The newest episode of Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! brings together a new group of heroes, but unlike other episodes, these players are very familiar with one another. The episode stars Joe O’Brien, Mary Lou, Jared Logan, and Alicia Marie, with Troy Lavallee serving as Dungeon Master. All of the players are part of the Glass Cannon Network, which began with a Pathfinder game under the Glass Cannon Podcast banner in 2015 and has expanded over time.
Glass Cannon is well known for its comedic gameplay, making it perfect for the comedy born of the tragedy of first-level characters facing off against some of the most dangerous monsters in Dungeons & Dragons. Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! was created by Beadle and Grimm’s founders, Matthew Lillard, Bill Rehor, Jon Ciccolini, Paul Shapiro, and Charlie Rehor. The series brings together impressive guests, including David Dastmalchian, Aabria Iyengar, Patton Oswalt, Seth Green, Mica Burton, Luis Carazo, Lillard himself, and many more.
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Screen Rant interviewed Alicia Marie about Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! She discussed the Glass Canon Network episode and how the table is comfortable, elevating comedic choices at every opportunity. Marie also explained her inspiration for creating a half-orc, half-water elemental instead of a half-human and shared her desire to incorporate LARPing into Dungeons & Dragons.
Alicia Marie Talks Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!
Screen Rant: I love Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!, it is such a fun show. This episode was very cool because it was very much a group of people who know how to play together, which felt really unique. What inspired that aspect? Because we don’t see that a lot in the show.
Alicia Marie: Yeah. So, the Glass Cannon, are you familiar with that podcast at all? And with the channel on Twitch?
No. I actually just got introduced to it through this and I’m very excited to check more of it out.
Alicia Marie: Oh, cool. Yeah. So they’re one of the older tables, meaning they’ve been around and played together a really, really, really long time. So, Troy was the DM and then you had Jared Logan, he’s actually a stand-up comedian. And. Joe O’Brien, those three. The three guys, they’ve played together for years and years and years. Over time, they would just meet certain players in the community. And, if they met a player that gelled with their philosophy and how they do a lot of, because a lot of them come from comedic improv in the Glass Cannon, they would just pick us up and we would continue doing things with them over and over again.
So, I did a Traveler campaign with them, I did a Pathfinder campaign, Lord of the Rings. I played a lot of games with them for the past five years, the short campaigns, long campaigns or even just one shots in charity games. So, when they found they were going to do a Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! episode, they were like, “Do you want to jump into it?”, because I know they wanted to bring … I tend to be chaotic. They’re very chaotic just in general.
But, yeah. One of my things is I don’t like breaking games, which is what people can do. It’s when a player goes into a game and does things to completely derail the game selfishly. But, I do like to test the DM a little bit and to test the other players, throw something in. It’s like, “Oh, I didn’t really see that coming.” And I like the way that this table of people specifically flexes to anything you throw out there. And, it’s so fun. It doesn’t throw them off.
I loved how you guys bounced off each other. It wasn’t just, “Yes. And … ” It was “Yes. And, I’m going to make it more silly and a little bit harder for you,” which was so much fun.
Alicia Marie: So much. I mean, I love D&D and I’ve gotten to plan some campaigns that are really, really serious and they’re heart-wrenching and emotional scenes I’ve gotten to do improvisationally in campaigns and games. But this table specifically is chaos and fun. So, whenever I get the opportunity to play with them, I know that it’s going to be like, “I know what she did,” and I’ll just come up with something. And, they’re like really, “Well, guess what I did?” And, I just love that. It’s freeing for my spirit and my soul. Oh Gosh.
It’s so much fun to watch. You’ve done one-shots and you’ve played a lot of different tables. How do you approach it differently when you know the game is going to last for one hour and end in a TPK?
Alicia Marie: Okay. So, here we go. I’ve only played a couple of campaigns where we know the characters are going to die. So, because you put time and energy and you’re creating your character. I’m like, “It’s going to die? Wait a second.” But, yeah. We knew this was all about the careening toward this untimely end. In general, when you’re replaying a game that has 10 episodes or more, you create this entire story arc for your character to make it fun to play the character, but make it also …
If the show is a stream show, for people who are watching, to see this either funny or serious evolution of the character to make it even more fun for yourself, because you’re telling a story. When you’re doing a one shot, it is one hour and you have a whole table of people who are also doing the same thing. So, it becomes way less about a story arc that you’re trying to build on and more about displaying a personality.
So, I remember I played a game once where it was actually over Halloween, so it was really fun. And, we all had to play critters of some sort, and I lost a bet. So, I ended up having to play a spider, and I really, really, really, really hate spiders. But, it ended up being one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, because I made her this sort of whiny, little, tiny spider with fuzzy arms, and she keeps getting caught in her own web and she’s crying her way through the game.
