Matt: Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Okay.

Calm down everybody.

Calm down.

Okay, Alison Hi.

Alison: Matt, Hello.

Did you know that in our outlines
I have titled the very first thing

that always happens "Hello, Alison."

Matt: Really?

That's Hello?

That's adorable.

I did do some homework, because here at
ADHD20, a podcast where we try to find

the intersection between ADHD and D&D,

Alison: Mm-hmm.

Matt: We often give each other homework.

Alison: Cause you know
what people with ADHD love?

Deadlines and homework.

Matt: Deadlines and homework.

Two bits, but right.

First, we're starting out by rolling
on the ADHd100 table that you

lovingly created, and I rolled a 33.

Alison: Let's go.

Let's go.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Um, what, ooh, what
book changed your life?

How is that for a
dramatic way to ask that.

Matt: Wow.

What book changed my life?

I think there's a number of
books that changed my life.

Let me think.

Okay.

I'm gonna go with one
that's a little strange.

But it is the first thing
that came to my head.

Lake Woebegon Days by Garrison Keillor.

Alison: Interesting.

Matt: Isn't that weird?

I, I, I don't, Let me think
if I can even tell you why.

I think,

I read it when I was really small.

It was, uh, my dad bought it cuz Dad was
a Garrison Keillor fan, and we used to

listen to Prairie Home Companion together.

And for those of you don't know,
Garrison Keillor is a, writer and a

teacher and was a, uh, radio show host
for decades, of a program on NPR called

Prairie Home Companion, which was kind
of, it was an improv show actually.

I saw it twice live and it, I never knew
that, that it was basically improvised.

Comedy and, and music
and all these things.

Anyway, and then he had sort of
a tragic fall because he was a

casualty of the #MeToo movement.

You know, because I think
he was a grumpy old man.

Slightly creepy, grumpy old man.

But anyway, I loved Garrison Keillor
and, uh, that book was the first time I

remember as a child reading and laughing.

And reading and crying, but not
in a bad way, like in the way

that a book could emotionally.

Alison: Move you.

Matt: Move me.

Alison: Mm-hmm.

Matt: And world building.

Honestly, to be perfectly honest.

It's very interesting because Woebegon
is supposedly in, you know, the Minnesota

area, the Midwest, mid Midwest area,
but it's, it's also a fictional town.

So, there is some cool world
building going on there.

So that's my favorite book.

Uh, one of them, at least the one
that I changed my life in some way.

Alison: I learned something new about you.

I knew about the Prairie Home
Companion fandom, um, but I did

not know that a little young Mattie
once read some Garrison Keillor and

Matt: I read a.

Alison: Kinda shaped the
storyteller that you would become,

Matt: I think I read all of his books.

I did, yeah.

He's, he's an incredible writer.

To the point where I actually thought
about going to study with him.

He was a teacher there and I was
like, I would love that, but I didn't.

Alternate Universe Matt did that.

Uh, Alison what did you roll on?

The D 100 table.

Alison: 76 trombones, let the big
parade with 110 coronets close at hand.

I, won't keep singing it though.

I could because we all know that my
brain has nothing but, uh, song lyrics.

Matt: Tell us about the last
D&D character that you built.

Alison: I guess that would be Cora,
my sweet little Storm Sorcerer.

Speaking of Matt and world building.

So back castle birthday, we kicked
off a new campaign in the world

of Tataria that Matt is creating.

My first ever character was a Sorcerer
and I really, really loved a lot of the

mechanics of that class, but because
she was my first character, I played

her not knowing how to do anything.

Um, and so I really wanted to play
the class again now with, you know,

two plus more years of experience,
uh, but in a completely different way.

I didn't mean to make my
character's name rhyme with one

of my other characters names Sora.

But here we are.

Uh, I actually picked Cora cuz
Cora is, uh, the name of one

of my great grandmothers and
I've always loved that name.

Uh, and so when I was looking up,
I knew I wanted to do something

having to do with, you know, kind of
controlling the elements in the weather.

I wanted to go that kind of
bend as opposed to the pure just

chaos and wild magic that my
first character Lavinia had been.

So I started looking up names
that meant things and then just

kind of like playing however many
degrees of separation from there.

