There were some REALLY big hilarious swings this episode. The Greg Stocks fart explosion and Kingskin skull brain surgery thing were both outlandish, hilarious, and exactly what this show is all about.
And in the Adventuring party, they unlocked a lot of things that could happen with a nat 20, including a CoD Prestige mechanic? The "Be a GM for 60 seconds thing" is really enticing.
The new Dropout Presents "Chris Grace as Scarlett Johanssen" gets really weird and meta in a surprising way in the last half. I was surprised (pleasantly) with some of the fun stuff in there. Especially when:
Several Dropout shows make an appearance, including Gastronauts, which isn't out yet.
ICYMI, Brennan, Aabria, Anjali Bhimani, along with the voice actors for Karlach and Asterion (Samantha Béart, Neil Newbon), ran a one-shot at GenCon a couple weeks ago.
Brennan, as a player, continues the tradition of playing a weird old dude of some sort, a dwarf cleric of Ilmater ("The god of being kicked and punched and beaten"). Samantha and Neil plays Karlach and Asterion.
The new Adventuring Academy (with Ify Nwadiwe) is more game-focused than the others so far, which I like.
The Contested Role discussion is about DMs ruling some stuff out for certain settings (i.e. no bards, no resurrection spells, etc), and they both come out saying no the DM should just work around it and shouldn't close off any options for the player and I'm thinking hmmm no. Brennan even did that in Crown of Candy, taking away resurrection spells to make everything more lethal.
Sometimes I think Brennan's so agreeable he'll contradict himself rather than say maybe not.
The new Adventuring Academy (with Ify Nwadiwe) is more game-focused than the others so far, which I like.
The Contested Role discussion is about DMs ruling some stuff out for certain settings (i.e. no bards, no resurrection spells, etc), and they both come out saying no the DM should just work around it and shouldn't close off any options for the player and I'm thinking hmmm no. Brennan even did that in Crown of Candy, taking away resurrection spells to make everything more lethal.
Sometimes I think Brennan's so agreeable he'll contradict himself rather than say maybe not.
I haven't watched it yet, but I could also see taking the position that you shouldn't do something in a normal game setting that they can get away with in a Actual Play setting that is "work", so even if it's not the most fun thing for the players, they're being compensated for their time and takes the sting away.
Eh, I think setting choice should be a conversation between the DM and the players and not just DM fiat. I get that a lot of DMs are dead set on running Eberron or FR or whatever, but you all are players in the same game, so I think there should be a session zero where you hash out "Hey, what's the game we ALL want to play together?" It's one thing where you're playing a Star Trek Adventures game and want to explore the possibility space of games within that specific world, and all GMs (myself included) have stupid shitty homebrew worlds that they think are compelling (in MY world, the DWARVES are immortal and ageless and the ELVES are the barbaric races <-- actual setting I created in my 20s). And yeah, there are annoying players that create a very specific fantasy avatar that they repeatedly use for all settings for some reason. But in the end, you want everyone to have fun, so it should be a social conversation and discussion. It's one of the MANY "game problems" that are actually social human problems.
Eh, I think setting choice should be a conversation between the DM and the players and not just DM fiat. I get that a lot of DMs are dead set on running Eberron or FR or whatever, but you all are players in the same game, so I think there should be a session zero where you hash out "Hey, what's the game we ALL want to play together?" It's one thing where you're playing a Star Trek Adventures game and want to explore the possibility space of games within that specific world, and all GMs (myself included) have stupid shitty homebrew worlds that they think are compelling (in MY world, the DWARVES are immortal and ageless and the ELVES are the barbaric races <-- actual setting I created in my 20s). And yeah, there are annoying players that create a very specific fantasy avatar that they repeatedly use for all settings for some reason. But in the end, you want everyone to have fun, so it should be a social conversation and discussion. It's one of the MANY "game problems" that are actually social human problems.
Yes and no!
If you're playing D&D with people at least familiar with some of the fantasy genre, then sure, that conversation can be valuable.
If you're about to start a game of LANCER, however? No I picked the setting and I gave the players a rundown of what they're getting into. None of them have played it before, none of them are experienced with the genre, they wouldn't know the difference between Boundary Garden, Castor + Pollux, Karokin Trade Baronies, etc., even if I told them which ones were influenced by what.
So I think it has a lot to do with who it is and what their information base is. Obviously you have the talk about X's no matter what so you don't get into weird shit, but IMHO that's a separate conversation from setting discussions.
