#all I know about c3 is that at some point they go to whitestone so I assumed they were in taldorei lol

[diabeticgirl4]

sdjlfskf ok watched the intro part of cr3e1 and had to cut myself off bc I want to watch the whole thing nooowwww

but I did catch the first second after the intro song (not the full version?) and they're in marquet!! :O aaaaaa I need to watch the rest of this right this second why did I do this to myself

[ginalongillustrations]

Vox Machina Details

I realized that now that I've completed all of Vox Machina, I wanted to show off the symbols I chose for each member and their designs as some of them I'm super proud of! If you're unsure what any of the symbols are meant to convey, just read blow the line.

Keyleth

(side note, I finished her original version at like ep 35 and had worked so hard to stay away from spoilers so I had no idea what most of the symbols meant and was struggling to think of things)

Kraken- I included it because the kraken fight will go down in my personal history as the fight that was the biggest... slog to get through. You felt the weariness of it as shit just kept repeating, and unfortunately half the table was slightly drunk making everything worse, and it was so pivotal because Vax died and that hastened his deal with the raven Queen and it was Keyleth completing her journey and it was Tary's first real adventure. It also was right after my Roman Empire Vaxleth quote so it had to have a place.

Goldfish -iconic

Acorn- so this is one that has nothing to do with her journey, but it's something I chose to symbolize what I love about her. I love her passion for life and her willingness to protect it. I chose it after she went against Grog during the Whitestone Arc and ran back to help the townsfolk fight the zombie giant. I loved it because she refused to let those people fight on their own to live, and it really stuck with me. Her unadulterated anger at the death of the fire ashari and so many other times she cares about life and I wanted to represent that, so much that I included it in her personal symbol at the top of the designs.

Fire - obvious reasons

Raven feather - gonna represent the love of her life

Snowdrop- yeah Vax got two but I'm so glad I did because that last episode had me sobbing just like Marisha and it's such a symbol of goodbye and love and stolen time

Vex

She is one of the most straightforward ones, another one that I had help on from the community because I didn't want spoilers but did want to encompass her entire journey and not just what I had seen.

Grizzly paw - for the best companion out there

Gold coins - Her greed is such a defining trait for so much of her journey to the point where it, in part, got her killed by wanting to steal the armour. It is her hating to spend 30 gold on a very useful book, it is so much of her and I love it.

Sun - Paelor, since she was chosen by him

Broom - As much as I wasn't a fan of the broom, it truly is such a big part of her, her fighting technique, and her personality again tied to her greed that I couldn't help but add it.

The gun and the dagger - for the two most important people in her life.

Pike

Her ship - It's cute how often she brought it up even when we never once see her at sea. I think Ashley really enjoyed that part of her backstory even asking about it in campaign 2.

Her holy symbol - Sarenrae is the God who has my heart simply for her kindness to Pike. Her warmth and love and how important that relationship is to Pike. More so than any other cleric, it feels like they get each other and I love that. I'm also sad Sarenrae hasn't been around much in the other campaigns. Someone give this God some love please (I'm on ep 46 of c3 so who knows)

The lute - even if they never go on a date during the campaign, that relationship is super important. It was the first relationship I shipped in VM and how often they look out for each other. I'll always be sad Ashley couldn't be there for ep 85

Grog's axe - adoptive siblings for life

Iris - since it's the flower of Westruun, I thought I should add also because Matt was able to pull that out of his ass when asked was incredible and needs to be remembered always.

Glabrezu claw - even if it's not a death we saw, that death echoed throughout the campaign and it affected Pike so much

Scanlan

Scanlan was harder. So many of his moments are intangible. How do you draw a counterspell? A wish? The hunt for drugs that are actually just cooking spices? the meat man? Modify memory? Scanlan will always be MVP of the VM campaign in my eyes, and so it was so hard to do him justice.

The three eyes of Ioun - No one expected Scanlan to be chosen but chosen he was and the world is better for it.

Triceratops - That fight was the first time Scanlan really showed he could hold his own. Hell, the rest of VM came out worse with 5 people than he did. It was the first time you saw how much of a beast Scanlan could be.

Pike's mace- the woman who made him better

The beret - I had just finished the briarwood Arc what I was working on him and I thought this the best representation of Sam willing to just roll with the stupidest running bits.

The Burt Reynolds mustache - His love of disguises and also one of his most iconic lines

The flute - representing his meeting Kaylie and how that changed so much of his journey.

Percy

I struggled with Percy and his symbols because I couldn't always grasp what was important and what drove him as tangible things outside his family, Revenge, and Vex. I also just have the most trouble connecting to Percy so I think that played a part.

The bird skull - I felt it showed his connect to others? As it passed through his hands it showed a care for others and I dunno, this one just stuck with me. So it's there.

