0:00

Hey,

0:00

everyone. It's Travis. And, Caitlin.

0:03

We're full in Scarlet Productions and the creators

0:05

of Dark Dice. So Caitlin,

0:07

where were we in the last month?

0:09

at the beginning of the month, we

0:11

were at D and D in a castle

0:13

at Lumberly castle in the

0:16

UK. It was quite an experience

0:18

after that. We went on a bit of a holiday. And

0:20

now we're back and we want

0:22

to share some of what we

0:24

experienced at playing

0:27

in dungeons and dragons in

0:29

a castle. In a dungeon. Yes.

0:31

It was super dark and creepy.

0:33

We had an amazing time

0:35

with some amazing people and we're going to recount

0:38

what it was like in a little bit. But I

0:40

think before we get to that, we have

0:42

a little bit of a time pressing

0:44

time sensitive matter to

0:47

talk about?

0:47

Yes. We have a Kickstarter going on right now

0:50

for a miniature line with Strata

0:52

miniatures. They're helping us bring to

0:54

life our characters from seasons one and two, that's

0:56

everyone you know and love, and a couple

0:58

that you don't know yet. that'll be

1:00

joining us. And they're available on our

1:02

Kickstarter, which is running for four more days.

1:04

So you gotta get in that really quickly because it's

1:06

window is closing. And if we hit our stretch goals

1:08

because we've already hit our goal, we'll

1:11

get everybody bonus stuff and also

1:13

we might write a really fun one

1:15

off one shot campaign to take with

1:17

you with these new models. We're also doing a

1:19

painting party. Right, Caitlin?

1:20

Yes. So seriously, guys,

1:22

we've already reached the goal to

1:24

make these things a reality, to make these

1:26

minis a reality, and to get them

1:28

on your table. So if you want

1:31

to have them on your table, you want to be able to

1:33

join us the painting party. I mean, you can join us for

1:35

painting party with your own minis too, but come

1:37

on. Yeah. I

1:39

think the stretch goal is actually that we have

1:42

a Dungeons and Dragons dice, but

1:44

it's actually a dark dice dice

1:46

dice. Yes. Dark dice dice

1:49

that has the little emblem of

1:51

for the silent one on it.

1:53

So we're hoping that we can reach that stretch goal. If

1:55

you guys haven't checked it out already, even

1:57

if you really can't support us, just go

2:00

look at the minis. They

2:02

are so gorgeous when

2:04

you order them or when you sign up to pledge.

2:06

You get the unpainted minis, but

2:09

we've had a set of the minis

2:11

all professionally painted, so we could showcase

2:13

all of little details. And just

2:15

how good these things can look? Travis and I

2:17

love to paint minis We used to do

2:19

it all the time while listening to spooky podcasts.

2:23

So it'll be fun. We're actually gonna have to buy new paints

2:25

though because I'm pretty sure all of our paints dried

2:27

up. They're dead. Yeah. So we'll have to.

2:29

But no, that's really cool. And I

2:31

I was really surprised. I think my favorite went out

2:33

of all of them is Filgy of all. Like,

2:36

it was very, very cool. She's just

2:38

so awesome. I guess. So let's let's

2:40

get back on topic. So we were at last month in

2:42

Indiana Castle, Lumi Castle, eating

2:44

very British food in a dungeon,

2:46

drinking tea, and yeah. So what's

2:48

the experience like?

2:49

So first of all, let's talk about

2:51

Lemony Castle Yes. As a location, it

2:54

was gorgeous. I actually don't

2:56

know how old it is, but

2:58

you're walking around and you're surrounded

3:01

by all of these old portraits, and

3:03

it has this big courtyard in the center where

3:05

you're surrounded by the high stone walls

3:07

and these Grandois staircases And

3:09

statues. -- and statues. And on

3:12

top of all of that, we got

3:14

to play in what used to be the

3:16

guards room for the dungeon. So

3:18

we are playing our scary

3:21

campaigns in a dark

3:23

windowless, stone vaulted

3:25

room --

3:26

Which is haunted.

