Most of the time for these interviews I’m going in not knowing much about the people or the project beyond what was in the press kit. That is not the case here at all. I’ve been privileged and honoured to work with these folks on Ways & Wanderings: The Beginning for months, and it has been a delight. So much so, I thought it only fitting to ask them all some questions and give you a glimpse at the amazing cast of this Wanderhome AP.
Abadonne (DK), Anne, Jes, Krissy, and Wowzerz (Wowz) are the five storytellers at the core of the Ways and Wanderings AP, broadcasting in two episodes on The Bardic Inspiration Network. They were kind enough to take some time and answer my questions about actual plays, roleplaying games, and something we’re only legally allowed to refer to as “The Incident”.
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Brent: Thank you all for taking the time to talk with me! For those who might not be familiar with you and your work, please tell the folks a bit about yourselves.
Anne: My name is Anne, I’m a TTRPG Performer working at becoming a better GM/Facilitator. I’m known in most places as xo_girlwonder or girlwonder. I work as a Community Ambassador for Girls Run These Worlds and I stream games on The Bardic Inspiration Network.
Jes: Hi friends, I’m Jes (they/them), a non-binary and bisexual chaotic pun gay-mer. I like to bring the goof and whimsy to every project I’m on. You can find me on most places on the internet as JesTheHuman.
Wowz: I’m Wowzerz (she/her) and I’m here to play as many TTRPGs as I can with as many friends as I can make!
Krissy: Hi y’all, I’m Krissy, your local TTRPG mercenary. I make characters, dress up as those characters sometimes, roll dice as those characters, and tell wonderful stories along the way. You can find me on most social media spaces as KrissyInColor
DK: Thank you for having me! I’m Abadonne Kilbride, IV or @abadarlings on Twitter. I’m a creature of myth, Gorgon of old, TTRPG streamer, writer, creator, and Founder at Exquisite Corpse Presents: A Home For Unusual TTRPGS. In the effort to become the confessional poet of tabletop role playing I write, produce, and run Divine Intervention, a DND 5e homebrew about newborn gods, and Say a Prayer for California: Sister Cities, a post-apocalyptic dystopian DnD 5e homebrew.
B: What’s your TTRPG Hero or Villain (we don’t judge) origin story? What drew you to the hobby?
Jes: In the seventh grade I remember seeing some of my classmates huddled around some papers and they explained they were playing D&D and that I could play as an elf if I wanted. The villain in me was uninterested (I weep.) Fast forward MANY years later to my partner and I loitering in the Target game section where I see the D&D Starter Kit. I pestered him and rugby teammates about playing and eventually one relented and said on our rugby camping trip that she would run a session for us. We played the entire weekend, completely engrossed in our campaign. Two weeks later I tore my ACL during a tournament and leaned heavily on D&D to take me on adventures while I healed.
Wowz: My friends and I decided to try D&D during quarantine in 2020 and I have been addicted ever since! I had no idea what path it was going to send me down and I am thankful every day that I took the first steps.
Krissy: My TTRPG origin story was always just that I was a theatre nerd in school. While I had never been invited to play TTRPGS as a teen, seeing others play them as an adult, seeing the storytelling potential, I found myself hooked, and I got lucky to be invited to some wonderful tables to start with so I found myself wanting to continue the journey
Anne: I’ve always been geeky and I was big into my fandoms growing up (Power Rangers predominantly) but it wasn’t until I was in college that I really fell into my current passions. I actually learned D&D and Pathfinder initially to impress one cute guy, while I learned Magic the Gathering to impress a different cute guy. One of them is one of my best friends. The other one was a total toad. But I did end up playing publicly in various venues on and off, in Adventurer’s League and Pathfinder Society until I started playing online.
What drew me to the hobby was how social it was and how much fun it was to make friends while rolling dice. For every bad experience, I’ve had countless positive ones and I have a ton of people I wouldn’t have been able to call friends if I didn’t meet them through playing TTRPGs.
DK: As a kid, I actually wasn’t allowed to play tabletops! The stigma from the Satanic Panic in the 70s & 80s was pretty strong so I grew up really wanting to play but not really understanding what I was missing. Then two years ago a friend reached out to let me know that someone was casting for an all-Black DnD game on QueueTimes and I by some miracle got in! Now tabletops are sort of my whole life.
