Acting in the Dark: In "Bone 2 Pick", Mike knew that Egbert would be out of action for a while, because of Real Life Writes the Plot, but didn't know specifically what would happen.
Corpsing: During "Ready Lair One", the group is discussing the ethics of a dragon in order to use its heat to power a citadel: While that's not a problem, it would be if the dragon was imprisoned in the Citadel to do so. Andy immediately declares that a pervert dragon who liked being locked up would solve this problem. Luke, Ellen, and Johnny all crack up, but Mike devolves into giggles.
The fantasy avatars generated for the first story were done online and in a rush, and nobody in the team is terribly fond of them, even Mike (who made them). For the second story onwards, the team used character art by Bendix, which they - and the fans - enjoy a lot more.
A mild case. Luke was unsure whether Dob copied Corazon too much as a nautical man during "Sail of the Century", feeling that out of character he got way too absorbed in referencing Master and Commander. However, Andy was perfectly on board with it and found it very enjoyable.
Andy was unsure whether Corazon objected too much in "Orb-Pocalypse Saga" to opening the title orb, noting he struggled to get the balance right between the character's reasonable objections (of not opening a dangerous artifact) and not grinding the story to a halt.
When the gang was asked their favourite villain, Mike said his was Vex, from "Peak Performance".
Johnny has mentioned liking kobolds, and dislikes using them as Always Chaotic Evil cannon fodder. The episode "Snow Mercy" resulted from this preference, as did their presence in "Brawl of the Wild".
Creator's Pest: Johnny found Lynton from "Heir Supremacy" so annoying that they declared him this mid episode.
Though fans had initially assumed Andy was in on all the events of "Spot of Bother" and just acting really well, this wasn't quite true. He knew that Corazon's old crew were involved, but his birth father being involved was a genuine surprise. This repeated itself in "Unreal Estate", when said character popped up again; the shock motivated Andy into genuine surprise, which led to a surprisingly sad performance.
For "Spell Check", Mike was as surprised as the others to find that Egbert had his kidneys stolen.
The revelation of "Peak Performance" came as such a shock to the party as a whole that they collectively reacted in surprise and horror, and in Ellen / Merilwen's case, terrifying Tranquil Fury. Johnny later admitted they felt a tad scared when Ellen reacted as she did.
During "Legacy of Dragons", the revelations about Egbert were a surprise to both the rest of the party and their players. Andy specifically can be seen mouthing "what the fuck" in shock.
Promoted Fanboy: Harry McEntire started watching Outside Xbox not long before he met the gang live for "Wedded Redemption", and was thrilled to not only play D&D onstage but also to meet the players. He's gone on record to say he'd love to return.
Series Hiatus: The gang took a break to refresh themselves on the rules and make the world of G'eth more consistent after "Crawl Me Maybe", eventually returning for "The Orb-Pocalypse Saga" in May 2021.
Mike was due to join the other members for the first adventure, but ended up missing it because of his commitments to motor-racing. M. Channail was designed as an Affectionate Parody in his absence.
The party weren't quite supposed to work out the mystery as fast as they did. The cast even asked Johnny if they needed to rewind, but they reasonably pointed out that this is normal for D&D.
M. Channail was designed to be a serious boss fight, but Corazon ended up sneaking up on him and grappling the much weaker gnome into submission.
In "Spell Check", the party weren't supposed to "adopt" the jailor that accosted them...
Several live shows, including a charity one, were planned in-person for the Spring 2020 season. However, these were cancelled because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Some planned stories were shifted online, while others were held in reserve because Johnny felt they wouldn't work as well unless an audience was present in-person. These shows were rescheduled for the autumn that year, then cancelled again.
Luke was due to be present for "Wedded Redemption", but was off sick shortly before. Happily, Harry McEntire was able to fill in as Aubrey.
Although live shows resumed in 2021, more ones were planned and then cancelled for early 2022 given COVID rearing its ugly head again; at least one, "Battle for Bard Con", was adapted partly to suit for it being online and because the gang missed the feeling of live shows. Delaying matters further, Mike, Ellen and Johnny all caught the virus and had to spend time off work recovering.
Luke was due to GM a small session for Andy and Ellen live in London in summer 2022, but ultimately guest GM Aoife Wilson (from Eurogamer) ended up running in his absence.
In "Legacy of Dragons", the paladin that admonishes the party for littering was supposed to be a Quest Giver forcing the party into community service. However, he was so aggressive and volatile in trying to make his point clear, that the group collectively decided he was too dangerous to live and poisoned him, meaning this never happened. Johnny would reflect that this particular NPC might have been too trigger-happy for the guild to trust.
Word of God: The Oxventure podcast shines light on some development and behind-the-scenes stuff that never quite made it into the video proper.
