Podcast / Rollplay

Rollplay: D&D, aka Original Rollplay, aka Rollplay: Solum was the first in the Rollplay series. It was wildly popular well beyond all expectations, leading to many Spin Offs and inspiring many fans to begin playing D&D themselves. In fact, every one of the original 5 members of the show now have at least one other D&D show they are involved in.

The series takes place in the world of Solum, created by Neal Erickson. The show uses a modified version of 2nd edition D&D also created specifically for the show which greatly simplifies combat to make things easier for the cast and audience to follow along. It also provides the benefit of significantly speeding up combat, which helps fit sessions into the 3 to 4 hour format better.

The story begins off fairly simply with the group accepting a mission to retrieve some stolen property from some goblins, but things quickly escalate from there. Notably, actions taken by the group have long lasting consequences, with actions taken on week 1 influencing things that happen 30 weeks later.

This campaign is DMed by Neal 'Koibu' Erickson.

The party consists of:

• JP 'Itmejp' McDaniel as Tudagub the Half-Ogre Cleric
• Geoff 'iNcontrol' Robinson as Vincent Longborn the Human Warrior
• Ryan 'Ryuzilla' Moore as Bregor the Elven Ranger
• Geneviève 'Livinpink' Forget as Abigael the Elven Rogue
• JP McDaniel as Banon the Human Wizard Introduced Week 18 after Tudagub's death
• JP McDaniel as Azril Goldoath the Dwarven Cleric Introduced Week 24 after Banon's death
• Ryan Moore as Horus the Elven Fighter Introduced Week 34 after Bregor's death.

