#I know the answer for some is that they want VM or M9 to do it as if they could even get to it without a Ruidus born

[asingingpenguin]

Going through the CR tag is a nightmare right now

[rationalnerd62]

I'm feeling weirdly about C3 ending next week (I guess there's some sadness mixed with other stuff, but me, putting feelings into words? Not in my autism), so instead of thinking too much about those feelings, I want to list random things about Bell's Hells I'd like to get resolved or developed, either in that 8.5h finale or in future BH one-shots (cause they've got to have some one day, right? Right?).

It's in no particular order whatsoever, I'm just putting random thoughts out there (and hoping to see other people's random thoughts too).

Titans' shenanigans! Both Ashton and Fearne absorbed a shard, and got some nice abilities out of it, but is there more to explore here? What does this mean for the elemental life of Exandria? Is this a path to some resurgence of the Titans? Are there other shards elsewhere? Will Ashton ever meet some remains of the cult their parents were in? Is that something they're still interested in knowing more about?

Ludinus! I am hoping this won't get resolved in the finale, because this would give big Trent M9 finale vibes and feel rushed, but that damn elf is still somewhere out there! What are his goals now that Predathos is out / the BH finale deals with the Gods in a way or another? Will he ever come back to haunt our characters?

Laudna! The Matron hinted that there was a possible path to her getting back what got stolen from her (aka her mortality). While I never would want for her to become a "normal human mortal" (she should still be able to get a form of dread and play with shadow and have fun with some of her "monstrous" powers!), I honestly will hate it if my favourite CR couple is *another one* of those couples with wildly different aging speed and one of the member of the couple has to outline the other for decades or centuries. Let Imogen and Laudna grow old together in their little cottage! They deserve it! I could see that being resolved as a "gift" from the Gods (if there's a good outcome with them), but I also wouldn't say no to a post-canon story (one shot, novel, comics, who knows) centered on this. I could see both Imogen and Laudna having made their peace with this, and then maybe in a few years they're starting to talk about kids, and there's this realization that Laudna will also outlive those, and that's when she decides that she needs to do *something*. I don't know whether that's possible, but Matthew! More impossible things have been done in your world!

The Shade Mother! Is she still under Jrusar? It's kinda funny that BH's first main arc ended up with them running away and never finishing there ahaha.

Similarly, will they ever go down to find FCG's coin that Orym had thrown under Jrusar? I know at least some of the cast mentioned being curious about that.

Hey, talking about FCC, will BH Talk with Frida? What about D? Our group really didn't have much time to mourn him, so maybe finding the answers FCG was looking for regarding who he is would be a way for them to process their grief.

(I just had a thought about Ashton going back to Jrusar and Milo without FCG and this broke my heart)

Dorian and his family! He has mentioned them before, and we've met his father, but seeing where he grew up and having him introduce Orym would be nice. And vice versa with Orym introducing Dorian to his family (as his partner instead of his friend). But I'm hopeful this'll get brought up in the finale.

Imodna wedding! Because Laura Bailey deserves to have three weddings one-shot.

More Unseelie stuff! Idk, I feel like there was still more to do wrt Fearne & the Feys.

I'm hoping for a moment with Imogen and her parents in the finale. It's really the end of a big journey for Liliana, but there's another journey to start, about rebuilding (or trying to rebuild) those relationships that got affected by her search for answers. There's a "back from the war" vibe here, and I want to see it.

VM got some pre-campaign comics, M9 got some individual character origins comics, BH also deserves some comics! But what type? I'm not sure how I'd feel if it was exactly as what M9 got, so I'm hoping they'll get some original ideas within the CR crew!

Last (for now) but not least, when is Chetney finally going to die?

[thenatezone]

Having digested the Bell's Hells finale I think I want to make some observations that, FULL DISCLOSURE, will veer into gentle criticism, but that's fine because we're all incredibly normal and mature and we'll just be cool about it.

I know that these last few episodes had to close out not just campaign 3 but presumably also this version of the show. I know the cast likes to revisit their old, iconic characters and that the constant references and connections to previous campaigns are really fun for them. But, fun as it was, I feel it came at the expense of crowding Bells Hells out of their own campaign.

I believe we have reached MCU Phase 4 (?) levels of callbacks and references to previous campaigns, which, in my opinion, M9 handled with much more restraint. Easier for the cast to do back then, you might say, with only one previous campaign and no supplemental series like EXU to weave in, but I would respond by reminding you that no one made them ratchet up the shared universe storytelling. To continue with the Marvel analogy, sometimes a Spider-Man story has pretty high stakes that might justify the X-Men or FF or Avengers showing up to help. If they're going to, fine, but you have to keep the focus on Spider-Man or you've failed to tell a Spider-Man story and you shouldn't have involved so many other heroes if they're just going to take away opportunities for his character development.

Also, with so many EXU installments and the main series only running 3 weeks a month, I thought campaign 3 really dragged compared to the others. Maybe that's because it was a lot less...vignette-y, I guess, than VM or M9? I'm guesstimating here but it felt like Bells Hells had identified the bad guys (and more or less what their plan was) about one-third into the campaign and the other two-thirds was pretty much exclusively about stopping it. Just not my preference for the pacing of a multi-year campaign.

As far as revisiting VM and M9 to give them updated endings, I found this...emotionally satisfying in the moment, let's say, but kind of narratively weak and cloyingly sentimental when considered after the fact. It reminds me (I am old) of the finale of Lost, which ends on an uplifting and feelgood scene. This emotional satisfaction lingers for a moment and then you (if you are me) realize that you will have to make your peace with the fact that the show has been promising answers to its many mysteries and will not be delivering on any of them. It's not a waste of time because you have enjoyed yourself, but you wish the show had delivered more relative to what it had promised. That's how I feel about Bells Hells.

Now I do want to note that if I had played Bells Hells as a home campaign I would have loved it! Would never have shut up about it. Would have been completely on board with the meta-references and the constant in-character arguing and planning and ethical debates that kept going in circles. Would have appreciated the players all taking big swings with their characters even if some of them weren't as successful as others. Would definitely have supported of a final session that wrapped everything up a little too neatly, because it might have been the last time our crew could play after years together and the real world had gotten so unpleasant that maybe the fantasy world could lighten up just a bit. And while it's unfair to hold Critical Role to the same standards as a scripted show when it's not, we have to acknowledge that it's also not just some friends playing DnD at home with only themselves to satisfy.

Still love the program, still love the chemistry of the cast, still can't wait to see what they do next with this last EXU and then Daggerheart. The worst day fishin' is better than the best day workin' after all, but I hope some bigger fish will be biting next time.

[astralleywright]

oh yeah I totally understand why the crossovers happened and don't begrudge the cast or anyone for being excited about it - as much as it stings for me, personally, to see bh be defined for so long by their race to this endgame only to end up sharing it in such a massive way lmao. as a c3-only viewer (for now?), I could have made my peace with feeling a bit like I'm on the outside looking in in terms of plot and worlbuilding, but it is sad that bh themselves have been put in that position in the midst of all the Important Characters™ conversations.

as you say, it makes sense narratively…and by now we all know the narrative has been eating bh alive from the start. it's been going on way before the crossover episodes happened, it was basically baked into them and into the campaign in a way that - again, as I understand it - just wasn't there in the previous one. bh literally started out with an explicit personal connection, in a position of servitude, to a previous pc (and this really isn't meant as a dig to orym, it's just what his job was/is!), so that was obviously going to color their interactions with the world and the other characters.

