Prequel Campaign Overview

• 💡 The episode introduces "At the Mountains of Dadness," a three-part prequel campaign for the Dungeons and Daddies podcast.
• 🧠 Set in 1939 San Dimas, California, it uses the Call of Cthulhu system and features the grandparents of the main dads.
• 🎲 Players must roll under their stats on a d100, and characters can suffer sanity loss or permanent death.

Meet the Characters

• 🎭 Meryl Streep, Glenn Close's grandfather, is a washed-up silent film star.
• 🎬 Robert Wilson, Darryl Wilson's grandfather, is a cowardly line producer who dreams of being a stuntman.
• 📰 Hildy Russet, Henry Oak's grandmother, is an undercover cub reporter using the alias Sally Stipe.
• 🛠️ Stud Stampler, Ron Stampler's great-uncle, is an aspiring actor turned construction worker raising his nephew.

The Missing Film Mystery

• 🚨 Studio head R.L. Stein tasks the group with finding the missing director and film, "Heart's Greatest Desire," to save the studio from bankruptcy.
• ⚠️ He warns them not to involve the police due to previous "prostitute murders" related to the director's disappearances.
• 🔍 Their initial investigation at the director's apartment uncovers a journal mentioning a new finale "where the oaks grow tall" and a card for Yellow King Cabs.

Horrors at the Editing Suite

• 👁️ At the editing suite, they discover editor Gertrude von Strumpf with film reels bolted into her eyes and film spooling from her mouth.
• 💥 Stud Stampler is blinded after looking into the moviola, seeing the film's message about the "randomness and chaos" of existence.
• 🔥 The group escapes as the editing suite catches fire, with Hildy capturing a photo of the burning editor.

Griffith Observatory Auditions

• 🌌 At the Griffith Observatory, they find actors repeating strange lines about "oaks burning bright" and "the random hand of fate."
• 🎭 Meryl Streep undergoes a bizarre audition, looking into a camera connected to a telescope, and begins to turn monochrome.
• 😱 The casting assistant, also monochrome, attacks Hildy, who uses judo to escape as more cultist-like actors charge them.

Next Steps: Union Station and Tennessee

• 🚂 The casting assistant reveals she has train tickets to Tennessee, where the climax is to be filmed.
• 🗺️ The group decides to head to Union Station to follow the director's trail, aiming to find the film and save the studio.
• ✅ Despite Stud's blindness and the escalating weirdness, the team remains committed to their mission.