Podcast / Semiautomagic Inc.

Semiautomagic, Inc. is a Dresden Files flavored FATE Accelerated (Season One) and Dresden Files Accelerated (Season Two and onwards) RPG real-play podcast and the flagship program of the Theotokos Productions Podcast Network. It follows a handful of wizards, faeries, bounty hunters and others as they defend Landportlandia (a semifictional version of Portland, Oregon) from supernatural threats. It was founded in 2015, is run by C.W. Hills, produced by Dylan Spencer, and played by Dylan Spencer and Mr. and Mrs. Anthony and Jackie Moore. It can be found on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher and an archive of character sheets, supplementary materials can be found at https://semiautomagicinc.com/, it can be found on Facebook as Semiautomagic, Inc. and on Twitter as @Semiautomagi.

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"Semiautomagic, Inc." contains examples of:

Season I: The Throne Of Mists

• And I Must Scream: Implied to be the state, if not fate, of many of the patients inhabiting St. Skinner's Barre & Grylle & Hospytol, including Dr. Bismarck's brother.
• Angrish: Wake Wagner's reaction when someone refers to him as Punchy McHuge.
• Ascended Fanboy: Or rather, "Ascended Fangirl." Liz Leighton was the first and, to date, only fan to solve the Mist Array puzzle and was rewarded with the creation of an in-world character, Li'l Liz Delphi, Arcanocryptography Girl Genius.
• Badass Normal: Xavier Tangleforth Vth, like Waldo Butters before him, has no magical ability beyond that inherent to being a living human, but has become learned in the ways of the weird and outfitted himself with a number of magical weapons and converting his family's museum into a storehouse for potentially dangerous magical artifacts and paraphernalia.
• Bad Guy Bar: St. Skinner's Barre & Grylle & Hospytol, though played with in that it's creepy from the outside but is run by Actual Neil Young so he can make sure the Chirurgeons stay in the actual hospital.
• Big Bad: Oberon, styled the Lord of Mists
• The Big Guy: Wake is definitely big, definitely punching you at this moment, but also very intelligent, eager to learn and deeply emotional, problems surrounding which become a minor character theme late in the first season.
• Bilingual Bonus: 'Kuniklo' means 'rabbit' in Esperanto, and where does everyone's favorite arachnine bookmaker live? Down a rabbit-hole.
• Blood Knight: Wake Wagner is described as Blood Knight Lite, as he will enter combat instantly, wholeheartedly, with the slightest possible provocation and with a joy more pure than that of a child discovering bubble-blowing, but also has other traits and qualities and when not punching things really enjoys bowling and the cultivation of domesticated termites, though this last is admittedly a consequence of his punching addiction.
• Came Back Wrong: Sirnef the Grey Wolf, resurrected twice to fight alongside The Huntress, once as a twitchy zombie and once as a skeletal suit of armor his best friend was forcibly grafted into.
• Child Prodigy: Lil' Miss Liz Delphi is the tiniest, ass-kickingest arcanocryptographer and if you say otherwise you'll have her Uncle Salvador to deal with.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Rowan is the Last Son of the Spring Court of Faerie, and his father gave up his life to get Rowan out of Communist Russia. He then spent his youth and young adulthood murdering dark wizards for profit. Needless to say, the dude has issues.
• Deal with the Devil:
  • Solomon rejects one when The Reverend Stitch offers him the Three Eye the stable potion matrix requires in exchange for being named the sole care provider for all mentally and spiritually damaged White Council agents.
  • Rowan accepts an offer from Whipplethorpe !N'gutu Clementine Van Occupanther, Hipster King of Landportlandia, to enter into his service as Knight of the Hipster Court in exchange for removal of the foe-brand placed on his forehead by Kuniklo the Bookie that marked him as an enemy of the Libra.
• Eldritch Abomination:
  • Apocrowlypse Now, a 'magimutant featherbomination' created when a normal crow made off with Altozephyr's token.
  • Kuniklo the Bookie, a lady's torso on a giant spider body who resides in a chamber that seemingly connects betting-parlor windows across worlds, implied to be one of many.
• Eldritch Location: St. Skinner's Barre & Grylle & Hospytol is somehow an enormous building attached to the back of a tiny shack bar run by Actual Neil Young.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Each member of The Task Force, suffering the ill effects of magical deprivation degradation following The Battle Of Landportlandia receives one from a different source:
  • Fiona accepts the mantle, title and duties of Queen of the Wyldfae from Bicker and Cornflower, in turn saving their lives.
