It Could Happen Here – Pathfinder: Dawn of the Frogs, Part One

Date: November 2, 2025
Hosts/Players: Margaret Killjoy, Jason Bulman (GM), Hazel Acacia, IO, Robert Evans
Podcast Theme: Collapsing worlds, anarchic humor, community-building—now applied to a fantasy tabletop roleplaying adventure in the Pathfinder universe.

Episode Overview

In this special “Book Club” spin-off (really a live-play RPG session), the Cool Zone team embarks on a Pathfinder 2nd Edition campaign called Dawn of the Frogs, guided by special guest and Pathfinder designer Jason Bulman as Game Master (GM). The usual anarchic, collapse-punk humor of “It Could Happen Here” meets fantasy heroics as characters with revolutionary, anti-authoritarian, and questionable life skills tackle their first adventure: investigating mysterious disappearances in the swamp town of Bog Bottom.

Key Discussion Points & Episode Flow

1. Show Introduction & Tabletop Setup ([03:11]–[07:08])

• The regular hosts gather around for their first ever live-play RPG podcast.
• Margaret: “This week we are doing something new...and we’re going to be doing it for more than just this week because, I don’t know if you all have ever played a role playing game, but it lasts longer than an hour.” ([03:11])
• Margaret (Host, “Spite”): Introduces guest GM Jason Bulman, lead designer for Pathfinder.
• The group jokes about the number of books involved in RPG prep. Hazel quips about the “book club” premise actually being a fake-out for gaming.

2. Game Master Jason Bulman Introduces the Adventure ([07:08]–[09:36])

• Jason paints the swampy setting of Bog Bottom and the hook: missing townsfolk near an old ruined mill (“The Dunmire is a gloomy and foreboding swamp, yet beauty can be found within...” [07:08]).
• The party are implied ne’er-do-wells fleeing recent exploits—and seeking coin and redemption.

3. Player and Character Introductions ([09:36]–[16:45])

Each player delivers a vivid backstory in their own words. Notable intros:

• Spite (Margaret): Young human, raised in a commune, revolutionary-worships Melani, wears chainmail with a candle on her helmet. Socially odd, “Morningstar is practically a fidget spinner.” ([09:36])
• Squash (IO): Shoony (canine halfling-like), “shaped like a friend” but with a “fucked up scull shape,” all heart and rogue energy. Wears a chainmail crop top, wields a ludicrous sword-gun, “used to be a gentleman bank robber for the revolution.” ([10:51])
• Sister Mer Dragona Bow / Myrty (Hazel): Half-orc cleric, leans into “soup nun” identity, face-casts as Denise Crosby, wields a chef’s knife and ladle, perpetually carries a cauldron of magical stew. [13:19]
• Trant (Robert Evans): Human alchemist from a gunpowder family, specializes in bombs (“My whole life was living in a fucking slum making gunpowder...I make bombs and allegedly other things”). Scarred, anonymous, prefers distance tactics. [14:56]
• The group establishes in-character rapport and jibes, dropping anarchic, lefty, and queer-coded jokes.

4. The First Encounter: Outside the Ruined Mill ([17:00]–[22:54])

• The party arrives at the mill, finds entrance blocked by thick vines.
• Attempts to use bombs, knives, and muscle—chaotic teamwork, much banter about Molotovs and failed dice rolls.
• Squash: “Every time I throw a Molotov, there’s one problem, and boom, right away you get a different problem.” ([23:11])
• Eventually, brute force (and some luck) clears the way.

5. Inside the Mill: Combat with Swamp Beetles ([25:54]–[51:44])

• The floor is rotted; massive millstone sunk into muck; stairs look dangerous.
• Three dog-sized swamp beetles ambush the party, leading to everyone’s first Pathfinder 2e combat.
• Myrty casts Bless to aid the party. Spite and Squash both roll critical failures at first, while Trant hurls bombs (“That’ll teach you to be an animal I just met,” Trant after incinerating a beetle, [37:37]).
• Spite: “Can we switch dice?” ([36:49])
• Beetles fail to hit the party; group’s banter merges with tactical gameplay, joking about Beatles (the band) puns.
• Final blows splatter acid goo on those nearby, prompting:
  • Myrty: “Do you think we could eat this? Does any of this look edible? Like a lobster?” ([50:52])
  • GM Jason: “All three of you get spattered with this caustic beetle goo. All of you take one point of acid damage...” ([51:00])

6. Exploring the Mill & Party Hijinks ([53:15]–[67:39])

• The party recovers, cracks jokes about gods, soup, bombs, and pamphlet-distribution. Myrty hands out soup zines; Trant offers bomb-pamphlets (“Now, do you have some pamphlets about this—’cause this...oh, you absolutely have some pamphlets.” [57:22])
• Listening upstairs, Spite hears croaking—likely frogs.
  • Spite: “I think that there’s a bunch of frogs upstairs. They probably got trapped here by the beetles. We liberated those frogs...” ([54:32])
• Preparing to ascend, group repeatedly fails to scale a dangerous staircase. Multiple pratfalls ensue:
  • Trant: “I got one option here, and it’s blow things up. That is not climbing inclusive.” ([65:40])
• After more shenanigans and some rope-and-pulley teamwork, all make the climb (eventually).

