Post "Fireside Chat for WWW ep44 “To the Bone”" by "worldsbeyondnumber"

Murky the Squid

did i miss suvi choosing spells at the end of the episode or something? i dont remember her actually going through the spellbooks in game

Sophie

I always thought of the man in black as Tom Waits!

Perverseness

"everyday I choose not to be Wicked." You can hear the capital W

Wizard Syn

Honestly, thank you all so much for sharing this amazing story with us and allowing us to take a step into these phenomenal worlds. WBN has brought me tremendous joy that I can't believe I used to live without it.

Lulu

I love Ame, when she says "my symbol is not the rolling pin" it rings to me as an acceptance that the Worlds Heart is not barred from anger. It is deeply layered, not just kindness. (Also currious if the familiars are actually traits that the witch needs to learn from and not put away)

Stormy Sackett

And with other witches, Ame had to be cunning AND kind. Because they are people and also spiritual.

Bard

"Man in Black is Still Walken' Down the Railroad Track" Has been stuck in my head for weeks.

Lexie Jones

Last few minutes are the best. These episodes both feel like the best thing ever but also fill me with dread like a season about to be over.

Lauren

DUDE this episode stressed the life right outta me. BRENNANNNNN

Dylan Dietzman

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed: Shadows does that exact "blood flick but with a guy" as a finisher, and it's just as rad as you think it is lmao

larkermouse

I dunno, I think it would be okay if these were twice as long

Paige Bowen

Hi team. I need to be in a discord that.discusses this podcast. Im in really deep and none of my friends will listen to me ramble. How does one join an illusive fan-created discord?

Jesse Massaro

Full Tom Waits track! PLEASE 🙏 That was life giving. Holy heck!!!!

Patrick Massey

Not Brennan doing a Mak Weepe impression

SOMASF

After having seen Taylor play with you guys in the fundraiser, please bring him in as a guest player at some point!

Lara Elliott

Brennan-as-the-Great-Bullfrog's Tom Waits song immediately reminded me of "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the opening to Peaky Blinders, and I need that unholy mashup band to exist. Get the Man in Black on backup vocals. He'd do it, that saucy hoe.

Peter Worrest

I had a thought on this episode that was from a subtle statement that felt like a hint. keen's pale lips feel like a hint at a potential path for this to not be his last appearance: what is the state of necromantic research amongst the guilds and/or the empire?

Parker & Emily

I've been loving this story. Thank you to all those involved in making it! I just came across the piece that I believe inspired the outro! Dvorák's Serenade for strings in E Major Op. 22 B. 52 mvm. 2. I'm sure that has been shared before but figured more might appreciate hearing the piece. Happy listening folks!

Matt Rise

Damn. That was actually a really solid Tom Waits-esque song. I think Brennen needs to get in the studio with that one.

Amber Miller

BRAIN BLAST just paused the episode immediately after this statement: "It's possible that the world needed a rooster and now it needs a fox." so... perhaps..... the world needed to wake up to the things happening within it, but to fix those things it requires cunning?? makes you think!!!!

Ryan Leeson

*Sigh* I'm caught up, time to double back and recontextualize EVERYTHING.

KingusDingus

I just did that A to B to Zero Dark Thirty on my group by constructing the idea of a magical sensory deprivation chamber and then using mild suggestion to make time an irrelevant concept before taking away their primary sense of sight and hearing and letting them micro dose conscious death

MC Jabberwocky

Oh how the turn tables 😏

Aviva

This is the podcast that turned me into a traditional podcast listener. Also turned me into a Patreon patron, so. I guess I dig it, is what I'm saying.

Krusty Bo Busty

You’re right because actually she actually has always been perfect, actually.

Krusty Bo Busty

So when you said “real language” did you mean the one in umora (aka not real) or the real life language that this name ISN’T in? And you trying to make it look ignorant or problematic that anyone would joke about the collective misspelling of the character’s name is not doing the job you think it’s doing. Especially when the language in question is entirely fictional and this is an audio podcast with no spelling.