• Abhorrent Admirer: The wizard in Vinyaes the party visits has a thing for elves. Of any Gender. He's also easily into his 70s.
• The Ace: In theory, Bregor, who had absolutely absurd starting stats (acting as the spotter/tracker and charming leader outside of combat) among the party and ridiculously high HP rolls throughout the campaign. He also knew Blind Fighting while Vincent was still training in it, was the only reliable source of ranged damage (since Abigael's bow inflicted less damage as a short bow compared to Bregor's longbow) and was nonetheless a strong melee fighter who, as a ranger, could dual wield! In practice, the fact that his most common roll was a '1' speaks for itself: he has widely divergent results, from winning difficult fights almost singlehandedly or breaking his magical bow with consecutive '1' rolls.
• All Deaths Final: Unlike most D&D settings, resurrection is extremely Rare in Solem. Usually when people are dead they stay that way. Thus far the party has suffered the loss of 3 party members: Tudagub, Banon, and Bregor.
• Anyone Can Die: Combat has specific rules with results determined by dice roll. Due to this, no one has Plot Armor. PCs can do and do die.
• Amplifier Artifact: The bracer of healing, which allows the wearer to have their healing spells land for the max amount instead of having to roll.
• Anti-Hero: Tudagub. Vincent too, although he's a darker one.
• Anti-Villain: Everyone but Bregor could arguably be seen as this. Vincent and Tudagub definitely lean the closest to this, doing some very dark things.
• Arch-Enemy: Giants are this for Bregor as they destroyed his village when he was younger. After A giant kills Tudagub they become this for Vincent, too. As the story progresses Dragons quickly become this for the group, especially after one kills Bregor.
• Archer Archetype: Bregor fits the bill the best. Abigael uses a bow too, but has no special abilities with one. She simply uses ranged attacks because she has an aversion to fighting in melee. Horus takes over this duty later.
• Bad Ass Boast: Vincent in particular is fond of these.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: When the party is debating if they should let someone live, Banon declares he's bored of the discussion and simply stabs them in the neck. When Vincent calls him out on it, he says he was just doing what they wanted to but couldn't.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: The party is far from good, but they aren't anywhere near as bad as the bad guys they fight. In fact, neutrality becomes something of a theme later.
• Blood Knight: Vincent really likes killing things, although he tries to avoid killing things that don't have it coming. Well, most of the time.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: It comes naturally to Bregor, being a ranger.
• Cast from Hit Points: Azril's special Cleric ability allows him to sacrifice his own hitpoints to damage an enemy. It's balanced by the fact that hit points spent this way can only be healed naturally, not through magic. Given that it takes 1 day of full rest to restore 1 hit point, this is a fairly serious limitation.
• Character Alignment: Being that it's a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, the characters all have canonical alignments on their character sheets, although it's highly questionable if they are acting within those alignments. DM Neal admits in a Reddit AMA he doesn't worry too much about alignment.
• Combat Medic:
  • Tudagub serves this role for the party as he's the only one who possesses magical healing.
  • Azril serves as this later.
• Combat Pragmatist: The entire party, but a good example is Vincent agreeing to an honourable duel then telling his party to 'gank the shit' out of the guy if it looks like he's about to lose.
• Crisis of Faith: Bregor's death and his own guilt over that event triggers one for Azril.
• Critical Encumbrance Failure: Somewhat mitigated by the fact that there is levels of encumbrance, but if you are 0.01 lbs under the level, you are fine. Add a feather and suddenly you are taking penalties.
• Critical Existence Failure: Typically wounds don't slow anyone down, outside of some rare critical hit effects. For the most part as long as you have 1 HP you are just as good as being full health.
• Crouching Moron Hidden Bad Ass: Bregor gets a lot of flack for his inability to fire his bow properly, and he often gets lumped together with Abigael as one of the 'useless elves.' Despite this he's the second best fighter on the team, has amazing stats, and has come through in the clutch for the group several times.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Bregor isn't just killed. He's boiled alive in his armour.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: The players, being relatively new to Roleplaying, took awhile to realize that if they discuss things amongst themselves in public, other people can hear them. This lead to some hilarious situations, such as the party repeatedly referring to Abigael as 'the thief' in public, or even directly to NPCs!
• Disc-One Nuke: The Blood draining sword the party finds early on is way overpowered for how low level the group is. Vincent also manages to get his hands on some armour way above his ability to afford. A more literal example would be Tudagub's Sun Scorch spell which is only level 1 but does massive damage in addition to stunning.
• Do Not Go Gentle: Azril and Horus decide to go down in a suicidal charge to avenge Vincent.
• Double Entendre: Anytime Abigael's "ferret" or "box" are brought up in particular, although the entire cast is of fond of these in general, even Neal.
• Downer Ending: The ultimate fate of the (then-surviving) first season characters is a Total Party Kill bar Abigael, who escapes traumatized from the deaths of all of her friends (particularly since she was an original party member). Vincent dies a lonely and ignoble death away from his father's kingdom and his friends, and is dismissed as another heroic mook beheaded by the regional captain (who also casually executes the wizard he was trying to defend as an example to the townsfolk). Azril and Horus lead a suicidal charge to avenge him, and Horus beheads Vincent's killer before dying of blood loss before Abigael can save him. Even Abigael's fate is left uncertain as of the start of Season 2 (although she is stated to survived the pursuit), which takes place 70 years afterward with no mention of the original protagonists. King Longborn's response to Vincent's letter urging action against Voraci's armies is similarly left hanging in the air.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Following Tudagub's death Vincent begins drinking heavily. Even more meaningful because Vincent doesn't normally drink. Happens again with Abigael after Bregor's death.
• Dual Wielding: Bregor can do this very well thanks to his ranger training, but prefers to use his bow.
