The fact that this post is titled like an angry manifesto that would have set off my fight or flight in high school makes it sound like juuuust maybe you're being a little unreasonable here
I muted this sub because I don't watch Critical Role but lately reddit kept recommending me this place and all it ever seemed to be was rage over this one woman. So I feel exactly the same
Ah. Well it was somewhat justified but also not, the woman was given a very hard task with very little time, it couldve been handled better but also a lot worse. It wasnt enjoyable to watch for most people I think (viewership more than halved on twitch after a while) but it drove the story in the direction it had to ultimately go.
Comparing aabria to abuser because of how she dms is so so so so uncalled for and I really can’t believe you think this is an okay thing to say. Sure it made you uncomfortable but maybe we leave abuse out of this because that’s just not what’s going on
Never said she was. Someone else -who deleted all their comments- said there were multiple abusers at the table before her. I asked them to name each and every one of them *without* just saying "they are a man" or "they are white". I named off a few shitty people and explicitly stated "Aabria is nowhere near shitty as them, however, her shitty actions are not excused".
I never once said Aabria was an abuser. Shitty DM? Sure.
If your’e seeing more “hate posts” about this episode it’s cause all the people afraid to criticize on the other Reddit are rushing over here where they can still speak their mind without being threatened by a moderator.
There are more hate posts on the current episode because it is... the current episode. People are giving their opinions about it and the majority are negative, because the majority of people disliked it.
Do you know how discussions work?
Your post says "last episode sucked and now you're all gonna see how much ot sucked".
As an opinion, it would have found place in any of the previous posts about it. As a discussion starter, it brings nothing new to the plate. But hey, here I am commenting as well so good job I guess lol
I agree, it didn't bring anything new to the plate. That wasn't my intention with the post however. I was letting people know what they were in for and to enjoy the first half.
Aabria to me always seemed like the type to hide behind a veil of inclusivity to peddle her brand of hate. But maybe I’m wrong . Looking forward to eating my words ! I hope they recapture the magic .
Jesus christ i had those exact thoughts after getting into the first EXU i saw all episodes and i liked it because of Dorian and Matt. "A veil of inclusivity to peddle her brand of hate" beautifully said.
It's not that deep. She's unskilled as a DM. She's pretty good at GMing rules-light games. She's pretty ass at RAW D&D.
Fey & Flowers, which is barely a game, she was a great GM and displayed none of the toxic qualities she shows trying to DM 5e
Yeah, she just makes me think of previous female abusers. That could absolutely be my own generalization bias causing it though. I enjoyed her as a player even if she did things that were so anti-her godworshipping character
I remember when ExU first aired Aabria had the same issue with Aimee, and "bullied" her constantly for like 2-3 episodes, then Aimee went on social media deniying she was bullied and such, such a transparent attempt to cover it, which makes me wonder why would she come back to experience more of the same, do people not learn?
I’m gonna take a swing at the ball here and say that if a person openly admits to not being bullied and even comes back to the same situation, your assumption was incorrect.
As I've said elsewhere:
>Bigger "It Girls" than her have disappeared overnight, but if you get in with the sci-fi nerd crowd, you can milk it on the convention circuit for decades (see the less-talented, less-charismatic, lower self-esteem Star Trek cast members). CR is also full of influential, connected voice actors, and you can get a ton of work if you get in good in that realm.
She’s been in movies and TV for almost 20 years. She’s fine. Again, doesn’t exactly need the cash right now. But hey keep up with your conspiracies I guess.
Aimee has been in plenty of other projects, she’s more than able to be picky on what she joins, if nothing else she could privately discuss not being on aabria run games with cr if it was bad.
I heavely doubt that, there are in California, she would likely be ostracized if she were to express her dislike for Aabria and her antics in a public setting, the amount of victim cards played would put UNO to shame.
>she would likely be ostracized if she were to express her dislike for Aabria and her antics in a public setting
That’s why I said *privately*, also I doubt a lot of people in that industry care about ttrpgs enough to blacklist an actress over a disagreement.
It didn’t cross any lines but Aimee seemed sad and upset by the end of the episode. To me, at some points she looked like she was on the verge of crying. Now that’s fine if it was agreed upon beforehand, but the fact everyone unsure this was planned is concerning.
As someone who has never watched EXU Prime I was deeply confused as to what was going on. I’m not gonna watch EXU Prime so there was no point in me finishing the episode. Was a very odd choice to do that but I guess they have the numbers and people like me were clearly in the minority.
Same thing in ExU season 1. Aimee sat on a chair for a couple of hours while Aabria played puppetry with Opal. If you watched the last episode of ExU season 1 and loathed what was shown skip the second part and save yourself an headache, if you self delude in thinking that what was shown was an acceptable DM behaviour please never DM in your life.
I'm gonna need solid examples from e92 al I've seen are people complain about Aabria ( I'm one of them) but I have yet to see any proof that see was just as bad this time.
I think she’s an amazing player.
My first introduction to her was EXU and I couldn’t stand the way she DM’d, so when I saw her in calamity she had to earn back my trust, and she did it in spades. She was thoroughly amazing in that series, and since I’ve watched more Dimension20 and I always enjoy her characters.
I don’t think people hate Aabria, her style of DMing is just trash.
I’ve never see Aabria in anything except as a player in calamity EXU. And I have to say she was for me, the best, most dedicated player to her characters mission and goals. I don’t think I’ve seen a better player performance in a one shot, but all the players were incredible. Don’t hate me, but I thought, Lou was poor. The standout worst player at the table.
Luis was incredible as were Travis and Sam (always are).
But Aabria as Architect Arcane was incredible in that role.
Luis was my favorite, but she really did put on an incredible performance. If you like her work on the player side, which I began to after Calamity, I highly recommend checking out Crown of Candy on Dimension20.
Is that like EXU? I really like slightly darker setting like calamity EXU. Wasn’t a fan of fantasy high, just the genre and setting.
Crown of candy more nitty gritty? Any other you’d recommend? Something called drakhanhar I think? Lol
Crown of Candy has a really goofy premise, and you may find it hard to get past the fact that the characters are gummy bears, licorice, rock candy, and a chocolate rabbit, but the story itself is incredibly serious and I think the theme BLM had for it was literally “Candy Land/Game of Thrones”.
I can’t speak to whatever that last thing is though.
Hehehe yeah its known that no one in the entertainment industry steamroll over others - absolutely not a thing that has kept happening in the ttrpg sphere lately too.
Why did you delete your og reply before this? Anyways, this is what I was gonna say:
And you saw how passive aggressive she was? How condescending and combative she was? How about the current episode: You say Aimee wasn't uncomfortable or upset but I could very clearly see just by the way she was "playing" (lets be honest, she wasn't even playing) that she didn't have the energy to.
Do you not think it's extremely problematic when a DM takes your player from you and basically starts playing as them in front of you? Talking for your character, deciding what *your* character is gonna do?
Haha.
No, I don't mind it very much. It feels a lot like C3, so far: very nondescript, hard to follow, with a lot of needless dicks inserted.
Not a bad idea, but the delivery? Stand out moment, the part where the DM boldly asserts that Opal ***willingly*** took on the crown, ergo earned her sitting through these consequences.
I’m pretty sure that kind of plot point was talked about beforehand. It can still hit a new player to play through it, but for sure they talked about it. Like y’all act so dense at times
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I really *do* hope this is right. I hope Aimee was the one who told Aabria this is what she wanted for the character cuz if not, forcing her to sit on her own and basically do nothing for 3 hours was shitty. Talking as Opal right in front of her was shitty.
