Episode 1 - The Good, The Bad, & The Coffee

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 1 of Dungeons and Dark Roasts. Listen in on tonight's episode as we talk about the good, the bad, and the coffee. Be sure to like and follow us on X, Insta, and Facebook for updates, recipes, and all things D&D. Listen every Wednesday at 5 central to our latest episode available on Spotify and Amazon Music. Hello, welcome to Dungeons and Dark Roasts. I'm Axis. And I'm Alex. We are two Dungeon Masters for D&D 5e here to talk about the chaos of our adventures and the coffee that gets us through. So we are back and ready to roll for Season 2 coming straight from the convention and I think we had the very best time we could have had at Fan Expo in Dallas. I think so too and it was so much fun. We're a little out of practice. I think we might even throw a blooper reel here at the end of the episode as a sneak peek. 2.1.5. Oh yeah. I feel like a beginner again. Right? Oh man, this is like when we did that very first episode and we did it live for our players and they were like, wow, who are you? Yeah, they were like, we don't like this. This is bad. That was bad. So the 2024 Fan Expo, what did you enjoy the most about it? Oh man, my favorite part. It's so hard to even tell you what my favorite part was because all three days were so different. Right. And I love, you know what my favorite part is? It's the people and everybody was so welcoming and there was so much hospitality. It is Texas, so you get a little bit of that anyway. Right, right. But just everybody wants to be around everyone else and it's great. Yeah, it was actually my first Fan Expo, so that was a new experience for me and I had a blast. Yeah, you did great and it was a good time. Even on Saturday, which was insane if you were watching the news here at all, they had record breaking numbers of 60,000 people in the convention center that day. That was crazy. It was crazy. It was a little hard to walk through. I was glad that I chose to wear my D&D converse that day. Yeah. I couldn't feel my feet by the end of it. I know, I couldn't either and I couldn't have been more grateful to actually sit down and play that day because it was so intense. Yeah, so I completely railroaded you, but why don't you tell us who we sat down and played with? So the D&D room this year, and actually last year in 2023 as well, were hosted by the DFW Critter Crew. They are a reenactment and fan-based club of Critical Role. Yes, yes, we love them. But they're here in the DFW area and they ran the room. So they had eight tables and they had sign-up sheets. They were super well organized where they had almost all of their tables prepped and ready before the whole weekend even started. Oh, yeah. And then they had a couple of open tables, which we signed up to run a table on Friday, but because some of the panels for things like Baldur's Gate were going on on Friday, there just wasn't enough response. So you and I ended up joining a table. Yeah, we did. And it was fun because it was the first time you and I had actually got to play together. We have played plenty of games where one or the other is the DM. Yeah. But this time we got to play together and it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed playing with you. I think we did really good, too, even with all of my side shenanigans going on. I think we did. I think we did. And we did stay pretty well on track. Now, it was just the two of us at the table. And remind me of our game DM. Our DM for that day was Jace, and he was kind enough to give me one of his business cards. And he is associated with Black Tower Stories. You can find them on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. And it's all Black Tower Stories all the way across the board. And I'll link them, of course, on our social as well. And Jace was amazing. He was welcoming, and he was warm, and he just he ran a really great game. And we threw him for a loop. Yeah, we did. I'm over here trying to kill everybody in sight and covering up dead bodies in a crisis. And he played it like a pro. He really did. And it was a good story, too. And he said he runs that storyline often. I'm trying to remember the name of that story. Do you remember what it was called? I don't. I don't remember what it was called, but I remember the gist of the story. Yeah. And essentially, this town is having a festival. And I don't want to give too many spoilers for anybody that might actually hear his story again. But this town is having a festival, and there's a stampede of animals. And you basically have to investigate why this stampede is happening. And we did that, but we also didn't follow the trail he wanted us to. So we got to watch another DM, and he is a fantastic DM, by the way. Yeah, it was great. We got to watch him adjust. So he, you know, he would give us tidbits of information, and we weren't quite catching on. So instead of there being a bad guy in the woods or something off on another trail, he really just brought the fight to us so that we could conclude this one shot. And I think we played it in, what, two hours? Yeah, I