1
00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:06,080
Hello and welcome to the Weekly 
Scroll podcast. 

2
00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:10,400
My name is Ryan and today we 
have a very special guest. 

3
00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:11,840
That is what how you doing 
today? 

4
00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,320
What? 
So good, so good. 

5
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,040
Happy New Year. 
Yes, Happy New Year. 

6
00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:21,320
This is the first episode, 
technically the first episode of

7
00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:23,920
the year because the review did 
happen on like the 30th. 

8
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,520
So, so you're kicking us off for
2025. 

9
00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,560
And for those that can actually 
see the stream right now or 

10
00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,640
YouTube, thank you for watching 
this. 

11
00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,000
Hunter is not here. 
Obviously today we are going to 

12
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,560
continue our writing seminar 
series, which apparently that 

13
00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,000
has become this with what here? 
What? 

14
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,920
What is today's writing seminar 
and what are we going to be 

15
00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,600
talking about? 
Yeah, so we can kick over to the

16
00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,400
presentation. 
The name of the seminar is 

17
00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,360
Writing Literary Adventures for 
Cloud Empress and Beyond. 

18
00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,720
So we'll talk a little bit 
about, you know, why we're doing

19
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,640
this, but the idea was to expand
it a little bit beyond just 

20
00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,520
writing for Cloud Empress to to 
share a little bit about my 

21
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:10,480
workflow and and support winter 
game jam that's coming up. 

22
00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,440
So really excited about that 
that I'll talk more about. 

23
00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:20,040
So I'll just give a little intro
to me before we happen to the 

24
00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,320
more, you know, presentation 
aspect. 

25
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:24,600
My name is Watt. 
I'm a Korean D tabletop 

26
00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,840
role-playing game designer and 
best known for Cloud Empress. 

27
00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:31,240
I've been writing since 2011 
pretty seriously for 

28
00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,640
publication, but only writing 
for TTRPG since 2021. 

29
00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,880
We're going to be talking a lot 
about writing today, so I just 

30
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:39,760
thought sharing a little bit 
more about my writing history 

31
00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,240
would be helpful. 
I have a number of like smaller 

32
00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,720
games and and stuff that I've 
done on game jams and stuff that

33
00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,120
you can find on my itch dot IO 
as well that I'll be mentioning.

34
00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,680
And you can follow me on Blue 
sky in the link below. 

35
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,880
So I also have a publishing 
company. 

36
00:01:55,880 --> 00:02:00,000
It's just me, but Worlds by Watt
is the name it goes under. 

37
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,280
So you may see that on some 
books including Cloud Empress. 

38
00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,920
And the real goal of my 
publishing work and and writing 

39
00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,360
work to some extent is trying to
make the world like a kinder, 

40
00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,039
stronger place through the TTRPG
writing that I do. 

41
00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:13,840
And so some of the other aspects
I'll just call out real quick is

42
00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,800
that made a pledge to donate 1% 
of all of the company's profits 

43
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,600
to climate related charities and
actions through this 

44
00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:23,840
organization called 1% for the 
Planet. 

45
00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,560
We also have a Cloud of Risk 
Creators Fund that funds 

46
00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,520
marginalized and 
underrepresented authors 

47
00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,200
creating adventure content in 
the science fantasy setting. 

48
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,960
Real quick, yeah. 
The presentation, I don't. 

49
00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,520
I believe you're going through 
it, but it is not advancing for 

50
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:43,200
me. 
Oh, interesting. 

51
00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,920
Let's try. 
Are you seeing it now? 

52
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,880
I am and it is advancing. 
OK, it's going now. 

53
00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:56,960
Yep. 
Cool. 

54
00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,360
Let me know if we have more 
issues. 

55
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:00,280
Thanks. 
Very absolutely. 

56
00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,560
So this is a picture of my head 
from the past. 

57
00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,800
This is my logo that you might 
not have seen, and this is Cloud

58
00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:13,240
Empress. 
It is a Nausicaa inspired hex 

59
00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,280
crawl campaign setting. 
It's science fantasy. 

60
00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,480
It has giant cicadas and and 
magic and all sorts of stuff. 

61
00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,840
But it's compatible with the 
mothership RPGD 100 system, 

62
00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,120
which is called the panic engine
for sort of non mothership 

63
00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,560
setting content that you'll see 
more of that. 

64
00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,160
It's sort of a newer title 
that's come out just a little 

65
00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:36,720
bit about the history of Cloud 
Empress. 

66
00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,720
We did a campaign in 2022 to 
2023. 

67
00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:45,520
It was a number of Zine books 
that came out and then there was

68
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:50,080
a, we're doing a reprint, which 
is a hardcover box set reprint 

69
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,200
including two new setting books 
that's currently in fulfilment. 

70
00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,960
So we kick started it in 2024 
and it'll be coming out 

71
00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,080
hopefully late summer, early 
fall for 2025. 

72
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:06,960
Really excited to to have a 
number of like awards and and 

73
00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,480
praise for the book. 
So I want to silver any for best

74
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,080
writing. 
There's the awards. 

75
00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,800
Cloud Empress was selected as a 
2024 awards recipient. 

76
00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:22,960
Recently been named a couple top
ten games of 2024, including the

77
00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,040
weekly scrolls number two 
overall game of 2024. 

78
00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:31,080
So very humbled and excited to 
have folks recognize the work 

79
00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,360
and and be excited about the 
writing in particular. 

80
00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,960
This is just a picture of what 
the new stuff is looking like. 

81
00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,200
Just so you get a better sense 
of sort of the art style and 

82
00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,560
graphic design. 
Very 70s inspired. 

83
00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,680
Like I said, Studio Ghibli, 
Nausicaa, Hayami Zaki kind of 

84
00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:50,360
inspired as well. 
Why are we doing the 

85
00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,200
presentation I mentioned a 
little bit earlier, but there is

86
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,360
a Winter game Jam or Cloud 
Embrace. 

87
00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:02,520
It runs from Sunday, January 5th
to February 2nd, 2025 S about 

88
00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,080
one month. 
It's created by someone named 

89
00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,600
Peter and a team of regular 
Cloud Empress players and and 

90
00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,200
wardens from the RPG Night 
Utrecht in the Netherlands. 

91
00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,160
Probably seen that incorrectly, 
but they put together this game 

92
00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,280
jam to create winter content. 
Cloud Empress is set during a 

93
00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:21,080
particular summer, so they 
wanted some winter content to 

94
00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,320
play year round. 
And so really excited that they 

95
00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,320
held this for us and and that 
this will be happening because 

96
00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,120
it's just a month. 
Really encouraging folks to 

97
00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:35,480
focus on short form content, one
page expansions, pamphlets, mini

98
00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:40,520
zines, those kinds of things. 
So I created some templates as 

99
00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,560
well that you can use. 
I put a picture here that you 

100
00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,560
can see, but there's A1 pager, a
trifold pamphlet, and a booklet 

101
00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,960
template to get you started with
some sort of official branded 

102
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,240
Cloud Empress materials, and you
can grab that from the link 

103
00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,600
below. 
Cloud umbrs.com/thirdparty. 

104
00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,240
Those are for Affinity, which is
what I use for for layout, but 

105
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,240
there are some other free 
templates I think listed in the 

106
00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:08,680
game jam as well. 
Just a little bit of a note 

107
00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,640
around third party content. 
It's a pretty standard, at least

108
00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,240
in the indie tabletop 
role-playing game Third Party 

109
00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:21,200
License. 
You're free to create compatible

110
00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:23,400
work with Cloud Empress and 
monetize it. 

111
00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,040
There's just a couple little 
stipulations and you need to 

112
00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,360
include a, you know, blank as an
independent production of your 

113
00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:32,880
your publisher name and not 
affiliated by my company. 

114
00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,040
And you can't use copyrighted 
material such as Cloud Empress, 

115
00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:44,720
like original text and artwork. 
So what are we going to be 

116
00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,960
talking about today? 
What are literary adventures? 

117
00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:52,360
We'll talk about that in a bit, 
but my three primary goals for 

118
00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,400
this this presentation today. 
First to define this this 

119
00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,880
concept of literary tabletop 
role-playing game adventure. 

120
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:05,680
And next share my method for 
writing TTRPG adventures with 

121
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,400
some specific practical advice 
for writing within the Cloud 

122
00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,560
Empress setting and hopefully 
just overall inspire you to take

123
00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,680
some risks. 
Express your creative, authentic

124
00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,320
voice in tabletop role-playing 
game adventure writing. 

125
00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:24,920
So I have a whole page of 
caveats. 

126
00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,200
One of them that I mentioned 
earlier is that I've only been 

127
00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:30,760
in the scene since 2021, so 
there are probably many more 

128
00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,040
examples of adventures that that
I could pull out if I read them.

129
00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,920
I have not really seen any 
discourse around this idea of 

130
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:40,800
literary tabletop role-playing 
game adventures. 

131
00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:42,520
I don't know, Ryan. 
We can talk about that in the 

132
00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:45,600
Q&A if you've seen stuff. 
There is one post that I found 

133
00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:49,240
that sort of posits the idea or 
mentions that, you know, there 

134
00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,200
could be more literary writing 
in this field, but doesn't 

135
00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:56,720
necessarily define what that 
would look like exactly or, or 

136
00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,800
bring a number of examples, more
contemporary works. 

137
00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,800
My the other piece with that is 
that on this is something I'm 

138
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,560
sort of cobbling together to 
sort of explain my writing 

139
00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,760
process and summarize some of 
the work that I do. 

140
00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,320
So no TTRPG authors to my 
knowledge actually categorize 

141
00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,520
their work in this own way. 
It's not some kind of movement 

142
00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,600
or something that people are 
talking about themselves. 

143
00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,440
And I didn't use this kind of 
thinking necessarily when I was 

144
00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,560
actually writing Cloud Empress, 
at least the first content. 

145
00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,000
This is just a a sort of summary
and categorization that helps me

146
00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,240
understand my work and might 
help you understand it better as

147
00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:33,080
well. 
The other big piece is like all 

148
00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,320
taxonomies, in my opinion, 
categorizations eventually 

149
00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:39,120
become meaningless if they 
become way too broad or way too 

150
00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,360
narrow. 
And so this is really just one 

151
00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,320
tool to help you understand some
of the work that I've been doing

152
00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:46,840
and, and how I think about my 
own work. 

153
00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:48,840
So feel free to use it if it's 
helpful. 

154
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,160
If not, you can throw it away or
ignore it. 

155
00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:57,080
And in bold and, and sort of 
mega important is that you know 

156
00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,440
that there's not one best way to
write an adventure. 

157
00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,880
There's not one best way to run 
a tabletop role-playing game. 

158
00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,400
There's lots of different types 
of games, lots of different 

159
00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:06,760
adventures. 
They're for different audiences 

160
00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,080
with people with different 
tastes, wants, desires, 

161
00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,200
etcetera. 
And so calling something like 

162
00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,680
more literary than something 
else, does it mean it's better 

163
00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:16,240
written or that it's a better 
game? 

164
00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,400
It's just may have some certain 
characteristics under this sort 

165
00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,160
of arbitrary taxonomy that we're
going to be positing. 

166
00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:30,280
So why should we care whether 
ATTRPG adventures literally not 

167
00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:32,960
before we even happen to some of
the definitions? 

168
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,080
Why do I care? 
Well, I, coming into the 

169
00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,840
tabletop role-playing being 
seen, especially the indie 

170
00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,960
scene, struggled to sort of 
understand why I like certain 

171
00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,840
adventures and certain TTRPG 
writers more than others. 

172
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:49,960
I, I couldn't really put a 
finger on what made something 

173
00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:54,200
more successful to me, you know,
and, and I enjoyed more. 

174
00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,160
I mean, I could say, oh, I like 
this more than that, but 

175
00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,680
thinking a little bit more 
deeply about that has helped me 

176
00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,960
sort of define my own work and 
help me create my own voice. 

177
00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:09,320
I like to develop some creative 
principles for projects that I 

178
00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,920
work on and some pillars of 
design that you'll see in in 

179
00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:13,680
like video game design and those
things. 

180
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,240
So this has helped me create, 
create my creative voice. 

181
00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,880
I was also interested in finding
parallels between some of the my

182
00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,040
favorite fiction. 
I I've been a long reader and 

183
00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,840
read a lot of fantasy and 
science fiction in particular. 

184
00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,160
And so I wanted to see what 
comparables and what elements 

185
00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,880
could be drawn from my favorite 
science fiction, fantasy and and

186
00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,520
literary fiction over to TTRPG 
writing and ultimately create 

187
00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,280
writing that emotionally move 
people, intellectually move 

188
00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,120
people. 
The other piece, and I'll, I'll 

189
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,800
say this a couple more times, at
least with my writing philosophy

190
00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,280
is that I read and maybe Ryan, I
don't know if you're in this, 

191
00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,280
this camp, I read a lot more 
TTRP GS and TTRPG adventures 

192
00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,960
that I get to play maybe by a, a
scale of like 12:50 or more. 

193
00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:07,240
So I read a lot and what I was 
thinking around creating 

194
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:09,240
Clonopress was creating 
something that would be very 

195
00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,960
enjoyable as a reading 
experience and as a game 

196
00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:13,680
experience. 
And really thinking about the 

197
00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:19,360
reader as a valuable audience 
member, not only the players at 

198
00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,520
the table or the the GM or 
warden who's running it at the 

199
00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:28,920
table in that particular moment.
So let's get into definitions. 

200
00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:38,240
What is a literary adventure 
according to what me I was a 

201
00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:43,840
librarian for 10 years. 
So to start with what a literary

202
00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,680
adventure is, I thought we'd 
start with defining literary 

203
00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:49,440
fiction. 
The categorization of 

204
00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,520
contemporary fiction and and 
modern fiction. 

205
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,360
Literary fiction is a loose and 
inadequate definition. 

206
00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:02,120
It's used conversationally in 
certain ways around work that 

207
00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,280
feels more serious, that's more 
intricate, often more 

208
00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:07,760
pretentious or challenging to 
read. 

209
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:14,640
It's often not applied to genre 
works such as fantasy or science

210
00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:19,440
fiction work or horror, although
that's more recognized nowadays 

211
00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:24,640
than in the past. 
I found this definition or 

212
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,480
characteristics from this blog 
called Bookish Bay that's linked

213
00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:31,240
to your that I think helped me 
understand the concept and and 

214
00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,640
apply this to RPGs and 
adventures in this presentation 

215
00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,200
which is these 4 
characteristics. 

216
00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:42,880
Rich prose and meticulous use of
language, nuanced exploration of

217
00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,960
characters in our lives, thought
provoking themes, and an 

218
00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,000
emphasis on the human condition.
And if we contrast that with 

219
00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:55,720
maybe more genre fiction or 
popular fiction, those tend to 

220
00:12:55,720 --> 00:13:00,280
be more concerned with plot 
driven narratives, external 

221
00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,400
conflicts, and the use of 
recognizable tropes versus some 

222
00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,240
of these elements. 
So 1 is not better than the 

223
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,000
other it there tend to be these 
trends at least when we 

224
00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:12,440
arbitrarily categorize things 
into genre. 

225
00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:16,520
And the other piece too with 
with the word literary and 

226
00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:18,000
literature and all that kind of 
stuff. 

227
00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,760
Often times it's just this catch
all for anything that people 

228
00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:22,880
think is well written. 
So something they feel is well 

229
00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:24,040
written. 
Well, that's literary. 

230
00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,920
That's literature. 
Quite arbitrary at times as 

231
00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:32,840
well. 
These are some literary fiction 

232
00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:36,920
examples I particularly like. 
There are more standout examples

233
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,280
that maybe define the genre in 
general, but these are ones that

234
00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,480
I draw inspiration from. 
Blood Meridian, A Visit from the

235
00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,640
Goon Squad, The Stranger, The 
Invisible Man, As I Lay Dying, 

236
00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:56,200
The Crying Lot 30. 
And like I said, I draw a lot of

237
00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,840
inspiration from literary 
fantasy, literary science 

238
00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,440
fiction. 
Slaughterhouse 5, Shadow and 

239
00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,360
Claw, Tejano and the whole 
Earthsea series, Dahlgram, A 

240
00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,040
Scanner Darkly, Who Fears Death,
and the Southern Reach series 

241
00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,160
are all big inspirations in my 
tabletop role-playing game 

242
00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:17,120
writing. 
And I'll include those sometimes

243
00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,160
in some of my Kickstarter 
marketing and always get a kick 

244
00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,480
out of when people say, oh, 
Dahlagram, you know, that's so 

245
00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:28,080
exciting. 
So going back to that 

246
00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:30,680
definition, this will be the 
sort of framework I'm applying 

247
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,400
on my own work and, and some 
adventures that I've read and 

248
00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,880
examples that I'll call out. 
So this rich prose and, and 

249
00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,720
stylistic use of language, that 
exploration of characters in our

250
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,160
lives, thought provoking themes 
and the emphasis on the human 

251
00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:49,320
condition. 
So these are some examples of of

252
00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:51,760
works. 
Again, these authors I'm 

253
00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,040
guessing would not categorize 
this work this way. 

254
00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:58,200
I've never seen them do that, at
least in my experience with 

255
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,680
their work and social media 
presences. 

256
00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:05,360
But The Aisle by Luke Gearing is
a really pivotal work in the 

257
00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,120
development of Cloud Empress. 
If you're not familiar, it's 

258
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:10,680
really good. 
You should check it out. 

259
00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,680
It is notable for first, having 
no artwork. 

260
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,560
There are maps, but there are no
other forms of artwork. 

261
00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:24,360
The second piece is that it 
doesn't have hardly any summary 

262
00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,600
text. 
And so at the time that it was 

263
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:31,800
published, I saw people saying 
I'm running this as AGM and I'm 

264
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:33,960
not reading ahead. 
So we're all getting surprised 

265
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:35,560
and and folks were able to do 
that. 

266
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,520
It really feels like an active 
discovery during the reading 

267
00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:42,840
process, which I think is 
particularly unique. 

268
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,920
And it was just a really 
enjoyable read while also having

269
00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,640
some larger humanistic themes I 
think embedded in some of the 

270
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:52,160
characters and descriptions. 
There. 

