Episode 132 - Mailbag Spectacular!

Since we were down a DM, the most important person at a gaming table, we decided to take all of your wonderful questions and put them to the cast for in depth discussion and review. It was a fun way to get inside the heads of the PCs and find out all of their opinions. Thanks for writing in! If you question was not picked, it is because we ran out of time. Hopefully we will do it again sometime in the future.

## **Q&A**

*NOTE: All name spelling should be taken with a grain of salt. I am mostly guessing, although I tried to find people on Twitter and what-not.*

* Question 1:
	+ Beth Gavin asks: "If some PC were to die, what would your next character be?"
		- Jennifer: Something very different, but probably a controller.
		- Bachmann: Would try to play Steve full time.
		- Nika: Has an idea, but wants to keep it secret.
		- Tim: An overly inquisitive artificer, with gadgets.

* Question 2:
	+ Christian Proulx asks: "Is there a possibility that Nika DMs a 3.5 edition Random Encounters series?"
		- Bachmann: No!

* Question 3:
	+ M. Scott Anderson: "If you could take over one of Michael's NPCs, which one would you play?"
		- Tim: Winston.
		- Jennifer: One of the cat-folk of Drunkeros Madagascar.
		- Nika: Ros, but then kill herself
		- Bachmann: Zird the Arcane

* Question 4:
	+ "How much reading do each of you do when it comes to the DnD books? I basically only read the PHBs then reference what I need from the others."
		- Bachmann: None.
		- Jennifer: Not a lot, just her sections.
		- Tim: Reads a lot.

* Question 5:
	+ Christine Hasselburger: "When are we gonna find out why Daisy has her crazy donkey powers now?"
		- Tim : They already know why that happened.

* Question 6:
	+ Christopher Shawn Thompson: "Will Aludra and Jaela just fuuuuuuck already? I feel like the reason Jaela's so angry all the time is she needs to vent all that anger into angry sex."
		- Nika and Cheek: Maybe they already are!

* Question 7:
	+ Paul Ramirez: "Would any of you guys play a character made by a listener if one of yours dies?"
		- They like making their own characters, but maybe for a shorter, Random Encounters bit.

* Question 8:
	+ Joesph Le casse: "What's the best way to get into DnD? Also, how do you get your significant other into the game? Also, what is the best race/class to start as for a beginner?"
		- Tim: Start a DnD podcast!
		- Jennifer: Find a group of friends who play, and ask them to help. Also, for significant others, try to break their negative stigmas of it, if they have any. Like listening to a podcast!
		- Tim again: For therace/class thing, race doesn't matter. But the class, just don't be a wizard.
		- Nika: Fighters and Rogues are the easier classes.

* Question 9:
	+ Russ Dudan: "Any chance of a Switcheroo episode where everybody has to play another cast members' characters?"
		- It could be a lot of fun!

* Question 10:
	+ Kat Kirstener: "Of the Random Encounters series, what has been your favorite system? Whis is your favorite world or theme? Which has been your favorite character to play?"
		- Jennifer: Fiasco! and Shadowrun. Basically, eveything but Gamma World.
		- Tim: Firefly in the Fate system.
		- Jennifer: favorite character, Sarsaparilla and Temerity
		- Bachmann: favorite character, Woody Southpaw
	+ Also asks, "For Dnd, how much do you guys house-rule it? What's your favorite rule and least favorite rule? For any episode, do any of you have a favorite move or ability for your current or past characters from any of your session?"
		- Nika: Least favorite rule is, whatever Nika wants she doesn't get.
		- Tim: Favorite rule, sometimes Michael will have them roll once, instead of many times, to speed things up.
		- Nika: Favorite move/ability, Jaela's demon-binder.
		- Tim: Harper's old thing where he could turn into lightning.
		- Jennifer: Aludra's Zone of Blood and Grit.

* Question 11:
	+ Adam Bucksten: "If Tim were in a totally dark room, and the only noise was Ros speaking, would he kiss her?"
		- Tim would, but Harper would not.

* Question 12:
	+ Victor Stayrin: "What are your favorite DnD moments?"
		- Bachmann: The story of Sir Bearington.
		- Tim: The time he was trying to kill some pixies, and it was very hard and they were all drunk. Also, the time they were fighting enemies that were weak to radiant damage, which they didn't have, so a random friend shows up and joins the campaign to help them out. And then the time Thom cut off Thokas' head.
	+ Jennifer: The time they fought the kraken. Also, the "Okay, Bye!" goof.
		- Nika: The first time they met Luccan. Also, the time she played 30 level characters.

* Question 13:
	+ Ed Barkley Hanson: "Do you guys prefer 4e or 5e?"
		- Everyone: 5e!
		- Except Nika, because she liked Jaela in 4e better than 5e.

* Question 13:
	+ Cory Deal: "Do you have a plan for the end of the campaign in mind? A final plot point, or are you more fluid?"
		- Michael knows where he wants it to end, and has the big story beats plotted out, but the players will probably ruin it.

