S1E0.1 We're doing it live

Ansel and Maui are the Worldbuilders, part of an ancient line stretching back beyond generations to the origins of creativity and creation itself. As long as humanity has told stories, we have created our worlds with histories, geographies, and physics all their own.

Over the course of three episodes, we will build a new world along with some of our favorite storytellers.

Tune in on Twitch for adventures in the new setting! https://www.twitch.tv/reflectgames

Transcript:

Speaker 1 0:03

Adventurers, storytellers, welcome to this week's edition of the world builders society with Ansel and Maui.

Ansel Burch 0:18

Today's episode was recorded live on twitch.tv/reflectgames on January 13, 2026 full video is available on youtube/@reflectstudios.

Maui 0:34

Oh, hello. This is the world builder society.

Ansel Burch 0:39

Oh, God, we were just gonna do this. You're supposed to do the thing. I'm gonna take it from

Maui 0:43

the top. We're doing it live. Y'all, this is the world builders live.

Ansel Burch 0:48

Join our ranks for a peek behind the curtain. We're forging continents from raw materials, conjuring principalities out of pure principle, tinkering with toys of Titans. And you can too.

Maui 1:01

Welcome members. So yeah, welcome to World builder society. We're very excited. This is our first one. We have banked some but this is our for our pilot. We're doing something live, so we're very excited about it. And in the show, we are going to explore what it takes to craft a world where imaginations can bloom. And this is your chance to peek behind the curtain and learn more about the process for storytellers of all types. So you could use this for your TTRPG campaign. You could use this for creating a novel or a TV show idea or a movie idea. What's the world that your story is going to live in? That's what we're going to work on today. Ansel, how you doing?

Ansel Burch 1:39

Man, I am doing. All right, how about you? I'm good.

Maui 1:42

I'm a little under the weather. My voice sounds a little bit different right now because I am dying, but I am excited, and I could not miss this opportunity today. So very excited to get this off the ground.

Ansel Burch 1:54

It's gonna be so good. We've done this a few times, guys, and it's always fun. So I'm very excited to share with you our process and the methodology that we've come up with that we are going to be guiding our guest DMS through and other storytellers as we go through the process of making the world builders society, a month by month project. We've got some really exciting stuff already in the can, and I'm really just thrilled to be starting the journey

Maui 2:23

same so we'll get to know our world builders as we induct them into the society. And then we will take them through lore and NPCs maps and locations. And then finally, session prep and the sharing on top is that you get to watch the actual play of it at the end here on this channel. If you want to listen to the actual world building episodes after this live one that we're doing here, you would listen to it on the indecisionist podcast feed.

Ansel Burch 2:50

World builder society will have its own RSS feed. You can subscribe wherever find. Podcasts are downloaded

Maui 2:56

absolutely so usually we start off with the interview portion, but since it's you and I just the host, I guess we should just interview each other.

Ansel Burch 3:05

Yeah, some people might not know one or the other of us.

Maui 3:08

Yeah, so we are going to go into the rig, which is our random interview generator. We are DMS, so we like to do things with the roll of the die. Couldn't, not, could not. Would you like to rig me, or should I rig you? Let's pass it back and forth. Okay, roll me a, d6 please.

Ansel Burch 3:29

All right, let's see I got a one,

Maui 3:33

a, one, okay. Can you roll me a, d 20,

Ansel Burch 3:38

I sure. Can I

Maui 3:44

that's a three a three. Okay. And lastly, can you roll me a d8,

Ansel Burch 3:52

yep, that's a five

Maui 3:56

a five. Okay, so can you tell us about your funniest thirst trap that you've worked into a story.

Ansel Burch 4:13

That's the beauty of the rig. All right, the funniest thirst trap, I don't put thirst traps in all the time. I will be honest with you that they're kind of a rare commodity in my games, but I will admit that, especially of late, I have, I have put quite a few in just for the sake of a specific pair of players that I I know will always pick them up when I put them down. So, ah, man. Yeah. So I don't know if you've ever played thirsty sword lesbians.

Maui 4:46

I have. Actually, we just did on this channel. We did a charity stream of thirsty sword lesbians.

Ansel Burch 4:52

That's right idea. Yeah. Well, that game is sick. And when, when I ran it for TTRPG pickup con, I had the. Right of getting to put an obvious thirst trap villain for everybody's enemies to lovers trope joy. And she was the the captain of the like Imperial Army that was occupying this ancient city where they were digging up a relic, you know, like you do, like and and, of course, the heroes all swooned immediately for her, and she eventually turned against her Imperial commanders and joined with the hero side. But yeah, just the joy of getting to lean in on the enemies to lovers was enough to power that whole session. Not gonna lie, might do a lot more of those just for the pure glee of it.

Maui 5:42

And so historically, have you found that you don't do too much like romance in your games? And now is like Thursday sword lesbians can open that up for you?

