Twilight Mirage 31: This Year of Ours: The Mechanic
Transcribed by amikumanto [0:00:00-0:47:00], Cole [0:47:00-finish]
A letter from Kent Brighton to the lineage’s matriarch, the Lady Lyme:
Dearest aunt,
I hope this message finds you well. Our vessel has just now entered textual communication range, and though I could wait to see your face in just a few days, speed is of the essence. As you know, my ship, the Wakerobin, left New Independence a month ago to secure diplomatic relations with each of the new governments throughout Quire.
[SONG STARTS: Jack de Quidt’s The Mechanic]
The crew and I felt at home with the crooning of our ship’s hull as it settled.Though we moved through suntouched sky, it was familiar as the surging sea. But unlike Old Quire’s ocean, the aether offered us an opportunity unknown to the Lineage in generations: The chance to explore the uncharted!
Each new port brought new discoveries: technologies yet unseen, delicacies fresh to my palate, songs, and theater, and friendship! Every diplomat, every merchant, every cleric, they were all charmed by our charisma and, of course, taken with the affability of our great ally, Gig Kephart. (And yes, our allegiance with the Crown was secured by bringing them the boy, worry not).
But there is more too. Our foes in the Rogue Wave can be beaten.
They launched an attack as we passed through a craggy shoal, the vessel twisting between blasts from their fleet. I could sense their hunger for victory in their aggressive formation, and so too I sensed their surprise when, with each volley, it was their fleet which was wounded in the waking dream.
From the prow I watched their cannons blossom into rose and rouge and coral. And Aunt, you know I have no tongue for poetry. I mean what I say: Their cannons blossomed into rose and rouge and coral.
Gig captured the entire exchange and has already begun broadcasting it out. The whole system knows the truth: All their strength is for naught in this new world.
Brigands be gone: Brighton rules the Wave.
[SONG ENDS]
AUSTIN:: So Gig, you are playing as a Mechanic, which is for me one of the— one of my favorite things of just like, “How the fuck do we do the thing we just did in a different— in this different system?”
KEITH [overlapping]: Mm-hmm.
AUSTIN: How do we— how do we either reflect a change in the character, or get to some heart of the character that isn’t represented here, because, uh, I’ve said this at this point with a bunch of other people, too, that like, The Veil had very specific classes.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: The Veil’s classes were like, “Oh, you were part of this specific weird ancient cult. Or you have this specific device in your head.” Um, and so we’ve gotten some pretty interesting shifts. Like, uh, Janine, I think on first- on first look ⸢Signet⸣ should be The Mystic, but we’ve actually made her The Stitch because when you look at how ⸢Signet⸣… is, she’s been mostly about, like, taking care of people, and, like, talking to them and getting into their— like, being— being— um, getting them to perform at their— as their best selves, sort of, and, like, work through dee— like, work through issues with them.
KEITH [overlapping]: Mm-hmm.
AUSTIN: And so, I think this is similar in that, um— Two things. One, I think, like, we can use Mechanic to kind of get around— Three things! One, we can use Mechanic to sort of, uh, hack in the sort of story-driven stuff, the— the recording, like uh, sending out broadcasts thing using the crafting system in—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —in Scum And Villainy. Um, we can also reflect [clearing throat] Gig’s—
KEITH: Which also works with one of The Mechanic’s abilities to hack clocks.
AUSTIN: Right, totally, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Like, the main ability I think works super well for what— the way we’re going to do it.
KEITH [overlapping]: Mm-hmm.
AUSTIN: And then, also it reflects Gig’s background, as being from Gumption Gam— Gumption’s Gambit, and like being from a culture of gear-heads and hackers, you know? Like.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: People like tr- like, old school hackers. Like hackers in the, like, tinkerer sense more than the “I’m sitting in front of a computer and typing a bunch” sense. Um—
KEITH: Yeah, yeah.
AUSTIN: And then— and then three, I think it also reflects what— what you’ve done over the last year. And we don’t want to get into that quite yet, cause that’ll go into the other part of this story-thing, but it’s reflected I think a shift from watcher to doer in Gig, uh, which is really interesting.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Um so, let’s just talk about your— let’s start at the top. Uh your heritage and your background.
KEITH: Yeah, so heritage is, uh, the ship, Gumption’s Gambit.
AUSTIN: Right, which is—
KEITH [overlapping]: Background was tough for me.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: What did you take as a skill from— from Gumption’s Gambit? Like, uh—
KEITH: From Gumption’s Gambit?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yeah, because you get— you basically get one point from your background—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —and one point from your— from you back— er, from your heritage. Like, so each of those should give you one of the points that you have.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, so the— so this— this was— this is tough because I switched it all up.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right.
KEITH: I had— I had myself specced as a Speaker, and then sort of shifted it from Speaker to Mechanic.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right.
KEITH: Um, and so— and then you reminded me how, um, uh... uh, how assigning points works.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Because I had forgotten in between making Speaker and switching it to Mechanic.
AUSTIN: Which happens.
KEITH: So… It’s one— it’s one— you get one point for heritage and one point for background, is that how it works?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right, and then you— and then you get— There’s a starting set that is just, like, everybody in this class gets it. So, for Mechanic, every Mechanic has 2 rig and 1 study to start. Then you get 1 from your heritage, 1 from your background, which brings you up to— to a total of 5 points, because—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —you get a 2 in rig, 1 in study, and then… Another 1 and another 1, and then you get another 2 wildcard that kind of reflect whatever you want.
KEITH: Yeah, so here’s the thing: I, uh… The— when I had 2 in rig earlier, 1 of those 2 was from Gumption’s Gambit.
AUSTIN: Right, totally.
KEITH: Not realizing that it had to be from... rig— er, uh, from Mechanic.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: But ba— heritage, uh… Gumption’s Gambit scramble also works for that.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I can imagine you like, scrambling through like, ducts and climbing on the outside of ships and like…
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Doing all of the… The sort of oil rig style scrambling, you know what I mean?
KEITH: Yes, yeah, exactly.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I like that a lot.
KEITH [overlapping]: Or yeah, yeah exactly— like, wet deck hand.
AUSTIN: Yes, one hundred percent— which— which given the ship that you’re going to end up with, I think is going to work pretty well.
KEITH: Yes.
AUSTIN: And we’ll get into that I think later. Um… So— so what about, uh, background? You have labor which I think totally…
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, well, S-
AUSTIN: —works, but.
KEITH: Yeah, as Speaker, I was— cause of… Gig has a weird job with a weird background—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: And it’s only gotten weirder.
KEITH: And so I was split— I was split in a really weird way between labor and academic.
AUSTIN: Hmm… Interesting. Yeah.
KEITH: Cause like, he was like— he’s watching… He’s, like, studying the people doing their jobs, but also he’s doing these jobs.
AUSTIN: Right, right.
KEITH: And so I was like. “which foot am I—” and eventually I did decide on labor anyway, even in the original build.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Um, and that’s… [laughs] that’s where the point for study came from.
AUSTIN: Mm-hmm.
KEITH: But that doesn’t work anymore either.
AUSTIN: Because now that’s from your—
KEITH [overlapping]: Because now that’s from Mechanic, yeah.
AUSTIN: —your cl— Right, exactly.
KEITH: Yeah, um—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Wha— the— My biggest thing— let’s just go— quickly go over what you have written down here, which is 2 rig—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —1 study, 1 helm, 1 scramble, 1 command, 1 CONsort [Pronounced like a noun], 1 sway… uh, 1 conSORT, conSORT, conSORT? [Pronounce like a verb]
KEITH [overlapping]: ConSORT.
AUSTIN: I’ve done this bit with somebody else.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, conSORT.
AUSTIN: Um, so what I’ll say— My biggest thing is like—
KEITH: OctaGONal.
AUSTIN: Hmm, yeah, great.
KEITH: [Laughing]
AUSTIN: Exec-u-cute— a— ee— ah, fuck. How did Will Smith say it? Uh…
KEITH: E- e- exeCUTEable
AUSTIN: Ex- no, he said something else, ez— he said some other— he said another word—
KEITH [overlapping]: I thought it was exeCUTEable.
AUSTIN: Maybe it was exeCUTEable.
KEITH: ExECutable? Was it exECutable?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: ExECutable! It was ez- Yeah, exECutable! [laughing] Fuckin’… ugh.
KEITH: ExECutable.
AUSTIN: ExECutable. Here’s a weird thing about my fucking...
KEITH [overlapping]: Wait, is it exeCUTEable? Is that the actual way?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: ExeCUTEable is right.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, I— yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: ExeCUTEable is correct.
KEITH: Sorry, it’s so— Saying exECutable is so bad, that I just defaulted to how to actually say that word.
AUSTIN [Laughing]: Yeah.
KEITH: God, that had me literally dying.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Oh my fucking god.
KEITH: That was one of the funniest things that ever happened on that podcast.
