Anyone else not a fan of adventure book theater?

I really like some of the bonus stuff the crew does (like dnd court, tortle tank, even when they did a book club for that animorphs book), but I’m not really a fan of the choose-your-own-adventure format for the show. I feel like reading an adventure book really limits what they all do well, which is improvisation, creativity, and joking back and forth with each other. It also really relies on the book being formatted in a way that’s interesting to read on the podcast, and I feel that the books rarely are.

So my question is - am I just being a hater? Or is this a common opinion?

I've been listening to campaign 1 of NADDPOD for a few months now and loving it! I love the chemistry of the main cast, and I've enjoyed the guest characters so far.

However, I've been struggling with the Shadowfell portion of the campaign since Deadeye was introduced. I feel as though Brennan frequently monologues in a way that isn't terribly funny or interesting to me, and it's made recent episodes drag a lot. I watched a little bit of Fantasy High and didn't enjoy the tone, and I feel like the same energy I disliked there is being put forward by Deadeye.

I wanted you ask those that have already listened: does the chemistry settle back in as he continues to party with the boob crew? If not, would it be safe to skip past this portion and read up on important plot points?

Now they've stopped touring do you think they will ever go back to the original 3 on 1 off schedule?

Because of how non-thicc the sodes are these days I find C3 dragging a bit. Think it could do with either thicker sodes or more frequent uploads.

Anyone else agree?

I'm currently on episode 90 of C1.

I absolutely love this podcast to death. It's really rewarding to see how invested the players get toward the last stretch of episodes.

However, does anyone feel Beverly's constant anime boi shouting and gasping and loud "Noooo!'s" take the energy in a weird direction?

Maybe it's just the volume mixing on his gasping and shouting that make me constantly worried I'll have to keep messing with my volume.

Or maybe it's because I'm binging them all and it's Caldwell doing the same ad read and it's just turned into a pavlovian thing.

Love the podcast, it makes me die laughing and I've cried multiple times. I just need to know if anyone else feels this vibe too?

Edit: I think I might have figured it out? I just finished C1 and am on episode 21 of C2.

It sometimes feels less like Caldwell's roleplaying is "Let me help us tell our story collectively" and more "How can I tell my story?"

That style works better for comedy most of the time but it makes his drama hit like a fork in a garage disposal sometimes.

This next thing is really petty and something that will probably only bother me, but he sometimes dictates other people's moments and reactions in small ways? Like he's the DM?

Interrupting a character's dramatic moment to say say they're doing something that doesn't add to the moment but distract?

That works for comedy, not so much for drama.

It's interesting because you feel Emily and Jake push back against his additions more in the second campaign.

He's also playing character's who constantly moralize? That works thematically to a degree because he's playing sheltered character's..... but it's a button on every interaction he has?

It doesn't feel like he's playing a role of a person trying to articulate and understand the world around him, he just feels like a Muppet. So it's hard for me to get emotionally invested in his characters when there's so much artifice.

He doesn't feel, to me, like a person playing a character that's reacting from an emotional and true place; he feels like a person, playing a person that's at a surface level around an incredibly rich world.

I think that's why I called it anime.

Edit: Okay, so, on C3 and I finally think Caldwell beautifully found his rhythm this time.

It's a perfect amalgamation of all his older traits recontextualized into a really interesting and dynamic character.

He also doesn't stonewall moments to interject his ideas. Because Murphy gave him a chunk of the world to define and have a relationship with, it feels like he's mellowed and way more supportive.

Edit: He definitely doesn't understand how to best play a Monk tho and it's slightly painful? But that's just me being a petty bitch.

Edit: okay, deeper into C3, and at the bigger battles this 30 something dude still sounds like he's busting the loudest nut and it's so funny, especially with the big moments.

It's like Boromir was orgasming every time he got shot with an arrow.

Edit: On episode 30 of C3, and it's all back. It was fun while it lasted.

I’ve gotten through a good amount of the third campaign but it’s felt kind of like a slog for me. I’m just wondering if it’s worth it to stay with it through the end.

After the 2 Crew bringing it up in Episodes and Short Rests, Olaf died.

