An Unexpected Twist: the Heartache Behind a Crown of Candy
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- Dimension 20's a Crown of Candy is an absolutely incredible show... With a lot more depth underneath the surface than you might think
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Hello! My name is Jay, and I am a long-time veteran of storytelling and a semi-seasoned DM! I began playing Dungeons and Dragons roughly 5 years ago and began my first ever game as the DM. I figured things out by watching online games and fumbling my way through the rules, and never looked back! I've fallen in love with TTRPG's in general and want to share my experience and thoughts with the world and community I love so much. I currently DM two separate games regularly, and continue to learn every day.
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TOPICS IN THIS VIDEO
• Dungeons and Dragons
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• Dimension 20
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• Pathfinder
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• A Crown of Candy
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• TTRPG
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5th edition,character creation,d&d 5th edition,dungeon & dragons,dungeon master,dungeons & dragons,dungeons and dragons,dungeons and dragons for beginners,how to,how to gm,how to pc,how to player character,player character,player character inspiration,player character inspritation,role playing,tabletop games,tabletop roleplaying,tabletop rpg,dnd character creation one dnd playtest one d&d,pathfinder,pathfinder2e,Dimension 20, Crown of Candy, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Zac Oyama, Lou Wilson, Crown of Candy
Our DM passed in the middle of our campaign and he was so secretive cause he worked so hard on his campain for us cause this was going to my my and another friends first time playing DnD. He was so excited to get us to play, we all got very emotionally invested in his story and the friends we created and he never made anyone at the table feel like their input wasn't important. When he passed we couldn't continue, it was too painful
Rest in peace Max, I hope you finally got to fight God
Rest In Peace to Max. So sorry for your loss.
Max sounds like an amazing person. Sending love and light to you and your party
@@lovethatdirtywater78 thank you, he’s rolling d’20s with Betty White in the sky 🥹❤️
Punch god, right in his smug face!
Rest in power
o7
Emily does grief soooo well. Every campaign she cries and it's always at the best part and legitimate and always makes me cry and I hate/love it. every. time.
Her realisation that her mom was allowed to be flawed in fantasy high is my fave moment of all media xD
The end of the Third Mates' final battle in Eldermourne was such heavy shit, man.
@@ashwhite3810 what an insane thing to type
Our DM ran a Strahd campaign for us. It was cut short as the DM died from kidney failure and other medical complications.
Even if someone else took over that module for us, it just wouldn't be the same.
Those emotions weighed on me and it came up in a new campaign.
A player was using a character from that Strahd campaign. Instead of starting from scratch, that character maintained the backstory of hunting Strahd and getting pulled away without seeing the end.
The imagery and emotions as that information came up in this new setting was heavy for us as players, because it relates to a real tragedy for our group. It was a moment to share those feelings with each other, and bolster the group as we embark on a new journey.
Emotions in game are meaningful as long as those feelings and the players are treated with care. It ended up being a really beautiful moment for our entire group.
My GM also died during a break from a Curse of Strahd campaign. He suffered a heart attack in his sleep on Christmas Day during the pandemic lockdown, when we were unable to visit each other. He'd messaged us a few days before, saying we'd have our first session for 6 months on Boxing Day. Everyone would come over to his house and hang out, lockdown or no, and be together. It breaks my heart that we never got that meeting.
I made a great character for that campaign, a Human Ranger called Cullhan Uborid, but I don't think I can ever reprise him again. He'll always be in the Shadowfell beside his companions, preparing for the final showdown with Strahd.
Getting a D20 tattoo with my DM's initials across the top faces was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Wow. I'm sorry. I'm actually crying. I'm so sorry you lost your friend.
So sorry for your loss ❤
At roughly 3:26 look at Lou's face. He knows this is not going to end well. People around are excited but this whole thing has him on edge. He knows it's never that simple. And yet avoids meta gaming completely.
THIS! Lou is great at knowing what's the best thing to do, but fighting it for the sake of being genuine to character. He never plays meta, and I love that about his style.
Same, him very nearly getting Fabian slaughtered in Fantasy High because he stayed genuine to character was one of my favorite parts of the whole run. And the way he turned the fallout into such a pivotal event for the character across multiple sessions, too, even into mechanically kneecapping himself! Becoming ill, losing class features, etc. Absolute king.
The man literally threw away a nat 20 for a bit in Neverafter. It was a comedic moment and everyone knew it, but point still stands. Love how he plays.
