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Summary
Actual Play has raise since it first began with creator like Connie Chang carving out their own blank inthe TTRPG worldwithTransplanar . This series tells non - colonial , anti - orientalist stories with transgender musician of colour who can institute to life story worlds and floor that are not seen often enough on screen . near four geezerhood ago , during the pandemic , Chang recognize the lack of histrionics in this space specifically stories , characters , and Jehovah , that represented fib they could connect to . In ordering to fill up this void , they launchedTransplanar .
Unlike many other pop factual Play seriesTransplanarhighlights indie secret plan systems with each time of year even including a miniseries that utilizesGodkillera system of rules created by Chang . The current effort , The Chaos Protocol , direct inspiration fromLokiwith its own TVA - manner agency . It also explore questions of what it stand for to be " the chosen one , " the control of fate , and the complexities of brokenheartedness .
Plenty of novel have taken inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons , with setting vagabond from the foundational Greyhawk escapade to Faerûn .
Screen Rantinterviewed Connie Chang aboutTransplanar . They discuss how they have grow as a Game Master which is reflected in the current run , and how they wereinfluenced by the TVAinLokiwhen develop the agency inThe Chaos Protocol . Chang also divvy up why they construct the worlds that they do and how it felt to playGodkiller , a game they create , onTransplanar .
“Where Are The Trans Chinese-American Diasporic Queer Stories?”
Chang portion out what inspired them to createTransplanarand tell unique stories that represent them . Chang expressed a desire to"be the one making the work , but also to tell the kinds of stories that will embrace radical imaging as a elbow room of building out worlds that do n’t yet live , but that we would care to see in our day - to - day . “They also break down the specificity of describing the world they ’ve craft as,“non - colonial , anti orientalist . "
Connie Chang : I come out Transplanar in 2020 . We ’re coming up on our four - year channelversary , actually . This June , because we found in Pride Month . It was really important to me to get going an all - transgender people of colour led TTRPG actual play channel , because at the clip , and this is still fairly true , less true thankfully , but still fairly true , not a quite a little of trans - pass , specifically trans the great unwashed of coloration - led actual drama work .
When I launch Transplanar , I was a adult lover of a pile of APs that were already out at the clock time . I was a openhanded fan of D20 , big lover of CR , big fan specifically of TAZ as well . That ’s kind of what got me into APs in the first place . As much as I enjoyed all the stories and all the characters and all of the rich reality build up that all of these incredible creatives and Creator were doing , there ’s a part of me that was like , " Oh , all aright , but where are the trans Formosan - American diasporic queer stories ? " Right ?
Where are the stories that speak to me as a soul and that explore similar radical , but from a completely new perspective , a perspective that I and all my admirer incarnate and have hold up experience about ? " That was really the impulsion . It was both to see myself represented , and be the one piddle the work , but also to tell the kinds of stories that will embrace radical mental imagery as a way of build up out humans that do n’t yet exist , but that we would like to see in our 24-hour interval - to - day , and roleplay and embodied improv , correct ? Acting in use play as a room of building toward that together .
It tender a band of liberating possibilities , which is also why it ’s so of import to me to work up out non - compound , anti - orientalist world . I use these term very intentionally , correct ? There ’s a reason why I call the body of work we do non - colonial anti - orientalist as opposed to decolonizing or anti - compound or non - orientalist . Every section of that phrase means something , right ? Non - colonial , as the fictional worlds we create , never have been , are not , and wo n’t ever spiel into colonialist system of logic or physically literally be phantasy colonized , right ? There ’s not ever going to be a plot line where an invading land comes in and takes over .
On a real level , and also on a philosophic ideological layer , we ’re divest from colonialist originative logic . On the anti - orientalist side , as a Chinese person , as someone who I intend is affected by orientalism and is affected by xenophobia specifically , it was important to me to center my civilisation and center my fosterage and center my survive experience as a Chinese diasporic person in the existence I was creating .
When suck up a mediaeval fantasy , for example , if we were doing a medieval fantasy season , not have that immediately just be a Eurocentric way of thinking about medieval fantasy , like draw on tropes from xianxia or wuxia instead of Edwardian or English romantic tropes or anything like that . in the end , it comes down to , these are the kinds of narration I ’m passionate about singing , the kinds of news report I am skilled at apprisal , and the kind of tale that I think have plenty of rich material to mine , believably for the rest of my artistic career boring in thick .
Chang also explained how they have improved as a Game Master and howTransplanarhas evolve from the first campaign , The Second Stragner , to the second , The Chaos Protocol . They also discussed elements ofThe Chaos Protocolincluding how Fate fit into the story and TRANS .
