Session Zero Heroes - A TTRPG Actual Play Podcast
Speaker A: You.
Speaker B: Hello, listeners. I am the narrator. Today's story takes place in the town of Devil's Lake, North Dakota, a small, remote town in the middle of nowhere. The year is 1985. The date, August 19. This tale will bring with it mysteries in intrigue lies, hidden realities, and the blending, uh, of fact from mythos. Join our hunters as they seek out the truth and find those who are missing in today's story of music mayhem.
Speaker A: All m right, everybody, we are in for a or you are in for a special treat. We are doing a Monster of the week one shot. Welcome to that for the Halloween 2023 season. I am here Skyler. Uh, if you forgot what my name is since last you listened to one of the episodes of any of our other shows. Um, and the cool thing about today is I get to sit behind the player seat while Cameron, who you probably know from The Benders and Brews, he plays Bill Dore, popular character there one of four of our popular characters, I would say. And, uh, he's going to be taking over the reins as the well, it's not really a game master in this game. It's called the Keeper in Monster of the Week. So I'm actually just going to shut up and hand things off to him. And he's going to take things from here for this little session zero we're doing for our campaign. Or one shot.
Speaker C: Yeah. Hey, it's me, Cameron, the new keeper. Hey. We kicked Skylar out.
Speaker A: Yeah.
Speaker C: And brought him back into play. Okay, so we're just going to establish start right now. Um, very simple. We're just going to have each person, one at a time, just give us a brief synopsis of their character, who they are, what they do, how old they are, all that stuff. So we'll start with Skylar.
Speaker A: Oh, man. I get to kick things off.
Speaker D: All right.
Speaker A: Um, yeah, so I'll be playing ah, Kendrick. Kenny. Uh, people call me Kenny. Uh, Whitlock. And, uh uh, I'm kind of a big deal in know, I solved this mystery when I was a kid where, uh, this dog got lost and it was like the mayor's dog. So it was a pretty big deal. And he was freaking out and the town was all up in an uproar. And sure enough, I was the one that was able to sleuth out where this dog was. And, uh, I've kind of been living off of that success ever since. Uh, I'm 28 now, and, uh, apparently some people around town think it's a bad look to wear the same exact, uh, detectives, uh, costume that I've been wearing since I was a kid. And, uh, well, my mom's been doing and grandma have been doing a great job just sizing it up as I've grown. But sure enough, it is the very same it's the very same one. Uh, but yeah, I'm a bit of a detective in town uh, like I said, some people love me for it, most people hate me for it. And, uh, yeah, that's the basic gist of, uh, Kenny Whitlock.
Speaker C: Kenny Whitlock. All right, next we're going to move on over to Dave, who is a familiar face from, uh, vendors and brews as well. Who are you playing tonight?
Speaker D: You all see my face very much. Very often tonight, I'm going to be playing a guy by the name of Dennis Rogers. He's a suburban dad with a bit of a family man. He enjoys bowling, metal detecting, and amateur videography and photography.
Speaker A: It's very relatable to me.
Speaker D: Outside of the game, I'm not playing sky.
Speaker C: Any more. To add about that fun loving guy?
Speaker D: Oh, yeah, I'm playing the class. I'm playing the hunter. I'm playing the snoop who's normally like kind of a blog person, vlogger or blogger or a journalist or reporter. Um, I'm playing a less serious version who's just kind of a nosy neighbor, a little bit.
Speaker C: Fantastic.
Speaker D: The head over the hedge, if you will.
Speaker C: There you go.
Speaker A: That works like the guy on Tim the Toolman.
Speaker D: Exactly.
Speaker C: That's what he's going for, actually. That's so great.
Speaker A: I don't know if I mentioned I was playing the meddling kid.
Speaker C: So we got the playbook meddling kid.
Speaker A: Honestly, just name a Scooby Doo character that's the meddling kid.
Speaker C: Ah. When they added that expansion, it's like an all encompassing character.
Speaker D: Norville.
Speaker C: Yes.
Speaker A: Eddie Norville or what was it?
Speaker C: Something norville Rogers not norville possibly related.
Speaker A: Yeah, we'll get the relationship. Sure.
Speaker C: And then last is a new voice to the podcast. Uh, it's Emily, my wife.
