C3e1 reminded me of the other day when I was thinking about how when you use multiple pronouns, some people will only use one set, sometimes because they think you’ll be angry if they use the other, even if the point is you use both lmao
Campaign 3 thoughts really quickly (and yes there are spoilers):
1. I love F.C.G. and that will always remain true. Bless Liam and Sam.
2. I am very happy to see EXU babies returning. I understand there are mixed feelings, but I personally loved them, and am very happy for a return. I think there should be more quiet characters in D&D, and therefore the power of Fearne and Orym is undeniable. I also personally would be fine with Robbie remaining as a regular. I know it’s a lot of players, but I think he would bring an interesting energy to the table, and I would love to see Orym, Fearne, and Dorian develop. I’ve heard people thinking Fearne and Orym are temporary, and I honestly don’t like that. I don’t think that would be a strong beginning to the campaign, especially as I am more inclined to think that Travis’s character is temporary, and four temporary characters in the first episode is a whole lot that I wouldn’t want to unpack later.
3. Reminder that each member of the cast is fully allowed to make decisions that you don’t agree with and that includes playing characters that you don’t like. This is their home game that has become a production, but it still really is a game of D&D.
4. As above, I think quiet characters are hugely important, and therefore, I am fascinated by Imogen. I think she has the potential to become one of the most interesting characters in campaign 3. I’m excited by the idea of her interacting with Orym, and honestly everyone else.
5. Am I afraid of Marisha’s character? Yes, but I love it. I’m excited to see where she goes with this.
6. Love the gender representation. And also, just everyone should love Taliesin Jaffe. Ashton is very interesting, and since F.C.G has my heart already, I’m looking forward to Taliesin making me feel things again.
7. Do I like Bertrand? No. Do I think he could be interesting as a long term character? Yes. Do I want that? It doesn’t matter, because whatever they choose to do is what will happen, and I’m okay with that.
8. I’m hoping they make actual announcements about plans with Robbie, because I am not fond of theorizing and what it does to fandoms. Knowing if he’s just a temporary guest will make a big difference in my expectations for this campaign, as would knowing he’s a permanent fixture.
9. Re-expectations: yes, I also have expectations, and things I would prefer, but if those things don’t happen, then I’m gonna live with that and keep watching anyways.
10. Have I mentioned I love F.C.G.?
11. Bertrand is the poster child for why lying is bad.
12. This party is going to be a predominantly pastel mess, and I’m here for it.
13. All in all, the energy of this campaign and this table is worlds different from either of the other campaigns, and as much of an adjustment as that is going to be, I’m really excited for it. The cast looked so refreshed in this episode. They needed the break, and they needed something new. It might be hard to get into, and some people may not get into it at all, but I’m really and truly excited to see where it goes, even if there are things that bother me.
14. I want to see Essek Theyless in campaign 3. Every npc is the shadowhand until proven otherwise.
15. I’m fascinated to see relationships of all kinds form amongst this party.
16. Also, I love Orym. I think the possibilities for his character are fascinating.
Anyways! Those are just some of my many thoughts. My friend and I were literally on the edge of our seats the whole time, and I’m probably going to be sore tomorrow, but that’s okay. I look forward to seeing exactly what this campaign will continue to look like.
Laudna is most definitely undead in some way. Between the soul comments, saying that keeping a corpse could be useful and her general appearance and mannerisms, (also the comments about whitestone and that being ‘long long ago’) make me feel like she’s definitely undead or undead adjacent.
People have been theorizing between a connection to the De Rolos or the briarwoods, and I definitely could see that. That would be such a wild thing, not because it would be surprising necessarily, but because I really wanna see how that would play off of Orym and his connection to Keyleth.
It’s been a couple of days since Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb came out, and I know not everyone has received their copy yet, but I hope everyone has enjoyed it! I was a very small part of the team that worked for a very long time to pull it together, and I hope that–at least on my end–I delivered the best possible quality.
Please enjoy Caleb’s story, the good, the bad, the horrific, and even the themes that are hard to swallow or tolerate.
Also, keep your cat close. Dog lovers: you’re safe for now.
A non-exhaustive list of shattering little details in The Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb Widogast in no particular order, bc I haven’t thought about anything else in the past two days (spoilers below):
Frumpkin running after the cart that is taking Bren away from home for the first time
Bren fidgeting with various objects while studying and concentrating until Wulf grabs his hand and stops him
Wulf with one arm around Astrid’s shoulder and one hand in Bren’s pocket
With long hair and no beard, Caleb looks like a splitting image of Una. Do you think after he shaved in Rosohna, he stared in every mirror because he could finally see her face again? Did he avoid his reflection altogether?
Bren baring his arms at the Ikithon estate but keeping them covered with bandages and bracers back at home so his parents could not see the evidence of what was being done to him. Him keeping the bandages on in bed so even Frumpkin was none the wiser
Wulf with a literal wolf – or at the very least a large dog – next to him when we meet him first. Bren apparently falling for a dog person
The hair cuts that make three teenagers look like grown-ups, like the soldiers they are being trained as
The slow escalation of the residuum experiments. The looks of the other students, how they must have wondered what was happening to these three. How competition and Academy indoctrination probably made them feel envy more than anything else
Trent altering Bren’s memory to him holding Frumpkin when he overhears his parent’s betrayal. Trent knowing Frumpkin. Trent not nearly caring enough to recognize his fey successor 16 years later
Wulf doubting that his parents would ever betray the empire. Astrid wondering how they could have ever been so stupid. Bren not doubting at all. “I was so sure. I was so sure… until I wasn’t.”
The broken furniture in Wulf’s house where he strangled his parents with his bare hands, his mother first. His father must have seen it, must have watched his son kill his wife before he was overpowered himself
Una and Leofric dancing in the living room when flames and smoke starts to appear around them
Frumpkin’syooowl
Astrid and Wulf leaving Bren in Blumenthal and returning with one empty horse. His neighbors, the people he grew up with, finding him nonresponsive next to his burned down house. Them likely finding the corpses of the Grieves and Beckes during the day. One small town with an scorch mark on their history, the ugly story of its three most gifted children turned harbingers. No one finding out the full story until Trent is captured and tried, years and years later
Astrid coming to Bren’s cell at the Sanatorium to show him her burn scar, desperate for any kind of reaction, not getting so much as an eye blink
The overturned bench in Bren’s cell that stays overturned for 11 years until he is woken up
Caleb fresh out of the Sanatorium gathering his sparse coins to buy a copy of Der Katzenprinz. Caleb trading the book with a little girl for a scarf to stay warm on the road
The matching bandages on Caleb’s and Nott’s arms when they first meet, both of them trying to hide what was done to them
To end on a slightly lighter note, a (possibly incomplete) list of Vox Machina easter eggs:
Percy and Vex dancing at the Biergarten
A Trinket figurine on a shelf at the Ermendrud house
Statues of a male half-elf with a snake and a female half-elf with an arrow next to the bath
