Wednesday, April 28, 2010

In Your Face, Dungeon Master

It's Wednesday, time for some show notes:

Here we see the party after 8 hours of D&D--some people are tired and some are drunk* but they all want to get out of the dungeon, so we keep going...

Some people can't stand DMing when everyone's gone loopy, I think it's funny. Like war, D&D should always begin with exquisite order and preparation and end in total chaos.

This battle was entirely vertical. Frankie aced the spider queen.

Connie and the oil: Of course there are more than 2 kinds of oil, but I meant 2 kinds that the party had gotten their hands on so far.

The blanket scheme: It wasn't the worst plan, but, seriously, no matter what Sasha says, you roll a one and that's that.

Next week:

The first Justine Jolie episode. It's sunny, everyone is rested and sober, and they get to find out all about what's in that Goblin Palace.

Click here to see it bigger and without the banner ad.


_____________
*Apparently on a very sweet white wine Danny Wylde (straightedge) picked up at the liquor store--Sasha hated it, Frankie loved it and Mandy, while acknowledging its failings, nonetheless found it in her heart to accept it.

20 comments:

mordicai said...

You know, I've never seen the beer cozee Yatzee technique before these?

I think the blanket is a fun & decent plan...but it is tough to argue with a 1. The rolling here seems abysmal! Is that a function of the editing (low rolls & crits being more interesting) or were they really on a bad jag?

Zak Sabbath said...

We played for 8 hours. The episodes to date clock about 45 minutes all together. It's probably the editing.

Anonymous said...

while the "blanket scheme" maybe wasn't the worst plan, it was pretty bad actually. if i am not mistaken they tried to drop the blanket several feet down on someones head. how is that supposed to do anything helpful?! (if it was weighted or something maybe...)

"roll for blanket size!" huh?!

anyway, i am very happy the episodes are a bit longer now.

any chance of getting to know the players and their characters better? (if you read the blog you know a little, but more info would be better) a little portrait where each player has a few moments to talk about their rpg-experience and their characters race/class/history/whatever.

Zak Sabbath said...

@shlominus

The show is supposed to have its own site soon, and so there'll be more info on everybody there. And we'll continue to try to work in more stuff like that into the show. The 5-10 minute format is somewhat restrictive when it comes to deep background, but it's one of the things we'd like to get into.

thekelvingreen said...

The people in my group don't get drunk and end up cuddling each other, but that's probably for the best.

Joethelawyer said...

As always, very entertaining. Best line was "Fuuuuck! It's a hand towel!!" :)

I noticed you had a laptop open Zak. I also noticed hardbound notebooks. What's on each? What's your DM setup?

(I was soooo waiting for the lubricant oil v. burning oil to turn into a K-Y joke...)

Zak Sabbath said...

@joe
the notebooks have all the maps and notes and tables and monsters.

the laptop was just there to record the huge sound file (8 hours) coming in from the microphone.

We abandoned that method after that session and switched to a different recording method.

christian said...

I really enjoyed that. I'm always happy to see people having a good time doing something they like.

Keep on keepin' on.

JakeSox said...

The hobbits leaf is favoured by my players, but as DM, I usually just have a drink to loosen up when the session begins.

Goblinkin said...

Another great post and video. Really loving all of the girls' antics.
Just one question - I notice there always seems to be like a dude hanging around on the lounge reading in the background. What's his deal?

Zak Sabbath said...

@goblin
he's our friend Ian, he came over to watch the game that day. he's in the credits.

Rachel Kerry said...

Hey Zak,

Random question: You've mentioned before that the first seven eps were shot over the course of one eight-hour session. So, is it just me or do the girls change outfits several times over the course of the day? Any reason for this?

Just wonderin'

Zak Sabbath said...

@Gluechow
the episodes have a little more variety that way. plus the girls like changing clothes.

christian said...

Zak: Do the girls read the comments here? I ask this because I saw Connie post over at the Escapist. She was taking the haters' comments to heart and that bummed me out. I hope she and the others read the comments here because they are generally supportive and kind.

Peace,
Christian

Zak Sabbath said...

@christian
don't know. suppose you'd better post over there too, just to be safe.

Joethelawyer said...

I just posted this over there...hopefuly it will make some people feel like shit.

I'm sitting here reading through these comments, and something rubs me the wrong way about the haters. I know "haters" is a newish word thrown around a lot, but in this case, especially for the early posters and their comments, it seems true.

Normally, if someone doesn't like something, they just turn it off, change the channel, close the page, etc. But some people actually went way beyond "didn't like" and moved to some strong emotional state about it. There's anger, hatred, bile,...something else mixed into all of it.

At the very least its intentionally hurtful. I don't know where it comes from---jealousy that a guy gets to play dnd with hot women, repressed sexual feelings, anger towards women, a feeling of being ripped off that they found nothing to whack off to...I don't know what it is. But the level of anger/hate/bile in some of the early posts does seem to come from some other place not related to the video itself. Maybe it's just immaturity. Maybe its just the safety someone gets from being an anonymous asshole, doing unto others what others have done unto them sometime, some place, some where.

I noticed there was less hate posts after the girls themselves started posting, which makes me think that the hate came from some cold impersonal place in people, which went away somewhat once the people realized that these were actual human beings here that were being insulted, and who were insulted for doing nothing other than playing dnd and having fun with their friends.

People ask if there would be any show if the women weren't porn stars and strippers "gimmick". Let me ask the haters this: would there be as many hateful remarks if they weren't porn star and strippers? I mean, do you talk this sway about women in your life you have respect for? Or do you just seek out women for some screwed up reason you feel aren't worthy of respect to take out your bile and hate on?

If you get this worked up about something like a 6 minute show of people playing dnd that you feel the need to post hateful HURTFUL things about a bunch of friends having a good time, there's something seriously wrong with you.

If you don't like the camera editing, fine. If you want to compare it to the robot chicken peeps, fine. But the videos aren't gonna change their format that much it seems. This is the way its going to be. A lot of people like it, but it may not be for everybody. Take it or leave it. Go enjoy some other form of entertainment if you don't like it.

But if you feel the need to puke bile and hate at a bunch of women just for having a good time playing a game with friends, all because you don't have the decency as a human being in you to respect them as PEOPLE WITH FEELINGS because can't get beyond their day jobs, save yourself the post and go talk to a counselor. You need some help.

Zak Sabbath said...

@joe
if people are nicer when the girls show up it's for the same reason it happens in bars--certain guys are dicks unless there's a woman in the room. When girls show up, they act nicer because they're trying to impress them.

SirAllen said...

That was a lot of fun; I'm glad it was 9 minutes. Zak, are the future shows going to be longer than 5 minutes, or was it because this was a session finale?

Also, I think it's great that the Satine and Frankie stomped out some of the nerdrage on the Escapist comments. Good for them. I love your players.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Allen
Basically we try to cut them as long as possible while still grouping the footage into chunks that make sense. Like i said, the early episodes were not cut the way i would've.

it's nice to hear the girls are stomping, i just avoid those weenies altogether.

Bakunin said...

I was going to head over the the Escapist comments section to defend the series' honor, but Satine and Frankie seemed to have that well in hand. That, and I make it a policy to avoid getting in Internet forum fights with the pathologically inane.

So I just wanted to say here that the show is great, this is the best episode yet, and that I'm looking forward to the next episode.