April 26, 2023 • 40 mins
Pro DM Dax Levine chats with his friend Bennett Chew about our recent costumed livestream at Evermore Park, how opera influences Bennet's performance at the gaming table, and even collaborative storytelling with the dead. Find Bennett at https://www.instagram.com/thebenchewy/ and https://www.tiktok.com/@thebenchewy
Support Dax at: https://www.patreon.com/dungeonsanddax
Hire a Professional Dungeon Master at https://dungeonmasterdirect.com/
Witness Dax and Bennett's Immersive D&D game with our friend Ever Adventuress at https://youtu.be/xOPlYfMN85g
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:36):
Welcome to Dungeons andDax and Bennett Chu.
This is my friend Bennett here.
He is an actor, performer,and opera singer.
I'm so excited to talk to him today.
And my name's Dax Levine your host.
I'm a professional dungeon master, and Iguess part-time podcaster as of last week.
So here we are.
Bennett, how are you today?
(00:56):
I'm doing great.
How are you doing?
Not too bad, not too bad.
Bennett and I have actuallybeen hanging out for the last
15 minutes doing vocal warmups.
He's, he's an opera singer,so he knows his stuff.
Oh yeah, we're having some fun.
This, we're gonna take itreal slow for this episode.
Just nice smooth talking.
(01:17):
Baritone and baritone world baby.
So tell us about yourself, Bennett.
Who are you?
Why?
Yes.
Well, you did such a, a blended job doingit for me at the beginning there, but Yes.
My name is Bennett Chu.
I am an actor, performer,and opera singer.
Got my.
Bachelor's in music from theUniversity of Utah with emphasis in
(01:40):
vocal performance just last year.
But as you can tell, I am also a bignerd and I love Dungeons and Dragons
tabletop RPGs that like video games,movies, books, all of the above.
Besides my emphatic love foropera, so, That was a big list of
nerd credentials you just listed.
(02:01):
What was the first thing thatbrought you into the nerd world?
What was the first love?
Oh man.
Let's see.
I had to.
I had to look it up.
Oh my gosh.
There was this, oh, well there wasthese books, if you remember that.
Like Dragonology or like, okay.
Wizard Ology and all that stuff,like Barnes and Noble exclusives.
(02:25):
Mm-hmm.
But like, they were like these booksthat had like different little hidden
secrets that you could find in thebook of like dragon scales and like
different types of dragons and.
That was when I was like four.
So I fell in love ever since.
Yeah.
I have a three year old and we are alreadygetting him hooked on nerdy things.
(02:46):
Oh yes.
He knows all the types of dragons andthe type of breath weapons they have.
He knows all his dinosaursand it's perfect.
I was a dinosaur kid too, so that great.
That hits close to home.
Yeah.
So you started as a nerdy kid, butnow you've grown into this manly man.
Yes.
Manly, nerdy demand.
So where did your, you said in your biothat you sent me that d and d started
(03:09):
for you during lunch at middle school.
And you forgot about ituntil your senior year.
So that means you wanted to be coolin high school, so you at least not
openly, especially not at the lunchtable, but then senior year you stopped
caring and you're like, you know what?
This is who I am.
(03:30):
I am a nerd.
Love indeed.
Exactly.
Would you say that's accurate?
Oh yeah.
I mean, Has actually, it's kind offunny that you pulled that cuz you
know, I kind of didn't really thinkabout it until then, but yeah, no,
like freshman year in high schoolI didn't even want to do music.
I was like, I'm not AOR kid,I'm just a run of AMI teenager.
(03:52):
Just doing cool stuffthat cool teenagers do.
Yeah.
But yeah, no, exactly.
I just.
It started at the very beginning ofsenior year actually when my brother
reached out to me and was like, Hey, Ifound like these really cool miniatures.
Do you wanna paint them?
(04:13):
And I was like yeah, because.
Even though I kinda like gaveup playing the game, I still
am a super crafty person.
I love to paint, I love tosculpt, I love to carve.
And so having, have a very cooldecoration, decoration on the wall
behind you, like why Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
I just designed this withthe, also the assistance of my
(04:36):
wonderful girlfriend, Emily.
Cut out to Emily and so yeah.
Shout out to Emily.
She has her own corner right there.
That's all of her kind of littlebits and trinkets that she's
like given me over the years.
So yeah, but besides that, it'slike, you know, THK from the d d
movie or like little rock factsrock from Over the garden Wall.
I actually went to theArtisan Market at Nerd.
(04:58):
The Wolf Pools at the Provo CenterMall like every other weekend.
Mm-hmm.
And it's like, I ca Ididn't catch their name.
I feel awful, but they do medievalinspired paintings ma made from Gushes,
which is like the most closest, likethe closest thing that you could get
to like what the medieval paints were.
Okay.
And it's a like embroideredscript of the word.
(05:22):
Seriously, like S r l Y firstly.
Firstly.
Yeah.
Seriously.
But yeah, you know, it's a veryarchaic, very ancient and powerful word.
Of course.
Yeah.
It has a lot of strength behind it.
Truly the first vicious mockery, you know?
Seriously.
Seriously.
You were saying that you werereally crafty, you got into
(05:43):
painting miniatures and that kindof reignited this interest in dmv.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Speaking of which, actuallyI have the little bits and
pieces on my board actually.
I just totally was spacingit for a future campaign.
But basically I bought two minis thatlooked exactly like this, you know,
just like the little archer guys andcutting 'em up into little segments
(06:04):
to eventually pose it correctly tolook like it's writing this kirin.
So.
To the camera.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Let's see here.
I'm sorry people.
I flu my hands All good.
Basically what is standing in frontof you is a miniature of a kirin with
chopped up pieces of a little miniaturethat looks kind of sad right now, but
it'll look super cool and happy later.
(06:27):
But yeah, so I, I still love todo it and now he is got me in
War Hammer, you know, my brother.
And so let's go to WarHammer, then you're in deep.
Yeah, I'm in deep, itgot my Gray Knight army.
We're gonna do kill teams first andthen work our way up to doing like
full fledged battles and wars, youknow, so, cuz he already has death
(06:47):
guards set up, which looked fantastic.
He's definitely the better artist outof the two brothers in the, in the two
family, you know, so, Yeah, he, he'sgot me beat there, but I'm catching up.
I'm learning, catching up.
Let's talk about yourexperience with opera.
Yeah.
I asked you a question before thestream, like what sort of skills have you
(07:09):
developed as an opera singer that carryover into your d and d games, other than,
you know, having a good singing voice.
I'm sure there's a lotmore to it than that.
Yeah, no, I think with.
Opera, it's kind of got this interestingShakespearean quality to it because it's
a lot about, it is projection, right?
(07:29):
And so you learn how tohealthy, sustain projecting for
hours on end, being on stage.
And so then, When you're at the tableand you are the dungeon master narrating
the entire story I'm able to pace myselfand have the proper like preparation
in my body to be able to continue tonarrate with hopefully not having a
(07:54):
horse voice by the end of the night.
It's, it's really a full body experience.
A lot of people who don't,aren't singers when they.
They strain their throat, right?
Right.
They strain their throat.
And I hear a lot of like new dmsalso trying to make these crackly
voices and it, it's damagingand you can't keep it going.
It's all about havinga full body experience.
(08:16):
What are some what are some quick tipsfor anybody who doesn't sing, who isn't
an opera singer, who wants to havea more powerful and healthy voice?
Okay.
Let's see.
First things first is breath breath is.
Every, where everythingbegins is our focus.
It's our bodies, it's how wefunction and it's how we vocalize
(08:37):
whether we're singing or talking.
And so just making sure that you arebreathing a little bit lower than you
originally are inclined to do, cuza lot of people breathe from their
shoulders or for like from their chest.
But it really is breathing.
While focusing on expandingyour diaphragm, which is a giant
muscle, you know, that wrapsaround the bottom of your ribcage.
(08:58):
Mm-hmm.
And so with a healthy inhalation suchas that, it's a great way to start.
I'm all self-conscious about the wayI'm slouching in my chair right now.
Left, show you that I'ma good student, right?