271
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,880
A recent read that included a 
quote from that you can take a 

272
00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,240
look at when I when I send the 
PowerPoint out later is Crushed 

273
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,560
Depth Apparatus by Amanda Lee. 
Frank is so good. 

274
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,240
This was one of the most unique 
examples of NPC writing I've 

275
00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:09,520
seen. 
I'm guessing there are other 

276
00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:14,600
examples like this, but Amanda 
uses quotes from each character 

277
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:19,880
with a brief multi word 
description of their occupation 

278
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,080
on the submarine. 
I think it's a particularly good

279
00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:27,400
example of how a pretty simple 
concept, it's a haunted 

280
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,520
submarine. 
We see a lot of that kind of 

281
00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,320
stuff, particularly in 
Mothership. 

282
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,400
It's a haunted ship. 
There's a monster on the ship. 

283
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:39,800
This is a really great example 
of how to use literary writing 

284
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,920
and fantastic prose to that. 
Maybe not elevate it, I'm not 

285
00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,920
going to use that, but to really
embellish the the humanity and 

286
00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,960
the themes that I think Amanda 
was exploring it and just such a

287
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:55,880
fantastic read. 
So I really encourage that. 1000

288
00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,320
Thousand Islands by Zedex Sioux.
I'm not sure how in print that 

289
00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:02,000
is. 
I know you might still be able 

290
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,119
to get a copy of Reach of the 
Roach. 

291
00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,640
God, I didn't list that as my 
title because I haven't read it 

292
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:09,760
because I'm sort of afraid of 
cockroaches. 

293
00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:15,079
So that's on my list, but that 
might be more available. 1000 

294
00:17:15,079 --> 00:17:19,280
Empty Light by Alfred Valley 
Silent Titans by Patrick Stewart

295
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:26,280
is sort of this gonzo adventure 
into these giant beings that 

296
00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:32,200
it's it's quite strange and 
creative and playful and 

297
00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:35,560
imaginative while also being 
fantastically written. 

298
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,360
And I'll call out one Cloud 
Empress adventure. 

299
00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:43,640
I, I love all the adventures we 
published, but Labyrinth of the 

300
00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:48,800
Bride by Keanna Shaw, I think 
does a particularly good job of,

301
00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,120
of creating this sort of eerie 
literary style that I, that I 

302
00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:57,440
really enjoy reading as well. 
So just a few examples. 

303
00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,040
The, the other thing I'll return
real quick. 

304
00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,760
I think there are many more 
examples of literary games or 

305
00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,200
literary inspired games. 
So a lot of Snow's work, 

306
00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,760
including the Wizards and 
wastes, I think is a great 

307
00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,200
example. 
But we're talking about 

308
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:15,280
adventures today. 
So there are more examples of 

309
00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,760
games that have a literary style
or have some really fantastic 

310
00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:21,040
writing that explores the same 
kind of themes. 

311
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:26,040
But our focus today is writing 
expansion content and short form

312
00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,200
adventures. 
So that's what I wanted to focus

313
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:31,120
on, at least in terms of my 
recommendations and references. 

314
00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:39,440
So the last sort of major 
portion of the presentation 

315
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:45,120
today is really how to write for
Cloud Empress and how I write 

316
00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:47,120
literary adventures, if we want 
to call them that. 

317
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,800
We'll go through some specific 
examples, but I wanted to start 

318
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,880
with some of the goals that I 
had when I started writing Cloud

319
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,520
Empress and still do writing 
expansion content for the game. 

320
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:06,120
I like to have a question or 
something that's troubling me. 

321
00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:09,080
I like to explore that through 
the writing process and the 

322
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,200
design process of tabletop 
role-playing game. 

323
00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,400
So with Cloud Empress I was 
interested in exploring my 

324
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,920
questions and anxiety related to
climate change and really what 

325
00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:21,440
does human resilience mean? 
How do humans and and people 

326
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:25,080
find the joys within life in a 
increasingly challenging 

327
00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,960
environment? 
But also this the sense of hope 

328
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,800
that comes with resilience. 
And so Cloud Empress takes place

329
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:34,720
in a post post apocalypse. 
The apocalypse has happened and 

330
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,920
people are still living in this 
rural life, finding joys amidst 

331
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,200
giant cicadas and and lots of 
challenges. 

332
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,600
As a publisher, a lot of my work
is inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's 

333
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:52,680
work and so wanted to draw out 
these morally complex characters

334
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,520
and villains that Hayao Miyazaki
is is most known for. 

335
00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,160
That I think makes his work 
exceptional and humanist and, 

336
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,160
and political and, and very 
great. 

337
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:05,760
We talked about it a couple 
times and I'll I'll probably 

338
00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:07,800
bring it up a couple times more,
but really wanted to make the 

339
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:10,240
reading experience as enjoyable 
as playing it. 

340
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:15,320
My idea is, and I think I hear 
some of this from players, that 

341
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:18,600
if we can evoke an emotional 
reaction from the reader, 

342
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,400
they'll be better able to 
transfer that reaction and 

343
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:23,600
interest in the world to their 
players. 

344
00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:28,400
So even though something might 
not be as easily digestible or 

345
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:33,520
as easy to parse at the table, 
if we can create a memorable 

346
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,680
reading experience, it's 
possible that that can become 

347
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,240
more impactful at the table than
simply having some bullet points

348
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,680
about a character that are 
really maybe simplistic or high,

349
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,640
super high level for that 
character, such as the Amanda 

350
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,320
Lee Frank quote, right? 
It's a quote that's not going to

351
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,800
be great table reference, but it
might be especially evocative so

352
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:55,880
that you get to know the 
character and remember them. 

353
00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,400
Surprise the reader is something
I'm really interested in doing. 

354
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,440
I don't use a lot of 
explanations upfront where I 

355
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,200
sort of explain what's going to 
happen. 

356
00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,920
I like to let the text unfold 
and uncover as the reader and 

357
00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:15,640
the players go through it. 
On a design perspective, I 

358
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,680
wanted to show the ripple 
effects of violence. 

359
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,880
Rather than this idea that 
violence and this problems. 

360
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,400
If someone's dead, I'm over. 
I wanted to show that violence 

361
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,160
creates more violence and harm 
and trauma. 

362
00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:34,600
With all of these goals, I 
realized pretty quickly that I 

363
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,240
was writing for a relatively 
experienced game master. 

364
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,080
It's not to say that newer game 
masters can't run Cloud Empress,

365
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:47,360
but I decided due to time and 
space constraints mainly didn't 

366
00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:50,160
have enough room in the books 
and and didn't think I was maybe

367
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,520
the the best person to write a 
bunch of GM advice based on my 

368
00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,880
own experience and and skills. 
So I don't do a lot of hand 

369
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,880
holding in the text themselves. 
It sort of presents itself and 

370
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,560
let's GM sort of figure out how 
to create mechanisms around 

371
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,240
that. 
Although there are supporting 

372
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:13,000
elements within the rule books 
and one of the big things we'll 

373
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:14,720
talk about and some of the 
questions that we've already 

374
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,920
gotten for the Q&A is this idea 
of how to use tropes and 

375
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,000
familiar elements and draw 
inspiration. 

376
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,320
Because tabletop role-playing 
games are imaginary spaces in 

377
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:26,400
most cases and you're you're 
traveling through them. 

378
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:28,800
You don't have full artwork for 
everything you're meeting and 

379
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,880
everything you're seeing. 
I wanted to use science fantasy 

380
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,680
tropes. 
Nausicaa Dune Star Wars A New 

381
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,680
Hope to create this shared 
understanding of the world that 

382
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:41,280
people could quickly latch John 
based on shared cultural 

383
00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:45,160
experiences while subverting 
their expectations deliberately 

384
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:49,120
and consistently so that it 
didn't feel highly derivative. 

385
00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:53,040
Or again, going with that 
element of surprise. 

386
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,200
Ultimately, I want to write 
adventures that I want to read 

387
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,000
and play. 
I think writing stuff that 

388
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:05,120
interests you and excites you is
probably the only way to to 

389
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:08,800
capture an audience interest as 
well. 

390
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:16,640
Shout out to the Liminal Horror 
writing series, by the way, that

391
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,960
those presentations are 
fantastic. 

392
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,040
I really encourage folks to look
at those. 

393
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,400
This was sort of covered in in 
one of the, I think session two 

394
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,440
maybe. 
But I have two forms of 

395
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:31,880
adventures primarily, and 
there's some Gray in the middle.

396
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:36,240
But I have these introductory 
one shots in Cloud Empress, last

397
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,720
voyage of the Bean Barge and 
funeral, the anti St. which have

398
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,280
these sort of clear hooks that 
draw players into the location. 

399
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,440
And they typically trap players 
there or, or create really 

400
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,640
compelling reasons why they 
can't leave or if they leave, 

401
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,040
they're going to be in serious 
harm. 

402
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,240
Typically those types of 
adventures have three to four 

403
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:58,360
major NPCS that get the little 
headshots and the belongings and

404
00:23:58,360 --> 00:23:59,920
and things that we'll look at in
a minute. 

405
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,800
And I like to introduce setting 
elements as if players are new 

406
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:10,120
in those locations and 
experiment with forms and and 

407
00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:13,160
additional mechanisms and create
sometimes novel gameplay 

408
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,320
experiences. 
Or in the case of funeral of the

409
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,520
for the anti St., that was my 
like murder mystery kind of 

410
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:26,120
take, whereas less voyage of the
bean barge is sort of this ship 

411
00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:30,120
adventure crashing ship kind of 
thing that I've seen at times 

412
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:32,000
and other tabletop open games as
well. 

413
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:37,600
These ones I find require play 
testing to to make them work 

414
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,360
when I the first versions of 
these did not go very well. 

415
00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:43,960
And so iteration and play 
testing really made them sing a 

416
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,160
lot better and work a lot more 
cleanly. 

417
00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:54,320
The other type of adventures 
that we'll be spending today's 

418
00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:59,720
presentation on are what I call 
locations in conflict, where 

419
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,240
they are interesting and 
compelling situations happening 

420
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,280
at a particular location in a 
particular moment of time. 

421
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:12,560
But I don't use formal adventure
hooks or super apparent or 

422
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,480
explicit reasons for the players
to be involved in these 

423
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,640
locations, especially in the 
text itself. 

424
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,920
I really generally don't care if
the PCs leave. 

425
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:24,920
Cloud Empress is a sandbox hex 
crawl. 

426
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,560
And so one of the really great 
benefits is that if folks aren't

427
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:29,920
interested in something, they 
can just do something else. 

428
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:32,440
So if they come upon the 
situation and they say our 

429
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,320
characters wouldn't be invested 
in this, they can go somewhere 

430
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,560
else and the warden or the GM 
still has resources to keep the 

431
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,360
session going. 
Whereas obviously in other 

432
00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:45,080
systems or other frameworks or 
these one shots, if you say to 

433
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,440
your word, and we don't want to 
do this, our characters wouldn't

434
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,000
do this. 
Their their prep would be thrown

435
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:51,880
out and they might not not have 
something to run for you. 

436
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,760
So you kind of have to make up 
reasons or or keep your 

437
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,720
characters in that space for the
sake of your wardens and GM 

438
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,120
sanity and and prep. 
In these cases, I typically do 

439
00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:07,920
one to two major NPCS. 
These can be difficult to play 

440
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,440
test and I find generally not 
like especially critical to play

441
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,320
test if the mechanisms of the 
game are functioning properly. 

442
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,280
So we're going to be again, 
focusing on these these 

443
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,680
adventure locations. 
And so this is one from Land of 

444
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,320
Cicadas. 
It's called Pennants Farm. 

445
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:27,480
You can see the spread here. 
And we'll sort of pop into 

446
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,360
different elements as we explain
my writing process for it. 

447
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:38,320
So I don't exactly always follow
this, but I generally with 

448
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:43,160
location and conflict, create a 
concept to find the space and 

449
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,880
then fill in the details and 
we'll go through each one of 

450
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,280
these ways to approach the 
adventure location. 

451
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,760
So ideating a concept, I 
especially like this part. 

452
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:59,680
It's very fun. 
What I like to do is take one or

453
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,960
two tropes of science fantasy or
fantasy or science fiction or 

454
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:08,480
horror, but I like to mix them 
together in ideally new ways or 

455
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,680
add a third element that 
complexifies them. 

456
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,040
We'll talk more in the Q&A 
section. 

457
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,040
I think there's some interest 
around inspiration use, but 

458
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,840
ideally what I like to do based 
on experiences give inspirations

459
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,160
time to settle. 
So sometimes I'll read something

460
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,400
or see something or play 
something that I get really 

461
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:30,680
excited about and I want to 
bring to the tabletop 

462
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:32,320
role-playing game space or 
adventures. 

463
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,000
And often times when I start 
writing in that vein, when I'm 

464
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,800
really excited about something 
directly after seeing it, in my 

465
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,720
experience, the work can feel 
extremely derivative. 

466
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:47,880
It's like a one for one of what 
I just watched or, or doesn't 

467
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,440
necessarily have my unique take 
on things or or doesn't sound 

468
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,280
like my writing. 
So I like to let some of my 

469
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,160
inspirations kind of digest over
months or years. 

470
00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,080
And after I've been thinking 
about something for quite a 

471
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:03,560
while, a lot of the, the details
of that text have become fuzzy. 

472
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,800
And I sort of fill those in with
some of the themes or ideas I'm 

473
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:12,880
trying to explore with 
adventures and, and the setting 

474
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,320
in general. 
I like to find questions or 

475
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:16,760
concepts I've been grappling 
with. 

476
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:21,000
But what that means too, is I 
think it it's successful, you 

477
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,600
can, you can tackle social 
issues or economic or 

478
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,640
environmental issues or 
political issues. 

479
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,600
I think best and most 
effectively by bringing 

480
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:33,280
questions to the setting rather 
than definitive answers. 

481
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:36,800
I find that work that you're 
trying to espouse a certain 

482
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:42,720
ideology or a a particular 
answer tends to feel preachy or 

483
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:46,280
it feels like the the writer or 
the words trying to tell a 

484
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,320
particular story. 
And that can feel restrictive 

485
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:54,040
and and unfun for the players. 
So bringing some pieces together

486
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,440
that can engage players in 
conversations about social 

487
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,520
issues or political issues or 
environmental issues can be 

488
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,760
really interesting. 
But exploring the question and 

489
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,480
the nuances around those issues 
I think has been most successful

490
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,200
for me at least, and seems to 
resonate with Khada versus 

491
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:12,640
readers, which I'm excited 
about. 

492
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:22,720
South, looking at this pennants 
farm example, the tropes that I 

493
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,320
sort of brought to this 
adventure are floating spores 

494
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,360
from Nausicaa. 
Nausicaa has this whole spore 

495
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:32,360
jungle with all these floating 
things that that are highly 

496
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,800
infectious and dangerous. 
The Last of Us has zombies. 

497
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:41,000
There's some zombies in this 
adventure and just throwing a 

498
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,800
third element in the crucifixion
of Christ, this Christian 

499
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,520
imagery that that I'll sort of 
talk about with one particular 

500
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,880
character. 
The questions I was thinking 

501
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,160
about consciously or 
subconsciously, sometimes these 

502
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,200
happen more than than writing 
out specifically ahead. 

503
00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,720
But was just how is the fear of 
the unknown manifest in 

504
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,200
societies? 
How do people view miracles when

505
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,360
they occur during the moment 
rather than in hindsight? 

506
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:11,800
So we can all apply a different 
narrative to things like after 

507
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,200
the fact, but what what is the 
experience of the unknown in the

508
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:19,440
moment? 
So with this general concept, I 

509
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,040
started writing out the 
adventure. 

510
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,160
I centered a lot of the writing 
around NPCS. 

511
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,120
I think it's where I get to do 
some of the most interesting 

512
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,400
writing in Klonopris because I'm
not having to define the actual 

513
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,440
physical space that players need
to navigate. 

514
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,520
And so I think it's best to be 
cautious at times with 

515
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:42,360
navigating space, which we'll 
talk about. 

516
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:47,440
But I like to create morally 
complex NPC's that make simple 

517
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,880
solutions to the conflicts that 
are going on impossible or 

518
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:55,000
really challenging to implement,
so that more complex 

519
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,960
negotiations, challenges, 
problem solving needs to happen.

520
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,800
Even though I'm trying to write 
more nuanced NPCS, sticking to 

521
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,760
two or three main ideas can be 
helpful just to fit within the 

522
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:12,400
the text box that I have. 
Like to make everyone a bit 

523
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:14,480
tragic. 
I try to put some hope and 

524
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:18,640
resilience in there too, but 
everyone's a little sad with 

525
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,120
that. 
I try to make a whole person 

526
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:23,080
captured in a specific moment in
time. 

527
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,000
One of the things that is 
somewhat unique about Cloud 

528
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,320
Empress, at least explicitly, is
that it takes place during the 

529
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,040
summer of the Century Brood. 
And so it's got this very 

530
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,400
particular time that it's 
happening in over a three to 

531
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,720
four month period. 
And so writing NPCS, you're 

532
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:39,640
writing them during this time 
period. 

533
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,440
The two new setting books 
advance the timeline a couple of

534
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,240
months, so they start to take 
place in the late summer, early 

535
00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:48,720
fall. 
So when the the setting book 

536
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:50,680
takes place is sort of when 
we're experiencing that 

537
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:54,080
character. 
Like I said, I like to try to 

538
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:58,800
evoke some kind of emotional 
response, really exploring 

539
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,280
internal conflicts, doubt, 
Shades of Grey, uncertainty 

540
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,240
within a character. 
I like to, well, I think it's 

541
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,080
essential that I expect the 
reader to take time and effort 

542
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,320
to read the text before running 
the adventure. 

543
00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:15,360
So one of the assumptions and 
just things I've had to come to 

544
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,360
terms with is that more prep 
will be necessary probably to 

545
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,280
run Cloud Empress than maybe 
other games. 

546
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,080
They're not as table reference 
ready. 

