Fireside Chat for WWW ep39 “Into the Woods”

Eursulon’s new spell should be called “Soil Thine Self” I love the production you guys have and the story telling is S+ tier! I enjoy every moment of catching up since I just found you all like a month ago.

Chad Bonar

Well fuck, I didn't even pick up on Worth's creepiness. Then again I don't think I was psying close sttention at the time, cuz I was driving at the tome and that took priority, but damn.

Coolclaytony

I was an infantryman in the army in like 2010 and truly Brennans depiction of dumbass infantryman is so true to life it’s funny. Met some of the best people in the army but also met some of the worst.

Andrew Tucker

Catching up on the fireside, and I have to say I really appreciated Lou's (sorry, Gary's) articulation of Eursulons glamour. I'm part of an ethnic minority that is often the target of slurs and violence and it super hit home for me as I hide this part of my identity a lot due to the danger. It sucks but it's pragmatic - it's like, yeah in order to achieve my other objectives in life sometimes you have to be stealth.

Saskia Scott

Idk why it didn't stick out to ne until this episode but now that it has I am reeling with how good of a metaphor the glamour is for being closeted. Maybe it was the way he regretfully had to reassume it in this arc but DAMN.

Seth Callis

I do not know if this is the right episode (I'm way behind), but as someone in a helping profession these days, Souvi's speech just killed me: We'll continue forward, in the hopes that our actions save lives, now or later. Because all of us, we put one foot in front of the other on the belief that what we are fighting for - what we are protecting, what we are bringing forth to the future - will flourish because of our care, and effort, and blood. Thank you for what you have given, and thank you for what you are giving. *me sobbing in the background*

Melinda & Jeremiah Westly

My initial response to your question was pfft, no. That’d be so weird. Then I remembered that I had a dream a long time ago that I showed up to a party with some Taco Bell and was surprised Brennan was there and was going to DM a game for us but became so enraged when he saw I brought Taco Bell that he packed up in anger and left after giving me a piece of his mind for flaunting food that I guess he couldn’t eat for some reason when he was starving. I was devastated. It was a weird dream.

The Wizard Sopor

Song called “bullfrog” and lines like “wanna take a ride on my ego trip?” Wake up people Suvi is about to get a crocodile leather bound spellbook and then everybody’s making death saves

DaphneDawn

Gary Mozzarella, Gary Mozzarella, Gary Mozzarella that's the guy who knew me when

Joshua Vern

I’m so glad you tried to hunt before considering eating the horses. I was out here wondering why that didn’t cross y’all’s minds hahaha

E l i j a h

I appreciate the considered reply. I think that the characters in question are absolutely a powerful analog for the ignorance we commonly face in the South. And, honestly, I love that. But, my recollection of the episode is that they weren't all speaking with a strong southern accent, but when it was time to deliver that phrase in the Fireside Chat, Brennan switched (or maybe slipped) into a southern accent to do so. And that decision was hurtful to me from someone I admire so much.

George Sawyer

And: not meant in any slanted way, just a hand raised saying, “hey! Yeah! Notice that! It’ll take you somewhere interesting!”

M Dorsey

And if it is a machine, how do we want to build the ones that work the way we want them to? To automate in the ways that are efficient is reducing harm— but how to reduce it when we don’t see what it is? Yesssssssss.

M Dorsey

Hey, neighbor. 🫡😅 TL;dr: it hurts cause it’s true, in the best way. I’m from the south, it’s weird here, stories are cool As someone from the panhandle, putting themselves through therapy, finding resources (and learning to navigate this big, complicated world in a way that isn’t constantly emotionally exhausting): Notice why it hurts! This is what stories do for ussss as humans, socio- neuro- biologically etc!! Stories help us navigate our feelings and values, cognitively and emotionally, (Kristin Neff, Johnathan Haidt, Emily Wilson’s “Odyssey” translation), etc Maybe cause it’s holding up a mirror, and we see something we don’t like? But where do those things come from? What circumstances created them? If it feels true and it hurts, accepting the way some things are is the only way to move them forward and make it something we DO like to see. What a privilege it is, someone giving us the opportunity to notice something about ourselves, with tact! Showing the best things about us alongside the unsavory— with honesty! Cause fam, down here we really be dumb as hell 🫡😮‍💨😂 I love it here. Our culture, the unique natural landscapes, the food, the diversity— and the spectrum of experience people have had here, even the most horrifying ones— are all part of a whole. (Full Disclosure: I been listening to Jesse Welles a LOT lately) It sure can feel like harm; but if I can’t blame the table leg, I can’t much expect others to not hurt me. 🤎 Shit takes more effort. And, there’s so much understanding and action and connection to be had!! Let’s have those hard conversations and address them through the medium of live action storytelling!! 🥰🥹

