Podcasts about playing dungeons

About The Guest(s): Jonathan Cormur is a talented voice actor and the host of the Dorktales Storytime podcast. He has a great passion for storytelling and presents classic fairytales in a unique and geekish way. Jonathan also contributes to the Hidden Heroes of History series, which is part of the Dorktales Storytime feed. Through this series, he highlights important historical figures who are often overlooked.Summary: Jonathan Cormur discusses his work on the Dorktales Storytime podcast, adding a geeky twist to classic fairytales. He emphasizes the importance of authentic representation of disabilities in audio and shares his experiences in voice acting and theater. Jonathan reflects on his journey with autism and the impact of inclusive education and shares his aspirations for his career and the positive message of his podcast.Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/XrZ2JnVA7ZmG0Ah7QYXNHvv87oEKey Takeaways:Dork Tales Story Time podcast puts a geekish twist on classic fairytales, promoting positive role models and embracing uniqueness.Authentic representation of disabilities in audio is important, and more opportunities should be given to neurodivergent individuals.Inclusive education and supportive teachers can make a significant difference in the lives of neurodivergent students.Jonathan's dreams for his career include financial viability for the podcast and more opportunities for positive role modeling.Playing Dungeons & Dragons has become a fun and engaging hobby for Jonathan, enhancing his creativity and enjoyment.Jonathan Cormur: https://jonincharacter.com/Dorktales Storytime: https://pod.link/dorktales-storytimeMCIE: Website: https://www.mcie.org/Email List: https://bit.ly/MCIE-Email-ListFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThinkInclusive/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/think_inclusive/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@think_inclusiveYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThinkinclusiveUsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inclusive-education/Support: https://bit.ly/MCIE-Donate Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a two-man show this week as we discuss all of the games we've been playing including Dungeons of Eternity in VR, The Talos Principle II, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Frank finally weighs in on Alan Wake II.

On today's episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to discuss his recent profile of Critical Role's Matthew Mercer. Launched by Mercer and his friends in 2015, Critical Role is undoubtedly a megahit, boasting over 600 million views on YouTube. As Winkie wrote in his profile, “A 2021 data leak out of Twitch confirmed that Critical Role is one of the richest channels on the platform, generating a mammoth $9.6 million in revenue between 2019 and 2021.” Hampton, Lim and Winkie discuss the appeal of Critical Role, the so-called “Mercer Effect” and whether Critical Role's success indicates that Dungeons & Dragons is no longer just the domain of the proudly geeky. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to discuss his recent profile of Critical Role's Matthew Mercer. Launched by Mercer and his friends in 2015, Critical Role is undoubtedly a megahit, boasting over 600 million views on YouTube. As Winkie wrote in his profile, “A 2021 data leak out of Twitch confirmed that Critical Role is one of the richest channels on the platform, generating a mammoth $9.6 million in revenue between 2019 and 2021.” Hampton, Lim and Winkie discuss the appeal of Critical Role, the so-called “Mercer Effect” and whether Critical Role's success indicates that Dungeons & Dragons is no longer just the domain of the proudly geeky. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to discuss his recent profile of Critical Role's Matthew Mercer. Launched by Mercer and his friends in 2015, Critical Role is undoubtedly a megahit, boasting over 600 million views on YouTube. As Winkie wrote in his profile, “A 2021 data leak out of Twitch confirmed that Critical Role is one of the richest channels on the platform, generating a mammoth $9.6 million in revenue between 2019 and 2021.” Hampton, Lim and Winkie discuss the appeal of Critical Role, the so-called “Mercer Effect” and whether Critical Role's success indicates that Dungeons & Dragons is no longer just the domain of the proudly geeky. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to discuss his recent profile of Critical Role's Matthew Mercer. Launched by Mercer and his friends in 2015, Critical Role is undoubtedly a megahit, boasting over 600 million views on YouTube. As Winkie wrote in his profile, “A 2021 data leak out of Twitch confirmed that Critical Role is one of the richest channels on the platform, generating a mammoth $9.6 million in revenue between 2019 and 2021.” Hampton, Lim and Winkie discuss the appeal of Critical Role, the so-called “Mercer Effect” and whether Critical Role's success indicates that Dungeons & Dragons is no longer just the domain of the proudly geeky. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Slate staff writer Luke Winkie to discuss his recent profile of Critical Role's Matthew Mercer. Launched by Mercer and his friends in 2015, Critical Role is undoubtedly a megahit, boasting over 600 million views on YouTube. As Winkie wrote in his profile, “A 2021 data leak out of Twitch confirmed that Critical Role is one of the richest channels on the platform, generating a mammoth $9.6 million in revenue between 2019 and 2021.” Hampton, Lim and Winkie discuss the appeal of Critical Role, the so-called “Mercer Effect” and whether Critical Role's success indicates that Dungeons & Dragons is no longer just the domain of the proudly geeky. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Nordic LARP concept seems to be a major hit within the roleplaying community from the north but can we use it in our own games and does it make roleplaying games better? Will Cthulhu play to win or play to lose?Support the showIf this podcast means something to you, please consider following the channel so that you never miss an episode or maybe you'd like to consider becoming a supporter of the show. You can do that here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2018827/supportCheck out our YouTube Channel where we release weekly videos on How to Become a Great GM - videos released every Monday. Follow us on our social media here: Twitter Facebook Instagram TikTok

The world's original roleplaying game, Dungeons and Dragons hit the movies recently and after already seeing it in shows like Stranger Things and Community, we started to think this might be something you should bother trying! So we attended a local arcade hosting a “D&D” night to get our filthy quest on. Knowing absolutely f**k all going in, we explored every aspect and discussed it in this episode - the process of creating a character, the very loose rules of the game (“so we can do anything and it isn't played on a board?!?”) and did our best to understand the mechanics of a dice that has more than 6 faces. Also discussed along our adventures: Vin Diesel's appetite for D&D and Chris Pine's punchable face, how a man ate underwear to beat a breathalyzer test, and our game of the week, “Dungeons & Paddywagons”!So if you're also curious about this role playing OG, join us for a candid, piss-take of a conversation about our first D&D experience, to decide if this “classic tabletop” is the one for you. Liked this episode or have a suggestion for something we should bother doing? We'd love your review! Want to get in contact? Email: shouldibotherpod@gmail.comFollow us for more content on Instagram: @shouldibotherpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The amazing Nick Perron invited us on to the hilarious show Tabletopped to talk about playing Dungeons & Dragons.What are some tips to playing, or leading, a game? What are some of our dumbest and favorite stories? How is this the greatest game ever?Wanna get into some BS with us? PATREON Patreon.com/BanterAndSuchMERCH TheHeliosNetwork.comINSTAGRAM @BanterAndSuchPodcastTWITTER@BanterSuchWASTED TRUTHSpill some W Tea with us HEREMASTER AND DEBATERSStay Mad with us HERETABLETOPPEDRoll the dice with us HEREI'LL BE CAREFUL YOU'LL BE DEADMay the force be with us HERE

Intro What's With the Royal Family? Mike's Big Year of Premieres Influo.Mike The Boys Just Stop Playing DnD? Donnie Update Songs You Forgot Existed A New Adventure? The Plug Want more? Check out The TCB Overflow Podcast on Patreon! https://patreon.com/radiomike FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/tcbpod CHECK OUT THE CLIPS CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzin0ma6yraFsTWSCU09kUw SUPPORT ME ON PATREON + GET TWO BONUS PODCASTS: www.patreon.com/radiomike DONATE A DOLLAR TO PAYPAL: www.paypal.me/itsradiomike STICKERS, T-SHIRTS & OTHER MERCH AT: www.radiomike.com.au/merch radiomikeshop.redbubble.com SEE ALL MY CONTENTAT: www.radiomike.com.au FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/radio.mike FOLLOW ME ON TIKTOK: www.tiktok.com/@radio.mke FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: www.twitter.com/itsradiomike FULL VIDEO EPISODES + OTHER VIDEOS: www.youtube.com/c/radiomike HARRY POTTER FAN FICTION PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/harry-potter-and-the-boys/id1537216249 LOVE POP CULTURE? TRY LOVEABLE NERD: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/loveable-nerd/id1507529485 ME ON OTHER PEOPLE'S PODCASTS: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2mw2udWexf4m69u8F4giOJ?si=L24cJowZRl-OVGRl1m76bA&dl_branch=1 CHECK OUT MIKE TALKS with GUESTS LIKE JACK POST, RYAN SHELTON, BRODEN KELLY and MORE! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3gtYsPzhZg9HB0hk0pCvA1?si=d43d7becaf8948d3 Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/radiomike See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Come home to the ancestral home of the nerds! This week is an intro into playing Dungeons & Dragons, and why we think it's a game anyone and everyone can love. I too once counted myself as a skeptic of this game, but after a couple good friends showed me the light, I am fixated. Join us while we talk through the easiest ways get started playing.   D&D Player's Basic Rules  Dungeon Master's Basic Rules  D&D Beyond Discord 

Playing Dungeons & Dragons is participating in a narrative about wizards, magic, and enchantment. Worshipping in the Divine Liturgy is participating in the story of God's salvation. Are these two stories at odds? Tune in as we're joined by special guest Fr Anthony Perkins in an exploration of the purpose of narrative in the lives of Orthodox Christians.In our fourth season, Fr Yuri and Fr Geoffrey are releasing episodes on a variety of topics that were previously only available to our patrons.  If you like what you hear, and would like access to much more - including monthly livestreams - please consider supporting our project by heading to patreon.com/enactingthekingdom and choosing a tier of support.  We would love to have you join our growing community.★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Eric and Neil discuss the time during the late 70's and early eighties when Satan was everywhere. The end times were coming and listening to Heavy Metal and Playing Dungeons and Dragon's was a one way ticket to damnation!  We talk about Jack Chick comics other phenomena that seem so silly now, but were deadly serious back then.  Check it out!  It's our our one non movie related pod of the year.

