Welcome to Game Master Monday, the podcast that plays a new one
shot in a new system with a new cast every episode.
I'm your facilitator today. Supriya or Zoop, you can call me
either. We are playing Nighthawks by Lex
Kim Barbro, who publishes under Titanomachi.
RPG players, please introduce yourselves.
Hi, my name is Ross. My pronouns are he, him, and
I'll be playing Oliver Megcino. Hi I'm Rosalie.
Today I will be playing Valerie Bartles who uses she they
pronouns. I Rosie use she her pronouns.
Hi, I'm Siobhan. I use she her pronouns and
tonight I'm playing Pfeiffer Owens who also uses she her
pronouns. Hi.
I'm Tatiana. My pronouns are she, they, and I
will be playing Carmen Sharp, whose pronouns are also she,
they. We are playing Nighthawks and
Nighthawks is a game about loneliness.
It is based on the painting Nighthawks of some people in a
diner. Look it up online if you haven't
seen it before, but it is a game about loneliness and connecting.
There may be things in this game about loneliness, mental health,
that there might be existential dread.
So just want to give you a warning that that's this type of
game that we're going to be playing.
My four players are going to be playing four people in a diner
and our scenes occur every night.
And a night in this game can refer to like an actual like
every Saturday night or every night for a week, or it could
refer to like 100 years. It doesn't really matter.
It depends on where you are setting your game.
But in our game, we are going to be setting it in a diner in a
fairly realistic world. The diner has some tags that we
may call out to as a way of moving the plot forward, and
each of our characters has at least one wound, and at least
one way they're trying to heal that wound.
When they come to this diner, they have 4 actions of which
they can do every night. 1 is Daydream.
Reach out, withdraw or keep going and they will decide which
one that they want to do and a scene will be played out based
on that. Let us set the scene.
You are traveling down 8 darkened street but there's
actually orange and purple lights hanging everywhere.
You see Jack O lanterns on some by some of the doorways to
residential areas. You hear the cackling of a
witch. In case you haven't guessed it
is Halloween and we are zooming through streets and we are
zooming towards a corner shop of a building apartments above and
in that corner shop it looks like they it's a diner and there
are green leather boots tables that are plastic but painted to
look wooden. It's a little beaten down.
Definitely not recently remodeled, we find our 4
characters in this diner. Maddie the waitress comes out on
this night and she's just wearing a cute little witch pin
to let you know that she knows that it's Halloween.
Oliver Maxino actually isn't in the diner at this moment.
He starts to rush in. There's a kind of a, maybe a
momentary but very notable kind of rain shower that that occurs.
And when he runs in soaking wet and holding a big.
Well. A a a child size and Kyla hours
costume that's all ripped up and beaten up and he has a lanyard
with a a maybe a corporate ID or something tucked away in his
shirt pockets. He runs in and wipes the water
and slicks back his hair. He's a fairly tall kind of
darker, darker chocolate brown skin with a mustache and a beard
and and thin metal glasses. He finds his way to a booth and
kind of settles in, looks over to Maddie and kind of singles
for kind of his regular while. He puts the Ankylosaurus costume
onto the table and a little sewing kit and starts to kind of
fix its while keeping an eye on the time.
So what action are you taking? I'm going to do Daydream, OK?
What is your regular? 2 black coffees at the same
time. OK, so Maddie goes into the
back, pours you 2 cups of black coffee and brings it out.
And while she does that, what are you thinking about?
He's really distracted by trying to fix this costume and Kyla
hours is kind of like a if a dinosaur was a tank with a club
tail. That's kind of the the vibe of
this this costume. And his Daydream is half his
memory, trying to remember how his mom talked about sewing,
like how to do a nod, where to start and try not to start here
or it'll fray. And his mind jumps from that to
this image of a, you know, a young boy, maybe 7 or 8, wearing
his costume, going trick or treating the it's really cloudy
in his, in his mind, both weather and kind of vision.
But it's this kind of jumbled back and forth between this, his
memory of his mother, and the memory of this, this, this
child. As you sit there remembering in
the window you see a group of Power Rangers walk by.
White, black, red, green and yellow.
Oliver says no, Blue. Blue's the best man, Billy
Billy's the best, he says to himself.
Also in this diner is a a woman wearing all black.
She has dyed black hair. She's wearing a oversized
sweater that's like a loose black yarn crochet.
Her thumbs are stuck through the holes in the sleeves.
Who knows if they're designed that way or it's just that the
sleeves and the sweater are just so long and the knit is so
loose. She can do that.
And she's working away at the sketchbook on the table in front
of her. I think she's probably at a
booth by herself. And what action would you like
to take? I think that I will also
Daydream here. And what are you thinking about?
The plans that she originally had for this Halloween, she, you
know, was going to do this this big Halloween party with all of
her friends. And instead she's here looking
out the window at the rainy St. in this diner.
There seems to be like she seems to be not.
She seems to be a woman who would have, who would normally
enjoy Halloween, like a woman dressed in all black, who dyes
her hair black like. But she's just here, alone,
relatively clean face, no makeup, just sketching quietly
to herself. Two children in Minions outfits
run by outside. Valerie comes into the diner
also dressed in all black, but in a very different way.
She is wearing scrubs and you can see she has her hospital ID
clipped to the side of her sleeve.
She does have a bit of a jacket on to shield her hair from the
brain. Takes the hood down, you can see
her hair is just pulled back. Very simple ponytail, very basic
makeup worn off in a way that signifies this person is
probably finished with work for the night.
But it is Halloween and her Co worker has kids who need to go
trick or treating. So we are just off for the
government mandated number of hours before we head back for
our next shift. Valerie is going to walk to also
her usual table that she sits at.
But she will. Something gives her pause.
What is Pfeiffer drawing in that notebook specifically?
Across the street, there's a stoop with a pumpkin that's
already started to rot a little too early.
She will kind of stop and glance, confirm that you're not
wearing headphones and then just make the comment.
Usually they decorate a lot more across the street there.
They didn't really make it that interesting this year to make it
a bit of a study, but. Yeah, I guess they put out their
decorations a little too early, planned a little too soon.
Yeah, usually pumpkins last a little longer, though.
I think the the wet weather and stuff is making it worse.
It's been unseasonably warm. And humid and wet.
I think it's going to stop soon here.
Yeah, I forgot my umbrella, so I'm waiting it out.
OK, I hope. I hope it stops by the time you
finish your meal. Do you feel between the two of
you, did the scene end positively, neutrally or
negatively? I think it's neutral.
Yeah, I I agree. Normally at the end of the
scene, I would have Rosie, in this case rule one D 4 -, 1 to
lose that many tokens. But you cannot have negative
tokens, so we will move on to Tot.
In the diner there sets a young woman.
She has this sort of long, curling, russet red brown hair
which sweeps over her shoulders, acting almost like a curtain,
almost a shield that she's using to keep attention off of
herself. Which is counterintuitive to
what she's meant to be doing. She's been sitting in this diner
for hours just trying to work up the courage to talk to someone,
anyone besides the perfectly nice waitress who's come over
several times asking if she's wanted anything more than hot
chocolate and a croissant. And the pit in Carmen's stomach
is just so constantly roiling that she fears she won't be able
to keep anything else down. And she deeply envies this nurse
who has just come in and immediately made conversation
with this artist who Carmen has seen in the diner for a while
now. It has been trying to work up
the the courage to talk to and just hasn't been able to.
And then this nurse has come in and just so easily spoken to
this person. So what action does Carmen take?
I think in this moment, Carmen withdraws.
You neither gain nor lose tokens, but your connection die,
which started at 2 ticks down by 1.
So your connection is A1, the connection die.
It represents where you are in the cycle of giving and taking
comfort and an attempt to Pierce the loneliness.
