Critical Role Critical Role Campaign 3 Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Bolares]

Yup. Although the really disastrous episode of C2 is episode 2 i.e. "we're barking up the wrong tree for 4 hours with this circus mystery".

Oooh, that was ROUGH. I'm more attached to this characters and I'm keeping my eyes on Riegel... 60 episodes from now this f*cker will be making us cry about the backstory of a character called fresh cut grass

 

[Bolares]

It may have been the suit. I remember the days before D&D beyond, I'd throw a PHB in my briefcase and prep for a session on my way too or from work (on the train). Well, more often then not, I'd be wearing a suit. People don't give a guy in a suit a second glance. People STARE at a guy in a suit with a PHB.

Yep, I'd bring my PHB to the office sometimes to. NERDS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO WEAR SUITS.

 

[Charlaquin]

Wasn't the start of C2 just like this? A long monologue with (at the time) meaningless organizations and places, followed by a looooong bar scene? the fight in C2 was the last thing to happen. Maybe this felt longer (I felt it too) because we were so eager to find out what everyone was playing, as in C2 they were almost immediatelly all introduced.

I think it’s just Matt’s style. He seems to like starting his campaigns with an info-dump. Heck, even C1, which started en media res due to the campaign having already gone on a while as a home game, opened with a pre-recorded monologue from each player about their character and their backstory.

Weirdly, I found it easier to deal with this time than in C2, probably because I went in expecting it, whereas in C2 it caught me by surprise.

 

[BRayne]

Oooh, that was ROUGH. I'm more attached to this characters and I'm keeping my eyes on Riegel... 60 episodes from now this f*cker will be making us cry about the backstory of a character called fresh cut grass

I mean we probably can assume FCG has some degree of survivor's guilt already. I mean they were the cleric of that group and appear to be the only survivor which is probably gonna mess someone up

 

[Bolares]

I think it’s just Matt’s style. He seems to like starting his campaigns with an info-dump. Heck, even C1, which started en media res due to the campaign having already gone on a while as a home game, opened with a pre-recorded monologue from each player about their character and their backstory.

Weirdly, I found it easier to deal with this time than in C2, probably because I went in expecting it, whereas in C2 it caught me by surprise.

I think they should've kept up with the pre-recorded monologue with ilustrations. They did it for the history of exandria and it's great! I was expecting it, but that's too much information too fast for most of it to stick.

 

[jgsugden]

Episode 1 of Campaign 2 was the most watched episode of the campaign, IIRC. Of course they shilled at the start of the episode. Those critical of that are not really being realistic - this is a 4 hour entertainment piece with two 'commercial breaks'.

As for the pun/joke elements of these PCs being a flaw - Every single campaign 2 character was a cliche. It took 20+ episodes to get the real depth of many of these PCs. If you think Sam, Liam, Taliesin, etc... do not have twists coming .... oh, boy. I doubt any of these PCs will be one note - and I think Matt is going to rip into the lore established in Exandria Unlimited for the two/three crossover PCs.

For the characters:

1.) I think Sam is playing an Autognome with a new Domain, likely the CR homebrew one. I think the discussion of the Soul last night was a bit frustrating for him as he wants that to be a struggle for this PC - is it souled or not? Everyone just saying, "Of course you have a soul..."

2.) Teliesin gets a chance to crunch, but I think there is going to be more to the PC. Where did the hole in his head originate, for example?

3.) Bertram Bell might be Travis' full time PC, or he may be a stopgap. I could see it either way. It is interesting that he is 5th level. However, I think that even if he is not intended to be the full time PC for Travis, he could end up love playing him and preserve him for the forseeable future. Most likely, I think they find his true PC somewhere during one of their first missions and he has a mysterious amnesiac past issue.

4.) I think Laura is just a Telepathic Aberrant Mind Sorcerer with a few mechanics tossed on the top for her Detect Thoughts to give it some more intrigue. The desire to do research is likely tied to the origin of her powers. Imogen as a name is interesting - it is the name of an artist that has provided a lot of cool Critical Role art.

5.) Marisha knocked it out of the park for the first time. She never seemed comfortable as Keyleth, and she was a bit too goofy for what she tried to do with Beau - but the goofy works perfectly for Laudna. I think she'll have an insane amount of fun with her PC. The origin story should be interesting - especially given the Whitestone connection.

