The gang's all here
NatOne Productions
is the name of a web video company that produces episodic stories through role-playing games. Mostly. Started in 2015 by Justin, Gavin, Nick, Jon, Cam, AJ, and Evan, NatOne Productions' first run included several board game Let's Plays, Tabletop RPG one-shots and three major storylines:- Denazra, a Space Opera dramatic adventure set amidst an ongoing interstellar invasion by powerful robots.
- The Last Stage, a modern horror story combining secret government conspiracies and supernatural, sanity-wrecking threats.
- Obleeq, a fun-filled fantasy romp where the protagonists luck, stumble, and roll their way to victory.
[Nat One Productions] contains examples of:
Denazra
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Besides the overwhelming and incredibly hostile denazra, the series also features a moderately helpful, experimental shipboard AI. And then there's the nobbies. These mischievous servitor robots are everything the denazra aren't.
- The Alliance: The Coalition is a collection of different species that have joined together to try and stop the overwhelming advance of the denazra over a period of hundreds of years. The bureaucracy has gotten so used to losing, however, that they may have turned into a Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering.
- Apocalypse How: This universe is absolutely full of different subsets of this trope. Dozens of planets have been cleansed of all native life and the denazra potentially represent a threat to all known organic life in the galaxy.
- Colony Drop: What some kral'shir want to do to Corifan. they succeed.
- The End of the World as We Know It: This has happened again and again in the Denazra-verse. The protagonists are mostly focused on stopping the next denazra invasion of the planet Mrava, but it is the likely, eventual fate of all the worlds in the Coalition. The protagonists are themselves eventually complicit in the destruction of Corifan.
- Faster-Than-Light Travel: Played straight with the gate network, but also somewhat averted due to the fact that all other commonly mentioned types of FTL are impossible. The tlecians typically fly gates to potential member species' over the course of dozens or even hundreds of years.
- The Federation: The tlecians seem to want this for the Coalition. The Federated Nations of Earth think they're this, but they might be heading somewhere else...
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: With Captain Nassova Cyril as phlegmatic, XO Michio as Sanguine, Dr. Varro as Melancholic, and Officer Xa'net/ Chapslee as Choleric.
- Great Offscreen War: The denazra have been exterminating organic life in our small corner of the galaxy for hundreds of years. The most recent war is generally referred to as the Retreat from Orm. It did not go well.
- Hostile Terraforming: The modus operandi of the denazra. They arrive in a system, eradicate any opposition, and then proceed to terraform any suitable planets to an ammonia based atmosphere. Nobody is entirely sure why they are doing this.
- Our Wormholes Are Different: FTL travel is handled by temporarily linking artificially constructed wormholes to one another across great interstellar distances. The tlecians keep the technology of how to do this top secret.
- Portal Network: Artificially constructed, inter-linked gates connect each Coalition solar system to one another. Somewhat atypically, however, the gates are adjustable and can link with any other gate in existence provided they know the exact coordinates of the other. This isn't allowed, however, as a fail safe to prevent the denazra from spreading to every settled solar system in a matter of minutes.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The Coalition, especially the tlecians, believe they're this. The truth may be a bit more muddled.
- Robot War: The denazra are a race of incredibly powerful, self-replicating machines that are slowly spreading throughout the galaxy and annihilating every species they encounter over the span of hundreds and maybe even thousands of years.
- Space Opera: The protagonists are part of an interstellar governmental agency.
- Technology Uplift: The modus operandi of the Coalition. They bring burgeoning races up to speed and recruit them in the war against the denazra.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The criminals being tracked down by the protagonists act like they're playing this trope straight. We shall see...
The Last Stage
- Artifact Collection Agency: The Operatives often find that the cause of the problems was some
ordinary looking item. - Badass Normal: The team often takes down the local Eldritch Abomination with nothing more than gunfire and gumption.
- The Big Guy: QUINCY is physically formidable, has military training, has the most and most powerful weapons available to him, and is only concerned with killing the paranormal, not learning about it.
- Black Helicopter: A large contingent of backup Agents from The Detachment are sent to Seattle via these after things go horribly wrong.
- Cleanup Crew: QUICK's main purpose on the squad is to clean up incriminating evidence, be it paranormal artifacts or the mangled bodies those artifacts affected. He also doubles as the driver for the team, as he keeps most of his equipment in his unmarked panel van.
- Code Name: The operatives of The Detachment go by code names based on what "Cell" they are in. The members of Cell P are PATRICK, PARKER, and PHILLIPS. Cell Q contains QUINNS, QUICK, and QUINCY. At least until Seattle...
- Combat Medic: QUINNS is a former Army medic now working for the CDC. He patches the others up, but isn't above taking the guns out when he needs to.
- Cosmic Horror Story: Something is pulling the strings, and it isn't necessarily human...
- Crapsack World: We're not sure if even the good guys are good guys.
- Delta Green: The story uses the delta green beta as its rules book, and the universe, especially the structure of The Detachment itself, is heavily inspired by the Delta Green source material.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Poor PARKER... he became completely paranoid to the point of wanting to shoot old ladies after what happened in Seattle.
- The Leader: PATRICK writes up the mission briefings before going into the field, disseminates objectives and tasks to the other members, and is generally the one who gives the orders.
- Properly Paranoid: The Detachment instills this type of mindset into its operatives, and the protagonists are no exception. Cell leader PATRICK makes sure that his teammates are really themselves every time he meets them again by spraying them with dangerous chemicals that have the added benefit of showcasing whether or not someone has been affected by the paranormal.
- The entire crew exhibits this behavior often, as well. They constantly are checking for tails, making sure their hotel rooms aren't bugged, and are actively suspicious of almost every person they encounter out in the field.
- With an enemy who can summon demons to possess young girls, make an entire town disappear, and who knows enough to send an attempted assassin after the heroes, they aren't wrong to check for these things.
- The Smart Guy: PHILLIPS varies between this and Naïve Newcomer. He is incredibly knowledgeable on the paranormal, having spent most of his life as a researcher, but has very little experience in the field. He's still the one PATRICK looks to when the team needs to know what something is or does.
- The Sneaky Guy: PARKER's skill set relies heavily on stealth and infiltration. On more than one occasion, he is the one designated to tail suspects. He's the only one who can pick locks, and when he can manage it, his first instinct in a dangerous situation is to hide.
Obleeq
- Catchphrase: "Murradin will provide." Started by Grabpot Thundergust, only cleric of Murradin, and soon picked up by the entire team.
- Indy Ploy: The way the Brotherhood of the Poofy Pants operates. They can't really formulate plans when their attention span is so short.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: The entire gang could qualify, but special mention go to Sage and Tarragon, who go from wrecking goblins to giggling about the word "duty" in mere minutes.
- Rule of Funny: What the show operates on.
- Title Theme Tune: The gang even sings it from time to time. "Ooooobleeq! Doo doo doooo, doo doo doo..."
