Diversity in RollPlay content

[NoorElBahrain (Might be Captain Marvel)]

I want to reply to a point in the great post by @PatRowdy in the “Who would you link to see on RollPlay?” Thread

Who would you like to see on RollPlay?

It might be hard to say this without sounding like a total knob but more than any one person, I would love to see more experienced players! For starters, I think you guys have done an excellent job so far of building the Rollplay brand with the casting that you've done. Your players are funny, charismatic, familiar with speaking in front of large audiences, run in the same circles and best of all, have chemistry! This has all helped cement a strong identity for Rollplay as an entertaining, per…

The point I would like to reply to was off topic so I made a new thread instead of derailing that conversation

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@PatRowdy

Even if that’s not the end goal, I still think that Rollplay would find success in diversifying their content a little and covering the full tonal spectrum, from popcorn entertainment (Nebula Jazz is PRIMO for this) to the high-investment, dramatic stuff.

I would say that there are shows on that spectrum, with as you said Nebula Jazz and Mirrorshades on one end as you pointed out (My favorite type of shows <3 ) and on the other end the high investment dramatic stuff I would put Blades and Swan Song in that.

I always loved that Rollplay had that sort of diversity in content not just in tone but in setting. Maybe others have some input on this topic ?

[StillAnotherOne]

While I’m not exactly agreeing to your opinion of shows (I’d tend to switch Mirrorshades and Swan Song, or at least see MS more on the dramatic side) I think you do have a point there.

Sure, CoS is grim and deadly, but it doesn’t feel like it has lots of investment so far. The characters are (at times) interesting, but I haven’t had the moment of “Nooooo, you can’t die!” so far and death has been pretty common. The closest thing to it was when Sean was leaving but that was part of the show’s concept.

I think Dark Heresy ($divine_being may rest its soul) came very close to being a topnotch dramatic show, as did to a lesser degree Lightside BoP.

//continues to ramble on for a while

[NoorElBahrain (Might be Captain Marvel)]

Now that I think about the spectrum in the original definition of the post I would say that it is a different type off investment. For example with Mirrorshades and Nebula Jazz I am still invested in the characters and their history (as I mentioned they are my favorites). To try to make the point clearer maybe its like one side is a dramatic show that has you on the edge of your seat and the other is more a lighter fare/escapism.

As to CoS @StillAnotherOne I see it somewhere on the spectrum leaning closer to the dramatic side. I am not normally into the D&D fantasy setting but the different flavor of the setting in CoS makes it more interesting to me as well as the living world element of it. So I am interested in what will happen in the world.
Jubilant Black Gale, and Snidge are my current favorites in CoS

[disusedgenius]

@StillAnotherOne

Sure, CoS is grim and deadly, but it doesn’t feel like it has lots of investment so far. The characters are (at times) interesting, but I haven’t had the moment of “Nooooo, you can’t die!” so far and death has been pretty common. The closest thing to it was when Sean was leaving but that was part of the show’s concept.

For me the investment in CoS is in the players, not the characters. It’s a bit of a turn-up for what was meant to be the ‘intro’ RollPlay series has actually turned out to be (arguably) the most meta of them all. It’s essentially a show about a few people learning to play a game rather than a show that uses a game to tell a story.

But that’s still a notch in the diversity of the shows. I think most of the main styles are accounted for now.

• Goofy, wonderful nonsense - Nubula Jazz (replacing Mirrorshades)
• An action-drama ‘TV’ show - Blades (replacing Swan Song that replaced Dark Heresy - i.e. the ‘Wheat and Geoff continuum’)
• Watch a group of friends play a tabletop game - CoS (replacing Legacy… maybe. At the start anyway)

Part of the issue is probably that CoS doesn’t really replace West Marches - which really just speaks to how well that show mixed elements of all the other shows, as did RnD. I expect another show that has an all-expert cast could fill that niche (as well as anyone can fill the Stephen-shaped hole in the channel), but then I guess the bigger question is whether there’s enough resources (be it time, available regular cast or whatever) to run an additional show.

[TheDesec]

I said this in another thread:

@TheDesec

The stories, even though there is a very high amount of randomness due to the nature of dice rolls and improvisation theater, are every single time fun to watch, sometimes a little sad, sometimes even very sad, often they’re super silly and sometimes they’re just awesome.

And if you’re willing to dive into older shows on YT/VOD, there’s something in any™ genre for any™ taste. There were at least a dozen different rulesets being used, probably more. And each GM brought their own flavor to their shows.

And if that’s not enough diversity already, remember The West Marches, with its (*scratches head*) 20-30~ish different cast members.

But, more diversity is always welcome. And surprises (like [spoiler]Canter[/spoiler] on Blades) are the best!

[Kol_Saresk]

Yeah, I feel like so far, the most “serious” Rollplay has gotten was CoS season 1. And I won’t lie, season 1 was pretty shaky for me. Since then, ot’s kind of turned into Firefly/Buffy/Angel where it is a serious show that hits serious topics, but has that right touch of comic relief that keeps it from being Law and Order(duh duh!).

I pretty much came to the realization that Nebula Jazz is Cowboy Bepop. Which is awesome.

Blades is more of a dark, pulpy comic, which is still good. But like a Freddy Krueger movie, you kind of almost have to be twisted in the head to appreciate the grim humor without being overcome with horror at what exactly is happening in the scene.

That said, it isn’t as bad as Legacy’s first few episodes. Listened to those for the first time ever and yikes. Naked half-ogres and fifty shades nonconsensual groping, oh my! Although Geoff turning the ogre into mist was outrageously funny.

[StillAnotherOne]

@NoorElBahrain

As to CoS @StillAnotherOne I see it somewhere on the spectrum leaning closer to the dramatic side. I am not normally into the D&D fantasy setting but the different flavor of the setting in CoS makes it more interesting to me as well as the living world element of it.

That is sort of my point. The world building is interesting, even though it’s (from what I can tell) more playerdriven (which isn’t the part that I think can become problematic) and as such less coherent (which is the concerning part) than when it came all just from Adam’s mind (though I totally see why he doesn’t want that all the time). But I’m really hardpressed to say if I like any of JP’s characters for example more than the others.

As an example: With the Aasimar there was potential for some nice dynamic - Raziel as the fallen/dangerous person could have been watched over by Azrael and Volnach, which has been touched on during character creation, but I didn’t feel like there was much roleplay put into that, most of it was Raziel-internal. In my eyes there was a prime opportunity for Azrael to actively look for faults so he can kill him (and along the way get softened up a bit), while Volnach wants to redeem Raziel and bring him back to the Fountain. Now, that didn’t happen (at least not to the degree I would have liked) and the dice were not with them but I’m not sad about the characters being dead, just that the opportunity has not been seized.

Gale has a similar interesting potential and I’m looking forward how Azrael is going to turn out, but I’m still in the position of carelessness. If they die next session, I’ll shrug and instantly move on, looking forward to the next character. [But the other end of the spectrum is also very annoying to me, for the longest part Critical Role was getting stale to me for that reason]

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@TheDesec you are also right in that there is lots of past material, but it’s still very different to actually be there and see how it evolves than knowing that show has come to a close already. That’s the difference between twitch and TV, here you can actually influence story points (GM allowing) and introduce seeds for new plots