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Legends, Loot, & Lore: A Players's Guide to Dungeons and Dragons
"Legends, Loot, & Lore" is a fun Dungeons and Dragons podcast where host Andrew and co-host Catherine dive into the thrilling realms of D&D, delivering news, tips, interviews, and fascinating tales of legendary adventures, all from the perspective of someone new to or interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Legends, Loot, & Lore: A Players's Guide to Dungeons and Dragons
Crafting Characters: Catherine's Quest for Legacy and Other Tales
Snuggle up and join Catherine and me as we peel back the curtain on a blustery day perfect for podcast musings and D&D daydreams. Picture this: the town of Phandalin, where Catherine's gnome, Zanros, tangles with the tribulations of running a B&B, mirroring her own bouts of resilience and self-advocacy. It's an intimate heart-to-heart, filled with the warmth of thanking our global family of listeners and an invitation to deepen our connection through emails and a cozy corner of the internet - our Discord server.
Ever wonder how a dash of your own spirit can breathe life into a character? This episode explores just that, as Catherine shares the adventures of Zanros, a character she's seasoned with her personal touch, embarking on her quest for independence and a legacy of her own. We also stitch together the fabric of our game's lore, from the creation of the Bemblebomble B&B to the equipment that may shape our destiny - including the Scimitar of Speed, the legendary Sword of Answering, and the Vorpal Sword, made famous by the poem, the Jabberwocky. And for the rules aficionados, we ponder the anticipated D&D updates as the game approaches its golden anniversary.
As for the unexpected, we navigate the intersection of fantasy and reality, marveling at NASA's 'The Lost Universe' - a D&D adventure that's out of this world, literally. We chuckle over the quirkiness of reporting income from performance art, and get starry-eyed as we anticipate Catherine's star-studded birthday weekend at Terrificon. Join us, sword in hand, as we weave through the exciting, humorous, and sometimes head-scratching world of Dungeons & Dragons.
Limithron's Guide to Naval Combat
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Hello and welcome back to another fun and exciting, thrilling rollercoaster ride of an episode. Who knows what's going to happen. We've got very, very little of an agenda today, so it's just going to be a meandering ride around the world of Dungeons and Dragons. I am your host, Andrew, and joining me today is one of our party members and my party member for life.
Speaker 2:The person who happens to live in this house.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right, my wife Catherine. Hello Welcome. We're just recording on a rainy Sunday afternoon here in New Jersey.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:At least it's not snow.
Speaker 2:I'm all screwed up from daylight savings.
Speaker 1:That threw us off today, but that's all right, we're hanging in there.
Speaker 2:I hate when I think I'm getting good sleep and then I wake up and it feels like it's much earlier.
Speaker 1:But tonight it'll be much lighter, much later, so that's exciting yeah that is delightful. Maybe not today. Maybe not today it's cloudy In general, that's right. Thank you. Thank you for joining. So initially we had started off our podcast journey with my co-host, joe, who is now wrapped up in the many plans. He's on a side quest, getting married, so he is off doing that.
Speaker 2:Hi Joe.
Speaker 1:Hi Joe. So I just wanted to take some time because normally with every episode, we've got so many things to talk about, we've got the actual play. We've been doing so many different things, so I just want to take some time out. First of all, I wanted to thank everybody who listens to this podcast. You all are absolutely amazing. I was looking at the stats. We started this, I think, in late June, early July I think July 1st was our first official episode launch and since then we've had over 6,500 downloads of our episodes, which is just wild to me that people listen to this thing over 6,000 times. So thank you all for that. And it's interesting because I get all sorts of random statistics on who's listening, like not who in particular, but where you all are listening from Over the last 10 episodes I was looking at where people listen to this. A lot of our friends and family here in New Jersey are listening. So thank you all. Hi Joe, hi Joe and all our other friends. There's other friends.
Speaker 2:I know there are other friends Hi Fable.
Speaker 1:And I'm hoping Johnny gets to this episode. Anyone from the Midland Park Starbucks? Thank you for listening, but it's fascinating. Like the number three city is Minneapolis, minnesota. So thank you. Thank you, minnesota, dallas, texas, atlanta, georgia, chicago, la, and in the top 10 is Frankfurt, germany. So Guten Tag to all our German listeners. Thank you for giving us a listen, and randomly other, let's say, australia, france, denmark, norway, singapore, argentina. So there are so many people listening to the podcast out there, thank you. Listening to the madness? Oh, wow, yes, all the madness. And the only thing I ask is, if you can, we would. This is a labor of love for us, but it does cost us money to produce this podcast. So, if you can support the podcast, you can go to legendslootandloresupercastcom and you can give a one-time donation or give a monthly donation to help support us to keep our podcast up and running. Yes, dear.
Speaker 2:But just as important as money or reviews yes, especially good reviews.
Speaker 1:We'd love for you to review the podcast if you like it. If you don't, I'd love to hear from you as well. You can always email us at podcast, at legendslootandlorecom, and shoot us questions or anything. We have our website, wwwlegendslootandlorecom, which has all the information on the episodes or the guests that we've had on the podcast and all sorts of other information on there, so there's all sorts of resources that we have. There is a Discord server that doesn't get used much, but feel free to go in there. I think the link might be on the link tree on our socials, which is usually just at legendslootandlore. It is at the top, what looks like almost like a video game controller, all the way in the top right, all the links to the socials. There is threads, tiktok, instagram, facebook and Discord.
Speaker 1:But it is there.
Speaker 2:There's three members online. I bet it's you, me and Fable Probably.
Speaker 1:That would make sense. So anyway, again, thank you all so much for listening to the podcast. We'd love for suggestions or questions, so you can always email the podcast, ask us any questions. We're happy to answer those we're going to. We'll talk a little bit about the last episode, which was our actual play. We've been reading all sorts of news articles about relationships Related to D&D, so we're going to talk about a couple of those and I guess whatever else is on our mind, that's a scary dark place. So we'll say God only knows where this is going to go. So let's talk about last episode, which was a marathon three plus hours of actual play by you. You came to the town of Fandelen, or Fandelen, however you like to pronounce it, and so what are your recollections being the party? What happened when you got there?
Speaker 2:Let's see. So the first thing we did was hold on. I need to look at my map. You would think, considering the fact that I'm the one that edited this, that I would remember better, but I don't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you really. You edited that whole thing down. How many cuts were there?
Speaker 2:What was it? I think it said 967. No 467 cuts, that's still 467 cuts is a lot of cuts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay. So first we take a lot of dramatic pauses.
Speaker 2:Andrew takes a lot of dramatic pauses, james goes um for a really long time.
Speaker 1:When he's thinking that's his thinking sound.
Speaker 2:And I laugh really, really loudly. I mean it's good that I'm amused, but I mean you were listening to the one part that I asked you to and when it got to my laugh. You actually reared back, so I took that one out.
Speaker 1:Just saying Well it's. The headphones were up loud, so it wasn't. It's not just that, but it was a loud laugh. It was a loud laugh.
Speaker 2:I acknowledge that about myself.
Speaker 1:You like to laugh?
Speaker 2:I love to laugh.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and thank God you're playing this game because it's it's. I'm pretty damn hysterical.
Speaker 2:I mean between you, fable and James. You are all people that I really enjoy spending time with Right. I find you all very amusing, thank you. I mean you would hope, after this many years of being married. That I like spending time with you. Um, yeah, so yes it makes me laugh a lot.
