The Glass Cannon Podcast - Cannon Fodder 10/4/23

Episode Date: October 4, 2023

Troy and Joe make exciting announcements about Extra Life 2023 and a new TTRPG that's going to hit Friends of the Pod later this month! In looking back at GCP C2E3, the guys discuss pacing silly versus serious, why Troy was hoping for a combat, and whether or not Joe found a potential plot hole! In Listener Mail, the guys discuss the good, the bad, and the business ramifications of an all-evil party. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/-PKxkQiDuGM For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com and for exclusive content and benefits, subscribe today at jointhenaish.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Welcome to Cannon Fodder, a behind-the-scenes look at the Glass Cannon Network. Yo! What is going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome back to Cannon Fodder. It is Wednesday, October 4th, 2023. And I'm your old pal, Joey O'Brien. And I'm your old pal, Joey O'Brien. And I'm Troy. Taking a day off from Creativity LaValle. I'm just going by one name now.

That's what I am in this industry. Just Troy. What were you doing when I fired up the show? You played Starfield. Don't worry about it. I was just playing a little bit. I'll tell you what, I never liked Xbox. My whole life, I was just like very anti-Xbox. I was a Nintendo guy until I booked that voice on the original Red Dead Redemption.

Then I bought a PlayStation. And then I was like all about PlayStation. That was PlayStation 3. And then, you know, Halo. I've watched you play Halo. I'm just like, yeah, it's not my bag. I don't it well obviously i was gifted this for my wife uh for my birthday so i could play starfield and i fucking love it this even the controller just feels gorgeous in my hand i used to be a really really big fan of the old xbox 360 controller which i still have for pc now but i never upgraded to the what do you have

xbox uh series x or something series x yeah is that an xbox one series x is that what that is or is that a different console than xbox one i don't even know where we are this one yeah i don't know where we are in the generations of xbox but i have not had one since the 360 and i've grown to like the playstation controller like i first played playstation loved it moved on to xbox but i have not had one since the 360 and i've grown to like the playstation controller like i first played playstation loved it moved on to xbox and was like this is a superior controller used it for a long time went back to xbox was like i can't even play a first person shooter with these controls on xbox or on playstation i hate it and then i grew to like it and then i grew to comfortable with it and then when i went back to xbox i'm like this is very

very difficult like so i haven't tried the new one though the new xbox dude it's great like the uh the triggers and are like textured on top and it just it's a it's got some uh texturing back here as well it's really like ergonomically beautiful and uh i wish i was playing it i haven't played starfield in five days because I'll never be able to play it again. Me neither. All day today. That's all I want to do. I had no recordings today except fodder, which I don't consider a recording.

I just consider it hanging out. And I was like, I will definitely get an hour of Starfield in at lunch. Not a single minute of Starfield. Because every time you're about to play, you're like, I need to get this done. This has to get done right now. and then time just flies away from you i imagine i imagine it'll get better sometime in the next couple months but right now it's just like yeah i'm just waiting for dead of winter yeah holiday season it'll be slower they'll they'll be time they'll be yeah don't worry yeah i mean we just finished uh recording season five. Get in the trunk.

That's off our plate, bro. Behind the scenes productions secrets. Get in the trunk. Season five is in the bag, folks. It's over. Yeah. And yeah, I can't say any more about that. But we do have a ton to talk about today.

Nice, nice, chunky thought. We have exciting news today and exciting updates coming your way, including a brand new RPG that we're going to be checking out this month. What? Maybe a property you are all, I'm sure, familiar with. Then we're going to talk about the episode, of course, and we'll make time for We Are Stupid. Obviously, not a lot of rules in this particular episode. a lot of rules in this particular episode. However, we're going to have a nice little conversation, a little back and forth. I think we've been doing this so far with the GCP, courtesy of Professor Eric. He likes to kick off little debates when there aren't rules things and say, hey, what do you guys feel about this? Here's kind of what the community thinks about this overall concept. And let's put it out there for discussion among the niche. So we're going to have a nice show today. But to kick us off, let's get into the news. The news, we mentioned New York Comic Con.

Just a reminder, just a real quick bit on that. Two weeks away now. We're two weeks from New York Comic Con. Friday, October 13th, 4 p.m., right? Yeah, I think it's 4 to 6.30. No, that's not right. 5 to 6.30. 5 to 6.30, yeah.

So it's a 5 p.m. start at New York Comic Con. But yeah, double check the website. Is it on the website? Did we ever put that up there? We got to put that up there. It went up on social a couple days ago, all the details. Got it. Okay.

Well, yeah, we'll have obviously more information as we get closer that will really, really nail it down. But if you already- 430 to 6. 430 to 6. 430 to 6. Yeah. So if you are already going to New York Comic Con, come by, see the show.

It's going to be amazing. We'll have cast announcements on that, I'm sure, next week. All right. Let's talk about Extra Life. We're a month out, dude, and it is time to mention Extra Life. We're a month ahead of the curve here this year, and Extra Life is your baby. You love it. So please, talk to us about

it and uh and where you're at right now with the process um i was gonna say the cast is already out for the the marvel show that oh oh it is okay yeah we're recording this a couple days early so i think it will already be out there by now it's gonna be me you skid matthew sydney nicolo and jim's up and jim's up crazy cast that's gonna be amazing marvel cast and from what i understand probably not original superheroes right like we're gonna be playing marvel favorites marvel favorites yeah and a rather a spooky friday the 13th show oh you love themed shows i sure do no it's gonna be fun i mean going to be great. I'm just psyched to play that again. We haven't played since Gen Con, so it'll be good to get back in. And we haven't played with Jim in a long time.

