The Adventure Zone

I feel like Griffin got a little too ambitious for his own good trying to focus the podcast into a more dramatic storytelling cyoa rather than the vehicle for comedy and whimsical adventure it started out as, which I enjoyed a lot more. Its still listenable, bit more often than not i end up wishing the boys were offered more of a sandbox to do whatever the fuck crazy thing they can come up with then constant railroading and mcguffins. Here's hoping their next game is a little less convoluted.

Stolen Century, and all the back story stuff Is just fucking nonsense! They're 3 fucking goofs that ass-backwards their way into being important. The "You were the wizard all along, charlie brown!" bullshit ruins everything! It retroactively degrades their character interactions, and a ton of other stuff that I loved from the early episodes, and it was simply unecessary try-hard'ing. The series would have been just as good without the awkward twists, and just as compelling if they had stuck to normal character backstories. It really made me livid, to be honest.

I'm really enjoying the stolen century. The overall story has been fairly obvious from several arcs ago, but a few things have been pulled together in a less-than-organic way since the end of suffering.

I'm really enjoying the stolen century. Griffin isn't great ath the system he is using (a simplified Dungeon World), but I'm enjoying the improv and moving the story forward. I'll be happy when theyreturn to 5th edition for the finale.

Overall its a lot better than Nerd Poker, which was the only one I'd listened to before TAZ.
Interesting, Suffering Game was my favorite Arc. I loved seeing the players actually struggle with the morality and the effectiveness of their choices. I didn't like that they threw away the robot body right away though. Giving the players real consequences for their actions was a cool idea.

I really enjoy the way TAZ has made a few magic items matter so much to the players. The curation of magic items is also something I've tried to emulate, so players actually get excited when they find something magic.
My group plays pathfinder, but TAZ has really made me impressed with 5th edition.

I agree with most of your points. It feels to me like it's been less about the comedy for the last few arcs now, especially The Suffering Game, which I did like. I kinda feel like that started in the Chalice arc.

The end of the chalice arc was really cool, but the players care way more about the story than they do about being true to their PCs. Thats fine and all, but I never felt like things weren't going to go as expected.

FUCK YOU GRIFFIN!

I mean, what were they supposed to do there? Yeah, they might have wanted to use it but if anyone takes that Chalice, realistically, it's game over hand in your character sheet.

It helps if you listen to it as less an actual play podcast and more just a shared story telling. Also, I love everything else they do, and as far as internet personalities go, I think they're better than anything we've seen before.

I'm just saying the tension felt artificial.

Yes! I like them for their personalities and character acting! Not their fan-fiction tier writing :3

And I feel kinda bad, because I KNOW Griffin tries his best, but if he relaxed more and let the story fly and just made each arc a fun one off adventure, like the race and the train, it'd be better. The players would shine brighter and it'd be funnier.

In The The Adventure Zone Zone Griffin actually mentions that he fully expected Magnus to take the chalice's offer to reset the timeline. He had about two episodes worth of content he had to scrap since he never took the bait.

I do agree though, I think he made the decision based less on what Magnus wanted and more on his desire to not fuck up the plot

The justification for him not doing it was good and spoke to his character as a hero.

>They have an item that allows them to cast any spell off any spell list
>They also have an item that lets them change one letter on any spell they cast to change its effect
>They gave them both to the guy who can't remember shit about his character, to the point where I'm pretty sure he never adds proficiency or ability score bonuses to any of his rolls

The second I heard someone mention changing Thunder Wave to Thunder Dave I knew a massive opportunity had been lost

dropped at 'gerblin'

I wanted him to cast Aura of Life as Aura of Wife on Magnus to super-charge him. Alas.

...

Honestly, I get it. Sometimes as a player you have to take a step back, realize that what your character would do would fuck the game sideways, and come up with a justification for not doing it. If I'm sitting in his chair I'm thinking that there's no way I can actually take this cup because if I do I not only fuck the game, I might fuck the show.

Wait so if I'm reading this thread right, the same DM that gave out
>>They also have an item that lets them change one letter on any spell they cast to change its effect
is now running the campaign super serious and plot focused? Sounds like a serious lack of tone.

Magnus is the most well rounded and fleshed out character, for certain.

Alright all you hacks, FIRST OF ALL post favorite character
Secondly,
>I started a book recently then skipped chapters and read the first ten pages of the final chapter and it didn't feel right
Yea, no duh. I'll be honest and say that The Lost Century almost lost me too but skipping whole story archs will almost always make the next parts look bad.

