With Pennyworth's conflicts still in the background, things continue to escalate on campus as the characters' personal affairs intersect. Can Jessamine keep Charlotte's trust without lying to her? Can Mark reconcile his responsibilities with his values? And, as always, can Bishop get away with just being the biggest bastard possible despite the people breathing down their neck?
While Pennyworth confronts his pursuers--presumably, we're down a player again--and Bishop relaxes after a job well done, Jessamine tries to walk away from her latest feeding like it never happened. Meanwhile, Mark embarks on his first nighttime patrol as a Crusader, scouring the campus for monsters. Looks like they're on a collision course with drama! Warning: may contain background dog barks.
Mark gets some quality education and starts planning for his future while Pennyworth decides who his real friends are and promptly tells them what's what, but Jessamine is the star of this episode. Watch as she squirms out of one awkward social situation into another and takes advantage of someone else's thirst to quench her own!
New faces continue to leap onto the dogpile of complications forming over our protagonists. Jessamine meets a handsome stranger who might know more than he lets on, Pennyworth has a vulnerable moment and makes a chain of bad decisions, and Bishop struggles to find guidance before taking matters into their own hands.
The immediate fallout after the Big Night has more or less died away, but even "normal life" has become a lot more complicated for everyone at Mater Dolorosa. While Mark is off doing who-knows-what for who-knows-who, Pennyworth turns to old connections to help with new circumstances, Jessamine tries to feed while hiding from both loved ones and enemies, and Bishop has new responsibilities to match their latest revelations.
Each of the main characters stand at their own crossroads, confronted with shifting paradigms and uncomfortable obligations. Bishop fights snitching with snitching, Mark struggles to shield his friends, Pennyworth learns about his new role, and Jessamine tries to be a good girlfriend.
Monsterhearts is back in a big way! Unless it all ends catastrophically here and now, which is extra likely after the drama bomb of last session. With the status quo of Mater Dolorosa College shaken in one night of bloody terror, will the supernatural students try to reclaim some normalcy or push things in strange new directions? Jessamine gets some smelly band merch, Mark becomes a narc, and Bishop does a little reflecting. As always, our intro and outro music is courtesy of Aesop Rock: https:/...
Though Johann has been called away on a higher duty, the remaining deputies must investigate the sewers to find the origin of the mutant menace. A simple matter of trap-dodging and corpse-looting turns into the biggest challenge they've faced yet! Will Alfred, Kerran, and Vine overcome the monstrous horrors within, or be torn limb by randomly-selected limb? Find out in this climactic climax!
After their grueling battle with the sewer mutants, our main characters have a little chat with the police and wind up with more responsibility and authority than any of them have handled before. Kerran and Vine hit the streets (and some walls) in search of information. Meanwhile, Johann and Alfred nurse their wounds and gain some insight into deeper machinations!
A dying knight issues a sacred quest, and an untrained but enthused youth accepts it, beginning a journey that will change his life forever. Meanwhile, a malnourished jester misdelivers some satire, a sewer-hunter becomes the sewer-hunted, and an unemployed bodyguard (played by a surprise guest!) drinks her cares away. What could bring these disparate nobodies together? The answer, as always, is mutants.
What system are we gaying up next? Oh, it's Warhammer Fantasy, 2nd Edition! What manner of characters will Owen, Saturn, and Snapper be casting into this world of grim darkness? Whatever the dice decide, because for the first time on this podcast, we're doing RANDOMIZED CHARACTER CREATION! So grab your d100 and see if you'll have a career in wizardry, thievery, or charcoal-burning.
To celebrate over twenty thousand plays on Soundcloud, we're trying out our most unique system yet: "a role-playing game for no players."
Here's something we've never done before: an actual self-contained one-shot, with a system so simple it all fits on one page! With Saturn at the helm, and guest stars Snapper and Pixie filling in for Ian and Sara, we join the intrepid crew of the Raptor as they hack, pilot, swashbuckle, and seduce their way into and out of danger in this space-opera thriller! Lasers & Feelings, by John Harper: http://www.onesevendesign.com/laserfeelings/
In the climax of our Spell adventure, the Cahokia Carnies have infiltrated the magically oppressed railroad town and decide to use some direct action. I'd do my usual character-by-character teasers, but I want to leave some things a surprise. But I will tell you this: we learn a lot about how Spelling can go wrong.
The Cahokia Carnies have escaped peril and arrived in the big city, where they can lay low to resupply before heading straight on to their destination! Nothing can slow them down, especially not an old-timey peep sh--oh come on guys, really? The whole damn episode? Government agents are actively tracking you, and you... fine, okay. But you'd better not have any slapstick hijinks, I swear to God.