* Question 14:
	+ Alex Praeda: "How far ahead are things planned? Does every NPC have their own stats, in case someone (Thom) gets a bit stabby?"
		- I think the audio skips forward here for some reason, so I'm not sure what the response is. Based on everyone's reaction, I would guess that every NPC has their own stats, because Michael assumes the players will fight.

* Question 15:
	+ Justin6 in the chat: "What's the most challenging thing about being a DM? Player? Which do you prefer? And what do you wish you could go back in time to change/prevent?"
		- Nika: They are both fun in completely different ways. Seing players interact with NPCs you've created is really gratifying.
		- Tim: Sometimes you can forget to give players information since you know everything.
		- Jennifer: wishes she could re-create Aludra knowing more about DnD.
		- Tim: As a player, the hardest thing is doing what the player must do for the sake of the game, instead of what the player would do, realistically.

* Question 16:
	+ Slammer of Jams: "If the current campaign ends, and you guys start over, with new characters, would you continue in Drunkeros or start fresh? Also, new Fiasco! when?"
		- Dunno? Maybe in Drunkeros, but in the future, or the past?

* Question 17:
	+ Michael Chalky: "When will Tim and Nika kill Ros?"
		- They're working on it.

* Question 18:
	+ Mark G: "Did Nika consider multiclassing to get something closer to her previous class?"
		- Yes, but she would have had to fall behind in some things in her main class.

* Question 19:
	+ Ninja Bob: "Do you regret naming the podcast Drunks and Dragons, just because it's incredibly hard to get sponsors for anything alcohol or drug related?"
		- Yes.

* Question 20:
	+ Joshke: "Will we get Harper family flashbacks? Maybe some brother-to-brother bonding/feuding? Will we get a chance to see more Jaeludra dates? Will we get to see the proper Thom and Harper date? Who can drink and eat more, Aludra or Thom? Does the team still have any Silverweed Oil left? Is Harper addicted? Will Harper find a replacement Arcane love interest? If the five of you were assigned yourselves a Marvel movie Avenger, which would you pick for yourself? If you could relate your PC to an anime character, which would you be? Do any of you accidentally become your PC while at work? What are your favorite character moments for a PC other than yours? Michael, do you randomly generate trivia for your NPCs off the cuff ~~of your head~~, or start preparing it for a little bit?"
		- Michael: The most he will do is a few bullets, because it's good to be loose with things
		- Jennifer: Would be Black Widow/Scarlet Witch, but actually, it's Captain America
		- Nika: Jubilee, but that's not an Avenger, so...
		- Tim: Moonstone, and probably no Harper family flashbacks, probably no Thom/Harper dates, Aludra could outdrink/eat Thom.
		- Surprisingly, Jennifer doesn't answer the anime question.

* Question 21:
	+ Jazz Shaw: "How have you run this long, and only managed to kill one character?"
		- Michael says TPKs are a fun goof, but usually a bad idea, unless it's more fun that way.

* Question 22:
	+ Brad Brockway: "What do you consider metagaming?"
		- Nika: A reasonable thing that her character would not understand, but did something about it anyway. Min-Maxing is not Metagaming.

* Question 23:
	+ William Gary: "Will we see the Jaeludra wedding?"
		- Maybe!

* Question 24:
	+ The Nika Fan Club: "Do Pegasi even exist in Drunkeros"
		- Michael said yes, but Jaela will never have one.

* Question 25:
	+ Scale E: "In the event of a full-scale alien invasion, how prepared do you think this planet's defenses would be?"
		- Zero, none. Earth or Drunkeros, probably same, although Drunkeros might have magic defenses.

* Question 26:
	+ Eric Fahey: "What's your favorite Hanson song?"
		- MmmBop.

* Question 27:
	+ Noodzer and Mike Urban ask: "What's your favorite ice-cream flavor?"
		- They already answered this question, in Episode 98 - Mail Bag-O-Thon, and they pretty much answer the same way, but Jennifer adds Coffee Oreo ice cream.

* Question 28:
	+ Jesse Rude: "Tim and Jennifer, what's the best thing about playing with your significant other? And the Worst?"
		- Tim: Best is sharin moments together, and talking about it.
		- Jennifer: There's no negative!

## **Trivia**

* Jennifer and Nika imply that Jaela and Aludra have already had sex
* Tim really didn't like not having his character's memories when they first started, because it made it difficult to roleplay.
* Bachmann's power went out, removing him from this episode.

***SPOILER WARNING***

* Question 1 is interesting looking back in the year 2018. Jennifer Cheek *does* end up playing someone very different, Mike *does* play Steve full time after some false starts, and Tim plays an overly inquisitive wizard.

## **Quotes**

**"I don't even read the PHB, bro!"** ~ *Mike Bachmann*

## **Rolls**

* **Who goes first? (d6)**
	+ Bachmann - 5
	+ Jennifer - 6
	+ Tim - 1
	+ Nika - 4