2019.08.14 Monsterhearts 2: Once Again, We Return: The Musical!

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 Hey everybody, and welcome to just played. This is the podcast where I 2 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.800 recap the TIPTOP OUR PG's I've recently participated in as a player or a game 3 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:13.359 master. I'm Jim Crocker of Jim Likes Games, and today I will be 4 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:20.160 talking about monster hearts too, in this case the once again we return custom 5 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:24.920 place set that was created as a framework to allow you to use monster hearts 6 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:30.320 to capture the feel and the events of the comic book the wicked and the 7 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:35.560 divine by Karen Gillan and Jamie mclvie, which is a comic about Gods who 8 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:42.240 return to Earth in the bodies of young people and are incarnated as pop stars. 9 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.439 They have two years to live and in that time they're going to do 10 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:49.439 as much living as they can, well, dealing with a kind of soap 11 00:00:49.479 --> 00:00:53.840 opera that you might expect when Gods are hanging out together. In this case 12 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:59.439 we are actually playing a variant of that variant, which is a musical, 13 00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:03.040 like a movie musical or stage musical version of the once again we return play 14 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:08.000 set. It adds a couple of special moves that allow for magical realism type 15 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:11.359 musical numbers to break out in the middle of the game, but I'll talk 16 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:15.760 a little bit more about that later. As it happens, this is a 17 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:19.000 four game series, the first game of which I missed because I was at 18 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:22.519 Gen con. So I'm in game two, though it was my first game, 19 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:25.599 but there was some play that happened in that first game to lead into 20 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:27.640 this second game that I started with, and then we've got two more games 21 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:32.159 after that in this series. Who Played Online at the Gauntlet? This game 22 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:37.439 was facilitated by Louise and the players were Alexei, who played Vulcan, the 23 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:41.959 god of metalwork and Magma. Each of the Gods has two domains that they 24 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:45.159 start with that they have control over, the kind of effect fictionally what can 25 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.159 happen in the game, and he used the playbook the worm from monster hearts. 26 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:53.799 With Pearl Played Low Ki. Sorry, low key, I call him 27 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.359 Loki on purpose to annoy him, but Pearl Played Low Ki, the God 28 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:01.959 of mischief and hedonism, using the cuckoo playbook from monster hearts. pucket played 29 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:07.599 Callie, the god of destruction and nihilism, using the siren playbook, and 30 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:12.639 I am Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of beauty and desire. Using the playbook 31 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:16.560 the Queen Session starting state. We were just introducing me. So we started 32 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:22.400 a game in Jake's cafe, which is a location in that setting that is 33 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:25.840 a tapas and dance floor kind of place. They serve lots of little plates 34 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:30.919 of delicious little finger food and stuff that you munch on in between trips to 35 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:35.360 the light up dance floor. But we all drink for free there because Jake 36 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:39.639 is one of these world famous, world renowned restaurant tours that owns a bunch 37 00:02:39.719 --> 00:02:44.199 of name restaurants all around the world and probably has a television show or two 38 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:47.800 on the cooking network and stuff like this. But he understands the favors that 39 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:53.560 might flow his way from letting us go in and take over the place. 40 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:58.520 So of course we are there to party and socialize and generally come together. 41 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:04.199 After the apparent death in the first session of Nymph, who's another deed of 42 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:08.560 our little found Pantheon that we've created, who was apparently magically decapitated, her 43 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:13.560 very cleanly severed magical head is sitting in the kind of Minium of the ancient 44 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:21.280 one, who is our mysterious benefactors, patrons of all powerful overlord in this 45 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:24.439 particular setting. So onto our plot synopsis. As we open, Loki, 46 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:30.280 who is disguised as Cannazot's, one of the other deities in our Pantheon. 