Acquisitions Inc. D&D Podcast Season 1 - Episode 8

James Wyatt as the Dungeon Master
Jerry Holkins as Omin Dran
Mike Krahulik as Jim Darkmagic
Scott Kurtz as Binwin Bronzebottom
Season 1 Playlist
• Acquisitions Inc. Seas...
These podcasts are freely available from the Acquisitions Inc. website - www.acq-inc.com...
#DnD #PennyArcade

[@cavalier973]

"Acquisitions, Inc. for Life" ~Jerry Holkins

[@kylesilverthorn]

Here's the main issue with the James Wyatt encounters: the players were radically undergeared. If they had been playing the entire KotS module and only taking items that would have worked for their characters, they should have looked like this: Omin: +1 Dwarven Chainmail, +1 Symbol of Battle Jim: +1 Magic Wand, +1 Safewing Amulet Binwin: +1 Black Iron Scale Armor, +1 Amulet of Health Plus several potions of healing The biggest difference would have been the Black Iron Scale Armor, which was the armor in the alcove from Episode 4 that got skipped over. Not only would it increase Binwin's AC by 1, but also gave Resist 5 Necrotic and Resist 5 Fire. That single magic item would have given the players a much-needed advantage. Instead they got a Bag of Holding, the ONLY magic item in the whole module that did not give them any benefit in combat.

[@Donutkins]

I believe Chris Perkins (their original DM) designed it for them, and James Wyatt is filling in. They also said they skipped a few encounters, and James is rolling high to begin with. A Zombie wouldn't be able to hit over 20 in most cases unless they had a high roll.

[@sjgcoe]

I'm glad they remembered Splug. Even if they didn't seem to actually revive him in the end :(

[@rabitesilktail7581]

Keep on the Shadowfell is a bad module. The players rolled poorly sometimes, but they missed when they have average rolls as well! The monsters' attack bonuses and defenses are too flippin' high in early 4e design.

[@Bartoc1988]

+Rabite Silktail At least one guy with a brain. Thank you :D

[@Draconea77717]

Rabite Silktail I agree even the goblins were too hard to hit! goblins are a piece of cake in 3.5, just challenging enough to pose a small challenge at level one. and why does this cleric not have turn undead!

[@joebob8740]

he does but it's one per encounter and he used it

[@Papercut337]

RPG Rule #2: always go for the spell caster first

[@notsimple270]

i love that it ended with ''Jim forgives you''. lol

[@SushiSword]

***** Yes they get more xp for a higher lvl enemy becuase a higher lvl npc will have a higher CR or challenge rating which means more xp.

[@runningray]

Binwin is up... BInwin is down...Binwin is up... Binwin is down...

[@TwilitbeingReboot]

Man, poor Splug. I hope he doesn't somehow go all Goth and Return one day.

[@olknoxlo]

This DM is the target of a lot of ignorant nerd rage. Did a fine job, and gets called a fail for it. Sorry he doesn't just LET them do as they want, and there is a real challenge there.

[@mixmastermind]

Every new player loves being murdered for no reason.

[@masonwickline6338]

mixmastermind every new player needs to start treating it like its actually their life and employ stratagems that would actually help aka going after the spell caster that is fucking your shit up rather than the trash mobs my players would’ve wiped multiple times too if they didn’t learn to think strategically at this point as this is there second fight with this enemy 3 3rd lvl players can absolutely win in a 5th lvl scenario such as this

[@matsimurf_5900]

@@masonwickline6338 its a game of dice...no comparison to combat irl. IRL mercenaries have extremely "reliable talent". you dont feed underlevelled new players into a overlevelled dungeon and expect success. just balance your encounters properly as a DM or get called out.

[@matsimurf_5900]

the DM didnt balance the encounter properly. underlevelled new players vs overlevelled dungeon. stop talking crap "nerd rage" smh

[@EC-lq1sn]

Finally, 32 minutes to Chris' return :D Where can I buy the T-Shirt :" I survived listening to Acquisitions Inc. D&D Podcast Season 1 - Episode 5-8 with James Wyatt "

[@travisdicks3773]

Erik C L do they come in small? XD

[@Peter-xs2mu]

22:09 Sums it up exactly. This is quite poor.

[@HalfOrcMage]

Alot of complaints about this DM boil down to A.) The module that hes running is terribly unbalanced and written poorly B.) 4e combat is slow and boring af: its just i use power x i use power y enemy uses power x Yet everyone is hating on the DM for some reason wild its almost as if KZbin comments are a toxic cesspool.

[@Peter-xs2mu]

It's up to the GM to change his interpretation of the module wherever neccesary. It's not that hard to bring down the enemies a few notches.

[@matsimurf_5900]

the DM is in charge, you dont feed underlevelled players to overlevelled monsters. its the DMs job to run a game properly.

