I Hit It With My Axe: Episode Three: Down In The Hole
- Thread starter Zak Sabbath
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Well... In fairness she's the odd duck porn actress who's actually made some progress moving over into the mainstream. She also seems to be reasonably intelligent and to have made choices regarding the life she leads with her eyes open. Unfortunately, that's not remotely reason enough to watch this show.TimbukTurnip said:
I think I'm in the "I've given this as many chances as it's deserved" camp. The slapdash, zero-attention-span editing has actually gotten worse, the DM seems poorly prepared and can't keep a consistent tone, and now we're getting gratuitous shots of the players undressed.
(I know. "You're surprised that a show featuring strippers and porn stars playing D&D has ventured into the gratuitous?!" Call me hopelessly naive, but given that you can see many of the players nude and/or having sex for the price of a Google search, I'd rather imagined they might actually try to show what was interesting about these people pursuing a hobby outside of their "work lives" rather than attempt second-rate titilation when first-rate titilation with many the same performers is, again, readily available.)
Let me know if it actually improves come episode five. Until then, buh-bye.
Well said, sir. It would be much nicer if they would try not to play so much on the "OMG THEY'RE PORN STARS" part and actually focused on some more gameplay. Granted, if they want to TALK about porn, since it's their job, by all means. It's actually kind of interesting to hear about the industry from those involved. But the random butt-shots are just annoying.Callate said:
Then again, I find their gameplay so frustrating that I'm not sure I actually would want to see more focus on that. I may have to jump on the "enough of this nonsense" wagon.
Why will the fifth one be better, from my perspective it is getting worse. And why are these fanPeople saying this is a original idea; whats so original about watching someone play D&D.Megido said:
Is it me or am I the only person who knows that as soon as the consumer made video camera was put on the shelves that people would video tape everything including tabletop games. Use a search engine! Such as Google. http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/dungeons-dragons-4e-adventures/id335926729
http://www.youtube.com/bensrpgpile2
http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/21590.htm/
A simple two minute search net me these link and guess what it was free OoO
Podcast,videos... blah blah so much stuff on the internet. I would not be amazed if there was a TI-43 series.
on a sort of off topic note; this is how I want to play DnD
http://vimeo.com/9361738
Glad people like the links.
Yeah...lol...I still really like this series. Why? I'm a D&D geek and it reminds me of when I was young and first starting to play. Its cool. Its also a refreshing look at people just being, idk, kind of normal since their "normal" lives are so...different. I like the head exploding and releasing spiders thing. That was something I may use in one of my games.
I could bothered with all of this slating but then apathy set in thanks for the effort.Eyeshock said:
Ok it's looking pretty freakin unanimous that this series neeeeeeds to goooooooo, how soon is this gonna be yanked? (no pun intended)
I have no idea why the fifth episode is supposed to be better, and honestly we shouldn't have to wait that long (but that point has been made numerous times, so I won't beat a dead horse.) I also have to agree that the people who like this show are seriously confused. There's plenty of other, more interesting recordings of people playing D&D. This one just happens to be on a website they frequent. Chances are they've never heard of the concept before, and so are dubbing it original.Bloodysoldier said:Why will the fifth one be better, from my perspective it is getting worse. And why are these fanPeople saying this is a original idea; whats so original about watching someone play D&D.
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/dungeons-dragons-4e-adventures/id335926729
http://www.youtube.com/bensrpgpile2
http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/21590.htm/
A simple two minute search net me these link and guess what it was free OoO
Podcast,videos... blah blah so much stuff on the internet. I would not be amazed if there was a TI-43 series.
on a sort of off topic note; this is how I want to play DnD
http://vimeo.com/9361738
Glad people like the links.
And yes, that is very very much how I want to play D&D also. I wish it was mass produced, and easily available to the general public right now (for not a lot of money,) 'cause I imagine my D&D group would have one by now.
Yeah pretty much I have to agree with that.Megido said:
And I hope this tech does not take more than two years to be produced for the public. It makes the game easier (from my view it looks easy lol) and less complicated. But I can be wrong. This tech is a wait and see.
@Symmos: i don't want to be rude - but is the Gamemaster illiterate? Or is it normal for an american adult to speak in such a uncoordinated manner? ehm.... like a women... there's like a... like a... you know a... there like you know... theres like a woman... theres like a spiderweb... theres like a spiderweb in her mouth...; and that in every other sentence. As a forgein person to the english language its very hard to follow the fastcut sequences of this series. Its like watching a 1 minute exzerpt of a 5 minute Trailer .... in orcish.
