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Episode 1: The Time We Have Game Session · Story Games

• Maggie Studio: you and welcome to Story Games. My name is Momo and I will be your host. This podcast is brought to you by Heart of the Dear Nicorn. We are a workshop that hand makes tabletop role-playing games and also distributes other people's games. We mainly work on narrative-focused, GM-less tabletop role-playing games. And that's exactly the kind of thing you can expect for this podcast too. We're going to be bringing you game sessions and interviews with game creators and all kinds of fun stuff, so I'm really happy to have you on board. I want to take up too much of your time, so let's just jump into the first episode. Today we are playing a game session of The Time We Have by Elliot Davis. This is one of my all time favorite games. I will just tell you that right now. The premise of this game is you're supposed to play on opposite sides of a closed door. You play as two brothers and one of you is slowly succumbing to a zombie infection and you're playing out the last days before that happens. This game is a hard hitter. It was way more emotional than I was anticipating. It is beautifully designed and I'm very excited to bring it to you guys. I am playing this with my friend Bloom, so you will hear both of our voices in your ears as we play this. Without further ado, here is the time we have. Hi Bloom, welcome to my gaming dungeon. Hi, I'm ⁓ very excited. The setup looks crazy right now because we are playing... ⁓ my gosh. We are playing the time we have. which is a conversation between brothers, one of which is slowly becoming a zombie. At least that is the synopsis I have been given. It is a tragic storytelling game by Elliot Davis and the premise of the game, we are supposed to be playing in between a closed door, but because we don't have access to a closed door, we set up a closed curtain and that's how we're gonna play this game. So ⁓ I say we just jump on in. We have a few rules to go over. Bloom, do you wanna start? Yeah. So rule number one is take turns reading these cards aloud. Is that? Yeah, that's it. That's it? OK, cool. Rule number two, if you're reading this, then it's already too late. The world ended and with that end came an infection that spelled the end of humanity. To define the world and apocalypse around you, choose one of the door cards as inspiration or create your own infection and setting. And we have already picked. an inspiration door. Where is she? This is so funky. So this is the inspiration that we have gone with. It is a really scary looking door. And on the back it says, to the House of Lords most secret, date 10 June 1941, several occurrences of experimental German weaponry used in Greenwich. Glass. Gas cylinders cause minimal environmental impact, leaving bulk quantities of sodium concentrate gas in five meter impact crater. Inhalation causes dehydration, white crystallization of open wounds, hair loss, dot dot dot, melt-sworn synthetic polymers, including gas masks, all known victims deceased within six days of exposure. And then on the bottom it says classified concern, ahem. Confirmed reports of deceased victims replicating living behaviors, including walking, moaning, and tracking movement. Decomposition perpetuates sodium chloride generation, spreading infections beyond initial chemical attacks. So that is how this zombie infection started and is spreading. And already it's getting intense. Yeah. All right. Do you want to read number three? Yes. Did you read? Yeah. That was the door card, right? Mm-hmm. Three. You are brothers. one of you has been infected in six days or less, the infected will change. Answer the following, which of you is older, which of you has been infected? I am older than you. You are older than me. So that works. Yeah, we'll stick with that. So I am older and we've decided previously I am the one who's infected. No, I already hate this. I don't want you to die. Yeah, this is going to be this is going to be rough. Game dungeons, they're not always fun. They're not always fun, but they are a time. They are a time. A time. And we're gonna tell a story together and it's gonna be a very tragic story, but damn it, we're telling a story. All right, number four. Distribute all infected cards to the infected brother and all survivor cards to the other. Make sure each of you has a safety card, which we do have access to all of those right in front of us. Yes. a door. Sit on opposite sides of the closed door and read your individual rule cards back and forth in numbered order. If you do not have access to a door, push two chairs together back to back or otherwise do not face each other. Moma and I cannot see each other right now. Nope. It is solid black. It is eerie. All right. And then we're ready to start reading our individual rules. So I will start with the survivor rule number one, or number six, I guess. This is a game about brothers. I am the survivor. This is a game about brothers. I am the infected. In six days, I will be gone. We will now shuffle our prompt cards and put them in a face down deck in front of us. Got the prompt cards right here, so I'll give them a little shufle. The infected ones have pretty illustrations of flowers, which I do appreciate, but also really hate. like, I know you're infected, but. Here's pretty flowers. Here you go. This is a little something to look forward to. All right. I mean, Flower Zombie isn't a bad way to go, I guess. Do you have number seven? I will do the same