TITANSGRAVE Episode 2 - Evil Awakens

The second episode of Wil Wheaton's Titansgrave web series went live earlier this evening. "Join Aankia (Hank Green), Kiliel (Alison Haislip), Lemley (Laura Bailey), and S’Lethkk (Yuri Lowenthal) in the second installment of Titansgrave: Ashes of Valkana. When we last saw our heroes, the beer had been saved and celebrations had ensued. The Beer Baron, having made the last stop in his yearly delivery trip, asks the party to escort his caravan to his estate. Aankia, Kiliel, Lemley, and S’Lethkk find themselves surrounded not only by the rarest of beers, but also by a threat so ancient that it hasn’t been seen since the days of the Chaos Wars. How will our heroes handle themselves? create is no more damaging than the weakest evocation, but many other effects are possible."

[video=youtube;RaweNoy6Txc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaweNoy6Txc[/video]
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[Von Ether]

Oh. Having the players come up with your relic/magic item names on the fly is something I'm going to have to try.

I'm also getting a kick out of how the "You're all hanging out in the tavern" cliche was actually the start of a theme in the game.

 

[camilaacolide]

Ahuahuahuahuahuahua!
"Five gold and a party! Five gold and a party!"
I just watched episode 2, laughed a LOT, but I really don't know how to feel about it!

As an RPG session, it's taking railroading to extremes I've never seen before! Basically Wheaton is telling a very generic and "undescriptive" story, without any player agency at all, most of the time having the players throw dice at situations dictated by his whims instead of their actions! Sometimes he even ignores the results/consequences of actions they deliberately take and you can see the player's anxiety for a description that never comes! It's so insane, it's a definitive lesson on how not to DM any game ever!!! And to top it off, the system sucks!!!

But as an RPG show, it's really funny, and I am enjoying it! It gets me to laugh a lot, almost like a live-action comic strip! The cheap post-production fits the show like a glove and is excellent! The players are amazing together, charismatic, and show a lot chemistry between themselves coming with great remarks for many of the situations and having fun (I love you Laura Bailey)! It really fells like a tabletop sitcom, and if this was Wheaton's goal, he is getting there! And to top it off, the setting has so much potential!!!

TITANSGRAVE is creating a chasm between both sides of my brain! As I said, I really don't know how to feel!
My recommendation for now: don't take it too seriously, go watch it, and have yourself fun!
Grab some chips and a coke and prepare yourself for a 45 min silly sitcom!

Let's see how Episode 3 goes!
"1111"

 

[Fildrigar]

Ahuahuahuahuahuahua!
"Five gold and a party! Five gold and a party!"
I just watched episode 2, laughed a LOT, but I really don't know how to feel about it!

As an RPG session, it's taking railroading to extremes I've never seen before! Basically Wheaton is telling a very generic and "undescriptive" story, without any player agency at all, most of the time having the players throw dice at situations dictated by his whims instead of their actions! Sometimes he even ignores the results/consequences of actions they deliberately take and you can see the player's anxiety for a description that never comes! It's so insane, it's a definitive lesson on how not to DM any game ever!!! And to top it off, the system sucks!!!

But as an RPG show, it's really funny, and I am enjoying it! It gets me to laugh a lot, almost like a live-action comic strip! The cheap post-production fits the show like a glove and is excellent! The players are amazing together, charismatic, and show a lot chemistry between themselves coming with great remarks for many of the situations and having fun (I love you Laura Bailey)! It really fells like a tabletop sitcom, and if this was Wheaton's goal, he is getting there! And to top it off, the setting has so much potential!!!

TITANSGRAVE is creating a chasm between both sides of my brain! As I said, I really don't know how to feel!
My recommendation for now: don't take it too seriously, go watch it, and have yourself fun!
Grab some chips and a coke and prepare yourself for a 45 min silly sitcom!

Let's see how Episode 3 goes!
"1111"

The Railroading in this case is pretty much a limitation of the format. With only 45 minutes to get through a session, a lot has to be abbreviated. If you watch the Tabletop session of Dragon Age from Season 1, and then download and read the adventure they ran through, you'll see how much had to get left out.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) TITANSGRAVE is creating a chasm between both sides of my brain! As I said, I really don't know how to feel!
My recommendation for now: don't take it too seriously, go watch it, and have yourself fun!
Grab some chips and a coke and prepare yourself for a 45 min silly sitcom!

Let's see how Episode 3 goes!
"1111"

I only edited your post for brevity: I agree with almost everything you said. And I stress that I really, really enjoyed it.

I do hope we will soon see a major story arc worthy of the "heroes will arise from the Ashes of Valkana" tagline but, no matter what happens, I know I am going to enjoy the episodes.

