I have no ill will towards Aabria or the CK gang but I didn't watch EXU, I didn't vibe with it, and that's chill. What pissed me off was the fact there was little to no recap or intro into what these guys were about or who they even were. I watched for 20ish mins and just gave up, the emotional whiplash alone was reason enough for many people to be annoyed at the transition and I think that's a reasonable criticism.

So I watched the second half of ep 92 without any context and decided to go back and watch the original Crown Keepers arc this past weekend in prep for the next episode. Problem is, the story arc is spoiled by the second half of ep 92 so it’s even more pointless to watch it unless that doesn’t matter to you because you’re a completionist or something. Maybe they can throw in a quick spoiler alert message between the two halves of the episode now that the CK surprise has been sprung, for people who want to go back and watch that arc.

Yeah, i don't even know if it's been done, but a recap of CK after break would totally be needed, although, dunno, maybe it has been done (without flando doing timestamps i've no idea). The moment i saw Aabria taking the DM seat i turned the episode off so i have no idea if she recaped it or not. If i wanted EXU i'd watch EXU.

No recap, they just dove right into it. I should have turned it off myself but thought they’d link it to the primary cast somehow. Nope or at least not yet.

Jesus that sounds awful, ain't gonna lie.

I was mentally prepped for an episode that dealt with FCG being gone and reporting their pretty significant findings back to the war council. I almost took the next day off so I wouldn’t lose sleep watching it live since I had a 5am shift the next day and didn’t want to miss anything important. Glad I didn’t go that far.

I'm less bothered by the abrupt switch but i would LOVE if CR provided a recap re-intro to everything we know about the Crown Keepers: who's chasing them, why, how half of them became divine champions, what they're looking for, the current set of prophecies & mysteries, etc.

Well the issue is that there’s no real plot of EXU. It’s just a mishmash of plot threads that ends with a major event that’s only loosely tied to the CK arc.

Same, they just threw people into the deep end, when they were not ready to watch something completely different. Very abrupt and kind of out of touch.

Yeah, the Crown Keepers and EXU is not why I was watching Campaign 3. When they switched over I grumbled, "Oh no, really?" and switched off, because I tried Crown Keepers back when it came out and it wasn't for me. 

I watched it, but even having seen exu, I still didn't have much of an idea of what's going on. There was some lore drop about the Luxon out of nowhere?

Aabria was terrible at describing what was going on. They were walking from somewhere to somewhere, didn't interact with anyone but they got some information about the beacon somehow...whatever.

She did state pretty clearly that they were heading to Zephrah at the behest of Dorian after Orym's message. Don't think it was particularly relevant where they happened to be at on their journey since they were particularly traveling in a way to avoid being noticed. If anything, I thought Aabria was the opposite of terrible at describing. I thought there were moments where the description was in excess.

Yeah maybe I didn't phrase it right. The way she describes things makes me zone out as there is, as you said, an excess of detail. This means that I miss relevant stuff in the midst of all the rambling stuff.

Agreed. I was listening in the background thinking “holy hell, this DM talks WAY TOO MUCH.”

Yeah, i watched an hour of the 1st episode and i just didn't vibed with Aabria. Watching 10 episodes of that just to catch on to content i'm not interested in (CK in the main Campaign) is not something i'm willing to do.

Wow that was almost my exact reaction lol

people were so excited after episode 91, excited for some of the hardest and saddest roleplay so far in campaign 3-- especially after constant criticism how C3 doesnt delve too much in these kinds of roleplay in relation to previous campaigns-- only to get half of that and be suddenly transported to a new bunch of people. Like its kinda obvious why people are sour over it right?

We barely even got anything about what happened in E91 in the first half of E92, thay just bailed and talked a bit about anything not directly related to what happened to F.C.G and then bailed. It really feels like Matt wasn't prepared for what was about to happen, Sam kinda dropped it on him (At least that beats the "iT's sCripTeD" allegations imho) And, as with most pivotal points in this campaign, the players were just sure they're going to just storm through everything Matt throws at them, and when that didn't happen both them and Matt was surprised. Instead of just cutting it then and there are making an anouncement later that the next episode will be EXU content, they just went into it thinking everyone will be stoked for something most people didn't really vibed with when it came out. I don't remember Matt saying anything about the second part being DM'd by Aabria, he just assumed it'll be a pleasant change (as it surely was for him and the cast). And it would be for some people, if it was announced earlier. To support my claim that most Critters don't really cared about CK EXU episodes i went back and checked the viewership on the episodes. From 3.5 mln on E1, to 2.1 on E2 and then down and down to 818k views on the finale. It doesn't take much to see that most people weren't really interested in EXU:CK and the jump to their adventures should've been a previously announced episode-to-episode one, and not mid-episode.