Yeah I just rewatched this ep and the way Lou and Murph know it's an awful idea yet don't metagame is wonderful and such an underrated ability. I know I was screaming at my screen for them not to be silly/goofy rn and I doubt if I was at that table that I could hold it in
Emily does something great here too. When she tells Liam "Tell Ruby I love her, and she did the right thing." It was beautiful, and heartbreaking, but also made sure that Siobhan/Ruby didn't punish herself for running.
This. This is why im absolutely stoked for The Ravening War.
yuuuuuuuuup
For real!
Oh yaaaaaah
I really feel like crown of candy was Brennan taking off the training wheels.
After 2 campaigns of comedic improv gaming, all of the players had a really good grasp of the game and could work together so he upped the ante. Almost every player had a death or really close call that went from 0 to 100 real quick, being taken down in 1 or 2 rounds (or even before combat started).
Then along comes starstruck. The players hit right back. Right at the top of the campaign Brennan mentions that all of them built busted characters, we see evidence of this consistently throughout the game with PCs doing some truely wild stuff and beating odds they really shouldn't.
I can't wait to see where D20 goes from here now that we have epic heroes and deadly monsters.
Neverafter was insane just saying 👀
@@kuddlecat yeeeeaaaahhhh I'm gona be honest... I haven't got around to watching it and unfortunately I don't know if I ever will. :(
I'm not a big fan of horror in the first place but I watched the first couple episodes anyway and I mean they are still comedians so the show is still funny but it's not quite the same. With a bunch of other stuff going on and new things popping up to watch every day I really don't think I'm gona get around to it.
I'm glad to hear it is good and you enjoyed it though.
It’s always Siobhan’s reactions to tragedy that kill me. Between ACOC and FHS2, idk if I can handle it! Too good
Because its so rare to see Siobhan be in tears oTL
FHs2 Siobhan's character's arc was SO SAD
I noticed after Jet's death Siobhan wore a lot of black and grey, and I felt like she was really committing to the grief Ruby must have been feeling. So good!
Fun Story:
For context: The campaign I'm a player in is very lethal and so players dont get really attached to their characters, they can literally die any session. Its very combat heavy and I am totally fine with that because at least I get to be a player.
But my first ever moment that made me emotional happened 2 sessions into the new campaign because through very unlucky rolls the PC that was my characters best and only friend because my character was a funny concept i had thought of, of a rat being turned into a humanoid ratfolk, but still keeping his rat memories. Thus becoming just a sentient rat with no clue about anything. And when they died, they managed to actually say their last words to him and when that happened, I actually my throat clenching up which actually says a lot because I'm really not the type that gets emotional easily.
And now I can proudly say: The first time DND made me emotional, I was playing a literal rat.
And currently this little rat is also the only character who was still left from the beginning lmao
Too pure.
Brennan is terrifying when he’s using his normal voice for villains.
That episode broke me.
Lapin and Preston was bad...
But...
Jet's death tore my heart out and left me a sobbing mess.
And then, next episode, when Ruby pleaded for Jet's death with the Sugar Plum Fairy?
Same thing!
oh my god i was like full crying, hiccuping blubbering mess 😂what a powerful moment
When the next ep opened with Ruby's "Bring her back!" I was like "Oh so I'm gonna feel awful in the first 5 minutes, cool cool"
@@capitanMCmufin I will never forget Siobhan saying "Please...!" in that particular tone.
Siobhan "killshot" Thompson out here breaking all the hearts between this and Sophomore year
oh Jet's death ruined me, Emily and Siobhan had me SOBBING
The fact that seeing it in this recap brings me to tears again shows how powerful this campaign was
I loved ACOC but I still don’t have the heart to watch it a second time. It’s such a testament not only to Emily but to the entire table’s skill at creating such deep relationships between characters. Of all character deaths across all media, Jet’s is the one I don’t think I’ll ever get over. The main reason I’m avoiding C1 of Critical Role is because I’m pretty sure Vax will be right there with her after I’ve experienced that entire story 😂
I’ve never seen this campaign or heard of these characters before, and I sobbed like a baby at Ruby having to run and leave her sister in order to survive, I’m never going to recover from this
I find it amazing how such a silly premise as a D&D campaign taking place in a kingdom of candy has such strong emotional resonances. I've never seen a Crown of Candy, but just your two videos describing aspects of it moves me. I think it also shows how you don't need to have a super serious campaign to have an emotional investment.
