Latest / Bards and Barrels / S2 Ep. 9 - We talk with Crit Hit the Giant

Transcript

S2 Ep. 9 - We talk with Crit Hit the Giant · Bards and Barrels

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Bards and Barrels, the podcast for Dungeons and Dragons players new and old.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Ross Struess, and I'm joined by my friends and co-hosts Brett Miller and Phil Boone.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: We'll be exploring the world of Dungeons and Dragons in each episode, sharing our experiences, offering tips and advice for those who play and run this classic game.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: So whether you're a new player just starting out or a seasoned veteran looking to get a new perspective on things, Bards and Barrels has something for everyone.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: So sit back, grab a drink, and join us as we roll for initiative and embark on an epic adventure.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: And there's the opening crack.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's time for another episode of Bards and Barrels.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Ross, along with me for the ride.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: As always, Brett and Phil, fellas, how are we doing tonight?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Doing great.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Great tonight.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, too great.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: Very enthusiastic.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: I would have planned that better, I guess, but it's fine.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: We're totally doing that for our guests.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: We're just showing off now.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: With that said, we do have an ep excellent episode lined up for everyone tonight, and that's going to include our special guest.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: So without further ado, uh, he's known on social media as Crit Hit the Giant.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: He's on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, and Twitch, where he creates videos and discussions about his beginner's journey into Dungeons and Dragons and other TT RPGs.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: He also has a games, news, and reviews website called the Games Lair, which we'll talk about here in a little bit.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: A big B and B welcome to Sean Winningham.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Sean, welcome.
• 1:23
  unknown: Woo!
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, thank you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for having me on the show.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited to be here.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, you were one of the very first people that reached out to us after we got going.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: So if there was ever, you know, I I don't want to call you a cheerleader, but if there was ever a cheerleader that was just like, hey, somebody out there other than your friends and wives are listening, and our wives don't even listen.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh well, maybe your wife does, but mine doesn't.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sometimes.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: So Sean, tell tell us a little bit about like what you do and how you got into the whole like nerdy world that we live in now.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, so um it's actually interesting.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_04: I don't want to like go into a deep dive.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: So before I got into, you know, tabletop role-playing games and Dungeons and Dragons and all that, I was really, you know, a big comics guy.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_04: I used to have a podcast about comics called The Caption Life and did that with a couple of buddies of mine that met through Twitter and it was a lot of fun.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but you know, in terms of games and stuff, I've always um, you know, my wife and I have always played games ever since we were dating and everything.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_04: So games have always been part of our lives.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but when it comes to specifically Dungeons and Dragons and tabletop role-playing games, I remember hearing about it a little bit in high school, but the people that would talk about it were really into it.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_04: And then and I'll be honest, like it just seemed really intimidating to me when they talk about that stuff because it's all you know, it's very complex, and there's a lot of like you know, back history and lore and stuff that kind of goes into it.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_04: And so I never really got into that scene.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I would play one-shots every once in a while with my in-laws because they played Dungeons and Dragons, but I only played with them when we did like family reunions and they had us, you know, because kind of jump in and play and all that.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but what really got me into Dungeons and Dragons and tabletop role-playing games is that a couple of years ago, I was just trying to find a movie or show I wanted to watch on uh Amazon, and I just saw this random commercial or uh trailer for this show called Legend of Vox Mackinac.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_04: And watching the trailer, I was just like, oh, this looks really interesting.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_04: Watched the show, and I absolutely fell in love with it.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_04: Like I watched the whole series.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_04: I think I stayed up to like three or four o'clock in the morning because I just really loved that show.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_04: And so, like, at first I was just like, oh, this is a great show, you know, I really like it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_04: Then later on, I found out that, you know, the whole it's all inspired by Critical Role, who's uh, you know, Dungeons and Dragons actual play stream, and looked more into that.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_04: And I just really, really thought that it was really cool, like what they did and watching their Twitch streams and just how they you know did the voice acting and and got into the role-playing side of it, which I've never seen before with uh Dungeons and Dragons.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_04: And so I really liked that part because in high school and college, like I was really into theater.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a very dramatic guy.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_04: I like to, you know, you know, I if you ever watch my videos, I'm very like, you know, larger in life, kind of I like to embellish and kind of make things, you know, exaggerate and stuff like that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm very dramatic guy.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_04: So I that really appealed to me.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_04: And then, you know, last year I I live in Indy.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: Last year was the first year I went to Gen Con, and that was just an amazing experience as well.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_04: So I wanted to get more into this world of tabletop role-playing games.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_04: So I found a local gaming store that was, you know, not too far away from us, um, connected with people who also wanted to play um Dungeons and Dragons.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: And so now I'm in, I think, two or three Dungeons Dragons games.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: I'm doing Candel Obscura, which is a game from Critical Role, and I've been just doing like some one-shots, and then pretty soon I'm actually going to be DMing a kid's Dungeon Dragons game at my gaming store.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_04: So it's like in a span of a year, like I'm just like dove headfirst into this world of Dungeons and Dragons.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_04: So that's kind of the short of it.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is awesome.