Interview - Josh Perault - Taking Initiative Podcast - D&D/TTRPGs

Today I talk with the Incredible Podcaster/Podcast Editor, DM and Creative Force Josh Perault of the incredible Taking Initiative Podcast who are currently adventuring through Storm King's Thunder in their Second Season. We discuss Character Builds and Backstories, Podcasting, Ravenloft both present and past, and the process for GM/DMing.

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Yours Sincerely,

Adam 'Cosy' Powell

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CAST & CREW

Host: Adam Powell

Guest: Josh Perault

Sound Design: Adam Powell

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Cover Art: Tim Cunningham - www.Wix.com

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Transcript

Snyders Return: 0:27

Hello and welcome to snows return a tabletop role playing podcast. Today my guest is a co founder, dungeon master and cast member of the amazing atmospheric heartfelt Dungeons and Dragons agile play podcast you'll find on your podcast player when the Intro Music fades and their first season and your mind's eye comes alive as to the dulcet tones of taking in Steve's Dungeon Master Josh perot, now into their second season, he delights his mom agrees and takes us on a journey with him and his friends as we journey with them through the frozen north. Josh, welcome to the show.

Josh Perault: 1:02

Thank you for having me. That was an awesome introduction. Most appreciate it.

Snyders Return: 1:06

It's a pleasure. Josh, we've spoken to your co founder, Jonathan Buckmaster Bucky. In the past, he was a delight to talk to but could we learn more about you and how you got into tabletop role playing games, please?

Josh Perault: 1:20

Sure. Well, the fun thing with Jonathan Buckmaster, as people call him Bucky, I tend to call him john because I've known him for more than half my life at this point. I got into d&d with john, back in I was a junior high school. He and a couple of other friends of ours was running a d&d session at a friend's house, I hopped into my first game of I want to say 3.5 at the time, and I rolled up my first wizard, and played a couple games in there with him. But my first actual introduction to the brand was with builders gate to win that first release in the very early 2000s. And that got me hooked into the genre. And I've been progressing ever since and waiting impatiently for boulders gate three to release so I can enjoy it in all of its glory.

Snyders Return: 2:13

Absolutely. Well, by the time this podcast is released, that should have happened already. So I expect too many hours will be sunk into that. So that was sort of the introduction to dungeons and dragons and tabletop role playing games. From your perspective. When was the step into podcasting? Where's Where did that drive and direction come from?

Josh Perault: 2:34

Oh, well, that's a little bit easier, actually both very easy to pinpoint. So I started watching Critical Role around episode I want to say 30 something or 20. Something was out at the time of the first season. And that got me hooked back into d&d as a whole. From the games of 3.5. I played with Bucky, I took a break. And then with some friends of mine, where we all worked at a movie theatre, we all played some fourth edition. And then I moved from Long Island to New York City. I couldn't play with them anymore. So I was really missing my DND time. And Critical Role filled that niche. And then Bucky and I decided, let's play some fifth edition we played with some friends of ours, including drew and Nick. We tried to have join in but he was too busy at the time. And this was before we started the podcast. And then I was also editing a podcast called the once in future nerd, which is an audio drama, fantasy realm, but satirical. So like all the elves are not good people. They're very southern accent related instead of English accents. So that was a bit of a difference. So editing that podcast and getting to meet different people in that field. We had a meetup in December of 2016. And I met a lot of people in there including wall 359 spirits, the bright sessions, some other people from once future nerd. And by meeting all those people and also in imbibing in a lot of alcohol. I ended up asking Christian if he would like to host our pilot episode for a cursive straud campaign. We just started and recorded because Bucky thought it was a good idea to start recording it. And he was like yeah, how about the month and went oh, wow, that's quick. Okay, so we're like that. Thanks, man. And went back home and put a lot of effort into getting a first episode together put it over there. And then once we started going, we just couldn't stop and then we we just kept going. So now it's been by the time this episode releases, it'll be almost four years for us. Wow. Four years. Okay. That felt weird to say. But yeah, that was it. It was really the the inviting nature of the other podcasters I met like listeners to the show will know that is that Plenty of wolf 359 played straud. So by meeting him that got, you know, us access to being able to become friends, I was just getting on the show of his no bad ideas. So we gained that friendship. And then Chris de Mercurio, who I also met from there, but she was part of Eris, paradoxical, she was a guest on the show. So that whole meetup in December really caused a lot of things to happen. And also, because of that meeting, because of the people from spirits, I met Morgan, who was also on the podcast, and is we've been dating for the last two years and a half, almost three years by this point. So that one meetup cause not just the podcasting, but a lot of life changes for me.

Snyders Return: 5:42

Oh, wow, that's, that's amazing. And such a cascade from what could have been so innocuous to someone else, you've you've sort of the you and john have sort of really picked up the ball and run with it and, and just continue to keep finding successes. And you've had a lot of guests and successes that tell us more, if you wouldn't mind about that first season the curse of strahd, if you wouldn't mind, because because everybody, of course, runs the module is different, but what was your experience with it?

