0:00

Well, what if you played

0:00

a kid, but like, not really a kid?

0:04

Something that it does appeal to me

0:04

about Tendertwig is just the like,

0:08

unquestioning belief in yourself.

0:11

Yeah, they just spontaneously

0:11

produce this healing fruit from

0:15

time to time off of their body.

0:19

It's a little bit disturbing.

0:22

Yeah, I took a leshy

0:22

ancestry feat called harmlessly cute.

0:26

And it basically, you know, is

0:26

like, I could, you know, it gives

0:30

you like a small bonus to pass

0:30

yourself off as I'm harmless.

0:34

I'm adorable.

1:06

Hello, friends. Welcome to characters without

1:07

stories, a TTRPG podcast about

1:11

the roads not yet traveled. I'm Star.

1:14

This episode, I'm joined by Tori Fica.

1:17

Tori is a TTRPG enthusiast,

1:17

actual play performer and GM.

1:22

She is one of the creators of Level

1:22

One Geek, a TTRPG education and

1:26

entertainment channel to help new

1:26

players get into this magical hobby.

1:30

Tori, I'll give you a chance to

1:30

plug all your projects at the end,

1:33

but do you have anything you want

1:33

to tell listeners about yourself?

1:36

Hi, I'm just

1:36

excited to be on here.

1:38

I live in California.

1:40

I've been playing TTRPGs since,

1:40

my gosh, I always like, freeze

1:45

up when I think about this. Since 2015 was the first

1:46

time I played, I believe.

1:49

My good friend bugged me for months and

1:49

months and months to finally try it, and

1:54

so I, I honestly did just to appease him.

1:58

Then completely fell in love with

1:58

the genre and, well, the rest is

2:02

history, so I'm sure my story matches

2:02

a lot of other people's out there.

2:06

But yeah, that's just

2:06

a little bit about me.

2:08

Did you start with D&D or

2:08

did you start with another TTRPG?

2:12

Shockingly, no. I started with Pathfinder 1st edition,

2:13

which to this day I'm I don't know how I

2:20

stayed in this hobby, given how difficult

2:20

and complicated Pathfinder 1st edition is,

2:26

um, so many numbers to crunch, but I found

2:26

a way and, you know, since that's where I

2:31

started, pretty much every other tabletop

2:31

RPG I've played has been simpler than that

2:36

one, so I'm like, oh, wow, okay, great.

2:39

You're bringing a character

2:39

today for Pathfinder, right?

2:42

2nd edition, though.

2:44

Yes, 2nd edition.

2:45

So who are you bringing to the table?

2:47

So I am bringing

2:47

Tendertwig, who is a leshy oracle.

2:52

Well, let's start

2:52

with, what is a leshy?

2:55

A leshy is

2:55

essentially a plant creature.

3:00

Basically a moving, talking plant.

3:03

When I was thinking of sort

3:03

of the look for Tendertwig.

3:06

I was actually thinking a lot

3:06

about the little Korok seeds in,

3:10

uh, Zelda, you know, Tales of the

3:10

Kingdom and Breath of the Wild.

3:14

And that, that is a lot of the vibe

3:14

that I kind of channeled for Tendertwig.

3:18

So, a Leshy is a plant creature.

3:21

I was also very interested in their

3:21

lore for Pathfinder 2nd edition.

3:25

Their lore is basically that they are an

3:25

eternal spirit that just finds home in

3:32

this like plant body for a time and then

3:32

whenever they're done, they basically kind

3:37

of reincarnate maybe into another leshy.

3:39

So like the leshy idea of sort of

3:39

life and death is kind of feels it

3:43

feels more long term, like eternal

3:43

because it's sort of just this eternal

3:48

consciousness that comes down for a

3:48

time and then moves on to the next

3:52

adventure, which I think is kind of neat.

3:55

In the lore, do they

3:55

retain the memories from all

3:58

of their previous incarnations?

4:00

I think they purposely

4:00

kind of leave it up to you.

4:04

Paizo is not like overly prescriptive with

4:04

how you have to play a certain type of

4:08

character, but I think you could probably

4:08

play a leshy that maybe remembers some

4:13

stuff from past lives or nothing at all.

4:16

Tendertwig, I kind of played

4:16

with that idea because the

4:19

they're an oracle as I said. And I made them, uh, Their domain

4:20

essentially is lore, so Tendertwig is

4:26

extremely knowledgeable and knows a lot

4:26

of stuff, but they're only a year old,

4:31

and so I kind of played with, they don't

4:31

really have memories per se, they don't

4:35

consciously remember past lives, but

4:35

that's how they kind of just randomly know

4:40

a lot of stuff, because they'll get these

4:40

flashes of insight from their essentially

4:45

past lives, or just what they've learned

4:45

so far in the existence of this eternal

4:50

soul that is inhabiting This current form,

4:53

If they're one years old, are they

4:53

like a toddler in terms of capacity?

4:58

What is that like for them?

5:00

That is basically how I decided

5:00

to play them . I thought it would be

5:05

kind of funny and fun to play like sort

5:05

of a baby character, but with, like I

5:11

said, these flashes of just unnatural or

5:11

rather supernatural insight and knowledge

5:17

and therefore magic capabilities. So.

5:20

Obviously, level wise, they are,

5:20

you know, proper adventurer.

5:23

Well, they're at the beginning of their career. They're only level 2.

5:26

But they don't know a lot about the world.

