Utter meh.
Some feedback from a non-D&D-player, so take this (single opinion) as you will:
I really, really love reading funny D&D stories you sometimes find on forums, be it in text form or comic form.
I don't love them because players are bitching.
I don't love them because the DM plays with a group of stereotypes while also having enough brain damage to think playing this is a good idea considering the players.
I love them because they play with something that will always miss in computer games or movies: the human factor. The freedom of both how the DM dynamically alters the story to fit the players' decisions and the player decisions themselves. Of course this only works if the game isn't taken seriously, but the players exploit the world's possibilities around them, not think up crap like robots and light sabers. Who says you can't keep an undead pet aligator? Think outside the box and be clever!
It's (potentially) funny for example if you can summon random creatures, the DM decides you get a frikkin owl and a fellow party member has the ability to set himself and allies on fire - and then you defeat a giant by repeatedly stuffing a flaming owl in its face; or when they pick up a random old beggar from the streets, kill him, cover him with glowing skulls emitting black magic they took from defeated necromancers, the DM decides to make the old poor guy a majestic Warlock and the party dubs him Jimmy Hendricks and takes him with them; or... well, this [http://oi52.tinypic.com/jtv1pj.jpg] story circulates on the net for some reason.
(Concerning the Jimmy Hendricks part: It can be fun to mix real world and fantasy world like that, but it needs to be strictly regulated in order to save the escapism of in-world-happenings)
These stories are fun if the whole team works together and wants to have fun, not if a bunch of idiots quarrel with the Only Sane Man and he just gets frustrated and nobody is having a good time (including me, the viewer).
These fun stories however, requires a bit of clever writing and wit since it doesn't rely on slapstick or taking joy in watching a frustrated DM. It's all about surprise and being inventive with what you already have rather than making up random shit.
In my opinion it's also not a good idea to make the IRL players idiots (although it would be hard to retcon this at all, but this is just my opinion after all, not an order or something!) or make them take their characters seriously/identify with them. A good portion of the fun of the D&D stories I read comes from players not taking the game exactly seriously and separating themselves from their avatars - they'd never do random shit like that if they were in the world and would take it seriously, but that's what makes it fun in the first place. Flaming owls, the supreme weaponry!
Also, rolling numbers can make for emotional highs and lows (20, FUCK YEAH!) - utilize that. If you think it's a system too complicated for newcomers, well, no harm in teaching them something about your topic and you got a cast of characters dumb enough to forget most simple things if you really need to rub a tutorial into people's faces. There's nothing wrong with showing the game's mechanics. If you don't, the show becomes just a silly fantasy adventure like "Doraleous and Associates" or one of the millions webcomics around the net. Competition in that sector is everything but small.
My wishes that probably go against the general idea behind the series: Make it witty, play with tropes, introduce genre-savvy characters, flesh out the world enough to be interesting enough on its own and let the players get out of tight situations doing funny, yet clever things by thinking outside the box while almost being absurd, but never totally random. You have the chance to create a giant evil and make a player say "Oh cut the monologue you giant pussy, fight already or send your minions or something! We don't care about your emo backstory or Nazi empire, we wanna [chorus]LOOT LOOT LOOT LOOT[/chorus]!"
TL;DR: Good general concept, horrible execution story-wise IMO (no technical/graphical problems or problems with the performance, just with the writing of pretty much everything that bothers me).
Guess it's not my cup of tea, but I'll watch a few more episodes before passing any sort of definite judgment.
Some feedback from a non-D&D-player, so take this (single opinion) as you will:
I really, really love reading funny D&D stories you sometimes find on forums, be it in text form or comic form.
I don't love them because players are bitching.
I don't love them because the DM plays with a group of stereotypes while also having enough brain damage to think playing this is a good idea considering the players.
I love them because they play with something that will always miss in computer games or movies: the human factor. The freedom of both how the DM dynamically alters the story to fit the players' decisions and the player decisions themselves. Of course this only works if the game isn't taken seriously, but the players exploit the world's possibilities around them, not think up crap like robots and light sabers. Who says you can't keep an undead pet aligator? Think outside the box and be clever!
It's (potentially) funny for example if you can summon random creatures, the DM decides you get a frikkin owl and a fellow party member has the ability to set himself and allies on fire - and then you defeat a giant by repeatedly stuffing a flaming owl in its face; or when they pick up a random old beggar from the streets, kill him, cover him with glowing skulls emitting black magic they took from defeated necromancers, the DM decides to make the old poor guy a majestic Warlock and the party dubs him Jimmy Hendricks and takes him with them; or... well, this [http://oi52.tinypic.com/jtv1pj.jpg] story circulates on the net for some reason.
(Concerning the Jimmy Hendricks part: It can be fun to mix real world and fantasy world like that, but it needs to be strictly regulated in order to save the escapism of in-world-happenings)
These stories are fun if the whole team works together and wants to have fun, not if a bunch of idiots quarrel with the Only Sane Man and he just gets frustrated and nobody is having a good time (including me, the viewer).
These fun stories however, requires a bit of clever writing and wit since it doesn't rely on slapstick or taking joy in watching a frustrated DM. It's all about surprise and being inventive with what you already have rather than making up random shit.
In my opinion it's also not a good idea to make the IRL players idiots (although it would be hard to retcon this at all, but this is just my opinion after all, not an order or something!) or make them take their characters seriously/identify with them. A good portion of the fun of the D&D stories I read comes from players not taking the game exactly seriously and separating themselves from their avatars - they'd never do random shit like that if they were in the world and would take it seriously, but that's what makes it fun in the first place. Flaming owls, the supreme weaponry!
Also, rolling numbers can make for emotional highs and lows (20, FUCK YEAH!) - utilize that. If you think it's a system too complicated for newcomers, well, no harm in teaching them something about your topic and you got a cast of characters dumb enough to forget most simple things if you really need to rub a tutorial into people's faces. There's nothing wrong with showing the game's mechanics. If you don't, the show becomes just a silly fantasy adventure like "Doraleous and Associates" or one of the millions webcomics around the net. Competition in that sector is everything but small.
My wishes that probably go against the general idea behind the series: Make it witty, play with tropes, introduce genre-savvy characters, flesh out the world enough to be interesting enough on its own and let the players get out of tight situations doing funny, yet clever things by thinking outside the box while almost being absurd, but never totally random. You have the chance to create a giant evil and make a player say "Oh cut the monologue you giant pussy, fight already or send your minions or something! We don't care about your emo backstory or Nazi empire, we wanna [chorus]LOOT LOOT LOOT LOOT[/chorus]!"
TL;DR: Good general concept, horrible execution story-wise IMO (no technical/graphical problems or problems with the performance, just with the writing of pretty much everything that bothers me).
Guess it's not my cup of tea, but I'll watch a few more episodes before passing any sort of definite judgment.
