C02 - Grotethe Campaign Wrap Up

Summary

Tales from the Stinky Dragon - Episode C02: Grotethe Campaign Wrap Up

Overview

In Episode C02 titled "Grotethe Campaign Wrap Up," the Tales from the Stinky Dragon podcast delves deep into the conclusion of Campaign 2, affectionately named "The Grotehthe Campaign." Released on August 27, 2024, this special bonus episode features the core team—Gustavo Serola (Dungeon Master), Chris Debaris, Barbara Dunkelman, John Risinger, Micah Reisinger, and Blaine Gibson—as they reflect on their adventures, discuss character developments, share favorite moments, and look forward to future campaigns.

---

1. Campaign 2 Recap and Team Introductions

The episode begins with a lighthearted exchange where Blaine Gibson announces the special nature of the episode, setting expectations for an extensive discussion.

• Blaine Gibson (02:12): "Hello everyone. Welcome to a very long special bonus episode."

The team introduces themselves and their respective characters, clarifying any confusion about character names and roles within the campaign.

• Chris Debaris (02:47): "I'm Chris Debaris and I play Barney Farney."
• Barbara Dunkelman (02:50): "I'm Barbara Dunkelman. Play Elgo Von Brath."

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2. Exploring Sedate Tempura and Campaign Connections

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the character Sedate Tempura and her ties to both Campaign 1 and Campaign 2. The team debates her origins, revealing connections that enhance the overarching narrative of the podcast.

• Barbara Dunkelman (05:03): "And obviously she's in Sheath, and she was Elga's fake mom during that time..."
• Micah Reisinger (08:36): "I'll say that we were finishing off this campaign without the episodes having aired yet..."

The dialogue uncovers that Sedate Tempura was initially part of Campaign 1's "Deja Urbloom" arc, providing continuity and depth to the storytelling.

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3. Favorite Moments and Memorable Encounters

The hosts each share their favorite moments from Campaign 2, highlighting memorable encounters, creative mechanics, and character interactions that stood out during their adventures.

• Blaine Gibson (24:50): "Just like Matid going around trying to scam every single person..."
• Barbara Dunkelman (48:34): "I really liked the hemoglobin in Carcassuke where anytime would be loud, it would spit blood at us..."

These anecdotes showcase the team's creativity and the dynamic nature of their gameplay, emphasizing both humorous and intense moments.

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4. Character Development and Voice Acting

A deep dive into character development reveals how each member has evolved their characters, particularly through voice acting and personal influences. The discussion touches on inspirations behind character backstories and the challenges of maintaining consistent voices.

• John Risinger (53:26): "I based Matid off of Matide Carre, a French resistance agent..."
• Barbara Dunkelman (54:57): "When I was creating Elga, I knew she wanted to be a twin..."

The exchange highlights the dedication to creating multifaceted characters, enriching the narrative with layered personalities and intricate backstories.

---

5. Transitioning to Campaign 3 and Future Plans

Looking ahead, the team expresses excitement and tentative plans for Campaign 3. They discuss potential new mechanics, character concepts, and the anticipation of building upon their established universe.

• Barbara Dunkelman (69:00): "Big shoes to fill, but I have the utmost confidence in Micah and the whole team..."
• Blaine Gibson (70:07): "We're just going to have fun now."

This segment underscores the team's commitment to continuous improvement and their enthusiasm for expanding the Stinky Dragon universe.

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6. Audience Engagement and Community Support

Emphasizing the importance of their listener base, the hosts encourage audience support through Patreon and word-of-mouth referrals. They acknowledge the community's role in their success and the collaborative nature of their storytelling.

• Ben (63:12): "Chip Haney is my uncle... I just loved Haney."
• Barbara Dunkelman (76:54): "Please do tell people about it..."

The heartfelt appeals highlight the podcast's reliance on community support to sustain and grow their creative endeavors.

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7. Reflections and Personal Growth

The episode concludes with personal reflections from the hosts about their growth both individually and as a team. They share insights into how participating in the campaign has enhanced their skills, teamwork, and passion for storytelling.

• John Risinger (71:03): "I'm fully addicted to new worlds and new characters..."
• Micah Reisinger (73:27): "The Stinky Dragon audience just has been such a joy to..."

These final thoughts encapsulate the rewarding experience of collaborative role-playing and the deep connections forged through their shared adventures.

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Conclusion

Episode C02 of Tales from the Stinky Dragon serves as a comprehensive wrap-up of Campaign 2, offering listeners an insider's look into the creative process, character dynamics, and the collaborative spirit that drives the podcast. Through engaging discussions, the team not only celebrates their journey but also sets the stage for even more thrilling adventures in future campaigns. Their gratitude towards the audience underscores the community-centric approach that makes Tales from the Stinky Dragon a beloved companion for D&D enthusiasts and storytelling aficionados alike.

Transcript

[Gustavo Serola]

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[Chris Debaris]

Decisions, decisions.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Wait a minute. Are you still looking for cars on Carvana?

[John Risinger]

Yeah. Decisions, decisions.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

When I used Carvana, I found the exact car I was looking for in minutes. Bought it on the spot, electric or full diesel?

[John Risinger]

Decisions.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Come on, you've been at it for weeks.

[Micah Reisinger]

Just buy it already.

[Blaine Gibson]

You're right. Crossover it is decisions decided whether know.

[John Risinger]

Exactly what you want or like to take your time.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Buy your car the convenient way with Carvana. Hello, it is I, fashion icon Barbara Dunkelman, here to tell you all about our latest stinky dragon clothing. Maybe you saw it at Paris Fashion Week, perhaps? Yeah, it's that stylish. We've got Runway ready T shirts featuring your favorite stinky dragon characters, snazzy hats to represent your favorite D and D show, and cozy sweaters for both comfort and style. That's right, folks. Just go to store.stinkydragonpod.com today and you'll be dressed like a supermodel in no time. Once again, that is store.stinkydragonpod.com.

[Blaine Gibson]

Hello everyone. Welcome to a very long special bonus episode.

[John Risinger]

We haven't even started and you just said long predicting it.

[Blaine Gibson]

Cause we have a lot to talk about.

[John Risinger]

Guys, this is filibuster to make sure it's long.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Gus, why is your chair turned around? I don't understand.

[Blaine Gibson]

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to address. We're gonna be doing a discussion about Campaign 2, the grotesque Campaign as a whole. Before we get started, I'm gonna hit everyone here with an arrow.

[Micah Reisinger]

No.

[Blaine Gibson]

Can everyone just go around the table and introduce themselves?

[John Risinger]

Do we go counterclockwise or clockwise?

[Chris Debaris]

I'm Chris Debaris and I play Barney Farney.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

He decided it for you. I'm Barbara Dunkleman. Play Elgo Von Brath.

[Micah Reisinger]

And I'm Micah Reisinger, the writer, editor, and composer.

[John Risinger]

I'm John Risinger, and I play metique confiscies counterclockwise. Just go.

[Ben]

I'm Blaine Gibson. I play Chip Haney.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And who are you?

[Blaine Gibson]

Oh, and I'm Gustavo Serola, the Dungeon Master. And I think we have someone on mic back over there, too.

[David Sonye]

Yeah, I'm Ben, and I play Dr. Frankenstein, and I also play Quiff Die.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I'm so excited for him to do that.

[David Sonye]

I don't know.

[Blaine Gibson]

Something.

[Ben]

You stuff two sticks of butter in your chest.

[John Risinger]

What you do is you need to imagine your tong growing three times in size.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

We also got David Sonye on the Ones and twos, our Sferra 2.

[Blaine Gibson]

But I do want to say Ben is also our producer. He doesn't just do those two voices.

[David Sonye]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Many Hats.

[Micah Reisinger]

He produces VO for us. Yeah, I know that. Yeah.

[John Risinger]

Yes.

[Blaine Gibson]

So we want to talk in general about Campaign 2 and, you know, maybe talk about some questions that players may have. I want to start with my own questions. I have a question.

[Ben]

No notes.

[Blaine Gibson]

So we're recording this, and all the episodes have not come out yet. So, you know, the players here have not seeing audience feedback about some of the last several episodes. So I want to start off by asking the audience, does anyone remember who Sedate Tempura is?

[Ben]

Us.

[John Risinger]

Us.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yes.

[John Risinger]

You just said, ask the audience.

[Blaine Gibson]

Ask the players. I'm sorry.

[John Risinger]

Who Sadate Tempura was.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Well, I feel like that name sounded familiar when you said it, and I think I had mentioned that.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yes, you did.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And obviously she's in Sheath, and she was Elga's fake mom during that time, but I feel like we met her in Carcasuk or heard about her in Carcasuk maybe, but I don't remember anybody else.

[John Risinger]

Is she from Campaign two, or is she from Campaign One? Is she from Campaign one?

[Blaine Gibson]

Now you're asking the right questions, because.

[John Risinger]

I thought we had met her in Campaign one, but I wasn't sure.

[Blaine Gibson]

I don't think you ever met.

[Micah Reisinger]

Well, I meant.

[John Risinger]

But there was story sense.

[Ben]

Well, didn't we die at one point and someone said, no, no, no, they're not ready or something?

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah, that was Campaign two.

[Chris Debaris]

That was Campaign, too.

[Ben]

Was that them, though?

[Micah Reisinger]

Sedate?

[Ben]

And this dragon person, who, by the.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Way, I think I know who that is.

[John Risinger]

Well, we'll know. Here's the thing. The audience will know by the voice if it's somebody we know. So say it now, if it is, because the audience knows this information I'm.

[Blaine Gibson]

Going to defer to Micah.

[Micah Reisinger]

I'll say. Yeah, you definitely heard the name Sadate tempor in Campaign 1. In Deja Urbloom. That arc. Do you remember hearing that name in.

[John Risinger]

Deja Urblo would have been the city that we went around in time a bunch of times.

[Blaine Gibson]

Correct.

[John Risinger]

Wow.

[Blaine Gibson]

Cyborg met his good buddy Sleek.

[Ben]

I forgot that one.

[John Risinger]

Now I'm trying to think of any place we would was that it wasn't.

[Chris Debaris]

Like Hugh Manor's wife.

[Micah Reisinger]

Ding, ding, ding.

[John Risinger]

Whoa, Chris, you're not half as dumb as you look.

[Blaine Gibson]

There's reference, and it's one of the things I was always curious about. Obviously, Micah, you do all the writing. It was one of the things I was always curious about. It was a left open hook at the end of Campaign One was Meld was going to leave to look for her mother. And it was just like, never. It was never addressed directly. So even when I got the module from Micah with the name Siddharthi Kapoor in it for the first time, I looked at it and I probably had the same reaction you did, Barbara.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I was like, where have I seen that before?

