[picspam] I Roll Nat20
One of my favorite music videos is for Mc Frontalot's Critical Hit, and I think I like it so much because it kind of captures what's so awesome about both kinds of roleplay - tabletop and live action.
The premise of the video is simple: Frontalot and his friends are playing a campaign of something called Grammys and Groupies:
Grammys and Groupies is a DnD-style tabletop rpg about the life of a musician, and it serves as the framing device for the second level of the story. We see that Frontalot rolls a 19:
which then allows Frontalot's character to be pretty awesome. We cut to rpg!Frontalot, who is magnificently exiting his limo:
You can't see it in this screenshot (you will later), but Frontalot is done up in Ziggy Stardust-style makeup. After that, we see rpg!Frontalot on the cover of some magazines:
My favorite thing about these magazine cover is the way that they simultaneously both show what Frontalot wants to be ("I'm on the cover of a lot a lot of magazines / no I don't say all but I've been practicing / my big TV grin and charming banter") and poke fun at the idea that mainstream culture is never going to let him be that. I'm also pretty fond of the shoutouts to other nerdy musicians. Then we cut to someone interviewing rpg!Frontalot:
Because he rolled high, his rpg self is doing pretty awesome. This streak continues with a 13, which everyone is happy about:
This roll allows rpg!Frontalot to do something good. In this case, it allows him to rescue a puppy:
Yay! It seems like rpg!Frontalot is doing awesomely, but as anyone who plays knows: the dice are fickle. Frontalot rolls a 2:
This low roll means that rpg!Frontalot's career takes a turn for the worse. Somebody leaks his sex tape, oh no!
Yikes. We cut to rpg!Frontalot in his Ziggy Stardust makeup in the limo:
Interestingly, this is the first time it becomes clear that the people he's playing with are playing roles in his career too. The person sitting next to Frontalot is one of the players, and we see the wizardry-loving player in the limo:
We also see Frontalot in his hipster indie get-up again:
But then we see Frontalot, again in his Ziggy Stardust makeup, refusing an interview. Note the people standing next to him:
We cut back to the actual game, and we see the way that the events in-game are playing out in real life. It's interesting to see the way their rpg selves differ from their real selves. The girl seems much more simpering and adoring, while the man seems much more calm than his rpg counterpart.
Because dungeon masters are cruel, the dungeon master of their game decides to introduce the next module:
This starts out fine. Frontalot rolls an 18:
This prompts him to be interviewed at a press conference. The reporter are, of course, the other players:
This doesn't go well, because Frontalot rolls a 3. This prompts everyone to review Frontalot's album badly:
Which, to be honest, is probably because it's a pretentious piece of bull. Like, this is presumably a clip of rpg!Frontalot performing off his album live:
And - because what's the fun in playing tabletop if you can't act out all of your character's actions? - all of Frontalot's friends throw wads of paper at him because they hate the album too:
But it's okay. Frontalot has a charisma potion:
This, of course, prompts everyone to LOVE Frontalot's music.
Not to be outdone, though, the Dungeon Master introduces yet another Grammys and Groupies modules.
Rolling the dice, Frontalot gets a 16, which allows his character to open up a charity:
Once again, though, Frontalot's luck takes a turn for the worse. He rolls 1.
His character ends up in a dingy, run-down motel and tries to jerk off with a belt tied around his neck to his own porn tape and it goes massively awry:
Death gives Frontalot a final chance, handing him a die:
Frontalot rolls a 20, which saves him from certain death! Incidentally, I want a die that lights up when I roll a 20.
Anyway, Frontalot lives to tell the tale of his experience on "Storytellers."
Then the video becomes more traditional, featuring all the different rpg!Frontalots dancing around and singing the hook of the song.
The interesting part is when they cut back to Ziggy Stardust!Frontalot on the red carpet. They show him dancing around with the other players at the table:
Then they cut back to the actual DnD party:
I think it illustrates the difference between how a tabletop rpg goes versus the way their fantasies are being played out nicely.
