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Creating Characters Matt Wants to Kill | Age of Umbra | Session Zero
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MATT: Hello, everybody. (laughter)
MATT: Welcome to our Session Zero
for the upcoming Age of Umbra
Daggerheart mini-series. MARISHA: (whispers) Age of Umbra.
TRAVIS: (deeply) Age of-- TRAVIS and SAM: Umbra.
MATT: Very excited about this. ASHLEY: Age of Umbra.
TALIESIN: Umbra.
MATT: This is one of the numerous campaign frames
in the base Daggerheart game
that Sam is holding right there.
TRAVIS: It's so pretty!
Ribbon! Foil! SAM: It's smells nice, too.
TRAVIS: Beautiful art. MARISHA: Mm, it does!
Smells like fresh book. MATT: It's verified.
TRAVIS: A crazy stack on the back. MARISHA: Fresh glue.
MATT: Hell yeah. SAM: Very nice.
MATT: But this campaign frame in particular
is one that I wrote for the book.
It draws a lot of inspiration
from a lot of things that I love.
ASHLEY: It's so good.
SAM: Oh, there's a typo. MARISHA: Shut up. Don't.
SAM: I'm kidding. (laughs) TRAVIS: That literally can't happen.
MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)
MATT: Take that book away from him.
TRAVIS: I can guarantee that's not true.
(laughter)
MATT: Yeah, this is inspired by many different forms of media
that I love very much.
Very "Soulsborne," "Kingdom Death Monster,"
"Blasphemous," "Berserk,"
that kind of dark,
really horror, fantasy, survival.
All these different things
that are heavy moods in these projects,
I tried to bring into Daggerheart
through this campaign frame,
and I'm excited to explore it with you all.
So today we're making first level characters
within this Age of Umbra campaign
to give you a little bit of a setting, a brief setting.
I'll read here
the essence of the first paragraph.
SAM: Ooh, ooh! MATT: To get you guys into this.
There's a deeper breakdown in the overview
that you guys can study before we actually play.
But a quick little overview.
"A century has passed since the God-King Othedias
"betrayed the Pantheon,
"referred to as the Veiled Gods,
"provoking divine punishment and abandonment by these gods
"who then left the realm
"that was and is known as the Halcyon Domain
"shattered, desolate, and eternally cursed.
"Throughout this shadow-choked land of decaying fortresses
"and dreadful monstrosities,
"surviving communities cling to hope
"in the face of lightless oblivion.
"In an Age of Umbra campaign,
"you'll play as heroic survivors
"who protect their community
"from the terrors beyond their walls,
"venture out into the unknown to hunt the nightmares
"that twist and grow with each fallen soul,
"seek answers to the curses that corrupt this world,
"and perhaps even discover a way to change its fate,
"should you survive." SAM: Oh.
MATT: And I'm pretty sure not all of you
are going to make it to the end.
TRAVIS: Oh, goody!
SAM: Matt, which one of us is going to die?
TALIESIN: On a long enough timeline...
MATT: You, Sam. (laughter)
MATT: It's always you. (laughter)
MATT: But yeah, it is meant to be a dark, ominous tone.
A lot of, you know, epic moments,
but also a lot of grim and ominous moods and settings.
Terrifying, it's tragic.
It's, you know, the immediacy of surviving in the moment
with the backdrop of ancient forgotten lore and promise
and a landscape that grows ever darker and colorless
as the Umbra itself continues to expand,
an amorphous, dark cloud-like entity
that sweeps like a storm
with an unknowable intelligence.
You can almost hear it wailing in the distance
at any given point in time,
uncertain of where it may exist.
When it draws near,
everyone tries to find the nearest Sacred Pyre
and hunker down until it passes.
As those are the only real places of safety
in the Age of Umbra are the Sacred Pyres.
They are massive bonfires that burn
10, 20, or higher feet into the air
and are these burning little beacons of hope
and safety throughout the landscape.
There are--
Usually a community builds itself around one of these Pyres.
It's the only way that it can maintain itself
in this shadow-choked landscape.
Individuals have to keep kindling
the fire as it progresses.
There are rumors or historical record of relics
of the ancient age referred to
as Blessed Branches that are used
to either rekindle a Sacred Pyre that has burned out
or to create a new one to maintain its kindling.
That's how new settlements are born and expand.
But they are rare, if anything, mythological
to some of the youngest of the settlers
that try and survive throughout the Halcyon Domain.
But within this space,
a couple cool things to go over
that are specific about this.
Among that mood, you know,
I'll go through some of the distinctions of this campaign.
So this is kind of the fun bits
to give you the heads up of what this is about.
Things like eternal gloom and volatile weather.
TRAVIS: (laughs) That's amazing.
MATT: So it says, "Since the Veiled Gods abandoned the world
"an endless gloom has engulfed the skies
"leaving the nights black as pitch
"and even the zenith of day a dreary haze.
"Somber grays of the mist and sky
"are occasionally broken by heavy rains
"or strange erratic weather events,
"while the more cursed regions
"are home to never ending storms of vibrant hues.
"Some say even underground, cavernous spaces
"are occasionally host to strange weather phenomena."
ASHLEY: Cool. MATT: "The gloom
"only ever breaks over hallowed ground
"or on mysterious, unpredictable days
"revealing golden sunbeams or gossamer moonlight
"that grants esoteric boons or curses to those present.
"There are beliefs among the Enduring
"that the highest mountain peaks can pierce the gloom
"and offer new homelands free of turmoil.
"But those are so far off from these lands
"that they themselves are still just myth.
"Also, death becomes a curse.
"Places not protected by the Sacred Pyres
"are vulnerable to the Umbra,
"the flow of malevolent, unholy spirits
"that cling to lightless places.
"The amorphous necrotic energy courses
"through the Halcyon Domain like a dark wind,
"transient with unknowable intelligence
"as it calls to the souls of the dead
"like a mother to its children
"and draws them into its shape.
"The Umbra is a terrifying force of malice and corruption.
"Swirling, wailing black mist, invoking delirium and despair
"at its threshold while physically corrupting
"and transforming the bodies of those that surrender to it.
"Many of the horrifying monsters that are prowling
"these lands have been changed by the Umbra,
"leaving part of its ever-expanding mass within them,
"like a foul seed mutating the host
"and perpetuating its own cancerous expansion
"through wanton destruction and death."
So.
The land has some bad stuff going on throughout it.
SAM: Bad land. MATT: Yeah, yeah.
ASHLEY: Better pack an umbrella!
(laughter)
TRAVIS: Save it, save it, save it.
SAM: Maybe that's your character! ASHLEY: I'll save it for the game.
I'll save it for the game. SAM: Maybe you're
the umbrella salesman.
MARISHA: Ooh! MATT: Could be.
MARISHA: Age of Umbrella!
(laughter)
TRAVIS: Get your umbrella! 'Brella, 'brella.
ASHLEY: I kind of like this idea.
MATT: There you go.
MARISHA: Oh, you're writing it down. (laughs)
ASHLEY: Listen, ideas are brewing.
MATT: Other fun distinctions for this campaign.
The Shadow of Society.
"The Old World was one of grandiose castle fortresses,
"sprawling cityscapes, and imposing temples
"towering over the lush lands that surrounded them.
"However, the wrath of the Veiled Gods
"toppled much of that extravagance to ruin,
"the kingdoms and cabals that basked in opulence
"shattered and forgotten.
"What remains is a ghost of what it once was.
"Surviving remnants of the old ways
"struggle to reclaim a forgotten glory
"while most survivors lead grueling lives
"across the splintered communities
"of this broken realm.
"This tattered tapestry of heritage and history
"is fading with the light,
"yet the Enduring forge new culture through hardship,
"determination, and ambition,
"picking through the debris of what was
"in hopes of building what will be."
So that's where the dark of the past
and the light of hope for the future
exist through the Enduring,
the people that survive and what they hope to find,
uncover, and rebuild in the midst of this shadow.
Also, magic is suspicious here.
"In ancient times, the practice of Aetherweaving--"
SAM: Aetherweaving.
MATT: "-- was paramount to the Halcyon Domain's
"construction and prosperity.
"Yet, while rune-marked arms and enchanted relics
"of the Old World are considered boons
"by the surviving people of the Halcyon Domain,
"the Aetherweave is believed to be responsible
"for the wrath of the Veiled Gods
"and thus the Age of Umbra.
"Much of the world is now suffused in dark magic
"that saturates the wilds, chaotic and corrupting,
"wielded by those who worship the gloom
"of the new age, or yield to it entirely.
"The superstitious disdain for spellcraft
"is pervasive within many communities,
"with tales of Aetherweaver hubris
"taught as fables to youth
"to dissuade them from such temptation.
"Places that harbor lingering fonts of magic
"are instinctively shunned and avoided by many.
"While Aetherweaving can be used to protect and preserve,
"it is deeply mistrusted in many social circles
"leading to confrontation or exile if care is not taken."
So magic definitely exists in this world,
and you can be a magic user,
but you just might need to be a little careful
in how you use it and in front of whom.
TRAVIS: Got it. SAM: Cool.
MARISHA: Cool. MATT: So those are just
some of the distinctions for the campaign.
There are some campaign mechanics for this
that might be interesting for you guys to know about.
SAM: Okay.
MATT: Which is kind of fun.
One of them is called the Strength of Hate.
MARISHA: Strength of Hate?
TRAVIS: Hate. MATT: Hate.
MARISHA: Okay. MATT: Which is "The Umbra
"has seeped into all manner of beings,
"twisting them into a malformed mockery
"of their former selves
"instilled with preternatural strength."
Essentially, there are enemies
that you will come across possibly
that are called Umbra-Touched.
I use that as a mechanic as a GM.
But an Umbra-Touched creature
crits you on a 19 or 20. TRAVIS: Oh shit.
MATT: So it has twice the chance to crit.
But also you as PCs,
whenever you fall to zero hit points
and you choose one of the death options to go unconscious,
you take a scar, which permanently
marks off one of your Hope.
Because you are touched by the Umbra,
the soul blight that exists in every living Enduring
kind of clings to that,
you do more damage based on more scars you have.
SAM: Oh. MATT: So the more--
The closer you are to reaching the end of your journey,
the more damage you deal.
ASHLEY: Whoa, that's cool. TALIESIN: Ooh.
MATT: But when you mark off your last scar,
you immediately run screaming
into the darkness to join the Umbra itself.
TRAVIS: Oh! (laughs) MARISHA: Cool.
TRAVIS: It's like "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark."
MATT: Kind of, yeah. ASHLEY: Mm-hmm.
MARISHA: Yeah. MATT: I mentioned
the fiery beacons, the Sacred Pyres within society.
Those exist out there as places of safety.
Also, in this campaign--
Well, unlike normal Daggerheart in which you,
when you have downtime, a short rest, long rest,
and you have your downtime actions
and such throughout that,
there is always danger lurking
in the darkness of this realm.
This Lurking Darkness rule
represents the ever present danger of the Umbra.
So whenever the party finishes a short or long rest,
while not in the vicinity of a Sacred Pyre,
so if you're ever traveling out
and not directly near a Sacred Pyre,
I get to roll a d12 for the Lurking Darkness
and consult a table.
It can have all sorts of fun little things
that might happen as the darkness
slowly creeps in on you
as you try and take a bit of respite.
SAM: So taking rests has dangers and threats to it.
MATT: Correct. ASHLEY: If you're not near
one of the Sacred Pyres. MATT: Correct.
Now mind you,
there is a new downtime activity
throughout this campaign called keeping watch.
You actually, as opposed to,
you know, repairing your armor,
or healing hit points,
someone can keep watch in which they describe
how they stay vigilant against what lurks beyond the camp.
Then when I make this roll at the end of the downtime,
this player rolls their Hope die,
and chooses whether to replace
what I rolled with their Hope die or not.
SAM: Mm. TRAVIS: Oh shit.
MATT: As long as somebody spends a downtime action,
which is one less chance to heal
or repair or get a Hope or anything,
it means you might get a better chance
on that Lurking Darkness roll.
MARISHA: On this table, is it random?
Or is the higher numbers generally are more positive
and lower our numbers worse?
MATT: Well, put it this way. On a one to two,
I describe how something monstrous
found you in the dark
and an adversary immediately ambushes you.
MARISHA: Great. MATT: So you could just be
attacked at the end of your rest.
On a three to five,
I gain two Fear.
Just at the end of the rest for free.
On a six to nine, I gain one Fear.
SAM: 69. MARISHA: Nice.
MATT: Heyo.
On a 10 to 11, nothing happens necessarily.
On a 12, you all gain a Hope.
SAM: Oh! MATT: So the higher roll
actually can be a benefit.
MARISHA: Okay. SAM: Okay, okay.
MATT: But it's a one in 12 chance to get a benefit and a--
TRAVIS: Because everything sucks here.
MATT: -- 60-ish percent chance-- MARISHA: Because everything sucks.
TRAVIS: 69% chance. MATT: -- something bad's going to happen.
MARISHA: Nice. MATT: There you go.
TALIESIN: Okay. MATT: So yeah.
That's kind of a--
SAM: Fellatio. MATT: A very qui--
(laughter)
TRAVIS: Hand job. MARISHA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: (laughs)
MATT: This is heavy stuff. TRAVIS: Dry humping.
(laughter)
MATT: It's a very serious campaign. TRAVIS: Yeah.
SAM: It is. TRAVIS: This is session zero.
We got to get it all out. MATT: Of course.
SAM: We're getting it all out. MATT: You got to.
MARISHA: We're being serious. SAM: Getting it out now.
MATT: I know, I know. It's just fun to say. ASHLEY: We got to get it out.
MATT: So to that point,
let's jump into character creation for this
and start building out what your Enduring are,
and then decide through that process
where they exist in the world, what their history is,
how young, how old, how experienced,
how fraught they are. SAM: Druid?
ASHLEY: I have a question. MATT: What's your question?
ASHLEY: How-- TRAVIS: Shut up.
(laughter)
ASHLEY: Where are-- (laughs)
How many Sacred Pyres are there? Do we know?
MATT: You don't know. ASHLEY: And are they--
MATT: You can see some and we can discuss that
based on where you're starting.
We'll build at the end of this
one or more settlements that exist out here
that some of you are at or from.
There is one called Okros,
which is the brightest Pyre in the Halcyon Domain.
It's visible from most places in the entire region.
ASHLEY: I see here. Okay.
MATT: It's the brightest and largest Sacred Pyre
and is used like a North Star
when it comes to traversing the domain.
But there are many Pyres,
but many are much smaller and harder to see.
Some are obscured by topography,
some exist underground,
you know, some are obscured by mists and shadow.
Some are obscured by magic.
ASHLEY: Are these circles the Pyres?
MATT: Those are visible Pyres-- ASHLEY: Visible Pyres. Okay.
MATT: -- that are known in the landscape. Yes.
MARISHA: Another question. MATT: Yes.
MARISHA: This Halcyon Domain that fell,
how long ago was that?
Does it make any sense
that there might be older people who still remember?
MATT: It was a century ago. MARISHA: A century ago.
MATT: So if anyone remembers it,
they are very, very old. MARISHA: Very, very old.
Okay.
MATT: And most folks don't survive
that long here. MARISHA: That long here.
MATT: So anyone that, I'll put it this way.
In your settlements where you're at,
unless any of you are beginning
in a very well protected place of higher learning and care,
hard pressed to know anybody over the age of 60--
TRAVIS: Yeah. MATT: -- that has
survived this long. MARISHA: Okay.
MATT: Most people live to 30s to 50s, I'll say.
Even then, many are taken at a younger age
by things beyond the walls.
MARISHA: When that happened,
when the walls and everything fell,
was there also a pretty massive population
wipe as well?
Did we go from like, oh, you know,
out of every three people, one died.
Was it something like that?
MATT: Could have been. MARISHA: Oh! TALIESIN: Okay.
MATT: There are tales of cataclysm,
but much of the true history is honestly lost
except to those who have access
to the few remaining libraries
and places of higher learning from the old age.
So what most is known in the scattered settlements
is oral history with scraps of the occasional written tome
that's probably tattered and molded over time
that is kept under very careful watch
as contraband and fragments of memory
that is all these people hold onto
to recall mistakes of the past.
But it's largely an oral history
that's passed from settlement to settlement.
TRAVIS: Nice. MARISHA: Okay. Okay.
ASHLEY: I have another question on the Pyres.
MATT: Of course. ASHLEY: So they have been
burning for the last century?
MATT: Some of them have been.
There are some that have been around
for the better part of a century
and just maybe only two that have kept up that long.
