Friends at the Table

Friends at the Table is a long-running weekly TTRPG actual play podcast focused on "critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends."Beginning of any given episode of Friends at the Table Its GM and host is Austin Walker. Seasons alternate between different settings and continuities, which has resulted in the creation of overlapping sub-fandoms.
Friends at the Table's smallish but dedicated fandom is active on Twitter, Tumblr, Cohost, and Discord, where fans post episode reactions, discuss plot and character developments, share fanart, and arrange fests and challenges. The fic-writing side of the fandom, while somewhat less active than the fanart side, typically posts fic to Archive of Our Own. An active contingent of fangame developers creates short fangames, often using Twine or bitsy, and an array of other types of fanworks can be found, including but not limited to vids, fan songs, and fan crafts.
==Canon==
=== Seasons and Continuities===
:See List of Friends at the Table Seasons for a full list.
The podcast is currently in its eighth full season, not counting three mini-seasons or the multiple bonus seasons created exclusively for Patreon supporters. Generally speaking, Friends at the Table alternates between continuities each season, and fans of one season/continuity may not necessarily be fans of another; in this way, it encompasses a number of overlapping sub-fandoms.
So far, seasons of the show have taken place in four different continuities: 
*the post-apocalyptic, post-fantasy world of Hieron (Autumn in Hieron, Winter in Hieron, Spring in Hieron);
*the mecha-focused space opera universe of the Divine Cycle (COUNTER/Weight, Twilight Mirage, PARTIZAN, PALISADE);
*the weird west/horror/Gothic fiction setting of Sangfielle (Sangfielle); and
*the fictionalized and fantastic version of Atlantic City known as Bluff City (Bluff City).
=== Games ===
Unlike many other actual plays with fannish followings, such as Critical Role and Dimension 20, Friends at the Table does not play Dungeons and Dragons. Instead, games vary from season to season and usually also within seasons. Among others, the podcast's main seasons have included actual plays of Dungeon World and other Powered by the Apocalypse games; numerous Forged in the Dark games; GMless games like Ben Robbins' Kingdom and Follow; and worldbuilding games like Avery Alder's The Quiet Year, Everest Pipkin's The Ground Itself, and Turtlebun's Questlandia. Patreon seasons like Bluff City and Live at the Table have featured dozens of different games.FatTWiki's Bluff City (season) and Live at the Table pages include lists of games played in each arc of the respective series.
The variety of games featured on Friends at the Table is a draw of the canon for many fans, and many have also been inspired by the canon to play or create independent games themselves. Friends at the Table fan Riley Rethal, for example, created the game Dusk to Midnight,dusk to midnight by Riley Rethal. Itch.io. (archive link) which was later played in an episode of Friends at the Table.The Road to PARTIZAN 05: Ech0 & Dusk to Midnight (Nov 1, 2019). Friends at the Table. Accessed Jun 10, 2024. (archive link)
===Player Characters===
:See List of Friends at the Table Player Characters for a full list organized by season and player.
Much of Friends at the Table fandom revolves around the player characters (PCs) in each respective season/continuity. With anywhere from four to seven players in any season, and several seasons involving temporary PCs during holiday specials or players moving on to a new primary PC part of the way through, this makes for a large and diverse cast of characters. 
===Queerness and Queer Characters===
Most of the cast of Friends at the Table is queer, and several cast members are also trans or otherwise not cis. Because of this, queerness has always been central to the stories that Friends at the Table tells. In most seasons there is a baseline assumption that all characters are or could be queer, and most canon romantic relationships (whether PC/PC, PC/NPC, or NPC/NPC) are explicitly queer. Homophobia and transphobia are usually not depicted in canon, although they have occasionally been present (whether depicted onscreen or mentioned as a general feature of the wider setting) in the horror season Sangfielle and some of the grittier arcs of Bluff City.
In earlier seasons of the show (most prominently COUNTER/Weight), some of the cast members struggled to use the correct pronouns for nonbinary characters, a fact which the cast has since acknowledged as a failing of those seasons. Regardless, the queerness of Friends at the Table has been and continues to be a big draw of the show for many fans.