The Lost Century does get buck wild and I planned on taking a break after the first episode of it this last ep realed me back in tho. I don't like that the new system and I don't like that it's so different from what we started with and that it's more of a story instead of a game and I don't like how much the players get to make non character decisions about the narrative. Griffin is a known anime fan and I think he's suffering from anime-ending. The kind of ending where you building a robot the size of the universe to fight another robot the size of the universe when the story initially was just about some robots fighting mole men. With that being said tho, I'm excited to see what present of an ending Griff and the boys will make for us. I think the boys, especially Justin, will keep it light hearted and fun as Griffen gets more serious which I think will provide a nice flavor sweet and savory flavor

I haven't caught up in a bit, but somewhere around...Crystal Kingdom, it became obvious that for some reason they decided to hurry the game up to the end. It does result in an odd tone shift, by the sounds of it, but it become super focused on the plot WOULD speed it up.

Clint.
Not Merle.

Lost in the weeds, as they say. He forgot, or didn't understand, what made the podcast so fun for so many people. A good campaign like this isn't about the thread, which is too hard to maintain in collaborative story telling. It's about the great little vignettes you create. Merle pulling them back with summon planar ally, the gay girls turning into, just, the gayest tree, harassing Jenkins to the point of tears, the first (and probably just the first) interaction with Magic Brian. That stuff. No one cares about a century ago, this carpenter, cook and clerical druid... doing.. . whatever the fuck before they... became completely different people and... ugh. Just, ugh.

Even in lighthearted media, shit can get really heavy at the end, and there have been under currents going beneath the general irreverence of the show.
Also that could be a fun as fuck utility item
I guess I just never thought that was a meta call on his part to not take the chalice, beyond being like "we've been told not to fall under the sway of the relics before"

Well it's not Super Serious. It's mainly a comedy podcast. Just because it has silly shit every once in a while doesn't mean it can't do serious stuff once in a while. Try to not make snap judgments based on the rampant spoilers and ramblings of a bunch of Veeky Forums anons who love to complain about things

I'm sorry, but I'm into it
also I'm not sorry

I am enjoying the stolen century as a way to build characters and give the final arc a special feel as the culmination of all their works instead of just "GIANT TICK FROM OUTERSPACE ATTACKS!"
Hopefully the bonds they made in the current world will play into the final adventure like the bonds they are making in each cycle

You're kind of acting like a majority hates the change to a more serious story, user, which is obviously not so. I understand you personally not enjoying it, nothing wrong with that, but keeps in perspective, alright?

I feel like the Lup stuff was an unfair thing to spring on Taako. In these recent episodes it almost seems like he's at a loss as to what to do now that he has to factor in this sister. He seems like he's struggling to figure out what personality to give her to make her something other than a Taako clone, and his character seems to be suffering as a result of it

This is why you don't screw around with a characters backstory.

Let's not use words like majority. I'd say the majority don't divulge their opinion, if anything. We don't have statistics on the matter either way. I just feel very let down, personally. I feel as though him trying to tie them back to having to do with the artifacts to begin with amateurish and detrimental and taking too many liberties with others' characters. I feel as though he's trying to retroactively capture a memento style feel halfway through an action-comedy. For those who are enjoying it, who are willing to just bend to the flow, it's fine, I suppose. But it seems to me, and is my intuition, that trying to inject detail and history and this sort of predestined reason for the characters, muddies them and makes it harder for their players to seriously goof off.

Of course they're my feelings, and just mine, but they're pretty powerful. I just wanted 3 goofs to save the world. Look at it this way, it's like watching someone say "I want to make a video game like starcraft, except every time there's an engagement, it zooms in and you play soul calibur with the fighters involved!" It's just... too much. Stick to the good basics, done well. The serious moments were enjoyable. The introduced convoluted is not.

>You will never see them cast Tasha's Hideous Daughter

I like it, but I'm not fully caught up yet. Aside from it and The Film Reroll (which turns movie plots into GURPS adventures; tons of fun) I don't really like any other RPG actual-play podcasts.

There are so many fantastic ones.

This is Griffin's first time (or very nearly first time) DMing, and I think he's fallen in a common pitfall that most new DMs do; and that is a grandiose too-big-for-the-table plot.

The Chemistry between the players, the characters, and the setting is phenomenal, and honestly that's all that's carrying it for the audience at this point. If you're not into it now I'd follow it for when the new campaign starts because I'm sure that some lessons about game structure will have been learned by then.

