the STORY WITHIN: UNCORKED with BRITT SCOTT

What if fantasy wasn’t just an escape but a way of returning to your true self? 

In this engaging and mystical episode of the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast, Tim Windsor chats with Britt Scott—a Dungeon Master, therapeutic game facilitator, and story alchemist—who found her voice, confidence, and creativity by stepping into a character and a world of dragons, dice, and deep truths. Together, they discuss how the ancient craft of storytelling and the unpredictable power of a 20-sided die can foster healing, connection, and growth in both teens and adults.

Whether you’ve never created a character and stepped into their world or you’ve played through a hundred quests, this conversation will surprise you. You'll learn how Brit transformed her self-doubt through her elven persona Anya, how she’s helping neurodiverse teens find their voice through therapeutic role-playing, and how storytelling around the table can become a subtle and sacred act of restoration. 

Stay until the end for a spontaneous dice-roll showdown that transforms metaphor into a powerful and potentially prophetic moment—and a personal story from Tim that could just change your view of fate forever.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

Transcript

PLEASE NOTE: UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast episode transcriptions are raw text files and have not been proofed or edited. They are what they are … Happy Reading.

© UNCOMMODiFiED & TIM WINDSOR

[00:00:00] What if the fantasy worlds we escape to could help us better navigate the real one we live in? What if battling mystical foes and forces and bonding with magical friends and followers could unlock confidence, connection, and a deeper understanding of ourselves. What if the simple act of stepping into a character and sitting around a table could create power in your real life power that would enhance your voice, your true identity, and a sense of belonging?

And what if the magical, unpredictable, and deeply human world of Dungeons and Dragons isn't just a game, but a tool for transformation? Whether you've never picked up a 20 sided die like me, or you've been adventuring for decades, this conversation is gonna challenge you to rethink what you believe about what this kind of play can do for you and [00:01:00] others, and what healing can happen when imagination meets intention.

Hey, my friends. Welcome back to the Unmodified podcast. I'm Tim Windsor, and today my guest on the show is Britt Scott Britt, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

Oh, awesome. It's gonna be a great conversation. Now, who's Brit Scott? Well, I met Brit. I'm going explain my background here. I met Brit through Craig Minchin, and for those of you who listen to the podcast, you know, Craig is my resident leadership historian who is, uh, coming back on the show, gonna be back on the show in a little while.

To do another leadership podcast, so I love it. But I met Brittany through Craig and they actually do some online gaming together and connected. And then Britt came up and visited in Canada and we got a chance to meet Brett and what a great journey it's been. And I wanted to have Britt on my show and chat about all this world she's involved in.

So Here's who Brit is. Brit is a a very passionate dungeon and dragons player and game master who found her way into this world of tabletop role playing games in 2021, and she learned the [00:02:00] game alongside of her son during the pandemic. Today, Brit runs therapeutic d and d games for teens through social bridges and leads tables at conventions, creating safe places that welcome people in.

Where they can belong. Her game's focus isn't just on fantasy and fun, although there's a lot of that. It's on helping players discover more about themselves along the way, build confidence and connect with others. And as you'll discover Britt's first character, Anya taught her just how powerful storytelling can be both at the table and beyond through her work.

Brit shows how the simple joy of play can create space for growth, friendship, and belonging. And that's what I love about this conversation. And I just wanna get full disclosures. Everybody's listening. I have no, I, I don't know anything about this world. So this conversation is, born out of the fact that I wanna discover and understand this world, and Brit has this wonderful experience here.

So we're gonna sort of explore that tonight. And of course, every unco conversation starts for me with a little bit of a drink. So, Britt, what are you drinking tonight?[00:03:00] 

I have a Jasmine tea in one of my favorite mugs.

There you go. If you're on the YouTube channel, you see your favorite mug and Jasmine Tea. Sounds good. I have to admit I'm not a big Jasmine tea fan, so I, you know what? I broke out an Irish whiskey called McConnell's. I bought this recently, actually tried it with Craig the other day, and I'm gonna drink this because I thought it's sort of an ode to the old world.

You know, the world of Dungeons and Dragons seems like I'm thinking of like Scotland, and I'm thinking of the medieval times. I don't know how that works. So I'm gonna celebrate with little medieval drink. Cheers to you.

Cheers.

I love Irish whiskey. Reminds me of Canadian whiskey. Love Irish whiskey. All right, so let's get this started. Let's figure out how we wanna unpack this conversation. Brett, I. So tell me a little bit about, again, your journey, uh, into this soho world and where it's taking you, what it's teaching you. So let's just start with, okay, you could, you get involved in 2021 or so, and you exploring [00:04:00] this area.

