Please note this is not the place to criticise Critical Role in general. If you dislike Matt, Marisha, Sam, Liam, Ashley, Taliesin, Laura, and Travis's game, this isn't the thread for you.
Be excellent to each other Don't forget to love each other And is it Thursday yet?
I was kind of disappointed that we got EXU characters mixed into campaign 3. I really wanted everyone to start off fresh together. I would add Travis's character to this since it is a character from a previous one shot, but he feels very temporary for some reason.
I was kind of disappointed that we got EXU characters mixed into campaign 3. I really wanted everyone to start off fresh together. I would add Travis's character to this since it is a character from a previous one shot, but he feels very temporary for some reason.
All in all though, I enjoyed the first session.
I really think he will die in the process of introducing his actual character. But thats a complete guess.
I was kind of disappointed that we got EXU characters mixed into campaign 3. I really wanted everyone to start off fresh together. I would add Travis's character to this since it is a character from a previous one shot, but he feels very temporary for some reason.
All in all though, I enjoyed the first session.
I really think he will die in the process of introducing his actual character. But thats a complete guess.
Yeah, he will either die or leave with Dorian. I am 80% certain that Robbie is just a guest and not a permanent addition to the group.
I got the same impression that Travis will be dying. He’s two levels higher than everyone else. Also, I noticed something was amiss when everyone was excused from the table but Travis was the only person to gather his things before leaving. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew something was up.
Also, I am a major Robbie Daymond fan. For being completely new to the game in EU, he really understood the game right from go. He definitely didn’t know all the rules, but he got what it’s about and for me, his character was the standout of EU. I was pumped to see him join the table, even if it may only be temporary. I hope he stays, honestly.
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DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form| Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock | He/Him/They/Them
I don't mind them playing EXU characters. A lot of players reuse old characters that they wanted to do more with. I have a character I loved that I wanted to see grow but the campaign ended abruptly. I'm looking forward to the EXU characters growing the way all the CR players add depth as a campaign chugs along. I also don't think Bell is going to stick around but he will be fun while he's there. I loved the first episode. It was great to see them together at a table having fun and not being able to stay in character because of something Sam did. I was so excited to see Robbie at the table and I hope he becomes a regular cast member.
Matt Mercer did say on Twitter that Liam and Ashley could have rolled up new characters but they wanted to explore the ones they created more. Liam says he's had the idea for his character since 2017.
I think I'm definitely in the camp of "I genuinely enjoyed that", but it seems many have decided to polarize themselves between "how dare they use old characters" and "how dare you tell them what to do." Though I do wonder how many people fell in the middle of the venn diagram of "CR is becoming corporate" and "how dare they do something I didn't like".
Somewhat ironically, I had a conversation with one of my players the day before the C3 launch about predictions, and I prefaced it with my hesitancy to make any, though I did eventually postulated on a few to varying degrees of success. At the time I had a hard time vocalizing why I didn't want to make predictions, but now I feel that my resistance to setting up expectations is what made the episode more enjoyable. Like, I would rather just see them enjoy themselves if I'm going to set up this weird parasocial relationship with a group of people I don't know.
As MorriganMacha mentioned, I got not wanting to stop playing a character you recently started. I have made so many characters for campaigns that have either never got started, pattered out quickly, or even left me wanting after a good amount of development. And I definitely wanted to continue playing them, but just didn't want to try and fit them into another world where they didn't grow up organically or had to restart. The CR crew is lucky enough to get a shot at organically continuing their characters, and I empathize with their decisions. So even if they didn't do what I wanted, ultimately their player agency was important to me, even if I wasn't their DM.
I don't mind bringing in a couple of the EXU characters and frankly I could watch Ash play Fern allll day she is so good in that roll. My prediction on all this is that Robbie will drop off after a couple episodes but whatever they were looking for down here, they will eventually find leads which they will pursue along with the rest of the main group (or most of it) and Aabria will step in and DM for another stint. I think this is their way to build in windows for people to dip in and out as life and projects require them to more easily than in the past.
Impressions so far (in no particular order, but with a rating of (+) or (-) depending on what I felt.