This week, we talked about D&D and mental health, and how playing can help some people deal with some of the things they are going through, in life. As we are NOT doctors or experts, these opinions are formulated based on our own experiences playing D&D with people. This episode is 'part 1', because we had a power outage and lost much of the main topic. We will pick up and attempt to complete this discussion in next week's episode! Thanks for listening! Don't forget to like and subscribe to our social media! http://www.facebook.com/comictalk616 Instagram http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOXGkaH685ia8ET2yPuarXA Also, visit our website to listen to our other channels and shop for merch! http://www.comictalk616.weebly.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Welcome to our guest and Dungeon Master Sara Kim as she joins the pod to discuss Emily and Ashleys first time playing dungeons and dragons with her as the dm. She also explains the game, the merits of spending time with your friends, a bit on how she writes a campaign, and more! If you are interested in DND podcasts or other role playing games, the HTT hosts can not recommend the Goosebuds RPG episodes (cerca episodes 71-74), Pretend Friends, and Not Another DND Podcast highly enough, links for those shows below. We hope this maybe inspires you to start a campaign with your friends, if not shine a little light on what DnD is for you if you were not sure before. Thanks for listening! Goosebuds RPG: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WNAMMPVftYTivV7a45hwK?si=sjJNj2nlSrGU6ZY05ftqlA Pretend Friends: https://open.spotify.com/show/4cjURMqoxL8Dx74G3P669L?si=mRhl2asyQ72bcpRDlVH8JQ Not Another DND Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5GcTIDkgnB9wP6CmUyOSqa?si=Si7UBq1ySu29SzkQQZqF3Q

In this podcast we talk about the big game, you know the one. Playing Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. Wanda-vision reviews and a bunch of other random thoughts. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mediocregamers/message

Developing characters is a favourite part of writing for today's guest. D.J. Munden, which is one reason I asked him on as a guest. D.J. is a science fiction and fantasy author with multiple books to his name, including Tavern, which we discuss during the interview. D.J.'s author story is interesting because he found his love for writing while pursuing a different career. In this episode of the Author Your Dream podcast we talk about where to start in the character development process, how to find inspiration for your physical descriptions and how you don't need to write a full biography. D.J. Munden gives some fantastic tips for how to help you when you are developing your characters and gives us an idea that many of you may not have considered. Playing Dungeons and Dragons! He also shares some tips for how to write non-human characters and how to avoid creating flat ones. Developing Characters Highlights: 02:09 D.J. Munden's author journey 07:46 Writing Characters that differ from you 9:36 How D.J. approaches developing characters 10:28 Where to start 13:43 Your character's backstory 14:40 developing physical attributes 18:14 Where to get visual ideas for characters 25:31 What is a flat character and tips to help you avoid them 29:06 Developing the core milestones and turning points of your character's life 34:52 Non-human characters 38:36 How to know if a character is developed enough 41:09 D.J.'s final piece of advice Head to the Author Your Dream website for more show notes.

Can D&D help you in the workplace? Sami Chan thinks so. This episode's guest, Sami Chan, did a really interesting thing on Linkedin. Sami put together a series of ten slide decks, all with 9 - 15 slides in each, and posted them every week or so in her timeline to share with her connections. The topic of the decks was "Skills I Learned By Playing Dungeons and Dragons". And for any of you that aren't familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, it's a role-playing game developed in the 1970's that takes place in a fantasy world. To play, participants take on different roles, such as a fighter or wizard or knight, and work through the game "as that character" to achieve a goal, like find treasure or magic items or go on missions to save a town or another character. It's immersive, it's role-playing, and it's definitely something that can teach soft skills - which is what Sami ingeniously explains in her series. And interestingly enough, it was L&D professionals that were most attracted to the series. Although Sami is a graphic designer, illustrator and copywriter, it was the learning community that found the posts most attractive, and Sami is now beginning a career in instructional design. What you'll get by listening to this one is why and how Sami put the slides together and how it affected her linkedin profile. We also go into detail about how D&D taught her the variety of soft skills she discusses in her slides. It was a really fun conversation --- another episode that has the L&D and D&D connection --- and it definitely conveys the value of role-playing to learning. Enjoy. Here are Sami's Episodes: Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Planning Part 3: Authenticity Part 4: Teamwork Part 5: Leadership Part 6: Networking Part 7: Expectation Management Part 8: Rewarding Accomplishments Part 9: Problem Solving Part 10: Quitting

Luke is leading Matt and Tim on the journey into the unknown. A magical world filled with paper, pen, dice and... wait it's all digital? It is still the ultimate level of nerdiness requiring imagination and wit to solve puzzles, kill monsters, save the world and fall in love (probably)? Luke, as the Dungeon Master, helps Matt and Tim design their first D&D characters. As you guessed they made sensible decisions would really help them get through some complex problems and solve some expertly designed puzzles... What do you mean he has -1 intelligence? She is from HR? Is there an HR department in D&D? Putting all that aside, we love it and hope you do as well!

Episode 29So we are Playing Dungeons and Dragons Now? In this episode of The Escape Pod we join our Heros, Dude “DellaSnooch”Sulski, and Duder “Big” Lovin as they spend some time discussing what new in the pop culture news of the time, what is coming down the pike in video games, what is swirling around the rumor mill (the hot sheets), and as always they boys talk Starwars. This week the Escape Pod boys discuss Dungeons and Dragons, what it is, how its played, and some of its storied history, But most importantly what its like to actually play. Don and Brady play D&D with friends of the Pod Jen and Jess, so the boys will get into what the experience was like and all what it means to them. The Escape Pod aint no Disney show, We’re a little dirty, a few drinks in, ready to get into it, and we Always Do It LiveJoin the Escape Pod Crew at: https://www.patreon.com/ATSWTHEESCAPEPODFollow the boys at:https://www.instagram.com/atsw_theescapepod/?hl=en on Instagram https://www.facebook.com/groups/2127856244190464 on FaceBook, https://twitter.com/ATheescapepod on twitter, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYPqftbd-DXLfN_PdKgutvQ on youtubehttps://www.podbelly.com on the Podbelly network Download the podcast on your favorite podcast apps at https://atswtheescapepod.buzzsprout.comItunes, stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Tunein and Iheart Radio Check out the other pods in the atsw Starkillers studios family. ATSW: All Things Star Wars PodcastLaymans Terms - on youtubeUsed and Abused: A Music PodcastTactical Swede - on youTubeBig Swede’s Excellent Adventure – on youTubeAnd all the great pods at www.podbelly.com Commercial music from https://www.bensound.com/

Cody and Zach talk about one of their favorite stories ever, The Fellowship of the Ring. While, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings can be tied to an older generation, Peter Jackson's films were released at the perfect time in life to connect two generations. The book always tends to be better than the film, but it is also important to remember that there are so many films that get people to pick up a book, which is most definitely true for the guys when it comes to Fellowship of the Ring.SHOW ORDER-Zach's Playing Dungeons and Dragons-The Mandalorian family nights.-Cody paid $300 dollars for a pizza and Zach calls the worst pizza place on the planet-A discussion on audio books; as demand grows, we hope for a more competitive market-Fellowship of the Ring. 26:34. This is one of the greatest stories ever told and the resurgence of Lord of the Rings in the early 2000's is one of the best things that has ever happened to nerd culture and lovers of fantasy. The guys share their first experiences with the intellectual property as well as its lasting impact. While the book may be better than the movie, the guys both recognize that it was in fact the movie that got them to pick up the book.-Half-Life: Alyx and the lack of desire to play VR video games.-Audio dramas vs. narrated stories.   