Josh Perault: 6:13

So, before I hop in too much, I will say that the podcast kicking off, I would, a lot of that belongs to Bucky for just going we should record it just because. And if it wasn't for that, just because I don't think any of this would have happened. So a lot of that spawned from that one question. So, you know, if you're ever going, should I do it, just try it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But as long as you're trying it. But to move on to strahd I enjoyed the module a lot. I'm normally not a horror person, especially in movies and such I like more psychological thrillers, which straud tend to delve into, like stride really likes messing with your head. And if you listen to the first season, you know, I like to do that with my players consistently. But a major thing that I found early on was I was trying to stick to the book. And it's all well and good to do. But you start running yourself into a problem, because and this is with any module or any pre written anything, it doesn't take in the background to the characters as a point of like, where to go with the story. So if I just ran it as is and people listen, they would have been like, Yeah, I know, I played that. So it was then a challenge for me since this was the first thing I really deemed out loud. And also the first module I've deemed that I needed to learn very quickly of how to take the source book, find what I liked about it, use it and then add and subtract where I found necessary. And as soon as I started doing that, I felt way more comfortable. And I feel like that shows around like the third arc or so where I started to divert from the path of the book and hopping into like the history of Oregon Voss with ven or what happened in the coffin maker shop. That was a big turning point. And also in the even in the first place. Like, what happened to McHale are we going to do spoilers on here, because it's gonna be a little

Snyders Return: 8:16

slice entirely down to you. I mean, you are 35 episodes into your second season, I've been promoting your podcast as best I can to get people to sort of get in and jump on board in either your first or second season because both have such high quality. If you choose to, to spoil that is entirely a creators book. I will spoil

Josh Perault: 8:40

in very small doses because they don't even Yes, because I don't even watch trailers for things I want to watch so that this fits my character perfectly. And also, thank you for all the promotion you've given us. Morgan has shown me everything you've been doing on Twitter, and everything. So thank you so much for all the attention you put in. It's It's awesome. And we've been talking about you non stop, because really look what he posted. This is awesome. So thank you. Wow.

Snyders Return: 9:06

Yeah, thank you. So do continue. Sorry. Yeah.

Josh Perault: 9:11

So what happened in McHale in the first nine episodes, that changed what the story was, it wasn't all of them getting out of brobee as the hook anymore, it was still there. But what changed was they wanted revenge for their friend's death. And not just revenge, but also just wanting to get him back if possible, because this is obviously a world that resurrection is maybe a thing. And it's possible. So they wanted to go into that. And that arc didn't finish for 10s of episodes. So it became really the purpose of the book. And if you look in the book, that arc doesn't exist anymore, so it really caused me to have to buckle down and go What do I need to add? How much do I need to pace in the living room thinking about a story thing until I get Got something down, you know, I needed to learn on the spot. And honestly, that's usually how I like to do acting stuff. That's how I like doing that in school, I did some improv stuff back then, with speeches, I never used to write things down, I like to wing it, I like to go with the moment because the moment can change, and you want to be prepared for it. So I feel like that first season really allowed me to hone in on that with myself. And I would love to run the book again, knowing how it went and what's in there and getting to know the NPCs in the areas a bit more as well see what more could come out of it.

Snyders Return: 10:39

Although it's funny, you should put that I believe Morgan, tweeted recently, again,

Unknown: 10:44

time for Corbin.

Snyders Return: 10:46

And with it being sort of revamped, and certain things changing. Having run the cursor strobe module, it's it sounds strange that you can box yourself into a corner in a sandbox, but I don't know where you're coming from. So with, with hindsight, being a wonderful, wonderful thing, and rose tinted glasses, and all that sort of stuff, looking back into the future, where would you steer that? Would you take how I say similar because that kind of robs you players of a new experience? But what would you alter in such a way without giving too much away? to tailor it to your group?

