Tim founded GeeklyInc with Michael DiMauro way back in 2013 when they realized they had two podcasts and needed a place to stick them. Since then, Geekly has grown and taken off in ways Tim could have never imagined.This is an… interesting episode full of a bit of experimintation. Mostly we tried to really dig into the question of “What if?” and learned to live with the consequences. Join us as we explore the pirate island of Bowbreaker Bay searching for clues for the Lost Isle. Maybe we make a friend or two. Maybe we murder an NPC or two.
The adventure continues with Tum Darkblade (Tim Lanning), Thom the Dragonborn (Mike Bachmann), Junpei Iori (Steven Strom), Aludra (Jennifer Cheek) and your Dungeon Master (Michael DiMauro).
Drunks and Dragons is a weekly podcast using the Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition ruleset. Please let us know what you think!
Great episode. I honestly can’t tell how much of junpei’s obliviousness/self-importance/hubris is RP and how much is Strom’s actual personality. If it’s RP, then Strom has essentially been trolling this entire campaign (and not in a fun way) and if it’s just the player’s actual personality, then, well, yoweezer. It’s about time he started to pay the iron price. I actually wished Junpei died, or, short of that, that the entire quest actually did blow up and become “uncompletable” due to his actions.
He claims to behave this way to provide entertainment for the listeners, but I’d personally be much more entertained if our erstwhile gm gave him (or the party) some lasting come-uppance
I agree completely. I’m still going to listen because I love this podcast but I can feel the other players getting annoyed with Strom.
His antics are always good for making me laugh.
I agree with the above commenter. I guess Thrifty didn’t want to kill Junpei off completely this episode (although as DM I would certainly have had enough by now), as the $1000 kill off hasn’t occured yet and Junpei is one of the possibilities.
However, Junpei really should get a massive XP penalty. Why? Well he is listed as “Good” and his alignment has definitely shifted with the death of a completely innocent man.
Finally, again in agreement with the above poster, Strom quite often sounds like he doesn’t want to be there; this comes across more so in the live twitch videos the team have done. Perhaps Thrifty should politely remind Strom that there are loads of people out there who would love to take his place at the Drunks & Dragons table.
PS: In light of the heroic finale of the episode 30 (without giving anythig away) it would have been even more fitting for Junpei to die at the hands of scallywags, over a hat.
I couldn’t agree less. That is not how they have been playing this campaign. Thrifty does pull them back in from time to time, but part of whole campaign is that they are not super technical and they are having fun. I was, unsuccessfully, trying to not laugh out loud at work when they meet the old dude. Junpei has been penalized from time to time (lost a hand), but he has been playing this style from the beginning…opening up more as the podcasts have progressed.
JUNPEI for President in 2016!
The problem with the way Strom “has fun” with Junpei is it’s largely through not listening to others, not paying attention to the game, and being disruptive to the campaign. The others have tons of fun and, for my money, generate 10x the laughs while still PLAYING within the bounds. Bachmann tends to take Thom off the rails occasionally, but it’s usually in a funny way that works and is derived from actual role-playing. Strom often announces “We should RP this!” (which is unnecessary as the rest just RP the whole time because it’s how you play the game) and then does something entirely different than that. Or he complains that they have too many encounters and need to think outside of the box more and then gets mad when Thrifty throws a skill challenge or a difficult situation at them.
I think Thrifty sometimes cuts the player a bit of a break, hand-feeding them their solutions and literally preventing them from committing major errors either by saying, basically “No, you don’t do that.” or by snaking the solution of the campaign around whatever error they commit… Which, to a point, makes it fun… But part of the fun of D&D is that the characters can ruin their missions or kill themselves at any time. There ARE wrong moves that can have consequences. Without that risk, the whole word “game” is kind of meaningless. It’s just arbitrary actions that take place during a pre-determined story. You know?
That’s why I fully support this episode and 3/4 comments above. Thrifty finally puts his foot down on Strom’s anti-game dalliances and in so doing, warns the players that their actions have consequences. Which also legitimizes the decisions they make.
(This comment seemed really negative, so I want to aver that I love this podcast and I think every person on it is funny and the campaign is building a really interesting and compelling story. I started listening to it on a complete lark, having never played or had an interest in D&D before, and now I have listened to every episode, and actually started a D&D game with some of my friends.)
I find myself agreeing with much of this; I love me a good hijink, and all of the Drunks are great at providing them. However, when “fun” takes the form of Leeroy Jenkins running off and doing random crazy stuff to the detriment of the other players, it can be frustrating. Maybe Junpei really was driven mad by Xavier’s mind-fudgery, and that’s a cool place to take that character. But to go full Chaotic Neutral and just go nuts… Kick in the old pirate’s door? Hilarious. Hit him with a Thunder Wave to stop him from running (and good on you Thrifty for having him run)? A little overdoing it, but I still chuckled. Stealing a hat from a pirate (yes, it was picking a fight… How else would the NPC respond?)… Really? After the DM, having made it clear that game-derailing actions have consequences, bails you out by giving you another way to hunt down the Lost Island? Then, after being saved by the other characters and the DM (he could have had those three scallawags spend their next round making melee basics and easily got your HP below negative bloodied), you need to scream and shout and disallow the game from continuing because of the coat? I get that Junpei likes the coat, and that he’s nuts, but maybe dial it back out of respect to the 4 other people there.