AUSTIN: Yeah... Anyway, so two problems here— or not problems, but two things that pop out for me. One is…
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: One, two, three, four… Wait, one, two, three… Four, five, six, seven, eight. You’re up by 1 point, which you know about.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, one of these is— one of these we knew that we’re taking it away—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Two, I’m sup—
KEITH: —when we went into this.
AUSTIN: I’m surprised you don’t have hack, um… But that would be a ninth point, which is an additional problem. [laughing] Uh…
KEITH: Yeah, so you’re saying… So, we have to take away 1, and you’re suggesting maybe take away two and add one to hack.
AUSTIN: Right, which I— which is even harder to do, because… I don’t know where you get the— uh, hmm, I guess— hmm.
KEITH: Well, I’m trying to think of like— I’m trying to think of like the stuff that… the stuff that— that I would be doing as a— just a citizen of Gumption’s Gambit—,
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: —with not— with no other... with nothing other that being a guy who… who makes like sort of an… infotainment documentaries on people’s weird jobs. I don’t think any of that lends itself to being… a computer hacker.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right. Well, and the thing here, too—
KEITH [overlapping]: And it— you’re talking about hacking in the other, older way, which is what the rig is.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Which is— which is probably what rig is. So, let me read you hack and rig in the— in the book because I think there is overlap, and that’s like…
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —a thing that comes up a lot in a lot of these skills. There’s overlap where like—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: —Okay, you could roll this instead of that. So, hack is “You breach security systems or computers or override their controls. You might hack a data console to find out where they’re keeping a captive in the station. You might hack a drone’s control systems to keep it from firing on you. You might hack a door to get it to open (though rig might be better).” And rig is: “When you rig mechanisms, you alter how an existing mechanism works or create a new one. You might disable a trap. You might repair a damaged ship system. You might crack a safe. You might overdrive an engine. You might rig a door to get it open (though hack might be better). You might rig a bomb for later detonation.” And like, there’s obviously overlap between the two.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Um, and I guess you’re…
KEITH [overlapping]: Can I bring it to—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: You’re right though.
KEITH [overlapping]: To like, our— to like— Okay, so, here’s— I’m going to speak in the most basic language that you and I share, which is—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Ab— uh huh.
KEITH: When you’re repairing a robot in KOTOR, and using—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yes.
KEITH: —parts versus computer spikes.
AUSTIN: A hundred percent. And parts—
KEITH [overlapping]: And—
AUSTIN: —is rig, and computer spikes is hack.
KEITH: Yes.
AUSTIN: Yeah, you’re— you’re defi— and— and I think maybe you’re right because I think about Gig getting Duck for instance…
KEITH [overlapping]: Mm.
AUSTIN: Our fuckin’— fuckin’ show, Jesus Christ. Remember when Gig got the horse, Duck. Um… [chuckling]
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: You— you definitely would have being using rig there, right? Cause you were talking about—
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —unplugging things, and, like, tinkering and— and moving tubes around—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, hitting buttons.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: And pulling levers. Right. I think it’s— I think it’s— it’s tough because… Rig seems mostly to be about f— I guess it says, like, “crack a safe” is in there. Yeah, I think that’s fine. I think that’s fine. I think the thing to know is there will be times when what I say is “You have a lower effect because you’re using rig instead if hack.” You know what I mean? I think that—
KEITH [overlapping]: Okay.
AUSTIN: Like, the getting Duck situation would have been one where… That would have been risky standard or something in— in— if you were using hack, but risky limited if you were using rig, because like, “No, that’s—”
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: “—a computer system. Like, I’ll let you do it, but it is not built for this. Like, it is built to be hacked.” Um, so that’s just something just to be clear about because I want to make sure that—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah!
AUSTIN: We’re not— that we’re on the same footing on that. Uh, so I think you’re—
KEITH [overlapping]: And who knows at some point I’ll maybe put a— I’ll put a— a point in hack.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Totally.
KEITH: Maybe. Maybe I’ll— maybe I’ll end up doing it right now. Like, we’ll—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Totally.
KEITH: When we go through and decide what to take a point away from.
AUSTIN: [Laughing] Right, right. But you’re also right—
KEITH [overlapping]: Maybe on the side.
AUSTIN: —in that Gig has not done hacking. So I think you’re— you’re— you’re on the ball in terms of where you did already put those points. Um...
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: So, the big one that you have here is, for me, it’s command, consort, and sway. Uh…
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Which are— which are all social skills. Um…
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Command is “When you compel obedience with your force of personality. You might intimidate or threaten to get what you want. You may lead an action with NPCs. You might order people to do what you want (though consorting might be better).” Consort is “When you socialize with friends and contacts. You might gain access to resources, information, people, or places. You might make a good impression or win someone over with your charm and style. You might make new friends or connect with your heritage and background. You could try to direct your friends with social pressure (but commanding might be better).” Uh, and then… And then sway is… Um… When you sway, your influence with someone— When you sway, you influence someone with guile, charm, or logic. You might outright lie to someone’s face. You might persuade a sucker to believe you. You might argue the facts with an officer. You could try to trick people into— uh, into affection or obedience (but consortin or command might be better).” Of those, I know I’ve seen Gig sway. I know I’ve—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, absolutely.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: I think I’ve seen Gig consort.
KEITH: That’s the— that’s— I was actually just going to say— I was— uh, after you finished, I was going to say that of the three, I consider command to be the weakest one.
AUSTIN: Yeah… I think that’s like an— I think there’s almost a… Well—
KEITH: This kind of came directly as a result of…
AUSTIN: Yeah…
KEITH: —what we’re going to talk about later and where I’ve been.
AUSTIN: Well and also t— to me maybe does show up in the holiday special, right? Where like… Some of— I guess, a lot of what you do in the holiday special is consorting. It’s a lot of like, “Okay, I’m going to go try to call in—”
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: “—a favor with this rich old lady.” A lot of like, “I’m gonna—”
KEITH [overlapping]: It feels for me that consort is like the middle Venn diagram of—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yes.
KEITH: —command and sway.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Definitely.
KEITH: It’s sort of the halfway point.
AUSTIN: Well it’s— I think there’s—
KEITH [overlapping]: And so I definitely… I like— Mako sways, I think Gig consorts.
AUSTIN: Yes.
KEITH [overlapping]: But sways more that commands
AUSTIN: Definitely, a hundred percent. I think— I think that that’s totally the case. Um, and like, it’s— maybe command is aspirational, you know? Like, I think there is a little bit of command—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: —in— in the holiday special.
KEITH [overlapping]: I definitely— that’s a great way to put it. I think that’s… like… sort of why command is where it is.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: Is like— is… where— where I’ve been for the last year, and the sort of… tone that I think Gig is trying to… have—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right.
KEITH: —for his sort of… almost new life.
AUSTIN: Yeah, now—
KEITH [overlapping]: Uh—
AUSTIN: Now here’s a counter case for maybe keeping command and dropping helm or scramble, which you also have a point in, is—
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: —if you have… command, consort, and sway, that mean your resolve would be three. And that means that you’d be really good at resisting effects around social encounters and around… like, will— like, will power basically. Basically give you a higher will save, to use D&D terms.
KEITH [overlapping]: Mm.
AUSTIN: Um, because the way that you resolve your prowess and your insight, which are your attributes work, is... they’re equal to however many skills you have in the thing— not points, but, like, how many skills you have points in inside of that set. So like—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —in resolve, there’s attune, command, consort, and sway. And so, right now you’d have a three in resolve, um, which is great. Buuuuut… like, I get— but at the same time maybe you don’t want to have a three in resolve and a one in prowess. So… um… kind of up to you. And that—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: So then— so then helm and scramble are definitely the other ones where— where— I think scramble makes perfect sense. I think scramble is coming in—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —from your heritage, makes perfect sense. Helm is interesting cause I’ve— again, we’ve never seen him fly anything. Though… that’s not true. Uh, because I have to read this more closely, I think— I think you helm animals.
KEITH: I was just going— I was going— yeah, I was just going to say that. I was going to say you helm animals, and then also. this is another settings—based choice.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yeah… Yeah… Yeah, maybe you’re right. I think, based on like, what you’re— what we’ll talk about in the vignette, um—
KEITH: So, as— since we talked about consort, I said I— I said that consort was the sort of Venn diagram overlap of command and sway.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: Even though Gig… consorts, that’s his thing—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: —I could get… I could take off consort even though I feel pretty strongly that I do do that, and sort of rely on… command and sway covering those two halves.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I— Here’s the one that comes back to me with Gig… Is when you pitched Gig, and we talked about what Gig was, the— one of the things—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —you told me was… Do you know how some celebrities are just likable? Like, they just talk to you, and you like hearing who they are? And they use like—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah
AUSTIN: Consort is that. Whereas—
KEITH: I have a new one of those, by the way.
AUSTIN: Oh, do you?
KEITH: I do, I do. There’s a guy that runs a tea shop in London that has a YouTube channel.
AUSTIN: God that sounds great.
