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Haven't listened yet but if the mothman does not appear I'll be very upset
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Jan 12, 2018 23:02
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Will there be DadMaps designed by Griffin and turned into works of art by Dad McElroy
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Jan 12, 2018 23:16
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ChuckDeNomolos posted:this is great so far, loving Justin and Clint's segments. Travis is almost there, just think his character is too in control for someone's who's powers should be suddenly emerging, especially with how she's just too calm at actually manifesting fire and immediately resorting to magic to try to win the situation rather than letting it occur. I was hoping for more panic and, "holy poo poo what did I do," in that moment, but that's a minor nitpick. I figured that was alright with the context that this has been something happening to her her whole life, just not as dramatically. Aside from that...I dunno. Aubrey's segment was fun but the rest didn't have much going on, either in terms of goofs or just stuff happening.
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Jan 13, 2018 02:25
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Otherkinsey Scale posted:Aside from that...I dunno. Aubrey's segment was fun but the rest didn't have much going on, either in terms of goofs or just stuff happening. Yeah, I think this was the wrong way to go about starting this arc. Having the characters all seperate makes for less dynamic scenes, and that was exacerbated by the fact that Justin and Clint basically never said anything except during their own segments, unless it was in response to Travis doing so. The problem should be resolved once all the characters are in the same place. Ariong fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Jan 13, 2018 |
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Jan 13, 2018 02:34
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I liked it in contrast to them just talking about how their characters behave. Give them time to feel out their characters alone so they have better grounding when they get together. As for it taking a whole episode that's just Griffin's pacing and I'm used to it. I'm psyched for this arc. I loved the setup stinger and the music at the beginning and it got me really excited for another Griffin story. He puts in effort that the others haven't matched yet.
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Jan 13, 2018 03:38
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relistening to TAZ from the start and I forgot how one of my favorite segments in the show is Magnus coaching the peewee sports team threatening to leave them to the Hunger if they fail, embezzling janitor Clint McElroy, the camping trip where they have to bring their pets parents and important legal documents it's all gold
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Jan 13, 2018 04:47
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I liked it a lot and I like all their characters, as well as the general mood and setting-building stuff. It's true that Griffin's particular style might be a little slow for a short, four-episode arc, since there's a lot of buildup going on - the pacing is actually sort of like if this were a TV show, pilot, winding its way to how the main characters first meet. While I expect all the mini-arcs are going to feel like things that might be fun to see more of, I think this might be one that'd both work as a short arc (dealing with one monster for the proverbial week) and could also be revisited easily enough if they felt like it - just throw another monster at them, maybe in the gap between two future seasons. On the other hand, Griffin talked up the danger of the setting, so maybe some folks won't make it out of this one alive.
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Jan 13, 2018 04:47
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Really hoping they end up going back to 5e, but fill in gaps between arcs with ongoing mini-campaigns. Two months of Petals to the Metal, a month of not-THUNDER Agents, two months of Crystal Kingdom, a month of not-Gravity Falls, and so on.
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Jan 13, 2018 06:26
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justin's park ranger was very good, and also travis decides his character should have a long history of doing actual magic throughout her life the second it becomes mechanically beneficial
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Jan 13, 2018 06:32
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Oh hey, I just realized the main reason why I didn’t like Aubrey’s section as much as the other two. We didn’t really get to know her during it. Almost everything she said was on stage during her act, and none of it was a normal friendly interaction. I’m not sure what her personality is like. So far Duck is my favorite. He has very few fucks to give. Justin is super good at RPGs.
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Jan 13, 2018 07:30
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Otherkinsey Scale posted:Aside from that...I dunno. Aubrey's segment was fun but the rest didn't have much going on, either in terms of goofs or just stuff happening. It felt a little tedious to me (not...bad, but just I was waiting for it to be done) but I'm really interested to see what happens when everyone meets up. So far I'm most interested in what's going on with Ned. He's already a feature of the town so I'm really curious to see where the game takes him....I kinda wish this was going to be longer than a handful of episodes. My friend got really psyched when she found out about Monster of the Week so now I'm in a group she's dming and we're playing on Sunday. It's set in a girl scout camp in the PNW and should be pretty rad. Thanks Mcelroys!!
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Jan 13, 2018 07:46
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i think for the weekly set-up, i liked them being seperated because it feels like the tide pulling in before the big supernatural wave crashes. I think setting up Clint's character for the next episode is going to be him and Justin meeting after something goes super wrong. Also Kirby and Pigeon rule. I do like that Aubrey is set up for instant action and exposition though.
