Hey everyone. It's Rich.
I just wanted to let you know that unfortunately I haven't had
a whole lot of time to have editing happen as of lately
because unfortunately I have to move again.
We last took a couple months of break because I was moving
across the country. Thankfully, I just have to move
a few blocks hopefully, but it turns out that house shopping is
a lot of work and it's just really cut into my time for
preparing for the podcast. So instead, this week I'm happy
to release something that was previously Patreon exclusive,
and it is one out of four of our player interviews.
The one that I've selected to go up publicly is Grace's.
It's got a lot of really cool content and tidbits in it.
And if it interests you, consider becoming a patron.
You can find the Patreon link at our linktree, which is linktr
dot EE slash dunsparse and just click that Patreon button.
You can get all signed up that way.
Again, thank you so much for your support and I hope you
enjoy the interview. Grace, Hello.
Hello. Why don't you start by
describing maybe a little bit about yourself or your
experience with the Caliworks Game Corner?
OK, I'm Grace, also known as Gracche, also known as Serene
Gracche on the Twitch. Don't even know where to start
with this. Yeah, if you if you don't have
anything, that's fine. But you know.
I think that the Cali Rex game corners awesome, yeah.
And I love everybody there. You do a little bit of
competitive Pokémon and you do mostly art, right?
Yes. Very cool, very similar to
Melissa as well. Speaking of, what's your
experience with the Pokémon franchise?
Oh gosh, have been playing it since I was four years old.
Started playing competitively when I was 8.
My full whole family started playing and we did that for like
5 years. Traveled all around playing
competitions and stuff. Got a Guinness World Record for
being like the largest family that plays competitively, which
is super weird but cool. And then took a break from
playing competitively for a while because life and busyness.
But I definitely like still like played the games and stuff.
And then around I guess two years ago at this point started
playing competitively again. And I have been, you know, in
and out of it since. Yeah.
Do you think you're going to get back into the regional circuit a
little bit if it ever happens again?
I'd really like to. If I have like the time and the
ability to travel for it, I would absolutely do that.
Yeah, very sick childhood. That sounds like if I were eight
years old, that would be like a dream for me, but like it would
never have happened you. Know I'm very lucky.
Can I ask her is it worth sharing how many like top cuts
or titles you have amongst your family?
I have won one regional, my brother, one of my brothers has
won like two or three regionals and he came second at nationals
one year. Wow.
My other sibling, yeah, I think all of the, I think he might
have won one regional as a master.
Wow. I don't, I don't actually
remember, but most of them were probably senior division.
There was one the first year that I was a senior, the first
regional that we went to, he came first.
My other sibling came second and I came third.
Wow. It's really funny.
Yeah, Yeah. I don't know how many like Top
Cuts total, but that's kind of like the rundown.
We've all qualified for Worlds at least once, including my mom
who doesn't really play video games that much.
And how old were you when you qualified for Worlds?
Oh, I mean, I so like I did qualify for like the like
equivalent of worlds in 2008, although that was like that was
the IT was different for you game showdown.
So then next year was the first official circuit and I did
qualify that year. So I actually.
So you were 9. Yes, 9.
That is crazy. OK, that's so cool.
Yeah, and there were only two divisions back then.
There was only juniors and seniors.
So it was like different. I don't remember how exactly how
they did the ages, but. But still, that's crazy because
like, yeah, seniors had to be like 13, right?
Yeah, it was something like that, like because my, there was
that one, there was one regional in Atlanta.
I can't remember what year it was.
I think maybe 2010 where my brother, who was like only 13 or
14 at the time, was in the finals against my dad was like,
however that happens, I don't know.
Yeah, that's pretty strange. Cool.
Thank you for sharing that. That is so sick.
Yeah, we can go a little bit more casual.
What's your favorite generation? Favorite generation 4I love Gen.
4. It was the one that I started
playing competitive. I just think it's great.
Yeah. I mean, that's my competitive
started, right, So. Well, yeah, exactly.
What is your experience with tabletop role-playing games?
Yeah, I started playing, I think in high school.
My family wanted to get into it. We do a lot of stuff together.
We like tried to like play a session and it just like nobody
was able to like pay attention or do it seriously.
But I was like, I want to learn how to do this.
So I had some friends from school teach me, and then we
actually started a club for my high school for D&D.
And yeah, then just kind of been playing done like two other like
full campaigns before this. But that's pretty much it.
