#geek and sundry days

[brainrockets]

The WBN sub reddit shared this delightful video of Taliesin Jaffe giving Erika their first undercut. It is both hilarious and heartwarming.

[ashleyjohnsonoftheday]

Day 515

[rainbowcaleb]

guess I'm the only person who actually liked watching the friends hanging out and playing silly games? :'(

[eddiethegiantlibrarian]

I can't be the only one with a fondness for this moment in time and fan culture. I was a former homeschooler with so little nerd culture but so much hunger for it and G&S was a very welcoming gateway for me to games, shows, and community. @wilwheaton @geekandsundry @thisfeliciaday

[puzzlenation]

RPG Actual Play News Roundup!

A lot of cool things are happening in the actual play RPG scene these days. For the uninitiated, actual play games (also known as liveplay games) are when a party of roleplaying game enthusiasts share their gameplay for viewers. Some of them simply record a regular session around the table, while others create sets, graphics, and expend a fair bit of coin on their production values to enhance…

[cringefaecompilation]

WHAT YEAR IS IT

[beautyarchive]

Felicia Day learning to pole-dance in an episode of 'The Flog' (2015).

[daggersandarrows]

wait ok no offense to the op but i NEED more options on that poll so:

[deramin2]

Critica Role actually make a perfume challenge.

Taliesin already talked about scent design was something that fascinated him and the perfume commercial parodies date back to the Geek & Sundry days.

[road-rhythm]

I love your SPN fic so much that I think I’d get into any new fandom just to read your fic for it. I notice you write for Critical Role, but I have no idea what this is, where this media is, or how to get into it. Is it something you watch? Something you listen to? Do you think you can give a brief summary of why you like Critical Role and its characters, and how one should go about consuming this media? I’m curious what made you get into this particular media after writing exclusively for SPN so long. I’d love to be able to read and understand your Critical Role fic, so any navigation for how you think this media is best enjoyed would be helpful.

Nonny, you know how to get me. I cannot pass up an excuse to try to get more people to watch (or listen to!) Critical Role.

As Matt Mercer would say:

"Welcome to Critical Role, where a bunch of…nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons!"

And, well, yep. That's what CR is. It's a stream of professional voice actors playing DND.

You do not need to play DND to enjoy the show. A lot of fans do--hell, a lot of people started playing because of CR--but maybe just as many fans don't.

There is a lot of CR, and a lot about CR. Getting into it for the first time can be overwhelming, so I'm going to try to streamline what I say about it here.*

(Try.)

Where to find

You can watch Critical Role videos on demand on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@criticalrole

Alternatively, you can listen to Critical Role as a podcast. CR is its own podcast now, but you'll find the early episodes under Geek and Sundry's Critical Role, a separate podcast. LMK if you have any issues finding it.

Campaign 1 has also been adapted into an animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina. But for reasons I'll explain below, this post focuses on Campaign 2. An animated series is in development for that, too, but I don't think we have a release date yet. Due to the different medium, there are likely to be substantial differences from the original story, as there are between C1 and LoVM.

Finally, you can find all things Critical Role on the dedicated platform the cast launched last year, Beacon. They do have trial memberships available, but if you're brand-new to the show, checking it out on one of the free outlets probably makes the most sense.

Where to start

There are a lot of Critical Role episodes, and yes, they are long. The average is probably something on the order of 4 hours. If you're reading that and thinking, "No way in hell I ever fuck with that," all I can tell you is, the first time I heard of it, I thought the same thing.

Because CR is a dnd game rather than a scripted show, it's broken up into what are called campaigns instead of seasons. There are 3 so far, usually abbreviated as C1, C2, and C3.

I highly recommend starting with campaign 2 (C2), The Mighty Nein.

>>>>> Watch it on YouTube <<<<<

C2 is where I'd recommend any CR newbie start. For one, C1 picks up in the middle of an ongoing game and had various production issues in its very early days, because it's a project that gradually took shape. But the biggest reason is that the cast intentionally crafted C2 to stand on its own.

The second campaign takes place in the same fantasy world as the first, but on a different continent and 25 years later, with entirely new characters. The cast wanted people to be able to watch it without having seen a single episode of C1, and you can.

