Why EXU: Calamity WORKED SO WELL!!!

[@TheDMSide]

What did you think of Calamity?

[@AlexGoldhill]

It left me emotionally devastated in the best possible way.

[@TheDMSide]

@@AlexGoldhill seriously my face for the first 30mins of ep4 😱 (and basically the whole series)

[@EJA1969]

I felt like I was at the birth of a new art form. Like "live play" took a quantum leap forward.

[@TheDMSide]

@@EJA1969 It honestly was such a wild ride. It makes me want to just watch a game that starts from level 10 and has high stakes at the start. Low level is fun but it does mean a long walk to the big stuff.

[@AlexGoldhill]

@@EJA1969 I feel like I'd be letting Brennan down if I didn't point out that a quantum leap is actually a very small increment to measure by, but I fully agree with the sentiment behind it.

[@hannaaxelsson3687]

EXU Calamity made me start watching the Unsleeping City and I enjoy it a lot! It also feels more cinematic, especially with the editing and sound effects.

[@TheDMSide]

I have heard good things about Unsleeping City! I am keen to watch something else with BLM

[@IridiumDepot]

I was really happy to see Lou in CR, especially with Brennan DMing. There's some powerful scenes with them in Unsleeping City, such an amazing duo.

[@TheDMSide]

@@IridiumDepot Yeah they bounce off each other so well you can tell they are great friends. I really need to watch Unsleeping City! I keep hearing amazing things about it.

[@ryansullivan5854]

Unsleeping City is excellent.

[@TheRedstonian]

While I've heard a lot of complaints about "the thing at the end" you referenced breaking some combat rules, the reasoning as to why Brennan did it is because, had Quay not used Silvery Barbs in what he thought was the most viable play, Cerrit actually would have killed Vespin fine the first time. So knowing that Cerrit basically had the kill stolen from him by a fellow player didn't sit right with Brennan, hence the second chance, to let Cerrit succeed - or fail - on his own. I don't think it was about something that was required to happen.

[@TheDMSide]

Yeah I am in the camp that Brenan also noticed that Quays Silvery Barbs wasnt needed and Cerrit was fine doin his thing. Def can understand ppls frustration tho as you can see Brenan working around the rules. I think prioritising player enjoyment over the rules was the right choice.

[@jaredwarnke7166]

I've watched every season of D20 and you definitely hit Brennan's DM'ing style on the head. With all the D20 seasons having a certain number of episodes, Brennan does have to push the narrative forward at times because scheduling. I agree that he really doesn't try to take away player agency and really does try to give them the best shot. Just for context, the "Main Cast" of D20 seasons usually run about 20 episodes each (Fantasy High, Unsleeping City, Crown of Candy, Starstruck). The "Side Quests" are generally 6-10 episodes depending on scheduling (Bloodkeep, Tiny Heist, Pirates of Leviathan being 6 episodes) ( Mice and Murder, The Seven being 10 episodes). The what I'll call "Alt GM's" where Brennan is not the GM of the story have ran 4 episodes so far (MisMag, Sheik Week), but Coffin Run is currently running for more than 4 episodes. What Brennan will generally do is avoid "shopping episodes" that CR has had, which saves on a lot of time. Instead, he will give down time for the players and the players can just shop then to upgrade or shop in between episodes, but even that rarely happens. D20 also has the "Box of Doom", a place to roll with a go-pro attached so they can cut to the rolls. This is replaced in Calamity with Brennan straight rolling on the table. I'm so happy that Brennan had the chance to do this EXU. The best way I can compare Matt and Brennan's DM'ing styles with the comedy and tragedy masks. Brennan often leans toward the comedy side, being an improve performer and comedy writer, but levies that with serious moments that hit hard. Matt is more serious with comedic moments that levy the weight of the world around them. Both DM's use both elements masterfully, but know when to switch when the time is right. I think a moment that really highlights how Brennan will view a situation differently then Matt is with Bolo. If Matt DM'd that moment, the Bolo character would probably be more fitting to Avalir, but Brennan takes a huge left turn for a comedic moment in a very serious setting.

[@justkiddingde6506]

Man, Bolo was AMAZING! 😂😂🙌🏻

[@troikas3353]

also appreciated that he would just give information to characters that really should know it or who could easily be able to figure it out based on who they were, or used something of a sliding scale for checks within their fields of expertise. It’s a really simple way to reinforce characterization as it helps make these characters feel like the elite, capable and powerful people they actually are supposed to be. Constantly letting the randomness of dice decide every would-be-check is a really easy way to undermine characterization. It’s how you get frustrating instances like Beau, who’s entire backstory based specialization was research and investigation, going long stretches constantly failing to utilize the central pillar of their character thanks to nothing but the player just routinely getting low rolls. Likewise I really loved how he just gave Sam what amounts to an effective Nat 20 without needing to roll at all just because of a stellar bit of RP. Im all for a DM occasionally taking a players invested effort in rping a story beat and letting it achieve impactful results without needing to involve any dice. I do think however it would have been fun to watch a version of this where the players didn’t know the Calamity was inevitable. Maybe even a version where it could be stopped if everything went perfect. Just because there were a few times it felt like the players were making choices based on the meta knowledge that they are technically supposed to be destroying the world. Its just a fun idea to think of this scenario where all the player decisions, even if they are short sighted/bad ideas or immoral/selfish choices, were being made in good faith by players genuinely thinking it was the correct thing to do to achieve their goals. The final moments would hit even harder I think.

