Stories RPG Crossover: Gigacity Guardians 0 Meeting Our Heroes

Summary

Stories Podcast: A Bedtime Show for Kids of All Ages
Episode Summary: "Stories RPG Crossover: Gigacity Guardians 0 Meeting Our Heroes"
Release Date: December 26, 2024
Host/Author: Starglow Media / Wondery

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Introduction to Stories RPG Crossover

In this special crossover episode, Stories Podcast collaborates with Stories RPG, an interactive Play at Home Listen and Learn game designed to foster storytelling among all ages. Hosted by Amanda Weldon, the episode seamlessly transitions into an engaging role-playing session led by Michael Lowe, inviting listeners into the creative process of building a superhero team for the fictional world of Giga City.

Setting the Stage: Giga City Guardians

Michael Lowe introduces the setting: a vibrant world akin to ours but infused with superpowers, advanced technology, mutants, and formidable villains. At the heart of this bustling metropolis lies Giga City, renowned for its heroic defenders and cutting-edge inventions. The Giga City Guardians, self-appointed protectors of the city, operate from their citadel, the Lighthouse, symbolizing hope and resilience.

“This world is a lot like ours, but with one important... superpowers, tech that bends reality, mutants, monsters and more.”
— Michael Lowe [04:05]

Character Creation and Development

Firefly: The Leader

Amanda Weldon introduces her character, Firefly (Jillian Jayes), a smart teenager trained in judo who drives the team's operations. Firefly's backstory involves the loss of her father to supervillains, driving her commitment to protect others.

“I lost my father to supervillains. I'll use my power to keep that from happening to anyone else.”
— Amanda Weldon [07:17]

Abe Canaveral: The Indestructible Ape

Daniel Hines brings to life Abe Canaveral, a chimpanzee-turned-superhero with enhanced intelligence and invulnerability. Abe’s origin story involves a catastrophic rocket accident orchestrated by the tech billionaire Fred Tusk of Tusk Company, leaving Abe unscathed and endowed with extraordinary abilities.

“I can totally put that in. And believe me, it will come in handy. We will figure out a way to make that stink super important to the story.”
— Michael Lowe [09:12]

Abe’s transformation reflects themes of resilience and adaptation, embodying both the strengths and vulnerabilities of an unexpected hero.

“My hands were dry. And I just looked there and I said, hey, they call us the great apes, but I'm the greatest one there is.”
— Daniel Hines [25:06]

Animus: The Empathic Mystic

Scrib the Bard crafts Animus, an empath capable of altering others' emotions. Animus’s journey from a disillusioned ex-employee of Tusk Industries to a Guardian showcases internal conflict and the rekindling of idealism.

“I am very eager to be part of this team. Still struggling with some of that hesitation. I'm a little bit cynical, but seeing who the Guardians are, seeing what they stand for, I'm starting to feel some of that idealism sparking back up.”
— Scrib the Bard [33:02]

Animus grapples with maintaining emotional boundaries, adding depth to the team dynamics and potential story arcs.

Team Dynamics and Story Potential

The trio—Firefly, Abe Canaveral, and Animus—forms a unique blend of leadership, brute strength, and emotional intelligence. Michael Lowe emphasizes the importance of each character's strengths and flaws, fostering a balanced and compelling team.

“Your downfall never hurts in the story. The downfall can help you when you're challenged.”
— Michael Lowe [14:05]

The interactions among the characters hint at future conflicts and collaborations, setting the stage for rich narrative developments.

“I liked the idea of my character having been an ex-employee somewhere in that organization.”
— Scrib the Bard [19:33]

Conclusion and Next Steps

As the session wraps up, Michael Lowe encourages listeners to engage with Stories RPG by visiting their Patreon page to create their own superhero characters and join upcoming adventures. The episode concludes with a teaser for future story developments, promising more action and character growth.

“This has been our first chance to sort of get to know your characters. If you're playing at home, you'll get a chance to make yours, too.”
— Michael Lowe [33:29]

Key Takeaways

• Interactive Storytelling: The episode highlights the collaborative nature of role-playing games in crafting engaging narratives.
• Character Depth: Each character is thoughtfully developed with unique abilities and personal backstories, enhancing the story’s richness.
• Creative Engagement: Listeners are encouraged to participate, fostering a community-driven storytelling experience.

