

But, yeah, sorry, Lore. We're going to go back to this primordial soup and just be.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Learn what an arm is.

[Dan Casey]

Take my first steps on land.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. And that's the adventure. No, I did not want you to die. And I will give props to Ross because he is here as an expert storyteller. So even notions, like, where it's like, well, what if I did pick up this thing? Or what if we do crumble to dust? Like, there obviously was some player agency going on for the characters, and I love that. However, when you did turn into bone piles, you weren't dead, you know, and the people did perceive you as dead. Yeah, I had stymied.

[Danielle Radford]

I had a second where I was like, oh, I can still. I can get up. I can do cure wounds. I can do other things. But because so much of this encounter was about like, well, if they die, then we get to go. It was like, I like, busy. And both Danielle as player and busy as character, like, we'll see how this plays out. Now they think that we're dead. Are they gonna just go and then the encounter is over? Or is this gonna give us a chance to get the upper hand? Because they're waiting for their big reward for having bested us, knowing that that's not going to come.

[Dan Casey]

I did feel like there was at one point Ross said, well, I'll just destroy these bones next. Cause I'm like, okay, that makes sense. If this isn't happening, maybe you have to completely destroy any physical form that's here to then wipe them from the plane. So it felt like there was. Okay, there is a timer at play here. Once he's done with Ghost Tippy, if something doesn't happen, like, if that fireball. If you had not been caught in the blaze of the fireball, then I would have had to.

[Amy Vorpahl]

I think it's so on brand. I think it's so on brand for Phil Varel to be like, I will. I'll transport myself from this mortal coil or join a mortal coil. But first, there's an annoying fly that I've just got to swat, and it just keeps causing damage.

[Jason Nguyen]

Yeah, I like how one of my favorite things about Dungeons and Dragons is you've got your character on the page, but they sort of reveal themselves uncannily as you play them. And there is something about someone who would be so driven to cheat death that they're willing to survive in this debased way for eons and then destroy some version of themselves in order to live again. Like, that is. That's insane hubris. So I think you hopefully see a little bit of how much he's gone mad there towards the end.

[Dan Casey]

If he's been here for that long, what's another couple minutes? Rounds around is six seconds. What's another couple seconds to try and swat an annoyance away from you and demonstrate your prowess?

[Amy Vorpahl]

That goblin show should die. I mean, we already know, like, he's asking for it.

[Ross Bryan]

Well, was I asking for it, or did my friends feign death and pass the aggro on to me?

[Amy Vorpahl]

Like, they're like, we outies.

[Ross Bryan]

Sorry.

[Dan Casey]

We heard that Tippi had an eldritch cannon. I swear to God it's useful.

[Ross Bryan]

I swear it'll work someday.

[Jason Nguyen]

This is a classic D and D moment. We were laughing of just, like, this huge buildup of, like. Yeah, we got, like, six pages of how it works, and it's ready to rock. And I rolled a three.

[Ross Bryan]

Yeah, it was sad. It was a sad moment for me.

[Amy Vorpahl]

I do love the amount that busy. Sorry. Danielle and Jason, you were negotiating extra things, so could this.

[Ross Bryan]

What were they? Let's get into it.

[Amy Vorpahl]

What if this was advantage? And this could just be advantage.

[Danielle Radford]

This could be.

[Ross Bryan]

All I asked was to move. You know, in D and D, you get a move action, but it's just.

[Dan Casey]

For the benefits of goo.

[Ross Bryan]

That's all I was asking for.

[Dan Casey]

I just wanted to move a little.

[Ross Bryan]

Further away from the blasty man.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

You know, it's a land filled with all this ephemera. We can take it, do whatever we want with it. And what I wanted was to roll it. Finished.

[Dan Casey]

Yeah.

[Ross Bryan]

That was you very much bargaining to not miss.

[Danielle Radford]

Hey, you know the stages of dealing with death. We had finished bargaining.

[Ross Bryan]

Yeah. We were desperate.

[Amy Vorpahl]

We were desperate. Yeah. I actually, I was not tracking your character sheet hit points at all. And when both of you went down, I was like, huh, huh. Hmm. I wonder how this is.

[Ross Bryan]

And then that's where you're like. And Max does 100 points of damage. Maxwell is now so strong.

