Eleven Rounds - Star Master Log: A Puzzle, Not a Slog (w/ Doja)

Star Master Log

Aug 25

START HERE·EPISODE·SWN RULES EXPLAINED

Jeff sits down with Doja to talk through Episode 29, Eleven Rounds, and the puzzle-combat built around it. They get into why the fight had no clean shot for anyone to just point and pull the trigger, what it meant for Robert Ross to head for the pilot's seat instead of joining it, and the long history behind Lokipon. The conversation wanders into real life too, from Doja's first year as a new dad to Jeff's plans for a pottery studio, before closing with a rapid-fire round and a look at what Robert's afraid of heading into next session.

[00:00:03] Doja: Access approved.
[00:00:05] Star Master Jeff: Hey everyone, Star Master Jeff here, and welcome back to the Star Master Log. Today I'm joined by Doja, who plays [[Robert Ross]]. We're talking episode 29, entitled 11 Rounds. If you haven't listened to it yet, go do that first, because what follows is a spoiler conversation. Doja, welcome.
[00:00:26] Doja: Hey, y'all, Robert Ross here, or at least for today, it's going to be Doja.
[00:00:31] Star Master Jeff: Regular old Doja. Actually, maybe we should take a second and explain Doja. That's obviously not your God-given, you know, federal name, your Christian name. Where did that come from? And what is your real name? Are we doing a name reveal?
[00:00:48] Doja: The name reveal. So my real name is Brian, because we already have a Brian. It was taken. And for just ease, lack of confusion, we just go with Doja. Doja actually comes from an old character that I played. One of the first that I played with Jeff as my DM. And... It was clearly a memorable character. I joined that campaign late, but it was a super fun opportunity to play a character that did nothing in a way. Literally one of my favorite characters, because as it went further, I was a bard, a cat boy bard, and I eventually took a vow of pacifism. I still buffed the party and did lots of fun stuff to actually like make combat work. But at that point, it was a fun game for me of how much damage can I do while never touching an enemy?
[00:01:59] Star Master Jeff: Man, yeah, that was cool. That was like my first experience role playing with you. Actually, I think we were searching for a fifth. And we had Steph there already. And she was like, Oh, I know a guy.
[00:02:11] Doja: which ended up being perfect. And it was funny because going into it, talking, Steph was one of the characters in that. And she was like, we don't really role play that much. And then it turned out that we just role played basically the entire time.
[00:02:30] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, I don't know why she'd say that because I'm like totally into role playing. I sometimes forget to do combat. I just want to like riff with my friends for the most part.
[00:02:42] Doja: which I think every party is a little bit different and some are much grindier. Uh, and I've definitely, you know, DM for groups that you write a, you, you write a like a flowery intro and a couple of little like teasers of, you know, Ooh, are you going to investigate that, that candle? It might lead to a secret door. And they're like, cool. We keep going.
[00:03:06] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, there's a lot of that in the GURPS game I used to run, Ascension, where it was me setting up a lot of stuff and them being like, who do I punch? Show me who to punch. And I'm like, okay, you punch that guy. Which... Actually, this adventure, 11 rounds, is sort of a change of pace in that way. Because at the end of the previous episode, it was complete role-playing, narrative, puzzle-type stuff. And then we ended on, oh crap, Electro Bugs, a combat starting. And then we get right into 11 rounds, which is... almost fully combat sort of, but I designed it sort of as like a puzzle combat. And that was the first thing I wanted to talk to you about. Did that change how you thought about the game and how you approached it?
[00:03:56] Doja: Oh, absolutely. Because regular combats, I think, are just part of how TTRPGs work. But the more I've played, the more I actually try to enjoy. And when I've done it, I try to introduce mechanics fights as well. So I always think about them similar to World of Warcraft. I raided for a very long time for many, many years. I played classic. We cleared Naxx. We did all the things in that there are two types of fights. There are DPS fights, the tank and spank, and then there is a mechanics fight that is not necessarily about how much damage you can do, but about a group coordination. And having just everybody tries to deal damage is is fun. At the same time, having people have to figure something out while they're doing it. I think this game lends itself to much more than like 5E, for example.