think that was about it. Yeah, we went from conflict to resolution like any good one shot. And it was, there was a lot of meat to it. Like, there was a lot of substance to it. You know what I mean? I do. And it was fantastic. Yeah. So Jace, kudos to you. You ran an amazing story. Thank you so much. And that was the good, like, the good part of DMing for the weekend was Jace. He was the shining star, I have to say. Right. And then after that, we actually walked the floor a lot and saw all the vendors, and we talked to a lot of people. I got to see the Imperial March down the red carpet. That was fun. I know. It was fun. We also saw a Halo Master Chief crew get together and do some of their weirdness. That was fun. Yeah, that was funny. It was really funny. It was a lot of fun. I love seeing all the cosplayers. And, you know, honestly, it's kind of fun to see some of the celebrities, like, you know, seeing them from a distance, obviously. Right, right. So we met the DFW Critter crew and Jace with Black Tower Stories. And then when we're walking the floor, I found the cutest little stall that had 3D printed dragons. And these are articulated dragons. And I found a blue and silver one that is a perfect replica of what I would think SimSecMightDragon, or my D&D character, Ginger, would be. And he sits perfectly on my shoulder, and it is fantastic. And I wish I could remember the name of this stall, because they have been so kind. And they actually took some of our posters to post in their gaming store here locally. So hopefully we have some of their listeners. And if I can remember their name, I'll post something special to them on Instagram as well. That's going to be our adventure for the next week. We're going to hunt them down. Yes, yes. But they have the cutest little dragons. And it was funny, because we were walking around, and you and I, you know, we've been colleagues in the past, and we do the D&D stuff. And, you know, we get a coffee, but you don't really see me in my own, like, very Alex element. Oh, yeah. This was definitely an Alex element, for sure. And we were walking past two different stalls. One had, and I don't know how to feel about this stall, because they had bunnies. It was so funny. They were keychains, and they were bunnies, and they were so adorable. But they were made out of bunny fur. And so, like, I'm very conflicted here, because I'm like, wait, isn't that redundant? And wait. Loved it, personally. You, like, killed a bunny to make a bunny. It's very strange. No, no, no, no, no. No, they killed a bunny to make a bunny keychain. Now, if I can apply that to the players that I'm consistently trying to kill, I can make player keychains out of players. So it's a sound idea. I mean, okay, okay. But I squealed and had a girly moment. And it was very funny to watch you watch me have this moment. It's a little unnerving. I'm not gonna lie. Well, I think you forgot I'm a girl sometimes. I do sometimes forget you're a girl. You're very tomboyish, and I can appreciate that. Yes, yes. Until I put on a tiara and find bunnies. And then I'm a Disney princess. Pretty, pretty princess. That's right. Or you put me in cosplay. So for any of you that have ever found my cosplay page. So we found those dolls, and I found some art I loved as well. And then we found comics on coffee. And it was perfect. It was right in the middle of the entire convention. They had a double sized booth. It was right on the center red carpet, like it was meant to be. Oh, yeah. There would have been like an old man in a tavern with a little exclamation point over his head. It would have been perfect. It would have been comics on coffee. And their owner actually came out from Florida. I talked to them. And they roast their own coffee flavors and they make everything out there in Florida. They bag it up and everything is branded for comic book characters. Now I know that we're a D&D podcast. But let's be honest, where do you find your D&D book? In a comic book store. And if you want to tell me you find them on Amazon, let's be honest, Amazon was first bookstore. So that's true. It is. And as we were continuing our own personal adventure, we ran across Misty Mountain Gaming. And they were kind enough to bail me out with a set of dice for the weekend at cost, obviously. But Misty Mountain Gaming, they had so much great stuff there. They had Mimic dice boxes, they had tons and tons of dice. They've got, I looked at their website, they've got leather products on there like Like mats. Yeah, like leather Dice trays. Dice trays and mats and stuff like that. They even sell some minis on their website. Oh, neat. Well, you know, I actually talked to some of them too. And we're kind of in some discussions and some coffee style dice might be in the works, perhaps. Why wouldn't they put like coffee in their dice? I mean, Dungeons & Dragons and coffee. What else gets you through Dungeons & Dragons? Why wouldn't you put coffee beans in a dice? Yeah, they were fantastic. They actually bailed me out with a set of dice also. And I actually bought some that looked almost coffee colored, which were really