547
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,360
So some games you can throw on 
the table, they've got bullet 

548
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,520
points, they've got bolded text 
that really help you run it in 

549
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,800
the moment. 
Whereas with Cloud Empress, you 

550
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:35,920
will need to sort of digest and 
think about the character. 

551
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,880
Maybe you'll need to to do some 
work ahead of time and maybe 

552
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,280
make additional notes with some 
of those bullets. 

553
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:48,080
And this consequently also means
that 1G Ms. understanding of an 

554
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:52,040
MPC may vary from another. 
And not being so concerned with 

555
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:55,800
representing the character 
exactly the same across games or

556
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:58,280
players and groups having the 
same kind of consistent 

557
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,920
experience, really letting 
interpretations vary and how 

558
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:06,440
certain characters are played or
acted within a certain conflict 

559
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,320
be relatively different 
depending on who's running them 

560
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,320
and what the PCs are doing in 
the environment suggests for 

561
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:18,440
those individual groups. 
So when we look at the pennants 

562
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:23,520
farm and PCs, the major NPC for 
the space is Spike Head. 

563
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,400
He is a corpse that came to life
miraculously. 

564
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,960
He looks quite alarming. 
One of the things I'll mention 

565
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,280
too is I generally don't write 
what can be shown at artwork. 

566
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:38,960
I'm trying to get better at alt 
text in the new release so that 

567
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:44,640
it is more accessible for folks 
of a variety of abilities, but I

568
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,360
generally don't write a lot of 
physical descriptions if I have 

569
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:52,040
artwork to express those. 
He's or spike heads trapped in 

570
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,720
an outhouse spike heads 
childlike and innocent. 

571
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,400
But we know that spike head, 
based on the information and the

572
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:04,360
rules, is largely infectious and
dangerous when injured in 

573
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,480
particular. 
And so the characters in the 

574
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,400
space are dealing with this. 
What can be considered a 

575
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,719
monster, right? 
And that the sport keepers are 

576
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:14,400
the alternative group or 
faction. 

577
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,040
They're a group that that race 
spores and Cellars. 

578
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,280
They're used to fungal 
infection, so they've got 

579
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,080
flamethrowers. 
They're going to burn spike head

580
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,199
to death in the near future. 
They're generous. 

581
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,520
They do check the players to 
make sure that they're they 

582
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:32,679
aren't carrying infection, but 
then they offer food and really 

583
00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:35,719
invite the players in. 
They're deadly. 

584
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,199
They have weapons and they have 
experienced taking out these 

585
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:43,520
creatures and they're on a 
mission to end the infection and

586
00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:45,719
help the region. 
That's that's there's this white

587
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,520
spore infection that's propped 
cropped up that's really 

588
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:49,960
unusual. 
And so they're they're on this 

589
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:51,400
mission. 
A lot of the sport keepers just 

590
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,239
sort of stop it and curtail the 
damages that are happening. 

591
00:34:55,679 --> 00:34:58,560
But they also want to start a 
life in the destroyed village. 

592
00:34:58,600 --> 00:34:59,840
They've come from another 
village. 

593
00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,680
The village is now unoccupied 
because of all the death that's 

594
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:04,360
happened here with the 
infection. 

595
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,160
But so they are imagining this 
future for themselves in this 

596
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:12,240
space in future summers and in 
in, you know, longer term. 

597
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:22,680
So with the location writing, I 
tend to keep layouts and maps 

598
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:27,480
fairly simple. 
I do look for and want to avoid 

599
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,160
movement paths, especially 
indoors where there's no 

600
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:34,880
choices, where it's sort of the 
single singular railroad or 

601
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,440
snake that people have to go on.
So I try to give some branching 

602
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,200
paths that can create things 
interesting. 

603
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,440
And there's a lot of writing on 
dungeon design in particular 

604
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:49,400
that you can access with a quick
search engine search, looking 

605
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,600
for opportunities to sneak in 
poetic flourishes and and sort 

606
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:56,080
of exercise prose that makes it 
a little bit more interesting to

607
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,160
read. 
Sometimes these location 

608
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:01,520
descriptions can feel a little 
utilitarian. 

609
00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:07,200
I like to include a few boring 
spaces to accentuate more 

610
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,360
interesting room 1. 
So sometimes a room may not have

611
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:15,560
a lot going on, but I think that
can create a more surprising 

612
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,160
element in a future room or a 
more realistic sort of 

613
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:20,040
interpretation of of space and 
time. 

614
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:24,720
One of these things, this is 
like a a weird, maybe not weird,

615
00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:29,440
but it's sort of obsession for 
me is that spaces should be 

616
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,480
useful to the people that sort 
of exist within the world, 

617
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:34,080
right? 
And so most of the time we're 

618
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:36,880
talking about humans. 
So humans need places to eat, 

619
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,280
sleep and void their bodily 
waste. 

620
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,600
So I always try to write 
kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms

621
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,200
in the locations, particularly 
bathrooms. 

622
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:48,520
So I've seen when we were doing 
some of the adventures, the 

623
00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:50,680
minis in adventures, some of 
them didn't include bathrooms. 

624
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,440
And I'm like, we need to put a 
bathroom in somewhere. 

625
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:54,200
Like let's, let's put the 
bathroom in. 

626
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,560
And they don't, Those can be 
those boring spaces, or you can 

627
00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:58,920
put one or two elements in 
there. 

628
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,360
But I always try to put a 
bathroom somewhere just to make 

629
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,040
it feel more real. 
I don't know, I, I, I get really

630
00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:10,720
caught up when, when spaces 
become a little too unreal 

631
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:12,440
without those those basic 
things. 

632
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,840
As I mentioned earlier, this is 
a location in a specific moment 

633
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:20,600
in time. 
One of the things that I do is 

634
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,760
freeze the MPCS in specific 
locations as needed. 

635
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,840
So in this case, the sport 
keepers are always setting up 

636
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:30,440
this pyre when the players get 
there, they're always making 

637
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,760
dinner in a certain area. 
Time does not advance until the 

638
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:36,360
players get there, which is 
maybe a little video gamey, but 

639
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,240
in many cases, once the players 
sort of engage with the world, 

640
00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:43,720
timers can start. 
But I think writing wise, it's 

641
00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:47,880
most interesting to put things 
in in a moment in conflict and 

642
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,360
then once the players get there 
that the clock sort of starts 

643
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:52,160
and consequences can start 
happening. 

644
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:57,600
If players really go somewhere 
totally different or it's months

645
00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:01,160
later, then I think some 
adaptation may be necessary. 

646
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,800
But again, the the narrow time 
frame of the land is Takitas 

647
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:07,600
sort of helps in that regard as 
well. 

648
00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:12,040
So this is what Pennants Farm 
looks like. 

649
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:16,160
It's a small village in the 
midst of this flame cleaning of 

650
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:20,240
these this infection. 
PCs have likely experienced the 

651
00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:21,840
white sport at least rumors of 
it. 

652
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:25,880
So they have some prep for this,
you know, adventure to come. 

653
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:31,840
The sport keepers immediately 
sort of call out to the PCs and 

654
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,920
hold them at gunpoint to 
investigate whether the the PCs 

655
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:39,120
are infected or not. 
Once they're cleared, they're 

656
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,880
invited into dinner really 
generously and they can, they 

657
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:45,160
can have a meal and and warm and
pleasant conversation. 

658
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:49,200
But we also have Spike House in 
the Spike head in the outhouse 

659
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,600
who is calling for assistance 
and speaking through this barred

660
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,160
window. 
Really sympathetic character, 

661
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,240
probably to the players who sort
of asking for help, but quite 

662
00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:00,320
alarming looking and again, 
potentially dangerous. 

663
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:07,080
This is the next part, which is 
the writing your ass off. 

664
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:13,160
This is just right. 
As hard as you can, right? 

665
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:18,080
As best as you can. 
I think some notes on that are 

666
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,240
sometimes I'll, I'll feel myself
in autopilot and I'll say, OK, I

667
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:24,080
know what's going to happen. 
I know what's going to happen, I

668
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:27,520
just need to write it now. 
And a lot of times I find that 

669
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,200
when I'm doing that, I'm leaning
too heavily on trope. 

670
00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:32,400
So I'm saying, oh, I know what's
going to happen. 

671
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,480
And a lot of times I'll be 
pulling from like a movie or ATV

672
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:39,520
show or what I expect AAD and D 
adventure to look like. 

673
00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:43,440
And so when I start feeling 
things are especially simple or 

674
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,720
obvious, that's when I stop and,
and sort of subvert expectations

675
00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:48,600
or think about a more 
interesting approach. 

676
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:51,600
Sometimes this happens during a 
revision as well. 

677
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,360
I like to this is something I 
got from a blog post that I I 

678
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:59,120
can't remember where or who, but
this idea of putting 1 original 

679
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:01,360
or unusual idea at least on each
page. 

680
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,040
So what's something like really 
unique to the setting or the 

681
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,920
space that that is not present 
or maybe the players haven't 

682
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:08,920
seen before or the reader hasn't
seen before. 

683
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,920
There's not a whole lot that's 
original, but again, you can 

684
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:16,480
combine things in new ways or 
put new contexts around tropes 

685
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:18,240
and elements that might feel 
unusual. 

686
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,920
I like to focus on the sound and
appearance of language. 

687
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,000
Sometimes I'll real read the 
pros out aloud to to hear how it

688
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:31,240
sounds. 
In line with that, I generally 

689
00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:33,880
avoid adding game mechanisms in 
my writing. 

690
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:38,480
So I don't say make a speed 
check, make a body save. 

691
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:42,200
I do not like reading those in 
adventures. 

692
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:44,760
I find them really boring. 
I find them break up the text. 

693
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:49,720
I see Ryan's head nodding and 
this goes in line with who is 

694
00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:52,560
your audience. 
So if I'm writing for a more 

695
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:57,360
novice or inexperienced game 
master, maybe I would include 

696
00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:59,040
those. 
But the assumption here is that 

697
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,360
wardens will use this text in a 
variety of ways. 

698
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,080
They'll need to make their own 
decisions. 

699
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:09,800
It's not a reference text at the
table primarily, although you 

700
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:11,760
know, you certainly probably 
want to have it on hand. 

701
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,080
So the idea with that is just 
that they can do that on their 

702
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:16,160
own. 
They can listen to the 

703
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,840
situation, listen to the players
and make those calls on their 

704
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:21,720
own. 
I like adding poetic phrases 

705
00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:25,520
wherever I can, but not in a way
that they intrude or become 

706
00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:29,240
obnoxious. 
If something doesn't feel right 

707
00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:33,280
or feels boring or some some 
paragraphs, I just I'm like, 

708
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:39,720
that's a key for me to rewrite 
it if I have time and see if I 

709
00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:44,000
can come up with something a bit
better with that. 

710
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:47,160
In this literary again 
framework, looking for 

711
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:50,440
opportunities to comment on the 
greater human experience or the 

712
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:52,240
overall nature of the world and 
setting. 

713
00:41:52,240 --> 00:41:56,720
And that's sort of looking 
outside of the adventure where 

714
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:01,560
we might ascertain certain 
elements about human experience 

715
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,280
or just something a little bit 
more poetic that speaks to 

716
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:08,440
things outside of the individual
adventure in the conflict that's

717
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:10,280
happening. 
So how does this adventure speak

718
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:12,640
to human nature? 
How does this adventure speak to

719
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,240
the nature of conflict within 
our our present day world? 

720
00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:18,800
I think that stuff can be really
interesting when done 

721
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:21,440
thoughtfully. 
And, and writing is hard. 

722
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,680
It's hard to do. 
And so good luck. 

723
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:29,680
It's not impossible. 
Writing bad is actually quite 

724
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:31,160
easy. 
Writing well is, is more 

725
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,520
challenging. 
So we'll talk more about just 

726
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,960
just getting the words on page 
and and finishing stuff is is so

727
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,680
valuable and not worrying too 
much about making something 

728
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,040
that's great. 
Just finishing something. 

729
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:47,720
There are some examples here. 
I'll read the spike head one. 

730
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:50,720
I don't want to do too much 
reading, but I these are just 

731
00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:54,600
some little flourishes that I 
think I fit into the pennant's 

732
00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:56,720
farm adventure that I had that 
I'm still happy with. 

733
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,240
What miracle isn't disturbing 
for aren't miracles meant to be 

734
00:43:01,240 --> 00:43:04,360
a disturbance to everyday life? 
The world always takes the side 

735
00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:07,280
of change, and only one careless
cigarette butt is needed to 

736
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:11,560
create a wildfire. 
So that's an example about Spike

737
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:14,200
Head within the individual 
setting and the individual 

738
00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:18,760
conflict with the adventure. 
But it's also commenting on the 

739
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:23,480
nature of miracles and how the 
world changes, the environment 

740
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:28,920
changes. 
So the the last piece is filling

741
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:32,800
in the details. 
These are the things I generally

742
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:37,400
find maybe least interesting or 
feel like the most work 

743
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:39,640
potentially. 
But that's like stats the 

744
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,600
belongings of different 
characters and items for Cloud 

745
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:45,280
Empress. 
Just as a benchmark. 

746
00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:49,200
The average human has about 30 
instinct and three wounds. 

747
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,400
You can borrow these stats 
though from other Cloud Empress 

748
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:55,920
characters or mothership NPC's 
as they make sense. 

749
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,000
When I'm writing a character's 
belongings, these are like 

750
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,200
literally all the things that 
that character is carrying. 

751
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:04,760
In case the the player steal 
from them or they die or 

752
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,800
whatever, they offer something 
up or need to trade. 

753
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:10,600
I always try to add one or two 
belongings that feel like they 

754
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,920
complexify the character. 
So what's one or two things that

755
00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:17,160
are unexpected or or you 
wouldn't expect that maybe 

756
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:21,320
reveals an insight? 
Ideally everything sort of makes

757
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:23,680
sense within the character, but 
one or two elements that feel 

758
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:28,960
like a subversion. 
I embed weapons in the belonging

759
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,800
list. 
So in many games you'll see 

760
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:35,960
combat values sort of show up 
front and center with each NPC 

761
00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:38,760
and animal and creature and, and
stuff. 

762
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,440
And so my thought is to really 
embed those a bit so that it, it

763
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:46,600
doesn't become the first thought
of the use of the NPC or that 

764
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:50,120
the, the character or the 
soldier, whatever, they're a 

765
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:53,160
person who can be dangerous in 
combat probably. 

766
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,360
But that's not the the first way
that we're going to look at 

767
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:59,360
them. 
How I write items and, and 

768
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,920
relics, like magic items in 
Cloud Empress, I typically will 

769
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:06,320
sit down and write a list of 
those first and then I'll 

770
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:08,560
sprinkle those throughout 
different adventures. 

771
00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:12,600
That's the way that I find most 
interesting, unless the 

772
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:15,680
adventure sort of hinges around 
a particular relic or item or 

773
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,600
situation, and then I might 
write it in a different order. 

774
00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:22,440
But I, I find I have the most 
fun and, and the, the my brain 

775
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:26,200
works the best when I'm just 
writing a set of those items and

776
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:29,960
then dispensing them across the 
the setting book. 

777
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:33,200
Some of those examples, though, 
in cloud Empress are like 

778
00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:38,520
crests, which are the noble 
artifacts that they use to use 

779
00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:42,520
their own form of magic spells, 
sticks a chalk, which is the 

780
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:47,400
currency primarily the only sort
of tradable currency, weapons, 

781
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:51,480
unique weapons and relics and 
slippery stuff, which are just 

782
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:55,960
magical items in the stepping. 
Those are all good rewards and 

783
00:45:55,960 --> 00:46:00,240
sort of encourage players to 
investigate and and feel like 

784
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:05,600
keep the world a mysterious and 
magical place, which is some of 

785
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,920
the vibe that cloud Empress is 
going for. 

786
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:17,360
So here's some examples of 
pennants farm items. 

787
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:22,600
We have spike heads belongings. 
Spike head has beaded jewelry, a

788
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:26,040
gourd canteen, moldy book of 
prayers, packets of sugar and 

789
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:29,240
sport keepers funeral robes. 
I would say that packets of 

790
00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:33,000
sugar may be in the moldy book 
of prayers are may be unexpected

791
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:36,000
on a potentially like monstrous 
looking creature. 

792
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:42,320
There are no relics or 
particularly interesting items 

793
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:45,320
in Penance Farm, which maybe I 
should rectify. 

794
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:49,400
But Ebert does send the PCs to 
this infected household where 

795
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:51,920
there is a relic there. 
So players that sort of do this 

796
00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:55,280
side quest to clear up an 
additional home that's on the 

797
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:57,880
periphery of the village. 
There's this thing called the 

798
00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:01,160
Hounds incense Burner where when
it's lit, it summons these 

799
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:05,560
interdimensional hounds that 
sort of terrorized the space. 

800
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:08,840
So kind of an interesting item 
that folks can find in the in 

801
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,400
the house located on B9 in this 
case and the hex map. 

802
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:17,520
The other piece, this isn't 
present in pennants farm. 

803
00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:21,240
It maybe should have been, but I
had for whatever reason, I think

804
00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:23,840
with the layout, I was 
constricted to a single spread, 

805
00:47:24,240 --> 00:47:26,160
which is also the reason why I'm
showing it today. 

806
00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:29,720
But you can include and and 
maybe need to include this 

807
00:47:29,720 --> 00:47:32,520
timeline if the PCs do nothing. 
Is is sort of the way it's 

808
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:35,920
framed in cloud operas. 
So if the PCs ignore the 

809
00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:40,240
conflict, what advances within 
the world and what kind of 

810
00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:43,720
relevant actions are the NPCS 
taking to escalate the conflict 

811
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:47,440
and will under what timeline? 
So this is one of the this this 

812
00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:50,000
is called the sleeping giant 
that this comes from, but it's 

813
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:53,040
in an hourly setting. 
And then it jumps to three days 

814
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:56,320
and then four days later there's
this giant nuclear explosion and

815
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:59,760
a bunch of cicadas come, you 
know, eat this giant monster 

816
00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:04,360
that's dying. 
The timeline again establishes 

817
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:07,800
the stakes and key reasons the 
PCs might seek to intervene and 

818
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:13,120
creates consequences within the 
world So that players I think 

819
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:18,600
one of the incentives that's 
often not fully recognized as 

820
00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:21,240
designers, we have to talk a lot
about like what items can 

821
00:48:21,240 --> 00:48:26,600
someone get or what? 
But I think like guilt, guilt 

822
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:30,640
and and care and community are 
all incentives as well. 