[@mbalazs3544]

21:07 At this point I wonder how the group dos not say the DM just shut up :D 29:38 You won the end of having to surfer more with this DM :D and that is the best you can get from out of this :D yees

[@Skrimpish]

As most others have said, it started out pretty good but by this point it feels like a slog just listening to it. And the hate on the dm is warranted imo. He was doing ok for a while but he never really cuts them a break. Sticking to the rules is fine but fudge some rolls in their favor. Do a critical failure and have something backfire for the monsters. The fact they didn't even know they won says it all.

[@gauravbasnet6887]

Yeah, the DM probably should have radically lowered the power level of those last few encounters. To be fair, if you follow along with the actual module (which I did), you'll find that the DM actually DOES remove quite a few monsters from each encounter. He removed a few vampires, a barbarian, maybe some zombies, a skeleton, some monster that was inside that dark portal, and maybe other things that I missed. Originally, Karl (Kalarel) has 186 hit points, 22 AC, and 2 action points. Which is just insane. The DM cuts something like three-fourths of his hit points, fudges his AC to 16 or 17, and ignores his action points. He also has a +14 vs. AC to-hit bonus for his rod and a +12 vs. Fortitude to-hit bonus for his "Decaying Ray" power, which is also ridiculous. This is just an unreasonably difficult module that wasn't balanced. Additionally, like someone else pointed out in the comments, if the PCs actually explored the dungeon fully, they would have picked up a plethora of magic items that would give them enhancement bonuses to attack, damage, and AC (as well as potions of healing). There are also quite a few encounters BEFORE the PCs go into this dungeon, so maybe the PCs would be higher than level 3 by the last few encounters? I'm not sure. Overall, I don't think ALL the hate against the DM is warranted. He did remove some monsters and fudge some stuff to get the PCs through to the end of the module, even if the last few battles became a slog. But he definitely could have done better. It's a combination of the DM overestimating the PCs' power level, the PCs not having enough magic items, the monsters being too high level for the PCs, and the module just being overall unbalanced.

[@TFFoS]

honestly it reminds me of when I tried 4e and there were hours wasted rolling misses against hp blobs.

[@sheepicusbahimus6447]

This has bother me for a while when did magic missed require a to hit roll

[@badmojo0777]

4th edition, and we wonder why it sucked so bad....

[@Eleros]

They changed it to the classic no-roll version a long time ago and heck, people even prefered the other version where you did have to actually roll!

[@Peter-xs2mu]

@@Eleros Not me.

[@masonwickline6338]

The attack roll magic missile did more damage

[@mediumvillain]

@@masonwickline6338 Now I understand the Jim's Magic Missile spell in the Acq Inc book (magic missile but with an attack roll for some extra damage), a reference to "MY magic missile" and 4E rules from when Acq Inc first started

[@dawgyv72]

You can hear the disappointment in the players' voices everytime the get highrolled. Poor DM.

[@jaredrhendricks]

dawgyv72 Yeah, I'm sure every DM would hate to do a podcast game with Acquisitions Incorporated. It doesn't sound like fun at all.

[@matsimurf_5900]

the "poor DM" needed to balance the encounter better.

[@Draconea77717]

I don't see why people are giving this dungeon master so much hate. he is doing a great job... maybe giving them a little too much leniency, he should have let the binwin die at the end. but it is not the dm's fault that the party ran headlong into the middle of a cult. the party wasn,t even really investigating this dungeon very well.

[@DunningofKruger]

1. They didn't run headlong into the dungeon, it was a scripted party wipe, he just drew it on for too long. 2. The party investigated the dungeon optimally, following the goblin that was presumably fleeing to the armoury 3. He wasn't giving the players enough leniency for this underleveled encounter.

[@mbalazs3544]

If place is to dangerous people have choice to get out the DM was bad he did NOT even give choice to the party winch is why he did shitty job as DM, It was his found he let the adventures go to this quest to begin with or not modify the enemy to be not such an overkill like not SENDING MORE of them non stop for one.

[@brightcrazystar93]

ARE YOU HIE? A great job, hah. "Here. is. a. vampire. minion. erm, roll initiative." Did this thing have a sandwich board on that said "vampire minion?" He couldn't even describe what a Homunculus is, AFTER decades of play and being a professional designer. He had a goblin who was in combat when he felt like it, immune to hits, or attacks, but some NPC sniping, ninja, "goblin god". Enemies do not exist for people's turns until they act, and If the Players ever say your nongod-NPC is "like a god", you are not doing a great job. The dice were beating them up, the DM can mitigate that without fudging the dice. The thing is he is being sadistic. He won't kill their PCs here because this is business, but nor will he let them out of the suffering of his crappy lack of narrative that won't give them ANY relief. This is not their story, it is his.

[@TheBacontarian]

I thought he was fine, trying to give them favors without outright just letting them do whatever like with Viari. The players kept rolling 1s, nothing you can do short of cheating. I prefer a challenge, most other games I've seen it's rare for player to even lose half their HP it's such a cakewalk.

[@matsimurf_5900]

" i dont see what's wrong with sending new players into overlevelled dungeons, great job, would TPK again 10/10"

[@goferkrool7562]

This dungeon exploration made me sad. The DM was so bad cuz it isnt fair no matter what to pit level 3 to level 5 bad guys. I just skipped the entire last 2 episodes of this horrible dungeon exploration unfairness.

