Acquisitions Inc. D&D Podcast Season 1 - Episode 7
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2013
- James Wyatt as the Dungeon Master
Jerry Holkins as Omin Dran
Mike Krahulik as Jim Darkmagic
Scott Kurtz as Binwin Bronzebottom
Season 1 Playlist
• Acquisitions Inc. Seas...
These podcasts are freely available from the Acquisitions Inc. website - www.acq-inc.com/portfolio
#DnD #PennyArcade - เกม
I believe this is an adventure module I've played before called "Keep on the Shadowfell." It's designed for beginning characters. My party nearly wiped on the same encounter, with the vampire minions, berzerker and dark creeper. Chris Perkins started the module, and James Wyatt just starting filling in half-way through, so I'm not sure if Wyatt was completely aware of how Perkins was planning on running the adventure. I don't think Wyatt was really planning on wiping the party, which is why he hesitates for a couple minutes, and then rejuvenates the players with basically magical reasoning - it's *pretty* clear to me that wasn't pre-scripted, because it's not mentioned anywhere in the adventure module. But it turned out to be a relatively interesting, atypical take on it! Good on Wyatt for working on the fly.
I can't imagine how disorienting it would be to substitute DM right in the middle of a challenging adventure. I feel like there's a decent chance that Perkins was planning to artificially fudge the difficulty in order to better suit a party of 3 adventurers, and Wyatt simply wasn't aware.
I have no problem with the DM's handling of the situation. I think it's interesting when the DM finds ways to continue the adventure after the party has been knocked out. The heroes don't always see things go their way, after all. Especially at lower levels, it helps drive home the "This is a dangerous place" feel that D&D tends to foster. The party waking up as a sacrifice to Orcus is apt, I think.
EngagingFTL but the way Chris stacks the deck is really, really quick. You can see what's happening as he does it because you think "No DM would stack it this harshly" however Wyatt does it more slowly, he drags them out and makes them feel frustrated. Throughout the encounter they are failing roll after roll (even the decent numbers don't seem to hit) and the monsters just grind them down.
I don't think Wyatt is a bad DM (I actually quite like this session) I just think Chris Perkins is better, the Dice Gods are fucking harsh to the guys in this one which doesn't help either. They also make some ropey calls as a party (leaving your mage near a Berkserker is a move of unbearable badness).
"set the dwarf on fire" should be on a T-shirt
I always preferred TO put them to Sleep before cutting their heads off... >:)
James is an OK DM, but Perkins is the best DM I have ever seen. Don't get me wrong, James does a good job but these monsters he is throwing at them are really too big for 3rd level characters. At least he is letting them re-roll, but Perkins is still the best DM EVER! Just my thoughts
There's a ton of content in the adventure module that got skipped somehow, probably due to confusion associated with swapping DMs. I think they were supposed to have reached a higher level by this point.
4th edition... when Magic missiles didnt auto hit... an unholy travesty to say the least
Spoiled Milly.....
RIGHT?!!!
Well, it looks like Wizards edited the spell to make it an auto-hit about two years after the release of the 4e player's handbook (so around 2010). I think this edit was part of the "Essentials" lineup of products, a backwards compatible "update" of 4e where some stuff was changed around.
I started 4e with the release of the "red box" (a stylistic hearken back to the Basic D&D cover art), which acted as a starter set for the Essentials update of 4e. Magic Missile is an auto-hit here, so I was surprised as well when I discovered that Magic Missile was not an auto-hit pre-Essentials.
I think the original logic behind requiring an attack roll for Magic Missile was the introduction of the "minion" monster type in 4e. This class of monsters has 1 hit point but generally has higher defenses than non-minion monsters. Since 4e level progression was centered around adventurers eventually becoming superheroes at high levels, minions were created to represent cinematic "fodder" enemies on the battlefield. Since Magic Missile became an auto-hit after the release of Essentials, a party with a wizard suddenly gains the ability to automatically destroy two minions of their choice each turn (without an attack roll).
So the spell does kind of defeat the purpose of the minion monster type, but that's neither here nor there.