Do you go directly to this area of d and d Dungeon and dragons, or do you, do you experiment with other sort of rule games first, or how do you begin to get in this journey?

Uh, it really started with, uh, so my son at the time was 11 and had been playing the Pokemon Park game and, uh, pandemic, you really couldn't go interact with a lot of people, so it was him, and me, and that got boring after a while. So he's like, Hey, let's, I heard about Dungeons and Dragons. Can we play?

Like, I've never done that. So we go grab some of the books, we get the starter pack, and I start teaching myself how to be a game master, how to run the game, how to run the games. And we were playing together and eventually led to me running a family game where it had my mom, my brother, my son, and my two younger nephews.

So we had a 6-year-old as the youngest up to my mom playing.

Oh, that's cool. Now help me understand a little bit, I, 'cause I don't even really know where did this thing come [00:05:00] from? I mean, okay, where did, where did Dungeons and Dragons come from? I mean, it's a game. Somebody, a guest invented it and now people play it. And how does this whole world work and where, where does it start?

Oh. well, I mean, and I'm rusty on the origins of Dungeons and Dragons in particular, but, um, Gary Ax and a bunch of his friends back in the seventies. Late seventies, as I recall, might be early eighties, were playing a lot of different tabletop war games and decided that they wanted to change of how that looked.

And so they started creating specific characters. So you could be a wizard, you could be, you know, a sneaky rogue, you could be someone who's good in the forest. And what do those stories look like when you're now at a table telling those stories? And it's just evolved from there. And it's not just Dungeons and Dragons.

That's like saying Kleenex is all tissue. So there's a lot of different games you can play.

Okay, so at the basis though, there, there's this game being [00:06:00] played, but storytelling is the central part of the game. Is that, am I 

Yeah. Collaborative storytelling.

Collaborative storytelling, which it kind of, that's an interesting way of thinking about it. 'cause I don't think of collaborative storytelling.

I think of, you know, when I tell my grandkids a story at night, it's not a nana and papa collaboration. It's just, it's a papa. It's a papa story or a nana story. So this is a collaborative storytelling game. So help me understand, does that mean every game is different and, and you're making it up as you go?

I mean, is that how this world works?

Yeah. Um, So there are. Books that have pre-made stories. So it gives the game master a kind of a framework to work off of. but even those are different every time you run through it with different people or you have, um, people who will just completely create their own story. I do both. So I have one group where I'm making up the story for them, and I have plenty of books where I use the different modules to help tell that story.

Uh, that's [00:07:00] fascinating. So, so you get into this, first you're participating and now I don't know you, you're a game master. I mean, so first of all, like, how do you become a game master? Does somebody come and like say, Hey, you're a game master now, or how does this whole thing work, Brett?

You know, I, I actually wondered the same thing when I first started. I'm like, when do I count as a game master? What I learned is if you're willing to sit down and help lead the story. And guide the players through. You are now a game master.

Okay, so the Game Master is the, the lead storytellers helping people find their story. Tell it. So this game is played now. You can play it in person. Often played online, obviously that's how you and Craig play. You, you and Craig play, and there's other people who play in that game. I understand. And so everybody has to find a character, I guess, is, is a character sort of like an alter ego?

Meaning is there connection to who I am or is the, is the character I'm creating, or I get, is it fundamentally [00:08:00] different than who I am?

That is entirely up to you. That's kind of the beauty of it. Um, a lot of newer or first time players, tend to pull from what they're familiar with, so it's very common for their first characters that they're creating to reflect something in them. when you have longtime players, that's where they start to get, oh, I wanna try something completely off the wall.

Completely different, exact opposite of me. So you'll get people trying different voices, trying different personas, even trying to, like I have a one friend who loves to play girl characters and he's a guy. So it all just depends on your comfort level

and the story you're trying to tell.

that's very, very fascinating. So, so as these stories are unfolding, there is some elements in which, uh, again, I don't understand the game. I'm not, but there is, there's a die involved and there, or dice. I don't know if there's multiples 

there, 

are, 

one. 

actually seven dice.

 there's seven. Okay. There's seven and, and there's seven dice.

And, and these [00:09:00] dice, they get rolled, I guess, somehow in the game. And it, is it a predictor then of what will happen or does it provide options for you?

It is the thing that helps when you're trying to decide, okay, what comes next? So instead of just saying, okay, I attack that goblin, you roll the 20 sided die since you brought that one up, and how good you are at it. It helps dictate how well you do. The dice gives that element of, unpredictability.