[Jason Nguyen]

Luckily, one wonderful, if misguided, cube.

[Ross Bryan]

Thank God for that cube.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. I'm really happy that he's staying in the ethereal realm.

[Dan Casey]

He comes from a different time. He's back from second edition.

[Amy Vorpahl]

That's right.

[Jason Nguyen]

And let's not forget a gnarly ass lightning whip that totally saved.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Shoot.

[Ross Bryan]

That was awesome.

[Dan Casey]

What a great way to finally use the hat of wizardry and just use a cantrip that. I don't know. Off the top of my head, I was really worried I was gonna beef that. That you were gonna make that save perfect. Fly towards you.

[Amy Vorpahl]

I know very easily could have happened with the way the battle was going.

[Danielle Radford]

Oh, that was just such a satisfying way for that to end. As in everything in their life, like, and then their unlife, just them both dying at the same time. And then that moment also, kind of like, so much about this was about leaving the past behind, moving forward, going forward, taking what, you know, taking stock of what you have now and what you can do with it.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Oh, my gosh. It blew. I mean, it blew my mind. Look, there were two ways, right? Like, you get enamored with having a body, right? Cause it's made possible this guy Gagongin could do it. You saw here him do it for Kaya. And there was a version that I was like, whoa, what if they want that? And it was so clear from the beginning. It was like, no old life, man. And then, yeah, the metaphor of just burning the entire building down that had your memories, and then you gallivanting off going, we run together. We're never gonna kill each other. That's not us. Those are new people.

[Ross Bryan]

That was great.

[Amy Vorpahl]

We are new people.

[Dan Casey]

It's gonna be it. Sorry, go ahead.

[Danielle Radford]

But I'm saying, like, very few people get to actually work through their issues by working having their issues right in front of them. And so being able to look, it's like, I've seen this movie. We've watched how this plays out if we go down this path. So that already wasn't our relationship anyway. But now we can extra see. Oh, I don't like that third act. We get to build our world.

[Amy Vorpahl]

But I do like a DD therapist in the fantasy world going, okay, you've got a lot of trauma. It's gonna take a few years for you to. Or maybe five, maybe 10 years for you to get through this trauma. Or you could die, get raised as an undead skeleton, learn everything anew, and just, like, you know, get rid of that past immediately. Like, that would be the therapist recommendation. Cause that is what happened.

[Dan Casey]

Therapy. Wrong Fireball.

[Danielle Radford]

You just have to punch yourself in.

[Amy Vorpahl]

The face, stab yourself in the chest.

[Dan Casey]

Gonna say shout out again to Bonepile. MVP mechanic of this really cool mechanic.

[Danielle Radford]

I don't know.

[Ross Bryan]

I think I almost. I thought it was perfect. I loved how it turned out. You know, that was the one time I'll be okay with taking Fireball's full damage and getting whisked away to some other realm. I felt like it kind of had to be like, Fibs or Bizzy, who sort of put these creatures back in their place. Right? So, like, attacking with the lightning whip was sort of perfect. Throwing them back in the fire was sort of perfect.

[Dan Casey]

Quite literally used the power of friendship from this hat, you told me from your friend.

[Ross Bryan]

And for the purists who are like, whoa. Why is the hat still there? The infusions last for three days after the artificer dies.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Oh, yeah.

[Ross Bryan]

So it's still there.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. And D and D, time is very.

[Dan Casey]

Slow to actually after six seconds or ten years.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yes, Yes. I want to talk a little bit about the aftermath, too.

[Dan Casey]

Yes.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. Because when you returned, Tippi was alive, and we had. Okay, we had so many romantic sidebars. One of my favorite things in the world, role playing. Love.

[Dan Casey]

Ugh, gross.

[Ross Bryan]

You missed it. But yeah, yeah, there was a lot of love.

[Amy Vorpahl]

A lot of love. A lot of healing, too. But Tippy. Yeah. You boofed it.

[Ross Bryan]

I boofed it because I felt like you boofed.

[Dan Casey]

The verb you want to use here.

[Danielle Radford]

Boof, is something very specific.

[Dan Casey]

I know we're in the goo realm, but I simply have to ask this question.

[Ross Bryan]

It's the boof realm. What's the matter? I don't get. Do you get it?

