It's been a long fall, y'all.  Oddly, also a very much too-short one.  Time is SUPER weird lately.

Anyway, we're back on the horse and trying to figure out if we still remember how to ride, while also having learned a few new tricks we want to put into action.  It may be time to stop with the metaphors.  After needing a very genuine "the world happened" break we're back to creating and writing, back to character engagement, and it feels really good.

One of the unexpected benefits of taking a break is that both of us had to to consider what we are looking for from our podcasting experience as well as from our play experience.  This evaluation led to cleaning house a bit and approaching all the things that we love about where we started in a more sustainable way.  

We hope you are going to love what comes next.  Heck, we hope WE are going to love what comes next.  That's the goal.  Let's peel off these filthy gloves and enjoy our reclaimed tidy zone!

#myfavoritecantrip #dndanthology #dndpodcast #myfavcantrip #dndpodcast #priapuswillneverdie #theywholoomislooming 

Every fall, at least for my adult life, I have noticed spider activity.  It's not always the same.  Years ago, in our last house, the massive wolf spiders would appear in our bathtub, harbingers of cooling weather and shorter days.  They would do this bobbing dance, threatening us off of their warm, if too slippery to escape, new digs while we tried to scoop them up in a glass jar to return them outside.  Inevitably the next morning, there would be another bouncing spider the size of our palm in the tub.

For all I know it was only ever one spider, it just kept coming back inside, the point is this annual interaction always let us know fall was on the way.

Recently, staying in a cabin tucked deep in some mountainous woods, my party (real world party, although we did also play some D&D while we were there, this was a real world encounter) found the most massive Black Widow I've ever seen in my life.  No joke, her abdomen was the size of a dime.  We treated that lady with a LOT of respect as we relocated her off of the porch and into the woods, but all of us agreed that seeing her was a truly magical moment for us all. 

One of my favorite type of spider is definitely the orb weaver.  This is a group, not a single spider, and you see them get active in the evenings of the fall.  They build gloriously massive webs, the kind you think of when you read Charlotte's Web, with connection points on buildings, trees, plants, other spiderwebs, the ground.  Complicated labyrinths, circles and loops, sometimes a zig-zag finishing flair reminding you that webs are function meeting form. 

As I consider creativity and campaigns, I find myself thinking about that place where function and form connect.  The sticky webs that entice us in, keep us hooked in and wanting more.  We are about to take a long weekend in another cabin in a mountainous wood (it's a thing, we like it) and I, for one, will be looking for the spiders while I'm there - thinking about how nature is art, art is nature, and trying to connect with those lovely 8-legged harbingers of seasonal change. 

#spidersofdnd #myfavoritecantrip #connections #natureisart #webs

The other day, in a professional context, I was asked what I was most proud of over the past two years.  "Two years?" I thought to myself.  "Wait, how long have we been in COVID?  How old even am I right now?  Where was I two years ago?  What day is TODAY?!"

And today, of all days, is one of those dates where all of us who were alive can be asked the question "Where were you that day?" knowing full well we can all answer that question.  Twenty years?  How can it be twenty years when it was only yesterday, when it was a lifetime ago? 

Almost everything we use to define our human existence is a construct of some sort - subjective at best.  But the truth is that, no matter how constructed or how subjective it may be, we feel nothing so keenly as the passage of time.  All this to say, it's a big serious day and we're a small, silly podcast - and we miss you.  We are wishing you well.  We are looking forward to coming back with vigor, excitement, and fun stories to share soon. 

Just to commiserate, if I'm honest, the thing I'm most proud of over the past two years in the largest sense is keeping my sense of humor, and this podcast is part of that.  And twenty years ago we had just returned from our first adult vacation.  We had made a "big breakfast" feast and were preparing to watch movies and unpack from the trip all day when every channel shifted to news that was impossible to process, impossible to look away from.  That day changed me.  I will never forget.  

#myfavoritecantrip #podcastmusings #podcastblog #remembering911 #weirdquestions #timeisaconstruct 

One of the things about deciding to commit to pursuing a creative venture is that there are always going to be 50+ (no exaggeration) things you don't know are going to be "a thing" for every 2 things you've got in the bag.  Or think you  have in the bag, only to discover the bag has a hole in it, or it wasn't a bag at all, or someone swapped your bag and now you have a bag full of some OTHER stuff that you have to figure out how to use, you know how it is. The point is this: there is a learning curve.

This truth is equal parts "Hey, learning is fun!" and "OMFG *expletives deleted* WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!" 

So we're sorting out whether stereo or mono recordings make more sense for us.  We're discovering just how much random noise there is in regular life.  How often we say "um" per 30 seconds.  That putting two natural educators and a book in front of a microphone can sometimes devolve into a "lesson" instead of a story.  How tricky sound design can be.  And how much fun we're having, in spite of realizing that our climb to our ideal goal zone may be steep.  

We're glad you're on this journey with us, and we genuinely look forward to both the pinnacles achieved and the falls along the way.    Thanks for your patience, your support, and the times that you laugh - whether those are with us or at us, at least we made you smile. 

Hey all, how about a BRAND NEW CANTRIP for your 5e game?

Cockaby Horcusporcus' Cone of Violence
Evocation Cantrip

Casting Time:       1 action
Range:                    10'
Components:       V, S
Duration:               Instantaneous

A cacophony of noise and matter erupt from your hands in a 10' foot cone. Every creature in the cone must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, creature is deafened until the start of your next turn and takes 1d6 of the following type of damage.
Roll a d6 to determine damage type for each creature that fails the save (each creature can suffer damage of a different type):
1. Fire
2. Acid
3. Psychic
4. Thunder
5. Force
6. Lightning
On a successful save, creature takes no damage and is not deafened.
The spell's damage increases to a d8 at 3rd level, by an additional d8 (2d8) at 5th level, 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

If you join our "Cantrip of the Month Club" Tier on Patreon, you'll get TWELVE (12) brand new never before seen cantrips per year to use for your own game!!
Hope you like Cockaby's Cone of Violence, long may you deafen your enemies!

My Favorite Cantrip Theme by Lance Garrett Minnis is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Meet our beasties!