Unpredictability, I guess almost sort of, we could look at this world of fate, a fate or unpredictability that comes as we sort of cast this dice and say, okay, what's the dice leading me to next? And then it leads us into another part of the story. I.

Absolutely.

That's really interesting, so, so I wanna talk. Right now personally for you, and then we can talk about others in a second.

So, again, world I, don't know anything about, which is really interesting for me. And, and to be honest, I'm not sure if [00:10:00] I even wanna play, I don't even know if I'd wanna play. But I find it fascinating and I know that just because in meeting you and because I'm such great friends with Craig and have such respect for Craig, I have such respect for you.

I found it fascinating that you found something really interesting. So here's my question. So what. Has this game done for Brit? And what are you learning about yourself along the way as you find these other characters, your first character, Anya, which tells me there's others, but what is this doing, do you think, in you and for you?

Brit?

Um, I realized about a year into playing that I was actually self therapy, when I created Anya, it was not with the intention of recreating Brit. Uh. I picked things that I really liked. So she's an elf, she's a ranger and a druid, so she's really good at nature things. She's connected to animals.

and so just all of her experiences as I started [00:11:00] creating a backstory forward, you know, how, what, how did she get to where she was? Who is Anya? when I sat down and really reflected on that, realized, oh, that's Brit from like eight ish to 30 ish. Just didn't realize it. So getting to play as Anya and going through these different stories and these different experiences.

I would make choices that I Brit was not necessarily comfortable doing, but as Anya, I felt more comfortable. And as I did that more, I realized, oh, hey, Bri can make that choice. Bri can speak up more. Bri can be more confident. Do

Ah. 

enter that thing here.

That's fascinating. So that's the whole thing where like, I, I did a bit of reading and it's interesting because a lot of people talk about finding their voice somehow, which is interesting because it's the voice of, of a character. But what you're saying is somehow because these things are connected for you as, as Anya finds her voice and starts doing things, you start realizing there's a mirroring reflection here, but it also [00:12:00] gives you some permission somehow to say, Hey, I can do that, or I can be that.

And I also find it interesting you talk about creating a backstory. So let me understand. So you have a character somehow, and then does, everybody create a backstory for their character?

If you are hopping into a game that's expected to be longer, it is generally a good idea to have some kind of backstory because you want to have, just like us, our history, where we come from informs who we are right now. Informs our goals inform what it is that we are trying to do, wanting to accomplish.

And so when you're jumping into these stories to just jump in and say, I'm an elephant. I'm good at tracking. Great, that's really cool. But who are you? Why are you on this mission? Why does this matter to you? Why does accomplishing anything in this world? Mean anything. So when you have a backstory, you have a family, they're gone, or I had to go away [00:13:00] because I had to go on this journey, or it's, you know, there's all different ways to be able to incorporate where you come from and then allow conversation.

'cause now you're in a group, so you're with other people who also have all these different backstories and it gives you that opportunity to start learning about what their goals are.

That's interesting. And, you know, Bren, I wonder as we talk, and again listeners, if you're listening, I'm, sort of brail this out in the moment myself and trying to figure out how I wanna relate to this conversation. But I'm wondering if part of maybe the magic, the real magic I suppose of this is it's tucking into an ancient form of communication, which is storytelling, which.

Unfortunately, particularly in North America, we have lost connection to story and storytelling. Of course, lots of other cultures are still deeply connected to this idea of story and storytelling. I spent a lot of time in Africa, for instance, where story and storytelling is just the natural way to communicate and understand each other.[00:14:00] 

But in North America, we've been sort of, storytelling is something that's in the books we read. The fantasy books that we read, you know, it's in maybe a little bit of First Nations or indigenous cultures in North America. But in modern day society, storytelling is something that's probably a lost art in some ways.

And so is it partly connecting people back to something that's ancient and within us in relationship to the idea of story and telling it.

I think so. I think that. The more that people play, especially adults. Uh, for the record, I think that anyone of any age belongs at the table. I think this is a game that, again, I've run it for six year olds. Doesn't matter how old you are, I think you should be at the table because storytelling is so important.

And what it does is it reminds us that we are inherently creative.

I think the older we get, the more we forget that.

Ha. yes. That is so powerful, Bri, uh, what you just said is so powerful and so true. we've forgotten, you [00:15:00] know. As you say that, I think about a social media post that actually was posted the morning that where you and I are doing this, this podcast, but it's a quote from my book, , and it's about this idea that we've lost our sense of who we are.

