Fireside Chat for WWW ep002 The Naming of Things

I’m now wondering if it’s a South African thing but I’m FREQUENTLY asked if another woman and I are sisters…. Admittedly, most often it’s when I’m with my mother, and the “best case scenario” in the questioner’s mind is that my (admittedly gorgeous) mom is flattered and flirting ensues

So this is very late, but on the relisten to Erika mentioning "Dream Hunters" — apparently (and this is allegedly in keeping with the way old mate takes all the credit for all the things he didn't just come up with, e.g. plagiarism on Tanith Lee) - "Gaiman, when asked {says} that the story was entirely of his own devising," instead of his original foreword that states it was "drawn from Y. T. Ozaki's Old Japanese Fairy Tales" (source: https://reactormag.com/sandman-reread-the-dream-hunters/)

To Brennan’s “what’s the best case scenario” when you’re considering telling someone who they look like: a girl I was very smitten with told me I looked like Jennifer Lawrence and I nearly died of happiness. So. 😁 Best case scenario you make someone’s day and they remember you forever

“How do you get yourself into character?” Aabria: I keep extensive Google docs that I add to constantly and review right beforehand Erika: I use music and other references to tune myself to the right frequency Lou: I just start talking and it clicks in after the first 30 seconds. Brennan: I experience ego death and become someone else. It’s great. Yep. Yep that’s about the range.

On my first relisten after finishing book 1 (yes, already) and ... **SPOILERS** ...Brennan's line while Ame is looking through Stars of the Southern Skies made me go AAAAAAHHHHH: "this is so complicated that a Wizard could hide something in here without even having to hide it. It could just be here, and I'm looking at it, and I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for."

Late to this but MANNNNN Taylor’s sound design in this show is sincerely stunning. It makes me feel deep, deep visceral, human feelings and that’s so. stunning.

I usually watch anime, including Studio Ghibli, in Japanese, so I had to check out Phil Hartman as Jiji. Brennan is spot on.

Tardy to the party but man Taylor's voice throws me off because it sounds like Brennan goofin!

Where's the link?

Way late to this, but wanna mention, people ask if my sister and I are related all the time. For a while, people even asked if we were twins.

Im actually listening to this just after mother's day

Well seeing as *I* wasn’t forbidden from examining Brennan’s villain versus love interest voices… Let’s take a look at Sam Reich 🤔

Listening on Mother's Day unintentionally.

I've been relistening to the podcast and the Fireside Chats since Arc 4 is nearly complete: inadvertently, it is Mother's Day— May 11th, 2025. Auspicious.

#plantfacts

Uuuuugh people call me Jessie Eisenburg or “the guy from the Facebook movie” all the damn time! He is the actor who plays the geeky awkward guy and is often regarded as somewhat antithetical to Hollywood beauty standards. Also I see his strong features, his hair and his forehead as a caricature of the features I am most sensitive about for myself.

Brennan, i CANNOT stress how often people would ask me if I was related to either of my brothers and if they were related to me. We got it ALL through childhood, adolescence, and sometimes now in our adulthood if we're out and about together for whatever reason. People really are out there with that kind of audacity xD

"The absolute nightmare of your mom yelling in the middle of your middle school show and you immediately realizing you're onstage in tights and everything in your life is broken." I didn't think I could cringe and laugh so hard at the same time, and yet here we are. Lou Wilson is such a treasure!!

That sanguine ego death

Brennan Lee Mulligan when you started talking about a carnival in the episode I immediately went "oh no he's gonna be playing the knight and it's going to be a farce" and then YOU SAID HE WAS THE OGRE AND I WENT "OH NO THATS EVEN WORSE" AND THEN YOU SAID "HE STOLE THE MUSIC BOX" AND I WENT OHHHH NOOOOOO!!!! If you heard a khan-like yell but it was "BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAAAAAAN" that was me

By coincidence, I am in fact listening to this on mother's day, 2024! 😊

I love that Jiji inspired the fox. Truly perfect. Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my favorite childhood movies (watched on VHS constantly before I even knew what anime was). 🐈‍⬛🧹🎀🖤

LOOOVE talking about pictures on podcasts

the villains and love interests thing makes so much sense bc the best villains are the characters you put your trust in and they betray you

Lol. Calls podcast "world's beyond number" also calls fan commenters "thousands." Y'all are crazy amounts of lovable

As a receptionist...i wish more customers would ask themselves "whats in it for me". Just to save me any more awkward, unnecessary interactions

To be fair about the siblings thing my siblings are twins and people ask them if they are twins all. the. time.