5:29

So, they have a lot of questions

5:29

and curiosity around things

5:32

that you learn from experience.

5:35

But they know a lot about things that

5:35

you would maybe learn from, like, books.

5:39

Or just knowing stuff. So, they're definitely Not very street

5:40

smart, but very magically book smart.

5:46

Sort of the, uh,

5:46

typical wizard kind of trope?

5:49

Yes, yeah. But then paired with Tendertwig

5:50

not even really knowing how

5:53

they know certain things.

5:56

At least wizards are like, I read that in a book. Tendertwig is like, I don't

5:58

know how I know that, I just do.

6:01

Is Tendertwig interested in

6:01

finding out how they know those things?

6:05

Tendertwig is generally

6:05

unbothered by everything.

6:10

Because they are so endlessly curious,

6:10

they don't really question experiences.

6:15

They just soak it all in. So, I don't think that they

6:17

have really recognized that it's

6:21

weird that they know things. They just accept it as the reality.

6:26

They just do. And they're happy with that, but

6:27

certainly the, their companions, the

6:30

people around them are a little mystified

6:30

by this little quirk of Tendertwigs.

6:37

What is an oracle?

6:39

So an oracle has a mystery.

6:41

So for Tendertwig, I

6:41

chose the lore mystery.

6:44

It's basically just their theme.

6:47

It's, it's like a domain for

6:47

clerics or something like that.

6:49

They also have a curse that

6:49

comes along with their mystery.

6:55

So they have this extra power.

6:58

By tapping into just kind of their

6:58

innate, in Tendertwig's case, like,

7:03

knowledge and stuff like that. But it comes with kind of a downside.

7:07

So, Tendertwig's curse that goes

7:07

along with their great knowledge

7:13

is the more they lean into their

7:13

knowledge, they kind of become

7:17

disconnected from reality a little bit.

7:19

And that manifests physically.

7:22

I think they start floating

7:22

or something like that.

7:25

It's been a while since I've played

7:25

Tendertwig, but Basically, if they lean

7:29

into their power, it also comes with

7:29

this curse that manifests, and the curse

7:35

can have its own effects, and sometimes

7:35

the curse can actually kind of amp up

7:38

your power, but it comes at a risk,

7:38

and so you have to weigh how much you

7:43

want to lean into that versus Being a

7:43

little more cautious and staying away

7:48

from progressing your curse too far.

7:50

Do you think Tendertwig is

7:50

interested in leaning into that?

7:55

Are they the kind of person that

7:55

would be scared of those kinds

7:58

of risks or are they more of just

7:58

a kind of go for it character?

8:02

Yeah, like I said, I

8:02

think Tendertwig doesn't do a lot

8:05

of questioning of experiences, so I

8:05

don't know that they even necessarily

8:10

see it as a curse, but rather just

8:10

something that happens whenever they

8:15

do this, and so I don't think they are

8:15

especially excited to lean into it.

8:20

But they also aren't really scared of it. It's just not really a concern.

8:25

In addition to being kind of unbothered

8:25

and unquestioning of experiences,

8:28

I think coming along with that is

8:28

sort of a just ceaseless optimism.

8:33

An assumption that everything

8:33

is going to be okay.

8:35

You know, just like kids have, like kids

8:35

move through life just kind of assuming

8:40

that things are going to be fine. And yes, kids get scared and

8:41

they see bad things happen.

8:45

But I think that most children

8:45

sort of operate from the assumption

8:48

that, like, life works out. And like, they'll be safe and things

8:50

will be fine, and so Tendertwig certainly

8:54

operates from that perspective as

8:54

well, just assuming that things are

8:57

gonna work out and be fine, despite

8:57

how it might look in the moment.

9:01

Why was that compelling

9:01

to you, this idea of playing

9:05

this very childlike character?

9:07

I like the idea of that

9:07

kind of curiosity and optimism

9:11

basically being a superpower.

9:13

I mean, I've definitely played my

9:13

fair share of, you know, gritty, dark

9:17

characters with tough backstories,

9:17

and there's absolutely nothing wrong

9:20

with that, but I kind of, for this

9:20

particular character, I thought it would

9:23

be fun to explore, like, a character

9:23

who's just thoroughly enjoying every

9:28

experience that comes their way. Even the experiences that

9:29

might seem scary or weird.

9:34

are dangerous or bad. And I think, yeah, just, just

9:35

the curiosity and optimism being

9:39

basically the source of their power. I thought that was kind

9:41

of a compelling idea.

9:43

Is that the spark that led

9:43

you to create this character?

9:46

Is that kind of where you started or

9:46

did you have a different starting point?

9:50

To be honest, kind

9:50

of going back to the Koroks, I

9:54

honestly think that maybe those were

9:54

kind of my starting inspiration.

9:58

I just was delighted by how, like,

9:58

they're just so goofy and silly

10:02

and, like, why are they there?

10:05

They're just, like, so logicless,

10:05

but delightful at the same time.

10:10

And I feel like Leshies, just as an idea

10:10

in the Pathfinder universe feels similar.

10:15

Like it's just walking, talking plants.

10:18

It's just kind of silly. That's really what I was excited about.

10:21

And then thinking about, well, what

10:21

kind of Leshy would I want to play?

10:25

Or what kind of personality would I want

10:25

to give to this adorable little plant?

10:29

And I just thought that starting with

10:29

like, well, what have you played a kid?

