The Adventures of Bud & Herb

Unscryptid with Alejandro Tey
===

Fitz: Welcome to Unscrypted, where we're putting the scripted no, the cryptid back in scripted.

We came up with our tagline like last week and I've already forgotten it. Who do we have here today, Evan?

Evan: Who do we have here today, Fitz? The one and only Alejandro Tey. Yay!

Tey: Amazing.

Evan: Obviously, we're excited to talk to everybody on this, on Unscripted, but you are the person that nobody who's been listening to Bud and Herb, up until episode six, has heard at all. You've, you've, you've been behind the scenes working with us on this project for a long time, but

Tey: I got to do one really fun commercial, though.

That

Evan: that's right, you're right, right, sorry, they have heard you. Yes, they've, Mayor, this is not only the Game Master that you are going to hear but the voice of Mayor Dinglehopper himself. Um, and I think this was actually your idea to, rather than to kinda do a table introduction of all the players before we jump started the game, you were like "Hmm, what if we didn't do that and instead, um, just jump right into the show, just like you guys have been doing." Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

Fitz: Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think it was you. I think you said that.

Evan: And then we just,

Tey: A great idea. Good job. Good job, that, guy. Whoever came up with that was a good idea.

Nobody

Evan: ideas.

So we yes, anded that. We said, okay, yeah, let's make a whole little companion show, some bonus episodes where we do exactly that. And, and that's what we're doing. So first of all, nobody. Um, nobody knows who you are, so first of all,

So, first of all, for the folks out there who don't know you, just tell, you don't have to go into your whole life story if you don't want to, but just tell people a little bit about yourself, what you do, and how you came to, you know, playing games and all that good stuff.

Tey: Oh, but it's such a winding road, Evan. Uh, uh, no, no, no. I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm Alejandro Tey. I make theater. Usually, is what I'm doing. I'm making theater. There, there's something that I got really interested in a way, way back when, which is theater that is, that is immersive. That is participatory, um, theater that might invite the audience not only to to like observe passive observer but but be an active participant and even further than that be the protagonist of the story that they are experiencing for the first time and it took me probably way too long in my life to realize that like oh RPGs

do that already by design. That's the main thing they do, actually.

Fitz: Yeah.

Tey: So yeah, so that's, so I so all of that to say like I come to RPGs and playing RPGs via theater, and my interest is always in, in the storytelling, in the narrative. And so that's why I was like so utterly honored and, and like on cloud nine that y'all asked me to be a part of this because even truly even before thinking about the actual play or thinking about anything y'all were just like hey we had this idea we want to do a podcast um and we have a story we think maybe we have some characters we have some notions. We have literally a Notion um an app and will you take a look at it and tell us what you think?

And honestly, y'all, like this has been such a blast. Like even if that had been it, like, even if I had just been able to, like, fart around with y'all and talk about the story of this thing, that would have been amazing, like, it's been, yeah, and it's just been gotten better and better from there, so, yeah, thanks for having me in this world.

Evan: Oh, man. I mean, you've shaped it in probably more ways than you know. So it's not an exaggeration to say we couldn't have done this without you.

Fitz: Truly, truly.

Evan: You know, you recently had a pretty significant life change this year. Um,

Tey: Yes, I am.

Evan: Hey, Poppy! And, and there was a hot minute where, you know, the, the birth of your child and, you know, the trajectory of what we were doing were like overlapping timelines. We're like, oh man, is there a world where Tey can't be the dungeon master for this? And if so, hells no. But it worked out. It was meant to be the stars aligned.

Tey: You know what? I will say, the thing that y'all have made is, so robust and so full, uh, and truly, other folks could, could GM. Um, I hope many folks do at some point. I hope y'all release a whole setting campaign guide, uh, like that's, that would be awesome. Um, But I am, I'm so glad that y'all were willing to, to work with me on that. And I'm like, I will carve out time. I will make this happen. Like, I, I, told the two of y'all, like, offline, I was like, don't, I'm I'm coming. I'm coming to the party. As long as I'm invited, I'm showing up.

Fitz: You're, you have a perpetual invitation. Yeah, I mean, truly the only time I think that we've ever been like, oh god, oh god, was in the conversations of, what if Tey says he can't do this? We can't pivot! We won't pivot!

Evan: Yeah. Can't pivot, won't pivot.