==Fandom Overview==
===History===
While the results are certainly not scientific, two separate Tumblr polls that ran in 2023 - one in February, and one in November - found that well over a third of respondents began listening to the show in 2017 or 2018.Post with poll by knittedbond (Feb 28, 2023). "unsure if anyone's done this yet, i really do want to know tho. calling all friends at the table fans: what year did you start listening to friends at the table?" 392 total responses; 26% of respondents voted 2017 and 16.6% voted 2018. Tumblr. (archive link)Post with poll by peacereturnedtothevalley (Nov 16, 2023): "Friends at the Table fans when did you start listening to the show" 549 total responses; 21.1% of all respondents voted 2017, and 13.7% voted 2018. This poll also had a "see answers" option, which received 16.9% of the votes, so by my haphazard math about 42% of respondents who did not select "see results" voted for 2017 or 2018. Tumblr. Retrieved November 28, 2023. (archive link) It's possible that some of the influx of listeners around this time came from fans of The Adventure Zone or other McElroy shows: Griffin McElroy recommended Friends at the Tables several times towards the end of TAZ: Balance, both on TwitterThis is based on my (hazy) memory of the time when the Balance finale aired; Griffin McElroy no longer has a Twitter account and I can't figure out another way to verify that he did tweet it. --Malcontent and in several of his podcasts.@divinefealty (Jul 14, 2022): thinking about how a world exists where griffin mcelroy doesn't mention friends at the table explicitly by name in a ttazz in like 2017, and suddenly the hyperfixation I've had for the past four years just isn't there (Tweet). "ttazz" refers to The The Adventure Zone Zone, the name for bonus episodes in which the cast of TAZ talked about the show. (archive link)@humanmorph (Mar 19, 2021): thx to griffin mcelroy for mentioning friends at the table on wonderful! a few years back and even bigger thx to twitter mutual finn for convincing me to give it another try after i had tried and given it up before (Tweet) Wonderful! is another of Griffin's podcasts. (archive link)
In 2022, a number of Friends at the Table fans followed the cast of the show from Twitter to Cohost, creating accounts on the new social media platform and either cross-posting or exclusively posting their fanworks and fandom posts there.
===Ships===
Popular pairings and moresomes are listed below according to the continuity in which they appear. No one ship genre tends to dominate the fandom, although F/F, M/M and nonbinary ships are more popular than M/F.
====Seasons of Hieron====
*Samot/Samothes
*Hella Varal/Adaire Ducarte and Hella/Adaire/Adelaide Tristé
*Ephrim/Throndir
*Lem King/Fero Feritas
====The Divine Cycle====
*Addax Dawn/Jace Rethal (COUNTER/Weight)
*Aria Joie/Jacqui Green (COUNTER/Weight)
*Cassander Timaeus Berenice/Mako Trig (COUNTER/Weight)
*Grand Magnificent/Echo Reverie (Twilight Mirage)
*Tender Sky/Fourteen Fifteen (Twilight Mirage)
*Kal'mera Broun/Valence (PARTIZAN)
*Kalvin Brnine/Gucci Garantine (PALISADE)
====Sangfielle====
*Chine/Duvall
*Marn/Pickman
====Bluff City====
*Goldfinch/Waxwing
*Agent Heard/Hector Hu
===Fan Reviews and Responses===
Friends at the Table fans often point to the show's focus on storytelling as a selling point, emphasizing the cast's ability to balance serious explorations of characters, plot, and worldbuilding with jokes and humour. For example, when asked about Friends at the Table's tone, the consistency/quality of its seasons, and how it compares to The Adventure Zone, two fans on Reddit said:However, Friends at the Table's canon is dense with lore and its medium and format pose a significant barrier to entry for many people, a fact of which both the cast and the fandom are well aware. The inaccessibility of Friends at the Table has become something of a joke in the fandom, with fans occasionally making self-deprecating posts about their own deep investment in a canon that they cannot successfully rec to most people:
==Fests and Challenges==
===Secret Samol===
Secret Samol, or SecSam for short, is an annual Friends at the Table fanworks exchange organized by imperialhare and a handful of other moderators, with the exact moderator lineup changing from year to year. It runs in the winter, typically through December and January, and was in its seventh year in 2022.Twitter bio of Secret Samol account. (Accessed May 7, 2023.) (archive link)
===#15DaysofFatT===
Since 2016, Katie Diek and hellavarawr have organized #15DaysofFatT, an annual prompt-based fanworks challenge.Post on official 15daysoffatt Tumblr: "Since 2016, FatT fans have answered over 70 prompts" (May 9, 2023). Accessed Nov 8, 2023. (archive link)
===FatT Pinup Week===
FatT Pinup Week is a fanweek run by Arp on Twitter, Tumblr, and Cohost. It first ran in the summer of 2023.
