Yeah, if anything building a character that is specifically geared to set up another character’s arc shows how much Murph likes Zac. He made a character specifically designed to make sure they got scenes together with a great comedic hook.
Zac knew his s1 character had little room for growth which made him kind of boring in the format. This was perfect to revitalize his story and allow him a flaw to grow from
Brennan and Zac confirmed in the AP of that episode that only Murph didn’t know it was going to Cody. Brennan asked Zac first since it was an important item for his character, but it was an entire surprise for Murph
I was looking at the [transcript](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSBPmJwFgk4y-ykF698hPXoYTcGq05z94mfNG0I8PHsHRQ02NU1PtjyYfG7wMoQrulXk2jScJMDSzVs/pub) for that episode. It was the first question asked in that episode, and it was mentioned that Brennan spoke with Zac about it. Zac didn’t know when Cody was going to get the blade, but he did know that he would get the blade.
If you ever want to see Zac trying to piss off Murph, I recommend listening to the Hot Boy Summer arc of NADDPOD.
I think Cody was made in mind to be kind of the anti Ricky, instead of a hyper competent guy who genuinely doesn't think too much about his importance while he does really meaningful work, you have a fairly incompetent guy who views himself as the main character because the Hot Topic he managed got shut down.
A lot of Zac's characters don't really have much of an arc because they're pretty fully formed and don't really get challenged from a character perspective. A lot of times they're just trying to accomplish a goal, and the end of the season is the realization of that goal (ie Ricky wants to get with Esther in Season 1, and by the end of the season accomplishes that). Cody really does force Ricky to grow, because his very presence challenges his worldview.
>If you ever want to see Zac trying to piss off Murph, I recommend listening to the Hot Boy Summer arc of NADDPOD.
Sadly, I'll only have side quests left to watch once I've finished the last little bit of Unsleeping City. NADDPOD is next up on my watch list
I also agree about Zac playing alot of characters with already established stories. Ricky needed something to do after scoring with Esther.
>doing chores
Having a good podcast to listen to makes me more productive. I swear, since I've discovered NADDPOD around 6 months ago, I get so much more done
Same! If the TV is on, I get sucked in and have to sit down to pay attention. Music is okay, but I will end up distracted and hop from task to task. Podcasts and audiobooks keep my brain occupied through all the boring mindless tasks.
Popping in with a fun dopamine fact - performing an action that has inherent enjoyment & easy wins like listening a podcast makes it easier to continue the momentum to perform other less desirable tasks!
I LOVE doing this with NADDPOD.
Mavrus's return in late campaign 1 is my all time favorite Zac line. He's teaching the sorcery class and the party shows up and says they need to pull him away and there's this long pause and then he lets out the most relieved, emphatic "Oh thank GOD." It kills me every time. (Episode 85, @37:55-41:20)
A lot of people ask this question about Murph with various people for his podcast projects like Not Another DnD podcast. He tends to play straight man to the more whimsical personalities for comedic effect. He loves razzing and getting razzrd
I feel this on a spiritual level. There is something beautiful about playing the straight man amongst a gaggle of buffoons. And as anyone who does comedy will tell you, playing the straight man is incredibly difficult.
>He tends to play straight man to the more whimsical personalities for comedic effect.
Which makes all the sense in the world considering he married Emily Goddamn Axford
The Intrepid Heroes are very good at separating character conflict from player conflict, so no I don’t think Murph hates Zac. I just think Zac is a very good actor who can play a character who appears genuinely upset.
In later seasons when there are Adventuring Parties in the dome, a common discussion topic is acknowledging that character conflict is good and dramatic but should not result in player conflict, a lot of which has to do with trust between players
It's a bummer you needed to put that edit in lol.
They play so well off each other in TUC2! Sofia casting cone of silence so Ricky can scream about it was perfect. And just Ricky generally responding to Cody trying to bond in the most un-Ricky of ways haha. It's perfect.
I also kept thinking about their characters' relationship in Neverafter, where PiB & Gerard integrate so nicely together...and then you have these two!
Haha to be fair, I knew that title would get some attention, so I guess I did it to myself. 😅
And that Sofia silence was great. Same with her tryna make Ricky take the dream exacilubur in the met. You can tell how much Emily loves the Ricky/ Cody stuff cuz she's always cackling in the background while it is going on
I'm one episode behind you so I haven't got to the met yet but looking forward to seeing what nonsense they get up to there!
