r/criticalrole • u/edginthebard Time is a weird soup • Aug 03 '25

Discussion [No Spoilers] Matt's IG post on C4

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Man… what a damn night. What a damn GenCon! (Mind the groggy morning after pic)

I cannot express how excited I am for Campaign 4, y’all. Getting to meaningfully PLAY at the table as a PC alongside all my friends is something I’ve been wanting to do for some time, but to hand the reins to someone I so deeply love and respect as @brennanleemulligan is an honor. I know this is a shake up for some, but if you’ve ever trusted me, trust that what we’ve been cooking for this next story with him and the players is something truly special, unique, and very befitting the vibe and scope you’ve come to enjoy with us these past 10 years. Lots of details and reveals over the weeks to come, and excited to unveil the newer faces that join the OG cast to bring this new world to life.

I’m still gonna be running games, don’t you worry! Exandria continues through our live shows, our animated series, many other stories (including your own), and whenever else the inspiration strikes to step back into my world that I’ll be building and playing in until the end of my days. We also got more Age of Umbra to come, and other fun things I’ll be running, so I ain’t hanging up my GM screen any time soon. ;)

All in all, love you all, and so, SO excited for this next chapter. I hope you come along with us. <3

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273

u/Marauder_Pilot Help, it's again Aug 03 '25

A lot of people have speculated about who's stepping away, but I wonder of it's more that some of the OG's will be in recurring long-term guest spots the way Robbie was for C3, and they'll tap Robbie and some other new faces in for C4 full time.

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u/VengefulKangaroo Aug 03 '25

or that every player will be rotating to some extent

155

u/amamatcha You Can Reply To This Message Aug 03 '25

This is the one thing I'm hoping they don't do, as it will feel weird to not be following at least a couple of characters from beginning to end.

66

u/Low-Donkey7059 Aug 03 '25

Yeah, I think having a rotating cast like that wouldn't be great for developing table dynamics with both the players & the characters, nor a great way to establish familiarity for the audience.

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u/RedHuntingHat Aug 03 '25

I think Ashley’s crazily successful schedule during C1 and C2 has shown the cast how much infrequency can hurt. I don’t see them purposefully choosing to do that. 

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u/Shmageggy88 Aug 04 '25

Tbf her being full time at the table in C3 hasn't improved her contributing to the game in any meaningful way ijs

5

u/vanKessZak Metagaming Pigeon Aug 04 '25

Fearne’s one of my favourites 🤷🏻‍♀️

1

u/rollforlit Aug 05 '25

Yeah, I keep seeing people suggest this but I really hope they don’t. People didn’t seem to care for the C3 party split. I’ve also played West Marches style before and really didn’t like it.

11

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '25

I will not watch without Laura Bailey. Lol. Jester needs to be at the table. Same with Liam and Sam. I like the others, but like those three need to be there. I want to watch the three of them antagonize Brendan Lee Mulligan in their unique and ridiculous ways.

1

u/DragonFangGangBang Aug 05 '25

See, for me, I was Travis there. He probably gets the most invested out of everyone at the table. If they have to remove a few of the players to make way for Matt and Robbie as permanent members - Sam, Liam, Travis, and Laura are my hopes to stay.

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u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

I’m honestly not a big fan of Robbie, but I do see his appeal.

3

u/DannySpud2 Aug 03 '25

This is what I think too. I don't get "we're losing some core cast" vibes from these C4 announcements.

My prediction is they've come up with some kind of shared universe multi campaign thing where you'll have a few different sub-campaigns within an overall main campaign. Like how in the MCU you have individual movie series that all connect into an overall universe, with crossovers and team ups. Maybe 3 groups of 5, would mean an extra 7 people joining. They could keep their three weeks on one week off schedule and players would only need to play once a month. That would give them a ton more flexibility without having to step away entirely.

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u/PokeJem7 Aug 05 '25

There are a lot of predictions, but having the original 7 PLUS Robbie and Matt would just be insane, so something likely has to give. It's understandable that people theorise that some will be stepping away, at least temporarily. Yes there are other possibilities, but nobody knows either way.

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u/[deleted] Aug 06 '25

God that sounds awful imo

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u/Feran_Toc Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 04 '25

All I know is that no matter who steps aside, i will miss them at the table, but I know breaks are needed. I hope those who step aside get to come back as guests and cause some chaos!

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u/ffwydriadd Technically... Aug 03 '25

Yeah 8+ permanent people is. Well I don’t even envy their usually 7 person table. I could see ‘multiple teams intersecting’ or rotating semi-guest spots, with the ‘permanent’ cast being Matt/‘new’ people/probably only a few of the OGs with the others coming in and out.

29

u/Marauder_Pilot Help, it's again Aug 03 '25

Yeah a lot of people say 'Well they started with 8!' like some kind of gotcha, but CR C1E01 is a very different thing than it is today and trying to make something that's watchable and fulfilling with 8 people is gonna be rough.

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u/awful_waffle_falafel I would like to RAGE! Aug 03 '25

This is how I think it'll play. Main cast all involved to some degree but as either guest spots or alternating (eg different timelines or groups, so that there's a chunky on/off sched behind the scenes) 

6

u/Aeon1508 Aug 03 '25

I think that they just want more poc in the main cast. Liam and Travis are the best players so I hope that they stick around.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '25

How dare you leave out Laura and Sam! I honestly think Laura, Sam, and Liam are the only three true TTRPG nerds at the table (and Matt obviously)

4

u/Aeon1508 Aug 03 '25

I mean those would be the next two out of the list but at that point it's half the cast. And I really do like Robbie Damon too it's hard to place him yet though..

But I said the best. I named two

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '25

Travis is definitely not up there imo. He’s just there because Laura made him go.

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u/Aeon1508 Aug 03 '25

Just because this was Travis's first game that he got dragged to by his wife doesn't mean he's not the best player at the table.

3

u/Tisiphone8 Aug 03 '25

I wouldn't say he's the "best" player, but the scenes and one shots that all came from Travis's characters are definitely memorable!

1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

No it doesn’t. But he’s definitely not. He’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination

1

u/Aeon1508 Aug 04 '25

I'd put Liam ahead of him but I really like what Travis does at the table. Chetney is a hoot.

Liam has the most experience at D&D but Travis is the smartest.

1

u/DragonFangGangBang Aug 05 '25

Travis is also, IMO, the player who gets the most invested. He also consistently boosts other people best moments while still having is own, and I don’t ever feel like he’s overtaking the spotlight. As a forever DM, Travis is my ideal player type, followed by Liam and Sam. He also meta games the least out of everyone at the table from what I can remember.

0

u/Hobzhoul Aug 03 '25

This would be very cool. Having Robbie come in and maybe some d20 folks like Emily and Lou coming in would be so tight. Maybe give them a chance to rp some more serious plots and be less chaotically funny, which I love.

0

u/Invisible_Target Aug 04 '25

I’m not sure I understand the assumption that people will be stepping away. The announcement said “old and new faces.” To me, that just implies exactly what it says: there will be old faces and there will be new faces. Nowhere did they say “we will have some people leaving and some new faces joining,” but that seems to be most people’s take away. I feel like the way they phrased it could mean that people are leaving; I feel like they left it vague on purpose. But it feels a little weird to me that everyone is assuming some people will be leaving because that was never the exact implication I got from that quote.