Everyone was laughing at her and I was like, “Oh, this is why I do this. This is fun.” So, it becomes more about just developing a personality that you get to play for that one hour. And, maybe you have the backstory where she comes from, or where he comes from, or what they do or where they’re from, to help you play their personality believably. Because really it’s the game, so you’re trying to make it fun for yourself and for the other players at the table.
I thought it was very cool that you had a half-orc that was not half-human, but half-water elemental. What inspired that idea?
Alicia Marie: Water elemental. Yeah. So, my very first D&D character ever in this world was a half orc, because I was like, “I want to be the biggest and the tallest. Come on. I want to be the barbarian. I want to be the Paladin. I want to be the one that’s running in. We fight!” That’s my personality, gaming personality. Usually, I’m the tank. So, I was like, for this game, because it’s such a big deal for me getting to play with this table in person, I rarely get to play with them in person.
And, because I love the idea that that Matthew Lillard put together for this series of shows, I think it’s so freaking cool. I wanted to go right back to my half-orc origins, but I was like, “Well, what can I do to make you a twist? I’m need to make a twist. Half-elf? Well, slightly more pointy ears, I guess?” I was like, “What if I make it something really ridiculous?” I was playing with the perfect table for it.
And, it also gave me an opportunity to make her blue, just comically. Oh, because she’s half-water elemental, she has to be bright blue and the rest of her clan or her people are all normal different shades of green, because they’re all half-orcs. There are orcs and half-orcs in her village. But, she’s the only big blue half-orc and no one knows why. And then, even her little brothers are normal shades of green. Her mother, father. Her mother finally tells her as she gets older that you’re not a Oloki.
Their last name is Allfinn. I didn’t know if I got to say that in the show, but, but she became a Oloki Triton when she found out who her father was. Her father was literally the son of Poseidon. So, she has some God-like powers in her. So, that’s how I was able to describe those. I just thought it was something interesting to throw in there.
I now want more creative takes on half-orcs. That very much was something that I got excited about and want to see more of.
Alicia Marie: Yay! I was like, “Oh.” And so, of course, when I was trying to figure out the artwork for her, I was like, “Now I have the cosplayer. Now, I’m going to have the cosplayer,” because she has this, because her skin is Caribbean blue, and then her hair has a blue tinge to it. And, basically, in the story, little one page I wrote for myself, her skin started changing color as she was growing up, and her mother was like, “Oh, I have … Interesting. It’s still green, it’s just greenish blue.” And her mother was like, “Well … ” And then, her husband, a Loki’s father, knows the story. She knew, but she didn’t think that her daughter would come out blue like her father.
And then when her daughter had a really easy time swimming and she was really just … She had this affinity for water and she could hold her breath a long time, and it got better and better as she got older. That’s when her mother had to sit her down and say, Okay. There’s a reason why you can breathe underwater.” So, yeah, I really hope I get to play her somewhere again.
Can you talk to me a little bit about the audience participation element? Because they got to make decisions that impacted the game.
Alicia Marie: Yeah. So, I’ve only DM’d once before. It’s a terrifying experience if you’re doing it live. If you’re doing it live, you have time considerations to think about. So, it becomes a terrifying thing, because the cast will run off, “Oh, we’re going to … ” And you’re like, “No. Get back here.” Okay. Yeah. So, I was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do for this, without letting it run off into the shadows
I try not to go off into the stratosphere or whatever, but I do when the audience gets to jump in and throw in twists and things, because then it tests us to come up with just on-the-fly situations, that are really interesting. So, with this one, I’ve gotten to play in front of an audience twice before, but the audience was not able to participate. I played live streams, where the audience was allowed to either bid or give charity donations, in order to influence the game. And I’ve had those before, but I’ve never had the combination of, one, being in person and, two, also the audience getting to say what happens.
You really just have to be super flexible. You have to be really, really flexible. I mean, I don’t know. Get up in the morning, drink some caffeine so that you can, like I said, flex. Just bend right into whatever they say, because it was not planned what the audience was was going to give us. So, we went into that sitting there at the table … We’re backstage right before we go on, and I’m like, “What do you think they’re going to do? What do you think they’re going to tell us in there?” And, John was standing there and he was like this. And, I was like, “Ah!”
We run out there looking all confident. And backstage we were like, “Okay. Everyone got their head together? Everyone got their game face on? You guys ready to go?” And, you go in and you’re just like … You have be ready for every … And, you know who’s really good at that, in my opinion? Everyone’s good at it. I think Jared just, man … I feel like he has a Rolodex of just fun in his head, that I would love to peer into every now and again, because at the very end of it, you guys will see it. Everything just blew me away at the end. The ending. Everyone always dies in the show. What the heck? My God!
