June 2020 - Chat and Q&A

> "*Maybe once things cool down we can support the bears... (things aren't going to cool down).*"
> ― DM James
>
>

**June 2020 - Chat and Q&A** is a special bonus episode to financial backers of Queens of Adventure, and the third in the monthly chat series.

## Summary

### Around the Mic

* DM Matt
* DM James (with microphone issues)

### Chat

As the DMs begin, Matt is startled by hearing Londyn Bradshaw's voice as she was livestreaming at the time of the recording and James forgot to mute twitch. Once muted, they begin discussing the events of June.

Matt explains things continue to be paused in many ways this month. They have been waiting for the state to open things up, however no sensible reopening plan came. The lack of recordings has delayed patreon rewards (tips, cursed dice) and recordings at all. On top of that, ongoing protests are occurring in their Seattle neighborhood. Recording a D&D podcast, they feel, is less essential than the protests, or keeping people safe.

Regardless of what tier a backer is on now, they have kept a list of all rewards people have earned. They will be fulfilled as soon as recordings resume.

The current plan is to resume recordings, but differently. They will have recording tables more than six feet apart and have no more than two players at a time. They know it isn't risk free, but in talks with the cast, everyone seems comfortable with the risk reduction plans.

There will also be live streams, probably monthly, to continue group adventures. They hope to start with Arson, Fraya, and Londyn who already live stream, and include others later. They did two of these in June, and have worked to improve quality.

At the start of June, to support the activism of Black Lives Matter, they gathered cast members to support the Bail Project with a live stream. They included Londyn, Jo Mama, Lucy Stoole, and KaiKai Bee Michaels (and Kamaree Williams could not attend last minute) for a game DMd by Isabella Price. This stream was inspired by Tanya Depass's twitch fundraising efforts. They also wanted to have an all Black cast and more importantly a Black DM. They have wanted to work with Isabella for more than a year, and this was her first time DMing. All four cast members have been active in the protests in all their towns as well. They raised a little over $3000. They chose the Bail Project as the funds replenishes itself (since the American bail system is highly predatory). They thank Tanya for bringing this fund to their attention.

The other live stream was to benefit the NAACP, and was organized in partnership with EA. They approached QoA as some of their staff had seen the San Francisco shows. It was important for them to do a Pride activity with the community and reached out. At one point it was going to be an internal event for EA employees only, and ultimately it was opened up to the public. As EA was familiar with the SF cast, they brought together three queens from that cast, Erika Klash, KaiKai, and Rock M Sakura. They raised a little over $2500, not counting EA employee matching funds. Both shows were well over their goal of $1000 each.

Also in June they released a commissioned art piece for Pride. Drawn by Cody Shipman, it features the scene of Sir Throbardon knighting Sir Jim-Jim the Sickening. It's also a tribute to the fans, as both characters were named by backers. Signed copies will be coming once the queens can come in and sign them.

In Queens of Adventure Legends they finished releasing Fingering the Bone Throne, the last NeoScum crossover.

Also, surprise! They released Ravnica Part 2 to Patreon backers. Part 3, will likely be released in July. The DMs discuss whether they should make Basic Jane's Plump shirt as merch, and how that character's shirt came to be. They chose to release part 2 after so long because they missed the big group energy, although Part 3 may need content warnings as it was the part of the recording that made them edit down how much they gave to Wizards of the Coast for the Podcasts of Ravinca event.

Regular episodes in June were not released as they felt it was important to uplift other voices during the Black Lives Matter movement. The live streams were the focus instead. Also, the Danger Rangers arc is essentially about people trying to become cops, so it felt in weird taste, although it was recorded months before. It will resume on July 8th.

### Please Welcome to the Stage

* Bea Arthur Caftan (Comment on Patreon if this is a good name)

### Q&A

This month they did not have time to get questions to the queens, but will try to for the future.

**Are we likely to see the magical items/flirty feats appear in game?** - Refgemlin.

Yes, in one shots. There has been some inventory/power/feat creep in the main story. This leads to a lot of things not getting used. They designed the Gnomengaurde story, where they gave characters a glitter bomb, specifically because the glitter bomb worked for the mimic enemy. They continue to work on new items. The next item will either be Lashes of Farsight or Hole of Glory. A new poll is up to decide the one after that. The cards are made by Print Play Games in Washington.

**What is the list of definitive active houses vs ancient houses?** - Refgemlin

There are no active houses that the players have encountered in the main story. Only the descendants in Glamalala, descended from Aubergine, Molestrangler, and Wunderbred, but with traditions inspired by the others like Effluvia and Bumblicious and Tuckernauts.

The non Seattle casts (Aubergine, Tuckernauts, Haus of Geek), are all set in the Age of Queens. They dont make a big point of this in the shows, and they do this to keep the live shows and the main show continuities separate. The Convention shows take place in a pocket dimension outside time and space.

**What does Queens of Adventure look like post-pandemic? If live shows happen again will you be going to the East Coast? -** jp388

Currently only planning for during-pandemic as they don't know when the pandemic will end. They want to do live shows again, although they are expensive. If it wasn't for the kickstarter support for the Chicago trip, they would have lost money. They can't always go to that well for support (even though they know some would support). If they can figure out how to make it make fiscal sense, they will. They have talked to people in Boston and New York (where Erika is now) and Louiseville. Hopefully they can find contacts in the Southeast.

**Are we likely to hear from Harlotte O'Scara again? - girlingoldboots84**

No. After some changes in group dynamics and several sessions without her, they decided to move on. Nothing scandalous.

**Regarding the Trial:** **Not only was it a turning point, but did the queens derail the pre-planned plot? If not, what are some of the big turning points for the DMs so far? - Throbardon (the listener)**

It didn't derail things really. Everything that came from the Trial started with the first Season One episode. They had told the queens it would be new but would build from the early live shows. They intentionally seeded the glama birds, the Glamazons telling them they're not wanted on this side of the island, the Pomeranian to connect to older continuity, and a view of the island including the Ziggurat and Glamalala. The DMs expected they would want to go to the forbidden area (and gave them the quest for the rejuvenating mud), but also lots of warnings against it. Nothing about crossing the island would derail the plot as it was always an option.

When it happened was as a session ended. Between sessions they sent the queens a three page summary of the events that happened and the Glamazons were going to have a lot of questions. This was done so the players could see how the world responds to their actions.

They discuss ways the show changed since then. Butylene has worked hard to learn and remember people's names, and in general the earlier cast members have grown more cautious of exploring away from the main mission. The DMs also never wanted to pull a Gotcha, but a story needs turn. They know the Trial and Kracken Priest's Heart might seem that way, but there were warnings for breaking the treaty, and warnings for the evil of the heart. What happened were attempts to make logical in world responses to the player choices.

They do want to inspire the players to feel allowed to explore more though, as Irene and Londyn, new players, still do.

**Name one trait you have in common with your character and one you wish you had in common in your character - Jill Fazzio**

They will save this for the queens, but Matt discusses his gnome artificer from a non-related Waterdeep Dragonheist game. Matt shares a love of underground systems and wishes he was a were-rat.

## Behind the Queens

This episode has no outtakes as there were no new recordings to pull from, and not enough time to dig through archival recording material.