KEITH: I know. And he’s like, a fucking doofus and he’s not cool — He’s a little bit lame. [Austin laughs] But he’s so passionate about tea, uh— like, it’s— it’s— and it’s like, I just want to watch this guy take a sip of a tea for the first time and light up.
AUSTIN: Yeah, so that’s to me why it sounds to me like consort. Because like—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, you’re right.
AUSTIN: He isn’t— he isn’t trying to s— he isn’t trying to trick you. He isn’t influencing you with guile, charm, or logic, right?
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, well this could be—
AUSTIN: He’s just— he is just warm.
[Pause]
KEITH: Yeah... This— this could be a Fero situation.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: Where Fero was always trying to sway, but was never good at it.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: Um… Gig— Gig— this new Gig— this new scum and villainy Gig… could still try and command—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right.
KEITH: —despite not having any points in it.
AUSTIN: Oh yeah, totally. In fact—
KEITH [overlapping]: Just because—
AUSTIN: —the big difference between this and… and… uh, like, The Veil, or The Sprawl— especially The Sprawl, where like if you didn’t have [laughing] a good stat for fighting—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —don’t fight. You’re going to— I’m going to make a move as hard as I can, and you’re going to just have to fucking take it on the chin. Whereas here—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, I like this— that’s sort of like— it’s sort of like a mechanical representation of the… uh, of like one of the tenants of Dungeon World.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Totally, totally.
KEITH: Which is that… all of these characters are already the best in the world at these things.
AUSTIN: Yeah, they’re already adventurers, right? These— these are characters who are—
KEITH [overlapping]: They all know how to climb ladders; you can’t mess up climbing a ladder. You can’t critically miss…
AUSTIN: Right, exactly. I might make you drop something while climbing a ladder.
KEITH [overlapping]: Sure.
AUSTIN: But your never going to fall off the ladder and— and like— “Oh, you’re dead now.” Like, this isn’t Call of Cthulhu.
KEITH [overlapping]: I mean, well— you might make me drop something climbing a ladder if I was carrying something with me— Like, if I just said like—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right.
KEITH: “Yeah, I go up this ladder,” you’re not going to be like “roll for the ladder.”
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Roll— roll to climb. Yeah, exactly.
KEITH: Roll to climb, oh god.
AUSTIN: I know, cause we’ve both played those fucking games, right. Keith? [Laughing] Like, we’ve both had those GMs.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, yeah, no, yeah that was like— oh, my god, ack.
AUSTIN: [Laughing] It sucks.
KEITH: I’ve told you about my first ever GM, right?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: No... maybe.
KEITH: With a— uh, with a Five Star, three— three subject— You know the three subject notebooks?
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: The Five Star ones?
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: With one— filled with wor— notes on the world. The entire— Filled cover-to-cover with what the world was.
AUSTIN: God.
KEITH [overlapping]: And that was my first Dungeons and Dragons experience.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: It’s tough.
KEITH [overlapping]: It was a nightmare.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: I get it. I get it. I love building worlds.
KEITH [overlapping]: I get it.
AUSTIN: But like—
KEITH [overlapping]: But just why don’t you— write a book, man.
AUSTIN: Write a book.
KEITH [overlapping]: Come on.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: It’s cool to write books.
KEITH: Greg— Greg, you should have written a book.
AUSTIN: I bet it would have been good. I— Greg, you’re probably good at writing.
KEITH [overlapping]: It would have been a good book. He’s a good writer. He— he did the— he won the class speech contest for graduation.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: See?
KEITH: And it was a good— it was a good speech! [Austin laughs] Write a book!
AUSTIN: Write a book! Come on, write a book. Um, so the— the only other thing I want to talk about in this segment really quick before we go to— to the vignette, is how in my mind— and we’ll still work out— we’ll maybe work this out a little bit more as we continue it, but like before we actually get into the recordings, um, is how… to do… the broadcasts? Um… I think— so one of the things that this game does is— like, we’re not going to go over all your moves— like, that’s— that’s— they’ll come up in play. Um, but this system has a thing called Downtime in it. And downtime happens between… um… between jobs basically. Uh, and the way I’m thinking about… your broadcast is to use the downtime system…
KEITH: Mm.
AUSTIN: I am looking at the wrong document; one second. Uh, again, shoutouts to the authors of this game for letting us have an early edition of it. A humorous thing is… it updates every few days, and so like the version in our private channel is not the most updated version. [laughs] The— the version that we’ve been looking at—
KEITH [overlapping]: Oh. [laughing]
AUSTIN: —has a hundred and seventy pages, and the one that I’m now looking at has like a hundred and ninety-six, so. Uh… So, one of the—
KEITH [overlapping]: It’s a long book.
AUSTIN: It’s a long book! It’s a good book. Uh, so you—
KEITH [overlapping]: It’s a good book.
AUSTIN: —can do a bunch of things while you are… during downtime. Um, actually, while I’m looking for this, briefly, what is your vice? Cause that’s another thing that I want to make sure we’re all on the same page… [overlapping] for...
KEITH: Ooh, um…So, I... was really conflicted on the vice…
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: Um, so for now, uh, and I figured we could talk through it, is that I have an obligation to do these broadcasts,
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: And— and to follow a story in a way that might make me… Uh, forgo other, more pressing issues.
AUSTIN: Right, so the thing that I want to make sure is cl— I’m cool with that, but the thing I want to make sure of is that… vices are about turning off… um… the things in your life that cause you stress, and recovering. So, I think that it’s totally fine, but only if we… Position that as not being an innately stressful thing, um so yeah I mean here’s what it says in the book about this is “Your characters are a special lot. They defy the powers that be and wrestle with factions who frequently have significant resources. They push themselves further than ordinary people are willing to go. But this comes at a cost. Their life is one of constant stress. Inevitably to blow off that steam, they turn to their vices which can be ways to— to care for oneself and blow of steam. But often end up affecting the crew’s lives when they get out of hand. A character’s vice is a deep part of who they are, and pursuing it usually makes trouble for them. But with this indulgence comes a needed stress relief and ability to again face the overwhelming odds in their daring life.” And so...
KEITH: Hmm…
AUSTIN: It shouldn’t be a thing that is just part of that daring life, uh, which to me it seems like it is.
KEITH [overlapping]: That’s true.
AUSTIN: Right? Like.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, it would—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Your whole—
KEITH: It would— it’s… It might be an escape from one stress, but it’s a— also a different kind of stress..
AUSTIN: Totally. And it’s fine that it could get you into trouble; that part is totally fine. I think that like—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —everybody has one of these things that’s like… if you— the way it works is, if you overindulge, if you roll in such a— such a way that you reduce your stress more than— by more than what stress you have, you will overindulge and some bad shit can happen. Which is cool. Like, that’s a fun way for stories to unfold, uh, but it is something where it’s like I want to know really, what does Gig do… after the broadcast goes out? After— you know, uh— you know how streams go. You finish a stream, and you’re like… [Sighs] “I’m done. I’m a little jittery maybe, I’m a little like…” You kind of have that like— I don’t know how it is for you— but for me, if I’ve done a long stream, I like—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —I don’t just come down and now I’m cool. Like,I— I have excess, like, energy that I need to blow off, or that I need to like, deal with… Or it’s the opposite! Which is just like, “I’ve done a long week of— of broadcasting stuff, and so I’m like… I just want to fucking die.” Like, I’m just all— I’m dead on my feet, and I need something to regenerate strength… And— and energy. So, I’m curious what Gig does. The broadcast ends. He’s like, either way up or way down, how does he get back to that status quo normal?
KEITH: l— so I like the analog of… what happens to me after, like, a long stream.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: It is just an immediate crash. [Austin laughs] And just like, I’m immediately exhausted… And… sick of having to talk.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: It’s the only time ever in my entire life that I have nothing to say, is right after a stream.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Uh, or like right after a recording session for Run Button.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yeah.
KEITH: And I’m just like… like, please put me in a room alone or let me take a nap.
AUSTIN: I kind of like that actually, is that like—
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: So— so the options here are faith, gambling, luxury, obligation, pleasure, stupor, weird. I kind of like stupor as just like, “I’ve done my job. Leave— like, give me some space.”
KEITH [overlapping]: Leave me alone. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Leave me alone. Like I know I’m on all the time, but I’m not. Like, there’s this other me, who you don’t know—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —who is super low-key, and, like, who is— who doesn’t want to talk to people. I know all I do all day is talk to people, but give me some fucking room.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Um, I mostly like that because it gives me the— a brief moment of thinking about what happens when Gig has not overindulged. Gig has dealt with his shit and is just trying to relax, and then somebody else’s shit blows up, and it’s like… “All I wanted was— was a day off. All I wanted to do was take a nap.”
KEITH: Yeah. [laughing]
AUSTIN: Like, I told you how important this nap is.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah, I like that.
AUSTIN: Alright, cool. Let’s do that.
KEITH [overlapping]: I like that. I like that, it feels very true to me. There’s— cause like, I’ll come home from working at the restaurant, right?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yeah.