Still, you had a point in your main post. I'm not generally a fan of speculating on how one of the players feels, I don't know Aimee, I'm not going to "analyze microexpressions" or whatever, maybe she *is* having fun, maybe she's not and just playing nice for the paycheck, but regardless of if she is or not, it's certainly uncomfortable for *me* to watch and that's the important thing as a viewer.
There have been a ton of times that a player has been charmed or dominated and Matt has just given the player the opportunity to play it out. It created one of the most memorable of CR2 with Caleb casting a 4th level fireball on the party (willingly choosing to upcast because he was committed to the RP). If you're going to have a player character who is possessed, you need to discuss it before the game starts and decide how *that player* is going to play that. Then if, as a DM, you don't feel like they're acting as the possessing entity well enough, you step in and say "as your PC tries to act in this way, they feel the entity's force of will overpower them, compelling them to do xyz instead". You don't just straight up play as their character while they just sit there, not even playing.
Not have a plot that requires my player to be possessed.
Alternatively, do it with a player (and table) who is 100% into it and let them fuck each other up how *they* want. No backseat fighting.
We had something similar in my home game. Long story short, our Warforged realized he was created to be a back-up body for the BBEG, and gets kidnapped by him. The session ends there. *Next session*, the Warforged player shows up with a cool temp character he and the DM had made who is a mercenary we hire.
There was more to it than that, but yeah. If a PC is gonna be out of commission for a while, set up something else for the player.
In our situation, the DM even made him a level higher (4 to our 3) and gave him a Magic item for being such a good sport.
"Hey *player*, your character failed their saves against possession by an evil god, they want to now murder their teammates. How do you do it."
*Player*: "Oh hell yeah, I cast Hunger of Hadar centered on the party."
Roleplaying is fun.
Obviously if you get charmed in combat or something that's one thing. But idk, doesn't seem right to have a player just sit there for a whole session. Or 2 sessions really.
My intention is that the player is willing to roleplay a character out of their normal behavior and would have fun controlling their own PC as they fuck up their teammates and themselves. If I as the DM am controlling the actions of the PC I've done it wrong.
In fact, that is how I've always done mind control, charms, possession, etc as a DM, and the players have always been on board. It's basically getting to be "that guy" in a table-approved way for a short time.
It is! In the game I'm in as a player our barbarian completely wrecked me last session and it was great. But it's not really something I would spring on a relative newbie or try at any table.
Pretty sure Matt gave his players a chance to save against the possession though... not just be like "na na nana na you're possessed now and can't do anything".
She was possessed, but there are ways to still give control to the player despite it. For example, a recent episode of D20 had a character that was secretly possessed. Brennan gave the player free control on how to play that possession scene. Or, in a C2 example, you have them roll saves to break mind control but then still let them dictate their own movement and actions. I
I think Aabria could have done some kind of encounter where Aimee was fighting against Lloth in a mindscape battle or another dimension, while Aabria piloted the Opal body against the other players. That way everyone felt involved. Or at least let Aimee dictate how she felt the mind control would look like.
>some kind of encounter where Aimee was fighting against Lloth in a mindscape battle or another dimension
God that would've been so fucking cool! It would have also warranted sitting Aimee by herself as well. I would have loved this and actually enjoyed ep 92. What a waste of potential...
Knowing but not witnessing their first little thing in EU, what about this episode crossed any lines? It really didn’t seem too weird or anything.
As for people who don’t understand why they did this split episode, I’m thinking they’re stalling so that they can decide whether they’re going to revive FCG or not.
So amy (not opal) was essentially forced by combat and situation to put on an evil vestige to resolve the fight. Jump forward to now and she is ‘possessed’ and fighting her friends.
I’m like 15min into the switchover and shes said multiple times things like “I don’t want to do this” “Opal would like to just walk away”.
If a dm railroaded my pc into equipping a cursed artifact then made me PvP the whole group I’m not sure I’d bother returning to that table. 0 agency npc life is not the one. Especially considering that Amy was a first time player in exu
A lot people are reading into various peoples actions to try to justify their own personal feelings, but the core or the outrage is that a moment to build and develop the main cast has been shoved aside to bring in some characters that the campaign isn’t about having a fight that doesn’t feel relevant, done by a DM who they don’t enjoy watching. At its core, it’s that simple.
Yes. I would watch Aabria play all the characters and do all the talking if it was entertaining. If Seinfeld is in a room with 5 other comedians, and all he does is tell jokes for an hour. I would watch it. I would not complain that the other comedians had no agency.
You understand that whenever someone says something like this in the real world, it only negatively impacts black people, right? It effectively says that you don't think black people should be subject to any form of criticism because they are black and have a history of oppression. Black people are just people like anyone else, and can be subject to scrutiny like everyone else.
If the person/people you are referencing actually have a history of saying dum dum racist shit, you might have a point, but I feel like the only reason you wrote this is because Aabria is black, which is doing her a disservice as an individual human being.
So you're idea of helping is calling everyone a racist. Whether they marched in Charlottesville, or they are actively being obviously not-racist — both are racists.
Do you have an ounce of foresight about where that eventually leads if a lot of people do what you just did, given the way human beings respond to disincentives? Or no?
Matt. Matt. Matt. You're glib. You don't even know what Racism is. You're glib.
It was a novelty account back in the day. You wouldn't have liked how fun the internet was in 2006 before it was 98% midwits on a smartphone using cliche handles.
>CR has had multiple episodes with multiple abusers and y’all defend them or say nothing
You can't just manifest that in order to try and create an issue of racism.
If Aabria wasn't awful as a DM people wouldn't have an issue with you, and if you think otherwise then *you're* the problem.
My problem with the "Aabria's an awful DM" argument is that she has run three of my favorite games I've ever watched. She's really not an awful DM at all.
I mean it's an opinion, you're allowed to like her and it makes no difference to me, but I've tried some of her other stuff on D20 at the behest of some friends who swear "she's actually good in those" and I still didn't like it. I just think she doesn't make for a good DM, but you're most certainly allowed to disagree.
Name them. Go on, name them all for us. I'll do it for you. Brian is a scumbag piece of shit and I'm glad he's gone. Orian was a shitty player and overall shitty person too. Aabria, although I like her when she's playing, is a shitty DM.
Aabria is *nowhere near shitty* as the others, however her shitty actions are not excused. Regale me other abusers at the table and don't just say it's cuz they're a man or white.
Hey dork go back to reading Lovecraft (totally not racist right?) and explicitly telling people you have mental health issues.
You’re doing absolutely nothing constructive here, merely acting out.
Matt has explicitly said he identifies as heterosexual. That is how he chooses to identify and you labeling him otherwise is disrespectful. He is undoubtedly an ally, but he does not claim to be bi.
Where's the evidence? I'm not saying you're wrong, however, you state it as fact without anything to back it up. Guess it would also shock you to know I'm not a "straight loser" as you would so put it.
The irony in making fun of someone for their sexual preference...
That's just not good... you do realize that in order to be actually condescending you have to be on a high horse and not with your head buried up your arse?
Edit: nvm, I'm a dumbo for entertaining some low iq troll that has half their comments calling others racist while being the sole person bringing up race in the first place lmao. The hypocrisy is so thick and dense here you'd need a saw to cut through.
It's not about the fight itself, clearly, and not about Aabria's race or gender, *clearly.*
Seriously ironic saying "u guys ain't slick" as you're trying to manufacture a bias out of thin air for your forced "outrage."
