VINES TRIED TO EAT MY DICK (The MacElroys Play D&D)

Spoiler: Whining

I'm not...massively fussed about it being railroad-y, honestly, but Griffin is neither the best writer nor the best voice actor in the world and I'm finding this last chapter quite disappointing. I've loved so much of this campaign! But now I just want it to be over so they can get into some fresh shenanigans.

 

@hyrax, yeah, this is totally a matter of personal taste for me.

The obvious point of comparison is Critical Role, which is less linear even though it has plotlines and story arcs and isn't a straight-up sandbox -- but that's livestream rather than podcast, and the difference in medium really shows. The episodes are much longer (three hours minimum), and there's a lot more fucking around where they don't accomplish anything for 90 minutes straight. I understand why the McElroys elected to forgo that in favor of short, punchy episodes.

In one of the recent commentary podcasts, Griffin talked about more narrative-focused games like Dungeon World fitting their playstyle better. I'm cautiously optimistic about that, because it might deliver the story beats in a compelling way while still allowing the players more agency. Collaborative storytelling is what makes this kind of podcast so much fun, in my opinion. (I should start listening to Friends at the Table again -- they were doing Dungeon World and other PbtA systems right out the gate, if I recall correctly.)

A further point of general musing: I think less-linear games can still deliver compelling stories if and only if the players are as invested in doing that as the GM is. I think what we've seen -- from Justin and Travis especially -- shows they're perfectly capable of that.

 

Spoiler: clarifying realization

I don't think it's the "railroading" that's the issue for me here as much as it has been the increasing feeling that the NPCs keep saving the heroes from unwinnable situations. Even if it's because of actions the heroes took previously or tying in with old adventures, it has felt a bit more like "Problem > NPC Solves it because they're amazing > Repeat" for the last little bit. They've bought some of that, for sure, I'm just worried that it'll carry into the rest of the finale even if it looks like it won't.

I do think I'm worrying for nothing, and I do love Lup and the rest, it just feels like D&D might not be the right choice for this ending, either, with how it's being told... in a way that's quite different from how it was earlier. I dunno.

 

Spoiler: Ep 68

Made the mistake of listening to this while trying to do chores around the house.

Started off with cleaning the bathroom. The bit with Magnus and the bear wrecked me, and I ended up crouched in the tub, sobbing, with a scrubbing brush in one hand and a bottle of Mr Muscle in the other.

Pulled myself together. Carried on.

Then the bit with Hurley and Sloane happened whilst I was cleaning the office. Started sobbing again, this time clutching a pack of antibacterial wipes.

Pulled myself together. Carried on.

Then there was Lup's speech. This was while I was putting away laundry. Final, really ugly bout of sobbing (in to a pile of clean t shirts which I then bunged straight back in the washing machine).

Lord knows what my neighbours must have thought, because our walls are relatively thin and at the end I was doing that really stupid type of crying where you honk with every intake of breath. I seriously felt emotionally drained at the end of this episode. I've already resolved not to listen to the next one at work, because I don't want to have to answer awkward questions about why I'm hiding under my desk weeping.

 

Same, I had to pull over

 

Popping in after a long long relisten, and unrelated to anything above, but: I have some intense feelings about the IPRE Crew and their magic which, okay, some of the details are probably retconned or forgotten, but. In Here There Be Gerblins, Barry's described as a fighter. If he did any wizardly stuff? I certainly don't remember it, and it probably wasn't anything that couldn't be explained as him being an eldritch knight!
(Which is perhaps another rant for another time about how much Barry got a raw deal out of things!)
And Taako canonically didn't remember his wizardly prowess. He only knew "enough to be dangerous", and even then only just. Lucretia meant well but... she took away vital skills from her family. Even if you set them up with a great life, these are people who did sign up to explore the planar system! They weren't going to sit around forever... what did she expect might happen? There wasn't going to be a reset button this time if someone got hurt.

 

Spoiler: Stolen century spoilers

I get the sense that Lucretia meant it to be super super temporary and not like... Multiple years. I think a lot of what was going on her trying desperately to keep everything together while her plan spiraled out of control further and further. So yeah, this was not planned out amazingly on her part.

I also saw a thing talking about taako being emotionally davenported, which I really liked. His reluctance to forgive Lucretia makes sense to me, because she really did take so much from him. She couldn't take all his memories and experiences with his sister without gutting his personality.

 

Spoiler: Stolen Century

There's so much that she didn't plan out, didn't anticipate. Doing the forgetting when people were awake and around the ship, because she didn't really anticipate anybody being up where they could fall off (or demand to be killed and blasted off). That even with the loss of memory of the wars, people still might find and use the relics (and that the liches, unaffected by the memory loss, had however long to have Wonderland up and running by the time she got there). That she might die in the process of getting things (after all, she already did this; already did a year of desperate survival when the others weren't available to help, already managed alone, of course she can do it again right?) ((No.)) (And that's kind of one of the themes of this game/story, a big part of why I'm only conflicted instead of bummed out about the amount of being-saved-by-their-friends: nobody can do it all alone, nobody can turn to destructive powers and fix everything or win everything or be happy, no relic or vast hunger is as fulfilling as friendship, love.)

And because she was so mired in her cycle of guilt and responsibility, she felt she HAD to FIX it to make up for the hurt she'd done. Except the methods kept making more hurts that took MORE time and effort to fix things, sunk cost fallacying all over...

Her inability to push herself into the emotionally difficult situation of trying to talk things out with them, of shutting down when told no and creating an opportunity to sneak it past them instead of repeating the hurt of disappointment in them... It's damn relatable. Gosh I love her.

 

Heads up from Twitter, the next Adventure Zone release has been delayed until August 17th, and also it's the finale(!). The week after will be another The The Adventure Zone Zone.

 

Episode 69 for the finale awwwwwwwwww yessssssssssssssssssssssss

 

"Oh man, I'm glad that taz doesn't really appeal to me, mbmbam has a big enough archive as it is."
...........
....................................
starts watching animated clips. starts getting more curious about taz. might be doomed at this point.
I like the frilly wizard, he seems neat.

 

Yessssssss come suffer with us

 

so is there like a listening guide, or do I just start at episode 1
...fuck episode 1 is really long how the fuck

 

There's an "episode 1.5" that condenses the beginning into a more listenable format! It's very helpful. After that you can/should(?) pretty much just listen in order.

 

the fun thing about this is that, though I'm only starting episode 2 now, I've seen fucking mountains of fanart. oceans. it's all over the place

so maximum fun keeps showing me this image


and I'm like who are those people. that is not Merle. definitely not Taako

 

@Lambda ikr that image is so wrong to my brain

 

weird, I started listening on Maximum Fun just before the fandom really blew up, so those three are the Canon Boys for me...

 

I've decided to think of it as, that's them before they do that redesign of the characters, when they're using the slightly more generic sheets. Don't remember if the hat was a thing or just one fandom ram with... Do remember a comment that Magnus has a beard beard, that the sideburns are especially magnificent but his chin isn't bare. Clung to that, and the idea that Taako wouldn't be in the gooey green featureless robe, as reminders not to let that be the Canon look. Merle I got nothing.

 

Gods, this is such a TAZ song (I am reading it as Blupjeans but you could go multiple ways)
We were children when I met you
There between the autumn trees
You consumed me and I let you
Burn me in the fallen leaves
A thousand winters each more serious
Separated earth and sky
The blood was angry, blood was furious
But the heart cannot recall just why

 

hey fuck you very much for making this song about the end of the Stolen Century, it already made me tear up