In this episode, things kick off with chaotic action and that pretty much sets the tone for the remaining hour. Our lovable miscreants show some style, show some leg, have a little qar trouble, meet someone stranger than them, and make a buzz, all with the help of some randomly-generated letters. If you're listening to this as it airs, there's still time to back Spell's Kickstarter and push for some stretch goals! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whimsymachine/make-100-spell-the-rpg-and-spel...
Today we start Spell: The RPG, a game in the process of being Kickstarted that we have been offered a sneak peek at! Oats leads us into the end of the Gilded Age, where three colorful outlaws are making names for themselves. Listen as Fabulous Ferdinand rocks a zoot suit and makes a speech, Dizzy McAllister plays the piano and instigates confrontations, and Runabout Ray schemes up a plan and casts the only actual spell in this episode. Spell Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/whim...
The Resurrectionists rappel directly into a tense stand-off with a guest-star celebrity (lookalike) villain! Luckily, he's willing to give them a sporting chance with a game of chance, and Flint is all too eager to accept the challenge. Meanwhile, Pebble struggles with the one thing she's best at, Club gets flirty, and Blondie waits patiently for his time to shine.
With the Clarion House back in their sights and their past failures firmly in mind, the Resurrectionists decide that a little information-gathering would not be amiss. To this end, they make a friend who proves more helpful than expected in some ways and much less helpful than expected in others, and Crowl reunites with a resourceful but less-than-friendly acquaintance. But will it all be enough to stop them from barging into the worst possible situation?
In this episode, the Resurrectionists realize that they might be in over their heads, and have to make some tough decisions in a hurry. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor, especially if you're not valorous to begin with. Blondie makes some observations on the art of killing, Club's inner weasel comes to the surface, Flint does hardcore ghostbusting, and Pebble plays the social game.
Now that they're all rested up--or at least as rested as career criminals in a haunted city can hope to be--the Resurrectionists take some time to pick their next score and settle on driving out local competition. If they could steal a huge gem from one of the most zealously-guarded buildings in Duskvol, driving out some squatters should be a walk in the park, right? Well, it might be, if the dice weren't out for our blood.
We finally return to Duskvol and the Resurrectionists! After their daring heist in the last session, our characters' bones and egos have seen better days, and on top of that the law's on their tails, so it's time to lay low and recuperate. Blondie makes conversation with some pleasant older ladies, Pebble has a very memorable date, the Club is very good at being a crooked cop, and Flint gets medical attention from a patriotic blood-dealer. (Also, I want to remind everyone that our intro/outro mu...
The last episode of this session ends with a really big bang, and no I'm not going for a cheap sex pun. Pennyworth (now Worthy) goes on a proper rampage and blows away the opposition... until he doesn't. Jessamine is forced to choose between love and hate. Mark busts out a new trick in a moment of desperation. Bishop meets their most daunting adversary yet.
This episode mostly revolves around Pennyworth, who we left stuck in a bad situation; and Jessamine, who has finally emerged from her smoke-filled dorm room. They're both looking to get back at the people who've been giving them a hard time, and both discover that payback is never easy or clean. Then shit pops off. Content warning: The next two episodes are a little more violent than usual, and this one features a car crash. Just a heads-up.
The first Big Gay Nerds episode of 2018 comes in strong, though not without some sickness-induced complications. While Jessamine lays low and gets high, Bishop takes on yet more obligations in exchange for power, Mark immediately gets hit in the face by the consequences of his actions, and Pennyworth experiences terrifying clarity.
Mark tries to carry out the plan he hatched at the end of the last episode. Technically, in terms of pure quantity, not much happens in this recording. But what DOES happen is pretty damn big, and it happens VERY MUCH. A good episode to end 2017 with, I think.
After some scheduling mishaps, we're back to Mater Dolorosa College just in time to see it spiral even deeper into the sexy abyss. Jessamine cleans up, Pennyworth provides moral support for immoral deeds, Mark faces an ultimatum, and Bishop gets back to their roots.
Summer comes to our quiet, nameless little mesa, and as the heat rises so do the ambitions of its inhabitants. They begin to devise grand projects to secure more resources and better defend the few they already have. Results are, predictably, mixed. At the same time, outside threats begin to make themselves known... and some of them may already be inside.
It's that time of year when we reflect on how our ancestors faced hardships, like stinky water and the hippocabra, but overcame them to share the bounty of their harvests, like magnets and petrified wood. Wait, am I confusing our session of The Quiet Year with American history again? I must be, because I don't remember the pilgrims having YET ANOTHER SPECIAL GUEST STAR! We're thankful to Avery Alder for this game https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/the-quiet-year/ , and Aesop Rock for our intro/ou...
Faced with a true challenge to their abilities as wizards and teachers--a Chosen One who would be better off chosen for a football draft or his dad's car dealership--the professors of Pigsmoke finally devise a plan of action: just do nothing and hope it sorts itself out. But even on the weekend, can these arcane academics hope to escape their duties? Find out in this thrilling conclusion to our first adventure with Pigsmoke!
