For part 1 of this interview, see HERE
(this is a transcript of a recorded interview. Content and language is rated PG-13+)
Jared: Tell us more about your projects, Youtube, etc.
Ben: “I don’t know what that means.”
Tony: “YouTube is our project. We have none others. We tried to do a couple PDFs.”
Ben: “We talked about doing PDFs.”
Tony: “I’ve tried to do the Discord thing, but I don’t have time to put into that idea anymore.”
Ben: “We’ve sort of gotten away from the idea of monetizing and trying to do all the YouTube algorithm shit.”
Tony: “Streaming.”
Ben: “I mean, I still think we could if, you know, I don’t know….We won’t.”
Max: “The answer to that question is going to be awesome.”
Ben: “I don’t know. What other projects do we have? Campaign 3 is coming up. We’re doing the monster thing. I think we have some ideas on the back burner.”
Will: “Some potential community involvement.”
Tony: “This thing with Alan is pretty cool. Luke’s project was cool.”
Ben: “I don’t think that’s happening. That’s not going to come back. We’re setting off our new campaign in a new rule set. So like, yeah, and sort of getting in at the ground level and testing out a new system.”
Tony: “Which, honestly, dating back, that is what we do best.”
Max: “I mean, it is how we got our start, is helping people with their Kickstarters.”
Ben: “That’s how we met Luke and all these other guys because that… Because we just sent an email one day that was like, ‘Hey, we want to play your campaign.’ It was in Kickstarter.”
Will: “We’re a support class.”
Ben: “Yeah, We are a support class.”
Max: “We’re just the backing band. Yeah, man. We’ll make your shit sound good. We’re a bunch of good studio musicians and that’s fine.”
Ben: “This is interesting.”
Jared: What do you see as the future of Peak D&D? Goals?
Max: “Definitely don’t have any of those.”
Ben: “We got no goals.”
Will: “That’s not part of the future.”
Ben: “I want to stay in this studio for sure. And like, I want to see the studio f*cking just kick ass…”
Tony: “And take names.”
Ben: “I would like to get past level eight in the campaign. Please, for the love of God.”
Tony: “We’ll see. Or when we get to seven, are you just going to skip eight and we’re just going to go through to 9?”
Max: “We should always just TPK at level 8.”
Tony: “On purpose?”
Ben: “Just like hari kari ourselves.”
Tony: “Leeeeroooooy Jenkins!”
Will: “‘I also jump off the cliff.’”
Max: “‘Yeah, I don’t know what happened. All for one and one for all.’”
Will: “Apparently you don’t take much damage when that happens.”
Max: “Goals? Tony?”
Ben: “My goals…yeah…you go first.”
Max: “I thought you already went? You want to keep going? You can keep going.”
Ben: “I didn’t answer the goals part.”
Tony: “What did you answer?”
Max: “Yeah, what about the studio and making it look…”
Ben: “No, I did.”
Tony: “What do you see as the future? I see.”
Ben: “Yeah.”
Tony: “I don’t know. Pass?”
Max: “Oh man. The interview that ended Peak D&D.”
Ben: “‘You know what? F*ck you guys, RPG counterpoint.’”
Will: “I don’t know why I’m actually here to be honest.”
Max: “We don’t have goals. I mean, I don’t like this.”
Tony: “I don’t know. I f*cking love our gameplay. I’ve said it from the beginning. I like our gameplay. I know people don’t watch it, but I feel like that’s the path forward. So I think we just keep playing games and then still f*cking around with the stuff. And something will catch one day.”
Max: “You, I mean, you’ve said that… that’s a drum you have pounded, as the drummer that you are, have pounded since the beginning.”
Ben: “True. True.”
Tony: “I don’t know why. Just something about it. I just feel like our gameplay is better than all the ones that I’ve very remotely watched.”
Ben: “I think we’ve talked about a lot of the things that we want to try and do and see if they, you know, I’d like to, I guess my biggest goal is that we have time and the foresight planning to do those things so we can enjoy them.”
