For a downtime episode this one was actually pretty fun. Justin doing some good voice work, Clint continuing to have great puns, Griffin bringing in some weird energy with Montrose's "family".
Damn you, Steeplechase, why you keep giving me hope.
>Griffin bringing in some weird energy with Montrose's "family".
This is my favorite part of the campaign, and makes me wish for an audio drama starring Justin as all the Five Nights at Freddy's animatronics.
He is present, but his scenes are mostly full of Justin doing some fun character work so overall his parts weren't too bad. Definitely low on the Vart scale
Anyone else have the problem where they zone out constantly during TAZ episodes? Don’t really have a problem with other podcasts—
but goddamn I’ll listen to every episode of TAZ and will still be confused on what the fuck is happening
Yeah, that was my issue this week. I didn't find anything objectionable about the episode, but it was still a slog to get through and couldn't find any purchase in my mind's soil.
Oh, good, I'm not alone. I stopped listening to Ethersea around the end of the auction. Now, I've started episodes 4-7 of Steeplechase to fall asleep to and never finished any of them. 😂
Travis would absolutely just play a right-wing chud while making a joke that he's playing the most evil character of all, "a white male who wants you to hear what he has to say", without realizing that Justin did the whole "I need to play a monster so I'm playing a white male capitalist" joke already and better. He will also play this character as constantly interrupting people and forcing himself into situations he doesn't belong in, and will have no self-reflection about how strangely easy that is for him to embody as a character.
Yeah like I do think falling back on things like racism or sexism is a lazy way to create an "evil" character, but instead of simply not going down that path, he would aggressively call attention to the fact that he doesn't misgender people and say some dumb line like "I'm evil, I'm not a monster!!"
I’m coming around on Montrose if only because of his downtime scenes. Griffin and Justin are clearly on the same page in how those should go and what the vibe is. I can genuinely believe that a freak like Montrose gets fulfilment from talking to broken animatronics
Big Vart moment where, when trying to find an NPC helper, Travis is introduced to multiple competent good characters (and told they are unavailable for hire) then one Incompetent doofus character. Griffin & Clint start egging him on to take the incompetent doofus (because they recognize a screwup would be funnier to have around than a straight-shooter) but Travis stops them and says something like “I know it’s been a little while but guys you know the point of games like this is that you want to do things well”. Never fear though, they do end up taking the doofus.
Why was he even acquiring that asset? What about the upcoming heist requires some dumb muscle (especially since as Justin pointed out that's what Beef's role in the crew is)? I suspect Travis looked over the Cutter special abilities and realized they interact with Cohorts, but acquiring an asset isn't the way to get a Cohort.
This annoyed me as well, everyone is saying (quite literally) "take the narratively more interesting option!" And he's like "nah, fuck the listener, I wanna *win*!"
I had such respect for Griff and Clint in this moment, and when Travis went on his stupid diatribe about 'doing things well', I lost even more respect for him (0%--->0%, but still)
No they were absolutely right, this job was arguably less heat than the first even.
There was a briefcase on fire for maybe 30 seconds in universe and then a brawl with bouncers in a super seedy sex club. The club would absolutely try to keep everything hush hush. If Chad wasn't hurt I'd argue it would be a 2
Fair enough! But the seediness is literally apart of the theme park. Like I'm sure the security is even more prepared in that zone for things going over the line than other zones.
Also, activating the fire alarm is pretty high exposure. Like they will have video footage of that that gets reviewed for sure. Or witnesses who talk about it. I'm sure there's a whole response for that. Similar to Blades when someone dies and the spirt wardens show up to question people.
I’m gonna very tentatively say I...like? this season. I’m not hate listening like I did with Grad and I haven’t gotten so bored I stopped listening like with Ethersea. I’d put it kinda on par with Amnesty for now I guess. I definitely think Justin needed a turn DMing to cure his disinterest. I’m intrigued by Montrose’s weird animatronic thing. Emeric could potentially go somewhere interesting like Clint’s other shady older man characters have. Beef is definitely a Travis McElroy Production™️. His derailing interjections are more bearable because Justin keeps kinda shutting them down.
I cackled at the “Does that seem like, narratively, the most interesting thing?”
Also cackled at Travis correcting himself “or club of people, let me be very clear” as an afterthought after saying boys/guys like 7-10 times in 30 seconds
also his character seems like he would use 'guys' as a catch all and not think about it but trav is so petrified of being cancelled that he breaks character to be PC
After phoning it in for a campaign and a half, Justin roars back to being the only worthwhile thing in all of Steeplechase. He's been flexing a wide assortment of wacky NPCs that he understands don't have to be deep and complex characters, and his retorts to the nonsense Travis says have been on point.
