End of Campaign 1 Q&A Episode

Thumbnail for tabletoptalks 3 featuring Matt, Deirdre, Jordan, and Anthony

## Description

Q&A Episode related to completion of Campaign 1

This episode occurred the week after Campaign 1, Season 2, Chapter 149

Featuring:

* Questions for players
* Questions for DM
* Deirdre as Master of Ceremonies

## Questions answered on Stream

### Part 1

18:45 What NPCs could've been met in the finale? Any that the cast wished they'd visited?

24:00 Who was everyone's favourite NPCs?

31:32 Were you happy with your character development and are you happy with where they ended up?

35:23 Who's the tallest il-Vibro?

37:21 What's the secret and what kept you going further?

42:53 What's Beezaura up to?

46:11 What was Erland's backstory and where was it going?

53:35 Are Graven and Booraj an item? Is their connection expanded by the totem?

59:51 Who do we ship Orba with?

1:03:45 Can you guys give us the best impressions of each other's characters?

1:10:15 What was Safira's backstory and where was it going?

1:12:40 What was up with the Stitchers?

1:17:05 What do you think Jaiwa has been up to?

1:20:45 How did Deirdre meet everyone else?

1:22:28 Who's taller, Orba or Jaiwa?

1:23:27 Was David Deirdre's idea?

1:26:27 How was Herringbone shaped as a character?

1:29:54 LIGHTNING ROUND #1

* Sexy baby plan
* Where good food
* Jordan and Anthony DMing
* Herringbone and Betterment Baubles
* What's in the stew
* What about Scooter
* Cody Cheeks' airy cheeks
* Everywhere is North
* Djinn's mask
* Favourite foods and hobbies

1:38:25 Break Starts and Break minigame

### Part 2

1:41:27 Deirdre retcons her David answer

1:43:11 What (homebrew) monsters would you like to have seen?

1:48:24 What are your methods for organising player and DM notes?

1:52:17 Will we see Anny Gran Offmare and her dirty anagrams in the future again?

1:53:19 What was up with the Peak beneath The Veil and will we see more of it in the future?

1:56:30 Will Orba find her dad and will Graven approve? Also Doll Orba makes a triumphant return

2:01:03 Were backup characters ever made, just in case?

2:02:33 Can you talk about times where the dice told the story?

2:07:16 Any reason Graven didn't get a cool homebrew like all the others?

2:08:17 Were some of the fights intended for the party to run away from rather than fighting?

2:11:14 Was there a time when an enemy was expected to be easy and it wasn't or vice-versa?

2:14:44 How does it feel to glow up the set and equipment?

2:18:49 What are the characters up to now that they're up to their own devices?

2:22:02 Anthony's theory about the Chimera #DetectiveGraven

2:24:14 Who was the man that stabbed Erland way back when and why?

2:27:31 What was everyone's favourite puzzles?

2:31:29 How does Matt come up with and remember voices for NPCs? What about animal voices?

2:35:33 How likely was the meeting with the Sea Hag to escalate into a fight? Also, what would she sound like?

2:40:13 What does the future have in store for Graven and the il-Vigos?

2:43:13 Is Graven ever going to smooch Jillian?

2:44:56 What was Jillian's backstory?

2:46:35 Who's cooler, David or Jillian? What would happen if they met?

2:49:28 What was Aswan's backstory and motivations?

2:51:14 What were the pivotal moments that affected Orba and Graven's character growth?

2:54:28 Will we ever see Bufmir again?

2:56:46 Will ttn ever incorporate the 2024 rules and have you kept up with them?

2:58:46 How many story threads is enough?

3:03:09 Will we continue to see SUHID graphics going forward?

3:03:50 What was up with Mr. Two?

3:10:36 Did Josco and Aswan get into a fight?

3:11:08 LIGHTNING ROUND #2

* What would you change
* Party envy
* Almiraj Riders
* Lemonade Man's deal
* Marvyn Bishop's fate
* Peak Beneath the Veil novel
* Orba's map
* Same characters in new campaign
* Berry and Cypress
* Herringbone's litter
* Josco v Aswan fight
* Graven's god distrust
* Graven v loose bowel bodyguard
* Djinn's chess pieces

## Trivia

* Teases for Mini Campaign (06:49)
* (Small) teases for Campaign 2 (3:20:17)
* A summary of the Summer 2023 tentative schedule including mini-campaign and start, one week break, and start of Campaign 2 (3:27:00)

## Post-stream Discord Q&A

In the days following the stream, DM Matt answered many questions asked by the discord community which were not answered on stream.

