Welcome to the One Shot Derby, the character creation competition between three different TTRPGs! After we play all three, You, The People, will vote on the game and setting in which we’ll play a one shot. This week, we’re starring in a Coen Brothers movie set in Antarctica with Fiasco!
Upcoming Schedule
- January 17: Oneshot Derby 3
- January 24: Oneshot Derby Afterparty + Voting Opens
- January 31: Campaign 3 begins!!
Sponsors
- Battling Blades, where you can get 20% off your order at BattlingBlades.com using code JointheParty at check out.
- Shaker and Spoon, use code jointheparty to get you $20 off your first box.
- Betterhelp, where you can get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/jointheparty
Find Us Online
- website: jointhepartypod.com
- patreon: patreon.com/jointhepartypod
- twitter: twitter.com/jointhepartypod
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- tumblr: jointhepartypod.tumblr.com
- merch & music: jointhepartypod.com/merch
Cast & Crew
- Game Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host, Co-Producer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host, Co-Producer: Julia Schifini
- Co-Host, Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- One-Shot Derby Editor and Sound Designer: Mischa Stanton
- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman
- 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
[theme]
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): Welcome to the fifth annual One-Shot Derby. We're doing this for the boys over— over across the sea. Which sea is it? I don't know, I didn't learn enough at school. They put me in a factory as soon as I can talk like this. And then I got let out because I kept talking like this. My name is Scoot McGarry, and I'm going to be talking about this. I'm Je—I'm Jeremy McGarry's son, he's over on the— I'm his son and he was named after—my son was named after that. And he's over in the sea. I hope he's not dead. Anywhoodle, we're gonna do in a second uh—a second game here for the One-Shot Derby.
Brandon: Sir we got a telegram, uh he's dead. Jeremy's dead.
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): Oh, no.
Julia: No, Brandon.
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): Oh no, I’m going to grieve by not talking about it and pushing my feelings down, down, down, 23 skidoo. Last—last time we played Battle of the Brontes, and you—we had the opportunity to make some children who were very sad in the Austinian-- and we all used our sad English accents.
Amanda: Sorry, I keep drinking from the poison well.
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): That's alright. We're gonna liberate you using our soldiers. Now we're going to our second—we're going to our second One-Shot Derby, where we play Fiasco. It's 1965 somewhere and everyone's having a problem.
Julia: That's true.
Brandon: Some things never changed, da da da da!
Eric: That's the plot of every Coen Brothers movie, right?
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: It's 1965 and someone's having a problem somewhere? Yeah that makes sense.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Wonderful. Alright, I—hold on. I got possessed by—by a rootin’ tootin’ skadootin’ 1920s Great Gatsby voice. Hey it’s Eric again.
Brandon: Well he died in the war, so his spirit can take you over, you know.
Eric: It's Jeremy sen— it was Jeremy Sr. and then Scoot, and then Jeremy Jr. Jeremy Jr and Jeremy Sr. both died in the war.
Amanda: Yup, different wars but they both died.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Too sad. Don't like it.
Eric: It's confusing when you both call them the Great War, that's the issue.
Julia: That's why we had to give it numerals.
Amanda: It's really the spreadsheet final, final dot. I mean, at this time of history.
Eric: Honestly, it would have made a lot more sense in World War One, if they were fighting over Adobe Acrobat instead of whatever the fuck they were fighting over.
Amanda: Adobe invented PDF, it doesn't have to be this way. It’s proprietary technology.
Eric: Sorry—
Amanda: They paywall it!
Eric: —CEO of Multitude, Amanda McLoughlin has been assassinated by the Black Hand in Sarajevo because she was saying things about Adobe.
Amanda: I'll never be invited to the Adobe Pavilion at Burning Man now.
Eric: Alright, we are playing the game Fiasco, a very—a foundation of tabletop RPGs for your—of longtime in Memoriam. It's kind of like the most story-y tabletop RPG that I feel like so many people run into because it's a lot about like telling a story that's like a movie. And, you know, there's always creative media that we're using. We're using as like, we're playing this game to tell this type of story. And I think that people are always reaching towards movies anyway, instead of like describing in their Dungeons and Dragons podcast, “we pan up”. Fiasco literally does this, we're literally playing a Coen Brothers movie. Which if you don't know what that is, I'm going to describe it a little bit using the elevator pitch for Fiasco that I ever hear.
Brandon: Wooh.
Julia: Wooh.
Brandon: [in high pitch voice] Elevators.
Eric: Fiasco is inspired by cinematic tales of smalltime capers gone disastrously wrong. You'll play ordinary people with powerful ambition and poor impulse control. There will be big dreams and flawed execution, it won't go well for them to put it mildly. And in the end, it will probably collapse into a glorious heap of jealousy, murder, and recrimination. Lives and reputations will be lost, painful wisdom will be gained. And if you're really lucky, your guy might just end up back where he started.
Amanda: How incredible because like, at the end of movies like Fargo, and A Simple Plan, like isn't that exactly what would be best is if things went back to before the plot of the movie began? Like that truly is the best case scenario in a way that I never kind of heard put towards my way before.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: I totally get you Amanda—
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: —But I do think that a Simple Plan is a band. I think you're confused.
Amanda: Oh, what was it called?
Eric: No, it is a Simple Plan, Brandon.
Brandon: No I’m teasing you, it is A Simple Plan.
Eric: Brandon is also breaking—making a joke. Yeah.
Amanda: Oh, okay.
Eric: Well—
Amanda: Well, me not knowing about movies is also very plausible.
Eric: Yeah, you remember that Coen Brothers movie, I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare?
Julia: That's my favorite. Chris Evans really got his start in that movie.
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: John Leguizamo is really doing work and it's a travesty he wasn’t recognized by the Academy.
Julia: That's true.
Eric: We have to stop until we run into a Goncharov situation.
Julia: We can’t--
Eric: Goncharov? I don't even know it. No one's— I've never heard someone say it out loud before.
Julia: Goncharov?
Eric: Goncharov? I don't know.
Brandon: I don't even know what that is.
Julia: I don't speak Russian, so.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I learned yesterday that you—you know the word G A O L, like a British spelling for like the place where you send prisoners?
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: You pronounce it jail. It's just jail.
Eric: Oh.
Julia: It’s just jail.
Brandon: I guess they just spell it weird.
Amanda: I never knew that.
Eric: I thought it was like an Elden--
Amanda: I was like yeah in gaol!
Eric: Yeah it's a—it sounds like an Elden Ring word.
Amanda: And Schneider was like, I'm so sorry to say this but I only know this because, in Elden Ring, people call it jail.
Eric: Right. Exactly.
Julia: And I had never even heard of that. So Amanda said that and I was like, what is that? And you're like well, jail. I was like, oh okay, great.
Eric: Damn. It's the third circle of hell when you're in there with gamers.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Alright, so remember, this is the One-Shot Derby, we are doing the character creation portion of three games. We did Battle of the Brontes before, and we are now doing the character creation portion of Fiasco, which is actually very clearly delineated. And then in the second half or second half hour of the show, you kind of like play out the movie, there's act one, and then the tilt where things go horribly, and then act two, you have to resolve it. It's quite good. So this is what you would be getting into if y'all end up voting for the Fiasco game for us to do, to finish the One-Shot on the Patreon.
Julia: Nice.
Eric: Fiasco, for those of you want to get a little more nitty gritty. Fiasco is a highly collaborative game, which every player should always be engaged, either actively playing a character or throwing out suggestions, brainstorming scene ideas, and listening for ways to make each scene hit harder than the last because the pace it's so frantic. Every choice you make has to matter a lot. Again, very GM-less, so that I will be able to play as well, but I have read over this book enough. So I'm gonna lead us through how to play this game.
Amanda: Yeah—
Julia: Yay.
Amanda: —when did you first encounter this game? Why were your reading up on it?
Julia: Again, it's a—it's a foundation kinda of the storytelling medium that is tabletop RPGs. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time watching the tabletop YouTube series, as captained by Wesley Crusher himself, Wil Wheaton. And man, tabletop RPGs has changed so much in the last 10 years. So I learned about it through there. And actually, Fiasco blew up because of those episodes. They are actually a very, very good way to learn how to play the game, if any of you are interested, and want to hear a little bit more.
Eric: I've kind of like known about it ambiently but I've never—I've never played it. So I'm very excited to do this.
Brandon: It's wild that that series was so new that they could just call it tabletop RPG like that was the name of the series.
Amanda: That's the name of the series. Yeah.
Eric: Just—just Tabletop, Brandon, they got the SEO. They were number one.
Amanda: Wow. Wild.
Eric: They were the tabletop series and it wasn't even just—like they played Cards Against Humanity. Like they weren't even che—that’s not even a boardgame. It was all over the place.
Julia: Eric, I got a question. Were they the top tabletop?
Brandon: Nailed it!
Eric: I can't say for sure. I'm gonna have to look into the answer for you.
Julia: Thank you.
Eric: Yup. Just in—in the— the Cards Against Humanity game. It was the girl from the meme, where your girlfriend is way too into you. And—and Aisha Tyler. So it's a real fun mix of people.
Amanda: Yeah, Aisha Tyler was the one woman geek people could find on the internet before 2014.
Eric: Yeah, and it's like everybody-- Aisha Tyler was blowing everyone else out of the water, it was really funny.
Julia: Ah, this chick. Got it.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah. It's like the real person from the meme—
Amanda: Oh my God.
Eric: —who also like, was just like an actress and writer in LA, which was very funny.
Brandon: [laughs] That's hilarious.
Eric: Yeah, don't watch that video. It's Aisha Tyler making a lot of people uncomfortable by being—by making like these—these black people are like this and all the other white people are like, I don't know what to do. I can't believe you have a camera on me. And she's—she's crushing. She's so funny. [laughs] Okay, so the first thing that you do, we're gonna be doing the setup here in Fiasco. That's what we’re recording today. Is that we choose a play set, the play set is Fiasco's core. It's kind of like the genre and type of movie that you're doing. You draw situations, characters, and inspiration. Think of the playsets like Trouble construction kits, you've got a big list of cool stuff. And each will have a flavor unique to its time and place. We have chosen one that is in the Fiasco guidebook itself. It's called the Ice.
Julia and Amanda: Ooooohh.
Julia: Amanda, we did that untimed, that was great.
Eric: So we're going to be playing like in Antarctica, we're going to be like scientists or like people who found their way to Antarctica when we're down here, it's going to be really interesting, especially because like Coen Brothers-- the other ones that are in here are like a southern town, suburbia. And we're like, no, we're doing The Thing. But if the Coen Brothers made it.
Julia: I'm telling you right now my character is going to be played by Wilford Brimley.
Amanda: Great.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Incredible. And I’ve read a lot of like, thriller novels set in Antarctic research stations. So I am extremely excited.
Eric: Wonderful—
Brandon: And I have no extra experiential stuff with this, so I'm excited to go. But if you think about it, Fargo is really just Antarctica. There's no difference.
Amanda: Basically.
Eric: It really is—
Julia: It’s really the same.
Eric: —I mean, Fargo is really the closest thing here for sure.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Because there's like a lot of military stuff here which—which we're gonna see how much we end up doing or not, or like official government stuff. It's actually really interesting. So in the play set, we're going to be—each of us are going to be figuring out what our relationships of each of our characters are to each other. And we're also going to be figuring out some needs, locations, and objects that we're going to thread into the story. It's kind of just like a series of lists, is a playset. And what we're going to do is we're going to be rolling a bunch of D6. Actually, we're going to be rolling 16 in total. And using those numbers to correspond with the relationships, the needs, and all of— and the objects and locations, we're going to be getting a general detail, and then we're getting a specific detail for each one. And we're going to be grabbing these dice, as we go through.
Amanda: I'm excited. It's like using a luck point or using any of the abilities in D&D, where you get to, you know, I think Brandon, you had this in one of our smaller campaigns, but you know, substituting a roll you roll at the beginning for a roll that somebody else has, but it's the whole time like you roll all the dice, and then you get to pick out of them knowing what the result is to get the thing you want. I'm excited about like resource management, you know, and not burning are good roles too soon, things like that.
Brandon: Yeah, yeah. I love that.
Eric: Yeah. So if you don't know how to play Fiasco, and you don't know what I'm talking about, that's fine, just come along with us and know that we're reading this stuff off of lists. And that's how the numbers on the die are corresponding to things that we're choosing. We're also going to be building a relationship together in a circle, as we come up with our characters. Is going to be Eric and Amanda, Amanda and Julia, Julia and Brandon, and Brandon and Eric. We're going to be each character is like glommed to another one, and the relationships and either a need, an object, or a location, is going to be like core to how those characters are going to interact. So the next thing to do now that we've chosen a play set is we're going to roll a bunch of dice into a central pile, which I have right here. We're going to be rolling 16 dice because there's four players, it's four dice per player.
Amanda: The power!
Eric: I'm gonna roll them and tell all of you the numbers that we have to go off of. [sounds of dice shaking]
Amanda: Gotcha.
Brandon: Oh, that's some good-ass foley.
Amanda: Players, how exciting is it to hear that noise, and not feel mortal fear that one of our enemies is about to kill one of our characters?
Julia: Someone’s rolling 16 D 6 for damage. Oh, boy.
Brandon: Here's my—here's my best joke of the day. Yahtzee!
Julia: Joken.
Eric: Okay, so our pool to choose from, we have two 1s, four 2s, three 3s, two 4s, two 5s, and three 6s, which add up to 16 dice.
Julia: Wow.
Amanda: Nailed it.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Brandon: End the game, we did math.
Eric: Wonderful. That's a—that is a nice assortment of numbers.
Julia: That's true.
Eric: So we can move on. Alright, we're now going to be using—using this to develop our relationships and details. So we're gonna start with the player who grew up in the smallest town, and then take turns going around in a circle.
Amanda and Julia: Oohh.
Brandon: I just want to say real quickly that the dice that we rolled were almost perfectly statistically average.
Eric: Pretty good.
Julia: Wow.
Brandon: Pretty good.
Julia: Pretty good.
Eric: Yeah. That's like my dad told me I'm statistically average. Alright, so who grew up in the smallest town?
Julia: Alright. Well, I just Googled how many people were in the town that Amanda and I grew up in, and it was 20,000.
Brandon: Oh, oh, let me Google how many are in mine.
Eric: So I grew up in a hamlet of a town. And I would count that because it had a train station and an A&P Shopping Center. So it was re—it is relatively small.
Brandon: Wait Google it, I want to know. My population was 242,000.
Eric: Oh, yeah cause you're—
Amanda: Wow.
Eric: —cause you're—well, you're living in the—in the Dallas area, right?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: The population in the 2010 census was 1630.
Amanda: Oh—
Julia: Wow, that's a tiny.
Amanda: —that will do.
Brandon: That's too small, Eric, how did you do anything?
Eric: Well, it was a—it was a hamlet as part of a township. So like, I didn't do a lot, but like I went to school with a bunch of people all over New York State. Nothing is funnier than reading about this on Wikipedia. That I'm—it's a suburb of New York City and located approximately 30 miles North of the Bronx. Thanks, Wikipedia.
Julia: Thanks, Wikipedia.
Amanda: Julia, you want to just give me three notable people you think are in our town, Wikipedia list?
Julia: Uh, Lindsay Lohan. Who was the other one, Debbie something?
Amanda: Alan. Oh, Gibson, sorry.
Julia: Yeah. And—and then Matt Cardona from wrestling.