Fitz: He is

Tey: It was so fun. I was, I was, um, I was ruminating on like, what a, just what a unique thing this is, and, and I'm, I'm not sure that there exists like an easy, uh, uh, comparison to what, to what has happened here. Because like, it's like, RPGs are, are always collaborative, um, but usually it's like the, the GM is coming from a place of like, either they've made the world and setting and campaign from scratch, or they're pulling from, you know, an existing sourcebook or an existing whatever. But usually there's the idea of like, you're going to change whatever you want when you get to the table. And that's, that's, what I'm used to, right? Like, we've had a whole Exandria game, but like, I put my own spin on it, all that kind of stuff. And here it's like, no, no, no, not only is this someone else's world that they've made, but there is very concrete canon that is published and that is part of the story, like the setup exists. And that was so, so fun because what y'all did, like the gift that y'all gave was like, here are the toys. Um, and, and I remember as I was prepping the sessions. I was, I was listening to, you know, the, the five episodes and like, hackling with maniacal glee because it's a very funny show. Um, and also because I was like, oh, I know how that could come back. Like, it was, it was so much fun. It was like such a gift to, to get to do that and to get to like reverse engineer, like what, what could the possible finale of this thing be when you know, if, if mine is act two, act one has been written and is in the can. Um, really cool. Really, really cool.

Fitz: Well, to be on the other end of you taking things that, we put out as like a joke or maybe just a a line or something and you saying, yeah, boom, flip it, here you go. Enjoy! Was both pleasurable and terrifying sometimes.

Tey: Tell me more.

Fitz: Evan and I realized as we were discussing with you, I think, during this session zero prior to episode 6, um, and filming and all of that, was we made the Cinderwood Walker uh, we were very descriptive and we made him quite powerful.

Tey: Yes, you did. You did. Yep.

Fitz: Yeah, so there was a little bit of fear going into it, just uh, just with that right there.

Tey: I know exactly what you mean, because I literally, so I was going through and I was, I was listening to the episodes I was going and I was like pausing as I was going and I was just writing stuff down. And there, I have a whole sheet that is just the powers of the Cinderwood Walker. And I kept adding to the list as I'm listening. And I was like, holy sh- Really? That too? Like, what? What? What are they thinking?

Fitz: Made like a CR20 monster for a couple of chuckle flumphs who have retired years ago.

Evan: I know.

Tey: But but it was great because it meant like anything, like truly, I I would never be that mean to my players, ever. So when I got to throw this thing at you, I got to just be like, well, hey, y'all, y'all did this to your you wrote this. Like, I

Fitz: It's out of my hands!

Evan: I mean, well, I guess number one, I do love having my characters die. That is, that is a

Fitz: is truth, universally known,

Evan: but, but I think like part of that, there's just kind of like a weird, I don't know what, I don't, some weird, part of like a giddiness of like, oh yes, it happened, but there's also, I think maybe beneath that, uh, uh, in a more serious way, like I, I, I really, really, really love stakes at the table, right? I want it to be for, I want the real possibility of dying. And even in this written show, when we say, you know, like the pitch of the show is: we've written the first half of the story and then we leave the second half up to the roll of the dice. We truly wanted that to happen. And I mean, you know, some characters get plot armor and stuff, but, uh, you

Fitz: Not much!

Tey: Not really. I mean really, I think, I think, because we discussed that, right? Because I asked you, point blank. I was like, hey, it's called Adventures of Bud and Herb, like, do Bud and Herb need to survive this? And y'all were like nope.

Fitz: Nope.

Evan: Next season.

Fitz: The Adventures

Evan: of Pickle

Fitz: Pickle and Grondar!

Evan: the, the Adventures of Bud.

Tey: I'm on record on this, like, I, I'm not necessarily someone who, who thinks that, like, death is the most interesting potential stakes, right? Uh, but, y'all have so much going on in this world, and what I found really, uh, was really fun is that there were just so many prompts for like, what, what this plot was like what this what like what the mayor was scheming or what just like what was going on underneath that there were so many possibilities. And for me, something that I felt a charge like a responsibility toward is y'all have so much great setup in those first episodes. You have so much that felt like it really needed to pay off. And so that was, that was my goal going into it, was like, can I hit a payoff for all of, of these things? Right. And that was something unique that I've, I've never run a game necessarily where that, like I've, I've run the games where like, I have to pay off something I set up or that like the players set up, you know, earlier in the, in the session or what have you, but to be like, no, no, no. Like we need to have XYZ come back and, and like pay, pay off that storyline or what have you. That, that was, uh, that was, that was an interesting, creative challenge and one that I found incredibly rewarding. And to hear, like, the voices! To hear the NPC voices was so cool!

Evan: Number one, we were super nervous on the day, the first day of recording. The first game day. I was, I was like really trying to just, you know, be as cool as I possibly could, because I was like, flumph, what if this doesn't work? What if this just doesn't work the way that we hoped it would? And, um, we came back the second day, I think everybody was feeling like even like a little bit more energized, more, you know, comfortable in their skin. Having even more fun. But it wasn't until I played it back and started to, we started to overdub those voices where I think we were all like, oh, wow, this, this is working so much just in a completely different way than I even hoped.

Tey: It's in the context, of the, the format you've set up, right? Like, we have fully scripted radio drama. Uh, that is in itself an in fiction podcast, right? And so having, having the overdubbing come in, having the, having the NPCs, and that's just, I mean, it's also just such a treat as a performer to, to like, to have the like, weird flumphing thing that I just improv'd at the table with y'all all of a sudden be like lifted up by like the person who plays that character was just uh is like very rewarding but it also it ties back into the format like it feels then like this it's what y'all set out to which is it's a fusion of this isn't just straight actual play. It is still the radio drama it just happens to now now it's getting written differently, essentially.

