Episode 65 — The Cavern Explosion

[Snake 165]

I can see why characters in Sarks games die all the time.

 

They level up once a year and they frequently forget what items/equipment they had.

 

Underpowered characters plus sloppy play=death

 

Gerry straight up had to run to his car to get his character sheet in the middle of the episode. I've actually never played D&D before, but I imagine that is important.

 

Anyways, this is the best podcast out right now. I keep converting people left and right, all of whom are skeptical before they listen to an episode. It's just so good. Hopefully Gerry gets a new character soon as the show is not even close to the same without him

[Glaive 29]

Is there a single English word that defines 'humorous resignation'?...'cause THAT WORD would define this episode.

 

(Fourth listen-through...can't stop laughing...)

[DrKrieger 34]

Brutal! Still, I loved every second of this episode. The "death sequence" of Sir Richard was epic. Don't know if you thought about that before or if you made it up on the spot, but it had me almost in tears.... I said almost....stop looking at me..... I'm not crying..... just cooling my sking .

 

EDIT: Sark, the group is still in the tower, right? They are under a spell by the old guy just seeing their future, right? RIGHT?

[DrKrieger 34]

Godspeed, Sir Richard.

 

The hills of Glinishmore call you home...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfsasAlICo8

 

Favorite line: "You need to drink a 20 Hour Fuck Off"- brilliant one, Brian.

 

You BASTARD....now I'm thinking about how he can't reach Glinishmoore for the last time to see it with his own eyes and save them all. It's my podcast "Red Wedding" GRRM==Sark

 

EDIT: And Brian telling the group (and his wife) how much fun he had with Damian was awesome. Judas, bring him back! As a Cleric....dun dun duuuun!

[qrter 79]

Aw man, Sir Richard was my favourite character, sad to hear him go.

 

But then Gerry will just make another awesome character.

 

I was kind of expecting them to get hit by the blast, and then to wake up in The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe.

[Foltaire 333]

Absolutely distraught that we didn't see a victorious Sir Richard return to his homeland to be consumed by alcoholism, but equally enamoured by this glorious podcast.

 

Great, fulfilling RP'ing and genuine, hilarious DM'ing. The only crisis I can genuinely foresee is when this party disbands. I want you guys to be making episodes for a decade! So good!

[AndrewGould 53]

This was the Nerd Poker equivalent of the Red Wedding.

[RustyVenture 3]

Gerry straight up had to run to his car to get his character sheet in the middle of the episode. I've actually never played D&D before, but I imagine that is important.

 

Anyways, this is the best podcast out right now. I keep converting people left and right, all of whom are skeptical before they listen to an episode. It's just so good. Hopefully Gerry gets a new character soon as the show is not even close to the same without him

 

They are important, especially when you play at infrequent intervals. They also are good to keep around because it's like a roadmap of where you are and where you can possibly go. So putting their necessity for D&D aside, character sheets are necessary for a good story.

 

I want to be clear that I'm not trying to hate on any of the players and that I think the podcast is as good as it's ever been; it's just that I'm invested in this story and these characters and I get frustrated when they just aren't fulfilling their full potential.

[gambit727 1]

What. the. fuck?

 

Logged in to essentially post this:

 

The group didn't really have any option but to go into the powder mine, and then way off in the distance the catastrophe starts with them having essentially zero avenue for escape.

 

Agree completely. Feels like they got set up to fail; "You have to cross a cavern full of explosives, something goes wrong in the distance, there is an explosion, you die."

 

Also, as others have mentioned, the group should do a better job of healing and leveling up. Sark couldn't offer any healing potions/scrolls from the dwarves before setting out into the caverns?

 

OK rant over. Despite this, love the show...but frustrated.

 

Now somebody roll up an elf rogue archer.

[TrentJosephDePonteII 3]

What. the. fuck?

 

Logged in to essentially post this:

 

 

 

Agree completely. Feels like they got set up to fail; "You have to cross a cavern full of explosives, something goes wrong in the distance, there is an explosion, you die."