KEITH: And I’ll… That’s when I’m like, hyped up cause I’ve been working all day doing stuff I don’t wanna do.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: And so then, I’m like, “Well, let me now do some shit that I wanna do, and let me have fun.” But after a steam, which I love doing, or a recording session which I love doing, after that then I’m like, “Oh, I used up all of my positive energy on this thing that I like.”
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right. Right.
KEITH: “...And now I’m dead inside. I’m so tired.”
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yeah let’s— let’s do that then. Let’s do stupor, and with— with, like, in parentheses, it’s just like— it’s just time off. It’s just relaxing.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Which is, like, a very simple vice, but it’s— I love it because everybody else’s vices are like, “I go into my holog— holographic nightclub” or whatever. [Keith laughs] Which is also cool, don’t get me wrong.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: But I like the notion of yours just being… like, “No, I take a fucking nap.”
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Alright, so the— before we— again, before we move on, there is— the thing I just wanted to note, is there’s this whole crafting system basically, that… during downtime, besides indulging in your vice, um, you can also build stuff, basically. Uh… and for people who listened to Marielda, it’s very, very similar to how, uh… Audrey[1] would build stuff between… between um… uh… missions, basically. Uh there’s a— there’s a— and you have moves for this, right? If I remember correctly, right? Mechanic has… like, your starting moves.
KEITH [overlapping]: Downtime moves?
AUSTIN: Yeah, you’re— No, like your starting move is tinker, which is… uh, when you work on a clock with rig or hack, or when you study a schematic, fill one segment.
KEITH: Yup.
AUSTIN: And so the way that— that that works in play, uh, in crafting… um… I think crafting might—
KEITH [overlapping]: My other— one of my especial abilities is also a downtime move.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Oh, is it? Which one is that?
KEITH: It’s uh… uh… bailing wire and twine.
AUSTIN: Okay, which is…?
KEITH: During downtime, the repair activity costs you zero cred.
AUSTIN: Okay, so that’s cool for just repairing shit. That’s just like… if some stuff breaks, if the ship is on fire, like… you will get it back up to— to snuff without it going— without needing to spend money, which is great. Um…
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: I need to go into a different book cause the one that we currently have does not yet have the crafting rules in it. [Laughing] I’ve so many books. I have so many books in front of me.
KEITH: Oh wait. So, is that why I couldn’t find the crafting stuff you’re talking about?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, cause they’re not in the newest book. It’s in… for us we have a book called scum and villainy hyphen six. Uh, and that is in that.
KEITH [overlapping]: Oh, yeah I’ve been looking at a different thing.
AUSTIN: Same. So during downtime, “a PC can craft as long as they have access to the required special materials and tools to produce drones, build or modify devices and create system modules. The system for each method is similar with each, uh, with different details depending on the design of the project. To design a schematic for a device, you need to study it as a long-term project. Most designs will require an eight-segment progress clock to invest— to invent and learn. The player and GM answer questions about the— the invention to define what it will do in play. What is required to create it. See below. The player records these answers—” Blah-blah-blah.
And I’m just going to have— so there’s like all these device— device questions, like, “What type of device is it? What do you do?” And then you would ask like, “What’s the minimum quality level of this item?” Um… And we should just do questions like this for your broadcasts, where it’s like, “What kind of broadcast is this? Is this a reported piece? Is this a… like behind-the-scenes thing? Are you telling a story? Is this just like a— a— a broadcast that’s just, like, your face, or are— are— is it a more produced bit with like, special graphics and stuff?”
Um, and then, you know, you’d ask me like, “Well, what sort of effect would this have on the world?” Something like that. We’ll— we’ll work those off, off mic, so that we know what we’re doing. Um, and then, during play… Now I have to go back to this other book to where your st— your shit is, uh… We would be— you could be rolling during play to build up that schematic, basically, um… which would then give you what you need to do to make the rig… to make the construction roll. To make the actual crafting roll at the end of… a session, basically. Or like, during downtime, what you would do is do that rig action to craft something that’s like an actual broadcast. It’s like a produced piece.
Um... I think that to me is like the coolest way to do… this, uh… because it— it lets it be a thing that you can work on during an adventure where you’re, like, asking questions to build up this clock. And then you’d basically have this clock the whole time through, where you would know how close you are to getting what you need to do this. We could even do it in a soft way, where like… the amount of… of answers you get provides a bonus or something on your final roll to tell the story. You know?
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: That way it’s not like, “Well I have seven of the eight pieces of the clock filled in. That’s not enough to tell the story, I guess” [Keith laughs] Um, and instead it could be like, “Well if you get to seven, then you get x— x bonus points” or whatever.
KEITH: Right. Yeah, I like that.
AUSTIN: Yeah, it’s simple but it’s like— and it’s a definitely hack-y. Like, it’s definitely us hacking it in sideways.
KEITH [overlapping]: Right.
AUSTIN: But it was always going to sort of be that, so I— I kind of like it as a way to…
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah… I like it a lot better than just being like, sometimes I can just do— I just can just do this whenever.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Totally.
KEITH: I just decide that I want to do a broadcast.
AUSTIN: Totally.
KEITH [overlapping]: Um.
AUSTIN: I mean that’s a thing that we’ll talk about in a second, is I’m curious whether or not you’ve done many of those old style of broadcast. Let’s— let’s— in fact, let’s say that that’s it for this, and now we’ll talk about the year that we’ve had. So, Gig, tell me about the last year of— of your life. Where have you been? What have you been working on?
KEITH: Ummmm… Ships, ocean stuff...
AUSTIN: All the good stuff, ocean stuff and ships.
KEITH [overlapping]: Um, ships, ocean stuff, pirate stuff, uh…
AUSTIN [overlapping]: So, you’ve been spending time with the— with the Brighton family? I guess?
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: The Brighton Lineage, apologies, aprol— apologies to Kent Brighton and the Brighton Lineage.
KEITH: He’ll— he’ll take it, he’s…amiable.
AUSTIN: [laughs] What was his voice? I’m trying to remember what his voice was. Did he have like a— like a faux…?
KEITH: It was an—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Rich guy.
KEITH: —important guy voice.
AUSTIN: It wasn’t— But was it like, [doing a voice] an important guy voice? [Back to normal voice] No, cause it was like, cooler than— you liked him, right?
KEITH [overlapping]: It was cool. He was cool. I liked him.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Okay, okay.
AUSTIN [practicing Kent’s voice] We all love your show. We would love for you to stay in the city. It’s very popular.
AUSTIN: [regular voice] Okay, I’ve got him. He’s like— he— [in Kent’s cadence of speaking.] He weaves his sentences... together like this. There’s a very sing-song-y cadence.
KEITH: Really?
AUSTIN: There is. That’s what he does, but the thing is he did say, “We all love your show.” Like he did say that very early in the exchange, so. [Keith laughs] Alright.
KEITH: That probably helped. That’s probably why I like him so much.
AUSTIN: Yeah, definitely. Um… So, you’ve been doing things with ships and boats?
KEITH: Ships, boats, ocean stuff, pirate stuff, um…
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Brighton Lineage. Brighton Lineage, so— So, just to get you up to speed in terms of where we are at, in terms of… the like… the culture of the Rogue Wave, which the Brighton Lineage was part of, and where things are in the Quire System regarding this crew, um… there is a planet, uh, that is an ocean planet, because we are deep in like, the Star Wars-ification of Twilight Mirage, in which planets have—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Like, not every planet is like this, but there is definitely “Oh, this is the ocean planet. This is the desert world.” [Keith laughs] And this is definitely the ocean planet, and it is run by the Rogue Wave. The Rogue Wave is a— a sort of a… um… a collection of… uh… it’s kind of like a pirate republic, I guess.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right?
KEITH: It’s also an indie rock band from California that I liked in high school.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Oh, one hundred percent. [laughing] It is actually that.
KEITH [overlapping]: Legit no. It literally is.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Is it literally that? Okay, good.
KEITH [overlapping]: It literally is a band from that I liked in high school was called World Without End.
AUSTIN: Oh, that’s good. Perfect. So, I think the name of that planet is Brighton, because one of the last things Gig did before dealing with the holiday special was produce an episode of the show, um, that kind of hyped up the— New Independence and— and the Brighton family as being… a sort of potential resort home of— on— in the oceans of Quire. And I think that just like very organically made a lot of people want to go there. Um… the other thing is The Rogue Wave, or sorry Brighton, the planet, um, I again I think that the just… simple propaganda made people start calling it Brighton, you know?
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: The Brighton family was like, “Let’s just call this place Brighton. Like, I don’t know. It doesn’t have a name; it’s not Quire anymore. It’s Brighton now.” Um.
KEITH: Mhm.
