Stories with Dice
Stories with Dice is an actual-play podcast where a fellowship of everyday gamers explores fantastical worlds, distant futures, and parallel realities through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) from Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Modiphius Entertainment, and more.
Over the years, we’ve told stories around our virtual table in the worlds of Tales from the Loop, Pendragon, Mutant Year Zero, Star Trek Adventures, The One Ring, The Electric State, Forbidden Lands, Legend of the Five Rings, and Symbaroum. Going forward, we’re focusing on a smaller lineup of games, giving us more opportunities to return to each story sooner. As campaigns reach their natural conclusions, we’ll add new stories from the worlds of Twilight: 2000, Vampire: The Masquerade, The Walking Dead, and more.
We’re not voice actors, professional entertainers, or trained performers—just friends from around the globe sharing virtual dice, stories, and a laugh or two as the game unfolds.
Stories with Dice
Mysteries of the Loop S1 E1: A Tales from the Loop Actual Play Podcast
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In our debut episode, we play Tales from the Loop from Free League Publishing. This episode focuses on developing our characters' backgrounds and relationships, exploring the challenges they encounter in their daily lives, and introducing the mysterious world of the Loop.
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Hello and welcome to Stories with Dice, an actual play podcast of some of our favorite tabletop role-playing games.
SPEAKER_05Well, this is it. Our first ever actual play. So, first of all, I just want to get a bunch of blurb out of the way. However, you're listening to us, could you do us a favor and give us a thumbs up, a like, a subscribe, a follow, and all that fun-related social media stuff that says that you like it and you would like to listen to more. We have a Discord channel you can join. Imagine, we've named it Stories with Dice. Here you can chat to us with other like-minded folk. You might even see some character arts and maps, some other goodies that are related to our games. We also have a Patreon, which also has the same name. So if you subscribe, that would be great, as it will allow us to know how many of you good folks are out there listening to us. There is a free subscription, but if you'd like to give us some of your hard-earned money, that would also be mighty kind of you. We also have a website with all the links and the descriptions will be in every single episode. So that's enough of me blathering on. Let's get on with it. So this is our very first one. I have a bunch of loving players joining me as well as my co-host. Say hi, Marco. Hi, Marco.
SPEAKER_01I knew you were gonna do that.
SPEAKER_05Um I thought I would do just sort of we've already done quite a bit of the character gen, uh, but we're gonna do sort of like the the tail end of the character gen for uh for Taos Malik. And then we'll kind of get on with uh telling some fun stories. So first of all, I'm just gonna introduce everyone that's here. Uh Aned, which you already know. We've got Marco, we also have uh Douglas, hello uh we have Tony. Hello everyone, we have Pete. Hi and we will have Sol, hello, uh who's running late due to trains. So he'll join us a little bit later on. Very briefly, all of these lovely fine players got together much, much earlier and put together their character sheets for Tales from the Loop. Um, for anyone who doesn't know, Tales from the Loop is um by free league publishing. Uh it uses D6 system, their year zero engine, uh, which is a really, really straightforward, simple system to use, uh which means that the character generation, I'm sure the rest of you found this, was relatively straightforward.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, it was very easy. Yeah, five minutes.
SPEAKER_05Nice. But we have played a lot of year zero stuff, so once you know uh the basis of it, it does mean you get to generate things uh very quickly, which is quite helpful. So everyone's kind of like done attributes. The game works with uh four attributes, and under each attribute there is a skill, and there's a list of skills which everyone has put their stats into. They have also picked uh various other character-defining uh things, such as an iconic item that they might have as a kid, they also have their problem, which is sort of things that happen to the kids in their day-to-day life. They've got luck points based on their age, uh, their drive, why they are basically together, and why they go on adventures, the pride, which is something that they are really good at, something they would say, so if you were to say to someone, what are you really good at? They'd say, Oh, I'm really good at X. That's what their pride is. An anchor, which is someone they go to, someone they kind of will will go to when there's like a mum or a friend or something like that. Who's an adult that can kind of like heal their wounds, soothe them? And then the only thing really left to do after that is I think everyone's picked their favorite song, which we can go through. What's really nice is it kind of goes back to that the 80s sort of style. It's really great, everyone gets to pick an 80s song that they really love that kind of describes their character. So I guess the next thing we need to do is to describe some relationships. Uh, this is the kind of tricky bit. This is where everyone needs to kind of get together and kind of figure out what their relationships are to each other as kids, but also they need to pick a couple of relationships to a couple of NPCs. Uh either some other kids or some other adults that they know. These are kind of key people that they would speak to and people they would go to if they have any problems or anything like that. That's what I'll do is I'll kind of get you all to sort of describe your characters as in sort of like what your problems are and stuff as we kind of go through it. I'll think I'll start with Marco. Are you happy to do that? Uh if not, I can always go to someone else.
SPEAKER_01No, that's fine.
SPEAKER_05If I leave it to you to kind of just go through your key, sort of like, you know, drive anchor, that kind of stuff. And then we'll jump into the relationships that you all have. So we'll kind of like allow you to sort of like talk to everyone else. You can kind of you can all jump in and figure out what your relationships are to each other.
SPEAKER_01I'm playing Anthony Russo, he's 10-year-old, and his drive is that he's drawn to anything different and strange. I should say also that the the character type that I chose is weirdo. His his problem is that his his parents are always fighting, and that's because uh his older brother were coming up on the one-year anniversary of his older brother having disappeared. And his father, his father's job transferred him to Sweden. So, like the his brothers went missing in the United States, and now almost a year later, they're living in another country. So the that's taking a toll on the on his parents on their marriage. So they're always fighting, so his home life is lousy. His pride is that he's not afraid of bullies, and he's always wearing his big brother's old army jacket that his brother bought at like a hand-me-down store, even though it's too big for him. And his favorite song is Synchronicity 2 by the police. Um, what his relationship is with the other players, I don't know yet. We're gonna have to figure that one out.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we'll kind of have a bit of a chat after the others have kind of sort of introduced themselves very briefly. Thank you very much, Marco. Much appreciative. I will jump over to you, Tony.