Anyway, this video is really awesome, and you should definitely go watch it and see all the greatness because the screencaps don't really give you the full effect. :D
This entry originally posted here. Original entry currently has
comments. :D
The premise of the video is simple: Frontalot and his friends are playing a campaign of something called Grammys and Groupies:
Grammys and Groupies is a DnD-style tabletop rpg about the life of a musician, and it serves as the framing device for the second level of the story. We see that Frontalot rolls a 19:
which then allows Frontalot's character to be pretty awesome. We cut to rpg!Frontalot, who is magnificently exiting his limo:
You can't see it in this screenshot (you will later), but Frontalot is done up in Ziggy Stardust-style makeup. After that, we see rpg!Frontalot on the cover of some magazines:
My favorite thing about these magazine cover is the way that they simultaneously both show what Frontalot wants to be ("I'm on the cover of a lot a lot of magazines / no I don't say all but I've been practicing / my big TV grin and charming banter") and poke fun at the idea that mainstream culture is never going to let him be that. I'm also pretty fond of the shoutouts to other nerdy musicians. Then we cut to someone interviewing rpg!Frontalot:
Because he rolled high, his rpg self is doing pretty awesome. This streak continues with a 13, which everyone is happy about:
This roll allows rpg!Frontalot to do something good. In this case, it allows him to rescue a puppy:
Yay! It seems like rpg!Frontalot is doing awesomely, but as anyone who plays knows: the dice are fickle. Frontalot rolls a 2:
This low roll means that rpg!Frontalot's career takes a turn for the worse. Somebody leaks his sex tape, oh no!
Yikes. We cut to rpg!Frontalot in his Ziggy Stardust makeup in the limo:
Interestingly, this is the first time it becomes clear that the people he's playing with are playing roles in his career too. The person sitting next to Frontalot is one of the players, and we see the wizardry-loving player in the limo:
We also see Frontalot in his hipster indie get-up again:
But then we see Frontalot, again in his Ziggy Stardust makeup, refusing an interview. Note the people standing next to him:
We cut back to the actual game, and we see the way that the events in-game are playing out in real life. It's interesting to see the way their rpg selves differ from their real selves. The girl seems much more simpering and adoring, while the man seems much more calm than his rpg counterpart.
Because dungeon masters are cruel, the dungeon master of their game decides to introduce the next module:
This starts out fine. Frontalot rolls an 18:
This prompts him to be interviewed at a press conference. The reporter are, of course, the other players:
This doesn't go well, because Frontalot rolls a 3. This prompts everyone to review Frontalot's album badly:
Which, to be honest, is probably because it's a pretentious piece of bull. Like, this is presumably a clip of rpg!Frontalot performing off his album live:
And - because what's the fun in playing tabletop if you can't act out all of your character's actions? - all of Frontalot's friends throw wads of paper at him because they hate the album too:
But it's okay. Frontalot has a charisma potion:
This, of course, prompts everyone to LOVE Frontalot's music.
Not to be outdone, though, the Dungeon Master introduces yet another Grammys and Groupies modules.
Rolling the dice, Frontalot gets a 16, which allows his character to open up a charity:
Once again, though, Frontalot's luck takes a turn for the worse. He rolls 1.
His character ends up in a dingy, run-down motel and tries to jerk off with a belt tied around his neck to his own porn tape and it goes massively awry:
Death gives Frontalot a final chance, handing him a die:
Frontalot rolls a 20, which saves him from certain death! Incidentally, I want a die that lights up when I roll a 20.
Anyway, Frontalot lives to tell the tale of his experience on "Storytellers."
Then the video becomes more traditional, featuring all the different rpg!Frontalots dancing around and singing the hook of the song.
The interesting part is when they cut back to Ziggy Stardust!Frontalot on the red carpet. They show him dancing around with the other players at the table:
Then they cut back to the actual DnD party:
I think it illustrates the difference between how a tabletop rpg goes versus the way their fantasies are being played out nicely.
Anyway, this video is really awesome, and you should definitely go watch it and see all the greatness because the screencaps don't really give you the full effect. :D
This entry originally posted here. Original entry currently has
comments. :D