So as you manage to connect with characters, your connection die
will hopefully go up, and at times when it goes down it's
signifies you withdrawing a little bit.
If you hit a 0 on your connection die and you lose the
ability to reach out for a little while.
Maddie, seeing that Carmen has been sitting for so long, not
even able to finish their hot chocolate and croissant, she
just she comes by and puts down, pulls out from her apron and
puts down a packet of crackers and a cup of ginger ale, just in
case. That's really you didn't have to
do that. That's very nice.
Just in case. And that ends night 1.
The curtain closes on this night and opens again on Is It Another
Night? Let's find out.
Maddie, the waitress walks out and she is wearing a little
black witch's cap. Other than that, she's dressed
normally, but she's got the witch's hat on.
Valerie walks in the door, takes the hood off of what her rain
jacket that she had on over her black, scrubs her hair up in the
ponytail, pauses in the doorway and blinks almost like she's
shaking something off and goes and sits in her usual table.
But she pauses at an empty table of empty booth that doesn't have
anyone sitting in it yet. Shakes her head a little bit
again, as if like, come on, get get yourself together.
Sits down, opens up her planner and she is going to Daydream.
The Pediatrics department is the only one that really gets to
dress up. Everybody else just has to wear
their standard uniform. And this year, that department
decided all of the nurses coordinated to do Winnie the
Pooh characters. You know, they still wore their
scrubs, but Pooh had a red top and yellow bottoms.
And it was so cute. And there were some people who
made some comments about how it wasn't the most professional.
And she's sitting there and she's thinking about how Dang
cute that was and how some of the kids really liked it.
But then she remembers how some of the parents didn't because
these kids aren't able to go out and trick or treat.
Why are you rubbing it in their faces?
And she writes down her goals for the week.
Any particular goal that is important that we should know
peeking over your shoulder? Getting her steps in.
As we finish peering over Valerie's shoulder, we look out
the window and we see five Power Rangers go by.
There's the pink one, the blue one, the green one, the white
one and the black one. No red car.
Feels a little weird walking into the diner.
It was probably her mistake, right?
You know, the Halloween season, all of it just blurs together a
little bit. You know, sometimes she used to
think Halloween was actually on the 25th and that was just a
whole other mess because then she thought she missed missed
it. But it's only on 31st so.
If it's Halloween today, then yesterday must have just been
the 30th. And you know, some parents like
to take their kids trick or treating a day early so that,
you know, it doesn't interfere with school and, you know, so
she can't really blame them for that.
Halloween night can be a lot sometimes, so props to the
parents who take their kids trick or treating a day early.
It keeps everybody safe. But she she walks into the diner
and she sees that everything is still all decorated and nice and
she sees that the nurse is here again.
The nurse seems she seems nice. She was talking to the artist
yesterday so. Maybe she would be.
Nice. Carvin's going to kind of
swallow thickly, kind of bundle herself up in her sweater a bit
more, and she's going to approach this nurse and I'm
going to reach out. Hello.
Oh hi, is this your spot? No, no, no, no, no, no.
Sorry, I've practiced this. Hello, my name is Carmen.
I am. I have agoraphobia and as part
of my treatment I am supposed to introduce myself to one new
person every day. And you seem really nice so I
was wondering if I could buy you a coffee and you can tell me
about your day. Only if I can buy you a slice of
pie. Do you like pie?
Yes. Yes.
Val, It's it's great that you're getting out and doing this even
tonight. I, I, I didn't have any other
plans. I I don't really, I don't know
if you can tell, but I'm a little bit of a coward.
Halloween's not really. You're being very brave right
now in that. Case thank you.
You shouldn't say too many nice things to me or I will cry.
I'll try not to, but I usually don't say mean things to people
I just met. Do you want to sit down?
That would be really. Nice.
You can go ahead and sit down. Wave down, Maddie.
Maddie. Maddie somehow already knows,
and she brings a coffee and a slice of rhubarb pie.
Thank you, Maddie. Thank you, Maddie.
See, you know you already knew Maddie.
I come here a lot. I, I live nearby and if I, I
know a lot of people come here, so it felt like a good place to,
to try and talk to people. But every time I've come I've
been too shy. But I'm I'm trying, I'm trying.
What matters? Two kids just running past you
did. I didn't think this was a
neighborhood for trick or treating.
Some people get weird about letting their kids walk on like
business streets because there's too many cars and I just.
But when I was a kid, they used to different businesses would
give out different candies and stuff.
If you went to the take and bake pizza place, they would have
cookie dough and you got free cookie dough.
Whoa. Well, I guess they do make.
Halloween cookies. Well, so that.
Makes sense? The cookie dough wasn't.
Halloween themed. It was just their sweet thing
that they sold there, right? I think that's good enough.
It and not everything has to be Halloween themed.
Not everybody likes Halloween and I know a lot of people like
Halloween and I'm not saying that people shouldn't like
Halloween. I know that I'm.
The weird one. In this particular scenario, but
it is nice when they're all are alternatives offered to the
holiday, I guess. But I I was going to ask you
about about your your day. You you're a nurse.
Oh. Yeah.
You know I'm covering for. Urology right now, it's not that
pleasant to talk about. What's Urology?
Urine. I'm very sorry.
You know, it needs to be done. Doctors have a good sense of
humor about it. I think you have to have that.
Kind of a job, yeah. You seem like you have a good
sense of humor about it 2. Yeah.
You know, I'm just trying. To got to be done.
Trying to keep keep my mind. Keeping busy is good.
Keeping busy is good, you know. You can't do something you
enjoy. May as well do something that
needs to be done, yeah? Definitely.
Thank you again for the pie, thank you for the coffee.
If you I can't believe we haven't talked before.
I come here all the time too. Well, it's kind of at weird
times, but. She checks her.
Fitbit, just to make sure that she's going to be on time for
her next shift still. Yeah.
Well, maybe we can talk more sometime, yeah.
And as the scene. Closes.
Do you feel that scene ended positively?
I think so. Yeah, you know, something tells
me yes, it was a. Little I'm not going to.
Lie for Val. It was a little hinky there for
a bit. But.
Overall positive, I think. Well, Carmen.
Please go ahead and roll me one D 4 -, 1 that's.
A4. So that's three tokens.
It seems to have been raining. Earlier during the day the big
puddles are on on the the streets and you see Oliver in a
button up with his lanyard hanging low not in his pocket
but just on his chest holding a ripped up and Kyla Hours costume
and just. Before he enters the.
Door a car wishes by and splashes a giant wave of water
onto him and he's soaked again and he walks in just trying to
wipe the the water out of his hair and he moves his way to his
normal seats and and waves down Maddie the the regular please.
As he lays the. Ankylosaurus costume onto the
table and takes out a sewing kit and begins to work on it.
And what action would you? Like to take, I'm going to take
the. Daydream action again.
Oliver thinks back. To how his mom used to sew tips
that she would use the metal cookie tin that housed all the
needles and thread and scissors that was used to to repair his
his ripped up clothes. Tries to recall the tips that
she gave him to start here. The kind of knots to use, the
kind of stitch to do. And his memory goes back.
To a little boy wearing this Ankylosaurus costume.
The they seem to be trick or. Treating and it's it's raining.
Worried this? Little boy seems worried about
his costume getting soaked, his mom worked so hard on it, but he
picks up the ankylosaurus club tails that's not dragging on the
ground and has some heft to it. He specifically asked it to be
kind of heavy so he can feel like an Ankylosaurus.
And he just continues on, determined to get more candy
every time. Someone daydreams.
They gain a token. So go ahead and gain a token.
As you sit there, kind of thinking about this fingering
like a sewing kit, you look out the window just in time to see
two minions walk by. He.
He looks up from his sewing and
he goes banana. He goes back to do what he's
doing. Maddie.
