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The brave Mr. Lou Wilson joins us by the fireside for a deep dive into the first three episodes of the campaign, answering your excellent questions.

A LOT of you asked about sci-fi inspiration. Favorite books, films, and how we think about world building for these campaigns. Jokes on you, we knew you’d want that. Which is why, after Episode 4, we’re dropping something special called AT THE WELL, a fireside entirely devoted to everyone’s favorite science fiction everything.

Oh, and as promised, we have some extra lore goodies for you today.

First up, the gorgeous ship map, designed and illustrated by the incredible Britt Anderson, who absolutely crushed it.

And finally, in full Icaron prep mode, Lou wrote an epic historical account of the world, beautifully designed by Ruby Lavin. (see in attachments, below).

Enjoy, and tell us in the comments what kind of modification you would want. 🚀

Files

Comments

Luke

Let’s go! This is the kind of stuff I became a patr(e)on for!

Luke

Oh my god, it JUST dawned on me that the Icaron schematic mirrors the worlds beyond number logo/O

The Pompous Peasant

I hve to give this anotfer listen i think teh histarical timelines will help me understand s. lou is teh bests and if i cood just see this beffer in my mind i could def see brennan touching funny style lololo;lolol they are all so fun and talented even the girls too and teh giy who is rly nice with teh sound but he is in teh nast most eoisods in teh back playing and ive learnedA lot!

Evil Anagram

The idea of a third industrial revolution taking place in the near future is hilarious to me because the manufacturing industry insists we're in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution (the horrible buzzword is Industry 4.0) and it's really fun to remember normal people don't constantly regurgitate that shit

Coolclaytony

Oh yay my question was discussed!

Amaya

"God willing I'll see 3." Has me in real tears 😂

Jo Carter

At the Well sounds cooool.

Jo Carter

Oooh, Aabria's Brennan impression is eerie....

Amaya

"Sloane is dead" is such a CRAZY and hilarious unnecessary rug pull

Britt Anderson

The tradition for the GM to kill off a beloved NPC lives on 😂

A Miyako M Illustrations

The cybernetic prosthetic convo just had me realize: If you had asked me 20 years ago to imagine prosthetics in sci-fi, I would think “cool gadgety arm, you gotta tinker it yourself, or you know someone on a ship somewhere who can fix it” If you asked me today the same thing I’d imagine a villain who runs a subscription service for you to have your arm, you can’t ever give it up, the price increases each cycle, oh now you HAVE to upgrade in order to access features.

Coolclaytony

Sloane was just hanging back in the ship? Does the Icaron not have a gathering space for transient staff?

Britt Anderson

“You do this because it is fun. So have fun.” LOU HOW DARE you made me get a little teary eyed with that! 💜

Andy C

Who knows what the future of WBN holds - and lord knows I need more W^3 in my life - but if over time all 4 of them get to GM a massive campaign, I won't be mad at all... Lou was saying this was his first time publicly GMing as an entertainment product, and the history, the world, his choices, have made me ALL IN for whatever he would cook up for a full campaign The only thing I don't like about FotI is that it's only 6 episodes

Jennifer Sieben

That blueprint would look lovely framed on my wall.

Amellabeth

Scanning through the historical record has me wondering if and how mechsuit technology could enter into this world. Right now I'm leaning Mars would have it first and have them piloted by bio-engineered child soldiers. 🤔

Britt Anderson

Add to the memorable Aabria quotes from WBN firesides: “You can put that ‘O’ on so many things.”

R0GUE

There's a version of this campaign with Jacob Wysocki as a space paladin and we'll never hear it!!?

Emily C

A map!! A timeline!!! Promises of merch!!!! Announcements of NPC deaths!!!!! This Fireside has EVERYTHING

Luke

Haha, thank you! They also talk about it in this most recent talkback which I didn’t realize yet when I posted this comment

MN-UL

Pin! If you like it then you shoulda put an O on it!

Alona Yost

Anyone else catch “Commissioned by General: L Wilson” on the Icaron schematic? 👀

Peter Ellis

prehensile tail is better

El

Just saying merch idea - slide ball jearsy lol

Aster

Someone I follow calls the eye color surgery "That surgery that gives you spooky husky eyes" and they're so right

Sayre

Have to second this. Getting to see your favorite players also DM lets you see their talent so much more in so many different ways, and I hope I don’t have to go back to a world where Lou Wilson only plays one character in a game forever.

Sayre

Not to mention it has to update every day when you’re right in the middle of doing something important or delicate with it, whether you want to or not, and half the time the update introduces bugs rather than fixes them.

