Idek.

Sometimes I analyze shows, write fics, and just vent ‘bout life, bubsy.

[frumpkinslitterbox]

Time to be Unfair

Right from the beginning of Campaign 4, Murray had been one of my ultimate favourites, right up there with Bolaire and Occtis. Often she surpassed them as I really enjoyed her hilarity and ability to really get into the meat of what was going on. She made some very frustrating missteps with her interpretations of the data that she insisted upon pushing on the group, but on the whole I was happily along for the ride. The museum gala was a masterpiece of strategy she stunningly pulled off to save King Gus.

Then the convergence happened, and I hit the brakes big time.

Please note that I am in a Mood. I may come back and edit this heavily, or delete it entirely when I’m not seeing it through this haze of ouch. I loathe sticking the boot into certain characters as sometimes it’s seen as a condemnation of their players or whatever group - minority or majority - they represent, and I know poor Marisha’s been through it before. I am talking about Murray, who has done a few things lately that irked me and lowered my opinion of her, the character. Ye gods, I should just delete this now.

I hope it was Murray letting it all go to her head, but when Gus compliments her on being able to break the mind control of his druid, she doesn’t correct him. But fair enough, I thought, Hal didn’t want his name attached to the incident and it’s hard to correct a king anyway. So I let that slide until hindsight.

The thing that started this for me was the Demodus Decision.

Azune completely bypasses Bolaire to go to Murray about bringing Demodus to the Einfasen Stahlkeep. She doesn’t consult Bolaire - who Demodus has ostensibly been living with for the last week - either about this meeting or about getting him the job in Timmony. Nor does she tell Bolaire about it at all.

If the whole Termina thing hadn’t happened, was Bolaire supposed to walk back into his apartment and realise Demodus was gone? He’s an absentee landlord, but geez. If Demodus hadn’t written him a goodbye note and flip book, there would have been no thanks, no acknowledgment, not even a farewell. Bolaire would have been just a thing to be used again - at least Demodus thought about him where his “friends” didn’t.

Murray only told Bolaire at all when he decided to accompany the Seekers to Timmony, where she instructed him to go say hi to Demodus and see how he’s doing.

Can you feel my opinion of Murray deflating as I jot this down? Remember, I adored this character; I looked forward to seeing her on screen, and enjoyed her little interaction with the pixie at the play. Forgive me, but that was about the only thing she did there at Ko’Therai apart from play Waldorf to Hala’s Stantler and drink Yargrahz, wasn’t it? Oh right, she jokingly took credit for stabilising the bridges by thinking about them. Good dwarf.

I think I’m still a bit sensitive about how certain characters ended up being treated by the end of c4e31. Yes, yes, Bolaire is one of these, but look at Occtis as well. When Julien is the only one looking out for you, things are pretty fucked up.

I hope a lot of these emotional threads are explored when the tables come back because I’m over here chewing on my leash here. Probably why I’m writing a venting post, tbh.

But finally regarding Murray, there’s this.

Way to be secretive there, you sneaky Schemer, you.

I’m not sure why, but her doing that really encapsulated my annoyance with Murray at that moment. Blowing kisses and taking credit; even if the crowd didn’t look and couldn’t see her, she was still doing it.

I know she was happy how much of a success things had been for her team, but argh. I kind of hope Brennan brings this moment back to bite her by having Kora or someone in the audience having seen this and asking her to explain it. It could be she was just blowing kisses at Hal because he’s awesome and it’s a fantastic show, but let the dice decide if that’s accepted.

Then you go from this to the stricken faces of Bolaire, Occtis, and Wick, and I just think, you did nearly nothing tonight and are happy as a clam, have some compassion for those who did and aren’t.

At least she got some wash cloths out, especially for Occtis. That’s something. I approve of that.

