Legends, Loot, & Lore: A Players's Guide to Dungeons and Dragons

Bardic Inspirations: The Magic Behind Music and Gaming with Jocelyn

April 29, 2024 Andrew S Season 2 Episode 12
Bardic Inspirations: The Magic Behind Music and Gaming with Jocelyn
Legends, Loot, & Lore: A Players's Guide to Dungeons and Dragons
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Legends, Loot, & Lore: A Players's Guide to Dungeons and Dragons
Bardic Inspirations: The Magic Behind Music and Gaming with Jocelyn
Apr 29, 2024 Season 2 Episode 12
Andrew S

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Prepare your spellbooks and tune your instruments, as today's episode is a magical symphony of gaming and music intertwined. We're joined by the extraordinarily talented Jocelyn, Berklee alum and the auditory architect of our Legends, Loot, and Lore podcast soundtrack. With her, we delve into the meticulous art of composing music and sound effects for video games, particularly for the enchanting world of Wizard Cats and an electrifying new project. Her passion for the craft shines as she unveils the secrets behind creating the perfect spell sound, layering elements to bring digital sorcery to life.

As dice roll across the table, our conversation glides into the nostalgia of past tabletop RPGs and the exhilaration of modern board games that have us spellbound. We reminisce about roles played and laugh over long-lost campaign antics. With Jocelyn's compositions as our backdrop, we explore the bespoke rhythms that accompany our podcast's storytelling, highlighting the importance of music in enhancing the role-playing atmosphere. The rise of gaming cafes and their role in fostering vibrant gaming communities is also spotlighted, proving that the love for communal storytelling is alive and thriving.

Finally, we lift the curtain on an upcoming interactive D&D theatrical experience that promises to steal the show for fans and players alike. Jocelyn offers a glimpse into the world of Spotify and music distribution, essential knowledge for any contemporary musician. Then, we discuss the latest from Dice Dungeons and fresh campaign ideas that will revolutionize your next D&D session. Don't miss out on this journey through the rich tapestry of gaming infused with the melody of life, where each roll of the dice and note played resonates with the heart of adventure.

Support the Show.

1. Visit our website! www.legendslootandlore.com
2. Support the Podcast! Help us do what we love and bring you more great D&D content. legendslootandlore.supercast.com
3. Follow us on social!
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
4. Join our Discord Server!

Music by June Westfield
Apple Music
Spotify

Logo design by Ryan Denora
https://www.ryandenora.com/

Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Send us a Text Message.

Prepare your spellbooks and tune your instruments, as today's episode is a magical symphony of gaming and music intertwined. We're joined by the extraordinarily talented Jocelyn, Berklee alum and the auditory architect of our Legends, Loot, and Lore podcast soundtrack. With her, we delve into the meticulous art of composing music and sound effects for video games, particularly for the enchanting world of Wizard Cats and an electrifying new project. Her passion for the craft shines as she unveils the secrets behind creating the perfect spell sound, layering elements to bring digital sorcery to life.

As dice roll across the table, our conversation glides into the nostalgia of past tabletop RPGs and the exhilaration of modern board games that have us spellbound. We reminisce about roles played and laugh over long-lost campaign antics. With Jocelyn's compositions as our backdrop, we explore the bespoke rhythms that accompany our podcast's storytelling, highlighting the importance of music in enhancing the role-playing atmosphere. The rise of gaming cafes and their role in fostering vibrant gaming communities is also spotlighted, proving that the love for communal storytelling is alive and thriving.

Finally, we lift the curtain on an upcoming interactive D&D theatrical experience that promises to steal the show for fans and players alike. Jocelyn offers a glimpse into the world of Spotify and music distribution, essential knowledge for any contemporary musician. Then, we discuss the latest from Dice Dungeons and fresh campaign ideas that will revolutionize your next D&D session. Don't miss out on this journey through the rich tapestry of gaming infused with the melody of life, where each roll of the dice and note played resonates with the heart of adventure.

Support the Show.

1. Visit our website! www.legendslootandlore.com
2. Support the Podcast! Help us do what we love and bring you more great D&D content. legendslootandlore.supercast.com
3. Follow us on social!
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
4. Join our Discord Server!

Music by June Westfield
Apple Music
Spotify

Logo design by Ryan Denora
https://www.ryandenora.com/

Speaker 1:

welcome back everybody to another fantastic episode of legends, loot and lore, the, the best dnd podcast this side of the hackensack river.

Speaker 2:

No, I don't know at least make it the hudson people actually know what that is. Yeah, what's funny. I don't know the saddle river. No, I don't know. Uh, at least make it the hudson, the hudson people actually know what that is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what's funny? I don't know, the saddle river maybe, I don't know, like what, what we'd be there's a saddle river.

Speaker 2:

Is that why the town is named saddle river?

Speaker 1:

yeah, yeah, there is the saddle river. As a matter of fact, who? Knew, learn something new every day that's your geography lesson for your body of water. I don't know. Whatever this. Hopefully that's a Jeopardy question anyway, wow, it comes up in trivia.

Speaker 1:

Anita and I are ready that's right, absolutely now you know. So, anyway, joining us in in studio. That's the air quotes of the studio, aka the dining room, aka the dining room, aka our dnd playroom studio, whatever you, whatever you want to call it. We have a very special guest joining us today jocelyn hi, jocelyn, hello, how are you good? So you none of you probably know who jocelyn is, but you have definitely heard of jocelyn, because all of the music composed for the legends, loot and Lore podcast was done by Jocelyn, our niece, by the way. Yeah, the incredibly talented artist, musician. What else?

Speaker 3:

I think that's it. That's it.

Speaker 1:

Artist artist and musician Fantastic, all-around cool person. Yes, absolutely so. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, this is very exciting. I'm excited.

Speaker 1:

So tell us so what actually brings you to the fine state of new jersey I'm here to go to a music festival yeah they actually have a dnd panel at the festival. Oh, see what I would have see.

Speaker 2:

We would have enjoyed that we would have stood out like sore thumbs I know right, it is today.

Speaker 3:

if you still want to go, oh, excellent.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic, find everything you own that's black.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I have to work on that. Yeah, I have to work on that, but anyway, so we're so happy to have you here, so tell us a little bit about your background, your education and some of the things that you've've worked on beyond just the the fantastic music for our podcast so I've studied video game and movie composition at berkeley in boston awesome and movie composition at Berkeley in Boston Awesome.

Speaker 3:

And since then I've worked on a game called Wizard Cats, doing sound effects for that, which is super fun. It is partially D&D inspired in the classes in the game and so I'm doing a lot of spell sound effects in that, which is really cool to do.