ASHLEY: And they constantly have to be fed?
MATT: Correct. ASHLEY: That's really cool.
MATT: There are people who are specifically assigned
and probably family lines that their sacred purpose
is to continue to kindle the Pyre.
ASHLEY: Cool.
MATT: Because if it burns out,
there's no way to restart it
unless you find another Blessed Branch,
and those are--
ASHLEY: So they're started from the Blessed Branch?
MATT: Correct. ASHLEY: That's so cool. Okay.
TALIESIN: I think I know what I'm taking.
ASHLEY: You do?
TALIESIN: I'm waiting for other people because I'm--
You know me, I like to be,
I like to let other people--
TRAVIS: I think I'm going to do seraph.
MATT: You're going seraph? TRAVIS: I think so.
ASHLEY: Damn! MATT: Okay.
TALIESIN: I'm feeling wizard. TRAVIS: Yeah, a good story.
MARISHA: You're going wizard. Okay, okay.
ASHLEY: That's a terrible choice.
(laughter) MARISHA: Ooh.
TRAVIS: No terrible choices. TALIESIN: I'm so proud of you.
MARISHA: That's so Travis of you.
TRAVIS: No terrible choices, only terrible players.
(laughter)
MARISHA: I'm somewhere between guardian and warrior,
I think.
TALIESIN: I've played guardian, they're fun.
MARISHA: I've never just been buff and swung a sword.
SAM: Except in real life.
MARISHA: Well. MATT and SAM: (laugh)
MARISHA: This is make-believe.
SAM: (laughs)
I was thinking ranger.
MATT: Yeah? SAM: But--
ASHLEY: Interesting.
SAM: We'll get into it.
We can be both be rangers.
ASHLEY: No, no, no.
We all picked different things.
SAM: Oh, what were you picking?
ASHLEY: Wait, did you pick yet?
TALIESIN: Yeah, wizard. SAM: He's wizard.
What are you? ASHLEY: Oh yes.
Well, I kind of have an idea.
MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: I feel like,
honestly, it could--
I'm focusing more on a vibe.
MATT: Yeah. Yeah. ASHLEY: And I feel like--
SAM: An aesthetic.
ASHLEY: Kind of an aesthetic. MATT and ASHLEY: (chuckle)
ASHLEY: I feel like I'm my niece right now.
It's an aesthetic. Slay!
(laughter)
ASHLEY: Looks great.
And I'm thinking rogue or bard.
I know I always dance towards rogue.
TALIESIN: Ooh! MATT: Both are fun.
ASHLEY: But I also think there could be a cool idea
within bard for this.
MARISHA: You've always danced towards rogue.
ASHLEY: Between the two of those.
But I've always danced toward rogue.
MARISHA: Never gone-- SAM: You've never done bard.
MARISHA: -- full rogue.
ASHLEY: I've never done full rogue.
MARISHA: Or bard. SAM: Or rogue. Yeah.
MATT: Fearne pushed pretty heavy into rogue
towards the end, too. ASHLEY: I did.
Yeah, I did. That's true.
MARISHA: Bunnie was a rogue and it was very fun.
Or sorry, bard. ASHLEY: Bard.
MARISHA: Yeah, Bunnie was a bard.
ASHLEY: Oh, that's right! TALIESIN: Yeah.
SAM: Oh. MARISHA: She was very fun.
SAM: Hmm.
ASHLEY: Okay. MARISHA: Very different.
MATT: What are you feeling? MARISHA: She was a very
performance-based bard.
There's variation. ASHLEY: Well, I think
I'll want to talk it out once we get
to talk it out with you guys
and see how you feel about it,
and you feel like ones like-- SAM: Is this now?
What do we do now?
MATT: Yeah, we're choosing classes now.
SAM: Okay. Okay.
MATT: So you are picking ranger.
SAM: Yeah, so here's my only idea.
TRAVIS: Boring. MATT: Yeah?
(laughter)
TALIESIN: Good shot!
Well done.
SAM: I was reading in this book,
"Daggerheart," available now at bookstores everywhere.
TRAVIS: Yes! MATT: (laughs)
Yes, Sam?
SAM: That, you know, there's these pockets
of civilization or whatever
and then there's vast badlands between them
that are treacherous and stuff.
I thought maybe I could be fast.
Like a messenger,
like a courier,
someone who just has a gift
for getting across these wastelands
without getting killed.
MATT: A very important role for the survival
of these disparate societies.
SAM: Is ranger okay for that? That seems like
a ranger thing, right? MATT: Ranger is phenomenal
for that. Yeah. TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: There are many classes that can fill that role.
Ranger's definitely one of them.
SAM: Yeah, maybe not super strong but fast
and able to--
MATT: Knows how to traverse the land
to use it at his disposal. SAM: -- dart between things.
Yeah. MATT: That's great.
Yeah, ranger's a great choice. MARISHA: Wait, you're talking
about being like a runner? Is that what you
were just saying? SAM: Kind of, yeah.
MARISHA: That's cool. SAM: Like The Flash.
MARISHA: That's cool. SAM: (laughs)
Or, well, not the Flash,
but just fast enough to survive.
MATT: Yeah, that's great!
I love that! Awesome!
Marisha, you're going with guardian you said?
Or warrior you said? MARISHA: I'm in between
guardian or warrior.
MATT: Guardian's tanky, protective,
but still good with a weapon.
Warrior's, you know, still pretty tanky,
but not quite as defensive as the guardian,
not quite as apt to protect the people around it,
but in itself is a great
upfront combat weapon specialist.
Yeah. Do you want to lean more aggressive or more defensive,
is where it fits. SAM: Is guardian Ashton
and warrior's Orym?
Is that the distinction?
MATT: Sure. SAM: Okay.
MARISHA: (laughs)
I think I'll do guardian.
I want to be like valor and honor!
SAM: Oh! Oh, that kind.
MARISHA: Defensive. TRAVIS: Oh, oh. Yeah, yeah.
MARISHA: One of those type of-- SAM: Oh!
MATT: Sure.
TRAVIS: Beast Master handshake.
Yes! (laughter)
MARISHA: Did I do it right?
TRAVIS: Yeah, you did. MARISHA: Okay.
TRAVIS: It was good. (laughter)
MATT: You have to get real close and go, "Brother."
(laughter) TRAVIS: Strength and honor!
MATT: Great! Awesome!
MARISHA: Okay, yeah. I'll do guardian.
MATT: All right, so we have a ranger,
we have a guardian.
Travis? TRAVIS: Seraph.
MATT: Going seraph. Awesome.
Some fun bits I'll tell you in a second
about different magic-centric classes.
ASHLEY: I'm still decid-- MATT: Still deciding.
ASHLEY: Can I say-- MATT: We got a wizard.
ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll go--
Okay. MATT: All righty.
TALIESIN: I'm building a whole thing over here.
I got thoughts. MATT: Okay, cool!
SAM: Are you having trouble making a decision?
ASHLEY: Who? Me?
Yes. (laughter)
MATT: Well, let's move on to heritage.
ASHLEY: When I'm given so many options.
TRAVIS: Heritage! ASHLEY: I don't know what to do!
MARISHA: Heritage. Heritage.
MATT: Well, this is a fun thing to consider, actually,
for you folks here.
So the Splendor domain,
which we have access to.
ASHLEY: (laughs)
MATT: As here in the campaign frame.
It says, "Since the gods' abandonment
"in the fall of the Grand Ordinants,
"the great clerics of old,
"access to divine powers and healing rituals
"are a fading art.
"Many fear the very essence of such magic
"is dying with the light.
"So it is not uncommon for some to foist sudden worship
"and expectation onto those
"who display such gifts.
"However, while some see hope,
"others see those with these abilities
"as an opportunity to express their hate
"for the absent gods.
"Seraphs and wizards,
"since both of you guys have access to this,
"who display their Splendor domain abilities or spells
"might make a profound impact
"or draw unwanted attention,
"depending on their current company.
"So players who create seraphs or wizards
"should consider how open or guarded
"their character would be with their abilities."
Something to keep in mind.
MARISHA: That's so cool! SAM: Okay.
MATT: And for bards, druids, rogues, rangers,
sorcerers, and wizards, of course;
"the forces of spellcraft and magic,
"especially dark magic,
"that flow unseen through the world
"are referred to as the Aetherweave.
"And those uncommon few that can manipulate it
"are known collectively as Aetherweavers."
So term might be used or thrown around,
referred to if anyone knows of your abilities there.
You might refer to it yourself as that as,
"I'm an Aetherweaver."
"The art is difficult to teach to mortals
"and they rarely wield it instinctively.
"With many of these secrets lost to the previous age,
"the presence of an Aetherweaver is remarkable
"and often met with awe, fear,
"and sometimes mistrust as well.
"So players who create Aetherweavers should consider
"the responsibility they carry with these gifts
"and determine how brazenly they use
"their mystical abilities as well."
So you're doubling up on being an attention drawer.
Be careful. (laughs)
TRAVIS: Yeah. TALIESIN: Oh,
I'm going to be a vibe. SAM: Just like Taliesin.
TRAVIS: I like the idea of an unwanted gift,
realizing that having divine power
would bring that sort of unwanted attention.
And for whatever reason, even with the gods absent,
this character has some semblances,
small flashes of divine power, and hates it.
MARISHA: That's cool. MATT: That's fun.
MARISHA: A little self-loathing there.
TRAVIS: Has to hide it. Yeah.
MARISHA: That's cool. TRAVIS: Doesn't deserve it,
wasn't seeking it,
doesn't know why he's got it.
MATT: Is there any distinction or relationship to the gods
within the knowledge of divine power?
Do you hate what they've done
and despise that this gift has found you,
or are you trying to understand it better?
TRAVIS: I think trying to understand it better,
but previously had disdain for the gods.
MATT: Okay, cool. TRAVIS: Or just
the semblance of them.
And whenever this stuff starts to happen,
it's like, "Fuck!
"What?"
MATT: Cool. Cool!
All right.
So for ancestries, you want to decide on that
while you're still thinking your class there.
ASHLEY: I think I know-- TALIESIN: I already know--
MATT: You think you know? SAM: Oh, she's got something.
MARISHA: Huh? Huh? MATT: What you got?
ASHLEY: Well, I'll let you do your thing.
(laughter)
TALIESIN: I already know what I want.
MATT: What do you want? TALIESIN: To be a faerie.
(laughter) ASHLEY: I know!
TRAVIS: Spotlight!
We need a spotlight. MATT: There we go.
TRAVIS: We need a big four gauge. TALIESIN: I got my shit.
MATT: Y'all can--
ASHLEY: I have a few ideas
and I feel like all of them could be fun.
SAM: Talk them out and maybe they'll sound better or worse
coming out of your mouth. ASHLEY: Well, sure. Sure.
One of them, I have really wanted,
because some of the artwork in "Daggerheart,"
there's always been that really hot orc woman.
MARISHA: Oh yeah! TALIESIN: Yeah!
ASHLEY: And I'm like, "God,
"I feel like a hot orc woman."
We haven't had one of those.
MARISHA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: But that's purely based on looks,
and I don't know if-- SAM: Sure.
TRAVIS: Hey, inspiration
can come from anything. MATT: Fit your vibe.
ASHLEY: It can come from anything!
But I feel like I want to play a clank.
MATT: Okay. MARISHA: Oh!
ASHLEY: Because I have another little idea, a-brewing.
When I was reading through
some of these materials. SAM: (robotic) Do you have
a voice in mind?
ASHLEY: (robotic) It is going to sound
like this the whole time. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Is this going to bother anyone?
TALIESIN: Full "Flight of the Conchords" here.
Okay. (laughter)
ASHLEY: No, I have an idea, though, but--
TALIESIN: (robotic) It is the year 2000.
SAM: (laughs)
TRAVIS: (shaky) I would like you to turn left.
(laughter)
MATT: (robotic) The humans are dead.
MARISHA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: I think I'm going to go with clank, though.
MATT: You're going to go with the clank?
Okay. You want to give the clank card? ASHLEY: Because I have a way--
I think I have some ideas to make it a little creepy.
MATT: A couple things to note here.
There are ancestry specifics
to this campaign frame to note for some of them.
For faeries-- TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.
MATT: It is noted that faeries are more sensitive
to the Soul Blight
that exists in the Halcyon Domain than other ancestries,
which causes your physical appearance
to develop in jagged and monstrous ways.
TRAVIS: Ooh!
MATT: So the faeries in this realm
are generally affected by
the land's corruption. MARISHA: So you're
going to be monstrous? MATT: So keep that in mind.
TALIESIN: Oh, I'm there. ASHLEY: Very cool!
MATT: Okay, I figured you would be.
As far as clanks are concerned in the Age of Umbra,
clanks are often carved from stone and iron,
and were originally developed as vessels
for holy spirits and messengers.
So many stopped functioning
when we came into the Age of Umbra,
and became statues when the gods left
the house that they made. ASHLEY: Yes!
When I read that last night, I was like,
"That's really cool!" SAM: Wait, wait.
Oh shit, I was reading the card!
What did you just say?
What became a statue?
MATT: Well, the clanks in the Age of Umbra
used to be constructed vessels of stone and iron
and wood for holy spirits to come in through
and speak from the gods. SAM: Cool, cool, cool.
MATT: Then when they and the Age of Umbra began,
they all went inert and became statues.
SAM: Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
MATT: So for clanks to start coming to life again--
SAM: Cool. MATT: -- within this space,
consider what purpose you've come through,
what spirit has found you,
what purpose are you seeking?
You know, these are all things to keep in mind
for your clank.
Because you were once a constructed holy vessel,
more or less,
that has probably been inert for a number of decades.
Or not! ASHLEY: Kind of just--
Maybe it's been around this whole time.
You get to tell me.
MARISHA: Are there any other fun ones in there
when it comes to ancestries?
MATT: Two other ancestries that have specifics here
that are different than what you normally
see across Daggerheart.
Ribbets in the Age of Umbra
are actually large, often six to eight feet tall,
and prefer to skulk on all fours
when not leaping or standing still.
So larger, swollen frogs
as opposed to-- TRAVIS: Badass.
MATT: -- cute, little ribbits. TRAVIS: Like a bull frog?
MATT: Yeah. TRAVIS: Yeah.
MATT: They're a little more (deep croaking)
TRAVIS: Yes!
MATT: Then the drakona
in here and in the Halcyon Domain,
drakona are taller and more reptilian
in both physicality and proportions.
They lean forward as they move,
using their tails to balance their weight.
So they're a little more dinosaur drakona
than perhaps the proud dragonborn we're used to.
TRAVIS: Dope!
MATT: So you get to think of that lean
into that reptilian monstrous aesthetic.
SAM: Cool!
MARISHA: Maybe, Ashley, if you're okay with it,
maybe I'll be the hot orc lady.
ASHLEY: Yes! MARISHA: Okay.
ASHLEY: Give us a hot orc. MARISHA: Unless you want to do
something like that down the road? ASHLEY: No, we just need
a hot orc lady on the table.
MARISHA: Okay. TALIESIN: I agree.
MARISHA: Maybe I'll be a hot orc lady. SAM: That's a necessity.
It says it in the book.
ASHLEY: And I will flirt with her and
I will make her my girlfriend. SAM: Ever table have to have
a hot orc lady. (laughter)
MARISHA: Let's go! Round two, baby!
TALIESIN: Are are we speaking the unspoken part now?
Okay. (laughter)
TALIESIN: All right.
MATT: And so-- TALIESIN: No, I'm good.
MATT: So he's still choosing his ancestry.
TALIESIN: You want the deck or you good?
Oh, you got the deck.
SAM: He passed on those.
TALIESIN: Okay. SAM: Did you have a deck
over there? Are you good? TALIESIN: I'm done.
I pulled mine first.
SAM: Okay, great.
MATT: Awesome. TALIESIN: I know my aesthetic.
MATT: (laughs)
SAM: You always do!
TALIESIN: Yes.
Start from the aesthetic, work your way down.
MARISHA: Are you going to be a faerie?
TALIESIN: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yes! Yes! MARISHA: (laughs)
A faerie wizard? TALIESIN: Yeah.
MARISHA: Just you're the biggest problem.
TALIESIN: Weirdly, no.
I've got an idea.
MARISHA: You've got a vibe?
You've got thoughts?
TALIESIN: I got thoughts.
MARISHA: (laughs) MATT: What are you going with?
TRAVIS: Human. MATT: Human. Hell yeah!