In. Her black witch's hat comes over
with two cups of black coffee that she's just poured and puts
them on. Takes a minute to look at your
costume and then nods to you. When Pfeiffer.
Enters, we see that she has a umbrella with her.
It's a clear umbrella that has a black spider web design on it
and she her hair looks a little bit less in her face, maybe
because it didn't get rained on today.
She's still wearing a black dress with a casual black dress
with a loose knit crocheted black sweater over it, and she
enters the diner shaking off her umbrella.
I think this time she'll. Sit at the counter instead of a
booth and she'll she'll. Actually speak.
To Maddie, more than just the the thank you and I'll have this
please, actually doing her best to try to make a conversation.
That's a fun hat. Oh, thank you.
It just came in the mail yesterday.
What good timing, Yeah, I mean. Yeah, I ordered it at the
beginning of October and it's just, I don't know why it took
so long to get here. That's nice, that.
The planning for that worked out, yeah.
Yeah, I was. I don't know.
If I if it hadn't come in, I think I would have just worn a
pin or something. What can I get for you?
Darling. Black tea side of eggs please
Black. Tea and a side of.
Eggs, do you want that scrambled hard?
Over easy. Over easy please over easy.
She turns to the camera. My least favorite way to make
it. She turns back.
She has an internal mono. Wow.
So you're not headed to a party? I think.
She looks dour at that, frowning, and she reaches into
her bag and pulls out her sketchbook.
No, I have other plans tonight. Oh.
You're sketching. Do you have a idea of what to
sketch in mind? I've been focusing.
On still lifes lately. OK, I.
Was going to say if you wanted to do my picture but.
There. That is inspiring.
Oh. OK, And she takes the hat off
and puts it down on the counter and then takes an apple and puts
it right next to it and winks at you and she leaves.
And I think that that ended positively in my opinion.
I agree. So go ahead and roll one D 4 -,
1. Right, that's a 2 on the.
Die so one OK, so you. Get 1 token.
Maddie puts. Back on the the witch's hat once
Pfeiffer seems to be done drawing and the curtains close.
You see the street? With the purple and orange
lights, then the pumpkins, you hear the witch's cackle.
Maddie comes out and she has whiskers drawn onto her face and
she is wearing a cute pair of cat ears and she's got a little
tail thing going on today. Tonight we see Pfeiffer at the
counter again. She's drawing again.
She's maybe like a little bit more put together and not just
like throwing on kind of clothes.
The big difference being that she's actually done her makeup
for the first time this week. So she's wearing black lipstick
or not this week, but the several set of days, Right.
It's been the same night every night.
It might. Yeah.
It. Might be the first time this
week. This day just happens to keep
happening. Yeah, going.
First here it's interesting to use the move keep going or you
call on your connections with others as like she's only talked
to two other people in here. But I would like to do.
That. This time, her body.
Language is open. I think she's pulled her hair
like past her shoulders so her you can see that she's not
wearing earbuds. You don't have to check, it's
just obvious you can. She's like, you know, maybe
she's moved under a second sketch and she had a
conversation with Maddie about what to draw next.
She's just trying to be really open.
So I have two tokens, which means I get to roll as many D
fours as I have tokens, and my highest number roll determines
what happens next. And I.
Rolled A1 and A2, so a 2 is a partial failure.
Your connection die ticks down by 1.
What's going on? In Pfeiffer's head based on this
partial failure even. As she's trying.
Like to move forward? Time is still standing.
Still. It's still the same night.
The sketches she's done from the previous nights are not in that
notebook. She's been drawing on the same
page every day. And I.
Think that that. Is wearing on her.
She's still doing this one this night alone in a diner.
Well, she's talking to the the person who, you know, has a
vested interest in being friendly.
And I think she's maybe thinking about that too much.
And, you know, still seeing people go outside, go by having
a Halloween and they're in groups of two or groups of
varying numbers of Power Rangers, and she's here alone.
As that's going. On through your head 5 Power
Rangers walk past the window Blue-green, red, pink and
yellow. Valerie.
Is already in the diner here. She sat at her usual table.
Something's hinky. She opened up her.
Planner this morning and the To Do List her Her goals for the
week were not set yet. It's today, Halloween is on a
Monday this year some of the people took their kids trick or
treating on Sunday so that it wouldn't interfere with school
blah blah blah blah blah. It was the start of a new week
and she knows during the break between her two shifts she had
done her weekly goals and they're.
Not there. Anymore, and it's also still
Halloween, and there's something up and there is this gentleman
sitting. At that.
Table absolutely soaked to the bone.
Why has Maddie not offered him a dish towel?
At the very least, she doesn't know he's still working on that
costume. Do you need help me?
Yes, actually, yeah. It do you want to sit?
Not on the side. It's so, but please, yeah.
Yeah, OK. I'd love some help.
OK, awesome. Do you, do you have safety?
I I have safety pens. She digs in her back.
I I. He Oliver, like, flips the
Ankylosaurus costume over. He's like, I don't actually know
where this piece goes. And it looks like it's a leg,
but it's, it's not a leg. And then he, he looks to the
pelvic area and he's like, no, that's not where it goes.
No. And he, he looks around and he's
like, I, I don't actually know where this piece kind of go.
Are you good at sewing? Sorry, I I'm Oliver by the way.
Valerie. Valerie.
I've Valerie, yeah. I've seen you.
Here tonight. Maybe.
I mean, I'm here a lot. Yeah, I'm here a lot.
So OK, I'm sorry. I sound crazy, I don't.
Know where this? Goes no.
Should we? Maybe it's like a spine.
Is it like, Yeah, it's pretty. It's pretty spiky.
What kind of dinosaur is? This Ankylosaurus.
Ankylosaurus. It's in the Cretaceous period.
Really. Herbivore.
Yeah, badass. He looks back down.
Do you have somewhere to be after?
This like you need to get this fixed now, right?
Yeah, no. It's.
I think getting it fixed is priority.
I have OH. Two hours and 49 minutes.
Let's go. Cool.
That sounds good. Oh, you know what?
Like he turns it over and he's like, oh, this the the stuffing
is, hey, hold on. And he kind of reforms it and
it's actually the club part of the club tail.
It's like, oh, it must have gotten messed up here.
Do you mind holding the end of the tail here?
And as he passes you the end of the tail, you see his lanyard
with the corporate badge on it, but it actually says Doctor
Oliver Maxino on it. And he says, thanks, Val.
I really appreciate the the assistance here.
It's starting to like sew the the club back onto the tail.
Valerie, I think. You know, continues making small
talk, honestly tries to get some more dinosaur facts out of this
man. And then eventually, like when
there's a conversational lull and they still haven't figured
out where that one piece goes, still, she just goes.
So is this for? Your nephew or?
Yeah, really important kid in my life.
Yeah, sorry. I I'd like to be friendly, but I
also just met you. No, that's OK.
No giving. Giving kids information to
random people that you just met in a diner?
Weird. You should not tell.
OK, cool. Cool, cool.
I'm glad. And we're on the same page on
that. But yeah, stickers do they.
Like stickers? They love stickers, absolutely.
Yeah, she will pull out. You can see she has two
different sheets. 1 is like little pumpkins and ghosts and
Halloween themed and the other is just smiley faces.
Oliver is literally just kind of like he kind of becomes hyper
focused on them and he's going back and forth and says the
happy face, please. OK.
Yeah, and you? Will go right here.
Faces it on costume. Do you feel like that?
Ends the scene I think it was. Pretty, I think it's pretty
positive, OK. Awesome, go ahead and rule.
I got a 2 on. The D4, so that is 1 token
gained absolutely. Think I'm going to.
Keep going. You're going to keep.
Going yes as you call on your connections with others and
attempt to move forward based on the conversations that you've
had. Maddie, in her cat costume, puts
down a hot chocolate and a croissant.
