OK general answers: WHO ARE NPCs\PCs? so here we go - Forrest - Sweet William & Poke twitter.com/StabbyGM Sang Yup (often called James) - Quintas Pete - Wades www.twitch.tv/vaporlocke81 Francis (often called dave) - Daveh twitter.com/Raisins Everyone else is an NPC or an NPC follower (skittles) who's fight actions are determined by the players during battle. On our current sunday stream www.twitch.tv/zeebashew we're all still playing together WHAT PROGRAM DID YOU USE TO ANIMATE? I used toonboom Harmony Premium for the 2d animation and Blender for the 3d stuff. WHY DON'T YOU DO THESE OFTEN? They are pretty labor intensive to get right tonally, VO recording and writing wise, unfortunately they also don't usually get very many views compared to other stuff I make. MUSIC: Retribution by David Morton Finding a conclusion by Max H Black Cat Soiree by Bob Hart Rio by ANBR Remove the skin from the body by Max H
Thank you for finally pinning this comment. I don't feel the need to inform anyone here of what you said anymore when they can just see it for themselves now. :)
I CANNOT believe this gets less views than your other content, this series is so good I’m considering making my own voice acted campaign diary. Already shared this with my own D&D group because this deserves infinite attention
Oh my! Zee the first minutes were great! I know how time investing animation can get, but the buildings, the wind blowing, the camera movement, everything. Much much appreciated. Any kind of video you put together I will happily cherish!
It's unfortunate that The Cold Road doesn't get as many views as other things on your channel. It's the best campaign diary I've ever seen, and the reason I subscribed to your channel. Great work
@@dallindespain4093 Never likely. This video has half the views that a Animated Spellbook he just put out this week has already. And I don't know why, perhaps youtube pushes longer running series in their suggested algorithm more or sponsored ones. Cold Road imho is the best content on this channel both animation and story yet.. somehow it doesn't get the views alas.
Ahhhhh, just found this peril.. and I'm a long subscriber, lol. Glad one through four were all rolled in, I'm freaking hooked hickied hooked. And the entire range of styles visual and audios was ten outta twn
Honestly, it's crazy. I go back and watch this series semi regularly and every time, I want to start a new campaign. It's so, so good. Sad that it doesn't get the love it deserves
@@tigercrush2253 I just thought about all of these cause I’m getting ready for a winter setting campaign. Definitely some cool ideas I’m going to take from this for sure.
Still waiting, a year later, for part 6... one of the best D&D series on RU-vid. Even if the beginning animation was a bit janky it still looked awesome.
Remember the lesson from the first two episodes? "Do we leave Wick's to his fate, or do we go save him?" I think we've proven it's long past, "We leave Wick's to his fate." Sadly, it sounds like they have a new Big Bad to deal with... The former owner of that speartil.
@@jackielinde7568 most likely the tavernkeep is the bad guy since he 1 knew the priest had the amulet, 2 knew what it was, 3 vanished this entire episode
I know ots been over two years; but this adventure keeps me up at night. If i may divine a possible outcome, I belive that Clearun the Barkeep is the one who wanter the amulet of the Frostfather. He knew about the cult of pale orcs, he also had associations with Father Brum, possibly he studied the cult with Father Brum and wanted the power for himself. We need part 6 Zee, please 😢
@@kronos1794 I'm guessing Pelor is punishing him for leading his worshipers to their deaths as well as for just being a Chaotic Evil Necromancer in general, right?
@@kronos1794 What? Gods have interpreters. Besides, did not the Wizard, Skenk McGenk, impersonate Pelor; telling all of the people in Helmswater to leave their town, resulting in two thirds of them dying over the course of three days and the rest to be taken as slave laborers by Skenk and the rest of Team Funsize? And is he not a Necromancer; who killed everyone in Red Larch and rose them up as undead to get revenge on Trevor, the Twice King, Paladin of Hoar who hailed from Red Larch, for killing Skenk once before out revenge for killing his childhood friends? Did not Skenk and his brother burn down a tavern just to harvest bones and corpses for their undead armies? Are not undead blasphemous to Pelor, Oerthian god of the sun and healing? And is not impersonating a god blasphemy in general?
