History WebVideo / TheUnexpectables

* Creator/SarahWilliams as Esme, the Warlock

* CerebusRollercoaster: The series is generally lighthearted, with silly characters and lots of strange creatures that invite comedy, but the ultimate villains (especially Stillhavity) are genuinely terrifying, and each of the protagonists is a HurtingHero with serious grief in their past. As such, the show can ricochet from funny or heartwarming to sad or horrific multiple times in a single session.

** Whenever Task does an impressive amount of damage expect Monty to say "Rangers are underpowered" In a whiny tone to mock the [[TierInducedScrappy typical view]] of the base rangers

&& [[spoiler:Raunfalt]], when he is "Blue", has this sort of behavior.

* LetsSplitUpGang: While they generally obey the perennial advice to NeverSplitTheParty while on a mission (though it is sometimes forced on them against their will), the party do split up on occasion while inside Alivast, under the assumption that it's a safe zone and should be fine. Since it's an AdventureCity, things sometimes do go wrong, and they have several times had to fight several battles at once in different locations.

* BalefulPolymorph:
** In party's first meeting with their boss, Abacus, she becomes annoyed with Borky's insensitive questions and turns him into a turtle. They later learn she turned Balfor Balton into a rabbit, inciting Balfor to say he and Borky are "transformation buddies".
** Zenrio mainly uses his Polymorph spell to buff himself or an ally, but on one occasion he turns a pair of enemy paladins into lobsters.

* TheEmpire: The Kingdom of Eltmur was this, being horrifically racist and sexist and imperialist along with it; part of Remy's backstory (and the reason for his dislike of the Silver King) is that they deliberately stirred up trouble in his homeland and then invaded. They were so awful that [[spoiler:Willow]] manipulated them into waking the Silver King, then told him about their plans to capture and kill him, resulting in the death of [[spoiler:nearly]] the entire royal family and the destruction of the government. Now under the Silver King's rule he's making an effort to turn it into TheKingdom. There's also the United Clergy of Orun, a much larger country than Alivast and just as racist and belligerent as Eltmur.

* {{Corpsing}}: There's plenty of times when a serious moment is derailed due to a joke someone makes that stops the roleplaying dead in it's tracks.

* ContrivedCoincidence: While in the Elemental Plane of Water, the party ends up sleeping next to a whirlpool that connects it to the Material Plane. While sleeping a pirate ship comes out and not only is the captain of it sympathetic enough to the queen of the water plane to help them out but his ship is a perfect counter to the baby Kraken that guards the enemy's stronghold.

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: [[spoiler:The Dog Zone]]'s comedy and more linear plot structure feel very out of place when considering the events before and after.

* Limealicious as Lily the Gnome Druid

* CharacterAlignment: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] on one of the fanart streams. The Unexpectables have leaned LawfulGood throughout the campaign, much to the surprise of the players.
** Later on a puzzle involving the alignment for the setting's gods is used to block the way to [[spoiler:a door to the realm of discord]].

The campaign streamed Wednesdays on [[https://www.twitch.tv/theunexpectables the Unexpectables Twitch Channel]] until March 30, 2021 where the campaign ended at 201 episodes. The streams were originally archived on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/takahata101 Taka's YouTube channel]], but were relocated to [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB9zFd3_X5A9XAxeHBIjudQ an official Unexpectables YouTube channel]] on April 13, 2022. A major announcement (also on April 13, 2022) confirmed that the channel will still be active and releasing new content, primarily with a sequel campaign starting May 4: [[https://twitter.com/_Unexpectables_/status/1514441122680131588 The Unexpectables II: Alton Frontiers]].

The campaign streamed Wednesdays on [[https://www.twitch.tv/theunexpectables the Unexpectables Twitch Channel]] until March 30, 2021 where the campaign ended at 201 episodes. The streams were originally archived on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/takahata101 Taka's YouTube channel]], but were relocated to [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB9zFd3_X5A9XAxeHBIjudQ an official Unexpectables YouTube channel]] on April 13, 2022. A major announcement (also on April 13, 2022) confirmed that the channel will still be active and releasing new content in the following months.

