Critical Role & Sagas of Sundry - Quests N’ Answers | Inside Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode Ep. 1

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Welcome to Quests N’ Answers, the companion series to Sagas of Sundry: Goblin Mode. ***Spoilers ahead for episode 1*** Hosted by Dan Casey, you'll go behind the dice (and behind the scenes) with gamemaster Amy Vorpahl and fellow cast members Danielle Radford and Jason Nguyen. Discover a bit of what went into the creation of Episode 1: No Place Like Hole. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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with low prices guaranteed on soil and mulch. Dig into Spring Garden Deals for four days at the Home Depot. Now through May 10th. Exclusion supply, see Home Depot.com slash price match for details. Hello and welcome to sagas of sundry requests and answers where we take you inside the latest and greatest in the world of Goblin Mode. You just watched episode one, presumably, if you haven't, go no further because spoilers ahead. We're gonna talk all about the episode that just happened,

everything that you may have just watched or listened to, so this is your last warning, because otherwise it's kind of on you. I'm Dan Casey and I'm joined once again by the amazing team that we have here. I'm Danielle Radford. Hi, hello. Amy Forpal. I'm Jason Wynn.

All right, so that was a hell of a first episode. That was so fun y'all. That was so fun. I love that. I am just so thrilled to finally be exploring this weird wild world with our little band of just strange creatures and creeps. Yes. So Amy, I want to start with you.

What was it like for you when you were sort of putting the initial ideas for this world together and starting to play in this sandbox? Do you have a favorite thing that you got to bring to life in this episode? In this episode, yeah. I mean, I just like the idea that you all, all have a home and I start you out with nothing, period. Like completely it taken away. So I love that initially it's, you know, just a little skill check thing of seeing what you even would do.

You know, there's a version where you climb out of the pit and it's, I mean, it's still desolate. But I love that it started off really lighthearted, you know? Like, you're minions. You don't know all that happened. It's like, oh, adventurers left and probably succeeded somehow, but like, it wasn't until later that the weight of it hit you. So I just, I think that's what I liked bringing to life was like, one, the characters, a little skill check, and then kind of hitting you a little bit over the head with some loss. Yeah, definitely a lot of loss in this episode. Yeah, I mean, I also just liked at the beginning that we get that little taste of, was it the yesterdusters?

Yeah, the yesterdusters. If I ever find Kathy and the other names, they're getting that. They're probably gonna kill me because we're very low-law. Yeah, they were fun to build because I imagine, I was like trying to make, you know, earnest people, earnest adventurers, but also a little bit annoying so that minions would be like, screw those guys, you know?

I love us and that type of thing that adventurers actually do say to each other in D&D games. And it's like, well, what if those people actually overheard you? And it was like, you just took out my entire family. Yeah. Like I love us. We're so friends. It was friendship, like, friendship along the way type stuff.

And the meetings would be like, yeah, they're dead. I'm going to go get him. Yeah, meanwhile, like, Tipi's got like a jar full of his dead best friend. It's like, yeah, we would love to yours. That you bottled him up, which had him in a mustache. And his mustache, he just, you know, couldn't let it go. And Tippy keeps things. That's his big problem.

He likes to gather and collect things. And why not his dead best friend? Including problematic gelatinous cubes. You know. For sure, very problematic. Right. Probably good than he found at first. Maxwell.

Oh, when you were painting, scene painting Maxwell, which I had not seen painted for you, you took that on yourself and you painted him as an offensive boomer character. You know, all-fashioned. Just because he has a mustache and a top hat, I'm like, nothing good is coming out of his mouth, for sure. Oh, do you know.

Michigan J. Frog as soon as this camera stops rolling. Like, what if the Monopoly Man was alive now? He'd say something, not. not cool, you know. Hey, Mr. Peanuts, you're getting with the times. Like, that's a chance. That's true. I really was, I was like, gosh, is there a way

that he could be alive so I can reward this? And I was like, what am I thinking? Why would I reward this? I wanted that so bad. I know, I know. Yeah, I mean, you all had already mentioned Gobi being a bit of a slur. Just wanted to check?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm cool with it. Yeah, like, questionably, questionably offensive. And so I was like, well, maybe I come in hot with that. But yeah, essentially, I was like,

I was like, thank goodness he's dead. I took that as Tippy just messing with us because we're very gullible skeletons. No, it was genuine. I took it, but yeah. I tried carefully moving forward. Yeah, we'll limit the amount of talking you get to do. Everybody I mean, isn't it?

