#critical role campaign 2 episode 12

[thelavendersquid]

Beau, about to partake in a plan to overthrow the government: “I feel like I’m really participating in politics.”

[alliekitaguchi]

this is easily one of my favorite moments from campaign 2 -- when the mighty nein meet arcanist allura vysoren

[utilitycaster]

This question is entirely in good faith: I’m currently watching campaign 2 for the first time, and you’ve said multiple times that you are a mighty nein girlie above all else. I am enjoying it, I think it’s fun and characters are great. But I find myself preferring campaign 1 more. I know this is a minority opinion as everyone loves campaign 2, but I just can’t really find myself embracing it the same way. What is it that draws you about the MN?

So I do want to preface this with the statement that I think it’s extremely valid to prefer Campaign 1 to Campaign 2. Plenty of people whom I respect do! The Mighty Nein happen to appeal to a lot of my sensibilities specifically but I don’t expect it to appeal to everyone else in the same way.

I also want to note that while it's true Campaign 2 is the fan favorite, firstly, the correct response if you prefer something that isn't the fan favorite is to commend yourself on rarified taste, and secondly, statistics are a funny thing. It's worth remembering that what you see as the Critical Role Active Fandom mostly doesn't include people who dearly loved Campaign 1, didn't like Campaign 2, and drifted away entirely in 2018; whereas people who loved C2 and didn't click with C3 are a little more likely to be around just because it's been less time and because there's more non-main-campaign stuff to hang around for (ie, people who haven't kept up with C3 might still have watched EXU Calamity or Downfall, or might be interested in Midst or Candela stuff, or are hanging out for TLOVM/Nein Animated reasons). You are not seeing Every Person Who Ever Liked Critical Role; you're seeing this segment in time.

ANYWAY. Getting to the actual point, I think Campaign 2 is my favorite because I think I take a fairly holistic view of fiction. I have my favorite characters and ships and themes and all that, but it is difficult for me to enjoy something if I don't enjoy a significant portion of it. I can't just watch for one blorbo, because the character should feel deeply rooted in a world, and have a plot that engages with who they are. This is what drew me to D&D and actual play in the first place!

Campaign 2 is the CR campaign that, in my opinion, achieves this to the highest degree. Hilariously, if you see the campaigns as a trilogy, while usually the middle of a trilogy gets slammed for being all moving pieces and no resolution, that actually works out great for a D&D game. Campaign 1 had the responsibility of introducing an entire world that was being built as the game went on (and introducing the players to TTRPGs); Campaign 3 is the realization of all that plot set up. Campaign 2 gets to explore, build out the world, and delve into characters who are inextricable from their setting, and that's what I love.

I started with Campaign 2, but decided to start catching up on Campaign 1 concurrently as I watched C2 week to week, and I started this quite early and finished C1 in about 4-5 months, and I happen to remember that I watched C2 episode 12 and an early Briarwoods Arc C1 episode back to back, and at the time, I preferred Campaign 1. Campaign 1 has its rocky starts, but the cast had already found their characters (even if the mechanics were being ironed out still) and there were very clear tasks. Early Campaign 2, while I still enjoy it, has a lot of milling about and aimless fucking around, and, understandably, the cast is still figuring a lot out. If you put, say, the Nein in Alfield next to Vox Machina at the Briarwoods Banquet? Yeah, one of these is stronger.

The thing is, that aimless fucking around led to character moments, which is the absolute heart of why the Nein are my favorites, and why I think many others love them as well. Without a clear mission or benefactor, this party had to figure out an identity and what they wanted to do, and in doing so, we got incredible moments between pretty much every party member. Vox Machina has no shortage of incredible conversations, but, for example, Keyleth and Scanlan just straight up don't interact one-on-one very much. You can't point to something like that in the Nein. I also think the fact that none of the characters knew each other terribly well helped with this. I've brought that up to contrast with the bonds in Campaign 3; it's not a bad thing to have a person your character comes in with and knows well, but much as I adore a twins conversation, the reason those conversations are so good are because Vex and Vax both spend a lot of time with other people as well. With the Mighty Nein, everyone has to do that because really, with Yasha gone half the time and then with Molly's death early on, we've got Fjord and Jester (have known each other like a month longer than anyone else) and Caleb and Nott (six-ish months and they're both hiding a lot.)

I really do get if people prefer that Vox Machina has two clear missions (with plenty of fuck around time built in) to start, the show-stopping Briarwoods arc next, and then the Chroma Conclave, especially watching after the fact - I am not sure how C2 is if you binge it vs. watch week to week, and it may suffer from a binge watch whereas C1 honestly might benefit. But the payoff is so great; you do not get the interpersonal relationships the Nein eventually have with each other without that early need for them to set their own direction.

Moving on from there, I love the setting of Wildemount and how much slow travel there is (which, to be fair, Vox Machina didn't have because that was all pre-stream; the Nein started teleporting at level 9 and Campaign 1 starts with the party at level 8). I love, as I mentioned, how tied to the continent everyone is and how relevant that is to most of their stories. I do think Molly's abrupt and unfair death early in the story is a crucial part of who the Nein are, and serves as a defining moment that is impossible to replicate but is very meaningful to me.

