Thoughts on The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

I'm in the part of my metamorphosis to stereotypical suburban grown-up where I've become pretty addicted to podcasts, which I believe is the stage directly before I join the Home Owner's Association and pretend I enjoy camping.

Getting older: it's sad!

But I'm fighting off this unwanted evolution by sticking to podcasts that can face adulthood with whimsy and silliness, and for that reason, The Adventure Zone is near and dear to my heart. Run by the first family of podcasting fame, the McElroys, the show is an actual play podcast of games like Dungeons and Dragons, with stories written by the family. The first season, titled "Balance," would take too much time to explain and delve into here, but I wanted to talk about that season's sweet, baby brother "Amnesty," and why I adore it.

Unlike Balance which is D&D madness, Amnesty is set in something recognizable as our own world, a small town in West Virginia, home to a portal to another world and beset by monsters. Our unlikely heroes are: Duck (it's a nickname) Newton, park ranger and reluctant chosen one of space heroes, Ned Chicane, a grifter and successful thief running an unsuccessful tourist trap, and Aubrey Little, a stage magician who got real powers so now everything is on fire.

This season was shorter, and for the most part smaller in-scope than the first: characters in a small town trying to save the people they knew, learn about the other world beyond the portal, and keep all this monster business under wraps so people don't lose their minds. That smallness presents a coziness where your favorite characters can pop-up at any time with a joke, but also some serious stress as the monsters or the characters themselves, threaten the relationships they've been building around them over the course of the show

The show is set-up Buffy and the Vampire Slayer/Supernatural/The X-Files style with players discovering, investigating, and combating a new monster every few episodes, when rewriting the town to include a ridiculous number of water parks or having their characters start a successful TV show in their downtime. And in all honesty, that first monster, and the heroes coming together to face it is a little rough. The McElroys were learning a new game, trying to figure out new characters, and working to make sure the tone seemed right.

But listening to the story progress, the threats become more sinister and subtle, the characters become more desperate as things spin out of control, and the goofy jokes becoming much more necessary in light of all that drama is a wild ride that I just adore.

But the show also brings us the best weapon of destiny I've ever come across a Sword named Beacon:

Amnesty got some flack as it was airing, but this story is a like the younger sibling that isn't as flashy as their siblings, but listens, pays attention, and is ready to shine for the patient.

Available wherever you get podcasts. Take some time to join the Pine Guard this summer.