Brennan: I think villains and love interests are the same! Me, a therapist: 😀😄😀

WOW okay firstly, the whole "I spend a lot of time pretending to be Not Me" - that hit my cry button. I have done a lot of the same, though most likely for different reasons! I've also felt like my experience of doing That from early childhood made me quite skilled at slipping into DnD characters :) Love hearing all of your perspectives on this stuff. 💜 Secondly, the people-looking-like-siblings thing oh my god my ex and I used to get asked if we were siblings. We did not look alike AT ALL but got asked it a few times over a couple of years! Must have been the ~vibe~ more than anything. Meanwhile, nobody can tell that my sister & I are related. 🤷 Thirdly there's an instagram called "siblings or dating" and it's SO entertaining.

I have been asked if the person I was with was my brother once at a coffee shop. I was actually with my boyfriend. Awkward!

I have a question for our queen: when one must "not do plants anymore," what precisely does that entail?

The fact that this is a legit Bird of Paradise needs to remove from anyone’s mind that Birds of Paradise can’t be goofy-looking as hell: https://youtu.be/1ere9BjJuVg

I adore this podcast so much! Thank you for answering my question!! I love getting more ideas for getting into character

*looking for a link about a plant*

can yall do a regular hearthside mini-segment where brennan just opines about manners and how to not be weird to strangers because i think that guy is on to something

Does anyone know what the parable about the atheist Brennan mentioned is called

I can say, with absolute certainty, that I love the negotiations and randomness of these incredibly real and interesting conversations

Before Erika took over the character of Danielle Barkstock, Brennan narrated that she had a Fox familiar…

Erika's Natasha Lyonne is👌I appreciate this being a podcast because I don't think I've noticed in the many videos I've watched of them how compelling their voice is. Because, real talk (please don't be weird), I find thems super attractive and it's kind of distracting 🫣

I love how this podcast and these people's art is in touch with my interests (/My art) - like, i know its only logical to interact with things that peak your interest, so this is kinda obvious; but just as I was listening to grandma Wren's last scene, and drawing along a character for myself, I was realizing my philosophy of always creating familiars for my characters that are very opposite from themselves. A serious formidable guy needs a silly little creacher, an easy-going non-threatening character needs an intimidating cunning beast. Their dynamic needs to be balanced, so the character can be known to be more than what meets the eye. And I guess I kind of see this the same way of like, how people who have had a more serious life, or who have had to grow up quicker, sometimes tend to enjoy less serious/edgy media, and the other way around as well. So i'm just going on about this cause Brennan and Erika started talking abt Ame's and Grandma Wren's familiars, and I realized just how much my values/optics (???) inform my interests, and the other way around as well. This has been an analysis; it's nice how we get to realize how invaluable we as people are to each other. (Congrats on the marriage Brennan! Thanks for /being/, WBN crew <3)

Congrats Brennan and Izzy!! I loved the Childrens' Adventure soo so much - especially how the mechanics of character building support the idea that characters' skills/feats are developed and learned, rather than innate. Mr. Borg, Erika, Brennan, and Aabria, you have created/are creating a masterpiece and I can't wait to hear more! <3

Is Erika gonna be Ms. Frizzle?

