Adventuring with Dungeons & Dragons

[00:00:03] Michael Maldonado: Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to Weird World Adventures, the podcast. I'm your host, Mallory. [00:00:09] Malorie Mackey: And I'm your host, Michael. [00:00:10] Michael Maldonado: And we're here to show you just how weird this world of ours really is. Be sure to go to MallorySadventures.com to see our fun content every day. And you can watch Weird World Adventures on Amazon Prime. Season two is just a couple weeks away. [00:00:29] Malorie Mackey: Hopefully not even. [00:00:30] Michael Maldonado: Hopefully not even. [00:00:32] Malorie Mackey: I was promised it earlier. [00:00:34] Michael Maldonado: It's a lot to do. [00:00:36] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, you may have underestimated. [00:00:40] Michael Maldonado: I know I could have done it if I didn't have anything else going on. [00:00:44] Malorie Mackey: What else do you have going on? [00:00:45] Michael Maldonado: The world. [00:00:46] Malorie Mackey: The world. [00:00:47] Michael Maldonado: Well, we published three books this year, have another one coming out next year. And we filmed the show, which, I mean that wouldn't have gotten away because it's bit a little talking about. But then I have, you know, a full time job and a daughter. [00:01:04] Malorie Mackey: Yawn, yawn. What have you done for me lately? [00:01:08] Michael Maldonado: Wow. Speaking of. We're just, we're just winding down here because our daughter is a hyperspastic. [00:01:14] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Dance party. [00:01:16] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, dance party. All day, all the time. [00:01:19] Malorie Mackey: Pretty much. [00:01:20] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:01:20] Malorie Mackey: And neither of us dance. [00:01:22] Michael Maldonado: It's true. Plus we just opened a really cool special box of awesome stuff and something had broken in it and I bled all over everything. [00:01:31] Malorie Mackey: Immediately shredded your finger and bled over everything. [00:01:35] Michael Maldonado: Great, great. So, you know, lots of really great things happening right now. Mm. So speaking of lots of great things, I thought it'd be fun if we did more of a like mind adventure, the mind story adventure for this episode. And I'm talking about Dungeons and Dragons. [00:01:59] Malorie Mackey: Wow. [00:02:00] Michael Maldonado: Wow. So my absolute favorite D and D campaign of all time is Curse of Strahd. I love the Domains of dread. I think they're just wonderful. And it's because I love, I love like the old horror universes. So it's like, it's like related to that, you know, just, it's just hits that like gothic horror spot so well. So. Curse of Strahd has always been my favorite. My bestie, Jimmy and I have done Ravenloft together four times, I think. So we've committed to doing different thematic events with Ravenloft. [00:02:37] Malorie Mackey: Has he run it all four times? [00:02:38] Michael Maldonado: He has. [00:02:39] Malorie Mackey: So he's never played it. [00:02:39] Michael Maldonado: He's never played it. [00:02:40] Malorie Mackey: Okay. Has he ever played it? [00:02:43] Michael Maldonado: No. Oh, I know. [00:02:44] Malorie Mackey: Interesting. [00:02:45] Michael Maldonado: But he's like obsessed with Strahd von Zaravic. He really is like, so that's like. [00:02:51] Malorie Mackey: His thing, the dude's portrait. [00:02:54] Michael Maldonado: He did. [00:02:55] Malorie Mackey: He brought it over. [00:02:56] Michael Maldonado: I know. I bought that for him, though. But he. But he likes it. He has it. Yes. Mm. And I guess I will. First of all, I was very excited to have you get to, like, do Castle Ravenloft. It's one of the original D and D, like, mini adventures. I6 was like, you know, when there was just. They only had a few, like, number six. Like, i6. Ravenloft was one of the first ones. And it started out as just, you know, a mini, tiny adventure in Barovia. And then you're at the castle, which you could do in maybe, like, two days. And then Curse of Strahd. It didn't come out that long ago. [00:03:36] Malorie Mackey: I wouldn't know. [00:03:38] Michael Maldonado: I think it was within the last 10 years, I think, or like, 10 years ago. It was actually very recently that it came out and it expanded upon that world. So it wasn't just, like, Barovia and Castle Ravenlord. There's, like, you know, Vallaki. There's countless towns and adventures. And it became like, a big campaign in a book you could run. And I think if you rush it, you could do it in, like, 10 sessions, but it's. But you could take longer because it's an entire immersive world to explore, and there's so much lore behind it. And that hits, like, the anthropologist in me. [00:04:12] Malorie Mackey: Right. [00:04:13] Michael Maldonado: I need to know. You said that about Game of Thrones back in the day, because it has so much folklore and lore, and there's just everything in Castle Ravenloft is like a nod or a story or a hint that has, like, something more behind it. [00:04:30] Malorie Mackey: I know. I'm just giving you a hard time. I know you're obviously a huge fantasy junkie in general, although I just never had, really, the tabletop D and D experience growing up. Yeah, you have to have friends. [00:04:42] Michael Maldonado: You do have to have friends that want, well, nerdy friends. [00:04:45] Malorie Mackey: Womp, womp. [00:04:46] Michael Maldonado: You had friends. [00:04:46] Malorie Mackey: I had friends. [00:04:47] Michael Maldonado: You didn't have nerdy friends. [00:04:48] Malorie Mackey: We were cool. [00:04:49] Michael Maldonado: Right. So you didn't play D and D. [00:04:50] Malorie Mackey: And I was pretending to be cool. [00:04:53] Michael Maldonado: Right. [00:04:53] Malorie Mackey: To fit in. I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons, but all on PC. So I'm, like, very familiar with Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and Neverwinter Nights, and they're the. They're the same games, essentially. It just does it, you know, you don't need friends and you don't have to pretend to be cool because you can just, you know, get on late at night on my Gateway 2000 PC. [00:05:17] Michael Maldonado: Oh, my God. [00:05:18] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Remember that bad boy and like the cowbox or whatever it was. [00:05:21] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, yeah. [00:05:24] Malorie Mackey: I rolled a Paladin in Baldur's Gate 1 and he had like really cool, like slicked back hair. I brought his picture to my hair, my haircut woman, and said, make me him. He was also like dashingly handsome. And she was like, well, I mean, you know, I mean, I can only do. I'm not a miracle worker. [00:05:48] Michael Maldonado: Wow. [00:05:50] Malorie Mackey: And then I fired her. Find me someone who can make me handsome. Make me beautiful. [00:05:57] Michael Maldonado: It's funny, I played Neverwinter Nights, but the D and D campaign. [00:06:01] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, well, it is. I mean, the games are essentially the same thing. [00:06:05] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:06:06] Malorie Mackey: But the book is done on the, you know, the adventure is in the game, right? Yeah. And you recently watched me play the newly released Baldur's Gate 3. [00:06:15] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, I did. I loved it on console and I felt like I contributed a little bit when you were picking your spells and abilities. Because I'm like, oh, I