Vikki fills in her character sheet and shares a revealing anecdote about Alex.
Created and hosted by Matt (@merelymj)
In association with Blackshaw Theatre Company (www.blackshawonline.com)
Episode transcript
Matt: Who'd like to go next?
Vikki: I'll go next.
Matt: Okay. So, this should be streamlined because you all know the process now. It's gonna be exactly the same, so: Mind, Body, Soul. What's Vikki's strongest? What does she get a one in?
Strat: Body.
Alex: Body.
Strat: Or Mind.
Ellie: I mean, I would have gone Mind, but on the basis that none of the rest of us are gonna be Body…
Alex: In terms of roleplaying, I think yeah, divvying it up that way would probably be better.
Strat: We do need a good … although two of us are going to end up with similar stuff, because one of - two of us are gonna have the same top ability.
Vikki: Yeah. It's gonna happen. Because there’s only three to choose from.
Matt: Try not to game it out too much. I want this to be kind of instinct, in terms of -
Alex: Okay, so we all went with Body one. I think that means Mind zero, Soul minus one.
Ellie: Yeah. I mean, Soul is definitely minus one.
Alex: Just, like … a pit. A void.
Vikki: It’s so true though. They all hate me, listeners, just because I don't like animals. That is what this is really about.
Alex: If you don't like kittens, you're dead inside.
Vikki: True story. Okay.
Matt: Okay, so that gives Vikki Mind zero, Body one, Soul minus one. Are you happy with that or do you want to swap two?
Vikki: No, I think I'm gonna stick.
Matt: Okay. Ability? Well, let - you can do it in any order you like. Ability, element and item: what do you want?
Vikki: Erm … “rampage” is an option for Body, that’s hilarious.
Alex: That’s amazing! What does that - what does “rampage” mean?!
Ellie: Just like windmilling your fists and running at stuff?
Matt: I think we'd have to work it out, but I'd imagine … so I had trouble coming up with ones for Body, because the other ones sort of apply to the genre a bit more, I think. But I would say - so “rampage”, what I had in mind was basically like, you clear the room of anything hostile. You just go mad. If you do it right.
Alex: Berserker.
Matt: Yeah.
Alex: Ah, nice.
Strat: That's cool.
Alex: That's pretty awesome.
Matt: So you've got other things under Body there. You've got like things like “parkour” -
Vikki: Skills.
Matt: - so you can like, get to places that others couldn't. “Clear a path”, which is kind of a - like, vaguely similar to “rampage”, but is like, clearing out of -
Vikki: Of objects.
Matt: Yeah, of objects or of other things -
Vikki: I was going to say heavy lifting could be an option here.
Matt: Yeah.
Alex: I just like the idea of like clearing a path, like, moving branches out of the way because us fools are just gonna trip on them. Woah!
Vikki: - is a legit thing that would happen.
Matt: Or if you want to be like, slightly less aggressive, you've got stuff in there like “take the hit for someone” - so that would be something that you could roll Body and like, when somebody else is about to be hurt, you basically like, “Bodyguard” in front of them.
Ellie: God, I feel like this is gonna get emotional.
Vikki: God. Really good. I think I want to go for something like … this is difficult.
Matt: So there - another option, if you're having trouble, is - so, “talking someone down” is normally a Trust thing. Your ability could be, “I get to talk someone down with one of my stats instead of with Trust”. That was something that some of the profiles had in the practice game. So that's one that kind of works for any of the - whichever is your strongest stat.
I will also reveal: the stats can go up in this game.
Ellie: Whaat?!
Strat: Cool.
Vikki: Cool. I feel like it's gotta - I feel like … I want something non-violent, just because I partly don't know how useful it will be? And it’s something more like…
Ellie: Can you be like - super fast would be cool.
Vikki: Yeah, I was wondering about speed -
Strat: The whole “parkour” thing -
Vikki: - I want something that's either like, speed or agility or an ability to lift heavy stuff.
Alex: I think “parkour” would be awesome.
Strat: “Clear a path” is good, because that's quite open, in that it could be stuff, it could be threats that you'll somehow kind of deflect to get us through. Essentially, if we want to get from A to B, you're like, “Stand back, guys, I got this”.
Matt: If you want “lift heavy objects”, it could be something like - oh god, this is gonna sound really gendered, but “hysterical strength” is a scientific phenomenon. So that could be something like, you can roll Body to do some - to like, do a physical feat -
Vikki: Some kind of super-strength, yeah.
Matt: - that none of the other guys could do -
Ellie: Lift up a car!
Matt: - that none of them could even attempt.
Vikki: Some kind of like Jessica Jones skills.
Matt: And that's kind of generic enough that you could use it to like, break down a heavy door or lift something -
Vikki: Yeah, I’m going with that. I’m calling it “super-strength”.
Strat: Because that could also be, if you needed it to be an offensive thing, you could easily turn it into that.
Vikki: Yeah. We're calling it “super-strength”.
Matt: Cool. All right, when are you in your element?
Vikki: When am I in my element? When I can … when … I feel like it is something about like, when I know exactly what it, like - when I can - like there’s this one about like, when you can see what you're dealing with. I feel like it's something like that.
Matt: Yep. So you - if something's invisible then you're having trouble, but as long as you can see it to take it on -
Vikki: Yeah, then I’ll know how to deal with it. Yeah, I’m gonna have that.
Matt: Cool. And an item.
Vikki: Items like…
Matt: We’ve got some theatre-related stuff on there, like gaffa tape, steelie boots…
Alex: If you're doing heavy lifting, you should really be wearing your -
Vikki: Be wearing your steelies!
Ellie: - steelies!
Vikki: You really should.
Alex: That is - if we've learned anything.
Ellie: Ever.