with the exception of the cards that, I will do the same with the exception of the card that reads, do you open the door? Damn. I will place this card randomly in the bottom half of my pile. When I pass this card to you, the game ends. Ooh, fuck. Okay. I've got to track that down real quick. While you do that, I'll read my next one. We will take turns beginning with the survivor, drawing cards, and responding to the prompts. Most cards are questions which are asked to the other player. When you ask a question, I respond. When I ask a question, you respond. Some cards will say pass under the door at the top and bottom. These will be slid under the door, read silently and responded to by the reader. Each represents a sound, smell or other sensation. When you slide a card under the door, I read it and respond and vice versa. Okay, so... If you have one that says under the door, you just slide it under and whoever it goes to reads it. Okay. And then we have a little hole underneath. Yes. Hello. Yay. When responding to prompt cards, we can ask follow up questions and speak both in and out of character. We might establish truths about each other's characters, our relationship, and the world around us. We will let the conversation flow until a natural pause, then draw a new card. I have a special type of prompt card, the infected card. There are five of these in my deck. These tell me how my infection is progressing and signal the end of one of the six days. I will let you know that the day is over and we will silently pause play for 30 seconds. ⁓ my God. Am I emotionally ready for this? I don't know if I am. Okay. At any point throughout play, either of us can use the rules on the safety card to pause, adjust, or end play. And then we do have these safety cards, each of us, which I will just read out loud for completionist's sake. Keep this card visible to you throughout play. During play, you may do any of the following. Knock once to signal that this topic or card is making you uncomfortable and you'd like to move on or skip it. Knock twice to pause play and remove something from the narrative that was just mentioned. Resume play with two knocks after you've discussed it out of character. Knock three times to stop play entirely. Open the door and discuss what went wrong if needed. After the game ends, open the door, hug your partner, debrief the story you just told together. At the very least, there's a hug at the end of this. We've been instructed to hug. Mandatory hug. Yes. Alright. That was 14? Yes. 15. If we open the door at any point throughout play, the game is over. Okay. 16. With that, we begin with my first question. Why did you wait to tell me? I have a secret prompt. ⁓ I need a pen and paper if I could. You can use these. So your question was, why did I wait to tell you? Why did you wait to tell me? There's always gonna be a part of me that wants to make sure that you're not scared. Fuck. And that you're- confident in that you think there's hope and things will be okay. Well unfortunately I think that's pretty much gone out the window because ⁓ things are very much not okay. Things will still be okay. I don't know if they will be. You don't need me to be okay. You need you to be okay. You can make things happen. You can find your own path. You can keep yourself safe. I'm not the thing that brings you happiness. I know, I hope I've made you happy. You have. But I need you to be okay with you. And it was selfish of me to not tell you sooner, but... I mean, this is hard enough as it is. Yeah, this is really hard. And I think it's just gonna get a lot fucking harder. Yeah. I'm supposed to let you know that the day is over. Already? Yeah. God. My top card. Fuck. Okay. Okay. I did a horrible job shuffling these apparently. No. Let me give mine another shuffle just in case then. Just in case. Because very much lackadaisically. Lackadaisically? Yeah. Like just like, yeah. I did a shit job shuffling. Okay, so is it my turn to pick a card? Four, hold on. I need two. just because I forgot what. and we'll wait 30 seconds to pause gameplay. So I always read what the prompt is, correct? I believe so. Okay. Unless maybe it says otherwise? doesn't say otherwise. Okay. But the infection makes you hunger. And I need you to open the door. I'm not opening the door. Yeah. Yeah. Okay? Who were the survivors that met us with cruelty? mean, anybody who was in a position of power and is now without that power. We ran into, I know, I imagine that they were some sort of politician. And we're not used to being told no. and They were used to people sacrificing themselves for their cause. Yeah, it was ⁓ the governor of our town. He started a group of survivors because he felt like he was qualified. ⁓ the power that he was used to wielding quickly turned into ⁓ that cruelty. turns out that just because you're a decent governor does not mean you're a decent human being. ⁓ we, being two youngish dudes, don't have a whole lot of experience or marketable skills. And when we met up with them, they didn't let us into their group because we couldn't prove ourselves to be useful enough. Jackasses. And we're still here. I don't know if they still are. I guess that shows how useful we could be. Yeah. Petty part of me wants to believe that they are long gone. Oh, yeah. It would only be justice at this point. Which family members are we a little glad we don't have to see again? ⁓ God hmm I never fucking liked Aunt Martha, dude. God. Martha, her husband. Oh, her husband was weird. like, always brought, like, the weird