Do you want to know whats going to happen next in the guy in the backgrounds comic book as well?
I Hit It With My Axe: Episode Five: Blobs and Brain Switching
- Thread starter Zak Sabbath
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LOL so does anyone know whats actualy happening in the story? I not only cant follow whats happening, most of the people seem uninterested. I dont wanta rag on your show but if there was more structure to the game then everyone fucking around, it would be not only easyer to watch but much more interesting.
You have an excelent idea here but what you need is more proporation, a tripod, a larger table, halfways serious people (too serious and it would be lame), and better editing. Im sure you had a fun time being there, but you need to remember that its a show and that entertaining the audience is your #1 goal.
You have an excelent idea here but what you need is more proporation, a tripod, a larger table, halfways serious people (too serious and it would be lame), and better editing. Im sure you had a fun time being there, but you need to remember that its a show and that entertaining the audience is your #1 goal.
I'm watching the Robot Chicken series of games, and the last post about entertaining the audience being the top goal here is relevant. The difference between "I Hit It With My Axe" and that other show is this one is a game of D&D that pretty much brought a video camera along for the ride. The other show is slickly produced infomercial for 4th Edition put together by WOTC. The more I watch the Robot Chicken vids, the more I'm digging the gonzo vibe of Axe. I just wish the episodes were longer.
The Robot Chicken show's #1 goal is probably to get people to try 4th edition, with the game itself being secondary. Axe seems to be the other way around - they're there to play a game, and if there's enough material there to make a webisode out of it, cool. And that's what I'm interested in - I want to see what a creative DM does running a real game in a real environment, without cameramen trying to hide behind parts of the room or keeping their tripods out of view. The sloppier and more organic this show is, the more I like it - the analog feel to this show stands out proudly against the corporate luster of the WOTC sponsored RoboChicken crew.
I like both DMs, but Zak beats the other guy when it comes to voices hands-down. The snooty noble, the brain dude - those had me laughing out loud. A dwarf that sounds like he's from Alabamie? Not so much. At least he didn't try the tired old chestnut and give the dwarf a Scottish accent.
My only gripe is that 7 minutes is not enough. Also, Satine's eating the banana should be in every episode (uh oh, I guess I did it now - time for everyone to get "insulted" for the site daring, DARING, to put hot women in a vid show here).
The fifth episode did deliver a change in style, offering more extended cuts rather than the early jumpiness, but it's still keeping its crazy edge.
Zak and co., keep up the good work. Escapist, thanks for green lighting this show; I can safely say I would have never come to this had it not been for making this show.
Joe - now THAT'S the way to bring it! Keep swinging for the fences!
The Robot Chicken show's #1 goal is probably to get people to try 4th edition, with the game itself being secondary. Axe seems to be the other way around - they're there to play a game, and if there's enough material there to make a webisode out of it, cool. And that's what I'm interested in - I want to see what a creative DM does running a real game in a real environment, without cameramen trying to hide behind parts of the room or keeping their tripods out of view. The sloppier and more organic this show is, the more I like it - the analog feel to this show stands out proudly against the corporate luster of the WOTC sponsored RoboChicken crew.
I like both DMs, but Zak beats the other guy when it comes to voices hands-down. The snooty noble, the brain dude - those had me laughing out loud. A dwarf that sounds like he's from Alabamie? Not so much. At least he didn't try the tired old chestnut and give the dwarf a Scottish accent.
My only gripe is that 7 minutes is not enough. Also, Satine's eating the banana should be in every episode (uh oh, I guess I did it now - time for everyone to get "insulted" for the site daring, DARING, to put hot women in a vid show here).
The fifth episode did deliver a change in style, offering more extended cuts rather than the early jumpiness, but it's still keeping its crazy edge.
Zak and co., keep up the good work. Escapist, thanks for green lighting this show; I can safely say I would have never come to this had it not been for making this show.
Joe - now THAT'S the way to bring it! Keep swinging for the fences!
I think the idea here is good, and it can be interesting, but the camera work and editing job is really holding this show back. It feels like they handed the camcorder to some dude who was busy watching tv at the time and the camera's batteries were, by then, mostly dead and the only batteries left in the house were mixed into the junk drawer so the guy has to constantly keep digging around begrudgingly with one hand to locate the mismatched batteries in an attempt to keep the camera running.
Get a tripod, control the kid who keeps randomly cutting at the film with his Crayola safety scissors, and you might just end up with a good show.
