Christiana: Recent Episodes
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The Golden Nuggets face their fears as they pursue the wounded Flickerfly.
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Our players are once again drawn into the mists of Ravenloft as we continue our Curse of Strahd Death House adventure!
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We uncover all of the surprising similarities between Pixar’s “Luca” (2021) and Anthony Minghalla’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999)
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Fresh off of their audacious sniping of turf from the Ward Boss, inSPECTRE blows off some steam and discovers that The Strelai have called in Silhouette for a personal mission!
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The Golden Nuggets finally reach Reega’s home village, only to find it infested with locust-fish!
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Down a few players, we punt with a re-run of the beginning of “Death House” the opening adventure from Curse of Strahd.
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We play the delightful worldbuilding game: “A Land Once Magic” by Viditya Voleti
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Christiana and Mike discuss the current state of (what used to be?) the biggest franchise in the world!
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Scooping a job out from under their Ward Boss’s nose, inSPECTRE is moving up in the world.
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Another pass at playing Realis, now with the full Kickstarter Preview Version
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The Golden Nuggets descend further into the Plover Caves and do a little ooze hunting!
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The Golden Nuggets prepare for battle and their plans bear fruit against the sweet, but deadly, Papydra!
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Talking to Lord Scurlock was so stressful that our dashing criminals need to do a little bit more downtime before planning their next job!
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inSPECTRE does a little digging into the secrets behind the Blueraker rocket.
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The Golden Nuggets choose the better part of valor and go back for some clues they previously overlooked.
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Christiana and Mike dig deep into the themes of Inglorious Basterds and then choose love with Phantom Thread.
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The swinging scoundrels of inSPECTRE are ready for some downtime. They are NOT ready for Detective Booker Jaxon!
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The Golden Nuggets delve deeper into the Plover Caves and discover a cavern as bright as daylight!
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The gods are dead, and titanic divine corpses without number float in an empty void… We playtest the introductory adventure of Celestial Bodies, a Daggerheart Campaign Frame!
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So the swinging scoundrels of inSPECTRE were betrayed… Sometimes you just have to get back on the horse!
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We begin a playtest of a new Campaign Frame for Daggerheart: Celestial Bodies! A space setting where the only land is the petrified bodies of dead gods!
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We discuss the Oscar ceremony, the winners, and then discuss Hamnet, Wicked: For Good, Weapons, Elio, and Zootopia 2.
Next time: The Phantom Thread and Inglorious Basterds
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The Golden Nuggets descend some deadly underground rapids, and then make a new friend!
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The swinging scoundrels of inSPECTRE were set up and betrayed on their very first mission! Now they regroup, blow off some steam and start trying to figure out who is responsible.
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It’s a typical day for the Golden Nuggets; trudging through sewers, surrounded by giant spiders.
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The swinging scoundrels of inS.P.E.C.T.R.E. begin their first caper in our new campaign of Blades ’68
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With a new ally in tow, the Golden Nuggets reach a fork in the road.
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Down one member, the Golden Nuggets continue their mission deeper into the Plover Caves, only to be waylaid by bandits!
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We continue our Oscar journey with another pair of Best Picture Nominees!
Spoiler warning!
Train Dreams – Start – 24:40
Marty Supreme – 24:40 – End
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It’s a game of swingers and spies in this 60’s themed expansion to Blades in the Dark! Join us as we form a crew!
Blades ’68 is Crowdfunding!
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Fungus Zombies are invading Salt Brine Falls! Good thing the Golden Nuggets are on the job!
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We discuss the oscar-nominated films K-Pop Demon Hunters and F1!
Spoiler Territory –
K-Pop Demon Hunters: Start – 31:45
F1: 31:45 – End
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We kick off our annual Oscar marathon with deep dive discussions of One Battle After Another and Sinners!
Discussion contains spoilers!
One Battle After Another: 8:30 – 59:50
Sinners – 59:50 – End
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We conclude our wintery one-shot with The Northern Wind against their undead foe!
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The Winter Guardians have to save the day in this Wintery One-Shot!
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We do our best to make Terry Pratchett proud with a one-shot of “Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork“, featuring a trio from the Beggar’s Guild.
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We build a new party of “heroes” in Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork
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The Golden Nuggets try their luck at an underground cooking competition!
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The cooking competition begins and in Phase 1, the Golden Nuggets must hunt down their ingredients!
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A fun little one-shot adventure from the book Obojmia Tales from the Tall Grass
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Christiana and Mike catch up with Touch of Evil and Mutiny on the Bounty, then discuss the NYT’s new list of the Top 100 Films of the 21st Century!
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The Golden Nuggets prepare to attend a gala and a cooking competition on the morrow!
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The Golden Nuggets earn their keep with the Fungril of Salt Brine Falls, and plan to enter the upcoming festival cooking competition!
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The new ally of the Golden Nuggets guides them deeper into the Plover Caves and into a community of sentient fungi!
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The Golden Nuggets track their quarry through haunted ruins, but is there somebody following THEM?
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The Pocket Protectors reach their ultimate destination… The titan artifact known as The Pillar.
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A new party member joins the Golden Nuggets on their quest as they delve deeper into the Plover Caves in search of answers… and ingredients!
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The Pocket Protectors continue their fight against the now-infernal construct makers, with the Pillar itself looming near.
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The Golden Nuggets arrive at Manchego Manor to find it under siege!
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The Pocket Protectors continue their journey through the Pillar’s obstacles.
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Our heroes fight a giant bug and then investigate some food thefts in more Draw Steel
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The Pocket Protectors begin what may be their final adventure. They must confront ancient titan artifact known as The Pillar.
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We build a new party to continue the Draw Steel adventure: The Delian Tomb!
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The Pocket Protectors return home, reeling from a substantial loss, but with work yet to be done.
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We delve a bit deeper into the Delian Tomb with “Draw Steel” on So Many Levels
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The Pocket Protectors have defeated the Siphoner Queen, but something feels unfinished…
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Vanguard returns to Harbor Kids HQ and the team plots to take on The Influencer
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The Pocket Protectors attempt to stop the Siphoner Queen from ascending to godhood!
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We give the introductory adventure for “Draw Steel” a run to get a feel for the combat!
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The Pocket Protectors are dissatisfied with the Siphoners’ bargain, and they’re taking their complaints straight to the top!
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We dig into a Beantown Trio with three movies set in Boston! Good Will Hunting (1997), Fever Pitch (2005), and The Town (2010)
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The Harbor Kids have defeated Reaper’s minions, but now The Influencer is trying to ruin their reputations!
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Surely the Pocket Protectors making an agreement with the Siphoner Queen will have no downside… right?
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We build characters and a community for Green Ronin’s new TTRPG: Fifth Season – Role-Playing in the Stillness based on the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin!
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After defeating their biggest foe yet, the Pocket Protectors take a little time to decompress.
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We discuss a trio of movies written by Kevin Williamson in the 90’s… Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Faculty!
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The party makes the courageous decision to travel deep into the Plover Caves, to save their town from monsters.
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It doesn’t get any bigger than this! A gargantuan ooze wearing construct armor towers over the city of Emershem, and only the Pocket Protectors stand in its way.
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Our culinary adventurers attempt to bring the spicy scorpion paste back to town, but their path is treacherous.
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The Pocket Protectors are preparing for their greatest foe yet.
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We create a party and then begin a Daggerheart adventure with the Beast Feast Campaign frame!