This is a very good question, which I would like to answer for you.
Dungeon mastering is not easy. You have to keep track of literally everything in the world except the player characters?including the reactions of your players to what's happening. This is essentially an impossible job, so DMs try to simplify it in one of the following ways:
1) Write descriptions of the settings and encounters ahead of time, and read them to the players when they arrive at each encounter. This has the effect of making you sound a lot more literate but also a lot less spontaneous. DMs vary in the effectiveness of their dramatic-reading skills, so you end up somewhere between dry recitation and melodramatic atmospherics. You see this same approach in people who give speeches; very very few of them can generate real excitement for the audience while reading off a canned script. In D&D, there are real limits to how much this approach works, since from almost the first action they take the players will do something unexpected that takes you off script. No matter how much you prepare in advance, you can never be a great DM if you don't practice the second technique:
2) Improvise the encounters on the fly based on the players' reactions to what is happening. If they are getting bored, up the excitement. If they're getting overwhelmed, back off and give them a quieter encounter. This tends to be a lot more fun and spontaneous, but it requires a lot more of the DMs mental energy to stay so in tune with the players and to shift with them. The result can sometimes be talking as if you were seriously distracted, which is often played for laughs in movies but isn't quite as funny when you're trying to make something happen in person. When you are in this situation yourself, you can be amazed at how many IQ points it sounds like you've lost.
3) Find a happy medium between the two that's right for your campaign. Many DMs plan out the encounters but write no canned text to read to the players. This reduces some of the mental workload and distraction during play, but still allows spontaneity in the descriptions and encounters. Another variant of this approach is to have a toolkit of encounters that can be used in more or less any order, which lets you swap in excitement when you need it, or back it off when you don't. This reduces the odds of falling too heavily into either of the pitfalls described above, but you are still vulnerable to them if you're distracted enough or overprepared, as the case may be.
I think it's fair to say Zak is very distracted while trying to DM here (whether he realizes it or not), considering the documentary being shot. If you've never been in a situation at all like this yourself, count yourself lucky so far. Unless you're a hermit, sooner or later you will be standing (or sitting) in front of a room of people trying to hold their attention with your words, only to find yourself distracted (maybe you suddenly realize you no longer agree with the point you're halfway through making, or maybe you begin to notice the speech which sounded so exciting to you when you wrote it appears to be putting your audience to sleep, or maybe you're wondering whether the cameraman is aiming the camera up your nose). It's a great pain and embarrassment, but it's also inevitable for anyone who does enough public speaking. DMs have all had nights like this, trust me.
For anyone going with the ad hominem here, read Zak's blog: the man's literate, he's just having some bad minutes here. It happens to everyone, even you sometimes.
The real problem is that these clips are so short that we don't get the time to find out what Zak is like as a DM nor what the players are like as players. The rapid edits chop up the continuity too much, which is surely a problem, and the butt shots were unnecessary and intrusive for the reasons cited above, but the duration is the killer so far. As long as these episodes remain so short, we're not going to get enough of a sense of what these games are like.
For those who've asked why the series is supposed to improve with episode five, I believe they become longer and less choppily edited, which I hope will address the two most frequently cited criticisms.
For those who despise roll-playing games, I assure you that won't be changing, so feel free to go watch something else. Watching D&D being played won't be a lot of people's cup of tea, but it is mine. I've played and DMed since 1977 and so within the constraints of the show's current weaknesses am enjoying the opportunity to watch how some younger people with different careers and backgrounds than my own play the game. It's light fun so far, and I suspect it will become more fun once the two main problems have been fixed. I'm glad the show's here.
This is a very good question, which I would like to answer for you.
Dungeon mastering is not easy. You have to keep track of literally everything in the world except the player characters?including the reactions of your players to what's happening. This is essentially an impossible job, so DMs try to simplify it in one of the following ways:
1) Write descriptions of the settings and encounters ahead of time, and read them to the players when they arrive at each encounter. This has the effect of making you sound a lot more literate but also a lot less spontaneous. DMs vary in the effectiveness of their dramatic-reading skills, so you end up somewhere between dry recitation and melodramatic atmospherics. You see this same approach in people who give speeches; very very few of them can generate real excitement for the audience while reading off a canned script. In D&D, there are real limits to how much this approach works, since from almost the first action they take the players will do something unexpected that takes you off script. No matter how much you prepare in advance, you can never be a great DM if you don't practice the second technique:
2) Improvise the encounters on the fly based on the players' reactions to what is happening. If they are getting bored, up the excitement. If they're getting overwhelmed, back off and give them a quieter encounter. This tends to be a lot more fun and spontaneous, but it requires a lot more of the DMs mental energy to stay so in tune with the players and to shift with them. The result can sometimes be talking as if you were seriously distracted, which is often played for laughs in movies but isn't quite as funny when you're trying to make something happen in person. When you are in this situation yourself, you can be amazed at how many IQ points it sounds like you've lost.