I discovered this place because of Yahtzee, but ZP only updates Wednesdays and I come here almost every day.
Get a tripod, control the kid who keeps randomly cutting at the film with his Crayola safety scissors, and you might just end up with a good show.
Hey now, I think Rebecca Mayes is great. She makes entertaining and rather well written and performed songs. Also to claim that Zero Punctuation is all the escapist has... can I assume Zero Punctuation is all you pay attention to? Have you ever, I dunno, looked at the entire front page of this site? Aside from all the articles, essays, reviews, and personal musings we also have great stuff like MovieBob's schtick, Escapist News, pretty much anything Shamus puts his name on, etc etc.Tootmania said:
I discovered this place because of Yahtzee, but ZP only updates Wednesdays and I come here almost every day.
For those of you who don't like it, sorry it's not to your taste, but some of us are enjoying it. The more we can follow the events in the game and the players' decision making, the more we like it.
It's essentially a documentary of some people playing D&D, and as such this episode is an improvement, as promised.
Thanks, Escapist.
It's essentially a documentary of some people playing D&D, and as such this episode is an improvement, as promised.
Thanks, Escapist.
I watched all five of these well i say watched more google the names of the actresses in x hamesters or tube w.e and watchin that while i muted 5 episodes of this hoping to get my badge...Still no badge :/.
I love I Hit It With My Axe. All the players remind me of player types I have played with before.
Mandy is the smart, reasonable one who realizes there is a plot behind these random encounters and wants to know the story.
Sasha is the newbie, who is sometimes confused, sometimes interested, still making up her mind if she likes the game or not.
Kimberly is the hack and slasher who likes a fight. She plays a barbarian, and when she gets lycanthropy, and raging becomes dangerous, she still does it.
Frankie is the player who likes to do one thing. She likes to sneak. If she could play a ninja, she would.
Connie is the roleplayer who fixates on the cute things her character finds. She likes rescuing unicorns and petting her horse.
Satine is the experienced one. She's been playing since her teens, and has gotten over the extremes some of the others show. She can be bold or rational as the situation calls for it.
I may be completely wrong about some or all of them, as we only see snippets of them in play, but it's why I love the show. They remind me of so many people I have played with.
Mandy is the smart, reasonable one who realizes there is a plot behind these random encounters and wants to know the story.
Sasha is the newbie, who is sometimes confused, sometimes interested, still making up her mind if she likes the game or not.
Kimberly is the hack and slasher who likes a fight. She plays a barbarian, and when she gets lycanthropy, and raging becomes dangerous, she still does it.
Frankie is the player who likes to do one thing. She likes to sneak. If she could play a ninja, she would.
Connie is the roleplayer who fixates on the cute things her character finds. She likes rescuing unicorns and petting her horse.
Satine is the experienced one. She's been playing since her teens, and has gotten over the extremes some of the others show. She can be bold or rational as the situation calls for it.
I may be completely wrong about some or all of them, as we only see snippets of them in play, but it's why I love the show. They remind me of so many people I have played with.
How is "go through a dungeon to a place to rescue someone" convoluted? It's more convoluted than the plot of maybe "Frogger" but that's about it.Void(null) said:
And "railroading"? At every turn they do whatever they want. The DM never says "don't go left, go right!" Sasha was about to kill the npc who gave the whole mission in the first place. Can you name one single thing they got "railroaded" into?
Whoa, I can't believe I just talked to someone who doesn't like The Sword. I promised myself I'd never do that. I'm sorry, I'll get off your lawn.
You are waiting to see if this will open up a black hole in the space time and content continuum of the Escapist, aren't you? Admit it, this is all a cruel experiment is sociology that physics will pay for!BonsaiK said:
What has SCIENCE wrought!
I have always DM'ed and open world where players can do anything, and go anywhere, with consequences for all of their actions both good and bad.MissLisa said:
If they killed the quest giver, then they would have been suitably punished, the great evil would creep closer, gain more time to grow stronger until a session or two when the players would then have to face it again only stronger, the great evil now aware of the PC's intentions. Or perhaps the Princess dies and the King holds them responsible, or the Demon Horde has time to grow strong and begins to venture forth out into the land and the first town to be murdered, raped and pillaged is whoever killed the NPC's hometown.
In the meantime I would have had a couple of subplots lined up so that the players could be led on a smaller part of the quest that could also have far reaching implications to the end story.