[Blaine Gibson]

I had to look through your Rolodex.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And it's so funny because. Look through all my old documents, because even those episodes haven't come out by the time we're recording this.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yes.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And I'm sure there's going to be so many people in our audience who know. Know it's from Campaign 1, because a lot of people have, like, re. Listened to the first campaign.

[Blaine Gibson]

That's why I was kind of excited that we were finishing off this campaign without the episodes having aired yet and without you guys having read what the.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Audience had to say without us knowing.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah. It's like, oh, we have a real opportunity here to, like, lean into and kind of have fun with it without any people, like you said, who've listened to the story many times, chiming in with comments about it.

[Chris Debaris]

And so just in case people haven't listened to the first campaign and they've only seen the second campaign, this is. We're not talking about any major spoilers. Right. They don't have to feel like they.

[Micah Reisinger]

I just want to.

[Ben]

No, it's like Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man. It's just like, who's that?

[John Risinger]

Nick Fury's at the end of Iron Man.

[Ben]

You didn't watch the end of the credits. That's like a thing now.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I do think, though, like, even the. I think connections that there are to Campaign one doesn't spoil Campaign One as a whole. Like, I think you could still go back and listen to it and not have anything ruined for you.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah, that's what I was.

[Micah Reisinger]

Unless I mentioned beep.

[Chris Debaris]

I know sometimes when I listen to stuff, I'm like, oh, wait, is there a spoiler? I'll turn it off. So I wanted to, like.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[John Risinger]

Did I unknowingly give Mom a really important role?

[Chris Debaris]

Well, she did birth two of you.

[Micah Reisinger]

I wanted to go with that. So it was like, a thing that, like, you had Ben had brought up, and I was like, yeah, that's who I want to play this person.

[John Risinger]

Oh. It was something I pulled where I was like, yeah, mom makes sense for, you know, Elga's mother.

[Micah Reisinger]

I was like, good idea, John.

[David Sonye]

A little behind the scenes, Right?

[John Risinger]

Like, so his dad, the Dragonborn.

[Micah Reisinger]

I'm going to go on. I love you, Dad. I got a roll for you coming up, though.

[David Sonye]

Gus really likes to not read too far ahead in modules so as to not accidentally spoil something.

[Blaine Gibson]

I'm terrible about that.

[Micah Reisinger]

You've done that before, too.

[Blaine Gibson]

I'm so bad about it.

[David Sonye]

But Micah and I have talked at length, at times about just kind of pacing and where the story's headed and kind of like wrapping my head around what his thoughts are for the story. And I think Micah told me about Sedate months ago, kind of when we were talking about, okay, where is Groteth headed? What's going to happen? And so when we finally had the episode where her name was dropped, I'm really glad I'm sitting behind a screen because I just kind of, like, held my breath waiting to see if anyone picked up on it.

[John Risinger]

Oh, Hugh Manor's wife.

[Ben]

Wait, so with sadate Temper, you know, we often name characters after community members who have interacted with us on social media. Was that.

[Micah Reisinger]

No, that was just a. Just a random name.

[Ben]

Interesting.

[Micah Reisinger]

You can kind of get a clue from it from everybody else's name in the family. So, like, she doesn't share, obviously, the same last name, but Meld is, like, mild. Sedate. Sedate. So it's always like this juxtaposition of Hugh Manor and, like, these people.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And obviously this will be more obvious when the episode comes out and we have all the, like, voice actors doing the parts. But was the Dragonborn person doctor? Ahem.

[Micah Reisinger]

I don't know. Yeah, that's gonna be my voice.

[John Risinger]

That's what I'm saying. Like, you can tell us because the audience knows at this point.

[Micah Reisinger]

The audience knows.

[Ben]

Well, I can't say that because it's a Spoiler for season one. But interesting. Interesting.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Ben]

So are we in heaven?

[Micah Reisinger]

I bet you're not dead.

[Chris Debaris]

I'll catch limbo.

[John Risinger]

We have to go back to an island. Okay.

[Micah Reisinger]

Interpret like hell.

[Chris Debaris]

How I interpreted the ending was. It was kind of like giving the stakes of the big story because it's like, again, when you talked about, was it hubris?

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah, hubris.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah, hubris.

[Chris Debaris]

Consuming worlds. And it's like, that was the example of a world getting consumed.

[Micah Reisinger]

You talking about, like, were.

[Chris Debaris]

You were, like, grotesque? Like, was that.

[Micah Reisinger]

That's the question you're asking. I'm not getting anything.

[Chris Debaris]

I'm talking about.

[John Risinger]

I think your answer, Micah, is just.

[Ben]

Going to be, okay, this is how I interpreted it.

[John Risinger]

As in, like, he's telling you a statement and all you have to do is say, okay, what's your question?

[Micah Reisinger]

How do you feel about that, Gray?

[Chris Debaris]

The hubris was like, is consuming worlds or like, consuming, growing and eating? And the grotesque world was almost like getting consumed.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

What was being. I know there's like the earthquakes and all the things like falling apart. That kind of aspect to it. Are you talking about.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah, well. And then it literally kind of like we came out of a mouth and it was kind of like the great mountain, but, like, kind of eaten and consumed and like, I don't know, like, everything was falling apart. Like the world was being consumed by the hubris, which is like the big, big bad.

[Micah Reisinger]

I think you're onto something. I'm not going to give you a definitive because I think that would influence future decisions, but I think it's an excellent theory and I think it has traction for in some ways.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

So I have to ask. Yeah, I assume it's for me. No, it's not. It's for you. So obviously the ending of this campaign is very different than the ending of the first campaign, where the first campaign felt like he got kind of closure on a lot of things and answers to a lot of questions. And this one, obviously, there's a lot still up in the air and a lot of, I think, loose ends that maybe some people assumed might be tied up that weren't. Is this the end of the story for that?

[Micah Reisinger]

This is not the end of the story of Groteth. Yeah, I can see how people will assume that, and I kind of did that intentionally in a lot of ways. But, yeah, clearly there is some sort of interconnectedness with that last scene that we kind of heard with Sedate and.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That other person and the doctor.

[Micah Reisinger]

I didn't say that.

[John Risinger]

No, we don't have the rights to the doctor.

[Chris Debaris]

That's true.

[John Risinger]

That's a different time traveling who. Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

But yeah. So there is a.

[John Risinger]

Of everybody here. I'm allowed to slap you.

[Ben]

You're really too far.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I'll put you across the table.

[John Risinger]

Actually, we're all no longer employees, so. Yeah, we can do that.

[Micah Reisinger]

Hey, no.

[Ben]

Hr HR Free zone.

[Micah Reisinger]

Hey, Ben, can we make this remote now? May 11, you just see me and.

[John Risinger]

Blaine having a slap, fighting each other.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Finally.

[Micah Reisinger]

Did that actually answer the question on a rope?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah, pretty much.

[John Risinger]

It's just Blade and me having a slap.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

No, definitely not. Just cause more question. I think ultimately, like wanting to know if we'll ever see these characters again and like, learn more about.

[Micah Reisinger]

If this was a visual medium, it would be the end of Avengers. It says, like, the Groteth detectives will return.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And I guess, like. And you don't have to answer this too, but obviously doing the show, we plan on doing more campaigns, as in a third campaign coming up next. Would that be involved in that or do you think that's like a later on kind of thing?

[John Risinger]

I can take a stab at the answer.

[Blaine Gibson]

Are you going to stab him? Put that knife away, Jon.

[Micah Reisinger]

Jon.

[John Risinger]

Roll it down. I don't think I've ever stabbed you. I've done a lot of things to you as big Brother. I don't think I've ever stabbed you.

[Micah Reisinger]

Probably with like a fake lightsaber.

[John Risinger]

I think an easy answer that is an answer from you, because I know he can't directly address this kind of stuff, is that the can of worms has been opened of this addition to our stinky verse. And the can of worms is open now. So now it's not like he's going to put a cap on it. And it's not going to be a part of what's going on. But to reveal how it's going to incorporate the rest of the ST would be giving away story.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That makes sense.

[Micah Reisinger]

That's a good way of putting it.

[David Sonye]

I'll also say, you know, Micah and I have talked a lot about Dungeons and Dragons story pacing and how stories go and my interpretation of this separate from anything like Micah has. So please don't read into this as something like Micah knows or I'm giving you hints on.

[Blaine Gibson]

Take notes, everyone.

[David Sonye]

Infinites told the story of the infinite interns and we got a compelling end with like information and conclusion there. Right? Groteth. It told the story of the Groteth detectives in trying to figure out who the murderer was. And you guys got the resolution there, right? Like what is happening with you all being framed as murderers?

[John Risinger]

Carol was the big baddie.

[David Sonye]

I leave that up to the interpretation of the audience.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

She was Carol murderer.

[John Risinger]

That was our whole mission in the beginning, was who killed the person we were framed for. I guess technically you got an answer.

[David Sonye]

So that way anyone can listen to the different campaigns and get a story in its conclusion. But there are still these little bits and pieces that are cool if you've listened to both campaigns and you're following along.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Fair, fair, fair, fair.

[John Risinger]

Which one of the guys in the jail cell at the first episode are going to end up being deities in Campaign 4?

[Micah Reisinger]

Do you remember? I don't know if we ever talked about this from that episode pilot when.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

We were in the jail cell.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah. You guys were leaving the jail cell. You were, like, starting in, like, the holding cell, and you kind of started going down a hallway, and there were several, like, cells on either side of you. And you kind of. I think Gus had men prisoners. And in passing, you made a description. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. And do you want to hop in there?

[Blaine Gibson]

Was it the prisoners along both the walls? They're talking about the one when they made the turn to the south.

[Micah Reisinger]

There was a person who was in gray clothing that was asleep.

[Blaine Gibson]

Oh, right. Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

And you walked right past them. And I think. I don't think anybody interacted with them.

[Ben]

Was the alchemist.

[Micah Reisinger]

It was the alchemist.

[Blaine Gibson]

He was the alchemist.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

But he later gets blasts out of there.

[Micah Reisinger]

Exactly, right.

[David Sonye]

Yeah.

[John Risinger]

Yeah, I caught on that.

[Blaine Gibson]

I remember in that episode, I was wonder what the pacing would be like. And as always, it was one of those things where you all went totally in a different direction than I was expecting. Where you spent more time than I was expecting in the first holding area with the two gnomes who had the. One of them had the tattoo. And then when it came time to walk down the hallway, you all just kind of blew past it. And I was trying to, like, wait, wait, wait. There's this, and there's this. And you're like, no, no, no, we're going down.

[John Risinger]

We're going.

