the "damn it sucks that they killed Pinocchio so early but Lou killed it with that monologue" to "wait wait stop what the fuck WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK" pipeline
they probably thought the blacking out of the dome with the smoke effect would be really impactful and shocking and sad every time and then they had to use it 6 times in episode 3
Pretty sure it was by design. It’s not a coincidence that Brennan’s first tpk was in the season where dying repeatedly is a core mechanic for the story. They even joke a lot about the trope of doing it at episode 3.
The Big Bad Wolf being labeled as “The Ending of the Story” is so chillingly ominous because it fits with both the fact that certain versions of Little Red Riding Hood do end with no rescue from the Woodsman, and how we still don’t know WHAT the wolf is. Is he just a monster magnified by Red’s perception of him? Is he an omniscient entity? Is he an amalgamation of all evil fairy tale wolves? The ultimate victim of “heroes” who kill him because they would call him a villain? All of the above??
He is.... Bigby, Snow White's Husband, Father of Seven Cubs. Bill Willingham's Fables paint the titular Fables as archetypes of something deeper than their popular incarnation, something that is primodial and basic that inspired the fables,.... like say, hunger.
I wonder if we're going to get a version of the wolf that's basically the scape goat, mirroring how all these stories about wolves were made because in some cases they were new and monstrous to the people coming up with them, and because farmers understandably _hated_ them for killing their livestock. How Ylfa's family wrongfully blamed her for her _own_ death and tried to kill her. Could be this wolf is a powerful ally that is interested in changing his story and is willing to help the protags change theirs if they get to the point where they decide that's what they want to do.
@@VandalAudi yknow in adventuring party for this episode Siobhan said "it's brennan as dm so the big bad is capitalism" so yknow i think this fits with the theme
@@neos8421she was referring to the “big bad” of the season, not the big bad wolf. The wolf was not even a villain. The Authors were the capitalism metaphor in this season.
while i absolute believe brennan went into this with a solid plan for what would follow a TPK i am DYING to know what the plan would have been for a lone survivor outcome like can you imagine
Brennan asking players to describe their deaths like this is so narratively satisfying and so much more engaging than the DM telling you how it goes down
@@bookworm4133 He did get a death scene like every one else. But he didn't get to do a charisma saving throw while everyone else did? @debran940 suggested that maybe Red would be the only one to remember previous events since she was the only who made the saving throw. If @maurabatts7147's gut feeling is correct, I am so afraid of what this would mean next episode.
like on one hand this had to have been planned right. they were in a battle that would have been difficult for not level 1 characters. they had the bg ash thing on standby already. but on the other. Who could have possibly planned for how awful those rolls were edit: turns out both hands are at least 5% right! just had time to watch the adventuring party where brennan basically says that, as a whole, every encounter is "pushing towards a tpk" more than any other season purely because of the genre of horror and him wanting the desperation of combat to be more real, but its not meant to be a guarantee. they could have walked out of this mostly alive and making medicine checks, it would have been difficult but doable. unfortunately the dice had a very real vendetta this episode.
when ally said that mother goose only had two total spell slots it seemed like there was no way they were gonna be able to do it. and then the rolls were so unlucky on top of it all. brutal.
i think it was doable, just very very hard. the dice were out for BLOOD this session (if murph didn’t roll that two against the table’s six passive perception they could’ve snuck to FGM, and with the hex giving disadvantage i think they could’ve made something work). Also the only damage dealers were focusing too hard on the minions, and brennan even threw out to them that FGM couldn’t take many 12 damage hits, so she couldn’t have had too much hp. also they all reverted back to FHFY brain and started hopping 😂 my theory is that once pinocchio died brennan started to lay the tpk foundation, esp with the whole ‘we need to stray together’ thing, because imo the ‘hit a nat 20 or die’ death saves didn’t feel preplanned (and honestly a nat 20 was pretty likely in that scenario? the dice really just wanted people to know it was episode three, lmao)
It would totally be possible, but maybe not in this specific scenario that he died in. Because I’m the original Pinocchio stories he would be repeatedly killed for being naughty, but iirc never the same way twice.
I was so sad when pinocchio died and then it just kept going, and then I realized brennan definitely made this campaign to kill as many pcs in one fell swoop as he can
i think it will be a really cool story beat, but this episode was sooooo hard for me watch -- everything just kept going wrong! i am super excited to see what happens next though! but gosh... what a bummer.