candies to have everybody try. No one liked them. And she got very defensive if anybody was like, hey, stop trying to give me weird candy, please. Why was the candy spicy? I don't know. I feel like candy shouldn't be spicy. just like painful spicy. Yeah. Ugh, and then she always gave hugs that just like lingered way too long. Right, she would rub my back a lot when we would hug. Yeah. And she had that fucking dog. What was the dog's name? Chauncey. Chauncey. Dog's probably dead. I know, the dog probably ate them. ⁓ you know what? ⁓ That's my headcanon now. Chauncey ate Aunt Martha and Uncle Josiah. Yes. Yes. Chauncey's going to outlive us all. Chauncey's the start of the next, like... higher evolutionary species. We're all Chauncey's now. We're all Chauncey's. Forget corvids, forget whales, forget crabs and octopus. It's Chauncey. Chauncey is the next step in evolution. Oops, all Chauncey's. Oops. Oops, all Chauncey's. God, we can still laugh. As much as I hated that little dog, I would love to... I don't know, sometimes it was nice. It was nice that Martha loved that dog so much. What are you holding onto from home? of things. Physically, ⁓ I have a handkerchief that I just kind of snatched off of our parents ⁓ nightstand as we were running out. ⁓ I knew we probably weren't gonna see them again and it was one of those... random moments of not enlightenment, but moments when your body moves and does things without you really thinking about it. I don't know why I grabbed it. I mean, it's a handkerchief. And then emotionally, I keep. Well, I was. part of me was still hoping that we could make it back to our town festival for the winter. Like I know, it's... It wasn't going to happen before. It's definitely not happening now. I know that the festival isn't even gonna be put on. There's no people left. But it was something, it's hard to let go of the hope of doing something. Yeah, I did love going to that festival with you and with mom and dad. I have a lot of fond childhood memories of... that festival. Do you remember that one time you had five dollars left? It was all the allowance you had left and I really wanted a dumb fucking yo-yo. and I was crying. I think I was like five years old and I was crying so hard because I wanted this stupid yo-yo and you used the last of your allowance to get it for me and that Christmas I had it in my stocking and I thought it was from Santa Claus and it wasn't until years later that I realized that it was from you the whole time. I had to convince mom and dad to let me go back. to the festival that night before they closed to go grab it. And the guy running the booth, honestly, he was packing up. He didn't want to sell it to me. Why not? Long day. It was just a yo-yo. I he saw just how desperate I was to get it. I mean, how often do kids that young, because I was maybe eight. Too young to be out there on your own. What was mom and dad thinking? Yeah, what were mom and dad thinking? Just letting an eight-year-old run back to a carnival to buy a yo-yo from a random person at a vendor booth. They were probably still preoccupied with me throwing a tantrum. Fair. Fair. Will you promise me to survive when I'm gone? I will do my best too, but it's going to be very, very hard. I love you very much, but I can't accept you'll do your best. I need you to promise me that you'll keep going. And this is very selfish ask of me. I need you to promise me. You'll be able to tell people about your really cool older brother. I need my legacy to live on. It only works if you are okay. The only legacy I'll be telling people is how I kicked your ass at Smash Bros. I am fine with that. But... If that's what my legacy is and you're around to tell it, I will gladly accept. Alright, do you remember when we were kids and whenever we'd make a promise to each other we'd hold our pinkies out? Yeah. Well I've got my pinky out. Yeah. And I'll promise. You promise? I promise. Okay. We had a pet that was just the worst. And why do you blame me for its death? For its death. ⁓ huh. It was, ⁓ our parents, for whatever reason, surprised us with like four dwarf hamsters. Just like four of them. We did not need that many hamsters. did, yeah. And I tried my best to keep everything clean, like make sure that they're fed. to make sure that they had enough water. And so many times I would come home and you just have them in your hands, just holding a handful of hamsters. You're gonna give me the opportunity to have a handful of hamsters and you're not gonna expect me to have a handful of hamsters? I mean, just be careful with the handful of hamsters. Well, that was the problem now, wasn't it? Yes. You gotta be careful with the handful of hamsters. You can't just be dropping hamsters everywhere. Do know how fragile a handful of hamsters is? I do remember how fragile a handful of hamsters is, yes. Really fragile. That was unfortunate. That was a bad time. It was. That was my first introduction to the concept of death, that was. The hamsters? The hamsters. What were their names again? There was... ⁓ We had Fi, Fi, Fo, and Fum. Yes, Fi, Fi, Fo, and Fum. Because they were giant hamsters. But they were tiny. Giant dwarf hamsters. Eventually they were going to be giant hamsters. Like jumbo shrimp. Exactly. I don't know. don't... I did blame you. You should have. It was entirely my fault. I did drop the hamsters and hamsters are not bouncy. They are not. They really are not. But... should have been more proactive on showing you how to successfully hold a handful of hamsters. Well, 11 you learn, I