The Acolyte – Final Thoughts

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by Bizarre Brunette

This is a poster for The Acolyte. It shows several characters holding lightsabers with some of the minor characters looking up towards the Jedi.

I was listening to Geeks Without God, a podcast I recently discovered. They released an episode where they primarily talked about The Acolyte. I would recommend listening to the episode because I think they brought up what they didn’t like about the show in a nuanced way without completely trashing it. I did make the time to finish the series and while there were portions of the show I liked, I felt a bit let down by the show altogether. I wanted to summarize what I liked and what I didn’t like about the show.

Liked

The characters. My favorites are Sol and Qimir
The lightsaber duels
The detective story of who is targeting the Jedi

I didn’t outright hate The Acolyte as I think there were things that I enjoyed. First of all, I liked the characters. I felt particularly drawn to Sol and Qimir. I admire Sol’s commitment to the Jedi Order. He wants to do the right thing even though he may not see the consequences of his actions. Qimir was awesome! I liked the look of his helmet and how intertwined he was with the twins. I would have loved a flashback episode of Qimir and why he left the Jedi. Was it noble like how Ahsoka left? or was it for his own selfish reasons? This leads me to the next thing I liked which was the lightsaber duels. Episode #5 was brutal and showed the darker side of losing a lightsaber duel. The dialogue between Qimir and Sol shortly after was top-notch. One of the main reasons I was looking forward to The Acolyte was to see the Jedi in a detective role. There was an element of mystery to figuring out who was going after these particular Jedi. While this is seen from the first few episodes, I think this gets lost once it’s revealed why the Jedi are being targeted.

Disliked

Unanswered questions particularly around Darth Plagueis
There were not enough episodes for everyone to get a good character arc
Killing off Master Indara right away
Sol’s Fate
Pip’s Fate

Let’s talk about Darth Plagueis. Darth Plagueis was Emperor Palpatine’s master who Palpatine kills and tells Anakin about it in Revenge of the Sith. I think Plagueis’s appearance is odd? Was Plagueis Qimir’s master? Is Plagueis more admiring or watching Qimir, but has no relation to him? Plagueis’s appearance was neat but didn’t add anything to the show. It would have been interesting to see Plagueis tied to one of the characters or if Plagueis approached one of the characters in the last episode.

This is classic Star Wars where the movies or the shows introduce too many characters and some characters get dropped. I think The Acolyte falls into this. I think the best examples would be Jecki and Yord. They were clearly skilled Jedi, but it felt like their only purpose was to be killed by Qimir which is sad. I love Dafne Keen as an actress and I think she was underutilized in the show which is a shame. Another example is Master Indara and I’m still salty over the fact that she was killed right away.

The final thing I did not like about The Acolyte was the fate of the characters. I mentioned how much I loved Sol and I did not like what happened to him. Sol is killed by Osha after Osha learns that Sol killed her mother. When the Jedi discover Sol’s body, they blame him for everything. Sol did some questionable things, but I don’t think he deserved that. It would have been fascinating to see Sol be put on trial or confess to the Jedi what really happened. Additionally, it would have been interesting to see if the Jedi would punish Sol or try to cover up his involvement, which would have spoken volumes as to how the Jedi operates. In the Geeks Without God episode I referenced, they brought up an interesting point regarding Pip. Pip is Osha’s robot and Pip eventually is in Mae’s hands. Mae erases Pip’s memories back to default settings which effectively killed Pip. This is never referenced which is sad! Pip was Osha’s best friend and now Pip no longer exists. If this were any other robot in Star Wars, I think it would have been acknowledged. This reminds me of the time in Rise of Skywalker when the group contemplates erasing C-3PO’s mind. This decision also wasn’t treated with the respect that C-3PO deserved. I’m not sure why the robots are disregarded in Star Wars, but they are crucial characters in the story and should be treated as such.