• Epic Fail: Pretty much all the combat in Week 17. Especially Bregor who manages to roll a 1 on his attack roll 3 times in a row, destroying his priceless magical bow in the process. The odds of that fail occurring were 1 in 8000.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "What is apple juice?" ... "It's juice... of an apple."
• Evil Is Easy: The group gets several boons early on due to very shady or outright immoral behaviour.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • In general, the party has a serious lack of subtlety and planning. Instead they usually charge into every situation blind and try to use brute force. Later on, as their enemies get deadlier, the group starts to be a bit more cautious.
  • Greed: Abigael the thief, of course. More of an annoying liability for comedic effect than a major undoing, but mostly due to the way things played out (her eagerness to loot in combat, ahead of party members and hoard wealth go mostly unpunished in the long-term). Lampshaded, however, when the party enter a tomb with D&D-style bright warning labels to not tomb raid: the entire party almost physically restrain her from even thinking of looting.
  • Pride: Vincent's greatest flaw. Vincent just can't let any challenge to him go unanswered. He even picks a fight with a high level enemy captain and his two body guards while in an occupied town without checking how they were armed and forgetting his own armor was off being repaired. Lampshaded by Geoff in Week 39, when he remarks that it is fitting and fair how it was Vincent's habitual pride undid him rather than some random golden weasel.
• Genre Blindness: The whole party, at first. The players have not role played very much before, Gen has never role played before. Becomes very apparent on their first mission where They kill some goblins guarding a cave, then decide to camp for the night less than 200 yards away and without setting a watch. It goes about as well as you'd think. They do get better, though.
• Glass Cannon:
  • Banon, which makes sense given his Squishy Wizard status.
  • In practical terms, Vincent. While he is equipped with Platemail early on (and thus became nearly invulnerable to lesser enemies) and he actually has an average amount of HP for a fighter, his absurd damage output clashes with his propensity for being knocked out in major battles. Might just be because he is the only guaranteed front-line fighter, while Bregor is sometimes off shooting at a range with almost twice Vincent's hitpoints.
• Groin Attack: Vincent performs a particularly cringe worthy one on a frozen Ogre in retaliation for his actions against the women of a village.
• Healing Potion: Being D%D these exist in the world, and have come in handy for the group several times.
• Insane Troll Logic: Vincent in particular is the master of this. Amazingly enough it usually works.
• Karma Houdini: Abigael is the one who kills the alchemist but Tudagub and Vincent are the ones who deal with the fallout the most.
• Killed Off for Real: This world does not have easily-accessed resurrection. In fact, it's nigh-impossible bar divine miracle or a (in-game-terms) god-tier priest sacrificing himself. This causes great distress for the party after Tudagub's death, and the others following.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Abigael, although the 'hero' part is a matter of debate.
• He Who Fights Monsters: The characters lean toward this more and more as the series goes on.
• Healing Hands: Tudagub's healing spells require him to touch the target with his hand. He never misses a chance to make sure the touch is as bizarre as possible.
• The Heart: Bregor. Even remarked by Vincent as such when he dies, as Bregor would often be the one guiding the party to a righteous path. Fittingly, Bregor's death quickly accelerated the decline of the party, as Azril lost his will to live (or at least serve his god) and Abigael drank herself to tears and a fling with Horus.
• Hero Antagonist: The opposing forces—such as Lord Feng—are very often completely in the right. The problem is, they are opposing a party willing to do anything to keep the party breathing.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Tudagub sacrifices himself to save Vincent's life, and the life of the rest of the party by extension.
• Hero with an F in Good: Vincent. He wants to be a hero, and he does do good things, but he'll bully, extort or even kill anyone who opposes him, even when he's in the wrong and they are being perfectly reasonable to oppose him.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Vincent thinks he's this, but being that they really did commit all the crimes they are accused of committing, their reputation really is deserved.
• Indy Ploy: The group is actually quite good at thinking on their feet, and have many times improvised a solution to an interesting problem.
• It Has Been an Honor: Azril to Horus before his suicidal charge to avenge Vincent.
• It May Help You on Your Quest: Tudagub just knew he'd need those pillow scraps. Also, the Potion of Speak With Fish was a joke item... right up until they needed it.
• Leaked Experience: The group gains exp as a whole, so if one of them does something to earn exp, they all split it evenly. However, exp loss is not shared. It's possible to lose entire levels, as Bregor find out the hard way.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Bregor basically has two modes: Horribly Incompetent or Complete and Total Badass. Unfortunately it's up to the dice as to which Bregor shows up.
• Lovable Coward: To a limit, Abigael. She is also a bit of a Hypocrite, calling out Azril for running away when she herself has done so several times. One infamous example of cowardice was Abigael abandoning the fight against the party's first dragon, seeking shelter behind a tree to mourn her lost ferret and bow. On the flip side, Abigael's later decision to retreat when the party is captured by temple guards turns into her crowning achievement in Vincent's eyes, as she single-handedly wipes out the guards and rescues the party.
• Luck Manipulation Mechanic: Tudagub's 'Jexel's Fate' ability allows him to reroll any dice once per battle. This replaced the normal cleric Turn Undead ability, because Neal thought it was boring.
• Manly Tears: When Bregor dies in battle Vincent openly weeps.
• Master of Unlocking: Abigael, which makes sense as she's a rogue. Played with a bit: there are practically no instances where she is able to fully utilize her skill, and one instance where she sits down and attempts to lockpick a door leads to Banon hurriedly breaking down the door and her lockpicking set.
• Magikarp Power: Everyone joked about Bregor's abnormally high perception stat, and how little use it actually was to the group... Then Bregor uses it in combination with Blind Fighting to kill a dragon and prevents a Total Party Kill
• Meaningful Look: The looks the party gives each other to convey information get increasing complex, and it becomes somewhat of a Running Gag. Taken way past it's logical extreme by Bregor who invents an entire language based on blinking.