This is suddenly all of y'all,there's gonna be a test at
the end of this, by the way.
Hey, I'm taking that test too.
I am not a perfect extension master.
(09:19):
I, I need to learn more things.
Learn more tricks.
All right, so what's another thing thatwe can do to bring our characters to life?
Bring our stories to life with our voices.
Absolutely.
Well, of course there's a littlebit of voice acting, right?
And I think what.
I, like you were saying before, everyonehas the misconception that everything
happens right here in the throat.
(09:40):
Right.
But to, it's all about resonance, really.
Mm-hmm.
So to be able to have yourresonance, I agree with you then.
Hmm.
Yes, yes.
Quite.
And so it's, it's about.
Knowing where in yourbody that sound resonates.
(10:03):
So like there's different scalessuch as like bright and dark and
so bright sound would be a littlebit more nasally and brighter.
And so he's going out there.
You know, you can have like a, a weakercharacter of ish character or you can
bring it down to be darker and warmer.
Something more noble.
Something more big, stronger, right?
(10:27):
Yeah.
Our normal voices, of course,I talk like there's 24 7.
Yes.
I only bring out this voice whenfor a very special occasion.
Exactly.
This is the voice that comesout when I take off the mask.
You know, this is who I really, really am.
(10:48):
This is my truth.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I, I think the best qualities ofbe able to understand where your body
resonates at least in singing there is.
Different like modes.
So there's like head voiceversus chest voice, and that's
because you will feel your bodyliterally vibrating in those areas.
(11:10):
So as we're talking chest voice, butthen as we get higher and higher, we'll
start feeling it like either here oryour temples or near your in your nose.
And so having a better understandingof where your body resonates,
what's healthy for your voice, not.
Trying to do crazy leaps, lunges, andbounds is are great ways to be able
(11:36):
to turn your voice into yet anotherinstrument, another tool to be a great
player or a great dungeon master.
I love that.
I love that.
What other skills do you learnfrom opera that aren't about the
voice itself, but I think it's justoverall an appreciation for music.
Because honestly, I'm, I'mvery new to the opera scene.
(12:00):
I mostly, you got yourdegree last year, right?
I did, yes.
So, And even before then before I evenstarted college, I've only been studying
voice for like two years by that point.
And I was just doing alittle bit of art song.
I never really focused on opera at all.
But over the years and through academia,I've learned to appreciate and love this
(12:25):
art form because there's so much like.
What's the right word thatI'm looking for there?
There's so much intention behind everynote and every melody, every voice,
every instrument that someone writesin their music that is in opera.
And so that level of detail andorchestration quite literally,
(12:49):
I guess, you know Is so moving,you know, it's beautiful.
And for it all to be playedlive, you know, with every single
part, being a human being, Ifeel like is even more special.
So, yeah, I think Just learningto appreciate music even
more than I already have.
Translated into like how I canmake Dungeons and Dragons into
(13:11):
a more cinematic experience.
Mm-hmm.
So I'll try and have my NBCshave like their own motifs,
their own songs that play.
So my characters have thatsense familiarity whenever
they like enter the scene.
I'm actually.
I might regret saying this.
Yes, but I'm gonna hold myselfaccountable, everyone listening.
(13:32):
The plan is for this summer thatI will be composing my own music,
my own soundtrack for a futureDragon Lance campaign with my group.
Wow.
Because it's something thatI've always wanted to do.
I've always wanted to havethe perfect soundtrack.
But you know, I've always just.
Randomly pulled things from SoundCloudor randomly pulled things from Spotify.
(13:53):
Like that's what I, that's close enough.
Exactly.
But I'm brain.
I'm like, that's not so random anymore.
I've got dozens of folders and subvolt folders organized by setting
and by moods and by, you know,if it's horror, if it's combat.
So I do like the baby versionof what you do, which is right.
Create something wholly original.
That's absolutely incredible.
(14:15):
Yeah, so we'll see what happens.
You have.
Stated it out loud on the internet, whichmeans you are now accountable for it.
Mm-hmm.
Six months from now.
Mm-hmm.
People are gonna look to thisepisode and be like, whatever
happened to that Bennett guy?
Yeah, the Dragonlance guy.
He was supposed to make a wholesoundtrack for my campaign.
(14:38):
Me out.
That's right.
You like, yeah.
So that's plan.
Everybody comment.
Exactly.
Hello.
If you want to, you know,hold Bennett accountable.
Mm-hmm.
Cool.
I, I love that you, youhave music in your games.
I do that as well as an amateur,as someone who is a theater kid
who sang in show choir and sang incollege choir, but did not make it my
(15:00):
career did not even make it my major.
I, it's great from learning.
From somebody who is going the distance,who is really going all the way.
And ah, we need to talk more.
We can't fit everythinginto 30 minutes, but Right.
Nuts.
I would love swap playlists.
I'm sorry.
So quick.
Holy moly.
I love to swap playlists sometime.
(15:21):
Let's talk about the collaborationthat we have done together.
Yes.
Should I start?
Should you start?
By all means, you're the dm, please.
Oh, this all began a few months ago.
We were hanging out well, our friend,mutual friend Rachel Ann wanted to do
a livestream d d one shot, and yes.
(15:43):
Love you, Rachel.
Yeah, Rachel, who has alreadycommented Rachel Anne knew we were
going to be talking about her today.
That's why she's here.
She wanted not to just dress up andbe in costume as we did as we did.
Sorry, I'm looking at Rachel'scomments and it's distracting.
I I indeed.
I have the street, I have the stream mug.
Every more parts is so, yeah.
(16:05):
Long story.
Shortly, graciously gave it to us.
We live streamed this one shot game fromEvermore Park, which was this immersive
fantasy park in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
And everyone was in costume.
We had beautiful props and Iran an adventure from the, the
newest d and d source book.
So it was a heist themed game, but we madeit a little spooky and fun and awesome.
(16:28):
And that's how I met Bennett.
He was because we had this mutual friendHe came in as one of our cast members and
we, we talked beforehand a lot about yourcharacter's motivation and focusing not
just on how much damage they could do,what their armor class was, but you know,
what drives them, what is their intention,what are they feeling in this moment?
A lot of, a lot of the phrasesthat you've done so far.
(16:51):
So tell me about your experiencepreparing for this awesome live stream.
We did.
Oh yeah.
Well, I mean, for me, The actingand like the role played bit is like
the cherry on top for this, right?
It's what I love to do, it'swhy I'm there at the table.
But the most amount of preparationthat I had for this was
(17:12):
actually the costume of course.
I am not really a professionalcoplay by any means.
You know, I you just a good lookingguy with a suit of armor, like Exactly.
Yeah.
I, I just randomly spent themoney, you know, it was quarantine.
We all had our, our weird moments there.
(17:34):
Some people had a divorceand I got my plate armor.
Okay.
So, yeah, just kidding.
But yeah, no, it was just I wanted to makesomething that was comfortable, right?
It's for the stream.
And I was like, okay, well then probablyhave to do something out of foam.
And then I was so thankful that we hadlike a session zero where we could talk
(17:55):
about the character and the campaignsetting, because then I had the idea
in my brain like, okay, we're inlike kinda like this medieval meets
Victorian, kind of like fluid time.
Bloodborne was one of thoseimages that we both like, yes.
That resonated with both of us.
Yeah.
Loved the imagery of bloodborne.
And so I was like, okay, so then howdo I take a Dark Soul's night and
(18:19):
put 'em into the world of bloodborne?
And so, Then I had to likedesign, actually, hold on.
I have the sketch right here.
This was not the plan.
First time that I like put itinto pen cuz I'm such a doodler.
I love to doodle.
So crafty, so crafty, so crafty.
A little crafty guy.
But this was the originaldesign for leaner my character.
(18:43):
That's pretty close to how it ended up.
Right.
Thank goodness.
But yeah, my, my girlfriend,Emily, and I, we spent.
I, I think around like24 to 36 hours in total.
Just painting and priming, sandingdoing all that great stuff.
And it reignited my love for cosplay.
(19:05):
And now I'm like, okay, cool,well what's the next thing that
I can make outta war block?
Right.
Were there any but yeah.