After all the episodes of The Acolyte aired on Disney+, it was revealed that there would not be another season. I’m wary of using the word canceled because while that may be true, this might be similar to other Star Wars shows where the intention was to do one season and that’s it. If another season of The Acolyte was to be made, I wouldn’t be excited about it. I think The Acolyte is my least favorite of the live-action shows on Disney+. Despite my thoughts about the show, the review bombing and the negative reactions from fans were uncalled for and exposed the negative side of the fandom. Unfortunately, these fans felt they got what they wanted. As for the future of Star Wars, I hope to see more shows, movies, and comics being created, but I want the quality to be there.

25Aug2024

First-Person Shooters to Cozy Games – How My Gaming Preferences Evolved

Posted in Gaming by Bizarre Brunette

It’s funny how interests and hobbies can change as we get older. When I first started gaming, I played on consoles specifically Xbox. I played PC games occasionally, however, I devoted most of my time to first-person shooters like Halo or Gears of War. Now, I find myself playing more TTRPGs and board games with video games popping up every now and then. I wanted to share how gaming has changed for me and how I pick the games I play.

When I was in high school, I looked forward to when I hopped off the school bus, finished my homework, and I would sit downstairs in my basement to play Xbox. I would stay up till 3 AM playing a game and then sleep in until 10 or 11 the next day. Those were the good old days. I remember certain events in my life based on a video game I was playing. For example, I remember Batman: Arkham City because we had a snow day my senior year in high school, so I played Arkham City for hours underneath a cozy blanket. Once I went to college, gaming permanently shifted for me, although I didn’t know that then.

In college, I didn’t bring my Xbox with me and that was for the best. College was an adjustment and I think if I had my Xbox with me, it would have made me less social and less focused on my classes. While in college, I joined Video Game Club (VGC) a club that had meetings monthly, but meetings were marathons starting at 8 PM and ending at 8 AM. VGC helped me meet other gamers along with exposing me to board games. The first time I played Red Dragon Inn was at VGC; we had a huge group! Red Dragon Inn is a game I play all the time to this day. Gaming changed for me when I went to college as it taught me that I wouldn’t always have the time to play video games. When I did have the time, I cherished it a lot more.

After I graduated from college and started working full-time, my time to play video games shrank further. One of the biggest things I struggle with is having the energy to play video games. After I get home from work, exercise, and eat dinner, I’m tired. When I say tired, it’s not that I’m about to fall asleep, instead, I don’t have the energy to devote to something rigorous. If given the option, I’m more likely to pick a cozy game than a first-person shooter.

This leads me to the point which is how my gaming preferences have evolved. I will always have a soft spot for first-person shooters, that will never change. However, I tend to gravitate towards cozier games. I’m currently playing Hidden Through Time 2 and it’s been lovely. Hidden Through Time is a hidden objects game series and it’s been the perfect game to play during the week. It’s something I don’t have to concentrate on. It’s not that I don’t play more intensive games, but during the week, it’s nice to have an easier game to play.

When I pick out the video games I want to play, I have a process in place. I have a sticky notes app on my phone and one of the notes is a list of all the video games I want to play. In addition, I have the release dates next to the games, so I know when they come out. This has kept me organized and reminds me of the games I want to play and when. Before buying a game, I have started regularly watching gameplay from the game I want to buy. With video games now costing $70 per game, I want to know what the game looks like before I buy it. I never used to do this before and I don’t know why. I have spent a lot of money on games I would never play again which could have been avoided if I wanted gameplay videos before purchasing the game.

Video games will always carry some nostalgia for me. To be realistic, I know that my time to play video games will only get smaller in the next few years. I don’t feel sad about it. I think it’s helped me become pickier and only play games I know I will enjoy. I have also thought about replaying some of my all-time favorite games since it’s been several years since I played them last. Hobbies can change over time and long gone are the days in which I would play Halo on Legendary difficulty. I’m over it.

22Aug2024

Embracing My Old Cosplay Photos

Posted in Cosplay by Bizarre Brunette

I was swiping through old convention photos the other day. When I was going through my photos, I laughed at myself because I saw a cosplay from several years ago that I used to wear a lot. I laughed because the cosplay was an old Halloween costume and not comic-book-accurate. A few days passed and I had a thought pop into my head. I thought it was sad that I had laughed at my old cosplay photos. Cosplay, like any other hobby, improves with more experience. I think it’s important to embrace my old photos to show how far I have come in cosplay.