**Who blew up the bridge in order to save Jillian/stall her captors?**

Jillian was able to reach a contact of hers to activate the explosion. So essentially... Jillian

**Did the Lemonade Man know that Erland was chasing him back in Mukmu? Does he have any magical abilities? Was he intended to appear again later in the story?**

The Lemonade Man possesses no magic but he knows his town extremely well and he's got plenty of eyes and spies.  If someone is in town that seems out of place or if someone is acting off, you can be sure he realizes that. I would have loved for the Lemonade Man plotline to come back, but we needed to push the story forward to Navika-Pura and beyond – and we didn't have time to return to Mukmu.  Because of what happened at the Harvesting Yard, I think if the party had come back, they would have found Mukmu in a heightened state of turmoil – people blaming each other behind the scenes for the destruction of the spores.

**What was the fate of the Rudhiran elves struggling against the Black Lion barbarians overtaking their tribe’s land?**

The Rudhirans were forced out of their home, but they may be looking to carve out a little area of their own – possibly in the northeastern peninsula now that the Shade Assembly isn't going to be so adamant about keeping people from settling in that area.  I think a fun later-down-the-line quest could have been the reconquering of Rudhira, a run-and-gun stealth mission going up against the Black Lions.

**How did Ansen get poisoned with Myconid? Did Grahmari had a hand in that?**

Yes, definitely. Ansen was a loyal apprentice and a true believer in what Grahmari was trying to do – in my notes I think I have it that Ansen actually volunteered in the early stages of their experimentation.

**What do the other factions think about the myconid trade? Do they have any long-term plans to deal with the encroaching power of the Gentle Void?**

Most factions, as tends to be the way of things, are happy to use the myconid extract trade to gain power and influence. It's one of those "if my enemies are already using it, I'd be a fool not to" situations.  The extract's regulation will probably have to come from several "good" factions banding together to limit its exposure and distribution, and yes – making sure the Gentle Void doesn't get to the point where they control the trade so much that they can't be stopped or reasoned with.

**What did the party’s endeavors in the myconid trade amount to? Have people become more aware/wary of the stuff? Is it still something that's around and could be for the foreseeable future?**

The party's actions were very much the beginning stages of the fight to rein in the myconid trade.  Perhaps with the help of Jillian/Grahmari/Marvyn/etc., the word can start to spread about what the extract is truly capable of, which will turn the public perception from "super potion" to "substance that needs to be regulated." Unless myconids go extinct (possible), it's going to be hard to eliminate its use entirely, so the best way forward might be to make sure more harvesting yards get shut down for good.  What the public sees is really important – the more people that are scared of it, the less people will use it and the less profitable it will be.

In regards to the NPCs, I think that varies quite a bit! Mostly I think the major NPCs (the ones that weren't villains, anyway) came away with a positive impression – if not that the party were heroes, that they were mostly true to their word and could be relied upon. There are definitely people (like Pullnik did back in Urin-Chupa) who may later come to the realization that the party was acting in the interests of good, even if it didn't seem that way at the time.

I think when word gets around about the Shade Assembly there will definitely be some tavern songs sung about the tale – and one must believe the goliaths of the Rapras are starting to tell stories of the slain coldlight walker... the lunatics that decided to fight it head-on instead of just letting it run its natural course.

**Does Saam (the giant arrow merchant) have a whole family that sells arrows and other ammunition? Does the rest of their family mumble or do they have perfect pronunciation?**

I do love me some false expectations, so Saam having an incredibly articulate sibling would have been very much on-brand.  I didn't have any plans for his family in Navika-Pura, but maybe his kin had set up shop(s) in other major cities like Dylosuun!

**What happened to Marvyn Bishop?**

I think they took him south again – back toward Mukmu and Tuktu.  His captors were trying to bargain with the Lemonade Man using Marvyn as leverage, but that probably didn't go well.  In a negotiation-gone-wrong, the captors were probably killed and Marvyn is now trying to work himself free from wherever they stashed him for safekeeping, and what happens to him next depends very heavily on who runs into him first...