Josh Perault: 11:28

Well, it would be whatever backstories they bring to the table, which is something I can't plan for ahead of time. Like, for example, when Bucky mentioned that he's like, oh, events grandmother is from ferrovia, in Episode One, that completely gave us an arc of him just saying that one thing. So you know, things can pop up. And things can change over time. But looking back on that first season, and what I would change, now, I would alter the beginning and hop off of the book a little bit sooner, and try to introduce some newer elements to the start of the adventure. Back then I couldn't do that, because I didn't know yet. And, you know, you can't do things unless you know them. So now that I know them, I would I would change a little bit of that structure. I would make sure that the card readings from an EVO were different in all aspects. Like probably not even in the same areas to find items, but completely new places to explore, like the, you know, the wine location, or going to crest cresc Yeah, it was crest or like the werewolves den or, you know, the amber temple, which was in the initial card reading, I changed it because I felt like the story wasn't going in that direction. The NPC they were supposed to find what's going to bring us there. But I felt his mark became such an integral part that he could change fate itself in the game. So that's why we had that that shift. So those those two things I would do definitely Other than that, I feel if I went and changed anything, it would have took away from what happens like say if I made the coffin maker shop on quote, unquote, you know, kid mode and went okay, you guys survived the encounter. everything after that would have been so different. That tone would have been different, we would have explored a little bit more with rosin Ferguson, I had a whole plotline for Ferguson that we were gonna dive into that ever got there. Also, Donna popping in out of the podcast gave it its own challenges, and we won't go into it at all. But DMS will know that when players show up or disappear, and you have storylines for them, you need to alter what's going on. You can't dwell on the fact that you can't do what you want it to anymore. And that was a major lesson I had to learn as well. Besides that, I don't know. Totally, I think everything was as I would want it. I think the only other thing I would probably dive into is when they went into the house, the death house for the second time. I feel like I wanted more notes and thoughts about how to handle that situation. Because as much as the players told me they enjoyed it, I felt like I needed a bit more preparation. So I probably would have changed that a little too. But

Snyders Return: 14:24

that's all really that's fair enough. And so moving on from or even during your first season you did side projects you swapped out and rotated with adventures in and and all those sort of great side adventures and you were involved with some of the big releases as well. So what's that been like to have other people come in your Javelin as a straw was was brilliant and I'm so glad you have that friendship with with them because he was brilliant. But you've had people like Jonathan from dungeon drunks and you've had so many other guests, Lauren urban as well. So what has it been like sort of building up that support and community around, taking initiative.

Josh Perault: 15:18

It's been, it's been awesome. The last couple of months or so or last year, I hopped off Twitter, I needed a social break. But I realised through that break, that I made a few really good friends along the way. Like Lauren urban and I have talked like off Twitter and just texting and I'm in a game now with some of the DVDs for nerds, people and the friends that I made, in that the friends, the friends were the lesson we needed along the way. A lot of them stuck and getting to work with so many different people and organise the podcast of events and meet them at Gen Con and Pax. And it was surreal, in a lot of ways. Everyone there had imposter syndrome. Like the fact that if you didn't have imposter syndrome, I think you were the imposter. It was it was that kind of ratio, because everyone was like, why am I here? Who is this? I'm just a nerd that plays d&d. What is this? Including, like, you know, even the critical role people, they're like, This is nuts. What is this? So it was a lot of feeling of that, where I had to turn that part off in my brain to like, just go forward and not get inundated with, you know, some realness. But it's been awesome making the friends that we did. And like for years now, there's people in my life that would not have been here, if it wasn't for that December meetup. Or if Christian didn't pull me on to do one feature nerd. Or if john didn't say, let's just record this, so much of my life would have changed, that. I can't even fathom what I would have been doing or where I was, even if I may have been at the same, you know, career. If it wasn't for the show, I have no idea. So it made a major impact on my life in a good way.

Snyders Return: 17:17

Absolutely. And just today, in fact, again, a time of recording, you tweeted, you had made a follow up appearance in your friends podcast. And so sort of maintaining that that great bond between the shows. So

Josh Perault: 17:35

yeah, the lucky day, I was Thorin in that I did have guests voice and lucky die for us. Back when adventures anonymous was a thing, which was an encounter roleplay podcast, a lot of those members are now the lucky die. That was the where they went afterwards. And rolanda and Neil and arch. Those were some of my first friends on Twitter. I had no idea who they were. But they were in this show. I'm like, Guys, your show. So cool. And after that they joined our network when we had the spark network going. And even though the network is not a thing anymore, it's just not something we wanted to do. That friendship continued. We got to meet Philando when she came over, we're going to go see her when we were going to go Scotland this year. But obviously things changed. worldly, for that kind of travel. But yeah, those friendships are still just nailed in and growing. And, you know, changing as things do. But I'm glad that they they wanted me to be part of that. And their other adventures. We got to play one mean horse once that was fun. Yeah, it's been great man. A lot of different experiences. with different people that play the game. You get to experience, how they view the world and how they play. And you get to change your perspective and your engagement and what you do at the table because of everyone else and you become like a man. I'm forgetting the word, but a combination of everybody's playstyles in

Snyders Return: 19:09

amalgamation.

Josh Perault: 19:10

Thank you monogamy. That was it.

Snyders Return: 19:12

That might have not been the word you were going for. But

Josh Perault: 19:14

no, that was exactly it. I'm like, I don't know how to pronounce it at this proper point in time, but that that was the word

Snyders Return: 19:20

thing. And you're also a week from now, which is several months behind us. Back on no bad ideas as well.

