Matt: Let's let's just see what happens.
You know, Alison, this is what I'm considering the Session Zero of ADHd20.
We're testing things out.
We're trying to introduce ourselves.
We're trying to understand the milieu, the campaign.
Alison: To that effect.
I don't know if you do, but I have a d20.
Ready to go.
Matt: dang.
Alison: Should we have to like roll off for anything?
Matt: Oh boy.
Oh boy.
Pressure.
Alison: Not to put pressure!
Matt: No, I love it so much . Listen.
Oh, yeah, that's right there.
Alison: So here's what I propose.
I think you should give like the quick little elevator pitch and
then let's have a roll off to see who goes first and introductions.
Matt: Gosh, you've already come up with a fun way and implemented it.
I love it.
Okay.
Alison: Let's go.
Matt: So.
Welcome to ADHd20.
It is a podcast that we're, you know, we're kind of gonna feel out.
And why are we going to sort of feel out what it is?
Well, the idea came to me, number one, because I play Dungeons & Dragons.
My friend Alison plays Dungeons & Dragons.
And we work together and the two of us both have ADHD and that's
just kind of the way that we live.
We're gonna figure out how those two great tastes tastes together.
I expect there will be talk some weeks about ADHD and then more about D&D.
You know, kind of, depending on how we're feeling.
And then of course having ADHD, we're going to probably you
know, also throw the script away.
And talk about whatever else.
So one of the best things about this podcast for me, has been to get to know,
uh, what it's like to be ADHD, even if I've lived with it all my life, just kind
of to be able to put names to symptoms.
And I know that that sounds strange to say.
There's, there's such a freedom to like, go on the internet and look
up time blindness, or executive dysfunction and to go, Oh, right.
So there are some in particular that sound so cool, that I was like, Hmm,
what if, what if you created spells in the realm of Dungeons and Dragons
5e named after symptoms of ADHD.
Alison: I love it.
Matt: Because like I said, there is a symptom called Time Blindness.
It's a real thing and it's, uh, I don't, I don't think they know exactly what it is,
but it's, there's something missing in my brain where, especially if Hyperfocus is
involved, and that's another spell name, I just always think that I have enough time.
However, there's also this, symptom, if you will, where you will start
something and you will get so sucked into it that you can't get out of it,
which isn't also part of time blindness.
Anyway.
They all kind of, do that dance, together, with their snappy
names to turn into spells for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition.
Alison: So what was interesting to me about this is I started this exercise
of if I were going to create Dungeons & Dragons spells out of the tenets of
ADHD, First I went to all the bad places I to, you know, distraction and getting
in my own way and impulse, so then I was like, Let me, let just, step out
of, you know, my perspective right now and, and replant myself somewhere else.
What would be some of the, like the buff spells?
What would be some of the good parts
So, um, so yeah, so I don't know, do you wanna read your list?
I can read my list and then we can pick a couple that we wanna
Matt: Yeah, sure.
Alison: into?
Matt: Yeah.
let's do one.
Okay.
So I've got Time Blindness: range 60 feet duration, one turn.
Uh, and it's a targeted spell, Time Blindness.
And when you cast time blindness onto a target, the target is
given a wisdom saving throw.
So, in other words, for those who don't know what that means, this is a spell
that you can resist if cast on you.
But if they fail, they immediately lose all concept of their placement in time.
Any time based action they're preparing, combat, movement, et cetera, cannot
be completed on their next turn.
So with Time Blindness, I kind of took it into a space where it's like,
basically, you lose your turn, right?
They just get so, confused in time that they have to wait
for the whole turn to go.
So that's what Time Blindness felt like to me.
Uh, so yeah, tell me about Impulse?
Alison: So one of the things that makes Sorcerers special is they
have, this font of sorcery points that they get to choose at various
levels what their sorcerery points do.
So Cast on Impulse, I thought maybe could like quicken the casting time somehow.
Um, especially if it's like casting time of, you know, ritual spells or
ones that have a one minute casting time as opposed to a single action just
to kind of get that spell out quicker.
And then I called one Spontaneous Performance because I do think
that sometimes we can just kind of blurt things out.
In D&D you know, sometimes you have to give what's called a performance check,
uh, to see were you able to deceive them or were you able to pull off.
So I, I wonder if Spontaneous Performance could give you some kind
of special something to, make that check happen a little easier for you.
Maybe just an advantage on performance checks.
Matt: Hi, Alison.
Alison : Hi Matt.
Hi So excited.
Matt: I know we're super psyched today because...
... Alison : we have our very first guest for
Matt: Doooooh!
That's amazing.
Yeah, it's our very first guest and he's someone that we both respect so, so much.
He's an inspiration to us.
He is, a kind of a full time, game master for you every Thursday night.
Alison : Living the dream.
That GMing for me is the dream, but like being a full time Game Master.
Tey: It is.
That's how I, that's how I'll introduce my voice.
Hi everyone.
I'm Alejandro Tey and I am living the dream of being Alison's GM every Thursday.
That is the dream.
Matt: That's the perfect intro.
Um, Alison, you, you do have some topics cuz otherwise we'll
just, we could just tangent for
Alison : Would be on brand and I wouldn't mind.
Um, so in preparation for Tey coming, one thing I have gotten to know
is that Tey loves a D100 table.
