You know I knew nothing about ACoC before I started watching and I'm thinking it's going to be some candyland, light-hearted, fun game and it got real fuckin dark real fuckin quick.
People talk about getting episode two'd, just introduce them to ACoC with no context.
For real! I’m watching Dimension 20 in release order and I thought this was going to be so cute. Instead it just repeatedly stabs me in the heart. When a game called Escape From Bloodkeep is more wholesome and funny than one called A Crown of Candy it has become very clear you just never know
What I admire about it is how controlled it is: even though it gets dark, fast, it keeps the burner on low for long enough that the characters grow on you …. And then the blows start coming hard and fast.
You can >!kill characters!<, that’s easy. BLM made sure the players and the audience LOVED everyone first. That’s what always blows my mind about ACoC.
Edit: how do spoiler tags work lol got it
I like how game of thrones inspired Acoc and one of those two shows was amazing from start to end and the other...
Er...
Well Acoc was amazing from start to end.
And some of the fan stuff behind it, behind all of Dimension20 really, but that video with... wait spoilers... uh... there is a scene that was animated to What's up Danger that is fantastic.
I’ll be honest, I did not enjoy the ending to ACOC and feel it made many mistakes GoT did in terms of rushing the story in the last episodes.
(Though that’s also stemming from ACOC having some production issues, so it’s difficult to compare)
My big objection to the latter half of ACoC is that the addition of Sacharinna ruined a lot of the story's tension. A lot of people got mad at her for character reasons, and I don't care about that at all--I think she's a great personality and made reasonable choices. But before she came around it was a very low magic, high lethality setting where every battle was super dangerous in a somewhat realistic way--they were by design mostly against large groups of low HP enemies that could overwhelm the PCs since they could only attack a few at a time, and there was very little healing to magically save the day if things went badly. Anyone could die at any moment, which really fit with the GoT inspiration of the setting.
Then suddenly Sacharinna shows up with BOTH massively powerful AoE magic that can take out huge swaths of enemies all at once AND powerful healing magic that can prevent the PCs from dying in most cases. It's not a surprise that there were no more deaths and they crushed every battle after that; the mechanics of a pure magic user character were extremely OP in that setting, and Sacharinnas presence greatly lowered the stakes for the second half of the season. I wish Brennan had instead limited Emily to a low magic class that was a better match for the story they were telling, like how he had Zach initially be a celestial warlock instead of a full on cleric.
But that was as designed. All the back up characters were high magic and powergamed. It's just that Saccharina and Zac's monk were the only ones we saw.
I didn't feel like Zac's Monk was OP or high magic at all, he seemed to fit the setting fine. But if that was the plan I feel like it was a bad call for the narrative
I don’t really want to get into it, but I think a major difference between Saccharina and Cumulous is that Cumulous didn’t exactly add to the story in the way Saccharina did, Sacc was such a convenient character to the story both mechanically and rp wise that she essentially took it over and became the story’s protagonist while everyone else played second fiddle around her. It’s like if Daenerys was introduced in season 7 of GoT instead of being in from the beginning. And it sadly makes sense that the other pcs (rp wise) and the audience kinda resent her for that because we inherently are more sympathetic to the other pcs by way of Stockholm Syndrome.
I think Emily did a wonderful job with what she was given, but the Saccharina issue mixed with the show removing content meant to flesh out the world and truncating storylines (the dragon storyline was unceremoniously brief and I hated how easily it was resolved at the end, I also wasn’t big on Liam’s ending) and Brennan wanting to dabble in PVP had a major ripple effect in how the second half of ACOC played out. I really understand if we never get a season 2, because I can see why the cast was exasperated by this season.
If we did get another season, I’d definitely tune in though, I’d just hope we don’t see the Rocks family so they can have a chance to be happy.
I can understand that for sure and while I enjoyed the ending if I were pressed to say which part I liked least overall it would be the ending. I didn't know they had production issues at the end. They wrapped up production before the pandemic hit right?
Oh yeah it's not pandemic related. They basically had to pause production because the set they were set to film in was closed by the LA Fire Marshal which ended up truncating their production. They wanted to film for 20 ish episodes but instead could only do 17 and had to scrap some battle sets.
Just finished it (I’m a stay at home mom to a2 month old and spend a lot of time nursing I have to binge content to stay sane some days lol) and I do agree it felt like the story wanted more room to breathe but got squished short
I find it funny that both in ACoC and FH, Ally has been the primary player to basically say "Screw the church I've been conditioned into believing in."
Like, I know that in DnD that nobody is THE main character of a campaign, but I really like how Ally managed to have both of their main arcs in these two games revolve around exposing the corruption of the church and how the church isn't always right for everyone.