[Danielle Radford]

That is Stevie Nicks's word. We cannot use that word unless you are Stevie Nicks.

[Ross Bryan]

Well, in the boof realm, you can boof blast. You can.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Okay.

[Ross Bryan]

Anyways.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah, but you didn't.

[Danielle Radford]

I.

[Amy Vorpahl]

With you Follow through. There you go.

[Ross Bryan]

It seemed like it would be maybe too perfect or too Tippi right now. I don't feel believes he deserves this sort of ending. He doesn't feel like a hero. And to be resurrected and get the girl and plant a big old kiss and feel good about himself, he would have to feel like a hero. And he doesn't. Right. The truth is he was. He died to save his friends, which worked. But then even in the ghost realm, he died again. Almost. Right. He went to zero, thank God, didn't die again. That was like a couple points from another perma death. And then I would be a glob thing. Right. But like, to me, Tippi struggles with his self worth and the idea of is he a hero? Is he not? Or is he even worth mentioning when we talk about heroes?

[Amy Vorpahl]

Well, I think it's like a testament to role play in Dungeons and Dragons where it's like, you don't know what you're gonna dec. There's a version of this where we're all like, well, he's just gonna do it. And that's fine. And if we told the story third person, it'd be like, yeah, Tippi and Pekara, they like, you know, smooch a little bit and that's fine. But in the moment it's like, oh, well, while you're being Tippi and I see the shift, you, like, be Tippi and you're balancing all of Tippi's thoughts and you're like, actually, he can't do it in this moment. Yeah, it's not gonna happen.

[Ross Bryan]

He can't do it. He's gonna do the most painfully awkward thing on the planet when you're about to kiss somebody and it's handshake, give a handshake. And that's based on real life. Yeah, I did it. Uh huh.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Wow.

[Ross Bryan]

Yeah, it was like it was going to be my first kiss. And it was on New Year's. Yeah, New Year's night when the bell struck midnight.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yes, yes.

[Ross Bryan]

And my brother had come to pick me up from my first girlfriend's house. And it was definitely a moment where my brother's laying on the horn. I had to go. And we stood there and she definitely lined it up. She was like, are you forgetting something? And I stared at her right in the eyes and I went, I'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, put it there. And I've never stopped thinking about it. And now.

[Jason Nguyen]

And this is where it is. This was like two years ago.

[Dan Casey]

Well, relax, relax.

[Ross Bryan]

No, this was. No, this was When I was, like, in, I believe, eighth grade.

[Jason Nguyen]

Oh, no. That is the. A deeply relatable story. I have more than one.

[Dan Casey]

Thank you. That are basically the same.

[Ross Bryan]

Thank you. Yeah. Completely boofed it with this girl. And I was like, well, that's Bakura. That's Sippy and Pekora. So a little bit of reality blending into the roleplay.

[Jason Nguyen]

Sometimes art imitates life.

[Amy Vorpahl]

But we did get a smooch.

[Ross Bryan]

We did get a smooch. Thank God somebody smooched.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Thank God somebody did. Like, who's out there smooching these things? We just got crandall. Crandall.

[Danielle Radford]

We had to get a little smoochie.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Sidebar.

[Danielle Radford]

Well, there's been this thing with, like, that they have discovered this thing with Rani and Bizzy and the, you know, they've had this very strong afterlife friendship. And then we done consensual possession before and discovered that maybe there were, like, extra feelings there. And it's something that we've teased every time Ronnie comes around, but we've never really gotten into. And I think for Busy, it was like, look like. And maybe it might have been the same if it. Cause, you know, Prakara's gonna remember that, whereas it's like, if I. I don't know if Rani's going to remember it or if Ronnie's not going to remember it, but Bizzy was going to regret not doing it. And so if nothing else, we can, like, leave it where we have that one time and that one moment in this time, and if we never get it again, we never get it again. But I think Busy felt like she just couldn't leave without having that. Plus, like, it's not to, like, meta too much, but going back to the first episode with true love's kiss and having that moment of us, like, trying to kiss the statue and seeing what happened, and Busy decided to give it a go. Now, Busy ain't got no lips, so I don't know. I mean, apparently she's into it.

[Ross Bryan]

You went at that statue, episode one pretty hard.

[Danielle Radford]

It was pretty scrapey. I don't. It was very scrapey with my bone teeth.