Also, and this is getting into some very idiosyncratic stuff: I love wizards and clerics and paladins and we get all those. I like gruff or overly formal characters with tragic backstories and good hearts and that's most of the party (unsurprisingly, Vex and Percy, in that order, are my favorite VM members). As someone who is constantly fighting the "Dump WIS not INT" fight, the fact that the Mighty Nein is fairly smart and has multiple characters specifically interested in history and politics and lore is right up my alley (the twins and Percy and Scanlan in C1 serve a similar purpose, and the fact that C3 doesn't have anyone really like this...shows).

I also like that the Mighty Nein are never famous, and I think some people don't like that. For all they are heroes of the Dynasty and end up with connections in the Empire, they aren't council members or tied to anyone specific, and this floating mercenary nature means they are setting their own pace. The only part where I think things get frustrating after some of the rockier early days is when they're hunting down Obann, and that's only a few episodes. While Molly's death is a defining moment, what is honestly a more defining moment is a few episodes earlier, when they decide against the multiple institutionally-backed job offers and decide to take a couple of jobs that will get them out of the city. I think it was jarring for people used to Vox Machina, with their duties to the council of Tal'Dorei, who dedicated a third of their campaign to saving the continent from dragons; but the Mighty Nein's greatest duty is always to each other and to becoming better people. The focus is always on them. Yes there are fetch quests, yes there are NPCs who give them some unavoidable tasks, and yes people use the term "player agency" in weird ways all the time; but the Mighty Nein are, I think, the zenith of what a player agency driven campaign can be. The story is, above all else, theirs and theirs alone.

I don't know if there will be a Campaign 4 - I'm a bit more sanguine about the prospect than I was earlier in C3 - but for what it's worth I don't think Campaign 2 is irreplicable. Or rather, it can't be replicated, obviously, but I think they could do another campaign that is deeply tied to its setting and lets the party choose their own adventure in the same way. It just takes a little more prep up front, and a little more flexibility once it actually starts. If there is a campaign 4, I really hope they do it in that same style.

[the-french-belphegor]

So after the two (so far) seasons of The Legend of Vox Machina I’ve discovered the first campaign of Critical Role kinda like I made my way through the Discworld novels: haphazardly, “ooh this bit sounds interesting”, “ooops I should probably watch/read this before I watch/read that”, etc. So now I’m well and thoroughly into it, having listened to the entirety of the last 16 or so episodes; I started from the top (I’m on episode 28) and having a blast listening to/watching these idiots flail around.

Anyway, one of the many, many things I love about it is the number of times Vax just picks up Scanlan? “I scoop up Scanlan and go piggyback style”, and “I start to creep further with [Scanlan] tucked under my arm like a football”, “I grab Scanlan by the scruff of the neck”, plus that bit in season 2 episode 12 in TLOVM... They made me laugh so hard and they broke my heart so bad. They’re adorable and I love them lots.

So here’s a sort of “4 times Vax carried Scanlan and one time Scanlan carried Vax”. ‘Cause, you know. That one time. Also that other time.

(💖💔)

[encyclopediacr]

Critical Role schedule for the week of April 29, 2024

Tuesday, April 30 — Creating Characters for Candela Obscura: The Crimson Mirror, featuring the cast of the chapter and Katy O'Brian, who could not join the investigation itself due to a scheduling conflict

Wednesday, May 1 — Midst: Season 3, Episode 12 and, for subscribers, Episode 14

Thursday, May 2 — Critical Role: Campaign 3, Episode 93

Further details are available at the blog post on the official website:

You can check out what else is happening in the future at the upcoming events article at Encyclopedia Exandria!

[littlebosslady7]

Critical Role Schedule for the week of August 12, 2024

Monday, August 12th: — Re-Slayer's Take episode 11 for podcast streamers, Break/No new episode on Beacon.

Monday, August 12th: — Everything is Content returns when Taliesin Jaffe and Ashley Johnson sink rival ships in Steamworld Heist 2 on Twitch, YouTube, and Beacon at 7PM PST

Tuesday, August 13th: — Critical Role Abridged Campaign 3, Episode 17 for YouTube, 39 for Beacon

Wednesday, August 14th: — Moonward episode 2 continues with the creators of Midst, Marisha Ray, and Liam O'Brien on the Midst YouTube, Critical Role Twitch and YouTube at 7PM PST.

Thursday, August 15th: — Bell's Hells continues their adventure on Exandria with Campaign 3, Episode 104 on Twitch, YouTube, and Beacon at 7PM PST.

Thursday, August 15th: — Critical Role Cooldown with the cast directly after the latest episode, only on Beacon

[critrolec3-cumulativefckcounter]

Total F-bombs Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode 73 Kindling the Spirits

Per Character:

Ashton: 12

Chetney: 7

Fearne:

Fresh Cut Grass: 2

Imogen: 3

Laudna: 1

Orym:

Total Fucks for Campaign So Far:

Fearne: 29

Orym: 69

Fresh Cut Grass: 78

Laudna: 184

Imogen: 215

Chetney: 527

Ashton: 1103

Dorian: 18

Numbers collected from watching and following transcripts and are subject to when the curse is said in character. I'm only human so these counts might not be perfect if I didn't hear something or thought a f*ck was being said by the player not the character.