• Meaningful Name: Vincent Longborn insists his surname is one.
• Never Learned to Read:
  • It's eventually revealed that Abigael is illiterate. JP takes delight in pointing this out at every opportunity.
  • Roughly the same time, it is revealed that most people in the world of Solum are illiterate. The fact that 3/4 of the original party members (and all the rest following) were was... highly coincidental. Vincent's literacy even lands him a (very poorly-paying) job as a clerical bookkeeper.
• Not the Fall That Kills You…: Abigael tries to invoke this trope to save Bregor from a lethal fall. Unfortunately for her, the realistic consequences follows instead.
• Obliviously Evil: Vincent doesn't seem to realize he's actually in the wrong most of the time. He does state he wants to atone but thus far he seems to care about avoiding evil actions due to the repercussions rather than due to morality.
• Obvious Rule Patch: DM Neal introduces penalties to sleeping in armour after Vincent and Bregor decide keep theirs on at all times.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: The entire group is a fan of this, Vincent in particular.
• Picked Last:
  Vincent: Tudagub, take Abigael and-
  Tudagub: Can I have Bregor instead?
• Random Number God: Since almost everything is determined by dice roll, the party's fate is often left up to luck.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: DM Neal, out of game, who manages to walk the line between Monty Haul and Killer DM rather well. In universe, Lord Feng, who manages to be this while still being an antagonist.
• Replacement Goldfish: Abigael and her ferrets. When one dies, she just gets another one, not seeming to understand that the life of an adventurer doesn't lend itself to ownership of small animals.
• Required Secondary Powers: Averted with Abigael who is a master of forgery...who cannot read. Explained away with the idea that she can copy the shape of the signature.
• Reset Button: After Bregor and Abigael are simultaneously killed by a dragon-jumping incident, Vincent uses a Wish to travel back in time 10 minutes and averts their death.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Vincent is on a quest to prove himself. It seems the Longborns expect all their royalty to be this.
• Rule of Fun: DM Neal uses a modified version of 2.5 edition that he created himself. It simplifies many rules to make the game easier for the players to understand, and also to speed up combat considerably.
• Running Gag: Bregor's inability to fire his bow without dropping it, the party giving each other looks that conveys specific complex information, Tudagub's 'touching' heals, iNcontrol having Vincent recreate scenes from action movies, Bregor's perception to name a few.
• Sanity Ball: Usually Vincent is the Only Sane Man, but when he gets angry he often goes far beyond the extremes of the rest of the party. When that happens it's usually Bregor acting as the voice of reason.
• Shoot the Messenger: After a child gives them a message from a Evil Wizard, the party jokes that they should kill any children who try to approach them.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Tudagub can with the use of magic. Bregor has an affinity for animals, being a ranger, but can't actually talk to them. The party later finds a potion of speak with Fish, which they kept handy, just in case.
• Suddenly Always Knew That: You didn't know know Bregor had Blind Fighting? Well, You Didn't Ask. In all fairness, it was on his character sheet, it just never came up until it was very, very important. Also doubly humorous because prior to needing the skill, Vincent had offhandedly mentioned wanting to (eventually) train in Blind Fighting, only to find out that Bregor already had it.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  Bregor: Yea, the innkeeper is dead. He had no possessions.
• The Stoic: Bregor.
• The Teetotaler: Vincent usually abstains from Alcohol, his explanation being he doesn't believe in poisoning himself. When he does drink it's usually meaningful specifically after he murders Brightblade and after the death of Tudagub
• That Makes Me Feel Angry:
  Vincent: (calmly) Greetings, terrifying doorman. We have what your master requests and seek an audience. And I'm terrified.
• Token Evil Teammate: Banon.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Week 20 Neal decides to change the rules on Sneak Attacks, which turns Abigael into a deadly fighter, provided she can get behind the enemy.
• Total Party Kill: Everyone but Abigael, who escapes with 2 hp.
• True Companions:
  • This is the driving force behind the party. Right or wrong, they have each other. Heart breaking when Tudagub dies saving his friends. Even worse after Bregor's death. The party does not take it well, especially Azril.
  • As the number of original party members dwindle, Vincent and Abigael increasingly see each other as this (as opposed to Abigael being a practical liability early-on). Vincent is still willing to resort to snark to shoot down some of her sillier ideas, but after she proves herself by saving the lives of the entire party by assassinating an entire camp of guards he is willing trust her on some of the most pivotal decisions later on. Likewise, Abigael blatantly trusts Vincent through thick-and-thin and regards him as the absolute leader of the party more than, say, Azril or Horus.
• Unfriendly Fire: The group kills Banon in week 23 when he attempts to steal and use a powerful item for himself.
• Unscrupulous Hero: Vincent. He's well meaning but he's utterly vicious and without mercy to anyone he perceives as an enemy, which is anyone who opposes him for any reason, regardless of who is in the right.
• Villain Protagonist: The characters are normally in the wrong most of the time and do some major shit in order to stay alive.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: The arc starting around week 30 consists of the party trying to find a set of these weapons.
• Wham Episode: Week 9: Bregor loses two levels to a wraith, Vincent murders Brightblade, and Mr. Mugwuggles is killed.
  • Week 17: Tudagub dies.
  • Week 23: Banon is killed by the group for attempting to steal the Ring of Three Wishes for himself.
  • Week 27: Bregor and Abigael are both killed. Vincent uses their wish to go back in time and avert their deaths.
  • Week 33: Bregor is killed by a mist dragon.
  • Week 39: Everyone but Abigael dies, she is trapped behind enemy lines alone with no supplies, and the forces of Voraci have secured 3 of the 4 Dragonslayer weapons.
• Wham Line: Week 9:
  Vincent: Alright, I'm going to decapitate him.
  • Week 23:
  Bregor: I slit Banon's throat.
  • Week 29
  Neal: Everyone wakes up.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Sort of after Vincent murders Brightblade. Only sort of because while the group was upset about it it was more because it failed the mission, rather than the moral implications of the murder.