Dude this combat was brutal. The fact that the constructs don’t die when the witch does makes me feel like even if they did focus the witch first most of them would still die. I’m hooked tho can’t wait for more
@@SomeNerdyVlogger Alternately, what they have may be less “backup characters” and more “Hey you know those sisters and other book-holders you just learned about an episode ago?”
@@alecLogan I feel like that would betray the structure. These are the main characters more so than previous campaigns, it’s their fairytale. I think the mancala death tokens are significant here. Some sort of accumulating degradation, and too many tokens means they don’t get their “happily ever after”
@@link090909 I mean, there are _other_ fairy tales they could take roles in, but sure, there’s also that this is a significant amount and type of information to reveal to them as they’re dying. Though I would imagine that would be another mechanic that would have borne mentioning if it were the case, though I reckon it still can be mentioned once e4 starts if so.
WHY AM I EVEN WATCHING THIS?? WHY AM I VOLUNTARILY CAUSING MYSELF MORE PAIN LESS THAN 24 HOURS AFTER THE EPISODE DROPPED?? Anyways, thanks for the compilation, wonderful as always
Why is it always the seasons with the really silly and out-there concepts that have the hardest-hitting plot beats? It's like the more grounded the setting is the sillier they get with it, while the sillier the setting is, the more grounded the character arcs are.
I had gotten a strong feeling that the ‘true love’ role had been moved to the thorns that had been protecting Rosamund (since she was able to be up and about), but I guess that theory will just have to spill or stew.
really wanted to remind myself of the death scenes (for conspiracy theory purposes) but didn't want to put myself through the full agony of a whole ep 3 so this is a godsend
They keep criticizing the plan distraction/extraction plan but it was honestly pretty good? Only big misstep was pib trying to get the wand instead of going right for the shard. The problem was the dice. The dice were absolutely insanely brutal. I wonder if any one has made a graph bc WOW
Okay wow I'm glad I decided to wait until the full season was released to see if I should watch it or not I'd hate to get attached to these characters and then THIS HAPPENS
Later episodes spoiler warning!! Oh my gosh it was too far back for them to remember but he literally mentioned the wolf in the stew and did the boar voice! Aaah the planting and thought into these death scenes make this season feel more rewarding, especially the deaths that felt very unsatisfactory watching this in the moment.
i imagine it was a planned TPK for plot reason, much like obrigatory loss events in games, but im curious what was his plan in case someone got the nat 20 and lived i trust brennan to not railroad it and just get another death sentence to kill the survivor for sure, so i wonder what would happen
I'm gonna be so honest I cannot remember 😭. but I do remember that it was revealed in the finale and it was a mechanic that influenced the rolls they made or something?
Am I the only one who finds it a touch unfair that the dice catcher is being held by the DM? I thought the whole point of those was to roll on a flat surface, it was especially critical when Lou damn near rolled a 20 and it shifted over to a frigging 2.
I'm really upset people on youtube and reddit think that wasn't intentional. This is 100% a planned story beat, and if you don't think so you aren't paying enough attention
They could have not been spotted and had advantage, and _potentially_ could have just worked together to get the shard out (though it was indicated that diplomacy was likely off the table), but then they wouldn’t have had reason to question them being on the same ‘side’.
I’m really upset you think that Brennan would force them to bother with an encounter he knew they were going to fail. That is 100% a misunderstanding of Brennan’s DMing style, and if you don’t think so you aren’t paying enough attention
I don’t think Brennan went into this encounter knowing it would tpk. I think once Lou was down he knew he had to or else they’d lose Pinocchio as a PC and that would mess things up. This was definitely a plan B
technically, I didn't use a trigger warning I used a content warning. and also, I will *always* warn for upsetting content. I will never understand why people are against making safer more inclusive spaces. the original neverafter episodes I'm using clips from even use trigger warnings.
@@mushroompoet ignore the edgelord you're doing a great job!! Thanks for the highlights it's nice to go back and rewatch these condensed versions when you want some d20 but don't have 2 hours :)
Later episodes spoiler warning!! Oh my gosh it was too far back for me to remember but he literally mentioned the wolf in the stew and did the boar voice! Aaah the planting and thought into these death scenes make this season feel more rewarding, especially the deaths that felt very unsatisfactory watching this in the moment.