It was four days ago , when I begin out , I ’ve definitely grown as a GM , but they ’re like , " And then I sample The Chaos Protocol , " or , " Then I take in Godkiller , and wow , I forthwith got lactate in . It was just really focused , really strong , really sharp . " I call back that ’s the master craft - based variety , but our values have stayed , have always remained even from the beginning .
I could talk about our independent three PCs . They are all federal agent of the Transplanar Reification and Nourishment Syndicate , or TRANS is the abbreviation . Which is essentially a secret transplanar or interplanar agency consortium that carries out Fate ’s will .
Fate is an actual NPC in the show as a character is what ’s cognize as a principle , or a literal law of the universe , so of a power grade , Gods are here . If this is written , you ca n’t see what I ’m doing with my hired man , but imagine I ’m hold back it up to my shoulder joint and precepts are out of the camera frame , right ? It ’s the difference of opinion between a character in a tabletop game and the player controlling the character .
There are metanarratives here about Fate being a keep victor of some kind , but we do n’t have to get into the weeds about that . Basically , each of the three master instrumentalist eccentric takes on a unlike role in their strike team . They kind of hop from plane to plane answer distress call , which are called mayday calls . Because they skip from aeroplane to plane with every newfangled arc of the show , we also changed tabletop game arrangement every arc .
For our first arc , we played The Wildsea persona gambling game , published by Mythworks , and for the 2nd electric discharge we are play City of Mist , a form of hack version that I ’ve done that I ’m call City of Heaven using the core ruler of City of Mist , which is publish by Son of Oak Game Studios . I always like to shout out more indie publishers . The role design , like their strong-arm appearance , changes when they hop from arc to arc . We get new creative person to do new artistic creation for each season , even though the characters themselves stay the same , which I conceive is really cool .
Chang apportion insight into each of the main characters inThe Chaos Protocoland how they go into this ragtag family . They explain how Seir plays with the idea of the chosen one , the secrets that Lumira protects , and why Xainan falls into the role of the political party ’s loth pappa .
Connie Chang : One of the PCs is a character call Seir . They / he pronouns , is the twin comrade of the chosen one , the literal , actual chosen one by Fate . She ’s the pop girl , super cheerful , very magnetic . Everyone at TRANS have a go at it her . She seems to have it all together , right ? He ’s always been in her shadow .
There ’s this line about Seir , Fate made Singh and Fate does n’t make misapprehension , but Seir was the closest thing to one , because after Singh was created , Seir sort of just stepped into being out of her shadow . Even Fate was like , " Um , what is that thing ? Okay , I do n’t want to make mistakes , but that was kind of unwitting . " Seir is this kind of weird , never really fits in , a bit saturnine , really has this intense power inside of him that can rival the power that Singh has , as the select one , but he does n’t know how to control it . People kind of scorn him . He ’s a minute of an outcast in some style .
Another player character is our party ’s healer , called Lumira . She ’s also a hugger-mugger time mage because chronomancy is specifically forbidden at TRANS . The family says it ’s because it ’s really serious and unstable , and it can rewrite the laws of the universe , which makes it really volatile and just unsafe . But there ’s some variety of metanarrative there about how Fate does n’t wish time mages because they get to commute what she ’s decided . There ’s something there about bureau , choice , and portion with Lumira .
Then we haveXainanwho is the loth party dad . He ’s the oldest figure here . He ’s kind of a mentor figure . He is the lone survivor of a dead world , doomed by limbo essentially , or that ’s what we have it off about it so far . He is a marksman , gunslinger , a real nerveless alien cowboy kind of vibe . He ends up service as a wise man - comparable , almost Padre - corresponding chassis to the rest of the quality , as part of the smasher squad . Then a major tragedy happen at the final stage of arc one that will fix the integral eternal rest of their character arcs and the trajectory of the campaign until our very last time of year of the Chaos Protocol , which is come to to Singh .
How Transplanar Was Inspired By The TVA In Loki: “I Was Taking Cues”
If TRANS sounds conversant to Marvel sports fan Chang saw the connection as well . Although the idea was already percolatingwhenLokifirst came out , the TVA was definitely something they depend at as intake when construct out TRANS and how it would work in the macrocosm ofThe Chaos Protocol . However , Chang also explained how TRANS go down itself apart from TVA .
Connie Chang : [ Loki ] came out after I had incepted the original idea for TRANS . We watch the Loki series while Second Stranger was wrapping up , which is our first main campaign . I was take on cue stick . I was like , " Oh , that ’s interesting . That could be a fun thing for me to also maybe draw inspiration from . Oh , I would like to make different option there and deviate from what secret interplanar sentence agency might look like here and there . "
There ’s definite parallel , but also it was important for me that TRANS itself , the syndicate itself , was in some ways a gender utopia . In this place , everyone ’s trans . Everyone ’s trans , everyone ’s queer , polyamory is the average . It ’s not cisnormative , it ’s not heteronormative at all . The crime syndicate drive tutelage of its people . It ’s kind of like you never have to turn for solid food , ripe ?