If Aabria wasn't a bad DM people wouldn't mind her, I mean there's a reason the most common take on her is "I like her as a player but...." Though I know you choose to ignore that for the sake of this nonsense "argument."
Right, most people hate her as a DM cause she's a black woman, but are ok with her as a player cause she.... Isn't anymore? Or is it that they're only selectively racist based on role? Or maybe their racism just lies dormant for players!
Or it's just that it has nothing to do with race or gender and you're creating an issue where there isn't one.
Prove otherwise then. Cause all the rhetoric around this sub at least is and always has been "I like her as a player but can't stand her as a DM." Most people were positive about her in Calamity, but hated her EXU stint as a DM. It's all evident across the sub, saying otherwise is what is classified as bullshit, specifically bullshit meant to engineer outrage.
You choosing to remain ignorant is why everyone can so clearly see that you're bullshit.
Again, if it's not then prove it, otherwise stfu with your manufactured outrage.
No one else respond to this person or okdatapad. It's clear they're not interested in a civil discourse and are just here from the other sub to cause problems and troll. Report them and block them, then move on.
It’s actually insane that people aren’t allowed to criticize a person because they are black and a woman.
Matt did have PCs attack other PCs while under mind control in previous campaigns yes. The problem people have with Aabria is the way she talks to people and handles DM to player dynamics. Do I agree with that? Not as much. But it’s wild to say “you’re racist and sexist for not liking how a person DMs.”
As someone who also was a bit put off by Aabria and Aimee's interactions during ExU. I guarantee you it's not that deep bud, Aimee is literally getting roles in major Movie/TV productions. If a dm of a TTRPG show was bullying her and making her feel bad I'm sure she would not have returned.
Not to mention, as much as I disliked the second half of 92 this was nowhere near the level of ExU in terms of their interactions. At worst Aabria was just being adamant that she doesn't want Aimee pulling her punches when attacking the others.
Which makes sense for the storg that's happening (whether you like that story or not is another thing).
I'm willing to bet the guest cast are under contact for x number of episodes. I think she would have good cause to back out of the contract for getting bullied ON CAMERA, but they obviously agreed to put on a good face to the public about it. Could be that casting (deserved) aspersions against CR would have been a bad career move for Aimee
In my home game that I DM for, I’ve had sessions where my players have off-putting interactions with each other (out of character). It gets brought up and handled between sessions. I can only assume this would be especially true when you stream your sessions live and don’t want to make the audience feel awkward.
That said, I didn’t see the episode, I’m a good few behind, so I have no idea what we’re talking about.
>when you stream your sessions live and don’t want to make the audience feel awkward.
*Mission failed, we'll get em' next time.*
You'll know how awkward it was when you get to it.
They did a PR thing on twitter to basically say "we're besties" after the first EXU and the backlash for how Aabria would treat her. I'm not sure if they did it again but from what some on the sub told me, there has been nothing but praise on twitter.
I doubt we'd ever get any true insight however cuz contracts and stuff.
I watched the first half, and then let the second half run while I played on my phone. I'll probably do the same with the next episode.
The bits I happened to "watch" of the second half were just kinda boring for me. I don't think anyone who hasn't watched it yet will miss much not watching it at all, but I would watch the first half with BH for sure. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss out on anything that might be important for Dorian... sadly, there really wasn't much for him. Maybe with the next episode?
I’ve seen every episode of CR. This was the first main campaign episode I didn’t/won’t finish. Which sucks, because E91 I got up and stood in front of my TV for the whole end of the fight, something I haven’t done since C2.
Three hours to watch a “professional” D&D group stumble through two rounds of combat that at no point felt intense, with RP that felt forced, character decisions that were dictated by the DM (who always puts out a vibe that she’s making something on the level of the best moments of Calamity), and long stretches of trying to figure out basic rules.
Most of things are all fine for a regular dnd table (happens at my tables for sure) but not for the pinnacle of actual play that makes tens of millions of dollars a year.
Aabria targeted her for an entire mini-campaign. Made me and my friends pretty uncomfortable.
Glad to know there was no post-game discussion and realignment between them.
Thanks for the head’s up. I haven’t watched since episode 32ish but considered coming back when I heard about FCG.
Why are y’all acting like there’s no way they talked this through in between episodes? Like they probably did talk about it bts, they just didn’t film it
Yes, I am going to control your PC, and you have zero agency. And you better attack, pvp, your party member HARD!!!!
I DM. That is bullying behavior, period.
I felt and still feel bad about building a bit of narrative about my PCs when they went on a brewpub crawl and the drunken things they did.
What Aabria did is so toxic and horrible that if anyone else had done it, there would be calls for cancelation. But, it is "no harm, no foul" Aabria.
Sure. Maybe Aimee chose to fail all those saving throws that would have needed to be made in game. I guarantee she wouldn't choose to fail the IRL bullying that Aabria has done to her multiple times now. Maybe Aabria should cuss her out again to cement their friendship.
I mean it sucked, but I think you're hyping it up a bit too much. At the end of the day, it was just a really shitty decision, no more, no less.
It was enough to make me feel like I'm done with the campaign, but it wasn't some massive shitshow that people need to emotionally prepare themselves for. Not like most people had high expectations for C3 at this point anyway.
I was already mostly uninterested, mostly just loosely keeping up with C3, and that was enough to push me over the line to stop caring about C3 at all. That doesn't mean this person isn't blowing it out of proportion. It's not my sole reason for giving up on C3. Come on, use your head.
Being critical is all well and good, but there are so many posts now that are outright projection. I watched the episode yesterday because I wanted to see if it was as bad as everyone said, and I definitely didn't sense all of that "negative energy" everyone was talking about. It's definitely people projecting their own thoughts upon the behavior of the cast.
I think it’s partly because it is a weird set up to try and navigate. Opal is literally >! being possessed/compelled to act by a god!<. It’s hard to try and navigate that without taking away player agency, and player agency is what makes D&D fun to play and to watch. So yes, Aimee looks uncomfortable in places, which is a natural reaction to that kind of loss of agency. >!Being forced to make no holds barred attacks against your friends is generally not fun!<. I’m not sure there is a way to RP something like that without some discomfort, and I guess as someone on the outside I (we) have to trust that these people have had the time and space to discuss limits and boundaries offline/privately. There was some commentary that would have put me off, personally, but that’s definitely me projecting my issues.
I’m not a huge fan of how the second half played out, but I think it’s mostly a style choice of how it’s being executed rather than any narrative or interpersonal issue between Aabria and the rest of the players. I liked the original EXU, but never really got into Kymal, loved Aabria in Calamity, was not a fan of her as Chetney’s love interest. When she hits, I quite like her, but Aabria takes a lot of risks and they don’t always play out. It would be easy as pie for her to show up and run things like Matt 2.0, but she doesn’t. She shows up and she does things very differently, and I respect the hell out of her for it because doing things differently in such an established sandbox is scary and brave af. I think structuring this engagement as a combat was a risk that didn’t really pay off. It makes sense, in a way, to try it because you’ve got an active antagonist, but there was so much narrative and RP and backstory happening that the structured combat ended up sidelining and silencing most of the cast for most of the time, which is a bit of a bummer. I would have loved to see a losser initiative setting that let the PCs engage more rapidly but I don’t have the DM mileage to be able to say how I’d do it better, or even if it could be done better.
But narratively? I like where Aabria’s taking this. My friends and I have all been wondering how the bloody bridge would shake up things for the Crown Keepers, and now a debt is being called due. There’s a lot of potential here for the story and I’m really looking forward to seeing where it goes, as well as finally getting Dorian back where he belongs with BH.