[Blaine Gibson]

I was like, oh, okay.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I still. So I recently re listened to the first two episodes because I was like. I remember hearing something that I wanted ask about when the campaign finished. During the time when, like, Chip and Elga were in the bakery with Mateed, and like, they had just met at that peace parade. There was, like. I want to say it was like a gnome or a dwarf or like, someone making comments or being like, oh, Sorry. Like, oh, didn't mean to get in your way. They popped up, I think, later, and I was just like, I'm clocking this.

[Ben]

Like, were they, like, stealing you or something?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

No, just, like, they. They seemed like they were watching us or something or, like, following us. I don't know what it was, but.

[Micah Reisinger]

I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

So it happened first when you were in line with Chip.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yes.

[Micah Reisinger]

And then later on something. I think someone similar came by.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I think when we were outside with Barney, maybe.

[Micah Reisinger]

And you walked outside. Exactly. From the bakery and, like, you ran into Barney. You literally ran into Barney. And that was initially supposed to be, like, a pivotal NPC character, and it never panned out.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Oh, really? Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

I was like, nope, this isn't going anywhere. That doesn't make sense. So it's fine. That happens in stories all the time, though. Tear.

[Ben]

Distant gunshot Something.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I am.

[Micah Reisinger]

Maybe they'll be in Campaign.

[John Risinger]

Right.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

There's no chance they won't come back.

[Micah Reisinger]

Something.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I am disappointed that we didn't happen in the. In the final episode. I was really hoping that at one point, we'd all be in trouble. And then out of the distance, a goat comes running in. No, the goat that we saved in the cave.

[John Risinger]

Hoofer's Den.

[Chris Debaris]

Oh, that goat.

[Micah Reisinger]

Hoofer's Den.

[Chris Debaris]

Cared a lot about that goat.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Well, we made a joke at the time when we saved it from having its life.

[John Risinger]

We did. We did.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And we're just like, that goat is going to show up next arc and save us from something.

[Blaine Gibson]

That goat started eating and hasn't stopped. And now it's the size of a mountain.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

My God, what have we done?

[Ben]

Are there any things that kind of flew over our head? Are there any huge things that you just kind of had been keeping from us and you were, like, dying to elaborate on or tell us about?

[Micah Reisinger]

It's always when something is going to be revealed, how to reveal it, you know? Cause I don't want it to be always forced on you and you have to shoehorned. Yeah. So I think it's things like that, like, how to lead you in the direction that the alchemist also has alternate personality and that Henry has that connection. But not to, like, wave it in front of you all and be like, look at this, look at this, look at this. So things like that. And, like, I even gave minor, minor, minor clues to things like that. Maybe the audience can clue in on that kind of thing. I like to leave a little Easter egg for. For instance, I claw. Do any of you know who. The writer, the author of the story. Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, the strange Case of Robert Louis. Esteban Stevenson. Robert Louis Stevenson. So Robert Esteban.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Lewis is his alternate. And then do you know the first names of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

[John Risinger]

Yeah, that's the.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Is it Henry?

[Micah Reisinger]

Henry, yeah. And Eddie. Edward.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Edward.

[John Risinger]

Edward. Is it.

[Micah Reisinger]

It's not Scissored hands.

[John Risinger]

No, he's Hyde.

[Micah Reisinger]

Hyde, yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Edward Hyde.

[Micah Reisinger]

Robert Stevenson's wife in real life is Fanny Stevenson. Francesca.

[Ben]

Oh, nerd.

[Micah Reisinger]

So there's things like that that I'll do. Like, in with names. I love names. I love words. So that's some stuff I just do. Mostly for me.

[Ben]

One more question. Sorry, I take up time.

[Blaine Gibson]

That's what we're here for.

[Ben]

I know.

[John Risinger]

We'Re gonna be here for a long time. Lock the door. Is anybody else out there like me where they like the idea of giving gifts, but they're terrible at, like, the whole process of finding something good worth giving? Hi, John. Here. Let's spark something uncommon this holiday. With just the right gift from Uncommon Goods, I found Uncommon Goods. I browsed through their website. I was looking for stuff to give my girlfriend. I found some really cool little handcrafted products. You know, the kind that are made in, like, small batches by artists or small independent businesses. I got them shipped, and I gave them to my girlfriend, and she loved every single one of them because they were interesting and unique and different and not like the crummy gifts you would find elsewhere. And I got an extra win out of that because with every purchase you make at Uncommon Goods, they also give back a dollar to a nonprofit partner of your choice when you make your purchase. And they've donated more than $3 million to date, which is pretty awesome. What is extra awesome is you guys can actually get an extra 15% off your next gift if you use our link and you go to uncommongoods.com. stink again. I'm gonna say that one more time. That's uncommongoods.com stinky for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. That's Uncommon Goods. We're all out of the ordinary. Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my hundredth mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't. No, no, no. I mean, honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do, like, four of these. I mean, it's unlimited to Premium Wireless for $15 a month. How are there still people paying two or three times that much? I'm Sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming. Here, give it a [e-mail] save whenever you're ready.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

45 upfront payment equivalent to 15 per month. New customers on first 3 month plan only. Taxes and fees. Extra Speed slower above 40 gigabytes.

[Micah Reisinger]

C details.

[Gustavo Serola]

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[Ben]

We at one point, I think it was in Carcasuk. It was like outside of a library.

[John Risinger]

We looked down and we're all like handcuffed to the table.

[Ben]

Someone slipped me a note and I was like, was that Carol? And then like, you know, obviously with. With the hagglings and stuff like that. Had we encountered Carol at any other point in the story?

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely had interactions. Like spy interaction kind of stuff. Really?

[Ben]

Can you tell me more?

[Micah Reisinger]

Well, that's one.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Off the top of my head, I'm sure there were, but yeah, you've received several notes and shadows in the background. Like, I've described figures in the writing before that.

[John Risinger]

I'm sad we didn't go back to.

[Blaine Gibson]

The train Mission Impossible style. She was dissed the whole time before.

[John Risinger]

Oh, man.

[Blaine Gibson]

Ticks off the mask.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

A question, I guess, similar in that kind of. Same vein. Was there any point in time we were discussing something or like someone mentioned something where you're like, oh, they know.

[Micah Reisinger]

Oh, yeah, definitely.

[John Risinger]

Henry.

[Micah Reisinger]

Oh, yeah. Henry was one of you.

[Chris Debaris]

We grilled Henry from the beginning.

[Blaine Gibson]

Y'all did not trust that kid.

[Chris Debaris]

And then we grilled the alchemist.

[Micah Reisinger]

But this party doesn't trust any npc.

[Ben]

Who was the voice of Henry?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Ash Hildreth.

[Blaine Gibson]

Oh.

[John Risinger]

Oh, oh, okay.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

They're awesome.

[Ben]

Incredible job.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Ben]

It also just makes me hate them more. Cause it's like, it's such a Guinness little boy voice.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And I'm like, henry, what are you talking about?

[Micah Reisinger]

One of the things. Where's my dad? That's not a character per se, but I saw someone ask this. Like, I've seen several people ask this online in the past about dragons. Why are there no dragons in this world?

[Ben]

The dragons.

[Micah Reisinger]

Dragons. Everything's kind of a little off in this world.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Were those the big bones?

[Micah Reisinger]

Those are the big bones.

[Chris Debaris]

That's what I thought. I thought the big bones were.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah. And so, like, there's kind of this Were they there at one point? What's their involvement? And there's kind of remnants. Like, we see Barney comes across a way to summon one. And then there's also the cave you guys went into that was kind of remnants of a dragon that eventually was skelegon and then drag hassed. So there's that kind of stuff, too. One thing that I wanted to bring up before I forget, this is a music thing for Eddie and the alchemist and Henry and Francesca. All of their motifs, like, musical motifs, share the same three notes in different combinations. Yeah.

[John Risinger]

It's just dun, dun, dun.

[Micah Reisinger]

Thank you for ruining that nice mode. I can count on you to do that.

[John Risinger]

That's what I'm here to do, baby brother Eddie.

[Blaine Gibson]

Eddie uses.

[Micah Reisinger]

I kind of mentioned this in another second one, but Eddie uses a famous, like, kind of demonic motif that you hear in movies and stuff all the time. I think it's the DS E Ray is what it's called. It's just combinations of that. And then alchemist is dun, dun, dun, dun. So it's the same thing, but just, like, kind of backwards.

[Ben]

That's cool.

[John Risinger]

Was your favorite part of the entire campaign? When we pulled out the little piano on my phone and had Blaine sight.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Read, that was enjoyable.

[Blaine Gibson]

That was a highlight. I felt like he played right into that trap.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Well, yeah, I guess from a, like, DM and writer perspective. Do you guys have a favorite moment from, like, all the different arcs during this campaign?

[John Risinger]

I have mine.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Oh, you do? Oh, I know what yours is.

[Micah Reisinger]

Do you?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I'm gonna guess it's the hemo pieces. The blood bank.

[John Risinger]

No, that was good, though. That was very good.

[Blaine Gibson]

I think that's my favorite.

[John Risinger]

That's very good.

[Blaine Gibson]

Just like Matid going around trying to scam every single person. Like, in a situation where you should be stealthy and fearful, Mati just leaned into it. That whole fake it, like, act like you belong and just really, like, leaning into that.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Ben]

I'm heading to the chapel. You want to give me some hemo pieces?

[John Risinger]

Like, every time you did that, I was like, okay.

[Ben]

Jon is fully realized, Matid. And you know what? They are fully realized.

[John Risinger]

It just took me five arcs. My favorite part of the entire campaign was, I think, a frustration for everybody involved, including you guys, because of sandbagging moments, is when we were talking to the wall that mumbled I was in Carcasuk. I loved that. It was very much the lady in the Inkwell kind of situation, where it's like. But you kind of set this up to be something to stall us the description in the module just had this walled mumbles.

[Micah Reisinger]

That's all it was before I forget. On that same vein, when I was making this last module where you guys making your way chasing after Hugo and stuff, and you're going these different weird rooms. Practice you do in D and D is obviously put treasure in certain places. And like, if you find it, you find it. And just over overwhelmingly do that. And then like, they'll only find certain things. I don't always do that because you guys have really powerful stuff. But I thought about, oh, yeah, I could just put in like artifacts to really distract the part. No, I shouldn't do that.

[Blaine Gibson]

We need to get through this in one day.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Need a whole extra episode.

[Blaine Gibson]

You saying that reminded there was another favorite moment. You know, you. I mentioned Matisse conning people out of hemo pieces. Another favorite moment later.

[John Risinger]

This is all later persuading.

[Blaine Gibson]

Was Barney perfectly falling into the trap of the vampardy? Also in the vampire.