Decisions you made when designingthat costume that weren't based on.
Oh, what looks good orwhat materials do I have?
But what does, what story doesthis tell about the character?
Oh, absolutely.
So unfortunately, and likesomething that didn't make it into
(19:26):
the final design was this kind oflike insignia of an eye and wings.
Cuz we were kind of talkingabout making leaners.
Like patron, this kindof corrupt angel, right?
It looks very deceptively like acelestial being of goodness and light,
but in reality it's an eldrich beast.
(19:49):
Yeah.
And so, which ended up being likethe big bat of our one shot that
you played and the kill Yeah.
Kind of what we were fighting at the end.
Right?
Exactly.
So.
In its design, I wanted to actuallyadd like eyeballs over the armor
to kinda look like the armor.
(20:09):
Not only was like old because Leanderkind of like stole each piece individually
from different people he killed orslayed in his journey as a knight.
But also like that there's somethingthat was kind of twisting the armor
as well, that was otherworldly.
So, yeah.
And obviously the giant swordon the vac is very dark souls.
(20:31):
Oh, of course.
It was massive.
It was comically huge.
Yeah.
It was, and also wrapped in cloth.
What was the reasoning for that?
I think it was, well from anhonest's perspective, time.
Yeah.
It's a, it takes a lot to, you know, that.
Oh yeah, of course.
So that's the first thing.
But it's also, it was just I thinkit was just a cooler aspect to make
(20:54):
it look more ancient, cuz it's notnecessarily the first weapon that
Lander was gonna be going for.
He was gonna be going for like theinner chamber blade that was like
his little light rape here that hecould like go in and stab people with.
And then for the smites, you know,pull out and like lock the blade
into the hilt or into Is that right?
(21:16):
The hill?
Yeah.
I'm losing my mind.
The, you're holding the hilland then you left the sheep.
The sheath became this largerblade, which is exactly straight
out of blood porn, which I love.
That was my weapon of choice.
Yeah.
Ludwigs Holy Blade.
Mm-hmm.
And it's one of the games like, Imean the, it's one of the swords that
appear throughout all the games, right?
(21:36):
Mm-hmm.
They have a reoccurring theme ofat least one giant sword that they
can have in each Stark Souls game.
Of course.
And when I saw it cuz it lookedalmost as if it were, was in a
funeral shroud, not quite mummified,but had this funeral shroud Oh yeah.
Quality to it as if the blade itselfwas dirty and corroded and you
(21:58):
needed to prevent that corruptionfrom seeping onto other things.
And so you kept it wrapped.
And a sword that is never drawnto me is a lot scarier, right.
Especially when it's a big sword.
It's like, I can, I can kill youwithout even drawing my sword,
without even using the full thing.
What happens when it doescome out of the sheath that.
(22:20):
Created this very ominous feelto it that I love, so, right.
Yeah.
I thought I was super doctor.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I mean, we really createdit together, so Yeah, we did.
Thank you for helping me out.
That's the whole point of this podcastis collaborative storytelling, working
together with our friends so that thestories we tell together are better than
the ones that we would tell separately.
(22:41):
So let's talk about some otherexperiences we had on that live stream.
Other, other fun momentsplaying with our friends.
Oh man.
I mean like, I think it was justgreat because the last time I actually
went to high school with Hal Bella.
Right.
Okay.
And.
Yeah, so that was like oursenior year when we were playing
(23:04):
Dungeons and Dragons together.
And that was also the last time thatwe played dozens and dragons together.
Like was that summer after we graduated?
And so it's been years since we'veever touched the books, ever played
the games, and so it was such.
A great moment to be able toplay with her one more time.
(23:25):
And in front of such a hugeaudience as well, which is crazy.
And she was fantastic.
Yeah, she was.
Yeah.
She crushed it.
Quite literally cuz she was a barbarian.
She was the barbarian she told me.
Yeah.
She's like, I I haven'tplayed too much you know, is.
How, how can we make this fun?
And so I'm like, well, barbariansdon't always feel anger.
What other emotions canyour barbarian go through?
(23:47):
And I loved her catchphrase.
We're like, I gotta speak my truth.
And then she was smashing.
It was fun.
It was a fun, like look athow barbarians are played.
Inverting the usual tropes.
Also she was playing an elf and elvesare not typically, you know, these barus,
hulking monsters of meat and muscle.
And it was really fun seeingthat sort of inner conflict.
(24:12):
But yeah, everyone at the table, yeah,we could, we could spend 10 minutes or
an hour on every person truly there.
Oh, they're great costumes.
The voices they use.
Mm-hmm.
They have great decisions they made.
What was, what was one of yourfavorite moments from that street?
Ooh, let's see.
Well, personally for like Leander,it was his moment where it was
(24:37):
right before he was gonna be headwhat was left of Elra that was
possessed by the celestial monster.
Yeah.
And like, well, I guess weshould give some more context to
that, like how the story began.
Oh man.
Yeah.
Well, how, what words, howfar back do we wanna start?
Yeah.
So the adventure begins with the heroesbeing recruited to do this heist that
(25:02):
another adventuring party had failed.
They had failed to retrieve this book,and their quest was given to them by this
disembodied head, a disembodied head thatyour character Leander, knew very well.
And we had that headplayed by our friend HIIN.
Yeah.
So yeah, she acted out the head and,you know, talked about wonderfully.
(25:22):
So by the way yeah, she she crushed it.
Absolutely.
Great.
And so I'm glad that we were able to workthat quest giver into your backstory.
Do you guys wanna know a secretabout the campaign, by the way?
I just realized something.
So we thought it would be interestingbecause the way that I set up le
(25:43):
Leander was that he was an orphanthat was on the streets, right?
He was rugged, he was a thief.
He.
Was kind of whipped into shape.
Yeah.
By Elra to join the knighthood,not your typical Paladin.
Exactly.
He's very scruffy, which I love, you know?
It's all about, I mean, like withBell's character as well, right?
So they try and makeunconventional characters.
(26:07):
Work.
And so to make him like a Dex basedkind of feverish Paladin was really
cool, but also Leander didn'thave a last name when he met Elra.
So Elra gave him the last name Wolf,Spain because somewhere in their, in
their past, he saved her from a wolf.
(26:31):
So that's why during her kind ofmonologue that as of the head, like
as like a decapitated head that shewas telling to our party members, she
addressed she addressed me as Wolf Spain.
Instead of leaner, because itwas kind of like a, a sense of
endearment from their childhood.
Oh, I love that fun little thing.
(26:53):
I mean, Wolf Spain sounds somuch cooler than puppy thumper.
Very cool name any day.
Yeah, I, I would take WolfSpain over that any day.
Cool.
So we were able to take this.
This quest, this heist?
Yes.
And we were able to put emotionalstakes in it because Leander
didn't care about the money.
(27:13):
He didn't even careabout getting the book.
He wanted justice for what happenedto Elra because she was, I mean, in
pieces, what happened to the rest of her?
What did this?
Mm-hmm.
And so we put that emotionallayer into the game.
Yes.
And you did such a good job pickingup on those cues and letting it drive
(27:37):
your decisions and your motivationsas we snuck into the house and fought
a bunch of creatures and eventuallymade it made it downstairs and
found the rest of elra IRA's bodybeing possessed by this Eldridge
eldrich angelic abomination deity.
Growing out of her, outof her neck, mm-hmm.
(28:00):
You had to fight her.
You had to fight her.
Yeah.
Her leftover body.
And so it was a great climax.
That final confrontation with youconfronting someone who you cared about.
And HIAs, synth was great because Ihad her come back on stage and start
whispering in your ear as if it was eleven though you know, she was possessed.
Mm-hmm.
(28:21):
And I would say something in my spookyvoice, and then she would say it
in her el voice and we would mimiceverything each other was saying.
And so it was almostas if you were hearing.
The, the entity speakingthrough her and her as well.
What, mm-hmm.
What was going through your mindwhen we started doing that to you?
Oh, dude, it was so wild.
I mean it was really, I mean, asLeandro was really difficult to be
(28:46):
able to focus on the situation, but italso worked so well because my roles
weren't that great until the very end.