3:26

-- the whole castle is supposedly haunted.

3:29

with these oh

3:30

gosh. They're, like, LED color changing

3:33

lights.

3:33

We also got to use the terrain from

3:36

Torven forged. Torven forged. Torven forged. Which

3:38

love because it's like adult Legos.

3:41

It is. So part of the benefit of we'll

3:43

get to but part of the benefit of co d m ing was

3:45

when Travis is, like, talking to everybody, be

3:47

like, okay. I know exactly what we need to make. And I'm

3:49

run

3:49

away. I'm gonna make these things. But we're talking about

3:51

the castle first. Yes. Yes. And then also, like, the

3:53

lighting. Like, every time I'm like, alright. the

3:55

green flame flicker to life and kitten pushes

3:57

a button in the room suddenly green. It was super cool.

4:00

Or we walked into a cave and underneath

4:03

your feet, you hear the squelching of something.

4:05

And then as you turn and those torchlight

4:07

emits into the room, you see

4:09

that

4:09

it is blood, nothing. but

4:12

gore upon which you stand

4:13

and then I hit the button and boom, everything's red.

4:15

It's

4:15

pretty cool. I liked it a lot. And the castle

4:18

itself is located pretty close to this

4:21

county Durham. County Durham.

4:22

Well, it's located near Durham, the city

4:24

with the University of Durham. And we

4:27

flew in to Newcastle Airport

4:29

really short ride, really fun. I

4:31

think we haven't been in England for --

4:34

Five years. -- a few years. Yeah. So it was

4:36

really nice to be back. And

4:38

like I was saying, Lumberly Castle was great.

4:40

They actually have an escape room

4:42

in the castle as well. It's quite funny.

4:45

So we, along with David

4:47

alt and some other dungeons

4:49

and dragons in a castle goers.

4:52

We beat the record and set

4:54

a brand new record for for

4:57

the Lumley Castle escape

4:59

room. So that was really fun. That

5:01

was. That was really fun. But and then also

5:03

there's this there's a cat they have

5:05

that just it's around and puppet

5:07

quite friendly. They've even got like plushies of the

5:10

cat. It was all in all a

5:12

super cool time getting to see nature, getting

5:14

to nearby the castle. We're getting to see the

5:16

castle, the the darkness beneath the castle

5:18

where we dwelled for most of it.

5:21

It was it was a really great time overall. Yeah.

5:23

And again, we actually stayed in

5:25

the rooms of the castle. It's one of benefits

5:28

of D. D. and castles, like, you can actually

5:30

be there? Yes. Because of an issue with

5:32

our flights, we actually had two different rooms

5:35

over our stay there, so we got

5:37

to see castle from, like, two different locations.

5:39

They're both quite charming. They were both really charming.

5:41

Yeah. Like So just

5:43

so, like,

5:44

Quintessential British.

5:46

Yes. Yeah. I I felt like we got

5:48

the experience. It was that's an accurate like,

5:50

this was very much the quintessential what you would

5:52

expect.

5:52

So that

5:54

was the castle itself and

5:57

it was an amazing backdrop to

5:59

have this D and D and a castle experience. And

6:01

of course, the main event is

6:04

you actually sitting down at a table

6:06

and playing dungeons and dragons

6:08

with the players. we

6:10

had three players at our table. I think,

6:12

though, before we get to the main event,

6:15

we should talk about maybe the stuff

6:17

that we got to do all fun things we got

6:19

to do as part of the D and D and

6:21

a Castle experience that wasn't

6:23

playing D and D. So first of all, they have a

6:25

painting room and I painted There's Travis games.

6:27

It's a heck of a lot of fun.