[00:05:05] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, totally. I think it does too. And you know, we're trying to also put on a podcast with a story. And it's kind of difficult having a slog fest where it's like everyone rolls initiative. Then we actually we had a discussion with this on r slash swn. For any listeners out there, check out the subreddit. We're very active there. And yeah, I was kind of asking for advice on that. Like, how do I do this change initiative run combat in a way that's interesting. And the thing that kind of came to mind for me is if you think about the second Guardians of the Galaxy film, the like second beginning of it, like you have the first beginning where you meet Peter's parents. And then right after that, it's all about like a big fight against like a giant multi armed tentacled monster. they cannot fight this thing. They're just getting trashed. The hide's too thick. They can't really damage it. And then they notice there's actually a deep gash on its neck. And all of a sudden, the whole combat shifts into a puzzle of how do we expose that weakness so that Gamora can take the shot? So I really like that style of combat. It's actually one of my favorites. I think games like SWN and Dungeon Crawl Classics really lend themselves to that as well. And yeah, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
[00:06:22] Doja: And I think especially with the engineer, so the specialist class mechanics, having something where [[Felix Champlin|Felix]] can hack a thing, or similarly, there's some type of simultaneous charisma-style challenge that's occurring that's taxing [[Thorne]], rather than just having them, like, pop I shoot the monster for one damage feels a lot a lot more like everybody's doing something versus like a 5e style game where every everybody's optimized for like I just blow this thing up with as much damage as possible
[00:07:08] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. Well, yeah, because in D&D, the end game is to reduce their hit points to zero. So it really is just a war of attrition at that point, which means every level up is based on how do I have more output and how do I get more resilient? And I have found that... in a game that lets you do like skill rerolls, or solve problems with words, which D&D does in a way, but it certainly doesn't push you in that direction. I've found that you can do these contrived combats like this, where I sat down and I was like, I don't want this to be a slogfest. How do I turn this into more of a puzzle. But also sometimes just by explaining the environment, it turns into a puzzle on its own. So if we have two three baddies come out of the woodwork door during like a spontaneous rp session and there's an sort of unplanned combat just by describing the environment and making sure that all the trappings of a sci-fi environment are there it stops Thorne and Felix from pulling out the gun. It stops [[Haleyy]] from having to rush straight into combat and punch. Conversely, I think Robert Ross is always going to pull out the gun because that's his main skill. But I guess if I put like a skidoo there, he might hop on it and roll pilot.
[00:08:24] Doja: Yes and no, because the same, the classic example of this we've already done, and I think you set it up perfectly in this way was the saw robot bucking bronco that Felix was able to sit there and manipulate the roof. Well, I basically went full stabby McStabberson.
[00:08:44] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, I love that. That's one of my favorite combats, actually, that we've done. I actually wanted to zoom in a little bit on this combat, actually, because you actually didn't really partake in a lot of it. You were there for one round, and then you were ordered away. You were also kind of thinking of running away, but by doing that, you're running towards the pilot's chair because patrol boat six was closing in on you, and you want to make sure the scapegoat didn't just get wrecked. So can you tell me a little bit about that moment, that decision, listening to Thorne, listening to your own gut, and what was running through your mind?
[00:09:19] Doja: So even in the beginning, and I don't think this actually made the podcast, but I talked about not going at first so that I could very quickly get us away. Ultimately, as a group, we decided that we were all going to go because, I mean, splitting the party is rarely the most fun option. And this clearly worked out. But I, from the beginning, had the idea that I was going to try to get away more quickly and cycle up the ship. At the same time, I do happen to have the highest HP. So I was like, oh man, if only Thorne could run away. But... I'm not going to play his character. I thought in this case, I wanted to make sure that we all got to respond to the emergency in a way our characters would. And no matter what somebody said, I was not going to be like, what if we do this? I just wanted to see what would happen because that's so much more fun.
[00:10:30] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, the Thorne running away thing is interesting because I remember there being a discussion after the previous episode before this combat started, knowing that patrol boat six is coming in and being like, well, if anyone's going to run away, it has to be Robert because the whole point is getting to the pilot seat. I remember you guys were like, could we like call [[Reginald Froggy Vance|Froggy]] or [[Dr. Iso|Iso]] and be like, hop in the pilot seat? And I think everyone was like, even I think Brian was like, Yeah, I don't think Thorne should be there. But if he goes back on the scapegoat, he's useless. At least he can be a warm body in the room at the time. So unfortunately, it's one of those situations where the most resilient and oftentimes the highest damaging fighter, Robert Ross, is kind of also the only pilot. So that might be a gap that you guys want to fill in in the future. But I don't really know who Robert would trust to sit down in the pilot's chair.
