How safe is Camp Diogenes? Will Les ever trust Phoebe again? Is it illegal to punch a frog? All that and more on the Afterparty!
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Find Us Online
- website: jointhepartypod.com
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- merch & music: jointhepartypod.com/merch
Cast & Crew
- Co-Host, Co-Producer, GM: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Les Proenneke), Co-Producer, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Carrie-Ann Price), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Co-Host (Phoebe Cooper), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is an actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Hop into the Camp-Paign, our Monster of the Week story set in a weird and wild summer camp, or marathon our D&D games with Campaign 2 for a modern, sci-fi superhero game and Campaign 1 for a high fantasy story. And once a month we release the Afterparty, where we answer your questions about the show and how we play the game. New episodes every Tuesday.
Transcript
Eric: Hey, where do we find out? What happened about the Pokemans?
Amanda: Yeah, I gotta tell us now.
Brandon: It said that they're like special I only got one, one.
Julia: He got one sentence in and then we started recording.
Brandon: Yeah, I'll check one source and it just says-
Julia: They're special.
Brandon: -that they're-
Eric: Good.
Julia: Hey Pokemon, they're good.
Brandon: The brilliant Pokemon offered different bonuses to standards, I wonder if they have different EVs.
Amanda: That's probably it.
Eric: Maybe.
Julia: Those Pokemon they all got MacArthur grants.
Brandon: Oh, they know. Sorry that got me, Julia.
Julia: Thank you.
Eric: Pretty good, pretty good.
Brandon: They know unusual moves.
Amanda: Oh!
Eric: Oh!
Brandon: And a minimum of two out of three other stats will have the highest possible value.
Amanda: Pretty good.
Julia: Dang.
Brandon: The best versions of a specific Pokemon species you can encounter in the in the wild.
Julia: Wow.
Eric: Hey, they like know the electric slide.
Amanda: Eric, do you know the Pokemon, Croagunk?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: You don't have facts about him that you can share with us today?
Eric: Josh Rubino really likes that Pokemon.
Amanda: That's good. That's good. I was hoping more to transition from our discussion of Pokemon to our discussion of frogs in Join the Party. But since--
Julia: But now it's at the beginning.
Eric: You're keeping it it. Oh, yes, actually, I do know, I Josh was on what's your favorite Pokemon? And then I see something nice about you.
Amanda: Everyone's favorite early lockdown podcast?
Eric: Yes, they do. So they used Croagunk poison to make painkillers in the Japan, Pokemon Japan. And therefore Croagunk then became the mascot of like, pharmaceutical companies.
Julia: Wow!
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: But you know how like, everything has a mascot in Japan?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: It's kind of like that. It's less bad. And like the Sacklers I don't think exist in Japan, so it's less bad. So I think that's kind of it's a little cute. So it's like, here I have this Ibuprofen that was made by a Pokemon.
Amanda: I mean, I probably it's good that they don't stamp Advil with images of Croagunk because then I would want to take them recreationally and I don’t need that.
Brandon: It's like having like eating your Flintstone vitamin gummies like a-
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: -whole jar at a time.
Amanda: I know. I know. Advil truly tastes too good. I enjoy it. I buy-
Brandon: It’s got a candy coating on it.
Amanda: -because I like the generic because namebrand Advil, that coating's too tasty.
Brandon: Yeah, I just want to bite into it. And if you do-
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: -you're greeted with a horrible horrible surprise.
Julia: That's why they're candy coated.
Eric: Hey, Amanda and Brandon, you know like about food. Have you heard? It's this cool thing you put in your mouth.
Julia: Have you heard about candy?
Brandon: Oh, man. Now I remember that.I did have a dream that I was like the candy candy my show last night where I just had like all the candy at like-
Julia: Season 3 character. Season 3 character.
Eric: Alright, so it's like, was it like Fantasia but then it was candy?
Brandon: No, it was like, it was more boring. It was like, it was like, you know, people have like candy jars or their desks?
Amanda: Uh huh.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: It was like that. But instead of a jar, it's everything. I just have all the candy in every part of my desk and now I have all the candy separated by type.
[Julia singing Pure Imagination]
Eric: That's pretty good.
Amanda: That's not bad, Brandon.
Julia: So this is unhinged already. Let's go.
Brandon: So I'm gonna say hey, hi, hello. Otherwise, I won't stop talking.
Amanda: Hey, hi, hello, and welcome to the Afterparty.
Julia: There we go.
Eric: Well imagine we went you walked into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and it's just like a guy at a desk with a bunch of candy on it.
Amanda: Would you like em?
Eric: And then there’s an Oompa Loompa in the corner as a stenographer.
Julia: Well, he doesn't almost kill a bunch of children so like that is a better ending in my opinion.
Amanda: Yep, better.
Eric (as Willy Wonka's assistant): Mr. Wonka your 1030 is here.
Brandon (as Willy Wonka's assistant): It's a Nerd's Rope.
Eric (as Willy Wonka's assistant): Would you like a refreshment? Would you like some water some, Fizzy Lifting Drinks? Would that be good for you?
Amanda: Very good.
Eric (as Willy Wonka's assistant): I'm underpaid
Amanda: Well, you can hold on to that voice Eric because we are of course starting with talking about the new cabin 2 where we're chillin with Frederick the Frog. Chillin' is right, right? We're just chilling, talking. Having a normal time.
Julia: Oh, yeah. Super chill. No problems.
Eric: With a normal guy.
Amanda: With a normal guy.
Eric: Who just so happens to be a frog.
Amanda: And I have a lot of questions here from the discord about frogs and frog facts. Let's begin with Kelly.M.Downes downs who wanted to know or rather just demand, "More. Frog. Facts."
Eric: I gave you all more frog facts during the last Afterparty. I have a bunch of frog facts that I cannot remember how many have used. I had a list of 14 that I had got from the Smithsonian. That was the one that had the really nasty photo of the frog there wasn't had an invisible skins so you can see it's organs.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Hate that.
Eric: It was bad news. And then I have that other one that I used last time, which had 50 Frog facts that was from facts.net. Now we could not tell the difference between David Borealis and a frog.
Amanda: That's true.
Julia: Oh, right.
Eric: So you know if you just couldn't remember that so I have plenty of frog facts.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: I can just look through and I can give you another one.
Julia: Eric, can I tell you a frog fact?
Eric: Please.
Julia: I used to like frogs and now after these episodes I don't.
Eric: Fair. Julia, do you want another fact that might make you like this less?
Julia: Great.
Eric: Most common frog species have teeth only on their upper jaw.
Julia: Cool...
Brandon: You use that one already, Eric.
Eric: Did I?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: I don't remember shit that feels like one I didn't say before.
Amanda: I gotta say this diagram though of a frog's mouth really makes me not want to encounter frogs.
Eric: I feel like I would have seen the internal nostrils and maxillary teeth that I would have commented on that. I don't think I use that one yet.
Brandon: Alright.
Julia: You might have linked to them and then we read them, you know, separately, like in our own free time.
Brandon: I'm just not arguing because Eric's wrong and it's fine. But I am the editor has listened to the audio 100 times you definitely use that one.
Eric: Oh, yeah. Local Brandon Grugle who remembers things even though he listened to them 100 times.
Julia: Does not have memento’s disease at all.
Brandon: Eric, when you tell me about frog teeth, I remember it.
Eric: Shit. Alright, you probably you probably convinced me.
Amanda: I think you're right.
Eric: There's a new frog species that was discovered in 2020, and it's called the lilliputian frog because it was so small.
Julia: Oh!
Brandon: Cute.
Amanda: Little guy.
Julia: That one's nice.
Brandon: I have an actual frog fact that I just learned on vacation. So I went on vacation and and the place that I went, they have a set of crickets. They have like singing tree frogs.
Julia: Cool.
Brandon: And so they're super loud at night. And they're like, poison, and they're super tiny. So you're not supposed to touch them.
Julia: I don't like that they're poison. I like that they sing?
Amanda: Yeah, a poisonous, loud little king.
Brandon: Yeah. Pro-cons.
Julia: Loud little King. Like Blue. Loud little King.
Eric: That's true.
Amanda: Carlz wanted to know, Julia, how badly did you want to commit frogicide when you did the thing, and it got undone?
Julia: Oh, so badly. So, so badly.
Eric: And femicide?
Amanda: Hmm. Very good.
Julia: Frogicide feels correct and right in all ways.
Amanda: It was a very cool consequence. Eric, can you remind us kind of how that went down?
Eric: Yeah, so what I really liked about that particular conflict was that it's not about you. It's not about killing something necessarily, or you got to figure out its weakness. But there's another problem happening at the same time, which is like the ooze getting into the water supply. So it's like Phoebe already figured out a way to stop it, which is like, junk it all up and then Frederick's like, no, no, fuck you. Because you rolled badly. And I think that that's funny enough that it's like, cuz, you know, it feels more tangible. It feels more real, that you do one thing to fix it, but then it can be undone. It's not like it's it's perfect.
Julia: Right.