M Dorsey

It hurt my feelings when Brennan said "we're dumb as hell" in a stereotypical southern accent. I understand being salty with us for a lot of things. I'm salty with us, too. But there's a percentage of us that have to live somewhere that doesn't like us very much, and it hurts when it seems like other people don't like us very much, either.

George Sawyer

I find it interesting that Ame could feel comradery with these wizards because home was also taken from her. The difference is she framed Ren as a kindly grandma who nutured her gifts and not someone who exploited her for the sake of some machine. But what is the coven if not a machine that needs to be fed young apprentices in the same way The Imperium is fed children that could be talented wizards.

OrangeHills

The witch of wocal warmups.

Doctor Quixote

You can smell it in Brennen’s last words, he has been waiting for the bit to faulter.

Oscar Swanson

I’m pretty sure that having Part of the true name just gives Silver the ability to recall all of it, that’s what I assumed anyway.

Matt Mayhem

The witch of what once was

Shannon Giesige

I need a geologic time scale for Umora. I need it. I want to know the impact of spiritual events in the fossil record. What happens to the remains of spirits like Ursalon who clearly have a physical form and may not be entirely immortal? What does it mean to evoke the spirit of an extinct organism?

Shannon Giesige

You skip act 2??? You skip putting it together??? You skip children and art?!? You skip MOVE ON?!?!??

Titus Weikal

Just want to say I am in the process of indoctrinating my sister into this podcast. I downloaded all of WWW onto my iPad from the youtube playlist and we listened for 10 hours straight on a car ride to our parents house. (It’s a long ass ride) She’s playing it cool but I think she’s hooked.

Nolf!

Since becoming an all-volunteer force, the U.S. military has a lot of legacy families as well.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Yo this whole arc is giving Doechii

DaphneDawn

I think because it's the one time where many people are without their phones ability to distract them from their real emotions- and because it's the one time you're not thinking you have to be ready to respond to some phone call, So yeah, we live in a world that is designed to alienate us from our emotions & keep us as active and' productive' into some corporate portal- So it makes sense to me that severing that would drop people into a well off emotions they might not usually swim within.

TheloniousPunkyBrewster

Hook-ups & Heists. 👌

Lainey-joy Lawther

Love how Brennan tried to catch Gary slipping at the end and Erika and Aabria immediately backed him up this bit WILL live forever

Ayan Jama

it's worth noting that the Citadel has a vested interest in fostering these wizard family dynasties. By encouraging tight-knit lineages and surrogate kinships, they’re not just enabling community but strategically ensuring a steady pipeline of new wizards, consolidating power, and furthering their institutional aims. The 'spontaneous' generation of these bonds often plays directly into the Citadel's long game.

Agiddysea

Love y'all so much 🙏🤌

Jonathan Spell

One might consider Gary Mozzarella the Sultan of Swing

Chelb

How the hell do you guys got THE Gary Motzzarella?? His Tiktoks are a true art form

Franco Muscellini

She wrote down her full name, "Suverin Kedberiket," as she did for Ame and Eursulon. That may be the first time Silver has ever seen/known her full name, so I'm not surprised he used it.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Had the same issue when my old unit brought in a contractor. He had a lot of opinions that he wanted to share and we were confused about why he was sharing them.