I guess I just feel like she’s taking credit for being Demodus’s saviour, for building the bridges, for things still going well, but mostly Demodus. It was Bolaire that had the first and only flashback with him; I still associate him with the fact that Bolaire was paying to support Demodus out of his own pocket, but suddenly out of nowhere Murray was his main interaction (I’m so angee that I can’t remember what Demodus named his soapbox right now - the Bolaire [_____] of Performing Arts. Yes I spelt angee right. Shhh).

Also 22 isn’t a kid.

/rant (hopefully)

[annamaggs16]

Honestly I get it. As a Marisha girly who has loved her previous characters, Murray falls in the shallow end, literally. Her dynamics with others feel rather transactional at times. She flip-flops on how she treats others, primarily Azune. Going to him after Tallbarrel & Kora info then later sees him as a potential enemy. You mention the towels as a positive but I see it as intentionally setting herself up as Murray is a 20 int character and off of that action she uses it to later hit on Kattigan who was actively bleeding, missing a finger and had 2 of his dead friends at his feet. It’s pretty insensitive to me she even said the date comment. She didn’t talk to Hal about including Hero in her schemes prior to the convergence. She has taken credit for others works several times as you stated and I wonder if there’s more to that element of her with Pimley’s remarks towards her having changed and not holding any leeway as a serious criminal anymore. Part of me wonders what Murray’s goals are because so far everything we know about her has been to elevate her status in society and no one from her old life (friends, family, contacts) have remained at her side unless she holds power in the dynamic (again, look at her dynamic with Azune and her constantly framing Blix as a kid).

I get that Murray isn’t as well fleshed out as other characters considering Marisha (the player and her creator) basically had 2 weeks to do so but it’s hard for me to take her character seriously sometimes and not roll my eyes at what Murray is doing.

Also small grain of salt; not in love that the moment we get body diversity in a female character she’s constantly being used for bits. We get it, Murray is large chested, can we develop her personality though instead of making the same joke and making her overly horny to a point of cringe? And yes, it’s cringe. Marisha herself said the moment she saw the art for Kattigan Murray would want to climb him like a tree. Their interactions are partially forced & meta-gamey because character interactions might be played differently if the art wasn’t seen before the first session/revealed organically at the table for the first time and Murray keeps pursuing Kattigan despite being confused if he reciprocates/understands, which any respectful person with common sense would take the hint and back off. Instead Murray says along the lines of ‘Kattigan being blind or deaf’ and if demeaning someone for not appreciating your advances is your go-to response it doesn’t make you look good in my opinion. C4 plot and themes already make Romance™️ feel smaller and more of a back burner thing, but trying to curate one-night-stands for a horny desperate PC is a new found peeve for me especially when Brennan preformed such behavior with Pimley’s advances in the bathroom and Murray was repulsed by it. So again, her pursuit of Kattigan is another superficial dynamic she wants to transactionally benefit from with little to no consideration of the other person involved.

And again. I love Keyleth, I love the Vaxleth romance. It’s what got me hooked on CR to begin with. I love what Marisha did with Beauregard and Beauyasha. I’m actually surprised she’s doing an investigator archetype character again because I think she really did well with Beau (especially with her being a martial monk and not the typical 20 int wizard). I think there was a lot of potential for Laudna, she was a difficult build for mechanical play being sorlock support caster and Marisha certainly clutched up for the plot demands of C3 but the personal character arcs and individual story did suffer in my opinion. I will forever stand on the Rejection angle, I think Laudna needed to come into her own before getting into a romance with Imogen. Actually, my biggest gripe/hesitance with Fjord & Jester was how one sided it felt for the longest time as I’m personally not into those type of romances, so yeah, I don’t dig the sex obsessed one-night-stand-ifyied endless pursuit vibes Murray is giving off in regards to Kattigan. Definitely feels weird, especially with it not being reciprocated, and on the lines of objectification if not fetishization of a darker skinned character. And if it would bother you with the genders swapped: a male PC saying that stuff to a female PC of color, it shouldn’t be considered #girlboss #girlpower

Murray’s behavior is definitely weird and concerning compared to Marisha’s former campaign and mini-series PCs. I don’t really see what Murray’s endgame goal/post campaign satisfaction is meant to be other than just Here To Handle Plot & Mechanical Needs, Meta Above Table Note Taker Analysis, and I’m genuinely more curious/interested in what character Marisha would’ve created with more time & consideration instead of what we currently have with placeholder ‘Murray-Brennan screamed Wizard at me-Mag’nesson’ because the things that could be interesting about her character are maybe too confrontational for this campaign’s need of collaboration and plot heaviness limiting reflection.