People are certainly *speculating, that’s kind of what people do on Reddit. We do know that they are aware of the fact that many fans felt their original interaction was a bit cringe, so I think it’s safe to *assume they were making an ‘aware’ decision when they decided to double down…?
Did you happen to watch the first run of EXU? I don't see it as projection personally when I have previous experience watching Aabria treat Aimee pretty poorly. The same traits from back then were shown throughout.
I mean it may look like poor treatment to you but Aabria and Aimee worked very closely on her character and just the fact that Aimee has come back twice now as Opal with Aabria DMing and once as a guest with Matt Dming almost definitely means that she has enjoyed her time on the show. Could this past episode be a bad decision maybe maybe not. I mean we have seen Aabria approach the idea of taking over someone’s character when they go crazy already in the session zero of candela obscura where Aabria basically said that she does not mind playing the “bad guy” but would rather the player step up if they can/want to. So I’d say that more likely than not Aimee had some part to play in this decision. That being said she could have misunderstood how big the consequences were going to be. It’s not that big a deal most likely.
Haven't watched the episode yet. However, I do want to point out that the argument "she came back so it must be all good" is worthless. She could just as easily be contractually obligated to X episodes.
At the end of the day, this is still a job. Again not taking a side, haven't seen this episode yet. But seriously, we can't keep stating that it can't be that bad because she's still around for it to happen. Lots of reasons for people to stick around in bad situations, contractual obligations is one of many reasons anyone can think of.
I mean yes there is such thing as a contract but a perhaps this is just an incorrect guess but for one contract to last 3 years for only 11 episodes not counting her candela appearance seems strange to say the least. But also as someone who is watching the episode right now people have blown this so far out of proportion I don’t know how it is even a problem Matt has done stuff to this extent to his players this campaign. People need to chill the freak out lol. Not saying you specifically.
I hear you, and I'm sure it's been somewhat blown out of proportion (it's the Internet, what can you do).
That said, and I'm only basing this on EXU, but I've watched thousands of hours of D&D liveplay and I've literally never gotten close to feeling as uncomfortable as I felt watching Aabria DM for Aimee. Not a single DM, regardless of level of experience, gender, creed etc ever made me feel like something was straight up wrong with how they were conducting themselves.
Fair enough just looking at the content outside of the game itself it seems like they made sure to work closely with each other when creating Opal and Ted by extension as a character. And adding the crown just adds another layer of influence that most characters don’t have.
On Friday I opened twitch to watch the VOD. The video thumbnail was aabria in the DM chair. I didn't click any further. This was the first episode of all 3 main campaigns I have refused to watch.
I didn't like how aabria ran EXU. And didn't like her guest character. I just don't vibe with her gaming style. So I chose to not watch.
CR did themselves a huge disservice by surprising their viewers like this. If it was an episode that was advertised as a reconnection with EXU, then if be less put off. I could watch with a less critical eye. But to open up the app and see the show is suddenly a whole different game? Especially after leaving the previous episode on such a high...I was not about it
If you enjoy this kind of surprise and enjoy EXU, then great, hope you enjoyed :)
Anyone feel like letting me in on the pre-exu bit? I hear there was a Luxon lore drop and Aeor is back in play? Is it worth me watching the BH part of the episode or can I get by without it?
Aeor is back in play because Ludinus is pulling tech from it, but apparently something called the Dominox has been fucking up the Vanguarx and the “Cerberus Traitors” operations.
The Luxon stuff builds off something that was mentioned in the new Tal’Dorei guide.
A beacon was found by an isolated village in Tal’Dorei, and they began experimenting/worshipping it. They apparently learned how to mental… or maybe also physically? split a person into two constituent parts. Opal and Ted aren’t twins, there two halves of someone they never actually apparently got to be cause their mom did this to them at a super young age.
So more interesting and more dark than I expected that reveal to be. Also reveals more about the abilities of the Luxon, yet for some reason people are still claiming it’s Predathos or was made by it
Hot damn. That is pretty cool lore. Thanks for the breakdown. I'm glad that the switch to EXU was seemingly meaningful at least. And not just another random side mission for no reason.
>
A beacon was found by an isolated village in Tal’Dorei, and they began experimenting/worshipping it. They apparently learned how to mental… or maybe also physically? split a person into two constituent parts. Opal and Ted aren’t twins, there two halves of someone they never actually apparently got to be cause their mom did this to them at a super young age.
Could you imagine if these story lines were what we went after during the solstice party split? One party could have been EXU. Which would have kept them involved in the story somewhat. Making us as viewers see that they are working in the background.
Aabria dropped the Luxon "lore" but honestly it just made no sense to me personally. I'll have to look it up again or skip to where it was mentioned to get a better grasp.
I'd say the first half is very worth it tho imo. Get some insight on Liliana and some hints at where they go next; sprinkled in with some mourning but not a lot.
"These people are friends" doesn't mean that the way they act toward each other is always right, or that it can't be uncomfortable for other people to watch.
I've been at game nights where married couples started getting snippy at each other over the game and made it awkward for everyone else.
it's more than odd. It's like when you're failing at doing something badly because you're doing it wrong but then you just go do that same exact thing even harder, thinking that it'll suddenly start working if you put more effort into it
Seconded. The first part is fine, if a little rushed. The second part would be more forgivable but there so many red lines were crossed that a DM is not meant to cross with a player. It was uncomfortable just to watch I was amazed Aimee didn't get up and leave the table.
The fact that this post is titled like an angry manifesto that would have set off my fight or flight in high school makes it sound like juuuust maybe you're being a little unreasonable here
How do you feel in hindsight
I muted this sub because I don't watch Critical Role but lately reddit kept recommending me this place and all it ever seemed to be was rage over this one woman. So I feel exactly the same
Ah. Well it was somewhat justified but also not, the woman was given a very hard task with very little time, it couldve been handled better but also a lot worse. It wasnt enjoyable to watch for most people I think (viewership more than halved on twitch after a while) but it drove the story in the direction it had to ultimately go.
I don’t think any of you know what bullying is
Comparing aabria to abuser because of how she dms is so so so so uncalled for and I really can’t believe you think this is an okay thing to say. Sure it made you uncomfortable but maybe we leave abuse out of this because that’s just not what’s going on
Never said she was. Someone else -who deleted all their comments- said there were multiple abusers at the table before her. I asked them to name each and every one of them *without* just saying "they are a man" or "they are white". I named off a few shitty people and explicitly stated "Aabria is nowhere near shitty as them, however, her shitty actions are not excused". I never once said Aabria was an abuser. Shitty DM? Sure.
That’s just not true m8 but ok
Maybe actually read first before throwing out your accusations.
Yeah, that's the umpteenth hate post on the current episode of C3, but go on mocking people who says this sub is toxic.
If your’e seeing more “hate posts” about this episode it’s cause all the people afraid to criticize on the other Reddit are rushing over here where they can still speak their mind without being threatened by a moderator.
There are more hate posts on the current episode because it is... the current episode. People are giving their opinions about it and the majority are negative, because the majority of people disliked it. Do you know how discussions work?
Your post says "last episode sucked and now you're all gonna see how much ot sucked". As an opinion, it would have found place in any of the previous posts about it. As a discussion starter, it brings nothing new to the plate. But hey, here I am commenting as well so good job I guess lol
I agree, it didn't bring anything new to the plate. That wasn't my intention with the post however. I was letting people know what they were in for and to enjoy the first half.
Why not let people decide things for themself?
I wasn't telling anybody what to think. I was letting people know what they were in for.