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Jan 13, 2018 08:42
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I didn’t like how the introduction was separate scenes for each player/character. I enjoyed it when Griffin did this for Balance, because it fleshed out backstories for characters that were sort of one or two note up till then. But now after how many years, clearly Justin, Clint, and Travis know how to create and develop a character in a collaborative improv story. I wish he just set the scene for them to meet and a few NPCs for them to interact with. I also wish Travis played up the “not my fault” trait, like his character had caused these uncontrollable fires at several acts and ducked out each time, rather than fudging the rules and his rolls to establish how good his character is at magic.
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Jan 13, 2018 08:55
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Travis did a few little things in his segment that I thought spoke pretty effectively. The little bit where Aubrey took three deep breaths (presumably to stay in control) was good, as was Aubrey happily going along with a mysterious gun-toting stranger over the cops (but not without extracting an apology for her bunny's feelings first). Also I enjoyed Griffin's "yup!" when Travis said Aubrey immediately picked up her bunny when things got hot, which left no doubt that if Travis had forgotten even for a moment Griffin would fry that rabbit in front of him. Improvising that Aubrey had had a childhood fascination with fire that led to the belief that maybe she could control it might've been a way to solve a mechanical problem, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that - Griffin had even suggested in the setup episode that they shouldn't decide everything up front and leave room to come up with more as they play, and the system seems to be built on players taking a little more active role in the storytelling and scene setting than D&D normally would (having whatever radio, wookie costume or fire extinguisher on hand the scene might require). There's no sin in a player choosing things that help them get out of a bad situation, if anything I thought Griffin was kinda stretching things when he decided a good roll on the magic fire trick check actually meant she'd set the whole stage on fire (a situation I was pretty sure was going to be the result if he'd rolled badly, too).
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Jan 13, 2018 09:00
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Clint's character and story were the funniest to me so far, and not just because it's an accidental homage to one of the worst/weirdest Christmas movies ever: https://dfkfj8j276wwv.cloudfront.ne...ottersville.mp3 Man, first Gravity Falls now Pottersville, I wonder how long Clint can keep up this trend of unintentionally referencing movies and TV shows he has never seen?
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Jan 13, 2018 10:11
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Dolash posted:Improvising that Aubrey had had a childhood fascination with fire that led to the belief that maybe she could control it might've been a way to solve a mechanical problem, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that - Griffin had even suggested in the setup episode that they shouldn't decide everything up front and leave room to come up with more as they play, and the system seems to be built on players taking a little more active role in the storytelling and scene setting than D&D normally would (having whatever radio, wookie costume or fire extinguisher on hand the scene might require). There's no sin in a player choosing things that help them get out of a bad situation, if anything I thought Griffin was kinda stretching things when he decided a good roll on the magic fire trick check actually meant she'd set the whole stage on fire (a situation I was pretty sure was going to be the result if he'd rolled badly, too). i think approaching it as, "oh she knows she might be able to control it" makes for a less interesting scene than if she had like, panicked and begged internally for it to go away and then the fire bent to her will. I don't think it would make the character weak to falter a little more, it would make them more human. I think keeping the, "oh she's had flare-ups like this before," doesn't allow for the character and listener to step into the hidden world as well. I think it's telling that Griffin asked, "is this what you want, or is this what the character would do," and I think had that backstory had been established to Griffin he would've seeded the moment with a, "it reminds you of something that happens in your childhood," too. I am fully admitting this is just critique based on how I would've approached the scene rather than, "travis stinks." I also think the good roll means she didn't hurt anyone immediately. I get that railroading the fire happening is bad for a straight roleplaying game session, but for the purposes of a podcast that fudges the rules to push forward with a story, especially with an inciting incident for Aubrey's immediate conflict with the town, the stage had to burn. Plus, a good roll on casting fire would immolate things pretty well. DeNomolos fucked around with this message at 10:51 on Jan 13, 2018 |
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Jan 13, 2018 10:23
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I liked it when Clint's character proudly announced his full name while signing for a letter
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Jan 13, 2018 11:14
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ChuckDeNomolos posted:i think approaching it as, "oh she knows she might be able to control it" makes for a less interesting scene than if she had like, panicked and begged internally for it to go away and then the fire bent to her will. I don't think it would make the character weak to falter a little more, it would make them more human. I think keeping the, "oh she's had flare-ups like this before," doesn't allow for the character and listener to step into the hidden world as well. I think it's telling that Griffin asked, "is this what you want, or is this what the character would do," and I think had that backstory had been established to Griffin he would've seeded the moment with a, "it reminds you of something that happens in your childhood," too. I am fully admitting this is just critique based on how I would've approached the scene rather than, "travis stinks." In the set up episode Griffin seemed to put a lot of emphasis on "oh no, my magic is real now" or something like that, but suddenly busting out "oh, yeah this poo poo happened to her a bunch as a kid" seems like a cop-out defense on Travis' end for no particular reason. evacuate meatspace posted:I liked it when Clint's character proudly announced his full name while signing for a letter I really liked Clint's character and can't wait to see him pretend to be a big feet.
