Along the way they meet an eclectic band of NPCs (non-player characters) that range from the boy detective Angus McDonald to the stoic Bureau director Lucrecia to Kravitz, the Grim Reaper himself. Each of the seven relics gets its own narrative arc, which brings our intrepid band of heroes to a new location to square off against new threats. Tirelessly dogged by the villainous Red Robes and forced to adapt to the unique challenges of each new relic (and their mortal thralls), they are tasked with collecting and destroying the artifacts by any means necessary, lest they fall into the wrong hands. But after discovering the devastating Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, a weapon of such unimaginable power that it burned up its wielder and reduced the nearby town of Phandalin to glass, they are recruited into the clandestine Bureau of Balance: a SHIELD-like organization whose expressed mission is to hunt down the Grand Relics (seven devastatingly powerful relics of which the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet was one). When fighter Magnus (Travis), wizard Taako (Justin) and cleric Merle (Clint) are hired to retrieve some treasure from a nearby mountain vault, it seems like a job the same as any other. And while I have great love for their latest season, Amnesty (a Buffy-esque, supernatural mystery using the game Monster of the Week), it’s their first season, Balance, that struck such a chord with me while I was watching a pint-sized Paul Rudd punching goons on the back of domesticated carpenter ants. Each season follows a completely different cast of characters in a completely different setting as they work through a completely different set of plot points and storylines (with them even playing different games altogether). The Adventure Zone, unquestionably the best podcast that I tune into from week to week, follows three brothers (Griffin, Travis and Justin McElroy) and their dad (Clint) as they play their long-running game of Dungeons & Dragons. This was the kind of tip-of-my-tongue, edge-of-my-seat, inside-of-my-eyelids “I know this” feeling that was bound to keep me up at night.Īnd then it struck me: The Adventure Zone! And no, I don’t just mean that I’d seen Ant-Man (2015) already and so the way that they built upon that movie’s gags, characters and story lines had me reeling with an easily hand-waved sense of déjà vu. #RELIC ADVENTURE ZONE MOVIE#So when I sat in on the latest Marvel movie opening night, I had the unshakable feeling that I had seen it all somewhere before. From the horrored halls of academia to the latest misadventures on Dice Funk, they’ve made my prolonged time on the highway the best part of my day (because, seriously, who doesn’t love story time?). Having spent 3-6 hours in my car every weekday for the last half-decade (mostly commuting to or from work), and despising anything and everything playing over the radio, I’ve become quite an aficionado of the various talk shows on my phone. And while movies are certainly what I have the most to say about in any given moment, they’re far from my only passion.įor instance, you might not have realized that I am an avid podcast listener. #RELIC ADVENTURE ZONE SERIES#And between my ongoing series reviewing all the Friday the 13 th movies, my regular reviews of the latest theatrical releases and my advocating for unfairly maligned films tossed by the wayside, that’s a fair assumption to have of me. It’s only a matter of time before this sparkling disaster crash-lands, but in order to find the stone and save the whole planet from being King Midased, our heroes will have to fight their way through a gauntlet of rowdy robots and crystal golems, decide whether they can trust the evasive Lucas Miller, and solve the mystery of what-or who-has put them all in peril, before there’s no world left to save.Given my dedicated hyper-focus on movies when writing for this website, it’s easy to assume that it’s the one thing in the entertainment world that I really care about. An unknown menace has seized control of the stone, and is using it to transform the lab into a virulent pink crystal that spreads to everything it touches. Based on the blockbuster podcast where the McElroy brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG and illustrated by cartooning powerhouse Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom takes this #1 New York Times bestselling series to haunting new heights.Ī desperate call for help interrupts holiday celebrations at the Bureau of Balance, and sends Taako, Magnus and Merle on a high-stakes mission to find and Reclaim a fourth deadly relic: a powerful transmutation stone, hidden somewhere in the depths of a floating arcane laboratory that’s home to the Doctors Maureen and Lucas Miller.
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