Sil

I see what you're referring to, friend, and you did specify many parallels rather than all the same. Zuko just happened to be originally portrayed as a villain 🤷🏼 the learning curve they both have to take to recognise and overcome imperial messaging and resulting cognitive dissonance is a classic plot. I was watching Owl House the other day and was able to draw parallels between Hunter and Suvi as well, as Hunter is also portrayed originally as a villain. I'm enjoying the difference here being that Suvi has not been portrayed as such.

Shelby Welby

This show is so good

Ryan Leeson

I'm here, but I haven't listened to the episode yet. It's not on YouTube yet. 😅 Not a traditional podcast listener.

Amelia Morgana

So when we getting the full Tom Waits track about Twelve Brooks?

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Seems to be Lou's mic.

TheloniousPunkyBrewster

There's no world in which they don't homebrew something right?

Danielle St John

Re: fireside length, I always want to be respectful of y'all's time, cuz I know you all have a lot going on. And also, I would listen to firesides that we're as long as the episodes themselves and then some. You are collectively a delight, and I enjoy hearing y'all doing your thing. I will say, this was not the place where I expected to hear discourse regarding different baptism practices 🤣🤣🤣 Having grown up in the Church of Christ but no longer being a practitioner, I find I still have Opinions™ about baptism, and it's a little strange to realize 😅

Emily

Thanks George, any relation to No Gorge?

Ricky Conrad

Ive thought this for a bit now, but knowing how witches’ familiars work, i am SO excited to see what Nif’s familiar ends up being

Hunter Lee

I am 100% on board for the fireside chats to be longer. I always feel like there's so much more to talk about and I really enjoy hearing you process the story as a group. If the fireside chats are 2h long I'm on board

Aaron E

I feel like Ross Bryant would be more than happy to help you write that Tom Waits song

Aaron E

Alright, I've decided. Once I have the money, my next tattoo will be of The Fox, framed, Studio Ghibli style, with "Be Kind" above it and "Be Cunning" beneath. I've been wanting a fox tattoo for a while and this just seems like the perfect inspiration.

Ben Fogle

Another totally-on-purpose bit of language thematics: "Cunning" was often used in medieval Europe to describe witchcraft. ("Cunning folk" and "Cunning Arts")

PocketNyx

Thank you for acknowledging how outright terrifying Taylor's blurbs are. We've all been so brave.

Mubeen Khan

Is anyone else hearing a couple of places where there is an abrupt skip in the middle of a sentence?

xatlern

Whoops! Thank you for the correction, I honestly haven't actually watched atla in a really long time and was thinking more about the vibes of traveling with the uncle than anything else. Sorry for the implication that she's doing anything villainous or needs to be redeemed, I definitely don't see her that way ❤️ love her and you!

TheWizardSolace

The opening of “To the Bone” made CR Calamity feel like D20

Aabria Iyengar

Suvi 👏🏾 is 👏🏾 not 👏🏾 on 👏🏾 a 👏🏾 villain 👏🏾 redemption 👏🏾 arc 👏🏾

Sophie Freestone

Aabryia calling to 13 reasons why and the death of marat in one episode is amazing!!!

irisilmaril

Eioghorain is i am pretty sure Gaelic-like spelling but everyone seems to want to dunk on the name with elements of a real language they don’t understand.

Jordan T. Maxwell

Can "Umoran Tom Waits covers" be the next song challenge for this year? 😎😍💜

Jordan T. Maxwell

::looks at Brennan crafting Umora:: What's he building in there?

Alessandro Chiappetta

Okay, i found it. it truly reminds of "rain dogs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXW3c5Z6UQ0&ab_channel=TomWaits

Alessandro Chiappetta

i feel like i'm having a fever dream then. I know that the lyrics are made up, but the rhythm and the way it's sang truly reminds me of a tom waits song but I can't remember which one. if there is no one, kudos to brennan and taylor to fool me around like that!

Jules O

OOOOHHHH YES PLEASE

Jules O

surprise special guest mr tom waits!

Worlds Beyond Number

Tom waits surprisingly never had a song about the king of night and the great bullfrog. Brennan is just making it up. They are what we call “joking around.”

