Second series. Already Better.
I have been an avid listener to Puzzle In a Thunderstorm’s content for the last 7 years. I’m British and it’s always been helpful to have your insight on America to keep me sane and skirting the edges of hope. I was delighted to hear you guys were doing a DnD podcast particularly with Eli DMing. The first season was fabulous but had a few flaws that slowed it’s pace, made it unfunny at times and lessened the dramatic pay off on occasion. Blah blah blah I’m not here to complain.
Immediately those season 2 feels different. Firstly, Eli you voice acting is astonishingly better! It seems you’ve taken the decision as a director to not seek a humorous voice every time you introduce a side character and this had enabled you as an actor to be way more comfortable in delivering more natural performances. The resulting improvement in story telling and performance is wonderful! In some interactions in Season 1 the humour felt contrived and was getting in the way of NPCs moving the story or plot along. It was a shame that putting ‘comedy’ before ‘story’ ended up impairing both.
This has changed dramatically: the character at the bridge who explains ‘smooth heads’, felt grounded and real and as though they existed in the world, like they would carry on being there after the characters left. The knife seller oozed ulterior motives and suspicion which was left delightfully up in the air. Both were performed really, really naturally and gave them a gravity which pulled in the world around them and gave weight to everything. We may never see these characters again but I was left wanting instead of wanting to leave.
Tying Carl/Karl to the boat on the boat on this Styx was a bold directorial choice. I love Carl/Karl’s character dearly and enjoy all his interactions although it would occasionally feel like a comedic crutch in season one. Your boldness in restricting his involvement immediately whilst giving fan pay-off is noted and I’m excited by the risk.
Your puzzles are better too and your interventions are more measured out. Rather that a sense of needing the characters to succeed and so cumbersome solutions would appear, there are more natural solves and it feels as though you’ve grown in confidence as a DM. You’re willing to punish players more for gameplay reasons rather than screwing with them (Intelligence check - 15? Yeah Lava HOT) and when the solution comes it feels earned. If anything I think you can trust yourself a little more. Heath’s Nat 1 after you had made the challenge ‘much easier’ was the catalyst for the solution presented by your own story telling, bringing back the comedy demons that flew over the (very funny) whip scene. The improvement in your DMing here is so noticeable and it makes the pay off from puzzle solves feel more natural and the humour more organic.
It is as though all together you have figure out that you don’t need to force the comedy. Your are all very funny anyway, years of podcasting and live shows attest to this. THe humour will naturally come from all of you in any setting. Now it feels as though the setting can grow independently and this makes the stakes for the characters and the comedy so much more tantalising!
For the rest of the cast your characters sound so fun already and I can’t wait to see how they interact with this world. I wont go into more detail here as I’m waiting for them to develop but please take that as a compliment from me being more interested in their interactions that I can’t predict than my own pontifications on their characters.
I am so happy this is now twice a month. Of course I want it to be be weekly but I’ll take every slice of DnD Minus I can get at the moment. I’m really excited by the setting, especially as it is explored by a group of atheists who probably know much more about the inner workings of hell than people of faith do. Eli I can’t wait to see where the story takes us. More Please!!!!
