2020 Geek-A-Long: Warlocked and Loaded

I’ve always thought of a D12 as the damage die I aspire to. Warlocks typically do a D10 of damage, but even a D10 is often aspirational to Bard-me. A D12? That’s some Barbarian damage. That’s the kind of damage that the rest of us can only dream of. The D12 is a fairly under utilized dice. Even in games where you would expect to see it, like in Monster of the Week by Evil Hat Productions, where literally every roll is out of twelve, they use two D6s instead of one D12. Your guess is as good as mine as to why. 

As long as we’re on the topic though, if you haven’t listened to the Amnesty Arc on The Adventure Zone, it is seriously one of the absolute best role play podcasts out there. It’s an urban fantasy, which is my favorite setting in all the world. It’s a perfect blend of Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets D&D. I run a New Years Eve game every year for our friends and after listening to Amnesty, I ran Monster of the Week. I am not as good of a DM as Griffin McElroy, so I’ll be the first to admit it wasn’t my best work. It was still really fun though. 

The DMing and roleplaying on Amnesty were absolutely superb, and the characters really stuck with me. I’m thirsty for more of it. They’ve been playing a new arc, Graduation, for the last several months and it’s fun, but I want more Amnesty. It ran a full arc, and the McElroys would probably have to roll new characters to play it again, but everything about it was magical to me. It was very Dresden Files/Rivers of London in its overall tone and execution, and if you’ve been following along for our book club, you know how much I love those. I had planned to write a long post about the plot of Amnesty today, but upon reflection I’m going to hold off on that. My feelings for it will still be here in a year, and it hasn’t been out that long. My general policy on spoilers is one year. If it’s been out for more than a year, it’s fair spoiler-game. Under a year and I want to give everyone the opportunity to consume it unspoiled. There are exceptions to that rule; when the new Dresden Files book comes out in a few months, I plan to talk about it with reckless abandon. But for this, it’s so good, I just can’t over recommend that you go listen to it. You can listen to all of the McElroy boys’ content for free, so treat yourself to that. 

Getting back on the topic of “damage”, Mabel the Merciless believes it’s a curse word. Which I find hilarious.

We have a policy of not over censoring our language around her. I think it’s important for her to understand that there is a time and a place for some words, and also that there are things that are for adults and not for her. For most curses, we’ve told her she’s permitted to say them when she has a high school diploma. That’s the day she’s grown enough to drop an F-bomb in conversation without receiving a timeout. I see it as no different than having a beer with dinner. I can have one and she can’t, and I think that’s good parenting. She is capable of understanding that certain things are for her and some things aren’t. As she gets older, she’ll be in good shape to understand why we might limit certain books/movies/video games based on her age and maturity.

Anyhow, when there was not a global pandemic, we used to have people over every Saturday for Kevin’s D&D game. They were adults playing an adult game, and occasionally there was adult language and content. Early on, she associated hearing words she’s not allowed to say with “daddy’s dice rolling game.” Not too long ago, she overheard me ask the cat, “what’s your damage,” as he did something dickishly cat-like, and she chastised me for saying a “dice-rolling word.” It took me a bit to figure out that she had heard them say “damage” usually when in a fight and had decided this was one of those words that’s OK to say in D&D, but not at preschool. I don’t really want to dissolution her of it on merit of cuteness alone. 

Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download the Warlocked & Loaded (D12) pattern here. Instructions and charts for both knit and crochet are listed in the pattern. When you’re finished making it, don’t forget to Instagram your squares at us @lattesandllamasyarn with the hashtag #geekalong! Want to hang out with other people making the blanket? You can find moral support in the Geek-A-Long group on Ravelry here.

Oh, and Jac wanted me to tell you that she realizes the square, along with the D4 and D8, are shown without duplicate stitching on the lettering in the original posts and patterns. After she blocked all 24 squares and was laying them out for a few final pics before she started the joins, she decided to go over the letters on the D4, D8, and D12 with the corresponding yellow for a more cohesive look. And, like a smart person, never thought to rephotograph those three squares with the duplicate stitching. So, we’re considering it optional. Do it. Don’t do it. Follow your heart!

~Megan-Anne

“Oh, this is really nice! It fits right in your hands. Oh look, there’s this big red button on the—– AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” – Ned Chicane, The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

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