**It seems Atonement's End was smuggling Myconid Extract using candles. What were they using it for? Are they conducting experiments on monks inside the monastery?**

Not conducting experiments on the monks, no – at least not yet. Atonement's End, in an effort to get recruits that were more promising than their usual medley of outcasts and vagrants, were trying to make Myconid Extract readily available in certain institutions (like the Halls of Transmutation) and used the candles to sneak it in. They knew the extract was highly addictive (and forbidden in many places, like the Halls) so they thought that would provide an influx of young adepts and trainees being sent to Atonement's End to "clean up their act".

**Are Atonements' End candidates able to remove the number "7" tattoo from their backs, or is it magically attuned to the person? Is it similar to the tattoos given to a few people in Navika-Pura?**

The Atonement's End tattoos aren't magical, so they could theoretically be removed or covered up.  I think at one point Erland mused about what design he would choose to cover it up if he ever had the opportunity – although some people who hate Atonement's End, like Daud Zlatko, keep the tattoo anyway as a reminder of what they've been through.

**What would have happened if Graven took Bufmir's deal and became a cleric of Bufmir?**

**What kind of spells would Graven have gotten? Would Bufmir request practical jokes?**

Graven would have continued to acquire a mishmash of spells for as long as he took on pieces of other meddling gods – and just as Q'usñi demanded (or at best, requested) certain displays of fealty like branding dead bandits or burning the food of those guys walking the pilgrimage, Bufmir certainly would have desired displays of mischief.  I think (like we saw in the Rapras), he especially favored absurdity in moments that were supposed to be severe – so maybe he would have had Graven dance or sing or embarrass himself at places like the Temple to Heptactor or at the speakeasy where Herringbone took the party.

*Dudae’s Note: Clerics of the Trickery Domain (a la Bufmir, god of trickery) get spells such as charm person, disguise self, mirror image, pass without trace, blink, etc. that do not count against the number of spells they can prepare per day (although they still require slots). Had Graven become a Cleric of Bufmir, it would work similarly as with Heptactor, where Graven lost Light's Scorching Ray and got Life's Spiritual Weapon (2nd level spells) although it could have to deal with the 3rd level spell line. Probably losing either Daylight or Fireball and Getting either Blink or Dispel Magic.*

**What do you think Marcus is up to?**

He liked following the party but the mountains are his home – so he's still up there.  Now that the coldlight walker is slain, goliaths probably pass through the Skybowl more frequently, so he has some people to talk to.  I think he's probably telling everyone he meets about the shameful acts of Orba, Cheater of Games.

**The party ran into a certain group of bounty hunters on multiple occasions. What became of them?**

Those bounty hunters are definitely still out there – the party just didn't see them again in the north because who the hell wants to go up there? I briefly considered having them appear in Kukati Cove because that seems like the kind of place they'd frequent – and if we didn't have a guest that week (shoutout to Tim being awesome) maybe they would have competed for the job to investigate the ship in Hylata Harbor.

**Does Spud open a bank with all that gold? Does Spud get real friends? Does Spud ever learn genuine friendship and meet people who like Spud for being Spud?**

Spud probably had something like 3-4k gold stashed in various places around the island.  The Bank of Spud could have been an excellent way for him to make himself useful, though he'd probably need a partner who wasn't as easy to manipulate... a good opportunity to team up with Ka'imi in Dylosuun, perhaps.

**Have Jaiwa and Herringbone met? Has Herringbone put the moves on Jaiwa?**

I don't know if Deirdre will see this, but I like to think that before Jaiwa settled down in Urin-Chupa (she was originally from further up north) her barbarian tribe might have crossed paths with treasure-hunters like Herringbone. Maybe nothing salacious happened, but Herringbone certainly would have noted Jaiwa's stunning physical attractiveness (as requested by Deirdre in her backstory.)

**Has Herringbone been avoiding ghosts since the ghosts cultists almost killed the party?**

Herringbone fears no ghosts. The peninsula is a cesspool of danger of all kinds... it's the risk you take by hunting for treasure there. She's obviously good at her job, so something that didn't come up during the campaign is the fact that she's probably way wealthier than she seemed to the party.

**In Season 2, Chapter 41 the party encountered a scavver, and a mysterious stranger pointed them away from the danger. What was that guy’s deal?**

He was meant to be, similar to Herringbone, a peninsula treasure hunter – though he was interested in organic prizes (scavver eggs) more so than trinkets.  At the time, there was a possibility that one of our players wasn't available for the stream that week and we weren't sure if we could get Deirdre back, so the possibility was set up for them to be passed on to another guide (who could be played by a new guest).  The party was actually supposed to meet them in the prior episode (s2c40) while Herringbone was still with them, but the village fight took longer than I thought.  The main piece of that character's story was that they primarily sold their organic goods to the Shade Assembly for experimentation – so they may have had some helpful information if the party could avoid rubbing them the wrong way.

