00:00:05.21 Kurt Crenwelge Hello and welcome to another exciting episode of Sidekicks and SideQuest, the best unofficial Dungeons & Dragons podcast in my humbly biased opinion. I've got an awesome pair of guests for you this ah special episode, ah but before we get to it, you know I gotta do it. 00:00:21.14 Kurt Crenwelge I gotta leave you suspense with the ad read. And insert here where I talk about ah Plus One EXP and the RPG Zine Club and how they're awesome partners of us and they're making all sorts of cool games for families and kids and individuals. And if you want to learn more, go to Plus One EXP dot com and use the code Randolph if you're looking to buy something and help support the podcast and be sure to check out their RPG Zine dot club. 00:00:52.02 Kurt Crenwelge All right. And without further ado, we're back here in the saddle, as it were, with it's a combination of like a returning guest and a new guest. So without further ado, I turn the microphone over and I ask, hello, mystery contestants, would you care to introduce yourself? Tell us who it is that you are and what is it you do? 00:01:11.68 Allison (Kids Table) Hello. Well, I'm the returning guest, so I guess I will go first. My name is Allison and I am one of the adults that is part of the Kids Table D&D. 00:01:22.90 Allison (Kids Table) Very excited to be coming back. 00:01:25.78 Raenelle And hi, my name is Raynell and I am one of the other adults who's been with the Kids Table D&D now for four years, four plus years. So very excited to be here. 00:01:38.97 Kurt Crenwelge Yes, indeed. It's great to have ah the kids table back because I know it's an episode that I will occasionally find myself going back to and listening. And, you know, it's it's Allison and Brian as the guests explaining kind of the show's premise and such, you know, from the adults behind the screen, behind the table sort of perspective. But now with Raynell here, now it's like, oh, now we've got the inside scoop of what it's like to be at the kids table itself. 00:02:06.04 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, you've got the real dealer deal Okay. 00:02:09.34 Raenelle Yeah, and it's ah it's been quite a journey. I would just say add, you know, being not only a player learning for the first time, but then doing it with my child and now with both kids. 00:02:22.00 Raenelle It's been amazing journey. 00:02:22.33 Kurt Crenwelge Yes. Yes. Not to spoil anything for those who haven't caught up on the latest season. ah But yeah, it seems like we had some mischievous stowaways and some even younger players show up at the table. 00:02:36.60 Raenelle Yes, indeed. 00:02:39.26 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah, well, that's also a new fun dynamic as well, because now you've got the older kids who now get to be the mentors, I guess, for the younger kids. So as the parents at the at the table, respectively, how how have you feel like that's changed, um you know, the older kids now at the table? 00:02:58.46 Raenelle I think what we're actually experiencing is also kind of how to honor the older children and the younger children's experience at the same time. 00:03:08.78 Raenelle And that's a new dynamic for us because as much as we're hoping there is mentorship, there's still that sibling rivalry that is happening. 00:03:17.30 Kurt Crenwelge Mm-hmm. 00:03:18.58 Raenelle So this is quite of an experiment for all of us, I think, you know, I mean, as Allison has sibling children and we, you know, Ryan and myself. 00:03:29.10 Raenelle And so it's it's kind of one day at a time where creating moments where the older siblings can guide or creating scenarios where they're stepping up to the plate in a way of being the older sibling and and saying, hey, we've been around a little bit longer, so let us show you the ropes. 00:03:47.95 Raenelle But also not making it feel like, oh, well, now I have to take care of my younger sibling character, even in this D&D realm. 00:03:58.27 Kurt Crenwelge Mm. Mm. 00:03:58.52 Raenelle I'm already having to do it in real life. So it's kind of finding the balance between all those things where they're still getting to flex, but it's not so close to home that they're just like frustrated with the whole game altogether. 00:04:15.58 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah, and I think in the latest episode I listened to, you were explaining of like, i'm I'm literally the game mom. Like, I'm the mom in this situation for all these kids that are running around in this adventure. And so it's like, oh, is there any break in the reality of like, oh, I'm a i'm a mom to all these kids in real life, but now I have to be a mom to all these kids in the game too. 00:04:35.74 Raenelle Well, and and I think the balance, you know, Alison, I'm sure you find this to be true, too, is that there has to be to honor the collaborative storytelling and that it's a story. You have to find a way to separate yourself from real life mom and game mom. 00:04:53.69 Raenelle you know and And finding and leaning into this idea of we're all here to flex something different, something inside of something that we haven't tried on before. And so even modeling that. 00:05:07.38 Raenelle um as well as being mindful that like they're still learning how to lean into that ah that fantasy side and guiding them in a way that says, OK, this feels like you're you're like that's that's Samuel. But you also that's also Camden to you. And so like kind of guiding the play in a way of being a partner to Ryan as a DM to just lean into like, yeah, but you're also this character. 00:05:35.61 Raenelle And so what would this character do separate from your from your actual sibling relationship? 00:05:37.92 Kurt Crenwelge Mm-hmm. 00:05:44.98 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, it's definitely challenging the older kids to step up into a little bit of a different role with their siblings. But from from my outsider perspective, I'm no longer on the show now that my family moved to the East Coast, except for like once a year I get to fly out and to visit. 00:06:01.58 Allison (Kids Table) But for the most part, I'm not on the main campaign. um But I have just been dying, like watching the footage. I cannot stop laughing at the sibling interactions. And like for brevity's sake, we have to cut out a lot of it out. 00:06:14.18 Allison (Kids Table) But there's so many great like eye rolls or just like Chloe's expressions when Camden is like doing his little silly thing. 00:06:20.99 Raenelle Thank 00:06:22.47 Allison (Kids Table) Oh my gosh. I i love watching now like the the rough edits before it gets to the final episode. 00:06:32.22 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah, that's great. ah you know Getting to have it truly be like a family experience. We get to you know maybe in ah and in all the other actual plays that are out there, it's like, oh, maybe you get to see families play like found families like when these groups of ah you know nerdy voice actors or such will get together. But it's like, I don't know. I don't know if I've come across any um productions out there that are really taking on this ah this challenge of how can we show that you know this is a collaborative story telling game and hobby for you know parents and children, but then families overall when even younger children get brought into the mix with kids who feel like, oh yeah, I know this game. I know how it all works. And suddenly they're having to 00:07:20.82 Kurt Crenwelge look in the mirror as it were to be like oh you don't know anything about this I have to help you in some way but also still have the fun and still have the play as well. 00:07:31.29 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, I think it's very interesting that the the little brothers are six now, which to the 10-year-old big siblings feel like just a baby, right? 00:07:41.53 Allison (Kids Table) But they were six when we started filming the kids' table. So it's interesting to like point that out to them and be like, remember what that was like for you when you didn't understand the rules, you didn't understand what to do with your character, and at the time, Alice, the teen player in the first season, and Raynell and myself would like kind of guide them through and give a lot more help than we have to give to the 10 year olds now. 00:08:05.25 Allison (Kids Table) um And now like having to kind of go back to that place where we're like bringing in these fresh new adventures is an interesting full circle moment and a big challenge for the 10 year olds to step up. 00:08:05.35 Kurt Crenwelge Mm-hmm. 00:08:19.32 Allison (Kids Table) And Dylan too, I'm sure. You can see that he already got annoyed. 