Black powder -no way in hell I'm leaving Viktor out

De Rolo crest - His family and all that he lost

An arrow - his future, his shining north star, his better half

Black smoke - Orthax and how much control it had over him

Vampire teeth - a bit corny I know but had no idea how to represent the briarwoods so I rolled with this.

Vax

Snowdrop - the mirror Keyleth, and if you have the prints next to each other with Vax on the right and Keyleth on the left, the snowdrops mirror. They're the only two of the series to have that (can you tell who my favourite couple is?)

The raven Queen mask - she needed her own spot because she is.. the looming shadow over so much of Vax, his choices, and his story. She is unrelenting, she is ever-present, she is inevitable. And I hate her for it.

The arrow - twins for life

The antlers - This man supports Keyleth's rights and her wrongs and I adore him for it. I love that he says if you're going to your death to fight this dragon then I'm with you no questions asked. He worships her and it makes me weak at the knees.

The feather - those wings become as much a part of his identity as the broom is for Vex.

The belt - his love for that belt but also his use of equipment. Vax, more than anyone I think, has his identity was tied to his equipment and his icknic moments. His boots, his armour, his belt, his daggers. They make up so much of him.

Grog

He's another super straightforward one because we'll, Grog wasn't meant to have a deep and rich and complex character. He has amazing moments but again how do I show them? Craven's edge was something I tried for but it just didn't read as exactly that so I sadly left it out. Believe me, it hurt.

The deck of many things - Those cards were Grog's roman empire and it bit him in the ass at the end and I love it. Also just Travis and his absolute inability to not push the red buttons.

Ale - no group has loved taverns as much as VM, and no one in that group loves a night of drinking as much as Grog.

The Lute - for his best bud

The Mace - for his sister

The shapes - callback to the original audio intro with Grog being first

The bag of holding - few things were as paired as Grog and that bag. No one has their inventory as well organized as that Goliath.

Tary

Blondies - I know he was only a portion of it and I think because he was there for the time they mentioned it the most, I connect Tary the most with the Slayers Cake. It's the friendships he formed in his time with the group.

The list - thinking of him saving Keyleth and getting to mark off rescuing a maiden will never fail to make me laugh

The arrow - his best friend

The gun - his other best friend

The book - his many grand tales all documented in one fantastical book

The helmet - I really wanted it in the original design but it just wasn't going to work with the pose I wanted, so it ended up at the bottom.

Yepp so these are the things I connect with these characters the most. It's silly and so much effort for such a small part of the print, but I'm proud of them.

[blorbologist]

🖤💚

for the unpopular opinions asks

:DD Thank you! You get Percy rambles because that's where the brain goes past midnight <3

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

Very, very quietly: my yearly reminder to everyone that Percy knew what he was doing when he invented Gun. The entire character concept, per Taliesin, is 'what the fuck could motivate someone to make something this awful'. He did not invent Gun to free Whitestone, he did not invent Gun to rid the world of terrible evil, he invented Gun because he was a terrified and hurt and furious teenager who did not care what consequences there were to his actions so long as he maybe, possibly, might be able to kill some of the people responsible for his family's deaths. Once it does hit him that he will have to live with the consequences, that others will live with this same pain because of the havoc firearms can sow, he definitely feels awful! And wants to undo it as best he can! But it remains that he was a deeply selfish character.

And still is! No Mercy Percy is a fun meme and all, but he really leans into a lot of needless cruelty when he's scrambling for control. Which pops up again even after the Briarwoods arc is all done with - he is absolutely furious at Scanlan and some of what he mildly brings up to Vex is horrifying shit to say you'd do to a friend.

Anyways he's perfectly in character in C3 and I will die on this hill. And get raised as an undead by Delilah because PERCY WAS FUCKING RIGHT ABOUT THE WHOLE THING -

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

OK, so I know we (by we I mean me) all love to point at Percy and go 'this man is autistic please let him infodump about the Feywild/clocks/engineering stupid dragon traps'. But there is a really good reason why everyone was shocked by his backstory reveal in C1, and why he's got so few lines in the first two episodes of TLOVM, and that's because he's pretty fucking quiet. And it's something I didn't fully appreciate until recently, so it's really understandable how often it trips people up!

The main thing is that while Lord de Rolo is usually a man of few words, those words are fucking bangers. While a lot of Vax's famous lines tend to be part of a long Shakespearian ramble (which I love), Percy, as a Taliesin character, is a master of the one-liner. Which tends to get over-represented in our memory compared to how often he says very little at all!

Percy often gets wordy when he has a space to do so (a debate with Keyleth, a bit of Whitestone lore Taliesin wants to yell about, nerding out with Tary who is importantly nerding out right back)... and when he's talking to Vex. God he will not shut up when he's one-on-one with Vex. In his conversations with other characters (Vax and Keyleth namely) he usually keeps his input short unless he's doing some arguing. But with Vex? Just won't stop.