And a reason why I would recommend that you, specifically, Nonny, start with C2, is that all of my Critical Role fic is for C2. C2 is my fucking jam. I love the characters, I love the story, I love the setting, I love this stupid fucking show so much oh my god

What it's about

When you've got a show that runs for hundreds of hours per season, there will be a lot of answers to that question. But roughly, and with an intentional emphasis on what draws me to CR given the context of your ask:

Campaign 2 is the story of a disparate group of adventurers who eventually come to call themselves the Mighty Nein. (Mighty Nein--difficult to translate that faithfully from the original Zemnian! Some translators have suggested "the Big Nope"; others, "the Hard Pass." Both have merits.)

The seven members of the party come from different nations, cities, and backgrounds on the fictional continent of Wildemount, but they first converge in a small town in the strict, powerful, and insular Dwendalian Empire. After an adventure there upends what stability some party members once knew, they all decide to stick together.

At first, each is mostly concerned with their own agenda, and traveling with the group is just a convenient way to pursue that. But things begin to shift when the party witnesses a catastrophe they don't understand--something frightening, dangerous, arcane; something for which they have no context--and suddenly the Dwendalian Empire goes to war with its eastern neighbor, the Kryn Dynasty. Borders start locking down, the party find themselves holding a mysterious artifact that powerful people will kill for, and all they know for certain is that what's happening is bigger than they are.

Because it's a dnd game, CR's story is heavily improvised and collaboratively told. That doesn't mean there's no direction or intentionality to it, but it does mean that it's sprawling and expansive and sometimes turns on a dime. I love that about it, personally. As someone who was brand-new to dnd when I got into the show, I cannot express the way my mind got blown. But if you're looking for a tight, crystalline narrative, for sure this is not that. Then again, if you made it through any amount of SPN, that probably is not a deal-breaker for you.

Who it's about

The members of the Mighty Nein are disparate. Some are happy-go-lucky; some are shifty motherfuckers. Some are literal vagrants; some were born to privilege; some come from places with a class system so different that they can't be easily sorted into such boxes; some don't even know where they're from. All of them have a metric fuckton going on under the surface, but it's not always under the surface because they have Big Secrets or even secretive personalities. I mean, sometimes it is that. But sometimes, it's just that they're people.

The character I write the most about is probably Caleb Widogast, the party wizard. Without straying too far into spoilers, here is how Liam O'Brien, Caleb's player, introduces his character in c2e1, "Curious Beginnings":

LIAM: I'm pretty filthy. I have a mess of reddish-brown hair, and really filthy road clothes. I wear a long coat that I slept in. I slept about 20 hours last night. Jeez. Unshaven, a bit of a mess…. It was a rough day yesterday.

Or, as Caleb himself puts it a couple episodes later:

LIAM: I'm a dirty hobo and I reek like yesterday's garbage.

Why is a literal, actual wizard who does literal, actual magic a hobo who sleeps in ditches? Read Watch and find out!

Here's Caleb's starting portrait (level 2):

The character I probably write the second-most about, by a slim margin, is Beauregard Lionett, the party monk. Here's how Marisha Ray, Beau's player, introduces her character in c2e1:

MARISHA: Simple girl, simple needs. Just wearing nice, baggy clothes, some monk vestiges. They're in nice blues and greys. You notice I have a blue sash around my belt. Got a nice shave going on, little undercut. Looks like maybe I put on makeup two days ago, and I'm like, "Yeah, it's still holding up. It's fine. I can work with that."

Why is a literal, actual monk hanging around taverns in two-day-old makeup acting like a shit-kicker? Read Watch and find out!

Here's Beau's starting portrait:

Caleb and Beau have a contentious, complicated, loving, infuriating, brother-sister-like relationship that leads to them sometimes being dubbed the Empire Siblings in fandom and makes me personally insane.

There's another character you may see me write about a lot, too--Essek Thelyss. But Essek is an NPC, and his first appearance isn't until almost 60 episodes in. Since he first appears so far in, I won't get into spoilers. But he is a significant presence in the campaign.