And please roll ME3D4. Thanks, Maddie.
OK. That's a four and two.
Threes. Awesome.
That is an absolute success. You feel heartened by your
bonds. Your connection died takes up by
two, bringing you to a three. What is going on in your
character's head based on this result?
We can see. This sort of change in Carmen,
obviously she's in the diner now, but as she had been walking
into the diner, she passed all over in Val's table and she had
the courage to say hi Val before going to her spot and like
waving and just had like very nice friendly smile, you know?
She's met someone new, she's remembered their name, and she
feels as though she has been remembered in turn.
She doesn't have that sort of pit in her stomach anymore.
When she sits down, she manages to finish her croissant and is
like sipping on her hot chocolate comfortably.
Things still feel a little weird.
She doesn't think it's supposed to be Halloween anymore, but to
her, it hasn't really been Halloween.
To begin. With because she doesn't really
celebrate Halloween. Instead she's gotten to just see
everybody else get to do their Halloween stuff, and everybody
else seems pretty happy. And she likes that everybody
else seems happy. You know, it's nice to see
people instead. Of just.
Being cooped up inside of her house.
As you feel the urge to keep going, to keep growing outside,
2 minions run by and you see Maddie tuck away the crackers
and the ginger. Ale, Oh hi.
Everyone. I'm also in the diner.
I'm in the corner having a Grand Slam.
It's me, your producer Grant, and I'm here to tell you about
some upcoming exciting things that we're doing over here in
Game Master Monday. For you see, we've got a whole
bunch of live streams coming up, so I thought I'd hit the
microphone and tell you about some of them because I think
you're going to want to hear about them.
First off, I. Will be live over on Goodberry
Cafe tomorrow, October 21st at 5:00 PM Pacific.
I'll be running a Rafenheim one shot called A Ghost at
Fahrenheim. I've converted everyone's
favorite Gothic mansion into a fairy bed and breakfast and
there is someone haunting the joint.
Join me, Mia AKA OSHA Rah Rah, Casper the Envy Ghost and Rose
Tears, who you're hearing on this very episode for a Ghost at
Fahrenheim. This is a charity stream
benefiting a court of trust and reimbursements as we raise money
to help cover the legal fees for the performers who have suffered
at the hands of Once Upon a Con Again.
That's tomorrow at Goodberry Cafe at 5:00 PM Pacific Time on
Twitch. Then this.
Wednesday will be the grand return of our live miniseries
Absurdia being GM by our very own Jenny.
The story picks up where we left off 2 weeks ago.
One member of the party has been called my SWAT Cheese.
Bizarreties abound in Mobius and you will not want to miss the
final two parts of this series. We'll be live this Wednesday the
22nd, with the big finale coming on the 29th.
I've been told by the cast that the ending is absolutely
incredible and they refuse to tell me anything else about it.
On Monday, October. 27th will be kicking it old school with the
Millennium House. Shadowy Productions newest show
about 20 somethings doing the impossible, learning how to live
as if it was 25 years ago. Yes, in the Millennium House you
can only use devices as new as the year 2000 and cannot
reference anything past that year or you will suffer
consequences. Whoever can stay in the house
the longest wins. This will be a Call of Cthulhu
one shot written and keepered by me.
Starring Anna Eliza from Hilarity Saves Grace AKA Ghost
like G Adam Gonzalez from 5 GMs in a trench coat TTRPG, James
Tatiana Gefter who you can also hear on this episode and
Mozzarell. This is yet another charity
stream as we help Maz recoup some fun she lost for her big
life changing move. So join us on Monday, October
27th at 5:00 PM Pacific Time to make our cast dance on camera.
I'm not. Kidding.
That's a donation tier. Thank you for.
Putting up with my yapping. I have one more surprise for
you, because starting in two weeks, we'll be starting our 6th
Game Master Monday miniseries. Allow me to introduce you to
American demigods. This.
World is very similar to the one that you, my listener, know.
Your sign, Sir. Says if you do not abide by
these principles you've listed, then then then you go to hell.
I'd like to avoid that reality. So what makes you so sure of
this fact? Think about.
The boarded up shop, it's no longer boarded up.
Opportunity doesn't. Make plans.
Opportunity goes where the wind takes them, where the people
take them. Whatever seems most interesting
at the moment, it is now. A temple.
Maybe it's just her vibrant presence.
Maybe it's the? Fact that her mother is a
goddess, however minor of life. But they seem to swell to be
happier when she's around. We know.
That the gods are everywhere. I would rather take the.
Risk than have you take that risk, I want you to take a
different risk later on in. Life.
And have that chance. A God is created by questioning.
I've seen the worst of what? Humanity has to offer.
And I've seen the best. They all end up exactly where
you are and I ask them the same question.
Knowing what you now know. What do you think?
You belong. Help.
Democracy is missing. Help American.
Demigods, a new Game Master Monday miniseries coming
November 3rd. Everywhere you enjoy podcasts.
We are. Sight for American demigods over
here. The Game Master Monday Studios.
That's gonna be GM by our very own zoop, who you're hearing on
this episode, and it's gonna start myself, Abby Yazzy,
Diamond Lynn Kendo Smith and Norton Ali Kadir.
I'm big excited about this series.
It's been so much fun to record and you're not gonna want to
miss it. No, I'm telling you, you don't
want to miss it, right? All right, well, I've got a
Grand Slam to get back to, so I'll let you get back to the
rest of Nighthawks. Oliver is now.
Being helped by Val and they're they're chatting and and talking
about their day and just kind of high level niceties, but it's.
Niceties that weren't. There before.
Oliver. Thinks back to his mom and the
way that she whenever she lost her thimble, she would just wrap
her thumb with extra thread to be even tougher.
And she was showing Oliver how to do that.
And he notices that he doesn't have that.
So he starts wrapping his finger, his thumb with some
extra thread. And his mind bounces between
that scene and the scene of the little boy wearing an
ankylosaurus costume in the rain, holding the club tail
going door to door. His Halloween bag, which is just
a pillowcase, is heavy. It's getting to a point where
the tail and it is outweighed by this bag.
But he's committed to making sure, one, to get the goods, but
two, to make sure everybody sees the costumes.
Mommy, it's raining and it's dark.
There's a big splash of water and he kind of gets turned
around and not really sure. You think it's it's this way.
It's got to be this way. He starts walking down.
Kind of a darker Rd. Is that where you'd like?
To end your Daydream, please take one token.
Maddie. Steps out.
With a. Yellow Jacket, yellow pants, and
she pulls a Cortana off of the counter and straps it to her
back. She's wearing a blonde wig and
she gets ready to greet people this Halloween.
Carmen, what action would you like to take?
I would like to Reach. Out.
To. Pfeiffer.
Sort of that initial. Person that she had wanted to
make a connection with in the beginning and then was too
scared to do it. This time, Carmen sort of steals
herself. Bundles herself up in her.
Sweater and approaches Pfeiffer wherever it is that she is
sitting. This time around, she's at a
booth. Again.
Seated at the window again. Very reminiscent of that.
First first day, yeah, and Karma's going to approach you.
A bit shy still, but more confidence than she's shown in
the past. Hi, I think.
It takes her a second to realize that you were talking to her
because she's actively drawing, but then she looks up and says
hello. Hi I'm.
Carmen, I have agoraphobia and part of my treatment is that
I've been tasked by my therapist to introduce myself to someone
new every day. And I saw you've been here a lot
and you look really cool, so I'd love to meet you.
Oh well. Thanks.
I'm Pfeiffer, full name. Thank you.
Yeah, I, I just, I don't know, they have nice windows here, I
guess. Feel free.
To sit. If you want.
Yeah. Thank you.
Can I buy you a coffee or somewhere?
Oh, thanks. Yeah.