Speaker 1:Yes. So some of those laughs came out so there was a lot of edits. But anyway, back to Van Dalen. So you, you came in from the north side of town off the tri-board trail.
Speaker 2:Right, and then we went to Barthens provisions to drop off the well, you set up camp first. Well, yes, because we had to leave the, the goblins and the wolves somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then we went to yeah, if you all came into town, like, like that, that would have been you. I mean you, you turned some heads already, but that would have been like what are all these goblins and wolves like that? Yeah, I mean goblins aren't, aren't necessary, I mean everybody, everybody kind of knew the stories of what was happening on the tri-board trail, yeah, and that the goblins were attacking. So to to, so to have seven goblins come into town, well, six because well, no, you had a long rest at that point. So Vincent was miraculously healed.
Speaker 1:Yes, Vincent was healed. We will talk about that later. Um you, you would have made quite a scene coming into town with with the crew that size.
Speaker 2:Yeah, All the goblins a dire wolf two wolves.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a lot. I mean, dahl is like seven feet tall with the horns, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're, you're not subtle.
Speaker 2:So anyway, barthens provisions is your first thought. Barthens provisions, yes.
Speaker 1:Well, that was, that was your main. That was your main quest, coming coming from Neverwinter, was to bring the cart, the wagon of supplies, to Barthens provisions for Gundren Rockseekers. So you accomplished that.
Speaker 2:Yep Got paid for that Found a place to to look after Callie.
Speaker 1:Yep. Callie is hiding out in the backyard of Barthens provisions. Yep.
Speaker 2:Then, from there did we go to? Did we go to Lion Shield Coster next, or did we go to I think you, I think you did go to Lion Shield Coster. Because we hit next. I mean we hit a lot of stuff. So we went to Barthens provisions, we went to Sister Garry-O.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:We went to Lion Shield Coster. I attempted to wing an egg at Lenine's house and hit a goat. Instead we went to the miners exchange. And then we went to the town master hall and terrorized Harbin Wester.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Oh, we also went to the Stonehill Inn to talk to Sildar.
Speaker 1:Yes, we were very busy. Yeah, and you accomplished you. You covered quite a bit of the town, the village, the frontier village.
Speaker 2:Xenros's tiny little legs must be tired.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you, you accomplished quite a bit, which was, which was good, and and and so what things? What have you learned about about the town, about Gundren's location? Why? Because you're still right, right. So so what things are you still doing? You still, you're still looking for Gundren.
Speaker 2:Um, and Gundren is at well, as far as we know, gundren's at Cragmaw Castle.
Speaker 1:Yes, which, which you've seen on the map, but you don't know yet where it is. You don't know where that is, and no one, no one.
Speaker 2:Either no one knows or no one wants to tell us Right how to get there.
Speaker 1:Right, um, you got the hint from Lenine. I think that sounds right. I think I think she she hinted to the fact that she knew where, she might know where Cragmaw Castle is or know someone who knows where it is, but she, she might be able to provide some information, provided, um, did she? Did she have a task for you, or?
Speaker 2:I don't remember. Oh yeah, didn't she? I don't remember.
Speaker 1:I don't, I don't recall.
Speaker 2:My brain doesn't work that well.
Speaker 1:I know Fable probably has notes about it, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:Um, unfortunately well, no, unfortunately for us. Fortunately for Fable, they are playing with their friends today, so they are not able to join us with their notes. That would be very helpful.
Speaker 1:Yes, hello, hello Fable and friends.
Speaker 2:Hello all my friends.
Speaker 1:Donnie.
Speaker 2:Matt.
Speaker 1:Kia Sophia.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, All my favorites.
Speaker 1:Sophia. Sophia is the note taker, so I was. I was giving Sophia notes on on the upcoming campaign for for them.
Speaker 2:Right cause Andrew was going to be DMing for Fable and friends going forward. Yes, yeah. So we still have to find Gundren, or Gundar, as James has renamed him. Gundar, gundar, the the barbarian. Yes, uh, we have. The town is crawling with red brands, who are a real problem, and we've pretty much determined that they are hanging out at Jacender Manor, which is my B and B.
Speaker 1:Oh and, and you know they're, they've been drinking at the sleeping giant.
Speaker 2:Right with the Sirly Orc.
Speaker 1:The Sirly Orc. Yes, we, we definitely talked about the Sirly Orc. Okay, good, so so and, and then so, so other things. So, um Dahl's character, or Fable's character, dahl got the quest from sister G, sister Carriel, and so they've got to go find the Banshee, yep. So now you've got a new quest there. I think there were some jobs on the job board.
Speaker 2:There were.
Speaker 1:Yeah, At the at the town master's hall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of them, which sounds remarkably like the plot of beauty and the beast.
Speaker 1:Interesting and I think that was about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we're going to put B and B advertisements on the coasters.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:From Lion Shield coaster.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yes, got it. It's their side business. So tell me your take so far on on the adventure. What are you, what do you think, what are your thoughts, what are your character's thoughts about? About what's happening and and where you're going and what, where? Where? Where's your head at?
Speaker 2:I'm at this point, I'm fascinated. So I mean, if you've listened to other episodes with me, you probably know that my previous experience with D&D is was DMing Strahd, which was a very um in-depth and complicated adventure to have undertaken as my first time DMing Hi Joe. Um, joe to this day feels guilty for having done that because he thought it was going to be a little bit easier than what it was, which I totally understand, um, but I never played other than one shots as a character. So I'm really enjoying um kind of getting into Zan Rose's head and thinking about how she would be reacting to everything that's going on rather than how I would react to things that are going on.
Speaker 2:I would never, um. You know, if it were just me, I would never have yelled at Harbin Wester.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But like she's I just think about the day that Zan Rose has had right. She's found out that there's this criminal element in town that's a strike against her B&B. Then she finds out the criminal element is holed up in her B&B. She also finds out that just Endermanor is a falling down wreck so she's got to rebuild it. She's got, you know, seven goblins and two wolves that are now depending on her, and she's had a stressful day by the time they get to Harbin Wester.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I can only imagine. I never. I never thought about it in that context because I'm I'm running the campaign, so I'm thinking about it from a completely different viewpoint. So that's, that's. That's really interesting that your character had a wolf. That was a lot in one 24 hours and if you think about it.
Speaker 2:As you know, she comes from a noble background. Yeah, she's very likely had everything done for her, so she's got a lot of stuff to figure out. She's got her two new friends with her.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 2:And that's the support system she has. Like she's, she's very much on her own with two people who, while she's definitely starting to develop a rapport with them, and. I would say definitely has some affection and is absolutely loyal to them. They're still. They're not her family. They're not people she's known for years. She's known them for days, literally at this point.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So this is a lot. It is for her and you know she's what? Is she 55? I believe that's correct so she's relatively young by gnome standards, so this is a lot. I mean, this would be like throwing maybe like a 20 year old into this situation where you're like, oh, you thought you were just going to come here and like, dust a few things off and open up your B and B. No, you've got to rebuild it, you've got to get the bad guys out of it. You've got to.
Speaker 2:You've got to take care of this town and you've got to find a way to bring people in.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm trying to play it from that aspect where she's very frustrated, she's very stressed out, but she's also trying to develop relationships because this is where she's going to live.
Speaker 1:Right, right Right.