recognize these, I know these. [00:06:25] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. There's a big gap in my D and D playing because I played in middle school and probably early high school on PC and then I got heavily into competitive real time strategy games. I was like a competitive Starcraft player mildly. I wasn't winning any national tournaments right now. I could hold my own in like a regional tournament. And yeah, my friend group was, you know, we were fake cool for a few years there in high school or, you know, we faked being cool, but it was a pretty nerdy group and we definitely would have secretly played. We played a lot of tabletop type stuff, but I don't know, for whatever reason, we just never did it. [00:07:07] Michael Maldonado: I feel like it didn't become cool until recently either. Like cool like, you know, like lame cool, because lame cool. Well, you know, like nerd cool. Because I know a lot of people that are older than us that played back in the day that are afraid to tell anyone they played and are still like, oh, I can't admit that I do D and D because there was such a stigma behind it. [00:07:28] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. There's the original like middle school, early high school era of kids that would have grown up in like, was it late 70s or when it came out? [00:07:38] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:07:39] Malorie Mackey: Stranger things. [00:07:39] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. And didn't like Satanic Panic, kind of like Target D and D? [00:07:44] Malorie Mackey: It was not bad. It was not looked upon. Well, I don't think. [00:07:47] Michael Maldonado: Right. [00:07:48] Malorie Mackey: Both nerdy and satanic panic, which is just imbecilic, but whatever. So, yeah, I think there's a general, like the first generation would have been stigmatized for playing. I Mean, played in secret, essentially. [00:08:03] Michael Maldonado: Got it. [00:08:04] Malorie Mackey: I think. I'm just. I'm just guessing, but I think there was some of that. [00:08:07] Michael Maldonado: Right, but what did you think for the first time, getting to do Ravenloft. [00:08:14] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, it was great. [00:08:15] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:08:15] Malorie Mackey: We did a very rushed version because we had one half session or half an evening. We had an evening to do Ravenloft. [00:08:24] Michael Maldonado: Which is like a quarter of the time you can spend in Ravenloft, maybe. Yeah. [00:08:29] Malorie Mackey: We went into it knowing that. [00:08:30] Michael Maldonado: Yes. [00:08:30] Malorie Mackey: And Jimmy's very good at tailoring. [00:08:32] Michael Maldonado: Yes. We had a time limit, so we had three hours to find the three items. So when you're fighting Strahd von Zaravec, there are spoilers, There are three items. Well, this is just like this. You get. You get your tarot card reading immediately. In Castle Ravenloft, you get. Madame Eva gives you your tarot card reading, and you get three items that can help you debuff Strahd. One's the Tome of Strahd, which is his, like, backstory and history, which we sadly couldn't even get to because it was in the same place that he was waiting for us to have the final fight. So you get that. You get the holy symbol and the Sun Sword. [00:09:12] Malorie Mackey: Right. [00:09:13] Michael Maldonado: And, of course, the sun sword you want first. The holy symbol you want. So at least if we had to miss one, it was the tome. It'd be very sad if it was the Sun Sword. And then it tells you where you're going to meet Strahd. And in newer iterations, you also get an ally. Like, so your tarot card reading sets up your entire game. And the cool thing about it is it's. It can be done to just Castle Ravenloft. [00:09:38] Malorie Mackey: Right. [00:09:38] Michael Maldonado: If you're only doing Ravenloft, but if you're doing Curse of Strahd, they stretch across all of Barovia. [00:09:44] Malorie Mackey: Oh, that's cool. [00:09:45] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. So. So there's gonna be, like. You would have to go to different cities on quests, like, find your pieces. [00:09:51] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:09:52] Michael Maldonado: And they're spread out anywhere and everywhere, which is exciting. And the first time I did it, you know, I used to. I like dd. I played all those campaigns, but I would always be working on my computer, kind of like half paying attention or doing something else. Early on, when Jimmy's like, you gotta play this cool game with me. And I'm like, whatever, Jimmy. It's dd. Okay. [00:10:13] Malorie Mackey: You know, too cool. [00:10:15] Michael Maldonado: Too cool. [00:10:16] Malorie Mackey: The girl I knew growing up wasn't cool. I was the cool one. Yeah. [00:10:21] Michael Maldonado: And Castle Ravenloft, like, it got My attention because of the lore. And I just like the strangely classic Dracula archetype, but it's also very flavorfully different. [00:10:40] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:10:40] Michael Maldonado: And you go in and you have to save the girl. Which we didn't even really do this time because we were so crunched for time. But, you know, the main, like, push behind Ravenloft is like, you know, he was in love with his brother's bride, as one does, obviously, and got really, really angry and obsessive about it and killed his brother on their wedding day. Tried to steal the woman. [00:11:10] Malorie Mackey: Some red flags, ladies. [00:11:12] Michael Maldonado: And she threw herself off the top of the castle. [00:11:14] Malorie Mackey: Nice. Nice. [00:11:17] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. And so I don't think I got that bit. Oh, yeah. [00:11:20] Malorie Mackey: The throwing herself off. [00:11:21] Michael Maldonado: I don't know. [00:11:22] Malorie Mackey: I missed that. [00:11:23] Michael Maldonado: She threw herself off the top of the castle. And, you know, then he's just angry and alone and cursed. And because of, you know, the acts of horror that he did, he gets trapped in the domains of dread in his own land. [00:11:36] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:11:36] Michael Maldonado: And the powers that be in the domains of dread, they're very cruel. And so, you know, his torture is just that she keeps coming back reborn over and over and over again. And every time he get. He could potentially get close, and then she dies, and he just has to keep watching. It happens. He never quite, you know, gets there. [00:11:57] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:11:58] Michael Maldonado: And so you're, like, saving the girl. And, you know, it's funny. This is my, like, kind of, like, nerd rant about this. [00:12:06] Malorie Mackey: Oh, now it's gonna get nervous. [00:12:08] Michael Maldonado: It has to be more inclusive. Like, back in the day, if a girl played, which was less common, which is crazy talk. If a girl played, she could be Irina. So you could. Your dm, you would not know. And your DM is like, well, you're the reincarnation of her and you're gonna be harassed. Right. So it started where they had a role for a girl if you wanted to, or if you were a guy and you were playing a girl, and. [00:12:35] Malorie Mackey: The role was to be harassed. Basically. [00:12:38] Michael Maldonado: Basically. [00:12:39] Malorie Mackey: Gee, I wonder why no girls. [00:12:41] Michael Maldonado: Well, he would, like, kill off your party first. He wouldn't kill you. I mean, it actually would help. Right. Because