Delving Deeper: DM Stu

Watch the video on our YouTube channel:Dissonant Whispers Age of Magic - YouTube

Welcome to Delving Deeper with Oleander Hawthorne, where we have meta game discussions about our characters, events in the game, the world, or even just to demand of someone "What the hells were you thinking!?"

In this episode we chat with the Man of the Hour, The Bringer of Emotional Trauma, and Crafter of Our World: DM Stu.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Welcome to a distant whispers interview. I have our DM Stew. I'm Oleander Hawthorne, and I thought we'd get to know him a little bit better. So, first of all, DM Stu. Please tell me, uh, where did this campaign start? What gave you the inspiration for this campaign? Uh, the the world, the storyline, any goals that you had to begin with?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Um, well, if Fury itself was created through my previous Dungeons ⁇ Dragons group where we decided to take a world that we built ourselves and meld it with the world of Forgotten Realms. When you play Dungeons and Dragons, it's basically it's set in Forgotten Realms World, which is a world that's created in our storyline books and with Dred Stewart and the Halfling Gem and all that stuff, and and we decided to just kind of meld them together so that we could create a totally different vibe. And when that campaign ended, we decided to create uh Ferior Age of Magic, which was a hundred years after the cataclysmic event of Astan the Vile. So that's kind of how we created, that's how I created the world that we're playing in right now. Which, so it's essentially Forgotten Realms, just I have the creative right to do whatever the hell I want with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

I like Astan the Vile. I just think it's a fun name.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, he was the Bag May in the last campaign.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Alright. And within your games, uh what or within your world even, what is the balance you like between standard rules and homebrew?

SPEAKER_00 2:06

I like a healthy mix of about 50-50. Standard rules are great, and uh they're the whole foundation of what keeps Dungeons Dragons 5th edition working well. If you don't play by the standard rules, then you fall into chaos when it comes to trying to decide what to do during a game. The only time I'll ever bring in homebrew rules is when I am creating a character that is specific to the storyline that matters that doesn't exist. Or an item, right? So if we have a character that wants to have a specific item that does a specific thing, then yes, I'll create a homebrew rule for that. But for the most part, I'll stick with um the DD 5th edition rules. I try not to bend them too much because you know I get called on it quite often.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Now he says that, but at the same time, every single one of our characters has a homebrew uh essence to them that he has accommodated, which I find really fun. So we do get our characters, but at the same time, anytime we we want something, especially if it's a very flavorful aspect, we just talk with him and uh he's found a way to incorporate that into any of our characters, whether it's by um snacks it end or original intent.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

I think that what a lot of DMs have to remember when you're playing Dungeons and Dragons is that your whole purpose in that game is to create fun atmosphere for the players. That is why you're there. You're not there to fight with them, you're not there to make their lives hell, you're not there to hurt them, you're not there to make them have a bad time. And while sometimes that does kind of happen because arguments happen and all that kind of stuff, disagreements occur, your main goal is to make sure that everybody's having a good time and that everybody walks away feeling fun and feeling they achieve something. So that's my whole goal, right? So if somebody wants something, I'll build it for them, and that's kind of the plan. If I ever fall short of that, then I have to make up for the next session.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

And so far he has not been falling short of that because we have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of trauma. Like he he does the worst things to us, and we love it.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

It's pretty terrible.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Really bad.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

It's a good way to wear through personal trauma is by inflicting trauma on characters in DD.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

I shall traumatize my friends now.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, you guys are gonna go through the same crap I go through.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yep. Alright, uh, what is your favorite homebrew content that you have added to your rules or story or style?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Oh, I think without a doubt, the ink is the best thing I've created in this campaign. It's so versatile, it's so uh it adds so much depth and conversation to everything, and there's a lot of controversy on it. Half the team likes it, half the team doesn't like it. It's basically like the cilantro of the DD world. But uh, you know, I'm a great way of saying it brings it brings like a lot out of characters, it brings it it also dampens them quite a bit. Like it it is the essence of the term with great power comes great responsibility because you are given a great power and a great ability, but if you don't wield it correctly, it will corrupt each you and destroy you, and that's what we're learning in this long drawn-out dungeon crawl.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah, and with the with the ink specifically, even characters that you've you've got characters that like it and don't like it, and then you've got players that are not the same as the characters that either really like it or really don't. Uh, there's there's a weird mixture when the player really likes something and their character just is very much against it.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah, it's hilarious. It's like a fracturing of souls when it comes to that, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

It's good.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Yeah. So then you have to try and find a way to make your character interact when you don't want to.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Um, what is your favorite moment pre-recording?