Speaker 2:And she's got stuff now, like the Chamber of Commerce, that she never thought about before, right Like she's.
Speaker 1:Oh God, I forgot. I forgot that we have a Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 2:She's on the Tourism Subcommittee. Xanderos had a big freaking day, xanderos did.
Speaker 1:So, so let me ask you this question Do you relate personally at all to Xanderos? What of yourself do you see in Xanderos?
Speaker 2:I think the strength right. Like no matter what she's, tough.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think that's something that I'm maybe not as tough, but resilient.
Speaker 1:Resilient, that's a great word. Yeah, like I agree that you are so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's more like, but I think also like emotionally I can be tough and you know, stand up for myself, right? And that's what she's really learning to you.
Speaker 1:Interesting, very interesting. I'm always curious what like, what the, what the interplay is between the person and the character, like I always. It's interesting because I always like a lot of the characters that I create. There's always a piece of me in the, in the characters that I create, whether it's like because I create a lot of characters that I pull from a lot of different sources.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Comic books, literature. What television?
Speaker 2:what have you Keep in mind? I was handed Xanderos.
Speaker 1:You were handed Xanderos.
Speaker 2:So I had to kind of inject myself into her because she already existed and had all of these characteristics.
Speaker 1:That is. That is very true, because Xanderos and Iquium were characters that we created earlier on the podcast. So, if you want to, if anyone listening hasn't hasn't been following along the whole time, joe and I created pre-made characters for for this campaign to walk through character creation for a melee, a fighter and a spellcaster. So Iquium is the spellcaster, you are the, the melee weapon, as I like to say, weapon wielder, and yeah, you were kind of thrust into that. So so I guess maybe that's how you put, maybe it's more how you put your spin on it Right.
Speaker 1:Then then how you see yourself in the character.
Speaker 2:But I love Xanderos so it's cool. It worked out.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you like the character.
Speaker 2:I like the character, I like the party, I like the adventure so far. I think you know, the Pimblebumble B&B was something that just kind of flew into my head during a recording and I think you, as the DM, have done a good job of saying okay, well, that'll be the Trissender Manor, right, because we needed something for it to be Right.
Speaker 1:I was. I was trying to figure out how we could, because I think it was in our some time some sort of session zero, sort of session zero when, when you came up with the idea of the Bumblebumble B&B.
Speaker 2:Yes, which is now my life's work.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I'm like, how do we fit that into fan down Like it could have been? It could have been the Stonehill Inn, yep, maybe, maybe you took it over.
Speaker 2:Or the sleeping giant. I could have turned that into something, Right you?
Speaker 1:could have turned the sleeping giant into something and I was like I'm like, how do we like? Because that would have been. Those are more kind of secondary to the story. But I mean, I don't want to, I don't want to give much away, but obviously, obviously, something is going to have to happen when you've got to clear the red brands out of Trissender Manor Right. Whether that that's a that's a task that I think would be, would be put upon the adventuring party, whether you're opening the B&B or or not. So it's just now there. There's another purpose behind why you're clearing out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The Manor? Yeah, because this is your, your family property. Yeah, you've been. You've been bequeathed this property, or? Or you're just claiming, reclaiming ownership of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, reclaiming, because I think I think I said in the last one my family hasn't been there in years because they don't like to leave, never winter. And that was part of you know, the Zanros that I was handed was that Zanros is extremely self-sufficient, she wants to strike out on her own. So this was just an opportunity to be like oh well, we have this property, we're not doing anything with it. You have this dream to open a bed and breakfast. Cool, go, do it Right. So you know she and that's why I say she's so frustrated and stressed when she gets to Fandelen and realizes, oh, like, this is not going to be easy, I'm going to have to fight my way through this and I think ultimately she's going to end up being very grateful to have those friends in the adventuring party, because otherwise she would have had to do this herself.
Speaker 1:So, Interesting, yeah, so how? How motivated is? I'm asking this as the DM to help me with a story. So how motivated is Zanros? By money?
Speaker 2:She's motivated by money, insofar as that will help her.
Speaker 1:Right the B and.
Speaker 2:B. I don't think she can.
Speaker 1:She's not driven by money, but it has a purpose.
Speaker 2:Because she wants to do this herself. That's the whole thing. Right, she could take her family money and open it, but the whole idea behind it was that she wants to do this on her own. She has something to prove maybe not even to her family, maybe to herself, but she's trying to prove that, like I can do this, I can be successful with this, and I don't think she wants to have to rely on family money, like, does she have it to fall back on? Sure, does she want her own? Yeah, because that will give her that independence, right?
Speaker 1:She's kind of building her own legacy.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Here in, here in Fandelen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, this is how she kind of I don't want to say comes of age, but like finds out who she comes into her own, yeah, finds out who she is as an individual rather than the journey of self-discovery yeah. Yeah, it really is, because it's her finding out who she is, apart from the Bumblebumble name, and she'll drop that name if it's helpful to her and she found that.
Speaker 1:You know it's great for marketing purposes though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I mean really, and I'm sure her family has some people that they could send through to stay at the B&B.
Speaker 1:I'm sure.
Speaker 2:But yeah, you know, she really like that was part of what I really like grasped on to when I inherited the character is that she wants to find her way in the world and to do that she doesn't want to have to take from her family.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Which is funny, because now that I'm saying it, I'm like that's very much me too, right, Like when I graduated from college. I didn't want help with my car insurance or you know anything really. I was like, determined that I was going to do this by myself, and I think Zanros is the same way.
Speaker 1:You are always a very independent. Yeah, no, I was always independent, but I mean, you've definitely grown into a very independent person and I always admire that about you, especially when it comes to like picking television shows.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Because I couldn't care less. I'm like, I'm just someone decisive.
Speaker 2:I like them all. Yes, you do, I really do.
Speaker 1:Love is blind, let's talk. Love is blind for a second.
Speaker 2:Let's talk. Love is blind.
Speaker 1:Let's talk, love is blind. So did that last couple end up actually getting married?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Amy and Johnny. Oh yeah, amy and Johnny got married. They were going to get married. Oh, we knew that. Yeah, that was obvious. We knew Amy and Johnny were getting married. Yeah, Absolutely. Jimmy and Chelsea appear to still be together, or together back together.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Well, there were Instagram posts the other day where they were both in the same location at one of her friends' weddings Fascinating. So it seems like there's something going on there.
Speaker 1:Did what's his name? Go back to Sarah Ann or whatever, or?
Speaker 2:Allegedly yes.
Speaker 1:Allegedly Damn Apple Watch.
Speaker 2:Jeremy, oh, apparently I read an article that said that his former fiancee, the one that he broke up with right before he went on Love, is Blind. Apparently she has come forward and said she also caught him cheating because of location services. Why share your location Like you think? You're so smart, right, and you keep getting caught? Stop doing that.
Speaker 1:Jeez, like seriously, what do you like? So you leave your phone in one place, but like you're still wearing your Apple Watch.
Speaker 2:Well, and also nothing good has happened in at 5.30 in the morning. Why didn't you come home last night Like come on?
Speaker 1:Right, and was that we were just talking my ass.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:That reminds me was it was it how I met your mother. Nothing good happens after 1 am I?
Speaker 2:believe it was yeah.
Speaker 1:Is that what it was? Yeah, nothing good ever happens after 1 am.
Speaker 2:I mean seriously.