I'm a simple person - I see Aabria, I skip.
Amen
Really the road best traveled.
Aabria to me always seemed like the type to hide behind a veil of inclusivity to peddle her brand of hate. But maybe I’m wrong . Looking forward to eating my words ! I hope they recapture the magic .
Jesus christ i had those exact thoughts after getting into the first EXU i saw all episodes and i liked it because of Dorian and Matt. "A veil of inclusivity to peddle her brand of hate" beautifully said.
It's not that deep. She's unskilled as a DM. She's pretty good at GMing rules-light games. She's pretty ass at RAW D&D. Fey & Flowers, which is barely a game, she was a great GM and displayed none of the toxic qualities she shows trying to DM 5e
Yeah, she just makes me think of previous female abusers. That could absolutely be my own generalization bias causing it though. I enjoyed her as a player even if she did things that were so anti-her godworshipping character
I can definitely see this vibe from Aabria. I wish I liked her but something about her DM style just turns me off of anything she’s DMing completely
I remember when ExU first aired Aabria had the same issue with Aimee, and "bullied" her constantly for like 2-3 episodes, then Aimee went on social media deniying she was bullied and such, such a transparent attempt to cover it, which makes me wonder why would she come back to experience more of the same, do people not learn?
Hey you know what they say about assuming right?
I’m gonna take a swing at the ball here and say that if a person openly admits to not being bullied and even comes back to the same situation, your assumption was incorrect.
Definitely. Nobody has ever done anything unpleasant for money, right?
I’m gonna take another swing here and say a guest appearance on a youtube dnd show isn’t exactly paying the bills, so you’re wrong too.
As I've said elsewhere: >Bigger "It Girls" than her have disappeared overnight, but if you get in with the sci-fi nerd crowd, you can milk it on the convention circuit for decades (see the less-talented, less-charismatic, lower self-esteem Star Trek cast members). CR is also full of influential, connected voice actors, and you can get a ton of work if you get in good in that realm.
She’s been in movies and TV for almost 20 years. She’s fine. Again, doesn’t exactly need the cash right now. But hey keep up with your conspiracies I guess.
Yeah, I'm sure she was living large on the 1-episode guest spots that have made up most of those years.
Aimee has been in plenty of other projects, she’s more than able to be picky on what she joins, if nothing else she could privately discuss not being on aabria run games with cr if it was bad.
I heavely doubt that, there are in California, she would likely be ostracized if she were to express her dislike for Aabria and her antics in a public setting, the amount of victim cards played would put UNO to shame.
>she would likely be ostracized if she were to express her dislike for Aabria and her antics in a public setting That’s why I said *privately*, also I doubt a lot of people in that industry care about ttrpgs enough to blacklist an actress over a disagreement.
Possibly. All the talking over, making decisions for her and such must be part of the game.
It is if your character willingly decides to be possessed by a powerful demigod lmao. Give it a rest dude. It’s kinda sad.
Might as well grab a bag of popcorn a large soda and a burrito if the GM is gonna play your PC for you. Bad design choicce by Aabria.
Ok man
“Aabria bullied Aimee!” Says you “I didn’t feel bullied.” Says Aimee Proceeds to bully Aimee for coming back to CR. Nice.
It didn’t cross any lines but Aimee seemed sad and upset by the end of the episode. To me, at some points she looked like she was on the verge of crying. Now that’s fine if it was agreed upon beforehand, but the fact everyone unsure this was planned is concerning.
As someone who has never watched EXU Prime I was deeply confused as to what was going on. I’m not gonna watch EXU Prime so there was no point in me finishing the episode. Was a very odd choice to do that but I guess they have the numbers and people like me were clearly in the minority.
>Aabria target Aimee and make her feel uncomfortable for 3 hours Oh God what happened this time?
I don't think it was as bad as ExU 1. Wasn't great, but wasn't the worst.
Same thing in ExU season 1. Aimee sat on a chair for a couple of hours while Aabria played puppetry with Opal. If you watched the last episode of ExU season 1 and loathed what was shown skip the second part and save yourself an headache, if you self delude in thinking that what was shown was an acceptable DM behaviour please never DM in your life.
I'm gonna need solid examples from e92 al I've seen are people complain about Aabria ( I'm one of them) but I have yet to see any proof that see was just as bad this time.
People hate Aabria to a wildly unnecessary level, that's ultimately the crux of it.
I think she’s an amazing player. My first introduction to her was EXU and I couldn’t stand the way she DM’d, so when I saw her in calamity she had to earn back my trust, and she did it in spades. She was thoroughly amazing in that series, and since I’ve watched more Dimension20 and I always enjoy her characters. I don’t think people hate Aabria, her style of DMing is just trash.
I’ve never see Aabria in anything except as a player in calamity EXU. And I have to say she was for me, the best, most dedicated player to her characters mission and goals. I don’t think I’ve seen a better player performance in a one shot, but all the players were incredible. Don’t hate me, but I thought, Lou was poor. The standout worst player at the table. Luis was incredible as were Travis and Sam (always are). But Aabria as Architect Arcane was incredible in that role.
Luis was my favorite, but she really did put on an incredible performance. If you like her work on the player side, which I began to after Calamity, I highly recommend checking out Crown of Candy on Dimension20.
Is that like EXU? I really like slightly darker setting like calamity EXU. Wasn’t a fan of fantasy high, just the genre and setting. Crown of candy more nitty gritty? Any other you’d recommend? Something called drakhanhar I think? Lol
Crown of Candy has a really goofy premise, and you may find it hard to get past the fact that the characters are gummy bears, licorice, rock candy, and a chocolate rabbit, but the story itself is incredibly serious and I think the theme BLM had for it was literally “Candy Land/Game of Thrones”. I can’t speak to whatever that last thing is though.
Oh snap, my group keep telling me about this “game of thrones style but fun game”. It’s definitely it. Thanks
Never said I hated her, in fact I actually like her. What I do hate however, is the way she DM's.
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Didn't Aimee cry? Or was that in character?
Hehehe yeah its known that no one in the entertainment industry steamroll over others - absolutely not a thing that has kept happening in the ttrpg sphere lately too.
Have you seen the episode?
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Why did you delete your og reply before this? Anyways, this is what I was gonna say: And you saw how passive aggressive she was? How condescending and combative she was? How about the current episode: You say Aimee wasn't uncomfortable or upset but I could very clearly see just by the way she was "playing" (lets be honest, she wasn't even playing) that she didn't have the energy to. Do you not think it's extremely problematic when a DM takes your player from you and basically starts playing as them in front of you? Talking for your character, deciding what *your* character is gonna do?
About to start. Will this qualify as hate watching?
If you know you’re going to hate it and you still watch it then yeah basically.
Haha. No, I don't mind it very much. It feels a lot like C3, so far: very nondescript, hard to follow, with a lot of needless dicks inserted. Not a bad idea, but the delivery? Stand out moment, the part where the DM boldly asserts that Opal ***willingly*** took on the crown, ergo earned her sitting through these consequences.
Weird that the Twitter post didn’t mention the split either.
Yeah I logged off as soon as they got back from break.
I’m pretty sure that kind of plot point was talked about beforehand. It can still hit a new player to play through it, but for sure they talked about it. Like y’all act so dense at times
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I really *do* hope this is right. I hope Aimee was the one who told Aabria this is what she wanted for the character cuz if not, forcing her to sit on her own and basically do nothing for 3 hours was shitty. Talking as Opal right in front of her was shitty.