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one thing we always get asked is how did you how did you form your first party that you joined?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did you know those people that you were playing with for the first time, or did you just meet them at the game store?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or what was how'd you get groped in?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so um, you know, if if uh if I put aside my in-laws that we did the one shot with, because you know, that was like miss me kind of jumping in and playing, right?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the first group of people I actually got to play with was um a buddy of mine who I knew from also from comics podcasts.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like he and I have talked about um Dungeons and Dragons in the past, and we both wanted to get into it, but we just never have.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: And so he actually found a one-shot that was being offered online through um, I think Start Playing was the website, but we're we did it through Roll 20.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: And so we did this one shot online.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_04: He and I absolutely loved it and thought that the DM of that game, Nick, was you know so great.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_04: His I think his um he has a podcast uh as well about Dungeons and Dragons called the raised on DD.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_04: And um, we just like it was just probably the best one-shot experience we could ever have.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: Like it was just a little bit of everything that you wanted to have that experience.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_04: And so after that, he and I, uh, my buddy Derek and I had said that we wanted to continue that on, and we wanted to see if um the DM Nick was going to offer some more.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_04: So oddly enough, he did, and and that's actually something that we started back in September, I think, and we're still you know doing it to this day.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it was first a like a four-session, Dozen Dragons, and it was just uh it technically was like five of us, and then went down to four of the players, and so we're still playing, but then we've had like four more people that joined the group as well, too.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_04: So my first experience has actually been online, yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a big party.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_04: It is, yeah.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_04: And and and we did our first session with the entire party uh two weeks ago, and I was a little nervous about how that was going to go with with them, but I'll be honest, they were all fantastic.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like, it can I take a minute to like explain like what happened.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: I thought it was just so great.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, sure.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_04: So um, so real quick, you know, it just opened up in this tavern, and I played a a Dragon Dorn, a Dragonborn Barbarian, and of course, like we start getting into a fight because some people, you know, started um fighting um uh was starting to fight us basically, like some orcs and goblins.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_04: But like the four people who joined the party that didn't know, like you know, they weren't part of the past campaign and all that, they were kind of like brought in and and said, like, you know, yeah, you're gonna help us out with this, and you know, and there's a whole backstory to that.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not gonna bore everybody, but one of the characters just like he was a rogue and he was just like, you know, I don't really know these people yet, so I'm just gonna go to the bar and like order a drink on his turn.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: And then the wizard kind of did the same thing, who's like, you know, I wonder if there's like there's something weird about this place.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: Like, let me go, you know, hit detect thoughts and and see if there's something going on upstairs and all that.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_04: So, like, we're half of us in fighting, and the other half is just kind of looking around the tavern to see if they can figure out if there's anything that they can find and all that.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: So it was just it was a lot of fun.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I was really um, you know, kind of just hesitant about it at first because I didn't know like how you know that would play out with having that big of a group, but they were all fantastic.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_04: It was a lot of fun, so it's it's it's been a great like uh kickoff for that so far.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: So you I mean, obviously there's some pretty fun antics going on in this story.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of parties struggle with like role playing and things like that, especially in their first-time groups.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, not a problem there.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh do you have any players that struggle with that?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: And if so, how did you how did you like get them comfortable with like playing with everybody else?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, um, you know, and and it's funny because I think when people think of role play, they always, you know, think of like the more embellished side of things, right?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: Like the voice acting and the dramatics and stuff like that.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: And really, like role-playing, you know, doesn't have to be to that extent.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's just, you know, kind of sharing what the character is going to be doing in the dialogue and stuff like that.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_04: And so um, so far we haven't really had anybody that seemed to really struggle with it.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um, in this particular campaign, what's been really interesting is that uh we use Discord in-between sessions because we're only meeting like every other week um to kind of have us play out our characters like in between, you know, travels or you know, uh the night before something like that.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: So we kind of like text like, you know, what's going on, and and you know, what are we what are the conversations we're having and stuff like that.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_04: And and you know, it I love that because I think it allows it to kind of progress without being confined to you know the four hours that you might be doing that night.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and you're not, you know, you're not really progressing the um the the plot necessarily in terms of the adventure and stuff like that, but that's an opportunity for you to kind of make those connections with your character and the other characters and kind of fill in the details.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_04: So it's like you know, if you think about a movie like how there's like low points and you kind of you know, the pacing of is like you go really fast and you want to slow it down and have like some of those conversations, that's where the Discord really comes into play and help.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um, some people are really into it.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_04: I I'm omit, like I'm really into it, like I'm somebody that I like to type up a whole thing for it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um, other people aren't, and that's totally fine.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_04: And it I feel like it's one of those things where if they didn't participate in it, they're not gonna be missing out on anything when we actually do it in the session and all that.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, I mean, everyone seems to be really getting into it, and I think there's various levels, like a few of us will do voices, the other few will just kind of like talk about what their character is doing.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_04: So, like I talk as though I am my character, unless there's a reason why I have to say, like, you know, my character is going to do this, but most of the time I'm talking as my character, and other people say, Well, you know, this person is doing this, blah blah blah.