MARISHA: Nice! Nice! TALIESIN: I'm not going
to be pretty. MATT: Humans have
some fun abilities. ASHLEY: Wait, what did
you guys choose? TALIESIN: Well I'm--
There's a fetish for everything.
TRAVIS: I was infernis. I went human instead.
TALIESIN: I'm going to find a pretty--
ASHLEY: Interesting!
Do you want to say what you are?
SAM: Yes, of course.
I think that's the purpose of this event
is to say what we're doing. MATT: For you guys to figure out
what you're doing. Yeah. SAM: Yeah.
I chose faun.
MARISHA and ASHLEY: (gasp) TALIESIN: Ooh!
SAM: Because I thought, if I'm speedy,
I could-- (laughter)
TRAVIS: Like a caribou!
SAM: Leap over stuff.
I could be a little-- TRAVIS: Antelope!
SAM: A little deer, a little fucked up deer.
(laughter)
SAM: Or an antelope or something.
MARISHA: That's cool! MATT: That's pretty fun!
SAM: Yeah. MARISHA: Centaur Scanlan
really awoke something in you.
TRAVIS: Then a cheetah katari breaks out of the trees and
starts fucking chasing you. SAM: Oh no! Oh no!
Oh no! (laughter)
I act dead! I act dead! TRAVIS: You shit and piss
all over yourself as you run!
(laughter)
MATT: Do you know how the legs work
yet? SAM: Yeah.
All the joints are backwards.
TRAVIS: Reverse knees. ASHLEY: Leg backwards.
MARISHA: (laughs) SAM: Yeah.
MATT: Cool. Okay.
SAM: And there's hooves. TRAVIS: "Cool."
(laughs)
SAM: With horseshoes.
MATT: You got it. You got it.
MARISHA: Wait, you could be almost like what I was doing
for the Christmas show,
where you can be creepy deer-like--
SAM: Creepy deer.
MARISHA: You can be, you know?
SAM: Sure. MARISHA: Yeah.
MATT: Yeah. ASHLEY: Krampus-y?
MARISHA: Yeah.
The Leshy was my inspiration
for the Christmas show. SAM: There's deer,
there's elk, there's moose?
I don't want to be a moose.
They're not fast. (laughter)
MATT: You could also lean in the more human side
and have the lesser faun feature,
or you can lean more into the animalistic side,
lesser human features. There's a whole spectrum there--
TRAVIS: Mr. Tumnus. MATT: -- you can decide on.
SAM: Okay. ASHLEY: Mr. Tumnus.
MATT: Awesome! So we have a faun.
SAM: Faun ranger.
MATT: We have orc-- MARISHA: Orc guardian.
MATT: -- we have human. ASHLEY: Cool.
MATT: We have a clank and we have faerie.
TALIESIN: I will sprinkle you
with pixie dust. MATT: Awesome!
Now we're going to move on to the communities here.
So for instance,
like I said, the materials I gave for you guys,
for the communities,
but highborne and slyborne,
generally are part of,
or at least grew up near
and within communities that are remnants of the Old World.
So the capital cities of this region,
a lot of them still stand,
though the structures themselves are abandoned
or crumbling into ruin.
There are pockets and settlements that still exist
in these spaces and have fortified them.
So you can come from a highborne community.
There are places where these exist in there,
they're just rare and often a little falling apart
from the inside.
Slyborne, of course, there is definitely a lot
of communities that are a little less into the idea
of, "Let us all work together and survive,"
and more like, "We'll take from you
"what's helped you survive,
"and then that'll help us survive."
Loreborne and orderborne,
there are temples and there are libraries and
grand athenaeums that exist throughout this landscape
that themselves have become strongholds.
You know, the last remnants of research and history
and lore are being kept as best as they can be
by these orders from the age before
that have passed it down from generation to generation.
So you could've come from or been part of
some of these older societies and
that could be the settlement we're beginning with,
or it could be you've come from that
and that was destroyed
and you fled from it and have come to this settlement.
Those are things you can consider.
But we're going to ahead and pass around
these communities for you to consider.
MARISHA: Do you know what? TALIESIN: Underborne.
MARISHA: You're going to go underborne. Okay.
SAM: Underborne. TALIESIN: Yep.
SAM: That's Underworld-y seedy stuff?
Let's see here. TALIESIN: Cave.
SAM: Oh, cave people! MATT: Yeah, subterranean
TALIESIN: Cave people. SAM: Cave people.
ASHLEY: Cool.
SAM: Are we all going to be part of the same group,
or area?
MARISHA: Are we coming together? ASHLEY: Are we meeting in a tavern?
MATT: That's up to you guys.
I mean, you all can be part of the same settlement,
all collected from other scattered settlements,
some that may have fallen
or you may have come here as part of a means
of inter-community trade,
and then decided you like it here better and stayed.
It could be that some of you are from one community
and some of you from another,
and our game begins as you arrive
as messengers or traders
from another community.
These are the things we can talk about
and figure out as we progress throughout
TRAVIS: Traders or traitors?
MATT: This could represent the community that you have now
or it can represent a community that you have
spent a lot of time with,
but might no longer be a part of.
SAM: Gotcha.
TALIESIN: I can go any way.
If we want to all be in the same place to start with,
or if we want to have two or otherwise.
SAM: Mm-hmm.
MARISHA: You said there were Pyrekeepers.
MARISHA: You said there were Pyre Keepers.
MATT: Mm-hmm.
MARISHA: If my hot orc girl--
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MARISHA: -- was a Pyrekeeper and then branched out,
would that be an orderborne type of situation?
MATT: That could be. MARISHA: Or is that more of
like, is that considered a high status role
or more of like a peons
that are just shoveling coal into the--
MATT: Usually it's considered fairly reverent.
You are considered one of the people
that keeps the settlement alive.
ASHLEY: Good throw!
MATT: So it comes with station,
it comes with respect.
It also comes with the responsibility
of never leaving the Pyre.
So if you were to be a Pyrekeeper in some degree,
consider why you would leave that station.
MARISHA: Hmm. Mm.
SAM: Keep burning my fucking hands.
TRAVIS: Here you go. MARISHA: (laughs)
(hisses)
MATT: I mean that could very well be a viable thing.
SAM: (laughs)
MARISHA: Here's ridgeborne, if anyone wants ridgeborne.
MATT: Yeah, because often Pyrekeepers
don't lead the settlement.
In fact, a lot of people love the position of Pyrekeeper,
and vie to become a Pyrekeeper within a community
because it means they're always provided for
and they're always safe.
SAM: Mm. MARISHA: Hmm.
MATT: But it also means they don't go anywhere.
MARISHA: Hmm.
TRAVIS: Going underborne.
MARISHA: And you're doing underborne?
TRAVIS: Yep. ASHLEY: What if like--
TALIESIN: Yeah, it's not just--
MARISHA: Is anyone with sly--
Are you looking at slyborne?
TALIESIN: I'll give you the rundown of it.
SAM: That's the underworld, scoundrel-y.
TRAVIS: And we're at least 100 years into this Age of Umbra?
MATT: Correct. TRAVIS: Yeah, okay.
Yeah, definitely underborne.
MARISHA: Yeah, that's a vibe. TRAVIS: Born into a family
or a group of peoples that definitely
took to caverns or underground dwellings
as a presumed natural advantage
against what was happening out in the wilds.
Except, as we all know,
shit lies in the deep.
ASHLEY: Okay. We'll think on it. MATT: Oh yeah.
Very much so. TALIESIN: We'll talk.
But yeah, there's a lot of different--
MATT: So you're underborne? TALIESIN: There's some options.
TRAVIS: Underborne. Human underborne.
MATT: So you both you and Taliesin
chose underborne, so you both could consider some,
if you want to,
some point in which you both either came
from the same community or--
TALIESIN: How much of a Cronenberg nightmare
are you willing to have come from?
ASHLEY: (laughs)
TRAVIS: What the fuck does that mean?
(laughter)
TALIESIN: I feel like I couldn't have been clearer.
(laughter)
MATT: We can get into that later, but--
TALIESIN: We can get into that later.
MATT: But things to consider.
TALIESIN: I have a home village in mind.
I don't have to be there.
There's lots of options.
But the place I come from is a horror show.
TRAVIS: Oh great.
No. Yeah. TALIESIN: Just saying,
it will probably-- yeah.
It may, specifically, even gross you out.
(laughter) TALIESIN: Excited.
MATT: Okay!
All right, so you got ridgeborne, you're thinking?
SAM: I'm going ridgeborne,
and now I'm thinking my faun is maybe
more like a mountain goat sort of vibe.
MATT: (laughs) (bouncing)
SAM: Yeah.
But human mountain goat.
ASHLEY: Little billy goat?
SAM: Yeah, little human Billy.
MATT: Every now and then you turn around
and you're just up on the wall
on this tiny little ledge.
SAM: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. MATT: It doesn't look
like it should be working. SAM: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
TRAVIS: Just posted up. Defying physics.
MATT: I'm good.
ASHLEY: -- and then we'll talk. SAM: Exactly.
MATT: Great! I love it!
TALIESIN: Yeah, I'll give you--
and I'm happy to bend to things
that you think would be fun.
ASHLEY: Oh, same.
TALIESIN: I've literally only--
This is only eight minutes of work so far.
MARISHA: Somewhere between. ASHLEY: Yeah, same.
TALIESIN: I'm feeling good about it. ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah
MARISHA: Orderborne and wanderborne.
SAM, MARISHA and TALIESIN: ♪ Wanderborne ♪
(laughter)
MARISHA: I know!
TALIESIN: (laughs) TRAVIS: I'll do that.
I'll do slyborne instead of underborne,
that way there's a little difference.
That's cool. MATT: Yeah.
TRAVIS: That works, too.
Great. ASHLEY: (grunts)
MARISHA: Hmm.
SAM: And those two things.
I was out for some of our last Daggerheart-y
MATT: Yeah, handling a few things.
SAM: Those two things become my Heritage, right?
MATT: Correct. SAM: Ridgeborne faun.
MATT: You are correct.
SAM: Okay.
MATT: So when you're done writing down your Heritage
on your character sheet--
MARISHA: Yeah, I'm going to go all in.
I'm going to go all in on orderborne.
ASHLEY: All right. MATT: There you go.
ASHLEY: I want to talk some things out.
MATT: Yeah. What you got?
ASHLEY: I'm going to talk some things out. MATT: Let's do it!
SAM: (mumbles) You're an orderborne orc?
MARISHA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: So with a clank-- SAM: (mumbles) You're an orderborne orc.
MATT: (mumbles) A guardian orderborne orc.
SAM: (mumbles) An orderborne orc!
MARISHA: (mumbles) A guardian orderborne orc.
TALIESIN: Nyork, nyork, nyork.
MATT: Sorry, Ashley wants to talk some things out.
SAM: Sorry. ASHLEY: No, you're fine.
MATT: What's up, Ashley?
ASHLEY: Okay, so I'm--
TRAVIS: (snores)
(laughter)
ASHLEY: I know! It takes me a minute.
MATT: It's okay!
ASHLEY: So-- SAM: So I'm thinking bard.
ASHLEY: (laughs)
Well, okay. So--
I have this idea, which I feel like could be cool
with a bard, but it's more of like,
I don't really know how to play it in a game.
MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: But there's
a part of me that's like, if I was a clank,
and then we're out in the woods
and my bard ability is a music box,
and thinking of how creepy that would sound in the woods
of cranking it up. MARISHA: Mm!
ASHLEY: ♪ (music box) ♪
I don't know.
Maybe I was a highborne kids' toy.
TRAVIS: That sounds horrifying!
MARISHA: That sounds fucking awesome!
ASHLEY: So that's why I was like,
I feel like I like that creepy--
Yeah, they're creepy.
MATT: Well, think like,
music boxes are a really, really cool thing
you can toy with, keeping it's a creepy sound.
The winding mechanic lends its own--
that means you have a clockwork interior,
which is its own fun vibe.
And that could be an interesting element.
If you want to keep leaning into the music aspect
of the bard, you know,
if you want to be leaning
into more of the holy vessel element,
there could be almost
flute-like holes within the body
that give off different discordant sounds
as wind passes through them.
ASHLEY: Whoa!
MATT: Almost like you can summon
odd, holy-sounding discord from your body.
TRAVIS: Aztec whistles.
MATT: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: That sort of vibe.
If you're worried about music stuff for any reason,
bards can also be, orators,
they could just speak or be good with words
to give inspiration to those around them.
But yeah, there are different ways
you can play the bard, definitely.
But music box sounds like a really, really cool way
that you could go if you want to lean
into that clockwork clank
who had a purpose as a vessel of the holy spirit,
and as that vessel,
music was its way of exemplifying the message
as it was received in translation.
ASHLEY: I think I'm going to go with that.
I feel like it makes sense for what I'm thinking.
MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: So now I don't know
whether I would be highborne or orderborne.
MATT: Highborne means that you would likely have come
from a more established community that fell.
The highborne communities fell the hardest
when the gods punished the realm.
ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: So you likely were amongst the affluence
of the great age before,
and was lost to time until, eventually,
you found yourself for whatever
your renewed purpose may be,
whatever spirit or soul has found you since
and claims your body for its use.
ASHLEY: I kind of want to go highborne.
MARISHA: Yeah. ASHLEY: Because I like
that really big fall.
MATT: Okay.
Let's go.
ASHLEY: Yeah. MARISHA: And that works, too,
if you had a divine purpose.
ASHLEY: Yeah! MARISHA: You know?
ASHLEY: Yeah. MARISHA: That's cool.
That's really cool.
SAM: And the Umbra, Matt,
the Umbra is out there.
Is it in the distance?
Can we see it?
Is it everywhere?
Is it just in the shadows?
What-- MATT: So the corruption
of the Umbra lingers everywhere.
like a soot, if you will.
But the actual entity that is the Umbra is always out there.
You just don't know where.
Sometimes you can hear the distant echoing
of the horrible wailing,
like a wind in the distance.
And if it's getting louder--
ASHLEY: What you got?
MATT: It's about to get real bad.
SAM: Okay.
Okay. TALIESIN: Oh yeah.
SAM: So it's like a storm that can gather at any moment?
MATT: It's a force of nature
that is perpetually meandering,
sometimes slowly, sometimes fiercely.
SAM: Okay. Cool.
Spooky.
MATT: All right, so we've all chosen Heritages?
TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.
MATT: Great! SAM: Heriti?
MATT: Now we will assign character traits to your characters.
So you have your attributes to distribute,
a negative one, two zeros,
two plus ones, and a plus two.
Wherever you desire them to be amongst your attributes.
Why not?
While we're here, since we're in the base,
let's choose your subclasses
that you want to choose for your various classes.
TALIESIN: -- for a subclass.
MATT: So for the bard,
there you can choose either troubadour or wordsmith.
If you want to pass those along.
SAM: Stats.
MATT: For the guardian,
you can either choose stalwart or vengeance guardian.
MARISHA: Vengeance!
MATT: For the ranger, you can do beastbound or wayfinder.
SAM: That's right!
MARISHA: Two stress. Where's that other one?
MATT: For the seraph-- MARISHA: Oh, that's crazy!
MATT: -- you could be divine wielder or winged sentinel.
And then for the wizard,
you have the school of knowledge
or the school of war.
TRAVIS: Hello, Jaime Lannister. TALIESIN: Awesome!
MARISHA: Mm-hmm.
SAM: Ooh! MARISHA: Yes, totally!
TRAVIS: Yeah, I've always called him Jaime Lannister.
ASHLEY: Yes. Yes.
TRAVIS: Do I know--
ASHLEY: Jeremy Lannister. TRAVIS: Jeremy Lannister.
MATT: Jeremy Lannister! (laughter)
TRAVIS: Jeremy Ren-Lannister.
MARISHA: Hmm.
SAM: Hmm!
MARISHA: Man!
An additional armor slot. ASHLEY: (laughs)
TRAVIS: (mumbled reading)
TALIESIN: I sent you two. ASHLEY: (laughs)
TALIESIN: I don't know if you've ever seen that.
That's for later. ASHLEY: I've never seen
either of these. TALIESIN: You're going
to really enjoy it.
ASHLEY: I'm very excited.
SAM: I think I'm going to go--
TALIESIN: Just felt the need to--
SAM: -- wayfinder because that would help me.
MATT: It definitely feels in the bailiwick
of the character you're building.
SAM: Yeah! Yeah.
I can find quick paths to places
and I have a little extra bonus when attacking.
MATT: All right. Travis, you went with the divine wielder?
TRAVIS: Divine wielder.
MATT: Awesome.
TALIESIN: Oh!