![The Bad Guy This Season Is XP Leveling | Fantasy High Junior Year [Clip]](/img/n.gif)
the "damn it sucks that they killed Pinocchio so early but Lou killed it with that monologue" to "wait wait stop what the fuck WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK" pipeline
“ok that’s gotta be the last one…..ok THIS one’s GOTTA be the last one….”
they probably thought the blacking out of the dome with the smoke effect would be really impactful and shocking and sad every time and then they had to use it 6 times in episode 3
Pretty sure it was by design. It’s not a coincidence that Brennan’s first tpk was in the season where dying repeatedly is a core mechanic for the story. They even joke a lot about the trope of doing it at episode 3.
"No, only six." is a DELICIOUSLY cruel line.
lou “you only need one set of dice” wilson and his consistent rolling of 3s
the dice are trying to tell him something, but by god, he is determined not to listen
Fun fact, he's using dice that fucked him all the way back in Fantasy High Softmore Year!
The Big Bad Wolf being labeled as “The Ending of the Story” is so chillingly ominous because it fits with both the fact that certain versions of Little Red Riding Hood do end with no rescue from the Woodsman, and how we still don’t know WHAT the wolf is. Is he just a monster magnified by Red’s perception of him? Is he an omniscient entity? Is he an amalgamation of all evil fairy tale wolves? The ultimate victim of “heroes” who kill him because they would call him a villain? All of the above??
He is.... Bigby, Snow White's Husband, Father of Seven Cubs. Bill Willingham's Fables paint the titular Fables as archetypes of something deeper than their popular incarnation, something that is primodial and basic that inspired the fables,.... like say, hunger.
I wonder if we're going to get a version of the wolf that's basically the scape goat, mirroring how all these stories about wolves were made because in some cases they were new and monstrous to the people coming up with them, and because farmers understandably _hated_ them for killing their livestock. How Ylfa's family wrongfully blamed her for her _own_ death and tried to kill her.
Could be this wolf is a powerful ally that is interested in changing his story and is willing to help the protags change theirs if they get to the point where they decide that's what they want to do.
@@VandalAudi yknow in adventuring party for this episode Siobhan said "it's brennan as dm so the big bad is capitalism" so yknow i think this fits with the theme
@@neos8421she was referring to the “big bad” of the season, not the big bad wolf. The wolf was not even a villain. The Authors were the capitalism metaphor in this season.
3:26 Murph momentarily thinking Pib got a crit and then discovering yet another Zac character went out (this time on a cat ass) made me feral
while i absolute believe brennan went into this with a solid plan for what would follow a TPK i am DYING to know what the plan would have been for a lone survivor outcome like can you imagine
Brennan asking players to describe their deaths like this is so narratively satisfying and so much more engaging than the DM telling you how it goes down
The "you need a nat 20 on these saves" really sealed their fates
nah, 3x 6 is 18, super statistically unlikely none of them got 1.
ok ok, roll a nat 20 and you'll be able to stand and defend
proceeds to roll 4 nat 1s
Mother Goose made me cry. Im just imagining an old man, bleeding out and just losing it in hopeless desperation, thinking about what hes already lost.
So Pib is the only character to not get a death scene, he’s also the only one who didn’t touch the book…that’s got some stink to it
He did get a death scene. He was lying in the sun and the last thing he saw was the castle on fire.
@@bookworm4133 He did get a death scene like every one else. But he didn't get to do a charisma saving throw while everyone else did? @debran940 suggested that maybe Red would be the only one to remember previous events since she was the only who made the saving throw. If @maurabatts7147's gut feeling is correct, I am so afraid of what this would mean next episode.
like on one hand this had to have been planned right. they were in a battle that would have been difficult for not level 1 characters. they had the bg ash thing on standby already. but on the other. Who could have possibly planned for how awful those rolls were
edit: turns out both hands are at least 5% right! just had time to watch the adventuring party where brennan basically says that, as a whole, every encounter is "pushing towards a tpk" more than any other season purely because of the genre of horror and him wanting the desperation of combat to be more real, but its not meant to be a guarantee. they could have walked out of this mostly alive and making medicine checks, it would have been difficult but doable. unfortunately the dice had a very real vendetta this episode.
