Thoughts: AI Team C

C Team!
"I love it when a plan comes together..." (oh wait, that's the A-Team).

I caught up with the Acquisitions, Incorporated "Team C" series, enjoying almost every minute of it. You can find the series at the Penny Arcade website, along with the rest of the AI podcasts and videos:
http://www.acq-inc.com/cteam/video

Jerry Holkins, as DM, decided the K'Thriss character had lost his memories and thus his levels (and his sorcerer multi-class) which was needed for him to be in a lower-level group (but it's really annoying from a narrative standpoint and - I assume - means he can't rejoin the main AI team even though he was in their last liveplay session):

I like the new characters:

Unfortunately, watching these videos makes me like the Omin Dran character less and less; I already thought he was a power-hungry person who felt the need to control the lives of others (because of the way he constantly micro-managed and belittled the other characters and because of the way the player would meta-game table-talk to the other players, telling them what to do both in and out of combat), but seeing the concept transforming into "Omin sends the C Team on missions" as Jerry Holkins DMing them into those situations has only reinforced my dislike of Omin.

Jerry Holkins does a great job of DMing and running the game, but the way that Omin has recruited the characters is weird and controlling. I wish they had used a different plot because the intro adventures that bring them together was a bit too strange for my tastes. What's worse is that in the behind the scenes interviews, Jerry Holkins said he was excited about DMing the game because it allowed him to explore his character Omin's backstory (which worries me, because these adventures should be about the player characters and not about Omin).

Because of the strange way the characters came together (not their fault), there was some initial awkwardness. Eventually, the new group meshed together and found their groove. I am looking forward to watching their future sessions. I just hope it turns into a more traditional D&D experience and that it focuses on these characters having a good time adventuring together.