Agiddysea

Ame talking to the soldiers in this ep reminded me of something from my Navy officer training. My Officer Development School company had something like 10 newly minted psychologists in it - who definitely thought they were allowed to have opinions. It’s such a different social structure.

Maddie Clark

NADDPOD(!) I’ve been listening to so much Dungeon Court and the voices bleed into my dreamrealm af

The Witch of Ways and Means

You also have family and community spontaneously generating in spite (sometimes because) of these structures. Take the true love between Ame and Grandmother Wren or Suvi’s surrogate kinship to Steel. Steel and Sonder’s whole citadel-born-and-bred family! It’s just so gd rich

The Witch of Ways and Means

Goated comment right here. I’m so excited to see how the magic of warlocks and sorcerers will complicate this dynamic. From what we know so far, the magic of Ruve seems to take this severance even further. I picture the chalices sacrificing family, history, possibly more in return for magical power. The houses of Gouthmai on the other hand place suuuuuch a high premium on the maintenance of their family structures. But I think the dark horse counterbalance to this truth must be the magic of the spirits. Think of how leaving home has left Ursalon so injured in Umora and how amazing it felt for him to find his sister, to know that she had been searching for him too. Kaliyah’s family performs a magic that draws on closeness and love rather than severance. See: Roro’s first spell!

The Witch of Ways and Means

What KJ Gaona said. ::) And a healthy dose of - “Well said! Even more proof of Brennan’s transcendental ability to be so nuanced of a world builder & resplendent mirror to the nuances of “the real”.

AyunderfillVonScotchguerd

🎵 Ame we've been trying to call youuuu 🎵

Ashley Teatum

You smart, I have nothing to contribute to that. 10/10

KJ Gaona

I’ve been reflecting on the idea that the Citadel’s training represents a unique cruelty—one where the very act of becoming a wizard involves severing a student’s connection to their family and past. While this critique of the Citadel is valid, especially in light of its rigid courts and brutal examinations, it’s worth considering the broader nature of magic in Umora itself. Magic is not a gentle, domestic craft—it is a transformative force that demands sacrifice, and this demand seems universal, not unique to the Citadel. Take Níf, the apprentice of Indri the Witch of the Wind and Stars. Do we honestly believe Níf spends summers visiting family or sending cheerful letters home? Then there is Baksha, a small girl apprenticed to Gramore of the Wild Hunt, seen quite literally eating a heart. What home and family remain for a child like that? Or Ame, a child literally given away by her parents. The magic of witches seems to demand a different kind of severance, but it is no less complete than the Citadel’s. The Citadel, in contrast, wraps its cruelty in order and ambition. Yet for all its faults, the Citadel prepares its students to survive. Many who fail still find their place as guild mages, a privilege that some in the Coven of Elders would never offer a failed apprentice. And so, is the Citadel the villain here? Or is it simply the most formalized version of a universal truth? Magic, in all its forms, demands a price. The question is not whether students lose their homes and families—it’s what they receive in exchange.

Agiddysea

Ok but they do kinda eat people

Heftzz

I've had really good experience with DMs in that regard, but it's not even just graphic violence, just literally anything - even off screen. And it just seems a little unreasonable to ask for an all vegan party and for all mounts or animal friends to be invisible/undetectable to baddies and immune to environmental dangers. But maybe it's really not...

Sarah Sutton

"No graphic violence against animals" is actually a super common thing at the table. Frequently given as one of the very first examples in systems like X Card or Lines and Veils that are about establishing content boundaries, up there with stuff like body horror or whatever. It's why so many D&D enemies are some version of "epistemically evil, corrupted lifeform -- which can maybe assume a human guise and talk, purely so we can have some social rp stuff -- but it's still basically okay to murder". lol.

Brandon Carbaugh

40:40 “‘I don’t remember what Gali tastes like because I was taken when I was 5,’” WHAT? MORE THAN THAT? Is the citadel pursuing the conquest of knowledge? What use would they have with small portside towns besides to take their brightest and put them in luxury in exchange for research?? just a crack theory from that one line, thank you for listening

kragonaught

Ame thought she was in her fairy tail but really she was in Suvi’s trauma drama

Courtney Seebadri

I was really expecting more Sondheim, in both the ep and the Fireside.