SPEAKER_00Hello. So I will be playing Sven Larsson, which is the type of kid is gonna be a troublemaker. He's 14-year-old. He basically is a very slim blonde teen, which is always dressed uh with a black leather jacket and kind of broken jeans. So he's trying to mimic a little bit kind of a tank style. So, and in a way, I can describe him as a tough guy with a good heart and kind of very loyal to his friends. And the reason for this is because, you know, kind of problem for him is that he is basically alone. I mean, his his mother died a few years ago. He lives with his dad, but the dad is basically a janitor, and you know, he spends the nights probably cleaning around different places, perhaps in the loop or on the school around. And you know, when he gets home, he just gets hammered and then he basically ignores Ben. So basically, he has made his own family through friends, which I guess is gonna be the kids that we are gonna meet today. You know, this is the only thing that keeps him going on. As an anchor, again, he found his way. He basically uh made friends with Jacob, which is the owner of the only vinyl shop, I guess, in this town, which is called Twisted Music, is the name of the vinyl shop. Cool. And he basically, you know, talks to him, gives him tapes to listen at home, and shows him around things. And that also led him to give him at some point a nice lighter, you know, one of these sepos, perhaps with a with a nice symbol, perhaps a skull, a flaming skull. You know, this is also gonna be his item, which is gonna be this lighter plus cigarettes. And you know, as the typical troublemaker kid, he will be always be smoking, you know, after school or in between classes, hiding around, you know, in the you know, somewhere hidden in the recreation. Uh his favorite song uh is gonna be Blitzrig Bop by Ramones. Um makes him jump around and kick things. Yeah. Right. And that's it. That's him.
SPEAKER_05Cool, thank you so much. I'm gonna hop over to Pete.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_04How are you getting on? Anders Olson, the second son of a farming family. His father is no longer working on a family farm, he's a fertilizer salesman, mother is waitressing, times are hard, trying to make money. He works with his grandfather, who still works as a farm labourer part-time, so earns his own money that way. His older brother has since moved to the city due to uh home life being a bit fractious due to the financial issues. Parents are struggling and constantly fighting. Yeah, his pride is the fact that he likes to see himself as being grown up and that he earns money working with his grandfather. Subconsciously, I think he's probably working, you know, sees money as being something that will sort the problems in the family out, and so that's very important to him. His special item is a beat-up old Volvo that's restricted to 50 kilometres an hour. Um, as any everybody knows, in rural Sweden, uh that's quite common for 15-year-olds to have one of these because they're effectively classed as tractors, and the 15-year-olds can drive them on the road without a license. So he pretends to be 15 and uses his brother's old restricted Volvo, which is probably what's made him popular with the rest of the kids in the gang. Cheers, thank you so much. Um, do you have a song? Oh, right, yeah. The Long Riders I Have a Dream. He he he sees that as being slightly different from the rest of the kids, a bit more grown up, and it's it's hope in times of distress type message in it that sort of ups suits him.
SPEAKER_05Cool. Thank you very much, Pete. Um and Douglas, we're going to hear.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_02Hello, right. My character is called Johannes Dal, who is a popular quiz kid in quotation marks. Relatively aimless kid until one day he came across a book that changed his life, which was A Beginner's Guide to a Successful Business by M. Minderbinder. When he decided he was going to go into business. What he means, what that actually means to him, is a bit of a mystery per se, apart from making money, doing deals, and doing business in question quotation marks. He is a bit younger than some of the other ones at 13, but older than Anthony. His main problem at the moment is a couple of months ago, his older sister, Hannah Dal, was kicked out of his house and home, and he doesn't really know why she was that happened. And his anchor is his sister as he looks up to her. Right, okay thing. His main drive is the greater the risk equals the greater reward. That was a chapter in his book. And um he prides himself on being an excellent businessman, whatever that may mean. And his favorite song, as I say, he has to to keep up with his current market and know what's going on, he needs to be know what's sort of like in at the moment. So a relatively recent song. It's uh Good Thing by Fine Young Cannibals.
SPEAKER_05Thank you kindly. Um so I guess then the the next my point of order really is I'll do the relationships actually last. What I want to do is do your own relationships that you have between each other rather than the NPC relationships. You can all have a bit of a chat about this. Why do you think you all kind of like hang together? I guess that's the question.
SPEAKER_01Well, I thought of one. Yeah. I thought of one while Tony was was uh introducing and talking about his character. So Anthony's relationship to Sven, I think, is that he wants to be Sven's friend, but he's afraid he's not cool enough. I like that. And mainly it's because Sven sort of reminds him of his brother, his missing brother.
SPEAKER_05Cool. What does um what does Sven think about that?
SPEAKER_00That sounds cool.
SPEAKER_05That was easy. Um anyone else have any other ideas? What about Johannes? Uh what's his kind of like take on Anthony?
SPEAKER_02Anthony is just a little kid. However, he does come from America, and America is the greatest place ever because it's all where all the great business people have are live and that sort of thing. So he is like, well, you know, he is a kid, but also America. That's pretty great. And he's also interesting in that way.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, definitely. He he brought all of his Dungeons and Dragons books with him from the US. They're like, What's this?
SPEAKER_05We have I can't remember the name of it in Swedish. Uh Pete, what what about um what about Anders?
SPEAKER_04He he probably first met him because he's being such a big, bulky, tough looking kid. I'm guessing Anthony uh decided to stand up to him overtly, you know, in his wish to stand up to bullies kind of thing. Although I wasn't being a bully, he just picked me out as being a big kid, and I I kind of like thought that was okay. Johannes, well, he's attached to Johannes, and Johannes is probably the uh the the earthwell leader of the group, being the cool kid. And I kind of like identify with the fact that his home life's not very good at the moment. I can sympathize with that.
SPEAKER_05I could definitely tell there's like that in common with a lot of you, yeah. Um, which kind of makes sense as to why you're all sort of like hanging around. So interestingly, uh for anyone's listening that because Anthony's sort of like a good three years younger than everyone else, although in in the in the Swedish school system, he would only be like a two years behind. So it's not a massive gap, so that would make sense. So that seems quite cool. Who have we not done? So how how about I guess Sven and Anders, Sven and Johannes?
SPEAKER_04What do you reckon there? Anders probably quite likes Sven because he's out to make money and he seems to have ideas for making money, and making money is what I think is going to be the solution to all my problems. So any of these crazy schemes he comes up with, I'll I'll try and do my best to help.
SPEAKER_01Anthony thinks that Johannes is secretly a drug dealer.
SPEAKER_05And maybe Astro knock off VHS.