Notable Quotes

• Michael Lowe: “This world is a lot like ours, but with one important... superpowers, tech that bends reality, mutants, monsters and more.” [04:05]
• Amanda Weldon: “I lost my father to supervillains. I'll use my power to keep that from happening to anyone else.” [07:17]
• Daniel Hines: “I was just trying to think of something to tease Amanda. That's what I usually.” [25:06]
• Scrib the Bard: “I am very eager to be part of this team. Still struggling with some of that hesitation...” [33:02]

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This episode serves as an exciting introduction to the Giga City Guardians, laying the groundwork for future adventures and demonstrating the power of collaborative storytelling in creating memorable and inspiring narratives for children and families alike.

Transcript

[Michael Lowe]

Hello.

[Amanda Weldon]

Welcome to Stories Podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Weldon. Today's story is a crossover episode from Stories rpg, our Play at Home Listen and Learn game that helps people of all ages tell amazing stories together. Tune in for a regular episode of Stories Podcast later this week. We have Stories Podcast merch, [e-mail] shop. We're also on Cameo for all of your personalized video message needs. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram toriespodcast. If you send us a drawing of your favorite scene or character, we'll share it on our feed. Now, here's a word from our sponsors do you want to set your kids up for success in the new year? Is your child struggling with a specific subject and in need of extra help? Or are they maybe way ahead and ready for more challenging material? Make 2025 your family's best academic year yet with IXL Learning. IXL Learning is an online learning program that enriches your homeschool curriculum. It offers practice in math, English, language arts, science and social studies while adapting to each child, meeting them where they are. Plus, IXL encourages students to be curious and empowers them to choose how to learn. It's the perfect supplement to your homeschool curriculum. IXL offers interactive practice problems, educational games, lessons and video tutorials for every topic you're teaching at home. Everything on IXL is organized by grade, subject, topic and subtopic, making it easy to find activities for the exact skills you're covering. It'll save you so much time. Not only that, but your kids will love IXL's positive feedback. Awards and educational games make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and Stories podcast listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com dragon Visit ixl.com dragon to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. This episode of Stories podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just launching a new venture or managing a successful business, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything from products to content to time, all in one place, all on your terms. Squarespace makes it easy to build a beautiful website with Design Intelligence, a cutting edge AI technology to unlock your strongest creative potential. Design Intelligence empowers anyone to build a beautiful, more personalized website tailored to your unique needs so your site can really reflect your brand and create a specific digital signature to use throughout your entire online presence. Plus, Squarespace has integrated SEO tools. Every Squarespace website is optimized so you show up more often to more people in global search engine results. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're Ready to launch www.squarespace.com dragon to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com dragon for 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Thanks. Enjoy the episode.

[Michael Lowe]

Welcome to Stories rpg. I'm Michael Lowe. I teach English and I've been teaching, designing curriculum and making games for years. In every episode of Stories rpg, we'll play a story game, also called a role playing game, to create epic tales together. You can listen along, then download chapters of the game to tell your own stories at home. It's easy, fun, and everyone can get involved. I'll be joined by Daniel Hines and Amanda Weldon, the team behind Stories Podcast, and scrib the bar to the Scribbler Network. Today we're starting our first game, Giga City Guardians, a tale of superheroic adventures set in the world of the brilliant Firefly from Stories Podcast. So this is not going to be fully scripted. I do have beats and I do have characters and places, but it's a story that belongs to everyone at the table. So you get to make things up and sometimes I will ask you loaded questions and you get to say whatever you want and that then becomes part of our story and it becomes true. So with all that said, hi everybody. Thank you so much for joining me for Gigacity Guardians. So I'm Michael. I'll be the teller today. Basically, that means I'm going to help the story move, set up dramatic scenes and play the other people you'll meet. And yeah, would everybody like to go around? Dan, do you want to start?

[Daniel Hynes]

Sure. I'm Daniel Hynes, the writer of Stories Podcast, and I am here to play and I am very excited about my character and we'll get to that soon. But hello everybody.

[Michael Lowe]

Hi, Dan.

[Amanda Weldon]

Hi, Dan.

[Michael Lowe]

Hello.

[Amanda Weldon]

I'm Amanda Weldon and I'm usually the host of Stories podcast, but today I'm just a player. I'm excited to be here.

[Michael Lowe]

Yay. Sorry. I'm super thrilled even just hearing you say, hello, I'm Amanda Weldon. I'm Starstruck. I'm not going to lie.

