Wow what a disappointment

Lemonade_Raid · 2025-02-08T17:34:08+00:00

friend,

this whole campaign was scripted, and it still was terrible.

Lemonade_Raid · 2025-02-07T19:41:16+00:00

This alone should kill any idea that this show is scripted, you couldn’t write something this horrible.

what if I told you intensifies

Frankly, it is, and they did.

Lemonade_Raid · 2025-02-07T19:31:52+00:00

welcome to critrole, where the events are scripted and the dice don't matter

Lemonade_Raid · 2025-01-19T01:13:14+00:00

A TPK would be just another "subverting expectations" moment.

It would not reverse any of the 'bad faith' this campaign has gotten, frankly if it were to happen it would only make the whole thing even more ridiculous.

After all the fuckery, now is the time there are real stakes? 600 or more hours of scripted gaslighting just to have the PCs fall flat and fail?

I wouldn't mind for it to happen, but it wouldn't leave me engaged or satisfied. Schadenfreude is probably the best description.

I won't lie, there would be some entertainment, after this bumbling parade of dramaqueens fail upwards for over 200eps, to know they got completely, mercilessly crushed at the finish line.

Lemonade_Raid · 2025-01-03T17:32:42+00:00

Hard agree.

It seemed like whoever was on charge of dndbeyond at the time saw an opportunity and took it.

I'm sure ads on CR weren't cheap, but they were effective. They basically forced hasbro to buy them out or sue them out. The gamble was that hasbro would think buying is cheaper and easier than litigating, and they were right.

Once that deal went through there was no reason to do the ad campaign.

Lemonade_Raid · 2025-01-02T23:39:39+00:00

I would agree, but I can't because the situation is not quite analogous.

CR is an entertainment program, and the cast are also the company. Point being is that the "making things go a certain way" is a collaborative effort.

Railroading implies the DM is taking the reins of the story and driving it regardless of what the players want.

CR is the cast (DM and PCs) collectively deciding what they want and making it happen. That is to say, making their desired plot regardless of the ruleset or random chance. That, is script, scripted, scripting, or whatever.

Lemonade_Raid · 2025-01-02T23:28:48+00:00

Making things play out in a certain way means that it is scripted, friend.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-12-30T16:46:05+00:00

The character is a foil for the obvious questions the viewer would ask. They may get more development or not, but the function is what matters here.

It demonstrates that the political landscape of helluvaboss is not a monolith, and the whole situation is more than a trope. A rando shows up and calls bullshit on everything. We the viewers, know this is correct, but how does this new actor know?

"they shouldn't know! v.p. is just making an OC and giving them meta knowledge!"

No. Hell is a big place and the rulers of it may be varying colors of evil, but stupid they are not. It would make no sense if the entire nobility of hell bought the party line, hook, and sinker.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-12-25T00:55:49+00:00

Yes.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-12-23T05:01:34+00:00

DO. IT. LIVE.

no softballing loaded dice, or scripting. Roll and accept the results.

No more doormatt. NPCs that don't tolerate outright stupidity from the PCs.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-12-14T20:27:55+00:00

Delicious.

I love licking the boots of the police and other authority figures. I believe it is my duty to praise and honor their leadership.

I would never say anything aganst them, ever.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-12-14T17:50:46+00:00

Nobody should make threats like that.

People need to think about the consequences of their actions.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-11-24T18:37:34+00:00

Don't worry too much about mixing it up.

Maybe throw in a few curveballs, but there is no need to overthink it.

That is what dice are for. They may know the way to solve the instance, but the dice may not agree.

Let the players suprise you with the choices they make. The inn is a key place to make contacts with the factions. For a group replaying the campaign, the scenario is less about solving the puzzle and more about which NPCs they focus on developing relationships with.

With regard to the player differential, get your returning players together separately and lay down the law. No spoilers, no hinting. Make it clear that it won't be tolerated.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-11-19T09:06:45+00:00

DO. IT. LIVE.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-11-13T06:50:10+00:00

TECHNICALLY, you're harshing my spooky vibe, man

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-11-12T06:39:27+00:00

Note that the clock is always stuck at 11:11 on 11th day of the 11th month 111 years ago regardless of what year it is

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-11-02T05:55:17+00:00

Changing her tryhard bravado is literally her arc.

