The Glass Cannon Podcast - Cannon Fodder 11/6/24

Episode Date: November 6, 2024

Joe invites Matthew Capodicasa on the Fod this week to talk about his new play (which is coming to the stage in March 2025), his recent character choices in the Gatewalkers campaign, and what moments got him hooked on campaigns like Giantslayer, Legacy, and Androids & Aliens. Submit your questions for Listener Mail at https://forms.gle/v5huj25dkVSmkbLEA Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/noXmuEGji1Q Access exclusive podcasts, ad-free episodes, and livestreams with a 30-day free trial with code "GCN30" at http://www.jointhenaish.com. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Welcome to Cannon Fodder, a behind the scenes look at the Glass Cannon Network. What is going on everybody in the niche? Welcome back to Cannon Fodder. It is Wednesday, November 6th, 2024. And I've got a special guest today. I'm your old pal, Joe O'Brien. I am not joined by Troy LaValley today.

Those of you watching the video can already see my good buddy on the call happy to hang for FOD today with founder of the glass Kettan Network Matthew Cabotacaza. What's up, pal? Not much. How are you? I am fantastic, dude. Sorry. Just took me a second there to get those lower thirds to slide in. Joe O'Brien and Matthew Cabotacaza with you here today for a very special fodder. Those of you that have been following along on campaign two, gatewalkers and paying close attention who are all caught up know that it is a dire situation for the PCs and some

may say that that situation has been perpetrated by a variety of factors, but perhaps none larger than the actions of the character played by Matthew Capodicasa. Today on Cannon Fodder, we are not... Strong words. Strong words. We'll get to it. Oh, don't worry. We'll get to it.

Today on Cannon Fodder, of course, we're going to do a little bit of news. Of course, I'm going to delve into Matthew's personal life in a way that might make him uncomfortable. No, no, we are going to catch up with Matthew. We haven't caught up with Matthew for a while. So that's going to be great. Get to know what's going on with him. And then we're going to talk gatewalkers for a little bit and talk strategy as we come to a pivotal point in the campaign. Before of course doing a little listener mail at the end and you're gonna love this question, Matthew, I think it's a great one. So let's get some some news out of the way quick. I do want to let everybody know upfront that due to some scheduling issues, this FOD was recorded a little earlier than usual. And so there will not be a full We Are Stupid segment because

Professor Eric has not yet been able to do the episode. And that's my fault because I'm recording this just a little bit too soon. But don't worry, we'll get to that next week. I know there's going to be some juicy stuff in there and Professor Eric is going to probably rip me a new one. But we'll talk about that next week. I saw that there were unexpected ways we were stupid. Yes, I well we could talk about that. We'll do a little ad hoc

we are stupid, but it's not going to be the official segment because Professor Eric has not had a chance to weigh in yet I must give him his due voice in this matter and that you will hear on next week's cannon fodder on November 13. Troy has not streamed in a long time. Now we did do extra life. And this is being recorded before that. So I'm not really I don't want to talk all about the debrief of extra life. We'll do that next week as well. But the outside of extra life Troy has not streamed in a while. But

he's streaming this week. In fact, he's streaming today. So those of you that may not have are listening to this early, you can catch them live at 11am Eastern today, Wednesday, November 6 streaming Call of Duty Black Ops 6. Those of you that are catching this a little bit later, go back and check out the VOD. If you want to see Troy, no scope and some fools. It should be it should be a great time. Otherwise, pretty standard schedule for us this week. Legacy Blood of the Wild tomorrow night. Big episode of the Glass Cannon podcast. Don't miss it. Premiering at 8pm Eastern on youtube.tv or yeah youtube.tv slash class cannon.

Alright so with that out of the way I want to welcome Matthew back to the FOD. I mean you were on here a couple weeks ago but with the whole crew obviously there was a lot going on there we were talking about lots of stuff. In the past two years really since the ramp up to Gatewalkers Troy and I have just done a lot of FODs together because we've been giving everybody behind the scenes looks of the day to day operations of building the studio, getting it ready for Gatewalkers, launching Gatewalkers, and then the analysis of Gatewalkers from the GM perspective. We've had a couple really fun all player cannon fodders, but it's honestly been a long time since

you and I have just chatted on fodder about what's going on. And so I'm excited to do that. We'll get to the barns and the story and the tactics and we'll get to that stuff in a minute. To jump off though, I would just like to hear how you're doing and particularly how work is going on the on the writing end of things. Get us caught up, get the niche caught up. What have you been working on? What's been going on in that world? Things have been good. Right. I've got, so I'm gearing up for a workshop

of a play of mine that will then feed into a production early 2025 of my play called The Scenarios, which is gonna be at the Studio Theater in Washington, DC for those in the mid Atlantic region. You can, if you wanna come check that out. Yeah, so I'm getting ready for the workshop, which we go down for a week with the actors and the director and directors and you know.

So you'll go down to Washington for a week. Yeah. And you'll sit in a room with the script out with the actors and just sort of like work through it. Yeah, I mean. Make notes, make changes. Yeah, I have a specific change I want to try. Like we'll figure out the structure,

but usually it's some version of like, oh, okay, like I want to work on this. I want to try that. I have an change I want to try. We'll figure out the structure, but usually it's some version of like, oh, okay, I want to work on this. I want to try this. I have an ending I want to try. So, I'll make change. I might come down with that. I might do it while I'm there, depending on how it shakes out. We'll read it.

We'll figure it out. We'll talk about it. We'll go through the play. When you say we, how many people are involved in this we? I think there's five actors in the play. Yeah, there's five actors in the play. So me, the director, I'm a dramaturg who works for the theater, at least one. I'm sure there'll be a few other artistic staff there. Presumably, at some point, the artistic director will come by, the social artistic director, you know, folks will come in.

