Legends of Mahl: Session 0

0:12 [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_05]: Hello, and welcome to a little session zero of Maychan's High Five. [SPEAKER_05]: I am Ron McStay. [SPEAKER_05]: One of your players today, and with me are our Delightful GM Casey Pappas. [SPEAKER_00]: Hi. [SPEAKER_00]: That's me. [SPEAKER_00]: Hey. [SPEAKER_00]: I never know what to say.

0:55 [SPEAKER_05]: You're all been lying at home. [SPEAKER_02]: Hello, how do you do? [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, can't is the magnificent. [SPEAKER_05]: Hi, hi, and gentlemen. [SPEAKER_05]: Hi, which we are a sort of introducing y'all as our special guest players right now for the first time for our audience. [SPEAKER_05]: So we're we're so thrilled to have both of you on this very special sponsored mini season shout out to nimble our sponsor game.

1:22 [SPEAKER_05]: system, a fast tactical RPG created by Evan Diaz. [SPEAKER_05]: They are awesome and we're going to talk a little bit about the game today. [SPEAKER_05]: We're going to talk a little bit about our characters. [SPEAKER_05]: And we're going to introduce the world of legends of mall treachery of the rat king.

1:35 [SPEAKER_05]: And in order to do that, I will turn it over to our delightful GM Casey to tell us a little bit about this world and the story and the circumstances in which we are living. [SPEAKER_00]: The idea of this campaign is sort of paying homage to the two big things of the 80s, which is like the fantasy high sorcery type of [SPEAKER_00]: Conan the Barbarian and the Sorcerer and movies like that that are so high stakes and then also the mall hangout type movies like Night of the Comet and like Ferris Bueller like all these movies where it's it is it is you're having a teen time in the 80s and the teen time [SPEAKER_00]: like the worst thing that's happening is the quarterback of the football team is picking on you like the I wanted to pay homage to these two completely separate genre types and mash them together in a way that feels very secret of nim and the old like i spy books as a kid that you would have like the where stuff like

3:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Cool. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and just wanted to have a little fun with that. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: So just to explain like general context for anyone who's kind of like this is your first time hearing about mall, it is spelled MAHL, but it is sort of a take on the fact that all of us will be playing in a classic like sword and sorcery fantasy game where we are all small creatures living in an underground world beneath an 80s California shopping mall.

3:37 [SPEAKER_05]: So that is the sort of narrative concealing of the this world. [SPEAKER_05]: And that is not something that is kind of like integrated into nimble directly like nimble itself as a fantasy game, you know, that that can hold a lot of different fantasy genres, but specifically they have like little folk lineages that you can kind of choose from.

3:59 [SPEAKER_05]: And so we're all playing like little folk in this game, various and sundry kinds of little folk. [SPEAKER_05]: And then Casey has built out this incredible world of mall, complete with what these small creatures understanding of the big world of a shopping mall might be and the fantasy stakes within that context.

4:18 [SPEAKER_00]: So that is like the world that we're playing in here. [SPEAKER_00]: I think Nimble plays really well into this world because the stakes are very player centered and very heroic centered. [SPEAKER_00]: And so I wanted a campaign that felt like Nimble beginner friendly and family friendly.

4:44 [SPEAKER_00]: And the idea of [SPEAKER_00]: anyone can be a hero that just have to choose to be. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think both Nimble and I, like Nimble plays really well into that. [SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted a campaign that plays well into that as well, where the little people get to be the heroes.

5:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Literally. [SPEAKER_05]: I've been reading a lot of fantasy lately, where like the central theme is like there is no chosen one. [SPEAKER_05]: You just have to choose yourself. [SPEAKER_05]: Mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, which I think a lot of it is like what this campaign is largely about as well as it's something that like, you know, unlike something like that lens or somebody other stuff that we've done, we really wanted this to be something that's approachable for like families to listen to together and so that's something that's like a new and special challenge for us to do something that's kind of on the family friendly side.

5:32 [SPEAKER_05]: But how would we, how would we like to start today? [SPEAKER_05]: Do we want to go through like an overview of Nimble as a whole? [SPEAKER_05]: Or do we want to go into like world characters and like that kind of kind of thing and integrate the sort of Nimble stuff along the way? [SPEAKER_02]: Let's, let's start talking about nimble because I'm excited about it.

5:49 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's a really amazing system. [SPEAKER_05]: It's a fun game. [SPEAKER_05]: The basis of it is that it is a D20 system and similar to something like D&D, where you have like various stats, the stats in nimble are, you know, fewer than they are in D&D, like the big, the big stats, you have strength, [SPEAKER_05]: Some mix of maybe something like a charisma but also just like your power to and and force your will on the world.

6:18 [SPEAKER_05]: So it has to do with like magic and spellcasting and things like that as well. [SPEAKER_05]: And each of the characters has a particular class that has really interesting like branching trees of things that you can pick from as you continue to level up. [SPEAKER_05]: In order to make your character feel very bespoke and feel like their character development is progressing alongside their mechanical development in a way that is really fun something about combat, but I think is notable that is different from D&D which are maybe used to listening to from us.

6:54 [SPEAKER_05]: is that combat takes place in rounds where, first of all, the heroes always act first. [SPEAKER_05]: Also, attacks will always, almost always hit unless there is a one rolled on one of the dice. [SPEAKER_05]: So you go straight to rolling damage. [SPEAKER_05]: And if you roll a one on either your single damage dice or on the left most of your total damage dice, you can miss, but other than that, your attacks will always hit.

7:20 [SPEAKER_02]: That was an interesting part of the system to kind of wrap your head around it first, was that [SPEAKER_02]: Everything hits unless you roll a natural one, which was, it's fun because you don't have that consistent disappointment of, like, and I'm really struggling to hit anybody at any point here.

7:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Instead, that is a very rare situation. [SPEAKER_02]: It's more just about how hard you hit, which is, it's nice it adds to the fun, like you, [SPEAKER_02]: can kind of count on yourself to be able to land blows and knock people back and things like that. [SPEAKER_02]: So it just kind of adds to the enjoyment of like, we're rolling, we're moving fast.

8:09 [SPEAKER_02]: That's kind of the whole point of nimble. [SPEAKER_02]: That's why it's called nimble. [SPEAKER_04]: We can do so much more per turn as well. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, because the turns are based in like I think what's nice is that the enemies are like that too right where the enemies don't just miss like they hit But you have to as a player choose to expend resources to defend and then reduce that damage.

8:29 [SPEAKER_05]: So basically the way that everything works rather than going like action bonus action reaction [SPEAKER_05]: is that each player has three heroic actions that they can complete in the course of a turn. [SPEAKER_05]: And you can basically, you know, that includes moving, it includes attacking, and it includes assessing the situation, or like anything else that you might want to do basically everything takes one action in terms of resource.

