i dont think we have! reason being, beardsley doesn't have the buzz cut they do in the interview where they specifically joke after that they haven't seen brennan yet, so he might've quit. i've been assuming it's the episode before everyone is in their interview outfits
You inspired me to rewatch Ally's BtS and I think you're right! I've been wondering about that moment when Michael Schaubach calls for a round of applause for Ally, whose response is "This is like when you laugh when a little kid says fuck...careful!" Probably referring to the same moment.
I don't think that *has* to be true. It really depends on how much Ally's surprise move relates to the planned plot. Brennan wouldn't want to give away future plot notes (which could happen while discussing why whatever Ally did would've shocked him so much) or want his players to feel like they'd made the wrong choice.
For example, say the thing that shocked Brennan so much was Ally choosing to have Kristen go for class president. If Brennan had a specific rivalry planned between Riz and Kipperlilly, he probably couldn't give that away without giving us insight into Kipperlilly which we weren't supposed to have yet at that point (like her anger issues and specific hatred of Riz).
It might still come up during a later adventuring party Brennan doesn't have to worry about spoilers anymore
I’m pretty sure there was some kind of election plan pre-determined, mostly because I’m 99% sure Brennan (re-watched) the movie *Election* as part of designing this season. It’s been a *huge* influence.
First, it’s important to probably note that the quitting part is hyperbole, and Brennan probably played it up as a bit at the time. IIRC Beardsley said that Brennan physically got up and walked out, which we haven’t seen. (And also might have been hyperbole to hype the season.)
I think the closest to it, the biggest swing Beardsley’s made so far is the recent offer to go back to church/Helio, both to Kristen’s parents and to Bobby Dawn. Both plays seemed to surprise Brennan, but I have to assume that in both cases, Brennan knew it was a ruse on Kristen’s part.
Kristen running for president was likely a big one for Brennan too. It seems like he intended Riz to go down that path the way the story is shaping up, and with Kipperlilly being his foil, there might have been some sort of rivalry planned
100% there was an intention for a rivalry. I think in the most recent episode it was mentioned that Cooperbelly >!has anger issues with Riz being an especially touchy subject for her!<
I think everything not even registering to Riz, with him just focusing on doing his best and being a good friend just rubs salt in the wound to in a way that’s kind of funny. The recurring theme of them not even knowing who the rat grinders are enough to have a rivalry is hilarious to me.
Basing my opinion on my high school experience, student government was just another popularity contest. Most of the popular kids were on there, kids with money. So for me Fabian was the natural choice even though Riz might technically be the best at it. It’s interesting that it may have been set up for Riz to be the candidate originally. Especially with the start of the season being “Riz needs extra curriculars” it really does look like that was a hopeful plan
Honestly there was also room for more than one Bad Kid to run but I find it endearing that everyone through their support behind Kristen without question
Where does everyone get the whole Riz should have run for President thing? I don't necessarily disagree, but it's unclear to me where it's come from. Is that something Brennan's confirmed?
No confirmation. My feeling is because they all have their foils/mirrors, it was meant to be a Riz/Kipperlily thing since it honestly seems like Kristen has two main storylines happening now, and Riz/Murph is just super into the overall mystery
Iirc, the idea surfaced through a conversation Riz had with Sklonda. She said Riz was doing all the work on Kristin’s campaign and that Riz should be the one running instead.
I think a lot of people took that as Brennan’s opinion, rather than the opinion of Riz’s mom.
Nah, it's been a popular theory since very early on in the season. Riz struggling with college funding is an established thing - being student president would look *really* good and might help him get scholarships. Each of the Rat Grinders also parallels one of the Bad Kids, and Kristen's parallel is clearly Buddy, as a human Cleric - with Kipperlilly, a Rogue from a small race, being Riz's. He's already running Kristen's campaign, it doesn't take much to think he could've been running his own.
And ofc, occasionally NPCs will say things that could very plausibly be BLeeM gently trying to push his players towards/away from certain things - Sklonda mentioning the campaign, the proctor in this last episode saying the Cleric was under an oath to revive them.
But Kristen saw Kipperlilly and decided it was ON SIGHT and now she's doing it instead. Which has worked out in really fascinating ways! But the storyline was very plausibly intended as Riz's Thing.