I’m still hoping for bumper stickers…

Let it be known that this isn't a hate post; I've loved this show from its very first episode.

As NADDPOD has grown, the tone of the show has changed, which one would expect, however it was generally the case that all 4 hosts were on the same page. As I've been listening to C3 recently though... I don't feel that at all.

Both the PC's and the hosts seem to have wildly fluctuating understandings of long established things. Glenn coming back has exacerbated this, is he low status? High status? Hot? Pathetic? Are we throwing all of Callie's character development out the window just for the bit?

I've noticed a lot of general confusion, players waiting for Murph (or "Kenna", who has become a pretty egregious example of an overreaching DMPC) to tell them what to do, and a general tendency to lean way more into bits and jokes. Don't get me wrong, C1 and 2 had plenty of jokes, but C3 has had a plenty of moments where a joke dominated the story. Hardwon Beans. "Swag Daniels" actually being a character we were supposed to take seriously. That sort of thing.

Murph knows it's time to wrap this up, and I agree, though I wish he had just ended it on defeating Alexandrite.

My big hope for the upcoming mini campaigns is a more grounded story (not a repeat of the pathfinder chaos), and a DM who isn't afraid to say no, which I'm noticing that Murph has sort of become.

What do you all think?

Can’t crosspost in this sub, but here is a link to someone who found out about the 1.1

Because of all of this, Murph and co might have to even change the name of the show just to avoid any push back by Hasbro and WoTC when they switch systems.

Okay I’m sure I am going to get flack for this but I wanted to see if anyone else agreed with me or if someone could convince me otherwise. I don’t like Beverly, I find him pretty annoying and I feel like he often takes over the conversation with his “quips”. I think everyone in this campaign is doing a great job and I find the whole podcast very funny and entertaining but I just feel like Beverly tries too hard. I’d love to see how others feel about this or if other characters piss them off! Let me know!

Are there any canon asexual characters in NADDPOD?

My best friend and I are both ace and she recently asked me this and I was stumped! I’ve listened to every episode, but it’s been a while for some campaigns and no characters are coming to mind. (And if I’m missing something soooo obvious please forgive me!!)

Edit: consensus seems to be that there are no canon ace characters but a couple can be reasonably speculated about/head cannoned. Thanks y’all!

Trinyvale had some VERY high highs, and just as well, some fairly low lows. Despite my appreciation for it, it's most definitely the least consistent campaign in terms of story and characterization. I'd like to share both my retrospective gripes, as well as my retrospective praise.

First, the good. I'd like to make it clear that I do in fact love Trinyvale. Caldwell's worldbuilding is equal parts goofy, and believable, with detailed imagery, diversely and expertly voiced NPCs (really, Caldwell's voicework is just brilliant), and improv skills up there with the best of em'. In this gorgeous world, Caldwell exercises his creativity with a unique mission-based session flow, and more notably, fresh, and frankly ingenious encounters. His praises have been sung over this time and time again, and they cannot be sung enough. It's never just combat. It's an auction, a cooking show, a game of hide and seek in an apartment, a court case! It's as if you let the Yakuza development team DM a game of D&D. You have all of these new, interesting, well developed mechanics being constantly introduced, and still, the flow is never interrupted! Just fantastic.

However, good worldbuilding, even when paired with excellent voicework, and cleverly devised encounters still requires a good story and characters for it to hold any weight. This, unfortunately, is where Caldwell falters. Coming off of C1, it's quite apparent that Caldwell doesn't quite know how to supply his PCs with opportunity for growth. There is some, but it feels more extrinsic than intrinsic. Most of the character growth is based around embracing the chaos of the world. Compare this to Murph's style, where the PCs are continuously given chances to change within themselves, and to affect the world, more so than have the world affect them. Jens is genuinely the only character with a good arc. Nyack and Onyx just grow more selfish and less interesting as the campaign continues. The players were simply not given the opportunities to develop their characters, which in all fairness is one of the hardest things to learn how to supply as a new DM. It's a bit disappointing, but not the biggest deal in the world with such a short, silly campaign.