47 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.960 And for cannazots you should think billy eilish teen pop idol who made her success 48 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:39.080 entirely on the Internet. So low key, is disguised as cannas O's and 49 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:45.840 approaches the table where my retinue and I, and I should say that, 50 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.719 as Hathor, I took the queen playbook. And when you choose a queen 51 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:53.879 playbook in Monster Hearts, you're supposed to choose what it is about your gang 52 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:57.680 that is special, because you kind of have a gang. That is the 53 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:00.919 whole point of being the Queen, is that you're the head of a group, 54 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.400 like a pack, that you travel with, you know, a posse 55 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:09.319 and entourage, and so I chose that they are talented and in this case 56 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:15.080 they are phenomenal backup singers and dancers. So this is my entourage of my 57 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:18.240 backup singers and dancers that travels along with me, beautiful young people, any 58 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:24.040 of whom probably could be managed into having a pop career of their own, 59 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:27.319 but they have fallen in with me and they follow my lead and they're my 60 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:32.680 crew. So CANNA ZATS sit down with US and tries to be snarky about 61 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:35.959 my looks and the Internet and how I'm not hot enough to be on the 62 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:40.519 Internet and stuff like this, and she does kind of get a day in 63 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:46.560 on me, but comes off as a little too desperate, and so she 64 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.199 picks up that condition of desperate. Well, I should say he, because 65 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:55.040 actually low key in disguise. But we slide over and let her sit down 66 00:04:55.079 --> 00:04:58.879 with us because as far as the game fiction goes, we don't know yet 67 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:03.480 that it's low key that is disguised as cannazats. So lowkey is Kennaz Otts 68 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:09.680 asked me what I think and I give opinions and specifically they want to know 69 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.720 what do I think of the other gods, because this is kind of the 70 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.399 first introduction of my character. So I go down the list and as far 71 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:19.079 as the other two player characters that are present, I say that Callie is 72 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:24.240 simple, easy to understand. He's an agro simpleton. I have been dealing 73 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:29.639 with boys like him my entire life. But that Vulcan is messed up. 74 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:33.839 She is obviously broken somehow and that is actually kind of scary because I am 75 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:40.720 not sure what her actual damage is from that little dish session. We cut 76 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:44.600 to Callie and Vulcan, who are down on the end of the bar flirting 77 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.639 with each other. She gives him a drink and after some Chit Chat and 78 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:54.399 flirty talk, they decide to exchange a bargain, which is something that Callie 79 00:05:54.439 --> 00:05:59.199 has on her playbook, and it means that they can exchange things that only 80 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.959 exist mccannon ly, like strings. In this case, the move itself is 81 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:08.519 played out in this cool volcanic dreamscape that exists in Vulcan's mind where the deal 82 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:13.240 is going down. So Vulcan needs a piece of Callie's soul, to which 83 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:16.600 callie responds, Hey, no problem, I wasn't using it anyway, and 84 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:21.920 just laughs because he finds that completely hilarious. So Vulcan mechanically takes a string 85 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:27.160 from him, which he describes as looking like a hypodermic needle filled with some 86 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:30.560 kind of clear liquid. So callie kind of rolls her about being too soft 87 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:36.839 on him, but she de Mirrors saying that she maybe she doesn't necessarily want 88 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:43.680 to be hard and stuck in her volcano all the time and that cues her 89 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.399 musical number, which in this case is part of that world from the Little 90 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.279 Mermaid, and it fits perfectly because she's got stuff, she's got the Thingama, 91 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:54.879 who's it's and what's it and all these kind of things here, but 92 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:59.079 she wants to be up there in the world dancing with all of the other 93 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:02.160 people instead of stuck in her forge. When you do these musical numbers, 94 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:05.600 we put the video up on the screen, everybody watches it and listens to 95 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:11.120 the song, and then there is choreography that goes along with it, because 96 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:15.560 we've got a tab on our character keeper that lists the lyrics to the song 97 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.879 and then the column next to the lyrics we list some choreography, dance moves 98 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.839 and camera angles and stuff like that so that we can follow along as we're 99 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:26.839 listening to the song, and it's really pretty cool. So that musical number 100 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:30.160 ends and she uses that to turn him on, but he chooses to be 101 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:35.319 embarrassed and awkward about it. So he gets kind of fumbling and tongue tied 102 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:40.319 because she was honest with him, she was open and emotional, and that's 103 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:46.759 completely thrown him because he's used to much more straightforward and low stakes sexual encounters 104 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:50.360 as opposed to people actually trying to be