Ever caught a lizard in your back yard and it detaches it's tail? Made me drop the lizard when that happened. Not scared of reptiles at all mind you, I was the one holding it, but I did not expect it's tail to fall off and have a seizure.
@@wolfyrewolfswift1566 That's why it works so well. Nobody expects zombie seizure tail, especially practically anything that might want to eat the lizard.
The fact that this doesn't get more views is a tragedy and a travesty. I've re-watched the whole series twice so far! Fan-freaking-tastic! I do hope you keep making these. It's truly an awesome story.
The plot thickens... Amazing story, fun voice acting and damn, that animation. That being said, I wouldn't mind keeping the simpler less animated style you had been using before, I'd rather get more episodes without costing Zee Bashew's kidneys and months' worth of sleep. Stay awesome, you crazy animator you.
You don't have to explain the sudden shift in art styles, the workload was getting too much and you wanted to finish up, that's completely understandable.
@@anthonynorman7545 Of course you would know It's obvious, because changing the art style is a conscious decision. He either ran out of time or he decided it was too much work or there was some kind of effect he wanted to do and he didn't know how to implement it at the time and gave up at the moment.
@@lunacron I thought the explanation was funny and insightful. It would have been quite jarring too if he suddenly shifted art styles without explaining. I understand the genuine kindness behind your message, but as someone who doesn't animate or knows little about it, I would have not made that assumption.
@@felixap9286 I liked the explanation too and I appreciate the effort, I'm just saying he shouldn't be so self-conscious about deciding to switch to something else. It's not like he's done anything wrong if he didn't explaining it.
@@lunacron we can't conclude why the change occured just that it did. Saying not to be self-conscious isn't the same as the explanation not being warranted.
Those first 3 minutes were honestly a real treat. That blend of 2d and 3d animation is fuckin rad and I hope you get to experiment and have more fun with it more in the future!
Dear algorithm, this story is brilliant. It's wonderfully animated and the story is so rich and so beautifully told. 3 years later I still keep watching it and hoping for more. It's great work Zee, you're a fantastic storyteller.
@Garrick Lyng *Shoots orc in the left eye* "I'M A FUCKING DROW ON THE LOLTH BE DAMNED SURFACE WORLD!!" *shoots a different orc in the right eye* "now, where is the Tengu thief, I'm going to pluck him, skin him alive, vivisect him, then have my Mistress heal him so I can start over. While I'm doing that, Mistress will be finding the thief's owner, and, my next target."
This is truely incredible, and I would absolutely adore to see this whole campaign as a show animated in the manner of the first half-ish of this video
I don’t disagree with the factual statement that this episode doesn’t “need” animation, but I disagree with any implication that Zee shouldn’t animate. It greatly enhances the nigh perfect dialogue. I really enjoyed the improvements in the animation on this episode
The paper feel actually feels right. Especially for a D&D story. Also, put this next to that 3D Berzerker animation and think about how many people worked on that.
Dude, we love you and all your hard work, thank you so much for these amazing stories. I can not wait for episodes 6-100. Your wife and buddy have been doing an amazing job voicing the characters and monsters. Thank you thank you thank you!
The OG cold road style is really charming (player and npc tokens moving occasionally during speech or actions) Please make more cold road entries! They are very enjoyable
I know some of that looked off, but even then it still just looked great. The way the cape was moving as we moved up was great. It really had this fantastic look with the back ground.
That's anything but a tie up of the story. Obvious spoilers for the vid below . . . . . . Is shitwic the kenku really dead? Who's the mysterious spear thruster? Who killed priest longface? What happened to quentis? (No really, did the player drop of the campaign or smth? I thought he was pretty neat) So many questions and I believe there's enough reason and certainly demand for it, if zee wishes to continue. Dingo doodles fools gold campaign has now 19 episodes, so great quality animation and storytelling are always greatly appreciated
People are saying, "the story is so good it doesn't even need animation!" Which is true and supposed to be a complaint, but kinda takes away from the astounding work done on animation. Sometimes its insane to see what 1 person who is passionate about their craft can make. Well done.