We might do some sort of like, you know, a little bit of a read for donors and the staff, but nothing public. It's just more of a chance to kind of get in and try stuff out and see what's working and see. And I might, I'm going to be listening for stuff I can cut and little trims I can make. So basically, so we can do that in advance of going into rehearsals. And obviously, things are going to change in rehearsals too but this kind of gives us the opportunity to get in there.

When did you write this play? The first draft? 2018. It was the first play I brought into Juilliard. Yeah. Wow. Say that again. It was the first play you wrote out of Juilliard?

First play I brought in to Juilliard. So it was the like we had to write three plays a year and this was the first one I brought in. Interesting. And why does it sort of take so long to get to this point? Was it just sitting there, nobody was interested and then this theater company found it? I mean, this one's had a little bit of an interesting journey.

I mean, that said, I've read, or it is a number that's passed around that the average gestational life of a play from kind of like first draft to first production is about five to six years, often. This one has had a little bit of an interesting journey in that like I was scared of it and I put it away and then I brought it back out and then I put it away again and then people read it and then I was weird about it.

Anyway, it was long and then also there weird about it. And anyway, it was long. And then also, there was a pandemic in the middle of it. So there was a time when no one was doing any plays. So it kind of went away from there. So yeah, it is strange, though, to come back to it. I've rewritten it since 2018 many times. But it's strange to be back in something that I hadn't really been intimately involved in since 2021, I think I did the last major rewrite.

Wow, interesting. So quick tangent offshoot that just came into my mind. Did you ever, have you written any COVID based plays? Like plays that are kind of set against the COVID? Okay. I was wondering if that's something you ever dove into. Has that ever, has that hit theaters at all? Have there been plays surrounding the story of COVID?

Okay. How it impacted people? Not a ton. I feel like there's, I will say there have been, stuff I've been working on since that acknowledges the existence of the pandemic, you know, but it's not like, you know, we're setting lockdown. I don't think, honestly, there've been a bunch of people who were like,

I'm writing my lockdown play and I'm like, why? Well, why? Does anyone want to see that? Why is that your reaction? Your first reaction? Sure. It's an experience we all went through, but also it wasn't entirely pleasant, to put it mildly. I don't know. I don't know. I don't necessarily – never say never, but I don't necessarily want to see – on my rare time where I get out to the theater and I

have childcare and all of the things, do I really want to go sit down and watch – And relive lockdown. And relive lockdown? No, that said, maybe something blue will come out of it. Actually, I'm working on something else that is sitting in the backdrop of the pandemic, so I guess I shouldn't shoot myself in the foot prematurely. I think a lot of people had that instinct, but also there was a lot of writing going on during the pandemic. There was a lot of online theater that was happening that was effectively set during lockdown. I just want to be in a room with people. If I'm'm gonna go to the theater. I want to be in a room with real people. Yeah. All right So let's get back to it. You are going down to workshop this thing

What's that gonna be a week? We couple weeks one week and then this is to target when will the play be in? Will it do? Whatever it's called. What's it called? Before it opens previews. Well Will it do previews or does it show like this just open? We do do previews. It's not the kind of lengthy preview process you'd get in New York where it's like you get like four or five weeks of previews, which is a luxury. This, I believe, has a week of previews or something. So we officially open, I can tell you, because I have my calendar out, March 2nd, 2025, Studio Theater. March 2nd, 2025. What's the name of the theater?

The Studio Theater. The Studio Theater. Just Studio Theater. In Washington, DC. How long will it run? I think like a month-ish with a possible extension. Okay. So I'll post about it on my Instagram, but if you are so inclined, I believe you can buy subscription packages now. I don't think you can buy individual tickets yet, but I will be all over that when it happens. That's great. So that's the main news in the, in the playwriting side of things. What about, what about you and I talk about this sometimes off air, but I'd love for you to share what you're willing to share. Like about what about you and I talk about this sometimes off air, but I'd love for you

to share what you're willing to share. Like what about the movie business? Are you writing stuff for LA as well? Screenplays, TV episodes, whatever concepts? How has all that been going? Is it is it frustrating? Is it has been great? Like how are you feeling about that end of things? I mean, it's such a different, it's such a different world. It's so – I mean, I don't know that this is actually – if I actually were to get into it, I don't know it would actually be interesting. But it's so wildly different. It's such a different experience, which I actually find kind of fun and interesting. I mean, it's – to put it – like, I guess the way to sum it up – and I'm not talking in terms of the medium itself. Like, obviously, writing

plays and writing movies, which is mostly what I'm doing, is very, very – they're very, very different endeavors. They just work differently. But aside from that, they're just – the other major difference is that when you're the playwright, you own the work. You own the copyright. No one can change it. You have the final say on what's in the play and what's not. Obviously, people were helped there and it's a collaborative art, and people are giving feedback and trying things, and you're making changes in collaboration. But ultimately, if you're like,

I don't want that scene, I don't want that scene. Or if I do want that scene, I do want that scene. In writing movies, the writer is, I mean, honestly, the least important person in a lot of the conversations. But I often find that I am, that when I get even on something, an original, like an original screenplay written by, like I had the idea, I wrote the screenplay on spec and then we sell it and we're taking it out. Like even in that situation, I still feel like I am just there to solve other people's problems., I still feel like I am just there to

solve other people's problems. You're there to make other people give other people what they need. Is it like when I get a pre-written module for Delta Green? It's just suggestions. I love the idea of the story, but I'm going to change this, I'm going to change this, I'm going to change this. But like, I love the concept, the hook, whatever it is, but I'm going to adjust like all of these things. Does it kind of feel that way? Like, people just like the idea or maybe one of the characters and then they want to change all of these things around it.