[critrolestats]

Quick Answers 91

Updated to C3E048.

Do you do "makin' my way" stats/counts? Trying to figure out if the no singing/dancing video was Matt's first "makin' my way."

Matt’s first recorded use in a campaign was in episode C2E131, 2:28:48.

We don’t keep a list specifically for this stat, but we did collect all of the Campaign 2 references. You can also easily find every individual reference to “A Thousand Miles” by visiting each of our individual Media Reference posts; we’ve made sure to label each instance, so a Ctrl+F will serve you well.

Can you tell me which episode of VM Percy admitted to Vex that he heard her when she said “it’s yours, darling”?

C1E087, 2:59:12

What are the most consecutive episodes without a dragon in a main CR campaign?

That honor belongs to the Mighty Nein, who faced off with Gelidon, an ancient white dragon, in C2E075, and then went 48 episodes before seeing her again in C2E123.

Next are Bells Hells, who went 46 episodes before Gloamglut, a fey dragon, appeared in C3E047.

After that is the Mighty Nein again, who went 44 episodes before meeting Thelischas, the young blue dragon, in the Folding Halls of Halas in C2E045.

Is Critical Role still pre-recorded? If so, are the CritRoleStats livetweets pre-planned, scheduled, or are they done live as the stream is broadcast assuming the author has not seen the pre-recorded video?

We can confirm that the episodes are still recorded in advance. CritRoleStats is not affiliated with Critical Role; we’re watching everything unfold with the rest of the fandom. All our liveposts are made as soon as the content airs!

Read more at critrolestats.com

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 78

NOOOOOOO!!! No Liam? No Liam tonight? Bummer ...

Gods ... now Sam's a DOG ... how much worse than the Cat is this gonna be? Marisha is onto him, apparently ... yeah, no she's right, he is totally still the Cat ... yup, just as I thought ... oh dear ... XD

Ashley: "This is my favourite bit." Matt: "Oh ... it's my favourite when it's done."

Another NOOOOO!!! No Critical Role next week? Gah ... damn you, Thanksgiving, ruining it for the rest of the World ... I shake my fist at thee, non-anthropomorphic holiday ...

Yes, that's right, she KICKED HIM IN THE FACE. I do not blame her. That was a fucking MESS ...

Oh, they are all FREAKING OUT and it's entirely understandable ... yes, heal him, FCG! Heal him! 22 points back ... which he definitely needs ...

And now Fearne hits him in the face with his own bloody hammer ... 2 D20s? Oof ...

Crack! Oh boy ... andnow she's REALLY upset ... she's trying to BREAK his hammer now. Oof ... good thing she only rolled a 12 in strength ...

FCG tries to catch it? Oh boy ... Holy shit that WORKED ...

Fearne just grabs the Harness and storms off ... again I don't blame her ...

Laudna: "They betrayed us." Whoa ... hang on now ...

Wow ... it seems Ashton has ISSUES ...

Chetney's just rushing off after Fearne ... honestly, I don't think she's coming back any time soon.

Oh, so now Ashton can FEEL the very stone around him ... and then also there's the fire ... and now he's gonna puke? Oh boy ... fuck, is that the fucking crystal? Are you kidding me?

What, so it's a NEW crystal? Okay ... and his Constitution is PERMANENTLY reduced by 2? Oh, his body REJECTED the Shard? But he's still different ...

Wow .. so he really did all that for nothing ...

Fuck ... now shat thd fuck is going on with Laudna? Oh shit ... FUCK OFF, Delilah!

A Wisdom Save? Really? Fuck ... oh, Delilah is ACTUALLY trying to take over ... thank the gods that didn't work ...

Apparently Orym is nonplussed too ...

Yes. Ashton does INDEED have ISSUES ... but clearly it's NOT his fault, he's just been through it snd it kind of DROVE HIM to do the wrong thing ...

Even in the midst of All this angst, Ashley STILL tells Sam to "Stop it!" when he sneezes. XD

He wants to be WHOLE and not this broken thing he thinks he is ... oh man ...

FCG's right, this HURT Fearne ... they need to FIX this ...

Yup, Imogen has a point. They have to wait a day now ...

Chetney is VERY worried about Fearne and what she might do ... yes. He fucking SHOUL BE. Oh, she's gonna DESTROY the Harness ... shit ...

Oh she is just falling to pieces right now ...

Yeah, she really IS scared of Dark Fearne coming out ...

Chet is being REALLY SWEET and she doesn't even notice him sneaking the Harness out if her grasp ...

She said it. She actually said it. She's got a thing for Ashton. It's official ... oh boy ... and now she's really pissed about it ...

They're still in the tunnels, there aren't ant windows to break ... oh, they're really gonna do that? Wow ... it WILL make her feel better, at least ...

Laudna was prowling in the shadows eavesdropping on them ... and now she's just skulking around the tunnels ... oh boy, she us in a REALLY bad place ...

Marisha: "The chair knows what it did."

Ashton did indeed fuck up because he's an idiot.

Sam being very naughty again with that flask ... Taliesin: "That wig ..."