What do you want to take from this experience into future projects?
Alicia Marie: That’s a really good question. You know what I liked about this series? Number one, I will always and forever love the chaos that goes into these series. So, I will say, I like the idea that I got to just come up with the most random things ever, and not to not be afraid whatsoever, to bring that to the table, and to trust that when I’m playing with a group of people that are my friends or in a professional campaign, that they’re going to be ready for anything.
And, in fact, if people are watching, I think they want to see more of that. People want to see when something ridiculous happens and to see how the cast comes together to figure it out. Not to just overthink yourself. Overthink yourself. You come to the table prepared like everybody else, but to just be willing to say, “You know what? Is that a monster?
I’m going to try to stand on top of that monster and I’m going to surf the monster down the hill. Yes! That’s what I’m going to do. And it’s going to make total sense. You can see it in your head. Right?” Tables like this, “Ah, yeah.” But, hey. If he dies … I mean, once in a campaign killed a monster with a shoe. So … It was a magical shoe though. It had magical property.
It’s just being very open to everything and, “Yes. And … “, but also just playing with what everyone else throws in. It’s really fun when I have an idea and I see another player at the table jump onto that idea and twist it and do something with it. If everyone does that, that’s when you have the best experience. Yeah. I hope I get to do more of these. I loved the series.
Matthew Lillard did a really good job putting the tables together and just allowing everyone to go with whatever they wanted. It wasn’t like he policed anybody. He literally just said, “Here’s your table. Have fun.” And, nobody over-prepared either, which is interesting. Everybody just said, “Trust the process.” Oh, gosh.
You guys were not able to fully flesh out your characters, but you had to think about what your character’s greatest fear was. Was that something that you had to think about at the moment? Or, had you been contemplating that beforehand?
Alicia Marie: In the moment? Oh, my gosh, everything was in the moment. Okay, cool. Yeah. When you play a D&D game, everything happens right there, but it’s very different when you’re in person with your friends sitting at home in your pajamas eating pizza, than when you’re doing a live show, which … It’s the game, but it also is something people are watching. So, there things have to be paced and you have to have ideas. But, Troy the DM is known for that. He’s known for giving you a flat idea, and then while he’s jamming, he is like,
“You know what? This table is having a little bit too much of an easy time with this. So, give us the full soliloquy of why this happened?” I’m like, “All right. I’m just going to say this and hope nobody laughs at me and thinks of … ” Yeah. Like I said, I’m definitely ADHD, and in this game. This particular game series, game style is perfect for me, because everybody in the game is like, “Yes. So am I. So am I.” Oh, God. I’m a train wreck.
He thought it was too easy as you guys were barreling towards your death.
Alicia Marie: He’s like this, “You know what?” And, you can always tell when he gets that look in his eye … I’m like, “Oh, Troy’s about to do something great.” You know what I love? I love being able to try to use fantasy accents. So, you have an idea of an accent in your head, but you’ll take it and you’re like, “What if I add a little bit of this to it and try to make it sound very interesting? But, what the heck is that? But, you know what? For some reason it works for this, so we’re just going to let it go.”
I’m trying to think if there’s anything else I want to mention about this particular table. Oh, other than the fact that, like I said, I’ve played with many, many tables over the past five, six, seven years. But, this table specifically comes in with comedic improv. I know I have a comedic improv background. I know Troy does. I know Jared does. I know Jared’s a stand-up comedy man. I think she does as well. So, I know coming in that something bizarre is going to happen and we’re going to have to either straight man it, or lean into the comedy. And, I tend to be a very straight man when it comes to comedic pieces.
I’ll throw in something that I did not originally intended for the character, and I was like, “Ew, why did I say that? Oh, well.” David was like, “Yeah. That’s cool.” And, I know Jared’s going to say [inaudible 00:17:53]. You know what I loved also? So, these series of games had the narrator type, but he ended up being a character, so he jumped in. I thought that was really interesting, especially for a live show. And, it gives the audience someone to play off of. That’s something that never happens. That was something that was new that was added to tie each episode together. And, it helped with the pacing too.
But I was not aware that that was going to be a thing until we got there. I was like, “Oh, even a narrator!” So special. You know what I would love to do, Caitlin? I like the live show element. I love the audience getting to influence it. That to me is genius. Like, everyone’s dressed up in character and you’re moving around the set, so it’s like a live action. So, it’s live, but live action D&D. That’d be a really cool thing.
I think you just got to get the table together and set that up. And, let me know when you do, because I for sure want to check that out.
Alicia Marie: Yeah. I’m like, “What the heck?” I have all these costumes, plenty of swords. I have a great ax. I have a hammer. What else do I need?
