Big Gay Nerds

The last episode of this session ends with a really big bang, and no I'm not going for a cheap sex pun. Pennyworth (now Worthy) goes on a proper rampage and blows away the opposition... until he doesn't. Jessamine is forced to choose between love and hate. Mark busts out a new trick in a moment of desperation. Bishop meets their most daunting adversary yet.

This episode mostly revolves around Pennyworth, who we left stuck in a bad situation; and Jessamine, who has finally emerged from her smoke-filled dorm room. They're both looking to get back at the people who've been giving them a hard time, and both discover that payback is never easy or clean. Then shit pops off. Content warning: The next two episodes are a little more violent than usual, and this one features a car crash. Just a heads-up.

The first Big Gay Nerds episode of 2018 comes in strong, though not without some sickness-induced complications. While Jessamine lays low and gets high, Bishop takes on yet more obligations in exchange for power, Mark immediately gets hit in the face by the consequences of his actions, and Pennyworth experiences terrifying clarity.

Mark tries to carry out the plan he hatched at the end of the last episode. Technically, in terms of pure quantity, not much happens in this recording. But what DOES happen is pretty damn big, and it happens VERY MUCH. A good episode to end 2017 with, I think.

After some scheduling mishaps, we're back to Mater Dolorosa College just in time to see it spiral even deeper into the sexy abyss. Jessamine cleans up, Pennyworth provides moral support for immoral deeds, Mark faces an ultimatum, and Bishop gets back to their roots.

Summer comes to our quiet, nameless little mesa, and as the heat rises so do the ambitions of its inhabitants. They begin to devise grand projects to secure more resources and better defend the few they already have. Results are, predictably, mixed. At the same time, outside threats begin to make themselves known... and some of them may already be inside.

It's that time of year when we reflect on how our ancestors faced hardships, like stinky water and the hippocabra, but overcame them to share the bounty of their harvests, like magnets and petrified wood. Wait, am I confusing our session of The Quiet Year with American history again? I must be, because I don't remember the pilgrims having YET ANOTHER SPECIAL GUEST STAR! We're thankful to Avery Alder for this game https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/the-quiet-year/ , and Aesop Rock for our intro/outro music https://soundcloud.com/rhymesayers/aesop-rock-the-blob .

Faced with a true challenge to their abilities as wizards and teachers--a Chosen One who would be better off chosen for a football draft or his dad's car dealership--the professors of Pigsmoke finally devise a plan of action: just do nothing and hope it sorts itself out. But even on the weekend, can these arcane academics hope to escape their duties? Find out in this thrilling conclusion to our first adventure with Pigsmoke!

It's time for the professors of Pigsmoke (or at least the ones we care about) to get a proper introduction to Chad Blackwood, the Dean's Chosen One. Can this seemingly average student live up to expectations? Well, it depends on what your expectations were, now doesn't it?

Here's a Halloween scare for you: acadeeemiaaa! Pigsmoke's professors may have a Dean-given task looming over their heads, but that doesn't mean they don't have everyday business to take care of. Albert has a frank discussion about stitching together dead bodies, Liam blows some minds (intentionally and otherwise), Simone gets pressured into striking a bargain, and Corvina combines doomsaying with dissing.

It's the start of a new year at Pigsmoke College, and four professors have been summoned to the Dean's office to assist in its enigmatic machinations. Could this be the start of a magical journey that will save the world and change it forever... or is it a misguided attempt at academic one-upmanship? Why can't it be both? Whatever the case, Professors Addams, Blake, Webb, and Solomon are just the underpaid educators for the job!

After a month away from the recording booth (just kidding we can't afford one) the Big Gay Nerds join forces with a new old friend to get theirs hands on Pigsmoke: a Roleplaying Game of Sorcerous Academia. You've seen them as jackass college students with supernatural powers, now see them as jackass college PROFESSORS with supernatural powers! Well, one of them isn't that supernatural, but I'm sure she'll make up for it in the jackass department. http://www.certain-death.com/pigsmoke/

Another chapter of Monsterhearts comes to a close. Bishop formally throws their hat in with Shady Business while the rest of Mater Dolorosa's "gifted" students have one more sleepover and ponder the state of their relationships. Meanwhile, the powers that be have a plan to put and end to all this drama... (We actually lost the last twenty minutes or so of Ian's recording, thus robbing us of some great pizza-based bits, but I think that it's been edited into something passable.)

Lines have been crossed, and while no one's looking back, no one's entirely sure what's ahead either. Bishop takes some advice from their big sister. Pennyworth decides who his real friends are. Mark gets a glimpse of the truth. Jessamine makes her big comeback.

Mark and Pennyworth go to the comic shop.

It's been said that you can't really know someone until you fight them; if that's true, then Jessamine, Mark, Pennyworth, and the mysterious helmed swordsperson who has been lurking campus after dark are about to become a lot more intimate. Bishop, meanwhile, finds inspiration in an unexpected place and starts down a path to somewhere literally and metaphorically dark.

September's here, so it's time to go back to school and catch up with all your old friends! What have the students at Mater Dolorosa College been up to? Well, Bishop's been doing the lion's share of work on a group project, Pennyworth has been struggling to juggle two social circles, Mark's been learning how much a relationship can change people, and Jessamine has been studying for a test that may come sooner than she expects. Oh, and me? I've been taking Sinister Innuendo 101 and I think it's really paying off.

I'm gonna put this in the front: if bugs freak you out this isn't going to be the episode for you, unless you're looking to get freaked out, in which case you're in luck! The party is so close to the lost bounty of the abandoned mines, but will they be able to comprehend, let alone survive, whatever inhabits the lower chambers? This episode also features a guest appearance by Sara's dogs, who are roughhousing in the background for the first ten minutes.

After delivering a humiliating defeat to the abandoned mine's first monster, the gang ventures deeper into progressively more unsettling rooms. The next on their list is full of fungus and skeletons, and you'll never guess what--oh, you guess that they'll be animate and aggressive? Well, uh, you might still be wrong about that! You'll never know unless you listen to this episode!

Feodora, Gull, Myra, and George are back and ready to solve the world's problems, provided that those problems can be solved by killing things underground. Luckily, it looks like they've stumbled onto yet another situation that fits the bill! But will they find the time to do their jobs in between just being complete jackasses? Read on with your ears!