Reyna the Lion - Being a Woman Online with Alejandra Wilhelm (D&D5e)

Content warning this episode for discussions of sexual assault and sexual harassment. We don’t go into any detail, but if this topic is a trigger for you, I recommend you skip it.

Alejandra Wilhelm brings Reyna to the table. Reyna is a fierce and loyal barbarian hiding her identity from the archfey her father sold her to.

Alejandra and I discuss parasociality, bad behavior on Discord, and roleplay on TikTok. We also talk about self-insert characters - from physical appearance to emotional trauma.

This character is built for D&D 5e.

Alejandra Wilhelm is a queer Latinx TTRPG creator, one half of the Table Talk Podcast duo and a TTRPG character artist.

You can learn more about Alejandra at:
https://www.characterswithoutstories.com/guests/alejandra-wilhelm/

One Shot's Tavern is a TTRPG Podcast focused on exploring new systems to tell your stories, with pro GMs broadening their horizons by playing new or different TTRPG systems, and sharing their thoughts with you.
https://oneshotstavern.podbean.com/

The Storyteller Squad is a narrative-driven actual play podcast featuring magic, mystery, and vibrant characters inhabiting a world where the supernatural and the mundane intertwine in their Monster of the Week campaign.
https://www.thestorytellersquad.com

Cover art by The Curiographer
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Thanks for listening, and may all your characters find their stories!

Transcript

Star: 0:00

Content warning this episode for discussions of sexual assault and sexual harassment. We don't go into any detail, but if this topic is a trigger for you, I recommend you skip it.

Alejandra: 0:11

People got into the server via TikTok, so oftentimes they would see my character on TikTok and then be surprised that they could, like, interact with me as a human being. And I want people to focus on the content, not the fact that I'm a pretty girl on the internet that has nice looking titties. I made her very, um sexually free and very emotionally unavailable. First of all, hello. Like, nice to meet you. I don't even know who you are. Second of all, no.

Star: 0:38

So what does she look like?

Alejandra: 0:39

Me.

Star: 0:40

Friends, welcome to Characters Without Stories, a TTRPG podcast about the roads not yet traveled. I'm Star. This episode, I'm joined by Alejandra. Alejandra is a queer Latinx TTRPG creator, one half of the Table Talk podcast duo. And a TTRPG character artist. Alejandra, welcome to the show.

Alejandra: 1:38

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Star: 1:41

I'm so excited to have you. I'm a big fan of your podcast, and I'm really excited to hear about your character. So how did you get into TTRPGs?

Alejandra: 1:49

I got into it, I started like my first year in community college. I've always been nerdy, love video games, love anime, all that jazz. And I had a friend who mentioned wanting to get into Dungeons and Dragons, and he asked if I would learn to play if he got a game together. And I was like, yeah, sure. I love fantasy and like, I don't really know what Dungeons and Dragons entails, but I'll, I'll play. And then once I did like a little bit of research, I was like, Oh, cool. I have to act in front of people. And like, I have no acting experience or nothing else. I was very nervous. Tried it out that one time, then like, That particular game was not my vibe because of, like, other people that were there. He was great. He was telling a great story. It's the other people that were just like, I just want to do combat, roll damage, and, like, not interact with anything else. And I was not about it. So it, like, laid dormant for a few years until I graduated college. And then I had another friend, you know, I was in the, in a time of my life where I was like, trying to find a new friend group and he was like, you know, you mentioned that you played one time. I have a space at my table if you want to join and meet new people. And I was like, yeah, no, I'm desperate for friends. Like, let me, let me in that. And that was the first time I sat at a table with people that actually like loved to play and were role playing and like had character voices and I like that's when the bug bit me and I was like, Oh, I didn't know it could be like this. I was like, cool, awesome. So I got addicted, heavy. And then I basically got really into, like, D&D TikTok. And, like, I had an account that blew up subsequently because of a trend. And, like, I just got really entrenched in all of it. And so now I've been playing for the past, I want to say, like, five or six years. And I actually started DMing a full year ago now. I'm a new baby DM. And of course, like, now we started the podcast as well. So I'm just like, I'm just knee deep. In that at this point, it's my entire life.

Star: 3:38

How long have you been doing the podcast for?

Alejandra: 3:40

So the podcast started in July last year. So, so we're relatively like pretty new, but we had a lot of good like reception and stuff and we met a lot of cool people. We ended up kind of on a whim going to PAX Unplugged and met more creators that way and had like a big flood of guests that we got to like, bring onto the show and stuff like that. And so now we're just, we're just keeping on keeping on.

Star: 4:03

Alejandra, who are you bringing to the table today?

Alejandra: 4:06

I'm bringing my character, Reyna. I've built her story for a long time, but never actually gotten to formally play her at a game. I joined that one campaign, and then, like, quarantine happened, so we couldn't actually meet up and play. But at that point, I was bit by the bug. I'm all in D&D now. And so my TikTok was flooded with D&D stuff, and I remember there being a time where, you know how people do things where it's like, oh, this is my tavern, or this is my guild, or whatever, and so one guy just kind of came across my page, and he's like, what about a thieves guild? And so, a little bit later he did like a video of him playing out like recruiting people for the Thieves Guild and I don't know what came over me but I was just like I have a barbarian costume in my closet and I just like made this character on a whim and then just started like interacting with his post and then he created a Discord like roleplay server so a lot of the story that was going on on Discord was also playing out on TikTok and it was D&D related but it was mostly like roleplay heavy. So I played that character on the server and the TikTok for like a good year or two, basically, like the whole time we were basically on lockdown and all that stuff. So I got to really like develop her story, but I've never actually gotten to like be at a campaign, like an actual game, and play her. Even now, I'm like, I'm a DM, and so I get to play her as like an NPC, but I've always been interested at the thought of like, I know how her story turned out via just pure like storytelling and roleplay, but I'd always be so interested to see what she would be like if I started her over in an actual game with other people that are like at that game participating with me.

Star: 5:51

Right. This is an interesting style of play that I am not all that familiar with is these kinds of text based, server based, I don't know if you'd call it play by post, if that's kind of the situation that you're talking about.

Alejandra: 6:02

Pretty much, yeah.

Star: 6:03

Not something I've done a whole lot of. How did that work between you playing on TikTok and in the server, like what kinds of things were happening in the server to develop your character? Were you acting out scenes or what kind of things were happening?