There are interrogation of degeneracy because Fate is in armorial bearing here . There ’s interrogation about that , but it ’s not playing into the idea of exploited workers or homophobic management , or anything like that . It was authoritative for me that the PCs do feel commitment and do finger gratitude , and most importantly , community with the other members of the syndicate because the sidereal day - to - day workers at the syndicate are their family . Chosen and blood in a lot of ways , and their closest friends .
That was crucial for me to play up as well , because I think a slew of media that features big agency , it can just be really well-off to be like , the agency ’s evil , bam , proper ? But I am always striving toward rarify even villainous or antagonistic entities , factions , and character reference .
Transplanaris ramp up with the idea of new viewers being able to leap in . The podcast miniseries , Godkiller , is the perfect way to check outTransplanar’sstorytelling panache . They also cultivate lore documents and detailed recaps so fans can jump into a fresh time of year or catch up if they missed a few instalment and be able to understand where the story has taken the players without tactile property lost or overwhelmed .
Connie Chang : It ’s really significant to us to be capable to give any witness of any stage of familiarity with our study multiple entry point into our work , which is also why the recap text file are first and foremost on our website . We also face our dissimilar series as , The Second Stranger is done , its 120 episodes . It ’s our first season . If you want that experience , you could keep an eye on it starting here . Chaos Protocol is our on-going campaign . It streams each week , so you may join us . Here ’s where you’re able to watch up until this point . Here are all the recap docs .
Godkiller , here ’s a contained miniseries . If you just require a sampler phonograph record of what this is all about , and you do n’t want to have to enthrone century of hours into watching or listening to our content , 16 hour , clap . It ’s an hour per episode , 16 instalment , go watch . That ’s a great primer to our vibe as a epithelial duct , our vibe as a collective . Recap text file are really authoritative to us .
Connie Talks Playing Godkiller A Game They Created: “Mad Max Fury Road Meets The Raven Tower”
Godkilleris unique not only because it is one player with the Game Master , but because Chang created the game . Chang fully understands it like no other GM could because they crafted it and know how to apply the system for the best storytelling . Chang also divulge that they are hoping to experiment more with arrest stories like theGodkillerminiseries .
Connie Chang : We currently have a podcast only [ for Godkiller ] , though we did a live recording of the first two podcast episodes on stream with video , but the rest of it is audio only . It ’s a podcast only miniseries , 16 episodes , that utilizes the rules of Godkiller : First Blood , which is the Godkiller TTRPG system , which is an original duet game that I write for one histrion , the Godkiller , and one game master , God .
It ’s kind of like Mad Max Fury Road meets The Raven Tower , like dark illusion . It ’s arrange in a world where gods rust other gods for survival , for power , for pleasure , and mortals labour under the twosome of divinity fudge and can never sincerely determine their own destiny until the Godkiller arises in a baptism of fire and blood . The Godkiller is the only deathly in the intact world . In the game , it ’s known as the birthplace , who has the power to vote out a god . It ’s about which gods will you kill to switch the place of origin , which gods will you spare to change the cradle , and what are the consequences of all of those actions ?
I released the Godkiller : First Blood miniseries on Transplanar with myself as a GM and Sea Thomas as my player as also a promotional thing for the liberation of the Godkiller aschan , which come out in previous March of last twelvemonth . It ’s been about a yr since this miniseries has come out , and now the full game has been picked up by publisher Evil Hat Productions , which we ’re try on to gun for a Q1 2025 crowdfunding release for that . There will be more AP projects that are bear on to Godkiller coming out very , very soon .
The miniseries was kind of an experiment on our end . It was hold in . There were just two performing artist . It was just one GM and one musician , and it was received really well by our audience . It land in Modern viewers , new listeners . People really relish the content , so I think that ’s a really good sign . We would love to do more sort of experimental and contained AP work , but still at the level of output , gloss , and story rigor that we hold ourselves to .
Chang broke down the experience of GMing a game using a system they created . They are able-bodied to use the system to it ’s fullest potential exploring the melodic theme and paper that they were playing with as a game interior decorator when they create the system through the role - play element .
Connie Chang : Well , for me as a GM , I think I ’m in , I do n’t require to say alone spot , as in I ’m the only one who ’s ever been in this position , but I think I ’m in a rather unusual position compared to other game couturier in the quad . Where I am not only a game designer , I ’m also a professional GM , and not just a professional GM , but an genuine Play GM . The kind of lens I bestow to my own employment when I ’m GMing it very much feels like I put on a span of crushed in well - wear boots that are very sturdy , that I know can get me anywhere .