 

Also, as others have mentioned, the group should do a better job of healing and leveling up. Sark couldn't offer any healing potions/scrolls from the dwarves before setting out into the caverns?

 

OK rant over. Despite this, love the show...but frustrated.

 

Now somebody roll up an elf rogue archer.

 

They probably DID have an avenue of escape, they could have gone down the same tunnels as the rat men instead of into the garage.

 

Why wouldn't you take the same escape route as the people who are (presumably) educated in what to do during an emergency?

[AmandaL.Morgan 23]

 

They probably DID have an avenue of escape, they could have gone down the same tunnels as the rat men instead of into the garage.

 

Why wouldn't you take the same escape route as the people who are (presumably) educated in what to do during an emergency?

Sarah/Mildred did bring that up as they were fleeing. She wanted to go into the smaller tunnels but ended up following the rest into the garage.

[benk 257]

I feel like I just finished watching Grave of the Fireflies.

[Higgsbossin 6]

Ya, I didn't get the feeling like the group was rail roaded into anything. At most, I'd agree that Sark set things up (by directing the group into the gun powder fields) for them to go through a pretty epic(ly dangerous) set piece. But the group still had a chance to heal up, to follow the rats to (relative) safety, to be protected from most of the damage by the wall (70% chance it would hold), use that orb thingy people mentioned, and it wasn't pre-ordained that Sark would role all those 12s etc. Obviously, this is the result of hindsight, so I didn't have a problem with anything the group did. This is my first experience with D&D though, so that could skew my expectations.

[AmandaL.Morgan 23]

Ya, I didn't get the feeling like the group was rail roaded into anything. At most, I'd agree that Sark set things up (by directing the group into the gun powder fields) for them to go through a pretty epic(ly dangerous) set piece. But the group still had a chance to heal up, to follow the rats to (relative) safety, to be protected from most of the damage by the wall (70% chance it would hold), use that orb thingy people mentioned, and it wasn't pre-ordained that Sark would role all those 12s etc. Obviously, this is the result of hindsight, so I didn't have a problem with anything the group did. This is my first experience with D&D though, so that could skew my expectations.

Mistakes were made by the group and DM (shitty) They should have remembered to heal up as they went, but If Sark WAS planning the Michael Bay Explosion all along, he might have paused and let the group level up. Which might give the group a tip off to what he was planning, but we might still have Gerry, Stargoyle and Damien to kick around. I know, "don't thow out Damien's sheet yet!"

[Gustaf 242]

Too many bad vibes in here. Take it easy guys.

[MarkS6957 4]

Too many bad vibes in here. Take it easy guys.

 

Yeah definitely guys. It's meant to be fun to play/listen to no matter what happens. If anything, it's more entertaining the way it played out.

[EdNelson 4]

Clearly Damion is to be saved by Judas.

I can see him coming back with a Sir Richard-like evil hand or other god-gifted weapons/items, as much as I dislike the idea. Sir Richards hand weapon always seemed too powerful of a weapon for his relativity low level character

[Stargoyle 78]

https://www.youtube....h?v=xHY6wzMoToA

Here's what I heard in my head as Sir Richard honorably met his fate.

 

Godspeed, warrior.

 

I'm going with this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhjNm20XbXw

 

I actually felt like Sark may have given Sir Richard a way out - if only he yielded to the giant man rat.

 

Of course, that would never be in his nature - so hats off to you, Sir Richard, you died as nobly as you lived!

 

 

They said early on that Gerry's characters have a tendency to die. I'm beginning to see why. (Of course, he may just being trying to rack up more fan art!)

[TheBlackSpank 137]

I was really sad to hear Damien go. Like Brian said, he was even telling his wife how much fun he was having with this new character. He's mentioned that he always plays big dumb warriors, so he had finally branched out and tried something new, and I thought he was doing a brilliant job. I get the feeling he'll be back, since Sark said at least three times not to throw the character sheet away.