Josh Perault: 19:29

Yes. Yeah. The first episode came out today. We recorded and like two or three weeks ago that those guys are fun. We also had a d&d game with them last year so and they are a wonderful group of people. Sarah, I've seen at different conventions and stuff, too. We always had meetups after that December meetup, Christians and I ended up doing a monthly meetup in New York City with podcasters and they were always there. You know? Showing face meeting people giving people advice of what to do with their shows, you know, really just talking shop with all the different shows around. That was definitely a wonderful addition to the friends that I've made. Is that group.

Snyders Return: 20:15

So? Yeah, absolutely. And and you've clearly taught, as you mentioned, become an amalgamation of different play styles and things you've learned so much. I think as every dm continues to do as you sort of take up that mantle, what was your what steered your decision to step out from behind the screen for the second season?

Josh Perault: 20:36

Mostly because Bucky was itching to get behind the screen for the second season? out? Yeah, that's fine. I'll gladly play because I missed playing and he missed dming. He was dming, a homebrew session for us beforehand, the game that I referred to with Drew and Nick here and there. But he really wanted to jump in and screen. So let's go ahead, I'll gladly play dming was fun. And I had a great chance to do it with everybody. And now I get to hop into an actual character and delve into that. So it wasn't a tough decision for me at all. I missed dming I dm a little bit for my kid, and here and there for one shots. But you know, being a player again, and doing it for the first time, really in a show long term has been fun in its own way.

Snyders Return: 21:24

And then let's discover a bit more about your character. I was just say work from releases. On the recording. We're 35 episodes in and we're slowly learning a bit more about Mortimer. But are you able to give us a precis?

Josh Perault: 21:41

I will say by the time this comes out if you are caught up. And even like very shortly after the point that you're at now, you're about to get a tonne of mortimers backstory about 150% of it. Wow. So is there anything about the character in particular you want to delve into that's happened so far? Because I can talk about his backstory, but that is going to be ruined for you sir. And I do not want to rob you of that.

Snyders Return: 22:09

Well not take away from my experience, then just where did your inspiration influences come to creating Mortimer?

Josh Perault: 22:18

Ah, so with normal normally with my characters, I like magic asters. I love them. I play wizards all the time in video games, role playing games, and anything that pops up again, I love it. And I wanted to take a step back from that and challenge myself. So I gave myself one of the classes that doesn't have magic and eventually ended up getting in any way because I couldn't help myself. But doing a fighter felt like a cool way to dump jump into that. And I also just knowing our group, I wanted to pick a character that I know could push the plot forward if necessary. And Mortimer being an ex member of the city watch, he wants to protect people. He wants to help when he can. He is no shenanigans when it comes down to it. And I wanted that accessibility and a character for our show in case that needed to happen. And I've used it a couple times are going okay, we need to set down some order. I know who you are. I'm going to give some orders here. We're just going to do this. And I felt like that was needed sometimes to hop out of you know Zell and Barney's shenanigans moose leaving whenever she wants to surreal just wanting to hit things because she's angry. You know, I just needed something that was a little bit more accessible in that way. So I figured to take the bullet on that and still have an interesting character by having him making some choices in his background that made him not quite the perfect picture, which we will get into in a little bit and how he has been dealing with those situations.

Snyders Return: 23:59

Mm hmm. So no, he from the from what I've heard so far, there is definitely layers and more complexity to I stand here tell you to do this kind of

Josh Perault: 24:14

Yes, straight down

Snyders Return: 24:15

the line character.

Josh Perault: 24:17

Yeah, the way the Bucky did it in Episode One with like having the voiceover with each character. He introduced more number as a vigilante and we have really yet to see why that was the case. But we will be seeing that soon.

Snyders Return: 24:34

mystery and intrigue indeed.

Josh Perault: 24:36

Yes.

Snyders Return: 24:38

So moving on from just your character How have you found playing with the other characters should we say how does how does ours it changed your dynamic within your own podcast group is as a player and the group responding to you. You know, body is an NEC and how we portrays body is great Comic Relief sort of offset with weaselly. And there's been some weighty moments between them, which sort of, I'd say caught me off guard, if I'm honest.

Josh Perault: 25:13

With out spoiling too much, are you referring to Zell doing something horrible for the first time?

Snyders Return: 25:21

That's one and the short, the the rune dream sequence as well was an interesting experience.