I mean, if I'm adapting something, sure. Yeah, like that. I've been in those situations where it's like, usually in those situations, like it's not just me. It's like the producers are like, we like this about this, you know, about this book or like, so we want you to do like we want you to write a script that like pulls this out of it. And I might say, and like, usually, you have to pitch, right? So I'd say like, for me, what's interesting about this, and usually that's what that's how I would come to it. It's like, okay, I read this book, I think it's really cool. I think it's got a really cool idea. I love this character. I love this character. I love the situation they get into. What's interesting and alive and electric to me about this is X. I think the way we would pull that out and make it cinematic as opposed to literary is to do these things. I would walk that story. What I'm asking is when you write an original screenplay and it gets into somebody else's hands. Does it feel that way that they like your idea but they don't need you anymore, but they're going to make all these changes to it that they want to make because they feel

that they have a better idea of what would make a better movie? No, see, this is the interesting thing. I still have to be involved. Or a writer does. They can fire me and hire somebody else, but our writer has to be involved. So they, yes, they have, they can be like, it's like the notes, the notes, I was like the notes you get on movie stuff,

as it was the notes you get on plays, they function very differently. They're very direct. But like, I get, it's like, I usually see it as like, oh, I'm a hired guy and I'm here to, even on something of my own, like I kind of feel like I'm a hired guy and I'm here to, even on something of my own, I kind of feel like I'm a hired guy and I'm here to give the director what they need and the producers what they need. And usually, I don't know, maybe I'm speaking out of turn because my experience is, I've only been in these situations for

four or five years now. But you get on a call with a lot of people and they all have a slightly different version of the movie in their head based on reading the script. So they're all years now. But you get on a call with a lot of people and they all have a slightly different version of the movie in their head based on reading the script. So, they're all giving notes to kind of get to the version they like. And then there's politics that you're not even aware of. And people are kind of politicking on their own and you don't know what they're reacting to. They're reacting to market forces that I have no – I haven't heard of or know nothing about. So, you're usually trying to like, okay, how do I give that person the thing they need that even though it directly contradicts the thing that this person wants, but that person

is this person's boss. So, I have to kind of be- And these people that are talking are pretty much all director and producers. There's usually only the one director, but then you also have the executives that work for the production company, the studio, whoever. Right. And they're, you know, everyone's, and also like, but honestly, like everyone's usually trying to get the movie made. Like that's the, that's the goal is just everyone has different ideas about how to make that happen, which is- And you and I have talked about this and I think it came

up on Legacy before and during Bant, but just like how, what a miracle it is whenever any movie is made. Any movie. Yeah. but just like how, what a miracle it is whenever any movie is made. Any movie, yeah. To actually be completed is such an astounding feat. The other is, I mean, it is true. I think the other thing I've advised them is like every movie has to fight for its existence. So it's like, you know, on every script that I've gotten been lucky enough to work out, like they've all been through such twisty Byzantine paths and note that none of them have been made. It's like, yeah, hopefully, like knock wood.

Yeah. We're talking about all this stuff and you can't even point anybody to a movie that's been made. All of this is still working and working, fighting just to breathe. I feel very fortunate and lucky that I've gotten to work on the projects that I've been able to work on. And yet none of it, I cannot point to a single produced movie, which is another astounding thing about the industry. It's like you can work and earn a living and not actually make any movies. That is so wild. That is hilarious. It's a very silly industry in a lot of ways. It is fun, it is weird and frustrating in ways that I had never encountered before in any other creative act, which I guess is the

name of the game. Every different medium has their own kind of things. But I don't know, the thing I do really like about it and I think I really do gravitate about it is that I'm there for other people. As much as I care and as much as I want certain things in the movie for storytelling reasons, at the end of the day, I was once in a deep discussion with this director who I love and we were working on multiple projects together. We were in an argument about something and I was making a case for why this moment had to be in the movie because it sets up this other thing, which then comes up and eventually he kind of spoiled it and I was like making a case for like why this moment had to be in the movie because it sets up this other thing which then comes up and eventually

he kind of spoke, he was like, you can write it but I'm not going to shoot it. And I was like, well, I guess that's the end of it, right? It's like, well, I guess that's that. I guess that's that. Oh man, that's just wild. Well, I'm happy to hear about this play. It's very exciting. I believe you've let us know that you are

going to be in DC for a large chunk of this run, right? Like you'll be living down there, essentially staying down there. I'll be there for rehearsals and then I'll be there through opening and then I'll be back up in New York. Rehearsal. So a month or so? Is that how long? Roughly February, I'll be in DC. I'll be popping back up. Popping back up as I have a family that I would like to see. Right, right.

And they might come down for a week and we'll figure it out. What a cool experience. Well, I hope it all goes well. And obviously we've let people know, keep an eye out, what's it called again? The Scenarios. The Scenarios?

The Scenarios, March 2nd at the Studio Theater in Washington, DC. Very, very cool. This winter, take a trip to Tampa on Porter Airlines. Enjoy the warm Tampa Bay temperatures and warm Porter hospitality on your way there. All Porter Fairs include beer, wine, and snacks, and free fast-streaming Wi-Fi on planes with no middle seats. And your Tampa Bay vacation includes good times, relaxation and great Gulf Coast weather. Visit flyporter.com and actually enjoy economy. It's the season for new styles and you love to shop for jackets and boots so So, when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten.

And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy, and before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. All right. Now let's talk about what we work on together. The show that we write together, week in and week out, live with no rewrites.