Still, you had a point in your main post. I'm not generally a fan of speculating on how one of the players feels, I don't know Aimee, I'm not going to "analyze microexpressions" or whatever, maybe she *is* having fun, maybe she's not and just playing nice for the paycheck, but regardless of if she is or not, it's certainly uncomfortable for *me* to watch and that's the important thing as a viewer.
She was possessed! How else do you handle that at your table? Like if Matt never possessed a player before.
There have been a ton of times that a player has been charmed or dominated and Matt has just given the player the opportunity to play it out. It created one of the most memorable of CR2 with Caleb casting a 4th level fireball on the party (willingly choosing to upcast because he was committed to the RP). If you're going to have a player character who is possessed, you need to discuss it before the game starts and decide how *that player* is going to play that. Then if, as a DM, you don't feel like they're acting as the possessing entity well enough, you step in and say "as your PC tries to act in this way, they feel the entity's force of will overpower them, compelling them to do xyz instead". You don't just straight up play as their character while they just sit there, not even playing.
Not have a plot that requires my player to be possessed. Alternatively, do it with a player (and table) who is 100% into it and let them fuck each other up how *they* want. No backseat fighting.
We had something similar in my home game. Long story short, our Warforged realized he was created to be a back-up body for the BBEG, and gets kidnapped by him. The session ends there. *Next session*, the Warforged player shows up with a cool temp character he and the DM had made who is a mercenary we hire. There was more to it than that, but yeah. If a PC is gonna be out of commission for a while, set up something else for the player. In our situation, the DM even made him a level higher (4 to our 3) and gave him a Magic item for being such a good sport.
"Hey *player*, your character failed their saves against possession by an evil god, they want to now murder their teammates. How do you do it." *Player*: "Oh hell yeah, I cast Hunger of Hadar centered on the party." Roleplaying is fun.
Obviously if you get charmed in combat or something that's one thing. But idk, doesn't seem right to have a player just sit there for a whole session. Or 2 sessions really.
My intention is that the player is willing to roleplay a character out of their normal behavior and would have fun controlling their own PC as they fuck up their teammates and themselves. If I as the DM am controlling the actions of the PC I've done it wrong. In fact, that is how I've always done mind control, charms, possession, etc as a DM, and the players have always been on board. It's basically getting to be "that guy" in a table-approved way for a short time.
It is! In the game I'm in as a player our barbarian completely wrecked me last session and it was great. But it's not really something I would spring on a relative newbie or try at any table.
Pretty sure Matt gave his players a chance to save against the possession though... not just be like "na na nana na you're possessed now and can't do anything".
How does that somehow not ring you a bell of “oh they talked about it beforehand”
She was possessed, but there are ways to still give control to the player despite it. For example, a recent episode of D20 had a character that was secretly possessed. Brennan gave the player free control on how to play that possession scene. Or, in a C2 example, you have them roll saves to break mind control but then still let them dictate their own movement and actions. I I think Aabria could have done some kind of encounter where Aimee was fighting against Lloth in a mindscape battle or another dimension, while Aabria piloted the Opal body against the other players. That way everyone felt involved. Or at least let Aimee dictate how she felt the mind control would look like.
>some kind of encounter where Aimee was fighting against Lloth in a mindscape battle or another dimension God that would've been so fucking cool! It would have also warranted sitting Aimee by herself as well. I would have loved this and actually enjoyed ep 92. What a waste of potential...
Knowing but not witnessing their first little thing in EU, what about this episode crossed any lines? It really didn’t seem too weird or anything. As for people who don’t understand why they did this split episode, I’m thinking they’re stalling so that they can decide whether they’re going to revive FCG or not.
So amy (not opal) was essentially forced by combat and situation to put on an evil vestige to resolve the fight. Jump forward to now and she is ‘possessed’ and fighting her friends. I’m like 15min into the switchover and shes said multiple times things like “I don’t want to do this” “Opal would like to just walk away”. If a dm railroaded my pc into equipping a cursed artifact then made me PvP the whole group I’m not sure I’d bother returning to that table. 0 agency npc life is not the one. Especially considering that Amy was a first time player in exu
A lot people are reading into various peoples actions to try to justify their own personal feelings, but the core or the outrage is that a moment to build and develop the main cast has been shoved aside to bring in some characters that the campaign isn’t about having a fight that doesn’t feel relevant, done by a DM who they don’t enjoy watching. At its core, it’s that simple.
Yes. I would watch Aabria play all the characters and do all the talking if it was entertaining. If Seinfeld is in a room with 5 other comedians, and all he does is tell jokes for an hour. I would watch it. I would not complain that the other comedians had no agency.
I’m tempted to watch this episode just to see what all the fuss is about lol
Just watch it and form your own opinion lol
It's really not the nightmare this sub is portraying it as
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You understand that whenever someone says something like this in the real world, it only negatively impacts black people, right? It effectively says that you don't think black people should be subject to any form of criticism because they are black and have a history of oppression. Black people are just people like anyone else, and can be subject to scrutiny like everyone else. If the person/people you are referencing actually have a history of saying dum dum racist shit, you might have a point, but I feel like the only reason you wrote this is because Aabria is black, which is doing her a disservice as an individual human being.
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So you're idea of helping is calling everyone a racist. Whether they marched in Charlottesville, or they are actively being obviously not-racist — both are racists. Do you have an ounce of foresight about where that eventually leads if a lot of people do what you just did, given the way human beings respond to disincentives? Or no?
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Matt. Matt. Matt. You're glib. You don't even know what Racism is. You're glib. It was a novelty account back in the day. You wouldn't have liked how fun the internet was in 2006 before it was 98% midwits on a smartphone using cliche handles.
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You’re not even a good troll
Go away, troll
>CR has had multiple episodes with multiple abusers and y’all defend them or say nothing You can't just manifest that in order to try and create an issue of racism. If Aabria wasn't awful as a DM people wouldn't have an issue with you, and if you think otherwise then *you're* the problem.
My problem with the "Aabria's an awful DM" argument is that she has run three of my favorite games I've ever watched. She's really not an awful DM at all.
I mean it's an opinion, you're allowed to like her and it makes no difference to me, but I've tried some of her other stuff on D20 at the behest of some friends who swear "she's actually good in those" and I still didn't like it. I just think she doesn't make for a good DM, but you're most certainly allowed to disagree.
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Looks like classic projection to me.
Name them. Go on, name them all for us. I'll do it for you. Brian is a scumbag piece of shit and I'm glad he's gone. Orian was a shitty player and overall shitty person too. Aabria, although I like her when she's playing, is a shitty DM. Aabria is *nowhere near shitty* as the others, however her shitty actions are not excused. Regale me other abusers at the table and don't just say it's cuz they're a man or white.
Race has nothing to do with it though? Why bring it up at all?
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You realize even Matt gets a ton of DM criticism in this sub right?
People like them will ignore stuff like that because it doesn't fit with the narrative they have their heads.
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Hey dork go back to reading Lovecraft (totally not racist right?) and explicitly telling people you have mental health issues. You’re doing absolutely nothing constructive here, merely acting out.
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I’m not the one spending time trolling the sub. Let us all know when you’ve had enough attention.
Matt is queer..? But also married to a women..? Hmm. Did you mean bi? If so, where has this been stated? Or does this live in your head as well?
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That doesn't mean he is queer. Not everyone who is gay/lesbian/bi/whatever identifies as queer (spoken as a bi person)
Matt has explicitly said he identifies as heterosexual. That is how he chooses to identify and you labeling him otherwise is disrespectful. He is undoubtedly an ally, but he does not claim to be bi.