Critical Role is also about the cast having fun. That's an unavoidable, distinctive part of telling a story by playing a game. So everything is happening on (at least) two levels at any given time--in game and out of game. There's a net of relationships and interpersonal dynamics between the characters in the foreground, and a set of cast dynamics and interactions in the background. I'm not very interested in the CR cast beyond the story they're telling, but I still enjoy the vibe, and that is a big part of the draw for me.

CR is also canonically queer as fuck.

And the credit music fucking slaps.

What the fuck is happening why are so many dice rolling what are these numbers oh my God what the fuck

Like I said, you don't have to play dnd to enjoy the show. Here are a few basics I knew going in that I think did help me, and may help you. (If you know this stuff already, apologies.)

The cast consists of 7 players, each of whom plays a single character (PC), and 1 Dungeon Master (DM), who narrates the game and plays all the non-player characters (NPCs) the players encounter.

Characters belong to certain adventuring classes. Each class has different abilities, strengths, limitations, and so forth. Some rely mainly on casting spells, others on physical abilities (in or out of combat).

As the party gains experience and progresses toward its goals, player characters advance in levels. In general, 5e dnd offers player levels from 1 to 20. At level 20, your abilities are near-godlike; at level 1, you might lose a fight to a chicken. Campaign 2 runs from levels 2 to 15.

Much of what happens is determined or influenced by dice rolls. E.g., if a player tells the DM that they want to try to pick a character's pocket, the DM will tell them to roll a die to see if they succeed (and if they get away with it).

Combat is turn-based. If a fight breaks out, everyone involved will roll initiative to determine in what order they act, and then each will take a turn in that order. Combat continues through multiple rounds until the conflict is resolved (which doesn't always mean killing the enemies).

If you're interested, the specific gaming system used is 2014 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Why should I spend a billion hours watching this?

For one thing, it's really good.

For another, you don't have to spend a billion hours watching it. Though I eventually wound up watching most episodes, my first run through the campaign was listening to the podcasts. I don't watch a ton of TV or movies because I am absolute shit at paying attention to anything for that long if I can't move or at least do something with my hands. I first listened to the vast majority of C2 in the car, doing chores, or walking outside. (I also listened on 3x speed, but that's personal preference in how I process audio, generally.)

For another, it has a delightful fandom with, bar none, the most insane volume and variety of fanart I have ever seen. (Some of which people drew for a fic of mine and I still can hardly fucking believe my luck or the sheer amount of talent in this fandom????? what the fuck) Like, be careful of spoilers if you can, but man, oh, man, the hours I spent searching up CR fanart just before bed back when I first got into the show. I'll never be over it.

For another, it's really good.

------------------------------------------------

* Yes, I know I'm leaving out a lot, but this post is already so much longer than I meant for it to be. Please feel free to add things in the comments, but don't come for my ass because I omitted [detail], or [character], or [thing]; I know

† Case in point: yes I know session 0 was a thing but close enough

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

For every $10 you donate to World Central Kitchen, you will be entered in a raffle to win one of the autographed scripts listed below. The more total donations we receive, the more scripts will be made available as prizes.

Current Prizes:

2.12 "Nightshifter" - Blue Draft (signed by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki at Salute to Supernatural: San Francisco 2023) *It's missing the last page so we'll include the episode outline

2.21 "All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One" - Blue Collated Draft (signed by Jared Padalecki at Creation New Orleans 2023)

3.07 "Fresh Blood" - Network Draft (signed by Jared Padalecki at Rhode Island Comic Con 2022)

3.14 "Long-Distance Call" - Production Draft, Blue Revisions (Production Draft signed by Jensen Ackles at Creation Las Vegas 2023)

7.03 "The Girl Next Door" - Production Draft, Blue Revisions, Pink Revisions (Production Draft signed by Jared Padalecki at Salute to Supernatural: Nashville 2022; Jensen Ackles at Creation Charlotte 2023)

8.16 "Remember the Titans" - Production Draft, Blue Pages (Production Draft signed by Misha Collins at Creation Dallas 2023)

8.18 "Freaks and Geeks" - Production Draft, Goldenrod Pages, Salmon Pages (Production Draft signed by Jared Padalecki at Creation Dallas 2023)

9.05 (aired as 9.07) "Bad Boys" - Writer's 2nd Draft (signed by Jensen Ackles at Creation New Jersey 2023)