[Amanda Weldon]

Thank you very much.

[Michael Lowe]

No. And then, Scriv, would you say hello?

[Scrib the Bard]

Hello. I am Scrib the Bard. I am a Family friendly writer and game designer. I am a total newcomer to this podcast, but I'm super excited and I am very excited to get into Giga City Guardians.

[Michael Lowe]

Yay. Well, if everybody's ready, let's jump right in. So I'm going to introduce the setting and I love that you said Giga City Guardians again. So this is the world in which our story is going to take place. So this world is a lot like ours, but with one important It's a world of superpowers, tech that bends reality, mutants, monsters and more. And at the heart of it all, Giga City. Famous for the most powerful heroes, mind bending inventions and nefarious villains. Whatever happens in Gigacity changes everything. And you, you're the self appointed guardians of the sprawling city by the bay and all its everyday people, powered and not. You're the Gigacity Guardians and the Lighthouse. Your citadel rises above the famous suspension bridge. A challenge to any threat. This city is protected. So before we get started, this means you guys get to create your heroes, whoever or whatever you want to be. There's room in the wild world of Gigacity for you. Whether you're a unicorn riding wizard or a talking cat who teleports, it's all good. The key to a good story is always asking questions. So right now what I'm going to do is I'm going to let y'all start to create some character ideas. And as you do, I'm going to help you fill out your character sheet. Your character sheet has a bunch of different little spots for you to write, different details about your character. Does anybody have any quick questions before I jump in and show you all your character sheets?

[Daniel Hynes]

I'm ready.

[Michael Lowe]

So, Amanda, since you asked, I took the liberty of doing a little bit of Firefly character sheet to see if this looks about right. And the cool thing is each of these lines of your story in the game, you just make up the things that you care about about your character. You decide what parts of your character you think are important, what makes your character interesting or fun to tell stories about. And you write whatever catches your fancy. So if you decide example, and this is for, for Dan and Scriv, if you decide that, you know, you'd really like to smell like really strong cheese, you can totally put that in. And believe me, it will come in handy. We will figure out a way to make that stink super important to the story. And I, I wrote this one up. Firefly is armored in black with red and yellow highlights, a high tech battle suit which Blasts off with a nimbus of light inside. Jillian Jayes is a normal teenager, though she's big for her age, smart, and trained in judo. I also have her drive. And for this I used Firefly's backstory. I lost my father to supervillains. I'll use my power to keep that from happening to anyone else. And then you get to choose three of the things that are down at the bottom. And you can choose any that you like. You can even copy one if you like. I chose a downfall for Gillian. She has a serious temper. That matchstick flair. I chose a Bond specs, who is her bestie and also the guy in the chair. And Adid, she defeated the Scarlet King and saved Giga City. So let me just quick ask. Let's do this. Dan and Scriv, do you guys have some ideas about who you'd like to play? I know, Dan, you'd been talking about a particularly interesting ape.

[Daniel Hynes]

Yeah, I have a. I have an ape character I've been working on, near and Dear to My Heart.

[Michael Lowe]

Oh, okay. Well, let's. Let me give you a couple minutes, but put in a description for your ape and let's. And I want to ask some follow up questions because, you know, how does an ape become a superhero? And I mean, not that all of us aren't apes if we're being real about it, but.

[Daniel Hynes]

Yeah. Should I just tell it all here? What should I do? You think? What's the best for.

[Scrib the Bard]

I really want to hear about this ape.

[Daniel Hynes]

Yeah. All right.

[Michael Lowe]

Yeah. Okay, there it is. Dan, tell us about the ape.

[Daniel Hynes]

So my character is a chimpanzee who was bought as part of a group of chimpanzees by a tech billionaire who was trying to send people into deep space. So he was testing on chimps with this experimental engine and there was a terrible accident and the experimental rocket blew up high in the sky, but this chimp miraculously fell to Earth and was completely unscathed. And the next line in all the papers, big headline. Ape Canaveral at the launch point. And then so he.

[Michael Lowe]

Wait, wait, wait. I have two follow up questions already. Can I choose the tech billionaire's name? That's the first question I have for you.

[Daniel Hynes]

Absolutely.

[Michael Lowe]

Fred Tusk of Tusk Company is the one who sent you into orbit.

[Daniel Hynes]

I like it.