Speaker 1:

And right now I can't tell you the name of the game that I'm working on because it's not out yet, but I'm doing music for this one oh awesome, oh very exciting, yeah, so so how does one because I this is, I'm just fascinated by this so how does one create a, a spell casting sound effect like what, how, what, what does that actually entail?

Speaker 3:

well, thinking about what element the spell will be and what it will be looking like in game, whether it will have particles or if it's a cone or ray shape and then usually the sounds will have three levels to it, like the high frequencies, middle frequencies and low frequencies and think about how you would make each one. There'll be a low boom and then the body of the spell and then maybe some little sparks or particles on top.

Speaker 1:

Fascinating. This is things you never think about, things you never think about when you play games, and when you play video games and things like that, you never think about how much actually goes into creating each one of those effects. That's fascinating, so what inspired you to study this and get into it?

Speaker 3:

I just have always loved video game soundtracks. One of my first memories of playing video games was the Trine game series, and that was the first album that I bought the soundtrack for that game, because I loved it so much.

Speaker 1:

Oh, very cool, Awesome, wow, so. So I'm trying to think about what, where I want to go with this. Do you have any questions, dear?

Speaker 2:

Okay, I do. Actually, that was a very blank look and then all of a sudden, I realized I do have a question. I'm curious about how you went from. You've always been super artistic. We still have a picture of Lando on our refrigerator that you did years and years ago. How did you go from that to wanting to do music composition?

Speaker 3:

Well, my mom has taught me piano since I was young and, like dad, does sound mixing, that type of thing. So there's a lot of music in our house and so I took a lot of piano lessons. And then one of the last out-of-our-house teachers that I had mentioned that he went to Berkeley and that they had a course for video game composition.

Speaker 3:

So that got me interested and I had always for a while been doing writing out the scores from video game soundtracks, just like piano versions of them for myself to play. And from there it went from transcribing scores to trying to write my own. And then I'm like, oh, this is a lot of fun. I like this, that's awesome, that's really cool.

Speaker 1:

so where do you, where do you source like, how do you so, how do you come up with like the sound effect? So I know, so there's, like you said, high, mid, low, but like, where do you source, like, like, how do you like create that, that sound?

Speaker 3:

well, you can't think of it literally unless you have like a magic wand, but um. So for like thinking, there's a lot of whoosh sound effects that you use. So for that, for example, I'll like swing around a sock or a ruler so it makes that noise, and for like the low if you think of the earth spell with the rumbling rocks and earth moving we'll fill up a box with either like walnuts or acorns or small rocks from outside and like move that around to record that sound. That's super cool.

Speaker 1:

I love how like actually physical it still is Right, you know like as high tech as everything is like you're still literally like filling a box with stuff.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, that's really cool.

Speaker 3:

The latest thing I just did. I had to record footsteps in the woodland environment, so I went outside and I had a shovel and I filled up a cardboard box with dirt and leaves and then I was marching around like in my office, walking through the box.

Speaker 1:

It looked really funny, that's amazing, that's great box, it looked really funny. That's amazing, that's great it reminds me a lot of like, like foley artists. Yeah, definitely doing doing all that work, because that that's been that's always probably my most like. The thing that I'm most interested when it comes to movies are the foley artists and and creating all that effect. So it's interesting to see that it's. It's very, very similar in creating sound effects for video games and things like that.

Speaker 1:

That is super cool. So this is a D&D podcast. So what has been your experience either playing D&D or similar games, Because I know you and your family play a million different games. So what are some of your favorite? So let's see. How have you played D&D first of all.

Speaker 3:

I have played just a few sessions, so I am a beginner. I'm the target audience for the podcast.

Speaker 2:

Perfect, yes, me too.

Speaker 1:

So what is your character or characters, what have they been usually?

Speaker 3:

Well, the first time, I think, I was a cleric. And then I really want to do a bard character, because you know music.

Speaker 1:

Yes, of course. Well, that makes perfect sense If I play again.

Speaker 3:

I will do that.

Speaker 1:

Clerics are always fascinating. Like, what about? Like a druid? Like I could see you as a druid like type character. So they're. It's just like clerics are fantastic as as healers and things like that um, very, very in touch with nature and and things. So so I could, I could totally see that yeah what's your so what type of adventure did you play? Was it? Was it a standard dnd adventure?

Speaker 3:

was like a homebrew it was one of the standard ones from the books.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh cool. Do you remember which one it was?

Speaker 3:

I don't anymore uh okay, it's been a while, yeah, yeah nice, we've been playing a lot of um mage night, and then I recently got into frosthaven, which is also like super involved really yeah, cool are these?

Speaker 1:

are these mainly like card games or what? What are the? What are the games like?

Speaker 3:

Um, Frosthaven is more role play based. It is a tabletop and with lots of little pieces that I spent like all Christmas day punching out and organizing and bags and all that type of.

Speaker 1:

Thing.

Speaker 3:

But it does have um a storyline that it's meant to span for, I think I heard someone say that they've played it for a year. Wow, so it is very long and you can it's kind of choose your own adventure, so you can shape your story as you go along it is based on. It's like a second version of gloomhaven, if you've heard of that.

Speaker 1:

so, yeah, okay, oh, very cool, yeah, excellent, yeah, I mean, there's it was. It was so interesting when, when we went, when katherine and I went, pax Unplugged and saw there was just so many tabletop games and card games and just all sorts of different things, like Varia I'm thinking about that one that we picked up, which I still need to play James, if you're listening which he's probably not which he will be in about three weeks, after we shame him into listening exactly.

Speaker 1:

He bought it as well. So we need to, we need to play, and that's a card game with again similar like classes, like like dnd and things like that. So we've got to play that one. And then the pirate game. Oh yeah, I've got, I gotta, I gotta break that one out. It's tough because we don't have that many people to play with. So, like you've got kind of like a built-in like game table game of four or so.

Speaker 3:

And there is a board game cafe near my house too.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's cool.

Speaker 3:

We went there in February, I think it was. They did a demonstration of Wormspan, which is like Wingspan, but it's dragon themed instead, and that was so, oh, very cool yeah yeah, there's.

Speaker 1:

The one thing that I find interesting around here is there's a group they started down in the philadelphia area and it's called dungeons and drafts and what they do is they?

Speaker 1:

they play at local, uh, like micro breweries and they they come in like like dms come in and they have like kind of their pre-made, like a lot of its homebrew games and and they come in and people come into the um the breweries and play, play that which is a lot of fun, which I think is really cool. Try to get them into gear. Block, I know well. Well, they're just moving into northern New Jersey. They've been in the Philly south central kind of area of New Jersey but they were just starting to expand up into northern New Jersey. So, yeah, it would be great to have them up local in Waldwick. Absolutely, that would be a lot of fun, because I know they were now we're getting off on a tangent, but they had advertised that they were looking for dms up in northern New Jersey.