(-) Introducing Marquet by Matt, was way too much names, settings and stuff in a few minutes. Also the names were kind of complicated. The city we are in now (Jsusar?) is way more on the video game fantasy scale than the more enclosed, medieval carnival / town we started campaign 2 in. We had magic skyscrapers with cable cars in between them and airships within the first few minutes. It is hard to top that (campaign 2 characters travelled by foot and horse cart in the beginning).
Dorian, Orym and Faerne. I kind of hoped everybody would start over new, because now I feel like I have to go back and watch EXU to fully grasp their backstories, which will come up sooner or later (-). So far Robbie seems to play a very "bardy bard", Liam is the non-tragic "dad" in this group (+), and as person interested in HEMA and sword and buckler, I am looking for Liam's descriptions of physical combat as a Battlemaster. Ashley playing a very different, kind of chaotic druid with sticky fingers is a welcome change to campaign 2 (+). Will Robbie be a permanent member on the party? I don't know, but I think the group is too big for the more dynamic events that can happen in game, because it takes so long for everyone to get his/her turn and having a more regular "guest seat" for a few session, but not always is good for me.
Imogen and Laudna. Laura chosing the "southern accent" immediately conjured up pictures of a rich upper class, landowner's daughter, who will be the classy lady of the campaign. Not really sure Laura will go that route though. Aberant Mind Sorc looks like what she is playing. Laudna (+) is the Imogen's weird "college room mate" and Undead Warlook. Not sure what race she is so far. I think Marisha has planned to play her very differently than Beau: high charisma with very little knowledge of acceptable social norms and interaction.
Taliasin plays a rock star barbarian and Sam a robot cleric. Both seem to have homebrew subclasses (?). While I like to see a non-Caduceus character, I kind of feel that Ashton could be the attempt to catch up on what Taliasin missed out on an early killed Molly in campaign 2. Robot on a one-wheel, that is called Fresh Cut Grass (-) is just too much cartoony for my liking, even after the perfectly planted *****-bomb that took out the table.
Travis? Placing high bets on Bertrand not being his permanent character (like most other people in the YT comments and here on the forum). Cartoonish grandpa for the whole campaign? I hope there will be something else coming up.
Group composition: Lots of high charisma casters and characters (only Ashton has 6 Charisma, but still plays like higher); Physical strength and Intelligence are the general party wide dump stats (not counting Sir Bertrand at the moment); I am convinced mental stats will not consistently role played again, like in campaign 2 (e.g. Fjord had a low Wisdom of 7). Otherwise, they cover most of the roles even without a "classic thief" (covered by Bard slight of hands skills on Ashton and Faerne and perhaps Thieves' Tools on someone).
I am extremely curious about Laudna's backstory. She would also have to be in her 50's (or maybe older) since she was there when Whitestone was taken over by the Briarwoods AND is old enough to remember it clearly. I also think there is a really good chance that she is a sister, cousin, or some other member of the De Rollo family.
“A little look under the hood for Ep 3…Sooooo that was fun! Another little bit of a glance at what led to the end if tonight’s session: (1/4)”
“Travis wanted his C3 character to join in a little bit down the road (not unlike many classic JRPGs), but it led to an issue… I wanted Travis at the table and present for the first episode at least or more! (2/4)”
“When given the option to create a character, he was inspired to bring Sir Bertrand Bell back for this purpose, and we discussed the means of his exit. Travis proposed the “grim end”, but agreed he would not know how or when… (3/4)”
“…and such, we anchored Bertrand into the story and watched where things went! Do not fret… Travis will return in the near future with his “true” C3 character, and it is gonna be a BLAST to see the paths collide! (4/4)”
They had to adjust the homebrew Monk in Campaign 2, maybe that'll happen with the Chaos Barbarian as they progress.
FCG seems quite strong too. Dumping their temp HP into the enemy after reeling them in made for a pretty cool Scorpion moment though.
I don't understand why they get temp HP if they're "sharing the pain" tbh.
I assumed that FCG took half the damage and then gained an equal amount of temp HP, which is still quite a powerful ability but has a built in limit. It would explain why Constitution is his highest ability score, so he can tank more hits for the others.
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The first episode of the latest campaign of Critical Role kicked off yesterday, so here's the place to talk about it.
