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It was a lot of fun to listen to, but I have to echo the poster who remarked about the patience of the DM. (And of Wil Wheaton, who was clearly there to roleplay.)
I know that I'm going to consciously tone down my OOC jokes and comments in the future. (Not eliminate, because they're part of the fun. But definitely tone down.) This was pretty eye-opening.
__________________ Jeff Wilder, San Francisco Bay Area If your sig is longer than your posts, your sig is too
long. Nobody reads it, they just get annoyed by it. And if you bore me, you lose your soul to me. - Belly
It was a lot of fun to listen to, but I have to echo the poster who remarked about the patience of the DM. (And of Wil Wheaton, who was clearly there to roleplay.)
I know that I'm going to consciously tone down my OOC jokes and comments in the future. (Not eliminate, because they're part of the fun. But definitely tone down.) This was pretty eye-opening.
There was definitely a little bit of a clash of roleplaying styles, but - especally after the first few warm up minutes - the PA and PvP people were definetly roleplaying and were very enthusiastic. And possibly that led to them being a little like gabber-monkeys.
I think - given time - they would get a little more serious in tone, but near the end of the podcast they were involving themselves int he story and interacting with NPCs.
I like the way Chris handled some of the crazy stuff that they did in-game: Ye've cheer me up as I've been down of late.
__________________ Pablo El Vagabundo
"Mercy!? You want MERCY? I'M CHAOTIC NEUTRAL!!!"
Last edited by vagabundo; 19th February 2009 at 12:56 PM..
I know everyone's experience at the table is different, however, these guys sound very similar to my group. The level of banter and goofing is par for the course at our table and one of the reasons we have so much fun. I'm not sure if Perkins is being patient or if he is just really empathic in finding ways to engage this sort of group. It strikes me that he gets these mostly new players comfortable with RP by engaging what interests them.
I hope new prospective players listen to it. IMO I think it goes a long way to banishing some stereotypes. This is just a group of people having fun!
After this game Gabe gave DMing a try, and is now running a campaign. He posts about it periodically, and maintains a campaign wiki on Obsidian Portal. He's mentioned that listening to the podcasts, he winces at some of his newb mistakes. The other players have also now have quite a bit more playing time under their belts.
It'd be interesting, if we do another of these projects, to see how the play style will change now that everyone is more familiar with the rules, and each other.
--Know the difference:-- Lose is a verb. Rhymes with booze and news. Means "to be unsuccessful in retaining possession of." You lose your turn when stunned. After you take an extended rest, you lose any unspent action points.
Loose is usually an adjective. Rhymes with deuce and caboose. Means "not fastened"--"Loose" is the opposite of "tight." You can use "loose" as a verb, but in that case it means "to set loose; release." You loosen a lightbulb. You loose an arrow at a target.
--Know the difference:-- Lose is a verb. Rhymes with booze and news. Means "to be unsuccessful in retaining possession of." You lose your turn when stunned. After you take an extended rest, you lose any unspent action points.
Loose is usually an adjective. Rhymes with deuce and caboose. Means "not fastened"--"Loose" is the opposite of "tight." You can use "loose" as a verb, but in that case it means "to set loose; release." You loosen a lightbulb. You loose an arrow at a target.
I feel rather sorry for Wil, and feel that Chris Perkins did let him down a little - if someone new joins the game with a brand new class, I think the DM ought to be keeping aware enough of the situation that he can help him out with glaring problems.
I know that Will has now realised that he should have been adding his weapons +3 proficiency bonus on all his weapon based attacks (no wonder the poor bloke was missing so much!)
But what about the core Avenger feature, Oath of Enmity? The thing that lets the Avenger be a striker? I don't remember a single occasion so far where Wil has been given the "roll to hit twice and use the higher result" even though he's definitely used his Oath of Enmity on at least two occasions!
If Al the Avenger was rolling twice to hit his Oathsworn targets at +7 each time, he would have been having a much, much better time of it as a striker!
(I know that the 'roll twice' power doesn't work if you have more than one enemy adjacent to you - it might be the case that Wil was in that situation every time, but if he was... Chris should have pointed out to him that his Oath of Enmity power works when he only has his oathsworn target next to him...)
C'mon guys!