8:56 [SPEAKER_05]: And you have three to choose from, [SPEAKER_05]: And because they recycle at the end of your turn, you can also take reactions, which then detract from the total number of actions that you have going into your next turn. [SPEAKER_01]: That's right. [SPEAKER_01]: It's, it makes all the difference.

9:11 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Like the fact that it resets then, because like when I play Pathfinder, I'm always like, I'm just, I guess I'll keep one guy in case the monster tries to get me as a reaction. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I, [SPEAKER_01]: I'll keep one action open, and then the GM chooses somebody else to hit, and I'm like, I could take it all through action.

9:31 [SPEAKER_01]: But in this game, it never, you never feel like you are slowed down or, [SPEAKER_01]: kind of burdened by that reality. [SPEAKER_01]: Instead, you're able to kind of pivot on the fly because when you take your reaction, it's not necessarily your turn next. [SPEAKER_01]: So you have time to like recalibrate and decide what you want to do instead of the move that you had in your mind, right?

9:52 [SPEAKER_01]: If I know that like one of my spells costs three, [SPEAKER_01]: actions to to cast. [SPEAKER_01]: I can then in that moment go, you know, what instead why don't you cast this other one that costs two, because you just took that one reaction and then I can look through the list that said that are all the two action costs spells that I have and then pick one of those instead to pivot or try to defend or, you know, boost someone else's action or whatever, right?

10:17 [SPEAKER_01]: But it's a game changer in my opinion. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the onus is not all on you to make these big decisions. [SPEAKER_04]: We can openly rely on each other and interject, which I thought was pretty great. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, that's true because the turn-based nature of the, it's not like strictly turn-based combat.

10:34 [SPEAKER_05]: Like we treated it a little bit like turn-based combat in order to keep the audio clean, but a lot of it is very, you know, genuinely like the initiative that you role informs how many actions you start with on your first turn, [SPEAKER_05]: in general, whoever is ready goes first, basically, and you can progress in a turn order, but you can also coordinate actions.

10:58 [SPEAKER_05]: So I can be like, oh, I have this thing that plays really well off of your thing. [SPEAKER_05]: And then if you do that, then I can use my reaction to help you with this thing. [SPEAKER_05]: Like, it allows for such good group interplay, the fact that you can use your actions [SPEAKER_02]: all of the heroes in a group all operate together.

11:21 [SPEAKER_02]: So you can really bounce, jump around, just figure out what works best for the team, as opposed to, I am here to shine individually with my special mother. [SPEAKER_00]: There's a, hey, exactly, yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: It's one thing that we didn't play around with so much, but is a rule in the game is that you can switch your turn order with another willing player.

11:47 [SPEAKER_00]: for free. [SPEAKER_00]: We didn't do that because that can be confusing, that can be confusing on air to be like, wait, now you're going, but at the table, if you're like, wait, I've got something that I can do, like, do you want to switch and I'll do that, like, and you can hold your turn.

12:03 [SPEAKER_00]: You and another player can switch your turns in the order and then play that way. [SPEAKER_00]: And the game is very [SPEAKER_00]: back and call. [SPEAKER_00]: In a way that is really neat. [SPEAKER_00]: Like it works really well for the players and lets them do heroic stuff. [SPEAKER_00]: Which is the point.

12:25 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: I love that because in I primarily play Shadow Run, we we feel penalized if we want to interject like you lose initiative order and move down if if you Perry or even just try to block something. [SPEAKER_04]: So it gave us a lot of freedom, even though we didn't use that rule.

12:45 [SPEAKER_04]: It's still it still felt [SPEAKER_04]: freer. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: You can really tell both reading through nimble and playing it's like inaction that it is designed top to bottom to increase flexibility and freedom. [SPEAKER_02]: Like for people who really love crunch, you can get into crunch there, but a lot of the rules that would hamper or slow you down in a system like D&D or pathfinder, those are pulled away so that you can really just keep moving and keep jumping.

13:24 [SPEAKER_02]: There's even a very specific rule. [SPEAKER_02]: And this is my favorite part of nimble is that if you don't know what the rule is, [SPEAKER_02]: keep going, do not look it up. [SPEAKER_02]: Like it says on the break, don't look it up and I love it. [SPEAKER_05]: It is, I found it to be like, honestly, I will say, and maybe this is like a testament to the game and how fun it is, I was really skeptical early on, because I am a very rules oriented person, when it comes to games, like I want to read all of the rules and understand all of the rules well, and then I want to work to be creative within the context of that scaffolding.

13:59 [SPEAKER_05]: And I will say even for players like that, I think it holds up really well because, you know, when you understand the rules, the freedom feels even more, where you're like, oh, okay, cool. [SPEAKER_05]: So I can do this. [SPEAKER_05]: And I just have more action economy to work with, but I don't feel completely unmoored and, you know, like, we're just playing Calvin Ball.

14:21 [SPEAKER_05]: Like, it does feel structured even in its freedom, which is very nice. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: It's also, I imagine very easy to teach beginners and people who haven't played a TTRPG before, I want to sit them down and teach them nimble because the idea of being like, okay, there's three things you can do in combat and it's just from this set list and that's it.

14:50 [SPEAKER_00]: I have friends who were like, oh, D&D's fun, but I never know what to do. [SPEAKER_00]: Like I get into combat and I'm like, it gets to be my turn and I'm just overwhelmed. [SPEAKER_00]: Like I've got too much going on. [SPEAKER_00]: Nimble doesn't have that problem. [SPEAKER_02]: We talked about this or rather Rowan and Max talked about this with Candace when they came in to interview with us a while back about how big of a barrier to entry there is to D&D.

15:22 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yeah, there's a lot of options that can be deeply overwhelming and like I'm someone who really loves options. [SPEAKER_01]: I love customization, but like part of the like built in core mechanics of like the perks that you get as well, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Like I mean, obviously you can use the Tasha's rule to character creation and kind of throw all of that up the window, but for the most part like there's so much [SPEAKER_01]: on the front end, like it's very front end heavy.

15:47 [SPEAKER_01]: And then you get into gameplay and you're like, oh, I just roll 1D20. [SPEAKER_01]: But then once you roll that 1D20, there's like a million other things you have to learn, right? [SPEAKER_01]: If you pick a sorcerer, there's sorcery points you gotta use. [SPEAKER_01]: If you, there's action surge, we can only use that one time.

16:02 [SPEAKER_01]: No, you can't use it again. [SPEAKER_01]: You already use it the one time. [SPEAKER_01]: Like there's all these like little finicky, fiddly, [SPEAKER_01]: bits and pieces to it. [SPEAKER_01]: And if you have a great DM, right? [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a DM that like knows the system like the back of their hand, then they'll hold your hand and you'll be all right.