I screw how to patch up the cakehole if there are any pickle . I know the journey I want to tread , and I do it how to invite people onto that journey with me . It very much feels like if I were a chef making my favorite dish that I also like to rust the most and wait on that to a customer . I feel very confident when GMing Godkiller because it ’s kind of like I ’m in my element , quite literally . I feel very frantic when GMing it as well , because I get it on what I ’m trying to say with this plot , and I know what this secret plan is trying to do .
No matter if the mechanics or the rules are where I ideally require them to be , which ideally they would be there , irrespective of whoever ’s GMing it , I know how to get myself there . I know how to get the most out of my mileage , which is , I think , a really exciting and fun place to be when GMing , versus act someone else ’s game , particularly if it ’s a game I ’ve never played before or a plot built on an engine I ’m not intimate with , or a game that uses design principle that I ’m not familiar with .
Sometimes there can be a bit of clash where the GM has to translate the rules to fit the tabular array at hand , and not just the table , but also the specific encounter that ’s fall out , the specific scene and the demands of their own narrative . Sometimes there can be rubbing between what the GM wants to do and what the game wants you to do , but for Godkiller and me GMing it , we ’re kind of flowing the same charge all the metre .
Exploring Grief Through Chaos Protocol Arc: “It’s About Grief And Love”
Chang shared howThe Chaos Protocolis an geographic expedition of sorrow with the first discharge focusing on death , bow two on demurrer and shortly arc three will plunk into rage or anger . When call for about pursue the stages of heartbreak , they teased that it was not an chance event , but there are more seasons planned than the five stages of grief will cut through , offering a few surprise with the arcs to follow .
Connie Chang : We do know what we desire the theme of arc three to be because the overarching base for discharge two was denial and the overarching motif for arc one is really interesting because it ’s kind of a prologue , even though we call it the first arc of our show , it finish with the incite incident of the entire campaign that sets everyone off .
In some way , it ’s a prologue . Arc one was just an intro . There was no particular specific theme for that . We were just kind of get to sleep together our characters , settling in . I guess you could call the theme last . I suppose that was the chief root word of arc one . I suppose you could call it death .
That ’s a tagline for Chaos . Arc three , I know , and I ’m aroused about this , my dramaturg ’s excited about this . We ’ve speak about this preliminarily with our players , and they ’re all super excited about it . It ’s likely lead to be about rage in some fashion , ire , choler and rage and violence . We want the system we pick to explore that and to be able to explore that , which I ’m aroused about .
Screen Rant : It sound like you ’re going through the five stage of brokenheartedness .
Connie Chang : How interesting that you ’re add that up . It ’s both a yes and a no . Insofar as the show is about sorrow . That is one of the overarching campaign themes about grief and sexual love . That ’s if I had to churn Chaos down to two words , it ’s about grief and love . All the PCs have just digest an immense exit at the end of arc one , a deeply felt tragic death , and now for the integral rest of the movement they ’re go to have to deal with the fallout of that .
In some direction , it does mould the five stage of brokenheartedness . There ’s denial and there ’s rage , and you ’re like , " Oh , this find kind of similar . We ’re going to essay to get all the elbow room to the ideal at the end , like the acceptance , " but it ’s also trouble by the fact that we have eight aforethought arcs , so there ’s only five stages . Interesting that there are three electric discharge stay . That ’s kind of ominous . What does that imply ? I do n’t desire to give too much away for that , or pick up down thing too hard justly now , but also thinking of that five stage model of heartbreak not as normative , which I conceive it kind of has become in some ways , in some modern preaching , and more as a descriptive and nonlinear manner of how we as humans make out with loss , death , and heartbreak in oecumenical , right ?
One , it ’s not like we just process neatly through the stages , and then we ’re done , and we have allow go of it entirely . It ’s a thrust and pull . It ’s an up and down . A mass of hoi polloi say that grief does n’t get promiscuous . You just kind of grow around it . Some years it ’s easier , some days it ’s harder . Some days you ’re really wild , and some day you just feel empty , and some sidereal day you forget about it entirely , and you sense awful and shamefaced and ashamed about having forgotten , correct ?
It ’s really complicated and briery and thorny . I am interested in honoring all dimensions of that . Yes , we will definitely be talking about denial and heartbreak and bargaining . All of these things will make out up because these are normal human reactions to hurt loss . irrespective of whatever model we decide to dictate to it . Also , yes , our viewers have also been picking up on that . I suppose most of our witness are like , " Hmm , that ’s really interesting . I ’m read the short letter on your Patreon , and I ’m making link . " I also jazz it when people connive and pick up on the affair we ’re putting down .
Transplanar’sThe Chaos Protocolis available to stream onYoutubeandTwitch . overtake up on Arc 2 before 3 comes out !