This is 10 months old, but if you're interested in a Crown Of Candy it should be stated. The premise is silly on paper but that is wholly where the silliness stops. It is, without a doubt, the most serious season of Dimension 20. Characters are pushed to their limits agaijst the backdrop of a game brutality and intrigue. It's Game of Thrones with candy.
That season was a masterpiece, but it broke me. I ve rewatched it 2 times, and it truly holds up. The heartache was there and I cried every-single-time
A long time ago I had a Gm that I trusted REALLY mismanage a tpk. The danger of the fight had NOT been sign-posted and, despite having been quite stealthy, we wereover run by *waves* of enemies. And at the end, as one char ran and the rest died, the GM zoomed out and took the remains of our agency from us, using an NPC we *hated* to narriate the end of our story. We all felt helpless, and -as we grieved characters and budding relationships in character and over table- we were told "it's just a game" which absolutely ravaged our safety to feel at that table.
I left livid and I have reused that character in THREE games because I needed her to have an ending that was MINE. I talk to a few of those players still, but not the GM. And we all occasionally reminisce about the devistation and anger we felt at that table.
And all of us are subbed to Dropout because if we had our own Brennan at the table? I don't think we would have lost the amount of sleep to the rage we felt for several weeks after.
I had never played or even watched a campaign when I stumbled across ACoC, and Jet’s death left me an absolute sobbing mess. Emily and Siobhan are extraordinary, after a while I forgot they weren’t sisters, even though I’d been watching them on College Humor for years.
This is the power of the TTRPG. To have us care so deeply about a character produced 100% from imagination. For us to mourn and grieve for those that never were real. I never saw this campaign, but I might have to check it out.
Honestly I think when players really get into role playing, the characters are as real as any of the best characters you see in movies. They immerse themselves in the emotional mindset of that character and see what they go through from their perspective. They feel things that we can relate to and seeing the player struggle watching their character go through hardships makes it that much more real for us as the viewer.
@@hereandnow3156 Honestly I seldom get invested enough in movies to care, but this whole thing got me a bit verklempt. I think it was seeing the real emotions going through real people. No matter how good an actor is I know in the back of my head that it's not real..
@@AngelusNielson Well the thing with really good actors is they do something similar to a skilled role player in that they put themselves into the emotional mindset of the character. The main difference however is that role players are responding to dynamically changing situations whereas actors act in scenes that have structure and a plan. For me, seeing Emily cry pulled me in more than most shows and movies I have seen.
@@hereandnow3156 That's exactly what I was talking about. Thank you for backing up what I was groping at there.
Holy cow. Like I commented on the previous video, I have a character that is most likely gonna die soon. This has really given me inspiration and thought into what that might look like.
In my character’s story, it was his choice to seal his soul in a stone to save everyone. It was his choice to become stronger in his magic and fight against the cultists. It was his choice to leave home against his father’s wishes. It was his choice to build friendships with the members of the party. And finally, it is his choice to die a death that’ll save everyone (if it comes down to it any way). This video was an eye opener! And I finally feel like I know how to handle my character deaths! Thank you!
I'm so glad this can help! Choices leading to consequences is the heart of all stories in my humble opinion
@@PlayYourRole I agree wholeheartedly!
I LOVE the critical role content you cover, but I love to see D20 getting love too!
I would love to see a video on Murph as a player. He consistently plays characters with good hearts and heavy flaws but makes each one incredibly lovable.
His only enemy is Lady Luck herself :c
Crown of Candy is 100% the most gripping season of D20, and I hope the prequel will be as good as the main season.
I'm hesitant to watch a Mercer DM-ed campaign, I just can't stand his overly lengthy descriptions, his campaigns are mostly story centered while D20 is character centered. Let's see how it goes anyways.
@@xeres6232 I'm curious to see how you have found Mercer's interpretation. I've personally loved what he has brought to Ravening War.
@@FabbyTravy I'm watching Starstruck at the moment, I'm waiting for Ravening War to be done to binge it (if I like it)
@@xeres6232 I think the edited style of D20 makes Matt much for accessible for those who can't get into CR. I hope you like it!
Starstruck Odyssey is next on my list after I finish Unsleeping City!
@@FabbyTravy Starstruck is a blast ! Have a good one 😁
i would love to see your thoughts on emily's new character being saccharina, it was such narratively daring decision and added another bit of levity/tension into the story
Lapan wasnt the only one who died so did Peppermint Preston.