Amanda: That's right. Also, shout out Amy Fisher. Also, shout out Jerry Greenfield of Ben and Jerry's.
Eric: On February 24, 2014, the hamlet's firehouse was the scene of a three-alarm fire.
Amanda: Oh, no, the guy who made Entourage is from Merrick.
Eric: Alright—
Brandon: Oh no.
Eric: —We are moving on. We are moving on. Oh boy. Okay, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to choose a number and that is going to correspond with a list that is on the Ice playset. So and I'm going to place it anywhere, you can place a general detail or a specific detail anywhere. It will either be my character's relationships to other people, or other people's relationships. And we're going to figure out as this goes.
Brandon: So we're kind of like spending one of the dice that we roll to get one of the choices from the chart?
Eric: Yes, exactly.
Brandon: Cool.
Amanda: But we can go wherever, like, I could choose a relationship, or I could choose one of our two, you know, needs something like that.
Eric: Yes, I would say that people should start with relationships. Or maybe I will start with a relationship, and then you can figure it out. But again, you can be in any order. It just needs to be interesting. Like we're really trying to build a movie together here before we start. So on the ice, like for example, our relationships can be work, friendship, romance, crime, community, and soul. I really like soul. So I'm taking si—I'm taking a six. And I'm going to put that in between Brandon and I.
Julia: Ooohh.
Brandon: Sweet.
Eric: Because there's some really interesting stuff on the soul one, it's—there's lifers on the ice, the only survivors, the ones who found the body, newbie and old timer, two of a kind misanthropes and poet and muse.
Brandon: If you choose poet and muse—
Eric: Really.
Brandon: —I am going to panic.
Eric: We're gonna—we're gonna figure it out. Someone can choose it. So I really like us, Brandon and my—my characters being bonded over something that happened to us because I feel like that's gonna be a lot of-- the core of a lot of stuff here.
Amanda: And you are.
Brandon: So you spent one six to get the category of soul. Do—do you then have to spend another dice to choose one of the ones underneath soul?
Eric: Correct. Because—
Brandon: Okay.
Eric —remember, each of us are going—
Brandon: Correct.
Eric: —each of the relationships are going to have a general and a specific detail. And those have different dice that get applied to each one.
Brandon: Cool.
Eric: So now I'm going to remove one from here. So now we only have 2 sixes.
Amanda: So if Julia wanted to, she could choose the sub detail, right? And just assign it to you guys.
Eric: Right, exactly. So anyone can put dice wherever, but he's like, we're gonna build this out. And then we're gonna figure out our characters.
Brandon: Cool.
Julia: Tight. Gotcha.
Eric: Alright. Well, this is going to be Amanda next.
Amanda: Okay, I am going to spend one of our ones to choose the category of need to get out.
Eric: Hell yeah. And where are you going to place it?
Amanda: Let's put it between Eric's and my characters.
Eric: Cool.
Amanda: Because I think if you're tight relationship in the soul category is with Brandon, it would be interesting for us to be like unlikely sort of—
Eric: Oh, hell yeah.
Amanda: —Forced allies—
Eric: Right.
Amanda: —in something.
Eric: Like me and Brandon's character are going to be like living in Antarctica together. But your and my character want to leave. And I'm—
Amanda: Right.
Eric: And my character is pulled between the two?
Amanda: Or know, something that's too much, and you have to make some kind of a choice.
Eric: Hell yeah, now we're cooking with Coen Brothers. Let's fucking go. I love it. Fucking let's go. Alright, Julia go ahead.
Amanda: I think I'm going to take one of our 5s and I'm going to place that between Amanda and I. So that's gonna be community.
Eric: For—that's a relationship.
Julia: Yes, that's the relationship is going to be community.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Fun.
Julia: And the options on there are stuff like social adversaries, search and rescue volunteers, tour guides, which is the one I really like. Community event organizers, visiting dignitary handlers, and isolated co-religionists.
Amanda: Also good.
Brandon: Isolated co-religionists is very funny.
Eric: All good.
Amanda: So now community is off the table, right? It can only exist between Julia and me.
Eric: Yes, you could do multiple, but I think people try not to, especially because we only have one other five. So—
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: We might need to use the five somewhere else.
Amanda: Fair.
Eric: Alright Brandon, it is your turn.
Julia: Got a lot of twos.
Brandon: I just want to see y’all play this. I think I want to use a subheading under get out. And I'm going to use a two. And it's a relationship that's turned weird for you Eric.
Julia: Need to get out and then the detail for you and Amanda's need to get out, is get out of a weird relationship. Is that right?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. A relationship that's turned weird.
Eric: Here's the thing, Brandon. You know, the relationship that's probably turned weird, is the one I have with the soul-bonded guy on the other side.
Amanda: Could be—it could be researchers. We—we can be lots of things. I'm excited. I—I see now why the part where you like name and flesh out your character is after you choose all these variables.
Eric: Yeah, dude. I mean, here's the thing, It's coming back to me here. And now I'm wondering what's going on with Brandon and I that's so—
Julia: What is going with you?
Brandon: What is going on?
Eric: —that's changing—that's changing everything. And I'm gonna look at some—I'm gonna look at some objects here because I feel like there's some stuff here that's really we—that's really weird.
Julia: I am staring at a dead seal.
Eric: I know. Like there's unto—there's untoward things.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: There are forbidden things, and there's information things. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go with forbidden.
Amanda: Yeaaah.
Brandon: Yeaaah.
Eric: Because there's some cool shit in forbidden, and I want to see how that goes. So that's a two. I'm taking another two and I'm putting that the object that's dealing with Brandon and I is for—is forbidden.
Brandon: I like that. You could tell that this game was made in 2011 or whatever because it's talking about how forbidden marijuana is.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: One-kilo bag of marijuana.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. I think that our re-- I need to get—now I need to get out because something has changed in my relationship with Brandon's character—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: —that has to do with a forbidden object for sure. Hell yeah. Alright, Amanda, it's around to you again.
Amanda: Alright, so Julia and I are in community. Julia, the one that really stands out to me, tour guides is good, but so is community event organizers.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: I really like the idea of us being like in charge of karaoke or social bonding or something on the station.
Julia: We’re the rec attendants.
Amanda: Exactly. And could be a good opportunity to like, see things you are supposed to see, or you know, get in touch with people we—we need to screw over.
Julia: I like it. I'm into it.
Eric: Yeah, what uh, what a—what die is that?
Amanda: That would be a number four.
Eric: Okay, four is off. We are now down to—
Amanda: Oh you know what that—that wouldn't be strategic. Let me take a three, let's do tour guides. And that's the die we have more off.
Eric: Yeah, tour guides.
Amanda: Yay.
Eric: People are gonna get left out on the ice and disappear.
Julia: This is why I wanted the dead seal.
Eric: Hell yeah. Alright, we only have one 1, and one 5 left. But we still have 2 of everything else. So I want to see how that shakes out. Julia, it's your turn.
Julia: Great. Can you just remind me ho—I know we're trying to focus on relationships, but what's the number of needs, locations, and objects we should end up with?
Eric: No, you can do however. I just wanted to kick it off with a relationsh—with a relationship. We need two, we should have two needs, one location, and one object. So if you want to do a location or another need, you should definitely do that because we're also—I think we need to flesh out you and Brandon's relationship.
Julia: Yes.
Eric: With each other.
Julia: That's why I think I'm gonna do a need for Brandon and I.
Eric: Let's go.
Brandon: I have—I have my mind on one, I want to see if you pick it.
Julia: I'm really tempted by the number five to get the truth. Which I know we only have one 5 left so maybe not, but I also really think that get off is very funny.
Brandon: Hey, it's your die, you spend it how you want Julia.
Amanda: Yeah. I mean sabotaging a scientific program, and destroying reputation under get off are both really interesting.
Julia: Yeah. Alright, so I'm gonna use a three to put to get off as the need that Brandon and I share.
