The Adventure Zone: Setup - Dust Season 2
September 2, 2022 6:26 PM - Subscribe
Travis returns to MC Season 2 of The Adventure Zone: Dust. Special guest Erika Ishii (@erikaishii on twitter) joins the adventure to Wild-West inspired Crescent City. Listen in as we create our characters and give a primer on the mechanics of the game.We're playing Urban Shadows by Magpie Games: https://magpiegames.com/pages/products
I thought Travis did good last time. I think this was my second favorite adventure so far so it sounds like good news to me.
posted by bleep at 7:09 AM on September 3, 2022
posted by bleep at 7:09 AM on September 3, 2022
I'm really not sure about it. Travis runs PbtA games fundamentally wrong (never tell the players what to roll) and it absolutely grates on me. I'm interested in the players' characters, but Weird West doesn't do much for me. I haven't made it all the way through the first ep yet because of that, so.. I dunno. There's definitely some fun interactions going on in the first session. This is likely going to be something I save up for a bit and read the impressions -- I'd love to read something from someone who is 100% into this, as that kind of shared-enthusiasm is always great for me to engage with a thing I otherwise have difficulty with.
posted by curious nu at 8:40 AM on September 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by curious nu at 8:40 AM on September 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I cannot believe we've been robbed of Darn Tootin.
posted by meese at 11:36 AM on September 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by meese at 11:36 AM on September 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
Both the fawning tweets and hearing that Travis started Erika out with a whole lot of interrupting suggests that this one probably just isn't for me. Which is fine! Unlike Ethersea I wasn't expecting much; that one stung when it took a sharp turn onto "all the same bad habits" street.
posted by supercres at 4:58 PM on September 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by supercres at 4:58 PM on September 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
It would be great if there was at least one corner of the Internet where TAZ could be discussed without the conversation instantly going negative.
posted by meese at 5:09 PM on September 3, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by meese at 5:09 PM on September 3, 2022 [8 favorites]
It would be great if there was at least one corner of the Internet where TAZ could be discussed without the conversation instantly going negative
Internet fandom *in general* is pretty fucking unpleasant, but TAZ fandom in particular seems to be unusually negative. I don't know why, but I almost never engage with it because the other people who supposedly gather to appreciate and enjoy this thing tend to sour MY enjoyment of a thing I enjoyed so much I wanted to talk to other people about how much I enjoyed it! So here's one enthusiastic voice that just doesn't participate in the fandom because it's a real fucking downer.
posted by cubeb at 5:19 PM on September 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Internet fandom *in general* is pretty fucking unpleasant, but TAZ fandom in particular seems to be unusually negative. I don't know why, but I almost never engage with it because the other people who supposedly gather to appreciate and enjoy this thing tend to sour MY enjoyment of a thing I enjoyed so much I wanted to talk to other people about how much I enjoyed it! So here's one enthusiastic voice that just doesn't participate in the fandom because it's a real fucking downer.
posted by cubeb at 5:19 PM on September 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
New TAZ fandom rule: you should post one thing you actually enjoyed about this thing you're a fan of, even if you also post a whole essay about everything you hated.
My thing: I really like Clint's take on a laconic old hardass who can't help but toss off the occasional pun!
posted by cubeb at 5:26 PM on September 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
My thing: I really like Clint's take on a laconic old hardass who can't help but toss off the occasional pun!
posted by cubeb at 5:26 PM on September 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have only listened to the set up episode, but I am so excited to see Indrid Cold as a player character!
posted by meese at 5:50 PM on September 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by meese at 5:50 PM on September 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Travis runs PbtA games fundamentally wrong (never tell the players what to roll)
Is that so? PBtA is a system where I've never been able to shake the feeling of playing it incorrectly, but I thought players were meant to describe their actions rather than just saying "I'm doing move X".
Anyway, I'm mostly here for the energy between the players, so I can excuse a lot of wonkiness elsewhere.
posted by entity447b at 1:46 AM on September 5, 2022
Is that so? PBtA is a system where I've never been able to shake the feeling of playing it incorrectly, but I thought players were meant to describe their actions rather than just saying "I'm doing move X".