Sayre

What was the third one?

whisp-error

at around 33:00 for the discussion about kids being out of pocket: when i was somewhere btwn 5 and 8, i was playing house with my friend and said she would be the teenager. my friend asked me what a teenager was, and according to my mother i said, "they're kids who think they're adults." and i stand by that

Zeon Deikun

I need a oneshot in the court of Pharo Gregory asap.

Zeon Deikun

but vestigial? nah. i need em to be fully functional.

PriscillaG

Funny to hear about the creation of the Mars protectorate. Similarly that's how JPL came into existence. Researchers were told they couldn't blow up rockets on campus at Caltech. So they went to a nearby open space and JPL was born.

xatlern

I mean, that is essentially what happens to Gunnie in Starstruck.

xatlern

I was about to pause the episode to run an errand when I heard my name! I truly did not realize how the phrase "Kiki's pinky" would sound out loud when I wrote the question but I'm so delighted by it.

Cole Sarar

As for my mod: subdermal cybernetic tattoos- turn 'em off or on, save a map on your arm, flash the words "Fuck ICE" across your throat, be scary or sexy or informational, be your own little reading light after mom says it's bedtime... the possibilities are endless.

Lane

Oh my Gosh YES!! One for the Servals and the other for the Hyraxes!!!

Zack

Not sure if anyone has said this yet, but the title of this says its about episodes 1 and 2, and the transcript says episodes 2 and 3

Kevin Turner

Fight With Spirit slideball bonus episode incoming?

Emma41420

The ""Fun Fact"" reveal that BOTH Lou & Erika were going through their own Dark Night of the Soul during Episode 3 is wild 😨!! Getting caught in the crosshairs of a culture war before leaving for D&D camp? Absolutely harrowing 💀~ Thank you so much to everyone at Worlds Beyond Number for braving this cruel time with care, comedy, and comradery☆

Aiden Abett

On the subject of kids who pick up their grandparent's old timey vernacular, l myself stepped on that particular rake a few times growing up. My gramma didn't call condominiums 'condos', she called them 'condoms', which led to no small amount of confusion and miscommunication in my coming of age. The best though, was when our middle school Spanish teacher had the class split into groups to work on that day's assignment. When she asked my two friends and I if we would be working together, l chirped up in front of the whole class "For sure, we're a threesome!" Suffice to say, once order was restored, l wound up working alone that day

Alyssa

The eye color surgery results are SO upsetting!! They always look like they’re possessed by a demonic Siberian husky

Zack

Thanks!

Alyssa

The fireside is the fucking best 🔥 absolutely cackling from these quotes: “Erika, your free will is too free!” The long silence after “What's everyone's favorite PC in this campaign?” “They're all color-coded and they're all for coke.” “Wait for it to get out of beta, I beg!” “Sloan is his name…and he is dead.” The entire conversation about little old babies! 😂😂😂

Alyssa

Reminds me of those sleep apnea implants…horrifying

Alyssa

Getting surgery for arms that wave around? And make your life difficult?? Delicious ice cream? Slapped to the ground 🍦 Playing video games? Fuck your controller 🎮 CAN YOU IMAGINE AIRPLANE TRAVEL?! ✈️ stuck in the middle, slapping people on both sides of you…nightmares! DREAM BIGGER, ERIKA!! YOU DESERVE EXTRA ARMS THAT WORK!!! we believe in you!

Jay

OMG SO MUCH LORE AND A MAP?! This is awesomeeee!!

Alyssa

YES!!!! Every damn time!!! Plus, there’s something to be said of the fucking white supremacy of it all that more often than not I’ve seen that surgery for people to get blue eyes

Ashley Teatum

The Icaron schematic 🤌🤌🤌✨ 😍

Sarah Sutton

Listening to the conversation about cybernetic body modification and Erica's vestigial arms made me think of the movie American Mary. Has anyone else seen that movie? I usually can't handle body horror but for some reason that movie just delights me.

Trina

It's the same on Spotify.

White Noise

My name is Greg and I feel scene

Natecharodon

I'm now picturing Erika, Aabria, and Brennan all sitting in a circle discussing cheese while Lou is looming over with a huge mallet labeled "PLOT".

Chris Atienza

I need a pin of the icharon/O asap!!

The Wizard Solace (Sherichu)

Accidentally opened the comments and read the line about favourite PCs before listening. And instantly panicked because I also submitted a question asking who their favourite NPCs are and though maybe I left off the N 😅😅😅😅

The Wizard Solace (Sherichu)

The Brennan slander at the end when the man is on paternity leave is WILD and proves that they are all best friends 🤣

PissGrizz

The Icaron (Ship) reminds me of Babylon 5 just a very long tube of a ship.