emotional with him. So Vulcan just 105 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:55.879 takes that syringe that was filled with Callie's essence, I guess, and just 106 00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:01.040 opens up this metal prosthetic arm she wears and locks it in there and closes 107 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:05.800 it up, and this blue black fire dances below the surface to indicate that 108 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:11.399 it is melding with her, and that actually impresses callie. mainlining Godhood, 109 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:13.639 he says, because he is very impressed with that and he wants to know 110 00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:18.800 what she looks like without the arm and the leg, the prosthetic arm and 111 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:22.480 leg that she wears. It tells her she doesn't need to be beautiful to 112 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:24.800 wear it, and that kind of definitely throws her for a loop. And 113 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:30.000 we cut away from that back to Hathor, who is still going on about 114 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:33.279 the other gods. So low key is asking for her opinions. And the 115 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:37.240 other gods in the Pantheon are Nanuk, who's the god of the hunt, 116 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.759 and she says that he needs to spend more time inside with the others. 117 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:46.679 So for Nanook, think like Lina's X. that's basically kind of what he 118 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:52.519 looks like. Shiva who's incarnation is basically Lizzo, this very positive, confident, 119 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:56.240 fun loving rapper pop star, and I think she's the most grounded, 120 00:08:56.360 --> 00:09:01.799 and that not only she grounded, she's actually a genius and she seems entirely 121 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:07.200 secure in herself in a way that is very strange and almost kind of doesn't 122 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:09.279 fit in with the rest of us. And I say looking for last and 123 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:15.279 I laugh and I say that he is basically a clown, like he's a 124 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:18.360 tool that wants people to laugh. He is one of those kids that you 125 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:24.639 meet in high school who would rather be thought of as smart than get laid 126 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:28.879 and low key pouts and Cox his head a little bit at that, but 127 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.519 can't say anything because if he does, he'll give away the Jig that he's 128 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:37.000 actually in disguise. So his his whole reason for kind of hanging out with 129 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:41.399 us is that he needs to grab pieces of people's clothing or personal effects in 130 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:46.639 order to be able to shape shift into them as the CUCKOOS. So, 131 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:50.480 rather than have a big thing where we make it difficult, I just say 132 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:56.320 yeah, I've got this like black moth hair clip, because my character is 133 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:01.279 basically Lord. So she has this whole Glam teen, which thing going on. 134 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:05.919 So I've got this kind of fancy small black moth that's a hair clip. 135 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:09.080 So look, he manages to palm that and so he's got a hold 136 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:13.600 of it. He gets away with it cleanly and he does inquire about what 137 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:16.399 is the best way to get information out of half or. So that's a 138 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:18.320 part of that move. When you try to keep your cool, you can 139 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.600 get some information from it. And the question that he asks is what's the 140 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:24.919 best way to get information out of half or? And it turns out that 141 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:30.360 of all the gods in the Pantheon, teen want to be. That seems 142 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.679 like she may want to join our click is absolutely the best one to get 143 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:37.519 at my character and get her mouth moving and get her kind of showing off 144 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:41.240 a little to try and see if I can convince her to join my gang. 145 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:45.720 So he's totally made the right move there. So I am sort of 146 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.840 done with this conversation. So I look down the bar and I see that 147 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:52.720 Vulcan and Callie are coming out of their little fugue state and they kind of 148 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:56.840 have a conversation. That looks like maybe Callie is getting in her face in 149 00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:01.720 a way the Vulcan might not like. So doesn't matter whether that's what's actually 150 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:05.120 happening or not. I am protector of women, so I am immediately up 151 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:09.399 out of there with my whole gang surround them and I try to make sure 152 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:13.240 Fulcan is okay, and I point to Callie and I say you should be 153 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:18.120 careful because that one will burn even you. And I try to shut him 154 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:22.440 down, which is one of the moves that you can make in monster hearts, 155 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:24.440 like do that thing where I hold two fingers to his lips to shut 156 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:30.120 him without even looking at him, and that does not work at all. 157 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:33.799 He suddenly is like seething