Alejandra: 6:16

It was kind of, if you could think of it as like a living world. So every channel and every category was like a different section of the ship we were on. The city that we were docked at, et cetera, et cetera. And it just kept kind of building itself out as people played and they would kind of "yes, and" and create new sections of the world together. And so it would be kind of a play by post and you just kind of wake up and you're like, okay, where am I going to drop my girl off today? Is she waking up at the tavern? Is she on the ship? Is she wherever? And you just kind of like do a little post where you're like, oh, my character wakes up and like starts kind of wandering around to see who's there and people will start kind of interacting with you and saying hi and whatever and I was like those scenes kind of play out. It is like a conversation that's going back and forth. Other people can kind of hop in and influence the story and then kind of the D&D mechanic of it is like there's like weird little rules, right? So like us talking in parentheses is us having like out of character conversation so if we're like depicting a scene with our character what they're saying back and forth you could like in parentheses be like you can make an insight check if you want or something they would roll and like kind of we play out how that scene goes still based on like the rolls and stuff but it was a lot more like role play based there would still be scenes where there would be combat and a lot of the story that was happening on Discord would bleed over to TikTok and like vice versa. So it was kind of like the two were affecting each other and the main like admin team, which I eventually like became a part of was orchestrating events. So it would be like, our first big thing was a ballroom heist situation. So everyone got invited to the ball. And as we were part of the Thieves Guild, like there was certain missions to like steal things from certain rooms. And the admins were DMing like the ballroom, the dining room, the whatever. And I was one of them. I think mine was the dining room. So I'd be playing my character in other rooms while also controlling the DM situation.

Star: 8:15

That's a lot.

Alejandra: 8:15

I was splitting my brain.

Star: 8:17

Yeah.

Alejandra: 8:18

But it was so, it was so fun. And like, it really, really engaging. And I loved interacting with other people's characters and like the stories that would kind of develop on their own in that way. And it was, I don't know, it was, it was definitely a very fun way to play, but it's definitely very like fun. Very role play heavy.

Star: 8:34

How many people were in that server?

Alejandra: 8:36

Over 300 at the peak of it.

Star: 8:38

So there's a big difference between 300 people in a server and four or five people at a table.

Alejandra: 8:43

Absolutely correct. Yeah, no, there were times where, and this feels like weird to say, but there were people that were fans of my character and like people got into the server via TikTok, so oftentimes they would see my character on TikTok and they'd be surprised that they could like interact with me as a human being on the server. And I'm like, yeah, no, I'm just a character that's beep bopping around. And it would be at times, like, I would enter a chat room like, oh, I'm just gonna enter and go RP. And it would be like, because there's so many people actively role playing in there, like, it would be like, many people want to have a conversation with me at once. So I'm carrying, like, several dialogues in one text thread, and that's going so fast. And you're like, okay, this is a lot. This is overwhelming.

Star: 9:26

Yeah.

Alejandra: 9:26

So at one point I had to start like designating private rooms that were like, oh, Reyna's bedroom at the tavern. And I'm like, okay, this way I can kind of like funnel in people individually and not be overwhelmed with so much activity. But I'd still want to like interact with as many people as possible. So yeah, it was, it was interesting, especially when it got so, so busy. It was, it was a lot to manage.

Star: 9:47

What is the biggest thing that you miss about not having the opportunity to play her in a campaign with a smaller group of people?

Alejandra: 9:55

I would love to watch the moments of like, failure, I think, because to a certain degree, whenever you're just doing like, roleplay heavy stuff, even though there are rolls involved, it's a lot of like, you're succeeding at most of the things that you do because you're trying to tell a specific kind of story. And there's not that element of like, ah, the dice are really, really fucking me over right now. And like, I love the moments of failure. I love the not ones because I feel like those are the moments where you have a lot of interesting character development. And all of the character development she had was because of like me forcing it right like I'm putting her through a hardship or trauma or something to kind of get her to grow and become something at one point I'm part of the admin team so I'm like much higher level than everybody else because I have to be or whatever it's like I didn't get to develop her in a very natural organic way if that makes sense so I would love to see what she would have turned out to be. If it wasn't up to me what she became, if that makes sense.

Star: 10:58

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's an interesting idea. Failure is so much a part of role playing games. Again, for me, it's also one of my favorite parts of role playing games. And it wouldn't really be a tabletop role playing game if we didn't have some element of randomness. Like some gameplay element, because we can always just sit around at a table and tell a story together, but we're putting it into a specific gaming setting, and I think especially with D&D, like, the rolls mean a lot. So, when you're talking about putting your character through trauma, through failure, having drawbacks to her over time, how do you do that without the dice?

Alejandra: 11:34

For me, it's an interesting element of like, I, for whatever reason, and I don't know what that says about me, love to put my favorite characters through just really hard shit. And it would be like, yeah, I can't let Reyna be too happy for too long. Like something, something's gotta, gotta go. Because I just, I just feel like the getting her to go through some struggle or big things like that is what gave her chances to prove herself or, or things like that. But the way that that kind of looked for her, it was interesting because when I first started her, I didn't have an origin. I put makeup on and I was like, I don't know. I picked a fucking name. I speak Spanish, so I just named her Reyna. I'm a Leo. I have, I have ego issues. Like, I just went with that. But when I got into the server, and this is one of my favorite things, I met one of my favorite people, Oak, through that server, and he was a goliath walking around in like a purple suit, real flashy, and he had like a book that he would constantly be writing in. And he'd talk to people, but as he would talk to you and have conversations, he'd be jotting things down in this notebook. And so when I first interacted with him, he would be asking her things about who she is, where she comes from, and all that stuff. And homie, I made this girl two seconds ago, and I have no fucking clue, like, what her deal is at all. But in the moment, you're roleplaying it live, so I was like, I just made her dodgy about it. I'm like, you know, I'm not gonna tell you, like, where I would come from or be very vague about it. And it came off a certain way. Now I have to figure out why she's that way. There has to be a reason for her to be dodgy. And I just kind of came up with this whole thing of like, she used to be a human noble. And it came from a lot of the things that I was consuming at the time because I was reading the ACOTAR [A Court of Thorns and Roses] series and watching The Witcher along with some lore from our current campaign. And so it became a thing of her father was just like kind of a lowly lord with a lot of ambition. He kept sending people out to the Feywilds because he heard somebody else got a lot of rewards that he took back and made himself rich from the Feywilds and he was sacrificing a lot of people to go to the Feywilds to, to figure out if he could make a deal with someone and he finally did and it was like a, like the bargain of surprise in The Witcher where you make a deal and then whatever that person returns to when they get home is yours. And for him, it was his daughter.

Star: 13:56

Oh, okay.