[Dan Casey]

For some people, it's a texture thing.

[Ross Bryan]

Kiss your skull.

[Danielle Radford]

Skull. Skull, Skull.

[Dan Casey]

I will say, though, it felt very fitting in terms of, like, yes, narrative payoff, but also Busy's quest to be cool. It was just the coolest thing she could have done in that moment.

[Jason Nguyen]

It was just like.

[Dan Casey]

Honestly, just like you then just walking away towards a portal.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah.

[Danielle Radford]

Yeah.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Oh, absolutely.

[Danielle Radford]

And then just like, I imagine not looking Back.

[Dan Casey]

Oh, yeah. Extreme action movie vibes from Bizzy there.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Oh, yeah.

[Ross Bryan]

Now I'm gonna go home and write the fanfic. We're fibs. And was it fiv. Laurel, I cannot say make out. Yeah. I feel like that's the alternate universe.

[Amy Vorpahl]

To be in Filverel.

[Ross Bryan]

No, no, Fibs and Phil fibs and filverel.

[Amy Vorpahl]

100%. Yeah. Yeah. There was some extreme fanboying going on between the two of you.

[Ross Bryan]

I guess that's a question. Like, is there a world where they. Like, what would have happened if they were just, like, cool? Yeah, no, we're down with this. You can take our bodies, like, if they were, like, if they wanted to be.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Okay, so I did. Yeah, I did have a plan for that, which was like. Which was basically. So you know how we got Ross in here to play a weird bizarro version of fibs that Dan was then going to have to play the bizarro version of bizarro. Ross playing bizarro. Fantastic.

[Ross Bryan]

Wow.

[Dan Casey]

Can we retake that from the top?

[Ross Bryan]

They're gonna go again and they're gonna kiss this time.

[Amy Vorpahl]

They're gonna make it. Well, yeah.

[Dan Casey]

This is how.

[Amy Vorpahl]

So. Yeah. Raz, you have more power over this episode than you ever thought you did. What about the vows?

[Dan Casey]

I think the vows were a super interesting addition. It's really cool to have that sort of magical caveat, like, yeah, you can leave this realm, but if you violate your vow, there is a percentile chance that you might get sucked back here through space and time to this ghost realm. Yeah. I think that I like the progression where it was both Tippy and Bizzy's vow felt like very, like, personal self development. Like, their characters moved along and for fibs. I wanted it to be something that was more. Not more plot oriented, but, like, what Everything he's seen over the last couple episodes he's seen. He's learned so much lore. He's learned so much about the Sundari, about the Scythe of Aurelio, and seeing specifically what Luxeer has done to everyone he loves and cares about. And I think that has radicalized him more than anything. He's putting his own wants and needs aside. As long as that means he can stop these people from presumably harming more of the people he cares about.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. Yeah. This whole ethereal realm situation is so. It's hard to get away from metaphor here because it's like, eh, things are just kind of weird. Like, it's a fun realm because it does. It's like Feywilder or Like abyssal or infernal plane, where it's like, well, pacts. Now you have pacts that like kind of transcend magic and rules, really. And it's kind of just. It's more emotion driven or, you know, like true love's kiss will wake. It's like, well, how do I roll for true love's kiss? Like, you don't. It's just like this feeling. Like, does that work? And so to have this vow does feel like something that's really just another tool of torture. Like, well, like, I'm gonna make a.

[Dan Casey]

Choice and then I'm gonna hear you rolling a D100 behind the screen. And people are like, ah, Fibs disappears. Fibs is gone into a world of goo.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Let's go.

[Ross Bryan]

Oh, no, he's left a pile of goo and robes behind.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Bye, Dan. Bye.

[Danielle Radford]

Also, I have to say, I do love that it turns out busy is a late in life lesbian. Well, let's go, let's go.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Oh, yeah. I mean, we got polycules. I think it was established pretty early on that there were some queer VI in this game. What about your vow, Tippi?

[Ross Bryan]

I think Tippi more than ever just wants to. I think the underneath it all is to be useful, right? And like, actually do the thing.

[Amy Vorpahl]

But like, sorry, I can't add. No, it's right there underneath, Gael. Yes.

[Ross Bryan]

Okay. We can't use it.

[Jason Nguyen]

Terraflane is truly a tragic kingdom.