10:33

But like not really a kid unless she's

10:33

aged differently because they are these

10:37

like eternal souls So unless she being

10:37

one year old is very different from you

10:42

know, a human child So I just thought

10:42

it would be fun to sort of unlock

10:46

that childlike wonder and optimism and

10:46

silliness Without playing a literal

10:51

baby as part of the campaign team

10:55

You don't want to hurt

10:55

a child that would just know

10:58

no No harming little kiddos

10:58

Plus, you know, you want a character

11:03

who can still be useful to the team,

11:03

even if you're going to play kind

11:07

of a, like a funny, fun personality.

11:09

And so I liked the idea for Tendertwig.

11:12

I am really fascinated by leshies

11:12

and I'm kind of curious, so do they

11:18

start out as just a regular plant and

11:18

then they get inhabited by this soul

11:23

or do all leshies start as leshies?

11:26

As far as I understand, I

11:26

don't know if this is 100 percent of

11:29

the time, but I believe that the lore

11:29

is typically a druid, a very powerful

11:34

druid, will essentially infuse a

11:34

leshy soul into like a plant creature.

11:40

It sounds like it's generally

11:40

kind of like a druidic ritual that

11:44

leads to the creation of a leshy. Like I said, I'm, I'm sure Paizo

11:45

would be the first company to say

11:49

you can have whatever origin story

11:49

you want for your leshy, but that

11:53

I think is typically the origin. Tendertwig themselves, they don't

11:55

really know where they came from.

11:59

Like they, I don't, in my backstory for

11:59

them, they never knew the druid that

12:04

quote unquote breathed life into them. And it's just not really a concern

12:06

like everything else in their life.

12:10

They look at it as, well, I'm here now.

12:12

And so I'm just here to, you

12:12

know, experience everything I can.

12:16

What kind of plant or I guess

12:16

it can also be like a fungi, right?

12:22

Yeah, there are

12:22

different types of blushies.

12:25

Tendertwig is a fruit Leshy.

12:27

So they grow a fruit basically.

12:31

I think it's every day or something

12:31

and the the fruit can be eaten And it

12:37

does like a little tiny bit of healing. Yeah, they just spontaneously

12:39

produce this healing fruit from

12:43

time to time off of their body.

12:46

It's a little bit disturbing.

12:48

It is a little. That was like a kind of what I

12:49

wanted to capture with Tendertwig

12:52

is like funny and fun and silly and

12:52

cute, but also this undercurrent

12:56

of like, that's kind of weird. Kind of disturbing.

13:01

You know, I referenced like

13:01

the flashes of Insight.

13:03

I kind of played that as Tendertwig

13:03

basically going into kind of like a fugue

13:08

state and just like zoning out completely

13:08

and just reciting off like monotone this

13:14

info dump of whatever they're remembering.

13:16

Almost like they're channeling this, you

13:16

know, knowledge and then they would kind

13:20

of snap out of it and be back to normal. And so I wanted to play with that.

13:24

This bundle of, uh, disturbing

13:24

cuteness, basically.

13:28

It's nice to have those

13:28

kinds of contrasts in a character.

13:31

I always find that really fun.

13:32

Yeah, definitely.

13:33

How does gender work for Leshies?

13:35

What pronouns does Tendertwig use?

13:37

I suppose Tendertwig

13:37

would probably say any.

13:40

I don't think Tendertwig really cares. I usually use they, them for Tendertwig,

13:42

and leshies generally aren't overly

13:47

concerned with gender, typically, you

13:47

know, because they're plant creatures,

13:52

and so it doesn't really factor in as

13:52

heavily for them, but, you know, I think

13:55

you could gender your own leshie however

13:55

you wanted to, but yeah, Tendertwig

13:59

doesn't really understand that idea, like,

13:59

at all, so they just don't, they don't

14:04

really care how someone refers to them.

14:07

How did they hook up

14:07

with their adventuring party?

14:10

How did they start their adventure?

14:12

The background I chose

14:12

for Tendertwig is fortune teller

14:17

because, you know, they're an oracle. I thought it'd be kind of fun to

14:18

play with the idea of they have

14:22

these flashes of like knowledge and

14:22

insight and like fortune telling.

14:25

And so the way that they joined this

14:25

party that they're a part of or they were

14:30

part of is, uh, my friend's character.

14:33

He put together a character who basically

14:33

is just this young kid, young guy, just on

14:38

the cusp of kind of adulthood who believes

14:38

that he's destined to be a great hero.

14:44

Not really for any, like, reason.

14:46

He's not, like, that great at anything.

14:48

He just is kind of caught up in his own

14:48

fantasy that going to be a great hero.

14:53

And so, while we were making our

14:53

characters, he and I talked and

14:56

we decided that that's basically

14:56

how these two started adventuring.

15:00

They ran into each other, Jimothy

15:00

is this other character's name.

15:04

Jimothy ran into Tendertwig and Tendertwig

15:04

had, as a fortune teller, basically

15:08

told Jimothy that, yes, actually

15:08

he was destined to be a great hero.

15:13

And Jimothy latched onto

15:13

that as gospel truth.

15:16

And believed it a hundred percent,

15:16

and Jimothy's faith in that kind of

15:20

bolstered Tendertwig's faith in that idea. So they both sort of together

15:22

convinced themselves that yes,

15:25

Jimothy was going to be a great hero. Tendertwig decided that sounded like a

15:28

good idea to tag along and help Jimothy

15:32

become a great hero, and also see

15:32

just all the adventures along the way.