16:17 [SPEAKER_01]: But like if you're with somebody who's used to running for other people who get it, you're kind of just lost at sea. [SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like in this game, I never felt lost. [SPEAKER_01]: Like I always felt deeply grounded in whatever was happening. [SPEAKER_01]: It didn't detract from the story [SPEAKER_01]: Like, when I play D&D, I spend much of the time that I'm not doing something, reading my character sheet to remind myself of what I can do, whereas in Nimble, it's like a quick glance.

16:47 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I'm back in the story. [SPEAKER_01]: come back in, which is awesome because then again, to Jen's point, right, you have the opportunity to set other players up or to support or to keep yourself safe if you know that your hit points are kind of low, right?

17:02 [SPEAKER_01]: If you know that you're like if you've taken a bunch of wounds and you need to like make sure that you're steady for your team and you take care of yourself and not others, like whatever it is, you have time to actually do that instead of being like, okay, chromatic orb, which of the chromatic orb's do you want to use?

17:17 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, he's resistant to fire damage. [SPEAKER_01]: She's a fire elemental. [SPEAKER_01]: No, okay, wait, what? [SPEAKER_01]: Kill him. [SPEAKER_04]: Or, oh no, there's a whole paragraph about gun recoil. [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, I do not have the wherewithal right now in the middle of combat.

17:34 [SPEAKER_01]: How many arrows do you have left in your quiver? [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: That's crazy. [SPEAKER_04]: How far away am I, which I appreciated in this game? [SPEAKER_05]: Like in here. [SPEAKER_05]: No, no, no, no, no. [SPEAKER_05]: And farther, yeah, the distance mechanic is not super complex.

17:48 [SPEAKER_05]: I think it also solves for that thing of early D&D playing of, um, you know, you have so many options in front of you and you have so much [SPEAKER_05]: choice, but then sometimes you get into a situation and you're like, oh, well, can I just shoot this person specifically in the leg so that they can't walk anymore?

18:09 [SPEAKER_05]: And the answer is no. [SPEAKER_05]: Like, like, so that if you know, if you, you can do eight million specific things, but there are certain specific things that actually is just not how the game works. [SPEAKER_05]: And I think that Nimble allows for a certain level of like these are the specific things you can do, but it is not so prescriptive that you can't also say like, hey, can I like last of this guy and then all of a sudden your GM is able to be like, well, yeah, try this thing that's already set up in the game in order to be able to achieve that heroic feat, so it ends up feeling quite like cinematic, yeah, and collaborative and like everything's kind of happening in real time, which is fun.

18:49 [SPEAKER_02]: Speaking of cinema, do we want to start talking about the story that we are building in this level system? [SPEAKER_05]: Hell of a segway. [SPEAKER_02]: I do what I can. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, Casey, can you tell us a little bit about the world of mall, uh, the, you know, I love the lore, the historical context of the world that we're living in.

19:14 [SPEAKER_00]: sure the the background for this world the world itself everyone is like we said earlier it is set in a 80s California mall and so it's very there are palm trees and everything's neon and everything is rad and tubular. [SPEAKER_00]: on a grand scale, but on a smaller scale, you are the players are playing these very sword and sorcery type characters who for whom every small thing on a human scale is a big thing on a little folk scale.

20:00 [SPEAKER_00]: And so they are having these epic wars and there are empires rising and falling in the back of the JC pennies like there is there is an entire tiny world happening just below our feet that we as humans are unaware of. [SPEAKER_00]: And so, having this big epic right underneath our feet, the history behind that is that long ago, for the little folk, there was a, there was the Great War.

20:38 [SPEAKER_00]: And one of the rising powers in [SPEAKER_00]: The faction that has grown accustomed to challenges and champions and fighting and that of of the old arcade classics of ghouls and goblins and things like that and dragons layer [SPEAKER_00]: And so Arcadia rises up to take hold of the rest of mall and the other kingdoms of Kings Court, which is the local food court and Sears, which is the Sears.

21:25 [SPEAKER_05]: And. [SPEAKER_05]: But S-E-E-R-S, as it's like divine Sears of the Earth. [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly. [SPEAKER_00]: You have Sears. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh gosh, the other one is not coming to be right now. [SPEAKER_04]: Jack, the Dill Lords. [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you're a Dill Lords. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

21:41 [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, the Lords of Dill are allies of King's Court. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: They all rose up to fight against Arcadia, and the Arcadians were led by a mysterious powerful scary figure called the Rat King, whom legend has it was comprised of 10 rats bound together. [SPEAKER_00]: and the rat king led the Arcadian forces, but chose to strike during the day.

22:13 [SPEAKER_00]: And the little folk never go out into mulledering the day because that is the time of the giants. [SPEAKER_00]: And so the Arcadians attacked during the day, the giants who are naturally hostile to the little folk found out and the Arcadian forces were wiped away. [SPEAKER_00]: And so our story takes place years and years and years later and deal with the ramifications and the falling out of this war, of what happens to Arcadia after it has fallen, what happens to Jacobine, the kingdom that sided with Arcadia, but now has to side with King's Court.

22:58 [SPEAKER_00]: what how does King's court stay in power this whole time? [SPEAKER_00]: How are they coping with the fallout of the great war and how are the day-to-day lives of the of the little folk in Mal? [SPEAKER_00]: And so that is a little bit our story without, without delving too deeply into what happens, [SPEAKER_00]: are heroes will be just that heroes of King's court sent on a mission to really discover whether the forces that be or the evil forces of the Great War are dead or not.

23:45 [SPEAKER_05]: And Casey, I think it's important to say that like Kings Court as a place is sort of emblematic of like that shining city on the hill, you know, the the camel out of this world, the the the seat of power from which good and, you know, [SPEAKER_05]: Good and power reigns, which of course is never going to become complicated.

24:06 [SPEAKER_00]: No, not at all. [SPEAKER_00]: The good king and queen always rule. [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, everyone is treated just and fairly. [SPEAKER_00]: And there's nothing ever complicated lying beneath the surface. [SPEAKER_05]: But yeah, all right. [SPEAKER_05]: Well, shall we get into a little bit of caricature stuff?

24:26 [SPEAKER_05]: I think maybe we should talk about like, [SPEAKER_05]: who your character is, what the inspiration for them was, and then talk a little bit about the sort of character sheet itself and like the class that you're playing and some of the things that you're excited to scale up because we are gonna be running through four episodes in levels one through four.

24:44 [SPEAKER_05]: So first episode will be at level one, final episode will be at level four, et cetera. [SPEAKER_05]: So who wants to start us off talking about characters? [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_03]: Candace, tell us please guys, sir. [SPEAKER_05]: Who are they, like, where does she come from?