[@Bartoc1988]

+gofer k rool Go grab a chair :3

[@supersmily5SS5]

The level disparity was intentional to force a party wipe. Almost didn't work though, because the DM clearly underestimated how much players will fight against a TPK. It's fine for a narrative standpoint, but he didn't do well, enough to justify it.

[@shikenkanbaby]

It really shows that no matter how good the players are if the GM isn't fantastic, it'll just be another mediocre dungeon crawl.

[@mbalazs3544]

There is nothing fantastic being an a-hole with unlimited power :D

[@johnmabe3496]

Love the not game chatter about Tom and Jerry, DVD with footage that they won't show on TV anymore, great parenting, show the kids the classics and when they turn 10, have them start playing DND. #dontraiseasnowflake

[@davidtomita2534]

i Really enjoy Acquisitions, Inc later podcasts but i have to say how poorly this DM did his job. When you have not one but two enemies that can do more than half a Players Characters HPs in one swing or casting of a spell that's an over powered enemy. I heard in more than one occasion the attacking characters doing 25+ pts of damage to a character with only 34 or 35 hp, that's an over powered enemy. I really hated listening to this early podcast and have to say that this DM sucked. The party only consisting of 3 members all 3rd level and with low to moderate HP. I'm not one to pull punches all the time but you should build a encounter that is more balanced. Not one where you have to have everything go your way (80-90%) to win. Especially when one player is pretty green and the other has never thrown a dice before. I know it in the past but this DM bothered me so much that i had to post how terrible he is. Hope he isn't in any of the later ones. If you read this b4 you listen to this episode just skip to the next adventure. Not fun to listen to.

[@Draconea77717]

David Tomita they would probably have been fine if they had explored more or the dungeon before finding the cult. they would have gained more xp and possibly gained a tactical advantage by finding and eliminating cult members one by one. or my dm's favorite thing is when one of the party members tries to pretend to join the cult to give the party a man on the inside.

[@mbalazs3544]

This DM indeed was the worst bad story and enemy bad setting and 0 style or fun he could ad as person.

[@Peter-xs2mu]

@@Draconea77717 : James actually skipped all of that part - it was brieflyl mentioned in part 5 of this season.

[@prince-solomon]

So much combat and barely any story elements or witty party banter. Luckily future Acq Inc drastically changes this unbalance

[@ClericOfPholtus]

Yeah How dare it sound like actual d&d...

[@stethespaniard2]

The rules were bullshit in this addition +9 for a goblin with a crossbow? Missing a ghoul on a 19? Bullshit. Doesn't even feel fun to play

[@matsimurf_5900]

hell yes, this was absolutely stupid, way to waste the players time.

[@Peter-xs2mu]

To sum the entire eposide up: they win in the nick of time. Please skip to season 2.

[@mbalazs3544]

At this point just listening this pore story with a pathetic DM is now a pain. I regret now my dedicated curiosity. Well its one last one from this DM or so I hope.

[@daegannlongstrider1293]

Guys, quit being so hard on this DM. He's the main guy responsible for the frothy discharge that was fourth edition. Life has already beaten him. How could he NOT be this bad at this game.

[@TomaCT]

Daegann Longstrider I started back playing with 5th edition, which seems oversimplified. I'm assuming it's the pendulum swing back from 4th editions combat heaviness? I like the power concepts in it and find it fascinating.

[@daegannlongstrider1293]

I enjoy 5th for a number of reasons. it was designed to run from 1 to 20 level with out ever having to have magic items. Lots of DM caveat. I haven't found a single class or race that I don't want to try. And I probably give fourth a bit too much crap. It did have some things that I did like. I honestly do like stuff like the bloodied condition. monsters behaving differently based on that condition. But yes 5th does seem simple compared to other additions because they designed it so that all of the weird cross class stuff is more of a hindrance to your character than a help. I'm just less worried about what my character can do, than I am about what I can do with my character. Seems like a distinction without a difference, but all of the DM caveat that I was talking about hearkens back to the earliest editions of D&D. Because base 5th doesn't have rules for every situation i find that I can actually do more in that system. Or at least try anyways. TLDR 5th is simpler, but I find it more enjoyable.

[@TwilitbeingReboot]

It's kind of a shame that 5e challenge rating is unreliable.

[@TwilitbeingReboot]

It's kind of a shame that 5e challenge rating is unreliable. This idea from 4e of having different classes of enemies to assemble into different types of encounters sounds interesting.

[@Unfortunatetribes]

It's almost like it was an overtuned encounter for the sake of entertainment sadism. These nerds complaining about difficulty/DM adjudication are the reason i avoid pick up games at shops. Too much bitching.

[@matsimurf_5900]

stop bitching about rational complaints, if youre a sadist that's wonderful for you. its about player enjoyment first and foremost, be a sadist on your own time and try to get consent before wasting other peoples.

[@Unfortunatetribes]

@@matsimurf_5900 I don't even remember the context here, it's been over 3 years, mate. But, ok, I'll stop.