New Escapist Talent

[Ed.]

It has gone down well on the escapist though I thought it was pretty meh

[Myrph]

I got the impression that whilst most people weren't too bothered by it, despite the increase it traffic it caused, everyone was just being somewhat polite because it was the guy's first video entry/post on the forums.

[empath]

Well, it's just getting started, and seemed to spend most of the time introducing the players (as well as getting the 'D&D virgin' up to speed on things), so I can't really make any decision one way or the other.

I can say that they're starting off a little less entertaining than 'Acquisitions, Incorporated' did, but they had a total of three writers, two artists, an actor, and a WotC ringer.

[Graham]

Irrespective of every other aspect of the show, I just don't really find watching people play D&D that exciting.
If they prove themselves to be entertaining people, then they'll have a series.

[operagirl95]

... I'm actually have a conversation about porn at the moment as well...

Reeeaaaally..... huh.

I also refuse to watch this, but more for Gunner an Graham's reason, watching D&D isn't all that interesting. And really, I'm sure there's better porn on the 'net than this show.

I've already expressed my feeling on the Escapists new content elsewhere, but summary:

Like Doraleous & Assoc.
Very to see Doomsday Arcade ending
And if "watch porn stars play Halo" comes out I'm leaving their forums.

[Tally]

It has gone down well on the escapist though I thought it was pretty meh

Actually, the majority of the comments about it on the Escapist were quite negative. A few of them wittily so. I got some pretty decent entertainment out of reading the video's comment thread.

[Jillers]

I said it on twitter, and I'll repeat myself.
It seems to me something born out of "Hey, lookit me, I'm a girl. With tits! I'm hot! And I play D&D! Boys will totally watch this!"

Which annoys the piss out of me.

So far the only people who have ever made D&D compelling to witness outside of my own circle of friends has been Wil Wheaton, Penny Arcade, and Scott Kurtz, and I don't watch them play.

GAH!

[Rikadyn]

I don't know, i found it mildly entertaining, i'll give it 4 more episodes to level out, kinda hard to judge when they're doing just intro...

[Telaril]

I haven't seen it yet, but may watch out of curiosity...

I'd say that the PA-PvP-WiW podcasts did lead me to the probably erroneous conclusion that listening to people play D&D is, in fact, wildly entertaining. And if Jer's actual D&D group is anything like his CH D&D group, I think that would be entertaining to watch as well. I also follow along with Gabe's posts about his D&D, and I even follow their D&D twitter... mostly for possible steal-able ideas.

The caveat being that all those people are inherently clever and interesting. Bad D&D can be incredibly dull... something I never realized until recently, as all my earlier D&D groups were made up of actors, writers, and game designers... the perfect people to make a session interesting, even to potential outsiders.

Edit: Ok, I watched it. It was AWFUL, but I blame the editing, and writing, and shooting and DMing.

I guess the problem here is that we're watching a badly edited, badly shot game of amateur-DM'd D&D. Which wouldn't be fun to watch no matter who was playing.

Basically, while watching the show I could imagine a version of it that was actually well edited and entertaining. Sadly that's not what we got to see.

[Mister Fiend]

Feh, the crew at Mann Co. are ten times sexier than those pornstars, and make a more entertaining D&D podcast to boot.

I think I like Doraleus and Associates more than Unforgotten Realms, due largely to the dialogue and banter.

Rebecca Mayes Muses, while not bad on any technical or stylistic level, just bores the hell out of me.

I like Gamedogs, not much else to say about it.

I'm gonna miss Doomsday Arcade. ALL HAIL LASER CAT!

[empath]

Edit: Ok, I watched it. It was AWFUL, but I blame the editing, and writing, and shooting and DMing.

I guess the problem here is that we're watching a badly edited, badly shot game of amateur-DM'd D&D. Which wouldn't be fun to watch no matter who was playing.

Basically, while watching the show I could imagine a version of it that was actually well edited and entertaining. Sadly that's not what we got to see.

Yeah, thanks for isolating what let it down for me; whoever edited it really didn't care much about getting any kind of flow going; it's an 'introduce the players' episode so it might change, but I really didn't get any feel of ANYTHING being accomplished in the session. (of course, in my experience, many D&D sessions don't get anything accomplished )

But I'll keep an eye on it for one or two more episodes, to see if it 'finds its groove' and actually gets interesting.