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The Pocket Protectors seek to reclaim a powerful magical artifact. One problem… A kraken ate it.
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The Harbor Kids have been ambushed by what seems to be the minions of a long-dead villain!
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We venture into the cold vacuum of space with a quartet of space-set films! Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13”, Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine”, Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity” and Ridley Scott’s “The Martian”
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Having arranged an apparent alliance with the Siphoner Queen, the Pocket Protectors try to tie up some loose ends before taking on The Destroyer.
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The Harbor Kids have had a good run lately, but the specter of an old foe threatens to undermine their success.
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In anticipation of the long-awaited part 3, we get infected with 28 Days Later (2002) and 28 Weeks Later (2007)
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The Pocket Protectors are brought to an audience with the Siphoner Queen, where they are presented with a devil’s bargain.
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The Pocket Protectors seek another path through the deep roots of the world tree.
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The Harbor Kids struggle to save one of their own from the fiendish Lobstahman!
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The Pocket Protectors confront the dragon Cuprilmachus, who has been corrupted by the Siphoners!
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The Harbor Kids spend some personal time before a new aquatic villain emerges… or SUBmerges?
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We tackle a trio of kung-fu comedies with Shanghai Noon (2000), Kung-Fu Hustle (2004) and Kung-Fu Panda (2008)
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The Pocket Protectors delve deeper into the siphoner-infested roots of Emerit Arboris.
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We play “Mission Accomplished” by Jeff Stormer, adapted to our setting as a trio of construct makers try to get a deal made with a dragon.
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The Harbor Kids have prepared an unconventional gift for the Gunpowder Guardian.
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The Pocket Protectors descend through the roots of Emerit Arboris in search of the Siphoners.
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The Pocket Protectors learn the results… and consequences of their Wish spell.
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The Harbor Kids try to decompress and get their business in order before the next crisis hits.
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The Harbor Kids vacation their way across a sinister magical cruise ship!
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Christiana and Mike dissect a pair of 80’s comfort-food classics with “The Princess Bride” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.
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We have another side-story where a team of monster-hunters tries to track down the Dinuther Siphoners! (Playing Monster of the Week, this week!)
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The Harbor Kids advance their plans for “introducing” Elanil to Gunpowder Guardian via a big cake, but a zombie menace intervenes.
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Longarm Vanguard returns to the Harbor Kids HQ to find that they have a guest!
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We begin our new campaign of Masks: A New Generation by introducing our new team of teen superheroes: The Harbor Kids!
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We discuss the Oscar Ceremony, the winners, and then dig deep into the Best Picture winner: Anora!
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We create a new team of teen superheroes for a campaign of Masks: A New Generation, by Magpie Games.
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Our second update for the 2025 Oscar Marathon includes discussions of Emelia Perez, Inside Out 2 and Flow
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The Pocket Protectors visit a Bullywug village and meet some Aarakocra pilgrims in the Elemental Plane of Ooze!
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The Skeleton Crew must extract tens of thousands of modrons from the inside of a Beholder god!
We conclude our campaign of Planescape – Turn of Fortune’s Wheel!
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We updated our marathon progress with deep dives into Dune Part 2, The Substance, Conclave and Wicked!
Spoiler Discussions for:
Dune Part 2: 10:35 – 28:25
The Substance: 28:25 – 43:00
Conclave: 43:00 – 1:02:00
Wicked: 1:02:00 – to the end
Watch the YouTube version!
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We retire from a life of adventuring to start a tavern with “Stewpot – Tales from an Enchanted Tavern” from Evil Hat Games!
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Before The Pocket Protectors travel to the Elemental Plane of Ooze, they do a little magic item shopping!
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We play a Cypher System one-shot adventure called Nightmare in Mazatlan. Know that meme about how a samurai, a pirate, a victorian thief and a gunslinger could all exist at the same time?
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The Pocket Protectors bask in their victory and then entertain a slimy new offer.
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Christiana and Mike begin their annual tradition of seeing as many nominated movies as they can! In this episode, they break down the nominees and then finish with quick discussions of Alien: Romulus and Gladiator II!
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We play a one-shot of the quickstart for “Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork”
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We engage with a silly Star-Trekky game of Lasers and Feelings!
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The Skeleton Crew must do battle with the manifestation of evil corrupting the Modron March!
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We dig back into Paul Thomas Anderson’s filmography with a discussion of Punch-Drunk Love and Inherent Vice.
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We break into an Orc Mercenary Hideout with a one-shot from MCDM’s “Where Evil Lives”.
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The Skeleton Crew has finally found the missing modrons! But can the modrons be saved or are our heroes just trapped with them?
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The newly restored REAL Skeleton Crew make plans to reach the domain of the god of Beholders, by infiltrating the infamous Prison of Sigil!
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Videogames have been around long enough now for multiple generations of filmakers to try their hand at adapting them. We take a look at two of the franchises that have had more than one bite at the apple: Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat!
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Nothing like being invited to a heavenly ceremony in your honor, only to be ambushed by a cage fight for the fate of the universe.
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The Skeleton Crew finally confronts the person behind the missing Modron March!
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The Pocket Protectors accept a heavenly invitation, but what does the ruler of Mount Celestia have up her sleeve?
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The Skeleton Crew returns to the Fortune’s Wheel Casino for a confrontation.
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The Tashmian Special Taskforce finally confronts the Nightmare Dragon.
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The Skeleton Crew is betrayed by a seeming ally.
Watch this episode on YouTube! Or find others here: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristianaEllis
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The Skeleton Crew climbs up the interior of the The Spire, in search of R04M, the missing modron!
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The Nightmare Dragon task-force tries to free the friendly dragon Sitslebik from the nightmare energy’s control.
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The Skeleton Crew confronts the “Maiden of Misery”, tyrant ruler of Hopeless.
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We sit back with a couple of Hitchcock classics that begin and end Hitch’s “peak years”… Rear Window (1954) and The Birds (1963).
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A strike-force assembled by Friend of the Emperor Nelson Devereaux attempts to recruit the dragon Sitslebik to fight the Nightmare Dragon which has invated Villanocta.
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The Skeleton Crew infiltrates the Gate-Town of Hopeless on a mission to GET THEIR STUFF BACK!
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Half of the Skeleton Crew has been arrested! Can the party get back together to continue their destined quest?
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We play a game of “Nexus Books“: A Game of a Multidimensional Bookstore, Its Needy Customers & The Hardworking Employees Who Make It What It Is, by Sharang Biswas
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The Pocket Protectors are invited to a grand summit to decide what should be done about the many threats to their world.
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The Pocket Protectors delve deeper into the realm of dream, seeking a mysterious entity.
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The Skeleton Crew tries an unorthodox method of reaching the Automata Gate.
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We dive into the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, discussing their arc across the MCU.
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The Skeleton Crew makes their way to the law-abiding Gate Town of Automata, looking for the last piece of their Mosaic Mimir
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We walk through some of the early material and make characters for MCDM’s new TTRPG: Draw Steel
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The Pocket Protectors return to their friends in the flying castle, and then seek out a mysterious figure in their dreams.
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The Skeleton Crew desperately fends off an attack from the war-torn plane of Acheron.
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The Pocket Protectors regroup after their defeat of the Lord of the Pillarines, and then plot their next moves.
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The Skeleton Crew travels to the regimented gate-town of Rigus.
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The Pocket Protectors continue their desperate struggle against the Lord of the Pillarines.