I definetly don't want a big ass pvp fight or convo to take up anymore focus from bh, but in a way it does feel like it's too late? if the choice was made to not sacrifice the realism of the previous parties showing up (which I think/hope most people would have 'forgiven', given the nature of this storytelling), then sadly it makes a bit too much sense for those parties to also look down on bh and, as so many seem to want, punish them or whatever. I don't want to see that and don't think we will - I would be actively upset if that happened! - but emotionally it does feel like the narrative would lead to proving those people right :/

if bh just /had/ to share the spotlight, as they have been doing forever, I so wish the circumstances allowed us to just get back to the people they have built a connection with…they might not have a lot of npcs to call their own, but I def would've loved for the guests pcs to show up!

sorry for the long ask - I guess it's no use being sad about all of this, especially now, but I still am lmao. bh really invented new and exciting ways of being doomed and rejected by the narrative <3

at the end of the day I support them making bonkers choices, they're gonna end up carving an eight-room cottage out of moon crystals and taking turns taking predagen on little walks to nibble on gods to keep them humble

it turns out i don't have a super long answer to this ask other than yeah, i agree. i do have hope we won't just wrap this shit up after whatever shakes out with Predathogen (i'm now rooting at her getting to bite at the god's ankles forever, as a treat) but will fake some time to explore the quencies and the rammies of BH's decision. (which is what Matt seems to be suggesting we'll do).

and Ludinus is still out there maybe! tbh if they do get rid of the gods he might just peace out Yoda-style, bc that was his life's purpose and all, but if not there are many people who would like another round of beating up that old man. so idk maybe we'll do that? (that feels more like a oneshot thing if i'm being honest)

but even so i don't think you have to worry about interparty pvp breaking out over whatever BH decides. it isn't nearly as prominent in C3 since we mainly see Keyleth in an official, leaderly capacity, but she actually had major beef with the gods in C1-mainly the Matron, but she was also cynical abt them and their whole deal in general. she might have libbed out in the 30 years since but i still don't think she'll be too upset, if it all ends well. especially in private lmao. and the most religious person in VM is Pike, and Pike is a sweetie who has a whole arc in TLOVM abt her questioning her god and finding the power inside her all along so like. it'll be fine. certain people in the M9 might be pissed but i think the other members (ironically, probably the two clerics) would talk them down. they might get disinvited from Jester's wedding though (which is a shame because Ludinus definitely has an invite)

and i do think it's fair to be sad about all of this! i'm sad abt a lot of how BH's endgame has shook out as well! but yeah, there's nothing really to do with that sadness except feel it and then let it go. i mean, we could spend days on end in a negative spiral making a million posts abt every problem we have with c3. if we wanted to get unhealthy about it.

[revvethasmythh]

💛 and 🖤

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

Okay, there's a few I could think of to talk about here (Ashton/Orym came to mind, but also I don't know how popular that is in the grand scheme of things? And Molly/Caleb, but I'm fairly well-documented in not liking that), but instead I'm going to do one that is very popular but I stress: I have no issues with this ship. I even think it has good chemistry and themes, etc. It simply does not spark joy in me the way I want my ships to. And that's Caleb/Essek.

Like, I honestly don't know how I would have interacted with this ship in a vacuum. I might have gone full shipper, maybe, because I do think my interactions with fandom/fanon for it had a pretty negative effect. And I remember being excited about the ship when the campaign was ongoing! But as soon as the campaign ended/the ship went canon there was such an explosion of content it dazed me. Suddenly all I could see was Caleb/Essek all on my dash, all on my AO3. it was so inescapable I just blacklisted the ship tag and, well, i still have it blacklisted, actually. Add to the overexposure that I just wasn't fond of a lot of the fanon characterization of the relationship and to this day I'll see ship content for it come up and be like "*deeply tired* I want nothing to do with this right now". Which doesn't feel fair to the ship itself? Because I never minded it in canon? But when I see it come up in fandom I just get so exhausted with it.

So, when I say I "can't get behind it" it's not that I think there's any issues with the ship itself. Hi, it's me, I'm the problem it's me (also fanon, but fanon is pretty much always an issue so this is no surprise).

🖤: Which character is not as morally good as everyone else seems to think?

Mollymauk is the easy answer here and I do think that's true. Ashton, too, probably, but I don't feel like making that argument. You know, I'm going to expand the question and I'm just going to say Vox Machina As A Party. I'm not super in the know with Vox Machina specific fandom stuff, but I have seen a lot of fandom treat them like these classic, honorable heroes and that. that was never my experience with them. They were pretty fucking brutal actually. Maybe this stood out to me a lot because I watched all of M9 before going back and finishing VM, and I remember so many people talking about M9 like they were the biggest assholes on the earth, especially in comparison to VM (which, they were assholes, but still) and I was like confused_john_travolta.gif. Vox were heroes, but damn they got up to some shit, man

[laurasbailey]

CR SPOILERS!!

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Do you think Matt was really gonna do a TPK??? I am so stressed about the possibility?? Like what even is this campaign without Imogen?? Was he going so hard on them because he wants to bring in VM and the Nein? As like Final Campaign: battle for Exandria. I could see it. But I would be so sad. I’m too attached to these idiots (and by that I mostly mean the witches)

i haven't seen the episode yet so i have no context beyond the spoilers i've seen but short answer: yes and no. matt would never plan an encounter with the end goal being a tpk (no good dm would unless the players cosigned), but i also know he doesn't take the cheap way out. the dice will roll as they roll!

this campaign has been especially deadly and bells hells are vastly underpowered in scenarios where they're facing 'boss fights' but they're also constantly racing the clock so it's not like they can pull a vox machina and go find some vestiges or go detour to someone's backstory (as much as we all want that).

i can't see vm or m9 swooping in to pick up the pieces because it takes away from bells hells' story, but i do hope they're more involved for sure.

a tpk now would be really rough because it'd be hard to insert a new party that has the motivation to finish what bells hells started. it'd be like the m9 tpking right before the lucien/eiselcross arc lmao. and i definitely agree about imogen, she's the glue holding this whole thing together. she definitely doesn't have plot armour though, which terrifies me!

[vethbrenatto]

I’m with you on not being super into all the C1 tie ins to C3. Im not as big of a fan of this campaign’s overall story (so far) as I was with M9 or VM at this point in the campaign. I’m also really trying to figure out how it would work if orym’s story wasn’t so directly tied to keyleth and the air ashari, you know? like what else is matt supposed to do if liam wanted orym’s story to be so closely intertwined with keyleth? i guess he could have said no or tried to redirect liam but idk, I really don’t think there were a whole lot of other ways when you have two characters so deeply connected to C1 characters :/ it annoys me because I really love laudna and orym and their stories but I do think it kind of hurts the overall story by being so deeply tied to C1. idk it’s hard

This is a great ask and I'm going to kind of use it as a jump-off point to explain some of my feelings surrounding the tie-ins because I think Laudna & Orym are actually a great place to start, but apologies because this might get long.

So, Laudna & Orym to me are two sides of the spectrum in-terms of Campaign 1 tie-ins, being that I enjoy one and I'm not so hot on the other. I should also preface with the fact that I think I am very hard to please with the callbacks, I view them with a lot of scrutiny, so where I find something a bit unearned, others can still heavily enjoy those callbacks. As always, personal preference is at play.

I enjoy Laudna's ties to C1 and here's why: I feel like they have a purpose and answer a question about the world. Laudna is a direct answer to the question of "What about the ones that Vox Machina couldn't save?" and that's only amplified by Laudna being killed directly for looking like Vex. She was killed not only because VM couldn't save her in time, but because of VM. I'm not going to laud these movies for their writing or how they answer the questions, but I'd sort of relate it to Spider-Man: Homecoming or Captain America: Civil War tackling the question of "What about property damage/civilian casualties in the MCU?" Like, it's not a question that every viewer has, but when you see it posed on screen, you go, "Hey! Yeah, what about that?"