I come back to the Cold Road videos a lot more regularly than I thought I would. I think they're my favorite videos on your channel, which is saying something because they're all great. These are always worth the wait, I'll be hopeful and patient for the next entry!
IKR? Zee's great at narrating, and getting to know just about any D&D adventuring party is exciting. I really like the Cold Road myself. I also liked the Goblins Who Stole a Deck of Many Things video; It was exciting and ended with room for speculation. Too bad it's not here anymore, along with most of Zee's videos sadly. It's on his Twitter; but it's divided into minute long parts, which is inconvenient. Still, I guess it's better than nothing.
Your little interlude about the production is so well done. It's unusual to see a video like this, actually taking a step back 5 minutes in and reducing the production values to something feasible. Usually a video either makes it onto youtube, stubbornly maintaining its production values, or gets stuck in limbo. Props for making the right decision!
(4:20) as a DM and someone has dabbled in 3D modeling & animation, I'm very aware of the rabbit hole you dived into this video. LOL Your narration is genuinely amazing and slight 2D animations work great with it. but it is really easy to get lost in cool animation tools.
I tried the same. Although I need a lot more practice in Blender modeling and making my Campaign good. So far, I just mix music and different sounds. I always start sessions like this. A small recap, describing the atmosphere, time of day and such things. Then I transition into what the players did last, wether it's resting near a crackling bonfire, drinking in a tavern, practicing their skills or even in the middle of battle, I love to see the player's faces glow when I say what their character is up to. Before they can take over the scene again. Anyways, sorry for this wall of text. I see, you're subscribed to Vivziepop. That's a great source of inspiration for art and storytelling. Have a nice day, stranger.
I love the way this campaign starts of with the expectation of Murphy’s Law and just leans in the whole way through. Players feel strong and capable but they only ever just get enough of a break to barely survive everything and typically it’s at a cost. Anyone looking to to DM needs to listen to this and break down how prep for this game must have went and how you were able to change things on the fly to keep the game going.
"The figure was obscured" Man, if only we knew of someone who had had unusual knowledge of the amulet, had tried to quietly take the amulet from the party, and was weirdly missing today.
Unusual knowledge? No, we know that Arnold learned it from Brum; he said he gleaned it from the texts. Unusual Interest? Sure, because why WOULD a simple tavern owner be interested in primordial knowledge?
I genuinely think both styles are perfect. Both are somehow what I picture in my mind when I play. One is movie-quality (I love the rich sunlight on Daveh's snout in that one scene) and the other is top-tier youtube (I love the little token animations alongside the background) God, this is really just top-tier youtube.
Jesus Christ that was amazing. Someone needs to get this man an animation team behind him so he can keep telling these amazing stories. Those first few minutes or really groundbreaking stuff considering one dude made them in three weeks. Amazing job.
There is nothing like in DND going to look at dead body and your DM saying: "You see a twitch." You never shit your pants fast enough. Or when they say you here clicking sound when you open a chest. Same thing.
The animation at the beginning was impeccable and 3 minutes of animation in 3 weeks isn’t bad for a single person :edit as this gets more traction I feel the need to clarify something I am not asking zee to continue with this style if that’s not what he wants I am saying that what is here is something to be proud of
Throwing this out there: these videos were such a fantastic way of capturing the events of a campaign. The art, the story telling, the events themselves were fantastic
Me: "I think you overshot the production value" You: "I accidentally overshot the production value" This is as someone who preeeeeeeetty much doesn't stop with the watching.
I'm sure these are very hard to produce (have an unused animation degree myself) but I just found these and would love a conclusion to this story! Just putting it out there. Thanks for making it at all.