We've gotten amnesia, we've forgotten who we are, and you know, I so think that's true. I think we have forgotten who we are and it's interesting for me how you're, you're recognizing and seeing how story is returning you to that and returning people around you as you lead them in these games. It's returning you to that place of story.

and I do think that we are created to be storytellers. I think we're naturally story. You think about little kids who make up story, who, who have this amazing imaginations who can create all these worlds. We think of these great writers, you know, like CS Lewis and Tolkien, and these writers who, created worlds and language and all this stuff.

And it is truly in the human day and a to be creative. So you're touching and connecting back to [00:16:00] that in this game setting for yourself and others. That is so powerful.

Yeah, I, I mean, to be honest, before. Getting into d and DI, I knew I was creative. I like music, I like to read, I love fantasy. But I, as I got older, kind of straight away from that, and in playing more, I have, come back to singing. I've actually sang at the table. I,

I, now I'm writing, I am creating stories for other people, and that's something I would never have done before.

Flip side, like there's one player in particular, he's talked about how as a kid, his parents told him he's amazing at telling stories. He could just pull a toy out of a toy box and just come up with a whole thing. But as he got older, we become adults. We fall away from that. We forget that.

And at some point he felt that he wanted to reconnect with something found d and d was very nervous about it and. The more time that he [00:17:00] has spent at the table. And I've had the joy of watching him and playing alongside him for four years. He has blossomed the confidence that he has stepping into the table, trying new things, being creative in that.

Now, writing short stories. He wrote one of the songs that I sang at the table and now he's writing his own book. Like to be able to see someone blossom like that. It is just amazing and it's why I love getting to do what I do for the adults that I run for and for my kids, 

And that is so powerful and it's really interesting because I will have to say, it's so counter to, I think, what a lot of people think about d and DI mean, I mean, I'm sure you're aware that there's a subset of people historically and maybe even today who, who see or who saw Dungeons and Dragons in a fairly negative.

F almost, I don't know if the right word is evil. I don't know what the word is, but they saw it [00:18:00] in a way that was really foreboding and dangerous and, and something that to be avoided.

mm-hmm.

The way you're describing it just fundamentally is totally different and disconnected from that world of we should be scared of this thing.

I mean, I imagine you're aware that some people have a, a fairly unfortunately difficult or sort of weird way of looking at it.

Yes. Um, I am active in my church. I am a, practicing Christian. And so yeah, when I started to share at church that I play d and DI play Dungeons and Dragons. I, am running games now for kids. There were some folks who were like, really? That game? Yeah. Doesn't it have demons in it? It can, but so can a lot of fantasy stories.

So can a lot of movies, so can a lot of video games. I got the most eye raises when I was trying to explain to someone why I got my first tattoo. Well, my only tattoo at the moment, um, I, in [00:19:00] playing alongside Anya, one of the things that I realized was, she was going through a need to reconnect to her goddess and I was.

At the time not really realizing, going through my own, reconnecting to my faith. And as part of that, she uh, ended up getting this tattoo to mark that she was part of an order. And so for me to show that, oh, I recognize I did the same thing. I got

that tattoo. 

Yeah. 

we have the tattoo in the same place,

Interesting.

but explaining that to someone at church, that I have the tattoo of a d and d God. My has definitely raised some eyebrows.

Oh, that's so funny. And you, I mean, and you're such a rabble-rouser, Brittany. I mean, look at you, you're all a rabble-rouser. But, but, but it's interesting again, because therapeutically. You know, what's happening is, is Anya is an expression of you doing things and then you're finding some permission in that to do that, and you're finding it to be healthy.

It's bringing [00:20:00] you to a place of wholeness. It's bringing you to a place of being more authentically who you are. Maybe, maybe even more unmodified, more back to the unique version that you were created, which I, which I love in this. And so you're finding it therapeutic for yourself. But I also know you, you would.

we talked about it in the intro that you run games through something called Social Bridges. So explain what that is and tell me how you're seeing the of what you're doing in the d and d world. How's that connecting to that world?

So Social Bridges is actually a group. Uh, they started, uh, to help be there and support kids, pre-K through 12. they provide. Social and behavioral therapy. So if you have kids that are struggling socially, possibly on the spectrum dealing with anxiety, I mean, you name it, then they work with the kids one-on-one, and then they offer different group opportunities to practice those skills.

And so, uh, I had been reached out to, I [00:21:00] actually did the interview while I was on my trip up in Canada. and so we. We meet once a month, over Zoom. So I have my Friday night table has seven middle and high schoolers. And getting to see them step into character. 'cause some of them use voices, some of them don't.

some of them are not comfortable speaking, like in character, like saying, uh, like if I were playing lasagna, I would speak as Anya to another person. Some of them were more comfortable saying, Anya does this. Uh, which for those kids, getting them to say that their character does something is a huge step.

