Session Zero Heroes - A TTRPG Actual Play Podcast
Speaker A: Welcome to Sorbet City News. I'm lead anchor Jerry Garcia. Breaking news. Dilly Dunker's, renowned ice cream maker and leader of one of the most globally recognized brands, has announced his retirement. With the nearing of his company's 50th anniversary comes an even bigger announcement. He's planning a final farewell and passing the company on to one lucky kid. Who will that kid be? Well, that's the news story we will be adamantly following in this coming day. In a seemingly revolutionary PR move, the Ice Cream Satisfactory has packaged five silver coins into randomly chosen Dilly Dunkers frozen treats distributed throughout stores and restaurants in Sorbet City. Any child or teen who finds a silver coin is admitted not only a once in a lifetime tour of the Dillydunkas factory, but also has a chance at being the lucky recipient of the entire corporation all assets and set in a place of leadership to manage all future endeavors of the ice cream empire. Who will the lucky five be? And which one will quickly become the richest kid in the world overnight? Well, that remains to be seen, but when it is revealed, you know, you'll hear it here at SCN. I'm Jerry Garcia. Now on to the weather.
Speaker B: Alright everybody. Welcome to another episode of Session Zero Heroes. We are doing a one shot that is vaguely inspired by uh, Willy Wonka in the Chocolate factory and kind of celebration of the Wonka prequel movie that's coming out, um, probably about at the same time as these episodes are being released. Once again, welcome. I'm Skyler, usually the dungeon master. We did do one, uh, one shot so far with Cameron, who's here with me here in the studio. But I'm going to go through everybody else and kind of introduce them, uh, and then have them introduce their characters. We'll be playing kids on bikes today, uh, which is a fun, very simple system for a kind of like, usually it's used for kind of like a Stranger Things feel, um, of things. But right now we're using it for my homebrew campaign that I've written called Dilly Dunkers Ice Cream Satisfactory. Um, uh, we can start on my right with Cameron. Cameron, you've uh, been on the show a few times. Pretty much every session or anything that we've done, you've probably been on it.
Speaker C: People are probably sick of me by now.
Speaker B: That's true. They're like this guy again. Um, well, welcome back to another show. Um, tell us a little bit about the character you're going to be playing.
Speaker C: My character's name is Julian Partner. He is a fresh teen. 13 fresh teen. Fresh Teen just became a teenager just a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker B: Sounds like a compliment, dude. You're a fresh teen?
Speaker C: Yeah, that's what his parents tell him. So um, his big trait is he's kind of dorky. And by kind I mean he's very dorky. He, uh, just hangs around at the school playing checkers and chess in both clubs. That he started. Uh, and for, uh, the most part, what he does is he walks around his school and he talks to people and he tells them about his family's business, which is the local Cracker Barrel.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker C: Uh, and he hands out vouchers. Uh, just constantly has vouchers and he hands it out to everyone. And, uh, anyone is a sale in his eyes. Uh, and then in his free time after school, he just hangs out in that Cracker Barrel gift shop and he just challenges other kids to games of checkers.
Speaker B: Oh, right on. So here's my question. Uh, do his parents get sick of the fact that he hands out these vouchers? Because they're like, yeah, maybe it's a sale, but also it's like they're getting discounts that normally they wouldn't have gotten.
Speaker C: They give him the vouchers.
Speaker B: Oh, okay. That's intentional.
Speaker C: Is intentional. Okay.
Speaker B: It's part of the overall business.
Speaker D: A lady I work with does that for bum guards all the time. Shop at Bumgars.
Speaker B: Here's your bum guards now.
Speaker C: They want you to that's Julian. That's Julianne.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker C: Cracker Barrel.
Speaker B: Yeah. Awesome. All right. If you're unfamiliar with Cracker Barrel, I think it's like full us, right? I don't think it's like yeah, that's.
Speaker E: Pretty much full us.
Speaker B: It's all around.
Speaker C: I've been around here everywhere but here. Everybody wants one.
Speaker E: Randomly bring up bumgars. I had no clue what that was till I moved here.
Speaker B: Really? They don't have that in Sioux Falls?
Speaker E: They don't have it anywhere I've been to but Iowa.
Speaker D: Uh, it's three generations of value. You can count them.
Speaker B: The coupon she gives you. Awesome. All right, so one more time. What was your character's name?