 

And Sark definitely gave Gerry the chance to keep Sir Richard alive, and he should have considered surrendering just to ensure his companions' safety. I would have gladly been taken prisoner in that situation if it meant possibly finding a more advantageous situation later. They may have even taken the rest of the party and thrown them in a dungeon long enough for them to recover from their wounds. Still, I'm super excited to see Gerry's next character, and he said he already has an idea for what he wants to play next.

 

And for the record, I really don't think Sark had planned a TPK. I can't say whether there was a dice roll to determine the error that caused the explosion, but I don't think he realized that everyone was still in such bad shape. And there was a 60% chance that the wall they were hiding behind would have prevented a TON of damage. The dice just weren't in their favor.

[TrentJosephDePonteII 3]

If any of the characters have to die I hope it's Damien.

 

Brian clearly has no idea how to play a magic user/priest character and his constant ignorance (and Sark having to correct him/explain things to him) slows the game to a crawl.

[ChristosKirst 12]

We as D&D nerds crack me up. We are all so up tight about this or that. Whatever! It was epic!

 

Stark is a really good DM that gives his players a lot of room for escape. They play "balls to the wall" and just go for it. Good for them! Death happens in RPGs. As long as you are having fun... Rock on!

 

This podcast is the highlight of my podcasting week, and this episode was best since Sir Richard was playing up the crowd in the mountain! I can't wait to see who he plays next.

 

If Damien really does die... I hope Brian plays another spell casting character. His newbie feel was awesome to the group!

[Corky Kneivel 113]

If any of the characters have to die I hope it's Damien. Brian clearly has no idea how to play a magic user/priest character and his constant ignorance (and Sark having to correct him/explain things to him) slows the game to a crawl.

 

I've been critical of the show in the past but this comment is pure haterade. I applaud Brian for trying to branch out from front line tanks and do something unique. Hs characterization of Damien ON TOP OF his fantastic in-game choices like making the monster attack Trondor have been up there with Gerry & Blaine's amazing character work. Of all things that slow down this podcast, Brian being unclear on magic rules wouldn't even enter the realm.

 

100% disagree with you on that.

[Joe McGurl 8358]

If any of the characters have to die I hope it's Damien.

 

Brian clearly has no idea how to play a magic user/priest character and his constant ignorance (and Sark having to correct him/explain things to him) slows the game to a crawl.

 

Do you like this show? Every comment you have is just negative. I can understand being critical about things but it seems that you're straight up "hate-listening" to this podcast.

[qrter 79]

I kind of like that characters die in this game - normally DMs are quite careful about killing off characters, and I think that's probably a good approach when gaming with friends. But from the perspective of a podcast, it is fun to have an extra level of danger, and to hear new characters introduced.

 

Beside all that - it might be time for the group to make some regular arrangements regarding leveling up. Maybe Sark can give XP each session, or every 2 or 3 sessions, something like that. Now the leveling seems to be forgotten, and then people jump up several levels at once. XP and leveling are there for a reason, after all.

 

I do think it would be better to do that outside of the podcast, it's probably not very interesting to listen to people flipping through players handbooks.. just start the next session with saying which characters leveled up (if any), no need to go into details. New spells and abilities can be introduced when they're used the first time.

[WiggyGoyle 10]

I don't know if it has been said, but can't we cut the group a major amount of slack due to the fact that this is a learning experience for them? I know they've played long campaigns in the past, but they haven't had to dice it up for public consumption or have to jump through a bunch of hurdles to fit the game into their schedules on top of everything else. They are doing marathon sessions with weird breaks in between. Stuff will fall between the cracks.

Lord willing, there's going to be another campaign after this. By that point, I'm sure they'll have the foresight to keep things running tighter and smoother. Maybe they'll designate an official record/character sheet/dice castle keeper for such things. Maybe I'm being optimistic (and it's hard to be after flipping all the tables after this episode), but I am a firm believer that this podcast has room to grow.