Other than Delilah being in her head (and Delilah is already a very enigmatic presence, we don't know much about her other than basic outlines like: Raises Dead for Love, Kicked out of the Cerberus Assembly because Too Fucked Up), Laudna doesn't actually have a ton of connections to C1. She's from Whitestone, yeah, but she's not usually the one bringing that up. She name dropped "de Rolo," but she doesn't actually know the de Rolos, you know? When people have suggested getting in contact with the de Rolos before I don't feel like that actually comes from Laudna a lot- it's "The Lord and Lady from Laudna's hometown," someone else is bringing it up. Marisha as Laudna isn't really milking that connection. It's built in to reap potential future dividends, but doesn't actually affect too much with the current story. On a more personal note, I like that it's not too on the nose- back when everyone was guessing if Laudna was the Keytleth or Vex body, I was very satisfied to see it be Vex just to have it be a little less direct. Laudna's backstory brings back a character with a lot of questions into focus (Delilah), and answers a question (see previous paragraph) that I think is interesting to be explored.

Contrastingly, I'm not really sure what Orym's backstory answers other than "What is Keyleth's bodyguard like?" which at least I personally wasn't too curious about. Orym is connected to Keyleth because he is. I feel similarly about Derrig- I have no problems with Will, but what does Will being Derrig's son add to the story other than "That's a character we've seen/heard of before, that's neat." Not much, to me.

And to be clear: This is no hate on Liam. What Orym does clearly do to aid the story is that Liam enjoys crafting the story this way and is delighted to play a character connected to Keyleth and Derrig. If Matt hadn't implemented the no C1 connected backstories in C2, I believe Liam wanted to there as well (though I may be getting mixed up- maybe that was Taliesin).

I'm just particularly hard to please on this topic, but there are obviously a ton of critters who hear "Keyleth" and flip out every time because they love this sort of connection and are on the exact same page as Liam.

I also think post-campaign beginning, Liam is not the only one guilty of "connecting just to connect," multiple times Keyleth and the de Rolos have come up as potential connections and solutions and often by various different cast members. They just have fun throwing around the idea of reconnecting with those characters because they love and miss them. But because they are so entrenched in the backstories and have come up so much since the start of C3, whenever I hear it I get this sort of "Again?" feeling. I guess it's sort of the idea that Exandria is this wide, wide world, but the party keeps coming back to potential solutions that they have never made physical contact with and are on an entirely different continent.

Because truly, I think the idea of Keyleth resurrecting Laudna is kind of cool, right? I mean, I'd always have the gripe about Bells Hells not really having a lot of challenge in it if that's what they go for. But simply from a meta perspective, I understand it's cool. If there had been minimal to no C1 references up to now and Keyleth came in to save Laudna somehow, I think I'd be jazzed! How cool! But the oversaturation has me very not jazzed about it.

As I mentioned in my Laudna-Hollow-One-Complication post, there are still ways I could enjoy Keyleth coming in to help if it does happen. And the tie-ins as of yet have not been a campaign dealbreaker to me, just something that I could do without.

And to finally touch on what you mentioned: Yes! This is something that players want, continuously bring up, and enjoy. There's not much Matt can or should do- this is a part of the story his players want to engage with and he's making it fit in. The most I can say is that maybe he should make access to such high level characters come with caveats, but we haven't really seen how he's going to handle it yet, so I can't criticize anything Matt has done with regard to the tie-ins.

[wardensantoineandevka]

I have a speculative mechanics question for fic writing purposes if you feel up to answering it. It's a post-canon fic idea with the Mighty Nein at level 18. As the resident Fjord expert, which do you think would be his most likely spell picks for a 7th level Mystic Arcanum and an additional known spell of 5th level or lower? (It would be a 13 warlock, 5 paladin split in this scenario). Additionally, since paladins get Extra Attack at 5th level I can see him swapping out the Thirsting Blade invocation for something else, but what would be the most in-character replacement for his personality and build?

I took a hot second to think about it. And I apologize for how long this post is, but since you're writing a fic, I thought I'd explain my thought process to help you decide if you want to make the same choices or make different ones. Since you're writing a fic, I'm generally thinking more narratively oriented rather than necessarily mechanical.

The 7th level Mystic Arcanum for Fjord has always been an interesting choice for me since a lot of the available choices are just so much meaner than Fjord, in my opinion. It's either Forcecage (spatial control, which Fjord tends toward), Crown of Stars (works great with his action economy, very pretty, thematically vibes with the Star Razor), or Etherealness (super fun spell, lets him be nosy, weird). Possibly Plane Shift (teleport). Those feel like the most likely choices and provide a good spread to choose from, depending on what you narratively need him to do.

As for spells, little tough since it first requires knowing what he already has. As far as I can gather, these were the last 10 warlock spells Fjord cast, in reverse chronological order:

Counterspell (141, warlock 12)

Far Step (139, warlock 12)

Thunder Step (134, warlock 11)

Hex (134, warlock 11)

Armor of Agathys (134, warlock 11)

Major Image (127, warlock 11)

Enervation (VM x M9, filmed between 125 and 136, warlock 11)

Summon Greater Demon (mentioned in 113, warlock 10, last cast 86, warlock 9)

Banishing Smite (102, warlock 10)

Charm Monster (79, warlock 9)

However, he is also mentioned in 134 (warlock 11) to have Cone of Cold, though he never cast it, so one of those last three spells he no longer has. Which one, I don't know, but I would say either Charm Monster or Summon Greater Demon.

So, based on that, I love to joke that he should take Teleportation Circle (5th, available to him via TCOE additional spells) or Dimension Door (4th) for more teleportation spell hoarding (especially since he regains access to Misty Step at paladin 5). Teleportation Circle allows him long-range teleportation capability he doesn't already have and lets him and Jester to be very annoying. Mirror Image (2nd) is also a great choice for him as someone often in melee range, and it actually echoes a little bit Jester's Duplicity. Suggestion (2nd) is a classic and vibes well with his silver-tongue.

Also, Fjord can learn two spells going from level 12 to 13 since he gains an additional known spell and can replace one spell he already knows. So, if you're stuck between two choices, you can simply replace one he knows that you aren't using in your fic.

Invocations is a hard one. I agree that Thirsting Blade should be swapped out after Extra Attack at Paladin 5. My suggestions are Ghostly Gaze (weird, nosy), Whispers of the Grave (weird, nosy, he keeps asking the clerics to talk to the dead people so why not learn to do it himself), or Otherworldly Leap (mobility, which Travis loves, fun as hell). One with the Shadows has great vibes.

Those are some suggestions I have, mostly oriented toward what both feels right for him but also is useful for him to have in a fic.

[sparring-spirals]

Which party do you think would turn villain easiest?

I've officially gotten lost in the weeds over this question, so I apologize for that, but I feel like it really depends on a number of factors, especially how you define villain. What makes a villainous party? Collateral? An evil cause? Are we talking the parties at the end of their campaigns? Are we talking public perception as evil, or evil alignment, or "willingly burn down towns of innocents"? Does the whole party need to turn as one, or is it more of a "max saturation of evil members" kind of deal? oh god. I'm way overthinking this. So my apologies, my answer to this might be a bit of a cop out.

I'm gonna go for "publically percieved as villains + perhaps willing to invoke some level of collateral damage that other parties would find concerning". I'm also going for the parties as we know them + late campaign (non epilogue, for C1/C2).