Eric: It's not like you soldered off the the entrance, they can just be undone. And everyone's like, vaguely magical anyway. So I thought that was a fun consequence of like, undoing the thing that you wanted to do. Because it's like, the ultimate goal of a Monster of the Week conflict is to like, hurt a monster using its weakness enough for it to be dead and for it to be truly dead. So it's like, if you don't do that, or you haven't figured it out it's secret, anything else is up for grabs. So I like the idea that like you didn't hurt Frederick, and you only kind of kind of sort of stopped views especially when it was overpowered you Frederick's like, peace you suck, and then then we're done. You know, it's like, that's it. The we gotta we have to move on because Frederick's done with you.
Julia: I think this was a really interesting episode for me in particular, because I don't think I had reckoned with the fact that like, a lot of Monster of the Week is kicking ass but also problem solving and figuring out weaknesses and stuff. And I think I was still in that kind of D&D mindset where it's like, well, if I do enough damage, it will die. It doesn't matter if I don't figure out the trick to it, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: But in this case, you do need to know the trick to it and then do the damage related to the monster so I think that the consequences of nearly dying made me realize oh, wait, this is different.
Eric: Yeah
Brandon: Also I think, Eric, what just wanted to save his baby you know, Frederick is a good NPC, why let him die?
Eric: Brandon, I don't have to put any fingers on any scales, y'all roll poorly and Les did not involve himself. So like, I think that the situation was already really dangerous. Also that ooze that gelatinous ooze, just so I can say gelatinous ooze one more time for all of you to remember. It was big and juicy, and Phoebe only made it worse by making three smaller versions of it. So he definitely it, I mean, the situation was bad. Especially because Frederick's like have a challenge. Here you go.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Every monster is allowed to be killed. If that roll didn't go badly, of slicing up the oozes into smaller bruises. I don't think you would have been able to kill Frederick, because you didn't necessarily figure out the whole thing with the cabin, that he was like really a house demon that there was something involved with there, but he would have been really Frederick would have had a much worse time. And he wouldn't have had his bodyguard.
Julia: Yeah. 100% I don't know if you played the game Ratchet and Clank that came out in the mid 2000s. Eric but I did have like real Ratchet and Clank vibes because there is like basically a gelatinous ooze enemy, that as you shoot him, he gets into smaller little gelatinous cubes. And it's like, all of a sudden, there's eight of them and you're like, huh!
Eric: No, I do like, I do like that a lot. It's great. I mean, that I think that's something that happens with other gelatinous cubes like, or something like that from the Monster from the Monster Manual.
Julia: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: Big guy into many little guys is definitely a trope that is horrifying to deal with, which is why it's so useful.
Eric: Yep. I'm just saying I'm, Julia, I'm not saying you're the thing you've said is not correct.
Julia: Oh, no, I know.
Eric: It's like, there's something about being able to take there's no Monster Manual for Monster of the Week.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Maybe I should write one I guess.
Brandon: Ooooh!
Eric: At least for the ones that we've seen in the podcast, maybe.
Amanda: Oooh, would you like that?
Julia: Maybe people could download the Cool Cryptid Compendium, I don't know.
Eric: If there if not, I made that from scratch. So I shouldn't fucking remember that. But it's like there's something about being able to just take abilities and smoosh it into Monster of the Week, it's a lot easier to use. It's like the things they're able to do is like a lot more. It's a lot easier to work with. But also like, there's another thing in Monster of the Week about having like the monster and then their minion and like Frederick the Frog was the real monster controlling everything who wanted to put you into a challenge that like you know, they all have those archetypes. So it's like, you know, like when a superhero artist all of a sudden gets like teleported to space do a space alien tribunal that's actually a contest?
Julia: Sure.
Eric: Kinda like that. But like the minion you were fighting was the ooze so it's it was interesting to be able to pair those two things together with Frederick just kind of like out there vibing.
Julia: It certainly was vibing.
Amanda: Anyone else read the Pendragon books when they were a kid? There's like explicitly a book with exactly that transportative plotline.
Julia: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Amanda: Well, this is interesting What if from Paul, Eric, is there any version of this hunt that would have ended with Frederick still thinking Phoebe or one of the best friends was the chosen one? Or would he just have kept on shifting the goalposts?
Julia: Ooh! Was I meant to fail Eric? Tell me now.
Eric: This- I don't want to say too much. Because again, this is me revealing too much. And then you realize that Epcot is just like a bunch of mechanics made in 1950.
Brandon: WHAT!?
Julia: Wha!?
Eric: So, Oh, I know, I just ruined both of your days. So Julia did not choose The Chosen playbook.
Julia: I super did not.
Eric: You chose spooky and the chosen again, remember all playbooks are exactly archetypes for Monster of the Week, like Chosen is Buffy, right? The Chosen is the main the character and that's the problem.I think of the game and there are a lot of different you need to decide if you are allowed to have chosen at your table. And if that's the kind of story you want to tell.
Amanda: Yeah, that's kind of one main character is how you're supposed to play it and that isn't necessarily the best fit for all tables.
Julia: Right.
Eric: Exactly. So Phoebe being a spooky just means that you Phoebe just has like magic powers, right? Whatever Frederick's criteria was for saying that someone is The Chosen One. I can't say. I will say though, that it would have been up to anybody if that would have happened. I want to say if you remember all the way back to the new cabin one, Phoebe picked up a bow and arrow knocked one put some magic stank on it and hit a bullseye. So that seems to be the thing that triggered that. So I want to say that a lot of things are a lot more up to however stuff goes than what I've written down or what I was thinking to start with.
Julia: Sure. I would also like to confirm that Phoebe's magic is particularly stinky. Smells like pine!
Brandon: Oooh!
Eric: It's like fermented a little bit. It's like someone someone opened up a jar of pickles.
Julia: Made with pine.
Eric: Oh, eew gross.
Julia: That's right.
Eric: That's like when you get in a car and someone has a really really weird air freshener. Like you're in an Uber and like what is this? It's someone left pickles outdoors as a-
Amanda: Why did you buy this?
Eric: It came with the car, why would you keep that up?
Amanda: Sarah, Purple People Eater we'd like to know is Ribbit ribbit the new beep boop?
Brandon: No because frogs actually go Ribbit ribbit. Come on.
Julia: Come on, guys.
Eric: Everyone knows that.
Amanda: And TJ, rolls Nat 20s for hugs would like to know is it illegal to punch a frog?
Brandon: I think it is.
Amanda: It's required, I think you have to to graduate from Camp Die.
Brandon: It must be a height thing right? So like if frog is bigger than-
Amanda: Oh.
Brandon: -like three feet high-
Amanda: Yeah, if the frog is taller than your smallest camper, you're allowed to punch it, I would say.
Brandon: -or whatever like on its legs like whatever a normal frog is like like a Goliath frog. That's the tip top. Anything above that you could hit
Amanda: Sure.
Julia: I think that we shouldn't just be going out and punching frogs. I think this is a survival thing. If you're feeling threatened by the frog, sure, you can defend yourself.
Eric: But is that subjective being threatened by a frog?
Julia: I mean, hmm.
Eric: I'm gonna punch it in one of its big eyes.
Julia: If I punch a mosquito, it's because I don't want to get bitten, you know?
Eric: Now that's fair. That's fair.
Brandon: But, but was that justified? You killed a mosquito in order to not get bit?
Julia: They didn't say killed, they said punched.
Brandon: Well, I know I'm just drawing a parallel, Julia of your actions.
Amanda: Yeah, because I might be itchy for like four to five days and I can't handle that.
Julia: Unacceptable.
Eric: Just I want to affirm Brandon's theory and say that a Goliath frog is usually a foot long and seven pounds and Frederick is bigger than that.
Julia: Yeah
Eric: I think I said he was two feet.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: He's like a roasting chicken. Oh my god. I just thought to myself, what seven pounds? A roasting chicken.
Julia: A newborn baby.
Amanda: True.
Eric: That you roast.
Brandon: Why are you? Why are we paralleling all these things?
Julia: I don't know.
Amanda: Alright, anything else that we want to talk about as we wrap up the new cabin?
Julia: Fuck that frog, moving on.
Brandon and Amanda: Fuck that frog!
Amanda: Love candy. Love these girls. I hope they come back, these campers so entertaining. And I hope next year at camp I get the good cabin.
Brandon: I'm excited to debut our new T shirt that says, "Fuck this frog!" and it's a picture of Frederick the Frog
Julia: With it's little eyes x'd out.
Eric: In my Head Frederick is oh man, this is gonna be such a weird deep cut but some people hopefully agree with me. In the Super Mario games, I think is Super Mario 3 or Super Mario World, you can get like a Frog Suit. And there's a little power up and I think that's what Fredericks the Frog looks like in my head. But with just the x's over the ice.
Julia: Oh, I love it.
Eric: And it's also like the same size as little Mario. So I think that fit that fits Brandon's law, which is you can punch anything that's larger than what it should be.
Brandon: I think that's a good law, I don't know why you're laughing.
Eric: I'm the, I can be laughing out of joy and mirth and understanding and that you're the only proper lawmaker in the land when you were saying that.