  • Rowan accepts the offer of Whipplethorpe !N'gutu Clementine Van Occupanther, Hipster King of Landportlandia, to become his Hipster Knight in exchange for breaking the Libra foe-brand that had been placed on him following the events of the Landportlandia Community Punching Center.
  • Solomon: Salvador Hernandez releases the Control Art Restriction System that had apparently contained the better part of the power and knowledge Solomon acquired in his bargain with the Morrigan, and possibly bringing him to her attention after years of successfully laying low.
• Enemy Civil War: Oberon and Damh attempted to secede from the Summer and Winter Courts and style themselves the Kings of Spring and Autumn, but their effort imploded when Damh was killed in the ensuing war.
• Exact Words: Kuniklo the Bookie holds Rowan to the exact phrasing of his bet, leading to...vigorous philosophical debate over the spirit versus the letter of an agreement.
• For Science!: Pretty much the only reason Desmond Yonwood does anything, but also a hearty chunk of Piroa's motivation
• Good with Numbers: Solomon does differential equations in his head for funsies in car rides.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Piroa Dalma usually either throws something or tosses off some sweet ranged energy-blade attacks, and Wake Wagner ain't called Punchy McHuge for nothin'.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Rowan is biologically half Spring-fae and Fiona was raised Autumn-fae, which apparently satisfies any necessary prerequisites.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Mr. Dr. Prof. Her Holiness Tentera Bismarck performs a pretty horrifying one, entrusting herself to the ministrations of the Reverend Stitch and the Chirurgeons in the depths of St. Skinner's Barre & Grylle & Hospytol to secure their aid in the assault on the Court of Mists.
• Hurricane of Puns: Honestly pretty much everybody pretty much all the time, but Casey is probably the eye of the storm.
• Informed Loner: Rowan claims to be a self-isolated loner, but it becomes apparent fairly early on that this is part of his cultivated bounty hunter mystique.
• In-Series Nickname: A few are natural and occur organically, but Casey is absolutely name-drunk and will often use names that he just thinks are pretty or cool, no matter how impossible they may be to pronounce with any regularity, and these are often mutated into easier-to-handle forms.
  • Solomon Byron & The Task Force, which is my new arena-rock klezmer band.
  • Lucky Frog for Solomon Byron himself, and for Dylan in real life.
  • Pirogi Dalai Lama for Piroa Dalma.
  • Punchy McHuge for Wake Wagner.
• Innocent Bystanders: The Task Force usually keeps casualties (if not collateral damage) pretty low, but at least one person was severely chompinated by Apocrowlypse Now! in the battle at the museum.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Moses Maimonides and Gary, the Dustup Cousins, Wake Wagner's enchanted knuckledusters.
  • Rowan’s last name is NOT Nolastnamé
• The Lancer: Rowan consistently casts his vote against what the party decides and questions Solomon's orders and fitness to lead, but only because he actually has a huge amount of respect for him, is super emotional and reads way too far into things and their implications for his and Solmon's friendship, which he deeply values.
• Last of His Kind: Rowan begins the game as the Last Son of the Spring Court of Faerie, and by the end of Season 1 Fiona is the last surviving member of the Autumn Court.
• The Leader: Solomon is nominally in charge of the task force and has the best access to resources and intel through the WC, but is easily flustered and hilariously bad under pressure.
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: Solomon is loosening up whether he likes it or not, and usually for the better. Also Piroa and Wake, to a certain extent.
• Off the Rails: Rowan, instead of admitting he phrased the terms of his bet poorly, attacks a shadowy gate and ends up in the lair of "a giant goddamn spider-lady" for his troubles
• Mad Doctor: The Reverend Stitch isn't mad exactly but certainly considers things like 'medical ethics', 'patient consent' and 'germ theory' to be secondary at best to making people...better.
• Magitek: Most of the things Desmond Yonwood comes up with, such as the Go-There Circle and the Speakeasies, would fit comfortably in this category.
• Mistaken for Romance: Fiona and Rowan; it happens only infrequently, but it's a mistake you only make once.
• Odd Friendship: Rowan and Johnny Vampire. Why the hell are they friends? Why is Johnny the ONLY person in the world Rowan seems to like? When did they meet? These are the questions that plague is when the night has come and the land is dark.
• One-Steve Limit: Heavily averted with the Brothers Dave.
• Only Sane Man: Solomon inhabits a world three full levels of realism below his own and mostly takes it like a champ.