25:02 [SPEAKER_05]: What's the inspiration talking to us? [SPEAKER_01]: So the second I found out that this was gonna be set in a mall and that we were gonna be doing some world building, I was like, well, every character, you have to draw on a little bit of yourself to make that character. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, if every store has like a mall [SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if we should have a hot topic because hot topic came out in like the late 80s and Caliphonia comes from California and their headquarters are in city of industry and I worked for hot topic for three years.

25:38 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, proud hot topic employee. [SPEAKER_01]: I was literally living my dream until it was terrible and I had to quit. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, but I was like, oh man. [SPEAKER_01]: So what kind of little folk would come from [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Topic, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Like, where would, who would be in there?

25:57 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, all right, well, I don't think I come from there. [SPEAKER_01]: I think I come from a pet store because I wanted to open up to more than just like rodents, because like mice and rats and like bugs, like you know that those all exist in the mall, but I'm like, what else would be in a mall?

26:11 [SPEAKER_01]: That's like a creature. [SPEAKER_01]: Probably a frog or a frog might come in from outside a bird, but I feel like it's weird being a bird in games because you can fly and nobody else can. [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes that's weird in GM and I don't, [SPEAKER_01]: This is my first time playing with y'all.

26:23 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to be a trouble maker. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I was like, don't pick something with wings. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, and then I was like, oh, if there's a pet store in the mall, that substantially opens up. [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to be a chinchilla, perhaps. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, and for a minute I was a chinchilla, but then I was like, actually.

26:43 [SPEAKER_01]: their turtle people in this, in this nimble and I think I'm a turtle person, um, yeah, so that's how I kind of like distilled Susie and who she is as far as like her creature type and then I combined that with the hot topic and I was like, oh man, this hot topic kids love weird pets, someone definitely found Susie in the mall roaming and was like, this is our store mascot now.

27:05 [SPEAKER_01]: We need cool stuff with her her shell is broken. [SPEAKER_01]: We need to put cool band aids all over her and little rainbow stickers and black black duct tape like patches Because everybody is in in some kind of band right everybody has that like [SPEAKER_01]: That like electrical tape, right?

27:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: And some of Hotepick loves me. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: They'll like honestly, I was like, man, like if Susie is like, I could see them like making a little terrarium for her, too, because like working in that store, you get all kinds of people, right?

27:37 [SPEAKER_01]: Like if you work at like Hollister, there's like one type of person you're getting at that store, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Like you're not really, there's not a lot of range there, but like on topic. [SPEAKER_01]: between customer and employee. [SPEAKER_01]: Anybody could be in their man. [SPEAKER_01]: Anybody, right?

27:51 [SPEAKER_01]: Takes all kinds, especially in the early days. [SPEAKER_01]: So that was how Susie was born. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, man, it would be really cool to have her be like Stevie Nicks, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Cause if this is like the late 80s, like who's witchy in the late 80s, Stevie Nicks and Susie from Susie in the Banschies?

28:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Got it, done, finished. [SPEAKER_01]: So that is how Susie came to be. [SPEAKER_01]: And then if you want to hear me talk about why her voice sounds like that, go check out my interview with May Jan and I find, right, tell me all about it. [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_02]: You want to talk about her character sheet and abilities and stuff?

28:27 [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: So I raised him. [SPEAKER_01]: At first, it's funny like it. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if anybody listening or anybody at this table does this, but I am a big fan of causing myself problems. [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to make characters. [SPEAKER_01]: What ever do you mean?

28:43 [SPEAKER_01]: I love causing problems, you know, just being a messy, messy. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, at first I was like, you know what, there's like a cool [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's like a stand-in for a sorcerer. [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's like a sorcerer of standing in the book. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, I think I want to do that.

29:00 [SPEAKER_01]: Like I want to be like a weird sorcerer creature type. [SPEAKER_01]: And there's a swarm that you can get as a power. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, well, there's roaches in the mall. [SPEAKER_01]: They're always near this bar, so maybe I have a swarm of roaches. [SPEAKER_01]: And I hate roaches.

29:16 [SPEAKER_01]: They terrify me. [SPEAKER_01]: And I live in Florida, so that's like a personal problem. [SPEAKER_01]: They are everywhere in the cleanest of homes, so I was like, you're going to freak yourself out so bad with this, but maybe that's what you need to get over your phobia. [SPEAKER_01]: Have you heard about the Hexbinder class?

29:40 [SPEAKER_01]: It's your family. [SPEAKER_01]: It's like you kind of wishy. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I am in fact, which, yes, let me see it. [SPEAKER_01]: And I opened it and was like, yes, like, obviously this one. [SPEAKER_01]: There's a cauldron? [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: a thousand times yes.

29:56 [SPEAKER_01]: The hexbinder is really, really cool. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's funny because we were just talking about the limitations of Dungeons & Dragons and how like the point of entry is like really high for new players. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I think makes nimble so interesting is like the hexbinder does have a bunch of little fiddly bits.

30:16 [SPEAKER_01]: that are specific to the character class, but they're so well laid out and well thought out and like just right there on front street, there's like eight. [SPEAKER_01]: And they're like choose one thing, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Like when when in your level one, you get one, I think it's like a, it's hex is the one that I ended up taking.

30:35 [SPEAKER_01]: But like you get one of those, right? [SPEAKER_01]: And then there's like another little piece of your puzzle that you can do with your power. [SPEAKER_01]: And you can choose, I think, two of those. [SPEAKER_01]: So you have like a small number of things that you can do, but the power is so big because you're rolling a D4 and the dice explode.

30:52 [SPEAKER_01]: So like every, every turn I was like, [SPEAKER_01]: BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM B [SPEAKER_01]: protect yourself, right?

31:13 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not going to fell a giant or a dragon, but like it'll shave them down, especially when you're working with a team. [SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like what then bull kind of tries to do is give level one level two and level three stats that are basic enough that you that they are easily easily usable.

31:29 [SPEAKER_01]: but they also stack nicely in a group setting because everybody's doing their like small-ish damage to take on like the bigger creature. [SPEAKER_01]: So I feel like this game feels less swinging. [SPEAKER_01]: At no point, I think, well, maybe at like one or two points was I like, okay, this might be a TPK right now.

31:48 [SPEAKER_01]: This is a little scary. [SPEAKER_01]: Every day is real good, a bad, that's not the best. [SPEAKER_01]: But like, in Dungeons & Dragons, I feel like until your level five, every session is like, [SPEAKER_01]: We're fighting, we're fighting a bird. [SPEAKER_01]: Anyone could die, it's anyone's game.

