For some additional insight into your favorite D&DDT characters and players, we’re rolling out a playlist series to help capture the vibe of the folks making rolls for you every Wednesday. 

This week it’s The Franchise, Chef Jocephus Shank. You can check out all of the Tasty Boyz playlists on the official D&DDT Spotify account, or listen from the comfort of this website using the embedded playlist below.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Chef, but he still has a place in our hearts. Here’s King with the low-down on what makes him tick.

Theme From “The Dukes Of Hazzard” by Waylon Jennings

I will be honest, Chef Jocephus Shank came out of nowhere. I knew I wanted to play a support class and the Chef class looked weird and fun, but the whole southern fried cook thing was not on my radar at the beginning. Once it started to gestate in that first adventure though, I just channeled my inner Uncle Bill, a.k.a. my Uncle Beer, and from there Chef just came a-rolling out into the world.

Rusty Cage by Johnny Cash

I dug the idea of Chef being a coward in a lot of ways, but he needs that startup capital, also that he might have done some things in his past that are pretty unsavory so to speak. The beginning of an adventure, the on the road feeling of a group getting to know each other as they go off to do a job is always a part of D&D that when isn’t forced works so well. The Beard did such a good job of just throwing us into immediate peril that we galvanized as a group immediately.

Waitin’ For The Bus by ZZ Top

Getting from almost getting splatted by falling cows to flying through the air wasn’t really Chef’s bag. Once he hooks up with what would become The Tasty Boyz though, he does take some legitimate chances with his health and safety like jumping out of a gnomish hot air balloon onto goblins flying giant wasps. I just felt like it was an honest moment of him just having no other options, like being out of food in the winter, so he says ‘F’ it and takes the leap!

The Swollen Goat (In The Wake Of) by Clutch

Ah, getting on that flying ship was one of the cool moments of the early Tasty Boyz stuff because we literally just had no plan and everybody just made it up on the fly. The beauty of playing with new-to-D&D players is they have no boundaries on what they will say or do, the game is SO wide open to them. I just got caught up in their enthusiasm and it made for a good time. I mean for the love of Tasty Pete, I charmed a Smoke Mephit so I could better cook. INSPIRATION! In picking this tune I wanted to get across just how I felt a flying pirate ship mining the Elemental Plane of Air would feel. I think it works.

Watching Evil Empire Fall Apart by Electric Six

When did Chef fall for Kleatos? Well it was as they laid in spilt oil and talked about the future. Something about that moment struck me as really honest between those characters. It was this idea that for once Chef met someone who he saw that could be as important as his dreams of cooking. This also was the first moment where I knew Chef would retire at some point from adventuring. How does one follow their dream if they are afraid of dying and if you fall for someone how can you stand the idea of possibly seeing them hurt?

Dog Day Nights by Ben Nichols

In a lot of ways this is the Tasty Boyz anthem to me while Chef is with them. They are full of piss and vinegar and just going wherever the wind blows them. This idea of them bumbling into stealth missions, trying to start franchise restaurants, and potentially assassinate foreign leaders only to find they were duped strikes me as hilariously wonderful and absurd all at the same time.

Mosquito Song by Queens Of The Stone Age

I never really confirmed that Chef ate human flesh, or that he cannibalized family members to get through a terrible winter in his youth. All I said was that it was the sweetest meat you will ever know….

5-Piece Chicken Dinner by Beastie Boys

We ate Aarakocra, and they were truly delicious. Again, this was one of those moments that showed were weren’t afraid to pull some shady business when we had to.

Dirty Work by Steely Dan

Oh how we were betrayed by the Captain! I mean, sure we were planning on doing the same, but she was just way smarter about it. That moment where The Beard as Tasty Pete and Chef realized that they had been done dirty was as honest a reaction as you can get. It was great to me. This is maybe the first and only time that Chef is straight up vengeful as the Captain has threatened all he holds dear.

Farewell Ride by Beck

I thought not all of us were coming out of this fight and I was prepared to go out in a blaze of glory since the plan was so crazy. In the end, attacking a flying a ship full of battle-hardened Dragonborn, and a seasoned Air Pirate Captain went WAY better than anyone thought. This battle was full of some of the most fun and cinematic combat we’d had in a game to that point. Also the death of the Captain was perfect as Chef wasn’t going to give her ANY chance to come at us later.

Will Travel by Tim Barry

The story of the first incarnation of the Tasty Boyz starts to come to its conclusion as Chef heads off with his loot to start his first Tasty Boyz franchise restaurant and train Iago in the arts of culinary deliciousness along with Tasty Pete and good old Ronnie James.

At Last by Etta James

When we talked about doing some in-between time for characters and Kleatos (Worrier) and Digger (Orin) were going to go on an adventure, I figured it was a perfect time Chef and Kleatos to have a romantic adventure. On the Astral Plane. Because you know, D&D.

Any Colour You Like by Pink Floyd

When I think of wizardly travel between planes I think Progressive Rock, and when I think of things that are mind-bendingly beautiful from a sonic standpoint, I think of Pink Floyd. So for me this was a perfect way to wrap up Chef’s journey into another plane.

Redbone by Childish Gambino

For whatever reason this song made me think of saying goodbye, but more like hope to see you soon. That is what Chef and Kleatos have. They aren’t together on that daily basis, because Kleatos is out in the world doing his thing, and Chef is following his dream. That being said, Chef’s true dream is Kleatos being done adventuring and them living out their days with the smell of a cooking fire on them, but he knows you can’t try and tie down the wind. Instead he just wants the minotaur he loves to be safe.