Evan: 100%. So maybe we should actually, just for the benefit of the listeners out there, be real explicit about how this was done. I mean, I think everybody knows at this point, Fitz and I sat down and we wrote episodes one through five and we, uh, you know, got lots of help from, um, Matt from Tey and from Sarah Mobley and, you know, everyone who's, uh, been the voices, and this is just to illustrate that once we did that, and we played this game, Fitz and I had to completely release control over everything that we had put together in terms of, uh, lore, plot stuff. Like, we fully let go of that and said, Okay, Tey, it's all yours to do. Like, we, I guess what I'm trying to get back to is, Fitz was saying, there was a part of this that was terrifying, because we truly, didn't know what was going to happen, you know, after, after building all of this stuff. So just for the

Tey: I really could flumphed things up for y'all. I could have

Evan: I wasn't afraid of

Tey: No, but it's true. I could have. I could have, made it for a real

Fitz: You could have. But, but and this goes back to speaking to why the DM was always going to be you, because there's no one that I trust with our world and who has the improv and storytelling instinct like you have. So it really did feel like we were trusting you. You're the adult in the room and we just handed you our baby.

Evan: Uh, yeah, here!

Fitz: And that's what it felt

Evan: it wants!

Tey: And then I threw the baby up in the air a couple times. I went, woo hoo hoo hoo! And we all went, whoa, whoa! Oh my gosh, he caught it. Okay, thank God.

The bad lands a truly godforsaken place. You'd have to be crazy to leave. The safety of three for its sands. Legend has it that beneath this Vlad Earth, something truly powerful lies dormant, calling out to any traveler, brave, or desperate enough to listen. One day aboard a doomed train into the waists.

Three strangers heed that call a shape-shifting. Bounty hunter, strangers gone by many names, friend. A runaway socialite. Okay girl. Well you just did your mascara, so no more crying for today. And a former thief turned family man, I promise that I will be back and I will do my absolute best to write. You will our runaways find what they're looking for.

I mean, we're already here. Let's have a little fun. You really went in there guns blazing. I thought that was the plan. My potions are miraculous. I thought we were being quiet. Oh, stump only has one volume. Sorry. Wild roses grow out of his mouth having filled his lungs. What's happening out there? Violence.

Find out on May hand high five. The bad lay. And just between you and me, they ain't got a chance. Hell.

Tey: I'm so curious now after the fact, were there any, were there any things that shook out that were particularly surprising? Like what, were there any things that happened in the course of play that were like, oh shit, like I really did not expect that or I didn't expect that character to show up here. I didn't know how these things were gonna tie together or...

Fitz: Twice. You did it to me twice and I'm wondering if for Evan it's the same. It was BuggemOUT! and Barlow. BuggemOUT! and Barlow. Those were the

Evan: I I didn't see them coming. At all. Not even a little bit.

Fitz: Should've seen Barlow coming. Didn't see it didn't see it coming.

Evan: Uh, there was one other for me that I didn't expect. That I loved. That I absolutely loved, which was that, um, Theo and the Walker had like, uh, an emotional connection that was not sinister and

Tey: So for the, for, so for y'all, when you were, when you were writing that it was always, it was, it was, uh, like a corruption thing that was happening with Theo?

Evan: The, the, yeah, the Walker was always the instrument of the mayor's will.

Tey: Ah, got it.

Everything that I was doing was fully coming out of the episodes as written. And what it was for me was there was so much hinted at, like you know, here's Theo, who has this special connection with nature and who will probably be like a really powerful druid one day, right? Like when, when he figures that out, he's, he's gonna be he's gonna be really powerful. And, and the like the positive version of, of that is like healing the land, healing nature, healing whatever. And so for me, I was just thinking like, they've spent time together, and Theo calls Todd his special friend. And I can't imagine that that's like, it can't be a one way street, right? Like those things are happening back and forth. So yeah, I think Theo is probably coming out of this corrupted in some way and we'll see that what happens with that next season. But also, he's like, he's anti corrupting the Walker in some ways, and like, if you have an undead creature, like, those were living beings once, that he probably would like, really get along with, and like, want to see, feel better, and, and let rest, and and all that. We discussed this right after the game, but there was something really fun about being in my position, because, usually when you watch a show, especially a mystery, which is what y'all had, you know, you're sitting there and you're, you're theorizing the whole time and you've got your headcanon and you've got your whatever, but then nothing ever comes of that because then the writers are going to do whatever they do and you're going to have to like shut up and take it or go on Reddit and rant about it. And instead I got to make my headcanon real.