TheWanderingMage

Okay just checking in here that there’s sufficient enthusiasm for a Tom Waits Great Bullfrog animation and I see I’m not going to be disappointed

August

The cookie dough in the fridge metaphor warms my long shriveled baker’s heart

TimeBarista

My orc bard Grom Haits will be performing this cover next session, and possibly every session until he’s in the cold, cold ground

Alessandro Chiappetta

What is the song brennan cover? I know it's tom waits, but what song?

Tsukiney

Nothing i can say can better describe what i feel than the countless comments around me. AHOO-CRACKLE CRACKLE!

Daniel Stevens

I love seeing these characters develop and grow, to reshape themselves and refit the pieces of themselves.

nick lucas

Always on board for a Tom Waits reference! 10/10!

Agiddysea

No march, no law, no victory is eternal. Every gain made can be undone, every battle won must be defended again. The only thing that remains constant is the struggle against inhumanity. That work never ends. Now it’s our turn, and after us, it will be someone else’s.

Agiddysea

Whether Grandmother Wren was right or wrong, succeeded or failed—it doesn’t matter. She served her turn, and now it’s Ame’s. In the end, only the work is real. Everything else is just conjecture.

Michael Pomare

There's a scene from (one of the worst episodes of) Doctor Who that I think sums up Ame, who puts up such a meek, kind exterior but only because she fears what she could be if she really let out all the anger she's bottled up. Bad guy trying to manipulate the Doctor's famous integrity: "I've studied you. So passionate, so sweet - you wouldn't let an innocent man die! [...]" The Doctor: "Sweet? Maybe. Passionate? I suppose. But don't ever mistake that for nice."

Bea W

There was something wrong with his audio.

Devon

Same

Devon

TOM WAITS NEEDS TO EXIST IN UMORA. I will not let this go!

Adarsh Nednur

Saving this for future reference for myself 😮

The Wizard Shitposter

Berating Ame was a central theme of the first 3 arcs, and maybe that train is slowing down, but it hasn't stopped yet!

Witch of the Remembering Bog

PRAXIS! This bit made my philosophy-loving heart grow so big! And I gotta say, that study seems to elevate this story and the other stories Brennan tells into Art. These conversations are how we move through and with our world. Fucking best story ever, y’all.

Witch of the Remembering Bog

We KEEP saying this: Magic = 100% Real!!

Grumpy Druid

I'd been hearing Tom Waits "The Black Rider" every time The Stranger came around. Now he's canon Tom Waits for me. 🤘🏼 This series is truely impressive work. Y'all are wonderful. Thank you

Krusty Bo Busty

oh sorry did you mean Eioghrghraighnnhhe

Sil

This is a concept I'm trying to cover in therapy, and it's made all the harder b/c of trauma & autism. That gray area is the hardest thing to believe in, especially after a lifetime where black and white options have kept me safe. Maybe there's a third option. It is... so good to have a story and to have content that reaffirms that message.

Krusty Bo Busty

“Spelt like it sounds” unlike YORIN.

Kelsey Aeilts

Giving money to listen to words and thoughts. ♡

Sil

Ooooh, don't think we missed what you said at 27:00ish here re. Spending your life figuring out what right is in the "Hold On Tight," episode at 41:10, Brennan. Yes, I had to go back and find it. Goddamn.

William Neil Scott

Absolutely. Sounds like we're on the same path. Part of what put me on that path was watching Dimension 20 seasons and listening to GMs like Brennan and Aabria (as well as some podcasts like Between Two Cairns which is mostly about OSR games).

irisilmaril

i understand that, in my current campaign I have so heavily prepped that i feel sometimes that i am just pushing my players through *my* story. But taking lots of moments for them to step back and let them role play without my interference has really helped push away from that. Also working with them before the campaign about how they want their characters to develop and checking in with them about what direction they are going as the campaign goes on has helped too.