[annamaggs16]

I think what’s really getting people hung up on Bolaire whether they like or dislike his character is his backstory and the fact he’s a character stuck obsessing over the past almost refusing to live in the present day in a self-sabotaging way.

Every character has a backstory that tethers them to the current present day in the narrative. Bolaire’s backstory is treaded across 70+ years from when he was created, to the gods, the wars, and to today. His consciousness is chopped up along the timeline and doesn’t run smoothly as compared to 800 year old Vaelus who has actively lived all of her life or the Druid circles and orc rebels who have a lot of established history.

Several characters were brought in with backstory but are revealing and discovering their history of past in present day action. Kattigan, Teor, Hal, and Murray are all along these lines. They’re vibing in the now of it all, but have had their history addressed. Kattigan’s family, Teor being Loza’s mentee of the torn banner, Hal having conflict with war and killing, Murray leaving her family business and losing criminal respect. There’s other characters & NPCs who simply don’t care for the world to return to the past; Thaisha and Aranessa’s distaste for shaper sympathizers and are two people more focused on healing the current world for a better future.

Even Occtis and Wick who are large narrative assets to the story are basically next gen of their families. They have a lot of say and power in what the world becomes through politics, they have to choose to continue their respective family’s beliefs about common folk, wealth classes, power structures, or work with the rebellion and create a new cloth. We see this same challenge presented to Julien from his mother insisting he buy into the political game and take a wife and have kids whereas Julien sees that as playing into the Tachonis game and the future never changes if he complies to what’s expected of him but that course of action ignores the problem not addresses and resolves it. As shitty of a person Julien is to others, he is fighting for a better future for all.

So every time we get to Bolaire, all his issues/problems/past/backstory are dead arcs. The halflings who created the Panto haven’t been named, the gods are dead, the wars were 15ish years ago, Thjazi is dead. So of course Bolaire is going to grind the narrative to a halt. Nothing he has to explore is in the “right now” of the timeline. And Thimble counters this really well. She also had a past with faerie closing, wars, and Thjazi, and yet she’s been able to adapt and find current day motivations and aspirations and more importantly: connections.

The schemers table was an unfortunate confrontation of how much they’re distant co-workers. Bolaire is parasitically attached to the idea of Hal. In their entire friendship, he never bothered once to tell Hal the truth of what he was even after being invited into the man’s home and being called Uncle by his children. Bolaire had to be backed into a corner with the sewer fight in order for his true nature to be revealed. Now that his connection to Hal is strained, he’s grasping for anything and pining down Thimble trying to make her make amends for Thjazi’s actions because surely “she knew everything” except that’s already been disproved several times now and Bolaire won’t stop insisting otherwise, basically undermining Thimble’s version.