My D&D is not static, it is not read out of a book, it is not all written down on paper where the players must follow the direct through-line of my story at all times. I will write down a heartbeat for the story like:
"Demons invade and try to take over the world" or "Save the princess from the castle"
And then list nothing more than story ideas and plot point bullet points, everything else is then improvised at the table as causality of the players actions.
No dead space, no dead air, no hand holding, no telling my players "No, you can't do that."
If they want to be murderous evil psychopathic bastards then they will face the consequences of their actions. They either get really good at covering up their actions, and evading the town guard or lieing their way out of things. Or they get locked up, put on trial and must escape or be hanged at dawn. your character dies? Oh well. You should have been less of a psychopathic asshole or better at RP'ing your way out of things.
As for the Sword, never liked them. They have all the originality of Greenday. Yet another genre of music repackaged for MTV and Hot Topic. Just another show of the desperation and regurgitation of this generation in music. Get your own social revolution! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRkA6zugNMQ]
If I am going to listen to some kid performing music from 40+ years ago, then it may as well be something interesting like the Kurt Weill revival, with such artists as The Dresden Dolls [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO5APfKnR50], or the Jazz/Blues revival brought about by Devil Doll [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLrKdPOyva4] and Amy Winehouse. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1evzhSast8]
At least they are taking something and making it their own, unlike The Sword who may as well be a 70's tribute band, and every group that they claim they are influenced by is just better than them... from the Melvins to Led Zeppelin. (Love me some Melvins, never cared too much for Led Zeppelin, they were killed for me by a friend who listened to nothing but Led Zep stoned off his box for 6 years.)
Ignoring that The Sword are little more than Hot Topic Metal for a moment, what else do they have going for them? They sing about George R Martin? Big whoop, Rock and metal artists were taking from The Lord of the Rings long before that, once again its nothing new, just a rehash of the same tired worn out cliches.
This is why I was so sad to see Mclusky [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLhNayJ8rvA&feature=related] go under, as they were following that Steve Albini, The Pixies, Jesus Lizard, Nirvana through-line and making it their own, but they just never managed to take off.
I gotta agree with this. The editing just kills it for me, especially when it cuts off a person 2 words into their sentence. I honestly wish there would be no editing, or at least no cuts. I guess it would be more of a Let's Play of D&D in that case, but it'd still be easier for me to watch than this. Still, I think there have been worse things on The Escapist (Game Dogs, Apocalypse Lane), and the general concept of this series is pretty interesting. I just wish they'd polish their presentation a little.silversun101 said:
i agree. my friend said this show was "link bait", you know, just to get more people to look at the escapist. Even if the escapist gets more traffic i dont think its worth it. this show really degrades the site. finish it swiftly with a fatal blow.Wiezzen said:
I cant take it anymore. I tried to give this show a chance but it just sucks. Its just a bunch of chicks who half ass a game of D&D. One of them doesn't even know how to play. They try not to show the guy in the room cuz apparently the angle for this is "hot chicks who are nerds" but its more like "nerds who happen to have vaginas". Maybe if they got drunk before filming they might have a chance of being funny.
I know it's shallow, but the girls are just not fun to look at; they're dressed so tacky and with so much make up that it makes me want to look away from the screen. I've tried getting into the show but it's hard cause it's not even that funny; maybe if they dressed less gaudy, I dunno...
I SAID:Void(null) said:
"
And "railroading"? At every turn they do whatever they want. The DM never says "don't go left, go right!" Sasha was about to kill the npc who gave the whole mission in the first place. Can you name one single thing they got "railroaded" into?
"
YOU SAID:
You're not answering the question AT ALL.
So answer the question, null:
When has this GM ever told his players "No you can't do that?"
Do you have one single solitary shred of evidence that he isn't running the game EXACTLY the way you describe?
Umm.. yes. I happened to watch the Videos and the DM is always telling the players "You cant do X because of Y" where Y is equal to some convoluted "you must follow in a straight line" reason.MissLisa said:
At 6 minutes and 15 seconds the players themselves state they feel like they are being railroaded. They seem to not know the term but they can describe all of the symptoms.
"We should go now, because if we wait he will just have a plan against us"
"Do I ever plan against you?"
"yeah, you will be all like "Well thats not gunna work because..." *As she shakes her finger in the air*"
"You seem to think that I have a motive to make you fail, where as I dont like making you upset, you punch me when you get upset."