(Not taking a stance on 4e by the way, just explaining that 4e does technically have an auto-hit version of Magic Missile.)
Jim had patented this version by the time of 5e.
6:05 "Jim's used everything" The last words of a 4th ed gamer
I must have different priorities to most of the people complaining about the DM, cause I think the way he does things is pretty funny.
"Son of a Beesting" C team foreshadowing 10 years early!!
ugh i was gonna read my book on my train journey tommorow, now im gonna listen to this. thx a lot :p
I chuckle when the closed captioning keeps displaying 'chronic damage' when 'necrotic damage' is said.
Anyone else just listening to hear the hole story.
Whole
+austin romero me...but now i'd kindda like to hear the hole story too LOL
***** oh already knew that I was merely referring to the original commenter's spelling of whole LOL
Is it the hole that the dwarf fell into in episode 1?
My eyes are watering from yawning listening to this fast-paced and thrilling combat
I haven't finished listening yet but I was thinking "this seems fairly unbalanced" last episode. (I was actually pretty close to flipping through my MM and looking up the enemies.) I guess that would explain it!
watching in closed caption at 34:35 lmao
i thought the goblin was a crossbow specialist. Why didn't he help the party
In 4th edition, one level 5 encounter is allowed in a level 3 adventure
Ah the mad whims of fate....I remember when I played a game with some buddies and the entire game, going through 3 sets of dice, I never once rolled higher than a 5 on my D20... I was supposed to be the ace in the hole character and I wound up being the joke that dragged down the entire party...BUT! It did lead to some very memorable and funny moments in the game. Lol
the dice can be evil sometimes.
so i founf a flaw in video unless i missed it i was listening to the beginning of the alter scene and one player said we have everything back another player said no meaning no daily which would be wrong BEcause they roled an initiative. dont tell me im wrong i already stated my ignorance idk if they corrected it in the video i have paused it at this point to leave a live comment either way i love this game and i love this podcast. im in france right now (usa) and this is the only thing keeping me Asleep at night
+Christopher Williams only "encounter" powers recover at the start of each encounter. Daily powers are refreshed each morning.
its no fun if an adventure is too easy though i tend to give them a little help if its way too difficult
it was my understanding that magic missile could be used as a "melee" attack in an attack of opportunity or am i wrong?
Jonathan Clement I caught that too. maybe he forgot
+TheFireyMonk this was a pre-release version of the game. possibly some details were changed between this game and the final version.
Oh, that makes sense. I've played nearly every current edition, so i was confused
yea, it was a throwaway comment in the first episode. "this isn't even released yet." or something.
"I wonder where we're gonna wake up next?"
Having never used d20 what number would that roll be? 14or 20 or a different number
smoatman1 it's like any other die (apart from the d4), you read the number on top. so in this case 20
That or it was because James was busy?
12:00 Listen to a DM Total Party Kill including new players just learning.
I thought magic missile couldn't miss... Is that an older edition?
At the beginning of 4th edition, it was just a normal roll to attack, roll damage spell. Then it was later changed to more closely resemble the older editions by being an automatic hit, set damage.
... Cant magic missal draw opportunity
Third encounter... shouldn't they have gotten an AP?
DMs like this who just say "hit" and "miss" without telling the story of combat and embellishing the details make combat boring. You can tell in the players' voices that it's like a chore, not an adventure. Wiping is ok if it's part of the story, but just wipe and be done, don't take 50 boring minutes to do the wipe.
Nathan Hubbard If the game is boring then having DM narrate the event during the game play will not fix it.
+randomusernameCallin that is true haha it just makes the boring longer
JW has no gift for speaking, creating dynamic npcs, monsters, using his voice, roleplaying, nor improv. Very dull. As you say, just wanted to see what the cult was up too. JW may be a 4ed writer but he is NOT a performer in any way, shape or form. Skipping to S2, I'm sure they will recap anything important. "Yeeeaah ... finally!"
Erik C L Really? You're skipping an entire season because you don't think he's a good enough Storyteller?