15:36

Together the two of them are

15:36

kind of just fun and fancy

15:38

free, traipsing through life. To go get Jimothy's destiny

15:40

of being a great hero.

15:45

Does Tendertwig have

15:45

any goals of their own?

15:48

Tendertwig, I think their

15:48

goal, their main goal is learning.

15:52

And it's almost like Tendertwig

15:52

doesn't even know what they don't know.

15:56

You know, when you're just so new at

15:56

something that you're like, I know I'm

15:59

going to have 10 million questions. I don't even know what

16:01

those questions are yet. I don't even know what to ask

16:03

because I'm so, so near the

16:05

beginning of what's going on here. And I think that's how Tendertwig

16:07

kind of feels about life in general.

16:12

They're new to this adventuring life. They're new to this great quest

16:14

of Jimothy's to become a hero.

16:17

And so I think they're kind of figuring

16:17

out what it is they want as they go.

16:21

And so currently their goal, I

16:21

think, would be to help Jimothy

16:26

fulfill his destiny, or what

16:26

they all see as his destiny.

16:29

But if I were to continue playing

16:29

Tendertwig in the future, that

16:33

would be a fun question I'd like

16:33

to explore as they grow and learn.

16:37

Do they kind of make up their

16:37

mind about what matters to them?

16:39

Hello everyone

16:39

and welcome to 5 GMs in a Trenchcoat.

17:08

Excuse me? Yeah? What's that?

17:11

You want to know what 5 Gems and a

17:11

A trench coat is, let us tell you,

17:14

it's the adhesive that keeps the

17:14

fragile pieces of my sanity together.

17:19

Well, okay, Jesse. What it actually is, is a narrative

17:20

driven T-T-R-P-G actual play, where

17:23

five friends take turns weaving stories

17:23

through the tabletop game of their choice

17:28

of their choice each season. Each season.

17:31

That's pretty cool. We are, I disagree. Oh, I feel it's the adhesive . So like

17:33

you guys aren't all in a trench coat.

17:40

No, we're definitely in a trench coat. Hot. How does that work?

17:44

Get a Before I'm caught, you can

17:44

check out 5 Games Under Trenchcoat

17:47

just about anywhere you get your

17:47

podcasts, or you can check out our

17:50

website at 5GamesUnderTrenchcoat. com Oh my god, they really

17:52

are all under trenchcoat.

18:11

Tell me what Tendertwig looks like.

18:13

So as I said,

18:13

Tendertwig was generally inspired

18:16

by the little Korok seeds. And so I would say with your mental

18:18

picture, you can start there.

18:22

They have a cute little mask. It's like a leaf.

18:25

But they themselves are, they're

18:25

less woody and more plant like.

18:29

They are short and round and they

18:29

grow this fruit, as I said, but

18:35

it's actually from their staff

18:35

that they always have with them.

18:38

And so this little staff is the thing

18:38

that grows the fruit at the end of it.

18:42

So they're just this, yeah, this short,

18:42

stout, tiny little round plant creature

18:48

with a little leaf mask and a staff.

18:50

What kind of fruit do they grow?

18:52

I think it

18:52

is unidentified fruit.

18:56

I think it's just like a, yeah, exactly.

18:59

I think that adds to the slight

18:59

disturbing feeling of like, you don't

19:03

even really know what you're eating. But I always picture it as like a big,

19:05

bright pink berry or something like that.

19:11

Does Tendertwig have a voice?

19:13

Tendertwig does have a voice. Tendertwig's voice is

19:15

baby voice, basically.

19:20

I just did a baby voice for any time

19:20

Tendertwig was going to talk, much

19:25

to the chagrin of my game master,

19:25

and the laughter of everybody else.

19:32

Well, I can skip all the

19:32

questions about Tendertwig's

19:35

family because Tendertwig doesn't

19:35

have parents really per se.

19:40

Yeah, not traditionally. I will add, though, that Tendertwig,

19:41

I think, considers Jimothy family.

19:46

They sort of latched on to each other. And so Tendertwig is probably the

19:48

closest thing that Jimothy has to family,

19:52

because Jimothy, I believe, It's like

19:52

raised as an orphan, you know, very

19:56

kind of classic adventure backstory.

19:58

And then, you know, obviously Tendertwig

19:58

doesn't have any real family connections.

20:03

And so Jimothy was the first

20:03

person they latched onto.

20:06

So I think they're the closest

20:06

thing to family for each other.

20:09

So going into more of the details

20:09

of how you built this character in

20:16

Pathfinder, but maybe not getting too

20:16

specific, what is Tendertwig good at?

20:21

Tendertwig is

20:21

intelligent and also charismatic.

20:26

Those are probably their best, all

20:26

of the mental traits, basically.

20:30

Physical stats, they're not, they don't

20:30

really have much to offer in the way

20:34

of physical combat, but oracles are

20:34

charisma casters, if I'm not mistaken,

20:39

so that was the stat that I focused on.

20:42

Plus, I felt like that fed into the

20:42

idea of Tendertwig just being very

20:47

adorable and kind of a natural air

20:47

of like, Oh, like, just, I just want

20:51

to take care of this little plant.

20:54

And then of course, you know,

20:54

the intelligence and wisdom sort

20:57

of coming from their past lives,

20:57

even though they don't really

21:01

consciously remember those things.

21:02

Did they have any special skills

21:02

besides their kind of magical abilities

21:06

that come with being an oracle?