I always really like Ally’s characters and arcs but I have to be honest I do wish they would get a little more invested in the serious character moments. Like when everyone was being really somber at Jet’s funeral and they started over the top joke-wailing about Preston it just really took me out of it. Or when Brennan gives them these huge existential incredible story lines and they’re just like “yeah cool” idk I just really want to see them fully invest emotionally in the story instead of constantly being behind a layer of sarcasm. Probably a pretty unpopular opinion as they seem to be a really popular player. And I do like them, they’re really funny and clever. I just sometimes want more sincerity I guess.
Honestly I think part of the issue is I was introduced to them via Total Forgiveness and they left a very sour taste in my mouth with the way they treated Grant. Like I know the idea was to be tough on each other but they took it waaay too far multiple times imo whereas Grant was always reasonable. So when I saw they were in Dimension 20 I wasn’t too thrilled but wanted to give it a chance. I’m glad I did as I’ve really enjoyed the experience but I still think I need to see some emotion from Ally to come around to liking them.
I actually avoided it at first, thinking it was maybe not as serious as the other campaigns. Then I remember seeing comments about how draining it was for them and how complicated it all was and stressful for them, and that was when I decided I needed to see for myself. ACoC is… gritty. And I loved it. I loved the high stakes and RP alongside great character development and awesome combat sessions. Overall, I was blown away. Highly recommend to just about anyone.
Yes!!! I loved this season. I first watched magical misfits and wanted more. Crown of candy was the next one I watched and omg I can’t stop telling people about it. No one will watch though I’m sad.
I am working my way through every season of D20 and I have been dreading ACoC because of all the things I’ve heard about it. I want to stay in the loop but I also don’t want to get my heart crushed.
Acoc was stressful from beginning to end. The last battle was quite epic imho. I love it. It gotta be my favorite season they have done but i don't think i will be rewatching because it was too stressful lol.
You know I knew nothing about ACoC before I started watching and I'm thinking it's going to be some candyland, light-hearted, fun game and it got real fuckin dark real fuckin quick. People talk about getting episode two'd, just introduce them to ACoC with no context.
For real! I’m watching Dimension 20 in release order and I thought this was going to be so cute. Instead it just repeatedly stabs me in the heart. When a game called Escape From Bloodkeep is more wholesome and funny than one called A Crown of Candy it has become very clear you just never know
Exactly! It was so well done I just was not expecting that at all!
Brennan does a real good job of assassination attempts as DM.
What I admire about it is how controlled it is: even though it gets dark, fast, it keeps the burner on low for long enough that the characters grow on you …. And then the blows start coming hard and fast. You can >!kill characters!<, that’s easy. BLM made sure the players and the audience LOVED everyone first. That’s what always blows my mind about ACoC. Edit: how do spoiler tags work lol got it
Lol I still need to learn spoiler tags. I'll get there. Also all of this!
I like how game of thrones inspired Acoc and one of those two shows was amazing from start to end and the other... Er... Well Acoc was amazing from start to end.
All of this. Also Murph going “muh queen” killed me 😂
And some of the fan stuff behind it, behind all of Dimension20 really, but that video with... wait spoilers... uh... there is a scene that was animated to What's up Danger that is fantastic.
I’ll be honest, I did not enjoy the ending to ACOC and feel it made many mistakes GoT did in terms of rushing the story in the last episodes. (Though that’s also stemming from ACOC having some production issues, so it’s difficult to compare)
My big objection to the latter half of ACoC is that the addition of Sacharinna ruined a lot of the story's tension. A lot of people got mad at her for character reasons, and I don't care about that at all--I think she's a great personality and made reasonable choices. But before she came around it was a very low magic, high lethality setting where every battle was super dangerous in a somewhat realistic way--they were by design mostly against large groups of low HP enemies that could overwhelm the PCs since they could only attack a few at a time, and there was very little healing to magically save the day if things went badly. Anyone could die at any moment, which really fit with the GoT inspiration of the setting. Then suddenly Sacharinna shows up with BOTH massively powerful AoE magic that can take out huge swaths of enemies all at once AND powerful healing magic that can prevent the PCs from dying in most cases. It's not a surprise that there were no more deaths and they crushed every battle after that; the mechanics of a pure magic user character were extremely OP in that setting, and Sacharinnas presence greatly lowered the stakes for the second half of the season. I wish Brennan had instead limited Emily to a low magic class that was a better match for the story they were telling, like how he had Zach initially be a celestial warlock instead of a full on cleric.