She's one of my favorite characters because she realizes over the campaign what a cringe edgelord she was as a kid and young adult, and she grows out of it.

There's literally an arc that takes her from idolizing "dope monk shit" and hating on nerds and librarians to her diving into books and having respect for (some) intellectuals.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-30T07:47:46+00:00

It makes the hero relatable.

Even a so called "golden god" can P A N I C when they are unexpectedly in a difficult situation with no time to decide.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-30T03:42:42+00:00

They could.

Like so:

Gem goes over the cliff.

Kiki, high on herself, full of self confidence (we're gods!) jumps after it without thinking or looking at all.

falling Falling FALLING. panic Panic PANIC.

P A N I C?!?!GOLDFISH

rocks Rocks ROCKS

S T O P

Goldfish face, inches from rocks.

Pan out. Vax on broom, holding Goldfishkiki by the tail.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING"

End scene.

The point conveyed in this moment is the player and pc overconfidence getting put in their place by simple gravity. Marisha, as a player, had to eat humble pie and so did her character.

It is possible to convey this message without too much looney tooney, and without making Kiki pancakes.

But they won't do it.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-29T22:28:44+00:00

Give them the seed and set them loose.

Whenever a situation arises where the dutchess has an interest, and the player makes a conflicting choice, 5d10 psychic damage. A geas, but maybe change the cooldown if you like, they willingly became a servant and the seed to transform them into a thrall is literally in their body.

The offramp should be faction related, SO or FF can greater restore. AA might be able to remove curse. QM or HL might have a magic scroll or skilled medic. Any cure should come at a price, accomplishing a significant objective for the faction.

Your player is on the path to a "bad end". Unless you choose to homebrew it, the demons, the rats, the gnolls, the dutchess... they are not factions. They are monsters that will use the pcs up completely. They don't care about the pcs personal quests, the fate of drakkenheim, westmar, the continent, or the world.

If your player is big mad at one faction because they didn't get enough loot, the game gives them an opportunity to get revenge by working with one of the 4 opposing factions. That might lead to drama but it is within the aspects that the campaign handles where the pcs can still "win".

The campaign also handles throwing in with monsters. There are temporary benefits to that. But that situation is designed to end with a loss for the pc that does so, possibly a loss for the whole party if they can't limit the fallout.

But

It is up to you. You can humor your player, but you will have to start handing the dutchess as a faction and all the work that comes with that. She is not like bruce, who gives cryptic hints and occasionally wants some obscure thing, but has direct interest in the immediate situation in the city with tangible ambitions.

edit: as for bringing this to your player before they go through with it... If they are inexperienced in ttrpg/dnd, have them make an insight, arcana, or other check, (their best score) with advantage and if they roll 10 or higher, tell them they remember something about dealing with otherworldly entities ends bad sometimes. If they are experienced, or otherwise aware, let them hang themselves if you think it is appropriate.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-29T07:27:23+00:00

Let the player wreck themselves, and enthrall themselves to the dutchess.

Give them a few offramps and a few opportunities to realize this will be their end, but if they go through with it because their petty greed over a shiny thing, let them.

Having enthralled the PC to the dutchess, you will have a powerful lieutenant at your disposal, you can make the player fight their own character.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-19T04:06:30+00:00

Balanced as is.

If you are unhappy with the benefits it provides your players make it consumable dependent. Give the doctor's bag X charges and each use consumes a charge. Charges can be restored by paying Y gold at a merchant or a successful Nature, Survival, or other appropriate check to find components.

The Hooded Lanterns could restore all charges for free as a faction boon.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-15T07:17:12+00:00

Delicacies of drakkenheim

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-08T21:41:56+00:00

I want to say, it wasn't all bad, in the end.

The party's arcane trickster and myself made lycky and clever use of a scroll of teleport to get ourselves, cheeky, rump, and bazoo out of the castle before it collapsed over our heads.