with rage and my whole retinue melts away seeing how 158 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:39.440 pissed he is, and that triggers he is musical number, which is a 159 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:46.600 punk song by fear, and it is every bit as fast and loud and 160 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:52.600 aggro as you might expect, with choreography that includes a whole lot of stumping 161 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.799 on police cars and punching people in the face and kissing girls while he's got 162 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:01.519 blood on his lips, all this kind of stuff super aggro. So as 163 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:07.679 that number ends, we swap conditions. I give him agro because that's the 164 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:09.960 thing that makes sense and that's the thing that everybody can get some leverage on. 165 00:12:11.159 --> 00:12:15.679 And he gives me talk shit get hit, which I think is kind 166 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.399 of cool, because then that's very clearly I'm called out and I know that 167 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:24.679 I only have so much leeway to run my mouth before things will get actually 168 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.279 violent in a way that is not just sniping at each other. So, 169 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:33.759 satisfied that he's kind of dealt with the situation, he asks Vulcan to leave 170 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:37.720 with him and go get some ice cream, which I at the time thought 171 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.679 might have been some kind of euphemism or something like that, but no, 172 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:48.440 they actually do go get ice cream. So they leave. Loki has left. 173 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:50.960 I'm there alone as the bar is closing, and that lets me trigger 174 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:56.240 my musical number, which is green light by Lord. So when you trigger 175 00:12:56.360 --> 00:13:00.519 musical number in this version of the game, you can activate any move you 176 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:03.799 want for free at any level that you want. So in this case I 177 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:07.679 used to activate one of the special moves, which is called trending. The 178 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:13.720 trending move is in the once again we return version of monster hearts. It's 179 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.879 a means of gaining XP and you can cause other effects to come into play 180 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:22.799 because you are making some kind of public display or performance, and in this 181 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.879 case, when I finished the number, I took a cool Selfie of myself 182 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:30.960 with my dancers all behind me and and sent that out. And what I 183 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:33.840 did was, in addition to getting the experience, you can give your audience 184 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:39.000 a condition, which is something that you can leverage and the MC can bring 185 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:43.840 into play in the later sessions. I give my audience the condition impatient, 186 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:46.639 because they are ready for something to happen. They want something to happen and 187 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:50.240 I kind of love that. That is a total double edged sword that I 188 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.799 put in their hands like that, and we're going to see how that comes 189 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.360 to fruition in future sessions. So camera cuts away from me and back to 190 00:13:56.440 --> 00:14:01.240 low key, who is back at home at Gehenna, which is kind of 191 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:03.960 this condo complex that we all live in with our divine patron that I mentioned 192 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.639 before. Loki is still in the form of cannasts, but he is reveling 193 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:15.200 in what he has managed to pull off, which triggers his braggadocious musical number, 194 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:20.519 which in this case is set to the Roxy Heart Song from the Chicago 195 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:24.679 Musical, but in the lyrics he has written, instead of Roxy, it's 196 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:30.080 low key every time and there's just some super fun choreographer where he is turning 197 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:33.039 into each of us for different verses, like puts the hair clip in and 198 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:37.480 turns into my character and does a little like duckface in the mirror and stuff 199 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:41.559 like that, like she's posing for a picture and everything and just a whole 200 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:45.399 lot of fun. So he uses this to gaze into the abyss, which 201 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:50.320 is that reveals supernatural information, see what is going on beneath the surface move 202 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.960 that you can do in monster hearts, and he asks how can he have 203 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:58.440 the most fun with the people who's items that he now has in his possession, 204 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:03.720 and the and the abyss sense him a clear vision of all the chaos 205 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:07.559 and entertainment that would be created by messily breaking up VALCON and Callie. We 206 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:11.399 cut away from that to Callie, who uses the trending move to send out 207 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:18.879 a picture of his hand holding an ice cream cone in tandem with Vulcan, 208 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:24.519 and he decides that he uses this move to gain a new Godly Dominion, 209 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:30.360 which in this case is tenderness. So they're doing this frankly, vomit inducing 210 