Speaker C: Julian Pardner.
Speaker B: Julian partner. All right, perfect. Um, awesome. And one thing that I want everybody to keep, uh, in mind as we're going through each of these characters. So one of the kind of cool, fun elements of this entire game system is that you guys kind of help me create the world and even help each other with your characters. And one way that we do that is at the end of everybody introducing who they are in their characters, I'm going to have each of you, um, kind of give a rumor or some kind of gossip or just something that you feel like your character knows about each of the other characters. Um, I've got a list. If you're kind of running out of ideas or you're not really 100% sure on an idea for something, I've got a list that I can roll on. Um, to give you kind of a question prompt of how does your character feel about this other character in this kind of tone or whatever the case? And then that way it gives you something to answer. So that'll kind of help out a little bit. Um, but as you're listening to each person introduce their character, kind of keep in mind what your character might think or know or allegedly know about them. It doesn't have to be true. Um, when you hear a rumor about your character, think about, do I want this to be true or not be true? If it is true, that's kind of the simple answer. Um, but if it's something that you don't think is true for your character, why do you think that rumor has kind of started going around about you? Like, what did you do to kind of spark that? Um, even if it's not necessarily factual. So, just something to keep in mind. So jumping over to Ben. We got Ben Scaturo. Did I say that right?
Speaker E: I said that with a fun way.
Speaker B: Ah, okay. Very cool. Very cool. Uh, Ben is one of my coworkers. Really excited to have him on the show. This is the first time we have Ben on the show. Um, so that's exciting. Ben, tell me a little bit about your character.
Speaker E: Yeah, um, we have a teenager. His name is Kieran O'mulligan. He is a Irish American. Um, a bit stocky build, curly, um, reddish brown hair. Uh, some hazel eyes with hints of jade. Um, a couple small scars over his uh sorry, not the right the left eye. Yeah. Um, and has a few scars and patches of burn scars on his hands. Um, yeah, he is someone who, um, attends his high school. He's a part of the culinary club there, and actually is the unofficial ta of the, uh, homec and culinary teacher in school. Um, whenever he's not at class, he's either, uh, with his choir director, and there's usually for a what would it be? An ensemble. An after school ensemble. Either the barbershop choir or the chamber choir. Um, and beyond that, if he's not at anywhere school, either curricular or extracurricular, he's at home helping around the house when his parents are at work, uh, taking care of his little sister, Avery.
Speaker B: Oh, very cool.
Speaker D: Very cool.
Speaker B: So he's sort of a Bardic chef. Oh, yeah, he's a singer.
Speaker E: And that's a good d d way of putting it.
Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. Fantastic. All right, so we got Kieran o'mulligan. He sings, he cooks, uh, he bakes. And also, I remember from your character sheet, that's how he got like, the majority of his scars on his body.
Speaker E: You can see on the fingertips and on the palms a bit. That probably came from his earlier days of cooking bad burns, if he might have grabbed a pan that was too hot still.
Speaker B: And the quick realization, the necessity of oven mitts.
Speaker E: Oh, yeah.
Speaker B: Fantastic. Awesome. All right, so we got Kieran o'mulligan. Uh, finally, last but not least, we got Bart Miller. Bart Miller, also brand new to the show. Glad to have you, Bart. Bart is the president of the Sioux City Tabletop Gamers. Uh, which is actually where we're at right now, is one of our free game day events. Uh, we're kind of recording live from there more or less not airing it live, but just recording it from the event. Um, and so it's great to be here. Great to have you. Bart. Bart, who in the world are you playing?
Speaker D: Um, I'm playing Philip Dipple. I'm twelve years old. I think I'm the youngest.
Speaker B: I think you are.
Speaker D: I was, uh, raised by my grandmother after my parents died, and I've gotten most of my habits and mannerisms from her, including, uh, she only let me watch really old, like me TV type TV shows. So that's kind of my reality.
Speaker B: Nice.
Speaker D: And it also is the source of, uh, my obsession with vintage napkin, uh, rings, which I am always seeking out to enhance my collection.
Speaker B: Got to have those napkin rings. Yes.
Speaker D: And, uh, my main goal in the game is I'm trying to hang out with older kids to increase my popularity. I just want everybody to like me. Uh, it's hard to be liked when you collect vintage napkin rings.