21:09

So as far as special skills,

21:09

a lot of the mental associated skills,

21:13

obviously knowledge checks, I think is

21:13

probably what they're best at knowing

21:17

things about stuff or stuff about

21:17

things and being able to provide that

21:22

kind of information to their teammates. Whenever we kind of stopped playing

21:24

where we left off, we were sort of in

21:27

the midst of solving a mystery, which

21:27

as we were playing through it, I felt

21:32

like Tendertwig was really excited about

21:32

the intellectual exercise of solving a

21:37

mystery, and like, tracking down clues,

21:37

and interrogating people, and putting

21:42

all the pieces together, they were

21:42

like, really excited about that process.

21:48

And so I think that I would wrap

21:48

that up in their special skills.

21:52

They're not that useful in combat as

21:52

far as direct combat, but they are

21:56

really good when it comes to talking

21:56

to people and just thinking through

22:01

complicated problems or information.

22:04

Personally, do you, when you

22:04

play a game like Pathfinder, what's

22:08

the balance of roleplay and combat?

22:11

I do enjoy both. It was kind of a fun challenge to

22:12

figure out Tendertwig's place in

22:16

combat because they're not really an

22:16

overtly combat proficient character.

22:22

But as a spellcaster, I was focused

22:22

mostly on buffing my teammates

22:26

and being helpful in that way.

22:29

Personally, I do enjoy both. I would say if I had to put like

22:31

a percentage on it, my preference

22:34

is probably, I don't know, 60

22:34

percent roleplay, 40 percent combat.

22:39

I could go a whole session without

22:39

combat and enjoy it, but I probably

22:43

can't go like two sessions without

22:43

combat, if that makes sense.

22:47

And then vice versa, if I get too

22:47

much of one, then I start to like

22:51

miss the other aspect of it, so. I enjoy just like a good mix.

22:55

And I, I also really enjoy finding

22:55

ways to infuse combat with role play.

23:00

So it doesn't really have to

23:00

be as stark a division between

23:05

the two elements of the game.

23:06

Right, right. Does Tendertwig have any unusual quirks

23:07

besides, you know, being a toddler?

23:15

That's, uh, yeah, I would

23:15

say kind of their whole personality

23:19

is just a bundle of unusual quirks.

23:21

With our latest arc of the adventure we

23:21

were playing through a mystery, I decided

23:26

to just, like, really lean in hard to

23:26

Tendertwig being so over enthusiastic

23:32

about this investigation and You know, of

23:32

course it's a quest, so like, the whole

23:36

party was on board to do this, but just

23:36

like, Tendertwig just diving straight

23:40

in, just fully adopting the detective

23:40

persona and loving every second of it.

23:46

And so I think, besides Tendertwig

23:46

being a toddler and, uh, having these

23:51

weird flashes of knowledge, I think

23:51

also I would say one of their quirks is

23:55

perhaps just their blind enthusiasm for

23:55

something that they get excited about

23:59

and, and just the, great force of passion

23:59

that can overtake them whenever they

24:04

decide that something is interesting.

24:07

Yeah. Do they have any flaws?

24:10

I mean, I would say

24:10

maybe that's kind of a flaw too.

24:14

I think the other side of the coin

24:14

to like blind enthusiasm or Just

24:20

sort of a generally unquestioning

24:20

attitude toward life and an openness

24:24

to experiences is also blindly

24:24

trusting everyone and everything.

24:29

Again, sort of leaning into that

24:29

childlike nature, Tendertwig doesn't

24:33

really have stranger danger, uh,

24:33

or a good handle on who to trust.

24:40

And therefore, they actually, I

24:40

guess this is another little quirk

24:43

of theirs, they detest lying.

24:45

They hate lying. They feel completely betrayed if they ever

24:47

found out that anyone ever lied to them.

24:51

This came up in a game of the party.

24:54

We were all at like a, you

24:54

know, a tavern, of course.

24:56

We were playing some kind of dice game,

24:56

Liar's Dice or something like that.

25:00

And Tendertwig was just completely

25:00

offended by the whole concept of that

25:05

game, that you were making a game of

25:05

lying and So dishonesty is, is something

25:10

that like Tendertwig cannot handle.

25:12

And I think that kind of goes

25:12

along with their blind trust

25:16

of the world around them. That goes completely against how the

25:17

world should work in their eyes, at least.

25:22

I imagine there's going to

25:22

be a lot of disillusionment for

25:25

them as they got into the world.

25:27

Perhaps. Yeah, that might be true.

25:30

Fortunately, the tone of this

25:30

particular game, which might give

25:33

some more context to Tendertwig,

25:33

it was kind of a silly game.

25:37

We were playing through parodies of our

25:37

favorite movies or shows, or like the

25:42

jam was like taking inspiration from

25:42

like pop culture things, and suddenly we,

25:46

you know, we would find ourselves in the

25:46

middle of a plot that was oddly familiar.

25:52

Like, hmm, this seems a lot like Firefly

25:52

or whatever, but you know, all the

25:56

character names would be different. So we were purposely kind

25:57

of parodying a lot of things

26:00

that we just as players enjoy.

26:02

And so, so I think in a grittier campaign,

26:02

there probably would be a great deal of

26:07

disillusionment and tough lessons for

26:07

Tendertwig in this particular campaign.

26:12

I'm not sure how much reality checking

26:12

we're gonna have for Tendertwig or not.

