The Giant Beastcast: Episode 136

Thanks for everything Beastcrew! Happy New Year!

Woo

Thanks for another year of the greatest podcast in the universe!

Oh yeaaaaaaah!

Very excited for this. Thanks for making it happen again! It's been a wonderful year of Beastcasts, here's to another year ahead! It's the best time to be talking about video games.

I'm so glad this exists

I remember Austin

I'm so happy!

I'm not going to get a chance to listen to this for many hours thanks to the titanic mountain of content I already want to work through on this here site. But I'm immediately apprehensive of this with Dan being on the cast.

Please tell me, is he a sound addition to this? Or does he scoff at everything/fail to understand his way through the entire hour and 20 minutes?

:plur

Already drowning in content, but this has just gone to the top of the list of what to listen to next.

Filed Under: Released Between Christmas and New Year's Day

I love that there's a concept page for that.

@chudamaru: I like your spirit.

I'm about halfway through and so far he seems really enthusiastic and committed to learning what this is.

also austin is a hell of a GM so that helps

The Calcutec hype!

Nice! Love these!

hopefully Dan will finally understand what a tabletop RPG is lol

hell yes! thanks y'all!

So hyped for this! Maybe Dan will know what a TTRPG is.

Austin, your such a great DM!

Everyone should go listen to Friends at the Table!

@wooderon: your question is made redundant.

Oh, GOD yes. I've enjoyed the last 2 Christmas episodes to such heights that I've listened to 'em each at least 2-3 times.

And there is never enough Austin.

@wooderon: Dan does a fantastic job. No, he doesn't ruin it. By the time it is over you even get him explaining in his own way what an roleplaying game is. It takes him a bit, but when its his moment in the spotlight not only does he think creatively, but gets into the theme of things.

Any fear anyone has that "Dan will ruin this" be alert that this is not the case. In fact, he proves every last one of us who had that fear wrong.

Also, it proves something I said awhile back. All it takes to 'get' an rpg is to have an open mind and a willingness to try and learn, and a good DM. Dan had all the things a new player learning needed, and Austin brought his A game DM wise.

The only thing your gonna be wondering about when the podcast is over is..when are they gonna get around to the next one! Don't let it be a year from now! Cliff Hangers need follow ups faster then 'next year'!

I don't know what I'm listening to and yet I can't turn it off.

On the one hand I've been waiting all year for this, on the other hand if Dan now understands what a roleplaying game is I'm worried we'll lose a key recurring Beastcast segment.

@bladededge: That’s good. After remembering that attempt at playing D&D I was worried he wouldn’t really put an honest effort ln and come across as frustrating rather than anything.

I’ll look forward to listening to this then.

@wlleiotl: ok? Because someone answered it? Isn’t that what questions are for?

I'm only 20 minutes in so far. I really hope someone says "Demolition Dan" at least once by the end.

Dan was actually really good in this. I think he understands role playing much better than he realizes.

The fantastic map! I really hope we can get back to this soon.

Here's that map!

I will admit Dan was tolerable in this but he was also kind of coddled to high heaven.

I love that this is still a thing but I'm sort of torn on this latest entry. Loved the story happening but I don't recall anyone actually speaking in-character (possibly to not confuse Dan?) and Alex didn't get to do anything. Thanks for this, here's hoping for a definitive conclusion in the near future.

@austin_walker thank you for continuing the continuity of these holiday role-playing games.

Dan: I walk up and put the stun gun to her neck...the area between the head and shoulder

Jeff (I think ): We know where the neck is...

LOL

It helps that Austin basically gave him the best possible character and setting. Like, if this was elves and a magical curse, it might have been a tougher buy-in, but "pretend to be a cool action movie guy doing cool guy stuff" is about as Dan as it gets!

@wooderon: not a diss on rorie, but Austin is a WAY better DM. He understands game design and player interaction deeply, due to seemingly at least a decade of running table top games with his friends (seriously, check out his Friends at the Table podcast if you haven't already. Start with the Counter/WEIGHT arc). That probably helps a lot when trying to ease new players into the concept of role play.

@mezmero: Have you ever played a game with someone as new to the very concept of roleplaying as Dan is?

'coddled to high heaven' is -exactly- what your looking for from a DM when it comes to easing someone into something like this. Austin did it A+ 10 out of 10 5 stars, couldn't have gone better.