When I started cosplaying, I was a college student, so reusing old Halloween costumes saved me a lot of money. If there’s anything to be told about Spirit Halloween costumes, the quality of the costumes is poor. Surprisingly, this costume lasted several years past my college Halloween days before the costume ripped and I had to throw it away. While thrifting has helped, cosplay is still expensive and the cosplays I do now, I wouldn’t have been able to afford while I was in college.

As I started to gain more confidence in cosplay, I wanted to expand my knowledge. I have been wearing wigs for several years and it’s one of my favorite parts of cosplay is if I get to wear a wig. Recently, I went to the eye doctor because I want to start incorporating colored contact lenses into my cosplay. I’m going to devote a whole post to that process which should be written in the next week or two. Once I have mastered colored contacts, I’d love to incorporate body paint. I will probably repeat the process I listed earlier, where I might cringe at photos where I first start using body paint, but then I will get better over time.

I am proud of myself for how much I have accomplished with cosplay. Cosplay has been a creative outlet for me in my day-to-day life. I am going to be more appreciative and respectful of myself as I think these older cosplay photos are inspiring to me. Cosplay wasn’t a hobby I gave up on and I intend to keep going and learning new things as I go.

19Aug2024

Never Lie by Freida McFadden

Posted in Reading/Books by Bizarre Brunette

It’s been fun to be in a regular book club with friends. My friends started it towards the beginning of the year, but I joined a few months ago due to prior commitments. Being in a book club has helped expose me to new authors or genres I don’t normally read. This month’s book choice was Never Lie by Freida McFadden. I haven’t read anything by Freida McFadden before reading this book. It seems like the book she’s known for was The Housemaid. Never Lie kept my interest which is exactly what I wanted from this book.

Tricia and Ethan are newlyweds who are looking to buy a house. They trek to a showing for a home that used to belong to infamous psychiatrist, Dr. Adrienne Hale. Adrienne disappeared several years ago and hasn’t been seen since. Tricia and Ethan are trapped in the house due to the snow outside. As they go through Adrienne’s belongings, Tricia finds a hidden room with interview tapes from Adrienne’s patients. Tricia becomes obsessed with listening to the tapes and uncovering what happened to Adrienne.

Never Lie was a page-turner. I had a friend over at my house and with only thirty pages left in the book, I told her I needed to finish this book. She understood as she’s a reader as well. If I’m reading a thriller and I don’t feel compelled to keep reading, there’s no way I would give it above a two-star rating. There’s enough intrigue with Never Lie and I like how the story is told. There are chapters jumping back and forth in perspective from Adrienne before her disappearance and Tricia as she’s exploring Adrienne’s house. There are sections with the transcript of Adrienne’s interviews as Tricia plays the tapes. I liked the concept of this and while this isn’t new, I found it interesting to read.

Another thing I liked about Never Lie was the setting. Never Lie primarily takes place in a historic mansion with the backdrop of the snowstorm trapping Tricia and Ethan in the house. It gives more of a horror vibe since there isn’t anywhere for Tricia and Ethan to go but stay in the house. It adds to the creepiness of the book.

With that said, there were portions of the book I wasn’t a fan of. Tricia as a character was the worst. She came off as obtuse and naive. She would talk about Ethan in a way where she would recognize his red flags and then immediately play it off as not being a big deal. Now that I finished the book and I know the twist, this all makes sense. The twist is predictable and something that has been done in other thrillers I have read. Am I becoming a book hipster now? Most of the characters aren’t good people except for Luke. I have read thrillers where all the characters suck and loved those books, but I can’t say the same for Never Lie.

I hate to harp on this, but the events that unfolded in Never Lie were not logical. Without spoilers, the way that some of the characters acted, I find it so hard to believe. The characters were not smart at times which is weird to me. Adrienne Hale has multiple PhDs and yet, she made some of the silliest decisions in the book. I don’t think this ruined the book for me, but also, I wouldn’t find myself re-reading this book in the future.