Josh Perault: 25:29

Yeah, I'm true with his characters. And there's been many of them on the show so far. He is very good with always having a character with two different at least at a minimum, different tiers, like Ferguson, there was a whole layer we didn't really get into of how Ferguson used to be an evil character. And we never really got to dive into that, because what happened to him, but you saw, like, in the sequence beforehand, that he was hurting, to change his ways. And he wasn't just as, you know, bad guy with a cool hat and accent, you know, he had layers to them. And with McHale, he wasn't just this guy in armour, he was a loving friend and somebody who would give their life for somebody else. Even in the nine episodes, he had those layers. It was Zell. At first we were finding like to help with combat man, like, come on, you're here is DND. And then we were like, actually, you're playing in character, but helping us at the same time. And you're showing an alternative and a different perspective on combat in general, as really interesting, and it doesn't work with every table. And we were frustrated at first and then we realised what he was doing and what he was bringing to the table. And we found that very interesting. Nick, Nick is Nick and of recording Jays next birthday, so happy birthday that guy. But barty and Kent, they they've changed with Nick especially, there's been a lot of growth as a player. So Christmas rod was one of his first games. And obviously, this is a second full game. And the first game he gave me a very small list of notes for Kent. And his backstory was maybe two paragraphs long. The thing he gave to Bucky for this one, and we'll get to it eventually, is so intense. He made such a leap. And he gave Bucky like a Bucky style character write up of like, here's everything that's happened, here's all these other characters in my story. And Nick just loves to play, and he loves to hang out. And he's so willing to just roll with the punches and add comedy where he needs drama where he needs. As much as he loves to just laugh. He knows how to take those serious moments and just hit hard with them. And he just makes us all happy, you know. And then getting Hannah to the table as a new player for us, we got to experience somebody else. Morgan and Hannah have been best friends since college. That's how we knew her. So having her put into the fold, at like not experiencing us in season one, but only in season two. She got to learn how we play while we got to learn how somebody else plays and as players accepting each other into the group and into the fold and welcoming somebody else was a nice refresher to change the dynamic we usually had to, you know, have somebody else new and obviously morganite we're good after sessions we like to talk we did this after the first season as well with dm and player I like to talk to her to see if what I did made sense or if it landed well, or if someone felt a little angry. Understand why. And in this one we like to discuss afterwards of how a surreal feeling is more than revealing. So for us it has probably enhanced our relationship especially since we get to do this hobby slash second job together. Which is really nice.

Snyders Return: 29:07

It sounds it sounds really nice and a nice connection that the two of you have. So shifting the tone of the conversation slightly we haven't actually mentioned where we can find yourself and the podcast and so just like to give us a rundown of some some links where people can actually sort of finding and engage with you.

Josh Perault: 29:27

Yeah, absolutely. The only social media I'm on nowadays is Instagram and our discord on Instagram. You can find me at Xeroxes beard that's at x IR. O x is the beard on discord and all the other links for taking initiative you can find us at taking initiative podcast.com just go to the Find us page and you can find everything from our RSS feed to our discord to our Twitter at TI underscore pod, email anything you need will be on that website for you. And then outside of podcasting, you can find my name In a bunch of different credits, because I'm an online at or conform editor for post production. So as of this time, if you watch Blue Bloods or filthy rich or see the upcoming werewolves within, or anything like that, you'll see my name and they're working in TV and film.

Snyders Return: 30:15

Mm hmm. Sounds like a very diverse profile. You have the Well, yeah, you go.

Josh Perault: 30:23

Yeah, the editing actually. Drew, Nick, well, Drew and Nick, Bucky and I met at work. So we all worked at the same place. Drew doesn't work with us anymore. But Nick, Bucky and I still work together. So a lot of us come from a history of post production as of Sep two days, September. I've been with the company for nine years, and a lot of those friendships have lasted around that time, as well. So that's why the podcast is heavily edited. It's why we try to put as much effort in there as possible because our normal job has to deal with such a high level of quality all the time, that we want our personal projects to also have that same level.

Snyders Return: 31:04

Absolutely. Absolutely. And you have a say recently, you are working in his partnership, to fair to say with metallic guys dice games.

Josh Perault: 31:17

We're an affiliate of them. Yeah.

Snyders Return: 31:18

So where can how does? How is that helped with your podcast? And what does that mean for listeners.

Josh Perault: 31:26

So for listeners, as of this recording, and for the foreseeable future, metallic dice games, if you enter the coupon code ti 10, you can get 10% off the entire website of their stuff that's dice, it's accessories for your role playing experience. For us the direct impact we've had one, they're our first affiliate, like we work with idol champions, they give us like gold chest codes and stuff. We've worked with different giveaways for different people. But this is the first like affiliate, we make money thing we've done. So that was a step up for us like, Oh, hey, that's cool. And the reason we got that is their owner listened to our show and wanted to include us. So we're like, that's great, cool. I imposter syndrome. Again, when you're listening for what it meant for our podcast in general, it's too early to really tell if it's added more listeners or more followers, because we really haven't felt the metrics for long enough. But we definitely like saw some sales that people wanted. People wanted their stuff or stuff that are similar, they've been using our code, they've been accessing it. And we're happy that people are able to get products that they really enjoy and really like for a little bit cheaper in case maybe they couldn't afford it or just wanted to deal. That way they can enrich their tabletop experience. But we've been happy to help with that. That's why we like idol champions, and anybody we've worked with their products or services that we use, or have used ourselves. Because when we first hopped into this, we were seeing how podcasts have like mid roll ads, or as before, as after, and especially mid roll as I couldn't, I didn't want to do that. And I understood why people did because people made their lives around it, they need to promote things and need advertisements and commercials, I completely understand it. But for us, this has never been we are only going to podcasts. So we need to make sure we make money for us as this is something that's fun and enjoyable for us. And we don't want to inundate listeners with things they don't need to listen to is the stuff that we don't want to listen to. And we want our hobby and fun to be someone else's hobby and fun. So having, you know, the engagement that we did without making money along the way, it just felt like we were making friends at different businesses. So that felt better to us than actually working in advertising. Like Morgan works in advertising as a main job. She doesn't want to do it. Other podcasts do. So for us that that's really been what it's been about is working with people we like and sharing them with other people that we like,