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Pre-recording? Yeah. Uh well, there's been a few. Um I think one of them was for me when Delphine met Lord Theron at the ball, and it was folded turned into a full domestic between you know Delphine and the DM, and we were yelling at each other, and so we're having a lover's quarrel. Uh, and for those of you that don't know Delphine and and uh Lord Theron, they go back into Delphine's history as previously been engaged, where Delphine walked away from the engagement and left Theron at the altar. So he's a little sour, he's a little hurt, and he is uh very spiteful, but they have mended their ways and are a little closer now than they were before. But that was one of my favorite moments because it was a totally random happenstance. Theron was created because Delphine rolled a really high investigation check at a party to see if she knew somebody, and I just conjured him up out of thin air, and he ended up being a pretty staple NPC that causes a lot of hatred. I mean, Druken doesn't like him at all.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

No, Drunken hates him. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite thing about that uh incident was you know, you just you'd have everybody going along trying to create the story, and then you have two people that have just entirely forgotten the entire scene around them and have just dove right into the role play, and the rest of the group, we're all just sitting there slack-jawed and in shock during this very passionate moment. It was it was really good. I really wish that we had that on video, that would have been amazing.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Well, I'm pretty sure that when we have further um conversations or further encounters with Lord Theron, I mean if he's still alive, that uh there'll be it'll be coming back. You can't kill him when we're not there. I feel like I can do whatever I want. No, he can't kill him when we're not there. I can do what I want. The DM, I can do what I want.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

I'll do what I want. Alright, um, how do you deal with conflict? In-game or out of game. Either players or characters.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Oh, in-game I love it. In-game, I just let it develop itself. Like when you're playing a DD and there's a conflict between characters in-game, that's the meat and potatoes and fole play. That's that's what you want. The conflict outside of game, that's a tough one because you know players will get their feelings hurt or feel like they're not being acknowledged or listened to. But I think what as a player, what what all players have to remember is that DM is only one person and DM is only human. And he can't or she can't abide by everybody and accommodate everybody every single time that there's something that's coming up. And we have to remember that, you know, in our campaign specifically, we have six different people at this table that want to be heard, that want to have their moment in the sun, that want to have their time. And if we were to do that for everybody, our podcast would be seven hours long each episode, just so we could get through everybody, right? So sometimes you gotta take a backseat, sometimes you gotta just shut up and let what's happening happen and wait for it to go. But you know, uh, for me how I deal with it, I get angry. I get pissed off and I start yelling, and that's not the right thing to do, but sometimes you gotta tell everyone to shut up so you can move on, otherwise you're never gonna get to.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Uh overall, I think that uh you've done pretty well with uh I I mean, yeah, character conflict. They just do their things. But yeah, I I think you've done pretty well with uh player conflict because, like you said, you know, sometimes people just need to get past their shit.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Just need to shut up and play.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yeah. Sometimes we need that reminder.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Shut up and play the game.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yeah. And um I I have a very important question.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

How many world-ending plots is too much at one time?

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Never enough. It's never enough. I mean, if you look at the world that we live in right now, there's many different things that'll destroy us. You know, climate change, impending war, racism, prejudice. You've got, you know, murders and all that kind of stuff. You've got people doing harm to each other, and there's tons of different things that can make the world a horrible place. And so it's not, I don't think it's beyond the realm of understanding that in a world where there's magic, that there can be magic disasters, that there can be, you know, impending doom, that there can be people that are using it for evil. Like it's it's it's almost endless. And because we live in this world of DD and magic, it's to me, I think that there could be a lot of things that could destroy the world, and that's what makes a hero a hero, though, is overcoming obstacles, and the more obstacles, the greater the hero.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

It makes a lot of dilemmas, um, you know, we we don't always want realism, we don't want to have to choose between all of the different horrible things, but yeah, it definitely brings an element of realism to it.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

You'll never have you'll never have growth in a character if the character doesn't go through trials and tribulations throughout the campaign. And one of the things that has been the joy of me being the DM is that our players are willing to undergo massive trials and tribulations for character growth, and the character growth because of that has been pretty awe-inspiring, and it's been great to see and great to watch, even from some of the players that I never thought that I would get that depth of a role play out of. I'm seeing change. Um, I'll give you an example would be uh Drax. I never thought that I would get an engagement out of a player like Drax, but he has literally decided that he doesn't want to create Mr. Drax if he's just gonna die because he has grown attached to him and grown feelings, and yeah, that was kind of what I was shooting for with that, and I didn't expect it to go as well as it did, but it didn't.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Yeah, I was kind of impressed with that actually.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

I love it. Yeah, it's great. It's a it's one of the better character developments of this entire campaign, was Drax.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah. Are there any things that you would like to add? Any tips or just fun facts or any anything about the world that you would like to uh that does that doesn't get brought up in game that you don't get to talk about normally.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Oh, oh, spoilers you mean? Is that what you're doing?

SPEAKER_01 12:17

No, not I mean I would love spoilers. You can give me spoilers.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

I can give you spoilers.

unknown 12:22

Spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

No, just anything that you don't because uh within the game, we are playing and it's all about the characters, but you don't get to talk about your world. You don't get to point out the you know so many so many aspects that may never get brought up.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

That's true. Well, I think for the people out there that are following along the podcast and kind of following along with the story, just remember that what you're hearing and and what's going on with our characters, that is just one part of the story. There's an entire world that's going on and suffering and existing outside of what our characters are seeing and doing, and so things are changing, the world is changing, the climate is changing, the political climate is changing, cities are being destroyed, people are dying, and you know, when they come out from wherever they are, they're gonna have to deal with the consequences of the choices that they may or may not have made. And that's how I've always DM'd. I like that. I like that there are real-world consequences to every decision, and I think that you know, if our listeners are enjoying it, there is some pretty heavy stuff coming. So stay tuned and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

All right. Well, thank you very much for taking time with me.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Steve.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

And thanks everybody for watching.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Take care.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Thanks for joining us. Hey, if you're enjoying the tale, maybe it was a like, a follow, leave a comment, or whatever it is that you're listening.