[Michael Lowe]

Okay, okay. When he landed, can I ask, like, what happened next? Like, how did he get connected with the Guardians? Like, I don't know. Ape comes, you know, cannonballing out of the sky. There might even be some interesting questions. About, you know, does Tusko try to keep owning you now that, like, can you talk?

[Daniel Hynes]

Yeah. They wanted to basically just get rid of me because I was evidence of a faulty rocket design. Maybe it wasn't tested. Great. We'll figure that out. But the main part was that I now have super intelligence. Not super intelligence for a human, but super intelligence for an ape. So I can talk and just. He's sort of like a normal dude now. But as far as anybody can tell since the explosion, he is completely impervious to harm. That's why he was able to.

[Michael Lowe]

Okay, so this is like super toughness.

[Daniel Hynes]

Yeah. You felt like a mile out of the sky on burning plasma all around him, and just fine so far. And he sort of liked Ape. Canaveral. He had a nickname back with the other test pilots. He thought he was friends with all the human test pilots. He didn't understand that he was just a kind of a training animal, a little mascot.

[Scrib the Bard]

Oh, that's a heartbreak.

[Daniel Hynes]

He doesn't know that. He's stoked. So now that he's. He still thinks he's a test pilot. So he managed to get away from Tusk and join the Guardians, but he still wears his superhero outfit is an aviator jacket and aviator sunglasses. And he just. He's just, you know, living the life the. The astronauts. Before he went to space, his real name was Peel Armstrong because he ate a lot of bananas.

[Michael Lowe]

Oh.

[Daniel Hynes]

But now he goes by Abe Canaveral. That's a superhero name. You can just call him Ape if you're friends.

[Michael Lowe]

Wait, wait, wait. I got to ask. Like, first question is, does he wear pants?

[Daniel Hynes]

No, definitely not, because this seems important. No pants.

[Michael Lowe]

Okay. No pants. That's important to know. Okay. Pants list. Great. Just a flight jacket. Got it.

[Daniel Hynes]

Six flights.

[Michael Lowe]

And the other question I have is. Got it. It makes up for. For the pants lessness. Yeah. Okay, the next one is, can he still speak chimp?

[Daniel Hynes]

I have to think about that. Let me come back to it. I haven't thought about his chimp.

[Michael Lowe]

Yeah. Because that. That was a crucial question for me is like, okay, he thought he was one of the other test pilots. Like, has he completely lost his connection with other chimps? Because, you know, you can imagine it's a pretty tough thing to be a chimp in a world where humans put chimps in cage.

[Daniel Hynes]

Yeah, I'm gonna. Oh, I'll see. I'll see when we get there how he feels.

[Michael Lowe]

Okay, cool. Amanda, I wanted to ask, did you want to shift anything around about Firefly? Did you. Did you Want to, like, pick on a quirk or do something or a dream or there's a dialog line. If you want to put in something that's like, you know, you know that the short thing that is your classic superhero one liner.

[Amanda Weldon]

You know, I think that you. You got a lot of the things that I sort of think are the most important things about Firefly. And I don't know if I have, like, a cool, like, one liner just yet. So I'm going to. I'm going to keep thinking about it, but I think that one of the things I thought was that temper thing. I almost don't want to put it in Downfall. I almost want to put it in, like, quirk. Although I guess it is a downfall, but it still is something that seems so. So helpful sometimes. And it's like a. I don't know, almost a positive reframe a little bit. But anyway. But that's kind of the things I'm kind of thinking. But I think you got the drive. Certainly is important, and I think that that's right on the money. And that's kind of like. I think that this is good. This works for me.

[Michael Lowe]

Well, for what it's worth, you've just identified something really important. Your downfall never hurts in the story. The downfall can help you when you're challenged. And one of the reasons that it's built that way is this is true about almost every storybook character. Right. You're not only defined by what pushes you, but also what you struggle with. It's what makes you interesting. And it's often that unique quality that you have that helps you when you're. You're in need of it. Most notice it says I have a serious temper, but it comes in handy in a tough spot because that totally was what let her push through in so many different epic moments. So. Totally understand, and I'm so glad you called that out. Thank you.

[Amanda Weldon]

Thank you.

[Michael Lowe]

It's my pleasure. Scriv. Are you having any brewing ideas for. For superheroic types?

[Scrib the Bard]

Oh, my goodness.

[Daniel Hynes]

And you can't. You can't do a space monkey, because I called it. That's all.