he probably wouldn't kill you. [00:12:46] Malorie Mackey: Right. [00:12:47] Michael Maldonado: So that's kind of where it was. And then when it got reborn in its new iteration, I feel like they tried to make it more inclusive and more PC in a weird. And in doing so, it kind of became less inclusive. I read the Curse of Strahd book after we did it. [00:13:08] Malorie Mackey: So they removed that idea because you don't have to be A girl to play a girl. [00:13:13] Michael Maldonado: Right. Well, so she's in it, but now you're just another adventurer saving her. They took out the part where that, like, you could be her, basically. And it wasn't like you would choose, like, the DM would just, like, choose, like, somebody to harass and they. So. So that part got removed from it. And then when you're reading the book, everything. I mean, I was actually bothered by this. Everyone's gentlemen, welcome to here. You're going to do this thing, gentlemen. [00:13:39] Malorie Mackey: And, well, it's written for their audience. [00:13:42] Michael Maldonado: And I'm like, whoa, what about the ladies playing it kind of just reneged on. Women don't want to play this. [00:13:50] Malorie Mackey: They probably got some marketing feedback, like, no woman has ever played this campaign, and it's been 20 years. Okay, well, we can just go with gentlemen, then. [00:14:01] Michael Maldonado: But, like, I don't know. I'm like. But it has, like, the lady flavor. [00:14:05] Malorie Mackey: Plenty of girls. Like, I'm just. I'm just. I'm just joking. [00:14:07] Michael Maldonado: I know. I know. [00:14:08] Malorie Mackey: Especially now. [00:14:09] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:14:09] Malorie Mackey: It's very. [00:14:09] Michael Maldonado: It's very kind of like. Like, dorky cool. [00:14:12] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:14:12] Michael Maldonado: To, like, DD and. [00:14:14] Malorie Mackey: Sure. Just keep telling yourself that. [00:14:16] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, right, right. [00:14:17] Malorie Mackey: Dorky cool. [00:14:18] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:14:18] Malorie Mackey: That's a thing. [00:14:19] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, definitely. And that. And it has its own form of Ramani, like the Vishtani. [00:14:27] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:14:28] Michael Maldonado: And I don't know. Jimmy went off on a rant later about how it kind of got a little bit, like, canceled because it was a little. Laura. [00:14:35] Malorie Mackey: Well, I don't think leaning into the. I don't even know if saying this is, like, considered not okay anymore, but, like, the gypsy look and aesthetic is acceptable anymore. [00:14:46] Michael Maldonado: It's that mixed with the fact that they were just purely evil. They were, like. They were, like, helping Strahd. It was that. [00:14:52] Malorie Mackey: And they're also the bad guys. [00:14:53] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:14:53] Malorie Mackey: That's not a good. That's not a great. [00:14:55] Michael Maldonado: But Madame Eva's not. So there's like, Like, She's. She's, like, an exception. [00:15:01] Malorie Mackey: And. [00:15:02] Michael Maldonado: And Esmeralda is an exception. [00:15:06] Malorie Mackey: Got it. [00:15:06] Michael Maldonado: But, like, overall, they were like the. [00:15:08] Malorie Mackey: And that was our girl for this. [00:15:09] Michael Maldonado: That was our girl. That's really. [00:15:10] Malorie Mackey: Esmeralda. [00:15:11] Michael Maldonado: That was. He. He said he picked her. I was like, good, because you can get really screwed in cursive strap with your. Your. [00:15:17] Malorie Mackey: She didn't do anything, by the way. I'll point out. [00:15:19] Michael Maldonado: She could have helped with that. I know she didn't. And she's supposed to be really powerful. [00:15:23] Malorie Mackey: I know. You were so excited when he popped her out. And I Was like, oh, we got a good one. [00:15:27] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:15:28] Malorie Mackey: And then she didn't do anything. [00:15:29] Michael Maldonado: That's because Jimmy kept forgetting about her. So in this world in Barovia, the Van Helsing character is Von Richten, because, you know, we're really creative with our names. So we got Von Richten. He's like iconic, famous D and D character. [00:15:46] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:15:47] Michael Maldonado: And she is his, like, protege. [00:15:49] Malorie Mackey: It's funny that I don't know that character. I guess the iterations I played don't have him in it. I do know plenty of the quote unquote famous D and D characters. [00:16:01] Michael Maldonado: He's covered specifically domains of Dread. [00:16:03] Malorie Mackey: Okay. Yeah. See, I don't think any of the ones I played involved the Domains of Dread, but Elminster Drist. [00:16:12] Michael Maldonado: Mm. [00:16:13] Malorie Mackey: They span. [00:16:15] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:16:15] Malorie Mackey: A bunch of games. [00:16:16] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:16:18] Malorie Mackey: Even the reference in this one I had is. Is in other ones. Kazam. [00:16:25] Michael Maldonado: Oh, yeah. [00:16:26] Malorie Mackey: He's in other. I mean, he's in other iterations. I wasn't super familiar, but I had heard of it. [00:16:32] Michael Maldonado: Had you heard of Azalin? [00:16:34] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:16:34] Michael Maldonado: Okay. Azalin has. He has his own domain of dread. [00:16:38] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:16:38] Michael Maldonado: So he's from there and there. So there's a book after Ravenloft, I guess, came out. There's a book called aistrad. And it's. It's his, like. It's him reflecting on everything that happened. Like, you're with him before everything happens and during it and then after. So it's like. It's like his whole history laid out. And it adds so many, like, perfectly wonderful details that are in Curse of Strahd, where if you go through the campaign after you read it, like, oh, that. Like, you wouldn't know otherwise. Interesting. I enjoyed it a lot. And it just had that super gothic horror edge. She abbreviated her first two initials of her name in, like, her author title. So you don't know. [00:17:21] Malorie Mackey: So you don't know. [00:17:22] Michael Maldonado: And I think that was intentional. And. But it was good. And then the second. [00:17:26] Malorie Mackey: She knows her audience, too. [00:17:27] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, exactly. Right. And the second, they did a second book that she wrote that was called the War with Azalin. [00:17:35] Malorie Mackey: Got it. [00:17:36] Michael Maldonado: And Aslan gets stuck in Barovia and is trying to get out and help Strahd get out, and they wind up like they're both just narcissistic assholes, so they wind up just hating each other. [00:17:48] Malorie Mackey: Got it. Okay. [00:17:49] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. But I. It just has so much interesting lore behind it. And we're talking about the. The Allies. [00:17:59] Malorie Mackey: Yes. [00:18:00] Michael Maldonado: So you can wind up getting no. 1 which happened to us the first time. [00:18:05] Malorie Mackey: Oh, yeah. [00:18:05] Michael Maldonado: That is a screech. It sucks. There's, like, children where you're like, well, this is a liability. Yeah, a liability. It is. Some of them are liabilities. Irena, who has no stats whatsoever. [00:18:18] Malorie