7. Cliffhanger Ending ([67:39]–[69:51])

• The party reaches the second floor, spies a slumbering dark shape in front of a ladder to the top floor.
• GM Jason: “...Before you can find out what that is, I think we’re going to break this episode and you will have to tune in next time to learn what is slumbering at the foot of the ladder.” ([68:37])
• Speculation: is it a giant beetle? Totoro? Frog industrialist? More Beatles references and anarchic jokes cap the session.

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• Margaret ([03:06]): “The only book club where actually it’s a bunch of podcasters playing roleplaying games instead of reading books.”
• Jason (GM) ([07:08]): “The Dunmire is a gloomy and foreboding swamp, yet beauty can be found within...”
• Spite (Margaret) ([09:36]): “She has a helmet with a candle stuck to the top, so she can see where she’s going. I don’t know why everyone thinks that’s so strange.”
• Squash (IO) ([10:51]): “He’s a sturdy trunk of a boy, three feet tall, and shaped like a friend...”
• Myrty (Hazel) ([13:19]): “I have found myself as part of an erstwhile soup cult to the God... Maybe like Food Not Bombs..."
• Trant (Robert) ([14:56]): “The only thing they taught me that was of much use was how to make gunpowder. And I got too good at that...”
• Party combat banter ([23:11]):
  • Squash: “Throw a Molotov and boom, right away you got a different problem.”
  • Trant: after critting, “That’ll teach you to be an animal I just met.” ([37:37])
• Margaret ([36:49]): “Can we switch dice?”
• Squash’s Beatles puns ([42:43]): “And I get right up close to its ear and I say, it’s been a hard day’s night and I’ve been working like a dog.”
• Party’s dangerous stair climb sequence:
  • Trant: “I got one option here, and it’s blow things up. That is not climbing inclusive.” ([65:40])
  • Myrty: “I did go to climbing school; I went to scouts!” ([65:41])
  • Party eventually has to pulley Trant up after falling through.
• Margaret/Spite ([54:32]): “I think there’s a bunch of frogs upstairs. They probably got trapped here by the beetles.”
• Margaret, closing ([69:25]): “If you listen next week we’re going to wake up the Totoro giant beetle and blow up John Lennon...”

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:11] – Show / RPG Setup
• [07:08] – Jason Bulman introduces setting/adventure
• [09:36] – Character introductions (Spite, Squash, Myrty, Trant)
• [17:00] – Entering the swamp; approaching the mill; party dynamics
• [22:54] – Gaining entry, failed bombs, and teamwork
• [25:54] – First combat: massive swamp beetle fight
• [51:44] – Battle aftermath, loot, and (failed) foraging/consumption attempts
• [53:15] – Climbing the rickety staircase (party slapstick)
• [67:39] – Cliffhanger: mysterious sleeping creature on upper floor

Summary Tone & Takeaways

• Tone: Joyful irreverence, anarcho-whimsy, in-character riffing; the group’s offbeat humor (and dice failures) are as much a feature as actual combat.
• Community & Collapse Themes: The party brings their familiar anti-authoritarian, mutual-aid sensibilities into the Pathfinder universe—soup cults, bomb zines, and all.
• Tabletop Play: This episode serves as both an introduction to the Pathfinder system and a playful parody of RPG tropes (critical fails, failed teamwork, accidental comedy).
• Memorable Running Jokes: Beatles/“Beetles” puns, pamphlets for soup & bombs, anti-fascist (and anti-cephalopodic) asides, the group’s inability to climb basic obstacles without drama.
• Cliffhanger: An as-yet unrevealed threat (or friend?) awaits on the upper floor, teeing up the next installment.

Recommended for:
Fans of TTRPGs, anyone who craves a blend of collapse/anarchist humor and RPG chaos, listeners seeking a character- and banter-driven actual play.

Next Episode Tease:
Will the “Cool Kids at the Table” outwit the sleeping creature? Will they bomb, soup, or lecture their way into (and out of) the next predicament? As Margaret says: tune in next week!