Speaker 1:

I actually sent it to James because I thought that might be something he would be interested in yeah but yeah, so so let's talk about since, since it is our podcast, let's talk about our podcast and let's talk about the music specific to that you created for for our podcast. So we have our, our intro music. So so talk a little bit about what was your, what was your inspiration for for creating the music for this podcast. I know I gave you some general ideas, but kind of what was, what was your thought process going into it and creating the music for this show?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I remember you said that you liked the piece that I did called Tales of Adventure, and that one's slightly more pirate themed but, I, took the general idea from it. It's kind of folky, folk instruments in there. And then for the podcast I wanted to have it be a little more, um, high energy, because it's it's shorter, it needs to say more quicker yes so I went with a more video game feel to that more orchestral in there yes, it's fantastic.

Speaker 1:

So I want to see if we've got wait, love it, we got. We got all these like the little, the little inter interstitial pieces for in between, yeah, segments of the podcast, and there's also I dig this one. Oh, yeah, love it that one's a little bit longer, so that one that one's always a good one. That's like. That's usually the one that I use when we, when we start from our intro and go into like the, the heart of the, the episode, and things like that. And we've got the outro as well that I always use.

Speaker 1:

And then you did the voiceover yes for the, for the intro with the intro music Catherine yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, For a long time I was just the voice of this podcast and then, Joe had to get married. He was not married yet. He got engaged, I know, but he had to get married. So he has to spend time planning a wedding. That's right and that's how I came to.

Speaker 1:

He's dead to me. Kidding Joe Love you. Noding Joe Love you, no, but yeah, so now you've become the new co-host of.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm the new Joe.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, joe 2.0?. Yes, interesting, better looking.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, you're welcome.

Speaker 1:

Oh, my goodness. So let's talk about this, jocelyn. What about your, your music that you, you create? So, beyond all the all the the work that you're doing on the video games, talk about, talk about your music, because I, I love listening to your music and you, you've been on curated spotify playlists, so so, so, tell us, tell us about your music. And you've been on curated Spotify playlists, so tell us about your music and all that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you. So I most recently released an album I think it was in February of the music I had worked on all of last year. I do like to write my own, just ideas that I have, fantasy scenes. It'll usually start with a idea for a scene because, you know, I like to do art, like visual art as well so I'll have that in my mind while I'm writing and then try to fit both together and see where it goes interesting.

Speaker 1:

So what's so? What are some of your inspirations? For? I mean beyond the art itself. So where do you draw inspiration from?

Speaker 3:

A lot from nature because there's the woods behind our house, so that always makes me feel like I'm in a fantasy story. And then books that I read too, and other games, definitely Nice yeah.

Speaker 1:

So what are you reading lately?

Speaker 3:

anything good I recently reread the whole um dragon slipper series. It's a um middle grade fantasy, but I just it's very nostalgic for me because that was one that I really loved and I found it again.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh, very cool. What about you, dear? What about?

Speaker 2:

me what you reading A book called how to Kill Men and Get Away With it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is not a true crime podcast.

Speaker 2:

It's not a true crime book, either it's just a novel.

Speaker 1:

That'd be good. If you're like a murder hobo in a D&D campaign, maybe you're a rogue sneaking around trying to to kill. Kill men who have wronged you maybe.

Speaker 2:

Well then I you know. Then it goes to, to my buffy, the vampire slayer love, and I become a vengeance demon, like on yonka yeah, oh my, so tell me about this.

Speaker 1:

So the vengeance demon yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

That's what anya's whole story arc was. She came in as a vengeance demon. Um Cordelia made a wish and Anya was the one who fulfilled it, but then I forget exactly how. She ended up being kind of like banished to be a teenage girl, but she eventually becomes a Scooby gang member.

Speaker 1:

Right, interesting, all right. So so how much, jocelyn, have you studied the, the bard class? What do you, what do you know about the bard class like other than it being a musician? Like what? They're kind of chaotic okay cool, I don't know totally, yeah, so they have a lot of personality.

Speaker 1:

They really do Like I'm, I I dig a bard, like it's so funny, like I like cause they've got like vicious mockery and some really good kind of good spells in there, that that that they can cast, and like they're, they're high on charisma, and I just like I remember I did. Well, we remember I did what was that? We did that one shot and I did Sir Edward Van Halen yes, the Bard, it was just quoting music lyrics.

Speaker 3:

I love that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it was just I was like why not? And then what was the? Oh, we were playing. I was DMing Strixhaven for a little while and we had a battle of the bands. Oh, that's right. I think Michael's character was the bard, if I recall correctly, and he led the band in the the battle of the bands. That was interesting.

Speaker 2:

Has Joe ever played a bard?

Speaker 1:

I don't, I don't believe Joe has played a bard. He's always singing, he's always quoting music lyrics and I think he's always talking about creating a bard, but has never actually played. Played the bard Now. Did you, jocelynelyn? Did you watch the dnd movie?

Speaker 1:

oh yeah okay, so so obviously chris pine's character, a fantastic bard character like I, I think he's got the, he's got kind of the good swagger for for like playing a charismatic bard, like I don't think I can. I couldn't pull off being a bard in regular life. So I'm just not that, I don't know, I'm not musically inclined. My mother used to bribe me to practice. She used to have to pay me to practice the piano.

Speaker 1:

It got that bad, like I just did not want to do it and so she would actually pay me money to to sit down and practice. So she was. She was not only paying for the piano lessons, but then having to pay me to also practice for the piano lessons.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I haven't thought about it, but I guess your musical for like multiple generations, right Cause your grandmother is, and your mom and your dad.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, and my brother.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, that's right, cause your brother played violin.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, he's still he's. He got into choir right now. He's all into singing at the moment. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

That's fantastic, see, it's awesome. That's fantastic. See, it's just what happened to you. I don't know. I like to listen to music. Yeah, I have a great appreciation for music.

Speaker 3:

That's important too.

Speaker 1:

Right, like I could Drop things. I can drop things Like I know I don't know, like I like going to concerts and things like that, oh yeah, so so that part, that part's always good. Like I there there's always. I can always relate a piece of music to like, whatever's going on in my, in my life. So so there, there's that, and we love musical theater.

Speaker 2:

We, we certainly do. Oh yeah, and while Jocelyn's been here, you all went to see Hamilton.

Speaker 1:

We did go see Hamilton.

Speaker 2:

That was so fun.

Speaker 1:

So what did you? Well, you've watched it before on.

Speaker 3:

Disney+. But it is different seeing it live and just hearing it all around you. You know it's incredible, isn't it?