AUSTIN: The Brighton family is part of The Rogue Wave, which is this big collection of independent lineages and kind of pirate families, which can be blood related or— but don’t have to be. Um… and… they’ve kind of splintered into a couple of different major groups. Uh, the biggest one is— or the most— the most wealthy one at this point is the Brighton Lineage and its allies um, which are… very interested in keeping the world, uh, as a sort of ambassadorial center for different factions. Um, you know, the— you probably remember this from the holiday special that the— that y’all negotiated to have a kind of a split of control over the planets?
KEITH: Yeah, yeah. The character that I played misremembered how many…
AUSTIN: Yes.
KEITH [overlapping]: —planets there were to split—
AUSTIN: Yes.
KEITH: —and thought they were getting a better deal, but actually—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: But actually—
KEITH [overlapping]: —they went 50-50. [laughing]
AUSTIN: Yes. Well, and so here’s the thing is both sides, both the Divine— now the Divine Free States, formerly the Divine Fleet, and the— uh— the, the New Earth Hegemony both just assumed in that conversation that it’d be like, “Okay, well these are our four worlds, and these are your four worlds” or whatever it would be, and like that didn’t anticipate that some people on the planets might just be like, “Nah.” And The Rogue Wave are extremely like, “Nah.” Brighton— the Brighton Lineage is the closest to wanting that relationship.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: But even they are in a position where they can’t seem weak for fear of— of looking like an easy target. Um, and also having the Divine Free States, like, military helps keep them in power to some degree. But there is this— the former leadership uh… which is a— a... a group, um— that I don’t have a full name for what this other unique group is called, but they’re— they are stationed out of a port called Port ⸢Will⸣, named after ⸢Will⸣, the captain uh… of— of, like, the— the Captain King, or whatever, of The Rogue Wave, um, who is a former excerpt of uh... The Tides of Harmony.
Um, and that— that person has been like, “No. We do not want to be ruled by the Divine Free States, and in fact, we are going to become space pi— like, traditional-ass space pirates.” Uh, and so The Rogue Wave planet, Brighton, is kind of split between these forces right now. One of which is very friendly, in— in the Brighton Lineage, and one of which is extremely unfriendly, in— in the crew of Captain ⸢Will⸣. Um… I’m gonna pull up the notes. We actually just did a— a whole… The— the last um... Tips at the Table, we built The Rogue Wave out as if it was a Dungeon World front.
KEITH: Ooo.
AUSTIN: And we also didn’t show the hand of like, what the world would be like after the holiday special, so we just pretended that it was just… the southern half of Quire where the ocean was.
KEITH: [laughing] Yeah.
AUSTIN: So, surprise people; it’s a whole planet now!
KEITH: It’s a whole planet now, sorry.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: So, I’m guessing Gig has been dealing with mostly with the Brighton Lineage then, right?
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: So, what has— what has he been doing with them? As they kind of—
KEITH [overlapping]: Uh…
AUSTIN: — struggled to keep— to become the focus of this whole league of five hundred captains?
KEITH: You know, I think that Gig is not a hundred percent concerned with… actually maintaining Divine Free States ownership over this planet.
AUSTIN: Sure.
KEITH: But is concern— is concerned with like— like. “Well, I think my buddy Kent should be… like in charge.” [laughs lightly]
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: So, I th— uh—
[Both laughing]
AUSTIN: Well, like, and part of that—
KEITH [overlapping]: So, I th—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Is— is part of that like, “This is my buddy,” or is part of that also “Here is what they’ve done that’s good.”
KEITH: Yeah, I think it’s that— I think that, like— I think that I like... I think that I like va— va— like, vacation world, you know?
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Mhm, mhm.
KEITH: Like, I like that like, “Hey, this is a spa. You can come— you can hang out. You can go— you can have— you can spend some time on a beach bungalow, or on like a— you can go on a pontoon. Or you can take a tour of the giant centipede robot.”
AUSTIN: Right, which is still their capital, by the way. Like.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Ha— have they changed that at all, do you think? Do you think that they’re, like, middle of a like a big construction project to slowly replace the body of Independence with… like a big hotel cons— like structure, or…?
KEITH: I would like to see them build the hotel into the carcass—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Okay.
KEITH: —of the divine. I think that that the giant centipede robot carcass—
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: —is a big selling point for a lot of people.
AUSTIN: Okay, okay.
KEITH: I think if you’re not the flowers and uh— [amusedly mocking self] flowers? If you’re not the beach and bungalow type of person—
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: —you might be the centipede-hotel kind of person. [laughs]
AUSTIN: [amused] Well, it’s history, right? You know, everyone needs history.
KEITH [overlapping]: It’s history; it’s something for everybody.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Um… And it’s— it’s also— I think it’s really intimidating.
AUSTIN: Yeah, sure.
KEITH [overlapping]: For— for uh… for sort of less friendly factions of The Rogue Wave.
AUSTIN: Right, right.
KEITH: So I think the like— my official— I think my slash Gig’s official position is like, “Brighton is part of the Divine Free States, and if it secedes then whatever, but as long as— as Kent is there making it an okay place for people to go to.”
AUSTIN: Sure, then that’s good.
KEITH [overlapping]: You know.
AUSTIN: That’s as much as you need. You don’t need… It to be lock-step with the— with the Free States.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: Alright cool, I like that a lot. So, what have you been doing to help out there? I mean I think it’s already super interesting that Gig doesn’t just rush to the Mandati world where you would help them rebuild Gumption, and you’re more like “This is my friend. I wanna help my friend.” So, how do you help people on Brighton?
KEITH: Um…
AUSTIN: Are you doing—
KEITH [overlapping]: I think it’s sort of…
AUSTIN: Go ahead.
KEITH: If I can go back to Star Wars, I think it’s like—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Always.
KEITH: [chuckles] Yeah, it’s I think it’s like— I think it’s like Empire Strikes Back slash Return of the Jedi, where you have characters that were just characters that have now just become, like generals for the military— like, it’s like—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Sure.
KEITH [overlapping]: —”Oh, this person that was incidentally in this spot is now deeply entwined in rebellion politics and has been awarded a station.”
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Um… And I— and I think that it’s— that it’s like… “Well, Gig helped out, and he’s close, so he gets to be our PR guy.” [laughs]
AUSTIN: [amused] Right. So, is that what it is? It is definitely like doing more broadcasts about Brighton and New Independence.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: And like, and all of the cool things. And I mean we also—
KEITH: Yeah, I— I don’t think it’s actually PR. I think I want to get what I said to you—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: —a while ago. I said, “I really like the idea of Kent Brighton having his family repping a planet, but no one likes them. [Austin laughs] And I like the idea of being with him while he’s dealing with it.” Almost like I don’t want to be doing PR for the Brighton family, but I definitely want someone somewhere to be like, “Oh, Gig is working on the Brighton brand.”
AUSTIN: Right, right, right, right.
KEITH: That’s the— So, I don’t think I’m doing commercials for Brighton, but I do think I’m having meetings and doing like— like, “sittin’ on the beach, drinking some Brighton ground juice!”
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: Like, “What’s up?”
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Like, “If you’re in the area, come like— come hang out. We’re doing impromptu meetup at the—”
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right.
KEITH: “—steak shack.”
AUSTIN: [laughing] The other thing that we brought up that like goes kind of hand in hand with that, with just kind of being around is— this is actually an Ali idea, which I fucking loved— was… um… God, where… where did I put it? Now I’m— we’re— We have to go back from— Oh, oh, there it is. It’s— it’s, “What if you go from being the Dirty Jobs guy—” cause previously you kind of pitched Gig as like… someone who would do Dirty Jobs, but not an asshole? [amused] Like, what if the Dirty— what if Dirty Jobs—
KEITH [overlapping]: Right. Yeah, what if I was Dirty Jobs, but—
AUSTIN: —was just like Reality TV shows.
KEITH: What’s that guy’s name? He’s the worst.
AUSTIN: He’s the worst. He’s terrible. I don’t like him.
KEITH [overlapping]: I fuck— He’s the actual worst guy.
AUSTIN: Where like, instead of being judgy and shitty, you— Mike Rowe! Mike Rowe is terrible.
KEITH: Mike Rowe, ah what an— I used to like him before I knew he was an asshole.
AUSTIN: Mike Rowe, if you listen, and you want us to like— like us— or you want us to like you—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Eeehhhh… Check out the Patreon.
KEITH: When I was fifteen, I thought your show was cool, and then you were the actual, like, worst guy.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Who doesn’t believe in minimum wage.
AUSTIN: Right, and so the— [laugh sighs at Keith’s comment] Ugh, fuck! Ugh, ugh.
KEITH [overlapping]: I know, he’s the worst. He’s so bad.
AUSTIN: Ugh. So, what if you go from that to doing, like, YouTube style how-to videos, where it’s not just… “Oh, um, the Brighton Lineage is dope. We’re going to have a meetup.” Or not— it’s definitely not “Here is a commercial for the Brighton Lineage,” but—
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —it is like, “I’m going to show you guys today how to make a cafeteria with the very basic amount of supplies,” or something like that.
KEITH: Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: That style of thing.
