The McElroy Family Podcasting Empire: MBMBaM, The Adventure Zone... (cont.)

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Rapidly Going Deaf > The McElroy Family Podcasting Empire: MBMBaM, The Adventure Zone... (cont.)

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Stroop There It Is: Mar 11, 2012

The whole "rolling a 1 is a critfail" thing is only actually a rule for attack rolls (in which case it just automatically fails, not even necessary that something extra bad happens) and death saves (a 1 counts as 2 failures), it's just a super common optional rule to use 1s on other checks as "super bad and not just a regular failure" because it's entertaining. That means it's a DM judgement call for when it should just be a fail (like you don't learn anything new on an investigation roll), or whether something dramatically and/or hilariously bad should happen (like you learn something actively incorrect on an investigation roll).

e: :goonsay:

# ? Feb 17, 2021 22:49

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# ? May 28, 2024 02:07

Blockhouse: Sep 7, 2014; You Win!

People being shocked at Texas not having pipe insulation reminds me of when I moved to the Pacific Northwest and asking "what do you mean every place doesn't have AC by default what do you do in the summer" for my roommate to reply "Oh it doesn't get that hot here"

That June, heatwave of 100+ degrees for multiple days

# ? Feb 17, 2021 23:00

eke out: Feb 24, 2013

Stroop There It Is posted:

The whole "rolling a 1 is a critfail" thing is only actually a rule for attack rolls (in which case it just automatically fails, not even necessary that something extra bad happens) and death saves (a 1 counts as 2 failures), it's just a super common optional rule to use 1s on other checks as "super bad and not just a regular failure" because it's entertaining. That means it's a DM judgement call for when it should just be a fail (like you don't learn anything new on an investigation roll), or whether something dramatically and/or hilariously bad should happen (like you learn something actively incorrect on an investigation roll).

e:

yeah, I think in practice it's often an external/internal thing: it's easy to imagine interesting narrative consequences for a big failure at stealth or at persuasion or acrobatics, but it's more of a stretch to uhhh misremember your history class so badly it actively hurts you?

that kind of critical failure on more internal checks about what your character knows and feels can be really obnoxious and punishing, considering it's not in the rules at all

# ? Feb 17, 2021 23:00

more falafel please: Feb 26, 2005; forums poster

Blockhouse posted:

People being shocked at Texas not having pipe insulation reminds me of when I moved to the Pacific Northwest and asking "what do you mean every place doesn't have AC by default what do you do in the summer" for my roommate to reply "Oh it doesn't get that hot here"

That June, heatwave of 100+ degrees for multiple days

My coworkers in Orlando weren't sure if their apartment had heat or not.

# ? Feb 17, 2021 23:19

inferis: Dec 30, 2003

Blockhouse posted:

People being shocked at Texas not having pipe insulation reminds me of when I moved to the Pacific Northwest and asking "what do you mean every place doesn't have AC by default what do you do in the summer" for my roommate to reply "Oh it doesn't get that hot here"

That June, heatwave of 100+ degrees for multiple days

What they mean is �I�ve lived here long enough to remember when we didn�t need a/c in the summer�. It hasn�t been like that since maybe 2007 though.

# ? Feb 17, 2021 23:56

VaultAggie: Nov 18, 2010; Best out of 71?

dantheman650 posted:

I'm still listening to Graduation but it's really testing the years of goodwill carried on from Balance. A small but critical moment that I think encapsulates the issues with Graduation was in the most recent episode when Justin said something about wanting to try some deception and Travis said "Well, that's not really the Firbolg's thing" and moved right along. Travis should just write a radio play or a graphic novel or a book or whatever. He clearly has no interest in letting the players guide the story whatsoever. Griffin could be rigid at times as well, but he was at least skilled at making it seem like the players had agency.

If you�re not enjoying it, tap out and wait for next campaign. I gave up a while ago at the suggestion of this thread, and don�t regret it.

# ? Feb 18, 2021 01:41

Previa_fun: Nov 10, 2004

Mr Phillby posted:

The Firbolg literally can't lie though and that was travis commenting on a suggestion that travis himself made not shooting down Justin's idea. Justin came up with another action unprompted afterwards.

Similarly the 'critical failure' that upset that other poster was on a insight check on a magic item. They rolled because it revealled the nearest escape route but it indicated a different door to the one they were execting. Yeah they rolled a 1 but that just meant they couldn't tell what was wrong with their planned escape route so they used the other door which the magic item showed them was fine to use.