There is also a podcast, and two sister campaigns which air on alternate Saturdays: ''WebVideo/ThePrinceDivision'', a modern fantasy set in a different [=D&D=] setting; and ''Gateway'', a post-apocalyptic game using a homebrewed system, inspired by the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' franchise. Additionally, since 2018, every October on the channel has become "Orktober", with Connor running an Ork-centered campaign within the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' universe until 2021, when it was re-jiggered into "Gob-tober".

* Monty Glu as the Game Master.
* Takahata 101 as Borky the Orc Barbarian. [[note]]Taka eventually left the campaign due to scheduling conflicts.[[/note]]
* Creator/ChrisZito as Task the Kobold Ranger.
* Creator/GaijinGoombah as Greckles the Kenku Rogue.
* Distortion Devil as Panic Grimtongue the Tiefling Bard.

The campaign streamed Wednesdays on [[https://www.twitch.tv/theunexpectables the Unexpectables Twitch Channel]] until March 30, 2021 where the campaign ended at 201 episodes. The streams were archived on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/takahata101 Taka's YouTube channel]], but are planned to be relocated to their own dedicated [=YouTube=] channel by the end of April 2022. A major announcement on April 13, 2022 confirmed that the channel will still be active and releasing new content in the following months.

''The Unexpectables'' is a weekly ActualPlay role playing series hosted by Curtis "Takahata 101" Arnott on Twitch using ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 5th Edition. Taka is joined by fellow players Chris Zito, Gaijin Goombah, and Connor "Distortion Devil" [=McKinley=], as well as Taka's sister Nadine "Monty Glu" Arnott, who serves as the GameMaster. The setting of the game is the mysterious land of Alivast, a relatively unknown frontier land. The players' characters, each having come to this new land for their own reasons, form a band of adventurers, eventually dubbed the Unexpectables.

The campaign streamed Wednesdays on [[https://www.twitch.tv/theunexpectables the Campaign's Twitch Channel]], then the streams are archived on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/takahata101 Taka's YouTube channel]] until March 30, 2021 where the campaign ended at 201 episodes. A major announcement on April 13, 2022 confirmed that the channel will still be active and releasing new content in the following months.

The campaign streamed Wednesdays on [[https://www.twitch.tv/theunexpectables the Campaign's Twitch Channel]], then the streams are archived on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/takahata101 Taka's YouTube channel]] until March 30, 2021 where the campaign ended at 201 episodes. There is also a podcast, and two sister campaigns which air on alternate Saturdays: ''WebVideo/ThePrinceDivision'', a modern fantasy set in a different [=D&D=] setting; and ''Gateway'', a post-apocalyptic game using a homebrewed system, inspired by the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' franchise. Additionally, since 2018, every October on the channel has become "Orktober", with Connor running an Ork-centered campaign within the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' universe until 2021, when it was re-jiggered into "Gob-tober".

* Takahata 101 as Borky the Orc Barbarian. [[note]]Taka has since left the campaign due to scheduling conflicts.[[/note]]

** The Eclipse arc: [[spoiler: [[GreaterScopeVillain The End]]]]

* BossRush The final episode begins with this as [[spoiler: The End sends specters of previous bosses to hound the party.]]

* DawnOfAnEra: Whenever a new god is born a new era is declared. [[spoiler: With the birth of Lysend at the end of the campaign it became the dawn of Etheal.]]

* DecapitatedArmy: Once [[spoiler: Darkus]] is killed his group is immediately disbanded, likewise whenever one of the Primordial Oni is dealt with their army is quickly routed
** This is invoked during the Eclipse arc as [[spoiler: Alivast is way too weak to deal with the UCO so their only hope is for the party and Solly's group to infiltrate Peraton to assassinate the UCO higher-ups and use the resulting chaos to push out the forces occupying Alivast.]]

