Critical Role Critical Role Campaign 4 Episode 4 is a High-Octane Rollercoaster

[Charlaquin]

So the recap video for the overture on YouTube kind of sort of spoils the Seekers and the Schemers groups...even though they were what we were expecting but maybe didn't get final confirmation on. Which is basically to say yeah, Liam and Luis will be in the same group.

Yeah, as will the two broody semi-antagonistic PCs (Julien and Vaelus). Neither are ideal pair-ups for my tastes, but c'est la vie.

 

[Mort]

Yeah, as will the two broody semi-antagonistic PCs (Julien and Vaelus). Neither are ideal pair-ups for my tastes, but c'est la vie.

I generally love Matt and Ashley but that seekers table looks like it will be tough to watch!

The soldiers table, on the other hand, looks to be an absolute blast. And will almost certainly be much more fast paced too.

 

[TiQuinn]

I generally love Matt and Ashley but that seekers table looks like it will be tough to watch!

The soldiers table, on the other hand, looks to be an absolute blast. And will almost certainly be much more fast paced too.

Matt and Aabria are gonna be a blast with their whole dynamic they’ve got going.

 

[Charlaquin]

I generally love Matt and Ashley but that seekers table looks like it will be tough to watch!

To be fair, I think episode 4 was the best episode of the Overture, and the first half of it was just the Seekers. And, I do really like all of the characters on that squad, despite some reservations about Julien. I’m just really hopping he and Ashley don’t make a habit of competing for who has the bigger martyr complex.

The soldiers table, on the other hand, looks to be an absolute blast. And will almost certainly be much more fast paced too.

Oh, undoubtedly! Cattigan isn’t my favorite (I like him fine, just low on the list), but it’s otherwise the group I’m probably most excited to watch.

Schemers will have my current frontrunner for favorite character, and the adorkable duo of Murray and Azune, so I’m sure it’ll be a good time. And Liam’s character will also be there.

Huh, I’ve just realized each group has one character I’m a bit ho-hum about, and I love the rest. Maybe that’s actually an ideal situation.

 

[Seramus]

To be honest, I don’t see that as an inherently bad thing. Like, would I personally want to play an angel/dragon hybrid with heterochromia? No, that’s trying to do too much, and ends up being less effective because it’s too unfocused. But what’s it to me if someone else plays a character with a concept that’s too busy for my tastes? Let people have their fun, it doesn’t hurt anyone.

Oh certainly, I'm happy to let them have their fun, and used to exist in those spaces (very prevalent in freeform RP circles) for many years.

Though I will admit to being very mildly triggered when I see trenchcoats, katanas, smirking, substituting i with y, and unnecessary heterochromia.

 

[BRayne]

Have you ever interacted with, or at least observed, the online OC community? There is an extremely common trend to make characters who are super special snowflakes. Often, but not always, Mary Sues. I can't (and won't) speak for @overgeeked, obviously, but, Taliesin's characters do have a whiff of that mentality about them.

In my experience, players gravitating to non-standard options tends to be for one of three reasons:

1. They've played everything under the sun and need something novel.
2. The have a very specific concept in mind that cannot be realised elsewise.
3. They're a poor roleplayer who uses it as a crutch to be distinct at best, and a spotlight hog at worst.

Outside of Critical Role, Taliesin's gaming has predominantly been Vampire: The Masquerade and Call of Cthulhu (to the surprise of no one), so it's definitely not the first. It's easy to look at Bolaire and attribute it to the second, but that hardly applies to the previous characters. With the exception of Caduceus, Taliesin's characters have been rather one-note; that note being "broken but well-meaning arsehole". Whilst Taliesin isn't a spotlight hog by any means, the impression I get is that he leans toward the least-standard option he can get away with precisely because he's so poor at differentiating through characterisation, while wanting his character to be unique.

Personally, I'd find Bolaire less egregious if he was a regular person unable to remove the mask because it's a cursed item granting him his Warlock powers. Though that's obviously a different character arc.

It's explicitly the first, he has said as much

 

[OB1]

It's explicitly the first, he has said as much

Def have a lot to like in each group, I just hope that Ep4 was an anomaly in terms of pacing. 3 encounters over 5 hours is waaaayyy to slow for my taste and my biggest issue with C3. And both the Seekers and schemers have lots of players who like to push scenes too long. Brendan had been doing a good job forcing the pace, so I’m hoping this episode just amounted to letting them go because it was the last of the overture.

 

[overgeeked]

I generally love Matt and Ashley but that seekers table looks like it will be tough to watch!

The soldiers table, on the other hand, looks to be an absolute blast. And will almost certainly be much more fast paced too.

Yeah. It’s going to be tough going.

Despite hating D&D combat, it looks like the soldiers table will be the place to be. The players, characters, and the dynamics are the least distracting.

At the seekers' table, I’m hoping Ashley and Matt won’t keep trying to out badass each other. Aabria trying to insert herself into every exchange in the early episodes was grating but will hopefully die down. But dealing with some badass necromancers, a bit of family squabbles / faction play, etc could be interesting.

The schemers table will be hard to watch with Taliesin doing his normal thing and Liam fighting Luis for who can be the saddest boy. But it’s also the most interesting premise. Power politics in the big city with faction play galore.

Here's to hoping the one on-screen PC death won't be the only one. Might need to cycle through some of these. Then again, it might be time to watch once a month.

 

[Maxperson]

From the cooldown:

Spoiler: Cooldown C4e004: characters

Brennan explained it "Alex pitched 'I want to play a necromancer Hollowed One, and what if he was killed by his own family?'" To which Brennan went "amazing. How about we get to see that?"

So it was going to happen but they hadn't decided when during play. it could have been now, and it could have been in a few months.

Alex: "I did not have any input in how scary my family is, that's all Brennan."

This is what I figured was going on.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, Matt’s character so far has been such a red flag to me… he’s like a walking example of how not to make a character for a collaborative game. I’m hoping it goes somewhere worthwhile.

By the end of the episode we were seeing signs of change in his character. I think it's going to be a somewhat gradual shift into being a team player and caring about people.