[Micah Reisinger]

Oh, yeah, that wasn't funny.

[Blaine Gibson]

Where, you know, Chris or Barney asked like, is there a place I could rest for just a minute and do this? And did not get at all suspicious when I named where I perfectly described a spot where he could do it. And he was like, statue. That's great. I was like, oh, okay, we're doing it.

[Ben]

It's Barney's literal hell. Just surrounded like vampire cities as an old man in a loud techno rave.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

There was a fun moment. I forget which arc it was in, but we were like going through this place where we were going through walls or like going through into different rooms. And I went ahead first and so you guys had taken your headphones off because we were recording that one remotely. Seeing how you guys approached the situation after I had done it, it was just a really entertaining mechanic, I think.

[Blaine Gibson]

I think that was right by the mumbling wall. I think it was that same episode.

[Chris Debaris]

I remember finishing recording that and being like, that was a fun episode.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

It was really fun.

[Ben]

There's a lot of that that I would like to pursue as we get more with D and D and kind of like get out of our rookie stages. Like were we rookie.

[Micah Reisinger]

We're still pretty new.

[Blaine Gibson]

What did you say to me earlier when I went exactly? I said, when are they going to learn what a modifier is?

[Ben]

As we get out of that, you know, and I'm not a dm, so you can take this or leave it. But like messing with the meta of it, you know, there's times where it's like, oh, Matid finds this Bible that Says this highly specific thing, and then we all suddenly know about it, even though, like, the characters don't. That lack of information. But also, like, I think you tried this at one point in a past campaign, Gus, how you, like, stole from the party during long or short rests. And then it was like this thing that you'd worked out with the dm.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

I highly discouraged anyone from ever doing that because it created a lot of problems. But in one campaign with some friends, I was playing a rogue, but I told everyone I was a fighter.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

And.

[Blaine Gibson]

And at night, I would make checks to steal stuff from the party that they had that I wanted. And then in combat, people were like, I pull out my so and so to use it. And the DM would be like, yeah, you can't find it.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That's so funny. I do not want to do that.

[John Risinger]

Do not do that.

[Blaine Gibson]

Do not do that.

[John Risinger]

I did say I hate that. And I love it more the way we have done it, where I heard that you two, Barbara and Blaine found treasure. But because Mattie didn't roll a check, I went, okay, Mattie doesn't know. And I think that's funnier because then you can actually play with it. It's everyone playing in John knows, but Mattie doesn't. Yeah. Yeah. I like that better because we're supposed to be collaborative and be. Yes. Anding each other. And when we are not telling each other what's going on. That's kind of a bummer.

[Micah Reisinger]

One of my favorite moments are when a motif for one of your characters, like the player character, comes into my head. So for instance, the first one, I think, was probably when you went into the dragon. Dragon cave and you guys had. I think Matid was, like, splashing Barney with, like, that. The purple stuff. Yeah, the purple stuff. And you started having dreams and visions.

[Ben]

And stuff like that.

[Micah Reisinger]

And Chip had a vision of Carol and of a person that was, like, crying or something like that. And it was clearly. And I just came up with a motif for you right then. That's what the Chip and Carol motif was from that beginning. So that. From that. And it was just piano. That's all it was. And then later on, Barney was singing to Creature. Were you singing to. But you said, go to sleep. Go to sleep, little doggy. Don't be mean. I'm a froggy. It was something like.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That sounds like Chris.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[David Sonye]

Was it a warg?

[Micah Reisinger]

Maybe it was the wargame sketch.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Little doggy.

[Micah Reisinger]

And that became your motif. Like Arnie's motif.

[Chris Debaris]

That's interesting. How You. Cause that's not the first time you've pulled MOT or musical things from little.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Little diddies that we sing.

[Chris Debaris]

And we're not musically inclined like you.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

But like Gum Gum Wake. A by song was like a huge kind of recurring motif in the first.

[Micah Reisinger]

That's what made it so ironic that you sang basically a lullaby again. I was like, I gotta use that.

[Ben]

Yeah, I gotta use that.

[Micah Reisinger]

Interesting. For Matid, it was when you were on the train for the first time, the Groteth Express, and you start doing your forms and. And then you have that vision of someone that's Nero Cochrane, which we learned is Jacques. And you start. You sang something in that episode. And I thought, I'm going to use that.

[John Risinger]

That's funny, because as Rice singers, we never do that.

[Micah Reisinger]

No.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

What was Helga's motif?

[Micah Reisinger]

Yours was the theme song of the whole show.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I thought that was the case.

[Micah Reisinger]

That's part of the theme song. So I use different parts of the theme song for different characters in your family.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah. When we were in the Vampire, I noticed a lot of, like, that coming through in a lot of moments, and I was like.

[Ben]

Because you can argue that Elga is the main character syndrome.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Nobody's arguing that.

[John Risinger]

When we were.

[Micah Reisinger]

When I was initially writing the theme song for the show, we kind of went back and forth on some iterations of it with, like, I think John. I think you were involved in that. I can't remember who else was. Maybe. Maybe Ben chipped into.

[Ben]

It was Blaney Coulson.

[John Risinger]

Then I came in to translate.

[Micah Reisinger]

You came in to translate? One of the things was we kind of. We kind of rearranged the order of the. The sections of the song. And one of the things that I kind of pulled out from that was a little ditty that I ended up putting that the way I originally wrote the song. In the second episode, when Lorenza Wolfman's giving her speech, like at the Peace Parade. And so you'll hear Elga's theme right then, I think is the first time.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Now I gotta go back and listen to the whole campaign.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

You mentioned something, Micah, that made me remember something else you mentioned. And Jacques appearing to Matid on the Groteth Express. Which makes me think back to the first time that Matid encountered that cat in the Sewers in arc 1. And the description in the module is. It was just supposed to be a cat that was there.

[Ben]

I know what I'm doing.

[Blaine Gibson]

Well, I made that up on the side. He made that up because I think I thought about pets who have little tags that are like, leave me alone. I know what I'm doing. I know where I'm going. So it was kind of like a subtle way to be, like, leave the cat alone. It's fine. It's okay. Here.

[Ben]

I thought it was a plant all along. For John.

[John Risinger]

Oh, no. I knew it wasn't super important because of its placement. It wasn't along a path that we had to take. We were gonna see it.

[Blaine Gibson]

You're going out of your way to finish.

[John Risinger]

In fact, we made it to a advancement point, me and Barney, but only because I left Barney there and then went and re. Looked into places to find the cat. We were like, at that point, we could have advanced and never have met Jacques. Cause you guys were off stealing stuff.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[John Risinger]

Blaming Barbara.

[Blaine Gibson]

John knows.

[John Risinger]

But if you're gonna put a cat in my path, that's the kitten distribution system.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I don't know.

[John Risinger]

That's all you ever want is a crazy cat person.

[Blaine Gibson]

The cat did have one spell it could use, and I think it only ever used it once in the entire campaign.

[David Sonye]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Oh, it was in Mid mosque. No, no, it was in outdoor City. It wasn't very end. You went into the office of the alchemist.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

And then I think Weezer was in there.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

And, like, instinctually, there was, like, this spectral claw that came out.

[Chris Debaris]

And I got confused because I didn't realize that was the cat doing it. I thought it was, like, something else Spectral.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[Chris Debaris]

And I was like, whoa. I can't remember what I thought it was, but it was the cat. Did Alchemist. What did the alchemist know about Henry? How much does he.

[Micah Reisinger]

So I wrote it as Francesca and Robert. Francesca particularly, knew something was up with Henry, but didn't know what it was. And. And was very protective of Henry, so therefore didn't ever bring it up. Alchemist was too busy, much too busy to notice that and just thought, like, his condition that he had was just him.

[John Risinger]

So we met Eddie in the university, which is where we met Henry.

[Micah Reisinger]

First time you fought him was in the apothecary? Not the apothecary. The Thayer asylum.

[John Risinger]

That's right.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

There was someone else who we chased out the window. Like the.

[Blaine Gibson]

You were looking for the professor?

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah, it was the professor there.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Like the pig man or something like that.

[John Risinger]

Yeah. I couldn't remember where Eddie first killed Chip.

[Ben]

Did we have so in campaign one, this isn't a huge spoiler, but we got into a fight, and it turns out that the key to the fight was breaking this one. Mirror all along. You remember?

[David Sonye]

I remember.

[Ben]

Was there a mirror that we didn't break for Campaign two?

[Blaine Gibson]

I don't know that there was a mirror that they didn't break, but there were definitely lots of times where there was a lack of investigation or something gets glossed over and missed. That could definitely really aid the party. I felt like that was a common occurrence.

[Micah Reisinger]

A good example of that that happened recent was you all came into this last temple where you kind of end up meeting Nessie.

[Ben]

Right.

[Micah Reisinger]

And there were some bones on the wall, like shelves or, sorry, boxes on the shelves and around you, and no one looked at them. And so later on, we discovered the temple falls down on you guys when you're diving in. That was the box, and I planted that box there. I'll give them a bone. Literally, like, there's a box of bones and, like, it had a scroll in it that I never used, things like that.

[Blaine Gibson]

I think, Micah, you had a comment about that. It's like the party still hoarding items at the very end of the story and using when it's a very specific item that could help them in the exact niche situation that they're in.

[David Sonye]

I think I threw that in slack where it's like. It's the typical video game syndrome. We're at the final boss fight. We have this whole stash of items we've been collecting in the entire journey.

[John Risinger]

I used a lot of my inventory this campaign.

[Micah Reisinger]

You used a brownie. You used your goose goo sling.

[Ben]

But also, we thought Hugo was the final boss, and then he wasn't. So I remember I was like, I wouldn't have used my poison and this and that.

[Micah Reisinger]

But isn't that the way of adventure? Like, real adventures, though?

[Ben]

Yeah, that's true.

[Micah Reisinger]

You think. You don't think this is the big boss, you know?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah. No one's metagaming life.

[Chris Debaris]

I tried to use my thing that let me eat metal to eat the bell. Yeah. And I had a rhyme written in everything.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah. Unfortunately, you failed that check.

[Micah Reisinger]

I'm sure it would have been special, Chris.

[Chris Debaris]

I wanted to eat his bell.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah. Hugo had an ability. I forget what it's called. Silver tongued or something that kind of like, charms you and enraptures you to listen to him. That's what he was doing when he was giving those speeches at the end. That's what led to the checks and seeing how he would react.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah. And that's the other thing with, like. I tried to give clues of who Hugo actually is. His clothing is very similar to what the first campaign is like. And connections to Sedate Tempur had the same kind of drama dress and garb as Meld, but interesting. So is either really listening to get those, though?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I feel like I need to go back and listen to the first campaign and, you know, again.