[00:11:25] Doja: And that's, I think, part of the fun of a small crew like this, that we're not exactly cross-training. I don't spend time in the engineering bay. Felix is our door guy. That's just how she goes. And in this case, I think it really lends itself to having to solve the problem with... Well, we'll keep it with limited resources.
[00:11:56] Star Master Jeff: So I want to ask you about something very hard left turn here away from the combat and into something that you were instrumental in creating. In fact, it might have been out of the mouths of babes, like at the very beginning of the campaign with the invention of [[Lokipon Cards|Lokipon]]. And I don't remember if it came from you or Brian or someone else, or if it was just a spur of the moment, which is brew of everyone screaming. But Lokipon came into existence. And you've been one of the main drivers of sort of figuring out what it means to play Lokipon or collect Lokipon and even the history of Lokipon throughout the galaxy, you and Brian both. I wanted to ask you about what card games in the past for you kind of inspired Lokipon, if any, or you just kind of making shit up as you go?
[00:12:46] Doja: Oh, so that's definitely because both Brian and I are avid card game players. I, starting in high school, actually middle school, started playing Magic the Gathering in the 90s, in the early 90s, back when they didn't even have, like, sleeves for your cards. I was literally... uh hard shuffling dual lands with no sleeves on them um and now you're looking back 30 years later and being like damn it oh yeah i could still have those i was literally shuffling what is now like would have been thousands of dollars worth of cards just bending that cardboard like it's nothing that's like some of us got bitcoin
[00:13:38] Star Master Jeff: several hundred Bitcoin back in the day and spent them on pizza and they're kicking themselves now.
[00:13:42] Doja: Yeah, yeah. And that I also played a little bit of Pokemon that I didn't play as much as the card game I played. almost every iteration of the video games and, uh, ultimately actually did some tournaments for doubles, uh, the, the VGC format. Um, so is those of two things have always been kind of close to, to me and things I've always enjoyed. And Lokipon is basically just mashing those two things together. Plus as a way for, uh, Brian and I to, uh, basically have stupid RP moments where I get to try to cheat at a card game that doesn't exist.
[00:14:30] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, that's that was way back. That was like the first real Lokipon game was playing for the leather jacket back on Wafisa.
[00:14:38] Doja: I think I think it was the leather jacket or or the car to drive the car. I think it was the leather jacket, though, and he decimated me.
[00:14:48] Star Master Jeff: So actually, that's a thread I kind of want to tug on a little bit because Robert and Thorne have a complicated relationship, not just because Robert is impossible to manage and Thorne is sort of his manager, but also the disputes that they have are often resolved with Lokipon. Robert's the strongest one. Thorne is, in a lot of ways, the least resilient one physically. Yeah. So could you tell me a little bit about Robert's relationship with Thorne, or at least how you view it?
[00:15:20] Doja: So Thorne is what I see as the face of our party. He's our captain. And when it comes to... you know, talking your way out of a bad situation. You don't want anyone, uh, except for him to be doing it. Uh, God, there have been so many times where somebody else starts talking and I'm not going to tell him to stop. I love it. RP to your heart's content, but there is something deep in the knot of my stomach that just goes, Oh God, shut up, Felix. Yeah. And so overall, I think our relationship is one of... forged respect that ultimately at the end of the day, we are both part of the scapegoat family and we're both just trying to do what it is that we need to basically get back to the ship at the end of the day, accomplish some version of our goal. And at the same time, Robert is more than willing to be a little bit of an agent of chaos. And, you know, sometimes Thorne has to check me on it.
[00:16:39] Star Master Jeff: So, Doja. People know Robert Ross, but they don't know Doja. And I think it might be interesting for people to get to know Doja. I'd like to know Doja a bit better. The secretive, mysterious man behind Robert Ross. So, what's something that you've been super excited about in real life? Doesn't have to connect to the show at all, but what's going on in your life that is something you might want to share with the audience who wants to know a bit about you?