You've never played with him. He's great. I've never played with Jim. And I've met Jim a few times at Hangs, and he just seems awesome. He seems like an awesome dude. Pure positive energy. He's Canadian. They're so much better than us in every way.

They really are. But Extra Life. They're so much better than us in every way. They really are. But Extra Life, yeah, we started this I want to say in 2017, dude, we started doing Extra Life when it was just like the five of us. Maybe we had a second show by then and we were just playing video games and party games. I don't even know if we did RPG. It was just like just video

games and we did almost 24 hours. Skid would do the overnight shift. Then I think we took a year off, maybe even two years off, and we came back pretty heavy. I was like, you know, this is something we really need to do. We get so wrapped up in the day-to-day. We really need to find more opportunities to do

charity stuff like this. And this is, it doesn't get better in terms of like charities that go on in the gaming world than the Extra Life Stream, which is to benefit the Children's Miracle Network of hospitals. Children's hospitals all around the United States. We do it – we've done it now for the past few years and really, really the nation has stepped up. Last year, we earned over $43,000. So I'm setting the goal this year at $45,000. I think we can get $45,000. It's going to go all the way over $43,000. So I'm setting the goal this year at $45,000.

I think we can get $45,000. It was going to go all the way to $50,000. I was like, let's do five 5K bumps a year. Last year, the goal was $40,000. We blew past it to $43,000. We're going to do $45,000 this year. And the goal is 24 hours of some kind of gaming. So I'm really excited.

It has not been programmed yet. It's still a little up in the air, but we're excited to do as much gaming as we can. Hopefully we get to all 24 hours. He'll just be McDermott just asleep on a microphone. He's got that overnight shift now. Maybe we got to give that to Francis. Like the new guy always has to do the 24 hours. New guy's got to do 24 hours.

I love that idea. That's great. Yeah, Francis has been – he's been a little bit – he's been jonesing, I think, a little bit to like dip the toe back into the old video game waters. I think he's been out of the loop for a long time and being around us all the time and now the community all the time and the business all the time. He's just like, I got to get back in. So good. I want to get to the point where that's all I'm doing. But we're not there yet. But this is going to be going down Saturday,

November 4th. We start at 8 a.m. and we'll try to go to 8 a.m. on Sunday, November 5th, straight or straight into some bagels and lox like we did last year. Amazing. All right. Let's talk about the new game we have coming this month. Spoiler alert, I have received via email a quick start guide for a new game that's coming out and starting to read through that little document. Why don't you tell the folks what we're going to be displaying our first run of later this month? Yeah. We are going to be playing the... I think it's not even brand new. The upcoming Assassin's Creed tabletop RPG. Yes! I'm really excited about

this. I don't want to announce the cast yet, even though we've locked it in, just because we got some a little high profile. Someone, a friend of the network, a regular on the network. But I just assume in between now and then so much could happen to make this person too busy to play. But I've never played with them. You've never played with them.

And we're going to be on it. And so I'm excited. I have not even looked at the quick start guide yet. Were you a big Assassin's Creed guy for PlayStation or Xbox? No, no, not at all. I played a little bit of the very, very first game. And then for whatever reason, I just I don't finish most games I play, but I never even got close to finishing that. And I didn't dislike it. I don't know. Just one

of those things. Life just sort of carried me in a different direction at the time. And then I never played a single sequel. I never played Origins, which I hear is great, or Black Flag, which I almost played at one point because I was like in the mood for a pirate themed game. And then, I mean, there's so many. There's like the Roman one. There's like, you know, it's all just different times in history. Isn't there like a colonial one, like a revolutionary war one? They always looked amazing, but I feel like they came out at times when I was already like elbow deep in another game. In Call of Duty. Yeah, something like that.

I never played them, but I always enviously watched the commercials being like, man, that looks so fucking cool. So yeah, I know. It looks like Ubisoft is involved with it along with Come On Games and Guillotine Press. And we're going to take it out for a little two-episode spin, end of the month. Little two-ep

spin. Keep an eye out for that at the end of the month very much so looking forward to that and we'll have news as we get closer on on cast and stuff like that uh quick update on glass cannon live philly vip sold out that's a wrap folks yep that's a wrap there is only two tickets that you can get in 2023 to hang out with us at the after party. And that's in St. Louis. There's two left. There's two VIPs left in St. Louis? Two VIPs left in St. Louis.

Chicago VIP sold out? I don't know. I'm just making it sound good. I can't remember. There's not a lot of tickets left. There's three shows and they're almost all sold out. St. Louis was sold out and now there's 11 barstools tickets left. Get those barstools. We'll be coming around with some shooters.

This place is fancy, but they probably do shooters. Maybe a random game of left, right, center busts out on the bar. You never know. That would be the seat I would get. I don't want to be fucking on top of the stage, number one, because I'm always afraid I'm going to get pulled up there like, oh, you want to be in the show?

Get out of here! Sit at the bar and then just get immediate access to drinks. Also, you get Matthew and skid spit all over you when you're up there. It's like a Gallagher show. You got to put the tarp in front of you. Right. That bar is, it has to be the best spot to be in leading up to the show. Like, if you're there an hour early, just hanging at that bar. I mean,

that has to be the scene for the show. So yeah, definitely check out the bar seats. I think, I think, uh, something special there. And I'll tell you what,

if the after party, the VIP after party is anything like what it was in Philly, the after party was at the bar. So if you have those bar seats, seats, those are your seats. You got, you got to say,

we're going to have to come to you. Yeah. I mean, there's just no way around it. Uh, yeah. So if you have those bar seats, those are your seats. You got a seat. We're going to have to come to you. I mean, there's just no way around it. I can't wait. Yeah. So anyway, pick up those tickets while you still can. And that's all I got. That's it for news. That's all you got?