26:18

But yes, I think that eventually

26:18

Tendertwig will have to come to terms

26:24

with the fact that sometimes people lie.

26:28

And that, and that sometimes

26:28

there might even be a good reason

26:31

for that, but right now they are

26:31

unwilling to accept that idea.

26:34

You mentioned in your submission

26:34

that you had only been able to play

26:39

a few sessions maybe before the game

26:39

fell apart, and the game you're talking

26:43

about, this kind of parody, light

26:43

hearted type of game, you know, one

26:47

of the questions I often ask is, what

26:47

kind of game does this character need?

26:51

Like if you were to pop them

26:51

into a different game, what

26:54

kind of game would be ideal? But it sounds like in this case.

26:58

You could go with what you were

26:58

going with in terms of this kind of

27:01

lighthearted, funny campaign, but it

27:01

might also be interesting to put them

27:05

into something a little bit grittier.

27:08

Do you have a preference

27:08

or a thought on that?

27:10

Yeah, I think that

27:10

could be really interesting.

27:14

I also wonder too how Tendertwig would

27:14

feel in a game with a more eerie, almost

27:20

like horror vibe because they sort of have

27:20

that slightly disturbing undercurrent.

27:25

And I, I think that would be kind

27:25

of interesting to sort of take

27:29

such a cute little guy and put him

27:29

in such a different kind of tone.

27:35

I do think Tendertwig worked well

27:35

for the game that they were in.

27:38

But it, it's fun that you bring that

27:38

up of like, you know, how would it

27:42

be in kind of a more serious game. And while I didn't get that opportunity

27:44

with Tendertwig, I did actually, I, I

27:48

played a different game at some point. And played a character who definitely,

27:50

it wasn't the same as Tendertwig, but

27:54

kind of had a similar sense of optimism

27:54

and the world is ultimately good and,

28:01

you know, people are good and that kind

28:01

of thing and just got to explore that

28:05

arc of sort of coming down to reality

28:05

of like, that's not always the case.

28:10

The good guys don't always win. Sometimes bad guys get away with

28:12

stuff and all that kind of complexity.

28:16

Did you have any particular

28:16

type of arc in mind for Tendertwig

28:21

if you were able to play them?

28:23

I do think it would

28:23

have been interesting to explore

28:27

more of understanding where their

28:27

knowledge comes from and understanding

28:32

maybe some of their past lives. Actually, I think another thing that would

28:33

have been very interesting is would have

28:37

been to go on this journey with Jimothy

28:37

and find out if Jimothy ever got to

28:42

the point where he became disillusioned

28:42

enough and decided, like, you know, maybe

28:45

this whole prophecy thing wasn't real.

28:48

Maybe I'm not actually

28:48

supposed to be this great hero.

28:50

That would have been an interesting thread

28:50

to explore with Jimothy and Tendertwig

28:54

together because they're both so

28:54

committed to this vision and this quest.

28:58

And so to see that maybe not come to

28:58

fruition or maybe to see that vision

29:04

have to evolve and change as they

29:04

just see more of, well, reality.

29:09

Do you have a head canon

29:09

as to whether this prophecy

29:12

is actually true or not?

29:13

Oh, what a good question. Gosh, off the top of my head, I

29:16

don't know that I ever decided.

29:20

Because, you know, it's also kind of

29:20

hard to decide things like that for,

29:24

like, if you're not the GM, for example. Like, I wanted to just leave it

29:25

very open for the story to go in

29:29

whatever direction it needed to. I suppose now, though, if I can make

29:30

my own headcanon, I think I would lean

29:34

toward the prophecy being actually true.

29:37

Jimothy and Tendertwig are characters

29:37

that nobody around them would.

29:42

view as particularly heroic, I

29:42

think they're very, you know,

29:46

Tendertwig is very non threatening,

29:46

very strange, adorable, harmless.

29:51

Yeah. I took a leshy ancestry

29:52

feat called harmlessly cute.

29:55

And it basically is like, you know,

29:55

it gives you like a small bonus to

30:00

pass yourself off as I'm harmless.

30:03

I'm adorable. So anyway, I don't think Tendertwig is.

30:06

Someone who anyone would believe is

30:06

destined for any kind of great heroics,

30:11

and then by extension, Jimothy. And so, I kind of like the idea that,

30:13

you know, Jimothy and Tendertwig move

30:17

through the world, believing in their

30:17

dream, and everyone else kind of looks

30:21

at them with an attitude of, Oh, you

30:21

sweet summer children, you'll learn,

30:25

you know, you'll see how wrong you are. But then for that to win out in the

30:28

end, for them to actually be correct,

30:31

and just show everybody else that

30:31

actually they were the ones who

30:36

were incorrect in their assumptions. So I think that's maybe my

30:37

headcanon, is that they go on to

30:41

prove the prophecy is in fact true.

30:44

I, I love the idea of the

30:44

unlikely hero kind of winning out in

30:48

the end and proving everyone wrong.

30:50

And doing it not with a chip

30:50

on their shoulder, you know, Tendertwig

30:53

is not like out to like, I'll show you.

30:55

They just see that as, duh, that's

30:55

just what's going to happen.

30:58

And so if they reached that ending, it

30:58

would not be a surprise to them, nor

31:02

would it be some great, like, victory. It would just be, well, well, yeah, that

31:04

was always what was going to happen.

31:08

They're not plagued

31:08

by imposter syndrome.