The one they call Barlo

Stopped listening to look at corneal tattooing. Madness. Thanks for sharing, Aabria

theoddhobbyist

I absolutely LOVE this world and when I thought nothing could touch WWW, my heart has opened and created space to love this world just as much, let’s please come back here! Love you guys, thank you for being lights in this time. 🩷

MJ Mezzy

I need a pin that’s just a swatch of toupe 2 in the merch store

Just a Fox

Heads up, on the podcatchers this episode is listed as being a fireside for episodes 1 and 2!

Izer

I won't lie Lou killing Cortes in the first 3 minutes perfectly set the tone. I was fully expecting the space pirates to be Porco Rosso adjacent cronies

Sam Rapine

Four-armed Erika is sobering.

Evelina Meiklejohn

LET ME PUT THAT O ON EVERYTHING. My denim jacket, my hat, in my hair, on a slutty little Hot Topic choker 💖😆

Lojaan

That reminder from Lou to himself should be printed in large font on all GM screens everywhere

Muadwho

No vowels?? No that was NOT established... Unless I missed something

Conor Steinke

Jacob can't get enough of being a paladin in real life so he's gotta do it in home games too?

CanadianRambo

Oh geeze, I mean most of us knew the situation with Kimmel and Lou, but Erika dealing with Ghosts of Yotei harassment is unfortunate that it became such a big negative moment… I was hopeful from what I saw that soooo many people were coming to Erika’s defence during all that, that I really hope that overpowered the negative attention from awful people… and for both those situations to be happening at the same time I never realized… much love and support to you all in the pod from my partner and I!

Britt Anderson

Yep! I just couldn't resist adding in a couple names of folks who helped make this series possible 😉

Alona Yost

I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Draftsman Specialist…you did a beautiful job! 🫶

Jamie ßuçklānđ

I was thinking an extra thumb on each hand. Next to the pinky. I saw a pic of a robotic one at some point, and the user said with a bit of practice it became pretty intuitive.

Punk_Ukulele

I need a YouTube short for that Sloane clip

Piper

And with that I'm caught up. I've listened to all the episodes, all the Fireside Chats, and all the bone cone. What do I even do now? 🤣

saltblend

Vestigial arms had me almost sick with laughter

DaphneDawn

Lou with the ruthless reveals at the end. Captain Sloan? Oh yeah, he’s dead. And I’m not SAYING you killed Dr Cortez with your cheese chatter, I am implying it heavily ☠️ wow can we get more Lou DMing please?

Zap! the ink demon of the onomatopoeia

I too have run headlong into a full glass door and cartoon animation smacked face, did not smash through but landed full starfish on the ground. Bonk!

Yin

Lou’s DM diaries keep making me teared up Y-Y

Muadwho

47:00 Spoilers! R.I.P Sloane

Jodin

My favorite part of the pacing in 2&3 is the bit in the middle of the "breaking out of the party" bit where Lou kept Brennan in initiative order even though he wasn't actually in combat. Masterful.

Stations & Starships

Omg "Andre Dalka wore crocs as a little kid" really got me 😂

Mac

what's the situation with kimmel and lou? do you mean the harassment that kimmel gets from the right wing? or is it something else entirely?

CanadianRambo

I interpreted it as when Kimmel got pulled off the air for a short while after the Charlie Kirk comments so technically that is lou’s day (night?) job gone as the announcer for Kimmel during that time

Wolfsification

Ok, but I need the sound bit of Lou cursing everyone for their compliments.

PriscillaG

Will Aabria need to pass the "Consequences DM" crown to Lou?

Stephen Paul

Erika, as someone who loves your work and is making their own way through Ghost of Yotei you’re awesome, Ghost of Yotei rocks, and fuck the haters. Sometimes they just gotta hate and we get to say fuck them.

Moosemade

We simply MUST exist in Grey Space. We got the vibes of Earth, we know Mars' deal (a little too well, really), but y'all made the Belt seem so deliciously weird that it's, all I can think about.

FiendishNoodles

As funny as it is that lou's child friend identified his mother as his "father's wife", I think it does demonstrate at a pretty young age a degree of interesting emotional intelligence and investment in the understanding of others. Cause he surely doesn't call his mom that, but he's giving an explanation to someone else who presumably knows his father better and so is giving the info that the kid thinks Lou can beat relate to. In direct contrast to the kids and adults who will only identify people by the speaker's own relation to them.

Bridget she-they

Also? DM Diary is the best and I want it all the time.

Strawberry Milkshake

I got a kidney stone today, and in waiting for pain meds yall helped me get through it. Thanks yall for all the care and energy you bring into ur art!

Kassie K Wilson

I’d go for auto changing hair 💇🏻‍♀️ and nails 💅🏼 to fit my mood or outfit lol