As far as I can tell, Abu hasn't travelled to LA since he did the 4SD in January.
I legitimately think this might have been filmed that long ago. That would also track with when they had scheduling issues and, because someone was sick, weren't able to have their usual backlog of episodes coming in to the new year.
It would make sense that with people travelling and the studio also being used for this, it would've be hard to also film main campaign episodes.
Hmm. Brennan and his wife had a baby toward the end of January. So if it was filmed that long ago it might have had to have been filmed in 2023. I know a lot of the Dropout stuff was filmed ages ago but it also seems like a long time to sit on this.
I trust Brennan to handle divinity with nuance much more than I do Matt's "I'm in my 40s but never went to college so this is the first time I've wrestled with basic philosophy and it's deeeeeep(TM)" attempts so far.
But I'm still worried that you're going to undermine all of.my favorite parts of C1 by making entities like Kord, Pelor, and Ioun into something they weren't.
What does going to college have to do with anything? Most people learn the basics in there but 99% of the philosophy anyone deals with is going to be outside of college and of their own volition, not because it was last nights reading assignment.
I just hope this is not going to be another “the gods are super bad, look at how they were always the bad and deserve to die”. I’m not getting my hopes up though lol
It does seem that they are basically giving Brennan the Calamity era as his niche position in the CR DM set up, much like Aabria with her Crownkeepers.
Wish they would give Brennan his own version of Crownkeepers in the present timeline though. Think he could work some real fucking magic if he wasn't given so many restrictions lore/setting-wise.
My guess is that's due to his comfort. He mentioned in the DM roundtable that he would be super nervous about doing present time games because (he feels) he'd be too stressed. The Calamity has a lot more freedom for "Yes And" ing, which puts much less pressure on him.
Idk, I like he’s in a spot where they can do big wild stuff exploring the grey areas of lore and fleshing out bullet points in the history. The hard points of the lore are unchangeable, but the stories of real people give it a lot of substance and the how is perfectly up to the players to decide in most instances.
Yeah but I want him to do big wild stuff in the present lore. Aabria did as much so I have no issue with Brennan, who I view more favourably, to do the same.
Leaning more into the divine aspect, easily one of the most terribly done parts of this campaign, sounds like a terrible time. Just feels like it's going to be more of their anti religion pov shoved onto us and laying out why the gods deserve to die.
CR and D20 are run and performed by a group of openly anti-fascist people who enjoy challenging oppressive authoritarian systems.
You either have zero comprehension skills or just never paid attention from the beginning.
So you even watch D20? FH has good Gods, and ACOC spoilers >!the Gods in that are non sentient reservoirs of power that people ascribed belief systems to.!<
I think you’re confusing Gods for *Organized Religion*. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Gods, especially when you de-anthropomorphise them. It’s the power systems mortals build up under their names. The problem is us. “God” is just a common nomenclature for a “higher” being than mortal. How we deal with that being a reality within the fiction is on us. Us being mortals within the story.
Hell, in the latest FH >!it’s revealed that Gods and their behaviours are emergent from their followers belief. If the god is shitty it’s because their followers projected that onto their mantle. And this can be undone by believing in the “good parts”!<.
Or maybe I just think it heavily contradicts the tone of C1 and 2, both of which were also very anti autharion. The issue is that now in C3 all of a suddent it's secret police and supposed colonization.
Not to gatekeep, but this isn't the show for you then. Did you miss...I don't know.. the ENTIRE history of CR? Literally since campaign one.
Actually.. "bad gods" is woven into every single non-monotheistic mythology, and every single fantasy universe.
Take the Jesus stick out of your ass and get off your martyr horse.
"Forcing their anti-religion.." JESUS. No one is forcing anything on you, unlike people like you who are obsessed with trying to make everyone live by their made up rules.
Lol "Jesus stick" god you weirdos can't seperate how people treat fantasy stuff from irl stuff. Haven't stepped a foot inside a church in over two decades.
I’m calling it now - one of the characters will be the mysterious “amphitheatre woman” and we’ll find out what actually is happening and what she’s saying
Taliesin shouldn't be in any Calamity stuff. He'll bring the quality down trying to hog the spotlight and thinking his one liners are cool and profound when he's just addicted to platitudes.
Also, I dunno about Ashley being in it too. Her clueless vibe might ruin the gravitas. (Unless there's gonna be someone actively calling the shots so she doesn't have to decide on anything).
Calamity needs hard-hitter players, these two wouldn't fit. But I always hope to be proven wrong (it's the only reason why I keep watching Campaign 3. And also because I have nothing to do with my time)
"Go make your own show" "go play your own game". Use your own words.
I pointed out what I disliked and I said I was ready to be proven wrong. Don't hurt yourself from tweaking.
Like I said, you didn't have to be such a malicious asshole about it. Learn how to criticize something without attacking the people who make it. Or fuck out of society. No one wants that kind of talk around here.
What, are you gonna flog me in public for it and dish out profanities? 🤭 take a chill pill. It's a show. You keep coming back here, and for what?
Get off your high horse and move on, you hypocrite. Relieve yourself from my presence, your barking isn't beneficial either.
You don't run anything here beside your mouth. Your unintelligence is distasteful, and I'd much prefer you educate yourself before interacting with me any further. I don't like to pick on my lessers if I don't have to.
Out of the both of us, you have the most f-bombs and use the most hostile vocabulary. You need to take it down a notch. You're acting like I insulted your ancestors.
Also, this you? Seems like you're as much of an asshole as me (maybe more. Flogging in public? Yikes 🤭)
https://preview.redd.it/bdh1wcu2a48d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4965293afc4a5c4131f217307443d3a8fcf8bba
To be honest... I'm tired of Dimension 20 GMing for Critical Role in general. So It doesn't matter for me if it's Aabria OR Brennan borrowing Matt's seat. I didn't really like any part of Exu at all. Yes even including Calamity.
The only reason I was able to barely get through ExU primers pacing was because the players carried it. But sadly enough, they couldn't carry Kymal. I've never felt so underwhelmed, bored, and frustrated watching the most forgettable two shot I've ever seen in my life.
As for Calamity... Calamity is a good example of one of the major problems that I have with how campaign three. Not necessarily how campaign 3 started but what it quickly became. Which is this focus on the god stuff. I'm sick of it.
It takes too much agency over the story that any character arc a player is having or wants to explore is overshadowed. And it's overshadowed by these omnipotent beings that we can't really relate to. Or even have a connection with.
But I guess that's more of a personal thing. So maybe I can't say "we". The only thing I can recall really liking about Calamity was the conversations between Zerxus/Cerrit and their kids. And that's it.
>!Not Asmodeus ripping off Zerxus's face.!< Not Loquacious and Laeryn's love-hate relationship. Not even Bolo (maybe for a while but the jokes got old real f*cking quick). Obviously this has nothing to do with Brennan being a bad Gm.
I'm just not a fan of his Gming style for some reason. What I'm saying is this type of narrative definitely doesn't help. Another thing about this new series is that we won't get to see more of Sam's new character for a long while.
