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'''''Counter Monkey''''' is a [[Web Video]] series hosted by [[The Spoony Experiment|Noah Antwiler, also known as The Spoony One]]. In this series, Spoony recounts various [[Counter Monkey/Funny|amusing]] and [[Counter Monkey/Awesome|awesome]] stories from his [[Tabletop Game]] days, as well as offering helpful tips and tricks for other [[Game Master|GMs]]. Recently it began to feature recordings of regular weekly [[Pathfinder]] sessions played over Skype, based on the Kingmaker adventure path and starring many of the same players from [[Spoony's Campaign|his other campaign]]. The name of the series comes from his days of working at a tabletop gaming store: "counter monkeys" was the employees' name for people who would hang around on the counter, ''never buy anything'', but just tell long rambling stories about their characters and campaigns.
Spoony originally wanted to publish it in a book, but it later morphed into a blog (which can be found [http://countermonkeybook.blogspot.com/ here], it also has [https://web.archive.org/web/20131018124309/http://countermonkey.com/ a WordPress site]) and eventually into a video series hosted on The Spoony Experiment along with his other reviews. Spoony has also mentioned hosting a weekly podcast or still trying to publish the stories, but these have not yet materialized.
The series can be viewed [https://web.archive.org/web/20131017045100/http://spoonyexperiment.com/category/counter-monkey/ here].
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* [[And That's Terrible]]: After relating the tale of the Toilet Pizza: "But honestly, that was like the worst thing I've ever done to somebody... because that was ''horrible''. That was ''really bad''."
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: [[Vampire: The Requiem|"Vampire]]: Spoony's Jyhad". Victory for the Carthians, [[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch|bitch]].
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** A genuine Killer DM, one [[Gary Gygax]], designed ''Dungeonland'', which is the focus of "Tandem's Last Ride".
** And Spoony's appropriately named acquaintance Gary (the "I forgot my pants" guy) was also one, with anyone who played in his campaign becoming resigned to rolling up a new character at least once per session.
** One party that ''did'' survive Spoony's campaign only did so by becoming a pack of sadistic, kill-crazy savages, even by ''[[Thieves' World]]'' standards.
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* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Vegan Steve ends up dying by pulling the Void card from the Deck of Many Things, an item he obtained by completely screwing the party over. Note that he drew it as his last card ''[[Too Dumb to Live|out of 11]]'', after his first ten cards were beneficial, ''and'' the tenth card allowed him to escape his furious teammembers. It couldn't be more laser-guided than that.
* [[Lensman Arms Race]]: "The Squirt Gun Wars", where the introduction of DMSO (which allows any drug to be instantly absorbed through the skin) in ''[[Shadowrun]]'' leads to the introduction of lethal DMSO drug cocktails and an arms race of super soakers, hi-tech water balloons, and fire hoses.
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** Also the party in "Thieves' World" become obsessed with trying to kill the unkillable Tempus Thales, but in that one it's justified by the predicament they've found themselves in.
* [[The Magnificent]]: In "Dungeon Mastering A Great Game", Spoony talks about how this trope can help make characters memorable and flesh them out, especially if the cognomen in question is particularly distinctive, using ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' as an example.
** This is where his own alias comes from--his character "Tandem the Spoony" was so named because he wanted a cognomen that was a real adjective, but an incredibly obscure one.
* [[Mass "Oh Crap"]]: The players of ''[[Thieves' World]]'' as Spoony reveals the [[Wham! Line]]'s consequence.
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* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Immediately after describing the above [[Eye Scream]] event, he whistles to his dog.
* [[Never Live It Down]]: The "Leaping Wizards" incident.
* [["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer]]: Noah spends a good 15 seconds in "The Importance of Wearing Pants" reassuring us that he's not making up the story about the player who somehow left the house without his pants.
* [[Not Completely Useless]]: "[[The Power of Rock|Countersong]]" is a bardic ability that allows the bard to mute over auditory magic. It is virtually never used and often forgotten about, since such attacks are extremely rare, but it saved Tandem's party from a [[Compelling Voice]].
* [[Off the Rails]]:
** In "Vegan Steve and the Djinni of Jengai Fomogo".
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** Spoony himself does it in "Vampire: Spoony's Jyhad". In a ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' LARP, Spoony's character is [[Railroading|railroaded]] and brainwashed by the other players. His in-character response? Making a bathtub full of [[Stuff Blowing Up|Semtex]] and ''blowing up the Prince and every other vampire in a one-block radius''.
** Pretty much all of the ''[[Thieves' World]]'' campaign. Spoony's original plan was for the PCs to slowly work their way into Tempus Thales' "favor" and assist him in overthrowing the city. After a textbook example of why not to interrupt the DM (see [[Wham! Line]]), the campaign turns into horrifically escalating war of atrocities between Thales and the party.
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* [[Overprotective Dad]]: [[Classical Mythology|Zeus]] literally throws Tandem the Spoony off Mount Olympus for macking on his daughter.
* [[The Power of Rock]]: In "Tandem's Last Ride", [[Spoony Bard|Tandem The Spoony]] sings an [[Iron Maiden]] song to break the [[Compelling Voice]] effect of [[Alice in Wonderland|the Caterpillar]].
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* [[Railroading]]: When Spoony played a ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' LARP, the GM forced his character to get kidnapped and brainwashed by the other players. This did not end well; see [[Off the Rails]] above.
* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Spoony gives one of these to the GM of a ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' LARP in "Vampire: Spoony's Jyhad".
* [[Riding Into the Sunset]]: Referred to Tandem's last adventure as this.
* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: What the ''[[Thieves' World]]'' campaign [[Off the Rails|mutates into]] following the [[Facial Horror]] incident.
** The end result of "Vampire: Spoony's Jyhad".
* [[Running Gag]]: "...I'm not that kind of thief!"
** An unintentional one is Spoony ''trying'' to protect the identity of the people he's talking about by giving them aliases, only to forget to use them halfway through the story and only realise he's done it until after he's used their real names several times.
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* [[The Virus]]: [[Golem|Manure golems]] spread like this in "Age of Manure".
* [[We Have Become Complacent]]: The elysium in "[[Vampire: The Requiem|Vampire]]: Spoony's Jyhad" was so secure that they didn't even search for weapons. [[Beware the Nice Ones|Big]] [[Off the Rails|mistake]]...
* [[Wham! Line]]:
** "[[Off the Rails|I HURL A FLASK OF ACID AT HIS]] ''[[Off the Rails|FACE!!!]]''"
** "[[Too Dumb to Live|I WISH FOR A DECK OF MANY THINGS!]]"
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[[Category:Counter Monkey]]
[[Category:That Guy With The Glasses]]
[[Category:Gaming Lore]]
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