Yeah, which is fantastic. Let's move on to talking about the GCP. Yes. Particularly episode three of campaign two, which I, I'll be honest with you. I gushed right before we went live here. I loved it. I loved the episode. And I don't, I don't say that often because I think that it sounds obnoxious, but it's true. I was listening back to prep for this fodder and I was just transported. I really was like, I just had so much fun. Also, we recorded it months ago, a couple months ago. And so like, I forgot a lot much fun. Also, we recorded it months ago, a couple

months ago. And so I forgot a lot of the stuff. And it was so fresh to me. The jokes were really funny. And then I really liked some of the character exposition we got in this episode. I thought it was really cool. So we'll get to some of that in a second. But first, I want to go through and just ask you a few general questions since we don't have a traditional we are stupid. Last week, we kind of left it hanging we didn't know if this is going to bust out into a fight and we see in episode three we straight up get out of there with the information we need without rousing any suspicion uh sid gets a bottle cap for a hairball i mean this is were you were you impressed with the execution of the, of the score?

I was very impressed because I kept asking you guys like, what's the plan? What's the plan? And I don't know if I just wasn't listening or if the plan wasn't like solid until it happened, but I was just like, Ooh, I really don't know what they're going to do here, but all right, let's just see what happens. And when Sid pulled out that vomit to set off the alarm i just i remember being like that was fucking brilliant and it made my job so much easier yeah you were like and now we can just move on with the story this is great because i was agonizing on this i'm like i really don't know

what's gonna happen here and i want to be in your initial in your initial prep did you think this was going to be a fight did you think we would kill the guards? No, no. I think it was pretty clear, especially as you guys, as you went up and talked to Michaels. He seemed like a pretty cool guy. It didn't seem like it was going to go that route. But that's what made me even more nervous. A fight? I got the stats. Easy. You know, when you start getting creative, I wasn't worried that I couldn't come up with a creative solution. I just wanted to be smooth. You know, this is episode three of our creative, I wasn't worried that I couldn't come up with a creative solution. I just want it to be smooth. You know, this is episode three of our show, two of our show. Like, I want it to be like smooth.

And as I'm reading this, I'm like, fuck, this is so open-ended. Yeah. And, you know, we don't do a lot of editing. All these three of these episodes, when I tell you that like, I mean, we're editing between multiple cameras. But the amount of stuff I'm taking out is like five small cuts where we just had to like fix something like really, really tiny stuff. So because of that, I want to make sure the pacing is right and that it feels smooth. And I would have given her two bottle caps. I thought it was such a great idea because at the end of the day, it made my job easier.

I agree with you that I think the pacing was really good in this one. I think there was a lot of big laughs. I mean, I was just laughing, walking around on the street, listening to it. And then – Old Snailfoot Jones. Old Snailfoot Jones. And what was it? Wasp Knuckle.

Wasp Knuckle and Ant Hip. Yeah. And, yeah, Ant Hip and Wasp Knuckle. And Wasp Knuckle was married to Bill. Bill. I think that's what it was. Because he wasn't part of the naming tradition. Right.

He was an outsider. Family by marriage. So, I think that's what it was. Because he wasn't part of the naming tradition. Right. He was an outsider. Family by marriage. So, I mean, all that stuff. Like that silliness, you know me. I have a low tolerance for it. Like some of it I thoroughly enjoy. And then when it crosses a line, I'm like, all right, now you're just taking me out of the game and I'm not enjoying myself anymore. It came close to that.

I think it was in episode two. It might have been a little bit in three with the uh the ladies night thing the over and over just like we're so drunk we're so drunk we're yelling and screaming in the town square i just started to get like stop and not only as a player who's just like move on with the story but also as a character i'm like stop drawing attention this way because i cannot deceive anybody so as long as we just lay low, you know? Uh, so, but that,

that interchange, uh, exchange, whatever at the library, I thought was just chef's kiss was the perfect amount. Perfect dose of silly. You know, there's,

there's, there's side quest, side sesh, there's strange aeons and there's GCP. And those are three very different energies. And people have to remember like GCP is a much different show than strange aeons. And I think Matthew is just like, forgot. Like he's still in psychosis or like still in strange aeons votes like all right calm down ladies night we got it we got it but i still love silly dude give me silly

any day of the any of the week any day of the week over anything else like i mean if you're not laughing at the table what are you doing? What are you doing? So I certainly appreciate the humor. And then to me, the funniest part is me squaring up on it and Matthew being like, Joe is clearly over this bit. Just saying it out loud. That's funny. I just think it cracks me up when he's like, Joe clearly is exasperated with our bit. Well, it feels like old school GCP and that's what I want. I wanted this to feel like we're returning back to our roots.

So much has changed. Production values are different. The show is different. The cast is different and everything. But I want it to feel like friends around a table. I want it to feel like what it felt like in 2015. And I think we're – I really think we're achieving that. I felt that.