[00:17:09] Doja: Let's see. There's a couple of different ways I can take that one. And I don't want to get necessarily too heavy because, again, we're having a fun interview conversation. But a lot of the things I've really been excited for in the past year couple of years have been, um, around the slightly complicated, but now, uh, wonderful birth of my son. Um, he came very early and it was very scary at the time and it, and all ended up working out. Um, I ended up being a stay at home dad for almost a year to kind of, um, take care of him to get to a point where he was going to the daycare of our dreams. And at this point, you know, it's the weekends, the time that we really get to spend together. That's what I get excited for. And at this point, I try to spend as much time with him as I can because he's only going to like me for so long.
[00:18:25] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, scary time. I'm glad that everything's evened out. What's life look like for you moving forward?
[00:18:31] Doja: You know, again, I'm going to enjoy as much time as I can with the family. At this point, I did get a new job after that stay-at-home dad period, which is going well. Adjusting back into being a corporate drone is... Hmm. Tricky at times, but at the same time, it's it's it's what you do. It's that's part of life. And at this point, it's funny because I got to spend so much time with him for so long. I mean, I spend literally all day every day with him. And now it's like I get a couple hours with him. So like I my my wife's like, well, we want to do the dishes and we want to go out and do this. And we want to I'm like, I just I want to take like a couple hours and sit and play trucks with my son.
[00:19:22] Star Master Jeff: Yeah. Like, what are you fighting for? Right? Yeah. You're not a stay at home dad anymore. You have to go to work. And with your free time, you still have a bunch of chores. So it's like, sort of like, what the fuck, dude, like, I want to do the cool thing in my life. I totally get that. And it's interesting how the necessitate to work for other people in our society for most people. That's a reality. Yeah, really sucks away whatever free time you have.
[00:19:53] Doja: Oh, yeah. Oh, and that's it's the funny thing, because you I could never explain to him. He's too young still that I'm I'm not able to spend as much time with him because I'm making sure that he he has these opportunities, right?
[00:20:13] Star Master Jeff: And I'm kind of on the opposite end of that. Just to share a little bit about my life. I guess I don't get an interview episode. Go ahead and interview me for a minute.
[00:20:24] Doja: Tell me, Star Master Jeff, what are you excited about?
[00:20:28] Star Master Jeff: I'm excited because my wife and I are opening up a pottery studio. And it's something that we've been thinking about for about a year. And I've been a software engineer or in tech as like a manager director for 20 plus years now. And it's It was okay, but it's never what I wanted to do. My degree is actually in creative writing. So I went back and got a second degree for programming once I realized I couldn't make any money. And I was of that same generation and time as you where they were just handing out huge college loans to kids. So I really needed to pay back my loans. I became a programmer, did it for 20 plus years. And I recently got laid off. I've worked for eight companies, and I've been laid off from all eight over those 20 plus years. So it's sort of like par for the course. But this time, I was like, oh, we've been working on this pottery studio idea. And it's sort of already coming into a reality. I was already planning on maybe quitting that job sometime in the next six to 12 months. So I was like, let's just accelerate it. We already have a lease on the back burner. Let's figure out what it takes to get that signed. Let's start ordering equipment. And yeah, it's so strange because it's becoming real. My wife's a potter. She's been a professional potter for years. I'm stepping into more of like an operational role, even though I can throw a pot. I know how to operate the kiln. I know all the basics, but she's like...
[00:21:54] Doja: insanely good professional so which i got a back i i've purchased a couple of her pieces they are fabulous not just well thrown but uh the the actual artistry of them the the work that she does in terms of engravings absolutely stunning um what's that website
[00:22:17] Star Master Jeff: Oh, well, her original website, which no pressure to anyone to buy any pottery where she does a lot of like scruffito work because she's like classically trained illustrator was a graphic designer for years. That's NorthWindowCeramics.com. But the actual URL for our studio is thebat.studio. like the Batman, but just the bat dot studio. And a bat is a little piece that you put on top of your pottery wheel to keep it clean and be able to easily like lift it up and move it when there's pieces of pottery on top of it. It's also a very cute animal. So that's why we settled on that name. So yeah, check out thebat.studio. If you're in the Midcoast Maine area, we are accepting memberships. If you're anywhere else, please don't put a membership in because it's a physical location and we have nothing to offer to you digitally. But yeah, just check it out. Give us feedback on how the website looks. This is fun. I want to be interviewed. I like this.