Speaker 1:Not at all.
Speaker 2:If you didn't come home and didn't tell me where you were or what was going on, could you imagine? I don't know how she well, I do know how she went to bed, because she barely knows that man Right. But if you didn't come home, I'd have the freaking police out looking for you if you hadn't texted me.
Speaker 1:Seriously, what the heck, my God. Like that's just, I don't know, like what? Shady shit, shady, shady shit.
Speaker 2:And we're not like people who are attached at the hip, like we enjoy doing a lot of things together. Yes, but, like we don't have to be together.
Speaker 1:No, but still, if I didn't show, if I didn't come home like I've been home, like, unless I'm out traveling, I've been home Right.
Speaker 2:Every night of our entire marriage, every night of our marriage.
Speaker 1:And like maybe if I suddenly didn't show it, like was out till 5.30 in the morning, I would be over here thinking you were dead Right. Like You'd be calling hospitals, calling the police. I would, I would Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Calling every friend. I have asking if you were there Like.
Speaker 1:She just used find my friends and yeah.
Speaker 2:Figure that one out.
Speaker 1:I do have you on find my friends, so yes, yeah, you know where I am. I do. I'm in the dining room.
Speaker 2:You're about what three feet away from?
Speaker 1:me Three feet away from you, if, but, but if you were holding my keys with my, my air tag.
Speaker 2:I just I'm stealing your car.
Speaker 1:You're stealing my car.
Speaker 2:That air tag. It's always like we know you have his keys.
Speaker 1:Apple knows what's up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Don't steal Andrew's keys. That's also my car, so oh because I had there are keys, but yeah, Anyway, apple doesn't seem to understand joint property in a marriage. Well, no, no, no, I shared them.
Speaker 2:It's still. It's still like it's constantly threatening me.
Speaker 1:You shared them all with me, and it's still like. Oh, my God you have Andrew's keys.
Speaker 2:I'm like I know I'm going to the supermarket, Right. I like when it gives me the map of all the places I took your keys.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's like we know what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like oh, look at that. I went to Wycoff and then I stopped at the high school to drop off snacks for fable Right, and then I came home.
Speaker 1:It shows you the map. It doesn't show me the map.
Speaker 2:I know where I've been Exactly.
Speaker 1:I told you, you know where you've been.
Speaker 2:Oh, should we talk about Dungeons and Dragons?
Speaker 1:Let's go back to Dungeons and Dragons. So so again, so.
Speaker 2:That was quite a detour.
Speaker 1:That was. That's all right. I was I, I, I am, it is. It is like it's like one of those like things that I love to hate Love is blind, love is blind, yeah. Like reality. Reality, it's a guilty pleasure. Reality TV is a guilty pleasure of mine and I can't help it. 90 day, fiance, all about 90 day, yeah, although it's gotten, it's gotten, we don't need to get into it.
Speaker 1:But all those although we're very much off the rails, all those shows have really just gotten to the point of being too ridiculous, like some of the early seasons of 90 day fiance, when the people were actually I mean the early, early, pretty legit Of 90 day fiance.
Speaker 2:we're more of a docu series. Right and the problem is that a lot of those couples were actual couples, whereas now you've got what you get on. Love is blind, which is clout chasers, right. So Exactly.
Speaker 1:Or people who are domestic abusers and yeah, yeah, until until, like, rabid fans figure this stuff out. Yeah, like they're not going to say anything about it.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, Matt Sharp Productions is doing some more better background checks, clearly.
Speaker 1:Oh, clearly, yeah, Just like the background check you're going currently undergoing. Someone got a new job. I surely did Congratulations, thank you, so anyway. So going back to the original Topic of conversation D&D.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so Is that what this podcast is about?
Speaker 1:Amazingly enough. Yes, it is.
Speaker 2:Weird.
Speaker 1:I know so. So to all of you who are still there, thank you, I'm hoping we're going to cut this down substantially.
Speaker 1:Yes, we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. Yeah, so, interestingly enough, looking at I on on Apple news, I just I have a whole favorite of just Dungeons and Dragons news, so I love to see what's what's going on out in the world there. So I figured I'd pull up a couple articles and we could discuss and and the one that I found real, a couple of the that I found really interesting was screen rant did one called 10 weird D&D rules that definitely need updating in 2024. So, for, for those of of you who may not be aware, again, a lot of you knew to D&D and things like that. So this is 2024 is the 50th anniversary of D&D, and they are currently in the process.
Speaker 1:Wizards of the Coast is currently in the process of updating the three core rule books the player's handbook, the dungeon master's guide and the monster manual and they are they're updating a lot of the mechanics of the game and things like that, trying to take what was in 5e, which was, which is now 10 years old. 5e came out in 2014. So it's now 10 years old. So they're updating all of that gameplay, which was really great, and and really making it even better, especially on the combat side, because combat, especially if you, if you've got a bunch of people involved, it can, it can really get bogged down very quickly. You got because you've got five to six players. I mean, if you've got five to six enemies, you know you're just slogging through, just round up like round after round and you're just kind of sitting there waiting around for for your turn. So so they're, they're updating a lot of the mechanics and gameplay, so I'm really excited to see what they come out with.
Speaker 1:So, in in the spirit of that, screen Rant came out with this article about some of the things they would like to see, some of the changes they would like to see made in in the D&D rules, in the D&D rules for for 2024. And the first concept they talk about is taking cover, which which, again, I I can't even remember using using this concept in in any of our games. So I love how their their article says you know, there there's several rules that keep people's heads scratching Because it's not very clear. So what is half, what is three quarters, what is total cover, and how does that play into things? So they they were just asking for clarification on this and I think if it were, if it were more clear as as to what taking cover really meant to, especially combat and things like that. I think it'd be. It would be more helpful, because I would definitely try to hide behind something Like if, if, if I were hiding behind a tree or or a rock or something and that provided covering and maybe give them disadvantage you know what, you know, I would.
Speaker 1:I would do that. And it's interesting. They say it allows DMs to, and players to, visualize what each cover type is and apply that to their own situation. So what is the cover type? What does it? What does it do for them? I think it's pretty interesting. How do you? Because you're more of a you're, xanroth is more of a melee fighter, so you don't you're you're, you're really in hand to hand combat, so you don't necessarily need to take cover. But if you are using a ranged weapon like a longbow or something like that, you might, you might want to take, take cover.
Speaker 1:Like with my darts With your darts, sure yeah.
Speaker 2:That's interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that that's one of the things. Another another one they talk about are summoning spells, as they say, at times overpowered, which I thought was interesting. So I've never again I've never really done a lot of these things or things that again because they're, because they aren't clear, it's not something we use a lot in our in our games, and they talk about some of the things that you can summon.
Speaker 2:And eight pixies, or one seahag.
Speaker 1:You know, let's, let's, let's summon a seahag. And you know it's interesting because it talks about slowing down combat. Because, again, if you summon eight pixies now, you've got eight more people in, in in the rotation of combat and that can really slow things, slow things down. So how do you and that's a whole another thing Like, if you have eight pixies, do they all attack on the same turn? Right, but again, then you've got to, you've got to roll through each one of their attacks, etc. What?
Speaker 2:about seven goblins.
Speaker 1:What about seven goblins, if they attacked?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I assume my seven goblins are going to want to help me clear out Tresender Manor so that they can start creating their uniforms and setting up their entertainment.