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: And it all works really well.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I don't think everybody has to do it the same way, everyone kind of gets it, and you want to make sure that everybody has that great comfort level so that way they can enjoy, you know, doing the game without feeling pressured to do it a certain way, like the other people are doing the party.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: I think everybody's really enjoying it for the most part.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_04: So no one seems to have left yet, so that's good.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_04: Excellent.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh let's take a minute and back up because I don't want to lose this in the shuffle.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: You were talking, you talked about Gen Con.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about your experience there.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe for folks out there who don't know what Gen Con is, maybe fill them in a little bit on that as well.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_04: So if you haven't heard of Gen Con, it is um, if it's not the biggest, it's one of the biggest gaming conventions um, I think in the world, like I think it's been compared to one of the biggest in the world.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, I know a lot of people say like it's up there with uh Spiel um that's out in Germany, which is a really big one.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but it takes place in Indianapolis at the convention center.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_04: And I think last year they had a record-breaking attendance um ever since they've had in Indianapolis, which I think was about 23 or 25,000 people that attended, which is a lot.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and you know, Jing Pan was first started.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the name comes from Lake Geneva because it was started in Wisconsin where um the creators of Dungeons and Dragons actually had like a convention for you know, Dungeons and Dragons, stuff like that.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_04: So it was there for the longest time, but then in 2009 they moved in Indianapolis because Indianapolis has a really great setup with their convention center, a lot of hotels and and everything.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_04: And um, so it's been really great.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, last year they actually announced that their um Indianapolis was going to add more to the convention center, and the people that run Gen Con was there as well, too.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_04: So um, but it is a gaming convention where I think it's been um focused on tabletop role-playing games for the longest time, but there's also uh board game companies that'll go there.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, uh Robinsburger's been there.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um the company that does Lorcana, yeah, that was Robbinsburger, um, you know, Disney Lorcana, that was a big thing last year.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_04: Like there was people like lined up out of the um out of the hall and everything like that, like the night before, just to try to get a spot to um get some of the first Disney Lorcana cards.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_04: But they have that's where they debut like a lot of board games.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot of like play tests, and so um you can go there and play different kinds of role-playing games.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_04: They have um, you know, like a four-day, if you want to do like a four-day long session of like, you know, Dungeons and Dragons or other kind of role-playing games that they have there, you can definitely do that.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they will have companies that will have um that sell tickets to people to like test out their games before good hits the market.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but they also have booths where they're selling games and everything as well, too.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_04: So it ranges anywhere from tabletop rolling game role-playing games to board games to they have uh trading card games.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_04: My son went there last year with me as well, and he did the Pokemon thing that they had, and you know, where you got like the deck and got to open it and play against other people.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so a whole wide range of games.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_04: The only thing they don't really have a lot of is like video games.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're looking for video games, that it's not really what that is for necessarily.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_04: I know there's other conventions that have that, but um, it's huge in tabletop role-playing games.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, there's 25,000 people that went last year.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_04: You definitely notice the size, but it's not um overbearing, at least or overwhelming on um how I see it, because I feel like I still have space to kind of walk around stuff like that because the convention center is so large.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so it's the biggest one in the nation, but the convention center is so wide.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, if you've never been to Indianapolis, there's um a convention center that's made up of like four or five different halls, and it's connected to Lucas Oil Stadium, which is where the Indianapolis Colts play.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_04: And I tell you what, like if you go, definitely check out what they have at Lucas Oil Stadium because they have like just all these other things.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: Like I think True Dungeons is where they have some of their stuff, which is like a company that does like it's almost like uh maybe like escape room, but like in a dungeon or something like that, is what I've been told.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_04: I haven't actually you know tried that out or anything like that.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but they also have like a huge library of games.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_04: If you just want to you know go there and just play games, you know, that they have just kind of sitting out there, you could do that as well, too.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_04: So if anything that's gaming related, if you're interested, Gen Con is definitely a big one that a lot of people go to, and it's one of the most popular ones in the nation.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I think uh I don't know if it was from you.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, definitely it wasn't from you because you you live there, so you wouldn't have been going through the airport.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I saw I think it was actually Indianapolis's airport post that they had a section set up for people to play games while they were waiting for their plane at the airport.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that that is how you know that convention and you know the people that are in town.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, oh yeah, everybody knows it.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, even even though I went last year, you know, for the very first time, like all the years before when I'm driving downtown, like you knew Gen Con was in town because there were so many people just walking around and and had like you know the big game packs and and cosplay and stuff like that.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, Indianapolis is all about Gen Con when it comes in town.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, with all of your experience in comic books, different board games, just all across the board, how has that influenced how you play DD, or has it at all?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so um, you know, it's it's interesting because I feel like when I graduated from college, like I didn't really do the nerdy stuff that I did in in high school and college and everything, right?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_04: Because like you're an adult, you know, so you need to start acting like an adult and stuff.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, adult thing.