If I was playing a game of baseball, and one of the players ran around the field shouting “YABBA YABBA YABBA”, I might be miffed. Sure, it’s wacky. Yes, it’s only a game. But I want to play the game I came to play, and that guy’s antics are going to get old, fast.
Looking forward to the next episode! I aint giving up yet!
I agree with most of the above comments. Way to go thrifty and keep strom inline. Junpei almost blew the campaign by going off the rails. I love listening but the last one was hard to get thru.
well, if you ask me, when you consider the social ramifications of the inevitable sociogeological terrapolitical YABBA YABBA YABBA.
I completely disagree with most of these comments. Your talking about drawing a line to silliness when one of the characters has a room full of body parts.
Again, it’s the difference between being silly/making jokes/doing weird character stuff for comedy (which is fine and everyone supports) and taking the fun out of the game by not caring about anything in it or how the rules work or how the other players feel about what you’re doing or whether or not it’s “in character” to do that “silly” stuff. No one was upset at Strom for being “silly,” it’s that he was being disruptive to the game and the story and making it difficult for not only the other players, but for the audience to listen to…
Is anyone else having trouble with the episodes cutting out? This is probably the third episode that gets to about 15 minutes and closes. Most of the time I’m able to listen on ITunes (as compared to on my Ipod) but this time I had to skip ahead in ITunes.
Otherwise, always a fun podcast.
They shouldn’t have revived June. I’m so glad Strom won’t be on soon enough. He’s a douche. Why did none of them help the scallywags?
People seem to be down on Strom. I am the opposite. I think Tim’s whining and complaining have ruined the last few episodes. Up until just a few episodes Strom was the only player pushing for not fighting everything they see and, as always, was just talked over. Tim fancys himself the leader of the group, which is fine, but his leadership typically boils down to talking over people or telling them they are doing it wrong. Strom has his faults with tuning out from time to time, but I would to if I was playing with someone who belittles me at every turn.
Hopefully going forward that stuff gets edited out again (as they said this in fighting has gone on for the whole run) or something happens. Unfortunately, I think Strom leaves as he isn’t on the podcast anymore.
Hey, I get it, lots of times I get embarrassed re-listening to old episodes. I guess just trust us that the show gets better and better the more episodes you listen to. Thanks for listening! I hope I turn you around soon.
Oh I will be listening. I am not giving up by any means and understand the irrelevance of leaving comments on an episode that is over 2 years old. I have been mainlining this show and your transition to live streaming caught me off guard.
I will keep you updated on my Tim thoughts 🙂 Much respect for not moderating out my comment that was critical to you.
I discovered this podcast a few months ago and am going back from the beginning because I like the mix of gaming and humor. However, Stromm is a guy I would never be willing to play with. I actually get irritated just listening to it, and probably would have just walked out on him by now had I been there in person.
Thanks for listening! Also, let’s just say…that the cast changes in I think 2 episodes in a way you would be ok with.
Wow Tim no offense, you seem to be turning more dickish the more I listen lol. I just got told to listen so Im binge listening since the beginning but there are a ton of times where you seem to get so mad and irritated. Kinda a buzz kill to listen to. But I love you all. Cant believe I have years to listen to dear God
Ha, that is because I was.
Rule of thumb: If you feel like you need to start a comment with “no offense”, then you are definitely about to be offensive.
You aren’t getting all of the information about what is happening behind the scenes at this point, but if you were, it is extremely unlikely that you would be annoyed with Tim right now.
I started listening to this podcast to get through work without losing my mind.
Just want to say I was SO HAPPY when Thrifty finally put a consequence on Junpie doing something ridiculous by killing the old man.
I honestly love the rest of the cast, have no complaints but Stromm tries to make himself the spotlight every chance he gets by just doing something ridiculous.
Whereas Mike Bachman… is holy shit hilarious. His character is consistent and absolutely hilarious. Yeah he loves violence, maybe a bit too much. But that’s just his ‘thing’ you know. Also his comedic timing is spot-on. Mike Bachman is my DnD spirit animal.
Sick of Junpie just doing stupid shit. Trying to be funny but just making shit awkward at all times.
Reading up in the comments that he loses his spot… THANK GOD! That is the best news I have ever read/heard. He was honestly almost enough to make me stop watching..but then Mike Bachman would make me laugh hysterically and i would feel better.
I feel like Aludra is herding cats with this group..she is like becoming the mom..despite not really wanting to lol.
Its like an awkward family where Tum Darkblade and Aludra are the parents… of a dragonborn sex monster.