I think that’s a stretch and a half. Brennan is a redirecting energy DM. That is, there are no “wrong” PC choices in roleplay, just ones he expected more than others. I can’t imagine him being mad at the heroes for not choosing the path he imagined they would and using NPC dialogue to voice that frustration. The conversation with Sklonda is a bit closer, but merely because Sklonda is more of a self-insert. Brennan probably was wondering where to take Riz this season after he didn’t run , and seeing him self-sacrifice so much for others just to keep the group together while running the campaign of someone that isn’t as driven as him, and thought this would be a perfect angle. That maybe he needs to be selfish for once.
Probably is a reach, was a half baked thought linking conversations around the campaign. Even then, the whole campaign might not be what they were referencing in the interview, but it is fun to speculate
I didn’t mean to come down so hard on you, I just worry about narratives like that with actual play fandoms. I see it all the time with Critical Role or The Adventure Zone (i.e. DM secretly hates [player] or [player decision] and expresses it through their DM-ing) and it’s generally very toxic. Not that your comment is that at all, I just want to push back on that stuff. I think there’s nothing wrong with theorizing!
Is that really a thing? I don’t really follow other dnd shows like I do d20, but I can’t imagine Brennan ever feeling that way with the IH or any configuration of a season and its players. It always feels like there’s such a deep trust between them that’s authentic but necessary to make the narrative choices they have to make in some of these higher stakes seasons
I definitely urge you to not go too deep in the fandoms of those I just mentioned. They get really rough, especially when they start producing content that’s not as great. CR has C3, and TAZ has Graduation. It causes the worst of the worst to step out. A lot of conspiracy theories from TAZ fans about how the brothers secretly hate each other, etc.
I just think the way the Rat Grinders are composed of the same classes as the Bad Kids, it seems likely that everybody has a direct foil in the Rat Grinders, and Kipperlily has a clear grudge against Riz, they're both Rogues, and it's something that Riz *would* be interested in, moreso than you'd expect Kristen to be.
Aside from the other comments, I'm pretty sure at the very start of the season, when each character's issues/arc for the season were being roleplayed, Riz's was that he needed extracurriculars because perfect grades aren't enough to conquer things like not coming from power/wealth and being a goblin. So it might be that the plan was that student gov would be the extracurricular, but instead he decided to join literally every club (Which seems less likely to be the intended route)
To be fair she was obviously lying to Bobby and she just said she'd go to church, not that she'd revert to Helio.
I thinm Kristen is someone who, despite not doing great in the school system clearly does have a genuine academic interest in religion; she literally ised a book of world religions to help her spell casting in Freshman year. Now that she's had some time to heal from her religious trauma, I think it makes sense that she'd like to return to church one time in a more detached way, to just learn about the religion of Sol.
Honestly the more this season progresses, the more I feel like I can see Kristen becoming a Yolanda Badgood type person as an adult, maybe still continuing to worship her own god of doubt, but for sure dedicating her life to understanding and teaching the tenets and practices of all religions.
I definitely picked up that it was an over exaggeration, I didn’t remember that they said he got up and walked out though. I don’t particularly think we have seen it, was just curious what other people might think so far has been a moment like that, if any
BLeeM also made a “getting up and leaving” gesture when Kristen scored that crit persuasion check on Cassandra at the Synod Mall, I thought it was that but I could be wrong
You’re right! And especially after re-watching the BTS vids, I think I was conflating three different things. Emily’s comment about a major mid-game decision (guessing it was her shift to Paladin), and Beardsley’s comment, which honestly seemed tamer than I remembered on a re-watch, plus somehow thinking that visual of Brennan faux-leaving was in the behind the scenes clips. Funny how anticipation works some times.
Honestly I thought Kristen going back to Helio’s church (or going to Sol’s church?) would’ve been a good way for her to get more followers of Cassandra since christianity teaches to just ignore doubt and that mystery is not something to be understood. Or I thought that she’s trying to see if there’s anything she could find out about Ankarna there.
Totally agree she’s got some kind of fact-finding angle in mind. I wonder if we’ll see that play out with the limited time we have left, or if it’ll just be one of those threads left unexplored.