Its okay to not enjoy something you don't need to find nitpicky 'dm mistakes' to justify it. 'I would enjoy a more engaging plot' is fine if you feel that way.

Strong avatar saying the post energy here.

# ? Feb 18, 2021 02:47

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Previa_fun posted:

It got down to -11 this morning and all the faucets in our built in 1973 house still ran what kind of lovely builder grade mcmansions are they throwing up down there in Texas

Apparently a lot of buildings down there are literally not built with the concept of cold temperatures in mind as a possibility for a thing that can happen.

Stroop There It Is posted:

The whole "rolling a 1 is a critfail" thing is only actually a rule for attack rolls (in which case it just automatically fails, not even necessary that something extra bad happens) and death saves (a 1 counts as 2 failures), it's just a super common optional rule to use 1s on other checks as "super bad and not just a regular failure" because it's entertaining. That means it's a DM judgement call for when it should just be a fail (like you don't learn anything new on an investigation roll), or whether something dramatically and/or hilariously bad should happen (like you learn something actively incorrect on an investigation roll).

e:

Skills just don't crit at all, on a 20 or a 1. What even is a History crit? You bore the goblin to death?

5e just removes a lot of penalties across the board. It's the most power-fantasy D&D has ever been. Most races don't have any negative stats or attributes (there's a few with bigger drawbacks like Kobold but they're very much the exception) and while there's certain optimal ways to min-max, the only way your character won't keep up with the party is if you intentionally make a bad one on purpose. Most of the old mechanics to punish or limit PCs has been removed.

Does this make for good radio? I don't listen to any D&D actual plays anymore but they all seem to be doing fine without me.

Grunch Worldflower fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Feb 18, 2021

# ? Feb 18, 2021 15:13

um excuse me: Jan 1, 2016; by Fluffdaddy

I like the idea that a crit perception or investigation breaks the fourth wall regardless of what you're doing.

*Rolls 20 on investigation*

DM: "Okay not only did you figure out that this door is trapped, to your horror you come across the realization that there are huge celestial beings guiding your fate around you while they eat pizza and find ways to gently caress up my carefully developed adventure."

# ? Feb 18, 2021 15:28

SpacePig: Apr 4, 2007; Hold that pose.
I've gotta get something.

https://twitter.com/TheZoneCast/status/1362402344428851201

I think both Griffin and Justin are without power.

# ? Feb 18, 2021 15:30

Warbird: May 23, 2012; America's Favorite Dumbass

SpacePig posted:

I think both Griffin and Justin are without power.

Some perverse part of me wants them to not be able to record for a few more days so Monday�s episode is just Travis by himself completely uncut and unchained. Somehow we will still get a munch squad.

ngl, Travis doing a solo episode of nothing but reading fast food releases would be pretty funny

# ? Feb 18, 2021 15:50

eke out: Feb 24, 2013

https://twitter.com/JustinMcElroy/status/1362379603134861313

this is the content i am craving

# ? Feb 18, 2021 16:14

SpacePig: Apr 4, 2007; Hold that pose.
I've gotta get something.

eke out posted:

https://twitter.com/JustinMcElroy/status/1362379603134861313

this is the content i am craving

I imagine this going very much like the Al Roker interview, only stretched for an hour.

# ? Feb 18, 2021 16:17

poor life choice: Jul 21, 2006

um excuse me posted:

I like the idea that a crit perception or investigation breaks the fourth wall regardless of what you're doing.

*Rolls 20 on investigation*

DM: "Okay not only did you figure out that this door is trapped, to your horror you come across the realization that there are huge celestial beings guiding your fate around you while they eat pizza and find ways to gently caress up my carefully developed adventure."

I thought that it was a common houserule that hitting at nat 20 for perception or investigate makes your character levitate and murmur the Godword while white-hot beams emit from your eyes directly at whatever the DM wanted you to see???

e: oh this isn't the DND thread but you know what, it's fine

# ? Feb 18, 2021 16:19

Party Boat: Nov 1, 2007; where did that other dog come from

who is he

I like the Lasers and Feelings rule that a crit means you get to ask the DM a question that they must answer truthfully

# ? Feb 18, 2021 16:30

trilobite terror: Oct 20, 2007; BUT MY LIVELIHOOD DEPENDS ON THE FORUMS!