All of thosee things that y'all are talking about. I was just like, oh, obviously that, you know, the, the BuggemOUT! was like, there was that the tagline of like, this is what happens if you're, you know, in, in some small cases, like, that's what, that's what will happen for a bugbear. And so I was like well, if a bugbear got a hold of this and was exposed enough times, like Law of Averages says that they will eventually, you know, like, hey, you just set up the lore, I'm playing with it or, or Barlow. That's so, that's so funny to me. That y'all didn't see that coming because when I, when I listened to the Barlow episode I was like obviously like this dude is part of this flumphing conspiracy like why would he would rather have these diapers than this magical item? Like there's gotta be something there. Like that has to be significant, right?

Fitz: Meanwhile, we're just like, wow, what a creepy dude. Later.

Evan: Exactly. Exactly. Totally.

Fitz: I know. We should have gone and knocked on his door and investigated him first. He's obviously the creep. Creep in town. We didn't even think!

Tey: Do you wonder what would have happened if the party had gone x way instead of y way? Or like, were there any choices that y'all made that you're like, what would have happened if?

Evan: Oh, that's interesting.

Fitz: I do wonder what would have happened if we had decided to split up. If we had sent, you know, Bud and Herb one way

Evan: exactly what would happen.

Fitz: I mean, death.

Tey: happened what do you think? Yeah.

Fitz: Undeath would have happened. Um, but yeah, I wonder what would have happened with what would have split the party because I think it did ultimately end up getting cut, but you did sort of probe a few times, like, Just to be clear, you guys are sticking together? We're like, yes. So it seems like, you had potentially planned for that as being a strong possibility.

Tey: Yeah, I, I didn't know what was going to happen with that moment because I, I wanted to set up, you know, this really strong, like, railroad dilemma, um, and, and many times in my games when you do that, like, splitting the party becomes the answer. Um, uh, but more so even if just everyone had decided to stick together, but to go to the benefit, right? Like, what would have happened there? And I did, I had, I had a full thing set up where essentially it would have been a lot of illusion play because, uh, we had talked about and I'm not sure if this ever even got mentioned but, um, the mayor is a gnome, right? He's not a deep gnome, but just a straight up gnome. Uh, and so in my head, his, his, yeah and, and also, and classic gnome. And like, we saw his house. He likes riddles. He likes, you know, evil, but still definitely a gnome. And so, and so his, his plot, if you went to the, to the benefit instead of finding Theo and like trying to track down Theo first, he was gonna have like "monsters" attack the benefit, but they were going to be illusory. And so he was going to like, paint y'all as the villains, 'cause y'all are just like trashing this benefit

Evan: Oh

Fitz: hmm. Mm

Tey: the monsters. They're right here. They've been living amongst us. They are, they are the Crypted Club. You still see a hint of that plan come out at the end, but that was always kind of in the cards. He wanted, he wants, because he wants his position in the town to be sacrosanct. And in order to do that, he needs to discredit y'all. And it's not even necessarily about killing y'all. If he kills y'all, great, but he can't kill y'all and make y'all martyrs. He can't have y'all be something that someone else wants to investigate. He needs y'all to be the evil that is then vanquished.

Evan: Mm hmm.

Fitz: You know what? This is Tey, I you so I love you so much because here's the thing. This just goes to show how much time and energy and thoughtfulness you had put into all of this, that you have machinations going up in the background. You DM'd us and used that verb, that you had machinations, or that term. And when could we next discuss said machinations?

Tey: That's kind of a GM's job. That's our job. At the end of the day, we've got to have schemes on schemes on schemes. Well, and also, and you, you cast me as, as Mayor Dinglehopper, right? That's like a nice little, like, uh, uh, uh, like undoing the curtain for, for your listeners as well. We always knew the big broad strokes, like y'all came in ready with like Mayor Dinglehopper is the villain, uh, and this is like the broad plan, but very, very broad plan. Um, and then you left it to me to figure out the specifics, which was great because I'm I'm there and I'm, I'm in Dinglehopper's shoes and I'm like listening to the podcast and I'm taking every little hint y'all are giving me. So even to the point of like the the mayor's delayed response to Theo, right? Like, you know, first we have nothing's come out from the mayor's office and the sheriff isn't doing anything about it. And then all of a sudden, like the, the, the mayor and the sheriff are saying that this is a manhunt and we need to do this, right? Like I, in my head, I have the meeting where he went to Thorne and was like, they're getting close. Like we need to spin this. Like we need, we have to, okay, okay. Scrap the plan. They're going to, they're going to be focused on that so let's give them more to focus on.

Evan: Mmhmm.

Fitz: Yeah, not exactly smart on Bud and Herb's, uh, end to be broadcasting their investigation as it's happening in real time.

Evan: I know. Yeah. Breaking into his house.

Fitz: Yeah, we're not gonna break it, we're just gonna borrow it. Next week. Cut to suddenly, security is tight and we get caught. Dun dun dun!

Tey: I mean, I also, I also just love, I love getting to pattern the mayor off of, so, you know, that's, it's like, obviously, like, my tip of the hat to Ed Wynn and all of his wild characters, so he, you know, he was the Mad Hatter in the original Alice in Wonderland, the Disney cartoon, and he was, uh, The Uncle, the Laughing Uncle from Mary Poppins and stuff like that. So it's that, that very, like, recognizable voice. But it came to me because, like, I'm also a big fan of superheroes and superhero comics, right? And, and so, like, for me, the best villains are the foils. Are the ones that actually, like, reflect our heroes in some way. Um, and y'all have these, like, sweet little derps with like silly voices, uh, you

Evan: Yeah. Yeah.

Tey: And so I'm like, cool. So who's, what's the evil version of that?

Evan: Yeah. Amazing. Amazing.

Fitz: Evil Bud and Herb.

Tey: Evil Bud and herb, totally.

Fitz: Mayor Eustace Dinglehopper.

Evan: And Sheriff Thorne.

Fitz: I think we've sort of danced around the topic, but I want to ask explicitly, what was the difference when preparing your, uh, session planning for this versus, say, you know, a weekly campaign game that you are fully homebrewing or something like that. Like, what was, what was your strategy? How was it different? Let's peek behind the curtain into Tay's DM prep brain.

Tey: Totally. I mean, we, we talked about this a lot ahead of time cause a lot of prep went into this, but you know, we, we talked ahead of time of like what our, our session zero would look like for something like this. And we ended up having session zeros, plural. Uh, um, because you know, we, we went into it knowing like we're not just doing a home game. Uh, we are, we are improvising this game and we are playing this game, but we're doing so for an audience. And, and with that comes a couple of things, right? Like, we know that Bud and Herb are on the marquee. Y'all have assembled like a great team, a great party, like, wonderful players who are very generous and, and giving, and it's it's a weird thing to say, you know, in, in a home game, I would be mortified to say, hey, by the way, these two are the main characters, and they're at a higher, and they're at a higher level than you and who knows how things are going to shake out, but if things shake out, I'm going to keep the spotlight on Bud and Herb. You know, if someone, like, falls by the wayside or like we have, like, a long pause where we're not getting to your character or getting a spotlight to your character quick enough, like, give us patience. Um, and they were very, very, like, forgiving of that. And, and I think we ended up, we ended up being a lot more, like, even handed with the spotlight just naturally because that's who we are. We all want to, like, give and take and share that spotlight. But we, we talked about that ahead of time. We said that that was going to be a thing. That would never happen in a home game. Oh my God. Be terrible. Uh.

Fitz: Bad vibes. Mm hmm.

Tey: uh, and, and then the other thing too, in, in the spirit of, of like keeping things moving and, and keeping the action going, and also to continue to tie it back to the, the first five episodes and the fact that we're, we're in this world that has existing sort of framing devices and narrative tricks and, and, and things like that. We said, oh, okay, you know, the, the pace of the, uh, first episodes, you know, there were these 40 minute episodes where we cut and there were like time jumps when we start a new episode shits happened in between. Um, and so we talked about using that device and we did, we use that device like very proactively in the actual play. Um, which I will say, is like, not actually dissimilar from something I've, some things I've done at the table, depending on what game I'm playing, some game systems allow for that a little bit better, but like really like looking at framing scenes in a different way and, and cut and fully cutting and being like, great, this is the end of this encounter. We're jumping ahead. Y'all can make decisions and we can talk about it out of character in a way that we're going to cut away from. So there's, you know, there's content that is cut that is just the players being like, okay, wait, what decision are we going to make next? We made that decision. Okay, great. And that's how we're starting the next episode. Uh, it was still all improvised. No one knew what was going to happen. I didn't know what was going to happen. Um, but there are those little elements that I think continue to tie it into this format and make it feel a little more cohesive with the rest of the season.

Evan: Yeah, and, and I, I mean, having worked on editing all this stuff together and doing all this post stuff, it's, it, it really, It really does feel, like it's all part of the same fabric. It doesn't feel jarring at all to have moved from the written episodes into this. And the shift from, you know, sitting down and writing all these episodes into collaborative storytelling, it doesn't feel like there's like, oh, there's a, there's a line in the sand now. And just feel the tone of it's so different. It, it's, I, I, I, It's joyous for me to sit at the table and have everyone else start to tell this story instead of just us and have it work pretty much seamlessly. It's awesome.

Fitz: Yeah, I mean, good way to knock out four episodes in a weekend. I

Evan: I know!

Fitz: tell ya.

Evan: I know! What were we thinking? We

Fitz: What were we thinking?

Evan: faster!

Tey: So, well, that, so that makes me wonder about, uh, cause you know, you're also, you're introducing this party, right? Like you have your, your fellow players. Um, I'm, I'm curious too, for y'all as like. Because we talked about it with me in terms of like giving over the reins, uh, to me to, to, to kind of like decide how things go, but like, any GM will tell you, you have a lot less control than other, than non GMs think you do.

Fitz: Mm hmm.