Ansel Burch 5:53

I So the first answer is yes, I don't. I don't usually do a whole lot of romance. I think because for a long time I ran for like, a home group of people who just like that wasn't their bag. And so, you know, just romance wasn't really on the table for the most part. And now that I'm playing with more folks, they need more styles, especially with the sort of advent of powered by the apocalypse games and more like story based, trope heavy game systems. That really gives me a lot more sort of freedom to play with that. But also I'm starting to play with a lot more people who are just way more down to get romantic

Maui 6:34

about it. Just a lot of horny dudes. Yeah, yeah.

Ansel Burch 6:37

So, so, yeah. I'm playing with a lot more horny people, what I'll say there?

Maui 6:42

Yeah, love it. Okay, that's there we go. Our first rig in the can. No, you do me.

Ansel Burch 6:50

All right. All right, I'll, all right, I'll do you. All right. I need a d6 roll from you. Maui four. Okay, it's a four, a four. All right, so then I need a roll of a D 20 to follow that up.

Maui 7:02

Alrighty, that's a three.

Ansel Burch 7:09

All right, what was your funniest character concept? And I think we need to tweak this question that you've ever gotten to run. But what was the funniest character concept you've ever gotten to run. I think this one could apply equally to on the player side even, yeah,

Maui 7:29

I'm going to actually say one of the NPCs in my current campaign that I'm running on Mondays. So last year, I started watching our flag means death for the first time, and, yeah, absolutely fell in love with it, and I made a character named shield Dick dracus, who is this dragon born who's basically Spanish Jackie, but instead of nose jar, she has a dick jar, and she's become this, like recurring NPC, and she's fallen in love with one of the recurring characters. And like, literally, is about to do, like, be like one of the main characters in a little side campaign. So I'm going to actually, like play her as a player in a tie into my current Wild West campaign. That was a wild character concept that, like, I I didn't realize how weird it was going to be until we started, and the dick jar part was just an improv moment. You know? I was like, yeah, she's the

Ansel Burch 8:39

best when there's just something that this is right. I don't know how to tell you, but this is right, yeah, yeah, jar

Maui 8:48

and yeah, and my players like both hate and love her, which is perfect. So that's what you want, yeah? All right. Should we do one more? Or you got a follow up question? Yeah, sure. Let's do it. Okay, roll me a d6 again, please.

Ansel Burch 9:06

A six,

Maui 9:07

a six. Okay, and give me a D 20. That's a 10, a 10. What's the most emotional world building detail that you're most proud of? Oh, yes, John, you're correct. The sentient train is hilarious. Hi. B Burch, you've been summoned by the dick jar. Well, welcome to the game.

Ansel Burch 9:31

The Dick jar has done its job.

Maui 9:32

Yes, absolutely.

Ansel Burch 9:38

Oh man, most emotional world building detail that I've been proud of. That is a really good question. That's a really good I try to put emotion into a lot of my my world building.

Maui 9:55

Are you an emotional damage kind of GM, like in general.

Ansel Burch 9:59

I. Like to hide it in the corners, and then if, if the right players show interest, then, then the emotional damage comes out. But it's always there for me. Like, there I one of the things that I really want to have when I run a game is, is an emotional core as well as, like, an underlying thrust, like, there's, there's going to be a twist or a reveal, or, you know, something like that, that we're kind of working towards, yeah, and that kind of motivates me as a DM to constantly be like, pushing whatever, whatever we're hitting on the lazy river of storytelling. It's all kind of going okay, what can we do to keep us towards this one North Star? You know, all the other things that happen along the way, all the other bullet points in my in my big old spreadsheet of stuff to do, that's all good, but ultimately, you want to have that like, this is the place that we're headed as we as we roll downhill. And the the emotional core of that, I think, is, is a big one. I man, I think what I'm going to say, and I don't know that this is the one I'm the most proud of, but I think what I'm going to give you is that there is, there's a world that I created called cross that I have been using for about a year now, and cross is is a city. It's part of a larger world with, you know, principalities and continents and the whole thing you know, like you do. But cross is a city that was originally built, you know, millennia ago, and has been occupied ever since. It's a big trading city in a crescent shaped Bay on a beautiful blue sea. It's very like Greek inspired, sort of feel, but it is entirely controlled by a clan of dwarves. And so this is this, this clan of surface dwelling dwarves who live on the coast and have boats and stuff. So it's sort of atypical from what you would expect in standard lore. The emotional core of this is that they have brought with them, from the deeps, a sense of musicality. And so there is this, this deep, deep core of their self that is wrapped up in the city itself. And the way that this manifests in the story is that as you travel from district to district within cross there are different like gongs and drums and chimes that are being rung on on a very specific rhythm. And as you travel from one to the next, the sound of the city changes, and it affects, you know, how you feel about things. In some places, the rhythm is very fast. In some places, it's very laconic. The lore goes that if you stand at the center of the city where the chief of their watch and their king tend to stand you can hear the music of the entire city laid out around you, and that is how they can tell when something is wrong. Is if there's a note out of place or something falls out of rhythm, that's an indication something is a miss in that part of the city, and they can send out support to the people who live there. To me, it's about a place that is so tied together in community that they can maintain an like they maintain a literal rhythm, as well as having a sort of symbolic rhythm of life. And it speaks to me of a people, these these dwarves who have lived here for so long, who have built this, this beautiful community that has that kind of dynamic to it. And I just, I don't know, I find that really, really beautiful and emotional, that there's a a world in which we have found that sort of synchrony that is so different from what we live in today. Yeah, commonly find