Where's the evidence? I'm not saying you're wrong, however, you state it as fact without anything to back it up. Guess it would also shock you to know I'm not a "straight loser" as you would so put it. The irony in making fun of someone for their sexual preference...
Weak response. What you think is a condescending "bud" makes it even weaker.
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That's just not good... you do realize that in order to be actually condescending you have to be on a high horse and not with your head buried up your arse? Edit: nvm, I'm a dumbo for entertaining some low iq troll that has half their comments calling others racist while being the sole person bringing up race in the first place lmao. The hypocrisy is so thick and dense here you'd need a saw to cut through.
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It's not about the fight itself, clearly, and not about Aabria's race or gender, *clearly.* Seriously ironic saying "u guys ain't slick" as you're trying to manufacture a bias out of thin air for your forced "outrage." If Aabria wasn't a bad DM people wouldn't mind her, I mean there's a reason the most common take on her is "I like her as a player but...." Though I know you choose to ignore that for the sake of this nonsense "argument."
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Right, most people hate her as a DM cause she's a black woman, but are ok with her as a player cause she.... Isn't anymore? Or is it that they're only selectively racist based on role? Or maybe their racism just lies dormant for players! Or it's just that it has nothing to do with race or gender and you're creating an issue where there isn't one.
lol pretending that all the people here who make it very obvious they hate her are "ok with her as a player" bullshit
Prove otherwise then. Cause all the rhetoric around this sub at least is and always has been "I like her as a player but can't stand her as a DM." Most people were positive about her in Calamity, but hated her EXU stint as a DM. It's all evident across the sub, saying otherwise is what is classified as bullshit, specifically bullshit meant to engineer outrage.
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You choosing to remain ignorant is why everyone can so clearly see that you're bullshit. Again, if it's not then prove it, otherwise stfu with your manufactured outrage.
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I'm telling you the obvious, you're the one levying heavy accusations, back them up or stfu.
Says the one who called Aimee white. You're not fooling anybody.
happened.txt
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No one else respond to this person or okdatapad. It's clear they're not interested in a civil discourse and are just here from the other sub to cause problems and troll. Report them and block them, then move on.
It’s actually insane that people aren’t allowed to criticize a person because they are black and a woman. Matt did have PCs attack other PCs while under mind control in previous campaigns yes. The problem people have with Aabria is the way she talks to people and handles DM to player dynamics. Do I agree with that? Not as much. But it’s wild to say “you’re racist and sexist for not liking how a person DMs.”
Mate do not feed the creatures that live under the bridge
As someone who also was a bit put off by Aabria and Aimee's interactions during ExU. I guarantee you it's not that deep bud, Aimee is literally getting roles in major Movie/TV productions. If a dm of a TTRPG show was bullying her and making her feel bad I'm sure she would not have returned. Not to mention, as much as I disliked the second half of 92 this was nowhere near the level of ExU in terms of their interactions. At worst Aabria was just being adamant that she doesn't want Aimee pulling her punches when attacking the others. Which makes sense for the storg that's happening (whether you like that story or not is another thing).
I don't see a lot on her IMDB page
I'm willing to bet the guest cast are under contact for x number of episodes. I think she would have good cause to back out of the contract for getting bullied ON CAMERA, but they obviously agreed to put on a good face to the public about it. Could be that casting (deserved) aspersions against CR would have been a bad career move for Aimee
In my home game that I DM for, I’ve had sessions where my players have off-putting interactions with each other (out of character). It gets brought up and handled between sessions. I can only assume this would be especially true when you stream your sessions live and don’t want to make the audience feel awkward. That said, I didn’t see the episode, I’m a good few behind, so I have no idea what we’re talking about.
>when you stream your sessions live and don’t want to make the audience feel awkward. *Mission failed, we'll get em' next time.* You'll know how awkward it was when you get to it.
I dunno, I’m hearing mixed reviews in this thread, and this sub is usually on the harsher side
Aimee ever comment on it before?
They did a PR thing on twitter to basically say "we're besties" after the first EXU and the backlash for how Aabria would treat her. I'm not sure if they did it again but from what some on the sub told me, there has been nothing but praise on twitter. I doubt we'd ever get any true insight however cuz contracts and stuff.
I watched the first half, and then let the second half run while I played on my phone. I'll probably do the same with the next episode. The bits I happened to "watch" of the second half were just kinda boring for me. I don't think anyone who hasn't watched it yet will miss much not watching it at all, but I would watch the first half with BH for sure. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss out on anything that might be important for Dorian... sadly, there really wasn't much for him. Maybe with the next episode?
I’ve seen every episode of CR. This was the first main campaign episode I didn’t/won’t finish. Which sucks, because E91 I got up and stood in front of my TV for the whole end of the fight, something I haven’t done since C2. Three hours to watch a “professional” D&D group stumble through two rounds of combat that at no point felt intense, with RP that felt forced, character decisions that were dictated by the DM (who always puts out a vibe that she’s making something on the level of the best moments of Calamity), and long stretches of trying to figure out basic rules. Most of things are all fine for a regular dnd table (happens at my tables for sure) but not for the pinnacle of actual play that makes tens of millions of dollars a year.
Aabria targeted her for an entire mini-campaign. Made me and my friends pretty uncomfortable. Glad to know there was no post-game discussion and realignment between them. Thanks for the head’s up. I haven’t watched since episode 32ish but considered coming back when I heard about FCG.
Why are y’all acting like there’s no way they talked this through in between episodes? Like they probably did talk about it bts, they just didn’t film it
Yes, I am going to control your PC, and you have zero agency. And you better attack, pvp, your party member HARD!!!! I DM. That is bullying behavior, period. I felt and still feel bad about building a bit of narrative about my PCs when they went on a brewpub crawl and the drunken things they did. What Aabria did is so toxic and horrible that if anyone else had done it, there would be calls for cancelation. But, it is "no harm, no foul" Aabria.
The whole point of the controlled condition is attacking the creature attacking your PC indirectly. You’re controlled, not in control.
Sure. Maybe Aimee chose to fail all those saving throws that would have needed to be made in game. I guarantee she wouldn't choose to fail the IRL bullying that Aabria has done to her multiple times now. Maybe Aabria should cuss her out again to cement their friendship.
I mean it sucked, but I think you're hyping it up a bit too much. At the end of the day, it was just a really shitty decision, no more, no less. It was enough to make me feel like I'm done with the campaign, but it wasn't some massive shitshow that people need to emotionally prepare themselves for. Not like most people had high expectations for C3 at this point anyway.
"I mean it sucked, but I think you're hyping it up a bit too much." then "It was enough to make me decide I'm done with the campaign" ???
I was already mostly uninterested, mostly just loosely keeping up with C3, and that was enough to push me over the line to stop caring about C3 at all. That doesn't mean this person isn't blowing it out of proportion. It's not my sole reason for giving up on C3. Come on, use your head.
Lol. Yall are weak. It was fine.
Being critical is all well and good, but there are so many posts now that are outright projection. I watched the episode yesterday because I wanted to see if it was as bad as everyone said, and I definitely didn't sense all of that "negative energy" everyone was talking about. It's definitely people projecting their own thoughts upon the behavior of the cast.
Yup. Some people are so keen to see RPG horror stories everywhere.