**What would Fred say if one of the party members got speak with plants? What would their voice sound like? Maybe like a cool Californian dude?**

It probably would have had some not-so-nice things to say about Erland's disease... but also appreciative of the great care Orba took to keep it alive.  I feel like I picture his voice being something like Charlie the intern on Bojack Horseman…

**How did The Sunken King know about Orba’s dad?**

I think it's more likely the Sunken King knew Orba's mom – perhaps both before and after she passed into the realm of the dead...

**How did Grahmari know Erland was near the Shade Assembly? How come he never wrote back to Erland?**

He didn't know for certain – it was an educated guess. Like the party, Grahmari had found someone to help him sneak into the Shade Assembly, and they also used the foggy harbor as cover before making their attempt. He believed Erland might come through there and the stakes were pretty low – if someone else had stumbled upon the note, all it said was "Hello, Erland" so it's not like that would have set off any alarms. Grahmari actually couldn't reach out to Erland directly – Erland didn't possess the other part of the mirrored inscription spell that would have allowed him to write back, and he's an alchemist not a wizard so he can't cast sending.

**Why did Q'usñi insist on sending Graven to kill the chimera? Was the chimera poisoning related to this?**

The chimera was very important to Q'usñi for two reasons. One, it was the last mission he'd given Graven before the incident where Graven cursed his name and became a broken cleric – so it represented his final oath that Q'usñi demanded he fulfill.  Two, the chimera had been to one of the holy places mentioned in the legend of Dimaasit – the places that allow the Meddling Gods to have such a strong influence over this world.  There are spells/druids/people connected to nature that can look into a creature's memories – so as long as the chimera existed, it was a possible way for someone to locate that holy area (and maybe destroy it).

**Where is Q’usñi now?**

He's out there somewhere... the plane of fire seems like a good place for a guy who likes toasty subs (or subjects, rather). He won't be back in campaign 2 – certainly not by name – though his presence may be felt... more will be made clear soon! I think there's definitely a high-level adventure in their future where they rescue Erland and Safira in another world or plane of existence, but they have to take care of their own backyard first.

**Since Graven can see reaper Orba now, can we have reaper Orba vs Graven Pugilism fight?**

This was totally on the table if the finale episode had been a little longer – if there was more time, I think we would have seen the return of some favorite games like pugilism, hills & valleys, etc.

**What happens to the Gimme-Ya-Gold family? Do they ever find Graven and Orba for revenge?**

More on this soon...

**Where did the name for the campaign come from? Did you have an idea of how the name would reflect in the story?**

I originally intended the party to make it up north to the mountains where “The Veil" is – so the title became less about the story that was told in *A Peak Beneath the Veil* and more looking ahead to the future. I definitely had an idea of what the name meant right from the beginning; it just took us a lot longer to get to its reveal than I anticipated.

**Did players make their own backstories? How did these backstories shape what you had prepared for A Peak Beneath the Veil?**

The backstories they provided were pretty minimal – not a fault on their part, we were just all very new and they mostly left it up to me to cobble it all together. Jordan had the idea that Orba was fleeing from a university, which lined up nicely with what I already had planned for Erland in that they overlapped at the Halls of Transmutation without knowing it. It also meant there would be a lot of fun moments where the party would hear about "escaped servants" especially from contracts at the Broken Crown – I know one of Jordan's favorite moments in the campaign is when Graven is picking up a contract and asks if the servants need to be alive to be turned in, without realizing she is one!

**Was there any point along the journey that you guys felt like quitting? What was the hardest road block you faced?**

Quitting, no – we genuinely loved playing through the story too much for that.  There were definitely times when we yearned for an unscheduled week off, usually just because it was a long week dealing with real-life stuff.  When you have a stream and an audience you're trying to grow, you have to be pretty vigilant about maintaining your schedule – and due to COVID stuff, general illness safety practices, etc. we had already cancelled more streams than we would have liked.  I will say, however, that even when we were spread pretty thin – pretty much every time we ended up being glad that we pushed through and did the stream because with everything else going on it was nice to escape somewhere else.

