‘Following a group of dysfunctional adventurers on a quest to discover and destroy the mythical Sword of Fighting, JourneyQuest is a comedic adventure through the fantasy world of Fartherall, where intellectual orcs, incompetent wizards, and holy zombies form the living (and not-so-living) backdrop to an epic story of unrequited love, burning passions, and severely reluctant heroism. And running away. Lots of running away…’

I’ve always been a big supporter of web delivered content, but with the huge number of web series popping up around the Internet lately it is often hard to find the diamonds in the rough. Given that so many bad web series choose to focus on geeky things as an excuse to avoid creativity, I must admit that I was dubious when I first heard about the D&D based JourneyQuest.

Within the first minute of watching, all of my doubts were put to rest. JourneyQuest had me laughing myself silly, and I found myself immediately watching the rest of the series. This is a great example of what can be done with a web series if the people behind it are willing to put the effort in. The show has great production values, great actors and a well-written story.

The last point is one that is often missed in web series (and everywhere else for that matter). Creators often fail to realise that all the production value in the world won’t save a web series if the story behind it isn’t working. The recent Mortal Kombat: Legacy is a good example of something that looks like it was made by Hollywood, but is lacking substance. While JourneyQuest’s production values aren’t as high, the world they have created is very believable and this combined with the other elements makes for a far superior show.

JourneyQuest stands up alongside famous shows as The Guild for creating a simple but compelling story full of interesting characters. We have the wizard Perf, who is skilled at many things (magic not being one of them), the elven Ranger Nara who is searching for her destiny, affable priest Carrow who often finds his patience sorely tested, and the warrior Glorion who feels that killing equals honour. The group is closely followed by the young bard Wren who is looking to write her first epic. Along the way they come across orcs, nyads, assassins and many other hazards that are necessary for a D&D tale.

While the characters at first seem fairly simple, the show does a great job of filling in their personalities and back story as their quest continues. Each of the actors is perfectly suited to their role, and they have no problem embracing the often-silly elements of the story. The story also takes an interesting non-linear approach to ease the audience into the story without getting bogged down in exposition.

Overall, JourneyQuest is a fantastic show that wouldn’t feel out-of-place on television. The guys at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment have a mantra of No Studio, No Network, No Cancellation, relying on the support of their fans to keep going. I’ve linked the first episode below; If you like it, make sure to head over to their website to see how you can contribute to a second season.

What I Liked – Great use of the setting. Interesting characters. Great humour.

What I Didn’t Like – The humour missed in a couple of spots. I have to wait for season 2.

Rating – 4.5 out of 5 (Extremely Enjoyable)