823
00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:34,680
And so if players feel like the 
world is alive and that, you 

824
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:36,840
know, if they care about spike 
head or they care about these 

825
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,400
for keepers, that becomes a 
really large incentive and hook,

826
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:44,480
I think, for why someone would 
get involved beyond especially 

827
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:46,960
in video games where it's like, 
I'll give you this chest or I 

828
00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:51,120
have a magic item for you that 
doesn't to me, it happened a lot

829
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:53,880
of my day-to-day experience. 
It's more of this like trust and

830
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:56,240
appreciation or kindness or even
with strangers. 

831
00:48:56,240 --> 00:48:58,840
There's a thank you where I I 
seem to care about this person 

832
00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:02,000
rather than a like monetized 
experience where someone's 

833
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,320
handing me a $5.00 bill after 
I've helped them like with their

834
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:06,400
groceries or something in the 
neighborhood. 

835
00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:11,040
So let's talk about some 
reflections and final thoughts. 

836
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:14,160
Hopefully that explains my 
process again, I'll just pop 

837
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:19,240
this slide up again, flipping 
through quite a few, but just to

838
00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:25,480
to recap the process that I I go
through, come up with your 

839
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:29,520
concepts and themes, fill out 
how that's going to manifest in 

840
00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:32,400
the space through NPC's 
locations and writing itself. 

841
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:35,400
And then filling in the details 
with those elements that that 

842
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:39,640
sort of RPG fi what you're doing
and and make it a game that that

843
00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:44,520
people want to play and enjoy. 
Now, let's hop over to 

844
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:46,400
reflections. 
These are just some final 

845
00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:51,160
thoughts I've had. 
First, these are just some 

846
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:54,240
questions you can consider as 
you're writing or after you've 

847
00:49:54,240 --> 00:49:59,360
written something to, you know, 
think about how much adventure 

848
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:02,720
information was obscured and 
sort of when did players when 

849
00:50:02,720 --> 00:50:05,080
would players receive the 
information? 

850
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:08,600
How quickly do they figure out 
exactly what's going on? 

851
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:11,400
Is your text enjoyable for you 
to read? 

852
00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,520
Do you like reading it? 
Does the text evoke any 

853
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:17,280
particular emotions at any 
point, particularly with the 

854
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:21,520
NPCS? 
How does the text explore your 

855
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:23,800
questions about real world 
events, politics, the 

856
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:26,360
environment, your left reality, 
the human experience? 

857
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:32,360
So those are some things that I 
think embody what it means to be

858
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:36,320
a literary a little bit or 
something that might lean you in

859
00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:38,480
that direction at least. 
Feeling a little bit more Cloud 

860
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:42,520
Empress related. 
This is my final unasked for 

861
00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:47,840
general advice. 
I think at this point with how 

862
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:50,200
much content is coming out 
content right? 

863
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:55,880
TTRPDS, video games, literature,
movies. 

864
00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:59,960
With so much that's coming out, 
I am starting to really 

865
00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:03,400
appreciate risk taking and 
weirdness and experiments more 

866
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:05,960
than well crafted convention 
conventionality. 

867
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:08,960
I grew up as a comic book fan, a
big Marvel reader, and I am 

868
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:11,560
very, very tired of Marvel 
movies because they all seem to 

869
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:14,240
resolve the same way, with the 
same stakes, with the same 

870
00:51:14,240 --> 00:51:18,920
impact on the characters. 
And so even the, you know, the 

871
00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:22,920
Francis Ford Coppola movie, I, 
I'm forgetting the name, but I, 

872
00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:25,280
I just, you know, that was 
weird, right? 

873
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:29,400
So I like stuff like that. 
I appreciate things more for 

874
00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:31,480
their risks, whether they're 
successful or not. 

875
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:38,120
That doesn't always mean they're
they're great or masterpieces of

876
00:51:38,120 --> 00:51:41,760
art, but, you know, be weird. 
Try some things. 

877
00:51:43,120 --> 00:51:45,320
The other pieces. 
People can only read what you 

878
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:49,400
publish. 
So be shipping stuff if you're 

879
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:52,440
interested in this at all, like 
start on a reasonable project. 

880
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:54,760
I think that's one of the great 
things about the Winter Jam is 

881
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:57,040
we've set this constraint. 
We've given you some tools to 

882
00:51:57,040 --> 00:52:00,160
make something small. 
That's how I started doing 

883
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:02,680
tabletop role-playing games from
my own background. 

884
00:52:02,680 --> 00:52:05,080
I always wanted to write this 
like science fiction series or 

885
00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:08,280
this big novel and stuff, and I 
would always get 10 pages in and

886
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:11,040
nothing would work and I'd feel 
overwhelmed and I'd stop, right?

887
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:14,920
So I think writing particularly 
under a timeline, that's how I 

888
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:18,040
do, I have to do all my work now
is I have this many months to 

889
00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:22,120
get something done or this many 
weeks or days, and you just need

890
00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:26,480
to finish stuff at least to 
publish it and have people enjoy

891
00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:30,160
it. 
So this knowledge that with the 

892
00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:33,880
Pennants Farm example for there 
are things I would, I want to 

893
00:52:33,880 --> 00:52:35,960
change, right? 
But I needed to get it done in a

894
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,520
certain way, in a certain time, 
in a certain layout. 

895
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:40,880
And so it's OK if things aren't 
perfect. 

896
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:44,120
If you really care later, you 
can come back and revise it and 

897
00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:47,320
republish it. 
And people will, you know, have 

898
00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:52,280
that version if you so choose. 
Try to read as much as you write

899
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:54,880
and write as much as you read. 
Those are challenging things to 

900
00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:59,440
do. 
But if you want to write in this

901
00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:01,280
field, I think you should enjoy 
what you're reading. 

902
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:03,400
And if you're not enjoying what 
you're reading, try to find new 

903
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:05,280
stuff or, or draw inspirations 
elsewhere. 

904
00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:09,840
I like to write with an end 
product in mind and set some 

905
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:13,400
goals around that end product. 
So think about the form factor 

906
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:17,000
that you're writing this start 
with maybe the the deliverable 

907
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:18,600
in your head and things can 
change. 

908
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,880
But I think it's helpful to 
know, am I writing this for a 

909
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:24,080
pamphlet? 
Is this going to be just a, you 

910
00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:27,680
know, APDF? 
Am I going to print this as a 

911
00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:30,200
eight page Zine? 
Is it going to be a hardcover? 

912
00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:32,320
Am I making this a whole box 
set, etcetera? 

913
00:53:33,800 --> 00:53:35,920
Also, what format you're going 
to be releasing it in? 

914
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:38,720
Is this a Kickstarter product 
versus something I'm releasing 

915
00:53:38,720 --> 00:53:41,440
an itch? 
That varies a lot in terms of 

916
00:53:41,640 --> 00:53:45,360
what expectations and goals and,
and things you might need to do 

917
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:49,600
to make that successful. 
And finally, your thoughts, 

918
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:53,760
ideas and work are important. 
Art is so nebulous. 

919
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,440
One of the things that, that I, 
I've been reflecting on, 

920
00:53:58,440 --> 00:54:04,080
especially with my Spotify 
Wrapped in my own cases, some of

921
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:08,640
these artists, I'm like the top 
001 percent or zero, 1% of this 

922
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:10,400
artist listeners. 
And they're my favorite 

923
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:13,560
musician. 
I like this, this artist called 

924
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:17,480
Nilafer Yenya, I believe, and I 
just like her music a lot. 

925
00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:18,760
And she's one of my favorite 
musicians. 

926
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:22,160
And apparently I'm, I'm, you 
know, I think she's got a lot of

927
00:54:22,160 --> 00:54:25,560
listeners, but I'm like the top 
percentage point of that the, 

928
00:54:25,720 --> 00:54:29,240
the very top of the cap. 
So the weird thing you're making

929
00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:33,800
might be someone's favorite 
thing ever, or at least favorite

930
00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:35,560
thing in the genre or favorite 
thing all year. 

931
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:40,040
And so just because you might 
not be able to have a wide reach

932
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:42,600
at this point, it doesn't mean 
that the work you're not doing 

933
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:47,600
is is valuable. 
And, and also art is really 

934
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:50,240
important in ways that I don't 
understand. 

935
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:53,200
It changes people, it changes 
societies. 

936
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:56,600
It reflects societies in these 
like unknowable ways that I 

937
00:54:56,600 --> 00:54:59,080
think it's challenging when 
you're writing or creating 

938
00:54:59,080 --> 00:55:02,160
something. 
It can feel like there's many 

939
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:04,400
other things I could do that 
would have a more immediate and 

940
00:55:04,400 --> 00:55:09,080
linear outcome in my life. 
Consuming media, playing video 

941
00:55:09,080 --> 00:55:13,440
games, all sorts of stuff. 
But art has this profound impact

942
00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:18,480
on both the artist and the 
society that it's it's published

943
00:55:18,480 --> 00:55:22,040
or or given to. 
And so I think trusting that the

944
00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:25,720
work you're doing is important 
and will mean something to 

945
00:55:25,720 --> 00:55:30,040
someone creates a a stronger 
imperative to finish it and to 

946
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:36,400
get it done. 
So yeah, I think that is it. 

947
00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:41,120
I'll give you some next steps. 
Closing things again, really 

948
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:43,160
encourage you to submit to this 
game jam. 

949
00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:47,120
January 5th to February 2nd. 
We've again given you some 

950
00:55:47,120 --> 00:55:48,920
templates. 
There's a number of people 

951
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:51,080
involved. 
We have a Discord called Cloud 

952
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:55,320
and Press Discord that you can 
there's there's a link on my 

953
00:55:55,320 --> 00:55:57,920
website, cloudempress.com, but 
there's a bunch of people 

954
00:55:57,920 --> 00:55:59,680
already talking about what 
they're going to come up with 

955
00:55:59,680 --> 00:56:02,520
brainstorming, coming up with 
solutions to challenges or 

956
00:56:02,640 --> 00:56:05,680
shared questions they're having.
I'm monitoring that if you have 

957
00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:10,720
questions for me and I will be 
putting this presentation out on

958
00:56:10,720 --> 00:56:15,200
the slides and maybe some the 
recording answers to the the 

959
00:56:15,200 --> 00:56:19,520
questions potentially that we 
don't get to on the Cloud 

960
00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:22,680
Empress newsletter, which is at 
worldsbywatt.substack.com. 

961
00:56:22,680 --> 00:56:25,760
So if you want this material, 
that's where you'll be able to 

962
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:28,640
find it in the near future, 
probably in the next week or two

963
00:56:28,640 --> 00:56:33,520
in January. 
And it's January 2025 for folks 

964
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:37,920
watching us in the far future. 
So I think that's it, Ryan, 

965
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:40,160
there's my blue sky again. 
But I we have a number of 

966
00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:46,400
questions that we can dive into 
if you're ready for it, Ryan and

967
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,280
you are muted, I believe or I'm 
not here. 

968
00:56:49,280 --> 00:56:52,000
I was, I was, I should be OK 
now. 

969
00:56:53,680 --> 00:56:59,120
All right, so got a whole lot of
questions here. 

970
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:01,040
How, how long do you want to go 
for this? 

971
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:03,600
And I'll, I'll start from the 
top and we'll go from there. 

972
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:05,960
Yeah. 
What time is it? 

973
00:57:06,080 --> 00:57:09,080
Well, maybe we'll do like 10-15 
minutes, something like that. 

974
00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:12,040
Sounds good. 
So I think one of the most part 

975
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:16,280
in questions was what's the 
first piece of advice you'd give

976
00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:20,880
to a first time adventure writer
or game jam entrance? 

977
00:57:20,880 --> 00:57:24,560
Specifically about Cloud Empress
and and the Winter Jam. 

978
00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:34,600
I think being a really type A 
person, I get a really I I get 

979
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:36,800
ahead of myself. 
And so one thing I would 

980
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:40,800
recommend just, or your first 
game jam and, and just writing 

981
00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:44,800
and doing something creative in 
general is really check in along

982
00:57:44,800 --> 00:57:46,720
the way and see if you're 
enjoying what you're doing. 

983
00:57:48,320 --> 00:57:50,800
Finishing stuff is awesome and I
really encourage it. 

984
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:57,360
But I've done a lot of things in
my life because other people 

985
00:57:57,360 --> 00:57:58,920
told me I was good at them, 
right? 

986
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:02,560
I felt good at them, but 
ultimately they weren't 

987
00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:05,240
fulfilling or they were really 
challenging in ways or felt 

988
00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:08,440
creatively draining. 
So monitor yourself and see 

989
00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:11,920
where you're at. 
But I, I think the thing I would

990
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:16,640
recommend is, is whatever, 
however long you think it's 

991
00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:19,000
going to take, it's going to 
take twice as long, studies 

992
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:21,880
show. 
So pick something small and just

993
00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:26,080
get something done that I would 
say start with A1 page, just A1 

994
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:30,200
pager. 
Find some Creative Commons 

995
00:58:30,200 --> 00:58:34,120
artwork, maybe as a starting 
point even, and then write to 

996
00:58:34,120 --> 00:58:39,000
the Creative Commons artwork. 
And I think you, if you, if you 

997
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:41,520
get done with that and you have 
more energy and you, you can do 

998
00:58:41,520 --> 00:58:43,080
another right, you can keep 
adding. 

999
00:58:43,080 --> 00:58:48,040
But finishing stuff is, is so 
enriching. 

1000
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:53,520
It's it is the lifeblood of my 
life now in terms of just 

1001
00:58:53,520 --> 00:58:58,440
getting stuff out there. 
And it also, I find really 

1002
00:58:58,440 --> 00:59:01,040
alleviates fears of like, what 
are people going to say about my

1003
00:59:01,040 --> 00:59:04,520
work or what are what if it's 
not perfect enough? 

1004
00:59:04,520 --> 00:59:07,320
If you really sunk into this 
like idea of like, I get stuff 

1005
00:59:07,320 --> 00:59:09,200
done and I get stuff done on a 
timeline. 

1006
00:59:09,880 --> 00:59:14,000
As you know, things change, but 
that stuff can alleviate some of

1007
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:19,120
those fears as well. 
Yeah, you can't fix something 

1008
00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:22,440
that never gets put out. 
So you know it's. 

1009
00:59:22,440 --> 00:59:24,840
I say that as someone who's been
working on something for way too

1010
00:59:24,840 --> 00:59:26,560
long and it'll and it won't see 
the light of day. 

1011
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:31,320
I have a couple things and 
because this is my stream, I can

1012
00:59:31,320 --> 00:59:32,880
say it. 
I just think that this is not a 

1013
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:35,920
question, but bathrooms as 
discourse is definitely a thing.

1014
00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:38,800
And it's a very interesting 
discourse when you read up on 

1015
00:59:39,160 --> 00:59:41,000
where do goblins shit in the 
dungeon? 

1016
00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:42,080
But we don't need to get into 
that. 

1017
00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:43,960
But I just thought it was 
interesting when you brought up 

1018
00:59:44,200 --> 00:59:47,800
it has to have a bathroom. 
But one of the things I wanted 

1019
00:59:47,800 --> 00:59:51,120
to say specifically was you 
brought up Hai Miyazaki in 

1020
00:59:51,120 --> 00:59:54,640
Studio Ghibli, and I often see 
people use those as 

1021
00:59:54,640 --> 01:00:00,040
inspirations, but specifically 
for like pastoral and whimsical 

1022
01:00:00,040 --> 01:00:04,160
things, which is part of Ghibli,
right? 

1023
01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:08,320
But just about all of Ghibli has
a much deeper layer to that. 

1024
01:00:08,320 --> 01:00:12,320
So when you talk about using 
Miyazaki as an inspiration in 

1025
01:00:12,320 --> 01:00:17,320
literary adventures or in even 
Cloud Empress, what what of the 

1026
01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:20,600
more complex parts of it inspire
you or what have you drawn from 

1027
01:00:20,600 --> 01:00:23,000
that work did? 
You can obviously see it in 

1028
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:26,640
Cloud Empress. 
Yeah, thank you for the 

1029
01:00:26,640 --> 01:00:30,920
question. 
Hayu Miyazaki in particular is 

1030
01:00:31,200 --> 01:00:33,760
my number one inspiration in in 
tabletop role-playing game. 

1031
01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:37,280
I, I, I go back and back to the 
works and, and I've been doing 

1032
01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:40,560
reading on and I spent a lot of 
time thinking about this. 

1033
01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:46,000
To your point, I think the 
there's a real like 

1034
01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:48,760
commercialization and 
monetization that's happened 

1035
01:00:49,400 --> 01:00:51,760
intentionally by, by Studio 
Ghibli, right? 

1036
01:00:51,760 --> 01:00:55,520
But there's Totoro's everywhere.
There's no face everywhere. 

1037
01:00:55,520 --> 01:00:59,520
There's these kind of kitschy 
little plushies and things. 

1038
01:00:59,520 --> 01:01:04,680
But it really at times flattens 
the complexity of the pieces. 

1039
01:01:05,600 --> 01:01:09,960
And so I think about my neighbor
Tutra, which I saw very, very 

1040
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:16,200
young, and this like ambiguity 
and concern about the mother's 

1041
01:01:16,200 --> 01:01:21,640
likely spinal tuberculosis. 
And so it's a it's A at the same

1042
01:01:21,640 --> 01:01:25,480
time, it's about the pastoral 
and about the magical. 

1043
01:01:25,840 --> 01:01:30,680
It's in conversation with 
chronic illness and 

1044
01:01:30,680 --> 01:01:33,840
hospitalization and uncertainty 
and death and all these kinds of

1045
01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:36,200
things. 
And the central conflict of the 

1046
01:01:36,240 --> 01:01:39,520
the film becomes about that with
this may being missing. 