SPEAKER_02I'm not saying no because this is PG 15. Umbe in the next serve, whatever be it the floods or whatever, because no, that's cool.
SPEAKER_05Um so so as a group, why why do you think then you've all kind of like managed to sort of like gravitate towards each other and hang out with each other when you've got the time and you're not having to do all the the school stuff and everything else? Based on everyone's relationships, the sort of follow-through so that most of them seems to be is money weirdly, money and kind of like replacing someone, I guess, for uh from someone else.
SPEAKER_02Money will solve our problems somehow.
SPEAKER_00And and it's been perhaps is following these guys because, as you say, you guys are now how to do business and get some money. And I'm kind of uh the masod, perhaps. And kind of, you know, you pay me something of this, and I kind of defend you against the bullies and the other kids from the school, and you gave me enough money so I can buy mixtapes, pine nails, and things like this, so I'm cool with it.
SPEAKER_02You have access to music cassettes and stuff that I might not be able to necessarily get, and I can sell those mixtapes that you make on down there kids.
SPEAKER_05Sounds like a good plan. I like that. Okay. So I guess then that leads on to your hideout. So as a group, where do you hide out? So what so the the the the key thing in Tales from the Loop? The hideout is a place that you can go and be safe. NPCs cannot find you, family can't find you unless it's something good, like to take you home. But while you're there, you're safe, you can sort of like heal up, you can kind of recover any kind of like stress and sort of like, you know, scratches, scrapes, all those kind of things. It's the place that you all find home. It's that clubhouse that we all had, or probably most of us had as a kid, whether it's at the bottom of the garden, because you've got a whole island in Sweden to kind of do that, and the sort of like the fact that it's an alternative 1980s, there is a lot of old technology that's laying around, whether it's like a an old, an old robe, big, big massive robot that's been hollowed out that you now kind of sort of like uh turn into a clubhouse, it could just be a good old-fashioned fort that you've got somewhere. I mean, what's the sort of like thinking that you were thing that you were gonna have?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Is there like abandoned buildings and stuff in the area?
SPEAKER_05There's there's loads of abandoned buildings. There, yeah, there's there's those sorts of things. I mean, it can't be sort of like a massive like military grade bunker, but you know, there's like the equivalent of like an old, an old school pillbox that you would have had in World War II kind of thing. You know, that sort of thing is the sort of kind of size, you know.
SPEAKER_02Just a concrete, a concrete room.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it could be a concrete room if you wanted to be. It could be it can be like an old, so I don't know if you've seen any of the artwork, but there's a couple of like really nice, sort of like large round spheres that kind of like just have popped up in the various places. It could be one of these large round spheres that have been you've you've you've bought it up, put some like tarp on, it's like maybe a couple of levels, you know. You've got the sort of like clubhouse, and then you've got the exclusive clubhouse bit, you know, maybe a place to store your cigarettes if you're smoking.
SPEAKER_00You know, one of these big uh empty warehouses, and you perhaps there has one of these offices that is kind of elevated with glass and things like this, and we actually made the hideout there, and we have uh uh at you know, music and we have electricity, and we can actually, you know, be there if we want to.
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah, that that sounds interesting. Somewhere to store stuff.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's uh it's a consensus from all of you. Um so I'm I'm I'm easy.
SPEAKER_02I'd definitely be pro-building or abandoned thing.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, made it all.
SPEAKER_05Are you all happy with like a part of an abandoned building? That's cool. Um maybe sort of like out uh towards sort of the center of the island, maybe it's sort of like a 15-minute bike ride, you know, something like that. Um outside of the city. So you have to go out, it's in the woods or in the fo uh in the farms and and woods, you know, not far from from that. Um, that would make sense. Cool. So on your on your character sheets, there's a place for your hideout. So if you want to kind of like figure out, you know, the the hide the hideout, stick some, stick some information in there.
SPEAKER_01And like I'd mentioned before we began the recording, Anthony had sort of followed Sven there one day. And so Anthony just kind of he knew where their hideout was, and he just one day they just they they were all they they showed up and they just found him there. So they were just like, you know, who's who's this kid? And he just won't leave, he's just hanging around, so they just kind of you know have accepted it.
SPEAKER_02Make yourself useful if you're just gonna stay here.
SPEAKER_05I like that. Cool. So then that kind of leads on to sort of like relationships of for NPCs and stuff. So the to give you some. A very brief outline. So if you are on uh so just for anyone who's listening, we're using uh foundry virtual tabletop. So we'll probably mention sort of maps and stuff, but we'll try to kind of keep it relatively light so that people can obviously not necessarily have that, but we'll share the maps if you're on Discord and stuff, so that people can see where things are later on. So all of you uh live in or around the the biggest town uh called Stenhamra. Uh it's it's the biggest uh town on the island, but it's only got a few thousand people in because it's not massive. So from there, it doesn't take long to sort of get to your um your uh your your hideout, which I'll kind of mark on the map at a later date. But in and around town, there's loads of things to see and do. I think really handily I think it was was it you, Johannes? No, I lie, it wasn't Johannes. I think it was Sven. You've already given me a nice new location, the the the twisted music, the final shot. And absolutely your anchor, Jacob, can be for anyone else, an MPC link as well, with a relationship if you so wish. There's a police station, there's a pizzeria, there's a library, there's the school, there's a lower school and a higher school, there's a various bunch of small industries. There is a small little uh harbor which has mostly sort of pleasure boats and stuff on there. Are couple of like fishing boats, but it's it's not big for the fishing, it's mostly people sort of like coming here and sort of like sailing around uh the the islands. Is there anything particular that you would like to hang around? Or is there a place that you would go that you would like as some NPCs that I can I can jot down? I'm gonna just quickly start with, since I'm on the character for for Sven. You've got you've got Jacob as your anchor, that's fine. Who's the sort of adults or other kids that you would kind of hang around with?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think I kind of stay on my way and kind of a loner. I think. I think I would only stay with this with the with the group mostly. Um and and Jacob. I think yeah, I don't think I could do much more. I'm wondering if perhaps there could be like like a cafeteria or a place where we can meet to have um you know ice cream or or some of this stuff. I mean, not the pizzeria, or maybe a place that we can make kind of a diner.