Nathan Armstrong

On the topic of distrusting good things in TTRPGs, I think one of my core philosophies when GMing is that there are more kind people in the world than cruel. Because if I didn’t spend a dozen sessions with my party first establishing that not everyone is going to be hostile, it sets an expectation that placing trust in NPCs is more likely to be punished than not and undermines any emotional effect I could get when that trust in an NPC actually IS betrayed. And in my case I think it set the foundation for me being able to make the party legitimately doubt the long-established villainy of the campaign’s current main villain (to summarise, a very high charisma noble with sinister plans) over the course of one IC conversation (although alas that confrontation did not end in everyone becoming friends)

Brooken

Does it mean anything that she revealed ‘Suvi’ but he said ‘Suverin’???? DOES THAT MEAN HE HAS PRIVILEGED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HER SHE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT? Or does it mean nothing, it was just tenderness?

Sam Berry-Sullivan

Many many many times. I have had so many dreams that start with or are based around playing dnd with Brennan and a blend of D20 players and NADDPOD

Sam Berry-Sullivan

Yes, when I have been binging WBN or D20, mostly as a narrative voice.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Thank you all so much for doing these.

Jesse Massaro

Has Brennan ever shown up in ur guys’ dreams?

The Witch of Ways and Means

Big Time Story Clean Up was much appreciated! During the horse moment, I was mostly disappointed that they accepted their gruesome/noble sacrifice so immediately. Wouldn’t animals threatened with death panic and take lengths to survive? But the justification that distant horse spirits—ones with a wiser understanding, maybe an ethos of ‘horse-ness’, and eternal life in the world of the spirit—would decide that these ephemeral mortal projections of themselves should offer their bodies for the good of human soldiers is so fun to picture. Wonders never cease!

The Witch of Ways and Means

Speaking as someone who works with kids around that age, there is a good chance he probably heard that description used by a peer or adult he admires. I would start the conversation with just saying that I don't find that word to be helpful, and ask him to explain what he meant by that description. There is a chance he has too many influences already leading him astray in his life, but starting from a non-judgmental place usually helps with shutting down any defensiveness. Obviously he needs to know it's wrong, but starting the conversation there shuts down all other dialogue. I will say, it is a difficult skill to hold a poker face when a kid says something so outrageous like that.

Hannah

I feel this episode was Brennan showing such a deep understanding of the human experience and it's complexities. Also, my God, what a joy to hear the players react so amazingly and authenticly to the character they created. This entire podcast has been such a treat.

Leah S.

Went to law school, and lemme tell ya: the description about Citadel relationships was 100% dead on

Ben Fogle

I wondered too about Silver's name and whether Suvi knows it

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Intelligence testing, I think, or at least hunger for learning. I would say ambition, but not if they're inducting 5-year-olds

Carrie Mook Bridgman

And they repeat eeeeeverything they hear at home

Wren

Mother. Given the context clues it was clear, but deeply unfortunate (and funny).

Wren

Always appreciate this cast's thoughtfulness and nuance with characters and narrative. ❤️😊 This podcast and fireside is a delight to listen to.

Evelina Meiklejohn

Yeah this was a super interesting convo (and Taylor’s music??? Chef’s kiss). I loved how it took a joke about a low roll and made it a great character moment. I’m curious about the idea of consequences and witch spells you bring up though I hadn’t even thought of that!

The Wizard Scoliosis

First of all I said don’t @ me. Second yes, the ending is wonderful, but it only works so well because it reminds you of how great act one was! Third, not an insane take. Our personal relationships with great art are not insane they are wonderful and infinitely complex and unique like spiritual fingerprints. I recognize the divine in You!You’re wrong about Assassins though, lol. -t

Worlds Beyond Number

Kids learn fast sadly

Lojaan

I really can't stress enough how much joy the intro and outro songs in the firesides bring me! They have such a perfect cozy and sweet sound (especially that great bear theme- when's the WWW soundtrack album drop!?) that on top of the gorgeous story and silly people genuinely makes me feel so calm, happy and at home whenever I listen to y'all. Thank you for creating this lovely space 💜

Jules

So difficult! Cause you know *someone* is going to reach out to that kid. Either someone is going to lead them to the light, or they are going to be sucked further into the dark

Lojaan

I thought about that too

Lojaan

I knew a guy who would only cry watching movies on airplanes.