Speaker 1:

And the audience.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like that was a wild audience. It was. They were really into every song yeah, surprising for a weekday I know you should have katherine. You should have seen it. It was, I mean, literally like applause and screams wow after every song.

Speaker 2:

It was I'll just say I uh, I injured my leg, so I could not join but, fable got to take my place, so it worked out in the end.

Speaker 1:

Yes, indeed and we could always watch it on. I mean, like you said, it's not the same watching on disney plus, but I mean we could always.

Speaker 2:

I also have seen it twice, so I really can't complain yeah, this was and this was a really good cast.

Speaker 1:

I thought I was saying probably my only criticism and I mentioned this was eliza, not that, not that she couldn't sing, she was. She had a beautiful voice, but like I don't feel like she could like belt out some of those parts like in burn, like it was just like I was. I was waiting for like some really more like oomph behind, behind the voice. But she had, she had a beautiful voice. I love how she played the character. She was a little more I'm trying to think what's the word she played it like a little more, I'm going to say over the top. But she was very like I'm trying to think of the right word for it, I can't quite put my finger on it but she was just very like. When she met Alexander Hamilton for the first time, she was just kind of like this silly kind of schoolgirl, kind of like acting about meeting him and everything. It was interesting. I never picked that up on any of the other times that I've seen the musical. So it's interesting.

Speaker 2:

Eliza Hamilton is an interesting character. I read a lot about her after we saw the show. She really was the one who kept Alexander Hamilton's legacy alive, what she lived for another 50 years. Yeah, I mean she was almost destitute, but she stayed in that house and she entertained people for her whole life and she never stopped talking about him and the things that he accomplished. I mean, she was really his strongest proponent.

Speaker 1:

The $10 founding father.

Speaker 2:

I mean founder of the Bank of New York, where my father worked for years and years. Very true, and we live mere feet from where Aaron Burr and theodosia got married. So yes, the hermitage hamilton uh in hocus, new jersey.

Speaker 1:

Yeah yes indeed a lot of hamilton connections yes, and we hawk, and obviously well yeah everything's legal in jersey, yeah where we take the ferry from so, so, jocelyn, so how? So let me ask this question. So so, talk to me about your, your audience on spotify, because that's that's like. Is that your primary outlet for, for publishing your, your music?

Speaker 3:

yeah, spotify and youtube the most Nice.

Speaker 1:

So how do you get on one of their curated playlists? How does that happen? That, I think, is just the absolute coolest, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So when you tell them that you're going to release an album or EP or anything, you have the option to write a petition to them saying this is my song, this is how I wrote it, this is why you should choose it. This is the type of playlist that I think it would work well on who you could promote it to, and then there's a small chance that they could pick it wow so it's exciting, it happened twice I was gonna say yeah, because I was gonna say this was, this was the second time.

Speaker 1:

That's, that's so exciting and what's the playlist that it's on?

Speaker 3:

The first one was Renaissance Fair and the second one was Celtic Fantasyland. I think Interesting.

Speaker 1:

That is so cool. Now, what is your music under? So if people are looking for your music, how do they find you on Spotify or YouTube?

Speaker 3:

It's under the name June Westfield.

Speaker 1:

And how did you come up with June Westfield?

Speaker 3:

Because my real name was harder for people to look up and I don't have to spell this one out. That's right.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that's fantastic. So, yes, june Westfield, yes, how many albums do you have on there now? I think I might be wrong because I've changed it recently, but I think there's three Awesome that's fantastic and you're on two playlists, which is super cool Renaissance Fair, which we are big Renaissance Fair fans, so that's that fits in beautifully.

Speaker 2:

Well, and I love Celtic music, so yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

That's fantastic. It's so exciting. Let me think of what I'm trying to think, of what other questions I've got. Do you have any questions, dear?

Speaker 2:

I don't think I do.

Speaker 1:

Interesting.

Speaker 2:

Interesting that I don't have no question.

Speaker 1:

You have nothing on your mind. I hear cats upstairs.

Speaker 2:

There's always cats somewhere.

Speaker 3:

They were doing that while you were gone too. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1:

Here are the little footsteps running back and forth. They just chase each other back and forth upstairs.

Speaker 2:

They're great here's a question yes. So I know you've got another video game in the works. What's next? What are you hoping to do next?

Speaker 3:

More of the same Awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I think this one is a long haul right now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I'm up to doing sound effects for this one as well. I completed the music part of it.

Speaker 2:

Oh cool.

Speaker 3:

And this is a bit of a larger scale game than the last one I did. So it will definitely be for a while now and then we'll see, after that, hopefully more.

Speaker 2:

That's really cool.

Speaker 1:

So the last one. What was the? Tell us the name of the previous game.

Speaker 3:

Wizard Cats Tank Battle.

Speaker 1:

Wizard Cats Tank Battle. Now, that was a Kickstarter, yeah, and they weren't able to fund it that way so what are they doing with it?

Speaker 3:

now? It's still happening. It's just at a slightly slower pace, sure, but hopefully sometime this year awesome yeah oh, very cool, yeah, and this other game so we mystery game mystery the mystery game that's.

Speaker 1:

That's very exciting, though. So how did they find you or how did you find them? How did that work?

Speaker 3:

The dev from Wizard Cat's Tank Battle Brett. He said hey, my friend is working on this game, can I send him your resume and your audio reel? And so we went from there and I had a zoom meeting with them.

Speaker 1:

Oh cool, Excellent, oh very exciting.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. This is like it's nice when people like your stuff enough to start referring you to other people.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it was really nice yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's fantastic, Wonderful, well, well, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a nice surprise. Yeah, absolutely so you won the tickets on an Instagram contest. Yes, awesome, so you won the tickets to the Dark Force Fest. I said that correct, right? Yes, Dark Force Fest. Yes and yeah, can I mention your name, maddie? Hi, maddie. Maddie is in the studio as well, but sitting there silently. We're so glad to have you both here, and I'm trying to think of is there anything else?

Speaker 2:

Well, I think we should let Jocelyn plug her stuff.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yes, please plug away.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I mean, I sort of have. Yeah, exactly. Again, my website is junewestfieldcom and on all streaming services and YouTube it's June Westfield to find my music.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, and we will put the links in the show notes, of course, so everybody can find that. Thank you, thank you again. This has been fantastic. It's so nice to see you in person. Yeah, thanks for having us Of course, thank you, and we will get back to the podcast, because Catherine and I are going to add some A little news roundup, a little news roundup after this.

Speaker 2:

So stay tuned and All right, the look on his face every time he hits that button.

Speaker 1:

he's so pleased well, well, there's also my other, the other button that I haven't hit yet. Yeah, leroy jenkins. So that's, that's my other leroy. And then there was always the first one. That's always the entrance music into the podcast, which I love because I feel like you're walking. I don't know, I envision walking into the forest with that music.