Bolaire has a mental mind theatre putting on plays of other people’s lives, warping them to his vision, under his control. As much as he wants to go on about how unwell his sister Termina is, he’s also deeply fucked up. Bolaire didn’t look for his siblings, he assumed they were dead and Termina didn’t take that well. This is something for him to reflect on as a brother who neglected his siblings, but he keeps diminishing Termina’s sense of self and sanity like her feelings aren’t valid and he did nothing wrong (we’ve seen him do this to Thimble, Murray, Thaisha, and even Vaelus now—look I don’t think he’s misogynistic but Bolaire definitely has a problem with strong-willed/strong minded individuals. He’s meant to tear down tyrants and believes mortals are the new gods now. He was created to put on a play, an act to fall a controlling reign—Thjazi was a leader with followers willing to listen to what he planned and carry it out, he fits the profile Bolaire is meant to distaste. So does Thaisha, Murray, and Thimble who all have people willing to listen and follow them, but Vaelus won’t be in awe of his performance, therefore they all conflict his narrative & nature). But instead of acknowledging the choices he chose to do all this time of his sentient existence, he deflects it back to a dead man who is the thorn of his life who can’t speak his side of the story. If Thjazi was such a problem for Bolaire to live his life he should have no problem wanting to do that now, except he’s still refusing to take accountability in the part he played for their dynamic growing sour. He’s still hiding information, he’s still refusing to grow in his own life, refusing to choose to heal and therefore holds himself back and yet blames Thjazi who is dead and can’t literally affect him anymore so Bolaire’s argument becomes moot and null.

Not every PC was created by their player to explore the same exact story and narrative aspects, that’s why there’s different tables for different genre and interests. If c4 was broken into individual books with 80-100k words for each PC to be a proper main character perhaps Bolaire’s story would translate better. But unfortunately when it’s a collaborative playthrough rooted in current narrative improv and cemented written backstory with 13 “main characters” and endless NPCs as various story elements is gonna be hard to get more than 1 PC to be interested in exploring something buried into the ground that isn’t relative to current day plot/story progression—especially when only 1 PC knows about said thing but refuses to talk about it. Add in that arcs have been 6/7 episodes and the Schemers spent a lot of time 1-on-1 with NPCs than exploring each other’s characters compared to the Soldier and Seeker arcs.

Unfortunately Bolaire has a lot of catching up to do to remain a relevant character in the present day narrative that he has to initiate those moments and reflect on his choices. Either that or the entire narrative and all characters involved would have to slow down for the B Plot, which is very literally going to be exploring past history none of the characters can change and aren’t heavily related to their personal story arcs/backstory other than maybe Thaisha & Vaelus who both seem like confrontational dynamics similar to Thjazi for Bolaire to explore.

[annamaggs16]

I’m very curious if Bolaire could be placed on an Unseen Servant

[annamaggs16]

How I feel about the PCs after Convergence:

My cup of tea: Thimble, Kattigan, Tyranny

Butter biscuits: Thaisha, Vaelus

Teaspoon: Wick, Occtis

Stale cookies: Azune, Halandil

Not my jam: Bolaire, Julien, Murray

Broken mug (rip): Teor

Engagement/interest is based off of character reveals, personal arc & narrative projection, contribution to table/larger story, character personality & goal along with development & growth

[annamaggs16]

I wonder how how many people are gonna magically think and accept Thimble to be “shippable” now that she can grow to be human sized

Go on reveal yourselves. Admit you equate romance to being able to have sex with others. If you weren’t willing to ship her in her pixie form, you can’t have human sized Thimble for your ships. Fuck off

[annamaggs16]

Thimble is THEE STRONGEST

Yoked pixie girlie

[annamaggs16]

Not Julien looking for “a dead Thimble”

[annamaggs16]

If this world has scry and blood hunters…

Kattigan you’re so fucked

[annamaggs16]

I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen art of Julien, Bolaire and Occtis in an expedition33 art style

Idk just makes sense to me with the aesthetics of Julien’s rapier, Bolaire’s mask and glass weapon (mine much), and Occtis glowing eyes and necromancer energy with now summoning a sword??

[annamaggs16]

I wonder if revealing the death boon mechanic with Teor’s death also serves narrative purpose on whether important NPCs could have them too.

Did Thjazi grant Julien a death boon of haunting his ass from beyond the grave via the shadow? If so, Thjazi Fang is still cracking jokes even in death. Top tier antics sir, I respect the sillies

It’s likely not at all the case but maybe the PCs can start theorizing Thjazi had an intentional plan

[annamaggs16]

C4 PC dynamics are interesting to me because in past campaigns of CR, the table has always played as a collaborative party no matter their characters personalities. They’ve always gotten along to work together, have each other’s backs, depend on each other. But this campaign, the world is so open that a lot of the PCs have deeper relationships with NPCs we’ve barely met than fellow PCs. Everybody has their own objective/mission, not everybody gets along, not everybody watches out for each other.