Alejandra: 13:57

Because timey wimey shit. Once you're in the Feywild to get back, and you're just like, oh shit, I have a kid now. But that Fey didn't come collect until she was old enough to be coronated. And he basically went in, was like, nope, you're coming home with me. And her mom helped her escape. Her mom was an adventurer, and she had a deal that she hadn't cashed in with a hag, and the hag basically made it so that her name would be scrubbed from everyone's memory, and no one could recollect what she looked like, but in turn, she had to basically take on somebody else's fate, and so she had to just become something completely different, and she became a barbarian with no name, no title, nothing to herself, and I think eventually, like, got into the coliseums and like, that's how she earned some money and fame and notoriety, but was always trying to get as far away from her kingdom as possible. And the deal was like, if someone connected the dots organically on their own, then the spell would be broken and that Fey could find her.

Star: 14:53

Okay, yeah, I was going to ask what are the repercussions if she gets found out. Well, those are some pretty big ones.

Alejandra: 15:00

Yeah, some pretty big ones. It was kind of like I thought of it as there's power in a name, and that your name is carried like across the memory of other people. So I think that is like his web of trying to figure out where she is, is when someone remembered who she was.

Star: 15:16

Speaking of the power of a name, Reyna is a very powerful name. Why did you choose that one?

Alejandra: 15:21

At the time, I don't know that I had any logic. What, one of the things I like a lot is sometimes making a choice on a whim, and then in the hindsight, realizing how good it connects with things. At the time, I didn't have the lore of, like, she is a to be queen situation but it helped shape that decision because I was like well her name is Reyna maybe this but I knew that Reyna what she was currently going as is not her real name and I eventually again on a whim picked the name Aurelia.

Star: 15:48

So Aurelia means the golden one.

Alejandra: 15:50

Yes and so when a lot of what that made sense for me is like gold is a big like theme that I carry through a lot of my characters actually. Most of my favorite characters have gold eyes because I have very light colored hazel eyes and they oftentimes look like caramel colored or gold in the sunlight. So that's like my little like piece of me that I like to just like throw in there. That and I just like gold jewelry. I'm a fucking Leo and the most stereotypical one that you'll ever meet probably. So I was just like, I, I weave that through a lot of like her aesthetic and things that are important to her and, and like what she looks like. So I was like, ah, all of these things are lining up really well and I like it.

Star: 16:33

So what does she look like?

Alejandra: 16:34

Me. Because at the time with TikTok and stuff, I was like, I'm broke because quarantine. And I was like, I can't afford to really go get like a wig or, or much else. So the easiest bit was like making her look like me. So she's, she's got my big old curly hair. She's got my gold eyes. And then I just do like, most of the work was like makeup and then whatever I had in cosplay that I already owned. She's a self insert as like you can humanly possibly get pretty, pretty shamelessly.

Star: 17:03

Yeah, I think probably in a bit we'll get into other ways that she's a self insert, but just starting at the top level where you got started with her, it was in reaction to a TikTok, starting with the cosplay, did you just have this costume lying around and you're like, this is it? Like, how did that start?

Alejandra: 17:21

Yeah, so I made that costume for the first time that I dressed up at Ren Faire. I made a costume for my girlfriend at the time. She was like a Celtic warrior situation. And then we just went thrifting and we were just like finding whatever we could. And I, from the same fur that I made, like the lining of her cloak, I did like barbarian fur on a bra, basically, and just did like moccasin skin on it. And like, Put a bunch of bones everywhere and like, whatever. It was just a very simple, easy costume that I put together. And she had like a little fur cloak that just covered her shoulders. And I just had that laying around because of Renaissance festival. And I was like, well, I have this, I can make her a barbarian. And I was like, what the fuck is a barbarian doing in a thieves guild? Mind your business. No idea. No idea. I'm the muscle, I guess.

Star: 18:10

We're talking about a character who you have played through on the server, basically level one to Archfey.

Alejandra: 18:17

Yeah.

Star: 18:18

If you were to start over again in a campaign, would you start at level one? And would that be a blank slate? Or are you going to be bringing in things that you discovered about her?

Alejandra: 18:28

So I think if I stuck to her original, like, origin lore, I think she would start a little higher level, not anything crazy, but probably somewhere around, like, maybe level five or so, because eventually, like, the reason she had some combat prowess, and I think at the end of the server, we even started not quite at level one, we started at, like, level four or something. So part of that lore was, like, that she eventually kind of found her way. Into a coliseum and was like, I'm just going to fight my way up the ranks and earn my freedom again, but then come out of it with some money and some notoriety and some title, a bit of a reputation that I can hide underneath, essentially, I think she would start probably around there, like pre thieves guild. But like, just getting out of that situation.

Star: 19:15

Do you think that the things that you have role played with her in the server would come into how you play her moving forward from a new origin point? Or would you want to just be a completely different character moving forward?

Alejandra: 19:27

I would be so down to like, watch her become something entirely different. Because again, it's like, it's a lot of that became an influence of the environment and the other stories that were happening around me. I think the element of like, the, the Fey that is hunting her down would still be part of, you know, the looming threat that the DM could do with whatever he or she's so pleased. But I think I would like to see what alternative situation would have become of that. Cause yeah, I think in the. In the server, eventually, like, one of the big major events that we hosted and people could be a part of was the fact that, like, Reyna gets kidnapped, and so they conscript a party out of the Thieves' Guild to go hunt her down and, like, get her back from the Feywilds. They defeat the Archfey and get her back, and when they kill him, she gains her first level of wild magic, Warlock.

Star: 20:17

Oh, interesting. So she starts dipping into warlock. She starts multi classing.

Alejandra: 20:22

Yeah, I think she's a wild magic barbarian. And I forget, it was like the Fey warlock.

Star: 20:28

Archfey patron, something like that. Yeah. Tell me about this warlock deal that was struck.

Alejandra: 20:33

Some of the lore that I have for Velendryn, and I'm going to be selective about my choices in this because she is, uh, an NPC in my game. My players listen to this. There's some things that need to, that need to stay hidden, but she wasn't the first woman he did this with. There were other wives that he had and from like different kingdoms. He's just like a bad guy that just takes pride in like taking down powerful women out of their station, essentially. And. I think a lot of the logic behind that is not just for the sake of he's a gross man collecting multiple women, but he houses a little bit of his power in each of them as a way to sustain himself should he fall. And so I think Reyna at the time was the wife that was closest when he fell. And so she got some of his power. He had already turned her into a fey. And then she assumed some of his power that remained. So right now she doesn't have a patron. The patron is herself.