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Jan 13, 2018 22:50
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What’s important to keep in mind is that Travis making the desicion that Aubrey knows about her magic might have sucked some of the excitement out of this introductory scene, but that’s a bad way to look at it. This desicion is going to affect his character for the entire time that he plays her. He probably thought abot the roleplaying ramifications of Aubrey discovering her powers now vs. earlier and decided the latter would be more interesting. Besides, the last arc already had him playing a character dsicovering and adjusting to her superpowers.
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Jan 13, 2018 23:01
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Nuebot posted:In the set up episode Griffin seemed to put a lot of emphasis on "oh no, my magic is real now" or something like that, but suddenly busting out "oh, yeah this poo poo happened to her a bunch as a kid" seems like a cop-out defense on Travis' end for no particular reason. I think it's the lack of a shocked and/or fearful reaction and immediately trying solve the fire with magic and trying to smooth talk Momma instead of shouting, "what the gently caress is going on, what is happening to me, how did i do that" that confused me the most about that scene, and felt like the person at the table saying, "oh no, my character has this, and this, and this, so I win" but I don't want to harp on Travis any more for something that might pan out better in the future, in the hopes that she is more competent at handling stress from weird rolls than the other two characters. As it was in that scene, it just felt out of left field in a way to "win" a scene that didn't need to be won, if that makes sense. It was like if Justin had Duck say, "oh, i saw this gate in my dreams, pigeon, a monster must've come out it! let's get it!" so stoked for Ned to get discovered by gun-toting Duck in a monster suit, only for them to come across the real monster. DeNomolos fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Jan 13, 2018 |
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Jan 13, 2018 23:32
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ChuckDeNomolos posted:i think it's the lack of a shocked and fearful reaction and immediately trying to smooth talk Momma instead of shouting, "what the gently caress is going on, what is happening to me, how did i do that" that confused me the most about that scene, and felt like the person at the table saying, "oh no, my character has this, and this, and this, so I win" but I don't want to harp on travis any more for something that might pan out better in the future, in the hopes that she is more competent at handling stress from weird rolls than the other two characters. As it was in that scene, it just felt out of left field in a way to "win" a scene that didn't need to be won, if that makes sense. It feels a lot less unnatural if you remember the system. Shlocky tv show is the lens I'm stuck looking at this mini-arc through, and a character on Buffy or Supernatural acting like Aubrey is fine, even if its pretty unrealistic.
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Jan 13, 2018 23:41
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I only know two things. Travis did not roll a 10 and Griffin was going to have that fire get out of control no matter what Travis rolled
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Jan 13, 2018 23:51
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Not Operator posted:It feels a lot less unnatural if you remember the system. Shlocky tv show is the lens I'm stuck looking at this mini-arc through, and a character on Buffy or Supernatural acting like Aubrey is fine, even if its pretty unrealistic. yeah, that's an understandable excuse which is why it's just a hyper nitpick rather than saying it's ruined the entire thing. i am not a huge fan of either of those examples so that could be why it sticks out to me.
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Jan 13, 2018 23:56
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What I love best about Justin is that he actively does not try to win these games. He plays characters that are trying so hard to blend into the background as NPCs until he finds himself in the middle of the poo poo. And then the plot turns and he's revealed to be an ultrahero and Justin steps up to proudly accept the mantle as the Greatest of All Time. It makes for an awesome character story. What I love best about Travis is that he actively tries to win the game. He lies, he cheats, and he pushes the rule system to the edge and tries to squeeze exploits wherever he can. And you know what? He keeps the story moving forward. He pushes the game to the next scene, the next chapter, the next plot point. Griffin's scene was supposed to passively introduce an NPC in the back of the birthday party, and Travis tried to crack that nut wide open despite Griffin not being ready. What I love best about Clint is that he tries. Like really hard. Most of the time he doesn't seem to know what he's trying FOR, but goddamnit he tries anyway with 100%. He's not playing to win, he's not playing for the coolest character, he's just putting it all on the table to gain the most enjoyment out of the game that he can. He seems so opportunistic (I'mma grab that crystal because what kind of game would this be if I didn't!) and it's super enjoyable to listen to. There is no need for explanation on Griffin, the meat and potatoes of AdventureZone and ultimately the next long-story GM because come on, this cryptid miniarc already rules so hard.