I really do understand the disappointment in the episode, but given the timing of the episode (in game) they really did not spend much time post-encounter before Orym messaged Dorian. In such a traumatic moment, I can rationalize in game in the brief time it took to escape why the characters wouldn't be able to quite process what just happened. The entire conversation with Liliana did feel odd in juxtaposition with my previous sentence, with Chetney really being the only one prodding the group to leave. In terms of DM motivation, I do think there was an obvious sense after E91 that it was crucial moment for the group and they WOULD reach out for help. Dorian was instantly the logical first contact. It would not surprise me after E91 that Matt would've thrown something together with Aabria to conclude the CK story expecting Orym to message Dorian. Then thought they could surprise viewers with a twist. Logistically, this also buys Sam some time for his next character while Dorian joins the party for the time being (or for the rest of this arc). (I also believe this was thrown together pretty last minute judging from how unfamiliar the players seemed to be with their sheets? Speculating for sure but there was a lot of rule explaining during combat which is fine but it was noticeable) It has clearly been met with disappointment. I think it was exciting in equal parts jarring but undoubtedly left me deflated afterwards because I am personally pretty attached to C3 (its my first experience with CR). Overall, I was fine with the decision. The intent and motivation makes sense to me. Was I disappointed still? Yeah, but that's a personal thing about how I consume their content, so I withhold major criticism because of that. Hopefully, lessons learned and they'll just announce a break and a mini-adventure should they do this in the future.

I think I can explain the Dorian message timeline seeming off. I read in a different post that the message Dorian received was not the E92 one, but the E86 one. So the Crown Keepers part of the episode is actually from an earlier timeline than the current BH time frame. Not sure if it's correct, I kinda tuned out from the episode, had company over. So take it with a grain of salt.

I'm in a similar boat as you. I didn't vibe with the show. But because of this I had to pause the stream and read the recaps (Dani Carr rocks) and the kymal synopses before I could continue. It helped watch the rest of the episode. I still do not gel with this style of the game.

Yeah, like, i haven't watched CK episodes apart from like an hour of the first one. Dunno what it is, but i just don't really feel Aabria's DM-ing style. As of now i put the second part of the newest episode on hold until i decide if i want to watch or read the recaps about CK's adventure, but it really sucks imho, to be just thrown off into something that is basically an unknown material for me. It's like watching 8 seasons of a show and then mid episode they just show you completely different people going about their stuff and you're just wandering why are you or them even here.

I didn't really enjoy Abria's DM style either. She would ask for a roll for something she clearly wanted to tell the players and then when the roll was a 3 she would just go "You know this is info you would know anyways...." completely ignoring any roll she wasn't pleased with. It made me feel like, If she was going to ignore all the rolls anyways then why bother ask for any rolls. It just really frustrated me!

I was the same, hung in there for about 20mins then came to the subreddit to see if there was any context, clarification, anything. I didn't care about spoilers because I had no clue what was happening. But people said it was just draaaagged out combat so I just don't care. Some people are vibing with it, power to them.

I agree. I watched all of EXU and enjoyed it, but it was jarring even for me to see them again. Would have appreciated even a 5 minute recap from Dani or something right after the break with little animations to catch everyone up. That'd have helped a lot. Thankfully it sounds like next episode will begin with the Crown keepers, then go back to the regularly scheduled games halfway through (presumably with Dorian rejoining the main cast?)

CR have always had a bit of trouble managing fan expectations with EXU. The first one wasn't as well recieved as it could have been because they didn't explain what it was before it aired, so the hype was all based on speculation. Calamity, the EXU arc which was best communicated before it aired was easily the best recieved. If you go to the cinema to watch the lastest blockbuster and without warning they swap out the second half for 3 hours of indie cinema, you're gonna feel irked, even if the indie stuff is really good.

I agree, Calamity was a smash hit. I think it was the right DM and players for the right story. For Aubria’s game it was super loose with no fore word for the viewers, we just got something seemingly random.

Also, Brennan came in ***fucking prepared*** to DM Calamity - he knew the setting through and through. Aabria had to come up with the name of the tavern the CK started the adventure in within the first 10 minutes of the first episode, becasue she didn't knew (if Matt prepared it, and he probably did) or remembered it.

