Web Video / Heroes & Halfwits

Frank (as a non-player character): You guys have all come here at an interesting time. A time when one could say we do need adventurers. Heroes even.
Orma: That's not us.
Mogar: 'What about some halfwits?

Heroes & Halfwits was a web series from Rooster Teeth that depicted five of their well-known personalities playing a Dungeons & Dragons campaign with Dungeon Master Frank. Sessions were first streamed for subscribers, then publicly released to the Achievement Hunter channel on YouTube.

The first three seasons depict one campaign in which the player characters are enlisted soldiers in a war. When sent to infiltrate an enemy city, they are caught up in a mysterious incident and thrown off course, but must still go about their mission. Unfortunately, they're very good at getting themselves further off mission.

In the fourth season retool, they play a sci-fi campaign in a future Earth. They are students and faculty at a school for kids with genetic imbalances until called to save the planet from illegal experiments by an unknown group.

The cast includes:

• Frank: the Dungeon Master.
• Geoff Ramsey: Bo Jingles, a Tiefling bard; Akshay, the drunken master; and "co-DM" with Frank in season 4 as various NPCs and boss characters.
• Gustavo "Gus" Sorola: Bor Ealis, a Lawful Good Human paladin, and Thimbledick, a Gnosin pilot.
• Ryan Haywood: Albus Cumberbatch, a half elf warlock, and Rand the Dand Hood.
• Michael Jones: Mogar, a Dragonborn paladin, and Tiberius "Tib" Nightshade, a hybrid talking dog.
• Griffon Ramsey/Jack Pattillo/Jeremy Dooley/Allison/Miles Luna/Adam Thompson/Bethany Feinstein/Steve Hilderbrand: Orma, a female Orc barbarian.
• Griffon Ramsey: IO, a sentient colony of nanobots called a Shimmerswift in season 4.

The playlist can be viewed here.

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Heroes & Halfwits contains examples of:

Series 1: Jackalheart

• Actor Swap: Orma has now been played by eight people owing to her Extreme Omnivore and Can't Hold Her Liquor habits leading her to fall unconscious. Apparently she was a character devised to be played like this too.
• All There in the Manual: Ryan's backstory for Albus Cumberbatch. It has to be read to be believed. Amusingly, anyone who had read Ryan's post was completely unsurprised when he revealed in episode 4 that Albus had a ferret familiar that had been with them for their entire adventure.
• The Artifact: Despite Albus' familiar changing from a ferret to an imp then sprite, Ryan still carried the plush ferret with him to the table. Counts even more now that Albus has changed classes yet the ferret is still with him. Possibly counts now as something of a Companion Cube to Ryan.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Orma. It's a big reason why she keeps losing her memory.
  Ryan/Albus: (to Allison-Orma about a drinking contest) I'd advise you not to take any, you don't know who you'll be.
• Catchphrase: Invoked with Akshay, who says "Eyyy it's Akshay" exactly once, causing the party to think he should have his own spin off show with said phrase as the title.
• Cliffhanger:
  • The season 1 finale ends in the midst of a casino heist gone awry, with the fate of Team 1 (Bo Jingles, Mogar, Naa, and Father Dorie) unknown after narrowly surviving the fight in the Truth Room and coming up with a plan to cover it up and Team A (Albus, Bor Ealis, Orma, and the kenku) entering the VIP area only to discover that their cover as an upstart duke and his entourage has been blown as casino security surrounds them.
  • Season 2 ends similarly, with Bo Jingles putting on an impromptu performance on a stage as a diversion to assassinate the mayor of Ribcage.
    Bo Jingles: (singing) Ribcage the beautiful/Land that I love/Build a wall here and hide behind it/Because we're scared of everybody that's different KILL THE MAYOR!!
    Albus: HOW HARD WAS THE PLAN?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO INTRODUCE HIM FIRST, HE'S NOWHERE NEAR US!
• Confusion Fu: One of Bo Jingles' suggestions for entering a room of necromantic cultists.
  Bo: "What if- here's a bold idea... what if we knocked?"
  Albus: They wouldn't expect that.
  Bo: Throw them off.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Episode 17 had the party meeting some slavers. Three of them were one-shotted by Albus, Orma, and Bor Ealis. The only damage taken by the party was 4 points of reduced damage that Orma took.
  • An even better example appears in episode 26, where the party absolutely demolishes a wraith without taking a single point of damage.
• Cute Monster Girl: Apparently Orma was enough of one to get given extra rations of the alcohol allotted to the soldiers on the ship.
• Dead All Along: Bo Jingles was killed by an angry forest spirit called Yakshashamu all the way back in episode 5, who then assumed that identity for the rest of the adventure.
• Epic Fail:
  • During their first ever battle Ryan ends up rolling a 0 for initiative (due to rolling a 1 and having a -1 modifier). Depicted in this short strip.
  • Episode 8 is a string of failures for Michael. After the Cliffhanger ending of episode 7 we find out that he ran several feet deep directly in to a gelatinous cube. What's worse is he rolls a 1 on his attempt to escape and then rolls a 5 with his inspiration die, leaving him one short of the value he needed to save himself. He would have been safe if he'd rolled anything other than a 1!
  • Yet another string of failures on Michael's part in Episode 17. He keeps whiffing his attack rolls and the one hit he got did a rather meager 5 damage.
  • Episode 20 has Team 1 (Bo Jingles, Mogar, Naa, and Father Dorie) in an already bad situation made even worse by the string of bad rolls their party got contrasted to the great rolls the enemy party got on the same die. It was to the point where Na rolled a 1 two turns in a row, and then rolled another 1 shortly after. The fact that they all managed to survive is a testament to Frank's leniency.
• Extreme Omnivore: Orma. Took a huge bite of some meat cut off a visibly diseased snake and her first instinct when she discovers a toad that looks covered in jewels is to eat it. That second one doesn't work out too well for her though.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Whilst making their way through the caverns that lead in to Jackalheart the party encounters a pool of water filled with quippers (pronounced "kippers"), which sound cute until you realize that they're basically piranhas. The party then proceeds to play this trope up even more when the declare the plural is 'a cuddle of quippers'.
• Forced Sleep: Sanji puts most of the party to sleep in Episode 16 so that she and Bo Jingles can search through Father Dorie's things. Then she does it to Bo Jingles too.
• Friend to All Living Things: Orma helped calm an injured wild animal just because it was no threat to the party as it was and had 3 cubs. She later calms and tames two pack-beasts that belonged to a drow party and had them carry burdens for the party for a short while, as well as deciding to get more in tune with nature later on.
• Gambit Roulette: Episode 10 sees the party dealing with a party of drow by hiding behind Albus' illusionary wall and WAITING for them to leave so they can then sneak by and set up a trap in the room they're in. This then changes to waiting until the drow have finished their battle with some winged kobolds before ambushing them.
• Gender Bender: At one point in volume 2, Mogar goes through a portal that completely reverses his sex and alignment. After getting his balls crushed into a paste by a statue, Akshay solves the problem by willingly going through the same portal. Albus admits he would bang female Akshay.
• Identity Amnesia: Happens every time Orma passes out. She has been:
  • Griffon-Orma: Most common 'Orma' personality. Reasonable personality, will use weapons other than maul sometimes, somewhat intelligent but cannot resist a drink or eating strange things.
  • Jack-Orma: A bit dazed, still fairly reasonable, not really bloodthirsty and carves messages into maul to remember later. Uses javelins more.
  • Jeremy-Orma: Loves to fight, eager to get into battle and especially to use barbarian rage abilities.
  • Allison-Orma: Similar to Griffon-Orma, but seems much more innocent in personality.
  • Miles-Orma: Somewhat more moral than usual, just really happy to be there.
  • Adam-Orma: Similar to Griffon-Orma in many respects, but lacks her empathy and seems more quietly bloodthirsty. The rest of the party even comments that it's hard to tell the difference between Adam-Orma and Griffon-Orma when the former immediately tells off Bo Jingles the instant he tries to get close to her.
  • Bethany-Orma: Similar to Griffon-Orma again, but quieter and holds back to see what she knows before making a move. Also clocked onto Bo's advances immediately.
  • Steve-Orma is a lot more likely to think through things and make plans with situations outside of battle. When raging though just keeps swinging the maul until things quieten down.
• Killed Off for Real: At the end of the first story arc, we find out that Bo Jingles had been Dead All Along, replaced by a shapeshifting forest spirit.
• Likes Older Women: Becomes a Running Gag with Albus after he bangs Mila the village elder.
• The Loonie: Geoff fulfills this role easily as Bo Jingles, his antics often leading to unnecessary conflict and all around wacky hijinks. Ryan is usually the one cleaning up after Geoff's messes.
• Match Cut: In the middle of battle, the party suddenly wonders what Akshay is up to at that moment, and describes a match cut from Mogar decapitating a mysterious masked man's head to a cork being popped off a bottle in the bar Akshay is drinking at.
• May–December Romance: Albus manages to seduce Mila the village elder. Of course, since his age is listed as infinite, it's more of a Mayfly–December Romance, though neither are aware of it.
• Mercy Kill: The fate of poor Sgt. Navarro, the fellow soldier that the party rescued from Drow slavery. Turns out a parasitic, lamprey like creature that had laid eggs in his body. When the eggs finally hatched the creatures began to tear through his body, eating him from the inside out. Bo Jingles slits his throat to put him out of his misery, and for good measure burns his remains.
  • Mogar
  • Bor
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A large variety of races and backstories are represented in this party. Apart from being drafted into the same squad, they have almost nothing in common.
• Remember the New Guy?: Albus' ferret familiar. Amusingly it had always been with him, Ryan had just never mentioned it until the fourth episode.
• Rescue Sex: Mogar and Bo Jingles reveal to Na in the first episode of the second season that they're a little miffed that she didn't offer this to them when they first saved her back in the forest. Mogar even claims that this very fact is what led to him to masturbate back in season 1.
• Retool:
  • After the end of Volume 1, Episode 35 begins with a Time Skip and updates to various characters.
  • Season 4 starts with a whole new cast of characters (but with the same players) in a sci-fi setting.
• Running Gag:
  • Albus' obsession with collecting 'samples'.
  • Bor tries to be the leader. The others don't agree.
  • Bo Jingles' habit of hiding or vanishing during times of danger, as well as his preference for insulting his opponent's dicks when he uses his Bard abilities.
  • Albus is the God of Fire!
  • Ryan will often make rolls for real-life things ("I roll 19 for English!")
  • Jack is once again playing a female character.
  • Michael and Gus both play a paladin and always roll the same on initiative.
    Michael: Are you serious?! How?! How?! How is this possible?!
    Gus: Oh my God! Every fucking time!
    Ryan: If you two were to try Rock–Paper–Scissors right now, would it just come up even every time?
  • Geoff writing notes for Frank to serve as his turn, and later doing so to cast a spell to make Bor appear to fart repeatedly.
  • Ryan asking if anything and everything they meet speaks deep.
  • The party accusing Father Dori of being a pervert who keeps trying to touch them inappropriately.
  • The pilot episode had Ryan's repeated (failed) attempts at fooling enemies by faking heart attacks. It's still occasionally brought up.
    Ryan: I clutch my chest and fall to the ground!
  • Bor Ealis is racist.
  • At least once an episode they'll get into an argument over Ryan's want to question all NPCs they encounter for intent.
• Supporting Protagonist: In Episode 26, Michael theorizes that the entire party is actually the supporting cast to the adventures of Naa, Father Dori, and Cork, dubbing them "the real campaign."
• The Alcoholic: Orma has a bit of a drinking problem and can't hold her liquor, causing her to immediately pass out and become a different person every time she takes a drink.
• The Friend Nobody Likes:
  • Literally, no one else in the party seems to like Bo Jingles.
  • Bor regularly acts in a snobbish and jerkass way and the others are quick to show their annoyance at it.
  • On the accompanying NPC side, Sanji is not popular owing to the fact that she does nothing but tell Bo Jingles how cool he is. Bo Jingles is the obvious exception to this until she shows her true colours.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Bo Jingles to Sanji during their battle.
  Bo Jingles/Geoff: (to cursed-Sanji) "Consider this a break-up, bitch!."
• Time Skip: At the end of Episode 34, the heroes are knocked out by a Kraken on their return journey home, ending Volume 1. During the start of Volume 2, we meet them escaping hell after being trapped there for fifteen years.
• Title Drop: In episode 4, the party starts to add "and halfwits" to every use of the word "heroes."
• Troll: Albus. He once told Bo Jingles that there was a massive snake sneaking up on him and rolled high enough that the tiefling took off running just for the heck of it.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
  • The swelling of the party led to the players wanting to use the NPCs (and especially the two bird-like Kenku) as meat-shields. In Episode 12 one actually dies. No one seems to care.
  • And then averted in Episode 14 when Albus chooses to save the Kenku who was reduced to 0 HP during a battle. Although maybe not given he's doing it because Gus was giving Ryan grief for 'talking' too much and he wanted to annoy him.

