The Mana Pool

For the last episode of 2025, the dorks (except Dirk) spend an entire episode inadvertently discussing a lot of nostalgic stuff. It kicks off with GI Joe movies and Ghostbusters lore (with some Dave Coulier thrown in, for some reason?). Then we move into video games for the majority of the show, pitching ideas for applying a randomizer to old games, point & click adventure game Moon Logic, smashing franchises and generations of games together, inserting roguelikes, and other tangential nonsense as usual. Be sure to let us know what old video game franchise you'd wish they'd put into a collection. Thanks to everyone for being with us this year! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.

Welcome to Supply Lines, a running feature here on TMP where the dorks will be looking at resource management in games. What games? All games, because Chewie is convinced that they're all just different styles of resource management dressed up in genre pants. This is the third Supply Lines episode, and the second about the most popular tabletop RPG of all time, Dungeons & Dragons. On the first one in episode 736 we covered all the resources involved in character creation (well, most of them). Now it's time to get into combat! We're talking about all the different things that you have available and have to juggle to make combat happen! Let us know about something crazy you did in combat by managing your resources in a weird or unexpected way!   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDe

The dorks are discussing the different types of vehicular transporation you can find in video games. From the cutscene/background only vehicles to the ones that essentially are the player, we're covering as many as we can think of, with plenty of suggestions from the TMP Discord (see, that's why you should totally join!) to round us out. Be sure to let us know what your favorite vehicle is!   Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE

The dorks continue checking out the Avatar set! And it's just after Chewie's 45th birthday! What is going on here? Where is the Avatar? What happened to my cabbages? Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/avatar-the-last-airbender/card-image-gallery  Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE

Yup, the dorks are looking at the Avatar: The Last Airbender set. And it's our 18 year anniversary! Holy crap! Mechanics: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/avatar-the-last-airbender-mechanics Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/avatar-the-last-airbender/card-image-gallery  Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE

The dorks (except Mike) get together to discuss what we've been playing lately along with a bit of personal nonsense. You know how it is, we're dorks and we're just chatting! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com

Since it's Halloween time the dorks thought they'd get into the spirit of things by telling you all about some spooky stories. These come from folklore, our childhood, the bookstore, and the internet, and all of them spooked us, or unsettled us, or at the very least just stuck with us, and we want to share them with you. We also got several suggestions from the TMP Discord, which you should totally join too! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.c

Welcome to Supply Lines, a running feature here on TMP where the dorks will be looking at resource management in games. What games? All games, because Chewie is convinced that they're all just different styles of resource management dressed up in genre pants. This is the second Supply Lines episode, after starting with Magic: The Gathering (for obvious reasons) in episode 723. For this one we decided to go to one of the most hardcore examples of resource management in games, Dungeons & Dragons! Chewie has been playing Baldur's Gate 3 and the other dorks actually play D&D, so they've all got stuff to say. This episode focuses on all the resources you have to manage for character creation, which is surprisingly a lot to the point it can be absolutely overwhelming to new players. We'll discuss every aspect of it we can think of and cover why the limitations and restrictions are good actually. Along the way we'll get sidetracked several times, as is our wont. Let us know what's your favorite part of chara

On this fictional episode of The Mana Pool, the dorks are taking a look at books that don't actually exist. Whether they're macguffins that drive the story, plot points that provide exposition or power to the protagonists (or antagonists), or a self-referential meta thing that makes your head hurt, fictional books have been important in fiction across all kinds of genres and mediums, and we're going to talk about a whole mess of them! What's your favorite fictional book, whether we did or didn't cover it in the episode? Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro &

The dorks dive back into the Spider-Man (and the Through the Omenpaths digital nonsense version) Magic set to pick out a mess of cards to talk about. As usual with Universes Beyond stuff, we're talking about what the cards do and what they represent from the source material. Radioactive spider blood! Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE

The dorks swing over to both the Spider-Man set and the Arena non-Spidey version at the same time to discuss what the new set looks like. Spider-Man mechanics article - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/spider-man-mechanics Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE

The dorks called an audible this week, so here's the Dorks Just Chatting that resulted. We're all over the place this week, talking about Weird Al, how AI art isn't art and how AI just sucks in general, Brian's long-forgotten first RPG waaaay back on the NES, how Chewie has been playing two classic game compilations, a few weird combat encounters in games new and old, the release of Silksong after all this time, and ACL repair. Hope you all enjoy as much as we did! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com

The dorks take on the existence of creatures that science doesn't support, known as cryptids. We're picking out some of them to talk about in a bit more depth, explaining what they are and why they probably don't exist. If there are any more weird stuff topics you want us to talk about be sure to let us know! Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE

The dorks head back into the Edge of Eternities gallery, poking around at cards in the set that are neat and tripping into tangents along the way. After a while we pause our gallery perusal and start discussing some of the potential ramifications of EoE and its setting and mechanics. Will we be coming back to the Edge in the future? Will spaceships (or other things to Station) become as ubiquitous as vehicles? Does this mean more sci-fi Universes Beyond will be coming up? It's just a good old-fashioned dork discussion, so let us know what you think! Edge of Eternities Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/edge-of-eternities/card-image-gallery Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Em

The dorks return to take their first (and possibly only) look at Edge of Eternities! Because of real life we haven't actually seen terribly much of the set, so a lot of this will be our first reactions to some of the more spicy cards that Twitch chat suggested. At the end, Mike & Chewie sorta forgot they hadn't ended the episode and moved to the Odds & Ends, so you get a good amount of Baldur's Gate 3/D&D talk. And we're not sorry! Edge of Eternities mechanics - https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/edge-of-eternities-mechanics Edge of Eternities Gallery - https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/edge-of-eternities/card-image-gallery Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: disco

With Brian still on a boat, the remaining dorks return to just talk about whatever comes to mind! We touch on the recent celebrity deaths before heading into video games we've been playing lately. We spend a fair amount of time on Baldur's Gate 3 since two of us have been playing it (and it's really freakin' good). We complain about Windows 11 hardware requirements too, because that's capitalist nonsense. From there we wander for a while, hitting Stranger Things, being inundated with Star Wars & Star Trek shows, really bad scenes in otherwise not horrible films, and Brussels sprouts. We end the episode by circling back to Baldur's Gate, discussing getting old, and some random DoorDash nonsense. Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPS

The dorks are looking back at their years of playing video games and choosing some of their favorite weapons to share! Sometimes it's for the wow factor, sometimes it taught a valuable lesson, sometimes it's just iconic, and sometimes it's so silly that it is permanently memorable. What are some of your favorite weapons in games, and why? Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com

The dorks couldn't settle on a topic for this week, so we turned to our Discord community of Pooligans for some ideas! We're answering three excellent questions on this episode, ranging from relatively simple to "gaining a deeper understanding of how the dorks' minds work" so we hope you enjoy! Thanks to chfuji and Violet Moon for the questions! If you have any questions or topics you'd like the dorks to tackle in the future, be sure to let us know! I've finally started a list of all the ideas and topics and suggestions and we'll be pulling from it whenever we can. Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch. Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP TMP Streams Archive: youtube.com/@TMPStreams Twitch: twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheMa

Most of the dorks are back! This week we're talking about world events that happen every four years...for some reason? Then Chewie talks about taking two teenagers, one of whom had not ridden a roller coaster, to Carowinds to ride roller coasters! After all of that of course we have to talk about the Final Fantasy Prerelease because ALL OF US WENT! Dirk & Mike talk about their decks, while Chewie takes over talking about how Brian & Sam did. Great fun was had by all. From there, Chewie goes into why he's less interested in Magic these days, but how thinking critically about it for all those years has stirred a deep interest in how elements of game design come together in all the games he plays. Then we devolve into the usual nonsense, like GYATT and D&D and Skyrim and how there weren't any good Jasons back in the day. Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: htt

The dorks return to finish up with the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set! Along with the usual tangents and distractions, of course. It is still us after all. Card Image Gallery: https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/final-fantasy/card-image-gallery Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: https://themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: www.youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP Twitch: www.twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Instagram: TheManaPool Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE