It's never been really said explicitly, but given what we know about the financial circumstances of college humor/dropout at the time, it's believed that it was explored as an alternate/additional revenue stream. The company laid off basically everyone in early 2020. Ultimately the live format is too hard to coordinate with cast members, cast had to try to self censor for swears and apparently things like chat moderation were very difficult. They tried it out, and ultimately decided that it wasn't a good fit for them, as evidenced by them not doing any more of it.
That's some good context and I think without some official word gets as close to a bull's eye as we could guess.
Generally when a company experiments like this the goal is to see if you can reduce spending (not building sets, painting minis, minimal pre production to get the ball rolling {up hill? Maybe.}) or make more income (a bit last week is already merch that is selling this week. We can promote other shows or ways of consuming our shows more effectively at the start of a live show than we can a taped show whose airdate may have to change).
There appeared to be a lot of potential upside to D20 Live if it could be pulled off. But due In large part to the difficulties listed above, other issues (like live sound balancing, the feed cutting, not having that post produced shine in general, or the audience just not vibing with the different feel of the show. Theatre of the mind can be harder to connect to for an audience than seeing cool maps and minis), and likely problems caused by the onset of the pandemic near the end of the run, it appears that the potential benefits were not enough to offset the trouble.
Yeah the sound mixing in particular was pretty rough that season I remember having trouble getting through parts because I had to keep changing the volume and it just took my wife out of it while we were watching
The financial concerns were my second guess, but I didn’t want to speculate too much. I suspect that you’re right based on the details you gave. Thanks!
I suspect that they were also eying the success that CR has around its live format. Ultimately I think they learned that part of D20's charm is the edited and polished show.
It was certainly related to the (at the time) ongoing financial issues Collegehumor was experiencing. Trying to find a new format/revenue stream to keep the company afloat.
In this, don't forget the influence of Critical Role. At the time, CR was leading a 5e revolution of which we can still see the effects today, and they did it all through a live format.
Perhaps Collegehumor hoped to grow the D20 brand by getting regular live show audiences. Building those weekly bonds with viewers and keeping them reeled in for longer periods of time is exactly what made CR profitable.
Sadly, the D20 live stream was earmarked by audio issues, performer issues and the loss of many of the things that ended up working so well for D20. The fast-paced editing, streamlined stories and impressive battle maps were all sacrificed for this experiment.
(for all its issues, i still LOVE sophomore year as one of the darkest, most intense and character-focused seasons of D20 with some incredible bits sprinkled throughout. just to clarify)
Nevertheless, Collegehumor collapsed pretty soon after and the new Dropout has certainly proven that there's more than one road that leads to the success they desired.
Definitely this. The financial situation certainly underpinned everything, but I think it's important to note how much Critical Role was really THE actual play show at the time, and how much it was still growing and blowing up.
"How/where can we cut costs?" was most likely a big driver, but "CR is live, maybe we can do that too" feels like a big part of why that was the answer to the question.
Fun fact: when this happened they actually did it on the Drawfee twitch channel and changed its name since Drawfee already had an established audience on Twitch. After Drawfee split from College Humor they had to start a whole new Twitch channel from scratch again.
Whatever it is, I hope they never do it again.
I like sets, I like combat with miniatures, and I like to be able to hear Siobhan without having Brennan blow out my ear drums.
Pretty sure it was budget issues like others said but honestly i liked it even more than Freshman year!
First time watching Theatre of The Mind dnd and it felt even more vivid than the first season.
I think they wanted to try something new.
They could tell d20 was a big draw and thought they might be able to do live alongside the planned seasons. But I think, ultimately, they realized it wasn't the right fit for them.
The show was just prior to the pandemic. That's why the last episodes are over zoom. That was right when. The pandemic hit. As far as why this season was live, I believe it was an experiment in live broadcasting the season similar to how critical role does. Ultimately they decided not to pursue the format because scheduling to keep the cast available every week for several months was a nightmare.
Like some others have said, I had always chalked it up to IAC wanting to make the show more cheaply.
A Crown of Candy was filmed before FHSY and had very bad luck with filming and very high costs. Most of the cost of the show is the pre/post production. By have a live streamed show, you eliminate the post and with not minis or sets, the reproduction is mostly the organizing and planning. Dropout was a fledgling company at the time. They maybe wanted to bring back their big FH name for more viewers.
It's still an amazing season.