Snyders Return: 34:11

hmm. Oh, yeah, no, I totally understand and of course, that it has to be what's best for you and your, your friends and your podcast and all the rest of it. So it's of course, how you want to best approach a situation. Moving away from sort of the strictly the podcasting side of things and concentrating slightly more on the the dungeons and dragons side of things. The most recent adventure release was icewind Dale, roaming the frost maiden. You guys are currently up in the frozen north as part of the storm, storm kings Thunder art for your second season. And so, obviously, you've recorded well in advance of that may not have any effect on where things go, but where would Do you like to see the end go next?

Josh Perault: 35:03

Oh, a one for rhyming, the frost Maiden, our friend and guests of the show Celeste kata, which was one of the writers on that. And we're thoroughly proud of what she's done in the DND sphere of things. I haven't been able to look into the module myself and a Morgan was looking into it. We're looking into if we wanted to make that like a third season book, but probably not given that we're already up there, we're already dealing with a cold, we're already already dealing with 10 towns, it's probably not something we want to dive into. Where DND should go? Oh, uh, I've found lately that I don't have a lot of time to actually dive into a lot of d&d, it's really, whatever I've done on the podcast or with the d&d is for nerds people. What I would like probably is something that goes towards the higher levels. Because we haven't been seeing a lot of that the only thing we've really seen that goes up to level 20. If memory, like is working, is the waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad mage? Yes, was just a dungeon crawl, but not really as much of an adventure for role playing. I you can do it that way. But for me, it was like, oh, there's just a bunch of dungeons. Okay, and for podcasting doesn't really work. Because incorporating maps or incorporating visuals, and a lot of combat doesn't hit well on audiences, or at least hours. Some people may want to listen to combat all day. I know for us from an editing standpoint, and like recording standpoint, it's not something we want to do. editing, combat is a it can be a task and I have to do bees, removing dice rolls and all that topic wise to hop into, I probably want something similar to like mourning kind of in some afos, or something of the like that, like Dr. Strange would do. So like the multiverse of madness, or, you know, diving into different planes of existence, Morgan is really craving a Fei wild setting. But getting to experience like sigil and these other, you know, planes and weirdness, I feel like that would be very fun to explore. I know, we've dived into hell, we've, you know, found out about monsters in the other planes, but getting to actually go there and getting a taste of what all these planes are about. I probably want to dive into that.

Snyders Return: 37:39

Yeah, I think that's a fair point. I think. I think even in the player's Handbook, it teases these locations that we never learned anything more about or haven't learnt anything more about.

Josh Perault: 37:52

I think something hitting hard on like the gift and mind flayer war would be awesome. Because you get to get into the abyss you get into Limbo, you get into the underdark you get to experience these odd alien races, and how those different realms work diving into that I think could be really cool. And you can get some high level stuff like with the astral Dreadnought and other major creatures that are in there. That'd be pretty cool.

Snyders Return: 38:21

It's funny that you mentioned the astral Dreadnought because that was one of the things me and john spoke about, which sort of leads on to a follow up question, really. He that was one of one of the sort of favourite monsters or NPCs that he was potentially thinking of using at some point in the future. What has been a What is your favourite monster type? Or Who's your favourite NPC been in sort of the literature of the indie that you've come across?

Josh Perault: 38:56

My favourite monster in the monster manual is the Gallup door, which is the small elemental rock guy, because he just adorable. I've never fought one or brought one into a campaign. But they're, they're the best. And I've looked through that book many times and it still stands out to me of like, I wish there was more of you. No other reason except it's adorable. Favourite NPCs I just got introduced to dragon bait because I'm doing a child based adventure with my kid and Morgan. Where my kid is playing a cardinal Eric ocra called Oh no. Morgan is playing a tabaxi called monkey bars on hot summer day, I think as monkey bars at least. But I brought in Dragon bait and I didn't know that he communicates with smell. He doesn't really talk so all of his moods are like, Oh, it smells of honeysuckle. So he must be comforted or he smells like ham Ham has one smell that he has. So that's just a really creative, odd character that I want to dive more into. And one of my favourite NPCs that Bucky played was stool in out of the abyss who is a mic hunted? And the voice that he did on him is phenomenal to Sligo. Who goes, holes have gone on stool. A mushroom. It's, it's great. It's especially in out of the abyss where it's so like, no one wants to be there. But you want to be there with stool. So it kind of evens out a little bit.