Grunch Worldflower posted:

Skills just don't crit at all, on a 20 or a 1. What even is a History crit? You bore the goblin to death?

the dean of the nearest university dies suddenly and you are magically bound to take his job

you must spend the rest of the game balancing your quest and your duties to your new employer

if you get tenure before the quest is completed you get a permanent +500 gold pieces at the start of every turn deposited into your chest and you no longer have to answer any messages from your party members

# ? Feb 18, 2021 16:42

eke out: Feb 24, 2013

SpacePig posted:

I imagine this going very much like the Al Roker interview, only stretched for an hour.

so very good? i agree

# ? Feb 18, 2021 16:42

Srice: Sep 11, 2011

eke out posted:

https://twitter.com/JustinMcElroy/status/1362379603134861313

this is the content i am craving

I've always felt that Travis would make for a great HH guest but I'd also be down with seeing all of the brothers at once. Really hoping this happens!

# ? Feb 18, 2021 16:59

The Modern Leper: Dec 25, 2008; You must be a masochist

Grunch Worldflower posted:

Skills just don't crit at all, on a 20 or a 1. What even is a History crit? You bore the goblin to death?

Game derail (call it a Besties sidetrack), but this is one thing that I really enjoyed about GOTY candidate Disco Elysium. Maxing out on anything carries risk, and being maxed out on things like Logic and Encyclopedia means that your internal monologue is completely jammed up with irrelevant minutiae.

The Modern Leper fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Feb 18, 2021

# ? Feb 18, 2021 19:14

um excuse me: Jan 1, 2016; by Fluffdaddy

Griffin just posted about his week on Facebook

Griffin McElroy posted:

Before I get into this, I want to stress that me and my family are doing okay. Our home has had power restored, we have enough food to make it through the week, we are healthy, safe and in the grand scheme of things, very fortunate.

I don’t know that most people understand how truly dire things are in Texas right now. This is the worst winter storm in the state’s recent history, with the longest stretch of sub-freezing temperatures in the state’s whole history. Nearly every part of our infrastructure isn’t built to handle this.

Texas is on its own power grid, which, along with the various power generators that supply it, doesn’t strictly enforce winterization regulations. This is by design. Why waste money on winterizing our power plants for a once in a lifetime freeze like this? (Short answer: Because it has happened before, in 2011, and will happen again, and again, and again.) Generation across the board – and mostly in frozen gas and coal lines, not solar and wind as Greg Abbott claimed on Hannity – crashed when the storm hit.

How bad was the differential between power generated and power required? Speaking for Austin, it meant that every neighborhood that wasn’t on the same circuit as a hospital, fire station or other essential building lost power. Those outages were meant to cycle between neighborhoods every 15 to 45 minutes, giving folks enough power to keep homes heated, phones charged, food refrigerated, etc. This did not happen, because after the outages hit, there weren’t any neighborhoods on non-essential circuits with power to cycle to. 15 to 45 minute outages on Sunday night were now expected to go until Monday afternoon.

Then Monday night. Then Tuesday afternoon. Then Wednesday morning. And so on.

Yesterday seemed to be the point where, in Austin at least, a critical mass of neighborhoods started to come back online. But still, across the city and state, there’s still hundreds of thousands of people who haven’t had power since Sunday, in the middle of below freezing (and occasionally single digit) temperatures, hanging tough in Texas homes that aren’t the most fiercely insulated and winterized themselves. Don’t count out the lack of endemic knowledge about getting through a freeze like this. So many folks are seeking information in neighborhood Facebook groups about how to shut off water, utilize generators, and generally stay warm without power.

(Note that all that applies to folks who have reliable shelter to stay in – to people experiencing homelessness, the storm has been a threat to their lives from minute one. Austin has expanded its shelters and warming centers and converted its metro system into transportation for folks to get to those shelters, but the danger to those folks’ lives is unimaginable.)

So, no power, no heat. We toughed it out for a couple of nights, but after the temperature inside of our house hit 30 degrees, we bugged out to a friends’ house. Our family started calling around to find hotel lodging for us, and lucked out in finding an open room at a hotel downtown. Again, very fortunate, as every hotel in the area was either completely booked or without power.

We barely got there. Our house is in a hilly neighborhood, and after attempting a few routes that were too steep and slick to navigate, we managed to reach the flatter parts of town. That’s another infrastructural failure: Austin doesn’t have a wide-reaching de-icing system. I-35 was cleared, and parts of downtown were, but that’s it. Our other highways were sheets of ice, and neighborhood to neighborhood, things were unnavigable. Folks in our neighborhood group were sharing intel on which roads had sufficient tracks to drive on, and which ones were simply inaccessible.