Strat: Might make it easier to kick down a door as well.
Vikki: That’s true, yeah. Or no, although the leg lift is difficult in a pair of steelies. They're there to protect you -
Ellie: Because they do add a lot of weight.
Vikki: - they make you really slow. I don't know if I want anything that’s gonna slow me down.
Strat: Could just be slow ghosts.
Vikki: Yes, really slow ghosts. “One sec, let me just lift my leg up!” I kind of want to like, bring the wrath of Shaun Brennan by not wearing my steelies, but - and kicking stuff down.
Matt: Shaun Brennan was our stage manager when we were at university together.
Alex: Hi, Shaun!
Vikki: Hey Shaun, if you’re listening!
Matt: He was, let's say, a health and safety conscious man.
Vikki: Yes.
Ellie: I'd say a health and safety nut. He lives for that.
Vikki: He lives for health and safety and I kind of love it.
Strat: But no one died while we were there, so clearly he’s doing the right thing.
Alex: Yeah, he’s doing a good job.
Vikki: That's it, like it's proof positive that it all was working.
Strat: In 2005, nobody died.
Vikki: Nobody died and no toes got broken by stuff getting dropped on them.
Matt: So, it doesn't have to be something off the example list. It like, it might - another way to think of it might be for you to think like, what would I have on me for a get-in, and how could that apply to the game?
Ellie: But you could also have props.
Matt: Yeah, props would work as well, Props, costume pieces, scenery bits…
Ellie: I’ve got an Elizabethan court - court dress.
Vikki: Or a judge’s wig.
Matt: Or a ruff. Not sure when that would apply. Maybe when you’re trying to persuade somebody of something.
Strat: It's for when things get ruff.
Ellie: You can just use the ruff to gently stroke someone's face to calm them down.
Vikki: Yeah, why not.
Matt: We're getting at least one pun per bonus episode. That’s how we’re doing it.
Vikki: Oh yeah, we're aiming for at least one per bonus episode.
Strat: We got ours in early, Alex, it’s fine.
Vikki: Oh, what would I have? I feel like I would have … things I would actually have on me would include like, medicine, probably, and plasters or things like that.
Matt: You do always have the Nurofen. Yeah, a first aid kit’d be good.
Vikki: Yeah, I might go with … yeah, I might go with that. I think that's just the likely thing I would have on me.
Ellie: And you'd wear it on like a belt.
Vikki: Yeah.
Strat: Be a holstered first aid kit.
Vikki: I’ve got so many kinds of plaster.
Ellie: Like in a bumbag.
Alex: I was thinking more like a bat-belt. Like a bat-belt for first aid.
Vikki: You want some Nurofen? You want some paracetamol?
Alex: I can fire some into your face.
Strat: Savlon, straight out on the wound.
Alex: Aghh! My eye!
Vikki: And the thing is, that the reason I really have it is because I am the most likely to need it.
Strat: Fair.
Vikki: Okay, I’m putting it down. First aid kit. We've done it. There we go.
Matt: Awesome. Okay. So, Trust. Here we go. Same scenario. This is probably unlikely in your real life, but imagine you've been dumped.
Vikki: By Dave. Okay, sure.
Matt: Dave dumps you -
Vikki: We are in a fantasy realm right now, aren’t we?
Matt: - which of these three jokers is helping you eat your feelings?
Vikki: I still think it would likely be Ellie, although I mean, depending on what I did to make Dave dump me she might not be speaking to me.
Ellie: Maybe I’ve run off with Dave.
Alex: What a twist!
Matt: In this scenario, Dave is unequivocally the bad guy.
Vikki: Okay. Okay. I’ll be having words with him about this when I get home. So I think it’s Ellie.
Matt: Okay, Ellie, can you write “Vikki: plus two”?
Ellie: Yeah - am I allowed more than one plus two?
Matt: You certainly are.
Ellie: (whoops)
Strat: I think you’re going to get three.
Ellie: I don’t know if it’s a comment on my ice cream eating abilities or…
Vikki: It is fifty-fifty for me, I’ll be honest with you.
Matt: Okay, and out of Strat and Alex, who’s most likely to be all up in Dave's mentions?
Vikki: This guy sitting over the table from me right now: it’s Alex Brown!
Matt: Alex, can you write “Vikki: minus one”?
Vikki: I love that we will be there for each other in this way, Alex.
Alex: Yeah, just really aggressively abusing people online.
Vikki: So, I want to tell a quick story. Me and Alex went with some friends of mine to do an immersive theatre experience called “Hunted”, which was absolutely incredible, really really - it’s COLAB Theatre, they do incredible immersive theatre. And a part of the premise of this show was that there was a point where you are held hostage by a bunch of, I think it was a combination of guys and women with machine guns, and they kind of handcuff you to the chairs and stuff, and Alex was kind of being like, held against the wall and all this kind of like - a couple of people were like, face down on the floor. And this guy got like, right up in my grill about something and was like, right in my face shouting at me, and I was like, “Alex is gonna step in, in three, two, one…” and suddenly: “Oh, you f’king…” Absolutely going for it, and I was like -
Ellie: But didn’t he say a really good line to him as well?
Alex: Yeah, I said “Oh, that's a nice gun. Tell me, do they make it for men?” And he didn't know what to do with it. I was so happy I bamboozled him. He was like, “Yeah - yeah it’s a gun for men - it’s a men’s gun, yeah!”
Vikki: Alex was sitting there like, “If you were comfortable with gender norms then this would not have been an issue.” So yeah.
Alex: I’d forgotten that.
Vikki: Yeah. In a situation where other people need somebody taken down, Alex is the man to do the job. Is the moral of this tale.
Matt: And thus ends Vikki's sheet filling in episode.