31:10

No, not at all. They don't know enough to

31:12

know that maybe they should be

31:16

plagued with imposter syndrome. I think that I, it's interesting they

31:19

bring that up too, because I do now

31:23

that I'm sort of talking more about

31:23

Tendertwig and this whole conversation

31:26

is really forcing me to think about like,

31:26

where did this whole idea come from?

31:30

And I think that something that it does

31:30

appeal to me about Tendertwig is just the

31:34

like unquestioning belief in yourself.

31:37

And that is not something

31:37

that's easy to do.

31:41

I think that's why it's like a fantasy

31:41

character for me, because that's like,

31:45

I'm totally someone, like most adults I

31:45

think move through their lives with some

31:50

form of imposter syndrome, or like, I'm

31:50

not doing enough, or I'm not good enough,

31:54

or whatever, and Tendertwig, that just,

31:54

it literally never occurs to them that

31:58

they should even consider feeling that

31:58

way, and so that's kind of like a fun

32:02

mentality to explore, just like, man,

32:02

what would life be like if you just had

32:07

not, not that like, You were cocky or

32:07

overconfident, but just had full faith in

32:13

yourself and the path you were headed on.

32:16

What would that unlock for you?

32:19

Yeah, I love that idea. That seems like it would

32:21

feel really freeing.

32:23

Yeah, yeah, I think so too. I mean, Tendertwig certainly felt

32:25

very free about it, very unconcerned.

32:29

So you talked about how the

32:29

initial inspiration came from Legend

32:33

of Zelda, how do you normally get

32:33

an inspiration for a character?

32:38

Is it something you see

32:38

out in the world like that?

32:40

Or are there different ways

32:40

that you find inspiration?

32:43

Probably most often for me,

32:43

it is, inspiration will come from games

32:48

I've been playing, or books I've been

32:48

reading, or movies I've been watching.

32:51

Typically though, I would say that's

32:51

where like, the seed comes from,

32:55

but then it'll kind of morph and

32:55

change as I just think about it more.

33:00

I'm not usually someone, like I don't

33:00

enjoy playing just a straight one to one,

33:05

like, oh, this is my favorite character.

33:07

in Lord of the Rings, so I'm

33:07

gonna recreate them here and

33:11

play Aragorn, for example.

33:13

And if that is exciting to you, like,

33:13

there's nothing wrong with that.

33:15

I like to feel like the character

33:15

is my own in some way, so while I

33:20

might take a seed of an idea, like

33:20

a rugged, Ranger, man, that's cool.

33:25

I'll then kind of take that and chew

33:25

on it and think about it and consider

33:29

what can I make unique about this

33:29

character or what sort of other things

33:34

can I add to make this character feel

33:34

like not just another Aragorn, but, you

33:39

know, my character, my version of this.

33:42

Also, I don't know why I used Aragorn

33:42

because I don't think I've ever

33:44

played like a gritty ranger, but

33:44

it was just a hypothetical example.

33:49

Heh heh heh. In your submission, you mentioned that

33:51

you were interested in playing this

33:54

character because you're interested

33:54

in playing with these ideas of,

33:57

like, timelessness and immortality.

34:00

Do you often approach characters from

34:00

that kind of thematic standpoint?

34:04

Like, I'm interested in this

34:04

theme or this idea, and I want

34:07

to find a way to play with that.

34:09

Yeah, I would say that's true.

34:12

I'm playing a changeling rogue

34:12

right now, and the idea for that

34:16

character came from reading about,

34:16

like, changeling lore and that.

34:21

Basically, changelings are children of

34:21

hags, and they all hear the call, which

34:26

is basically like the call to return

34:26

to their hag mothers, and what happens

34:30

after that is kind of a mystery, but

34:30

like, they are somehow changed into hags,

34:34

or consumed, or something, you know?

34:37

It, it's a grisly end,

34:37

I think, is implied.

34:40

So I, I was just thinking about

34:40

that, and so then questions kind

34:44

of came, like, man, what would it

34:44

be like to live with, like, this?

34:48

doom hanging over your head.

34:50

What would it be like to be a

34:50

character who is trying to just

34:53

forever outrun their destiny?

34:56

I would say that's where a lot of my

34:56

character ideas come from, is a more

35:00

thematic kind of thing, or like I've

35:00

played another character who is a fighter

35:04

and I think my idea for her was I really

35:04

wanted to embrace the full kind of

35:08

vanilla concept of like shield, sword.

35:12

Knight. Like, because I just never played

35:13

such a, you know, classic character.

35:17

But then I also liked the, the theme

35:17

of someone who's very friendly,

35:22

but like incredibly fierce.

35:24

So anyway, yeah, I think that's just

35:24

sort of where my ideas start is I find

35:29

little questions or Themes or even

35:29

kind of unexpected combinations that

35:35

feel interesting to me and are like,

35:35

Ooh, like I want to explore that.

35:38

So like Tendertwig, like what would

35:38

it be like to kind of be a child?

35:43

Also kind of know everything. What would that be like?

35:48

I know that a lot of people

35:48

mostly subconsciously bring parts

35:52

of themselves into their characters. I mean, most of the people I've

35:54

talked to on the show have done that.

35:57

But a lot of them do it

35:57

without realizing it.

35:59

Do you think this is something that you

35:59

do either consciously or subconsciously?

36:04

Oh, absolutely. I think, I think both for me.

