Critical Role - Campaign 3 Episode 1

As I said on the Show Notes page this week, I think the story and acting in Critical Role is amazing, but I never finished Campaign 2, or at least have not finished it yet, because I started 30+ weeks late and getting through the backlog was too daunting. 

However, with Campaign 3 of Critical Role launching this week, I have a chance to stay current with the story this time. Episode 1 was streamed on Twitch and the video-on-demand will be available to the general public on YouTube starting on Monday. 

My initial reaction is that the characters are great, and the world Matthew Mercer has created is even more evocative than what we saw in Campaign 2. Detailed notes of each player-character combination are below.

• Laura / Imogen - Laura's acting ability really shines in Episode 1. Imogen's trepidation and anxiety are completely believable and endearing, and the combination of telepathy, telekinesis, and sorcerer magic could be really cool. I am really looking forward to watching the reveal of Imogen's backstory and finding out what specific information she is looking for. 
• Marisha / Laudna - Laudna is freaky, Marisha's voicing is great, and her hand positioning and posture really work to create the image that meeting her would be very unnerving. I always wonder how playing a character that would be hard to fit into society would work, and Marisha's choice to play an undead character made me wonder how she will do that. However, so far there seems to be a good connection with Imogen to make sure having an undead character will work. The multiclass choice of Sorcerer and Warlock should allow for interesting combat and roleplaying.
• Talesin / Ashton Greymoore - I really did not like Talesin's Campaign 2 character Mollymauk Tealeaf. I am not sure if that is because the Blood Hunter class Mercer created is too one-dimensional to be fun, or if that class just was not a good fit for Talesin. Either way, I loved how Talesin played Caduceus Clay after he switched characters, and I can already see how enjoyable Ashton will be in this campaign. He is a broken person, but the flaws are not the whole character. Talesin has created Ashton to also have redeeming qualities, like loyalty to and friendship with Sam's character. In addition, he has much more personality and a one-dimensional raging Barbarian. Even simple role-play elements like realizing that Ashton will need to wake early even though he typically drinks all night and wakes in the afternoon reinforce that there is a fully-fleshed out personality. Watching Talesin play Ashton reinforced that effective use of Bonds, Flaws, and Ideals can help create a memorable and believable character.
• Sam / Fresh Cut Grass - Sam created the most immediately memorable character with Fresh Cut Grass who is an automaton, presumably without a soul, and a cleric looking to help others. The possibilities are amazing, and I am super excited to watch F.C.G. develop. In addition, this is of course Sam so there will be many outrageous moments from him. In Episode 1, his "named after her favorite smells" line nearly destroyed the entire cast. If you are looking for a clip, check out the video at 3'15", but please note that this mature content. 

Critical Role C3E1 approx. 3'15". (critrole.com)

• ​Liam / Orym - A work colleague and I were commenting how much we liked Liam's cerebral character in Campaign 2, so seeing him come forward with an acrobatic fighter for Campaign 3 took adjustment. Orym still benefited from the depth of description Liam provides and his roleplaying was great, which bodes well for Orym this campaign.
• Ashley / Fearne - In Campaign 2, Ashley played a character with a completely tragic backstory. It was nice to see her play a character with a lighter and less serious tone. I think Fearne the faun druid will be mischievous and will bring a lot to the party. 
• Robbie / Dorian - Robbie was introduced as a player in the Exandria Unlimited, which I did not watch. As a result, I knew nothing about him before he walked on the stage. So far, Dorian was great and played a Bard like I wished I would have played a Bard in my recent Curse of Strahd game. Tons of personality with Robbie and Dorian, so I hope he sticks around.
• Travis / Sir Bertrand Bell - Travis did not show up in the game until 2'17" into the session. Travis is reprising his Campaign 1 character, the now-octogenarian fighter Bertrand Bell. I had no knowledge of Bell since I did not watch Campaign 1, but the Critical Role wiki provides background info (caution: spoilers). Bell is clearly a charlatan and self-promoter, which could provide some interesting situations for the party to get out of. It will be interesting to see if Travis keeps with Bell for the entire campaign.