Speaker C: You know a place that has good vintage napkin rings? Cracker Barrel. Just saying. That's probably true.
Speaker B: He goes to the gift shop. They're not exactly vintage at that point.
Speaker C: I think they're mass produced.
Speaker E: Hey, they look vintage.
Speaker D: Uh, I am terrified of free ranging goats after the pumpkin patch incident, which we will not discuss.
Speaker E: So what's the pumpkin patch incident?
Speaker D: Please don't bring that up.
Speaker C: Just start shaking.
Speaker B: There's actually a perfect opportunity to replay the pumpkin patch instance in this one, but we'll get to that later. Um, awesome. Fantastic. Um, really quick, I'd actually like to go through and just double check on everybody's. So your strengths, your weaknesses, your fears, and probably your favorite ice cream, which I had all of you kind of come up with. So, Cameron, go through those for me. For, uh, julian.
Speaker C: My strengths are I'm easy going, but I'm also a little rebellious because I'm willing to take any leaps and bounds for my family's shop. My weakness is I'm very clumsy. I noted here, uh, I get stuck a lot in random items at my parents shop and they get mad at that's why I'm stuck to the gift shop. And I used to help serve oh, okay, not anymore.
Speaker B: I got you're clumsy.
Speaker C: Dropped way too many plates. Don't let them touch your nap or the gift shop. Uh, and my other thing is I'm very dogmatic, uh, for the Cracker barrel.
Speaker B: Right, that makes sense.
Speaker C: And my weakness is, uh, butterscotch blast offs, which is a custom butterscotch vanilla ice cream that has marshmallow chunks in it.
Speaker B: And then what was your fear?
Speaker C: Oh, I'm afraid of clowns.
Speaker B: Okay. Classic.
Speaker C: A classic.
Speaker B: Awesome. All right, jumping over to Kieran. Give me kind of a rundown of the internal side of your character.
Speaker E: Yeah, much, um, like a little bit like I can't remember. What was your character's name?
Speaker C: Julian.
Speaker B: Julian.
Speaker E: I've heard it so many times. In one ear, out the other. Um, much like Julian, uh, Kieran is a rebellious teen, but he is also, uh, protective. He has his younger sibling that he also has been, ah, protective of most, uh, his life. So it just comes naturally for him. Uh, however, the Irish stoicism can come off a little bit of, uh, blunt and patronizing to most people. Um, he's intense. Not intense. More of he can feel just it can be the bluntness. He might be giving you a compliment, but how blunt it is and how he sounds a little bit sure makes it also sound very patronizing as, uh okay. And he is cripplingly afraid of bees.
Speaker B: Okay. Hey, I can actually relate to that as somebody with a bees allergy, like.
Speaker E: He'S allergic or he's just afraid of him, um, terrified. Anything that looks like a bee, a wasp, a hornet.
Speaker C: A fly that looks.
Speaker E: A little big, a, uh, fly that's a little big and a little yellow.
Speaker B: I know that fear. I've experienced that before, too, my whole life. Yes.
Speaker C: Are you also allergic to bees?
Speaker E: I don't think so, at least.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker C: Yeah, you're just afraid of them.
Speaker B: Oh, terrifying. That's what they tell me is like oh, yeah. Usually you find out that you're allergic by it.
Speaker E: Allergic. I've never been stung, but I grew up in Texas, where they had a crazy amount of hornet nest everywhere.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker E: So having a backyard back then and growing up with having, like, a wasp hole or a hornet hole in your backyard just running around, you step one random place, and then it's just a.
Speaker B: Horde of dangerous stinging things.
Speaker D: And that can change as you age. Like, my uncle was never allergic to beasties his whole life. Now he has to carry a little pen around because one beast has been stung, and it's really dangerous. So you're never safe. That's important for you to know that.
Speaker B: Does it work? You're afraid of them?
Speaker D: Can you be allergic and then I.
Speaker C: Don'T know, because that'd be great. You can lose allergies evolve out of yeah.
Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, that would be awesome. All right. Bart, you mentioned that you had goats as your fear. What about all, uh, the other little significant bits and bobbles from your character?
Speaker D: So I am, uh, wealthy because of all the life insurance money from my parents passing.
Speaker C: I mean, not nice.
Speaker D: Yeah. Always have grandma spoils me with lots of spending money at all times. And, uh, that is part of I'm going to try to flex that to move up in popularity. And I've also adopted a lot of, uh, grandma's superstitions.