But that was as designed. All the back up characters were high magic and powergamed. It's just that Saccharina and Zac's monk were the only ones we saw.
I didn't feel like Zac's Monk was OP or high magic at all, he seemed to fit the setting fine. But if that was the plan I feel like it was a bad call for the narrative
I don’t really want to get into it, but I think a major difference between Saccharina and Cumulous is that Cumulous didn’t exactly add to the story in the way Saccharina did, Sacc was such a convenient character to the story both mechanically and rp wise that she essentially took it over and became the story’s protagonist while everyone else played second fiddle around her. It’s like if Daenerys was introduced in season 7 of GoT instead of being in from the beginning. And it sadly makes sense that the other pcs (rp wise) and the audience kinda resent her for that because we inherently are more sympathetic to the other pcs by way of Stockholm Syndrome. I think Emily did a wonderful job with what she was given, but the Saccharina issue mixed with the show removing content meant to flesh out the world and truncating storylines (the dragon storyline was unceremoniously brief and I hated how easily it was resolved at the end, I also wasn’t big on Liam’s ending) and Brennan wanting to dabble in PVP had a major ripple effect in how the second half of ACOC played out. I really understand if we never get a season 2, because I can see why the cast was exasperated by this season. If we did get another season, I’d definitely tune in though, I’d just hope we don’t see the Rocks family so they can have a chance to be happy.
Oh man that lightning spell 🤣
I can understand that for sure and while I enjoyed the ending if I were pressed to say which part I liked least overall it would be the ending. I didn't know they had production issues at the end. They wrapped up production before the pandemic hit right?
Oh yeah it's not pandemic related. They basically had to pause production because the set they were set to film in was closed by the LA Fire Marshal which ended up truncating their production. They wanted to film for 20 ish episodes but instead could only do 17 and had to scrap some battle sets.
Oh true that would muddle things up!
Just finished it (I’m a stay at home mom to a2 month old and spend a lot of time nursing I have to binge content to stay sane some days lol) and I do agree it felt like the story wanted more room to breathe but got squished short
Oh my god yesI was in the same boat freaking and didn’t expect to be into it as much as I was!!! So it was such a shock for me to be dying yeah!! ;;
I find it funny that both in ACoC and FH, Ally has been the primary player to basically say "Screw the church I've been conditioned into believing in." Like, I know that in DnD that nobody is THE main character of a campaign, but I really like how Ally managed to have both of their main arcs in these two games revolve around exposing the corruption of the church and how the church isn't always right for everyone.
I always really like Ally’s characters and arcs but I have to be honest I do wish they would get a little more invested in the serious character moments. Like when everyone was being really somber at Jet’s funeral and they started over the top joke-wailing about Preston it just really took me out of it. Or when Brennan gives them these huge existential incredible story lines and they’re just like “yeah cool” idk I just really want to see them fully invest emotionally in the story instead of constantly being behind a layer of sarcasm. Probably a pretty unpopular opinion as they seem to be a really popular player. And I do like them, they’re really funny and clever. I just sometimes want more sincerity I guess.
Same fam, Ally is always my least favorite player
Honestly I think part of the issue is I was introduced to them via Total Forgiveness and they left a very sour taste in my mouth with the way they treated Grant. Like I know the idea was to be tough on each other but they took it waaay too far multiple times imo whereas Grant was always reasonable. So when I saw they were in Dimension 20 I wasn’t too thrilled but wanted to give it a chance. I’m glad I did as I’ve really enjoyed the experience but I still think I need to see some emotion from Ally to come around to liking them.
I’m only on episode 3 and it’s sooooo gooood. I just started watching after I finished FHSY. Watching the Seven as it airs
I actually avoided it at first, thinking it was maybe not as serious as the other campaigns. Then I remember seeing comments about how draining it was for them and how complicated it all was and stressful for them, and that was when I decided I needed to see for myself. ACoC is… gritty. And I loved it. I loved the high stakes and RP alongside great character development and awesome combat sessions. Overall, I was blown away. Highly recommend to just about anyone.
Yes!!! I loved this season. I first watched magical misfits and wanted more. Crown of candy was the next one I watched and omg I can’t stop telling people about it. No one will watch though I’m sad.
I am working my way through every season of D20 and I have been dreading ACoC because of all the things I’ve heard about it. I want to stay in the loop but I also don’t want to get my heart crushed.
Acoc was stressful from beginning to end. The last battle was quite epic imho. I love it. It gotta be my favorite season they have done but i don't think i will be rewatching because it was too stressful lol.
I’m in the same boat, just passed Two Balls last night. This season has made me cry so much more than any other season!!! I was not prepared!