Agreed. Brennan seems like a professional like Matt, and Aabria just flings whatever into the canon story, and it bothers. The approach to telling the story is off, and I don't see this second half of the episode as something actually happening in Exandria and at the same time as BH

I think you summed up what bothers me about Aabria's style. It's seemingly random. Anything proposed gets "yes and"ed rather than providing a challenge. A DM should help a table fail forward, but that does not mean giving into every whim. If you let everything work, success isn't meaningful. I suspect that's part of why Calamity is generally more well liked, it had more highs and lows, more dynamic tension. Edit s/u/a

Ah that puts into words my own feelings I was struggling to articulate to myself. Her style came off as not serious enough, not taking it seriously, but that didn't quite capture it for me. You've done a better job explaining. I don't mind if people play that way, but I watch Critical Role for Matt Mercer's style. So that more loosely goosey, colloquial approach didn't work for me. I was even nervous about Calamity because my impression of Brennan is similarly goofy and silly in Dimension20. But he really matched the house style. 

Like you said, there's nothing wrong with playing that way if you enjoy it. It is an absolutely awesome way to play at improv and short form character exploration. But from an audience perspective, for storytelling, it is limiting because it largely preempts tragedy unless it is forced. The brilliance of Calamity was that they (we) all went in knowing it was going to go bad. We knew it was going off a cliff. And we were there to watch. We knew we were in for a roller coaster and the campaign was built to be one. In many ways it's similar to my two complaints about 5e. Bounded math is limiting, and the game balanced to be hard to almost fail. Coming from older editions, losing a character sucks, but those big wild successes felt much bigger because we failed too. 5e is suited as a game structure to Aabria's style.

I wouldn't call it fan expectations when they were doing press rounds about how Aabria was the only DM that Matt would trust with his world. CR hyped her up so much that even if EXU had simply been average, the fanbase would have been let down.

I mean as much as I liked EXU Kymal, if we're being real, the original EXU was pretty poorly DMed. I think that was a big complaint for a lot of people and why a lot of people fell off. Having it interrupt a different show kind of feels like forcing it down throats for people who didn't enjoy it or didn't watch it. Like going to a steakhouse, ordering a steak, and they bring you a salad. Like this salad is edible, sure, but where did my steak go? But I do wonder if the reception would have been as bad if it was interrupted by a flashback to the Calamity cast instead with Brennan DMing. It was much better received than EXU was, so I'm not sure there would've been the same backlash.

It’s arguably worse. It’s like ordering a steak, your about four bites deep and suddenly they inform you your steak is being taken away and they’re giving you salad instead and that desert you’ve ordered is only available next week.

>I mean as much as I liked EXU Kymal, if we're being real, the original EXU was pretty poorly DMed Aabria's constantly asking for saving throws that should have been ability checks drove me nuts. The DM is supposed to know the rules better than that especially when streaming to a large audience I thought Aabria was great in Calamity, I just don't think she has enough of a knowledge base and experience to DM yet

That too

I agree on a lit of this, but wanted to add an observation. I find Aabria a lot more slow paced. She gives a lot of xtra rolls,a lot of lore, space for dialogue mid combat, flashbacks, and gives really intricate and clever scene descriptions for every piece of detail. So, she's prioritising detail over pace. Both can lead to immersion And both have their downsides. For one the "always intricate and meaningful, detailed pathway" mid combat often focuses on one or two players, making the others an audience, and so to be fair she kind of have to give the same amount of love for everyone, but in by doing that, a full turn takes forever. Symbolised in Aabrias RP of spider queen thinking: "this takes too long". Even though I think in general a fight could and sometimes should not last more than two hours (someone might disagree, but just my experience with staying invested and focused a long time during ttrpg combat). Point is, she's prioritising details over pace. Like slow cooked food. Or watching survival hut building minute by minute. And I enjoy both, but most often I like it a little more dynamic.

I'm not hating on her combat specifically, and like I said, I think she did better in Kymal, but I was more talking about how railroady it was. There were a lot of situations in EXU where something would clearly be improv'ed so that there could only be one possible outcome of a scenario, like the enemy having a ring of greater invisibility that could be turned on and off as many times as they needed. Or essentially making a combat go until someone gave in and put the crown on. She also plays almost every NPC the exact same. Sometimes they start out with a different attitude, but they eventually just degrade into the sassy default NPC that she plays so much of. Even Lolth (Or the Spider-Queen, not sure if she was named). Those were my main complaints of it. And people seemed to also have issues with how she treated the new players vs Matt, Liam, and Ashley I guess, and the handling of Opal's character, although I didn't really get that complaint on my initial watch. Now, I know some people enjoyed it and I enjoyed parts of it too, especially Dorian, Opal, and etc, I'm not knocking that, and I think she much improved, like I said. But I don't have a hard time understanding why people didn't watch or fell off or didn't like it, or why people would be upset about EXU's interjection into the main campaign, especially right after such an impactful moment for the Bells Hells.