1047
01:01:39,520 --> 01:01:46,000
So I think that's something that
I, I like to look at gaps in the

1048
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:50,320
market in terms of like a 
product person and thinking 

1049
01:01:50,320 --> 01:01:52,400
about what could I do 
differently. 

1050
01:01:52,400 --> 01:01:54,120
And, and that was one of the big
pieces. 

1051
01:01:54,400 --> 01:01:57,280
I'd seen a lot of Studio Ghibli 
inspired, but I never seen 

1052
01:01:57,280 --> 01:02:01,320
something Nausicaa inspired and 
on the market or I never saw. 

1053
01:02:01,800 --> 01:02:04,560
I have an idea for something 
that Princess Mononoke inspired 

1054
01:02:04,640 --> 01:02:07,320
Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke 
2, I should say, are my my 

1055
01:02:07,320 --> 01:02:09,920
probably my favorite Studio 
Ghibli films. 

1056
01:02:13,720 --> 01:02:16,720
Totoro has a special place in my
heart, but some of the more 

1057
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:19,840
adult work. 
And the other piece I think 

1058
01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:24,120
about is that Studio Ghibli's 
films at Hayao Miyazaki in 

1059
01:02:24,120 --> 01:02:28,320
particular, are some of the most
successful political works I 

1060
01:02:28,320 --> 01:02:32,840
think I've experienced. 
They have a political leaning 

1061
01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:36,280
and a political message in a way
that has developed me as a 

1062
01:02:36,280 --> 01:02:39,240
person. 
And again, doesn't feel preachy,

1063
01:02:39,600 --> 01:02:44,200
doesn't feel, I don't know, 
uncomfortable. 

1064
01:02:44,760 --> 01:02:48,440
It's, it's sort of these, these 
messages come out of the themes 

1065
01:02:48,440 --> 01:02:50,000
of the films in a really organic
way. 

1066
01:02:50,000 --> 01:02:52,840
And so that's something I've 
tried to do is I really think a 

1067
01:02:52,840 --> 01:02:57,800
lot about politics, climate, 
economics, I think a lot about 

1068
01:02:57,800 --> 01:02:59,400
the world's problems about 
philosophy. 

1069
01:02:59,400 --> 01:03:02,320
And so I want to put that in my 
work, but in a way that that 

1070
01:03:03,000 --> 01:03:05,240
isn't obnoxious. 
And so I, I think that's been a 

1071
01:03:05,240 --> 01:03:09,280
great example of Hayao Miyazaki 
in particular, spreading these 

1072
01:03:09,280 --> 01:03:13,200
things into his work in a way 
that feels a part of it rather 

1073
01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:15,920
than something layered on top or
a, a particular message. 

1074
01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:23,280
Yeah, great, great answer. 
Like I said, any the flattening 

1075
01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:28,120
of of the whole thing like you 
said is, is a part that always 

1076
01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:32,640
bothers me because I love 
Jubilee Mono OK is one of them 

1077
01:03:32,640 --> 01:03:35,640
is my top one or two as well. 
So if you're doing something for

1078
01:03:35,640 --> 01:03:38,280
that, I will be very, very into 
it. 

1079
01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:43,360
So going back to literary 
adventures, somebody asked what 

1080
01:03:43,360 --> 01:03:45,360
is a literary adventure? 
I feel like we went over that, 

1081
01:03:45,680 --> 01:03:50,360
but is there a way to turn a non
literary adventure Literary. 

1082
01:03:53,880 --> 01:03:58,000
So again, it's my arbitrary 
distinction, but I think what I 

1083
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:01,760
would say we have that checklist
of like those those elements. 

1084
01:04:01,760 --> 01:04:07,320
I think one of the things that's
often missing from even stuff 

1085
01:04:07,320 --> 01:04:11,320
that's I I consider very well 
written dungeon writing a really

1086
01:04:11,320 --> 01:04:17,480
interesting TTRPG writing is 
nothing that I can use in my own

1087
01:04:17,480 --> 01:04:19,600
life to to enrich me as a 
person. 

1088
01:04:20,000 --> 01:04:22,560
It might be like, Wow, there's 
this really interesting thing 

1089
01:04:22,560 --> 01:04:24,600
happening or these two factions 
are fighting. 

1090
01:04:24,920 --> 01:04:31,680
But nowhere in the text do I see
any kind of slight commentary or

1091
01:04:32,040 --> 01:04:35,760
poke at the broader universal 
experience or the internal 

1092
01:04:35,760 --> 01:04:39,320
nature of the characters. 
And so I think adding one or two

1093
01:04:39,320 --> 01:04:42,680
sentences about even a 
character, it can come from a 

1094
01:04:42,680 --> 01:04:44,520
character, as we saw in the 
Amanda Lee Frank. 

1095
01:04:44,520 --> 01:04:47,760
But yeah, you know, people are 
always killing each other. 

1096
01:04:47,760 --> 01:04:50,320
You know, even just a little 
sentence, couple little 

1097
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:52,520
sentences in there where 
characters are commenting about 

1098
01:04:52,520 --> 01:04:56,040
the nature of the universe. 
I don't think that's 

1099
01:04:56,040 --> 01:04:57,920
pretentious. 
And I think it adds a lot. 

1100
01:04:58,200 --> 01:05:02,400
And I think digging into the 
depths of your characters a bit 

1101
01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:04,760
more, even in a couple 
sentences, I think those start 

1102
01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:08,000
to poke towards that way. 
I think there are many great 

1103
01:05:08,000 --> 01:05:10,560
writers. 
I think the harder examples are 

1104
01:05:10,560 --> 01:05:13,640
to find are where people are 
looking a bit outside of the 

1105
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:18,160
conflict or the genre or things 
that might be a little bit more 

1106
01:05:18,160 --> 01:05:21,640
philosophical or political or 
those kinds of elements that 

1107
01:05:21,760 --> 01:05:23,600
that may be missing or not 
included. 

1108
01:05:24,960 --> 01:05:27,440
Yeah, it really feels, you know,
at least part of what I got from

1109
01:05:27,440 --> 01:05:33,960
the presentation is that the way
that you are defining literary 

1110
01:05:33,960 --> 01:05:38,800
adventures is really in a depth 
or like a ability to kind of 

1111
01:05:38,800 --> 01:05:43,000
like zoom out the lens a little 
bit and to see more than just 

1112
01:05:43,080 --> 01:05:46,480
what's currently happening, but 
how it sets itself into the 

1113
01:05:46,480 --> 01:05:49,400
wider narrative. 
I know you talk about human 

1114
01:05:49,400 --> 01:05:53,160
experience a lot, but I think 
it's what you just said about 

1115
01:05:54,240 --> 01:05:57,560
placing it into the context of 
the world, like, Oh yeah, this 

1116
01:05:57,600 --> 01:05:59,440
really sucks. 
It happens all the time. 

1117
01:05:59,440 --> 01:06:03,160
Gives people like a wider depth 
of complexity, which is 

1118
01:06:03,160 --> 01:06:07,280
something, again, you're not 
really going to get that with 

1119
01:06:07,280 --> 01:06:09,360
all like, let's make A5 room 
dungeon thing. 

1120
01:06:09,720 --> 01:06:12,280
But when you have a sandbox 
world like cloud inferences, 

1121
01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:16,160
it's really nice to be able to 
see how that can fit into the 

1122
01:06:16,800 --> 01:06:19,240
wider spread of the entire 
setting. 

1123
01:06:20,240 --> 01:06:23,480
I I think to treating your 
characters as more than 

1124
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:26,960
material. 
I think there's this idea of, of

1125
01:06:29,440 --> 01:06:35,160
treating people as obstacles or,
or using them as, as like clay, 

1126
01:06:35,160 --> 01:06:37,400
right? 
This just this actual material 

1127
01:06:37,400 --> 01:06:40,200
to create violence in many 
cases. 

1128
01:06:40,200 --> 01:06:43,040
And so I think to getting out of
this mindset of, of what 

1129
01:06:43,040 --> 01:06:46,800
violence is for. 
And, and again, this is, I'm not

1130
01:06:46,800 --> 01:06:49,720
getting like preachy in the text
itself, but if you 

1131
01:06:49,720 --> 01:06:55,160
disincentivize violence, you 
have a lot more space for like 

1132
01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:56,520
spending time with certain 
characters. 

1133
01:06:56,520 --> 01:06:59,840
Or if you, if you, and it's sort
of the self feedback, you know, 

1134
01:06:59,840 --> 01:07:06,120
cyclical cycle where if you make
more, if it becomes WWE, right, 

1135
01:07:06,120 --> 01:07:07,880
everyone's going to smack 
everyone with a chair. 

1136
01:07:08,080 --> 01:07:10,240
And sometimes that's fun and 
sometimes people like that. 

1137
01:07:10,240 --> 01:07:12,800
But if you are trying to do 
something more akin to Cloud 

1138
01:07:12,800 --> 01:07:16,080
Empress or, or some of the, the 
goals that I have, if you take 

1139
01:07:16,080 --> 01:07:18,880
away the like big bravado in 
the, you know, spinning water 

1140
01:07:18,880 --> 01:07:21,080
out of your mouth in the 
fireworks, like it makes it a 

1141
01:07:21,080 --> 01:07:26,080
lot harder to kill people, I 
think, or at least commit like 

1142
01:07:26,120 --> 01:07:28,640
atrocious acts of violence 
within the, the game world. 

1143
01:07:28,640 --> 01:07:32,600
And those things can happen in 
different spaces and and for 

1144
01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:35,120
different reasons and not 
necessarily entirely judgmental 

1145
01:07:35,120 --> 01:07:38,320
of that, But I think that would 
be my my other thought on that. 

1146
01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:42,600
So there is a question that that
birches out a little bit. 

1147
01:07:42,960 --> 01:07:46,920
How do you keep the tension and 
conflict in a relatively low 

1148
01:07:46,920 --> 01:07:49,480
violence setting like Cloud 
Empress? 

1149
01:07:49,480 --> 01:07:51,680
Or at least not that the setting
is low violence, because 

1150
01:07:51,680 --> 01:07:56,120
obviously violence happens a 
lot, but the character's actions

1151
01:07:56,120 --> 01:07:57,400
and stuff. 
Because for anyone that's Red 

1152
01:07:57,400 --> 01:08:02,880
Cloud Empress, there is violence
is it's a very specific decision

1153
01:08:02,880 --> 01:08:04,600
to do that. 
It's not just always from my 

1154
01:08:04,600 --> 01:08:06,680
sword. 
Now there are parts of the 

1155
01:08:06,680 --> 01:08:08,360
mechanisms that that affect 
that. 

1156
01:08:08,360 --> 01:08:09,960
So so how? 
How would you do that? 

1157
01:08:11,640 --> 01:08:16,240
In Clodipers in particular, I've
made violence, and I guess it's 

1158
01:08:16,240 --> 01:08:19,800
in Mothership and some of the 
elements I pulled from Frontier 

1159
01:08:19,800 --> 01:08:24,520
Scum by Carl Druid, that 
violence is really deadly. 

1160
01:08:24,520 --> 01:08:27,560
And so I think the other piece 
is that if it happens, it's 

1161
01:08:27,560 --> 01:08:33,520
really bad mechanically. 
You get stress, you can die from

1162
01:08:33,520 --> 01:08:35,720
a single wound. 
There's all these things that 

1163
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:38,200
that make it really dangerous. 
So I think the threat of 

1164
01:08:38,200 --> 01:08:39,760
violence is something to play 
with. 

1165
01:08:40,160 --> 01:08:44,000
If this happens, there will be 
grievous consequences, and we 

1166
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:45,640
don't want those consequences to
occur. 

1167
01:08:45,640 --> 01:08:48,319
And so people become more 
creative when it's it's this 

1168
01:08:48,319 --> 01:08:52,760
horrible negative. 
I think the other piece too, is 

1169
01:08:53,000 --> 01:08:56,120
when you have more enriched 
characters with more complex 

1170
01:08:56,120 --> 01:09:00,279
wants, it becomes less of a you 
must pay the rent. 

1171
01:09:00,279 --> 01:09:02,080
I won't pay the rent, you must 
pay the rent. 

1172
01:09:02,080 --> 01:09:05,880
This back and forth of these 
simple interests that can be 

1173
01:09:05,880 --> 01:09:11,720
more hard to play as a warden, 
But I think that's where our 

1174
01:09:11,720 --> 01:09:14,120
favorite media, we get to know 
characters pretty quickly and 

1175
01:09:14,120 --> 01:09:16,399
it's like, Oh, I could fill in a
sentence for that character. 

1176
01:09:16,399 --> 01:09:19,279
Probably. 
You can always take a break too 

1177
01:09:19,279 --> 01:09:24,200
and you know, think about it or 
but I I think the threat of 

1178
01:09:24,520 --> 01:09:26,800
emphasizing the threat of 
violence rather than the the 

1179
01:09:26,800 --> 01:09:30,479
action itself, the consequences 
of violence. 

1180
01:09:30,880 --> 01:09:34,760
I think platypus is in many ways
obsessed with violence in 

1181
01:09:34,760 --> 01:09:37,359
certain ways are really centers 
around it. 

1182
01:09:37,359 --> 01:09:42,160
So I think the other pieces in 
the weeds we come upon the 

1183
01:09:42,279 --> 01:09:46,520
aftermath of a battle. 
And so it's like people crawling

1184
01:09:46,520 --> 01:09:51,040
around like people in misery, 
people, whether these soldiers 

1185
01:09:51,040 --> 01:09:52,720
want to continue the fight or 
not. 

1186
01:09:52,800 --> 01:09:54,320
So what? 
Those types of things could be 

1187
01:09:54,320 --> 01:09:56,880
really interesting as well 
without having actual conflict 

1188
01:09:56,880 --> 01:09:59,240
or combat, I guess. 
Conflict, yes. 

1189
01:09:59,240 --> 01:10:06,120
Combat, no kind of thing. 
A question from Cerulean 5 in 

1190
01:10:06,120 --> 01:10:09,840
chat that they asked 
specifically talking about the 

1191
01:10:09,840 --> 01:10:12,240
phases of writing the adventure 
you were talking about. 

1192
01:10:12,240 --> 01:10:16,000
They said how linear or 
iterative is your workflow in 

1193
01:10:16,000 --> 01:10:17,720
practice? 
Are you working through one 

1194
01:10:17,720 --> 01:10:21,080
phase at a time? 
Or do you go back to concept and

1195
01:10:21,080 --> 01:10:24,440
defining spaces and and and work
your way back and forth through 

1196
01:10:24,440 --> 01:10:25,840
the phases? 
Or do you generally try to go 

1197
01:10:25,840 --> 01:10:30,520
through it in a linear fashion? 
I would say stats and belong. 

1198
01:10:30,520 --> 01:10:35,160
I don't like grading stats. 
I don't like grading belongings.

1199
01:10:36,240 --> 01:10:38,880
I don't, I will items. 
I'm OK writing. 

1200
01:10:38,880 --> 01:10:40,960
That can be interesting 
sometimes, but that always comes

1201
01:10:40,960 --> 01:10:44,160
last because I I think I enjoy 
that the least. 

1202
01:10:44,160 --> 01:10:49,800
For whatever reason, it feels 
less essential, even though it's

1203
01:10:49,800 --> 01:10:52,920
probably one of the most helpful
things, at least having certain 

1204
01:10:52,920 --> 01:10:54,960
items and certain things in the 
game. 

1205
01:10:55,480 --> 01:11:02,840
So that always happens last. 
I think the ideation usually 

1206
01:11:02,840 --> 01:11:04,960
occurs a lot with the game 
itself. 

1207
01:11:04,960 --> 01:11:08,680
So the whole game there's this 
this usually 6 to 9 month 

1208
01:11:08,680 --> 01:11:11,680
ideation process when I'm 
working on something else and 

1209
01:11:11,680 --> 01:11:13,080
wishing I was working on the new
thing. 

1210
01:11:14,720 --> 01:11:17,240
So I think that's the other 
thing about finishing stuff. 

1211
01:11:17,560 --> 01:11:19,880
If you finish stuff, you can't 
work on your new thing that you 

1212
01:11:19,880 --> 01:11:22,160
want to work on. 
And so you build up all this 

1213
01:11:22,160 --> 01:11:24,480
energy for that new thing and 
then when you get there, you're 

1214
01:11:24,480 --> 01:11:31,800
like, Oh my gosh. 
So I think sometimes though, I, 

1215
01:11:31,840 --> 01:11:39,000
I, there's this, this discovery 
outliner writing dichotomy that 

1216
01:11:39,000 --> 01:11:42,840
people talk about or sculptor 
gardener, where one person 

1217
01:11:42,840 --> 01:11:46,080
really outlines and figures out 
what's going to happen and then 

1218
01:11:46,080 --> 01:11:50,440
they write through the outline. 
The other person being the like 

1219
01:11:50,560 --> 01:11:53,440
discovery writer, which is what 
I sort of call myself or think 

1220
01:11:53,440 --> 01:11:56,360
about myself where the act of 
writing, I don't know what's 

1221
01:11:56,360 --> 01:11:59,320
going to happen and I write and 
then I discover what's 

1222
01:11:59,320 --> 01:12:01,480
happening. 
I find that much more enjoyable 

1223
01:12:01,480 --> 01:12:04,720
than outlining, even though I'll
do some layouts and know some of

1224
01:12:04,720 --> 01:12:06,640
the product space that I need to
work in. 

1225
01:12:07,120 --> 01:12:13,760
So at certain times I'll be 
writing and I'll say, oh, like I

1226
01:12:13,760 --> 01:12:17,560
didn't know Spike head drinks 
tea, you know, or I didn't know 

1227
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:19,760
this and that. 
And sometimes that'll impact the

1228
01:12:19,760 --> 01:12:21,680
larger theme. 
Sometimes it'll impact the 

1229
01:12:22,440 --> 01:12:26,000
specifics of the conflict so 
that then I'll go back and I'll 

1230
01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:29,040
look through to see if I can 
accentuate that theme in any 

1231
01:12:29,040 --> 01:12:32,200
way. 
And I'll do sort of a pass to 

1232
01:12:32,520 --> 01:12:35,320
like a clean up pass. 
Editing is really important. 