** This is also used in one of the final oneshots as Lily needs to lead a small village's defences to hold out against [[spoiler: The Orun Clergy]] until helps arives.

* {{Retgone}}: Whenever a god dies, almost every trace of its existence is wiped away. The only person who might know about the dead gods is Ko the god of secrets. [[spoiler: This is the fate of Lys at the end of the series as he fuses with the End to become Lysend.]]

* SequelHook: The last scene in the series is [[spoiler: Mel meeting up with a draconic creature to give the Bead of Hoketh to, who promises to turn this new age into one covered in ash.]]

** Task gets one of these when [[spoiler: Oreyara and Orthoc have him interact with the Platinum Mirror. Leading to him talking to his preincarnation, Sosorin's lover, his deceased sister, and an adult Tarusk.]]

* WeddingEpisode: Episode 116 is dedicated to the wedding of Doros and Willow, and the epilogue is focused on [[spoiler: Task and Winter's wedding.]]

** Episode 187: [[spoiler: The party finally revives Lys. While conversing with the party Lys reveals The End, an evil fragment that's the false voice that the UCO listens to. When the party ends up returning home it turns out that months have passed and the UCO have already taken Alivast.]]

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The series ends with the party giving notes on what they end up doing in the span of twenty years along with Monty listing off the fates of almost all noticable npc's.

The campaign streams Wednesdays on [[https://www.twitch.tv/theunexpectables the Campaign's Twitch Channel]], then the streams are archived on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/takahata101 Taka's YouTube channel]]. There is also a podcast, and two sister campaigns which air on alternate Saturdays: ''WebVideo/ThePrinceDivision'', a modern fantasy set in a different [=D&D=] setting; and ''Gateway'', a post-apocalyptic game using a homebrewed system, inspired by the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' franchise. Additionally, since 2018, every October on the channel has become "Orktober", with Connor running an Ork-centered campaign within the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' universe until 2021, when it was re-jiggered into "Gob-tober".

* AbortedArc: After interrogating the party, Athtar states that he plans to send assassins after Solly and Hellina for defecting but it hasn't been followed up on since.

* AnachronicOrder: Episode 100 was decided to be a beach episode, because of a fan vote. However since the current events of the plot made it impossible for that to happen. Monty decided to make the special happen before the current arc began.
* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: [[spoiler:The Dog Zone]]'s comedy and more linear plot structure feels very out of place when considering the events before and after.
** Also applies for the two one-shots Monty ran while several party members were unavailable. The first (nicknamed the Unpredictables) takes place in the world of the Unexpectables, but on a different continent and 50 years before the main campaign, while the second is a sci-fi story entirely unrelated to the rest of the game.

* ArrangedMarriage: The Aasimar in Alivast are required to eventually marry another Aasimar, considering that there's a grand total of five of them, the results are varied. While Alia and Balfor ended up being a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage, Hammergnar and Ios have never met each other, and neither seem to care about being faithful.

* ContrivedCoincidence: While in the Elemental Plane of Water, the party ends up sleeping next to a whirlpool that connects it to the Material Plane. While sleeping a pirate ship comes out and not only is the captain of it sympathectic enough to the queen of the water plane to help them out but his ship is a perfect counter to the baby kraken that guards the enemy's stronghold.

** Tai almost has to give up after he finds out, the day of the competition, that he needs a sous-chef to accompany him, which he resolves by enlisting [[DumbMuscle Borky.]] HilarityEnsues, and [[spoiler:Tai manages to win second place]].

** This is invoked during the Eclipse arc as [[spoiler: Alivast is way too weak to deal with the UCO so their only hope is to the party and Solly's group to infiltrate Peraton to assassinate the UCO higher-ups and use the resulting chaos to push out the forces occupying Alivast.]]