Amanda: By the way, folks, speaking of merch, all of our Campaign 2 merch is on sale. I said that in a weird cadence. Our Campaign 2 merch is on sale right now this month for September in case you want to pick it up because I don't know we may have new things cooking up may have new new campaigns a brewing we might want to be making some room for some new new.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: So check it out, jointhepartypod.com/merch
Julia: We might be talking a lot about frogs today. But maybe you want some mountain lobster stuff. Who knows?
Amanda: Maybe you want an Oatcake pin maybe you want a Petpile pin or Time Shark pin? I'm sure I don't know mountain January dice.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: That's when you take your January dice and take them to a mountain and play games with your friends in a cabin.
Julia: You let the January dice sit under the light of the new moon.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Yeah, you go to Mount Everest and then apparently it's tradition to just leave your trash everywhere.
Julia: Don't do that, no one should climb Mount Everest except for the people who live there.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Throw your January dice on the ground when you're done with it after climbing Mount Everest.
Brandon: Honestly, Julia, I don't even know if two people that live there should climb it. It seems very dangerous.
Julia: I mean it's a holy mountain to them so like they could do what they want. It's like you know, but no one should do it basically.
Eric: Damn fucking hot take by Julia
Julia: Hot take.
Eric: People live in place should be allowed to do whatever they want with own mountain.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Sorry, guys. I was little distracted. Because I am feeling self conscious about the Evergreen car air freshener that I plugged into the bathroom so I'm gonna go run and grab that and and get some more some more pretzels for this party here.
Eric: It's Glade, It's an electric Glade pickles in the car.
Amanda: Oh, yeah, yeah, it was on sale. I understand why now because the scent is old pickle. So I'm gonna be right back.
[theme]
Eric: Hey, it's Eric. I know it is only the beginning of September. But officially Fall is here, baby. Okay, in the Northern Hemisphere and where I am in in New York City. I understand that Fall doesn't actually happen until it gets like below 60 degrees Fahrenheit and I'm fine with that. I'm fine with calling Fall now though, because now people are talking about Fall and before that bothered me but now like it's part of the conversation, you know? Like the Fall drinks are out the Fall beers are out the Fall coffee drinks are out the Fall flavored things are out like we're gearing up for it. And I feel like buy flannels and buy new pants and the closer in. Everyone is on the Fall train. The memes are here. I'm saying it's Fall. I think we can all just come along and embrace the fact that it's finally Autumn. So welcome to the mid roll. I'm gonna get a pumpkin flavored something right after this. I would like to take the time also to offer a formal apology to Brampton Grugle when I told him that we did not talk about frog teeth, and he was sure that we did, I was looking at the two different lists that I had about frog facts. And the new one was worded differently. So I didn't understand it and had this image that I've already tweeted from the Join the Party Twitter account multiple times, showing the frogs maxillary teeth and I want to apologize to Brandon and also say Frog Facts, and share more frog facts with him at all times.
Eric: If you're part of the ad free tier, you wouldn't have to hear my apology about we fucking have the frog facts. So you should join our Patreon, patreon.com/jointhepartypod shout out to our newest patrons, Punky Goat and Andrew, the party doesn't stop here at the Patreon you get the Discord where I have already apologized to Brandon because they might not have heard this because their ad free episode, tier people. You get :arty Planning where I also say ridiculous things. The energy of the Afterparty really comes through through Party Planning, which is very, very fun. And you get the video content. So you can see me apologizing to Brandon, about frog facts. You can actually see that with our video cameras. You got that of the $10 tier. And there's more and more and more. I want to give a special shout out to the two folks that are at our highest tier who have already played one on one games with us. We played one jobs with them and it has been so so so much fun. We played a game of Mothman Get Off My Couch Because You've Been Here For Too Long. And we played a game of Battle of Bronte's where we played a series of sisters who were like the Bronte sisters who were trying to get some books published which was very, very fun. Check all that out. patreon.com/jointhepartypod. It is a great day to check out another show here at the Multitude collective. I want to give a shout out this week to Queer Movie Podcast. Pretty self explanatory. It is a Queer Movie watch party hosted by everyone's favorite British people. Rowan Ellis, Jazza John and the Queen of England. Note that last one's incorrect. Just Rowan Ellis and Jazza John. Join them as they research and write their way through the Queer Film canon one genre at a time from rom coms to slashers contemporary arthouse cinema, black and white classics. Queer Movie Podcast is a celebration of all things gay on the silver screen. They've also touched on some things that you know, because movies or TV, and TV or movies, they've also touched on some things you might see on your little silver screen, like things you might find on streamer or Netflix. Their episode on Fire Island was particularly wonderful. And I really really liked that because I think Joel can booster is goddamn fucking talented. So I really liked listening to podcast tune in every other Thursday for new episodes. Also, Julia edits it so you should listen to it.
Eric: We are sponsored this week by Inked Gaming, everyone has a go to shop where they get their mouse pads, their play mats, their dice bags, and other essential gaming goods. But your local friendly game store might be really far away are having a magic tournament right now or don't have the things that you're looking for. So you can always check out Inked Gaming, they are a one stop shop on the internet built by and for people who love games. One very cool thing they do is make custom products that you can personalize with your own unique designs. So if you're looking for a gift for your game night crew, your GM your friend or just want a way to make your own gaming setup a little cooler, you got to check them out. And just to sweeten the deal for Join the Party listeners, they have given us a 10% discount code to give to you just go to inkedgaming.com/jointheparty and use promo code Join the Party at checkout, that discount will then automatically apply to your order that is inkedgaming.com/jointheparty and use promo code Join the Party for 10% off at Inked Gaming. And finally, a word from our sponsor BetterHelp. A therapy is a really useful tool when there are problems in your life you're not really sure how to solve. Maybe you call the director at your camp mom, or maybe you've come on too strong because camp is the only thing that gives you any sort of purpose in life and you are a teenager and you don't really know what that means just yet. But maybe you think that magic is real and that's not okay with you because magic shouldn't be real only Bigfoots or maybe it's an issue with your friends, your family or relationship that's weighing heavy on your mind. If you want someone to help you out instead of turning that idea over and over and over and over and over in your headm therapy can help you out. Visit betterhelp.com/jointheparty today for 10% off your first month that's better HELP.com/jointheparty and now back to the show.
[theme]
Julia: I would like to say I did recently have a pine shandy at Bluepoint Brewery and so good.
Amanda: That sounds like some real Julia shit.
Brandon: Oh, yeah some of my favorite beers are pine.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: What's that tastes like?
Brandon: Pine.
Julia: It just like has a little bit of like, you know like the-
Eric: Wait Brandon, did you say, pine?
Julia: Yes, he did
Brandon: You fucker. That's what it tastes like.
Eric: I don't know but like what is it? I don't know what they do is it like you go out and you shove an air freshener in your mouth.
Julia: Now so you know like the Juniper flea also, the thing that's in the seed bank, seeds.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Incredibly fun.
Julia: It's like that Juniper flavor of gin, I think on that back end where it's like It tastes piney.
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: I don't have any other words to really describe it. But it had like just a little bit of that plus the like lemon flavor of the Shandy.
Amanda: That makes sense.
Julia: It was delicious.
Brandon: Yeah, it's it's I didn't mean to be an asshole. It's like, it tastes like pine smells. It's just very like, you know, it's like a very, very background note. So it's pleasant.
Julia: Subtle.
Eric: Okay, that's cool.
Amanda: In the way that like lavender or rose is often like a back.
Brandon: Exactly
Julia: I also had a mint lager recently. It was fun dope, like this is weird as hell and I love it.
Brandon: That sounds good.
Amanda: Very cool.
Eric: This is related to the fact that Helen Rosner tweeted out looking for tomato scented candles. And I was like, what tomato scented candles you're not gonna get any responses. And then of course, she got like, 50 and they all look insane.
Brandon: They all look like tomatoes?
Eric: No, no, they I know because Brandon, they're like $50 from artisanal candle makers.
Julia: Yeah, always.
Eric: And they're like they're just like so wild. I read the descriptions just overwhelmed me but I wanted to share that.
Amanda: You know, Eric, you could add it to the registry, I'm sure some people would want to buy you a tomato scented candle.
Eric: That's true. I let's see if Zola has tomato scented candles.
Julia: If you don't get it for the wedding, Happy Hanukkah in the future.
Eric: I don't know if I want that. Do I want tomato smell?
Brandon: I think Eric does what tomato smell.
Amanda: I think you do, probably.
Julia: I think it's a good novelty gift even if you don't like the tomato smell. It'll be like look at this candle I have it smells like tomatoes.
Eric: No, you're right. I think it's true. I think I really threw myself in tomatoes too hard in August, was like, I spent six weeks probably the six weeks for the middle of July to like last week looking for tomatoes. And I feel like I really burned myself out there. Like that's the only good thing that ever existed in August. And then I made tomato water and it was just like the tomato there was too much tomato taste in my mouth. Even though it was like pretty it was pretty good. It was pretty good mark it's just like I think I blew out my umami factor in my in my tongue. Were also allowed to say umami now because it's been like a year since we said it in Head Heart Gut.