So one of the names that I liked
in that flavor was Tempest.

And so then I started looking up
variations of the name Tempest

and Coratine, Cora for short.

Um, and then I chose sea elf because
of all the kind of traditional D&D

races I had yet to build an elf.

So I kind of wanted to lean into that.

Matt: I love that.

Alison: Yay, Cora.

Matt: Hey, Cora.

Probably disclaimer at the top of this
show, this might be a D&D heavy, uh,

version of this podcast, though I will
say it will, it definitely will touch

on a lot of ADHD at the same time.

I mean, I don't know, this might be the
one that sits the most directly in the

Alison: on it.

Matt: Let's get into it.

Alison: This episode is, is
your sweet darling brainchild.

Matt: Yeah.

Alison: So take it away.

Matt: So one of the best things about this
podcast for me, has been to get to know,

uh, what it's like to be ADHD, even if
I've lived with it all my life, just kind

of to be able to put names to symptoms.

And I know that that
sounds strange to say.

I don't know if that's
sounds sad to people.

I hope not, but I, I
mean it in a good way.

There's, there's such a freedom to like,
go on the internet and look up time

blindness, or executive dysfunction, you
know, to look these things up and just

get this, the encyclopedia of information
about this stuff and to go, Oh, right.

So there are some in particular that
sound so cool, , that I was like,

what if, what if you created spells
in the realm of Dungeons and Dragons

5e named after symptoms of ADHD.

Alison: I love it.

Matt: Because like I said, there
is a symptom called Time Blindness.

It's a real thing and it's, uh, I don't, I
don't think they know exactly what it is,

but it's, there's something missing in my
brain where, especially if Hyperfocus is

involved, and that's another spell name, I
just always think that I have enough time.

Like, I look at the clock and
it's 2:09 and I'm like, Oh, okay.

I don't have to be there
somewhere until 2:30.

So I don't have a concept of, of that
amount of time from, from 2:09 to 2:30.

to a lot of people, they can feel
the minutes go by, I'm assuming.

I have no idea.

I don't know what it's like, but . They
know that from 2:09 to 2:30, they have

this amount of time, whatever this

Alison: Time enough for
three emails and, Yeah.

Matt: Whatever it is.

They have a connection to the concept
of time enough to stop in time to

do what they need to do at 2:30.

Well, I don't have that.

Uh, and it's amazing because I think I was
a good 30 minutes late to the recording

of this because of time blindness.

Thinking that I could do this and
this and this, and this in the amount

of time that I needed before we
were going to sit down and record.

It's a real thing.

It's very frustrating.

But it does help to know what it is.

So time blindness, and then
there's Executive Dysfunction.

Right.

Or ineffective.

Executive functioning, right?

Where, that's basically just, you know,
the inability to understand priorities,

to wake up in the morning and look at
your day and be able to properly place

all the things that you need to do
in that day for the maximum amount of

satisfaction and effect and, um, success.

Alison: Can, and this really truly
is a question because I don't think

I understand enough about executive
function or dysfunction as it were.

But my understanding is that it can
also impact tangible things too.

Like looking at a room or a cluttered
desk and not really understanding

the path from where you are to, it's
clean, it's done, it's organized.

Matt: I think so, yeah, I think
that's a big part of it too.

Alison: That's where I've
run into it a lot in my life.

Like my friends, you know, will see my
house and be like, just, just clean it.

And I'm like, but like,
what do I do first?

Like, could you just, could you
just gimme like a little hint?

Cuz I don't know, I look at a messy
room and I just kind of wanna sit

down and cry and, and then ignore it.

I don't think, like, Oh, the first
thing I should do is go get a basket

and, and put all the loose items in it
and then I should take out the trash.

And, you know, I don't, my brain
just doesn't those tasks like that.

By the way, I love that you gave
a disclaimer that this was going

to be a D&D focused, non ADHD,
and what did we immediately do?

Launched into talking about ADHD.

I

Matt: think I think there has to be
context because I've chosen three

of these symptoms and I don't think,
probably not fair to call them symptoms.

I don't know what you
would actually call them.

Uh tenets of ADHD?

Alison: There you go.

Okay.