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The Skeleton Crew helps solve a mystery of missing persons in the heaven-adjacent town of Excelsior!
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One of the Skeleton Crew’s allies has fallen. Can they find a place to resurrect her?
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The Pocket Protectors are under siege, desperately trying to shut down the Pillarine super-weapon.
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Christiana and Mike discuss a pair of classics, one a silent German scifi that has influenced dozens of filmakers, and the other an iconic spaghetti western. Metropolis, and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.
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An imposter has infiltrated the Skeleton Crew and is now trying to steal their walking castle!
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The Skeleton Crew has a murder to solve, and the suspects are real animals!
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The Pocket Protectors are in a race against time as they infiltrate the Pillarine Base to shut down their Doomsday device.
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The Pocket Protectors investigate the Pillarines and discover that all is not chill within their fortress.
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The Skeleton Crew meets a teenage godling who wants to party but is ready to make their problems into EVERYONE’S problems.
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The shield imprisoning Dinuther has been destroyed, and reality is tearing apart. What next for the Pocket Protectors?
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Christiana and Mike pull another pair of classics from the Sight & Sound list, Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950), and Carol Reed’s “The Third Man” (1949)
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The Skeleton Crew is headed to the gate-town of Sylvania, AKA Party City!
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The Skeleton Crew compete to be Heroes of the Day in Glorium, and then turn their thoughts to gold.
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We play a one-shot of the one-page TTRPG “Little Helpers, Witch is Dead” by Grant Howitt!
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The Skeleton Crew is headed for the battle-hungry gate-town of Glorium!
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The Skeleton Crew is fighting their way out of the sealed city of Curst!
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The Pocket Protectors have a colossal fight ahead of them, in the form of a gargantuan humanoid construct!
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Christiana and Mike do some heist research with the best heist franchise out there! Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen, and Ocean’s Eight
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The Pocket Protectors have reached the outskirts of the pillar, but um… It’s defended.
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A non-canon one shot game of the new edition of “For the Queen”!
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The Skeleton Crew receives a list of destinations they must visit, and they decide to start with the charming village of “Curst”.
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The Skeleton Crew attempts to oust a group of invaders from a mysterious castle in the Outlands
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Christiana and Mike revisit Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises
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The Pocket Protectors travel toward the mysterious titan artifact known as The Pillar
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Our reality-glitching adventurers are welcomed to a fancy magical casino while they wait to learn the reason for their invitation.
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The Pocket Protectors attempt to retrieve a magical artifact from a not-so-safe safe house.
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Our reality-glitching adventurers are guided through Undersigil in search of answers.
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In a Pashan one-shot, we play a game of Sexy Battle Wizards by Grant Howitt
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Our reality-glitching adventurers continue to explore the city of Sigil.
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We turn our eyes back to Villanocta for another low-level one-shot!
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Our amnesiac adventurers venture into the city of Sigil, and try to find their bearings.
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We begin a brand new campaign of D&D, with Planescape: Turn of Fortune’s Wheel
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The Pocket Protectors have escaped the construct-makers and the siphoners, but can they find a cause?
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We discuss, with spoilers, Elemental, Nyad, Society of the Snow, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1
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The Pocket Protectors try to get a night’s rest, but encounter some strange magic-eating creatures.
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The Pocket Protectors have found themselves in the heart of the enemy headquarters… ish?
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The epic and draconic finale to our Lightning’s Call mini-campaign!
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We discuss our first batch of nominated films, with spoilery discussions of Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of a Flower Moon and Oppenheimer.
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The Pocket Protectors have arrived in Dinuther, but are they already in over their heads?
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We run through a session 0 and build characters in the officially-licensed Cowboy Bebop RPG from Mana Project Studio!
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We discuss another pair of movies from the Sight and Sound Top Movies of All Time list, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and There Will Be Blood, and then introduce our 2024 Oscar Movie Marathon!
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With the Pocket Protectors otherwise occupied, another trio of adventurers is searching for a deadly hag.
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Our adventurers continue their exploration of the mysterious Lightning Keep.
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With a pair of new allies in tow, the Pocket Protectors finally confront The Adversary.
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The Pocket Protectors confront the corrupted shadow of Trandinel the Knight
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We begin a new mini-campaign as a party of adventurers accepts a quest to clear a mysterious keep of monsters.
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We play a one-shot of one-page TTRPG Goblin Punks Rule Okay by Grant Howitt!
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Christiana and Mike dig into Martin Scorsese’s extensive filmography with discussions of four Scorsese films that neither of us had seen before! After Hours, The King of Comedy, The Age of Innocence and Silence
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Trandinel the Knight and Rupeno the artificer have been on ice for too long. The Pocket Protectors are ready to wake them up!
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We bring our Apocalypse Keys campaign to a close with an epic battle!
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The monsters of DIVISION are desperately trying to solve the mystery of the missing kaiju, but so far answers elude them!
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The Pocket Protectors reconsider their options following a costly battle.
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First kaiju going missing, then zombie kaiju, now clones?!
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The Pocket Protectors have been trapped in a shifting labyrinth of tunnels! But who is responsible?
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The monsters of DIVISION travel to Island Zero where they have apparently misplaced a kaiju.
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Last time the Pocket Protectors traveled to Emershem, they went by airship and had lots of problems, but this time they’re going by train, so it should be fine.
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It’s a discussion of spy movies with Spy Game, Bridge of Spies, Three Days of the Condor and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
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The Empress Solomonia seeks to change the balance of power in Pashan, but the Pocket Protectors turn their eyes toward Dinuther.
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Empress Solomonia has made a big move in Pashan, creating a new wave of clerics and paladins to combat the nightmares.
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On a hidden island somewhere in the Pacific, they’ve managed to misplace a whole kaiju. Good thing the monsters of DIVISION are on the case!
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The Pocket Protectors can’t seem to leave the material plane for five minutes without somebody getting assassinated.
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We discuss movies which place food front and center, including the Pixar classic Ratatouille, the twenty-teens-feel-good Chef, the mysterious Nicolas Cage vehicle Pig, and the Dutch-language period piece Babette’s Feast.
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The Doomsday Clock is ticking and the body count is rising! Can our monsters solve the Manananggal Murders before it’s too late?
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Our heroes return, triumphant, to the Feywild, where they can finally rest easy. Still, there are plans to be made.
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A serial killer is targeting harmless monsters in the Philippines and DIVISION is on the scene to investigate.
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Our heroes teleported away from their confrontation with The Lady Despair, but seem to have veered off course.
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We continue our campaign of Apocalypse Keys with our monsters deployed to the Phillipines to hunt a dangerous serial killer… of monsters!
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It’s time for the Scare Stoppers, er… the Pocket Protectors, to confront The Lady Despair
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The world is saved… mostly. So it’s time for cleanup and debrief back at DIVISION.
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Our omen class monsters confront the harbinger of the Parasitic Library! Hopefully at least MOST of the world will be saved!
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Inspired by “The Last Action Heroes” by Nick de Semlyen, we watch a quartet of classic 80’s action flicks.
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We continue our mini-D&D arc with an investigation into strange tremors at a local park in Villanocta.
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The monsters of DIVISION try to solve the mystery of the Parasitic Library
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We dip our toes back into D&D with a one-shot in the city-state of Villanocta.