**What was the biggest challenge running a four-year campaign, and did you ever feel disheartened/exhausted/burnt-out by it?**

While we did sometimes feel burnt out, we were always glad when we pushed through and did a show – even on weeks where there was a lot of other real-life shit demanding our attention.  The biggest challenge was (and continues to be, honestly) the stuff that happens outside the stream – I think most people are aware that getting new people to come check out a show, especially in such a niche category, is extremely difficult.  The social media content (which is done almost entirely by Jordan, thank the meddling gods for her) is very time-consuming but necessary, because as great as it would be to just have people find you through twitch while you're streaming, it's just so easy to get buried under the dozens of other streams – especially the ones who already have a big following and are the first channels recommended by twitch to new viewers.

**What were some of your favorite moments on or off stream?**

Jordan's clips and social media stuff covers a lot of our favorite on-stream moments, but off-stream things that come to mind: bringing the cast into the new studio space when we finally had it set up (a very magical feeling), hanging with guests who had never played D&D before but were so excited to be here, listening to the cast debate combat tactics in major fights like the coldlight walker.

**How much of a mess are your campaign notes now as opposed to the beginning of the campaign?**

In all honesty, my campaign notes were way more organized by the end than at the beginning.  I hated having to go back and find references/information from the early episodes, because so much of it was just crapped onto a one-page word document where it was hard to pick out people, places and things.  Now I have a system that works pretty well – and the saving grace of a campaign this long has been searchable databases and being able to link between pages.

**What made you design and create the meddling gods? How did the party’s incidents with the gods so far expand on your original vision of them?**

I liked the idea of gods with varying degrees of influence over the world – some because they were benevolent, some because they were less interested, etc. – and the meddling gods came from an idea that at some point mortals made a bargain with the gods, where the gods that helped would be given a special connection to the material world (the party learned about this story in relation to Dimaasit) ... and of course they would go on to abuse this special connection.  The party was always shaping my vision of them – the way they talked about the gods and spoke to people in the world (Azvalder, Donovan Ainsley, the guys making the pilgrimage, etc.) helped me develop the way "normal" people in the world viewed the divine, and they definitely turned into a bigger existential threat to magic than I originally thought (due to developments in Orba's reaper storyline.)

**How often was there information just below the surface that you really wanted to share, but the players didn’t ask or went in a different direction? And can you share some of that missed information now?**

It happens all the time and it doesn't bother me too much because you can always sprinkle that information in later – or just think about how the party not knowing affects the journey going forward.  Some notable examples include clues relating to the "Mr. Two" murder investigation, information that the sea hag knew about Aswan and the Shade Assembly, stuff that Grahmari knew if Erland had talked to him when he saw him (as the party was breaking into the holding pens), etc.

**Does Matt ever slip into other voices in real life, whether NPCs from the game, or random assorted voices in the moment? I find myself exercising restraint to keep from going full bird and squawking about all the "FUCKING HUMANS!" sometimes...**

Jordan and I are doing voices all the time, usually bad impressions of characters from TV shows as we quote our favorite lines. These often turn into characters because they sound different enough from the real thing – also Jordan gets certain campaign quotes stuck in her head; the birds were it for a while, but recently it's been the ogres on the Mainsail saying "No!! I told you to be careful!" and "toss, toss, give him the toss!"

*Jordan’s Fun Fact: Anytime I'm trying to plug something in, I say.... "where's the hole?" (the salamander)*

**How well did the players utilize everything that you created, in terms of world-building?**

I would say they utilized it extremely well; they were always curious and thoughtful about the world around them and certain pieces of history or geography came up with regularity – some of which I had planned and some of which I had to make up on the spot. There were obviously places in Anti-Suyu they didn't get to explore, but the questions they asked various NPCs and guests helped me flesh out the areas we didn't see and gave them a kind of mythology which is always great – a particular place that comes to mind is Nolan's Woods, which the party never went to but feels like it looms large because of the events that took place there.

**Have you fulfilled your goals/aspirations as a DM and as a writer during this campaign, or do you still have this insatiable abyss in your heart that wanted to do more in *A Peak Beneath the Veil*?**

There's totally some stuff I would have loved to tackle in *A Peak Beneath the Veil*: The Underdark on the way to The Veil, some ship-to-ship combat as they ambushed the myconid extract vessel, returning to Mukmu to take on the Lemonade Man, etc. – but I think we did pretty well tackling the main through-line and it was a logical place to end for many reasons, given the campaign's length and the fact that a couple of cast members leaving meant some long-term storylines simply didn't have the same relevance they once did.