TRAVIS: Fly is very attractive,
but that seems to be really, really obvious.
MATT: It definitely draws attention!
TRAVIS: Yeah, it draws a lot of attention.
MATT: (laughs) You're not wrong.
TRAVIS: I'll help you!
(rumbles)
MARISHA: For stalwart-- TRAVIS: (high-pitched) Is he flying?
MATT: Yes?
MARISHA: Iron Will. MATT: Mm-hmm.
MARISHA: "When you take physical damage,
"you can mark an additional armor slot
"to reduce the severity."
MATT: Correct. MARISHA: Is that because, normally,
you can only do that once?
MATT: Correct.
So you could mark two armor slots
from a single point of damage
and reduce it by two points, if you wanted to.
MARISHA: Wow! MATT: So when
they hit you with severe,
you could spend two slots and reduce it to minor.
MARISHA: Let's do that.
TALIESIN: Firstly, remind myself that this man--
SAM: This Ruthless Predator feature,
when I make a damage roll,
I can mark a stress to gain a plus one bonus
to my proficiency?
MATT: Correct.
SAM: Proficiency--
MATT: Is the number of dice you roll for damage.
SAM: That's right! MATT: Your weapon.
SAM: Okay, so I can hit harder.
MATT: Yeah, you can mark a stress
to roll an additional dice of damage
with your weapon. SAM: Cool.
I love it.
MATT: And you went with school of--
All right.
TALIESIN: School of knowledge.
ASHLEY: We have four Hope to start with, did you say?
TALIESIN: Two Hope. ASHLEY: Two Hope.
We have all of it, the Hope,
to start with? MATT: Yeah. 17 Hope.
TRAVIS: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Got it. MATT: (laughs)
TALIESIN: It's all downhill from here.
MATT: And we have five players,
so I start with five Fear.
SAM: Ooh! MATT: Which is fun.
I'll note that when it comes time.
MARISHA: It smells so good!
ASHLEY: I can't smell it. SAM: The book?
MARISHA: It's good book smell. TRAVIS: Yeah, it is.
MATT: So now that we have class stuff,
Heritage stuff figured out, Traits,
and your Evasion and Hope.
Now we can do starting equipment.
There should be some equipment sheets on the table.
SAM: There are.
MATT: Take a look at those.
And you can figure out your starting equipment there.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Let us see.
SAM: Oh, and I can cast,
I can do magic?
TRAVIS: Question mark. MATT: Yes.
We'll get to that with your domain cards,
which will be after this.
SAM: But I can pick a magical primary weapon?
MATT: Yeah, if you want to. SAM: Okay. Okay.
MATT: It's your choice if you want to use a physical weapon
or a magical weapon,
based on the type of damage.
MARISHA: Going to try for greatsword.
That's what I'm going to do.
MATT: Go for it.
SAM: Oh man!
I can't choose!
TALIESIN: I'm--
SAM: I can't choose!
TALIESIN: I'm going to be weird.
I think that's good.
SAM: What I really want is a boomerang,
(laughs)
but that's not on the list.
MARISHA: You want a boomerang?
SAM: (laughs)
MATT: You can take something and spin it as a boomerang,
if you want to. MARISHA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Man, that Returning Blade is kind of cool.
TALIESIN: Okay it's two-handed,
so yeah, you don't get a--
MATT: Depends on what you're vibing with.
TRAVIS: Going Halberd.
ASHLEY: When this weapon is thrown--
MATT: Yeah!
Go polearms, baby.
TRAVIS: Yeah, buddy!
I've not done a polearm ever.
Have to figure out a cool-looking
warhead for that.
ASHLEY: What can I do for Returning Blade?
MARISHA: Okay.
TRAVIS: Halberd.
SAM: Trait, Agility.
MARISHA: I never do characters like this.
This is going to be fun.
SAM: And then I get a secondary weapon?
Oh my god!
MATT: If you want to.
You don't have to. SAM: Oh my god!
And it has to be agility based?
MATT: It doesn't have to be,
that's just letting you know--
SAM: If I want to use it well.
MATT: It could also be another one of sets.
It's just one less than that.
SAM: Okay. Okay.
MATT: Up to you.
SAM: Okay. MATT: So you chose
the Glowing Rings as a boomerang?
SAM: Yeah, the Glowing Boomer-rings
MATT: Glowing Boomer-rings.
(laughter)
MATT: Is that two-handed?
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: It is.
So that's it, for me.
MATT: So that would be your--
I mean, you could have a secondary weapon, if you want to--
SAM: But it wouldn't have equipped.
MATT: But you have to spend a stamina,
or sorry, a stress to switch.
SAM: Gotcha.
So I'll just have something in my inventory.
MATT: If you want to. SAM: Okay.
MARISHA: My evasion is currently sitting at six.
MATT: Great!
MARISHA: Because I'm taking a greatsword, which is heavy.
MATT: Mm-hmm. MARISHA: Which gives me
minus one to evasion.
But I get to roll two damage die
and I get to take the highest.
MATT: Great!
MARISHA: Or discard the lowest,
however you want to phrase it.
And then, I'm taking full plate armor,
which is very heavy,
so it gives me minus two to evasion
and minus one two agility.
MATT: Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
You are the definition of a tank, really.
(laughs)
SAM: Okay.
MATT: You got your armor chosen?
SAM: Oh!
I got starting armor.
Starting armor-harmor.
MARISHA: Hardy-harmor. MATT: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Harden-harmor.
Mark it.
ASHLEY: Oh, that's also whip.
TALIESIN: Melee range.
ASHLEY: Mark a stress to crack the whip.
TRAVIS: Whip Wheaton.
(laughter)
TALIESIN: Oh no!
ASHLEY: Plus one armor.
SAM: Gambeson Armor?
What does "gambeson" mean?
MATT: Gambeson is like a heavy padded cloth kind of.
It's usually worn underneath heavier armor.
SAM: Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah. MATT: It's a quilted,
thick, cloth armor. MARISHA: What fencers and stuff--
MATT: Yeah. MARISHA: Basically wear.
SAM: I'm going to go with that.
I like the name of it.
MATT: There you go. ASHLEY: Oh, you're picking
your armor as well.
Okay.
SAM: Base threshold's five 11.
Feature: plus one to evasion.
Yes!
I'm so evasive!
ASHLEY: Yeah, I'm going to go gambeson as well.
TRAVIS: Gambeson. ASHLEY: For clank?
I mean-- MATT: Sure. Yeah.
MARISHA: Did you guys know Omar was here?
SAM: (gasps) Hi Omar!
ASHLEY: Yes. MATT: He's been chilling.
MARISHA: He's just been napping.
MATT: It wouldn't be a session zero if he wasn't
just chilling nearby. MARISHA: Exactly.
He's our Daggerheart mascot.
He's happy to be here. MATT: Hey, buddy!
You've been so patient.
MARISHA: Hi, you. ASHLEY: Hi, baby boy!
MARISHA: Hi.
MATT: (laughs)
MARISHA: Hi.
ASHLEY: Hey, sweet boy.
MARISHA: (laughs)
You're funny.
MATT: Have you chosen your equipment, Taliesin?
TALIESIN: Yep. MATT: Awesome.
TALIESIN: I got myself a wand.
MATT: A wand?
TALIESIN: A wand.
MATT: What kind of armor did you get?
TALIESIN: I got the gambeson.
MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: Yeah.
MATT: Anything offhand as well, or for your--
TALIESIN: Yeah, I'm taking a grappler.
MATT: Grappler. Okay. Very cool.
TALIESIN: So it's going to be fun.
I can pull people close to me. It'll be great.
ASHLEY: ♪ It's going to be fun ♪
MATT: Greatsword.
TALIESIN: Come on in.
MATT: Heavy plate armor.
TALIESIN: Come on in. TRAVIS: That's a stretch!
♪ It's going to be fun ♪
MATT: Glowing Boomer-ring.
SAM: Boomer-rings. MATT: (laughs)
SAM: And I have a secondary.
I have a crossbow, just in case there's a moment
where I need to (shooting). MATT: Got to switch it up.
Okay. SAM: Snipe somebody.
MATT: You got that.
You have greatsword?
MARISHA: Yes. MATT: All right.
And you, I'm sorry, we just said that.
And then you have--
TRAVIS: I have the halberd. MATT: Halberd.
TRAVIS: With the divine wielder,
so I could (whooshes)
throw the fucking--
MATT: (impact) That's cool!
And what kind of armor?
TRAVIS: Leather.
Just plain leather armor. MATT: Leather armor.
Cool beans.
And Ashley?
ASHLEY: I have the Returning Blade.
MATT: Returning Blade. Great.
ASHLEY: And then the gambeson armor.
MATT: Cool.
ASHLEY: So the base threshold's five.
What does that mean?
Oh, five 11?
TALIESIN: It's where the-- yeah.
SAM: Minor, major, and severe.
ASHLEY: Oh, that's right! TALIESIN: Yeah.
ASHLEY: That's right, that's right.
TALIESIN: It makes that happen.
ASHLEY: So, okay.
The base score is three.
So the base score three, that's my armor?
MATT: Base? Yeah.
ASHLEY: Which would be three.
SAM: Bloop, bloop.
ASHLEY: So gambeson armor.
MATT: Correct. That's three.
ASHLEY: So I added the plus one Evasion.
MATT: So you have three different slots
that you can use to reduce it.
ASHLEY: Got it. Okay.
TRAVIS: You can reduce it one threshold, right?
MATT: Yeah. Only one threshold, though.
ASHLEY: And then these are the--
MATT: Threshold there. ASHLEY: Five and 11.
MATT: So it's five and 11.
Correct. ASHLEY: Got it. Okay.
MATT: You also add your current level
to your damage threshold.
So for everyone who's putting in your armor,
make sure to add your level,
which is one to each of them.
SAM: Oh!
ASHLEY: So we go to six and 12?
MATT: You would be six and 12. SAM: Oh!
TALIESIN: Okay, and base armor to four.
SAM: No. TALIESIN: No.
Base score is still three.
TRAVIS: Your threshold should go up. TALIESIN: That's right.
MATT: That's right. Yeah.
Your armor score stays.
The thresholds change on your levels.
Every time you level up, your thresholds get better.
SAM: Add your current--
It says it right there on the sheet.
It says, "Add your current level
"to the damage thresholds."
MATT: Yep.
TALIESIN: I should read.
SAM: So well thought out.
MATT: (laughs) You guys.
SAM: I'm selling you on this Matt.
By the end of this,
you're going to be convinced that this is a good game.
MATT: (laughs)
All righty.
Everyone have their equipment chosen?
SAM: Mm-hmm.
ASHLEY: Mm-hmm. MARISHA: Yes.
MATT: Next up, we can create some character Experiences.
SAM: Okay. MATT: For this point in this.
So you can-- MARISHA: Oh yeah!
Character Experiences. MATT: So you all get to decide
on two of your character Experiences.
ASHLEY: I love this!
MATT: And set them both at a plus two modifier.
TALIESIN: Oh yeah.
Two.
SAM: You said two Experiences?
MATT: Correct. Two starting Experiences.
SAM: Okay.
MATT: So consider a bit of where you've come from,
what your skill sets are,
things that might be applicable.
that you can spend a Hope to add this bonus
to a roll you're making that, you know, leans into it.
SAM: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
I'm already so nimble and agile,
so being moreso won't be great.
Won't be as-- MATT: It's up to you.
You could be really good at things
that involve that.
SAM: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. MATT: And try and ensure its success,
if it's really important to you.
Or you could lean towards things
that round you out a little more.
SAM: Yeah.
Ja, ja, ja. MATT: Both extremely viable.
ASHLEY: I'm going to look in the book for Experience
examples.
MATT: Sure. TALIESIN: Mm.
SAM: That's very wise!
What about something
Well-Traveled if I've been a messenger
and gone to different places?
Maybe I've picked up little bits of culture.
MATT: Well-Traveled is awesome.
SAM: Yeah? MATT: Yeah.
SAM: Okay.
MARISHA: My first one, still thinking about my second,
but I did Historically Inspired,
like emboldened by the great warriors of the past.
SAM: Hmm.
MARISHA: Or interested in the Old Times.
MATT: Okay, yeah, that can be fun.
MARISHA: Make sense, a little bit more,
you know, yeah.
(laughter)
MATT: Do you see that being an application
when researching,
an application when dealing in a conflict
that has ties to historical value?
MARISHA: Yeah.
MATT: Okay.
Yeah, that could be very helpful.
SAM: History buff? No.
MARISHA: History buff.
Is that a better way of saying it
than Historically Inspired?
I feel like that emulation of previous warriors.
TALIESIN: Antiquarian.
MATT: Yeah, because history buff
means means you know-- MARISHA: Antiquarian.
MATT: -- a lot of history. SAM: Yeah.
MATT: It depends on do you want to be a person
that's very into history
and has a little extra historical knowledge
and instances where you might
recognize things from antiquity?
Or are you thinking more of like you want to be--
You say inspired by warriors of old,
is that an adage that you're keeping
to try and keep yourself?
MARISHA: Yeah, they're try and uphold the old ways
before things, like the glory days of knights and--
SAM: Like chivalry?
MARISHA: Yeah.
MATT: That's kind of cool.
So what I would task you with is,
before we start the game, think of a code,
like an old order of knights,
some sort of historical order may have kept
that you've heard about, you've learned about it.
Because you definitely didn't live under this order.
You weren't born yet. MARISHA: Right.
MATT: But somehow you've heard stories about it growing up
or you came upon a piece of text
or were told of this order's history
and its honorable adages
and perhaps even a mantra that you keep to yourself
to keep your will strong
and that could be a fun thing that would incorporate that.
MARISHA: Does Historically Inspired
still makes sense for that,
or just like chivalrous--
MATT: It's up to you. MARISHA: Make more sense?
MATT: I mean, you know
the context in which it'll be useful.
MARISHA: Yeah, like history above all.
Some fun code you could make.
MATT: Yeah.
Yeah, think on that.
SAM: For one of your Experiences,
can you also pick Hoarder just so you can be
a hoarder orderborne?
(laughter)
ASHLEY: Hoarder orderborne. MARISHA: That's pretty good.
It's very tempting. MATT: Pretty great.
Not going to lie.
ASHLEY: You're also just a hoarder on the side.
MARISHA: Yeah. ASHLEY: It's kind of funny.
MATT: A whore hoarderborne or-or-or-orderborne?
ASHLEY: A whore hoarderborne.
Whore hoarder orderborne.
MATT: What other experiences-- SAM: Experiahnces.
MATT: -- are people pulling down?
TALIESIN: I've only got one so far.
MATT: What do you got?
TALIESIN: I've got More Hands Make Less Work.
MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: Which is--
SAM: You have extra hands? TALIESIN: I do.
SAM: But not where you expect them. MARISHA: "I do."
TALIESIN: But not on a technical level.
This is how I'm going to make my hands technical.
ASHLEY: Think about widgets.
TALIESIN: And they're, yeah, they're just so.
MATT: That's fun. TRAVIS: It's headed there.
TALIESIN: I obviously can't wield
nine weapons or anything.
I'm not going to try any of that bullshit.
MATT: Yeah, is this a,
an application of nimble dexterity scenario?
TALIESIN: Yes. One of the things I want my character
to do is be good at, I want them to be
good at very delicate crafting.
They're a seamstress, they can, things like that.
MATT: Okay, cool, I dig that.
TALIESIN: A little bit of just
fixing things and a little bit of a tinker.
MATT: I like that. TALIESIN: Just a hair.
MATT: Awesome.
TALIESIN: It'll be fun.
MATT: Ashley, do you have an Experience of interest?
ASHLEY: Well, I just-- I'm trying to think
of backstory that will--
TRAVIS: The answer's no. ASHLEY: You know, no.
(chuckling) ASHLEY: Here.
(grunting) SAM: (mocking grunting)
TRAVIS: Yeah, I've got Reading Between the Lines,
as a overly-perceptive,
observant sort of an Experience.
MATT: That's cool.
TRAVIS: Or sort of discerning truth from--
MATT: Falsehood, yeah, yeah.
TRAVIS: Then also Helping Hand
just because he's been given this thing
that can heal, can help.
It was never something he was looking for
and I think he is used to knowing that he can help
and then jumping in and helping someone
and then trying to get the hell out of there
before someone realizes how that help was given.
MATT: Okay, so Lending Aid Unnoticed.
TRAVIS: Yes. Yeah, that's a better way to put it.
MATT: Interesting, okay, cool, cool.
SAM: The first Experience is always the easy one.