Star: 21:32

Oh, interesting. Was Velendryn just a sexist? Like, why was he taking down all these powerful women?

Alejandra: 21:38

I think he particularly enjoyed causing not necessarily that against the women but causing grief essentially and so part of that is her father made that deal because he was a very greedy man and he wanted to assume more power and in his later years he kind of just thought like with arrogance that he got away with it or maybe the legend wasn't interested in his child and he's like I got all this money and this power and whatever now I'm a king. And I get to have my cake and eat it too, basically. But he kind of let the kingdom start falling to ruin a little bit because of his greed, and he wouldn't invest any of that money out back to his people. And Reyna, I had her be a lot more involved with the people, and people were excited for her to gain the mantle because that incited like positive change for the kingdom essentially. And so it wasn't that Velendryn wasn't interested, it was more so that he wanted to wait for her to become a hope to her people and for them to be just at the crest of like, oh, things are going to get better. And he's like, nope, scooped. And I had him like, have like a small counselor, like divination thing that would always kind of give him details of like, oh yeah, this kid that is now promised to you, this is what she's going to become. This is when you can go get her or whatever and that's how he kind of knows like the effect of his actions and I think he just kind of thrives on like that grief and despair that he causes like mortals essentially.

Star: 23:04

Reyna's, or I guess Aurelia at this point, seems like she doesn't have a great relationship with her father?

Alejandra: 23:12

Not necessarily, no. It was more so like a good relationship with her mother. That was a lot stronger.

Star: 23:17

Did she know that her father had made this bargain?

Alejandra: 23:20

No.

Star: 23:21

No, so when it came due, that's when she figured it out?

Alejandra: 23:24

Yeah. Her and her mother did not know. And so like, her mother was pissed and was like, how fucking dare you? And that's why she was like, I do not give a fuck. I'm going to find a way to like, help my daughter get out of this and go live her own life.

Star: 23:39

So she was close with her mother?

Alejandra: 23:41

Mhm.

Star: 23:42

What was their relationship like?

Alejandra: 23:43

Um, I think of it as, like, very close. Again, her mother was an adventurer, so I didn't like to think of her as, like, a more courtly woman. I think she taught her, like, self defense. The reason Reyna became the kind of person she was or the kind of leader she was meant to be is because of, like, the teachings of her mother, not necessarily any influence of her father. So I think she was the one that was like really preparing her for what it means to take that mantle and like trying to build her to be something better than what her father was.

Star: 24:13

Does the bargain that she made with the hag to get rid of her past identity, does that mean she can't see her mother anymore?

Alejandra: 24:20

Correct.

Star: 24:21

Well, that must be heartbreaking.

Alejandra: 24:22

Yeah, and her mother wouldn't remember what she looked like or what her name was.

Star: 24:26

Would she have memories that were just fuzzy? Would she I guess there are things that are outside of just like what things look like. So I was just curious.

Alejandra: 24:33

You would remember that the person existed, but you couldn't quite recollect like the deed like anytime like you would try to like hone in on that it would just be fuzzy.

Star: 24:43

So her mother might know or think she had a daughter but not remember who that daughter was?

Alejandra: 24:49

Yeah I eventually had it be like as part of the mythos of that kingdom is like very Tangled like the lost princess situation and like when nobody remembers what she looks like so any depictions of her her face is blank that there's no mention of a name on any like papers or anything but like they're aware of her existence and there was always a little bit of that hope that at some point she might return.

Star: 25:12

Did Reyna have any other friends before she left? Did she have relationships that she had to give up besides the one with her mother?

Alejandra: 25:20

Yeah, I had one as part of a storyline that started to develop on TikTok and never got, like, super fleshed out. But there was another creator who made, like, a knight OC and we got to talking and I was like, oh yeah, like she could have had a night and stuff like that. And so we played out a little bit of that story, but I think it was an elven male knight that was like part of her personal guard or like the main one tasked with like keeping her safe and things like that. I think he helped her escape, but there was a part of him that was a little bit against it, because being an elf and being familiar with Fey, knowing that trying to get out of a bargain like that can lead to like, only more shit. He helped her escape because he cared about her, but he wasn't super in agreeance with it because he didn't know what the ramifications were gonna be, and if you like, fast forward in it, he's now currently ruling the kingdoms called Covia. He currently rules that he took over after the family basically died and he kind of rules it as like a little bit of a warlord and he's gotten resentful in her absence and the fact that the kingdom and the town had to like have constant like attacks from the Night Court and things like that as like punishment for, letting the princess go.

Star: 26:32

Does she know that this is happening?

Alejandra: 26:34

She didn't know that for most of the time that she was gone. It was only like really after, after Velendryn's gone and after she's free that she would start even trying to look back to Covia and realizing what the situation was.

Star: 26:48

Would the effects of this deal that was made with the hag, would that wear off once Velendryn was gone?

Alejandra: 26:55

Technically she was a human, but her life didn't belong to her anymore, even with the deal kind of being like skirted around. She's still tied to it. She's just basically avoiding it. So I think the reason that she was so successful at the Colosseum is like she couldn't technically die because her life was not anyone else's to claim but that Fey's. So she actually was like around 200 or like 250 when it all kind of went down. So if she was to go back to Covia, I don't think that there would be many people. Because it was a largely human kingdom. I don't think there would be any, like, many people that actually remember what she looked like or what her name was. Cyril, who's the knight that, like, currently is ruling it, would recognize her. But she still would look very different, because she also became a Fey. So it'd be like, I recognize you, but you're definitely changed.

The Storyteller Squad: 28:17

Hello adventurers! It's lovely to meet you. I'm Natalie, and I'm here with my friends to tell you about the next podcast series you're about to fall in love with. We are the Storyteller Squad. Have you ever wished for an actual play podcast that combined cozy slice of life with exciting fantasy adventures? Do you enjoy dramatic musical scores, original character themes, and immersive sound effects? Do you wish more shows would allow queer characters to exist beyond the angst of a will they won't they dynamic and actually get to experience a healthy relationship together? Then join us as our beloved heroes face monstrous, mysterious, and magical dangers. All while finding the time to get coffee with their girlfriends or flirt awkwardly with their roommates. We are the 10 hours lo-fi mix for autumnal lesbians and witchy cryptids of actual play podcasts. That's one Elva tagline. It's clearly what the people want. Plus it's way too late to change our brand of storytelling now. So check out our queer led monster of the week actual play series where we flirt with the monsters about as often as we fight them. Stop making the monsters so wholesome and hot. Natalie, no. I don't think I will. Good. You can find the Storyteller Squad wherever you listen to podcasts. And on social media at StorySquadCast. See you out there, adventurers. Okay, everybody. Ready to start again? Hold on. Wait, wait, wait. I need to hydrate. Let's have an adventure.