SPEAKER_05Um yeah, so so so in the town, there's like the pizzeria, there's a little coffee shop, and there's a an ice cream shop.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So perhaps another place that we visit could be the coffee shop or or the or the ice cream.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um would that be um could be your contact that you would have in the ice cream shop?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. Magnus could be one of the guys who is perhaps you know serving in the afternoon ice creams. He's perhaps a little bit, you know, more than the 18 kind of 18-year-old. Um he's kind of getting money, you know. He doesn't go to university, he's trying to perhaps to I don't know, go to the loop. And I don't know if there's an exam to get into the loop or get a job there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you would go through the same sort of stuff. So depending on what you want to do, I mean serving ice cream probably wouldn't get you into the sh in in there, but because if if he's kind of like looking to get a job, because you know, the loop would be something that would be really important and and and pays a lot of money, there's no reason why he'd be looking to sort of like apply for a sort of like a a lower paid kind of sort of physical job, that would be fine. Um that makes sense. I'm not gonna tax everyone too much. So if we're just gonna go for one, that would be quite good. What about Johannes? Who would um who would Johannes um have as a as an MPC?
SPEAKER_02Well, I'd probably have someone who is one of the popular kids, as in that is the person I'm trying to do business with a lot is yeah, you know, people who have money. So probably someone who is popular, in quotation marks.
SPEAKER_05Um when some sort of kid, probably around our age or whatever who so the MBC can't be a kid around your age, it has to be sort of an adult. I'll tell you what you can have. You can have, which would be really helpful. Why don't you have the owners of the toy corner? Uh, because they do they sell loads of like um uh computer games and all that kind of stuff that you can probably sell on, you know. Um uh and that is um uh Annette and Henrik Leonton. And so they they basically run um the only toy shop on the island. And so they've got, if you can imagine, it's uh one of those things that have got comics, it's got computer games, it's got actual traditional toys, it's got suites, it's got all the kind of stuff that you know you could quite easily trade and sell on. Would you prefer do you think you'd be more close to um the husband or the wife that run the shop? I mean, they're in their sort of like late 30s.
SPEAKER_02Probably the husband, let's say.
SPEAKER_05So Henrik is your contact. That makes sense. Cool. So let's uh move on to uh you Marco.
SPEAKER_01Um so if you will allow it, I'm thinking of maybe an older gentleman, a former employee of the loop. Let's call him Simon Stalinag. Just as a shout-out to the creator of the loop universe. Sure, why not?
SPEAKER_05And what does Simon D?
SPEAKER_01Well, he's a former employee of the loop, and since my father works for the loop, and I believe that that the w the the weird things that go on in and around the loop, and because of the loop had something to do with my brother's disappearance, I feel like Simon might be able to tell me things. Okay, right, about that that might like point him in the right direction to sort of solve the mystery of what happened to his brother.
SPEAKER_05Okay, cool. And then um, last but not least, it's Anna's.
SPEAKER_04Uh I was maybe thinking the respectable either farmer or farm manager, estate manager, who my grandfather and there before me do work for.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Uh yeah, there's a there's a guy that um probably has like a bunch of warehouses and farms, sort of like a bit of a property developer, maybe something like that. Not got a name for him. Oh, hadn't thought about that. Leave that with me. I'll see if I can find a name. Yeah. So that's kind of given us a bit of a background on each of your characters. I don't think I've missed anyone. Have I? The only person is is Sol who's not here. So that's your kind of characters. That's the sort of like generation. And that kind of takes us to the end of character gen. There isn't much else to kind of really do. You've done all the other bits and pieces. We'll have a description of the characters in a bit, as soon as we sort of like start the story properly. But I thought I'd just take the next sort of like 10 minutes to discuss a few bits and pieces. Um I think I put this in our discussion while we were chatting. Basically, what we're planning to do with the with the adventures and the sessions, I've kind of said to everyone that uh if you think of it like films, we're kind of looking at a rating of 15. There's some stuff that happens that that's fairly adult-ish, but it's not horrendously a gore fest. Um, I don't plan to do anything terrible with sort of like, you know, anything sexual. You're a bunch of kids, that's way off the table. So really, I just wanted to find out from all of you if there was any kind of like hard stops that we would kind of say no to. Now, I appreciate that some of us have all played together before, so we probably already know this. But just as a kind of thing that we'll probably do for every beginning of every single actual play, just so everyone around the table understands where we can and can't see. It might be that you think, well, maybe not the time now to kind of think about it, and maybe I'll kind of come back to you, and that's fine. There is weird stuff. Um, there is potential for death. There is potential for other stuff, not for you guys, because you're kids, but definitely things sort of like that you might come across. There is, I guess, in this story that I'm thinking about telling, probably some body horror, but I mean it's minimal body horror. It's definitely nothing that's horrendous. And a few other bits and pieces. There's definitely, as we've already discussed, issues with families. So sort of like broken homes and drinking and alcoholism and drugs. I'm, you know, I'm all for that if that's what uh you want to portray. But I don't think we need to sort of like go down the whole heroin use and etc. etc. That's not really what this kind of like game is about. Is there anything that you guys are like, hell no, I'm not gonna go anywhere near that, so don't even try.