The Stag Lads for "Ship Happens" each had a designated name specifically to prevent a repeat of "Christopher Englebert XVII" - i.e., naming an NPC on the spot. Naturally, in a prime case of "sod's law", the Guild didn't ask for a single one. Johnny shared the list on their Twitter.
Corazon's feud with Binbag came about because Andy thought it would be more interesting / amusing for the Gandalf-like character to be treated with disdain and annoyance, rather than elation as is the norm.
In the wrap-up on the podcast episode for "Unreal Estate", Andy elaborated on Corazon's feelings at the climax: although the party was encouraging him to open up to his dad and let him in, this didn't make him feel validated and he was still wrestling with the memories of emotional neglect (at best). This wasn't helped by his dad's apparent sincerity being completely at odds with his behaviour from before, which he'd forgotten to boot.
Jane and Andy have gone on record to say they would like to run a game of some sort eventually, but haven't decided which one as of yet.
In the podcast episode for "Peak Performance (Episode 4)", Andy said that although the antagonist Vex shares a name with a protagonist from Critical Role and also works alongside a bear, this was likely a coincidence and not intended as a direct reference.
When asked if the live show run with Aoife Wilson as guest DM, with Corazon and Merilwen as the party members, was canon, Andy's response was "I hope so"; whether any of the events (chiefly, a pizza delivery) are considered as such by Johnny is unknown.
Working Title: "Heir Superiority" briefly went by the title "Lame of Thrones" but was changed for reasons unknown fairly quickly.
Johnny is pretty open about the fact that unlike a lot of actual-play series, beyond broad strokes such as the introduction of Lady Liliana as the Arc Villain, the series didn't have a lot of planning that went beyond one episode, or even much into the same episode. This is evident (and discussed later in a video) with "Spell Check" as Johnny had intended for the guard Christopher Englebert XVII to simply be disposed of and his keys taken, but instead Dob gives a motivational speech and uses the guard for the plan to escape. Johnny hadn't even come up with a name and actually came up with it due to suggestions from the rest of the guild. Johnny later admitted this would not happen again and came up with names for everyone, including all 30 of the Stag Lads for "Ship Happens".
Prudence is the first of the party to have killed an enemy.
Merilwen / Ellen was the first party member to be granted inspiration by Johnny.
Egbert is the first (and thus far only) of the party to have been knocked unconscious (in terms of D&D mechanics), though he was healed before any death saving throws had to be made. This also makes Evil Dob the only enemy (boss or otherwise) to have knocked a party member out.
For a long time, Andy and Jane were the only actors to have been in every canon episode of the Oxventure; Luke, Mike, Ellen and Johnny have all been absent for various reasons (sickness, parental leave, holidays etcetera). Jane ended up missing "Bad Altitudes" in October 2022, meaning Andy is now the only actor to have attended every episode. Jane was also absent from the crossover with High Rollers, making Andy the only person to have been present for every episode including "not canon" ones.
Harry McEntire is the first guest player outside of the core crowd to participate in an Oxventure session, when he performed as Aubrey in "Wedded Redemption".
Aoife Wilson, of Eurogamer, is the first and - to date - only guest DM (discounting regular player Luke occasionally stepping up to the role) to have run an adventure for the gang. Sadly, no record of this is available beyond some photos shared online of her, Andy and Ellen onstage together.
Luke is the first member of Oxboxtra to have DMed or GMed a session of the main Oxventure series.
Andy is, on a technicality, the only player to have played two characters in this campaign. His main character is Corazon, but he played Chauncey for a mini-podcast episode.
Shamini Bundell is the first guest player to join in the middle of an arc (Harry/Aubrey having joined for a live one-shot). Bundell is also the first guest star within any adventure to guest star in two consecutive episodes.
Trivia for Oxventure Presents Blades In the Dark
Creator's Pest: Luke had hoped Pickett would've been killed off during "The Lampblack Wedding", as that voice was punishing on his throat. And naturally, Pickett became the group's mole within the Lampblacks. Of course, since the story involved a ghost trying to claw his way down Pickett's throat, Luke reasoned that the voice could probably change.
Enforced Method Acting: At the end of "High Stakes at the Splintered Bone", Barnaby Fortescue is kidnapped. Although this wasn't the first time that a PC in an Oxventure-related TTRPG would be kidnapped, this time, Mike was not aware it would happen (as there was no event to plan around like the previous instance), and therefore said character's surprise is entirely genuine.
Reality Subtext: Kasimir Jones is a criminal veteran who knows a lot about the criminal world of Volisport and frequently uses the more advanced techniques like group actions. This is because Johnny Chodini, Kasimir's player, is an avid fan of Blades in the Dark and has run several sessions of it, knowing full well the mechanics of the game.
Playing Against Type: All players in the game play a different style of character to their Oxventure ones.
Throw It In!: During "Foundry No. 12", Luke sets up an enemy for Zillah to fight, only realizing after he did so he forgot to name the person. Jane helpfully mentions Marlane, her prize-fighter acquaintance from a previous episode. Luke shrugs and agrees.
