Acquisitions Incorporated, Now in Theaters!
What do you get when an adventuring company consisting of a Cleric CEO, a Door Smasher Fighter, a Ladies Wizard, and a Singing Intern go to a Sky Fortress for a treasure? Let’s find out in my review of the PAX West DnD 2016 Live Play.
Acquisitions Incorporated is a DnD group that consists of: Penny Arcade’s founders, Jerry Holkin (Writer) and Mike Krahulik (Illustrator); Fellow Illustrator, Scott Kurtz; and Writer, Patrick Rothfuss. The group is led by professional Dungeon Master, Chris Perkins. Jerry, Mike, and Scott have been playing for their podcast, turned live show, for about 10 years. From time to time, guests would join the group and Patrick is their current “intern.” The show has gained a pretty big following over the years, and now they don’t only play for the live audience, they’re playing for several theatres in the form of a live streamed Fathom Event.
One of the biggest pull-factors is the pure fun and enjoyment that the group has during their sessions. DnD has been pretty synonymous with geek culture, and to some, even an embarrassing hobby. I know I’ve had a hard time getting a group of friends together to play. But it seems that recently, the game has come into popularity in many forms, and this group is one of those that stand out.
The group likes to tie in several jokes and pop culture references, and that can be appealing to a bigger crowd. Instead of a serious nature, they always make light of any situation. Constant inside jokes keep us well entertained, while keeping DnD’ers occupied with exciting game play.
Chris Perkins definitely pulls out all of the stops for each session. It’s always questionable of he will top himself next year, but he always delivers. Whether it’s a thrilling story, detailed dioramas, or even stage design, the group goes above and beyond a normal session in Theater of the Mind.
This time around, they brought us into the sky. A huge led backdrop set the scene, a fog machine blanketed the stage with clouds, a huge modular diorama hosted the campaign, and the adventure was compelling. They topped their previous live shows for sure.
A few things bogged down the show as a whole though. There was one long sequence when they got sidetracked. They spent a huge portion of time just coming up with a plan. This lost my interest for a while. But being a skillful DM, Chris was able to wrangle everyone back together.
After the adventure wrapped up, I found Jerry’s rap a bit out of place. I think he also did it at the end of the PAX East show, but I feel like it ends the show on a weird note.
I feel like anyone who enjoys a good adventure, would enjoy this live DnD play. If you like RPGs, tabletop or video game, you would like this. It only screened in theatres during the taping, so I hope it will eventually be uploaded like all previous taping. Check this and previous entries in the series if you can!