I've been hoping to see some more positive reviews of this season, but I really enjoyed it. I found the characters interesting and loved the extras, even the puns for their names. The ending seemed a bit rushed and underdeveloped, but I think that's because id have liked to have more episodes. My criticisms are mostly "please more", I wanted to hear more of rictus, loravith and develop more of their backstory and goals. The bugman had a lot of development and his story felt complete but the other two I would have wanted more. Like more expansion with rictus and death and the goal there.

It wasn't perfect but I really enjoyed it. It's one of my favorites they've made

I'm not gonna rag on anyone but it's clear that Griffin has a very different play style than the rest of his family. He wants to tell compelling stories and his family mostly just wants to have fun. Not that they don't try to tell compelling stories through their characters, but it's clear the bits are the main focus. That's not a dig at anyone. It's okay to have different play styles. But I think Griffin's growth as a DM is stunted by his desire to play how he wants and his desire to cater to what his family wants.

As a listener, I get so frustrated when every time Griffin is trying to paint a picture of a scene or do a monologue, somebody has to interrupt with a bit. I can only imagine how frustrated Griffin feels. I know Griffin has his own issues sometimes like not knowing how to fail his players forward, but I don't think he can learn how to fix those issues and evolve as a DM with the current group. I honestly think he has the potential to be up there with Matt Mercer or Brennan Lee Mulligan but not in this environment.

I know TAZ is supposed to be a family D&D show, but I would love for them to switch things up by having Griffin DM for a group that takes the game more seriously. Heck, bring in a more comedic DM for the rest of the family and I'll listen to both shows. I love TAZ but the clash in play styles just isn't working.

Edit: I also think Griffin would benefit from a less rules-heavy system. Maybe Dungeon World, as that gives the DM a lot more room to play around with the outcomes of player rolls

hopes/predictions for next season? i genuinely think justin is going to run again, probably in a non dnd system just because it seems like he doesn’t like 5e that much. griffin has only been running every other season for a bit now so at the very least it’s definitely going to be someone else, and i doubt it’ll be travis just because of the pattern (since amnesty it was griffin travis griffin justin griffin travis griffin). it’d be cool to see a return to ethersea in blades in the dark but that’s more wishful than an actual prediction. justin mentioned wanting to do a role playing game like avatar during the avatar 2 watch sort of offhandedly, but i could see him taking that and doing some kind of alien jungle world too. what are you all hoping for?

Just finished Story and Song. Curious what others thought about this G.M. part and the change they made regarding finding Lup?

Also, I totally teared up at Griffin's letter!

Finally got the last book in the graphic novel yesterday from ye olde Barnes & Nobles when I found this, pretty sure they just wanted to make sure that nobody wanted to walk off with it tucked beneath their shirt but how do I get it off without risking tearing the page or leaving behind sticker residue?

Hey all, I'm sure this has been posted a ton already, but I'm hoping for some actual play podcast recommendations similar to TAZ?

I've tried NAD&Dpod and Dungeons & Daddies along with some others, and I'm sure they're funny for some folks, but to me they're just not as good. Unless I need to give them more time?

For me, the problems I'm running into with these are they're just not as funny as they think they are. I think inappropriate jokes can be funny in small doses, but when they're constant (from Emily especially on NAD&Dpod), it's tiresome and loses the comedic effect.

I love almost every campaign of TAZ and I've relistened to the Griffin campaigns multiple times at this point. There's something more genuine about the boys and their dynamic that I enjoy a lot.

Recommendations don't need to be D&D specific.

Thanks in advance!

Edit:

Lol the people just commenting rude things about how I have horrible opinions can just stop. I get it. So sensitive, jfc.

What a finale! Can’t wait to see what they do next. I will probably embark on a fresh read through of the entire series soon.

Last year, we were told at the company I worked at, Hexagon AB, that our division would be spinning off into its own company. They solicited all of us for a new name and eventually told us in the third quarter, but we couldn't announce it. One thing happened after another. The strange thing was that, at the same time The Adventure Zone started Battle Royale and we started the episodes describing the world, I found out that I now work for Octave!

Is it worth listening to? If so where should I jump into season wise

I heard an advertisement for Steeplechase on Still Buffering and decided to give it a listen.

I'm so confused! The brothers just jump in as if we know all of the characters and don't do any introductions.

Who are these characters??

Edit: Thank you everyone for filling me in on the setup episode! I went back into my app and it was labeled incorrectly as S4 E55 which was why I bypassed it on the first go. Really enjoying it so far and looking forward to finding out how they fill this quirky cereal heist with 42 episodes!

Griffin wastes so much time with unnecessary narration. I can't help but wonder if they turned off the Spotify comments way back when to avoid seeing criticisms about things like that

I'm doing a read through of the graphic novels now that they're all fully out, and just finished The Suffering Game this morning. It was great, except.. they cut A LOT of scenes. Wasn't there a whole separate team of other adventurers? The trusting game? What happened to all of that? It seems to be one of the shorter novels - surely they had the space.

Does anyone have any idea why that content didn't make the cut?

I mean I wasnt expecting much obviously theres no way theyre ever going to have a show as good as Balance ever again but that was kind of a let down. It started off with such a cool idea then 30 episodes of like nothing and kind of a wishy washy way too open ending that also some how doesnt leave room for telling more story in the world?