Star: 29:56

I can imagine that forming relationships once you are constantly on the run would also be very difficult.

Alejandra: 30:02

Oh yeah, it's part of the reason why I made her like very, I made her very sexually free and very emotionally unavailable. So she was just kind of like, I had casual relationships here and there. She'd flirt with like practically anybody. But it was very hard to, like, tie her down.

Star: 30:18

What would you say her sexuality was?

Alejandra: 30:20

I had her same sexuality as mine. She was bisexual. It was really like, uh, again, I've never made a choice in my life. So why start now?

Star: 30:29

Well, going into that a little bit, you said that she's in many ways a self insert. We already know about the look and we already know about the sexuality, but are there other ways in which she was a self insert for you?

Alejandra: 30:39

Yeah, I think at the time when I first started playing her, like, I was just starting to get into D&D, so getting into the role playing aspect was interesting. And so, again, I leaned on just like, I'm just gonna react to things as I would, basically, so it was truly just me playing myself as much as possible and applying it to fantasy settings, which was easier to do, like, in written formats, but I think a lot of her personality and demeanor, like, I had her always being very much, like, a protector of other people, pretty good moral compass, and, like, doesn't really stand for a lot of people picking on the less fortunate or anything like that. Always being like a very loyal and protective person.

Star: 31:21

And so you would say that you're also a very loyal, protective person?

Alejandra: 31:25

To a fault, yes. Absolutely.

Star: 31:27

Did you have any flaws of your own that you brought into the character?

Alejandra: 31:31

Yeah, I think at the time especially was very applicable like the, I don't know that this was necessarily count as a flaw. But definitely things I was working through was like the sexual promiscuity and the emotional unavailability was something that was really prevalent in my life at the time. So that was really easy to just play out as a character. And it stemmed from a lot of like my own stuff, but it was also the element of not wanting to get hurt. So if you don't get attached, they can't hurt you or you leave on your own accord before it can. Become something that you're too vulnerable type deal. And so like, I definitely considered that one of her flaws as well as like the self sacrificing ness of her, that element of like, well, she knows she can't die. So she's the first one to throw herself into something to protect other people, no matter how much, like, obviously she still feels pain. Obviously she can still go down and things like that was definitely something I'm like, I'm like, yep, that's. We're just going to tuck that, tuck that right there.

Star: 32:26

I think that you can look at that kind of character trait, you know, the wanting to rush ahead, wanting to protect others, being the first person to charge into battle. And you can say, that is brave. That is honorable. That is courageous. And you can also say, that is a death wish. Where does it fall for Reyna? Or is it sometimes one and sometimes the other?

Alejandra: 32:48

It never was so much a, a death wish. I don't think that's like part of her, but I think it was more so knowing that she's capable of handling something hard and handling that for other people instead of having them do it. It's like I can bear the burden. I can deal with this hardship and that way I'm saving other people from doing it because like I've had to do it my whole life.

Star: 33:10

Do you think that drawing in your own personal flaws, things that you were dealing with or struggling with was a way for you to work through them personally, or do you separate your characters out?

Alejandra: 33:20

Oh, no, 100%. I be, listen, I treat that table like free therapy half the time. Like, we're all out here working through shit. And I think it's, I think it's also like a beautiful medium with obviously the right people and people that you trust. And like everyone's like, consenting and comfortable and using like proper safety tools when things get too, too touchy, but you know, like my players are definitely like working through things on my table and like, I'm honored that they feel that safe and comfortable to do that with me and let me be the facilitator to the things that I know they're working through because they are my best friends and knowing when to pull back and when to give them an opportunity to feel that. With Reyna, I definitely think I worked through a lot of things through her, both in that element of like the sexual promiscuity and like the way that she deals with her self sacrificing and boundaries and communication. There is like an element of some of that backstory, like with Velendryn, that includes like SA [sexual assault]. And that was, the aftermath of that was roleplayed out with the person that, Is like her now in character husband and it was like after she gets back they had a conversation about it and it was never anything explicit never anything that like really detailed anything but it's like the illusion of like the confirmation that it happened and him comforting her through that. And him being the first person that she's, like, comfortable and vulnerable being with. And that's, again, Oak, who is, like, a beautiful human. I'm so grateful to him. Him and I both look at those two characters as, like, that's, like, our greatest little love story is, like, her finally getting her happy ending, getting somebody she's comfortable with being vulnerable with and all that stuff. And I'm like, that's things that I want for myself eventually. But yeah, it's definitely a character that I've worked through things with and the way that she's grown and become something has been like in tandem with me growing and going to therapy and like figuring things out and then like finding ways to kind of play that out in her story as well.

Star: 35:12

Was there a parallel in your own life to her story in terms of recognizing things that she had gone through and learning to process them?

Alejandra: 35:21

Yeah, I think the, this is a lot of stuff that happened, like, both through the course of her and then even in the time after I've, like, stopped playing her as a, like, in the role playing server. Because, like, again, a lot of, like, my own sexual promiscuity and the way that I handled relationships and things like that was as a result of, like, my own coping mechanisms to my own assault and that took a long time for me to process and then I had to go through like a really painful breakup with somebody that I was the first person that I would like were truly felt vulnerable with and they unfortunately tore me to my very foundation So and I don't let people in that close so it was kind of like a smack to the face of like I'm stupid. But I'm not. It's more of that person using and abusing and then discarding. But that kind of put me in a position where I no longer could be, like, intimacy was not a way that I could cope things. It took that off the board because of the trauma caused by that relationship ending. And then I was like, oh, I'm I don't know what to do, but like what I normally deal with my like pain through bodies. So like what, what is, what else is there? And then I, that was like one of the biggest moments of like, I've got back into therapy. Cause I was like, I don't have the tools to deal with this. And clearly something's more wrong than when I feel capable of dealing with myself. And that really started me on a journey of, like, figuring all of that out, and I think in Reyna's own story, once she finally found a way to be okay with that, and knowing that that was something that got taken off the board, both in her story and also because, like, on an administrative level, I was like, okay. Sometimes people are a little crazy. She was having a little bit of a reputation and like some people were getting the idea that they could just like walk up to Reyna and assume that they would get some kind of like scene with her. And I was like, no, not at all.

Star: 37:09

That's not good.