Oh, and I'm not sticking with it because they're porn stars (I've never heard of any of them, and as people the HAIRDRESSER seemed the most interesting), but because IT'S D&D!

[Shinoki]

I said it on twitter, and I'll repeat myself.
It seems to me something born out of "Hey, lookit me, I'm a girl. With tits! I'm hot! And I play D&D! Boys will totally watch this!"

Which annoys the piss out of me.

This, a hundred times, this.

In retrospect I wish this week's ENN piece was commentary on this show but seeing as they came out at the same time, it was probably just a freak coincidence.

Never the less, the show has a hooked premise, I will give them that much but none of them seemed to have a personality or do anything. I'm sure they are good people and all but the way it comes across was just boring. And the editing / camera work completely ruined it. Maybe someone has a possessed editing program, and it cut all the scenes he wanted to keep, and kept everything he wanted to cut.

And the second I noticed they didn't even have real sheets basically killed the deal for me. I know it's probably the smallest stupidest thing, but it was the final stone.

[Machalllewis]

Wow, I'm mildly suprised by the hate on that show.

I dunno, maybe I just saw it differently than everyone else. I did mention that it was quite poorly shot and I was more impressed with the concept. I thought that beside the odd joke the porn star thing was just incidental. The show itself was hardly ZOMG bewbs.

[Metcarfre]

This thread amuses me because 'talent' was code for 'attractive woman' at my old store, ie., "There's some real talent in aisle six!"

[Myrph]

Wow, I'm mildly suprised by the hate on that show.

I dunno, maybe I just saw it differently than everyone else. I did mention that it was quite poorly shot and I was more impressed with the concept. I thought that beside the odd joke the porn star thing was just incidental. The show itself was hardly ZOMG bewbs.

Except for the whole, 'lets list every single porn film I've ever been in' segment right in the middle...

[Machalllewis]

Wow, I'm mildly suprised by the hate on that show.

I dunno, maybe I just saw it differently than everyone else. I did mention that it was quite poorly shot and I was more impressed with the concept. I thought that beside the odd joke the porn star thing was just incidental. The show itself was hardly ZOMG bewbs.

Except for the whole, 'lets list every single porn film I've ever been in' segment right in the middle...

In quite a matter of factly kinda way. They were hardly gyrating or anything.

[Tree-Vor]

I have to agree with Tim, Tally, Wolfwood, Unlucky, and so on. There was nothing interesting about I Hit It With My Axe. Also it seemed like it was poorly edited together, I don't know really anything about editing, but it looked bad. Like the people who made it didn't really bother trying to make it interesting and just thought "hey DnD plus pornstars as long as we say that in the description people will watch it" and they were correct because it basically shut down the Escapist for the rest of the day. Which is probably part of why I don't like it so much, it kept me from watching ENN and showing GF the videos she had missed.

[Keab42]

When I saw the title for I Hit It With My Axe I assumed maybe it would be something like The Guild but for D&D, I got a few minutes in and gave up, largely for the reasons outlined by everybody else.

[Theremin]

Just watched "I Hit It With my Axe"...

...when making a documentarys series focused around a set of people, it'll only have an engaging narrative if they're interesting people.

These aren't exceptional or noteworthy people. They're exactly as normal and boring as anyone else you'd meet.

The only interesting part for me was seeing the mohawked one with her clothes on.

[Machalllewis]

Fair enough I guess. You're always gonna have someone at the far end of the bell curve. Today thats me.

[Tree-Vor]

As a note the one male pornstar, Zak Sabbath, in the video is also a very talented artist, Zak Smith, and I actually like his artwork.

[Theremin]

It's okay, Mac. You can make it a 'cult' series.

[Machalllewis]

It's okay, Mac. You can make it a 'cult' series.

Maybe I need to go back and re-watch it with more criticy glasses on.

[Theremin]

Or maybe I went into it with a negative mindset.

[Tally]

As a note the one male pornstar, Zak Sabbath, in the video is also a very talented artist, Zak Smith, and I actually like his artwork.

Interesting. So why couldn't the Escapist have gotten him to do a series about or having to do with his artwork? Seems to me it would have interested and appealed to people much much more. *sigh*