Speaker A: Sorry.
Speaker E: All right, so I'm playing, um, Bobby Eastwood or Bob E for short. I'm playing the crooked. I just like to steal stuff, which isn't very far off.
Speaker C: Okay, fine.
Speaker A: Fact.
Speaker E: Um, yeah, so that's my bet. That's all I got.
Speaker C: That's all you got?
Speaker A: Backstory. We spent, like, a long time writing last night, but I feel like turned out really well.
Speaker D: Wait, is Bobby a girl or a boy?
Speaker E: Bobby is a girl, but you get more respect with a man's name.
Speaker A: She her.
Speaker E: She her bobby.
Speaker C: Bobby. Local gang of Ray members.
Speaker D: You get those interviews from the local ice cream parlor. If you put Bob E on your.
Speaker E: Resumes, they can't back out once they've already called me up.
Speaker A: That's right. Then they just have to deal with you in.
Speaker C: Um, you three we briefly talked about before we started recording. How do you three know each other? Yes.
Speaker A: So each one of our characters on our character sheet, they have sort of like a history section. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Monster of the Week, that kind of outlines some possibilities of how you might be able to know each other to kind of help kick things off when you jump into things. I know. Cameron, you joked know, like in Dungeons and Dragons, the closet. You all meet in a tavern but with Monster of the Week, they want to kind of define those relationships a little bit more closely, if possible. Not saying that you can't start off that way, but, um, it definitely kind of helps to know your character or have your characters know each other from the get go. Uh, especially when you're going to be hunting a monster together.
Speaker C: That's true.
Speaker A: Uh, one of the things that mine mentioned was that somebody I'm related to is a cousin, aunt, or uncle or something like that. And Dave, when Dave was discussing his character, I got real, uh, intense uncle vibes from Denny. So I feel like it makes sense if Dave you're cool with that? Uh, to have Kenny, uh, call Denny his uncle.
Speaker E: Well, how old is your character?
Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker D: My character is 44 years old.
Speaker C: That could work.
Speaker A: I feel like that could work.
Speaker D: Or as old as you need me to.
Speaker C: Old sibling.
Speaker D: Yeah, that's true. One of our friends nephews is as.
Speaker C: Old as everyone else is. Almost as I was going to say.
Speaker A: My nephew's older than me.
Speaker C: One of, um, them Robertson and Zach.
Speaker A: Yeah, they're like five years, you know, things like adoption and whoever else knows, they kind of throw a loop into the typical family setting. Not that there's anything wrong with. Yeah, awesome. And then the only other one that I really had was, uh, it said school friends. Uh, I put Bob e. Uh, but I don't feel like we necessarily were friends, just like, given the backstory. I do know as Skyler from outside.
Speaker D: Of that, just Bob. Wait.
Speaker A: Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Oh, yeah, no, I was just going to say, uh, so I just put down school acquaintances. We knew each other from school. Maybe we went to class or something together. So just kind of put that in there.
Speaker D: Would any of you guys play the sports ball?
Speaker A: Oh, man, I'm just bowling.
Speaker E: I tried all sports.
Speaker A: I would not be surprised if Kenny maybe played bowling, but he's really not into any other sports. Bowling. Sure. Because it's not like your typical sport.
Speaker C: How about Bobby?
Speaker E: My, uh, character has no physical talent.
Speaker C: So no, I have a know you can put up the bumpers in.
Speaker D: Chess club.
Speaker A: So, I mean, if that helps you out.
Speaker C: Any connection? Yeah, any other connection or do you just know of him?
Speaker E: Oh, for me? For reals?
Speaker A: We have a good one for you that you picked out.
Speaker C: How does Bobby know Dennis?
Speaker E: I, uh, tried to steal something from him. I saw it in one of his videos.
Speaker C: Yeah.
Speaker A: Dave, I think this is a perfect transition to tell us a bit about Denny and his.
Speaker D: Oh, uh, yeah, so Denny remembers that day when snapper. Well, he didn't know what it was at first. He heard a noise coming from his backyard, some rummaging around in his storage shed, and he went back there and who was trying to pry the prized hood ornament off of his lawnmower. But Bob E trying to what would it be? A, uh, very shiny rock, possibly gold.