B: What about Actual Play caught your eye? Were there any challenges approaching this aspect of the hobby?
Jes: There’s something pretty magical about creating a story that brings you joy and sharing it with others.
Wowz: I have the cliche first experience of D&D being introduced to me through Critical Role and other random Twitch APs, but seeing things like this showed me what these games could be. It was the final push I needed to break out of my video game box and explore tabletop!
Krissy: Actual Play caught my eye because there are so many creative stories to be told and this way, people get to share those stories with the world. As a theatre nerd and avid reader, I find so much value in sharing different stories and perspectives.
Anne: Actual Play has a performative aspect that I love. I had negative experiences trying to get into theatre and acting as a teen so it fulfills that part of me that wanted to act and embody characters. I was a musician in high school (clarinet) but that kind of performance didn’t scratch the acting itch I had back then.
As far as challenges approaching the hobby, for me [they] have always been technological, as I’ve been struggling to gather funds for a new computer to handle the steaming aspects of actual plays, which is why the content on the Bardic Inspiration Network has been limited so far. I’ve been lucky to have collaborators to help but the dream is to run my own streams.
DK: Actual Play surprisingly interests me more as a storyteller than it does as a player – I’ve been writing my whole life and my maiden campaign was based in the world I’ve been working on since 2010. Initially it just made more sense to me than trying to memorize a sourcebook but over the course of the year I’ve realized what a cool vehicle it is for storytelling! Writing fiction can often be a very isolated, self-deprecating process, and it’s been such a joy to just get to build worlds with stories for mortar and watch them respond to the stimuli created by live players. As a player with a background in stage production, I love the theatrical and improvisational aspects of roleplay and the sheer variety we’re beginning to see in the medium.
B: For folks who might have missed Part One which aired last week, and ahead of the airing tonight, what do you want folks to know about each of your characters?
Jes: Mileage the weiner dog is the perfect mixture of sweet and adventurous – I absolutely based her off of my cat Princess Hotdog.
Wowz: Briar is like any young adventurer out on their own for the first time! Lots of expectations and dreams, but no idea how to make her own path.
Krissy: Lark is the happiest character I have ever had the pleasure of playing. She’s kind, thoughtful, and constantly moving to the music that life presents to us.
Anne: Sparkle represents the creator in me. While I am not a painter or a visual artist of any kind, she still represents this yearning to create and express myself. She has this inherently sad undertone of people she misses, which spoke to me, and also got a little too real in the process. She also has this need to capture moments and share her art, which I love so much.
DK: Raphia is a gentle soul with a sense of wonder at the world around her, which she tries to encapsulate and distill into teas so that she can share her wonder with her friends. Every new adventure is a chance to find a rare new herb or honey that might be just the thing a new blend needs to make it magical!
B: For those unfamiliar with the Wanderhome RPG, could you talk a bit about the aspects of the game you love?
Jes: It is such a breath of fresh air taking a pause from combat focused TTRPGs to share a heartfelt carriage ride or daddy long leg race with your friends. What’s there to not love about this?
Wowz: I loved getting to just experience relaxing and fun environments with my friends without worrying about any big bads coming to get us <3
Krissy: I love that it is entirely about storytelling with your friends. I love that it inspires you to do acts of service in character for tokens. I just love that it is so purely filled with wholesome goodness.
Anne: I love the playbook move that allows me to support my friends by doing something and then giving them a token if they accept the art as a gift. I enjoy the supportive aspect, at least in my specific playbook. And I love how integrated the safety tools are as well.
DK: I love how incredibly wholesome and heartfelt the game is. The safety tools created as part of the games toolset, the exchange of tokens for making sacrifices for your friends and companions, the complete removal of combat from the system, they all make for a game that’s relaxing and fun to play even when you’re at your most exhausted and leaves you with a sense of calm I haven’t gotten from any other tabletop.
B: While we all love our little math rocks, Wanderhome uses the Belonging Outside Belonging system and so doesn’t use them. How does this compare to games which do rely on dice and was it an adjustment?
Jes: I love showing off my shiny click clacks, but not every game needs them, this one included.
Wowz: I’ve played other games without dice, but none that use a token system. One thing I really like is being rewarded for playing the game, and not having to be afraid of failing at something that I would like to do.