Julia: I think by the time December rolls around, you'll be like, man, I wish I had a fresh tomato and then you'll sniff that candle and be like, mm, tomato.
Eric: Alright, Julia, give me tomato candle for Hanukkah, please.
Julia: I'm writing it down.
Eric: Thank you.
Julia: That I remember to do that.
Eric: Okay, thank you.
Julia: I have like a list like I always go an ongoing list for holiday gifts because like I'm like, well in the future. I'm not going to remember this but if I write it down when I do my holiday shopping, I'll remember it.
Amanda: Yeah. I don't know why it took me till I was like 22 or something to start doing that. But it saved my life. And I had the same note of it's the same note for all the years that I just started a new thing so I can check if I bought my dad this like dad leatherman because there are five gifts for dads and a leatherman is one of.
Eric: Yeah, that's true.
Julia: Correct.
Eric: What, what size leatherman are we get your dad this year?
Julia: How many inches is that knife?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: It's about the size of a roasted chicken.
Amanda: Every time we, every time we borrow his car if he's like on vacation or hanging out, you know like at the beach we'll borrow his car sometimes. And I'm just like, what's that rattling sound? I looked down three Leatherman in the door to in the cup holder natural one in the glove box one of the back seat one of the trunk one touch to the cooler to open stuff it you wonder why I am like I am that's the answer.
Julia: It makes sense.
Brandon: If you didn't know what a leatherman was when you heard the phrase leatherman who, it sounds super gay.
Amanda: I was all morning researching like radical sex shops for ads for you are good. So my my screen was covered in men in leather.
Julia: Yeah!
Eric: Is that like it's fresh on Rotten Tomatoes? Like it's radical. So it's like four out of five stars.
Amanda: Yeah, pretty good.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Alright folks, it is time to talk about our newest mystery The Steakout!
Julia: Da-da-da!
Amanda: I love this title.
Eric: Thank you. I also want to clarify way was not a mystery because I didn't have anything planned!
Amanda: No, you right this this mini arc and Eric we do have a couple of of items here just to kind of address right off the bat so you have the opportunity to like contrast the people you harmed. And-
Eric: That's true. I when I did reveal my secret at the end, all three of you looked at me like I had told you told you smell this old milk.
Amanda: Yeah, yep. This is from Paul, Eric said none of the Stakeout was planned. But I have to know if the hill thing was something he already had in his back pocket or if it was completely spur of the moment, because it really feels like and then in all caps, A BIG THING WITH RAMIFICATIONS. I agree, Paul.
Brandon: Well, Paul, here's the bad news. Eric made it up.
Eric: That's true. I did make it up. I don't know. What do you want me? I, again, this is another thing where I'm not sure how much I can say I wanted there to be, whatever is in the cliffside is something I was toying with and wanted to exist. However, I did not know where it would be or what it would be. So I did. Yes, Brandon, that's true. I did make it up.
Julia: What I kind of got from that was like you have things that are happening in the background and it's up to us to explore those things in order for them to be revealed. Am I right on that?
Eric: Yeah, that's definitely true. And that's something that is true in all the campaigns for Monster of the Week, though, I don't think it benefits me at all, to have the details of everything written down, because then it's like, what am I supposed to do? Like, either it's something I've written down, and you need to figure it out, like it's an escape room. Or then I'm like, Ah, fuck, I gotta throw this out and figure figure out something else. So I was like, well, I didn't want there to be a secret that the director had somewhere. But like, let's say that that secret room could have been anywhere, right? You know what I mean? Like the door could have been anywhere. But the fact that Les was in the woods, looking for the stuff that the Stone Johnny's were involved, I think kind of led me to that area. And then I kind of had this Breath of the Wilds image in my head, or like in Elden Ring, all of a sudden you like see a cave that you couldn't just walk into? It's something that I really wanted to incorporate. So I don't know. I don't know. Like, again, it's not that I don't think about this stuff and prep it all the time. And maybe that's what makes you all upset at my milk at my milk bowls that I'm showing all of you.
Julia: Thank you.
Eric: But it's like, I do want this to happen. But for Monster of the Week, it just doesn't benefit me at all to write it down in any sort of concrete way.
Julia: Sure.
Amanda: That makes sense.
Brandon: Yeah, your brain just works differently than than mine does, and that's aggressive towards me.
Amanda: It’s a beautiful thing.
Eric: I'm, it's me telling Brandon, you're fucking stupid. Everything you do and think is bad.
Brandon: I hate you.
Amanda: Well, speaking of our brains working differently, Brandon, I do have a question. Sort of.
Eric: This is what Brandon spends his brain power doing instead.
Amanda: Eric, who with our community manager Rue gathers the questions for these Afterparties has subtitle this section. In the Future, Someone Needs to Tell Me When I’m Explicitly Doing a Supernatural. Brandon, would you care comment the people you've harmed because Sarah Barra had a screencap of it, so it existed.
Brandon: Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, this is a basic beginner 101 Supernatural. If you were a capital T capital F True Fan of trademark, so no Laurens need apply.
Eric: Shit.
Julia: Damn.
Amanda: Okay, guys, I'm gonna summon the coffee ghost.
Brandon: I literally have a marker on my Protools right now where I need to cut the part where the coffee ghost is making coffee. No, it's like, I always forget what season is but it's in there like within the first four probably two or three or maybe the end of one even where it's the it's the literal first episode where Castiel is introduced spoilers Dean goes to hell he dies, and Castiel-
Eric: What the fuck?!
Julia: Yeah, yeah. So it's the beginning of Season 4, Brandon.
Brandon: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I always get that wrong. Yeah, so Dean goes to hell. And then Castiel pulls him, pulls them from perdition. And so he has a literal like hand mark on his shoulder where he was pulled from perdition and-
Amanda: News to me.
Brandon: Yeah. And that's where Castiel was like all cool. And like, hardcore Misha Collins, and then he gets less so he gets all soft and queer and kind later.
Eric: Canonically queer? Noncanonically queer?
Brandon: Unclear. I think, I think canonically-
Eric: Or un-queer? [cheers] Happy Pride! Every month is pride.
Brandon: My interpretation and from what Misha has said, I think Cass is canonically queer some kind he's an angel. So it's hard to say like what it is.
Amanda: Not restricted to our earthly binary.
Eric: Yeah, I don't, I didn't know that. So-
Brandon: But definitely not textually they are is the is the Castiel thing real.
Eric: Got it.
Brandon: But you know, you can read into it if you want to.
Eric: Got it. Okay, so now here's my question. Julia, in the writing of that move you got is their self about that like, why did I think tattoo?
Julia: Well, it says that if I roll middling, I do the healing, but it leaves a nasty scar.
Eric: Okay, so now, here's the thing. This is what I wanted to put together. They fucking knew that and read evil hat.
Brandon: Did you not think that was a direct reference?
Eric: Well, I didn't put I didn't know enough information to know that the move was a direct reference.
Brandon: I don't know if it's a direct reference, but it's still-
Eric: No, I'm sure. No, I think it is.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: That's what I'm saying.
Julia: So that one comes from the hex playbook. And I don't think the hex is pulling from Supernatural in that way. I think it's just legit like, oh, you can do some like incredibly painful healing, and it's gonna leave like a gnarly ass scar on you. But at least you're not dead.
Amanda: Yeah, it's certainly a trope in lots and lots of fantasy sci fi you know, all kinds of genre fiction that you know, you can come back but you're not exactly as you were before.
Brandon: Sure.
Eric: Right. Sure. I'm gonna saying that like anything that's a reference is probably a reference.
Amanda: Yeah, we're all big nerds here Monster of the Week.
Brandon: Oh, yeah. I've seen a lot of references already like reading the play books. There's definitely are some.
Eric: Brandon, you have to tell me if it's a Supernatural.
Brandon: Well, that's the only Supernatural we've done so far.
Amanda: Okay, gotta keep an eye out, bud.
Brandon: I didn't I didn't mention it in the episode because none of you would except for Julia wouldn't know what the fuck is talking about.
Amanda: Well, we have to at least do a knowing wink we can leave it in
Eric: I mean, there's probably a move called Carry on my wayward son or some shit.
Amanda: I know. The Impala, am I right?
Eric: Either that's, I use my one reference. So it's my one token.
Amanda: The Impala the other one.
Eric: Oh, okay.
Brandon: The Impala has a fucking name, Amanda, get out of here.
Amanda: Sorry.
Eric: Is it Beverly?
Amanda: Is it Gertrude?
Eric: Is it Carrie?
Brandon: It's Baby. It's Baby.
Amanda: Called called Baby?
Eric: Is the name of car, Baby?
Amanda: Is it cars, Baby? Do better, Supernatural. Alright, our other excellently titled sub header here is the episodes were all about the campers having a purpose. Eric, do you want to tell us a little bit about what that means?
Eric: Yeah, that's just something that I noticed about you all putting this together the things that you all wanted someone telling Phoebe that she was the chosen one, I think and that guy being a fucking dick and then saying no, you're not at the end is probably shaking Phoebe's confidence. Everything dealing with Carrie-Ann whatever Carrie-Ann needs to actually do to become a or adhere to like the goal of being the best staff member ever. I think he's being shaken. And then Les figuring out like, what are monsters are all monsters bad? Are all people who have magic bad? Are monsters, good or bad, the thing that they've been following the entire time? I think he's always starting to be up for debate here. And I think all of you have been trying to figure that out during these two episodes. And that was fun to fun to push on and and see.