Not true, a good DM will describe what happens during combat which tells a story in itself, and it is exciting. James Wyatt could be DMing the best adventure ever written and his monotone voice would make it stale and boring.
one would think the core designer of the 4e rulebook would understand how to force a party wipe as a dm. but you know ,even the smartest people can fail at things. which im pretty sure is apparent. if its not...well. i feel sorry for the guys who think this guy did it right.
+Kenboy 5 What would you consider the right way?
+Gwynoak exploding. zombies.
+Kenboy 5 Can't argue with that.
He wasn't forcing a wipe. The module is called "Keep on the Shadowfell," and it doesn't describe anything remotely close to "Wiping the party and having them wake up during the summoning ritual." Wyatt didn't pick the module, he was filling in for Perkins during the middle, so you can't expect him to run the adventure exactly the way he wants it. The players simply failed at an extremely challenging encounter, and Wyatt merely enforced the rules to the letter.
I can't believe how many people interpret minutes of DM hesitation after a party wipe, followed by magically rejuvenating them in the exact room they want to be as a pre-scripted event. If anything, that only highlights Wyatt's skills as a DM. He took something that was completely unexpected, and ran with it the best he could, with the effect of convincing everyone that it was *supposed* to happen.
James Wyatt needs to spread his asscheeks for shrek cuz this was booty. If the players are supposed to lose no matter what don't put them through 40 minutes of an encounter and drag the beating out. Just beat them in a fell swoop and continue the story. Also James basically told the players what the optimal moves were, even if players are new you should nudge them towards items or objects of interest, and occasionally remind them of spells they may have forgotten; not straight up tell them where to move and what to cast. James also left out vital information about the room and the way Daily's work which may have changed the encounter drastically until it was too late. If anything this whole session felt like James wanted to control every aspect of the game down to the players. I am glad Chris Perkins returns.
Guys who are saying that James Wyatt is a bad DM are missing the fact that he is intentionally trying to kill the characters as part of the plot. This was a podcast for entertainment purposes. IF JAMES Freaking WYATT, the 4ed Design Manager (basically the guy who made the official 4th ed rules) wants to railroad the game a bit... you give him a chance. He is strict on the rules because he wrote them.
Its not that he killed them, its the way it happened. He made it take a millio turn and was an arrogant, annoying prick while the guys were frustrated and trying to win. this is a game and he was killing the fun with a dragged out wipe and annoying comments.
***** He cooked them dinner every time they played. Every. Time.
Stephen is right give him a break its awkward bending the rules when u made them. Also its D&D they missed a lot of attacks as well as made some bad calls. You don't always survive. Yes the dice were trying to kill them.
***** im pretty sure the dm wanted to make it look like they had a chance but ultimately crushed their morale. which makes sense when they find out the encounter was 2 levels higher than them. at this point im sure it was supposed to fuel the story and they wake up and fight. despite the shitty rolls they got they learned from their mistakes (not by much but they did) and were able to beat the guys they had just crushed them
Stephen DeSimone I say anyone who wants to give a DM a hard time, they should spend time being a DM. Being a DM is hard work and anyone who even comes close to being a good story teller, which James Wyatt totally does, has my respect.
^o^
Crazy how bummed Mike starts to sound when shit hits the fan. Love it when the nooby loses themselves in the game!
Thank goodness this DM isnt making any returns. Totally imbalanced imo
I disagree that the DM handled the situation appropriately. This was a party of 3 at level 3 for crying out loud. He had two super agile vampire minions, a beserker with twice the hitpoints of the dwarf and a Mage that was hitting for 19 points of damage each round! That's absolute crazyness! 5 against 3 and all of the big hitters were stronger than any single hero. These guys played incredible for their inexperience and level. The DM stacked the deck incredibly high in his favor.
Chris Perkins is an amazing DM who knows that his job is to give his players a challenge and making the story fun. James Wyatt's storytelling was sub par comparatively, instead opting to throw monster after monster at these guys until they finally fell. Super lame.