suppose. Yeah. I never dropped a hamster after that. We never had a hamster that. Yeah, that's fair. That's, yeah. I hope you were never allowed to be around hamsters after that. I think that's, once you drop four hamsters, that's it. It's game over for me. Game over for me. That was the end of my hamster life. Yeah. You're not allowed any after that. No, they didn't even let me play with the hamster or the no we had a gerbil as a school pet and uh had a reputation at that point and uh Did they have the same gerbil? Like because we had when I was in that class. We also had a gerbil I think it was because we both had mrs smith as our third grade teacher And she kept there's no way it was the same she told me it was the same gerbil But she could have been lying. I I feel like this is a oh no he died, I need to go get a gerbil that looks exactly the same. You know I choose to believe that that was the same hamster. Yeah. And that brings me peace. That's fair. You know what? You know who else is surviving this? That gerbil. That gerbil. So from now on, evolution is either the little dog. Chauncey. Chauncey. Chauncey or Mr. Nugget. Or Mr. Nugget the gerbil. We got two options. The two genders? I accept that. Great. What do we disagree on about the infected? Hmm. We disagree. that the fact that the infected can be cured. because I have to have hope that this is reversible because if I don't, then I don't know how I can go on. I don't know. I can't. It's hard to say that I can't hold on to the idea that I'll be saved. I can't let that come into my mind right now. Yeah. If I... If I die, when I die. and they find a cure that keeps other people from dying, that would be great. I can't hope that they'll find it in the next five days. I just hope with every fiber of my being that... you don't actually die. And whatever happens to change you is something that you can be changed back from. And when that time does come, I just, have to hold onto that. Otherwise, I don't think I could keep going. You've already pinky swore. Fuck. Yeah, it's ironclad. We had lawyers, everything. Don't make me laugh right now. that hope that they'll find a cure. Just don't attach it to me. attach it to them getting rid of this so this doesn't happen to anybody else. Well, you've already reached your quota of pinky promises, so... I plead the fifth. I thought I had a higher subscription of... Nope. You need to pay premium for that. I ain't doing that. I'm not paying premium. No. Yeah, Mr. Sharing my Netflix password. If there's still... Remember how this is supposed to be like 41? It's fine, it's fine. My newspaper subscription? Yes. Whatever the 1940s equivalent of a network's password is. Actually, yeah, probably a newspaper subscription. Internet, if we don't know, just ignore this part. Give me a nickel for the papers. What's that? Doing something. ⁓ I guess I can. You know how I like woodworking. Yeah. Whittling. Yeah. I'm whittling something. It's another spoon. It's not another spoon. It may or may not be a hamster. You're whittling a hamster? I'm whittling a hamster. Because we're talking about the hamsters and it me think of... Better times. Even though the time when we lost the hamster was dark at the moment, it's surprisingly a fond memory now. But I'm whittling something to bring me comfort, so. Is it turning out okay? No. Yeah. It looks like Fee did after the fall. If that gives you a mental image. Unfortunately, yes. Yeah. ⁓ You know what? I think you can fix it. I just... That is unfortunate. know what? It's not too late to turn it into a spoon. It could be a hamster spoon. No, not a hamster spoon. That's even worse. Horrific. Horrific mental image. Thank you for that. It's, you know what? It is what it is. It's something for my hands to do, at least. won't be able to see it. You're not missing out on much. this could become an artifact. It's gonna be in museums across the world when everyone's either Chauncey or Mr. Nugget. ⁓ God. From the Great Plague. ⁓ an army of Chaunceys and Mr. Nuggets looking at my shitty, whittled hamster is quite the mental image. Love it. did we want to go through the change? ⁓ That's my alarm. God? No. That's my alarm for Nova getting off work. ⁓ Mr. Perkins, the owner of the General Store, ⁓ there was a night when this was first going down where we broke into the General Store because it was boarded up, but we could see that there was some food left in there. And we didn't know that Mr. Perkins was still there until he started yelling for us to get out. And we were trying to reason with him because we were just like, hey man, we need some food. Like, well, we won't stay. Like, just come on, let us have some food. And we didn't realize at the time that he wanted us to leave so bad because he knew that something really bad was happening to him. and we watched as he became less and less human. and then he wasn't Mr. Perkins anymore. crystals. During this last run, I scraped my arm. there's already some crystals growing around it. On your arm? Yeah. ⁓ Are they pretty? Yes, they would be, I think. It's hard to think of them as pretty knowing what they're going to do. See ya. Who knows, maybe... Maybe I won't change as much as Mr. Perkins did. I really hope that's the case. Maybe it'll be just my arm. I'll just have a zombie arm. Zombie arm? Yeah. I saw a movie like that once. Yeah? It was a really bad movie. Zombie arm? Yeah, I can imagine. I think it was ghost possession arm, but very similar concept. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yet, how bad of a ghost do you have to be to only possess somebody's arm? Tiny ghost, hamster ghost. ⁓ god. Where did we always say we would end up? If you manage to get through this, which you've already promised, the Pinky Swear has been notarized. You have to make it to Paris. To Paris? Yeah. To Paris, you've got to go down the Champs-Élysées. You've got to find a beret and a long cigarette and a grocery bag with a baguette sticking out of it. and just go, ho, ho, Ho, ho, ho. That's, mean, that was the dream, remember? That was the dream. That was our dumb, stupid dream. Traveling the world, going to France. Why was France always the peak for us? I hear Paris isn't even that great, you know? Right, right. But if, when I come out the other side of this. I will go to Paris and I will buy a baguette and I will buy a beret and a long cigarette and I will go to the Eiffel Tower and and you'll be there with me, in a way. Always. God damn it, I'm actually crying, what the fuck? Wow. Ha ha. who were the survivors that greeted us with kindness? ⁓ It was the kids down at the skate ramp. ⁓ I was always a little bit scared of them because they were older kids. They were like, you know, late teens, early twenties. And they would always hang out by the skate park, the skate ramp, and it was all graffiti. And I was a sheltered, timid kid. So anything like that always made me a little nervous, but you've always been able to get along with everybody. So when this started going down, they had made camp in the skate park and we were frantic. We were scared. and they recognized you specifically because again you can make friends with anybody and they welcomed us in for a night they had a fire going they had some they were smoking weed because they were smoking the last of it that they had ⁓ which we did not partake but it was very kind of them and they shared us some canned soup that they had gotten somehow. And it was very kind. Yeah, we tried to make the soup over a campfire, which without pots and pans was kind of rough. Yeah, I remember I was holding the can out just above the fire, but that didn't go too well. No, because it's still got to boil the stuff inside. It's hot. It's hot. It's very hot. But I did eat a lukewarm soup, so. I mean, it was the first thing we'd eaten in a couple of days. Best damn soup I've ever had. It's always surprised me how... Like you can always trust a punk. You can always trust a punk. Yeah. Like. They're always the ones that are willing to help. Yeah, fuck the governor, dude. Punks should run the world. That's our third race. Punks, Chassie, Cherbal. Mr. Nugget. scared too. They recognized me but after everything that happened. I knew I had to make friends with them as quickly as I could. We couldn't go another few days without food. tell you secret. Yeah? The key to being friends with everyone. Please tell me. Just keep smiling. Smile, make eye contact, and let them talk. that usually puts people at ease. guess I can try that. You got this. What does it feel like? ⁓ I'll be honest, it doesn't feel great. Remember that time, ⁓ the crazy aunt that we don't like? Martha? Martha. ⁓ They came over for ⁓ Yule and they had their son with them and he thought it would be really funny to put itching powder in all of our... Christmas pajamas. Yeah, I remember that. Fucking dickhead. ⁓ It's kind of like that, except for I can't reach the places where it's itching. That sounds awful. Yeah. I think probably one of the only, if this could be good thing, is it itches for a while and then when it stops, it's numb. But that's when the crystals start to grow. I wish I could take that from you, but... I wouldn't let you. I know you wouldn't, but I wish I could anyway. Oh, who I wish could take it away from me? Aunt Martha. Aunt Martha with her shitty dog and her shitty husband and her shitty kid. I just hope that they're all eating weird spicy candy. No one else will. Exactly. It is the end of the day. Damn. ⁓ as part of this. Most of my left arm is encased in these crystals. I don't really think I can move my left hand anymore. ⁓ my god. I don't want to scare you, but I also... I'm scared. It's hard to keep silent. Yeah, well, I'll be on the other side of this door until... you know. But I'm not leaving, so... Ahem. Where were we going next? We had heard that there was a group of survivors somewhere near the harbor. warm. flotillas and get as many boats as they could to try to go across the channel to France or anywhere else really maybe to Ireland. So we were trying to get to trying to get to the harbor to see if we could find a boat or if there's any survivors on the boat. But the closer you get to the coast, the bigger the population usually is. Yeah, and that's scary. Yeah, we didn't make it this time, but ⁓ maybe in a few days I'll try again. Yeah. It's only if you move in the daytime should be easier. As you get closer to the water, the building should space out more so you can see farther. Yeah. Do you remember which dock you're supposed to go to? ⁓ No. Doc 12. Thank you. I guess I'll have to learn how to follow directions better. That would be ideal. That would be ideal. That would be ideal. You kind of handicapped me. You'd always take care of that for me, so... Fair. It was always nice to have something I knew you could depend on me for. even if it was just something as basic as directions. It was really nice to have someone I could depend on. Just don't get lost, please. I'll try. But that I'm not sure I can make a promise for. That I accept. There's limits to... There's limits. There's