1233
01:12:35,320 --> 01:12:37,320
We didn't talk about editing. 
There's a lot of steps 

1234
01:12:37,640 --> 01:12:39,320
mechanically. 
This is really about writing, 

1235
01:12:40,360 --> 01:12:43,040
but I'll go through and I'll say
like, is there, you know, what 

1236
01:12:43,040 --> 01:12:44,400
are the themes that are coming 
out? 

1237
01:12:44,400 --> 01:12:48,600
And it is there ways that I can 
elevate that or make those more 

1238
01:12:48,600 --> 01:12:50,280
concise by adding elements 
later? 

1239
01:12:50,280 --> 01:12:52,760
And so that's sort of a back 
pass that that can sort of 

1240
01:12:54,160 --> 01:12:57,080
accentuate the the ideation 
pointer, the concepts. 

1241
01:12:58,160 --> 01:13:02,560
Gotcha, so the question just 
popped up in chat that is also 

1242
01:13:02,560 --> 01:13:06,080
on the list from someone from 
your discord, so I I guess I got

1243
01:13:06,080 --> 01:13:09,880
to ask it. 
Are there any naming conventions

1244
01:13:09,880 --> 01:13:11,640
in Cloud Empress? 
They said specifically for 

1245
01:13:11,640 --> 01:13:14,760
people and places in the primary
setting, something that they 

1246
01:13:14,760 --> 01:13:17,840
might be looking for when 
they're writing new stuff for 

1247
01:13:17,840 --> 01:13:20,920
Cloud Empress in the Jam. 
Yeah, I'm glad we hit this one 

1248
01:13:21,240 --> 01:13:24,160
there. 
There are a list of names in the

1249
01:13:25,120 --> 01:13:30,920
rule book that include different
regions where people come from. 

1250
01:13:31,160 --> 01:13:34,080
The largest dichotomy is whether
someone comes from the lowland 

1251
01:13:34,080 --> 01:13:36,600
wastes or they're on the ground 
or whether in the they're in a 

1252
01:13:36,600 --> 01:13:40,400
cloud city. 
People have generally one word 

1253
01:13:40,400 --> 01:13:44,320
names or with a nickname, and 
they're typically based on 

1254
01:13:44,320 --> 01:13:47,240
things within the real world. 
So someone might be root, 

1255
01:13:47,720 --> 01:13:53,400
someone might be silver, someone
might be snow, someone might be 

1256
01:13:53,400 --> 01:13:55,680
wind. 
Those kinds of things are, are 

1257
01:13:55,720 --> 01:13:59,760
simple names you can use, but 
they're the setting is also sort

1258
01:13:59,760 --> 01:14:06,800
of in the hub of a psychic 
maelstrom or ripped reality. 

1259
01:14:06,800 --> 01:14:11,840
So we'll have things from the 
1800s peeking through or an old 

1260
01:14:11,840 --> 01:14:14,360
car somewhere or things that are
otherworldly. 

1261
01:14:14,360 --> 01:14:18,320
And so that that gives a lot of 
space to have someone named 

1262
01:14:18,320 --> 01:14:21,440
Henry or someone named Jonathan 
or what. 

1263
01:14:21,440 --> 01:14:23,040
I don't know what kind of names 
I'm coming up with. 

1264
01:14:23,040 --> 01:14:29,520
So the other thing that I do 
generally is I like to say names

1265
01:14:29,520 --> 01:14:31,840
out loud if people, if the 
players are going to be saying 

1266
01:14:31,840 --> 01:14:33,680
them a lot. 
Certain names look really good 

1267
01:14:33,680 --> 01:14:40,240
on paper, but when you. 
So yeah, here's it has farmer 

1268
01:14:40,240 --> 01:14:43,520
Ling names, cloud Ling names, 
common names and ancient names. 

1269
01:14:43,880 --> 01:14:47,640
And so the ancient names are 
more of the well, some of them 

1270
01:14:47,640 --> 01:14:49,800
are weird, yeah. 
So they're they're sort of a 

1271
01:14:49,800 --> 01:14:51,480
mix. 
This, this, this can be helpful 

1272
01:14:51,480 --> 01:14:57,920
in some of the nicknames. 
But the other thing I try to say

1273
01:14:57,920 --> 01:14:59,960
names out loud. 
So sometimes things might be 

1274
01:14:59,960 --> 01:15:02,640
really hard to say just with a 
number of like with it placement

1275
01:15:02,640 --> 01:15:09,240
of consonants and things. 
Also, I generally like to use 

1276
01:15:09,240 --> 01:15:11,240
names that are a bit funny at 
times. 

1277
01:15:11,640 --> 01:15:17,720
So there is a murderous elevator
called a little oregano and a 

1278
01:15:17,760 --> 01:15:21,440
larger God machine called big 
Oregano. 

1279
01:15:23,200 --> 01:15:28,760
There are there's a place called
the Thickwood, the weeds. 

1280
01:15:28,760 --> 01:15:30,720
I, I tried to do really simple 
names. 

1281
01:15:30,720 --> 01:15:35,680
I think the other thing to avoid
generally is people make fun of 

1282
01:15:35,680 --> 01:15:36,800
it. 
It's kind of a meme now, but 

1283
01:15:36,800 --> 01:15:44,280
like my Smith things, my Smith 
sticks, you know, or or 

1284
01:15:44,280 --> 01:15:48,440
whatever, like the the just 
making up words that my moon 

1285
01:15:48,440 --> 01:15:53,840
phase, you know, like words that
describe real world things, but 

1286
01:15:53,840 --> 01:15:57,080
in a fantasy way can be really 
cringy to say out loud or read 

1287
01:15:57,080 --> 01:15:59,360
at times. 
And so I think the other piece 

1288
01:15:59,360 --> 01:16:02,160
too, is just coming up with the 
simplest way to describe 

1289
01:16:02,160 --> 01:16:05,440
something that feels sort of on 
brand is usually a good 

1290
01:16:05,440 --> 01:16:09,360
approach. 
Rarely introduce new words or 

1291
01:16:09,360 --> 01:16:14,120
phrases, at least in cloud 
Empress when you don't need to. 

1292
01:16:14,120 --> 01:16:20,480
So, you know, I like, I really 
like Stephen King's use of 

1293
01:16:20,520 --> 01:16:24,480
thinny like a thin place in the 
Dark Tower series. 

1294
01:16:24,480 --> 01:16:26,480
That's a big inspiration. 
And I think people do call 

1295
01:16:26,760 --> 01:16:29,880
thinny, Thinny is a kind of a 
known term, but he could have 

1296
01:16:29,880 --> 01:16:32,160
called it a number of things, 
but shows something that was 

1297
01:16:32,160 --> 01:16:35,200
colloquial and folksy. 
And I think that's really 

1298
01:16:35,200 --> 01:16:39,080
interesting. 
Yeah, I think it's it's it's 

1299
01:16:39,080 --> 01:16:42,800
funny when people try to try to 
put the little cloak Williams 

1300
01:16:42,800 --> 01:16:45,520
and colloquialisms in when they 
work, they work really well. 

1301
01:16:45,520 --> 01:16:47,760
I think Warhammer authors, 
especially Abnett does a really 

1302
01:16:47,760 --> 01:16:49,960
good job of that. 
But I don't know if you saw the 

1303
01:16:49,960 --> 01:16:51,680
Rick and Morty episode where 
they go to like a post 

1304
01:16:51,680 --> 01:16:55,160
apocalypse and they keep talking
about like the before 4 times 

1305
01:16:55,160 --> 01:16:56,920
and like the new new machine and
stuff like that. 

1306
01:16:56,920 --> 01:16:59,720
And like RIP on the whole 
concept of like of, of adding 

1307
01:16:59,720 --> 01:17:02,200
that kind of vernacular. 
And it's it's it's yeah. 

1308
01:17:02,200 --> 01:17:04,320
When you say it out loud, 
sometimes you're just like, did 

1309
01:17:04,320 --> 01:17:12,640
you think about that one? 
But yeah, so how do when using 

1310
01:17:12,640 --> 01:17:16,480
other works that are that you're
inspired by, how would you 

1311
01:17:16,480 --> 01:17:20,440
become comfortable with being 
inspired by versus copying? 

1312
01:17:22,880 --> 01:17:25,680
I am constantly nervous about 
this. 

1313
01:17:27,640 --> 01:17:32,760
One of my biggest fears with 
Cloud Empress was I was just 

1314
01:17:32,760 --> 01:17:35,120
making Nausicaa with the numbers
scratched off. 

1315
01:17:36,360 --> 01:17:42,040
And I think that is kind of a 
trend in TTRP GS right now. 

1316
01:17:42,040 --> 01:17:44,000
It's you have the license 
version or you have the 

1317
01:17:44,000 --> 01:17:46,160
unlicensed version. 
That's that's kind of the same 

1318
01:17:46,160 --> 01:17:50,040
thing like, oh, we haven't had a
XYZ, you know, there hasn't been

1319
01:17:50,040 --> 01:17:51,880
a Terminator game yet. 
I'm going to make the term 

1320
01:17:51,880 --> 01:17:54,280
Terminator game and it's going 
to be called Decimator. 

1321
01:17:54,280 --> 01:17:58,480
And we're just going to scratch 
all of the license words up so 

1322
01:17:58,480 --> 01:18:00,600
we can't get copyright and that 
stuff's cool. 

1323
01:18:00,600 --> 01:18:03,760
I mean, I want to play in ATTRPG
that's based on Terminator, but 

1324
01:18:04,360 --> 01:18:10,520
I think the new Nosferatu, for 
example, that's the movie that's

1325
01:18:10,520 --> 01:18:15,120
been made many times and 
vampires are very frequently the

1326
01:18:15,160 --> 01:18:18,720
source of of media. 
So I think it's how do you bring

1327
01:18:18,720 --> 01:18:21,280
your unique perspective? 
And I think that's is also a 

1328
01:18:21,280 --> 01:18:23,920
reason why taking a more 
literary approach, if we want to

1329
01:18:23,920 --> 01:18:27,360
use that term is, is helpful 
because you'll be reflecting on 

1330
01:18:27,360 --> 01:18:30,760
the time period by which you 
exist and by that nature it will

1331
01:18:30,760 --> 01:18:34,440
feel different. 
Batman, right, It's different 

1332
01:18:34,440 --> 01:18:38,040
Batman is is different because 
it's also reflecting on the time

1333
01:18:38,040 --> 01:18:40,720
period that it exists in. 
And so I think those those 

1334
01:18:40,720 --> 01:18:42,320
movies two more intentionally do
that. 

1335
01:18:42,320 --> 01:18:44,640
I think Batman more 
intentionally tries to comment 

1336
01:18:44,640 --> 01:18:46,200
on the time period which it 
exists in. 

1337
01:18:46,200 --> 01:18:48,200
So they're a little bit more 
tolerable to watch. 

1338
01:18:49,480 --> 01:18:51,440
I came in very skeptical of the 
new Batman. 

1339
01:18:51,440 --> 01:18:54,840
I don't know if we needed it, 
probably not, but it was an 

1340
01:18:54,840 --> 01:18:57,320
enjoyable watch I think because 
it had a a different tone and 

1341
01:18:57,320 --> 01:19:00,200
take and and reflection on the 
society that it exists in. 

1342
01:19:00,200 --> 01:19:02,880
So I think that's the piece too.
If you really lean into 

1343
01:19:03,720 --> 01:19:07,040
commenting on the universe and 
the human experience at the 

1344
01:19:07,040 --> 01:19:13,520
moment that you have a sentient 
view of it, even if it is 

1345
01:19:13,520 --> 01:19:17,440
derivative, it starts to feel 
unique. 

1346
01:19:17,440 --> 01:19:20,720
I think the other piece that I'm
really inspired by is these, 

1347
01:19:20,720 --> 01:19:25,040
these, this web of creativity. 
And so Mobius is another 

1348
01:19:25,040 --> 01:19:28,360
inspiration of mine. 
And so you have all these 

1349
01:19:28,360 --> 01:19:31,000
connections between creatives 
that I think are really 

1350
01:19:33,760 --> 01:19:35,880
exciting. 
And I think in our current 

1351
01:19:35,880 --> 01:19:40,280
copyright environment and in in 
IP environment, often times 

1352
01:19:40,280 --> 01:19:42,880
we're we're maybe afraid of 
using inspirations. 

1353
01:19:43,440 --> 01:19:49,960
But Mobius, Mobius's drawings, I
think it's Arzak inspired 

1354
01:19:49,960 --> 01:19:52,800
Nausicaa's glider, right? 
So that's a really like very 

1355
01:19:52,800 --> 01:19:56,960
close. 
And then Mobius did the art for 

1356
01:19:56,960 --> 01:20:02,160
the Jodorovsky Dune. 
And so Dune is really inspired. 

1357
01:20:03,880 --> 01:20:06,120
Nausicaa And so there's all 
these connections there and 

1358
01:20:06,120 --> 01:20:09,240
then, you know, Dune inspires 
alien and there's and some of 

1359
01:20:09,240 --> 01:20:11,440
the art crew works. 
So there's this intermixing of 

1360
01:20:11,440 --> 01:20:15,520
creatives that I think if you 
don't know what your favorite 

1361
01:20:15,520 --> 01:20:18,760
work is derivative of, you just 
haven't like done enough 

1362
01:20:18,760 --> 01:20:20,920
research on it because you'll 
start to realize like, oh, 

1363
01:20:20,920 --> 01:20:23,200
everything is highly derivative 
of everything else. 

1364
01:20:23,400 --> 01:20:26,560
It's often times the creative 
I'm looking at, the references 

1365
01:20:26,560 --> 01:20:30,800
are like, you know, 20 years 
earlier than I'm aware of, you 

1366
01:20:30,800 --> 01:20:32,520
know, in the 30s. 
Their, their references are in 

1367
01:20:32,520 --> 01:20:34,240
the 30s and I just don't know 
what they are right. 

1368
01:20:34,240 --> 01:20:36,520
And as I do more research, I can
start to figure out what those 

1369
01:20:36,520 --> 01:20:43,360
things are. 
I would, I would add on just if 

1370
01:20:43,360 --> 01:20:46,520
you, if you feel that something 
is a little bit too close, it's 

1371
01:20:46,520 --> 01:20:49,720
not a bad idea to just 
acknowledge it and embrace it. 

1372
01:20:49,720 --> 01:20:53,600
And make sure that if you're 
like, if this is super inspired 

1373
01:20:53,600 --> 01:20:56,120
by something, just say even just
put it in an appendix in in the 

1374
01:20:56,120 --> 01:20:57,920
back. 
Just let people know that you're

1375
01:20:57,920 --> 01:21:01,000
not stealing and that an 
inspiration. 

1376
01:21:01,000 --> 01:21:03,960
Even even if all you're doing is
filing the the numbers off, if 

1377
01:21:03,960 --> 01:21:06,520
you say this is just this with 
the numbers filed off, they'll 

1378
01:21:06,520 --> 01:21:09,520
go OK versus being like, hey, 
that's plagiarism. 

1379
01:21:10,400 --> 01:21:13,920
So be careful. 
But I think especially. 

1380
01:21:13,920 --> 01:21:15,160
Most people. 
That's a great point. 

1381
01:21:15,840 --> 01:21:18,120
Yeah, I think especially other. 
GRPG creators. 

1382
01:21:19,120 --> 01:21:21,720
Yeah, like I was, yeah, that's 
what I was going to say, is that

1383
01:21:21,720 --> 01:21:24,600
most TRPG creators will not care
if you just acknowledge them. 

1384
01:21:24,760 --> 01:21:28,840
If you're talking about like big
giant IPS, you might get a thing

1385
01:21:28,840 --> 01:21:31,920
in the mail, but most creators, 
if you just acknowledge the 

1386
01:21:31,920 --> 01:21:35,280
inspiration, are happy to to 
inspire you. 

1387
01:21:36,240 --> 01:21:37,600
I think how much are the other 
pieces? 

1388
01:21:38,280 --> 01:21:39,760
Maybe 5-10 minutes. 
I don't know. 

1389
01:21:40,240 --> 01:21:43,040
I'm having fun. 
The other thing too is, is like 

1390
01:21:43,840 --> 01:21:46,800
there's marketing voice and then
there's like content voice. 

1391
01:21:47,160 --> 01:21:50,880
And so if you go into marketing,
you talk about your work maybe a

1392
01:21:50,880 --> 01:21:53,480
little differently. 
So it's like, this is the 

1393
01:21:53,480 --> 01:21:57,040
Nausicaa inspired TTRPG, right? 
Like that's a good marketing 

1394
01:21:57,040 --> 01:22:00,960
cook, but I don't want people to
necessarily feel that when 

1395
01:22:00,960 --> 01:22:03,800
they're playing. 
And I mean, it should echo, but 

1396
01:22:03,800 --> 01:22:07,240
it shouldn't feel to me like I, 
I don't see a lot of interest in

1397
01:22:07,240 --> 01:22:09,000
recreating something that 
somebody's already made. 

1398
01:22:09,280 --> 01:22:15,080
And I think the other piece too,
is most media isn't good. 

1399
01:22:15,360 --> 01:22:22,840
So the fundamental question of 
TTRPD design in a like as it's 

1400
01:22:22,840 --> 01:22:26,520
popularized now is why are there
four to five people walking 

1401
01:22:26,520 --> 01:22:29,920
around together consistently? 
I think so that's the question 

1402
01:22:29,920 --> 01:22:33,240
you need to answer, right? 
So it's like not most media 

1403
01:22:33,240 --> 01:22:35,240
don't have like four or five 
people going everywhere 

1404
01:22:35,240 --> 01:22:39,000
together, right? 
So you need to like answer that 

1405
01:22:39,000 --> 01:22:41,320
question too. 
I think with what you're 

1406
01:22:41,320 --> 01:22:44,440
creating, I don't know that's, 
that's something that you have 

1407
01:22:44,440 --> 01:22:45,840
so many good ideas and then 
you're like, why? 

1408
01:22:46,040 --> 01:22:48,280
Why would these people be moving
around together? 

1409
01:22:48,280 --> 01:22:50,720
Like there's no answer, so this 
isn't a good idea. 