My brother and I were constantly asked if we were twins cause we are only a year apart. And when my sister was around (who was 9 years older than me) they thought she was our mom. So honestly being asked if your siblings sounds completely logical to me. lol

I'm a twin so I get asked CONSTANTLY if we are related😂😂

I'm just here to gush about the scary boi. The Stranger seems like he could be this world's version of a psychopomp along the lines of Charon or Hermes, whose domain is the liminal or the 'betwixt and between'. The "I wait at the crossroads and I bide my time" bit lends some credence there, though I suppose he could be bound to the crossroads rather than master of them. If the stranger is a psychopomp of liminal spaces, his role may be bringing Grandmother Wren's soul to the afterlife or otherworld? If that's the case, it could be a taboo to deny him access to Wren. Then again, if he is an entity bound to the crossroads, he could be attempting to use a witch "of the heart of the world" (or Suvi) to escape a liminal prison. This story is so juicy.

The yellow part of the plant is the plumage and the brownish green part is the body+beak. If you look up birds of paradise, you can find images where the whole bird looks just like the plant. They stick their plumage up on top of their back and spread it out, probably a mating dance or something

Is it just me or are the episodes on Spotify not complete episodes? I listen to them all the way through, but on the recap, it seems like I missed a ton of stuff.

okay got it, so The Stranger is one of the love interests, confirmed. perfect.

the birds of paradise bit is the funniest thing i’ve ever experienced (i’m so delusionally tired and that makes it so much better)

I’ve been wanting to talk about the different ways to look at this flower, it’s such specific nerdery, I love it https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/bird-of-paradise-face

Brennan saying that Gareth was a kitchen knight and the others assuming it was because he had humble beginnings but we all know it's because the through line of Brennan at 3 to now is that he is a snack guy

Love the show!! Does anyone else think theres just something weird with the audio? It sounds like when the cast speaks the mics not picking up the full range of their voice. Or is this just me lol

Once got a "are you adopted sisters?" While I was on a date. I guess because we were holding hands and weren't the same ethnicity? Gotta respect the "what is the best case scenario" approach 😂

Not sure if y'all read the comments of these, but boy would I love to hear Lou talk about giving his sword Payment Day to freaking Chris Pine (and getting knighted!!!) on Jimmy Kimmel on the next Fireside Chat! Oh my god, Lou!

I've debated posting this, but feel it needs to be said. I wasn't very comfortable with how the cast made fun of whoever asked the question about music and whether the music was playing while they were playing. It could have been a perfect opportunity to explain all the postproduction work that goes into the show, instead of making fun of someone who had a genuine question. Considering they had hundreds of questions to choose from, it was intentional to pick this one and then make fun of that person during their answer. I love the show, and love these peeks behind the curtain, but didn't think that was very generous to whoever asked the question.

Here I am, re-listening to the whole thing after this fireside chat because… I never caught who “the stranger” was? (I should not have listened while travelling. SMH

@Taylor any chance we could get a new Patreon post when new regular episodes go up so that we have somewhere to discuss amongst ourselves? Especially since there's no official discord or anything.

Plz plz plz release the world map

Ahhhh newest episode oh nooohoho

Anyone else here refreshing the feed cause an ep dropped on Overcast

Okay time to talk about that third episode. Cause don't you dare!

Do we get an episode today?

I need more birds of paradise picture discussion please- I thoroughly enjoyed that

The fact that Brennan pronounced Samhain properly made me so happy

What I'd love, more than anything, is just more details about the world. Or how yall felt about a particular part or detail of the game.

Really enjoyed this talkback. Definitely going to take some of your ideas about how to get into character to my own tables!

I got asked "are you siblings" once. My mom (who was the other person) was very flattered.

I’m so lost! It’s my first time on Patreon and I’ve listened to all the episodes but now listening to the two most recent fireside chats I feel like I’ve missed something!? They’re talking about a dark stranger and Grandma Wren death scene!?!? I don’t remember any of this and I’ve listened to the Preview episodes and the children’s stories. What am I missing?? Can anyone help me please 😩🥺

The "are you sisters" happened to me in a grocery store with my best friend. We went to go get samples and the guy goes "would your sister... Or girlfriend like one?" Lmao the guy was very nice and meant well. I didn't know how to correct his two guesses so I just said yes. 😂

Is anyone else confused about wizard names? Other than Suvi, all the wizards we've met have names that describe their personalities: Soft, Stone, Steel, Silence, Silver. (They also all begin with S, but I am guessing that's coincidence.) Only Suvi has an actual given name. Do wizards take descriptive names as adults? If so, why doesn't Suvi have one when her classmate Silver does, and she's in a position usually held by older people?