• Opening Shout-Out: Casey will occasionally make reference to the show's intro and outro music and attempt to sing along with it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Salvador Hernandez doesn't agree with Solomon on much, philosophically speaking, but recognizes him as a powerful, competent Warden and is usually willing to trust him and render whatever aid he can to the Task Force.
• Rules Lawyer: Kuniklo the Bookie is less concerned with right and wrong and much, much more with making sure that bargains are kept, agreements are respected, balances are maintained and that all bets are honored according to their Exact Words.
• Running Gag:
  • Fiona being present for an entire conversation, contributing to it and being asked "When did you get here?!" in reply.
  • The Foundation For Diabetic, Dyslexic Child Refugees With Chronic Italianism.
  • People barfing up things they don’t remember eating the first time they travel by Go-There Circle
  • Pieces of paper/leaves that say the owner can do what they want
  • Salvador Hernandez's habitual, increasingly casual use of smoke-bombs to adjourn meetings, accompanied by proclaiming "I hereby declare this meeting disbanded!" with progressively less force and drama.
• Saving Christmas: Let's Save Jewish Christmas is a Chanukkah variant.
• Shout-Out: Possibly outweigh the show's actual original content.
  • Dark Souls: Sirnef the Grey Wolf refers to Sif the Grey Wolf, another partner to a great warrior.
  • The Dresden Files: Like the proper Dresden Files Roleplaying Game itself, Semiautomagic, Inc. takes place in a version of the Dresdenverse and so references and shoutouts are frequent and numerous, including its name, which (minus the Inc.) was a considered title for the first novel in the series, eventually named Storm Front.
  • Dune: Countless, such as the carnivorous worms summoned by Mother Harvest being referred to as Shai-Hulud.
  • Homestar Runner:
    • Desmond Yonwood's voice is described as 'The Coach Z'.
    • Dylan performs the famed Double Deuce, being the flipping off of the offending party with both hands simultaneously.
  • Final Fantasy VII: Altozephyr means 'high wind', and is a reference to Cid Highwind.
  • MC Frontalot: A verse of Stoop Sale is rapped as a description of babbling nonsense resulting from consumption of Three Eye.
  • MacGruber: Just about everyone in the team pulls of The Old Celery Trick at least once.
  • Midlake: Whipplethorpe !Ngutu Clementine Van Occupanther refers to their record The Trials Of Van Occupanther.
  • Norse Mythology: Sirnef the Grey Wolf's first name is 'Fenris', the sun and god eating giant wolf which plays a central part in Ragnarok, reversed.
  • Paranoia Agent: Season 1 echoes the show's theme of individuals being driven by desperation and despair into inescapable corners, only to be offered salvation by a mysterious, sinister outside force. Word of God says this is intentional.
  • Parks and Recreation:
    • Pieces Of paper/leaves that say ‘I can do what I want’
    • Whipplethorpe !N'gutu Clementine Van Occupanther, Hipster King of Landportlandia, refers to Derry Murbles' (Dan Castellaneta) Eagletonian opposite number August N'gutu Liebowitz-Clementine (John Hodgman).
  • Portlandia: after some back and forth between Portland, Portlandia, and Landport, the city's name finally—but flexibly—settles as Landportlandia.
  • Read or Die: Delilah Oddwater, a junior bureaucromancer, is referred to as The Paper.
  • Sailor Moon: Jackie describes Fiona’s new magic labcoat appearing as taking the form of a magical-girl transformation sequence.
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events: Salvador Hernandez is described as "a man with a beard, but no hair".
  • Twin Peaks: Sketchy Dave employs a raccoon secretary named Diane.
  • The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: a verse is tossed off as a description of babbling nonsense resulting from consumption of Three Eye
  • Welcome to Night Vale: One episode opens with a subdued, poetic intro that ends with the evening being described as filled "with a certain sense of Semiautomagic".
• Show Within a Show: Fun With Fungus, the internet's #1 fungus fun-fact filled source for the mushroom maniac, to which we are treated whenever someone forgets to beat Anthony to introducing the show.
• The Smart Guy: Piroa plays this fairly straight and will Science at most things, but is also perfectly willing to 'fuck up a middle school' and accept that sometimes the answer is just magic.
• Straight Gay: Rowan is canonically gay, just not Camp Gay, and his antisocial attitude means it just kinda doesn't come up until he begins to tacitly accept and reciprocate Xavier's flirtations.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: See: The whole gang, but especially Rowan and Solomon, but especially Rowan and Fiona, and especially Solomon and Baron Von Candyland.
• Webcomic Time: The Throne of Mists arc was recorded over the course of two years, but takes place in a debatable amount of time that's almost certainly less than a month or two.
• We Used to Be Friends: Solomon and Rowan at the end of Season 1.

Season II: Semiau2magic