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:33.919 puppy love stuff. She is sticking fing in the ice cream and kind of 211 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:37.799 poily licking it off of her finger, and this leads to them just going 212 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:43.720 up onto the roof and falling into bed together. Their sex moves trigger and 213 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.080 Vulcan asks Callie what they'd like and promises to give it to him, and 214 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:52.399 he just says that he wants to see her without her prosthetics, cause again, 215 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:56.960 she is beautiful without them. And when they get back to the chambers 216 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.960 in Ghanna, she promises that she will do that for him in Return Book 217 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:06.200 and tells Callie that she needs his help to kill the ancient one. So 218 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:12.200 after that cliffhanger bombshell, we did a couple of epilogs for low key and 219 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:17.000 hath or because they weren't on camera, and that last little bit. So 220 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:19.759 for low key we see something of a reprise of his musical number, with 221 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:26.360 him admiring his stolen personal effects and very clearly making machinations for the future. 222 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:30.639 So in our final scene we see the retinew go into the ancient ones apartment 223 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:36.080 and take nymph's head out with them. Now this is where I probably should 224 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:40.639 mention that the ancient one is basically share. We have cast share in this 225 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:45.039 role and she's fabulous in it. So she looks out from the locked room 226 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.399 that she is in that none of us have ever seen inside, and kind 227 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:53.519 of smiles knowingly as they retreat, thinking that they've gotten away clean and they 228 00:16:53.559 --> 00:17:00.679 bring me Nymph's head and I kiss her and was pregently in her ears that 229 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.039 she is going to get the full two years that she's due because one of 230 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:08.640 the moves that we can make us to work a miracle. So next session 231 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.519 we'll see how that rattles out. Right. As far as o're ending fictional 232 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.079 state goes, well, right now there is a new romance between Vulcan and 233 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:19.319 Cali. Low Key as a whole slate of mischief plan, some of it 234 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:23.480 probably related to that romance between Vulcan and Calie, and my character, Hath 235 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:29.799 Thor, has nymphs severed head and is hoping that she can sacrifice a member 236 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:33.480 of her gang to bring Nymph back to life. Lots of places to go 237 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:37.920 with how the game ended. Really looking forward to our next session. My 238 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:44.079 favorite other player moment from this game was pearls moves, for low key fit 239 00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:49.440 his character so perfectly, singing versus of his song, posing as each of 240 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:55.039 us in turn, as he showed off the personal effects that he had stolen 241 00:17:55.079 --> 00:18:00.759 to allow him to do that, down to facial expressions and little personnality ticks 242 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.880 that we had role played. It was just perfect. Favorite gemming moment. 243 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:11.839 Now, Louise is a joyous and enthusiastic facilitator and player, but especially when 244 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:17.240 he's running a game he's just this kind of font of enthusiasm and joy and 245 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:22.400 honestly, the way he maintained that for the entire duration of the game, 246 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:29.799 even as tech difficulties kicked him offline like nearly half a dozen times. He 247 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:33.079 is not playing from the United States. Is Internet is not entirely a hundred 248 00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:36.920 percent reliable, but he would get kicked off, he just come back on, 249 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:41.319 jump right back in every time. It picked up smoothly without him getting 250 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:45.680 visibly particularly frustrated or spending time venting at US instead of running the game. 251 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:48.720 It was great. If that were me I'd have been throwing things in my 252 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:52.400 monitor by that point, but Louise just cool as a cucumber. So not 253 00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:56.759 one particular moment, but just how he handled adversity through the entire session was 254 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:00.440 perfect and really helped us have a great kid. As far as missed opportunities 255 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:06.920 go, the entire session was only the player characters. This is a thing 256 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:11.440 that can happen in a lot of PVTA Games, especially when you're introducing a 257 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:17.279 new character. I am completely sympathetic to the desire to turn inward when you're 258 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:21.119 on ramping a new player. So I don't blame Louise for that, but 259 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:25.200 I feel like we did get stuck like a bottle episode where we were all 260 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:30.519 in the bar and our actions affected each other greatly, but it was tough 261 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:34.279 to understand what