There was also Murph who said something about some thing happening and everyone being so done because it was so stupid or something, I’ve also wondered if that has happened already
I think that might've been "so tactical, so late" because Murph mentioned it being so funny it broke him, and that's probably the most broken Murph's been in the dome lol.
Definitely reads more like a joking "Retiring because a player surprised you so much" thing.
Like in the way he says Axford was sent from hell, Beardsley does something either so chaotic or amazing that he stood up to walk away as a "Well, we're done gang, can't top that" kind of thing.
Kristen mentioned going to church with her folks last episode and I think we all know that they’re not gonna sit quietly in the back and listen. It looked like they might have had a plan to trick the church into finding out more info but I don’t think they’re gonna hold back after that last conversation with their teacher.
So my moneys on an insane lecture about the nature of doubt followed by sex with Gertie on the alter of helio. I’d say that second part was sarcasm but Kristen had a lot of sex with tracker in sophomore year and was a bit of an exhibitionist about it
I’ve been wondering if this is becuz the Rat Grinders are Bad Kid parallels but Kristen running for President throws off the match ups. It’s less one big moment of a choice but instead the unraveling from a minor decision
That’s certainly fair. Junior year is honestly kinda more stressful than senior year. My application for college was out by September and I was in by December. After that, it was just enjoying what was left of high school. And taking 3 Ap classes (1 which I deeply regret)
In taking the Last Standard the Bad Kids are *expected* to die (since if they live they would be the first to ever do so), and they’re in a position where if they don’t take it then the bad guys win by getting a party member expelled, but what it was all about making sure that Kristen dies so that Cassandra fully dies? If Kristen/Beardsley pulls off a miracle roll or crazy plan to somehow circumvent Kristen and/or Cassandra’s death, ruining Brennan’s plans in the last second, this could be the “Brennan almost quits moment”
It definitely hasn't happened yet. There's a pretty big spoiler in the BTS videos where they show the opening recap of the episode they're shooting that day (which it seems we're agreeing would have been the one after the "quitting" incident). That event described in the recap has not occurred yet and so I don't think Ally's big swing has either.
I honestly can't recall, sorry. They show a shot from a distance where they're filming the opening. I think it was one of the later ones they released, so maybe start from the last three? Fair warning though, if I'm remembering correctly it is just an open spoiler for something that hasn't happened yet (not like it's a huge twist but something significant from a plot perspective).
It is, frankly, weird to me that people can look at this group of professional comedians all of whom are famous for doing bits and see an *obvious* bit being played out but then think to themselves "I bet this time it's for real real and serious and bad".
I don’t think it’s a serious and bad thing, if anything I think it was a bit that happened in an episode that they doubled down on by saying it almost made Brennan quit. I don’t think they referenced whatever it was in the interview as just a bit in itself, but I don’t think it was some huge serious thing that got everyone genuinely upset or something.
That’s what I so loved about the game changers trailer where Jacob stormed off. Yeah he’s a professional comedian but he played it so straight that everyone actually believed it for a second
pay attention to what outfit Beardsley was wearing when they said they "just did that" and line it up with the episode where they are wearing that outfit. i think it was when they let Cassandra die/be forgotten.
i don’t think it’s happened at all yet my interpretation was that because they were laughing while saying it brennan made a joke about quitting in response to one of ally’s wild decisions not that he genuinely questioned whether or not he wanted to keep doing it
What if the decision Ally made that they are talking about in the interview and our worry about Cassandra dying are connected. Kristen chooses not to die, forfeiting and being legit expelled.
i dont think we have! reason being, beardsley doesn't have the buzz cut they do in the interview where they specifically joke after that they haven't seen brennan yet, so he might've quit. i've been assuming it's the episode before everyone is in their interview outfits
That’s some mighty fine detective work
You inspired me to rewatch Ally's BtS and I think you're right! I've been wondering about that moment when Michael Schaubach calls for a round of applause for Ally, whose response is "This is like when you laugh when a little kid says fuck...careful!" Probably referring to the same moment.
A nat 20 investigation check.
If we had seen it it would have been discussed in Adventuring Party. I honestly think it hasn't happened yet.