I am like, “I have enough blue body paint, don’t I? I have some grease paint back there in my bathroom. Let’s go!” That would be so much fun. I mean, yeah. D&D over the past is just … It’s funny how in general it has just gotten so big. I mean, it was big before, but it was more underground big. And then, all of a sudden it just became like, there’s a D&D movie. What? Wait a minute. There’s different celebrities are wanting to learn how to play.
I have a lot of friends that are actors. We live in LA, you’re going to meet people at the gym, whatever. A lot of friends who are actors and they’re all like, “You got to teach us how to play.” And I’m like, “Really? I get to do… Okay. So the next time we get together, I’m going to DM for you guys. You’re going to be level three.” It’d be fun. Right?
That sounds like so much fun. I now want to be at your table.
Alicia Marie: We’ll exchange information, because 2024, I’ve deemed as my year of doing more DMing. Because like I said, I’ve only gotten to do it once before and it was like a two-shot for a channel called Hyper RPG. And, I had the best time, and I was like, “I get to feel like a puppeteer.” But, the stress is when you’re playing live and you have time constraints. So, when you have to corral everybody, “That’s not where I need you to go. Get back here.” But that’s real life.
People don’t do what you expect them to do, ever. But, the funniest thing I will say this, is players never do anything you think they’re going to do. You could have in your head … I remember I had, in my head I had a puzzle. “They might do this. This. This.” They literally did something I never thought about before. So, even if you’re the DM player, you have to be to just flex. Make it fun. Make it fun. Make it fun.
What was your thought when you found out the big bad was the elder brain? Were you like, “Oh, no. There’s no chance.”
Alicia Marie: I was actually mad at myself. I was like, “Why didn’t I see that coming? Where have I been? Where was my head that I did not see this?” I do spend some time going, “There’s something there. If I can just read into their mind.” Yeah. I didn’t. I’m quite angry with myself, but I appreciate the twist. I appreciate the twist. Yeah. Keep me on my toes. Why not? I mean, I’ve gotten killed in a game before, and that was because I was tripping off and being ridiculous.
And then, Dan was like, “Oh, really? Well, there’s an arrow and now you’re stabbed to a tree. How many hit points do you have?” I was like, “11.” And, he is like, “They’re gone. You better hope you have a cleric.” So, with this one, I was like, “Well, I guess I’m going down, but I’m going down in a blaze of fireworks.”
Yes. I think you had the most epic death of the group. I also loved at the end when you’re like, “My character realizes she hates fish, so she should not have come on this journey.”
Alicia Marie: Oh, gosh. He did that on purpose. It’s like, “What the heck just happened?” Never make assumptions in this game. Oh, God! Oh, God! That was fun. I am excited to find out that the show premiered. I wasn’t really sure when it was going to, so when I found out that it was, I got really, really happy. This was exciting. It was exciting for the community, the game itself, being able to see it grow to where it is now, and that people are understanding how important just to people that creativity, fun, escapism is.
You can be an adult and it’s okay to want to do something that’s fun and silly and it’s not, “Oh, you’re not growing up.” We’re going through some tough times just in general as a whole species. So, moments where we can take to just breathe and have some fun and just generally be goofy and silly all together, priceless moments.
I completely agree. I feel like adults are too stuck in not tapping into their imagination. And, one of the things I love about D&D is it forces you to.
Alicia Marie: That’s right. And, it’s okay. And, the ones that have been playing, but secretly for years, they come out that they’ve been playing for years. When I find out some of these things, I’m like, “We’re coming out with the reality of what’s up.” We’re all just, “Yeah.” It’s like, I’m now announcing to my friends and I’m a massive nerd.”
They’re like, “We knew. When you had the Marvel Bolero on eight years ago, we knew.” That has been one of the best parts of the D&D evolution, is seeing how many people want to play and want to be a part of the community and have fun and just be creative and tell stories. And, just be safe and confident, and no one is laughing at you. No one hates your character. They hope you like their character. Yeah. Good times.
About Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!
“Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!” serves up comedic mayhem with tabletop gaming stars and celebrity guest players, including Seth Green, Anjali Bhimani, Skeet Ulrich, Sean Gunn, Mica Burton, Patton Oswalt and series co-creator Matthew Lillard. Perfect for seasoned gamers and newbies alike, every episode features an improvised, stand-alone story along with epic, hilarious character deaths
Check out our other Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! interviews:
- Matthew Lillard
- Bill Rehor, Jon Ciccolini, Charlie Rehor, and Paul Shapiro
- Matthew Lillard and Bill Rehor
- Anjali Bhimani
- Aabria Iyengar & Gina DeVivo
- Deborah Ann Woll
- Jasmine Bhullar
- Matthew Lillard on Episode 7