A very topical video, because Dimension 20 just released the video revealing what Matt Mercer's upcoming campaign will be. I wonder whether it will be just as dangerous.
Oh my God as a Critter you need therapy after his campaigns fucking kills me!! Are you watching campaign 3? Because some baaaaaad shit went down massive cliffhanger then went in a complete different direction we have no idea what's going on with the BBRG. LOL He's making my bipolar disorder kick in.
This episode is probably a huge reason why they didn’t want to do Crown of Candy again. I cried so much watching this episode and I wasn’t even one of the players. I hope this next series has the same emotional moments but hopefully with the players better prepared emotionally.
I just love the response "there's too much murdering to do, let's go" because with the context of Jet's death (I watch videos like this cuz I don't have the attention span for live plays, just a matter of I'm not directly involved so all the in between RP and straight combat stuff causes me to tune out) it's just raw emotion but out of context it's also very apt for big war campaigns or mostly combat sessions or if you play with a party of min-maxxers that can progress the plot fairly quickly (it's why I am just straight up going to make the ones who haven't played New Vegas play New Vegas via Tabletop since it will give them time to slow down and actually have some good RP moments, which will help me get over my vocal RP awkwardness a little)
I freakling love when Brennan warps time for narrative moments, so much impact.
Damn, I cried *again* watching this. I didn't expect those scenes to hit so hard outside the context of the episode.
Damn, just wanted to thank you for shining a light on this series and Dropout as a platform in general. It's so good and it's such a shame people like sunnyv2 get to smear their reputation just because they were too lazy to do their research.
Lol who cares about sunny
sunnyv2 is a weird channel, soooo many misinformation and bad takes
I watched sunnys vid and it defibitely didnt feel like a smear he's way harsher on most of the people he does vids on and his vid made me get the drop out trial
yooooo i love that conclusion! if a player dies let them know they had a say one way or another in the outcome or it will not be emotional resonant it will be harmful. LOVE the advice
After not watching or playing DND for several years, ACOC made me fall back in love with it. It has so much incredible story-telling and emotion-evoking. It is simply the best, top-to-bottom.
If my artificer character ever dies. I want his warforged to become my new player. As he always tells his robot "you were made to protect."
I played this once - my Battlesmith died, but his construct carried on as a Warforged Fighter. Really fun!
i have ALWAYS loved emily’s play style, she was one of my favorite college humor cast members and has made one of my top two characters in every season she’s ever played in. i have never - not even once - made it through any of her episodes in any season without crying, ESPECIALLY if emily is crying, too. i have seldom mourned a character the way i mourned for jet, even though she was replaced by one of the most dynamic and interesting characters in the entire campaign. i truly do not have enough words to say all the good things i feel about emily axford, she’s just incredible and i can’t wait for her to make me cry again (it’s a guarantee).
I'm actually really open to the dimension20 spotlight! I have to admit that I kind of ignored the recent critical role content bc I really don't care for the show, but I'm happy to be back. I appreciate your channel!
I have every intention to keep covering them just as equally as CR! I'm ALSO hoping to add one more onto the docket. I'm considering maybe Dungeons and Daddies? TAZ? I've yet to fully commit.
@@PlayYourRole I'm here for it! "Yes daddy" or whatever the kids are saying these days
@Jay Martin - Play Your Role personally I enjoy TAZ and NADDPOD. Just putting in my 2 cents
@@PlayYourRole I think NADDPOD is absolutely amazing and quite frankly doesn't get enough love
All I have to say is VAX'ILDAN. Talk about about a table grieving. The whole fandom grieved I don't think any of us are over it still.
if you look at the Dalen's Closet one shot, that beautiful moment was born out of Sam and Liam's friendship, Matt allowing them the space to pay off what happened in the main campaign and resolving grief. I think a lot of people missed it cause its a one shot, but if you love the Vox Machina characters, its a must watch.
@@darkguardian50 oh yeah that's An UGLY CRY!!!Like let me pause this... Walk out of the room...pour glass of wine,, get the Kleenex....start over!!
@@darkguardian50 that one shot solidified Vox Machina as one of my favorite fantasy sagas of all time. I STILL get emotional thinking about Sam apologizing to Liam during the Vecna fight. If any of you needed to feel all this again, Far From Me by Chase Noseworthy will take you on a ride
One of the most amazing things about J’s death in ACOC is all of the backstory and plotting that we don’t see. C really knew how to play her and R… I do wonder how the story might have changed if the young folk had rested overnight instead of sneaking out immediately - would J have died at some other point, or could S have been a NPC?