That's so sick that I wish I had AD and D club in high school.
Very cool. Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Was it called D&D Club or did it have like a?
Yes, it was just called D&D Club.
That's awesome. Who was the first character you
played in a role-playing game? Should I go with like the first
character that I played for that like that one session or the
first character I played for like a full campaign?
Whoever is more meaningful to you.
OK so the first character that I played for a full campaign is
definitely probably more meaningful to me.
Her name was Solia. She was 1/2 elf rogue.
She was supposed to be like super like mysterious and like
secretive, but through a combination of just like me not
really being able to role play and also really bad roles, she
just kind of became a meme and just was very bad at being a
rogue. I think that's like strangely
more common with rogues than it is with other classes in my
experience. I don't know why but.
Yeah. Still fun regardless.
Yeah, it was definitely fun. With the amount of experience
that you have, do you think you enjoy role-playing certain kinds
of characters more than others? Is there kind of an archetype
that you go for? Yeah, I thought that I would
really like being the like secretive rogue, but and like
being like, oh, like I'm like so smart and mysterious.
But I think it's kind of more fun to play it like a not very
smart character. I think it's a lot easier
because you don't have to like try as hard to like know things.
Yeah, I think just like something that someone that's
like similar to myself but like different enough that it is
role-playing. Oh yeah, Bard vibes.
I love like like bards and clerics.
I feel like they're always like the two now that I gravitate
towards. Oh yeah, that's great.
What was the process that inspired Elody for you?
The process that inspired Ellie, I was like, I was thinking about
what I wanted my character to be and I was like, I just had like
the thought just randomly of like, what if I played a Baker
who has a mill Serie? Because I, I love mill Serie.
I like baking. Those are two things that can go
together really well. And that's, that's pretty much
it just kind of went from there. Great.
How do you feel about Ellie's development so far?
How do you expect them to continue to grow?
Yeah, I think she's learned a lot on her adventure.
She kind of started out, I think not being very like, I guess
worldly, not very like street smart.
She hadn't really like been around much.
And I think she's like learning. I don't know, I guess like how
to interact with the world, how to, I don't know how to describe
this. Like I feel like there's a lot
that's happened in the campaign that can be like kind of
overwhelming for a person and like learning how to deal with
that. And then as far as like the
future, definitely continuing to go on that like path of growth
of like learning how to deal with things that might be
overwhelming or like how to help people around her, stuff like
that, Yeah. Are there any parts of LD that
have surprised you as you've played her?
Are there any decisions that she's made that would be at odds
with your own decision making? Gosh, good question.
I I certainly think there's been been things that she's done that
have surprised me. I think like the main one that
comes to mind, I don't know why is like when we were in Zoe's
house after the like like metal man came in and destroyed it and
we were like investigating and like she like volunteered to go
to the basement. I don't know why, but I like I
didn't expect. I don't know.
I feel like it's like a weird thing to describe that.
I was like, I don't know, I feel like if I had been there like in
person, like I wouldn't want to do that.
But like me as a person, like I also I want to know what was in
the basement, even if it might be scary.
So I guess like things like that of like just kind of like taking
risks in a way that I probably wouldn't as a person.
I think I would probably think she's done.
Nice, I like that. That's great.
You touched on it a little bit, but why did you pick cabbage?
Cabbage as a name or Milsari? Both.
Yes, I really like Milsari.
Yeah, I guess that's kind of like the main explanation for
that. I I thought it would be a cool
Pokémon to play with for a campaign because I was like, I
don't know, like it has a cool way to evolve.
It's a fairy type and I like fairy types.
And then as far as cabbage, originally I was thinking about
naming it like shoe. Like there's like the baking
term pot of shoe, which like is what you make cream puffs with.
Yeah. And then like knowing I've just
like seen online that like people in France as like a pet
name call each other like, oh, MU petite shoe shoe.
And that shoe actually translates to cabbage.
I was like, wait, it would actually be kind of funny if her
name was actually just cabbage. Wow, that's some exclusive like
deep cut there. Like I don't think anyone knows.
I bet everyone's just like, oh, cabbage is just it's funny, but
like it actually is like a French thing, which is like a
Carlos thing, which is related to baking.
Like that's crazy. Yes, there I I think names are
really fun, so I spend a lot of time thinking about them.
Yeah, that's significant. That's awesome.