That's probably because they were supposed to lose (either to proceed with the story or because they weren't expecting to make this a regular thing). You could argue about whether he did it well or not, but it at least seems like that's the intention.
I understand what you are saying. If that's true, then why bother playing a RPG if it's the same as reading a book? Your decisions and dice rolls are supposed to matter and dictate what does or does not happen going forward. If your actions have no meaning on the future, then there really isn't a point to playing at all.
Joseph Lynn I'm guessing it was more that the DM wanted to show off the slightly higher level end of the new system (which is probably also why he made them skip a level in the first place), and figured killing the party wouldn't be a big deal, since Acquisitions Inc. wasn't really a thing at the time.
Also, there's nothing wrong with throwing in an encounter that the party can't win, once in a while. It can help you set up situations like getting your captured, without it feeling cutscene-forced on them, it can help keep your party on their toes to show that there are more dangerous things out there that they're not ready for, or it can be used as a warning to stay away from a particular area, just as long as you make it clear they're outmatched, so that they attempt to run run away, or have something go their way to help them survive (like a structural collapse or an NPC coming to the rescue). It can actually make the world feel more organic (so you're not just fighting a line of progressively stronger encounters perfectly matched to your party). It doesn't necessarily affect the RP potential either. Such hopeless encounters probably shouldn't take much time to resolve though, and I wouldn't do it in such an early session with newbies.
It's getting kinda infuriating to read all these "James is a shitty DM" comments. He's not the most sensational DM, but he's not bad by any means. "Oh, but the players were obviously upset", no they weren't. They were having fun and trying to be strategic. Fuck, you're all pissed Wyatt's following the rules he wrote. God damn
Tl;dr: He follows the rules. If you don't like it, stop watching.
Combat aside, which was numbing enough, the dming is boring.
I'm way late on this, lol, but I'm not even on the hate train for Wyatt because of how he handled the encounter. I'm annoyed with him and dislike him because he's just... boring. Is there any roleplaying going on at all? Okay, he designed 4e (which is probably the most disliked edition because of the combat focus), you would think the guy who helped design a _role playing_ game would actually _role play_.
It is what it is, Perkins is back after this, but yeah. Not a fan of the DMing. Better than I could do? Sure, probably, I'm new to things, but for a veteran like him? Boring and annoying, honestly.
This DM needs to get the fuck out of there. How is anyone hit anything. The party is level three for god sake and they are against level 5 enemies? Come on that is not remotely fair against a 3 man cell.
it's not the number of enemies it is rather the type of enemy.
I will often throw insurmountable (by normal means) odds at my party, but usually give them a way out.
And there is many a time I have used many many many many weaker creatures that would be shrugged off normally to create a formidable encounter.
actually scratch my comment, forgot for a second that this is 4e and is built around constantly balanced encounters and each player playing a role in combat as a bit of a mini battle game with roleplaying elements.
(and no that is not a dig at 4e, it is just more geared mechanically to the combat game side of things than anything else and I forget what players expect when it comes to balance in regards to it)
12:40 Kinda shitty dungeon master this was.
30:24 And this is the point any sane person would yell this is BS and quit :D
I'm not sure why the DM hates the players, but maybe he should stick to designing games and not GM'in them. This was hopeless, frustrating and boring. You can even hear it in the players' voices.
It saddens me that even the D&D scene has a lot of crying fanboys :(
and haters, they exist everywhere as well
Bartoc Honestly. I'm not sure why it was a surprise, though. There will always be fanboys to bitch about things
You know that kind of DnD audio game or streaming show that you cannot focus on because the person cannot make being attacked by LOADS of monsters interesting, yeah - this is one of those. I mean seriously, "here is a vampire minion. roll initiative." Is it wearing a nametag that says Hello My name is __ Vampire__Minion __? You have some genuine seriously funny and interested players and you cannot even make a homunculus sound interesting. That is not mechanical, that is just lack of engagement.
4th Edition definitely seemed more video game-y in general. These guys are very familiar with video games so probably don't mind the lack of description and are just enjoying the gameplay and strategizing itself.
Oh my gosh, this DM is so boring.