Imogen notices Laudna is gone ... tries to Send to her ... roll a D100? Oh man ... 9 points of Psychic damage! Crap ...

Oh boy ... Fearne and Chetney are indeed smashing windows ... oh, the Pale Guard have the good sense not to fuck with THIS ... yeah ...

Wow ... now Gwendolyn's in on the act too ... XD

Fearne is taking some personal time ... going to the graveyard ... hmmm ... the Dawnfather's temple, and the Matron's temple too ... she goes into the latter ... of course she does ...

She is alone ... with the tombs ... oh, there IS an altar? Okay ...

Trying to speak to the goddess, looking for guidance ... her postcards? Oh man ... she's leaving THESE as sn offering? Fuck ...

A young one-legged raven ... oh ... that was kind of sweet ... hmmm ...

Laudna is still sneaking around in the dark ... out into the woods ... darkly introspective ... oh boy ... but things are very different now ...

Ashton follows the sound of breakage ... oh, so Percy is NOT PLEASED ... but reflecting ... hmmm ...

Wow ... this is quickly becoming a very meta conversation ...

Oh, we're seeing the more peaceful and reflective side of Percival De Rolo again ...

Good gods ... and Ashton and Percy actually becoming friends? That is truly bizarre ...

Chetney (to Gwen): "The Fuzz! RUN!!!" XD

Imogen's still searching for Laudna, but having no luck ... ouch ...

Flossing ... oh boy ...

I love how Allura is thoroughly exasperated with the Hells but it's nothing she ain't seen before and she's definitely becoming quite fond of them ... this is like THE THIRD TIME for her now ... oh yes, she really likes these idiots ... :3

Imogen: "How much time do we have?" Allura: "All the time in the world and none at all."

Meanwhile Chetney's just roaming about in just his pants ... O.O

Grim Psychometry? Oh okay ... on the Shard ... this should be interesting ...

Primordial elemental spiritual weirdness ... hmmm ... yeah, it's all a bit vague but also not ...

Fucking hell ... they really are all very out of sorts right now ...

Is Laudna safe? FCG's coin says ... yes? Hmmm ...

Oh wow ... Chetney is NOT taking any prisoners right now ... oh shit ... where is this going?

That was ... a lot ...

Damn it ... fucking Delilah again ... gods, I fucking HATE that bitch ... oh seriously, Laudna, DO NOT listen to her! She is BAD NEWS ...

A doll for Ashton? Interesting ... off to her cabin, then ... and now time for a break ...

Fearne makes herself a druidy version of her old home in the woods for the night ... hmmmm ... oh, this is very nostalgic ... now she's thinking of Nana ... time for bed, then ...

Marisha and Ashley both roll D20s ... Will they run into each other?

Laudna stalks the night. Like a creepy goth wolf ... the scent if old charcoal ... oh ... she's home ...

Oh, so she IS making a doll for Ashton ... chipmunk skull, quartz ... fancy in a weird way ...

Oh for the gods' sake ... Delilah's at it again ... DON'T LISTEN TO HER, Laudna! Damn it ...

Now she's trying to turn Laudna all the way against Ashton ... fucking hell ...

Morning ...

Fearne wakes up and forgets she's not at Nana's ... oh ... she teats the whole thing down again ... oof ...

Laudna wakes up cold and lonely missing Imogen ... heading back, then ...

Imogen is panicking because Laudna didn't come back in the night, makes FCG cast Locate Creature ... no joy? Just means she's not close ... chill, Imogen ... but she's even more worried that Delilah's back ...

They grab Orym and go looking for her ...

Chetney still lives ... gods, he's playing it bloody close now ... he and Ashton are the only ones left ... Chet wolfs out and decides to test out Ashton's new arm ...

Roll initiative? Really?

Oh boy ... Ashton attacks with an unarmed strike ... oh, that definitely hits ... POW!!! Ouch ... now the hammer ... another big hit ... more ouch ... oh, so that's it, then? That was an anticlimax ...

They go looking for the others instead ...

FCG gets a blip ... homing in ... they find the others ... searching together now ...

There's Fearne ... oh, is she in a good mood? Interesting ...

And now there's Laudna ... okay ... and she's RUNNING AWAY ... what?

Now they're just chasing her into the forest ... and Chetney's in the lead, closing FAST ... he tackles her to the ground ... she is still PISSED at Ashton ... dangerously so ... oh boy ...

Imogen tells Ashton to just GO BACK to the castle ...

Wow ... this is getting REALLY fragile all of a sudden ... I DO NOT like where Laudna's at in her head right now ...

FCG: "Orym's never been this quiet." LOL

Maybe a break and a retreat is a good idea ... go to Nana Morri's? Yeah ... maybe ...

Chetney: "Let's go find the dumb dumb." Imogen: "Lady Allura?" Chetney: "No! OUR dumb dumb!"

Ashton is feeling the rock in the ground ...

Back together ... Laudna gives him the doll ... those is a very awkward reunion ... but they're both trying ... and Ashton does like the doll ...

And Ashton is going to try his best to make amends to all of them ... awwwwww ... damn it ...

They go find a VERY FLUSTERED Lady Allura ... and put the Fey Realm suggestion to her ... and she is actually FINE with it ... even though it's not opportune ...