Series 2: The Mechs Generation

• Always Someone Better: Joe from shop class could definitely have repaired all the equipment that Thimbledick failed to.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Thimbledick claims that proportionately, a thimble-sized dick is huge for a member of his species.
• Big Man on Campus: Popular Guy Mike. All of the protagonists agree that he is the coolest, and are all too eager to attend his house party.
• Breakout Character: In-universe, Popular Guy Mike is adored by the party.
• Only Sane Man: IO is supposed to be this, being a part of the school faculty responsible for keeping the kids out of trouble, but has ended up going along with the rest of the party's crazy schemes.
• Our Gnomes Are Weirder: Thimbledick is a gnosin, which is basically a space gnome.
• Romantic Wingman: Rand continuously tries to hook up Thimbledick with Kneebone, if only so Ryan can watch Gus squirm with discomfort when Frank roll-plays romantic scenes between them.
• Running Gag:
  • Rand and Thimbledick moonwalking their way out of any situation. At one point Tib and IO do it too.
  • Episode 2 has Thimbledick frequently bitter towards "Joe from shop class" because he probably could fix everything Thimbledick can't.
  • Geoff's casual reference to "The Sex Mines of Venus" have been brought back several times.
• Shipper on Deck: Pretty much everyone between Thimbledick and Kneebone, except for Gus.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Averted, in that despite it being a sci-fi campaign in the far future, Tib being a talking dog is still surprising to most people.
• Talking the Monster to Death: How the party deals with RB TETRA 3.
  Ryan: I mean, let's be honest... we pretty much just cyberbullied a robot to death.
• Wild Teen Party: Popular Guy Mike throws these frequently, and the party is quick to discard the main quest in favor of attending them.