December brought back-to-back Purple Worm shows, along with all the chaos you might expect from such an endeavor. First up was December 1st at the Comedy Store with Brian Posehn, Jacob Wysocki, Paula Deming and our own Matthew Lillard, along with Jon (DM), Scott (music) and myself.
This hilariously dark “Christmas episode” was also the first trial run for the bonus adventure we’re publishing as an exclusive bonus for our Kickstarter backers, so I don’t want to give out too many details and ruin the story for anybody. But it began with a wonderful, rousing song about fish at a holiday festival in Ten Towns, before devolving into frostbite, blood and tentacles, I think in that order. It also veered the closest we’ve ever come to an NC-17 rating, although I want to be clear this was due to Matthew Lillard alone and will NOT be part of the published adventure.
Next was an amazing show on Saturday night of the PAX Unplugged convention in Philly. I personally adore this Con and look forward to it all year - maybe because I love the city so much, maybe because I get to experience actual weather, maybe because the event is just the right balance of crowded-yet-humane… whatever. Jon and I had a great time with our amazing cast at the show: Jasmine Bhullar, Noura Ibrahim, Ify Nwadiwe and an FPWKK noobie, the talented Kevin “dicecreamsandwich” Parr.
Jon gave the 500+ members of the crowd an adventure originating in the famous city of Neverwinter, Faerûn’s “Jewel of the North”. The adventurers were tasked with locating the ancient cave of a dangerous dragon who was most definitely dead and absolutely nothing to worry about. After talking their way past a crowd of skeptical cultists they located the lair, only to find the door guarded by an angry spirit who demanded the answers to a series of vexing riddles before allowing entrance. Our boisterous crowd joined in as the ghosts of fallen adventurers who came before, giving (mostly) accurate advice on how to solve the puzzles and get past the ghostly guardian.
Once inside, the adventurers found the magical stone they were looking for, but discovered that one of them would have to sacrifice themselves in order to activate it. In one of the funniest and darkest moments in FPWKK history, Ify’s brave fighter immediately stabbed himself with a natural 20. Jon’s shock was a sight to behold, and a reminder that at least half of a DM’s job is dealing with players doing things they never, ever expect.
After that, all that was left was that most-definitely-dead dragon.
… which ended exactly how a FPWKK show is meant to end: fast, funny and allowing zero room for a sequel.
A quick thank you to our official sponsors for this event: our generous friends at Quest’s End Whiskey, as well as WizKids for both the Big Bad mini (featured above, in Jon’s vengeful hands) and a ton of great giveaways for our audience.
We’re planning for a lot of live shows in 2025, including Game Con Canada in June, Gen Con in July… and more LA shows TBD. Thanks again for following us, and we hope to see you in an audience very soon!