This campaign was a brutal one. I love D20 shows, and this was definitely one of the more high stakes campaigns from start to finish. It seemed like every episode they were just one bad encounter away from another character death. The Neverafter was also a dope campaign.
I'm really interested right now in how this issue can be handled in systems where a strong possibility of character death through sheer bad luck is kind of baked in -- Call of Cthulhu being a big one, along with older editions of D&D and assorted offshoots thereof. I know a lot of players simply try not to get as attached to their characters in those games, which is probably a very healthy approach, but it always seems a bit unfulfilling to me.
Your last video inspired me to watch ACOC and I can’t thank you enough. Great analysis too!
We just had a session that lasted for 12 hours, with our characters fighting a pit fiend and a bunch of other enemies. My character who is this dhampir rogue and my husband's character who is a genasi rune knight, end up trying to toss the pit fiend into a deadly pit lol...so he grapples the pit fiend and tries to throw him and the fiend into the pit. He had to pass an athletics check...but failed. And so my rogue, who was practically raised by the Genasi (think Shireen and Davos from Game of Thrones), got to watch him literally crumble to dust as they were both slowly vaporized. I was in tears
Not to undermine your point about how a D&D character can be important to a player, but what sets apart the Dimension 20 cast from regular D&D players is that they do this professionally as performers. There's a LOT of pressure, preparation, connection with fans, marketing, etc. When a character they've put so much work into dies, it's more than just re-rolling and moving on. It's their livelihood, and it's deeply personal.
Was in the middle of a campaign when our DM died to covid, RIP Oppa you were an amazing DM and person!
Watching this while working on my comprehension exam was the most stressful part of my life 😅😅
If dimension 20 does any animated show let it be crown of candy for the love of earth 😭
Just watching this video makes me cry all over again
I just had to roleplay the death of a beloved NPC lately, and one of my players was slighted that I had not roleplayed the death with enough emotions. Thing is: if I played the death anymore heavily, *I* would habr bawled my eyes out
I told my players it would be a bad idea but didn't show the severity of it and after the enemy escaped two players quit because they felt defeated. It's a fine line to tread
Please do more videos on a Crown of Candy, these are really good videos
I think this might have been suggested to me after what my own character went through last night. Phryne is a mother who has lost one of her children, and has experienced a lot of loss in her life that doesn't seem to make sense. Her brother is dying and has been pushing her away. She's in a week seen a child ripped from her father and die a painful death, and mere days later (last session) had a father tell her he will end his own life to protect his daughter, and we only have 24 hours to find a different solution. But Phryne feels hopeless- after all, she as a mother failed to save her own child, and failed to save someone else's, cannot save her dying brother, failed to save her eldest brother, and nearly *herself* killed someone near and dear to one of the party members (by accident)- her track record is bad. Last night she found out a lot of things about the man who murdered her brother (in her eyes), a man who she considers a curse, from that man's own brother who did not take kindly to Phryne saying that. I actually still feel her heartbreak over hearing another child will be parentless unless she can find a different, quickly accessible answer. It's made me sad all day.
I had to stop watching dimension 20 for awhile. This campaign wrecked me.
As a DM, I'm a little jealous that Brennan got to play out a player death so well because narratively it slaps as a story beat. But the conflict in how it must feel actually doing executing it is probably immense because while a well executed character death can feel like kind of a creative achievement, you're also genuinely hurting your players, albeit in a way that is fair within the confines of the campaign. Brennan is damn good at sort of removing his personal feelings from his role as a dm. It doesn't mean he's unfeeling but he's acting in the role of what he has to do as dm, not necessarily what his personal feelings would be telling him to do. I can only imagine if it was me, I'd be hiding a shit ton of guilt.
Thank you for your deep insight. This made me want to watch the season.
I’m here to *feel*
Every time I watch A Crown of Candy I’m crying my eyes out no questions asked 😭💕
Rip Jet
Are we going to see videos for Neverafter as well?
Emily Axford is an amazing player! Always going for the emotional breakthrough! I haven't watched this series yet so I gotta go though. K bye!
I don't know.
If as a DM you create a challenge that is meant for the players to go after, which is the case here, remember that he is the one who dangled the piece of information in front of them. Said challenge has to be manageable with the PCs party only. Remember : we're not talking about something secondary or an objective coming completely from the players nor are we talking big army battle that obviously would require some amount of NPC to face even if only as a distraction, : We're talking PCs party size conflict that the dm is the source of it all here not the other way around. No matter how you slice it that is unfair to do. I would leave such a table in a heartbeat.