limits. There's limits. if it's between you getting lost and you surviving, please get as lost as much as you want to. That I can manage. never apologize for something I did before the end. Will you forgive me anyway? in school, you were trying to help me and I had a crush on this girl. And she's all I could think about, she's all I could talk about. I'm sure I was driving you crazy with how much I talked about her. And you thought you were helping me when you decided to tell her yourself that I had a big crush on her. because I guess in your brain you thought it would all work out, but it didn't. And she did not like me back, and she stopped talking to me, which hurt really, really bad. I was really mad at you at first for a while, ⁓ but I know that it came from a place of love, and yeah, I forgive you. To be fair, I really thought Sarah actually did like you. ⁓ I read those signs really, really wrong. Really wrong. and I was slightly concerned that if you didn't talk to her soon, you were just gonna turn into a stalker and I just. Hey! I needed to head that off as much as I could. I wouldn't turn into a stalker, I just, you know, followed her around sometimes. see that? Shit. See that right there? Shit. Don't, we're not doing that. We're not, that's, uh-uh. A hot tip. Don't be creepy. ⁓ Rule one with dating anyone. Anyone. Don't be creepy. Well. But. Sarah's missing out anyway. Sure. catch. You're smart, you're funny, you're tall, you're not that ugly. I'm not that ugly. Thanks. I'm anxious, I'm awkward, and I'm gangly as hell, but... I mean, who isn't? Aunt Martha. Aunt Martha. No, Aunt Martha's still gangly as hell. ⁓ And no, she's also incredibly awkward. You're right. And she could stand to be more anxious. Like the kind of anxiety you get from being socially aware. Yeah, yeah, she could do with a little bit of that. Just a little bit. She could. But hey, awkwardness, anxiety, gangliness, those are all things that can be changed if you want them to change. are all things that... want to say fix. There are not things that you need to fix. If they are things that you don't want, then there things that can be removed. But if maybe you'll find out that you actually kind of like being gangly, I don't know. I just I want you to be happy with yourself and happy with whoever is lucky enough to have you. Sure won't be Sarah, will it? No, I think she's dead. ⁓ well. I think, yeah. Most of the people in our town I think are dead, Yeah. Sucks to be you, Sarah. you On that note, which dream of yours have you never shared with me? to be a reporter. reporter? Mm-hmm. Huh. You'd be good at that. Thank you. But not I think I had romanticized the idea of being a reporter a little bit. cigarettes and fedoras. The the long the trench coats with the collars pulled up and tracking weeds and the rain and everything's in black and white always. You want to be some Columbo motherfucker? Yeah. That'd be so great. I could see you doing that. And then I would get a big scoop and I'd type it out on a like really old typewriter. I'd bring down the establishment. Hell yeah. And then People would come after me because I came out and brought down the establishment and then I'd fight them off because I'm also an expert boxer. Obviously. I listen to many radio programs growing up. But the idea of finding out truths and bringing them to people in a way that is consumable in a way that can actually make change. Yeah, I think that would have been nice. Yeah. Isn't that something you would do well in? You're a personable fellow. People feel comfortable around you. They probably tell you all their secrets. More than you would think. ⁓ yeah? Yeah. A lot of people see me as just like, they come up and I'm a... How do we even explain it? People feel very comfortable telling me things that they wouldn't normally tell me. because they don't know who I am. Does that make sense? I think so. Like, can't count how many times I've been walking down the street and someone's like asking for directions, because I'm great at directions. You are great at directions. And then they're like, ⁓ yeah, no, my, my my husband shot our dog or something. ⁓ my god. Yeah, it's they were they were wild. That's one of the more extreme ones, but. You dirt on everyone, huh? I wish I had written it down and I wish I could remember the people who actually gave me said information. But. Well, not that it matters. Thank you for sharing that with me. You've been a great reporter. Thank you. What argument have we had repeatedly since the end? Hmm. Well, I still want to try to find mom and dad. I still think that they're out there and I think that they're looking for us. I understand why you want us to move on and keep fighting for survival, but there's a part of me that can't let go of thinking that they're still there somewhere. If we get to someplace safe, the chances of us finding them are higher. Because they hopefully also made it to someplace safe. If we go out looking for them, we're just putting ourselves at risk. But what if they're out there looking for us and they're not getting to a safe place because they're not with us? I don't wanna fight. If after this, you decide that you want to go look for him, just be careful, I would prefer if you got someplace safe. But I also understand getting to them first. Yeah, well, we'll see what happens. Who do you wish was here? our parents. be a lot easier if we had them. It be a lot easier if I wasn't the one making the calls. Weirdly enough, I don't like being in charge. I like taking care of you. I