00:08:21.56 Raenelle Thank you. 00:08:24.63 Allison (Kids Table) Just had his character fully like peace out from the group. So I'm interested to see how his character arc progresses too 00:08:36.12 Kurt Crenwelge Well, perfect. ah Yeah, I mean, obviously we could spend forever and ever gabbing about the kids table and all that, but I'd be doing a disservice because, um you know, the kids table D&D network also has been doing their um area of effect podcast as well, which has been doing a great and fantastic job. I know I was ah featured as a guest. 00:08:57.45 Kurt Crenwelge to talk about NPCs. 00:08:58.29 Allison (Kids Table) Woohoo! 00:08:59.41 Kurt Crenwelge So you know we certainly want to be able to plug that and keep the ball rolling as well for this podcast. And so I know Allison you know is familiar with this format. So for her, it's kind of like a re-examining of the questions since the last time we spoke. 00:09:13.65 Kurt Crenwelge And for Rene, this is the first time. So you know the first one of these questions is you know probably ah an obvious one. But you know currently, how and how long have you been playing Dungeons & Dragons? Like right now, it sounds like you've only been playing for as long as the podcast has been going on. Is that correct? 00:09:31.99 Raenelle Yeah. So I did not grow up with it at all. So full disclosure, just the way I was raised in the environment I was in, it was really taboo for me to do this as a kid or as a young person. And so doing it as an adult, like i mentioned, has been really this amazing opportunity to lean into my own creativity as well as have this deeper connection with my children. and I'm just I'm really thankful for them to have the space to do that. 00:10:05.66 Kurt Crenwelge And then I know for Allison, not so that it has to be an experience of like, oh, I'm just repeating the same answers that I gave last time. But since the last time we spoke, have you had any of opportunities yourself to play D&D or any other kinds of TTRPGs? 00:10:21.50 Kurt Crenwelge I know you've been more in charge of like whenever you have a a special promotional deal, like when um you know someone is asking for your support for like a new setting, of the one that comes to mind is the Miyazaki one that you did. 00:10:37.26 Kurt Crenwelge You kind of take on those more initiatives for you guys. 00:10:37.78 Allison (Kids Table) Obajima. 00:10:40.89 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, um we kind of have, we Ryan and I call it like the East Coast cast and the West Coast cast now. 00:10:46.71 Kurt Crenwelge o 00:10:46.81 Allison (Kids Table) So the the East Coast is my daughters and our friends, basically, um our our nerdy friends. 00:10:50.58 Kurt Crenwelge and Okay. 00:10:52.53 Allison (Kids Table) And so we um we kind of film all the non-Main campaign um things just to give Ryan a little bit of a break. So yeah, you're right. um When we have kids TTRPG companies out there who want us to film either like a full playthrough so that people can see what the game is like and kind of experience the full vibe or a lot of times we have people who just want us to make like a quick little ad. um So then just myself and my daughters oftentimes will just play through that and those are the only times when my six year old have been on the show is in those short ads where we're not showing the whole gameplay because she loves to hear herself talk. So it would take twice as long if she was in a man campaign. She's going to a fantastic DM someday. um But so she's always in the ones where we have like B-roll footage of us playing the game in the background kind of thing, which is fun. So it's definitely a family affair. 00:11:45.69 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah, and again, y'all have been able to play some cool games, whether it's ah East Coast or West Coast. So D&D is still happening, which is which is good. 00:11:56.34 Kurt Crenwelge um and And then, yeah, with this podcast, of course, being called Sidekicks and Sidequests, we like to ask ah you know for new and returning guests, whether it's someone you've always had an affinity for or an appreciation for, but for the first one of these, who happens to be your favorite sidekick? 00:12:15.26 Kurt Crenwelge or NPC character, whether they're from a RPG, video game, movie, film, television, literature, e etc. Why is this person stuck with you? Why have they captured your imagination in recent days? Why is this character your your favorite? 00:12:32.63 Raenelle ah Well, you know, I was looking over the questions and immediately what came to mind, honestly, was Yoshi. Because he was child. 00:12:40.79 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, okay. 00:12:41.08 Allison (Kids Table) I love it. 00:12:42.18 Raenelle Well, and maybe because I also saw the the most recent Super Mario ah movie. But I just realized that as a child growing up in the eighty s ninety s that that it's like having a familiar, right? 00:12:54.86 Raenelle this This animal companion. And that, because all the things that came to mind were Yoshi, Battle Cat from He-Man, Swift Wind from She-Ra. 00:12:57.09 Kurt Crenwelge Mm-hmm. 00:13:04.11 Raenelle There's something about, for me, that connection with an animal. And I was thinking, you know, maybe there's this idea that nature and the ability to connect deeply from one species to another, along with that aspect of like fierce loyalty at a primal level, is interesting as an adult to think about that. 00:13:24.96 Raenelle But I just think about all the shows and books where I've been really very upset when the animal companion dies. And the thing that came to mind is both in the book and in the show, I could not handle when the dire wolves in Game of Thrones... 00:13:33.59 Kurt Crenwelge Mmm. Mmm. 00:13:45.11 Raenelle were trapped and like like when they were gonna be taken out, I was really, really upset. 00:13:46.51 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:13:50.51 Raenelle And so i is there's something about any time an animal companion, like I can't watch Old Yeller ever again, shot right? 00:14:00.64 Raenelle There's something about that that that that kind of pure connection between the human and their animal companion that I just gravitate towards. 00:14:15.10 Allison (Kids Table) Um, I don't remember what my answer was to this the first time around. I think it's been two years. So maybe this is a repeat or maybe not. But um I can't remember exactly when it came out. 00:14:26.08 Allison (Kids Table) Maybe it was um before two years ago, or maybe was after. But my, ab I'm a huge Star Wars fan. My absolute favorite Star Wars character of all time was a sidekick, but now is kind of more a main character, Ahsoka Tano. 00:14:39.79 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. um she was the padawan of anakin and was kind of more of a side character in a lot of the novels and then she like shows up in the clone wars um animated tv show and stuff like that but then now like she's they brought her back in rebels and now she has her own show so i don't think she casts as a sidekick anymore but i loved her from the beginning so um 00:14:40.18 Kurt Crenwelge Mm-hmm. 00:15:00.82 Allison (Kids Table) I will sort of still claim her as a sidekick, but if I have to kick pick someone else, um my we just finished watching with our daughters through all of the Rebels series. This was their first exposure to Star Wars. And at the end, we were kind of all talking about our favorite characters. And it made me realize that I really love the character Harris and Dula. And just knowing like her connection to her father who is like famous, but then kind of being separated from her family and going through like a lot of tragedies and so many things that she goes through and yet like stays the course with her beliefs and, you know, taking big risks that are personal personal risks for the sake of the cause. And there's just like so much about her character that I admire. 00:15:45.97 Kurt Crenwelge Very cool. Yeah. And you did say Ahsoka Tano last time. 00:15:49.14 Allison (Kids Table) Did I? 00:15:49.22 Kurt Crenwelge So that was, yeah, that was, I mean, that it's consistency. So that's, that's good. 00:15:52.20 Raenelle Yes. 00:15:53.10 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. 00:15:53.17 Allison (Kids Table) It's been consistent. 00:15:53.34 Kurt Crenwelge We like that. 00:15:54.70 Allison (Kids Table) She's been my gal for decades. 00:15:56.82 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. And then same thing when it comes to side quests or B plot elements, what happens to be your favorite one of those, whether they're from an RPG, a movie, film, television, literature, et cetera. And why is this side quest, this B plot element, your favorite? 00:16:12.57 Raenelle Again, I just went with my gut. And the first thing that came to mind, maybe because I was already on a Super Mario's kick, was just going down every tunnel to see where it would go. 00:16:25.18 Raenelle but That was like really what came to mind was the joy in finding that room where you were collecting extra coins or whatever it was. It's so simple, but there was, yeah, there i think i feel like that was like a first memory of... 00:16:40.70 Raenelle the element of like going on a scavenger hunt other than looking for the enemy at the end of the level 00:16:44.66 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. 