“ ‘Do you guys think the Gods
were scared, when people
looked to them?’
‘If they weren’t, then they
weren’t doing it right.’ ”
- Not Another D&D Podcast
Emily: I have a stupid question, because I don't really eat cereal except for Fruity Pebbles on Christmas. Uh--
[Everyone laughs.]
Murph: Moving on.
Jake: So you do love the Flintstones!
Caldwell: Right! Yeah, as god intended.
Murph: Moving on.
Emily: (shocked) What? Are they Flintstones related???
Murph: Of course!
Caldwell: (yelling) What?!
Jake: (yelling) What?!
Caldwell: Emily!! (laughs)
Jake: No! No!
Murph: Emily, they're on the-- they're on the box. That you have. In our home.
Emily: (yelling over him) I only eat them once a year! I-- (laughing) eat them once a year!
Caldwell: (laughing) what are you…
Jake: Impossible. How did you not know that?!
Murph: And the Flintstones are on it!
Emily: (still yelling) I don't fucking make--
Murph: (yelling) Surely-- surely--
Caldwell: (laughing) It… what do you mean?!
Emily: --what's on my cereal box!
Murph: Surely you've watched television once! In the past 40 years!
Emily: Yes, I have! (laughing) I have.
Caldwell: Wha-- do you like pour the box and then instantly put it away? Are you not looking at the box while you're pouring it?
Murph: They're all-- Fred and Barney are all over that shit.
Caldwell: They're all over it.
Emily: (calmly) I have a very… (laughs)
Murph: They're Pebbles. Flintstones.
Emily: My… my attention is precious to me and I gift it only to the things that deserve it. (laughs)
Caldwell: He named the cereal after his daughter, don't you understand?
[Emily and Jake laugh.]
Emily: Well, so I didn't know that context! So that went unnoticed by me.
[Caldwell sighs.]
Murph: Moving on.
Jake: Insane.
Emily: Anyways, um, do they still-- so since I only really eat that like once a year, do cereal, like-- is cereal still going nuts with mascots?
one of the things that makes me go so insane about hardwon surefoot is based entirely in jake’s “misunderstanding” (his words) of how dnd worked when he started playing at the beginning of c1.
jake thought he was creating a hero, who had been a hero for a while. hardwon, therefore, believed himself to be a hero before and when he arrived in moonstone.
as jake learned the game, hardwon came to the realization that heroes were more complex, and slowly stopped believing he was the hero. instead, moonshine and bev and balnor and so many of their other friends they met along the way were heroes, and he was along for the ride with them.
but. but. it came at a cost.
hardwon stopped believing himself to be a hero so hard that here he is, 200 years later, thinking that his friends don’t need him because he’s not a hero. they're the heroes. he's just a guy who went along with them for the ride.
his confidence only comes back because they’re in trouble. he’s not a hero to himself, not anymore, but he’s never stopped being a hero to them.
and none of that could have really happened in a way that was narratively interesting (at least, not to the extent it has) if jake hadn’t started out with the mindset of creating someone who was already a hero.
and that's why this game, and this show, is so beautiful.
After listening to Twilight Sanctorum again, I think it is perfect. It is 4 episodes long and it is a masterpiece. Emily delivers such a creative story and world filled full of Axfordisms and pitch perfect film noir tropes. Murph’s character is such a quintessential Murph character—his wife is gone and he’s sad about it and his life sucks. (“I’m 71 years old!!”) Caldwell is a perfect Caldwell character—a weird lil guy who is into crafts. And Jake—well Mavid is the literal worst, makes the worst choices and has to be begged to do anything. And he is so goddamn funny. The trauma and dysfunction is handled so well. The atmosphere and setting is so well done. Emily even manages to weave in a toxic wlw relationship, which is so Emily and definitely on theme for film noir. It’s gritty. It’s messy. It’s hilarious. it’s emotionally impactful. It’s perfect.
definitely the reason that murph is on brennan’s side for the yaaaathqueens/yathmag debate is from the number of naddpod bits that caldwell/jake/em go in on that he doesn’t even understand
if you wanna listen to naddpod you should know this about the hosts: brian murphy is a straightman to his inner most core and he's the funniest person alive, these things exist simultaneously and would not exist without the other. emily axford is clinically insane to a point where it's easier to not try to follow her logic when she says things. jake hurwitz is a certified cool guy but he's the biggest loser in a room of nerds playing dungeons and dragons. caldwell tanner can only be described as exactly what a 1930's cartoon describes as a rascal. three of them are a throuple and the fourth is their boss.
Murph: We’ve actually had conversations about how Emily thinks that maybe me and her aren’t soulmates, but her and Bowie, and also her and our stray cat, Stevie, are soul mates? [laughter]
Emily: Stevie is a soulmate.
Jake: Are those painful conversations? [laughter] Where Emily feels more cosmically connected to the stray cat--?
Emily: I just don’t think that humans are necessarily soulmates. Because we talk to each other and our personalities are so--
Caldwell: Okay.
Emily: But like, animals are so instinctual.
Murph: I think Emily’s like, we kind of chose to be together, but like--
Emily: Yes.
Jake: Which is nice.
Murph: Her and the cats are star-crossed.
Caldwell: Gotcha.
Emily: But these cats just came into my life and chose me in a way--and their personalities aren’t as complex as humans. So they can’t be mitigating their own destinies all the time.
Murph: It’s less of like, being devastating and more of like, I do a verbal doubletake. [laughter] Where Emily will say something like that, and I’ll say, “Wait. Did you just say that I am not your soulmate, but several cats are?”
I was listening to One Big Bed something about the fact that Jake’s voice comes through so strong and this was his first game ever and it made him love DnD is making me emotional