#oxventure deadlands spoilers

[a-casual-egg]

I just wanna say all their fashion is incredible and top-tier

[oxventure-text-posts]

[noumios]

oxventure deadlands spoilers, stuff id like to hear other people's thoughts on

the buildup to nate's death was almost too cinematic not to be planned.

johnny was very much making it so that nate was in a dire situation that they knew nate most definitely couldn't survive

there are pics of johnny on set, wearing their nate outfit, filming later episodes

nate is on all the merch

this could all be just copium but also. idk it felt so well setup and executed so im. yknow. im

[theoxvest]

Oxventure Deadlands Finale Spoilers

Aka what I would have done differently. Certainly not meant to say the actual episode is bad this is just how I see things and also I spend a lot of thinking about Oxventure.

I would have assigned the player characters different horses. Mainly because by the time it got to Edie and Garnet it felt very forced to me in terms of how easily they fit, so in my brain...

Edie is death first and foremost. I know Nate actuly died but that also feels a little surface level to me. Edie has dedicated her life to kill monsters and avenge her brother. She doesn't want anyone else to go through what they did. The death of her brother hangs high over her, so if she was the horseman of death she would finay be in control of that.

Nate is famine. He is constantly downing alcblohol and jerky to keep his shambling body held together, but it will never be enough. Nate always going to be hungry for the parts of life that are behind him. The parts that come with being actualy alive.

Garnet is pestilence. Her soul is sick from all the deals with demons she dealt her way into. Its a corruption. Sure she's hanging out with this group now and they get along well enough. The question is how accepting they are of how reliant she is on magic to help herself.

DeLacey is war. Sure he's young, but DeLacey isn't looking to change anything. He loves living in the west. The chaos, the gunfights, the heroics- its all part of it. The bloodshed is like a sport to him.

Silas is conquest. He wants to make the world a better place and he'll do it one cage of rage at a time. Wrath is a character flaw for him, but it isn't what drives him. Silas wants to find ways to make the world a better place. He left law enforcement because he knew it wasn't doing real good and Silas needs things to be different. He needs them his way.

[melsrainpod]

what is it with Ellen's characters and their dead friends/family being resurrected by antagonistic forces and used to emotionally manipulate those characters? I love Ellen and her genuine portrayals of quiet yet powerful anger, but like, *come on*

[curious-sootball]

I'm almost through my second rewatch of Oxventure Deadland and I have some thoughts™️

This post has spoilers for the deadlands campain ending! If you want to watch it blind, this is your warning

I have so many thoughts about The Horsemen I need to type them out or I'll explode (also, I don't know anything major about Deadlands lore)

Andy had gone an extra mile with the antagonists and I love that so much. However, he set the bar pretty high with Bellows, and that created unintentionally(?) hilarious jutaxposition with M. T. "ORDERORDERORDER" Boudreax.

• It is fun to see the Horseman of Death turn out to be the most unhinged of the group - it is usually the other way around; also, I'm not sure how much of his behaviour are mechanics of the Hangin' judge, but Boudreaux shows traits that one would stereotypically assign to an avatar of war - tendency to shout instead of talking, resorting to "Screw the rules, I'm in charge" type of reasoning, swearing at the first opportunity to do so, making up rules for the sole purpose of making everyone's life more miserable. That's a chilling contrast with the actual avatar of War, Bellows, being quiet, confident and having a "you will come to me, sooner or later"- adjacent attitude(traits one would stereotyoicslly assign to an avatar of death). I know M. T. Boudreaux is supposed to be at least a little scary, but his arc is in a breather episode spot in the campain plot structure, and combined with his hammy attitude, he ends up as (subjectively) the funniest Horseman.

(Also, the roleplay from everyone else in that episode was hilarious. Somebody on youtube commented that Garnet should've tried gaslighting the judge until his head burst from anger, and the more I think about it, the more I feel like it could actually work - hangin' judges need to be killed ironically in order to die; would giving one an aneurism from anger induced by someone one-upping his nonsense reasoning with nonsense counters count as ironic death?)