nice. And I played with them all weekend as well. I got the dice too. And I just I couldn't roll over a 10 all weekend. It was a nightmare. That wasn't the dice though. Right? No, that was that was just me. That was just my juju. That had nothing to do with the dice. The dice were great. They were great color. They were great product. But it let's be honest, one of the reasons my fights in our own tables don't last that long is because I don't roll for crap. I know. I don't know why either. It's awful. So and then the other thing aside from D&D, which we're going to continue to talk about here in a minute that we you know, because I know I played two more games throughout the weekend, but we you did a lot of panels and you invited me down to a panel and we actually ended up running into another podcast. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they were such a great duo. They were a great duo. And it's almost like and you know me, I'm a huge Trekkie. It was like our mirror universe. Yeah. Yeah. Their their podcast is called Dungeons and Degrees with Alex and Adrian. Tell me that's not a mirror universe. Yeah, I guess the question there is, are we the bad guys or are they the bad guys? I mean, I do have a mustache. I could probably pull a goatee off and I only ever cosplay villains. Yeah. Okay. We are definitely the we are definitely the bad guys. But they they ran a fantastic panel on having confidence when you play D&D on not only as a DM or as a player, you know, just having the confidence to make the roles or to tell the story or to do the thing you think you can't do or to speak up if you need to speak up. And I just it was a really fantastic panel and it was really great to get to talk to them. So if you guys are listening, Alex and Adrian, it was it was wonderful to meet you guys. You know, I really liked their discussion about finding confidence primarily because they hit on a an important question on that same topic in one of the questions was one of the players had a DM that described everything for them and they wanted to get more into describing their own actions and effects. And and they really made a point to tell that person that that's where your personal preference and your personal confidence starts is just telling the DM, hey, would you mind if I describe this? And what good DM isn't going to let your player describe their own actions, you know? And I thought that was really meaningful to me. Right. And if that person starts to describe something and the DM's like, hmm, you know, that's how the DM learns to on saying, you know, you start small, like what color is your spell or what does that look like? Right. You know, and that's how everybody learns, especially, you know, in that situation where it might have been a new DM. Well, and they also talked about, you know, engaging with the story rather than just kind of letting the story happen to you. You happen to the story. They were talking about that before you made it down. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. A little late. It was such an insightful panel. I'm so glad I was able to get down there. It really was. And, you know, I think I'm going to be starting to listen to their podcast also. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm already there. Believe me. And so, you know, we love for our listeners to listen to everybody, obviously. So you guys go check out Dungeons and Degrees podcast. And thanks, Alex and Adrian, for letting us join in. So, you know, let's let's talk about our games, though. You know, we've got the good. Let's let's talk about the bad and the ugly. OK. And when I say the bad and the ugly, we're not talking about people in particular. We're not talking about any of that stuff. We're talking about kind of the way the game went. Yeah. More than anything. And so I don't want anybody to think that I'm bashing anyone because it's definitely not what I'm doing here. They were definitely interesting games and even learning points for me as a DM. So I played two other games. Did you get a chance to play later on in the week? I played a second from one of the ladies from the DFW Critter Crew. We were playing that with your dearest husband as well. That's right. I did play that with him. Yeah. I forgot her name for the life of me. She's told it to me like four times in that one session. And you know how I am with names. I just can't remember. Yeah. We only met 60,000 people that weekend. Right. Right. Once again, it was the Critter Crew putting their best foot forward. And I had a blast at that table. It was absolute chaos, but it did get a little frantic at some points. It did. It did. And and I have to give kudos to her as a DM, because I will say that that game, the way it started was not the way it went. And she lost control of that game as a DM in the first five minutes. Yeah. And I saw the look on her face. And the reason I say that is because I have, I have felt that look. So like deep in my soul, I knew exactly what she was thinking. And kudos to her because then that girl laughed it off. She rolled with it. It wasn't always pretty, but