First draft is the draft you see. I just had you on a couple of weeks ago with Sydney and Skid. And we obviously talked through our thoughts and feelings and reactions to the end of book one, the shuttling from world to world, the wildness of how that all worked out, not only from a design standpoint, from a game design standpoint, but how it worked for us personally, tactically, what that forced us into, and how we had to kind of make these decisions. Well, one big reveal from Troy last week on Counter-Fighter is that he decided in this kind of mayhem to not level us up. So like, there is a level up between book one

and book two, but he has decided that we need to rest to get that us up. So like, there is a level up between book one and book two, but he has decided that we need to rest to get that level up. And so perhaps we're like a little bit behind the curve, but he also believes pretty strongly that this introductory encounter is designed with lower level enemies that are, should not be too problematic for us. Well, we do finish off these Raiders that barge in. However, one runs away and that's where we left on our last kind of fodder that you appeared on not knowing what Barnes's decision was. But now we know you decide to pursue. And then the enemy, you know, runs far enough away that there is another moment of like, well, wait a minute, should I really stop here or and go back

inside the observatory? Or should I continue deeper and deeper into the city following this guy? We know from Sakawachi that there's strange stuff going on in the city. It's dangerous out there. You might get lost or something. We yell, Bards, come back. Something along those lines. And you're like, I'm going to move up to this enemy and just take him out so we can't get back to his people, thus unleashing the ambush. So, and that's the thicket that we are still in right now, trying to fight our way out of this, this ambush. So I guess I want you to take it back to pursuing the Raider. You talked a little bit about the thought process live during the show. But talk me through it now in hindsight,

just that moment of going deeper into the city to get to this reader. What was going on in your head as a player? And how does that correlate to what Barnes as a character might have been thinking that that might have motivated that choice? So, I mean, the two main factors were. We couldn't barricade ourselves. It was like it felt like the door was shattered down door was shadow. The two main factors were we couldn't barricade ourselves. It felt like-

The door was shattered down. The door was shattered. That was the information we had. There was no way to barricade. It was not a truly... We couldn't make a stronghold here or even a- Defensible position even, really. It felt like, I think from Barnes' perspective, it was like, this guy is going to get away.

Presumably he has some more friends. If we don't shut that down, those friends are going to come be visited upon us, we all needed to rest. Also, not for nothing, even with the door closed, this is not a great particularly defensible position because it's just a big open room. Right. They already knocked it down once. They can do it again.

We certainly don't have time to fix it. Every 10 minutes is valuable in one way or another, but to reinforce what you're saying, I think it's pretty safe to say logically that you wouldn't be able to sleep for eight hours. No. Right? That's the thing we needed the most was rest to get spell slots back stuff like that. And it felt like we couldn't get that if this Raider found people and brought them back. And Brother Ramius love him, though I do. 10 minutes is not enough to get all of us back up to fighting shape. You know, so really, we're looking at more like 50 minutes, but he may be more maybe like an hour and a half,

depending on if you fail roles. You're also thinking if you kill this guy, then no one's going to come and we can actually rest. That was my thing. That was Barnes' thinking. Did I know there was going to be some sort of hammer to fall? Yeah, mechanically I was was like, sure, presumably there is going to be another encounter outside. But I just – I couldn't shake the logic that if we don't get this guy, more people could find us right away. Especially given the fact that like the city – you get lost in the city, right? So we know that even venturing outside all five of us together, all six of us would be dangerous and risky.

So it was like, I couldn't track not following this guy. Now I also felt that even if I was thinking purely mechanically or it was like, okay, there will definitely be an encounter outside, but also like, but we're in this unfavorable map. Everyone's hurt, we're not gonna be able to rest. Maybe we can do some treatment wounds that will help, but we're not gonna be in tip-top fighting form. Like I just was like, I understand why it was a mistake.

I do admit it was a mistake, but I also, but I think the logic from like Barnes's perspective, I still stand by in a weird way. Like the mistake is a mistake that I think he would make Barnes's perspective, I still stand by in a weird way. The mistake is a mistake that I think he would make again. Not on purpose. Do you know if this Raider, do you recall if this Raider had full health?

I don't remember. I don't know. I was having trouble tracking. Let's assume they either did or were slightly injured. Doesn't it stand to reason from a metagame perspective that it's so hard to single hand down an enemy ever? Even a minion, unless they're a real low level minion. I think he had been hit.

I think he had been hit a bunch, actually. I remember thinking, because my original strategy was I will chase him. I can follow him out one action, glint the mirror two action flank, or at least get in front of him, strike third action, and then it could be done. And then it could be done. But he wasn't in the movement. He double moved, and then I was like, oh, I can see him. But then I still thought I could either in another turn get in front of him. I mean, the first time you closed on him at all, you triggered the ambush.

The first time you got within melee, you saw all the enemies there and you were able to see that there were at least two more and at least one of them was beefy, was a leader of some kind. And, and yeah, you get yourself into a, all of us really into a really difficult position. The does it ever occur to you that that if you let him go, we would be fine, like as a player? Like, are you like, there's a chance that if I let him go, we could rest? Or did you think that that was like almost no chance that there'd be a rest? I didn't think there was going to be a rest. Their entire mode of attack was teamwork. They were organized. They had that was the ability. Formation.

The formation. Yeah. So they had the formation. They seemed organized. They seemed like more than just- I don't think I'll ever hear the word formation again, at least in the next couple of years, and not think of this account. Yeah, I know, right? We said it so many goddamn times, and they just kept moving up next to each other, getting all these bonuses. Getting information.