Speaker 1:

It's like you're entering this magical land, so I absolutely love it. But again, josh, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Catherine, thank you for being here. Maddie, thank you for being here as well. Have a great day, everybody, and we're recording. Welcome back from our short break of whatever.

Speaker 2:

That was Much longer break than it appears to be short for you.

Speaker 1:

Many hours for us yes, but we are back to talk about some fun dnd related news. So we're going to we've pulled up a couple articles that we're going to discuss and trying to figure out where we're going to start first. There we go. So one thing that I am super excited about and I think Catherine is too yes, yes, was that a yes question? Like yes, what am I about to talk about? No or yes, you are excited.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I am excited.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you are excited, fantastic.

Speaker 2:

I know what you I about to talk about. No or yes? You are excited? Yes, I am excited, yes you are excited, fantastic. I know what you're about to talk about because you know, we planned it, we pre-planned.

Speaker 1:

No, we just planned. Okay, that wasn't pre-planning. No, I hate the term pre-planning, I know so. That's why I was saying it mockingly, I know. So the first thing we want to talk about is coming to new york city new york city is what's known as the 20-sided tavern, an interactive stage experience of dungeons and dragons play.

Speaker 1:

this is this is really such a great way to celebrate the 50th anniversary this year of of D and D. Super exciting, um, kind of really an an immersive theater event, which is which is really cool, and it's we were. We were reading an article. Nerdist has a whole article about them building the set. The set is super cool, you know, like again you, you get the feeling like you're in this tavern. They've got this huge video wall on the back that's going to display all sorts of stuff Backgrounds, I think they talk about.

Speaker 1:

Let's see. Backgrounds, I think they talk about, let's see. There are 34 backgrounds, five additional variations, 21 background specific additional effects that overlay on top of them, 28 combat effects, over 40 custom character illustrations, 40 item cards and well over 300 individual pieces of content that you might see on any given night. I think this is one of the coolest things that really you're never going to see the same show twice because there are a lot of dice rolls that take place. So again, it really randomizes the, the adventure for those who are, who are watching and they use um, a browser-based software called gamiotics or gamiotics, something to that effect I would guess gamiotics gamiotics, um, that you can, as an audience, tell the performers what to do, where to go and what kind of dangers they're going to face.

Speaker 1:

So it's a very interactive event. So I think it's a lot of fun. It's something I think we're going to take our adventuring party to and experience, since we're right across the river in New Jersey. I think that one's really exciting. What do you think about this, dear I'm excited for it.

Speaker 2:

Um I, I love an interactive show. Uh I, I think my earliest experience with that was right after college when, um, my friend Michelle and I went to see Tony and Tina's wedding. Oh yes, that one was super fun because you literally, like, moved locations right Right was super fun because you literally, like, moved locations right, right, right, saw the wedding happen and then you literally all just walked down the street to a banquet hall where you got to sit at tables with the characters. I love that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1:

It was very stupid and fun probably some of my earliest experiences goes earlier than that. I mean, it's not really necessarily interactive but immersive, and that would be my favorite medieval times.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, yeah, I hadn't even thought about that Right, I mean because you're cheering each section of the restaurant, theater, whatever you want to call it. You've got your own knight that you're rooting for who's competing in all these challenges. So it you know, you've got your own knight that you're rooting for who's competing in all these challenges. So it's again another really immersive experience. And we've got some weirdly, I don't know if it's just a New Jersey thing, but we've got all these little I don't know, I don't know what to call them amusement parks. We've got the Land of Make Believe, fairytale Forest, fairytale Forest Another one of my favorites Wild West City.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, wild West City was so much fun. Do you remember the train robbery? Yeah, yeah, oh, my God, I am all for the immersive kind of thing and that's why I think I love the Ren Faire so much. I love going up to the Ren Faire and just getting kind of. Again, I keep saying the word immersed, immersed in that kind of era of time, and it's just so much fun. Immersed in immersion yeah, I'm immersing myself in immersion, yes, but it's just so much fun and I think that's what's cool about this is that this is a way to to really get deep into dnd, where you don't have to play your, but you're still involved in the, in the, the action that is. That is happening, so that's really cool. I'm really, I'm really excited for that. It literally just started previews yesterday, so it's just kicked off in New York City. So if you're in the area or you're going to make a trip to this area, that would be a perfect thing to check out.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I am hoping my injured leg will heal very quickly so that we can get back in. Yes, your poor injured leg. Catherine's week started with a strained muscle in my leg that has me hobbling around on a crutch. And ended today with a scratched cornea from our friend Jordy upstairs, who decided he wanted to smack me in the eye.

Speaker 1:

Oh, jordy, yeah, he just gets a little overenthusiastic.

Speaker 2:

It wasn't enthusiasm. He wanted to get down. I said no. I picked him up to move him and he decided one way down was to smack me in the eye.

Speaker 1:

Well, okay, then he's just an angry little elf. He is an angry little elf, oh, poor guy. I mean, I I understand how much it hurt, believe me, but I don't. I don't think he intended anything by it he intended murder.

Speaker 2:

I could see murder in his heart when he did it murder in his heart. Murder in his furry little heart. Jordy murder, murder in his heart. Poor Jordy. Right before you came upstairs after he hit me, he pulled out a little knife. He put it away. When you got upstairs, was he going to shiv you? He was Wow, actually. I believe he shanks right. You shank with a shiv, you shank with a shiv. Is that what it is? I think so.

Speaker 1:

I have to look up the proper grammar on that I haven't been to prison in a while so I'm not 100% sure. Thank God, because those are dementors.

Speaker 2:

The worst thing about prison was dementors.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, seriously.

Speaker 2:

You know what we ate Gruel Gruel sandwiches.

Speaker 1:

Gruel, all gruel, all the time, but anyway. So what do you like about? Because this is again. This is kind of really your first D&D adventure. So what are you looking forward to? At the 20-sided tavern, someone else looking foolish? Someone else looking foolish? Yeah, do you think you look foolish?

Speaker 2:

I don't know do you.

Speaker 1:

I don't think that's foolish, I think that's fun.

Speaker 2:

I think it's silly. Well, okay, maybe I enjoy doing it, exactly you enjoy doing it, but that's all that matters.

Speaker 1:

I don't know, it's just a matter of enjoying what you do I guess so. Yeah, all right. So yes, 20-sided tavern it is. I want to see where the I'm going to look it up for you while we're while we're here. It is at stage 42. What is it?

Speaker 2:

422, west 42nd good to know I I had a feeling it was going to be on 42nd street when it was called stage 42. Right, would be very funny if it was stage 42 and it was on like 85th street, brooklyn.

Speaker 1:

Staten Island Staten Island.

