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[Critical Role] Campaign 3: First the Calamity, Now the Downfall
I caught the audio but was watching while working in the kitchen. I Will Have to rewatch the reveal when it goes on youtube.
ep11 Spoiler
Chetney the werewolf?! I could tell Travis was having such a fun time hamming up that transform.
And Dorian with
the nat 20 death save. Jeebus. He didn't know the rule because he was proud but not excited until the rest of the table hyped him up. That's so awesome!
I love the grumbling anytime they take a gondola. It’s great.
Also, I’m getting so excited for Legends of Vox Machina next Friday. It’ll be my first introduction to the campaign 1 characters. I learned in the announcements tonight that it is getting a proper release by episodes over weeks instead of a full season dump. I’m kinda in favor of the episodes coming out over weeks, in reflection.
I love the grumbling anytime they take a gondola. It’s great.
Also, I’m getting so excited for Legends of Vox Machina next Friday. It’ll be my first introduction to the campaign 1 characters. I learned in the announcements tonight that it is getting a proper release by episodes over weeks instead of a full season dump. I’m kinda in favor of the episodes coming out over weeks, in reflection.
Where the first two episodes are standard fantasy fare involving a simple monster hunting quest, the Briarwood tale is a revenge story centered on stoic gunslinger Percy (Taliesin Jaffe). Jaffe’s performance comes to be a highlight of the series, whether he’s doling out dry sarcasm, exasperation at his friend’s antics, or just plain pissed off at everything. He gives his character a lot of presence, and with that connection to the larger world, he gets two of the show’s best moments. And it helps that the Briarwoods themselves—voiced at maximum villain level by Grey Griffin and Mercer himself—serve as a good juxtaposition to Vox Machina. The couple are so refined and subtle in everything they do, that the moments where they get their hands dirty are all the more impressive; they make it clear that Vox will have to get their shit together if they want to help their friend achieve his goals.
Bailey’s elegantly voiced Vex’ahlia and O’Brien’s suave Vax’ildan somehow exude an even stronger bond in this new format, while the heartwarming friendship between Willingham’s brute Grog and Johnson’s sweet Pike comes alive in a way that feels genuinely earned. Ray’s quirky and awkward Keyleth, by far the most relatable of the crew, brings a poignant and earnest grounding to the druid, and Riegel’s boastful and cocky Scanlan shines brightly as a standout — as do his songs. Jaffe, meanwhile, imbues Percy with a distinct sense of curiosity and intrigue that entices us to peel back the layers of his past, even if we already know it. (And of course, we can’t leave out Vex’s armored bear Trinket: the true MVP of the group.)
Exceeding past its novelty as an adaptation of a Dungeons & Dragons livestream show, The Legend of Vox Machina for Prime Video spices up the booming fantasy genre with stunning artistry and real heart and humor. Its first bits of dialogue are a panicked, uncensored “What the f*ck?” and minutes later, a gnome with chest hair goes down on a naked elf.
Such humor rarely negates the exciting dark fantasy action that lies ahead. Nor does it disserve its meaningful themes of found families, revenge, and the self-serving exploitation wrought by the elite upper class. But its unique mischief christens Vox Machina to be more bold and riotous than anything else streaming today.
What we get in The Legend of Vox Machina is what's left over, after all of that chaos energy has been distilled into pure story. Distilled, and greatly condensed: Storylines that stretched over hours and hours on the web series play out, here, over the course of one or two half-hour episodes.
In the five episodes made available to press, the sprawling world Mercer's built doesn't get a chance to convey even a hint of its depth, but I suppose it would seem odd if it did, given the narrow remit of the animated series. Here, the team of familiar characters fight many of the same foes they did in the Critical Role campaign, and harbor many of the same secrets.
But does The Legend of Vox Machina stand on its own, if you have no familiarity whatsoever with its source material? Sure.
Within the span of a dozen minutes, we get to see our main cast get drunk, puke everywhere, chop off a few limbs, and a gnome seduces an innkeeper’s daughter — bare breasts on display and all. The first two episodes stumble with this repeatedly; the characters aren’t your traditional fantasy cast, the show assures us. They say “fuck,” argue amongst themselves, and prefer gold to glory.
Trying this hard, and going this dark, isn’t always a bad thing — but in both tabletop gaming and adult animation, amateurs can veer too hard in that direction in an attempt to differentiate themselves. For a bit, I worried I was in for a D&D story where the party roll around as murder hobos, slaughtering and swearing their way across the realm, and the eventual joke would be the idea that anyone actually cared in this setting.