Are you here to eat dinner? I'm here to.
I, I guess, do this talk to people, but it's, it's a little
weird lately, right? Like it feels like Oh my God,
OK. Good.
Yeah, done this before. OK, it's not just me.
Sometimes I feel like it's just me.
I feel like it's just me a lot of the time, about a lot of
different things. But this time I was like, surely
it's not just me. I don't think it's everyone.
Though. You know, you're the the first
person I've I've asked so. Yeah, I just, everyone else
seems like almost the same every day.
And I've seen that. You've been like sitting at
different tables every day. Is it working?
I mean, I it's fine if it's no progress is slow or whatever,
but. Yeah, my.
Therapist always says stuff like progress isn't linear and stuff
like that, which is true but it's sucks.
Yeah, it also feels. Like no progress.
Like it has been the same day over and over.
Yeah, usually time. Is is linear if if nothing else.
But you you've been drawing. Something different every day
from what I've seen. Yeah, it's weird.
I would have liked to see the trans I did earlier this week.
Well. The other.
Today's they're gone, but that's OK.
I think maybe at least I'm getting better at this.
Maybe I. I hope, I hope so.
Maybe there's something to be said for making something, even
though it doesn't last and it's still having been worthwhile.
I think. We actually see Pfeiffer's smile
at that. And thank you for the coffee.
Yeah, yeah, of. Course, if I see you again
today, tomorrow, then I'll say hi.
Yeah, sounds good. Do you think that ended?
Positively, yeah. I think so.
I believe it is Carmen who reached out, so go ahead and
roll AD 4, yes? That's a four again.
Wonderful take. Three more tokens, 5 Power
Rangers run by 1 Black, 1 Blue, 1 Yellow and two green ones that
seem to be fighting. The two green ones.
Are fighting and they start to actually get a little physical
and push him off of the street and into a puddle on the road
where the from pants down is soaked and the kids are
apologetic. And of course, although still
self-centered on this argument of who should be Tommy, but
Oliver kind of squeaks into the diner.
Oliver looks at his. Booth, he's up.
He's actually about to sit down. And then just like elderly
Korean couple, like just coughs and he realizes, oh, shoot,
sorry, sorry, excuse me. He walks over.
It's actually pretty packed today.
And he sees that there's a spot potentially with people that
he's seen regularly. So he walks over and says with
his like soggy and Kylo hours costume and sense.
I am so sorry. I this place seems a little bit
more full than usual and I need some space to fix this.
Do you do you mind if I just like Scooch in?
Like Hang. Hang out in this booth with you
2 it's. It's her table Pfeiffer looks
at. The agoraphobic person that came
to sit with her. But with that, she says sure,
OK, that's. Fine, sorry I I just got pushed
into puddles so he's starting to like squeeze out his.
His like. White button up, you can see a
lanyard hanging from his his neck that says Doctor Oliver
Mexino and he actually scooches up beside Carmen.
It just kind of sits and says, hi, my name is Oliver.
I've seen you 2 around, I guess your regulars here as well.
Not normally this. Regular but.
Nice to meet you, I'm. Piper.
Carmen has to, like, pause. For a second.
As Carmen. Pauses to gather up her courage.
Maddie comes by in her outfit, she has got a towel around her
neck and she kind of like snaps it over to Oliver and then turns
around, grabs 2 mugs of black coffee and slides them in front
of Oliver. He literally.
Takes one in each hand and he starts sipping from both and
puts it down and she winks. And she winks at Carmen and
says, your hot chocolate will be right out.
Thanks, Maddie. I'm.
I'm Carmen. Nice to meet you.
I'm sorry, am I in in your
space? My space invader.
No, no, no. It's it's fine.
I this is good. This is, I think my I I.
I don't remember. What it's called my therapist
probably call call this you know when you're you and you're
scared of something and so you you do do the something so that
you can get used to to to that thing.
I don't remember what it's called, but that this yes, yeah,
I. Don't either, my dad used to say
just jumping in the deep end. Maybe that's kind of how it
feels back on the horse. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I'm on a. Horse jumping into the deep end
of a pool, Yeah. Gotcha.
But you can stay. OK, OK.
Thank you. I just need space to kind of fix
this thing and you see the soggy and Kyla sword it's cost you
that's ripped up and you see like the the bulb at the end of
the the tail is detached and it seems a little bit worse for
wear. I've I've been really focused on
this costume, but I'm pretty sure I've seen you 2 around you.
You've been drawing. What have you been drawing?
Still lives. I've been drawing something
different every day. Cool.
Can I see I? I I love drawings, sure.
Today she's been drawing like a couple like fallen leaves and
maybe they're actually like on There's one on the counter.
It's like an oak leaf, which actually just basically goes
straight to brown very quickly. Yeah.
And she shows you that, she said.
I I would show you more but this is the only.
Most of the sketch pages in here are blank still.
But you draw every day, yeah. Right, but I haven't had that
many days. Or.
A lot of this we were just. Talking about.
That actually. Have you noticed anything?
Weird lately. Like the vibe?
Yeah. This costume.
Doesn't really get it. Feels like I I work on it every
day. It's not really.
Improving. But.
I think I've seen. You so that like left knee every
day in here, yeah. Yeah, that one definitely is, is
a pretty scuffed up side. Yeah.
But it's strange because it's something stay and he turns it
over and you see like a like a happy face sticker just kind of
underneath the costume here. Do you mind?
He takes the sticker off and is gesturing to your sketchbook to
put it on. As she slides it towards towards
you, he puts. It on and says.
I haven't seen very many. Drawings of leaves.
So I got to say this is the best I've seen.
He puts the happy face sticker on it.
Thank you. It's.
A nice practice for organic shapes and straight lines at the
same time. He has kind of like a.
Slightly vacuous look. He's just kind of smiling.
And nodding. He sits back.
Down and says drinking both of his coffees at the same time.
He kind of waits for. Carmen's hot chocolate to
arrive. And.
As he's working, he. Kind of says out loud.
Not to anyone in particular, right?
He says. You know, a hot drink.
And something soft always makes me feel better.
He kind of repositions the costume so that like the the
sweet and Kyla Soros face is like near you, Carmen.
It's like, I need to get this left side is brutal.
And it's kind of like nudging it closer to you.
There's like this. Urge.
In Carmen to. Like Pat the head.
So I think she she does do that. Like there's a very like kind of
shy and she like reaches out and kind of like touches it to feel
how soft it is. It feels as soft.
As. As somebody's.
Deep care for someone. How do?
The two receiving people feel that that ended positive,
neutral or negatively. That's positive for.
Carmen awesome. Go ahead and roll AD 4 - 1.
Awesome, SO. 2 - 1 is a one, yeah.
You take one token outside 2 minions run by.
Valerie. Is going to withdraw tonight.
She sits down at her usual table and takes out her planner,
infuriatingly blank again. And she pulls out.
Her little folder full of sticker sheets.
And she opens. It up and maybe Maddie who's
walking by or something sees that yes you see the smiley
faces you see the ghosts and the pumpkins and you see one that
has a bunch of little witches and one that has a bunch of like
cute little chibi vampires on it and you see one that has a bunch
of little witches faces with the green skin and.
And. She looks at the page.
Today is the 31st and the week starts November 1st.
She looks over at the conversation that's happening at
the counter around the costume. And she?
Thinks about how. Carmen said she.
Doesn't like Halloween and all of that.
And really it's, it's over anyway after tonight.
And you know, she didn't have anything to do tonight anyway.
That's why she's here. That's why she picked up that
shift. And isn't it just exhausting?
The person that she took over for was complaining that they
had to take their kids to the trunk or treat and they didn't
even really want to. They didn't want to spend that
time having to deal with those other parents and worrying about
the allergies and the candy and all of that.