they were doing to the world outside the bar. Were supposed 262 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:38.680 to be deities with followers and these big pop stars. We definitely did not 263 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.319 get any sense of what our impact on the broader world was, at least 264 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:47.119 in that one session that I played. So we are out of the bar 265 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:51.799 into the city and all of our intros are done. So I'm reasonably confident 266 00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:56.200 that we will get to something a little more messy with some of our NPC's 267 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:00.240 and with the public, hopefully next session in the session after that, because 268 00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:03.200 I'm in this for two more games. So the thing I noticed I'm not 269 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:11.000 a necessarily a huge fan of debriefs for every single table top session that I 270 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:15.640 run and I'm talking about stuff like roses and thorns, stars and wishes and 271 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.839 generally just kind of taking time to talk about the game afterwards. Sometimes I 272 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:23.079 do, sometimes I don't. I'll usually just kind of say thank you and 273 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:26.279 tell the players, hey, if there's anything that you want to talk about 274 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.720 or look at for next session, just shoot me an email or we'll get 275 00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:33.119 together on a chat and do that. Now. I understand different people feel 276 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:37.640 differently about this, but for this session Louise explicitly reserved time for stars and 277 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:44.160 wishes afterwards. Oh and for folks who may not know, stars are positive 278 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:48.400 feedback on things you like that other players did, and wishes are for the 279 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:52.759 game master and they're your hopes for ideas or set pieces that will be included 280 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:56.880 in future sessions. It's a way to encourage more of what you liked from 281 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:02.240 the players and ask for some thing that you might like from the GM without 282 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:07.000 necessarily getting into negativity about what anybody did. So, with that said, 283 00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:12.160 I realized about halfway through the stars and which is session, that the performative 284 00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:21.160 aspect of the musical numbers was much closer to actually doing theater than most RPG's 285 00:21:21.400 --> 00:21:27.000 and that our generous feedback for each other, filled the role of the audience, 286 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:32.079 who would otherwise have been screaming, applauding, holding up their cell phones 287 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:37.480 demanding encores. It really reinforced the very specific thing we're doing with the pop 288 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:41.839 star performative nature of it. The stars I got from my friends after I 289 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:48.640 played was exactly like the applause that I would get back when I used to 290 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:52.440 actually do theater, and it's really fascinating to see how it hooked into what 291 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.200 we were doing with the session to give the debrief a whole different valence than 292 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:00.079 it usually would have. For me, it's not necessarily a feeling that I 293 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:02.960 need to get after every game. It's definitely not a feeling I need to 294 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:07.039 get after every game, but for this it just felt really good and genre 295 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:11.759 appropriate, which anybody that has listened to this podcast knows that's one of the 296 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:17.440 highest compliments I can pay to a session is that it perfectly captures whatever was 297 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:21.920 we're going for genre wise. So I'm really looking forward to playing the next 298 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:25.759 couple of games in this room. So that's all for this episode. Thanks 299 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:29.079 everybody for listening. If you're enjoying the show, please rate and review it 300 00:22:29.079 --> 00:22:32.599 wherever you found it. It does really help other people find the show. 301 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:34.759 Check out show notes for a video of this session. I know that Louise 302 00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:38.039 did one, off to see if he has made it available, as well 303 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:41.839 as where to find the game we played, which in this case monster hearts. 304 00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:45.400 To is the game that we used and the once again, we returned 305 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:49.440 variant of it is found in the Gauntlets Codex gaming scene. As always, 306 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:53.119 you can follow me on twitter at Jim Likes Games and buy Games from me 307 00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:56.799 at my website, Jim Likes Gamescom or to convention I attend is a vender. 308 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.000 That is absolutely the best way to support the show and I've got at 309 00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:03.440 least half a dozen cons between now and the end of the year, so 310 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:06.480 definitely plenty of opportunity to find me and say hello, and I hope that 311 00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:08.240 you do. But now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to 312 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.079 go play another game.