Mackey: Okay. Just some trick. Yeah. [00:18:21] Michael Maldonado: And if you play the game right, you can actually release Tatiana's soul from Irena and, like, save her and get her out of the domains of dread. [00:18:30] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:18:31] Michael Maldonado: And if you do that, you lose your ally. [00:18:35] Malorie Mackey: Got it. [00:18:36] Michael Maldonado: So. So there's a lot of bad, noble thing. Yeah, exactly. Well, this might be a little spoilery, but I don't care. We did that the first time because I like. You get little hints. And I was like, I think. I think we need to do this. I think. I think we need to do this, guys. And I was a good character, so I pushed aggressively for it, and everyone else was hesitant. And then we did it. And you immediately get struck by lightning and lose. Like, I mean, it's an aggressive amount of damage. And two people died. [00:19:11] Malorie Mackey: Nice. [00:19:12] Michael Maldonado: Yep. And I didn't. [00:19:14] Malorie Mackey: You party wiped. Did you wipe them? [00:19:16] Michael Maldonado: No. No. [00:19:16] Malorie Mackey: You got him up? [00:19:17] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, we got him up. Oh, two people died. I stayed alive. [00:19:20] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:19:22] Michael Maldonado: Somebody else was alive. I don't remember who it was, but I do know that. That Mickey went down. I think our cleric stayed up. I think Pavlos. [00:19:28] Malorie Mackey: I was gonna say, you need someone with resurrect. [00:19:31] Michael Maldonado: Well, Pavlo was the Claire. Well, down is in, like, not, like, double damaged. Like, incapacity below zero. [00:19:37] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:19:37] Michael Maldonado: They went below zero. [00:19:38] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:19:39] Michael Maldonado: And. And needed a. [00:19:40] Malorie Mackey: So you can get it back up. [00:19:41] Michael Maldonado: So you can get him back up. But Pavlo, I think, didn't go down. And he was the cleric. [00:19:46] Malorie Mackey: Got it. [00:19:47] Michael Maldonado: But, I mean, my party turned against me in that moment. [00:19:50] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:19:52] Michael Maldonado: Well, they were supposed to be good. And I'm like, you guys are not playing to your alignment here. Come on. And our ally in that campaign was there's a werewolf. And that's another funny story. This was. This was pretty good. You're laughing at my nerdiness. [00:20:12] Malorie Mackey: I am. [00:20:13] Michael Maldonado: There's, like, a cave of werewolves. And we go in, and it looks like just like old werewolves and young werewolves, we could. We could definitely take them. Right. And we're like. Well, what's like, are they good? Are they gonna attack us? Like, we'll scry. We used scry. We had some way to scry. To, like, check and see and ask the powers that. [00:20:35] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:20:35] Michael Maldonado: Are they. Are they enemy or, you know, friend or enemy? [00:20:38] Malorie Mackey: The Augers. [00:20:40] Michael Maldonado: Friend or foe. And In Barovia, Strahd can just mess with your scrying so you don't get any actual answers. You get the answers he wants you to have. So he had messed with it and said that they were evil. So we went in and like, took them out. And then after the fact, found out that they were actually good guys. [00:21:01] Malorie Mackey: He annihilated them, elderly and children. [00:21:04] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:21:05] Malorie Mackey: Nice. [00:21:05] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:21:06] Malorie Mackey: Now he's the good guy. [00:21:07] Michael Maldonado: I know. And our ally wound up being the werewolf lady. I forget her name. I think it starts with a Z. [00:21:13] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:21:14] Michael Maldonado: But she was. And she was a great ally because you have a werewolf as an ally. And her husband is trapped in the dungeons of Ravenloft. So if you get down there and release him, he'll also join your party. So he had two werewolves. We're like, well, this is great. [00:21:28] Malorie Mackey: And she didn't know you murked all those other werewolves. [00:21:30] Michael Maldonado: I don't know how we got around that, but we did. [00:21:33] Malorie Mackey: Just don't go back to the cave. [00:21:34] Michael Maldonado: Before we finish this great charisma roll. Yeah, maybe we'll just heal them all and pretend like it's fine, you know, whatever. Something happened there. But yeah, there's the dragon. [00:21:49] Malorie Mackey: The dragon. [00:21:49] Michael Maldonado: Zargonvalst. I forgot his name. The dragon. [00:21:52] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:21:52] Michael Maldonado: And you know, there's a whole town that's like, dedicated to him and his warriors. There's where they make all the wines. There's these creepy witches that bake children into pies. [00:22:08] Malorie Mackey: Thematically witchlike. [00:22:09] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, exactly. It just has all the wonderful classic elements of gothic horror. [00:22:16] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:22:16] Michael Maldonado: And come to find out, the domains of Dread, you know, they span through these different stories. So we played Heroes of the Mist, which was like a. It was a bunch of one offs hopping the different domains of dread. [00:22:32] Malorie Mackey: Got it. [00:22:32] Michael Maldonado: And the first one was Mask of the Red Death. And so you're in a masquerade. I know, I love the Masquerade. You're in a masquerade and you can't commit faux pas. [00:22:44] Malorie Mackey: Hey, we should do an episode on Masquerade and the Phantom. [00:22:48] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:22:49] Malorie Mackey: And then maybe Eva Perum. [00:22:52] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Did we ever do a Masquerade episode? I don't think we did. [00:22:56] Malorie Mackey: We went to Masquerade and talked all about it, didn't we? [00:22:58] Michael Maldonado: Did we talk about it afterwards? I gotta go back and look. I don't know if we talked about it. [00:23:02] Malorie Mackey: I was trying to be funny. I knew you, but now I actually don't know. [00:23:04] Michael Maldonado: Uh. [00:23:04] Malorie Mackey: Oh, I just assume you tell me about it so often, as if I wasn't as If I wasn't even there. [00:23:10] Michael Maldonado: Paper faces on parade. But yeah. So if you commit faux pas, you can be killed. So the whole time you're trying very hard to not commit faux pas, and there's, like, a list of things you can and can't do. It's very fun. And they're more interactive and less fighty. [00:23:25] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:23:25] Michael Maldonado: The Second World is, like a weird theater world where they're putting on this, like, passion play, but it's a bunch of werewolves, and it's very cool. There's a world with Frankenstein. [00:23:39] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:23:40] Michael Maldonado: There's the mummy, though. I think there was two. Two of them in the Mummy. Then there's two in Ravenloft or in Barovia. [00:23:47] Malorie Mackey: Now, is this the Mummy? [00:23:49] Michael Maldonado: The Mummy. [00:23:51] Malorie Mackey: What year? [00:23:51] Michael Maldonado: Emo to E. 1999. [00:23:53] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, that edition. Emo T. The 1999 mummy in the Domains