Speaker C: Okay.
Speaker D: Um, yeah, now, um, my favorite is the, uh, sugar free, citrus only popsicles. Grandma would not let me eat things with additives or artificial colors and stuff.
Speaker B: So it's not because there's, like, an actual health reason. It's just she just said that's the.
Speaker D: Only thing I've ever had.
Speaker B: Really?
Speaker E: I just realized I forgot to say my flavor.
Speaker B: Yeah. What's your favorite flavor kit Kat cookie dough. Oh, yes. The Kit Kat cookie dough. Um, so each one of these ice creams all come from the Dilly Dunkers company. And each one of them will probably make some sort of appearance one way or another, uh, as we jump into things. But all things considered, that's pretty much everything for characters. Now we just got to come up with those rumors about each one of the characters. So let's start with Julian, uh, Cameron's character. Uh, Ben, can you give me a rumor that you've heard? Whether it be true or just something well, I guess you wouldn't know. It would be a rumor. You've heard about, uh, Julian?
Speaker E: Yeah. Snotty little brat coasting off of his parents. Ah, franchise success.
Speaker B: Okay. Brutal. Ouch.
Speaker E: Uh, there's the blunt Irish stone.
Speaker B: That's right.
Speaker C: I'm 13, man. Exactly.
Speaker E: I mean, for this it would be ice cream bars, but, uh, yeah.
Speaker B: All right. Fantastic. Bart, what do you got for Julian?
Speaker D: My rumor about Julian is that, uh, most of his checker wins are attained by carefully screening his opponents. Like 1990s Mike Tyson.
Speaker B: He's sharking his opponent.
Speaker D: He doesn't face any real contenders.
Speaker B: Well, he gets all the dumb kids and he's like, hey, you want to play a game? I bet you like, undefeated.
Speaker C: Look who you know what's funny to pair with that is Julian does do that, but his win rate is like 5%. He is like one of the worst checkers players you could ever play.
Speaker B: So he does bet.
Speaker C: He tries his best.
Speaker D: Just a rumor.
Speaker C: He tries everything he can to push the ODS in his favor, but nothing is going to help.
Speaker E: He just sucks.
Speaker B: Brutal. Wow. You got slammed with two mean.
Speaker C: I was going to say rumors going.
Speaker B: Around about Julie people do not like.
Speaker C: I was going to say one of them smells funny.
Speaker B: Now I feel like gotta be a little bit more personalized now. Awesome. All right, so let's jump over to, um, Ben's Kieran character, Cameron. What's something you've heard about Kieran? That, uh, is a rumor about him. It doesn't have to be negative. It's funny when it's negative.
Speaker C: So I'm assuming how we all know each other is we all go to the same school.
Speaker B: Sure.
Speaker C: I feel like that would be the best way. How else would we all know each other?
Speaker B: My idea for, uh, because in the original Willy Wonka, uh, we kind of steal the idea of him sending out a special promotional item. And that's how you guys kind of get involved in this whole thing. But I didn't want to make it a huge span of space. Yeah, exactly. The whole world. So this is basically a local competition.
Speaker C: So we would know each other.
Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. So it's like you guys all live in this big city and there's a pretty good chance.
Speaker C: So last year in the high school, there was a fire, uh, in the kitchen.
Speaker B: Okay.
Speaker C: And, uh, there's a rumor going around that is it pronounced Kieran.
Speaker E: Kieran?
Speaker C: Kieran started it.
Speaker B: Oh, Kieran started the there's no proof.
Speaker E: Maybe that's where a couple of his burns came.
Speaker C: That's the word of mouth. He was a little adventurous with whatever dish he was cooking.
Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C: Whole place went up.
Speaker B: All right, fair enough. At the school. Awesome. Perfect. And then Bart, what's a rumor that Philip has heard about Kieran or even started.
Speaker D: I hear that even though he portrays himself as a creative chef, all his recipes are from the same church cookbook.
Speaker B: Dang takes recipes from church cookbook?
Speaker D: The same one?
Speaker E: The same one really hidden at the Irish Catholic community there. I don't know whether to feel why.
Speaker C: Has everything got potatoes in.
Speaker B: Stepping on.
Speaker C: My family's toes here?