Matt: I dunno.

I have no idea.

Uh, I don't, I don't know.

And so, yeah, so, and then, and
then of course the big, big,

big one is hyperfocus, which
a lot of people could go into.

It's not necessarily only ADHD, but
it's very different for people who

have ADHD because due to executive
dysfunction, there is, there's plenty

of times that you're not focusing
on what you need to or should focus

on, and you're all over the place.

However, there's also this, symptom,
if you will, where you will start

something and you will get so sucked
into it that you can't get out of it,

which isn't also part of time blindness.

Anyway.

They all kind of, do that dance, together,
but those are the three that I chose with

their snappy names to turn into spells
for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition.

Alison: Love it so much.

Matt: I don't know what,
how do you wanna do this?

Do you wanna, do you have more to add?

Do you want me to go
through what I've got?

What are you, what are you,

Alison: Yeah, let's say I
did not get as far into my

homework assignment as you did.

I came up with kind of a scratch list.

So what was interesting to me about
this is I started this exercise of if I

were going to create Dungeons & Dragons
spells out of the tenets of ADHD, First

I went to all the bad places I went
to, you know, distraction and getting

in my own way and impulse, so then I
was like, Let me, let just, step out

of, you know, my perspective right now
and, and replant myself somewhere else.

What would be some of
the, like the buff spells?

What would be some of the good

Matt: I've got,

Alison: So, um, so yeah, so I don't
know, do you wanna read your list?

I can read my list and then we
can pick a couple that we wanna

Matt: Yeah, sure.

Alison: into?

Matt: Yeah.

Let's, let's, let's do one.

Okay.

So I'll just go through the three
that I've already described.

So I've got Time Blindness,
range 60 feet duration, one turn.

Uh, and it's a targeted
spell, Time Blindness.

And when you cast time blindness
onto a target, the target is

given a wisdom saving throw.

So, in other words, for those who don't
know what that means, this is a spell

that you can resist if cast on you.

But if they fail, they immediately lose
all concept of their placement in time.

Any time based action they're preparing,
combat, movement, et cetera, cannot

be completed on their next turn.

So with Time Blindness, I kind of
took it into a space where it's like,

basically, you lose your turn, right?

But if a spell is being cast, spell
won't go off until their next turn.

They basically lose a turn.

They just get so, confused in
time that they have to wait

for the whole turn to go.

So that's what Time
Blindness felt like to me.

Alison: love

Matt: Got Hyper Focus, which
also has a range 60 feet.

The duration is until the
target action is completed.

It's also a targeted spell.

If it cast on a willing target
or yourself, I guess, the target

gains advantage on attack or saving
throws for one turn, and then

casting time for spells are doubled.

And so Hyper Focus to me
has this buff concept.

Right?

Because, uh, but it, but again, because
it's more about time than it is ability.

So I was trying to factor in the idea
of if I am hyper-focused, it doesn't

necessarily mean I'm doing better.

You don't get like, a, a plus to
the attack, but it does mean that

you are more concentrated, right?

So I kind of thought, well, Advantage
would take care of that, right?

Advantage would take care of,
of an attack in saving throws.

And then another aspect of it is if you
cast an unwilling target, the target

has to continue the action that they're
performing when they hit the spell.

And this one's a little bit weird, like,
we could work this one out, but I was

Alison: uh,

Matt: That they, they'd be able to
save, but if they were attacking

someone else, then they would have
to attack that same person next turn.

They can't move to a different
target no matter what's happening.

if they're taking their move action, they
have to keep moving in that direction.

Again, trying to kind of lock into the
hyper focus, cuz that's all you can

do, that's all you can think about.

Right?

All right.

Alison: I love that.

Matt: And the last one
is Executive Dysfunction.

And this one's very simple.

There's a wisdom saving throw.

And if the target fails, the target
cannot perform any action except for

their bonus action if they have one.

And, uh, for those that don't play
in one turn of combat, usually

there is, three kinds of actions.

There's the combat action, there's
the movement action, and then there's

the bonus action, basically, which
can be a bunch of different things.

It can be a, dodge so they can
dodge things or it can be, um,

what are some other bonus actions?

Alison: There are certain spells
that can be bonus actions.