In writing this review, it makes it seem like I did not like this book. I did like Never Lie. I finished the book in two days and would have stopped reading it if I didn’t like it. I don’t think there was anything groundbreaking or unique about this book which is fine. I’m waffling on whether I would read another Freida McFadden book because this book didn’t wow me, but maybe I haven’t given her enough credit. I rated Never Lie three stars on Goodreads.

16Aug2024

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by Bizarre Brunette

Image is a movie poster for Deadpool & Wolverine. It shows two halves of a heart friendship necklace. One is Deadpool themed with red and black and the other is Wolverine themed with yellow and black.

I have had “Bye Bye Bye” on repeat whenever I’m driving thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine. If you have seen the movie, you know exactly why. I have been looking forward to this movie ever since it was announced. I loved the first Deadpool movie and while the second wasn’t as good, I still enjoyed watching it. With Hugh Jackman returning and wearing the classic yellow Wolverine suit, I had high hopes for this movie. Deadpool & Wolverine was hilarious and the cameos were excellent.

Deadpool & Wolverine follows Wade Wilson (played by Ryan Reynolds) as he has been jumping around in various timelines after fixing his timeline to save his girlfriend, Vanessa (played by Morena Baccarin). Wade attracts the TVA’s (Time Variance Authority) attention resulting in him being forcibly brought to TVA’s headquarters. Wade meets Mr. Paradox (played by Matthew Macfadyen) who explains to Wade that his timeline is dying after Logan was killed saving X23. Wade is offered a chance to work for the TVA, but his friends will die as his timeline will be destroyed. Refusing to accept this, Wade wreaks havoc and steals the TVA’s transportation device to find another suitable Logan to save his timeline. Wade and Logan struggle to work together but eventually team up to take on the TVA.

Major Spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine

One of the best things about this movie is all the cameos. This is where the spoiler warning comes in because while some of these cameos were spoiled for me, some were not, so they came as a genuine surprise. My favorite cameo was Elektra (played by Jennifer Garner). I loved the Elektra film even though it wasn’t perfect. I loved Elektra’s look in this movie. She’s wearing a burgundy jumpsuit of sorts with black armbands. It was sexy without being overtly sexy. There’s a joke between Elektra and Deadpool where Elektra mentions how Daredevil didn’t make it. For those who aren’t aware, Jennifer and Ben Affleck (who played Daredevil) were married for a long time in real life, so the joke is a subtle diss.

I can’t bring up cameos and not talk about Gambit (played by Channing Tatum). Channing did such a good job as Gambit! The accent was top-notch. Channing was so good that I’m sad to see him not get his own movie. There are so many cameos to talk about, but I don’t want to reveal all of them in case there is anyone who is reading this who hasn’t seen the movie yet. I will mention one last cameo and that was Henry Cavill as a Wolverine variant. He looked so good! Deadpool making a comment about how Marvel will treat him better.. oof. The joke was on point.

If I haven’t mentioned this enough, the movie was hilarious. Ryan Reynold’s comedic timing was gold. I liked the joke in the intro where Deadpool mentions how there are 206 bones in the human body, but 207 exist if you’re watching Gossip Girl. The banter between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman was great! I wish they would have starred in a movie together much earlier.

Deadpool & Wolverine deserves all the accolades. It was a well-made film that brought back the vibes from the first Deadpool movie.

13Aug2024

Gen Con – Haul

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

The last post in my Gen Con post series is my haul! This is all the things I bought throughout my time roaming the exhibit hall. I do want to make one thing clear, everything in this picture is everything I paid for. I did not receive anything in this picture for free in exchange for an honest review. These were all things that stood out to me or something I wanted to have for myself. In no particular order, I will detail everything I bought at Gen Con.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Image is a bird's eye view of several TTRPG rule books and board games. In the top row from left to right, Final Girl "Hans" Edition, Final Girl Code Box, Candela Obscura Core Rulebook. Bottom row - Call of Cthulhu Keeper Handbook and Keeper Tips Call of Cthulhu

Final Girl Core Box + Hans Box – Van Ryder Games

Final Girl is a game designed by Van Ryder Games where players play as a Final Girl. For those who aren’t familiar, Final Girl is a term for a girl in a Horror film who is the only one left and has to take on a killer by herself. The one thing that I find fascinating about the Final Girl games is that they are solo games. I can play this game by myself at any point in time. I love that honestly. One of the biggest barriers of playing board games for me is finding the time and the group to play the game I want to play. I have heard nothing but good things about Final Girl, so I decided to give it a shot. I will for sure post my thoughts once I have had time to play it.

Candela Obscura Core Rulebook – Darrington Press

It’s too bad that Darrington Press didn’t have a booth at Gen Con this year. This might be for the best because if they did, I would not have stuck to my budget. With that said, I ended up finding a copy of Candela Obscura at Miniature Market. I liked paging through the book as the art is stunning. I wasn’t planning on buying Candela Obscura, so it was a nice surprise to see a copy of the book was available to purchase.

Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook + Keeper Tips – Chaosium Inc.

This is the purchase I am the most excited for. I’m writing this to hold myself accountable, I want to be a DM for Call of Cthulhu. I want to page through the rules, read the Keeper Tips, and write my own Call of Cthulhu one-shot. I have seriously thought about being a DM, but not for Dungeons & Dragons. I want to commit and as a future goal, I would love to work myself up to running a game at CONvergence next year. Will it happen? I have no idea, but I really want to dedicate myself to do this. Call of Cthulhu holds a special place in my heart since this is the system that got me into TTRPGs to begin with, so it seems fitting that it would be the system that I try to learn.

I will say that my haul for Gen Con is smaller than prior years. I was much more intentional with what I wanted to purchase and if that particular game or rule book would be something I would use in the future. I’m so excited to dive into Call of Cthulhu and Candela as I’d love to write a few one-shots to run my friends through.

10Aug2024

Gen Con – New Experiences

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

I went into this year’s Gen Con a little differently than I have in the past. Usually, I would purchase event tickets ahead of time, so I had an exact idea as to what I was doing every day. This year, I didn’t pre-purchase any event tickets. This allowed me to stumble upon things that I wouldn’t have discovered had I been busy. I wanted to share all the new things I tried at Gen Con and what I would do again in the future.

Paint Minis

Image is a picutre of a painted Warhammer mini. It's sitting in a pedestal. The shoulder pads are bright purple, the figure is a gray and the figure has a flame thrower that's been painted bright yellow.

I saw one of my friends painting a miniature at this rectangular table near the exhibit hall. I asked him if he had to sign up for this or if he could sit down and paint at any time. One of the booth attendees approached me and asked if I was interested in painting a mini for free. I couldn’t say no to that. I have never painted a mini nor would I consider myself a crafty person. They quickly had me set up with a few paintbrushes, a mat to blot the brushes, and a pedestal to put the mini on. I was surprised at how relaxed I felt painting. This was a speed painting event, so I only had 30 minutes to paint. As such, my mini has paint blotches in different areas. However, I was impressed with what I accomplished having never painted before. On Sunday, I found another painting booth on the second floor that had different minis to paint. I chose an Eldritch Foundry mini with a jet pack.

This was such a great event to stumble upon. I have Malifaux minis I bought last year that I still haven’t painted yet and now I feel inspired to do so. This will be something that I will aim to do every year at Gen Con.

Attended a TTRPG Live Show

Image is a photo of a group of four panelists sitting at a booth with mics. There's a man wearing a yellow tropical shirt, a femme person with black braids, a man with sunglasses, and a bearded man at the end of the table.

One of my friends alerted me to the fact that BlackwaterDnD would be at Gen Con this year. I have never heard of BlackwaterDnD before this, but my friend raved about them. I checked my schedule and I could make their live show. It was hilarious! They didn’t play Dungeons and Dragons, instead, they played a roleplaying game where they flipped coins instead of rolling dice. Several of the players kept dropping the coins or losing them. Their live show was only an hour and I felt that went by quickly.

