The Question With The Wizard, The Witch And The Wild One Was Always Going To Be "which Worldbuilding

The question with The Wizard, The Witch and the Wild One was always going to be "which worldbuilding detail will I find to fixate on", not "will I find something to fixate on", and the results are in:

it's the naming conventions

In Suvi's corner of the story so far we've had Soft, Stone, Steel, Archmage Silence, and Silver ... and Suvirin.

It's a clear convention but has not yet been lampshaded by any of the cast, which is of course delicious.

Is it an Empire convention, a Citadel one, a wizardly one? I'm guessing Citadel/wizard, since people like Roselyn and Grandmother Wren are presumably Empire citizens but don't follow the convention.

But is it something adopted later in life? Because Suvi follows the initial S but otherwise breaks the convention of the name being a dictionary word. Will she be expected to pick – or be bestowed with – a dictionary S-word when she's no longer an apprentice, is that it?

And if so ... what will it be? Sand? (sort of combines Soft + Stone)

OR did Soft and Stone break convention when they named their daughter?

bro you're seizing the day too much you're gonna give yourself carpal diem

Do you ever consume a piece of media and are like. This is it. My art needs to get Weirder.

the thing is that I don’t entirely disagree with the idea that “parody should arise from a love of the genre” but the more I consider it the more I think it’s reductive. bc like. how are we defining genre? if someone who loves Fantasy in the broad sense despises sword-and-sorcery barbarian-hero types, or the concept of an “adventurer’s guild”, or stories that are about war or stories that aren’t about war or stories that rely too heavily on the assumption that monarchy is fine actually – are they not allowed to take the piss? are they not allowed to say “this is shit and I’m tired of pretending otherwise?”

I think it would be more worthwhile to say that parody should arise from engaging with the genre in good faith. if you make a parody based on a shallow or straight-up incorrect understanding of a work then yeah, obviously it will not be very funny or insightful. if you work to meet things where they are and understand why they are what they are, even if your conclusion is that they suck ass for it, you’re more likely to make something insightful. like. I don’t think Cervantes was out here writing Don Quixote and thinking the whole time “ha ha chivalric romance whips ass actually.”

Basically in this episode and the next one I miss a couple of golden opportunities to use Fate's Create an advantage roll, one of my favourite Fate mechanics, and instead force some bastard child of an Overcome roll and a D&D-style "I guess just see how high you get" kind of thing the DM reaches for when they're not sure what mechanic applies (it me, I'm the DM)

A body in the back room. A mysterious figure fleeing the scene. What’s a newbie PI to do but give chase?

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COMPERE: @merelymatt

STARRING:

Vikki as Cadence Fairchild, baby-faced P.I.

Ellie as Cam, cinnamon roll newshound

Alexander Pankhurst as Reginald Skinner, infamous corrupt businessman

Helen as Stella Sylvester, woo-woo femme fatale

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Fate (Condensed)

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

REMEMBER: oh gods, this one will be a bloodbath...

MASTERPOST