[Ross Bryan]

Yeah, yeah. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt. No. Tippi just wants to protect his friends. But I think the little add on there is he wants to laugh with his friends, not at them, which is not just protect them physically, but it seems like protect them emotionally as well.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Sounds like it. Yeah.

[Ross Bryan]

And it might, you know, news flash, this might be the only friends he's ever made other than actual Goo Goo Dolls, so.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Yeah. Well, it does seem like that Maxwell friendship was even toxic.

[Ross Bryan]

He's a toxic goo. And I made some goo dolls in the goo realms, but that's it. I don't think he's really had friends.

[Dan Casey]

Does Tippy not want the world to see him because he doesn't think they'd understand?

[Ross Bryan]

No.

[Dan Casey]

That is B A N A N A S. That about does it for us on Sagas of Sundry Quests and answers. Thank you again to Ross for joining us for these past few days.

[Danielle Radford]

Thank you for listening.

[Amy Vorpahl]

Thank you.

[Dan Casey]

And thank you out there for joining us for this adventure so far. There's going to be even more to come on a brand new episode of Goblin Mode coming your way on Geek and Sundry and wherever five podcast are served. Thank you again and we'll see you next time. Bye bye.

[Ross Bryan]

No doubt.

[Dan Casey]

One doubt.

[Jason Nguyen]

Iris.

[Ross Bryan]

Iris.

[Dan Casey]

Welcome to the ultimate social deduction game, Blood on the Clock Tower.

[Emily Axford]

The evil team must stalk the streets at night, hunting down members of the good team one by one. Meanwhile, the good team must outmaneuver the evil team using their unique abilities.

[Dan Casey]

I'd like to kick things off by telling you all that I'm possibly the demon.

[Emily Axford]

Our players can mislead and manipulate others with absolute freedom. I didn't like hearing my name in the same sentence as demon. That was very upsetting for me.

[Dan Casey]

Emily and I will be your storytellers, guiding you through every labyrinthian twist and turn.

[Emily Axford]

How are there so many evil fighters in this game?

[Dan Casey]

What's happening with guests from no Rolls.

[Emily Axford]

Bard, the Pandemonium Institute and Oxventure? You won't be able to stop listening.

[Dan Casey]

Go to realmspod.com clocktower to find out more. Hi, this is Rob Benedict and I am Richard Speight.

[Amy Vorpahl]

We were both on a little show.

[Ross Bryan]

You might know called Supernatural.

[Dan Casey]

It had a pretty good run. 15 seasons, 327 episodes.

[Ross Bryan]

And though we have seen of course every episode many times, we figured, hey.

[Dan Casey]

Now that we're wrapped, let's watch it all again. And we can't do that alone. So we're inviting the cast and crew that made the show along for the ride. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and we'll of course have some actors on as well, including some certain guys that played some certain and pretty iconic brothers. It was kind of a little bit.

[Ross Bryan]

Of a left field choice in the best way possible.

[Jason Nguyen]

The note from Kripke was he's great, we love him, but we're looking for like a really intelligent Duchovny type.

[Dan Casey]

With 15 seasons to explore. It's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes. So please join us and subscribe to Supernatural then and now.

[Emily Axford]

You should Listen to the GamesReady biz microcast. More people are playing games than ever before. They've never been more popular.

[Dan Casey]

And the business behind it is facing.

[Emily Axford]

Some real challenges and changes. There's been tens of thousands of layoffs, hundreds of studio closures as major companies face rising costs and falling sales. There's uncertainty around the future of game consoles. There's legal and government intervention into how games are even being paid for. The role of AI is changing how games are being made. There's the impact of games like Fortnite and Roblox dominating everyone's time.

[Dan Casey]

And then there's the desperate wait for.

[Emily Axford]

Switch 2 and GTA 6.

[Dan Casey]

And that's just 2024.

[Emily Axford]

Two leading business journalists with a combined 35 years of experience offer you a weekly guide through all of and more. I'm Christopher dring, head of GamesIndustry Biz. I'm James Batchelor, editor in chief of GameStry Biz, and you can join us every Monday for the gamesindustry Biz Microcast, the most important stories, expert guests, exclusive market data, and all in less than 30 minutes. Usually the GameStudy Biz microcast every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.