1410
01:22:52,320 --> 01:22:54,760
Yeah, I mean if your characters 
are over 30, just the fact that 

1411
01:22:54,760 --> 01:22:57,520
they have 4 actual friends that 
hang up together is is a bit of 

1412
01:22:57,520 --> 01:22:59,840
a stretch. 
So I guess it depends. 

1413
01:23:01,280 --> 01:23:03,720
So another question from 
Cerulean 5 in chat they said 

1414
01:23:03,720 --> 01:23:05,880
what are some of your favorite 
adventures? 

1415
01:23:05,880 --> 01:23:08,440
I don't know we we had a list of
literary adventures before, but 

1416
01:23:08,440 --> 01:23:10,840
what are some of your favorite 
adventures and who are some of 

1417
01:23:10,840 --> 01:23:12,680
your favorite adventure writers 
working on it? 

1418
01:23:14,160 --> 01:23:20,120
I I tried to do the the list to 
be encapsulate those things, but

1419
01:23:20,120 --> 01:23:24,080
I, I Luke Gearing is, is like a 
favorite of mine. 

1420
01:23:25,200 --> 01:23:26,920
I did a writing mentorship with 
him. 

1421
01:23:26,920 --> 01:23:30,280
So take that with a grain of 
salt, but I think Luke Gearing's

1422
01:23:30,280 --> 01:23:33,240
work is phenomenal and really 
creative and executed at a high 

1423
01:23:33,240 --> 01:23:36,880
level. 
I, I think maybe you're in the 

1424
01:23:36,880 --> 01:23:38,760
same boat, Ryan. 
I like reading systems a lot 

1425
01:23:38,760 --> 01:23:40,840
more than I like reading 
adventures. 

1426
01:23:42,520 --> 01:23:46,600
I like, because I think the 
other thing too, and this is 

1427
01:23:46,600 --> 01:23:51,400
just for me, which, which is 
kind of, but I, I, I'm a forever

1428
01:23:51,480 --> 01:23:56,000
GM and I like writing adventures
and so I rarely run other 

1429
01:23:56,000 --> 01:23:58,040
people's adventures. 
I think I'm going to do a 

1430
01:23:58,040 --> 01:24:00,920
Triangle agency adventure soon. 
So I'm looking forward to that. 

1431
01:24:00,920 --> 01:24:04,920
But I generally run my own stuff
because I, I need to and I want 

1432
01:24:04,920 --> 01:24:06,160
to. 
And I hear that from other 

1433
01:24:06,160 --> 01:24:10,240
writers as well. 
So I would say the, the folks in

1434
01:24:10,240 --> 01:24:12,200
the list would be a good place 
to start. 

1435
01:24:12,200 --> 01:24:16,720
I'm trying to think of other 
ones that are coming to my mind.

1436
01:24:17,920 --> 01:24:26,520
I really like Snow's work. 
Wizards, the Wizards and Wastes 

1437
01:24:26,560 --> 01:24:30,080
second edition dot dungeon. 
Those are those are adventure 

1438
01:24:30,080 --> 01:24:32,400
adjacent, but they create a 
framework for adventure, so 

1439
01:24:32,400 --> 01:24:34,520
that's the other piece too 
there. 

1440
01:24:34,520 --> 01:24:40,240
There are a lot of other ways to
system a size generation of 

1441
01:24:40,240 --> 01:24:43,200
adventures. 
I think electric bastion land 

1442
01:24:43,200 --> 01:24:46,560
and and mythic bastion land are 
like some of my new well, mythic

1443
01:24:46,560 --> 01:24:49,000
bastion land is not out yet, but
one of my new favorite reads. 

1444
01:24:49,720 --> 01:24:51,960
And that's like a a hex scroll 
generation. 

1445
01:24:51,960 --> 01:24:55,480
So that's another thing to look 
at where it's the myths 

1446
01:24:55,480 --> 01:24:57,120
themselves. 
I'm probably getting too 

1447
01:24:57,120 --> 01:24:59,880
granular, but they kind of 
become adventures because they 

1448
01:24:59,880 --> 01:25:04,000
have these set plot points that 
that you go through on a hex 

1449
01:25:04,000 --> 01:25:05,120
map. 
And so that that would be 

1450
01:25:05,120 --> 01:25:08,960
another example. 
Electric Bastion Land into the 

1451
01:25:08,960 --> 01:25:13,160
odd and I also like Frontier 
scum a lot. 

1452
01:25:13,400 --> 01:25:16,320
I think the the other piece too 
is like Frontier scrum. 

1453
01:25:16,600 --> 01:25:20,800
Frontier scums intro adventure I
don't consider particularly 

1454
01:25:20,800 --> 01:25:23,800
literary, but I consider the 
book literary because of the 

1455
01:25:23,800 --> 01:25:27,040
content the the adventurers 
going through a train where 

1456
01:25:27,040 --> 01:25:28,560
there's a bunch of like chicken 
people. 

1457
01:25:30,160 --> 01:25:33,120
The other thing is, I would say 
there are so many good 

1458
01:25:33,120 --> 01:25:35,280
mothership modules. 
I'm part of a community 

1459
01:25:35,280 --> 01:25:39,920
mothership, writer, writer, so I
get a lot of inspiration for 

1460
01:25:39,920 --> 01:25:42,240
some of the things they're doing
mechanically. 

1461
01:25:42,240 --> 01:25:45,840
In particular, Joel Hines is a 
big inspiration and Desert Moon 

1462
01:25:45,840 --> 01:25:51,240
of Karth is like a huge 
inspiration on Cloud Empress, 

1463
01:25:52,880 --> 01:25:55,440
Ultraviolet Grasslands is a big 
inspiration. 

1464
01:25:57,720 --> 01:26:00,360
Very different approach to some 
of the the ways that we're 

1465
01:26:00,440 --> 01:26:05,080
engaging with the world's that 
we're presenting, but pretty 

1466
01:26:05,080 --> 01:26:09,560
exciting stuff. 
Mark Berg has some good stuff as

1467
01:26:09,560 --> 01:26:14,040
well. 
Yeah, I'm Amodyne Preston Ian 

1468
01:26:14,600 --> 01:26:20,480
with whole breach and the Blues 
one. 

1469
01:26:20,480 --> 01:26:23,120
I'm trying to think any 
adventure by Ian used to miss 

1470
01:26:23,120 --> 01:26:24,800
really good. 
So those would be the other 

1471
01:26:24,800 --> 01:26:27,040
pieces too. 
Some of those. 

1472
01:26:27,320 --> 01:26:29,960
I think Mothership and Mort 
Burke tend to learn more into 

1473
01:26:29,960 --> 01:26:33,360
the the genre though, so that's 
why I didn't include them in my 

1474
01:26:33,360 --> 01:26:37,360
list, is that most of the time 
they don't necessarily stretch 

1475
01:26:37,360 --> 01:26:42,200
out of the, the like the, the 
adventure of the experience 

1476
01:26:42,200 --> 01:26:43,600
they're trying to create in the 
moment. 

1477
01:26:43,600 --> 01:26:46,360
A lot of times that's the focus.
And then there's not this like 

1478
01:26:46,360 --> 01:26:50,880
extra element of like pondering 
about why people do the things 

1479
01:26:50,880 --> 01:26:53,160
they do or those internal 
aspects. 

1480
01:26:55,720 --> 01:27:00,560
Yeah, so someone I had had 
something written down and 

1481
01:27:00,560 --> 01:27:02,880
someone in chat brought it up, 
so I wanted to bring it up to 

1482
01:27:03,120 --> 01:27:05,960
Tyson, writes in chat said. 
You mentioned not wanting to 

1483
01:27:05,960 --> 01:27:11,560
include mechanics in the text. 
Side note, I if people listen, 

1484
01:27:11,880 --> 01:27:13,280
they're. 
I wasn't sure if you're going to

1485
01:27:13,280 --> 01:27:14,560
chop my head off or not. 
I don't know. 

1486
01:27:14,560 --> 01:27:15,880
It's. 
I think it's great. 

1487
01:27:15,880 --> 01:27:18,040
I love it because here's the 
thing and and one of the things 

1488
01:27:18,040 --> 01:27:21,200
that you said a bunch is that a 
lot of the way that you write 

1489
01:27:21,200 --> 01:27:24,160
adventures or the adventure show
writing aren't necessarily for 

1490
01:27:24,160 --> 01:27:28,280
beginner GMs. And I wish more 
people in the space acknowledged

1491
01:27:28,280 --> 01:27:31,840
and worked with like what I have
called and what I think I stole 

1492
01:27:31,840 --> 01:27:34,960
that from Aaron King is called 
like one O 1 games and 

1493
01:27:34,960 --> 01:27:37,200
adventures versus like 2O one or
three O 1 stuff. 

1494
01:27:37,200 --> 01:27:39,320
Like not everything is for 
beginners and not everything be 

1495
01:27:39,320 --> 01:27:42,000
for everyone. 
Like not all media is for 

1496
01:27:42,000 --> 01:27:44,560
everyone and it's not as enough 
to be for you, right? 

1497
01:27:45,680 --> 01:27:50,480
So when you have adventures that
are more in depth, more complex,

1498
01:27:50,480 --> 01:27:53,920
and for more experienced GM's 
that already know the system, I 

1499
01:27:53,920 --> 01:27:57,000
love when you're not like roll 
the perception check. 

1500
01:27:57,000 --> 01:27:59,880
If it's a 15, do this as like 
you said, it really breaks up 

1501
01:28:00,160 --> 01:28:03,040
the flow of the adventure, not 
just for the players but for the

1502
01:28:03,040 --> 01:28:06,560
GM. 
But they said you mentioned not 

1503
01:28:06,560 --> 01:28:07,960
wanting to include mechanics in 
the text. 

1504
01:28:07,960 --> 01:28:11,040
What is your advice on adding 
new systems that build on the 

1505
01:28:11,040 --> 01:28:16,760
existing game? 
I would say look at what is it? 

1506
01:28:16,960 --> 01:28:21,200
Oh gosh, What's the Luke peering
after A pound of flesh, it is 

1507
01:28:21,200 --> 01:28:26,520
called. 
Do you remember what it is or 

1508
01:28:26,520 --> 01:28:28,400
what's the second? 
Yeah. 

1509
01:28:28,800 --> 01:28:31,960
Wow, gradient descent. 
Yeah, Grady and Descent, I would

1510
01:28:31,960 --> 01:28:34,200
say look at Grady and Descent as
a really good example. 

1511
01:28:35,440 --> 01:28:38,560
So I think pulling those out and
I try to do some of that in like

1512
01:28:38,560 --> 01:28:41,960
mini expansions and stuff. 
So I think you can layer it, but

1513
01:28:41,960 --> 01:28:45,360
just put it somewhere in the 
front of the book and then just 

1514
01:28:45,360 --> 01:28:46,880
assume that people are going to 
be using it. 

1515
01:28:47,480 --> 01:28:50,680
I think that probably is the way
that reads the best to me. 

1516
01:28:52,520 --> 01:28:56,840
And then two, I think in Grady 
and Descent, Luke and Sean, 

1517
01:28:56,840 --> 01:29:00,200
they'll they'll, you know, say 
this is a character who's not 

1518
01:29:00,200 --> 01:29:01,400
sure if they're human or not, 
right? 

1519
01:29:01,400 --> 01:29:04,040
So they'll reference the like 
theme that's coming up, but they

1520
01:29:04,040 --> 01:29:06,240
don't necessarily they might 
have some references to the 

1521
01:29:06,240 --> 01:29:09,280
mechanism frequently throughout,
I don't remember, but I think 

1522
01:29:09,280 --> 01:29:11,480
just, you know, just do a table 
somewhere, right? 

1523
01:29:12,840 --> 01:29:15,480
Just put the mechanism somewhere
and then just assume people are 

1524
01:29:15,480 --> 01:29:18,800
going to use it. 
Or you could even just throw 

1525
01:29:18,800 --> 01:29:22,960
like Payjex, you know, Payjex, 
you know, and just refer back to

1526
01:29:22,960 --> 01:29:26,720
the page or link it in the PVFI 
think that stuff reads a lot 

1527
01:29:26,720 --> 01:29:31,280
better. 
I yeah, I think reading manuals 

1528
01:29:31,280 --> 01:29:34,080
for me is so hard. 
My brain just dies sometimes 

1529
01:29:34,080 --> 01:29:36,440
when something's written a lot 
like a manual. 

1530
01:29:36,640 --> 01:29:40,200
And there's reasons for that. 
But again, I don't play most of 

1531
01:29:40,200 --> 01:29:43,480
the stuff I read. 
And so I'm really looking for an

1532
01:29:43,480 --> 01:29:45,880
enjoyable reading experience 
where I, you know, I'm not 

1533
01:29:45,880 --> 01:29:48,200
necessarily playing it in my 
head, but I'm, I'm going through

1534
01:29:48,200 --> 01:29:50,480
it like a group might as a 
reader. 

1535
01:29:52,720 --> 01:29:56,480
Yeah, again, if it's a starter 
adventure, I'm I love boxes all 

1536
01:29:56,480 --> 01:29:59,200
the all over the place saying 
like this or that or whatever, 

1537
01:29:59,480 --> 01:30:01,160
especially if it's for a new 
system. 

1538
01:30:01,440 --> 01:30:04,640
But for something that's been 
out for a while and your GM's 

1539
01:30:04,640 --> 01:30:08,240
are very experienced, like you 
can, as you said, writing it in 

1540
01:30:08,240 --> 01:30:10,760
front of the book and allowing 
them to use it if they feel like

1541
01:30:10,760 --> 01:30:13,600
later. 
Trust, trust your players, trust

1542
01:30:13,600 --> 01:30:17,080
your GM, trust the people that 
want your stuff to not be 

1543
01:30:17,480 --> 01:30:20,800
dummies like they like. 
If people are playing the THRBG 

1544
01:30:20,800 --> 01:30:22,640
under that experience in it, 
they probably know how to do it,

1545
01:30:22,720 --> 01:30:26,400
but you don't need to hold their
hand the entire time and I do 

1546
01:30:26,400 --> 01:30:30,600
like that. 
So a call out box would be the 

1547
01:30:30,600 --> 01:30:33,320
best place for that. 
Separate from the text I I would

1548
01:30:33,320 --> 01:30:34,520
say yes. 
What are your thoughts on that? 

1549
01:30:35,320 --> 01:30:38,560
Yeah, that's or like margins, 
throwing stuff in the margins 

1550
01:30:38,560 --> 01:30:42,040
like you could do a separate 
margin or like a half page 

1551
01:30:42,040 --> 01:30:44,560
little pull out. 
Yeah, I think those are cool 

1552
01:30:44,560 --> 01:30:50,560
ideas. 
So, all right, So what themes 

1553
01:30:50,560 --> 01:30:53,520
really draw the particular 
audience that loves Cloud 

1554
01:30:53,520 --> 01:30:56,920
Empress to Cloud Empress 
relative to other settings? 

1555
01:30:56,920 --> 01:30:58,720
Like what? 
What do you find that the the 

1556
01:30:58,720 --> 01:31:01,640
real deep lovers of Cloud 
Empress love about it I guess. 

1557
01:31:03,200 --> 01:31:06,280
Bugs. 
We have a lot of bug lovers. 

1558
01:31:06,280 --> 01:31:10,280
We have a cicadas just pictures 
of cicadas sub channel on the 

1559
01:31:10,280 --> 01:31:13,480
discord. 
So it's really upfront about 

1560
01:31:13,480 --> 01:31:17,440
bugs. 
It's like, but cicadas are 

1561
01:31:17,440 --> 01:31:19,560
different. 
But you know, roaches like I, I 

1562
01:31:19,560 --> 01:31:21,320
mentioned reach of the Roach God
like roaches I was. 

1563
01:31:21,320 --> 01:31:23,520
Going to mention. 
Roaches, like roaches. 

1564
01:31:23,720 --> 01:31:26,720
I'm, I'm, I'm looking, I'm not 
seeing a ton of roaches in here.

1565
01:31:26,720 --> 01:31:30,360
I haven't even opened. 
Yeah, I, I, this is going out of

1566
01:31:30,360 --> 01:31:31,960
print. 
So it's like, I really wanted to

1567
01:31:31,960 --> 01:31:37,560
have it, but roaches, the poop 
I've lived, you know, when you 

1568
01:31:37,560 --> 01:31:39,880
live in places with roaches, 
it's different maybe. 

1569
01:31:39,880 --> 01:31:42,160
And well, I mean, I'm sure, you 
know, I'm sure they live in 

1570
01:31:42,160 --> 01:31:48,320
places with roaches too. 
But anyway, I would say the eco,

1571
01:31:48,520 --> 01:31:51,880
you know, ecological science 
fantasy are the three words that

1572
01:31:52,000 --> 01:31:53,640
that I put on the cover of the 
book. 

1573
01:31:54,000 --> 01:31:58,280
And I try to with art prompts, I
try to make sure it sort of hits

1574
01:31:58,280 --> 01:32:01,880
all three of those boxes. 
And so I would say ecological 

1575
01:32:01,880 --> 01:32:03,880
science fantasy is sort of what 
to hone in on. 

1576
01:32:04,080 --> 01:32:05,920
There's this sort of pastoral 
element. 

1577
01:32:07,560 --> 01:32:09,360
The world is, is relatively 
uninhabited. 

1578
01:32:09,360 --> 01:32:12,160
So there's a lot of sort of 
emphasis on nature and nature 

1579
01:32:12,160 --> 01:32:15,760
cycles and, and humanity playing
a smaller role within nature. 

1580
01:32:17,000 --> 01:32:21,040
I think Nausicaa in particular 
is, is a place to be mined. 

1581
01:32:22,000 --> 01:32:27,120
Dune, Star Wars, 70s media, 
science fiction media in general

1582
01:32:28,080 --> 01:32:34,760
are all great places to start. 
And I think violence, thoughts 

1583
01:32:34,760 --> 01:32:37,880
on violence and and sort of 
complexifying violence. 

1584
01:32:38,000 --> 01:32:40,520
There's a lot of body horror to 
sort of scattered about. 