Sure enough, the opening episodes spread shock value on thick. It’s rough, especially because once they finally veer off that course, the show suddenly gets really good.
The gist I've gotten is that the first two episodes suffer a bit from trying to emphasize that it's not a kid's show, but once the Briarwood arc gets started in episode three it's excellent.
EDIT: BTW, do you guys think this thread should double as the one for Legend of Vox Machina, or should I start a separate thread just for the animated series?
I'm fine with the cartoon being discussed here as well, though we may get the issue we had with a Game of Thrones/Wheel of Time book/show threads where people who only know the show may get spoiled on future events. With the show being currently two casts further along, it probably won't be as much of a problem, but certain characters fates may be.
Any guesses for a group name? They've talked about it a bit and Matt had Lord Eshteross say they could give him a group name to introduce them, but nothing's come up yet.
Vox Machina was originally the Super High Intensity Team (or the S.H.I.T.s), with their more well-known name meaning "Voice Machine" and being inspired by the fact that their voices would be heard through machines.
The Mighty Nein got their name because they kept rolling nine's and liked Liam's German accent for Caleb.
The Crown Keepers only decided on their name after Opal put on the Circlet of Barbed Vision, having previously went through a huge list of names (some suggestions more serious than others). Liam came up with the Odd Lot as one of those suggestions, which sounds like its getting there in terms of a name for the Campaign 3 party, but doesn't quite have the pizazz that Vox Machina or the Mighty Nein have.
I've watched maybe 9 minutes of the first episode of Legend of Vox Machina this morning.
F-bombs aplenty, boobs, naked Scanlan, flying eyeballs outside of someone's head.... someone else's brain splattered around, copious amounts of blood.... this is show is definitely not for kids. Almost as many jokes so far as there has been blood.
I've watched maybe 9 minutes of the first episode of Legend of Vox Machina this morning.
F-bombs aplenty, boobs, naked Scanlan, flying eyeballs outside of someone's head.... someone else's brain splattered around, copious amounts of blood.... this is show is definitely not for kids. Almost as many jokes so far as there has been blood.
I'm going to love it.
It has very strong couple not great campaigns into table top RPG feel to it.
Now that I've watched all three epsiodes... yes I do love it... but maybe they're playing into the humor and apparent disfunction of the group a bit too much. That said, shit got really reals with the Briarwoods.
I definitely do not remember Percy's actual mask and that much overtness around the whole "spooky shadow stuff" that Percy has going on there from the C1 show itself. Maybe I'm mis-remembering.
Now that I've watched all three epsiodes... yes I do love it... but maybe they're playing into the humor and apparent disfunction of the group a bit too much. That said, shit got really reals with the Briarwoods.
I definitely do not remember Percy's actual mask and that much overtness around the whole "spooky shadow stuff" that Percy has going on there from the C1 show itself. Maybe I'm mis-remembering.
I do remember the mask being mentioned a few times, but it never was much of a thing.
Now that I've watched all three epsiodes... yes I do love it... but maybe they're playing into the humor and apparent disfunction of the group a bit too much. That said, shit got really reals with the Briarwoods.
I definitely do not remember Percy's actual mask and that much overtness around the whole "spooky shadow stuff" that Percy has going on there from the C1 show itself. Maybe I'm mis-remembering.
I do remember the mask being mentioned a few times, but it never was much of a thing.
He put it on sometimes when he was saying creepy stuff and he said a decent amount of creepy and weird stuff during that part of campaign 1. But I listen to it as a podcast and they didn't stress the black smoke as much. I'm guessing they are going to have that be a bit more obvious in the show.
Now that I've watched all three epsiodes... yes I do love it... but maybe they're playing into the humor and apparent disfunction of the group a bit too much. That said, shit got really reals with the Briarwoods.
I definitely do not remember Percy's actual mask and that much overtness around the whole "spooky shadow stuff" that Percy has going on there from the C1 show itself. Maybe I'm mis-remembering.
I do remember the mask being mentioned a few times, but it never was much of a thing.
He put it on sometimes when he was saying creepy stuff and he said a decent amount of creepy and weird stuff during that part of campaign 1. But I listen to it as a podcast and they didn't stress the black smoke as much. I'm guessing they are going to have that be a bit more obvious in the show.
I remember Percy saying the creepy stuff, just not him putting on a plague mask to do it. Oh well.
And yes, the smoke and whatnot is definitely needed in a visual medium to convey it to an audience. I dig it.
