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Cowboys, Pirates, Astral Elves? Deacon, Penni, Hal and Turiel find out just how big Wildspace really is, but not before a few Crime Lords and Dark Cultists the fates of everyone in the Astral Sea in their hands...
A Smash -or- Cast Production.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;22;22
Speaker 1
Welcome to Casting Call. This is a show where we talk to people behind the scenes of Smash-or-Cast. I'm your host, Ema. Let's get started. Today I have Mads. Mads. Would you care to introduce yourself?
00;00;22;24 - 00;00;32;09
Speaker 2
Yes. I'm Mads. Otherwise known as mad_the_blank, I go by any pronouns. You can find me on Twitch, BlueSky and Twitter. All under the same alias.
00;00;32;13 - 00;00;43;09
Speaker 1
Sick. So you are a part of Spell Jammer: Expanding darkness. The campaign running with Smash-or-Cast, Tell me a little bit about your character, Deacon.
00;00;43;13 - 00;01;02;20
Speaker 2
So I'm playing Deacon MoonCalf, super young has never left his hometown. Ever. Down. Southern boy works on a ranch. Like, if you can picture, a baby cowboy that's probably deacon.
Define baby. As in he knows absolutely nothing actually about cowboys or what it means to be a cowboy.
00;01;02;21 - 00;01;03;05
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00;01;03;06 - 00;01;09;13
Speaker 2
Okay. Yeah. As in, like, he has zero experience being a cowboy, but wants to be one desperately. He's, like 18, 19.
00;01;09;16 - 00;01;11;19
Speaker 1
All right, all right. Cool. Keeping it legal.
00;01;11;22 - 00;01;13;24
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely.
00;01;13;26 - 00;01;17;02
Speaker 1
Okay. So did you go through the race and everything?
00;01;17;05 - 00;01;18;08
Speaker 2
I didn't, but I can.
00;01;18;14 - 00;01;23;28
Speaker 1
Tell me a little bit about the class, race, as well as background.
00;01;24;03 - 00;01;41;19
Speaker 2
Sure. If you have any. So deacon is a plasmoid artificer. He, like I said, he grew up on a ranch and he has been on his off time building a gun. And like, practicing gunmen-ship. Okay. That's where the artificer part comes in. He also did a bunch of cool stuff, like on his ranch to make, like, anti-gravity stuff.
00;01;41;19 - 00;01;43;16
Speaker 2
But we go into it on the first episode.
00;01;43;23 - 00;01;47;17
Speaker 1
Okay. Yeah. So Artificer. So he's more of like, a gunslinging cowboy?
00;01;47;23 - 00;01;48;23
Speaker 2
Yes, absolutely.
00;01;48;23 - 00;01;53;29
Speaker 1
That's so sick. Was there any inspiration behind making this character?
00;01;54;00 - 00;01;57;23
Speaker 2
So, Oddly enough, I pulled tarot cards when I was building tickets.
00;01;57;24 - 00;01;59;18
Speaker 1
Oh my God. That's so sick. I didn't know that.
00;01;59;21 - 00;02;20;00
Speaker 2
Yes. So I pulled tarot cards when I was building Deacon and Boop and I were building characters together. And so when I was pulling the tarot cards, my first inclination was do something western. And then Boop wanted to.. he did like a whole other, not even close to what his character ended up being character. And I was like, oh, cool
00;02;20;01 - 00;02;27;25
Speaker 2
So Deacon's going to be this, like, gunslinging gambler and then didn't end up that way at all. He is a baby faced, adorable, anxiety boy.
00;02;27;28 - 00;02;51;03
Speaker 1
I love that, I love that so much. Okay. So with him being a baby cowboy and not really having much knowledge of the ways of the world, looking ahead, do you think that you will have conflicts or internal conflicts with the ways of the world? And like, how do you expect deacon to kind of like transform?
00;02;51;06 - 00;03;00;15
Speaker 2
So deacon and his small town is actually very anti-magic. They're like a pit stop for spell jammers. So he became obsessed with spell jammers.