Then the second one is like--
MARISHA: I know. SAM: -- could go anywhere.
MATT: Yeah. MARISHA: Well, it's tough to--
MATT: It can also be a--
Think into your community as well.
What are some of the things that you offered
to your community and you were trained to
more or less hold a position of within your community?
MARISHA: How about
Calloused Hands?
Like manual labor from tending to fire and flame.
MATT: Yeah, that could be fun.
So you would apply that to things
that involve having strong grip.
MARISHA: Yeah.
MATT: The ability to endure things
that would often force others to release their grip.
MARISHA: Yeah, you know how head chefs get
weird boners about how they're like,
"I can hold a hot iron skillet with no
"gloves." Kind of like that.
MATT: Gotcha, cool. Yeah, that's awesome.
TALIESIN: Negative one to manicures.
(laughs) MARISHA: Yeah.
TALIESIN: I give up.
MARISHA: There we go.
Cool.
SAM: Hmm.
MARISHA: Okay.
Okay!
ASHLEY: Did you pick your Experiences yet?
SAM: I have one, but I don't know what I would use it for.
I was thinking maybe he's very superstitious.
MARISHA: Hmm? Oh, that's fun, though.
SAM: Like has different good luck charms
or believes in certain superstitions.
I don't know how that would help me, though.
It's just an interesting characteristic.
MATT: It could be--
SAM: Can't really do it.
MATT: I was going to say in tune with superstition.
SAM: Mm-hmm.
MATT: Meaning like, because superstition often is based
in some semblance of--
SAM: Sure. MATT: -- reality in a realm
as magic and twisted as this.
SAM: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
(scratching)
MATT: It's like esoteric interests.
SAM: Mm-hmm.
MATT: Anything in that realm could be interest,
could fall into that space if you wanted.
MARISHA: Occultist?
SAM: Ooh.
That's dark and twisted.
MARISHA: Mm-hmm.
TRAVIS: Weird eyeballs.
SAM: Weird eyeballs.
(laughter)
SAM: Square eyeballs. ASHLEY: Square eyeballs.
MARISHA: Oh, you can have, please have square eyeballs.
SAM: Sure, of course I'm going to have square eyeballs.
TRAVIS: (baas) MARISHA: That's so cool.
SAM: Didn't Fearne?
ASHLEY: Well, they were more like octagonal shape.
SAM: Get into the octagon. ASHLEY and MARISHA: (laugh)
ASHLEY: So question.
MATT: Yes. ASHLEY: So,
if I was a clank that was created for,
you know, way back when,
for when there were the,
the Veiled Gods were still--
MATT: Present, yeah. ASHLEY: -- present.
Is that something now that I wouldn't be,
I would have to keep those types of things under wraps?
Like the--
What am I trying to say?
Like the
worship songs or things like that for--
MATT: Depending on where you are, maybe.
ASHLEY: Depending on where you are.
MATT: Yeah, there are still places of faithful out there
that hope that gods might return,
or you know, hold faith to whatever other entities
might exist out there to grant them salvation
in their absence.
There are also those out there that
wouldn't even recognize them.
You know, that's the thing, a lot of these holy songs
of that era often haven't been heard
by many ears in a long time.
ASHLEY: So I wonder if there's an Experience
then that's just like psalms
or something where it's just a song
that can provide hope.
You know, even if they don't have meaning
anymore for people.
It's just a--
I don't know. MARISHA: Bardic Inspiration.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I guess that's Bardic Inspiration.
MARISHA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: I keep thinking of stuff, and I'm like,
Well, that's probably a spell
or something that's going to be--
MATT: Well, consider here.
If you want to create something that's like a
soothing melody,
and that could be a bonus that you add to scenarios
where you have the opportunity to calm a group
of angry individuals with the music
and you're trying to, I don't know,
roll a presence roll to get them to not charge
over a dangerous threshold
and then you'd be able to add the bonus to that
by playing that music as part of it,
or to try and calm an entity, like a corrupted creature
that's rampaging through a space
to try and use the music to calm them.
That's just adding a small bonus
to an existing roll to try and do so
and that's where it could be helpful there
if that's what you're trying to do.
ASHLEY: Yeah, like a soothing balm.
MATT: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Just music of some sort.
which I'm sure, yeah, okay,
I'll put that in there for the moment.
MATT: Yeah, totally.
MARISHA: Can we pick our abilities?
MATT: Yeah, you can always think more on your Experience
when we come to the end, too, if you want to.
SAM and ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: All right, so now
let's pick some domain cards
and see where the inspiration takes you from that point forward.
SAM: Woo!
MATT: All right, so. MARISHA: Let's go.
MATT: We'll start over on this side.
ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: You have--
MARISHA: Pipe, pipe, pipe, pipe, pipe, pipe, pipe, pipe.
SAM: Pipe? MARISHA: Pipe.
ASHLEY: Peep. MARISHA: (laughs)
MATT: Arcana for you. TALIESIN: Bless.
MATT: And Splendor, which you both share.
TRAVIS: Nice.
MATT: Then you both share Valor, I believe.
MARISHA: Me and Travis share Valor, I think.
MATT: All right, there's your Valor.
MARISHA: Then I think I share Blade with you.
Wait, do you-- TALIESIN: Just ones for now.
SAM: I got Bone and Sage.
MARISHA: Bone and Sage. MATT: Indeed, you do.
TALIESIN: There's nothing but level one.
SAM: Which is a great craft beer that I love.
MATT: So you're just choosing level ones
of those elements you get to pick.
Of these cards here,
you could choose two cards of level one
of either of the domains that are at your disposal.
ASHLEY: I'm Grace and Codex. MARISHA: Can you hand me--
MATT: Yes, you are. MARISHA: And can you hand me Blade?
TALIESIN: Oh, I have--
MATT: So you share Codex with--
TALIESIN: Me.
MATT: -- the wizard there, so have Codex and Grace there.
TALIESIN: And I'm waiting on Grace.
MARISHA: Blade. MATT: And Blade.
TALIESIN: I'm waiting on Splendor.
TRAVIS: You want to see some Splendors?
TALIESIN: Yeah, just a couple of level one Splendors
would be great.
TRAVIS: ♪ There's some Splendors ♪
Here there's only two level one Splendors.
MARISHA: We just pick one of these, right?
MATT: You pick two from either domain.
MARISHA: Two level ones. MATT: You can pick one from each.
MARISHA: Okay.
MATT: Or you can pick two from one or two from the other.
MARISHA: Okay. TALIESIN: No.
ASHLEY: Oh, look at all these cards, though.
I don't want to do this.
TALIESIN: This is fun. Maybe that.
Oh, and--
TRAVIS: Let me know which one you don't take.
I don't mind splitting. TALIESIN: Oh.
MARISHA: You use Valor as well, right?
TALIESIN: And I'm missing-- What am I looking for?
SAM: For two cards total.
So we just get two?
MARISHA: You get two. SAM: Okay.
TALIESIN: Don't know why I did that.
SAM: Cool.
TALIESIN: I'm having one of those wonderful ADHD moments
of like, "Where did I put my character cards?"
MARISHA: These are fun.
TALIESIN: They couldn't possibly have gotten far.
SAM: Cool.
MARISHA: (speaking faintly)
MATT: What are you looking for, Tal?
TALIESIN: My character cards.
This is very silly.
They were right in front of me.
(paper crinkling)
TALIESIN: But no. MARISHA: -- two.
MATT: Did you shuffle them accidentally into the Codex?
TALIESIN: Ah, there they are!
No, I covered when I moved that piece of paper.
All right, I'm going to put them over here.
TRAVIS: Oh.
ASHLEY: Did you go through the Codex already?
TALIESIN: Not quite. One second.
ASHLEY: Okay, sorry.
TALIESIN: No, no worries.
Actually, here, I'll read one at a time
and I'll put the ones I'm not reading right there.
MARISHA: Hmm.
SAM: (mumbling)
TRAVIS: So on this Valor level one Bare Bones ability,
"When you choose not to equip armor,
"you have a base score of three plus your strength
"and you can use the following
"as your base damage thresholds."
It says tier one, tier two, tier three, tier four.
Tier one, its starts at nine and 19, which is pretty sick.
MATT: Yeah. TRAVIS: But you would
go up tier one, tier two, tier three, tier four
each time you raise a level?
MATT: There's certain level tiers.
So tier two is when you get level two.
TRAVIS: Got it.
MATT: And that's two through four.
Then once you have level five-- TRAVIS: Oh, so it's a minute
to get to three.
MATT: Correct. Tier three is--
SAM: They're listed on this sheet.
MATT: At the back of the class--
TRAVIS: Got it. MATT: -- secondary sheet.
TRAVIS: I'm going to do that.
TALIESIN: Does School of Mullet Knowledge
mean I take three cards?
SAM: School of Mullet? TALIESIN: Mullet. Yeah.
SAM: Cool. TALIESIN: Mullet.
MATT: Correct. You get an additional domain one.
Yeah, so because you are a School of Knowledge,
you get an additional domain. TALIESIN: It's a party in the back.
SAM: Mullet is a pretty good Experience.
TRAVIS: That's fucking rad. So Matt,
I'm going to do the Bare Bones ability--
MATT: Okay. TRAVIS: -- under Valor.
MATT: So you're going to get rid of your leather armor?
TRAVIS: Yeah, so I'll have it, but I won't equip it.
MATT: Gotcha. TRAVIS: Then that makes it
three plus my strength, which is five,
so my armor is now five. MATT: Hell yeah.
TRAVIS: My damage thresholds are nine and 19
instead of seven and 14.
MATT: That's with the plus one for your level?
TRAVIS: To each one of those?
I guess I would add it to the tier one, nine and 19,
so 10 and 20. MATT: Correct.
TRAVIS: Damn!
MATT: Bare Bones is pretty good.
MARISHA: Okay. TRAVIS: That's a dope card.
That's awesome.
MARISHA: Yeah. SAM: Get it now
before they discontinue it because it's too OP.
(laughter)
MARISHA: Okay, I am taking one from Valor.
I Am Your Shield.
TALIESIN: Going to take one of these.
SAM: That's a classic.
MARISHA: Classic, classic valorous move.
TALIESIN: A little bit. Doesn't matter.
MARISHA: "When an ally within very close range of you
"would take damage, I can mark a stress
"to stand in the way and make myself the target
"of the attack instead."
And then Whirlwind.
"Make an attack against a target
"within very close range. On a success,
"I can spend Hope to use the
"attack against all other targets
"within very close range," so big sweeping,
feels fitting if I have a massive fucking greatsword.
MATT: Hell yeah. I love it.
SAM: I'm going to choose
from one of them.
MATT: Sage? SAM: Sage.
MATT: (laughs)
SAM: I'm going to choose the spell Vicious Entangle.
"On success, roots and vines reach out from the ground
"and entangle my target."
MATT: Hell yeah.
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: "I can spend a Hope to restrain them."
And from the Bone deck.
TRAVIS: Perfect.
SAM: Which is also what I call--
MARISHA: Don't. Nope.
SAM: -- part of my body. MARISHA: Nope!
(laughter)
TRAVIS: "Part of my body."
TALIESIN: Is that your other Experience?
MATT: Pull from my bone deck.
SAM: I'm going to choose Deft Maneuvers.
"Once per rest,
"mark a stress to sprint anywhere within far range."
What is far range?
MATT: So far range is considered pretty much beyond
the length of a pencil other than the range of a paper.
Actually, like anywhere,
like on a battlefield, it's like here.
So it'd say about-- SAM: That's far.
MATT: About 50, 60 feet. SAM: 60 feet.
ASHLEY: Get three? SAM: That's great.
MATT: So you could, in theory,
like if a person tries to run further than close range,
they have to make an agility roll,
and if they fail, fuck them up,
you don't have to take that at all.
You can do it for free, essentially.
SAM: And at the end of my maneuver--
TALIESIN: Those are levels that better--
SAM: Shh.
(laughter)
SAM: At the end of my maneuver, I can hit somebody.
MATT: Which is pretty great. SAM: Yeah.
Okay, cool. TALIESIN: This is fun.
MATT: Awesome.
Travis, what did you pick?
Got Bare Bones, and then what was the other one?
TRAVIS: Bolt Beacon.
MATT: Bolt Beacon. TRAVIS: From Splendor.
MATT: Awesome. Got it.
What you got, Ashley?
ASHLEY: I picked Enrapture,
which I feel like Bunnie had.
MARISHA: Yes, that's one where you're like--
ASHLEY: It's a very cool-- MARISHA: Look at me.
ASHLEY: Yes. MARISHA: Looky here.
ASHLEY: I think with the music thing,
it can be cool to like--
♪ Do do do do ♪
Like try to enrapture somebody.
MARISHA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: I did that one from Grace.
(Australian) And from Codex-- MATT: Awesome.
ASHLEY: -- I did Book of Tyfar.
MATT: All right.
ASHLEY: I've got Wild Flame,
Magic Hand, and Mysterious Mist. TRAVIS: Hold this accent.
Make it stick. SAM: (Australian) Jennifer Lopez.
ASHLEY: Jennifer Lopez,
I'm just practicing, maybe I'll do this.
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Ooh.
ASHLEY: I won't. MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: Ooh.
ASHLEY: I mean, I will, but I don't know
if that's the vibe we want.
TRAVIS: If it gets you killed faster.
MATT: That's true.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: That's what you have to do.
TALIESIN: I picked the Book of Ava,
which lets you watch very esoteric anime.
MATT: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Yeah, it gives me a power push so I can throw,
I can make people back off, I can,
Tava's Armor, which I can
give somebody a plus one bonus to their armor score
for Hope, and Ice Spike, which I will think
something of which I can summon ice spikes
far away from me.
ASHLEY: Summon Ice Spice?
TALIESIN: Yeah, summon ice spikes.
Then I have the Book of Illiat,
which is I can make people fall asleep
with Slumber. ASHLEY: That's so cool.
TALIESIN: I have Arcane Barrage,
which means I can basically shoot
magic projectiles at people.
MATT: Awesome. TALIESIN: And some telepathy.
MARISHA: So you just went full Codex?
TALIESIN: Well, I technically get three cards
because of my subclass,
so I also took Mending Touch
so I can do a little bit of healing just in case,
just even out,
because for some reason no one ever likes it.
ASHLEY: Interesting.
TALIESIN: Support class never happens.
There we go. MATT: (laughs)
Someone's got it.
TALIESIN: (mocking) Yeah, I want to be a support.
MATT: Any support class is awesome.
Fantastic. TALIESIN: Somebody got to heal.
MATT: All right, so we have domain cards chosen.
If there are any inspirations to hit for the Experiences,
feel free to go for that.
You can hand me back the decks that you have unused.
TALIESIN: I came up with my second Experience is
Nothing Up My Sleeves. SAM: You can take my Bone deck.
MATT: Thanks, buddy.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TALIESIN: Oh wait, oh, I'm giving you
the wrong ones, aren't I? Nope, never mind.
I already gave them.
Or you did.
TRAVIS: My Bone deck. ASHLEY: I put--
TALIESIN: Yeah. ASHLEY: -- those back up there.
TALIESIN: Thanks.
MATT: All righty.
SAM: I'm narrowing down for Experience
either Expert Tracker
or a Spineless Coward.
I don't know how I would use that either,
but I kind of want to be a coward.
MATT: It's good defensively.
MARISHA: Well, what's your--
Don't you have something that's kind of expert?
Like Wayfinder is kind of expert trackery.
SAM: Oh, you're right, you're right.
When I've traveled to a place before,
I can identify the path to it, so yes.
So maybe my experience is being a Spineless Weakling.
(laughter)
SAM: I don't know how that will work.
MARISHA: Well, it could be good for hiding or running
or being a coward.
SAM: Yep. (laughter)
SAM: Being a coward could help when I'm being a coward.
MATT: Trying to convince that somebody else is in trouble
instead of you.
SAM: Yeah, okay, okay, okay.
MATT: Take the fall. SAM: That's good. That's good.
All right. I'll try that one.
MATT: -- creative with helping a coward can be helpful.
(laughter)
MATT: Awesome.
ASHLEY: With the clank.
MARISHA: ♪ She coming near the Pyre ♪
SAM: ♪ It wasn't me ♪
TALIESIN: We definitely didn't start that Pyre.
(laughter)
ASHLEY: ♪ We didn't start the Pyre ♪
TALIESIN: Just getting it out now.
ASHLEY: With the clank, Purposeful Design.
At character creation,
choose one of your Experiences that best aligns
with this purpose and gain a permanent plus one.