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We take another visit with the map-building game “The Quiet Year”
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The Pocket Protectors need to make one last big score in the Moon-Shadowed Sea
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Our heroes have secured a magical crown, but who shall wear it? Podcast Feed Direct Download
We discuss Dreamworks Animation’s short-lived 2D division, with a look at four of their five films: Prince of Egypt, Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Podcast Feed Direct Download
Nothing’s better for team-building than infiltrating a living extradimensional library, right? Right? Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our heroes risk their lives by attending a gala and trying to win a party game! Direct Download Podcast Feed
We’ve learned about our monsters, time to learn about their home-slash-employer. Podcast Feed Direct Download
We learn more about the history of Dinuther with a game of The Quiet Year Podcast Feed Direct Download
Christiana and Mike talk about the evolution of films based on the Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan. Podcast Feed Direct Download
A team of monsters works with the government to save the world… for now. We create characters for a new campaign of Apocalypse Keys! Podcast Feed Direct Download
Looking to win a rigged party game, our heroes seek out the previous winner. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our heroes learn more about their new allies, a magical crown and a big party! Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our heroes continue their underwater wandering with more Blades in the Dark. Podcast Feed Direct Download
We conclude our campaign with a battle for the Citadel itself! Podcast Feed Direct Download
Christiana and Mike tackle a pair of challenging arty flicks from the Sight and Sound Top 100 – Mulholland Drive and Beau Travail. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors AKA The Scare Stoppers get the crew together and search for some lost armor. Podcast Feed Direct Download
We take a look at the crowdfunding TTRPG Girl by Moonlight. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors AKA The Scare Stoppers begin their true investigation. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn confronts the Drought Elder. Podcast Feed Direct Download
We play the community-building, map-drawing RPG “The Quiet Year”!
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It’s a game of Roll for Shoes with new characters in the Moon-Shadowed Sea.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn seeks to thwart an entity from the Far Realm.
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The Pocket Protectors finally dip their toes into the Moon-Shadowed Sea!
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We check out a pair of excellent Baz Luhrman films and also a third one he made!
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The Order of the Golden Prawn investigates an extraplanar anomaly.
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The Pocket Protectors, in their new scoundrel personas, travel to the Moon-Shadowed Sea!
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The Keening Gloom is approaching the Radiant Citadel, but the Order of the Golden Prawn is on the case!
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The Order of the Golden Prawn has been buried alive! Or at least sealed underground involuntarily!
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We’re temporarily changing systems from D&D 5E to Blades in the Dark! In this session, we adapt our characters!
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Christiana and Mike discuss a trio of David Fincher films, including Fight Club, Panic Room, and Zodiac… but mostly Fight Club!
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The Pocket Protectors have earned the favor of the Arch-Fey, but what does that mean exactly?
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The Order of the Golden Prawn delves some ancient ruins in search of an Imperial Diary.
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The Pocket Protectors combat a nightmarish fungus in the Feywild enclave.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn takes care of business before their next mission.
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Christiana and Mike wrap-up the marathon with a discussion of the winners and then deep dives into All Quiet on the Western Front and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn descend beneath the sea in search of a haunted shipwreck!
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The Pocket Protectors fight some extraplanar tree parasites, but a darker secret lurks beneath the surface.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn must resolve a divine dispute.
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The Pocket Protectors do a little impromptu espionage and extraplanar exterminating.
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A trio of survivors hit the open road among kaiju, ufos and cryptids in Apocalypse Roadtrip, by Mynar Lenahan.
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Christiana and Mike continue their 2023 Oscar journey with a deep dive into a pair of great movies!
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The Order of the Golden Prawn is caught between a harsh theocracy and the rebels who seek to overthrow them.
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The Pocket Protectors return to the world-tree city of Emerit Arboris.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn is invited to the performance of a controversial play, but trouble is brewing under ground.
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Christiana and Mike dig deep on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar: The Way of Water, Elvis, and The Batman
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Nedri and Zinhorn have a night on the town and decide to play Parsely, by Jared Sorenson.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn looks for a corrupted dragon… to help.
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The Pocket Protectors do some shopping in the capital city of Pashan.
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Christiana and Mike begin their Oscar Marathon with in-depth discussions about The Banshees of Inisherin, Top Gun: Maverick and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
We do go into spoilers, so check out the time-codes below if you would like to skip ahead…
Introduction – 00:00 – 09:08
The Banshees of Inisherin – 09:08 – 50:10
Top Gun: Maverick: 50:10 – 1:01:40
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: 1:01:40 – 1:09:24
Wrap-up: 1:09:24 – End
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The Order of the Golden Prawn crosses a miles-long skybridge in search of a corrupted dragon.
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Christiana and Mike crossover with Shameless Cashgrab to discuss a real couple of stinkers.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn hunts down their nighttime assailant.
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The Pocket Protectors begin their journey to the Feywild, by way of Pashan and Emerit Arboris.
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Christiana and Mike discuss a pair of films from the Sight & Sound Top 100 List
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11Jan2023
Category: Plot
Prompt: 2 + Torture = 5
The whine of the machine was loud enough that it almost, but not quite, drowned out the man in the chair’s screams.
When the whine diminished, so did the pain, and the man in the interrotorture chair sagged, though the straps kept him upright.
“Had enough?” snarled the man in the uniform. “You can end this suffering, you know.” He gestured to the bare red lightbulb hanging over their heads. “All you need to do is tell me that this light is green.”
“Fine,” gasped the man in the chair. “It’s green.”
The man in the uniform frowned. “Wait, I don’t think you’re getting this.”
The man in the chair shook his head to try and clear his vision. He wanted to wipe his eyes but his hands were bound. “What do you mean? You just said to tell you it was green, so I am.”
“No,” insisted the man in uniform, annoyed now. “You can clearly see that the light is red, yes? Well, by torturing you, I’ll force you to say it’s green.”
After a pause, the man in the chair nodded. “Okay.”
“So what color is the light?” smirked the man in uniform.
“Green.”
The man in uniform pressed the button again, and the machine flooded the man in the chair with pain.
When the whine stopped, the man in uniform asked again. “You’re not getting this! What color is the light?”
“I’m getting some real mixed signals here,” shouted the man in the chair.
“It’s very simple,” said the man in uniform. “You and I can both see that the light is red, correct?”
“This seems like a trick question.”
“It’s not,” insisted the man in uniform. “Look, the light is red.”
“Um, you told me to say it was green.”
“Yes, but okay… Forget that for a second. Pretend I didn’t say anything about the light yet. What color would you have said the light was?”
“Green?”
“No, no, no!” screamed the man in uniform. “It’s red. It’s obviously red. Why in the world would we put a green light in the interrotorture room? Red is scary, it’s agitating, it’s intimidating. Green lights are soothing, calming. By forcing you to say that the red light is green is supposed to represent breaking your spirit and making you believe an obvious falsehood, and then there’s the symbolic representation of you stating that the red, which is associated with our brutal authoritarian tactics, is actually green, which would be good and peaceful! Get it?”
“Look, just tell me what color you want me to say the light is.”
“Green, of course!”
“Okay, so it’s green.”
The man in uniform pressed the button again.
When he could speak, the man in the chair said: “But I did what you said!”
“No, you see I want to make you do what I say.”
“I’m trying to do what you say!”
“I don’t want you to be trying to do it. I want you to be trying to resist but be forced to do it anyway!”
“Okay, then I’m resisting!”
“Good!” smirked the man in uniform. Then he pressed the button again. He held it down a long time.
When the man in the chair regained consciousness, the man in uniform glared down at him. “Now… What color is the light?”