Eric: Hell yes.
Brandon: I like that. I just think it's funny that they—one of the options is “on rewatching a DVD of what you did.”
Julia: Yeah. Well, that could be like you get off on watching a murder that you did—
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Or something like that.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Or it could be like—
Julia: And that's—
Brandon: —you setting up a train—like a toy train.
Julia: Or like a domino thing.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Where I spent all day on this, and now I'm gonna watch it over and over again. The knocking down at the dominos.
Eric: This is set in like 2007. There's like—if only there was a—a sha— a video sharing website.
Brandon: If only I had a video camera in my pocket.
Eric: Incredible. Brandon, it's your turn.
Brandon: I really want to get some conflict in here.
Eric: Hooray.
Julia: Yay conflict.
Eric: We love conflict. This would be--
Amanda: Speak for yourself.
Eric: Amanda does the exact opposite of all of the television shows you watch.
Amanda: I know. I’m like, setting up for disaster? Ugh!
Brandon: I wanted a crime, but all the options underneath, they are pretty blah, you know?
Eric: We can—we can moosh them a little bit if we want to. Like it just kind of gives us scaffolding and then we can describe it however we want too.
Julia: I do think government contract fraudster is very funny though?
Brandon: Let's spend a 4 on crime.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Brandon: And I'll put that— let's see who needs a relationship?
Julia: Either Eric or Amanda, or you and me.
Brandon: I mean, I gotta do it between you and me, Julia.
Julia: Okay cool. Cool. Cool. Cool.
Eric: Yeah, absolutely. Pairing crime with to get off as your need is kind of incredible.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Like that—that will just—that will just be beautiful.
Julia: Oh, I know exactly how I want to fill that one out too, now that we've placed it there. Excellent.
[theme]
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): Onto the next step, but first the mid-roll.
[theme]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. I am packing to go on a trip right now to go to the airport. And I gotta say, I mean that right now. I did it a few minutes ago. And after this, I'm gonna keep backing. But the thing that I am excited about that I want to bring those relaxing cozy energy to this high stakes game of Fiasco is bringing your own pajamas and robes on vacation. Anytime I can, I make sure I bring my own robe so that at the end of the day when I'm in a new city and wearing uncomfortable shoes, and wearing cute clothes instead of the schlubby clothes I usually wear around the house. Nothing makes a place feel like home, even a temporary home than wearing my own dang robe. So here's to robes at the Midroll, welcome. Thank you so much to our newest patrons. Julia, Rocky, Rowley, Victoria, Emily and Christina. Did you, you listening right now, did you know that you can get a discount when you sign up for an annual pledge on Patreon. This is a new feature that we are so excited to introduce, because it lets you invest in a whole year of Patreon benefits and pay for it once and then you have it for 12 months. And also helpful for us because we know how much money we're going to be making for the year. And we can start planning ahead. That's at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. And hey, it is a brand new year, brand new month, brand new one chapter and we are streaming at a brand new time. We are over at twitch.tv/jtpsidequests, making side quests, NPCs items, plot hooks stuff that you can use for your own creative writing prompts or campaigns, or just hanging out and watching our faces as our voices come out of faces, which is you know can be an odd experience. And just watching Eric's Canada mastery, it's incredible. This is going to be at 3pm Eastern. That's our new streaming time. 3pm Eastern. So Europe specifically come on through, West Coast of North America, join us on your lunch break, Asia hang out. Stay up late with us. Come on through at twitch.tv/jtpsidequests. That link is also in the description of this episode. This week at Multitude we are going and growing baby, as Games and Feelings is now going weekly, join question keeper Eric and a revolving cast of guests including permanent guest Jasper Cartwright. Now our permanent guest as the show goes weekly, as they answer your questions at the intersection of fun and humanity. Because you know, you do have to play games with other people. You may of course remember Jasper, he's an actor, a d&d player and host of Three Black Halflings, former guests on this feed right here. And this weekly schedule brings back the 2020 hit show, What's your favorite Pokemon, And then I say something nice about you, where Eric interviews people about their favorite Pokemon and then says something nice about them. It's incredible. They talk about every single type of game of course, tabletop games, video games, party games, laser tag, escape rooms, game streams, d&d podcasts. And increasingly it's increasingly relevant the companies and people, and policies that impact these games. So listen, if you like what you hear and want to level up your emotional intelligence, subscribe now wherever you get your podcast, new episodes every dang Friday. We are sponsored this week by Battling Blades. Battling Blades designs and sells high quality swords, axes, machetes and knives. They strive to create and design products with the highest quality metals, bone, wood and leather. And hey, guys, they sent Eric an axe, they sent Julia a sword, and they sent Brandon and me pizza cutters, mezzalunas does that look fully like a throwing axe, that belongs in a museum. I am truly stunned, when we asked for a sword and an axe. I didn't think they'd send them. But then they did. And all of us were staggered. We did a FaceTime call to show off our stuff. We posted photos in Slack. We're gonna post photos on social, they're not paying us to do that. We're just so fucking excited about this stuff. God, we're stoked. And listen beyond weaponry, they also sell armor, shields, helmets, all kinds of incredible stuff. You seriously want to go to their website and check out what they have to offer, it's stunning. So for 20% off your battling blades order, go to battlin blades.com and enter code Join the Party at checkout. Once again, for 20% off your Battling Blades order, go to battlingblades.com and enter code Join the Party at checkout. And then like tag us on social because I want to see what you buy. Okay, cool. We are also sponsored by Shaker & Spoon, our favorite place for subscription cocktail boxes that teach you how to make craft cocktails at home. They'll teach you how to mix up bar quality cocktails from recipes designed by award winning mixologists. All while exposing you to new flavors and combinations and demonstrating a range of what each spirit can do. So every box comes with all the stuff you need including instructions, materials ingredients to make three different kinds of cocktails from the same bottle of spirit. So if like me, you know what spirits you like, but you're always trying to branch out and learn more like what does rum— what can rum do and it's not just in a you know a rum and coke like I drank in high school. Great. I can learn how from Shaker & Spoon. You can sign up for their monthly subscription or give a gift. Just a single box or even a whole year as a gift which be tight as hell. Code Join the Party will get you $20 off your first box at shakerandspoon.com That's shakerandspoon.com where code Join the Party you'll get $20 off your first box. Finally, the show is sponsored by BetterHelp. When you're at your best you can do great things, but sometimes life gets you bogged down and makes you feel overwhelmed or like you're not showing up in the way you want to do. I know it's totally true. I often feel like mental illness makes me selfish in a way that I don't love, not because I want to be but because it takes so much of my energy and time to just keep myself operating through the day that it is really difficult to go that extra mile to check in on my friends, check in on my family to think ahead, to make plans get excited about new stuff. All of that becomes less essential than just like getting through the day to day when I'm really feeling down. And that's something I work on with my therapist, to make sure that I have tools and somewhere to go, to help me in those times. And if you want to live a more empowered life, therapy can get you there. BetterHelp is convenient, flexible, affordable, and entirely online. So if finding therapy near you is a hassle, gives BetterHelp a go. Visit betterhelp.com/jointheparty today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterrHelp.com/jointheparty. And now back to the Derby.
[theme]
Eric: Okay, so it's my turn again? Alright. Let's-- just to review my relationship with Amanda is we—we have a need to get out and it's a relationship that's turned weird. So far, Amanda and Julia are community, their relationship is community and they're both tour guides. Brandon and Julia have a crime relationship, and their need is to get off where they come [snorts]. And then I have a soul relationship with Brandon. And the object I have is forbidden.
Brandon: Forbidden.
Eric: Oh man. I feel like I gotta figure out the relationship between Amanda and I.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Hmm.
Amanda: Marriage.
Eric: Oh, good joke.
Amanda: It's that an option?
Eric: No good joke.
Julia: No, it is. It is. We don't have a romance on these cards yet.
