The McElroy Family of Products

[YoThatLimp]

I've totally played with groups like that.

 

What's really funny is when the opposite happens, and some NPC who was just meant to be a faceless shopkeep or whatever ends up with a detailed story, because the players want to know about her deal, and then make a point of interacting. You really have to think on your feet as the DM when that happens.

 

It's so gratifying when they become memorable characters. 

 

God damn it, I wish I still had the time and energy to play RPGs.

 

I have a boat captain named Captain Bucklesworth I made up on the spot, I offhandedly mentioned that the Captain and one of the players ( a fairly prominent folk hero in the area) had a bit of a rivalry.

 

Man, my players really ate that stupid character up. Every once in a while I would have Bucklesworth send rude letters to folk hero party member and they loved it.

[Gormongous]

I have a boat captain named Captain Bucklesworth I made up on the spot, I offhandedly mentioned that the Captain and one of the players ( a fairly prominent folk hero in the area) had a bit of a rivalry.

 

Man, my players really ate that stupid character up. Every once in a while I would have Bucklesworth send rude letters to folk hero party member and they loved it.

 

Hah, my most successful made-up-on-the-spot NPC was New Trash, the Harkonnen-like gang leader ruling an abandoned space station in the Outer Rim. He overthrew Trash, his pragmatic and almost kindly predecessor whom the players exploited ruthlessly and left holding the bag, and I made New Trash, who was hostile and paranoid, as a way of blocking off that avenue of the campaign and giving the players consequences for treating the NPCs as pinatas. Instead, they put a huge amount of effort into their diplomacy with New Trash and eventually I let them win him over, partly because they put in the effort and partly because they were so enamored with this guy who hated them and wanted nothing to do with them. They come back to his station at every opportunity, these days...

[Patrick R]

I am glad people like the McElroys but I have reached total saturation on them to the point where every time one of them announces a new podcast I just groan. I just heard an ad for a new Travis(?) podcast called Schmanners that sounded deadly dull. At a certain point their brand became absolutely meaningless to me because instead of doing one thing well they started doing ten thousand things with wildly varying degrees of success. 

 

Granted, they are three different people and a lot of these different projects only involve one of them but at a certain point I just can't listen to your voice anymore. How many hours a week can a single listener possibly dedicate to the McElroys?

[jennegatron]

Travis doesn't have a day job, so all he does is podcasts, and his shows are the ones I'm most likely to skip because of a few reasons, primarily tho i find post apocalypse things exhausting and I don't like dogs. I like Travis a lot, but I don't feel compelled to add everything any of the brothers do to my list, but I'll try just about anything they do once.

I have 2 hours of commute time each day, so I listen to a lot of podcasts, and am excited when someone I know I like creates something for me to fill 10 hours a week with.

[YoThatLimp]

I totally love Travis on MBMBaM, but I am not sure his humor works to drive something whole cloth like Justin and Griffin's humor does. He makes an amazing 3rd chair on MBMBam but I've kind of bounced off everything he's put out with exception of an older podcast he did with 2 co-workers when he was still in Kansas ( I think?).

[Patrick R]

I have 2 hours of commute time each day, so I listen to a lot of podcasts, and am excited when someone I know I like creates something for me to fill 10 hours a week with.

Fair enough! 

[Dewar]

Somehow I missed it all so I have not been over saturated yet

[Cleinhun]

I totally love Travis on MBMBaM, but I am not sure his humor works to drive something whole cloth like Justin and Griffin's humor does. 

Some of my favorite moments of MBMBaM are when Travis goes off on some crazy fantasy tangent, like the mangoes thing or the alternate cut of Night in the Museum he thinks he saw, but that sort of thing doesn't work as well if he's leading a show.

 

Also, nobody has yet mentioned the Polygon video where Justin pets every animal in Far Cry Primal and I felt I needed to correct that.

[Gormongous]

Some of my favorite moments of MBMBaM are when Travis goes off on some crazy fantasy tangent, like the mangoes thing or the alternate cut of Night in the Museum he thinks he saw, but that sort of thing doesn't work as well if he's leading a show.

 

I'm glad that you posted that so I didn't have to post it. I also think that, as much as Justin and Griffin appear together on most things, Griffin works a lot better with Travis than with Justin at the basic interaction. Griffin's comic disbelief and sandbagging sometimes make an impact on Justin but has never once dissuaded Travis from anything he's said. The "mango" bit is literally the most outrageous thing that I've ever heard any human being say:

 

[jennegatron]

I've been thinking about this all afternoon, but my favorite joke in MBMBaM history is when Travis claims that anyone who knows more than 5 recipes is just showing off.

