No Introduction Needed (with Emily Axford) | Adventuring Academy Season 2 | Ep. 9 

Brennan does something here that very few people do. Anytime he's talking, and Emily interjects a point, he immediately stops talking. He clearly values what his guest has to say, and that's reflected in his yielding the floor to her when she speaks. Kudos for being a great interviewer!

Damn, I really like how Emily's room is decorated. A+. Brennan's appears to be a vortex that keeps stealing parts of his soul

I love the very cool background that teleports Brennan in and out of existence.

emily axford, also known as everyone's favorite person ever

I love how Brennan said "No introduction needed" and proceeded to make the best Introduction ever highlighting her whole career and then aggressively complimented Hilda Hilda for like 3 minute. They also managed to stay in that high chaotic energy mood for 90 more minutes!!!

everyone needs a friend who's willing to hype you up like brennan hypes up emily

Emily wields so much D&D power that even Brennan Lee freakin' Mulligan phases between realities in her presence

The betrayal on Emily's face when Brennan confesses he reads her D20 notes is hilarious 1:17:01

in early, and here to say, that Emily Axeford is the most delightful of all the humans since ever.

This and the Marisha Ray interview have really hit home how starved the TTRPG community is for advice on how to be a good player. Too much emphasis is put on the DM being a martyr for the players' fun and not enough on the players' ability and responsibility for making the game great.

Brennan, you poor man. Blink twice if you need the fans to buy you a new green screen! Blink thrice if you just want a matte black backdrop!

She need no introduction yet she is given the longer introduction ever

Emily Axford? I thought that was Hilda Hilda.

God I want to see some raw clips with the crew laughing behind the scenes while Brennan voiced Gilear

Emily getting flustered at Ayda's voice 🤩

Emily Axford and Laura Bailey in the same game would be fucking INSANE

Love the comment at 10:10. I had an experience like that in D&D where my home village was being attacked and they wanted my character, and I was willing to turn myself in. Everyone was actually a little frustrated that I would have done that and questioned why my character would do it, but I just knew that’s what she would do. I thought about it later and came to a really deep internal realization of her character that I hadn’t even processed before - that it was easier for her to be taken from her home against her will than to admit she didn’t belong there. That admission came out in an argument with another PC and both of us were stunned at it, and I covered my mouth and in character fully started crying. It was such a BEAUTIFUL moment and it was INSANE how deeply in character it was!

Emily's mad cackling is delightful.

1:17:00 LOL Brennan got burned so bad with the chronomancy timepiece thing in season 1 that he had to start taking drastic measures 😂

“I don’t know how to play a character who doesn’t care about the other characters” Cut to Emily every episode in season one “I know I come across as this person that does not care about anyone...” the most heart on their sleeve character of the whole group. Though I loved everyone in the party. The sister battle just made me love the character of Amaranth (sp?) so very much

Brennan digging out Aydas voice and flustering Emily with it is so. Fucking. Funny. 41:48

Emily is absolutely my role playing inspiration! I can have a hard time making my characters feel as alive and funky as I feel like they are because I’m so focused on making the most optimal decision for the game and my fellow players. I couldn’t be more excited to give someone my money and adoration.

“This is a potluck, and caring is the responsibility of the players “ Brilliant stuff

Its also extremely rewarding as an audience to see the emotional investment back and forth come to fruition. When Sofia Lee defeats Isabella Infierno after that damn scene with the wedding dress? Goddammit it was beautiful

Nobody: Brennan's background; OM NOM NOM

1:30:25 As someone who often processes and explains the world through analogies, I love how Brennan always seems to have the perfect one to get across his point in the simplest way.

I would super watch a whole series on advice for good PC-ing

Bryan's point on player skill is so ... on point. A good GM cannot make a bad group good. Player skills are so so important

Me yesterday to my DnD players: I will literally watch anything with Emily Axford in it. The Universe: 🤗

Omg...Sophie Bikes...on top of the tower...finding her power... Love that scene and those like soooo much - made me cry! I'm getting chills just thinking about it now. Love you all and this academy is awesome!

I feel like Brennan's background is purposefully fucked cuz his walls are covered with major plot points for his upcoming campaigns.

This may be late, but to Emily's note-taking points; in the moment, brief notes work best, but I like to go back after my session and write a journal entry in character.

Emily taught me one of the key story/improv/dnd pc things I've treasured since. Absolute chaos. In any event do thr most absurd and chaotic thing without being annoying. Everyone including the dm is gonna enjoy it

I jumped into Naddpod last week with the short campaign that Emily recently ran and honestly, she is such a fun DM and I eagerly await the potential for more in the future

When Emily said she "teaches" her dice I laughed into my cereal and sprayed milk all over myself lmfao

I Don't know what's behind that green screen but whatever it is, has to be more aesthetically pleasing than a glitching green screen.

God her husband is so lucky. She is stunning & an amazing person.