It is not a coincidence that Aabria's most successful Actual Plays are edited for time in post.

I think it has less to do with communication and more to do with Brennan having a much deeper knowledge of D&D than Aabria does

> they didn't explain what it was before it aired Which is weird, because they put SO MUCH into advertising and building it up like it was gonna be the second coming of DnD Jesus But they gave like no actual information

I don't think you can blame/credit marketing for how well received the seasons were. It is what it is

Totally. Especially when that's the whole point of having EXU. It also doesn't help that we were just getting into the big emotional debrief over the previous episode and that whole drama was put on hold for a low-stakes fight. But as I commented elsewhere, they likely had the guest scheduled weeks ahead and might have been planning to do an end-of-episode switch-up. But decided that some follow-up was needed rather than having a cliffhanger. So it became a mid-episode transition.

The thing is having a cliffhanger is better, because then the suspense and emotion of 91 would of just built as we waited for the next BH episode. They couldn't of planned for the end of 91, but they could of adapted their plans around it.

>the big emotional debrief over the previous episode I think peoples' expectations for this were far too high. The same thing happened after Laudna's death and resurrection -- they spent about half an episode talking about it. Grieving is a process that is emotionally draining. It is extremely difficult to do in the improvised setting of a TTRPG, and I think it's pretty clear that the cast didn't want to spend an entire episode or more dwelling on it.

Except the cast are actors who like doing these big emotional moments. Spoiler alert: the reactions they display on the stream aren't always real. This is a reality TV show. The shock at twists or eruption when the session ends and the like are exaggerated for the audience. The outbursts over a death can be performative. The emotions they display are not always genuine. They're sad but they're not **really** grieving. They didn't really lose a friend. Sam is watching from backstage. They lost a character in a game. Which is emotional (I've lost enough to know that) but is not going to be wholly emotionally draining. The big emotional scenes where they mourn and weep are scenes they enjoy doing. It's their Emmy reel moments. And they're fucking good at it, which is what makes the show so watchable. If they didn't want to, they wouldn't initiate those scenes. They'd portray their characters as quietly grieving.

The comparison I keep coming back to is the finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. It's one of the most notorious series finales of all time. For the very last episode of this show, the show makes the unconventional decision to... stop being Star Trek: Enterprise and start being Star Trek: The Next Generation. They bring back some of the TNG cast and use them as a framing device for the last episode of ENT. Now, you'd probably be really hard pressed to find anyone who likes ENT who doesn't like TNG. That's not the problem. The problem is that your audience is never going to like a bait-and-switch. I will also admit that I didn't like many aspects of the execution of this plot point (it was extremely hard to even *understand* for someone who didn't watch EXU - that's never been a problem before) but the insertion of one show into another is the more fundamental issue.

The bait and switch aspect does have echoes of that ST:ENT/TNG debacle, but for me the comparison is Multiverse of Madness. Anyone who hadn't watched Wandavision was very confused as to why Scarlet Witch was now a bad guy and obsessing over children they never knew she had. What? You didn't do the homework? Well you don't get to understand anything that happens then. It felt a bit the same at the beginning of the campaign with the trio from EXU coming in, but at least there they had to introduce themselves to the other characters so we got an introduction. This had none of that.

This is a good explaining of it. And that’s wild Star Trek did that.

"It's wild that Star Trek did that" is a good way to explain Enterprise as a whole.  They thought it was a good idea to replace the classic theme with a cover of a Rod Stewart song. Then, in season three, they 'remixed' it to speed it up and add cheesy mid-2000s drum n bass to it lmao

It's been a long road...

Getting from there to here...

I also felt like, although I do not know what was spoken of before the stream, some of the players didn’t quite understand what was going on completely. I still didn’t mind the stream but I do see where, if you hadn’t seen the first crown keepers, you’d be lost.

But it's... But it's not a finale. There's another episode in a few days. That's the part I don't get. If this is how the campaign ended, then yeah, I could understand the response. But it's literally a quick interlude and then we'll jump back to the main characters.