“Is this a bad time to tell you that I’m colorblind?”
Tuesday 10Jan2023
Category: Plot
Prompt: Xanatos Speed Chess https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XanatosSpeedChess
Everything was going great until the grappling hook hit a guard in the face.
Calahan had surveiled the building on four separate 24-hour periods and there had never been a guard that even set foot on that balcony between 10PM and 2AM. Deirdre had hacked into the time-clock logs and determined that at this hour, the on-duty guards always did the first-floor route, and then the East Wing before even climbing to the second floor, much less the fourth.
And yet, when Tabitha fired her grappling hook, it did not clink-clank-clink into a secure hold on the wrought-iron railing. Instead, it hit some wild-card rent-a-cop in his stupid face.
That it hadn’t killed the man was apparent by his screams of pain. She couldn’t even retract the hook now because after rebounding from the surprise sentry, it then chose to neatly wrap around the railing, as though that would somehow make it all better.
“What’s happening?” whispered Calahan from her earpiece. “Who’s screaming?”
“Abort!” crackled Deirdre through the same speaker. “We’re blown!”
“It’s tonight or not at all.” Tabitha’s harsh whisper cut them both off. “We knew that, so watch me for the changes and just try to keep up, okay?”
The guard on the fourth-floor balcony was still screaming for help, but he wasn’t providing any useful intel. The other guards would have to get to him before they would know what was happening, and by that time, they wouldn’t be where they would have been before.
There was no point in climbing up to the balcony now, but she pulled herself ten feet or so up the rope and then began to walk herself side to side along the steep masonry wall, building up momentum like a kid pumping her legs on the swing set.
Tabitha the human pendulum soon found that, at the height of her arc, she could see over the compound wall. On her next pass, she let go of the rope and went up and over.
Between heavy breaths, she whispered into her headset. “Deirdre… Call the police!”
There was a polite pause.
“I beg your pardon.”
“Be a witness that saw someone try to climb the wall with a grappling hook, and then run away down 8th Street. Say you think you heard gunfire. Say that someone’s hurt and needs an ambulance.”
“Response time’s under a minute here,” muttered Calahan. “Place will have flashing lights all around it in no time.”
“They’ll come to this side of the compound and to the front gate. Half the guards will be coming to Mister-Nice-Night-For-A-Walk’s aid and the other half will be dealing with the cops.”
“You sure about that?” asked Deirdre.
“Call first, then sarcasm,” muttered Tabitha. She had dropped down into the courtyard and was currently skulking through the shadows toward the East Wing. The glass doors that looked out from the gallery were locked. “Calahan! Diversion 2 on three… two… one…”
As a half-dozen car alarms began to sound from the street outside, Tabitha attempted to smash through a pane of the glass door with her elbow. It didn’t break and now her elbow hurt.
“Um, I think I’m going to need Diversion 4 on three…”
“Diversion 4 was last resort!” cried Calahan.
“Two! One!” she hissed into her microphone.
In the meantime, she had hefted a decorative garden stone the size of a bowling ball, which bore a plaque stating: “In Memoriam: Hazel Dunwoody, who always found peace in this place.”
As Tabitha hurled Mrs. Dunwoody through the glass window, one of the alarming cars exploded.
Slipping inside the darkened gallery, Tabitha whispered again. “Hopefully that will hold their attention long enough to—”
She stopped speaking because she had just come face-to-face with a young-looking guard who had just emerged from the Men’s room.
As they stood there for a moment, the silence was broken by the coming whine of police sirens in the night air.
Tabitha mustered the will to speak first and shouted at him: “Why aren’t you at your post?!”
Monday, 09Jan23
Category: Setting
Prompt: Wretched Hive
The air was heavy with the smells of fried food and garbage. Just past the alley, ramshackle food carts sold dubious morsels which they had crisped beyond recognition, and their customers packed the street with sweaty, irritable traffic.
The crowd held an unusual appeal at the moment, because Kaya found the alley very lonely, but also uncomfortably intimate. It wasn’t the filthy puddles, piles of garbage or vulgar graffiti that gave it that last quality. Hell, the alley didn’t even have a name.
Instead, that unwanted closeness came from the mugger, who held her against the damp bricks of a burnt-out tenement with what felt like a dull blade pressed against her stomach.
Ironically, it had been her own financial difficulties that had kept her too distracted to notice him creeping up on her, but now she had the unpleasant task of explaining her frozen accounts to a man even more desperate than she.
“Look at the way you’re dressed!” he growled. “You trying to tell me you’ve got nothing?”
She was wearing what was once a quite nice faux-leather jacket and silk blouse over trim dark slacks. Thirty-six hours ago, she would have finished the look with some nice dangly earrings and a pendant necklace but that was pretty deep in the field of things that had recently changed.
“I could give you my clothes,” she said, “but believe me, the resale value isn’t worth the time it would take to get them off of me without ruining them.”
A startled gasp from the street drew her attention, as well as the desperation of her mugger. The knife’s edge pressed harder against her belly as the attacker turned to look at the disheveled and filthy young man stumbling into the alley.
He gaped at the two of them with the slow realization of the long-term glint-user. When the picture finally crystallized in the chemical soup of his brain, he stopped stumbling forward, muttered “Whoa, my bad”, and began stumbling back into the street.
”Listen,” she whispered, after the young man had gone. “If you let me off of this wall, I’ll prove what I’m saying and turn out every pocket for you. But then I want to talk you. I could use someone like you.”
“What do you mean?” Asked the mugger. His voice betrayed little, but the blade relaxed a bit against her stomach. She didn’t think she had been cut, but suspected she would find a new hole in the only top she had left.
“Look,” she said, “I don’t know your story, but I know how things are. I don’t get the impression you’re doing this for fun. So how would you like the chance to make some real money?”
Eyes narrowed, the bugger backed off a bit, still brandishing the knife, but no longer pinning her against the wall. “Get started on those pockets and then you can tell me what you’re talking about.”
She complied. Easy enough when she’d been telling the truth about having nothing. Meanwhile, he edged backward another step or two, blade at ready in case she pulled a weapon of her own.
“Satisfied?” she asked. “Then take a look up there.” She nodded across the alley, gesturing up at the skyscrapers on the horizon. “You see the big one with all the pretty lights? That’s where I lived just earlier this week and I know how to get inside the vault.”
When he turned to look, she ran.
His reply was unintelligible, but had the vibe of a good swear, and he started after her. She could tell he was only a few steps behind her and he had better shoes.
The end of the alley was obstructed by a narrow passage of moving foot-traffic and the substantial ass of a food cart vendor who faced the street.
At his feet was a plastic cooler which might have once been filled with ice, but now likely held his spare ingredients in a lukewarm soup. At a sprint, she placed one foot on top of the cooler and the next on top of the cart, heading up and over. The toes of her expensive flats dipped ever so briefly into bubbling oil before she pushed off hard, leaping into the crowd.
The cart was not as sturdy as she would have liked. It wobbled and flipped beneath her, sending her tumbling face-first into a pool of unwashed humanity, slamming first into a biker jacket and then sliding off of an old tweed coat that had been last washed at the original factory. Finally, the people gave way and she scraped her palms and elbows against the pavement.
Behind her, the overturned deep-fryer sent up dueling cries of pain and alarm from the erstwhile chef and mugger. The angry shouts of the people she had jumped on joined a chorus singing just one song.
“Time to go,” she muttered. Scrambling to her feet, she shoved her way through the crowd with vigor.