• Speaking of Bellows - I'm almost sad he was the first boss of the campain and thus was doomed to go out early; as Jonny Chiodini put it, Bellows is an oily bastard (and that made him an absolute delight to watch). Magnificent Bastard with the capital letters - with the emphasis on Bastard, but still.

Bellows is the most grounded(subjectively) of the Horsemen in this campain - I had doubts he had something supernatural about him until Victoria confirmed he was the Horseman of War in the finale. Bellows and Hildegard are the best at passing as people among The Horsemen - granted, very shitty people, but Daisy lives in the basement of her own business and is missing the top of her skull, and M. T. "ORDERORDERORDER" Boudreaux is, well, M. T. "ORDER IN MA COURT YOU PUNKIN'LILY" Boudreaux. Think about it: the most well-adjusted Horsemen in this Weird West are War, Famine and Conquest (although the last isn't as well-adjusted by choice). That's the Fridge Brilliance of that campain.

I also find it very fascinating that Bellows tries to talk his way out of the end of the tournament going haywire: option A is that he can find a new vessel, as the Horseman of War, but it is a pain in the ass to do that, so that's why he tried to talk Nate out of shooting him; option B is that he cannot find a new vessel(which is kinda confirmed to be true when Silas duels him), and has assimilated enough of human traits to fear dying. Remember, this is an avatar of War. That's some incredibly juicy characterisation for the first ttrpg campaign boss.

• Also, "I lost my ring and is in service to the ring bearer" line in the finale. Bellows is the first bounty to go down, and the later ones are implied to have taken weeks to accomplish; Victoria is all but confirmed to be the ring bearer. I'm willing to bet all four of my wisdom teeth at once that Victoria went to talk to Bellows(and possibly other Horsemen) via that thing as soon as the main cast was out of her sight and earshot. I'm reasonably sure she had known of the "i lost my ring and is in service to the ring bearer" thing as one of the Horsemen, and this is her first chance to talk to someone she viewed as family and then betrayed her in a long while. Just. Victoria chewing out Bellows in whatever pocket dimension that functions as an afterlife for a Horseman that lost their ring. (Also the implications of Bellows maybe picking more human-like traits the longer he posed as a human or a Harrowed is just *screams* amazing. Andy you devious Marshall I wish you the absolute best. Your NPC's gave me brainrot please keep it up).

• Another Horsemen thought - what came first? Had they all(except Victoria)decided to defy the divine plan for them and creates a mortal personas for themselves, or had creating their (mostly) mortal avatars given them ideas above their role? Because the only concrete thing we know is that they had disagreed with Conquest and sealed away her powers. They clearly made up their mind before taking Conquest down, but the rest is fuzzy at best. Had they went their separate ways completely after taking Conquest down, or had they all met up after before deciding to split so no one can take them all down at once and unseal Conquest's powers? Because the mental image of those four coming up with ideas on how to pass for humans (or undead) is both hilarious and terrifying.

• Next on the bounty list, Daisy DuCrow. Oh my god, she would've had her pick of victims in the Weird West even before she came up with the Hobb's End sanatorium. I got very strong Linda Hazard vibes until it was specified that she spent most of the time in her office. She has a very clear "malicious caretaker/doctor" vibe to her based off Victoria's description - something else to keep in mind: Victoria is both betrayed by the four Horsemen and needs to convince the main cast to kill them. She has all the reasons to slander Daisy - and I'm reasonably sure she doesn't do that too much here, because let's face it, Daisy is pretty horrifying on her own. I wonder how much of Victoria's descriptions of the Red Hand Gang is informed by what they actually did(as actual Horsemen of the Apocalypse)vs how humans would frame it (remember how she said that Red Hand killed her husband and son, and Andy confirmed it in the Q&A to be parts of the metaphor, not just things she made up?). She continues the theme started with Bellows - what makes a monster, and what makes a man how much of their personalities and actions is influenced by their supernatural aspect? Daisy clearly thinks of herself as a somewhat caring person - offering some people a relief from their maladies (for a very steep price, in many ways). Just how much of the Horsemen's actions are informed by their original purpose - heralding the end of the world as we know it and the birth of the new one? Are they still unwittingly work towards that goal or had some of them tried to postpone it and fail? That would be an amazingly tragic twist if some of the Horsemen had actually tried escaping their original purpose.