Brandon: Hmm.
Eric: I know we have a three, we might as well use it because the other ones—the one— We've already used soul. So I—I don't know if I want to do—
Amanda: I was gonna say it might be a little more interesting for the relationship to have turned weird between like researchers, or you know, like one of us changes their behavior drastically and the other person’s like, uh okay.
Eric: Well, the need though, doesn't have to apply to mean you, it just there is one, which is the driving force of our relationship. I think the relationship that's turned weird is the one my character has with Brandon's character.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Oh. I understand. Okay.
Eric: So that makes sense, is like we're in love. This fucking guy has explosives, I need to get out. And I feel like—
Amanda: Cool.
Eric: —that's what I feel like romance is the move.
Amanda: Alright, let's do it.
Eric: Also Brandon, I—I really want explosives. That's the object between us.
Brandon: So the need, the location, and the objects are sort of communal things that can apply to anyone, while their relationships we are nailing to a specific two people, correct?
Eric: What—the needs should be—the need, object, and location should be key to how the two characters interact and what their shit is. So it's like it's tied to you. So even though it's not about Amanda and my characters, it is integral to how our characters interact with each other. So like, maybe I fell in love with this person, because you're getting fucking terrible, and I do not want to deal with-- and I can't deal with it anymore. And that's what's driving us apart.
Brandon: So like, hypothetically, like, you know, we're best friends and I pissed you off. So you went straight crying to the hands of Amanda and fell in love. That could be the thing.
Eric: Right.
Julia: Could be it.
Eric: But it could but—but since we have a forbidden object, it's probably—
Brandon: Right.
Eric: —that thing that drove us apart, right?
Brandon: Cool.
Eric: So that's how you sta—that's how we're stacking these.
Amanda: Yeah, like we share the need to get out of a relationship that's turned weird, but it doesn’t have to be our relationship.
Eric: Exactly.
Brandon: Cool.
Julia: Gotcha.
Eric: Romance. Okay. Boom that was me. Amanda, it is your turn. There are no more 3s, but there's everything else.
Brandon: I only ever wanted 3s, that's all I wanted.
Amanda: Well, Eric, I'm gonna—fuck I wanted to use a 3.
Eric: Remember, the last die is a wild card. So if you want to leave it open for Brandon to use—
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: We might be able to do that.
Amanda: That's fair. I do really want to choose a location.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: And there are so many good options. Oh, boy.
Eric: This is for your and Julia's character's relationship.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Because-- so you're already tour guides. So I wonder how that fits?
Amanda: Yeah. Julia, is there a location that stands out to you that we would be more likely to give tours at?
Julia: Yes.
Brandon: I just want to say the funniest one that is on there right now is under three. One of the options is Wells Fargo ATM.
Julia: Hilarious. Amanda, Amanda. Amanda. There's one—
Amanda: What?
Julia: —if we choose Ross Island.
Brandon: Yes.
Julia: And I also choose the six.
Amanda: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Julia: It's the largest penguin colony.
Amanda: Let's do it!
Eric: Yeah. Now that's fucking it, isn't it? Okay, so the location is Ross Island. Julia, it's your turn. You want to do that?
Julia: Yes, I want that six, give me that six.
Eric: Okay. So the detail just to say it clearly, is the world's largest Adelie penguin colony. Off of-- in a different cape. Outside, this is like far away from McMurdo Station.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: That's so funny that you're showing people.
Julia: We just take scientists and like you want to see the penguins. We take them out onto the ice--
Amanda: There they are.
Julia: And we’re like, there's the penguins.
Eric: Oh, my God—
Amanda: There's—That's them.
Eric: Hey, can I make a suggestion?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: The name of the company is called Tuxedo Tours because you're showing them penguins wearing little tuxedos.
Julia: Wooo—
Amanda: That's it.
Julia: —writing that down.
Eric: Here's the thing, also, that I really hope you bring in just for sense. We had—someone was renting the Multitude studio, and it was about his trip to Antarctica. And the one thing he talked about the most was that penguins smell terrible.
Julia: That checks out, that makes sense.
Eric: So I really hope that sensory detail gets into the sea and if we end up using it.
Brandon: So the Adelie is a type of penguin by the way, if anyone listening didn't know that. I didn't know that. I just Googled it.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Well, what do they look like?
Brandon: Like Penguins.
Eric: They're like quintessential penguins?
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Nice.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Julia: They're like little guys. They like this big and they're mostly black and then with a white belly.
Eric: Oh my god. That's incredible.
Brandon: I don't know, I think it's French, so I don't know how to pronounce it, but.
Julia: Adeleye maybe?
Eric: Adeleye.
Brandon: Eric, you fucking nailed it.
Eric: That's what a lot of voicework has given me. Hell yeah. Alright, we are down to just five things. Brandon, it is your turn.
Brandon: Oh, no, it's my turn. Okay.
Eric: Oh, man.
Amanda: These are like chibi penguins.
Eric: They sure do look like stuffed animal penguins.
Amanda: They really do.
Eric: It's the eyes, the eye has like blue around a very large and ovular pupil. So it does look like a glass button. Or like a glass eye.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Okay, so we are out of general detail picks. So I am going to pick specific details based on those general ones now.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Brandon rewatch that DVD of what you did. Brandon. Do it, rewatch it.
Eric: It could be anything. It truly could be anything then.
Brandon: Yeah, I do want to do that, but Julia, here's the thing. I think you might pick that for me.
Julia: I will If you don't, but that's fine because I had the—I had an idea for both of those.
Brandon: Okay.
Julia: Both of our relationship things.
Brandon: What I'm worried about is me and Eric's relationship, and allowing Eric to pick the—
Eric: Listen, there's so many, almost all of them are good for soul. Like we have 1,2,4 and 5 on the board right now. And soul, that could be lifers on the ice. That could be the only survivors. That could be a newbie and an old timer, we're both misanthropes. I mean those—could any of those would work.
Brandon: I liked the only survivors but I'm like, so cause there’s other people around it. It has to be something else in our life. And like that means like war or some kind of bad thing that happened to us. So like, I don't want to play with that. I don't think.
Amanda: I mean, you could have also been, you know, the only two employees left at like a previously decommissioned research team.
Brandon: That's true.
Amanda: They don’t have to be like survivors of the massacre.
Brandon: That's true.
Julia: No one had to die.
Amanda: Corporate massacre. You know what I mean?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Yes. And the other one that’s interesting is the ones who found the body, which could be some other kind of body, like a body of water, or the body of a penguin.
Amanda: Or a poisonous penguin.
Julia: Could have been the body of a penguin. And now it's like an ecological like disease thing, and we're all quarantining or something.
Brandon: Hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Amanda: Interesting.
Brandon: Yeah. So I think because of just the creativity that I think it's going to engender, I think I'm going to—oh do we have any 3s left? We don't have any 3s left. Fuck. Okay, I'm going to do the only survivors then.
Eric: Okay—
Brandon: And use the 2.
Eric: We'll figure out what the only—we'll figure out what the only survivors are. Because Brandon, we could definitely do building off of me killing children. We could— it could be a very comical thing that we escaped.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: You could like— it could be very like, Steve Zissou sort of thing when we're escaping from something like that.
Amanda: A bad boss. All kinds of stuff.
Brandon: We don't have any experience with that, we wouldn't be able to pull from that at all.
Amanda: You’re method actors.
Brandon: Too far-fetched.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: That's true. Fuck.
Eric: We could have been—and this could have been under like a previous president.
Amanda: You could be expats, that’s true.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: We’re the only two survivors of Ronald Reagan?
Eric: I mean honestly—
Amanda: If Gore doesn’t win, I'm moving to Antarctica.
Eric: If it's Trump 2024, then it's me and the fucking penguins. Jesus Christ, okay. Alright, we're down to our last round here. I need a romance detail between Amanda and I. I need a crime or to get off detail between Brandon and Julia. And the forbidden object between Brandon and I. Do I want to do my own or do I want to push your hand?