Thanks for sharing that. So when we first made our
character sheets, the I just came up with a really basic
passive to give everyone and it was related to a type specialty.
How do you feel about your decision?
Do you think you want to develop into the fairy aspect or are you
more keen on kind of a theme? Does your team already kind of
represent either of these decisions?
I think originally coming into the campaign I was like, oh, I'm
just going to be like a fairy type trainer and like I'll
probably catch some other Pokémon.
But mainly I just, I just want to be like, you know, I think it
makes sense to just kind of focus on fairy.
And now I feel like that's kind of changed.
I think she actually has more water types now than fairy
types. That's true.
But I think there's, there's a lot of Pokémon that like some of
them like centering around like food and stuff.
I think it would be cool as a route seeing as she is like a
Baker. But also like, I feel like I've
kind of developed like this like performance aspect of like maybe
they're like a band. And I think that could be a
really cool thing to do as well. Right.
Yeah. So you got a couple different
routes you can go for there. Yeah.
Yeah, I would. In the same aspect.
I was saying with Melissa how I feel like Dragons are kind of
fire adjacent. I think water and fairy are kind
of related because they're both pretty lunar, you know?
That's true. I didn't even think about that.
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
And again, that just comes to Avatar kind of.
I mean there isn't a fairy type in Avatar, but like if there was
it would be water bending related.
Maybe it'd be air bending, I don't know but I think it's
similar so. We actually.
Yeah. Just mention real quick, we
actually kind of do represent the four of us, the like 4
different like nations you're. Kind of right.
I didn't even consider that. Like Elodie is water, Cindy's
fire, Schmidt is air, and Gimli is.
Earth, you're so right. I never even realized that.
That's kind of wild. Very cool.
We'll see what happens with that.
If Elodie were coming to visit you where you live, what
activity would you propose to do together?
Oh gosh. Well I think baking would be a
pretty cheap option there. Just like I'm over and we'll
bake. I don't know what else would be.
Also, do you think you'd get along?
I think so. I definitely would want to be
friends with her. I think she'd be like cool.
And I'd be like, wow, this person can make things that
taste good. I like things that taste good.
What else would be a thing? Because I'm trying to think of
like, because I mean, doing things in the city.
There's lots of things to do in the city.
I feel like a karaoke bar might be up her alley.
Yeah, I was literally going to say I think like karaoke would
be really fun. I've never.
I haven't had the chance to do anything like that, but I I
think it would be fun. I think a first time like with a
super charismatic friend would probably be like the way to.
Go. Oh yeah.
Oh, definitely. There have been moments in our
campaign where Elodie does something incredibly charismatic
and you're just like, I don't really know, like where to where
to go with this. You think that like there's a
little bit of development for Grace there, like like learning
little charisma oriented tasks because of LD's inspiration
maybe Because there's been a lot of times where it's like, I
don't know what I would say, but I want to do this and let me
roll the dice. And then you get a number and
then you've been able to determine how LD response based
on what you roll. I guess I don't really know what
I'm asking here, but it's just a conversation point I guess.
Yeah. I mean, I think maybe there's
been development there, who knows?
It's an aspect of role-playing, I guess.
It's all and it's interesting and it's fun and.
It's good. I haven't touched my mouse in a
little bit so my monitor went black, but now I can.
OK it's back. Give me your top three favorite
Pokémon besides Melcerie. Number one is Espion.
Been my favorite since I can remember #2 is probably.
I feel like 2 and three are a tie between Holtegeist and
Windpod. Excellent.
Is there a story with Wimpod or do you just love Wimpod?
I really like giant isopods. Yeah, yeah.
I don't remember when that started.
It's just like one day I was like, man, these things are
really cool. Yeah, they are.
And since Wimpod is a giant isopod and it's also got some
purple in it, and I like purple, I just think it's really cute.
Yeah, that's a good enough reason.
You have a Wimpod plush right? I do.
I don't have it with me right now.
Oh that's fine, I don't need to see it and it's audio content
anyways, but that's. True you.
Have to describe it in excruciating detail.
You're fine. That pretty much does it for me.
If you have anything that you want to ask me or say to the
listeners, that's on you. Thank you for being a really
cool DM and thank you to the viewers for being really cool
viewers, viewers, listeners. Thank you.
Can't see us. I mean, yeah, maybe they see us
in their mind's eye, right? That's what matters.
True. Yeah.
Cool.