#anyway. this does make me think aboyt the love inherent in turning old characters into NPC's. its kind of a really cool thing when i think

[sparring-spirals]

you know i just had this thought, cause i saw your posts about feeling a little iffy with the whole mixing c2 and c3 characters thing, and like, if you’re looking from the standpoint of critical role as a show, and the cast as storytellers, then yeah there’s kinda this worry about past campaigns and character arcs overshadowing the current ones

but

but if you look from the viewpoint of a group of friends playing dnd, having your old characters show up in your current game and team up with the new party is just like, the coolest thing ever, no questions asked

Oh yeah, 100%! The cameo/crossover thing is exciting and lovely as is, and definitely really fucking fun for them. and us! Shared universes and crossover AU's/episodes and etc are popular for a reason!

okay, this answer got out of hand. hopefully it makes sense. my thinking is something like- yeah! bringing in caleb and beau and other cross campaign cameos and big shared universes like this is a perfectly reasonable kind of storytelling and very exciting. That said- yes, the broader story implications, possibilities, potential impacts, focus on Bells and the space for their arcs, etc, I have personal reservations on. And part of that is also tied to shared universe, MCU crossover style storytelling/worldbuilding not really being my cup of tea.

But that's not necessarily like, an indictment of what the cast chose to do or even an indictment of people (me, im people) enjoying the actual crossover encounters. Because they're fun! Exciting! Its cool to see characters you love and watched in a unique, fleshed out context collide with completely different characters who you love in a unique context. I bet this goes threefold for the cast, getting to see their characters alive ans breathing in the world, acting on their own. The point of crossovers and cameos is for this kind of joy! There's no real use to me pretending I'm not thrilled by their presence, or to not wonder about their wellbeing in past years or what other familiar faces are doing in the meantime.

The flipside is. Yes. Broader storytelling implications and concerns. That in the context of the Bell's Hells story, I want to be careful to still treat them as the main characters of this campaign, with the real estate and weight that deserves. Everything else about overshadowing and etc aside. Caleb and Beau and everyone else in the Mighty Nein had their campaign, and a wrap up and an epilogue, and my own soppy feelings about that aside, that is important. This campaign is the Bell's Hells, its theirs, and about their stories, and them. The M9 are, now, NPC's- and I have a lot of thoughts about how that is its own good ending, its about knowing when stories should be closed while letting the characters live on beyond them- but that should be its own meta fuck goddammit. And that's important. Its very important to me that I am, above all else, treating the Bell's Hells story as theirs.

The most direct example I can give, I think, is that before they intervened, I was somewhat okay with the Bell's Hells failing in some sense, Ludinus getting away with some part of his plan. Knowing that Beauregard and Caleb are involved brings up a specific feeling of wanting them to succeed, thinking about things they have waiting at home, the campaign that already went by and the epilogues I had already promised them in my head.

But- this is not their campaign, and this is not soley their issue anymore either. If I really handle them as NPC's, if I can decouple the thought of Ludinus as their behemoth to tackle, and think again about this issue in context of Bell's Hells, disastrous and loving and 50% unreliable with a moon over their shoulders- the perspective on the situation and what I want out of it and them and everything- shifts. And it's important to me I take the time to do that, as much as I love the empire sibs and am thinking fondly about their careers and loves and hopes.

but none of that is mutually exclusive with me making little heart eyes at the two of them and reblogging all the art of that scene. :)