And then Clint got to lose all his magic too, because FUCK EVERYONE BUT WIZARDS.

Travis's big damn hero moments always feel the best, because they tend to be pretty creative use of of what he has available.

user, I don't think he's the one voicing Lup. Justin's still only in control of Taako.

Any potential interest I had in Lup went right in the trash with "assigned male at birth"

Like, shit, either have it come up naturally or something, or don't mention it. There will be no brownie points for trans for the sake of trans.

And who the fuck is imagining Latino elves anyway, ffs. Elves are wan fey creatures. They fuck trees and wear leaves for clothes.

I think it's kinda hilarious with all the fanart though. Lup is trans but Taako is so damn effeminate you still can't tell them apart

Just goes to show that elves only have one sex, and it's Elf.

Didn't griffin say that he was going to make it up to his dad in a really big way?

Personally, I think the story's been great, and I have enjoyed the more cinematic style of the post-Suffering Game episodes. It's obviously a little railroady, but it works for the characters and it's evidently been being built up at least since Moonlighting or Rockport Limited. Plus, I appreciate how candid Griffin is about what he's doing.
Best arcs: Crystal Kingdom > Reunion Tour > Eleventh Hour > Rockport Limited > Suffering Game > Gerblins = Petals to the Metal.

>post favorite character
Magnus. He's objectively the best boy. Ango comes close tho

Hey, "Divine Wood" was pretty fucking fantastic. That said, I do kind of agree with you. Other good uses I've heard are "Compelled Duet", "False Wife" and "Shocking Grass".
Goddamn it.

It's got a serious plot, but it's still mostly goofy fun on the smaller scale.
Like, part of the "epic plot" we're talking about has Magnus, the Fighter, discover the existence of a giant "Power Bear" that's the king of all animals and immediately decide to fucking wrestle it.

>Any potential interest I had in Lup went right in the trash with "assigned male at birth"
>Like, shit, either have it come up naturally or something, or don't mention it. There will be no brownie points for trans for the sake of trans.
Transfag here, I kind of agree with you. Like, I guess I appreciate what he wanted to do, but there's gotta be a more elegant way to work it in.

Griffin really needs to get off social media for his own good. I feel like it's really tainted the experience for him and he feels like his has to live up to the weird and unrealistic standards of his tumblr fanbase

It's honestly sad to see

Like fuck, he spent 20 minutes of the Adventure Zone Zone, apologizing for something the fans might have done over a stupid name pun. Seriously?

I just really want someone else to take over as DM. Clean the pallet, you know?

>DM gets too into the narrative
>while being recorded
what's new? Every GM has a huge power fantasy that has a chance of being contained only as long as there are no homebrews or recording devices present.

Travis is taking over as GM next arc as far as I know. Unfortunately he's the most SJW of the three.

There's been no confirmation of what's happening next. Travis DM's TAZ Nights, but it's uncertain who's running the next game.
And they're mostly good at keeping SJW-ery in the background and unobtrusive instead of disrupting everything, so...

My girlfriend is constantly listening to McElroy content and I cannot stand their fuckkng voices, they sound, to the last man, like the most gigantic, monumental faggots. The blonde one most of all. That kid's voice is a loud, nasal assault on the senses.

Also they're whole thing is just a new faggoty iteration of LOLSORANDOM

In short, fuck those unfunny retards and their weird gay voices. How can any of you stand it?

Remember to kill ourself because you're a freak, you mutant fag.

Will do!

The Glass Cannon Podcast is tight as hell.

One thing i really love about the adventure zone is i think Griffin is really good at designing unique, interesting battles. That's one thing i really struggle with as a DM but this guy's combats can be really memorable.

Do you need to know anything about the main podcast before checking this out?
Is the main podcast worth looking up, too?

I think it is disgusting that the tumblrites draw TAako as a full on drag queen just cus he is gay.

>Do you need to know anything about the main podcast before checking this out?
Not really. There's only one common "character", and everything you need to know about him's in The Adventure Zone.
>Is the main podcast worth looking up, too?
It's pretty funny. I'd advise watching this episode of their TV show to get a feel for their sense of humor. youtube.com/watch?v=UK7y7POw0yA&ab_channel=Seeso
He's canonically wearing a skirt throughout The Eleventh Hour. Like, Clint asks "is it a man-skirt" and gets a firm "no".

MBMBaM it actually pretty funny. Most because of the stupid questions they "answer" and give advice on.

