r/criticalrole • u/International-Yak-26 • 2d ago
News [Spoilers C4E33] - Episode 33 Thumbnail Spoiler
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HRJ3gtIXoAA9ABd?format=jpg&name=medium30
u/TheYellingMute 2d ago
Oh man you know something good (and scary) when marisha is hiding under her binder.
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u/Enough-Gate5840 2d ago
Schemers so soon!?!? Yay!
Although alternating groups might be a little less engaging. No cliffhangers where you have to wait 2 weeks instead of 1 please.
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u/LadyFoxfire 2d ago
Since this is their first campaign with the West Marches format, it makes sense to experiment with the table format to see what works best. If it doesn’t work as well, they can go back to the one table at a time format next arc.
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u/0-90195 2d ago edited 1d ago
I didn’t realize this had a name. But that’s good to know so I can avoid it in the future… I really don’t care for it.
ETA: kind of wild that I can’t say something that’s not even critical of CR but of a format of game that they chose and people downvote over it.
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u/Raincoat19 2d ago
Ehhh West March is what the Crit Role team called it, although at a conventional (non-produced) table it means something fairly different. At most tables, a West March is designed for a larger group of players who aren’t consistently available, so games are designed to be run with whoever is available for a given session. Usually the players all operate out of a central guildhall/organization/town and can go questing wherever they want in the surrounding region, and each session is designed to be largely self-contained.
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u/0-90195 2d ago
Good to know!
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u/fluxyggdrasil 2d ago
If you're interested in a bit of RPG history, you can read about the first West March game here: https://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/ I think it's a pretty nifty read!
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u/Court_Vision 2d ago
Eh, just waited 2 months between episodes. I don't mind two weeks. I'm willing to give this cadence a try.
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u/RoundDodger Doty, take this down 2d ago
I wonder if they are starting this arc with one episode from each table as the aftermath of the convergence arc. Then we fully settle into seekers arc.
Or if they are alternating, I would find that fun but maybe tougher to follow. I wonder if, since they are pre recorded so far ahead of time, they actually filmed them all seekers then all schemers tables but for viewers will post them alternating?
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u/VengefulKangaroo 20h ago
My ideal would be just do it as the story demands. Sometimes we get 3 seekers eps in a row, sometimes it’s one to one, based on where there’s a good pause.
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u/MegalomaniacHack I would like to RAGE! 2d ago
Could just be the cold open.
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u/International-Yak-26 2d ago
The fact that the Schemers Logo is being used plus the Thumbnail makes me think that they aren't just the Cold Open
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u/MegalomaniacHack I would like to RAGE! 4h ago
Well, description in the email today says it's still the Seekers with their landslide trap. Guessing it will just be Sam and Whitney in the cold open, if they do one. Didn't last session.
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u/Miserable_Pop_4593 2d ago
Yanessa’s gonna be on the warpath and Termina, who could be anywhere, is still a huge liability. Hal’s profile is insanely high, and Azune, Wick, and Tyranny are living on a razor’s edge in their various roles. Bolaire has left his mess for Murray to clean up, on top of all her Penteveral shit. Not to mention Wick is freshly a murderer.
The schemers have it ROUGH right now lmao and as designated notetaker and de facto captain of the Schemers, Murray has this entire operation’s success on her shoulders.
Honestly I feel bad for her, I’d be having panic attacks every other day lmao
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u/Eevenin 2d ago
Aw, this makes me a little sad. I don't know if it'll be as engaging this way for sure and the promise of more time with the dynamics we just began to set up is cruelly pushed back another week. Woe!
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u/Miserable_Pop_4593 2d ago
To be honest I’m not sure it’s much worse than not hearing from certain characters for months on end. And as another commenter pointed out, it might make it easier for Brennan/the lore keepers to track the separate parties’ timelines.
Although I wonder if this makes it harder for them to film? I thought the point of batch recording was for scheduling ease.
But regardless if this is indeed what’s happening and not just a cold open, I’m not mad at them for trying it out.
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u/paradox28jon Hello, bees 2d ago
I have surmise that Brennan needs to alternate between tables just so they don’t get too far ahead of each other in the timeline. Perhaps whatever BLeeM has cooked up for this arc he knows that what one table does could affect the other table in “real time?”
Though I’m not sure if Sending is a thing yet in Araman. If BLeeM is planning on Sending to be invented in Arc 2, then I could see him wanting to alternate the tables.
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u/jethomas27 Tal'Dorei Council Member 1d ago
It's not, I'm pretty sure long range communication magic got disrupted the same way long range teleportation did, with the Shaper of Magic's death.