No clear roads means no post service, no trash pickup, no ability to get repair workers or city utility departments to your house – which so many people, including us, need right now – and, worst of all, a shortage of restocking deliveries to grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, etc.

Our hotel ran out of food after the first night. Virtually every business downtown was closed, save for a single CVS a few treacherously icy blocks away. I got there right at opening and waited in a line around the block for two hours. (It was genuinely nice to talk to the other folks in line, as they were very kind and going through similar stuff, and also I haven’t talked to strangers like that in a year thanks to COVID, which is also definitely still happening and wasn’t really top-of-mind for all these folks huddled up in line out in the cold.)

Once inside said CVS, there was plenty of certain important things – baby supplies and medicine, for example – but the grocery section had been quite literally picked clean. I stocked up on essentially old Valentine’s Day candy and baby food (for Henry, who is not a baby but has been such a trooper through all this) and headed back to the hotel.

The food shortage is catastrophic. Only a few grocery stores have been opening with extremely limited schedules. Produce aisles, stable foods, canned foods – anything you might conceivably be able to prepare and eat without power – are just gone. As of yesterday, our usual grocery store hadn’t had a shipment since the previous Friday. Hopefully other stores have fared better.

So, no power, no heat, no safe roads, no food.

Yesterday morning, we made plans to try and make it back through the hills to our home, as our smart thermostat was online, signaling that our house had gotten power back. We packed up and skidded our way home, and walked in to find that, despite leaving faucets on to prevent it, a pipe in our attic had burst, flooding our bedroom, bathroom and two closets and knocking out a pretty big chunk of our ceiling.

In our neighborhood group alone, I’ve seen reports from a few dozen people just last evening who are going through the same thing. All took similar precautions, but when power was restored, their water heaters spun up and put too much pressure on their plumbing. Water cleanup services and plumbers can’t reach our neighborhood, and even if they could, they’re all booked up into next week (at the very earliest). I can’t imagine how many people are experiencing similar flooding, but I’d guess it’s a whole lot of people.

The cherry on top is that last night, a water boil advisory went into effect, as the central treatment plant lost power yesterday, meaning there wasn’t enough clean water being generated to meet the city’s demands. Some hospitals are now operating with little to no water. Homes fortunate enough to have power and running water can boil enough to get by. Homes like ours without water but with power will have to boil snow or borrow unboiled water from neighbors. That leaves a third group, whose plight I saw summarized last night as: How are we supposed to boil water that’s not coming out of our pipes with power we don’t have?

That’s the situation Thursday morning. My family is safe. Our house has power and heat, and the food we had the foresight to put outside once the power stayed off for a day is still safe to eat. We have a few bottles of water and have been boiling snow to flush the one toilet that’s not in a flooded room, so we’ll probably have to find a neighbor who will let us fill up some empty bottles with tap water for us to bring home and boil pretty soon. The soonest we’ve found a plumber to get out here is Tuesday, so we’re in that particular boat for the long haul.

Full stop: This is happening because of the state’s outright refusal to prepare for extreme weather emergencies or enforce winterization regulations that would protect our essential utilities. After the 2011 freeze that knocked Texas out in a similar fashion, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation issued a report citing the state’s failure to enforce winterization policies with the major players on its power grid. The report outlined best practices – it didn’t mandate any legal requirements to be upheld by Texas power companies, leaving it up to the power companies to decide whether or not to winterize. Long story short, they didn’t.

This is going to happen again unless Texas stops treating this kind of oversight less like a socialist power grab and more like what it actually is: A way of protecting the state’s vital utilities and, by extension, it’s people. Greg Abbott wasted no time going on Fox to paint this scenario as the wages of the Green New Deal, so like, I’m not optimistic that our leaders are going to take away any valuable lessons from this whole thing. But that all depends on how we remember the severity and danger of these times, which we are very much not all the way through yet, and how we hold the folks who could have done something to protect us against it but didn’t accountable.

As terrible as things have been, I do want to say that seeing my community, both local and outside the city, come together to help one another has been a genuinely life-changing thing. From my family and co-workers who canvassed the city to find us a hotel, to our friends who let us come warm our bones and borrow a Shop Vac to clean up what we could of our flood, to the neighbors who helped us figure out how to shut off our water, navigate our roads and secure drinking water for the days ahead, to the young couple in line at CVS who provided the first pleasant conversation with strangers I’ve had in a year, to my circle of friends who’ve provided one another moral support as we navigate everything – I mentioned before we were fortunate for getting our power back on, but the lion’s share of my gratitude goes out to the people in our lives who have helped us every step of the way.