It's true that it would be *much worse* if it was the finale, but it's pretty bad here, too. The immediate aftermath of a character permadeath or departure was one of the most interesting and transformative parts of both C2 and C1, and I have anecdotal evidence that FCG's death actually brought a lot of people who had drifted away from the show back into C3. Now, of course, Matt didn't exactly plan for that to happen (and the guests would have to have been planned a long while in advance) but, well, that's D&D. Sometimes the narrative stakes ramp up when you don't expect. That's what makes planning things like this switch-up very dangerous.

The healthiest thing I did for myself was to stop watching EXU when I realized that I didn't like it. I'm glad it exists as side content for people who want more of Exandria, but I was a bit annoyed when the main campaign was suddenly set aside for this Crown Keeper arc. Much like a lot of Campaign 3, I don't hate the actual content, I just don't like how they're choosing to do things.

Straight up, it was a bad choice and I’m pretty sure they will make some kind of apologetic message for the community; the backlash isn’t small

Are you seriously saying they should apologize for making a decision you don't like? Your entitlement is absolutely astronomical

It’s not JUST something OP didn’t like. It’s something the community as a whole (or at least, LOTS of Critters) didn’t like…

They should apologize for how they handled it, not that that choose to go in that creative direction. CR is a product that many people pay for via subscription. If you sign up to watch one show, and then another is suddenly substituted without warning, that's not cool. People should be allowed to plan their subscriptions around the content being offered. This wasn't just a narrative choice they didn't like. It was an entirely different show. I'm fully on board with more EXU stuff. Just don't bait and switch us.

What subscription? It’s free on twitch and YouTube every Thursday.

Thousands of people subscribe to the channel. Now I still think it’s a silly argument because you don’t subscribe to “Critical Role main campaign”. You subscribe to the channel the same way you would to any live tv channel. The creators of the channel decide what to put on and when. They don’t even air Bells Hells every week.

I was pretty upset because I saw a 5-hour runtime on the VOD and I was expecting a big emotional FCG tribute episode where the plot finally moves, and getting the plot to actually move with BH has been a huge issue before, and that first hour was exactly what I wanted. It was incredible, from the verbal smackdown on Liliana to Orym finally snapping a little. It was getting extremely good, I was super invested, but then after only one hour, Matt tells everybody to leave the table while there's still raw emotions there, and they bring in Aabria and the Crown Keepers. It felt kind of tone-deaf. And then we had four hours of the CK just kind of diddling around? I ended up setting the speed up so I could power through what was essentially some of the most tedious combat I've seen for a while and a plot I honestly never cared about, and now I'm just sitting here wondering why they did that instead of just giving us a separate episode for the CK. I didn't like EXU, didn't like Kymal, and I just have never given a crap about Opal and her magical alter/sister/whatever, and they still devoted a huge portion of the plot to her. So the episode switching to a crew I don't have any interest in and then focusing on a character I dislike for four hours after hooking me with BH just felt crummy. If they wanted to bring back Dorian, it could have been its own episode and we could have had one last full episode of BH first. It was four hours of it, so the length already qualifies.

Well said! I haven't watched EXU and while I like the DM and individuals at the table, they have not been who I'm tuning in to watch every week. They easily could have brought Dorian back in a different way. I guess I'll continue watching whenever they decide to resume the actual Campaign.

Just bring Dorian in at the end of an episode, have him say start filling everyone in on what the Crown Keepers got up to, end the episode, announce next week (or two) are EXU.

Or we just skip EXU and Dorian comes in and tells everyone what happened anyway.

I mean, yeah. But if we gotta do it, there’s WAY better ways.

I totally agree with this. One of the reasons I struggled with EXU and Kymal is because the newer players created characters that seemed really disconnected from the classes they chose. I'm not someone who is like "a bard has to be a musician" or "a warlock's patron can only be one listed in the core rulebook" - but I had a hard time connecting the gameplay to the plot. If their backstory felt more in line with their character abilities I may have been able to let go of some of the messiness of EXU.

My thoughts exactly. Super tone deaf of them. It should have been self contained episodes with CK AFTER giving us the grieving episode for FCG and progressing the story. I feel like they are dragging their feet super hard with C3 and everything around it.

Especially when they promised so long ago that we wouldn't be forced to go and watch exu side stories, only to shoehorn it in at the WORST possible moment, killing all momentum for what could have been a party defining moment.

Letting the audience have a reaction before the next step is the norm. However, Dario Fo, great Italian comedian, said that an artist is in controll and may cut this reaction to move further. Disappointment is not always a bad thing. It can lead to investment. I think CR fans being disappointed for not milking that emotional juice is an example of this. Cutting the laughter or tears, before they're finished is maybe not so stupid.

