Critical Role Critical Role Season 4 DM says encounters will not be balanced.

[Koloth]

Might be interesting dynamics if Characters A, B and C shout "Leeerooooy!" and charge into a combat they were told is tough while Characters D, E and F wave goodbye and turn back to town.

 

[darjr]

I think this is to be expected with a West Marches campaign. Though, I think an element of good sandbox design is setting up different zones with challenges appropriate to different level ranges, and properly telegraphing the difficulty of the zones. “You can walk into a fight that’s over your heads” is theoretically interesting, so long as you can recognize where you’re more or less likely to find such a fight and can seek it out or avoid it according to your interests. Not so fun if it seems totally random and arbitrary.

Does Brennan telegraph the danger? Does he give PCs a better chance to flee if they decide the odds are bad?

 

[Clint_L]

Does Brennan telegraph the danger? Does he give PCs a better chance to flee if they decide the odds are bad?

I would presume so - he's a pretty experienced DM.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

West Marches exploration doesn't have balanced encounters, although a good DM will telegraph the dangers of a given region. If your level 1 PCs stumble into a charred wasteland that bears enormous claw marks and shed dragon skins and giant broken egg shells, they should probably turn around and go look for something more their speed.

Mulligan isn't generally in the business of miserablist adventures. I think folks' concerns along those lines are probably unfounded.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Does Brennan telegraph the danger? Does he give PCs a better chance to flee if they decide the odds are bad?

He does. You can see a lot of his DMing for free on YouTube. I recommend either his Exandria Unlimited stuff or his Dimension 20 episodes. (Or subscribe to DropOut, which is crazy inexpensive for everything you get.)

He also has a lot of experience with making low level campaigns exciting without feeding characters into a blender. The first Worlds Beyond Number campaign just wrapped and featured a wizard nation at war, an ancient cabal of militant witches and immortal spirit beings, a ton of intrigue and peril, and the three main PCs ended it at level 5, as I recall, and intact in all ways except emotionally.

 

[Clint_L]

West Marches exploration doesn't have balanced encounters, although a good DM will telegraph the dangers of a given region. If your level 1 PCs stumble into a charred wasteland that bears enormous claw marks and shed dragon skins and giant broken egg shells, they should probably turn around and go look for something more their speed.

Mulligan isn't generally in the business of miserablist adventures. I think folks' concerns along those lines are probably unfounded.

I hope you're right, but man, that trailer and now talking about bloodbaths. And didn't they say something about players being gone for good if their character dies? I feel like I read or heard that in one of their many communications, but, eh, memory. And his previous stint on CR was a real outlier for him, though, again, that was the material he was given.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

IMO the tone of the game has nothing to do with the difficulty. You can run a slaughterhouse gauntlet funnel dungeon with dozens of dead characters and it can be absolutely gonzo and hilarious.

See: Magical Murder Mansion

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I hope you're right, but man, that trailer and now talking about bloodbaths. And didn't they say something about players being gone for good if their character dies? I feel like I read or heard that in one of their many communications, but, eh, memory. And his previous stint on CR was a real outlier for him, though, again, that was the material he was given.

I suspect that's an option -- Critical Role is a big time commitment for folks who, by and large, have other jobs -- but I can't imagine if Sam Riegel's character gets eaten by an owlbear that he won't be allowed to pop back as a new character in the next village one of the groups comes to.

 

[overgeeked]

Brennan Lee Mulligan says, for CR4, the encounters won’t be balanced to the characters. They are what they are and the players can meet them as is. TPKs are a distinct possibility. This will be interesting. You Want A Blood Bath

Also the dice will fall where they may. Death of PCs isn’t a guarantee but their lives are not either.

That's me more excited to actually watch this.

 

[overgeeked]

I think this is to be expected with a West Marches campaign. Though, I think an element of good sandbox design is setting up different zones with challenges appropriate to different level ranges, and properly telegraphing the difficulty of the zones. “You can walk into a fight that’s over your heads” is theoretically interesting, so long as you can recognize where you’re more or less likely to find such a fight and can seek it out or avoid it according to your interests. Not so fun if it seems totally random and arbitrary.

Sorry, but to me that's the opposite of good sandbox design.

The world exists entirely independently of the PCs. There are no such things as "level appropriate areas."

If the players pay attention, they'll be able to tell when they're in over their heads.

Letting PCs run is also a great move.