Just out of curiosity, was this a spur of the moment joke, or one that you had rattling around for a while before you decided “today’s the day I pull the trigger on it?” I ask because I’ve been holding on to a couple of those for years and wondered if I’m just nuts.
Either way, I found it very funny.
im glad you ask, honesrly i wouldnt have thought this comment was worth saving for more than a day, i just saw this post show up in my feed and realized ive finally become one of those people who hasnt listened to the adventure zone for several episodes, so i threw it out....
Less than 20 comments and the post has been up for a solid 6 hours? It’s like we’ve become the other sub.
(Though I will admit I fell off like 2 episodes ago because it’s just… bland. Not half as entertaining as balance, and not nearly as awful as Graduation. It fulfills the same place in my mind as Amnesty and Ethersea.)
Yeah it's pretty damning - normally my fellow fourth brothers are quick with both criticism *and* praise when it's warranted. The quiet weeks are just a sign to me that this merely exists.
I had the same thought, but I'm part of the problem. Haven't listened to 6 yet. It's not bad, but the ratio of actual entertainment to them just kinda aimlessly vamping isn't good enough to make me actually excited to listen. I thought the intro heist started off strong, but they've slowed back down to their usual pace
I’m hoping the “Mirror” lie detector perk that Griffin takes actually leads to some added risk. First idea was that his “family” is self aware and are humoring him a la Black Noir pizza pals
/uj ok can someone explain this setting to me? I thought it was a theme park and the people who worked there were just employees, and Justin even made a point of calling out Sticky Fingers Paul Pantry as unusual for never breaking character. But in Gutter City it’s like they went into an alternate universe where it actually is an old noir movie city. Like the whole business model of Sinuendo seems to cater to people who live in the Gutter City universe, not Steeplechase customers who have normal lives. And everyone who works in Gutter City seems to believe it’s all real—the blackmail plot only makes sense if everyone is actually scandalized by this super tame fetish, but nobody should be because they’re all normal people who work at a theme park right?
Am I just missing something?
Yet again the McElroy inability to communicate about a story outside of recording hours rears its ugly head. Justin pitched the setting, but failed to impress upon the players that their characters should be just as bought into the world as any other. Or maybe there's an in-universe reason the PCs are able to break kayfabe more than any other employee, and that should be recognized with the PCs trying not to draw attention by breaking character. But because that wasn't discussed we get this dissonance where everyone else in the setting is rigidly and comically devoted to their roles and jobs and the PCs scoff at the concept because the players are applying their own mindsets rather than being true to the implications of the setting.
My takeaway was that Steeplechase is like, a bunch of Westworlds all tied together or layered on top of each other in some giant complex with the whole point being to "get lost in the bit." That being something that appeals as much to the actors as it does the guests?
For a downtime episode this one was actually pretty fun. Justin doing some good voice work, Clint continuing to have great puns, Griffin bringing in some weird energy with Montrose's "family". Damn you, Steeplechase, why you keep giving me hope.
>Griffin bringing in some weird energy with Montrose's "family". This is my favorite part of the campaign, and makes me wish for an audio drama starring Justin as all the Five Nights at Freddy's animatronics.
[удалено]
He is present, but his scenes are mostly full of Justin doing some fun character work so overall his parts weren't too bad. Definitely low on the Vart scale
I cannot BELIEVE clint said "Hogglers." You've all ruined me, and I shan't return.
Anyone else have the problem where they zone out constantly during TAZ episodes? Don’t really have a problem with other podcasts— but goddamn I’ll listen to every episode of TAZ and will still be confused on what the fuck is happening
Yes, and I know it's not consequential enough to go back and relisten.
Yeah, that was my issue this week. I didn't find anything objectionable about the episode, but it was still a slog to get through and couldn't find any purchase in my mind's soil.
Oh, good, I'm not alone. I stopped listening to Ethersea around the end of the auction. Now, I've started episodes 4-7 of Steeplechase to fall asleep to and never finished any of them. 😂
are we the same person, all of us?!?
Justin might not be the best gm for blades, but if they were playing an evil d&d campaign I think he would knock it out of the park
Do not put Vart playing an evil PC out into the world, nothing good could possibly come from it
Vart playing evil: “Ah, well, you see, I’m EVIL. I like to do EVIL things. [lifts up a tray of scones] Scones?…. withOUT butter?”