6.) Ashley playing Fearne is fine. However, I'd have loved to see her play a College of Whispers bard. She is having a blast with Fearne, so that is all and good. However, she has hinted that she'd like to play something a bit wicked, and Fearne is in an 'innocent' way, but I am disappointed that she didn't go more directly wicked....

7.) ...and disappointed in Liam's choice as well. I think he has big ties to prior storylines in mind that were not explored in EXU, but I think he could have done that with a character with intrigue. We'll see. Maybe there is something under the fascade, but I am least intrigued by Orym.

All of this is subject to the usual caveate that we don't know %$#@ about these characters yet, really.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The first 30-40 minutes of play was really front-loaded with the standard Mercer factions, orders, and institutions that it'll take me a while to wrap my head around and which I may never care about.

Others will care, still others with go back and rewatch when soemthing becomes relevant later, and most CR fans enjoy Matt’s style of exploring the space before beginning the story.

Laura is doing the young southern gothic voice she used for her Pillars of Eternity 2 character. It's great.

It’s just a southern voice.

Bold choice for Ashley to play a druid, the most technically complex class in the game. Despite playing the character in all 8 episodes of Exandria Unlimited, she did not know how her cantrips worked here.

Matt isn’t as loose with the rules as Aabria, which is more to her credit than his, IMO.

The latest odd Mercer pronunciation issue is that instead of gondola he said gon-DOE-la conservatively a million times in the first hour.

That’s a pretty normal pronunciation.

I always learn a lot watching this show. My biggest take-away is that the first session of a campaign is hard to DM. But I think it’s better to do two things they didn’t do here:

• Start with an action sequence. Not hungover people in a bar. You’re inviting 30-40 minutes of low-energy meandering.
• Start simple. You don’t need to introduce every faction and location right away. No player or viewer is holding all of these guilds, libraries, theaters, and towers in their heads. Just intro stuff as you need it. And in session one, just intro the stuff you need for session 1.

Either of those changes would have made the episode less good, IMO.

There is a thing at play that you’re missing. When you give someone a bunch of information, it ticks away in the back of thier head, and is easier to quickly grok later when you give them part of the same information again. When Matt brings up one of the factions he mentioned, or some element of the region’s history, there will be sudden recognition on several faces, and they’ll be excited that the thing Matt said forever ago is suddenly come up.

I thought Exandria Unlimited was pretty much unwatchable. Tapped out halfway through episode 2.

Wow. Maybe it’s because I don’t need the MD to run the game how I do to enjoy the show, god knows Matt doesn’t, but I just don’t see what could be “unwatchable” about it to someone who likes CR in general.

Cinema is a visual medium, why would you lean on its language for verbal narration?

Because it’s effective and most people get very evocative mental images when you describe panning out from the alleyway where our heroes are catching thier breath and laughing at thier narrow escape, to see the cloud of black smoke that hasn’t yet risen high enough to be seen by them, as a way to foreshadow consequences that will be coming after them very soon.

Imagine you're a new viewer and you want to see a D&D adventure, and you're greeted with 2 minutes of Sam's (elaborate but unfortunately not very funny) musical bit and 8 minutes of shilling mostly ugly merch.

None of the merch was ugly, Sam’s musical was hilarious, announcements aren’t shilling, and the merch was maybe 2 minutes of those announcements.

I know a few new viewers who watched last night. None of them cared that the beginning of the show was housekeeping.

The combination of all three was DEADLY and if they weren't already a mega-success I don't think they could get away with a first hour like that one.

The combination was fine, and pretty normal. Starting with an action scene would have been trite and forced, and I’d have been rolling my eyes.

Yup. Although the really disastrous episode of C2 is episode 2 i.e. "we're barking up the wrong tree for 4 hours with this circus mystery".

The investigation into the circus was one of the best epeusides of the first 20 or so episodes.

 

[BRayne]

I think Orym is mostly a reaction to Vax and Caleb taking a lot of focus in their respective campaigns and Liam wanting a more "background" character this time around

 

[Bolares]

None of them cared that the beginning of the show was housekeeping.

I don't get this criticism too... the beginning of the show is AWLAYS housekeeping

 

[Burnside]

I don't get this criticism too... the beginning of the show is AWLAYS housekeeping

Imagine you went into last night not knowing that, though - or, more importantly, not already knowing how good the actual show can be. Personally? I'd have switched off about halfway through Sam's musical bit.