[jennegatron]

New Monster Factory: 

[namman siggins]

The new monster factory was so good. I saw it at a coffee shop and i couldn't stop laughing; everyone in the shop gave me weird looks.

[Professor Video Games]

#NOID killed me.

[jennegatron]

:alert: new griffin's amiibo corner :alert:

 

[Nappi]

The incident during the latest episode of Cool Games Inc. had me laughing uncontrollably. I shouldn't be listening to this stuff while walking. Jesus.

 

https://soundcloud.com/coolgamesinc/episode-7-asdfasdf#t=23:00

[jennegatron]

how can you resist just pressin' that button?

[YoThatLimp]

Have you guys been keep up with Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton fame) has been getting celebrities to record videos telling Griffin McElroy that he's doing a 'great job'?

 

So Far:

RuPaul

The Rock

Tyra Banks

Carly Rae Jepsen

[jennegatron]

It's the Max Fun Drive! If you have been listening to an enjoying MBMBaM or The Adventure Zone or Sawbones or the multitude of shows that Travis does or Still Buffering consider contributing! I'm a $5 a month donor and am going to upgrade to $10/month this year. You get to select which Max Fun shows you listen to and the money goes to those shows with a small portion going to the network itself to pay for the staff that runs the network & for developing new shows.

 

If you've ever considered being a donor, now is the time to do it as you don't get the rewards at other times of the year, and there are challenge donors (aka donors who pledge to contribute a certain amount for every new/upgrading donor). If there are 100 challenge donors and they each pledged a penny, and you pledged for $5/month, the network actually gets $6 as a result of you joining, so you are maximizing your contribution by donating now.

 

Please do be aware the Maximum Fun is designated as a for profit, so this is not a charitable contribution that can be written off during your taxes. I consider it more like a subscription to the shows I like. I consume more Max Fun shows per month than I do content off of the Netflix subscription I pay more per month for.

 

http://www.maximumfun.org/donate - You can look at the contribution tier rewards.

 

If you're not in a place to financially give right now, I, and the network totally understand, I spent my first year too poor to contribute, but consider posting about it on twitter or facebook or some other forum you're on.

[Dewar]

Hmm, I wish I'd had a chance to listen to more of their content before the donation drive.

[jennegatron]

Max Fun drive started today, but runs for 2 weeks, so you can try out some more shows, or listen to more of the ones you like before you decide. You can pledge as little as $5, and you will get access to donors only bonus episodes of all the shows as well as the bonus eps from all previous years. You are also allowed to cancel your support at any time (aka you're not committing to $60 for a year, but rather $5 per month).

[Dewar]

Got about half way through the Murder on the Rockport Express and was laughing so hard in the elevator and on the bus that people were looking at me like I was crazy. This is worth 5 bucks a month.

[Salacious Snake]

I pitched in. Considering that I'm aready on episode 33 of The Adventure Zone, to which I was introduced by this thread, I figure I must be really enjoying it!

 

Although I have to say that Griffin could stand to tone down his plot-heavy machinations. The players haven't had much room to goof around since this whole Crystal Kingdom arc began. (And I'm having a little trouble keeping track of what's even happening.) I have to give him credit, though; for someone who is just learning the ropes as a DM, he's incredibly good at it.

[Badfinger]

I like that they experienced actual adversity!

 

I also chipped in. I'm listening to Travis's DM'd episode and I desire more of this. Griffin is also good at leading by playing, and Travis has constructed some cool stuff. Definitely listen to the bonus shit it's so good and Clint plays a fun character. They made backstories and stuff, it's amazing!

[Dewar]

I pitched in. Considering that I'm aready on episode 33 of The Adventure Zone, to which I was introduced by this thread, I figure I must be really enjoying it!

 

Although I have to say that Griffin could stand to tone down his plot-heavy machinations. The players haven't had much room to goof around since this whole Crystal Kingdom arc began. (And I'm having a little trouble keeping track of what's even happening.) I have to give him credit, though; for someone who is just learning the ropes as a DM, he's incredibly good at it.

 

I've heard the other McElroys complaining that they want to get with the action on more than one occasion, so I think he's just playing to the players.

[Salacious Snake]

I've heard the other McElroys complaining that they want to get with the action on more than one occasion, so I think he's just playing to the players.

Lately (in terms of how far I've listened) it's turned into a lot of him just describing stuff and even having scenes with multiple NPCs expositing at each other while the players just sit there*. I think it works best when everyone gets to do stuff, and the story emerges from their actions.

 

This arc feels like a Final Fantasy game.

 

*It's pretty ridiculous how good he is at carrying out these conversations with himself, but it sucks the energy out of the game. It's like the opposite of action.