You guys need to chill, this is pretty much how every campaign of first time players and GM goes when they all realize they like doing it. This one is just complicated by having a large fan base that they enjoy interacting with.

Seriously, it has everything from starting too silly to swinging too serious to almost every first time DM mistake to players never learning the rules. Now they are in their "D&D is shit" phase, like literally everyone goes through.

I'm not quite sure how people can't see themselves as on of the people on the show [spoilers]well, except for all those anons that don't actually play games[/spoilers]

I think this show was the first thing in a while that made me feel truly "out of touch" with what this generation of players are into.

There's so many modern rpg trends I understand even if I don't appreciate. Critical Role is just an evolution of all that twitch video game stuff that's popular these days, and at least Mercer runs a tight enough ship for it to feel professional. I'm having trouble reading what even the hypothetical appeal of this show is supposed to be, yet it's the other default answer you get if you ask a someone new to the hobby on roll20 what got them into roleplaying.

I just don't find these guys particularly funny, is what I think the problem is. They're irreverent and wacky, but that's never been enough to carry an hours-long show. But apparently these guys have an entire media empire? A bunch of different podcasts, deals with gaming websites, and their own TV show? I get what would make their thing funny for a skit on a comedy variety show, maybe, but for hundreds of hours of content?

It makes me feel terrible, but trying to wrap my head around the popularity of this show this really has made me the most "kids these days" I've ever been in regards to Veeky Forums stuff. I don't understand it at all.

It's a nice way to introduce new players to the game and the concept of role playing. They don't widely pay attention to the rules and change things to make the story better, but I found that has helped me as a DM to look at certainly creative uses for spells and work with those instead of just saying "sorry, that's not how it works"

Christ the "its racist" bit of the last The The Adventure Zone Zone was awful, the logic was complete bullshit

>This character's race is never mentioned and the guy playing him is white
>But his name is Taaco
>therefore I am going to assume he must be latino
>He has a sister named Chalupa
>You can't call her that, its racist to name latino characters after mexican food

Justin is by far the most SJW of the three.

Also TAZ and MBMBAM are the only two shows on the whole MaxFun network that don't generally boil down to "we're liberal and that's wonderful"

Well that sounds fucking awful

>his wife got McElroy'd

I'm the guy you replied to. My brain more processes it as him being a trap, and I have a weakness for traps. I like the full eyeliner, boot heels and dick sucking lips.

That being said, I'm kinda sad he ended up gay. Maybe that's weird, but I was really hoping he was just a super flaming fuckable boy because he liked the image and thought it was funny.

Non-transfag here, and I just try to imagine how awkward it would be if someone introduced a character in that fashion. "Well, he was male at birth, and he decided that he simply identified male without feeling like he needed any more specific gender at all, and he's just kinda comfortable in his body, and that's okay"

Taako ended up gay, but they never say it on the show. It just happens. The issue with trans is, tadaaaa! It'd never come up subtly because it doesn't matter :D unless she goes into the doctor and has to tell them she needs a prostate exam despite being otherwise female, it just would not be a thing. I bet some portion of the audience would have made her trans anyway. They keep making Lucio and D.va and McRee trans.

I guess I'm glad I wasn't the only one uncomfortable. The only way to deal with that weird, self-induced anxiety is to not give it any legs. To not only acknowledge it but to give it validity just doesn't do anything. It's a flaming wizard named taako. That was the first time I'd heard the word latinex, by the way. It's fantastic we're apologizing for other languages not having gender neutrality. I think you could have just said Latino, though. Since taako is a cute, dickable boy.

>start listening to this podcast and am working my way into moonlighting
>see literally nothing wrong with this podcast, enjoy the family's synergy and don't mind that the rules take a backseat to the presentation every so often
>up to moonlighting at this point
>come in this thread
>everyone shits so hard on TAZ it's unreal

So wait, is there a podcast I should be listening to or listen to that is completed that is much better? Some sort of actual play or something? It doesn't have to be D&D either, but I legitimately want to know what you lot think is so much better than this show.

Alternatively, if there is no good podcast, what should they be doing that would make it good? What's so wrong about TAZ? Explain yourselves carefully and in detail because I am highly skeptical right now seeing a shitton of criticism without an iota of 'this is what they should have done/should be doing'.

Honestly, it reminds me a lot of my first campaign, and I totally get that. But it doesn't mean folks aren't allowed to be disappointed in the thing. If no one ever gives the negative feedback, or if it's all ignored, then maybe he won't realize the mistake, the popularity will go to his head, and it'll never get better.