The sequel series to Rollplay: D&D, taking place 70 years later. A prophecy speaks of a child that will bring down the current regime, and despite efforts to eliminate said child as a baby, they did not succeed. This is common knowledge, however, and the wary regime has outlawed magic, boiling alive adult mages of any sort and indoctrinating any children they find. The player party's objective is to provide aid to the child of prophecy.

This campaign is DMed by Neal 'Koibu' Erickson.

The party consists of:

• JP 'Itmejp' McDaniel as Alice the Human Fighter
• Geoff 'iNcontrol' Robinson as Victarian Black the Human Fighter
• Ryan 'Ryuzilla' Moore as Largo Silverheart the Halfling Thief
• Geneviève 'Livinpink' Forget as Jhakri the Human Cleric
• JP McDaniel as Smee the Gnome Fighter/Thief introduced after Alice's death
• Ryan Moore as Tariq the Human Fighter introduced after Largo's death
• Geneviève Forget as Spades the Dwarf Fighter introduced after Jhakri's death
• JP McDaniel as Zanzil the Human Wizard introduced after Jhakri's death and Smee's departure

Playing NPC characters, Neal also plays a permanent role in the party as:

• Carla, the mother of the supposed chosen one
• Maggie, the child who bears a mark that is believed to signify her destiny
• Dana, a Human Paladin who joins the party with Tariq as part of the Templar escort for the child
• Ron, a human fighter for hire who proves surprisingly useful

As you can expect from a distant sequel of the original Rollplay series, spoilers are abound about what happened to the original party and how they effect the world of Solum.

• The Ace: Tariq begins shaping up to become one a la Bregor past Week 20, coinciding with acquiring a 2-handed sword, Reaper, that allowed two attacks per turn, in addition to normal Fighter bonuses. As a similar parallel of Vincent and Bregor, Tariq acquires full plate mail several weeks before Victarian, despite his ongoing quest for better armor. Outside of combat, he also has the highest "hotness" rating in the party at 17, and in Week 27 he attains knighthood and the social benefits that entails. Discussed late in that week, when the party joke that Tariq's typical routine is admiring his handsomeness, knighthood, and full plate mail.
• An Arm and a Leg: Alice has to have her arm amputated early in the campaign, much to everyone's shock. JP McDaniel had even considered retiring the character right then and there, but it turned out that it merely transformed her from being wholly overpowered to being a Handicapped Badass.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Matching their friendship and personalities, Smee and Largo are, respectively, one of the smallest and largest of their respective races. This results in almost a two foot difference between the two little people.
• Blood Knight: Spades really likes killing Voraci.
• The Blacksmith: Victarian Black's profession, as opposed to his class.
• Canon Immigrant: Zanzil is from the world of Ehbon, JP's other campaign world.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first episode, Victarian acts like a much harsher, more aggressive reincarnation of Vincent, leading to fan complaints of rehashing the exact same archetype, and the more immediate consequence of JP overreacting about Geoff's vitriolic behavior toward his party members while role-playing his character. By the second episode, the two have made up, while Victarian's personality is more firmly established as a violent but outwardly affable Mister Rogers.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The party versus a werewolf. It quickly devolves into a chase through alleys as the party collectively brutalize a seemingly-unkillable beast...until Victarian hammers it to death with silver coins and a hammer.
• Do Not Go Gentle: Attempted to be invoked by the party, as Victarian fought to give Spades a final chance at escaping or fighting off the Voraci forces who would otherwise be happy to simply capture and execute her for her crimes. Averted in the end because Neal pointed out the impossibility of it, leading to a The Needs of the Many scenario instead. Particularly notable since, post-mortem, Gen mentioned that that would have been her ideal death for Spades.
• Good Is Not Soft: At his finest, Victarian. While the episode in which he is affected by Zone of Truth might indicate otherwise, by all appearances he is an nice and polite young man in his civilian life, though with the libido associated with one. Interrupt him or pickpocket from him? Spear through the chest, immediately.
• Handicapped Badass: Alice after losing her arm. Giant spiders are entangling the only other fighter? No problem, she'll take care of them while Victarian struggles with webs.
• He-Man Woman Hater: In a Zone of Truth admission, Victarian. Played for laughs since Geoff struggled for a moment to think of who his character would have a deep distrust in for being thieves by nature; Victarian quickly backtracks on his statement once unaffected by the spell.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Dana's puts herself in harms way to heal Vicarion and is killed as a result, very similarly to Tudagub's Death.
• Insistent Terminology: Ever since the original Rollplay series wherein Neal constantly called halberds "hallebreads," it is now canon that these are the proper name of these weapons. Lampshaded in Week 29 when the party jokes that they don't know what a halberd is, but acknowledge a hallebread.
• Interspecies Romance: Jhakri used to have an Elvish girlfriend, but she was boiled as a mage due to rumours of magic use.
• Nature Lover: Poor Jhakri's love of nature walks is interpreted as thinly-veiled rape attempts upon village women.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: The child of prophecy did not get killed in the baby massacre intended for it.
• No Social Skills: While Jhakri doesn't completely lack basic social skills, he is treated as such by his party members for laughs. Notably, however, he lacks the ability to really approach women (especially in bars), cannot think of a smooth way to get out of a drug bust incident, and has no idea what the use of money is until the party gradually explain their greed to him.
• Not in This for Your Revolution:
  • Smee is characterized as the most selfish of the party in regards to their quest, combined with a bit of Only in It for the Money. However, he denies being in it solely for the money, and may just be in it for more heists with his friend Largo.
  • Early on in his recruitment interview, Ron firmly establishes that he is not willing to storm castles for the party, let alone fight in an open rebellion against the forces of Voraci. VERY soon afterwards, he does both, albeit in a way that he likely didn't anticipate.
• Punch-Clock Hero: Ron is only a hero because he happens to be employed by the heroes.
• Put on a Bus: Smee decides to abruptly leave the party following Jhakri's death to pursue other business. Notably, this is the first instance of a player character properly retiring and Neal emphasizes that Smee could return at any time; his departure was mostly motivated by how a slot in the party was opened for a magic-user, which is limited to one in this campaign due to the oppressive anti-magic stance of the occupying forces.
• Remember the New Guy?: Smee is introduced as a long-time friend and thieving associate of Largo, much to Ryan's initial surprise. Otherwise, he is properly introduced to the party as a new friend (albeit one that they all readily accept, unlike the original party's drawn-out trial of Banon).
• Running Gag:
  • Largo is large for his size. Hence the name.
  • Alice and (missing) arms.
    • Later, Alice and her locked box.
  • Jhakri being a stereotypical Rastafarian (despite not being described as such).
    • Later, his canonical, excessive drug use.
  • Smee's fighting style that of a ninja's, complete with a later cloak that hides himself completely until his next sneak attack. Thus, the party continually loses track of him (and jokes about him suddenly reappearing after his departure). It doesn't help that he is almost the smallest Gnome alive.
  • Following the sudden appearance of an "attractiveness" roll (as opposed to the party's former method of assuming Charisma = hotness), jokes about the party's excessive handsomeness (particularly Tariq; exploited in a plan to seduce another man) contrasted with Victarian's plain self.
  • Victarian having horrific luck with horses (rolling low HP values for his horse, leading to several horse deaths).
• The Needs of the Many: The group decides to turn Spades over to Voraci forces to be tortured and killed in order to save hundreds of innocent lives and protect Karla's baby, who may be the key to defeating Voraci for good and saving the entire world.
• The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): Within the first 10 minutes of his introduction, Tariq almost dies to the same sort of mortal wound that laid Alice low. He was introduced as one of the most badass young Templar, carrying a huge two-handed sword and boasting impressive armour and hitpoints, but he was nearly gutted by a common bandit not fifty feet away from where he was recruited. Obviously played for laughs and mockery by the other party members. For the record, Tariq survived thanks to Dana's assistance, though his pride certainly didn't.
• Would Hurt a Child: Hilariously, Victarian does not hesitate to spear a pickpocketing beggar child through the chest. It was implied that Neal had intended him to be a clue for the next plot point before his untimely death.