** When the party tries to use a mending scroll on [[spoiler:Lys's broken mask]], the scroll is changed to say the word "Etheol", [[spoiler:which is a magic pool that can properly heal gods and celestials]].

* GodIsDead: [[spoiler:The original god that Lys and the other fragments come from died along time ago. Exactly what they were and what happened to them is one of the shows biggest mysteries.]]

* HoldUpYourScore: Done by the four judges in the fall festival's cooking competition, with such gags as Greckles giving the inifinity symbol for one dish he particularly likes, and Aila giving each entry a score of 0, to reveal at the end she thought the scorecards were a menu.

* HughMann: In episode 38 the party find a mannequin among the loot of a pack of hill giants, and promptly name it "Hugh Man". The trope comes into effect in episode 42 when they use it, dressed up in whatever items they have available, in order to lure a couple of bugbear sentries into a trap.

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: A lot of spells are weaker than their base D&D version either due to Monty finding them too powerful, or in the case of Sending and Scrying, they can let the party solve most of long-term questions a lot easier.

* RefusalOfTheCall: Ivan and Solly are aasimar meant to act as conduits for their celestial parent on the material plane. Both wished to escape from their destiny, Ivan to become and adventurer and Solly to [[spoiler:live with the flumphs]].
** [[spoiler:Pilchard]] ignores the visions urging him to seek out Solly, instead drinking himself to insensibility every night.

* {{Retcon}}: Panic was originally of the Bard College of Thunder, a homebrew subclass with a heavy metal theme. This was changed to the College of Glamour when he reached level 6 because of balance issues and also because they couldn't find the actual list of abilities.

* {{Retgone}}: Whenever a god dies, almost every trace of their existence is wiped away. The only person who might know about the dead gods is Ko the god of secrets.

* SeenItAll: The inhabitants of Alivast are used to bizarre magical events, meaning they quickly lose interest in any incident that doesn't seem dangerous, and allowing them to recover quickly after a disaster.

* SoftWater: The party is unharmed after falling into a large lake, despite having fallen for over 10 minutes. Monty later simply admits that she sucks at physics

* VerbalTic: Each of the fragments of the shattered god has one of these, in some way related to their function: Lys (the mediator) echoes the last word he speaks, unless he's lying; Ith speaks in alliteration when possible; Aos has an echo at the ''beginning'' of each of his lines, [[spoiler:Kai]] speaks in rhymes, and [[spoiler: Tio]] often says [[spoiler:"no refunds"]] at the end of his statements.

** Episode 20: [[spoiler:After Solly was taken by Stillhavity, the crew finally meet up with Lys, they're mysterious helper who reveals themselves to be the fragment of a dead god, and forces the crew to relive parts of their past, giving us a look at all their backstories, as well as the past of Solly, before they are dropped off in the realm of Stillhavity.]]
** Episode 61: [[spoiler:Willow is revealed to be Elisibeth Eltmur, the last living member of the previous ruling family of Eltmur, it's also revealed that she is the one responsible for the Silver King's awakening, and subsequent killing of her family.]]

** Episode 97: [[spoiler:Bob reveals that both Orun and Omnimaw are dying, and that their deaths would have far-reaching consequences in the world. With the United Clergy of Orun's slide into insanity being just one of the side effects. It's also established that Euphoria steals voices in an attempt to save Omnimaw's life, and the party finally meets her near a gate that leads to Omnimaw's realm.... which also showcases a second mouth growing out of her neck. Oh, and Tubbs is back too.]]
** Episodes 112 to 114: [[spoiler:Lys' very presence in Alivast is preventing Outsiders from returning to their home planes, meaning that they can become DeaderThanDead in the material plane. Not only that, but Yugoloths were replacing officials in the government for a long while, including Stendin who died a year ago. We also finally know LYS's full name: Lysalivast.]]