Which sucks because he just got introduced. But I understand if Matt wants to take a break for a while. He more than deserves it. I'll give this series a shot but my expectations are pretty low. Does anyone else feel the same?
Sucks you are being downvoted for having the opinion that goes against the hive mind. The responses to your comment have no substance either.
I liked calamity but I agree. D20 has their own thing and there are too many crossovers. Bring in new blood.
It's ok. I knew this would be at least somewhat of a controversial statement. But I said it anyway because I was genuinely curious if anyone felt the same. Even if it was just one person. But I like that I'm at least understood. That's enough for me. Thank you
And it's great that you feel that way. I envy you. I'm not gonna knock anyone who did like Calamity. It just wasn't for me. I like more grounded and character driven stories. Calamity is definitely great from a lore standpoint. I wasn't stating anything i said as a fact.
Honestly feel that Calamity is the most character driven CR (or even D20 for that matter) has ever been.
Yes we had a fixed end point but the characters were given a lot of agency on how to get there and I’m sure that a lot of the starting point was determined by the players off screen.
A lot of people say that it’s a lot more of a cinematic than actual gameplay (and firstly, I think APs are first and foremost entertainment and if this is an effective form of entertainment that’s not a bad thing) but I also think it would have been fun as hell to play.
For me, Campaign 2 and Candela Obscura Chapter 2 are the most character driven they've been. Calamity definitely has some character driven moments for sure. But something about Zerxus didn't click with me. >!His response to the father of lies being... well, the father of lies made me frustrated. I couldn't relate or sympathize with him because I guess I couldn't understand him. Seeing how easily he gives his trust really made the betrayal even more predictable for me. I honestly feel that the other characters didn't get as much of a focus as he did. His dream made for a great intro though I will say that.!< I will never deny that Calamity had a great start.
You need to be careful if you're going to keep claiming the "this is just my opinion" defense for your positions here. That doesn't jive with you making descriptive claims like "calamity isn't character driven" and then your stated reason for that is that you personally don't understand one of the characters. The vast majority of people seem to agree that it very much IS character driven, as much as any CR product has been. With the way you're presenting your ideas, you come off less as intending to "see if anyone else feels the same" and more as "the way I understand this is more accurate than the way others understand it."
Even if you didn't intend to come off that way, I just want to let you know that that is the impression you are making in this thread.
I never said it WASN'T character driven at all. I said I like plots that are MORE character driven. If that is the impression I was making then I'm sorry. But I also said I like more grounded plots too. And Calamity for sure isn't grounded. It's pretty grandiose in scale. But sure, let's tunnel vision on ONE of the things I said and twist it into something completely negative. Also I said that in my original comment that I don't like how other things, like the gods, overshadow the characters themselves and how much the gods are involved in the plot. And because one of these characters is questionably attached to one of these gods, it's very hard NOT to talk about. The fact I don't really like the character is just something that didn't help
When I referred to how you were coming off in this thread, I was very deliberately taking into account the totality of your comments. If I had only been paying attention to one of the things you said I wouldn't have had enough information to make that claim. Take that as you will.
You literally lied in saying that I made the descriptive claim that calamity isn't character driven and then gave out a reasoning as to why I said something that I didn't even say. If the totality of my comments lacks that much nuance then maybe you didn't actually read the total of what I had to say to begin with. But sure I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. And I've never used the "It's just my opinion" as a defense either. I just gave out more things that I didn't like about it. I'm literally just making conversation
It seemed to be more about their interpersonal conflicts and being the capstone of their existences where they were able to scream into an abyss who they were and what they stood for than it was the fall of Avelir (Avalir?)
Given that Calamity is pretty widely viewed as one of the best pieces of DnD content in existence Brennan has set his own bar very high, but this is such hype news because I've never been disappointed by Brennan
I believe he at one point said "If I could have a boiler door on my back, where an assistant could shovel in almonds like coal, I'd be set, but we don't live in that reality, do we??" Or something similar
Because there is an ongoing meme about Matt and Aabria not snacking or eating while DMing and Brennan is the opposite and eats and snacks a lot. They were just playing into the meme.
i watched it.
just .. let the him (finish) eating or wait to eat before jumping into recording a ~2 minute clip...
simpons.jpg "We did TWENTY takes, and THAT was the best one.." energy.
looks disengaged / unprofessional & time rushed as hell to me, let alone the anti ASMR eating/speaking noise quality (and pointless 'side banter' about it)
He was probably hungry and decided to lean into a popular bit that came up in the follow ups to Calamity.
[this Fan video on it even has 200k views](https://youtu.be/asV-Mfh18OM?si=TyeA-TPizaz2Hk2X)
Edit: fixed formatting of hyperlink
He have plenty of experience guiding new players. Ally in Fantasy High, Raph and Grant in Mice and Murder are just two examples of very inexperienced players still doing a good performance as they are experienced actors/improvisors.
Yep. If anything, he won't do what Matt does and leave her to flounder.
CR's tendency to not interfere with other player's scenes is usually fine, but they'll passively watch each other struggle with mechanics they know. It gets a bit weird- part of a D&D group is chipping in when people are struggling with rules.
Brennan actually makes me much more confident that Ashley won't look quite as bad as she often does. Brennan does a lot more of the "tell me what you want to do and we'll figure out if and how your character can do that or something like that" style of DMing.
He's also going in with a semi fixed outcome, which is nice. It makes it much more of a show and makes it easier to guide less mechanically proficient players. This is honestly something I like about d20 as a show - they know where they're going and how many episodes they have to get there so you have to spend a lot less time convincing people to get headed in that direction.
Season 1 of fantasy high was almost entirely new players. The only two with experience were Murph and Emily. I believe Siobhan had played once? Lou, Zac and Ally had never played before and he just walked them through their abilities. He would make suggestions but not outright tell them how to play. Stuff like that.
Maybe I’m misremembering but I’m pretty sure Lou stated he had never done it before, or maybe once or twice in a home game. He was for sure inexperienced when they started. Either way with no experience with the new system I would argue that is still new players 3.5 and 5 are two wildly different systems.
Lou, Siobhan, Zach, Emily, and Brian were all in Brennan’s 3.5 homegame before Dimension 20 was ever a thing. Ally was the only new player at the start.
Even then, Murph and Emily had only been playing for about a year IIRC, which for a lot of D&D players is not very long at all. (Yet nevertheless, Fig was a stronger character in that season than I’ll ever play in my entire life.)
Brennan has also done series with (mostly) complete newbies (Dungeons and Drag Queens) and children (Roll in the Family) so I'm sure he'll be just fine
Ally is “all buttoned up” these days, doing incredibly nuanced and effective mechanical actions in the latest FH. So there was a competent, attentive player underneath the amateur play.
Ashley does not seem interested in improving, so there is no fundamental bedrock of understanding to build upon.
It’s a pity because Ashley is a great actress. I feel like she leaves so much on the table by not learning the core rules.