32:05 [SPEAKER_01]: Right, like that. [SPEAKER_01]: Didn't have that problem. [SPEAKER_05]: This system kind of won you over on D4 as well, right? [SPEAKER_01]: That's right. [SPEAKER_01]: I like I've played a lot of D4 systems that are like, you know, OSR style D4 kind of systems that are like, you can win if you get a four, if you get anything else, it's a failure, but unless you get a one and then you're fucked.

32:29 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, come on, man, give me some leeway here. [SPEAKER_01]: I want to enjoy playing this game. [SPEAKER_01]: You're making it hard. [SPEAKER_01]: But this game, because the dice explode, and because you get to add your modifier, it's not nearly as terrible as he would think. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's super easy to make things happen and to feel good about using your turn.

32:48 [SPEAKER_01]: And like, you feel really good about using your turn. [SPEAKER_01]: Like, when you're done with your actions, you're like, [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like you feel to have done something. [SPEAKER_04]: I've accomplished all night. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just gonna spam I'm gonna spam vicious laughter again.

33:02 [SPEAKER_01]: Or vicious mockery again. [SPEAKER_01]: It's fine. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just gonna Yeah, just do it. [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever. [SPEAKER_01]: Right, this is like I'm hexing you again triple hex now. [SPEAKER_01]: What are you gonna do with all these hexes on your buddy? [SPEAKER_01]: It's really good and I feel like you can kind of like tell that moving through the game as we level up that that's only going to get more exciting, right?

33:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Like I found myself peaking ahead to be like, what can I get later on? [SPEAKER_01]: And deciding, like, already charting my path. [SPEAKER_01]: I was excited to level up and not overwhelmed. [SPEAKER_05]: What is something that like over the courses of levels one through four, which is what we'll get to see in this particular mini season, what is one of Susie's abilities that you're particularly excited to play with.

33:52 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's funny, can I, can I, can I list one that doesn't get used because there's one that didn't get used that I was really pumped for and if there is a second season of this maybe you'll get to see it. [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to have to see what we're going to have to see because we don't.

34:07 [SPEAKER_01]: So the little pieces that I was talking about, they're called afflictions. [SPEAKER_01]: And when you give a hex, right, a hex, if you, if you crit on your, on your D4, if you get a 4 on your D4, then you get to do two things, whereas if you just get a regular roll, you get to do one thing.

34:28 [SPEAKER_01]: So on a regular roll, you apply an affliction or get a hit. [SPEAKER_01]: And on a crit, you get an affliction and a hit, which is just fantastic. [SPEAKER_01]: And then you get to do two things. [SPEAKER_01]: So there's like a whole list of afflictions that you can do and you keep choosing those, I think like I was looking forward and I think you keep choosing afflictions up until like you max out basically like there's There's adding afflictions each time until you have the whole array like access to the whole range of them, which is really cool But there's something that Susie can do called haunted when an afflicted creature dies apply all of their afflictions to another enemy within reach eight

35:05 [SPEAKER_01]: I never got a chance to do it, we wrap again some baddies. [SPEAKER_05]: So you can basically take [SPEAKER_05]: the sort of hexes that you've put on one person and just transfer them to somebody new. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, that's good. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: So like I started with with with with withered and frenzied, right?

35:24 [SPEAKER_01]: So withered is the first attack each round made against a friendly creature is made at disadvantage, which I feel like is a clutch ass. [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, of which, and personally, like that one, I never got tired of that. [SPEAKER_01]: And then frenzied is basically like. [SPEAKER_01]: berserker confusion kind of like every the targets first attack each run has to be made against the nearest random creature.

35:45 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you and your party are back and they're like shooting range at you, that's a really nice thing that you can do. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't feel like I use that one as much because we attended to be more close up in our combat but like [SPEAKER_01]: that's a really cool one. [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like if you stack that and you stack a frenzy and then you stack like in feeble, let's say, where your target falls prone at the end of each of their turns, or at the end of your turn, actually, I think it is.

36:08 [SPEAKER_01]: If you stacked all of those and you like killed a low level guy, once that low level guy is gone, as long as the big bad that you want to attack is within range eight, reach eight, you get them. [SPEAKER_01]: Like you get them now, that person has to contend with all of this. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's so cool.

36:25 [SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like for a GM, because you just dealt with that, like for a new GM to the system, because you just dealt with that on your first, like little guy or whatever, when it moves to another character, you already know what to do. [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to like refresh your memory on stats over again because now it's different with this other character type, right, or this other background character, or what have you.

36:49 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just boop boop, boop one and done. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I want to use it so bad. [SPEAKER_05]: Gosh, um, I kind of okay, why don't we establish the world that we're living in and then break it, uh, Robin would you like to tell us about your character? [SPEAKER_05]: Jams will bring our world up a little bit.

37:13 [SPEAKER_04]: So, yeah, I want to please the fans to be first and then move to Jeff. [SPEAKER_02]: That's totally fun. [SPEAKER_02]: So similar to Candace, I started from the, like, bringing my own experience into things, and I used to work at a pet store. [SPEAKER_02]: So, I was jumping in. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, no.

37:33 [SPEAKER_02]: My mind was not at a mall. [SPEAKER_02]: It was like a, it was part of one of those, uh, like it's like a strip mall. [SPEAKER_02]: But I had a horrible, horrible, like just out of college experience working at a pet store. [SPEAKER_02]: And it can be like a surprisingly sad place. [SPEAKER_02]: And so I was coming in thinking about this.

37:58 [SPEAKER_02]: battle hardened survivor who escaped from a pet store. [SPEAKER_02]: And I had a lot of different animals I was considering, but then I stumbled across an ancestry in Nimble called the Bunbun, which is a little rabbit person. [SPEAKER_02]: And I have loved rabbits for a long time, but there was one ability that Bunbun's had, [SPEAKER_02]: made it a requirement that I had to play as one, which was bun buns have, they have an ability called bunny legs, which is before interposing to like help somebody in battle or after defending when somebody attacks you, you get to hop up to your speed in any direction for free.

38:51 [SPEAKER_02]: And I love the idea of playing this battle-hardened warrior in tune with their body who is also an adorable little fluffy bunny. [SPEAKER_02]: And so I created this little Vembo named Sina of the Bun, who is this martial arts expert. [SPEAKER_02]: And there is a class in nimble called the Zeffer, which has a lot of the mechanical abilities of a Dungeons & Dragons monk without all of the kind of squidgy, cultural, creative aspect of it.

39:30 [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, the Orientalism of it. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's always been something that's pulled me away from monks in D&D that I had wanted to explore. [SPEAKER_02]: And historically, I play a lot of heavy on the charisma characters, because I am a talker, I like doing improv, I like jumping into the conversational aspects.

