Break The Dice Podcast

We at Mox are all listening to the Break The Dice podcast! The adventures of Malone and Crabapple of last season have us the the edge of our seat. We proudly sponsor Break The Dice and highly recommend you give them a listen, but don't take our word for it, keep reading their own words below: 

Greetings mortals!

We are Break the Dice (BTD), a fantasy adventure podcast that combines the best elements of a tabletop RPG with the storytelling and fart sounds of improv comedy. Think of us as a group of friends sitting around a table in your ears, but instead of referencing detailed character sheets or voluminous rulebooks, we’re relying on our trusty (and patient) game master Allen, some homespun character voices, and our somewhat fractured minds.

BTD has been releasing episodes on the second and fourth Mondays of each month for almost two years now, and we have been performing a live version of the show for more than a decade. If you haven’t heard of us before, we highly encourage you to start at the beginning of one of our four campaigns to get the best listening experience. Each campaign spans approximately ten episodes and follows a few "player" characters (PCs) as they complete a heroic quest or, as is just as often the case, haphazardly stumble from one location to another, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. Sound like something you'd like to acquaint your ears with? Read on then adventurer. These sentences are for you.

THE SETTING

Our stories center on the port of Shatterpoint and the lands that surround it. Shatterpoint is a magical city in which the seasons change from one block to the next and the city's contractors make an absolute fortune due to the constant need to repair the damage caused by all the adventuring. There is a magical library, an intricate network of guilds, and a tavern called Martha's Mead that's run by a woman with magical bosom hatchets.

THE PLAYER CHARACTERS

Adramire Molock - A human ranger with an alignment of lawful neutral from the town of Braddock. His family was taken from him by something called The Darkness and he's been traveling the land trying to make sure others don't suffer the same fate. Adramire has a silver dagger given to him by his dead wife that he has absolutely not placed so much importance on that it hampers his ability to interact with other sentient beings. And wooden you know it he has a magical wooden eye!

Ælar Drakal - A rogue elf with an alignment of chaotic neutral and the former ruler of the kingdom of Del Rhune. He also lost his family to The Darkness (are you seeing a pattern here?) and has abdicated his ancestral throne, partially because of the pain he feels when he returns there but mostly because he doesn't really want to read a bunch of tax scrolls or whatever it is a king does on the day to day. Ælar is absolute aces at picking the pockets of pickets (soldiers) and crimping the plans of criminals (anyone in his way).

Crabapple - A warlock fledgling with an alignment of chaotic neutral. They were once a member of a gang of shadow-stealing urchins (think Oliver Twist but with less gruel and more shadow gruel) but have since sworn off their shadow stealing ways. They love nothing more than giving their friends handshakes with their claw-paws and climbing inside their enemies like a cute little bladey dervish.

Heulwen Ddu - A half-elf sorcerer with the alignment of neutral good. She is half-demon, half-woman, and all-business. She killed both her father and her mother (they were evil don't worry) and is still trying to come to terms with the duality of her nature. And her name is pronounced Hail-Win Thee. It's Welsh. Get over it.

Malone - A human monk from the Rumtek Monastery. He has a staff that can steal souls but he hasn't figured out the best way to give them back yet. Malone has never found a problem he couldn't solve with violent kindness and a really loud voice. He believes there is good in everyone. Even those that cut in line. Even those that pick their noses. Even those whose heads are skulls and eyes are bottomless inky voids and whose tails are scorpion-like with big scythes at their ends, clearly meant to cut a man in two.

Phaelan Maerdock - A half-elf fighter with an alignment of chaotic good and a magical sword that resides in his chest. His mother was killed by owl bears and he hasn't been much of a fan of them ever since. Phaelan is on a quest to travel to all locations, both known and unknown, an objective given to him by the chest sword mentioned earlier in this paragraph. He gives great hugs and is the half-elf you'd want holding back your hair as you cast puke spells into a chamber pot after a particularly hard break up with an adult gold dragon.

THE FORM

Our form revolves around our game master Allen, two main PC performers, and three other performers playing all of the other "non-player" characters (NPCs) in the story. We use a simplified system for checks and hit points to keep the storytelling in the driver's seat, while maintaining the joy and excitement that come from hitching your fate to a twenty-sided die. This means we won't roll for everything you would in a traditional RPG campaign, but we do roll for important events like swinging a sword at a goblin or convincing that goblin's life partner that he will definitely be coming home safe and sound.

Our game master has a few ideas for what might happen in each episode that he shares with the NPCs, but (and he has not been shy about telling us this) it never works out the way he pictured it. The tone is often irreverent but can also be quite dramatic and heartfelt. Or to say it another way, we never miss a chance to make a poop joke, but we have so much love in our hearts for all of these characters that we can't help but play them with all the honesty of a milkshake guzzling oil tycoon or police chief with a Norwegian accent.

There's so much more we could say, but the truth is that we'd rather you heard it straight from our mouths (by way of your favorite podcast app). If you've got the time, we've got a whole world full of dragon turtles, finger stealing witches, moon festivals, and psychedelic leaves to share with you. Come on by. We'll pull you up a stool and buy you a drink. Anything but mead.

Follow us on social media:@beardedcompls, listen to the podcast, and join our Discord. 

- See you at Mox