William Neil Scott

In the context of the WWW scene, I felt that the 'right' answer for Ame was to write 'Be Cunning' and was disappointed when she wrote 'Do Right' on the wall. I wondered if Brennan then had the Do Right be replaced with Be Cunning because that was what he intended from the start. I heard wrong and didn't listen closely enough. But the way I heard it in the moment is closer to what I might have done. Not a great move, taking a player's intention and replacing it with what I think is the 'right' one. A lot of my DM history has been trying to write a story and have the players go through it. Over the last few years I've tried my best to get away from that, and more recently I've been a lot more successful at being collaborative and letting things play out more.

irisilmaril

The houses of Rhuv and their soldiers are all Warlocks with their patrons being different aliases of the Man in Black. There are some classes that have never been mentioned on the podcast like Monk, Bard(save for once in Twelve Brooks, but that character never used magic just the Bard NPC block stats), Ranger, Cleric (Brennan has specifically said that there are no Cleric in Umora, the Witch class takes their place), and Barbarian.

irisilmaril

i am curious (as a fellow DM), how do you revise what your players say? I feel as though i can only really expand on what my players do

The Wizard Seeker

Firesides could be longer than the episodes and I would still be elated. Obviously if there is some internal constraint on the time that should be respected, but let it be known that there is no resistance from me!

HorizonStation

I agree. These can definitely be twice longer and I’ll still be riveted!

Kaleen Davis

OMG. Familiars are like, the Witch Class equivalent of Koschei the Deathless - they’ve put their hearts (who they are at their core) outside themselves for safekeeping! Instead of an egg in a duck in a rabbit, or whatever, it’s just in the one animal. And it's not just to keep *themselves* safe - it safeguards their station while also keeping parts of themselves from being lost. But Ame PROTECTS the World’s Heart - she can’t distance herself from who SHE is at her core, in her heart. A trickster. I love that.

aaron drew

I would listen the hell out of a 5 hour ep

Katja Gallagher

These Fireside’s are truly not long enough 🤩🤩🤩

Aina Love

<3

xatlern

I know they talk a lot about the Ghibli vibes, but for some reason the discussion of Eioghorain being very Uncle made me realize how many parallels there are with Suvi's current place in the story and Zuko. Raised by powerful people under imperialism, becoming disillusioned by the society she came from and what they're actually doing in the wider world, very interesting to see where things go from here.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

"'Was Grandmother Wren the perfect witch or did she fail?' Those are not the two options. Maybe the world needed a rooster and now it needs a fox."

Cait Batchelor

Petition to let me buy the Tom waits cover for real

Ryan L.

Thank You for sharing this knowledge. 👍🖖❤️‍🔥❣️

Velhelm

I think the occasional firesides where Erika and Aabria are so excited that Lou and Brennan barely get air time are so endearing.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

They talked about the fact that Brennan did check in with Erika about both the torture scene and Ame's "Daphne" moments and making sure she wasn't "being damseled." What they didn't say was whether or not the memory itself was a surprise to Erika. I guess I'll assume it wasn't.

Troy Lowrance

I only heard it with Thanks' voice. It felt like it was happening at the end of his sentences.

Audge

I love how Brennan jokes about his soul belonging to the heart of a forest, but then he has real life lore of how a child of the forest came out and gave him his lucky talisman. The forest saw you Brennan and said yes, you shall bring pagan teachings back to the zeitgeist.

Troy Lowrance

Thank you for providing this! You rock

Troy Lowrance

Thanks for asking this question. I'm a member of the discord now because of this question and I appreciate you for it.

Troy Lowrance

I parsed one of Erika's sentences as "The most uncle of all time" and I love it. Yorrin"the most uncle of all time.

david gatimu

Um... Did someone press fast forward on the speech in this, or was this just hitting ear weird?

Matt Thackray

I gotta be so real, Keen being slain in this episode was SUCH a boon. I was honestly so worried that he would become a Negan type character that just terrorizes the group with no recourse, so to hear him get his was an absolute joy. We are truly in the hands of some of the greatest storytellers this side of the century.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

The trick is that you don't stop to figure it out first, before trying to do anything. That way lies death. You figure it out as you go. Praxis.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Ryan, if the cost of the Patreon becomes a problem, there's a thread in the Discord about the Aerith, a fund of donations administered by a fan to give subscriptions to people who need them.

Sayre

Oh don’t worry, I definitely don’t have faith in them, hence the ranting. Doing what I can, frustrated it isn’t more.

Spencer Bloom

The breakdown of the Ame dream sequence was amazing and made me appreciate it even more. To think that all of that happened in the moment in character is the coolest shit.