Episode Notes Kitty Stryker can be found on twitter at @kittystryker and at http://kittystryker.com/ Margaret Killjoy can be found on twitter at @magpiekilljoy and at http://www.birdsbeforethestorm.net/ The following transcript was provided by a comrade who wants to help us make this show more accessible: S01E01 Kitty Stryker on Anarchist Prepping Live Like The World Is Dying 0:00:00.0# (Introductory music) 0:00:15.1# Margaret Killjoy: Hello and welcome to Live Like The World Is Dying; a podcast that explores life when it feels like the end times. I say "when it feels like the end times", and I’m gonna get into this more throughout various episodes of the podcast, because of course, the world is always ending. It’s always changing the status quo. Always shakes and changes, collapses, rebuilds, all of these things. So sometimes people roll their eyes when you talk about the world ending. And sometimes that makes sense, the world has ended in a lot of different ways. But... It sure feels like the world is ending right now to me and to... Maybe to you and maybe it will, maybe it won't. Obviously what it means for the world to end is a subjective thing. But it's a... It's a stress factor to say the least, on a lot of people's lives right now. Thinking about climate change and thinking about the... The rise of global fascism. So this is a podcast that's gonna explore... Well, how we can live while we feel like the world is dying. For myself and for this podcast I've found that I focus on four different priorities. I focus on living like the world is going to end and that I might not survive, living like the world is going to end and I can try to survive, living like we can prevent the end of the world, and of course, living like maybe the world isn't ending after all. So basically hedonism, prepping, revolution, and not burning all your bridges because... Who knows, the status quo might linger on after all. With this podcast I'm probably going to focus on the middle two of these priorities. I'm gonna focus on prepping and revolution. And I'm going to do that because... Well, I've always sort of wanted there to be more information and more... More going on about anarchist and leftist prepping. Because most of the prepping world is of course steeped in... Not just like right-wing politics, but also right-wing values and individualistic values and of course as an anarchist I believe in the balance between the individual and the community and because of that I don't believe in individualistic survival. I don't believe that the bunker mentality, which we're going to talk a lot of shit on in this podcast over the next couple episodes, is appropriate to most... To most threat models. So I'll be your host, but for the most part I'm going to interview people who know a lot more about a lot of this stuff than me. As for me, I am a prepper I suppose on some level. I keep a small stockpile food. Dried food in 5 gallon buckets in case there's an interruption in... Well, food supplies. I make sure I know where water filtration is. I also keep a to-go bag and... At my house. And I keep another one in my car that's much smaller. Neither of these are a particularly elaborate. They're... They're fairly simple things I put together. And that's... That's more for my own mental welfare than it is like any immediate expectation of crisis. And I also... I live off grid. Which is not something that I'm gonna specifically advocate that anyone else do. I actually live off grid because it just sort of meets my needs here and now in terms of how I like to live. I live about half an hour away from a small city in a cabin I built myself in the woods because I like doing that. I like living that way. I'm an anarchist and that's going to certainly bleed over into the content of this show. I believe in a world without course of hierarchies like the state or capitalism or white supremacy or heteronormativity or... Or any of the intersecting oppressions and hierarchies that rule the world that shouldn't. And so of course, a lot of my... I tell you this because I want you to know my biases because I want you to come to your own conclusions. I have a bias against state and federal aid. I tend to find it to be wildly inefficient. I'm far more interested in creating a society based on mutual aid. And so... And I find agency to be wildly important. I find it very important for us to encourage each other to have agency and so I'm interested in disaster relief or crisis preparation or whatever, that maximizes individual agency, that maximize community agency and... Yeah, that's what's interesting to me so that's what I'm going to be focusing on more. This first episode, our guest is Kitty Stryker who I can let introduce herself. Thanks so much for listening. 0:05:01.9# (Musical transition) 0:05:06.5# Margaret: So today our guest is Kitty Stryker. Well actually, do you want to introduce yourself with your name and pronouns and kind of any political or organizational affiliation you feel like shouting out. 0:05:21.4# Kitty Stryker: Sure. I'm Kitty Stryker, I use she/her pronouns. I'm a... I identify myself as a leftist doomsday prepper. But I'm more of a like... Emergency prepper, street medic. I work with Struggle Of Circus, which is a of bunches of leftists and other sort of radical political groups and a bunch of juggalos coming together to help out at protests and usually do medic related stuff but also be kind of a meat wall around marginalized communities. I identify as an anarchist and... Yeah, I guess I just found it really interesting that when I was looking for communities of leftist to talk to about prepping, there wasn't anything there. 0:06:15.5# Margaret: Yeah that was... I think we ended up kind of finding each other through a similar... I don't actually remember how we first ended up talking about it. Maybe you do. But we've been, for anyone who's listening, Kitty and I have been talking vaguely about how we needed to do something about this... This lack of... 0:06:34.2# Kitty: Lack of information, yeah. 0:06:35.9# Margaret: Yeah. Because so much of the information that's out there about prepping is not really applicable, well, to anyone realistically. But certainly not necessarily applicable to people whose ideology isn't "fuck you, I've got mine", you know? So... 0:06:53.5# Kitty: Right and I think... And it could be actively hostile in forums and stuff. Like places that you wanna go to ask for information and ask for advice become really hostile when people are talking about how much they want to kill antifa or of like... "I can't wait til the race war". It's not really a very comfortable place to ask questions about fortifications. 0:07:19.5# Margaret: Yeah. That makes sense. So why don't we start by kind of talking about the general conception of preparedness and kind of what is leftist or anarchist prepping or preparedness. As... At least as you can conceive it. 0:07:37.7# Kitty: Sure, well, so for me I grew up with parents who are sort of like... Suburban homesteader types, with a mixture of prepping. But are also hoarders so while they have everything you would need in an apocalypse you also wouldn't necessarily be able to find it. So I kinda grew up with the hoarding tendency that they think comes with a lot of prepping. You wanna have lots of things that seemed very important. But also this desire to try to make it organized and make it easily accessible. I realized fairly quickly that while I'm more of a stay-in-place kind of prepper and sort of emergency preparedness person, I also will potentially need to be able to put what I need a backpack and carry it with me. At least for a mile or two depending on the emergency and if I have so much stuff that I can't practically do that without a car, it's not really going to be that useful. I live in earthquake country so I just have to anticipate the roads are going to be kind of a mess. So that was sort of where I came from, was this not very political, camping and also very pagan, getting in touch with earth kind of thing. Like my parents beehives that drives all of their neighbors off the wall. They hate it. 0:09:12.7# Margaret: That's interesting. I've only a couple times been around this, yeah, suburban homesteading idea where you have access to a little bit of land. Not necessarily so much privacy, not so much... Place where you can keep your bees. 0:09:24.5# Kitty: Nope, no privacy. Everyone in my neighborhood is like, "That's the witch house. You can tell because there's thirteen sacred trees in the front lawn. And her dad goes outside and scythes the lawn." 0:09:38.1# Margaret: Wow. 0:09:39.7# Kitty: I don't think he's actually even done that in years so I think it's just an overgrown tangle at this point. 0:09:45.9# Margaret: Well that's even more fun. 0:09:46.7# Kitty: But we have like... We have a pond in there. There's a little herb garden, a veggie garden. We have a crow feeder. It's... It's elaborate. 0:09:56.8# Margaret: I'm imagining this on like a quarter acre, half acre. Is that..? 0:10:00.5# Kitty: Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. With manicured lawns right next to us on either side. 0:10:08.5# Margaret: Well, that's a... 0:10:09.1# Kitty: Really... That's where I was raised. I think that explains a lot. 0:10:13.7# Margaret: Okay. It's an interesting metaphor for being the one person who's... You know, either prepping or being a hoarder. 0:10:22.4# Kitty: I've been the one person for a while. Yeah. But I think that that's in such staunch contrast to doomsday preppers which is what most people think of when they think of prepping. They think of like, "Oh, that's those rednecks in the middle of the really rural areas with their bunker and their nine million guns and their giant water containers." And they're, you know, being completely convinced that there's going to a nuclear war or there's going to be... I don't know. What are some of the other disasters that they're always prepared for? Well, I mean like, definitely race wars. Definitely one of the things. 0:11:09.1# Margaret: Yeah, I mean and that's kind of the... I feel like that's the tell between whether you're talking to a racist prepper or a... Well, obviously if someone's talking about a race war they're clearly racist. But... You know, there's a tell of whether or not they're obsessed with like the... The boogaloo or if they're obsessed with... You know, the possibility of invasion or... System collapse in general. 0:11:32.3# Kitty: Right, right. And like what system collapse looks like. Like what are they actually afraid of, I think is very telling. A lot of times you'll see people say, "Oh, I'm afraid that people are going to come and murder my family for my resources because my resources are so awesome that everyone for miles around is going want to come and murder me." Which, first of all, if that was true I would not be saying it on the internet. That just seems like a bad idea. That's... My boyfriend and I watch doomsday preppers and talk about how we would raid their bunkers because they show us everything. And that just seems very shortsighted, if that is indeed what you are worried about. 0:12:22.2# Margaret: Right, as compared to just kind of showing off and being excited about... Like kind of nerding out about gear... 0:12:27.6# Kitty: I think it's like... Yeah, it's like nerding out and they think it's more of a threat than it is. I don't know. I think... I think it speaks to a desire for conflict that I don't personally have. I don't want to have to use my apartment complex to snipe people. I just don't want to do that. I just wanna be able to grow a garden using a discarded... Shoe organizer from the broken down Ross down the street. That's my type of prepping, rather than preparing for endless violence. 0:13:10.4# Margaret: Yeah, there's kind of a... I feel like one of the main myths or concepts that I'm trying to get across with this podcast... Not a myth I'm trying to get across this, prove that something is a myth, is the bunker mentality is the "I've got mine, fuck you" mentality, that is so common in prepping circles and it's... It's really off-putting because... I mean, even... Even from a pure self-interest point of view it just seems so dumb. So you hole up with your five closest friends in the middle of the woods during the apocalypse, and that's like all fine and good until your appendix bursts and you forget that you're not a surgeon and that your brother isn't a surgeon, you know? And... 0:13:56.0# Kitty: Well you just need more useful friends. 0:13:57.9# Margaret: Well, sure but... 0:13:58.7# Kitty: That's what I did. 0:13:59.2# Margaret: But what if you are the surgeon, right? And then your appendix bursts. 0:14:02.4# Kitty: Well, yeah. Then... Yeah. Then... Then... Well, then you just die. I mean, that's the thing. I think that they... They're so afraid of violence coming from other people that they don't... A, think of the violence that could happen amongst themselves which is kind of inevitable if you're locked in a bunker together. And there's... Especially if there's power dynamics in place and stress, then I feel like there's gonna be some abusive dynamics that come out of that. So if you're not prepared for that, it doesn't really matter how good your resources are. And there's... So that's just even within your unit, and then never mind if you're then expanding out to like... Do you know how to do literally everything in the world? Because you're probably going to help. It's the same as the idea about currency. Everyone's so keen on like... Oh yeah, make sure that you have currency. Make sure you silver buried in your yard. Like... What are you going to do with that, really? Like... I mean... It's cool, I guess. But unless you're going to use that as a brick... I don't understand. 0:15:12.3# Margaret: Well I guess it gets into... In some ways, I think the apocalypse... People who think too much about the apocalypse, whether on they're on the left or on the right, or just bored centrists or moderates or whatever, I think that people are thinking about and imagining clean slates and imagining about how they would like to act and what kind of societies they would like to create, what kind of dynamics they'd like to create. So it's really easy for someone who, say of a libertarian mindset, to be like "Well, of course gold is what matters because we're all going to trade resources. There's definitely going to be market economics after the apocalypse because we're going to institute market... Economics. And then maybe like... Those of us that are like, "Wow, the market's a dumb thing and isn't really particularly interesting to me at all." Like, yeah I have a really hard time imagining that I'm going to be doing much... Even bartering after the apocalypse. Like, I'm... I'm either like rolling with people and sharing shit or I'm keeping shit to myself but like... I'm not gonna be like, "Well, these three bullets are worth that tourniquet," or whatever, you know? At least that's my conception of it. That's when... When I like to imagine the end of the world, which is not actually something I like imagining anymore, but I'm imagining something that is closer to the ideological interest that I have. Which is maybe a fault of mine, maybe that's a blind spot of mine. 0:16:39.5# Kitty: Well, I don't think that's... I don't think it's necessarily a fault. I mean, like one thing that I think when... You know, I have a group friends that we talk about this stuff a lot amongst ourselves. Especially because we're within bicycling distance from each other, so we're sort of like, "Okay, if there is an emergency, we're pretty sure that we could get to each other." But we all have... Slightly different ideas of what we would like to see happen which means we also have a different... Like different ideals and different areas of expertise. And I think that that is actually super helpful. I don't know that I would want to be in a group that everybody thinks the same way, as long as you think cooperatively versus competitively. And for me that's what's important. I don't really care how we get to cooperative instead of competitive, but that's what I want. 0:17:33.5# Margaret: Yeah, that makes sense. So, look, I want to talk more about... Okay, one of the things I really like about prepping in general is that it can be very practical. It's not, it's... Obviously a lot of it is not practical at all. But like... But to take this conversation practically for a minute... Like, what you do... Not necessarily... Both in terms of things that you keep around, but also what are your plans? You talked about bicycling to meet up with your friends. What is... What kind of preparedness do you personally practice? 0:18:05.4# Kitty: So my boyfriend and I talk a lot about what our plans are. Pretty much every three months or so. And we're mostly... And ust to give some context, we're mostly prepping for an earthquake, for a big earthquake, because that's the most likely thing to happen here. I guess there's some possibilities that will end up having a bunch of neo-nazis coming and terrorizing us but I think they've gotten tired of Berkeley and have moved to Portland instead so... We're probably fine for now. So we talk a little bit about what are the risks that are current, what are the resources that are currently around? Maybe... We've been talking about creating a map, like actually getting a map and write, marking down important things that we might want to know where they are when you don't have Google Maps for example. So stuff like that is really important. Like the sort of... Preparing... For immediate needs and also for where you are going to be able to get resources. What area is around that could conceivably be turned into a garden if need be. Which we're actually lucky, we have a park really close by. And we also make a point to know our neighbors. Both our housed and houseless neighbors. So having good relationships with them is really helpful and like giving them ideas of how to be prepared so that we're not overwhelming ourselves trying to take care of them as well as ourselves. So you're trying to match up add the younger folks with older folks or able-bodied folks with people with disabilities so that way there's... It's easier for people to mobilize and so that we know who in our area is going to need help. So that's some of the community planning stuff that's not even focused on my group of hyper-focused friends but just making my environment less chaotic. And so that's sort of like... And again, like a garden, it takes some pruning and some cultivating and a little bit of upkeep but I feel reasonably confident that my neighbors are going to be able to handle themselves. Which is my first big concern because then I can start worrying about things like, what do I personally actually need? One thing that is kind of difficult, I live in an apartment and we don't have a huge amount of space. So I can't have buckets and buckets of freeze-dried food. We do tend to have a lot of canned food, we do tend to have a lot of nuts and dried fruit and stuff like that around so that helps a little bit. It makes it easier for us to find stuff in rubble that we can eat. We also have a... A dresser that we put our prepper stuff in and it's sorted with medic supplies in the first two drawers because that's sort of my specialty... That's my area focus. And then we have sort of more general supplies, so that's where we have LifeStraws and we have bandanas and we have masks for filtering out smoke or disease. We have lots and lots of gloves, we have... Water filtering tablets, we have a bunch different kinds of fire starters. So we sort of put together a compendium of things that we felt would be useful. And then what's probably the least practical thing is my... In the main living room I have a hatchet, I have a walking stick, I have my camping stuff. So it's not all condensed in one place but I have... I do have a spare tent at my partner's house and I have a medic bag. A fully packed medic go-bag that I take to protests in the trunk of my car. So that way I can... I have one medic bag in the house, I have one in the car, and I usually have one at my partner's house. Sometimes I have one at my local bar too but that's the one that usually get used if I go to a protest 'cause that's near downtown. But just having pockets stuff... And then I have a storage unit downtown as well. So I figured it might be more difficult to get into my storage unit but at least it's underground and that would be not a bad place to have some stuff that I don't need immediately but might want down the line, yeah. So... But it's sort of a pack rat... Pack ratty, squirrel type prepping. Of burying little caches... 