And then watching that translate to the conversations that they have with each other and watching how that comfort level moves along with them. How recognizing social cues and how they start to recognize it between each other. So they're taking the skills they're practicing at [00:22:00] the table, and you can immediately see that just as they're talking to each other, not in character.

Huh?

And so then to be able to know that they're taking that out away from this game and actually improving and feeling more comfortable and confident in themselves, away from that.

Wow, that that is so powerful. And you know, it's interesting because. I, these, some of these things I don't talk a lot about. Every once in a while on the podcast, I might make veiled reference to it, but you know, in a sense it's no different for me. Although I never experienced this in this kind of role playing game when I was a child.

I had some complex psychosocial. I. Problems. And I, I went to a play therapist. therapy Was done or conducted through play. I was quite young, and so, you know, this is fairly traditional way of doing the therapy or have therapeutic models with children.

And so the idea that therapy can be expressed through play or play can be a [00:23:00] great conduit of therapy. I mean, we, we've known this for years. We have, have psychologists and psychiatrists that specialize in this. And so the idea that play and playing this kind of game has a. Therapeutic potential opportunity, um, I mean, should just make common sense to the average person.

but again, I think we get so stuck in some things where we get a sense of, well, that this is that, and it can't be anything else. What you're finding is, is that there's this amazing part where it, it is a game and you're having fun. Right. But also there's other things that are happening for people, for adults, for, for teenagers, for children along the way as they express this ancient art of storytelling as they become better at telling story.

And, you know, again, we've all done this when we were kids, you know, we, we, we fantasize that I, you know, I wanted you wanna be Spider-Man, you wanna be Superman, you wanna be something other than yourself that has these powers that can live differently than you feel in the trapped life you have.

So. And guess it's no different at the end of the day, is it?

Not really. No, that's one of the things that I really, [00:24:00] truly love about this game is you can play. In any setting. It doesn't have to be a Tolkien setting. You can play in Star Wars, you can play in Firefly, you can play in Marvel. You can play in, enter the thing that you want to try and explore, and you can play there and you can figure out, well, what does that mean for me?

Huh,

Some people, it's truly just, this is an escape,

interesting.

which is also just as important.

I, oh, you know what? I agree. I think we all need, we all need that and we all have different ways of escaping. So, okay. I wanna, I spend some time talking about, uh, the role of the dice or the die. Again, I wanna go back to 

that for a second. cause that's interesting to me. It introduces an element of risk, chance, fate.

Call it what you'd like to the game. It, there doesn't have to be, but there is in this case, decided that there would be a dice, so if you're playing remotely, for instance, does every person have their own dice and they roll it, or does the game master control the dice?

No. So, a lot of the online [00:25:00] programs have ways for you to digitally roll the dice, uh, which helps. Now a lot of my players are like me, 

and we all have dice. 

Okay.

Um, so if players have dice, I encourage them to roll because it's way more fun to roll your math rocks in person.

Okay, what are they called?

Uh, we jokingly call them Math rocks because 

Math. 

have a lot of math.

Okay. Alright, so I wanna do something for fun. And we never talked about this, but just for fun, 

if we were playing the game right now and, and my character, was at a point of decision. And, uh, now I'm assuming that means that the dice are gonna get rolled, I got a decision to make.

Okay. So I, we're gonna do this live just for fun. It'll be recorded by, okay. So I want you to roll the dice, on your table and your place. you live in Florida, right?

Yeah, yeah. I live in Canada. I, my life sucks compared to yours. You live in Florida. I love that. That's awesome. Okay, so I want you to roll the dice [00:26:00] right now on the table where you are at.

Okay. 

roll 'em.

Well, okay.

Okay. Now here's a question I want you to tell me, based on what you're seeing there, what are my options or what would happen now 

Well, 

at a point decision?

about, um, you are standing in a forest.

Okay.

does your character have a bow or a sword?

you know what I love the idea of having a bow and arrow.

Okay, so you've got your bow and arrow in hand and you've been tracking something and you think that you see movement. You're probably pretty good with it. So you're gonna have a plus three to your survival, which is your tracking skill.

Okay.

Now you only rolled a two,

Okay.

so that's where math rocks. You have a five for your survival check.

You're having a hard time actually following 

where it's going. So we're going to roll one more time

oh.

and you roll much better. You rolled an 18, 

and this is for your perception check, [00:27:00] so you've lost the trail.

Perception is, okay, what can I see around me? Right? So if you have an 18, again, you're a hunter, you're good with a bow, probably add two.

that's a dirty 20. That's a very good rule.