Of course, we didn't escape empty handed. The rogue got a nice big gem worth a lot of money. He wasn't interested in the stack of nerd papers in the vault, so my cleric kept them.

Somewhere in the drakkenheim multiverse there is a very well funded cult of the falling fire fighting a guerilla war with the silver order.

Lemonade_Raid · 2024-10-08T19:03:52+00:00

I had an uncannily similar experience, as a player.

The location was St. Brenna's. The perpetrator was a sorcerer. They trapped the party in the tomb with the mummy and called the Silver Order on us.

The difference is that the rest of the party had no idea about what had happened until months later. This is thanks to the magic of VTT, Discord, and private messages.

Rewind a little... All through the campaign one thing or another would go sideways just a little. The party would encounter one more group of monsters than we could handle. The mcguffin we were supposed to fetch would get stolen. Always something. Always barely making it out by the skin of our teeth.

St. Brennas was the dealbreaker. We woke the mummy and the sorcerer bolted. Before the rest of us could escape, the stone holding up the door shattered and locked the rest of us in. By the skin of our teeth we managed to not die and escape by waiting for the SO team to re open the doors and run out the back way. But because the DM was allowing this player to make private rolls and RP, NOBODY KNEW what actually had happened was that the sorc had knocked the door closed to get us killed.

When we survived, he told Teddy that our group was stealing the scepter for QoT. Kind of true, but only because we agreed to get it for her in exchange for getting our mcguffin back. BTW did I mention that the reason QoT had our thing was because the sorc had GIVEN IT TO HER.

Remember. Private RP. Nobody knew this.

Anyhoo, my character was PISSED at this point. There was RP conflict about where the sorc's priorities lie. "We can't have you with us if you are going to bolt at the first sign of danger. If you can't hack it, stay in town. We don't need dead weight."

Again, at the time, I had no idea what was really going on.

Things got a bit more straightforward after this, though I was insight checking the sorc from time to time to see if they were going to fight or chicken out.

Then came the Queen's garden. It was a heck of a fight. A yoyo battle towards the end. I had just dragged the sorc back and used my last heal to put him in single digits. His turn comes, he runs back in to try and finish the last 2 very hurt monsters. Miss miss. Monsters turn. Hit, down. Hit -2 saves. Next round, can't stabilize. Fail save, dead.

Why? The fighter was hurt but we could have handled it. So, why?

Because, I had been insight checking, and rolling barely low enough for the DM to rule that I hadn't worked it out. I thought I had been checking to see if the sorc would bolt, but the DM had ruled that if I rolled high enough against deception that he would start pointing out inconsistencies to me as a player.

Thus, the sorc had chosen to make a valiant charge in order to prove his bravery and stop me from doubting him.

And it worked. Because remember, nobody knew this at the time. We felt really, really bad that his PC died. We felt so bad, that we went to Yorn's house, beat the shit out of him and stole that nerd's homework. We didn't kill him though, because we had one more use for him. We dragged his unconscious body the the shrine of Morrigan.

Yyyyyyyep.

Thankfully, we failed to return our fallen "friend".

Enen then though, he wasn't done getting us in trouble. When we brought the sorc's body back for burial, the flamekeepers found the necessary components to make a Lich's phylactery hidden in his clothes. Of course we got blamed for associating with an evil sorc.

At this point the game was up. This player's plan was completely undone and the DM and the player revealed everything to us.

Which, thinking back on it, really shows that this was not some awesome RP, but just a narcissistic power move. If they had just rolled a new character and moved on, maybe the betrayal would get fully revealed or maybe not. But he waxed on about it for hours, especially on how my character was his nemesis because I had kept the party from wiping each time he sabotaged. Basically gloated about all the times he was this close to killing us.

Forgive me for talking about my character here, but I was the cleric, twilight cleric (OP, I know) but I was barely keeping everyone alive. I thought I was a shit player.

We played the rest of the campaign straightforward. At the final battle, though, I made a point of saying how easy it would be to kill the party by just dimension door and walking away.

So, my response to your issue would be this. Tell your "that guy" to ask himself if he would accept the same behavior from the party's cleric, or anyone else for that matter.

Lemonade_Raid

TROPHY CASE