like making sure you're okay. I don't like that the opposite of okay is dead in this situation. Yeah. And if they were here then we probably wouldn't be in this predicament. We wouldn't be. waiting. Yeah. Well, for what it's worth, even if it's hard, you did a really, really good job of taking care of me. I should have done better. I know that's... there's that's empty and there's no changing what's happened but I feel every one of the mistakes that I made that led us to this point. Especially now. moments of indecision, second guessing myself, choosing and choosing wrong. And I know I'm old enough at this point that I know our parents weren't perfect and they wouldn't. They may have made the same decisions I did. very least having them here would give you... more of a chance. Well, I've already established through our pinky promise that I'm gonna be fine, so... Yeah. You don't have to worry about that. Almighty pinky promise. Almighty pinky promise. There's something you haven't told me about yourself. How did I figure it out? Hmm. Well, after the whole Sarah debacle. ⁓ Turns out my borderline creepy obsession with her was me trying really, really hard to make it seem that I was straight. And it took rejection and a hard look at myself to come to terms with the fact that I really wanted to be straight, but I'm not. And I think after the whole Sarah thing, and the disproportionate emotional response I had to it, you started to sense that something was a little, not quite right. And it took a few more years after that. and eventually I couldn't hide it anymore. And... Surprise, I'm gay! That is how you actually came out to me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was a verbatim surprise. I'm I do remember after the Sarah debacle, you did say that was my one chance, which is an odd thing to say. It is an odd thing to say in retrospect, isn't it? Yeah. I'm sorry that you felt like you had to hide it from me to begin with. It's okay, I felt like I had to hide it from myself too. Yeah. Yeah. But you, since the beginning, never made me feel like it was wrong or bad. You were just kind of like, ⁓ a lot of things make sense in retrospect. And then we kind of moved on with our day, which I think was the perfect way to go about it. As long as you love someone and someone else loves you, I don't care who it is. Same rules apply. Well, same rules applied. But, you know what? No. If somebody makes you cry, I'm haunting their asses. I guess that's only to be expected. Hey honey, before we get married, I do have to let you know. If you break my heart, my brother will. Haunt the hell out of you. Uh-huh. Yeah, repeat like a lot. It's gonna be problematic Talking full poltergeist situation What story did our parents always tell? mom is Irish and she would always tell us the story about when she met dad. ⁓ They didn't like each other very much. used English, she was Irish. Match made in hell. Yeah, not great. Protestant and Catholic like it. The whole thing was not great. They kept just running into each other. and day they started spending more time with each other. ⁓ We keep running into each other, they started chatting, they started becoming more interested in each other's like hobbies and it was as mom was really coming to terms with the fact that she was falling in love with an Englishman. Devastating. Devastating. They were having coffee or tea. We're British. They were having tea. With copious amounts of milk and sugar because we're British. Yes. And it was as they were sitting at the table that a gold ring fell from nowhere and landed directly in her cup of tea. splashed everywhere, got onto her dress. They fished it out and dad got on his knees and proposed right there with that ring. And mom always said it was a leprechaun who was finally, who was tired of waiting and knew that they had to speed things up. I really love that story. It is so quintessentially mom and dad. I mean, they never agreed on anything else the rest of their lives. They had us. Man, I really hope that they're okay. Same. the very least, I'm sure Mom is. I don't know if Dad can go that long without tea. Honestly, the zombies should be scared of Mom, if anything else. Yeah. If it knows what's good for it. think everyone's scared of mom. Not Aunt Martha. Not Aunt Martha. But as previously established, she could use with a little fear and anxiety. Is it bravery or is it just plain stupidity? Yeah. Let your brother know that the day is over. ⁓ I can respond in only one sentence until the next infection card is drawn. What? As the infection saps my energy. fuck. Yeah, so... ⁓ I hate that. ⁓ I hate that so much. Okay. What a cowabummer, Hey, listen. Listen here, you little shit. ⁓ You can't hit me with a cowabummer. I'm going hit you with a cowabummer. ⁓ Okay. What have you used to defend yourself? This is piece of a fence. that I've been holding onto. It's been nice. I hope it brings you comfort, at least a little bit. Like my dumb, stupid hamster is bringing me comfort. Let your brother know the day is over. God, well that didn't last long. Wait 30 seconds before continuing play. have instructions that I can't tell you. Awesome. No, that's great. That's awesome. Wow, I can't wait 30 seconds. ⁓ it's hard. That's hard. Okay. is your problem. No, I don't have a problem. No, don't do that. I can tell. can feel it. I can... can smell how... I can smell that you're angry. I'm just... I'm just fucking pissed off. Yeah? Because this isn't fair. No, it's not. And I shouldn't be mad at you. It's not your fault. But... I'm