Okay? Now you notice off in the distance you may have lost the trail, but you notice there's movement up ahead. 

Okay. 

Do you follow it? you try to shoot from where you are?

Oh, do I have have a human choice or do I have to roll the D again

to tell me what to 

do? Oh, I, I follow it.

Okay. 

going right into the deep, dark air. I'm following it.

Okay. Are you trying to be quiet while you do so?

I'm sneaky.

Okay. So how sneaky is Tim Windsor?

Oh. I am stealthy.

All right, we'll give you a plus three then, which you rolled a 15. So for an 18, you're pretty 

Nice. 

And what is it you're chasing? 

What are you hunting 

a werewolf.

Oh, boy. Okay. So as you are [00:28:00] tracking this werewolf into this deep, dark forest, 

you're pretty stealthy. You 

don't think he notices that you're closing in on him?

you can't even smell me.

No. Wind's blowing the wrong way. 

So you get close enough, you can see 

Yes. Yeah. 

take the shot or do you wait?

I shoot him immediately right between the eyes because the werewolf represents all the bad things that have ever happened.

Okay, so now you have to make an attack roll, which is still with the D 

20. So your bow is based on your dexterity.

You roll a nine, you're again, you're a hunter. Clearly 'cause you're going after a werewolf. So you're gonna add a plus six, we'll say to your roll. So that would be a 15, would hit a 

Nice. 

So now you have to roll your damage 

that's where 

you would then get 

the werewolf?

no. So you shot your bow,

Yes. it hits the werewolf. 

Now you have a different dye. This 

is what your damaged dye is. 

[00:29:00] So then you roll to see how much damage you 

do. Which

the floor.

it rolled right onto the floor, which is fine. I can still see it. So it's a five. And then you have a modifier that you add to that. So it would end up being eight or nine damage, we'll say nine. 

Uh, is it slams into the werewolf's shoulder now he turns and he 

Uh oh.

What do you do?

I face him. 

I'm not running away. Yeah. I'm. 

or do you have something else on you?

You know what, I have a ax and I'm gonna, now I'm gonna just write in the forehead. I'm getting in with the ax. So forehead is my favorite place.

I'm get it right 

I can tell.

Yes.

So you go charging in, do you just go in or is there a battle cry as you go in? How do you go in after this werewolf.

like the scream of silence.

Okay, so you just silently go in and you would roll your D 20 again to see if you hit 

so he can respond.

Uh oh.

Wow. Okay. I'm rolling. Really well for you. You got another 15, so yes, with your adding all that in, you would definitely hit again.

That would [00:30:00] be a different damage dye. 

This is why you have so many different dice.

I got this sucker.

Uh, well you rolled an eight, so yes, you would definitely hit a little higher. We rolls are hardier, so then he would turn around, he would try to attack you 

Oh my gosh. Okay. All right. We need to stop now because I don't 

yes. 

in this episode, so guess stop now. But I love the game.

Isn't it fun?

I love it. And you know what's so weird? It's like we never planned that. We never said anything, but I, I'll tell you something, my heart's pounding. I'm into it.

Yeah.

is rep is a representation of something to me, which is again, very fascinating. We're just doing this on the fly. Listeners, you might not believe that. You might think that was all staged. Not staged. 

I was just, and I never told you I was gonna do that. That's kind of fun Now. Let me tell you a story because I think this is interesting to me and the story we're gonna have.

And, and Brett, again, thanks for coming on and having this conversation. Again, listeners, if you're listening, I always say you're listening for a reason. I don't know what this, episode oughta mean to you, other than one I would [00:31:00] challenge you, Hey, be a storyteller. 'cause storytelling is an ancient art of communication and whether you do it in Dungeon dragon or another game or in your life.

Let's all return to being great storytellers, but also go read a great story. You know, find a great story and read it. And, um, by the way, maybe it's a movie you gotta watch or maybe it's a game you're gonna get. Maybe it's d and DI don't know what it is, but I want to park back onto this idea of the dice.

So I may have mentioned possibly once over the time that I've podcasted, I don't know if I have, but, I find this fascinating because dice actually play a significant role in my life and how they play a significant role in my life has nothing to do with Dungeons and Dragons and how it plays a role in my life is, is that, uh, there was a point in time when I was 15 years old and my, Brother and my sister-in-law had sort of gone on a spiritual journey, and I won't get into all the complexities of that, but they had gone on a spiritual journey and you know, they were always sort of out there. They were the first hippies in my, community. They were heavily [00:32:00] into lots of drugs.

