#i'm curious to see how far are they going to go with molly's storyline

[mikimeiko]

Loot | Season 2 (2024), Matt Hubbard and Alan Yang

[zemnian-newcomer]

It's late in the evening, I'm tired, I have work early tomorrow, this will not be coherent, but I have Thoughts about the beginnings of C2 and C3 and how they differ structurally that will not be contained so here I go.

(This got long so I'm putting it under a read more)

Obligatory disclaimer that this is not a judgement of the quality of either campaign in any way, I absolutely loved the Mighty Nein and am liking Bell's Hells a lot so far (I'm up to episode 30, so no spoilers past that please)

So right from the start, C3 felt much more fast-paced and more... densely plotted, I guess, than C2.

The Mighty Nein in their early days travelled together, but felt like they could have fallen apart at any time. It took until around the 20 episode mark for me to feel like they had grown together enough for it to hold. (Ironically, that was immediately put to the test with the Iron Shepherds arc.) Contrast that with Bell's Hells, who felt like a much more cohesive group from the single digits.

A lot of it, of course, comes down to the characters. While Bell's Hells as a group are a bunch of weirdos, there aren't actually that many "strong" personalities among them, which the Mighty Nein were full of. Think about Beau clashing with both Molly and Caleb, Nott/Veth stealing from Fjord, Fjord holding a sword to Caleb's throat, Caleb acting without communicating, Molly generally being more of a shit-stirrer - with Yasha not being there most of the time, one of the best team players they had was Jester. Meanwhile Bell's Hells generally get along pretty well. The closest thing to actual conflict within the party so far was probably Chetney not liking Dorian, and even that got better within a few episodes.

On the other hand, the plot (as far as I can see it) of C3 involves the characters a lot more than the starting plot of C2. The early Mighty Nein took quests/assignments, but they didn't have much to do with them personally until the Iron Shepherds (and, well, the guy they got some of the assignments from turned out to be Jester's father, but they didn't know that at the time). What eventually turned into one of the bigger plots was nearly just one encounter in the sewers of Zadash. It didn't involve them, they involved themselves. The plot of C3 so far (and from what spoilers I've seen, also going forward) involves several of the characters on a very personal level.

There is also a very big difference in character drives and motivations. Several of Bell's Hells have a mystery or problem they're either curious about or actively trying to figure out, which means they're very likely to bite on plot hooks that seem to be related to that mystery or problem. Meanwhile most of the Mighty Nein were actually running away from their shit, and it took months of in game time for them to grow enough to face it. (Molly being the exception in that he, in a way, successfully ran away from his shit and left everyone else to deal with it.)

Which is what leads me to why I actually made this post, the way different characters' backstories and motivations get weaved together and into the bigger picture. As of episode 30, Orym, Imogen, and Fearne all have an immediate connection to the Ruidus storyline, with Orym and Imogen having followed this thread together for a long time since figuring out that their individual quests led them on the same path.

I don't really have a point to this, it's just cool to see the different ways a story can be built in DND, with C3 so far being a really elegant way of tying character motivations together and using them to further the plot, while C2 was more of a lesson in having the characters lead the way and building the story off of their actions.

[seddm]

Have you watched “the ghost and Molly McGee”? If not, I think you should watch it, just to give it a try. The reason that I bring this show up to you it’s because lately, there have been people hating the “ relationship” between the main character, Molly and her “love interest”, Ollie. Some people have been hating the hell out of the character of Ollie, and the reasons people give are ridiculous to say the least. Most of the people are just mad that their personal ships sink after the character of Ollie debuted on season 2 which premiered not too long ago, or they claim that the character of Ollie hasn’t been developed properly “which I disagree completely I think he’s development has been great. This reminds me of all the svtfoe shipping battles back in the old days and made me remember your deep analysis of the show back then, and I thought “huh I wonder how Seddm would analyze this how”. I’m just so curious as to what your opinion would be on all of this. It would be great if you would check it out, I WILL say tho that the show it’s pretty different from STVFOE . It’s mainly “episodic” rather than following an actual storyline but I will say that in season 2, the show does start following a storyline, at least much more than in season1 season it’s still pretty good, just that season 2 it’s a bit better. A little bit more “deep” regarding storyline. You’ll understand what I mean if you see it yourself. Anyways, thank you for reading this. I hope I explained my self well. It’s fine if you don’t like it too. I personally find it very wholesome haha. And again, I find the direction they’re taking with the show in the new season pretty interesting. 😄

I watched S1 of the show, and eventually I'll probably check out S2 as well, and while it was entertaining - I especially enjoy how over the top the facial expressions are, I'm going to be brutally honest: it didn't catch my attention and interest enough for me to form any kind of "analysis" opinion beyond a very surface level entertainment. Might change once I start S2, but as things are right now, I don't have the drive to look at it with the kind of fandom-eye needed to form opinions. Sorry! But I did see something of what was going around the internet when the first leak involving Ollie appeared, and I thing I can understand what you mean. Shippers are gonna ship, after all. Had I been a, don't know, Molly x Libby shipper, I too would have been miffed at sudden competition appearing. Even more since, in this specific case, the former had (so far?) absolutely no romantic undertones, while the latter was presented as a crush from the get go.