Not realizing how sad a character decision is very relatable I do this a lot

Lou "Tomahawk" Wilson has a good ring to it.

Where do people think they go when they die in Umora?

(Hope it's not an unwelcome observation, but!) As a trans person, I think it makes perfect sense that specifically Erika immediately dedicated to Tomahawk, because I find it pretty common to see groups of us ask to try out a new name from time to time. We just have the practice 😎

SO to the person who typed out the fireside chat!

I immediately saw that photo of a bird of paradise in my minds eye and laughed so much https://images.app.goo.gl/pWpJSCpfaP4bYVLR7

I agree that talking about a picture on the pod is a bad idea & not a good time for me personally as a listener

I hadn’t thought about how Adelaide would see Suvi as someone who looks like Eursolon/Bear’s brother, and that just adds so much to the scene and I love it even more

Okay but if Eursolon’s glamour is fixed and unchangeable how does it age with him? It would be very funny if he was stuck with that same glamour he created for the baker that day 🤭

Legitimately always thought bird of paradise was the head of a bird, had no idea it was supposed to be the plumage of a specific bird rip

We improvise conversations all day every day, anyway! The trick is not to psych yourself out.

“Who are you in your dreams?” LOU TOMAHAWK WILSON HOW DARE YOU

Brennan: "I think Villians and Love interests are the same!" Erika: "Ideally yes." Erika gets it...

I don't know if everyone had this or If it's the Podcast app In the last 3rd of episode 2 the episode seemingly ends And a trailer for a complete Different Podcast Is runs After the trailer the episode continues but I thought the episode ended there and started listening to the fireside chat and got blind sided with spoilers><. Again don't know if this happened because of my app or if the episode was really edited this way...

I like this, this is cozy.

WHERE IS THE PLANT BIRD XDD

Villains and Love Interests ARE the same. My wife is the villain I converted over to my side but is still inexplicably evil, but loves me

On the topic of who Erika sounds like, with their voice acting skills I think they would do a truly impeccable Rita Repulsa impression.

The accuracy of describing a witch as a"crafty little jackass in the corner" 😆😆 Aabria draggin' us over here, lol

So Erika is Dorothy and Brennan is the Tin Man. I think Aabria is the scarecrow and Lou is the cowardly lion. How fun could it be to hear them play in the land of OZ!?

I don't know about anyone else, but I had the impression of The Stranger as a personification of Death, come to gather up Grandmother Ren. Menacing in presentation, but ultimately not unkind or fearful, because it's the most natural thing in the world. I was kind of hoping they'd invite him in to pay his respects, but well... maybe I was wrong, who knows?

Lou enters the Lazarus pit, but Tomahawk emerges

Wanted to ask since Erika briefly mentioned, other than being attractive there hasn't been any on audio description of adult Ame, but Brennan said something about character art for her? Is that somewhere specific or just general on the web stuff?

When I first saw the title art for the show during the preview period, I thought the setting was going to be heavily influenced by Oz, so I'm delighted to hear about the gang's early connections!

Very seen as a animal knowledge person. Where's that bird of paradise link?

Not me googling birds-of-paradise while listening. I'm for sure on Aabria's team

Love this cast, and everything they do. In a not-a-stalker kind of way.

Wizard of Oz festival is(was) in my hometown - Chesterton, Indiana. Peak midwest.

You can in fact hear the finger waggle and no I can’t explain why

It would be nice to have everything in one place and maybe help avoid spoiling things.

Where’s the episode this is supposed to be talking about? I’m not seeing it in the Patreon feed?

the one downside to this episode is that im laughing like a madman in public another good reason to keep wearing your mask folks

I could listen to this forever. Thank you!