I’m always looking for new TTRPG content to dive into, so I do plan on listening to BlackwaterDnD within the next few days. I want to be on the lookout for any other TTRPG groups or live shows in the future.

Lined Up for a Signing

Image is a photo of me with the cast of The Command Cast. Josh is on the left, I'm in the middle, next to me is Rachel, and on the right is Jimmy.

AHHHH!!! I got to meet the cast of The Command Zone!!!! Can you tell that I’m still not over it? I have been listening to The Command Zone specifically their Game Knights episodes where they play Commander with members of the cast and with special guests. While I consider myself a casual Magic: The Gathering fan, The Command Zone has inspired me to do more deck building and to play at more pre-release events.

I was walking towards the Wizards of the Coast panel room and saw that the cast of The Command Zone was doing a signing. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I didn’t see that I needed to purchase event tickets ahead of time. I arrived at the room forty five minutes early because I wasn’t sure how early I had to be there. While I waited, I talked to a variety of fans who were also in line. Many fans brought Magic cards for the cast to sign which I did not do. If anything, my plan was to talk with them briefly and say that I was a fan of the show.

As the panel doors opened, I saw they had someone from their team being willing to take photos. I grew more excited because I’d much rather have a photo of the experience than their signatures. When it was my turn, Josh (the man on the left in the photo) shook my hand and asked me my name. He also said that my staff was cool. Everyone else was lovely to speak with. It all happened so fast and they even had a box of free stuff that fans could take. It might be embarassing to admit, but my hands and legs were shaking. I didn’t think I would be that nervous, but here I am. I took a few of their token cards which I gave to a friend since they couldn’t make the signing.

This was such a cool opportunity and I have started relistening to The Command Zone podcast which I fell behind on. It’s cool to be able to say that I met them in real life.

There were so many cool opportunities that I discovered this year. I do want to have at least one event per day to do, but I’m glad I left my schedule fairly open at the same time.

7Aug2024

Gen Con – Recap

Posted in Life Lately by Bizarre Brunette

I made it back from Gen Con and it was so much fun. I wouldn’t expect anything less; this is my 3rd time attending Gen Con and it’s become one of my all-time favorite conventions. For Gen Con, I devote a few posts as there’s so much I want to write about. This post will be a generic recap of the convention. The second post in this series will be about new experiences I had at Gen Con and finally, the last post will focus on my haul or everything I purchased this year.

Image is a selfie of me, my two friends and my brother. We are staring at the camera, smiling with our Gen Con badges on.

Gen Con is a four-day convention and our group stays all four days. On Thursday, it’s become a ritual where our group likes to get to the convention center early and camp out near the exhibit hall. I’m always the one to take a selfie of our group while we wait. This year, I didn’t have anything specific I was trying to purchase which was nice. I could walk through the exhibit hall and try to take in everything.

Image is a picture of the Gen Con Convention Center. There are people crowded everywhere and lined up from a long ways away.

Since I have been to Gen Con a few times, there are a few things I have to do. The first would be to try the Gen Con pizza from Hot Box Pizza. Hot Box Pizza is a pizza chain in the Indianapolis area and every year, there’s an official pizza. At the Gen Con block party, Hot Box will sell slices of the official Gen Con pizza. This year, the pizza was Critical Chip which had salsa verde, corn, beans, jalapenos, ranch drizzle, and crushed doritoes. It was pretty good. Another thing that I usually do is try Sun King’s Gen Con official beer. Sun King Brewery will partner with Gen Con to have an official beer of Gen Con. This year, the beer was a Cereal inspired beer and that did not sound good to me. My brother ended up ordering it and I had a sip. It was okay, but not something I would have ordered myself.

Image is a photo of a piece of pizza. There are doritos chips, jalapenos on it.