Yes. THAT Fatestitcher ...

Oh ... so Allura is coming too ... oh, actually I love it ... :3

FCG is now planning activities for them to get up to during their time off ... it's adorable ...

Ah yes ... time for a private talk for Fearne and Ashton ...

He's searching for how to apologise ... and being really sweet about it ... he's actually doing really well ...

She's still a little mad at him ... which is fair ...

Ooooh ... adventurer Allura? That sounds a bit sexy, actually ...

Off already, then? Okay ... more pokes at absent Liam ... XD

Teleportation into another realm! O.O Awesome ... and they're back in the Fey Realm ...

Yup, this is definitely the place ...

The Ligament Manor ... lovely ... Fearne comes home ... Peepers! Hello! Awwwww ... that thing is adorable in a really awful way ...

Wait ... is that BIRDY?!!!

It is ... and Nana ... awww ... a sweet and simultaneously disturbing reunion ...

Yup ... Matt is IMMEDIATELY giving Travis little nightmares and I love it ... XD

Vitoren? Hmmm ...

The Hideaway is buried? Okay ... timely enough, in the end ...

Allura is TERRIFIED. It's perfect ... LOL

A scavenger hunt? Oh fucking hell ... what fresh hell is THIS idea? What are you going to unleash upon us, FCG?

Yes ... the Moon ...

Oh ... so the Bridge is genuinely HURTING all the magic in Exandria? Great ...

Fearne is coming to some kind of nexus point in her destiny? Intriguing ...

Wow ... Tavan ... the demon mark ... here we go ...

Ollie! Hello! Oh ... yes, grub, lovely ...

So the scavenger hunt is really happening ... wow ... this is going to be ... interesting ... and FCG is seriously considering having Nana wipe his memory so he can take part in the hunt too ... oh boy ...

"DIRTY Fey" ... yeah ...

Wow ... a whole new chamber just for them? Cool ... in a scary way ...

Time to wind down, then ...

And that's it ...

Thank the gods they're on the way to patching things up after THAT chaos ... I was getting worried ...

They really are the most full blown fucked up dysfunctional party in the whole show's run to date, aren't they?

[eirwyn]

Season 2 of the Legend of Vox Machina is over. And as per usual I have some thoughts.

I know I said this last time, but I was genuinely scared about going into this season because the Chroma Conclave is the best arc Critical Role has ever done and I am including all three campaigns in this and no I’m not open to debating it. It is the best story they have ever told.

Anyway.

This is high stakes for me. Again, I knew stuff was going to have to be changed. I knew stuff would have to be moved around. I remember Matt saying that we might get more of the bad guys’ perspective which obviously we couldn’t get in the campaign, which, again, would change things. I am bad at change, but I promise I was braced for it.

I can say that almost unequivocally, I love all of the changes they brought about. Every time I heard a line from the campaign I would start cry-laughing hysterically. I had forgotten how much I fucking worship Vax. The Raven Queen was so gorgeous in animation and I loved all of their scenes together, even if I do still hate her. Vax’s story still reduces me down to emotional wreckage. Saundor and Fenthras were just incredible, and Percy got his mic-drop moment. So grateful to see Artagan and hear Matt voice him, for a moment I was afraid we weren’t going to see him at all.

The little changes to Grog’s story were perfection. The clever way they tied in Earthbreaker Groon and Craven Edge and Kevdak. Screamed at the top of my lungs at ‘VOX MACHINA FUCK SHIT UP!’ Thought we weren’t going to get Kaylie at all, so pleased to see her. The Kill Box is the only fight I regularly rewatch and I was so pleased to see it done such justice.

I have only one gripe, and that is the changes done to ‘I have passed through fire.’ I completely understand why, but in my opinion, most of the emotional weight of that line was completely washed away. Am I grateful it was included? Endlessly. Will it ever live up to the campaign? Not ever. But it’s the only aspect that I can describe as such, which considering they’ve had to condense hundreds of hours of story-telling into 12 half-hour episodes is pretty damn amazing.

I’m incredibly excited for season 3. I can’t wait to see what this talented bunch of nerdy voice actors manages to do next. And with the announcement of the Mighty Nein series, Critical Role is going from strength to strength to strength. And while we’re now well beyond what a crazy bunch of fans kickstarted for them, I can’t help but feel a slight sense of personal pride in everything that’s happening for them. I did that. I helped make that happen for them. My silly little emotional support D&D show is now on TV, and I love them, and I helped.

[thelavendersquid]

“Fan favorite. And by fan, I mean me.”

SAME, Sam. SAME.

[isagrimorie]

I'm really curious if Critical Role/Metagaming Studios gets a chance to develop a Bells Hells animated series how they would break the series into seasons.

It feels like Campaign 3 is the most serialized (if you can call an Actual Play show that) of the 3 campaigns. Matt has milestones he wants the campaign to go to, and right now they're hitting each part of it.

Littlest Adventuring Party saving Exandria and Exandria's Heroes.

But going back, I do wonder how they will break that, which episodes will be in season 1? Which ones will be in season 2?

I'm so curious!

Especially if each episode for BH falls into a similar 12-episode season as LOVM.

(If it ever does get animated we have so long to wait for it!)