11.05 "Thin Lizzie" - 8 Days of Call Sheets and Script Sides. (Day 7 Call Sheet signed by Finn Wolfhard at Stranger Con Atlanta 2023)

11.17 "Red Meat" - Production Draft (signed by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki at Creation Atlanta 2023)

12.04 "American Nightmare" - Production Draft (proxy cover signed by Jared Padalecki at Salute to Supernatural: Denver 2022)

12.05 "The One You've Been Waiting For" - Production Draft (signed by Adam Rose at Creation New Orleans 2023)

12.06 "Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox" - Production Draft (signed by Samantha Smith at Salute to Supernatural: Washington D. C. 2022 and Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Kim Rhodes at Salute to Supernatural: San Francisco 2023)

12.07 "Rock Never Dies" - Writer's 2nd Draft (proxy cover signed by Mark Sheppard at Crossroads 5)

12.13 "Family Feud" - Production Draft (proxy cover signed by Mark Sheppard at Crossroads 5)

12.15 "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" - Green Draft (signed by Misha Collins at Jus in Bello 11)

12.18 "The Memory Remains" - Production Draft (signed by David Haydn-Jones at Salute to Supernatural: Vancouver 2022)

12.21 "There's Something About Mary" - Production Draft (signed by David Haydn-Jones at Salute to Supernatural: Vancouver 2022)

13.08 "The Scorpion and the Frog" - Production Draft (signed by Jensen Ackles at Jus in Bello 13)

13.09 "The Bad Place" - Studio & Network Draft (proxy cover signed by Alexander Calvert at Crossroads 5)

13.12 "Various & Sundry Villains" - Yellow Draft (signed by Ruth Connell at Salute to Supernatural: Denver 2022 and Jared Padalecki at Creation Las Vegas 2023)

13.19 "Funeralia" - Studio & Network Draft (signed by Misha Collins at Jus in Bello 11 and Ruth Connell at Crossroads 6)

14.09 "The Spear" - Production Draft, Blue Pages, Pink Pages (Production Draft signed by DJ Qualls at Creation Dallas 2023; Jensen Ackles at Creation Charlotte 2023)

14.12 "Prophet and Loss" - Blue Draft, Pink Pages, Yellow Pages (signed by Misha Collins at Creation Las Vegas 2023)

14.14 "Ouroboros" - Blue Draft (signed by Misha Collins at Salute to Supernatural: San Francisco 2023)

15.05 "Proverbs 17:3" - Blue Draft, Pink Pages, Yellow Pages, Green Pages (Blue Draft signed by Richard Speight Jr. at Salute to Supernatural: Nashville 2022)

9.15 (aired as 9.16) "Blade Runners" - Writer's 2nd Draft (proxy cover signed by Mark Sheppard at Crossroads 5; Gil McKinney signed inside the script at Creation Charlotte 2023)

14.17 "Game Night" - Studio & Network Draft (signed by Mark Pellegrino at Creation New Jersey 2023, Samantha Smith at Salute to Supernatural: San Francisco 2023; Alexander Calvert at Momento Con 2023)

13.21 "Beat the Devil" - Studio & Network Draft (signed by Mark Pellegrino and Richard Speight Jr. at Creation New Jersey 2023)

8.22 "Clip Show" - Production Draft, Blue Pages (Production Draft signed by Alaina Huffman at Salute to Supernatural: Nashville 2022 and Misha Collins at Jus in Bello 11)

and maybe more?

Raffle closes on Saturday, August. 26 at 11:59pm (Eastern Time). Winners will be drawn by a random number generator and contacted by Tuesday, August 28, 2023.

To see images of all the prizes/enter, it's $10/entry ⤵️

THANK YOU!