Taking place in the Grim Dark of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Dark Heresy campaign follows the adventures of a group of Inquisition acolytes as they root out Heresy in the name of the Emperor.

This campaign is DMed by Steven Lumpkin.

The party consists of:

• JP McDaniel as Eli the Assassin
• John 'TotalBiscuit' Bain as Engelbart Kappa the Tech Priest
• Geoff 'iNcontrol' Robinson as Jaxx Rommulous the Arbitor
• Marcus 'djWHEAT' Graham as Phrix Pilgrim the Psyker

• Ascended Meme: The Barbosa meme where he constantly says "You best start believing in X, because Y!" was so popular with the cast and the chat that Steven actually had the NPC start speaking that way.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Karna Phaedris, a middle aged noblewoman, invites the party to a hunt, then proceeds to put them all to shame by proving to be more effective on combat than they are.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Engelbart, like all tech priests, believes organic life has no value, therefore his moral priories are often skewed from that of most people's.
• Butt-Monkey: Week 5 was not kind to Cortez Barbossa. In addition to all the jokes resulting from the following, he gets accidentally shot, accidentally fried with a flamethrower, he more or less throws his power sword during a botch, his gun jams, and Eli intentionally drops him into an abyss when he ends up in a Take My Hand! situation.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: When the incarcerated Jerekis proves uncooperative and tells Jaxx to "do (their) worst," Englebart immediately scurries up and applies his blowtorch utility directly to his amputated arm stump, Phrix helping out by pouring water onto the charred wound. Jaxx then assures the man that the party came up with that on the fly - just imagine what they'd do if they had a night to mull it over. He proves much more cooperative after that.
• Cyborg: Engelbart, as part of his religion.
  • Artificial Limbs: An upgrade he gained during the adventure was a Swiss-Army Appendage that resembles a mechanical arm attached to his back.
• Epic Fail: As expected of this kind of game.
  • Early on, several party members engage in a shooting contest. When they take their shots, they don't aim and have limited success. Each time, the man running the contest recommends aiming. Only the very last contestant (an NPC) aims... and botches, missing the target by a long shot and nailing a spectator in the chest.
  • Jerekis, a man who the party wanted for questioning, got into a firefight with members of the party. In an effort to make a point blank shot, his gun exploded in his hand on account of the DM botching his roll, knocking him unconscious and ruining his arm so badly that it needed amputation.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Jaxx manages to miss several of his shots... at point blank range. With a shotgun. Later, Engelbart fails twice to execute a helpless man who is making no attempt to defend himself.
• Made of Iron: There are multiple instances where Jaxx is shot, but due to a combination of his natural toughness and his armour takes no damage. He lets out a mighty yell whenever this happens.
• Running Gag:
  • Engelbart deployed sacred unguents and incense at almost every opportunity.
  • If a part of the body tends to get injured, it tends to be the right leg.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Engelbart has pretty good luck when it comes to throwing grenades. In one encounter, his aim was so perfect that it made Ludicrous Gibs out of three soldiers, one of which was already badly injured.
  • He tends to have good luck with any thrown weapon; he has also been successful at badly burning an enemy with a thrown can of beans that had been cooking on a nearby stove.