• 16:09
  unknown: Yeah, right.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um and so I just kind of got away from it for a while.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_04: And then um about six years ago, I came across Marvel Unlimited, which is their app service where you pay you know a monthly subscription and you get access to their the whole library digitally, and that's what got me back into comics.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's really opened the doors to kind of looking at like what did I enjoy, you know, in life, not just you know, as a kid, but just things in life.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_04: And the nice thing about it is like I'm actually sharing that enjoyment and that experience with my son as well.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: So he's been along with the ride uh with me, and he's actually been loving it.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I always want to make sure I'm not like kind of pushing it on him.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and it's interesting because I didn't even like when I started getting into Dungeons and Dragons, I didn't even bring that up to him if he was ever interested in that.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_04: He just you know brought it up on his own and and said that he wanted to try that.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_04: And and you know, we got him into our gaming store, and he absolutely loves it as well, too.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: And so it's just nice to be able to share that experience with him and kind of you know, kind of live through him in that regard of like you know, the excitement and enjoyment of doing all that stuff.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_04: So, like we've been doing cosplay stuff, like he would dress up as Miles Morales, and I was dressed up as Kingpin, and we do like comic book covers and things like that.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_04: Nice.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but when it comes to like you know, Dungeons and Dragons and and um, you know, how some of that stuff has influenced it.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_04: I, you know, with me loving like being a performer, right?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_04: Like in high school, I was six foot six.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_04: So a lot of people expected me to be like a football player, especially with my size.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_04: Like I'm a very broad-shouldered guy, which is another reason why I love barbarian because I just feel like that really fits kind of my persona in a little bit.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I actually did just a lot of performance in high school.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_04: I did uh theater, I did show choir, I did um improv, like you know, whose line is it anyways?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_04: Our high school had like a group for that.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_04: Nice, so a lot of that stuff I think really influenced me trying um and how I do DD is being able to like utilize some of that stuff.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but also just trying to think of like just very different ways of trying to see interesting ways to play different characters, especially the role-playing stuff, right?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_04: Because I feel like you see a lot of tropes that and there's nothing wrong with tropes, but you see a lot of tropes that are being used that are like you know, it something that is I feel like is safe and familiar that really helps people kind of get into the role-playing side of the game.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but now I'm starting to get to a point where like I want to kind of break my own personal comfort, like I'm always gonna play a dragonborn barbarian because that's like my favorite race and my favorite class.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_04: So if if I'm gonna do something, I'm always gonna try to figure out how am I going to do a dragonborn barbarian.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_04: But I've also been exploring how to do different things or different characters to just kind of um break that boundary of what I'm comfortable in, but just it makes it an interesting story as well.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_04: So one of the characters I created was actually a half-orc druid because I feel like you never really see a half orc be a druid, you always see him like barbarian or fighter or something like that.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: So I thought that was like a really interesting um character that you can really make.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_04: And then another one I've been working on is is a barbarian, but a drow barbarian, and I thought what would be really interesting is that because drowl has um sensitive sensitivity to sunlight, so they have like disadvantage to attacks and stuff like that.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, how cool would it be to be in a game that you're a barbarian, but at some point, if you're like in direct sunlight, you have to like kind of work through that.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_04: So not only like mechanically as um as attacks would work, like how would you work that as a character as well too?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_04: So one of the things I like to do when I'm in like combat mode is like I try to bring out some sort of personality or aspect of my character.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't just say, like, well, I'm just gonna swing my axe and hit this guy, you know.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_04: I'm kind of like think about what's happening in the moment that what would the character would say or do, um, and kind of incorporate that as well too.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_04: So I thought that'd be like a really fun way to do that.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, you know, trying to hit somebody, but you have disadvantages, so you're just like, ah, you know, like really bright or something like that.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_04: So, um, so a lot of my experience from you know performance and everything really kind of dove into the role-playing side of trying to do Dungeons and Dragons and wanting to tell interesting stories in addition to doing the fun combat side of rolling the dice and see if you can attack and kill the monsters and villains and all that.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_04: So nice, nice.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think that's a great segue into talking about the game of DD itself.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um wait, we do that here?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: We you know, just a little bit.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, so one of the things that that's kind of our cornerstone of what we've done thus far is talking about like how to play the game, how to get new players in.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we've been playing for a long time.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: We want to share our experience that you know you don't necessarily have to have somebody that's been playing for years to get involved in this game.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can take the handbook and dive right in.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um as a newer player, what is something that you have struggled, like maybe it's a mechanic or something, but what's something you have struggled with in terms of DD 5th edition?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: Oh man, yeah.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um you know, there's actually a lot.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_04: Like as as much as much fun as I've been having and as much research I've done, like there's a lot of little things that I think I just don't realize.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it it comes to a few things, right?