Eh, I think setting choice should be a conversation between the DM and the players and not just DM fiat. I get that a lot of DMs are dead set on running Eberron or FR or whatever, but you all are players in the same game, so I think there should be a session zero where you hash out "Hey, what's the game we ALL want to play together?" It's one thing where you're playing a Star Trek Adventures game and want to explore the possibility space of games within that specific world, and all GMs (myself included) have stupid shitty homebrew worlds that they think are compelling (in MY world, the DWARVES are immortal and ageless and the ELVES are the barbaric races <-- actual setting I created in my 20s). And yeah, there are annoying players that create a very specific fantasy avatar that they repeatedly use for all settings for some reason. But in the end, you want everyone to have fun, so it should be a social conversation and discussion. It's one of the MANY "game problems" that are actually social human problems.
Yes and no!
If you're playing D&D with people at least familiar with some of the fantasy genre, then sure, that conversation can be valuable.
If you're about to start a game of LANCER, however? No I picked the setting and I gave the players a rundown of what they're getting into. None of them have played it before, none of them are experienced with the genre, they wouldn't know the difference between Boundary Garden, Castor + Pollux, Karokin Trade Baronies, etc., even if I told them which ones were influenced by what.
So I think it has a lot to do with who it is and what their information base is. Obviously you have the talk about X's no matter what so you don't get into weird shit, but IMHO that's a separate conversation from setting discussions.
Covered by my Star Trek Adventures comment there. You are exploring the possibility space within a specific predefined setting.
Eh, I think setting choice should be a conversation between the DM and the players and not just DM fiat. I get that a lot of DMs are dead set on running Eberron or FR or whatever, but you all are players in the same game, so I think there should be a session zero where you hash out "Hey, what's the game we ALL want to play together?" It's one thing where you're playing a Star Trek Adventures game and want to explore the possibility space of games within that specific world, and all GMs (myself included) have stupid shitty homebrew worlds that they think are compelling (in MY world, the DWARVES are immortal and ageless and the ELVES are the barbaric races <-- actual setting I created in my 20s). And yeah, there are annoying players that create a very specific fantasy avatar that they repeatedly use for all settings for some reason. But in the end, you want everyone to have fun, so it should be a social conversation and discussion. It's one of the MANY "game problems" that are actually social human problems.
Yes and no!
If you're playing D&D with people at least familiar with some of the fantasy genre, then sure, that conversation can be valuable.
If you're about to start a game of LANCER, however? No I picked the setting and I gave the players a rundown of what they're getting into. None of them have played it before, none of them are experienced with the genre, they wouldn't know the difference between Boundary Garden, Castor + Pollux, Karokin Trade Baronies, etc., even if I told them which ones were influenced by what.
So I think it has a lot to do with who it is and what their information base is. Obviously you have the talk about X's no matter what so you don't get into weird shit, but IMHO that's a separate conversation from setting discussions.
Covered by my Star Trek Adventures comment there. You are exploring the possibility space within a specific predefined setting.
Fair, but I would argue I also chose Lancer without consulting them on what kind of Mech game they wanted to play, or whether we should play with LANCER's setting or something else.
It was literally, "Do you want to play a mech game" and they said yes so now they're playing LANCER. If they wanted to play something else they'd have to find a GM driven to run that something else, because all the dopamine in my head was coming from the idea of running LANCER, not running whatever.
It's all a matter of degrees, because you can imagine the cruel, "rail-roady", draconian DM who refuses to permit you any solutions that conflict with "his story". But I think it's absolutely ok for a DM to say, "Hey, this is the game we're playing, so you have these limitations...". Like, we don't expect DMs to roll over and always let someone bring guns, or a mech into a fantasy RPG. The needle can tip a little more reasonably to exclude, say, Aaracokra, or no dwarves, or no resurrection, etc.
Every campaign is a contract. DMs have different styles. As long as people are upfront about expectations and such right away, that should be okay. I'm a super lenient DM and I love working with my players to bring their ideas to the table, reskin things for free, create new stuff I didn't consider, etc. But if I have a specific thing about the world that would violate the immersion or too jarringly contradict earlier precedent, I think a "no" is permitted here.
I agree that Brennan is probably literally agreeable to a fault.
Last episode of Never Stop Blowing Up was also great. Just an absolute banger of a series.
I feel like Jacob was being truly kind to the fan animators in this one
I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
+1
ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
We're I think 5 episodes in, and it seems Jacob has the best handle on what he wants his character to do. He, Alex, and Rekha are bringing the heat every episode. Iffy and Ally started out strong, but have tapered off a little. I hope Ally gets an episode where more attention is given to what is fundamentally a strong character combo.
Izzy, unfortunately, has been disappointing. She's had some entertaining moments, but I feel like she's created a punchline more than a character in Paula.
We're I think 5 episodes in, and it seems Jacob has the best handle on what he wants his character to do. He, Alex, and Rekha are bringing the heat every episode. Iffy and Ally started out strong, but have tapered off a little. I hope Ally gets an episode where more attention is given to what is fundamentally a strong character combo.
Izzy, unfortunately, has been disappointing. She's had some entertaining moments, but I feel like she's created a punchline more than a character in Paula.