Pickett was intended to die in "The Lampblack Wedding", but Zillah and Lilith saved her life.
Keleanor was supposed to die at the end of "Fate of the Dimmer Sisters," but Lilith saved her too.
Other trivia for Oxventure Presents Blades in the Dark
Barnaby, of all people, is the first party member to kill someone, albeit by accident and in self defence.
Kasimir has the most kills with six deaths to his name as of the first series' finale; three from "First Flight of the Sparrowhawk" and three from the final episode of the first series.
"A Crims-Night Carol" is the only episode of the series to have been filmed in-person. The others were all filmed remotely.
Luke's PC in "Dragonlance", Harold, is The Comically Serious and a far cry from Dob, his "main" character in the main series.
For "Dread", Madison is a good deal more assertive than Ellen's other characters, even if she's still the least talkative of the trio.
Mike's characters in other systems like D&D tend to either be Nice Guys or some variety of jerk. From "Adventure Skeletons", Lionel Spinel is personable, but also utterly unhinged, and not just because his bones are loose.
Playing with Character Type: From "Adventure Skeletons", Cursed Skeleton #18 seems like a rehash of Johnny's previous experience with Efelfrith's Chosen (up to having the same voice), but turns out to have a couple more qualms on child welfare than his inspiration.
Miscellaneous Trivia for One-Shot Wonders
From Dread, Killian is the first player character to die in the series, and indeed the first PC to die ever in Oxventure history. This also makes Andy Farrant the first player to lose a character on-camera. By proxy, this also makes the werewolf the first villain to have killed a PC in Oxventure history.
You Awaken In A Strange Place is the first TTRPG story across the Oxventure umbrella to end with a Total Party Wipe. It is also the first adventure to feature multiple guests participating.
The Dragonlance one-shot was the first One-Shot Wonder video to end without any PC deaths. It also had the most guests to date.
Adventure Skeletons is the first episode to feature a guest star reoccur, as both Liv Kennedy and Jasper Cartwright star in their second episode.
Teatime Adventures is the first adventure that didn't result in anyone, PC or NPC, getting killed. It's also the first time that Ellen Rose has GMedever, in any capacity.
Blade Runner: Electric Dreams is the first time Mike has DMed on camera. It also marks the first time that a current Eurogamer contributor, Aoife Wilson, participated, as Johnny was not employed by Eurogamer at the time of One-Shot Adventures starting.
"D&D but everyone is a Kobold" is the first adventure with a Total Party Wipe that happened at the same time, as the previous instance happened in a staggered fashion. It is also the first time in which the players played multiple characters within the same episode.
Trivia Tropes for Oxventure Presents: Deadlands
Creator Backlash: In a mild case of this, Andy was self-critical of the puzzle he set up for "Dead Man's Worth", as Garnet/Jane and Delacy/Luke spent a long amount of time on it which didn't amount to much.
Technically, the entire party is American, even though all their actors are British. Of the cast, Ellen, Johnny and Mike employ accents to match. Guest star Jasper Cartwright also uses one to fit in.
Andy deploys quite a few American voices for various non-player characters, but not all.
Throw It In!: A large amount of the backstory for Bison Bill was improvised by Luke Westaway, which Jasper Cartright ran with.
Andy has refused to confirm or deny whether Benjamin Bellows is definitely dead after their face-off against the gang, clearly enjoying the panic it's generated in the fandom.
In the podcast for "Dead Man's Worth" (Part 2), Johnny played along with Nate being dead in the intro, knowing full well that Nate would come back as a Harrowed.
Andy had hoped to run a private game prior to filming to get to grips with the system, but this never happened.
When designing Nate, Johnny had the idea that they would play Nate to die unceremoniously shortly after the intro, thinking it would be extremely funny for them to be seemingly Killed Off for Real shortly into the campaign only to return shortly after as a Harrowed. Andy found the prospect amusing, but talked them out of it, and the duo agreed that it would make more sense to have this happen later. Johnny admitted that they were much happier seeing how it played out.
In the climax of "Dead Man's Worth" (Part 1), though Andy had warned Johnny this might be a good time to have Nate die and become a Harrowed, it wasn't scripted and there was theoretically a chance Nate could have won if he'd been very lucky. Even then, however, Nate might have died at the hands of the hired guns Bellows had called in.
Word of God: Jane has said Garnet doesn't speak with an accent because she doesn't feel comfortable doing one.
Other Trivia for Oxventure Presents: Deadlands
Deadlands is the first time Andy has run a TTRPG in any capacity.
As of "Dead Man's Worth", Johnny is the first player to lose a PC in a series that's not part of One-Shot Wonders. This also makes Benjamin Bellows the first villain to kill a PC outside of a one-shot.