$5,056 and 30 winners drawn 🫨

[thesoftboiledegg]

Every 2012-era Tumblr bio: Fangirl. Whovian. Sherlocked. Fueled by black coffee and tea. Owl lover. Fanfiction writer, future published novelist. I 🖤 David Tennant, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jensen Ackles. Talk to me about Supernatural. Here be a mishmash of fandom squee-ing, journal entries, fanfiction drafts, GIFs, erotica and the occasional fangirl meltdown. Geek & Sundry is my life. Proud Gryffindor (Slytherins, we might not get along.) Days until my trip to Harry Potter World: 58

[littlebosslady7]

Matt’s character in GodFall is so fun. It’s about a 2 and a half hour Pathfinder game. Brandon Routh, Deborah Ann Wohl, Felicia Day, and Reggie Watts are in his party. It’s Geek & Sundry like it’s 2013.

[hypercaring5]

Who's playing Stray Gods?

I've been hyped about this game since I first saw a trailer for it a year ago. How did I not know about this game yet?! I've been patiently waiting for this game and even was slightly disappointed when they pushed back the release date by a week. I want this game yesterday, damn it!

I was also pleasantly surprised that the game featured a lot of my favorite voice actors and even some I was surprised by! (I've been following Felicia Day on and off since her Geek & Sundry and I was surprised she was cast as Athena here! I heard she was also surprised she was cast as Athena.)

The most memorable moment in the whole game for me so far (I've only finished one playthrough) is Medusa. She's great, Anjali Bhimani is great, the song with her and Laura Bailey is great. It's just all great. I had the Pantheon version on repeat last night.

If you're interested in reading a longer version of what I thought about the game, I wrote about it on Medium here.

[luxlicht]

Review: Geek and Sundry, "Sagas of Sundry: Dread"

Last week, I reviewed Ivan Van Norman’s appearance on Smosh Games. Now, I’m reviewing him on Geek and Sundry, but we’re still sticking with horror. I was actually subscribed to Project Alpha (may it rest in peace) when Geek and Sundry had that platform back in the day. It’s where I watched Critical Role, L.A. by Night, and Sagas of Sundry, when that was in production. But “Dread” is now…

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Fallen

Synopsis

A year after the events of the TV movie, the Doctor finds scientists working to splice human and Time Lord DNA.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Land of Happy Endings

Synopsis

The Eighth Doctor, John and Gillian visit Darbodia where they discover that the inhabitants have been purged of all imagination. Upon discovering that villainous scientist Wargonn has imprisoned the native species, the Doctor and his grandchildren work to foil his schemes.

Propaganda

Really beautiful story as the 8th Doctor DWM comics prepared to end. (@finalpam8000 )

Old Friends

Synopsis

In this swashbuckling instalment, the Doctor and her fam - Ryan, Yaz, and Graham - get caught up in the escapades of infamous rogue Time Lord, the Corsair! Accused of a crime she didn't commit, the Doctor becomes involved in a daring heist with her old friend in order to retrieve something valuable for the Corsair's mysterious benefactor...

This is the Corsair's first ever appearance! Includes a special feature on the history of the Corsair.

Propaganda

Best “canon” appearance of the Corsair, a rogue time lord friend/nemesis and the doctor, filled with fun pirate and heist shenanigans as is befitting the Corsair. Also written by Jody Houser, who plays the Corsair in her best non-canon appearance (Geek and Sundry’s TBD RPG Doctor Who Actual Play) because what’s more iconic than getting hired to write comics and choosing to bring in the very minor one off ‘already canonically dead’ character you played in a live-streamed ttrpg game. Although, don’t let that fool you. This is also a good comic in general. Even if you’ve never heard of the Corsair. (“canon” here meaning officially licensed as Doctor Who doesn’t actually have a canon) (anonymous)

Space in Dimension Relative and Time

Synopsis

The Doctor is the only one who realises that the flow of time in the vortex has been disrupted, but can he uncover the cosmic culprit and put causality back on the right track — before Alice and her fellow TARDIS travellers are de-aged right out of existence?

Propaganda

backwards doctor who comic! also there is a nimon (@lilydvoratrelundar )

Time In Reverse

Synopsis

The First Doctor, John and Gillian arrive on present-day Earth in the middle of a sea. After making it back to the mainland, they realise that time is running backwards and they have arrived at the end of their adventure. The only way for the travellers to be reunited with the TARDIS is to retrace events of which they have no knowledge that will lead them to the story's beginning.

Propaganda

it's the first backwards doctor who comic! it's really cleverly done and interesting (@lilydvoratrelundar )