KEITH: I love that.
AUSTIN: Today— or what— what I wrote was like, “You go from ‘Here’s how these people do their jobs’ to ‘Today we’re going to build a new kitchen that can serve food for up to 400 people in an hour.’”
KEITH: [overlapping] I love it. Yes. I love it.
AUSTIN: And that is like, part of why you’re Mechanic, right? Is like, you’ve gone from being—
KEITH [overlapping]: “Here’s how to build a robot that can give stitches.”
AUSTIN: Right, exactly. Because those are things you need.
KEITH [overlapping]: “Out of your toaster and your protocol droid.”
AUSTIN: [laughs] Right, exactly. Like, you need a robot who can stitch things sometimes.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Like, and especially as more people arrive, there are new— there are more colonists than before. There are, like, people coming in from the New Earth Hegemony who still need to know this stuff, you know what I mean?
KEITH: Uh-huh.
AUSTIN: Like, you might be in a weird Cold War with them, but like… That doesn’t mean that you don’t want them to have kitchens.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Or plumbing that works.
KEITH [overlapping]: And then the other— the other half of this is like, you know who has access to all of these videos? Is the rest of The Rogue Wave—
AUSTIN: Right. [overlapped] Right.
KEITH: —who are out doing their own thing. Like, they’re there, like, you know, planning on how to wrest control from the Brighton family, and they’re like, “Man, we really need a kitchen that can feed 400 people in an hour.”
AUSTIN: [laughing] Right, exactly! Like, that’s the thing is that you might be doing— what you’re— what you’re showing off is “Hey, look. The Brighton family’s got it, because we’re building it. We’re building with our own two hands.”
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: But also, like, if the wind changes, it’s not like you’ll be a, you know, a traitor on the block. You’ll be a well— a well liked and needed resource.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: I mean you’re a fixer; you make things. Um, so here’s a question: what’s a thing— it’s— let’s say it’s eleven months and a couple weeks into— or it’s eleven months even into the— after the miracle—
KEITH [overlapping]: Forty-eight weeks total.
AUSTIN: Forty-eight weeks total, uh, [laughs] after the Miracle of The Mirage. We’re coming up on the one year anniversary. What’s a thing that The Rogue Wave, or that the Brighton Lineage, is building in New Independence that you’re helping with?
KEITH: [sighing] Um…
AUSTIN: It can be whatever.
KEITH [overlapping]: Do I have to pick one thing, or can I pick two things?
AUSTIN: Yeah, let’s pick… Um, you can pick— pick two things, and we’ll pick the one that you’re doing this moment.
KEITH: Okay. [overlapped] My two things—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Unless they’re connected, in which case that’s funny.
KEITH: They’re not connected.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: Because one of them is a school, and then one of them is an ice skating rink.
AUSTIN: [laughing] I mean that— you could do that. You could do the ice skating rink in the school. That’s not too— Or like, connected to a school, you know?
KEITH: Oh yeah, and then we can be like, “Well, we’re— you know, like, the Brighton family invites other factions of The Rogue Wave to build their own skating rinks so that we can have ice skating competitions.”
AUSTIN: Well, this is the thing that’s— the thing that’s interesting here is like…
KEITH: “Here’s how to do it.”
AUSTIN: The thing that’s like— not just “Here’s how to do it” is that it’s like— the ice skating— the rink is whatever. It’s okay to build a section of— The thing that you— it sounds like you figured out though is… this is a tropical world, how did you build an ice skating rink on a tropical world? So... like, let’s just have that sequence, right? So, I imagine— what— what’s it look like? What’s this— what’s Gig and— uh, we want to put Kent there with you as just like… Kent and a bunch of little kids who are like, eager to look out on the… the final— the final steps haven’t been made yet, but they’re in their like, skating gear already. They’re all getting ready to go out on the ice, and like, they’ve never done it before, so they’re all nervous.
KEITH [overlapping]: Is this like a ribbon cutting ceremony?
AUSTIN: It’s— it’s like a ribbon cutting ceremony, but instead of a ribbon being cut, you’re putting the final touches on this long term project.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: So, what does, what’s— what’s the last step, and— and how do you explain it? This— I think Kent shows up, and he’s like... um ,
AUSTIN (as Kent): Gig, thank you so much for taking the lead on this, the Brighton— Brighton Lineage’s New Independence’s first ever ice skating rink. Tell us, wh— wha— [stammers] what will this provide for the great citizens of Brighton?
KEITH (as Gig): Okay, so, number one, ice skating is super fun. You put blades on your feet, and you glide right along the ice. It’s very cool. The trick is, it’s super, super warm here. Very balmy. Beautiful, beautiful weather. But how do you get it—
AUSTIN (as Kent): It’s gorgeous— it’s gorgeous!
KEITH (as Gig): It’s gorgeous. How do you get an outdoor ice skating rink in a balmy tropical location? And I’ll tell you how.
AUSTIN: All the kids go— all the kids go at once,
AUSTIN (as kids in unison): I don’t know. Gig! How?
AUSTIN: Because that’s, like, part of the show.
KEITH (as Gig) [overlapping]: Here’s how!
AUSTIN [overlapping]: [laughing] Yeah…
KEITH (as Gig): Here’s how!
KEITH: And the camera pans over to me, like, at the rink, like, bending down.
KEITH (as Gig): The ti— Everything at the level of the—
KEITH: Cause right now it’s a pool; it’s not— there’s no ice. It’s a pool.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh… Right, right, right!
KEITH (as Gig) [overlapping]: Uh… Everything at the level of the water and below is an entirely different atmosphere.
AUSTIN (as crowd mumble): Oh. [mumble mumble] Atmosphere.
KEITH (as Gig): Yeah! Totally new climate under there! And so, when I flip this switch—
KEITH: And there’s a big oversized switch. I think it doesn’t even need to be that big, but it’s de— it’s definitely for, like, visual purposes.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Uh-huh
KEITH [overlapping]: And it’s this big switch.
KEITH (as Gig): You flip this switch, and boom! Right now the atmosphere for where the ice is? Super cold. It’s like negative a hundred degrees.
AUSTIN: Uh, so, I think we should do the repair roll! I think this is it. This is… We have to see if this worked or not, right? Um…
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah. [quietly] This would be really embarrassing—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: So, your repair is two, right?
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Uh… Oh, your rig. Sorry, not repair rig. Your rig roll is two.
KEITH [overlapping]: Uh, uh… Oh wait, it’s… Rig… Rig is— Yeah.
AUSTIN: Um, uh… and one thing to know is that you have an ability that gives you an extra plus one to the clock you’re filling in. I’m gonna… I’m just gonna, for the sake of this, I’m gonna say that this is an eight-step clock that you’ve already filled in six things on. So, I’m gonna draw that real quick here.
KEITH [overlapping]: Okay.
AUSTIN: Bop, bop. This is a really ugly clock. There we go. One, two, three, four, five, six. [Keith laughs] So, you need to fill in two more steps. It’s— I draw— People listening at home—
KEITH [overlapping]: That looks like a pizza someone had to cut at home.
AUSTIN: [laughing] And they did not have a pizza cutter. They had a knife.
KEITH [overlapping]: No, they didn’t. They had like a… Yeah, they had a butter— yeah, butter knife.
AUSTIN: It actually looks like they had a paper cutter and also could not judge... [Keith laughs] And they did the first— the first one that they drew was the one that they thought was fifty percent down the middle and was one hundred percent like—
KEITH [overlapping]: No, but it’s actually—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Like seventy percent.
KEITH [overlapping]: Yeah.
AUSTIN [overlapping]: So, it’s like, “Oh, this is just gonna be fucked. This is just gonna be fucked.” [laughs]
KEITH: Yeah. Well, you can— you can make one side of the pizza really long and thin—
AUSTIN [overlapping]: Right.
KEITH: And the other side really fat and short, and then you mess up the second cut, too.
AUSTIN: And then the second cut is like “Op! Mm, no.”
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: And in fact, there’s an extra little piece in the middle that’s just a little triangle piece. [Keith laughs] Oh god, bad pizza. This is—
KEITH [overlapping]: Oh yeah.
AUSTIN: That’s next up on Gig’s list of things.
[End of previous transcriber ~47:06]
KEITH: Yeah, how to make really good pizza. Really good Gumption’s Gambit style pizza.
AUSTIN: Yes.
KEITH: The pizza capital of the Divine Fleet.
AUSTIN: Alright. So, to do this roll— to do this rig, what you need to do is it's— it's— I'm gonna say that this is risky standard. And you know what? Let me just since— You've never played Blades, right? [overlapped] This is new?
KEITH: No. I had read the book earlier cause I thought I was gonna play Blades.
AUSTIN: Right, right, right. So, the basics of how it works— I mean, it's pretty straightforward. The first thing that actually happens is I should not have said this sounds like rig. What— what should have happened is you say the outcome you want and then tell me what the— which to me sounds like the outcome is... there's ice?