Guys, this really problematic new character. All right, so we know that, we know that Tippy is someone who likes to hoard a lot of things. One thing I really liked about Busy is that she has these deep professional aspirations, but she's also kind of like anxious or nervous to act on them. So tell us a little bit more about Busy and where that's coming from. So Busy obviously suffers from imposter syndrome, right? Of course, so Busy's like very, you know, if this was, you know, a 90s kind of world,

unfortunately, I love Busy, she doesn't have her girls, but if she was like, you know, an independent skeleton of the 90s, like that's her, her, like, track. is like she, it's something that I'd spoken about with Amy when I was creating the character is that like, it's, when you think about the fact that you are essentially a prisoner in this, like you don't, you're a minion, like you don't have agency, and so you find things that you can control. And it's like, well, if I'm going to be like a prisoner, like not have agency,

then I'm going to be the best at it. Anybody ever was. I'm going to get to sit. I'm going to get to sit at the right hand. of Eun-zug and then maybe I will, because I can be the boss, I tell the people, I tell you what boots to lick, I'd do that now. And so, Busy very much wants to be,

you know, she aspires to be nothing more than the assistant to the regional manager. That is like what she is looking, what she's like looking to get out of, out of all that. And that's why so much of it is like, no, we're gonna find Unzug. And when we find Unzug, then gonna be so impressive,

by me that I might get a day off, can you imagine? And Phibbs cannot imagine that. It's just like, we were reborn, resurrected into a life of constant toil in the service of this necromancer. And as far as Phibs is concerned, wow, what a blessing.

This is the best possible thing he could have asked for, day in, day out with all of his pals, like doing all of this, like, random work for this sort of unclear end to benefit this dark lord who he's only seen from a distance. Yeah, I love this world and it's going to be very exciting to see how they move forward now that they're like the structures that have given their lives purpose,

or at least given their life's structure, have dissipated. Well, I think a big theme of just even the kind of overall idea of Goblin Mode is that you're all characters, and as I said before, like your video game code. So as far as agency, Danielle, like you said, as far as agency is concerned, it doesn't exist. Like, there's no agency. Now, the story, though, is that you are player characters, which means you are heroes in your own right, which means there is going to be a shift of agency, and we've already seen it.

We spent 20 minutes trying to tip over a freaking, like cowtip, a memory. Worth it. Mimsy had a cup. Mimsy had a cup. Mimsy needed a little humble. Yeah, that's also a surprise for me too. When I'm planning characters, I'm like, oh, they have some version of a backstory for sure,

but the tone that you take with them, like, oh, I had no idea there would be so much ire. Oh, with Mimsy. Mimsy is right. I like the mix, though, because I like that there's a character who's all about in Zieg. And Phibbs is, I feel like so, like, is it simple pleasures, or is it like,

What's like, what's Fibs, like, what's going through Fibbs' mind, I want to know. Phibs thinks that Unzug is the greatest, he's the most powerful dark lord of all time. He's really impressed by him and wants to be like him. That's why he's been trying to, yeah, he's like aspirational, like, wow, I was like lucky enough to be drafted into this never-ending skeleton war in his service. But like, I wonder if I one day could exceed my station and learn to do some of the incredible necromanic feats that he does. If I'm a product of necromancy, maybe that will give me a way in. Like, he's curious. He's, like, hungry to learn more, but kind of nervous to step out of lockstep in a different

way than busy is. Like, he doesn't want to be, he doesn't want to, like, I don't think he wants to be the dark lord. He just wants to do some of the cool stuff that he knows the dark lord can do because he's like, that is really impressive. And, like, I wonder if I could be impressive someday as well. Like to you, he's like a gold medalist. Yeah, he's just like the greatest.

