#CR1/2

[memimic]

Faerie Drake

CR 1/2 Dragon

A whimsical blend of dragon and fey, faerie drakes are small, iridescent tricksters with a knack for illusions and charm. Their playful nature hides surprising cleverness, making them beloved companions—or infuriating foes.

Would your party befriend one or fall for its mischief?

Art by Midjourney

[dndcreaturesinfo]

Magesteel Automata by Conflux Creatures

[mollymauksworld]

c1.24 | THE FEAST

c3.112 | THE ASSEMBLING OF LEGENDS

[g1ngerbeer]

that guy from vox macchiato or whatever

[the-velvet-worm]

I really love how Vox Machina was like yeah we are fruity and sometimes people speculate we’re in a polycule and we play into that for the laughs and while we are queer for the most part we all end up in relationships that look traditional to the untrained eye, but are actually quite forward-thinking and queer in nature.

Meanwhile the Might Nein are like we are gay we are so so very gay. All of us have crushes on each other and every single person we encounter along our journey. Beau is out here having one night stands with every single woman/nonbinary individual they meet, she has a crush on Jester, she has a crush on Yasha, she’s a lesbian disaster. Caleb had a boyfriend and a girlfriend at the same time and now he’s in a monogamous relationship with a war criminal. Molly will fuck anything that moves. Cad is the archetypal aroace emotional support friend. Just so much variety in one group of people how can you even.

[aq2003]

1x69 // 1x89 or; keyleth and percy and "i need you"

[shiversdownyourspleen]

So we can all agree the Matron of Ravens is objectively the coolest god in Exandria, right?

[plantskiddo]

rex corvorum 👑

[dylbydoodles]

Threads of Fate.

[augentrust]

vox machina + a softer world

(find the mighty nein version here! inspired by fear-ne's post)

[image descriptions + episode numbers + asw numbers are in the alt text]

[memimic]

Faerie Kobold

CR 1/2 Humanoid

Dazzling scales, clever illusions, and a knack for fey mischief—faerie kobolds blend draconic grit with fey whimsy to bewilder anyone entering their twilight groves. Just like their other kin, they can be more resourceful than you would expect of them. How would your adventurers handle these unpredictable foes?

Art by Midjourney

[dndcreaturesinfo]

Essential NPCs: Soldiers

[amplexadversary]

god I love the face she makes in this scene

[twinklestarss]

“What happened to my mother? Your mother was a brave woman, very much like you, now that I see you before me. Unsure of herself, and wishing to please, and not disappoint. And it's hard to ascertain but I fear it's perhaps that lack of confidence that may have caused her failure. […] Hold onto that hope. Use it, and finish what she started. She lives through you at the very least. Hold that memory. I will hold on to it, but I hope you know that does not define me. I'm not her. Good. Then perhaps you have a chance."-Keyleth/Uvenda

Campaign 1 Episode 87: Onward to Vesrah Campaign 2 Episode 102: Ghosts, Dinosaurs, and Stuff

[g1ngerbeer]

is it october 3 yet

[aspiringsophrosyne]

Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein: which has the easiest story to adapt?

In the wake of the CRew announcing the Mighty Nein animated series, a perplexing take keeps surfacing and resurfacing.

The consensus is that adapting the first Critical Role stream will be simpler than adapting the second. The protagonists of the former are more traditionally heroic and badass, there’s more to the plot of their story, and the pacing is better suited to an animated show.

However, is all that true? And if it is, does it make adapting C2 harder?

Let's look at that first point. Is Vox Machina more traditionally heroic and badass than the Nein?

(spoilers for both campaigns under the cut)

What they have in common.

The Nein:

Came up with several wacky schemes, most notably their multiple attempts to neutralize enemies with polymorph. These only worked about half the time. The other half, the enemies stayed just as big a problem, or became even more of a problem. For example: the fire giant turned cow that attacked Fjord, the zombie giant turned giant snapping turtle that bit Caleb, and the Dragon Turtle turned into a regular sea turtle that was faster and thus harder to outrun.

Missed spot checks when making plans. This landed them in progressively hotter water that they could only escape through luck, quick thinking, and improv: stealing Avantika’s journal, meeting with the Bright Queen, the Asylum heist, and the King’s Cage.

They ran from fights when things got pear-shaped: the blue dragon in the Happy Fun Ball, again the King’s Cage, and the Tomb Takers.

But what about Vox Machina? Vox Machina’s concocted wacky schemes of their own.

They dropped in from above on a boss to bypass a dungeon, Vax and Scanlan poorly deployed Dimension Door to fight Umbrasyl, and the group summoned a Goristro to fight Vorugal for them and ended up fighting both.