They were into astral projection in the sixties and early seventies. They were, they were wild creatures. Okay. they were like those creatures in the wilderness and Dungeons Dragons. They were wild creatures. Then they had a spiritual experience and they started to have an understanding that there was a divine entity.

They believed there was a divine entity at of the heart of the universe and that this divine entity was, was benevolent in nature and all this stuff. And I was 15. I was like, you gotta be kidding me. That's just bullshit. Like what is that? There's in my life that would tell me that there is a God or a divine entity and that God is somehow benevolent or interested in humanity.

That was just all. Frankly quite bullshit to me. Brita thought. That's ridiculous. So I happened to be playing the game Ysi with my sister-in-law and um, you know, YSI for those of you don't know, is a game that's played with Five Dice. I. And the goal of ysi is to, to, to roll five dice at the same. That's a ysi, you know, and you can get all these different points, but you [00:33:00] know, the Apex predator is a ysi, and of course it's a ysi in whatever you can do.

You roll a couple, you got two twos, you go, I'm gonna try to match my twos. But you don't predict in advance what it's gonna be. You find it along the way. Well. I'm having this conversation with my sister-in-law over the Sze game, and I said, tell you what, if you talk about this divine entity, like it's real and can do all these things and whatever, and interested somehow in humanity, you know what?

Tell you what, I'll give you a chance to prove it to me. And I said to her, tell you what, if you can roll a sze in ones. And I said, I'll give you three chances you know, 'cause you get three roles in Yazi. I said, if you roll two ones and then great. You roll two, whatever. You gotta roll ones though.

Yazi has to be ones at the end, not just any number ones. You know, roll two and then add two, whatever you need to do. But I actually said, said to her, if God, if the God you think you believe and can't do this, then. There's no way that this thing exists. So my sister-in-law, in a sense of foolish abandonment, said, okay, not a problem.

She took the [00:34:00] phi dice, threw 'em into the can, and you know, I dunno if you ever played the game, you got that, that clanking sound of the dice in the, plastic cup.

My sister dumped, the sister-in-law, dumped the dice on the table and rolled five ones the first time. And that's how came to this understanding. Which is a ridiculous challenge when you think about it, but those five ones on the table was a representation to me that I guess there is a benevolent divine entity somehow. Again, you and if you're listening in, you might think that's bullshit and you don't believe it. That's okay. You don't have to.

But I had no choice but to believe something that day. Now, what I believe that all meant in the day, I believe fundamentally different today. I mean, again, because you, you come to a belief and then you say, this is the truth, and then you, you might wander over the years and try to figure it out.

I'm, I'm a wandering soul. Maybe that's why I'd be good at d and d. I'm a wandering soul by nature, but there's no doubt that I can't deny that. Back when I was 15 years old, which is, you know, close to 45 years ago now I'm gonna be 60. you know, is [00:35:00] that, the reality is, is that I had an experience that it's hard to explain and that the dice. Were part of a fateful, a fated experience. I suppose for me, that totally changed my life. I do believe that my life is fundamentally different today a result of that experience. The dice, in my case, were a predictor of fate. Is it, by the way, is it thundering where you are?

Okay, 

It 

this is get this getting weird now.

'cause I'm hearing the thunder in the background and I'm like, okay, now it's thundering, which is really awesome for this conversation. I'm like, okay, now 

it's thundering. Okay, this is, by the way, you better check out this thing now people, 'cause it's thundering. But that's my story when it comes to dice, Brenda, and I don't 

think I've ever shared that with, I don't share with many people, to be honest. That's why I find interesting part of the game is that diced have this fateful promise or something, or opportunity. I hate to say, but my life is a great exemplar of this. I do believe that my life is, when I different , I mean my family is different. I believe the way I raised my kids are different [00:36:00] because of that experience.

'cause that experience led me down a certain path of discipline and belief in my life, which was very different than who I was at the time. Those, in fact, those dice changed my story forever. 

And if I understand correctly, this is part of what happens in d and d is the dice play this role of some fate in the lives of the characters in the story, and they change the destiny or the trajectory 

Oh 

God. 

as it's told.

If I'm getting, am I

getting this 

Oh, you are a hundred percent correct. In fact, one of the, favorite stories that Craig likes to share, uh, from our table is Anya decided in a reckless abandonment to get up and try to dance For the record, that is something that her fear of dancing is something that came from me, not a dancer, not comfortable getting up to dance.

So I thought, okay, sure. Anya might try to get up and dance, and our game master said, okay, I need you to roll a performance check, [00:37:00] see how well this goes. Well, I rolled a two, which meant generally you have difficulty levels, so you have to try to hit a certain number or like when we were rolling for the werewolf, you have to hit their, like armor, which represents how strong they are.