1585
01:32:40,520 --> 01:32:42,680
So if you like body horror, that
could be another place to 

1586
01:32:42,680 --> 01:32:50,000
explore theme wise. 
I touching a little bit on the 

1587
01:32:50,000 --> 01:32:51,960
same kind of topic here. 
Someone asked on Blue Sky. 

1588
01:32:52,000 --> 01:32:53,520
They asked. 
One of the best parts of Cloud 

1589
01:32:53,520 --> 01:32:56,520
Empress, but also the most 
intimidating is how much the 

1590
01:32:56,560 --> 01:32:59,080
specific setting elements fit 
together. 

1591
01:32:59,400 --> 01:33:02,200
Do you have any guidance for 
adding new setting elements that

1592
01:33:02,200 --> 01:33:04,040
still fit within the Cloud 
Empress world? 

1593
01:33:06,080 --> 01:33:10,160
Yes, I'm glad. 
I'm glad people feel like 

1594
01:33:10,160 --> 01:33:12,600
there's. 
It's a cohesive world, one of 

1595
01:33:12,600 --> 01:33:17,680
the most deliberate inspirations
from Cloud Empress's Electric 

1596
01:33:17,680 --> 01:33:20,480
Bastion Land. 
And Electric Bastion Land does 

1597
01:33:20,480 --> 01:33:23,840
this really great thing where 
it's like there's Muppets, 

1598
01:33:24,000 --> 01:33:26,680
there's the underground, there's
the, I forget what they call 

1599
01:33:26,680 --> 01:33:31,680
that, the Outlands, there's the 
the Bastion land itself. 

1600
01:33:31,680 --> 01:33:34,880
And so I think when designing 
Cloud Empress, I knew I wanted 

1601
01:33:34,880 --> 01:33:36,640
to work within this world for a 
long time. 

1602
01:33:37,080 --> 01:33:41,840
And so I tried to create a lot 
of spaces for exploration. 

1603
01:33:41,840 --> 01:33:49,720
And so I think in my opinion, if
you're hitting on the themes and

1604
01:33:49,720 --> 01:33:52,840
the vibes, there's not a lot you
can't explore. 

1605
01:33:53,080 --> 01:33:57,000
As I mentioned earlier, it's 
sort of in this Nexus place. 

1606
01:33:57,000 --> 01:34:01,200
And so one of the characters in 
the new book has like a 50s 

1607
01:34:01,200 --> 01:34:03,760
leather research jacket on 
that's magical. 

1608
01:34:03,760 --> 01:34:08,880
Or there's all sorts of things 
that sort of float through the 

1609
01:34:08,880 --> 01:34:12,040
world from other realities and 
even people from other 

1610
01:34:12,040 --> 01:34:13,680
realities. 
So there's like an Edgar Allan 

1611
01:34:13,680 --> 01:34:17,480
Poe character in the new one 
that's sort of like high on 

1612
01:34:17,480 --> 01:34:20,960
opium in the mud, like, and, you
know, sort of pops up and and 

1613
01:34:20,960 --> 01:34:23,200
characters can deal with them. 
So there's ghosts. 

1614
01:34:23,560 --> 01:34:27,400
I think I tried to create. 
Yeah. 

1615
01:34:27,400 --> 01:34:30,320
Just a space where anything 
would be possible and you could 

1616
01:34:30,320 --> 01:34:32,600
fit it into the world pretty 
seamlessly. 

1617
01:34:32,760 --> 01:34:35,880
So I think just sticking with 
sort of the themes and the level

1618
01:34:35,880 --> 01:34:38,040
of technology generally, I think
you'll be OK. 

1619
01:34:38,040 --> 01:34:40,920
And I think those explorations 
on the borders are really 

1620
01:34:40,920 --> 01:34:43,200
interesting and and ripe for 
exploration. 

1621
01:34:44,320 --> 01:34:46,840
Yeah, I mean the way with the 
way magic works and time and 

1622
01:34:46,840 --> 01:34:49,120
everything, things are coming in
and out all the time, as you 

1623
01:34:49,120 --> 01:34:51,120
said. 
And it is like a a future future

1624
01:34:51,120 --> 01:34:52,800
world. 
It's a Future Past world kind of

1625
01:34:52,800 --> 01:34:55,080
thing. 
So I, I would love to see 

1626
01:34:55,080 --> 01:34:57,000
someone just go nuts with that. 
And there's some type of like 

1627
01:34:57,000 --> 01:34:58,920
outbreak of this. 
And then all of a sudden, yeah, 

1628
01:34:58,920 --> 01:35:01,760
you have like 50s greasers and 
like all the rest of this stuff 

1629
01:35:01,760 --> 01:35:04,240
just like running amok because 
of all this like warp stuff that

1630
01:35:04,240 --> 01:35:07,120
happened. 
But but there is a place, if you

1631
01:35:08,240 --> 01:35:10,480
stay true to the way the magic 
works and everything there, you 

1632
01:35:10,480 --> 01:35:12,280
can kind of just dump anything 
in there, right? 

1633
01:35:13,160 --> 01:35:15,280
And there's this thing called 
the slip, which is just like 

1634
01:35:15,280 --> 01:35:18,800
these reality storms that that 
are inspired by thinnies from 

1635
01:35:18,800 --> 01:35:21,800
the dark tower. 
And so there will be like one 

1636
01:35:21,800 --> 01:35:25,280
mile zones or even entire 
villages that are stuck in time 

1637
01:35:25,760 --> 01:35:29,720
or from different time periods 
and or cycling or time looping 

1638
01:35:29,720 --> 01:35:32,040
are all sorts of stuff. 
So I think there's a lot of 

1639
01:35:32,040 --> 01:35:36,120
opportunities. 
I think it's it's like, does 

1640
01:35:36,120 --> 01:35:38,600
your idea draw an interesting 
tropes that get people excited 

1641
01:35:38,600 --> 01:35:42,280
to play and can you tie that at 
all to sort of the overarching 

1642
01:35:42,280 --> 01:35:45,880
theme so that it feels like a 
fit? 

1643
01:35:47,840 --> 01:35:49,160
Maybe we'll do like one or two 
more. 

1644
01:35:49,960 --> 01:35:52,880
OK, Yeah, there's a, there's a 
couple more because I'm crossing

1645
01:35:52,880 --> 01:35:55,240
off ones that I feel like we hit
already that you had already. 

1646
01:35:59,520 --> 01:36:03,280
My cat's starting to walk all 
over my table. 

1647
01:36:04,120 --> 01:36:05,400
I feel like you hit on this one 
though. 

1648
01:36:06,200 --> 01:36:09,040
And if we did, we can just move 
on and says, one, this is from 

1649
01:36:09,040 --> 01:36:10,280
Blue Sky. 
It says, my big one is always 

1650
01:36:10,280 --> 01:36:12,760
media recommendations. 
I love wrenching a core idea 

1651
01:36:12,760 --> 01:36:15,400
from the story and reworking it 
from tabletop. 

1652
01:36:15,400 --> 01:36:17,440
So beyond the points of 
inspiration in the book, what 

1653
01:36:17,440 --> 01:36:22,000
pieces of media do you think 
represent a solid framework for 

1654
01:36:22,000 --> 01:36:25,920
a literary adventure? 
But I feel like you didn't have 

1655
01:36:25,920 --> 01:36:28,160
like whole slides on. 
Yeah. 

1656
01:36:28,200 --> 01:36:35,120
I think though, that I think I'm
sort of interested in time 

1657
01:36:35,120 --> 01:36:37,880
periods now. 
So one of the things that I'm 

1658
01:36:37,880 --> 01:36:43,160
sort of exploring is like 2000s 
and late 90s video games as an 

1659
01:36:43,160 --> 01:36:46,920
inspiration. 
So there's sort of this optimism

1660
01:36:46,920 --> 01:36:49,400
that I want back in my life. 
And maybe that's the Rose 

1661
01:36:49,400 --> 01:36:55,720
colored glasses, but like one of
my game, my new games is sort of

1662
01:36:55,720 --> 01:36:59,120
inspired by like the, the 
colorful look of advanced wars, 

1663
01:36:59,120 --> 01:37:03,040
you know, or some of the Game 
Boy advanced era colors and, and

1664
01:37:03,040 --> 01:37:06,600
positivity and excitement to be 
alive that I feel like this is 

1665
01:37:07,480 --> 01:37:12,560
not present in 2025. 
I'm I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm getting, 

1666
01:37:12,680 --> 01:37:14,960
I'm going to, I'm not, you know,
I'm going to be alive and I'm 

1667
01:37:14,960 --> 01:37:17,000
going to fight and I'm going to 
be resilient. 

1668
01:37:17,000 --> 01:37:19,400
But. 
Not President 2025. 

1669
01:37:19,400 --> 01:37:20,920
The excitement to be alive. 
Not. 

1670
01:37:21,000 --> 01:37:23,800
Right now, at least 
collectively. 

1671
01:37:25,840 --> 01:37:30,440
So I think the other piece too 
is a lot of cloud Empress draws 

1672
01:37:30,440 --> 01:37:34,320
on 70s and late, you know, 70s 
to 85 maybe. 

1673
01:37:34,760 --> 01:37:39,000
I guess NASA could probably came
out in like 91, but early anime,

1674
01:37:39,000 --> 01:37:43,240
I guess early anime and and sort
of seventies 80s inspired stuff.

1675
01:37:43,640 --> 01:37:45,960
So I think picking a time period
84. 

1676
01:37:45,960 --> 01:37:52,080
OK, thank you. 
So taking a time period can be 

1677
01:37:52,080 --> 01:37:55,120
really interesting in the vibes 
and the collective conscience of

1678
01:37:55,120 --> 01:38:01,800
that time period. 
But I think too looking for 

1679
01:38:01,800 --> 01:38:06,800
things that deeply emotionally 
scarred you or inspired you. 

1680
01:38:06,840 --> 01:38:11,120
I mean, I think it's just as 
well to do like, what would 

1681
01:38:11,200 --> 01:38:14,400
Cloud Empress's version of the 
Titanic be, You know, if the 

1682
01:38:14,400 --> 01:38:18,480
Titanic was a big movie for you,
channeling that into something, 

1683
01:38:18,480 --> 01:38:19,720
right? 
It doesn't need to be a ship 

1684
01:38:19,720 --> 01:38:22,080
that's crashing. 
It could be a tower that's 

1685
01:38:22,080 --> 01:38:25,680
slowly falling over. 
And, you know, you just start 

1686
01:38:25,680 --> 01:38:27,880
going with there and what does 
it mean that the giant towers 

1687
01:38:27,880 --> 01:38:30,480
falling over for society? 
You know, maybe this tower was a

1688
01:38:30,480 --> 01:38:32,400
beacon of hope and now it's 
tipping over, right? 

1689
01:38:32,400 --> 01:38:35,400
So you can start to write it 
based on that and just skew a 

1690
01:38:35,400 --> 01:38:39,840
couple elements and then maybe 
throw in, you know, there's a 

1691
01:38:39,840 --> 01:38:44,760
faction that is like there's a 
Terminator there, there's one 

1692
01:38:44,760 --> 01:38:47,720
Terminator that's, you know, 
that's clearing everyone out, 

1693
01:38:48,240 --> 01:38:50,400
whatever. 
So I think combining those 

1694
01:38:50,400 --> 01:38:54,080
elements, but looking maybe in 
summary for the things that 

1695
01:38:54,080 --> 01:38:56,800
deeply impacted you for certain 
reasons and honing in on what 

1696
01:38:56,800 --> 01:39:00,240
those reasons were. 
And also looking at maybe time 

1697
01:39:00,240 --> 01:39:05,440
periods where we're certain 
creative communities came 

1698
01:39:05,440 --> 01:39:08,800
together and sort of did similar
work or certain creative artists

1699
01:39:08,960 --> 01:39:12,240
did a set of work that sort of 
stands together and and mining 

1700
01:39:12,240 --> 01:39:14,440
that for opportunities and and 
interests too. 

1701
01:39:17,280 --> 01:39:21,760
There's a couple more, but I I 
think that I think that we've 

1702
01:39:21,760 --> 01:39:25,160
touched a little bit on at least
most of those are we'll leave a 

1703
01:39:25,160 --> 01:39:30,160
couple for you for the sub stack
and and I think that's that we 

1704
01:39:30,160 --> 01:39:33,520
hit it all there. 
So anything that you want to say

1705
01:39:33,520 --> 01:39:35,320
to wrap this up? 
I know across the bottom for the

1706
01:39:35,320 --> 01:39:37,600
entire time for those who 
haven't actually see this is the

1707
01:39:37,600 --> 01:39:40,560
information for the jam. 
And when this episode comes out,

1708
01:39:40,560 --> 01:39:43,280
I'll make sure that the links to
all that information are below. 

1709
01:39:43,640 --> 01:39:45,760
But is there anything else that 
you wanted to say to kind of 

1710
01:39:45,760 --> 01:39:48,600
wrap up the writing literary 
adventures for Cloud and Person 

1711
01:39:48,600 --> 01:39:50,920
Beyond? 
Yeah, thanks so much for having 

1712
01:39:50,920 --> 01:39:54,080
me and and it was exciting to 
talk about this stuff. 

1713
01:39:54,080 --> 01:39:58,800
And if you have comments or 
thoughts on the idea or what you

1714
01:39:58,800 --> 01:40:02,720
see in some of your favorite 
TTRPG adventures in particular, 

1715
01:40:02,720 --> 01:40:05,560
I'd love to hear that, you know,
in the comments of the YouTube 

1716
01:40:05,560 --> 01:40:09,240
when it's posted or on Discord 
or other things you have 

1717
01:40:09,240 --> 01:40:11,040
provided the respectful and 
thoughtful, those kinds of 

1718
01:40:11,040 --> 01:40:12,440
things. 
But I think. 

1719
01:40:15,920 --> 01:40:19,000
More dialogue about adventures 
in it and expansion content. 

1720
01:40:19,000 --> 01:40:22,960
I don't know any kind of TTRB 
dialogue is, is about the 

1721
01:40:22,960 --> 01:40:24,600
content itself is really 
exciting to me. 

1722
01:40:24,600 --> 01:40:29,040
And, and especially when people 
talk about the, the work that 

1723
01:40:29,200 --> 01:40:31,600
impacts them on an emotional 
level or intellectual level. 

1724
01:40:31,600 --> 01:40:34,520
I think too, rather than we had 
a really fun time at the table. 

1725
01:40:34,520 --> 01:40:36,400
That's awesome. 
But also like, what are the 

1726
01:40:36,400 --> 01:40:38,400
things that kind of stir you? 
What are the things that are, 

1727
01:40:38,920 --> 01:40:42,240
you know, changing your world 
view or or impacting you? 

1728
01:40:43,840 --> 01:40:46,960
I'd love to hear like what those
are and so I can read them, So 

1729
01:40:46,960 --> 01:40:49,960
thanks. 
And, and thank you for coming 

1730
01:40:49,960 --> 01:40:53,200
on. 
I know Liminal horror has done 

1731
01:40:53,200 --> 01:40:55,040
this a couple of times. 
They've done at least 2. 

1732
01:40:55,040 --> 01:40:57,640
So you're more than welcome to 
come back and and meet or beat 

1733
01:40:57,640 --> 01:40:59,600
that anytime you have stuff 
coming out. 

1734
01:40:59,600 --> 01:41:02,880
Obviously you're getting close 
to I think one of the the most 

1735
01:41:02,960 --> 01:41:06,120
like number of appearances on 
the show of anyone, if not 

1736
01:41:06,120 --> 01:41:08,200
already at the top. 
So but it's. 

1737
01:41:08,280 --> 01:41:09,320
Is it Penguin? 
Penguin. 

1738
01:41:09,320 --> 01:41:11,880
Now I'm going to I'm I'm, I 
think I'm not in trouble 

1739
01:41:11,880 --> 01:41:13,640
anymore. 
Jerk, jerk. 

1740
01:41:14,240 --> 01:41:16,760
Who you're going to be. 
Jared's got me beat now, so I 

1741
01:41:16,800 --> 01:41:21,240
think I have to worry about. 
A monthly scheduled episode that

1742
01:41:21,240 --> 01:41:23,000
is literally like themed around 
them. 

1743
01:41:23,320 --> 01:41:25,040
They don't count anymore. 
They don't count anymore. 

1744
01:41:25,360 --> 01:41:28,560
Yeah, but I just want to say 
thank you. 

1745
01:41:28,760 --> 01:41:30,120
What? 
Obviously you're always welcome 

1746
01:41:30,120 --> 01:41:33,760
here because of not only are you
an amazing creative and we love 

1747
01:41:33,760 --> 01:41:37,280
all the things you do, but 
you're genuinely awesome person 

1748
01:41:37,280 --> 01:41:40,560
who really elevates all of the 
people and things around them. 

1749
01:41:40,560 --> 01:41:46,960
And we, we really appreciate you
and you appreciating us and, and

1750
01:41:46,960 --> 01:41:52,280
being open to coming on and, and
sharing these things, using us 

1751
01:41:52,280 --> 01:41:54,040
as, as the way to do that. 
So we, we're always going to 

1752
01:41:54,040 --> 01:41:55,200
appreciate that. 
So thank you so much. 

1753
01:41:55,800 --> 01:41:57,000
Yeah, thanks so much for having 
me. 

1754
01:41:58,400 --> 01:42:01,800
So that is the end of writing 
literary adventures for Cloud 

1755
01:42:01,800 --> 01:42:03,560
Embers and beyond. 
As I said, you can find all of 

1756
01:42:03,560 --> 01:42:05,320
our links below. 
I'll make sure all of the links 

1757
01:42:05,320 --> 01:42:10,800
for what are available there as 
well, where the normal Internet 

1758
01:42:10,800 --> 01:42:13,440
puts their things. 
So you can find all of these and

1759
01:42:13,840 --> 01:42:15,400
and that's gonna be it. 
So once again, thank you so much

1760
01:42:15,400 --> 01:42:16,840
and thank you everyone and chat 
for being here. 

1761
01:42:17,040 --> 01:42:18,400
You all have a wonderful day. 
Bye.