Wildcard, baby.
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
I'm not a D&D player, but I was under the impression most people find "wild card" players rather annoying
Smartypants alumni Kimia Behpoornia was on After Midnight last night and once more talked up the appeal of the WNBA. Also Vulture did a thing about comedians you should know more about and a few Dropout folks were on it (Brennan, Vic, Rehka).
Smartypants alumni Kimia Behpoornia was on After Midnight last night and once more talked up the appeal of the WNBA. Also Vulture did a thing about comedians you should know more about and a few Dropout folks were on it (Brennan, Vic, Rehka).
Mulligan noted that he was surprised—but not shocked—by the revelation.
“This is the kind of prank that could only happen under the oppressive paradigm of capitalism,” said Mulligan, staring directly at the camera as he leaned over a podium.
Trailer for the next D20 show dropped. Misfits and Magic season 2. I’m allergic to anything Harry Potter flavoured so I’m probably sitting this one out.
Trailer for the next D20 show dropped. Misfits and Magic season 2. I’m allergic to anything Harry Potter flavoured so I’m probably sitting this one out.
I'm down for anything with Aabria as a GM. Although I would love to see her more as a player, much like Brennan.
Smartypants alumni Kimia Behpoornia was on After Midnight last night and once more talked up the appeal of the WNBA. Also Vulture did a thing about comedians you should know more about and a few Dropout folks were on it (Brennan, Vic, Rehka).
Mulligan noted that he was surprised—but not shocked—by the revelation.
“This is the kind of prank that could only happen under the oppressive paradigm of capitalism,” said Mulligan, staring directly at the camera as he leaned over a podium.
This Time Quangle live show is a lot of fun! You definitely have to be up on your Intrepid Heroes Dimension 20 shows, though, to get all the references. It looks like they are probably going to show another one soon, because I recall Lou being in the mix in the trailer, and he wasn't in this first one.
This Time Quangle live show is a lot of fun! You definitely have to be up on your Intrepid Heroes Dimension 20 shows, though, to get all the references. It looks like they are probably going to show another one soon, because I recall Lou being in the mix in the trailer, and he wasn't in this first one.
Yeah, I'm behind a bit, I'll need to catch up. Off the top of my head, I need to watch:
Fantasy High 2 & 3 (got like halfway through episode 1 of season 2. first episodes where it's like a checklist to introduce everyone are always really hard for me to get through).
Unsleeping City 2 (I'm pretty sure I finished season 1, if not I was right at the end but it was getting kinda cloy when they were wrapping it up)
Pirate of Leviathan
The Seven
Starstruck Odyssey
Court of Fey and Flowers
Neverafter
I think like 3 of those aren't Intrepid Heroes seasons I need to worry about, but 2 of them are set in Fantasy High and I assume they'd be referenced in that context.
Started and dropped Burrow's End and will probably just never watch Dungeons and Drag Queens.
Pirates of Leviathan and The Seven are in the FH universe but are also standalone and I don't think you need to work about the Time Quangle referencing them.
This Time Quangle live show is a lot of fun! You definitely have to be up on your Intrepid Heroes Dimension 20 shows, though, to get all the references. It looks like they are probably going to show another one soon, because I recall Lou being in the mix in the trailer, and he wasn't in this first one.
I don't remember where I saw it, but I swear it said it was releasing in September and December. So at least two episodes and maybe more? I dunno on that one.
Gnizmo on
0
scherbchenAsgard (it is dead)Registered Userregular
This Time Quangle live show is a lot of fun! You definitely have to be up on your Intrepid Heroes Dimension 20 shows, though, to get all the references. It looks like they are probably going to show another one soon, because I recall Lou being in the mix in the trailer, and he wasn't in this first one.
I don't remember where I saw it, but I swear it said it was releasing in September and December. So at least two episodes and maybe more? I dunno on that one.
Looks like the release schedule is September 12, September 19, then all the rest in December (Probably because MisMag Season 2 starts up on September 25th).
Welp, guess I am going to be binging the hell out of Unsleeping City, Crown of Candy and Court of Fey and Flowers.
Oh no.
I think the only ones you'll "need" to see are:
Fantasy High
A Crown of Candy
Unsleeping City
Starstruck Odyssey
Neverafter
Those are all the Intrepid Hero seasons. The series with non-Intrepid Hero cast members aren't included (because they are only using characters that are played by Lou, Zac, Ally, Emily, Murph, Siobhan), so you don't need to binge A Court of Fey and Flowers.
You could also probably get away with only seeing Season 1 of Fantasy High*, although characters from both seasons of Unsleeping City are used (two of the players have different characters in Season 2).
* Spoiler (first Time Quangle episode, has FH Season 2 reference):
Ayda Aguefort makes an appearance, who is from FH Season 2. You'd probably "get" that she's Arthur Aguefort's daughter, but not why the crowd goes batshit crazy when she shows up.