I love this cold road series. Its absolutely awesome. Now im dying inside as i realise this wont be continued anymore. Aaah its painful this is S+ tier entertainment
I come back to this series every now and then, its always such a good listen, and the story is told so so well, hope a part 6 or conclusion is out there somewhere or will be
I adore The Cold Road! Thhanks for still continuing it!! The new animation was impressive and looked good, but I'm just as happy with the old style (including the style way back in episode 1). The wraiths look beautiful by the way. That last scene with them flicking in and out of sight while their glow on Whick persists was very clever.
It's funny how something that started as kind of an "off-week" for the channel became one of my favorite series on the channel. I honestly can't get enough.
As someone who watched all of this multiple times. I am blown away at the amount of care and love in the beginning animation. Very well done. (The cape looked cool too give yourself more credit lol)
Dude... Your art style (styles?), narration, and structure....shit, all your content is just phenomenal. Thank you for existing on this platform, Zee. I hope you know that you provide a truly wonderful introductory bridge to the DND community for us that are getting back into the game after a long hiatus of...life and adulting and whatnot. All your hard work and skills are much appreciated.
I was such a fool to sleep on this series so long. At least I didn't have to bare the wait for future updates until now lol. Fabulous storytelling, animation, and content all around!
Great storytelling, animating, everything. I’ve only seen some of your stuff when it popped up in my recommended from time to time. I’m really glad I had 1-4 in my recommended videos
This completely passed me by for no reason. I loved the original cold road videos and had no idea there were more. Hopefully I’ll be here for the next episode
I find it ironic that the original Cold Road art style was to make animating a longer-form storytelling video easier. And now he's accidentally modeled a tavern that wasn't even in the video! Keep up the good work, Zee, we appreciate the effort you put into these things.
best campaign diary out there if there is any more sessions or stories continuing this campaign the world must see. any time im going to be playing in a campaign while making a character to really get me inspired to make a meaningful character, amazing work
Honestly man I really really love the quality of the animation for the first half of the video. All of your work is amazing BTW but I was sitting there with my jaw dropped! Great stuff!
That was awesome, really enjoy these longer narrative videos. It really let's ya get immersed in great stories while doing something menial like cleaning the house. Loving the animation too!
All of your campaign diary vids are amazing, especially the Cold Road ones. I just rewatched the first set (found the compilation vid afterwards, I'm not complaining though) and hadn't even realized that you'd put this one out. Really glad I saw it on my "recomended" list. Likewise I hope there's more of these in works or at least a write up of what went down after this, I really think Horseshoe Town and the ice goblin caves are going to end up in my campaign somewhere in one form or another because the storyline is awesome.
This series was captivating..... One damn good story teller you are... Keep at it, seems like the human mind never tires of stories... almost a primal need. *Subscribed*
4:02 _"Can I get dynamic cloth to work over a 2D character? _*_Sort of not..."_* What? Sort of *did!* It looked amazing! Not only the cloth! Preety much everything of those first 3:34 minutes of this video were absolutly stunning and you should be proud of what you accomplished!
1:30 begs to differ. It was weird-looking enough that I watched it over a couple times and said to myself "he's clearly trying out 3D for the first time and I bet he laughs each time he rewatches this scene because it's clearly a 'fuck-it-that's-good-enough-I-can't-be-bothered-to-redo-this' scene." And then I reached his announcement at 3:34 and it confirmed everything aha. Everything else, including the cloak, looked very nice I agree.
What a huge story! What a grand experience, goes to show the value of a good orator and what one can do with limited animation. Love this series. Keep going please!
Well personally I love all the heart,soul and effort pored into these videos and I think you did a fantastic Job and grew as an artist and animator since the last time I saw you, WELL. FRICKEN. DONE.
This is probably my favorite series on RU-vid. Zee, your animation is phenomenal, but honestly I think most of us come for your unparalleled narrative. You’re a wordsmith, and you’ve mastered your craft.
I know it’s been a year, but I love this story so much. And you absolutely killed it with the visuals at the beginning, and the stuff after was pretty good too! I know that it’s probably not worth it to make more of this if it isn’t doing well in the almighty algorithm, but I’d love to see more of this awesome story! That was a hell of a cliffhanger!