Alejandra: 37:10

And so like, I would have to like hold people back at one point. And I was like, Yeah, I'm not comfortable with people viewing her as like this. So I had to like really draw some lines. And also I'm an admin and like there was other people doing some really wild buck wild shit like that. I had to do. I was also like their HR basically. So I had to like be privy to some people's private DM conversations. I was like, hey, yo, this is not, this is not chill. Wow. And so eventually, like as an admin and like Oak was also an admin, I had a conversation with him where I was like, Hey, I know story wise, Reyna has always been anti marriage because of her commitment issues, but also can our characters just marry each other so that we're off the board for like, anybody else. And we had to like, write that into the story, but also it was a decision as admins to be like, hey, yeah, and suddenly they're monogamous and they really just don't. No. Like, they're not gonna interact with anybody else. It also played into eventually, like, her story and, like, her becoming vulnerable and feeling safe and, and, like, all of that stuff is very in tandem with, like, my own journey with it and, like, for both her and me, intimacy was more meaningful and it had to be with someone they trust and have more connection with. I feel like that is very in line with how I've kind of resolved those issues both through her and then my own life experience.

Star: 38:30

I have so many questions about this server and it must have been a complete beast to manage.

Alejandra: 38:37

Oh my god, yeah. It was a time, for sure.

Star: 38:41

It sounds like you're somebody who uses safety tools at the roleplaying table. I imagine there had to be some sort of rules in the server as well. It sounds like maybe there was some, some growing pains sometimes where you had to kind of discover what the problems were before you could solve them.

Alejandra: 38:56

Yes, absolutely. I think, yeah, with the server, it was definitely like a growing pains. And again, like, nobody was doing this as a profession. Like, these are just people volunteering their time. And eventually it did become, it felt like a job. For sure. It started becoming less fun and becoming more admin stuff. And then like, it's 300 people on a server. That's a lot to keep an eye on. And the main guy that started the server was like taking more and more of a step back because it was becoming too much for him. And so it was like really, a lot on us as admins and there were even like situations where some of the admins were like doing weird shit that we caught on to and we're like no like what the fuck and we deal with those situations and like again I would be I would be HR so I would be like whenever people were having situations that were problematic and uncomfortable and experiencing predatory behavior they'd come to me and I'd do my investigating and address the situations, kick whoever needed to be kicked and things like that. And it was becoming more work than fun. That's for sure. And even when I was trying to like go in and role play, it was overwhelming because of like the perception people had of my character and everyone wanting to interact with her and things like that. It was balancing both making sure that everybody got their moment. To interact and like I gave people undivided attention, but then it was also like starting to feel like I felt like an NPC. I felt like, like, I'm just gonna post myself up here so people come do whatever they need to do to get their moment and I wasn't getting to really. Let her have her fun.

Star: 40:30

Right.

Alejandra: 40:30

You know, so eventually it got to the point where I was like, this is a lot and I'm gonna take a step back and I would take breaks and I would have like the certain people that I just really enjoyed roleplaying with, like Oak and my friend Kay, who's now our editor and a couple other people, we just kind of like built our own little private server and would just role play with like just, you know two to three or four characters and like just a smaller version of it and get back to like what we enjoyed out of it and then eventually I was like, I got what I need with that baby server. That's just private. It's just me and my friends and people I love and I care and I trust and I'm just going to take a step back from this monstrosity of a server and I get to going for a good, good while after I left and stuff. But I think last year, yeah Oak was still an admin in there and he finally like made the decision to archive it, but like you can still go back and like read all the stories and all the things that are in there, but it's it's now a dormant server.

Star: 41:26

It sounds like you had some struggles with kind of parasociality like this, you know, people are meeting each other on TikTok, you're in a server where you're not seeing each other's faces. It can make situations that might work in person when you can see other people's physical body expression or language not really working so much in online spaces.

Alejandra: 41:47

Yeah, yeah, it's that and then I don't know sometimes it would be like an interaction and like so our characters are having an interaction but then I get a DM from the person I'm talking to and then being like, hey, so can this scene go this way and I'm like, first of all, hello? Like, nice to meet you. I don't even know who you are. Second of all, no. Like, that's not how this is gonna go. I'm like, our characters aren't even talking about it. We're like talking about what sandwich we're gonna order at this tavern, and you're trying to like, do some wild shit. Like, no, that's not even, that's not even at all what I read of the situation. And so it was just like, it was just getting to be too much. And yeah, the parasocial relationship stuff was, was definitely an issue.

Star: 42:28

I feel like part of this is also just being a woman on the internet.

Alejandra: 42:32

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And like, to be fair, like Reyna's content, uh, when I was doing it on TikTok was like, was very thirst trappy. And like, I got, I got giga yitties and I was using them to my advantage. Like, like I've. I'll admit it, but nowadays, like you almost never see me like in a low cut shirt when I'm posting, especially not for like Table Talk, because like, that's not, again, that's not how I want to be viewed. That's not what I want people to associate with me because it's not a priority for me anymore. And I want people to focus on the content, not the fact that I'm a pretty girl on the internet that has nice looking titties.

Star: 43:10

I feel like even if that's not your emphasis, you know, okay, personally, I do not, you know, put my tits out there. Not a, not a huge fan of it makes me feel uncomfortable. I don't like that kind of attention. There are people who do that because they do like that kind of attention.

Alejandra: 43:25

Yeah, and that's perfectly fine.

Star: 43:26

And then there's just, you have tits and it's not about the tits, it's just that they were there and you want to make content and you feel that's how you feel happy in your body. So I think it's, it's really hard because for women or for people who have bodies that attract that kind of attention, you're kind of damned if you do damned if you don't, where it's, it's hard to have, find a place where you're getting the kind of attention that you want and avoiding the kind of attention that very frequently comes in unwanted.

Alejandra: 43:54

Absolutely. Because it's, it's really a like, I mean, you can, and most like women are in feminine presenting or like people that used to present as women would understand is like, you know, you could show up somewhere in a goddamn hoodie and baggy sweatpants with no makeup on and your fucking hair is a mess. And some person is still gonna be out here with the audacity, be like, hey lil mama, what's up? And you're like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Like, what about me was inviting in this moment? I'm literally in the worst mood possible and I look like I've been drug through the mud and you're like, hey, you've got a pulse. Like, you got me fucked up. I still, like, I'm very comfortable in my body and, like, I love, there are moments where I like to be a little more sexy and it, but it's more for me and, like, if a man looks at me sideways, I'm also a big woman and I will throw somebody into a wall. And so, like, it's fine.

Star: 44:46

I will pay to see that.