It's a style choice for sure, like that isn't something I would do as a DM, but it isn't "wrong", either. Creating a challenge or fight that is fully intended to force the party to run, not fight, with the knowledge that they may not make it out, is absolutely a valid narrative style.
I will say, Preston's death actually made me legit mad, because Ally was still learning how to use the Rangers companion, and Brennan *specifically* told them in the middle of the battle to stop protecting Preston and put Preston in for advantage...which led to Preston's death literally a round or two later. That to me felt like a bad call, the only call I straight up disagree with Brennans reasoning on. Like you can talk a player through how to use their companion, but that should be out of game, not necessarily in the middle of a high stakes battle where escape is already a really, really hard feat. I'd have been pretty pissed if I followed a DMs very specific guidance only to have it *immediately* blow up in my face.
@@eenix0
It is wrong.
It is one thing to have planned for X group to go after the players and that these people are too strong to be dealt with directly but also have the player know in advance that something might too much then they can chew. Leading to them choosing if they want to take the risk or not.
It's an other to make a hook that your players should take due to playing an activity with you but actually should not because you just intend for them to be obliterated from the start.
Nope that's just sadistic unfairness being presented as decent or okay. It's wrong, it's disgusting and has no place in the hobby. It would still not have a place even in a 40k game.
Love the video, The music is about 10-15% too loud at points and it was hard to understand you.
He's trying to avoid copyright claims. They copyright strike like crazy apparently (which it didn't work with this video. Was struck within 24 hours)
That was a beautiful piece. I thank you.
God I remember when this first was coming out and I watched this the night of… god the heartbreak was so real… the emotions
I’ve never seen game of thrones, and now if anyone were going to try to convince me it was great or I should watch it, I just won’t be able to. I will always compare it with ACOC and it just can’t hold a candle to it. Especially as someone who has suffered religious trauma from childhood (and is ironically polytheistic) this show meant everything to me at a really shitty point in my life
They're really not that alike at all. Sort of like saying you'd never be able to enjoy a Lego set because of how much you enjoyed the Lego Movie.
Careful with music over clips. I could barely hear Brennan speak.
It's an attempt to avoid Dropout slamming my channel with copyright. Didn't work btw.
@@PlayYourRole Oof, sorry mate.
So..... it is okay to cry at the table? 🥺
what episode was this?
episode 9 Safe Harbor
As well as they may have handled the situation, I'm not sure I fully agree with the setup.
Full disclosure, the only context I have for this event is this video, maybe I have missed some very important pieces of information that came earlier.
The reason I disagree with this setup is because of something Matt Colville mentioned when answering the question of "Why didn't my players run/surrender?".
Players come to the table to play D&D. To roll dice, and use their cool character abilities (which are usually meant for fighting). They don't show up to run away, to not roll dice, and (this one I added myself) to let NPCs solve their problems for them. (Generally speaking, there's always exceptions with humans).
From what I can tell, they had no idea this encounter would be this deadly. They saw a clue, so of course they were gonna follow it. And let's not forget, the DM specifically asked them to roll a check to see this clue, the players were not looking for this on their own. This all just really sounds like the DM was just luring them into this trap knowing fully well what he was doing. Yes technically you can argue this is all their own choice, but there's a lot you can do as a DM to get people to choose a specific thing. Just ask any magician.
The reason I'm somewhat bothered by this is because there are DMs out there that are pulling their hair out because their players don't follow clues, ignore plothooks, and try to let NPCs solve everything that seems even remotely dangerous. And here's a DM, punishing his players for doing exactly what these other DMs have tried to make their group do for years.
There's "It's what my character would do", but this scenario really sounds like the DM going "This is what your character should do".
Well first, it’s not Brennan “punishing” his friends, it’s showing actions have consequences, and Once you rewatch the episodes, you see Brennans subtle hints that they could not pick up, for slight better Context this is a high lethality campaign, which was already known by the players before making characters (they all had made secondary characters in the instance they died) and Siobhan’s character had already been near death just in the second episode, Lou’s character had been near death twice by now, Zac was on his second character already, so the stakes were already well established, their characters should and did know that death could be around every corner, even in their own kingdom, but still the characters acted the way they thought was best, to go to a dangerous mission by themselves, and the consequences were this
@@manticorephoenix Thanks for the extra context. Knowing it was well known to be a highly lethal campaign makes it a it more understandable. However I do stand by my points.