Carrie Mook Bridgman

Hmm. When I call my reps and senators at whatever level, they either already agree or (mostly) could not care less about my opinions. The Women's Marches in 2021 were the largest coordinated demonstration in history, and now here we are. The kitsune scene didn't strike me as being appropriate to Democrats (although of course it is); it's appropriate to *me,* personally. I am currently working on one thing I can actually do that will provide protection and make life better for one particular person who is currently in a bad situation. This will involve both being kind and being cunning. That scene was just what I needed.

Laura Jane Hamilton

I would pay money for all the Tom Waits bits to be pulled out and set as my ringtone. mumbling about the fireside as well as the little ditty about the story.

Anita Brown

I mean I don't feel better, but I guess it's good to know I'm not alone? 😂

Dylln

Harvey Fierstein making a surprise visit at the end of the episode was a lovely surprise.

Ty6260

Dems are captured by neolib capital-backed status quo. Please please do not have faith in that changing systemically, and organize for leftist causes locally

deirdre

aw thanks!

Brandon Carbaugh

As a fellow former Baptist: Baptist pastors treat kid-drowning with such a blase attitude, it's truly wild. They just violently dunk you and then violently undunk you and thump you on the back like "there there, hock it up, you're fine, that's just the lord entering your heart. You gonna barf? Jan we got a barfer, get the trash can"

Annika Kandoll

I believe part of the cosmology mentioned is that everything has part of the Spirit in them, including humans, because the Spirit world is where the "real" world comes from. Well, I think the fox Spirit is Ame's Spirit, the part of her that accesses her magic, and that's why it's a fox, because it's her wholeness, even the parts she has put away from herself.

Brandon Carbaugh

It got posted on patreon as a little bonus clip

Allison

Happy birthday deirdre! Love your profile pic, what a vibe!

Rina the Floof

Was there a portion in the last episode where Suvi chose the nine new spells from the salvaged Glass Coronet spellbooks and I missed that? Or did that happen off-mic? I’m a bit confused about the discussion in this fireside about that

bluebluebutton

Chills upon chills. The exchange immediately following is also heartrending. Ame asks, "Can't I just get to be like what you are and just know?" When a tear falls down Grandmother Wren's cheek, Ame quickly couches the question by adding, "Well, I know nobody's perfect, but you do a really good job of it. I mean, you always seem to know." Wren touches her forehead to Ame's, closes her eyes, and whispers, "You're coming in at the end of my story. And whatever wisdom you think I have, I can only assure you that my ledger is filled with the mistakes that bought that wisdom."

Zander Jenkins

Give me dime pimento or give me death !!!

Kevin Goodwin

Good thing for Brennan that if this DMing thing doesn't work out, he's got a backup option leading a Tom Waits cover band

Taylor Peck

As a big Tom Waits fan this will go right up there with The Story of Sisyphus.

William Neil Scott

"Let's spend the rest of our lives figuring it out." Chills.

William Neil Scott

Thanks so much for the deep dive into the Do Right/Be Cunning conversation. It cleared up my initial misreading of it. When Ame wrote Do Right after I'd felt that Brennan had set them up for the Be Cunning, I read the subsequent change of that as a DM revision on what the player had said. Probably speaks to my own DM tendency (not a good one). I completely missed the first mention of cunning and this discussion of the process showed how nuanced and character centered the play was. I cannot say enough good things, you guys.

Astrid Freyjadottir

I have a tattoo idea. On one arm you have the silhouette of a little girl witch with the words "Be kind" under it, and on the other you have a terrifying fox fire touched adult witch silhouette with "Be cunning" under it.

I cast Vicious Inspiration

I asked this after ep 43 but with the events of this one I have to know: Brennan Lee Mulligan, did the Wizard Keen have the Observant feat?? that vile man was just too on the ball - spying the fox & Ame in the town, aware of Eursulon's sneaking - and his name cloak is (was) literally Keen. it is just so amazingly devious to use it back against the players if so!

Elizabeth Boskey

I came here to ask if it would be OK if I made myself a bumper sticker with this on it. Not to sell, just for me.

James

Yooooo United Methodist got mentioned lol!!! You are loved!!! Thank you for such an amazing show!!

