dracoroma

[dracoroma]

I love what Brennan is doing with faith in Divergence so far.

The skies of the Riftenmist peninsula in Gwessar (not yet Tal’dorei) have been choked with ash and smoke for decades. Most of the short lived races have never seen a clear sky.

Starmian saw the rain when he was younger. He knew it existed once, and his faith was that it would again. He told Nia about it and used it as encouragement that this struggle would be worth it. She watched him die moments before the rains finally came.

Luz was a Moonweaver worshiper in a land where any reverence for a Prime Deity was systematically crushed by the Strife Emperor. Even prisoners in a labor camp, the bottom rung of society, looked upon them with scorn—because if they were good, why did they let this happen? Why would any idiot worship the goddess of a moon that most living people had never even seen it through choked skies? For all they know, the Betrayers could have destroyed it, too, so what is she even the goddess of anymore? Even Sehanine’s epithet seemed like a fabrication. Perhaps it was true once, and in this barren wasteland, how could anyone say that it’s still true? Then Luz died fighting for people who did not share her faith and who thought she deserved scorn for her belief. After the fight ended, the skies parted and the moon shone down on those same people: a crescent, a sabre, and a smile all in one. Sehanine wasn’t with them anymore, but she still provided what help she could through those willing to forge a connection through the gate.

Their faith mattered both to them and to the world even when they didn’t live to see the result. The point of faith isn’t to see it proved true: it’s to bolster your resolve when all the world is against you. Faith is hope when you have no evidence in hand. Faith is vital to surviving a world fraught with danger. Whether it’s placed in a god, in other people, or in the mere idea that things will get better: faith matters.

It’s exactly the kind of story a lot of people need right now.

[dracoroma]

For what it's worth, I think Campaign 3 suffers when compared to, to put it bluntly, pretty much anything else Critical Role has ever put out, as well as most actual play that I've watched/listened to. But I think it uniquely suffers when juxtaposed with a narrative that says "if you do not make rapid decisions you and others around you will die; if you spend too much time whining about how it's unfair that you are called to make these decisions, including ones that might challenge you, you and others around you will die; and if you do not above all prioritize community and deal with threats to that community - and expand your understanding of community to be a very broad one - you will be destroyed." It was jarring and hypocritical to watch Campaign 3's defenders who had been calling for the gods to be slaughtered for much of the campaign suddenly spin around and praise Bells Hells for finding [having handed to them] the nonviolent option because that's actually always the best one, don't you know; and I think EXU Divergence challenges not just that ideal but the concept that there's a universal solution. Sometimes the right thing is to hide; sometimes it's necessary to commit violence to prevent further violence. Sometimes the right thing is to secretly eat some of the cheese yourself to prevent you from dying; sometimes it's to be on the lookout for someone trying to take more of their share in a resource-limited community and to stop them. Sometimes the right thing is to carry others; sometimes it's to give them to someone stronger and more able. And above all, many of these choices will be extremely unfair and difficult and put you at risk, and you do still have to make them, and soon.

[dracoroma]

I actually have a perfect analogy for this.

So, the gods see mortals as their children in a sort of esoteric sense. Maybe not literally, but they made the idea of mortals and are responsible for mortals like parents are. They maybe aren't the individual parents of every single mortal, but there's a sort of cosmological relationship there.

So, let's compare this to relationships parents can have with their adult children. Let's focus on the primes and assume good parents for the sake of analogy since it seems like most of the primes try their best.

A relationship like Fjord, Caduceus, Pike, or Vax have with their deities is like an adult child who is on good terms with their parent. And, as such, the parent is there to help their adult child out when they can and are needed.

Meanwhile, Ashton and Imogen and others are the adult children who moved out, didn't keep in touch, and then complain that they're not getting anything.

Now, let's also then compare M9 and BH in terms of relationships with the gods to polytheism IRL. And, in this regard, we again see a trend of "you have to put the work in". You have to give offerings and build the relationship. Because how would you feel if someone just came up to you, demanded something, and then got pissy when you said no. Or if a stranger came up to you like "i know you do [insert trade here]. Can you do it for me for free?"