Tey: Um, so, so like, what was, what was that for y'all? And what was, uh, what was it like, you know, writing all of the words for Gertie and Da'ryl and, and maybe not, maybe not, uh, uh, uh, Grondar. But, um, but what was it like, you know, like scripting them? And then all of a sudden, like, the players are now just they're just rolling. They're just going.

Evan: Well, we gave them, you know, we definitely gave them free reign to discover and then speak in their voices and improvise an ad lib around what we had written

Fitz: Mm hmm.

Evan: when they were recording it. But, I don't know, Fitz, you tell me what you think, but by the time we got to the actual play, I feel like everyone had been inside the character long enough that they were just, they had fully made it their own. It just sounded like Gertie and it sounded like Da'ryl and It like Grondar and all that stuff. It just, I didn't even think about it because It just sounded so natural to me.

Fitz: Yeah, no, they felt fully baked by the time when we were rolling, and I think, I think having had the, the session zeros and having been very clear on expectations and discussing how we were gonna do this actual play, because, I mean, like you said, it's, it's different to record an actual play than it is to play a home game, and we've also recorded other actual plays as well, that even those weren't quite the same as this. So, everybody understanding the assignment on, like, a logical to do list level, plus them having had veto power, or writing change power from the beginning, meant that I think everybody was fully prepared for going into it, and I trusted that they had it, and they really did.

Tey: It was, it was awesome. It was, it was so much fun. Especially, like, I don't know why, but one of the things that I was so geeked about when I was listening to the first episodes of the season, just as a fan, was like, we see Grondar in episode one, we don't really get to play with him again, and then we have Da'ryl, who, those two have such similar

Fitz: I know.

Tey: Like, voices are taken. I was like so ready for them to interact and, it did not disappoint. I was so happy. Can I also tell you something else?

Fitz: Mm hmm.

Tey: I did not realize that, uh, uh, oh my gosh, who are the names, the the two guards, the two like, I, I call them the Bowie guards, Spiff and

Fitz: Yeah, Spiff and Kwill.

Tey: The like Tim Curry, David Bowie style

Evan: Yeah.

Tey: Um,

Evan: Right.

Tey: I truly did not realize that that was Matt and Seth doing separate voices, like in the original. I, I thought it was one of them doing both voices.

Evan: Oh. wow.

Fitz: funny that we have them doing basically the same voice for multiple characters. Like, Spiff and Kwill are basically same, and Da'ryl and Grondar are very similar as well.

Tey: But it's

Evan: them though.

Fitz: That was

Evan: those. They came up with those voices on their own. I mean, I, we were just talking about this with Matt, like originally the, the, the, two guards were kind of written with almost a, you know, a goblin-y cockney type of, you know, accent. And they just kind of came in and like nah, let's, let's try this. And we and, you know, the, our, the one kind of unwritten rule for the show is, outside of Dinglehopper really, is for the other player characters, don't try to be weirder than Bud and Herb, because we're already pretty unhinged and it's just, the energy wise, it's hard, like, it just, it kind of can be tough, like, we need a more grounded foil most of the time, because we're just so bonkers. And then they just came in and said, nope flumph that too. And they were even more insane, and it worked, it was just so, we were just, I was crying the day that they recorded that.

Tey: oh my god, yes, it's so, I mean, that's the other fun thing too, that was just, such a gift getting to GM this, because I got to just go through and I'm like, I get to do greatest hits, like my favorite parts of these episodes. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna bring it all back, baby. Like, like there was no way after the Spiff and Kwill episode, there was no way that I was not going to include Spiff and Kwill. Cause I was like, I just want, I just want to see more of those like, flumphing terrible weirdos, like what's their deal? And then, and then with Grondar and Da'ryl, like, you know, I made the joke about the dueling Batmans, but there's some, like, those characters are so well defined, and we get, and we get such time with them to, like, meet them and, like, really get to know them before we even get into the actual play. So, like, the joy of that, too, was getting the like, same gruff voice, similar gruff voice, but, but from very, very different points of view. Very different characters, very different, like, wants and needs. And yeah, it was just, such, such a joy. And I mean, you are, I already listened to the Unscryptid with, with AK, but like, AK coming in clutch always. Always.

Evan: Crushed it. Crushed it so hard.

Everything, every choice she made, all of her dialogue was just like impeccable. I mean, I don't think we hardly edited a word that she said.

Tey: Well, and she really did the, she did the like, she like leaned back, like, and I felt, I felt AK like taking that note and being like, cool, I am not the, the main character here, so I'm gonna like, you know, I'm support, and I'm being a support, but holy shit, what support, oh my gosh!

Evan: I mean, yeah, spoilers, we wouldn't have made it without Gertie. We would not have made it through. Speaking of

Tey: a mechanical game standpoint, but also even just from like emotional beats, or like roleplay, oh god, what a great

Evan: all

Fitz: So good.