Speaker 1:So yes, but I don't so. So let's talk about that for a second. Yep, you, you've offered, you've offered employment to them, but it doesn't. I, I don't know if they're at the point where they would fight a battle for you. Oh, I think they are. I don't think so. I think they're pretty loyal. You've had them for what a day they love me. They've been with you for a day I don't they love me.
Speaker 2:I don't, they love me.
Speaker 1:I don't think they love you.
Speaker 2:They came with me.
Speaker 1:Because they, they want money, they want to, they want to get paid and and and they were being treated pretty poorly.
Speaker 2:They want to create their uniforms by Clark Griswold. Clark Griswold sucked.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't. I don't think being able to make their own uniforms was was, like the top priority for why they're doing this.
Speaker 2:They seem pretty into it though.
Speaker 1:They, they, they're, they're a little into it, but I think, I think, if you were to, if you were to try, if you were to try to get them to fight for you, yeah. I think that would require a persuasion check on on each one of them.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think maybe on six of them, but Vincent Vincent's in.
Speaker 1:Okay, I would give you that. I think we saved we saved his life.
Speaker 2:I think, Vincent we brought him with him when we could have ditched him yeah.
Speaker 1:Vincent, vincent probably is out of. Out of the seven of them, vincent is probably the one that definitely has the most affinity for for Zanros, because, because you did rescue him, you did save him.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the other ones are just kind of like sure, we'll, we'll, we'll, come along for the ride. Right, you know, it's got to be better than this gig living in a living in a cave.
Speaker 2:Or getting killed, because we would have just killed them then.
Speaker 1:Right, Exactly, yeah, I mean they were risking their lives every day just to rob people, Right?
Speaker 1:So um they're, I mean they're, they're no Dick Turpin, but yes, I could see a persuasion check on the rest of them, though At least maybe I get a few fighting with me, right, that that's what I, I figure, what I would what I would say is you roll a d 20 and they, they would roll a d 20, and you know, if your d 20 is is a higher, higher score than theirs, then then you've persuaded them to, persuaded them to join the battle. Okay.
Speaker 2:We can do that.
Speaker 1:Don't forget that they could die. Yeah, do you? I mean, that's the thing. I mean. Do you want to? Do you want to put them in harm's way, potentially lose some of your goblins, just to just to clear out the manner faster?
Speaker 2:I have to think about it because I imagine I will. We'll be meeting other people that I could also persuade to work at the B and B with me, so maybe I don't need all those goblins Sorry goblins, wow, wow.
Speaker 1:Collateral damage.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow.
Speaker 2:I'm just asking them to take the same risk I am.
Speaker 1:Wow, you don't. You do not value life, do you? I don't value life. Wow, I am.
Speaker 2:You know they're not real right.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:We named them after characters from the office.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so you're so funny. I'm not very original with name creation.
Speaker 2:Although this is the perfect segue for me to say, our eight pixies to one C hag, the same exchange rate as Shrewt bucks to Stanley Nichols.
Speaker 1:It might be. Do you, do you accept Shrewt bucks at the Bumble? Bumble B and B? Obviously I know, do you have like an exchange, like a international exchange there, where you can?
Speaker 2:If all the goblins make it, maybe one of them.
Speaker 1:Trade your Shrewt bucks for Stanley Nichols at the Bumble B Interesting. So this was I was reading through this the conjuration spells at higher levels. I mean you can summon planar beings, fiends, celestials. It's like it's crazy some of the things that you can summon with this and and I it sounds like again because I don't do the summoning rules, but it sounds like you can you can summon something in one action, which, which seems ridiculous that just to be able to summon a fiend or celestial or a planar being in an in one single turn seems. I mean, that's what? Six seconds, yeah, like that. That. That doesn't seem, that doesn't seem legit because they're talking about the fine, familiar spell right, requires an hour and specific spell components. So maybe, depending on what you're summoning, there are different summoning times to do that, but it was an interesting concept. And the next one is dual wielding. I mean dual wielding I guess is sort of lame because I mean-.
Speaker 2:I mean you're giving up a bonus action.
Speaker 1:You're giving up the bonus action For a little extra damage, but then you can't then you lose your bonus action and do some other really cool things. So again, things like bardic inspiration, second wind, disengage, lots of other things that can be done on the bonus action depending on your character abilities. So we've got another cat roaming the recording studio, slash dining room and she's blind so she's eating. She's eating. Okay, that's DD aka daredevil.
Speaker 2:The cat without fear.
Speaker 1:The cat without fear. Is it August Tarificon?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:August Tarificon, connecticut.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my birthday weekend.
Speaker 1:Yes, the weekend sun. Charlie Cox will be there Sunday only.
Speaker 2:Joey Pants too.
Speaker 1:What does Joey Pants have to do with Daredevil?
Speaker 2:He was in the original movie.
Speaker 1:What with Ben Affleck?
Speaker 2:I think so.
Speaker 1:Oh, my god Hold on.
Speaker 2:He's definitely in that universe.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, god help me Now. We got to look this one up. Yep, really good, I mean I love Joey Pants, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2:What's not to love about Joey Pants?
Speaker 1:Amazing Superior character actor. I love him, but I did not realize he had any tie in to Daredevil of any sort.
Speaker 2:Yep, he was in the 2003 action thriller Daredevil. He played Ben Urik. I don't know. I saw that movie. I don't remember anything about it. Hey, apparently Kevin Smith was in that, was he really? Yeah, he was in that movie.
Speaker 1:I mean he had a lot of people Fascinating.
Speaker 2:Michael Clark Duncan. May he rest in peace. Ellen Pompeo, this is a really random cast.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Fascinating Like truly random, colin Farrell was in this. I clearly have not watched this movie in a long time. Clearly, as I recall, elden Hansen was in that movie. Vincent D'Onofrio was in it. Interesting as whom I'm looking at who as whom. I don't know, maybe he was. Was it Vincent D'Onofrio?
Speaker 1:Are you sure you're looking at the right thing? Shut up. No, I wasn't. I wasn't a judgment, I was just curious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's in that movie, let's see. It says who he played.
Speaker 1:Who did he play? Who did he play? Shut up, vincent D'Onofrio. Elden Hansen. I know I'm trying to fill the dead air because you just cut it out. I could cut out the dead air I can't.
Speaker 2:I can't find who he played. It must not have been a large role.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 2:I mean he's not listed in the top Joey Panses, though. All right yeah, because Michael Clark Duncan was Wilson Fisk. I say John Favreau played Foggy.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So Joey Panses description here is an investigative journalist whose articles notably relate to Daredevil and the Kingpin. During the film he goes on to uncover a lot of information about the two. Pantoliano was cast blah blah blah Works for the New York Post rather than the Daily Bugle is in the comics, because the film writes to the bugle were held by Sony Pictures at the time. There you go.
Speaker 1:Well, now we know.
Speaker 2:Now you know.
Speaker 1:So let's get back to some other rules that need updating, okay.
Speaker 2:We can cut that whole part out, if you want. That's all right.
Speaker 1:Hey, I'm excited for Turificon.
Speaker 2:I'm also excited for Turificon. I just mean you can cut out all the stuff of me looking up people who were in the Daredevil movie.
