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Let me know what were the highlights from the Disney+ shows and Marvel movies last year, and what were your low points? Do you agree with what I thought? And what is your most anticipated for 2022?

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What Didn’t Work

I always start with the negative because I want to end with the positives of what has worked. I think that there are a few things that haven’t worked, and for me a lot of them have come from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That show was the roughest for me, though it did have the best action.

The big thing that didn’t work for me in Falcon and the Winter Soldier was that they removed a massive storyline and gave us some weird payoffs on things. The Flagsmasher storyline was supposed to have contained a story about a disease that was going to the GRC camps. Obviously when 2020 happened, they pulled that because they didn’t want to do a virus storyline. However, that removed the motivation of the Flagsmashers. And that left everything feeling bland in terms of a bad guy.

I also need to knock WandaVision a little bit, because it, along with Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn’t seemingly have much MCU payoff. Now, it might be that having watched the the shows we’ll find more Easter Eggs as the movies came out. But as someone who likes the speculation, I wanted more payoff on some of the things that the cast said and the comic nods thrown in there. Now, I will talk about what those shows were trying to do and did well in next section.

Finally, the Sharon Carter is the Power Broker in Madripoor. That was a twist that was kind of set-up, but then extremely poorly set-up that she was the Power Broker. It is something that makes no sense in what she was doing and how she first reacted when characters show up. So they really didn’t do her character anything that helped it make sense.

What Worked

Character development. Character development was huge throughout the three shows. Even Loki who is more developed as a character had some solid development. But really with Wanda and Vision we had amazing character development. We got to know them better than we had in the movies, and we got to see them grow together and then fall apart as, well, Wanda’s hex came undone. Even in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we got to see some character development with them.

We also get a few interesting end credit scenes or big reveals. So, Loki is obviously the one that did this the best. Bringing in He Who Remains who is a version of Kang in the show in the final episode was amazing. That was the payoff that we were hoping for from WandaVision. But we also got the Skrull cameo in WandaVision, and the end credit scene where Wanda is going through the Darkhold. Both of those things are definitely setting up more. Falcon and the Winter Soldier had Val, but that was fun but felt lacking.

They got the look right for each of the shows. WandaVision obviously had the most to do with going through various decades and sitcoms, but they nailed it. Falcon and the Winter Soldier, that one was more standard Marvel. But those are more standard Marvel characters, and by that I mean no magic. I really feel like it would have made sense to be the first one to be released. And Loki gave us this weird bureaucracy vibe to it and a dated vibe. It set the tone for the TVA drones.

What Do I Expect For the Next Bunch

That’s an interesting question. We are getting a show with another character we know, after What If. Hawkeye is probably going to give Clint Barton a way to step away from being Hawkeye and set-up another Young Avenger. But I don’t expect it to have anything as big as Loki, probably more on par with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

But for What If, I’m not sure what they are going to do. It seems like something that they are just going to have fun with, and I’m cool with that. I wouldn’t be surprised if the movies will drop little nods to what the show does, but I doubt it shakes up Marvel too much.

After that we get new characters like Ms Marvel and She-Hulk. This is where things again get really interesting. We get new characters that are going to show up in the movies, eventually. Ms Marvel is definitely going to be in the Marvels movie with Captain Marvel and more. So are we going to get an origin story, are we going to get something that leads into the movies, I don’t know. I hope by the time Ms Marvel rolls around they’ll know that most people are watching the shows and continue to make them important like Loki was.

Favorite To Least

1. WandaVision
   That one just worked for me. I like the changing aesthetic of the show for each decade and I love the character development. Even without Mephisto, it did still manage to set-up a lot.
2. Loki
   So close between these top two. Loki gives us some Loki character development, but really drives forward Phase 4 more than any other show did. We got our Mephisto there with He Who Remains.
3. Falcon and the Winter Soldier
   This one is kind of a miss for me. It had some powerful moments, but in the end, it felt like it didn’t progress Sam and Bucky much. We knew Sam was going to become Captain America at the end of Endgame, so a show where he steps back and then steps back up isn’t that great to me, plus missing plot.

What order do you put them in?

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Have Any Theories?