So that said. I'm choosing the Mighty Nein, and very specifically late campaign/end of campaign Mighty Nein, for two very simple reasons:

- The Mighty Nein did not really care if they were considered heroes, and so to a point, it seems more likely that they could end up as villains, or percieved as villains

- The Mighty Nein's primary concerns always boiled down to each other. While they were good about adding people to their number, it always came back to each other. So all of them turning for one of them- feels terrifyingly plausible.

The Mighty Nein move heaven and earth for people they consider "one of them". They're also kind of.... terrifyingly callous with people they don't consider one of their own. It's more evident with specific members (Veth offering war to clear her curse, Fjord asking rangers to engage, the entire necklace heist, everything about Jesters "Dont turn evil to me" morality), but even with the moral compasses(ish) of the group- Caduceus, Beau, Fjord- the entire group tends to skew towards. Well. Each other. Whatever that means. Whatever that entails.

There was a desperation, I think, that marked the M9, that I don't feel like I ever got off of VM, or even off of Bell's Hells, when it came to each other. Early M9 did not trust anyone- themselves, each other, they ran from authority every time they got too close, even if it was friendly. But they banded together, anyway, they clung close even as they hoarded their secrets, and there's something. Something about that. That carried to the end. The M9 talked to both sides of a war and never truly trusted either. They went to hell and back and clawed their way to save each other and family members and asked maybe 3 eccentric wizards before they went off to face the end of the world. They fucked off into the ocean and became pirates and became saviours of a nation but it always kind of came down to each other. Came down to wanting a happy ending for themselves and those they love. I love them for it. But I think if the cards fell right? The M9 ending up on the wrong side of history feels.... very plausible.

(Especially if, lets be real, Jester turned a little more evil, whatever that means.)

(theres also a really good post i read ages ago about the M9 as percieved by their enemies, how terrifying and cold and scary and awful they must seem. i cannot, for the life of me, find it, but i was thinking about it the whole time i wrote this.)

Anyway, honorable mention to the Bells who I don't think win out over the M9 but hey! They've got time to grow.

I think that currently, the Bell's Hells are- not as prone to evil, specifically on a larger scale/ as a single unit. Yet. I DO think many of the members have potential to Snap and burn the world a bit, and have good cause to. Right now, as nobodies, as people scrabbling for answers, it feels more possible (VERY possible) for one or two of them to go rogue (for personal reasons) and wreak havoc. But tbh, I think a lot of characters feel that way in early campaign. As a group, while Bell's Hells have a somewhat bendy attitude towards authority and being public nuisances and causing problems, they feel like a group to worry like. A little more about collateral. Esp with their specific backstories. There's a LOT of characters with specific potential-villain qualities, but while I think the party alienating themselves from city authorities is likely, a more traditional villain arc for the entire party seems... less likely. Maybe. Honestly I feel like we just don't know them, and they don't know each other well enough, to gauge this on a party-level yet.

[cadykeus-clay]

Would you mind sharing your thoughts about vex and Beau being cross campaign foils?

so!!!! first things first: apologies for taking weeks to answer this, finals + having adhd sometimes makes my brain turn to mush and forget every ask ive ever recieved. second of all, i’m assuming you sent me this bc of what i said in my vm vs. m9 how they view the world meta. and i’ll be real with you. i have exactly 0 memory of what was going through my head when i wrote that line, so i am simply going to type out a bunch of thoughts that i have on the similarities and differences between beau and vex and i hope that lives up to what you were expecting jsdflksjdksld

I'll detail some specifics in a moment, but overall, I think beau and vex share a very similar kind of trauma of exclusion in their formative years, that's caused them to have a lot of similar traits that manifest in different ways - for vex, she maintains control through her material posessions and beau finds an emotional control in her asshole-ness. I've broken this down into 5 points on which I think comparing the two really emphasizes that claim:

1. daddy issues: both beau and vex have awful no good terrible very bad dads. both syldor and thoreau can suck my ass. they both raised their kids with little love and impossible-to-meet expectations, alientating them and leaving them with lifelong feelings of inferiority and unbelonging. If beau and vex were to meet, i think they would have a very friendly toast to shitty dads, and then have a good drunk vent about it an hour later.

but, at the same time, the actual minutae of their trauma and the ways it manifests are nearly polar opposites. syldor wanted nothing to do with vex, or else wanted her to somehow become a full elf. her issue was that she would never be able to belong, despite her desire to, and as she grew up it lead to her being overly protective and even possessive of the people she found who DID accept her as she was. 

With beau, rather than exclusion, her father created an environment of toxic inclusion. He created a role for beau to belong in, disregarding her distate for actually fulfilling it. And, as such, she ended up making herself into someone who could have no expectations and pushed away anyone who tried to set them up for her. In the end, they both came to love themselves by abandoning the woman their father wanted them to be but for vex it was the laying down of an impossible dream and for beau it was the picking up of a mantle she had feared to wear.

2. brothers: now, on the topic of family, I also think its really interesting how their interactions with their brothers play out. We've got vex and vax, tied at the hip til the very end and then some; and then we've got beau and TJ - decades apart and with beau barely acknolwedging TJ's existence. But, even that distance between beau and TJ didn't stop her caring for him when they actually met. She gave him lucky Jade, and she entertained the idea of kidnapping him to get him away from her stinko dad. 

And I'd espeically like to talk about what she said outside the hag's hut - "I think Luc and TJ could be best friends", in comparison to the way Vex reacted when Vax told her was going to Zephrah with Keyleth for the year break. There's an aspect to the way they interact with their brothers that lets them slip back into those bad habits they formed growing up (NOT that i'm claiming vex and vax were like toxic for each other. but even good relationships can have unhealthy moments). 

With Beau, when she offers to give her happiness so TJ can grow up safe, she's trying to take on the role she's ""supposed"" to fill - the big sister, the protector - because she failed to fill the one her father set out. And with Vex, when she grows jealous of Vax, it's because she's afraid that his leaving with keyleth is a sign that she no longer belongs in his inner circle, and she falls back on that childish, desperate desire to do anything to be accepted unconditionally. 

3. romance: spoilers for 5 or so most recent m9 eps (115-120)  if you haven't watched them ahead!!!! at this point, both vex and beau have an endgame romance - percy and yasha respectively. Obviously as the m9's campaign is still playing out, that could change, but like. yasha wrote her a love letter and they're officially going on a date so i'm counting that as at least endgame-track rather than just random flirting. What's interesting to me is that they both seem to flip between the SAME roles between their (in-game) general perception and their actual pursual of romance. 

Vex gets characterized as a pretty big flirt, right? She's got the winks, the casual "darling". She's flashed grog her boobs on multiple instances with little prompting. Beau, similarly, has easily the most game out of anyone in the m9. She's slept with two guest characters and at least one more npc in the events of the game. Caleb made her a fuck mirror in her room in the mansion. And yet, in both of their actual romantic endeavors, they became the shy, uncertain type. 

Vex only confessed her feelings when Percy was laying dead before her, and not an hour of game play before percy kissed her in the woods, she had a talk with vax about how she was pretty sure he didn't like her that way and she didn't want to pursue it. Beau, similarly, spent a very long time convinced that yasha wasn't looking for love after zuala, especially not in anyone like her, asked everyone in the party if they thought yasha ACTUALLY liked her, just to be safe, and then still terrified to ask her out after recieving a literal love letter. I'd argue this shift comes from that same sense of unbelonging - they're very good at pretending they fit a role but doubt their actual right to take it when the opportunity is presented. This time, the role is the lover rather than the daughter.