There are tables in all that we do .Your wild magic surge table
is a thing of art and beauty.
So in that same spirit, I have finally put together a D100 table, an ADHD100
table that will become, you know, just like the outline, the thing
we'll probably forget about half the time, but, you know, keep us honest.
And naturally it is not finished.
Cause why would I have finished something I started?
But I'd also like for, to also go ahead and roll some D100s so
we can break open this table.
Tey: I'm so I am so happy.
I am kid in a candy store right now.
Because the, Okay, so right before we get into this, the reason why I
love random tables is because to me, that's, that is the third element of
what makes a tabletop game so good.
And so juicy is you, have, your players each coming to the table,
you have a mechanics system of some kind that allows for, you know,
resolution of these narratives, strings and conflicts or whatever.
And then you have random chance, just random ass chance and the way
that can spur creativity and allow stories to take new directions that
you did not conceive of in your mind.
It's fantastic.
Especially if you're in the GM chair, you are naturally always
thinking a couple of steps ahead.
You're always thinking of like, Okay, well, if they do this,
then probably will do this.
Even if you're a very fly by the seat of your pants, improvisational
GM, which I am like, I do not don't script anything ahead of time.
But when you roll it on a table, you can't plan for that and you just have to react.
And that state of being of just reacting is my favorite thing.
So that's a very long way of saying I'm ready to roll.
Matt: So that is a big word for me this year.
Community.
And I think at the very start of this year, we just kind
of like sounded the call.
Alison: Nerd Horn.
Matt: Okay, that sounds weird.
What does the nerd horn sound like?
Or this.
Is that the nerd horn or maybe is it both at time?
I don't know the nerd.
We, we sounded the nerd horn.
I'm gonna go with that.
I'm gonna "yes and" your nerd horn.
And I'm gonna say we sounded it and people came and we went from like
zero to 60 for our Discord, which it's just such a fun place to be.
Like I wanna just hang out with people and talk about nerdy things like
TV and books and everybody it is so interesting, they have such interesting
things to say and it's really fun.
So, um, this is a, an unapologetic, nerd horn toot.
Alison: Oh, absolutely not.
Matt: Oh, whoops.
Alison: I hate that so
Matt: Yeah, that's, that's, a, that's a, not even a working title.
That's a not happening title.
Anyway, so
Alison: Well, and, I wanna toot our own nerd horn for a second.
Matt: Okay.
Alison: Oh no.
Matt: Yeah.
Oh, yes.
Alison: You know, we, give ourselves a lot of shit for the thing.
Again, that place of lack, the things that we don't get done.
think that we are especially prone to do it as people with ADHD because
the universe has told us for so long, you're lazy, you're unmotivated.
Like all of these things that now that we are evolved beings who know that
it's not that we're lazy or unmotivated, brain is literally working differently.
I don't like the overuse of literally, but we have to use it.
There it is.
We are spicy Okay.
So I wanna focus more on the things that we get done in instead
of the things that we don't in
Matt: yes,
Alison: same spirit.
And I love that we just came out of the gate swinging this year.
like, you know what?
It's time we are, we are ready for our Nerd Herd or our Revenge of
Nerds, the Nerd Alert or all of these different, we're workshopping it
Matt: We're working, we're working on it.
Alison: Okay.
Whatever we're gonna be called collectively, we just did it.
And we've stopped worrying about if it was ready or if it was good
enough or if it was organized.
And in fact, I think that's been part of the delight of the first week of it
has been giving the community some, some stakes in it, some level of ownership.
Truly, what kind of topics do you like?
What do you wanna see here?
What's, what's your definition of a thriving really tremendously fun community
and they're giving it to us, man.
I love it so much.
So thank you guys for being a part of it
Matt: and, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna say thank you, Alison, because I think that
a big part of this, this new confidence and this new, we just gotta do it for me,
in last year, this podcast was by far one of the best things of 2022 for me.
And, and so yeah, that's, this podcast kind of is, gave me the
confidence to say, okay, let's go.
So, yay.
Good job.
I'm shaking your hand.
shake,
Alison: The level up is saying, no, this is what I
am, this
Matt: a little
Alison: I'm capable of.
Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Alison: In D&D, when you build a character, you choose your race,
you choose your class, you choose your subclass, you also choose a
background, and I think you were mistaking your performer background
for your entire personality.
Matt: And that is exactly what I wrote down right before we talked today, the
difference between background and class.
The passion.
Like how, what are my life things?
You know, my, my personal life, my, my career life.
But that's, that's the difference.
One is my like training, and that's having clients and, and learning about
code, and working together on that stuff.
that is my background.
But what, what is this that we're doing right now that's more
Alison: Magic.
Matt: Magic?
Yeah, that's, that's the fun.
That's the leveling up.
That's the stuff that actually level up.
That's the class.
That's what you, that's the core, Right?
Alison: Mm-hmm.
Matt: Yes.
Sometimes
Alison: Well, I love all this.
I had no idea what was coming.
We turned those mics on and we got there as per yoozsh.
Matt: As per yoozsh.
Ya level up!
I love it.
Alison: Good work us.
Matt: Good job.
Alison: Thanks for being on my podcast.
Matt: Thanks for being on my podcast.