Amanda: Totally I didn't put that theme together. But you know, having you explain to us now I think makes total sense. And let's get into the Les and Phoebe of it all. We have a lot of really thoughtful questions here. Starting with the Question Surgeon Michelle Spurgeon, Did Les only believe in cryptids and not magic? She wants to know, does that explain his reaction to Phoebe? So Brandon, can you take us a little bit through kind of Les' his reaction to Phoebe's magic and why for him it is so different to the you know, kind of joyful possibility of cryptids existing?
Julia: Yeah, Brandon tell us why Les is making Phoebe feel bad.
Brandon: Yeah, I mean, that's definitely the case. Yeah, like I when I was building the character I purposely looked for I have a list you know, notes stock of like, I say this was giant air quotes, but like possible cryptid things are possible mysterious things like things that are more like nature based like odd nature things.
Julia: Cryptozoology as opposed to like supernatural.
Brandon: Exactly like a Bigfoot could exist. There's no reason why it couldn't except for like, you know, biological reproductive factors. But like, it doesn't like it just you know, we've never seen one. Versus like, ghosts, you know, like, we don't have any evidence and there's no like, even way that they could exist, you know?
Julia: Sure, Brandon.
Brandon: Just as an example, I'm not picking those two out specifically, but-
Eric: What Les says, this is what Les is saying. Brandon is not saying this.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: Brandon, super loves ghosts, and there's a ghost that lives in this house.
Julia: Yeah, that's true. makes coffee all the time.
Amanda: So Les, does Les just kind of want like one scratch off level of like supernatural like he wants. He wants things to be like, plausible, but not proven, like a species we haven't discovered, but make sense how it could exist. Is that kind of what you're saying?
Brandon: Yes. Plausible is what I was looking for. Thank you. So yeah, in his head, it is definitely a conflict of contradiction, where in his like, brain brain like his logical brain, he wants to find these things because it's fun and like when you're a kid, you want to find aliens, but like, when you're confronted with the actual alien in your yard that landed in front of you like you're scared shitless, right? So that's kind of what's happening. So yeah, I would say like definitely he didn't think magic as like, you know, Disney magic kind of vibe existed? But even like the plausible stuff, when confronted with it, it's still scary.
Amanda: And Paul wanted to know, Brandon, did you always plan on Les having this negative response to finding genuine supernatural stuff? Or is that how it kind of ended up playing out in session?
Brandon: No, I think it just ended up playing out. I tried to, you know, I'm trying to inhabit a teenagers viewpoint. And I think they would be terrified, no matter how big they try to appear to be teenagers and kids are scared of things.
Eric: I think we had talked about a while ago, when we were trying to figure out less his stuff like we were kicking around Ancient Aliens a bunch. And it's like, less like the idea that aliens existed because aliens live on other planets, and we live in a planet, but it's like, well, I don't like examining any of the other things about Ancient Aliens, because that's all wrong and stupid and that's-
Brandon: That's racist.
Eric: Incorrect? Yes, it is incorrect. So I think that's kind of like the divide. There's like a real dividing line there.
Brandon: Yeah, totally. That's also my personal belief, aliens exist out there in the universe, and also have not visited us.
Eric: Yeah, but Brandon, what about Leonardo da Vinci? How have you considered the fucking Egyptians, my man?
Amanda: I know, Eric that we saw Nope this summer. I don't know if anybody else on the call had.
Brandon: Yeah, I don't want to.
Amanda: But I A, I recommend seeing it at like a drive in movie theater. It was sick to see it.
Eric: Oh, it's a great idea.
Amanda: It was awesome, and less scary that way. But B, I think, being as vague as possible, because I do think it's really worth seeing without knowing a lot of context about it. I liked that it kind of got at the question of how biologically would extraterrestrials be? Like, what what form of an alien will be most freaky to us? Like how, how actually would we interact? That isn't like a total humanoid, just you know, in neon green, like in a ship that resembles planes? Like what are other forms of aliens that aren't kind of all drawing on this collective image that you know, we learned as a North American society and you know, the mid sort of 90s.
Eric: Yeah, like we would we would lose our shit if we saw an alien that wasn't the little green man. Or little or the little green man.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Aezsem would like to know what would it take for Les to trust Phoebe again? Does he not trust all monsters for a specific reason and Catowl_dolls said, When will Les stop breaking my heart with this distrust of Phoebe?
Brandon: The answer to the latter question is never. That's because we call emotional resonance in storytelling, baby.
Julia: Wow.
Eric: Woohoo.
Brandon: And then they answer the first question is, who could say? We'll find out?
Eric: I am also interested about Assistant Director Z as well. Because in the the new cabin, Assistant Director Z gave Les a bunch of like, adult to teenage advice, and a cool new weapon. And then the first thing that Les does was like, this guy's a fucking werewolf. I'm tracking him.
Julia: Brandon, can I ask you a question?
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Why is Les so convinced that ADZ is a werewolf specifically?
Brandon: Well, one, because Les is an idiot.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: But two, in like the first or second episode, we, Eric described ADZ as like a big guy with sharp teeth. So either vampire or werewolf, you know?
Julia: Right. Those are the only two options.
Brandon: One other things have sharp teeth, Julia? Shark. Is he a shark?
Julia: I'm just saying I think if we've learned anything from the way that Eric is presenting these mysteries, it's that whatever the obvious clue is, it's like a mislead.
Brandon: Oh, yeah, no, sorry. Brandon knows he's not a werewolf. Because I've also asked multiple times in the book, like, what are some things that are in the books that werewolf says? And Eric says, probably not werewolf.
Julia: I have a theory as to what ADZ is, but I'm not gonna say it. And I'm just gonna keep it close to my heart and see if it happens.
Brandon: My, I'm putting this out there in the universe right now. $2 on he's just a guy with sharp teeth.
Eric: He- okay. I also want to say you have not rolled well enough whatever you check, the bulk on ADZ to give you for I think you kept getting middling roles.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So it's I don't think you found anything that or ADZ didn't do anything that would trigger those ideas. There's also a thing that we're figuring out, I think this is really the conflict between Monster of the Week of the game. And it's very funny, your book of monster shit, or Les' his book of monster shit is like the things that we all think we know about monsters may or may not be true as soon as we apply them practically. And I think that's kind of very interesting in terms of what Les knows. And as that revealed itself, with rolls, like a bunch of your moves, and a bunch of the moves that you also can get are like about your experience and whether or not you think that thing is true or not.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: Or I've seen this or I've heard this, is that true? Is that not true? And I find that very interesting. In terms of like our larger conversation of monsters, this game itself that we're playing Monster of the Week that we're playing like a like a monster hunting game. I all find that very interesting and Les' his character is quite meta textual.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Audience listeners don't forget that the book is just a collection of other people's experiences with these things. So it doesn't necessarily mean it's correct.
Eric: Yeah, Charles Forte just was also just a fucking dude.
Julia: Just a guy.
Brandon: Charles Forte was a werewolf, though. Definitely 100%.
Julia: Wow.
Eric: He just lived 100 years ago. So everyone just thought he was like, an angel or something.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: He was just Catholic.
Amanda: Truly adulthood has been me figuring out that everybody's just a dude. Kazy, 3 kobolds in a trenchcoat wants to know, will Les investigate his own supernatural reality instead of everyone else?
Eric: That he could sprint unholy fast?
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: I mean, I don't think it unless confronted with it. You know, I don't think so. Because yeah, he just thinks he's like, Oh, fuck sick, I'm the best athlete in all of town.
Julia: So many years of rock climbing, and now I can move it super natural speed seems normal.
Eric: Hey, man, wasn't that that was like being a teenager that all of a sudden, you could run 15 miles per hour and jump over a fence easily.
Amanda: I was gonna say so far, is it puberty? Is it supernatural occurrences? We're really not sure much of the time. So-
Julia: That is the big vibe.
Brandon: Yeah. And I think it is also important to note that the No Limits move specifically says it's like, to the limit of your physical ability, not supernatural ability. So it's like if you were trying to free someone from under a car, and you suddenly got, you know, jolt of adrenaline and were able to lift the car just enough to get them out. That's the kind of thing versus you know, flying or whatever.
Julia: Les has mom adrenaline, got it.
Eric: Yeah. Imagine you're all kids under the van that Les is trying to carry.
Amanda: And, of course, Carrie-Ann went through it a little bit as well, in these episodes, TJ said, regarding carry on and the directors relationship does she put up with Karianne? Because she sees a bit of herself in the young CIT?
Eric: What do you think?
Amanda: I think the director like most people looking Carrie-Ann sees someone with undiluted essence of like, their true self and impulses, like it is uncut by anything, baby. And that is hard to look at, like the sun. Because so much of the world of of being raised, you know, however, particularly you were socialized, like comes out and you know, tone it down, fit in, figure it out, you know, don't draw attention to yourself. And Carrie-Ann for whatever reason is like, why why not? Why wouldn't I? And I think that that sets off, you know, a self protective urge and everyone around her.