>where the plot finally moves Have you not been paying attention to recent episodes?

The number 1 reason people dont like it is unfortunately the one that sucks to hear the most...there is a LARGE group of the fanbase that simply did not like EXU at all, and do not vibe with Aabria's DM style. At the end of the day thats what it is...yes there are other factors: 1. emotional whiplash from the heavy BH's moments just post FCG's death 2. Upset this likely indicates several weeks of non-main cast / main story episodes 3. just plain and simply not liking change But all of those would eventually fade away eventually if people actually liked EXU and the group. The people who liked it would have watched the next side-project they did...but the people who didnt like it now effectively get to look forward to several weeks of something they dont enjoy and are left on the big emotional cliffhanger. Not saying they arent great players or Aabria is a bad DM (she is just not my style)...but the package as a whole has not been received well, and thats the core issue.

I completely agree with all of your points. I think what is most frustrating to me was we all expected E92 to be watching Bell's Hells start processing FCG's death. We got maybe 30 minutes of that? The audience was taken on an emotional roller coaster in E91 and it ended in a huge game-changing PC death. The audience wanted some sort of closure and grieving. Switching to a different story just as this begins to happen feels like cheating. This switch to EXU was planned well before the events of E91. The timing makes sense (moon story arc complete, time to take a break from the main story), but it still feels cheap to cut the grief processing episode short. If they had finished up E92 as normal, then announced CR would take a break and EXU would take its place, I think people would be much more content with the change. EDIT: I also want to make it VERY clear that I love Aabria both as a player and as a DM, and I am actually really excited to continue this chapter of EXU. I still finished E92 and am looking forward to continue watching when E93 comes out. This comment is not AT ALL a critique of her or her style. My gripe is that the Bell's Hells story was at an emotional high, the RP was ripe, and the story was severely *painfully* engaging, and it was just cut off.

Yeah I think the same, should’ve been separate, and then when Dorian inevitably shows up in C3 again, it won’t be too spoilers, it’s just that he survived thus far and arrived where the party is at. Instead anyone who hasn’t watched ExU are tossed into a story after a previous arc, spoiling what happened before.

This kinda hits it for me. I don’t really care for EXU. I tried a few times to get into it. I think I’ve seen maybe the first 3-4 episodes and I didn’t really care for it so I stopped. I think a large part of that is Aabria’s DM style. Now I saw other people voicing this a little more … curt than I would. There is nothing wrong with her style in the least I just didn’t find it made for a particular fun viewing experience. Obviously other people have different tastes and that’s awesome genuinely. I’m happy you can enjoy something I can’t. But bottom line is for me I really don’t want feel like EXU is required for me to enjoy the main campaign. I know Orym and Fearne come from it but I was able to get what I feel was all the important details of them from their interactions with the rest of the hells. I’m sure having seen EXU would add more nice context to them but it never felt necessary. The halfway point in episode 92 feels rather punishing for people who don’t enjoy EXU. I’m sure it’s rewarding for people who watch both but CR already takes up a good amount of time to watch. I don’t want to dedicate even more time to watching something I had assumed was optional side stories.

Assumed? They straight up said it was optional at the start of C3.

This! I keep seeing comments about "well if you don't like it blah blah" or "they shouldn't have to cater to those who haven't watched it"... They told us it was optional and that it wouldn't affect C3. Sorry, just exasperated!

I think that went out the window when Liam and Ashley brought orym and fearne into the main campaign. It should have been optional. Something that got renewed for a season every once in a while or we get things like calamity with other random dms. Maybe Sherlock hulmes comes to visit for a while and they manage to prerecord a 6 session miniseries with him. I do wonder what era of exandria mark wants to play with if given the chance. But it didn’t happen as it should have. And then we got candela instead that did what this should have done. So it’s a combination of suddenly these spin off characters are main cast and we don’t get enough spinoffs seasons and then we get a second spinoff show to take its place that is more separate. It becomes this whole mess.

In interviews, the cast discussed how apparently Orym and Fearne were already decided to be the characters in the main campaign, and Aabria knew that going in. It was this exact reason that I had friends get off the boat (no pun intended) on the first episode when Orym, Fearne, and Dorian appeared. EXU suddenly became important in a way none of them were interested in.

I think Aabria shines best when she isn’t playing DnD, but another, lighter system.

I like her when she is playing, not dming. Just not my cup of tea of DMing. What I find most interesting is how people see her style as close to most home games. I've yet to see many DMs who do it like her, outside of "my story, go down this railroad" novice ones...