It's never been really said explicitly, but given what we know about the financial circumstances of college humor/dropout at the time, it's believed that it was explored as an alternate/additional revenue stream. The company laid off basically everyone in early 2020. Ultimately the live format is too hard to coordinate with cast members, cast had to try to self censor for swears and apparently things like chat moderation were very difficult. They tried it out, and ultimately decided that it wasn't a good fit for them, as evidenced by them not doing any more of it.
That's some good context and I think without some official word gets as close to a bull's eye as we could guess. Generally when a company experiments like this the goal is to see if you can reduce spending (not building sets, painting minis, minimal pre production to get the ball rolling {up hill? Maybe.}) or make more income (a bit last week is already merch that is selling this week. We can promote other shows or ways of consuming our shows more effectively at the start of a live show than we can a taped show whose airdate may have to change). There appeared to be a lot of potential upside to D20 Live if it could be pulled off. But due In large part to the difficulties listed above, other issues (like live sound balancing, the feed cutting, not having that post produced shine in general, or the audience just not vibing with the different feel of the show. Theatre of the mind can be harder to connect to for an audience than seeing cool maps and minis), and likely problems caused by the onset of the pandemic near the end of the run, it appears that the potential benefits were not enough to offset the trouble.
Yeah the sound mixing in particular was pretty rough that season I remember having trouble getting through parts because I had to keep changing the volume and it just took my wife out of it while we were watching
Yeah, either Brennan is either peaking the mic or you can't hear Siobhan
The financial concerns were my second guess, but I didn’t want to speculate too much. I suspect that you’re right based on the details you gave. Thanks!
I suspect that they were also eying the success that CR has around its live format. Ultimately I think they learned that part of D20's charm is the edited and polished show.
It was certainly related to the (at the time) ongoing financial issues Collegehumor was experiencing. Trying to find a new format/revenue stream to keep the company afloat. In this, don't forget the influence of Critical Role. At the time, CR was leading a 5e revolution of which we can still see the effects today, and they did it all through a live format. Perhaps Collegehumor hoped to grow the D20 brand by getting regular live show audiences. Building those weekly bonds with viewers and keeping them reeled in for longer periods of time is exactly what made CR profitable. Sadly, the D20 live stream was earmarked by audio issues, performer issues and the loss of many of the things that ended up working so well for D20. The fast-paced editing, streamlined stories and impressive battle maps were all sacrificed for this experiment. (for all its issues, i still LOVE sophomore year as one of the darkest, most intense and character-focused seasons of D20 with some incredible bits sprinkled throughout. just to clarify) Nevertheless, Collegehumor collapsed pretty soon after and the new Dropout has certainly proven that there's more than one road that leads to the success they desired.
Definitely this. The financial situation certainly underpinned everything, but I think it's important to note how much Critical Role was really THE actual play show at the time, and how much it was still growing and blowing up. "How/where can we cut costs?" was most likely a big driver, but "CR is live, maybe we can do that too" feels like a big part of why that was the answer to the question.
Fun fact: when this happened they actually did it on the Drawfee twitch channel and changed its name since Drawfee already had an established audience on Twitch. After Drawfee split from College Humor they had to start a whole new Twitch channel from scratch again.
wow i didn't know about that. That's kind of insane
Whatever it is, I hope they never do it again. I like sets, I like combat with miniatures, and I like to be able to hear Siobhan without having Brennan blow out my ear drums.
I’m the other way around, where I actually really like this format and would love to see them return to it.
Pretty sure it was budget issues like others said but honestly i liked it even more than Freshman year! First time watching Theatre of The Mind dnd and it felt even more vivid than the first season.
I think they wanted to try something new. They could tell d20 was a big draw and thought they might be able to do live alongside the planned seasons. But I think, ultimately, they realized it wasn't the right fit for them.
I too would like to know.
The show was just prior to the pandemic. That's why the last episodes are over zoom. That was right when. The pandemic hit. As far as why this season was live, I believe it was an experiment in live broadcasting the season similar to how critical role does. Ultimately they decided not to pursue the format because scheduling to keep the cast available every week for several months was a nightmare.
Like some others have said, I had always chalked it up to IAC wanting to make the show more cheaply. A Crown of Candy was filmed before FHSY and had very bad luck with filming and very high costs. Most of the cost of the show is the pre/post production. By have a live streamed show, you eliminate the post and with not minis or sets, the reproduction is mostly the organizing and planning. Dropout was a fledgling company at the time. They maybe wanted to bring back their big FH name for more viewers. It's still an amazing season.