Like healing word is one.

Um, Everybody has the two
weapon fighting bonus action.

So anybody can wield two
simple light weapons.

Matt: right?

Alison: Um,

Matt: But I kind of took it to
the idea of like, that is the

only thing that you can do.

So you can't actually have a main action.

So if you're hit by the spell,
and you were planning on attacking

or maybe someone's attacking you
and you can't even really defend

yourself, cuz that would be an action.

And you can't move, you can't do
anything except take this bonus action.

So it would be just randomly casting
a spell or, something, you know?

And that felt like executive
dysfunction for me, because it would

be, you know, maybe the thing that's
not the priority in your life.

And those are my three.

I kind of imagine most
of them as cantrips to be

Alison: Mm-hmm.

Matt: And a cantrip is your
school level spells, right?

Like they don't do much damage
and they, um, though cantrips kill.

Alison: Matthew, cantrips Kill.

I accidentally learned in a game
not too long ago that you actually

can kill a foe with a cantrip.

Cuz

Matt: Oh yeah.

Alison: It was just a cantrip.

I was trying to kind of knock them, you
know, flat for a second, but instead

they were dead in the first round.

Oopsy.

Matt: Whoops.

Uh, so yeah, tell me about impulse?

Alison: Cast on impulse.

So one of the things that makes
Sorcerers special is they have, this

font of sorcery points that they
get to choose at various levels

what their sorcerery points do.

So Cast on Impulse, I thought maybe could
like quicken the casting time somehow.

Um, especially if it's like casting
time of, you know, ritual spells or

ones that have a one minute casting
time as opposed to a single action just

to kind of get that spell out quicker.

And then I called one Spontaneous
Performance because I do think

that sometimes we can just
kind of blurt things out.

And D&D you know, sometimes you have to
give what's called a performance check,

uh, to see were you able to deceive
them or were you able to pull off.

So I, I wonder if Spontaneous
Performance could give you some kind

of special something to, make that
check happen a little easier for you.

Maybe just an advantage
on performance checks.

And then the final one, um,
Matt's gonna get excited now.

I love

Um, my final one is actually the one
I gave the most thought to though

still not Matt level of thought.

I called it multitask, um, there are
certain spells that are, that are

concentration spells, so you can only
have one concentration spell up at a time.

So I can't cast two concentration spells.

I would have to drop the first one
in order to cast the second one.

And that's frustrating as a caster.

Or when you take damage in combat,
you have to go through what's

called a concentration check.

So I thought multitask would
allow you to have, you know, two

concentration spells up at a time.

Or typically speaking, if I have a
concentration spell up, and the, you

know, the DM knows this and, and causes
damage to me, he'll have me roll a

Constitution saving throw, and it's
either half of the damage that I just

took, or 10, whichever number is higher.

So if my Constitution score is not very
high as a caster, my charisma is I could

like swap out my performance ability
score for my Constitution modifier.

Just trying to find some ways to like
lean into the abilities over like the

natural born tendencies, if you will.

Matt: Wow.

Alison: So that's my list..

Matt: There's some really great ones in
there with some amazing mechanic concepts.

I think my favorites are definitely
multitask and spontaneous performance.

I mean, spontaneous
performance is super simple.

It's just Yeah.

advantage to performance check.

You call upon your, you know, your
ADHD power and uh, and it just

gets just a little edge because

Alison: You get to maybe either advantage
or, you know, some of them are fun

when you get to like roll an extra d4…

Matt: Or a d4.

Right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Alison: So, but I always
love an Advantage situation.

Any others now that we've started talking
through this, like come to mind of just

like kind of kindling for the bigger fire.

Matt: Yeah, I think, I think you
kind of touched on it, a little bit

somewhere in there, but, along with
Time Blindness, there is also, object

Alison: Object Permanence.

Matt: Right?

And, and, and in and in the spell form, I
would imagine that it could be something

like, if you cast it when, when a target
is close by another object, like a chair,

a table of this or that, the target.

Alison: I was gonna say, if it had some
kind of like spacial awareness implication

to whoever you're fighting they perceive
space and time differently than reality.

Uh, the other thing I could think
of for, for Object Permanence is

almost as a shield for yourself.