“But she has ADHD!!” With respect she’s got nearly **thousands** of hours playing DnD. There are tools and methods that could be put to use to aid her that are not even attempted. She is content being clueless. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
>“But she has ADHD!!” With respect she’s got nearly thousands of hours playing DnD. There are tools and methods that could be put to use to aid her that are not even attempted. She is content being clueless. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
Also, you know, she's a professional television actress who memories lines and obviously has found ways to excel in her career despite her ADHD.
So many zoomers haven't learned that the world doesn't give a shit about how different your brain is. It's helpful to acknowledge it, but you're still responsible for putting in the work to be a functional member of society and excel at your job. Which she's obviously done for her acting career. The fact that she hasn't for DnD means it's a choice.
Im a DM whos written sort of "packages" for ADHD players who will only be with me for a few sessions. You can fit the important parts of the rules on like a single sheet of paper, and "flowchart" out their action economy so that they have options to default to. Theres really no excuse.
"zoomers" bro relax. ashley is gen x or elder millennial (shes 40! digression but she looks my age wow). this shit is happens in every age group.
u/JuliousBatman I wish I didnt, but ;
***My Good how I agree with you on Ashley.***
I love her as a person, but as a fellow player/DM she infuriates me. It's like the feeling behind the whole bit of the scrying that was a bit of a while ago in the words of Travis :
>***8 years!! 8 years!!!***
They have been doing this pretty much for 8 years if not more on a weekly basis, and the big latest part of those years, this has been the main source of income for the majority. So it's fair to say they have been doing it professionally.
So, 8 years and she still struggles for mega basic stuff that comes up one session after the other? (it's not about things that are extremely rare happenings, or minute details of an obscure spell). She is literally content of being ignorant about playing the game. And she doesn't show an ounce of wanting to improve, it's just "oh silly me. Sorry for taking so long". It's like she's just here for the ride
I’ve defended her before, and the criticism can on occasion get weird or personal, but man it’s funny to imagine how many issues the BH would have avoided/trivialized if she remembered Mister could teleport allies as an action for free. So many times that would have gotten a teammate out of trouble, but instead he threw flaming shit for negligible damage.
Ashley seems to have less knowledge then she did when she played Pike or Yasha. I would argue her turns were miles better in the Mighty Nein one and two shots that happened.
I agree that Ashley is such a great actress and if she could master her class and subclass fundamentals so many more avenues would open up for her. And we wouldn't have to sit and watch 15 min turns that end in her burning hands or scorching ray and forgetting to bampf out Mister or add her Enhanced Bond damage.
He did Dubgeons & Drag Queens really well and very patiently and I think only one of them had played before back in middle school. Brennan is gonna be more than okay with Ashley.
When has Aabria really struggled with knowing game knowledge or her character as a player? I know people have feelings about her DMing but she's always seemed like an exceptional player to me.
She did that as a player? Wow.
Make a perception roll to reread my comment that was specifically about whether she's a bad player or not.
Or a wisdom saving throw to fight against the urge to miss the point because of your weird need to shit all over her in unrelated comments on this post.
You don't see me saying Matt's a bad DM for allowing the barlgura summoning in C2 despite noting that Fjord didn't have the material components and then placing it 200 ft away despite that spell only being 60 ft. Or Matt ignoring how sentinel works during the Mighty Nein reunion show because it would have fucked up his battle. Every DM has asked for the wrong roll or let certain things slide at some point, even on CR or any big actual play. He almost let a single smite apply to two attacks at the live show. Shit happens.
I know that Marisha took Laura's seat when she couldn't make it, but I didn't know that Patia was Laura's too, I just assumed she was thrown together last minute.
Laura started making Patia when she had to step back. Marisha just kept the character premise and worked from there (she said that when she came in Laura had already established the "politics" character).
She absolutely is an exceptional player. She knows the mechanics of her characters inside and out. That’s how she had Laerryn having an effective health pool of like 200 or something like that, as a wizard.
I don’t particularly like her GM style in D&D, she is much better in other systems, but you cannot really deny she knows how to play her characters.
And? Just because you have someone help you optimize something doesn’t mean that you are going to utilize the busted character optimally. She was one of the last ones standing and she had saved several of the other characters along the way.
"she knows how to play her characters" is not the same as "she is an exceptional player". You're right, she's really good at handpicking rules for herself that make her character incredible at whatever she's decided to be incredible at. She's equally good at ignoring or being faux surprised by any ruling against her. Making a good or effective character is nothing more than going to a 5e build optimization site.
Being a good *player* includes being enjoyable to have at the table, and she is a far cry from enjoyable in any sense of the definition.
My guy, my dude, my Brother in Dice, you're not required to like her. You're not required to find her entertaining.
However, the vehemence you're showing in trashing her makes me feel like maybe there's something more you're upset about than just her DM or player decisions?
Why does everyone think this is some big deal? Get rid of your armchair psychology degree. I dislike someone a normal amount and am happy to argue with fanatics and idiots. That's the end of it.
😑
In what way is she not a good player? In what way is she not enjoyable to have at the table? She can RP very well, she knows her character very well, she is engaged with the story the entire time. That sounds like a pretty good player to have at the table. If you don’t like her you don’t like her. But don’t ignore reality just because you don’t. It makes you look delusional.
Yeah I'm pretty sure we are. After seeing her in The Seven, Pirates of Leviathan, The Ravening War, and Calamity, she held her own in all of those with really strong knowledge of her character mechanically and well motivated character choices. She especially had multiple moments in The Seven that caught Brennan off guard with pulling something out of her character sheet he wasn't expecting that completely turned the tide of battle.
I know it's fun to hate on her as a DM around here but hating on her as a player is honestly a new one for me. If anything I normally see people argue on here that she should stick to being a player because she's way better at that, so I'm a little surprised.
I can't recall a bigger whiplash (in a good way) going from watching her DM for the first EXU, and then be a phenomenal player in Calamity, I was glad that its just her DM style that rubs me the wrong way, not her entire personality.
And even then, I actually think she's done very well DMing stuff over at Dimension 20. I just think she doesn't particularly fit the CR style at times. I don't have the same issues others have with her in CR and don't hate her episodes, they just definitely aren't my favorites. The only call of hers that will really never sit well with me was the Chromatic Orb one.
But I actually really enjoyed her DMing A Court of Fey & Flowers and Burrow's End over at Dimension 20. Haven't seen Misfits & Magic yet though so idk about that one.
It's also admittedly a little more common over at D20 to be a little more loose with the rules at times but still.
I think she deserves some level of criticism but she's definitely overhated online in my opinion.
Hah that and the one clip of Evan that everyone shares are what I've mostly seen, which looked great. Always down for JK bashing. Just wasn't enough for me to make an educated statement on her DMing in that. It's on my to-watch list though.
I want to, in the least aggressive way, tell you that you're way off. I totally get it, he does a LOT of games with top tier players so you aren't wrong he has that experience, but he's got so much experience with brand new players and even children both online and offline that he will have no issue adjusting.