00;03;00;15 - 00;03;01;22
Speaker 1
Spell jammers being ships?
00;03;01;28 - 00;03;32;23
Speaker 2
Yes. Yeah. So he he's obsessed with the idea of, like, going out to the astral sea and, like, seeing the rest of the world and what that's like. But internally, he grew up with this mindset that magic is bad and that magic users are bad. So there's going to be a lot of internal conflict because obviously, as an artificer, he uses magic, and he has to kind of reconcile that fact with himself and kind of become vulnerable and open up to the idea that the rest of the world is magic and it's not as bad as his hometown led him to believe.
00;03;32;25 - 00;03;49;23
Speaker 1
Right, right. With that. Is there any specific goal? Because I know that you said that he wants to see the world, so I'm assuming that his, motivation for being like, becoming an adventurer is to adventure, not so much by means of necessity, but rather.
00;03;49;24 - 00;03;50;15
Speaker 2
Yeah..
00;03;50;15 - 00;03;51;15
Speaker 1
The want is there.
00;03;51;16 - 00;04;07;07
Speaker 2
I think his parents kind of helped him feel like he's a big fish in a little pond. And he just wants to see like what else there is. Like he feels like he's outgrown his small town but he's ready to like be independent.
00;04;07;14 - 00;04;10;23
Speaker 1
Yeah. So very much like a, like somebody trying to break out of a small town type trope
00;04;10;23 - 00;04;25;19
Speaker 2
Oh absolutely. It's a coming of age thing. I'm excited to see him kind of open his mind and open his horizons and see what that brings. Like what will he build next? What is he going to be like with the party? You know what I mean? Like, I'm excited to see how that goes.
00;04;25;24 - 00;04;32;01
Speaker 1
Yeah. Do you think that because deacon grew up on a ranch, I'm assuming that it's a fairly isolated.
00;04;32;03 - 00;04;32;14
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah.
00;04;32;18 - 00;04;43;13
Speaker 1
Only really talked to a couple people in town type thing. So do you think that deacon will have any type of issue getting out of that small town mentality? Or do you think that he's just ready to bust through?
00;04;43;15 - 00;05;04;14
Speaker 2
I think he's going to have a lot of issues because I think for him, he has a lot of small town pride, which kind of holds him back, right? He has this idea of like he wants to pay respect to where he came from. He never wants to forget where he came from. And that can really kind of be a huge hurdle when it comes to opening yourself up to the possibility of the new.
00;05;04;14 - 00;05;16;21
Speaker 2
If the old is chaining you to like this idea of respect responsibility. You know what I mean? And he has to, I think that's another thing he's going to have to learn is just like, you don't have to let something define you to honor it.
00;05;16;23 - 00;05;30;13
Speaker 1
Yeah. I like that. All right. Would you think that in a party setting. Do you think that deacon would take more of a leadership role or kind of just fall in and like get a groove with the rest of them?
00;05;30;14 - 00;05;43;23
Speaker 2
I think the deacon would want to take on a leadership role because again, he has that whole like he's a big fish in a little pond. I think that he thinks he's ready and he's capable, and that he's going to be able to tackle the world headfirst.
00;05;43;26 - 00;05;44;09
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00;05;44;11 - 00;05;55;29
Speaker 2
I'm excited to see if he either gets overwhelmed or if he does and he embraces it and he just, like, excels because I feel like that's how it's going to shake out. He'll either get way overwhelmed or excel.
00;05;56;01 - 00;06;15;11
Speaker 1
With that headstrong mentality. What is a characteristic or character trait, whether that be like a specific trait, backstory, any aspect of their personality? What do you really hone in on? Like what do you like the most about deacon as a character?
00;06;15;14 - 00;06;27;10
Speaker 2
I like that deacon care so much for him. Family is very important, like incredibly important, and I like that it is to a detriment to him.
00;06;27;16 - 00;06;29;14
Speaker 1
Loyal to a fault, type of heart.