God, pain in the ass. They seemed more than just like some people who were just out looting observatories. I think they seemed organized. They seem more than just like some people who are just out looting observatories. I think they seem to organize. It stood to reason, which I think was confirmed by the next episode, was that they were part of a larger force. They were kind of paramilitary in a way, right? They had fighting tactics.

Yes. So, I think I guessed from even when they first entered, we started finding them that these are part of a larger group. So sure. I mean, I could, but then, no, I feel, I think I thought. Okay, let me ask you another question. I want you to try to be as honest as possible here. You can poke plenty of holes in my argument.

It's not an argument. I just want to like, I know it can be hard to look back weeks before, because this is recorded weeks ago, and know what was going on in your head. But it's like being a witness to a crime, right? You're like on the stand a year after the thing happened and you're asking these fine point details about what you were thinking. It can be a little bit tough. It's also why, and I love this about the law, why one of the most clearly inadmissible things that you'll hear objected to over and over is when anyone else testifies as to what someone else was thinking.

Was thinking. Right? Because it's just so tough to wrap your head around because I, of course, come to it with my own mind, my own thoughts of what I was thinking at the time. And I know very clearly what I was thinking on both sides. I'm curious if the thought, if any of, did you ever think about the show? Yes. Like did the show occur to you?

And did you think that if you ran into more danger and created a bigger combat, that it would be great for the show? I think I thought when Troy described the world outside, what Sakawatchee was describing the way the streets through one way, another way, I think I thought, well, if I go out there, I think as far as I got with it in the moment was like, if I go out there and kill this guy and then suddenly I can't get back into the observatory, that's cool. Like that's cool for like, now, you know, I don't know, a TPK is pretty good story too.

I don't think that was what I was hoping for, but I know it wasn't what I was hoping for. But I think the way my mind was like, well, you can kill this guy and get back in and that'd be good. That'd be great. That like, well, you can kill this guy and get back in, that'd be good. That'd be great. That's the ideal scenario. And then secondary, I kill him and then can't get back in or can't find the observatory again. That's cool.

That's really cool. And if I chase this guy through the streets and get lost, and it's just me and him running around a city of shifting streets. Like that's also cool. And then you guys having to decide, like do we go after Barnes? Do we wait here? Do we, you know. Now I am gonna put you on the stand.

Well then would you agree then that going back in that moment and letting the Raider run and reuniting with the group and simply resting is not as interesting of a story. Just yes or no, please. Ask it again so I know what yes means and what no means. No, I'm just saying, I'm saying, do you believe, I think we're all telling stories, right? We talked about workshopping, We're all writing live. Yeah.

And the problem is that there is no rewrite. You just got to go with what happens. That's also really part of the fun of it. Did you think that going back and resting is also lame, to be honest, from a storytelling perspective? Did that thought occur to you? I don't think it did occur to me. I think I thought, because like believe me, I would have loved to rest. I love for you to rest in particular, but the- Love a good rest. I love a good rest.

We always love a good rest. I just didn't think that was a likely scenario. I didn't think we were gonna, it was gonna be likely that we'd all be able to like, yeah, let's just sleep for eight hours. Okay, but you thought, you really truly believed that if Barnes, as a player in the meta, that if you killed this guy before he could get back to his people, that there was a chance we could rest.

Or yes, that would buy us time to find a defensible position within the observatory, barricade the door or find the room. We didn't even know what else was in the building. At least buy is ours at minimum Probably a basement something who knows? Yeah Yeah Okay. All right. Let's move forward in the moment So you're asking me now to apply a lot more thought and scrutiny to my thoughts

Yeah, that I had time to at the time. I agree I get that but I also think that like sometimes I agree. I get that. But I also think that sometimes you have to be in awe of the human mind and how many thoughts can occur to you in an incredibly short amount of time, in literal seconds that you could weigh a lot of different things and just make a quick decision. Sure, in hindsight, you might be like, that was a mistake, but you think, man, a lot of things went through my head in that moment. In hindsight, I'm also explaining what Troy might've done, right? Like knowing now that there was this other group outside, if we had just let the guy go, and I mean, he'd just been like, all right,

let's go to rest. Troy probably would interrupt the rest, right? I mean, if he was being generous, he might let us heal, and then we were like, all right, let's go to rest, and then we'd probably get jumped. So, right, like I'm knowing Troy, it's probably how that rolls into the meta as well. Yep. Now, anybody can change their story. And in hindsight, we're certainly allowing for that. It's all speculative to a certain extent. But while interviewed on this show

last week, Troy said that if you let him go, he would have let us rest. He said that that was his intention because he knew how beat up we were, et cetera, et cetera. Now, of course, we'll take that for what it's worth, especially in hindsight. He did not seem to be rabble rousing. He just was like, that was my intention, was just to end it there and rest, level up, et cetera. Once the pursuit happened, he thought, oh man, this is really dangerous. Well, I mean, this is undeniably going to be great for the show, like action packed. Anyway, that was what he said. And I think some people asked in the cannon fodder comments, if that changed my mind at all, or if I yelled at you off air after hearing Troy say that. And I was like, no, of course not. Because you

also have to take it with a grain of salt. You don't know 100% that that's what he would have done because he might have changed his mind if he saw a great story moment to interrupt arrest. That could have been really fun. Interrupting arrest is something we do so rarely, right? Yeah, and it's a really fun story thing to do. So yeah, I don't know. Well, everybody kind of like goes off the cuff at the last minute while we're playing. So you're never really sure what's going to happen. Let's move a little bit forward then. Now you're caught, okay? Caught. Ambush. Yeah. Alone out in the city. Talk to me just through tactics and those first few moments.