So while I do think infodumping can be compliant with canon Percy, he needs to either be doing it in tandem with someone else (he and Keyleth or Tary being little weirdos), he has to have a solid excuse to indulge in it and feel justified, or he and Vex are alone. (Cass can probably get him to infodump, but given her nature as an NPC there isn't much textual evidence alas.)

Ask me about my unpopular opinions!

[mintywolf]

eisfuura, bard and fighter?

(CR Asks)

Eisfuura: Who is your favorite NPC?

Appropriately enough (since this is a bird question) it’s Kiri!! She is one of my top favorite characters in the whole M9 campaign. I really hope we get to find out in C3 what she’s up to these days and I can’t wait to see her in the M9 animated series. (Also I’m glad we’ll get to see her goodbye to Jester animated because I can’t believe they parted ways with her while Laura wasn’t there! I understand why they did it, it would have been too dangerous for her where they were going, but I’m sad that Laura wasn’t there to RP Jester in that moment.)

Bard: What is your favorite “how do you want to do this?”

Ooh okay. I don’t know if it’s my favorite but the one most burned on my mind is Imogen lightning bolting Evil Sun Tree in Darkstone because that was the end of a MERCILESSLY INTENSE fight to determine whether my favorite character of all time was going to be allowed back in the game. And it was SUPER CLOSE, she was barely alive and only survived because she had to spend her last Mote of Possibility (which she was probably saving for Laudna’s resurrection ritual) to make Delilah reroll her last attack on her.

Also there was some really nice symbolism there because she opened the fight with the words “Delilah Briarwood, we’re gonna sunder you.” You know, like lightning does to a tree. And that was what she did in the end, with all the love and fury in her soul.

Fighter: What was your favorite funny moment?

Oh no there are too many individual moments to choose so this is more like “funniest running gag” even though most of the scenes involved with it are actually traumatic but is endlessly hilarious to me though how much of a ruckus Bells Hells cause whenever they go to Whitestone. Especially from Percy’s point of view. They barge into his office at 7am with a dead body demanding he bring it back to life, unwrap it to reveal what at first appears to be the corpse of his wife before he realizes that no it’s actually it’s the anonymous girl whose murder has been haunting her for 30 years why do they even have this?? also HOW is she somehow inhabited by the spirit of his worst nemesis? Against his protests they bring her back to life (?? this part is debatable) and she in turn immediately resurrects a dead rat which she insists is a long-lost relative of his, and then makes him hug a tree. They refuse his offers of hospitality but steal a bunch of linens from the castle and sleep outside in the main square. They leave. They come back and inform him they need to go to the moon. They break into a room in the castle that he has specifically sealed off and invoke the spirit of his worst nemesis IN HIS HOUSE. They destroy an armoire to make a sled and break all the castle windows with rocks. Before they leave for the moon one of them turns himself into a living bomb and detonates right underneath the thing that is the living heart of his city. Also, they picked a fight with a blameless crepe vendor in the street.

BH, why are you like this. (Don't ever change.)

Also something about the contrast between how Laudna is perceived by the de Rolos when she's dead -- she's this object of pathos, a symbol of the guilt and trauma of a horrible thing that happened 30 years ago that they feel both responsible for and a victim of, and can never fully atone for -- and when she's revived like oh she's not just a dead doll that looks like Vex there's a whole personality there and it's bonkers and delightful and she has a pet dead rat and friends who love her so much they crossed continents to bring her back to life -- is so good. (Not necessarily funny just really good.)

[myowndesertplaces]

I know a lot of people are frustrated with seeing old PC's or feeling like we are spending too much time on a particular arc during the BH campaign. I think the best way to engage with Campaign 3 is to recognize that it's more theme and plot driven than character driven. This is going to affect the pacing and storytelling of the campaign, and it's why we shouldn't hold similar expectations for arcs, characters, and story beats with a character driven narrative like C2.

The themes are pretty simple: fate, destiny, and choice (anger/rage/violence were also prominent early in the campaign). Can you make your own path in a world controlled by fate? Where does choice factor into destiny/fate? How has previous choices affected the current fate of our party?

Once you realize this is what's driving the narrative, it makes sense why past PCs are so heavily involved in this story.

Also their inclusion in the story shouldn't be a surprise at this point. They established in the first episode that this campaign would be interconnected with previous campaigns: Three members of EXU joined C3, Orym and Laudna's story have direct ties to VM, and Betrand brought the group together. In addition to that, FCG exists because of the Mighty Nein's actions 6-7 years ago. Ashton would be dead if Essek hadn't stolen 2 beacons, and if Yeza hadn't discovered how to extract the potion of possibility. Plus we've already visited Whitestone.