Good thing these people don’t know who I am, she thought. Then I’d really be in trouble.
Sunday, 08Jan23
Category: Characterization Device
Prompt: OOC Is Serious Business
“Harvey doesn’t whistle anymore.”
Katie stopped drawing and scrunched her nose up at him. “So what?”
Carson knelt down next to Katie on the cold concrete. She had seen some pictures online and was trying to replicate them, making it appear as though there were a cavernous pit in the middle of the sidewalk. From the right direction, you’d almost swear you could fall in. From Carson’s present angle, it looked like a movie when you got stuck in the very front row of the theater. You could kind of tell what it was supposed to be, but it was flat and distorted.
The December wind gusted across the cul-de-sac, and Carson tucked his hands beneath his armpits for warmth. “Like, what would it take for you to just stop drawing?”
Katie’s hands were pale where they weren’t blotched with kaleidoscopic chalk dust, but she bent over to resume her picture regardless. “Why would I stop drawing?”
“That’s my point. Something really big would have to happen to you for you to stop drawing, right? Like, something serious or sad or scary.”
“I mean, I guess so.” She said. She exchanged a pale blue for dark gray, and began to fill in a big section with heavy even strokes, the chalk scraping across the pavement with a regular shrrrrrk-shrrrk-shrrrrk. “But that’s different. I mean, drawing’s like a skill. It’s art. It’s what I want to do. Whistling’s just…” She paused her scraping to consider. “Whistling’s trivial,” she concluded, pleased with the vocabulary word. “He doesn’t even know he’s doing it half the time.”
“He’s not doing it at all anymore. Don’t you think that’s weird?” The frozen pavement sapped Carson’s body heat through the legs of his jeans, so he stood up and rubbed his knees.
Katie had solved that particular problem with hockey pads. “How do you even know he stopped? Maybe he’s just been doing it when you weren’t around.”
“I first noticed it on Tuesday, because we had basketball in gym, and he always does the Harlem Globetrotters song. Always. But on Tuesday, he didn’t.”
“Maybe someone made fun of him for it.”
“That’s never stopped him before. Anyway, I noticed it then, and then I guess I was already feeling like something was wrong, because it just felt… off. But I couldn’t figure out what it was. So I started paying attention to him, and I haven’t heard him whistle a note in the five days since then.”
Katie finished filling in one of the crevasse’s cracks, and then stood to examine her handiwork from the proper angle. “So okay, maybe something happened. Did you ask him about it?”
“I did. Right after school on Friday. I just laid it out: ‘Harvey, how come you stopped whistling?’”
He paused, and Katie scowled. “Well?”
“He said that he hadn’t stopped whistling. And then when I told him about the basketball and everything else, he said that I was imagining things. And then I kinda got mad, because he was acting like I was being stupid. Not even confused, but just like I was making some kind of stupid joke. So I told him to prove it by whistling right then.”
“How was that supposed to prove anything?”
“I don’t know, I was mad. But then he couldn’t do it!”
“Well, he probably didn’t like being told to whistle on command, but… Wait, did you say wouldn’t or couldn’t?”
“He tried, Katie!” Carson’s mop of hair was at the mercy of the winds, and his eyes glistened. “I saw him try to do it, and he couldn’t. He tried to pass it off like that, that he wasn’t going to do it just because I told him, but I saw him try, and I saw him look scared when it didn’t work.”
“Are you suggesting that Harvey forgot how to whistle?”
Carson chewed on his lower lip for a while, his cheeks and nose reddened from the cold. “I’m suggesting,” he said at last. “That he’s not Harvey.”
So here’s the plan. I decided I wanted to do some daily writing exercises to random prompts. For as long as I feel like it, I’ll try to write at least 500 words every day, inspired by a random prompt from the TVTropes Story Generator. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/storygen.php
That generator produces seven categories: Setting, Plot, Narrative Device, Hero, Villain, Character As Device, and Characterization Device. I don’t want to try to do all of those in 500 words, so the day of the week will determine the category for the day.
So let’s begin…
Saturday, 07Jan23
Category: Character As Device
Prompt: Number Two – https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NumberTwo
“Captain, the crew are worried. They—”
Captain Ankur pored over her charts as though her study could change them. She did not turn around at Rigella’s statement, but the clink of porcelain interrupted it all the same. Her teacup had vibrated just a little against the saucer; subtle but audible in the tiny metal cabin. “If you have questions about my orders, Stellis, spit them out. Don’t put them in the mouths of the crew.”
Rigella adjusted her collar, where the stiff fabric was clinging to the perspiration on her neck. “Permission to speak freely, Captain?”
The Captain turned to face her and leaned against the navigation table, folding her arms. “If this conversation must occur, Stellis, let’s have it quickly.” The bags under her eyes were darker, and her breath stank of unbrushed teeth.
“The crew are worried, Captain, but I share their concerns. The orders regarding that container are irregular and go against several of our usual cargo-handling protocols. That, on top of the triple-shifts and our classified destination…” Rigella trailed off. Though she had, in fact, begun to connect the dots, the only logical conclusion stuck in her throat.
“I suppose engineering has the usual complaints about the engines as well.”
“They do, Captain, but that’s not why I’m here.”
Delsie Ankur’s jaw was set, her eyes bloodshot and bored. “Say it, then.”
“Are we headed for the Eltic homeworld, Captain?”
Captain Ankur held her stare for a moment, then blinked. She turned away, seeking out her teacup to cover the broken eye contact. She cradled it in both hands, sipping before she replied. “That’s classified, of course, but you think we are. That’s why you’re here?”
“I’m here because I fear that secrecy is being used to hide an illegal mission from the crew.”
“And if that were the case, Lieutenant…” The Captain paused, taking the occasion to finish what remained of her tea in one big swallow. “If that were the case, don’t you think that would be for the best?”
“Captain?”
“If we were, in fact, carrying out an… illegal mission,” she coated the word with contempt, “would it be preferable to order the crew to carry out that illegal mission, with the full knowledge of the implications? Do you think that would produce the best outcome?”
“The crew is required to refuse an illegal order, Captain.”
“And suppose that mission, while illegal, was necessary. What then?”
“And you, Captain, are required to refuse an illegal mission.”
Captain Ankur attempted to place her teacup onto the saucer once more, but the tremor was worse now, and she sent the teacup and saucer together tumbling to the floor, where they shattered.
“Damn,” whispered the Captain, but she left the pieces where they lay, gripping the edge of the map table with white-knuckled hands.
Rigella resisted the urge to soothe the Captain’s distress or clean up the mess. Neither were her fault or responsibility.
Instead, she fought her weary muscles and sweat-slicked uniform to stand at attention.
In the silence of the tiny metal cabin, the ship’s engines whined through the floor, and the Captain’s breath was strained and uneven.
“Are we having that conversation then, Rigella?”
“Is that conversation necessary, Captain?”
“If it’s not us, it will be someone else.”
“That is out of my jurisdiction, Captain. I only have authority on this ship, and it is subordinate to yours…”
The captain was looking at the broken teacup. “Except under certain conditions,” she finished.
“Yes, Captain. Have those conditions been met?”
Captain Ankur stood up, adjusted her cap, and met Rigella’s gaze. “Not today.”
“Orders, Captain?”
“Yes, Lieutenant. Tell the crew to eject that container into space, and then get me command on the line.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Does this assuage your concerns, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Good,” she said. “Dismissed.”