I felt that in episode three. I definitely, not that I didn't feel it in one and two, but I was just like, I was enamored with it. And it wasn't just the story and the mystery, which is very, very cool, especially the exposition we start to get on Bolan is very interesting. And that the way that this character,

who perhaps I'm just going to say in quotes villain, we don't really know yet is like, it's a great setup. The story makes sense. It makes sense why this person did what they did and why they're doing what they're doing. And, uh, and there's a lot of layers to it. And I appreciate that. But then on top of that, and this goes back to the pacing for as much as the silly we had, there was also, I was just eating up the little individual character insights that we got in this episode. And not all of them were produced by the little fireside chat that we had. I'll get to that in a second. Some of it was just the interaction and the interplay of the characters when they weren't being silly. They began to reveal little things about themselves, and they're just starting to flesh out a little

bit more. And I was really interested to listen back to that. And it's actually, it's helping me play the game now, even further ahead where we are, to re-listen to little tidbits that Talitha dropped about her past, right? Little ways that Lucky reacts to certain people and certain things. And it's just, everybody's, I think, really sinking into their character and I'm loving it.

Yeah, and it's easy to breeze past that. Except Skid, Skid just seems lost. That character just seems like, my God. I mean, Buggles is so phenomenal. And just re-listening to it, it's just great. It's great. Sorry, I cut you off. Yeah, no, I was gonna say say it's easy to breeze past that.

There was a part of me pre-ep was like, I feel like this needs to be – we need to get to combat. Like going back to original GCP, it was like episode three was the – The Wall of Wolf Street. The Wall of Wolf Street when we've gotten to our first combat. Part of me wanted to mirror that in a way. And so there was this feeling like let's just get there so we can get that in. But you got to know when to let it breathe. And I could have easily done a longer

episode, but I want to stay around 60 to 75 minutes. That's the sweet spot for this show because we put out a lot of content. I don't want to do two-hour episodes. I don't even want to do 90-minute episodes that often. I'd like that 60 to 75 minutes because people got a lot going on in their life. And I want you to be able to stay up to date with the glass cannon and not be weeks behind because the episodes are too long. Well, I mean, you're giving them 90-minute episodes every week so far. That one was 90 minutes. And then next week it will probably be long again. That's the sweet spot for me. It's a lot easier for us to produce too. But there's always going to be some long ones.

I know there will be some three-hour eps coming in. Well, you know, you got to kind of take the story where it goes. But let's get to that point, which is the fireside chat. You could have that option to kind of push us forward after a night's rest out in the wild to get to whatever encounter is, is coming next week. You've set up these creatures and we'll see what happens. But the, the, the fireside chat,

you decide to stop everything. Talk about pacing, slow everything down and have the characters all really see what they do with this downtime around the fire. And it starts to really draw out things about their individual characters. Why did you decide to do it instead of pushing to the combat when that was your original plan? And speaking in general to GMs, how often does that sort of thing need to happen in games? How much is too much, I guess, is the follow-up?

Yeah, I mean, this goes back to months ago when I was starting my prep. I knew that this was the moment that I wanted to be the like, let's check in with everybody because there's a lot of like, you're kind of just thrown into investigation. It starts in medias res. This is the first time when there's like an actual moment to stop. And the players are alone just with each other. And the players are alone, right. There's no other NPCs or anything. And you know it's going to take two nights to get to wherever they're going, supposedly. So there's an overnight. We know that. I knew this is going to be the moment to do, you know, what's become, I even said on the show, sort of emblematic of what we do, these little fireside chats. me it was like this this is the time and i'm so glad we did it because it it really like you said it gave everybody a moment to start to reveal things either through little things that they did like brother rami is sneaking off into the woods to smoke some or you know uh you know just

having the conversation with buggles and his fear of horses and everything i don't know it was it was it was great yeah i really loved the fear of horses thing. That was awesome. How much is – GMs that are looking to replicate this at their table, how much is too much? We often speak in terms of episodes. You're always like, you just got to feel it. You just got to feel it out. How do you identify that time when it's time to check in? Is it every time there's something monumental happens in the story?

Is it every three or four sessions for a regular game? Like, what do you think? Depends on your table, right? Like, if you've got a table full of Nick Lowe's and you yourself are like, you just love the RP, then you can do it every session if you wanted to. Like, I don't love it as much. Like, so to me, small doses here and there are key um it you gotta look at like the pacing of an episode as well as the pacing of it of like a string of episodes and for me this just felt like a good place for it um so yeah it'll be interesting

next time we have one of these moments we'll'll see how much time went between episode three and that next sort of fireside chat and what happened just before. I know it's a feel thing, but for a home game, it just depends on your group. Groups who love this, you could do it all the time. I would leave that game if that's what happened. What about these games are going to have Nick Lowe's at the table and then Joe O'Brien's at the table who from time to time are just not going to have an idea when it comes to them around the fire. They just see Nick Lowe doing him write his own amazing song by the fire and that tells like the story of his life so far, whatever. And then it's like, and what do you do, Joe? And you lock up, right?

You free, you get stage fright uh he just sits there whatever um do you have a i don't know a trick of the trade a way to draw that out of a quieter player to to get them to loosen up a little bit and and reveal more stuff about their character that's interesting you know You can always point to the mechanics. Sometimes if you look into the mechanics of something, you can kind of reverse engineer a good role-playing moment. So you can be like, well, you found a scroll earlier today. Do you want to take a look at that scroll? And then you're looking at the scroll and the learning of that scroll could somehow lead to an interesting discovery or an item that you found that day. So yeah, if you have a player that you see like they're just – they have nothing,

you can start saying like, well, let's look at your items there. What's the story with that sword that you got? Like say Kate was really quiet or something. Be like, so what's going on with that bow? Was that a bow that was given to you or – look to the sheet. Sometimes just looking to the sheet can give you creative you know, creative ideas when you're lost to come up with something on your own. It's great. I think that episode three, for as great as it was, contains a major plot hole.