00:16:47.93 Allison (Kids Table) I relate to this. I'm a completionist in video games as well. And my, it drives my husband crazy when we try to play video games together. I'm like, but what's around this corner? Oh, what's in that barrel? like He's like, just move forward with the plot. 00:17:01.18 Kurt Crenwelge Precisely. 00:17:02.39 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. Um, I think I have more of just a generic answer to this as I think about like all my fantasy fandoms. I, um, you know, there's been a lot of talk recently about like what really is fantasy versus romanticy. 00:17:17.00 Allison (Kids Table) And a lot of times it's like, did a female, is a female the author or is a male the author? 00:17:17.61 Raenelle Thank you. 00:17:21.72 Allison (Kids Table) um I don't love fantasy books where romance is the main thing, but I love fantasy books where there's a cause and a quest of a sort in general, that's the main thing, but there's a B plot of a romance that's developing in the background. 00:17:35.58 Kurt Crenwelge o 00:17:37.14 Allison (Kids Table) And it just feels so much more real to me where like there's, real weights and responsibilities and concerns and things that these people are dealing with and then like ah kind of in the background they're like developing this relationship and figuring out how that can fit in while still you know prioritizing the the main task at hand especially when they're dealing with these traumatic life situations that they're going through so so any kind of like minor romance going on 00:18:06.09 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. We like a little smoochy smoochy in the, in the midst of the war and all that going on. 00:18:11.69 Raenelle Thank you. 00:18:12.18 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. Yeah. 00:18:13.30 Kurt Crenwelge Um, perfect. And then the way that we round out the personal interview section, uh, Raynell and Allison, uh, whether it's a new passion or hobby in your life or whether it's one that you've stuck with, what are you passionate about and why? 00:18:28.47 Raenelle but You know, a tend to, I just like creating community and spaces where people can be present with one another. That feels to have been, to have stayed true from being a young person until now. I just really, I'm very extroverted and I love fostering connection. I love bringing people together. And I just believe we have so much to learn from each other and the ability to share with one another the complexity of all our humanity from joy to grief. 00:18:58.36 Raenelle um prevents us from objectifying each other in a way that can cause harm and be dismissive of one another. But that's harder to do when we're actually spending time with each other and getting to know each other. So i I've been able to do that in all my different jobs and in all my like hobbies and casual things has been able to to do it with others. And I think that's a real gift, including D&D. 00:19:26.94 Allison (Kids Table) That's beautiful. um I think one thing I'm passionate about that does relate to D&D, but more overarching is just stories. um Kind of like now raising my kids, you kind of reflect on your whole life and what your childhood was like. And I think stories have always been huge to me, um not just in like following the plot, but as an expression of like telling truths about things that are larger, about our real world, but telling it in a way that you can more easily swallow and understand in these other worlds. And I think allowing you to see other people's perspectives and build um empathy with people who have had different life experiences, people who have different perspectives. And I love nothing more than a story where there kind of is no villain because like you kind of see like everybody's trying to do what they think is right in the moment with their different 00:20:26.74 Allison (Kids Table) um the different things that they know and have experienced. I think that's just fascinating and and tells a lot of truths about humanity. 00:20:35.67 Kurt Crenwelge Indeed. Beautiful answers. And ah as we ah we work to keep this going here on the podcast, let's go ahead and cruise into some NPC creation. 00:20:54.87 Kurt Crenwelge And NPC creation is brought to you by you, the podcast audience and our patrons from Patreon. So now's the time of the show where we give a shout out and a loud hurrah to our comfortable patrons and above hurrah you guys. So thank you to, answer Jablinski and good old mom and dad. 00:21:11.06 Kurt Crenwelge We, we give you a hearty cheers. So again, um you know, just for $2 a month, you get a shout out on all of our episodes and And all these folks I named are actually wealthy tier patrons, which means they get to introduce an element of chance to the random tables that we have. And we might get to hear some of the responses used today. So if you want to learn more about the Patreon and all the ways you can support the podcast, I would encourage you to go to the show notes below, go to the podcast website, 00:21:37.91 Kurt Crenwelge or just go directly to patreon.com forward slash psychics and psych quests and learn about all the accommodations we have awaiting for you. Help us to grow and expand our operations in the levitating platter in this demiplane and worlds beyond. 00:21:50.61 Kurt Crenwelge All right, so ah this is obviously the part of the show where we get to make up a character, an NPC. And I know the last time when Allison and Ryan were here, I incorrectly called it Kaiju-ing. um It's actually Jaeger in the analogy with Pacific Rim where the the two of them together work to make a single character. So are we doing that again today where both Allison and Raynell are combining their minds and making one character or do you want to make a pair of characters today? 00:22:21.42 Raenelle I'm Alice and I'm game for either version. 00:22:25.45 Allison (Kids Table) I thought it was fun to make one together so we can go for that. 00:22:28.54 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, so you want to make one together. Okay. um So then this will be just, I guess, a series of of dice rolls being traded back and forth then. And we will come up with someone completely random, truly. So, okay. ah Well, the very first way that we begin with this is ah we we roll ah for a name. We roll a d20 and see what we what name we get. 00:22:53.78 Kurt Crenwelge So whoever would like to start i can go ahead and roll us a d20. 00:23:00.77 Raenelle I didn't bring dice. 00:23:02.81 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, that's okay. 00:23:03.07 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, okay, I'll roll it. 00:23:03.45 Kurt Crenwelge Whether you have virtual or otherwise, or if we just want to let one person handle all the dice rolling makes no mind to me. 00:23:09.70 Raenelle Alison, you can be a dice roller. 00:23:09.91 Allison (Kids Table) I got an eight. Okay, woohoo! 00:23:12.38 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. All right. um Let's see. Oh, I don't didn't realize I didn't change this one out, but OK, so we're changing that one out. All right. So your answer today was provided to us by ah Andrew Kolb. 00:23:25.40 Kurt Crenwelge And ah the name we have is Bernard. So very similar to a certain duck character that we had on the kids table ah podcast D&D, but legally distinct, I might say, because we don't know. 00:23:31.09 Allison (Kids Table) hope you're not allowed. 00:23:38.24 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. If we get our animal, then it'll just be us expanding upon Bernard as an NPC. 00:23:40.21 Allison (Kids Table) Maybe he's the namesake of Bernard. 00:23:43.96 Kurt Crenwelge This will be great. But ah let's see. 00:23:45.72 Allison (Kids Table) I love it. 00:23:47.01 Kurt Crenwelge So, OK, so we know the name Bernard. The next one is the ancestry, the species, the background of the character. So this we roll for a D100 effect. 00:24:00.44 Allison (Kids Table) All right. 00:24:06.78 Allison (Kids Table) Well, for some reason, i only have one, so I'll do it twice. 00:24:09.11 Kurt Crenwelge and Okay. 36. Oh, okay. Interesting. So Bernard is a troll. he could be any kind of troll that you can be found in D&D, but Bernard is a troll. 00:24:23.58 Kurt Crenwelge I know Raynell is having a grand time. 00:24:24.02 Allison (Kids Table) it. 00:24:26.26 Kurt Crenwelge does Do you already have ah an image of your mind of like what kind of troll that we're thinking of? 00:24:32.60 Raenelle No, not. I'm laughing because I had also started to dream of a character and he, Bernard is now the opposite of the character. i it It's making me giggle. 