Anyway, I'm mostly here for the energy between the players, so I can excuse a lot of wonkiness elsewhere.
posted by entity447b at 1:46 AM on September 5, 2022
but I thought players were meant to describe their actions rather than just saying "I'm doing move X".
Oh, for sure! But the GM is never supposed to tell you what to roll. "Give me a..." is not a phrase you should hear in a PbtA game. It's always, always supposed to be player-driven; Apocalypse World came out of a very particular game design philosophy in the early 2000s. It's why the players direct what the outcomes will be from a move. Even the GM has moves that they're supposed to use, specific actions based off of setting triggers.
Anyway! Longer, somewhat off-topic conversation, happy to chat more in a.. I have no idea where that would fit on Metafilter, I guess somewhere in Fanfare Talk or a Club or something? I'm going to duck out of this one now. :) I like this set of characters and am curious to see how their relationships develop.
posted by curious nu at 8:10 AM on September 5, 2022
Oh, for sure! But the GM is never supposed to tell you what to roll. "Give me a..." is not a phrase you should hear in a PbtA game. It's always, always supposed to be player-driven; Apocalypse World came out of a very particular game design philosophy in the early 2000s. It's why the players direct what the outcomes will be from a move. Even the GM has moves that they're supposed to use, specific actions based off of setting triggers.
Anyway! Longer, somewhat off-topic conversation, happy to chat more in a.. I have no idea where that would fit on Metafilter, I guess somewhere in Fanfare Talk or a Club or something? I'm going to duck out of this one now. :) I like this set of characters and am curious to see how their relationships develop.
posted by curious nu at 8:10 AM on September 5, 2022
Oh, for sure! But the GM is never supposed to tell you what to roll. "Give me a..." is not a phrase you should hear in a PbtA game. It's always, always supposed to be player-driven; Apocalypse World came out of a very particular game design philosophy in the early 2000s. It's why the players direct what the outcomes will be from a move. Even the GM has moves that they're supposed to use, specific actions based off of setting triggers.
Right - but this isn't a bunch of friends playing a PbtA game for their own satisfaction, this is a radio drama using PbtA as a tool. These guys said from the very beginning that they were using the rules of the games they played as loosely as they needed to.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:20 AM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Right - but this isn't a bunch of friends playing a PbtA game for their own satisfaction, this is a radio drama using PbtA as a tool. These guys said from the very beginning that they were using the rules of the games they played as loosely as they needed to.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:20 AM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
When I was little telling other people what their characters had to say to advance the game was fair play therefore this aspect of this free entertainment show doesn't bother me.
posted by bleep at 1:15 PM on September 5, 2022
posted by bleep at 1:15 PM on September 5, 2022
Unsure how to feel about this, if only because I'm not really a big Old West sort of guy overall, but hopefully Travis does some amount of improving based on feedback and reflection after his last long-term GMing stint. Also not fully sold on Erica Ishii yet, given that my previous impression of her in TAZ has been a little too "fan who is really excited to be called up on stage with the performers" for my tastes, but that could also just be related to the difficulty of trying to actually integrate into the existing and well established dynamic among the McElroy family. I almost certainly wouldn't do any better!
I do like Griffin's idea to play as the Mothman (since he portrayed him as an NPC before, how does that work in terms of whether the Mothman was a PC or NPC? Who knows! Just tell yourself, it's just a show, and you really should relax.) and I always adore Justin's willingness to Just Go For It as a player in this stuff, so it feels like there's plenty to look forward to, too.
I'll still listen to every episode of it, but I'll be looking forward to Justin's project the whole time, heh.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:10 PM on September 7, 2022
I do like Griffin's idea to play as the Mothman (since he portrayed him as an NPC before, how does that work in terms of whether the Mothman was a PC or NPC? Who knows! Just tell yourself, it's just a show, and you really should relax.) and I always adore Justin's willingness to Just Go For It as a player in this stuff, so it feels like there's plenty to look forward to, too.
I'll still listen to every episode of it, but I'll be looking forward to Justin's project the whole time, heh.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:10 PM on September 7, 2022
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whelp, see ya'll next season.
posted by coriolisdave at 8:56 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]