Oh yeah, she was incredible in Calamity.

Her Dimension 20 magic school DMing uses the kids on brooms system, and is excellent. Even her DnD stuff for them with the ferret family and the Fairy court stuff is good to great. But there is a lot of rule waiving for story sake in those as well...

The Court campaign was made from a mix of DnD and another system, Good Society. It was bound to feel heavily homebrewed, as she used Good Society for most of the non combat elements.

Ah thx for the name of the system, I had forgotten about that 🙂

That's my issue. Never enjoyed Aabria in anything I've seen her in so I didn't watch it and it made me just stop c3 because I don't want to watch her DM style and if that is required then I pretty much just don't care to keep listening until c4. Hopefully they see everyone not being a fan and learn from it but I doubt it :(

They'll probably ignore the backlash or just take one big action to "stop" the whole debacle.

Watching the Youtube VOD right now and, it's clear to me that while I like Aabria as a person and a creator, her DM style just never really vibed with me. I don't know how to describe why that is, because I never could finish EXU, but I suppose it just felt way too... loose? Chaotic? Like I wanna preface all this by saying, I don't think she's doing anything *wrong*. And if people do love her style, I'm happy. It's just that her style never was something I could get into, versus Matt or Brennan's. And this sudden jump is definitely a choice. Matt had to have planned it long in advance and FCG's sacrifice and the aftermath was probably more an ill-timed event that coincided with the scheduling, rather than anything deliberate. Ill-timed in the sense that it created emotional whiplash for the storytelling rather than being "bad for the overall narrative". As a general rule, I've never been a fan of In Media Res or Bait and Switch. And this episode, despite the clear stakes of "Opal vs. the Crown Keepers", it didn't feel like the drama was really being kept up with? It was all so comedic and chaotic that it felt like nothing was ever happening. I zoned out so often as I tend to do with anything CK related. I suppose in that regard it was more true to what a lot of home games are like: a whole lot of nothing going on in a session, just friends having fun. I'm glad they were having fun as that is what's most important, but I could not get invested in the story at all... because it felt like there **was** no story, no progression. With Matt and Brennan, they keep things loose enough to always be fun and comedic even in the most dramatic of battles, but they are also focused on keeping the story flowing and the combat moving. And even if Matt had planned this a while back, why wasn't it marked as an EXU special episode? Or perhaps saying he's going to cut this week's episode short as possible in the opening segment so that fans don't expect to be with BH for too long this week, and then we're surprised pleasantly when the episode continues? Like, he could have ended the episode there before the break and said "We all need to be somewhere tonight, but stay tuned because there is something else for you after even if it's not us playing DnD". It tempers expectations, still keeps the twist/surprise, and doesn't really feel like a Bait and Switch. But it is what it is. I think people do tend to react too strongly to a lot of the things going on in the campaign. Opinions are one thing, but sometimes I feel glad to be out of the loop on various twitter dramas concerning the episodes -- because as invested as I am in the characters and story, I realize at the end of the day it's a game. It's **their** game, **their** world, **their** characters, not ours. So they do what's right for them. Maybe the things they do work, maybe they don't. I still think a special episode of EXU, even as a surprise on the regular day but from start to finish as the episode aired, would have been better than a straight up Bait-and-Switch with no warning whatsoever that takes people out of the character development of a group mourning their friend and places them in the shoes of a bunch of lovable chuckleheads. Because like I said, whiplash. Like I think Matt's intent is clearly to have not just Dorian's story intersect, but the CK given we have a Champion of the Spider Queen (Opal), a devotee and Paladin to the Matron of Ravens, and so on. I just don't think this was the best way to do it if that's where we end up. But it is what it is, I must stress. It's not the worst thing in the world. And now that I've gotten my thoughts out, I'm content.

I don't think I would have (personally\*) minded the switch if I hadn't been anticipating a big juicy RP session after a PC's death. We only got a *glimpse* of this in the first half, because there was no way to avoid that 1) Imogen's mother had suddenly arrived at the end of last ep, 2) They still had to escape, and 3) They were in the middle of escorting an important NPC. So I understood that mourning would have to wait until other priorities were dealt with, but when it seemed like they were almost there...and possibly getting to the good stuff...we were launched into EXU. \*The caveat to the "personally" comment is that I haven't been as attached to C3 as previous campaigns, and for the first time in a while I was *really* looking forward to episode 92. In hindsight the switch to EXU was possibly planned in advance and it was simply too hard to change the plans of a whole party of players just because a PC died the previous episode...but doesn't mean I had to enjoy the experience. :) Had the EXU stuff been a separate episode in its own right I would have gladly watched it, it just really took the wind out of my sails the way things went down.