==Fanworks ==
=== Fanart===
File:FATTEidolonFanartSuedeuxnim.jpg|alt=Cassander, terrified, being transformed into a classical-style statue|Eidolon: Cassander Timaeus Berenice by suedeuxnim
File:The weak point of a mech by dancynrew.jpg|alt=A mech pilot is shot through the cockpit of their mech|the weak point of a mech by Annie Johnston-Glick
File:Want to know what the weak point of a mech is by mixxavii.jpg|alt=Remy the rat from Ratatouille is shot through the hat of Alfredo Linguini|want to know what the weak point of a mech is? by mixxavii
File:Pickman going somewhere transformative FATT art by Arp.png|alt=Pickman, a humanoid goat woman, climbs a rope ladder into an impressionist sky|Pickman goes somewhere transformative by Arp
File:FATT Wow Cool Robot meme by jesspretend.jpg|alt=Thisbe, a large robot, says "Labor is entitled to all it creates" while a viewer looks at her and says "wow! cool robot!"|Wow Cool Robot meme/Thisbe fanart by jesspretend
File:Balence repairs by zroem.jpg|alt=Kal'mera Broun and Valence sit very close together while Broun fixes Valence's arm|Untitled Balence fanart by zroem
File:What do you need by courbet-nft - resized.png|alt=Over the phone, Kalvin Brnine says "I don't doubt you care about me, that's why I don't ask" to Gucci Garantine, who looks stricken|"What do you need?" by courbet-nft
File:Quinn milton AuDy Maryland fanart resized.png|alt=AuDy pushes Maryland in her wheelchair through a field of flowers|AuDy/Maryland fanart by Quinn Milton
File:Tenfour embroidery by tangleofgold.jpg|alt=Tender and Fourteen stand side by side with the text "I don't know why, but Tender is important. Always keep her in my sights."|Tenfour embroidery sampler by tangleofgold
File:Mecha fight with romantic tension by damage-ko.jpg|alt=Gucci Garantine and Clementine Kesh clash in their mechs. Gucci says "Bell Tower!" and Clem says "Saint Dawn!"|Fanart of a Clem/Gucci mech fight by damage-ko
===Fanfic===
*the cat who got the whipped cream by bluecloak. A popular canon-setting Tenfour coffee shop AU.
*Fits and Starts by LuckyDiceKirby. A popular Samsam kidfic.
*we are a loaded gun, by meowclops. A PARTIZAN crossover with Word of Honor.
===Fangames===
A number of Friends at the Table fans have made short fangames, ranging from interactive fanfiction to a Pokémon-style RPG. Many of these games were made as Secret Samol gifts for other fans. Emma Conner and Mousewife Games are two prolific fangame developers in the fandom.