3) Find a happy medium between the two that's right for your campaign. Many DMs plan out the encounters but write no canned text to read to the players. This reduces some of the mental workload and distraction during play, but still allows spontaneity in the descriptions and encounters. Another variant of this approach is to have a toolkit of encounters that can be used in more or less any order, which lets you swap in excitement when you need it, or back it off when you don't. This reduces the odds of falling too heavily into either of the pitfalls described above, but you are still vulnerable to them if you're distracted enough or overprepared, as the case may be.
I think it's fair to say Zak is very distracted while trying to DM here (whether he realizes it or not), considering the documentary being shot. If you've never been in a situation at all like this yourself, count yourself lucky so far. Unless you're a hermit, sooner or later you will be standing (or sitting) in front of a room of people trying to hold their attention with your words, only to find yourself distracted (maybe you suddenly realize you no longer agree with the point you're halfway through making, or maybe you begin to notice the speech which sounded so exciting to you when you wrote it appears to be putting your audience to sleep, or maybe you're wondering whether the cameraman is aiming the camera up your nose). It's a great pain and embarrassment, but it's also inevitable for anyone who does enough public speaking. DMs have all had nights like this, trust me.
For anyone going with the ad hominem here, read Zak's blog: the man's literate, he's just having some bad minutes here. It happens to everyone, even you sometimes.
The real problem is that these clips are so short that we don't get the time to find out what Zak is like as a DM nor what the players are like as players. The rapid edits chop up the continuity too much, which is surely a problem, and the butt shots were unnecessary and intrusive for the reasons cited above, but the duration is the killer so far. As long as these episodes remain so short, we're not going to get enough of a sense of what these games are like.
For those who've asked why the series is supposed to improve with episode five, I believe they become longer and less choppily edited, which I hope will address the two most frequently cited criticisms.
For those who despise roll-playing games, I assure you that won't be changing, so feel free to go watch something else. Watching D&D being played won't be a lot of people's cup of tea, but it is mine. I've played and DMed since 1977 and so within the constraints of the show's current weaknesses am enjoying the opportunity to watch how some younger people with different careers and backgrounds than my own play the game. It's light fun so far, and I suspect it will become more fun once the two main problems have been fixed. I'm glad the show's here.
I guess I sounded unintentionally harsh. The production format for the show is a little irksome. However, Episode #4 was much better. Zak plays a 'loose' game - I figure that's best with his players' overall experience with the game, and their 'innocent' way of wanting to 'do stuff'. He could come across as an anal DM with wanting every act verbally stated as being the PC's clear intention: I pick this up that I dropped a minute ago, I obviously check for traps at an unexplored entrance, etc. What I was trying to get across is that the players are loose verbal cannons and he has to adjudicate a fair game in the midst of this. LOL! If he was to bring in too 'tough' a style of DMing maybe the players would be upset by this and lose their enjoyment of the game. Got to watch #5 that' I've just noticed is up already. Maybe the overall tone of the thread will enjoy a positive swing to' support' rather than the overall negative one so far.MissLisa said:
It's a documentary. They don't get paid to play, they get paid to let people film it.Mad Stalin said:
Okay, do any of them even know how to play this game? Maybe I'm judging too early or something, but that one chick said she'd been playing since she was 15 and yet none of them (even the DM to be honest) seems to have a clue how the game works. I understand that they're girls with boobs so nerds wanna watch or whatever, but I'm a girl. I have boobs, and guess, what? I know how to play the game. It'd be more entertaining if they didn't have to stop ever three seconds to ask very stupid questions... Just sayin'.
I'm adding this to a list of my favourite responsesMissLisa said:
Really isn't hard to understand that these guys aren't trying to make a professional video by editing and taking multiple cuts. Its a video blog, pretty much. To do so would change that. Wait for the next film fest to start and make your own, then if you lose complain about why this is even here.
At 0:30 in the video, there is a pink poster on the wall behind Satine. What is that a poster of? I recognize it but I can't put a name to it. Also, love the series. I'm watching it through for the third time and I still really enjoy it. Hoping for more new episodes.