4. authority: Both vex and beau grew up shunned by the upper crust of society, and grew to mistrust those kinds of people. And yet, both of their arcs result in them assuming such a position. Vex, thrown out of high society gets her place as a baronness, and Beau, running from leadership of her father's business ends up a top member of the Cobalt Soul. There's not a lot here, but I find it interesting how both of their stories involve them shedding their baggage regarding authority and power and assuming it in a way that they feel comfortable in - invitation by someone she trusts for vex, and a promise of freedom of will and control for beau.

5. their deadliest sins: this is the point at which their similarities culminate and transform to a fundamental difference. despite everything they share - shitty childhoods, the small piece of family that's still good, flirtiness masking shy love, and a mistrust of those in power - vex and beau are such different characters because of their biggest vices. Vex, both in game and out, is "the greedy one". She's stingy with money, she haggles for everything, she mourns the loss of physical objects. Beau is "the mean one". She cares little for people's feelings if they're not in her immediate circle, she focuses on her tough guy image, she laughs at things she knows she shouldn't. 

And, over the course of the campaign, as they find unconditional acceptance, they grow away from these traits (I won't say they grow out of them) because they heal from the things causing these vices to begin with. I've always been vocal about vex's greed being a manifestation of her class insecurity, and beau's asshole-ness stemming from her fear of being forced back into another position of complacency. And I stand by that now - all the similarities in their backstories are what tally up to these different women.

Despite her careful tally of party funds and her reflexive bargaining, vex is not cruel. she is not angry on her own behalf. She saves two boys from the market in the city of brass at great personal cost, she relinquishes an entire dragon's hoard to the devastated city of Westruun, she took the time to save a baby bear from a cage when she could have just cut and run after escaping her own. She's the first one most people go to when they need a shoulder to cry on, and she's devastated when they don't (thinkin about when Scanlan left). She carved "forgiveness" into the bow she stole from a man after killing him by proclaiming how much she loved someone, because she knew anger had no place in her heart.

And Beau, Beau is a bitch and she's harsh, but she doesn't hoard or protect like vex did. she spends her money without much of a second thought. She pitches in to help her friends buy a ton of glowsticks, and she loves to indulge in material desires like drink and good food and the nicer inn room. She's a member of an organization that's about making knowledge public rather than guarding it. And, though this may be controversial, I think her position with bowlgate of "its not our problem what cali wants to do with it", her long-standing mistrust of their alliance with the bright queen and  and more recently with the tomb takers of "i want to go in and talk, rather than assuming they're antagonistic, even if it puts us at a disadvantage" are both examples of this non-possessiveness too - she has no need or desire to get involved in controlling what other people are doing.

so, i guess the general conclusion here is: vex struggles to let go of things, of money, of people. beau struggles to let herself be known in case she gets wrongly interpreted again. they both fight feelings of inadequacy, they both fight the feelings of not belonging, of 'doing it wrong', they fight the perception of them as shitty people because of the shells they hide in despite their absolute hearts of gold.  but at the end of the day, vex's story is one of having to lay down what could never be hers so she can carry what is, and beau's story is one of allowing herself to be known so a place can be made for her.

[sadwizardgirl]

My Campaign 2 Thoughts

Alrighty folks. We're here. We made it. I’m running on like, 3 hours of sleep and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet so bear with me if I ramble/don't make sense. I’ll take things by character I think? 

Once I finally typed everything I wanted out, I decided to put a keep reading thing. Its a long one I’m so sorry haha. But yeah, click on it if you want to hear someone’s tired ramblings about how much they love the Mighty Nein. Obviously spoilers below... <3

One last thing - I want to say thank you to everyone who I have interacted on here with. I would have never, ever thought that I would live blog Critical Role when I started watching it. And because I have, it makes me happy that I’ve found lots of nice Critters like me to follow, like, reblog, laugh and cry with all at the same time. You guys are really cool, so thanks for letting me be a small part of it all <3 

Molly/Kingsley - 

I’m honestly not fully shocked that we didn’t get Molly back after all that. I think Tal has said that Molly is gone and will stay gone. Maybe this is how Molly was when he first woke up, but we obviously didn’t see that part, and neither did Yasha. So honestly, the only people to know would be the people down at the circus. I’m personally okay with the differences in Kingsley and Molly but I like that Kingsley wanted to call Molly his brother at least and learn about him later on. Remember when Molly said he didn't want to learn who his previous self/selves were? The pirate life for Kingsley is --- interesting haha. I’m not hating it, I can definitely see a Jack Sparrow kind of vibe. I just didn't think Tal would go for a pirate type life for him. Thats all :) 

Cad - 

I’m also not surprised at what Cad chose either. It was interesting to see his whole EMPATHY routine with Trent. Thats been a side of Cad no one has seen. I know I’ve seen some people say that they were sad that after all this adventuring, that Cad would just chose to live at the Blooming Grove and never leave again. But didn't Tal say that Cad would take walks out of there and explore for segments of time? Like 6 months, then a year, then a couple years. I could have sworn he said that and that he would go visit his friends in those spans too. But I could have totally imagined it/took it that way. 

Veth- 

This totally makes sense. I was sad to see her go before the whole Trent thing, I would have loved to see her stand by Calebs side during it but I get it, She missed her family and they would see each other again anyway. I 100% would love if the M9 had a summer camp. Like, I’m just saying. That needs to be a one shot. I don't have much else to say other than I’m glad that this is the ending for Veth and nothing else. 

Yasha- 

Again, I’m super happy with this one. It makes sense that she would want to go see her wife and the whole Stormlord thing???? Fucking awesome. I’m glad that Yasha has finally found peace and love with someone and is content. Thats all I want for Yasha. I’m glad that Kingsley seeks her out to find out about Molly too. 

Beau - 

WOW. Okay. So not only does she help take down Trent but also her dad stuff? Fucking great! I’m so glad that Beau has gotten to this point in her life. Not only has she brought down corrupt people, but also learned to love throughout everything she's been through. I’m sorry, I with my tired brain can think of more good things but I’m just super happy about this. 

Fjord -

For some reason, Fjord’s ending made me cry. I don't know if its because its been awhile since we’ve gotten true Fjord lore stuff where Travis absolutely NAILS the roleplaying or what. But literally as soon as he raised his hand to say hi to Vandran, I started crying. He’s been looking for answers for so long and he finally got them. I think its very on brand that he just sailed out willy nilly knowing what happens but at least Matt was merciful haha. I think That plus his love for Jester and suggesting they find a place was so very sweet and totally them. I’m sort of glad that he left his ending so vague. Because imagine the sea one shots we can have with Fjord going to Darktow or finding Sabien once and for all etc. 

Jester - 

I’m --- I’m torn with Jester. I’m glad that Jester wants to travel more and see the world still and thats what she's doing with Fjord. I think I’m more of torn just because I’m so used to Jester being SO over the top with everything she does (in a good way) but then I guess that means she's maturing and growing up. I’m glad that she left her ending vague as well for the same reasons as Fjord. SIDENOTE: It’ll be interesting to see if any of this leads into the VM vs M9 show off and if there's going to be canon involved or what. 

Caleb - 

I left Caleb for last. Not only because he's been my favorite character all campaign long. But because most of the buzz is coming from his ending. I’ll preface this first --- I’ve never been an outright Essek/Caleb shipper. I’ve loved their moments together and am not against them in any shape or form. I’m just not one of the die hards shippers. Same with Caleb/Astrid/Wulf. 