A sudden flood may have a supernatural origin, but The Order of the Golden Prawn is on the case!
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The Pocket Protectors bargain with some deep-sea salvagers.
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The Order of the Golden Prawn confronts the source of Tletepec’s increased volcanic activity!
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The Order of the Golden Prawn confronts the source of Tletepec’s increased volcanic activity!
The Patron of the Pocket Protectors shares his chilling tale, and the group discusses how to steal from a foe that can see the future.
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The Patron of the Pocket Protectors shares his chilling tale, and the group discusses how to steal from a foe that can see the future.
Christiana and Mike try to choose between Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers.
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Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers… Can you pick just one? Christiana and Mike give it a try.
The Pocket Protectors have a new quest in front of them, but first they’ve got to dredge up some undead dragon armor.
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The Pocket Protectors attempt to retrieve the remains of the Hollow Dragon, and plan their next moves.
Lin makes a psychic connection, and a crew of hoods try to carry off a heist, Roll for Shoes style. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn investigate the cause of increased volcanic activity. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn travels to volcano-stricken Tletepec! Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn join a pair of princes in a rescue attempt for some trapped miners. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors make a new friend and fight a new enemy. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn embarks on a new adventure to the Sensa Empire. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors seek answers from an ancient sorceress, and then make plans for their next steps.
Christiana and Mike rank the movies they’ve watched since the original AFI List. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Strange mists and monster attacks nobody remembers? Sounds like a challenge for the Order of the Golden Prawn!
Strange mists and monster attacks that nobody can remember? Sounds like a challenge for the Order of the Golden Prawn. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors are back and it’s time to confront their longtime nemesis Tanglefoot. Podcast Feed Direct Download
We dive into the Muppets legacy with a selection of their feature films. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn joins the Shieldbearers and spends some downtime before traveling to Yeonido for Sins of Our Elders. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn spends some downtime in the Radiant Citadel, and then visits the land of Yeonido for the Level 6 adventure “Sins of Our Elders”
The Order of the Golden Prawn learns all about the “Wages of Vice” Podcast Feed Direct Download
A demon-worshipping politician is on the run in the conclusion of “The Fiend of Hollow Mine” Podcast Feed Direct Download
A pilot and their magical automaton are on the run in the conclusion of our game of HOUNDs by Possible Worlds Games! Podcast Feed Direct Download
HEARTholomew continue their search for The Pillar in a continuation of our game of HOUNDs by Possible Worlds Games
The Order of the Golden Prawn continues their Journey through the Radiant Citadel with “The Fiend of Hollow Mine”! Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Order of the Golden Prawn continues their Journey through the Radiant Citadel with “The Fiend of Hollow Mine”!
The Order of the Golden Prawn continues their journey with the level 4 adventure: “The Fiend of Hollow Mine” Podcast Feed Direct Download
Join us for Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel on #SoManyLevels! In this session, The Order of the Golden Prawn begins the Level 4 adventure: “The Fiend of Hollow Mine”
We peek beneath the Dinutherian bubble with a game of HOUNDs by Possible Worlds Games! Podcast Feed Direct Download
We peek inside the Dinutherian bubble and play a game of HOUNDs by Possible Worlds Games!
Our new cadets continue their education in Spelljammer Academy! Podcast Feed Direct Download
We run a new group of cadets through orientation at Spelljammer Academy! Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors battle a temple guardian and search for answers below. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Twitch Video Link The Pocket Protectors fight off one of the defenders of the Temple of Marushka, and then finally find some answers?
We continue our journey with the level 3 adventure “Written in Blood” Podcast Feed Direct Download
We conclude our look at Tom Cruise’s career with his films since 2000, focusing on Minority Report, Collateral and American Made. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our new adventurers begin the Level 3 Adventure “Written in Blood” (Part 1 of 2) Our new adventurers begin the Level 3 Adventure “Written in Blood” (Part 2 of 2)
We conclude our series on Tom Cruise with his career since 2000, focusing on Minority Report, Collateral, and American Made
Our brand new band of adventurers tries to solve a mystery in the Din Singh Night Market! Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our new party of adventurers continues the Salted Legacy adventure from Journeys through the Radiant Citadel.
The Pocket Protectors delve deeper into the temple, but what has become of Zaelien? Podcast Feed Direct Download
We continue our investigation of Tom Cruise’s career with a look at his films of the 90’s, focusing on A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia. Podcast FeedDirect Download
Christiana and Mike continue their series on Tom Cruise with a discussion on his career in the 1990s, featuring A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia
We begin a brand new D&D campaign with WOTC’s Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel! Podcast Feed Direct Download
We build characters and then begin a brand new campaign of Journeys through the Radiant Citadel!
Tanglefoot is loose in the Temple of Marushka and the Pocket Protectors must follow! Podcast Feed Direct Download
Three Movies and Two Activities: (Contains no spoilers) Thor: Love and Thunder Magnolia Nope Seafood Boil Radiant Citadel
All heck breaks loose in the climax to our campaign of ROOT! Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors begin their exploration of the temple and the subterranean passages below…
The Pocket Protectors are attacked outside the Temple of Marushka Podcast Feed Direct Download
Arban has been challenged to a duel by a vindictive duke, and the duke’s second is Nigel’s long-lost boyfriend! Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors attempt to infiltrate an illicit temple-raiding operation. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Christiana and Mike open up a series where we’ll be examining the career of Tom Cruise. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our vagabonds are in a pickle! Arban has been challenged to a duel to the death by a vindictive duke, and the duke’s second is Nigel’s long-lost boyfriend!
Christiana and Mike begin a series on the fascinating career of Tom Cruise, with two movies, from the same year, that offer a world of contrast: Rain Man and Cocktail
Things seem to be going well for our vagabonds. I don’t trust it. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Christiana and Mike dive into the deep well of Sam Raimi’s career. Podcast Feed Direct Download
I’m talking about… movies. Specifically, the forgettableness of Oz, the Great and Powerful
General Impressions on Obi Wan and Ms. Marvel, and a mini-review of Raimi’s “Crimewave”
The Pocket Protectors are reunited with their friends and patron. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our vagabonds have tested their cure for the crop blight, but will the Marquisate Count approve? Podcast Feed Direct Download
In this dreamlike interlude, we play “Death was the Only Road Out of Town” by Grant Howitt and Alex Roberts Podcast Feed Direct Download
As a campaign interlude, we play “Death was the Only Road Out of Town” by Grant Howitt and Alex Roberts! — Check it out here! Death Was the Only Road Out of Town Part 1 Part 2
Christiana and Mike dig deeper into David Lean’s filmography. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors seek to solidify their new alliance, and then go shopping. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our vagabonds try to cure a crop blight and also investigate a creepy old treehouse! Podcast Feed Direct Download
https://youtu.be/ORFQPl9Ld80 The Kids in the Hall aren’t really kids anymore, but they are still in the hall.
Our vagabonds venture into the Marquisate-occupied clearing of Patchwood. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Spoiler-Free mini-review of Doctor Strange 2 and a little bit of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
The Pocket Protectors dive back into the fungus, hoping to rescue their infested neighbors. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors mount a rescue of hostages in demonic fungus! Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors attempt a rescue of some of the people lost in the evil fungal forest.