The complaints you raise are just anti-Dan IMO. This was about easing him into the concept and teaching him the very basic idea of what it means to roleplay. He says himself at the end of the podcast, it spent a good chunk of time doing his best to wrap his head around it...and he did! He explains it, in his own words. "Well why can't I just say a million missiles hit the building" becomes understanding that the idea is great..but the fun is in telling the story of how you got those missiles.

That hurdle over, the next step is to figure out if Dan would even enjoy the act of playing out other people. Your assumption that he might not do it in a 'fun way', which I'll be frank sounds more like 'fun to listen too' then it does 'fun for him and those he plays with', might be right! Cause its not for everyone.

Take Jeff as a prime example. He has shown to have an extremely clear understanding of all of this stuff..and a absolute lack of interest in it. Its possible to be fully informed about something, and just have zero interest in it. Roleplaying games are something that can be universal understood and participated in..they are not for everyone.

But, I bet your selling Dan short. He plays characters already. If indeed he has come to realize that its a collaborative storytelling experience, what's to say we can't see him get into a character in the same way he does at wrestling events? He's shown he enjoys acting. I bet with some more "coddling to high heaven' and a slow ease into the more complex end of the pool, he 'might' really enjoy it..and if he does, be great.

Or, he finds its not for him and, having learned what it is enough to satisfy himself never touches it again.

Is that a different version of the intro. music compared to last year? I was not ready for those horns(?).

Hold on, they've played other games? How have I missed this?! What episodes were they?

@bladededge: I'm not convinced he's new to the concept as much as he just refuses to acknowledge it. Like I said I thought he was fine. Keep in mind there's still a real possibility that this turns into a train wreck, and not in a fun fiasco way. Think what you will I'm just trying to be honest. We get Dan as Dan on a year round basis so the biggest contribution he could make on this feature is to you know, be someone else (bring in that Jeremiah guy).

This is more than welcome now that I'm watching the GotY deliberations instead of listening to them.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule for this, Austin.

New Year, New Year. Maybe it's a new, maybe it's a year, now!

@mezmero: I had friends all through-out grade-school, middle school and half of high-school who 'refused to acknowledge' them, in the same way Dan describes dismissing all JRPGs. And you know what? They grew up, just like Dan has described himself "I was something of an idiot and just did not get it until much later" Re:JRPGs.

Those friends didn't understand roleplaying, they couldn't have it explained to them, any attempt I made to try and get them invovled got taken non-seriously, laughed at and, well, go back and watch Dan during the Dnd stuff were Rorie tried to DM the Gbwest crew.

Then, one day, I got them all sat down to try something differnt. I had them play themselves, I had it set in the modern day, and I lead them through an icy horror adventure. Some runs infront of the car on a group-trip out west, stuck in a blizzard in a small town that 'wasn't quite right'. I let them do whatever they wanted, which included A-sleeping with the woman who was suppose to 'show of the monster' when the werewolf attacked her and B-getting the big evil bad guy I had only planned to hint at stop time, for one of them, and conduct a brief conversation about how they really outta leave well enough alone.

Needless to say, that werewolf attack had my friends invested in finding silver, melting it and going hunting. Except for the dude who got time-stopped around him. He ended up treking, on foot, in the snow, while being hunted by wolves howling all around him, nipping at his heels. Sure he could have a shotgun..but there were more wolves.

See, that story never did conclude, it was a one-off encounter designed and free-flowed by me to show them that if they can just try and get invested in the story, they can have fun. And it worked! Now, those same grade-school friends are 30 somethings, and we have all been a gaming group together going on a decade. Not all of us, it wasn't for everyone. But with maturity came an appreciation of the colab story-telling and playing other characters. To this day they are still playing 'themselves' to a greater degree then I, the big nerd, would like, but it works for them, and we all have lots of fun together.

To me, this session for Dan was very much like that horror game I ran for my friends. It had all the hallmarks of me 'coddling them to high heaven' because my purpose wasn't to impose my view of 'how it should be done' no, it was to show them 'how it could be fun'. All I asked of them that night was that give me a couple of hours of taking it seriously. They did, and we were all rewarded with an extremely memorably night.

Finally, you really need to look at any kind of recorded Actual Play sessions as a group of people getting together to have fun first, and a production produced for an audience second. This isn't like the X-com series where yah, Dan really needed to get on the same train as the rest of the cast. If, as you indicate, it turns into a big fiasco, but every single person in attendance has fun, then it was a success.