BUT - With that being said, I’m very happy with Calebs ending. I’ve seen some people that are mad that he didn't do what he set out to do - which was take down the corruption. But Liam said that he sees that aspect of his life as a life long endeavor. So just because he takes up the teaching gig - which I’m so happy with btw; more on that in a bit- doesn't mean he stopped. You can root out the corruption from within and I think Caleb started to realize that was going to be the best way. I’m glad he didn't take the place of Trent. I think things could have gone horribly wrong even if he was at the top. Am I thrilled that Astrid is there? Not particularly no but its better than Trent. Caleb being a teacher makes so much sense. At the beginning of the campaign, Nott was always telling people that Caleb was the one teaching her the magic she had, plus the trading notes with Yussa and Essek over the years. It all leads to him teaching. Finally being the teacher --- the right teacher for the future generations of wizards. He was never going to accomplish that in Trents place. 

Now --- the elephant in the room, Essek. I’m 100% okay with this part of Caleb’s story. I’m glad that he did go back to Aeor and learn what he could. I think its what Essek said. That he wouldn't change his past because it led him to that moment with Caleb, but then still offered to help Caleb if thats what he wanted to do for himself. I’m happy that Caleb finally let go of the part of his past that kept his guilt so present. He’ll always remember his parents and what he did, but he's allowing himself to walk through that door and to start finally healing. Let me tell you how much I ugly cried when we finally heard what his plan had been all these years AND what that second book was that he never told us about. Liam O’Brien you poetic son of a bitch I love you so much. But damn did I ugly cry literally during that whole time. Okay sorry, now Essek. I think them realizing the age differences, being in the relationship for however long they were but then remained friends is so very much like both of them. They are both logical people. To me this makes so much sense. I think I’m in the minority here but it does. Essek will outlive the rest of the M9 so of course they realized eventually there was going to be this elephant in the room when Caleb grew old. I’d like to think Caleb wouldn't want the extra heartbreak on Essek when Caleb eventually dies, then the rest of Essek’s friends die on top of that. Liam said that this campaign, romance in any shape or form was not a priority and I think also that had a part to do with it. I’m glad Caleb just didn’t be alone for the rest of his life and only teaching. I’m glad he reached out to Essek and did that stuff, and then taught Luc. It’s far from the sad wizard boy who was ready to leave the M9 at a moments notice to be alone. 

Sorry for the rambling and VERY LONG post. oh my god I’m so sorry but it just kept coming. haha I’m very sad to see the Mighty Nein go. This campaign was the reason I got into D&D and where I fell in love with it. I fell in love with these nerdy ass voice actors and their characters. BUT it makes me excited for campaign 3 and the future of Critical Role. 

SIDENOTE: WHAT THOUGHTS DO YOU GUYS HAVE ON THE PROJECT THEYRE GOING TO ANNOUNCE NEXT WEEK HUH? I’m glad they mentioned that they aren't ready for Campaign 3 just yet, but Marisha made it at least seem that its on the horizon. I’m sure they want to take the break they deserve and have time to transition from their M9 characters to their new ones. so yeah anyway 

Thank you, Mighty Nein. Long may you all reign. 

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E68 (June 28, 2019)

Today’s weather at Critical Role Land: toasty, with a faint whiff of sulfur out there. Temperatures over 2000 degrees may be heading your way, along with certain death! Tomorrow: partly cloudy.

[id: overlay of Ashley victoriously “drowning” Liam in a Dwarven Forge lava map. end id]

Tonight’s guests are Ashley Johnson and a slightly crispy Liam O’Brien!

Announcements: CR is going to SDCC, with a panel on July 20th in Room 6BCF! CR is taking next week off after Thursday’s episode, but will be back on Tuesday, July 9th to discuss episode 69!

Episode 68: Reflections

Stats for this week’s episode: this episode set the show record for most rolls: 232, beating episode 114 of campaign one. This episode tied campaign 2 episode 17 for the most crits, with 13 natural 20s and 11 natural 1s. The M9 rolled 63 stealth checks and 50 wisdom saves to make it across the bridge.

There’s a brief argument between Liam and Dani about whether Gibbering Mouthers or brownies are better. You can probably guess who was on which side.

Dungeon crawling is a lot different in terms of resource management with their new characters. Ashley: “It’s times like these where I don’t miss being a spellcaster.” Liam talks about how cantrips can be pretty unsatisfying and it can be tough to ration out the cooler spells.

Ashley talks about why Yasha comes out of her shell a bit during watches: “Yasha is much more comfortable one-on-one. When she’s with a group of people, she’s a little more reserved and quiet. I think she’s more willing to answer a question if it’s just one-on-one.” Liam points out that the other characters tend to pull both of their characters out of their shells, but Yasha and Caleb actually know very little about each other.

Caleb opened up about Nott with Beau because he’s comfortable around her now. Brian asks whether Caleb might eventually become closer with someone like Beau than he was with Nott. Caleb talks about how that dynamic is changing: “It’s not the same as it was. They were both much more guarded and reserved and protective because it was just them. But things change.”

Yasha’s curious about Caleb’s past. “The conversation with Nott was, to Yasha, a bit confusing. Are you being funny? Are you serious?” But it’s tough to bring that up in conversation.

Liam: “Maybe next campaign we could play a theatre troupe that’s know each other for 30 years. Skip over all this stuff.”

Liam sees Caleb as “lost and making choices-- I would say he’s not altruistic. He’s not doing things for the whole world, even though he talks about the Empire. He’s still steering toward things that would satisfy him and would bring him comfort, and that’s opened up a little to the group.”

His relationships are “not ruthless and cutthroat but an exchange of goods.”

Re: Nott’s recent accusatory behavior (and unfortunate tendency to wind up attacking Yasha in combat): “I feel like, in general, because of what Yasha has done and how she doesn’t forgive herself for it, she is very accepting of other people’s behavior. So I think with Nott, she knows that she has a drinking problem, she knows that sometimes she gets a little crazy, and even when she attacks her, it’s not super painful for her. But I think, knowing Nott’s story and knowing what she’s been through, there is a soft spot that Yasha has for Nott. I think it’s easier for Yasha to take the hits and people getting upset with her than it is for people being nice.”

Cosplay of the Week: Vex with her broom! (durnesque on Twitter, photo by Adrian Eric Morales)

“Yasha’s been in some pretty compromising positions.” (hold for giggling)

New canon: Spurt is just sleeping peacefully on Henry.

“I think Yasha has some ideas of the answers to some of the questions that she has, but I think without having confirmation, it’s easier to just go forward with life thinking, ah, who knows? I don’t remember. Ignorance is bliss. But I think that’s probably moreso a fear, is finding out and confirming what her past holds, at least the parts that she doesn’t remember. But also, I think she’s fearful now of having lost people in her life because of her, in some ways. She’s fearful of that happening again. She doesn’t know what they’re walking into. If something happens and it looks like there’s danger for the group, I think-- if anyone were lost again, I don’t think Yasha would be able to handle that.”

Caleb wasn’t too fazed at the prospect of facing off against himself. “Caleb focuses on his on wretchedness hourly. Running into his past is the thing that fucks with him the most.” Same goes for Yasha. “I think with the self-hatred Yasha has, a little bit of that was fun.”

Fan Art of the Week: Yasha getting pulled into the mirror by her double! (by EmberWickArt on Twitter)

Yasha is extremely worried about her friends expressing their determination to protect her. Brian: “Intimacy leads to tragedy for her.”

Liam talks about how, even though Beau has the self-hatred of a lot of the other characters, it’s interesting that she’s generally coming across as fundamentally a good person.

Yasha is still unsure about the source of her wings. Brian: “Was it Red Bull?” She has a vague idea of what she is, or at least what she was told by the tribe. “For Yasha, I think, seeing these surroundings, I don’t think she’s necessarily putting two and two together.”

