Critical Role Critical Role Campaign 3 Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Seramus]

But we players realize that the magic at our PCs fingertips that gives us interesting things to do in day-to-day gameplay cannot and should be assumed to exist in the same form or fashion as part of the narrative of world-building. Because then we have True Resurrections and Wishes all over the place.

Exandria has a surprising amount of leveled NPCs running around. Nothing like Forgotten Realms with it's vast handfuls of epic level spellcasters, but the town guard of even an average sized city has several L4s. Larger cities can reasonably be expected to have some L8s, and the capital cities of each nation consistently have L13s, with Vasselheim specifically having L17+.

 

[TheDelphian]

It may also be that Keyleth once knowing who Laudna was (Little girl in a tree) may feel guilty enough to help raise her. Remember Keyleth has a history with her already even if at this point she is unaware.

 

[jgsugden]

Matt hs never been beholden to mechanics. He wants to tell a good story. That will come first.

Matt had to anticipate that Orym would interact with Vox Machina when they built the PC. The approach he is taking is very appropriate to address the situation - Vox Machina retired as PCs and now live as NPCs under his control - and are no different than any other NPC. Having Orym go to Keyleth for aid is ESSENTIALLY no different than having Jester seek it from the Traveler. If there is a story based reason to give it, they woll. If not, let the heroes find their own solutions.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Well, Keyleth is also a queen of a nation now. Whatever her personal power is, she really needs to use operatives to investigate and solve some of her problems. She may also be "running leads of her own", which will be available to the PCs at the right time.

That said, Orym is one of her operatives. Having her be explicitly tied to the background as Orym's handler could entitle him to one favor per five levels in pursuit of the goal.

 

[BRayne]

"She rarely adventures anymore, preferring to hire others to tackle problems she sees arising across Tal’Dorei. But if the world is ever in need of an archdruid, she will answer the call." is how her blurb in Tal'Dorei Reborn ends

 

[overgeeked]

Matt has never been beholden to mechanics. He wants to tell a good story. That will come first.

Yes and no. Matt's style puts primacy on both story and rules. He doesn't let the players wildly break the rules for story. He'll bend and break them when they get in his way, but that's his prerogative as referee. The PCs all follow the basic rules of the game. There's not much in the way of special exception floating around on their character sheets. Matt's designed at least one class or subclass per campaign now. But he refines those as they play. If something's over or under powered, he adjusts. But the players still have to follow the rules of the game.

 

[Seramus]

Yeah, he's in the lower middle. Not as strict as games like Drakkenheim, but way closer to the rules than shows like Adventure Zone or Dungeon Daddies.

C1 being an exception.

 

[jgsugden]

Yes and no. Matt's style puts primacy on both story and rules. He doesn't let the players wildly break the rules for story. He'll bend and break them when they get in his way, but that's his prerogative as referee. The PCs all follow the basic rules of the game. There's not much in the way of special exception floating around on their character sheets. Matt's designed at least one class or subclass per campaign now. But he refines those as they play. If something's over or under powered, he adjusts. But the players still have to follow the rules of the game.

Fairly said, but there is a nuance - I was speaking about mechanics in a different sense than rules specifically. I was speaking of mechanics as the built in 'crunch' of the game as provided. If the mechanics of the game do not serve his story, he makes new ones.

As you mention, they make new subclasses, he makes new monsters, he makes up drugs, he takes parts of two subclasses and finds a way to merge them in a villain, he creates entire schools of magic, he takes them on weird journeys into a mind, etc .... all of which are not based upon the existing mechanics as laid out.

The mechanics are not a menu for Matt Mercer. They're just an option. He peeks at the established options to see if they do what he wants, and if not he modifies them or makes up new stuff to tell his story.

 

[overgeeked]

Fairly said, but there is a nuance - I was speaking about mechanics in a different sense than rules specifically. I was speaking of mechanics as the built in 'crunch' of the game as provided. If the mechanics of the game do not serve his story, he makes new ones.

As you mention, they make new subclasses, he makes new monsters, he makes up drugs, he takes parts of two subclasses and finds a way to merge them in a villain, he creates entire schools of magic, he takes them on weird journeys into a mind, etc .... all of which are not based upon the existing mechanics as laid out.

The mechanics are not a menu for Matt Mercer. They're just an option. He peeks at the established options to see if they do what he wants, and if not he modifies them or makes up new stuff to tell his story.

Yes. It’s called being a DM. If the rules as they exist don’t do what he wants, he changes them, homebrews, etc. That’s RPG referee 101 stuff.

 

[jgsugden]

Yes. It’s called being a DM. If the rules as they exist don’t do what he wants, he changes them, homebrews, etc. That’s RPG referee 101 stuff.

I don't know if that was your intent, but that came off snarky.

Further, what you call 'being a DM' isn't something that all DMs do.

There are a lot of DMs that 'play by the book'. They use published adventures or build using only established materials and mechanics. They might tell players that their PCs can't do something if there are no rules for it that they can find. They never make up monsters, spells, or other mechanics. Some are new to the game - but others have been doing it for decades. I noticed this a lot in DMs that started DMing during the 4E, as 4E had a more "pick which thing you want to do" feel.

You might respond, "Well Matt Mercer clearly isn't that type of DM". I'd fully agree if you did. That is why I made the comment. That It is also why I felt I only needed to make a one line comment on the topic. However, some comments above it in the thread seemed to be worrying about the mechanics more than the story and were assuming that whatever was going to happen would be based upon the RAW. I think that Laudna's stiuation is going to be well off book, even when Matt was the central author on some of the mechanics she uses.