I'm also very fond of how Matt handles Fjord's third question to the Wildmother. Fjord asks, "Would you please do something or show me something or intervene or take agency in my life and show me how best to move towards achieving that sort of change?" And Matt (speaking through Caduceus, since it's his Commune spell) says, "You understand the answer, as you are a man of faith, to know that the answer is to require faith."

Comparative to the engagement with the divine in c3 that is very often focused on a "what have the gods ever done for me?" sort of energy, this interaction specifically speaks to the fact that in order for a god to take particular interest in your life, you have to live a life of faith. Caduceus is right in telling Fjord that, "Eventually, one day, somebody will pray for a miracle [...] and that miracle will be answered because you showed up. That's how it works. That's what a champion is." It's about living that faith, actively, resolutely, and folding that ideology into your life. Living those ideals and doing those good works with intentionality is how you live a life of faith, is how a god would even know to take notice and intervene. It's about doing and the ideology that drives you to action.

[dracoroma]

look okay okay. obviously matt is a hugely talented dm. but airing divergence immediately after campaign three is really putting into stark relief things it sorely needed. these characters all have clear reasons to be engaging with the world; they have motivations that keep them moving forward to solid goals; they've obviously been well-informed beforehand about the state of the world they're living in and feel like a part of it; they've been given reasons to all work together and cooperate and be involved; they have a defined context they all built their characters around that they fit cleanly in.

i respect matt's desire to let his players explore the world he built and be generous with their freedoms, and brennan knows he's working within much tighter constraints. but this is really laying some of campaign three's issues bare.

[dracoroma]

It has dawned on me how downfall and the first episode of divergence have been filled with so much more nuance than all of campaign 3.

The entire point of downfall is "How do you stay moral when you are that powerful?" When the gods get their godly powers back, it's a power trip for them to take their vengeance on Aeor who has been so cruel.

In divergence, we have Melora doing her best to spare the prisoners, but she's literally bringing towers down. She can't save everyone, not while fighting Bane at the same time. You have her freeing the prisoners, but she’s a true neutral entity. She did her job, they're free. And that's the side to a nature goddess that isn't touched on much. Kord, similarly, is just storms. He wasn't there for any particular purpose, but his presence saved the larty by giving them the water they needed.

There's a push and pull with each of these. They show us that the gods are, for lack of a better term, human. They're fallable. Maybe they're personifications of things that aren't inherently moral.

And there is such a beuty in that nuance.

Meanwhile, Bell's Hells just felt like "hot take. Maybe the gods are The Man. And The Man is bad"

[dracoroma]

What pisses me off most about learning that a beacon could have destroyed Predathos (note, I have not seen the fireside chat, only seen people's reactions) is that this isn't a case of Bell's Hells trying and failing.

They didn't even put the effort in!

They were far too concerned with having the same debate 50,000 times and giving credit to the dictator turned terrorist to actually try to find a solution.

[dracoroma]

Now that the campaign is over, I think I should drop my full thoughts.

As a start: I intitally liked the finale for the most part. We'll get back to why I said initially. However, I have one major gripe.

The first is that reviving Ashton really fealt like it cheapened their sacrifice. It was such an interesting choice that they gave up their life purely out of spite. In Ashton's eyes, it wasn't about saving the gods, it was about humbling them. That's fun, and interesting, and as much as I have feelings about Aston that we'll get back to later, it was cool. And I also think it left their budding relationship with Fearne off on an interesting note. All of that is completely undone by reviving them.

Anyway, onto the campaign.

I was really into the game in its initial sandboxy arc. The cast was fun and their interactions were all neat, and Inwas interested where the plot was going.

And then the god plot came in. And I have so many feelings.

As a religious person (hellenist and heathen), I felt constantly letdown this entire story. At the end of the day, there was no real evidence given in a pro or anti god direction. We're told they're tyrants who have too much control over mortals, but most people have problems because of a lack of intervention. The divine gate keeps demons and devils at bay, but there's other sources for that. There's no consequences to any option. And because of that, we're left with endless debate because we have no solid evidence.