MATT: Yes, you can choose one of your Experiences
earns a plus three.
ASHLEY: So far I just have
Soothing Music, so I'm going to add,
I'm going to elaborate on that a little bit more.
MATT: Yeah, no worries.
TALIESIN: I'm going with my second one.
I'm going with Nothing Up My Sleeve
to make it a little bit better to maybe hide objects
or perform up-close magic.
MATT: Right, right. Cool.
TALIESIN: Just little ways of making a spider work.
MATT: Fun. I dig that. TALIESIN: Good.
MARISHA: That song was always so ridiculous
because it's like if she caught you eight times--
TRAVIS: (laughs)
MARISHA: -- your defense couldn't be, "It wasn't me."
SAM: It wasn't me.
MARISHA: That's insane.
TRAVIS: We're debating the merit of the Shaggy song.
MATT: I know. I know.
TRAVIS: 24 years later. TALIESIN: Zoinks.
(laughter)
MATT: All righty, with all the domain cards chosen--
TRAVIS: Shaggy! MATT: Let's go ahead and--
(laughter)
MATT: All right, boombastic.
Let's create some connections here.
SAM: Connections.
MARISHA: Connections. ASHLEY: ♪ Connections ♪
TALIESIN: ♪ Conjunction Junction ♪
Oh yeah. We also have our item lists for later.
MATT: So some fun things to mention to you guys,
some questions to begin with to kick it off.
If any of you hail from different communities,
as we've said, it's a possibility,
consider why you've left
and what called you to this particular settlement.
So I guess for now: Who is from this community
that we're starting in, and who is a visitor, if any?
MARISHA: Where are we starting again?
Did you say this? SAM: We don't know.
It's up to us. MARISHA: We don't know.
MATT: No, we get to create the settlement.
MARISHA: Oh shit.
TALIESIN: I think we're both visitors.
Are we doing this thing, or do you want to do nothing?
ASHLEY: I'm into it. TALIESIN: All right.
TALIESIN: We're both from the same
village which we've left.
SAM: Which you've left.
MATT: So you've left a settlement.
TALIESIN: Yeah, we've left a settlement.
MATT: Why have you left it?
TALIESIN: Do you want to start or should I?
ASHLEY: I feel like you should
because you have a little bit more than I do,
but I found my way there prior to--
TALIESIN: Yeah. ASHLEY: Us meeting.
TALIESIN: Yeah, and then
I was on the edge of leaving for many, many years
and I just needed a push.
MATT: What was the push?
TALIESIN: That was Ashley's character leaving.
I felt that it would've been
A. inappropriate for you to travel alone,
and B. I was worried I was
going to get blamed for you leaving,
so I just went, and once I was out,
I realized life was much better without those people
because they're terrible.
ASHLEY: Interesting. MATT: Okay.
So think and iterate on the settlement or community
that you left from, name and culture,
and give me some notes or ideas on that.
TALIESIN: Oh yeah.
MATT: Okay.
What about the rest of you? ASHLEY: Great.
TRAVIS: Also a visitor, but I think
this guy left where he previously was
because it was overrun by some sort of dark phenomenon,
had to jet.
He was previously with just his mother,
raised by his mother, and she believed in the stories
that were at the edges of everyone's minds
of the divine are still there.
There are these little things that are popping up there.
There's chance to find the spark
to fight against the dark and all that sort of stuff
and he thought that was stupid.
Then after she died,
he started getting a little bit of this power,
and so in fleeing this village,
now it's his personal mission to try
and find where those sparks might be
since he has a little bit of it, but he's--
MATT: Right. TRAVIS: -- found his way here
and is trying to stay low
and I think he's just barely making it by.
He's slyborne, so he might steal a little bit
when necessary, maybe if for no other reason
than just to tease or test if doing dubious things
hurts the small gifts that he has.
MATT: Right.
TRAVIS: But also he finds time to help people in this place
and it's finding worth in that.
MATT: He's done what he needs to survive.
TRAVIS: Yeah. MATT: And has likely wandered
through some communities or cultures
that exist on the Halcyon Domain
that live by that sentiment.
TRAVIS: Yeah. MATT: Okay.
So we have, so the three people that have come
to the settlement, have you been here for a while then?
Have you become acclimated with this?
Do you call this home now?
TRAVIS: I think if this area has any stores of knowledge
that he could've tried to read through or visit,
then maybe he's been here for a bit trying to do that,
but also stay off radars.
Not a fresh visitor, not super new.
MATT: Okay, yeah, so you've been here for a little bit.
TALIESIN: The same, if we could blend in,
because we're not very blendy.
Anywhere where we would could blend in, that would be great.
ASHLEY: I feel like-- where would be an area
where the highborne were really at their height?
Would that be Amber Reach area?
MATT: Amber Reach definitely-- ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: -- would be within the--
(laughs)
The core ruins of that whole area
is the previous capital.
ASHLEY: Would it make sense-- MATT: -- of the entire kingdom
under the God-King.
ASHLEY: That I was from there at one point?
MATT: Sure.
ASHLEY: Because I'm thinking
maybe I was there-- TRAVIS: Smells really good.
ASHLEY: -- with a family,
or was made as a--
MARISHA: (laughs)
ASHLEY: -- clank for the gods and then--
SAM: Go for some of that.
ASHLEY: -- maybe a specific family
for their private temple.
I'm just thinking out loud.
MATT: Yeah. ASHLEY: If none of this works,
it doesn't work.
As the highborne were getting sort of shunned
and moved out.
This feels very like,
what am I saying?
What am I? Whatever.
TALIESIN: I'm following you.
ASHLEY: Maybe they ran to parts of, as they fled,
they landed sort of in the area that you're at,
and then somehow--
Wait, where were you?
You're in the under?
TALIESIN: Yeah, so the city that I'm trying to flesh out
is basically an underground cave,
cave city similar to,
the less lush version of the
kids from "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,"
where we just,
it is a cult that lives in a mountain, in a hill,
in a forest that no one goes to because it's bad.
SAM: That's where you came from,
or that's where we are now?
TALIESIN: That's where I came from.
ASHLEY: That's where he came from.
We met, so maybe the highborne feels like
French Revolution or Versailles when people are,
like the highborne leaving--
MATT: Right. ASHLEY: Getting shunned
out of their homes.
MATT: So are you saying that they were at the height
before the Age of Umbra, like 100 years ago?
Or is this one of the remnant societies
that's barely holding on, then recently got--
ASHLEY: Not yours. TALIESIN: No.
ASHLEY: I think where I was from,
would it make sense that I was alive during the time
that they were at the height of--
MATT: If you want to be. ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: Because, in my mind, in this region,
there are clanks who might have memories from that era,
and there are some, because remember,
they were just vessels for holy spirits previously,
so those that would have consciousness now
and have come through could be lingering spirits
that came into them and now use it as a new body
and are trying to discover their purpose,
or they could be lingering spirits
that are now left moorless
in a time past where their holy purpose
is now detached and wandering,
so if you want to go more that route,
then you would likely have memory from the previous age
and the people that were involved in that time
and then likely went dormant for a while
before the spirit reemerged
and retook your physical
stone and metal body. ASHLEY: Okay.
I will think on that then. MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: And somehow came from that area and then ended up.
TALIESIN: Yeah, I've got a pitch for you for that
when you're going to say it,
but we'll talk about that later.
MATT: Okay. ASHLEY: Okay.
MATT: So you guys can think on that.
ASHLEY: But, all in all, where we end up--
TALIESIN: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Wherever we meet, we're new here.
MATT: Cool. Awesome.
MARISHA: I feel like then I would be from the settlement.
SAM: Yeah, man, I'm with you. MARISHA: We'd be like here.
SAM: Yeah. MARISHA: We're like,
"This is our home turf."
I want to like--
Would there be a Pyre in this settlement?
There would be, right?
MATT: Oh yeah. MARISHA: Okay.
MATT: There would have to be for it to have existed.
SAM: Did the Pyres have names, or are they just like--
MATT: They're likely named of the settlement's name.
Which to that point-- MARISHA: Pyre Kevin.
MATT: What is the name of this settlement
and where on the map do you want it to be?
SAM: Oh sorry. MARISHA: (laughs)
What's the name?
SAM: It could be,
its name is David Duchovny.
We could be-- MARISHA: Well, it's funny.
TALIESIN: We're fighting funny.
MARISHA: The Shaw Chasm.
SAM: The Shaw Chasm.
Ugh. MARISHA: Ugh.
(laughs)
TALIESIN: Not the vibe, not the vibe, children.
SAM: No.
TALIESIN: That was last game.
MATT: Please don't name your settlement "David Duchovny."
(laughter)
MARISHA: No, we were being Shawcastic.
(laughter)
TRAVIS: David Duchovny.
SAM: I don't know, we could be--
TALIESIN: What's the city like?
SAM: Well, you guys are from the Amber Reach, what was the?
ASHLEY: No, no, no. TALIESIN: No, no,
we're from our around-- SAM: Very complicated.
Where are you guys from?
ASHLEY: Well, I originally,
when I was, because I'm a clank,
and whether or not I remember this,
I'm going to figure all of this out,
but I think that maybe my clank had spent some time
with a highborne family in the Amber Reach
in the time prior to the Age of Umbra.
MARISHA: I mean, it feels like you're maybe on the outskirts
or somewhere-- Yeah.
Near the Amber Reach is kind of cool.
SAM: Yeah, maybe on the mountains behind--
MARISHA: Mountains. SAM: Behind the Amber Reach.
TALIESIN: Why would the city be there?
SAM: Are we in a city? TALIESIN: Or a town?
Are we in a city?
MATT: You're in a settlement.
TALIESIN: That's just the Pyre, yeah.
MATT: It could be a sizable one.
It could be a small remote one.
What feels honest to the rest of you?
How many people do you think live in this settlement?
MARISHA: Well, it feels like we've got an underlying theme
of people maybe looking for history.
So it feels like having something that's maybe
ancient but a little forgotten,
but there is knowledge there.
Because I want my, I'm thinking the vibe
for my orc girl.
So maybe she has a little bit of a "Don Quixote"
thing going on where she's like--
TALIESIN: Love it.
MARISHA: Once she's got this high station
position of tending to the Pyre,
but it's like, "I can do more.
"I want to be even more defensive."
It doesn't matter if anyone tells her like,
"You are doing one of the best things
"that you can do." MATT: Great.
MARISHA: That she's still like, "Nah."
So a little "Don Quixote" vibes.
MATT: Okay.
MARISHA: But like I said, since I'm inspired by
the knights of yore and whatnot.
MATT: Okay. MARISHA: So maybe it's,
maybe there's some history wherever we are.
TALIESIN: Ooh. I like it.
MATT: Great. MARISHA: Yeah.
TALIESIN: Like a dig site, something like that?
MARISHA: That's kind of cool.
SAM: Or a university or no,
we don't have those in this world.
TALIESIN: Well, I mean, like a--
MATT: There are elements of old universities that exist,
the Celsian Athenaeum is specifically
over on the western side of the Amber Reach
is the remnants of a massive library and place of learning.
TALIESIN: I was going to say, yeah.
ASHLEY: But isn't it also overtaken by--
MATT: Yeah. ASHLEY: Monsters and things.
MATT: But most everything is to a certain degree.
TALIESIN: Yeah, I was going to say that it could be
a Dead Sea Scrolls vibe
because they were found in a cave.
MARISHA: Yeah. SAM: Oh.
TALIESIN: Where they uncovered slowly-decaying ancient library,
so there's just, but not a huge one.
It's just we found a bunch of crazy stuff
and people would go in and try and pull things out
and then it's just a little--
MARISHA: Yeah. TALIESIN: Commerce place for--
MARISHA: I think that's cool, a little like--
TALIESIN: Yeah. MARISHA: You know.
TALIESIN: Panning for books rather than panning for gold,
or panning for--
ASHLEY: Panning for history.
TALIESIN: Panning for history.
MARISHA: Yeah. It could be fun.
MATT: Sure. TALIESIN: Tiny town.
MATT: All right. Where would you like to place it?
MARISHA: Sort of like the burying out the cities
from Mount Vesuvius kind of a vibe.
MATT: Okay. TALIESIN: I like that.
MARISHA: Little Pompeii-tastic.
SAM: All right, we're in Pompeii.
MARISHA: We're in Pompeii.
MATT: Where would you like it to be?
Would you like it to be closer to the core
of the Amber Reach?
Or near the central of the previous civilization
that still has civilization within,
broken and separated
by its own disparate communities
and different interests and goals.
Or are you more in the outskirts of the area?
Are you deep in the Idle Hollow mountain ranges
and that's where you found these excavation places?
MARISHA: This is calling to me.
MARISHA and SAM: The Griefcleft Mountains.
MATT: Okay, so maybe on the--
MARISHA: Or somewhere over there.
MATT: On the outskirts of the Jungles of Aveidoora?
MARISHA: Yeah!
That. SAM: Oh wow.
We're far over there.
MATT: If you look-- MARISHA: Cool.
MATT: If you look, there is a Pyre on the map there
that is unmarked. MARISHA: Right down here?
MATT: Do you want that one? MARISHA: This one.
MATT: Do you want that to be taken?
MARISHA: Yeah, we'll take it.
MATT: All right, what are you calling your settlement?
MARISHA: What are we calling our settlement?
SAM: Hey, shut up so we can pick our name.
MATT: (laughs) ASHLEY: Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry.
SAM: What are you even talking about?
(laughter)
ASHLEY: Okay, where are you? What's happening?
MARISHA: We're going to be at this, there's this Pyre
that's at the bottom right-hand corner near the jungles.
ASHLEY: This over here?
MARISHA: Yes. ASHLEY: Okay.
MARISHA: That's going to be where we're going to be.
ASHLEY: All right.
Near the Jungles of Aveidoora.
SAM: Correct. MARISHA: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Okay. SAM: We need a name,
and it can't be Duchovny.
(laughter)
TRAVIS: The Sky Fyre Pyre.
SAM: What? ASHLEY: The Unbroken Spire.
MARISHA: So I can be an orderborne orc
at the Sky Fyre Pyre?
SAM: Oh boy. TALIESIN: No.
God, people. SAM: It could be Mordor.
MARISHA: Mork.
(laughter) MARISHA: A Mordor--
SAM: An orderborne orc from Mordor.
ASHLEY: We could have it be M-O-R-E-D-O-O-R.
(laughter)
SAM: No, what's a cool name? MARISHA: Just Moredoors?
ASHLEY: Moredoors. SAM: What's a cool name?
TALIESIN: I'm thinking about how you would describe--
ASHLEY: I mean, there's such cool ones here.
TALIESIN: How would you describe a place like that.
ASHLEY: The Unbroken Spire. TRAVIS: The Desperloch.
ASHLEY: The Valley of Penance. MARISHA: Desperloch?
That's cool. SAM: Oh, there's suggested names.
MARISHA: Oh, there are? SAM: Desperloch is cool.
MARISHA: I like Desperloch. MATT: Desperloch?
TRAVIS: Well, there's the the sea below it, right?
So there'd be little isles-- MARISHA: Yeah, there'd be a loch.
ASHLEY: Desperloch?
MARISHA: Desperloch. Done. SAM: Sure. Sounds fun.
ASHLEY: D-E-S-P-E-R-- MATT: Desperloch, let's go.
MARISHA: Sounds tragic.
TRAVIS: Better than fucking Duchovny.
(laughter) MARISHA: Or Mordor.
SAM: If you're watching, by the way, David--
TRAVIS: Big fan. SAM: -- big fan.
ASHLEY: Very big fan.
(laughter)
ASHLEY: Mulder-- TALIESIN: How do you spell loch?
TRAVIS: Forever-- ASHLEY: Forever Mulder.
TRAVIS: Truth is out there. TALIESIN: Is it L-O-C-H
or L-O-C-K? SAM: "Red Shoe Diaries."
MARISHA: Okay. (laughter)
ASHLEY: Yeah. Wait, loch is spelled
L-O-C-H-E? O-C-H? SAM: L-O-C-H.
TALIESIN: Loch, okay. ASHLEY: Desperloch.
MARISHA: Desper-- So D-E-S-P--
MATT: The settlement of Desperloch.
D-E-S-P-E-R-L-O-C-H. ASHLEY: That's really cool.
TRAVIS: That is cool. TALIESIN: That is pretty good.
MARISHA: L-O-C-H.
MATT: On the outskirts of the jungles of Aveidoora,
which means you probably exist
right on the edge of where the tree line
meets the mountains. SAM: Cool.
ASHLEY: Did you just think of that, Travis?