Julia: [sings] Hit with me your best shot. Why don't you hit me with your best shot?
Eric: I think I'm gonna go with the explo—I really, really want the thing that's pulling us apart, is Brandon has explosives. I really want that. I'm gonna see if I can do it.
Brandon: It’s so much explosives too.
Amanda: How much is it?
Julia and Brandon: Five kilos.
Amanda: That's a lot, Jesus.
Eric: See it's a six though. It's a six though.
Brandon: Oh, you can't do that.
Amanda: Oh shit.
Julia: Maybe if Brandon's nice at the end, he'll let you have explosives?
Brandon: Maybe. Yeah. Never can tell what the chaos monster.
Eric: I mean, the thing is the nuclear power plant one could be the same. It's on and there's another one—
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: A tri walled cardboard container labeled toxic.
Brandon: That's hilarious.
Eric: Which are very—which are all very similar. Because I don't like-- 1 and 2 are the drug ones and they're not that deeply uninteresting in 2022.
Brandon: Oh just that having normal like, maybe not a normal amount, but like having weed on your person is just fine. It’s just normal.
Amanda: It's just fine. Yeah.
Eric: I—listen. You can stash one kilo o—like I've been on the Nike website, and they say stash one kilo of—of marijuana in this—in this hoodie, you know.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: I think I'm gonna go—Brandon, which do you like more, the toxic thing or the nuclear thing?
Brandon: I will say, Eric, not—I like both of those. But the hidden hydro—hydroponics project doesn't have to be drugs, it can be something else based on water. But um.
Julia: Brandon has a secret herb garden.
Amanda: Are you growing like a bioweapon?
Eric: That's what I was thinking.
Amanda: He could be growing like poisonous algae or moss or something.
Brandon: Yeah. Exactly.
Brandon: But I do really like a tri walled-- just the specificity of a tri walled cardboard container labeled toxic.
Eric: I wanna do that one.
Amanda: That one jumped out to me, because of the ambiguity. Like it could be someone's bad poop or could be you know, like uranium. There's a lot in between, or like a magazine, someone didn't like, you know.
Brandon: Yeah. [laughs] A magazine that someone didn’t like.
Amanda: This tells you the kinds of the—the kinds of plots that I am drawn to.
Eric: I think—here I'm starting to see the shape of Brandon and mine now that I think we're the only survivors of a previous ex— of like a previous scientific project. And we thought that the management did not do a good job dealing with it. And I think that one of us has something that was leftover, that we found, that we don't want to turn over.
Amanda: Oh, sure.
Brandon: Radioactive penguin in a box.
Eric: Right.
Amanda: Maybe the penguin died and they don't want to acknowledge it because of the tourism dollars. Like there's lots of reasons.
Brandon: Oh yeah, that's good.
Eric: I want to think—I'm gonna have to figure out what this is before because I want to know what the—I want to know what the object is before.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: We're gonna figure that out before the end of this.
Amanda: Tight.
Eric: So I spent a four on toxic, and thir— tri walled cardboard box labeled toxic
Amanda: Love it.
Eric: Amanda it is your turn.
Amanda: Alright honey wanna be current or former spouses?
Eric: Uh, former.
Amanda: Yeah, I thought so too.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. Let's uh let’s spend one--
Brandon: But in the game, what do you guys want to play?
Amanda: A one--
Eric: Aye oh!
Julia: Aye oh, hold on a second.
Eric: Aye oh.
Amanda: Let's do former spouses, and I love the idea that we a, still have to work together and b, whatever shit is happening with Brandon is severe enough that you have to come to your ex, and be like listen. Shit’s really--- remember back when I worked with the previous place just really going bad?
Brandon: I'm sad we don’t have a four, because I would have loved to see you two play a one-time fling.
Eric: That would be good too. Alright, Julia, you have a two or a five as you outline your crimes and needs.
Julia: That's hard now, 'cause get off, the two is prescription painkillers, which I don't like.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: And the five is a destroying a reputation.
Amanda: That could be good.
Eric: Destroying a reputation is good.
Julia: That's a good one. Brandon, can we discuss if—if, because we haven't defined the crime yet and you get to choose any number for the crime.
Eric: Cau—the last—the last die is wild.
Brandon: Am I the last die?
Julia: Yeah. You'll be the last die.
Brandon: Well I could then use it instead to do the DVD. And then if you want to choose crime.
Julia: Yeah, but then that leaves me again, either a two or a five which is gambler and bookie which I don't like, or hoodlums, which I don't like as well.
Brandon: Well, I think we can redefine hoodlums, like because that's a terrible word in 2022, but like sports, it says in parenthesis, sports enthusiasts, drunkards delinquents, like we could be like, I think we could define that differently if we wanted to.
Eric: Listen, we are recording this right now at the end of November in 2022. It could be soccer hooligans.
Amanda: The World Cup is happening.
Eric: The World Cup is currently happening. Soccer hooligans is on the table.
Julia: That's true. I just really liked the idea that we're smuggling penguins, Brandon and I really want to be smugglers.
Brandon: Uh, yeah.
Eric: I mean, destroy the reputation.
Julia: Yeah, destroy the reputation, and then you can also smuggle penguins.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: And there's no reason I can't throw a DVD in there anyway.
Julia: Yeah, we can still do the DVD thing. Maybe we have a DVD that will ruin someone's reputation if it gets out.
Brandon: I like that a lot. Maybe or and or, or it's just or I don't know what I'm doing. We just have— we're in the Antarctica penguin station, and we have one DVD though. A movie that we watch.
Julia: I think that's fair.
Eric: I also—remember I do want to keep this a little hard-boiled, just a little bit.
Amanda: Well, what I was thinking is maybe you like self-taped a press release about how bad the previous management of the you know scientific station or penguin colony was.
Eric: Oh shit like 1990 CSPAN?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, dude.
Julia: Wow.
Amanda: And you're like you know, mail it over and you keep the copy in and you're like yeah, yeah, listen to our PR language. Yeah.
Julia: Okay, alright. Yeah. So we'll—we'll do that where we're going to be destroying a reputation, and then finally defining our crime relationship. We are penguin smugglers.
Eric: Was that wa—is that one of them?
Julia: Uh one of the—
Brandon: It's smugglers. The crime.
Julia: The number one for crime is smugglers.
Eric: Oh, smugglers.
Julia: Artifacts, endangered species.
Eric: Got it. Got it. I love that. Oh my god. There's so many penguins—
Brandon: Hold on--
Eric: —Hell yeah.
Brandon: Actually, one second. Julia, can I tempt you with government contract fraudster investigators, because it's very similar. Do we want to be—
Julia: Yeah.
Brandon: —the people doing the smuggling, or do we want to be, like do we want to be the bad guys and the good guys, I guess is what I’m asking?
Julia: So the thing is, I think with the—with the government contract fraudster and investigator, you're the fraudster, and I'm the investigator. Or I'm the fraudster and you're the investigator.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Okay, then yeah, I'd like some smugglers better. Let's do that.
Julia: Okay, cool.
Brandon: I love smugglers.
Eric: Hell yeah dude.
Julia: Smugglers is very funny. I was originally looking at that when Brandon if we had gotten the DVD of the thing that you did because that would be very funny. If you just had a DVD of your crime—
Brandon: Oh my god.
Julia: —And I was trying to find out what it was.
Eric: I don't know what you're talking about. I have to go to my bunk. Rewind, rewind, rewind. Hell yes. Alright. So let's talk about, now that we have all of our details. I'm gonna read them out. Amanda and my characters, we have a romance and we're former spouses. Well, we have a need to get out, because it's a relationship that's turned weird. Amanda and Julia's characters, you are tour guides together, and you bring people to Ross Island, where the large—there is a very, very, very large penguin colony out there. Julian and Brandon, you are—you're smugglers, and you have the need to get off to destroy the reputation of someone powerful. And Brandon and my characters, we have a soul bond by being the only survivors from something. And there is an object—forbidden object which is a cardboard box labeled toxic.