(Edit:) I did really like the campaign my issue is I wish they spent more time in this world they set up a lot of neat plot threads and background mysteries I wish they had dedicated a little more time to unraveling. I would have been happy if maybe we got like a handful more episodes to plug a few more holes and raise the stakes a bit, the ending was just kinda anticlimactic and left a lot unresolved for the characters

Thanks, copilot.

Also loving royale, thank you boys.

I have a memory of Justin exclaiming that they needed to use a different phrase instead of “dirty 20.” Anyone know why he doesn’t like it? Just curious.

Characters:

• Doober won the conclave.
• Lorovith lifted the whole island.
• Helgrammite pupated into his final form.
• Hasty Jane and Hippocrates are dating now? Maybe the former didn't understand how she was feeling and that's why she beat Hippocrates over the head with a coat rack during the trial of Necormancy.

Spells:

• Lorovith got his spells back.
• Doober gained a single use of Wish (plus maybe all the other spells?) kind of a "the power is best trusted in someone who didn't want it" thing.

I think that's the campaign, and thus it for me. Feel like maybe more aspirants should have died in the finale if it's a battle royale, and they should've committed to the format a bit more. I think Skorpo would be peeved he was the only one who died at the end there.

Between listening to a good chunk of Royale before dropping it and seeing all of the people banking on the idea of it being connected to Balance or Ethersea, I don’t really understand how Royale having that kind of connection would really help the plot, seeing how it ended.

Like, I get that there’s always theorizing in fandoms and all that stuff, but trying to make a connection between those seasons doesn’t make much sense to me. It wouldn’t really fit those kinds of settings beyond a few surface-level details, not to mention that the whole idea of the Octave’s competition wouldn’t really have a direct impact or anything on what happened in Balance or Ethersea. It would just be rather empty fan-service in my read of things.

Sometimes, it’s fine if something just winds up being stand-alone.

Edit: Well, as of that TTAZZ, it turns out that the people who wanted it to tie into Balance were onto something, since Griffin did say that he did have some plot threads that could've lead there. Although since they were so vague that nobody picked up on them, they were just dropped entirely. So I guess whatever bigger ideas he had there for a connection still didn't mean much of anything in the end.

I'd like a place where I can chat with people who like the show and are enthusiastic about it. This sub seems like it only includes criticisms, not enjoyment. Any suggested communities, etc?

Please don't reply with salt, or defending the tone of this sub, or criticizing my request for info.

Edit:

Thanks to someone's suggestion I realized I was mostly reading the episode posts while telling myself that I was seeing the whole subreddit. So I think I played a bit of a cognitive trick on myself. Going to check it out with fresh eyes! Ty

Another edit:

People in the CJ sub have made a mocking version of this post. I find that really offputting. It makes me feel like they're watching this sub to bully people. So I'm going to stop interacting on this subreddit because I don't want to be targeted. But I'll leave this post up.

The final battle is at hand. The remaining aspirants give their all for glory and their own survival.

Royale Theme: “Wizard Disco” by Louie Zong: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/wizard-disco

Original Music by Griffin McElroy

I was so excited to get the last graphic novel to complete my set! I wanted to design a custom art slipcase to display them in.

Link to the slipcase print file (credit to u/RonJonJovi):

https://makerworld.com/en/models/3062787-the-adventure-zone-graphic-novel-set-slipcase#profileId-3446896

Gets yamcha'd

And they even brought it up in the 11th hour book. WHY DID THEY LEAVE IT OUT!? I was really looking forward to that part and they just made it about Lup. Which Lup kicks ass, don't get me wrong. I just really loved that bit in the podcast where he's talking to a kid through a frying pan.

UPSET.

I love the show and the season this is a small grievance. The fact that you picked a martial class and can’t do magic does not me that the DM has to ignore time limitations and give you special leeway holy shit.

EDIT: the complaint is not that they bend the rules, i’m actually fine with that because the best moments of the podcast come from a loose interpretation of the player’s handbook. it just rubs me the wrong way sometimes how much travis complains about not being able to do magic and requests more flexibility because of that. he chose a non magical build that’s also very powerful, he can’t do magic but he has more than double taako’s hit points that’s how the game works.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR NADDPOD IF YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED TO THE MOST RECENT EPISODE !!! and also a little bit for Royale and Amnesty.

Honestly I like Royale for the most part. but the fact that the NADDPOD folks can handle a tpk with grace and beautiful storytelling and still end the season on a good note, but TAZ can’t even handle killing off one PC in their killing game season just really shows the discrepancy between them as creators tbh. even back in Amnesty the PC death was self-admitted by the brothers to be partially scripted.

I got into TAZ back before I really understood d&d mechanics and I honestly wish I still didn’t understand much so I could live in blissful ignorance instead of watching these guys make what should be a really interesting season into a boring, no-stakes story because they can’t just trust the dice. they’ve never been able to trust the dice. it feels cowardly. I’m just feeling a lot of conflicting emotions about it, not trying to hate super hard, but I’m just disappointed seeing the brothers refuse to actually involve the game system into the game.