A key feature of Numenera is the GM Intrusion. With this mechanic, the GM offers a player an XP point to allow the GM to intrude on the current scene – in a way that often leads to more complications for the party. In that spirit, we include a segment called Player Intrusions in each episode. A Player Intrusion is a topic that a player would offer listeners an XP to check out.

In Episode 2 (air date April 15, 2020), Alex Finn chose to speak about Pets. This blog post expands on her comments, transcribed here:

Daniel [GM] 57:42
What would you give our listeners an XP to experience?

Alex [ChaCha] 57:47
Animals, more specifically pets. But don't go out and buy a pet just because you want the XP, because that's not how pets work.

Daniel [GM] 57:58
What's awesome about pets?

Alex [ChaCha] 58:00
Right now, like my chubby, chubby dog, she is so happy to go on car rides. I tricked her to go on a car ride to the vet and she was just so dumb and happy to be in the car and she wanted to sit in my lap while I was driving, and she's just a sweet ball of love until you betray her trust in a reveal yourself to be a vet. She was so excited to meet new people until she found out they were vet techs. And then she's like, "Oh, hell no."

I had to know more, so I cornered Alex on Discord and asked her the hard questions.

Q: Tell us more about your chubby, chubby dog. (Name, breed, age, whatever).

A: Stellaluna, a.k.a. Stella, a.k.a. Babadook, a.k.a. Baba, about two years old and a "mixed breed" - also known as a pocket pittie.

Q: Do you have other pets? If so, what kind of pets and what’s the best thing about each of them?

A: My mom has a dog named Guinness who is a Wheaton Terrier and best thing is how excited they get when you get home.

Q: What is your favorite pet memory?

A: This sounds weird, but when I was a kid my older brother and I would dress our family dog up in my little brother's clothes and send her outside to greet him. She would get so excited she would pee the shorts she was wearing and we would just hear "Honey, no!"

Q: Do you have a pet cause or charity that you’d like to shout out?

A: I really enjoy rescues in general, all my family dogs have been rescues and they have been a really positive experience for our family. Yeah, they might have anxiety issues or be a little too food-motivated, but they bring a lot of joy and love into our lives. So do your research first, but please adopt and not shop.

Coming soon: Player Intrusion #3: Li Ziqi with Sampson Davis.

As always, you're invited to check out Explorers Wanted, our actual play Numenera podcast.