And so you know, therewas this struggle as.
Elra being possessed wasoverpowering Leander literally
killing him at some point.
You know, where he had to like tryand survive through death saves.
(29:11):
Yes.
So like, I think it was just, itworked out so well storytelling wise.
And is it okay if I talkabout the final blow?
Should we get into it a little bit?
I don't know.
Oh yeah, you should just tellpeople to watch the stream.
It's, you should watch the stream.
Yeah, they're on the comments.
We'll make sure we add it to, you know,our other places we're streaming as well.
(29:32):
This is true.
So if you want to see how it ends up.
You have to watch a stream because itis actually a very, very cool emotional
climactic moment for leaner thatended up happening, which was so wild.
Yeah.
Which was something I, I couldn't havedone that by myself, so That's right.
We were able to, yeah, it takestwo, it takes the whole party and we
(29:54):
were able to read each other's cuesand tell, tell an awesome story.
Yeah.
There's another thing Iwanna talk to you about.
You mentioned that you had a friend whowas very close to you and and you do
your best to keep their memory alive.
And I, and, and I'm putting the put in thedescription of this, that we're talking
(30:14):
about collaboration beyond the grave.
But I, I don't wanna make a jokeabout this, like this is a, this
is a serious, somber, sacred thing.
So I'm gonna turn it over toyou and tell us the story.
Yeah.
Well, I think just to start, I thinksomething that is wonderful about Tabletop
RPGs and Dungeons and Dragons all thegames that are alike is that not only is
(30:38):
it collaborative storytelling, but it is,it can also be incredibly personal for the
group of people that you're playing with.
And so I've been playing with thesame group of friends for about.
Seven years, I wanna say.
Let's see.
I'm trying to think, you know exactly.
(30:59):
Well, at least since senioryear, it's been 2018, so.
Oh my gosh, five years now.
Five years.
I've been playing with thesame group for five years.
Shut up.
You're not old.
I just am really slow with math,which is very surprising cuz I
have to add so many modifiers.
(31:20):
Anyways so I've been playingwith this group for a long time.
We are all.
Best friends from high school andone of them was my best friend that I
met my freshman year named Gavin And.
We did not run in thesame circles whatsoever.
He was a very shy, quiet, awkward computerguy, and so he liked, he was cool.
(31:46):
Like you.
Yeah, exactly.
He was as cool as me.
I was incredibly awkward, but I justkind of threw myself into the fray.
I was more of the music nerdand he was the computer nerd.
Yeah.
And so music nerds are slightlycooler than computer nerds.
I don't make the rules, but yeah,it's in the compendium of neurology,
you know, the, the rule of nerd.
(32:08):
Yeah.
They made Dragonology Wizardand then it came to Exactly.
And neurology.
Yeah.
That was the final form.
Exactly.
Yeah.
That was the last one they put on barn.
No.
Your friend Gavin.
Yes.
Sorry.
Yes, my friend Gavin he was just, Wekind of keep to himself throughout
our friendship, but we stayed closecuz we would always do stuff together.
(32:29):
We played video games, watchanime, and then it turned into
playing tabletop rrg RPGs.
It started with one called Shadows ofthe Demonn Lord, which is very like,
Dark Souls drag, DUNS, and dragons whichwe loved because it was so dangerous
and every move like really mattered.
(32:50):
And so having that instant like tensionon the board was so fun to play with.
And then we kind of gradually made ourway to like Dungeons and Dragons, and
now we're playing d d all the time.
But in 2020 it was actually when our groupwas supposed to meet up for a session
(33:13):
of d and d when we all got a group chatmessage that he wasn't feeling well.
Only for me later to later on tofind out that he he passed away.
And I unfortunately was there at thescene after police arrived at his home.
(33:38):
And so it was very, very traumaticfor me and for all of my friends
that were in our group together.
And for a second there, I thoughtthat we weren't gonna play anymore.
You know, they would just hurttoo much to see an empty chair
sitting at our game table.
But we kept going.
(33:59):
We kept playing.
And it was not until like twoyears ago where my brother.
Who was also really close to Gavin cuzhe was kind of like both of our older
brothers, you know, he just kind ofinherited Gavin as well and our family.
He and our other great friendnamed Matt they both collaborated
(34:22):
and created this game.
Of Dungeon Dragons.
That was kinda like a one shot,kind of just like short campaign,
but it was exploring Lucian's mind.
And Lucian was the character thatGavin has been playing for years
who was like this young girlwho was like a feisty knight.
(34:43):
And so she would always like be like,mean and back talk, but also deal like
insane damage was her whole shtick.
Right.
And so we explore though Lucian's mindin this campaign, and we experience not
only her backstory, but we also reopenGavin's, like all of our memory, all of
(35:08):
our memories with Gavin as we go throughlike the different tiers of this maze.
And when we make it to the like,Where presumably the B B E G, the
final boss of this dungeon is.
Instead we are presented with Lucianlying down on a cobblestone slate
(35:31):
with a giant world tree looming inthe background with sun beans coming
through, and a magical sphere thatkind of encompassed the whole area.
And so as each of us walk through thissphere of like this magic dome, we split
(35:56):
into all of our different charactersthat we have played through the years
and ourselves standing in the back.
And one by one, we were all ableto, in our kind of groups of
characters and ourselves, walk upto Lucian and say one final thing.
(36:25):
And as soon as we all said ourlast things and our wishes to have
her wake up again, we saw this.
Bubble collapse and then get suckedinto Lucian as her soul became
a giant crystal that shatteredand scattered across the stars.
(36:47):
And so no matter what campaign we'replaying, we can find fragments of Lucian's
soul throughout our games as we play.
Ah, that was ah, ah, you'remaking me feel feelings.
Yeah.
No, I mean, it was, I wascrying like a baby, right?
(37:09):
The entire time.
But it's a way that not only were we in anenthralling game narrative, but something
that was incredibly personal and also asense of closure to such an abrupt and.
Upsetting passing.
(37:31):
And so to commemorate it, therewas a stained glass mural,
actually before we walked intothe dungeon of that exact scene.
And I got a tattoo of, actually,let's put you full screen.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, so we have the sun to kindalike represent the sun beams, IRAI Lucian,
(37:53):
the coon pass, and the roots of theworld tree as well, lying on the bottom.
If you're listening to us on apodcast, highly recommend checking
out the YouTube or the Twitch.
This is true.
Yeah.
If you want to catch my sweet tat.
If you wanna see the tat.
No, thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing that story.
I, I'm sure it's not easy to relivethat, but also peaceful at the same time.
(38:17):
Yeah, I think that's the point ofthe tattoo though, you know, is to
tell the story because the story Ithink is the most beautiful part.
That we were able to come together asfriends to heal by playing Dungeons
and Dragons, you know, of all things.
(38:37):
That was the most healing thingfor our group of friends to try
and combat such an insurmountableamount of grief surroundings,
like losing one of our friends.
So, Yeah, I think that's whyabove all now, cuz my love for d
(38:58):
and D's always changing, right?
But now it's just knowing how impactfulthese stories and the relationships
that we have around the table can be.
That's, that's incredible.
Thank you for sharing that with us.
I have, yeah, so many questionsabout opera and pool and other
(39:21):
things for you, but I think.
Like that is just a beautiful noteto leave leave this broadcast on.
We'll just have to bring you back anothertime and we can, I'd be happy to be back.
This was so much fun.
Thank you all five of ourFR fans who tuned into this.
I think we're at seven, that one.
Ooh.
Someday we'll have dozensand dozens of fans.
(39:44):
Hundreds and thousands.
Dozens.
There'll be, there'll be DAXs.
Dozens.
That's what DAXs dozens.
Yeah.
And then, you know wherecan people find you?
Yes.
You wanna see what you're up to?
Absolutely.
Well, I am on Instagram and TikTok.
Honestly it should be anysocial platform underneath.
The Ben Chewy.
(40:05):
I lucked out.
Ben Chewy.
Strange.
Yeah.
Boom.
I lucked out and was able to grabthe one handle to rule them all.
So you can find me.
I mostly use Instagram and TikTok though.
Instagram mostly is likeopera and photos and TikTok.
I post more like cosplay stuff.
More like LA things.
(40:26):
So yeah.
Whatever you can follow either or both.
Follow, follow Bennett Chu andall the cool things that he does.
See you for our next interview.
Thanks everyone.
Yeah, thanks guys.
Welcome to Dungeons andDax and Bennett Chu.
This is my friend Bennett here.
He is an actor, performer,and opera singer.
I'm so excited to talk to him today.
And my name's Dax Levine your host.
I'm a professional dungeon master, and Iguess part-time podcaster as of last week.
So here we are.
Bennett, how are you today?
(00:56):
I'm doing great.
How are you doing?
Not too bad, not too bad.
Bennett and I have actuallybeen hanging out for the last
15 minutes doing vocal warmups.
He's, he's an opera singer,so he knows his stuff.
Oh yeah, we're having some fun.
This, we're gonna take itreal slow for this episode.
Just nice smooth talking.
(01:17):
Baritone and baritone world baby.
So tell us about yourself, Bennett.
Who are you?
Why?
Yes.
Well, you did such a, a blended job doingit for me at the beginning there, but Yes.
My name is Bennett Chu.
I am an actor, performer,and opera singer.
Got my.
Bachelor's in music from theUniversity of Utah with emphasis in
(01:40):
vocal performance just last year.
But as you can tell, I am also a bignerd and I love Dungeons and Dragons
tabletop RPGs that like video games,movies, books, all of the above.
Besides my emphatic love foropera, so, That was a big list of
nerd credentials you just listed.
(02:01):
What was the first thing thatbrought you into the nerd world?
What was the first love?
Oh man.
Let's see.
I had to.
I had to look it up.
Oh my gosh.
There was this, oh, well there wasthese books, if you remember that.
Like Dragonology or like, okay.
Wizard Ology and all that stuff,like Barnes and Noble exclusives.
(02:25):
Mm-hmm.
But like, they were like these booksthat had like different little hidden
secrets that you could find in thebook of like dragon scales and like
different types of dragons and.
That was when I was like four.
So I fell in love ever since.
Yeah.
I have a three year old and we are alreadygetting him hooked on nerdy things.
(02:46):
Oh yes.
He knows all the types of dragons andthe type of breath weapons they have.
He knows all his dinosaursand it's perfect.
I was a dinosaur kid too, so that great.
That hits close to home.
Yeah.
So you started as a nerdy kid, butnow you've grown into this manly man.
Yes.
Manly, nerdy demand.
So where did your, you said in your biothat you sent me that d and d started
(03:09):
for you during lunch at middle school.
And you forgot about ituntil your senior year.
So that means you wanted to be coolin high school, so you at least not
openly, especially not at the lunchtable, but then senior year you stopped
caring and you're like, you know what?
This is who I am.
(03:30):
I am a nerd.
Love indeed.
Exactly.
Would you say that's accurate?
Oh yeah.
I mean, Has actually, it's kind offunny that you pulled that cuz you
know, I kind of didn't really thinkabout it until then, but yeah, no,
like freshman year in high schoolI didn't even want to do music.
I was like, I'm not AOR kid,I'm just a run of AMI teenager.
(03:52):
Just doing cool stuffthat cool teenagers do.
Yeah.
But yeah, no, exactly.
I just.
It started at the very beginning ofsenior year actually when my brother
reached out to me and was like, Hey, Ifound like these really cool miniatures.
Do you wanna paint them?
(04:13):
And I was like yeah, because.
Even though I kinda like gaveup playing the game, I still
am a super crafty person.
I love to paint, I love tosculpt, I love to carve.
And so having, have a very cooldecoration, decoration on the wall
behind you, like why Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
I just designed this withthe, also the assistance of my
(04:36):
wonderful girlfriend, Emily.
Cut out to Emily and so yeah.
Shout out to Emily.
She has her own corner right there.
That's all of her kind of littlebits and trinkets that she's
like given me over the years.
So yeah, but besides that, it'slike, you know, THK from the d d
movie or like little rock factsrock from Over the garden Wall.
I actually went to theArtisan Market at Nerd.
(04:58):
The Wolf Pools at the Provo CenterMall like every other weekend.
Mm-hmm.
And it's like, I ca Ididn't catch their name.
I feel awful, but they do medievalinspired paintings ma made from Gushes,
which is like the most closest, likethe closest thing that you could get
to like what the medieval paints were.
Okay.
And it's a like embroideredscript of the word.
(05:22):
Seriously, like S r l Y firstly.
Firstly.
Yeah.
Seriously.
But yeah, you know, it's a veryarchaic, very ancient and powerful word.
Of course.
Yeah.
It has a lot of strength behind it.
Truly the first vicious mockery, you know?
Seriously.
Seriously.
You were saying that you werereally crafty, you got into
(05:43):
painting miniatures and that kindof reignited this interest in dmv.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Speaking of which, actuallyI have the little bits and
pieces on my board actually.
I just totally was spacingit for a future campaign.
But basically I bought two minis thatlooked exactly like this, you know,
just like the little archer guys andcutting 'em up into little segments
(06:04):
to eventually pose it correctly tolook like it's writing this kirin.
So.
To the camera.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Let's see here.
I'm sorry people.
I flu my hands All good.
Basically what is standing in frontof you is a miniature of a kirin with
chopped up pieces of a little miniaturethat looks kind of sad right now, but
it'll look super cool and happy later.
(06:27):
But yeah, so I, I still love todo it and now he is got me in
War Hammer, you know, my brother.
And so let's go to WarHammer, then you're in deep.
Yeah, I'm in deep, itgot my Gray Knight army.
We're gonna do kill teams first andthen work our way up to doing like
full fledged battles and wars, youknow, so, cuz he already has death
(06:47):
guards set up, which looked fantastic.
He's definitely the better artist outof the two brothers in the, in the two
family, you know, so, Yeah, he, he'sgot me beat there, but I'm catching up.
I'm learning, catching up.
Let's talk about yourexperience with opera.
Yeah.
I asked you a question before thestream, like what sort of skills have you
(07:09):
developed as an opera singer that carryover into your d and d games, other than,
you know, having a good singing voice.
I'm sure there's a lotmore to it than that.
Yeah, no, I think with.
Opera, it's kind of got this interestingShakespearean quality to it because it's
a lot about, it is projection, right?
(07:29):
And so you learn how tohealthy, sustain projecting for
hours on end, being on stage.
And so then, When you're at the tableand you are the dungeon master narrating
the entire story I'm able to pace myselfand have the proper like preparation
in my body to be able to continue tonarrate with hopefully not having a
(07:54):
horse voice by the end of the night.
It's, it's really a full body experience.
A lot of people who don't,aren't singers when they.
They strain their throat, right?
Right.
They strain their throat.
And I hear a lot of like new dmsalso trying to make these crackly
voices and it, it's damagingand you can't keep it going.
It's all about havinga full body experience.
(08:16):
What are some what are some quick tipsfor anybody who doesn't sing, who isn't
an opera singer, who wants to havea more powerful and healthy voice?
Okay.
Let's see.
First things first is breath breath is.
Every, where everythingbegins is our focus.
It's our bodies, it's how wefunction and it's how we vocalize
(08:37):
whether we're singing or talking.
And so just making sure that you arebreathing a little bit lower than you
originally are inclined to do, cuza lot of people breathe from their
shoulders or for like from their chest.
But it really is breathing.
While focusing on expandingyour diaphragm, which is a giant
muscle, you know, that wrapsaround the bottom of your ribcage.
(08:58):
Mm-hmm.
And so with a healthy inhalation suchas that, it's a great way to start.
I'm all self-conscious about the wayI'm slouching in my chair right now.
Left, show you that I'ma good student, right?
This is suddenly all of y'all,there's gonna be a test at
the end of this, by the way.
Hey, I'm taking that test too.
I am not a perfect extension master.
(09:19):
I, I need to learn more things.
Learn more tricks.
All right, so what's another thing thatwe can do to bring our characters to life?
Bring our stories to life with our voices.
Absolutely.
Well, of course there's a littlebit of voice acting, right?