[@TheDMSide]

Love your detailed reply! Really appreciate it. Yeah I felt bad for Marisha in so many instances of those… I think the whole “giving info to help reinforce characterisation” is something Im going to implement into my own games more.

[@aryehburg7785]

For dimension 20, especially if you want more cinematic stories, I highly recommend a crown of candy and unsleeping city!!! Fantasy high is also great but definitely have more of a home dnd vibe to it

[@TheDMSide]

I just started Fantasy High and its very easy viewing. I def want to watch Crown of Candy and Unsleeping City tho.

[@ericgropuis]

Brennen was a perfect choice for DM of something like Calamity. I’ve seen his DM styles years before he did Calamity with Fantasy High, Unsleeping City, I forgot what it was called but his campaign with high level Villians poking fun on lord of the rings. He doesn’t lock info behind a role and even if a character doesn’t role well on lets say a history check or intelligence check he stills gives them important info but just lets the players have to piece it together. The way D20 is made, they only have a certain amount of episodes to conclude a story like Fantasy High is 20 episodes and covers a lot with each characters own arcs and story and they only had 4 episodes granted they are much longer than D20s little over 1 hour episodes with a could expectations with a 2 he episode here and there. He really lets drives the narrative forward by making all of the characters care about what is happening letting them try and keep following the narrative he has in place and giving great motives. Props also to all of the players I cared about all of them and all of their stories, i had no idea that Patia was suppose to be Laura’s character since Marisha turned it into her own so well. I would love to see how BLM runs a long campaign since I’ve only really seen him run fairly short running campaigns

[@Blue_Lunacy]

"campaign with high level Villians poking fun on lord of the rings", Escape From the Bloodkeep. Super fun campaign.

[@Zarsla]

Bloodkeep was the villians

[@ericgropuis]

@@Blue_Lunacy didn’t watch it all but I do need to get dropout to finish a bunch of series

[@Blue_Lunacy]

@@ericgropuis Escape From the Bloodkeep is available in full on KZbin. Some of Dimension 20 are available in full but not all.

[@thecamdamage]

Good to get the TheDMSide back in my life

[@clellieirwin2155]

I just finished my second watch through today. I love Calamity. It is no contest my favorite actual play series. The characters are fleshed out, the world building is incredibly believable, and I'm a goddamn sucker for tragedy.

[@TheDMSide]

I want more tragedy stories. Its good shit

[@MVOMT]

I absolutely agree, also with your opinion on the book. So true. Great video.

[@gwzrd5675]

With Brennan Lee Mulligan right on the thumbnail do we even need to look for another reason it went well?

[@TheDMSide]

Hahah I still cant get over HOW good it was

[@EJA1969]

I know there's potentially many seasons of "The Legend of Ex Machina," but could animate this for Season 3 instead?

[@TheDMSide]

If the profits keep rolling in and the fans keep demanding it then its possible to eventually get it all animated!

[@tauIrrydah]

I had my guts ripped out, blended, sieved, and then frozen roughly into their original shape, shoved back into my body, sewn back up and then gut punched so I can feel them shatter inside me.

[@CJAFTER5]

Great video my guy! didnt know that Lura tidbit :0 Let's note how the last exu episode doesnt say finale. Just says "episode 4" i think there will be more content, potentially the closing of the devine gate explained in a narrtive as a continuation of this Brennan series, 3 months from now we'll probably see episode 5 (Brennan said he's got 3 months in between seasons). kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZmWiKaLes57hJo

[@TheDMSide]

I hope we get another EXU: Calamity that is set maybe a third of the way into it or half way. Id love to watch how characters attempt to survive, help and maybe even start setting up the building blocks of the Divine Gate. Then a 3rd series detailing the end of the Calamity.

[@terryray6037]

Brennan said it himself. He doesn’t do the hugeness of story that Matt does. Anyone stating one is better than the other is comparing apples and oranges. And Brennan had nothing if not for Matt. So, pointless. Both good. Full stop.

[@kimosabe6692]

Sound is fine but it could improve sir.

[@TheDMSide]

Yeah I can hear that ever so slight echo from the large room… Im moving in the next few weeks so gonna be interesting to hear it in a smaller space. Thanks for the reply!