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_04: So uh first of all, I gotta say when I started getting into DD, just like what you guys said, your podcast like kind of came on the show, uh, kind of came on the scene.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_04: So it's kind of like perfect timing for me because I would listen to your episodes and kind of learn a little bit more about the different classes that y'all had talked about.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_04: So that was always helpful.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I think a couple of things that's been like really helpful, but also um is also it it's helpful for people to kind of get introduced to that world, but then you have to kind of almost unlearn it and then relearn it as well, too, because you kind of got introduced to it in a different way.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_04: Is DD Beyond was really helpful in trying to figure out like how to do the character creation and how to do stats and stuff like that because it walked you through it and it did a great job of doing that.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but then sometimes.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: Times like I just forget that because of my you know race or because of my level of of um class and stuff like that, like I have advantage on you know uh initiative roles and I just completely forgot about that like one time when we were playing the game and I was just and that was one of the times where I was just like I rolled really really low and as a barbarian want to go first so you can try to take out some people early on.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: Oh right.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_04: So so it's like one of those things where like now I'm trying to teach myself, like I need to kind of read through the different feats that I have and think about try to keep them in mind for some of these things, and not just that, like well, you have in your inventory and and all these like things they have because it's like keeping track of those things um seems like it's easy, but because a lot of those are really conditional, you can it's easy to forget about those things because like that may not be something that's useful until like three or four sessions down the road, and then you're like, Oh, I forgot I could have done this sort of thing, right?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um Baldur's Gate 3 was a really great way of learning the game, but there's a lot of differences with the video game that they had to adapt to the actual tabletop role-playing game.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_04: So, like some of those things I've had to learn, especially as a barbarian, like like the frenzy strike is is very different and how they do it in the video game versus um the role-playing game, stuff like that.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_04: And so um, so I think it's like those things have been really helpful, but you also have to still like I think it's a good introductory way to get started in the game, but you still have a lot to learn with it.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I think everybody's always gonna say that the spells are always confusing, right?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_04: Like I feel like I got a good understanding of it, and I love sorcerer because it's a little bit more straightforward.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but then there's things like you know, they I actually made a TikTok about this the other day because people were pointing this thing out that I just try to do an example of one of the frustrating things about Shadow Heart's attacks, and I use Firebolt as an example.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_04: But the thing about Firebolt is that it's actually a cantrip she has as part of her race and not because of her class.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_04: And so, as a class, as a cleric, right, her uh spellcasting ability is based on her wisdom, but the firebolt is actually based on intelligence because it came from a race, so it's like those little things, you know, just gets really intimidating for people who might want to be a wizard, but there's just a lot of stuff that goes into that.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_04: So much.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so I think it's always like the obvious stuff, but again, DD Beyond kind of helps you with that a little bit, and then once you get to kind of like more of the intricacies, is where you definitely need to have somebody who's been playing it for years to kind of help you understand a little bit more like what's going on in the character sheet and what you can and can't do with your abilities, too.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, see to Sean's point.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is why I can give you guys so many magical items, is you don't even know what everything you can do.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's very fair.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's just there are so many little nuggets to any character, especially after you get past level five, six, seven.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they just scale so quickly that if you jump in and try and go straight to level seven, good luck trying to remember all those little nuggets.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of campaigns start low levels and work you up so you get comfortable with some of those little details of your character over time.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, exactly.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: I I I think you all have made excellent points because it's like there's there's just so much stuff when you get started with the game that it's like it's hard to keep everything straight.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Starting at level one does help so much.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: So when you get people that are like, I want to start at level five, I'm like, are you sure you really want to do that?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: Prep.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think the other thing is that so beginning players, this isn't necessarily necessarily a big deal, but like if you if you're playing in three different campaigns at the same time as a newer player, because you know, once you realize how much fun you're having and you're playing, but you want to play all the time, I think that's when you really realize that the the the player's handbook becomes it it truly is a guideline for the rules.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they spell things out for you, but every DM has their like little things that they do differently from everybody else.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's like uh not not necessarily like spell so much, but let let's let's talk about quick.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about quick.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's the operative word here.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_02: Passive perception, there's a lot of DMs there, two of them at this table right here that I'm sitting at that don't use passive perception.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Now, my question to you is do you use passive perception or have you used it at any of the tables you've been at?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um yes, I know the um campaign that I'm using or that I'm in right now, there's been times where he's like, you know, um uh like we've been surprised by um by someone like you know showing up and all that.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: And then that's when he used the passive perception.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I think he either had our character sheets or maybe he just kind of asked for it ahead of time or something like that.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_04: But I know he has used it before.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I know that's something that's usually used um typically for trying to determine if you get surprised or not.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um and so that's happened a couple of times as well.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, I mean, the ones I've been at, um one of them has the other ones that I've participated in.