we got through an entire game. And in that game, I I will say that I have not laughed that hard in a really long time. Yeah. We turned a displacer beast into an 80s like leopard table with a glass top. Like, yeah, we did do that. And then somebody got a really high sleight of hand and threw a sheet over it. So there was just a table at one point. Right. Nobody knew it was a displacer beast. It got left in the dean's office. It was pure chaos. And it was hysterical. And it all came to an end. She was able to create a beginning of a story. The rest of us took it for complete chaos in the middle. And she was able to wrap it up at the end and and make it a complete story. So, you know, I say kudos to her as a DM. It was not the most well put together story I've ever played as a DM or a player, but it was a good time. It was so fun. I mean, ultimately, that is what D&D is about. And the fact that everybody at the table was it was a bar of college. So, you know, you're going into it with certain expectations and everyone there was just in on the joke. Right. She didn't try to, I suppose, railroad us back onto some preset track. It was all of the chaos of high school in a college. Oh, yes. Yes. And all of us were not bards at all. And and we were like, why are we even here? Why are we? I've never attempted, never attended class at all. That's true. I wasn't even a member of the college there near the end. Right. Yes. My story kept getting worse and worse as we go. That's true. That's true. And we do it. We did eventually let you kill someone. So that that helped out, too. So right before the good girl of the group killed me. Yes. We did end up turning on you. That's right. Yeah. Everybody turned on me there at the very end. And it was the good girl that was like, I don't want to break any rules. I'm a straight A student that ended up killing me. And like, yeah, she turns to you about it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. No chill at that point. That's right. And then I think I figured I finished you off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that game was a lot of fun. It was super off the rails. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. And and Saul said the same thing, my husband. And so it was a lot of fun. I couldn't roll for that whole game. It was really funny. Like, everybody's like, why are you rolling ones and twos and fours? And then it comes to combat. And I like cut a guy in half in half a second, like one roll. Everybody's dead and everybody's like, whoa. Yeah. Look, I am good at one thing on this ship. It may be dumb, but I'm going to do it. And so, yeah, the other game, it was a game I played while you did some other panels and did some other walking around. Yeah, I was working while you were playing. Yeah, I was also working. You were you were peopling better than I was peopling. Yes. And it's a little ironic. And I feel like it's a little bit of karma coming back on me because in the first day we had seen a DM who I from the very first moment that I heard this gentleman DM, I was like, I will not play at his table. And sometimes you just don't vibe with people. And that is 110 percent. OK, like if you ever run into a DM that you just don't vibe with, you shake hands, you move on and that's it until you sign up for their table at Fan Expo and don't realize that's who you signed up for. And you're like, oh, dang, I'm not going to lie. I enjoyed the misery on your face. You were you were getting some of my misery and I couldn't even back out of it because I would have been that bigger person and shook hands and said, hey, this is just not for me and bowed out. Unfortunately, my son was with me that day and he was helping you and I with some of our talk and things like that. And he's actually going to be on later this season talking about what it's like to DM for kids and be a DM himself as a young person and how those struggles come about. So he wanted to play this game. Also, I can't just walk away from this table because that makes me a bad person is how I felt. Right. And so and my son wanted to play D&D with me. So it was on a Sunday. He's going to be a senior this year. We're doing a senior Sunday thing every Sunday. And so that was our thing. And so I had to grin and bear it. And I sat down at this table and I played a campaign based in the world of Conan the Barbarian. I don't know if I even told you that it was in the world of Conan the Barbarian. We were rescuing a princess and, you know, the evil lord and all of these things, you know, and it was it was a good story. And it honestly wasn't bad DMing save the fact that I have never been so railroaded. And I used to take a railroad train from my military base every weekend home that was less railroading than this DM. And I get it. He had two brand new players that have never played before. And it was actually this girl and her dad. I didn't know that. Correct. You can't railroad new players that hard. And so he would stop every five minutes, explain every mechanic on top of railroading the entire story. And when I say that, to the extent of if he thought a