** Episode 187: [[spoiler: The party finally revives Lys. While conversing with the party Lys reveals The End, an evil fragment that's heavily implied to be the false voice that the UCO listens to. When the party ends up returning home it turns out that months have passed and the UCO have already taken Alivast.]]

** The Eclipse arc: [[spoiler [[GreaterScopeVillian The End]]]]

** The season format that the show used early appears to have been dropped entirely after the beginning of season three considering that they haven't announced a next season in over a year.

* Bosco's repeted attempts to deny that Remy is more than a guest star. Even though Remy has been in the majority of the series and appeared in half of the seasonal artwork.

* SignificantWardrobeShift: Episode 27 sees new outfits for the team, incorporating things like Panic's Circlet of Blasting and [[spoiler:Task's new helmet]]. [=StarExorcist=] re-drew all the characters to reflect their new looks. She also redesigned Arivine!
** Happens again for Season 3, where [=CitricKing=] took over main artist duties.

Episode 187: [[spoiler: The party finally revives Lys. While conversing with the party Lys reveals The End, an evil fragment that's heavily implied to be the false voice that the UCO listens to. When the party ends up returning home it turns out that months have passed and the UCO have already taken Alivast.]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Remy discusses with Gruul the prejudice of his tribe against Tanarukks, since they have a potential to be recklessly savage. Gruul points out that while he himself is level-headed, his brother was a terrible leader, and is worried that his offspring might be anywhere in between. Remy asks how that's different from any other child, and Gruul is stunned.
* ArrangedMarriage: The Aasimar in Alivast are required to eventually marry another Aasimar, considering that there's a grand total of five of them, the results are varied. While Alia and Balfor ended up being a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage, Hammergnar and Ios have never meet each other and neither seem to care about being faithful.

** Tai Borpington's introduction didn't describe him physically other than having a fish for a head, but fan artists consistently drew him as very muscular (or [[BaraGenre bara]] as the players put it). Eventually Monty gave up and went with this in-universe.

* TheBigGuy: Borky all the way.
** The Sweet Dragon's barmaid Helga, the Tiefling pit fighter Tiengo, and the Goliath paladin Doros are all as big or bigger than Borky.
** A particularly large construct found employment at the blacksmith across the street from the Sweet Dragon. He calls himself Big Guy.

* BlessedWithSuck: Being an Aasimar gives you a personal connection with one of the settings gods, makes you a natural at the god's field, and if they live in Alivast, allows them to almost immediately jump the social ladder up to being a council member. This also means that if you want to do something unrelated to that god's domain, like being an adventurer when your descended from the god of agriculture...then you're shit out of luck. Your celestial parent will constantly hound you in your dreams if they don't like what your doing, and most kingdoms heavily restrict their personal life, whether it be by forcing them into arranged marriages, or flat out making them slaves.

** The festival episodes (based on generic holidays) are mostly lighthearted with no (life-threatening) combat, being designed to let the characters roam around and goof off in a party atmosphere in between their more harrowing adventures.

* CorruptChurch: The United Clergy of Orun, a ''violently'' fanatical order of paladins in service to the sun god Orun who believe that any creature that doesn't walk in the sun is inherently evil and deserves nothing but death, even if they're harmless like a Flumph or are a drow mother and child. They're so fanatical that they can't even ''nap in the shade'' because the dark is evil. And they don't brook ''any'' sort of questioning. [[spoiler:It turns out that it's a side effect of their god Orun dying.]]

* DefeatEqualsExplosion: [[spoiler:Pug]] explodes when the guys beat his final trial, but it's entirely unimpressive. It sounds like somebody popping a paper bag and releases a bunch of crappy confetti.

** Episode 97: [[spoiler:Bob reveals that both Orun and Omnimaw are dying, and that their deaths would have far reaching consequences in the world. With the United Clergy of Orun's slide into insanity being just one of the side effects. It's also established that Euphoria steals voices in an attempt to save Omnimaw's life, and the party finally meets her near a gate that leads to Omnimaw's realm.... which also showcases a second mouth growing out of her neck. Oh, and Tubbs is back too.]]