00:24:45.30 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. All right. So Bernard is a troll, any kind. And I know that D&D lists numerous different kinds of trolls, but um okay. So let's see now the job or role in society. So the occupation that our Bernard's going to have, um you could go ahead and roll just a regular D10 and we can see what their job is. 00:25:06.60 Allison (Kids Table) Okay. Six. 00:25:09.81 Kurt Crenwelge Six. Oh, okay. This one comes ah from our previous guest, Mandy Greeney. um So Bernard, the troll, is a knocker-upper. Someone who wakes people up in the morning. So if you've ever seen the image of like the lady with, like it looks like a blue blow-tube gun, and she's like shooting pebbles or something at people's windows. 00:25:30.26 Kurt Crenwelge So Bernard's job, wherever he lives, he's supposed to wake people up in the morning, since they don't have alarm clocks, naturally. He's the one that goes around and will wake people up in the morning. 00:25:40.92 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, the and he has to uncover the mystery of why all the roosters in the town have disappeared. 00:25:45.93 Kurt Crenwelge Ooh, okay. Well, that's jumping ahead, but you know if you want to lock that one in as the ah as the quest, we'll see. But okay, knock her upper. All right. And then ah the age range of the category ah the age range category to figure out like roughly an idea of how old Bernard is. 00:26:03.00 Kurt Crenwelge um You can roll a D8 and ah tell us how old Bernard is. 00:26:09.56 Allison (Kids Table) Two? 00:26:10.55 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, a teenager. So we have a teenage troll named Bernard who's a knocker-upper. So with these details in mind, with Raynell and Allison working together, can you describe the physical appearance of this troll knocker-upper by the name of Bernard? 00:26:30.71 Kurt Crenwelge This is where you get to be creative. 00:26:32.27 Raenelle Right. So, Allison, I'm thinking either ah of a quick – I'm thinking of someone fast on faster on their feet. 00:26:44.81 Raenelle So, like a um you know a smaller troll because I know they range in size. So, we have – Maybe a tree troll um who can quickly run around and and takes their job very seriously, dashing about to 00:26:52.14 Allison (Kids Table) OK. 00:27:04.25 Raenelle um 00:27:04.35 Allison (Kids Table) I love that. 00:27:05.08 Raenelle to throw the rocks, the pebbles, shoot the pebbles at each people's windows. So maybe a tree troll who's smaller. 00:27:14.21 Allison (Kids Table) I love that. And I was thinking that um it was reminding me of the arcade game Paperboy. i think it was Tom. 00:27:22.14 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, yeah. 00:27:23.67 Allison (Kids Table) ah So, I mean, I don't know how um strict we are with our high fantasy, but I was thinking he might have like a bicycle or some other kind of vehicle or like a mule or something. 00:27:35.14 Allison (Kids Table) I don't know. um Are we strict on fantasy? 00:27:36.44 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, OK. 00:27:38.23 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:27:38.90 Kurt Crenwelge I mean, it's so it's as it's ah it is as specific as you would like it to be. I mean, you are the both of you are the authoritative authors on Bernard the Troll Knocker Upper, so it's up to you to tell us what's canon and what's not. 00:27:54.10 Raenelle Well, i 00:27:54.58 Allison (Kids Table) You want to give him um a mule that he rides for his little route? 00:27:58.07 Raenelle I think so. Why not? 00:28:00.06 Allison (Kids Table) Perfect. And he like he rides by and he shoots his little spitwad thing. What did you call it? 00:28:06.52 Kurt Crenwelge ah You know, it's a great question just for the edification of our audience. Let's see if I can Google this real quick. Knocker upper. 00:28:16.28 Allison (Kids Table) guess it's like a dart. Like a 00:28:18.42 Raenelle Yeah, like a blowgun, yeah. 00:28:22.18 Allison (Kids Table) blowgun. 00:28:22.82 Raenelle blowan yeah 00:28:23.38 Allison (Kids Table) Is that what it is? 00:28:25.37 Kurt Crenwelge Yes. um but but but but but They used a baton or short heavy stick to knock on clients windows or a long and light stick often made a bamboo to reach windows or on higher floors. 00:28:37.94 Kurt Crenwelge One famous photograph shot in 1931 by John Topham shows Mary Smith and East London using a pea shooter in return for the task. Knock off her would be paid a few pence each week. 00:28:48.31 Kurt Crenwelge um So there you go. 00:28:49.47 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, this is a real thing. 00:28:49.82 Kurt Crenwelge So yeah, if you want to imagine he has like a little pea shooter riding around on the donkey, just like shooting people's windows. 00:28:55.10 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, just, I love it. 00:28:57.64 Raenelle Well, and I imagine that his steed, his mule, um does a customary hee-haw after every, you know, is it's, he supports 00:29:09.88 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, donkeys are loud for sure. Yeah. 00:29:12.98 Allison (Kids Table) Mm-hmm. 00:29:13.40 Raenelle his tree troll, but he supports Bernard by creating a sound after each successful ah hit of P-Dart. 00:29:22.52 Allison (Kids Table) What a lovely way to wake up in the morning, the sound of a pebble on your window and a loud hee-haw as Bernard thunders by. 00:29:22.52 Raenelle Yeah. 00:29:28.02 Raenelle He takes pride in 00:29:31.62 Kurt Crenwelge Gallops through the town. Yep. Okay. Well, yeah, I guess regardless of whether or not you paid for Bernard services, you're getting up anyway, because I don't know if you could go back to sleep if there's just a donkey braying through the streets while you're trying to sleep. 00:29:47.48 Allison (Kids Table) so Bernard can't be bothered to figure out who paid or didn't pay. but 00:29:51.26 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. 00:29:51.99 Raenelle he takes he takes pride in his work. 00:29:55.96 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, okay. 00:29:57.14 Kurt Crenwelge For sure. Yeah. um And then I don't know, is there any, does he have a particular name for the donkey or anything like that? Do you think? 00:30:06.93 Raenelle Should we? is That made me think of Shrek and I just was like donkey. 00:30:11.93 Kurt Crenwelge I mean, if he just calls the donkey donkey, that's fine. 00:30:15.10 Raenelle But do you, does the name come? 00:30:16.66 Kurt Crenwelge Or does he name the donkey Shrek? That would be kind of funny. 00:30:22.01 Allison (Kids Table) That is kind of funny. Shrek the donkey. 00:30:24.71 Raenelle Shrek the donkey. I can go with that. 00:30:27.06 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, alright. 00:30:28.47 Allison (Kids Table) So it's a donkey now, not a mule. 00:30:28.62 Kurt Crenwelge And then... 00:30:31.48 Allison (Kids Table) Hopefully he's a very small tree troll. 00:30:36.73 Kurt Crenwelge oh Especially if he's a teenage one, um i mean, I would have to imagine that, ah you know, not so big, trying to pull up the the Forgotten Realms wiki here, tree trolls. 00:30:48.31 Allison (Kids Table) Just establishing that there's no animal abuse happening here. The the steed can carry this this a young man. 00:30:51.90 Kurt Crenwelge Oh yeah, of course, no. 00:30:51.94 Raenelle No. whole 00:30:55.77 Kurt Crenwelge I mean, technically, tree trolls are a third edition monster that on on average are about three feet tall. So, you know, even as ah even as a teenage one would still be probably fairly short, but a donkey would probably be a good sized steed for him in that regard. 00:31:03.93 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, okay, okay. 00:31:13.30 Allison (Kids Table) Okay. Perfect. 00:31:14.94 Kurt Crenwelge All right. And then again, as we're getting the description of the character, you know, does he have to wear like any kind of uniform or he just wears what he has and just does this job and that's that's him. 00:31:27.46 Kurt Crenwelge That's his life. 00:31:30.33 Allison (Kids Table) I think he wears a newsboy cap. and some kind of vest with pockets for the the gravel, or I guess it would be gravel that he would be shooting or, or yeah. 00:31:40.18 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. Okay. Newsboy hat, little vest, and he's just like his little troll self riding on a donkey. All right. 00:31:48.18 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:31:49.21 Raenelle Yes. 00:31:49.59 Allison (Kids Table) And he definitely has like kind of the emo shag that, you know, the teenagers have. 00:31:52.41 Kurt Crenwelge Ah. 00:31:55.58 Kurt Crenwelge Classic. And then if we had to describe Bernard with three adjectives, what three adjectives would you use? 00:32:10.70 Raenelle Hmm. 00:32:15.54 Allison (Kids Table) You said he takes his job seriously, so like responsible or driven? 00:32:16.95 Raenelle Even as 00:32:19.62 Allison (Kids Table) What are you thinking? 