0:23:27.8# Margaret: I'm impressed because you're... Yeah, you're managing to successfully do in an urban environment what... Well... Something I associate more with the rural environments of... You know, one of the things that I was realizing... 0:23:41.1# Kitty: It's harder. It's harder, but it's only harder if you care about being the only person who can get to it. And I don't really care so much about that. I just wanna have access to it. I'm... Because, for me, I'm someone who... I saw a guy on a scooter get hit by car. I was so glad I had that medic kit on me so that I could actually help him out. And immediately help him out. I'm so glad I had that expertise. So... And actually that's one thing that I also have is a first aid book because, again, I don't know how to do everything. But if I have a book, I can probably figure out how to do most things safely. So... 0:24:26.7# Margaret: What's the book? 0:24:29.4# Kitty: It's an old field manual medic guide, I forget what era. But I prefer to try to go for stuff that's military because... Or serious environmental wilderness strategy guides because then they're not focused on you having access to a full hospital. It's not ideal conditions. Sometimes first aid advice is like, "Oh well just call an ambulance" and it's like well that's not really practical in the sort of situations I'm preparing for so I prefer to look at older stuff. And then take newer knowledge and pack that on top. But knowing how to do some of these things when you don't have electricity, a lot of modern medicine depends on electricity, depends on you having access to different kinds of medications and solutions that might not have. So I think it's kind of... I don't... Until I have to do it in practice I don't know how useful it actually will be. But I'm interested in learning how have people prevented disease... In wartime, in... A forest in the middle of nowhere versus what you you would get trained necessarily if you're getting CPR training for your work. 0:26:08.8# Margaret: Have you taken the wilderness first responder course or anything like that? 0:26:12.4# Kitty: I want to so badly. I'm hoping that I can save up for it or have somebody gift it to me. But that is on my list of, oh my god I would... That be so dreamy. But... I really... I just also am just also am obsessed with medical stuff. I guess that's... That's one thing I would really recommend for people curious about prepping. I would say while it is nice to be able to have information about a bunch of different areas, find the thing that you're really interested and nerd out on that. One of my friends is really, really into finding plants and urban foraging. So that's her area of expertise. It's like, oh, she can tell you every plant you can eat within two miles of your house. And that would be really useful, it's not necessarily something that my brain can hold onto... As easily as medicine stuff. My partner is really good with weapons and... Building shelters. It's not really my area so it's nice to have somebody who can teach me just enough but also has a lot more expertise. 0:27:29.4# Margaret: Yeah, that's something that I... I think about a lot in terms of even just the world I wanna live in. I'm really excited about the idea where we... Instead of having a generalism versus specialization kind of argument, it's another bullshit false dichotomy, probably we should all as much as we can generalize as broadly as we can and then pick the things that stand out to us to specialize in. Like, I don't need to know how to do surgery but I should probably know first... Literal first aid. Like first response... Like there have been a number times in my life where I've... I'm incredibly squeamish, I hate medical things, I hate thinking about it the way that like... Like someone showed me how to use a tourniquet and... You know, I disassociated in order to learn. Because the concept of thinking about like... Arterial bleeding doesn't work for me. But I know that I need to know how to do that so I learn pretty much by disassociating and then kind of when things happen I like disassociate again and then deal with it. 0:28:34.6# Kitty: Yeah, I mean there's some practicality to that. When I was doing medical work at protests I really underestimated how traumatized I was until months later... When I was like, "Wow, I just didn't have feelings for a while." It's a lot and I'm... I love... See, I'm not squeamish at all about that stuff but I'm impatient so like building structures is not my thing. It's like, I could learn how to do it but I don't even put up the tent when I go camping if I can avoid it. So... Knowing that I have a good solid group of people around me who are really excited to do that stuff allows us to do the thing we're excited about but also in case something happens to that person, we know how to do it we just don't like it. 0:29:26.1# Margaret: Yeah. Or at least have a... Can do a rougher version of it, you know? Can do a... I had a... I was just talking to a friend about all of this. I actually don't remember if it's... I'm recordings these interviews out of order from how they're going to play. So I was talking to a friend of mine who's a... A medical professional and he was talking about how in a crisis situation if you have two people, maybe what you want is a nurse and a world class generalist, you know? As like the two people that you need. 0:29:58.8# Kitty: Pretty much. I think having a medic... Like I think everyone should have basic medical training, just basic shit, because that way anybody can do an emergency... Like, okay, "I can put gauze on this and stop the bleeding." That's what I need from people. And every time I go to a protest, people are asking what they could do to help and I'm like, "Just do that. Just do that, only." And help people with sprained ankles and keep them hydrated. 'Cause if you can do all of that then I can focus on stitching someone's head together. That's what I need to be able to be focused on because I'm not the squeamish one. So... Yeah, I think that helps a lot. Also coming up with things for you to do, that gets ignored a lot on prepper forums. At least the ones I've been on. They talk a lot about like, you know, "Okay, you've gotta have all of this foraging skills and you gotta have shelter building and you gotta have all these supplies in order to make all of this stuff," but there are no downtime options. And you're gonna have downtime sometimes. Like you're gonna get sick eventually, if nothing else. So make sure you have stuff to keep your mind busy during those times. 'Cause watching "Alone" for example, I don't know if you've ever seen that one but they put these people by themselves in the middle of the... Was it Canadian wilderness I think for at least the first couple of seasons? And they have to do everything from scratch. They have some supplies on them and a good supply list. But they have to pick like... 1 of 10 items, or 10 different items out of a list of like... pre-approved 50 different things they can have. So have to do a lot of stuff by themselves. And almost every single time the thing that gets to them is just a lack of food and boredom. And if they can keep themselves busy, somehow, like making music or making art or building... Like adding decorations to their shelter, then the fact that they're hungry doesn't bother them so much. But if they don't have anything like that, they're not creative in any way, then the fact that they're hungry literally gnaws away at their brain. So I just think that's a really interesting aspect... Like thinking a lot about mental health in an emergency scenario because I think that gets ignored with a lot of right-wing prepping forums and stuff like that. 0:32:53.6# Margaret: Yeah. Yeah I wonder what... I feel like there's just the deck of card, is what's written about in all the things. 0:33:03.3# Kitty: Yeah, it's always recommended. Always have a deck of cards. 0:33:05.8# Margaret: Which is like... You can tell that they wrote that in the 50's or whatever, you know? 0:33:10.1# Kitty: Right, in that... Part of it's gonna be like, "Oh, like for gambling in order to entertain yourself if... Gambling with the no money that you have. I don't know. It's just... I would much prefer to have... I don't know, Codenames or something. Endless replayability. 0:33:31.2# Margaret: Yeah, I feel like there's a... 0:33:32.1# Kitty: I mean, but... 0:33:32.8# Margaret: Go ahead. 0:33:32.8# Kitty: Let's be honest, I'd be playing Dungeons & Dragons. In my tracker tent as an actual ranger. Playing Dungeons & Dragons. 0:33:45.2# Margaret: You wouldn't play... What's the opposite of it? The dragons play, they play... Humans and Houses? 0:33:51.3# Kitty: Oh, yeah, maybe that too. I don't know, mix them up. Mix them together. 0:33:56.3# Margaret: You'd have roleplaying about what would you do if apartments still existed or whatever? 0:34:00.4# Kitty: Yeah. 0:34:02.7# Margaret: I think that... 0:34:03.3# Kitty: I mean, I guess I don't... I'm not that scared of that. It would be uncomfortable and I'd probably hate it a lot. I'm a house cat. But, you know, I'm not that worried about it either. And I think part of it is because I just made being prepared, knowing where my go-bag is at all times just part of my day-to-day existence. So it's just muscle memory at this point. 0:34:32.8# Margaret: Yeah. Earlier in our pre-conversation, when we talked about what we might talk about, one of the things you brought up is the ableism that exists in a lot of prepping conversations and I was wondering if you wanted to talk more about that. 0:34:46.0# Kitty: Yeah, so I noticed that a lot of discussions on what your go-plan is involves being able to walk long distances. Presumably because they figure walking a long enough distance would get you to area of wilderness, that they feel would be more suitable. I... That is really impractical for a large number of people. People with small children are going to struggle with that. Elderly people are going to struggle with that. People with disabilities are going to struggle with that. Some people with disabilities aren't going to be able to do that. It won't even be just a struggle, it's just impossible. So I think the... We need more diverse resources and we need to talk seriously about how to make this accessible for people who aren't in their... Super hyper fit, in their 30's, ready to charge over a mountain. And in the bay area you could you could walk for eight hours and I don't know that you would find a bit of wilderness... So I don't think that's necessarily the most practical option for all people. 0:36:08.7# Margaret: it's funny to me that all this stuff about going to the wilderness because I live in... Not the wilderness but I very rurally. I live in a house that I built at the end of a... Beyond the end of a gravel road like every stupid stick of my fucking cabin I had to carry up a hill on my back. I actually started building it with a chronic injury and then managed to... Physical therapy my way... This isn't a... Statement about ableism, just the weird stupid shit of building this fucking cabin I live in. 0:36:40.6# Kitty: But looks really cool. 0:36:43.0# Margaret: But there's... Thanks, yeah, no I'm really proud of it and it's funny because actually it's a brilliant place to live during civilization. But if there were some kind of crisis, I would probably get my to-go bag or my car presumably but let's pretend like that's not an option for whatever reason, and I would walk to the city. Because the city is where people are and that is where we can keep each other safe. I think people have this conception of... That people are a danger and that's true, people are dangerous, right? But the wilderness is really fucking dangerous too. And... 0:37:23.7# Kitty: People really underestimate how dangerous the wilderness is. They underestimate how cold it is. The cold will kill you, the wet will kill you. 0:37:34.4# Margaret: Yeah and so getting to... I don't know for certain, it would really depend on the threat, but I would presumably go to a place of higher population so that we collectively can figure out what the fuck to do. And maybe the fact that I have access to certain resources by living on land can become useful to people. And that would be my hope. I could easily imagine a situation where you have, as part of your prepping, you would have... The rural... With rural living access to space. You don't necessarily have access to anything else but you often have access to space and... So you can store tractors and you can store strange devices... Like devices that have very odd and specialized purposes for building or something like that. But then again, the thing I'm slowly learning is that cities have all of those things too. It's just that not necessarily each individual is going to own them. Because not everyone lives on a farm. 0:38:36.4# Kitty: Right. The city owns it or the government owns it. But yeah, there's plenty of parking lots. 0:38:42.5# Margaret: Yeah, that's true. 0:38:45.8# Kitty: So... Yeah. I mean, like... Oh, god. I'm trying to remember what the name of the show was. So I... I watch a lot of prepping and wilderness survival based shows. Somewhat to remind myself that nature is dangerous and also because I find them very amusing. And there was one that was... It wasn't entirely clear if it was a reality show or if it was scripted or both. Pretty sure it was both, but they were in LA. And I forget what they had decided ... The LA one I don't think it was a disease. They had a different calamity happen each season. And in the first season they had a good variety of people. They had several mechanics, they had a couple of nurses and doctors. They had martial arts teachers. So they had a good cross-section of people. And they did decently well surviving in a big warehouse in LA and came up with some incredibly inventive weapons and things. I remember they created a flame thrower out of bits of an old car which was stunning to watch. But then the second season they were in New Orleans, in some of the areas that have been devastated by Katrina. And they had underestimated how swampy it was and how hard it was going to be to get food and how there were tons of snakes and alligators that we're going to kill you. And also that one had a disease element so every once in a while someone would get claimed by a contagious disease and they would just start disappearing. But the thing that really got to them I think is that they didn't have a very diverse group of people. They had a lot of schoolteachers and artists and that's great, that's important stuff, but if they don't have any trade skills as well, they're gonna drop like flies. So it's really important to take your creative energies and learn how to do something that can embrace that but also has a living purpose. 0:41:12.1# Margaret: Yeah. Yeah, as a generalist I think about that where most of my skills are graphic design and audio which is great when you want to start a podcast, if you have been doing electronic music for twenty years or whatever, you know? But I think I've really consciously been working on developing my skills that are not only on a computer, you know? For kind of this purpose. 0:41:39.1# Kitty: Well, hey. Electronic music and audio says to me, making ham radios. Practical and useful. There's always something there, it's just like finding what those things are. Though I will say this, the first season in the warehouse in LA they had a big issue with masculinity. 0:42:04.7# Margaret: I only watched the second season. 0:42:05.4# Kitty: Everybody was... 0:42:06.9# Margaret: I watched the one where they all... 0:42:07.5# Kitty: The first one is great. It's like all these male mechanics shouting at each other about how to fix something better and then this female mechanic just goes and does it. 0:42:16.8# Margaret: Yeah, that sounds like a perfect metaphor. 0:42:19.1# Kitty: And then they when they all brag about how proud that they came up with this idea and she just rolls her eyes and you're just like, "Yup, that's how it would be pretty much." And that said to me a lot about mediation. Knowing how to mediate, knowing your own triggers. Like knowing your own mental health stuff so that you can then navigate other people's mental health stuff. That's also super important. And easy for anybody to do. 0:42:44.9# Margaret: Yeah, yeah I think knowing different organization models. Like I think knowledge and facilitation is a really important skill. I think people basically pick whichever organizational model seems to be practical when the existing larger structure goes away. And I've been in spaces where we haven't been sure how we're going to organize ourselves and I'm surrounded by a bunch of non-anarchists and then I'm like, "Well here's this model where we're all equals but we still actually figure things out." And it just works as compared to I'm pretty sure if someone had been like, "Here's the model, I'm pretty much in charge." And maybe it'll be like some veneer of democracy where he'll be like, and I'm just going to use 'he' for this imaginary patriarch... 0:43:28.5# Kitty: I wonder why. 0:43:29.7# Margaret: He'll be like, "I'm in charge and the we can have a little vote about that if we wanna prove that I'm in charge," you know? And everyone will be like, "Well, he's the one who is offering to get shit done." And what... Of course what people fail to realize is that's like... We get shit done, collectively. Whether it's collectively we do it and someone is taking the credit by being up top, you know? Or whether we do it... So that's one of the things that I think about with prepping. How to... And I think that's maybe one of the things that right-wing preppers are afraid of is they're like... They don't have... The only people skills that they know is this hierarchical system. Well, I guess there's plenty of leftists who also only seem to know hierarchical systems. But... 0:44:13.2# Kitty: I mean it's a pretty... It's a pretty common system. That's why... That's why I kind of enjoy the, everybody gets to be an expert in their own thing so that nobody is super... Nobody can be too pleased with themselves. Keeps everybody humble, I think. 