As for why this campaign feels like one long continuous arc, it's because it is. The only breaks we've had from this "arc" were to rescue Laudna and visit the Gorgynei. Even the trip to break into the museum for Hexum included new Ruidus lore. We've never experienced a campaign where every character's backstory is directly connected to one major story. Yes, even Chetney, FCG, and Laudna can trace their roots back to the Ruidus/Ludinus/solstice story in some way. The closest example of interwoven backstories from previous campaigns would be Beau and Veth's connection to Isharnai. It's as if the only way to prevent another apocalypse is to bring these wildly different characters together by an unknown force... Fate.

With all that said, it's perfectly fine to be disappointed with the narrative. Focusing on theme is a departure from past campaigns. I believe most of us were expecting a character driven story, especially from a DnD campaign. Themes have always played an important role in the show of course (that's how story telling works), but it hasn't controlled the pacing quite like this. We saw it at the end of C2 when the cast wanted to end the campaign with an arc about found family and redemption instead of exploring all other character stories. It worked because ultimately that was the story of the Mighty Nein, and we already had a strong connection with the characters.

I think it's also fine to question whether a multi-year TTRPG campaign is the best medium for a theme or plot driven narrative instead of a character driven one. But, if your theme is fate and choice, I think having the story directed by dice rolls and player choice is an interesting way to do it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with disliking the story or comparing it to past campaigns. You're not a bad fan. But I worry too many folks, 16 months in, are still expecting a story like C1 or C2, and it's only going to lead to further frustration.

[deramin2]

Tarot reading for CR C3 E64

Did a Blessing Challenge Action reading with my Botanica deck. The deck combines tarot with flower and plant cultural meanings and meaningful historical objects representing the suits. This deck isn't good for predictions, but it is good at introspection about what's currently happening and makes a great jumping off point for meta.

ID: Box, deck of cards, and 3-card pull from the Botanica deck on a white, grey, and black thick line plaid satin scarf. The box and deck of cards are black with gold foil stylized botanical line-work. Card descriptions:

1. Six of Coins reverse with a flowering and fruiting raspberry vine and Anatolian drachma coins from the reign of Alexander The Great.

2. Ten of Coins divinatory with a eucalyptus trunk and leaves and British cartwheel pennies from 1800 sent to the Australian colonies.

3. Knight of Coins divinatory with Honesty flowers and a Teng Dynasty silver hairpin with a carved dragon head.

End ID

Question:

Where are Bell’s Hell’s at going into C3 E64?

Pull:

Blessing: Six of Coins Reverse (Raspberry) The good things are hidden behind bramble. Pain before gain.

Challenge: Ten of Coins Divinatory (Eucalyptus) Security and stability. Inheritance.

Action: Knight of Coins Divinatory (Honesty/Moonewort) An honest, hard-working person. Steadfast, patient. Good with money.

Interpretation:

Blessing:

They've been through so much, good or bad, and they've changed without their person. (Arguably Laudna and Orym got worse.) Their relationships are going to be challenged. Team Issylra may be jealous of some off team Wildemount's wins. Team Wildemount may not fully understand the pain Team Issylra went through. But ultimately, it's going to form a stronger bond. And they might know better what they want. I think Laudna and Imogen may cling to each other more. They got good information about where things stand politically and what's at stake. They're all cut up, but they have the fruit and it's time to make a pie.

Challenge:

The challenge is to gather everything they've learned, everything they know, and to start planning. Including contacting key powerful people (like the Air Ashari, Whitestone, and Pike. Maybe Ajit Dial in Jrusar. The Cobalt Soul. Ira.) They have to gather more information about what did and didn't happen. But they're well positioned to pull it off and they have so many pieces they will be listened to.

Action:

Diligence is going to be key here. This isn't going to be done running headlong into battle as the lone heroes against the world. They keep their heads down, they recruit allies, they gather more information, and they come up with a solid plan all together.

[essayofthoughts]

Given you have a vague idea of C3 events relevant to Whitestone (at least prior to tonight), how would some of your AUs change things when the Hells meet Vex and Percy in those timelines? Would they meet under different circumstances? Might some things not happen (i.e. good!Delilah might mean Laudna... doesn't exist? Or that they track her down?)? And some AUs might entail a different Whitestone, or Vex and Percy with changed character arcs and thus different reactions to the Hells/what they request.

I mean, Sylas Briarwood Gets To Live Bitches AU only diverges after all of the shit with the occupation and the Sun Tree, so I think even with a Sylas and Delilah dragged kicking and screaming to a more acceptable morality, Laudna would still exist. I think whatever her sorcerous ancestry is would have brought her back, plus the necromantic energy in Whitestone - the difference would be that she wouldn't have Delilah in her head as her patron.

But, to answer more properly, I think I've told you this before, but I'd honestly kind of love to see Bells Hells go to Whitestone for help in Delia AU.