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Let’s talk about how fairly often a trilogy happens, and we can delve into some of the issues based off of that. The creator of the story has an idea for one story, maybe more, but one that they know they can get published or produced. So they go to the publisher or producer and sell them on this story and they get it made. Now, it’s a huge success and the publisher or producer comes back to them and asks for more and not just one more, two more of the story or film or whatever it might be. So the creator creates another story picking a spot in the middle for a cliffhanger between both stories and then those are published or produced. However, the second and third don’t do as well. What went wrong?

Now, it could be that there just wasn’t anymore story to tell surrounding certain characters or ideas or even worlds. That can happen, but probably isn’t going to be the biggest issue. Probably as often it happens that the creator didn’t have any more stories to put in that setting and to get something a little bit more out there published or produced, they agree to a multi-thing deal which includes what they are actually interested in creating as well as two things that will be more successful for the company that they signed the deal with. Both of those examples, there really shouldn’t have been a second thing created at all, because there really wasn’t anywhere to go.

But, I think there’s another issue that often befalls trilogies, and that’s their ability to tell a complete story. Pirates of the Caribbean is a great example of this. In the first movie, we get a complete story, we get Jack going from being a pirate down on his luck, getting what he thought he wanted, realizing it wasn’t what he wanted, and overcoming everything in the end. Same with Star Wars: A New Hope, we get a complete story including third act metal ceremony. Then comes along the second film, in particular in Pirates of the Caribbean, less so in the original trilogy (Star Wars). You get the creators knowing that there will be a third film, so they tell part of a story. You get some build, maybe even some change, but in the end, the biggest issue still hasn’t be resolved. Instead, you have to wait for the third film. And that’s fine, if you can watch both films back to back, but most of the time if it’s something you’re really excited about, you’re seeing the film or reading the book when it comes out, not when both are out. So you get the second part which is the start of a story and ends with a small resolution, and the third part which is the continuation of the second part and then the final resolution. So combined you are telling a single story, but both parts are going to leave you feeling a little wanting, unless they are masterfully crafted.

So, how can you get around this in a trilogy? Sometimes you just plan on it being a trilogy. Lord of the Rings is a prime example of this, Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t tell a complete story, Frodo is still going to Mordor, the same with The Two Towers, Frodo is still going to Mordor, and that’s the end of the story (kind of, there are a lot of third acts) when he throws the ring into Mount Doom in Return of the King. However, in each of those, we know there’s the through story line going on with Frodo getting the ring to Mount Doom in Mordor, but we also have other characters getting a story as well and there’s story, especially in Return of the King and The Two Towers that gets told apart from Frodo’s journey that has groundwork laid in earlier books, but finishes up and tells a story there. We have the massive battle between the forces of good and evil in Return of the King which sees Aragorn become King. We have in The Two Towers multiple stories that are told and wrap with Merry, Pippin, and the Ents and the battle of Helms Deep.

Lord of the Rings does two things that should be pointed out. It has a through line so it doesn’t feel like the parts of the trilogy are disconnected. This is the Frodo and Sam story line that they need to get the ring to Mordor and Mount Doom. It’s the key piece of the story and in fact, if they fail, the whole thing fails and that runs throughout all of the books. At the same time with have Gandalf, Aragorn, Merry, Pippin, Gimli, and Legolas doing there own things, making a difference in another part of the world. And even though they aren’t carrying the end game thing, the ring, they still have an important part to play. So we get complete story arcs, from beginning to end, for them in the books and not across all the books, but in each book there is a beginning and ending point.

This varies from my Pirates of the Caribbean example because it has a through line throughout the whole thing, Pirates has characters who repeat but the first movie stands separate from the last two of the original Pirates trilogy. And Lord of the Rings has a beginning, middle and end to each book, versus Pirates 2 & 3 where you have a beginning and middle and a middle and end split respectively.

What does this mean as a creator?

First, a trilogy isn’t the end all for writing, you don’t need it to be a trilogy. The Dresden Files, a series that I love, is on book 17. So you can clearly go longer if you have more story to tell, so don’t let a trilogy limit you. And don’t let the idea of it needing to be a trilogy or anything like that force over complexity and bloat into your stories.