Speaker 1:I might. We'll see how it goes. Okay, all right. So another rule are the rules about vehicles.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So, on the subject of skill proficiencies, rules around vehicles and their use, as this article says, definitely need to be a lot clearer. Current rules cover things like cost and speed of vehicles, such as mounts, boats and carts, but how they can be used in combat is virtually non-existent. And this article says vehicle combat is frequently left to third party supplements or DM homebrew. And this is exactly the point that I wanted to bring up, because when we were at PAX unplugged in Philadelphia back in December it is limo throne they have a guide to naval combat, which is a fifth edition rule supplement that I picked up and it is absolutely tremendous. It talks about movement. It talks about the weapons, talks about everything about how you hit the boat with weapons, whether it's the broadside for aft initiative phase, the types of ships. It's even got a hex map for water so you can plot it out there. It's really quite interesting, very in depth. I want to say let's see how many 16 pages worth of supplemental material there.
Speaker 1:I'll put the link to the limo throne's guide to naval combat in the show notes, but I picked it up in particular because I was looking at I'm building a homebrew campaign slightly based on spelljammer, which are ships that travel through space, but I was going to also have some of the adventure take place on one particular planet on a boat. So I thought this would be a perfect companion for the regular rules, because I really wanted to. I didn't just want them to be like, oh, we're sailing on a boat and try to figure out all the rules and things around naval combat, so this just made it a lot easier for me. It's a really tremendous supplement. Highly recommend getting it.
Speaker 1:It wasn't very expensive. Great company Again. I'll put the link in our show notes so you can take a look at that. But there's so much more that D&D, I think, can do as far as this is concerned. I thought with spelljammer they might do some combat rules for vehicles, even wagons and things like that. There's no combat rules for any type of vehicles, which I thought was interesting.
Speaker 2:I mean, that had never even occurred to me. But again, I'm relatively new as a player.
Speaker 1:All right, but I mean you figured that there's so much that happens on water. I mean you're sailing from one place to another. I mean not so much in many of the adventures, but I know, I'm trying to think. I don't know if it was the current one, the Horde of the Dragon Queen, or if it was Rime of the Frost Maiden, I can't remember which one it was. We were sailing across somebody of water and got attacked, but there's no real rules for what happens to the ships when they get hit. Can you repair them? How much damage does that do? What type of weapon was it, et cetera, because you've got cannons, you've got other types of weapons on these ships. So what is that all entail? And this is a great rule supplement for that type of thing, but again, something that Dungeons and Dragons, wizards of the Coast could definitely spend some time on. Another, catherine can't wait for this one. Another issue with D&D long rests.
Speaker 2:Yesterday Vincent had two broken legs and a dislocated shoulder, but we took a long rest, so now he's fine. Now he's.
Speaker 1:A Okay. So interestingly enough, dear, the Dungeon Masters guy does deal with this somewhat and gives you alternatives to both healing and rest. So there are some optional rules. There's one called the healer's kit dependency. A character can't spend any hit dice after finishing a short rest until someone expends one use of a healer's kit to bandage and treat the character's wounds. So that's one option.
Speaker 1:Or if you have a cleric, they can Right and they've got healing spells. They can heal you. They've got healing surges. But there's also what they refer to as slow natural healing. So characters don't regain hit points at the end of a long rest. Instead, a character can spend hit dice to heal at the end of a long rest, just as with a short rest. This optional rule prolongs the amount of time that characters need to recover from their wounds without the benefits of magical healing, and works well for grittier, more realistic campaigns. So we could say that Vincent is not healed and maybe we can roll a couple hit dice for him and gain some hit points back. But it may take more than one long rest for Vincent to heal up.
Speaker 2:You already said he was healed.
Speaker 1:I know he was healed. I know that's fine.
Speaker 2:Like going oh, that was quite the eye roll as you went back to the book.
Speaker 1:I wasn't rolling my eyes at you. They talk about. They have some rest variants as well which are pretty interesting. I mean there's one called epic heroism which is like really fast, long rests. So if you want to like, have a lot of combat, a long rest can be an hour and like you're way healed up In the middle of combat, you're going to take a power now. Right, exactly, Hold on, guys.
Speaker 2:Hold on. I'm just going to put my head down for 20 minutes, don't kill me Time out. Exactly.
Speaker 1:But there's also what is referred to as gritty realism. This variant uses a short rest of eight hours and a long rest of seven days. Wow, this puts the brakes on the campaign, requiring the players to carefully judge the benefits and drawbacks of combat. Characters can't afford to engage in too many battles in a row, and all adventuring requires careful planning. This approach encourages the characters to spend time out of the dungeon. It's a good option for campaigns that emphasize intrigue, politics and interactions among other NPCs, and in which combat is rare or something to be avoided rather than rushed into Interesting. So there are. It's not in the player's handbook, but it is in the Dungeon Masters guide. There are options that make it a little bit more difficult to heal up.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping that some of these updates that are gonna happen are going to fix some of those inconsistencies too.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely so. I wonder, because that's a variant rule. So, I wonder if they're gonna maybe make that the de facto rule for all campaigns. Right now it's just an option if you so choose. So if you wanna make it a little bit more realistic, you can. Otherwise you stick to the standard rules. Time out power nap, exactly the time out power nap.
Speaker 2:Time out power nap.
Speaker 1:Let's see if there were any other. Yeah, the other thing they talk about. Well, they talk about fall damage because I think they cap out, there's a cap on fall damage at 20d6. So they're talking about, theoretically, characters with over 120 hit points could theoretically survive falling thousands of feet, which I just I think is absolutely ridiculous. I definitely think that needs to be realistic, but more realistic than it is, I don't think for me, I don't think there should be a cap.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because I think it's 1d6 for every 10 feet. It is yeah, so why not just extend that until they get obliterated, right?
Speaker 2:So if you're falling a thousand feet, I mean, if you're falling a thousand feet unless you're invincible, you should be dead, Exactly.
Speaker 1:I completely agree, so that for me, I think, is an easy one. The other one they talk about are the moral alignments, and this is another one that I could get behind that, the waffle, neutral, chaotic, good. I feel like those don't come into play that much more in the games that we've played.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:It's like oh, but I'm chaotic, good, so maybe I should do this. But we never have that. I feel, between the class and the background and the backstory that you write for your character, that's really what's determining how your character is going to react to something. And they talk about certain weapons and things, that you have to be aligned a certain way to be able to wield weapons and things like that. But yeah, I don't know how much the alignment really plays into things anymore and what do you think?
Speaker 2:You know, I think it's funny. I was just thinking about it when we were playing at one point, and I don't remember what it was that Xanrose wanted to do but you actually asked me what my alignment was Right, and I do think it was relevant in that regard. I don't know, I think the alignments matter as part of the personality. Right Like Right, yeah. I mean, I think the point in the article was kind of like they need to be brought back in a stronger way and I don't disagree with that, because if you're not being handed your character, you're choosing their alignment for a reason right Right.
Speaker 1:So, I think Cat does this really well with her characters.
Speaker 2:Hi Cat.
Speaker 1:She does a really nice job about tying in the alignment to their actions and things like that, which is really good. But I think a lot of times I think it's just one of those things that goes out the window. When people are playing their characters, they don't really pay a lot of attention to the alignment that they have given their character. So I can see that, yeah, again, bring it back in a more meaningful way or abandon it altogether, but I definitely think there's some value to it. Yeah, Like I said, make it more meaningful.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So that's some of the rules that need updating. I thought we're pretty interesting. Again, I'm very curious. I think they said September.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I read that.
