#critical role

[strawberrybongus]

jester redraw as i slowly take artistic liberties with her design (2020/2017 ver. below cut)

[irelise]

early campaign feral cat energy

[hannahspoonsart]

One of my pieces for the Hear Me Out Tumblr Sexyman Zine Volume 2! This project was so fun, and you definitely need to check it out

[helimir]

actually though. the Beauyasha is one of the best romantic conversations in all of critical role. it’s LONG which is good not in a bean-counting sense, but because it requires getting beyond rehearsed speeches or straightforward confessions; they really have to just talk to one another as characters. and when we see them together we can feel the chemistry and the history and see that they just get along! as people!

and they talk about their fears and their mistakes and their trauma, but also their relationships with other people (Caleb, Molly, the rest of the nein), how much they love dogs, how nervous they are… little details that sum up to the fullness of a relationship!

Beau’s planning of an evening that takes them into safety (when they’ve been constantly under threat!) and reminiscence (when the whole campaign and especially Yasha’s story has been an exploration of memory and history). The way that Caleb’s tower brings it to life with such love and gives Beau and Yasha both something to be surprised by and to laugh at, all in the security of a friend who loves them both fiercely.

“I wanna kiss you so bad” is THE BEST line in critical role for accomplishing the task of “get consent in this primarily audio format while also absolutely everyone at the table and in the audience can tell that these characters want to make out sloppy style this instant”

and that line is followed up by the all time banger: “Babe, I gotta handle these ninjas”

[wormspoor]

A Verin I did a while ago

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

It's been interesting coming into Campaign 2 as a newcomer whose been hanging around in the fandom for a minute because it means I'd heard the criticisms of the early campaign as being "directionless", but eight episodes in it's really ringing as untrue? Like the Mighty Nein have had clear goals and motivations the entire time, even if they're as simple as "Caleb wants to visit a large city with a good bookstore" or "Jester wants to find her dad but in the absence of concrete leads (though she does have a ledger of her mother's clients, of which her dad was one) has decided to make it her mission to help Fjord reach and enter the Soltryce Academy" or "Beau thinks the Baumbauchs are dicks so she stole their mail and found herself fascinated by this one contact called 'The Gentleman'".

What I think people were clocking about these early episodes, and describing as "directionlessness" was actually the lack of a big central Plot Goal that all the characters were working towards. The Nein at this stage of their careers aren't working to stop any wars or cults or slavers or sentient cities, they're traveling together because being together is convenient and all their individual goals are pointing them in the same direction (or no direction in particular so might as well stay with the group). Whereas the early episodes of Campaign 1 had the Plot Goal of "find and rescue Lady Kima" and, once that was achieved, "help Kima recover the Horn of Orcus". The individual members of Vox Machina had their own personal motivations that intersected with this common plot goal, but it served as something the whole group was reaching towards. The early Mighty Nein episodes don't have the same sort of overarching plot framework, as Matt opened up the world after the initial run of episodes in Trostenwald and left it to the players to decide where the pursuit of their individual goals would take them.

But every character pursuing an individual goal did give the early Mighty Nein a direction; they were all pulling towards something and making choices in hopes of being brought closer to it, even if those goals varied between the group's members. The absence of a Plot Goal didn't result in the group having no direction. Indeed, as Campaign 3 would later demonstrate, the presence of a Plot Goal doesn't guarantee a group will have direction. It's the ability of the characters to turn motivations into goals and actions that creates this momentum.

[scythlyven-art]

He's in timeout

[cussundria-nerd-kneal]

They had 1 official character death and literally went: NEVER. AGAIN.

This episode really demonstrates why M9 won the battle royale. They really are nigh unkillable.

They are rolling like dogshit and losing spell slots left and right, have less PCs than the VM fight at the Key, have taken exhaustion points and soo much damage, and their healing is being sabotaged.

But they still managed to complete their encounter in less than 1 episode. They managed to avoid all the obstacles leading to the boss fight. They had no deaths.

This party build is legit insane. Theyre so mobile, cant pin them down. Their casters control the battlefield. Their tanks are basically immortal. They have 2 guaranteed Divine Interventions, 2 Mass Heals. They have 1 Vestige, and an unending well of tricks in Fjord and Veth. They are dripping with advantages, resistances, and rerolls.

Mighty Nein most qualified assholes for the job fr.

[lethallana]

guys I'm slowly starting to figure things out......

[helimir]

This sequence of episodes (Vergesson heist and its aftermath) are also a testament to the sheer determination of the mighty nein, both in the narrative and on a meta level.

When Trent shows up in Vergesson, Matt makes it clear that Ikithon wants to talk. He makes no actual attack on the PCs, and Matt openly expresses surprise when Caleb starts immediately casting offensive spells. They very easily could have been caught there, they only make it out because of Caleb’s nat 20 counterspell.

Then again in Nicodranas, Trent just wants to talk! He’s just curious! And he backs them into a corner that there really should be no way out of… but then they come up with a way. A crazy genius way that Matt could not have predicted.

In a situation where it would have been so easy to let the DM’s expectations combined with the mechanics of the situation guide them into a particular course of action… the mighty nein said ‘fuck that, it’s bad, we’re running’.

Ikithon’s manipulation and Matt’s signaling that a conversation is a viable story path is no match for Caleb’s abject fear and the Mighty Nein’s ride or die attitude. Caleb really said ‘this is the scariest man in the world and I’ll burn down anything including myself before I let him touch your families’ and the Mighty Nein said ‘we’re with you.’ This is the same party that walked across the continent to save part of their family, and it shows.

[wizardpostingworld]

So I was looking at the background of a school project I drew and was like “damn that’s so nein sided tower coded,” had a bad day, relistened to some cr, and ended up with this. Yay! Art!

Also - would it be better/easier for yall if I had a separate art blog (instead of just #wiz draws) from my deranged yapping? Be honest - I won’t be offended <3

[fra4tas]

More sad mages!

[unhookedchalk48]

"I think Liam is going to play a cleric!" "I want Laura to play a barbarian!" SHUT THE FUCK UP AND ANSWER THE REAL QUESTION!! What obscure weapon is Travis gonna have next?

[luckthebard]

The next time Matt has a Q&A or fireside chat we need to come together as a community and ask him about the Zadash monorail.

They can’t ignore all of us.

[ahmoseinarus]

sharing the art of an incredible Critter, and Ukrainian, since apparently, they're running into roadblocks getting exposure on American owned/run sites right now (obviously, I don't know the full story, I just read a post from the artist, and then realized who they freakin' were!). Bullshit. Their art isn't political. Show some love for a fellow Criter, and appreciation for some of the most AMAZING CritRole fanart out there, and don't 'Like' it... REBLOG IT!!! No one sees anything, unless you REBLOG! --- I love the lighting in this one of our favorite Hot Boi, Shadowhand Essek Thelyss... and talk about hot, check out the charms on those tight belts on that snatched waist of his... Maybe he's born with it, maybe it's Graviturgy...😏

Continuing the Critical Role theme, here's another from last year, everyone's favourite ✨hot boi✨ Essek and his dunamancy shenanigans. Hey, since I just created this page and trying to gain some sort of following here on Tumblr (mainly so my original art also gets attention), please consider following.🥰 k thanx luv you xxx MY TIP JARS HERE ❤️‍🩹