However, if you are going to write a trilogy, or even if you are writing something that you have a bigger idea for, but you just need to get one written and published first, think about through line and think about a complete story. Now, it’s hard if you think that you are only going to get a single shot at creating your idea, but give yourself room. Don’t bloat your idea to fit everything in to a single thing, instead, tell a nice complete story and leave room in the world for there to be even more story. Star Wars, the original trilogy, does this well. You have them blow up the Death Star, that by itself could end the story in A New Hope, however, Vader isn’t killed, so the villain is still out there. If nothing ever came after A New Hope, it wouldn’t feel like it’s missing anything, but it’s natural that we pick back up again with Darth Vader and the Empire. So create a first story, even if you don’t know that you’ll get more like that. Give the main characters a big win but leave a villain out there defeated but not destroyed. That way, you can come back and pick up with the same characters and continue a story.

Also leave plenty of your world unexplored after your first story, especially if you don’t know if there will be more. Lord of the Rings, we get through some mountains, but we know that Mordor is still out there, but we’re not there yet, and there are other lands to explore as well that we haven’t seen or gone to. Star Wars: A New Hope, they really aren’t that many locations and then they have a ton of other planets that they can create and use in future films because they didn’t have them hop from planet to planet all the time. This gives you room to create more mystery and more adventures in which to tell your complete adventure. Pirates of the Caribbean really feels like it hits up so many locations in the first film, even though it’s somewhat limited, so you don’t feel like there are a lot of players left to join the story in this small world they’ve created, as compare to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars where who knows what new enemies or allies might be out there.

Now, I’m sure there are more things out there that you can do when creating a trilogy. I do want to wrap up with that I’m not trying to bash on trilogies. I think fairly often they can work. The original Star Wars trilogy and Lord of the Rings are great examples of this. Even The Hunger Games, which I didn’t talk about much, does a good job of making the 1st and the 3rd stand separate as their own stories. But don’t limit yourself to that if you want to create an epic, and tell a complete story each time, those are just my rules for writing a series or trilogy.

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Do I want to do another epic story like the first season of Dungeons and Flagons where things are going crazy in the world and there are plenty of plane hopping and epic travels around the world and seeing new places?

Or, do I want to do a tighter more defined story that takes place in a single location over a shorter period of time?

That’s somewhat what the second season of Dungeons and Flagons was going to be, though I was adding scope to it to tie it into the previous season.

Now, I’m not going to say that there are either of them better than the other in terms of gaming, but they are both two very different things. And I would say that you should check with your group or give some game ideas, but I’ve been liking the idea of running that tighter more defined single location or small area story.

Why might you want to do one or the other of them?

For the smaller story it’s easier for the DM and the players to keep track of what is going on. There are fewer crazy things happening, and fewer places to really track. There are also going to be fewer NPC’s. In a larger game you are going to have NPC’s from each city and town that they visit. With that though you are going to see a greater variety of characters for the players to interact with and are going to have to plan the story less, in my opinion, because you can always create a new location for what you need.

The advantage of a bigger game is that you can play the fantasy that people think of. People think of Lord of the Rings and Kingkiller Chronicles when they think Dungeons and Dragons and fantasy. They aren’t really thinking about a game that might be more similar to a Dresden Files book where it’s a more tightly contained story. However, if you think about it, Frodo and Sam’s journey to Mordor and getting rid of the ring would make a pretty boring D&D game, what Legolas and Gimli are up to would make a better game, so there’s a balancing aspect so you don’t have to rush through everything to make your characters the main story of the game.

So what do I want to do in my next game?

I think that I want to do a smaller scope game. I liked parts of what I was doing in Season 2 of Dungeons and Flagons, but parts I didn’t too well. The part that I didn’t love too well was the fact that I wasn’t always prepared enough for a small story game. I think that a small location game, I guess I should say over story, requires more planning and focus as I’ve mentioned above. And I was very used to winging it as I had some general beats through the first season I knew I wanted to hit, but beyond that, they could do whatever. The tighter game is a bit more focused and some might call it a bit more rail road, I would disagree with that assessment, but some people might say that. There’s a difference on limiting the location for the story and making the players doing certain things in certain order so the story progresses as expected.

What sort of game do you enjoy? Do you like the big epic game or the smaller game?

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