Sean Hakala

What I’m getting from this is Grandma Wren was Chuck Schumer and Amé is AOC or Jasmine Crockett

Emily C

I feel like Suvi scolded Ame a LOT when they got to Witchcon, no? And it seems like they all lovingly scold each other tbh

Emily C

Oh there's GOTTA be a remix ( or several) of the Tom Waits cover

Bex

This episode made me want to get my first tattoo and have it say "Be kind. Be cunning. Do right." ❤️

hewhocutsdown

I am *so* here for the Tom Waits cover

Ian Beattie

We would all eat hours and hours and hours of y'all gushing over these eps, please don't refrain on OUR account

Billy Jeckel

Keen getting his ass kicked was the greatest thing, I'm afraid that Mr. Lee Mulligan is gonna make baddies who are even more disgustingly evil

SpiderGrace

This has nothing to do with the episode, but with that gravelly voice it almost sounded like Bambi LeRoux joined us on the fireside today 😂

David Paterson

I am increasingly fascinated by the way the various character classes interact in this setting. With the wizards and sorcerers forming rival power blocks and the artificers and druidic shape shifters respectively subservient to them. It always makes me want the cast to run into a monk or a warlock to see how they slot in

Blake Draut

Not sure if they mentioned Eursulon's subclass yet but I can't wait to hear what oath he takes with the hot sense of purpose! 🔥

bluebluebutton

of course!

bluebluebutton

"'Do right' is something that I, as Brennan Lee Mulligan, believe with all of my fucking heart. It's why I studied philosophy. The thing I said in the episode of, 'how do you possibly know what it means to do right?' - my answer on a personal level is, 'spend your whole fucking life and every piece of work you make thinking about it,' right? It's the work of a lifetime." Brennan shot me back to Ep. 15, where Ame and Wren have this exchange: Ame: How? How do I know that the truths that I stand for are the right or the beneficent ones? Grandmother Wren: How do you know if you're doing the right thing? Ame: Oh…yeah. Grandmother Wren: Great question. Let's spend the rest of our lives figuring it out.

Nolf!

You should let us give you more than $5.

The Wizard Fae

I need the great bullfrog's song as my ringtone asapppp

Elizabeth Boskey

"Right is the goal of the road not the means of travel" omg Aabria.

Ryan L.

Been looking forward to this! As zI refuse to let this brilliant gem of a show and world become something I have to pause. As this treasure helps keep me Smiling and Going and Moving Forward. As I come to Terms while having Multiple Sclerosis.

deirdre

thank you!

M Dorsey

Okay but who’s gonna make the hand clap game to go with the rhyme???

OrangeHills

"Welcome to my movie Ame." -Suvi

Sam Berry-Sullivan

and now to start this show the way any good top should, with a little tease, it’s time for the amuse bouche! (Any other Food4Thotties in the chat who will forever associate amuse bouche with our favorite thots?)

Sayre

Not to get political (even if this is probably a safe space for it) but I was so riveted when Ame had her heel-turn moment realizing she needed to be cunning, not just kind, even if I didn’t realize why until listening to this when it hit me that this is what I’ve been ranting about the Democrats needing to realize, as if they forgot how to play the game somewhere along the way. It was an amazing, tense character moment as well, don’t get me wrong, but holy shit, so unexpectedly topical as well.

Kat

"Give us money and listen to our words and thoughts" I mean Aabria is right, that's what we're doin'.

Clusterpunk Media

I absolutely adored this episode but I have to ask, while we as an audience can have a deeper understanding about everything, will Suvi or Ersalon EVER scold Ame for her consistently bad choices?

Nolf!

Love waking up to a fireside in the morning.

Samantha Nicole

I will now be adding Amuse Bouche to my vocabulary because that is a hilarious little French phrase 😂

Luke

Happy birthday!

Luke

“These firesides shouldn’t be too [lengthy]” they could be though!!! Give us a three-hour long dissection of Shapechangers’ philosophy and arc breakdown and an in-depth look at the structures of the empire and the Citadel, I promise it will be a hit!!

deirdre

i’m very happy to get a fun fireside ep on my birthday, and not a fraught-with-danger-and-anxiety story ep. much better to wake up to. and that ending cover? amazing no notes