SPEAKER_01No, I don't highly have. I mean, it's it's tails from the loop. I can't imagine anything being so far out there that would make me want to step away from my table.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Anyone else? Yeah, same from my side. I mean, I don't think I will have any hard stops so far. Uh, in any case, if I have one, I will let you know. So no problem about this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Brilliant. Pete? We're doing the 15 sort of age rating, then yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, nevertheless, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's you know, you will see stuff. There is like blood on screen, but it's like very minimal, and cuts and scraps and you know, things that but things that are really horrendous happen slightly off-screen. So, you know, um, that's fine. Uh Pete, uh, did you say everything was good for yourself? Yeah, everything's yeah. If obviously you want to stop, just please say stop. Uh we'll we'll take a break. Um, I'll come back to it five minutes later, and then we'll just move on with the story. So, Tales from the Loop. It's an alternative uh world of the of the 1980s. We have a date. Uh, in fact, I've um I handily uh created a simple calendar for everyone. I created Ibsen Foundry. So it is it's Monday, the 30th of March 1987. So that kind of gives you a good idea where you were in 1987. You are all in the Mularen Islands, which is about a half-hour, 45-minute drive from Stockholm in Sweden. The Mularan Islands consist of three main islands, a large island that you live on. You've got another smaller island where the loop is. I'll explain that if you haven't, if you don't know what the loop it the loop is at the moment, and then a slightly smaller, wilder island off to the side of that. The loop itself is this massive reactor that they have, which is underground, very much like the CERN hadron collider. It's just a little bit more mysterious and has been around since the 1960s. This loop they do all sorts of experiments on. It is run by a mix of the government and a corporation, which essentially is uh an energy corporation. I do believe in in this world that it's called Rick's energy, and so they're the ones that sort of like maintain and look after it. The the big prominent thing in the middle of the of the island are these three towers. They're called the cooling towers of Bona, and they're a landmark visible across the all the islands. They're about 250 odd meters tall. And if you've seen any, if you type in anything that says tails from the loop, and you'll see pictures of of these lovely uh towers that kind of stick up everywhere. They're at the heart of the loop, and then around the loop, you've got the accelerator uh rings, which are all underground. Above ground, you've got on the main central island a large area which is industrial, and that's where all the kind of experiments and stuff take place. The islands themselves are generally quite relaxed. They are essentially this lovely suburban neighborhood of um of Stockholm. They're actually part of the greater Stockholm area, and they are a great place to grow up as a kid. There's a lot of freedom. It's the 1980s, and so your parents let you go out on your wipes. If you've seen any other kind of things like the Goonies or recently sort of Stranger Things, anything like that. They're the sort of things that you kind of would imagine that that that the world is, I suppose. Now I know we mentioned earlier that you've got one of your characters, has got an old bashed up Volvo that's been restricted. So you do actually have some way of getting around. Hopefully you don't get caught by the police. But I think there might be some some trouble coming your way if that's the case. You probably all have a BMX or a road bike of some kind. School is in the city of Stenhamra. You live in and around the city of Stenhamra. So usually everything for you is probably within 45 minutes and probably in about a 15-minute cycle for most of the stuff you need that's your world during summer breaks. You have gone further afield into the island. The island itself is only 82 kilometers long, and so and it's relatively safe. So parents let their kids just wander off, which is very nice. I vaguely remember that, I don't know if there's anyone else from the 80s, of growing up and taking my bike out and having a bit of a cycle round. No one seemed to worry about it. As long as I'm back before dark, uh, apparently everything was fine. So that's kind of like where you are. The key thing for you guys, and this is important for all of you, is that you are, and I suppose this is going to be probably very important uh to your highness. So you have learnt that there is uh a very special uh thing happening at the local uh um toy shop. I learned that tomorrow there is going to be a grand opening of a new range of toys called Our Friends the Machines. Um based very very loosely on a specific toy range which is in America called Transformers. Uh it's all the rage. Uh it's very difficult to get Transformers. I think maybe I don't know, would would Anthony have a Transformer?
SPEAKER_01Oh, Anthony totally has some Transformers.
SPEAKER_05Okay, which you brought over from the States. Yeah. But it's difficult to get in in Sweden. So what's really helpful is that some local people have created them themselves. The inventor, Ulla Jonaka, and the local um partner is uh a lady by the name of Helena Voss. Both of them have kind of like created these uh these uh slightly less dangerous uh toys. One called the Deceivers and one called the Convoys. The deceivers are exactly what you'd expect to match that of the Transformers, the convoys being the good guys and the deceivers being the bad guys. Things like, you know, Alter Ego, who transforms into a base, a huge oil platform that can be turned into a mechanical spindle. You've got Sharp, a Saab, Griffin Fighter aircraft that turns into a robot, or the good guys, like Red Beam, an old scannier truck, a bit like an old model dump truck that has a little hook on. All the good kind of like vehicles are sort of like sedans and you know, a police car and a Volvo firetruck, that kind of stuff, where the bad guys are all sort of like like nail guns or military helicopters, that kind of thing. And apparently there is going to be a very special release tomorrow. So everyone in the area has been told, come over, 12 o'clock, and 100% you're gonna get this. Now, you, Johannes, because you are friends with the the the couple that run the toy shop, they've said to you that you're gonna get first dibs if you get there in time. So you and your friends, if you want to invite them, you'll be the first people to be able to get hold of the new sort of uh toys. So that's tomorrow at at midday. But that's not today. So what we'll do is what I want to know is from each of you, we're just gonna kind of introduce your kids. And what I want to know is what is the problem that you're having at home? So it's uh it's it's the last day before the um, in fact, it is the last day of the of school. It's showing on a Monday, which is odd. And you've got school, and then you've got whatever choice you chores you have. So I'm gonna start uh with Anders. Can you give me a problem that is happening at home if you can imagine a day-to-day life of of Anders? What is it that he would be doing sort of like midday-ish? Are you at school? Are you at home? Has your grandfather sort of like taken you out of school a day early? I mean, what's the kind of like plan for for Anders?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I probably have left early to yeah, get ready for doing some work with grandfather, and I probably got home to hear arguments, raised voices, mothers having to uh take on extra shifts at the bar. Father's not happy about it, but money problems, so I'm just keeping my head down. What do you normally do when um when your parents fight? Normally get out of the house. Uh where would you normally go? Uh probably the house is on the edge of the town somewhere. Probably either wandering to the country, maybe wandering at the town, see if there's anybody I know around, or if I know grandfather's about not working, I might head over and see him.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So you kind of leave to your mum shouting, Where are you going? Come back, come back here now. Yeah, I'll do that. I'll just ignore that. Okay. Yeah, you run off to your grandfather, who is what does he do um for uh a hobby?
SPEAKER_04Um, it's probably tinker with old machinery. Um he's probably got an old vintage Volvo that's his pride and joy, and he pulls that together. He's he used to have an old tractor, but he can't keep that where he is now. Uh so he's stuck with the Volvo, but he's probably got a shed full of bits and pieces, old carburettas, gears, cogs, stuff like that. Okay. Probably just poodling around in there, sorting things out.
SPEAKER_05Sure. Do you find that you kind of like it calms you down by helping poodle around with your um grandfather?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just hang around. I pick up bits of information when he's asking me to hand him things and maybe working on the car. Excellent.