00;06;29;15 - 00;06;49;02
Speaker 2
Absolutely, to to the point where he probably hurt himself to make sure that other people are okay and other people are safe. He's also very serious. He doesn't take anything like necessarily too lightly because he I think in his mind he thinks that no, you should take these matters seriously. This matters. So that means I have to take it seriously.
00;06;49;04 - 00;06;51;29
Speaker 2
You know what I mean? I think he gets that from his dad.
00;06;52;02 - 00;07;14;22
Speaker 1
Yeah. So you said that he is a gunslinger and he has been building guns because he's an artificer? Yeah. And that's kind of like his artificer trait. So how did deacon come to be so tech savvy? Like, how did he. Whether it's like magic, swordplay, survival skills, like, I'm really honing in on the gun because that's crazy.
00;07;14;24 - 00;07;15;11
Speaker 2
I mean, yeah.
00;07;15;14 - 00;07;19;08
Speaker 1
To have a DnD character? Yeah. With a fucking gun.
00;07;19;09 - 00;07;19;23
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00;07;19;25 - 00;07;24;24
Speaker 1
So, like, how did he get to the point where he was comfortable making that?
00;07;24;24 - 00;07;55;14
Speaker 2
So I think that he has a friend. That is kind of like an uncle, really. That he spends a lot of time with on the rock, his names greavor. He does a lot of, like, tech stuff, and he helps with the spell jamming. And so I imagine with him, like having some influence of the spell jammers when they come in and seeing, like, all the different things they have, as well as the crazy ideas that greavor has, has kind of like let him really experiment with things.
00;07;55;16 - 00;08;17;01
Speaker 2
So some of the spell jammer tech that deacon perceived as science, allowed him to make anti-gravity pylons for their ranch and that just kind of like he just kept tinkering and tinkering and tinkering and, yeah, fell in love with the identity of cowboys and stuff. Because pops is very cowboy. Yeah. And he aspires to be like him.
00;08;17;01 - 00;08;26;17
Speaker 2
He loves his dads so much. But I think the The gun was a secret project for a while. So like, it was a sense of rebellion, a secret that he got to have.
00;08;26;22 - 00;08;31;29
Speaker 1
Yeah. And then he just has a fucking gun. Yeah. That's so sick.
00;08;32;01 - 00;08;38;17
Speaker 2
Yes, I would say the. I would say deacon is Marty McFly to Greavor’s Doc Brown. Yes, yes.
00;08;38;19 - 00;09;03;17
Speaker 1
So here's something that I talked with Carlos and Liam about. Aside from editing, they're not going to be listening to this. Okay, so this is kind of just a secret between you and me, because it doesn't matter what anybody us. So does deacon have any deep little, little secrets or little tidbits about him that he probably would not want the rest of the party to find out, or that he is hiding.
00;09;03;22 - 00;09;04;29
Speaker 2
So there's a few different things.
00;09;05;00 - 00;09;07;29
Speaker 1
Oh, okay. Buckle In.
00;09;07;29 - 00;09;29;06
Speaker 2
So the first thing that i feel Is really obvious is his absolute crush on Boops character. Penny doesn't even know penny gets to see her at the apothecary counter or sometimes the cafe, and just kind of looks at her and goes, what a pretty lady. You know what I mean? And then he gets to wave shyly at her and like, they've exchanged hellos but doesn't really know her.
00;09;29;06 - 00;09;40;21
Speaker 2
Besides that just thinks that she is the belle of the ball, the prettiest girl in town, and she's never available for anything. She never goes to the dances or anything. So she's just, like, aloof and mysterious and pretty. And he.
00;09;40;21 - 00;09;41;08
Speaker 1
And he just.
00;09;41;08 - 00;09;42;12
Speaker 2
Kind of, like, head over heels.
00;09;42;13 - 00;09;43;02
Speaker 1
He likes that.
00;09;43;04 - 00;09;49;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. I think another thing, though, is that deacon really struggles with self-identity.
00;09;49;09 - 00;09;49;27
Speaker 1
Okay.