Speaker 2:

Stage 42 here in beautiful Staten Island. You could take a free ferry ride to get here, that's right, so definitely check it out.

Speaker 1:

It looks like they have a discord server. Oh boy, hello. Apparently the 20 sided tavern has a discord server as well. That's fantastic. There's only 1132 members at the moment. That's fantastic. I'm gonna have to check that out.

Speaker 1:

Excellent, cool, cool, cool all right all right on to our next fantastic. What else are we going to talk about now? We've talked about several crowdfunded campaigns for different things. We talked about the. What was it called? Gummy Quest? Gummy Quest I knew it was Gummy something. Gummy Quest. We've talked about that one. I'm a big fan of Dice Dungeons, who is a dice vendor. They just started a Kickstarter campaign for microfiber battle mats, which is really cool, which we could talk about that as well later.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm curious.

Speaker 1:

But those are super cool. They just, they just started. They got funded like within this, within the first day, uh, for for that project. But dice dungeons has made some of my favorite sets of dice my copper dice, my cubic zirconia dice, the sea glass dice, which I think are just absolutely beautiful. Um, they've, they've done some really nice sets. They just most recently wrapped up the one for the speakeasy dice is what they're calling them. So a bunch of different sets of dice themed on different cocktails. So that is one that is. I think those are coming out sometime this fall. They're shipping those. But this is their newest one are, yeah, the microfiber battle maps. So we can talk about that as well, maybe right after this.

Speaker 1:

But this one is an article from Polygon. It says one author thinks your D&D party should get out more and socialize in character, thinks your D&D party should get out more and socialize in character. And they have created a book called you Don't Meet in a Tavern, which is a great source of beginning ideas for how parties kind of get together and it sounds absolutely fascinating. There's like well over, I want to say it's close to 100, I think, different scenarios that you can play with, because she was talking about getting up to like 50 prompts and realizing that she's got to make a book out of this, but it's called you Don't Meet in a Tavern. One of the ones that sounded really cool to me that they mentioned in the article is basically you're on a long sailing voyage and the the ship runs aground and crashes and you the party basically ends up on the on the sandy beach the rocky, rocky, sandy beach of some place, and they've got to kind of pick up their belongings and kind of assemble and that's one way to join the party.

Speaker 1:

The other one is the. Oh, where is it in here? I'm trying to look for it in the article. It's like a paint and sip event.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they called it sculpt and sip, Sculpt and sip.

Speaker 1:

Thank you they called it sculpt and sip, Sculpt and sip. Thank you. Which is the? Was it a gnome? Is that who was running the sculpt and sip? I don't remember. Let's take a look.

Speaker 2:

Yes, a gnome-led sculpt and sip.

Speaker 1:

A gnome-led sculpt and sip.

Speaker 2:

The one I liked was when they talked about, yes, lead, sculpt and sip. The one I liked was when they talked about, um, yes, she says what if you started because a thief robbed everyone and you're all chasing him together through a marketplace like it? Makes the bonding piece of it seem much more realistic, much more natural than like oh hey, we're all in a tavern. We're all in a tavern.

Speaker 1:

We're all in a tavern and here we are again. Well, because I was thinking about this for the group of because I'm looking at the keys from the Golden Vault and I was trying to think of how to assemble that group and one of the things, because they're all kind of heists, because they're all kind of they're heists, so I was thinking of maybe they're all independent operators on the first heist after the same item and they realize that it's better to team up. They have a better chance of being successful if they team up. Team up.

Speaker 1:

A team up. Yes, I know you love they team up. Team up, A team up. Yes, I know you love a team up. So it would be better if they teamed up and tried to take the item that they were looking for instead of trying to do it all solo. So that was one of the thoughts that I had, but I think they were going to go in a different route. I think they were going to go in a different route, but I am just I'm a big fan of all sorts of D&D creators like this. It is on what is the game found? I think I think there's only like as of today. I think there's only two days left to fund it.

Speaker 2:

There are. It's fully funded.

Speaker 1:

It is 125% funded as of right now, but you can still. You can still become a backer of the the campaign. I guess when this goes live on Monday, Monday might be the last day of it. There's two days left, or they include today.

Speaker 2:

I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Maybe you can still fund it.

Speaker 1:

If not, you'll probably look for it after it's published Probably look for it after it's published. They said October of 2024, the digital versions will be released so you can get it in digital format. There is the main book and then they've got like a series of special guests that are making like a supplemental to the supplemental called Guest Scenarios and Art, so there's a secondary book to it. It was like $15 to back it to get the digital versions. The print versions are coming out. I think they said February of 2025. Okay, If I recall correctly, so not that much further after, but it's just going to take them some time to actually print the material. So digital versions fall this year. So I'm really excited I decided to back it. Fall of this year. So I'm really excited I decided to back it.

Speaker 1:

I'm always looking for new ideas for ways to kind of mix things up other than the standard you meet in a tavern. So I thought this was a great resource and I'm always up for supporting independent creators of content. They really make the D know the D and D community what it is. So so thank you to to anyone out there who has created content for for D and D, because it's it's just awesome. I love we've interviewed some really great people on the podcast before um that make content. Um, I'm thinking of h who makes. Who makes all the npc content on on patreon. Yep, that that's a really cool one. They do some. They do some amazing stuff there. Um, all sorts of people. Tall tavern is another one really cool stuff. Pocket bard you know the, what we use for the sound effects, for for the, the actual play there. There's just so many tremendous creators out there and just that. That's just a few of the ones that I've I've interacted with, but there's there's a ton out there. Now, do you want to talk about dice dungeons?

Speaker 2:

Dungeons.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, okay, let me bring it up. I want to say Dice Dungeons, battlecloth is what they call it Battlecloth, battlecloth.

Speaker 2:

Battlecloth.

Speaker 1:

So let's see. I'm going to try to read the where's the description here. Enhance your adventures with battle cloth maps. Our exclusive line of cloth, microfiber battle maps is ideal for encounters in any rpg. These high quality, full color battle maps make a fantastic setting for different scenes during your game. They make planning easier for DMs and the experience more immersive for players. So the maps themselves are printed on soft, high quality fabric so you can. There's no wrinkling or anything like that, creases or anything. Nice, smooth surfaces. So for all of your minis and terrain and everything like that fit really nicely on these.

Speaker 1:

Each one of the battle map areas is 21 and a half by 21 and a half inches. It's already got the grid on it, you know, for tracking movement and things like that. So it's it's really nicely built. They've got some. They've got open fields, caves, oceans, and you can tile those if you want to. They've got all sorts of aquatic ones a beach harbor, an actual sailing ship, a sunken ship. Then they've got all the actual land. So and these all kind of tie in together. So there's forest, cliffside path, ruined temple, and can. You can line all these up together the roadside camp, twin bridges, cliffside cave, so many more. They've got other ones a tavern, a castle floor, that gets unlocked at 15,000. And I think, what are they? What do they add? At the moment they're already at 18, 18,471. So they've already, they've already broken those stretch goals. I think that the next one is, oh, the snow cap summit, which unlocks at 20 000 did you say you already backed this?