The Stranger is The Night Yorb and I won't be convinced otherwise

It's a fuuuunfact, if we divided the months into 13 28 day months (so every month was perfectly 4 weeks) we would have 1 bonus day (and a second bonus day on leap years)

Two major takeaways: 1) this entire thing is problematic for me because I am obsessed. I did a second listening to the children’s story while waiting for new content. And I’ve bullied many friends into listening. I can’t get enough. You all are amazing. 2) I want Taylor in the firesides!

Next Week!

Hi fam! Do we know when EP 3 drops?

Sorry if I missed it somewhere, but are the new episodes not being posted here? I was waiting so long for new episodes to only be alerted to the fact I missed the previous one by yall posting the fireside chat to episode 2? Now I'm catching up on spotify.

"Is discussing a picture on a podcast good?" I was out walking in public and got stared at for the sound that came out of me

"I think villains and love interests are the same." Having just finished Misfits and Magic, Evan Kelmp makes a lot more sense...

lol at the conversation around being approached an asked if people are siblings - my fiancee & have been approached in a grocery store to ask if we're twins, and the caterer for our wedding has insisted at each of our meetings that we must be sisters.... 🙃🙃🙃

Excited to hear Erika describe Ame!!!

Starting with a ten minute visual gag was a BOLD choice, but nothing less than I would expect from this group lol. I'll join in the chorus of "where's the picture?"

I want the mantra "I want to melt into the everything and I won't apologize for it" above my bed like Ame has "Be Kind" above hers.

The description mentioned wizard names, but I didn’t catch where they talked about that. Does anyone have a time stamp where they discussed it? I feel like I missed it on my first listen through.

Erika is right. Big goofy bird head for the win.

I think I'm missing something, where can I listen to episode 2?

I'm not seeing a link in the notes, but we all googled and found the crazy comparison with the (essentially) googly eyed bird vs a bird in flight, right? Like that HAS to be the image.

Brennan Leeseph Mulligan saying "I think villains and love interests are the same and we will not be examining that further" has sent me down an UNIMAGINABLE spiral 😌

I'm autistic, and I use comparing people to Celebrities to relate to them. Plus, I've never had a good filter, so if I think you look like a celebrity, you will know. Back before Ariana Grande was famous, I once told my neighbor's cousin that she looked like Ariana Grande. I hope the cousin remembers that, lol. Also, I once told a friend she looked like Natasha Lyonne, so it's funny that Erika brought her up during the celebrity lookalike convo.

These fireside chats bring me such joy and i never ever want them to end

I 1000% would be down for Erika being the fireside host for WWWO that would be so fun lolol Also, i loved the advice for getting into character, that's something I've been struggling with and this helps so much

Can we have that character playlist @Aabria? 👀

where is the link to the picture??

In my head the water spirit is a bullfrog that sounds like Beetlejuice. I don’t care about the description 😂😂

Here's a Bird of Paradise Picture https://www.bloomsofhawaii.com/products/bird-of-paradise

My thought when they were talking about getting into character was "ok but what if that's just what your brain is always doing" and then Brennan said he was the run man for 3 days and I felt so seen

Perfect for my commute home after my night shift!!!

Brennan had absolutely fed my conspiracy theories with what he said about giving love interests his voice

OMG ERIKA WAS INSPIRED BY DREAM HUNTERS

Gonna be honest, I saw the Lou/Erika perspective first, but I think it’s much prettier to see it as the more popular perspective, so I’ve shifted my brain to accommodate the conclusion I like mode

A full segment of " look at this plant! do you see bird body or just bird head?". I have never laughed so got dam hard

As someone who refused to answer to people unless they called me Princess when I was younger (from 4 to 6 years old), I relate very strongly to Brennan's story about being the Tin Man.

Im not sure why he wants to be called tomahawk but Im here for it.

Would really like a sketch of the scene with Suvi and Prof. Adelaide in the wagon with all that bric-a-brac garbage.