6:29

Well, I don't know how he had the energy because

6:31

we were playing games or playing dungeons

6:34

and dragons running these campaigns for eight hours

6:36

a day. and we had, like, panels

6:38

to be on and events to go to.

6:41

And at the end of the day, I was just completely fix

6:44

one fatigue. I was done. I was totally

6:46

tired. The minis

6:47

called to me. But Travis was like, I

6:49

must go paint. That's what

6:51

I do. I hadn't painted in so long either. It

6:53

was really nice. and I got to chat with some people

6:55

and while I was pinging it. It's just

6:57

fun social stuff that I enjoy. That I

6:59

haven't gotten to be talking to people who talk back

7:01

to me very frequently and it's

7:02

it's fun. It's avis.

7:03

I know. I know. And

7:06

there's also there was some

7:09

some games that were played Action

7:11

Castle was one of them, which was really financed.

7:13

Like, it is an RPG

7:15

based on a old nineties

7:18

green screen type in your prompt. Do

7:20

you go east, west, north, or south, adventure,

7:22

but it was, like, verbally done. It was really

7:24

hilarious. You are in the empty hallway of

7:26

tower eighteen floor twenty five just in

7:28

front of the door to apartment fourteen b.

7:31

What would you like to do? Type in

7:33

open door.

7:36

open door. The

7:39

door opens? Yeah.

7:40

That was one of the one shots.

7:41

I I got to see that one while I was painting

7:43

because it happened to happen at the same

7:45

time. And there were some other one

7:47

shots being run by other DMs that

7:49

were pretty cool that didn't get sick part in,

7:51

but honestly just getting to see people.

7:54

Of course, you didn't

7:54

get to take part and had to DM your own game

7:56

with me.

7:57

That was a lot of fun, though. And then

7:59

we also there's there's the Provian ball,

8:01

which was really cool. I didn't think I liked dancing,

8:03

but I actually kinda do. When it's

8:05

restructured We were

8:07

taught how to do these old

8:09

style dances.

8:10

They they explained how to do the dance, and

8:12

it was it's pretty easy and fun.

8:14

If I could describe your dance enthusiastic.

8:16

With one word --

8:18

But terrible. --

8:19

I would say flourishing.

8:22

Flourish like you flourish. I

8:24

like that. Like, everything's more

8:26

than it has to be. That's perfect.

8:28

That's that's exactly spot on. then there's

8:30

some other really great demos there that we got to

8:33

meet and talk with who'd actually

8:35

written some of the books that we were looking

8:37

at We're just seeing

8:40

in, like, the local hobby shop near us. don't

8:42

feel like Travis has fully explained the Peruvian

8:44

ball yet.

8:44

Oh, sorry. It was also, like, some

8:46

games we play.

8:47

We have live music -- Oh, the weekend's

8:49

good. -- the night market that took

8:51

place during the Barovian Ball.

8:53

Oh, I forgot about the night market. That was the warm and

8:55

coherent parts of the entire Oh

8:57

my gosh. That was incredibly delightful.

8:59

The night market from the DM's

9:01

perspective is a real

9:04

world tool that we could

9:06

use to insert, like,

9:08

an object into our campaign and we

9:10

could tell our players like, hey,

9:12

there's something you might need to purchase

9:14

or acquire. But it comes at a cost.

9:16

But it comes at a cost. So

9:19

they would gather themselves all up

9:21

and then they would go to the night market and

9:23

we would escort them. that we kind

9:25

of knew that they were gonna get the right object.

9:27

But, yeah, we had this amazing night market with a

9:29

guy wore like a big cloak and a big

9:32

Bird mask. Bird

9:32

mask thing. It was so much

9:35

fun. There was also the banquet,

9:37

which was the first night. That was also really

9:39

nice. A full, full, full,

9:41

full, full.

9:43

Like, we were at Hogwarts.