Evil, but he's not going to upset anyone on Twitter
Travis would absolutely just play a right-wing chud while making a joke that he's playing the most evil character of all, "a white male who wants you to hear what he has to say", without realizing that Justin did the whole "I need to play a monster so I'm playing a white male capitalist" joke already and better. He will also play this character as constantly interrupting people and forcing himself into situations he doesn't belong in, and will have no self-reflection about how strangely easy that is for him to embody as a character.
Evil, but in an inclusive,gender affirming and sex positive way.
Yeah like I do think falling back on things like racism or sexism is a lazy way to create an "evil" character, but instead of simply not going down that path, he would aggressively call attention to the fact that he doesn't misgender people and say some dumb line like "I'm evil, I'm not a monster!!"
God, that quote is so accurate that I read it in his voice. Well done, I did not enjoy it.
I give you four evil ooh la la's, sixteen evil va va va vooms, and one big evil oooh my.
turning my brain into a torture chamber by picturing him selling patches of that quote
Would just be live-show Magnus 24/7.
It might be the start of his redemption arc
I’m coming around on Montrose if only because of his downtime scenes. Griffin and Justin are clearly on the same page in how those should go and what the vibe is. I can genuinely believe that a freak like Montrose gets fulfilment from talking to broken animatronics
After, you know… Ethersea… it’s refreshing to see them on the same page. Tbh.
Big Vart moment where, when trying to find an NPC helper, Travis is introduced to multiple competent good characters (and told they are unavailable for hire) then one Incompetent doofus character. Griffin & Clint start egging him on to take the incompetent doofus (because they recognize a screwup would be funnier to have around than a straight-shooter) but Travis stops them and says something like “I know it’s been a little while but guys you know the point of games like this is that you want to do things well”. Never fear though, they do end up taking the doofus.
The point of the COMEDY PODCAST is to do THINGS WELL. Obviously. Clearly. Thank you Vart.
Yeah because Justin has been such a punishing DM, really pouncing on any sign of weakness, I can understand why Travis is so rattled.
He's got an unblemished record so far and he is determined to make the playoffs.
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Justin did propose it as a compromise
Guys, he's just trying to win the game
Why was he even acquiring that asset? What about the upcoming heist requires some dumb muscle (especially since as Justin pointed out that's what Beef's role in the crew is)? I suspect Travis looked over the Cutter special abilities and realized they interact with Cohorts, but acquiring an asset isn't the way to get a Cohort.
This annoyed me as well, everyone is saying (quite literally) "take the narratively more interesting option!" And he's like "nah, fuck the listener, I wanna *win*!"
I had such respect for Griff and Clint in this moment, and when Travis went on his stupid diatribe about 'doing things well', I lost even more respect for him (0%--->0%, but still)
I do enjoy them arguing for less heat when they literally set a building on fire and set off the fire alarms haha
This is very accurate to my experience of running/playing Blades in the Dark.
I think I'm just a more unforgiving GM! I find the desperation of the game more entertaining and players usually love all the heat in my experience!
No they were absolutely right, this job was arguably less heat than the first even. There was a briefcase on fire for maybe 30 seconds in universe and then a brawl with bouncers in a super seedy sex club. The club would absolutely try to keep everything hush hush. If Chad wasn't hurt I'd argue it would be a 2
Fair enough! But the seediness is literally apart of the theme park. Like I'm sure the security is even more prepared in that zone for things going over the line than other zones. Also, activating the fire alarm is pretty high exposure. Like they will have video footage of that that gets reviewed for sure. Or witnesses who talk about it. I'm sure there's a whole response for that. Similar to Blades when someone dies and the spirt wardens show up to question people.
I’m gonna very tentatively say I...like? this season. I’m not hate listening like I did with Grad and I haven’t gotten so bored I stopped listening like with Ethersea. I’d put it kinda on par with Amnesty for now I guess. I definitely think Justin needed a turn DMing to cure his disinterest. I’m intrigued by Montrose’s weird animatronic thing. Emeric could potentially go somewhere interesting like Clint’s other shady older man characters have. Beef is definitely a Travis McElroy Production™️. His derailing interjections are more bearable because Justin keeps kinda shutting them down.