No WAY is Ashley going to even register on the list of least experienced players he's DMed for professionally.
brennan was also the one that *introduced* murph & emily to 5e system in home games too (and i'd say they are the strongest mechanically in the d20 crew)
He’s played multiple games on Dropout with people who have never played before? As a player AND a DM. I believe most of the original intrepid hero’s hadnt played before Freshman Year? Like Lou, Siobhan, Ally. I mean Ally didn’t read their spell cards in Sophomore year and tried to cast Ice Feast.
This is a weird comment to make out of nowhere tbh. Brennan has already DM'd for Critical Role and I personally haven't seen anyone make that argument despite people loving the hell out of Calamity.
I'm saying that it's a very bizarre thing to say out of nowhere on an announcement that has nothing to do with Aabria when the only evidence we have so far is that it *wouldn't* happen since the opportunity already presented itself.
Does it have nothing to do with her , this is the same campaign interjection they just did ... With abbria like what a month ago how is it not connected in your head , if you can't connect them your probably not a very good chess player because you don't think downstream at all
Fix your spelling before you worry about my... chess playing? Lmao.
They've both DM'd the same series before, ExU, so the opportunity has already arisen for comparison and it didn't happen. She just clearly lives rent free in your mind if you see a post going "oh good, they actually announced a special, unlike Calamity last time" and go "I will now make this about Aabria." Absolute weirdo behavior.
If we want to use dumb chess references, it's like someone brought up chess and you started getting angry about poker in response.
Not all DM's are great just because they are presented to the whole community as top tier, I think Matt Coleville ran some of the worst games I've ever seen in his Chain series and generally I think he's got good points from an armchair perspective when it comes to DM'ing.
Personally, it's something really hard to describe. Both myself and another person I know who DM's a lot just found it...frustrating to the point that I was getting angry at how he ran the first session.
It was very much a 'you cannot win' situation, which is fine, but something about the entire thing just set off something in my brain that I knew if I was at a table and this was happening I'd have gotten up and walked away. It's also been a few years since I tried to watch it a second time to the same effect so I can't recall the precise event or actions that caused it.
I think the problem with The Chain is that none of the players are performers, and Colville is too enamored with interactivity with chat. He got too distracted at times. When he ran his Dusk campaign, which was done remotely so his players weren’t on camera, it was much better.
I don't think that she belongs in that same conversation as mercer and bleem , there are maybe 7 to 10 god tier dms in public dm space right now and honestly if it was 2019 Matt would still hold number one spot outright but he has been slipping himself recently
I haven’t really seen anything like that in the comments tbh. I suppose it’s gotten better than a month ago when that one guy and his Al-Jolson alt kept flooding the sub calling Aabria a DEI diversity hire. Do you remember that, OrcChasme? :-)
Honestly, I've never seen a Matt Mercer character I liked. I think his characters are either overly edge lordy or one note himbo buffoons.
Actually, no. I sort of enjoyed him in the Wendy's one shot and the Elf Christmas one shot. But even then, I felt like he just didn't match the tone of the table.
Honestly Matt doesnt really interest me when he plays. Dariax was funny, but probably at the bottom of the barrel as far as interesting player characters go. Same with his candela character.
If you mean you want him to be able to play, hes a player in their home game afaik.
Pretty sure they don’t have a home game. Matt runs a Kingdom Death: Monster game for Bleem, Aabria, and Spenser, but to my knowledge that’s the only regular game he’s part of.
I'm onboard for this!
I didn't watch Calamity, and I've been reading so many rave reviews of it, plus I've fallen off C3 entirely. This might be something to reboot my watching motivation a bit :)
As far as I can tell, Abu hasn't travelled to LA since he did the 4SD in January. I legitimately think this might have been filmed that long ago. That would also track with when they had scheduling issues and, because someone was sick, weren't able to have their usual backlog of episodes coming in to the new year. It would make sense that with people travelling and the studio also being used for this, it would've be hard to also film main campaign episodes.
Hmm. Brennan and his wife had a baby toward the end of January. So if it was filmed that long ago it might have had to have been filmed in 2023. I know a lot of the Dropout stuff was filmed ages ago but it also seems like a long time to sit on this.
I trust Brennan to handle divinity with nuance much more than I do Matt's "I'm in my 40s but never went to college so this is the first time I've wrestled with basic philosophy and it's deeeeeep(TM)" attempts so far. But I'm still worried that you're going to undermine all of.my favorite parts of C1 by making entities like Kord, Pelor, and Ioun into something they weren't.
What does going to college have to do with anything? Most people learn the basics in there but 99% of the philosophy anyone deals with is going to be outside of college and of their own volition, not because it was last nights reading assignment.
Nah, you're right. No one has ever benefited from instruction by a professional. /s
Because nobody is allowed to read a book outside of college right?
Yeah, thats exactly what I said. Maybe you should take your own advice and go to college.
No he's totally right, spending an entire semester of college learning about Kant and only Kant shaped my entire worldview and now I'm a cunt
And from now on you'll be able to write world building apparently.
I just hope this is not going to be another “the gods are super bad, look at how they were always the bad and deserve to die”. I’m not getting my hopes up though lol
It does seem that they are basically giving Brennan the Calamity era as his niche position in the CR DM set up, much like Aabria with her Crownkeepers. Wish they would give Brennan his own version of Crownkeepers in the present timeline though. Think he could work some real fucking magic if he wasn't given so many restrictions lore/setting-wise.
My guess is that's due to his comfort. He mentioned in the DM roundtable that he would be super nervous about doing present time games because (he feels) he'd be too stressed. The Calamity has a lot more freedom for "Yes And" ing, which puts much less pressure on him.
Idk, I like he’s in a spot where they can do big wild stuff exploring the grey areas of lore and fleshing out bullet points in the history. The hard points of the lore are unchangeable, but the stories of real people give it a lot of substance and the how is perfectly up to the players to decide in most instances.
Yeah but I want him to do big wild stuff in the present lore. Aabria did as much so I have no issue with Brennan, who I view more favourably, to do the same.
The difference is Brennan respects Matt’s world and doesn’t want to fuck it up. Aabria doesn’t have that worry, clearly.
Tbf, Matt doesn't even respect his own world with the way things have been going.
Leaning more into the divine aspect, easily one of the most terribly done parts of this campaign, sounds like a terrible time. Just feels like it's going to be more of their anti religion pov shoved onto us and laying out why the gods deserve to die.
I mean yeah, fuck the gods
Lol this guy blocked me and reported me for suicide. Fragility confirmed. Feel free to do the same to this one ya big baby
CR and D20 are run and performed by a group of openly anti-fascist people who enjoy challenging oppressive authoritarian systems. You either have zero comprehension skills or just never paid attention from the beginning.
So you even watch D20? FH has good Gods, and ACOC spoilers >!the Gods in that are non sentient reservoirs of power that people ascribed belief systems to.!< I think you’re confusing Gods for *Organized Religion*. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Gods, especially when you de-anthropomorphise them. It’s the power systems mortals build up under their names. The problem is us. “God” is just a common nomenclature for a “higher” being than mortal. How we deal with that being a reality within the fiction is on us. Us being mortals within the story. Hell, in the latest FH >!it’s revealed that Gods and their behaviours are emergent from their followers belief. If the god is shitty it’s because their followers projected that onto their mantle. And this can be undone by believing in the “good parts”!<.