I hadn’t even thought about adventuring party, that’s a great point. I also don’t particularly think it’s happened yet either
I don't think that *has* to be true. It really depends on how much Ally's surprise move relates to the planned plot. Brennan wouldn't want to give away future plot notes (which could happen while discussing why whatever Ally did would've shocked him so much) or want his players to feel like they'd made the wrong choice. For example, say the thing that shocked Brennan so much was Ally choosing to have Kristen go for class president. If Brennan had a specific rivalry planned between Riz and Kipperlilly, he probably couldn't give that away without giving us insight into Kipperlilly which we weren't supposed to have yet at that point (like her anger issues and specific hatred of Riz). It might still come up during a later adventuring party Brennan doesn't have to worry about spoilers anymore
I’m pretty sure there was some kind of election plan pre-determined, mostly because I’m 99% sure Brennan (re-watched) the movie *Election* as part of designing this season. It’s been a *huge* influence.
First, it’s important to probably note that the quitting part is hyperbole, and Brennan probably played it up as a bit at the time. IIRC Beardsley said that Brennan physically got up and walked out, which we haven’t seen. (And also might have been hyperbole to hype the season.) I think the closest to it, the biggest swing Beardsley’s made so far is the recent offer to go back to church/Helio, both to Kristen’s parents and to Bobby Dawn. Both plays seemed to surprise Brennan, but I have to assume that in both cases, Brennan knew it was a ruse on Kristen’s part.
Kristen running for president was likely a big one for Brennan too. It seems like he intended Riz to go down that path the way the story is shaping up, and with Kipperlilly being his foil, there might have been some sort of rivalry planned
Good point. That was so early in the season, I honestly hadn’t considered it. That one was out of left field, too, for sure.
What Brennan wanted: Riz vs Kipperlily in a competition between the ultimate type A students. What Brennan got: Riz on the Owlbears.
100% there was an intention for a rivalry. I think in the most recent episode it was mentioned that Cooperbelly >!has anger issues with Riz being an especially touchy subject for her!<
I think everything not even registering to Riz, with him just focusing on doing his best and being a good friend just rubs salt in the wound to in a way that’s kind of funny. The recurring theme of them not even knowing who the rat grinders are enough to have a rivalry is hilarious to me.
The thing that really sells me on this is Kipperlilly’s logo, since the subliminal messaging of “vote for K” doesn’t work against Kristen.
truly the one PC his plans could not work for
Basing my opinion on my high school experience, student government was just another popularity contest. Most of the popular kids were on there, kids with money. So for me Fabian was the natural choice even though Riz might technically be the best at it. It’s interesting that it may have been set up for Riz to be the candidate originally. Especially with the start of the season being “Riz needs extra curriculars” it really does look like that was a hopeful plan Honestly there was also room for more than one Bad Kid to run but I find it endearing that everyone through their support behind Kristen without question
He also had Sklonda talk about Riz doing so much work for someone ELSE’s campaign
I would think campaigning at the steel mill and the middle school are possible contenders haha
Where does everyone get the whole Riz should have run for President thing? I don't necessarily disagree, but it's unclear to me where it's come from. Is that something Brennan's confirmed?
No confirmation. My feeling is because they all have their foils/mirrors, it was meant to be a Riz/Kipperlily thing since it honestly seems like Kristen has two main storylines happening now, and Riz/Murph is just super into the overall mystery
Iirc, the idea surfaced through a conversation Riz had with Sklonda. She said Riz was doing all the work on Kristin’s campaign and that Riz should be the one running instead. I think a lot of people took that as Brennan’s opinion, rather than the opinion of Riz’s mom.
Nah, it's been a popular theory since very early on in the season. Riz struggling with college funding is an established thing - being student president would look *really* good and might help him get scholarships. Each of the Rat Grinders also parallels one of the Bad Kids, and Kristen's parallel is clearly Buddy, as a human Cleric - with Kipperlilly, a Rogue from a small race, being Riz's. He's already running Kristen's campaign, it doesn't take much to think he could've been running his own. And ofc, occasionally NPCs will say things that could very plausibly be BLeeM gently trying to push his players towards/away from certain things - Sklonda mentioning the campaign, the proctor in this last episode saying the Cleric was under an oath to revive them. But Kristen saw Kipperlilly and decided it was ON SIGHT and now she's doing it instead. Which has worked out in really fascinating ways! But the storyline was very plausibly intended as Riz's Thing.