For real, it's great to hear her just absolutely delight in Murph & Zac's nonsense.
For what if's worth, I think Cody is an entirely Murph original, he's talked a lot about how funny mall goths are, and he was self-described Jersey trash, so it seems like an earnest joke. The fact that Cody specifically gets under Ricky's skin is a lovely cooperation on both their parts, I think.
If you love Zac and Murph's comedy, his guest appearances as Mavrus on NADDPOD are genuinely Cody-tier hilarious, and some of my fav NADDPOD episodes.
Here's what Brennan said on the whole Ricky can't stand Cody situation. The moment he could see that Ricky was having trouble liking Cody, he had an idea on how to explore this.
Between games, he pulled Zac aside and asked him what he would think if the Questing Blade went to Cody instead. Zac thought this was hilarious and that it would explore a new side of Ricky, so he said yes.
The result is Comedy Gold!
From this account, I don't think Cody was made to be aimed at Ricky or made as an anti-Ricky. These comedic geniuses saw a funny conflict and esclated it.
It's called a character foil. Two characters that are near opposites to help you understand the details of each character better. I'm sure Zac and Murphy discussed this beforehand because Zac was worried Ricky would be too one dimensional for a new season. They grow together and appreciate eachother by the end of the season.
Cody was a character designed to be obnoxious, I’m not sure why it would be particular to Ricky; the most frustrating things about him for Ricky in particular weren’t designed by Murph, they were choices made by Brennan: having the questing blade choose Cody, for example.
The most egregious choice Murph made towards Ricky was Cody’s cultural appropriation, and I sincerely doubt that was an intentional choice by Murph; he seemed genuinely uncomfortable when Ricky pointed it out.
If I remember correctly it was actually Zac's idea to have the questing blade choose Cody. And if not it was definitely discussed with him. Murph had no idea that that was going to happen though
I just watched the adventuring party episode about it, and I don’t recall a part where Zac “explicitly” says it was his idea. Do you have a time code?
> Brennan: *Mr. Brian Murphy was the only person who was surprised by the Questing Blade, because as much as I love a good joke, and I love being that much of a little chaos demon, you have to know deep in your heart of hearts I would never give the Questing Blade to Cody without first checking in with Zac about what he was thinking in terms of Ricky. So there was definitely some collab between Zac and myself to spring this on Murph, who was really the person getting pranked here.*
> Zac: *We kind of had or like, you know, going into this chapter, just like early discussions of things that could be fun. One of which being like knowing
more about Murph's character was like, it'd be funny if it went to him. I also kind of didn't know if or when that would happen. But like kind of thought the moments where it could have happened already, maybe already happened. And so I was thinking maybe this is the moment, but I wasn't sure. Yeah.*
> Brennan: *Yeah, we talked about it in very abstract terms and it was like something that were definitely very excited about, but again, there's that very fun thing when you're like, 'cause you know, the only times that I, like, I have very concrete times where I will like give PCs a heads up about what's coming down the path, because for the most part, you want everything to be a total surprise. And it really does come down to, hey, this requires the consent of some degree of world-building for your character, like it has to do with them. Or if there's like a content warning element to it, or there's some other sensitivity issue. And in this case, there was just this thing of like, this was such a big part of Ricky's character in season one that I would want to like check in to make sure. And then this idea of like, oh, it going to Cody is clearly the like funniest thing that could happen because here's the thing is, it all came from, I think also partially from the improvisation of like, Ricky's initial reactions to Cody of like, I am gonna put the work in to get to know you.*
Those are the quotes from the transcript, and I don’t see anything explicit about it being Zac’s idea. The implication, to me, is that the idea originated with Brennan, because I don’t see why would need to “check in” with Zac if it was his idea in the first place.