of. [00:23:57] Michael Maldonado: I wish it was. Well, I was. I think I was playing Eevee. Oh, come on. [00:24:00] Malorie Mackey: So wait, for the whole thing? [00:24:04] Michael Maldonado: Yes. [00:24:06] Malorie Mackey: I don't know if we can mix lore like that. I don't know if I can be in support of that. You're playing, like, a DD iteration of Gothic horror, and you choose to be Evie o' Connell as your whole character for all of it from the 1999 Mummy. I don't know if I can get. [00:24:27] Michael Maldonado: And we were allowed sidekicks, and Rick o' Connell was my father. Oh, stop. [00:24:29] Malorie Mackey: Stop. I can't be a part of this. This is not. [00:24:32] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, no. Well, we would choose fun, new, like, ways to play with Ravenloft because he done it so much. Right. And the first time, we just did it like normal. Create your characters, play Ravenloft. The second time, we're like, we need a theme if we're gonna do it differently. And we actually chose Buffy. And Jimmy had just watched Buffy and was all in. Right. And so he. He changed Ravenloft so epically to be so perfectly Buffy. And he made his own storyline around it. And he changed characters in Ravenloft to be Buffy characters. And the level of intensity he took that to. I was so proud. [00:25:12] Malorie Mackey: You have been talking at me about Buffy since you were maybe 10 years old. I love that change. [00:25:21] Michael Maldonado: That's what dove me into the nerd culture, was Buffy. [00:25:24] Malorie Mackey: I mean, I remember you talking at me and Adam when you were in elementary school with Marissa. Just not to us. At us. Because I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never seen it. We had no interest in seeing it, especially at that age. [00:25:40] Michael Maldonado: I know. [00:25:41] Malorie Mackey: And you just. Buffy for Hours. Well, I remember my grand. You went on a rant about it to my grandparents. I mean, you had to be 10, maybe 11. I mean, maybe not even. Right? And they have no, pardon my French fucking idea what you're talking about. And they're just, you know, nice grandparents smiling and nodding at this just lunatic 10 year old just spewing just nonsense. I'm sure it sounds like to them just complete gibberish. The words are English, but the sentences have no meaning. And they're just smiling and nodding like. [00:26:22] Michael Maldonado: Uh huh, uh huh. [00:26:23] Malorie Mackey: So who's this little girl you brought home? Marissa. [00:26:26] Michael Maldonado: I distinctly remember going to Nag's Head with you guys. And me and Marissa, I had just gotten the season two Buffy DVDs and we like were watching season two Buffy in the beach house at Nag Fed. And I don't know, there's a thing where like, she's like, mom, I'm a vampire slayer. And she tells her mom, she's a vampire slayer. And you and Adam were like, adam, I'm a vampire slayer. I think I remember, Michael, I'm a vampire slayer. And you guys just started making fun of us non stop about it. [00:26:57] Malorie Mackey: I mean, you had it coming. [00:26:58] Michael Maldonado: Wow. [00:27:00] Malorie Mackey: And I'm still hearing about it. You didn't learn your lesson 30 years later. [00:27:05] Michael Maldonado: I will say we. Someone had to play Buffy when we did this raven thing. And I like, she's actually not really my favorite character. I think she's kind of a butthead. But nice, nice PC. Yeah. [00:27:18] Malorie Mackey: After I just dropped the other. [00:27:19] Michael Maldonado: She's a bitch. [00:27:20] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:27:21] Michael Maldonado: But we needed a tank and I never played a tank. And I was like, yeah, I'll play Buffy. And it worked out because with whoever everyone else picked. And we were. We went up to one of the rooms and we ran into a robotic person, right? And I'm like, oh, it's Piddlewick. Right. And I was like, oh, what does it look like? And Jimmy's like, it looks like you. And he incorporated the Buffy bot. There's like a Buffy robot. At one point he incorporated it and like replaced Piddlebick with a Buffy bot. And he did things like that where I'm like, oh my. [00:27:55] Malorie Mackey: You explain. You say that as if I'm supposed to have any idea. It looks like you. You know, from Buffy. No, I don't. No idea. What? The references. [00:28:05] Michael Maldonado: He made Spike Escher. So like, he took characters that existed and made Buffy characters out of them. [00:28:12] Malorie Mackey: I stand by my assessment that Buffy doesn't seem like she would be the tank character. [00:28:18] Michael Maldonado: She is. [00:28:18] Malorie Mackey: She seems like she would be the melee DPS character. [00:28:22] Michael Maldonado: She's agile, but she's unbelievably strong. Just full brute strength. [00:28:26] Malorie Mackey: But if you. What stat was her. What's her primary stat? [00:28:29] Michael Maldonado: Strength? [00:28:30] Malorie Mackey: Is it really. See, I would have guessed Dex. She seems like she'd be a dexterity damage dealer. [00:28:36] Michael Maldonado: High dex. But strength would be the higher stat because. So in the lore of the Buffyverse. [00:28:42] Malorie Mackey: Not sure. I love it. In the lore of the Buffyverse, this is really derailed. I know, but we're going into this now. [00:28:48] Michael Maldonado: A girl was imbued with, like, demonic essence way back when to make like her the warrior against the demons. [00:28:55] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:28:56] Michael Maldonado: And then in every generation, one dies, a new one's born. And it's just, like, a lineage that goes through. So she's just, you know, it goes to her, and she's just freakishly strong and agile and, like is, like, made to tank a fight. [00:29:11] Malorie Mackey: See, I still think strength and high dex would be the DPS damage dealer, and strength and constitution would be the tank. The tanks actually don't usually do that much damage. They're there to take the damage. That's what I'm trying to say. She seems like I have no problem sending her the warrior. But she's the DPS warrior. That's how it strikes me. She's like, the killer, right? Yeah. She's the damage dealer. She kills the demons and stuff. Right. The tank is like, I'm gonna absorb the damage. [00:29:46] Michael Maldonado: She kind of plays both roles. She absorbs the damage and she destroys. [00:29:49] Malorie Mackey: She's just op. [00:29:51] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:29:51] Malorie Mackey: That's overpowered. [00:29:52] Michael Maldonado: Well, she is. Because in the world of Buffy. I know, but she's the only one that has power. [00:29:57] Malorie Mackey: I know. I understand. [00:29:58] Michael Maldonado: But everyone else is just, like, regular people. At least in the beginning. [00:30:03] Malorie Mackey: I do need to note also that I tend to be a pretty big purist about these things. I don't think I'd be down for the revamped Buffy verse. Like, I don't know, even for something I have no interest in. Buffy. But even if you did it on something I like, I like to keep my fantasies in their separate world. I'd have to be like, no, we're doing Raven. We're gonna roll a character, and we're doing it right. [00:30:29] Michael Maldonado: The third time we did it, we were monster hunters. And we wanted to choose classic monster hunters from literature. Right. Or like. Or just like. Or film. Or just, like, just iconic, like, monster hunters. [00:30:42] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:30:42] Michael Maldonado: And there aren't very many female