9:44

Yeah. It felt like Hogwarts. That's

9:46

a good descriptor. Have it

9:48

it felt like sorry. We were at a wizard school

9:50

on that was, like, one that might have been an

9:52

above people have read some point in

9:54

their past. Yeah. Everyone was having

9:56

a great time. There was like singing. There

9:58

was again more live music. It

10:00

was a great experience. And

10:02

we had how many course meal? It

10:04

was a lot. What I remember is that, like What?

10:06

Food. We

10:07

kept thinking this was the last dish. And

10:09

then there's another. Just another dish.

10:11

Things like five courses But

10:13

beyond that, we also got to actually

10:15

play DND, which is really cool. We were

10:17

co dimming, and that was I would venture

10:20

to say that many people have not co diomed in

10:22

the past, and that is a thing that we do. It

10:25

was explained that we are a bit

10:27

weird in that regard. So we're unique,

10:29

unique. What does co d m ing, Caitlin, for

10:31

those who are playing the home game besides what you would think,

10:34

obviously, it's two people d m ing, but what's it like?

10:36

It is Oh god. I'm gonna use I'm

10:38

gonna use that power white man word synergy.

10:42

It's the

10:44

epitome of impromptu collaboration.

10:46

Travis and I, we already work

10:49

together on so many things. And, yes,

10:51

we do go in with a road map, of course,

10:53

of the module that we wanna run, the module

10:55

that we've written. or modules that

10:57

we have written. But if you

10:59

ever diomed again, you know that a lot happens

11:01

on the fly.

11:02

We go off the rails. Yes.

11:03

But we

11:06

get to create an amazing experience by being

11:08

codiMs because we always

11:10

kind of know where the other person is headed,

11:13

and we're there to support each other along the way.

11:15

And to fill in the gaps that

11:17

the other person might be missing

11:19

or lacking and to kind of

11:21

shore up their strengths. So

11:23

we get to have conversations with each other.

11:26

So imagine instead of saying to

11:28

your players, So real

11:30

perception to overhear something.

11:32

Instead, Travis and I can just have

11:35

a conversation and we can

11:37

drop the tiny little bits of knowledge that they

11:39

need. And if they're actively listening,

11:42

they can pick up on it.

11:43

Yeah. We've enjoyed co dating in the past. something

11:45

that we've we've always had a lot of fun doing. And

11:47

I would say that the players also

11:50

found that a really comical and frightful

11:52

experience when you've got two people arguing with

11:54

each other as as NPCs. It

11:57

really forces them to pull in and jump into conversations.

12:00

And then I my sort of excel strength

12:02

as a bit of combat stuff, and then Caitlyn really

12:04

excels in keeping details together. In

12:06

that regard, she's a main at puzzles and

12:09

presentation, I'm pretty good

12:11

at, oh, they've gone left when they were supposed

12:13

to go right. I can improv a few things that fit

12:15

here that kind of fit the outline of

12:17

what you're looking to do, and then she'll share it

12:19

up with I had a descriptive creepiness.

12:21

But it's not just that we get

12:23

to create a really seamless gameplay

12:26

when there's two of us. Because if

12:28

one person has a momentary

12:30

lapse of brain -- Yes.

12:32

-- then the other person gets to fill in or

12:35

like I was saying earlier, if

12:37

Travis is in the beginning of describing

12:40

a room that they're walking into or

12:42

they're starting down a hallway that we no leads

12:44

to a particular area. He gets

12:46

to continue or I get to continue, but

12:48

it was mostly Travis because I really

12:51

enjoyed making terrain. Travis will continue

12:53

to this explanation and keep them enthralled

12:55

while I disappear into background

12:58

and then reappear maybe two minutes

13:00

later with a fully constructed

13:03

terrain set ready for

13:04

the next room. And some of the most unnerving

13:07

NPC really

13:10

creepy stuff. Also so,

13:12

yeah, we're we're gonna be doing that for sure as

13:14

the silverthrum when it comes out eventually. We're

13:16

working on that. On the sideline, we've mentioned

13:18

that the phrase, but not the what behind

13:20

it, we still won't. But it's

13:23

it's exciting and I'm I'm looking forward

13:25

to sharing more of that you are listeners,

13:27

but also at our next DND and Castle thing

13:30

in March. because we're going back. We

13:32

are. We'll be playtesting some stuff. This

13:34

time, we got to do some tweaking

13:36

on our future releases for darkness

13:39

under the mountain and the dwarven heist.