W100M – Robert Zemeckis Special (Podcast) We discuss the films of Robert Zemeckis, with a focus on Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit Podcast Feed Direct Download
It’s a Robert Zemeckis special! Robert Zemeckis is on the AFI Top 100 list for Forest Gump, but what about some of his other classics? We discuss Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
It’s time for the Pocket Protectors to right a wrong… by jumping into a bunch of fungus! Podcast FeedDirect Download
The Pocket Protectors have been arrested! What secrets will be uncovered during the interrogations?
Our vagabonds investigate the source of contaminated flour, and procure medicine for their ailing comrade. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our vagabonds investigate a shipment of poisoned grain, and make a run into the woods for crucial medicine.
The Pocket Protectors have been invited to a midnight meeting. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Christiana and Mike conclude their 2022 Oscar Marathon with a discussion of the winners! Podcast Feed Direct Download
Christiana and Mike Wrap-up their Oscar Marathon and discuss the winners and the telecast.
The Pocket Protectors try to run some errands and do some research in Emerit Arboris. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our vagabonds attempt to solve a poisoning in Pinehorn and then attend a sit-down with the Corvid Conspiracy. Podcast Feed Direct Download
Our vagabonds try to locate the cause of some poisonings and then have a sit-down with the Corvid Conspiracy!
Christiana and Mike update their marathon progress and then dig into Belfast, CODA and West Side Story. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors uncover the Eternal Waltz’s dark side. Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Vagabonds travel to Pinehorn, hoping they haven’t kicked the hornet’s nest. Podcast Feed Direct Download
A New Week and “The Worst Person in the World” Note: “The Worst Person in the World” was nominated for “Best Foreign Film” and “Best Original Screenplay”
Our Vagabonds, now officially the “N-Team”, arrive in the new clearing of Pinehorn, hoping to hear some good news.
The Pocket Protectors have found an infinite party dimension. Time to celebrate? Podcast Feed Direct Download
Christiana and Mike update their progress and then dig deep into The Power of the Dog, and No Time to Die Podcast Feed Direct Download
The Pocket Protectors have found their way into an infinite party that just might be too good to be true.
We play a game of “Greetings From ______” a map-drawing, worldbuilding game! Check out the TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Texas bundle! And you can find “Greetings from _____” on Itch.io!
The Pocket Protectors must cross the Cinder Wastes to reach the City of Brass, but first… We need to talk about Buster.
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The Pocket Protectors set off across the Cinder Wastes, but an unexpected detour may delay them.
Christiana and Mike dig deep into “Don’t Look Up”, “Dune”, “Nightmare Alley”, and “Encanto”
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Follow along on our Spreadsheet!
It’s murder most fowl in Windgap Refuge, but our vagabonds are on the case!
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We update our marathon progress and then dig deep on “Don’t Look Up”, “Dune”, “Nightmare Alley” and “Encanto”
Discussion Timecodes:
Don’t Look Up – 2:15
Dune – 19:55
Nightmare Alley – 30:20
Encanto – 53:15
It’s Murder Most Fowl in Windgap Refuge! When a local crimelord is found dead, our Vagabonds are on the case!
A little bit of Elden Ring and Root the Roleplaying game, and then a mini-review of “Don’t Look Up”
Christiana and Mike inaugerate their 2022 Oscar Marathon with a rundown of the nominations!
Follow along on our Spreadsheet!
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The Pocket Protectors have been commanded to cleanse the nightmarish corruption from a red dragon.
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I’m excited about my Root Loot!
(I received my Backer Rewards for Root: The Roleplaying Game from Magpie Games)
We run down the 2022 Oscar Nominations and plan to see a bunch of ’em!
Follow along on our Spreadsheet!
Our battered and bruised Vagabonds have arrived at the quiet mountain clearing of Windgap Refuge.
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Our Vagabonds have traveled to the remote mountain town of Windgap Refuge, where mysteries are afoot.
The Pocket Protectors infiltrate a fiery workshop in order to… HELP a red dragon?
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NOTE: After recording, we discovered that there is an audio issue where the players cannot be heard. We do have backup audio which will be made available on the podcast feed sometime before the weekend. We will update this post with the link as soon as it is available.
The Pocket Protectors make a new friend, and then infiltrate a fiery lair in order to… checks notes… HELP a red dragon?!
The Pocket Protectors have made friends in the elemental plane of Fire!
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Our vagabonds are caught between a platoon of Grand Duchy soldiers and their fearsome Captain!
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On the Elemental Plane of Fire, the Pocket Protectors meet their new allies and learn of an insidious threat.
The Pocket Protectors are stranded in the Elemental Plane of Fire!
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Our Vagabonds are stuck between a full unit of the Grand Duchy’s mole soldiers and their fearsome captain!
Our Vagabonds have one task remaining in Ironvein. They must place a mysterious idol given to them by a magic stag. Should be fine!
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We give the Pocket Protectors a break with another Roll For Shoes one-shot back in Pashan.
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Our daring vagabonds sneak back into a heavily guarded town to carry out a mystical task for a mysterious stag. It doesn’t go great. We’re playing ROOT the RPG!
We get the crew together for a suicide mission with Once More Into the Void from Sword Queen Games.
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With the Pocket Protectors lost in the Elemental Plane of Fire, we return to Pashan for another interlude, playing “Roll for Shoes”
What do a bunch of kids get up to with a duplication machine? We’re playing Tales from the Loop, the RPG!
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https://youtu.be/e-1aO1tQABY
Visiting a Neighbor, A Nervous Dog, and A New Graphic Card
The Pocket Protectors face down an efreet from the elemental plane of fire.
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With the Empire at their backs and a prideful efreet in their face, the Pocket Protectors are in the hot seat!
It’s the 80’s but with more robots and super-science. We’re playing Tales from the Loop!
The video Nobilis refers to at the end is The Banach-Tarski Paradox.
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An introduction to the Tales from the Loop RPG! (Also Part one is a short video because technical issues forced us to restart the stream 10min in. Part 2 contains the rest of the session.)
Part 2!
After multiple false starts, I finally manage to record a video about the James Webb Space Telescope, Laptop Issues, Leverage and Tick Tick Boom. Merry Christmas and Happy Saturday!
Deep within the observatory, one of the Pocket Protectors’ most dangerous artifacts has been stolen.
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As the Pocket Protectors try to get a long rest, one of their most dangerous magical artifacts has been stolen!
Christiana and Mike compare Christmas-central movies against Christmas-adjacent movies.
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We talk about the trappings and themes of Christmas-Central versus Christmas-Adjacent movies.
The Pocket Protectors have a lot of problems on their hands as they continue to dig up the observatory’s secrets.
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The Pocket protectors explore and discuss their feelings about this ancient observatory / super-weapon.
The Pocket Protectors explore the secrets of this broken-down magical observatory/superweapon.
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The Pocket Protectors continue to explore the still-partially-functional ruins of an ancient magical laboratory.
After a thrilling heist and a tense standoff, our Vagabonds have to decide what to do with their haul of classified documents!
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Fancy Dinner and Court of Blades for Charity
You can find the Court of Blades game at http://bagofgiving.com
The Vagabonds pulled off their heist, but now Ironvein is on high alert. What else can they do to thwart the Duchy’s plans?
Bag of Giving, and Root (RPG and board game)
The Bag of Giving game will be at 1PM Eastern (05Dec) right here: https://twitch.tv/ArvanEleron
The Pocket Protectors begin searching the Observatory for clues to the repair of their friend Sequential.
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The Pocket Protectors explore the mysterious Observatory Workshop.
So Many Levels is also available as an audio podcast!