iconic monster hunters. At least not Any that I liked. I mean, the closest me and Jimmy even got to was, like, Mina, but she's not a fighter. I mean, like, she's not gonna be helpful at all. She would be int. But, like, what else would exist there? Right. [00:30:59] Malorie Mackey: Right. [00:31:02] Michael Maldonado: So we kind of got caught up. [00:31:04] Malorie Mackey: How many are there? [00:31:05] Michael Maldonado: Not very many. We wound up. That was why I picked Rick and Evie o', Connell, because I was like, well, the Mummy. I'm gonna take my people, and we're gonna do this. I really couldn't think of that many. Like, classic female monster hunters. [00:31:21] Malorie Mackey: But she's not a monster hunter. [00:31:23] Michael Maldonado: No, but Rick is, and I just made. [00:31:27] Malorie Mackey: He's a mercenary. [00:31:28] Michael Maldonado: We made him a gunner. [00:31:29] Malorie Mackey: That's fine. [00:31:30] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, he shoots lots of pistols. [00:31:32] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, but you didn't play him. He was your sidekick. [00:31:35] Michael Maldonado: He was my sidekick. I just did a crossbow. [00:31:39] Malorie Mackey: I don't know if I like that. She was a crossbow user. [00:31:42] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, no, she's an artificer. [00:31:44] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, well, she's a. She's a caster. She's a librarian in the. Yeah, she should just be there with a book. A tone. Oh, you see? You even misrolled the character. Oh, I can't. I can't get behind this. I just. Well, she doesn't use a ranged weapon in the whole movie. I don't think. [00:32:01] Michael Maldonado: She does. [00:32:03] Malorie Mackey: She's got a book. That means she's a wizard. [00:32:07] Michael Maldonado: All right. [00:32:07] Malorie Mackey: She is a wizard. [00:32:08] Michael Maldonado: All right, all right. [00:32:09] Malorie Mackey: You should have played a wizard. [00:32:10] Michael Maldonado: All right, all right. Tush touch. [00:32:14] Malorie Mackey: Well, in this, for a warlock, she rezzes the she res. Don't they accidentally rezz the mummy? [00:32:19] Michael Maldonado: Yes, they sure do. The book. [00:32:22] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. So there you go. You could have rolled her as a warlock, and it would have kind of made sense. [00:32:26] Michael Maldonado: What harm ever came from opening a book? [00:32:29] Malorie Mackey: That's right. Yeah. [00:32:30] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:32:30] Malorie Mackey: That is. Yep. [00:32:31] Michael Maldonado: Yep. [00:32:31] Malorie Mackey: That is the line. Thank you for knowing it. [00:32:34] Michael Maldonado: You're welcome. This version was kind of cool because Jimmy changed it so much that we had an hour to find each of the items to take down Strahd. And we really did a great job experiencing each level of Ravenloft to, like, at least a minimal extent and making it in the time constraints. I think we did a very good job with that. We took out the tower, which is the heart, which helped us tremendously. Debuffing Strahd, that was exciting. Our first campaign into Ravenloft, we did that. And then you get swarmed by, like, vampire spawn and the halberds or whatever that start attacking you. And Jason was a wizard, and he got knocked off. [00:33:21] Malorie Mackey: These are your friends? [00:33:22] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, my friend Jason got knocked off of the stairwell and thrown all the way down to the bottom. And he took that damage and was like, oh, my God, I'm still alive. And was like, a sigh of relief for three seconds before Strahd just, like, showed up and just killed him good. Yep, yep, yep. Like, dragged him through the wall. Well, that's no bueno. And we got to run into Piddlewick. And I like that because. So there's this derpy toy maker in Barovia named Blinksy who makes, like, creepy little monster toys. But he's so happy and fun, right? And he has a monkey that's, like his, like, sidekick that, like, helps him with whatever. And when we did that the first time through Mickey, one of my friends that was with me was like, I need this pet monkey. And we're like, you just take the guy's monkey. He's like, I need this monkey. So he's like, well, if you get me, there is a robotic man in Ravenloft, so if you get me this robotic man, I'll trade you for my monkey. And so then we went and we did our, like, dinner with Strahd, because classically, like, if you're doing the full campaign, he invites you to, like, a nice, civil dinner in Ravenloft where he kind of lays out the rules of how things are going to go. And we're definitely friends. Here's some presents for besties, you know, that kind of thing. And while we're there, I don't know, we wound up playing a game. Was it Taroka? There's, like, a card game in there that we played against him in one. Piddlewick. Okay, so Piddlewick is his, like, little robotic jester. And then we traded him for the monkey. And I would like to point out that Mickey continually used that monkey as a decoy to try to get it killed. I'm like, man, we went out of our way to get you that monkey, and. And you're trying to kill it every single time we play. [00:35:12] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:35:13] Michael Maldonado: Yep, he was that guy. But Piddlewick's fun in that lore, because Piddlewick was the jester. And, you know, he was. He was the one that kept everybody amused at the castle. And they built, like, the little toy version of him for funsies, like, to go with his act. And the toy didn't like that he was getting all the attention, so he pushed him down the stairs and killed him. Nice. Yep. So murderous little toy. Nice. [00:35:40] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:35:41] Michael Maldonado: And I like that it came in like. Make sure you give it applause. [00:35:44] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, it's Victorian Chucky. [00:35:45] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, Victorian Chucky. Just appease him. As long as you're happy. And that was. He came in and threw us a bone because Jimmy knew where the Sun Sword was and we definitely didn't. And he's like, well, I'm just gonna lead them to that one. I like his dming style. Because he knows what you should know and you responsible for what you should know. He's not going to throw you any bones. But if he knows that, well, you're not going to know that. He'll throw you a bone and kind of guide you to where you need to be, which I appreciate. So we got to explore the tower. We got to get our ally. We found Esmeralda. [00:36:18] Malorie Mackey: Did nothing afterwards. [00:36:19] Michael Maldonado: She did nothing. She was with us the whole time and she did nothing. [00:36:22] Malorie Mackey: She's completely non contributory. [00:36:25] Michael Maldonado: We got to go through some of the upstairs. We found the wedding room from the wedding. The cursed wedding that was to be, never to be. Womp, womp. And then we got to, you know, the chapel. We accidentally moved through the chapel to get up on the tower. And I'm glad we did that because I completely forgot the icon of Ravenloft lives in there. And the second we walked in, I'm like, oh, I'm glad we're here. We're taking that. And Jimmy has, like hand printed, like 3D printed models of all of these items. Yeah. Which makes it very fun. Yeah, yeah, but. And then we went, you know, obviously made our way down to the cellar and the graves down there, the catacombs. And