Alejandra: 44:48

No, yeah, I have done so. I have done so. I threw a seven foot tall man into a locker. Yeah, I've never had an issue with confrontation. Uh, my friends love going out with me because I will post up. on somebody for them. The Barbarian makes sense, essentially, is what I'm trying to get at. To each their own and however you feel most comfortable. For me, it's just, that's part of my own journey and like, I'm at a point where I'm like, you know, I don't want that attention unless I specifically am asking for it, uh, many other ways. Like, I could be quite alluring without like, them ever seeing the light of day.

Star: 45:24

For the audio only listeners, Alejandra is gesturing towards her chest. Sometimes we forget that this is an audio medium. She was a wild magic barbarian.

Alejandra: 45:36

Yeah, which, to be honest, didn't come into play that much on the server. Cause I, again, was very new to D&D and forgot that I need to roll on a fucking table every time I rage. So, like It almost never really took any effect on, like, story wise. I probably would do something different now, knowing what I know about, like, mechanics and other things. But Wild Magic seemed fun, and I was like, yeah, I don't know.

Star: 45:58

Did it ever pop off, or did you forget every time?

Alejandra: 46:01

I'm almost certain I forgot, like, every time. Because it's also like, it was a roleplay server, and there wasn't hardly any reason for her to get into a rage unless we were, like, Specifically having combat and then I, again, was already having a hard enough time keeping track of combat because I suck at combat historically, uh, to be like, oh, right, let me roll on this fucking magic table. I forgot that I need to do that. I don't think it ever actually, like, came into play. And if it did, I have since forgotten whatever the fuck it was that popped off. I think I turned into a plant one time. I think someone reminded me and I rolled and I turned into a plant.

Star: 46:35

Nice.

Alejandra: 46:36

I was like, fair enough. Fair enough.

Star: 46:37

That's very cool. I've wanted to do that. I'm currently playing a wild magic sorcerer in a campaign and it's like you really, really want it to happen, but you always forget to make the rolls. And so it's just like, I think we're 10, a dozen sessions in or something in the campaign. I think I've had one wild magic surge. It's a little disappointing. I mean, it's really fun that it can happen, but it's also like, I feel like you have to be doing combat like all the time.

Alejandra: 47:02

For it to really be like prevalent.

Star: 47:04

Yeah.

Alejandra: 47:05

I have a wild magic barbarian in our current campaign. Game as like one of my players and stuff and I don't roll on the traditional while magic table. I roll on one that has like over a thousand entries. So that's been interesting. And there's definitely been a lot of moments where things have popped off. One of my favorite ones was that, like, he woke up ugly one day, and he very much is keen on his appearance. He's a dragonborn and like, polishes his horns and like, his scales are always pristine. And so like, him waking up ugly that day was a catastrophe. And like, it was a like, level 9 emergency. It was one of the funniest fucking sessions we ever had.

Star: 47:46

The quest is to make him pretty again.

Alejandra: 47:48

Yeah, he was just laying in bed like he was dead. dying. And he was, like, convinced that he had, like, a deadly illness, and, like, called every, like, OP healer that they knew, and they were just pouring all their, all their spell slots into him, and nothing was working. And he's, like, I'm dying. Like, he's, like, pretending he has cancer, and he's, like, I'm dying. And then he was fine the next day.

Star: 48:13

That's so funny. I love these kinds of random effects. We were talking before about how dice randomizes what can happen in a campaign. Wild Magic is another randomizer that can cause some pretty interesting effects. Did Wild Magic ever come into play to change your character or adjust their path at all?

Alejandra: 48:33

With Reyna, I honestly think I didn't play around enough with the Wild Magic as I should have. Again, because, like, I wasn't just familiar enough with it, and then, like, I honestly did more with the warlock stuff once that started coming into play, and that felt more in line with, like, where her story was going. So, she had a lot of, like, darker, like, night themed magic, and I just added a lot of flavor to that to her rages was like the warlock mixing with the rage and things like that. It didn't come into play as much as it should have. And again, that's like one of the big reasons why I'm like, I wish I could play her now knowing what I know now about different classes and having more experience with combat and other things. I would still have her be a barbarian. But I would probably choose something different that I felt like was more handy in combat and that I wouldn't just forget to do.

Star: 49:24

Right. Do you have a build already prepared or is that just kind of a idle thought?

Alejandra: 49:29

I think she would probably be either ancestral guardian or like a berserk barbarian, I think, to start.

Star: 49:36

And you're thinking about this primarily because of combat optimization or are there other reasons?

Alejandra: 49:41

Probably more for combat. Like, if I was to start her out in the, like, Colosseum, then I would definitely be like, no, I gotta come in here with, with some shit that's gonna be fucking useful and not just be, I don't know, randomly turning blue during combat. Like, I don't.

Star: 49:57

Does Reyna have a personal code or motto that she lives by?

Alejandra: 50:02

Mmm, not so much a personal code, but I think for her, there's nothing she wouldn't do for her people and they would always come first to her and during the time of the server, because I was both an admin and like in story, a person that was like high ranking in the guild that extended to all guild members. So like anybody could really come to her for aid and she would help even if it was like somebody that was not someone that she's ever interacted with like just being part of the guild and someone she feels responsible for lended her services to that person in current. It means her husband and her family. She's got kids and by extension, friends of her kids. Like these are all part of like my pseudo family and I'll do everything to protect those people. Sometimes it bites me in the ass because some of these players have become part of that group. And so they're like, we have an archfey in our fucking pocket. And I'm like, she's doing other things right now. Like she's, she can't come to the phone right now. You can't just drop a nuke. You're level three.

Star: 51:08

Yeah.

Alejandra: 51:09

Like calm down. This is she's not your get out of jail free card every single time. I gotta I gotta make y'all earn something. They're just like, that's auntie. And I'm like, she is an archfey of the night court. She's scary. They're like, no, that's auntie. I'm like, God damn it. To an extent at some point, it becomes like prevalent to her own children and like one of her oldest son. Is very keenly focused on Covia and reclaiming it as like a sense of duty and responsibility to the people.

Star: 51:40

Wow, that's very cool. So she has kind of told him about Covia and that history.

Alejandra: 51:45

Yeah, funny enough, me and Oak have like thought about the concept a little bit like what happens if Oak and Reyna die at some point. And I think the trigger for her son to really go out to Covia, like he's, she's told him about it, like growing up. And I think upon like their death, each of their kids goes out into the world to take up part of their parents mantle. She's got two twins. One is Ash, one is Cora. Ash is the male. And he goes to Covia to try to free the people from this warlord and try to do what his mother always wanted to do and, like, serve the people. Cora goes to the Night Court and tries to get rid of all the, like, negative parts of the court that are still lingering from Velendryn. And then Ember is the youngest and she takes up her father's station as, like, the avatar of his god that he serves.