TRAVIS: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Damn.
TRAVIS: I know. It happens once every 10 years.
(laughter)
MATT: Which is interesting because
you're over a mountain range
from the standing outer walls
and boundaries of the Amber Reach
and the previous capital city of the elder age.
Which also is a source of possible promise
of ancient knowledge. Much lost,
some still hidden within,
and rumors of safeguarded strongholds
and possible, possible alliances with survivors
throughout reaches far beyond.
There are all these swamps in the realm beyond,
and of course, the Ashen Seas themselves,
who knows what islands might exist beyond that as well?
So there's a lot of opportunities here
to create amongst the space beyond what resides here.
So now that we have the settlement,
let's go around the table and have you all
add something to this map-- SAM: Oh boy.
MATT: -- that could be an interesting thing
to refer to-- TRAVIS: I did mine.
MARISHA: You did. (laughs) MATT: -- or even possibly explore.
TRAVIS: Desperloch.
Okay.
You can go first. SAM: Ah! What?
MATT and MARISHA: (laugh)
SAM: Oh my god.
MATT: You can take inspiration from the list of names
that are there, or you can craft something wholly unique.
TRAVIS: Find a spot for the Anal Cleft Cavern.
(giggling)
MATT: That's the upper right, I think, right?
TRAVIS: (laughs) Yeah.
SAM: Let's say--
MARISHA: Let's go to Power Thesaurus.
MATT: (laughs)
ASHLEY: Power Thesaurus? MARISHA: It's great.
It's my favorite
thesaurus app.
TRAVIS: Oh? MARISHA: Mm-hmm.
SAM: Better than-- MARISHA: And it's an org.
It's a dot org. Shout out Power Thesaurus.
SAM: Let's say that--
Boy, I don't know.
Let's say that there's an area over here
called the--
I don't have Travis' gift.
TRAVIS: I can do one, if you want more time.
SAM: It's a series of sinkholes,
ever-moving sinkholes.
SAM: Let's just say Ever-Moving Sinkholes.
MATT: That's fun. SAM: I lost someone there.
I had a partner, and we used to go on runs together.
He-- She was lost there.
MATT: All righty. SAM: Great.
TALIESIN: Do you have a name for it? TRAVIS: Got to close to the--
MATT: You have a name for these sinkholes?
SAM: The Ever-Moving Sinkholes. TALIESIN: All right.
SAM: The Ever-Shifting Sinkholes? I don't know.
TALIESIN: Just call it the-- TRAVIS: The Cereal Shits?
TALIESIN: The Pits.
SAM: The Pits? No.
Here, I'll just use one of your names.
TALIESIN: Toss them in the Pits. SAM: The Sinkholes--
TRAVIS: The Barbecue Regrets?
(laughter)
SAM: I don't got it. (laughs)
TRAVIS: (wheezes)
MATT: Call it the-- TRAVIS: Chasing the Dragon.
SAM: The Duchovny-- (laughter)
TALIESIN: You think of a word
that describes what happens there
or why you shouldn't go.
SAM: Yeah, the Ever-Shifting Sinkholes.
There you go, done. MATT: There you go.
SAM: Done.
MATT: All righty, pass that down.
TRAVIS: I'll do one. I'm going to put--
Is there any kind of a temple ruin
in this map, the Celsian Athenaeum or the--
MATT: There could be. Do you want to add one?
TRAVIS: Yeah, I want to add one. MATT: Add one.
Pick a place, put it in. TRAVIS: Okay, cool.
Then I'm going to put it down by the water,
out in the street.
Okay, I'm going to do it, yeah, more in town.
TALIESIN: What you shooting for? TRAVIS: You know what?
ASHLEY: I don't know.
TALIESIN: What do you want to build?
TRAVIS: It should be hard to get to. Fuck it, why not?
I don't know what this structure is,
but I'm going to do it.
It's out in the middle of an island
in the middle of the water.
I'm going to make it the--
I love "Severance."
I'm going to make it the Lumon Ruins.
MARISHA: Yes! MATT: All right,
the Lumon Ruins. TALIESIN: You want to make a--
SAM: I haven't started season two yet.
TRAVIS: Oh man. TALIESIN: I keep thinking about the--
MARISHA: It's good. It's good. SAM: Yeah?
TALIESIN: -- pirate treasure on the island--
TRAVIS: Yeah, it had a little freakout moment,
and they got it back on the rails.
MARISHA: Yeah.
TRAVIS: About to pull a fucking ripcord
like "Hannibal" season three. MARISHA: I agree. I got one.
TALIESIN: It's a real-- SAM: They're busy.
We'll get to them later. TALIESIN: I don't know.
No, we're discussing where it's going.
MARISHA: Okay, we're going to go,
so being on-- TALIESIN: It can be a ruin.
TRAVIS: Sorry.
MARISHA: Being a tender to this Pyre, being up high,
had a view of the mountains for some time,
and there's one that is particularly high,
off in the distance, and it is going to be
the Firmament's Harrow.
ALL: Ooh. TALIESIN: Good name.
SAM: What does that mean? TRAVIS: Power Thesaurus.
MARISHA: It's going to be-- (laughter)
SAM: What are those words synonyms of
that we would understand? MARISHA: Firmament is
deep sky.
SAM: Okay. Okay. MARISHA: Heaven.
And then Harrow being a wound.
SAM: Ooh.
MARISHA: A scar.
MATT: To be harrowed by something.
MARISHA: Yeah. MATT: That's what it's based on.
SAM: Sky scar. MARISHA: Sky scar.
SAM: Great.
TRAVIS: Basically, Starscream.
(laughter)
SAM: Megatron! MATT: I mean, good choice!
TRAVIS: Dude, the kid's watching it.
He's like, "Dad, do your Starscream!"
I'm like, "I can't.
(bad Starscream voice) Megatron!
He's like, "That's terrible."
MATT: Dad, you disappointed me.
TRAVIS: I should call Sam. You should come over.
SAM: Yeah. MATT: Do it.
SAM: I could do it. MATT: All right.
MARISHA: Firmament's Harrow. MATT: Pass that over,
other side of the table.
What you got?
ASHLEY: I feel like I want to make something
that's like "The Descent,"
where it's just a hole that no one has been to the bottom--
Can't. MARISHA: Just a big-ass sinkhole.
TRAVIS: You mean like the Ever-Moving Sinkholes?
ASHLEY: But I know that's kind of, I know.
But with sinkholes you can find the bottom.
SAM: Go for it, Ashley. ASHLEY: More of a cave.
SAM: That's fine. That's just fine.
(laughter)
SAM: You lose a friend there? ASHLEY: Okay, wait.
(laughter)
TRAVIS: What was the other one?
What was the temple that mimicked people's voices
and drew you within it?
Do you remember that other movie?
It was an Aztec temple and it had vines that grew over it,
and as you got closer it sounded like it
mimicked human voices-- MATT: Oh, what was that called?
TRAVIS: -- to get you inside so that it could eat you.
ASHLEY: What? MARISHA: That's cool.
TRAVIS: They salted the earth around the temple.
TALIESIN: Some of us haven't gone yet, Travis.
ASHLEY: Do you want to do the whole map?
Because-- TALIESIN: Yeah, man.
TRAVIS: Not my idea.
ASHLEY: Wait, I do like-- TRAVIS: What was that called?
MATT: Yeah, I'm trying to remember. I remember--
ASHLEY: That sounds very cool. MATT: That was 2010-ish.
TRAVIS: Yeah. ASHLEY: You know what?
I'm going to choose one of the things on here,
because I really like this name.
MATT: The Astrofoundry. All right.
ASHLEY: I feel like that could be, you know,
a place where people look at--
TRAVIS: "The Ruins." ASHLEY: -- stars.
MARISHA: Oh, it's just called "The Ruins?"
TRAVIS: Yeah. ASHLEY: All right,
let's put that--
MATT: Would that be-- TRAVIS: 2008.
MATT: -- along the Griefcleft?
Within the various
inner or outer walls of the Amber Reach?
Would it be beyond, to the north?
ASHLEY: I mean, I was thinking up here.
MATT: Yeah, if you want to place it there.
ASHLEY: Does that make sense? MATT: Sure.
ASHLEY: Okay. MATT: Go for it.
ASHLEY: That's just a cool title.
MATT: Taliesin, what you got?
TALIESIN: Well, I'm going to come back around
to my old city. I want to get something
odd on there first.
MATT: You guys can add other things
based on your backstories, which we can develop
until we actually run the first session.
TALIESIN: This is just something fun
I want to put together.
My family does not actually come from
the town that we were living in.
There is a haunted chunk of forest
which is called the--
It's called the Screaming Forest.
MATT: Okay, Screaming Forest. ASHLEY: Sounds pleasant.
TALIESIN: It's called the Screaming Forest--
MATT: Awesome.
TALIESIN: -- because there is no sound there.
It is quiet. It is absolutely quiet.
There are no leaves on the trees.
There's just wind, and for some reason,
the trees there have grown to look almost like people--
TRAVIS: Sweet. TALIESIN: -- frozen in place,
with their mouths wide open and their eyes open in terror,
and when the wind picks up,
they start to make noise like flutes.
MARISHA: Cool. TALIESIN: Of just terrible
moans and-- MATT: That's fun.
TALIESIN: And there are a whole bunch of rules.
You don't wander off the trail.
You try not to look up,
because people die in there mysteriously
and never come out all the time.
MATT: Cool.
TALIESIN: That's where my faerie people come from.
MATT: Delightful.
TALIESIN: That's the Screaming Forest.
ASHLEY: Lumon Ruins? MATT: Where would you like
that Screaming Forest to be on the map?
TALIESIN: Let's put it--
Where's a place you have to walk through
every now and then
if you want to get somewhere quickly?
You know, we've got the ruins there.
Where are the sinkholes again?
Where are the Ever-Moving Sinkholes?
MATT: They are towards the middle bottom.
TALIESIN: There we go.
Let's actually, even better--
I'm just trying to find something that
fucks everybody up.
Let's make them slightly
to the east of Okras
so that if you have to move out of the Idle Hallows
and get to Okras, you have to walk through this terrible
Screaming Forest. MATT: Very cool. Let's do it.
TALIESIN: Filled with spider fae. They're fun.
MATT: Fantastic. MARISHA: Filled. I hate it.
MATT: So with some of these map aspects
and a bit of the world expanded upon
to give you some anchors,
some places of history, either that you've heard of
or might've been through, been to.
Let's finish up here
with some character connections.
MARISHA: Okay.
TALIESIN: We'll do
the town together. ASHLEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
TALIESIN: It'll be fun.
MARISHA: Okay. TALIESIN: Where's the--
MATT: Do we have any character names, by the way?
MARISHA: No. TALIESIN: Working on it.
MARISHA: Got to think about it.
SAM: Duchovny. MARISHA: Let us think about it.
Oh my god. MATT: (laughs)
SAM: I need to add one more thing.
I'm going to add, just off the coast where we are,
there's a Floating Orchard.
MARISHA: That's cool. TALIESIN: Ooh!
You like things that move.
I'm into it. SAM: You're right.
It's a bunch of seaweed and kelp
that's floating off the coast,
and it's got delicious berries in it if you can get to it
through all the sea creatures and awful
creatures around it. MATT: That's fun.
I love that. Hell yeah.
MARISHA: So you're starting at Desperloch with me.
SAM: I'm a Desperlochian.
MARISHA: You're Desperlochian.
So what lie have you told me about yourself
that I absolutely believe?
SAM: Oh boy. MARISHA: You spineless coward.
SAM: What lie have I told you that you believe?
MARISHA: Yeah, and I'm like, "Tracks."
SAM: Jesus.
MARISHA: (chuckles)
SAM: I don't even know our relationship.
Why would I tell you a lie?
MARISHA: I don't know, small-- SAM: I told you that--
I told you that I have a girlfriend.
(laughter)
TRAVIS: The one that fell into the Ever-Moving Sinkholes?
MARISHA: Is that what it is? She fell into the sinkholes?
SAM: No, no--
TALIESIN: You actually just lost your wallet there,
and upgraded-- SAM: No.
(laughter)
SAM: That was not a romantic partner.
We would go on runs together.
Yeah, no, I told you that I have a girlfriend.
MARISHA: Okay.
SAM: And that she definitely exists.
MARISHA: So she's still alive.
Does she live in another settlement?
SAM: She doesn't exist. That's the lie.
MARISHA: But what if you told me-- SAM: Oh, oh, oh.
TALIESIN: She's north of the Idol Hollows.
MARISHA: Yeah, is she?
SAM: Yes, yes. TALIESIN: You've never been there.
SAM: I see her in another town that I go to visit.
I see her.
She's in the Amber Reach. MARISHA: Okay.
SAM: She's a brilliant researcher.
ASHLEY: Wait, but does anybody live in the Amber Reach?
MATT: Many people live in the Amber Reach.
ASHLEY: Oh, okay, okay, okay.
MATT: There are all manner of pocket societies there.
ASHLEY: There are. SAM: The smartest researcher
in the Amber Reach, she's a brilliant--
MARISHA: I love that. SAM: Everyone comes for miles
to hear her philosophy and wisdom.
MARISHA: Okay, that's great.
MATT: Awesome. MARISHA: That will
100% come up. SAM: Okay, good.
MARISHA: If we can just get to Amber in the Amber Reach.
SAM: Shit, I should've come up with a better name!
MATT: Are any of your characters
burdened with burgeoning oracle sight?
SAM: What the fuck does that mean?
TALIESIN: I'm in. MARISHA: Sounds like some you shit.
MATT: Slight, tiny threads of visions
within your dreams or in your waking day.
Flashes of something that is
sight beyond what a normal
person's perception allows. SAM: That feels like you.
TALIESIN: Yeah, one of you two.
I'm weird enough already.
ASHLEY: Maybe? TRAVIS: It'd probably be me.
MATT: All right, if so,
what visions have begun to creep into your sleep, Travis?
TRAVIS: Pictures of my mother, who's no longer around,
but then also a shining light,
almost like a doorway or a cave opening,
that cracks and fills out the entrance or portal itself,
and then spreads through the land.
But it's also connected by water.
There's also water around it in the vision,
which is why I've been drawn to the Idol Hollows,
because of the Lumon temple,
the Lumon Ruins that I know are here,
and that seems to be a good starting point, but who knows?
It's just a dream, right?
MATT: Yeah. Okay, cool.
Somebody else want to ask a connection question?
SAM: Oh, Ashley? ASHLEY: Hmm?
MATT: You can make one up, if you want.
SAM: Sure. MATT: You can read off the sheet.
SAM: I'm going off the sheet.
What threat have you asked me to watch out for,
and why are you so worried about it?
What are you scared of?
ASHLEY: Hmm.
MATT: He is one that travels away from the settlement often
as part of his messenger runner experience,
so there are many things that he could--
ASHLEY: Oh, he's mad.
SAM: Omar's a-growling. OMAR: (barks)
SAM: Oh! MATT: Oh.
MARISHA: What are you mad about? OMAR: (barks)
ASHLEY: I have never been-- OMAR: (barks)
ASHLEY: -- in the forests. OMAR: (barks)
SAM: This is good audio. ASHLEY: It is.
OMAR: (growls)
MARISHA: It's just Steve.
Oh no, he's okay.
ASHLEY: I'm afraid of the creatures.
I'm afraid of the dark in the forests,
of what creatures--
MARISHA: Weirdo.
SAM: Is there a specific creature?
ASHLEY: Yes, it's the one that--
There's a specific creature that I have heard of
that has taken in
whoever it kills,
you become a part of it,
and it's like this massive creature
of all of the people that it has killed.
MARISHA: An amalgamation. SAM: Yeah.
ASHLEY: It's an abomination. SAM: Okay.
You've seen this thing?
ASHLEY: I've heard of it. SAM: You've heard of it.
ASHLEY: I've never seen it. SAM: Okay.
ASHLEY: But I'm terrified of it.
But maybe you've told me you've seen it.
In your travels?
SAM: Maybe. Maybe I've heard of it, too.
But I'll look out for it for you.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I don't want to deal with that.
So let's avoid it.
MARISHA: I don't have time
to deal with that. ASHLEY: I don't have time to
deal with this, please.
MATT: Okay, if you want to think of a nickname,
you don't have to do it right now,
but think of a nickname for that entity
that you've heard referred to.
TRAVIS: Big bit.
TALIESIN: Travis. TRAVIS: Hmm?
TALIESIN: What weird hobby or strange
fascination do we both share?
TRAVIS: (laughs)
TALIESIN: And our characters, too.