He's the Michael Jordan of being an evil necromancer. Yeah, that's great, because Tippy's the opposite. Tipy's afraid. He's motivated by fear. Everything scares him. And I think he thinks Eun-Zug will kill him like on-site. Greetings, adventurers. Spring has sprung here in Los Angeles,

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Critical Role for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash critical role. I think Unzu would probably kill all of us on site. That was my big worries that we were going to encounter Unzu. Yeah. And who knows, we might still at some point. The campaign's young. We might find him and have a reckoning with our role model slash boss

slash object of abject fear. Was there anything that we did, Amy, that totally threw you for a loop or you're like, I'm going to kill these guys? Um, like almost. No, I would say, like, especially for a first episode, like my whole thing for the audience and for you all is knowing that, okay, so your und deaths are very new. Um, you're learning about the lore of the world along with the audience. So I'm doing a, I know I'm doing a lot of setup. And that's, that's, that's on purpose. Um, as far as doing things, I will say I didn't, I, when I said you're right above the spider's layer, I did not.

expect it to you'd be like, well, then let's just dig our way out of it. I thought we were going to climb out for sure. I also thought, I'm just going to climb out. I put little switches on the wall. Like it would be hard to do, but you could rock, you know, switch climb your way out of that. And then it was like, no, no, obviously a tunnel while I balance on the shoulders. Like that's just very funny to me. So nothing that screwed the pooch.

No, I will say that there have been stuff that you have done that I've written down to make either more or less important slash, well, more important slash morph in some way to punish you. But we'll see how that transpires. It's just that, yeah, overall, what I'm mostly very, very happy about is to really finally, like, meet these characters. I know we had a session zero, but even that was, I mean, it was such a first time of everything that this is like, now you have your powers, you're level one, you have your classes,

you have, I don't know, the categories that you're fitting yourselves into within, in a group setting. And it's really fun to see. It's fun to see you all support each other in grief, but also support each other in Iron Umbridge. And yeah, just get into some shenanigans. Yeah, I'm excited to see what the next session holds.

Well, what was it like? I want to know what it was like for all of you when you sent me some really cool character backgrounds, and then you kind of woke up, I know Dan and, Dan and Jason you were given kind of a minute to work through to process some stuff, but what was that like?

Oh, in terms of... Your best friend's dying, basically. And both I work! Immediately dealing with the loss of my best friend, my one lifeline down in this never-ending skeleton hell, it was pretty chill. I had a great time. I actually thought that was like a quite emotional scene.

I know. I was like, I saw it as getting tears in your eyes. Because like, you know, when you, I think you said something like you didn't deserve. of that. And I was like, damn. It was, I was trying to like, I know, like, with this, I like it a lot because we

are definitely, I think, hitting like a comedic tone at times, but I like that there's space for these more serious moments because they're not just cartoon characters. They are these characters that we've created and trying to give them interiority and, like, a feeling that they've been lived in. They didn't just appear one day out of

thin air. And for me, it was just like, I really liked the questions that you had us answer in terms of building these characters, in terms of thinking through aspects that, okay, I might not have paused to think through who was like Fibbs's lifeline down here. And I like the idea that it was just this spider who, telepathic or not, like, just he could, not trauma dump, but just have someone to talk to who would just be like, okay, sure, skeleton man, who's talking to me, like, why not? And I, but then I liked the turn that it took. it was just definitely

I was not expecting to deal with that so quickly I thought like oh cool maybe I'll meet Blood Weaver at some point and like she'll be my familiar or something like that but instead I have Loof instead and I love her already yeah yeah I it's interesting because I as you're

just like well yeah why don't you say what it was like to no I mean it was it was I actually felt like quite sad and it was like such a horrific death for somebody who was like my bestie. So yeah, it like really moved me.

I mean, both of those scenes, like, we're really moving. It's, yeah, I was going to say it's like, it's nuts to, well, oh, I don't know what I want to say, but it's like, I want to get, you know, those questions for the backstory, like, where your characters come from. The reason I ask that one specific question is like, who, not, I don't know how I ask it, but it's like,

who's your lifeline or who do you actually know, is because, not saying you do this, but I've been in campaigns with players where a lot of them will go, everyone's dead. Everyone's dead and I'm traversing the world alone and I'm an orphan and it's like, sure, but you're not in a vacuum.