00;09;49;29 - 00;10;09;02
Speaker 2
He isn't like other people. He's a plasmoid. You don't see a lot of those, especially where he's from. And he does get like he knows that people stare because people think he looks weird and he tries really hard to be as human as possible. That's why he has the visor to like show his emotions so that people don't feel uncomfortable.
00;10;09;02 - 00;10;28;04
Speaker 2
And he's almost never seen without it because he feels weird. He feels strange. Yeah. So he has gotten himself to the point where. And plasmoids don't typically look as human as he does, but he's gotten to the point where he's so convinced that it's just natural for him. He it would be a choice for a plasmoid but for him, it's innate.
00;10;28;10 - 00;10;33;06
Speaker 2
He just that is how he looks. And he gets really uncomfortable when people point out.
00;10;33;06 - 00;10;33;21
Speaker 1
The fact that he's.
00;10;33;21 - 00;10;34;10
Speaker 2
A plasmoid.
00;10;34;12 - 00;10;39;22
Speaker 1
That's that's extremely fair, especially in a small town where everybody knows everybody. Everybody is the same.
00;10;39;23 - 00;10;40;18
Speaker 2
Absolutely.
00;10;40;18 - 00;10;46;10
Speaker 1
If you are a literal human form of plasma. Yeah, I'm sure that that would be jarring.
00;10;46;13 - 00;10;47;08
Speaker 2
Absolutely.
00;10;47;10 - 00;10;50;12
Speaker 1
For both parties, if you've never seen a plasmoid.
00;10;50;12 - 00;10;51;04
Speaker 2
Exactly.
00;10;51;04 - 00;11;17;21
Speaker 1
Or if you're a plasmoid in a very normal society, that could be mortifying. Yeah. So I understand completely. So with all of this being said, we've gone through who deacon is, what his motivations are. Where you see him going? All of that stuff. Is there anything about your character that feels like a reflection of you? Because I know that everybody puts a little bit of themselves into each character.
00;11;17;24 - 00;11;23;29
Speaker 1
Or do you intentionally play somebody very different from yourself? So similarities. Differences?
00;11;23;29 - 00;11;24;10
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00;11;24;17 - 00;11;25;09
Speaker 1
Thoughts on it?
00;11;25;15 - 00;11;38;03
Speaker 2
I didn't realize when I first met deacon that a lot of deacon feels very trans coded. He is a being that looks very genderless, but he specifically goes by He/Him
00;11;38;10 - 00;11;41;11
Speaker 1
honestly, the ideal form is just plasma
00;11;41;13 - 00;12;02;15
Speaker 2
Is that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I don't know. He obviously doesn't know other plasmoid, so I don't know how common that is. But like I feel like for plasmoids they probably don't go by gender. They're not a gendered species. So as a non-binary person who goes by any pronouns, it was just interesting to literally like, be like someone who doesn't care about pronouns.
00;12;02;19 - 00;12;22;21
Speaker 2
To play someone who is very like, no, this is my pronouns. I am a guy and I've always been a guy. This is just who I am. Yeah, so it was interesting for me to to have that kind of disconnect and for me to try to like plug into masculinity where I don't necessarily identify with masculine or feminine like that.
00;12;22;23 - 00;12;35;17
Speaker 2
Yeah, I am very anxious as a person. So some of that does bleed into deacon, unfortunately. But I think his confidence, his assuredness in his intelligence and his capabilities are something I wish I had.
00;12;35;20 - 00;12;41;02
Speaker 1
Which you should. I know, I know Mads personally. They're insanely smart.
00;12;41;04 - 00;12;48;00
Speaker 2
I feel like an average fish in a big pond. So it's nice to play someone who does not feel that way.
00;12;48;06 - 00;12;48;28
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00;12;49;00 - 00;12;53;10
Speaker 2
Other people would disagree, but to me, that's where the similarities end.
00;12;53;12 - 00;13;08;24
Speaker 1
Okay. Yeah, because a lot of deacon to me. Feels very much growing up in a small town being like a queer person. Yeah. Or anybody that is slightly different because it's very alienating. And it can cause a lot.