Brandon: I'm sorry, Eric, you for—you failed to put in tri walled cardboard box.
Eric: It's a tri walled cardboard box, yes. So now this is the next step, right? This is the—this is how we pull it all together. At this point, you have a big pile of intermingled relationships, a dangerous obsession or two, and some tasty places and things to wrap them around. At some point you might cry out, of course, I'm the librarian selling dope to the Board of Aldermen. But it's also possible your character remains amorphous. Now is the time to get it into focus, because leaving things to be fleshed out in play weakens them. Work as a team, everyone needs to define who they are based on the particular pair of relationships. And quite often these will be unequal, frayed by differences in power and status. It may make more sense for you to be the drug dealer, rather than the guy who also has to be the preacher, but maybe not.
Amanda: Cool.
Eric: So let's start to define our characters a little bit more based off of this stuff.
Julia: Well, I did just write my name down, which is Mackenzie Newport.
Eric: Nice.
Amanda: Very good, Julia.
Eric: There it is.
Brandon: How do you do that?
Julia: I don't know, Brandon. I simply don't know.
Brandon: Oh man.
Amanda: I think mine is Penny Farmworth. I think I'm a like Iowan, like young woman who, you know, studied animals in school and wanted to, you know, see the world and came down to Antarctica to, you know, hang out with penguins and run tours. I'm not a scientist. I'm just a lady. And I married somebody quickly/maybe for housing benefits. And then later was like, yeah, I don't think so. So now I think I'm probably in my like, mid to late 30s. And I've ended up you know, dedicating my life to Antarctica, but that's where—that's where my stuff originated.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Okay. Amanda, you just inspired mine really quick. So let me—let me roll while it's still in my head. McKenzie Newport I think is a like zoology student who went to Australia to learn how to handle dangerous Australian animals, ala Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, but got kicked out because of dangerous practices. And so got a job doing the penguin tours at McMurdo Station, and is unhappy with her lot in life. And so it's decided to kidnap and smuggle out the penguins for profit.
Brandon: Love it.
Amanda: Very good.
Eric: Oh, man. Okay.
Brandon: Okay. I think I got mine then. And Julia, if or Amanda, if you think of a name because you're much better than that, let me know. I think I am some kind of like, sup—like, within the scientists. There's always like a supervisor scientist, right? So like, I think I have like a supervisory role of the scientists, and whatever we escaped, whether it was like another—whatever we're the only survivors of Eric, like, I think it was another kind of station or another kind of like, thing that we were a part of. And instead of firing you and me, it was easier to keep us quiet by sending us off to-- sending us to Antarctica. So like, I guess I'm like, technically people's bosses, but I'm like, I'm one of the people like, I'm a scientist, I don't give a shit. I'm not gonna be your manager. You know?
Eric: Okay, so then here's my question to flesh us out, Brandon. Because I agree— I think that I'm work—I'm working under you in this or in this capacity, we got moved over. I sure do want it to be a tragedy. I really do, man. It can be like we don't talk about it because it's ridiculous. Like what is— like, what is it that like, everyone was—was scuba diving, and they all got starfish in their, or so or like algae in their—in their oxygen. And it's so stupid that, that's why the government doesn't want it to come out. Like it's a tragedy and would look so terrible.
Amanda: Like a very preventable sad thing.
Eric: Yeah. And—
Brandon: Can we—is it something with penguins that we can do? Is that too tight?
Eric: Um, no, it can be penguins, for sure. Okay, this is tying in a lot of things with soul, come with me.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: The reason why this happened is that everyone wanted to play with the penguins because they're so cute. And we didn't because this is annoying, and we didn't want to go and play with the penguins, because we don't like our co-workers. And then they all died because they got eaten by orcas.
Amanda: Oh, I was gonna say Penguin Foot and Mouth Disease. But either one.
Brandon: Yeah.
Julia: Brandon also for you. I wrote down Dr. Craig Wentworth.
Amanda: Julia, I was thinking Martin Beans.
Brandon: I want to be— hold on. I want to be Dr. Craig Wentworth, and my nickname is Beans, because—because I'm a scientist and I'm a bean head, right? You know what I mean?
Julia: Tight. I love it.
Amanda: Yeah. Or you’re one of those people who's like food is fuel, why would I eat anything but beans?
Brandon: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: Anyway, I—
Brandon: I loved that.
Amanda: Eric, I think that’s fabulous. And I love the idea that it's like a rare orca attack, and the government didn't wanna acknowledge it because they depend on like orca tourism or like orca preservation dollars or something to fund their research.
Brandon: So it was like we'll get—we'll keep—if you keep quiet, we'll up your salary.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And so we're like, okay, great. And then there was like, oh, but turns out it's in Antarctica, sorry.
Eric: Well, I thought it was in the—we could be in the same place if it’s with the penguins.
Brandon: Oh, right, right. It's on Ross Island, let's say. As opposed to the main station.
Amanda: Yeah, it's good.
Eric: Yeah, we are—we are truly shunted to the middle—to the middle of nowhere.
Brandon: Yeah. Yeah And now we have to like—the scientists are in charge of the station, like the Ross Island station, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: And so technically, the tour guide part of it, is like under our purview, but like, we don't care.
Eric: And now we're like, at the same level, but you were definitely my manager before because I want to figure-- because the unevenness of what to do with the object, what to do with the toxic thing. I think we're gonna have to figure out there, that like we've dealt with this. I also really love the idea of like, everyone thinking whales are gentle giants and we hate them because they killed, but we can’t talk about it.
Amanda: Yeah, like fuck those whales, whales, fuck those whales.
Eric: Can I—can I be Dr. Marty Beans?
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, totally. And everyone calls me b--, and everyone just calls me beans.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yup.
Eric: Yeah, I want the— I want that very much. So
Brandon: Yeah, maybe I'm just the older like more senior scientists.
Eric: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, for sure.
Brandon: But I say that because I want Julia and I to interact somehow, because, like the idea that—
Julia: Yeah, I mean how else did we get into our smuggling routine, you know?
Brandon: Exactly. Like the idea that like, I'm technically your boss, but at some point, you came up to him was like, hey, I got this plan. And you're like, yeah, fuck the man, let's go smuggle some penguins and get some-- get paid.
Eric: Cool. What would be something that toxic that would disrupt the penguin thing? Because I think that would be the real—I have the toxic thing. I bring it to you and you're like, leave me out of the shit. I do not want to know about it. Throw it away. Deal with it.
Julia: It’s gotta be the bird flu.
Eric: It cannot be a vial of bird flu.
Julia: Okay fine. It's a—it's a dead penguin who has bird flu?
Eric: Okay, it's probably you know, actually, you know what it is probably. I love the idea of me carrying around a dead penguin.
Julia: In a cardboard box.
Eric: In a cardboard box, yeah.
Amanda: They’re so small, like a large poster.
Eric: Yes. No, I really— I really like that, that I have the dead penguin. There's something wrong with it. And you don't want to look at it. Because you're—you're making money on the smuggling.
Julia: That's true.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: And I can't figure out why you've turned on me because this is another opportunity for us to get the government for the Orca attack.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: For the— for the Orca attack.
Amanda: Yeah. And you come to me because I'm with the penguins every day. And you're like, isn't this happening? And I'm like, yeah, it is.
Eric: Let's get out. Let's leave.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And like—
Julia: I love it, it's great.
Brandon: —I like no one's gonna want to buy a diseased penguin. So don't. I don't want to know. Yeah.
Julia: Yeah. No one's gonna buy a diseased penguin. Come on.
Brandon: No.
