Critical Role Call of the Netherdeep playthrough commentary [spoilers]

[Gorck]

Sorry for the thread necro, but I a quick question pertaining to Call of the Netherdeep. I was considering running it for my daughter and her friends since it's just collecting dust on my bookshelf. But, being a fledgling DM, I thought the whole "rivals" thing might be a little too complicated for me. If I were to completely remove them from the adventure, would that screw anything up later on? Is there any reason that I would need to leave them in or else there would be, I don't know, a gaping plot hole further in the story?

 

[Parmandur]

Sorry for the thread necro, but I a quick question pertaining to Call of the Netherdeep. I was considering running it for my daughter and her friends since it's just collecting dust on my bookshelf. But, being a fledgling DM, I thought the whole "rivals" thing might be a little too complicated for me. If I were to completely remove them from the adventure, would that screw anything up later on? Is there any reason that I would need to leave them in or else there would be, I don't know, a gaping plot hole further in the story?

No, not really: they can make a nice fallback of a TPK happens, though, with the frenemie rival party swooping in to save the PC's bacon, and provide a lot of roleplaying opportunities. Theybare pretty central to the first dungeon, as itnis a competition.

 

[Burnside]

Sorry for the thread necro, but I a quick question pertaining to Call of the Netherdeep. I was considering running it for my daughter and her friends since it's just collecting dust on my bookshelf. But, being a fledgling DM, I thought the whole "rivals" thing might be a little too complicated for me. If I were to completely remove them from the adventure, would that screw anything up later on? Is there any reason that I would need to leave them in or else there would be, I don't know, a gaping plot hole further in the story?

You can completely cut them and honestly I think it would improve the adventure for most groups. Certainly easier on the DM. Otherwise, presuming your players don't completely alienate them by behaving sociopathically, you will fairly often have to come up with implausible reasons for why they aren't helping the party in fights (and thereby trivializing a lot of encounters).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sorry for the thread necro, but I a quick question pertaining to Call of the Netherdeep. I was considering running it for my daughter and her friends since it's just collecting dust on my bookshelf. But, being a fledgling DM, I thought the whole "rivals" thing might be a little too complicated for me. If I were to completely remove them from the adventure, would that screw anything up later on? Is there any reason that I would need to leave them in or else there would be, I don't know, a gaping plot hole further in the story?

Leaving the rivals out shouldn't cause a problem, but the uneven pacing and very steep difficulty curve may.

 

[Gorck]

I’m starting to second guess my decision. Maybe I’ll stick with something simpler until I have more DMing experience and the girls have more playing experience.

 

[Burnside]

I’m starting to second guess my decision. Maybe I’ll stick with something simpler until I have more DMing experience and the girls have more playing experience.

If you have Lost Mine of Phandelver (the original version) I would definitely recommend that as a better bet for a new DM and new players.

 

[Parmandur]

If you have Lost Mine of Phandelver (the original version) I would definitely recommend that as a better bet for a new DM and new players.

Really not much in the way of a better bet.