Brennan's logic for resting dice on the highest number is literally exactly the same way I see it XD

I love hearing her speak, also can't stop listening to her Doomsday Diaries album!

Emily is such a delight! i cant help but smile my face off when she's doing her thing and generally being a fuckin awesome person

Pretty sure Emily Axford is the worlds greatest D&D player

God, Brennan's energy is infectious and Emily is brilliant.

I feel like Emily is Brennan's personal Chaos Generator, for good or bad, but there nevertheless.

emily is that school teacher i have confusing feelings for.

Brennan lost some of lecture persona talking casually with Emily, really nice

Emily Axford is my favorite Dnd player hands down

I love the talk of being a DM compared to a player and group interaction. I only recently realized the reason as a player I would get bored or not invested was because I wasn't being proactive, I was expecting the scenario to incorporate me into it. So to fix that my characters are very invested in the other party members, the world. Even when DMing, I make my NPCs seek out the PCs. While a rational person would do their version of D&D google, you need to create confrontation/action/etc. Great discussion you two :)

brennan now trapped inside one of the books from myst

I'm a new dm and I'm glad I listened to this, because I felt I was much more responsible for my players enjoyment of the game than I actually am. Hearing this made me feel better about that, Thank you!

Patiently waits for Jake to get on the show since Em, Murph, and Caldwell have been on!

Respect to everyone at CH… but Brennan is easily my favorite one ever, and I’ve been viewing for over ten years.

Love the discussion of engaged character play -- I've always said that we don't play our characters, we discover them. And it's so much fun that way!

sometimes its like brennan has been possessed by the very spirit of coffee

Hope to see Emily DM a Dimension20 season sometime.

The Crick is such an amazing piece of worldbuilding, and to have done it as a player is just so good.

Emily is the GOAT. Having listened to all of Campaign one of Naddpod, I teared up remembering all the fun with Moonshine.

Love all of the player advice in this episode; it really helped me put into words the sort of things I enjoy doing and enjoy seeing other players do in games.

I’m glad everyone loves her as much as I do lol I mostly watch and just wait patiently for her turns.

What a wonderful and fitting introduction. Emily Axford is truly a treasure 💖

HIS ARMS!

Emily is the best D&D player in the world!

I didn't know Emily and murph were married until this, that's so cool!

Implying that Basrar is a metaphor for the DM

I have watched this video so many times and look, here I am again! I just love the energy and the revelations in this one. What fantastic people.

Love you both, giving me smiles I really need rn, ty.

This episode was filled to the brim with excellent advice and just very enthralling discussion with some jokes, like sneaking in and reading the journal :P Good stuff!

I can’t stop thinking about how gravity would work on a cube-shaped planet after the discussion from last episode with Caldwell. If you’re at the edge of the cube, wouldn’t you be standing on a mountain top?? So if you’re standing in the middle of a side and start walking toward an edge you’d be steadily increasing the incline as you approach the edge??

I'm in my first campaign, eightish months in, and I'm still getting my bearings with my PC. I love making little comments, like "this is the nicest and cleanest she's looked since they met her" or "Each time he mentions this name, she twitches in annoyance." It's the writer in me. I add these details, even if no one else does this, and every time my DM allows me to interject and I see him smile in response. So I keep trying to do it.

And for all our fellow players! Don't beat yourself up if you are not interacting to the degree folks do in Dimension 20, the folks on the show are experts at improv... making something from nothing is what they excel at. So what you should take away from this if nothing else is to just start being aware of your characters interactions and what your character thinks about them. Eventually ideas will come to your head, it doesn't have to be in the first session. And for me personally (alongside many other players I'm sure), I suffer from social anxiety so it takes me a little bit to warm up to people and get silly, and even then I tend to be on the tamer side of things... I don't think I'd ever get up to the shenanigans seen on D20, certainly not so frequently (in terms of roleplaying), but any amount of Roleplaying helps! And don't be afraid to take inspiration from characters and archetypes in other pieces of media. I have a Drow elf dragon sorcerer who's a "bad-ass with a heart of gold" (a common archetype among video game protagonists; think BJ Blazkovich from Wolfenstein), he's self serving but not to the degree of sociopathy... he's trying to gather gold and knowledge and other resources to work his way up in the world (in this case among the sketchy and corrupt workings of the city of water-deep) and he's tossing fireballs and taking names until he can get the success he strives for. I have another character, a female dragonborn barbarian: She's kind of a mix between Goku and Vegeta in terms of personality, she loves fighting strong people and testing her limits to better herself, but also sees strength as a measurement of a persons worth (not purely physical strength either, while they can't wield magic they can understand how devastating it can be) and can be full of themselves at times/over confident, especially if they believe they are more powerful than somebody. These character's... I just finalized these personalities tonight, as I'm writing this. The drow I've had for a few sessions now (albeit the campaign module is almost over, dragon-heist only goes to level 5) and the dragonborn I started tonight. Tldr; it's never too late to give personality to a character because even under the worst case scenario (the character no longer being present in a given campaign/the campaign ending) you can still apply this new persona to a new character or recycle that previous character and persona into a new campaign. D&D is a learning experience for players and DM's alike, remember that.

