Sneaky Sneaky - A Review for Stealthy Approach

Dungeons and Dragons is a source of endless inspiration for many creators out there. We here at Apotheosis Studios have made big world books to bring new realms of adventure. Other creators have made other kinds of media that we fans is a really welcome slice of fun for us fans.

We've looked very closely at the fine work of Deerstalker Productions for a while. They've brought D&D memes to our shores in the guise of well made shorts in character and at the table. While we wait for season four, let's continue our look back on their original content.

Everybody Roll Stealth

The old adage that “stealth is optional on this mission” usually means the party goes in with a great deal of noise, destruction, and the death of the mobs occupying wherever they were trying to go.

The Party is Being Quiet - Image by Deerstalker Production

It's a lot of fun, as a Game Master, to see how your table handles the challenge of getting past a gate to go somewhere restricted. The three characters in All For One find themselves at the gate, and make increasingly poor attempts to getting through the doorway. There's a very unifying idea that when a Bard fails a Stealth check, they have to badly play the Mission Impossible music and maybe do some bad acrobatics. The recognition and love of these collective unconscious memes are shown off so well by the guys at Deerstalker.

I feel that the most relatable part of the episode, for me as a Game Master, is the ending. It's easy to succeed or fail a round of checks, or attacks. In the instance of a single player going off doing something reckless without checking in with the party, the rambling arguments while I, the GM, ask for rolls is so satisfying. It's great to see the players get so involved, but not about arguing, that helps no one.

Compared to the initiation episode, we get the improved scope in effects to clone the actor playing the GM as he's there twice as two different guards, as well as the pyroclastic cloud from Nixie's fireball. The ambition and pizazz from an emerging web series was here from the beginning and amazing to see.

Now we want to hear from you. Has your party made similarly disastrous stealth missions? What other D&D media should we be looking out for? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.

That Wasn't the Plan - Image by Deerstalker Productions

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of Fantastic Universes, they write about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out themselves. On Youtube, they can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Find where they dwell by climbing their Linktree.