[Ben]

And our audience should too.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Might spoil a little bit, but, like, obviously Hugh Manor was not a good person in the first campaign.

[Micah Reisinger]

Misunderstood.

[John Risinger]

Debatable.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

But I don't remember anything about Sedate if she was, like, good or evil.

[Micah Reisinger]

Or very unclear because she was melding. I think the one thing that you might have learned. I don't know. Should I talk about campaign one or.

[Blaine Gibson]

No, we can. I don't see the harm in it.

[Micah Reisinger]

Okay. It doesn't spoil much that she was looking for her mother and didn't know where she went.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Right. Oh, she banished.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah.

[Ben]

There was a moment at the Vampire where it was the guy from Glurb the Mummy and. Oh, God, what was her name? Francesca Frankeska were like, outside protesting stuff. I assume that they were a part of a greater plot. Maybe like in Sheath or anything. Was there anything to that?

[Micah Reisinger]

Not Sheath. Not Sheath in particular, No. I like to think that. I think the way I wrote it was like they all had lost something and they found camaraderie amongst each other and wanted to basically help along in this quest.

[Ben]

It almost seemed like we were encountering another adventuring party.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ben]

What a weird group of people.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, like, I think I've said this in another segment before. Like, the world is alive. It's not like when you guys go to sleep, the world stops. There are things that are always operating.

[Blaine Gibson]

It's one of my favorite running jokes in Shaun of the Dead is they keep running into that other party.

[John Risinger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

It's like you don't know what they're doing, but it's like they keep intersecting. It's like, oh, yeah, it's these other people who are also out and surviving in the world. And, like, there's weird connections between them.

[David Sonye]

I actually have a question for everybody. Based on. On that, I want to know what everyone's favorite running bit was through the campaign. Like, for instance, mine was what Blaine was just saying about anytime referencing Francesca saying, Frank Esca.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Oh, that was your favorite. That was my least favorite.

[David Sonye]

But then my other favorite was anytime. We kind of got away from it toward the end. But the. I'm alive.

[Blaine Gibson]

It's alive.

[Micah Reisinger]

It's alive.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah, that was fun. The sling of sandstorms. That was fun.

[John Risinger]

So dumb.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Like, I think dumb references like, that is fun. I don't know. I just had so much fun playing Elga this whole bit.

[Micah Reisinger]

I liked making names for all your acts.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Chris Debaris]

I was like, how can I do.

[Micah Reisinger]

A pun for this one?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That was always fun.

[Blaine Gibson]

It didn't last very long, but I liked Scampsylvania. Sounds nice.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I also just like the running bit of, like, if you guys ever want a fun character to play in D and D, play a little kid. Because you could get away with so much stuff. Like, even when we were in the dragon stomach being like, I lost my ball and Barney's like, the old man Grandpa.

[Blaine Gibson]

I forgot about that.

[Ben]

I liked fooling the sferatu into playing hide and go seek.

[Micah Reisinger]

And every time you're like, oh, God, you run away. It was funny how those characters really evolved.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Really mean and scary.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

If you meet them in the very beginning of the well, and, like, they're, like, really foreboding and, like, mysterious, and then they end up being just, like, goofballs that are, like, trying to patrol the tower.

[Blaine Gibson]

In my mind, they have to be more stern outside of the vampire.

[Ben]

Right.

[Blaine Gibson]

Like, these are, like, gatekeepers, you know, trying to dissuade people from coming in. Whereas, you know, once you get into the vamps barn, especially if they recognize Elga, the belts, like, loosen up when.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

You go into the break room. They're cracking a cold one.

[Blaine Gibson]

We can be a little looser.

[Ben]

I like Frank Geska, and I liked. I feel like there's a running thing with Chip writing overly long letters and reading it to the rest of the gang. I always enjoyed those moments that time.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That John, as Matid was doing the sending stone or, like, whatever it was, and you're like, how are you? I'm good. Thank you for asking. And we're just like, good.

[John Risinger]

John.

[Blaine Gibson]

There's the cartoon right at the end.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah, that's the one.

[Ben]

There's a point in every campaign that we've done so far where John just, like, stakes couldn't be lower, and, like, they're like, mud happened. I think during, like, the Babayu part and stuff where you're just like, eh, c'est la vie, you know?

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

That reminds me of another favorite part of this campaign of mine was the damaging yourselves for hemo pieces, then Barney healing you, and then just, like, really leaning into it, like, all right, more money. Let's go. Let's roll those dice.

[John Risinger]

I don't. I don't. This is going to sound really, like, mean, but in my head, But I, I mean this as actually a compliment to your intelligence, Chris. When you were doing that, the thought that went was like, he can't be this dumb. Well, because I thought like, he's clearly playing into the bit and you were.

[Ben]

Reaction was so genuine.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Especially when you're playing a healing character. It's like you take it upon yourself to be the responsible one of like making sure people have hp.

[Ben]

Well, it made sense because like, Barney was like on high alert because we're in the Vamps bar, like the heart of darkness for Barney, you know, like this place that he hates.

[Micah Reisinger]

He's like trying to heal and make.

[Ben]

Sure everyone's good for the mission.

[John Risinger]

I. I made a. I made a joke. I think. I can't remember if it was on Mike or not on Mike, but I think there's a point in this campaign that you can clock where I got on anti anxiety meds.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I think so too.

[John Risinger]

Because to be clear, at the beginning of this Grow Ted episode, this is like from there till about halfway through the campaign was the peak of my anxiety. Getting so bad is when I was starting to have conversations with my girlfriend where she's like, I think you need to get on medication. Yeah. And I was like, I think you're right. And then when I got it and I was like, this is fantastic.

[Micah Reisinger]

This podcast.

[John Risinger]

Cut.

[Micah Reisinger]

Medicated.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I have a. A quick question that I just. It lost in my brain. Oh, yes. Did you, Micah and Gus know from the very beginning that Barney was a ghost? Cause he introduced. He introduced himself as a human cleric every time. Or did you know right off the bat?

[Blaine Gibson]

I knew. He talked to me about it.

[Chris Debaris]

I talked to both of them about that.

[Micah Reisinger]

I figured you had to create his character sheet.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Right. Which I assume you guys knew.

[Blaine Gibson]

I knew it was curious. I tried to. I didn't do him any favors, like, trying to. To distract away from it. But there were definitely some moments where he maybe toed the line and was like, all right, where's this going? Or like I'd have to have like a side slack conversation with him. Like, what's going on here? Or what's the play at this point.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Right.

[Chris Debaris]

There were a couple things. Cause I did have abilities on my sheet that I. That were giveaway stuff.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And I like flying speed probably.

[Micah Reisinger]

Well, things like Mati would do, like possession.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Or going through walls.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah.

[Chris Debaris]

Or death saves. Was one death saves. Because I had advantage on death saves.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Gotcha.

[Chris Debaris]

But I couldn't. I didn't want to roll those publicly.

[Blaine Gibson]

Oh, that was it. So. Yeah. You Would have a second secret roll.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

God.

[Micah Reisinger]

Just to guess, I think when I made your homebrew. Is that. Yeah. Race. I called it variant human 2.0.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[Chris Debaris]

We've done a couple live things where we switched character sheets, and I would always get really nervous that you'd, like, read too much into it.

[Micah Reisinger]

You told me you found out because of that one time.

[John Risinger]

Yeah, yeah. What? I saw your character sheet at one point.

[Chris Debaris]

When?

[John Risinger]

I don't remember when.

[Micah Reisinger]

It was during the fundraiser.

[David Sonye]

The Extra Life.

[Micah Reisinger]

Extra Life.

[John Risinger]

Was it during that?

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah. Yeah.

[John Risinger]

Okay.

[Micah Reisinger]

Because you guys were switching characters and stuff.

[David Sonye]

There's one moment during that Extra Life thing where you guys were trading sheets and I was like, oh, thank God Blaine is blindfolded right now because he can't see what's on the sheet.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I don't look that far into it. You're really good, Chris, at, like, constructing a character in a way where we don't know a lot about. Was there anything else that you were keeping from us that you were hoping would be found out that we never got to?

[Chris Debaris]

I mean. No.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

No. Okay.

[Chris Debaris]

I wanted my idea for Barney, and then. But, like, how it played out was up to Mike, you know, like Micah. And then there's stuff that's like, I didn't come. You know, that's just Micah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah. I think I gave Chris a heads up, like, the week before you all found the body.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

I was like, hey, this is coming. Just so you're thinking about it and know what you want to do at.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That time, how to react.

[David Sonye]

But, Chris, also, like, you played the character so well that even now, audience still has, like, theories on what Barney actually is. My favorite running one is that Barney is a revenant, a D and D creature that basically is. It's the soul of a mortal who met a cruel and undeserving fate. It crawls its way back into the world to seek revenge against the one who wronged it. The revenant reclaims its mortal body and superficially resembles a zombie. So, like, really close to zombie.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Well, I thought Aveno was going to be a zombie or something else, or like a werewolf or something like that.

[Blaine Gibson]

You told me something interesting about your name selection. Yeah, I don't know that anyone ever talked about it or it never really ever came up, but I thought it was a cool nod.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

So when I was creating Elga, I knew she wanted to be a twin. Cause I was curious to see how we would go with the mechanics of, like, Elga, who's a vampire, who doesn't age having a twin sister and like, what would happen there. But when I was making the name Elga and Evaena was supposed to be Heaven and hello. So like Helga and Heaven.

[Ben]

Oh.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

But then I just took off the H's.

[Ben]

Yeah. Just like Matid took off the H's.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And put an A at the end.

[Ben]

That was another favorite running bit.

[John Risinger]

Ugo.

[David Sonye]

Ugo.

[Blaine Gibson]

Hugo.

[Chris Debaris]

Whenever I was creating characters, I think we'd gone back and forth on whether Barney was a ghost or a zombie.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

The first initial thing I came up with was that you. Because Matisse was ghost. I didn't know if that would play too much into the same thing. So I said, well, you could be like a zombie of sorts or something like that.

[David Sonye]

Yeah.

[Chris Debaris]

At that point I was. I'd already settled into the cleric. Twilight Cleric. And I was like, oh, I feel like the ghost works well with that because of the abilities that they get.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah. It was fun this season to get to pick those.

[Micah Reisinger]

Do you guys have any favorite encounters or boss fights or things that you came across like that that were battle or combat driven?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I have my favorite.

[John Risinger]

This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like, you know, to check the date of the big game first before you accidentally buy tickets on your 20th wedding anniversary and have to spend the next 20 years of your marriage making up for it. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate Savings. Vary terms apply. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

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[John Risinger]

Because you still have unmarked packs paths to pursue.