Brandon: I would also hope that, you know, adults, like they're, at least adults at camp are like, their default instinct is like, support this child, you know?
Amanda: Well, the director said explicitly, like, Carrie-Ann, you know, you when you grow up, whether or not you remember this conversation, you know, TBD. But like, you will probably have the experience of looking at someone like you and then sort of having to figure out what to do.
Eric: Yeah, I think the director is a really complicated figure, someone who's just trying to run camp and is overwhelmed by everything. And then there's this person standing in front of her who's just like, I know, I'm supposed to teach you and I know, I'm supposed to nurture you, and you're, you are the perfect candidate to be staff. But like, God, you're so fucking annoying sometimes when I'm overwhelmed.
Amanda: Eric, did you happen to be a professional teacher for several years and have some some kind of resonance with this?
Eric: Yeah, yeah, maybe I did. Director Löw is just really fun and I like her. And I, it was fun being able to like, try to explain, it's hard to try to explain society to children.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: You know? And that was kind of that entire thing is like, this is where we are. This is what's happening. This place is weird and we can't really do anything about it other than continue to run camp because people keep showing up at camp.
Brandon: I think that means that society is is wrong and bad. If we can't explain it to a child, so maybe we should fix that.
Julia: Interesting.
Brandon: What do you all think?
Eric: Yeah, I'll make sure to have a heavy handed metaphor later on.
Julia: A bold choice.
Amanda: Alright. Again, it's some general game and character questions. A lot of really good ones guys even really coming through with these questions. Thank you. This one comes from Paul, I noticed a bit of an upping of the stakes with this new cabin arc between the monster actually seeming to have killed before they got to it and the mortal danger really being felt for Phoebe and Carrie-Ann Is there any reason behind dialing things up a notch at this point?
Brandon: Correct me if I'm wrong, Eric, but what didn't the not CITs, but like the folks die, because we like lollygagged which the people in the gelatinous cube that we ran into?
Eric: Oh, yeah, yeah yeah. They put themselves into like some real horror movie danger.
Brandon: Okay
Eric: You know, like they I kind of just needed to sacrifice them to demonstrate that this was some bad news. And also like the girl who lost a foot, but it was kind of just for funsies and it was cauterized. It was more like, you know, when you look at a cartoon wound, and it's just like meat and bone in it, like That's what I was thinking. Yeah, I really wanted to push the danger a little bit more. I mean, I feel like I had tried to allude to some of like the danger and violence in the earlier episodes. Maybe we forgot about it because Zev was such a sweet boy. But like, remember when Jane's leg was extremely broken, and only by the skin of everyone's teeth that you were able to get out of that fight without getting hurt. Carrie-Ann slashed herself with a with a knife multiple times, which was wild.
Brandon: Which letter of the alphabet did he resemble after that, Eric?
Amanda: K
Eric: The letter K. It was a letter K.
Julia: K.
Amanda: Never forget it. It's a K.
Eric: It's a K. So I've been trying to do that. But I did. I did think that this was particularly dangerous because you were you were on the monster stuff. You were unprepared. It had the upper hand on you. And also I got better at running Monster of the Week.
Julia: Yeah!
Amanda: Wee!
Brandon: We got better at playing too.
Amanda: So, Moss and Lena are both kind of like has camp always been this unsafe? And Lena, connector of dots specifically said how is camp not getting shut down? Like do they bribe the police? Is there still some anti investigation magic? What is happening?
Brandon: I think this is a who can say, right?
Julia: Who can say, man?
Eric: I mean, like, I don't want to- you want me to tell you the reason and ruin the genre? It's just like, it is what it is, you know?
Amanda: But the magic so we're see we're peppering in the who can says. Like when you season each step of your recipe before finally seasoning the end, you know?
Brandon: We're sweating out our our alliums right now.
Amanda: Exactly. Exactly. Michelle Spurgeon asked if Carrie-Ann, Camp is losing any of her fervor for future camp life knowing how supernatural it really is. And I think Carrie-Ann's journey this summer has turned out to be like, I think I know better than the adults, wait, maybe I don't know better than the adults. Wait, do I know better than the adults? Like that is kind of what I feel her struggling with as more secrets come out. I think ultimately, you know, this was a big summer for her she got to transition from being a camper to being a CIT like, this is the liminal transitory year where you are, you know, not quite counselor, but certainly not a camper anymore. And so it makes sense that she learns new stuff, right that like there are revelations, and she's like seeing behind the scenes got to go to camp early, sleeping in a new place. All of that is exciting. And I don't think anything could kind of dissuade her from thinking that camp is a worthy project in goal of learning. But she is certainly like fairly freaked out by the sort of laissez faire nature with which the director is approaching these dangers to camp in the campers.
Brandon: That's my favorite Britney Spears song is Not A Camper. Not Yet A CIT.
Amanda: True. True.
Eric: Here's a question. I want to kick around. How weird. Do you think it always was at camp? Do you think that this summer is any weirder than any other summer? Maybe you're just looking at it a little harder, because it's your job to clean this stuff up?
Brandon: I imagine that we because we are in charge of everything. We're seeing all of the dots together.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Whereas before we might have just like had one weird experience in the cabin or something.
Amanda: Yeah, like I imagined kids like happily making macaroni necklaces as like, you know, the alicanto is like tearing up a cabin next door. Like they're, you know, no one else kind of sees the overview, I think the way that we are now, but my headcanon at least is that yeah, it's always been this much disaster has always kind of almost averted or happens in small ways. And we're like, oh, yeah, the cabins are out of bounds or like, oh, yeah, stargazing is canceled this this, you know, evening. And as campers were like, okay, like, can I have marshmallows and run off to the next thing?
Julia: Yeah, I think there's a certain like, level of childhood unawareness of bad things happening around you. And I think that now that we are metaphorically and literally shifting into adulthood by becoming CITs, the characters are now seeing not through the rose tinted glasses of you know, being a carefree child.
Eric: Yeah, I agree. I that's what I think. I also think about sometimes, like, when did Phoebe meet Charles? I think about that shit a lot. I wonder about like, the other weird stuff that like maybe only less noticed and then wrote down in a journal, and then some counselor was like, you're such a fucking weirdo. And then like, I don't know. I agree. There's a lot of stuff that's that I feel like you just don't see much like becoming a staff member or working with something you see behind the scenes and you see all the seams which in this case is weird shit.
Julia: Totally.
Amanda: I have a request here from christianthejustok, "Can we get a present Mike impression from John Bonez Bones? What does this mean?"
Eric: This now this is My Hero Academia thing.
Amanda: Okay.
Eric: And basically, yeah, there's just like, there's one character who just like does all the announcements and that's his superpower. So I saw I found this one quote from like his Wikipedia book thing and I wanted to do this is John Bonez Bones.
Eric (as John Bonez Bones): The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said true heroism consisted being superior to the ills of life. Plus Ultra break a leg, everyone.
Julia: What the fuck?
Amanda: Incredible. Thank you. Thank you.
Brandon: There's no reason why Bonez Bones just isn't the fan of My Hero Academia. So-
Eric: He also might be.
Brandon: I'm gonna give you that little treat.
Julia: We don't we don't know if we exist in an age that My Hero Academia exists though, Brandon.
Brandon: Exactly. Did television even invented?
Eric: Kids just say plus ultra to each other. It's very funny.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: J Factorial wants to know, did anyone consider other playbooks for their characters before the summer season began? Personally, I think Carrie-Ann could take some moves from the Meddling Kid playbook. Not the narrative breaking ones, of course, and it wouldn't be too out of place.
Julia: Yes.
Amanda: Tell us.
Julia: Well, kind of So my original plan and I remember messaging Eric about that. I'm like, what if I lied to Amanda and Brandon and said that I had the chosen playbook, but it was really the spooky the whole time. And he's like-
Brandon: You son of a bitch!
Julia: -that would be complicated. It was like, fair enough.
Eric: It just it just not it doesn't work as well.
Julia: Right.
Eric: On the PVTA thing where it's like, I'm saying I'm a wizard, but really, I'm a warlock.
Julia: Right.
Eric: Like that, it just doesn't it would be too confusing. And also, it'd be like, You fuckers, you don't know how playbooks work in a new game we just started.
Julia: Yes. I decided to get I agree it was too mean, but I was like, hmmm, but what if?
Amanda: I think, being more familiar with the system, like if you did that, in sort of our second campaign, I'd be like, tight, but yeah, I would have been like, oh, I didn't know, what? I didn't know.
