Critical Role Reveals Soldiers' Table and Motivations

The first of Critical Role's three tables has officially been revealed. Near the end of last night's episode, the Soldiers were revealed as Kattigan Vale (Robbie Daymond), Teor Pridesire (Travis Willingham), Thimble (Laura Bailey), Tyranny (Whitney Moore), and Wicander Halovar (Sam Riegel). The group's initial objective will be to track down the smuggler Casimir Gavendale, who betrayed a conspiracy to rescue condemned rogue Thjazi Fang and then left the city in pursuit of Teor's brother Cyd Pridesire.

Casimir's Crow Keepers (a thieves guild) had attacked Thimble immediately prior to the campaign, leading to her not delivering a glyph that would have transported him to safety. Meanwhile, Kattigan and Teor are old associates of Casimir, as they had all served in a mercenary group that rebelled several years prior to the start of the series. Tyranny and Wicander are joining the party as Casimir had dealings with Wicander's family House Halovar, and Wicander is seeking to rectify the wrongs of his family. Tyranny is seemingly loyal to Wicander, having made a pact with him to enter the Material Plane.

Two more tables will be revealed in Critical Role, presumably by the end of the next episode. One group, the Schemers, will likely look to take on the Sundered Houses and their growing influence on Dol Majkar, while the Seekers will likely be tasked with protecting Occtis Tachonis (Alex Ward) from his family and also exploring the state of the afterlife in the aftermath of the gods' death.

 

[TiQuinn]

Yes, and?

Oh, I see. We’re going to do that.

Brennan has stated multiple times that the PCs don’t have plot armor and that the world exists independently of the PCs’ level. The super-powerful NPC are super powerful, regardless of the PCs’ level. Here be dragons. And Marisha poked it. Nothing arbitrary about it.

There is a difference between not having plot armor and not doing something in character to provoke nearly getting your PC killed. Ostensibly, this is still a game. Those were some hidden dragons. Marisha was bantering. I can’t think of anyone in a game situation who would’ve thought of that as perpetuating an attack, particularly when there is that big a power discrepancy. In any normal game, it would be considered unfair.

Was that clear enough?

Now, personally, I don’t think that the PCs don’t have some level of plot armor in the prologue. The gang heading to the tavern and nearly getting trounced by rogues sure seemed to have some level of plot armor as evidenced by the timely arrival of Vaelus. And while Teor was in trouble, my guess is he wouldn’t have died in that scene given some of the nature of gods and afterlife that we know so far. Critical Role is not a “normal game”. Critical Role is for entertainment, with players who know they need to perform for an audience, and the story needs certain beats to provide that entertainment. But as mentioned before, if someone were to do that in their own non-audience, non-actual play game, it would probably produce a different effect for the players; not one of joy.

But you do you.

 

[overgeeked]

Oh, I see. We’re going to do that.

I'm uncertain what you think I've done or what line you think I've crossed.

But that's illustrative of the point of this interaction we're discussing in the game. A thinks B has crossed a line while B is unaware that there was a line or that they crossed it. So, should the behavior of A be constrained by this or is it irrelevant. The point of the game is to emulate a real world, with real people who act and react in real ways. People with vast amounts of power use that power to stomp on "lesser people" every day. Ruining lives and often times ending them.

There is a difference between not having plot armor and not doing something in character to provoke nearly getting your PC killed.

Which Marisha did. She provoked a very powerful person by not kowtowing to him. She treated herself as his equal, which to most...if not all...very powerful people is the one unforgivable sin. She was warned, repeatedly, by both NPCs in the scene...and yet she persisted. There's nothing arbitrary about it. She had multiple opportunities to stop, but didn't. If that's how Marisha is going to play Murray in the schemer's group, she's going to need her backup character ASAP.

Ostensibly, this is still a game. Those were some hidden dragons. Marisha was bantering. I can’t think of anyone in a game situation who would’ve thought of that as perpetuating an attack, particularly when there is that big a power discrepancy.

Brennan's NPC clearly thought it was an affront worthy of death. If running that NPC in that situation, I can't say I do anything differently. Yes, it's still a game. But, importantly, it's a game about emulating a real world with real people living in it. If your 3rd-level character steps up to a dragon and taunts it, it's going to kill you. Simple as.

In any normal game, it would be considered unfair.

No. You consider it unfair. To me this is normal. To you it's clearly not. To the majority of OSR/NSR games, this is normal. This is how you run a living, breathing world.

