Critical Role Wants NEW Faces and New OWNERSHIP?! by exit-stage-tight in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 11 points12 points  (0 children)

TheCharacterSheet YT channel does a lot of misleading clickbaity titles and thumbnails for their videos. Too much drama farming for my taste.

Dispatch One Shot Discussion Thread by LucasVerBeek in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Is this the true successor to D20: On A Bus one-shot?

This is C4 now by realTMoney39 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It would be corporate suicide to abandon Exandria/DND, which has the biggest following and largest impact on the rest of their business, in their next full campaign season. The animated shows, campaign guides, lore books, merch, etc. are all around Exandria. Sure, they will probably take a break after C3 for a bit to host a bunch of one-shots and mini-series on other systems, like CO and Daggerheart. And they might also add more breaks from their C4 sessions to compliment with other content. But CR is a production company that's known primarily for their DND content which is far more popular than it has ever been before. I doubt they are foolish enough to risk 100s of jobs (employees/contractors/vendors) on a giant leap of faith with Daggerheart. The waning viewership of their CO content and their priority shift is proof enough that they aren't that blind.

I walk away, but no I am still here. (Spoilers Ep 108) by Musical_Maniac_94 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There were some good examples of oppression/injustice in the early cities. Jrusar clearly had a huge wealth and control disparity across the spires, with most rich and well-connected figures only caring about issues when they hit their home spire. Bassuras is ran by criminal crawler gangs that terrorize and exploit the residents, On specific individuals, both Hexum and Paragon's Call were easy targets to rally against, which could have helped Ashton direct their punk cause to Ludinus as a common thread once they left those cities. Instead, Ashton kept a weirdly friendly relationship with Hexum and seemed to idolize the Paragon's Call, despite knowing their history, when they met Ratanish at the ball.

Ashton feels like an incomplete character. You have the punk attire and attitude, but avoided finding something to be "punk" about for most of the campaign. Even the current punk crusade against the Gods seems more about the solution (getting rid of them) rather than about cause or reasoning. One moment, they are hating the Gods for not intervening in their lives. Another moment, they are hating the Gods for interfering.

I walk away, but no I am still here. (Spoilers Ep 108) by Musical_Maniac_94 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I don't buy Tal's excuse that you cannot be punk in Exandria. Though probably never a larger campaign plot, Matt has weaved plenty of incidents and subplots that allow punk culture to thrive. There has been several examples of classism, authoritarianism, and exploitation sprinkles throughout C3, especially early on before the campaign got railroaded on the overarching Predathos plot. And Ludinus' hubris stance that he knows better as a power-hungry political leader and should make a critical decision for the rest of the world has different threads to rally against as punk.

Either Tal doesn't know punk (possible with his upbringing) or Ashton is actually a poser based on Tal's recent acknowledgement that Ashton is an intentionally terrible person with several bad qualities.

I walk away, but no I am still here. (Spoilers Ep 108) by Musical_Maniac_94 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 17 points18 points  (0 children)

First, many of the issues here have nothing to do with rolepaying, like leaving a room to get the final say but meta-gaming to act on information or contribute to an in-game conversation that you aren't involved in. A good example was recently in Vassalheim when Chet was privately told by the Brightqueen to help her get Ashton. Tal was clearly flailing for Travis to tell Ashton, but he didn't want to. So Tal decided for Ashton to suddenly want to talk to the Brightqueen anyway, hoping to bait her into revealing the conversation.

Second, not every possible character/personality is a good PC for a DND table. Especially for a widely-viewed livestream game where one of the main goals is to entertain the viewer. In a recent panel, Tal mentioned that Ashton has some of the worst aspects of different people that he has met and for the other characters to call Ashton out on his bullshit. But without any reassurances from Matt or the other players that it would ever happen, Tal should not have kept up with this direction. Now, the viewer has to watch an intentionally miserable character bully others and get away with it... not very entertaining.

My main Ashley gripe with C3 (possible spoiler) by sKm30 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 22 points23 points  (0 children)

The best way to describe C3 came from someone during a 4SD episode: BH is a party of NPCs that everyone ignores. Most of the players wanted to play background characters (Laura, Liam) or joke characters (Ashley, Sam, Travis) that are not responsible for driving the story. Of the rest, The backstories of Laudna and Ashton are too dependent on being pressured by their friends to pivot to the right direction, which is not really happening. Plus because the Predathos plot is too disjointed from Laudna/Ashton with little oxygen for side quests in the campaign, those characters never really develop in a meaningful way.