[00:23:07] Doja: I was going to say, I'm actually going to ask you two because I want one personal, but I want one in game question from you, Jeff. My in game question for you is what has been the most difficult moment in our campaign from a DMing point of view?
[00:23:29] Star Master Jeff: That is a very interesting question. There's lots of different types of moments, ones that I'm planning for, ones that I think might happen someday, but I don't know how they're going to come to fruition. Other times it's like being on a runaway train and trying to build a track ahead of it. not knowing exactly what you guys are going to do or where the story is going to go, because a lot of this is sandbox, but some of it is also faction movements and building and expanding locations and knowing sort of where you might go, but not knowing what's going to happen when you get there. I think that the most difficult moment, like specific moment, was when the crew was trying to, they're on the [[_Wafisa|Wafisa]], and they were trying to retrieve [[The Scapegoat|the Scapegoat]]. And there's several lead up moments to actually having to go to get it back from [[_Blackharbor|Blackharbor]].
[00:24:22] Doja: The with the fields, the fields of burning drugs.
[00:24:26] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, that so when you guys lost the scapegoat, that wasn't like pre planned. You went back to the scapegoat. And you were already pretty damaged from a fight with Jorgen was the random guy's name. I didn't know that was going to turn into a fight. I thought you guys were going to kind of stave them off or maybe just give into their tax, but you guys decided to fight. And it was brutal. And you went back to heal the ship and you found people there breaking in, which was what I planned. I didn't know you were going to necessarily go back to the ship, but I knew they were going to be trying to break in. You saw that you guys were like, we're wicked damaged. We have to kind of just move on and hope that they can't get in. And we'll just try to move fast. And yeah, you just ran out of time and they stole the scapegoat. And that put me in a bit of a pickle because I was like, did they just live on Wafisa now? Blackharbor is pretty well guarded. How are they going to get this back? Weeks, weeks, weeks went by. You guys had many adventures on Wafisa. And during that time, I kept agonizing about how you're going to get back to scapegoat. And what ended up happening was I finished detailing Blackharbor and fully fleshing out everything that's there, including like a whole resistance strain and alternate religion, all the fields of the purple flowers, what their economics look like, how they feed themselves, because I didn't know what you were going to do. So I just fleshed out like four pages of stuff on Blackharbor. And then it happened. And you guys hopped in [[The Aurora]], drove there, decided to burn the flowers. And I was like, I didn't have to fucking write any of that stuff. You guys came up with such a good plan that I had no idea about. Like, I wasn't like, they're gonna burn the flowers. So basically, all of my agonizing for like two months, trying to figure out like did i put them in a position that's like unsolvable was solved because Stephanie was just thinking about the drugs yeah she's like let's just light the flowers and i was like okay yeah i'll start rolling saving throws for the people that you could encounter And it just was good. And I decided that a couple guards might have gas masks, and then you just ran them over. So it really didn't end up being a big, it ended up being a cool climatic moment for you guys. But for me, it was a really difficult, huge speed bump that I I guess the takeaway here is I didn't have to agonize about it. If you're out there and you're GMing and you're wondering about sandbox games and about the agonizing truth of not being in control of what's going on. All I can really say is once you start going down that spiral, just let go. The team will figure it out. So just flesh out the surrounding area and let them roll.
[00:27:12] Doja: the thing i remember when i was first starting to dm hearing was make like three to five challenges of like combat puzzle exploration kind of within the main pillars of the game and be ready to jettison one or all of them depending on what your party does um I vividly remember a game that I set up an entire, like, lair underneath a mansion. They had already done a party upstairs. They make their way into the basement. They see a cult that's chanting. And I set up a whole... combat like series of combats around this and they literally looked down saw what was happening said nope we're getting out of here and ran away yeah it's like it's like if we're going to infiltrate this cult now is not the time let's come back another day And so I literally and as a DM, here's the other fun part is you take that, you scroll it away and it comes back up either in a different mansion. Your princess is in a different castle or years later where they actually did go back to that mansion. But this time there were consequences because they didn't stop the ritual.
[00:28:36] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, I mean, it's a really good opportunity to be like, the main adventure finishes, you do another adventure in that same town a year later, and the cult is now in charge of everyone secretly, like a hot fuzz situation. And it's like, this is because of you, and now you're third level, and this is now a third level adventure instead of a first level one, and it's ten times harder, so good luck. Yeah, I like that a lot, man. I think that's a really good GMing philosophy that you have there.