I think there's a problem with the plot of this story. Oh. And it's possible that I'm just an idiot. And I think, I admit the latter is much's possible that I'm just an idiot. And I think, I admit, the latter is much more likely. I'm leaning that way. I may have missed something.

I haven't, I haven't checked any of the feedback on this episode or anything like that. But in the re-listen, something seemed kind of funky to me

and I'm like, what did I miss? It felt to me that the steps between Fionara's quest to find out if they're fake or not, to reporting the results of that,

to being directed to the halfling whose name escapes me at the moment. Lemma Feldthorn. And her having all of the information on the gates outside of the city and the Wildwood and the guards and the way that it's all done and what happened that night and what Bolan

is doing and all that kind of shit uh and her and her being like a friend of um of fayanara why did we have to do the test like i didn't understand it seemed like they all already knew that the gates were in the wildwood well i feel like fayanara had a feeling but where she was afraid to go she wasn't allowed to go in the wildwood. Was afraid to even go in the Wildwood. She wasn't 100% sure. And I imagine her relationship with Lemma, while close, Lemma can only reveal so much to her.

Maybe Lemma never said anything about Bolan to her or the event that happened that night at the gates in the Wildwood. Is that what you're saying? Well, Fionnara mentions Bolan. Fionnara mentions. She does. Doesn't she in the episode say something to the effect like there's this rebel oh there's a first time we heard his name was from uh feldthorne it's possible i'd have to go back and listen to but uh yeah no my thought behind it was like fionara has a very strong suspicion about

this but as a scientist as a you know she needs proof and she herself cannot go find the proof. So even if Lemma has intimated this to her in their private conversations, she needs actual proof before she can move forward in her research. So you feel like Lemma never said outright to her, like, the gates are fake. You know that, right? Like she never said, and even if she did, she might still want some empirical evidence that they're fake. Yeah. My thought is that in the letter, because we don't see the letter that Fionnaro writes to Lemma, you guys just handing it to her. It's just like, it's something I've suspected all along, you know, and my friends have gone through and tested your gates. I now

know it to be true. So let's not, let's not pretend anymore. I know the gates are fake. And I believe that they're out there in the Wildwood. Will you please let them get out there? Maybe they can help you with your other problem. So she's very aware of what's going on in Seven Arches. But being unable to set foot in there, being unable to test things and really dig into what's happening, you know, you guys showed up at the right time for her. But I could see why that would kind of feel plot holy. On the re-listen, I was like lemon knows everything why didn't why did she just tell her friend everything that was happening and send us immediately to the wildwood but um but yeah i

mean it makes sense that they could be close and not share all the secret information for sure and we put her to like a point where she now had to reveal all the information to us i can imagine the two of them like hanging out at the Caravanserai, like the bar at the Caravanserai having a couple of drinks and her being like, you're going to tell me they're fake yet or not? And her being like, listen, I don't know what you're talking about. Right. I can't lose my job. You know, and then finally, you know, she's able to tell her that like they went out there, they tested it. I know you're full of shit. You guys, can you please direct them to the real one? Tell them what's really going on. Yeah, that's the way I said. But, you know, you don't get all that in the show. It's just kind of in my head.

But, you know, it leaves you to guys think about what that could be. But I don't want it to feel like a plot hole. That would be bad. No, I know. That's why I was like I wanted to put you on the hot seat here. Yeah, on the fad. On the fad. All right. I was like, I wanted to put you on the hot seat here. Yeah, FOD. On the FOD.

All right. Let's do one discussion here that was submitted by our good buddy, Professor Eric. In lieu of a We Are Stupid, there was no real major rules issues this episode. And then, of course, we're going to get in a little listener mail before the end of the show. Yeah. We are stupid. The question here is, are we stupid? Are we stupid if we at our table have an extremely fluid and some may say against the rules approach to exploration mode transitioning into initiative? And this is the subject that Professor Eric brings up.

He, of course, is not saying you guys are doing it wrong, not by any stretch. He brings up what is among the community, a pretty hot debate, because a lot of people like exploration mode in its mechanical layout for how decisive it forces you to be, to be clear about what your character is doing in the moments before a fight occurs, even when you don't know a fight is imminent. Other people are like, exploration mode is too restrictive. It's too one note. You're saying, I am just doing this one thing, but people don't actually do that. They do a lot of different things. They sneak and look around all at the same time. How can you you you know uh whittle me down into one

area it's really just kind of up uh up for discussion but i basically what he said is brother ramius for example is uh detecting magic and is doing perception up against whatever this threat is that's imminent that comes at the end of the episode and he's like if you're going by the book you can't have both right you can't get a perception check and be detecting magic it it doesn't work that way uh you know by the book so i don't know what are your thoughts as i bring that up for discussion yeah i remember when the play test came out i was like oh this exploration mode is really really cool i like this but as we we've started to play and put the game into practice, I just, I prefer what we've settled on. It just feels more natural. It's certainly, in my opinion, better for a show, for a performance, you know, it's like,

leave it, let it be a little more fluid, let it feel a little more real, you know, because you could very easily be like, well, I'm detecting magic, I'm doing perception. And when it comes time for initiative, I can say to you be like, well, I'm detecting magic, I'm doing perception. And when it comes time for initiative, I can say to you, be like, you know what? You can roll perception, but if your knowledge arcana is better, roll that because you were doing both. And if you go by the book, you're not allowed to do that.