All of this leads to the debate just turning into teal world reddit aetheist plot points because there's nothing in world to debate. This also felt incredibly dismissive of actual faith. Do I need to remind everyone how Ashton would not let FCG just be at peace with worshipping Avandra? That was incredibly frustrating. They also don't address at all how getting rid of the gods affects those who gind meaning in religion. The Hells and Keyleth were just like, "eh. Get over it. World's still spinning. " Excuse me, did we forget how much meaning Fjord told the hells he got out of his relationship with Melora!?

From a writer's perspective: well, all of this. But it was also incredibly boring because it means nothing is happening. This wasn't a complex, morally grey debate because there was absolutely no nuance. We don't see how the gods (or, in particular, the primes, because we know the betrayers all suck) are bad, and how things will be fine forever without them. So it's an endless de ate with no point that follows the same formula every time: same 3 points why gods are bad. Someone says "hmmm, i don't know". We end by saying "let's kill Ludanis because he sucks".

And frankly, nothing was happening for so long. So much of the campaign is an indistinguishable blob of time in my memory, with the standout moment being Aeor. And I think Ahton is the perfect case study. Talesin is on record saying Ashton was a critique of the obnoxious parts of the punk mindset, and they had no character growth. Their character development after shardgate reverted soon after, and their position was always completely dismissive of any other perspective.

All that being said, the most fun I had in the campaign was actually the live show. In part because I caught it live. I was on a family trip in the area already, and so my girlfriend and I made it to the show. And frankly, it was a really good session. It was mostly self-contained, which was good for her, who had not seen a single session of C3. It didn't involve the god debate, which was good for me. And it introduced Breius, who I genuinely think is one of the best PCs of the campaign despite coming in late.

Because Breius is sich a good deconstruction of cults and toxic relationships and why they're appealing, why you come back, and he ended up breaking free at the end!

But, now I think about the finale again. And I'm less positive about it than I was. Because I realize that most of why Infelt good was because this mess of a campaign is finally over. I overlooked how Orym and Opal and Imogen did not face lasting effects from their actions because I was so ready to be done with the god debate that goes nowhere.

[dracoroma]

Although, something I just realized

Because I think it's good that American audiences are aware of colonialism, I think there's more nuance to this question when we loom for parallels to the gods arivibg in exandria.

In particular, the völkerwanderungen, or migration period. When many germanic groups were driven out of their homes by the Huns, and clashed with Rome because that's where they wandered.

I am genuinely curious where the line gets drawn, and how.

I think one of the big problems as a whole for Exandria is that

Objectively speaking, the creation myth is so sketchy

But we've had two campaigns in this world, well over 200 episodes, that don't try to address this at all.

And when we finally get it addressed, it's by the dictator turned terrorist Ludanis D'aleth, who no one takes as actually good intentioned

So when we do touch on it, it ends up being hollow

[dracoroma]

I think one of the big problems as a whole for Exandria is that

Objectively speaking, the creation myth is so sketchy

But we've had two campaigns in this world, well over 200 episodes, that don't try to address this at all.

And when we finally get it addressed, it's by the dictator turned terrorist Ludanis D'aleth, who no one takes as actually good intentioned

So when we do touch on it, it ends up being hollow

[dracoroma]

Velvet Crowe is my favorite character in fiction.

To the point that the only thing stopping me from cosplaying her is that I'm a guy.

From her story, to her characterization, to Christina Vee's utterly fantastic performance bringing it all to life.

[dracoroma]

I just realized something that hits a bit too hard, in a way I don'tthink was intended.

So, Matt has placed a huge effort on making sure the players know that exandria will keep on spinning without the gods. There's still sources of healing magic. There's still forces keeping demons at bay. The gods leaving will not be the apocalypse.

But, this does not address how it affects people on an individual level. What will life be like for Fjord and Pike and Yasha, people who find so much meaning in their relationships with their deities.

And where this hits too hard is that this mirrors some real-life antitheist rhetoric. "There are other, better sources of all the positive societal aspects of religion", and meanwhile the small, personal benefits are dismissed.