Maui 14:08

it's like, it's like, Baby driver meets DND. Oh, dang, that's so cool. Yeah, I love that. I think that's absolutely beautiful. You know, yeah, that just gives me chills, like, gives me, like, literal chills, like, but I have goosebumps and, like, that's one of the things that I do when I'm, like, writing campaigns and things like that, or creating lore. I wait until I get goose and that's when I know, like, oh, that's the thing. That's the thing, you know. And look, as you're describing, that just goosebumps all up and down my arms. I love that so much. Okay, all right, well, last year, yeah, I'll bring it home six. It's a

Ansel Burch 14:52

two, okay, then I'll need another g20 roll.

Maui 14:56

And that is a I'm getting really low. Rolls. That's a five. I think we had five already. I'm gonna re roll

Ansel Burch 15:03

that we have not had five. Oh, and

Maui 15:06

we not have five. Okay, then keep I'm keeping it five.

Ansel Burch 15:09

This, this one, this one rolls, all right, what was your most bonkers role play experience?

Maui 15:16

Oh, oh, oh, boy. That's a big question

Ansel Burch 15:22

that feels like a high bar to clear. Yeah. I mean,

Maui 15:25

I have been blessed with some amazing players in the last few years. I think the most bonkers role play moment for me, at least, rather, not for me, but like giving someone, like an amazing role play moment. So it's actually kind of become a meme in my home in my home group, there was a character, so we were on this train. You ever heard of Infinity Train? Yes, yes, I have. I never watched it, but someone told me about it, and I was like, that sounds really cool. I'm going to create a train that is a train of self discovery, right? And so each of the cars would change depending on who went into that car, into creating a challenge specifically for them to work through some shit, right? And one of my players just was rolling horribly, and I gave them so many chances. He's like, Well, what happens if somebody just refuses to, like, learn the lesson, right? Like, how do we fail forward in this? And so I and I announced it ahead of time. I said, this is your last chance, and if you fail this, there will be dire consequences. The DC is 12, and they failed. Oh no, so I ripped their soul from their body, and then there's this big pivot in the campaign where they had to go to a tavern at the end of the universe to go find her soul. Okay? And while they were there, she had a conversation with her soul. And okay, it was one of the most like, crazy, weird, like moments, but also, like, extremely, like emotional and powerful at the same time. Yeah, I try and tell people so many times when you're playing games that sometimes, oftentimes, the failure is more interesting than the success. Oh, yeah, right, like if there's no conflict, and that's why I'm such an emotional damage GM, just in general, is because in order for you to go through the the hero's journey, you need to have those dark nights of the soul. You need to hit those valleys so that the peaks mean something

Ansel Burch 18:21

you know, to fight the mirror herself, you have sometimes that's just you screwing up. Yeah, right.

Maui 18:26

And in this case, it was like a very literal thing. And I have a couple people that were in that campaign that are in the chat right now, easily my favorite story arc I've been a part of. Thank you so much. And BD Burch says, I feel like each pickup con blesses me with a bonkers TTRPG story. I love that. Yeah, I've had some really fun moments at the TTRPG pickup con. It's been so much fun. So there we go. That is our interview portion. So you can look forward to that. At the beginning of each of our episodes, we will start off by getting to know a little bit about the DMS by doing these random interviews and seeing where it takes us.

Ansel Burch 19:07

It's good stuff. Yeah, we've learned a lot of interesting things about our guests.

Maui 19:12

Indeed. Hey, Age of adventure, it's good to see you again. Hey, I'm so happy you came back after how dark things got yesterday in the campaign. Things got wild last night in our campaign. Oh yeah, yeah, one of the characters, like I made them choose between who's gonna live the love of their life or their little brother, who's like, the only good member of their family. And it just got really bad. It was very intense. It was very

Ansel Burch 19:46

good. A little light shooting of younger siblings.

Maui 19:48

Yeah, it was, it was wild.

Ansel Burch 19:50

Tune in next week as Maui and Ansel put their heads together to build a new world while you listen. The world builders society is a co production of indecisionist Productions. And reflect games. Find the indecisionist on all of the social media platforms I can be bothered to be on, and check out some of my other amazing podcasts and TTRPG pickup con, a free monthly event going on at TTRPG pickupcon.com find Maui at reflect games, and check out the weekly live streams and incredible gaming content at reflect games on twitch.tv/reflect, games. Find out more about the world builders society at indecisionist.com/world builders. You