00:32:21.50 Raenelle Yeah, something, um 00:32:27.93 Raenelle something about determination, like, or integrity, something with integrity. it's like he, yeah determined. 00:32:41.56 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, so he's determined. 00:32:41.53 Raenelle ah what i think so. 00:32:46.10 Allison (Kids Table) Is he boisterous? 00:32:51.51 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:32:53.08 Kurt Crenwelge All right. Determined, boisterous. And then what's the third one? 00:32:57.77 Allison (Kids Table) He's a teenager, so I think hungry. 00:33:03.90 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. So determined, boisterous, and hungry. Okay. And all right. All right. So that gives us a little more idea. And now is the part where I say, and now we get to go back to some dice rolling because we want all of our NPCs to have something cool on their person. So what's going to be a valuable item, piece of lore, secret, or ideal or concept that Bernard would care about? 00:33:25.88 Kurt Crenwelge um This is the combo role where we do a D4 for the category and then and then the D6 for the particular thing. 00:33:34.11 Allison (Kids Table) Okay. D4 four. is a two. 00:33:36.95 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. 00:33:38.17 Allison (Kids Table) d six is a two 00:33:39.74 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. All right. So this answer was provided to us by John M. mar Rodriguez of ah the, ah ah yeah. And this ideal or concept that Bernard cares about, always looking your best. 00:33:54.46 Kurt Crenwelge So like, that's what kind of like, you know, guides his, ah his life at this point. So how does that translate into his being a knocker upper person? 00:34:06.02 Raenelle I think his uniform is always on point. In fact, I feel like every day he changes his vest. His whatever, his vest with pockets. 00:34:16.79 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, so he has like a rotation of vests. 00:34:17.05 Allison (Kids Table) He has a vest for every day. 00:34:19.00 Raenelle Yeah. Rotation of vests. 00:34:21.43 Allison (Kids Table) and he like maybe like in in the inside the pocket is sewn like the initial for the day of the week. 00:34:26.71 Raenelle Yeah. I mean, at that point, his cap, he might have like a series of of outfits, the cap matches the vest and yeah. 00:34:36.99 Allison (Kids Table) Matching. Yeah. Like the blue cap and vest and the green cap and vest. Yeah. 00:34:42.78 Raenelle And then he has seasonal 00:34:44.89 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, I love it. 00:34:45.62 Raenelle yeah has seasonal ones. 00:34:45.73 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:34:48.57 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. 00:34:49.37 Raenelle You know, when it's a festival, a certain festival that they are team, he dresses accordingly. 00:34:56.76 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. And we're imagining him to live like in a small hamlet or like a major city. Cause it's like, even, you know, putting aside the fact that like, Oh, troll trees are a thing from third edition. And most people now are playing like five or 5.5, but you know is this like in a Feywild community is this in like the mundane world I'm just kind of curious how kind of like when we did the episode um you know with our with our earth elemental kiddo it was like how does how does this creature um exist in this world like where would we find him I'm just kind of wondering in the background 00:35:27.70 Allison (Kids Table) and again 00:35:39.06 Raenelle Oh, Alison, did you have a thought? You're making us laugh. 00:35:41.59 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, it's okay. I pictured him in like kind of a medium sized Hamlet. You know, it's not like farms where it would take forever to get from one house to the next like there's like kind of a town center but it's not so many people that he can't go around and wake up everybody in the houses in a fairly reasonable amount of time let's say there's like 200 people in the village 00:36:00.68 Kurt Crenwelge Hmm. 00:36:05.27 Kurt Crenwelge and okay 00:36:07.06 Raenelle But I feel like he aspires one day to broaden his horizons. 00:36:11.13 Allison (Kids Table) to be a big city knocker upper up 00:36:12.33 Raenelle To be big city. Yeah. yeah 00:36:14.74 Kurt Crenwelge Hmm. I was going to say, you know, it was kind of ah appreciating the um the fairy tale quality ask to him. I was like, oh, does he is he related to the trolls that maybe mine the bridge nearby? And so like, hey, you're not old enough to mine the bridge, but you could go bother everyone in town by being a knocker upper sort of a thing. 00:36:35.64 Raenelle I feel like that tracks. 00:36:37.30 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. And because he has to be around people more, maybe that's where his always looking your best thing comes into play where he's like, oh, the money I get, I spend it on these hats and these vests so I can always look my best while I'm doing my job sort of a thing. 00:36:52.97 Raenelle Yeah. 00:36:53.53 Allison (Kids Table) Perfect. 00:36:54.20 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, all right. And then, of course, we want all of our NPCs to have bright gold exclamation points over their head. So what's going to be the side quest that Bernard's going to come to a bunch of player characters to help them out with? I know Allison kind of ad-libbed a suggestion um that you could totally go with. Or if you want to randomize ah the quest and roll the last dice, um that would be a D12. 00:37:19.70 Kurt Crenwelge Or you can mix and match. you know Up to you. 00:37:23.98 Allison (Kids Table) Well, maybe we can roll it because I'm thinking maybe the roosters have mysteriously disappeared, but then Bernard wouldn't want to know where they went because they might replace him. 00:37:32.31 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah, who knows? maybe Maybe Bernard is the reason why they disappeared. 00:37:37.26 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, that's little nefarious. 00:37:37.46 Kurt Crenwelge Job security. 00:37:39.38 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:37:39.48 Kurt Crenwelge ah 00:37:41.85 Allison (Kids Table) Or just hungry. 00:37:42.71 Kurt Crenwelge Or just hungry, you know? 00:37:43.63 Allison (Kids Table) ah's do Let's do D12. 00:37:43.83 Kurt Crenwelge Never to 00:37:44.54 Allison (Kids Table) Seven. 00:37:48.28 Allison (Kids Table) seven 00:37:50.30 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. Well, this one's also from Mandy Greeny. um This one says, go kill 100 lizards for a special light armor. So do you think that Bernard is in possession of some special light armor that he's willing to give the players if they go and kill 100 lizards for him? 00:38:08.84 Allison (Kids Table) Hmm. Maybe the lizards, I know chickens will eat lizards sometimes, right? So maybe he needs the lizards to feed all the roosters that he's captured. 00:38:23.51 Kurt Crenwelge I mean, you can could go with that. Or if you want to try rolling again, I know there's some other good suggestions in this list. It's ah it's up to you. Or you can just kind of roll with it and make it your own. 00:38:34.13 Allison (Kids Table) What you think, Raynell? Roll again? 00:38:35.86 Raenelle Well, so before we decided to roll and we were talking about secret lore, I did think of a version where he secretly has possessed some type of um enchanted item that allows him to put people back to sleep so that he can wake them up again because he earns per person. 00:38:57.85 Kurt Crenwelge Mmm. 00:39:00.88 Allison (Kids Table) Okay, I love it. 00:39:01.85 Raenelle And that's how seriously he takes his job. But perhaps the lizards are part of the way in which he keeps this particular particular amulet or whatever he has charmed. 00:39:17.58 Raenelle There's something to do with the lizards that he needs it to do that. 00:39:23.12 Allison (Kids Table) Sure. 00:39:24.25 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, so he's, so it's, I mean, based on how Mandy worded this, go kill 100 lizards for a special light armor. So it sounds like he's straight up willing to grant the player characters a special light armor if they give him 100 lizards. 00:39:42.23 Kurt Crenwelge So kind of like a very Zelda sort of a thing like, hey, go hunt down 100 lizards and then bring me back their carcasses and then you'll get this light armor. 00:39:46.31 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. Sure. 00:39:50.52 Raenelle yes 00:39:52.41 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, and then whatever he does with the lizards, whether he's hungry or he's using them as feed or he's whatever he's doing, he just wants 100 lizards. um And then is there any spring particular special quality to the armor he's offering? Is it magical? Does it do something? Or or what do you think? 