KEITH: A beautiful—
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: —freshly frozen ice skating rink ready to be Zamboni’d by my friend Kent Brighton.
AUSTIN: Gotcha. Most of Kent's already getting ready to get into the Zamboni.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Then, two, you decide the action rating. The player chooses which action rating to roll following from what their character is doing on screen, which— which is up to you. Like, you could now say, “And I'm using Hack.” And I’d be like, “Oh, okay. If you say so.”
KEITH: [laughs] Nah, I'm saying rig.
AUSTIN: Okay. So then, I set the position, and the positions are controlled, risky or desperate. Controlled is you're set up for success, you're exploiting a dominant advantage. Risky is you go head to head, you're acting under duress, you're taking a chance. And desperate is you're overreaching, you're in real trouble, a very dangerous maneuver. I think this is controlled. I think there's some risk. Otherwise, we wouldn't be rolling an action roll, we'd be rolling a different type of roll. Which is, like, a fortune roll. Which is just, like, “How well does it do?” But there's some risk here.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Like, do you make the ice or not? Your friend is gonna have to drive on this thing. So.
KEITH: Yeah, and I do like the idea that, like, Gig didn’t test this out.
AUSTIN: Right. Me, too.
KEITH: Cause he's— that's just— he just was like, “Yeah, I finished it. And so now it'll work.”
AUSTIN: Right. Exactly. And then, I set the effect level. So, three is its positioning, which I’m gonna say is— is controlled. Four is the effect level, which is either limited, standard, or great. I'm gonna say it's standard. I think this is just, like, you've done the job. And then you would add bonus dice. If you had assistance, if you pushed yourself and took stress damage, you could add additional— an additional die to your roll. You can accept a devil's bargain, which— which also could give you additional stress. It's either you push yourself or you take a devil's bargain. Devil’s bargains are things like, right now I could say, like, “Yeah, you do it, but I advance a clock.” Or like, “Yeah, I do it— Yeah, you can do it, but you have to give up a piece of gear,” or something like that.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Not permanently, but for the rest of this game or whatever. And the third thing would be you could spend a gambit, which is a special currency in— in Scum and Villainy. But you don't have any gambit cause you have a ship yet. So—
KEITH: Yeah, I— I kind of feel like I shouldn't take any of those extra dice because it feels like there's no stakes, and I would be just grabbing dice.
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally. Alright. So— so 2d6. Roll 2d6, and we take— take the high roll. What you're looking for here is a four, five, or six.
KEITH: I thought I had three.
AUSTIN: Uh, no you have two, but you're gonna fill in an extra thing no matter what you roll here.
KEITH: Oh, okay.
AUSTIN: Because of your move. Your move lets you fill in one additional part of this clock.
KEITH: Aw, man, I'm actually pretty nervous.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
KEITH: I didn't expect to be nervous about—
AUSTIN: [interjecting] About this bullshit—
KEITH: —building this nice ice skating rink.
AUSTIN: It turns out Roll20 is not great.
KEITH: Oh, I just said 2d6. Great.
AUSTIN: [laughs hard] That's how nervous you are. Is you just chatted 2d6.
KEITH: [groans] Ugh, boy
AUSTIN: That's a six! No, that’s a six. That's good. So— so this— in this system—
KEITH: Oh.
AUSTIN: —you don’t add them together, you take the highest. So, you rolled a six and a one.
KEITH: Oh, great. Excellent.
AUSTIN: A six is you do it. In fact, on a control, you did—
KEITH: I do it.
AUSTIN: Yeah, you do it. There's no— you don't lose anything. There's nothing— nothing goes bad. So, in this case, I will fill— you would fill in, like, a number of of clock slices. I forget how many on a six. I have to look it up. But it's— it's more than enough for this cause you only have two more to fill in.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: So— so, tell me what happens.
KEITH: Okay. So, I think that you start to see the initial cracks of go— of ice start to form on the top, and it sort of spreads outward from the center, and then you can see it freezing downward, also.
AUSTIN: Ooo.
KEITH: And bas— like, basically everything from like a millimeter above where the ice freezes down is like an entirely different atmosphere where it's freezing cold.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: And it basically instantly freezes this ice— or this water into ice. And it will, you know— it’ll just stay that way. And then uh— and then Kent sees it starting to freeze, and he revs up the Zamboni. It's a rev-up Zamboni.
AUSTIN: [amused] Uh huh.
KEITH: A nice, nice rev-up Zamboni. I got a how-to video if you need a Zamboni for your ice rink.
Austin (as KENT): It needs to rev. That's one of the things I need it for, was I need it to rev like a cool motorcycle.
Keith (as GIG): I can do that, and I have a three step video on my channel. You can check it out, and if you don't use anything, comment, and I will get back at you.
Austin (as KENT): Thank you again, Gig.
AUSTIN: And then turns the handle and just zoom—
Austin (as KENT): Zamboni!
AUSTIN: [laughing] And he starts to Zamboni the ice.
KEITH: [laughing] Wait, he says Zamboni?
AUSTIN: Yeah, he goes,
Austin (as KENT): Zzzz— Zamboni.
KEITH: Zamboni!!
AUSTIN: And then he starts driving, and the kids and like,
Austin (as THE KIDS): Yeah!!! Zamboni!! [Keith laughs]
AUSTIN: Everyone is taken! Like, this is a weird thing. You've made ice from water—
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: —in a planet covered in water. So, this is cool as hell.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Also, a planet where the water might be alive, we figured out recently. But this water seems to be doing what you wanted it to, which—
KEITH: Yeah, yeah.
AUSTIN: —makes it especially cool. And so, I think the kids are cheering, and then we get like a— we get, like, a slow cut. We get, like, a slow fade out maybe, and then it comes back up, and the kids are all ice skating and, like, falling on their butts. And they're trying, and maybe there are some— some off-worlders who have ice skated before, who are helping the kids to ice skate. And, like, teaching them how to do it. And Gig is just watching. And then from behind him, like— I imagine there’s a concession stand here, too. Which doesn't, you know— I don’t know if it makes any sense. We built that in a previous video. You built a concession stand.
KEITH: Yeah. Every— Hey, every ice skating rink I've went to had a concession stand.
AUSTIN: Perfect. Well, this one serves iced hot chocolate cause it's so hot outside, and uh—
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Cascara can—
KEITH: Can I—
AUSTIN: Go ahead.
KEITH: I have one thing that has to serve, and that is—
AUSTIN: Absolutely.
KEITH: —Dots gummies.
AUSTIN: Mm, mhm.
KEITH: [laughs] Was my— that was my— my winter treat was going ice skating and getting a hot chocolate and gum— and Dots. It was the only ever time I ever had Dots was at the ice skating rink. [Austin stammers] I do not know why.
AUSTIN: I have only ever had Dots like once ever, and I think it was at Space Camp, which is... a weird thing to say.
KEITH: What a weird—
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: It's very weird. At Space Camp, I thought they’d give you, like, freeze dried ice cream.
AUSTIN: They also had freeze dried ice cream, but they also had—
KEITH: Dope.
AUSTIN: Oh wait, wait, wait, not Dots. Uh, are Dippin’ Dots the same thing? [overlapped] Or it’s different.
KEITH: No, no. Dippin’ Dots are the ice cream of the future. Dots—
AUSTIN: Right, which is why it was at Space Camp.
KEITH: Right. Exactly. Dots is— That— that is flash frozen ice cream.
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH: Dots is just like a gummy candy. They’re like—
AUSTIN: Oh, those are just those little dots. I've had Dots. [overlapped] I've had Dots plenty of times.
KEITH: Yeah. Yeah. They're— Yeah. Yeah. They're just shaped— they're shaped, like, um— They’re shaped like bullets kind of. [amused] I don't even know what that shape is.
AUSTIN: Yeah. They’re like little— They’re like little um... Yeah, what are those shapes? I know what you mean. I know exactly what you mean.
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Dots can—
KEITH: It’s fun and the bottom is a dome. It's like a dome- shaped gummy candy.
AUSTIN: It’s like a half-dome— What's that shape called? It’s like a— Is it just a gumdrop shape?
KEITH: No. Cause gum— I think— What's a gumdrop shape?
AUSTIN: I think a gumdrop is the same thing.
KEITH: I think it’s shaped different than a gumdrop. Oh no, it is shape— It's just a gumdrop shape.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: It's a gumdrop. They're much fruitier and sweeter than gumdrops, and they don't have, like, the sugar on the outside.
AUSTIN: Right. Totally.
KEITH: If you’ve never had a Dot before.
AUSTIN: That's totally right. Alright. Shaped like a narrow dome. Alright. So yeah, they definitely have that. So, I think what you get is Cascara, who is the— the former commander of The Beloved, rolls over to you in her wheelchair with two cups of iced hot chocolate and a little— a little— How do they serve the Dots gummy candies? Is it in a box, or is it, like— what's the— ?
KEITH: Collectable dispensers.
AUSTIN: Collectible dispensers. What do the dispensers look like?