If you're able, please consider donating to support the various orgs that are currently helping people in the state. Here's a list of groups providing cold weather support to people experiencing homelessness in Travis County, for starters: https://www.austinecho.org/pit-2021-alternatives/

# ? Feb 18, 2021 20:15

AndrewP: Apr 21, 2010

boiling snow. gently caress me that's grim

# ? Feb 18, 2021 21:12

LazyMaybe: Aug 18, 2013; oouagh

mmm some nice crunchy boiled snow fleas

# ? Feb 18, 2021 21:58

Waffleman_: Jan 20, 2011; I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna!!!

He said he was boiling the snow to flush his toilet, not to drink

# ? Feb 18, 2021 22:10

Ariong: Jun 25, 2012; Get bashed, platonist!

Yeah, for drinking water they're bringing bottles over to the house of a neighbor with intact pipes, filling them up with tap water, bringing it back home, and boiling it to get rid of any contaminants.

Christ.

# ? Feb 18, 2021 23:04

Shinjobi: Jul 10, 2008; Gravy Boat 2k

Yeah I got real lucky with having a family friend about 30-40 minutes away, and supremely blessed with relatively clear highway to get there. Residential roads are a complete gamble, grocery stores (if they're open) have little supplies, and when you're not trying to crash yourself you have idiots in vehicles thinking it's safer than it really is.

It's the worst winter event I've seen in this state in my 32 years of life here, and it never really hit me until I walked into my friends place with no shortage of heating or power (he's a couple blocks away from a medical center). It's hellish stuff, and frankly I'm making out fantastically through it all. I cannot imagine what it is like elsewhere.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 01:03

Grunch Worldflower: Nov 16, 2020

I've generally been sympathetic to our southern friends when winter hits them hard, but this Texas situation really drove it home. I've had quantifiably worse weather (more snow, more cold, more wind) the entire time but the infrastructure has been in place to deal with it since before I was born so it's just Normal February.

This loving country.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 01:11

inferis: Dec 30, 2003

Capitalism is the reason, in addition to the insane power stuff, remember that 133 car pile up in Fort Worth? Well it was on a privately owned highway that connected to the regular ones. They decided it wasn�t worth it to do any salt or sand, so it was basically a sheet of ice. The public highways connecting did have salt so people were driving 60 miles per hour on a blind hill onto a sheet of ice.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 01:15

CatstropheWaitress: Nov 26, 2017

Mr Phillby posted:

Its okay to not enjoy something you don't need to find nitpicky 'dm mistakes' to justify it. 'I would enjoy a more engaging plot' is fine if you feel that way.

Travis is a bad DM and it's not not nit-picking to point that out. :shrug:

. He regularly disregards what the players want to do, is awful at explaining what's actually happening (so much "you take three damage, next"), and repeatedly has his own NPC's swoop in and save the day. Given TAZ has shrunk considerably in regards to fan activity, I think it's safe to say he's sinking the ship.

Which is all fine, still love these goofy boys.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 01:23

SpacePig: Apr 4, 2007; Hold that pose.
I've gotta get something.

https://twitter.com/JustinMcElroy/status/1362547509869105154

# ? Feb 19, 2021 01:43

sticklefifer: Nov 11, 2003; by VideoGames

The World Inferno posted:

Travis is a bad DM and it's not not nit-picking to point that out. . He regularly disregards what the players want to do, is awful at explaining what's actually happening (so much "you take three damage, next"), and repeatedly has his own NPC's swoop in and save the day. Given TAZ has shrunk considerably in regards to fan activity, I think it's safe to say he's sinking the ship.

Which is all fine, still love these goofy boys.

You can simultaneously think Travis is a bad DM and acknowledge that he's not playing 5e wrong though. The nitpicking comment was about ignoring ability checks, which he's not.

