TAZ: S3: GRAD: DND IS BCK

First episode of the new The Adventure Zone season is out. New world, new DM, D&D.

I'm willing to complain a lot about the boys and their story telling methodology, but obviously I like it enough to keep up to date.
Here's what I liked about the new episode:
- Tired of hearing Griffen DM
Here's what I didn't like about the new episode:
- It felt like they had never played before, which I imagine is just getting used to the huge change. Amnesty at least had a warmup round in between seasons, I'm surprised they didn't do the same here but my guess is that Travis pushed hard to immediately start. Which doesn't actually give me faith? But I did like his Amnesty prequel, so I'm hoping that once he warms up and they stop replicating the plot of 2005's Sky High exactly that it will be fun.

Because I miss the fun. I think Amnesty was a better overall production than Balance, but it was much less interesting to listen to on a per-episode basis.

Yeah, on one hand, I think Travis is the least interesting player and has created the least interesting characters, so having him in charge of everything is... hmm. But- maybe that was a symptom of him being trapped in a single person but wanting to tell the biggest story possible? So this could be a positive shift for him. Like I said, the Amnesty prequel was great. I would say it was better than 90% of their one-offs, but maybe that was because they could just be silly.
Either way, this frees Griffen to not spread himself thin across characters, so I'm excited to see how that goes. Juice and Mac, keep doing you.

I feel like I don't know how to spell their names and refuse to google.

Can't help but agree with a lot of the sentiments in this thread. I stopped listening to the current arc because I realized I just really wasn't that invested in the story. I loved Balance, but since listening to Day Players (@milkmonger's D&D podcast) and Godsfall (which has a ridiculously high production value), I wasn't as enthralled with the Brothers Three+. In a recent bout of podcast spring-cleaning, I unsubscribed from AZ entirely.

I do agree that Travis's Amnesty prequel was probably my favorite of the one-offs too.

Oh man, @sWaMPqUeeN and I recently rewatched Sky High when we were on vacation because the hotel had it in their DVD collection (along with POTC, which was surprisingly good to rewatch). Honestly makes me even less interested in listening to this though.

EDIT: While we're on the subject, CritJuice was also quite enjoyable and funny (pretty sure I have @MisterPookie to thank for that) but their last episode was two years ago :(

Aw man, I miss Crit Juice. They had such charisma despite their drunkenness. One of my friend's... ex's... cousin was in that show? I should ask about that.

I just remember them doing some really clever and funny stuff that was great. One character bartered with the DM to allow his character to talk to animals...but he couldn't use the letter "e". Loved that shit

Finished episode 2. Why is it that at the end of Amnesty, they said their biggest problem was front loading lore and character stuff and not letting it develop naturally at all, and yet that's exactly what they're doing for Graduation. But it's... way more trite?

Please do keep us updated though @MisterPookie, I want to know if I'm missing out or if I'm good with my current podcast lineup (which is now inundated with Chapo, god bless)

Halfway through the latest episode. This is absolutely and totally uninteresting in almost every aspect.

Again, for talking about how they should have done less world building prior to Amnesty proper, this entire string of episodes have felt like filler prologue shit that happens after you’ve successfully done something worth listening to and now you’re trying to pad out the story a bit. But instead of using it to reveal truths of the characters.... well, it can’t do that, because there ARE no characters.

Good gameplay, good story, or good comedy. That’s what I’m looking for in a real play. But they’re barely playing a game, instead focusing on a story that doesn’t seem to want to build to anything, and it’s keeping them from being funny.

Oh man, thanks for the follow-up post. Glad I feel affirmed in removing this from my podcast list earlier this year.

Do you see this as a product of the fact that Travis is DM, or that the whole gang just realized their mistakes previously but had no idea how to rectify them?

I actually started MBMBaM from the very beginning lol. I think that was actually the first podcast I started listening to, and so I just listened to it back to back. It was cool to hear the origins of some of the inside jokes, but when I started taking on other podcasts it became untenable. Now I just have it as part of my rotation and when it comes up I swap whatever was there as a placeholder with the most recent episode and put another placeholder at the bottom of the queue.

Finally, episode 4. After 3 episodes of... "world building"... we have gotten to the first real mission!

It's... a tutorial? Okay that's fair I guess but- wait, it's about... compromise? Like.., making sure everyone involved is happy? Okay that seems a bit- oh nothing actually happens in this episode? They just talk about insurance? Aaaand the episode is over. Okay. Episode 4. Yep.

Folks, they did it. Episode 8- they play D&D and make jokes. It was: the first good episode of this arc. 12+ hours later.

I was just wondering today if they ever, ya know, got around to making a Good Podcast again

yeah i'm done this has been boring for weeks again

Honestly surprised you stayed on for this long, damn. Best days were behind 'em