And I think what.
I, like you were saying before, everyonehas the misconception that everything
happens right here in the throat.
(09:40):
Right.
But to, it's all about resonance, really.
Mm-hmm.
So to be able to have yourresonance, I agree with you then.
Hmm.
Yes, yes.
Quite.
And so it's, it's about.
Knowing where in yourbody that sound resonates.
(10:03):
So like there's different scalessuch as like bright and dark and
so bright sound would be a littlebit more nasally and brighter.
And so he's going out there.
You know, you can have like a, a weakercharacter of ish character or you can
bring it down to be darker and warmer.
Something more noble.
Something more big, stronger, right?
(10:27):
Yeah.
Our normal voices, of course,I talk like there's 24 7.
Yes.
I only bring out this voice whenfor a very special occasion.
Exactly.
This is the voice that comesout when I take off the mask.
You know, this is who I really, really am.
(10:48):
This is my truth.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I, I think the best qualities ofbe able to understand where your body
resonates at least in singing there is.
Different like modes.
So there's like head voiceversus chest voice, and that's
because you will feel your bodyliterally vibrating in those areas.
(11:10):
So as we're talking chest voice, butthen as we get higher and higher, we'll
start feeling it like either here oryour temples or near your in your nose.
And so having a better understandingof where your body resonates,
what's healthy for your voice, not.
Trying to do crazy leaps, lunges, andbounds is are great ways to be able
(11:36):
to turn your voice into yet anotherinstrument, another tool to be a great
player or a great dungeon master.
I love that.
I love that.
What other skills do you learnfrom opera that aren't about the
voice itself, but I think it's justoverall an appreciation for music.
Because honestly, I'm, I'mvery new to the opera scene.
(12:00):
I mostly, you got yourdegree last year, right?
I did, yes.
So, And even before then before I evenstarted college, I've only been studying
voice for like two years by that point.
And I was just doing alittle bit of art song.
I never really focused on opera at all.
But over the years and through academia,I've learned to appreciate and love this
(12:25):
art form because there's so much like.
What's the right word thatI'm looking for there?
There's so much intention behind everynote and every melody, every voice,
every instrument that someone writesin their music that is in opera.
And so that level of detail andorchestration quite literally,
(12:49):
I guess, you know Is so moving,you know, it's beautiful.
And for it all to be playedlive, you know, with every single
part, being a human being, Ifeel like is even more special.
So, yeah, I think Just learningto appreciate music even
more than I already have.
Translated into like how I canmake Dungeons and Dragons into
(13:11):
a more cinematic experience.
Mm-hmm.
So I'll try and have my NBCshave like their own motifs,
their own songs that play.
So my characters have thatsense familiarity whenever
they like enter the scene.
I'm actually.
I might regret saying this.
Yes, but I'm gonna hold myselfaccountable, everyone listening.
(13:32):
The plan is for this summer thatI will be composing my own music,
my own soundtrack for a futureDragon Lance campaign with my group.
Wow.
Because it's something thatI've always wanted to do.
I've always wanted to havethe perfect soundtrack.
But you know, I've always just.
Randomly pulled things from SoundCloudor randomly pulled things from Spotify.
(13:53):
Like that's what I, that's close enough.
Exactly.
But I'm brain.
I'm like, that's not so random anymore.
I've got dozens of folders and subvolt folders organized by setting
and by moods and by, you know,if it's horror, if it's combat.
So I do like the baby versionof what you do, which is right.
Create something wholly original.
That's absolutely incredible.
(14:15):
Yeah, so we'll see what happens.
You have.
Stated it out loud on the internet, whichmeans you are now accountable for it.
Mm-hmm.
Six months from now.
Mm-hmm.
People are gonna look to thisepisode and be like, whatever
happened to that Bennett guy?
Yeah, the Dragonlance guy.
He was supposed to make a wholesoundtrack for my campaign.
(14:38):
Me out.
That's right.
You like, yeah.
So that's plan.
Everybody comment.
Exactly.
Hello.
If you want to, you know,hold Bennett accountable.
Mm-hmm.
Cool.
I, I love that you, youhave music in your games.
I do that as well as an amateur,as someone who is a theater kid
who sang in show choir and sang incollege choir, but did not make it my
(15:00):
career did not even make it my major.
I, it's great from learning.
From somebody who is going the distance,who is really going all the way.
And ah, we need to talk more.
We can't fit everythinginto 30 minutes, but Right.
Nuts.
I would love swap playlists.
I'm sorry.
So quick.
Holy moly.
I love to swap playlists sometime.
(15:21):
Let's talk about the collaborationthat we have done together.
Yes.
Should I start?
Should you start?
By all means, you're the dm, please.
Oh, this all began a few months ago.
We were hanging out well, our friend,mutual friend Rachel Ann wanted to do
a livestream d d one shot, and yes.
(15:43):
Love you, Rachel.
Yeah, Rachel, who has alreadycommented Rachel Anne knew we were
going to be talking about her today.
That's why she's here.
She wanted not to just dress up andbe in costume as we did as we did.
Sorry, I'm looking at Rachel'scomments and it's distracting.
I I indeed.
I have the street, I have the stream mug.
Every more parts is so, yeah.
(16:05):
Long story.
Shortly, graciously gave it to us.
We live streamed this one shot game fromEvermore Park, which was this immersive
fantasy park in Pleasant Grove, Utah.
And everyone was in costume.
We had beautiful props and Iran an adventure from the, the
newest d and d source book.
So it was a heist themed game, but we madeit a little spooky and fun and awesome.
(16:28):
And that's how I met Bennett.
He was because we had this mutual friendHe came in as one of our cast members and
we, we talked beforehand a lot about yourcharacter's motivation and focusing not
just on how much damage they could do,what their armor class was, but you know,
what drives them, what is their intention,what are they feeling in this moment?
A lot of, a lot of the phrasesthat you've done so far.
(16:51):
So tell me about your experiencepreparing for this awesome live stream.
We did.
Oh yeah.
Well, I mean, for me, The actingand like the role played bit is like
the cherry on top for this, right?
It's what I love to do, it'swhy I'm there at the table.
But the most amount of preparationthat I had for this was
(17:12):
actually the costume of course.
I am not really a professionalcoplay by any means.
You know, I you just a good lookingguy with a suit of armor, like Exactly.
Yeah.
I, I just randomly spent themoney, you know, it was quarantine.
We all had our, our weird moments there.
(17:34):
Some people had a divorceand I got my plate armor.
Okay.
So, yeah, just kidding.
But yeah, no, it was just I wanted to makesomething that was comfortable, right?
It's for the stream.
And I was like, okay, well then probablyhave to do something out of foam.
And then I was so thankful that we hadlike a session zero where we could talk
(17:55):
about the character and the campaignsetting, because then I had the idea
in my brain like, okay, we're inlike kinda like this medieval meets
Victorian, kind of like fluid time.
Bloodborne was one of thoseimages that we both like, yes.
That resonated with both of us.
Yeah.
Loved the imagery of bloodborne.
And so I was like, okay, so then howdo I take a Dark Soul's night and
(18:19):
put 'em into the world of bloodborne?
And so, Then I had to likedesign, actually, hold on.
I have the sketch right here.
This was not the plan.
First time that I like put itinto pen cuz I'm such a doodler.
I love to doodle.
So crafty, so crafty, so crafty.
A little crafty guy.
But this was the originaldesign for leaner my character.
(18:43):
That's pretty close to how it ended up.
Right.
Thank goodness.
But yeah, my, my girlfriend,Emily, and I, we spent.
I, I think around like24 to 36 hours in total.
Just painting and priming, sandingdoing all that great stuff.
And it reignited my love for cosplay.
(19:05):
And now I'm like, okay, cool,well what's the next thing that
I can make outta war block?
Right.
Were there any but yeah.
Decisions you made when designingthat costume that weren't based on.
Oh, what looks good orwhat materials do I have?
But what does, what story doesthis tell about the character?
Oh, absolutely.
So unfortunately, and likesomething that didn't make it into
(19:26):
the final design was this kind oflike insignia of an eye and wings.