just so angry. I'm angry at you, I'm angry at myself, I'm angry at mom and dad. I'm just angry at this whole situation because I feel so helpless and in a few days everything's gonna be different and hard. and I won't have you around to be mad at anymore. And that makes me even more mad. it's something that you're gonna have to deal with. It's going to be hard. and you're gonna have to try to do your best to be fine. There's nothing else I can do for you. fuck up. learn to be okay with being mad. I guess I have to. that one. Let your brother know the day is over. I need to reshuffle these, I think. ⁓ Wait 30 seconds before continuing play. Okay, I have more prompts. We did the right thing despite the world around us. Why did it still feel wrong? . to think of taking care of ourselves first. did the right thing watching out for ourselves and taking care of ourselves. ourselves above others is never going to feel great. but I would continue to. I would keep putting you above. other people. Yeah. It doesn't feel good, but I guess what else can you do in a situation like this? You doing okay? Just kidding. Yeah. are. I will continue to talk your ear off until you stop responding to me. So, you have that to look forward to. What is that? I'm really hoping that this isn't just my brain. making stuff up. Do you have bread? I do have bread. ⁓ It's stale. There might be some mold on it, but ⁓ turns out the house that we're in, whoever lived here before us didn't keep all their food in their pantry. And I was just roaming the bedrooms and... I think they had like a five-year-old girl living here and for whatever reason she kept like snacks in her dresser. And I got really bored and I was going through all of the cupboards and pantries and dressers and lo and behold I found a really old loaf of bread. ⁓ that's nice at least. It tastes so goddamn good. Smells good. Yeah. It's like a... it's like half of a baguette. ⁓ hey. You can just bring that. You don't have to buy one in France. Yeah. Yeah, I'm already halfway there. It smells good. I can try to shove some under the door. Yeah. Yeah. I saved the moldiest bits just for you. paste things anymore. That's fine. fuck. I do not open the door. I made a promise. Fuck, is that the end of the game? Yes, I believe that is the end of the game. ⁓ my god. Not to make matters worse. ⁓ before the end of the game. Before that card's drawn, I slide you that. to write a letter to my brother at the beginning of the game, but without saying anything about it. ⁓ my god. This game is absolutely devastating. This is def- this is brutal. ⁓ my god. I'm like actually emotionally torn up about this. Holy shit. Wow. Okay. That's the game. That's it. I want my mandatory hug, please. Yes, I'm coming over. Yep. We're okay. We're alive. Everything's fine. Hugs. ⁓ the end. The ant more the hug. The ant more the hug is okay. Oh my god. Okay, um, here, come sit. Yeah. Can you sit your butt here? I like? Oh yeah, no, this will be good. This will be good. Um, I wish we had a palate cleanser. Anything. Yeah, we got a- Oh, fuck. Um, great. you want to hear my favorite joke? Yes, please. Okay, what's the difference between a- Dirty bus stop and a lobster with large breasts? It's a crusty bus station or a busty son of a bitch. Have I told you this one already? No, but I have heard it. You son of a bitch. I have heard it. They did help. They did help. The answer is one is a busty crust station. No. One's a crusty bus station. Another one's a busty crust station. That one, that's the one. I mean, classic. So good. Good game to go get drinks after. Yeah, yeah. Good game. Very good game. Very beautifully designed game. But holy shit. Absolutely. Devastating is just the perfect word for it. That is devastating. I feel like my chest has been just stomped on. Yeah, I feel like I could actually cry a lot more. I'm like actively holding it in. Like that that letter dude is so fucking brutal. I am so sorry. You did this to me. I did. I did. How dare you go and fucking die. Okay. Wow. Yay internet. Thank you. This is a this is a good game. It is. It's beautiful. It makes you feel, which I feel like is definitely the hallmark of a good game. I feel very many emotions right now. Not exactly a party game. No. Definitely one that if you want to kind of flex your role-playing muscles and you want to get out of the rut of, my characters are just silly and my characters just make jokes and you want to have... bigger emotions come out when you are role playing in something. This will do it. This will do it. This will take you to that place. Yeah. ⁓ Sweet baby Jesus. Well, ⁓ yeah. I mean, I do. I feel like I need to take a walk or something. Yeah, we need to take a stroll for a little bit. need to, one, get out of the depressing room. Yep, okay. I'm gonna call it, we're gonna call it there. Thank you for joining us for this time. Because it was a time. It was a time. It was a time. It happened. And we'll see you again for the next time. Alright. Wow, every time I listen back on this audio I actually start crying again, which is crazy. Anyway, thank you very much for listening to the very first episode of Story Games. I hope you will catch the next one. We have lots of fun stuff planned and I'm really excited. Feel free to follow us on all of the socials. We are at Heart of the Deer and Acorn on most places. And if you would like to get a copy of the time we have for yourself, we have it available right now on our website. That's heartofthederandacorn.com and we will see you in the next episode! ⁓