Will Unplugged ever return?

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Lumbermancer

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I've rewatched all the videos recently, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Pathfinder is an instant classic, Vinny and Dave are the stars of the show. Avalon was fine too, lots of backstabbing and treachery. DnD had slower start, but it got going eventually. Even Dan got into character, slapping Brad and throwing swords. I can't even imagine what New Dan would be capable of.

It's like Mario Party Party, but everyone wins and has fun.

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burncoat

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We sorta get it for the Christmas DND casts that Austin helps with, but I'd love to see more of that content also. I know it's not videogames, but I think its genuinely fun content that fits in a personality driven site like Giant Bomb.

Guess we can hope they inject something like this into a future Extra Life. Maybe donation incentives (first $6.87 donation decides my role) or something to get the community involved.

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BisonHero

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On current staff, I think Vinny is pretty much the only person who does D&D/roleplaying, and it's entirely off-camera with his...brothers, I think? I could be wrong, but I really can't recall anybody else mentioning roleplaying games. Yes, it's like Mario Party Party, except it takes practice to make it entertaining on camera and not get bogged down in looking up rules you forgot, it takes a ton of planning on the DM's part (unless you just want to use a prefab campaign), and it's honestly pretty difficult to record on camera since Giant Bomb would have to reconfigure cameras to create multiple camera shots of both the group and the closeups of the table.

The Pathfinder videos were pretty great but I got the impression that Ian and/or Dave were really the driving forces behind that happening at all. No idea how Avalon or D&D happened. D&D seemed especially ramshackle because (at the time it was recorded) I don't think Rorie was a very experienced DM. I'd say that "inexperienced DM + experienced players" can work because they meet each other in the middle and if the DM forgets a rule or something maybe a player happens to remember it, but "inexperienced DM + inexperienced players" (which is what the Unplugged was) just slows everything down as players are constantly asking stuff about how the game works and trying to break the game. I think Dan didn't even conceptually understand how it was supposed to work and whether he was supposed to antagonize literally everyone present or not, and no one really had the DM's back.

As burncoat points out, we do have the end of year roleplaying Beastcast that Austin runs, and he is tremendously talented at it. I'll settle for that, unless Austin magically rejoins Giant Bomb and wanted to make a regular roleplaying feature.

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Relkin

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I would like to see more, but I think it's safe to say that there isn't anywhere near enough interest from the staff to do it.

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Sackmanjones

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As someone who got into D&D earlier this year, it’s a ton of fun and I would love to see some more unplugged. However, as it has already been said, there needs to be interest. D&D is a great game as long as everyone is willing to play, but being dragged through it is fun for nobody.

Just learning how to play can be tough on camera too, I imagine they’d have to do like their own short adventures first off camera before creating a feature. That way basic rules are known and not everything is just winged off the cuff. That is how the first D&D unplugged session went and while it was fun to watch, the game functions better and is more entertaining if their is at least some structure and base rules known.

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Alias

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@relkin: Agreed

I also think it must be a major time investment on their part for a small subset of the audience