It calls back to Ashton's condtant dismissal of FCG's faith, trying to convert them back to atheism. It calls back to the one kid from heathdell who was given the ultimatum: convert back or be exiled.

[dracoroma]

I was thinking about Critical Role last night, I have been thinking about it a lot recently as I have been finally working my way through the Aeor arc of Campaign 2, and specifically about Campaign 3.

I fell off of Campaign 3 a couple times and dove back in trying to catch up before finally just saying Maybe Another Time/Maybe After Its Over around the time of them finding the Fire Titan Shard, because tbh, I got bored of the constant circular debate about defending/killing the gods, but I still think aobut it a lot because I liked the narrative Matt had built, love Exandria, and even liked Bells Hells as characters.

The reason I dont think it really clicked for me, and seemingly others, is I dont think Bells Hells is the right party for this story, and that it wouldve worked better with either all different characters, or as a shorter Epic Tier arc for Vox Machina or The Mighty Nein. Because, like, Bells Hells, at the start of their campaign is probably the party least connected to the Gods, either in a positive or negative light, especially compared to late game Vox Machina or Basically Any Point Mighty Nein.

Vox Machina had:

Grog: No connection to the Gods at the beginning of the campaign, finds some religious awakening with the Stormlord.

Keyleth: Strongly anti-organized religion at the beginning of the campaign, comes to resent the Matron of Ravens because of everything that happened with Vax.

Percy: Has a strong distaste for magic in any form, either of the arcane OR Divine persuasion, sees it as a shortcut that cheapens human ingenuity, despite that ruler of a city watched over by the Dawn Father with a respect for the Dawnfather.

Pike: Devotee of the Everlight, occasionally struggles with her devotion but one of the Everlights most ardent followers.

Scanlan: No strong connection to the Gods for most of the campaign, is smiled on by The Knowing Mistress during the Vecna arc.

Vax: His struggles with his sense of purpose push him towards religion early in the campaign and his love for his sister thrusts him into the service of the Matron of Ravens, eventually becoming her Paladin and Champion.

Vex: Defends the Dawnfathers city, but like Keyleth has a strong resentment towards the Matron for in their eyes Taking Vax.

The Mighty Nien had:

Caducius: Ardent follower of the Wildmother, helps guide Fjord towards enlightement in the Wildmothers eyes.

Caleb: After he broke mentally was broughtback to clarity by a follower of the Arch Heart.

Beau: Monk of the Cobalt Soul, and therefore a follower of The Knowing Mistress, while not overtly religious she has no problem presenting herself as a follower of the Mistress.

Fjord: Warlock of a creation of the Betrayer God Zehir who eventually finds redemption in the light of The Wildmother.

Jester: Cleric devouted to a Demi-God/Arch Fey who has a Less Than Great reputation with the Pantheon.

Nott/Veth: afaik basically no connection to the gods.

Yasha: Follower and adherent of The Stormlord, who lifted her from the brink of death and despair but challenges her in extreme and difficult ways.

I dont know, I just feel like either of those groups of characters would have had a more tangible connection to a plot related to killing the gods than a group consisting of two people who felt their prayers went unanswered, two people with no real care or connection to the gods, a cleric looking for a god, and a guy who is kinda connected to the Wildmother.

And, again, I dont think Bells Hells are a BAD adventuring party, I just think their adventuring and story shouldve maybe touched on the source of Imogens powers, but also spent serious time exploring the rest of the new characters backstories, and found another Main Plot that wasnt this.

[dracoroma]

I think that discussions of TTRPGs would be much more productive if the advocates of moving from D&D could separate out the ideas of "WoTC is part of the massive Hasbro conglomerate which engages in the shady capitalist practices massive conglomerates do"; "D&D is not suited for every single type of story or gameplay style"; and "here's how to pick a different TTRPG that suits you needs" because as I've said many a time like 99% of them are just trying to sell you on their favorite game, which might be out of print, prohibitively expensive, something no one around you is interested in playing, or is just as bad if not worse a fit for what you want to do as D&D.