[nochi-quinn]

legend of vox machina watch party episodes 10-12: non-fungible thordak

"she's not having any of our shit tonight"

did matt get a haircut

"you're not leaving 'til 2 am, bitch"

"are you a vampire coven?" "if taliesin were here we could talk about it"

episode 10 act 4 part 3

"this is where we forgot to draw the city"

liam fangirling his own show

"OPE he lost his fingers"

"stop SPOILING. there's gonna be ACTION in the show."

"the tree piece in this game is really OP"

"shitty vox machina came in to ruin their Warhammer game"

"I forget which animals are fused with humans."

"shut UP matt"

"shout out - oh shit he's in the room"

"you slapped porkchops for like hours"

why does that sound like a euphemism

"I feel like that'd be it for me"

"matt mercer is mean!" "I didn't spend hours building those toothpick barricades for nothing!"

"that's why we named her pike"

"is there no basement? there is not"

bassment

I love how much they love their show. I know I was poking at liam earlier but it genuinely is so charming

"same arrow! that's called being responsible"

phil defending his poor herdsmen

"you guys are VIOLENT"

"TOP ROPE"

"spoilers!" maybe it'll be different on my screen

"and they were correct"

I FORGOT HE ONLY HAD ONE HITPOINT

recklegreweapomastah

"you sound like you've had your ass kicked" environmental storytelling

"there's a z-pack in there somewhere"

"zanror, needlessly hot" liam is fully horny on main tonight

"are they brothers like neptune and uranus were cousins"

"but I was born in canada"

"I actually had to shit myself for that line" "we all did"

"it's fun! and also disgusting!"

"let's not psychoanalyze me tonight"

"keyleth is the cutest" glad we're all in agreement

matt is all of us

"get a JOB leave him ALONE"

"she's bullying vax" "you're not wrong"

"he's doing the whole band" how else are you gonna get backstage

"we had to cut things from other episodes to get in 'at dawn we plan'" good

you are now Neutral with The Herd

release the underwear bible

"it is a square"

"you know what's weird? watching this scene with your kids"

"HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS" "it was very difficult"

"did you have to have a talk about bondage and safety?!"

"we have…DIFFERENT PARENTING STYLES"

COLOR SCRIPT COFFEE TABLE BOOK

GIMME

that's a cool band logo

oh NO

matt broke all over again

listen sometimes you just have to have a mental breakdown, it's good for your mental health

"we asked! we forgot."

"turkey vulture!"

"in a week we can talk about it. …something else bad will happen by then." my life for the past year and a half

sam: let me make this as awkward as possible so it can only get better from here

"you write a creepy thing and you feel guilty about it" "critical role"

the writers were on top of that one

"we talk all the time you guys"

"none of this should be happening"

"see, now chat's mad at you"

SAM

THAT was liam?!

I'm turning in my voice actor fan card

"you're gonna be the guy they hit"

the fact that he wasn't doing a low bass was why I didn't clock him tbh

"take that, vegeta"

EPISODE ELEVEN

"seventy-five!" "eighty-three!" "hike!"

OH the mugs!

samuel

"beautiful nonsense scene"

travis slapping sam's hand away from the edits

"what you did is bad!"

"THIS IS A GOOD SHOW"

"I'm sure it's fine"

"this is taliesin's front yard, actually"

"look what they did to my boy"

"campaign 4 reference, shh"

"kiss him, vax"

I looked up the show sam and liam referenced, it aired 92-93. I was 4.

umbrasyl listens to linkin park, it's canon

"he's a lot less menacing if you think of him as a whiny kid" there's a lot of that in that last fight

"award-winning awkwardness"

"ashley did not have to act here"

"I think taliesin wrote some of this bullshit"

"if you'd stop FEEDING THEM"

"cut my heart out" liam gets me

"blood pools are my kink"

"it's capri-sun, it's fine"

"it's a discotek at night"

"I've had this dream" I have been blessed to not have drowning dreams, if that changes now I'm fighting matt in the street

between the two of them liam and courtenay voiced half of new vegas

matt drop the raven queen lore

matt you have to tell sam's kids it's the law

"is it YOU?"

not the creepy cg mask

"he's just a little dork!" accurate

percy 100% would have been a train nerd

why did liam's mic pick up him knocking on his head so clearly

very cool that they built the trap in 3d

"this is basically a documentary"

"HO DAMN"

"he goes INVISIBLE?!"

phil with the list of the names

that, that "can't hit what you can't see" felt very adolescent to me

"some said longer, some said shorter" "we disregarded both!"