Lojaan

OK. Is crying easily on planes a universal experience? Cuz this is 100% me but I’ve never had someone empathize with it

Daniel Cheung

My brain has moved from Gay Indiana to "There's a Wizard that's called Sky" mashed with Giant Woman from Steven Universe. ADHD BABY!

Tiffany C

I’m glad you guys brought up Wicked, because I thought of Suvi the entire time I was watching that movie.

Kayzar

Yes. Ame's parents gave her away 😭

bluebluebutton

ha! My earworms stuck me with "We're Not Gonna Take It." GA-ry MO-zza-RE-lla No! ga-RY mo-zza-RE-lla &c

GC

Shoutout to Ame's conversation with Silver laying a very witchy piece of "advice" with consequences attached. I wish the crew could've discussed it more, because it was the highlight of the whole episode for me. It feels like Ame is coming into her own on weaving Wtich's spells over her domain. And was a cool contrast between the Citadel's authority over this come-together domain and Ame's occupation of that same space. I loved everything about it!

D Livingston McPherson

For some reason I remember them talking about the citadel "testing" kids, because they can't possibly take every single child; there would be no one left in the rest of the empire. So how are they choosing?

Emily C

I think they specifically said that anyone can learn wizarding style magic. Only for Sorcerers is there a genetic component which would require the punnet squares. And I'm sure we'll get into the horrors of cast off heirs once we properly arrive in Gauth

D Livingston McPherson

Woah! Hadn't thought about the asymetry. Very cool point

D Livingston McPherson

MC

THANK YOU

Worlds Beyond Number

They were so honestly horrified at the same time my mouth fell open irl it was perfect🤣

Nefeli

Interesting question (and I don't mean to be hard on Ame, much less Erika): what connection has Ame maintained to her original home? Obviously that was them rejecting her instead of the other way around, but that should be a clear connection with how fraught one's connection with "home" and family could be. Has she forgiven her parents, and could she have empathy for these farm and infantry people if she saw how alike they are to her parents?

CSN

Oof, yes. Also as a neurodivergent person.

Sarah Sutton

Curious what skillful way he would find to respond to that kid now, assuming he was too stunned at the time! Not easy to get traction with somebody already that aggressively messed up about it. At some point you just have to let them be alone to protect the rest of the kids there.

CSN

!Numero Uno Gary!

Stefanucci Mozzarella

Hayyyy, amicco mio!

Stefanucci Mozzarella

Gary Mozzarella!!!!

Stefanucci Mozzarella

I think I am terrible to GM for because, even though I know it's impractical, illogical, and even impossible to avoid, I don't care, if an animal is hurt or mistreated, in game, I *will* have a mini meltdown and interrupt play. I was already fully sobbing before the squirrels showed up. And then I thought they were gonna eat the talking squirrels and started crying again. I don't know how I would have recovered if Erika had rolled badly on that luck check.

Sarah Sutton

It's catchy as hell.

Tiffany C

Oooh yes you’re right! I remember that from the first time Suvi said ‘I love you’ when they got to Abbassin. Maybe that means this time when she said it in the bedroom in Stonerill it was another fade-to-black moment?

Viola

"We're so friendly, and we're dumb (ignorant) as hell!" Man, I do NOT miss living in the South. (Or working in NASCAR!) Not that there's a shortage of ignorance anywhere, but where the norm falls really does matter. And that's as a white guy with the opportunities to leave. Ame's not wrong that othering them does more harm than good, but more than a little naive that finding common ground is going to turn any but the easiest cases.

CSN

I believe they confirmed that Silver did say it back, but they kept it out because of the privacy of the moment. Aabria said something along the lines of how Suvi wouldn't have gone through all of that just for someone who didn't say it back. Unsure about his name cloak though!