Speaker 1:Is when the player's handbook. I don't know if all three are coming out then or if that's just the player's handbook, but they've started to announce publication dates for the core books, so I'm super excited to get my hands on those and really read through them.
Speaker 2:Cool.
Speaker 1:Let's go on to another article.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:I'll take Shorge for 400. It's actually not swords. Let's talk about S-words.
Speaker 2:S-words.
Speaker 1:So GameRant has an article on the best swords, the best S-words of D&D, and we'll go through a couple of these which I think are interesting. Another one especially for Joe the Cymatar of Speed. Love you, joe. So the Cymatar of Speed is described as a hasty weapon that allows for more attacks per turn. So the Cymatar of Speed is a great and versatile weapon, somewhat easier to acquire than others. It's a plus two finesse weapon, so you can choose either strength or dexterity as the modifier. It's also light, which means you can wield two of them at the same time, which is pretty cool. It allows an additional attack using a bonus action, which I think is pretty interesting. So if you're not a dual-wielder which we were just talking about, if you didn't have that feat or whatever before, this is another way to do that, so you can get some extra damage done with the Cymatar of Speed. Which ones were you interested in in this list?
Speaker 2:I liked the Nine Lives Dealer.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, talk about the Nine Lives Dealer.
Speaker 2:All right, hold on, Let me find it in here. Ok, so I'm going to just give you their write-up, because I'm not going to be able to describe it adequately. This intimidatingly named sword can be incredibly powerful, especially given its lower rarity compared to other weapons. The Nine Lives Dealer gives the wielder a plus two bonus to their attacks. But the most devastating part is closely related to the name of the weapon. The sword has up to nine charges. Whenever the wielder lands a critical hit on a creature with 100 health or lower, the target must make a DC-15 Constitution saving throw. If they fail, the creature is immediately slain and a single charge of the weapon is lost. So it's one of those. Use it until you lose it, deals yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean the rarity of a critical hit makes it. And again, I don't know if you'd use it in every battle, but in bigger battles you might use it. And what I think is interesting is the book gives you it. It's a 1D8 plus 1. That's the amount of charges. So the DM can roll to see how many charges it has. So you're not guaranteed, even though they call it the Nine Lives.
Speaker 2:Dealer. Yeah, you don't necessarily get the nine. Exactly, it's up to nine. Up to nine, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, to play in the story, maybe it only has three charges left when you take ownership of it. So I mean, nine is a lot. You're like, oh I can use this all the time and nothing may happen, or I've got plenty of charges to use.
Speaker 2:Or I can kill these nine people or maybe one cat, right, yes, One cat nine times Exactly, exactly. If that cat keeps getting up Wow.
Speaker 1:What would possess you, oh my god, what would possess you to kill a cat nine times?
Speaker 2:I'm not saying I would, I'm saying I could. Those are two different things. That's fair OK.
Speaker 1:I know you love cats, so I know you would never do that. Yeah, but I like this, yeah, I like this sword a lot. Yeah, that's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2:OK, I like this sword a lot. I know some stuff, but I won't say it, that's right.
Speaker 1:The one that I really thought was interesting was the sword of answering. Ok, as they say, the sword both answers and strikes true. So, and it's interesting, so apparently there are nine of these swords in existence. Each sword is connected to a particular D&D alignment. Although there are no no requirements when it comes to attunement to the weapon, it provides a plus three bonus to attacks and also comes with a special reaction. Characters can immediately attack anyone that damages them, and they make that attack with advantage. On top of that, any damage dealt this way completely ignores any resistance or immunities, which I think is amazing. But just to, just to be able to come back at them with a reaction with advantage is huge. I mean, that's a, that's a tremendous sword. I don't think it's too overpowered, you know, but I mean it's pretty powered, it's pretty powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, but I mean it's it's only a plus three. It's a plus three to the attack, not to the damage. So it's going to do the standard damage of a sword, whatever the sword type is Right. So so it's not like it's dealing extra damage, it's just allowing you whenever you're attacked Not when, I shouldn't say whenever you're attacked it comes with a reaction, so you only have one reaction per round, right? So if you're getting attacked by multiple people, you can't hit each of them with the sword. Right, you can only react to one to one. So it gives you one extra attack on your turn, right, perhaps?
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you're being attacked you're being attacked in melee range. So that's why I say it's not necessarily overpowered, but it's but, it's great for somebody that's in in close combat. Yeah, that makes sense that I like. What other ones? Any other ones?
Speaker 2:I mean, the other one that I liked was just because it pinged something in my memory which was the Vorpal sword, the Vorpal and OK, so talk about the Vorpal sword and then tell us why, when, where you heard of this sword before?
Speaker 2:OK. So the Vorpal sword is Is capable of immediately beheading almost any enemy. So it says. Whenever the wielder rolls a 20 for an attack, they immediately cut off one of the enemy's heads. No saving rolls unless the DM decides there are certain circumstances that would not allow it. The reason I know of the Vorpal sword is because of the Lewis Carol poem, the Jabberwocky, which I had to memorize, I think, in the sixth grade. Interesting, and he cuts off the Jabberwocky's head with his Vorpal blade.
Speaker 1:Fascinating.
Speaker 2:Nicody snack.
Speaker 1:Snickety snack.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:How about that? Yeah, fascinating.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm pretty sure I chose that one myself to memorize, and I mean it's it's a nonsense word poem, really. Yes, I was a very aggressively Ambitious child. But yeah, he took his Vorpal sword in hand. Oh, I'm sorry, it was Snickers snack. One two, one two and through and through the Vorpal blade when Snickers snack.
Speaker 1:Wow, snickers snack, he left it dead.
Speaker 2:And with its head he went glumping back Right so he whacked its head off with the. I mean OK, so the Vorpal sword has been a thing in D&D for a long time, Right?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know what the so this, I'm going to have to Google this.
Speaker 2:The article says the Vorpal sword has always been the stuff of legend in D&D, so I'm thinking it's been around a while. But let me see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the the Jabberwocky is from 1872. Surely is so.
Speaker 2:So do you think the Vorpal sword came from the Jabberwocky?
Speaker 1:I think that's entirely possible.
Speaker 2:That's cool.
Speaker 1:And that's that's where now I wonder if Now we're going down this rabbit hole of the origin of the Vorpal sword.
Speaker 2:I'm going to Google it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the Vorpal sword is the enemy of the Jabberwocky.
Speaker 2:Vorpal is a nonsense word from the 1872 poem Jabberwocky Vorpal or Vorpal sword, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, it seems like that came from Jabberwocky. That's cool, that's really cool. I like that. It pinged that in my memory because that's a cool thing to have found out. So the Vorpal sword in D&D kind of came to fruition because of the Jabberwocky, the Jabberwocky Fascinating.
Speaker 2:Which is really funny, because the whole idea is there's like a nonsense word poem Right, and they turned it into he had a Vorpal blade, he cut the Jabberwocky's head off with it and then it became this thing that can immediately behead somebody.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Yeah, all I see right now is a star going across the sky. The more you know Exactly, you just got educated, congratulations.
Speaker 2:Would you like me to start reciting, because I do still know the beginning. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Do you want to? No, okay?
Speaker 2:I do still know the beginning, though.
Speaker 1:Fascinating. Yes, I'm glad you do.
