Fireside Chat with Liam O'Brien
Notes sorted by campaign/media
C4 Aramán
Aabria and Liam talked about the kids a ton, the kids have different relationships with each parent, the relationship between Hal and Thaisha is very well established.
Which Shakespeare piece would Hal *recite and to whom (if it existed in Aramán) - Thaisha probably, he practices a lot with her when she's in town
Liam had a go at establishing a character without a big tragedy. Hal has a good, settled life, he's got family and friends and a business. He's happy living a regular life. Liam told Brennan that if you want Hal to go adventuring you're gonna have to knock him out of his happy place ... Liam expects Brennan to make use of this.
Why have you finally decided to play a Bard? Well time heals all wounds, Sam was so entertaining as Scanlan, Sam and most everyone at the table sings really well but Liam doesn't. But he wants to spend a lot of time thinking about theatre.
Will we see more of Hero's mum? probably, they do have a child together, and he does have a good relationship with his kids' mothers
Whose character has surprised you the most so far? Julien Davinos! Such a complicated shit! Matt's an incredible actor but he's very empathetic and kind, to see him play such a 'fart blossom' has been a great surprise, loving the nasty choices
Hal's favourite role so far? - Father! (Dani scoffs a bit lol) He's more a writer and businessman, he's definitely been in plays but Liam hasn't written them yet and he doesn't wanna pull something out of his ass
Subclass? Nope, find out in game
How tall is he? Importantly, he is shorter than Thaisha. She's about 6'4 or 6'5, Hal's about 6'2
How detailed do you go with character backstory beforehand, or do you backfill? Hal's a retrofit of a character designed with EXU (historical) in mind, originally a 20th level proto-theatre Escalus type. In Greece theatre evolved from religious ritual over time
Anything you can tell us re the C4 intro and any connection to Hal's theatre? He was pleased to see it but it wasn't his idea, great framing device
How does being a dad in real life affect playing Hal? Oh Hal's 70-80% dad mode between his kids and his people at his theatre, he's got so much backstory on them, troupe of like 20 people including a stage fighting coach
How's Hal feeling about Bolaire's recent revelations? It *just* happened, it's nuts! He's wondering who Bolaire actually is but also whose body that is... Are they okay?
Re Hal's Nat 1s on insight checking Bolaire, he's translating that into the revelation itself just being incomprehensible, too much to make sense of in the moment.
First player on screen ... Anxiety and stage fright but he tries to do the things that frighten him first
Re Sam's character, he asked Liam, who suggested dwarf-lock because Sam does like short kings, but then Sam came up with Wick on his own. Character growth! Sam and Whitney together are so much trouble! Liam loves his bizarro light bright religion
Hal would probably like Julius Caesar and Medea, speaking real world plays
Never say never to multiclassing but Liam does like sticking with one class to get at the juicy bits for the build. Hal could be anything though, the important parts are Liam knows who he is and gets to talk about theatre for the next x years
How was it decided that Hal and Thjazi would be brothers? At one of the meetings Brennan asked if one of the orc players would take a family relationship to this central character and Liam decided to be a good host and adjusted his backstory a bit
Re name of where Hal and Bolaire hang out? They definitely have a haunt, the name will come out in the game
Back Up Character? Didn't have one before the campaign started but he does now. He's run it by Brennan who likes it a lot which is a bit concerning for Hal
How sick is the liars blade - 10/10, plays to Hal's already great strengths, Liam likes finding an aspect to max out.