Search for Bob Questions (SPOILERS FOR CAMPAIGN 1)

Liam had no backup if the party didn’t manage to resurrect Lieve’tel, but Matt wanted to make sure Liam would have fun playing, so she was going to wind up back with the party one way or another.

Ashley loved having Pike get to fight alongside Sarenrae; it was something she was hoping for at level 20. “That was kind of just wanting to see what Matt did. ‘Um, can my mom come? She’s pretty cool.’”

Liam: “I have beat Laura Bailey to boning Travis’ D&D character.”

Staind’s “It’s Been Awhile” was referenced eight times in the session.

“Pike is just very wholesome.” She was mad that her stuff was stolen, but they still got out. Knowing that ‘Bob’ didn’t have his wits about him made sense to her. “But it was an adventure. Pike likes a good adventure.”

Everyone suddenly starts shipping Sarenrae/Raven Queen. The specter of episode 69 is in the air.

Ashley points out that seeing the Raven Queen is especially emotionally charged for VM. “They were thankful for the help, but also, ugh, don’t remind me of this.” Only a couple days have passed.

Ashley just starts straight-up reading smut aloud. I’m not entirely sure how we got here, but I am sure that episode 69 is on Thursday.

[utilitycaster]

among the m9, which characters have had your fav arcs?

Hi anon! Good question, and one with answers that I’m sure will change in the future because obviously all arcs are ongoing but some are in a less resolved place than others.

I think I like Fjord and Beau’s arcs the most now, just because while they’re both still learning and growing and there’s a lot of room for things to change, their growth from teh beginning has been the most apparent to me.

Fjord has been learning to be more honest, to trust the party more, to be more understanding of others, to relinquish control and to find some power within himself and from a positive influence rather than, you know, an insatiable sea monster. I’ve always liked him as a character, even when he was (ironically enough) losing to his control issues during the pirate arc, but he’s made so much progress.

Beau, similarly, has been able to show affection and to actually care about something. I don’t think she ever truly wanted to only make a lot of money and drink a lot of booze (and one of my favorite empire siblings conversations is Caleb saying as much to her), but I do think she didn’t entirely know what she wanted to do, only what she didn’t want to do, and now she’s found a purpose and a family. And she still is working through a lot and recently hit an incredibly low spot (which is realistic - even when people recovering from childhood trauma are doing significantly better as adults sometimes they hit an age milestone or have a specific experience and realize they never thought they’d make it this far and it triggers a whole bunch of issues all over again) but she’s getting through it.

I like everyone’s arc but like, we’re right in the middle of it for both Jester and Caduceus and it’s hard to judge right now. Nott’s arc is possibly the most fascinating but that’s precisely because it’s so in flux and she canonically has no idea what’s next for her, and Caleb has improved drastically in his own way since the beginning and Rexentruum went far better than I thought it would, but everything is so deep under the surface for him that I don’t think I quite know where he’s at - like, he can tell Beau you can’t change the past, but I don’t know if he’s able to follow his own advice. And Yasha is similarly getting over massive trauma and we haven’t revisited her story when she was under control.

(that said the arc of Nott revealing her story and reuniting with Yeza is a mini-favorite, if you will).

L11 is considered mechanically a milestone level (by which I mean the difference between a 9th and 10th level character exists but isn’t huge; but 10th to 11th is a pretty significant jump). It’s the start of the journey from regional fame to hero of the realm (think VM at the start of Briarwoods to VM during the Chroma Conclave) and I think the story as it is reflects that sense of being at the precipice of greatness. So ask me again when they hit L13 or 14, and I might have new answers.

[komatsunana]

Critical Role

A friend submitted privately for the campaigns separately so I’ll do them separately here

CR campaign 1

Favorite character:  Pike!!  She’s part of so many of my favorite CR moments.

Least Favorite character:  I’ll go with the easy answer and say Tiberius.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):  With CR1 especially I really didn’t ship too much so I’m scraping the barrel here...  Vex/ Zahra, Allura/Kima, Jarett/Vex, Jarett/Pike, Beau/Vex

Character I find most attractive:  Vex?  I mean... Vex.

Character I would marry:  Trish the Dish please sweep me off my feet

Character I would be best friends with:  JB!!  

a random thought:  There is no question I want answered more about the first campaign than what Allura, Drake, and Kima’s old party name was and what the names, classes, and  what races their party members were.  

An unpopular opinion:  It’s such a disservice to Vox Machina’s legacy that we all look back at VM as a neutral good, sometimes lawful good party when VM was sheer chaos and were so much more likely to kill outright without talking.  They’d have killed the Syphilis Bandits without a thought or care.

my canon OTP:  Allura/Kima

Non-canon OTP:  Vex/Zahra

most badass character:  I mean...  More than in the second campaign, in the first campaign everyone sought after getting the HDYWTDT.  So it’s basically a competition to be the most badass.  It’s hard to say but I think Keyleth, Scanlan, and Grog had some of my favorite HDYWTDTs

pairing I am not a fan of:  Pike/Scanlan, no offense to people who do like and I know a lot of my feelings about it would be different if Ashley wasn’t taken from us all the time.  I so hope that the animation & comic develop them some more especially on her side.  Also Percy/Vex for no other reason than Percy and Trinket never bond really ever. :////  If the person you are dating doesn’t love your companion animal a fraction of the amount you do... dump them.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):  Korrin. I’m sorry I respect Matt but I’m forever bitter that Korrin is presented as the token good living parent in the campaign when he really wasn’t.   What Keyleth said about her dad and the way Matt played him was totally at odds but it’s Marisha’s character so I’m going with the narrative she should.  Also Clarota, but that was less the cast and more dice rolls. rip what might have been.

favourite friendship:  That’s so hard!!  Toss up between Pike and Grog & Keyleth and Percy.  But VM as a whole is good too.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by:  Allura and Kima be my moms.

CR campaign 2

Favorite character:  Beau!!

Least Favorite character:  Idk Thoreau??  I think Matt did well in characterizing him though.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):  I have so many Beau ships I’ll count them all as one but: Beau/Jester/Yasha/Nott/Keg/Reani/Vex/Avantika/Tori including many different combinations for ot3s. they’re all fine ships I feel stronger about some but like shipping is less about what I want to be canon and more about what’s interesting dynamically or aesthetically for me.  Non-Beau-ships are Fjord/Molly, Caduceus/Fjord, Kal/Yasha (Kal = the champion Yasha threw the fight with. don’t tell me no one else was feelin’ it), and idk Callianna/Reani

Character I find most attractive:  Avantika. I like pirates what can I say?  Also Dairon.

Character I would marry:  Marion.  If I have to get married it might as well be a hot older woman with money.

Character I would be best friends with:  Hmmmm, maybe Veth? Like before she got cursed.

a random thought:  M9 isn’t like B99, VM is more like B99.  M9 is Community.  I will not expand.

An unpopular opinion:  I greatly prefer Caduceus over Molly and I wouldn’t trade Cad for anything.  Much respect to people that miss Molly, but I’d miss Caduceus so much if he left.

my canon OTP:  I guess Beau/Jester since it’s (one-sidedly) canon.  Beau/Keg is up there though

Non-canon OTP:  Fjord/Molly

most badass character:  Currently a three way tie between Jester (cupcake), Yasha (finish it champion), and Shakaste (nothing else needs to be said)

pairing I am not a fan of:  Caleb/Molly no bad feelings to shippers it’s just never appealed to me.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):  Nothing comes to mind other than Blindspot screwing up Yasha’s ability to be around so long.  So glad we’ve got her back forever - it flabbergasts me that I think in just 2 more episodes we’ll have had Ashley for more consecutive episodes than ever before in the shows history... a whopping 12 episodes!!

favourite friendship:  All combos of Chaos Crew is p good.  Also Beau & Fjord and Beau & Caleb.  Fjord & Caduceus too.  I can see me devolving into all possible combos of the M9 so I’ll stop there.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by:  Marion. I know I already said I’d marry her but like it’s fine don’t over think it.