[00:29:04] Doja: And now... You gave us a rapid fire. I'm going to give you a couple of rapid fire questions.
[00:29:13] Star Master Jeff: Oh, boy. Oh, yeah. Everyone said this was hard to do. So I guess I'll be on the other side of it. Let's go.
[00:29:18] Doja: So what is Star Master Jeff, the favorite place that you have traveled to?
[00:29:24] Star Master Jeff: That's a great question. I'm very fond of Paris. I've been to a few like foreign big cities, and they all kind of just feel like different American cities. But Paris feels like nothing else I've been to. And I'm assuming Tokyo is that way too, and I can't wait to visit.
[00:29:44] Doja: I highly recommend it. Definitely. Favorite food?
[00:29:51] Star Master Jeff: Growing up, it was mashed potatoes, but nice, nice. But as an adult, I think it's ramen. I have a good ramen. I love going to like a nice Japanese restaurant and having like a delicious ramen and living near Portland, Maine, we have no shortage of delicious ramen places.
[00:30:10] Doja: Portland's food is so good.
[00:30:12] Star Master Jeff: It's so weird that it's so good, but it's a crazy food environment. Yeah, there's something about this area that makes people want to move here and open up delicious restaurants.
[00:30:23] Doja: Some of the best Thai food, duck fat, and literally my personal favorite hands-down scales.
[00:30:32] Star Master Jeff: Yes. Yeah. And there's so many more. Yeah. Next time you come up, I'll take you to a couple of my favorites.
[00:30:38] Doja: Absolutely. Yeah. Food's way too good. So at one point I had I was I never had like good ramen until actually a couple of months ago. Like I'd had OK ramen before. And of course, like cup noodles. I was out at a trade show in L.A. and we had a I had a bowl of ramen that was so good that I insisted that we go back to that restaurant every night.
[00:31:02] Star Master Jeff: Yes, you don't want to waste that opportunity. Like, I was in Houston one time and I had the best tacos of my life out of like a taco truck. And I was there for a month. I because my dad lives down in Houston. I went to that taco truck almost every damn day. I was like, when I go back to Maine, I am not having good tacos. Like I have now been spoiled. Yep.
[00:31:21] Doja: Okay, the rapid fire continues. Favorite movie?
[00:31:26] Star Master Jeff: Oh, I have. I mean, I'm a huge movie guy. I watch like a movie every single day. My favorite movie is really, really hard to choose. I think my favorite movie of the moment might be Pride and Prejudice because I just watched it for the first time and it blew me out of the water. But all time favorites, not including like childhood ones like The Lion King and Back to the Future. first indiana jones is pretty incredible my one of my comfort watches is as above so below which is a horror movie i'm really really big into horror um i think i'm gonna go with galaxy quest i think that's probably my all-around perfect 10 of 10 movie that has everything that i need to feel sated at the end of watching it one of those movies i remember seeing when i was too young to appreciate it and was like oh it's a fine movie seeing it years later and was like
[00:32:15] Doja: It does. It has everything you need. It is funny.
[00:32:19] Star Master Jeff: It hits every mark. It's perfect.
[00:32:22] Doja: We're going to go from a favorite to least favorite chore. Jeez.
[00:32:29] Star Master Jeff: Cleaning the chicken coop, for sure. We only do that twice a year, but it takes so long and it's so disgusting. We have a really big chicken coop. Much too big for the number of chickens we have, but it could probably fit like 30 chickens. We currently have like six. We used to have like a dozen, a baker's dozen of chickens. But... For something that's more like often shoveling, which is something we all have to do in New England. And living in Maine, I shovel like every day, every other day during the winter. It's brutal. It's backbreaking. Even with a snow thrower, it's constantly like spinning its wheels. If you have like the slightest grade to your driveway, it's such a pain in the ass. But whenever I think about moving away from the snow, I don't know. I love the winter. I just don't like that part.
[00:33:17] Doja: And I'll tell you, the thing that we get here in New England is four distinct seasons.
