T
he students of Wheaton High thought this Prom would be a night they would never forget. After one final prank, it would be the last night they would ever remember.
Intro Music: Evening of Chaos by Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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I always take such joy when you guys play high school characters. There is something endearing about playing the petty endeavours of the young and then dumping an extra helping of shit going down on top.
Great episode guys.
Loved this episode–the humor and free flow of the story were great!
This was just so perfectly, psychologically horrifying. It got into my head and made me actually nervous and worried, and a little unwilling to keep going with the episode.
Thank Cthulhu that it turned out there were werewolves to slaughter those terrifying high schoolers.
This very much felt like a spiritual successor to Shattered Reflections. The love interest being different, the opening lines practically ripped straight out of Shattered Reflections, Angela’s character being the stereotypical Southern Belle and Jesus’ character being the nerd…VERY similar to Shattered Reflections.
But that’s not a bad thing in the slightest. While I personally prefer Shattered Reflections, this story does a good job of diverging itself in many ways from Shattered Reflections so that it isn’t a straight up retelling.
I’m that nerd who hopes the Reflections come back like Mr. Ink, but at the same time, an expansion to the Billyverse mythos is always nice, and like I typed, there ARE plenty of differences in this tale that lets it stand its ground with other Billyverse stories, especially the ending. A common theme in the Billyverse tales is the dynamic, pulse-pounding ending. Whether its escaping wax creatures, trying to swim away from evil plants, trying to survive the eating frenzy of the Ink Monster, a man being told by his dead lesbian sister to kill the assholes who ruined her life and the life of her lover, or figments of a child’s imagination fighting to the end against literal nightmares, there is always this rush you get to feel.
Which is why I really, really like the final act. There is no ‘fight with Leslie’ to break her out of her rampage. There is no last stand against the pack. It’s just quiet and somber as four rightfully beaten down teens eat some snacks on the roof, followed by the ‘years later’ monologue. It’s honestly a really cool way to end the tale. Do I prefer the action of other stories? Why, yes. What’s not to love about Byron jumping out a dirigible to rescue Amelia? What joy would there be if you didn’t have members of the military gunning down bugs in the Statue of Liberty? But (and I know I am just hammering this point) the ending was simply brilliant as it just lets you soak in the carnage caused.
The ending sticks out, and in a good way, is what I am saying.
And once again, I must give kudos to Billy; the way he GMs is nothing short of badass. In practically every game Billy holds, he makes it clear in his own subtle way that ‘You may be in control of your characters, but by the end of this, things even YOU didn’t know about your characters will flatten you.’ It’s why I love Buried Memories; by the end of it, everyone is simply acting in character, yet all three of them are actively fighting against each other. There is control, there is also LACK of control.
So yes, Kudos to Billy; you are an AWESOME storyteller.
Hey Anthony!
Damn, I love getting praise like this! Not only that, but it’s clear to me that you’ve really taken your time going through the Billy-verse. Thank you! I enjoyed running them quite abit. Really, I couldn’t have ran successful games without the trust from my players.
As for Reflections, I think I should just burst your bubble… I think I’m not going to go back to them. I might -hint- at them on occasion (Like I did with the Wax game and the Ink Monster), but I think what made them fantastic was the lack of real understanding of them. However, there is a sequel in the works for one of my games. I will leave that mystery to stew in your head!
Thanks for listening!
Well, you’re welcome for the praise! But I was never expecting them to come back, mostly because, if we are going by an established ‘cannon’ (And given how some Billyverse stories transcend time to a degree, it’s not likely the ‘verse is completely connected to the point you’d see all of the stories connected in general past the Ink Monster being around the Wax creatures) there’s only one left in the ‘real’ world, and I doubt Allison (I hope I remember her name and spelled it correctly) would ever really be a villain.
Then again, Leslie wasn’t exactly a hero, so…meh.
But I just love how you always have tiny connections to the other stories in your work. It’s much like the feeling you get when you play a video game that references another video game. It sticks out, and you feel a little giddy at recognizing the reference. So when you make references to ‘His Holy Light’ in an episode meant for the Ink Monster, it’s hard for me not to crack a grin.
But I’m just rambling now. So I’ll just finish by saying I REALLY enjoy the Billyverse, and hope to see even more prom werewolves and psychotic surgeons aiming to be president in the future! With, of course, all new horrors you cook up.
Love the variety, love the work, love to watch!
I’m re-listening to old episodes of things from the podcast.
Gosh these are just a lot of fun and fairly interesting.