__________________ Plane Sailing
(Enworld Admin)
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"It makes as much sense as having Batman kill his parents and then go on to fight mutants from another dimension." - Rykion
But what about the core Avenger feature, Oath of Enmity? The thing that lets the Avenger be a striker? I don't remember a single occasion so far where Wil has been given the "roll to hit twice and use the higher result" even though he's definitely used his Oath of Enmity on at least two occasions!
This is what I don't get. What kind of character sheet was he using? Didn't he get it from someone at Wizards? Why didn't they give him a pre-made character sheet, like the 4e preview ones from D&D XP or from KotS?
If he was reading the book or similar write-up, how did he miss the entire text of the Oath? Did he just see a Wall of Text (wizard utility 22, daily...) and say tl;dr? How do you manage to fail that badly?
__________________ "In Life's name and for Its sake, I advise you I am here on the business of the Powers That Be! Your actions toward me, and through me, toward Them, will determine the continuation or revocation of your present status. Be warned by me and desist!" --Wizards at War, Diane Duane
It would be easy to make a mistake as a first time player of 4e, groking how to play a 4e class can be tough. Still, he said he had a blast and that - at the end of the day - is all the matters.
Chris should have picked up on it, but I think the PVP lads were a distraction.
It is a successful game; one player is back to playing DND and another brand new player goes off and starts DMing his own game. A success by any standard.
__________________ Pablo El Vagabundo
"Mercy!? You want MERCY? I'M CHAOTIC NEUTRAL!!!"
Yeah, I was really surprised Chris missed so badly with the Avenger. Obviously, the PA and PVP boys hadn't seen the new class so they couldn't help Wil and it was his first time playing 4E, so I'm very shocked Chris didn't do a once over on his power cards.
Maybe Chris just hadn't seen the Avenger's final form, or maybe the Oath didn't work quite the way it works now when they did the podcast.
Good news is for their next Podcast (which I assume they will have, seeing as how positive people are about them), Al will be much better as a Striker.
BTW, new Podcast is up. It was excellent and the players solved a puzzle really quickly, much quicker than my players would, I believe.
Yeah, Wil created his character "the old fashioned way". With pencil and notebook paper. I don't think he had cards either, his powers were just written on another page of paper.
The new episode is quite the cliffhanger.
There's a thread floating around about things DM's say that foreshadow's bad news... I think they hit on a few of those in this episode.
I’ve tried listening to other 4th edition podcasts, but none of them have really rung true for me the way these do. Am I just starstruck by the PA/PVP guys (I read both comics)? Are there any other good session podcasts out there?
Also I particularly enjoyed this weeks because I felt that not only was the puzzle clever, but evocative. You’ll notice that the way in which he described the door being barred shut made it clear that this wasn’t just an opportunity to brute force it, and the little hints like the carvings on the cauldron itself worked perfectly. I was honestly amazed at how well it came together, and how the adventure managed to lure the players into both a sense of trepidation and a line of deduction. Moreover, the use of colors in description worked well. It occurs to me that a DM often describes, or even designs, things that focuses more on the actual senses (smell, sight, sound) and emotions in the room rather than using things like color or objects as synecdoche. For example, using the a color like red’s association with violence and blood (but not actual blood, just being red) to imply violence or gore.
Yeah, I was really surprised Chris missed so badly with the Avenger. Obviously, the PA and PVP boys hadn't seen the new class so they couldn't help Wil and it was his first time playing 4E, so I'm very shocked Chris didn't do a once over on his power cards.
Maybe Chris just hadn't seen the Avenger's final form, or maybe the Oath didn't work quite the way it works now when they did the podcast.
Good news is for their next Podcast (which I assume they will have, seeing as how positive people are about them), Al will be much better as a Striker.
BTW, new Podcast is up. It was excellent and the players solved a puzzle really quickly, much quicker than my players would, I believe.
Chris did say at one point that he hadn't seen the Avenger yet, so perhaps he didn't know?
__________________ Run when you have to, fight when you must, rest when you can.
I'm pretty sure they're forgetting/ignoring fighter marking as well (e.g. Binwin runs up and attacks a crossbowman, who then shifts away without eating an AOO). They made the same error in the KOTS podcast.
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