[00:33:24] Star Master Jeff: I love that. And people always make fun of me. Like I have friends down in Texas. They're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, seasons. And it's like, yeah, everyone from New England and like, you know, the Pacific Northwest says that. and everyone else in america makes fun of them but it's like it's so magical you get into late october you get that halloween feeling you get that thanksgiving feeling you get that valentine's day feeling you get that late spring you get that summer every single season has multiple mini seasons within it where there's a different smell there's like a charge to the air things look different different types of foods are available you get your apple pie and your pumpkin spice and oh Yeah, I'm a huge fan of the four seasons.
[00:34:03] Doja: Absolutely. And then my last one for you, not necessarily favorite, but the book that had the biggest influence on you growing up.
[00:34:15] Star Master Jeff: Oh, series of books is probably something like Animorphs or Goosebumps, but a single book. Man, that's a great question, Doja. See, now you see why this is hard. It's very hard, yeah. I think the single book that had the most impact on me is a tween book called Freak the Mighty.
[00:34:37] Doja: Never heard of it.
[00:34:38] Star Master Jeff: It's about like a kid who's crippled, but he's crazy smart. And he's an outcast and he becomes really close friends with a really large kid, like really tall, really broad. And both of them are outcasts and they're always made fun of. And he's really dumb. He's really smart. He's crippled. He's incredibly athletic and strong. And they both feel like they're half of a human. And one day they kind of accidentally get into a situation where the... crippled kid is sitting on the other kid's shoulders and he kind of like ratty ratatouille's him i guess this is this is proto ratatouille in a way he does the thinking and he also yells orders at him when he needs him to like do things like in the moment because the other kid's brain doesn't like operate as quickly and with his brawn his speed his athleticism and his other kids like pure raw intellect they feel like they're like a superhuman and they call themselves freak the mighty And it's one of those like kids dealing with bullies and also some extremely dangerous situations that kids shouldn't be dealing with. Sort of like a stand by me situation where it's like, this is a little too real for a kid's story. And yeah, I met the author, he signed a copy of the book for me. And it was just all like, I don't know, I've read it like 100 times. For me, it's one of those books that's akin to having one of those like family VHS tapes. Like you had those five VHS tapes and you would just rotate through them and you were always reading the same book or seeing the same VHS tapes. We all have that if you're from the 90s like us. And yeah, that one just made such a huge impact on me and made me want to like, be a more complete human being and be smarter and be more physically fit and like, try to be more like Freak the Mighty as a single person. And I still think about that book all the time. Okay, that's enough questions from you. Who's interviewing you here? Right?
[00:36:23] Doja: There we go. Hey, you said you wanted some interviewing. So you know what, we needed to learn a little bit about our star master, Jeff.
[00:36:29] Star Master Jeff: Yeah, that was awesome. Thanks. That was like a pretty cool experience, actually. So maybe I'll ask everyone to ask me one question. There you go. So my final question for you to close this out is at the end of 11 rounds, you're all on the ship and patrol boat six is coming in hot. Robert's in the pilot seat. And I think this is the same question I asked you last time. But moving into that next adventure, what is Robert most afraid of moving forward into the next session?
[00:36:58] Doja: at this point keeping the crew under the radar and on task because Felix i mean i i feel a like frenetic energy just a frantic desire to recover [[Dr. Elara Voss|Voss]] and I am shocked that he dropped his hack when he did i thought he was going to keep going and that we it was going to get real hairy there real fast um Overall, I think that we're going to start seeing a little bit more craziness on Haleyy's mind rocks, too. And again, I think it's going to just be about can we keep the crew together on task and make sure that nobody dies?
[00:38:01] Star Master Jeff: Well, thanks so much for taking the time to let me interview you. And thanks for interviewing me back. Hey, anytime. Scapegoats forever, Doja. Scapegoats forever. Next time on the Dark Star Adventurecast, Patrol Boat 6 is closing in fast, and they've already given their one warning to the scapegoat. Our crew has a drill path to Prometheon set, locked, and loaded. Now there's nothing left to do but wait for those spike drives to spin up. They're going to be forced to fight or outrun Patrol Boat 6. If you want to get these episodes two weeks early before they drop publicly, the Dark Star Adventure Cast Patreon is at patreon.com slash darkstaradventurecast. We really appreciate each and every one of our patrons and we hope to see you there with them. Thanks so much for listening. And from both Doja and I, don't forget to keep following that signal. Bye all.
[00:38:54] Doja: Robert Ross signing out.