0:44:34.3# Margaret: Yeah. So the one other main question that I... Or thing that I kinda wanna hash out with you for this which is probably gonna be the first episode, everyone who's listening will know whether or not it's the first episode. It will be very embarrassing if this is the seventeenth episode, but... Maybe talk about different threat models. That's... How we we determine what we need, of course, is dependent on what we think is likely to happen and as there's no one-size-fits all. And so you say the primary threat model that you're working with is a natural disaster. Do you want to talk about that or do you want to talk about other threat models or... 0:45:12.8# Kitty: Sure. Well, I think... Okay, a great example is the things that I want for a earthquake is not necessarily what I would want in a tsunami, right? Those are very different natural disasters. As somebody who grew up in hurricane country-ish, you know, it was just really really wet. And having a dust mask would not have helped me in any way. But I would be at much more risk of getting trench foot so that would be like, waterpreoof boots would be way more important. So some of it's knowing your environment and being aware of what your environmental concerns ar. Like living in a city, asbestos is a big fundamental concern. So having dust masks is really important. I feel like I read once that most deaths aren't... In an earthquake, come from inhaling the debris. And that... That causes some of the worst injuries because there's just all of this dust everywhere and... I know that was definitely true with the fires. A lot of people have... Still have some... Some still have breathing problems now from the various fires that were going on in Northern California. So knowing what you need to be concerned about. Like with earthquakes, knowing that the roads might not be super useful to drive on. So having alternative plans for that knowing where your bike paths are. Knowing... If you have a wheelchair for example, maybe thinking of a way to add some tread on your wheelchair might be a practical option. I have a beach cruiser. It's not a racing bike by any means but it's heavy and it's easy to find the parts. And it's really easy to fix myself, that's why I chose that. So thinking about what you can actually do, I think is helpful in figuring out your... Your strategy. I know that I don't know enough about my car to be able to completely dismantle it. However, I do know somebody who does know enough about my car to do that. So I can bike to him and then have him do that. So coming up with those kind of like, "Okay, if this then this, if this then this" strategies helps me at least, I have a very ADHD brain. It helps me have a... A process to go through. Now in California, earthquakes are a big concern especially in this area but fire is also a big concern. And the way I would prepare for a fire versus an earthquake, I would be more concerned about my paperwork disappearing in a fire than an earthquake. Though to be completely honest I'm not that fussed about my paperwork in general. I don't think getting rid of paperwork is the worst plan. But that's not what the government wants to hear from me. So I have... I have some paperwork in a folder that's easy to access if I need to grab something go because my apartment is burning but I wouldn't be as... I wouldn't care much about that if it was an earthquake because in my consideration there would will be enough of a drastic interruption in services for an earthquake that I don't think that that would be an immediate need. 0:49:16.3# Margaret: Yeah and you wouldn't certainly be the only one who has lost their paperwork. #0:49:20.4# Kitty: Right, exactly. Exactly. And again, I think that we use paperwork as a penalty for so many people that... Maybe mucking up that system a little bit is a convenient little thing I can do on the side. So I... Yeah, I guess... And all of that is completely separate from thinking of having invaders come and try to take my apartment away from me or something. That... I usually strategise for that by thinking about what my plan are if the cops get even more out of control. 0:50:02.9# Margaret: Right. Like fascist takeovers is on my... On my threat model list, you know? 0:50:08.9# Kitty: Yeah, yeah, totally. And you know... The cops have been pretty shitty around here for quite a while, so... You know, it's been a slowly increasing... Plan. But I mean... For me, I'm not interested in trying to shoot my way through the cops. I have no problem with people who that is their plan, I think it's great that there are people who are inclined that way, but I'm gonna go full rogue. I'm sneaky. I'm going to go to the sewers. I'm not as... I'm not as interested in that kind of direct conflict. So my model for that... Or like my managements for that would be really, really different from natural disasters. And I kind of feel like that are all the things that might actually happen. I mean, I guess a meteor could hit but... Eh. The prepping I do for every other disaster would be fine for that probably. Or I'd be dead. And wouldn't care. So... How about you? What are your... What's your threat model? 0:51:23.0# Margaret: So I live on a floodplain. It's not supposed to be a floodplain but global warming has made it a floodplain. And the mountains... When I first moved to the mountains, I grew up in the foothills, and when I moved into the mountains it... It kind of blew my mind that flooding is a problem because in my mind I'm like, "Well, everything is high up" and actually flooding is at least as much of a problem in... Well, the flooding is a problem in a lot different places, you know hurricanes cause floods, but flash floods in the mountains are very real especially in an era of mountaintop removal mining. which is not immediate thing immediately around me but it certainly affects places within a couple hours of where I live in Appalachia. But, you know, storms... Like the weather patterns are just changing dramatically and by living in rurally I'm not as defended against that in some ways because there's not a large crew of people working to try and figure out how to make sure that the little place that I live is... Is safe. And so we have to do it to whatever... Because you're not supposed to mess with of waterways, we have to do it through the state and all that, but in the meantime our land floods. And so... It flooded a couple days ago and I had to go out and try and prevent it from getting worse through whatever means. And... And I actually had this moment, you're talking about paperwork, I started walking into this flood with my wallet in my pocket. And then eventually realized that that was a bad idea. My wallet does not need to be in my pocket. I'm not going to get asked for my papers or need to purchase anything while I'm walking into this flood and... And so it's a... So natural disaster is like the top... Climate change affecting everything is my top threat model where I live. But fascist takeover is on there and fascist takeover... Is a really different set of problems. 0:53:42.9# Kitty: Yeah. And it's different kind of... 0:53:43.8# Margaret: And a lot of it still comes down to knowing your neighbors. 0:53:46.1# Kitty: It's a different set of prepping as well. It's a totally different set skills. 0:53:50.8# Margaret: Yeah. And I mean there's... And one of the things I was thinking about is... The thing I was really... That I realized, a lot of my... I've spent a lot of my life living outdoors. I was a traveling anarchist living out of a backpack, and I was a forest defender and was a squatter and I lived in a van, and now I live in a cabin. Almost half my life I've lived out... Off grid, essentially. And I was thinking how when in February I'm waist and sometimes chest deep in water, I was thinking how glad I am that just kind of by default prefer certain types of practical clothes. It's funny 'cause I... Most of the time... I built my house wearing a dress. But when I'm like, "Okay it's rainy," and I put my puffy vest and my waders, my muck boots, and wool socks. And I wasn't nearly as concerned about hypothermia, which is a major problem in floods especially in February, just because I wasn't wearing much cotton. And it's funny like because I never think about my outdoors skills. Like how to start a fire with tinder and flint and steel and all that. That's not... I don't really see a version of the world where I'm living in the woods alone and hunting squirrels and whatever the fuck, you know? But there are gonna be moments where I might be like... Needing to not get hypothermia while I'm trying to clear up a dam that's forming or whatever. 0:55:26.9# Kitty: Yeah, yeah. Two pairs of wool socks should be on everyone's list in their go bag for sure. 0:55:34.3# Margaret: Yeah, I keep a second vest... 0:55:35.7# Kitty: And the more wool clothing you have the better. 0:55:39.4# Margaret: But what's funny is than I was thinking that through when you're talking about fires, I was thinking about California, I was like... Well, actually the same clothes that are really good in flood and maybe a tsunami are not good in fire. You don't want to wear synthetic in a fire situation. So... But over all... 0:56:00.1# Kitty: But you actually do wanna wear cotton. 0:56:02.6# Margaret: Yeah. Yeah... 0:56:05.0# Kitty: I remember I used to... I used to blacksmith with my dad and he would be like, "What are you wearing? That's really impractical for this." I'm like, "It's fine. It's cotton, it'll just roll right off. You can't catch fire in cotton." He was like, "That's not really true... But it's more true, I guess." 0:56:22.2# Margaret: It's better than polyester. 0:56:24.0# Kitty: Yes, certainly, yes. 0:56:25.3# Margaret: It's not going to melt into your skin. 0:56:27.9# Kitty: I have melted through so many skirts with some prep butts for sure. And I'm sort of learning at this point that that's... That's a concern. But yeah, I mean that's definitely an area of my prepping that I need to be better about. Is just having practical clothes. I don't have that much in the way of practical clothes that can fold up really small and actually keep me warm or keep me cool. 0:56:59.3# Margaret: Yeah. But sometimes people over... Overestimate the importance of this. I've definitely gone hiking in maxi skirts all time. And every time I go hiking with someone new in a maxi skirt they're like, "Margaret, do you wanna wear that?" And I'm like, "Are you fucking kidding me, I've been hiking in these skirts for the past fifteen years I know what the fuck I'm doing." Yeah, they might get caught and rip on things but whatever, you know? So there's a... There's a... I'm suddenly defensive about like, "Oh no, you don't need practical clothes." I don't know, maybe... Maybe we all need practical clothes. But maybe sometimes... 0:57:31.7# Kitty: You definitely need socks and I would recommend more than one pair of underwear. Probably cotton just for... 0:57:38.9# Margaret: But that's, yeah... 0:57:39.2# Kitty: Keeping your genitals fresh. But other then that... You can figure it out. I mean... But also clothes are not exactly in short supply either. There's a lot of trash fashion that we can pad up to make something acceptable. 0:58:01.8# Margaret: Well, in a lot of disaster areas people gather clothes to bring there and all the people there are like, "Why did you bring us fucking clothes. Bring us fucking clean water. What you doing?" 0:58:12.6# Kitty: Well they're bringing clothes because you can't burn them in India or China anymore, right? So it's like, "Oh, we'll give it to poor people." 0:58:22.1# Margaret: That way we get to feel better and clean out our closet, yeah 0:58:25.7# Kitty: Yup. I mean it's just... I guess that's another... That another threat, is just being buried under stuff. Just trash. Just being slowly buried alive under trash. 0:58:39.4# Margaret: Well that's the... That's the status quo problem, right? There's... If the world doesn't end and it keeps going the way it goes that's also kind of horrible. 0:58:49.7# Kitty: Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess actually another threat model that I think a lot about is disease. Disease is definitely a big concern. We... I live in a city where everyone is on top each other. So... A disease can spread incredibly quickly. I remembered there was a person who went to Berkeley Bowl who had the measles or something and they just quarantined Berkeley bowl. And I was like, "I'm not leaving the house for two weeks, just in case, who knows?" And that's even with having a vaccine. It's just... Knowing that when the electricity fails a lot of things like vaccines are going to become a lot more difficult, if not impossible... 0:59:43.0# Margaret: To acquire or whatever? 0:59:45.1# Kitty: And then... And then it's... Yeah, to acquire, keep them cold. To refrigerate medications, that's not going to be possible. So figuring out that is also something I try to be somewhat aware of. Having alternatives to medication, having alternatives to street drugs also. So knowing about... Knowing how to use Narcan. Knowing a little about... I don't even know how to pronounce that, I've only seen it read... Kratom? 1:00:23.5# Margaret: Kratom I think. 1:00:25.6# Kitty: Yeah, so that has been used by a bunch of my friends when they've been withdrawing from opiates. So having stuff that could work as an alternate... I've always packed some pot in my medic bag even though I don't smoke pot. Because it's so useful for so many different things... That it's worth just having it in there. And that's something that could be a real problem. A bunch of people withdrawing at once... Is a huge problem. A bunch of people getting sick at once is a huge problem. So having alternatives for that stuff is something that I'm looking a lot more into. 1:01:13.4# Margaret: Yeah, that's interesting that... I haven't thought about that. 1:01:16.3# Kitty: And that's what... 1:01:16.3# Margaret: The... Specifically withdrawing. 1:01:18.6# Kitty: That's just really something right-wing people don't think about that. I've noticed this. They're afraid of... Sorry, I forget the actual terminology, again ADHD brain, and I tend to call things... Like I called bars alcohol restaurants, that's just... How my brain works. But there's some doomsday thing that a lot of people are hype on... 1:01:39.4# Margaret: Coronavirus? 1:01:41.8# Kitty: About... No, no, no. I wish it was that, that would make much sense but no. They're just being racist and frantic about that while not thinking about the flu which kills a lot more people. But anyway... No. It's the... It's like a solar flare is going to knock out all of our electricity? 1:02:02.9# Margaret: Oh, 'cause then it'll EMP us or whatever? 1:02:05.4# Kitty: That's the one, yes. There's so many of them who are so focused on that but then they don't think about disease at all. And that just blows my mind because disease is way more likely. 1:02:19.9# Margaret: Yeah, people are bad at threat modeling. 1:02:21.0# Kitty: Within our lifetime we've seen multiple plagues. 1:02:25.0# Margaret: Yeah. I mean it's... 1:02:27.7# Kitty: It's just really surprising. 1:02:29.7# Margaret: I think some of it is about... I mean most of it's that people are bad at threat modeling. But I think some of it is like people... Enjoy certain types of threats. Like preparing for certain types of threats more than others. And also probably enjoy preparing like... For something that makes them feel like they have more agency instead of less agency, you know? If you're someone who... All of your skills are about non-electric things you can be really excited about the power grid going down. But I don't know. 1:03:02.8# Kitty: But I mean... That is... That is another area to think about when it comes to ableism, for example. A lot of diabetics aren't going to be able to get access to their medication. So figuring out how do you deal with that. And I don't think there... I don't know that I have answer to that, I don't know that anybody does. While that's for certain something that I would want to... Know more about. 1:03:28.0# Margaret: I think that's why we have to not... It's why the end of the world is bad. Like disaster is actually a really bad thing. Like people clearly get kind of hooked on it, right, because they suddenly have agency in their lives and they... You know, and... Everything I've ever read or talk to people about, like suicide goes down, like psychotic breaks go down, things like that during crisis. And it's... But it's still, at the end of the day, something that if we can avert it we should. And that's actually why... As much as climate change is going to affect things, there are going to be disasters, there's going to be interruptions in our society, if there's ways we can find to make sure that that doesn't kill so many people or ruin so many lives... Even if it ruins economic systems, maybe, you know... And of course as an anarchist I say this, maybe the solution is to ruin the existing economic system. Although ideally by transferring it over to a system that... You know... So that we still have access to the... The things we need in the meantime. Which is actually, it gets... I'm almost done with this rant. The whole... There's a threat that the whole like... There's a Durruti quote where during the Spanish Civil War... Someone asks him, "Well, what about all the destruction of this revolution?" And he's like, "Well, we're workers, we're not afraid of ruins. Why would we be afraid of ruins, we're the ones who built this city, we can build again." And I think about... Often people are like, well, and this is a tangent 'cause now I'm talking about anarchist society, people are like, "In an anarchist society, how would you have antibiotics?" I'd be like "Well, I don't know, how do we fucking have them now? We'll do that. Or maybe a different way, I don't know." And there's still people in the apocalypse, right? There's still a ton of people in disaster and we all know how to do stuff. And so even if like the electrical grid dies, that doesn't mean there's no power. It doesn't mean there's no hospital, even, you know? There's... Like even... We can... Fix these things and do these things and some of those are already prepared for that. 1:05:43.8# Kitty: Yeah. And I mean... And I think... I guess I would say that while it's good to be prepared, I also think it's important not to psyche yourself out. I think it's important to... Not get too excited about it. Because the fact is a lot of people, a lot of black and brown people especially, disabled people especially, will die. In any kind of disaster that you would want to prep for. That's just... That's how we structured our society and that is going to happen. So I think that that is something to be aware of before getting too thrilled about... The end of the world, right? So that you're kinda saying some really fucked up stuff at the same time. And frankly I don't know that I would survive a disaster like that. But I do know that I don't think I could do it by myself. I do think I could do it with community. And I think that that's why I'm so focus on community and mutual aid. I read A Paradise Built In Hell and it's this really interesting book that looks at different disasters and kind of has that... Isn't it interesting how a disaster happens and people come together and help each other even when everything has gone shit. And how... I think this was kinda the intention of the author of this book but she does seem to point out a lot... Isn't it also interesting how often the government steps in and tells them to stop doing that? So no, that is not okay. And will actually murder people to prevent them from helping each other. And I think that... That's something I'd consider as sort of a secondary threat model is... The government trying to prevent people from actually doing okay without them. It's like an ultimate abusive relationship. And figuring out how to deal with that... When you're being funneled into resources that are not ready to handle them. Yeah, so I mean, you know, it's a lot. 1:08:25.9# Margaret: Well this is a... This is a really good... This is going to be the first episode and... So I think we've covered a lot of... Thanks for helping me kind of... Almost like set up what this show will hopefully drill down more about and yeah, thanks so much for... Talking to me about all this stuff today. 1:08:46.8# Kitty: Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm glad we could kind of work out... Sort of, here's all of the issues for... Here's a selection of all of the issues. But wait, there's more. 1:08:58.8# Margaret: Yeah, no, exactly. 1:08:59.1# Kitty: I'm looking forward to seeing the series. It should be pretty cool. 1:09:03.7# Margaret: Cool. Alright, well... Thank you so much. 1:09:06.5# Kitty: Thank you. 1:09:08.0# (Musical transition) 1:09:11.7# Margaret: Thanks for listening to the first ever episode of Live Like The World Is Dying. If you enjoyed the podcast, please tell your friends. Tell iTunes, tell Apple podcasts, tell whatever platform you get your podcasts on that you liked the podcast by subscribing, by reviewing it, by rating it and all of those things. It actually makes a huge difference and I think it'll especially a huge difference for the first couple episodes of a podcast. If you'd like to see this podcast continue, you can support me on Patreon. I... I make most of my living through my Patreon which allows me to spend my time creating content and I'm wildly, wildly grateful that that's something that I get to do with my life. In particular, I would like to thank Chris and Nora and Hoss the dog, Willow, Kirk, Natalie, and Sam. Y'all really make this possible and I can't thank you enough. Alright, thanks so much. And join us next time. 1:10:10.0# (Outroductory music)