Any interesting conspiracy theories yet? Well I'm on the sidelines... Can't do this one, too much lore to grapple with
You've given Brennan so many children to mess with ... Yeah 3 kids and Elodie and Hal's mom, plus Hal himself and Thaisha, lots of vulnerable
Plans for Hal's moves for combat? Well knew I wasn't gonna be a singing bard, he's spent his life on stage and writing and words ... His theatre involves magic but It's about the effects, the actual casting is pretty subtle
Alogar is 28, Shadia is 25 and Hero is 18
Logo for Hal's theatre, he'll think about it
How close are Hal and Thimble? He saw Thjazi and Thimble fairly often despite the insulation, so knows her pretty well, Hal thinks Thimble and Thjazi were family
Hal and Thjazi dynamic? When you're adults the age difference is less significant, the protectiveness doesn't come from age, it's Thjazi living a dangerous life and seeing the value in what Hal's doing. If Thjazi is the head or hand of Dol Makyar then Hal is the heart or the song
One word to describe Hal - parental. Towards his kids but also towards the city
Ooh the paint what would you do with it irl? Illusory servant for background like armies
Some similarities btw Molly's circus and Hal's theatre
Too early for ships but he does like Kattigan and Murray, whatever that is it's fun
Hottest btw Alogar, Hal and Thjazi? Well Alogar is a young man and a soldier but the fang brothers ... Once you get those two dangs in ya you'll never get em out
Mighty Nein Campaign
Who made the first move between Essek and Caleb - it's mostly post-campaign and Liam doesn't want to decide that on the fly, it may be explored in other media or something
Caleb's been protective of Wish Spell, because it's breakable
Der Katzen Prince book, feels good, very adjacent to exandrian lore, fun to collaborate with Matt
Bells Hells
Orym's favourite pie? Maybe blueberry again to follow Caleb's theme of liking pie the same colour as the person he's crushing on (Jester then Dorian)
Bells Hells Origins Comics in near future? Would love to see it, see old Zephra days
Mighty Nein Animated
About the German dub - he's heard that the Zemnian language used is a language other than German and English but has only listened to about 30 seconds of it
About it generally - it's been cooking in a crock pot slowly coming together over the last 2 years, came out better than he could ever anticipated, breaks his heart all over again, everyone is brilliant from his weirdo friends to all the incredible guests
The desire to make everyone cry over frumpkin and Caleb was a collective decision, gotta let the new people know that Caleb's got problems
Magic is so beautiful and individualised - style was very early discussion, so central to what Liam did at the table for the fun of it, Jester having the personalised teddy bear felt right
Change in Caleb from campaign to animated? Yes some nuance that makes it even harder, don't want to get into details, so far it's nailing the Nott and Caleb relationship growth
Favourite somatic component? Widogasts web of fire, wanted to join the imaginary dorks who made up spells but wanted to show character development - getting some mastery and getting more control and keeping people safe from his own magic
Mostly Travis and Sam are meeting all the guest stars. He met Ming Na Wen at a con which was awesome
Astrid and Eadwulf? Part of the volstrucker magic casting convo. Redchild cast as Eadwulf, gorgeous voice, very sweet guy
Vox Machina
How detailed do you go with character backstory beforehand, or do you backfill? VM was pretty brief, went to lunch with Laura who said what if our mom died in a fire and we went to live with Elf-Dad
Dispatch
Dispatch animation and performances are so compelling. Laura is so good
Vizzy or Blond Blazer? Laura is bestie so the obvious choice was Vizzy some he went with Blazer but even then the narrative makes you go aww at Vizzy, so undecided but did go on a day with Blazer
Other
All Work No Play - He and Sam would both love to go back to it at some point but there's a lot on right now
Theatre - His favourite film adaptation of a Shakespeare play by Kenneth Branagh is Henry V, it brought him into this life
Campaign 5 Thoughts? Gotta see if we can make it through Brennan's meat-grinder first
Daggerheart game? Haven't DMed yet, intends to look into that side of things in 2026, loves how it's being received
Fireside - Dani is the real star of the fireside chat and my night sky, she's my good friend
Plans for more writing? Wants to, enjoying it
Live Show Bucket List - Japan!
Dani's favourite donut from Gibson's? Plain cake and classic glazed with choccy frosting
Liam's favourite snack? Garlic has to be involved, baby carrot with garlic hummus
DnD groups before VM? Looked but didn't find one. If you wanna get your feet in you can read the books, DnD, cyberpunk, blades in the dark
How much time do you spend browsing through fanart? Once or twice a daily, makes me happy
He saw a great show in LA based on Paranormal Activity, by the guy who did Sleep No More
Future GM seat? Yeah for sure
Tattoos? I've thought of a fiery book opposite the raven, it's on the back burner right now
Cross over with Hazbin / Invincible? I'll say M9 with desperate housewives
Maintaining friendships? Make time, go out with each other, talk about work but other things too
Liam got through so many questions, holy crap