00:40:14.68 Raenelle I mean, he is a tree troll. So I wonder if there's some magic quality to the armor. Allison, what do you think? 00:40:25.43 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, I think it's definitely like a bark-like armor, and maybe this armor prevents sleep spells from being cast on you. 00:40:36.63 Raenelle Hmm. 00:40:38.12 Kurt Crenwelge Ah, okay. So it makes you resistance maybe resistant to charm effects or but being put to sleep? 00:40:42.74 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, let's say charm, sure. Yeah. 00:40:46.36 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, okay. Okay. 00:40:48.09 Raenelle Because he's so aware of of sleep. ah 00:40:52.16 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. yeah 00:40:53.11 Raenelle Sleep hazards ah that are around him. 00:40:57.56 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, maybe this is, do you, I mean, if he takes his job seriously, is it armor that he confiscated off of someone maybe that was like getting out of pain paying him? 00:41:05.96 Allison (Kids Table) Oh, yeah. 00:41:06.46 Raenelle know. 00:41:07.80 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:41:07.80 Kurt Crenwelge So he confiscated the armor and was like, oh, hey, if you just give me these lizards, I'll just give you this armor that I was otherwise going to bury or hide or, you know, throw away or something. 00:41:19.10 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah, take it to another village. Yeah. 00:41:22.30 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. All right. So we, okay. So, I mean, it seems like it's a pretty so straight straightforward side quest. So of of course we like to kind of give our goalposts. So if the players, you know, whatever kind of lizards he specifies that he wants them to go kill, hopefully not anything like, you know, some dungeon master is like a cruel and is like, Oh, a lizard. 00:41:43.18 Kurt Crenwelge So you mean a dragon. So you have to go kill a hundred dragons or something like that just for this light armor. 00:41:45.33 Raenelle Thank 00:41:45.87 Allison (Kids Table) No. no 00:41:48.62 Kurt Crenwelge But, However many lizards, you know they go through, they do the quest, they come back to Bernard and they present all the lizards to him. um it It sounds like a straightforward reward that they're just going to get this light armor that is resistant to charms and prevents you from falling asleep. 00:42:05.72 Kurt Crenwelge I mean, or does he offer something else up? 00:42:11.42 Raenelle No, I think I think there's been a series of. um Tree trolls who have been putting people to sleep, and so it's it's quite the the item to have. 00:42:23.58 Raenelle And so they're excited about this, this armor. 00:42:28.45 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:42:29.98 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. 00:42:30.17 Allison (Kids Table) And I think he does want the, since he's a hungry teenager, I think he does want the lizards just for a snack. 00:42:36.69 Kurt Crenwelge Fair enough. Okay. So he's just to really happy that he has all this snack food to eat. And then he gets rid of this armor that's been causing him problems for his knocker upper business. 00:42:48.47 Kurt Crenwelge And life goes on with the town then. 00:42:52.03 Allison (Kids Table) Yep. 00:42:52.52 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. Okay. And then the opposite, what's going to be the consequence of failure or refusing the call to the adventure? So Bernard's gone out of his way to ask for this help and the players say, no, we're not going to go hunt for all these lizards or we're not interested in the armor or whatever it may be. 00:43:08.69 Kurt Crenwelge What's the consequence of failure or refusing the call to the adventure? 00:43:16.18 Allison (Kids Table) They're going to be affected by the the sleep spell. 00:43:18.70 Raenelle Yeah. 00:43:19.93 Allison (Kids Table) And they're going to have to pay him to be woken up 00:43:23.42 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, are you saying like a sleep spell just pervades over the town? 00:43:28.38 Allison (Kids Table) yeah You said like a potion. like so I was picturing like some kind of a fog. Just kind of like like when you hit snooze a couple times, right? Like it doesn't just take one time people to be woken up. 00:43:42.55 Kurt Crenwelge oh so now I'm just wondering if there's a greater conspiracy now because now there's like the trolls are in on why all the people in the town are asleep. 00:43:50.09 Allison (Kids Table) It's definitely a family business. Yeah. 00:43:54.54 Kurt Crenwelge Hmm. Okay. So then they'll just be affected by it and then they'll have to require unless they're an elf. um But otherwise they'll have to require the services of Bernard and his family question mark in order to be able to be woken up at a timely manner each day. 00:44:12.63 Raenelle ah Yes, it's of like a tax of sorts that we're saying. 00:44:18.84 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:44:19.45 Raenelle Yeah. listen 00:44:20.90 Allison (Kids Table) It's just like the trolls guarding the bridge. 00:44:22.33 Raenelle yeah 00:44:22.93 Allison (Kids Table) It's an iteration of that. 00:44:24.70 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, interesting. Okay. So now ah now I'm just curious like if that town has any nicknames or people have stories where they're like, oh, don't go to that town unless you plan on paying the trolls you know money every day to be able to wake up. 00:44:41.10 Kurt Crenwelge It's like a nice town, but otherwise everyone just sleeps in all the time and nothing ever gets done. 00:44:46.14 Allison (Kids Table) Do you know how good sleep is for your health? Like, people are living longer. 00:44:50.16 Raenelle Yeah. 00:44:50.39 Allison (Kids Table) Their illnesses are magically going away. People are happy. They're getting along. It's actually great. 00:44:59.45 Kurt Crenwelge Interesting. Okay. So if the players stay in this town, then they're going to be under the effects of the town with going to sleep all the time or not being able to wake up unless they decide to pay Bernard. But ah if they complete the side quest, then they'll get this armor that will at least prevent one or all or some of them from at least not experiencing the effects of ah this town-wide sleep effect. 00:45:27.57 Raenelle Yes. 00:45:28.25 Allison (Kids Table) Exactly. 00:45:29.27 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, so just kind of like a real low-stakes sort of a thing, unless some party takes it as a personal offense to them that you know that they're all having to fall asleep and you know wake up and pay for it. 00:45:43.26 Kurt Crenwelge Dungeon Masters can take that how they will, but it just seems like low-stakes, harmless fun, i guess. 00:45:51.51 Allison (Kids Table) definitely like an early level quest. 00:45:53.24 Kurt Crenwelge Early level quest or something in the Feywild. 00:45:53.56 Allison (Kids Table) but 00:45:55.36 Kurt Crenwelge I could definitely believe this would be something in the Feywild too. 00:45:59.45 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. Ready. 00:46:00.15 Kurt Crenwelge So then all the elves in the town are just like, oh, we, you know, we just only have to transfer for four hours and we're fine and we don't have to worry about paying the trolls money or whatever. All 00:46:11.48 Raenelle yeah. 00:46:11.90 Allison (Kids Table) yeah 00:46:12.68 Kurt Crenwelge right. Well, I mean, it sounds like then that we've, ah we've covered all of our bases with Bernard. And if y'all are ready, I guess we can head into the next section. Are we ready? 00:46:24.47 Kurt Crenwelge All right, then let's do it. Let's throw Bernard into a random encounter. 00:46:29.22 Allison (Kids Table) Mm-hmm. 00:46:35.48 Kurt Crenwelge And final ad read insert here for Zencaster, the podcast service that lets me record all this. It's real good to use them. I appreciate them. 00:46:45.98 Kurt Crenwelge ah If you're looking to do your own podcasts or you have a podcast service and you're like, oh, do I need another one? Or, you know, what are the benefits of this one? They're a real great partner to have with me and they they're not too overly expensive and they're great. 00:47:01.02 Kurt Crenwelge So if you want to start a podcast today or transfer or do whatever and you want to save some on it, ah go to Zencaster.com forward slash pricing. Use the code side KQ podcast 30% off your first month of any Zencaster paid plan. 00:47:16.28 Kurt Crenwelge All that good stuff helps to support the sponsor, which supports me. So thank you. And back to the podcast. All right, so now we're here in the section of the show where we get to do a roleplay, a vignette, a scene with the character we've made here today. 00:47:29.90 Kurt Crenwelge And I know this that this kind of happened last time where it was like, oh, Ryan became the voice of the horse while Allison controlled um you know the voice of our of our ah elemental farrier. 