Professor Epic describes the world of Veloth and answers some of the players' questions regarding the world they will be playing in. 

You leave Radigast City at the break of dawn, traveling north until reaching an unnamed river. For days, the water is your guide as lush earth gives way to dreary moors and tangled thickets. Finally, in the distance, you see a white plume of smoke rising from a mountain in the distance. Two miles from the volcano, you find a suitable cave in which to store your supplies. "Dead Knoll's Eye Socket," your guide says. "This is where I take leave. Good luck." With your traveling gear stored safely away, you make your way along unsettled the land, being careful to avoid any fissures venting steam. Levi, the party's thief, is the first to hear the mountain breathing. Once you all hear it, you realize it comes in a cycle: a thirty-second exhale of heat followed by a half minute of calm. The cave your guide said to seek now lies before you, about eight feet in diameter. Suddenly, the whooshing breath of White Plume Mountain almost knocks you over. The torch Bautigan the Brave readied is extinguished by the blast of air. You have thirty seconds before the next wave of wind and steam comes your way. What do you do? Dungeons and Dragons. In the 80s, many claimed it was a tool of Satan. Today, it's a mainstream staple of pop culture. It's also this week's topic of Men in Gorilla Suits... * * * We roll initiative and discuss when we first became aware of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). After that, we talk about when we played...and if we still play today. We talk about why D&D has endured for 45 years...and how technology has affected the game in recent years. Because we are geeks, we devote some time to our favorite D&D monsters, player classes, and races. We mentioned the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, which many claimed was the worst thing about D&D. It never came to be (because there was nothing to worry about), but that doesn't stop us from chatting about the worst thing playing D&D can do to a person. Dungeons and Dragons has become a pop culture staple, and we talk about our favorite appearance of the game in something we've watched or listened to. And we wrap up this episode with two things: Our favorite D&D memories. What the future holds for D&D