Posts
And in the Adventuring party, they unlocked a lot of things that could happen with a nat 20, including a CoD Prestige mechanic? The "Be a GM for 60 seconds thing" is really enticing.
https://www.dropout.tv/videos/gastronauts-trailer
A cooking show!
Brennan, as a player, continues the tradition of playing a weird old dude of some sort, a dwarf cleric of Ilmater ("The god of being kicked and punched and beaten"). Samantha and Neil plays Karlach and Asterion.
The Contested Role discussion is about DMs ruling some stuff out for certain settings (i.e. no bards, no resurrection spells, etc), and they both come out saying no the DM should just work around it and shouldn't close off any options for the player and I'm thinking hmmm no. Brennan even did that in Crown of Candy, taking away resurrection spells to make everything more lethal.
Sometimes I think Brennan's so agreeable he'll contradict himself rather than say maybe not.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I haven't watched it yet, but I could also see taking the position that you shouldn't do something in a normal game setting that they can get away with in a Actual Play setting that is "work", so even if it's not the most fun thing for the players, they're being compensated for their time and takes the sting away.
Yes and no!
If you're playing D&D with people at least familiar with some of the fantasy genre, then sure, that conversation can be valuable.
If you're about to start a game of LANCER, however? No I picked the setting and I gave the players a rundown of what they're getting into. None of them have played it before, none of them are experienced with the genre, they wouldn't know the difference between Boundary Garden, Castor + Pollux, Karokin Trade Baronies, etc., even if I told them which ones were influenced by what.
So I think it has a lot to do with who it is and what their information base is. Obviously you have the talk about X's no matter what so you don't get into weird shit, but IMHO that's a separate conversation from setting discussions.
Fair, but I would argue I also chose Lancer without consulting them on what kind of Mech game they wanted to play, or whether we should play with LANCER's setting or something else.
It was literally, "Do you want to play a mech game" and they said yes so now they're playing LANCER. If they wanted to play something else they'd have to find a GM driven to run that something else, because all the dopamine in my head was coming from the idea of running LANCER, not running whatever.
https://www.dropout.tv/videos/dimension-20-time-quangle-trailer
Oh my God they're playing different old characters from other settings mashed together.
Every campaign is a contract. DMs have different styles. As long as people are upfront about expectations and such right away, that should be okay. I'm a super lenient DM and I love working with my players to bring their ideas to the table, reskin things for free, create new stuff I didn't consider, etc. But if I have a specific thing about the world that would violate the immersion or too jarringly contradict earlier precedent, I think a "no" is permitted here.
I agree that Brennan is probably literally agreeable to a fault.
I feel like Jacob was being truly kind to the fan animators in this one
Izzy, unfortunately, has been disappointing. She's had some entertaining moments, but I feel like she's created a punchline more than a character in Paula.
Wildcard, baby.
In a regular D&D game that might last years, yes. In a short form 80s action movie homage game system? It can work.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Also also this Hard Drive bit: Brennan Lee Mulligans Entire Life Revealed To Be Elaborate Game Changer Bit.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
God, that Hard Drive story is written by a real fan and goes hard, I love it.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Yeah, I'm behind a bit, I'll need to catch up. Off the top of my head, I need to watch:
Fantasy High 2 & 3 (got like halfway through episode 1 of season 2. first episodes where it's like a checklist to introduce everyone are always really hard for me to get through).
Unsleeping City 2 (I'm pretty sure I finished season 1, if not I was right at the end but it was getting kinda cloy when they were wrapping it up)
Pirate of Leviathan
The Seven
Starstruck Odyssey
Court of Fey and Flowers
Neverafter
I think like 3 of those aren't Intrepid Heroes seasons I need to worry about, but 2 of them are set in Fantasy High and I assume they'd be referenced in that context.
Started and dropped Burrow's End and will probably just never watch Dungeons and Drag Queens.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Oh no.
I don't remember where I saw it, but I swear it said it was releasing in September and December. So at least two episodes and maybe more? I dunno on that one.
seems harsh...
Fantasy High
A Crown of Candy
Unsleeping City
Starstruck Odyssey
Neverafter
Those are all the Intrepid Hero seasons. The series with non-Intrepid Hero cast members aren't included (because they are only using characters that are played by Lou, Zac, Ally, Emily, Murph, Siobhan), so you don't need to binge A Court of Fey and Flowers.
You could also probably get away with only seeing Season 1 of Fantasy High*, although characters from both seasons of Unsleeping City are used (two of the players have different characters in Season 2).
* Spoiler (first Time Quangle episode, has FH Season 2 reference):
And I personally am already through all of Fantasy High, Starstruck (still the high water mark, though FH S3 is real close), and Neverafter.