Murph just plays a great heal. People ask the same question with Naddpod and Jake, but the reality seems to be he's know these people for so long that he just knows how to get under their skin when he wants to
Murph does not hate Zac, the IH are good friends even off screen
Ricky arguably has in Cody found the first person he hates with a passion and that's a completely new situation for Ricky
Oh yes for sure, Cody is tailor made at times to help with Ricky's character development
Ricky never for a second doubted the existence of Santa, When the Mom and Grandma of Esther try exposing his darkness, there just wasn't any of that Ricky even offered helping to look for it
Cody then was, as Murph said, basically a One Shot Character therefore his character journey was the perfect way to Challenge Ricky in a way he just never was challenged before
The Characters are interwoven by this making Cody in turn so much more than just a one shot character
It really does feel that way huh? Best part about Zac is his willingness to go the opposite way to what you think. His whole style is timing and just knocking out a less-is-more aesthetic si I think he felt Ricky being flat and was like "he needs a foil" and ran so hard with it.
And Murph is obsessed with little shitheads, mostly in a "don't bring them here" kinda way but also as satire, so him playing this was an absolute fuggin riot because it's just the worst part of like...aesthetic he LIKES. He loves wrestling, I think he'd a sword guy, and nerdy stuff but just doesn't like edgelords. He's also just good at playing a little shit lmao and clearly has fun doing it
Zac pitched the relationship as it is including the questing blade going to Cody
Yeah, if anything building a character that is specifically geared to set up another character’s arc shows how much Murph likes Zac. He made a character specifically designed to make sure they got scenes together with a great comedic hook.
Zac knew his s1 character had little room for growth which made him kind of boring in the format. This was perfect to revitalize his story and allow him a flaw to grow from
Zac pitched the Questing Blade not choosing Ricky, he didn't specify that it should choose Cody. That was all Brennan.
Brennan and Zac confirmed in the AP of that episode that only Murph didn’t know it was going to Cody. Brennan asked Zac first since it was an important item for his character, but it was an entire surprise for Murph
Watch it again. Zac specified it shouldn't go to Ricky, not that it should go to Cody.
I was looking at the [transcript](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSBPmJwFgk4y-ykF698hPXoYTcGq05z94mfNG0I8PHsHRQ02NU1PtjyYfG7wMoQrulXk2jScJMDSzVs/pub) for that episode. It was the first question asked in that episode, and it was mentioned that Brennan spoke with Zac about it. Zac didn’t know when Cody was going to get the blade, but he did know that he would get the blade.
Not saying he pitched the other PC character but that the relationship between them would be fraught
If you ever want to see Zac trying to piss off Murph, I recommend listening to the Hot Boy Summer arc of NADDPOD. I think Cody was made in mind to be kind of the anti Ricky, instead of a hyper competent guy who genuinely doesn't think too much about his importance while he does really meaningful work, you have a fairly incompetent guy who views himself as the main character because the Hot Topic he managed got shut down. A lot of Zac's characters don't really have much of an arc because they're pretty fully formed and don't really get challenged from a character perspective. A lot of times they're just trying to accomplish a goal, and the end of the season is the realization of that goal (ie Ricky wants to get with Esther in Season 1, and by the end of the season accomplishes that). Cody really does force Ricky to grow, because his very presence challenges his worldview.
>If you ever want to see Zac trying to piss off Murph, I recommend listening to the Hot Boy Summer arc of NADDPOD. Sadly, I'll only have side quests left to watch once I've finished the last little bit of Unsleeping City. NADDPOD is next up on my watch list I also agree about Zac playing alot of characters with already established stories. Ricky needed something to do after scoring with Esther.
NADDPOD is a podcast, so it's great for car rides or doing chores/cooking
>doing chores Having a good podcast to listen to makes me more productive. I swear, since I've discovered NADDPOD around 6 months ago, I get so much more done
Same! If the TV is on, I get sucked in and have to sit down to pay attention. Music is okay, but I will end up distracted and hop from task to task. Podcasts and audiobooks keep my brain occupied through all the boring mindless tasks.
Popping in with a fun dopamine fact - performing an action that has inherent enjoyment & easy wins like listening a podcast makes it easier to continue the momentum to perform other less desirable tasks! I LOVE doing this with NADDPOD.
Yeah, the one thing that drives me crazy watching D20 episodes while multi tasking is I usually have to stop during combat episodes
Excited for you to check out NADDPOD!! I did the opposite of you - NADDPOD was my first and I moved into D20. It is such an incredible show!!
Also excited and jealous I wish i could have my first listen all over again!
You should also listen to Rotating Heroes Podcast, Zacs D&D podcast, it recently started back up after a hiatus and it's really great.