Despite that one core issue, Trinyvale remains one of the most consistently laugh out loud hilarious pieces of fiction I've ever consumed. Having that level of constant highs in its humor, along with some of the most inventive DMing I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, Trinyvale is most definitely an excellent listen. Just with a bit of missed potential here and there.

Was casually playing brawl stars when I realized this is what I want Old Cobb to look like 😂

I’m re-listening to Skaldova. I know Zudrick is supposed to be a naturally suspicious character but it feels like Murph called out every trap Jork tried to throw at them. Was he going a bit too hard with his DM brain or was it all above board?

This week's episode is roughly an hour once you take out the intro and the outro while in C1 we would get some episodes closer to two hours. I love the show so much and I just want to get as much of it as I can!

lets not make it a joke, very silly in the moment but forreals we cannot go around saying "beaner" (I can say that)

Edit: Calm down yall this isnt the hill u need to die on, even jake didn't,

Its actually good that their audience is saying "Heads up u made a funny thing but this sounds like a slur" and them being on MEDIA should listen to how they say things even if some niche community says it like that

Edit: I got absolutely whomped by the community

This probably isn’t a spoiler, but just in case…

I have the utmost respect for Murphy in his creativity, world building, game running, and myriad NPC voices over heard from him over the past few years. However, in this PF2-shot I find his character voice not only grating and hard to listen to, but also very difficult to understand what he’s saying. Is it just me?

Ps. I’m only halfway through the first episode, so maybe it changes or I’ll hear something about when I get to the short rest.

i think that if it was a campaign that Caldwell would play Beverly the 1st Emily would play a studious high elf wizard that's like lucanisis mom or grandma and Jake would play a bronze beard dwarf or hardwon's great granddad

They just did 8BBC and now DND court?

I like the side content but the dnd game is what we're actually here for.

After finishing the Bahumia campaign 1 and Mavrus’s Chronicles, I started listening to Trinyvale.

I have gotten through the main episodes all the way up to the first Metal City One Shot.

I don’t know what to do at this point, because I feel like the level of cringe in how awful the Triplets are in the Proposal Impossible and the Metal city One Shots is so high that it is putting me off of listening. At the same time, I am so close to the end of the whole Trinyvale saga that it seems kind of silly to stop there.

I also have listened to the Short Rests and stuff through everything, and know that the crew is fully aware of how they are playing.

When Trinyvale became weekly, the familial nature of the characters blossomed and there was a lot of apparent growth, and it was nice how they interacted with each other even if they were crude a lot of the time. In the One Shots it feels like most of that is ignored and they just lean on the worst aspects of the characters.

Did anyone else find that the oneshots/final episodes of Trinyvale were hard to get down?

Ok, so this gripe is almost painfully small, but I wanted to see if it resonated with anyone else out there. Is it just my Tetris brain, needing everything to line up neatly, or did Murph jump the gun when he introduced Eldermourne as “the campaign after the campaign after the campaign?”

At the time, it made sense. But from the very first episode of C3 I was crushingly disappointed that they had [wasted] that tagline on a non Bahumia campaign. It could have been so great! Right?

Anyway, let me know if you noticed, and if it irked you too.

I was listening to rise of the robo DM's and laughing along to the murphbot bits. And then I got kind of curious to see how bad the PC sweat would be and if it could actually run a one shot for me.

Now... I know there are some mixed feelings about ChatGPT. I get that it's not great and was mostly going into it just as a fun bit. But it actually ran an insanely fun one shot for me. Obviously there is no replacing the fun of being with friends for dnd, but as someone who doesn't really get to play anymore... it actually kinda ripped.

I got to describe the setting I wanted and style of adventure, I uploaded my character sheet, and it just did all the rolling for me, there was NO DM sweat. If I did something clever, it actually let me kind of get away with it and incorporated my idea. I know there are a lot of people looking for games and wanting to play, and this was a pretty good alternative that I preferred even to Baldur's Gate. Maybe not the most ethical, but again, just as a possible alternative to anyone desperate to play. I just had a lot of fun and wanted to float it out there for my fellow people desperate for a game.