MARISHA: (laughs)
TRAVIS: That's a good question.
TALIESIN: We're both a little magicky.
TRAVIS: Do we have--
Do we collect little trinkets or totems
or little charms
on our wrists?
Little icons that bring luck and meaning
from different parts of--
TALIESIN: I feel like I'd be cheating
having all these places to put them,
but yeah, I definitely love the idea of--
MARISHA: Oh, on all your hands.
TALIESIN: I love the idea of, I'm happy to--
TRAVIS: We collect little things from everywhere we go.
TALIESIN: Trade them on occasion.
TRAVIS: Yeah, every little
journey outside of the city or little trip
or little quest that we come back and don't die from,
there's one little thing that we add to our--
TALIESIN: I like them, yeah,
we can fight about whose is better.
TRAVIS: Yeah.
TALIESIN: And definitely show off
things and be irritated. TRAVIS: And we split,
yeah, we'll split things. TALIESIN: Yeah, yeah.
TALIESIN: Cool. MARISHA: Pogs.
MATT: (laughs)
TRAVIS: Marisha.
MARISHA: Yeah.
TRAVIS: You've told me to protect one member of our party
above all others, even yourself.
Who are they and why?
MARISHA: It would probably be Ashley.
TRAVIS: This bitch?
MARISHA: This bitch. ASHLEY: This bitch?
MARISHA: Because she is an ancient relic
of our history, of our past.
There aren't many of her left.
She is a walking artifact,
and if we lose her,
we lose an even further connection,
or we lose a piece of that connection
to the golden era before now.
She's important.
TRAVIS: Got it. Yeah, she is FernGully.
MARISHA: Yeah, yeah.
MATT: I'm going to do a quick round
at the table here with you all.
SAM: Yes, please.
MATT: What do your characters see when they stare
into the inky void of night too long?
TRAVIS: Kind of like when you stare into a neon sign
and then look away.
MATT: Mm-hmm.
TRAVIS: Like a little impression, but--
MARISHA: Yeah. TRAVIS: I think for me
it's glyphs or runes or symbology
that don't make any sense
and are probably just a trick of the eye,
those little things you see
swimming around in your vision.
MATT: Right, some sort of either
your eye caught some sort of an odd burning image
near the Pyre and it's probably just floating
on the periphery there.
TRAVIS: Every once in a while, the past few months,
I feel like I've seen a few of them a couple times.
MATT: Okay.
ASHLEY: I think for me, it's almost more of a feeling.
It just feels like
looking in it, it's just fear and despair and death.
MATT: Does it overwhelm you,
or do you rally against it internally?
ASHLEY: I think it overwhelms a little bit.
Okay.
ASHLEY: Yeah, I think they don't like looking in it
because it's--
It can't be defined and that's scary.
Like when you're a kid and you put all your clothes
on a chair and then at night you're like:
That's for sure a person sitting in it.
TRAVIS: Poltergeist. MATT: Right.
MARISHA: Yeah. ASHLEY: It is like a shape.
You're like: I can't tell what it is,
but there's something there. MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: That boy was stupid.
He should never have had that clown in his bedroom.
ASHLEY: Never. You don't put a clown under your bed.
TRAVIS: What were you thinking?
SAM: I feel like my guy is so used to running and hiding and
escaping and averting danger, that maybe
the fear of the unknown and seeing that,
imagining that things are out there waiting is almost like,
it's not like a high, but it fuels, it fuels him.
There reaches a level of cowardice,
of fright where it's like he goes into overdrive
and he's like: I got to go, I can get through this.
And it gives him a boost of adrenaline
to get through it.
So it's almost like the unknown
inky void is like a drug.
MATT: It's enticing, there's something about--
Is it like Ashley's character
where that threshold of oblivion is exciting?
Or is it because there's something there looking back
that makes you, kind of triggers the adrenaline?
What is it you're vibing on that?
SAM: I think that's it, there's eyes in the darkness
and there's something there that
I think maybe I'm chasing or I'm intrigued by.
MATT: Okay, okay.
You feel as if you were being watched by something beyond.
SAM: Mm-hmm. MATT: Cool.
TALIESIN: I see home and I see the woman who ran home,
the home I came to, and I'm terrified
that they're looking for me
and that they're going to find me
because I know what they will do and it is awful.
MATT: Okay.
TRAVIS: Hmm. Hmm.
MARISHA: I think I've spent years, decades even,
staring into fire, sacred fire,
and now when I look into the darkness,
it starts to form black tendrils of flame
and it gives me a sense of
shame
or unease.
Is it because I've abandoned my post
on some sort of selfish,
self-fulfilling journey of honor?
Or is it because
the flame is just all-consuming
and eats everything it touches?
Or maybe the flame isn't as sacred
as we've made it out to be,
and we've just built it up in our heads.
Maybe the flame was a lie.
SAM: The flame is inside of us?
TRAVIS: The cake is a lie. MARISHA: Maybe the flame,
Maybe the flame is inside of us.
TALIESIN: The flame is the cake.
MARISHA: I think it's like-- TRAVIS: The flame is the cake.
The cake is inside of us.
MARISHA: (laughs)
SAM: You ate the cake?
MATT: (clears throat)
(laughter)
MATT: Okay, okay, very cool.
MARISHA: Ravaging flame.
MATT: I dig it. Works for a Pyrekeeper.
MARISHA: Yeah.
MATT: Any other connections anyone wants to ask?
TALIESIN: Yeah.
Actually, would like to get a couple.
I want to get all three.
Marisha.
MARISHA: Huh?
TALIESIN: What favor have I asked of you
that only you could help me with?
MARISHA: Oh.
Fully smuggling you
TRAVIS: (chuckles)
MARISHA: -- into underneath the settlement,
because I know all the ins and outs.
TALIESIN: And I love, I mean, I'm here to learn, so yeah.
MARISHA: And so I think probably if there is
some sort of archeological dig or something,
I think I would probably be going
a little bit against code in that way,
but it's also because I have that strong volition
towards the pursuit of knowledge.
TALIESIN: And I would owe you, so that's fair.
MARISHA: Yeah, so I would
totally smuggle you out of sight
to whatever knowledge we're seeking.
TALIESIN: Mm-hmm. MATT: Cool.
TALIESIN: I'm happy to be
sharing that whatever knowledge
we can be looking for it together,
I think it's a fun idea. MARISHA: Yeah.
TALIESIN: Mm-hmm.
MATT: All right. TRAVIS: Taliesin.
SAM: Oh!
TALIESIN: Jesus Christ.
TRAVIS: What promise did you make me agree to
should you die on the battlefield?
TALIESIN: I made you promise
to give a letter to my family
if you ever find them.
TRAVIS: Nice.
TALIESIN: Or at least to my parents.
Yeah, it would be my parents or grandparents,
any of my family you find.
TRAVIS: Got it.
ASHLEY: Taliesin. TALIESIN: Oh god, yeah.
MARISHA: (chuckles)
ASHLEY: Why do you grab my hand at night?
TALIESIN: Oh. MARISHA: I love this one.
ASHLEY: Or do you? TALIESIN: I do.
I think it's because if they find me,
I actually believe that you would be the reason
why I survive.
TRAVIS: No pressure.
ASHLEY: I will protect you.
TALIESIN: I think they fear you.
SAM: Marisha. MARISHA: (startled noise)
TALIESIN: Okay. ASHLEY: Okay.
TALIESIN: I think they fear you.
TRAVIS: Leave.
(laughter)
TALIESIN: I wouldn't have left.
SAM: What friendly competition do we have?
You know how we're buds. MARISHA: Yeah.
Just lying to me and shit.
SAM: Just about the girl.
(laughter)
SAM: I want to impress you.
You're strong. MARISHA: You impress me.
SAM: You're strong and I'm weak.
MARISHA: You're just a little goat man.
SAM: I'm a little goat man.
MARISHA: (giggles)
Oh my god. What friendly competition do we have?
SAM: I'm going to answer my own question.
MARISHA: Yeah. MATT: (chuckles)
MARISHA: Give me a suggestion.
SAM: You're big, right?
MARISHA: Yeah.
SAM: Maybe I,
I feel like I'm small and very skinny.
MARISHA: Okay.
SAM: But I can eat so much food.
MARISHA: Ooh.
SAM: And never seem to gain any weight,
and so we have like--
MARISHA: Like eating competitions.
SAM: Yeah, like how many grapes
can you fit in your mouth--
TRAVIS: Grapes. SAM: (laughs)
MARISHA: Yeah, that's good.
MATT: I will say, too, a fun bit of this--
MARISHA: That's fun. MATT: Any sort
of eating competition that you both have,
you have to keep secret
because rations are thin
in these settlements. MARISHA: Even better!
MATT: So you guys are stealing food more or less to compete,
which is awesome. TRAVIS: Mom, I'm hungry.
MATT: That's fucked up. MARISHA: Yeah.
(laughter)
MATT: "Our rice stores are two weeks behind, what's going?"
MARISHA: And that can come into foraging or scavenging,
like what did you all find today?
SAM: Ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
MARISHA: What did you squirrel away?
SAM: I can squirrel us away stuff
and we don't show anybody else.
MARISHA: Sure, that's fun. TRAVIS: Are you sure the game
isn't she tries to see if she can startle you
so that you fucking faint? MARISHA: Yeah.
(laughter)
SAM: I like that, too. I like that, too.
TRAVIS: (bleats)
(laughter)
SAM: Do they do that?
ASHLEY: Fainting goats. MARISHA: Fainting goats.
MATT: Oh yeah. SAM: Maybe I do that!
(laughter)
SAM: I love it.
MARISHA: You've seen fainting goats.
SAM: I have. I have. MARISHA: This is so good.
TRAVIS: (bleats)
MARISHA: Okay, yeah, we have a little eating competition.
TALIESIN: Sam. SAM: (yells)
TALIESIN: Feels good, doesn't it?
What about me irritates you?
My character. Shit.
(laughter)
SAM: You're what kind of wizard?
What do you look like?
TALIESIN: I'm a humanoid spider.
SAM: Oh god.
TALIESIN: But charming.
(laughter)
SAM: Charming humanoid spider. TALIESIN: I'm cute for a spider.
TRAVIS: Maybe a little jumpy.
TALIESIN: Actually, it's slightly different build,
but yeah. I can do the little parachute thing.
TRAVIS: Funnel wolf.
SAM: What about you annoys me?
TALIESIN: Yeah.
It doesn't have to be a big thing
and you know, we could have a discussion about it.
TRAVIS: (laughs) He's already qualifying it.
MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)
TALIESIN: I'm trying to-- MARISHA: Not a big deal.
TRAVIS: It could be small. TALIESIN: I'm trying to just
throw you something, you know.
SAM: I'm trying to think if I want it
to be a big deal or a little deal.
TRAVIS: It's a fucking giant spider.
MARISHA: Yeah. SAM: I know.
(laughter)
SAM: You know what, I've never said this to you.
TRAVIS: (wheezes)
SAM: You have this smell.
MARISHA: Oh yeah. SAM: You smell real weird.
TALIESIN: I eat a lot of raw meat.
SAM: Yeah, yeah. MARISHA: Mm.
ASHLEY: There it is. TRAVIS: You melt your own food.
TALIESIN: And I also don't chew with my mouth closed
because I'm a spider.
SAM: I'm intrigued by you.
I'm intrigued by-- TALIESIN: Probably smell like--
SAM: Do we know about your magic?
We know about your magic.
Your Aetherweaving? TALIESIN: How close are we?
SAM: I don't know. TALIESIN: I don't fucking know.
SAM: What are we together, to each other?
TALIESIN: I think if I've used your services,
I think at this point, I would definitely have friends
who would know.
MATT: Yeah, you're not an adventuring troop,
but you all know each other to a certain degree.
I mean, both of you are outliers in the settlements.
We'll talk more about where your place is in this.
You said you were smuggled through
and probably hidden from some of the more jumpy folks
since you resemble some of the things that people
are afraid of on the outside of the walls.
MARISHA: It's a big pursuit of knowledge.
TALIESIN: I'll also say I changed one of my Experiences
that I thought it was a little too to
Absolutely Supposed to be Here.
MATT: Okay.
TALIESIN: So I can just-- I'm fine.
I'm with her.
MATT: (laughs) That's fun. That's fun.
TALIESIN: Have to do a lot of that.
MARISHA: Have you ever had, you know, like--
TALIESIN: Like wearing a suit at Comic-Con.
MATT: Right. MARISHA: In the fall
when all the ladybugs start coming inside
and then they'll gather in the corner
and then when a lot of ladybugs gather
in the corner of your window
and they smell weird.
Do you know that smell, ladybug smell?
SAM: I don't.
MARISHA: Is this a--
SAM: I don't.
TRAVIS: Oh no, no, I'm familiar.
That's a southeastern part-- MARISHA: Is this a southern thing?
Is this a Kentucky-ass thing?
TALIESIN: I was going to go with a--
MARISHA: Yeah, and they'll come in.
TALIESIN: With the meat plant. SAM: Is that question
on your sheet?
(laughter)
MARISHA: Yeah.
ASHLEY, SAM, and MARISHA: "Do you know ladybug smell?"
TALIESIN: I assume I would smell like
rotted meat a little bit.
ASHLEY: Weird.
MARISHA: Yeah, they're cute when they're one at a time,
but then they get, and they'll gather and--
ASHLEY: A little aggressive?
TRAVIS: If you yawn, they
fucking fly in your mouth. (gagging)
TALIESIN: There's so many awful insects.
MARISHA: I once woke up and brushed my teeth
and one had crawled onto my toothbrush
in the middle of the night
and there was this weird like--
ASHLEY: No. MARISHA: -- acrid acid taste
and I spit it out and it was a ladybug
that had crawled on my toothbrush.
ASHLEY: Ew.
MARISHA: Because you know when you stumble
in the bathroom and like--
TRAVIS: It's good luck.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MATT: (laughs) MARISHA: Anyway.
SAM: Taliesin, I'll also say that another thing
that annoys you about me, me about you--
TALIESIN: Yeah. SAM: You about, whatever.
MATT: No, you had it, the second one you got it right.
SAM: Is that you ask me to get you things.
TALIESIN: All the time.
SAM: But they seem to me
like they're useless and cumbersome.
It just doesn't feel like, why would you need this?
TALIESIN: I love it.
SAM: Why would I have to risk my life
to get this for you?
TALIESIN: I love it.
MATT: This is fun.
TALIESIN: Smell. MATT: I think we got
some solid connections here.
This is a continued conversation
until we start our first session, of course,
so we can keep developing this and asking questions,
but I think this is a good jumping off point.
My last question for all of you--
MARISHA: Ooh. MATT: Is how deadly
do you want this campaign to be?
TRAVIS: Very. MARISHA: Let's go!
TRAVIS: Well done steak.
Level 10.
TALIESIN: Really spicy or only from the home country spicy?
TRAVIS: Punishment for--
the first person that dies. ASHLEY: I want to see what a super spicy--
TALIESIN: Only from the home country.
ASHLEY: Yeah. MATT: Okay, let's go.
ASHLEY: Full spice.
MARISHA: Video game menu challenge rating
expert, god mode.
TRAVIS: Skull next to it.
SAM: Do we know how many of these we're doing?
TALIESIN: It depends on how quickly we die. MARISHA: Eight.
SAM: So there's not really time to come back
as another character. TRAVIS: Sure there is.
TALIESIN: Yep. TRAVIS: Sure there is.
TALIESIN: There ain't no getting--
TRAVIS: Oh yeah.
MARISHA: Or you just die. MATT: We'll talk about it.
TRAVIS: Or if she dies, something fucked up might happen.
MARISHA: We also, if you notice--
TALIESIN: I had to make Caduceus in a week;
you'll be fine. MARISHA: We have two people
missing at this table.
SAM: I actually hadn't noticed.
MARISHA: Yeah. (laughs)
TRAVIS: We should actually make a pool
about who's going to die first and the first person out
has to buy everybody, I don't know, Porto's.
MARISHA and SAM: Ooh.
MATT: We'll figure something out.
I think there's some fun options.
TRAVIS: Okay.
MATT: But I think we have enough to jump off of here.
We'll develop things together
until we actually get to this first session here,
and Desperloch, one of the few remaining settlements
gathered around one of the burning Sacred Pyres here
in the Age of Umbra.
We'll see you all soon enough for the first session--
TRAVIS: Oh shit! MATT: -- of this campaign
in Daggerheart.
Super excited for you all to join us for this.
We'll see you soon.
(cackling)
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