And I kind of want a bigger picture idea. I want to know what you were thinking in those first moments. I know what you came up with tactically was to shimmer the mirror, drop into the channel, into the little canal there. That was awesome. But like my bigger question is like, to shimmer the mirror, drop into the channel, into the little canal there. That was awesome.

But like, my bigger question is like, what is your long-term plan here? What was sort of developing? Were you like, I got to get back to the thing, to the observatory? Were you like, I could just disappear into the city? Talk to me about like what your first initial tactics were on a macro level. I think I said this in the episode, like I was like, in my defense, I did make a mistake, but I didn't expect you to follow me. I mean, like the conventional wisdom of the, when someone splits the party, it's like, okay, have fun.

Good luck. Yeah. I think that was my plan. I think I would have, had we been within shouting distance, I would have said something to the effect of, I'll lead these guys away and maybe the streets will shift or maybe I can use my mirror to get into a building and hide or whatever. But yeah, that was my – it was like to get lost in the city. I felt confident that I could. I think especially when I went in the water, I had the advantage of them not being able, it wasn't as easy to hit me. I felt confident that I could get away, but then Troy pressed you guys and then you guys

came out of the observatory. Then I was like, oh, well, we're fucked now. Okay. Yeah. Your thinking was like, stay hold up there guys and I'll kite them into the city and then hopefully just lose them in the city and then double back at some later point to reconnect with everybody or maybe Barnes has lost for an episode or two or something. Exactly.

That's kind of fun. So that was what you were thinking, but then Buggles comes out and comes out a decent distance and triggers another Raider off to the side that we also didn't see in your initial launch out there. Then now Buggles is down and Buggles is dying. Brutal. Which might as well be a TPK. Right. Exactly. At this point, you're have to, now I got to turn and fight. Yeah, though I like my turn and the turn and fight is hard because, you know, I'm down, I'm hurt. I'm very hurt. So-

With no healer in sight. And actually, even if I was inside, I don't think there's anything much I could do for you. Yeah. We've all been rolling so terribly and I've been rolling so terribly. I think I said this, I'm not confident in my ability to hit these guys because I have to roll well. Yes, I can flank with myself but that's an extra action. These guys have AO of so to get in close and be able to move away, I need that I need to kind of conserve the mirror to use that way too. So tough. I think I said, I also want to say, like I said, I wanted to kite the guy with the bow. Like that was my strategy toward the end of last episode, which was me. General strategy was to kite them around the city.

But I think specifically what I want to do with this guy is lead him on the merry chase with me to give you guys some extra time to see what you can do with the ones that are on top of you. Yes. Kiting, not really the right word. The strategy was like, okay, let me get this guy to follow me around and then I can mirror across the water to kind of force him to spend actions on a move that he could be using to close on the group. the group. Because I felt more confident in my ability to kind of run and dodge, jump in the water.

For Troy to hit me with the bow instead of being up close where we get multiple attacks that would most likely hit. Yeah. Yeah. So, we'll see. Okay. You know, it is kind of depressing. This is something that has really grinded on us,

I think a bit in Gatewalkers is like, I remember you saying on air, maybe you've definitely set it on air and you've definitely set it off air. Like it talking about specific moments and specific encounters like in this one where you're across the channel from the the bowman Raider, and you're across the channel from the Bowman Raider, and you're kind of in this standoff while the other two run up to face us as we pull back into the observatory. And you're just like, I mean, no, I'm not going to attack them. I can't hit them. You know what I mean? And it's just so depressing.

It's like we feel like a regular hit if they're not flanked, if they're not debuffed in some way. Any average enemy. It's just like a wasted action. You feel like it's so weird. It's been working us down. Part of that is die rolls. Part of it is that most of the time we have to hit at 14 or 15 natural to hit these guys, but it feels like you can never even roll that because we just we always have been rolling so low. Speaking of rolls, let's about the the elephant in the room that hasn't been addressed yet. The most ridiculous, most absurd, most embarrassing, pathetic, yet I guess entertaining to people. Roll. That I have ever had I think on the glass cannon network, the preposterousness to be invited because

of how shitty I roll to roll saving throws for the enemy on a sleep spell and Then to just roll back to back natural 20s out of nowhere after consecutive single digits over and over and over To then roll to natural 20s to save them out of sleep so that there is no effect of the spell on them whatsoever What a moment. I think it truly captured, I mean, watching your face is amazing, especially on the second one,

because you're just like, you are truly astounded. You are a firsthand witness. You were sitting right there. You saw it hit the tray. Saw it all happen. You were right there. I don't know.

Any thoughts on that before I turn to YouTube comments? all happen. You're right there. I don't know. I've prepared a list. Before I turn to YouTube comments. I've prepared a list. Things that are more likely to happen than rolling two natural 20s in a row. The odds are better that you would be born ambidextrous. That's one in 100. Wow. So, now the rest of these end up just kind of being about dying. So, you know, so you are more likely to be born with extra fingers or toes. This one's not about dying.

I'm sorry, that's about roughly, you know, actually you're a little more likely to roll two natural twins in a row. It's one in 500 to roll with, to be born with extra fingers or toes. It was a one in 400 chance to roll two natural 20s in a row. You are more likely to, let's see, different list, more likely to die from a drug overdose. You are more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis. I think I do have that already, probably. You are more likely to die in a car accident than to roll through natural 20s in a row.

I mean, lifetime versus a discrete instance. So I don't think it's exactly parallel. But it was just like, it's a bit disappointing. Have you ever done that before? Back to back nat 20s? You know, I think that I pro, I'm sure that I have for like confirm, for confirming or something.

You're like, oh, a third one, you kill them. Like we've done that before. Back to back nat, it's just the situate because it's not just a one and, it's not a, it's way, way, way, way longer shot than a one in 400 chance, right? Because you're talking about what is the chance of rolling back to back twenties in one specific instance.