Rolling a 1 on Perception is basically "you don't find jack poo poo", not "your eyes fall out of your head". One of the better explanations I've heard is that if you're using Persuasion to ask a king to give you his throne, a nat 20 still isn't going to accomplish that. It just means he'll probably find your request hilarious and want to work with you instead of executing you for even suggesting it.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 04:00

bawk: Mar 31, 2013

I think we can all agree that Travis should get the third ticket for pushing Ted Cruz into an open grave, after Griffin and Justin

Solid Idea, but let the other brothers finalize their dunks

# ? Feb 19, 2021 04:24

Mr Phillby: Apr 8, 2009; ~TRAVIS~

I'm just asking people to actually articulate what they don't like instead of making up rules and jumping on Travis for breaking them because 1) they're often completely inaccurate and 2) falls apart the moment you apply said rule to anything else. There's a difference between actually examining what you don't enjoy about something and listening to something you don't like, jumping on the first thing that annoys you then stating that it broke a cardinal rule and therefore is objectively bad.

When you approach something with that mindset you're only going to find more and more broken rules and when it turns out that those rules being broken in other podcasts don't bother or annoy you at all then you've fundamentally failed to interrogate what doesn't work for you.

I don't want to turn this into the same old Graduation argument, I only stuck my oar in because we had two of these in a relatively short amount of time. I've reiterated my argument more than enough now I'll pipe down.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 04:30

inferis: Dec 30, 2003

People have reasons but you don�t consider them valid.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 05:05

Mr Phillby: Apr 8, 2009; ~TRAVIS~

inferis posted:

People have reasons but you don�t consider them valid.

I'm not invalidating anyones feelings I'm sure people posting bad takes in this thread aren't secret huge graduation fans. I'm just saying when your argument seems to be that Travis should have made Justin's characters eyes explode because they rolled a one on an insight check maybe try again pal.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 06:05

apatheticman: May 13, 2003; Wedge Regret

I find everything after balance was them trying to capture lightening in a bottle again.

Both Amnesty and graduation suffer from Grand narrative syndrome where they gave a set path in some instances. Griffin is a bit better with letting the boys play a little outside that path but Travis is not a mature enough DM to roll with departures.

Its ok to not like things it's ok to acknowledge that it's not for you but you aren't going to argue someone back into liking something just say it's a shame and say what you interpreted it to be and move on.

Media content creators are people.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 06:23

Do it ironically: Jul 13, 2010; by Pragmatica

He railroads the players instead of say yes anding and rolling with their ideas. Not that he has to go with every idea the players bring up but humouring them, letting them create, and possibly bringing up consequences and call backs to their decisions makes it fun, which Travis doesn�t do

Maybe he does now I�m not sure I tapped out of graduation fairly early

All the dnd podcasts I do like, rude tales, naddpod, dragon friends, the DMs strike a good balance with their show for giving the players leeway to do something spontaneous or make them feel like they are and moving the story along

Do it ironically fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Feb 19, 2021

# ? Feb 19, 2021 06:30

Waffleman_: Jan 20, 2011; I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna!!!

Well if everything doesn't go according to the story it's gonna be weird when we make the graphic novel

# ? Feb 19, 2021 06:41

SpacePig: Apr 4, 2007; Hold that pose.
I've gotta get something.

There was an episode of Dragon Friends where they took a detour to something that was introduced by accident by Ben, the NPC voice guy, and DM Dave still managed to get them where they needed to go. Later, in either the same episode or the 2nd one recorded that day, they went somewhere they weren't intended to go, stayed way longer than that ought to have, and they almost killed 2 party members without Dave doing anything. From a D&D standpoint, it was genuinely a waste of a session, but it made for very entertaining listening. Dave basically let them burn an entire city to the ground, but he still managed to tell the story he needed to tell in that city.

I dipped out of Graduation after Imp Hospital because nothing was clicking with me. Nothing Travis was doing was interesting, and the boys couldn't find much funny in their characters or the world around them.

I wanna be clear that I don't think Travis is an inherently bad GM. I really enjoyed Dust, and Honey Heist was a lot of fun. I just think he took too big a swing with his first try at a full campaign, and he made what feel like first-time DM mistakes. I hope he gets another go at things in the future, after whatever's next.

# ? Feb 19, 2021 07:01

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# ? May 28, 2024 02:07

sticklefifer: Nov 11, 2003; by VideoGames

I do think he lets them drive the narrative more than people say. I'm relatively certain that when Travis was setting up his campaign concept of Hogwarts getting caught up in a demon war, he didn't set out for the party's grand endgame to be "destabilize the economy".

# ? Feb 19, 2021 07:13

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Rapidly Going Deaf > The McElroy Family Podcasting Empire: MBMBaM, The Adventure Zone... (cont.)

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