It’s a Christmas Miracle! This is the long-awaited Kids Cast #2.  In this episode we discuss playing Dungeons and Dragons with our children.  We “recently” purchased the 5th Edition starter box set, the Lost Mine of Phandelver.   This episode was recorded over a year ago, but it was recorded using software that we’ve never used ... [Read more...]

We have two listener questions this week for health care month: Anna wants to know how to fix an accidental over-contribution to her HSA without getting a penalty (time stamp 01:34), and Allison wants to figure out how to switch health insurance when the open enrollment periods don’t line up between the two plans (timestamp 5:32) We talk about why navigating the open enrollment stacking is kind of like playing magic or playing Dungeons & Dragons with a drunk Dungeon Master (timestamp 10:34) An Easy Way to Help Our iTunes review drive is going on right now! It takes less than 10 seconds to click a star, it’s totally free, can you help us out? Click here to leave a review: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/oh-my-dollar/id1189980636?mt=2 Reasons you can switch insurance outside of open enrollment – otherwise known as a “special enrollment period”  You have lost health coverage (you lose your job, or don’t qualify anymore at work, or you turn 26 on a parent’s plan) Please note that this does not apply if you lose coverage for non-payment of your premium (but if you’re behind on co-pays or co-insurnace, not premiums, your coverage shouldn’t be cancelled)! You get married or divorced You don’t lose coverage, but your hours are reduced to below 30 hours a week at work – then you can enroll in a healthcare.gov plan You adopt or give birth to a child  You have moved out of state or your zip code (and you’re on a healthcare.gov plan) When Moving qualifies you for a special enrollment period Moving to a new home in a new ZIP code or county Moving to the U.S. from a foreign country or United States territory If you’re a student, moving to or from the place you attend school If you’re a seasonal worker, moving to or from the place you both live and work Moving to or from a shelter or other transitional housing How to cancel health insurance  Generally you can cancel your plan at any time, and it usually takes effect immediately (sometimes it will be the 1st of the next month). You can do so online at healthcare.gov or by calling your insurance company If you want to cancel an employer-provided health insurance plan, talk to your HR department or the person at your company that handles benefits. How to get health insurance during open enrollment – Sign up at work if you qualify – Sign up at a partner’s or parent’s work (the later if you’re under 26 years old) – Enroll at your state’s exchange, which you can find at  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Topic – How Worldbuilding, Gamemastering, and playing role-playing games will make lives better Imagine back decades in a family that has its roots in rural religious America then imagine the terror of a young boy hearing the pastor of your church tell your mother that your new love Dungeons and Dragons were evil and I must stop playing it. Join Michael and I as we look at how playing these games helped us develop into good humans. Please Subscribe, Rate and Review us on iTunes For complete Fantasy Worldbuilding, show notes go to Gardul.com Podcast Show Flow This one is for my mother, who stood up to our church to let me play Her argument What else I learned How to start Michael's Resources Use Gardul.com/Amazon when shopping online to help support the show Episode 154 The Scariest Interview Ever, Lookout It’s My Mommy Links ((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Visit Show notes )))))))))))))))))))))))))   http://www.gardul.com/blog/episode-231-the-argument-for-playing-dungeons-and-dragons/   ((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Mentions links ))))))))))))))))))))))))) Episode 154 The Scariest Interview Ever, Lookout It’s My Mommy http://www.gardul.com/blog/episode-154-scariest-interview-ever-lookout-mommy/  ((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Rate and Review us in iTunes ))))))))))))))))))))))))) http://www.gardul.com/blog/episode-230-the-orcs-of-gardul/   ((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Like our Facebook Page ))))))))))))))))))))))))) https://www.facebook.com/GardulStories/   ((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Join our Facebook Group ))))))))))))))))))))))))) https://www.facebook.com/groups/undercroft/   ((((((((((((((((((((((( Support us by using our Amazon Affiliate Link ))))))))))))))))))))) http://gardul.com/Amazon   ((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Jeff on Twitter  ))))))))))))))))))))))))) https://twitter.com/JefferyWIngram

It's Time D-Heads! This week we return after a short hiatus and we welcome Voice Actor, Actor and more  LIAM O'BRIEN (Voice Actor as Dr. Strange and Red Skull on Avengers Assemble, Star Wars Rebels, Critical Role, Gollum, and more) to the show! Liam stops in and discusses voice acting, Critical Role, Playing Dungeons and Dragons, his experience as Gollum, fun stories and being part of franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and more. In addition no show is complete without the D-Team and you ask the questions and Erin has the answers in I Want to Know. Frank brings you inspiration direct from Walt himself in the Disney Quote of the Week while Domenic gives you the tips and tricks for your vacation in The Short Leash. Michael is back live in the parks as he tackles Walt's Footsteps while Randy has the latest in Disney Multi-Media. And we have all kinds of magical goodies for you this week! There is news fresh off the D-Wire with news about Walt Disney World, The Magic Kingdom, Disney XD, Star Wars Rebels, Marvel Entertainment, Epcot, The Disney Channel, and so much more. So it's time to Put on Your Ears, Give it a Little Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, and get ready to Relive the Magic, Memories and Appreciation from Your Lifetime of Disney with DisneyBlu's DizRadio "A Disney Themed Celebrity Guest Show"!