What’s interesting about Julien’s choice is if you change the character. Several times he walked away from people who “don’t matter” in his mind, but what if it was Thaisha and Vaelus in Cyd and Teor’s spot instead? Would his choice change, especially after the Seeker’s arc? Vaelus is a defined warrior, sister of Sylandri sent to retrieve the stone, her disappearance will raise questions. Thaisha is a Druid to the circle of ancients, a Lloy, and a mother to one of Julien’s mentees. Julien fights to stay alive to return to his loved ones, but how will witnessing and coming to terms with condemning other people’s loved ones like the Pridesire brothers affect him? Will Kattigan or Thimble be inclined to help Julien knowing he could’ve tried to save their friends but chose not to? Will Julien’s ignorance and dismissal of other’s value because they hold no benefit to him be his own downfall?

We might see some PCs only make a connection with 2-3 others and not feel inclined towards everyone else. As the tables change in the future, it’ll be fascinating to see these bonds get tested under pressure and distance and the uncertainty that they’ll return alive. It also might be one of those campaigns where player characters are more likely to die if they don’t bond to each other because they’ll be no inclination to save other’s lives. It’s very different than their previous campaign styles.

[annamaggs16]

There’s so many character concepts Travis can return to the table as but these are something I feel we haven’t really dug into yet he could help elevate:

Azune’s heritage/culture. Travis could come back as a dragonrider. Maybe an elven dragonrider, could be older than Vaelus, help with the age disparity of the group some more lol. Could even help Vaelus with the elven curse and potentially any other curses to other species. Vaelus and Azune are characters who have been struggling to connect to society, Travis could thread the needle and be a cheerleader for these PCs to come out of their shell some more.

A Druid who isn’t in a circle. Is it mandatory? Are there free roam Druids? Field/commonfolk/ shepherding Druids? Travis and Aabria jock corner once again!!

Someone attached to the primordial reign, an age of time prior to the shapers’ creator species existing on the world. Someone tied to its lingering primordial power or lived during the era

Shadow/Darkness magic build. So far shadows=bad and light=figment. There isn’t a real “true hope/honest belief” that Teor’s magic seemed to have. Maybe Travis can try again from a different angle as we’re touching on Tyranny being a demon isn’t bad, just her nature. So maybe we can recontextulize shadows and darkness as nature instead of “inherently bad/evil” because of Sundered Houses and Shaper curses. Shadow Monk, anyone??

Historian/Totality, someone interested in digging deeper to past mistakes to heal the current day could be really interesting for this campaign. Someone who doesn’t pick sides, just sees history as world history no matter who it involves, and uses their power to prevent history repeating in the worst ways. Could also hit base on the class disparity of poor versus rich.

Bonus action healer…look not to say divine smite isn’t great for paladins. But a healing word after two attacks is maybe a better option than cure wounds and no attacks. Table balance wise needs some more healing and martial builds. Just somebody who can attack, take hits, and pop some clutch healing. I do think the less spell mechanics the better for Travis, so likely not a full spellcaster as it’s a magic heavy table already

Temporary Hit Point build. Look, they changed THP interaction in 2024 rules. A lot more subclasses grant them but Twilight Cleric could still be really good in this universe. How? Theurgist Wizard. Travis won’t need to heal if he prevents damage for the whole group. It’s basically a cleric and Wizard wrapped into one subclass with heavy flavoring of nighttime. He could go frontline build martial with truestrike+enhance weapon, heavy support with range spells, tank build with mage armor+shield of faith+shield & a warding bond to reduce someone else’s damage intake or blade ward and resistance cantrips, there’s many options but it would be a “lock in” type of demand, maybe too much for him. This would be a challenge but an absolute game changer mechanically.