Star: 52:37

So she's retired then from adventuring, having kids and everything, or is she still out adventuring, leaving the kids with a nanny?

Alejandra: 52:44

She's, she's busy leading a double life in like that she basically takes up the seat of like the Archfey of the Night Court because at the time that she's kind of trying to get away from it and she's kind of establishing her own life, there's people. That are loyal to Velendryn's power so they believe that she's the rightful like inheritor of that title and then there's others that think it should be through the hereditary line which is like his brother in another court is trying to encroach on that and so. For her I think it was a point of like I have a angle to go take that mantle and try to do some good with it or I leave it in the hands of somebody else that is gonna just repeat probably the same cycle so she decides to like take that up and like fight off those advances and try to bring some positive change to that seat while trying to keep her family hidden, because people in that court would probably use that against her. So, none of them know that she has family elsewhere and she kind of just goes back and forth.

Star: 53:43

So they stay in the material plane and she's in the Feywild?

Alejandra: 53:47

Mm hmm. And she'll just kind of come and, come and go. And then I did have the, the previous wives become like her royal guard and I call them the widows.

Star: 53:55

Oh, I love that. We talked about her morals and values, you know, being around friends, protecting her friends and her family, obviously being in a thieves guild, there's a little bit of legal gray area there. How does she feel about that part of it?

Alejandra: 54:09

She's not an all good person. I'll say that. She, she's definitely morally gray. And I like to play in the angle of as I do with a lot of like my, my big bads, most of my big bads are people that are villains, depending on the side of the coin that you're standing in, they could be really useful allies if you're about their cause, or you empathize with the reasons why they do the things that they do, or they could just be a nightmare. Reyna has had to do some bad shit before, being in a Thieves' Guild, to survive, and at some point it's like, yeah, these are my people that I care about, and if somebody's standing on the other side being like, hey, we're going to come after them because they did some shady shit. She's like, well, these are my people. Like I'm going to protect them regardless of what they did. I don't think she would ever support something truly, truly heinous, but there's moral gray area to play in. And then I think also with like stuff in the night court, I kind of, again, snapped a little bit of like ACOTAR. So there is the element of like that nightmare court that is presented to everybody else. So everyone thinks the Night Court is still operating the way that it used to, and then she's created a bit of like a haven of people that believe in change, people that are trying to weed that out slowly but surely, but not do it in a way that is so overt that they're going to become targets themselves. So she's trying to enact that change kind of under the table, but then when she has to go present as the Archfey of the Night Court to the people that think it's still running the way that it does, she has to be a little bit monstrous. And sometimes she's had to be a little bit monstrous to keep her family safe. So, it's just a matter of what you weigh, and what's important, and what are you willing to do to keep that safe, and keep your loved ones safe.

Star: 55:53

Reyna, are you a good liar?

Alejandra: 55:56

Oh, that's an excellent question. Not to the people I care about. To anybody else? Absolutely. But, my friends and my family will know that I cannot hide anything on my face and oftentimes have to turn around if I'm trying to lie. So it's, it's pretty plain to see.

Star: 56:12

I imagine you've had to lie a lot because of your identity, your stolen identity, or I don't know if it's stolen, actually.

Alejandra: 56:20

Would you say it's stolen? Gifted, I think.

Star: 56:23

Yeah.

Alejandra: 56:24

Yes, it kind of came with the territory. And, again, when it's about survival and to someone that I have no real emotional attachment to it comes as natural as breathing. The issue comes when someone, you know, gets attached. Mostly me. And then at that point, I'm, I can't keep it, keep it together.

Star: 56:44

What's your tell?

Alejandra: 56:45

Literally just my face. I, I, I will react and you will know exactly every thought that is going on behind my eyes the second something happens, and if I'm lying, you'll be able to see it plain as day.

Star: 56:59

Thank you so much, Alejandra, for coming on the show and for talking about Reyna with us.

Alejandra: 57:05

Yeah, thank you so much. I love her. I love her so much, and you got me to dig into my drama, so I appreciate it.

Star: 57:13

That's what I'm here for, right? Do you have anything you want to share with my listeners?

Alejandra: 57:17

Yeah, like we introduced at the top of the episode, I am one half of the Table Talk hosts. We are a TTRPG discussion podcast, so we do everything except for play. So we'll talk about everything that it takes to go both on the table and off the table, as well as interview tons of awesome other creators about their favorite topics. We ramble a ton, so if you enjoy just a cozy little sit down hyper fixation chat about our favorite topic, then you're more than welcome to come listen. We are everywhere that you could listen to podcasts. We are every Wednesday and you can follow us at Table Talk RPG, literally TikTok, threads, Instagram, probably more places later on.

Star: 58:00

For my recommendation this episode, podcast called One Shot's Tavern. One Shot's is a podcast with wait. Don't tell me. One shots! One Shot's also does interviews with incredible creators and advice for TTRPG players of all stripes. Give it a listen. One of the things that any creator wants to know is what people think of their work. For podcasters, it can be especially difficult to get feedback. Did you know that you can now leave comments on individual episodes on Spotify? If you're listening there, I encourage you to leave a comment and let me know what you think about an episode. You may have also noticed a link in my show notes that says, send us a text message. If you have a question you'd like me to answer on a future episode, or just want to leave a comment, send me a message. On that subject, I want to give a special shout out to classicgranto for leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. They said something that I will never, ever forget. So I'm just going to read it here because I couldn't do it justice if I paraphrased it. Star is an incredible navigator of the heart. And is worthy of every second of time that her show demands. I'm a little choked up just repeating it. So, if you want to make me cry happy tears, leave me a review. I'll shout you out on the next episode while trying desperately to hold it together. I started a newsletter. If you'd like to get a behind the scenes peek at the podcast, follow my other projects, like my current all woman actual play, and be notified when a new episode drops. You can find the signup form in the show notes or on my website. Please share the podcast with a friend. Word of mouth is the best way to find new listeners. Your recommendations help me immensely. Thank you to all my listeners spreading the word. I'm so grateful. You can find me on TikTok at StarMamaC or on Threads, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook as Characters Without Stories. You can also listen on YouTube at Characters Without Stories. Or follow the link in the description. My submissions are currently full. I'll announce on the podcast when I'll be accepting more submissions. So keep your ears open. Thanks for listening and may all your characters find their stories.