Because, in Delia AU, Percy isn't afraid of Delilah in nearly the same way - like, yes, she murdered his whole family and left him to the clutches of Ripley, but she also sympathised with him over caring for Delia? Babysat his daughter? Sylas let Delia ride around on his shoulders? And, more than that, he also learned how to navigate in the space between Delilah and Ripley? He learned which buttons to press and what words to say, he learned how to get what he want from Delilah, he knew very confidently where he stood and how much leeway he had. He also got to see her frustrated with useless underlings and pleased with his and Ripley's work - he's seen many more facets of Delilah in Delia AU and he's able to see her more as a whole complete person than just as someone integral to a core trauma.

And... because of that, he's just not afraid of her in the same way. Just as Delia AU and RA (and, in a different way, Evilest AU) cause Percy's fear of Ripley to be overriden due to the new circumstances, so too do the circumstances drastically change his attitudes and opinions of the Briarwoods.

Additionally, during the occupation, once Percy realises the truth, he very much takes on the role that Cass did, the core of resistance, the one remaining de Rolo, reliable and responsible and doing what he can for the people of Whitestone. His goal is mostly to keep people alive, especially because, due to his position, he knows more than Cass did and knows how futile rebellion would be (potentially even helping the Briarwoods' aims) and in part due to Delia's existence he kind of becomes a fatherly presence to much of Whitestone! So if Laudna's body was taken to Whitestone by the Bells Hells in this AU, if Percy was presented with the body of someone he had tried and failed to save from this fate... yeah, even being told Delilah is in her head wouldn't stop him from seeing it as his duty as the leader of Whitestone to see Laudna given back her life, and ideally, freed of Delilah. He's not afraid of Delilah the same way and... honestly, nor is Delia!

Which is the other big factor, because Delia by that point would probably be starting to take on administrative duties herself in Whitestone and on finding out her (not anymore) Auntie Delilah had been fucking with this poor undead woman, this risen-from-death citizen of Whitestone... oh yeah, she'd be angry. She'd have had the time to deal with her own complex feelings about the awfulness of the woman who used to babysit her, and she'd know Delilah was significantly more dangerous than she'd believed as a child, but she's also far from stupid or unskilled herself.

And Delia, like her father, takes their responsibilities to Whitestone and it's citizenry seriously. Even if Percy had misgivings himself (a big if), that'd immediately end if Delia (almost certainly present for such a meeting) turned to him and went "Dad, we need to help them."

[risingroleakira]

I posted 436 times in 2022

That's 436 more posts than 2021!

96 posts created (22%)

340 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sparring-spirals

@extravorganza

@risingroleakira

@drawsmaddy

@captainofthetidesbreath

I tagged 346 of my posts in 2022

Only 21% of my posts had no tags

#critical role - 302 posts

#cr - 277 posts

#cr spoilers - 250 posts

#critical role spoilers - 240 posts

#cr3 - 174 posts

#critrole - 152 posts

#critrole spoilers - 105 posts

#cr liveblog - 73 posts

#exu:c - 38 posts

#cr2 - 26 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#bet had i watched the entirety or c1 & not just the briarwood arc percival fredrickstein von musel klossowski de rolo iii would b there too

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I'm sorry, we've had turtle shells, a banana peel and bomb-ombs. If you're drawing fanart for this episode and you're not listening to coconut mall or SOME part of the mario kart soundtrack, what are you even doing

200 notes - Posted July 22, 2022

#4

i know we're all excited and freaking out about keyleth and whitestone and VM in C3 and trust me I am too, but I have to take a second to mention Ashton being constantly in pain, and the whole sequence describing that. As someone who has several issues that mean I am never really not in physical pain in some way, I genuinely came close to crying when that was described. I already connected to Ashton a lot, they were already one of my two faves of the party and five faves of CR over all, but this really hit very close to home for me.

266 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

#3

saw this in chat of the rebroadcast... this is an interesting thought. ...if this happens to actually be the reason for their murder bot rage, i hope Ashton dropkicks Dancer to the moon and back

375 notes - Posted August 19, 2022

#2

Hey I know we're all freaking out about Imogen, Laudna and Delilah Bitchwood, but I want to take a moment to point out how Ashton was being soft w/Orym after he fell. And I don't just mean like... 'oh look the tough rock is being wholesome'. I mean as in... it was Ashton who was soft with him.

I don't know I just can't stop thinking about Matt describing Orym's fall off the ship and how it reminded me of the description of Ashton's fall off the balcony. I just think it's neat that it was them, of all people, who immediately went over to him and stuff.

God I love these two

391 notes - Posted May 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

oh and for anyone who hasn't caught on or has just not thought about it due to all the other shit that's been going down, Ashton having confirmed chronic pain from those cracks also gives more context to him asking about imogen's lightning marks in E34. "Do they hurt?" | "How do they make you feel?" | "I mean, at first, they were terrible. They let everyone in town know I was different, you know?" | [Ashton subtly nodding along and changing expression at parts of what Imogen says] | [Does their best to reassure Imogen that This is Some Hero Shit and Not evidence of some sort of great evil within her] "...Goddamn Superhero, are you fucking kidding"

I love this punk rock. so much.