When you need ones, when you are being asked to roll for the enemy, then that happens like once or twice in a campaign. You're talking about once in a lifetime, right? Like it'll never happen again that you'll roll back to back natural 20s when you're asked to roll force for an enemy. I mean, it's just mind boggling. It's just-

You're more likely to be a victim of identity theft than to roll back to back natural 20s. I was a victim of identity theft. I talked about it a lot in my NordVPN reads, my NordVPN ad reads. You're more likely to be audited by the IRS. Oh my God. All right. Let's go to just a couple comments here because this is amazing. The video airs on YouTube and people just come in with some great stuff. I like this one. Oh my gosh, I just lost it. I wonder if it got-

More likely to die from a fall. My God. Sorry, where was it? I had a great one and it was like, oh, from Leon, at Leon Kirk 5280 says, I laughed so hard at Joe's double nat 20s that I got a cramp in my neck. Sorry about that. I like this one at at the squire says Joe is what statisticians use to frighten each

other around a campfire. That was a good comment for for a Halloween. Man, just what an insane, insane moment. Adprop4793 wants art of me screaming after rolling the natural 20s. Just screaming to the sky. But yeah, anyway, that was a ridiculous moment. And there was another comment in here that I haven't been able to find at the moment. And this is the one I really wanted to get to, but I can't find it live, unfortunately.

So I'll shout your, you know who you are. The gist of the comment is I think a couple people made comments around this, but it's that it's less about Joe, these comments and more about like, these series of die rolls and the two natural 20s back to back are really the icing on the cake is like the universe Saying they want gatewalkers to stop because there was they just we've rolled so poorly in this campaign It really feels like an epidemic of bad rolling in this campaign. It's been brutal So real it really has it feels cursed and so some people have said that. And I think I alluded to this on the last time I was on Cannon Fighter just because

of the nature of the APs. We're facing a lot of high level enemies. We're not facing those minions like we were or if we are, we're facing them en masse. I think what felt nice about the first goblin fight was felt like, oh, we can roll. We don't have to roll 15 to hit. This might be a function of the math of 2E, but when I'm playing Ethel, obviously Ethel has a lot going for him as a fighter, but I can roll a 10 and hit even a high level enemy on my first attack.

So it doesn't feel like the stakes are so high with every roll, even though I'm rolling probably equally as badly over time. It's so brutal. It doesn't feel like we've been given the combination of us rolling badly, the nature of the AP, and the math of 2E have combined to make it feel very oppressive as a player. Like, yeah, I'm not really, like, it almost changes the way I wanna, like the characters I wanna bring in, assuming, you know, Barnes is eventually gonna die

because I don't know, might be in a TPK, but it changes the nature of the characters I wanna bring in the future, right? Where it's like, how can I pull a Joe and develop a character where I have to roll a die as little as possible? And just make- Yeah, I mean, that's the point of Brother Amias

and that, and then get, Troy makes this happen! Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's the point of Brother Amias and that, and yet Troy makes this happen. Yeah, pretty wild ride. Well, we are still in the midst of it. It remains to be seen what the conclusion will be. And that is coming next week. So, or this week, sorry, tomorrow night, actually. Tomorrow night, you know, 8pm Eastern, watch the premiere. Don't miss it live. Let's talk just for a brief second. We are stupid before we get into a listener

mail and then we'll get out of here. We are stupid. I've just seen the YouTube comments talking about rousing splash and that temporary hit points don't work that way, don't bring people up. So I'll wait for perfect. Nobody really cited specific pages and where that comes from. I haven't gone looking just yet, but I just want to know where that's from. And then we'll cite that next week, and we'll get into the nitty gritty on what that rule is and then how we can apply it more in the future. I'm not sure if there's anything else that jumped out to you, Matthew, rules-wise,

but we'll do a deeper dive next week on We Are Stupid. Yeah, I saw a little bit about the text of what causes my double, my mirrored double to disappear. I've been playing it as if you move, including if I fall, I am moving out of a space. But the text of it actually says if you choose to move out of a space. No, I'd argue, say if I were to fall 10 feet and the mirrored image just stays there, it feels a little bit odd, but that's the thing. I guess I'm curious to hear what Professor Marrakech has to say. You also chose to fall in that instance. You know what I mean? It was a designed move. I've also been trying to work that technique as much as possible.

You got a lot of mileage out of that mirror, I'll tell you. I'm trying. What attracted me too is like the interesting ways you could use it. So. Yeah. All right, let's get into a question from the nation, a little listener mail, and then we will get out of here. Sing us in, good buddy Nick. All right, this one from Mac Deere in Burlington, Washington says, since campaign two, there's been a lot of talk about being invested in the story slash adventure path

and how some are struggling with it. This has come up a couple of times on fodder Matthew, just the variance between people on say YouTube who say they love the show, they love everything about the campaign and then people perhaps popping up on Reddit or on Discord saying they're just not into it. And so why is this a bit of a polarizing campaign,

trying to kind of like analyze what's been working, what hasn't, et cetera. So Mac Deer writes in and says, "'That has me wondering, what are your guys' "'favorite moments where the gravity of the story "'finally hooked you in Giant Slayer, for example, "'Androids and Aliens, or Gatewalkers, "'or any of your other stuff.