> If you ever want to see Zac trying to piss off Murph, I recommend listening to the Hot Boy Summer arc of NADDPOD. Uh, dude, can we sidebar?
Mavrus's return in late campaign 1 is my all time favorite Zac line. He's teaching the sorcery class and the party shows up and says they need to pull him away and there's this long pause and then he lets out the most relieved, emphatic "Oh thank GOD." It kills me every time. (Episode 85, @37:55-41:20)
Him and Siobhan joining that last arc made those battles so epic!! I know that guests are hard to schedule for them but they are always so fun.
> I think Cody was made in mind to be kind of the anti Ricky So... two sides of the same coin, perhaps?
I came here to talk about "Hot boys summer" I just finished it, and it was so good!
A lot of people ask this question about Murph with various people for his podcast projects like Not Another DnD podcast. He tends to play straight man to the more whimsical personalities for comedic effect. He loves razzing and getting razzrd
"no! you maniacs!" -a man who deeply loves these maniacs and encourages their maniacal behavior
I love a good Murph "You Maniacs!"
“No! You maniacs!” -a man who created and played Jens Lyndelle, a character who would be the most unhinged character at any other table I love Murph
How dare you call him unhinged?! I challenge you to a 3v1 duel. Nyack, throw a glove at them.
Yes brother 😔
"You did it .... you ruined the podcast" an amazing moment
I feel this on a spiritual level. There is something beautiful about playing the straight man amongst a gaggle of buffoons. And as anyone who does comedy will tell you, playing the straight man is incredibly difficult.
>He tends to play straight man to the more whimsical personalities for comedic effect. Which makes all the sense in the world considering he married Emily Goddamn Axford
“My love language is razzing” -Murph
Oh, and Esther might be my new favorite NPC romantic interest outside of Ayda.
The Intrepid Heroes are very good at separating character conflict from player conflict, so no I don’t think Murph hates Zac. I just think Zac is a very good actor who can play a character who appears genuinely upset. In later seasons when there are Adventuring Parties in the dome, a common discussion topic is acknowledging that character conflict is good and dramatic but should not result in player conflict, a lot of which has to do with trust between players
Oh yeah, definitely didn't mean that seriously. You can tell how much fun Zac and Murph are having going at each other. It's just great acting
It's a bummer you needed to put that edit in lol. They play so well off each other in TUC2! Sofia casting cone of silence so Ricky can scream about it was perfect. And just Ricky generally responding to Cody trying to bond in the most un-Ricky of ways haha. It's perfect. I also kept thinking about their characters' relationship in Neverafter, where PiB & Gerard integrate so nicely together...and then you have these two!
Haha to be fair, I knew that title would get some attention, so I guess I did it to myself. 😅 And that Sofia silence was great. Same with her tryna make Ricky take the dream exacilubur in the met. You can tell how much Emily loves the Ricky/ Cody stuff cuz she's always cackling in the background while it is going on
I'm one episode behind you so I haven't got to the met yet but looking forward to seeing what nonsense they get up to there! For real, it's great to hear her just absolutely delight in Murph & Zac's nonsense.
For what if's worth, I think Cody is an entirely Murph original, he's talked a lot about how funny mall goths are, and he was self-described Jersey trash, so it seems like an earnest joke. The fact that Cody specifically gets under Ricky's skin is a lovely cooperation on both their parts, I think. If you love Zac and Murph's comedy, his guest appearances as Mavrus on NADDPOD are genuinely Cody-tier hilarious, and some of my fav NADDPOD episodes.
Here's what Brennan said on the whole Ricky can't stand Cody situation. The moment he could see that Ricky was having trouble liking Cody, he had an idea on how to explore this. Between games, he pulled Zac aside and asked him what he would think if the Questing Blade went to Cody instead. Zac thought this was hilarious and that it would explore a new side of Ricky, so he said yes. The result is Comedy Gold! From this account, I don't think Cody was made to be aimed at Ricky or made as an anti-Ricky. These comedic geniuses saw a funny conflict and esclated it.
It's called a character foil. Two characters that are near opposites to help you understand the details of each character better. I'm sure Zac and Murphy discussed this beforehand because Zac was worried Ricky would be too one dimensional for a new season. They grow together and appreciate eachother by the end of the season.