Eric: I started looking at some of the things J Factorial pointed the Meddling Kid playbook to me, which is the person Michael Sands who made Monster of the Week, then on his personal website, came up with a bunch of new playbooks in 2020 that I that were not published yet. There is another book coming out soon ish from that's another Monster of the Week supplement. So I don't know if that's going to be in there. So that includes the Meddling Kids. There's some other ones in there, like someone who's out of time, which is actually pretty funny, like someone from like, Ancient Greece is just a playbook is very cool. And it's like, again, these playbooks are character archetypes. So it's like, you'd have to change pretty much everything about them. I don't love the Meddling Kid playbook, because it's all Scooby Doo. And then it's like, that really changes the composition of your monster hunting team. And then it's like you're trying to smash up different archetypes. And this is a Monster of the Week problem. This is not a J Factorial problem. This is like you're smashing of different shows together and trying to run a game about it. Like imagine you had like Buffy Summers, Velma, and like a hardcore Monster Hunter.
Brandon: Eric, you're just describing AO3.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, just he doesn't he doesn't necessarily fit because all the themes aren't together.
Amanda: Right.
Eric: And like the meddling, and there's also like a sidekick, which is always weird. For me. My Power By The Apocalypse games always has like a sidekick, or like a out user has like a sidekick or like a secondary character being attached to another character. And like, I never know why anyone would want to play that. So it made you feel really infantile, and like you were a younger brother or younger sister attached to somebody else.
Julia: I can think of some players that would get a kick out of that.
Eric: Yeah. Or maybe you are literally playing with a sibling and you want to like swap roles or something
Amanda: Like the older sibling as the younger one. That sounds fun, but definitely for our, you know, our purposes of this narrative, I think we ended up all and like there's a reason why we talked about our playbooks and like chose them with Eric and like ran through it before we started the campaign. Because it's it's you know, definitely important do that on your own but specifically for like making a narrative podcast we also want to make sure that it's you know, balanced and interesting and no one's you know, who can like break the game.
Brandon: I agree with you, Amanda, but we've never been balanced before.
Amanda: No, no. Brandon, no one's a healer, I've never heard that before.
Eric: No one knows.
Julia: No, I think Season 2 was pretty balanced.
Amanda: I think so.
Brandon: Yeah, notoriously have a healer on the team that didn't heal. I guess.
Julia: I think that was a choice.
Eric: Why would Eric do this and not balance our party? What a fucking dick.
Julia: Why would he allow a healer on the team and then that healer just never healed?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Why would Eric do that?
Amanda: I could heal and then I touched the seas of time. So, you know.
Eric: That's your fault for touching the season of time.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: No, I just like I, okay. I don't know why I would intentionally play a game where I'm an inferior character to another one. That's me, maybe my, my thoughts of wanting to play that thing. But like there's always a there's a lot of playbooks that are like that that like intentionally make you like to another player character. I don't know that's just yeah, that's, I don't know if I would ever want to do that like in narratively put my intentionally put myself in lower status like that.
Brandon: Totally valid.
Eric: Anyway, the point is, is that I don't think of the achetype, some of these archetypes don't fit together. And especially those ones that Michael sands, man, so like, I like that you can take moves from other places and it feels really resonant and then it's like, oh, I'm just gonna like, throw another color into my archetype instead of like fully pivoting the left or right.
Amanda: It's the mechanic I really love and have made use of in this campaign. Moving into a few questions about podcasting and IRL, us as people for Dahlia Rose wanted to know how much of your younger selves did you put into your characters? I feel like all of the best friends are perfect archetypes of me and my two most constant friends growing up.
Julia: 80%
Amanda: Yeah, I said I last Afterparty, I think like Carrie-Ann is really what I would have been unchecked. And I or maybe my my fears or hopes for my younger self, but it's it's been fun I didn't quite realize with as always, I kind of follow my instincts with character creation, then by the end of the campaign, I look back and I'm like, oh, how revealing. That sure enough has happened again.
Brandon: I think for me, it's like the opposite. It's like the, the kids I admired in high school or middle school. Just like really just charismatic, super easy going, really skilled kids, you know?
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: And are you drawing from as you approach the fellow CIT NPCs, counselors, campers, kind of archetypes that you can identify?
Julia: Who is yourself insert, Eric?
Eric: I don't have a self insert.
Amanda: Eric is Tater Tot.
Eric: Yeah, I'm Tater Tot.
Julia: That's true.
Eric: Yeah, I actually don't have itself insert in this campaign, I think I would have been closer to carry him. I mean, like, I went to summer camp for like 13 summers in a row. And then I was a staff member for five of those summers, and I was the Head Staff of the of the oldest age group. So it's like, I was really into it for a while, and then I just stopped doing it. So I definitely feel like I was bought in for a very long time. And then I kind of just got disillusioned with the whole thing as I kind of like, just kind of happened to me. And when I was like 23 I looked around I'm like, oh, fuck, shit got down. So I don't I don't know if I have anyone. I feel like I'm pulling a lot from the archetypes that you would find in a show. Like this is like, I really do imagine this. Like it's a cartoon that exists in like the golden age of a cartoon network and like the mid 2000s, you know?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: So that's that's kind of what I'm I'm pulling from.
Brandon: So you're saying you're NOT Frederick the Frog? That's not yourself insert?
Eric: No, Frederick sucks. Brandon, one of these days, you're gonna realize that my NPCs are not me. I'm gonna show you all of them be like, That's not me. I think he sucks. That's not me. I think he sucks. That's not me. I think he sucks.
Brandon: There's just white board behind you.
Eric: Yeah, all of my NPCs all of the campaign's like, it'd be like, none of these are me. It's not me!
Julia: Okay.
Amanda: It's two circles on the board. One is Eric's NPCs, and the other one is Eric.
Julia: They don't overlap at all.
Amanda:
Speaking of which, Laura would like to know what's your fancast for the best friends and other major characters in this campaign? I'm curious to see if they match mine.
Julia: Ooh!
Eric: When I was thinking about this, I don't think you necessarily have to do actors who are contemporary because like who the fuck knows actors on Euphoria?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Or other teens? But if there's someone who is a young person from old or movies, I think we can do them in that time. Because I'm like, man, I really want Anthony Michael Hall from the Breakfast Club to like, be one of these fucking NPCs as I was thinking about.
Amanda: Well, great news, Eric when you Googled kid actors, which I just did and then immediately regret. The first three are Macaulay Culkin, who is a grown man, Lindsay Lohan, a grown woman and Jacob Tremblay who played the kid in room who must now be a teenager so not not great.
Julia: So I have been thinking about this since I saw this question. And I think that Phoebe is a mash up of me as a 13 year old and also like, very early Maisie Williams in Game of Thrones.
Brandon: Oh, okay.
Amanda: That's cute.
Eric: Oh, good one.
Brandon: Yeah, that's really good.
Eric: Yeah, Maisie Williams would crushed that from like the from the first season when she didn't know how to do anything.
Julia: Yeah. Bless her.
Eric: Hell, yeah. I'm now imagining like Phoebe with fucking Maisie Williams' accent.
Julia: Just not British. Anything but British.
Amanda: I think for Carrie-Ann someone in the Discord said that all my characters have red hair. It's true. I just I want to I want to have red hair as a kid and you know, here we are. But I imagine kind of like Miranda Cosgrove like Rebecca Black direction for Carrie-Ann but-
Eric: Oh, you could have done Miranda Cosgrove from from School of Rock.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: It was like super tight.
Amanda: Yeah, I-
Julia: Same energy.
Amanda: I think that's what I'm picturing.
Eric: That's good.
Brandon: I think if anyone has a better one let me know because I'm I'm always notoriously bad at these but I think like as far as actual kids like Caleb McLaughlin, is that I say his last name is McLaughlin from Stranger Things?
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Would be good to also like Joe Carey from Stranger Things as like not a douche.
Amanda: I was really picturing like, very like Gilmore Girls era Jensen.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, yeah. Totally great.
Brandon: Or like, Taryn Edgerton, like kind of kind of big guy but not not like a Wolverine big like he is recently.
Eric: There are a bunch of like, you know how all those actors who and they got really famous were like all on the outsiders. Like I'm sure like one of those guys could be there are like super young Emilio Estevez when he was in that when he was in that, that could be good.
Amanda: A lot of the British Skins cast they're also like-
Eric: Oh the casual scanning yeah it would be sick oh you know who would be super great fucking the guy who's now super hot and was the Green Knight it was in Skins
Amanda: Yeah.
Julia: Dev Patel.
Amanda: Dev Patel have always been super hot, excuse you.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: But in Skins he was just like big and gangly.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Martin Starr was also super big and gangly but I think he's-
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: -a little too nerdy for Les there.
Brandon: I think you guys are thinking of Les as too gangly as too skinny
Julia: But he's so-
Amanda: That's why I'm saying I think I think what does face in Gilmore Girls you know was a little bit broad was a little tall and like has the look of a team who's going to be like a pretty built man but he's not quite there yet.
Brandon: Yes, I agree with you on that one. But I think Dev Patel is a little bit too skinny.
Amanda: He's pretty pretty pretty jacked now.
Julia: Like going back to older actors who then played teens. I'm thinking like a young Matthew Lillard.
Amanda: Oh yeah,
Julia: Would be a really good Les.
Amanda: Also pretty skinny but maybe slightly wider. Yeah.
Brandon: Wow. What a pull.
Julia: Right?
Brandon: But yeah, not a bad not a bad one. I like it.