[critical-analysis]

I think I’m going to consider this week a wash as far as the essays I’ve already missed that I didn’t get written, and pick up with the weekend essay for last night’s episode. The week was just too busy. Thankfully my dad found out at his appointment today that he can drive again, so that will cut some of the business down.

I am going to make the schedule Mon/Tues, Thurs/Fri, Sat/Sun, just to make it a little more flexible. And that way I’ll have Wednesday in there is a bit of a grace period just in case something does happen and I need to move the first essay back a bit, or so I can use whatever extra time I might have on Wednesdays to write, just so I have it in case Thursday and Friday get busy and overwhelming.

I do plan on keeping the schedule the same as far as the week’s first essay being about campaign one, the second episode being about campaign two, and the weekend episode being about the most recent episode. But I am going to give myself a little more flexibility and allow both the first AND second essays of the week to also be general ttrpg related, or about any of the non-VM or M9 oneshots, or anything else that’s related to CR and D&D that might not be about the specific campaigns. This will let me have a little more freedom in case I’m blocked on ideas or I don’t feel inspired by any of the ideas I have in my list, which will hopefully help me keep to the schedule.

I know I need to update the tags pages to add some things and to fix some links. I’ve decided that what I’m going to do, instead of trying to remember to check whether or not I need to add new tags into the pages every time I post an essay, I’m just going to use Sunday evening/Monday morning as a time to g

o through all three essays I posted in the past week to see if I need to add any new tags to the posts, any new tags to the tags page, and to make sure all the links in the tags page are working.  I know it might not be the most convenient thing for anyone wanting to look through the tags, but for now I think it’s the best way to do things, because if the policy is just to try to remember it when I make the post, I will forget a lot of the time and then it just won’t get done for that post. As the amount of posts and essays I have up starts to get bigger and bigger I’ll probably need to go about it in a different way, but for now I think this is the best option.

So stay tuned for the weekend essay, which will be about last night’s episode! I haven’t decided on a topic (I usually don’t until I do at least a partial rewatch, because I’m far more able to notice the little details than I am on the first watch), so if you have any ideas or anything from the episode you’d like to see me talk about, let me know! You can send me an ask, or just reply to or reblog this post! And you can do the same if there’s anything you’d like to see me talk about, whether it’s for the first campaign, the second campaign, oneshots, D&D in general. I have a lot of experience in ttrpgs as both a player and a GM, so if you have any questions, would like any advice, etc., go ahead and ask. If it’s something that I think can be turned into an essay, I’ll do that. And if it’s something that would need a shorter answer, I’d be more than happy to do that in a quick post. 

[agnesgoesadventuring-blog]

hey you don't need to answer this right away or anything. I know you're busy with the wedding coming up. I was just wondering how you feel about the campaign lately? with last night's episode and the craziness of the whole stealing the boat thing I've seen some ppl say that it's like there's too much forced fighting from matt and that the story is going completely off the rails because he keeps forcing them into fights and stuff just wondering how you felt about that

I did want to get to this because I won’t be around much at all for the next few weeks, not even the pop-ins I’ve been doing in this busy time. The wedding is really soon, and then the honeymoon, so that’s going to be awhile where I’m just not on at all. So I’m trying to clear out what I have in my inbox over the next few days. And I’ll probably just be focusing on the inbox mostly, so if anyone has something they really, really want me to see, send me an ask. :)

I just really don't agree with any of this at all. I've never felt like Matt has forced fights. In this latest episode, the fight was a result of very, very bad rolls. They tried to handle it in a more peaceful way, but Travis bombed his roll to be quiet in his sneaking in the water, Laura rolled badly to make the dolphin noise to try to cover, and Marisha rolled poorly with her drunk angry chick routine to try to cover both of those things. That wasn't forced, that was a bunch of bad rolls that Matt had no control over. After all of that, it made complete sense that the guy would order his people to shoot. There was shady shit going down, he was a criminal, and there were obviously people there that were being suspicious and could mess things up. It would only be forced if the choice to attack when he did didn't make sense, or if he had opened up with that attack. And he didn't. Beau wouldn't have had a chance to go any further with her routine if he had.

And the fight itself was pretty in character for the M9. They are an incredibly chaotic group. It kind of just part of their characterization now that they will get in over their heads, barrel through, and not really think about it until it's all over.

Also, while they've started enjoying the feeling of doing good and saving people, and they're all exploring the idea of that, they're not Vox Machina. Right now their main drive and priorities are not about being heroes, saving the world, and doing the "right" thing. So they're very much in-the-moment goal oriented, which can lead to things like what happened with the ship.

I don't think the fight in the sluice was forced either. They were flat out told that this was not a place they could just walk into, that if they went there they would probably be killed on sight. That makes sense and that's what happened (well, they weren't killed, but they were attacked). Going to the sluice to find Algar (rather than perhaps doing more investigating to see if they could find where he lived, or where his office might be etc.) was never going to lead to some kind of diplomatic exchange. It was always going to be a fight from the second they were spotted. And of course it was. This was a place that housed a big government secret that had an enormously important role in keeping the city running and prosperous, and that big government secret was something that many people might find more than a little immoral. There are all kinds of reasons that the policy would be to just get rid of anyone who gets down there to keep it all safe.

We had an RP-heavy, no fight episode prior to the episodes with these fights, and the episode before that had one instance of them clearly avoiding a fight thanks to good thinking (and I think dice rolls, but I don't remember if they did roll), when they decided to take that hidden loot and then disguised themselves and went on their way when they encountered the person likely meant to pick up that loot on the road, and then a fight that went incredibly smoothly. I wouldn't call this fight "forced" either, as the idea of them not having some kind of monster encounter while on the road outside of the Empire is kind of silly.

I see nothing that suggests that the story has been derailed at all by a few fights. There are several story threads happening and they are currently pursuing one of them with finding Marius to look into the stone Fjord consumed, and they might still pursue the Sabien lead. They've been handling Jester's story for a few episodes while in Nicodranis. These are still relatively early days in the campaign. We're not at a point yet where there's something like the Chroma Conclave or Vecna to tie all the threads they're pursuing together into one story. There wasn't in the early days of VM either. Maybe down the road we'll see that a lot of, or even all of, these story threads the characters have are tied together, or maybe these threads will be resolved and we'll get a big narrative changing moment like the Chroma Conclave attack that brings in a whole new journey and story. But for now, they're still somewhat low level characters exploring somewhat low level story threads. But that doesn't mean there's no story or that it's being derailed. They just have to pick which threads they're going to actively pursue at a time.

I'm just really exasperated with the attitudes toward Matt lately. First there was all the crap about him being "abusive" to the players and fans because Molly died, and now he's getting crap about "forcing fights" because of things like bad rolls, the choice the players/characters make even after being warned about how something would be a fight,  and in character choices that makes sense? This is ridiculous. I get that this kind of campaign and party might not be everyone's thing. They're chaotic and kind of reckless and that means that fights like these are going to happen sometimes, maybe even quite a bit. But if someone is taking "this campaign/party" isn't for me and turning it into "Matt's doing something wrong and forcing fights", then that's just ridiculous.