Latinx is the worst word of current year

No! As someone who is shitting on it, I encourage you to keep going. It's good content, there are fun ideas to steal for your own campaign, mistakes to learn from, and I just like the hosts and the characters period. Keep listening, and remember that when you really care about a thing, you don't pull punches in examining it.

I love it. But check out Friday night quests and DnD is for nerds

It's just that the podcast became so popular it's sort of collapsing under itself trying to please it's fanbase

I mean I'm still going to listen to it but I sort of want them to move on

There's nothing entertaining about listening or watching other people play D&D, it's a participation and personal creativity game.

Not all of us are fortunate enough to be able to play with friends.

Oh, wow, I spent all that time just not being entertained. You're absolutely right. Huh, how weird that I just didn't realize until you gave me those facts.

Personally I think it's more that both the game and the plot are getting a bit too big and interconnected for them to execute on it well given their hectic schedules and the fact that it's virtually always done over the internet. Them being explicitly aware of the fandom just sort of highlights that.

You could make the same argument for music, writing, sports, talk radio, or whatever other form of entertainment, and there's some degree of truth for every example--but that doesn't mean there isn't SOMETHING to be had.

Does the latest episode have good music?

Half the reason I am listening to the series is to grab the music off of Soundcloud and insert it as background music during my DnD game.

The other half is just to see where everything shakes out.

I miss Taako's Taco sidequest.

They will never be as excited as they were when Griffin said "Spicy Meat" in character

>his wife wants fag dick more than his dick

hehehe

Nah senpai, I tried Travis's news podcast one time and I had to turn it off. Waaaaaaaay too SJW. And the thing is, I'm a progressive. Gay rights, trans rights, women's rights, acceptance, I'm all down for that shit. Non binary genders and sexuality, all gucci. Everyone deserves respect, and if what you're doing isn't actively hurting someone else then your government and your fellow citizens shouldn't be stopping you either.

Travis is fucking insane though. His show was like a half hour of a "eek that's intense bro turn it down" until I heard him say something like:
> "I'm sorry, but if you don't tell a troll on twitter that he's being a bully and ask him to stop then it's like you're abusing his victims too and THAT IS NOT OKAY. ANYONE WHO DOESN'T DO THIS IS PART OF THE PROBLEM."
Who the fuck gets worked up over the idea of people NOT feeding trolls? The fuck? He for sure found some koolaid to drink.

Keep in mind a public forum with your name plastered to it is a multiplier for the extremeness of your opinions and how much you want to beat someone over the head. I feel like in private during reasonable conversation, he wouldn't cling to that. Like how JonTron wouldn't have gone so ham if he wasn't being goaded on a live stream.

I don't like how they push their agendas and have "holier than thou" attitudes but that's more prevalent in MBMBaM. Having a trans character that is defined as trans without any other real definition is just blatant pandering. Especially as the game consists of 4 middle-aged white dudes tryingto getgood with the internet

I liked Adventure Zone at first but this time travel railroad bullshit is awful and steals some character agency away by giving them crazy pasts.

Their tumblr tier following is awful and overreacts to everything.

Polygon, which is run by 2 of them, is the worst video game journalism website around because it also pushes agendas so hard to the point they don't make sense (more of a /v/ issue)

I really like TAZ at first but I don't care much for it now. the music is good though.

Its pretty damn good for the first roleplay experience for an entire group.

Sort-of hyper railroaded, but the amount of player input on world and character building means that they actually have a good amount of control, and that much railroading is really neccesery for what is essentialy a group of sketch actors to be anything other than comedic murderhobos in their first game.

I enjoy it a lot more than most roleplay podcasts because it has a lot more of the feel of a normal game (no one has any idea what the fuck is going on and wings it for the best possible experience for everyone rather than follows the rules precisely) .

Super excited to see what the the others do when they get their turn at DM.

Eh the boss fight was fine, that was like his first attempt at designing a boss enounter and fucked it up and had to save it.

Its not like his players are in it for the combat anyway so who cares.

Taako canonically has only worn dresses, never pants, and uses alter self for face makeup.

Because having fun matters more than not acting or partacing in others acting in a way that could be called gay.

I think my favorite moments in the campaign are Taako bluffing his way deep into a situation and Griffin hard calling him on it and he tries to dog his way out. The fact they roleplay through it instead of just going by the dice makes it really great. Especially with how flustered Justin gets.