DMs have a lot of influence over their player's actions, whether they are aware of it or not. So this idea that "the players chose this, so it's ok" is something I think deserves more scepticism.
@Arisu I can see your point. What I might also offer is something that was brought up in the video. They went by themselves to that place in a high lethality campaign. Rule #1 of DnD, Don't split the party. It makes scenarios like this more likely to happen. But it is also scenarios like this that make for good story telling. I love when stuff like this has almost happened to my characters. I don't try to make it happen but when it does it makes it feel like my actions have consequences. It makes me more invested in my character.
They literally go on their own without the other 3 player characters. Other context is their father is a king who has been the target of 2 nearly successful assassinations and just recently the church outright declared war on their kingdom.
Of course Brennan put the information in front of them because he wanted them to follow through on it, but the tragic specifics of how it went down were still 100% due to the characters' choices. It's not like the only options were "go off by ourselves" or "ignore this juicy story beat"-- instead of sneaking off alone in the midst of a war breaking out, the girls could have:
- searched the office for more information and potentially discovered clues that the letter was a trap
- confronted their mother with the information
- taken the information to their father (another PC)
- taken an adult combatant PC with them, such as their *literal bodyguard*
- approached the meet-up site with a greater degree of caution using any number of skills or spells
- etc.
So yes, it was a trap... but it's still a trap that the characters only fell into because of their character flaws/poor choices. The video's point that it's important to make bad things happening to your PCs feel like things they had agency in (instead of the bad things being fully random and something they couldn't have prepared for) is a good one!
(And yeah, as has already been pointed out, the players actually had every reason to suspect this could lead to a fatal conflict-- the season's vibe was explicitly "Game of Thrones but make it Candyland" and it was no secret that it was going to contain betrayal, assassination attempts around every corner, and high-lethality combat that was deliberately balanced against the players. The characters had even already experienced multiple assassination attempts, betrayal from at least one trusted character, and skin-of-their teeth combats in the episodes leading up to this one-- episode 1 ended with one of the girls taking an arrow through the throat!)
Healers kit is 5 gp. No roll needed to stabilize with it.
The setting was deliberately low healing. Liam was a druid, Ally (the player) wasn't allowed to take healing spells. The game was designed to be brutally lethal: the players all made backup characters because they knew death was very, VERY likely. It's honestly a miracle only 2 PCs actually died.
@@dwell7315ranger, actually. But yes.
If y'all want more Emily axford dnd listen to not another dnd podcast!
I coulda saved her.
19:40 This is a slippery slope. I could easily argue that this wasn't a player decision. A lot of players put too much emphasis on what the DM is doing. They made the choice to go there yes but the DM decided to place a deadly encounter there. They made the choice to put 4 assassins, they made the choice to give them watersteel daggers. The DM has the ability to have simply seen that they sent so few and cut the number of assassins down to 2. It wouldn't affect the story.
Except Brendan's story is intentionally meant to be brutal, but in a general case of the same situation, the argument can yet be made. Be more careful and aware of perspective.
Hard disagree. Since this game was meant to be deadly and everyone went in ready to loose characters. When everyone walks into a game knowing this then the DM has permission to do what is needed. It is up to the DM to make a fun and interesting story, death and consequences are a part of that.
They had warnings and clues for several sessions that things were going to happen. They still made the choice to do this and if the DM were to place clues about the deadly risks (water steel blades, clear attempts on their life from session one, and others) then make the encounter an easy one. It would have lost the needed bite and drama of the story.
Honestly it felt like even after Lapin’s death, much of the group hadn’t taken the lesson of the brutality of the game to heart. I felt like they didn’t dwell enough on how their actions had led to Lapin’s death. Jet really needed to be the next one to go to hammer home how bad things really were.
I feel like this is a bad-faith reading of the video's point? They aren't saying "literally anything you do to your players is fine as long as a character choice led to it." If players are strapping in for a fun, low-stakes fantasy adventure and then the DM drops a sadistic highly-lethal unbalanced combat on them, yeah, that's totally a failure on the DM's part for not establishing with the group what the tone and stakes of the campaign will be!