Madison Paige Jeffrey

I CAME HERE TO COMMENT THIS, THANK YOU

Ian Roberts

kid eating alone at camp story really important. sometimes being alone is a consequence and its sinks in or it doesn’t

milo

I think we'd all be pleased with a very rough cut of deleted scenes. I don't think we're asking for episode polish here, that's just unrealistic and unreasonable.

Dominic Corbin

Gary Mozzarella could be sung to the tune of Gary Indiana from the Music Man. Which I know because I have been humming it to myself for like an hour.

Tiffany C

Question: Does Suvi know Silver’s name? Dk if I missed it or if there’s a bit of a power dynamic now that the knowledge is one sided…? And he didn’t say I love you back!! All said I’m still team Silver bc I’m team Suvi, but in a semi-mistrustful-don’t-you-dare-hurt-her-or-I’ll-kill-you type way 🔪☺️

Viola

Looks like the version uploaded to the podcatcher rss feed got corrupted somehow- can't wait to listen~

7th7th

Ideologies are made of reason, and reasons are based on conclusions drawn from what an agent can perceive and remember. I love to see a perspective displaced, and how quickly matters of conflicting interests transform into matters of conflicting tastes, and it becomes necessary to consider the inconceivable. (Shoutout Hannibal) The place between reason and unreason is where the magic happens, and where our heroes live. Watch them close the gap!

Ale

There is a moment in never after where shibon casts speak with animals on a horse and at one point brennen goes "we have left where my horse brain can go" Feels very relevant to the horse sintience discussion

Shelly Jetonne

Absolutely! Taylor, sir, can you be convinced??? (And all the WBN cast too, since i'm guessing they'll have to agree to it too)

Chantalleke

Yeah, same. Almost makes me want to petition for Taylor to do even more work and release 'deleted scenes' for us by the fireside once in a while.

Just a Fox

This fireside made me realize I need to go back and listen to the episode again, because I apparently hadn't retained anything that happened except for the conversation about butchering the horses and the yelling of "If you're a spirit why aren't you bound?!" 💔 Oof. Going back in.

Just a Fox

Now I want to know what it autocorrected to.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

God, the horrified gasps to Brennan's camp story made me cackle so hard.

Brandon Carbaugh

I was very much hoping Gary was gonna say his name was Stephan Sondheim (no relation)

The Wizard Spoonbill

I immediately did the same thing after posting, and thought "oh no" but then immediately realized I had to let it fly. Thanks for sharing brain waves lol

Clay Brannam

Didn't we find out that her parents, specifically because Ame was magical, gave her up entirely?

Tijay Arnie

Brennan's talk about "smooching and heists" makes me wanna see a T-shirt that says, "Get Kisses, Get Riches"

Alex W.

Oh boy that hits hard, someone who has lacked biological family her while life wondering how anyone could not care about it, not realizing the citadel kind of trains that out of people

Emily C

The lore drop of spirit consciousness vs material animal consciousness is wild. is this a thing where it's like, we are hearing the horse talk but realistically it's not words, just like feelings? Having so many feelings about family separations and citadel vs towns/cities, but also, is there an analogue to squibs in the citadel? Wizard punnet squares for recessive non-wizard genes? I gotta submit this in the question doc

Emily C

11:10 is so relatable as a queer experience 💜

Eric Davies

I had to read this *multiple* times because the voice in my head mixed up the syllables and I was like "I know *for a fact* that's not what that says try again" 🤣🤣

Danielle St John

the shows of romance between suvi and silver made my ace heart very happy ty both

Lauren

Release The Foxhunt Cut

Clay Brannam

Yes yes yes yes! Both amazing points. When I heard Aabria say that, I thought: oh, Ame can't see that the call is coming from inside the house a little bit. It's so fun to see a wise character be naive and Erika does a brilliant job. We are given to understand Ame doesn't know where her parents come from. At the end of the Children's Adventure, we see the circumstances that led her to Grandmother Wren. After that, in the beginning of arc two coma flashbacks, she asks other kids in town if they know anything about her parents- so we are given to understand Ame still does not know where she came from or whatever became of her many siblings. It felt like a heavy grey cloud about to burst above the whole conversation for me, Ame wondering how anyone could *know* their home and not want to stay connected to it while not being able to recognize that they share a similar wound.