[Scrib the Bard]

I can't do a sp. You know, that was my. That was going to be my go to Dan. Dang it. Ape Canaveral have been foiled again.

[Michael Lowe]

We've got. We've got a. We've got power armor and we've got an ape. I mean, you can go any direction you want to go.

[Scrib the Bard]

Actually. Indestructible ape, too. That sounds amazing. So I am looking through the wonderful slides here.

[Michael Lowe]

Let me just let Dan know. Dan, feel free to grab a slide for Ape and start filling it out. If you look at the power slides, you can spot that there's a little bit you can write about your powers. If you don't want to write anything at all, that's fine. We'll work with it later. You don't have to sweat it.

[Daniel Hynes]

Sounds good.

[Amanda Weldon]

Now for a quick ad break. We'll be back with the rest of the story after this. If you'd like Stories, Podcast and other favorite kid Podcasts ad free. Subscribe to Wondery Kids on Apple Podcasts have you got kids who can't break away from their screens at bedtime? This is for you. Koala Moon is a podcast of original bedtime stories and sleep meditations for kids hosted by Abby Ofer. All content is delivered in friendly soft tones, getting slower as the episode goes on to encourage sleep. There are over 450 stories and meditations to choose from, with three episodes added every single week. Koala Moon has helped improve over 25 million bedtimes since its launch in late 2021 and now welcomes over 1 million listeners a month. It even won a British podcast award in 2024. Find out what the fuss is about subscribe to Koala Moon wherever you listen to podcasts and start listening for free tonight. Just search Koala Moon on your favorite podcast app. This episode of Stories podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just launching a new venture or managing a successful business, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything from products to content to time. All in one place. All on your terms. Squarespace makes it easy to build a beautiful website with Design Intelligence, a cutting edge AI technology to unlock your strongest creative potential. Design Intelligence empowers anyone to build a beautiful, more personalized website tailored to your unique needs so your site can really reflect your brand and create a specific digital signature to use throughout your entire online presence. Plus, Squarespace has integrated SEO tools. Every Squarespace website is optimized so you show up more often to more people in global search engine results. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're Ready to launch www.squarespace.com dragon to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com dragon for 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Thanks and now Back to the story.

[Michael Lowe]

So what do you think? Are you feeling more speedy? Elemental genius. What are you thinking, Scriv?

[Scrib the Bard]

Well, with the kind of team that's forming here, I am now trying to decide between elemental and. But then maybe something a little bit weird like the mystic. But maybe we'll go with the backstory.

[Michael Lowe]

I always loved that in Firefly there was magic, but Dan never said much about it. He was just like, oh, yeah, some people are magic. And then, like, never said anything about it. And I was like, oh, man. That's a whole thing. Like, what is that even? It's got to make the super scientists mad, too, right? Like, the super scientist. Like, I've got physics figured out. Hang on. I've got a solution. Magic person's just like, no, no, no. Laws of physics. They're just suggestions. Hold on.

[Scrib the Bard]

Well, I feel like there's a lot of interesting supernatural stuff going on that could be going on here, so, I.

[Michael Lowe]

Mean, you can always play somebody who is some sort of supernatural creature. Remember, there's no limit on what you want to play as long as it's something you think would be interesting to tell a story about.

[Scrib the Bard]

Okay, I like the idea. Oh, I'll backtrack a little bit. Anytime you say big corporation, my mind automatically goes towards evil.

[Daniel Hynes]

Yeah, I think Everybody living in 2022, I think that's where we all go, right?

[Scrib the Bard]

Commonly held emotions. So I kind of like the idea of my character having been an ex employee.

[Daniel Hynes]

Love it.

[Scrib the Bard]

Of Tusks. Somewhere in that organization.

[Michael Lowe]

Of Tusk. Oh, man. Okay. You guys are just playing right into my hands. I love this.

[Scrib the Bard]

An ex employee.

[Michael Lowe]

I didn't even know Abe Canaveral was going to be. Was going to be connected to a big corporation. I had this whole plan. Thank you, guys. This is great.

[Scrib the Bard]

Happy to help.

[Michael Lowe]

So an ex employee. What did you do?

[Amanda Weldon]

What did you do?

[Scrib the Bard]

I found something that they didn't want me to know about, and I only figured it out because of the emerging abilities that I suddenly began to notice.