Where the bird link

I’m with Brennan on the Birds of Paradise thing. I’m sitting here like “ there’s soo many birds of paradise which one are they talking about??”

Lou and Erika, I am with you on the Bird of Paradise! My mind is blown.

Forreal would love if y'all had Elaine on a fireside chat to just like examine the use of folklore in the show for mother's day

So... Are you gonna describe adult Ame??? You mentioned that she didn't get a description and then didn't describe her! Pleeeeease I need imageryyyyy

Haven’t listened to this all the way through yet so I may be proven wrong but honestly I’m disappointed no one mentioned how HOT the stranger sounded like yes he’s scary but also hot!!!!!

Very upset there is no link to an image of a bird of paradise 😤

Fun fact this episode did actually release on the week of Mother's Day for the UK. Love these chats!

I wish i could've seen Brennan when he said seventeen genera...

When are Aabria and Erika gonna drop Suvie and Ame's playlists?

Nah. I'm going to have to go with The Bird of Paradise as looking like a bird with wings fluttering behind it. Not a huge fan of the 'bird head with plumage' take.

Just realized the actual episodes aren't on Patreon, smh. Was wondering how there could be another fireside chat

The Phil Hartman as Jiji homage that Brennan decided to do for the Fox's voice is such a cool touch.

I love these fireside chats because I literally don’t have anyone to talk to about this or other D&D shows. Anyone else?

these fireside chats might finally stop my internet addiction because nothing will ever bring me as much joy

Also it could be because I'm from the UK but me and my brother look a like and people in the school we didn't know, and strangers, and neighbors, would comment on it all the time. People are very nosy about that in my experience.

Did I hear correctly that Aabria used to do sports? What sports?

Also how powerful is Mr Soup if he also has many names?

Where are the episodes? I'm only seeing the fireside chats.

Me: Furiously googles Bird of Paradise plant to have an opinion* 2 seconds later... Brennan: There's a plant called Birds of Paradise? 🤣

I’m obsessed with the carnival/ circus song used in this episode. Please post the audio!

*seventeen generaaa*

Erika as a host Im loving it!

The ONE bird Brennan knows nothing about. How iconic.

it would be so lovely to have a fireside chat that was just the gang talking about how their traditions (Celtic, Japanese, etc) are weaved into the story so far

Waiting on that link😘

Erica should definitely moderate for this campaign

We love Mr. Soup. He's a real one.

Is it just me or does this Tomahawk guy sound a lot like the mc from Kimmel? Must just have one of those voices I guess.

I almost wish I wasn't here from day 1 because I am loving this content so much that I wish I had 100s of hours to chomp through

Bird of Paradise bit blew my mind

WHO ARD YOU IN YOUR DREAMS BRENNAN

We crave the plant of paradise picture

Bird of paradise plant image with comparison https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeM6q-IVwAAM4wG.jpg

If it helps, Mother's Day was this Sunday in the UK & Ireland, so this was the Mother's Day episode for us

Tomahawk's coping humour is showing and this campagne will be therapeutic And it is a delight to listen to

When DM-ing, making sure to speak in character as my NPCs is CRITICAL to helping my players feel more comfortable roleplaying, especially the reserved or hesitant players. It'll feel more natural as you do it more, and you can get that practice in with silly non-critical NPCs a little easier than plot critical NPCs. Nothin' to it but to do it.

I have posed the Birds of Paradise question to my friends

WHERE'S THE BIRD/PLANT PHOTO???

To be fair, I also for many years believed that the orange part of the Bird of Paradise plant was like a weird mohawk until someone pointed out the way you should be looking at it😅

We all know Erika is right

Happy mother's day :)

Will there be a transcript?

I listened to the latest episode at Nuneaton train station while my train was delayed

Im so glad I work night shifts. This’ll get me through the rest of the night🥰

YESS I'll have something to listen to during my flight tomorrow!!

When your spidey senses tingle and you randomly check Patreon only to see a Fireside Chat posted "Just Now"!