490 notes - Posted September 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[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.

[eldritchamy]

Is it crazy to wonder if Marisha will play Keyleth next episode?

Not at all, I’ve thought about it too.

Keyleth and Vex were my favorite characters in Campaign 1, and GOD I’m so excited for the next episode, cause you KNOW the person Keyleth needs to consult with about this is Vex.

But as much fun as it would be to see Marisha do that Kiki fluster again (and blush a little at Vex), it would be REALLY hard for her to step back into the role at this point in the story. Everything that’s happened in the last 30 years (apart from what the players decided for the Tal’Dorei Reborn book) is all on Matt. Everything about where Keyleth is now, what she’s up to, where her head’s at with all of this?

That can’t come from Marisha without her getting what amounts to significant spoilers from Matt.

And while I trust the players of Critical Role to HANDLE meta information without it affecting their gameplay (as we’ve seen with all the other previous-campaign references in C3 like Vespin Chloras, Ludinus Da’leth, Orym’s limited application of what he knows about Vox Machina, Laudna barely knowing anything about Whitestone because she ran away from it and never looked back, their knowledge of Aeor and Devexian, etc etc), giving a player that kind of meta information is still a BIG deal.

No matter how talented they are as roleplayers, it still puts pressure on their decision making when they have to question whether their own decisions are being affected by what their characters don’t know.

Would THIS TABLE still come to the right decisions when faced with that problem? Yeah. They’re professional D&D players. I trust them to play the game. But it’s still a PRESSURE that the players ultimately shouldn’t have to deal with, and I can’t realistically see Matt wanting to do that to Marisha.

It can also take a lot of the fun out of the surprises (and consequences) when you know what’s coming. And Matt loooooves to give them fun twists. Not knowing what to expect is SOOOO much fun in D&D. I LOVE being surprised. I’m one of those players like Marisha who likes to take good notes and starts putting things together (my DM recently asked me for the name of one of her own NPCs because I’m the campaign’s wiki), and there’s no better feeling for me than when I absolutely did not expect something.

Also, if things go well, Marisha should be coming back to the table next session anyway (likely after some of the most emotionally traumatizing Laura Bailey roleplay we’ve ever seen). I have some thoughts about how it’s gonna go.

We’re going to have some emotions.

God I can’t wait.

NGL I’m also really excited to see Matt do Vex’s “Darling...”

[captainsspnanon]

C3E35 reaction

I skimmed some things before hand, so stuff I knew before watching:

1) They interrogated Treshi some more (but no context for what about)

2) There was a skill challenge at some point that involved Calm Emotions

3) Ashton is confirmed to have chronic pain (no context as to HOW it was discovered, but that FCG was feeling Ashton’s body at the time, so I guessed the scene but nowhere near how it ended up playing out)

4) Keyleth brings them to Whitestone.

I’m glad the Treshi plot point is now wrapped up.  It was a fun impetus, but so much ended up happening all around the beat that it no longer felt like a driving force, but instead an anchor that was holding back their progress.  To have it resolved means that they are now free to travel and move fairly freely.  The time limit of a month could be up to another almost year of gameplay, so that should give them plenty of time to do things.

Skill challenge was super fun!  Also now gave a taste of the sinkholes, which should hopefully satisfy Travis a tiny bit about not being able to thoroughly explore the map and all the points.  (Though I agree with him, there are a number of places with very interesting sounding names!)

I’d seen somebody comment that they thought Thull was going to end up killing Eshteross because the Hells left, which had made me think that they never reported to him at all.  I’m very glad to be proven wrong, I missed him and his (justified) paranoia.  I’m relieved they gave him some detailed information about Thull’s fighting style, though this is one of the instances where I sort of wish they would just go “and we update Lord Eshteross about everything that happened in Bassuras” or some other narrative shorthand which would imply that they shared everything with him, and not just the parts that they actually roleplay through.

Yay for completing the bounty and getting funds!!  NO BEING BROKE THIS CAMPAIGN!  Checking now, M9 got about 8k gold in E30, and then no particularly large sums until E63.  They’d made just under 20k total by E35, compared to the Hells about 38.5k.  They’ve spent about the same though....maybe I just feel like the M9 was poorer because of the memes XD

The scene with Imogen and Fearne in Ashton’s mind was HARROWING.  Nothing new was found out during the memories, Milo had already told Ashton that they poured the potion in their head, but I guess Taliesin may have forgotten or misunderstood.  Ashton acted like he was just learning the information for the first time.  ON THE OTHER HAND - STRESS.  I cannot tell what Matt is planning with this, and it’s awesome and terrifying and I want more.

There’s been tons of speculation of chronic pain for Ashton, though at least among those that I follow the speculation had died out fairly early on.  It’s a hell of a thing to have it confirmed, and I wonder if it will ever come up again, or if it’s something which Tal has put out there but doesn’t really portray ‘loudly’, so to speak.

