I have a problem with the DM's style
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“*Disclaimer: I go into plot spoilers and examples in this, so read at your own risk, but I feel the points are valid.
I started this podcast and I legitimately enjoyed it. The setting is intriguing, I love the characters, and the plot is great. But I wrote this review cause I really have a hard time with the DM style. I DM myself, and I feel that a good DM empowers their characters to move through a plot they design, but the players have a control over the plot and their actions truely matter. I'm also a firm believer of the "yes, and" rule, where you never fully say no to a player, no matter how crazy their request is. So it really annoys me when I'm a player or I'm listening to a podcast and I feel like the DM kind of disregards that. There are examples throughtout the podcast where Adam cuts off players, or says no to them, tells them they can't do something even before they try the check, or doesn't inform brand new players of the existance of medicine checks and then smiles as they almost die because of it, and I get that alot of my irritaiton there is personal game preference and probably some nit-pickery.
But what modivated me to write this was episode 12. Previously, in episode 5, the party had made a deal with a otherworldy demon creature to save a character's neice while freeing the creature from imprisonment. The the deal clearly subtly favored the creature, so it wasn't a surprise to see it again in episode 12. What was a surprise, was it killing a player in the space of 5 minutes. The DM prompts a player to go walking out from town at night, they get assulted, get dropped to one health in one hit, is essentially told that none of their attacks can do anything, and then is ripped limb from limb. Initiative isn't even rolled.
It felt like one of the core components of a machine had been ripped out. There wasn't a big fight or real point to the death. It felt like Adam just stamped on a beloved character for plot and shock value. That's what really irritated me. As a DM, and as the DM of a live play podcast, you should view character development is a great and wonderful thing that keeps the audience and the players invested, and to pretty much purposefully kill off a character is a great way to make players feel like their actions don't drive the plot at all, it's just the DM's wim.
Imagine being normal 3rd level character's and the DM just decides to throw a red dragon at you to show he's in charge. It would make you feel like you don't have control over the game. I think the worst part was Adam's smug tone when he literally said "yeah, you're dead, you can rip up that character sheet."
In conclusion, if you don't play dnd or you don't care that much about these things, this podcast is good. Like I said, the setting, characters, and plot are great. But I don't know if I'll be able to keep listening when I feel like the DM doesn't respect the actions and narrative power of the characters, and is willing to kill them off in a pompous manner and then spend all of the next episode taking away from the quality plot to introduce a new character.
*Disclaimer: I'm only on episode 13, so it might get better but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep listening to see.”Read full review »
oak_mahogany via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
06/28/18
More reviews of The Stubborn Heroes
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“Absolutely love this podcast and I give the DM all the credit in the world for not killing the players more often as much as they push him to the point of nearly snapping! Hahaha. Great cast and the guys are all funny.”
geebado via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
09/06/17
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“Really enjoyable to listen to.”
Zane C Weber via Apple Podcasts ·
Australia ·
12/11/16
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“I thought this podcast was very entertaining. The people seem to be having a lot of fun and the intro was very well produced. I will be listening to the future episodes for sure!”
Crystanite via Apple Podcasts ·
Canada ·
07/06/16
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