Another beastfolk but tiger style. Gotta keep the furries interested and romance off the table. Could subvert expectations of a dex build by going strength. I do think we need a dedicated strength guy. Kattigan is both strength and dexterity but can only be at 1 table. Julien is Dex martial no magic. Thimble is Dex build rogue. Azune is strength just more spellcaster rn. Vaelus is Dex and charisma. We need a 18/20 strength score in strength from Travis or Kattigan will never be able to pick up his wisdom stat for ranger spells.

We have a lot of nobility folks, sundered or other, we honestly don’t need more. We have some falconers left, we don’t need more. I really do feel like we need an open world adventurer that Teor was meant to represent, someone who wants discovery about the real world of Aramán’s “today” time, someone who can float between communities yet feels rich with lived in wisdom and experience of life to help ground player characters. Travis likes to play for his friends, be a player in a team dynamic, he’s talked about not liking solo backstory exploration for himself but giving space to his fellow table-mates and elevating their stories. He created Teor within 2 weeks to play a game of D&D with friends. There’s 5 keystones and he focused on swords (combat) and family (finding his brother Cyd).

There’s so many routes Travis can select, and keep in mind people are leveling up to level 5 right now. So by the next time we see his character they’ll be leveling to level 6 which could be a subclass feature for a lot of folks. Travis has to build his backup character with plot, mechanics, and table makeup in mind and do so in a way where it’s a character for him to play not a meta here-to-save-the-day PC. As much as it’s D&D and he likes soldier playstyle, it’s still a story with roleplay involved. Whatever he builds it will be akin to his previous characters: a slow reveal, teamwork oriented, table focused over in-world realism, likely to slot into the soldiers table.

[annamaggs16]

I wonder if Matt and Robbie agreeing Julien and Kattigan wouldn’t get along and so they both avoid each other has uh…has anything to do with…y’know

[annamaggs16]

“Einfasen trickery or Royce brutality”

*Primus Tachonis finds the body of the Namas Yanessa Halovar has been searching for for the past 2 weeks in his secret basement with an Einfasen Axe and the Royce bracers of strength and the Falcon companion of Thjazi Fang is gone*

[annamaggs16]

Idk part of me feels like the Schemers’ inability to get over their paranoia about controlling the future and the Seekers’ obsession with grieving the past really fucked over the Soldiers’ surviving the present day bullshit thrown their way.

But now all three can come together and maybe realize their collaborative fuck ups and finally start working together and communicate coherently or else more of them are going to die. And it will likely continue being the “expendable soldiers” hired for war or “mud caked commoners” fighting for freedom

[annamaggs16]

It’s the fact that Teor was the one to save Thimble, he healed her before her third death saving throw and now Thimble won’t be able to carry his body back home. Not to a place, but to their people. The falconers. The fellow rebels.

Teor was the first person to reassure Kattigan he was missed and welcomed back. And Kattigan’s last words to him were “separation makes the heart grow fonder.” They’ll never be battle buddies again. They’ll never share watch by a campfire, the wise old war guys kicking it back together.

Thimble will never be able to ask Teor about Kattigan. Kattigan will have to reach out to someone else to talk about the revelation and answers about his family. They’re both in for difficult conversations without their bridge to mend the gap between them

[annamaggs16]

It is a bit difficult because Grog was a tank who really couldn’t die in a world of revivify. Fjord was a warlock so there was always a chance. Bertrand was intentional, and Chetney always rolled to die.

Teor is really the first PC death for Travis that doesn’t feel intentional on his part. Yes it was always possible. I don’t think it could happen to anyone better because Travis is the cheerleader of his friends/the button pusher for himself. This is a guy who grew up on sportsmanship and camaraderie.

Yes, it’s absolutely sad we won’t know more about Teor and Cyd outside of flashbacks, but it gives a great story of tragedy and further developments of dynamics for PCs and their players to explore.

Travis did the best he could with the resources given to him. Just another example to never split the party.