Like certainly at some point, like you came across someone. But I could also see the tendency as we're building out this kind of trope of minions in a dungeon that it would be like, oh no, like if I'm video game code, then all I have is my one, two, three,

I step, I sit on the chest, and then I stand up and I move around and I look left. I look like I have my orders or I move the pile of rocks from here to there and that's what I care about most and it's like yeah but you're all you are kind of all in this together so beyond the players like what else have you what else could you build and so yeah you having a ghost you having a spider you having an ooze it was really cool

it was really interesting to get them all back and being like oh y'all are helping me build this dungeon let me take it away from you now I'm excited for the follow-up campaign, Sagas of Sundry Edge Lords, where we all play these like rival shattered orphans who have been through absolute hell. That's right.

But you mentioned the ghost. I want to talk about Ronnie because I really enjoyed that aspect. What was going on with Busy and Ronnie? What's happening? So a lot of that is like new. So we are going to find all that out together. Fantastic. Yeah.

That inhabiting moment was hilarious. Yeah, was it hilarious or did it? You guys, you were like, Tippy's out. Timmie's learning, that was like a birds and bees talk for a ticket. It kind of was. I didn't plan it to be that way, Danielle. And here we go. Yes, and.

Yes, but I will say all of y'all, when Dan was like... You said this place was steps from the water. We just haven't found the steps yet. How much did we save? Enough. Enough to get lost. Or you could book a state. with Hilton. Welcome to your oceanfront room. Just steps from the water. The Hilton sale is on now.

Book on Hilton.com or the Hilton app and save up to 20% to get the stay you expected. When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton for the stay. The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world, praying the darkness chooses someone else tonight. But in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time.

And when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules-light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs. in the 80s and man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the Shadow Dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.com slash the Glass Cannon

with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. You know, doing stuff with Blood Weaver, y'all asked this. And when Timby was doing the Locket thing, y'all asked this, which is like, are y'all just friends?

Like, Dan, or fibs, you all, you are all up in that spider's uterus. All just friends, and they'll lock it, really. So, yeah, I think... Uncle or Papa. Ooh. Oh, yeah, that's something. Find out on a thrilling new episode of Goblin Mode. I find that so disgusting to call people Unki, and yet here I am doing it, because screw you all.

Now, you have to listen to it. Yeah, Unki Tippy and Unki Phibs. Yeah, it has a bad ear feel. Yeah. Yeah, it makes my ears hurt. I do. This has nothing to do with us, but there is, on a first date, went on a first date, we were going to get drinks, go to, but meet downtown in his apartment, and he was like, well,

do you want to get drinks or get dinner? I was like, oh, honestly, dinner sounds great. He goes, oh, yeah? Amy Hungy? Nope. Absolutely not. And I legit went, hmm. I cringed now.

No, I went and I was like, well, let me take a look at your apartment. What's going on? And I just kind of spent 15 minutes in his apartment kind of looking around. I was like, you know what? I don't feel. I'm actually not feeling good, actually. You should have been like, you no longer hungi. And I left and we didn't go on the date.

That was a firm deal breaker. Like if someone's going to look at me and go, Amy Hungy, like, I think you need to raise the stake. So you have to be like, yes, unky. No contact. So that's the level that I'm, anyway, I hate myself for doing it and yet here we are. Unky y'all.

Anki Phibs. Auntie's cute. Auntie's cute. You can't mess with that. Unkey's like, yeah. Yeah, that makes me wanna vom. Anyway, a little bit about me. All right, well I hope everyone else out there

is Hungy for Adventure as well, because we have much more goblin mode coming your way each and every week. Here you can watch it, On Geek and Sundry or listen wherever your fine podcast. are served. Thanks so much and we'll see you next up. Crack a Cayman Jack Margarita and taste your escape. It's America's number one for a reason.

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