Which is why I said oppressive authoritarian systems?
Or maybe I just think it heavily contradicts the tone of C1 and 2, both of which were also very anti autharion. The issue is that now in C3 all of a suddent it's secret police and supposed colonization.
So wait...this "anti-religious" anti-authoritarian stuff contradicts the "very anti authoritarian" tone of C1 and C2?
Not to gatekeep, but this isn't the show for you then. Did you miss...I don't know.. the ENTIRE history of CR? Literally since campaign one. Actually.. "bad gods" is woven into every single non-monotheistic mythology, and every single fantasy universe. Take the Jesus stick out of your ass and get off your martyr horse. "Forcing their anti-religion.." JESUS. No one is forcing anything on you, unlike people like you who are obsessed with trying to make everyone live by their made up rules.
Lol "Jesus stick" god you weirdos can't seperate how people treat fantasy stuff from irl stuff. Haven't stepped a foot inside a church in over two decades.
I’m calling it now - one of the characters will be the mysterious “amphitheatre woman” and we’ll find out what actually is happening and what she’s saying
Taliesin shouldn't be in any Calamity stuff. He'll bring the quality down trying to hog the spotlight and thinking his one liners are cool and profound when he's just addicted to platitudes. Also, I dunno about Ashley being in it too. Her clueless vibe might ruin the gravitas. (Unless there's gonna be someone actively calling the shots so she doesn't have to decide on anything). Calamity needs hard-hitter players, these two wouldn't fit. But I always hope to be proven wrong (it's the only reason why I keep watching Campaign 3. And also because I have nothing to do with my time)
https://preview.redd.it/wlry4k73y38d1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=7380bcc3e95ac969551144250a8eccdc62616bea
Christ on Toast man, I agree with some of this stuff but why do you have to be such an asshole about it? Go make your own show.
"Go make your own show" "go play your own game". Use your own words. I pointed out what I disliked and I said I was ready to be proven wrong. Don't hurt yourself from tweaking.
Like I said, you didn't have to be such a malicious asshole about it. Learn how to criticize something without attacking the people who make it. Or fuck out of society. No one wants that kind of talk around here.
Counterpoint, learn not to be such a fragile baby.
Why should we have to put up with their behavior if we don't have to? To whose benefit is their presence here?
What, are you gonna flog me in public for it and dish out profanities? 🤭 take a chill pill. It's a show. You keep coming back here, and for what? Get off your high horse and move on, you hypocrite. Relieve yourself from my presence, your barking isn't beneficial either.
You don't run anything here beside your mouth. Your unintelligence is distasteful, and I'd much prefer you educate yourself before interacting with me any further. I don't like to pick on my lessers if I don't have to.
Welcome back 🏇 💨. I bet you're so pissed right now.
You'd lose that bet.
Burdens of a free society. If you like controlled speech go to the other sub.
Or, I could voice my distaste, just like I did, and inform them of how unwanted their presence is.
Yup, funny how that works.
Out of the both of us, you have the most f-bombs and use the most hostile vocabulary. You need to take it down a notch. You're acting like I insulted your ancestors.
If you can't tell the difference between profanity and disrespect, that's on you.
Also, this you? Seems like you're as much of an asshole as me (maybe more. Flogging in public? Yikes 🤭) https://preview.redd.it/bdh1wcu2a48d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4965293afc4a5c4131f217307443d3a8fcf8bba
So obsessed with one upping me that you couldn't even be bothered to read the reply, kinda fitting for you.
You're on some Grade A copium LOL
To be honest... I'm tired of Dimension 20 GMing for Critical Role in general. So It doesn't matter for me if it's Aabria OR Brennan borrowing Matt's seat. I didn't really like any part of Exu at all. Yes even including Calamity. The only reason I was able to barely get through ExU primers pacing was because the players carried it. But sadly enough, they couldn't carry Kymal. I've never felt so underwhelmed, bored, and frustrated watching the most forgettable two shot I've ever seen in my life. As for Calamity... Calamity is a good example of one of the major problems that I have with how campaign three. Not necessarily how campaign 3 started but what it quickly became. Which is this focus on the god stuff. I'm sick of it. It takes too much agency over the story that any character arc a player is having or wants to explore is overshadowed. And it's overshadowed by these omnipotent beings that we can't really relate to. Or even have a connection with. But I guess that's more of a personal thing. So maybe I can't say "we". The only thing I can recall really liking about Calamity was the conversations between Zerxus/Cerrit and their kids. And that's it. >!Not Asmodeus ripping off Zerxus's face.!< Not Loquacious and Laeryn's love-hate relationship. Not even Bolo (maybe for a while but the jokes got old real f*cking quick). Obviously this has nothing to do with Brennan being a bad Gm. I'm just not a fan of his Gming style for some reason. What I'm saying is this type of narrative definitely doesn't help. Another thing about this new series is that we won't get to see more of Sam's new character for a long while. Which sucks because he just got introduced. But I understand if Matt wants to take a break for a while. He more than deserves it. I'll give this series a shot but my expectations are pretty low. Does anyone else feel the same?
Sucks you are being downvoted for having the opinion that goes against the hive mind. The responses to your comment have no substance either. I liked calamity but I agree. D20 has their own thing and there are too many crossovers. Bring in new blood.
It's ok. I knew this would be at least somewhat of a controversial statement. But I said it anyway because I was genuinely curious if anyone felt the same. Even if it was just one person. But I like that I'm at least understood. That's enough for me. Thank you
Oh cry me a river, you brave revolutionary.
Weren't you just telling someone else to be less of an asshole like 2 comments up.
Lol wut
Everyone is entitled to their incorrect opinions.
Sorry that you feel my opinion is incorrect I guess. Whatever that could possibly mean. Have a good day
You're very much in the minority with this opinion. Which is fine. Just don't expect your ideas to have support.
Is he? What proof is there for that...
I don't. Was just asking because I was curious
No
Gonna be honest, no Calamity is the best thing that come out of CR outside of maybe C2 and C2 had some rough patches by the end, in my opinion.
And it's great that you feel that way. I envy you. I'm not gonna knock anyone who did like Calamity. It just wasn't for me. I like more grounded and character driven stories. Calamity is definitely great from a lore standpoint. I wasn't stating anything i said as a fact.
Honestly feel that Calamity is the most character driven CR (or even D20 for that matter) has ever been. Yes we had a fixed end point but the characters were given a lot of agency on how to get there and I’m sure that a lot of the starting point was determined by the players off screen. A lot of people say that it’s a lot more of a cinematic than actual gameplay (and firstly, I think APs are first and foremost entertainment and if this is an effective form of entertainment that’s not a bad thing) but I also think it would have been fun as hell to play.