Now that I've watched all three epsiodes... yes I do love it... but maybe they're playing into the humor and apparent disfunction of the group a bit too much. That said, shit got really reals with the Briarwoods.
I definitely do not remember Percy's actual mask and that much overtness around the whole "spooky shadow stuff" that Percy has going on there from the C1 show itself. Maybe I'm mis-remembering.
I do remember the mask being mentioned a few times, but it never was much of a thing.
He put it on sometimes when he was saying creepy stuff and he said a decent amount of creepy and weird stuff during that part of campaign 1. But I listen to it as a podcast and they didn't stress the black smoke as much. I'm guessing they are going to have that be a bit more obvious in the show.
I remember Percy saying the creepy stuff, just not him putting on a plague mask to do it. Oh well.
And yes, the smoke and whatnot is definitely needed in a visual medium to convey it to an audience. I dig it.
I know he sometimes put on the mask in the campaign, but yeah they will probably have him do it in the show more often to make him all the creepier. Plague masks are something.
So I have limited time as of late and chose to watch the new episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina instead the new episode of Critical Role. I'm curious if the animated series releasing when it does has eaten into the viewership numbers of Critical Role at all, or if perhaps they've increased instead.
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Fangirl squeeee
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Ep11 has begun.
Travis' character is going to die and his next one will be even older
I caught the audio but was watching while working in the kitchen. I Will Have to rewatch the reveal when it goes on youtube.
ep11 Spoiler
And Dorian with
Fearne: "Bite me so I can be a werewolf faun druid."
Gurge: "Nope."
Also, I’m getting so excited for Legends of Vox Machina next Friday. It’ll be my first introduction to the campaign 1 characters. I learned in the announcements tonight that it is getting a proper release by episodes over weeks instead of a full season dump. I’m kinda in favor of the episodes coming out over weeks, in reflection.
Second half: Spa day!
I hope they show Scanlan's dick in every episode
earn that MA rating
Gizmodo
IGN
Inverse
NPR
Polygon
The gist I've gotten is that the first two episodes suffer a bit from trying to emphasize that it's not a kid's show, but once the Briarwood arc gets started in episode three it's excellent.
EDIT: BTW, do you guys think this thread should double as the one for Legend of Vox Machina, or should I start a separate thread just for the animated series?
Haha, it's fine.
C3E11 endquote:
That killed almost everyone at the table, and me
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Steam profile
Vox Machina was originally the Super High Intensity Team (or the S.H.I.T.s), with their more well-known name meaning "Voice Machine" and being inspired by the fact that their voices would be heard through machines.
The Mighty Nein got their name because they kept rolling nine's and liked Liam's German accent for Caleb.
The Crown Keepers only decided on their name after Opal put on the Circlet of Barbed Vision, having previously went through a huge list of names (some suggestions more serious than others). Liam came up with the Odd Lot as one of those suggestions, which sounds like its getting there in terms of a name for the Campaign 3 party, but doesn't quite have the pizazz that Vox Machina or the Mighty Nein have.
Mighty Nein didn't have to come up with a name for much later I feel like, and then also came up with it almost immediately.
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This sure is something.... different.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
F-bombs aplenty, boobs, naked Scanlan, flying eyeballs outside of someone's head.... someone else's brain splattered around, copious amounts of blood.... this is show is definitely not for kids. Almost as many jokes so far as there has been blood.
I'm going to love it.
Help me I'm dying
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
It has very strong couple not great campaigns into table top RPG feel to it.
Wait till the bats.
I definitely do not remember Percy's actual mask and that much overtness around the whole "spooky shadow stuff" that Percy has going on there from the C1 show itself. Maybe I'm mis-remembering.
I do remember the mask being mentioned a few times, but it never was much of a thing.
He put it on sometimes when he was saying creepy stuff and he said a decent amount of creepy and weird stuff during that part of campaign 1. But I listen to it as a podcast and they didn't stress the black smoke as much. I'm guessing they are going to have that be a bit more obvious in the show.
I remember Percy saying the creepy stuff, just not him putting on a plague mask to do it. Oh well.
And yes, the smoke and whatnot is definitely needed in a visual medium to convey it to an audience. I dig it.
I know he sometimes put on the mask in the campaign, but yeah they will probably have him do it in the show more often to make him all the creepier. Plague masks are something.
I've gotta rewatch this and episode 11 too.
The bit that contained "But what about your face." had me rolling.
And then they went shopping.
Yup. I like it.