Max: “We’ve done better at it.”
Ben: “We have. No, we have improved vastly.”
Max: “Will, new guy.”
Will: “I mean, it seems like you’ve mentioned fun as being the goal.”
Max: “I mean, I was going to get there.”
Will: “Well, I can keep speaking for you.”
Ben: “That’s why I like doing these things. It’s those one-liners like that. That’s why you’re on the team, Will.”
Tony: “‘That’s the witty repartee we like over at Scion TC.’”
Ben: “‘The kind of witty repartee we like at Scion.’”
Max: “I’m going to love transcribing this 5,000 word interview with like all sorts of random references to Lord-knows-what.”
Ben: “Please, please. Will, continue.”
Tony: “That’s our shtick. Random references to Lord-knows-what. Mostly, Frisky Dingo.”
Ben: “It’s a deep pull.”
Will: “My goals are specifically in a support to like, you know, I haven’t been here long enough. I’m here to support your goals. And I mean, it seems like, it seems like we’re all just running in a circle chasing each other.”
Tony: “So ‘ll help you do it.”
Max: “I like running! I like circles!”
Will: “I think the goal is to like, do a campaign three. The goal is to, you know, keep the studio, which means some community involvement. And the goal is continued fun and just experimenting with new ideas.”
Max: “Personally, like learning from mistakes and not repeating mistakes. Like I got way burned out of this. When I like, there was a year where I like cleared off my creative other calendars and made Peak D&D like the focus of all of my creative energies. And it did not go well for me. And so I don’t want to do that again. I’d like to learn from that mistake and piggybacking on what you’ve said. If there’s one thing I have learned over the course of my life, it is that the less I care and the more fun I have, the better the results get. And so my goal is…”
Ben: “To not give a f*ck.”
Max: “And have as much fun as I can and see what happens.”
Tony: “Give a f*ck enough to show up each week.”
Max: “Oh, no. Honor that commitment. Wholeheartedly like show up and, you know, bring… Be present. Yeah. Do all the things throughout the week. Absolutely. You know, be a professional in that regard.”
Tony: “Don’t care about results.”
Max: “Correct. Yeah.”
Ben: “Don’t fixate on that element.”
Max: “Correct.”
Ben: “As you’ve said many times, like we can’t control how people, how the algorithm shows our shit to people.”
Tony: “Oh, I remember now. Number one, I want our channel to be the sole reason Frisky Dingo airs again.”
Max: “Season 3 of Frisky Dingo? That’s a strong goal.”
Ben: “I love it.”
Tony: “Number two, never going to happen also. I would love Nicola Jokic to be around our table at some point because he would be f*cking awesome to play D&D with.”
Max: “Not with that attitude. Does he play?”
Tony: “No, but he would be amazing playing with the Nuggets.”
Ben: “Who?”
Tony: “The star of Denver Nuggets.”
Ben: “Sports ball.”
Tony: “There was a third one.”
Ben: “Had something to do with Carly….”
Tony: “Ginny D we’re coming for it. You’re going to collaborate with us.”
Ben: “That’s a real goal.”
Will: “Wait, we’re talking about real goals?”
Max: “None of these fake goals…”
Ben: “And I’m gonna bang Carly Rae Jepson.”
Tony: “Obviously.”
Ben: “No. That’s my goal now. Just to beat Tony.”
Max: “Oh, wow.”
Tony: “And that’s the reason PeakD&D is no longer here.”
Max: “The Behind The Music, which doesn’t happen anymore.”
Ben: “This is when it goes to negative. ‘Freeze frame. Negative scale.’”
Max: “The writing is on the wall.”
Ben: “Apology video 470.”
Max: “Tony, I’m sorry I banged your crush.”
Tony: “Like DC20 and like Brandon Lee Mulligans in that mix and like I don’t know we could be… one of us could be…PeakD&D in the span, one of us could ostensibly be at that table so to speak.”
Ben: “We are rubbing elbows with people who are one degree from the big dogs.”
Tony: “So legit goal is to run the system with Alan.”