The Railroading in this case is pretty much a limitation of the format. With only 45 minutes to get through a session, a lot has to be abbreviated. If you watch the Tabletop session of Dragon Age from Season 1, and then download and read the adventure they ran through, you'll see how much had to get left out.

I may be misunderstanding your post, but are you suggesting there is something that can be downloaded to "fill in the gaps", as it were, with respect to the adventure? Or do you simply mean the product that Green Ronin will eventually publish?

Roll on, episode 3!

 

[Fildrigar]

I may be misunderstanding your post, but are you suggesting there is something that can be downloaded to "fill in the gaps", as it were, with respect to the adventure? Or do you simply mean the product that Green Ronin will eventually publish?

Roll on, episode 3!

The adventure that Chris Pramas ran for Dragon Age in season one is available for free from Green Ronin. ( http://greenroninstore.com/collections/dragon-age-rpg/products/dragon-age-duty-unto-death-pdf ) If you read through it, you'll see that there is more stuff in there than they showed on the actual show. It's going to be the same thing with Titansgrave. It's a limitation of the format. A show about playing an RPG is going to seem more railroady than it will in actual play. I am quite certain that what were seeing here is the tip of the iceberg of the adventure. I am sure that a lot is being left out for the sake of brevity in filming.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

The adventure that Chris Pramas ran for Dragon Age in season one is available for free from Green Ronin. ( http://greenroninstore.com/collections/dragon-age-rpg/products/dragon-age-duty-unto-death-pdf ) If you read through it, you'll see that there is more stuff in there than they showed on the actual show. It's going to be the same thing with Titansgrave. It's a limitation of the format. A show about playing an RPG is going to seem more railroady than it will in actual play. I am quite certain that what were seeing here is the tip of the iceberg of the adventure. I am sure that a lot is being left out for the sake of brevity in filming.

Ahhh, gotcha.

Thanks for the link, by the way. I didn't know it was there and I have actually stolen an idea from that adventure and it will be good to read about it further.

I must admit, I think one of the highlights of the episodes so far has been the post-production work. They've captured the good bits, as it were, and made it move along quite swiftly. And I also appreciate the sound effects and graphics. I hope Wil finds a way to monetise this because, frankly, I want to see more shows.

 

[camilaacolide]

The Railroading in this case is pretty much a limitation of the format. With only 45 minutes to get through a session, a lot has to be abbreviated. If you watch the Tabletop session of Dragon Age from Season 1, and then download and read the adventure they ran through, you'll see how much had to get left out.

I have not watched Dragon Age, but I'll do it now!
Thanks for the tip!

I must admit, I think one of the highlights of the episodes so far has been the post-production work. They've captured the good bits, as it were, and made it move along quite swiftly. And I also appreciate the sound effects and graphics. I hope Wil finds a way to monetise this because, frankly, I want to see more shows.

I shortened yours too, so now we're even!
I'm with you on everything: I am enjoying this show a lot, I am really envy that I don't have these kind of post-prodution effect in real-time during my games (it would be awesome!) and I do hope Wheaton succeeds on his endeavor, to his benefit and everyone else that follows with more great ideas!

 

[Magistus71]

My only complaint about the show right now, is how short the episodes are compared to others that I watch, such as Threshold, and Critical Role.

 

[RedShirtNo5.1]

Yeah, I had a similar reaction as camilaacolide and Scrivener of Doom. I did enjoy it for the character interaction and humor. In the Chapter 0 intro, Will described the game as a series of encounters, and that's what was delivered. I don't know if I'd call it railroading or lack of player agency, but it was certainly in the line of the players deciding how to react to a particular situation, but the GM in full control of the sequence of encounters. I don't agree that this is a necessary result of the 45 minute format. I wouldn't necessarily expect a situation like the recent Acquisitions Incorporated where Perkins basically handed out a bunch of resources and gave the players discretion on how to set up the battlefield. You can have a fairly simple situation that provides strategic decisions, such as "You know there are two routes to take the beer caravan back to the brewery. You could travel through the woods, where you've heard that there are thorn goblins, or through the hills, where you've heard there are barrow wights." Then you edit down to 1-2 minutes of discussion by the players deciding which route to take.
Similarly, the player approach appeared to be more of cooperative improv, rather than tactics. Again, not super surprising since I think many of the players are voice actors and may well have that sort of "Yes and" background. So the acting and interaction was the real strength.
Even with theater of the mind, you can have tactical aspects, e.g., players seeking situational modifiers or advantageous relative positioning (e.g., put a melee character in front in a choke point to prevent opponents from reaching squishy characters), so long as the description of the environment and positioning is sufficiently clear. But either Will's descriptions were just vague, or it was cut.
I liked the artwork to aid in visualizing the environment. But I actually didn't like the postproduction combat visuals. Will's description of the tactical situation was so weak, I was left with nothing but the combat visual. I actually would have been happier with nothing and so that the whole thing plays out as theater of the mind.