SPEAKER_05Cool. Thank you very much. Anthony, what are you doing on um this midday on the Monday? You in school? I take it you are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, he's gone to school. It's better than, you know, he he actually probably left earlier than than he needed to. His um parents had another blowout fight, you know, his and his father's been working later and later to avoid having to deal with the issue that he has with Anthony's mother, or the two of the issue that the two of them are having. And when he does finally get home, he sleeps on the sofa. So yeah. And there was a they had an argument this morning when she came downstairs and and saw him there. So he was just like, Yep, boom, put the headphones on, got his Walkman, got his books for school, and you just bolted out the door.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So when you go to school, what is your least favorite uh subject?
SPEAKER_01Math.
SPEAKER_05Math. When you get to school, it turns out that the very last day of school, you have got a math test. How uh how easy do you think you're gonna be doing maths?
SPEAKER_01Oh, he's a terrible test taker, so he's gonna have a he's he's gonna panic. He's not gonna do well at all. Okay. Now, did he forget to study for it or did he just blow off studying for it?
SPEAKER_05Well, I don't know. What do you reckon?
SPEAKER_01Uh not that it really matters, I guess, but he probably knows a lot about your character. Yeah, he probably put it off and then forgot about it because he was putting it off, right?
SPEAKER_05That sounds familiar. Um I'm gonna jump across to um Sven.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I basically do whatever they want. Um since my dad is sleeping during the day most of the time and he doesn't care at all. So my guess is that I perhaps went to school, I don't know, the first two or three hours. Um in the middle when the kids go out to play soccer or whatever they they do. I probably just, you know, hit somewhere or went to to one side of the school and you know started smoking my cigarettes, you know, just thinking about life and whatnot. And then I just decided, you know what? I'm just going to see uh Jacob and get an ice cream. And I just took off. I just took the vibe. You know, I just got my ice cream, shared it a bit with Magnus. And then, you know, perhaps I'm just in Jacob's store listening to some vinyls you know, he just gave me a selection of the new releases, and I'm just, you know, just checking them out. I'm gonna spend the whole afternoon here. Nothing more, nothing less.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Uh when you get to the ice cream shop, Magnus is not around, and there's somebody else that's serving you ice cream that you don't know. And uh that kind of puts you off your stride. Um like, oh right, okay. His name is Eric, and he is not as fun or as nice. He's sort of like in his early twenties. You're just a kid to him, so you you're not cool or anything. And so you kind of like wander off, kind of feeling less happy than you thought you were gonna feel, and then you wander off and go to the vinyl shop. Well, you're welcomed, and so it's kind of like an up and down sort of day. Yeah, you're at school, yeah, you go away, you go get an ice cream, it's not quite right. Then you go to Jacob, and that's sort of a little bit better. And you always feel better when you're you're hanging around the vinyl shop. Your kind of like afternoon evening ends quite quite well, I suppose, because you're in the vinyl shop. Okay, and I think that just leaves one other person. I think it is you, Douglas.
SPEAKER_02This is the last day of school, isn't it, for the break. It is, yes. It's the last day. So so in it in his mind, his he's already he's already thinking about summer, he's thinking about tomorrow and the the toy shop and that sort of thing, but he's stuck in like this history like class, which is just going on forever and ever and ever. Slowly, like this teacher is like, I don't care if it is the last thing, the last day of school, I will give a full lesson. And he's slowly tapping his soul while he's staring out the window and being like, hmm, if we're buying the thing, no, but if we get there, if we leave at like nine, we'll be there an hour early at the shop. But that might be too that'll be showing too much. You think maybe I want to be there 10 minutes or like, no, and he's just running over that sort of thing while also trying not to look like he is not paying attention because the teacher might get a bit annoyed. Sure. That has happened before. Okay. Um so what do you actually think about school as a whole? Some some of it's some bits are useful and some bits are not going to be useful in my future career.
SPEAKER_05So what's your favorite um subject of school?
SPEAKER_02Any of the sort of like maybe like I don't know what the Swedish equivalent of these things would be. Like modern studies, I suppose would be one of those things. Okay. Or it's learning about that sort of thing. History is things that happened in the past does not matter. Who cares about some king of Sweden who's been dead for 200 years? That's not necessarily relevant. Um that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_05The current affairs, kind of like discussions and yeah, that sort of thing. Maybe media studies and and current affairs, that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Relevant things.
SPEAKER_05Relevant things. Okay. Cool. Thank you. So school finishes, you finish doing all your stuff. Um, and so you all kind of spoke about this last week. You're gonna kind of catch up and sort of like see each other at the end of school. So presumably you're gonna what? Go to your hideouts and kind of like catch up once you're once you're there.
SPEAKER_02Makes sense, I suppose. Better place than any.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I guess at the end of the day, whenever the school finishes now. I don't know. It's around the city.
SPEAKER_05There's like a there's a s yeah, there's a sweet spot between sort of like 3.30 to sort of like 6.30 before you have to go home, have dinner, do your homework, all that kind of stuff. And that those sort of like two hours are sort of like your your gift after school. I know some of you didn't go to school, but you definitely either you would have gone there early, maybe, and got to chill out a bit longer. But yeah, that's um that's where you find yourselves. So you'll find yourselves in your in your hideout. If you can each tell me one thing you've done to your hideout to make it a bit special. Um, I'll start with Marco, you're you're first on my list.
SPEAKER_01Uh, one thing I've done to the hideout that made it special. Oh, geez. I I I'm drawing a blank.
SPEAKER_00I kind of start, uh, that's fine. Um so one thing I did is because you know, Jacob has all these bigness, he also gets posters of the bands. So I got one from the Ramones, and you know, or and I just brought it to the hideout, and it's displayed in one side of the of the wall, in one of the walls.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Cool. What about Pete?
SPEAKER_04What about your character? Probably uh to keep it away from his parents so they don't know when he's driving it. He's probably hiding the Volvo over there.
SPEAKER_05Like in the warehousey bit that's kind of navigated and broken. Okay.
SPEAKER_04And and to make it look as if he's knows what he's doing, he's probably spare tools, bits and pieces of machinery and stuff like accumulated them there to kind of like mimic his grandfather's workshop kind of thing. But okay.
SPEAKER_05Cool. No, I like that. We can have that as an item for the for the group at later time. So that's cool.
SPEAKER_02Douglas, what about your character? Probably the most not most exciting, but he somehow managed to get a hold of a bunch of filing cabinets, which he stores like junk in, because filing cabinets equal business. So he's like, Oh, let me go check my things. And then basically it's just empty filing cabinets just full of like random junk you would have in like drawers and stuff. That's a filing cabinet, so it's businessy.