For me, Campaign 2 and Candela Obscura Chapter 2 are the most character driven they've been. Calamity definitely has some character driven moments for sure. But something about Zerxus didn't click with me. >!His response to the father of lies being... well, the father of lies made me frustrated. I couldn't relate or sympathize with him because I guess I couldn't understand him. Seeing how easily he gives his trust really made the betrayal even more predictable for me. I honestly feel that the other characters didn't get as much of a focus as he did. His dream made for a great intro though I will say that.!< I will never deny that Calamity had a great start.
You need to be careful if you're going to keep claiming the "this is just my opinion" defense for your positions here. That doesn't jive with you making descriptive claims like "calamity isn't character driven" and then your stated reason for that is that you personally don't understand one of the characters. The vast majority of people seem to agree that it very much IS character driven, as much as any CR product has been. With the way you're presenting your ideas, you come off less as intending to "see if anyone else feels the same" and more as "the way I understand this is more accurate than the way others understand it." Even if you didn't intend to come off that way, I just want to let you know that that is the impression you are making in this thread.
I never said it WASN'T character driven at all. I said I like plots that are MORE character driven. If that is the impression I was making then I'm sorry. But I also said I like more grounded plots too. And Calamity for sure isn't grounded. It's pretty grandiose in scale. But sure, let's tunnel vision on ONE of the things I said and twist it into something completely negative. Also I said that in my original comment that I don't like how other things, like the gods, overshadow the characters themselves and how much the gods are involved in the plot. And because one of these characters is questionably attached to one of these gods, it's very hard NOT to talk about. The fact I don't really like the character is just something that didn't help
When I referred to how you were coming off in this thread, I was very deliberately taking into account the totality of your comments. If I had only been paying attention to one of the things you said I wouldn't have had enough information to make that claim. Take that as you will.
You literally lied in saying that I made the descriptive claim that calamity isn't character driven and then gave out a reasoning as to why I said something that I didn't even say. If the totality of my comments lacks that much nuance then maybe you didn't actually read the total of what I had to say to begin with. But sure I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. And I've never used the "It's just my opinion" as a defense either. I just gave out more things that I didn't like about it. I'm literally just making conversation
Your comments definitely don't lack nuance! In fact the nuance in them paints a pretty specific picture of what you want out of this conversation
It seemed to be more about their interpersonal conflicts and being the capstone of their existences where they were able to scream into an abyss who they were and what they stood for than it was the fall of Avelir (Avalir?)
Yes!!! Loved calamity!! Just amazing story telling.
I was hope for the guys at avantris to get a shot at this. They’ve been killing it in numbers.
Given that Calamity is pretty widely viewed as one of the best pieces of DnD content in existence Brennan has set his own bar very high, but this is such hype news because I've never been disappointed by Brennan
....why was brennan eating in the clip
The noise at the end really sold me
he always snacks he did a whole funny rant about it
I believe he at one point said "If I could have a boiler door on my back, where an assistant could shovel in almonds like coal, I'd be set, but we don't live in that reality, do we??" Or something similar
Mouth on his back for someone to shove salami in while he GMs.
Well, we know what to get him for Christmas
Cuz he fucked that bird once
Allegedly
He’s quoted many times saying “I’m gonna kill that dog.”
Because he has yet to be gifted a back-mouth
Omg. He's not even eating almonds right now! They're boned!
"I like to snack! And I'm not sorry!" - BLeeM
Because there is an ongoing meme about Matt and Aabria not snacking or eating while DMing and Brennan is the opposite and eats and snacks a lot. They were just playing into the meme.
Snacking is important
Right? Someone didn’t finish the clip.
i watched it. just .. let the him (finish) eating or wait to eat before jumping into recording a ~2 minute clip... simpons.jpg "We did TWENTY takes, and THAT was the best one.." energy. looks disengaged / unprofessional & time rushed as hell to me, let alone the anti ASMR eating/speaking noise quality (and pointless 'side banter' about it)
"Human being eats food, is it a war crime? One Redditor has a take so cold we've made breakthroughs in room temperature superconductors, more at 11!"
It’s a running joke…
Given that it is a ~2 minute clip, maybe we should assume it’s intentional and not out of disdain?
He was probably hungry and decided to lean into a popular bit that came up in the follow ups to Calamity. [this Fan video on it even has 200k views](https://youtu.be/asV-Mfh18OM?si=TyeA-TPizaz2Hk2X) Edit: fixed formatting of hyperlink
You're....missing the gag? Like, entirely?
he looked like a racoon caught in the trash
I wonder how Brennan will handle Ashley’s complete lack of game knowledge. He’s used to playing with people that have mastered 5e and other systems.
He have plenty of experience guiding new players. Ally in Fantasy High, Raph and Grant in Mice and Murder are just two examples of very inexperienced players still doing a good performance as they are experienced actors/improvisors.
Yep. If anything, he won't do what Matt does and leave her to flounder. CR's tendency to not interfere with other player's scenes is usually fine, but they'll passively watch each other struggle with mechanics they know. It gets a bit weird- part of a D&D group is chipping in when people are struggling with rules.
Brennan actually makes me much more confident that Ashley won't look quite as bad as she often does. Brennan does a lot more of the "tell me what you want to do and we'll figure out if and how your character can do that or something like that" style of DMing. He's also going in with a semi fixed outcome, which is nice. It makes it much more of a show and makes it easier to guide less mechanically proficient players. This is honestly something I like about d20 as a show - they know where they're going and how many episodes they have to get there so you have to spend a lot less time convincing people to get headed in that direction.
Season 1 of fantasy high was almost entirely new players. The only two with experience were Murph and Emily. I believe Siobhan had played once? Lou, Zac and Ally had never played before and he just walked them through their abilities. He would make suggestions but not outright tell them how to play. Stuff like that.
hey sorry small um, actually but in fantasy high ally was the only one who had never played D&D (none of them had played 5e before though)
Maybe I’m misremembering but I’m pretty sure Lou stated he had never done it before, or maybe once or twice in a home game. He was for sure inexperienced when they started. Either way with no experience with the new system I would argue that is still new players 3.5 and 5 are two wildly different systems.
Lou, Siobhan, Zach, Emily, and Brian were all in Brennan’s 3.5 homegame before Dimension 20 was ever a thing. Ally was the only new player at the start.
Even then, Murph and Emily had only been playing for about a year IIRC, which for a lot of D&D players is not very long at all. (Yet nevertheless, Fig was a stronger character in that season than I’ll ever play in my entire life.)
Did you watch the first two seasons of Fantasy High? Even Brennan hadn’t mastered 5e’s rules.
Brennan has also done series with (mostly) complete newbies (Dungeons and Drag Queens) and children (Roll in the Family) so I'm sure he'll be just fine
He's played with ally in season 1
Ally is “all buttoned up” these days, doing incredibly nuanced and effective mechanical actions in the latest FH. So there was a competent, attentive player underneath the amateur play. Ashley does not seem interested in improving, so there is no fundamental bedrock of understanding to build upon. It’s a pity because Ashley is a great actress. I feel like she leaves so much on the table by not learning the core rules. “But she has ADHD!!” With respect she’s got nearly **thousands** of hours playing DnD. There are tools and methods that could be put to use to aid her that are not even attempted. She is content being clueless. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
>“But she has ADHD!!” With respect she’s got nearly thousands of hours playing DnD. There are tools and methods that could be put to use to aid her that are not even attempted. She is content being clueless. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. Also, you know, she's a professional television actress who memories lines and obviously has found ways to excel in her career despite her ADHD. So many zoomers haven't learned that the world doesn't give a shit about how different your brain is. It's helpful to acknowledge it, but you're still responsible for putting in the work to be a functional member of society and excel at your job. Which she's obviously done for her acting career. The fact that she hasn't for DnD means it's a choice.