39:53 [SPEAKER_02]: And I wanted to challenge myself with, I want to play somebody who is not good at any of that. [SPEAKER_02]: So, Sina is slow on the uptake. [SPEAKER_02]: They do not know what to say in most situations. [SPEAKER_02]: They consistently forget the names of at least one other character in the group.

40:14 [SPEAKER_02]: We can't think you can't get a chance to answer this name. [SPEAKER_02]: The whole time. [SPEAKER_03]: The whole time. [SPEAKER_02]: So, Sina is an escapee of Petlandia, the Pet Store at the Mall, and wears a quilt that is taken. [SPEAKER_02]: It is a stolen half-made tea cozy that was being crocheted by an old lady giant in the food court.

40:43 [SPEAKER_02]: And so, it's [SPEAKER_02]: half completed and all of the loose thread, the loose yarn from this killed is wrapped around them. [SPEAKER_02]: And their primary weapon is the crochet hook from the partially made killed that, um, I'm not going to spoil what's in a closet. [UNKNOWN]: But, [SPEAKER_02]: Sinna is fiercely loyal and a defender of their friends and not all there in the intelligence department and an absolute delight to play I utilize that yarn [SPEAKER_02]: way way more than I ever expected to.

41:26 [SPEAKER_02]: Because Casey gave me the freedom to do so, and nimble gave me the freedom to do so. [SPEAKER_02]: And I had so much fun. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: Candace as Susie and me as Sina, we have this great rapport being survivors of this pet store. [SPEAKER_02]: And [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I had a ball and a half running them.

41:48 [SPEAKER_01]: I love the optimism that Sina still has despite having gone through all of that, especially because like I feel like in the in real like store terms from that time because people did not watch their children the way that they watched their children now. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, like kids were a lot of do like kind of whatever the fuck in the 80s and 70s, right?

42:07 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like Sina would have been the one who probably was more confronted with giants than Susie. [SPEAKER_01]: Susie saw them through the tank and saw people, you know, get taken away and stuff like that. [SPEAKER_01]: But like Sina was probably handled, right? [SPEAKER_01]: If you think about the way that that's worked, they're a bunny.

42:23 [SPEAKER_01]: So like the fact that Sina is like this pillar of quiet strength, then we never really get into that in the show, but like theoretically, like Sina is like this bad ass that's still like things will be all right. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I was really playing cinema from this standpoint of those people who are nice because they know the world is awful.

42:49 [SPEAKER_02]: Like that niceness and sweetness being oh, this is a battle hard and warrior who knows that. [SPEAKER_02]: positivity is something that you need to bring into the world in spite of the world. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that kind of fierce defender of other people because they've been through the ringer.

43:12 [SPEAKER_05]: Mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_05]: Like kindness is so often mistaken for naivety. [SPEAKER_05]: And it is not. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of it being like the very heroic choice that it is. [SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: Rubbing totally, totally saw all of that in your portrayal of Sana.

43:26 [SPEAKER_01]: Like it was very beautiful. [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks. [SPEAKER_05]: You've also discovered and something that I did not know having played tabletop with you for like three years, which is that you are kind of a master of one liner. [SPEAKER_05]: You're playing quite a character. [SPEAKER_05]: You're really good at jumping in with a really specific line.

43:42 [SPEAKER_03]: That's very funny. [SPEAKER_02]: One of the benefits of hanging back is you get, you get an extra minute to come up with the bits. [SPEAKER_03]: It's really good. [SPEAKER_05]: It's really good. [SPEAKER_05]: It suits you. [SPEAKER_05]: You want to tell us about, oh, go ahead. [SPEAKER_02]: I was going to say one when you haven't talked about your little buddy yet.

44:03 [SPEAKER_02]: That's true. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: I am playing Prince Henry like Paul of Jack company. [SPEAKER_05]: Henry came from the idea that in in real medieval times in Europe sometimes when a family needed leverage over another family or when a kingdom needed leverage over another kingdom they would take a hostage [SPEAKER_05]: from that other family so like for instance if one kingdom needed to have a specific amount of power over another or over a specific family they would take a child from the nobility of that family and just raise them just keep them and there was it was often a very luxury as existence in the way of like you were still being raised like a noble you were often being taught to like um you know fight or do whatever it was that was sort of befitting of your station

45:01 [SPEAKER_05]: or hurt, right? [SPEAKER_05]: And so there was a both a good life and also a constant risk of death. [SPEAKER_05]: And I thought that that was really interesting. [SPEAKER_05]: So I was like, well, I'm going to play a character who's in that position where Jacob Penny is the kingdom that sided with Arcadia who was the losing side of the war and what this world considers to be like the evil side of the war.

45:24 [SPEAKER_05]: uh... in jackup and he betrayed the rest of of of mall to side with our cadia and as a result of that that was like Henry's you know great grandfather or grandfather and because of that since then uh... king's court has demanded a hostage from jackup and he and right now that's Henry and so Henry is [SPEAKER_05]: Sixth in line for the throne of Jacobenny, his father is the king, and he is the illegitimate son of the king who is, it was sort of convenient to sort of [SPEAKER_05]: put the illegitimate son somewhere else and also satisfy this sort of political requirement.

46:07 [SPEAKER_05]: And so Henry is now living in Jakopenny and all he wants in this world is to be accepted into the Queen's Guard of King's Court, which is the elite force of knights that are, it's kind of like this whisk guard, I guess, for the boat, but it's like the elite force of [SPEAKER_05]: fiercely loyal to King's court and is fiercely out to prove that he is not like his father and grandfather and these these men of betrayal in dracopenia that he is that he is loyal that he is true and he is a very competitive and optimistic boy.

46:48 [SPEAKER_05]: He's kind of inspired by like interpretations of King Arthur where he's just he is a strategist he is an optimist and he is a knight. [SPEAKER_05]: through and through, who does not want to be king of anything. [SPEAKER_05]: And I am playing a class that I'm really excited about because I've always wanted to play an eldritch night in D&D because I really like the idea of an intelligence-based fighter.

47:15 [SPEAKER_05]: And it's something about martial classes that's always frustrated me is that like you really have to dump your mental stats to play martial classes. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: And with this, I really love because the commander class, Henry is a mouse that I can't remember if I said that.

47:28 [SPEAKER_05]: So he's playing a rat folk commander who is basically a battle strategist. [SPEAKER_05]: It's something between like a battle master and an eldritch knight in D&D, but it's it is he's a battle strategist and like leader in combat. [SPEAKER_05]: and some of the most fun things I think are that it really opens him up for a certain degree of support play by being able to do things like coordinated strike, which is as a free action, Henry and an ally can both immediately make a weapon attack or cast a cantrip for free.