[Michael Lowe]

Okay, so what can you do? One great way to think about superheroes. I love to start with the power and then work my way back to the personality. In any given story. Right. In any setting, it can really help you to think about the part that makes the setting unique. So if it's fantasy, you think about what kind of magic or what land am I from? If it's superheroes, oh, man. You got to start with, okay, what's my power? So is it a sensory power? You can detect things? Do you have, like, Psychic abilities. Can you see things far off? Do you have the ability like hyper senses? So many possibilities.

[Scrib the Bard]

So normally I'd go for something like flashy like, oh, I can make things fly, like telekinesis or blowing things up. I almost went like Fire Elementalist. But this time I kind of want to take a different approach. Almost thinking a little bit of like an early Scarlet Witch type of inspiration here where like impacting the emotions of others.

[Michael Lowe]

Oh, wow. Let's go.

[Scrib the Bard]

I want to go.

[Michael Lowe]

You're gonna be an empath.

[Scrib the Bard]

Fear or feel anger or feel calm. I wanna be able to do that. I might have a little bit of deviousness still. That somehow seeped into my once idealistic heart after being so long stuck at the Tusk Industries. And I realized, no, you know what? This isn't good. This is all wrong. I've got to get out of here. Nope. I want to. I want to help people now.

[Michael Lowe]

Oh, all right.

[Scrib the Bard]

Yep. I joined up because.

[Michael Lowe]

Was this the original inspiration?

[Scrib the Bard]

Go ahead.

[Michael Lowe]

Yeah. Do, do. Sorry. Go, go, go.

[Scrib the Bard]

I'm. I'm thinking.

[Michael Lowe]

I'm used to working with kids who need follow up questions and I'm not used to adults who are like, yeah, let me go.

[Scrib the Bard]

Now we're going improvising.

[Michael Lowe]

Do it, do it, do it.

[Scrib the Bard]

I think that I was drawn to this organization because I thought that they were going to be doing good things for the city. I, I fully believed in the mission and the ideas of it. And then things started Fred Tusk feeling weird.

[Michael Lowe]

He's an idealist.

[Scrib the Bard]

Yeah. And I started noticing weird things. Like, I don't know, weird rooms that we weren't allowed access into. Maybe some other employees started disappearing. I don't know. That's going too much into storytelling. I'm so sorry.

[Michael Lowe]

No, no. I love it.

[Scrib the Bard]

It's all weird stuff. I got in trouble and then bolted. And I would like to join in with the Guardians to maybe help.

[Daniel Hynes]

Do you have a. Do you have a hero name? Because that's what I'm curious about.

[Michael Lowe]

We can leave the hero name till last if you want.

[Scrib the Bard]

I need a few minutes on that one.

[Michael Lowe]

I think that's okay. I think for me here would be my challenge. Ready? I think it sounds like you have at least a drive. I will make up for working. I once worked for evil and now I will do good. Right? That's. You are trying to make up. You have some guilt that you want to overcome here. I love that. It also sounds like you might. You also might, you know, one of your drive or your dream One or the other could be. Find out what Fred Tusk is really up to because you've been betrayed. You know, you. You found out that, you know, it wasn't. It wasn't what you thought.

[Scrib the Bard]

It was burned before.

[Michael Lowe]

You weren't really helping the city. Okay, so. And then I'm gonna. So it sounds like you've got. You can fill in your drive. You could fill in maybe a dream. Like, I'll. I'll find out what Tusco is up to or I'm gonna stop Tusco. Either of those would be amazing. I think now I want to know a little bit about either. Who are you bonded with on the Guardians? Like, do you know anybody? Do you know Firefly? Did Firefly. So did you connect with Firefly somehow? Did you meet Ape? And I'm going to ask you, Amanda, how do you know Ape Canaveral? Because I got to imagine, like, when, you know, when the superheroic Ape signs up for the Guardians, you know, I imagine there's going to be a lot of people on the team, like, oh, okay. Does he need diapers? I don't. You know, I don't mean to be mean to chimpanzees, but, you know, no diapers concerns.

[Amanda Weldon]

I feel like. I feel like Abe Canaveral's reputation precedes him. I think he is. He's very visible. I think he's shown up at a lot of, you know, responded to various events and so. And he's memorable. So I think that when he showed up to us for the, like, the Guardians, we kind of knew who he was, and we knew his deal, and we knew that, you know, in incontinence was not an issue. And so we were like, all right, this guy belongs here, let me tell you.