40:00 oh I loved this whole bit on how improv and RP can be entirely different from what we see as ourselves, but always has a small element of ourselves intertwined! Through my studies I've learned that this play we who RP engage with are a mix of "the bits of self I can't be" or "the bits of self I can't experience IRL, but here I can be X" ... EVEN in the opposite context "I'm going to be trickster and 'evil' and have those bits come through because I've always been a good paladin XD" ... which again speaks to us giving ourselves the permission to indulge in those other parts of self we wouldn't dare to show in person. So I think it's great to explain it like the stained glass combining colours! You can always aim to shine a particular coloured light, but there might still be a teeeny hint of yourself in there along the way, which I think is a massive factor why D&D is *chefs kiss*

Can we get a D20 side quest with Emily as DM?

I truly cannot believe I have waited so long to watch this. The entire video is just a master class on PC and DM relationships, the advice is amazing, I've went back and taken so many notes. So good!!

Those are some great improv and player points. Pure gold

This may be the best one of these. Way to dig deep both of you.

Hello, I am very intoxicated. Emily is both a comedic mastermind and perhaps the greatest 5e player in the God Damned world

I love how Emily describes Brennan like a guardian angel

Player responsability is important : you're telling a story with multiple voices, the DM is responsible for the world and the bigger story but anything close to your character is your story to tell. Rules are there so that nobody decide exactly what happen, which would be quite boring. At least that's how I sold the idea of an RPG club to parents who just wanted their kid to get an engineering degree, back in the days :p

Emily needs to DM a D20 season with Brennan as one of the PCs!!!

They gotta send brennan a dang green screen backdrop. Damn. Wooohhh Emily!!!!

Two fantastic people, always a joy to listen to them! Ridiculously delighted to see Brennan feeling a connection with my fave childhood movie (The Neverending Story) and Emily having the same fave game (FF6)!

Emily Axford is a literal goddess!

This was so interesting and fun! I've learned so much, which I'll definitely put to use if I ever play or dm dnd :D

Emily : "Final Fantasy VI was a huge influence on me because I was obsessed with the music in it." Same, Emily Axford. Same.

So one 5 minute conversation led to the end of updates on Strong Female Protagonist... And I can blame it on Emily Axford.

I have such a huge crush on emily Axford. I wish i could be friends with her and brennan

If "General Nerdery" doesn't appear in one of your games we riot

One of the best results of Emily's improvising lore was the creation of the nice Bullywugs.

“Your players want to interact with the environment”. So... my players... they were level 6 or something, and I gave them a Rakshasa to fight. As soon as they entered the room, I said “you see some sort of feline-like humanoid laying asleep on a huge pillow in the center of the room. The room is decorated lavishly but nothing very well kept. In the center of the room, there is also a chandelier that looks rusty and very old. You can hear the ceiling groaning with the weight of it. What do you do?” They literally did not get what was going on with the chandelier until an NPC pointed it out to them. The Rakshasa even stood in the center of the room for the whole fight... I learned to make the environment more straightforward lol

Emily is so great.

Brennan is me and I am Brennan, referring to the Neverending Story analogy

I was so hoping it was going to be soul laundering! It was still very cool and I really enjoyed the campaign. None the less. Maybe one day. Emily is great! Murphy is a lucky man. Brennan is a great dm but I would love to see Emily DM as well.

That notes thing resonated powerfully, I mostly write interesting clues and funny moments

So minor story about my campaign that fits with the idea of caring about the other PCs. I'm DMing for a party consisting of: my wife, my best friend and his wife, and my wife's character has a massive crush on his wife's character. And its lead to any time my friend's wife's character is in trouble, my wife springs into action and she does a great job of showing how much she cares, it seriously does make a DM's job way easier when the PCs care about each other!

Brennan, Emily; thank you for being you. I honestly started to forget why I enjoy DnD because I've been spending time on reddit and it's such a terrible place I was starting to hate DnD.

It’s like sending The Ball back and forth over the net? My heart goes out to Bryan now 😁

Lol the flind and catoblepas are some of my favorite numbers

This was a fun interview. Look, of you ever need a character way to get away with a PC having been somewhere and not knowing people's names and stuff, take a note from my real life. I travel for work and meet and work with tons of different people weekly. I regularly can't remember places and people that remember me. They see and interact with fewer entities in their daily work. A pc could be well traveled, be known, but not remember anyone until the "oh yeah, now I remember you" moments.

I simp for emily hard lol her shirt is so dope too i need it 😍😍

I love Emily!!!!!!!!

Damn I wanna play Emily's wizard encounter now that sounds so much freaking fun