How much more interesting is it for you to be able to use both of those? It just, it allows, where initiative can have so many different things and so you so rarely get to use anything but perception unless you're a rogue. Why not open the door to that by being a little more fluid in the way we interpret exploration mode? The more it feels like a video game, the less it –

Professor Eric actually has a good analogy here that I appreciate. It is not a video game that it ends up feeling like. analogy here that I appreciate. It is not a video game that it ends up feeling like. The negative argument is that it ends up feeling like a worker placement board game where you're like, in this round I'm going to do this activity. That's true. So that was his example

which I think is a very good example. We're not playing a board game, right? We're playing an RPG. Yeah, it feels very maybe because I'm playing a lot of Baldur's Gate. It just feels very turn-based-y, you know what I mean? So I guess that would be more like a board game. But I think of a video game in the sense of like – it wasn't like D&D 4th edition. It was like trying to take it and make it like adapting elements from video games into the RPG.

Yeah, like World of Warcraft. That was the word on the street at the time that they were trying to capture that audience. Yeah. Yeah. That exploration mode to me has that kind of a feel. And I liked it. I really did like it during the play test. I liked the idea of it.

There was one adventure that I don't think we ever got to when we did the play test where it was like a hex map where you were literally exploring hexes. And depending on which hexes you chose, there could be different encounters or things that you find on this quest. And I was like, oh my God, this is so great. It's so different from anything that we've ever done and we never got to it. And then that one, exploration mode was really, really important. I think there could be a time if we're doing overland travel, for example, where we could be a little bit more rigid with how we interpret it. But I think for our needs, the way we're doing it works for us. But if you guys enjoy, if other people enjoy doing it by the book, you could do that too. Yeah. Me personally, if I'm running a 2E game, I'm going to keep it

very fluid and I'm going to let people roll whatever the hell they want for initiative at the moment, as long as they can explain it rationally. They didn't have to tell me in advance that they were going to do this in order to use their arcana for their initiative if they say like i'm going to use it because that i was doing this even though i didn't say and that makes sense like that's fine here's what i don't like it's like don't try to game the system right like if you have sure i mean this all comes under the you have to trust your players you know umbrella like you can't just like assume in this discussion that you have like shitty, shitty players, then it doesn't work.

But it's not even being shitty. It's just like, you know, you can't help but want to be a little bit of a munchkin when it's like, we're going to, we're going to be sneaking. I'm like, all right, so you're using stealth, even though your stealth is a plus one and your perception is a plus eight. Let's all be clear here that you are sneaking. So you should roll stealth for your initiative. And no one wants to do that. But then, okay, then you're moving loudly.

Is that the only other way? It gets tricky. It feels a little gaming the system. But then again, it goes against what I just said. It's like if you're perceiving and you're detaching magic, you could use arcane if it's better. I just think like if you're actually stealth and you're detaching magic, you could use arcane if it's better. I just think like if you're actually stealthy. Why can't you sneak and perceive at the same time? You can.

You can. It doesn't make any sense. But like no one's ever going to use their stealth role unless they have a really good stealth. But if you're in a situation where you are sneaking up on somebody. I had this happen in a game recently. I was deliberately sneaking up on known enemies and I was sneaking up to, I don't want to say too much, but I was sneaking up and basically I had multiple successful sneak stealth roles. And then I had a fail against the perception of the enemy.

And immediately it went into combat. And my initiative was my last stealth role that that's how the gm ruled it and i was just like that's fine like that makes perfect sense i do the same thing because that's a very specific situation where you are specifically stealthing up of course you're also perceiving but like it was a very you got to feel it out instance by instance that's what it is it's like when when the stealth role itself is important then you use that for initiative when it's not especially where there's no uh surprise round in 2e then you can do both and take the better i guess yeah just it always feels dirty to me feels dirty well what do you guys think let us know and if uh and if you have

any comments or further questions on it uh hit us up at contact at glasscannanetwork.com for a little listener mail, which we're going to dive into right now. Right now? Right now. All right. You gotta get your brain on the phone in time. Listen to me. You gotta cue that fucking thing. All right. First question is from journalist Joe in England. International edition, as we used to say for our listener, Mal.

This one is a quick and great question. Always got to remember how wonderful the niche is. Journalist Joe says, last Friday when the new episode of the GCP dropped, I didn't check the downloads folder on my podcast app, but instead went straight to YouTube. In short, is this a good thing for the show? Are higher YouTube views beneficial for the network

than download numbers potentially falling off as listeners become viewers? It's a great question, and we appreciate so much how much people think about it. Can I give the dirty, filthy answer? It's probably the same answer I would give. Would I say at the same time? Sure. Do both.

Do both. Please do both. It's a dirty, filthy answer, but it's true. please do both it's a dirty filthy answer but it's true bring up the episode on youtube play it mute it and just minimize it in the computer while you listen to it i've never done that for anything that i've loved i know me neither that would be very sweet we don't expect anyone to do that would be very sweet uh to be honest there it's really both are so important. One is not more important than the other. And in both cases, the reason that we wanted to put really strong content in both forms of media is just to reach as many people as possible. In terms of how you consume it, you consume it however you want to consume it.

