The Break Quest Club is a Dungeons & Dragons campaign on the Eurogamer YouTube channel which began in 2020. It was originally hosted by Johnny Chiodini (then-head of video at Dicebreaker, formerly of Eurogamer themselves) as the DM. It focused on a party comprised of members from both Eurogamer and Dicebreaker as they explore the land of G'eth, albeit in a different area. (Whether this means they're operating at the same time as The Oxventurers Guild is not currently known, leaving any crossovers ambiguous, although both Eurogamer and Outside Xbox have said they'd really be up for this.)
After a three-year hiatus started by the COVID-19 pandemic, then exacerbated further when Johnny and then Lolies left Dicebreaker to go independent, Break Quest Club announced a relaunch in 2023. Although Johnny is no longer leading things, their replacement DM is Olivia Kennedy, also of Dicebreaker (and Three Black Halflings), with the cast also joined by Maddie Cullen.
The cast is currently:
- Olivia "Liv" Kennedy as the Dungeon Master
- Etain (Aoife Wilson): A human cleric in service to the god Pelor, accompanied by her dire-cat companion Pangur Ban (Ban for short);
- Morrigan Manafort (Zoe Delahunty-Light): A tiefling war jester without much control over their/her impulses.
- Robert. O Cop (Michael "Wheels" Whelan, of Dicebreaker): A Warforged artificer who tries to enforce the law and takes a dim view on crime, even being able to smell it despite having no nose.
- Goodbad the Badgood (Ian Higton): a half-orc barbarian who, despite everything, is rather friendly and prefers cooking to fights or adventuring.
- Currently TBC (Maddie Cullen, of Dicebreaker)
The original cast included:
- Johnny Chiodini as the Dungeon Master.
- Hel (Alex Lolies, also of Dicebreaker): a Shadar-kai rogue who tries to seem edgier than she really is. Left after the hiatus due to Lolies leaving Dicebreaker during the hiatus.
This series contains examples of:
- Anti-Hero Team: Though the titular team are reasonably moral, at least to start with, Hel is an unrepentant rogue who'll steal things if convenient, Morrigan can be quick to anger and Robert will punish some crimes with death (although this tends to be for repeat offenders). Etain was a minor delinquent and rascal as a child (though nothing too severe) and Goodbad, possibly the moral compass of the team, has a dark past as a more bloodthirsty barbarian.
- The Atoner:
- Goodbad isn't proud of his history as a barbarian, which among other things involved his eating a cat.
- Wheels has implied that Robert's adherence to the law is partly down to being made to do some crimes by his masters before he broke free.
- Blatant Lies: One bandit tries to pretend to Robert that he's a first-time offender and just joined up out of desperation for some quick cash. Thanks to a perception roll, Wheels is told that's absolutely false and Robert crushes the bandit's head.
- Defeat Means Friendship: In "Con Voy", Morrigan manages to tame one of the hippogrifs set loose by Magnus and Freya, and recruits it as her pet.
- Didn't Think This Through: One of Morrigan's major flaws is that their/her impulsiveness sometimes lands the party in the crapper, chiefly in "Family Duels" where they/she leapt into a fight without considering the ramifications.
- The Dragon: In "Family Duels", Frederick Dinsdale is this to his father, who uses him as a way of taking out business competition.
- Duel to the Death: In "Family Duels", the town has gotten rid of the law and uses a duel to settle differences and punish wrongdoers, although it isn't always to the death. In practice, however, the competition is rigged so that Frederick Dinsdale can inflict a Curb-Stomp Battle and kill anyone so quickly they don't have time to yield.
- Epic Fail:
- When attempting to talk down one of the villains in "Con Voy", Wheels rolls a natural 1 and Robert only angers said antagonist into a final act of defiance. Wheels imagines that Robert tried threatening Magnus into submission by threatening their spouse, which naturally ended poorly.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- The villains of the first arc are Happily Married.
- The Arc Villain for "Family Duels", Dinsdale senior, is persuaded to give up his plans and reluctantly join the church of Paelor in exchange for his son being healed.
- Everyone Has Standards: Hel would consider robbing people, but brutalising said civilians in the process is too much.
- Evil All Along: In "Con Voy", Magnus and Freya turn out to be a Bonnie and Clyde-style robbing duo who unleash dangerous wild animals as a distraction, then rob the helpless civilians.
- Foreshadowing: In "Con Voy", a major clue that Freya isn't just a harmless old woman is how she takes the crossbow off Magnus and proves more proficient with it than he is.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: In "Con Voy", Hel joins with Magnus and Freya in robbing some civilians, but then relents when Freya brutalises them on top of the robbery; Hel subsequently tries to kill her.
- Jerkass: Frederick Dinsdale has understandable reason to be pissed off at Morrigan for attacking him unprovoked (although this was due to not knowing local pseudo-laws), but even outside of that he's rude and surly towards the party, even when Goodbad is offering to buy him a drink without an ulterior motive. His dad, while loving his son, is also passively condescending to Etain when she tries to spread the good word about Paelor.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Etain, the cleric, is a slight scoundrel but loves cats, especially Pangur Ban (Pan for short). She's understandably not happy to hear Goodbad once ate a cat, though in all fairness, he's not proud of it either.
- Miles Gloriosus: Frederick Dinsdale might have some legitimate talent, but is too much of a braggart even accounting for that. Even more so when it turns out the duels are rigged in his favour. Once the tables are turned, Morrigan beats him without too much trouble.
- Mugging the Monster: Naturally, the party, plus Magnus and Freya, are held up by bandits; also naturally, said bandits are surprised to find they've bitten off more than they could chew.
- Mysterious Past: Goodbad deliberately withholds his history from the others as he isn't proud of it in the slightest. He mentions at one point that he ended up eating a cat, but is ashamed of it.
- Nice Guy: Goodbad the Badgood, the team's barbarian, who is much more friendly and soft-spoken than that would imply.
- The Nose Knows: Robert O. Cop is able to "smell crime", despite, as a Warforged, having no nose. Wheels commented that this isn't necessarily a good thing at all times, and sometimes leads to sensory overload.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The town guards react in panic when Magnus and Freya arrive, and knock the gates down in "Con Voy".
- An anonymous bandit visibly panics when Robert doesn't buy the Blatant Lies about being a desperate man recently forced into banditry.
- Pragmatic Hero: Robert O. Cop is ostensibly a By-the-Book Cop, but he will occasionally let smaller crimes be ignored if it leads to a bigger or more serious offence.
- Shout-Out: Wheels' character, "Robert O. Cop", is a clear nod to RoboCop.
- Smug Snake: Both Dinsdale family members are a bit too confident for their own good.
- Team Pet: At the end of "Con Voy", Morrigan gets a pet hippogriff.
- Token Evil Teammate: Hel served this role at least to begin with, being the only one of the gang who was willing to rob civilians.