So there was a difficulty set. I did not meet it. I absolutely failed. And instead she gets up and she does this. We've described it as the dance, as Elaine dancing from Seinfeld. And it is still a thing that we talk about 'cause it went horribly. She was mortified. But sec candor, his character is trying to encourage her and it spiraled into this legend that Secander tells now.

And it's still something that outside the game we still laugh and talk about. 'cause it was such a funny memory. But it definitely changed the course of. Things that she tried to do because , it didn't go well but then having other people come around her and try to encourage her, like if she had done well, the story would've [00:38:00] gone completely 

Right. Well, uh, 

true of every Dice Girl. 

yeah, and it does say a little bit about sometimes is that when, when there's failure or when there's difficulty, actually the lessons are deeper and the stories are better, and all the things that happened with that. You know, Bri, first of all, I really wanna thank you for coming on and, having this conversation with me.

And again, if you're listening, you're listening for reason. I, I really do believe, I don't know what this means to you. It doesn't, you'll have to figure that out, but. Bri, I do appreciate that. And I wanna point out something to my listeners and, to people who watch on YouTube. And when Brit, uh, agreed to come, she came with some trepidation.

And even, uh, as early as this morning, I got another email from Brit about, I'm a little nervous to do that. Brit, there's nothing in this conversation that would suggest that you have any nervousness about this conversation, which I really love. So I'm really glad that you found a way to have the conversation in a way that, is comfortable for you.

I also. Just appreciate how you've, you've shared personally about your own journey, how this game and, and this community is, is helping you and how you're finding yourself and finding healing, how you're helping [00:39:00] others find healing through the game, which I find just wonderful. And I think it speaks to, speaks to the game, but it speaks more to the game master in this case, and that'd be you.

And by the way, I'm gonna just speak to my producers right now. When you're producing this episode, I forbade you. I forbade you to remove from Britt's the rolls of thunder in Florida because it's just so classically punctuates. It's giving this wonderful like sort of medieval castle feel to this conversation.

 but thanks for having this conversation , because you're clearly finding unique expression, you know, and I often ask people when they come to my show, you know, when Britt's going into a room.

And bringing that unique thing that you bring into any room that you go. what unique expression of yourself do you think that you're finding, again, for the positive benefit of others? Like what does that unique expression of Brit look like when you're walking in a room?

Getting to bring joy to people and create community is how I feel I have accomplished something, [00:40:00] especially when it comes to running a game. So if we get up at the table and everyone starts to work together and come alongside each other and they're having a good time, and it's because we're all telling this story 

together, 

Yeah. 

then I know I've done a good job.

That's, that's awesome. And again, so listen, what a wonderful way of thinking when Britt's bringing joy and community into a room, she's bringing that un commodifying factor. My challenge to you listeners is what does that look like for you? You know, joy is a powerful force. We don't think about it a lot like that.

I love, term, you know, are you bringing a sense of joy? Do you bring community? and again, are we. Inviting each other into story. What story are we telling with our lives? At the end of the day, our lives will ultimately, eventually only become a story. I mean, there'll become a time more, much quicker for me than you, Brett, and I won't be here anymore on this storyboard, on this earth, and the only thing that will be left about me will be my story.

The story is the essence of what's everlasting. What? last, or survives is the story. [00:41:00] The fables. of the journeys of. the great episodes or adventures of my life, that's all that's left in the end. And so, listen, if you're listening in for a reason, whether you play d and d or not, whether you play a game so you can find yourself and, and you can express yourself in a way that's wonderful for you, or you just understanding you're writing a story every day in your life. This is the power of storytelling. And so go write the best story for yourself and the best story on others because you have the power, you have the pen, you have the paper to write your own story. Don't let anybody else write it for you and be careful, please, my friends, of the kind of story you're writing on others.

'cause sometimes that ink that we write on another is, uh, very, very difficult to erase. And so remember, when you get a chance to write a story on someone else's life, write it with care and concern, and write it in a way that it brings joy and community and healing and ness to others around you. Again, if you listened in, you're listening for a reason, do me a favor, DM me or email me at [00:42:00] tim@uncommodified.com and let Brit and I know what you're thinking about or doing with this conversation.

It's a different one. It's taking this in a really great direction. I love it. Britt, thanks again for coming on the show. Absolute delight, and thanks for coming to visit us in Canada. It was absolutely delightful to meet you in the summer in person.

It was a true joy, so thank you for having me, Tim.