[Gustavo Serola]

So we gave it an available 400 horsepower engine.

[John Risinger]

It's up to you what you do with that power.

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The 2025 Ford Explorer. It's all in the name, based on.

[John Risinger]

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[Gustavo Serola]

Horsepower and torque ratings based on premium.

[John Risinger]

Fuel per SAH 1349 standard. Your results may vary.

[I]

This episode is brought to you by Etsy. Oh, hear that?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Okay, thank you.

[I]

Etsy knows these aren't the sounds of holiday gifting. Well, not the ones you're hoping for. You want squeals of delight? Happy tears?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

How did you.

[I]

And spontaneously written songs of joy.

[John Risinger]

I am so happy.

[Blaine Gibson]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[I]

Um, okay, the song needs a bit of work. But anyway, to get those reactions, make sure everyone on your list feels heard with handmade, handpicked and designed gifts from small shop on Etsy. Gifts like personalized jewelry, custom artwork, cozy style items, vintage pieces, and home decor to celebrate all of your favorite people and their specific kind of special. For original gifts that say I get you, Etsy has it.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I really liked the hemoglobin.

[John Risinger]

Hemoglobin's great.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

In Carcassuke, I think it's Kark, where it was like, anytime would be loud, it would spit blood at us. I thought that was such a fun mechanic. And also, like, I loved the running bit I had with Elga where she sometimes did not know how to control the volume or care to control her volume. And so that was just a fun mechanic for me to play with. But just the idea of, like, people getting stuck to the wall in these, like, giant blood globs, I don't know. It was really fun.

[Micah Reisinger]

I don't think we ever touched on it. In the Vam Spire I wrote. I think it was when you guys were on the last. Not the last level. The. Not the fang pick, but the. What's the second level?

[Blaine Gibson]

Not the Tales of Doc, the fang pick and the sepulcher. No, no.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Claustrid.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah. Clawstrid.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

Thank you, David.

[Blaine Gibson]

David's got a great memory, by the way.

[John Risinger]

People know that, or not.

[Micah Reisinger]

Audiences know this. I have a terrible memory. That's why I write everything down. But yeah, in the Claustrid, there was actually a chance for you to re encounter the emo character.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Oh, really?

[Blaine Gibson]

I wanted to talk about that. I'm sorry to interrupt your question for a second, but that's one of the things I wanted to talk about was in the chaos of the Vampire, there was so much that overwhelmed the players, but there was so much also that they didn't see.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

Including the hemoglobin. There was the chance that they could have run into the mold and discovered that the mould was there, which is.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

A big aspect of that area where they kept talking about how they had gems and the mould shows up at.

[Blaine Gibson]

The end to kind of like, save you guys from stuff that's falling. And it's like there were all these possibilities. Micah, you wrote so many possibilities. In the Vampire, there were so many. There was so much dice rolling behind the scenes. Like, what's going to happen? Are they going to run into this? Are they going to run into that? I think my favorite was, like, the bat rat races.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

We Just got confused trying to remember which direction was what. And, like, where we've been already, like, where a dead end has happened and, like, going backtracking.

[Micah Reisinger]

That's the other thing, too, is, like, each level of the Vanspire mechanically played differently. So the bottom level that you guys start in was a mapped out dungeon that had rooms and had people moving in and out and all that kind of stuff. And it functioned in a certain way. And then you move to the second, and the second level was virtually endless. You could have kept finding places if we were playing the game. And that's. I think, what you're talking about, Gus, is like, there was just tons of.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Which is funny because it feels like we like.

[Ben]

So that's the spiral exhausted the offshore.

[John Risinger]

So that's the spiral.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah, it was the spiral. I know it might feel that way as a player, but you really didn't. It's like you kind of honed in. Everyone wanted to find Elga's home. Then it was like, what's going on with Count Vixie? Then it was like, oh, we found this other room.

[John Risinger]

There's a point in that episode where I made a joke where, like, I'm gonna go down every door.

[Blaine Gibson]

There was a lot more.

[Micah Reisinger]

More to do.

[John Risinger]

You said, that's gonna take a while.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

There's actually something planned, but do you guys have favorite encounters?

[John Risinger]

I was gonna say the mould mold's mold was really fun, but it was mostly cause of Gus portrayal of him.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

I like giving Gus a monster to play.

[John Risinger]

It was very incredible Hulk.

[Ben]

I liked all the glurb stuff. Not as an encounter, but just like that world, like a moving mountain that's made of a snail. I thought that that was, like, such a cool, beautiful visual. But I think favorite encounter would be. It wasn't even real combat. It was just you guys gassing up Chip. Cause I'd been e all like, every combat scenario. I was terrible. And then you guys, like, gave me a dagger character to interact with.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Oh, yeah.

[Micah Reisinger]

He gassed me up.

[John Risinger]

And he's like, shit, baby.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[Ben]

And then I started, like, assassinating dudes on Towers. And I was like, yes, I'm doing it. I'm roguing.

[Micah Reisinger]

I'm voguing. I think that's hard about Rogue is that, like, you don't get an extra attack, but you have all this extra damage that if you do get a hit, then it lines up. But, yeah, it can be rough sometimes.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I need to research those classes for next campaign to see what's my dodge.

[Blaine Gibson]

Roguey for a while.

[Ben]

While.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah. I think you've had your fill of rogue.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

I think you also enjoyed all the gim pronunciation. Everyone was like, are we hearing it wrong? What is happening here?

[Micah Reisinger]

Is gas being leaked.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I don't understand the fight we also had with those like. They weren't phoenixes but like the cat things in the fiery cats with the tiny hut.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah, that was a fun one. Just Le Bon's just anytime there's like weird mechanics of like everyone's like trying to carry each other and we get.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Through it in like a very non typical way.

[Micah Reisinger]

We were talking earlier in the episode 50 about like words that we only read and then like the pronunciation. I've always pronounced it Lehman's. Lehman's tiny hut.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Not Leman's Lemons.

[Micah Reisinger]

Because it's L E O M U.

[Blaine Gibson]

N. I think I also Leoman's.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Leoman's.

[Micah Reisinger]

But that's just the thing. It's like it's always written down. You don't really hear it.

[Blaine Gibson]

Plus it's a name on top of that, which is like it can sometimes throw the rules out.

[John Risinger]

Speaking of name, I remembered something that I could actually talk about now.

[Micah Reisinger]

Oh yes.

[John Risinger]

Do you want to know where Matid came from? Where they were actually based off of somebody? Oh. I described Matid as non binary femme presenting. And I was like, I wanted to find a woman from history, from French history that was like a bad, bad gal.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Bad gal.

[John Risinger]

Almost, almost swore there. This is matide carre, born 30th of June 1908 in France. Died in 2000. 2007. So. Wow.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

99 years ago.

[Ben]

Wow.

[John Risinger]

Check out this. Known as Le Chat the cat. Which is why I named the bakery after that. And funny enough was a French resistant agent during World War II who betrayed the Franco Polish resistance organization Interale and as a double agent was responsible for the arrest of dozens of Interale operatives of the German occupiers of France.

[Chris Debaris]

Wow.

[John Risinger]

She became an agent for the British at one point and at one point she arrived in Britain. She was in interrogated in prison for the remainder of the war. After the war she was deported to France and convicted of treason and sentenced to death. The sentence was later reduced and she was released from prison in 1954.

[Chris Debaris]

A double agent for.

[John Risinger]

She was like double, double. I read into her and she's like. She worked for herself.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah, I bet it's like super confusing.

[Ben]

It's fantastic.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Whoever.

[John Risinger]

Yeah. And so I based Matid off of her.

[Ben]

I said it before, I'll say it again. Chip Haney. Mike Haney was like, basically my uncle. He's a coach that my. My dad coached with for, like, years. And I knew this guy my entire life, and I just loved Haney. And he had this.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Haney is a great name.

[Ben]

Sick, sick mustache. And I was like, well, I don't want to do Mike Haney. So, like, Chip just seemed like a fun, chipper name.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Chip Haney.

[Ben]

Chip Haney.

[Micah Reisinger]

It's funny you mentioned that, John, about, like, the whole background of Matid when you brought up Carol Blaine and like, that you were both assassins and that kind of thing. I think you'd mentioned that in your. In your backstory, right? And I was like, well, what would be funny? Because you got a double agent and those things are fun to do, but what about a triple agent?

[John Risinger]

So I was like, let's put her.

[Micah Reisinger]

In every single organization.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Something that's interesting. Doing these types of campaigns is obviously when we work on the characters and develop some backstory and some stuff like that. And when we get asked questions throughout the campaign, we just answer them based on what we think is the case. And I think someone had mentioned this, that on an early episode, I think I had mentioned my sister. I thought she was dead or something like that, or, like, wasn't alive anymore. I have to go back and see what it actually was. But, like, I'm sure at the time we didn't really know the plan for things. And like, you write as you go to, you know, clearly for some things shock.

[John Risinger]

Clearly things are figured out as we go a little bit.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

It's just funny because, like, there's some things where I'm like, I don't know if I should answer this or not, or if it's going to ruin some, like, big plan that you. You have brewing.

[Micah Reisinger]

I think that's something I learned about the arrows as well. Like, what kind of arrows we want to fire at you all because, yeah, you don't want to box yourself in either. You don't want to give off too much things that, like, it's set in stone forever. It's more like it should be fun for you guys to warm up for one and to get to know each other. And I think I'd mentioned in a previous second one, maybe the last one, that I have another mechanic that I want to try for this third campaign that I think will be fun as well. That'll kind of be in that same vein.

[Ben]

I think something lovely about this podcast is we're all very production oriented in all of our impact input is Valid. And I feel like it's a safe space to, like, give feedback and criticisms. And early on, when we started introducing arrows, I was, like, totally against it, because I was like, no, we got to get right into the action. And then arrows ended up like, I loved arrows. Like, answering arrows is so much fun.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I like when we.

[Micah Reisinger]

Did you. Did you love arrows, Blaine, did you love it?

[John Risinger]

I hadn't noticed. By the end of the campaign, you were citing entire monologues to answer.

[Ben]

I love the Bradley monologue. I was like, this could be an.

[John Risinger]

Or, like, I've got an idea for.

[Ben]

An arrow Bradley in the stolen piggy bank.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

But no, I thought it was a good mechanic, this campaign, doing, like, the character introductions, the arrows, having, like, a little bit of time before getting into it. Cause I was relisting some of the Infinite campaign, and we don't do that.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And I was like, I kind of wish we, like, revisited who we are and what classes and races we are.