Cuz we were kind of talkingabout making leaners.
Like patron, this kindof corrupt angel, right?
It looks very deceptively like acelestial being of goodness and light,
but in reality it's an eldrich beast.
(19:49):
Yeah.
And so, which ended up being likethe big bat of our one shot that
you played and the kill Yeah.
Kind of what we were fighting at the end.
Right?
Exactly.
So.
In its design, I wanted to actuallyadd like eyeballs over the armor
to kinda look like the armor.
(20:09):
Not only was like old because Leanderkind of like stole each piece individually
from different people he killed orslayed in his journey as a knight.
But also like that there's somethingthat was kind of twisting the armor
as well, that was otherworldly.
So, yeah.
And obviously the giant swordon the vac is very dark souls.
(20:31):
Oh, of course.
It was massive.
It was comically huge.
Yeah.
It was, and also wrapped in cloth.
What was the reasoning for that?
I think it was, well from anhonest's perspective, time.
Yeah.
It's a, it takes a lot to, you know, that.
Oh yeah, of course.
So that's the first thing.
But it's also, it was just I thinkit was just a cooler aspect to make
(20:54):
it look more ancient, cuz it's notnecessarily the first weapon that
Lander was gonna be going for.
He was gonna be going for like theinner chamber blade that was like
his little light rape here that hecould like go in and stab people with.
And then for the smites, you know,pull out and like lock the blade
into the hilt or into Is that right?
(21:16):
The hill?
Yeah.
I'm losing my mind.
The, you're holding the hilland then you left the sheep.
The sheath became this largerblade, which is exactly straight
out of blood porn, which I love.
That was my weapon of choice.
Yeah.
Ludwigs Holy Blade.
Mm-hmm.
And it's one of the games like, Imean the, it's one of the swords that
appear throughout all the games, right?
(21:36):
Mm-hmm.
They have a reoccurring theme ofat least one giant sword that they
can have in each Stark Souls game.
Of course.
And when I saw it cuz it lookedalmost as if it were, was in a
funeral shroud, not quite mummified,but had this funeral shroud Oh yeah.
Quality to it as if the blade itselfwas dirty and corroded and you
(21:58):
needed to prevent that corruptionfrom seeping onto other things.
And so you kept it wrapped.
And a sword that is never drawnto me is a lot scarier, right.
Especially when it's a big sword.
It's like, I can, I can kill youwithout even drawing my sword,
without even using the full thing.
What happens when it doescome out of the sheath that.
(22:20):
Created this very ominous feelto it that I love, so, right.
Yeah.
I thought I was super doctor.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I mean, we really createdit together, so Yeah, we did.
Thank you for helping me out.
That's the whole point of this podcastis collaborative storytelling, working
together with our friends so that thestories we tell together are better than
the ones that we would tell separately.
(22:41):
So let's talk about some otherexperiences we had on that live stream.
Other, other fun momentsplaying with our friends.
Oh man.
I mean like, I think it was justgreat because the last time I actually
went to high school with Hal Bella.
Right.
Okay.
And.
Yeah, so that was like oursenior year when we were playing
(23:04):
Dungeons and Dragons together.
And that was also the last time thatwe played dozens and dragons together.
Like was that summer after we graduated?
And so it's been years since we'veever touched the books, ever played
the games, and so it was such.
A great moment to be able toplay with her one more time.
(23:25):
And in front of such a hugeaudience as well, which is crazy.
And she was fantastic.
Yeah, she was.
Yeah.
She crushed it.
Quite literally cuz she was a barbarian.
She was the barbarian she told me.
Yeah.
She's like, I I haven'tplayed too much you know, is.
How, how can we make this fun?
And so I'm like, well, barbariansdon't always feel anger.
What other emotions canyour barbarian go through?
(23:47):
And I loved her catchphrase.
We're like, I gotta speak my truth.
And then she was smashing.
It was fun.
It was a fun, like look athow barbarians are played.
Inverting the usual tropes.
Also she was playing an elf and elvesare not typically, you know, these barus,
hulking monsters of meat and muscle.
And it was really fun seeingthat sort of inner conflict.
(24:12):
But yeah, everyone at the table, yeah,we could, we could spend 10 minutes or
an hour on every person truly there.
Oh, they're great costumes.
The voices they use.
Mm-hmm.
They have great decisions they made.
What was, what was one of yourfavorite moments from that street?
Ooh, let's see.
Well, personally for like Leander,it was his moment where it was
(24:37):
right before he was gonna be headwhat was left of Elra that was
possessed by the celestial monster.
Yeah.
And like, well, I guess weshould give some more context to
that, like how the story began.
Oh man.
Yeah.
Well, how, what words, howfar back do we wanna start?
Yeah.
So the adventure begins with the heroesbeing recruited to do this heist that
(25:02):
another adventuring party had failed.
They had failed to retrieve this book,and their quest was given to them by this
disembodied head, a disembodied head thatyour character Leander, knew very well.
And we had that headplayed by our friend HIIN.
Yeah.
So yeah, she acted out the head and,you know, talked about wonderfully.
(25:22):
So by the way yeah, she she crushed it.
Absolutely.
Great.
And so I'm glad that we were able to workthat quest giver into your backstory.
Do you guys wanna know a secretabout the campaign, by the way?
I just realized something.
So we thought it would be interestingbecause the way that I set up le
(25:43):
Leander was that he was an orphanthat was on the streets, right?
He was rugged, he was a thief.
He.
Was kind of whipped into shape.
Yeah.
By Elra to join the knighthood,not your typical Paladin.
Exactly.
He's very scruffy, which I love, you know?
It's all about, I mean, like withBell's character as well, right?
So they try and makeunconventional characters.
(26:07):
Work.
And so to make him like a Dex basedkind of feverish Paladin was really
cool, but also Leander didn'thave a last name when he met Elra.
So Elra gave him the last name Wolf,Spain because somewhere in their, in
their past, he saved her from a wolf.
(26:31):
So that's why during her kind ofmonologue that as of the head, like
as like a decapitated head that shewas telling to our party members, she
addressed she addressed me as Wolf Spain.
Instead of leaner, because itwas kind of like a, a sense of
endearment from their childhood.
Oh, I love that fun little thing.
(26:53):
I mean, Wolf Spain sounds somuch cooler than puppy thumper.
Very cool name any day.
Yeah, I, I would take WolfSpain over that any day.
Cool.
So we were able to take this.
This quest, this heist?
Yes.
And we were able to put emotionalstakes in it because Leander
didn't care about the money.
(27:13):
He didn't even careabout getting the book.
He wanted justice for what happenedto Elra because she was, I mean, in
pieces, what happened to the rest of her?
What did this?
Mm-hmm.
And so we put that emotionallayer into the game.
Yes.
And you did such a good job pickingup on those cues and letting it drive
(27:37):
your decisions and your motivationsas we snuck into the house and fought
a bunch of creatures and eventuallymade it made it downstairs and
found the rest of elra IRA's bodybeing possessed by this Eldridge
eldrich angelic abomination deity.
Growing out of her, outof her neck, mm-hmm.
(28:00):
You had to fight her.
You had to fight her.
Yeah.
Her leftover body.
And so it was a great climax.
That final confrontation with youconfronting someone who you cared about.
And HIAs, synth was great because Ihad her come back on stage and start
whispering in your ear as if it was eleven though you know, she was possessed.
Mm-hmm.
(28:21):
And I would say something in my spookyvoice, and then she would say it
in her el voice and we would mimiceverything each other was saying.
And so it was almostas if you were hearing.
The, the entity speakingthrough her and her as well.
What, mm-hmm.
What was going through your mindwhen we started doing that to you?
Oh, dude, it was so wild.
I mean it was really, I mean, asLeandro was really difficult to be
(28:46):
able to focus on the situation, but italso worked so well because my roles
weren't that great until the very end.
And so you know, therewas this struggle as.
Elra being possessed wasoverpowering Leander literally
killing him at some point.
You know, where he had to like tryand survive through death saves.
(29:11):
Yes.
So like, I think it was just, itworked out so well storytelling wise.
And is it okay if I talkabout the final blow?