[Daniel Hynes]

I walked out of the bathroom. She could hear the toilet flushing. My hands were dry. And I just looked there and I said, hey, they call us the great apes, but I'm the greatest one there is.

[Amanda Weldon]

That's what happened.

[Michael Lowe]

That needs to go in your line of dialogue. Did you have that as your dialogue line?

[Daniel Hynes]

I was just trying to think of something to tease Amanda. That's what I usually.

[Michael Lowe]

That was golden. I like how, like, Firefly's got almost a corporate branding sense now. Sounds like Firefly has been running the Lighthouse for a hot minute and is like, yeah, no, he's good for pr. Keep the Ape. Like. Like, everybody knows that. Ape. Let's. That's good for our image.

[Amanda Weldon]

Yeah. Yeah, we've learned.

[Michael Lowe]

I like this.

[Amanda Weldon]

We're doing it. Yeah.

[Michael Lowe]

Awesome. Okay, so let's see. Each of you is going to need your power slide, and we'll talk about that in a second. Ape, did you grab yours? So this is your sort of. In Starsworn, we had your Starsworn powers. It only consists of two things. One is describe what your power does, and the second part we'll talk about when we're in the game. It's a once per game ability to do something really crazy or incredible. Something that's really intense and impressive. A big, epic feat. And it's you using your power to do something amazing. And you don't need to know much more except what your power does. So, example, Scriv, it sounds like. What are we going to call? I feel like it should be something like Emo. I would love it because she's. I don't know if it's a he or a she. I don't know. It's a they. But like Emo, it's like, exactly right. But no. Whatever this person's name is, their ability is they're an empath and they can alter people's emotions. Yes.

[Scrib the Bard]

I liked the idea of Animus going back to Latin roots.

[Michael Lowe]

Ooh.

[Scrib the Bard]

I like mind, heart, affections.

[Michael Lowe]

Animus.

[Scrib the Bard]

But I mean, if there are some joking names about Emo, then fine, I suppose so.

[Daniel Hynes]

Animus is a sick name.

[Scrib the Bard]

Call me Animus.

[Michael Lowe]

Okay, so we've got Animus. Have you got and now. And you've got the dark, brooding past you're feeling. Yeah. We've got at least a little bit of Brood in our superhero crew. That's always necessary.

[Scrib the Bard]

I've never played a broody character before. I'm excited. Try something new.

[Michael Lowe]

How's your.

[Daniel Hynes]

How's your gravel voice?

[Scrib the Bard]

I've been burned before.

[Amanda Weldon]

Just before you commit to a gravel voice, they do start to hurt after a while, just FYI.

[Daniel Hynes]

No, no, no. I just wanted to hear it for a second.

[Scrib the Bard]

Yeah, I don't think I can physically do a gravel, gravel voice, to be honest.

[Michael Lowe]

Thank you for the pro voice actor lesson there, Amanda. We appreciate that. Save the voice.

[Scrib the Bard]

I need some tea and honey.

[Michael Lowe]

Protect the instrument. All right, so, Animus, I labeled your character sheep. Thank you. It's slide 16. If you want to go check it out. You can go ahead and fill out three of those. And, you know, you can fill in those tags as you come up with the ideas, but really, the tags are just a way for you to get to know who your character is. And they'll. They'll come into helping us tell the story later on. But you don't have to worry about them. It's just like any character from a story. You want to think about what they want, what pushes them, right? And then some of the things that make them interesting. Any abilities they have, any things they've done, people they care about. If ape. If you want to have a bond with somebody, I feel like somebody on the Guardians crew, maybe you want to know somebody on the Guardians and you know, do you have any buddies? Is there somebody on the Guardians who you're close with? I feel like werebear might get along with you, but I don't know, might be the opposite kind of relationship. It might be, you know, constantly having to remind werebrare to stop smelling him.

[Daniel Hynes]

I don't know. Let me think here. I gotta get a quirk.

[Michael Lowe]

Ooh. Oh, that's a great downfall. So Scrib just put in the downfall for animus. It's hard sometimes to decipher which emotions are mine and which belong to others. Oof.

[Scrib the Bard]

I feel like that would be a fairly pseudo realistic issue.

[Daniel Hynes]

No, that's awesome.

[Michael Lowe]

With this ability, does anybody have any follow up questions or comments?

[Amanda Weldon]

Yeah, I think that's very realistic and I think. Is there something about practicing boundaries? Will there be a boundaries? Like is there a. Is that something that you will need to use later on? I don't know.