Evan: I'm really glad that you've mentioned what would have happened, because there was actually a couple different choices that we had when we get to this crossroads in what I guess will be episode 8. And, um, we could, or I guess, no, no, no. There was a the first crossroads was do you want to go from episode 6 to 7? Do you want to go above ground or below ground? And we chose below ground. So I, I don't know what was going to happen above ground. And then we get to the other crossroads. Then we wouldn't have had the Bugbears,

Fitz: Dude-uh!

Evan: Then we wouldn't have BuggemOUT! and I

Tey: There was a whole, uh, there was a whole mushroom encounter. Um, there was like, because I was, I was riffing off of, um, Grondar's, like, mushroom

Evan: Mm hmm.

Tey: And so, I was like, okay, if we're going to be traversing the trails that like Grondar knows really well, uh, I want to simultaneously like make him the expert, but also surprise him and have something, something different. And so the idea was that the, the forces that the flowering death cult, the Children of the Flowering Death are playing with, uh, in the Blightroot, are having, are just wrecking havoc on the environment and causing just crazy shit to happen. And so the idea was that these, these mushrooms essentially develop sentience and we're like, and we're gonna be like, get us out of here! Get us out of here, it's real bad! It's real, real bad, like, help us! We're rooted here, we're growing on this dead tree, but like, you gotta, please, please, there's some bad, bad stuff coming! They were also poisonous, so if y'all, like, interacted with them, they were gonna, they were gonna hurt you in different ways, so it's like, do you wanna help these sweet deer things that are also, like, deadly to the touch, and how would you deal with that? And I, I tend to create encounters that

Evan: Season 2.

Tey: Yeah! I tend to create encounters, y'all know this by now, I create encounters that are just the question and I have no clue what the flumph happens like it's just like, here's the situation as is, go! Uh, and so the bugbears, it was literally just like, bugbears, huffing BuggemOUT!. They're immune to X, Y, Z, whatever. I had no idea what was gonna happen next. None. It was just that.

Fitz: Well, I gotta tell ya, that would've been a fun encounter. Um, but, there's something about having Bugbear whippets as part of the lore now that just feels right. Truly.

Tey: Uh.

Fitz: I, it, it would not be the

Evan: feels I know. Yeah. Like, I can't imagine it. I can't imagine it without, without, um, Hrok and, and Rankle?

Tey: There's also some really great, there's some great story, world building that's happening there too, that I was thinking about after the fact, which is like

these are also, these are also bugbears for whom the, the above ground world has created BuggemOUT!, right? Like, that sucks. Like, these are not, these are not actually bears. Uh these are sentient beings with like language and

Evan: So messed up!

Tey: And so there's, there's something to where like that one got away and uh, uh, I have no idea what's gonna happen with that, but I just, I like, I like, give that to you as like, I cannot wait for season two to see like, what the hell happens with that bugbear who escaped that encounter and like, what, how, how that's all gonna shake out too.

Evan: Okay. I got two more ideas. Got two more ideas. One, uh, I forget who said, uh, maybe Fitz, you said this a minute ago. Like, What if we split the party? Next season or the next season, I would love to see episodes where we do split the party and there are other characters who are the focus of certain episodes. Like, you know, I've read every Drizzt book under the sun and there's whole books where it's not about Drizzt at all. It's about, you know, all of his friends. and so I think I would love to explore something like that in this show because we have so many amazing people to work with. Uh.

Fitz: Yeah, I mean, I'm, can I put a, I'm putting a stake on this one. We need a Gertie and Spriggy 'sode.

Evan: Yeah.

Fitz: We gotta have a Babette and Miss Patty, you know, romping through the Cinderwood

Tey: Farting around.

Fitz: farting around, doing something crazy and wild

Evan: Thelma and

Fitz: Thelma and Lou, full Thelma and Louising it. So,

Tey: What if, what if it was even lower stakes and it's just the episode of like people, people going to the like the town witch? No, or even just like people like, like who, who's the parade of characters that like go to knock on Gertie's door for like a potion or what?

Evan: Oh yeah, I love it. I love it, ding dong, it's MilkyBob.

Fitz: Ding dong, MilkyBob. MilkyBob, man!

Evan: Um,

Tey: that seems like a side episode to introduce new characters, but I would still love I just want to see, I just want to see Gertie interacting with the whole town.

Fitz: I know. I

Evan: Sign me up.

Fitz: Sorry to interrupt you. Continue with your thought, Evan. What was number two?

Evan: No, I just wanted to thank you, Tey. Especially for something that you gave to Bud. And I don't know, I mentioned it, to you, I think in a chat, and I don't remember if you even responded to it. I don't know if you,

Tey: Oh my god, yes, of course, yeah, you, you, you sent me the message of Bud is like feeling a little down on himself because he's like trying to get back into the adventuring life and it's not been going well for him. It's been really bad and he's like doubting his abilities. Are you kidding me? That's the narrative shit!

Evan: Okay, okay.

Tey: That's what I love, of course!