13:41

We'll we'll see what we bring next. Something Fair.

13:44

What?

13:44

You're like darkness under the mountain

13:46

and the Dorvin Heist. Like, where's

13:48

he get fizzy yet? So Well,

13:51

it's Like, why? Like, let's

13:53

let's go around some words. Like, that'll

13:55

be that'll be a fun time. But,

13:58

no, we've we've got a lot more to more

14:01

stories to tell, more things to do, and we're excited

14:03

to be there. Our next episode will be out

14:05

on the sixteenth on time, by the way,

14:07

nudge nudge. So

14:08

how do you feel that

14:10

it went Travis being at

14:13

DND and Castle? And by the way, guys,

14:15

we are going back like Travis said in March.

14:18

And I think there's still some spots

14:20

available at our table. Yes. So

14:22

check that out at is that

14:24

at d and d in a castle dot

14:25

com. Yeah. Yeah. So if you're interested

14:27

in joining us next time in

14:29

that deep dungeon, then

14:32

yeah, take a look. But anyways, how

14:34

do you feel it actually went? Like, our game

14:36

and amazing players. Tell

14:38

me more. I feel

14:40

like that actually went pretty well. Our players were

14:42

very inquisitive and on task

14:44

and interested in exploration, which

14:47

is kind of our our jam. So it was a

14:49

good group. And as a result, we were able to tell,

14:51

I

14:51

I feel like the full breadth of the story that we

14:53

really wanted to Yeah.

14:54

They were like you said, they were so inquisitive,

14:57

they were so interested in details.

14:59

I I mean, of course, I love getting

15:01

to play out what we've already written in the module, but

15:03

there were points where they wanted to explore something

15:06

that was not in the module, and I was

15:08

a hundred percent gung ho. I was like, let's do

15:10

this. I will if you want me to, I will build

15:12

this thing. We

15:12

added a few rooms.

15:13

We did because they were

15:15

so interested in the

15:18

pieces of a lore that we had created.

15:20

It was an amazing time. They were

15:22

such smart players.

15:23

Yes. I think I missed them.

15:25

Yeah. They wanted to come here.

15:27

They

15:27

were such smart players. So

15:30

I don't know, like, we were looking at we were

15:33

playtesting some of our

15:35

newest puzzles.

15:36

Oh, those are so fun.

15:37

And I don't know, like, do

15:40

we make them harder? I feel

15:41

like we kinda have to -- Yeah. -- I feel like

15:44

we need to make harder puzzles. Look

15:46

forward to more games like that to test

15:48

the things that we create. We got to play a true necromancer

15:51

and see the class in action

15:53

again, which I always loved. Well,

15:55

I guess we didn't get the play mechanchanchanter, but

15:57

our player played

15:59

one of

15:59

our true macro

16:01

answers. And he was very humble about it. He kept

16:03

reading corpses in his path, and always at an inconvenient

16:05

time. She was like, oh, I don't need this one.

16:08

Take the corpse. Take the corpse.

16:11

Sir, here's very squishy. you

16:14

need help. It was it was fun. And

16:16

then it also was the glass cannon team. Everyone

16:18

was really light HP. And then they made their HP

16:20

even lighter by choices they made.

16:22

and packs and stuff. But, yeah, it

16:24

was it was ridiculously good time. The

16:26

gameplay was was a lot of fun. Oh my

16:28

god. It was so much fun. And they did the things.

16:30

They they actually one.