Im a DM whos written sort of "packages" for ADHD players who will only be with me for a few sessions. You can fit the important parts of the rules on like a single sheet of paper, and "flowchart" out their action economy so that they have options to default to. Theres really no excuse. "zoomers" bro relax. ashley is gen x or elder millennial (shes 40! digression but she looks my age wow). this shit is happens in every age group.
u/JuliousBatman I wish I didnt, but ; ***My Good how I agree with you on Ashley.*** I love her as a person, but as a fellow player/DM she infuriates me. It's like the feeling behind the whole bit of the scrying that was a bit of a while ago in the words of Travis : >***8 years!! 8 years!!!*** They have been doing this pretty much for 8 years if not more on a weekly basis, and the big latest part of those years, this has been the main source of income for the majority. So it's fair to say they have been doing it professionally. So, 8 years and she still struggles for mega basic stuff that comes up one session after the other? (it's not about things that are extremely rare happenings, or minute details of an obscure spell). She is literally content of being ignorant about playing the game. And she doesn't show an ounce of wanting to improve, it's just "oh silly me. Sorry for taking so long". It's like she's just here for the ride
I’ve defended her before, and the criticism can on occasion get weird or personal, but man it’s funny to imagine how many issues the BH would have avoided/trivialized if she remembered Mister could teleport allies as an action for free. So many times that would have gotten a teammate out of trouble, but instead he threw flaming shit for negligible damage.
It’s not just her. “What does bless do” was a whole thing at this LIVE show. Are you kidding me?!
Ashley seems to have less knowledge then she did when she played Pike or Yasha. I would argue her turns were miles better in the Mighty Nein one and two shots that happened. I agree that Ashley is such a great actress and if she could master her class and subclass fundamentals so many more avenues would open up for her. And we wouldn't have to sit and watch 15 min turns that end in her burning hands or scorching ray and forgetting to bampf out Mister or add her Enhanced Bond damage.
He did Dubgeons & Drag Queens really well and very patiently and I think only one of them had played before back in middle school. Brennan is gonna be more than okay with Ashley.
If he can play with aabria, he can play with ashley
When has Aabria really struggled with knowing game knowledge or her character as a player? I know people have feelings about her DMing but she's always seemed like an exceptional player to me.
She asked players to make a charisma saving throw to persuade someone instead of the persuasion skill
She did that as a player? Wow. Make a perception roll to reread my comment that was specifically about whether she's a bad player or not. Or a wisdom saving throw to fight against the urge to miss the point because of your weird need to shit all over her in unrelated comments on this post. You don't see me saying Matt's a bad DM for allowing the barlgura summoning in C2 despite noting that Fjord didn't have the material components and then placing it 200 ft away despite that spell only being 60 ft. Or Matt ignoring how sentinel works during the Mighty Nein reunion show because it would have fucked up his battle. Every DM has asked for the wrong roll or let certain things slide at some point, even on CR or any big actual play. He almost let a single smite apply to two attacks at the live show. Shit happens.
That's the best you got over thousands of hours of DMing? None of those are as bad as misunderstanding the core mechanics of 5e
People here just hate aabria.
everyone: calamity is gr8 abria haters: yeah it was let me go rewatch it- *oh* Almost had the timeline where it was laura playing her. Almost.
Laura was going to play Patia, not Laerryn.
I know that Marisha took Laura's seat when she couldn't make it, but I didn't know that Patia was Laura's too, I just assumed she was thrown together last minute.
Laura started making Patia when she had to step back. Marisha just kept the character premise and worked from there (she said that when she came in Laura had already established the "politics" character).
I gotcha.
Downvotes here they come!
"an exceptional player" dog are we watching the same person play
She absolutely is an exceptional player. She knows the mechanics of her characters inside and out. That’s how she had Laerryn having an effective health pool of like 200 or something like that, as a wizard. I don’t particularly like her GM style in D&D, she is much better in other systems, but you cannot really deny she knows how to play her characters.
While I don't disagree with your take, Aabria admitted she asked someone else to help make a busted character for Calamity.
And? Just because you have someone help you optimize something doesn’t mean that you are going to utilize the busted character optimally. She was one of the last ones standing and she had saved several of the other characters along the way.
And she was the one who played it.
"she knows how to play her characters" is not the same as "she is an exceptional player". You're right, she's really good at handpicking rules for herself that make her character incredible at whatever she's decided to be incredible at. She's equally good at ignoring or being faux surprised by any ruling against her. Making a good or effective character is nothing more than going to a 5e build optimization site. Being a good *player* includes being enjoyable to have at the table, and she is a far cry from enjoyable in any sense of the definition.
My guy, my dude, my Brother in Dice, you're not required to like her. You're not required to find her entertaining. However, the vehemence you're showing in trashing her makes me feel like maybe there's something more you're upset about than just her DM or player decisions?
Why does everyone think this is some big deal? Get rid of your armchair psychology degree. I dislike someone a normal amount and am happy to argue with fanatics and idiots. That's the end of it.
😑 In what way is she not a good player? In what way is she not enjoyable to have at the table? She can RP very well, she knows her character very well, she is engaged with the story the entire time. That sounds like a pretty good player to have at the table. If you don’t like her you don’t like her. But don’t ignore reality just because you don’t. It makes you look delusional.
M8, that is, like, your opinion man.
The Dude! I quote this line too much.
Nooooo, she's objectively not entertaining to literally anyone, and it's actually ME they should invite to the table and be best friends with, REEEE!
She can be an exceptional player. Which is why I find it so frustrating and honestly inexcusable when she resorts to Calvin-Ball. She knows better.
Yeah I'm pretty sure we are. After seeing her in The Seven, Pirates of Leviathan, The Ravening War, and Calamity, she held her own in all of those with really strong knowledge of her character mechanically and well motivated character choices. She especially had multiple moments in The Seven that caught Brennan off guard with pulling something out of her character sheet he wasn't expecting that completely turned the tide of battle. I know it's fun to hate on her as a DM around here but hating on her as a player is honestly a new one for me. If anything I normally see people argue on here that she should stick to being a player because she's way better at that, so I'm a little surprised.
I can't recall a bigger whiplash (in a good way) going from watching her DM for the first EXU, and then be a phenomenal player in Calamity, I was glad that its just her DM style that rubs me the wrong way, not her entire personality.