SPEAKER_05Uh I love that. That's cool. Marco, back to you, my kind sir.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I still have no idea what he would bring there.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Maybe you haven't brought anything yet. Maybe that's something still to kind of there is definitely one other thing that's there, and that is half a robot body. Um, it looks like at some point this was an old factory before it got cleared out. And you all found in sort of like the there's like a sort of like slightly underground part of the of the of the factory, uh, that's all been sort of blocked up, but you found this half a body of a of a robot, like uh a leg and an arm and a bit of a torso, which is kind of like propped up, almost like a like a like like you would sort of like maybe like an action man or something, but just sort of like it's about kid size as well. So you've kind of like propped up in the corner. Maybe if you've got like a bit of tinkering or anything like that, you might have messed around with it, tried to figure out what's doing it. It's it's it's way too advanced for for anything just yet, and there's not enough of it to do anything, but it's just sitting there, and it's made of this sort of like orange and white kind of colored, faded sort of color scheme. Right. So you will kind of meet up. Um, what are you gonna discuss?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I know what he has. Sorry.
SPEAKER_05Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01He has he has his old campaign notebook from Dungeons and Dragons from when he played with his friends back home in Colorado.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And he's just like he keeps it there and he like looks through it and reads it to remind himself of the adventures that they had and the friends that he left behind. And and he probably adds to it too, as he's making new ideas and notes for a campaign that he's never gonna play.
SPEAKER_05So here's my question to you as a group. Are you playing Dungeons and Dragons?
SPEAKER_00I I wouldn't mind trying, I guess, if I can be the fighter or the Barbarian.
SPEAKER_02What about the rest of you? I I I am I told by our Tolkien American that this is what all the American kids do?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02Probably. Then he will be like, okay, well, if this is what Americans do, then I too will also participate in this pastime.
SPEAKER_04Um Pete? Uh Anderson probably be reluctant to do that. He'll see that as not being quite adult enough for him.
SPEAKER_05Right, okay.
SPEAKER_01And it's weird, right? It's a game that doesn't have a board.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And there are no pieces. Yeah, it doesn't quite get.
SPEAKER_05How do you win? There's like some, you know, there's some dice that someone's like coloured in, and you know. Yeah, okay, that's cool. So you've got maybe a potential starting of a of of a of a role-playing group, but you have to kind of like maybe work on on a couple of them. Um that's cool. So do you have any rules to being in your little you know, group of people?
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know if this is something we would have discussed, right? Because we just we have a business relation to end of, right?
SPEAKER_02Would it be everyone pulls equal weight whenever you do, I said if you want an equal share, you pull equal weight. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Yeah. That seems like a good rule. I like that. Um so you're all sort of sitting around uh or doing whatever doing, tinkering with things, re-writing in your book. And so the kind of conversation sort of like drifts towards tomorrow. There's the um the opening of um the new toys. I'll let you have at it.
SPEAKER_00Well, there's Johannes, who's gonna tell us this.
SPEAKER_02Uh I assume we've been talking about this for a while. Yeah, it's it's it's sort of like ramped up.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's big news, it's ramped up. Uh, because it's a local company that's doing it, you know, it it's it's a it's a it's a it's a big it's a big coup to have that local company doing here. The the the the factory's actually probably about 30 minutes away from where you are now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm like I don't understand what what people see on these Transformers thingy. Just big robots, right? I mean, what's the fuss about it?
SPEAKER_02I don't really get it myself, but they they they like it, and that's what's important.
SPEAKER_01It's just a knockoff of the Transformers, man.
SPEAKER_00This is not the real Transformers?
SPEAKER_01What do you mean? No, man, are you kidding me? It's not the real Transformers, they don't have Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Well don't think the dis the deceivers, man. That's just the Decepticons, man. It's not original.
SPEAKER_02Maybe maybe they'll be better. Who knows? You know, you've got to local market, you know. These maybe these will sell well better for us. And that sort of thing. Yeah, I don't know. I I saw your Transformer once. Maybe our local Swedish one will be better.
SPEAKER_01Do they have a cartoon?
SPEAKER_05They've got a they've got a comic book. Um, and there is a cartoon apparently coming.
SPEAKER_00Lame. Yeah, certainly I'm not gonna buy any of these toys. I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I cannot be seen.
SPEAKER_00I cannot be seen with these toys. I mean what I am ten? And I look at what's what's wrong with being ten? Well, precisely being ten. That's the problem. I mean, you need to grow up, but you know, you're ten.
SPEAKER_01What do I need to grow up for? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But I don't know. If you didn't have your transformer, would you want one of these though?
SPEAKER_01No, I'd want a transformer.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Fair enough. But if you can get a transformer, and this was the only thing you could have that was like a transformer, would you as a 10-year-old want one?
SPEAKER_01He's chewing on the end of the pen and he's really thinking hard about it. Nah, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'll tell you, everyone else will. And that's why I've got us, you know, that in to get in early, you know, have a look, pick out the best ones.
SPEAKER_01Do they have do they have Dungeons and Dragons at this toy store? Yeah, they do. Apparently. Alright, then I'll I'll go.
SPEAKER_04So Anders looks up from what he's tinkering with and just calmly says, uh, so uh should we uh should we go for the ones that nobody likes? Like those Star Wars toys. They were the ones that were worth a lot later.
SPEAKER_01What do you mean nobody likes Star Wars? What the hell kind of country is this?
SPEAKER_04Oh the toys. The ones all the toys were bought, but the ones that nobody really bought many of became the ones that everybody was looking for later.
SPEAKER_02So what you're saying is we maybe we should play the long game on this. Well, you know best now for a higher profit later. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00I don't think I will be uh buying anything, but you know, I will come with you guys. If there is business to be made and I can get a cut, I will make sure that no one, you know, no other kid hits you and you can take the best pick of these transformers or whatever they're called.
SPEAKER_02Did they say what time we had to turn up early?
SPEAKER_05Uh so yeah, so 12 o'clock is the release date, but the release time. But if you want to turn up a hot past 11, then obviously you can get to the the front and they'll kind of like let you get there before anyone else. Okay. So that my question is who actually has money? So, well, first of all, um none of you have a job, I'm guessing, apart from maybe Anders might have some money. Yeah. Um, but the rest of you don't. And I'm sure that Johannes would like to think he has money.
SPEAKER_02I I make excellent profits on my transactions percentage-wise.
SPEAKER_01Anthony probably Anthony probably has like some allowance money in his pocket.
SPEAKER_03Mm-hmm.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I'm guessing I steal some money from my val. There you go.
SPEAKER_05Oh, okay. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_02I think my family's relatively middle class, so sure. So do you think that Johannes would have done some research into these these toys and machines and things and yeah, I would say he would probably looked into seeing which ones will be the most interest.
SPEAKER_05Would you like to make a comprehend roll? So the way this works in the Azure engine, you have your attribute, and which I believe for you is um mind. Um do you have any points in the skill comprehend?
SPEAKER_02I have a one in comprehend.
SPEAKER_05Excellent. So the one gets added to the four, and you'd be rolling five dice. Now, because we handily have um the wonderful world of um of foundry, you just have to click on comprehend and it'll roll some virtual dice for you. Right. I will roll some dice. And what you want is you want sixes. That is not sixes.
SPEAKER_03That is complete failure.
SPEAKER_05That's a lot of ones. Thankfully, unlike other 3D games, lots of ones doesn't mean it goes horrendously wrong. It just means you fail. So, absolutely, they are a knockoff version of the Transformers or GoBots, or the equivalent of. So, anyone going, oh, I remember GoBots. They are basically made. Yeah, I mean GoBots, I mean 80s tastic. Yeah, so the the stories and everything that they've come from um was uh written by a a person called Ulla Yonica, very much inspired by the by the Transformers and the GoBots. You probably know enough that a lot of the a lot of the the sort of like characters are uh turn into either Saabs or Volvos because surprisingly enough, they're heavily uh supported through finance uh by Saab and Volvo, as well as a couple of other small contributions from other sort of like state companies. You know that they were all designed by an engineer by the name of Helena Voss, and Ulla Yonica is basically the person that's kind of like on all the kind of like comics and everything else. Um the general gist is the convoys are the good robots and they fight for freedom, equality, and human rights. Um the deceivers are evil robots fighting for supremacy, strength, and exploiting both natural resources and the working class. There is a lot on in the stories around civil union and workers' union rights. Because at this time in in Sweden, there is a lot of that sort of like socialism kind of kicking around. The leader of the convoys is Equvius Optimus, and the leader of the uh of the deceivers is Megaton Prime.
SPEAKER_01Oh, this is such a ripoff.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yes, thank you very much. So they're all turned into our humanoid shapes, they're about 15 inches high once they're sort of like turned into robots, and they all sort of turn into random things, as I mentioned earlier. Yeah, in lieu of having uh actual transformers, hopefully no one's gonna sue us for that. This is the next best thing that you can get in Sweden. Um, yeah, so you kind of like whittle away the day as it's kind of by getting time to leave. Marco, why would you need to leave? And what sort of time do you have to be home?
SPEAKER_01Oh, um, probably by six or seven for dinner. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Is there anything particularly that you have to do when you get home?
SPEAKER_01You know, probably his parents have been on his case to clean his room, which he hasn't done. So that's probably something he needs to do, or that they expect him to do when he gets home, but he's definitely not going to do it.
SPEAKER_05Sorry about that tomorrow. So it's coming up to the Easter break. Well, it is it is now gonna be the Easter break. So you're very happy to not be doing any actual chores, or well, you'd like not to do any chores, but you're gonna end up having to do some chores. What about you, Douglas? What what what what's your what's your kid gonna do uh when you get home? What time do you have to get home?
SPEAKER_02Probably the same as Anthony, six or seven for like dinner and that sort of thing. And then he'll probably have random chores plus extra chores now that his sister's not around that she would maybe normally do. Where is your sister? She is staying at a she's more she's about 18. She's staying at a friend's house at the moment.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So what's her plan? Uh she's 18. What what is she what is she what's her plan in in life? Is she kind of like going off to university? Is she staying in the area?
SPEAKER_02What is she kind of had plans, but she not for she doesn't really talk about stuff. She's got like a sort of like minimum wage job somewhere, doing just like nine to five stuff and just crashing on the couch at the moment.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Cool. Thank you. Um Tony, what's your kid doing?
SPEAKER_00Well, as Ben doesn't really have a time to go back. He can do whatever he wants. He does whatever he wants.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00But he will probably leave at the same time as these other kids because, you know, he still wants to eat and watch a TV show on TV. You know, his dad probably is, you know, 6'7, getting ready to go out and do his job. So he arrives just in time to say bye-bye, and then he will grab whatever his dad has done. And if he hasn't done anything for him, he will just cook. Yep.
SPEAKER_05So what would what would Sven normally eat in an evening when his dad's away?
SPEAKER_00Probably frozen stuff. I mean, my guess would be that TV dinner type thing. Yeah, my guess that his dad doesn't really cook or does anything, he just buys out of frozen crap, and he just gets whatever it's it's there, and just do it. Nothing more.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_04And I guess, last but not least, Pete, what does your kid do? Um, it's probably safe to go home now because mother's headed off to work, so he'll just be father there. So he'll head home. Just exchange pleasantries with his father. Yeah. He knows his father's mind is elsewhere, so they'll his father will probably cook some food, they'll sit down and eat it, he'll do the washing up as usual, leave his father to do what he's doing, and then head off to his own room.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Right. So uh the the first day ends with um you all going off to do your own thing in the evening. No homework, which is great. You could probably stay out a bit later if you wouldn't normally do so. Uh with the excitement, I suppose the enjoyment of seeing how bad these toys will be compared to the official toys that you that you've got andor have seen. So it's probably a mixture of the two, you know, trying to compare the two, or at least kind of being excited a little bit, just see either or. At the very least, it's something that you could do on your very first day of the Easter holidays. When you've arranged, have you arranged to kind of meet up somewhere beforehand in town, or are you gonna just meet at the shop?
SPEAKER_00I would say in front of the shop at the moment. Yeah, that makes sense. Sounds good.
SPEAKER_05Okay, that sounds like a plan. So you uh you all kind of drift off to sleep in thinking about what tomorrow is gonna bring and the fact that you don't have to be in school, which I think seems like a a reasonable place to leave it for for our very first session.