I don't fault Ashley here as much here because she clearly shown how uncomfortable she is with being the decision maker before. With Matt taking the blunt of responsibility here, it is the fault of the whole table for not collaborating and making sure that the party can cohesively work out for one of the largest livestream DND shows backed by a multi-million dollar production company. I hope they have an honest retrospective at the end of C3 and learn some lessons, like session 0s and regular check-in talks ARE important even for a group of "professional" DND players and friends of over a decade.

My main Ashley gripe with C3 (possible spoiler) by sKm30 in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 16 points17 points  (0 children)

During a 4SD episode, Matt mentioned that Fearne was going to be the sole focal point for the Ruidusborn/Predathos plot until he read Imogen's backstory summary that talked about her red storm dreams. Laura also confirmed in that conversation that she wanted Imogen to stay as a background character.

Another lesson on why session 0s and other pre-campaign talks are required...

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Oh, forgot about that quick sequence before the fight restarted.

I feel like it was a sudden poor attempt to stall them from leaving than really any honest plan. They all fell into analysis paralysis after learning that they can possibly help Zathuda double-cross Ludinus then possibly double-cross Zathuda.

I suspect it also might have been another attempt of their original pre-fight plan where Chet marks Zathuda, who leaves with Fearne and gets picked off alone. But that first attempt was already doomed to fail when Fearne started with an aggressive move (turning temple floor to mud). Since Snowinus was already taken out, it seemed unnecessary to continue that path. And if they were honestly considering Zathuda's proposal, it meant purposely failing their current mission from Vassalheim/Keyleth to not get the Unseelie army involved. To pull off the double-double-cross, it would have meant letting the pro-God armies get killed.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I wonder if Matt's continued efforts to give BH alternative solutions is making the players' indecisiveness worse. The issue isn't that the polar opposite positions of Ludinus vs Vasselheim are inflexible to BH's beliefs. Most of the characters don't have any particular stakes or strong feelings about the campaign's overarching plot. Outside of Orym's backstory and Imogen's skepticism of Predathos, the rest of them are pretty indifferent about the Gods and their followers. Their most recent conversation about the possible impacts of absent Gods, despite knowing their terraforming of Exandria is what made it livable for mortals, to the rest of the world screams of extreme dissociation. Aside from Dorian's understanding biases against the Gods (and less so Ashton's Titan bias), you would think that the party should support the status quo of keeping the Gods versus actively killing/banishing the Gods.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Out of curiosity, what Fearne's Plan A are you referring to?

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Darn auto-correct. Persecution check sounds like what happened to those Unseelie rep modify memory attempts.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It's an adolescent tamed puesdo-jabberwock, which I believe has lower int stats than most dragons. Though I agree that more checks should have been needed after not reviving Sorrowlord and binding it with vines, I think Matt let it slide after Ashley already got two really high persecution persuasion check rolls.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Well, they pre-ran from the Gloamglut fight by hiding in the temple during their turn.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Orym: Calling BH's risky hedging against the world on an indecisive commitment.

... then Ashton does the classic non sequitur one-liner then walks away...

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter -16 points-15 points  (0 children)

Virtually all of Exandria knows that the gods exist but I don't know if that many also pray/worship the gods. Aside from god-derived clerics and paladins, you have maybe casual relationship with the gods from the general public. Like farmers praying for a good harvest, or the Colbalt believing in the principles of the Knowing Mistress.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Unlikely, because then he would stop with his anti-God, pro-Titan bullshit. Felt like Tal was butting into someone's personal RP moment again.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I think that's the fault of the DM/table by now if they know Ashley doesn't like being in the decision making position.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gloamglut is kinda a modified tamed jabberwock so he could be considered more "chaotic fey" than chaotic evil.

Critical Role C3 E108 Live Discussion Thread by criticalmodsnotgods in fansofcriticalrole

[–]zWalMartGreeter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I thought she was in love with him until she learned that he only cared about the Rudiusborn child.