#ALSO: so psyched it looks like they're doing the cravenedge subplot in tlovm

[queen-scribbles]

So I finished the Night Before Critmas oneshot, and one of the suggested videos on the side was Grog’s oneshot. Since there’s no current-campaign CR this week, I went ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “Sure why not, it’s fun”. 

Twenty minutes in and I have some thoughts.

First, I’d forgotten HOW fun. Also forgotten the Fjord/Jester cameo Travis stuck in there. And the hint toward Laura being pregnant. 👀 I have laughed to the point of tears once already and I know it’s only going to get worse better. 

Second, there’s someone in the comments saying the more they watch the show, the more they’re convinced Travis is a genius and, yeah, HARD agree. All you have to do is watch the Screw Job oneshot to see that. He’s TERRIFYING with a high int(I think it was 18 or something for that one) character. And it does show more easily with Fjord and Chetney since they have higher int scores, but it also shows through with Grog. There’s multiple times you can see Travis get an idea/thought from how the story’s progressing, a couple minutes pass, and then Grog comments. It might be phrased in a way that sounds “dumb” bc int 6 barbarian, but the thought itself is a really good one.

 An example: after they killed Thordak, and Raishan fled, and they’re trapped under Emon by the magical barrier, the others(+ Gilmore) try a few things to get out that don’t work. Grog suggests something that sounds simple, and is phrased like the thought process fits an intelligence score of 6, but is actually such a good idea that Keyleth and Percy immediately go “Shockingly, I agree with Grog, he makes a good point”. That ability to take a smart idea and basically translate it/the thought process behind it down to sound in-character for a low-int character while still sounding like a good idea is amazing. And he knows when to lean into Grog’s being dumb for comedic effect(Talking to Cravenedge in an outhouse? Getting Percy to title him? Getting cheated while supply shopping just to drive Laura nuts? GOLD) and when to pull back and just let “Intelligence of 6″ mean he’s no good with subtly and thus straightforward about his thoughts.

And even the Grog’s oneshot, having GROG dm for (part of) Vox Machina so Travis could fuck around with the rules and fudge stuff and not worry about getting everything “right” is genius. And it works so well in part bc they’re all such good friends irl, but just the idea is a stroke of genius.

Now back to watching :3