It's Time D-Heads! This week we return after a short hiatus and we welcome Voice Actor, Actor and more  LIAM O'BRIEN (Voice Actor as Dr. Strange and Red Skull on Avengers Assemble, Star Wars Rebels, Critical Role, Gollum, and more) to the show! Liam stops in and discusses voice acting, Critical Role, Playing Dungeons and Dragons, his experience as Gollum, fun stories and being part of franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and more. In addition no show is complete without the D-Team and you ask the questions and Erin has the answers in I Want to Know. Frank brings you inspiration direct from Walt himself in the Disney Quote of the Week while Domenic gives you the tips and tricks for your vacation in The Short Leash. Michael is back live in the parks as he tackles Walt's Footsteps while Randy has the latest in Disney Multi-Media. And we have all kinds of magical goodies for you this week! There is news fresh off the D-Wire with news about Walt Disney World, The Magic Kingdom, Disney XD, Star Wars Rebels, Marvel Entertainment, Epcot, The Disney Channel, and so much more. So it's time to Put on Your Ears, Give it a Little Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo, and get ready to Relive the Magic, Memories and Appreciation from Your Lifetime of Disney with DisneyBlu's DizRadio "A Disney Themed Celebrity Guest Show"!

This week we welcome back the masters of Music of the Macabre Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka of Midnight Syndicate. Ed and Gavin are back with a brand new release "Zombies the board game soundtrack." We'll talk with Ed and Gavin about the new album, play some of the new tracks, the new board game and behind the scenes what went into writing and producing Zombies. ABOUT MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE For almost two decades, composers Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka have been known as Midnight Syndicate, creating symphonic soundtracks to imaginary films that facilitate a transcendental and adventurous escape into the secret dimensions of the mind's eye. To many of their fans, they are Gothic music pioneers brewing a signature blend of orchestral horror music and movie-style sound effects. To others, they remain the first “haunted house band” that forever changed the Halloween music genre and became a staple of the October holiday season. And some know them as the duo that created the first official soundtrack to the legendary Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Their critically-acclaimed works are reminiscent of sweeping, complex masterpieces by artists such as James Horner, Danny Elfman, Black Sabbath and King Diamond and have been featured as a part of groundbreaking films, television shows, video games and at haunted attractions, amusement parks and live performances worldwide. Founder Douglas' passion for making music was ignited when he listened to records by The Beatles on his kid-sized turntable and dreamed of composing epic scores like John Williams' Star Wars, Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Both he and Goszka grew up watching classic black and white horror films, listening to Vincent Price reading the tales of Edgar Allan Poe and Playing Dungeons & Dragons. They continued to fall in love with the world of horror, fantasy and the supernatural as they developed their own artistry: Douglas played piano and bass guitar, playing in rock band sand scoring student horror films in college and Goszka played keyboard in rock bands and went onto study classical composition and percussion in college. They eventually discovered ways to explore fantasy in literature, film and art through music. In 1995, Douglas directed and wrote his first full-length horror film score to a thriller called The Dead Matter (1995), which helped set the principles of Midnight Syndicate in motion. In 2010, he went on to direct, score, and co-produce the remake of The Dead Matter alongside Robert Kurtzman (From Dusk Till Dawn, co-founder, KNB FX) and Gary Jones (Xena, Boogeyman 3). In 1997, he put together an album with the goal of providing a collection of “soundtracks to imaginary films.” The collection presented many different narratives through a variety of genres, including classical, New Age and rock and was punctuated by sound effects. For the sophomore release, Born of the Night, Douglas decided to focus on a Midnight Syndicate album that would specifically appeal to gothic music fans, Halloween enthusiasts, and role-playing gamers. It was at this time that he decided to partner with compelling solo artist Goszka, whom he had known since 1994. Midnight Syndicate's music has become integral to setting a powerful mood at top-rated haunted attractions and amusement parks as well as at costume shops, gaming and Halloween parties and Halloween-themed cruises from Siberia and Hong Kong, to Europe and the United States. In 2005, industry expert Leonard Pickel estimated that 75-90% of the attractions in the haunted house industry owned at least one Midnight Syndicate CD. In September, 2009, AOL released the Top 10 Best Halloween Music CDs of all time according to AOL/CBS Radio listeners. Three of the ten listed were Midnight Syndicate discs, which ranked lower only than Danny Elfman's Nightmare Before Christmas and John Carpenter's Halloween soundtracks. In 2015, their album Out of the Darkness was named as one of the 50 Essential Horror Albums – Discs that Created, Evolved, or Defined Genre Music Over the Decades by the venerable horror publication, Rue Morgue Magazine. The band's music has also been used at Hugh Hefner's Halloween parties, on episodes of The Barbara Walters Special and in the drive-in film The Rage, Universal Studio's Horror Nights XVIII as well as by Monday Night Football and by artists Insane Clown Posse, Three Six Mafia, Twiztid and the Misfits. Midnight Syndicate released many studio albums between 1997 and 2005, among them Midnight Syndicate, Born of the Night, Realm of Shadows, Gates of Delirium, Vampyre: Symphonies from the Crypt and the multi award-winning The 13th Hour. They teamed up with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast in 2003 to produce the first official soundtrack to the classic Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. In 2008, Douglas' and Goszka's tenth studio album, The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates came out as a preview to the 2010 remake of The Dead Matter film. That same year, Midnight Syndicate put together their first music video, a live performance of the song Dark Legacy, produced by Robert Kurtzman's Creature Crew and Screamline Studios and filmed in the haunted historic Phantasy Theatre in Lakewood, Ohio. The band's fourteenth studio album, Carnival Arcane (2011) was based on research into turn-of-the-20th-Century carnivals as well as the writings of Ray Bradbury and plays like a self-contained, vivid musical film. The disc garnered rave reviews from pressand won Best Horror CD/Soundtrack at the 10th Annual Rondo Hatton Awards. Midnight Syndicate continues to pursue its quest to use instrumental music to tell explicit stories full of tension, twists and turns. Most recently, the band released gothic music vocalist Destini Beard's A Time Forgotten, the follow-up to The Dark Masquerade, her first collaboration with Douglas and Goszka and completed the score to the grindhouse thriller Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan. In summer, 2013, Midnight Syndicate released the soundtrack to that film along with Monsters of Legend, a tribute to the classic Universal, Hammer and Euro horror films that gave birth to horror cinema. Featuring cover art showcasing original Universal Monster images with an epic sound to match, the disc has immediately become one of, if not the band's most critically-acclaimed album to date. In addition to cracking FEARnet's Top 10 Horror CDs of 2013, in May of 2014, the album won Best CD honors in the 12th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards marking the band's second such honor. Visit the Midnight Syndicate Store to see and hear more! After seventeen years, fourteen studio albums, three soundtracks, and a motion picture, Midnight Syndicate announced that they were teaming up with the world famous amusement park, Cedar Point, to launch their first live performances. Midnight Syndicate Live! Legacy of Shadows, a multimedia horror-themed concert blending live music, theatre, and film debuted at Cedar Point's 18th annual HalloWeekends event. Before the shows, Charles Bradshaw, Corporate V.P. of Entertainment for Cedar Fair was quoted saying, “Working with these industry leading music producers on a live show is an exciting prospect. The final product is going to amaze.” And amaze it did. Upon its debut, the show began breaking attendance records while being called “top-notch and ambitious,” “brilliant and artistically creative,” and “a must see” by audiences and press alike. “The success of the inaugural run of Midnight Syndicate Live! has ensured that live Midnight Syndicate shows will be a permanent part of our plans going forward,” said Edward Douglas. In September of 2015, Midnight Syndicate's Out of the Darkness album was included in Rue Morgue Magazine's 50 Essential Horror Albums – Discs that Created, Evolved, or Defined Genre Music Over the Decades. That same month, Midnight Syndicate released Christmas: A Ghostly Gathering. The album featured the band's unique twist on classic holiday carols blended with new and original material. “Our goal was to treat each song in a way that would merge familiarity with originality,” said Gavin Goszka. “There are definitely recognizable elements, but plenty of additional original material as well. It also incorporates the widest instrument palette we've used to date and represents what we consider to be the most varied collection of songs we've ever released. There are serenely beautiful moments here alongside more intense, darker tracks, and the end result is a thoroughly compelling and involving listening experience.” “With so many Christmas-themed albums out there, we wanted to make this collection uniquely our own,” added Edward Douglas. “I think we were able to do that.” Since its release, the album has received universal critical acclaim. zombiesprIn April of 2016, the band announced that they would be creating the first official soundtrack to the immensely popular zombie apocalypse-themed board game, Zombies!!!. “I'm a big fan of Zombies!!!,” said Edward Douglas. “With the game celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2016, it seemed like the perfect time to undertake this project. We're working closely with the Twilight team to create something that really enhances their players' gaming experience. I think album will also resonate with our fans in the Halloween and haunted house industries. “Musically, it will be interesting to work in a modern setting,” added Gavin Goszka. “Most of our albums have been set in the Victorian and early 20th century, so this will definitely be something different and exciting for us and our fans.” “Words cannot express how excited I am to have Midnight Syndicate doing a soundtrack for Zombies!!!,” said Twilight Creations co-founder Kerry Breitenstein. “For many of our players, Midnight Syndicate's music has already been the unofficial soundtrack to their gaming sessions over the years. To have them working with us to create something specifically for our universe is incredible.” The soundtrack is tentatively scheduled for release in September 2016. To learn more about Midnighty Syndicate visit their website at www.midnightsyndicate.com Join us this week as the undead walk the Earth as we preview the new album Zombies the boardgame soundtrack with Ed and Gavin of Midnight Syndicate.

Playing Dungeons and Dragons live on air, then podcasted every other week. Join in on the story! Campbell kicks off the campaign as he takes us on his adventure as Dungeon Master for the first official episode of our DnD Club on Jimmerish FM. Subscribe to DnD Club (Should Open iTunes). Direct Episode Link - 88mb

Campbell's adventure continues from a thrilling development to thrilling development. This is the Jimmerish FM DnD Club. Playing Dungeons and Dragons live on air, then podcasted every other week. Join in on the story! Subscribe to DnD Club (Should Open iTunes). Direct Episode Link - 89.8mb