The Adventure Zone: Ep. 52. The Suffering Game - Chapter Two
November 17, 2016 11:07 AM - Subscribe

Our boys survived their first encounter in The Felicity Wilds -- but will they survive the perils that await them inside of Wonderland? Or like, maybe it's not so bad in there? No, I'm just goofin'. It's pretty dang bad in there. Magnus makes a new BFF. Merle goes dark. Taako considers a job application. Music: "Storm Top Dog" by Zackery Wilson. You can find his music at soundcloud.com/zackerywilson and at zwmusic.bandcamp.com!
posted by Tevin (11 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Hey gang - I think it's about to get real hairy. Like, real real hairy.

And I think there's going to be death, and I think it's going to be part of the plot.

Excited to see where this goes.
posted by Tevin at 12:37 PM on November 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


About three quarters of the way through and must credit Griffin for actually upping the stakes dramatically.
posted by maxsparber at 1:20 PM on November 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


You guys should have heard the noise I made when Griffin said, "Monster Factory!"

I think Magnus dies heroically at some point, I just get the feeling. I think Griffin and Travis have already discussed it but Justin and Cliff don't know and it's going to be ah-mazing.
posted by WidgetAlley at 2:45 PM on November 17, 2016 [4 favorites]


...didn't we find out at some point that the Red Robes are liches? As in, dead? And we now know that Magnus was maybe probably somehow one of them?
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:40 PM on November 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Is "Cliff" a special fan name for "Clint" and if not, can we please make it one now?
posted by Tevin at 4:59 PM on November 17, 2016


Is "Cliff" a special fan name for "Clint" and if not, can we please make it one now?

It is now!

It's November and I'm in grad school and all non-essential information has left my brain.
posted by WidgetAlley at 7:28 PM on November 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


Cliff McElroy is the Stefan Urquelle to Clint McElroy's Steve Urkel.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:06 AM on November 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


Cliff always does his character voice and knows which die is the d8.

Fun fact: I had to copynpaste "d8" because Chrome keeps trying to autocorrect it to "it is November 18th 2016, 7:09:52 am right now".

I'm going to be a little bit of a good good hypercritical boy and say that I'll be kind of bummed if the death of one of our characters comes at the hands of a roulette wheel or craps game rather than in the course of the storyline, but this campaign has been so so good, and Griffin is such an amazing storyteller that I don't actually think it will go down like that.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:14 AM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


This arc makes me too anxious. I mean, I'll stick with it happily but ... it reminds me of the Hostel movie genre-i can't even handle watching the trailers for those.
posted by purenitrous at 8:13 AM on November 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm feeling a little cautious on this storyline; I trust in Griffin, but I don't like tabletop RPG storylines that become a railroad to suffering. I have no problems with RPG characters suffering and I have no problem with the players having tough choices, but having everyone sacrifice a body part or an ability (or accept a vague "penalty") as the entry price to the dungeon is pushing my boundaries on taking away agency from the players.

As a comparison, I look at the Crystal Kingdom arc - Cliff had a moment to make a choice about catching a crystal or not; the consequences of his decision were clearly communicated in advance, and the decision was his alone along with the subsequent actions of the other players to manage the effects. It was not the price of entry for the adventure; it was a moment of the adventure, if that is clear.

So, yeah, I'm a bit uncomfortable here but I also trust Griffin enough to think that this is building to something great.
posted by nubs at 6:42 PM on November 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


Wonderland is a great, nasty concept and the Monster Factory idea was brilliant. Multiplying Flying Electric Dire-bear!
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:08 AM on March 6, 2017


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