Evan: But, but there was, but here's the amazing thing about just, the, the pure chance of the, roleplay, and like, the turns, the sim, the sim, like the actual, where things happen, because, you know, if you play D&D, or any game like that, like you're gonna have an idea, oh, I know what I'm gonna do on my turn, and then somebody else either does that before you or they do something that changes what you're gonna do and it just doesn't align and you pivot and you improvise. Um, but yeah. But Bud is kind of, he's the Shaggy in this Scooby-Doo story, right? He's just like, you know, completely amped up and anxious and, and he's, he's not been at his, he's not at the top of his game anymore. And yes. And so I wrote to you and I said, man, I want to find an arc for him where he redeems himself a little bit. And spoilers, uh, I don't know if you, if you with your red right hand, you. like manifested this, like you crafted this moment or if it, or if everything just fell together. But, but it has this moment where he, where he does get his moment to shine. And

Fitz: Shine, he does.

Tey: That's just, the, that's just the beauty of this medium. That's just the beauty of form. Because I mean, I also, because if you're talking specifically about the, final combat encounter

Evan: Yeah.

Tey: I sent y'all the stats. Like you can see, you can track, you can track my, my work. you can check my work. Like I did not cheat at all. Because I will say, I'm a I am a DM who is, I'm I am a huge fan of, uh, fudging for the sake of story, for the sake of player enjoyment, for the sake of whatever. I'm not saying that that's like always a thing, but depending on the situation, like, and if you're someone who plays a lot of RPGs and you're If you're only a player, um, you might be really invested in the idea of, of GMs never fudging and whatnot, and that's, and that's fine. That might be really important to you. I assure you, it is an illusion that is being, that is being maintained for your enjoyment, because at the end of the day, what we're doing here is we want everyone to have fun. And if we don't do that every so often, just a little once in a while, just as a little sprinkle, you're probably gonna have worse games, frankly. You're gonna have some games that are just boring, because you're just like, whomping everything. You're gonna have some games where it's like, you can't get a word in edgewise, and you're just like, you, know, stunned and off on the sidelines for hours and hours. Like, there are things that we do to make sure that everyone's having a good tIme. But then there's the alchemy of just everyone coming together and the randomness of the dice. Um, and no, there, there was none of that. That was just how it shook out. That was just great. it

Evan: I loved it. I loved it. It felt like as a player, it, I was it was so exciting, and you know, when you're, you don't get that all the time as a player, right? And, but also for Bud's character, for something that I had written, and, and wanted this arc to happen, and it just did? It was, as a player and as a character, and as the, the person who gets to voice that, all of that was so satisfying. So, thank you for making that happen.

Tey: Oh that's the best thing to hear as a GM. That's so good. Oh, oh!

Evan: So, we need to circle up because everything you just shared with us about, um, what would have happened if we had taken, um, door number two and gone to the, gone to the fundraiser, Fitz and I need to know about that. In fact, you, you've just given us information that we need to know because we're going to, presumably, pick right up there, um, at the beginning of season two. So, I can't wait

Tey: Oh, so we want to do this now? Oh, okay, cool, cool. Um, so, so, so, so, so, uh, uh, uh, now I'm not even, I don't even care about podcasts. I'm just telling you stuff. Given how we ended things, this is what I would do next as Dinglehopper, and you can take this or leave this as you want.

Evan: Okay.

Tey: Uh, I think his next move is

Fitz: Let's actually wrap up the pod section. Yeah.

Tey: Back from spoilers.

Fitz: Back from so, uh, now that we've had our meeting for spoilers, uh, which we have just slapped out of this episode so fast. Thank you so much, Tey, for coming coming on here and truly giving our editing skills a run for their money with all the spoilers and joy we've shared. Oops! And also, thank you it's all, it's all bonus content and most importantly, thank you for helping us put the cryptid back in Unscrypted. I there. I remembered it this time.

Tey: Thank y'all. What a great time. What

Evan: Yeah.

Tey: How committed are y'all to switching up systems?

Evan: Um, we're, we're, we're heavily curious about it. We're heavily curious, because I, think probably by the, time that, that, you know, we're deep into Season 2, I, Daggerheart will probably be officially out.

Tey: And that's the one that you're you're thinking about? You're not thinking Tales of the Valiant or anything? I mean, that's not even really a shift.

Fitz: No.

Evan: I mean, it's, I think for this kind of storytelling, and, and I know from what I hear you talk about, and the kind of gaming you like to do, you're gonna flip over Daggerheart and I think it's also,

Tey: Oh, no! you're giving me an excuse

to

Fitz: Oh, no!

Evan: you're gonna flip, because it's, it's like, it's kind of all the best of D&D, and all the best of Blades in the Dark, and just, and it will lend itself really well to this kind of storytelling that we're trying to do.

Fitz: I mean, we may, I mean, we twist our arms and legs, we might just have to do a test run of it to see if it'll work before we commit.

Tey: That'll be fun.

Evan: I know, ooh ooh ooh, we could do Bud and Herb prequel adventures in the interim and test it out.