At turns inventive, moving,and hilarious, FatT is a must-listen.
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“I've never played a game of D&D or similar; I started listening to the show mainly because I knew that its principals were very funny people from their previous work on Stream Friends. Even from the first world-building episode, though, you can tell: This podcast is something special. Keenly aware of their influences, the players use genre convention and reference to illustrate and inform the action--and, in turn, to comment on, analyze, and extend these sources. The first season asks a lot of questions about the societies in a lot of fantasy settings, and the second explicitly asks the question any giant robot show invites: "We could have made them look like anything, but we made them look like us." Why?
I can't comment on how it works as an Actual Play podcast, but from a dramatic standpoint, the players--under the direction of the terrific Austin Walker--use these role-playing games to draw those elements into conflict, alliance, and even more complex relationships. Austin Walker is very good at setting up "worse outcomes, hard bargains, or ugly choices", in the game's lingo, that translate into really gripping choices for his players. Those choices matter, too--even past world-building, the players still do a great deal of the work in telling this story and deciding where it goes. The freedom this allows really ought to make the show feel like it's going off the rails, but somehow it near to always coheres into a flowing, compelling story that's all the better for incorporating the player's individual tastes and insights. Only afterwards do you learn how far the story pulled away from the initial plans!
Don't think that it's a dour fantasy epic or work of over-serious future-history--the comic talents of the performers are still put to good use. From Keith Carberry's deliberate goofball characters to the frequent back-and-forth between these good friends, even the most emotionally draining episodes inspire a few irrepressible smirks and smile lines. The same role-playing acumen that informs the show's involving dramatic turns helps here as well. You could forget all about the ice planets and magic books and listen to this show purely as an improv-comedy clinic.
Composer Jack de Quidt puts a bow on the proceedings (in collaboration with the show's producers, particularly Ali Acampora) with his perfectly-fit and expressive music, mirroring and drawing out the themes that run through the latter season in particular. A few of the songs can even stand on their own--I have "The Sermon of Sister Rust" in regular rotation on my iPod.
As several people have noted, this all works together to give the show the feeling of a tight season of bravura television (even as a podcast where the occasional episode pushes three hours). I'll have to take their word for it--I don't think I've anticipated any TV show as strongly as my Thursday episode of Friends at the Table.
I've done _fanart_ for it. Fanart! What a show.”Read full review »
ƒpƒ via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
06/27/16
More reviews of Friends at the Table
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“I would vote to change every day of the week to Thursday if it meant I got a new episode of Friends at the Table every day!”
thelsdj via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
09/26/14
“Av alla rollspelspodcast jag lyssnat på är FatT den jag uppskattar mest. Framförallt den andra säsongen är verkligen en exemplarisk uppvisning i hur en mängd olika spelsystem kan bidra till att berätta en sammanhängande historia. Min enda reservation är att den tar ett tag att komma in i, och jag...”Read full review »
mkarlman via Apple Podcasts ·
Sweden ·
05/07/16
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“Wonderful listen - truly great chemistry in the group. There are some audio quality issues early on in the feed, but you won't care because the story and world are so captivating.”Read full review »
Twosided via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
06/28/16
Do you host a podcast?
Track your ranks and reviews from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
Get Chartable Analytics »
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
Listen now
Links
Genres
Artwork or description wrong?
Request an update »
Updates may take a few minutes.
Do you host a podcast?
Track your ranks and reviews from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
Get Chartable Analytics »
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