36:07

I think that there are definitely

36:07

characters where I have felt more

36:10

consciously, like, this feels like this

36:10

part of me or, or I recognize is like,

36:15

I want to explore this character because

36:15

I want to kind of explore this element

36:20

of my personality or whatever, but

36:20

definitely there's a lot of subconscious

36:25

Tori that leaks into all of my characters.

36:28

I'm, I'm quite confident. I'd say for Tendertwig, I think I'm

36:29

generally a pretty enthusiastic person

36:35

and someone who when I decide I'm

36:35

interested in something or excited

36:39

about something, I dive into it like

36:39

100 percent and so I don't know if I

36:44

did that consciously with Tendertwig,

36:44

but that's definitely the, like, some

36:48

of the pieces of me that I feel like

36:48

Tendertwig embodies is just like this.

36:52

Alright, I'm excited about this! I'm gonna dive in 100 percent and

36:54

throw caution to the wind and I

36:58

definitely, I don't have all of

36:58

Tendertwig's personality traits.

37:03

Hopefully I don't. That would be a little

37:04

bit upsetting, I think.

37:07

You mean you're not, you're not growing fruit?

37:10

Yeah, I'm not growing

37:10

fruit and I'm not actually a child.

37:15

But yeah, there are definitely pieces of

37:15

me in, I think, every character I play.

37:20

Tendertwig, are you superstitious?

37:22

Well, I just think that

37:22

superstitious is actually when people

37:26

don't know that something is magic.

37:30

And so I don't really think I'm

37:30

superstitious because usually

37:34

everything has an explanation. It just, you just don't know it yet.

37:39

Thank you, Tori, so much for coming

37:39

on the podcast and for sharing Tendertwig

37:43

with me today and with my listeners.

37:45

What would you like to share? What kind of projects

37:46

do you have coming up?

37:48

Well, thank you so much for having me. This was really fun.

37:50

It was such a fun trip down fictional

37:50

memory lane to talk about Tendertwig.

37:58

So thank you so much for anyone listening.

38:00

You can learn more about

38:00

everything I do at level1geek.com.

38:04

I'm part of a team. We do actual play, an actual play

38:06

podcast and YouTube series, plus

38:11

a bunch of just educational blog

38:11

content for anyone interested.

38:14

Looking to learn more about tabletop

38:14

RPGs or learn how to roleplay your

38:18

character better or find out what

38:18

dice to buy and all kinds of stuff.

38:22

So you can find all of that at

38:22

level1geek.com and I promise.

38:26

That I don't talk in a baby voice

38:26

for any of my other characters, so

38:31

you don't have to worry about that.

38:34

Well, I'm sure some people would

38:34

be very disappointed to hear that.

38:37

That's true. Okay, well, I do use, I, if, if,

38:38

for people who are like, Oh, bummer.

38:42

I can offer you instead that I, I do

38:42

frequently cosplay for our YouTube VODs

38:47

that we post of our actual play series. I'm actually playing a male character,

38:49

his name is Jack, and so I Have, like,

38:54

a full makeup beard, and it's so, I

38:54

think I look so strange, like, I see

39:01

myself in him, like, man, I, like,

39:01

I actually kind of look like a dude.

39:04

It's really interesting. So maybe that will pique

39:05

your interest instead.

39:10

Well, thank you so much, Tori. Please go check out Tori's, uh,

39:11

website and all of the actual plays.

39:15

I was just watching the, uh,

39:15

is it Vay-sen or Voss-en?

39:18

I always forget.

39:19

I've heard both and I

39:19

think maybe either one is correct.

39:22

I personally say Vay-sen, but I will not

39:22

judge anyone who calls it differently.

39:28

I love to see actual

39:28

plays that aren't D&D.

39:31

It's always warms my heart a little

39:31

bit to see, you know, the kind of

39:34

the proliferation of non D&D games.

39:37

so much.

39:37

Absolutely. We play a bunch of different ones. We, we love any and all TTRPGs.

39:42

For my recommendation

39:44

This episode, I'd like to

39:44

introduce you to a podcast called,

39:47

I Love this Thing so Fricking Much.

39:51

I had Sophie on the podcast in my first

39:51

season talking about her Kenku character,

39:56

and I was on her podcast talking

39:56

about, of all things, Doris Day movies.

40:01

I Love this Thing so Fricking Much

40:01

is a 15 minute dose of positivity.

40:05

It's unsurprisingly fun to listen to

40:05

people talk about something they love.

40:11

I started a newsletter. If you'd like to get a behind the scenes

40:13

peek at the podcast, follow my other

40:16

projects like my current all woman

40:16

actual play, and be notified when a new

40:21

episode drops, you can find the sign up

40:21

form in the show notes or on my website.

40:26

Please share the podcast with a friend.

40:29

Word of mouth is the best

40:29

way to find new listeners.

40:32

Your recommendations help me immensely.

40:35

Thank you to all my

40:35

listeners spreading the word.

40:38

I'm so grateful. You can find me on TikTok at StarMamaC

40:40

or on Threads, BlueSky, Instagram, and

40:45

Facebook as Characters Without Stories. You can also listen on YouTube

40:47

at Characters Without Stories or

40:51

follow the link in the description. I am currently accepting submissions,

40:53

particularly for non D&D characters,

40:58

so if you'd like to share your

40:58

character, you can go to the submission

41:01

form at characterswithoutstories.

41:04

com. Thanks for listening.

41:06

May all your characters

41:06

find their stories.