And she'll just take some generic heart stickers to
decorate this week's spread. And she puts in her goal list
that starts with get your steps in.
You will gain. Neither gain nor lose tokens,
but your connection die takes down by 1.
Let's be ambitious and do. Keep going So I have two tokens.
So calling on my connections to attempt a significant move
towards happiness. I think that that is already
showing through how she's trying to be engaged in conversation
instead of just sitting by herself.
Roll for. Me OK 2 threes.
Yay, partial success so. Your connection die ticks up by
1. What is the complication, as you
remember what's been going on that brings you here, I think.
There's still the tinge of like, you know, I'm not I I'm not
spending this with like the people I thought I would.
And it's still it's still even when you have something nice to
do when plans have changed, it's still like kind of sad that you
would hyped up yourself to do like something big and you have
to cancel it. And so I think that maybe there
is still the I'm. Not.
I'm not, I don't get to do the Halloween party like this is the
biggest night for that kind of event.
And I'm I'm still not getting to do that.
And I'm I'm still drawing in the same notebook and I don't get to
see any of my progress that way, even if I do feel like my
comfort with sketching is going up, it's.
Such it's not. Changing and but but it's still
great. I still actually had
conversations with real people tonight.
Who? Decided to talk to me.
Which is nice to be reached out to.
So she'll keep going. Maddie.
Sidles up at one point with a black tee and takes a look at
your drawing and says I think that's the best 1 yet.
Maddie comes. Out from the back in.
A giant. Lobster costume including the
pincers on each hand. This is I want you to picture a
giant full on lobster costume. Oliver.
What would you like your action to be?
I want. Oliver to withdraw.
I think he's in his booth the. Sewing kit is.
Like strewn open all the the contents of the sewing kids
strewn across the table. And then his costume is this
costume is it's just not improving the the tears and
holes still remain. He doesn't remember.
Or think to his mom and the lessons that she gave him.
But rather. Taking back on that.
Boy who's holding the Ankylosaurus club and a tail in
his arm and a. Pillow full of.
Candy on the other arm. Trying to navigate.
The dark, heavy rain. He knows this isn't the right
way. He's confident.
But. Rather than going.
Back or asking for help, He pushes forward.
He gets to a point where. There's this kind of narrow
bridge. It's supposed to be 1 lane on
either side, but they made it two and two recognizes it and
realizes that there's a bus stop on the other side that you
probably take and that'll get him home.
So he starts to walk over this bridge and it just happened so
fast. It was bright and then cold.
The rain. There was no view through the
veil of rain. It's just water now.
The bag is. Heavy as he tries to let it go
so he can make his way up, but the club tails really heavy.
Oliver comes back to where he's at, water dripping from his
hair, and he just sits. 2 Red Rangers and three Blue Power
Rangers in a joint like Siamese Twin Suit go by.
You hear the clatter of two pincers putting down to black
coffees for you. Oliver looks up to you.
And says thank you. I get.
I get that you want to keep the pincers on, but.
Sometimes it's better. To have a more.
Usable costume. Maddie.
Yeah, I guess. I'm trying something new today.
I'm going. To reach out to Maddie, because
sitting at the counter, Valerie heard that advice.
And. She looks up from her stupid
planner that she hates. Goes you know if your if.
Your boss or whatever is like letting you dress up like this
and you're having fun with it. You're clearly having fun with
it. I mean, you've had a different
costume every day this week. Probably it's they've.
Just been getting more elaborate.
You're having fun with it, right?
Why? Why?
You can do your job just fine. She looks.
At you with a little bit of puzzlement.
As if. Yesterday was October 30th and
today is October 31st. But then she pauses and looks at
you. Maybe your first goal shouldn't
be to get the steps in. It's the one that's the.
Easiest to achieve with the number of hours I work, you
know. But you should.
You should if you're having fun figuring out different outfits
to wear and stuff like. Don't let it.
Don't let them. Ruin that for you, OK?
Don't worry, I don't. Let anyone ruin things for me.
What if? Your first goal was to find a
reason to smile. Come on, that's a good idea, she
already wrote. Get.
My steps in and so she makes that number 2.
I feel positively. About that, well, I'm glad
somebody does. Maddie wasn't.
The one who needed to hear what she had to say is the thing.
And so the fact that she said it, it's positive, even if
emotionally she's not doing great.
I wrote a four which feels wild. Awesome take. 35 tokens right
now that. That feels wrong.
I'm wondering if I. Can also do a bit of a hybrid
thing where I I keep going but I want to chat to Oliver OK?
Yeah. So this could it could.
Go really well or it could go really bad.
OK, so that's a. 4A3 and A1 and. It is the highest number, so you
feel heartened by your bonds. Your connection die ticks up by
2:00. So I think that puts you at A4
Max which is awesome. Share a little bit of that that
keep going energy with Oliver. Now that she's.
Met everyone. Carmen sort of does the round of
walking around to everyone and saying hi, like hi bow, hi
Pfeiffer and the sheet like goes to say hi to Oliver and just
sees. The state.
Of him I think is the best way to put it like 2 coffees
untouched which you know she doesn't know him very well but
based on how many times she's seen him, he's usually pretty
you know, down about the coffee that's why he gets 2 and.
So I think. She sort of walks up.
Do you mind if I sit? He looks at you.
You have this, like, empathetic moment where you realize he
doesn't want to respond. And then he realizes it's you
and says, oh, yeah, of course. Hey, Carmen, hey, hey.
And she's going to slide. In across the table from you.
Still working on the. Costume, huh?
I guess you. Can say that, yeah, just not
really. How do you deal with not making
progress? Can I be honest?
With you, Oliver. Sure, sure.
Yeah, not very well. But.
I. Think that's.
Part of it. A lot of the times.
I feel like your costume, all the holes and.
The parts and you. You know, you try to sew them
back up every day and just nothing seems to really work,
but. The the costume was.
Whole once you know and even if you sew it up, it's never going
to be the same again. It's it's always going to have
been torn. But the trying is important.
It's it's as important as succeeding.
The trying is more important I think.
But I tried so hard. I'm trying to do something I
don't know how to do. And he looks at his fingers and
they're all like bloody from the pokes and the needles in the
sewing. He says this has.
I have to fix this. Sorry I.
It's OK, you're you're much prefer than I am.
I'm terrified of needles, all sorts of of needles.
We should probably get you bandages or something from from
Maddie. No, it's OK.
You get some napkins and puts it over his his fingers and he says
sorry, I well, that wasn't about you.
I, I you are. Way more.
Brave than you give yourself credit for.
I'm. Trying.
Right, I mean that the. The first time we did this.
And she? Gestures broadly to the to the
whole diner. I didn't talk to anyone because
I was so scared. And I only talked.
To Val, because I saw her talking to Pfeiffer and then you
just came up to the table and that was good because I don't
know if I would have been brave enough to talk to you if you
hadn't just sort of shown up. But I don't know, I'm not really
good at at this. I guess I just wanted you to
know that I understand. And that you're.
Not alone, even though it it's easy to feel like you're alone,
you know, even with the whole diner full of people around you.
Yeah. Sometimes it feels like I'm.
Just sinking, you know. But I think what's cool is that
I don't know in this costume. I think what's.
Cool. Is that we can be not complete,
that we can be in progress together, yeah.
And. You know, even though it's.
Like this, right? Now it's it's really clear that
you care a lot about it, and that matters too.
Yeah, so. I think she will try to reach
out tonight to Valerie. Maybe she was even sitting
somewhere else and then decides to move to next to next to
Valerie. And I think she just sits next
to her and says, how are you today?
We're we're getting through. It we're getting through it and
yeah, I don't know. I can listen if you.
Want to talk about it? Doesn't it feel?
Like. This.
Diner is inescapable. It's like even if I called in
and found some community Halloween.