The final thing I wanted to touch on at Gen Con was cosplay! I learned last year that having three cosplays was too much. On top of that, our hotel was thirty minutes outside of downtown, so there wasn’t a way I could take a break like I could last year. I didn’t plan any new cosplays, instead, I brought my Bioshock Splicer cosplay along with Keyleth with me. I love re-wearing cosplays because it’s quick for me to change into them. I took many pictures with other cosplayers which is always a compliment. My Bioshock splicer cosplay is always a hit and it’s great to see so many people recognize my cosplay since it’s more niche. I’d love to bring a new cosplay to Gen Con next year.

Image is a selfie of me as Keyleth in a bright orange wig and my friend who is cosplaying as Bane from Batman.

Gen Con was busy and I’m looking forward to decompressing this week.

1Aug2024

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

Posted in Reading/Books by Bizarre Brunette

I purchased Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce earlier this year while on my road trip to New Mexico. I did not know this book existed beforehand and I’m not usually one to purchase books I have never heard of. With that said, the premise of this was too cute. A fake dating romance with one of the characters being a theater kid and the other working at a game store, it’s like this book was written for me. I’m happy to say that Dungeons and Drama lived up to all my expectations and was such a cute book to read.

Riley Morris dreams of becoming a stage director on Broadway. After the spring show is canceled and Riley is caught driving without a license, Riley feels in a bit of a funk. As for her punishment, she works at her dad’s game store. After seeing her ex-boyfriend stopping by, Riley catches Nathan Wheeler and pretends to be his girlfriend. Nathan goes along with it as he’s interested in someone else in his DnD group. Riley is looped into their campaign and slowly develops feelings for Nathan. Pretending to be his girlfriend isn’t as hard as she thought.

I loved this book. Riley and Nathan were adorable together. Reading Dungeons and Drama was a trip down memory lane. I frequent game stores and when I was in college, there was a local game store we would always go to as one of my friends worked there part-time. I felt that this book captured what a game store environment is like and the regulars became side characters that mattered to the story. I liked reading about Riley and her finding the similarities between theater and tabletop. She ends up playing a Bard which was so fitting to her personality.

There was no way that I wasn’t going to love this book. As an added bonus, I saw that this book is apparently the first book in this series with book #2 potentially being released next year. I would continue in this series as this book was everything I wanted it to be. I rated Dungeons and Drama five stars on Goodreads.

29Jul2024

My Favorite Moments from Naddpod’s First 50 Episodes

Posted in Bizarre Brunette Big-Screen Watches by Bizarre Brunette

I have been listening to more podcasts now than I have in the past. I listen to podcasts while I work, driving to and from work, and when cleaning the house. I mentioned NADDPOD (Not Another D&D Podcast) several times as I went to one of their live shows a few years ago. I finished listening to their first campaign several years ago and have since listened to their other campaigns. Since it’s been a bit, I decided it would be fun to go back and listen to their first campaign and I’m so happy I did. There was so much I forgot about. To celebrate the fact that I’m halfway through the campaign, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite moments or episodes that destroyed me emotionally.

If you have never listened to NADDPOD before, it might help to have some background. NADDPOD’s first campaign centers on the homeworld of Bahumia. Before the campaign began, Bahumia was saved by three adventurers with the podcast taking place after that major moment. The characters in NADDPOD are Moonshine Cybin (played by Emily Axford), Beverly Toegold V (played by Caldwell Tanner), and Hardwon Surefoot (played by Jake Hurwitz). The campaign is DMed by Brian Murphy or Murph for short. The first campaign focuses on Moonshine, Beverly, and Hardwon as they attempt to save Bahumia again.

Spoilers for the first 50 episodes of NADDPOD

Beverly Tricking a God – Episode #12

In episode #12, Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon see a god and are each granted a question. Most of the questions center around their character’s stories. After asking their questions, Bev decides it would be a good idea to “trick” the god by handing the god a berry that would induce vomiting. The god rightfully gets pissed and throws Bev off a large tower. Bev almost dies from the amount of fall damage he takes and the group is astounded. I was laughing so hard.

I like this episode because it’s such classic Dungeons and Dragons shenanigans. One character trying to do something silly and it completely backfires. This is an episode to remember.