Vox Machina has also missed spot checks. There was Scanlan’s ill-planned mission at the Duke’s place in Whitestone, Vax’s attack on Raishan right after finishing Thordak (which prompted her to dump a Meteor Swarm, which does 20d6 fire damage and 20d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, on their brutalized and depleted heads) and the group used up two resurrection spells before the final battle after falling for Vecna’s trick.

Vox Machina has shown their own hesitancy and has also run from fights. They tried everything they could to not directly confront Grog's herd until their deceptions failed. They gave Umbrasyl time to rest so that they could rest. They retreated from Whitestone before Keyleth turned back and Pike returned. They ran from a Pit Fiend who only had 22 hit points left. And they fled after their first disastrous fight with Vecna.

In terms of wackiness, that's not even getting into the shit Grog and Tary got up to in Vasselheim. Or Scanlan’s fruitless pursuit of Marquesian drugs. Or pre-stream events, like Vox Machina killing that kid.

VM can be equally as wacky, unheroic, and gun-shy as the Nein.

Where they differentiate 1: plot points.

As for their respective narratives, while Vox Machina was less of a sandbox and had a more defined plot than The Mighty Nein did, that isn’t necessarily an advantage or disadvantage in an adaptation. In the first two seasons of TLOVM, for example, there was never a shortage of dangerous encounters or events to animate. And because the show only has so much time, the pace was pretty brisk, so there isn't a lot of time for things to get dull, slow or boring. On the other hand, even with multiple events cut or moved, Vox Machina had almost no time for talking to each other (and what time they had, the show didn't make particular use of) or character development.

For the Mighty Nein, the pacing is slower, but if they want to, the writers and editors can move events around in the timeline and add or lengthen action sequences to keep the pace brisk. And this gives the character moments more time, which is good because these are essential for both casts but will be especially important for the Nein. Especially early on, given what's going to happen. The Nein's story is far more character-focused, so while a slower pace can be negated, it might not be desired, because it might serve a different kind of story better.

Where they differentiate 2: thematic consistency.

One thing the Mighty Nein inarguably has over Vox Machina is incredibly strong theming: autonomy in general (and bodily autonomy specifically), identity, freedom, redemption, trauma, and healing from it… Almost every major enemy (Lorenzo, Avantika/Uk’otoa, Obann/TCO, Isharnei, Trent, Vokodo, and the Somonvem/the Nonagon) is a subverter of these goals and themes.

On the other hand, Vox Machina's story has no similarly clear-cut themes. That's not necessarily a bad thing! But it gives the animated series less to build itself around or use as a lodestar. You can see TLOVM trying to shoehorn “Let’s stop running away from our problems,“ into that role, but it just doesn’t work. Because that wasn’t a theme of the original stream and because animated VM hasn't actually run from anything. So that makes for an ill-fitting theme and a poor foundation for the rest of the story.

Where they differentiate 3: power and privilege.

VM had many people backing them up: the lovely lady Allura, they had the ear of the good King Uriel, and later Kima, Zahra, Kashaw, and Kerrek. And while Vox Machina fought hard-won battles and suffered the heartache of defeat and loss, their influential allies gave Vox Machina support, officially lauded them, and recognized them for their victories.

The Nein, in contrast, had almost no unambiguously trustworthy patrons or allies. (Their contacts: the Gentlemen, Avantika, Essek in particular, the Bright Queen’s court in general, and Yussa, to name just a few.) Contrasting Vox Machina’s relationship with Uriel, King Dwendal and his court came this close to scapegoating the Nein for the catastrophe at the Chantry of the Dawn, and their subsequent accomplishments go largely unnoticed by the world.

Vox Machina had (and still has) privileges that the Nein did not, including people in authority who helped them, fought with them, and acknowledged their great deeds and sacrifices.

My theory is that the Nein and Vox Machina are seen as being more different than they are because of how each respective group is treated in their universe. Some fans take Vox Machina's hype and esteem (and the Nein’s lack thereof) at face value instead of scrutinizing who these characters actually are. Or taking their circumstances into account.

Too few consider how much harder it is to be a hero in Wildemount as opposed to Tal'dorei. And that's a pretty big factor in why the two groups are the way they are. And why they're perceived, in-universe and out, the way they are.

This is not to say this makes one better than the other. What I love about both VM and TM9 is that they're packs of perpetually feral disaster children. Disparate fuckups who become ride-or-die for their chosen family and save their world from The Horrors despite all their personal hang-ups. To me, discounting VM’s fuck-uppery discounts a significant part of their appeal and relatability, which does them a disservice.

And this aspect that both groups share isn't as huge of a problem for their respective adaptations as people think.