Your view of it seems to be "Dan should do things to entertain me, and if he doesn't this is bad and he ruined the whole thing" when it needs to be "As long as he isn't violating the fun of the people he is playing with, then there is no 'wrong way' for him to play". Everything we hear in this episode leads me to believe that we are getting a Dan who is trying too understand, trying to play within the group, not trying to hog the spotlight and a DM in Austin who seems to have his finger right on the pulse of what it takes to steer a new player, both so he doesn't do those things, and also learns on his own the ins and outs of role playing, group story telling and etc.

Don't get me wrong. I've been on the "Dan needs to take a step back and examine how he is approaching this feature" bandwagon before. Re:Face-transplanting Lang. But see..he didn't keep that up, did he? The group twisted that and we got 'The abomination' and IMO Dan's contribution too the x-com stuff got a lot more in line with what Vinny and co seemed to want the feature to be about. Almost as if someone had a talk with him, or he took a step back and re-evaluated what he was doing, and tried to do better/was open to constructive criticism. Like he seems to be trying to now.

Your asking Dan to be someone else, in a circumstance where he is sitting down to play a game with a group of friends first and foremost is....and here I realize i may com off as insulting you, which is not something I meant to do reading back So, edited it out, but calling myself on it an apologizing.

Dan was a great part of this cast, and I absolutely want to see him in the conclusion/wrap up. Maybe he ends up having enough of it and never wants to participate again in something like this? But if he had enough fun he wants to sit down and continue, then he absolutely should.

@sravingmad said:

You gotta start somewhere though. Once Dan realizes that tabletop RPGs are just wrestling with dice rolls that you do at home, he'll be get the appeal.

Sorry to be dense, where can I find the previous of these they mention at the start? This is way too good to miss the origins of. Was this a bonus beastcast last year? Did I miss something magical all this time?

@vinny: This is no different than current New York. I will say the real Local alliance is really in Brooklyn.

Year 1: https://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/the-giant-beastcast-episode-31/1600-1462/

Year 2: https://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/the-giant-beastcast-episode-84/1600-1847/

Year 2 is the story that directly leads into this one.

My favourite part of GB's holiday content. Let's get Abby into the next year!

@vinny: I am so happy you guys are doing this again. This is my favorite podcast of the year, every year. Thanks for all that you do, and enjoy the rest of your time off!

Also, great job of explaining the systems, @austin_walker

@bladededge: Bravo to the post you made, for what it's worth. Whole heartedly agree.

Dan can't follow a premise. He does this all the time. Xcom face off. Mario party jump in a different pot. And again here.

Austin sets up the game as going to a transmitter tower and going to find an anti virus. From the word go, Dan ignores that and tries to murder "the bad guy".

Dan before mentioned how people could spend months planning for this and finding out what happens when someone ignores it he says that would suck. With zero empathy he then does exactly that the first chance he speaks. Austin even acknowledges that "well if you want to throw this whole story out the window and go see the train snakes I'm fine with that". Austin can handle it because he is an amazing Mc, and the game can handle it because that's what role playing allows. But Dan still tries to ruin the game there.

Just like drawn to death. He doesn't like it, finds it offensive to everyone, then uses it whenever he can.

Just like the chips. When people eat the chip, he's laughing. When he eats the chip, everyone coddled and babies him.

This constant Dan character turns me off from anything Dan does now. I don't care if he's trying to be genuine or not, I don't believe any of it. It's the boy who cried wolf and has been done too much that I ignore anything Dan says or does.

@slaughts: Graci. This has got me deciding to put up a forum post (once the normal front page is back) to recruit for something I've been trying to do for ages, get back into being a DM regularly online. Maybe GB will prove the place to find players.

And hey, if people are interested, PM me.

That said..

@pikapuff: You know, when everyone else was looking forward to continuing, when Vinny's twitter posts a link to this and says he had a lot of fun, when Austin seemed like he was absolutely into letting Dan and company have the freedom to do what he wanted. When he not only took Dan's idea, but rolled with it and let Dan's creativity feed into the narrative and gameplay. When Dan decided to try and come at the problem presented too him in his own way, used the systems the game had, and addressed the train snake in character...why I think everyone at the table was having a lot of fun.

But then you ended it with "I don't care if he is genuine or not, I don't buy it" so, while in this case he absolutely is, I suppose nothing he could do would convince you. At least your honest about that. That said, everything your critical of is IMO completely incorrect.

@brisaac: yep every holiday the beastcast has been a thing. I think there is 3? Well worth listening to really fun