[John Risinger]

I think if we had done that in the first campaign, I'll speak for me, I would have been terrible at it. I think I learned so much how to play a character in infinites, and I think even on top of that, I learned even more this campaign on how to play a character.

[Ben]

I feel like that contributed so much to, like, the character development, though. Like, Cyborg was insufferable and awful, and then at the end, he was still insufferable.

[Blaine Gibson]

Then we ended campaign one, but it.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Was like, I don't know.

[Ben]

It's still, like, fun. And I was like, I feel like that learning process.

[John Risinger]

I'm not saying that's captured. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. The way that we did Campaign one worked out because we found all the characters as we did. But I think adding the arrows in Campaign 2 was its own addition. That was good. And it was like, that was the time to add it.

[Blaine Gibson]

So you talked. Micah, you talked about potentially, like, a new Mechanic in Campaign 3, and Barbara, you talked about, like, world building and doing all of that. And I don't want to, you know, get spoilery here, but looking ahead and thinking about Campaign 3 and the types of characters you all may want to play without saying anything too specific about the characters, I just want to ask, do you all have voices in your head planned for those characters yet?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I do. I don't know if I'm ready to commit to it 100%.

[Blaine Gibson]

You can test it here. This will put a big asterisk. May not be final product.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

So the character I want to play is inspired by a character I used to play in a different production named Gambo.

[Ben]

Everyone knows him, everyone loves him.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

He just talks like this, you know, there's nothing a whole lot special to him, but, you know, he's a special guy. So we'll see, guy. We'll see.

[John Risinger]

I don't know how to. I don't know how to describe that voice. I was trying to figure out. How do you describe the way gumbo talks?

[Micah Reisinger]

Gambo.

[John Risinger]

Sorry.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Which is another thing where I'm like, I don't know if I should.

[John Risinger]

Gumbo was mine.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Gumbo is yours. Which is why I think, like, I might have to, like, rethink who the character is voice, though.

[John Risinger]

I was like, I was just trying to figure out. Cause I'm like, it's such, like, where do I land that type of talking in the world? It's a little bit, like, bronxy, like, old timey gangster.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

There's just definitely, like a bit. Obviously a speech impediment.

[John Risinger]

Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

As well.

[Blaine Gibson]

I almost think, like, someone from Maine, like that weird Maine accent that they have.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Really?

[Blaine Gibson]

That's what it makes me think of.

[John Risinger]

Well, then it must be like a Maine mobster, because I hear little speech impediments.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah.

[John Risinger]

I hear a little bit of like a seedy underworld, but like from the 1960s kind of thing.

[Micah Reisinger]

It's fantastic.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Interesting.

[John Risinger]

It's fantastic.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Thank you for your input, Joy. I will take it to heart. Thank you.

[David Sonye]

The first thing I think of when I hear voices like that is I go to what would be the most insufferable one shot we could do with characters that are like, okay, Gambo, Captain Kirk quit swiftly.

[John Risinger]

Wow.

[David Sonye]

I don't know. A fourth character right now.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Wait, are you saying this is an annoying voice?

[John Risinger]

I don't know.

[David Sonye]

I think we could either send.

[Blaine Gibson]

Let's boldly go where. No, man.

[Chris Debaris]

Oh, my God.

[Blaine Gibson]

Gone before.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I think. I think we all feel like the voices we start off with in each campaign evolve as we get more, like, familiar and comfortable doing it. And with the character, like, I feel like no one sounds the same at the beginning and the end.

[Blaine Gibson]

Well, I feel like when you start the voice, you have this idea for it, but then it becomes impractical. You can't maintain it. So you have to make some compromises to make it sustainable.

[John Risinger]

Except to you, Barbara. You actually. You're consistent.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah, I feel like you're pretty consistent.

[John Risinger]

I don't know.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I feel like there's subtle differences. Like, I think Elga got much higher pitch throughout the song.

[John Risinger]

I think we have some subtlety. I'd say with like, at least I'll just speak for me. Wild differences.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I feel like you were the most consistent.

[Ben]

That's funny.

[John Risinger]

I think both of my voices changed drastically throughout the campaigns. Yeah, Mud was much was supposed to remember. Like I said, Mud was supposed to be a dumb, slow, deep voiced, almost like a kid. In order to keep up with the character, my speech got faster and therefore his voice got a little higher so I could talk a little faster. And then now with Stinky Dragon Adventures, because we were doing lines and pickups and stuff, and I was doing that so much, I've turned Mud into something that I can pull out. It's like you almost make Mud easier to do in order for me to just be able to do him.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And that's the thing. Whenever I need, it has to be easy to do if you're talking a lot or like, and having to role play in that voice and act in that voice.

[John Risinger]

We just did something today where I had to switch from Mud to Matid and I think I had a heart attack.

[David Sonye]

Yeah, I've shown examples before of, like, other D and D shows where when they're starting off their new season and a player brings a new voice to the table, and sometimes they'll stop down and be like, are you sure you're.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Going to do this for maybe 50 to 100 episodes or more?

[David Sonye]

You know, this could be the next two years.

[Ben]

Chips started out difficult because it was an accent that I wasn't familiar with. But now I feel like I've got a grasp on. Of course, when we're done, I'm like, no, I can whip it out and it's easy and fun.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Well, it might come back.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yeah, that's true.

[Ben]

I do have my next campaign character pretty fleshed out. I don't want to reveal the voice because I am deathly afraid and will take all criticisms on the subreddit. So if I see anything negative, it'll make me sing. Guess it.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

They're super supportive.

[John Risinger]

I know, I know.

[Blaine Gibson]

But between us, we won't share the with any.

[Ben]

I gotten some feedback on Chip that made me, like, really not believe in my, like, Wisconsiny, like, northern accent. The only hint I'll give is there's a character in Venture Brothers that is that heavily inspired the character that I want to play, or at least the voice. And I'm very excited about that.

[John Risinger]

Just take a page from my book. If anybody ever commented how I didn't do a good Scottish accent, I say, he's not Doing a Scottish accent, talking like a bramble crack. Where are they from?

[Micah Reisinger]

Every time I would have to do Weezer, I'd have to go back and listen to myself.

[Ben]

I can't even do it. I can't even.

[Micah Reisinger]

Detector car.

[John Risinger]

That's what it was.

[Micah Reisinger]

Everything must be on the.

[John Risinger]

It's very. What was his name from the, The Andy Dick Show. Andy Show. Wow.

[Chris Debaris]

Could not be more different.

[Micah Reisinger]

No.

[John Risinger]

Yeah. This Andy Griffith. What was the dumb. I'm pointing to Gomer.

[Micah Reisinger]

You're thinking Gomer.

[John Risinger]

It's very British. Gomer.

[Ben]

Gomer Pyle. Yeah.

[Blaine Gibson]

Hi.

[John Risinger]

Yeah, it's very British. Gomer Pile. Yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

It was funny to see, like, anytime we would put up shorts and stuff like that from the Groteth campaign, the amount of comments that are just like, is that the person who voices Little Miss Fortune? Because I have never heard of this game or played it. But after we were doing Groteth for a while and I saw a comment about it, I looked it up and she sounds exactly like this. The same kind of tone, the same, like, little accent. And I was like, borderlands. It's called Little Misfortune.

[John Risinger]

Little Misfortune, Yeah.

[Ben]

I think Tiny Tina, I think it's.

[Blaine Gibson]

I, I, I get that with my regular speaking voice, people ask, do you nar. There's some YouTube channel? Like, do you narrate the videos on this YouTube channel? I, I have no idea.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

You're going to be like, are you, Are you Simmons?

[David Sonye]

Simmons?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah.

[Chris Debaris]

I like the ones that are like, oh, that sounds just like Simmons from Red versus Blue.

[Blaine Gibson]

Do the other two of you have voices you're willing to share yet, Chris?

[John Risinger]

Do you?

[Chris Debaris]

I don't, because I'm still.

[Ben]

Chris is fiddling secrets.

[Chris Debaris]

No, no, I'm still. No, no. I'm just, I'm not committed to a character yet.

[Blaine Gibson]

No secrets.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

And I want to also say that I'm not super committed to this one quite yet. That's just what I'm thinking right now.

[Ben]

I'm 100% locked on what I wanted.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

To do, which is great.

[John Risinger]

What you described, Barbara, I really want.

[Micah Reisinger]

Yes.

[John Risinger]

What you described when we were talking about our characters, and I'm not going to spoil it. I thought that was so funny.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah. I just need to, I think, look at the class a little bit more because it's something I'm the most unfamiliar with.

[John Risinger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

So that I need to flesh out.

[John Risinger]

But I think the character itself, it's fantastic.

[Ben]

You don't have anything, Jon.

[John Risinger]

I'll say that I have an idea. For. For a voice. But the one reason why I don't wanna commit to it is because I like to challenge my voices and make them something hard to do. And this is an easier one. And so I'm still trying to figure out a way where I could take it somewhere difficult.

[Micah Reisinger]

So it's probably gonna be wrong with agey.

[John Risinger]

No, there isn't. There isn't. And I might just default there because her voice plays into who she is. So in order to change her voice, I gotta change who she is, and I don't think I will because I really want to play this character. So if I say it right now, I have to kind of commit to it. But if I don't, I don't. But I have a little bit of a voice. But I've alluded to what she is.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Right.

[Chris Debaris]

Do y'all practice them by yourself?

[John Risinger]

Yes.

[Ben]

On the drive to work, I would stop listening to the music or I would sing along to the music and Chip voice, because I don't wait what.

[John Risinger]

Music I. I'd just be listening to, like, oh, like, any song.

[Blaine Gibson]

Sing us a song.

[John Risinger]

Oh, that's fun.

[Blaine Gibson]

I want to hear Chip sing now. Can we have, like, a chip album?

[John Risinger]

He's just singing Taylor Swift in Chip's chip voice.

[Ben]

You were working as a waitress.

[David Sonye]

Next picture on stretch gold.

[Micah Reisinger]

A whole.

[Blaine Gibson]

I love it. I am here for it.

[John Risinger]

I 100% had to try to work on doing something even remotely close to a French accent. I watched so many videos.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

That is probably. I think it might be the hardest accent to try to do because it could so easily go into German or.

[John Risinger]

Like, it can travel around Europe easily.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

When they are doing this. It could sound like many things.

[John Risinger]

And with any accent. Same as, like, the Scottish of mud. There is no Scottish accent.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Right.

[John Risinger]

There is no French accent. There is like, hey, what part of that place are you from? That kind of thing.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I'm from Paris.

[David Sonye]

I didn't want to admit it, but I do the same thing with sleek and quiffley. Sing along the songs in the car last week or quickly to try to get.