In the harsh world of Ehbon where monsters thrive, humans are a minority and water is a precious resource, 4 adventurers group together to attempt to survive in a harsh world. The campaign was rebooted when it hit Week 9 as Season 2, due to story advancing quicker than expected.

This campaign is DMed by JP 'itmejp' McDaniel.

The party consists of:

• Ryan 'Ryuzilla' Moore as Cobblepot Toolspark the Gnome Cleric
• Neal 'Koibu' Erickson as Ritch the Human Fighter
• Paulo 'CatZ' Vizcarra as Ricardo Del Mar the Brown Elf Wizard
• Kaitlyn as Riley the Human Fighter

• Always Chaotic Evil: Averted rather notably in that the monsters are the predominant races in the world, with humans being a minority. While you'd think this would lead to Humans being hunted in the same way monsters traditionally are, they actually treat humans rather well.
• Crapsack World: Water is a rare and precious resource, plants are unheard of and the primary diet consists of a crude water-like sludge that makes non-monsters sick and insects of various sizes.
• Humans Are Special: Being that humans have the disadvantage of requiring actual real water they are extremely rare and considered a sign of good luck.
• Idiot Hero: Ritch.
• Phrase Catcher: Ricardo. Both his fellow party members and various NPCs have said a variation of "No wonder you're/he's the last brown elf".
• Retcon: JP makes some changes to the world to flesh it out a bit at the start of week 3, which retroactively changes some minor details of the first 2 weeks.
  • JP up and hit the Reset Button as of week 9, citing that the original story was progressing too fast and in a vastly different direction than his liking.
• Sole Survivor: Ricardo is the last Brown Elf, the only survivor of the attack that destroyed his village. Ritch is the only survivor of the attack on his own village, which claimed the lives of his wife and child.
• The Last Man Heard a Knock... : Ricardo may or may not be alone...

The sequel / second reboot of Ehbon, customized to use the character-driven narrative-based Dungeon World system rather than the modified 2nd edition D&D rules from before. All the players crafted custom classes with the change.

This campaign is DMed by JP 'itmejp' McDaniel.

The party consists of:

• Ryan "Ryuzilla" Moore as Bongo Grimgear the Gnome Primal Magus
• Paulo "ROOTCatZ" Vizcarra as Dongo Grimgear the Gnome Shadow Priest
• Neal "Koibu" Erickson as Kang the Lizardman Elementalist
• Kaitlyn as Riley the Human Fighter

Swansong is a replacement show for the now cancelled Dark Heresy. Taking place in the third millennium, it follows the adventures of the crew of the titular Swan Song as they

This campaign is SMed by Adam Koebel

The party consists of:

• JP 'Itmejp' McDaniel as Wilbur "Higgs" Higgins III the Expert
• Marcus 'djWHEAT' Graham as Piani Pic the Psychic
• Geoff 'iNcontrol' Robinson as Mr. Sicarian the Warrior, Alpharius the Warrior
• Steven 'silentOsiris' Lumpkin as Viktor Kovacs the Expert, Prosper Trudeau the Warrior, Erik Fretheim the Psychic