Some examples include:
*The Adversary and the Never-Dies Machine by Nat Silveira (PARTIZAN, Motion/Perennial)
*Commandment by Brendan McLeod (Seasons of Hieron)
*The Confession of Captain Kent Brighton by Matthew Guzdial (Twilight Mirage, Gig/Kent)
*Life under Rigour, a Counter/Weight fan game by FabbyBear (COUNTER/Weight)
*OPERATION. VERNACULAR. DECODER RING. MEMORY. by Emma Conner (PARTIZAN, Figure A & Exeter Leap)
*Princéton: Bluff Version by Mousewife Games (Bluff City)
*punished in the shape she sinned by Mousewife Games (Sangfielle, Pickman)
*Three Nights in Marielda by jesspretend (Marielda, Castille/Maelgwyn and Castille/Rebecca)
*We Know Exolution by WhiteLightning (Twilight Mirage, Fourteen/⸢Signet⸣/Tender)
===Fanzines===
Five Friends at the Table fanzines have been created so far. In June 2020, with permission from each zine's respective organizer(s), the cast of Friends at the Table collected PDFs of all of the zines and included them in a charity fundraiser sale on Itch@Friends_Table (Jun 5, 2020). Today we're starting a sale to raise funds for a number of groups working towards justice and equality. We've gathered every @Friends_Table fanzine and (for the first time) digital PDFs of all of our formerly Patreon-exclusive postcards! (Tweet) (archive link) benefiting four US-based non-profits fighting for racial justice and police/prison abolition.@Friends_Table (Jun 5, 2020). The groups we're supporting are: @reclaimtheblock @byp100 @bailproject @MarshallProj Find out more info about them on their respective accounts! (Tweet) (archive link)
The zines are:
*COUNTER/Weight: A Fanzine (COUNTER/Weight, 2016)
*City of Light: An Unofficial Illustrated Concordance of Marielda (Marielda, 2017)
*It's a Garden (Twilight Mirage, 2019)
*Who's That Big Man? (all seasons, 2020)
*A Chaotic Cataloging (Seasons of Hieron, forthcoming 2024)
===Fanvids===
Because Friends at the Table is a non-visual medium, fanvids tend to take the form of either animatics or constructed reality vids. The latter are often labelled as AMVs and/or created using footage from classic anime in homage to Friends at the Table's anime influences.
Examples of animatics:
*Twilight Mirage: Finale Animatic, a multi-artist collaboration that depicts the final scene of Twilight Mirage. astronbot, dancynrew, kieren_sz, SeamonsterArt, ootron, and hedgemice contributed to the video.
*COUNTER/weight opening credits, a multi-artist animatic by Mandy, Jae, and Vox depicting opening credits to COUNTER/Weight.
*four conversations by solibrie, an animatic depicting events from the mini-season Marielda.
*Friends at the Table: PARTIZAN Title Sequence by Drew Genel, a fan-made title sequence for PARTIZAN set to the season's theme music.
Examples of constructed reality vids:
*Road to PARTIZAN Trailer AMV by LieutenantShwa, a fake trailer for Road to PARTIZAN.
*Palisade Intro AMV by Laggardsdon, a PALISADE fake trailer.
*An Animal Out of Context/Love's First Explosion AMV by LieutenantShwa, a vid based on an iconic episode from COUNTER/Weight.
*Marielda Opening AMV by LieutenantShwa, a vid depicting the opening to Marielda.
===Other Fanworks===
*Custom Aria Joie doll Archived version by ootron. A doll made to look like Aria Joie from COUNTER/Weight.
*The Weight by clemkesh (feat. nvrlernd2-reid).The Weight by @clemkesh feat. @nvrlernd2-reid (Jan 28, 2024). Tumblr. Accessed Jan 30, 2024. (archive link) Fansong in the style of a duet between Orth Godlove and Ibex.
*Honesty and Integrity by nvrlernd2-reid.Honesty and Integrity by @nvrlernd2-reid (Jan 28, 2024). Tumblr. Accessed Jan 30, 2024. (archive links: post, song mp3) Brnine/Gucci fansong.
==Resources ==
Thanks to Friends at the Table's sprawling canon and huge archives, the fandom has initiated a number of projects to create resources and reference materials for fans. These resources are sometimes also used by the cast in the making of the show.
Examples include:
*FatTWiki, an independently hosted fan wiki launched in 2022 to consolidate the numerous other fan wikis that were hosted on the proprietary website Fandom.com
*Transcripts at the Table, a transcription initiative for which fans are paid by the cast of Friends at the Table
*Search at the Table, a tool for searching episode transcripts
*The Library of Memorious, another tool for searching episode transcripts
==External Links==
*Friends at the Table subreddit
*Friends at the Table official Discord
*Friends at the Table Fanart Tumblr
*Friends at the Table fan wiki
==References==
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