48:04 [SPEAKER_05]: So I can just be like, Hey, you attack also, and I'm going to attack at the same time, or I can get people moving across the battlefield, or there's a way for me to like tell someone to keep fighting when they've dropped to 0 HP and they can get health back just because I'm like giving them courage.

48:20 [SPEAKER_05]: So Henry's a lot of fun. [SPEAKER_05]: He's a, he's, I think Candace described him as a very sad boy. [SPEAKER_05]: You doesn't know that he's sad. [SPEAKER_05]: And I think that's true. [SPEAKER_05]: Good baby, he's a, he's just vibing. [SPEAKER_05]: Like he's, he's, he's just trying to prove himself.

48:36 [SPEAKER_05]: And I, I don't think King's court will ever make him a night. [SPEAKER_05]: But he doesn't know that. [SPEAKER_05]: And he's blissfully unaware. [SPEAKER_01]: No, he's puttin' in the work. [SPEAKER_01]: I've been a free person. [UNKNOWN]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, he is putting in the work like he's good at what he does, but I don't think they'll ever, I don't think they'll ever let him in.

48:51 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, we are all proud of our boy. [SPEAKER_05]: Yes. [SPEAKER_04]: What is Prince Henry wearing again? [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah, I forgot about this. [SPEAKER_05]: He's got a, uh, so the Jacka Penny is, is J.C. Penny. [SPEAKER_05]: Um, if you haven't sorted that out. [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, they are known for, uh, textiles, like they're a textile making kingdom, and especially like wool.

49:12 [SPEAKER_05]: And so he's wearing a green wool [SPEAKER_05]: And the sort of also symbol of Jacobenny is like the moth and a lot of Jacobenny and royalty have moth familiar and he wears a moth wing cloak. [SPEAKER_05]: So he's he's basically like dressed in the garments of Jacobenny because that's where he's from but then is also like fighting for King's corn.

49:35 [SPEAKER_05]: Precious. [SPEAKER_05]: And that's my boy. [SPEAKER_05]: And what fantasy thing are you doing, Jeff? [SPEAKER_04]: Well, please, please accept Lila Oysterling into your hearts now. [SPEAKER_04]: I already have. [SPEAKER_05]: I love her. [SPEAKER_04]: I... [SPEAKER_04]: So this all started six years ago, I can't believe I'm saying this.

50:06 [SPEAKER_04]: When I first started AP podcasts, I'm on Fun City, where we play a shadow run and my character there is a water elemental witch. [SPEAKER_04]: And jumping into AP for the first time as someone who has zero experience, I didn't know how to keep up with all of these comedians. [SPEAKER_04]: There are just rapid fire, I know exactly what to say every time and I really struggled with this for a couple of years and the way that I know how to navigate that is through science.

50:41 [SPEAKER_04]: because I used to be a pre-med, I am Filipino, I lived in California. [SPEAKER_04]: Everyone was pre-med. [SPEAKER_04]: Like we all were competing for the same, you know, the alkali, since things like that. [SPEAKER_04]: I was in the bay, and that's so true. [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, I was pre-med, and I am certainly not a medical professional right now.

51:02 [SPEAKER_04]: But using the scientific method and research and thinking about my relationship to nature has really guided the way that I play in fantasy settings and supporting that is my actual career, which is a chef. [SPEAKER_04]: So I come at all of these fictional settings from a very different place.

51:26 [SPEAKER_04]: to everyone else that I've played with, and it's really a lot of fun to see how I can slot in there and bring a new perspective to the actual world we're building together. [SPEAKER_04]: And so, Lila, Lila comes for my obsession with mushrooms. [SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if you saw this as a project during COVID, but there was a company that was selling blocks that you could grow your own mushrooms at home.

51:58 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: So every day you could express it and the thing that I found most fascinating about it is the fruiting body, what we call the mushrooms that we eat, is called a flush. [SPEAKER_04]: And so a block can flush a couple of times during its life cycle. [SPEAKER_04]: And it's the mycelium block that is part of a larger network in the world.

52:23 [SPEAKER_04]: And when it's disconnected like that, your limited to a certain amount of flushes. [SPEAKER_04]: And so that logarithmic growth was so fascinating to me that they could just appear. [SPEAKER_04]: and that the actual network, the neural network of mushrooms, is around everywhere, the mycelia.

52:43 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, that's crazy. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and I got your wild. [SPEAKER_04]: I know I got to apply this knowledge once on an episode of Kill Every Monster. [SPEAKER_04]: I got to play a very big myconid that was 100 years old and I get [SPEAKER_04]: The person who's usually the GM around.

53:03 [SPEAKER_04]: I got to menace around and I've been itching to be a mushroom again And it's been years since that happened so I've very naturally Gravitated toward the mushing or the shroomling In simple. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah, because it does exist as a as a playable like ancestry. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and I had to think about how does a freaking mushroom arrive at the mall [SPEAKER_04]: I think that's how, and the way that I approach her is, is sort of like a metaphor for being an immigrant, like, I wanted to be, I wanted her to be an outsider and lit, lit to rule.

53:45 [SPEAKER_04]: outside or like outside outside. [SPEAKER_04]: And so when Casey told me that the mall would be in a place called Northridge, which I don't think you knew was a real city. [SPEAKER_00]: I did not at the time. [SPEAKER_00]: I fully thought that was of me. [SPEAKER_04]: that is of California.

54:06 [SPEAKER_04]: So it is Northern California. [SPEAKER_04]: I grew up near there. [SPEAKER_04]: I went to high school near there. [SPEAKER_04]: And I looked up a few places that we like to hike in. [SPEAKER_04]: One of them is Vasquez Rocks. [SPEAKER_04]: It looks like Mars, you know, not very much wildlife near the desert.

54:20 [SPEAKER_04]: But there is a very well-known hiking spot called Garden of the Gods. [SPEAKER_04]: and it's just very easy like trail loop. [SPEAKER_04]: And so I went searching for the natural flora and fauna of that space. [SPEAKER_04]: And thank you to Northern Bushcraft. [SPEAKER_04]: This is a website that I found.

54:41 [SPEAKER_04]: I stumbled upon Panis Concadas, which is the lilac oysterling. [SPEAKER_04]: I really didn't change her name very much, but it is a purple native mushroom to northern California. [SPEAKER_04]: They grow on dead trees and I just thought it was the prettiest mushroom. [SPEAKER_05]: It is so great.

55:02 [SPEAKER_05]: It's really beautiful. [SPEAKER_04]: They can grow these really large plates like shelves. [SPEAKER_04]: And I kind of love that. [SPEAKER_04]: And as I was researching mushrooms, I learned that a lot of them spore with different shapes. [SPEAKER_04]: the way that they spread their quote unquote seed, they have different kind of birds or smooth or little loops.