Eric: Matthew Lillard and Hackers too like imagine Les got super, super into night in the matrix at some point and became him in Hackers.
Amanda: And we got our Scooby Doo connection. So that's really good, Julia.
Eric: That's good.
Amanda: I also have a question here from @El_Silvero on Twitter. Is that right? Saying-
Brandon: Oh, that sounds like someone's name as if there are literally wrestler.
Amanda: Yeah, it does. It sounds like when I brought my fiancee Eric to meet my Aunt Patsy. She said Oh, @El_Silvero because she knew his Instagram handle. Who says, can we chart Amanda's characters increasing unhinged sadness from Inara Preserver the agent from a comic book oneshots. Who as you recall is Agent Agent Smith. Forget about Multitool, Dr. Bertha Bones and Carrie-Ann.
Eric: Here's my thought. There is a-
Amanda: Eric, do you want to comment on that?
Eric: There's a there's a graph, right? And the x axis is going from chaotic to lawful, while the y axis is unhingedness, and Inara was rather tame but quote unquote chaotic, but you've become more lawful over time. Absolutely more, more wild and unhinged.
Amanda: Yeah, Carrie-Ann is Lawful Unhinged.
Eric: She's Lawful Unhinged. Yeah.
Amanda: Pretty good.
Julia: Naturally.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: That's pretty good.
Eric: So I just wanted to I just wanted to point that out if it helps.
Julia: That makes sense.
Amanda: Statisticians in the audience feel free to graph that. And finally guys, we're into Spoilies corner. Are we ready? Do we have our who can say like, vocoders ready?
Brandon: Yeah, we're ready to put on our final garnishes on our who can say dish.
Amanda: Good good good. Alright from the question surgeon, Phoebe is a chosen one for what? To take down Steven? To close Camp Die? To save the camp?
Julia: [in a sing song voice] Who can say?
Amanda: Who can say? With all the camp counselors getting killed, Michelle also asks who's responsible for the children?
Eric: The other staff.
Julia: Naturally.
Eric: Counselors being pulled in. I totally forgot that two counselors fucking died.
Amanda: I know.
Julia: You did that. You did that.
Brandon: Technically, they're still missing so like for-
Julia: We saw their body!
Brandon: No, sorry. For us we know but everyone else they're still missing, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: I'm sure someone told ADZ like these children are dead now.
Brandon: You think one of us went to ADZ and said they died in a giant slime ball?
Julia: I realized, I realized the audience couldn't see my reaction to that. I was like, hm?
Eric: Hey, they were also irresponsible and making out with their significant others
Julia: Yes.
Eric: So and that's what happened
Julia: So, did four people die you're just two?
Eric: Oh no just them two.
Julia: Okay.
Eric: It's like, no one looked for them because they would disappear and go kiss with the parking lot for 24 hours at a time and that's why no one looked for them.
Brandon: Right.
Amanda: Yeah, it's important remember to hydrate while you kiss for that long.
Eric: I also really liked that they I really liked them to have the name plate necklaces.
Amanda: I know.
Eric: Which was so camp for me.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Moss, acid comma acid would like to know, will we get an episode of the Best Friend's murdering Frederick? I'll tell you Julia has something to say about it, we will.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Duran, what was the effect of the alicanto eating the director's whistle? I would love to know, Duran.
[Brandon and Julia singing who can say?]
Amanda: I would love to know.
Brandon: [singing] Who can say where the wind blows?
Eric: Alright, so here's what happened because the alicanto died, what am I gonna spoil the rest of the season on the Afterparty just listen to it.
Amanda: I would hate it. Maureen, Out of Work Bookie would like to know, how many thumbs does chuck the forest spirit maybe moose, probably not really a moose have?
Julia: Zero because he's a moose.
Eric: Hey, I don't remember what this is referencing.
Julia: Oh, like, we made a reference to like you said like five hooved and like our fingers hooves?
Eric: Oh, that's right.
Brandon: And then Amanda was like we have 10 hooves because we have the same keratin in our nails.
Julia: Nails are the same thing, yeah.
Brandon: That's the wildest thing Amanda has ever said ever.
Julia: I don't know about that.
Amanda: Yeah, I also forgot about the dream I had where I was holding a cat during its own intellectual property trial. So the episode reminded me that.
Brandon: Can I tell you, Amanda? I cut that initially and I was like, what the fuck am I doing what? Put that thing, undo, undo.
Amanda: Thank you. Thank you.
Eric: Can I also say Amanda told me about a dream she had lately, and I really need to share it because we I wouldn't really want to begin this with dreams.
Amanda: Sure.
Eric: Amanda told me the other day that she had a dream that she looked in our fridge and inside were a bunch of succulents. And she was really upset. She was like, Oh, I have to move these or Eric's gonna be so pissed.
Amanda: No, Eric, my first worry was how safe is it growing in there? There's no light. And then secondly, like, Eric's going to be pretty pissed, more plants in the house.
Eric: And then you took the succulents out of the fridge and put them on the table? And then that was that was the end of the dream?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Incredible.
Brandon: The idea that Eric gets like, like like in the like stereotypical TV marriage thing where like the husband's like, ah, another, you know?
Amanda: The wife and plants
Brandon: No like, it's just like parent plants is so funny.
Amanda: Listen, we have open communication about it. I- It is a one in and one out plant policy. Just like we have a books I would truly have my entire house would be like me picking a little maze through my, through my plants all over the place, and being like what you don't like almost knocking over a plant every time you turn around your own home? And I identify. Listen, guys.
Eric: Okay, yeah, Amanda puts plants on every single surface in our house and I had tell her that she can't do that. Because here's the thing about Amanda. She's long. She has long arms and legs in which to walk around the piles of books and plants there are everywhere in the apartment, and I'm not long. So I run into plant. So Amanda's like, Oh, can you just turn on the light and then the light switch is in the corner. And you need to reach around a like four plants to get there and turn your arm backwards and maybe hit it with a thingy and Amanda's like, oh, you know how to turn on a light and I'm like, no, I'm gonna break everything and then you're gonna cry that your plant is dead.
Brandon: That's easy fix you get a Google Home or like a clapper and then you're done. Voice Control baby.
Eric: No, I'm not bringing an Alexa in here just so that abandoned can have piles of plants.
Brandon: I do also like the idea of like a horror movie short where Eric like closes opens the fridge and then closes the fridge door. There's a plant right there and then he turns around and it's not there.
Eric: The only jumpscare is with plants.
Amanda: I think it's because it was immediately after Bray posted a photo of some like succulents he found in a box that we're still doing great, and so it really is graceful.
Eric: Amanda has now been giving me plants and saying they're mine so she could have them.
Julia: Work around. Amanda hasn't gone more plants, you have, Eric.
Eric: Yeah exactly.
Brandon: Amanda starts giving them to you as gifts it like on Hanukkah.
Eric: No.
Amanda: Eric, mom has started giving "us"
Julia: A succulent plant for every day of Hanukkah.
Eric: Oh, would I, oh, this is an advent calendar. One succulent thing. And now I have a succulent named Jeremy. So there we go.
Amanda: Alright guys to finish out from Kazy, 3 kobolds in a trenchcoat.
Eric: Wait, do I have two plants now, who's the second plant?
Amanda: That’s your only plant.
Eric: I thought I had two plants. Nevermind.
Amanda: No, we looked at those ornamental peppers and you're pretty taken by them.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: No space for peps. Kazy, 3 kobolds in a trenchcoat would like to know, hey, Eric, can we send in Bonez Mail now?
Eric: Yeah, please send didn't think so. The John's Bonez bones can have some question.
Brandon: I actually love that, please do that every week.
Julia: Great.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I will. In the next Afterparty I will remind people send in questions, sending in announcements that you need John's Bonez Bones to say over the PA system. And I will read them in the Afterparty.
Brandon: I love that.
Eric: A 100% will say this and that will say this in the in the midrolls of things coming up that everyone should send in the Afterparty, in the various places you put Afterparty stuff, or tweet at us send in things that you want John Bonez Bones to say over the PA system.
Brandon: I mean, if they're good enough and funny enough, maybe maybe you do them in the episode, who can say?
Eric: That's fair.
[Brandon and Julia singing who can say like Enya]
Eric: We're we're so many episodes ahead. I cannot remember what we've done so far. So I'm just like, I don't, I don't know.
Julia: I don't know, maybe.
Eric: Maybe, hopefully.
Amanda: Alright, folks, that is all for this week's Afterparty as always, we'll see you next week with a brand new episode. Thanks, everybody.
Brandon: Bye guys!
Julia: Later.
Eric: I had a dream that we were doing the Afterparty, but then everything I said you all laughed and said you couldn't really hear me and we're just laughing to be nice.
Julia: Oh, no, really?
Eric: No, I made it up because I didn't read-
Brandon: I thought you're gonna say you had a dream that weird in the Afterparty and every time you looked up one of our faces turned into a plant.
Eric: Now that'd be pretty bad. Yeah, every time I look up There's a plant right in front of face and Amanda and it says fruit for you from Amanda
Amanda: May your rolls trend ever upward. Bye.
[laughing]
Transcriptionist: KM