Ben: “And only because you and him had such a good f*cking time playing that game.”
Tony: “It goes back to fun.”
Ben: “And then we happened to be in the same hotel like five doors down from where he was staying which wasn’t the hotel with the f*cking…It was crazy man.”
Max: “Because dice tell the best story.”
Tony: “So being ostensibly at that table is probably going to happen in some way, shape, or form at some point in the nearest future.”
Ben: “That’s why I’m like we should horn in on that. We’ll be like, yeah, we’ll be part of your f*cking world building.”
Will: “We don’t want you horning in on this stuff.”
Jared: What can people expect to see on your YouTube and other media?
Tony: “Frisky Dingo.”
Ben: “Frisky Dingo reference. That’s what the people want. That’s what we’re giving ‘em.
Max: “When did that show go off the air?”
Ben: “2006!”
Max: “So we’re coming up on 20 years.”
Ben: “Pretty sure, yeah.”
Tony: “So what you’re saying is we’re going to have a 20th anniversary. It’s going to be awesome.”
Ben: “I mean those guys went on to do Archer.”
Tony: “We literally did Chapter Two (of Campaign 2) in Frisky Dingo references.”
Ben: “It’s true. It’s so true.”
Tony: “And I was not going to do that but then you said your name was Darcel Jones. And I was like, F*ck it. All right. Here we go. ‘Get on the bus.’”
Max: “It was too good. We had to come up with fake aliases. What was the question?”
Ben: “What can people expect to see on your YouTube and other media?”
Max: “This. I mean I feel like this is…”
Ben: “Yeah I mean that’s what we focus…”
Tony: “You could say four people playing D&D and having fun.”
Ben: “That’s what people have always said. Ever since we started. People were like…”
Tony: “We look like we’re having fun.”
Ben: “‘Yeah, you guys look like you have a lot of fun around there.’ And I know that might be a slight backhanded compliment, because…”
Max: “That’s funny. I’ve never took it like that.”
Ben: <impersonating someone trying to come up with something nice to say about a crappy performance> “‘You guys are up there on this stage. You’re saying those lines. You’re doing that. You’re wearing those costumes.’”
Will: ‘“It looks like you’re enjoying yourself.’”
Ben: “Too bad nobody else is.”
Max: “I get it now. Now I get it.”
Tony: “Ed, our number one fan that flew out here to play with us.”
Ben: “Dude, that was a big deal.”
Tony: “That was a case in point that that was true.”
Ben: “And he watches a lot of gameplay. And he watches ours pretty fairly regularly I would say.”
Tony: “And also to Ed’s point, this is just like feedback from what we’ve gotten from people that like us. Which aren’t a lot. What can you see on our YouTube? It’s like also… I feel like he says that we play D&D like., quote-unquote, ‘the right way’ in the sense that it’s real. And not like fabricated to the point where…”
Ben: “It’s not super…”
Tony: “Yeah. It’s not super overdone. But there is still some drama. But there’s fun…There’s camaraderie. There’s funny. There’s forgetting rules. There’s like all that kind of stuff that happens at a real table. It’s like… It’s a good projection of what really happens on a D&D table.” Ben: “When you’re playing with people you like in a game that you like and that friendship shows through.”
Tony: “Five people forced to the table together to play.”
Ben: <imitating> “‘Yeah. We’re all actors. We’re here to perform.’”
Max: “Yeah, no. I feel like we just have fun together. Like we like playing games together. It’s not about, like, professional or this or trained at that. Like this is just about having a good time.”
Tony: “People thought that I had a Southern accent.”
Max: “That’s awesome.”
Tony: “Which is nuts to me.”
Ben: “Yep. Is there anything else you’d like to…”
Jared: Catch-all question – Is there anything else you’d like to elaborate on with Peak D &D and its current programs and the future?
Ben: “I think we’ve covered it.”
Max: “Campaign three. Ben’s telling stories. Alan’s ruleset. Pretty cool. Maybe there’ll be sketches and funny videos on our own.”