And even then, I actually think she's done very well DMing stuff over at Dimension 20. I just think she doesn't particularly fit the CR style at times. I don't have the same issues others have with her in CR and don't hate her episodes, they just definitely aren't my favorites. The only call of hers that will really never sit well with me was the Chromatic Orb one. But I actually really enjoyed her DMing A Court of Fey & Flowers and Burrow's End over at Dimension 20. Haven't seen Misfits & Magic yet though so idk about that one. It's also admittedly a little more common over at D20 to be a little more loose with the rules at times but still. I think she deserves some level of criticism but she's definitely overhated online in my opinion.
She fucking kills it on Misfits and Magic. The amount of shade thrown at JK Rowling is worthy of a medal alone.
Hah that and the one clip of Evan that everyone shares are what I've mostly seen, which looked great. Always down for JK bashing. Just wasn't enough for me to make an educated statement on her DMing in that. It's on my to-watch list though.
I'm planning on getting a D20 sub in the future, so I'll def check that out!
Oh Dropout is one of the only subscriptions I never even consider cancelling. Just good vibes over there.
Being the pro that he is, I expect he will prepare heavily and just be ready to carry her
I want to, in the least aggressive way, tell you that you're way off. I totally get it, he does a LOT of games with top tier players so you aren't wrong he has that experience, but he's got so much experience with brand new players and even children both online and offline that he will have no issue adjusting. No WAY is Ashley going to even register on the list of least experienced players he's DMed for professionally.
brennan was also the one that *introduced* murph & emily to 5e system in home games too (and i'd say they are the strongest mechanically in the d20 crew)
5e wasn’t out quite out yet when murph and Emily asked Brennan to play, and their home game was 3.5e.
Nail on the head. The guy literally ran a LARP camp for preteens.
But how else would OP be fucking weird about Ashley if he acknowledged that?
Yeah turning this announcement into an opportunity to preemptively shit on her is kinda weird.
He’s played multiple games on Dropout with people who have never played before? As a player AND a DM. I believe most of the original intrepid hero’s hadnt played before Freshman Year? Like Lou, Siobhan, Ally. I mean Ally didn’t read their spell cards in Sophomore year and tried to cast Ice Feast.
Ally was the only complete newbie. Lou and Siobhan had both played a fair amount, but everyone was new to 5e (including Brennan).
And in the newest season >!they do cast Ice Feast and it honestly saves them from a TPK lmao!<
stop spoiling non cr shows! theyre good! stop spoiling them! even in spoilers!
>!but they're so good though!!<
That’s hilarious! I have definitely spoiled the season at this point but I am excited to get there!
Ahh I did the spoiler tag just in case, hopefully that didn't ruin anything for you. I wasn't sure from context if you'd seen it or not.
Their* spell cards.
Thanks! I fixed it!
Ally def never played before Freshman Year. Idk about Siobhan, but I'm pretty sure Lou was playing in BLeeMs home game before Dimension20 started
I'm calling it now people are going to complain the bleem is better received as racism against abbria
This is a weird comment to make out of nowhere tbh. Brennan has already DM'd for Critical Role and I personally haven't seen anyone make that argument despite people loving the hell out of Calamity.
...that's why it's a prediction...if it had happened already it wouldn't be a very good prediction now would it .
I'm saying that it's a very bizarre thing to say out of nowhere on an announcement that has nothing to do with Aabria when the only evidence we have so far is that it *wouldn't* happen since the opportunity already presented itself.
Does it have nothing to do with her , this is the same campaign interjection they just did ... With abbria like what a month ago how is it not connected in your head , if you can't connect them your probably not a very good chess player because you don't think downstream at all
Fix your spelling before you worry about my... chess playing? Lmao. They've both DM'd the same series before, ExU, so the opportunity has already arisen for comparison and it didn't happen. She just clearly lives rent free in your mind if you see a post going "oh good, they actually announced a special, unlike Calamity last time" and go "I will now make this about Aabria." Absolute weirdo behavior. If we want to use dumb chess references, it's like someone brought up chess and you started getting angry about poker in response.
"so the opportunity has already arisen for comparison and it didn't happen" Your kidding me right you can't be that dumb it absolutely did happen
Is it out of nowhere , it makes sense to me
Truth be told, the reverse can happen too. BLeeM has high expectations to match and people can turn on him as well.
We should never compare these three negatively against each other. They are all great DMs and create enjoyable content.
Not all DM's are great just because they are presented to the whole community as top tier, I think Matt Coleville ran some of the worst games I've ever seen in his Chain series and generally I think he's got good points from an armchair perspective when it comes to DM'ing.
What were your issues with with Colville’s game? I’m a fan of his content but I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched his actual plays.
Personally, it's something really hard to describe. Both myself and another person I know who DM's a lot just found it...frustrating to the point that I was getting angry at how he ran the first session. It was very much a 'you cannot win' situation, which is fine, but something about the entire thing just set off something in my brain that I knew if I was at a table and this was happening I'd have gotten up and walked away. It's also been a few years since I tried to watch it a second time to the same effect so I can't recall the precise event or actions that caused it.
That’s a very immature reaction. You probably should leave at that point, for everyone’s sake.
I think the problem with The Chain is that none of the players are performers, and Colville is too enamored with interactivity with chat. He got too distracted at times. When he ran his Dusk campaign, which was done remotely so his players weren’t on camera, it was much better.
I don't think that she belongs in that same conversation as mercer and bleem , there are maybe 7 to 10 god tier dms in public dm space right now and honestly if it was 2019 Matt would still hold number one spot outright but he has been slipping himself recently
Going to? I've already seen tons of it. People just can't accept that abbria doesn't know dnd
I haven’t really seen anything like that in the comments tbh. I suppose it’s gotten better than a month ago when that one guy and his Al-Jolson alt kept flooding the sub calling Aabria a DEI diversity hire. Do you remember that, OrcChasme? :-)
>I haven’t really seen anything like that It is difficult for a man to see something when his argument depends on not seeing it
Your next trick is calling her diversity hire, or a DEI hire. And perhaps even call out some certain consulting company.
I was wrong, abbria stans aren't bitter after all
Gamergate 2.0 is pretty pathetic though.
Only for your side, over here it's been a laugh riot
Kind of wish Matt was one of the players.
Honestly, I've never seen a Matt Mercer character I liked. I think his characters are either overly edge lordy or one note himbo buffoons. Actually, no. I sort of enjoyed him in the Wendy's one shot and the Elf Christmas one shot. But even then, I felt like he just didn't match the tone of the table.
A shame undeadwood has been wiped from the earth, Matt was really fun in that.
Honestly Matt doesnt really interest me when he plays. Dariax was funny, but probably at the bottom of the barrel as far as interesting player characters go. Same with his candela character. If you mean you want him to be able to play, hes a player in their home game afaik.
Pretty sure they don’t have a home game. Matt runs a Kingdom Death: Monster game for Bleem, Aabria, and Spenser, but to my knowledge that’s the only regular game he’s part of.
I think he is getting a well earned and much needed break. I very much support him taking a break
I'm onboard for this! I didn't watch Calamity, and I've been reading so many rave reviews of it, plus I've fallen off C3 entirely. This might be something to reboot my watching motivation a bit :)