Snyders Return: 40:41

All right, well, though, interesting and varied options, I am aware of Dragon bait from Tomb of I should, again, you've sort of given me a link to one of the follow up questions which was away from work. And away from the taking initiative podcast. How do you? How do you unwind? How do you decompress? How do you relax?

Josh Perault: 41:05

Oh, a lot of video and board games. So much. I've been playing video games for most of my life and board games. My family were very big on both. So I carry those with me Morgan loves sport games, video games as well. So there's my kid. So whether I'm by myself or with her or with him, or both, or Bucky because I live with Bucky and Morgan. From the show, we get to actually experience those things together. So you know anything from Katana to get a ride to chess, I'm a big chess player, poker dungeon mayhem, so many different types of games there. And then in terms of video games, I tend to do a lot of role playing. I was more into like RTS is back in the day, but not as much. I've been playing the hell out of Tony Hawk lately. So as I said before, boulders gate three is going to be a big one. I started playing boulders gate one with a little bit more time like elders day two is something I played a lot of ballers game one wasn't. So I just started a multiplayer run through with Colin from left trigger, right trigger that a week ago. So we'll be doing that like once a week to kind of scratch that itch until bounders. Game three comes out. So that's usually what I'm into. I also not much anymore, but I was always a musician growing up too. So I'll be sitting at my piano or on a replacement cello strings, you know, hop on there. That's actually how Bucky and I met was through music at school. And also like, each Well friends. He was a percussionist, and I was a cellist. So that's a lot of our history.

Snyders Return: 42:50

You want to make friends and making good. And you've made some good friends to be fair. So there's nothing. Nothing wrong with that at all. Nope. So we've spoken about where it began and where you are, and things you do. Aside from the podcast. what's what's the future of, of taking initiative, we've mentioned briefly, a third season, where were you hoping to take taking initiative into the future?

Josh Perault: 43:19

It's a good question. And it's something we've been talking about for a long time. Now, as you said before, we have some backlog. So we have recorded up to about a year from now of releases. And we'll probably finish recording this module, I would say March or April of 2021. And we'll probably stop releasing it at end of 2021 beginning of 2022. So we know we have a lot of time, before we get to that point and the way that the world has changed, and our jobs have changed. You know time with my kid. I don't know what we're doing. I know. Like Morgan is thinking about doing some dming it may go that way. We'll probably end up tossing the DM you know card around and having other people do stuff these we like to keep the show new and fresh. But I really don't know and it's something we're going to have to discover. And as I said before, I like to wing it. So once it gets to that point we'll see we're at then reassess, and then continue. But more than likely, if I continue doing the show, I will be a player at that point. Probably not dming. But who knows in a year's time. We may be a three shows per week twitch show who knows. Things could be all different. But we we always do think about the future, seeing where it can go, who we can play with. It's been an adventure in itself and everything has changed so much. So many times. That Like, actually, the end of season one, I ended up doing an NPC voice of the bartender, talking to surreal. And before surreal was a character in season two, that would be my playable character in season two. His name was garni, or Garnet. And he was going to be a gnome telepath out who was a bartender. But we started talking about storm kings Thunder for so many months, before we started recording it, that I got sick of the character before I started using them. And I changed to Mortimer I think two months before we started recording, I gave Bucky some new material to work with. So I know that if I started thinking about the future, now, it probably change. So I'm trying not to think about it as much until we get to that point. So I can make a a better decision. That's,

Snyders Return: 45:54

that's fair enough. And as you say, not just circumstances, but the world could be a very different place. 18 months from now,

Josh Perault: 46:03

like, like my job is, as I said, it's post production, it's something you go into the facility of clients, you you're in the room with them for hours. And it was a job that we didn't think we could do from home. And within very little time, I have my work from home set up, I'm doing basically everything I was able to do in the past, doing with all this technology we didn't have setup before. And that changed within minimal time. And who knows? if that'll be a new norm, are we gonna have to go back to commuting? Am I going to want to continue living in the city? Who knows? So all that stuff could factor in how the future goes? So I'm just trying to plan less and just go forward more, if that makes sense. Fair enough. Well,

Snyders Return: 46:47

say if someone listening to this, or even myself, because as I say, you, you help tune in and continue to inspire me as I progress. Someone looking to get into dming, or playing or even podcasting or anything, what have you learned that you would pass on?