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think it ever really came up, or if it did, I wasn't aware of that as a player.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_04: So um, but yeah, I mean it's it's again, it's one of those things where it's like at first glance, I was like, what is what is this passive perception?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_04: Like I have like a plus six, you know, perception over here.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what's this passive, you know, BS I'm reading about like right here?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_04: And so when I looked into it, I was like, okay, that's interesting.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_04: And and and again, you know, DD can be very intimidating at first, but I think DD Beyond, and you know, like what you all have said, like starting at level ones and things like that could really help with getting someone started because I know when again when I was in high school, it just seemed really intimidating when you just like kind of get all that information kind of thrown at you at once.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it's all about like taking those baby steps, is like there's a lot that goes into it, but you don't really need to have a whole lot to really just get started and play as well, too.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, but yeah, I'm sorry to answer your question.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I have.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay, hey, that's fine.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I think another good example of of passive perception since we've been talking about Baldur's Gate already, is when you're walking around in Baldur's Gate and then the game just rolls passive perception and it just says failed, and you don't know why it failed, and you're wondering what's gonna come around the corner, or what didn't I find because I just failed that perception check.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like I fail every damn perception check that it rolls for me.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, just let me roll the math rocks.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Come on.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I Shadow Heart can give me a couple extra dies to roll on that.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: Just let me roll myself.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's all I need.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: All I need.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that we picked up on is you have been into Baldur's Gate 3 a lot.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Ross and I just started playing.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're kind of behind the times.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we missed the first rush and we're finally getting into it.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, man, you have had some hot takes.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting some discussion on social media with uh the controversy of the rope in Boulders Gate 3.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, how worthless it is.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_04: I I tell you what, like I when it comes to posting those videos on social media, like I don't know what I'm doing in terms of like, you know how people talk about like you need to do like SEO to figure out like if it's going to go viral.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_04: I don't do any of that stuff.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I'm just like, this is funny to me.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just gonna post it.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: And so it's just really interesting to see like what takes off and like what triggers a lot of people.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_04: And rope was one of them, you know.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_04: Like it was just so funny to see the comments, like how wide-ranging it is.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, it's yeah, like rope is pretty much useless.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_04: Like, you don't need it to like climb down anything, it doesn't give you that option.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um, somebody did say that you could use it to like you know block vents, but I was like, but that's anything, like it doesn't have to be rope at that point, you know.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, just so many people had like a lot of like, yeah, I agree, it's so useless, or they're like, This is more useless, and people like, oh, you're not using it right, and all that.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_04: And like, yeah, it's uh it's been a lot of fun, and I absolutely love the game.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_04: Like, obviously, like I have a tattoo that uses the frenzy symbol for Baldur's Gate 3, so I love the game that much, right?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, I mean there's just some things that I'm just like it's not like I really hate it when I talk about those things, but it was just like I think it's funny to kind of you know just make a video and kind of talk about those things, just you know, right?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_04: But um, but yeah, I actually just I got the game in August and I just finally beat the final battle last night.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_04: Nice, nice, nice, yes, because you'll you'll probably experience this.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: Like we get halfway through, and you're like, I want to do a different character and go a different route because you can you can have like so many different things that you did not like interact with or didn't have the option or stuff like that, and so it gets really addicting of I want to try you know something else.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_04: And and the dark urge is a great thing that they've um implemented in that game as well.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_04: Too, but yeah, the rope was a controversial one.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_04: The one I posted yesterday about Shadow Heart missing everything was really controversial.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_04: I shouldn't have used the fireball as an example because everyone was just like, Well, that's your problem.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, No, this is for any attack.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_04: I just used that example because that just happened and I was really pissed about it.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, it's you're like, Well, why are you using that?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I was like, because like that was the only thing I could really do with the situation.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_04: Like, that's the thing, you know.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, backseat.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_04: It's not like I wanted to.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_04: It's so it was against goblins, like the weakest characters.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's still missed.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: It is so true.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then, like, on your third TPK, and you're like, why can she not roll?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: If she would hit the damn thing, we would not be in this position right now, and I wouldn't rage quit.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, uh, I but I you do learn that it's interesting because they are they're already like built in the subclasses and stats and stuff like that.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_04: So like Shadowheart is a cleric, so a lot of people use it as a healer, but she's uh her subclass is like trickster.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_04: And what's really good for healing is the life domain subclass because it has a lot more options and stuff like that.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_04: So like I didn't learn about that until I think like two months ago.