Now, personally, I don’t think that the PCs don’t have some level of plot armor in the prologue. The gang heading to the tavern and nearly getting trounced by rogues sure seemed to have some level of plot armor as evidenced by the timely arrival of Vaelus. And while Teor was in trouble, my guess is he wouldn’t have died in that scene given some of the nature of gods and afterlife that we know so far. Critical Role is not a “normal game”. Critical Role is for entertainment, with players who know they need to perform for an audience, and the story needs certain beats to provide that entertainment. But as mentioned before, if someone were to do that in their own non-audience, non-actual play game, it would probably produce a different effect for the players; not one of joy.

But you do you.

The above only makes my point for me. It's entertainment first, game with friends a distant second...if it's on the list at all. So it follows the rules of all other entertainment, like say Game of Thrones. You wouldn't say any of the deaths in Game of Thrones were unfair...or you'd say all the deaths in Game of Thrones were unfair. I don't know. All's fair in love and war.

But, even considering all that, this is exactly the kind of verisimilitude that sparks joy in a large group of gamers. Myself included. Again the majority if not the whole of the OSR/NSR scenes want exactly this. Anyone who's interested in story over game would likely get a kick out of it. Etc.

You don't want it in your games. Big difference.

 

[TiQuinn]

I'm uncertain what you think I've done or what line you think I've crossed.

It’s a very dismissive thing to write. It’s the equivalent of “so what?”

No. You consider it unfair. To me this is normal. To you it's clearly not. To the majority of OSR/NSR games, this is normal. This is how you run a living, breathing world.

Now you want me to acknowledge the way you run your game when you’re dismissive of mine? Ha.

 

[overgeeked]

It’s a very dismissive thing to write. It’s the equivalent of “so what?”

Now you want me to acknowledge the way you run your game when you’re dismissive of mine? Ha.

Well, at least you're proving my point. What one party of a conversations wants or hopes to communicate is irrelevant when the other has agency and autonomy. You get to decide how you react to any given situation and my thoughts on the matter are irrelevant despite being the other part of the conversation.

Brennan's NPC has that same autonomy. It doesn't matter that it's a game when the point of the game is to present a real world with real people living in it. Brennan treats his NPCs as real people who will act and react as they would regardless of whether the character they're interacting with is a PC or not. No plot armor here. Murray crossed a line...several times...and so the NPC chose to react accordingly.

Nothing arbitrary or unfair about it.

 

[Seramus]

"Complicating" the matter, it is one of the oldest and most basic escape fantasies for players to talk back to authority figures because they cannot do so in real life. It's SO prevalent, SO common, that almost every DM has had to softball NPC reactions to account for it.

How far you softball is a question for the ages.

 

[TiQuinn]

Nothing arbitrary or unfair about it

I disagree.

 

[overgeeked]

"Complicating" the matter, it is one of the oldest and most basic escape fantasies for players to talk back to authority figures because they cannot do so in real life. It's SO prevalent, SO common, that almost every DM has had to softball NPC reactions to account for it.

How far you softball is a question for the ages.

Yep. And with one scene, even without Brennan slaughtering a PC, he made it crystal clear that this is, in fact, not one of those basic escapist power fantasy games. Simple, brilliant, and effective.

 

[TiQuinn]

Well, as I said, there was still likely plot armor involved. The threat may be felt even if there may be a safety net, at least in the prologue.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yes, and? Brennan has stated multiple times that the PCs don’t have plot armor and that the world exists independently of the PCs’ level. The super-powerful NPC are super powerful, regardless of the PCs’ level. Here be dragons. And Marisha poked it. Nothing arbitrary about it.

All well and good, except that this was said super-powerful NPC’s very first scene, and it went from 0 to 100 immediately, which left the players no opportunity to learn this was not a character to be messed with. I understand “mess around, find out” but there was no mess around phase here. It very nearly went directly to the finding out.

Of course, it didn’t actually happen that way, and the way it did happen I thought was pretty awesome. Everyone got to learn how dangerous and quick to anger this character was, in a visceral and scary way. From this point on, anyone who messes with this character is asking for whatever may happen as a result.

 

[overgeeked]

All well and good, except that this was said super-powerful NPC’s very first scene, and it went from 0 to 100 immediately, which left the players no opportunity to learn this was not a character to be messed with. I understand “mess around, find out” but there was no mess around phase here. It very nearly went directly to the finding out.

Not, really. No. There was plenty of back-and-forth during the scene. Several exchanges occurred between them. Marisha had plenty of warnings. She chose to keep going. It wasn’t rocks fall, you die. It was two NPCs telling her to stop, including her friend. She didn’t listen.

Of course, it didn’t actually happen that way, and the way it did happen I thought was pretty awesome. Everyone got to learn how dangerous and quick to anger this character was, in a visceral and scary way. From this point on, anyone who messes with this character is asking for whatever may happen as a result.

Exactly.