Julia: All the other penguins are probably fine. Don't worry about it.
Eric: Before we move on, is that okay, that there's an Orca—that there's a terrible Orca attack that killed everybody?
Brandon: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Okay.
Amanda: We all know it's fiction.
Eric: I just think—I just think it's very fine. I just think it's very funny.
Amanda: Maybe later we find out that it's like a robot that the government made, and—and you know, made look like an orca for undersea research or smuggling.
Julia: Or just like spycraft.
Eric: It's just spycraft. Honestly, getting a G-man walking up to us and giving us a manila envelope saying that the Orca was actually a submarine the whole time, is very much something that would happen in a Coen Brothers movie.
Julia: Also, you know how—I feel like there was—I don't know if it was a rumor or real thing, but they were like training dolphins to go be spies underwater.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: That’s so funny.
Julia: Instead, it's Orca's.
Brandon: I just imagined them coming up to give the reports in—in Dolphin blurps nd bleeps?
Amanda: No that's great. Julia, maybe the government was trying to like mind control orcas with like LSD or sonar or something to like spy on the international, you know, treaty protected other government agencies in Antarctica, from other countries.
Eric: Listen, let's see if that breaks out. We don't know what the tilt—that seems like a real tilt happening in the middle of this, but we'll see if that happens. For sure.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: I love that.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Hell yeah dude. It is—Is it funnier if it's dolphins, or like something happened and we're ambiguous about it, but we hate something that's be— that like is in aquariums at all times?
Amanda: I think whales are funnier.
Brandon: I think whales are funnier, yeah.
Julia: Yeah.
Eric: Whales are funnier.
Amanda: Isn't Orca, large dolphin technically.
Brandon: Yeah, technically, but.
Eric: The ki—the killer, yeah, the killer whale. I think it's so funny how like, we hate Shamu and Free Willy. Like that would be so funny, you know what I mean?
Amanda: Yeah, I think it's really funny.
Eric: Okay.
Brandon: Maybe the DVD, we only have in the station is Shamu.
Eric: Free Willie, one, two, and four. We're still looking for three.
Amanda: The only books are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Moby Dick.
Julia: Nooo.
Eric: Holy shit. Okay, I'm just thinking if I want to be Marty Beans or I want to be a different name.
Julia: I don’t know, Marty Beans is pretty good.
Eric: Marty Beans is good. I love being beans.
Amanda: Yeah, my ex-husband Marty Beans.
Julia: Oh, you used to be Mrs. Beans.
Amanda: I never changed my name.
Brandon: I just love the idea that every day in the cafeteria, we walk up and you have a different type of bean that day.
Eric: I don't like Beans. My last name—my last name’s just Beans. The cafeteria worker played by a that guy just fucking put some beans on my plate. Oh my god, I hate this. This is the worst.
Brandon: Today we got garbanzo.
Eric: I know.
Amanda: Like it made sense in Ukrainian, but then when it came over… Yeah.
Julia: It's Steve Buscemi, that's the guy who's in the—the cafeteria.
Eric: Oh yeah.
Julia: Steve Buscemi.
Eric: Francis McDormand is hopefully the G-man who shows up and gives us the manilla envelope, I’m really hoping for that.
Julia: And then Joey Pants is in there somehow.
Eric: Yeah. Joey Pants—Joey Pants is-- gets to be a high-status man. He's a rich person who shows up to Antarctica.
Amanda: Oh yeah.
Julia: I'm selling him the smuggled penguins.
Eric: Yeah, Joey Pants is buying the smuggled penguins, a 100%.
Amanda: My granddaughter would love that shit.
Eric: Okay, alright. Let's do a quick recap it—also people have descriptions of their characters. This would also be a time to do it. We also don't have to do it in any order. So anyone who feels who have—who feels confident.
Julia: McKenzie Newport is a former zoology student who was working for the Crocodile Hunter and was fired inexplicably and is now taking a job here at McMurdo Station as a tour guide to show people penguins, but those penguins are being smuggled for profit.
Eric: Hell yeah.
Amanda: Very good. Penny Farmworth is a Midwestern animal lover, who came wide-eyed to Antarctica after college, but found and lost love, and—and got hard on the cold tundra. So now she is getting through her day, doing her penguin tour career until her ex entices her with an offer to finally get out and uncover something rotten happening under her own nose.
Brandon: Love it. Dr. Craig Wentworth is a reluctant supervisory lab tech scientist person, who saw too much and was relegated to the backwater station of Ross Island from the main one. And has a grudge against the government, and very few ethical cares anymore. Looks probably like Clark Gregg.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: Great.
Eric: Yeah. Real-- just the most receding hairline, but it's still there. It's like happening right in the middle of his head.
Brandon: Yup.
Julia: Oh yeah. My—my face claim or headcanon is Mary Elizabeth Winstead for Mackenzie Newport.
Brandon: Classically also in Fargo. So it makes sense.
Eric: There you go. I like that.
Julia: And also in the bad prequel to The Thing.
Amanda: Yeah, I think keeping with the Fargo theme, mine is Kirsten Dunst in the gay cowboy movie.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: God, Kirsten Dunst is such a good young woman turned hard. She's so good at that.
Brandon: Yeah, she's one of my favorite actors. And Doctor Wentworth also just so everyone's aware, wears the same thing every day because it's a uniform and it's easy. Nice.
Julia: Natch, of course.
Eric: Can I get like—can I be like Oscar Isaac, but he uglies himself up like 50%?
Amanda: Yeah. Yeah.
Julia: Okay.
Brandon: So the problem is that Oscar Isaac can't ugly himself up even when he tries.
Eric: That's true. I'm—
Julia: He just looks hotter when you make him more beleaguered looking.
Eric: I know. I'm trying to pick a different Coen brother for I—maybe I'm Ed, maybe I'm Ed Norton. Can I—can I get Ed Norton?
Amanda: That is really good, yeah.
Julia: That would be great.
Amanda: Like Knives Out, Ed Norton?
Eric: Yeah. Well, he's also—he's also like—here's the thing about Dr. Bean-- Marty Beans, Beans, is that after being told that he knew too much, he waited and waited and waited for an opportunity to get back at the government that silenced him and Dr. Craig?
Brandon: Sorry Eric, it's Dr. Wentworth.
Eric: We're—we're the same now, Craig. We're the same, come on. We're not doing this anymore. Now that I finally have something that I can use to get out and get the government to bring me somewhere where I can finally get a position, where it is not zero Fahrenheit or Celsius every single day. Craig doesn't want to do it with me, so I guess I have to do with my—I have to do it with my ex Penny, who still definitely fucking hates me, but it's the only lifeline I have.
Julia: Penny Beans.
Brandon: Penny Bean.
Eric: Penny Beans, Penny Beans.
Julia: Penny Beans.
Eric: I'm gonna keep looking for my actor. I don't know. Maybe it's like Edward Norton from—from what he was in Rounders when he was younger. I need like a younger— I need a younger Ed Norton.
Julia: Ed Norton, but in the first Hulk movie.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Amanda: It's good.
Julia: Or the second Hulk movie, I should say. But you know.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. Okay, this is wonderful. I'm very excited about this. If you would rather see us play this game more than Battle of the Bronte's or the game we're gonna play next week, the characters we're gonna play next week, vote on it in the poll that's going to come out when we do the After Party. That is going to be your time to vote, vote then. I'm in love with these characters, but I've also had love with the British children from before.
Amanda: Pitchester!
[theme]
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): This is Scoot McGarry signing off, because next week, at the One-Shot Derby, we're gonna get spooky. And it's spooky because of ghosts, and also reality television.
Brandon: Whoa.
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): When we play InSpectres.
Julia: Woooo.
Amanda: Yay.
Eric (as Scoot McGarry): And now Chubby Checker is gonna dance for three hours.
[theme]
Transcriptionist: K. Benganio
Editor: KM