Ever wondered what the job market would be like in the distant future of space travel? Warbler Audio‘s The Outer Crust has got you covered. The Outer Crust is an Actual Play, set in the Teens in Space TTRPG takes us on a journey through the world of sci-fi customer service. We follow the stories of three quirky and dysfunctional members of a pizza delivery crew as they try to make it through their shift.
Along the way, expect laugh out loud character performances, fantastic soundtracks and wacky scenarios that will no doubt be strangely familiar to anyone who’s worked in retail.
Warbler Audio were good enough to gift me the first two episodes. Read on to get my thoughts on the adventure so far and to get a taste of things to come.
The Outer Crust is a five-part series will premiere with its first episode on Wednesday October 9th, 2024, with subsequent episodes coming out each week.
These episodes will be available on Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Apple Podcasts. For more information about Warbler Audio and the services they provide, check out their website.
Story – A Blend of Fantastical Sci-Fi With the Realities of Customer Service
Every good adventure story needs an epic quest. Here, the quest is hunting down fresh pineapples to make an authentic Hawaiian pizza for a well paying client. This particular client is the Millennial Society, a historic reenactment group focused on late 20th/early 21st Century Earth. So, cue lots of references to contemporary fashion and culture!
The bridge of the team’s ship and the infinite possibilities of pizza delivery in space! Artwork by Matthew Kemp.
Their journey takes them to Colada 4 in the Tropica 7 System, outside of their usual operation zone, something which doesn’t go unnoticed by their Area Manager. Along the way they encounter unions, malfunctioning doors, passive-aggressive corporate speak and customer service scenarios from hell!
Having our crew tackle such deeply relatable scenarios in a sci-fi context was very cathartic especially for anyone who’s worked in retail or customer service. Jennifer Budd, the Game Master, took us on a particularly grueling customer service gauntlet in the second episode. Here, our heroes had to face wave after wave of unreasonable demands from incoming customers. This section made great use of Teens in Space‘s Pressure Gauge system, which increases challenges until the crisis has been averted.
I also really appreciated all the world building that had gone into this production, both pre-planned and improvised. World building is a key part of Teens in Space, and The Outer Crust really treats us on that front. Together, the cast built a ship with lots of quirky features. These included peculiar malfunctions, an incredibly detailed kitchen and greenhouse as well as a maybe sociopathic onboard computer. Also, there was mention of an event called The Delivery Wars? I’m very interested to learn more about that!
Jenny’s descriptions of characters and places are both exotic and deeply familiar instantly giving you a sense of where you are and who you’re seeing. I also appreciated the sheer quantity of puns and references here, from the Area Manager, Mana Gement to the ship’s AI, CALZ-1. Spell it out letter by letter and it’ll make sense!
Characters & Performances – Quirky Characters Anyone Who’s Working In Retail Would Root For!
The Outer Crust is a very easy show to enjoy, mostly because of how much fun the cast are having playing Teens in Space with their distinctly not-teenage characters.
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- Matthew Kemp is Alan, the high functioning robot pizza chef.
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- Alex Brennan-Dent is Sprocket, the rusty old war bucket.
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- Beth Smith is Stella, the accidental Axolotl who’s accidentally in customer service.
We have Matthew Kemp playing Alan, the spherical, and kitchen proud, Pizza robot. Hearing the dedication and detail with which he described his kitchen and greenhouse was an absolute joy. As well as cooking and organization, Alan’s strengths also include not taking crap from customers or management. Hearing him annoy customers into leaving him alone and pushing back against Mana Gement’s thinly veiled threats was truly vindicating!
Beth Smith plays Stella, the ship’s world weary pilot. Stella is a classic doesn’t want to deal with people, but has to deal with people archetype. As she faces the trials of the day, you can hear just how done she is with everything and it is very cathartic.
Meanwhile Alex Brennan-Dent plays Sprocket, a rusty old analogue robot complete with an in built fax machine and a distrust of anything modern. Sprocket’s confusion at most of the things that are happening around him proves endlessly entertaining. Over time, Sprocket seemed to develop more and more into a war veteran, so I’m interested to see where that goes.
Also making a brief appearance as Mana Gement was Oliver Moore, the producer of Warbler Audio. Olie beautifully captured the character of someone with a mastery of corporate jargon and mock friendliness. I’m hoping Mana Gement will reappear later in the series, perhaps to dress down the crew or to impose a corporate away day!
All of these characters, and the environments, are brought to life even more by the accompanying artwork by Matthew Kemp.
The cast clearly have a great time bouncing off each other and world building, really playing into what makes Actual Play such a vibrant and creative medium.
Sound Design – Just Spot on Sci-fi Sound Effects and Original Music
Olie has a wealth of experience in sound design and audio production, which really shows in these episodes. He has previously worked with other top quality Actual Play productions. These include Realms of Peril & Glory, Rotating Heroes Podcast, Shrieking Wizard co and Rowan, Rook and Decard Audio.
Throughout the episodes, audio effects blended seamlessly into the action. These effects really helped make the antics of the cast come to life. These effects ranged from hopping on an interstellar group chat to aggressively malfunctioning doors. From artificial voices to a pair of goggles twanging onto a robot’s head.
An incredible amount of thought and effort has gone into creating some of these unique effects. For behind the scenes on some of these effects, you can check out the reels on Warbler Audio’s Instagram.
The Outer Crust also boasts a unique musical score which you can get a sample of in the show’s trailer. Olie did a great job of creating tracks that have a distinctly upbeat synth-y, sci-fi feel. The music gives the character of the show right from the get go; fun, wacky sci-fi comedy. The music sets the scene throughout, from sitting through a video chat with Mana Gament to chilling out on Colada 4.
Oliver Moore (bottom left) and Jennifer Budd (right) joined forces to create Warbler Audio, a creative studio specializing in Actual Play production.
Editing and Pacing – Bringing the Hectic Day of an Interstellar Pizza Company to Life
Throughout these two episodes, there was a nice blend of action with quality time for character development and world building. This was achieved through a mixture of Jenny’s running of the game and Olie’s sharp editing.
After player introductions we were straight into the action with ship malfunctions interrupting some quality downtime. This quickly gave us a sense of the player characters as they spring into action. Or not as the case may be. From then, the players introduce their characters and the ship more formally.
The Outer Crust really leans into the strengths of the Teens in Space system. The episodes allowed exploration of the game’s world building and indulging the system’s fast, punchy action. Nowhere is this pacing more apparent than the previously mentioned customer service gauntlet devised by Jenny using the game’s Pressure Gauge system.
Whilst the pacing allowed for some quality time for chatting things out, I felt there wasn’t any dead time. There was always some focus, crisis or objective for the cast. Between the calls from NPCs and the quest to track down the illusive pineapple, there was always something keeping me engaged as a listener.
Be sure to keep an eye of Warbler Audio as The Outer Crust‘s five-part season releases from October 9th. Also, if you are in need of audio production support, they are open for business!