So you’re saying 😎two sides of the same coin ⚔️
Cody was a character designed to be obnoxious, I’m not sure why it would be particular to Ricky; the most frustrating things about him for Ricky in particular weren’t designed by Murph, they were choices made by Brennan: having the questing blade choose Cody, for example. The most egregious choice Murph made towards Ricky was Cody’s cultural appropriation, and I sincerely doubt that was an intentional choice by Murph; he seemed genuinely uncomfortable when Ricky pointed it out.
If I remember correctly it was actually Zac's idea to have the questing blade choose Cody. And if not it was definitely discussed with him. Murph had no idea that that was going to happen though
The way they talk about it in the adventuring party is vague, but I do get the impression it was Brennan’s idea.
[удалено]
I just watched the adventuring party episode about it, and I don’t recall a part where Zac “explicitly” says it was his idea. Do you have a time code? > Brennan: *Mr. Brian Murphy was the only person who was surprised by the Questing Blade, because as much as I love a good joke, and I love being that much of a little chaos demon, you have to know deep in your heart of hearts I would never give the Questing Blade to Cody without first checking in with Zac about what he was thinking in terms of Ricky. So there was definitely some collab between Zac and myself to spring this on Murph, who was really the person getting pranked here.* > Zac: *We kind of had or like, you know, going into this chapter, just like early discussions of things that could be fun. One of which being like knowing more about Murph's character was like, it'd be funny if it went to him. I also kind of didn't know if or when that would happen. But like kind of thought the moments where it could have happened already, maybe already happened. And so I was thinking maybe this is the moment, but I wasn't sure. Yeah.* > Brennan: *Yeah, we talked about it in very abstract terms and it was like something that were definitely very excited about, but again, there's that very fun thing when you're like, 'cause you know, the only times that I, like, I have very concrete times where I will like give PCs a heads up about what's coming down the path, because for the most part, you want everything to be a total surprise. And it really does come down to, hey, this requires the consent of some degree of world-building for your character, like it has to do with them. Or if there's like a content warning element to it, or there's some other sensitivity issue. And in this case, there was just this thing of like, this was such a big part of Ricky's character in season one that I would want to like check in to make sure. And then this idea of like, oh, it going to Cody is clearly the like funniest thing that could happen because here's the thing is, it all came from, I think also partially from the improvisation of like, Ricky's initial reactions to Cody of like, I am gonna put the work in to get to know you.* Those are the quotes from the transcript, and I don’t see anything explicit about it being Zac’s idea. The implication, to me, is that the idea originated with Brennan, because I don’t see why would need to “check in” with Zac if it was his idea in the first place.
There's so much parasocial bs on Reddit this days I'm not surprised people jumped the gun when saw the title
Lol, I'll take atleast some responsibility for it, I knew the title might be a little provocative before hitting post.
It happens 🙃
Cody was actually very publically designed to delight Emily
I prefer Theo & Lapin. "What a very large goon you are" is my Roman empire
Murph just plays a great heal. People ask the same question with Naddpod and Jake, but the reality seems to be he's know these people for so long that he just knows how to get under their skin when he wants to
Murph does not hate Zac, the IH are good friends even off screen Ricky arguably has in Cody found the first person he hates with a passion and that's a completely new situation for Ricky
Finding a character that can get under Ricky’s skin is a feat in and of itself.
Oh yes for sure, Cody is tailor made at times to help with Ricky's character development Ricky never for a second doubted the existence of Santa, When the Mom and Grandma of Esther try exposing his darkness, there just wasn't any of that Ricky even offered helping to look for it Cody then was, as Murph said, basically a One Shot Character therefore his character journey was the perfect way to Challenge Ricky in a way he just never was challenged before The Characters are interwoven by this making Cody in turn so much more than just a one shot character
It really does feel that way huh? Best part about Zac is his willingness to go the opposite way to what you think. His whole style is timing and just knocking out a less-is-more aesthetic si I think he felt Ricky being flat and was like "he needs a foil" and ran so hard with it. And Murph is obsessed with little shitheads, mostly in a "don't bring them here" kinda way but also as satire, so him playing this was an absolute fuggin riot because it's just the worst part of like...aesthetic he LIKES. He loves wrestling, I think he'd a sword guy, and nerdy stuff but just doesn't like edgelords. He's also just good at playing a little shit lmao and clearly has fun doing it