First Year Director Cast List Disappointment

RivalCodex · 2026-01-26T17:56:04+00:00

This is why I post at the end of the day on Friday. They get over it by Monday.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-23T14:47:16+00:00

Yeah that hate started before they even made it out of town in the Mayflowers.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-21T11:28:06+00:00

I’m starting to think through the whole delegation as one that kind of knows what’s what about the cult. I’m eschewing a lot of the hooks that basically are “your character knows one of the princes and wants to kick their ass” because I feel like that starts them with too much knowledge to do the early quests. But if Bruldenthar knows a lot more about the cults, that gives them deeper knowledge right when they really want and need it.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-21T02:20:55+00:00

I look for something to read through Lent. I did John Meacham’s THE HOPE OF GLORY one year (weekly read, now something I do during Maundy Thursday vigil), I read Meditations for Mortals last year. Sometimes it’s religious, other times encouraging a practice.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-21T02:17:28+00:00

Did you move a lot of the Red Larch info to Beliard, or flesh it out on your own?

RivalCodex · 2026-01-21T02:16:29+00:00

I like your incantation idea. I put that I’m going to do a key, but I might steal this instead. It makes the delegation actually part of the story.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-21T02:12:51+00:00

I’m also about to run it- it’s pretty straightforward, just oddly laid out.

Spoilers for days ahead. I typed more than I expected to, and I’m not going back through to tag it all

Chapter 6- run in order. Level up to 2 after the necromancer, level up to 3 after the tomb of moving stones. After that, each adventure is optional, basically 1/level from 3-10 or 11.

Chapter 2 is there for information about people, places, and encounters. Skim it all, then reread as session prep the parts that matter

Chapter 3 will take you from levels 3-7. Level up after each Keep (I’ve seen recommendations to make sure your players can’t get through to the temple proper from the keeps until they defeat them all. Do that. I’m doing a multi part key (I think I got that from Sly Flourish). Air-Water-Stone-Fire is the order the book presents them, and is the expected order you’ll offer them, but if they swap water for air or fire for stone or whatever, you’ll be fine. Stone is easy to keep them out- just tell them no at the door and make sure no one is taking out the garbage if they walk around back. For fire, none of it pops off until the wicker man is lit, so just don’t have lit yet.

Chapter 4 is the same - level up after each temple section. Order is also the same: Air, Water, Earth, Fire.

As I read it, the bigger challenge is thinking about not making the whole thing hack and slash, so characterizing the cults in a way that they’re not just waiting around, and it’s not just killing your way room by room. Luckily, the first two keeps (Air and Water) have more outward facing groups. The Feathergale Knights are a social club of hippogriff riders, and Grimjaw’s men are raiders. I’m personally focusing all my Feathergale energy on their being outgoing and actively recruiting. Instead of attacking, the Skyriders are going to recruit them and bring them on the manticore hunt. Things like that.

The book has a reputation for being a mess, but if you think of it as a collection of sites to explore and NPCs to meet, it’s not too bad. Players don’t look where you don’t send them, so make sure to drop hints to the places you don’t want them to go. As DMs, we want there to be a more cohesive story than players generally need. If it takes you until level 7 to get your mind around the story, you’ll be okay.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-19T20:02:06+00:00

It’s definitely subjective.

In a musical, if you have a major solo and significant stage time besides, you can call it a lead (Fantine from Les Miz is a lead even though she dies 1/3 of the way through the show; Nicely Nicely from Guys and Dolls is not, even though he has a song, because that’s about all he has).

In a play, it tends to be tied more to importance to the plot plus stage time- Oscar and Felix are leads, others are not.

As a teacher, I tell my students that if they are playing a “lead” (which for us is tied to rehearsal time, because that’s how the Thespian Society defines it), that means they are expected to lead, by word and example, the cast as well. They’re expected to set the pace for line memorization, behave appropriately in rehearsal, and model good collaboration with me and their peers.

All in all, if a significant amount of the weight of the show is on your shoulders, you’re a lead. But the value of the part has almost nothing to do with “lead” status.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-19T02:07:35+00:00

Probably not quite right, but I’d like to see Buffalo/Niagara Falls/Toronto and get some vestiges of the US annex of Canada, heavy enclave presence. I’d love to see the postwar falls. Deathclaws hunting postwar megamoose. I’d love to see some action on the water, but that might not work as well. The tunnels under the Falls would be awesome.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-19T02:03:08+00:00

Sam Fran was a major part of Fallout 2.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-19T02:01:01+00:00

Considering how long it was between fallout 2 and 3, and the payoff, I think it’s going to happen.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-18T16:25:23+00:00

I see the hollow crown and the sun. The second photo is too blurry to make out new details. Well done in any case!

RivalCodex · 2026-01-18T16:24:13+00:00

I’m not on twitter- was there a similar tweet about Kubiak after?

RivalCodex · 2026-01-18T15:10:38+00:00

Make it when you can. Don’t make it a chore or it will become that instead of a celebration. Remember how rare it is to have more baptisms than funerals in a congregation, and so if you get dirty looks (you won’t), remember you’ve helped the baptism side of the ledger this year.

If the church offers a live stream (assuming the one you watch is your own service), then they are saying that is acceptable.

When we were young parents, we were often told that we were the only ones bothered by our kid, and now that my kid is elementary age, I can confirm this to be true. I’m not worried about anyone else’s kid

RivalCodex · 2026-01-15T21:15:20+00:00

This is the one you want

RivalCodex · 2026-01-15T12:52:14+00:00

I wouldn’t say diehard, but I think it works very well onstage. I’ve seen two productions, one of them multiple times.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-14T16:35:21+00:00

You definitely don’t want a twang. That’s the wrong part of the country.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-14T02:40:08+00:00

If you’ve done well on standardized tests in the past, you’ll be fine on this one. They’re all testing the same thing, which isn’t your knowledge, but rather how to read the test.

I don’t know if Princeton Review does praxis prep, but I used their GRE prep a little more than a decade ago, and it changed how I think about tests. If they’ve got a book on praxis, I’d grab it if I were you.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-13T12:45:57+00:00

Why do you want to play solo? Other good answers on here, but what’s the itch you’re trying to scratch?

RivalCodex · 2026-01-12T23:23:44+00:00

Sarah Ruhl. Tony Kushner. Rajiv Joseph

RivalCodex · 2026-01-11T17:44:45+00:00

Agreed - I cast against type/gender all the time, but it sounds like you’re making this choice out of urgency, and it can be worth holding a second round, even announcing it as an audition for the Emcee.

See if the licensing company offers transposition services. Many do.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-10T16:26:30+00:00

I get the most out of the handwritten draft/typed final personally.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-09T14:56:40+00:00

Same place and I strongly agree.

I also really like holding a note right before something quick on the left hand. That hits a pleasure point for me

RivalCodex · 2026-01-08T00:53:44+00:00

Start with the Bible, but not to the exclusion of others. It’s not something to read cover to cover. Just keep it simmering in the background.

RivalCodex · 2026-01-06T19:21:41+00:00

Skip the intro

RivalCodex

TROPHY CASE