Can you point to a specific moment where you remember being like, wow, I am super into this? Mac Deer's example is when we first, I believe, got to the Minderhalls Valley in Giant Slayer. Like he was just kind of like along for the ride for like, for, wait, Minderhalls Valley, yeah. Along for the ride for like, for wait, Minderhalls Valley. Yeah, along for the ride for like the laughs, right? We're just having a good time. But then when we got to like, the hundreds and hundreds of giants, like encampments and all this stuff was like, holy shit, this is like a whole,

this is really neat. The scope of this just really opened up for me. Anything jump out at you as answers to whether it's ANA, whether it was any of the campaigns you've been in, Legacy, anything that jumped out at you as like, oh man, this is a good hook. This is a moment that I'm really into. I mean, for Giant Slayer, I think I remember very clearly was when the invasion of Drunel at the end of the club. That's exactly what I was going to say. And specifically, there was the moment where we were in the house, one of the houses,

and Gormley almost permanently died. But for that, what was the 20% mischance, Gormley would have been dead. At that point would have been my first character debt. I was like, oh no, we are in it. We're in it. The weight of it felt very heavy in a great way. It was very exciting. Then that whole set piece of that invasion was super engaging to me. It was awesome. It was really well done. I had never played an adventure like that. I don't want to say a siege because a siege implies waiting you out. I'm talking like a true, they're climbing over the walls invasion. It was very terrifying and really well executed by Troy. It hooked me in, but in the midst of that, I can't deny it, it's episode 16, I believe, is when that group of orcs captured and then killed my character's

son in front of me. 16 sessions in to the game. I was just like, that was a big hook for me. It drives the character for dozens and dozens of episodes after that. That's your only focus is revenge on these people that did this horrible thing. That was a really good one in Giant Slayer. A&A, one moment that I always remember just being like, wow, this is unlike anything we've

played before is very, it's relatively early on I think. Book one, when we were, do you remember when we had to like, like shimmy across that line between like the ship and the, and the asteroid in the drift rock in zero G. And we were like moving along in zero G. And I could picture that. And I was like, Oh man, we are like truly in space now because you just start on the station really. And you're on the station for a while getting into the sense of Absalom Station. But then that moment was like, oh man, we're really out here in space now and you had to worry about your spacesuit and how much you're breathing and if you get an

encounter out here, what would happen? And so yeah, I remember that image. I remember Mac being on the line with Dax, and just like, that was really fun. Yeah, I mean, legacy is hard, because I feel like I was hooked from the beginning. Like, honestly, like, and also that, not enough for nothing, that also starts with an invasion. It's another invasion, yeah, yeah.

Where it's like your home is threatened, right? And you have the kind of, but I'm trying to think too for Raiders, if there was a moment, because there definitely did feel like when the mystery started deepening, like, you know, we got there, we got there and there was no one in the colony. Like that was really exciting. I always remember that like moon altar thing where like we first started seeing like, the

like spirits of the like, like, like long departed as Lanty and they were like teachers. Remember that we like learned the language, like statues or something. I always remember that as like a very interesting part. I was like, man, I haven't done anything like this before. This like, you know, 10,000 year old shrine that is like a school and it can teach you it was once a school for this ancient society that was actually far advanced but had been crumbled in to non-existence. That was really cool. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what else. I mean, those are some big early moments, but yeah, they all came pretty early. Oh, Gatewalkers. I struggled with Gatewalkers for a really long time. And then I think it was probably,

it was really more of a character moment. It was after we had struggled so much and maybe even lost Talitha. Or was it just before Talitha? I can't remember, but it was like that first time we sat around and smoked weed with Brother Ramious. And he just got stoned and was yelling about Tumsy or not Tumsy, Troy's other ridiculous NPC. Hubert.

Hubert, yeah. Where he was yelling Hubert about like making fun of Hubert. I remember being like, oh my God, I love what we're doing right now. This is so much fun. That was definitely hooking me into the character of Brother Ramious as a short tempered, flailing pioneer surgeon, frontier surgeon kind of thing. That's when it started really clicking for me. And that really is right up into the fight with the thin man, right? So like, you know, when he was doing the surgery on Buggles outside and he heard him and he's just like, ah!

I guess for me, for Game Walkers, is the moment when we saw like the shadow of Kniepoh in the, it was a kind of, it was a kind of cliffy, like we were walking back to our. It was in like an alleyway. Yeah. We walked past an alleyway and we saw the kind of shadow of a tall, slender figure. Super eerie. That was super great. Obviously that, that, that one, you know, then I, I, I, I almost wish we had like been able to live in that a little longer. That kind of – and the bird

thing was amazing too. I thought Kanepa was a longer term goal. I didn't realize that that would be over kind of quick because he was an interesting villain, very disturbing and strange and otherworldly. He had been set up as this generational enemy that they could reincarnate in a different form or they were a generational enemy. Yeah, I agree. I expected Kniep to be around for a lot longer. Yeah, it's very interesting. Anyway, Mac Deer, thank you for the question. Very good question. An interesting thought experiment. When was the moment you were hooked? Tell us in the comments here on YouTube.

What moments in Giant Slayer, or Androids and Aliens, Gatewalkers, even if it's Legacy or Blood of the Wild, what moment jumped out at you where you were like, oh man, I am really into this campaign. I'm curious to see what people's answers are. Well, Matthew, thank you so much, buddy, for taking the time out, doing a little FOD with me.

Thank you for having me. Getting us in the mind of Matthew at the table, also in the mind of Barnes. Sorry. It's a pivotal, pivotal moment in the campaign, and it will resolve itself tomorrow night. So tune in, 8 p.m. Eastern, the premiere on our YouTube channel, check it out there,

and then if you can't see that, you can also catch it on the podcast by Friday at midnight. So you're good to go. Listen, get caught up because it's gonna be a big fodder next week with Troy and I. All right, thanks everybody, take it easy. Have a fantastic rest of your weekend weekend and we'll see you next time.

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