"the only episode this season where we end on a cliffhanger"

"episode 47 down"

travis I heard you echo that "duty"

remembering that liam went through all of this while dealing with his mother's death

matt: like comment and subscribe

"if you don't do it you'll turn into a squidface" "that's season 3"

"for some people that's a plus"

I don't know why I like the phrasing "deity version" so much

"there's love there!"

the way he says "conversations" means those two have definitely had at least one fistfight over canon

DARGINS

weasel dragon

Dragon Department

CEO of Dragons

I want "Dragon Team" on my resume

"because percy invented the metric system"

"it's canon now"

17 de Rolos

UMBRASSYL

"chat wants you to show - " "your muscles"

"I practice in the car so my neighbors don't call 911"

EPISODE TWELVE

hope devouwewer

"I want a pink dragon that spits out glitter"

"back inside that bad dragon" liam no

watch out for that treeeee

"but HOW THOUGH" sam gets me

"always bring a healer" stares at laura

"when the raven from the opening went by I fell out of the chair"

"you don't have to choose one" mica/percy/vax polycule

embiggened vestige

umbrasyl on 3G

"YOU'RE NOT MY DAD"

travis keeps catching himself from saying "d&d" and says "ttrpg"

"that's just liam just talking to me"

"kiss her you fool"

scanlan as paul rudd makes 100% sense and I hate it

"RUDE. UNNECCESARY. didn't have to do it and did it anyway"

vex can't feel vax bc gatshadow's made of lead

"ancient dragon, he can do what he wants"

"we had another ending in case we didn't get a season 3 where scanlan ran and everyone died" "whAT?"

"why would you DO THAT TO ME"

liam stop saying bad dragon

"ANIME YELL"

to make an omelette you have to crack a few scanlans

"that's a scrabble word"

"the theme….but slow"

"it's all hue lights"

wait WHAT

rewatches every previous yennen scene

"she could have written a letter" but the mail fraud

age has only done amazing things to cree summer's voice

"what porpoise"

"to go do Vegas"

"put it all on red"

"I'm putting it all into bitcoin"

"he's a cryptobro" "he IS the big bad!"

"you don't get the egg, but there's a code for each individual egg"

I made the poor decision to drink liquids during the watch party again

"that's that thing that I said!"

you know what it makes me think of lernie from hades

this is not a complaint

GOD I mentioned an artbook and now I want it so bad

thordak: talking mad shit for someone in thagomizer range

sketchy vax wings?!

sketchy vax wings!!

"it's not over for all you lefthanded people"

"my wife's a lefty and every morning I say the same thing"

"don't worry laura, you'll be something someday"

The Internets

where's that comic that always makes me cry with the AWNP lines over That Counterspell

matt dropped out of art school to be a rules lawyer

ghibli keyleth!!

cASSeteria

"now you've made me sad" "GOOD"

"fifteen seasons and a movie trilogy"

"he's the EP so he said he gets the killing blow"

"is that you writing" "he uses a typewriter"

"oh god I have to do this again"

[utilitycaster]

I've seen you talk about found family dynamics a few times and how its often abused in fandom and I know Bells Hells in no way fits this trope but I was wondering about your thoughts on Vox Machina and Mighty Nein within the dynamic or if it doesn't fit those groups either.

Hey anon,

So here's the thing: I actually think the bigger issue is that most people make a lot of incorrect assumptions that a found family is automatically functional and healthy and loving and ignore that simply because it is a family born of choice rather than birth. D&D parties are often found families, but they are also often a bunch of deeply traumatized weirdos who met by chance in a tavern, which is not precisely a recipe for the most well-adjusted dynamic. People can make terrible choices of family just as easily as they can be born into a dysfunctional or abusive family.

A lot of people also equate found family with "they need to stay together forever in the equivalent of the avengers' mansion" which is similarly not true. What is a family? It is an (often) lifelong bond; but the people within the family still also have their own lives outside of it, and might live apart while still loving each other very much. They also often forget or try to disparage the idea that characters can belong to a found family while still also having families by marriage or blood outside of it and might need to make compromises to balance the two, even though this is again a very true thing of families in the real world.

The cast of Critical Role generally gets this; the fans don't always. Quoting from episode 1x85 for the second time in like 12 hours but as Keyleth said, "I think Percy's right. We're worse than friends, we're family. And family leaves." I can't entirely define a found family - it is ultimately a vibe, and it is ultimately subjective - but I actually think Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein are both found families.

What's always been very revealing to me is that no one ever really disputes Vox Machina is a family, even though from the end of Campaign 1 until the TCSR was published over four years later, in early 2022, it was assumed that they were all living separately or in couples - Percy and Vex in Whitestone; Keyleth in Zephrah; Scanlan and Pike in Westruun; Tary in Wildemount; and Grog traveling the world but often finding himself in either Vasselheim or Westruun. Indeed, even with the TCSR and the fact that everyone has residences in Whitestone, Keyleth does usually live in Zephrah (though she can easily travel); Vex must spend time away from both the others of Vox Machina and her actual family by marriage and blood given her duties in Emon; and Scanlan splits his time between Whitestone and Ank'Harel. Perhaps it's that there were already familial bonds between the twins and between Pike and Grog, and that only Tary dated outside the party and the people who make this claim often forget him anyway.

People do frequently argue the Mighty Nein are not a family for parting ways at the end, despite this being no different than Vox Machina, and also actually being far more able to reunite quickly than Vox Machina can. I think it's in part because several party members (Veth, Jester, Caduceus) all did still very much value their biological families and a lot of found family people really do not like that, but also...look. Most Campaign 2 hate is a front for either being mad that Molly wasn't resurrected or being mad about one or more of the ships. I've never seen anyone whose only complaint was "I felt like it was a found family but then they parted ways"; it's always thrown in on top of being far more angry about several other things.