Indie. Concert or something.
I think I'd end up here anyway. Yeah, I know.
Exactly, I know. Exactly what you mean, yeah.
There is, there is one. That's going on.
There's like one of those local bands is playing down at the
brewery and I thought about going but.
I just I know there were there would be.
Even if I didn't have work, there would be some people who
wouldn't be. Interested in?
Going and they'd say that it was lame or that they didn't want to
put in the effort to dress up or whatever so you.
Know. Well, yeah.
She looks down. I think she can't bring herself
to say you can go by yourself because she wouldn't be able to
go by herself. But then I, I think instead she
says, would you have a Halloween costume if you weren't at work
today? If I knew I.
Wasn't going to be working. I might, but.
Since I. Knew I was, I just didn't even
think of an idea. Yeah.
And like, don't I think it's. Really cool that you can you
have a vibe, right? And like I know you probably get
some like weird looks from old people or whatever.
I hear that and. I don't know, I just think.
If I were to like, put in all the effort to dress up more than
just putting on a witch hat or whatever, I think.
I have to have a reason or people.
Are going to think it's weird and somebody else probably going
to make a comment about it or whatever.
So I don't know. I just don't even bother.
That is. The beauty about this day of the
year. It's the literally.
The only day where people are weird for saying anything about
it, right? I don't understand why.
They get so annoyed about it. Orange too old to dress up well.
No. This is because of your.
Job because you work in a hospital it I guess it is like
the one place that you can't do it but you.
Could do it when you. Come here.
Yeah. No, you wouldn't want to get.
Bodily fluids on a nice costume that makes sense, but just like.
People have to. Give their two cents.
They have to. They have to explain all the
reasons why they don't like it so.
But why did their opinions matter?
They sound like squares. They shouldn't.
You're right. You're right, I.
I shouldn't let it bother me. Well, I wouldn't say anything.
If you were wearing a costume and except maybe, oh, you look
cool or whatever, I, I don't, I don't think people like.
The thing is when. You dress not like other people.
People are going to be weird about it, but that's.
On them, yeah. I I don't think you or me
dressing the way we want to dress should ruin anybody's day.
And it just makes me mad that it does.
And that ruins my. Day that's.
That's what it is. That's what it is.
Where'd you get? Her umbrella I.
I drew the lines myself. That's so cool, thank you.
It's one of the few drones I have right now that is staying
with me. Hang on.
She will take out her little folder pouch full of stickers
and find a spider to put on the web.
That, that's actually really cute.
I think that went positively. In the end, yeah, I think so.
Too. Go ahead and.
Roll your one D 4 -, 1 to see how many tokens you get.
Right one. The 4 - 1 four I got a 4 - 1, so
3/3. The curtain rises.
Purple and orange lights outside, pumpkins on doorsteps.
Witches cackle. Maybe there's a flutter of bats
and Maddie. At first there's no one behind
the counter, and then eventually you hear a creaking and you hear
a whirling. And.
It looks like Maddie glides out and you're not completely sure
how she's moving because she has an entire mermaid tail all the
way down and she's wearing a seashell bikini top.
She's got shells in her hair. Her hair is a sparkling red
curls. And you look on the counter and
I don't know why we didn't notice it before, but there is a
jar like a a big fishbowl with a a yellow and blue fish floating
in it. Valerie.
Sits down at her usual table in the corner and takes out her
planner and starts sticking on little pumpkin stickers.
We're going to roll to keep going.
All right, awesome, I have. 5 tokens which feels like too many
for this but. That's so funny.
My highest is only A2. You did.
Say that things could get worse. Yeah, yeah.
For for Valerie. So your.
Connection die ticks down to 0. It's a partial.
Failure. It ticks down by 1, but it
brings her to a zero, which means she cannot reach out to
others. I think she opens up her.
Planner ready to put the stickers in.
And she sees. The goals list number one, get
my steps in #2 find a reason to smile.
And she realizes that since her foot passed over the threshold
of the diner leaving it tonight, she hadn't.
She puts a couple pumpkin stickers on tonight, but doesn't
decorate the rest of the week. And she'll?
Just pull out her phone and start scrolling.
You lose the ability. To reach out with your heart
temporarily until you get your connection die to one or another
player reaches out to you. A giant mech piloted by 5 Power
Rangers walks by outside. Rather than sitting.
Herself at her own table, Carmen is going to start the evening
sat with Oliver, and the action I'm going to do is Daydream.
So the two of them are just sort of existing in this comfortable
silence after their conversation from the day before.
Sometimes you don't need to talk about your problem.
Sometimes you just need to know that someone's there.
And Carmen just sort of wants to be there.
And it's also been a lot of days of socializing for her.
So I think of everyone. It feels like Oliver
understands. So that's where.
She sits herself and yes, and like to Daydream as she sips on
her hot chocolate. We see.
A very young Carmen. She couldn't have been older
than maybe 10. Her hair was much longer, much
more unruly. These sort of thick red curls
that still. Acted as this.
Sort of safety blanket around her even then, but there was
this sort of lightness to her that she's only started to
regain now. It looks to be around this time
of year again. And Carmen is holding hands with
another child, a boy, and the two of them are giggling to each
other. And he's leading her into the
corn maze. And the two of them start to
walk through it together. And the boy turns to Carmen and
says I want to play right in the scenes but.
We're in the. Corn maze, that's not.
It's going to be so hard. I want to play right in the
scenes. And.
Carmen relents. You know this is her friend, so
she lets go of his hand. And she closes her.
Eyes, and she counts all the way to 50.
And when she. Opens her eyes, Carmen finds
herself completely alone, and at first it's fine.
She starts wandering the maze, looking for her friend, calling
out his name as she goes. And there's just quiet.
Not another soul makes a sound in the maze, and the corn is so
tall around her. Unbeknownst to.
The two children the maze had been shut for the night.
Nobody knew that. The two of them were still in
there. And.
The boy had managed to find his way out.
But Carmen? Wandered and wandered and
wandered for hours and was horribly lost.
She went down a path that was certainly not a path, but she's
a kid, she's small, she fits into spaces she's not supposed
to go, and everything became a monster.
The shadows were too dark, the corn leaves were too sharp, and
everything was horrifying and she was all by herself.
And it was hours before the fire department found her.
And as Carmen is. Sitting here in this booth with
this new friend that she's made. Or at least she'd like to think
that they're friends now. They were just kids.
It's it's so easy to hold on to sort of the resentment of.
Feeling like something's been. Done to you on purpose that that
malice of why didn't you keep holding my hand?
Why did you leave me alone? Why didn't you find me?
I was so scared. I was by myself.
But they were both kids. He had it meant to leave her
alone in the maze. He couldn't have possibly known
what would. Happen to?
Her and how she would feel, and Carmen makes a note to herself
to reach out to him at some point and tell him that she
forgives him for what happened that day.
She is dressed. For Halloween today.
And that she has done a spider web style cat eye liner
eyeshadow. She's wearing a full the full
beats of a white foundation. She has her hair up.
She's maybe wearing like long opera gloves.
Like she's dressed dramatically as if she were going to go to a
Halloween party or as if she was going to any party as a goth
person. And she's she's at the.
Diner. And she's just, I think she
maybe has tried to sit with with Valerie, but she also, you know,
exchanged, tried to exchange pleasantries with the quiet
table who are not talking. And she knows that there are two
people that don't necessarily like to talk very much.
So I think she's going to try just to to hang out with them,
Valerie and and talk to Maddie. OK, Roll.
How many D fours do you have? All right, she's 5.
OK, A. Four.
We got a four, so you feel. Heartened by your bonds, your
connection die ticks up by two. Does that bring you to 4?
Yes. Yes, it is.
You see Val, look. Up at the table as you approach
it and she looks at what you're wearing and smiles.