Speaker 1:

I have not backed this one yet, but I am. I backed other dice. I backed the um speakeasy dice. Right, I backed when they did the Seaglass dice. I backed that Kickstarter campaign, but I have not backed this campaign yet. Pretty reasonably priced, let's talk about that. So two Battlecloth maps 23.

Speaker 2:

One for 12.

Speaker 1:

Three for 33. I want the whole set, though. That's the problem.

Speaker 2:

So if you go to the whole set, 18 Battlecloth maps, yes, $180. Yes.

Speaker 1:

An estimated delivery is April of 2025. So spring of 2025. We're about a year out from there, oh, interesting. Spring of 2025, or about a about a year out from from there, oh, interesting. So two items are included. There is the the battle cloth maps themselves and a digital map pack, which is very interesting. So you can, you can, you can go both ways, um, which would be pretty cool because I, I like doing stuff, I like stuff, I like doing stuff digitally as well. I mean, we play here in person, so we have, you know, kind of a map laid out for for certain areas, but something like this would be great just to just to have. So you can, you can lay something down and put your minis on it and everything, build out some terrain. I need to start getting like some terrain and other things to to really flesh out these, these maps. Yeah, so I thought you were going to say something no, no no, no, no, okay, all right.

Speaker 1:

But like I, I'm glad they're and they also, I was trying to think because I was going to say I'm glad they're not making more dice, because I just have to buy more dice.

Speaker 1:

But I also like their quest decks. I'm a big fan of their quest decks from Dice Dungeons. Those are really cool from Dice Dungeons. Those are really cool. So if you're looking for side quests and things to give to your party, that's a great way to come up with some things kind of randomly. You can use them as job boards. So if there's a job board in town you can throw up some side quests that way. If you want to kind of extend the game that way, you know, just depending on what you want to do. Sometimes you know, sometimes you know you can't get the whole party together. So maybe we've got a couple people. So instead of doing the main storyline and leaving somebody out, maybe you do a side quest. You know, one night, when, when, not when the whole party can't, can't be together. So there's a lot of great things you can do with the side quest decks as well. Just make, just makes a DM's job that much easier. But yeah, I'm, I'm really digging these battle cloth maps.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they look awesome. I've never seen them before. I don't think we've talked about them, have we? No, we haven't yeah, they're really cool looking. I like the ones that you can actually like put together to create one larger map yes those are fun yeah.

Speaker 1:

So, for example, for example, like the stall, there's stalwart forest, stalwart forest, trying to say that, stalwart forest, stalwart forest, thank you, thank you. Stalwart forest, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, unique new york. Unique new york. There's the cliffside path and the ruined temple. So those are three individual 21 and a half by 21 and a half maps, but you can actually line them up side by side for one big long, I guess about 63, 65 by 21 and a half long map, so you can really span these things out. I think that one even bumps into the ones below it, which are roadside camp, twin bridges and cliffside cave. So you can, you can really extend this thing pretty far, which is which is really cool. So so that that's a pretty exciting thing. I I really dig these, they. They did a nice job designing them, whoever. Whoever designed them at Dice Dungeons really great job. Maybe I will have to back it.

Speaker 2:

I just love that Dice Dungeons is out of Baltimore, which you know has a place in my heart Balmore, balmore, maryland.

Speaker 1:

Yep, yep, indeed, and they've got terrain overlays. Oh boy, there's so many cool, cool, cool things. Oh, my goodness, a travel tube, yeah, travel tube for this, of course they do. Oh my god, so exciting. Yes, oh, there's the team. So they got dice. Dungeons. Is what happens when the creative force of jarrett came into contact with john's design and product savvy. A professionally trained designer, jarrett started his path designing, crafting and selling garb for cosplayers, larpers and renfares. John has a a PhD in biochemistry and a passion for analyzing problems and designing elegant solutions that help others. There you have it. So check out Dice Dungeons on. You can go to dicedungeonscom. You can go to Kickstarter. Look up Dice Dungeons. You can see their latest campaign. This one has 25 days to to go, so there's still some time to to back this one. If you're looking for kind of some, some battle maps and things like that, really nice quality um, definitely, definitely check them out what is what is next on our list of topics to discuss uh.

Speaker 1:

Quests from the infinite staircase west oh, so another, another book that they are putting out for dungeons and dragons. It's another anthology of a lot of older adventures. So this one is called quests from the infinite staircase. So if you're familiar with these anthologies, there's Journey Through the Radiant Citadel, candlekeep Mysteries, which I think we played a few of those when Joe was DMing. I think he used some of the Candlekeep Mysteries I'm looking to do Keys to the Golden Vault with Fable and their group of friends. Oh, neat, so that's the one that I'm looking to do Keys to the Golden Vault with Fable and their group of friends, oh neat.

Speaker 1:

So that's the one that I'm using there. So this is a new anthology coming out later this year, in 2024, quests from the Infinite Staircase, which was announced at PAX Unplugged back in December. So they say the book will be similar to tales from the yawning portal and that it features six updated versions of classic dnd adventures from past editions. I think they say the book will officially be released on july 16th, 2024 and is available for pre-order. You can do the digital or the physical versions of that.

Speaker 1:

Now big question what is Quests from the Infinite Staircase about? So, like I said, it's an anthology. It's six classic D&D adventures they're updated for 5th edition Designed for characters from levels 1 to 13. Again, you can do them separately or as part of an overall campaign. Some of the ones in here are there's an adventure called the Lost City, which was originally published in 82 as module B4. And this adventure is designed for first to third-level characters. Again, this one is focused for new dungeon masters, with players exploring the upper floors of an ancient ziggurat located in the depths of a mysterious desert.

Speaker 2:

Mysterious.

Speaker 1:

Mysterious Yep, okay, michael Scott. Yes. In the depths of a mysterious desert, mysterious, mysterious yep, okay, michael scott. Yes, what do you? What are your opinions on that dear? Any on the lost city?

Speaker 2:

on the lost city. It sounds interesting, right? Yeah, I mean the one that I thought sounded most interesting is. Beyond the Crystal Cave.

Speaker 1:

Ooh Well, let's talk about it. What is it about?

Speaker 2:

Inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, it's designed for sixth level characters and you have to venture into the forbidden cave of echoes to find two star-crossed lovers.

Speaker 1:

Ooh, beyond the Crystal Cave. That sounds interesting.