Please note this is not the place to criticise Critical Role in general. If you dislike Matt, Marisha, Sam, Liam, Ashley, Taliesin, Laura, and Travis's game, this isn't the thread for you.
Be excellent to each other
Don't forget to love each other
And is it Thursday yet?
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My real question is who we start shippin' Fresh Cut Grass with......
I was kind of disappointed that we got EXU characters mixed into campaign 3. I really wanted everyone to start off fresh together. I would add Travis's character to this since it is a character from a previous one shot, but he feels very temporary for some reason.
All in all though, I enjoyed the first session.
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
I really think he will die in the process of introducing his actual character. But thats a complete guess.
Yeah, he will either die or leave with Dorian. I am 80% certain that Robbie is just a guest and not a permanent addition to the group.
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
I got the same impression that Travis will be dying. He’s two levels higher than everyone else. Also, I noticed something was amiss when everyone was excused from the table but Travis was the only person to gather his things before leaving. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew something was up.
Also, I am a major Robbie Daymond fan. For being completely new to the game in EU, he really understood the game right from go. He definitely didn’t know all the rules, but he got what it’s about and for me, his character was the standout of EU. I was pumped to see him join the table, even if it may only be temporary. I hope he stays, honestly.
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I don't mind them playing EXU characters. A lot of players reuse old characters that they wanted to do more with. I have a character I loved that I wanted to see grow but the campaign ended abruptly. I'm looking forward to the EXU characters growing the way all the CR players add depth as a campaign chugs along. I also don't think Bell is going to stick around but he will be fun while he's there. I loved the first episode. It was great to see them together at a table having fun and not being able to stay in character because of something Sam did. I was so excited to see Robbie at the table and I hope he becomes a regular cast member.
Matt Mercer did say on Twitter that Liam and Ashley could have rolled up new characters but they wanted to explore the ones they created more. Liam says he's had the idea for his character since 2017.
I mean, no need to start ship wars. The only real answer is
*****.
Edit: you know who I'm talking about.
I think I'm definitely in the camp of "I genuinely enjoyed that", but it seems many have decided to polarize themselves between "how dare they use old characters" and "how dare you tell them what to do." Though I do wonder how many people fell in the middle of the venn diagram of "CR is becoming corporate" and "how dare they do something I didn't like".
Somewhat ironically, I had a conversation with one of my players the day before the C3 launch about predictions, and I prefaced it with my hesitancy to make any, though I did eventually postulated on a few to varying degrees of success. At the time I had a hard time vocalizing why I didn't want to make predictions, but now I feel that my resistance to setting up expectations is what made the episode more enjoyable. Like, I would rather just see them enjoy themselves if I'm going to set up this weird parasocial relationship with a group of people I don't know.
As MorriganMacha mentioned, I got not wanting to stop playing a character you recently started. I have made so many characters for campaigns that have either never got started, pattered out quickly, or even left me wanting after a good amount of development. And I definitely wanted to continue playing them, but just didn't want to try and fit them into another world where they didn't grow up organically or had to restart. The CR crew is lucky enough to get a shot at organically continuing their characters, and I empathize with their decisions. So even if they didn't do what I wanted, ultimately their player agency was important to me, even if I wasn't their DM.
I don't mind bringing in a couple of the EXU characters and frankly I could watch Ash play Fern allll day she is so good in that roll. My prediction on all this is that Robbie will drop off after a couple episodes but whatever they were looking for down here, they will eventually find leads which they will pursue along with the rest of the main group (or most of it) and Aabria will step in and DM for another stint. I think this is their way to build in windows for people to dip in and out as life and projects require them to more easily than in the past.
Impressions so far (in no particular order, but with a rating of (+) or (-) depending on what I felt.
(-) Introducing Marquet by Matt, was way too much names, settings and stuff in a few minutes. Also the names were kind of complicated. The city we are in now (Jsusar?) is way more on the video game fantasy scale than the more enclosed, medieval carnival / town we started campaign 2 in. We had magic skyscrapers with cable cars in between them and airships within the first few minutes. It is hard to top that (campaign 2 characters travelled by foot and horse cart in the beginning).