Josh Perault: 47:08

Oh, dming wise, I would say as I said earlier, before, don't be afraid to go off the book. If you're doing a module. A one thing I wanted to do was honour Perkins and the other writers who did strahd by sticking to the source material. And the more you like, if you go out there and you you ask Perkins or you look at his advice, he will tell you don't do that, you know, use as a guideline, you know, use what you want. But make it yours, make it your own. He even changed it for his own stream show of dice camera action, and he wrote the thing. So don't be afraid to change things, if you want to. Or if you feel like you need to be is the only person who knows is really going to change as you. And as long as you and the players are having fun. That's great. Another thing I would recommend of something I've learned is sometimes your sessions will not go the way you want them to go. Sometimes players will get upset. And it is important to make sure you have open communication with your players and your dm to make sure that you're leaving the table on good grounds and hashing things out in a healthy way. One way to do that is to have your safety rules ahead of time. And also have an open discussion with your players to go if something is going on and you're uncomfortable. Speak up. If you don't speak up, we can't fix it. So I learned that myself. It's not something I want to get into or I like getting into. But his advice I like to pass on because I don't want other people to get in that same boat.

Snyders Return: 48:47

Of course, of course. Yeah. I'm not here to pry too much. But safety tools definitely. And there's line and valence and traffic light systems and safe words and all that sort of stuff. So definitely something that some a session zero and things like that should should address.

Josh Perault: 49:07

Yeah, me I session zeros have always been a weird thing for me of I know people do them. I don't tend to do session zeros by tend to do the adjacent, which is not having a full session but having just an open discord or slack conversation or whatever. However you figure out your way to have that conversation before your game, do it. Because every group is going to be different. Everyone's time is different. But as long as you have that discussion and know that communication can happen, that's going to be your your way to get into it in a good way. You're also saying if there's any advice for podcasters the main one I will always say is no matter what your show is, no matter what you're doing. If you're going to have a schedule, stick to it and don't miss an episode

Snyders Return: 49:52

for advice when I'm trying to stick to as soon as humanly possible.

Josh Perault: 49:57

Get backlog if again, it is It's very helpful. I've got a backlog

Snyders Return: 50:02

is editing it. That's the problem.

Josh Perault: 50:04

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, we have, as I said, we have so much backlog we I finished my episode that comes out in like, eight weeks from now. But the normal thing for the episodes is, hey, it comes out Friday, I now have done Monday, but we've had the episode for eight months, it's you know, if you have the time sometime procrastination will just seep in. But as long as you have some type of backlog and so way to mitigate when disaster happens, or if you get sick, or if you lose your content, or if you pull in an audio file, and you realise it's blank that's happened to before, make sure you have your your backups and safety nets in place, because your audience is going to come to you on the days that they know they should come to you. And if it's not delivering they, they might just pick another show. So just try to stick to a schedule as best as possible. And that doesn't matter if it's once a week or once a month, or once every two months. As long as they know the schedule, and you stick to it. That's what you should be doing.

Snyders Return: 51:01

for advice for advice, indeed. But Josh would like to take the opportunity to just remind everybody where they can find you and your affiliate, please.

Josh Perault: 51:12

Yeah, sure. Again, I'm at Zai Roxas the beard on Instagram that's at x IR o x is the beard on discord or Twitter or anything else for the show. You can find us at taking initiative podcast.com. Twitter is at TI underscore pod. You can find us at taking initiative on any podcast hosting site, I believe we're on all of them. If we're not on one of them, let us know. That way we can work on getting on that particular one. For our affiliate, you can go to metallic dice games comm and put in the coupon code ti 10 to get 10% off, that code is going for the foreseeable future. Also, if you're an idol champions player and you want some cool free gold chests, you can look into our episode descriptions. We have a new gold chest code every two weeks so they launch with the episode. If you want to support our show, you can go to patreon.com forward slash taking initiative and become a patron. You can access all the bonus content we've done in the past and you can get episodes early if you are a $3 a month patron. We like to keep it low and accessible for people we've changed it quite a few times to kind of balance what we have going on. But it's a good way to get access to stuff we haven't released including Zack Valenti making very strange. The Count sounds instead of strahd. We had that one as a fun recording session of him going like to bat

Snyders Return: 52:44

sounds great. And the links to those will be in the description below. Come and join us. Come join us I'm on the discord come and join the taking initiative discord, because it's a fantastic community. Thank you, Josh, so much for your time. I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day, and your podcasts and schedule and all that sort of stuff to speak with me.

Josh Perault: 53:07

Dude, not a problem, man, anytime. And thank you very much for having me. It's great to actually get to meet you audibly, because we've been talking so much in the discord over the last couple of months or years at this point. So thank you.

Snyders Return: 53:20

It's It's been a pleasure. I'd love to have you on the show again in the future if you'd be up for it.

Josh Perault: 53:25

Yeah, absolutely. Just give me a date and time, perhaps and I will

Snyders Return: 53:29

keep in contact. No doubt. Thank you very much. Once again, Josh has been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to learn more about the show, then go to WWW dot Snyder's return.squarespace.com. Alternatively, you can find us over on Twitter. At Return Snyder, you have a link tree link in the description of this episode. And if you want to support us, come and join us over on Patreon. And we also have a Discord server. Please leave us a review because we'd love to learn how to improve the channel and provide better content alpha for those who are listening until we until we speak again. Thank you