Krissy: Honestly, I feel like we didn’t really use our tokens too awful much, at least not until the end. Personally, I like using dice or something that adds unexpected consequences or struggles, or hell, just chaos. That said, that wouldn’t have felt right for this game
Anne: I love the pure collaborative storytelling aspect that I forgot about tokens. I think the only adjustment I needed to make sure I made was that I made an effort to make space for others to come forward because I can get carried away in my excitement sometimes.
DK: I loved it! I don’t think every game needs dice to be a game, and the heavy roleplay aspect in exchange for tokens seems to work really well with the general atmosphere of the game. You don’t lose time doing math, you don’t have to calculate hit points or armor classes or memorize stats – you can just play with whatever friend group you like and the only thing you have to count are your tokens.
B: As part of character creation the players also build out aspects of the setting. Did that help with your immersion and if it did, how? Is this something more games should incorporate?
Jes: I absolutely adore being included in world building! It helps me feels more connected to the world and the game.
Wowz: I definitely had a bit more confidence in playing since I was more familiar with the world and how it worked! I do think more games should be more collaborative like this one!
Krissy: YES! I always love being involved with building the setting when it’s possible. Helps to understand the world a little better, and makes me feel like I’m part of it instead of a visitor in it
Anne: Collaborative world building always adds something to the experience, making it feel like a world you know and live in and that definitely helps. I think that it could be fun to do with the right group but I don’t necessarily think every game should have it though.
DK: I loved it! I think making the creation of the world a team effort right from the very beginning immediately starts to drive home that sense of companionship and cozy camaraderie that you find in the actual gameplay and gave us a foothold in a system that was completely new to us, too.
B: The Bardic Inspiration Network has tentative plans to do more Wanderhome in the new year. With the understanding that desire is not a commitment, would you like to return to this world and/or these characters?
Jes: One billion percent, yes!
Wowz: This is a game I wished would never end!
Krissy: I would 100% love to return and explore Lark more. She’s all of the peace and happiness that I have inside of me that doesn’t get to stretch it’s wings very often
Anne: I would love nothing more than to return to these characters and this group. I mean even if the characters change, the table itself is delightful and I love the friends I get to collaborate with. I would welcome the opportunity to tell more stories with everyone.
DK: Yes. With my entire heart, yes, I would love to be Raphia again and have the chance to make more magical teas (and rechallenge Mileage to that daddy long legs race)!
B: Abadonne and Anne, you both chose third-party playbooks for your characters. Could you talk a bit about what enticed you about these playbooks in particular?
Anne: Philippa Mort is someone I had a chance to sit at a table with this past summer and I found her Painter playbook and wanted to support her by playing it. And now it’s my favourite playbook. It really feels like it was made for me. Please follow @MortPhilippa on Twitter to check out what she’s doing because she’s a creative and delightful human.
DK: Teas are a personal interest of mine – I run a tea company called Atrocity Kitsch, so the idea of getting to play out that aspect of my own life at the table was instantly appealing to me. Once I got a chance to sit down with the playbook and read through it, it sank it how ridiculously nice it was that there happened to be a playbook ready made for this specific purpose rather than, say, having to stylize a druid in DnD to make things fit. I loved the little details suggested for the Teammelier throughout every part of character creation – I thought Matthew [Gravelyn] did a great job and highlighting the minutiae of tea-making, and the options for items and abilities in the playbook were absolutely perfect for a magical raccoon with a nose for rare herbs.
B: There are unconfirmed rumours that your producer staged a “Pre-Session Zero”, where he forced you to watch him perform a one-person production of Hamlet, while pretending to be an Alpaca with a thick Scots accent. Would you like to go on the record to confirm or deny this and do you have any comments?
Jes: For legal purposes I have been advised not to confirm nor deny.
Wowz: No comment
Krissy: False. It wasn’t Hamlet, it was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the alpaca costume was him trying to make up for the fact one of us hid Nick Bottom’s Mule head.
Anne: I heard it was all shelved due to an Alpaca coming forward and threatening legal action against the producer for using their likeness without consent.
DK: I would like to utilize my 5th amendment rights. You can speak to my lawyers.
B: Moving back to TTRPGs in general, what games are currently catching your eye? What do you plan to play or run soon that has you excited?