Dorian, Orym and Faerne. I kind of hoped everybody would start over new, because now I feel like I have to go back and watch EXU to fully grasp their backstories, which will come up sooner or later (-). So far Robbie seems to play a very "bardy bard", Liam is the non-tragic "dad" in this group (+), and as person interested in HEMA and sword and buckler, I am looking for Liam's descriptions of physical combat as a Battlemaster. Ashley playing a very different, kind of chaotic druid with sticky fingers is a welcome change to campaign 2 (+). Will Robbie be a permanent member on the party? I don't know, but I think the group is too big for the more dynamic events that can happen in game, because it takes so long for everyone to get his/her turn and having a more regular "guest seat" for a few session, but not always is good for me.
Imogen and Laudna. Laura chosing the "southern accent" immediately conjured up pictures of a rich upper class, landowner's daughter, who will be the classy lady of the campaign. Not really sure Laura will go that route though. Aberant Mind Sorc looks like what she is playing. Laudna (+) is the Imogen's weird "college room mate" and Undead Warlook. Not sure what race she is so far. I think Marisha has planned to play her very differently than Beau: high charisma with very little knowledge of acceptable social norms and interaction.
Taliasin plays a rock star barbarian and Sam a robot cleric. Both seem to have homebrew subclasses (?). While I like to see a non-Caduceus character, I kind of feel that Ashton could be the attempt to catch up on what Taliasin missed out on an early killed Molly in campaign 2. Robot on a one-wheel, that is called Fresh Cut Grass (-) is just too much cartoony for my liking, even after the perfectly planted *****-bomb that took out the table.
Travis? Placing high bets on Bertrand not being his permanent character (like most other people in the YT comments and here on the forum). Cartoonish grandpa for the whole campaign? I hope there will be something else coming up.
Group composition: Lots of high charisma casters and characters (only Ashton has 6 Charisma, but still plays like higher); Physical strength and Intelligence are the general party wide dump stats (not counting Sir Bertrand at the moment); I am convinced mental stats will not consistently role played again, like in campaign 2 (e.g. Fjord had a low Wisdom of 7). Otherwise, they cover most of the roles even without a "classic thief" (covered by Bard slight of hands skills on Ashton and Faerne and perhaps Thieves' Tools on someone).
Looking forward to Episode 2 tonight on YT.
I am extremely curious about Laudna's backstory. She would also have to be in her 50's (or maybe older) since she was there when Whitestone was taken over by the Briarwoods AND is old enough to remember it clearly. I also think there is a really good chance that she is a sister, cousin, or some other member of the De Rollo family.
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
I the end of that session felt a bit scripted, which makes sense if Sir Bertrand Bell was a temp character to start with. Still fun to watch.
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
Yeah, I'm with you on that but I think it needed to happen. I'm curious to see who will replace him though...
“A little look under the hood for Ep 3…Sooooo that was fun! Another little bit of a glance at what led to the end if tonight’s session: (1/4)”
“Travis wanted his C3 character to join in a little bit down the road (not unlike many classic JRPGs), but it led to an issue… I wanted Travis at the table and present for the first episode at least or more! (2/4)”
“When given the option to create a character, he was inspired to bring Sir Bertrand Bell back for this purpose, and we discussed the means of his exit. Travis proposed the “grim end”, but agreed he would not know how or when… (3/4)”
“…and such, we anchored Bertrand into the story and watched where things went! Do not fret… Travis will return in the near future with his “true” C3 character, and it is gonna be a BLAST to see the paths collide! (4/4)”
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
The Chaos Barbarian seems ridiculously OP so far (based on the 1.5 episodes I've gotten through).
Yeah, I agree with this. I would like to see the homebrew for it to know what they were going for, but so far I don't like what I see.
Their game though.
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
They had to adjust the homebrew Monk in Campaign 2, maybe that'll happen with the Chaos Barbarian as they progress.
FCG seems quite strong too. Dumping their temp HP into the enemy after reeling them in made for a pretty cool Scorpion moment though.
I don't understand why they get temp HP if they're "sharing the pain" tbh.
I assumed that FCG took half the damage and then gained an equal amount of temp HP, which is still quite a powerful ability but has a built in limit. It would explain why Constitution is his highest ability score, so he can tank more hits for the others.