Did i mention how funny i find Mike Bachman?
And no homo… but if you are looking for a new best friend…
replying to my own comment because i forgot to add:
Had an experience in a 1-shot game of DnD and we had a player who would do these kinds of antics… derailing the game to do something stupid… we ended up leaving him knocked out on the ground and dieing about 3/4 of the way through (he decided to blow himself up, despite everyone in the group telling him not to. And then he insisted “ill blow myself up, then you guys spend your turns reviving me – we all told him no but he did it anyways, none of us helped him back up)…but the DM felt bad and had a random NPC revive him after it was clear the rest of the group was content with moving on without him. really hoping Junpie gets knocked out by the pirates for stealing the hat (again… why… he obviously learned nothing from the old man dying because Thrifty put a new solution in to be fair to the rest of the group…only for Stromm to repeat the same shit)
Me again, still listening through the whole thing years after the fact. Not sure what all the complaints in the comments are about. You are real people who are more than just voices we listen to. Love all the characters I have no clue who’s going to eat it, and I know that no mater who dies I’ll miss them.
Thanks, Dillon! Glad you are enjoying it and feel free to take your time. No rush I’d say as long as you are having fun.
I probably am not seeing everything but from just listening it sound like Strom was getting more and more fed up with getting shit on and ignored. So he finally broke and said fuck it. I’m not surprised by what happens in the next episode.
Hopefully no friendships were damaged there.
So I know I’m YEARS after the fact, but I restart the show during hiatuses to help catch back up, so I hear all of Junpei, and want to say this.
I GET where a lot of people are coming from in their disdain, and near the end I agree he went off the rails. However I think it’s not entirely his fault.
Now I love the hosts, so please don’t think I’m trying to diss or put down anyone. I come at this from the future and as someone who can’t see what was going on behind the scenes.
I think Strom was ignored often at times, and whether or not it was meant in good humor, it seemed like it bothered him enough to drive his actions to what they became. I also think that this episode in particular put consequences in play that were seemingly out of left field for Strom. I understand what Thrifty was doing, and right or wrong doesn’t matter. But from Strom’s POV, it came across as extreme in regards to the pirates, and unintended with killing the old man. Could be have been given more warning with the attack being lethal? Yes I think so. Were the levels of those pirates possibly overly heightened? Sure. But that doesn’t make them wrong.
I Personally always liked Junpei and felt that his attempts to derail could be silly and fun. As a player I understand the frustrations, but as a viewer it could enjoyable.
Really I guess to make a long story short (too late), I think it was a “no one was entirely right or wrong” situation. The treatment of Junpei at times could be over the top and what I hesitantly call “rude”, but his behavior came across at times I’m sure as equally upsetting to others, and it forced a Catch 22. Does everyone suck it up and just let him be insane? Does he pull WAY back and ignore what he believes the character to do? There is no correct answer.
Always sad to have seen him leave, but I can’t argue that the party did seem to gel a bit better afterwards (though his presence in combat was missed for awhile I will say).
If anything I said feels like it was out of line I welcome it being called out. I truly think the podcast is excellent, I understand my opinion is lacking information, and I truly mean no disrespect.
Also starting this years after the fact and I agree with Thamkin’s comment. No one seemed to remember Tum derailing the treasure room adventure by telling his siblings he straight up killed others of their brood. Everyone has made rash weird decisions. That’s what made the campaign so fun.
Strom was often times ignored and I could hear that frustration ebb and flow through boredom and finally more brash actions. I felt for the guy as I listened since it often times seemed to be 2 (or 3 vs. 1), with Jennifer/Alludra mediating. Maybe more happened behind the scenes that we don’t know about, but from my listening in no way do I view Strom/Junpei as solely at fault.
Pretty new to this podcast, picking it up years after the fact. I generally like some whackiness. Other podcasts I listen to are Glas canon and pretending to be People which play fast and loose with rules and story, and that’s one thing that appeals to me about this group. But this probably my favourite episode yet. It’s a perfect example of a DM reining a player in when they are going off the rails and becoming a bad team-player. I can hear that the group’s frustration with Strom has been growing over the last few episodes, ever since the fight in the trophy room. Strom has been getting more and more off-the-wall, and its been affecting the group. There s a good way and a bad way to play that kind of wackiness. Bachman tetters on the edge and sometimes crosses the line but he eventually seems to recognise when he’s gone too far and either shuts up, back-pedals or reels himself in. Strom doesn’t seem to have that same self-awareness. This is a perfect example of a DM who’s had enough, gently but firmly laying down the law to his players. Reading the other comments, it sounds like Strom doesn’t get the message and continues to push it. And it doesn’t end well for him. A more self-aware player would realise that his antics are disrupting the podcast and would tone it down. This was, in my eyes, fair warning from a DM to a player. It’s up to the player to heed that warning… or to not. Sounds like Strom doesn;t heed the warning.