For what it's worth: I don't think Bells Hells are quite as bonded, but I do think they're on their way, especially if travel and communication remains messy and they're forced to spend more time on watch and sharing rooms (again: I think Matt's vision for this campaign is, in retrospect, actually pretty great, but it should have probably been communicated a bit better to the cast and more investment have been put in the character development to compensate for the challenges of this unique structure). My issue specific to the fandom response to Bells Hells as a found family isn't that I think they're not going to be a found family; it's that people who insisted they actually had the best and most honest found family dynamic and everyone who disagreed were just being haters suddenly turned on the proverbial dime when a character not in their good graces was the one who actually voiced it.

In summary: I think people in fandom, generally, place a disproportionate weight on found family as like...an end all and be all and forget that much like a family of blood/marriage/adoption, a found family can also take on many different configurations and have various levels of functionality and honestly and healthy behaviors; and in doing so forget to actually say "is this dynamic of closely bonded people fun to watch and interesting? then who cares what the fuck we call it." But I do think it's hard for a D&D party in a longform campaign of very close friends not to take on some familial traits.

[fluffyapplecat]

Episode 51 of Campaign 3 of Critical Role has a runtime of 4 Hours and 55 Minutes, the break will begin at 2 Hours 50 Minutes (about 9:35PM PST/crit role time). Further quickly calculated timestamps below for anyone else they might be useful for! (times may be off by a minute or two, but still!!)

Crit role times (PST):

6:45PM - Beginning of stream

7:45PM - 1hr

 8:45PM - 2hr

~ 9:35PM - 2hr, 50mins - Break timeeeee ~

9:45PM - 3hr

10:45PM - 4hr

11:40PM - 4hrs, 55mins - End of stream

--

EST:

9:45PM - Beginning of stream

10:45PM - 1hr

11:45PM - 2hr

~ 12:35AM - 2hr, 50mins - Break timeeeee ~

12:45AM - 3hr

1:45AM - 4hr

2:40AM - 4hrs, 55mins - End of stream

--

GMT:

2:45AM - Beginning of stream 3:45AM - 1hr 4:45AM - 2hr ~ 5:35AM - 2hr, 50mins - Break timeeeee ~ 5:45AM - 3hr 6:45AM - 4hr 7:40AM - 4hrs, 55mins - End of stream

[encyclopediacr]

Survey summary: Page Recommendations

As our final summary of the survey results, here are some recommendations for new pages we wanted to talk through. Once again, you will notice that the theme is "we are a small group, and Critical Role's programming and scope has vastly expanded in the past year or so." If you are passionate about something, please do not hesitate to jump in and start editing.

Character stat pages: we just started these! Starting with Bells Hells' level up to 12, the first level-up after CR Stats stopped updating, we started subpages to track the changes with each level-up (see Fearne's as an example), though level 13 updates are still in progress. These are also in use for the Rivals from Call of the Netherdeep (see Ayo's here). We will be doing this for further Bells Hells updates and hypothetical future campaigns. The main thing keeping us from going back and making level updates for Campaigns 1 and 2 or earlier Bells Hells levels is the time commitment, especially since this information is already available on CR Stats. Should you wish to help fill this in, we would love to have you. We do have a page for Sending specifically, but not for all spells. CritRoleStats will have this information through January 2024, and the Omen Archive has it for Campaign 3. We cannot commit to the same level of statistical detail as CRStats did without dedicated editors focusing on that. If this information is important to you, consider reaching out to the Omen Archive or volunteering to update it!

Links to Talks transcripts: Unfortunately, these are auto-generated for the most part, so we decided against hosting them as they are extremely inaccurate. If someone is interested in cleaning those transcripts up, please feel free to contact us, as we'd be happy to host them.

Details on Candela Obscura, EXU & TLOVM: this all seems to be asking for series-level information. We'd love to know more about what you specifically would like to see, as we do cover these in depth!

Miscellaneous: Music playlists, Larkin Watch, Air Ashari, the Clay/Dust/Stone story - these are all added to our list of things to make. Larkin Watch will likely be a glossary entry (Larkin does redirect to Raishan!) but the others are all great ideas!

One-shots and their characters: this is a known gap. Thank you to all who participated in our push to fill in some of these this past winter break. With the exception of the Nord VPN one-shot, which aired while most regular editors were ill or unavailable; and Daggerheart, for which we have a summary but have not yet had the time to fill in all character information, we have kept up with new one shots since making the wiki fork. Older one-shots were often deprioritized on Fandom and while we have made a number of updates, it is a large backlog. Again, the main issue is time as we prioritize keeping up with current material, but we would love to revisit these one shots. If you're interested, please do not hesitate to jump in - even a single one-shot episode summary is a huge help.

Thumbnails: you can find them on their category page! For example: https://criticalrole.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:Campaign_3_episode_thumbnails

Nine Eyes of Lucien: This is also a known gap, and again comes down to the fact that no one who has read the book has had the time, as most are the core group of editors keeping current information up to date and it's been pretty nonstop since early 2023. We would love to have a volunteer to work on this, or alternately, people who could take over other significant ongoing updates for a few weeks so someone who normally works on that could focus on the Lucien novel. Perhaps this will be our next winter break project.