55:27 [SPEAKER_04]: And so I sort of assigned this to her, but her sport is a little hook and hooks onto a sweater of somebody who works in King's Court. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so that's how Lila came to be indoors as a sport and I sort of used my knowledge as a chef like where would that be? [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, they probably have a walk in.

55:51 [SPEAKER_04]: They probably have a giant fridge that probably leaks because in the 80s things are just broken. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and it's like hot and humid. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so drip drip drip. [SPEAKER_04]: There she is, an immediate logarithmic flush into the world. [SPEAKER_04]: This brand-new spongebii.

56:24 [SPEAKER_04]: She's brought to the elder of King's court and somehow brought into court. [SPEAKER_04]: And that's where we find her our little storm shifter. [SPEAKER_05]: And she speaks in the language of the gods, which in this case, the great beyond and the land of deities is Northern California. [SPEAKER_05]: Northern California radio.

56:48 [SPEAKER_05]: So she's like tapped into the radio frequencies and it makes her this like psychic baby. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it's like baby. [SPEAKER_04]: We love her. [SPEAKER_02]: It's like baby. [SPEAKER_04]: And that brings me to the Storm Shifter class. [SPEAKER_04]: I, because I love science, I am very much drawn to anyone who has naturecraft as a skill, who relies on the elements.

57:08 [SPEAKER_04]: And it was a little bit of a challenge. [SPEAKER_04]: We had to talk through it for a while about how could I be a Storm Shifter in this world of mall? [SPEAKER_04]: Because what is nature in this sense? [SPEAKER_04]: And the way that I stumbled upon it, I, oh, I feel very happy that I was able to do this.

57:33 [SPEAKER_04]: Because I treat the storm shift or class a little bit like techno-mancy. [SPEAKER_04]: And that it's a blend of classes and not necessarily rigid in what nature is. [SPEAKER_04]: And so instead of thinking about whether beasts and like leaves, it's the fire alarms, the water fountains, the HFAC system, electrical sockets.

57:59 [SPEAKER_04]: So, [SPEAKER_04]: the loudspeaker. [SPEAKER_04]: Thinking about what exactly is nature and environment in a mall, it is the infrastructure. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: And it sort of tracks that she is influenced by by human speech. [SPEAKER_04]: She is a vessel of all of that, that she would be [SPEAKER_04]: literate in human systems.

58:21 [SPEAKER_04]: And so that was super fun to play with. [SPEAKER_05]: It's really cool. [SPEAKER_05]: And it's also such a unique power amongst people who avoid humans, right, who are so not of that world to have you be able to tap into it was really cool. [SPEAKER_05]: And also, I think juggling, like Casey, [SPEAKER_05]: Fantasy, small creatures, and 80 shopping mall is a little bit of an endeavor.

58:48 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think Jen, you grounded us in setting with your character in a way that felt really thoughts on the bridge too, because there's this mystical and magical element to the tales of King Arthur and to all that old literature, right? [SPEAKER_01]: The sugarwane and the dragon, and all that stuff, right, like all these people who, like these legends that are mythological in nature, and you're [SPEAKER_01]: man, so cool, but I feel like that mythology and that kind of magicalness, even though all of us are magic users to some degree, I mean, I guess the zephyr a little bit less so, but like, definitely Susie, I think, I had a ton of magic, I think that, like, despite the fact that there's magic in this setting,

59:30 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like a known magic because other people also have it, like you have sorcerers walking around. [SPEAKER_01]: But like I feel like Jen, your character represents that other world belief thing, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Like, yeah, even in our theory and legend and stuff, when you read about like the presence of dragons, like when dragons start kind of coming close to that realm of that world, it's like, I don't, I don't know, dragons, I guess, right?

59:52 [SPEAKER_01]: Like it's beyond their tend. [SPEAKER_01]: They can't understand it, or wrap their minds around it. [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like that's what your power is. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, also site new. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you said that the proper name for Lila's mushroom type is like Santa Monica, and a cotta.

1:00:09 [SPEAKER_04]: Yes, it does look a little like that. [SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna put it here a chef and it also sounds like cancotta. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry to bring it back, but [SPEAKER_04]: I don't even think of it, that's so great. [SPEAKER_04]: I heavily relied on mushroom books like entangled life.

1:00:26 [SPEAKER_04]: This is a great audiobook if anyone's ever interested in mushrooms, and mushroom at the end of the world, which is about the Matsutaki industry, which is like foraging and stuff. [SPEAKER_04]: So I was so glad to bring a lot of that knowledge into the structure of this character. [SPEAKER_04]: And...

1:00:43 [SPEAKER_04]: outfitting her like what does a mushroom wear she's a person what is she wearing unlike she doesn't even have eyes okay we're just we're gonna give her a twisty-type blindfold she's not gonna have eyes but she can see everything oh yes she's absorbing everything [SPEAKER_04]: And the store and cheese they're starting gear is cheap hides like what is it cheap hide in a food court.

1:01:15 [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, in a food court. [SPEAKER_04]: What is a cheap hide of like lanyan skims people are always throwing those away. [SPEAKER_04]: That's so perfect. [SPEAKER_04]: for something that would later like a mushroom digests detritus. [SPEAKER_04]: So it felt really, really lovely to wrap her up like that.

1:01:35 [SPEAKER_01]: So when it's time to upgrade, you just like absorb the onion skin and get something new. [SPEAKER_01]: Ooh, that's kind of rare. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah. [SPEAKER_04]: We summon more stuff from the compost. [SPEAKER_03]: See her eat it. [SPEAKER_04]: Um, but I guess the last thing I'll say about Lila is, I took a lot of inspiration for how to play her from, um, Wilbur, the Seagull in rescuers down under.

1:02:00 [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh my god, perfect. [SPEAKER_04]: And, um, the bat coda from for Lily. [SPEAKER_04]: No, never forget. [SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, so like having to battle those inner voices all day every day, but then also I don't know, it's trying to contribute to like what's currently happening.

1:02:26 [SPEAKER_04]: It's a lot like it's like the start kid who can see the future in the past, you know, like she's like she's asked how to ground her was was a lot of fun. [SPEAKER_05]: Well y'all, this has been an introduction to the world and the characters of mall. [SPEAKER_05]: If you are interested, and we hope you are in checking out the first episode, episode one of Legends of Mall is going to be releasing on February 10th, that is a Tuesday, it'll be a slightly different release, but it will correspond to the beginning of a Kickstarter for Nimble.

1:02:59 [SPEAKER_05]: So we hope that you enjoy it. [SPEAKER_05]: Thank you again to our sponsors over at Nimble. [SPEAKER_05]: Evan Diaz and the Nimble crew, we really appreciate you and in the meantime, we'll see you next [SPEAKER_05]: How would a high five?