there are, I want to say, like 50 crypts down there. [00:37:14] Malorie Mackey: It was a lot. [00:37:14] Michael Maldonado: It's a lot. And every other time I've played, we've gone through every single one to loot them, because somebody in the party is like, I must have all this gold. [00:37:23] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:37:23] Michael Maldonado: And some of them are tricks and some of them have great stuff in them. [00:37:29] Malorie Mackey: What would be the purpose of the gold that late in the campaign? [00:37:33] Michael Maldonado: You don't always have to do it that late in the campaign. [00:37:35] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:37:36] Michael Maldonado: So the first time we were just doing it and we wanted to complete the entire cast. [00:37:40] Malorie Mackey: Sure. I understand why you see it all. [00:37:42] Michael Maldonado: The second time we played full Curse of Strahd. Not Ravenloft, but Curse of Strahd. Strahd invites you to dinner around the third, fourth, fifth adventure. It's some. It's somewhere early enough where you're still, like under level five. [00:37:59] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:38:00] Michael Maldonado: And it's early and you're, like, allowed free reign of the castle to kind of, like, poke around. Yeah, but you don't want to go. You don't ever want to go into the room where you're supposed to fight Strahd. [00:38:13] Malorie Mackey: Sure. [00:38:14] Michael Maldonado: That's gonna start the end of the game. [00:38:15] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:38:16] Michael Maldonado: So you have to avoid that, but you can go anywhere. So we were at the dinner with Strahd, and they invite you to stay the night in the castle, and then you leave. And so while we're there, we're like, well, we know there's a bunch of great stuff downstairs. [00:38:30] Malorie Mackey: Now that we're here for the night, I'm gonna loot 50 crypts. [00:38:32] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Okay, so we did that. So you can. And we also just now out of game, know that there's a wish blade in there, and that's the most broken thing there. So if you have the time to find the wish blade, and you can do some great stuff with that wish blade. The first time we played, we didn't do the crypts until the very end, and we found the wish blade, and we're like, what do we do with it? And it was Pavlo, my friend Pavlo, who said, I wish we knew the castle as well as Strahd did. So then we just knew everything about the castle. That was great. The second time, we were a little more salty. And we brought back Sergey to fight Strahd, his brother that he murdered. We brought him back. [00:39:16] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:39:16] Michael Maldonado: So that was fun. Yeah, it was fun. And, yeah. So you got to do a little bit of all of it. And I got you that staff of power. [00:39:26] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. I do have to say I had an epic opening round. [00:39:32] Michael Maldonado: You did. You did. We have to talk about that. [00:39:35] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:39:36] Michael Maldonado: I've seen three great counter spells in D and D ever, and that was one of them. [00:39:43] Malorie Mackey: That's right. That's right. [00:39:45] Michael Maldonado: That is right. Strahd tried to hardball caster fireball the entire party immediately. [00:39:50] Malorie Mackey: The classic opening D and D move, both tabletop and PC, is just always mage or whatever your caster that can get fireball is. Get him to move as quick in the turn order as possible so no one else has moved. And immediately cast the most powerful fireball you can into the cluster of the opening cluster of enemies. And I've cleared endgame fights with just a single cast of it, basically. [00:40:22] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:40:22] Malorie Mackey: So he tried to pull that on us. He did. [00:40:24] Michael Maldonado: He did. [00:40:24] Malorie Mackey: And I counterspelled it. You counter you with a crit. Yeah. A critical success. Counterspell right off the bat. [00:40:33] Michael Maldonado: Yep. [00:40:33] Malorie Mackey: And I followed it up with a successful, almost max damage lightning bolt out of the Staff of Power. [00:40:40] Michael Maldonado: It was great. [00:40:41] Malorie Mackey: That was pretty good. It was pretty good. [00:40:43] Michael Maldonado: It was epic. And everybody really stepped up in that final fight. [00:40:47] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:40:48] Michael Maldonado: I mean, that was your mom. [00:40:50] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, my mom was playing. [00:40:51] Michael Maldonado: His mom played with us and had no idea what to do. [00:40:54] Malorie Mackey: No gaming experience whatsoever. [00:40:55] Michael Maldonado: She had no idea what to do. She was the paladin. She kept missing with that Sun Sword. But, like, Justinia's gotta hit him one time. [00:41:01] Malorie Mackey: I know. [00:41:02] Michael Maldonado: Never hit him with the Sun Sword. She never hit him with it. No. The radiant light got him, but she never hit him with it. [00:41:07] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. And then my. Well, I guess we can get there at the end. [00:41:10] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. And then she just kind of was like, oh, I have this thing, like, divine Insight. I should use this. And we're like, you should use that. And she made that call herself. And then we knew where Strahd was because he always goes invisible. [00:41:25] Malorie Mackey: I was hoping to counterspell that with the second spell slot. [00:41:28] Michael Maldonado: Yes. Yes. [00:41:30] Malorie Mackey: But, yeah, I wasn't in range at the time. [00:41:33] Michael Maldonado: No, I know. That was unfortunate. But, yeah, that was. [00:41:36] Malorie Mackey: Although there's some. There was some theater of the mind. There were some definite dimensions going on there. We didn't have the. [00:41:42] Michael Maldonado: I don't think Sergey's crypt is that big. Let's be real. [00:41:46] Malorie Mackey: I was hoping to get both counters pulled off and just. [00:41:48] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:41:48] Malorie Mackey: And, you know, in the game. [00:41:50] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. But, yeah, everybody contributed and did the right things and it worked and we had our. It was like a little. It was. The stakes were high enough to be scary. [00:42:02] Malorie Mackey: I almost went dead. [00:42:03] Michael Maldonado: You almost died. And you had been bitten, so you would have died, like, you would have, end of game died had you gone below zero. So the stakes were there. [00:42:11] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:42:12] Michael Maldonado: But we made it. [00:42:14] Malorie Mackey: And the finishing attack was my imp. [00:42:19] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, that's right. Getting off radiant damage. [00:42:22] Malorie Mackey: Getting off a sting with radiant damage. [00:42:25] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:42:25] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:42:26] Michael Maldonado: You took out Strahdmon's there. [00:42:28] Malorie Mackey: It didn't do anything. The whole game. [00:42:29] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. But that one moment I was hesitant to even use. [00:42:33] Malorie Mackey: I was like, do I use the M to attack or do something else? Because I was