Speaker 2:

Just sounded fun. There's a couple of modules that clearly were intended for the UK. That's one of them.

Speaker 3:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Since that was originally module UK1. Yes, the other one are there more than I think. Just the other one that was meant for the UK was when a Star Falls. Yes, that's designed for fourth to fifth level characters, and players must recover a fallen star before rival factions are able to get their hands on it, while also dealing with an ancient tower and a dark prophecy. Ooh.

Speaker 1:

Yes, the one that sounds really interesting to me that I would love to run is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Ooh a Gary Gygax one. Exactly. This is an adventure written by the legendary, the one and only the wickedly.

Speaker 2:

Adele Dazeem, the wickedly Adele Dazeem, the wickedly talented.

Speaker 1:

Exactly Adele Dazeem.

Speaker 2:

Gary Gygax.

Speaker 1:

This article refers to it as one of the most iconic old-school D&D adventures of all time. Designed for level 11 to 13 characters, it combines classic fantasy elements with some out-of-the-world science fiction technology. Oh, what is that? It also marks the first appearance appearance of the frogamoth what's a? Frogamoth i'moth. I'm clicking on the link to figure this out.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's like a froghemoth, like a behemoth, exactly A froghemoth.

Speaker 1:

I like the picture on D&D Beyond Interesting. It's a huge monstrosity. It is an amphibious predator as big as an elephant. It's layers and swamps and has four tentacles, a thick rubbery hide what is going on with that? Tongue a fang filled maw with a prehensile tongue yuck yeah I don't like his feet yes, and an extendable stalk sporting three bulbous eyes that face in different directions.

Speaker 2:

I mean what? Could the eyes be non-bulbous, come on.

Speaker 1:

I think they have to be bulbous.

Speaker 2:

He's clearly got a thyroid issue.

Speaker 1:

Maybe that's his issue. Maybe he just needs thyroid medication.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he goes on thyroid medication. He's a totally normal guy, right. Who knows? He's just a frog.

Speaker 1:

That's all he is. He's just a frog with a thyroid problem. Exactly oh poor guy, so misunderstood. So hang on. I got to figure out how this is actually pronounced, thanks to D&D Beyond for pronunciation here Frog-hemoth, frog-hemoth, frog-hemoth, behemoth, frog, frog-hemoth. There we go.

Speaker 2:

Yep.

Speaker 1:

Excellent Love the I love D&D Beyond has the pronunciation. D&d Beyond has the pronunciation. Well, this is why Joe and I were constantly battling, because I called it rightfully so a tabaxi Right, and Joe wanted to call it a tabahi and I'm like, no, don't ask me why.

Speaker 2:

Does Joe have a mysterious Hispanic heritage that we don't know?

Speaker 1:

about, maybe, perhaps, but but no, it's tabaxi. So anyway, so that is. That is some of what is going on in the the wonderful world of dnd oh wait, can we talk? About. What else do you want to talk about?

Speaker 2:

well, in quest from the infinite staircase yes, there were not done yet no, we're not okay, um because there was one really cool part that I have to find yes about a new character yes I'm looking I'm waiting okay, here we go.

Speaker 2:

Yes, question. The infinite staircase also introduces a new powerful cosmic character, the noble genie nathas, who hears wishes made throughout the multiverse and recruits heroes to fulfill them. Uh, he's featured on the concept art Wizards of the Coast unveiled at PAX Unplugged. This new character has never appeared before in the D&D canon and will provide the thematic link between the book's adventures. I just thought that was really cool. It has over 30 new monsters and NPCs, all of which will be given new stat blocks that are fully compatible with 5e. I mean, it just sounds really like there's a lot of old material, obviously because it's an anthology, but there's also a bunch of new stuff in there, which I think is really cool.

Speaker 1:

That is really cool. Deedee, are you coming to say hello?

Speaker 2:

Hello DeeDee DeeDee, she's such a peanut.

Speaker 1:

DeeDee has joined the podcast. Hello.

Speaker 2:

Here she comes. She's going to knock over the screen, she's going to walk across the laptop. I don't know what she's going to do. Hold on, please. Are you coming for me, deedee?

Speaker 1:

I got you, there we go. I got you. Yeah, come sit. Deedee is our blind cat, daredevil. She is the cat without fear.

Speaker 2:

There's my girl. Okay, yeah, so I mean, that's why I thought it was really cool.

Speaker 1:

That is really cool, because I mean I guess there is, I mean it wouldn't be, I mean that's a good way to tie everything together, these seemingly unrelated adventures.

Speaker 2:

Right, you've got the genie who can be granting wishes in between, and they all end up in these different adventures.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, right, very cool, she's just rubbing on my headphones Aw. Hi, she is very happy to see you. Yeah, excellent. So that is some of what is going on in the in the world of dnd. So, 20-sided tavern playing it at um stage, stage 42, thank you. In new york city I keep wanting to say studio 54, but that's different that is very different.

Speaker 1:

Um so, stage 42 in new York city, 20 sided tavern, we've got the campaign, the, the crowd funding campaigns for you don't meet in a tavern which basically, by the time this podcast goes live, will be will be completed. It's already funded, but their fundraising window is closing very shortly. But you can still get behind Dice Dungeons and their Battlecloth maps if you're looking for some really nice high-quality maps. That one is coming out. And what else dear? Well, the new book that's coming out, quests from the Infinite Staircase. That's going to be very exciting, all right. Well, thank you again everybody for joining us today on today's adventure. We had our special guest, our niece Jocelyn, our musical composer for all the music of Legends, loot and Lore, so that was wonderful.

Speaker 2:

AKA June Westfield.

Speaker 1:

AKA June Westfield.

Speaker 2:

On YouTube, spotify and all the socials.

Speaker 1:

Yes, absolutely. And what else? We had just some lovely news for D&D. Some great things going on out there. So again, thank you, thank you all for listening. Some great things going on out there. So again, thank you, thank you all for listening. Remember, please, you can help support this, this fun podcast of ours at legends loot and lore dot supercastcom. And check us out on on the socials. We're on Instagram, tik TOK, facebook threads.

Speaker 2:

Yep.

Speaker 1:

Not Twitter.

Speaker 2:

I think you mean X.

Speaker 1:

No, I don't.

Speaker 2:

Don't buy a cyber truck, oh my goodness it's stuck in floor.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, it's like the gas pedal gets stuck. Yeah, and did you see the fingers?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

The fingers getting crushed.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, my God, yeah, I watched the guy put all sorts of vegetables in it and they just kept getting hacked.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, yikes. Yeah, it was a cyber truck is frightening, but anyway again, thank you once again everybody. We look forward to talking to you next week.

Speaker 2:

Have a great day Bye.

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