KEITH: This one has— one of them is Independence.
AUSTIN: [amused] Okay. Like old Independence. The centipede Independence. Not— not new— Not the new bad Independence.
KEITH: Yeah, the— Yeah, centipede. Yes, exactly. Centipede Independence. Several of them are sort of tropical ocean creatures.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: And then one of them is the Brighton family crest.
AUSTIN: Okay. Are these like Pez dispensers basically?
KEITH: That’s what I’m thinking of is Pez dispensers.
AUSTIN: Okay. But not in that necessarily form factor. Like, they have different form factors?
KEITH: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: They have to be a— Yeah, to hold the Dots. The Dots, they get— they’re— they're gummies so they get stuck together.
AUSTIN: Okay. Right, of course. So, it has to be like a little bit of a— there's like a thing that disconnects them or something. [overlapped] I don’t know.
KEITH: Right. Exactly.
AUSTIN: Anyway, Cascara rolls over to you. And I don't know that you know her super well. Right? Like, you've never really— You’ve talked to her once. Twice maybe, right?
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: I guess during— That’s not true. I guess during the—
KEITH: [quietly] Oh.
AUSTIN: —the evacuation game you worked with her a few times.
KEITH: That's true. Can I go back to—?
AUSTIN: Yeah. A hundred percent.
KEITH: Okay. Here's what these dispensers are.
AUSTIN: Please.
KEITH: You push a button, and it shoots one a couple of feet of the air, and you catch it in your mouth.
AUSTIN: Oh, Okay.
KEITH: It's designed to shoot it a little bit.
AUSTIN: [crosstalking] Does it know if you— if you caught—
KEITH: [crosstalking] And then you can shoot them at each other.
AUSTIN: —and then it lights up or something if you catch it in your mouth?
KEITH: Oh, that’d be great— Oh, yeah.
AUSTIN: Like, you know what I mean?
KEITH: And it makes a little, like, [musical beeping foley] “Do-do-do— Do-do!”
AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. A hundred percent.
KEITH: So, it’s a game— it's a collectible dispenser game.
AUSTIN: Yes. So, I think Cascara rolls over to you, and the reason, you know, someone is behind you is because you hear it go, [same musical foley] “Do-do-do— Do-do.” [Keith laughs] Because she has tossed one up in the air and caught it in her own mouth. Then you turn around and there's— there's Cascara who, the last time you saw, had disappeared with the ship from The Beloved, like, behind another ship and never saw her again. And she says,
Austin (as CASCARA): Gig Kephart. Building ice skating rinks now, huh?
Keith (as GIG): Yeah— yeah. Hey— Hi!
Austin (as CASCARA): Do you want one of these?
AUSTIN: And hands you an iced hot chocolate and then, like, aims her— her Dot dispenser at you?
Keith (as GIG): Oh, I'm really good at this. I used to be able to shoot two up in the air and catch them simultaneously.
Austin (as CASCARA): Used to?
Keith (as GIG): I—
AUSTIN: And then she just fired two up in the air real quick.
KEITH: Oh, man. Can I roll for this?
AUSTIN: [amused; laughing] Yeah, yeah, totally. This is a fortune roll. This is— there's no risk here, right?
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: So, let's do uh…. God, what would this even be…?
KEITH: Scramble?
AUSTIN: Scramble. Yeah. You have a 1d6 in that, right?
KEITH: I have a 1d6 in that, yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah, roll that 1d6.
KEITH: One.
AUSTIN: That's a one! Bah-bah! [laughs] What happens?
KEITH: [laughing] It’s been a— Listen, it’s been a really long time. One hits my eye; one hits my chin.
AUSTIN: [amused] Yeah.
KEITH: And I just, like, fall to the ground.
AUSTIN: No, they have to fall into your hot chocolate, right? [Keith laughs] They have to fall into the iced hot chocolate.
KEITH: Oh. And then I just— I just sip them out. I just sip them out.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: I’m like,
Keith (as GIG): It's just as good.
AUSTIN: And she says like,
Austin (as CASCARA): Well, I'm not here for— I'm not trying to recruit you because of your— your Dot catching skills, thankfully. You just need to get—
Keith (as GIG): [interjecting] I’ll practice.
Austin (as CASCARA): Oh, well, the good news is I'm gonna give you lots of— lots of opportunities to practice with agility and— and scrambling and all of the rest of the sort of skills that have been going to waste here. Not to waste. That's unfair. That's unfair. It's a nice ice skating rink, and I saw the cafeteria and the—
Keith (as GIG): School? Whole school?
Austin (as CASCARA): The whole school. Are these dispensers your design to?
Keith (as GIG): Mostly, yeah.
Austin (as CASCARA): Mostly. They're good.
Keith (as GIG): Someone else wrote the song.
Austin (as CASCARA): Do-do-do-do, okay, yeah.
Keith (as GIG): Kent wrote the song.
Austin (as CASCARA): I didn't know he made songs.
Keith (as GIG): [laughs] This is his first go at it, but I thought it worked.
Austin (as CASCARA): It works. It's not that I think that this work is unimportant, it's that we… we’re working on something bigger. A longer term project, more than just a couple of weeks. It might take— it might take years, but we need someone to get their hands dirty and to film it. To show people what we're trying to do.
Keith (as GIG): Hm. Film it. Why film it?
Austin (as CASCARA): For the last year, you have done the Brighton lineage a great deal of service, whether you meant to or not. People are flocking here because you've shown that this family wants the best for, not only themselves, but for others. If I'm being honest Gig, I think it's a pretty naive understanding of what the best is. But.. I don't doubt their or your... genuine goodwill. The reason you film something is so that people can see... what you— what you've done.
Austin (as CASCARA continued): And we're trying to do good things. It's not just me. It's not just the Cadent, who I represent. Or…
AUSTIN: And she— she, like, laughs for a second.
Austin (as CASCARA): Declan’s Corrective, of all people. It is some of your— your old friends, too.
Keith (as GIG): It's— it's fun here.
Austin (as CASCARA): We want it to be fun everywhere. I think that's it, really. It's fun here.
Keith (as GIG): Okay.
Austin (as CASCARA): And it's great that it's fun here. A lot of people can't make it here. It's one of the reasons why I like your— your DIY videos is when they get shipped around the Mirage, people on other planets, people on Mirrorlock[2], where it's— the whole planet is a disaster. They learn how to build sinks that work. They know how to make toys now. They know how to make a bar that hovers off the ground that you can push around a town so that even if you don't have enough pubs to have a pub crawl, you can still have a pub crawl. And that's all thanks to you. [Keith/Gig laughs] We want to do the same thing. We're putting together a team of fixers, of people who can show up places and help people. And we need people to know that when we show up, we’re genuine. We can be trusted. And that even if we don't have the badge of the local magistrate, we represent justice and goodness and.... determination. And the way you let people know that is... you show ‘em a video. I don't need a yes now.
Keith (as GIG): That’s a pretty... Oh, okay.
Austin (as CASCARA): But I...
Keith (as GIG): I was gonna— I was gonna.
Austin (as CASCARA): Well, if you're gonna give me a yes, then I can go back. That’s gonna—
Keith (as GIG): I was gonna give you a yes. Yeah. No, you sold me. That was a good pitch. At first I was like, this is— No. This is… but then—
Austin (as CASCARA): I try to be honest.
Keith (as GIG): Yeah.
Austin (as CASCARA): I could have given you a good pitch right away, but I wanted to be clear that it was, again, genuine. I could have come in and just tried to brown nose you, but that's not honest.
Keith (as GIG): No.
Austin (as CASCARA): Come with me in the next couple of days, or you could just meet me there. Take a— take a transport ship to Seneschal. We're meeting up, and we'll go for more details there. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun. [pauses] I hope.
Keith (as GIG): Okay. Yeah.
Austin (as CASCARA): Do you— do you need anything? Do you any projects you need to finish before you leave? Do you need the extra resources?
Keith (as GIG): Hm… Do I have any projects? See, here's the thing. The projects, they come up and get done so fast.
Austin (as CASCARA): You're very efficient.
Keith (as GIG): We started this ice skating rink, like two weeks ago, and I had the idea, like, the day before that. [laughs lightly]
Austin (as CASCARA): How did you come up with the idea of an ice skating rink on a tropical world?
Keith (as GIG): I loved— I love ice skating, so I just wanted to do it.
Austin (as CASCARA): How do you maintain that attitude, Gig? That— people say “can do” attitude? And they say it with sarcasm mostly these days.
[Jack de Quidt’s “The Mechanic” begins playing]
Austin (as CASCARA): But to go from, “I had this idea on a whim” to “I'm going to make the world the way I wanted to be.” How do you do it?
Keith (as GIG): Um, at the end, you get an ice skating rink.
Austin (as CASCARA): [lightly laughs] Fair enough.
[music plays out to finish]
[1] The character’s name is actually Aubrey.
[2] Misspoken; should be Moonlock.