Speaker 2:I had a classmate because there's a part that says, like the claws that snatch. I had a classmate with like a monster glove on Grab me. When I said it, I really got into the performance, wow.
Speaker 1:Performance artist Catherine Amazing, you could be doing that on the subways of New York City. Yep Performance art Get some, make some money, Say when you're unemployed. Do you see the things you could have been doing?
Speaker 2:How do I quantify those earnings for the state of New Jersey?
Speaker 1:Well, you got to, you have to deduct it. So, because you have to take it out of your unemployment, Right, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, like, how do I quantify that? I have to count it up. Yeah, it's cash. Do they need to know?
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess, I guess supposedly. I mean that's a moral question. Do you report it or not? Do you want to know my personal?
Speaker 2:alignment.
Speaker 1:I say, if our accountant is ever listening to this, pay no mind.
Speaker 2:Hi Mary, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
Speaker 1:So anyway, the other one. The other sword that I found really interesting was the moon blade. This made me think of fable and their character Dow. So the moon blade is one of the elves most treasured possessions.
Speaker 2:Oh, here it is.
Speaker 1:Okay, such a sword would be only passed down within a family.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:So the sword is stronger with every new user. Hmm, the blade can grow in such a way up to seven times, gaining a new feature every time. That's neat. Things like attack bonuses, spell storing, even vorpal properties. There it is again. Every version of the sword is unique, but absolutely incredible. The sword refuses to serve anyone, but it's rightful master will actively hinder any evil wielder until they return it.
Speaker 2:So this is like when, um, when, voldemort got the elder wand but it didn't work properly for him, and then he decided he had to kill Snape for it to work properly. But turns out that didn't work either, because he didn't earn it in combat. Right, voldemort was a punk.
Speaker 1:Lily, sorry, um, I just thought it was interesting because, because of the moon, blade and and their their character follows the moon deity. I think that would be cool, but they're not an elf Right, they're a tiefling they are. So I don't know how they would get this sword. They would have to be gifted. They would have to probably save an elven family and be gifted the sword Right by a member of the family.
Speaker 2:Hmm.
Speaker 1:Something like that. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'd be interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so so those are some of the S words swords that that are in D&D which are really very interesting. You know it's. I mean I never really think about all the magical and special type of swords that I don't. I mean, I've never really had characters that have earned or found one of those weapons, so I've never had the the joy or luck to to be to have one of them and use them.
Speaker 2:I mean, until I watched um Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, that community episode, I didn't even really realize that like a sword. You know that there were special swords, that wasn't just a regular sword. Yes, so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 1:There are special swords. There's all sorts of special magical weapons to be had.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:Yes, maybe you'll, maybe you'll see, maybe you'll see some of those in Fandelvern below. Let's let's hit the last last news article that we were looking at, which I which I thought was very interesting. I mean, I guess everybody's getting in on getting in on the act of of Dungeons and Dragons these days. Nasa has just released a free Dungeons and Dragons adventure. Of course, I think they they claim that it can be adapted to any TT RPG system, but but obviously it's primary is is D&D.
Speaker 2:It's so funny.
Speaker 1:The Lost Universe.
Speaker 2:It's really funny.
Speaker 1:It sounds like I'd love to.
Speaker 2:A dragon kidnaps a bunch of wizards and then steals the Hubble telescope. Yes, come on, that's so weird, I like it.
Speaker 1:It's, it's. It's almost as as realistic as Nick Cage stealing the Declaration of Independence.
Speaker 2:You're telling me that didn't actually happen.
Speaker 1:I'm not telling you that at all. I'm not here to say if that happened or not when I watched a movie about it.
Speaker 2:So I mean, I'm not gonna say it was national treasure, not a documentary.
Speaker 1:It was totally a documentary. Okay, so it's designed for. I was reading through it. So they say it's designed for level seven to 10 characters. Yeah, party of four to seven.
Speaker 2:What's that? Party of four to seven? Yes, party of five.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'll get the car. They said it was interesting. In their analysis they said that if you're playing like level 10 characters, you'll, you'll, pretty easily defeat the dragon. And they said they said there's a lot of home brewing that that needs to take place with this Cause. It's a it's not a very complex adventure. It's kind of the bones of of an adventure. So it's really up to you to to make it what you, what you want it to be. But I think I think it's it's I I'm curious. I might have to download it just to take a look at it. Yeah, and you, you're learning about actual science and history in the adventure. So I'm I'm curious how they weave in, weave in science and history into the adventure. That that actually makes it somewhat, maybe, educational. I mean, I guess you'll learn about the Hubble space telescope and and dragons and wizards.
Speaker 2:I like the. I like the part, like in the description, where it says that the Hubble telescope gets removed from reality entirely. And then there's this group of scientists who, like, have this nagging feeling that they've forgotten something. And the more they try to remember the worse their heads hurt and then they pass out and wake up as D and D characters. Amazing, how cool is that.
Speaker 1:I would, I would. I would love to see this as like a movie.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say it sounds a lot like a lot of the TV shows that I watched that were D and D specific. Yeah, this is like a D and D episode of the TV show, absolutely 100%.
Speaker 1:I would. I would totally watch this with, without a doubt, this would be. This would have been a great one for a big bang theory.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they do talk in the article too about the fact that it's a little reminiscent of that D and D cartoon from the eighties yes, where the kids get transported.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So I don't know. This just sounded really fun to me, Like it does. It's kind of stupid and very, very fun.
Speaker 1:It's it's. I could see it being very campy, um, I mean it's 44 pages, so I mean it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's a lot of they put work into this.
Speaker 1:They put a lot of work into this, which is really cool.
Speaker 2:I feel like you could potentially homebrew the dragon, because that's one of the things they point out, is that, um, they suggest this young green dragon from D and D 5e, but it says a party of a party of level 10 characters would make mincemeat of Asilius in a few rounds.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And I feel like you probably would either want to homebrew that dragon or find a much bigger, stronger dragon.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Also, how did a little like green dragon manage to kidnap all those wizards and also steal the Hubble telescope?
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't either. That's why I asked.
Speaker 1:It's like a reverse oceans 11. They were maybe. Maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 2:Clearly.
Speaker 1:Who knows? But anyway, check it, check it out, I will. I will find the link to it and put it in the show notes as well so you can check out the NASA's 44 page D and D adventure, the Lost Universe, yay, yay, so that that really covers everything that we wanted to talk about today. Again, thank you. I can't thank you all enough for for listening to our podcast. You know we we love putting this out and sharing our our love of D and D with you.
Speaker 1:Again, feel free to email, email the the show podcast at legendslutinlorcom. Support our show, legendslutinlorsupercastcom. You can go to any of our socials. You see the link tree there. You can. You can go through and buy a six-lump coffee help help keep us awake during our, our marathon sessions of of actual play. And we will be back next week with with more adventures. I think next week is going to be the interview with another, with a pair of podcast hosts, table Talk, and we're going to. We're going to talk about their adventures, podcasting and and playing D and D and other role-playing games, and then we'll be back to some more actual play the beginning of April.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:With with this crew.
Speaker 2:Right, we're recording right before I start my new job.
Speaker 1:Yes, can't wait. Can't wait for that. That'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:The job or the game, both. Yeah, here's hoping.
Speaker 1:Here's hoping so again. Thank you all so much for listening we. We will see you next episode. Goodbye, bye.
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