• Which brings us to the next Horseman - Famine, Hildegard Unger! Aunt Hildie, uncrowned queen of unearned familiarity. Her world faire pavillions actually sound like a nightmare (at least to me, but this may be because I hate children's songs with every fiber of my being and "Fruits and veggies, meats and grains" chant immediately set me off. Hearing Bison Billy telling the guy in the cow costume to stop singing felt incredibly cathartic). I really like the idea that the Famine personified came up with this marketing persona that weaponises politeness and sarcastic jabs(see her making fun of Bison Billy's act and his injury). You can't pin down what is wrong with her politeness (or you can, but it would be considered rude to do so out loud), but there is something off about it. Just like with her food. (She also feels like a more modern interpretation of famine - on paper, its A-OK, and the marketing looks solid, but her food isn't really nourishing in any way and she's too slippery and too wealthy to be hit with the consequences of her lies). 10/10, very punchable antagonist.

(Also - since she's an avatar of famine, does this mean she is always a bit hungry? Can she get drunk? If she can get drunk, would that technically make her the lightweight of the Horsemen, since she'd be always drinking on an almost empty stomach?)

• Last, but certainly not least - Victoria! The Conquest. Oh, Victoria. Loyal to your purpose to a fault. If only there was a way to console you without bringing on the end of times. That "they murdered my husband and son, and left me to die" line hits different in the end (How does a being like a Horseman of the Apocalypse even cope with being stripped of most of their powers and abandoned by their closest friends? Twice?). That's why I wish there was a little more downtime in this series - watching the posse bond not only with each other, but with Victoria would've made the finale even more heartwrenching.

Speaking of heartwrenching - Victoria weaponising Edie's trauma in her trial sent shivers down my spine when I watched it. How exactly had Victoria learned about Edie's past - had Edie told her that herself? Had Victoria read her mind as a part of the trial(since she puppeted the illusion of Edie's little brother)? Either way, that's a very telling thing that she (even after being nerfed down to basically human level by the other four) still considers herself a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Victoria DeClary, you're one cold blooded woman and I salute you.

[infinitedungas]

ANDY FARRANT YOU TERRIBLE BASTARD MAN

three guesses who just caught up on oxventure: deadlands

[delightfulpicturesofellenrose]

[stickthisbig]

Actual footage of Delacy and Edie:

[unofficialoxtimeline]

Deadlands and Blades

Deadlands is not different from Blades; it is a mirror version of the same story. Here, in the broad strokes, is the argument: 

The beginning

Five people gather to meet a mysterious woman for monetary gain. Although they don't know it yet, they are following behind a previous assembly who failed in their task.

The Hobbyhorses are explicitly criminals or aspiring criminals, and they are blackmailed into the job by being saddled with a massive debt.

The Wildcards are whitehats who are given a job to do in exchange for a monetary goal. They are funded adequately by their patron and set off to do as she asks.

The benefactor

The benefactor is a woman living in an old, fancy house, who has unusual amounts of reserves for what she presents herself as.

Eleanor works tirelessly to defend humanity from a group that she has always been working against, even though she knows almost nothing about them. She never joined the Brighteners, because she was purposefully kept away from them. She's suffered setbacks, but she's still in the fight. She has no intention of killing the Brighteners, because she doesn't need them, dead or alive.