Ben: “I’d like to see the live streams come back. I always had fun doing those.”
Max: “Live streams? D&D ideas. I mean I still love that idea even though nobody else does.”
Ben: “D&D ideas?”
Max: “Yeah.”
Ben: “I love those videos.”
Tony: “I love them too. Kara loves them too.”
Max: “Well, that’s sweet.”
Ben: “I would like to see something about like finding the Feywild in where you live. You know what I mean? Like… Because we have a very good example of it where we live. But I thought that would be a cool video.”
Max: “Yeah, we only get the mail 70% of the time.”
Ben: “Sort of like teleport without error isn’t really a thing here.”
Max: “People get lost here, stuck here, for years.”
Ben: “We live in the literal Feywild. It’s sort of a winter, eladrin-themed version. But yeah, definitely.”
Tony: “I would love to play past Level 8.”
Ben: “Yeah, we’re going to play past level 8. Do you have anything you would like to say? What would you care to elaborate on?”
Will: “I can’t wait for the Lords of the Vale to take on the Rocky Mountain Oyster Cult in the championship…”
Tony: “Sports Ball!”
Will: “… on Vale Pass.”
Tony: <imitating> “‘Rocky Mountain Oyster Cult. Who invited them?’”
Ben: “This is the worst question for us.”
Max: “That wasn’t the last one?”
Ben: “No, there’s one more. That’s the last one.”
Tony: “The catch-all wasn’t the last one?”
Jared: Besides the YouTube, are there other social media platforms that PeakD&D operates through?
Ben: “No. Literally no. We have a Twitter account.”
Tony: “We have an Instagram account.”
Ben: “We have an Instagram account.”
Tony: “We have a Discord account.”
Ben: “We? I think we have a TikTok.”
Tony: “We do. None of us have logged into it.”
Max: “I could guess what the password is.”
Tony: “I did really, really well on Instagram for the first two months until the launch.”
Ben: “Tony killed it on… We did a great job.”
Tony: “And then I lost interest.”
Ben: “It’s so hard. Social media is so f*cking hard. That’s why we have Will. Will’s gonna do it now.”
Will: “I’ll do anything. I’ve done it professionally. I’m the most anti-social person, but I’m technologically savvy. And social media apparently means talking to people. It’s not just cool technology on a computer.”
Tony: “No, it’s both.”
WiIl: “I like the cool technology.”
Ben: “Can we just get AI to do it for us? There’s a billion things that say like ‘…have social media’… ‘engagement.’”
Will: “That’s what the people want.”
Ben: “Everything you see from us is a fabrication of a computer. We’re not even f*cking here right now. We are all digitally transparent.”
Tony: “We are A.I. DM.”
Max: “Yeah, I can I just like play this audio…”
Tony: “Nick’s audio?”
Max: “No, this audio, this interview to some AI to get a transcript?”
Will: “Yeah, I wonder what the cutoff for the amount of time is. It might cost something, but… There is AI transcription. I also think chatGPT with a subscription would do it, potentially, with like… Because it has add-ons.”
Tony: “Social media? Nope. Oh, it’s there. We’re just not on it.”
Will: “Don’t write any of that. Say, ‘Yes. We’re on… . instagram?’”
Ben: “Yes, we’re on Facebook”
Tony: “No. You should literally say no. Literally, “No.” And then say, ‘P.S. – Will is like, “Don’t say that” and Ben is like, “No, literally no.”’”
Max: “‘Ben? Nope. Tony? Nope. Max? F*ck no. Will? You can’t say that.’”
Will “If I’m in charge of social media then you can’t say that! I got one job.”
Ben: “And nor will we ever be, because we’re those… We’re the anti-heroes on YouTube.”
Will: “You want to talk to us, you come to the studio.”
Ben: “Yeah, that’s right.”
Max: “Email us.”
Tony: “You come to the peak and talk to us.”
You can find PeakD&D on YouTube and in the studio…that’s about it. Unless you ask Will.
RPG Counterpoint 
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