The Adventure Zone: The The Adventure Zone Zone

March 17, 2016 12:16 PM

Happy MaxFunDrive, everybody! To celebrate, we're doing a between-weeks episode of The The Adventure Zone Zone, an informal chat show about the rest of the podcast that we do. Join us for a discussion of Taako's Taco Quest, the origins of Barry Bluejeans and what's in store for future campaigns!
posted by Tevin (7 comments total)

Dice cheating, no surprise.

This storyline has an end and they will retire the characters, a surprise, but one I realized I appreciated.

Griffin cribbed the entire car race from Fast and the Furious? Had no goddamn idea.
posted by maxsparber at 6:46 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Kind of shocked by the cheating. I mean, I understand it, and i don't really blame them, but it still just seems wrong. I get the idea that you just want to continue the story, but I think failure would be just as entertaining for these characters, so why bother? I also agree that some kind of live shared dice environment would be cool. I feel like it would be pretty easy to set up with webcams aimed at little dice trays.

I do really wish they would incorporate some guest-star NPCs, and I don't think it would be as hard as Griffin makes it out to be. You would have to pick and choose your NPCs carefully, but for example, if one of the regulators had accompanied the party into the lab in the current arc, someone could have played the part of that regulator. Basically any kind of "hired gun" that goes on the adventure with the party could be played by a guest, I think.

Also, the spin-off campaign should really be called The Zone of Adventure.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:27 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Did they manage to make it the entire episode without mentioning that they were parting the kimono?
posted by drezdn at 1:19 PM on March 18, 2016

The justification is that they only do it if it moves the story along, but I would argue against that. If the issue is with boring people they can edit that stuff out. Failure can be interesting though, so if it isn't boring then they should leave it in. That can only happen if they actually take what they actually roll instead of slight adjustments. So, not super disappointing, but I think they made the wrong call to do it. I appreciated the recap. I had forgotten more than I expected that happened, or at least what was important.

My D&D group follows the rules better than them, but we still ignore encumbrance and daily expenditures, within reason. I probably carry more than I should but nothing obviously insane. So I get not being a total stickler for the rules, but not abiding ability/combat check results feels like a bigger deal.
posted by Green With You at 1:23 PM on March 18, 2016

So I get not being a total stickler for the rules, but not abiding ability/combat check results feels like a bigger deal.

Exactly. And it just occurred to me that they could still (mostly) accomplish that goal within the rules if Griffin handed out Inspiration points liberally. Having Advantage doesn't automatically mean success, but it still seems like it would move the story along more quickly, if that is the concern.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:02 PM on March 21, 2016

The example of "nobody wants to hear me roll over and over to jump across a pit" also falls flat for me because there's good drama if a guy fails in his pit jump and has to cling by his fingerprints or gets grabbed heroically by a diving compatriot. There's a lot of improv "yes and" in the show, but the whole point of dice is to introduce uncertainty and drama. Work with it!
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:07 PM on November 13, 2016

Did they manage to make it the entire episode without mentioning that they were parting the kimono?

Spoiler alert: They totally don't.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:54 PM on November 14, 2016