00:47:42.62 Kurt Crenwelge So this time around, um I don't know, do we have one who's being the donkey and one who's being ah Bernard? 00:47:46.59 Allison (Kids Table) I'll be the donkey. I'll be Shrek. 00:47:50.01 Kurt Crenwelge And then what scene are we going to find them in so then I can find a role to play in the scene? 00:47:56.99 Allison (Kids Table) Hmm. 00:47:57.44 Raenelle Mm-hmm. 00:47:58.55 Allison (Kids Table) Well, maybe this is like a prequel that's the Brewster's disappearing. Sure. 00:48:04.39 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, you want to do a scene where all the roast roosters are starting to disappear and they need someone ah to be able to like wake them all up in the town because everyone's just sleeping longer and longer. 00:48:17.99 Allison (Kids Table) Sure. 00:48:18.90 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, so then so then who ah so to make sure we establish all the roles then for this scene, who who's going to be who? 00:48:26.36 Raenelle So i think I think Allison declared herself as Shrek. So i amm i am Bernard. 00:48:33.11 Kurt Crenwelge Okay, and then am I going to be townsperson or a potential customer for this ah ah you know requiring Bernard's services, or or what what do you think? 00:48:49.72 Allison (Kids Table) I guess a potential customer. 00:48:51.06 Raenelle Potential customer. 00:48:52.12 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, potential customer. Okay, I can do that. Okay. All right. And then ah who would you like to set the scene? Would you all care to set the scene or shall I set the scene? 00:49:03.60 Allison (Kids Table) Go for it. 00:49:04.29 Raenelle Yeah. I like being surprised. 00:49:06.78 Kurt Crenwelge Okay. 00:49:07.51 Raenelle hu 00:49:10.33 Kurt Crenwelge All right. So we are here in our sleepy Hamlet, the medium sized settlement, you know, 200 people. It's a good fair sized community. And, ah you know, our farmer, John, um you know, John Farmer, you know, good, strong man, good, strong name. Um, is just noticing that like, he just has been getting, you know, slower to wake up in the day and his rooster is just, you know, has been getting slower and quieter and not really waking up as much. He's just not quite understanding. 00:49:45.72 Kurt Crenwelge And you know he is checking in on the chickens and seeing how they're doing and all that stuff. And it's not too long before he starts hearing some um commotion as ah he hears someone coming up the road alongside his fences and such for this small sort of in town farm um that he's running. And so John turns his head to look. 00:50:07.51 Kurt Crenwelge And what is it that he's seen? 00:50:14.25 Raenelle In the commotion. 00:50:16.50 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, yes, and the commotion, yes. he's he's ah he's Who is he seeing? What is he seeing what is going on? 00:50:28.32 Raenelle to think. 00:50:34.07 Kurt Crenwelge Ah, now that ain't a scene you see every day. ah what's what is this business going on? As John points over and he sees like this tree troll, teenage one, in this hat and vest and riding on this donkey. He's like, I don't... Who are you are you? Are you related to them trolls from the bridge beyond the ways? 00:50:57.75 Raenelle I'm here to offer my services. I've heard a rumor that the the roosters have not been doing their job quite as well lately. And I am here luckily to provide my service of waking you up each day for a small fee. 00:51:19.26 Kurt Crenwelge oh and you do see John has the rooster kind of in his arms and he's like cuddling him and trying to like give him, ah you know, some attention and love as to like, well, he's just my my rooster is just he's even falling asleep through his job. I don't I don't quite understand what's going on with the lad. And, ah you know, John looks at Shrek ah for a second because maybe he can see Shrek is Shrek's eyes are looking into his soul. And so don't know what is the. 00:51:47.16 Kurt Crenwelge How does the donkey respond to this moment of their eyes locking? 00:51:53.62 Kurt Crenwelge Ah, quite a loud beast. A fee? Well, I'm not made of money. What what sort of fee are you talking about? 00:52:01.50 Raenelle Well, I will say it is peculiar and we don't know how long this will last, but you can't have your farming business slow down as well as, and um be, be stunted by your rooster's failure to wake you up each day. So isn't your time worth it to you to have me wake you up each day? 00:52:23.69 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, well, i my, my poor, am my poor lad. Oh, and he's like trying to pat him awake and the rooster's just still, like the rooster's alive. He's just like really sleepy. He's just like, I don't, well, how much are you asking for? 00:52:39.22 Raenelle You know, you you offer me what you think might be fair. 00:52:45.88 Kurt Crenwelge Every day? 00:52:46.22 Allison (Kids Table) Oh. ah 00:52:46.87 Kurt Crenwelge i mean, I suppose, me is a copper piece good for you? 00:52:53.02 Raenelle Make it two and we we can strike a deal. 00:52:59.83 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, know, he's looking between the rooster in his arms, the chickens all about and the rest of all his farm work that he has to do. But he really wants to make sure he always has a good start on his day. So he like he fishes in his pockets and he manages to pull out two copper pieces. He's like, all right, fine. You got a deal. Two copper pieces. 00:53:17.88 Raenelle Well, I do appreciate your business, and rumor has it you're not the only one. So I'd appreciate recommendation. In fact, here's what I'll say. 00:53:30.58 Raenelle I'll do the first three days. For free. And if you're not happy with my services, I will pay you six copper. But if you are happy with my services, I think you should agree with me now that you will tell at least three of your friends to procure my services as well. 00:53:52.92 Kurt Crenwelge Alright, alright. You got a deal. you got to deal and He'll so help stick his hand out for a handshake. 00:54:00.86 Raenelle ah i i I accept a handshake and I say, to really seal the deal, though, you must give something to my dear companion, Shrek. 00:54:13.57 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, ah ah Okay, and so like he'll set the, he'll, still with the rooster in his arms, he'll walk off, and um maybe he has like an extra bag of oats or something like that, so he'll come over and he'll be like, I hope he likes oats, got more than enough of that I suppose, so here you oats. 00:54:35.97 Allison (Kids Table) Shrek nods approvingly and paws at the ground. 00:54:39.86 Raenelle And in return, I'd love to give your rooster a ah treat. 00:54:46.30 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, you have a treat from... 00:54:48.86 Raenelle Yes, and so out of a a little satchel, one of my or actually one of my pockets in my vest, I pull out something that the farmer is never quite seen. 00:55:01.30 Raenelle he He tends to hesitate, but i hand it to him and slip it into the chicken rooster's mouth, and I so ever so slightly smile, a little bit of a Mona Lisa smile. 00:55:15.38 Raenelle And then I draw my hand back and I say, I'll see you in the morning. 00:55:15.80 Allison (Kids Table) Oh! 00:55:21.98 Kurt Crenwelge All right. All right. And so John Farmer continues to, ah you know, pat the rooster. Does the treat do anything to like return the rooster to normal or just keeps the rooster continually sedated? 00:55:34.58 Raenelle Oddly enough, the the rooster seems to fall into a deeper sleep. 00:55:41.45 Kurt Crenwelge Oh, he's just like, oh, I better, I better go get this rooster lad sorted out, raise a new one. hu Okay. Well, thank you very much. I don't know if I caught your name, sir. 00:55:54.04 Allison (Kids Table) Thank you. 00:55:54.63 Raenelle Oh, that is Bernard at your service. 00:55:58.54 Kurt Crenwelge Bernard, right, yes. Well, you know, farm work begins early, so I guess I'd appreciate the ah the waking up but you know early, before the sun, and ah you and your steed there take care, I suppose. 00:56:14.30 Raenelle Oh, you won't be disappointed. Thank you so much for your your business. 00:56:19.58 Kurt Crenwelge And then as John Farmer goes back to tend to his rooster that's now even falling deeper into sleep and just concerned for the well-being of his rooster, what is the scene going to close with as ah Bernard and Shrek sort of have a moment to themselves before they find their next customers? 