[Scrib the Bard]

Probably.

[Michael Lowe]

Definitely going to. What you just did and what everyone's doing is what good authors do, right? You think about what are the follow up questions you need to ask. What would be the impacts of your choices on the character and on the world. If you're thinking about somebody who can feel other people's emotions very strongly and then change them. Boy, that might make it difficult to know whether you're being affected by others or whether you're having your emotions affect them. So very powerful and very interesting for our story.

[Scrib the Bard]

I so I think that animus would end up needing some sort of tool or a like a mental defense mechanism to help reground themselves. To help kind of center to help focus.

[Michael Lowe]

If you like, change one of those tags name to gear and create your focus object that you use to help you focus your power, but also to help like ground you when you're feeling that uncertainty about the barriers and boundaries between you and other people.

[Scrib the Bard]

That's fantastic. Thank you.

[Michael Lowe]

So remember, you only need three of those and a drive and a power and your description. If you want to, you know, leave that for now, that's just fine. We can jump into our first game really shortly and start telling the story. All right, so it sounds like we've got a crew. This is the current roster of the Guardians of Giga City. Giga City Guardians consist of Firefly and Firefly. If you had to say one thing about Jillian Jayes at this moment in time as the new lead of the Lighthouse and sort of settled into her role, you know, a couple of years in, how she feeling about running this crew of misfits?

[Amanda Weldon]

You know what I think Firefly is feeling? Feeling pretty good about it and maybe, maybe almost a little. A little too good. Like a little cocky, I think. I think we got this. I think it's. I think we're doing pretty well.

[Michael Lowe]

I like that. So we've got Firefly, who's maybe starting to lean on her laurels a little much. She's. She's feeling her oats. Is like the superhero supreme of Giga City.

[Amanda Weldon]

Yeah, exactly.

[Michael Lowe]

Right on. All right, we have Abe Canaveral trapped between humanity and, and other apedom. I don't know. Humans are apes anyway. But, but, but. Seems like a super relaxed dude. How's Abe feeling about his new role on the Guardians? Is he like super swagger at this point?

[Daniel Hynes]

He's having fun, but like, call me when we're going back to space. That's what I want.

[Michael Lowe]

Oh, I like that. Is that like a long term dream? He's, you know, I will once again fly.

[Daniel Hynes]

Oh, yeah, that, that's his dream. He's eventually going to complete that deep space mission, but in the meantime, he's happy to help.

[Michael Lowe]

Deep goals. I dig it. All right. And then the mysterious, the broody animus escapee from the corporate halls of Tusko, disillusioned former employee. How'd you get on the Guardians? How are you feeling about joining a force for good? Are you suspicious of them as well, since you've been through this before? Or are you like, totally blown away and super excited and like, you know, fan personing over being on the same team as Firefly?

[Scrib the Bard]

I am very eager to be part of this team. Still struggling with some of that hesitation. I'm a little bit cynical, but seeing who the Guardians are, seeing what they stand for, I'm starting to feel some of that idealism sparking back up. I'm starting to feel that hope again.

[Michael Lowe]

Wonderful.

[Daniel Hynes]

Oof.

[Michael Lowe]

Gosh. That's a narrative setup if ever I've heard one. Y'all, this sounds amazing. I love everyone's characters and I'm super excited to see what happens when you get into the middle of the thick of the action in Giga. City. And so thank you all so much. This has been our first chance to sort of get to know your characters. If you're playing at home, you'll get a chance to make yours, too. Go to patreon.com storiesrpg and you can download chapter one of Giga City Guardians today and make your superheroes and be ready for our next episode where when things start to get a little hotter in gigacity. Ooh.

[Daniel Hynes]

And all those episodes on the Patreon are also ad free.

[Michael Lowe]

Next episode, we will begin our story and there will be even more questions and answers and some dramatic events that unfold. And there's also, if you're really feeling it, an entire story arc for Starsworn, which is our adventures in the world of Max Goodname. If you're looking for fantasy, if you're looking for magic and the stars falling from the heaven, go check it out.

[Daniel Hynes]

Yep, all of that is at patreon.com storiesrpg.

[Michael Lowe]

All right, well, everyone, this is our chance to say bye to everybody at home. We'll see you guys next time. Bye.

[Daniel Hynes]

Bye. Have the greatest day.

[Michael Lowe]

Bye.