The more podcast listeners we get, the better that is for our brand big time. The more YouTube views we get, the better that is for our brand big time. And to me, they're equal in how important they are to drive up those numbers, to get interest from outside publishers and advertisers, to get involved in what we're doing and help us to grow the network. So there's no wrong answer. I mean, the best thing you can do, though, if you really want to sacrifice your time and energy, do both. Yeah. I mean, they really are so important in two totally different ways in many ways. But they both lead to the same thing, which is helping to get the word out there about what we're doing and helping us to continue to move in the right direction.

Our YouTube channel is our fastest growing channel and I'm so glad that we did this. It was like a year and a half ago. I was like, I think the new show is going to be on YouTube. Even though we're very happy with Twitch, I just see a trend in our YouTube numbers that there's potential for growth there. This goes back really specifically

to when we did the first Friends the first friends of the pod there with seth skorkowski when we saw like all the people coming over from his channel to check out our channel we just saw these numbers i was like this this seems like a great opportunity to really really broaden the uh the reach of the niche while also still maintaining a strong twitch presence i'm so glad we did it and i I mean, our YouTube channel is already growing. In the past three weeks, we've seen the numbers double over a 30-day period. But of course, now that we have ads on the podcast,

those downloads help us command better ad rates, bigger sponsors. So it's all gravy. Just do both. Just do both. But yeah, there's no wrong answer there just just watch and download every week and subscribe that that's that's what's most important all right uh one more five star review i've only seen a couple new reviews coming probably everybody

reviewed back in the day but if you haven't reviewed go ahead give us a five star review if you want to give anything on what ons. Look at you. He's coming around. He still called it iTunes. I almost said iTunes. I was like, what is it called? Podcast Connect? That's the website. But if you're going to leave anything less than a five, just don't fucking leave it.

It's not worth anything unless it's a five-star review. Nobody cares if you don't like it. People just want reinforcement when they go to these things. They just want to see people loving what they want to love. Jeremy will round us out today with one more question. Thank you so much for writing in, Jeremy. Hey, guys. Jeremy.

I just want to know if you have ever considered doing an evil or all undead party. I'm planning on running Bloodlord soon and have been curious about what kind of hilarious abominations the crew could create in that type of scenario. I don't think it would work well for a longer game, but perhaps a season of side quest side sesh. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that style of game from a GM player and business perspective. It's a great question. We have not discussed doing blood Lords came up at one point as a potential

actually for Jaredared and that ended up becoming quest for the frozen flame um he was reading bloodlords he was like this is interesting um is bloodlords all evil or is it all it's all undead it's like uh i believe the party is undead i believe so it's in like the pure undead lands. It's like everyone is undead. It's in that – I believe it's set in that country that's like – it's off the coast. Geb. Yeah. I believe it's all a story of Geb. So I believe they're all undead and abominations and stuff like that.

Me personally, no interest. I've never come around to having interest in that. Now, you do bring up a good point, which is like, what about short form? What if you're just going to play 10 episodes of it and it's just going to be really fun? Pardon me. And funny. You did it. You did it for SideQuest.

Yeah, I played an undead character, but I played a paladin. So I had to offset it by playing like the most champion, right? So I feel like – I don't know. It just doesn't do it for me. It really does it for some people. There's some twisted fucks out there. I don't know if you know this. But they just want to get their rocks off pretending to be so – such villains, criminals.

They just want to kill good people and heroes. Other people, and I think that this is a completely rational argument, just want to kill good people and heroes other people and i think that this is a completely rational argument just want something new they've done the same thing over and over and over and over for 25 30 years they just want to shake it up i get it but uh it's not something i've been interested in what about you yeah i don't know i mean it it sounds fun i'd rather be a undead or an evil character than a fucking leshy like nothing interests me less than like a leshy. What are your thoughts on a full plant campaign? Oh my God, it's so dumb.

Like I don't want to yuck anybody's yum, but like that is not my cup of tea. I don't even like goblins. When Skid said that he wanted to be a goblin, my first reaction was, No. Fuck, I really don't like goblins. I think they're stupid because they end up being silly.

But a second later, I was like, anything in Skid's hands is going to be fine. I would say no to pretty much anybody else that wanted to be a goblin because it just leans too silly. And I like the silly. We love silly. We were just talking about how much we love silly.

There's a difference between having the sort of, what's the way of putting this? Like, you know, what made Monty Python so great is that it was silly things happening in serious situations. You know, that's where the comedy came from. It was like ridiculousness out of like the mundane. When you come in over the top silly to begin with, you got nowhere to go. Like it's already too silly.

You know, it has to be – it doesn't have to. I'm telling you what I like and the sort of shows that I try to build. It's like have there be a base of something strong and serious and real. And then silly can come from that. And that's the problem to me with goblins and leshies is they tend to be too like – or a fucking pumpkin character. Like I just don't – it doesn't do it for me. Okay. I mean,

I get it. You and I see, see things the same way, but maybe you're coming down a little too hard. I probably am. Maybe somebody can build a brooding Leshy. I'm sure they can. A Leshy knight.

I'm glad that none of the cast listens to this show because they would build a Leshy just to spite me. That's their first backup character. Yeah. i i'm sure like i guarantee you could absolutely but my initial response to a fucking squash walking up with a broadsword is like get out of my game that's a tough hill to climb amazing uh what about what about from a business perspective do you think that there is legitimate concern that you would have to uh play a half-assed evil campaign uh if you were doing it for a big big audience you know like could would you have to always like kind of like shy away from the real evil activity? This is real tricky, man.