Speaker A: And he just put it on his.
Speaker D: Mower and he wrote about it in the paper and submitted it into his semi regular article or feature called Denny's Digs where Denny reports about his metal detecting finds. That's one of his big hobbies. He likes to do that on his breaks at the lumber mill. He's already out in nature a bit, so he just sees what he can find.
Speaker A: That's amazing.
Speaker D: Uh, and he also records the whole thing or tries to. Half the time he doesn't get the record button quite right. A little bit of a trick to it. It's a new camera. We're working things out here.
Speaker A: Uh, for anybody that might be curious, uh, about what we're playing in that would allow for a newspaper that does a weekly bit on somebody's metal detecting funds. We will get to that here in a moment when we talk about the setting of this campaign or this one shot. But real quick, Bob E, uh, do you have a specific connection outside of what I already listed or it could just be the same thing with Kenny. Based on what's? School acquaintances. Works both ways.
Speaker E: That's fine. I mean, yeah, if you acquainted me. I acquainted you.
Speaker A: All right, fair enough.
Speaker C: Who acquainted the other more?
Speaker E: I, uh, kicked your backpack in the hallway once or twice.
Speaker A: I was just going to ask.
Speaker C: I was going to say what was.
Speaker A: Our relationship at the school, but I think that answers plenty. I think, uh, there's probably a two way street of ah, well, I don't like Bobby. She's always kicking my bangs.
Speaker C: Well, if Kenny's any similar to takes their backpack all the time, it's probably a fast friend. Now at this point, we haven't gotten there yet.
Speaker A: We haven't gotten we'll be fine during this redemption story.
Speaker C: Yeah, the crooked being a hero is already set up for the natural redemption story before. But I think for the most part that's everything to set up. Your guys'characters, how you guys know each other? Other than that, it's just the world that we're going to be in. I'm, uh, going to quick establish it here since it's session zero. But this all takes place in a little town in North Dakota called Devil Lake. It's, uh, a very small town, about 70 00, 60 00 70 00 people. It's a real place, mind you. That's pretty cool if you're listening from but before anyone's like, oh, cool, real place. Did he look it up and find out fun places there? No, I did not. I just liked the name, saw the population, said, ah, perfect small town, but big enough that it has some size. Sure would have some local stuff to it, like a local newspaper, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A: Right.
Speaker C: It's also like the 6th biggest city in north Dakota, which isn't big bragging point, considering it's North Dakota. But that's where we're going to be in for this world we're, uh, going to drop all our characters in. I don't know where we're going to start, you guys. We'll figure that out. But now we all know how you guys know each other.
Speaker E: You're not going to drop us in the lake?
Speaker A: The Devil's Lake.
Speaker C: Not this time. Not this time. Okay. But, uh, yeah, we'll just drop you guys right in there in North Dakota.
Speaker D: The high school football.
Speaker A: Ah, man, not this again.
Speaker C: But, uh, yeah, other than that. This is the end of session zero. We will see you guys in the first episode.
Speaker F: Well, it seems you managed to survive this episode of Hunter's Haven Music Mayhem. Congratulations. We hope you enjoyed this tentalisingly terrifying one shot series as we at Session Zero Heroes play through a game of Monster of the Week led by keeper Cameron Hogandyke. We want to thank you for stopping by and hope that you'll continue to support us and our channel by checking out some of our other shows where we play other tabletop role playing games, such as our Benders and Brews show, where we jump into the world of Avatar The Last Airbender using the Avatar Legend system. Or follow us on social media such as Facebook, X, Instagram and Discord so you don't miss out on our upcoming Dungeons and Dragons series, Criminals of Island Numis, I'd like to say a quick thank you and shout out to the incredibly talented Simon Jones, who created the music for this series, which you're hearing right now, as well as during the intro. If you would like to get your own custom music, you can check out Simon Jones Music on Fiver to hire Simon, uh, to create the perfect music for your project. Of course, be sure to like, follow or subscribe to Session Zero Heroes on whatever podcast streaming site you prefer, whether that be Spotify, Apple podcasts, and everywhere else podcasts can be found. Or check out our website at Session Zero. Girls.com, we hope our episode today gave you the spooky vibes that you're looking for this Halloween season. Scare you next time.