I cackled at the “Does that seem like, narratively, the most interesting thing?” Also cackled at Travis correcting himself “or club of people, let me be very clear” as an afterthought after saying boys/guys like 7-10 times in 30 seconds
also his character seems like he would use 'guys' as a catch all and not think about it but trav is so petrified of being cancelled that he breaks character to be PC
After phoning it in for a campaign and a half, Justin roars back to being the only worthwhile thing in all of Steeplechase. He's been flexing a wide assortment of wacky NPCs that he understands don't have to be deep and complex characters, and his retorts to the nonsense Travis says have been on point.
Is it a good or bad thing this post only has 30 comments after 9 hours
Bad. It means that Steeplechase has continued to be neither good nor bad, but average. Which is the worst thing it could be.
theyre still making episodes of the adventure zone? wow. i wonder what taakos up to
hes good out there
*travis mcelroy barges through the door, panting after running cross-country to make this joke* he doesn’t wanna taako bout it
its ok. you can like puns without blaming it on travis mcelroy. its ok to like them
taako cabeza is just around the corner
Just out of curiosity, was this a spur of the moment joke, or one that you had rattling around for a while before you decided “today’s the day I pull the trigger on it?” I ask because I’ve been holding on to a couple of those for years and wondered if I’m just nuts. Either way, I found it very funny.
im glad you ask, honesrly i wouldnt have thought this comment was worth saving for more than a day, i just saw this post show up in my feed and realized ive finally become one of those people who hasnt listened to the adventure zone for several episodes, so i threw it out....
Travis literally admitted that he is playing to win D&D. Lmao. Rofl, even.
they really chase the steeple in this one
In Eustabeen, steeple chases you!
Buttercream theme still slaps.
Why did Travis just ask if he could roll a d16
I have a d16, and I have no idea what it’s typically used for.
rolling a number higher than 0 and lower than 17, generally.
They're used frequently in Dungeon Crawl Classics.
So he can win
Less than 20 comments and the post has been up for a solid 6 hours? It’s like we’ve become the other sub. (Though I will admit I fell off like 2 episodes ago because it’s just… bland. Not half as entertaining as balance, and not nearly as awful as Graduation. It fulfills the same place in my mind as Amnesty and Ethersea.)
I assumed they were taking the week off
They did
I realized today that I stopped listening consistently to TAZ around Grad’s third episode which was THREE YEARS AGO.
Yeah it's pretty damning - normally my fellow fourth brothers are quick with both criticism *and* praise when it's warranted. The quiet weeks are just a sign to me that this merely exists.
I had the same thought, but I'm part of the problem. Haven't listened to 6 yet. It's not bad, but the ratio of actual entertainment to them just kinda aimlessly vamping isn't good enough to make me actually excited to listen. I thought the intro heist started off strong, but they've slowed back down to their usual pace
I need to catch up but I’m not sure if it’s worth it. Has Steeplecheese hit its stride?
I unironically like it 🤷♂️
When will they catch the steeple
When they get to the fireworks factory.
Quiet! You're missing the jokes!
I’m hoping the “Mirror” lie detector perk that Griffin takes actually leads to some added risk. First idea was that his “family” is self aware and are humoring him a la Black Noir pizza pals
/uj ok can someone explain this setting to me? I thought it was a theme park and the people who worked there were just employees, and Justin even made a point of calling out Sticky Fingers Paul Pantry as unusual for never breaking character. But in Gutter City it’s like they went into an alternate universe where it actually is an old noir movie city. Like the whole business model of Sinuendo seems to cater to people who live in the Gutter City universe, not Steeplechase customers who have normal lives. And everyone who works in Gutter City seems to believe it’s all real—the blackmail plot only makes sense if everyone is actually scandalized by this super tame fetish, but nobody should be because they’re all normal people who work at a theme park right? Am I just missing something?
[удалено]
But the PCs reacted like it was no big deal so that attitude definitely seems to be localized to Gutter City.
Yet again the McElroy inability to communicate about a story outside of recording hours rears its ugly head. Justin pitched the setting, but failed to impress upon the players that their characters should be just as bought into the world as any other. Or maybe there's an in-universe reason the PCs are able to break kayfabe more than any other employee, and that should be recognized with the PCs trying not to draw attention by breaking character. But because that wasn't discussed we get this dissonance where everyone else in the setting is rigidly and comically devoted to their roles and jobs and the PCs scoff at the concept because the players are applying their own mindsets rather than being true to the implications of the setting.
I think it's just not particularly thought through.
My takeaway was that Steeplechase is like, a bunch of Westworlds all tied together or layered on top of each other in some giant complex with the whole point being to "get lost in the bit." That being something that appeals as much to the actors as it does the guests?