[Ben]

It's nice. It's an easy. Like, I'm gonna have to start caning to get into it.

[John Risinger]

And we have time.

[Blaine Gibson]

It's a pro tip. We learned something here.

[Ben]

That's great. The thing I'm excited the most.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Bart's easy because he got sang all the time.

[Chris Debaris]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ben]

Oh, yeah.

[John Risinger]

You did sing a lot as Bart.

[Ben]

I'm excited about Campaign 3 because I think something that I noticed with Campaign Campaign 2 is depending on your character's attitude and kind of like what their character is like. I feel like I adopt that as a mindset. So Cyborg, I was, like, really cocky and, you know, shooting little quips, and then with Chip, I was chipper and happy and so, you know, all that, and I feel like it bleeds into real life. And my next guy, I'm like, I'm excited to see what that does for Blaine. Oh, no, no, the other thing too. And this is like, any advice for people that are listening and you get into the roleplay of it. It's like, try to have a fun character that's, like, enjoyable to be around. Don't be a jerk, because then you're fun to be around.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah. You want people to enjoy also interacting with you and playing with you in the world, in the space.

[Blaine Gibson]

I want to make an exclusive reveal here that the Campaign 3 narrator will be Captain Kirk.

[Micah Reisinger]

No, I quit.

[John Risinger]

I quit.

[Micah Reisinger]

Patreon's done. I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

[Blaine Gibson]

I knew that would get a rise out of Blaine, but I'm happy we are at the point. We are, you know, just having wrapped up campaign two, looking forward to what we're gonna do with Campaign three. Because I feel like lots of times, and I think this was maybe in the back of all of our heads or in the pit of our stomachs, that campaign one was such a well accepted, huge success. It's always a little scary to try to follow that up. It's like, what is your next thing? It's not just D and D thing. Like any band releases a huge album, it's like, oh, what's your name? Next one. Or, you know, film or anything like that.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

It's like you're also comparing it to when people found it and, like, fell in love with it. So their. Yeah. Expectations.

[David Sonye]

That's actually a question I wanted to ask everybody was, you know, like, we had some trepidation leaving the Campaign 1 characters to go on Campaign 2 because, like, in production, right. Like, when you have a good hit or something that's working, it's scary to go away from it. And typically you don't want to.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

A lot of people tend to just stay with it until maybe people kind of get tired of it sometimes.

[David Sonye]

And in the nature of Dungeons and Dragons, like, eventually you hit a point where the campaign, you're max level. You can't really do anything else unless you're fighting gods. And so you got to, like, wind start a new character. And so I kind of wanted to ask everybody, like, how are you feeling now, going from. Now that you've gotten two campaigns under your belt? How do you feel going into Campaign three, now that we have one and two done? And how is it different from going from Campaign one to Campaign two?

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Big shoes to fill is what I'll say. But I have the utmost confidence in Micah and the whole team to do an incredible job because I think I personally, I loved Campaign one. I had a lot of fun with Campaign two, and I thought a lot of the, like, discoveries and twists and turns were, like, really interesting to me. And I would say I almost liked it better than Campaign one. Personally, I'll probably like Campaign three even better because it's like, it's these things that we keep having more experience doing and get comfortable doing and know how to build the space more and more. We're only going to have more fun with future campaigns.

[Blaine Gibson]

I think you said something important there, which is, like, your familiarity and your comfort with the material. You're not so preoccupied, occupied with the rules and the mechanics necessarily. It frees up brain power to explore the creativity and, like, the fun side. Like, what are the moments we're going to lean into? You're not so, like, focused on looking at a sheet of paper or, like, some rules in front of you. Like, what does this all mean? It's like you've partially, you know, you've learned the material, and partially, you've learned it's not that important.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Right.

[Blaine Gibson]

We're just going to have fun now.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

With the state of Stinky Dragon and us doing this ourselves. I think a lot of us are also going to be a lot more invested in everything to do with Stinky Dragon and, like, not having to work on any other projects or, like, do anything else for our previous job that maybe was distracting or, like, took away from us being able to, like, dive full into something like this. So I think it's going to be even better.

[Blaine Gibson]

My calendar will be freed up from meetings that I'm like, why am I here?

[Micah Reisinger]

Promise you all, I'm going to start committing to this show. I'm going to wear a fourth hat, if that's okay.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

No, you. You out of. Everybody has been wildly dedicated to this since the very beginning.

[Ben]

The timing is fortuitous, too, because it's like, you know, we're winding down Campaign two, and as we start this new journey, we're also starting a new campaign. So it's just like, it. Obviously, it wasn't a perfect situation, but I feel like we're making the Best case scenario out of a worst case scenario. Yeah, you know, for sure.

[John Risinger]

So.

[Ben]

So I'm excited.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Absolutely.

[John Risinger]

I'm very much in the same vein as you, Barbara, where I feel like I keep getting better at this as it goes on. I'm very glad we got the second campaign jitters out of the way now because that was a concern. And between that and I got to DM my first mini campaign, I'm fully addicted to new worlds and new characters, which I know is a very common with D and D players where they just want to keep making their new character. They're excited about it. And so I'm all for that and excited to do that. And so. Yeah. And I'm also excited to see what's it like to do an entire campaign medicated.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

I also will say we have talked about Kween 3 a little bit, and I'm really excited for it because, Micah, you seem really excited for it. It's something that excites you as a. So I think, like, in my mind, that's when I'm the most excited to play in a space that someone who's created it is really amped about.

[Micah Reisinger]

Well, I fall into that trope as well. Of like, it's a new thing.

[John Risinger]

As soon as we finished recording my mini campaign, like, I was sad. I was like. And right before the campaign, I was freaked out. Cause I'm like. And I've listened to a few episodes and it's like, oh, man, I was terrible at DMing, but I more so I'll phrase like, oh, I could have done this better. Oh, this could have been. Oh, this is why I shouldn't do that. You know, I learned a lot. And I love learning more and more about D and D. Even like you guys saw at the end of this campaign that I fell in love with rolling real dice. And I started memorizing my modifiers and my stuff. Like, I really wasn't even looking at my D and D beyond a ton near the end of it. And that was really fun. Just this week, started listening to Funny Enough, I started listening to the Adventure Zone fights Dracula, which I think is so funny that they released that like halfway through.

[David Sonye]

Oh, I know, right?

[John Risinger]

And to listen to it, it's very much like, wow, these are touching on similar things. Like they have a Frankenstein character and everything like that. But I love listening to other people play D and D. Cause Ben got me listening to dimension 20 and that kind of stuff. But I love the best parts is they don't dwell on figuring out which spell to do. It's all about improv and playing with each other and having fun jokes and getting to do silly moments, you know, and I look forward to that for the next campaign is like, those are my favorite moments.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[John Risinger]

Making Gus do improv.

[Blaine Gibson]

I think that Ben, unlock the door. I want to say a big thank you to anyone who's listening to this. You know, we've poured a lot of energy and a lot of our hearts into Campaign one and Campaign two, and we're glad that people really enjoy it. And as Blaine was talking about, we're at an inflection point with the stories and with what we're going to do. And we're really more than ever reliant on the listeners, people who consume the show, people who tell their friends about it, people who subscribe on patreon.com Stinky Dragon it's all needed, it's all necessary to help support us and to help us continue having these adventures. So thank you so much. Share the podcast with a friend.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Please do tell people about it. I think a lot of these podcasts really succeed from word of mouth and like talking to your friends and people who also like D and D or just general fantasy adventure kind of stuff. So, yeah, if you have a friend you think might like the show, please do tell them.

[Blaine Gibson]

Send them a puppet video or an animation as like a little teaser. There's a whole podcast you can listen to with this.

[Ben]

It's pretty heartwarming going onto the Reddit and being like, yeah, my friend turned me on to this. They said, you know, I was getting DD and so on and so forth. And it's like, this is a person that would never in a million years have encountered rooster teeth or any of us.

[John Risinger]

Our family, Mike and I, like our parents and our sister, like, they are not D and D people.

[Micah Reisinger]

You guys know, they don't play D.

[John Risinger]

And D. They know nothing about it. And they've also, to be fair, I've been an employee making content for the past like 10, 11 years. They don't watch any of it.

[Micah Reisinger]

I will give someone credit that Heather actually, when I started. When we started. Yeah, sorry. Heather is my sister John's S as well. It's really weird. I mean, debatable. When I was starting the Pious past, like that first arc in Infinites, I did a test run with her and some other people and she was one person that jumped in.

[John Risinger]

Yeah. So it's. I joke. My family did. Did watch summer stuff like and know stuff. But adamantly, this is the first thing that they are. They are fans and they are D and D fans.

[Blaine Gibson]

And she's.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

So they're listening.

[John Risinger]

Oh, yeah. Every single week they listen.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

The Risingers have been a crucial part.

[Micah Reisinger]

Anytime I came to my FaceTime with them. Like, I haven't watched the episode yet.

[Chris Debaris]

But I don't know. It is a very interesting.

[John Risinger]

My mom just texted me if you're.

[Chris Debaris]

Listening and thank you for. But really, like, it's only possible because people support really if you're. If you're enjoying something. Thank you.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Yeah. It's especially like, I think there's been a very huge shift in online entertainment where a lot of people like you are used to YouTube and having like free access to content. But to have like a sustainable show like Stinky Dragon that has so many people involved in it and there's so much that goes into creating it. If you like something, supporting it really is the best way to keep having it happen.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[David Sonye]

And the Stinky Dragon audience just like has been such a joy to.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

They're amazing. They're amazing.

[David Sonye]

They've been just. Even from. I'm really active on like Reddit and Discord and like talking in the YouTube comments with everybody. But like I've even had moments where I'm trying to get the episode out and it's 2am and it's like almost done rendering and I just hop into Discord and chat with people and they help me get to the point where I can get the episode uploaded.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

So if you're listening to this and want to be part of the best community ever, join.

[John Risinger]

Join the party.

[David Sonye]

We can't do this without you.

[Blaine Gibson]

Yeah. Thank you so much.

[Chris Debaris]

Thank you.

[Barbara Dunkelman]

Until next time.

[Blaine Gibson]

Did you know you can directly support the show by becoming a [e-mail] Stinky Dragon? Become a patron and you could get your name shouted out. Just like Clarkinator 720. Craig, Belio, Mark aka Destro981 Candranos and Dusky. These patrons directly support the show and get ad free episodes access to our patron only Discord server and events weekly bonus content like Second Wind show or short adventures like Tavern tales. Again, that's patreon.com Stinky Dragon we can't thank you enough for your support that lets us make this show. Head over to patreon.com stinkydragonforallthingsstinky tune in next time for another thrilling episode of Tales from the Stinky Dragon.