Should we get into it a little bit?
I don't know.
Oh yeah, you should just tellpeople to watch the stream.
It's, you should watch the stream.
Yeah, they're on the comments.
We'll make sure we add it to, you know,our other places we're streaming as well.
(29:32):
This is true.
So if you want to see how it ends up.
You have to watch a stream because itis actually a very, very cool emotional
climactic moment for leaner thatended up happening, which was so wild.
Yeah.
Which was something I, I couldn't havedone that by myself, so That's right.
We were able to, yeah, it takestwo, it takes the whole party and we
(29:54):
were able to read each other's cuesand tell, tell an awesome story.
Yeah.
There's another thing Iwanna talk to you about.
You mentioned that you had a friend whowas very close to you and and you do
your best to keep their memory alive.
And I, and, and I'm putting the put in thedescription of this, that we're talking
(30:14):
about collaboration beyond the grave.
But I, I don't wanna make a jokeabout this, like this is a, this
is a serious, somber, sacred thing.
So I'm gonna turn it over toyou and tell us the story.
Yeah.
Well, I think just to start, I thinksomething that is wonderful about Tabletop
RPGs and Dungeons and Dragons all thegames that are alike is that not only is
(30:38):
it collaborative storytelling, but it is,it can also be incredibly personal for the
group of people that you're playing with.
And so I've been playing with thesame group of friends for about.
Seven years, I wanna say.
Let's see.
I'm trying to think, you know exactly.
(30:59):
Well, at least since senioryear, it's been 2018, so.
Oh my gosh, five years now.
Five years.
I've been playing with thesame group for five years.
Shut up.
You're not old.
I just am really slow with math,which is very surprising cuz I
have to add so many modifiers.
(31:20):
Anyways so I've been playingwith this group for a long time.
We are all.
Best friends from high school andone of them was my best friend that I
met my freshman year named Gavin And.
We did not run in thesame circles whatsoever.
He was a very shy, quiet, awkward computerguy, and so he liked, he was cool.
(31:46):
Like you.
Yeah, exactly.
He was as cool as me.
I was incredibly awkward, but I justkind of threw myself into the fray.
I was more of the music nerdand he was the computer nerd.
Yeah.
And so music nerds are slightlycooler than computer nerds.
I don't make the rules, but yeah,it's in the compendium of neurology,
you know, the, the rule of nerd.
(32:08):
Yeah.
They made Dragonology Wizardand then it came to Exactly.
And neurology.
Yeah.
That was the final form.
Exactly.
Yeah.
That was the last one they put on barn.
No.
Your friend Gavin.
Yes.
Sorry.
Yes, my friend Gavin he was just, Wekind of keep to himself throughout
our friendship, but we stayed closecuz we would always do stuff together.
(32:29):
We played video games, watchanime, and then it turned into
playing tabletop rrg RPGs.
It started with one called Shadows ofthe Demonn Lord, which is very like,
Dark Souls drag, DUNS, and dragons whichwe loved because it was so dangerous
and every move like really mattered.
(32:50):
And so having that instant like tensionon the board was so fun to play with.
And then we kind of gradually made ourway to like Dungeons and Dragons, and
now we're playing d d all the time.
But in 2020 it was actually when our groupwas supposed to meet up for a session
(33:13):
of d and d when we all got a group chatmessage that he wasn't feeling well.
Only for me later to later on tofind out that he he passed away.
And I unfortunately was there at thescene after police arrived at his home.
(33:38):
And so it was very, very traumaticfor me and for all of my friends
that were in our group together.
And for a second there, I thoughtthat we weren't gonna play anymore.
You know, they would just hurttoo much to see an empty chair
sitting at our game table.
But we kept going.
(33:59):
We kept playing.
And it was not until like twoyears ago where my brother.
Who was also really close to Gavin cuzhe was kind of like both of our older
brothers, you know, he just kind ofinherited Gavin as well and our family.
He and our other great friendnamed Matt they both collaborated
(34:22):
and created this game.
Of Dungeon Dragons.
That was kinda like a one shot,kind of just like short campaign,
but it was exploring Lucian's mind.
And Lucian was the character thatGavin has been playing for years
who was like this young girlwho was like a feisty knight.
(34:43):
And so she would always like be like,mean and back talk, but also deal like
insane damage was her whole shtick.
Right.
And so we explore though Lucian's mindin this campaign, and we experience not
only her backstory, but we also reopenGavin's, like all of our memory, all of
(35:08):
our memories with Gavin as we go throughlike the different tiers of this maze.
And when we make it to the like,Where presumably the B B E G, the
final boss of this dungeon is.
Instead we are presented with Lucianlying down on a cobblestone slate
(35:31):
with a giant world tree looming inthe background with sun beans coming
through, and a magical sphere thatkind of encompassed the whole area.
And so as each of us walk through thissphere of like this magic dome, we split
(35:56):
into all of our different charactersthat we have played through the years
and ourselves standing in the back.
And one by one, we were all ableto, in our kind of groups of
characters and ourselves, walk upto Lucian and say one final thing.
(36:25):
And as soon as we all said ourlast things and our wishes to have
her wake up again, we saw this.
Bubble collapse and then get suckedinto Lucian as her soul became
a giant crystal that shatteredand scattered across the stars.
(36:47):
And so no matter what campaign we'replaying, we can find fragments of Lucian's
soul throughout our games as we play.
Ah, that was ah, ah, you'remaking me feel feelings.
Yeah.
No, I mean, it was, I wascrying like a baby, right?
(37:09):
The entire time.
But it's a way that not only were we in anenthralling game narrative, but something
that was incredibly personal and also asense of closure to such an abrupt and.
Upsetting passing.
(37:31):
And so to commemorate it, therewas a stained glass mural,
actually before we walked intothe dungeon of that exact scene.
And I got a tattoo of, actually,let's put you full screen.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, so we have the sun to kindalike represent the sun beams, IRAI Lucian,
(37:53):
the coon pass, and the roots of theworld tree as well, lying on the bottom.
If you're listening to us on apodcast, highly recommend checking
out the YouTube or the Twitch.
This is true.
Yeah.
If you want to catch my sweet tat.
If you wanna see the tat.
No, thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing that story.
I, I'm sure it's not easy to relivethat, but also peaceful at the same time.
(38:17):
Yeah, I think that's the point ofthe tattoo though, you know, is to
tell the story because the story Ithink is the most beautiful part.
That we were able to come together asfriends to heal by playing Dungeons
and Dragons, you know, of all things.
(38:37):
That was the most healing thingfor our group of friends to try
and combat such an insurmountableamount of grief surroundings,
like losing one of our friends.
So, Yeah, I think that's whyabove all now, cuz my love for d
(38:58):
and D's always changing, right?
But now it's just knowing how impactfulthese stories and the relationships
that we have around the table can be.
That's, that's incredible.
Thank you for sharing that with us.
I have, yeah, so many questionsabout opera and pool and other
(39:21):
things for you, but I think.
Like that is just a beautiful noteto leave leave this broadcast on.
We'll just have to bring you back anothertime and we can, I'd be happy to be back.
This was so much fun.
Thank you all five of ourFR fans who tuned into this.
I think we're at seven, that one.
Ooh.
Someday we'll have dozensand dozens of fans.
(39:44):
Hundreds and thousands.
Dozens.
There'll be, there'll be DAXs.
Dozens.
That's what DAXs dozens.
Yeah.
And then, you know wherecan people find you?
Yes.
You wanna see what you're up to?
Absolutely.
Well, I am on Instagram and TikTok.
Honestly it should be anysocial platform underneath.
The Ben Chewy.
(40:05):
I lucked out.
Ben Chewy.
Strange.
Yeah.
Boom.
I lucked out and was able to grabthe one handle to rule them all.
So you can find me.
I mostly use Instagram and TikTok though.
Instagram mostly is likeopera and photos and TikTok.
I post more like cosplay stuff.
More like LA things.
(40:26):
So yeah.
Whatever you can follow either or both.
Follow, follow Bennett Chu andall the cool things that he does.
See you for our next interview.
Thanks everyone.
Yeah, thanks guys.
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