Victoria is working towards humanity's end, against a group that she knows intimately. She has given up her part and has no role in the world she is creating. Her entire plan is predicated on killing the Horsemen, because they have what she needs.

The villains

The Horsemen are the Brighteners, there, I've said it. I don't think that trying to match them up is productive, especially when we know there are many Brighteners we've never met. They are shadowy organizations that are unknown to the players for most of the story, even though they've been interacting with the members. The Brighteners are Volisport's homegrown problem, arising organically before the cataclysm, while the Horsemen are an imposition on this world. The Brighteners reject magic, while I think it's not a jump to interpret the Horsemen as magical. The Brighteners are fighting for the status quo; the Horsemen are maintaining it, because they've failed to keep fighting. If the Brighteners win, magic will never return; if the Horsemen had won, the world would have turned into an arcane hellscape.

Sidebar: Victoria and Kellie Dimmer

If we were going to link any Brightener to any Horseman, it would have to be Victoria and Kellie. The reason Kellie has to leave the Brighteners is that Kellie is the only one with the courage to push ahead. She only cares about magic, and she knows better than anyone that it could end the world.

The boss battle

The Hobbyhorses travel to a portal in an alien landscape, and there they meet the villain Amadeus Astor. Astor has stolen Edvard's designs for the WMM and made the Worrisome Maniacal Mech. Edvard has built in a failsafe switch, and the five of them must execute a lot of teamwork in order to bring Astor down.

The Wildcards travel through a portal to an alien landscape, and there they meet their patron Victoria. Victoria has outfitted herself with the weapons that they freely gave her. She isolates all of them and makes them try to kill each other. Delacy realizes that there's a weakness that she's left exposed and all of them target it.

The end

At the end of all things, the Hobbyhorses and the Wildcards are given a choice: go home fat and happy, or end the world. 

The Hobbyhorses choose the end of the world. They know perfectly well that what they're doing might lead to destruction. They could be destroying Volisport, or they could trigger another cataclysm. They take their benefactor Eleanor's offer over the villain Astor's and throw the switch. No one knows what happens after that.

The Wildcards choose life. They cannot possibly destroy the world. That's where all their stuff is. They take their benefactor Victoria's offer over the villain Conquest and leave with the money. They go away together, looking to start the next chapter in their lives as a team.

I guess what I'm saying is capitalism is the real villain of Oxventure in the Dark, but in Deadlands security is a good thing to want.

I haven't gone any deeper than that, because I feel like this is a thing that Andy did deliberately to shape the broader story, but the Wildcards don't map onto the Hobbyhorses and the story beats are different. But please enjoy.

[a-casual-egg]

[smallbitterman]

WHY DOES SILAS' POSH VOICE SOUND LIKE HE'S DRUNK???

IM FUCKING PISSING MYSELF WITH LAUGHTER I HAD TO PAUSE IT SO I CAN BREATHEEEEE

[lostmymarbles]

that finale was everything, loved the use of accidentally attacking ur friends because of illusions trope.

[thejoyfuldamnation]

I definitely thought the second part of The Town That Dreaded Justice felt a little more balanced in terms of Andy's DM-ing. It was a really solid episode! The odds were difficult but not impossible, and he even threw some loot their way! I think part of my hang-up with his personal style comes from their 2 episode per mission structure, which necessitates that they not get the boss encounters out of the way in the first episode, so they end up having to hit a brick wall to pace things out.

I'm still really enjoying it though. Andy is a very good storyteller, and I really love the way the different teams have worked together. Really brings back some of the team vibes I miss from Blades in the Dark.

[theoxvest]

Love that the crew in The Town That Dreaded Justice Part 2 was

1.) A card wielding sorceress that literaly talks to a demon

2.) An undead zombie who controls insects enough to make a throne and eat through people

3.) A guy thats afraid of horses.

And its number three that comes to the boss battle with the right tools for the job.

[volisportramblings]

Wellllll….. the wait to next week’s Deadland episode is going to be a long one.