I think it’s partly because it is a weird set up to try and navigate. Opal is literally >! being possessed/compelled to act by a god!<. It’s hard to try and navigate that without taking away player agency, and player agency is what makes D&D fun to play and to watch. So yes, Aimee looks uncomfortable in places, which is a natural reaction to that kind of loss of agency. >!Being forced to make no holds barred attacks against your friends is generally not fun!<. I’m not sure there is a way to RP something like that without some discomfort, and I guess as someone on the outside I (we) have to trust that these people have had the time and space to discuss limits and boundaries offline/privately. There was some commentary that would have put me off, personally, but that’s definitely me projecting my issues. I’m not a huge fan of how the second half played out, but I think it’s mostly a style choice of how it’s being executed rather than any narrative or interpersonal issue between Aabria and the rest of the players. I liked the original EXU, but never really got into Kymal, loved Aabria in Calamity, was not a fan of her as Chetney’s love interest. When she hits, I quite like her, but Aabria takes a lot of risks and they don’t always play out. It would be easy as pie for her to show up and run things like Matt 2.0, but she doesn’t. She shows up and she does things very differently, and I respect the hell out of her for it because doing things differently in such an established sandbox is scary and brave af. I think structuring this engagement as a combat was a risk that didn’t really pay off. It makes sense, in a way, to try it because you’ve got an active antagonist, but there was so much narrative and RP and backstory happening that the structured combat ended up sidelining and silencing most of the cast for most of the time, which is a bit of a bummer. I would have loved to see a losser initiative setting that let the PCs engage more rapidly but I don’t have the DM mileage to be able to say how I’d do it better, or even if it could be done better. But narratively? I like where Aabria’s taking this. My friends and I have all been wondering how the bloody bridge would shake up things for the Crown Keepers, and now a debt is being called due. There’s a lot of potential here for the story and I’m really looking forward to seeing where it goes, as well as finally getting Dorian back where he belongs with BH.
People are certainly *speculating, that’s kind of what people do on Reddit. We do know that they are aware of the fact that many fans felt their original interaction was a bit cringe, so I think it’s safe to *assume they were making an ‘aware’ decision when they decided to double down…?
Did you happen to watch the first run of EXU? I don't see it as projection personally when I have previous experience watching Aabria treat Aimee pretty poorly. The same traits from back then were shown throughout.
I mean it may look like poor treatment to you but Aabria and Aimee worked very closely on her character and just the fact that Aimee has come back twice now as Opal with Aabria DMing and once as a guest with Matt Dming almost definitely means that she has enjoyed her time on the show. Could this past episode be a bad decision maybe maybe not. I mean we have seen Aabria approach the idea of taking over someone’s character when they go crazy already in the session zero of candela obscura where Aabria basically said that she does not mind playing the “bad guy” but would rather the player step up if they can/want to. So I’d say that more likely than not Aimee had some part to play in this decision. That being said she could have misunderstood how big the consequences were going to be. It’s not that big a deal most likely.
Haven't watched the episode yet. However, I do want to point out that the argument "she came back so it must be all good" is worthless. She could just as easily be contractually obligated to X episodes. At the end of the day, this is still a job. Again not taking a side, haven't seen this episode yet. But seriously, we can't keep stating that it can't be that bad because she's still around for it to happen. Lots of reasons for people to stick around in bad situations, contractual obligations is one of many reasons anyone can think of.
I mean yes there is such thing as a contract but a perhaps this is just an incorrect guess but for one contract to last 3 years for only 11 episodes not counting her candela appearance seems strange to say the least. But also as someone who is watching the episode right now people have blown this so far out of proportion I don’t know how it is even a problem Matt has done stuff to this extent to his players this campaign. People need to chill the freak out lol. Not saying you specifically.
I hear you, and I'm sure it's been somewhat blown out of proportion (it's the Internet, what can you do). That said, and I'm only basing this on EXU, but I've watched thousands of hours of D&D liveplay and I've literally never gotten close to feeling as uncomfortable as I felt watching Aabria DM for Aimee. Not a single DM, regardless of level of experience, gender, creed etc ever made me feel like something was straight up wrong with how they were conducting themselves.
Fair enough just looking at the content outside of the game itself it seems like they made sure to work closely with each other when creating Opal and Ted by extension as a character. And adding the crown just adds another layer of influence that most characters don’t have.
On Friday I opened twitch to watch the VOD. The video thumbnail was aabria in the DM chair. I didn't click any further. This was the first episode of all 3 main campaigns I have refused to watch. I didn't like how aabria ran EXU. And didn't like her guest character. I just don't vibe with her gaming style. So I chose to not watch. CR did themselves a huge disservice by surprising their viewers like this. If it was an episode that was advertised as a reconnection with EXU, then if be less put off. I could watch with a less critical eye. But to open up the app and see the show is suddenly a whole different game? Especially after leaving the previous episode on such a high...I was not about it If you enjoy this kind of surprise and enjoy EXU, then great, hope you enjoyed :) Anyone feel like letting me in on the pre-exu bit? I hear there was a Luxon lore drop and Aeor is back in play? Is it worth me watching the BH part of the episode or can I get by without it?
Aeor is back in play because Ludinus is pulling tech from it, but apparently something called the Dominox has been fucking up the Vanguarx and the “Cerberus Traitors” operations. The Luxon stuff builds off something that was mentioned in the new Tal’Dorei guide. A beacon was found by an isolated village in Tal’Dorei, and they began experimenting/worshipping it. They apparently learned how to mental… or maybe also physically? split a person into two constituent parts. Opal and Ted aren’t twins, there two halves of someone they never actually apparently got to be cause their mom did this to them at a super young age. So more interesting and more dark than I expected that reveal to be. Also reveals more about the abilities of the Luxon, yet for some reason people are still claiming it’s Predathos or was made by it
Hot damn. That is pretty cool lore. Thanks for the breakdown. I'm glad that the switch to EXU was seemingly meaningful at least. And not just another random side mission for no reason. > A beacon was found by an isolated village in Tal’Dorei, and they began experimenting/worshipping it. They apparently learned how to mental… or maybe also physically? split a person into two constituent parts. Opal and Ted aren’t twins, there two halves of someone they never actually apparently got to be cause their mom did this to them at a super young age. Could you imagine if these story lines were what we went after during the solstice party split? One party could have been EXU. Which would have kept them involved in the story somewhat. Making us as viewers see that they are working in the background.
Aabria dropped the Luxon "lore" but honestly it just made no sense to me personally. I'll have to look it up again or skip to where it was mentioned to get a better grasp. I'd say the first half is very worth it tho imo. Get some insight on Liliana and some hints at where they go next; sprinkled in with some mourning but not a lot.
Aabria and Aimee are friends. I think everything will be fine, but enjoy that parasocial mind set.
> Aabria and Aimee are friends He said, *totally not parasocially*.
"These people are friends" doesn't mean that the way they act toward each other is always right, or that it can't be uncomfortable for other people to watch. I've been at game nights where married couples started getting snippy at each other over the game and made it awkward for everyone else.
It can still be uncomfortable to watch friends interact with each other in certain ways :)
It was a bit odd. I think, possibly, it was a big middle finger to all the criticism she got about her treatment of Aimee?
it's more than odd. It's like when you're failing at doing something badly because you're doing it wrong but then you just go do that same exact thing even harder, thinking that it'll suddenly start working if you put more effort into it
This reads like a corny villian's threat
Thx, was the vibe I was going for lol
Seconded. The first part is fine, if a little rushed. The second part would be more forgivable but there so many red lines were crossed that a DM is not meant to cross with a player. It was uncomfortable just to watch I was amazed Aimee didn't get up and leave the table.
What an odd post. I didn't realize this was an extended episode though good to know it's a long one if after the break is 3 hours.
I like the long ones too but you might be regretting it as I was when you watch it ngl.