Like if you're not in some direct line of
sight of theirs, they forget you exist.

Right?

Matt: Ooh.

Alison: That's right.

Yeah.

It's a shield for yourself, so then
that way it's like, well, you have to be

within this space and within this angle.

Otherwise you, they can't think to turn
around behind them and fire a spell.

They're only focused on what's directly
in front of them or something like

Matt: Or, or, or even it kind of like
a subset of, uh, what's that spell?

Uh, Duplicate, or Shadow Self,
or something where it's like,

Object Permanence, ghost,
whatever it is, doesn't move.

It's simply that you get perfect evasion
without any kind of attack of opportunity,

you are still standing there, because
a person just doesn't pay attention to

Alison: It doesn't register.

Matt: That you're still right there.

Ooh, yeah.

Alison: Are you, are you writing
this down or do I need to write

Matt: Okay, I'm writing Writing down

Alison: Um, what else?

Matt: What else?

Um,

I bet there could be something, to
do with like, extreme loquaciousness.

Is that, is that a word?

Loquaciousness.

Like talking too

Alison: ness.

I would, Yes.

I was about to say,
something about interrupting

Matt: Yes.

Okay.

Right.

Oh, that's good.

That's good cuz that would also
kind of probably tie into a

counter spell -esque thing, right?

Like if you cast Interrupt
it doesn't stop the spell.

But again, like it has some
sort of mechanic where it, Yeah.

Okay.

I like that one.

Alison: How fun would it be?

Like, I know we make fun of me for
getting really frustrated really easily

with tasks that seem new, feel foreign.

Like what if there was some kind of
like frustration tolerance, where

you just like kind of implode or, or
there's some kind of dire consequence to

you getting overly frustrated in game.

Matt: I like

Alison: like explosive
frustration tolerance,

Matt: If you suffer from
explosive frustration tolerance,

See your doctor immediately.

Um, those are really good.

Yes.

Alison: One more.

Matt: Okay.

No, don't stop.

Alison: Fidget.

I think that there has to, like,
we have to be harder to hit

because of like the, the, the
fidgeting and the what, what is it?

Matt: Stemming.

Alison: Stemming.

Okay.

So we need to have some kind of like
fidget and stemming something or other,

but like, yeah, I have to be harder to
hit because I'm constantly in motion.

Matt: This is really,
this is really great.

I really, I really love this.

Alison: I do too.

This is, why when you, like when you told
me about this topic, this is why I got so

excited cuz this is such a good idea Matt.

Like, ah, it's so good.

Putting it out into the universe.

If there is somebody out there that
just wants to pay us to come up with

Matt: Yeah.

Alison: Flavored D&D spells,
we happily accept the contract

Matt: We accept.

um,

Alison: And if you, dear listener, can
think of anything that we left out or

that you'd like to add to or manipulate in
any way, my goodness, please chime on in.

Matt: Please.

Okay.

Here, let, let me just say this.

Yes, I did start this podcast today off
by saying this is gonna be very D&D heavy.

However, obviously we're speaking
from, personal experience.

I don't care whether you know any
mechanic of Dungeons & Dragons.

I don't care if you don't play
any role playing game that's

not really the point of this.

If anyone's listening to this
because they too have ADHD or, or a

loved one that does and, and thinks
about this stuff all the time.

Uh, and just think it might be fun,
we have a Patreon, you know, we

have a Patreon, and we would love
for you to, uh, be a part of it.

We have a, we have a fun Discord
channel, and, um, you actually are

helping us do this more and, and better
and spend time during our days doing

it, which is truly making us happy.

And we appreciate everybody
that is a part of that.

So, yeah.

What do you think, man?

Just come on, hang out and,
and what, what have we missed?

Which, which of these little
tenants have we missed?

Because there are plenty of them.

Alison: I can't wait to
play test these spells.

Matt: I know, I know.

Seriously.

Alison: I love it.

It's so good.

Matt: Um, okay.

Well, geez, until next time.

Alison: Over and out.

Matt: Oh, thank you for joining us.

Thank you for joining us ADHD20.

And uh, we'll see you guys next time.

Oh, we, Okay, bye.

Around near,

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