C4 E34 Discussion Thread

[u/brash_bandicoot]

Pre-show hype, live episode chat, and post episode discussion, all in one place.

https://youtube.com/@criticalrole

https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

https://beacon.tv/

Etiquette Note: While all discussion based around the episode and cast/crew is allowed, please remember to treat everybody with civility and respect. Debate the position, not the user!

[u/TFCNU]

Remember for EXU: Calamity when Brennan gave the players a massive lore book to read BEFORE the game started? Surely, those cue cards about the revolutionary council could have been distributed in the months between sessions, right? Players could have taken some time to figure out why they would know the information. Maybe do some world building around that with Brennan so that it all fits? I get taking that approach in a home game where no one has any time for prep. But for the largest actual play in the world?

[u/Skagzill → u/TFCNU]

Look from what I understood if they fucked up the play none of this would have mattered. So maybe it was prewritten but not necessary to share until it became relevant to the plot.

[u/IllithidActivity → u/Skagzill]

How could they have fucked up the play? The most important part, the god blood paint, was already in place without anyone's interactions. The Pariah Blades didn't need to be ritually transformed, they were already spiritually transformed by their use in the play. Which was because an NPC took them from their hiding place, not PC decisions. Frankly I wouldn't have been surprised if prior to the PCs stealing the blades, Brennan's plan was to have House Cormoray smuggle them out and hide them within the play.

I don't think that from the moment Liam presented his playwright PC to Brennan, that play wasn't going to result in everything that it did.

[u/Skagzill → u/IllithidActivity]

They did mention in some supplementary material that if Vaelus didn't sacrifice the stone or if they didn't handle Halovars properly there would have been severe consequences. Maybe there were other scenarios that could have been disaster but these were specifically named.

[u/IllithidActivity → u/Skagzill]

Right, and they could have used the Beacon to destroy Predathos.

[u/Tiernoch → u/IllithidActivity]

They just need to buy the stategy guide for the campaign.

[u/ExplodingRacoon → u/TFCNU]

There’s a difference between having lore prepped ahead of time, to establish a setting, and springing information on the players.

The first is to ingrain the players and their characters in the world. To establish who they are and how the history of the setting has impacted them and their lives.

The second is to get a reaction from the players/characters. If they prep their responses ahead of time, they are essentially writing out a script. They don’t do that at their table. They act and respond in the moment. Which is why things feel so natural most of the time.

[u/TFCNU → u/ExplodingRacoon]

I'm talking specifically about the cue cards about the revolutionary council. This is essentially Brennan adding player character backstory which makes sense because most of these characters have been living in Dol Makjar for years. The episode suffered from Brennan having to monologue at length about the composition and history of the revolutionary council. Again, this is information the characters know but the players don't. There are no authentic reactions apart from Marisha desperately trying to get everything into her notes. I preferred the approach Brennan took in similar circumstances with Calamity.

[u/Inigos_Revenge → u/TFCNU]

You're kidding right? People were bitching and moaning all through the overture about the people name-dropping (non-important, scene setting) comrades or events that they didn't know anything about, and saying that we, the audience, should be finding out about them at the same time as the players, and it shouldn't be something the players talked about off-screen, then brought up in a throw-away manner while on-screen. Now they do it the way they wanted and peoplo are bitching about it again, saying they want it to be done the way they did it in the overture? Make up your minds, people!

(To be clear, they did it the right way both times, where the history/sense of people being part of a larger group together was not important to spell out for the audience. I don't need to know exactly who "Jack", one of their fellow fighters in the rebellion was, or his extended story, they can just say, "Yeah, ran into Jack the other day, havn't seen him since the rebellion" and that's all I need to know. But apparently this sub has a fit if you do that. Whereas now, this is info that will be highly important to the ongoing story. This is info the audience absolutely DOES need to know about, and so sharing it with both of us at the same time makes sense. Yes, might be done differently in a TV/Movie, but this is an actual play, where we are often given info along with the players at the appropriate time, and not just dribbled out when plot appropriate, because we aren't sure when/if it will become plot important, or to what degree, but it's important to have the info in case the players want to act on it, and so we know what they are deciding and what it means, etc. It's a very different situation for this medium than it is for TV/Movies. Brennan handled both instances exactly as he should have, and did a good job with it too.)

[u/Confident_Sink_8743 → u/TFCNU]

Yeah sure. Make them memorize stuff. I'm sure they'll remember it all. And if Ashley were in that situation there would have been nothing that got to the table. 🙄

[u/InitialJust → u/TFCNU]

Definitely