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_04: Like, so when I was halfway through act two, I was like, why did I know about this earlier?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_04: Like, why did they start with Trickster?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it's probably to do more with her story than is anything else.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I mean that's the thing, it's like if you find you know the one character, you can go and change anyone's like class.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of people talk about how they changed her to like uh Aladin and all these other classes as well, too.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, it's just fascinating like what you can do with this video game.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: I I I give Larry and Studios so much credit for what they put together here because I and maybe maybe you haven't noticed this as much, but recently, well, a year ago, I guess, we we wrapped up.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: We we went through Descent into Avernus.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: We played through that entire campaign.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: It took us what two and a half years to get through, pretty much.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um the little tidbits within that opening area, like where the the tieflings are in the elf enclave and they're refugees and they're saying they're from El Terrell because and then they're talking about all of this stuff.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like texting Brett, I'm like, oh my god, did you hear this?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: Did you see that part?
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we know exactly what that is.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it I I love just the little tidbits of lore that they they put in there that they don't have to do, but it's added so much depth.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's no perfect there's no point to adding that to it, but it's just a little Easter egg provided part of it.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: So adds so much depth to the game.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I I yeah, I think I think so far I've I've loved everything about it.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you you had mentioned earlier how like it's a good representation of Dungeons and Dragons, like the actual sitting at a table table playing the game, but you can also see in places where they've had to tighten things up.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can't spend time doing X or Y because this is a video game.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: You're not sitting at a table doing this.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: And and gosh, I can't even come up with a good example off the top of my head.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: Those those passive perception rules might be a good one.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because if we were in a you know, if we were in an actual game sitting at a table, I would probably ask Phil if he's our DM, hey, can I roll a perception check out here to see if I can see something?
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: It never asked you when you're wandering around, do you want to roll a perception check?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: It just lets you fail your passive perception, and then I get pissed about it.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: But uh have you have you have you come across things like that that you noticed as well?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like where they've changed like D, like the game you play at the table versus the video game.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_04: So like the biggest thing um is they cap it at level 12 for character progression.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_04: And I thought it was really interesting at first and when I heard about that.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, I wonder why they capped it, but I read an article and it actually explains this pretty well.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_04: And and it kind of makes sense because um it's not something I would have thought of because I'm new to the game and I'm you know like the barbarian class and kind of stuck to that a little bit in the sorcerer class.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, they said like it's hard to implement some of the you know abilities like when you get a wish spell, right?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_04: Like, how do you do that?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um, which you know it's it and it kind of makes sense because you know that's so broad and you can't really confine that a little bit.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_04: It's like how do you give people an option to use a wish spell?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, which they they kind of did with like divine intervention.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: They, you know, I I don't know like how that actually works in DD, but when you use divine intervention, there's like five things that you can pick from.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um you know, the the one from the barbarian I mentioned about before the frenzy strike, um, in Dungeons and Dragons, the tabletop game, you get a level of exhaustion if you use that, right?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_04: Which means that after you get out of your frenzy stage, then until you take like a long rest or whatever, you have that condition, which means that you have to throw uh for a disadvantage for like strength checks and stuff like that.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um in the game, like they really couldn't implement that really that well, I guess.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_04: And so it was like something where as you use it more often, then your chances of actually hitting, like I guess, lessons or something like that along those lines.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_04: So um, so those are some of the biggest things I've noticed.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_04: And gossip, there was something else I remember, like, just like, oh, that's very different from what I remember from the game, but I can't remember on top of my head.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_04: But I remember like that was a big one for me, and then the level um how they put the cap on level 12 for the characters, too.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was probably the usefulness of the rope.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that too.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_04: I had so many people like, yeah, I played tabletop Dungeons and Dragons.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_04: You always need rope.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_04: I collected all the rope, I beat the game, but I still had that in my inventory, never touched it.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Does the game have ball bearings?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: Most important question.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't know.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good question.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't played.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: One of my favorite things.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_04: One tip I will give everybody as somebody who just beat the game, like, use those scrolls.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_04: Like I have so many scrolls that I remember thinking I I want to use this as like a last ditch effort resort.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_04: But by the time I beat the game, I still had all these scrolls.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_04: I still had all like I think I had like almost 30,000 gold pieces.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, I should have like spent that money.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_04: Like, what was I thinking?