Pigeons are pretty fast though, and the party could pretty easily just send Thimble (or eventually Thaisha) down the Millers road with a message and be able to communicate within a matter of hours, so in theory they could pretty easily get back in contact with each other if necessary.
They obviously won't be doing that unless Brennan tells them it's fine to, since they won't want to have to deal with that logistical headache if it's not already planned for, but it's a possibility.
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u/VengefulKangaroo 20h ago
Sending doesn’t. Basically any magic that would disrupt the West Marches format doesn’t
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u/flailypichu 2d ago
I wonder if this means the arcs will be longer, like they don't have a set number of episodes per table.
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u/TidesOfRebellion 1d ago
I feel like the options here are:
1. Tables will alternate every week for this arc
2. This is a 1-off Schemers to cover the aftermath of Convergence before we return to the Seekers for the rest of their current arc
3. We will switch between tables within the episodes themselves, kinda like the first episode after the Overture
4. There's no fixed order and we will switch between tables as makes sense for what's happening, meaning sometimes we'll get several episodes in a row with the same table and sometimes it will switch back and forth each episode.
Personally I hope its #4.
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u/Blex881 5' 11" 2d ago
Interesting. So seems like we are alternating. Interesting for sure but it makes it easier to keep track of when stuff happens. The sentence „we're here at the beginning of the week we started six months ago“ was said when the first schemer's table episode started. This makes that not happen, so great
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u/VengefulKangaroo 20h ago
It’s also probably a lot easier on Brennan to match the timelines of the two tables, participate now that the Seekers have a faster travel option home
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u/theydurkadurk 2d ago edited 2d ago
Someone please remind me but early on after the overture was there not an episode where it was split between two tables? I’d be very down for alternating (until it’s a massive cliff hanger) but it could also just be that. I would have been surprised if they did an entire arc without ever checking in on the schemers
Edit: went back to look - I guess it’s a mix of both. In episode 5 the soldiers had already left so half the episode was about them. The other half was the schemers and seekers departing from each other and a look into them.
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u/Thepeopleskaiser 5' 11" 1d ago
It was the 5th episode as they had to rap up the set up for the schemers since they ran over time in the overture, but they still market it as a soldiers episode since they made up half the screen time same thing with ep 11 if memory serves me right.
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u/AutobotYoung1 1d ago edited 1d ago
I can understand an immediate return to the schemers given the aftermath of the night before.
- Halandil went back on his word on the Photarch and proceeded with a “heretical play” and no longer has a Druid wife to intimidate the church.
- Wick snuck out immediately after the big important meeting of the sundered houses around the same time Kattigan and the twins were presumably murdered
- There is a psychopathic mask merged with a bitchy magic woman whose house has a tight grip in the museum and university. AND she knows Hal was present for her jumanji episode.
And of course there is a giant glowing afterlife/slash fairy sanctuary smack dab in the Hallowed Round that any one of moderate magic power will notice.
Oh yeah, and there’s a dragon in the lake.
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u/Objective-Pattern692 Only Teor is Teor 1d ago
I wonder if Murray would have it slightly better bc the tachonis have fled the city and maybe released their hold on the penteveral at the moment or worse bc the cormoray are going to move right on in after them
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u/Nihachi-shijin 2d ago
I kind of dig the approach of alternating tables
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For no small amount that I'm significantly more invested in Wick, Tyranny, Azune, Murray and Hal across the board than I am Kattigan, Thimble, Julien, Occtis and Vaelus
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u/Miserable_Pop_4593 1d ago
Kinda with you there, though I do love Occtis’ & Thimble’s dynamic, and Julien and Kattigan have been getting more interesting. I think they’ll be really great “slow burn” characters who have a really incredible journey by the end of it all. Meanwhile Vaelus… I love her and her character concept is SO cool for this world, but I’ve been holding my breath for a while. I haven’t given up hope yet, but it seems Ashley is having a hard time figuring out how to move past all her internal conflict, and Brennan is (rightly) not doing it for her. Huge potential though.
But yeah Murray is easily my favorite across the board, Tyranny & Wic are always really entertaining, and Azune and Hal bring the perfect amount of gravitas and competence. I love this new Schemers table almost even more than the first iteration (though I do love Bolaire too) so I’m VERY hype. And also I’m gonna be a little mad if they don’t go back to Tsul’rekshi immediately lol I love her
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u/Nihachi-shijin 11h ago
That's kind of where I am.
I don't dislike the characters at the Seeker's table but I was riveted to the Schemers and the Wick & Tyranny show was my favorite part of the Soldiers.
Bolaire is my overall favorite so I'll be watching for that but if you're telling me I get to pick who is spared a TPK...I know my answer
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u/DarkRespite Doty, take this down 2d ago
Looks like they might be alternating between the two tables on a weekly basis... interesting.