But that scenario doesn't actually have anything to do with the video's point that tragedy is easier for the players to swallow when it comes about from character choices instead of, like, random whims of the universe. Even *in* a campaign where the DM didn't properly establish tone, "you died because you went off without your bodyguard in the midst of a war where there have been multiple assassination attempts already" *is* still going to feel better than "you died because an assassin ambushed you in the middle of a peaceful village and I didn't prompt you to do a perception check to notice him or give you any reason to think assassins were after you" or whatever.
(And the video also doesn't *ignore* that player/character expectations are important-- Jay points out on multiple occasions that the girls explicitly knew going to the meet-up site was a bad idea! They didn't know the specifics of "4 enemies with watersteel daggers," but they did know it was a risky decision. There's really no meaningful way to argue that it wasn't a character choice.)
@@IvoryKnight22 Sorry, did you read my whole comment? I mean, you didn't. I specifically stated Brennan's campaign was meant to be brutal. The topic is about DMing as a whole though. Please read the entire comment in the future.
@@s.p.734 I don't mean to offend as I also prefer discussion but it's the same with you. It's a bad-faith reading of my comment. I didn't say he was wrong. I said it was a slippery slope. You simply have to be careful with the point he made, due to the reasons I gave. Again, I mentioned Brennan's campaign was something of an exception and I acknowledged that. Though, I did not watch the campaign (I know of it through clips), when I see it through what Jay Martin provided I don't see any kind of explicit warning as you mentioned, of it being a bad idea. Just that, in general, it was a bad idea to do things in smaller groups. My comment isn't necessarily about Brennan's campaign, it's about DMing in general and that's totally covered in the original comment.
I dunno, I don’t think dnd games should run like actual play streamers run their games. They’re actors and storytellers who know they’re making content for an audience. In my dnd game there’s no audience other than the people at the table. I’m not interested in crying bc of my character’s tragic death when I play, and it def doesn’t seem like the actors were having fun in that moment. It’s a game, it should be fun. 🤷♀️
I understand where you're coming from, but people play table top games for a myriad of reasons! The emotional aspect is one of those for many people, so while it might be different for you I don't think it's very productive to be dismissive about this style of play. :)
Fun means something different for everyone. Just as you can read books where not everything is roses and sunlight or even with a tragic end and like them, you can like emotion heavy games, for example for experiencing the story.
I think there is plenty of room for both. I agree though you shouldn't run your home game like you have an audience... other than the one at the table. I tend to favor silly sessions over serious emotional ones, but having serious moments that actually impact your players is very memorable for both them and the DM. I think it can be a lot of fun to be emotionally invested in whats happening and have a story move you to tears. You probably watch more than just comedies and you probably play video games that also have serious or sad narrative beats, and can probably still be entertained/having fun even when a sad moment in a show or game happens right? Its perfectly fine for D&D to never get that deep, but it can be a lot of fun when it does.
@@notednuance Exactly! 💯
Fair, but personally I like the threat of death. I think it's actually a lot less fun when I think that my character can not die. That tension adds to the story and the choices carry more weight. I enjoy watching shows like she Ra or game of thrones but knowing that some characters won't make it out is part of the draw.
Is it just me or did ruby piss me off every single time she spoke after jet died like I get it your other half is gone but that had nothing to do with saccharina, Ruby got her sister killed not saccharina
Imagine your sister just died, you’re suddenly a bastard, your family’s status is in shambles, you were persecuted for doing magic and suddenly a woman appears who is a powerful mage, has claim to the throne that was supposed to be your sisters, AND demands automatic acceptance and love from you and your dad AFTER you’ve been betrayed and persecuted. And she’s only invested in her own trauma and never acknowledges anyone else’s…..
Siobhan and her character Ruby were absolutely insufferable, but doubly so after Jet's death
And she's allowed to be flawed. Characters are allowed to be flawed and grieving.
@@batsybatsybats_ Okay.. but also, it's a show, like for money. At the end of the day it's for the audience, so if the emotional stress of the roleplaying is inhibiting the performance then isn't that like.. a bad thing for the show? Like it's okay to say it's "allowed" but similarly it's also okay to say it's not good?
The crying makes the show very hard to watch ngl
The real tragedy was the awful character she came up with after Jet.
How is the critical take from this season that Emily made a character with strong spells, and not that Siobhan blocked every dialogue with just about every character after Jett's death? Nobody else at the table knew how to knit Ruby back into the story so mostly just avoided her for like 2 episodes. At least Emily *tried.* It didn't work out that well but it's certainly not Emily's fault for trying.
I'm over here thinking this video was about losing a player. Character death is part of any game. Overre-"acting".
Clearly this show isn't for you