Mixed feelings on Keyleth appearing and the party going to Whitestone (TLoVM!Whitestone, at that XD), but Matt did seem like he was cutting off a lot of other possible options.  ...well, just Eshteross and Seshadri, I suppose.  Hexum could still have been an option, but I am glad they didn’t go with that.  (My mom was shouting at the screen for them not to tell Hexum or go to her XD)

I’ve read a lot of good posts about how it makes sense for PCs to be meeting high level NPCs around this point, and that we can just consider VM to be high level NPCs.  Personally, I still struggle with it a bit.  Again, mixed feelings.  Honestly, I think my feelings on this will really only be decided towards the end of the campaign when I will know how frequently or heavily involved VM is in the entire situation.  I really did love the fact that the M9 were so unrelated to C1 with only minor references tossed in until Allura, and C3 is being handled so differently just from the start.  It’s something I can’t decide until hindsight.

Either way........UGH HAVING TO WAIT TWO WEEKS INSTEAD OF ONE NOOOO

[centaurianthropology]

Character speculations for C3E1

Spoilers, you know.  If you haven’t seen it and don’t want spoilers, don’t click under the cut.  

We good?  Good.  Let’s go.

Some general character speculation.  I have no idea what they’re doing with plot, but this is going to go on two assumptions: 1) the CR twitter is honest, and Robbie is just a guest star (still eh on having a guest in their very first episode rather than properly establishing the group, but it’s too early to judge what they’re doing with that), 2) all other characters are their PERMANENT C3 characters.  Orym, Fearne, and Bertrand are here to stay.  

Having said that, let’s get into proper character speculation (in order of apperance:

Imogen: Aberrant mind sorcerer, human.  She’s going to be the one with the big traumatic backstory this campaign, with the biggest prior campaign inspiration being Caleb.  Aberrant Mind Sorcerers are also BEASTS at upper levels, so she’s going to rule that battlefield.  Laura clearly wanted to play a caster who could do massive damage even last campaign, but got hindered by being a cleric.  Now she gets to play one of the heaviest-hitting full caster builds possible.  I am very excited.  I also think Imogen is a reaction to Jester having a bit of main-character syndrome, in that she doesn’t want to be noticed.  She’s quiet, and very attached to Laudna.  My guess is that, initially, she was drawn to Laudna because she can’t hear Laudna’s thoughts.  Laudna is her quiet place, and being in that little house with Laudna and the old woman is as happy and comfortable as she can be.  She’s researching ways to control her own mind, as it continues to overwhelm her.  She’s deliberately designed as a time bomb set to go off at some point, and I’m stoked to see it.

Laudna: Hollow One or Dhampir Warlock/Sorcerer.  Oooo, what a delicious character.  Not certain what her patron is going to be or what sorcerer subtype she’s playing, but the sorclock is a cool combo build.  I’m sort of meh about her being directly tied to Campaign 1 (speculation is that she became undead during the Briarwood occupation of Whitestone and left after VM took Whitestone back), but as long as it’s still just background and a jumping off point it could be very cool.  Interested to see what patron she might have, as it could be something very nasty.  I like her vibe of being someone who genuinely wants to make a good impression and friends, likes children and probably animals, and is absolutely horrifying despite that.  Imogen was probably the first person in a very long time to look past Laudna’s spooooky vibe and see a good person, which is why Launda is so attached to her.  My guess is that they’re both going to be oblivious and pining for years, but these pastel goth lesbians are going to be a great couple someday.

Fresh Cut Grass: Aeormaton Cleric (probable unity domain).  My beloved.  Best first impression goes to this funky little robit, but beyond the general sense of cuteness and gentle kindness, I think there’s a LOT going on with FCG.  For one, I love the take on a cleric with no specific god, but a belief in general goodwill and mutual aid.  Cool concept.  Sam loves to build ‘joke’ characters that turn deadly serious, and I see this happening here.  My guess is that FCG has some holes in their memory, possibly a killswitch or something.  Them being in ‘stasis’ and coming to with everyone in thier adventuring party dead rings some nasty bells.  Maybe Dancer was not a particularly benevolent creator, or found FCG and the other automata rather than inventing them herself.  But there are things FCG doesn’t know about themself, and it’s going to be a hell of a rabbit hole to fall down.

Ashton: Earth Gensai Barbarian (homebrew subclass).  Interesting intro, and another probable deep-backstory character.  The fact that he’s coming in partially shattered, and also has an obvious dunamancy tie makes me wonder what happened to him.  Immediate tin-foil hat theory is that he has a damn luxon beacon at his core, and they come off as don’t-give-a-fuck asshole because he’s terrified of himself.  Tal deliberately tried to take a backseat backstory-wise in C2 (with varying results), and Cad was such a level-headed gentle character, that Ashton is clearly Tal getting back into the aggressive front-line game.  I also think that, like Percy, Ashton’s going to have a lot going on in their backstory, but it won’t come out for a while, and he’ll let others take the helm right up until whatever dunamantic horror-show that is their backstory drops like a rock (pun intended) on the rest of the party.  I think this will be the tragic character, second only to Imogen, with a lot of baggage and a lot of fear to deal with.  Tal playing punk rock is fun, but punk rock covering terror and a horror-rooted backstory would be even more fun.