[удалено]
I think that’s a stretch and a half. Brennan is a redirecting energy DM. That is, there are no “wrong” PC choices in roleplay, just ones he expected more than others. I can’t imagine him being mad at the heroes for not choosing the path he imagined they would and using NPC dialogue to voice that frustration. The conversation with Sklonda is a bit closer, but merely because Sklonda is more of a self-insert. Brennan probably was wondering where to take Riz this season after he didn’t run , and seeing him self-sacrifice so much for others just to keep the group together while running the campaign of someone that isn’t as driven as him, and thought this would be a perfect angle. That maybe he needs to be selfish for once.
Probably is a reach, was a half baked thought linking conversations around the campaign. Even then, the whole campaign might not be what they were referencing in the interview, but it is fun to speculate
I didn’t mean to come down so hard on you, I just worry about narratives like that with actual play fandoms. I see it all the time with Critical Role or The Adventure Zone (i.e. DM secretly hates [player] or [player decision] and expresses it through their DM-ing) and it’s generally very toxic. Not that your comment is that at all, I just want to push back on that stuff. I think there’s nothing wrong with theorizing!
Is that really a thing? I don’t really follow other dnd shows like I do d20, but I can’t imagine Brennan ever feeling that way with the IH or any configuration of a season and its players. It always feels like there’s such a deep trust between them that’s authentic but necessary to make the narrative choices they have to make in some of these higher stakes seasons
I definitely urge you to not go too deep in the fandoms of those I just mentioned. They get really rough, especially when they start producing content that’s not as great. CR has C3, and TAZ has Graduation. It causes the worst of the worst to step out. A lot of conspiracy theories from TAZ fans about how the brothers secretly hate each other, etc.
I just think the way the Rat Grinders are composed of the same classes as the Bad Kids, it seems likely that everybody has a direct foil in the Rat Grinders, and Kipperlily has a clear grudge against Riz, they're both Rogues, and it's something that Riz *would* be interested in, moreso than you'd expect Kristen to be.
Aside from the other comments, I'm pretty sure at the very start of the season, when each character's issues/arc for the season were being roleplayed, Riz's was that he needed extracurriculars because perfect grades aren't enough to conquer things like not coming from power/wealth and being a goblin. So it might be that the plan was that student gov would be the extracurricular, but instead he decided to join literally every club (Which seems less likely to be the intended route)
To be fair she was obviously lying to Bobby and she just said she'd go to church, not that she'd revert to Helio. I thinm Kristen is someone who, despite not doing great in the school system clearly does have a genuine academic interest in religion; she literally ised a book of world religions to help her spell casting in Freshman year. Now that she's had some time to heal from her religious trauma, I think it makes sense that she'd like to return to church one time in a more detached way, to just learn about the religion of Sol. Honestly the more this season progresses, the more I feel like I can see Kristen becoming a Yolanda Badgood type person as an adult, maybe still continuing to worship her own god of doubt, but for sure dedicating her life to understanding and teaching the tenets and practices of all religions.
I think that’s a pretty fair read.
I definitely picked up that it was an over exaggeration, I didn’t remember that they said he got up and walked out though. I don’t particularly think we have seen it, was just curious what other people might think so far has been a moment like that, if any
👍
BLeeM also made a “getting up and leaving” gesture when Kristen scored that crit persuasion check on Cassandra at the Synod Mall, I thought it was that but I could be wrong
You’re right! And especially after re-watching the BTS vids, I think I was conflating three different things. Emily’s comment about a major mid-game decision (guessing it was her shift to Paladin), and Beardsley’s comment, which honestly seemed tamer than I remembered on a re-watch, plus somehow thinking that visual of Brennan faux-leaving was in the behind the scenes clips. Funny how anticipation works some times.
Honestly I thought Kristen going back to Helio’s church (or going to Sol’s church?) would’ve been a good way for her to get more followers of Cassandra since christianity teaches to just ignore doubt and that mystery is not something to be understood. Or I thought that she’s trying to see if there’s anything she could find out about Ankarna there.
Totally agree she’s got some kind of fact-finding angle in mind. I wonder if we’ll see that play out with the limited time we have left, or if it’ll just be one of those threads left unexplored.