Jes: I’d be tickled pink to play Call of Cthulhu. I love being sleuthy.
Wowz: MORE VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE PLEASE!! I would also like to try Ten Candles, and I’ll never get tired of D&D.
Krissy: I’m REALLY hoping to run Follow Me Down by Joie Martin when I get my physical copy. I have the digital one but uh, it’s hard for me to read digital files.
Anne: I am a huge fan of the Essence 20 system, the system that powers the Power Rangers RPG, the GI Joe RPG and the Transformers RPG. I play the Power Rangers RPG twice a week and I plan to run it in the new year as well.
DK: Gosh, there are so many! Kult: Divinity Lost, Changeling:The Lost, and the one my queer heart is most excited about – my partner and I are about to start playing Follow Me Down by Joie Martin together for date night!
B: Any upcoming projects you’re working on that you can talk about? What will we see next?
Jes: I’ll be hosting a D&D Charity Stream sponsored by Eldritch Werks, supporting ACLU on Sunday, December 11 at 5 pm PST at twitch.tv/jesthehuman. The theme is vampire and we have a cast that is planning to really sink their teeth into the adventure! You can also listen to me on the Fang Gang Podcast: twitter.com/fanggangpod which is a Vampire the Masquerade Actual Play! You can me playing as Jae, our resident Caitiff pretending to be a Ventrue (what could possibly go wrong?)
Wowz: Just continuing to do my own thing and agreeing to as many games as I can! I’m hoping 2023 brings bigger and better things for me!
Krissy: I don’t have anything NEW that I can talk about yet, but just know you can catch me on 12 sided stories on twitch every Monday night (although we may be switching to Tuesday after the new year), and then you can catch The Aetherlogue podcast drop every Tuesday afternoon
Anne: In January, I will be adding Tales of Exandria to The Bardic Inspiration Network regular programing. I’ve always wanted to play in Exandria, specifically in Tal’dorei so I’m working on putting that together. And of course, y’all can see me on Power Rangers Let There Be Thunder on Thursdays on my friend Matt’s channel (http://www.twitch.tv/gm_x_mg) and Power Rangers Solar City on The Bardic Inspiration Network on Fridays. I also play Quest RPG on Dax’s channel (http://www.twitch.tv/daxara19) bi-weekly on Saturdays (We’re on a break after December 12th but will be back in January). And Love In The Time of Mechs, a Lancer RPG actual play, will be back for Season 2 on Girls Run These Worlds (http://www.twitch.tv/girlsruntheseworlds)
DK:As far as games I’m playing in, this January I’ll be in a lovely Kult:Divinity Lost campaign hosted by Killian over at Rainbows and Razorblades! As for 2023 my channel will start running Changeling: The Lost as part of an immersive in-universe experience along with a Monsterhearts II miniseries, some live theater, scripted dramas, our own homebrew version of Exandria Unlimited running on a seasonal basis, and the return of A Night to Remember with Titanic kicking off the year! We’ll also be casting for a queer historical romance game called Together We Write Private Cathedrals shortly.
B: Thanks again for taking the time to talk with me! Where can folks find you and your work?
Jes: I’m Jesthehuman on most places on the internet. If you find me on twitter, my pinned tweet has all my links and I share all my upcoming projects there. 🙂
Wowz: I do lots of things in lots of places! There is a neat little link in my pinned tweet on Twitter @VVowzerz
Krissy: Oh, I answered this question in the last one, whoops. Well you can keep up with what I’m doing by following me on the socials @KrissyInColor. My twitter also has my card in the bio so you can join my discord that way and get to know the people that, for whatever reason, think I’m fun to talk to.
Anne: You can find my socials and my Actual Play work over at http://www.beacons.ai/girlwonder
DK: You can find me @abadarlings on Twitter or @theexquisitec0rpse on instagram! Feel free to stop by and say hi sometime, and I’m sorry about all the weird poetry I retweet!
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Thank you again to the cast for talking with me! Please give them a follow on socials and keep up with the exciting things they work on.
Ways and Wanderings: The Beginning, a two episode recorded and edited Actual Play of the Wanderhome RPG, aired Part One on Wednesday, December 7, with Part Two airing tonight at 8pm EST/6pm MST/5pm PST, over on The Bardic Inspiration Network.