I also think said conversations would be more productive if acknowledging many people came into TTRPGs via Actual Play but would be willing to branch out if you weren't the world's most condescending dickhead towards them*; if people considered the hard truth that if you're fluent in D&D and own the materials and have a group already the pitch for Pathfinder specifically actually becomes much harder, not easier; and, as always, if people tailored their recommendations. I agree that heists or space operas or low-combat social games don't play well in D&D; they also don't play well necessarily in your favorite game that you recommend for everything that isn't magically better or more versatile just because it's from a smaller company.

Anyway the point is if you just want to whine about D&D being a dominant force be my guest but you will probably lose all but the most impressionable/desperate for the validation of strangers portion of your D&D-playing audience. If you're actually interested in changing minds and not jacking off to how much cooler and better you are be prepared to ask or answer these questions:

Is D&D genuinely a bad fit for what they want to do, or are you just an intrusive hater?

What is the person you're trying to convert interested in doing at the table? This is is a complex question that covers genre and tone; session-to-session gameplay such as combat vs. RP balance but also (for example) granularity of rules; and overall scope of the game (eg: is this something that you can play a long-term campaign in with character progression? Or is it fairly static and intended to be a few sessions at most?)

What games are accessible to them? This means within their budget (unless you advocate for pirating from small indies, which will not really help with the whole WoTC dominance situation); within what they and their table have time to learn (or, if they are looking to get into games in the first place, what they might be able to find a group for); and again, I can't believe I have to say this but I really do because I've seen it multiple times: whether the game is in print.

Have you considered gently directing them to their friendly local gaming store with answers to the second and third questions above and unleashing them upon a person who knows the gaming scene in their area and (while I've dealt with a Comic Shop Guy or two in my time) is less likely to call them a dumb bitch to their face if the answer ends up being "I'll stick with D&D"? Again, is this about them having a good time? Or is this about you?

*the best way to describe this, since I've been talking a lot about people attempting to claim the status of the systemically oppressed, is that a lot of non-D&D/non-AP fans of TTRPGs on Tumblr act like they are an oppressed class and it's like Kevin, you are a white sysadmin Monte Hall Games fanboy, you are not oppressed by the girlies making Keyleth-inspired D&D characters. You are not part of the more popular fandom and indeed dislike it; this does not make you of a lower class.

[dracoroma]

I think the two biggest problems with media literacy nowadays are

1) Nuance is dead on the internet. Things are not allowed to be complex

2) People are expecting works to conform to their expectations instead of meeting the work where it is. This does not mean you can not critique a work on being unsuccessful where it wants to be, but there is a line between what the creators wanted to do and what you wanted out of it

[dracoroma]

The great part about doing research for a fantasy novel is that you learn so many interesting things that don't get represented. For example, did you know that Medieval, and even pre-christian Ireland had a super intricate legal system? That in Rome the priests were elected, and were mostly responsible for performing rituals and setting Holidays?

The frustrating part is that it can be very hard, especially depending on where you live, to find any good sources. I need to research Polland and Russia in the 1470s for my book, and am getting nothing. And even less for Bughanda and the Sakha people (if anyone has any good sources for those, please shoot them my way

[dracoroma]

I'd love to be able to just let things go.

Are you kidding me? Do you think I like reliving all the times other people have made me feel like all I can ever do is screw everything up? Like I don't matter?

No, I don't. Every single one of those memories is a poison.

Living life as an autistic person is spending your whole life being help up to impossible to reach standards, being expected to be perfect when no one else holds themselves to those same standards

And then when you inevitably break, it's being told by those same people that all of it was something you made up in your head and they never said that.

All the while, no one ever considers meeting or even figuring out your needs. They're far to busy expecting you to be perfect.

[dracoroma]

Living life as an autistic person is spending your whole life being help up to impossible to reach standards, being expected to be perfect when no one else holds themselves to those same standards

And then when you inevitably break, it's being told by those same people that all of it was something you made up in your head and they never said that.

All the while, no one ever considers meeting or even figuring out your needs. They're far to busy expecting you to be perfect.