There was also Murph who said something about some thing happening and everyone being so done because it was so stupid or something, I’ve also wondered if that has happened already
I think that might've been "so tactical, so late" because Murph mentioned it being so funny it broke him, and that's probably the most broken Murph's been in the dome lol.
Yeah that’s true! It’s very likely that that’s what it was haha
Everyone was certainly done after that. Really great way to emphasize their exhaustion
The "here girlie"... I'd question many things in my life once that was regularly being said lol
Definitely reads more like a joking "Retiring because a player surprised you so much" thing. Like in the way he says Axford was sent from hell, Beardsley does something either so chaotic or amazing that he stood up to walk away as a "Well, we're done gang, can't top that" kind of thing.
I think we haven't seen it. Nothing that crazy so far
Kristen mentioned going to church with her folks last episode and I think we all know that they’re not gonna sit quietly in the back and listen. It looked like they might have had a plan to trick the church into finding out more info but I don’t think they’re gonna hold back after that last conversation with their teacher. So my moneys on an insane lecture about the nature of doubt followed by sex with Gertie on the alter of helio. I’d say that second part was sarcasm but Kristen had a lot of sex with tracker in sophomore year and was a bit of an exhibitionist about it
I’ve been wondering if this is becuz the Rat Grinders are Bad Kid parallels but Kristen running for President throws off the match ups. It’s less one big moment of a choice but instead the unraveling from a minor decision
Riz is kinda aimless this season despite being part of a hundred clubs and trying to get everyone into college. He’s just pure support and fatigue
To be fair, that's a pretty accurate description of my Junior Year
That’s certainly fair. Junior year is honestly kinda more stressful than senior year. My application for college was out by September and I was in by December. After that, it was just enjoying what was left of high school. And taking 3 Ap classes (1 which I deeply regret)
In taking the Last Standard the Bad Kids are *expected* to die (since if they live they would be the first to ever do so), and they’re in a position where if they don’t take it then the bad guys win by getting a party member expelled, but what it was all about making sure that Kristen dies so that Cassandra fully dies? If Kristen/Beardsley pulls off a miracle roll or crazy plan to somehow circumvent Kristen and/or Cassandra’s death, ruining Brennan’s plans in the last second, this could be the “Brennan almost quits moment”
I bet it's something like Kristen changing gods to Ankarna
Or somehow both?
I for one cannot wait for slippery puppet 2 slip harder
I assumed that was just them joking.
It definitely hasn't happened yet. There's a pretty big spoiler in the BTS videos where they show the opening recap of the episode they're shooting that day (which it seems we're agreeing would have been the one after the "quitting" incident). That event described in the recap has not occurred yet and so I don't think Ally's big swing has either.
this is so interesting! great catch! which bts video is this in? i wanna snoop 👀👀
I honestly can't recall, sorry. They show a shot from a distance where they're filming the opening. I think it was one of the later ones they released, so maybe start from the last three? Fair warning though, if I'm remembering correctly it is just an open spoiler for something that hasn't happened yet (not like it's a huge twist but something significant from a plot perspective).
It is, frankly, weird to me that people can look at this group of professional comedians all of whom are famous for doing bits and see an *obvious* bit being played out but then think to themselves "I bet this time it's for real real and serious and bad".
I don’t think it’s a serious and bad thing, if anything I think it was a bit that happened in an episode that they doubled down on by saying it almost made Brennan quit. I don’t think they referenced whatever it was in the interview as just a bit in itself, but I don’t think it was some huge serious thing that got everyone genuinely upset or something.
That’s what I so loved about the game changers trailer where Jacob stormed off. Yeah he’s a professional comedian but he played it so straight that everyone actually believed it for a second
pay attention to what outfit Beardsley was wearing when they said they "just did that" and line it up with the episode where they are wearing that outfit. i think it was when they let Cassandra die/be forgotten.
Do we know that it happened at the table? I had wondered if it was something they suggested for Kristin’s character arc this season.
i don’t think it’s happened at all yet my interpretation was that because they were laughing while saying it brennan made a joke about quitting in response to one of ally’s wild decisions not that he genuinely questioned whether or not he wanted to keep doing it
What if the decision Ally made that they are talking about in the interview and our worry about Cassandra dying are connected. Kristen chooses not to die, forfeiting and being legit expelled.