Benny Bee

* Mouth. Autocorrect strikes again! 😂😂🤣🤣

Adam Roy

Great insight! It’s especially striking when you consider that Ame was just 6 years old when her parents left her with Grandmother Wren. While on the surface her situation seems different from the Citadel wizards, there’s a deeper parallel: Grandmother Wren only needed one apprentice to replace her, but the Citadel requires as many capable wizards as possible—an economy of scale, so to speak. Both systems, in their own ways, prioritize a legacy of skill over personal ties, which leaves a wound of its own. Now one could point out that Grandmother Wren gave Ame the out on becoming the next Witch of the World's Heart, but how likely was Ame to reject the legacy of the woman who was basically her mother.

Agiddysea

Airy Perry guest star when?

Dream Wizard Kyle Arca

Okay but i really wanna know about Suvi's terrible no good time hunting with The Fox

Chantalleke

I know that’s it’ not bc of the title, but please know I gasped in excitement while reading the description and if y’all ever did want to do some Sondheim chatting bone cone, well I would like that very much

Toe

I love Aabria's point that Shelter and Suvi have the same wound regarding family. "It's the same wound. Everything that you are connected to before you are a part of the Citadel is a wound, not a point of connection. And I thought it was really cool that Ame gets to see it again and again. And that says nothing about Ame except for her opportunity to have that as a baseline of, 'oh, that's what you're dealing with when you deal with these wizards. Their sense of home was bodily grabbed and displaced to the Citadel.'" It's such a damning light cast upon the Citadel's practices. I'm forcibly reminded of Anishinaabe folks in my community who had the harrowing experience of being taken from their homes and dropped into American efforts at intrinsically violent homogenization.

bluebluebutton

With your WHAT?

Ryley Taylor

It breaks my heart that NPCs approach Ame in order to force their worldviews at her, but somehow there are folks who still end up at, "Ame, stop talking!" There's a flavor of sexism in there that unsettles me.

bluebluebutton

Brennan's sheer glee at getting to commit to the bit of committing to the bit right at the end got to me. What do you mean there's a 4th wall?! Gary?? GARY!!

amBarthes

When's Gary gonna release a full album of songs from Wicked?

India Jane White

A really good bad guy makes a wonderful story. It sucks to do it and you are so appreciated for doing it.

Maria

the kid eating alone at camp story gave me such whiplash i sat there in my cubicle with my mouth agape lol

Trish K

Whew, bigotry can set in early 😅

Margarita Noriega

I want merch that says "I like fights, I like heists, and I like smooching"

Shelly Jetonne

It really is insidious how much I was taught to believe all loners were just waiting for a best friend to come along and be nice to them and were unfairly maligned. Nah. Every time these kids/people were just awful brats for the most part. Hollywood must be Stopppppped.

Emma R Jorgensen

Gary asking 'why bro' should be a whole damn episode

Grant Pike

Brennan's points on playing out prejudice were extremely well put. I've depicted similar themes in stories I've run, and doing so never fails to make me feel slimy and want to apologize to my players afterward, lol.

Brandon Brewer

Ahoo hoo

Matthew Benedict

Now see, based on Gary's previous roles, I would argue he's closer to a Baritone. A very fitting voice part for Sweeny Todd, another Sondheim show. Semantics aside, his vocal control is unparalleled, and honestly, Josh Groban could never

Justin Gray

Ahoo hoo, I've been waiting for one whole Sondheim reference for a week

Bill Posters

Erika and I had the same reaction to saying this episode title lol

Queerly Victorian

Crackle crackle!

SvenTS

whoot just in time for my run, so excited! ahoo hoo

I’m so jaded that my Bardic Inspiration ends up sounding like Vicious Mockery