Now onto the not-so-new characters.  Fair warning, I have not seen EXU, so I only know a few things I saw online about these characters.  Mostly, I’m going to treat them as fresh, as it doesn’t sound like they got a lot of time to develop deep backstories.  I won’t be talking about Dorian, as I think he’s an extended guest and is going to dip out in the next episode.

Fearne: Faun Druid.  I dig the whole feel of her seems-sweet-but-actually-an-asshole vibe.  I think she may also be the party replacement for a rogue, as the party currently has a weird balance that is very combat heavy but not really built for investigation.  She does have sticky fingers, though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s got her stats built to play the B&E character of the party.  Really not certain what her deal is going to be (again, didn’t see EXU, so I hope this is a fresh start for her character and I don’t have to), but I could see her possibly riding some very dangerous lines.  This is Ashley’s first time to really play a character through the bulk of a campaign, so I can see Fearne being a place where she can take character risks.  Could Fearne be a character who rides a line for evil alignment?  Could she have some deep, dark backstory secrets?  Maybe.  I have no idea.  She’s one of the characters I have very little notion of what direction she’s going to go in.  She sort of seems like the Fjord of the campaign that way.  I felt the same about his character at the beginning of C2.  Or she could be the kind-of-an-asshole-even-to-her-friends this campaign, the way Beau was last campaign.  Interested to see where she takes this.

Orym: Halfling fighter (battle master).  Honestly most interested to see where he goes of all the party.  So many of the characters are coming in with very obvious plot hooks, but he seems almost blank.  I get that Liam wants to step back from being the plot-and-character driving force of nature that was Caleb, but I could see him using Orym to really explore the tragedy and insecurity of being an ordinary guy in a party of superheroes.  I did see that his character has a backstory with a dead husband, so we’re getting slight Yasha vibes here.  I also see him being the tactical heart of the party, given that he went battle master, and he’s going to take over Caduceus’s role of being the buff/debuff master of this party.  He may also have to be the most intelligent character of this party, as they are very INT light.  I can see him being the quiet, thoughtful one, the one here to help his friends, and is going to be the leveling voice of reason in the party.  I’m interested to see why he would stay with this group, as he’s not only tied to the Air Ashari, but directly to a C1 character (Keyleth).  What pulls him to stick around in Marquet rather than going home?  I can see Liam’s brain ticking away, and he can’t help but want those tasty RP scenes, but I think he’s going to push outward rather than pull inward this time.  He’s going to be a guy interested in learning about those around him, rather than being stuck on his own past.  He’s going to have a tragic past, sure, because it’s Liam, but it’s going to be a quiet and ordinary tragedy.  Also, calling it now, he’s the first gay male main NPC (we’ve had some good bi and lesbian rep, but no gay men), and he’s going to be doing his damndest to romance Ashton.

Bertrand: Human fighter (or not???).  Ooo, this is the mystery character right here.  There are a LOT of red flags about him.  I think his age is somewhat off, specifically that he should be older, given his appearance in Search for Grog.  Possibly up to 100?  I could be wrong, but I feel like that seems off.  But I think that’s all part of it.  My big guess with him is that he’s actually Dhampir, that the orc at the end of the episode not only turned him, but has been feeding on him, draining his levels.  He was at level 18 in Search for Grog, and now he’s at 5.  I’m guessing that, during the fight in the next episode, he’s going to get nuked by this character down to Level 3, who is either going to get away and be a long-running antagonist, or is going to be a forceful employer for an unwilling bunch of adventurers.   His stats actually bear closer resemblance to level 3 than 5, so my guess is that he’s going to lose abilities as he’s attacked, but has actually only built the character to be level 3.  I think that, after they get him away from his sire, he’s going to get sharper mentally, and is going to be horrified by what he is.  He seems like a bit of a braggart, but has a decent heart, and I think that he’s probably going to be devastated when he realizes he’s a monster.  It might be an interesting touch point between him and Laudna.  His leveling up experience is going to be remembering and recovering old abilities, rather than learning new ones, as he slowly clears his mind and remembers himself, but also finds that he wants to be better than the man he used to be.  He’s an elderly character, which I absolutely love, but he may well be an elderly character who  just got a (poisoned) new lease on life, an ability to do a lot of growing up well into his seventies.  That’s honestly a very cool concept, possibly my favorite concept of all the characters.  He’s an old man with a cursed existence and a cursed sword and a realization that he’s spent his life being a fool.  He has a chance to be better.  And I love that.