specific role should be done by a specific person, he would say Barbarian, make an athletics role. Ranger, make a perception role or a nature role. So for me, it was it was a lesson in humility to be able to sit down and just quietly play this game as a player. Right. Which I did. And and I'm grateful for the experience. I also learned a few things. The DM, as far as teaching these news players this DM, I think he did a great job. And if it had been a group of all brand new players, I think they would have had a decent time learning the mechanics of the game. It was very mechanic heavy. Right. But as a I will say, it was not necessarily enjoyable as an experienced player. Yeah, it was good. It was it was a good time. It was just definitely a learning experience. So when I say the good, bad and the ugly, I would say that was a little bit of the ugly just because it was I don't feel like anybody should have to railroad their players that hard. Right. But it was it was a learning experience for me. Yeah. And I just want to make a point. The good, the bad and the ugly, you know, honestly, none of the bad out of the expo was like world ending. It's just I think the bad and the ugly for us was a really good learning experience as experienced players. And it kind of it really reminded me that even experienced players, as much as they want to pretend that we are so experienced, there's not anything that can surprise us. I think there's a lesson in humility for all of the experienced players that, you know, you're going to run up against some situations over the table and in game that you're just not really prepared for. And they're great opportunities to eyes up and pay attention. Yeah. And when I say the good, bad and the ugly, you know, more than anything, it's a good turn of phrase. Oh, yeah. And it made for a great episode name. Right. The good, bad and the coffee, which leads us to our homebrew, which is a full review of Comics on Coffee, who we met at the con. It was so good. It was this coffee was so, so good. It was so, so good. They do have a full blown website. Like I said, they're from Florida and we met their owner. And I'm really hoping to have some more conversations with them because who doesn't love a good crossover? In fact, they have, if you're into playing a halfling or a.k.a. a hobbit, they do have a Lord of the Rings blend. Who tokens going to get you? The token estate is going to come after us and we're not even off the ground. No, no. So we're talking about Comics on Coffee and yeah, and branded. I'm just saying I'm just saying they are fully licensed and branded, but it was still great. So I had the Wonder Woman Paradise Island, which is a coconut and oh, no, I'm sorry, coconut and pecan coffee. That sounds good. Yeah. I remember them saying it was some kind of tree nut that was in it. Yes. Pecan, which actually here in Texas, pecan coffee is one of my favorites. But coconut and pecan, you should be so proud of me. I tried it black and it was chef's kiss, like delightful. Love that coffee. And I will be ordering some just for my house. Oh, no. Let's be clear. I plan on getting some for the podcast for us to drink and try. Tastes awesome. Yeah. And then you tried the blue beetle horchata. Tell me about it. It was first of all, I had to Google what horchata was because I didn't know what horchata was. But whenever I you know what I heard that whenever I tasted it, it had a very lively taste to it. It is a medium roast, which I prefer my coffee of a darker roast, obviously, but it was sweet. It tasted like cinnamon. And oh, yeah, right there in the product blurb, it says sweet taste of cinnamon and vanilla. That's yeah, that's what threw it off for me is because I don't like vanilla. We did horchata at the very beginning of season one. Oh, did we? We did. See, this is why I keep you around. That's okay. That's okay. Okay, so I guess I did know what horchata was. I just forgot. But no, this blue beetle coffee was it was so good. And normally, if I need in a rare occasion that I need to sweeten a coffee up, I'll usually put some sugar in it or something. But this was sweet without, you know, anything added into it. It was just coffee black, and it had a really good, sweet taste to it. So it was best of both worlds. Really? Yeah. And they said it is one of their best sellers. Yeah, because they had so many options to choose from. I was like, give me your best one, in your opinion. And they brought it over. And I was like, okay, yeah, this is this is the best one. Yeah. And I don't want to go too much into it, because I really kind of want to have them on the show. But they do please check out their website. I'm going to post them on the Instagram and the Facebook and we'll put it on the X. And you know, check them out. Their coffee is super reasonably priced, and they have sampler packs and all that stuff. So thank you guys so much for joining us this week. I know it was a little bit of a longer episode, but welcome back to season two, episode one. And next week, join us for season two, episode two, Dungeon Master's Dilemmas with our first guest star, Dustin.