The Blog for Actual-Play RPG Podcasts
tl;dr Most of the necessary moves are taken to move towards a direct confrontation between Alanna’s coalition and The Proxy. Good, direct role play that works both from player-to-player and character-to-character. One major crossover of player knowledge that feels like a cheap shot. A listenable episode.
Continue reading “Critical Hit: Hays of Shadows – Murder In Hobo Alley”
tl;dr A dark, vibrant, intense premiere for the new season of this long-running podcast. The experience shows in high production values, great world-building and solid character work by the GM and party. The world and PC backgrounds need to deepen, but there’s every indication that that will unfold over the succeeding episodes. A great, refreshing listen.
Continue reading “Cthulhu and Friends: Season 6 — Quarantine”
tl;dr A slow-moving cookie-cutter episode with a few cool combat moves, but not a lot of original action. Three combat scenes, which are fine, and two to three shop haggling scenes, which are interminable. This is a skippable episode unless you really hate gnolls.
Continue reading “Critical Role: Campaign 2 — The Howling Mines”
tl;dr As this campaign hurtles towards a hopefully climactic conclusion, we get some nice forward motion, colorful game-play and world-building, but some worryingly new NPCs which seem like a distraction this late in the game.
Continue reading “Critical Hit: Hays of Shadows — The Shadows You Are Sniffing Into”
tl;dr The party moves on from their first mystery arc to life on the open road. Amidst maybe a little too much camping-and-carting logistics, the team has some interesting exposition, dream visions, and aesthetic encounters. The session’s final battle comes out of nowhere but manages to be interesting and complex as only D&D combat can be.
Continue reading “Critical Role: Campaign 2 — The Open Road”
tl;dr Klaus and Alanna seem to have taken a couple of logical leaps too far in turning the game into a direct confrontation between two PCs. They call a war meeting of several PC and NPC factions to ally against The Proxy. The episode is bolstered by Rodrigo’s great characterization of the Proxy’s competence and elevated by the layered confrontation between the Professor and the wizard.
Continue reading “Critical Hit: Hays of Shadows – The Meeting”
tl;dr Long and theatrical first episode with a massive number of party members and way too many world-building details to keep track of. The PCs are interesting and well-played, maybe a little heavy on the tieflings, but the colour seems to depend more on improv chops than collaborative world-building skills. GMing this show seems exhausting.
Continue reading “Critical Role: Campaign 2 – Curious Beginnings”
tl;dr The finale for the Amnesty arc holds few surprises but cinematic storytelling and great characterization raise this episode above the average. It all feels like a lot of work for the end of a mini-arc, though.
tl;dr Thoughtful if frustrating philosophical exercise with the GM and party totally on the same wavelength, with beautiful world-building and adept characterization
tl;dr The party stepped up to a color-by-numbers episode with strong character development and some tearjerker world expansion by the GM
Continue reading “The Adventure Zone #64: The Stolen Century – Chapter 5”