It's tricky in this day and age in all media. I think it's a thousand times trickier in our business because it's a very sensitive culture in TTRPG. I always feel like we have to walk on eggshells. I think about when we started, our comedy was one way and then we settled into a place that we felt comfortable that's still super edgy, but like going into areas that it doesn't need to go into. I still like the idea of being able to have a show where we could do that. But I just don't – I think it's impossible.

Like I'd love to play Cult or like Vampire the Masquerade and fucking play it. Yeah, the way it's meant to be played. I always said that, right? But like it doesn't have to be that, right? You know what I mean? But there's certainly like, the book is there to tell you like, you know, Vampire the Masquerade had like, there were whole things about the AIDS epidemic and how that affected the vampires. I'm like, man, that is so interesting to me. But like, you could be, you've got to be so fucking careful.

I don't think we're smart enough to like be able to navigate that properly. But it does interest me. And I bought the book for Cult a few years ago after we – I guess it was only two years ago after we talked to Seth and he said that was his favorite RPG. And I was like, wow, well, we can never play this on the Glass Cannon. But I would love to go there. And so, yeah yeah i think that if you're doing it in in a way like we are you gotta you gotta be very very careful you gotta know your audience um but uh you know if it's a home game yeah that's the other thing yeah that's the other

thing is like even if it's a home game you gotta you gotta be very clear with all your players like what kind of evil game are we playing here are we just playing a bunch of like selfish people that are looking out for themselves or are we playing here? Are we just playing a bunch of, like, selfish people that are looking out for themselves? Or are we playing people that are going to, like, try and go out of their way to kill innocents, you know, that are going to try to, like, do really dark shit? Like, hey, if that's your game and everybody's fine with that, that's fine. But, like, you need to make sure everyone is on board. You can't have, like, don't be a loser to like the one person doesn't want to do it. Cause that is just not cool.

And what's the goal, right? Cause like, say we're going to do this for a series, all evil characters. If it's just, you know, uh,

murdering innocence and like steel and like, what is, how are these characters going to be interesting to an audience? They have to be, they still have to be interesting. So you'd have to do something more than that. Any television show or movie where the protagonist is evil, there's still a goal there that is, if not altruistic, is something that the audience can get behind. Could relate to.

Dexter was like a serial killer that killed other serial killers, right? I never watched it, but I think that was the premise. Something like that. I didn't either. It's kind of like a Robin Hood-y type approach to serial killing. You would still need to find that now i imagine these paizo adventures are written in such a way that even though they're evil they're working towards an even great destroying an even greater evil i don't think the end goal is like kill a god but maybe it is um so i i think that would be the one of the trickiest parts as well as navigating

content is like you have to build characters that people are going to um connect with and if they're just pure evil it's hard to it's hard for an audience to relate to that it's also not great uh even in a good campaign to have your villain you're playing against just be pure evil without any sort of goal that makes sense you know what i mean it doesn't make for a richer game so i don't know jeremy maybe maybe you talked me into at least thinking about it but it is it would be a bold choice i'll say that much it would be a bold choice and uh who knows maybe one day down the line we'll be like hey we gotta shake it up we gotta do something different and uh we'll we'll get that uh that dark twisted audience out there that's just waiting for it i've thought many times about going one of two ways or both

ways it's like having a uh 11 p.m you thought about going both ways i thought about going both ways clip that don't clip that um like having having a late night show like that starts at 11 p.m that is like uh content warning up top like this is a show that is going to explore some dark topics but you know it's like a cult rpg or like a really dark all evil campaign it's like letting people know you you don't have to watch this but if you do it may involve this and this and this and this and like things that most people do not want to take in their entertainment but you put the warnings out there and then you throw it out there and you hope it doesn't destroy your business. Which I'm telling you, in TTRPG

it would be fucking impossible. People would just skew it and then Polygonal wrote an article like, Oh, the Glass Cannon podcast did an all blah, blah, blah shit. And we'd be done. So we can't do it. But man, it'd be fun because some people would be way into it. Adults would be into it. Adults would be into it.

Adults. And then maybe. Cultured folks. Cultured folks who like can understand that this is make-believe. And then the other thing is like I thought about having a Saturday morning show that's geared towards kids. So that's where you can have your all leshy party. So that like our kids. Balance it out. Could an rpg show this is something i've been like working on in the back of my mind for a few years uh you know as we start to add more content

sometime in the next five years i i think i'd really like to do that it's finding the right group but having a show uh that's like an rpg show for kids on the glass can adults would like that adults would like to yeah like you know like the best cartoons are the ones that you can sit there and watch with your kids and the jokes, you know, are going over their head, but you enjoy them as well. You know,

blue, bluey is great for that. Yeah. And so, yeah, I think that'd be really fun for that. Yeah. Pal,

dude, don't get me started on Peppa Pig. Don't even get me started. All right, Jeremy, you made us go overtime with this question. Great question. Thank you so much.

Guys, please write in with more contact at glass cannon network.com, email with the subject listener mail and get your you so much. Guys, please write in with more. Contact at glasscanadnetwork.com. Email with the subject, listener mail, and get your question in here, and we'll dig in. And yeah, we'll have a good time talking about it as you see here. That wraps her up. Exciting stuff. Assassin's

Creed coming. Extra Life coming. Among... I just started playing Nick. More listener mail? Lots of great stuff coming, and I'm really looking forward to episode four of the Glass Cannon podcast it's a fun one little combat bro

and stay tuned for a new all bestiality show coming Wednesdays at 11pm to the Glass Cannon Network bye everybody stays at 11 p.m. to the Glass Cannon Network. Bye, everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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