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_04: So the second round, I'm like, using scrolls and like spending money like it's like spend that money.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, oh, that's like that's that's five thousand dollars for that armor.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, have all that.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_04: I'll get some more later on.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so definitely spend that money and definitely use those scroll holes because you're don't need to, you know, you don't need to hoard all of it.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_04: You definitely can use them because there'll be enough out there for you to use.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_04: Not saving for retirement.
• 37:24
  unknown: Why not?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: So speaking of capping off at level 12, I think that's one of those factors that a lot of campaigns even trail off at up those higher levels because it gets hard to balance anything, even in real DD or a video game, especially.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think some of that too even falls to the uh like the adventure books.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of them only go up to like 13th, maybe 15th level.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: Not that many will run all the way to a 20th level character.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, Phil's got his work cut out for him because we're headed back into uh our Descend to a Vernus campaign extending on.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: So get ready, Phil.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: And we're at level 13.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: What's what's the highest level character you have, Sean?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_04: Uh right now it's um, you know, I got my DD to be on open actually right now.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's level seven.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, level seven.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_04: I think we're I think we're gonna level up to level eight right now.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_04: Nice.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um but yeah, this is the um this is the highest I've been in an actual campaign for Dungeons of Dragons level seven.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_04: And and this is um the barbarian one, and so that's been really interesting.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_04: I know level eight, there's uh other things all be coming down the pipeline and everything like that.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_04: So um, but yeah, so I haven't got to that point yet.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um I'll be really interested to see how that all you know sicks down once we get to those higher levels and and what more stuff I have to keep in mind of like situations and and you know moments of like, oh, I could use this because I have this you know ability and all of that.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's like if you think your character sheet is full at level one to three, wait until you get to 13 to 15 because then it's it's even deeper.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're definitely in the sweet spot now.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like six through ten, six through twelve is perfect for DD.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, as a barbarian though, keep swinging.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely that's what you're gonna get.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_04: Swing more, yeah.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's the thing, right?
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_04: It's like barbarian.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like is a little bit more straightforward of like what you can do and all that.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_04: Like, yeah, I have these like little you know abilities, but it's like, oh, I can attack twice with my great axe that has like a plus one on on uh attack rolls and stuff like that.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_04: Like I'm just gonna slash at this guy and hopefully I'll hit, you know, and like that's all I have to really focus on and and just start, yeah, just start swinging.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_04: I don't have to think about like, oh, I'm gonna use a spell, but I have to like pay attention to if someone tries like a counter spell or like the environment or whatever.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_04: It's like I just take my axe and I just try to get it right at that guy's neck, right?
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, right, for sure.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's something very satisfying about being a barbarian.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, absolutely, yeah.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all right.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Sean, thank you so much for coming on the show.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: If any of our listeners want to give you a follow, where can they find you at?
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, thanks for having me on the show.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_04: I really love your guys' podcast, and it came at a perfect time for me when I started Dungeons Dragons.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_04: So I really appreciate you guys.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, if anybody wants to follow me online, um, all of my social media like uh threads, Instagram, TikTok, uh, YouTube, and all that, it's all under the same uh username, crit hit the giant.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_04: And I also have a website where I'll post um, you know, gaming news or articles or reviews and stuff that I will write about for um not just tabletop role-playing games, but I have board games on there.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_04: It's called the games layer, and you can go to games-layer l-a i r dot com and you should be able to find everything there.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's gonna do it for this episode of Bards and Barrels.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: It was great having Cray hit the giant on.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you come back.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't scare you off or anything.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, no, definitely.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'll I'll be happy to come back on anytime.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, love it.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you can listen to past episodes of the show anywhere podcasts can be found.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to stay in the loop and not miss the latest from us, be sure to head over and give us a like and follow on Facebook or Instagram at Bards and Barrels.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see you soon.