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: An underlying theme of the game.
• Admiring the Abomination: Prosper, regarding the mad Warmind AI.
• Aura Vision: Piani is able to see the auras of people after she receives a cybernetic eye on Sigrid and subsequently gets it installed by Dr. Singh on Vinaya. At first she suspects that she's able to see people with MES, as she can see blue auras around herself and Erik, but Pi's robotic body does not give off one. She realises that it's not MES, but Emotions that she's able to see when she finds that Higgins has a red aura, and Alpharius has a spiky, pale blue and indigo aura. Beyond emotions, she can also see psychic power being used as tendrils extending from the psychic to the target.
• Black Comedy: When Viktor dies, he's left in his running position in the staircase, dead in one hit. The crew call back to his death multiple times later on, still in the same position, with no one willing to clean up the body
  • Prosper has a moment when his player rolls badly against someone wearing a deflector shield. The shot ricocheted off the shield, over his shoulder, and into the back of the women they're guarding. What took it from cringe worthy to hilarious was Prosper's immediate, loud insistence that it was the fault of the guy he was shooting at.
• Cold Equation : In week 8, When the crew is short on life support they want to leave a heavily injured passenger behind, despite his protests that it would be leaving him to almost certain death. Viktor refuses, and goes against the crew to try to find another way.
• Consummate Professional: Mr. Sicarian normally, but he's willing to pretend to be a Psycho for Hire when needs to intimidate someone.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Warrior, Psychic, and Expert classes, respectively, which are the only 3 classes in the game.
• Indy Ploy: Higgs is very, very good at this trope.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Higgs again; one of the character's goals, as JP has noted on a few occasions, is "Help the crew without them knowing it was him".
• Lovable Coward: Viktor, sort of. His catch phrase is "We are so fucked." but he doesn't chicken out in a fight.
  • There's also Higgs, who, when getting video comm or an email/text from someone upset with him, often just hangs up mid-conversation or deletes the message without replying.
• Lovable Rogue: Higgs fits the bill, usually being very charming and affable, which makes sense given his background as a Con Man.
• Mad Scientist: Viktor, although he tries to use his abilities for good.
• Meaningful Name: Adam points out to the cast that a 'Swan Song' is the last great thing you do before you die, and that the name may become meaningful for the crew.
• Mood Whiplash: Week 9, with Viktor's death is followed by Week 10, where Prosper Trudeau is introduced, Higgs is forced to argue with a customer service AI, and the crew starts an impromptu bar fight at the end.
• One-Man Army: Mr. Sicarian.
• Professional Killer: Mr. Sicarian's role on the crew is basically that of hired muscle.
• Running Gag: A minor one is spawned when Viktor is attempting to perform some kind of medical procedure on Higgs when the latter is unconscious at 0 hp. However, Steven's choice of words is that he's "elbow deep in Higgs," which results in lots of innuendo from the rest of the gang and they jokingly bring it up throughout the rest of the campaign.
  • There's also Piani nagging Higgs about the 40,000 credits she feels he owes her.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Piani can't seem to open her mouth without cursing.
• The Medic: Viktor is the only member of the crew with any kind of formal medical training, but Piani does have some psychic healing ability, too.
• Wham Episode: Week 9 (December 8, 2014) is this; the crew escapes captivity, but Viktor is killed in the process.
  • And again in Week 14. Despite the best efforts of both the Swan Song and Harridan's Heart crews, the homicidal AI that had been plugged into the battlecruiser Harridan's Heart survives and escapes. Its first actions after its escape is to burn the planet Andoni, killing much of its population.
• What You Are in the Dark: Viktor's captor tries to intimidate him by saying "No one knows you're here, Viktor." to convince him to betray Piani. He still doesn't.

Rollplay R&D is the fourth (and according to JP McDaniel the last) of the Rollplay series, Rollplay R&D is a series of mini-campaigns taking approximately 4-8 weeks. The series will cycle through different tabletop systems with possibly a rotating cast. The first of the campaigns is Apocalypse World.

This campaign is DMed by Steven Lumpkin.

The party consists of:

• JP 'Itmejp' McDaniel as Bubba The Driver.
• Marcus 'djWHEAT' Graham as Evan Masters the Gunlugger
• Maggie 'Luperza' Krohn as Emberlee the Touchstone

• Cool Car: JP either embraces this or subverts this with his choice of vehicles. Instead of picking the most useful cars to survive an apocalypse, JP opts for a hot pink tractor and a converted cement truck with a grenade launcher.
• Darker and Edgier: Steven points out at the start that this campaign is 'very rated R.'
• Level-Up at Intimacy 5: PCs actually gain special powers if they have sex with other PCs.
• More Dakka: Pretty much the entire point of the Gunlugger class.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The infected lose the ability to regulate their inhibitions, but retain their intelligence.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The setting, but it leaves it entirely up to the players to decide how.

The second campaign in the Rollplay: R&D series, Dungeon World is the sword and sorcery equivalent to what Apocalypse World is to the apocalypse.

This campaign is DMed by Steven Lumpkin.

The party consists of:

• JP 'Itmejp' McDaniel as Duncan, the Human Bard
• Marcus 'djWHEAT' Graham as Lady Amsel, the Human Wizard
• Maggie 'Luperza' Krohn as Lobelia, the Halfling Rogue
• Sean "day9tv" Plott as Fink, the Dwarf Cleric

The third campaign in the Rollplay: R&D series, Pendragon is based on the 15th century Arthurian romance Le Morte d'Arthur.

The fourth campaign in the series, Numenera takes the idea of "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" and runs with it.

This campaign is DMed by Steven Lumpkin.

The party consists of:

• JP 'Itmejp' McDaniel as Bleen, the Mutant Glaive who Needs No Weapons
• Marcus 'djWHEAT' Graham as Amelia, the Impulsive Nano who Separates Mind from Body
• Maggie 'Luperza' Krohn as Triple A, the Mystical Nano who Controls Beasts
• Jesse Cox as Pocket, the Driven Jack who Fights Dirty

The sixth campaign in the Rollplay: R&D series, set in the Saga of the Icelanders RP.

This campaign is DMed by Steven Lumpkin.

The party consists of:

• Eric "wowcrendor" Raab as Ingibjorg the Lame, the Seidkona
• Jesse Cox as Hilda Groomsbane, the Shield Maiden
• Maggie 'Luperza' Krohn as Eamon the Berserk, the Huscarl
• 'Shannon Z Killer' as Rovik Ragnarsson, the Man, Erlend, the Wanderer