I saw a screenshot of an interview with Brennan that said it wasn't inevitable or planned, so who knows
when ally said that mother goose only had two total spell slots it seemed like there was no way they were gonna be able to do it. and then the rolls were so unlucky on top of it all. brutal.
i think it was doable, just very very hard. the dice were out for BLOOD this session (if murph didn’t roll that two against the table’s six passive perception they could’ve snuck to FGM, and with the hex giving disadvantage i think they could’ve made something work). Also the only damage dealers were focusing too hard on the minions, and brennan even threw out to them that FGM couldn’t take many 12 damage hits, so she couldn’t have had too much hp. also they all reverted back to FHFY brain and started hopping 😂 my theory is that once pinocchio died brennan started to lay the tpk foundation, esp with the whole ‘we need to stray together’ thing, because imo the ‘hit a nat 20 or die’ death saves didn’t feel preplanned (and honestly a nat 20 was pretty likely in that scenario? the dice really just wanted people to know it was episode three, lmao)
Brennan said that this battle was deliberately made to be challenging but the TPK was not inevitable or expected
I feel like Brennan isn’t the type of DM to deliberately plan a TPK from the beginning of a battle
It's GOTTA be a time loop, right? It's gotta be a time loop!! Otherwise, why would we get HINTS
0:12 So was that pile of rotting wood the corpses of all the other times Pinocchio has died there?
THAT IS SO COOL!! probably not, but HOLY SHIT THAT IS SO COOL
OH MY GOD. HOLY COW. THATS SO GOOD.
It would totally be possible, but maybe not in this specific scenario that he died in. Because I’m the original Pinocchio stories he would be repeatedly killed for being naughty, but iirc never the same way twice.
Dude Italian fairytales are fucked up
I was so sad when pinocchio died and then it just kept going, and then I realized brennan definitely made this campaign to kill as many pcs in one fell swoop as he can
This is now the new “you’ve been episode 2’d” meme (except cross out the 2 with a 3 lol)
i think it will be a really cool story beat, but this episode was sooooo hard for me watch -- everything just kept going wrong! i am super excited to see what happens next though! but gosh... what a bummer.
Lou: "I guess he can do that an unlimited amount of times." ):<
Brennan: "Nope. Only six." >:D
6:37 “No only 6”??????
OKAY BRENNAN I SEE HOW IT IS MY GUY… REALLY HAD TO RUB IT IN HUH
Dude this combat was brutal. The fact that the constructs don’t die when the witch does makes me feel like even if they did focus the witch first most of them would still die. I’m hooked tho can’t wait for more
So are they going to revive but with only Red being able to remember the preceding events? Brb time to go set up a conspiracy board
That's my guess. Brennan said he knew a TPK was possible, and they apparently don't have backup characters this season.
@@SomeNerdyVlogger Alternately, what they have may be less “backup characters” and more “Hey you know those sisters and other book-holders you just learned about an episode ago?”
@@alecLogan I feel like that would betray the structure. These are the main characters more so than previous campaigns, it’s their fairytale. I think the mancala death tokens are significant here. Some sort of accumulating degradation, and too many tokens means they don’t get their “happily ever after”
@@link090909 I mean, there are _other_ fairy tales they could take roles in, but sure, there’s also that this is a significant amount and type of information to reveal to them as they’re dying. Though I would imagine that would be another mechanic that would have borne mentioning if it were the case, though I reckon it still can be mentioned once e4 starts if so.
WHY AM I EVEN WATCHING THIS?? WHY AM I VOLUNTARILY CAUSING MYSELF MORE PAIN LESS THAN 24 HOURS AFTER THE EPISODE DROPPED??
Anyways, thanks for the compilation, wonderful as always
intrepid heroes at the start of the ep: "I'm scared!!"
narrator: "..and they had good reason to be."
Why is it always the seasons with the really silly and out-there concepts that have the hardest-hitting plot beats?