16:31

Guys, it was the first time

16:32

we got to DM in person in a

16:35

long time.

16:36

I know it was amazing. Like,

16:38

I love playing online, but when

16:40

you

16:40

sit down around a table, especially

16:43

a table in a stone vaulted

16:45

room with ambience lighting and

16:48

Oh god. So the the people at lovely Castle will

16:50

literally bring you fresh tea, like, every

16:52

hour and a half, so you always have a pot of fresh

16:54

tea. And

16:55

then as one DM

16:57

runs to the bathroom, the other takes over.

16:59

Yes. Like, co dimming is a completely

17:01

different experience.

17:01

When the party splits up -- Yes. -- we

17:04

just Okay. You guys got Caitlyn. Yeah.

17:06

Like, Travis, you cover that side. I cover

17:08

this side. If you guys split

17:09

the party, which, you know, sometimes

17:11

what kind of you

17:12

gotta do, but I never recommended it. We

17:14

got you covered.

17:15

It was really funny. It was so much fun.

17:17

III am always

17:19

so happy that I

17:21

get to play with Travis. We're

17:22

sorry for for guessing about this so much, but we

17:24

did have a lot of fun, and we wanted to just send

17:27

quick bonus episode for you guys, explain you bit

17:29

about the code programming thing, a bit about where

17:31

we were because we were gone for, like, a week.

17:33

Yeah. And we're gonna be gone for a week again

17:35

in March. But this

17:36

is kind of a good announcement too because

17:39

with the final run of

17:42

playtesting that we did at D and D and A Castle,

17:44

we are going to be working on putting together

17:47

the final drafts for our darkness under the

17:49

mountain. Yes. And the final draft

17:51

for the Dorvin Heist module.

17:53

Yes. So also to sort

17:55

of round this out, is there anything else you want to say? No.

17:57

Kick starter? Go support.

18:00

Look at it. They're pretty

18:02

and spooky. Yes. Yes. Please support.

18:04

Our our Kickstarter is the last couple of days. If you're interested

18:06

said, they're they're still available and we can unlock

18:08

more stretch goals to get you more things with

18:10

your basic pledge. You

18:13

yayes. And then one more thing, also,

18:15

our dear friends' season of the all shadow

18:18

is available on all listing devices,

18:20

album, full album music, We

18:23

forgot something. What do we forget? The

18:25

person

18:25

who was there with us in full costume.

18:28

Oh. He

18:29

is a resident keep. I have have Linda,

18:31

who can you know that someone look good, sunny,

18:33

and then there's a subscription, bro. So

18:35

the fantastic David

18:37

Alts was there with us

18:39

at D and D in a castle, and he

18:42

was actually in

18:43

full costume.

18:44

It was amazing.

18:45

As ice is cute, and

18:48

he was not only that, but he was playing

18:50

several NPCs

18:53

at multiple tables. throughout

18:55

the weekend. And

18:56

he ran a really fun one shot as well. Yes.

18:58

Again, there was so much

19:00

going on. There was.

19:02

So David's for DND game. You've heard

19:04

it was him on this podcast and getting to

19:06

kind of jam with him again and and goof

19:09

around and and go on on mischievous ventures

19:12

and also see him do so with other DM's. It was

19:14

quite a lot of fun. miss David.

19:17

But last thing we just wanted to say real quick before

19:20

wrapping up in this quick behind scenes thing. Season

19:22

of the all shadow is available now

19:24

on all of the ways that you find music, Spotify,

19:27

iTunes, etcetera. It is there

19:29

lurking, and it has spent an hour of new music,

19:31

including stuff from Hitoshi Sakamoto. Barcastural

19:33

Hans for dark fantasies.

19:36

So

19:37

check out season of the All Shadow however you find

19:39

music, bring it to your table, and

19:41

scare the heck out of your players. We'll get to

19:43

work on the next episode of Dark Dice. And

19:45

until then, never play games

19:47

of fate.