00:56:39.42 Raenelle I feel like there is a ah a moment of endearment that happens between me and my steed. I nuzzle his nose a little bit and I say, 00:56:55.64 Raenelle um just so I whisper, good job, Shrek. We'll have more. We'll have 10 more customers by the end of the day. 00:57:06.87 Allison (Kids Table) ah he gives him a little playful nip on the hair and then it's kind of like almost gelled out to the side after 00:57:20.41 Kurt Crenwelge And scenes. There we go. We did it with ah Bernard, the knocker upper and his trusty steed Shrek. So 00:57:27.86 Allison (Kids Table) I love him he's a wheeler and dealer 00:57:30.39 Kurt Crenwelge I know. Yeah. Some last minute things we're discovering about the character for sure. 00:57:35.68 Allison (Kids Table) I had been thinking that the potion that the tree um trolls are like clouding around the city was putting the chickens to sleep, but you directly feeding him the treat was not what I expected. 00:57:52.31 Raenelle but i've I feel like the tree trolls are resourceful and they have multiple ways furthering. 00:57:58.48 Kurt Crenwelge Mm. Multiple vectors. 00:58:01.98 Allison (Kids Table) To ensure their business thrives. 00:58:03.45 Raenelle Make sure their business thrives. 00:58:05.18 Kurt Crenwelge Wow. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, a whole family of tree trolls in the area and Bernard's the one who's making the most money off of them. Albeit in small amounts, but you know, two, you know, two copper pieces each for each day. 00:58:18.78 Kurt Crenwelge I mean, that'll add up pretty quick in a town of 200. 00:58:21.05 Allison (Kids Table) Times 200 people. 00:58:21.07 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. 20 gold. 00:58:22.87 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 00:58:23.96 Kurt Crenwelge yeah twenty gold 00:58:24.60 Allison (Kids Table) Pretty good. 00:58:26.58 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. is 00:58:26.87 Allison (Kids Table) Not bad. 00:58:27.67 Kurt Crenwelge Yeah. Pretty good. Certainly rich enough for trolls. That's for sure. ah But yeah, now we're here in the final thoughts section of the show. So of course we always like to check in with the guests and see how their time was on the podcast. 00:58:41.91 Raenelle I had a great, yeah, this is very fun. 00:58:42.23 Allison (Kids Table) This was very fun. Yeah. 00:58:45.02 Raenelle I'll say, you know, especially with Allison being far, far away, we miss her very much. And so these are kind of just as selfishly like an extra moment for us to get to spend time together. 00:58:58.41 Raenelle And then again, you know, um it's just so fun to practice this collaborative storytelling with others. And so, you know, it's just wonderful to meet you, Kurt, and to, to, 00:59:11.90 Raenelle do things like this where you're tapping into creativity that you wouldn't necessarily do elsewhere ah in an evening, you know, with kids and all the other things. But to carve out time for this is really, I think, special. 00:59:26.46 Kurt Crenwelge Indeed. And I know I won't be, ah you know, so crude as to beg or cajole for another inclusion of one of our humble NPCs into the kids table D&D. But I remember, you know, Finnegan the Brave, like, oh, yeah, you know, Finnegan the Brave will show up. 00:59:37.39 Allison (Kids Table) I love it. 00:59:40.98 Kurt Crenwelge We'll see. But it's like, I don't know, maybe Bernard. ah You know, the trollish knocker upper might definitely be, you know, the right kind of speed for a low level mystery for a bunch of kids to figure out, well, why are the roosters all asleep all the time? And, you know, why are the trolls, ah you know, having to wake people up every morning on ah on a loud, noisy donkey and stuff? 01:00:03.45 Raenelle You never know. 01:00:06.55 Kurt Crenwelge but ah But definitely before we let you go and round out the ah the episode for sure, we always want to leave the stage, ah the soapbox, and the microphone of the platform to you, the guests. Because I know the reason why we're doing this episode ah ultimately is because you've got a Kickstarter that you're you're fundraising and and putting together. So we want to give you that platform now here to... 01:00:27.42 Kurt Crenwelge Tell us all about it and where can we go to to sponsor it and help you guys out. And then just in in general with the kids table, ah where we can find you and where we can support you all. And if you know you as individuals want to be found online such, let us know you know. This is your time to shine and plug the plugs that you got to plug. 01:00:47.16 Allison (Kids Table) Amazing. Well, thank you. Yeah, we are doing our very first Kickstarter. We're very excited about it. um This is kind of a little bit of a different branch of the kids table. We have the show, but then we also have adventures that you can take home to play at your own table with the kids at your table. So for a long time, we've been having parents and educators and aunts and uncles and other family members saying like, hey, my kid really wants to play D&D. But but I looked at the size of the rule book and I'm super overwhelmed. It's way too complicated for me to learn how to DM for my kid. You know, I don't know how to get started. So what we did is we wrote a learn as you play family starter set um that you just jump right into the adventure. You don't have to read through the rules first. Although if you are somebody who likes knowing all the rules first, I did write a uber condensed version of the 5e rules that's included in the game. But you just jump right into the adventure and the rules are introduced to you one at a time as it becomes relevant to the story. So this could be picked up by DMs and players that nobody has ever played before. And as you play through the five chapters in the story, you will learn the basics of 5e in the process and hopefully get everybody hooked on a love of collaborative storytelling. um 01:02:13.21 Allison (Kids Table) I also think that the storyline that Ryan has written is brilliant in his classic writer fashion. um We're calling it a story that has the depth of Lord of the Rings with the playfulness of Zootopia. There are a lot of ah dangerously adorable critters that you will meet along the way, some mysteries to uncover and puzzles to solve. We've used the classic kids table example in every chapter, you get a little bit of something for everyone because different people like to play differently. so there's some role play, there's some puzzle solving, and there's some battles in each and every chapter. So there's a little something for everyone. And it's conveniently broken down into 20 minute segments, three segments in each chapter. So you will end up with potentially 15 sessions that you can play if your kiddos have a little bit of a shorter attention span, or you can link them together. 01:03:08.64 Allison (Kids Table) um and play a little bit longer at a time. So um we are publishing this starter set that's called The Adventure Guide Secrets of Enderil in partnership with our publisher Ember Glow Gaming, and it is going to be launched on Kickstarter June 16th, 2026, and through mid-July, but if you are listening to this podcast before or after that date, You can also find it on the Evergreen site, theadventureguide.emberglowgaming.com. And that will always guide you to where you can find the products no matter where in time you're existing right now. 01:03:49.59 Allison (Kids Table) So, yeah. 01:03:49.59 Kurt Crenwelge Awesome. but And then ah right now, ah you know, if there's anything you got to plug or, you know, just remind us again for the audience out there, where are the best places for us to tune in to the kids table d and d adventure to hear you and the kids, ah you know, you know, champion ah for me as me and all the other misfit adventures you all have. 01:04:09.53 Allison (Kids Table) Yeah. 01:04:10.90 Raenelle ah We have our Kids Table D&D YouTube channel as well as we're on Instagram and Facebook. um And we do actually have a website that if for those who want to navigate our resources that way. But I would say from our... our our link, what's it, our link tree. 01:04:30.90 Raenelle and As on our, you can see that pretty easily on Instagram. um And, you know, for for those who just want little snippets, the reels are great, but like, I would just encourage everyone to check out the full episodes um for the, you know, to really dive into the story. And I think that I would just encourage those who are wanting their children to see that to watch it together. I think there's something about um just getting inspired by another family playing. That's something that says, hey, we can do that, too. And so that's really my hope is that you would check out our channel and just know that. 01:05:10.81 Raenelle I was just a mom with my kid four years ago that was like, what? And i I just went in with an open heart and open mind. And I just really want that for other families. 01:05:23.29 Kurt Crenwelge Awesome. Well, Allison, Raynell, thank you so much for being new and returning guests to the show and the podcast. And, ah you know, it was a great time to to have with you. And I can't wait to have you back on making even more interesting NPCs. 01:05:40.28 Allison (Kids Table) Thanks for having us. 01:05:41.04 Raenelle Thank you. 01:05:41.16 Allison (Kids Table) We'd love to come back anytime.