** Episode 118 [[spoiler:Log steals the book that was used to make constructs and is heavily implied to have brought it to Winter and the Silver Kobolds to get it translated. During the night the entire Dragon Cult attacks the city of Alivast, with its numbers reaching the thousands, while in the middle of the invasion Task finds Darkus guarded by a pair of Ancient Dragons. The episode ends with a three headed dragon, implied to be a part of Insdroc, lands on the Attic and Task recognizes his blue head as the Dragon that killed his clan.]]

** While speaking to Bob about [[spoiler:Euphoria Grimtongue, who he recently met]]. He revels that they actually have similar interests, and when asked to elaborate he drops this bombshell.

** Fleur de Mort, a fey creature, snaps Panic's sword Fey Slicer in half while the party are passing through his forest, though it gets repaired by later on.

* VerbalTic: Each of the fragments of the shattered god has one of these, in some way related to their function: Lys (the mediator) echoes the last word he speaks, unless he's lying; Ith speaks in alliteration when possible; Aos has an echo at the ''beginning'' of each of his lines, and [[spoiler:Kai]] speaks in rhymes.

* Takahata 101 as Borky the Orc Barbarian.

* RealityEnsues: Four adventurers board in airship in a massive cloud of pigeons. The ''hundreds'' of pirates on board immediately spot and disarm them.
** Happens again in episode 67 where they fight [[spoiler:The United Orun Clergy, where a properly organized platoon of soldiers ultimately beat the party thanks to a combination of higher numbers and properly used defenses to wear down the group until they're forced to surrender]].
** The Clergy's frequent abuse of the members that question them leads to plenty of defections when possible. Out of the seven clerics that fought the Unexpectables, five of them ended up switching sides before the end of the arc.
** Some InterspeciesRomance can have some issues pop up, especially if there is a very noticeable size difference. When Panic slept with the Goliath Zeus, he wasn't able to walk properly for the entire day afterword and it's implied that Willow broke her wrist when trying to be intimate with Doros.
** When Panic accidently gave Hellina a free pass for a brothel (he was more focused on the places hot springs when he gave her the ticket) it was treated as a joke. Especially when she returns and recounts her experience clearly ignorant to the Romansion"s more risqué businesses. But when Panic meets some Romansion employees later it turns out that they were freaking out when they realize that they had a young cleric with them that didn't know that the Romansion was a brothel and had to put in a lot of leg work to stop her from finding out the truth and freaking out.
** After the constructs in Alivast became sentient it was noted that due to laws not accommodating for this earlier they are technically given free rein to travel to every district in Alivast. Rather than letting this slide the Alivastian council are noted to be freaked out by that and are scrambling to find a way to modify the laws to reign them in.
** Hiding a massive secret from your lover is going to cause a lot of strain when they find out, especially if your child is also affected by it. [[spoiler:Euphoria keeping her Tiefling heritage a secret from Sergei destroyed whatever relationship they could of have, once Panic was born and was clearly a Tiefling.]]
** Brorc learns the hard way that [[spoiler:suddenly proposing to a person who has no idea you're in love with them, nor someone who even had an idea she had a ''choice'' in the matter, might cause them to completely freak out.]]
** When they finally reach [[spoiler:The Mountain of Repetition. Home of the Silver Kobolds]], the party, Task especially, expect them to guide the group and solve their current issue. Then it turns out that randomly asking a secluded village to help with your problems leads to a lot of push back on their end, and just because they know a bit more than you do doesn't mean that they know everything, especially when it comes to the divine. This revelation leads to Task losing his temper repeatedly while there, worsening the problem. The only reason the party makes any progress while they're there is because [[spoiler:Oreyara, the goddess worshiped in that region,]] is explicitly on their side.