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Jan 14, 2018 02:49
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Overall liked the episode, though it was a bit slow, and I could've used a little less of Aubrey's magic show for kids. I also was struck by just how much Griffin and company seem not to know how guns work. That camper has one hell of a loving door if point blank buckshot doesn't penetrate the door. And if it doesn't, the interior of that camper must've been really exciting as the shot ricocheted. I also got a laugh about the idea of needing paperwork to own a rifle in West fuckin' Virginia, of all places, when Justin mentioned that. edit: Justin made a completely reasonable and good decision after that gunshot bit, and it was funny to hear Griffin's wheels turning as he realized that this park ranger was just like "nope, there's cops for this poo poo." mlmp08 fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Jan 14, 2018 |
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Jan 14, 2018 03:36
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mlmp08 posted:I also was struck by just how much Griffin and company seem not to know how guns work. That camper has one hell of a loving door if point blank buckshot doesn't penetrate the door. And if it doesn't, the interior of that camper must've been really exciting as the shot ricocheted. I also got a laugh about the idea of needing paperwork to own a rifle in West fuckin' Virginia, of all places, when Justin mentioned that. Their misunderstanding of how guns work makes a lot more sense when you remember that's more or less exactly how guns work in video games. Bullets hit wall, do some cosmetic damage, and then vanish from reality. Overall this was a pretty good episode, though I still don't like Griffin's compulsive obsession with doing solo scenes for everyone. Especially when all three of them set up knowing each other in the prep episode. I was also expecting the Zine kid to get all hurt and offended when Clint's character said that Bigfoot was bullshit. Having him be in on the grift is pretty good though. New Butt Order fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Jan 14, 2018 |
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Jan 14, 2018 03:50
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Pete's dead as gently caress though, right?
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Jan 14, 2018 06:46
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Maybe it was bird shot
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Jan 14, 2018 06:51
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Dolash posted:Pete's dead as gently caress though, right? That's the best cause scenario. Worst case: he's undead.
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Jan 14, 2018 08:14
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Al Borland Corp. posted:Maybe it was bird shot Griffin calls it buckshot. And this is birdshot versus an inch of plywood at 10 feet:  Minor quibble, I just found it odd that Griffin went from "I don't want everyone packing heat" to immediately introducing two characters with guns and also giving Duck a rifle. That said, as with so many things in RPGs, the guy who spergs out about gun-stats or car-stats or [object]-stats is usually not that helpful to the enjoyment of the game, so long as the GM/DM/Keeper isn't doing just utterly insane stuff.
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Jan 14, 2018 15:49
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I think that's to set a precedent against using the guns. If Duck carries a rifle everywhere he goes he presumably is practiced and good with it. If he's handed a rifle it's more excusable for terrible things to happen with it, and gets the characters thinking of solutions other than shooting first.
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Jan 14, 2018 16:14
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Had a small-arc present-day game way back when where one guy's MO was shoot first, ask later in a setting where that just didn't fly at all. He was arrested and facing multiple murder charges after the party ratted him out to the police, and the player had to re-roll a new character. When dealing with a small-town mystery magic-cult as a bunch of people from said small town, just shooting up the first redneck family you don't like, while the party looks on in horror and distances themselves form you, is a bad idea.
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Jan 14, 2018 16:19
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I'm curious whether Travis was serious about trying to add a gun to his inventory, because c'mon dude, your character already has magic fire hands.
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Jan 14, 2018 16:32
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Poor Miserable Gurgi posted:I'm curious whether Travis was serious about trying to add a gun to his inventory, because c'mon dude, your character already has magic fire hands. To be fair it's on his character sheet I think, it'll be saying "pick one of these 3 weapons or whatever" and that list is pretty small because yeah he's playing a magic class, I think the pistol is an old revolver which I think would be less weird to own than an heirloom sword or whatever he ended up going with. Clint's class can potentially have an assault rifle to start, which is pretty crazy and that definitely wouldn't fit the character he's building, unless his dark past is a lot darker than a cryptoid museum owner/con man who looks like Brian Blessed. I think the character classes work better as they are if you're going into the game going "these people have encountered monsters before or at least some shady business", the characters in Amnesty are sort of, origin stories and how they become monster hunters or at least that seems like how Griffin's playing it which is fair enough. Wish the monster had shown up or there'd been some hint of what it was, the rules really push cutting to the monster doing poo poo, just like Buffy and shows like that do every so often.