00;13;08;24 - 00;13;09;23
Speaker 2
Of isolation.
00;13;09;23 - 00;13;11;10
Speaker 1
A lot of isolation, identity crises
00;13;11;10 - 00;13;12;15
Speaker 2
00;13;12;18 - 00;13;14;03
Speaker 1
Out the fucking wazoo
00;13;14;05 - 00;13;21;28
Speaker 2
And like between him being a plasmoid and then also being a magic user that he has to like, come to terms with. There's a lot of that with deacon.
00;13;21;28 - 00;13;48;09
Speaker 1
Yeah. Because you're coming from a planet that shuns. Yeah, anything that's magical at all. And you are one magic to a fucking plasmoid. piag. Like it doesn't get much more different than that. Like you have a visor. Yeah. To show eyes and, like, emotions and all of that stuff. So, like, that's very interesting. And I'm very excited to see where deacon goes in this campaign.
00;13;48;16 - 00;13;53;07
Speaker 1
I am too. What are you most excited about and like, what do you hope you get into?
00;13;53;10 - 00;14;02;22
Speaker 2
I hope that deacon and Penny get to have a moment together where deacon gets to lay it all out there. You know what I mean?
00;14;02;25 - 00;14;05;09
Speaker 1
Yeah. Just really just be like, hey, and.
00;14;05;09 - 00;14;06;06
Speaker 2
See how it goes.
00;14;06;12 - 00;14;29;09
Speaker 1
Plot twist. Boop is in the campaign as Penny. They will interact at some point, don't worry. Like, yeah, I think if you're if you're ship and you got hope, there's light in. That's so fun. Yeah. So aside from romantic getting to lay it all out there, what else? Like adventure centric things are you excited to get into?
00;14;29;11 - 00;14;47;17
Speaker 2
I hope that deacon gets to meet other plasmoids. I don’t I don’t know how he would feel. I feel like he’d be really uncomfortable because he’s being faced with people that are so different from him, despite being the same race, like he he doesn’t have any connection to what plasmoid culture is because he’s been so isolated from other plasmoids.
00;14;48;07 - 00;15;10;23
Speaker 2
So I feel like there's going to be a lot of like, I don't know, am I supposed to like again, he has those ties to his community like he loves his parents. And I feel like as a deacon, he would be conflicted by this. Like, I love my parents and my parents are gnomes. That's where I'm connected, like to the point where he literally stays small, like he's too small to be the same height as his parents.
00;15;10;23 - 00;15;11;16
Speaker 1
He could grow.
00;15;11;17 - 00;15;32;12
Speaker 2
He can grow. Yeah. So I would love I would love for him to get to meet other flash points and for him to have that opportunity to get to experience this culture and like, get to know somebody else who's a plasmoid, who knows what the fuck is going on with them because I as a player don't, and neither does deacon, obviously.
00;15;32;12 - 00;15;40;02
Speaker 1
Yeah. Deacon is a plasmoid by race race alone. He is a very humanoid. Yeah. Very gnomish.
00;15;40;04 - 00;15;42;15
Speaker 2
Yeah. He knows gnome. That is one of his languages.
00;15;43;14 - 00;15;53;10
Speaker 1
Yeah, that makes sense. He's raised by two gnomes. Yeah, I think we covered all of my questions. Is there any little tidbits about you as a player?
00;15;53;13 - 00;16;07;24
Speaker 2
That as a player? A lot of the art that we'll see on our socials and stuff is going to be stuff that I've drawn and you'll see me credited and everything, and I'm excited that I got to work with everybody on like, how the character looks and like, figured that aspect out because that's character design is my passion.
00;16;07;25 - 00;16;08;12
Speaker 2
I love that stuff.
00;16;09;00 - 00;16;35;14
Speaker 1
And you're really fucking good at it too. That was our interview with Mads. Thank you so much for coming.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, I look forward to seeing you on the show. Thank you so much.