Hardwon cutting off Galad’s head – Episode #18

This episode was wild! Hardwon finds out that Galad Rosell conspired to murder his parents. Hardwon’s mom, Lydia Stormborn, makes a deal to return as a Revenant. For those who are unfamiliar, a Revenant is an undead creature that solely exists to kill the thing that hurt them. With Lydia becoming a Revenant, she focuses all her energy on killing Galad and earns the nickname “The Widow”.

Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon catch up to Galad and have him pinned. Galad pleads for mercy and warns Hardwon that if he kills him, his mom will be lost as he will take away her mission. Hardwon does not care and kills Galad anyway. This moment was such an underrated moment, that even Murph was astounded at the outcome. I love this because it shows that you may have an idea as to what a player could do, they could do something completely different.

Balnor’s First Appearance – Episode #21

Balnor is an NPC that the group picks up earlier in the campaign. Moonshine and Bev agree to pull a card out of the “Deck of Many Things” which is a deck of magical cards that can grant different abilities depending on the card. They pull a card that gives them a Fighter character named Balnor. At first, the group teases Balnor, however, Balnor quickly becomes an important part of their group, and towards the halfway point of the campaign, the group finds out where Balnor came from.

NPCs are crucial to any campaign. Balnor is so sweet and has some of the funniest moments throughout the remaining episodes.

Marabelle Boss Fight – Episode #29

Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon go to The Crick to help figure out the cause of Crick Rot. Moonshine learns that her aunt Marabelle is responsible for spreading this disease that’s been revealed to be demonic in nature. When the group discovers Marabelle, while they try to reason with her, they end up fighting her. After defeating her, the group sees a vision where Marabelle is targeted by a Necromancer and is forced into a ritual that turns her into what she is. It’s heartbreaking because she’s framed as a villain when she was a victim.

This episode sticks out to me because you can tell in the way the cast roleplays this, it’s getting to them emotionally. I believe I listened to one of their Q&As after this session and they mentioned either getting emotional during this portion or being close to that point. This episode solidifies how powerful TTRPGs can be in telling a story and how even though I’m not playing the game, I still feel emotionally invested in what happens.

Hardwon and Gemma’s private conversation – Episode #35

This isn’t necessarily a favorite moment, but I can’t not mention this episode. Moonshine, Bev, and Hardwon go to Frostwind where Hardwon grew up. Hardwon is made aware of his ex-girlfriend, Gemma Bronzebeard, who is getting married soon. Hardwon wants to speak with Gemma because he still has feelings for her. The group orchestrates this where Hardwon and Gemma can speak privately. As a listener, you think all is well until GEMMA IS KILLED BY AN ASSASSIN. Excuse me, but what in the actual fuck? Murph how dare you break all of our hearts like that. I felt so bad for Jake in this moment.

I still remember listening to this episode originally and how shocked I was. I’m overusing the word shocked here, but it still applies to this episode. While Hardwon may not have been able to reunite with Gemma, Gemma is an important character throughout Hardwon’s journey and motivates him to succeed in all of his trials and tribulations. If I could bring back one NPC from the dead in this campaign, it would easily be Gemma. RIP.

Hardwon grabbing the Coldain Kingshammer – Episode #45

After trying to uncover who killed Gemma, the group travels to Mount Forge to seek the Coldain Kingshammer, a hammer blessed by a god. After a pretty intense fight, Hardwon can grab the hammer and unlock the spirits of several dwarven families. Hardwon nicknames these spirits his “dwarven daddies” and the name sticks throughout the remaining episodes.

This episode is so important to Hardwon’s back story, but also, the dwarven daddies protect Hardwon when he needs it the most.

It’s been a blast re-listening to NADDPOD. NADDPOD taught me how powerful TTRPGs can be in telling an enchanting story. Once I finish the first campaign, I will write a second post summarizing all my favorite moments from the last 50 episodes. After that, I will get caught up on their third campaign and I may even start a new podcast altogether. If you haven’t listened to NADDPOD yet, you are honestly missing out on one of the best TTRPG podcasts ever.