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Jan 14, 2018 17:55
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How is the promise of the monstrous multi-bear not enough of a hint? Also from the sounds of it, this is a system where you can't just focus-fire down the titular monster with your starting equipment, so Griffin's warning against everyone being strapped might be more of a general suggestion that they shouldn't focus on trying to gun through every problem. And yeah, it seems like each class gets to pick from some starting weapons on the sheet during character creation, and I think Griffin floated the idea that these would be weapons they could happen upon early-on rather than carrying around with them from the jump. Duck getting Pete's rifle felt like that sort of smoother in-universe handoff, and I could imagine Aubrey might get her weapon at Mama's safehouse or some such thing.
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Jan 14, 2018 19:06
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There's no doubt in my mind that the first monster is big foot. Something bigger than a bear that won't go near a fire, hanging out in the woods, in a game that resembles Griffin's 'The Lodge' dreams? And it will be great when Clint, dressed as big foot, is caught between the other players and the real big foot, when everybody is trying to figure what the gently caress is really happening
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Jan 14, 2018 19:08
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Dolash posted:How is the promise of the monstrous multi-bear not enough of a hint? I suppose it's the difference between a character in an episode of Buffy saying "there's something in these woods!" and then that something not showing up for the rest of the episode or them saying that and then a scene where some random gets mauled by the monster and you see it (in a podcast you'd get Griffin describing it rather than actually seeing it, I guess). Bit nitpicky but I'd have liked a bit more stuff happening, I dunno. Judge Schnoopy posted:There's no doubt in my mind that the first monster is big foot. Something bigger than a bear that won't go near a fire, hanging out in the woods, in a game that resembles Griffin's 'The Lodge' dreams? Yeah I assume it's big foot or some sort of ape man type thing. Or there'll be two things, an actual monster and a friendly bigfoot in the same area, confusing people.
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Jan 14, 2018 19:37
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I finally got around to listening to the Adventure Zone a few months ago and it's one of my favorite stories in a long, long time. The Hey Brother animation and that one incredible first animation ever by an aspiring artist about John, set to I Can't Decide are some of my favorite animations for it, are there any others of that quality yet that folks can share? There's a loving gigantic playlist on youtube of a bunch but most of those are itty bitty 12 second clips or just...bad, or stills set to dialogue, for the most part. I know TAZ only ended "recently"(in terms of how long animations can take to produce with small teams/one-man projects), but has anyone done a clip for when Griffin announces THE FINAL BATTLE and it goes into some kefka-rear end final boss music? That was a masterfully done scene, even if I felt the final battle was a little bit TOO anime overall.
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Jan 14, 2018 20:26
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Captain Invictus posted:I finally got around to listening to the Adventure Zone a few months ago and it's one of my favorite stories in a long, long time. The Hey Brother animation and that one incredible first animation ever by an aspiring artist about John, set to I Can't Decide are some of my favorite animations for it, are there any others of that quality yet that folks can share? There's a loving gigantic playlist on youtube of a bunch but most of those are itty bitty 12 second clips or just...bad, or stills set to dialogue, for the most part. I know TAZ only ended "recently"(in terms of how long animations can take to produce with small teams/one-man projects), but has anyone done a clip for when Griffin announces THE FINAL BATTLE and it goes into some kefka-rear end final boss music? That was a masterfully done scene, even if I felt the final battle was a little bit TOO anime overall. I don't know of any that cover that particular moment. Here are a few really good ones though. Just assume that all of these have heavy balance spoilers. Music: Don't Let's Start - Thread favorite! Music video for the TMBG song. Wonderland Round 3 - Super sketchy animatic depicting the final battle of the Suffering Game synced up to the eponymous song. More action oriented than most of these things. T.I.M.E. {spoilers} - Ooh, drama. Arms Outstretched- King and LionHeart - This one introduced me to one of my favorite songs! Podcast Audio: You Hear it Too - The very end of the second-to last episode of TAZ. Very very well done. This is it A few moments of the last episode of the Stolen Century. Really like the transition from flashback to present. The Book of Merlemon - A little-remembered bit from The Eleventh Hour. So much character in those movements! 50 Shades of Green - Merle talks dirty to some plants. Yuck warning if your name is Justin Mcelroy. So, there's my favorites. If you want even more TAZ animatics, good news! Your youtube recommendations list is now full of them.
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Jan 14, 2018 21:29
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No YouTube list is complete without Jenkins https://youtu.be/iWPH9JyKCgw This is also a great clip to get people into TAZ if they don't know what it is.
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Jan 14, 2018 21:43
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