just assuming it wasn't going to land the hit, you know, it doesn't. [00:42:40] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, you crit that. [00:42:42] Malorie Mackey: I crit that, too. [00:42:43] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, you're all about the crit. [00:42:45] Malorie Mackey: And he got off. He got the hit off. It was radiant damage and that was it. [00:42:50] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:42:50] Malorie Mackey: It was enough to kill him. [00:42:51] Michael Maldonado: Yep. That was great. Yeah, it was. It was. It got more and more intense of the time limit ran out. And that last, like, fight was great. Great. [00:42:59] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, it was great. [00:43:01] Michael Maldonado: So I. My. My only sadness was that you guys didn't get to, like, bring in a lot of the lore. I felt like kind of a. More of a nerd while we're going through stuff. I'm like, I know what this is. I know what this is. I know what this is. Oh, I know what that is. Oh, that's sad. And, you know, we had the time. I felt like an asshole when we went past the dungeons. Like, you hear a cry for help. And I was like, well, normally you would do that, but we're out of time, so we're not gonna do that. [00:43:26] Malorie Mackey: Sorry. [00:43:27] Michael Maldonado: Bye. That was the werewolves husband. [00:43:30] Malorie Mackey: Ah, got it. [00:43:31] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:43:32] Malorie Mackey: Well, you murdered the whole cave, so I know. Maybe it's better off. He doesn't know. [00:43:38] Michael Maldonado: It's true. It's true. But, yeah, that was. It was a lot of fun. I'm really glad that we got to do that. I want you to read I Strahd because it's very good. [00:43:47] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:43:48] Michael Maldonado: And there's a lot of really fun lore in Curse of Strahd, and it has ties to classic horror, and it has a lot of mythology in itself, which makes it really exciting and key characters and fun surprises. Yeah. And I also love that the Skeptical Inquirer, like, the whole community loves D and D. I know. It's so great. [00:44:12] Malorie Mackey: Unabashed. It's a lot of unabashed nerds. [00:44:15] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. And our. [00:44:17] Malorie Mackey: Some old school nerds, too. That would have been. [00:44:19] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Like, when, like, we have to hide. [00:44:20] Malorie Mackey: Release of D and D. Yeah. Stranger Things era. [00:44:23] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. Yeah. The guy, Daniel Reed, that, like, shares our cover this month for our cover article. He wrote a piece on Stranger Things, and he was, like, the first person to comment on, like, oh, did you meet Van Richten? Did you take out Strahd? Did you do this? And I'm like, oh, I like you. It's not his first radio at all. You know what they actually did, too? House on Haunted Hill or House on Griffin Hill. House on Griffin Hill. They did a sequel adventure to Curse of strahd to i6. So. So there was another one that came out that was like. Like, spooky London, Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing. [00:45:01] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:45:01] Michael Maldonado: Where, like, it's like, scientist Strahd. It's like, Strahd in London, and he found a way to separate out, like, the evil vampire from, like, the good in him. Like, the good person. So there's, like, the good, nice, noble Strahd and the evil vampire side, and they become two entities and you're, like, trying to stop the evil Strahd. It's. It's really interesting. [00:45:22] Malorie Mackey: What if I'm evil and I want to stop the good Strahd? [00:45:25] Michael Maldonado: There's a lot of that in Curse of Strahd. I will say my. My complaint with Curse of Strahd is for some reason, it brings out the worst in people. And the reason I like it so much is because he's very manipulative. And if you have a good DM that really understands it, that's smart enough to work through it and you're playing it long enough, he'll use your characters, like, strengths against you. And he, like, he picks that, like, the prideful person. He'll, like, try to tear their pride apart. And, like, he has something that he tries to do to each person to, like, tear them down psychologically. So it's very much like he's just psychologically trying to break every person there. And it's very personal to, like, who your character is. And there was a point to this. I lost the point. What did you ask? Oh, man. There was a point at one time, but. Oh, there's people. [00:46:20] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. [00:46:21] Michael Maldonado: That don't play it well or that do. And it's a very easy campaign to, like, tear parties apart. I have heard of so many instances of pvp and Curse of Strahd. Because if you're playing Strahd, right, you're trying to get the party to turn against each other. [00:46:37] Malorie Mackey: Sure. [00:46:37] Michael Maldonado: And you might bargain, like, well, if you, like, work with me, we'll do this. Or, you know, and people will, like, I'll work with you, Strahd. Like, they try to ren. They become Renfield. Like, I want to be your slave. Right. [00:46:49] Malorie Mackey: Like, but once you're PvPing in a game of D and D, that's. You're done. [00:46:53] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, well, that's when the game ends. [00:46:55] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, of course. [00:46:56] Michael Maldonado: So there have been so many games, like, Alex tried to run one. Our friend Alex and the party turned against each other. And, like, one of the guys tried to go behind the party's back to work with Strahd. And that's not the first time I've heard that. I mean, like, it's a good campaign to rip a party apart and turn it into PvP. So I feel like it's a very not finished game. [00:47:21] Malorie Mackey: A friendship killer. [00:47:22] Michael Maldonado: A friendship killer. It's very. [00:47:25] Malorie Mackey: Or a marriage killer. [00:47:26] Michael Maldonado: Oh, yeah. [00:47:28] Malorie Mackey: Stab you in the back next time it'll be over. [00:47:30] Michael Maldonado: It's very mainstream. So, like, it was really popular recently, so everyone wanted to play it, even if they didn't know much about D and D. So it got played aggressively and it didn't get finished often because that, like, I mean, you know, it just tore people apart, too. My party turned on me almost when I hit them with lightning. [00:47:52] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, well. Yeah, you started it. [00:47:54] Michael Maldonado: Well, I did the right thing. We saved the girl, Michael. [00:47:59] Malorie Mackey: Let her die. [00:48:00] Michael Maldonado: Wow. Anyway, I feel like that was a lot of fun. I'm glad you got to experience your first grade of Ravenloft and you got to take out Strahd and do an epic counter spell. Yeah, I know all the things. [00:48:11] Malorie Mackey: All the things. [00:48:12] Michael Maldonado: It was pretty great. It was very good. But, yeah, this fun. We have to do more D and D soon. [00:48:19] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, yeah. Be good. [00:48:20] Michael Maldonado: That'd be really good. Thank you, guys for tuning in today. I'm your host, Mallory. [00:48:26] Malorie Mackey: And I'm your host, Michael. [00:48:28] Michael Maldonado: And until next time, everybody stay weird. [00:48:30] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. Yeah.