It's like the more grounded the setting is the sillier they get with it, while the sillier the setting is, the more grounded the character arcs are.
on the bright side, Lou doesn’t have to keep doing the falsetto voice anymore
this is The Literal Worst Thing about Pinocchio's death /lh
Depends on what he decides his next character should be lol
After watching e4 I wouldn't be so sure
I had gotten a strong feeling that the ‘true love’ role had been moved to the thorns that had been protecting Rosamund (since she was able to be up and about), but I guess that theory will just have to spill or stew.
really wanted to remind myself of the death scenes (for conspiracy theory purposes) but didn't want to put myself through the full agony of a whole ep 3 so this is a godsend
They keep criticizing the plan distraction/extraction plan but it was honestly pretty good? Only big misstep was pib trying to get the wand instead of going right for the shard. The problem was the dice. The dice were absolutely insanely brutal. I wonder if any one has made a graph bc WOW
That was awful to have to endure
The notification and then repeating the part that got interrupted and then forgetting to edit out the notification is so real
OH NO WHERE IS IT WHOOPS
So like, afterlife campaign?
Okay wow I'm glad I decided to wait until the full season was released to see if I should watch it or not I'd hate to get attached to these characters and then THIS HAPPENS
Later episodes spoiler warning!!
Oh my gosh it was too far back for them to remember but he literally mentioned the wolf in the stew and did the boar voice! Aaah the planting and thought into these death scenes make this season feel more rewarding, especially the deaths that felt very unsatisfactory watching this in the moment.
this is my last straw
this episode had so many horrible roles too 😭😭😭
Well this was depressing. At least they left the world a little better than it was before........ THIS version of it.
My theory: All these characters wake up from a horrible nightmare in a swamp with Shrek screaming at them because they ate the wrong mushrooms
Well hey, maybe this means Lou will actually get to play Rip van Winkel like he said a few years back
(Oops, sorry, I mean Rumpelstiltskin)
i imagine it was a planned TPK for plot reason, much like obrigatory loss events in games, but im curious what was his plan in case someone got the nat 20 and lived
i trust brennan to not railroad it and just get another death sentence to kill the survivor for sure, so i wonder what would happen
Brennan said in an interview that he knew it was a possibility, but wasn't planning on a tpk :)
@@mushroompoet absolute madlad wins no matter which side of the net the ball falls on, i kneel
It’s a year later and I can’t find this info anywhere - WHAT DID THE RED BEADS DO
I'm gonna be so honest I cannot remember 😭. but I do remember that it was revealed in the finale and it was a mechanic that influenced the rolls they made or something?
I think it was, like, the final roll. Whether their stories were improved by the Author's disappearance or the Times of Shadow got worse.
mmmmmmmmmm whatcha saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
Am I the only one who finds it a touch unfair that the dice catcher is being held by the DM? I thought the whole point of those was to roll on a flat surface, it was especially critical when Lou damn near rolled a 20 and it shifted over to a frigging 2.
I'm really upset people on youtube and reddit think that wasn't intentional. This is 100% a planned story beat, and if you don't think so you aren't paying enough attention
Brennan said in an interview that it wasn't inevitable or planned. he knew it was a possibility, but didn't railroad them into it or anything
They could have not been spotted and had advantage, and _potentially_ could have just worked together to get the shard out (though it was indicated that diplomacy was likely off the table), but then they wouldn’t have had reason to question them being on the same ‘side’.
I’m really upset you think that Brennan would force them to bother with an encounter he knew they were going to fail. That is 100% a misunderstanding of Brennan’s DMing style, and if you don’t think so you aren’t paying enough attention
I don’t think Brennan went into this encounter knowing it would tpk. I think once Lou was down he knew he had to or else they’d lose Pinocchio as a PC and that would mess things up. This was definitely a plan B
Don't use trigger warnings
technically, I didn't use a trigger warning I used a content warning. and also, I will *always* warn for upsetting content. I will never understand why people are against making safer more inclusive spaces. the original neverafter episodes I'm using clips from even use trigger warnings.
@@mushroompoet ignore the edgelord you're doing a great job!! Thanks for the highlights it's nice to go back and rewatch these condensed versions when you want some d20 but don't have 2 hours :)
Im i the only one who thinks they aren’t done yet they will keep their characters and come back somehow
Later episodes spoiler warning!!
Oh my gosh it was too far back for me to remember but he literally mentioned the wolf in the stew and did the boar voice! Aaah the planting and thought into these death scenes make this season feel more rewarding, especially the deaths that felt very unsatisfactory watching this in the moment.