Speaker B: Awesome. All right. And finally we got the rich kid, Philip. Uh oh, man. I'm really scared.
Speaker C: Because you've acknowledged that your parents are dead.
Speaker B: Parents died. I instantly thought of something to do with the parents.
Speaker E: I thought of something very dark.
Speaker B: Oh, gosh. All right. Cameron, what's something Julian's heard about?
Speaker C: Well, considering that Ben's, uh, going to go dark, I'm going to not.
Speaker B: I don't, um, know.
Speaker C: I was thinking just like, he sweats a lot.
Speaker B: He's got, um, premature perspiration.
Speaker D: It's like the real world.
Speaker C: He's just a very nervous kid.
Speaker B: So it doesn't necessarily spark from like oh, man. He's really just overdoing it physically. It's just like any given moment he just starts sweating. All of a sudden he's like that.
Speaker C: One guy from, uh, the Dr. Horrible sing along.
Speaker B: Oh, moist. Played by shoot, uh, what's his name?
Speaker C: Uh, the guy from Wallowitz from Big Bang Theory. Uh, love that guy. His power was sweaty. That was his superpower.
Speaker B: He took the word that makes most people uncomfortable and he turned it into a superpower.
Speaker C: It's great.
Speaker B: Awesome. All right. Fantastic. And then ben what's? Something that Kieran has heard about Lil Philip dipple.
Speaker E: Um, it's not dark, as in it's weird, but, um, he's heard that his grandmother is secretly trying to, uh, lawyer up and maybe spread out, uh, his inheritance because he's not of legal age to fully she's trying to get his money. She's trying to get his money to give. Does Philip have any, uh, other family? Like cousins, uh, or aunts and uncle?
Speaker D: No, it's just me.
Speaker B: Just him. That makes this more intense too, because won this contest to possibly inherit the entire, um, factory. If she can get you on that legal bounds of getting your families in.
Speaker C: Here factory on top, she might get.
Speaker B: The factory on top. I've got to oversee his estate. Quote unquote conservatorship.
Speaker C: I'm going to say that is a big rumor. That's a big rumor for a child. The kids of the schoolyard are like, ah, grandma's good enough.
Speaker E: He's heard that from maybe his parents.
Speaker C: Uh, sure makes sense.
Speaker E: Wow, they're blue collar.
Speaker D: I'm officially worried. There's arsenic in my citrus pop.
Speaker B: Sugar how dark is what else exactly?
Speaker E: Sugar free, filled with arsenic.
Speaker C: I thought they tasted bad because there's no sugar.
Speaker B: If you were diabetic, then it wouldn't make any sense.
Speaker C: That why he's so sweaty. His system is constantly trying to filter.
Speaker B: He's not getting enough sugar in his diet. Awesome. Well, fantastic. That is pretty much everything that we need for our setup. Thank you guys for listening to our Session Zero. We will be posting episode one right off the bat following this, so be sure to go check that out and then we'll be posting any following episodes. Um, I can't predict how many episodes it's going to be. I don't imagine it's any more than three. Um, we're going to finish this, uh, know within a reasonable amount of time here, uh, but be sure to check it out and uh, enjoy.
Speaker A: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Dilly Dunker's ice Cream satisfactory a Kids on Bike one shot Campaign created by Me Skyler and inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory written by Roald Dahl uh, the Kids on Bike System was created by Evil Hat Productions. If you enjoyed our show, be sure to check out our others from Session Zero heroes such as our ongoing vendors and bruise show set in the world of Avatar The Last Airbender, and using the Avatar Legend system, or our ongoing Dungeons and Dragons series Criminals of Isle Enumis. We also do a variety of one shots using various other TTRPG systems such as our Monster of the Week Hunter's Haven series. We're growing and releasing new episodes bi weekly, so you'll see all sorts of systems and themes in use as we move forward, so be sure to follow, like and subscribe to our show so you don't miss out on any of our future content. Additionally, it would mean so much to us if you take the time to drop us a review, as it always helps our show continue to grow and get noticed by others out there. Your review might even be read on an episode of our show. Of course, if you're looking to keep up to date on our show and our various other endeavors, you can do so by following us on social media, whether that be Facebook, X, Instagram, or Discord, the links of which are in the episode description. And again, we hope you enjoyed this episode and that, uh, you'll join us again next time. So stay curious, stay heroic until we roll again.