Yeah. Yeah, and Pfeiffer.
Smiles back. I think she's realized that like
she can celebrate it, she can celebrate this holiday by
herself and like she will find new connections to people in her
life she doesn't have. Her life isn't over just because
their relationship she had before this are not there and
she can keep moving forward. Oliver's been quietly
contemplating with Carmen. And then he suddenly just like.
Gets up. And pours out.
His the sewing kits. And he cuts up.
The Ankylosaurus costume. Into.
Not into ribbons or anything, but he's trying to make
something new. He's doing it as quickly as he
can. He's cutting it up and it's
starting to form kind of like a a jacket or like a vest with a
long bottom part and a hood and a tail.
Sewing that together as quickly as he can.
And then he scoops it up and he grabs Carmen and drags all of us
over to where Val is. I'm going to use a reach out to
Val. And we kind of like Scooch in
all of her plops. And he's a little bit more like,
not anxious, but he keeps looking at the clock.
And he says, OK, Val, your nurse?
Yeah. He pulls up his corporate badge.
It says doctor, but I'm not a doctor, Doctor, Right?
Yeah, I. PhD.
Not MDPHD. Not MD.
Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a paleontologist.
That is the thing that I dreamed about.
And I also remember that my dad never wanted me to have coffee
like, oh, you won't grow tall. It tastes so bad.
And I thought I when I grow up, I'm going to have as much coffee
as I can because. That it's awesome.
There must be some sort of secret that you're hiding from
me, and I'd love it and it's awesome.
And I love dinosaurs. And.
I'm really glad I made. Friends with you 3 and I think
my time's running out. So whatever is holding you back,
you can put this on. It's like armor.
And when Val puts it on, you see inside there's A tag that says
Ollie M and in that same moment, Oliver is not sitting.
It's a kid. He's about 7:00 or 8:00.
He has a big pillowcase full of candy and he says, I I'm so glad
I met you all. But I I got to get home.
Thank you for spending Halloween.
With. Me well at this.
Point. You hear a little bit.
Of a whirling. And Maddie comes up and she
smiles brightly at all of you, and she hands Pfeiffer some
loose pages. And Pfeiffer, you look at them
and they're all the drawings that you've made over the past
several repeated days. And Val has her armor, and
Maddie looks at her. Don't forget to find something
to smile about and wear that costume she's going to.
Look at Carmen. I was going.
Through my closet earlier tonight and she's going to
glance at where Ollie was. Am I correct in?
Assuming Ollie is gone, he's. Not there anymore, there's just
a lightly wet spot on the bench I think I do have.
Something to wear. Do you think, How about all
three of us go? Introduce ourselves to someone
at the concert and maybe Carmen can wear this if you don't have
a costume. Then what are you?
What are you going to wear? I think.
She has just because she has to. She was planning on going to
work tonight. She's texted her boss now.
She's. Not going to work tonight.
But she did have. Just a pair of cat.
Ears on a headband in her bag because her scrubs are all
black. It works it.
Was workplace appropriate? So Maddie reaches out.
She she reaches into a drawer and pulls out a cattail and some
black eyeliner that can be used to draw some whiskers, and she
hands a rock. It's flat.
It's, it's kind of like a flat circular disc.
It's just got like a couple bumps on it.
And whenever Carmen is feeling nervous.
She can rub it. It's a worry rock.
And then? Finally, she puts next to the
cash register A. Stuffed.
Ankylosaurus. And waves.
Goodbye. To the three of you.
As you go off to your concert, she's still stuck working the
shift in a like a little motorized thing because she
can't use her legs. She's a mermaid.
As the three. Of you walk off and as Ollie
hopefully. Feels.
A little bit less alone and a little bit closer to the world.
She snaps her fingers. And when the.
Curtain rises. It's November. 1st thank you all
for being here with me. Oh, I'm like, I have like a
little tear. I I don't cry easily.
So this is this is a a big deal. Ross will do that to you can
Yeah. Can you all tell me where we can
find you? Ross, why don't you start?
Yeah. Hello again, my name is Ross.
My pronouns are he, him. I'm the game master and editor
at Blades of Mayari. We are a Filipino Canadian LED
actual play podcast inspired by pre colonial Filipino mythology.
You can also find me on twitch under Studio Casino where we
stream with an Asian cast or highlighting Asian made projects
or games or or things of that nature.
So yeah, come find us on socials under Studio Casino or Blades of
Mayari. MAYARI all.
Right. Rosie, where can we find you?
Hi if you've. Listened to other episodes of
Game Master Monday and their series and stuff.
You might have heard my voice before.
I'm Rosalie. A lot of people call me Rosie or
other nicknames. All my socials are at Rosatiers.
ROSATYRS like Rosie and the little goat folk and you smush
them together and you get Rosatiers.
You can find me on the tabletop Tailspinners Network where I
play Sage on Magnificence, a Dungeons and Dragons, the
Edition Dark Fantasy Horror podcast.
You can also find me again. I do a lot of Game Master Monday
stuff. And also I've been working with
Don't kill my character a lot lately.
Right now we are doing a Vampire the Masquerade Chronicle called
Sank with Scourge, where I'm actually playing an agoraphobic
Malkavian. So my heart immediately just
melted into goo when I heard that when Todd said that.
So yeah, check out my socials. I do a lot of stuff.
Shvonne, please tell us where we can find you.
Hi, SO. You can find me at Spellbound
Mage on Blue Sky, but more importantly, you can find my
podcast Someplace to be.neocities.org on Blue Sky and
that's also our website. We are an actual play podcast
with an all career cast focused on highlighting indie games.
We play a different indie game every season, but the special
part is we take the same characters into each season.
So if you love character creation episodes but get
attached to characters, that's the show for you because we take
the same ones over and over. And if you love the confusing
psychological situation of reliving similar events over
again, guess what? That's what those characters do
when they wake up in a new world in a new genre with their
memories of their previous season, but also memories of a
life lived in the new setting That we do.
And if you like games where Halloween happens every night in
an actual play, guess what? I was on every episode of a
series like that on Purdean City Comics, which are the longest
Halloween episodes. That show is superhero
teenagers, teenage drama and super powered angst.
So I recommend that show too. It's it's on indefinite hiatus,
but it's very good. So.
But if you want something that's not, check out someplace to
be.neocities.org. Thank you.
Tatiana, where can we find you? Yeah, you can find me.
On Blue Sky at Tot Coco you can also follow my podcast Soul
Operator on all the social medias at Soul Operator Pod.
Each season I play a solo TTRPG and then I adapt that gameplay
into an audio drama. So if you are a fan of audio
dramas, it is reads completely as an audio drama.
But if you happen to play through the games that I play on
my show, you might get some fun little Easter eggs.
We have finished our first season and we're currently in
production for Season 2, so keep an eye out on that.
You can also hear me on a variety of audio dramas and
actual plays. I have been on Game Master
Monday previously. You can also hear me on channels
such as The Hardest Dungeon and Folk and Myth.
Yeah, it's been an honor to be here and to play with these
incredible folks. Thank you.
So much everyone. My name is zoop my mom calls me
Supriya. You can find me online as zoop
machine. I have a card where you can
check out what I'm doing. Besides Co jamming on game
master Monday. I'm also a cohost on Too Legit
to crit, which play which we have basically a thing where we
talk to each other. The three of us talk to each
other about TTRPGS for like an hour on Sundays.
I also in the confounder of FOMO con, which I'm going to get my
butt together and we're going to reprise for Pack CU and so
follow my socials to to see anything about that and anything
else that I might be in. And I'm so glad that you all
joined us for this story. It turned out better than I ever
could have hoped. And I'm also really excited to
announce that I am jamming November's miniseries, American
Demigods, and I hope that you stay tuned for that because it's
a really good time. Thanks everybody.
The.