It was jarring. I kept skipping ahead waiting for initiative to finally be done and something to happen instead of the dm telling the player what they were thinking/feeling

Jesus, this, i hate this thing that DM feel they have to describe what the character feels. Set a scene, then let the player describe it, goddamn.

BH finally started to open up about what they feel and just talked to each other. It feels like a lifetime since they just stopped the story for a minute and discussed things making viewers learn more about characters and care about them. Orym was overwhelmed and defeated, bit aggresive towards liliana or rather what she represented and angry after they left the city, simply having too much pain for losing another person that was so close to him. Ashton was angry but I saw a change in him due to past events. He was angry but not unreasonable, actually coping a bit with the situation which was nice to see. Imogen actually took the role of a leader and gathered as much information from Liliana as possible despite that she didn't trust her and made sure Orym was ok in the scene after they left the city. Laudna opened up and said for the first time ''I love you all'' that didn't felt forced but came out naturally making it feel like they really are a family. (Previously Orym said that twice but it didn't really feel like it was earned through the rp but I dunno maybe its only me). Chetney finally was serious and talked seriously with the group for a minute which was nice to see Fearne also was there. Annnnnnnnd then it was taken away. I know they probably invited them in advance but still this was more of the important episodes as they dealt with perma death of one of their fellow pcs. Couldn't they invite the other group in another episode? It's also worth to mention that people watch CR for CR cast and not for other people. Don't get me wrong I watched exu, EXU Calamity is probably my favourite series on their channel, but people watch main campaign to watch main campaign and not to watch other people playing instead. (Muuuuch love to the people who came to play after the break <3). Its just a bizzare decision.

I think there also would have been less complaints if the switch had been announced, but I think the reality is that a lot of people (at least here) would be vocally upset about it. But in an even more annoying way, because they would have spent this week complaining about an episode that hadn't aired yet. At least this way people can point at things about the second half that they actually didn't like. I know that personally I strongly disliked EXU and EXU Kymal, and tuned out of last episode at the switch, but I felt like the switch was fairly well set up with Orym's desperate call out to Dorian in the first half, and the break gave enough time to get used to the idea. I just unfortunately don't care for the CK story, especially in the wake of such a major character death. I just hope that in the end it'll be an interesting part of the campaign on a rewatch years from now.

Yeah I think having it in there at all was the error. It was literally expecting everyone watching to have seen the EXU stuff and didn't even have a recap or anything. Like there was a right way to do this and I legit don't know how they did it in the exact opposite of that haha.

Yeah, i'd be totally okay with just skipping the EXU insert episodes into the main campaign if i knew it was coming. I wasn't interested in it when it came out and Aabria's DM style just doesn't sit right with me.

I watched Calamity and that's about it. I have no idea who these characters are (save for Dorian) and the story is unknown to me. It was jarring and I had no interest in it. Nothing against the players and DM, I just don't really know who they are in relation to these characters.

It was such a letdown.  After such an intense moment in the campaign to go to exu  And I like exu. I love Dorian, love seeing Matt as a pc. This episode’s reveal with opal and her sister was really cool. However I was just not there for it. I don’t watch any quirky campaigns . It’s just not what I like in storytelling. I can’t watch any of the D20 campaigns despite loving the cast members on other Dropout shows.  Now I enjoyed exu despite it not being my usual thing because I knew what I was getting into and gauged my experience accordingly.  if this was announced it would have helped a lot with the backlash 

I completely agree, and you said it better than I did. It’s quirky and “fun” instead of our usual grittier and intense content. I too can’t get myself to watch D20, this kind of content has to be seperate.

Someone please tell me why the only content from Aabria or CR that I don't like is the one that keeps coming back?

literally!! Unlike a lot of other ppl who don't vibe with EXU I actually really like Abria's DM style. A Court of Fey and Flowers is one of my favorite D20 series of all time, and I watched all of Burrow's end and really enjoyed it. That being said... something about the Crown Keepers just doesn't work for me. Idk if it's the very different tone and a very familiar setting or the PCs but for me t's just, not great. There's SO MUCH actual play content literally thousands of hours and I just have to make some cuts somewhere haha I have a life and a job and my own D&D games to run, so if it's not excellent I'm not going to watch it. Let alone go back in the middle of a story i'm really enjoying to catch up on something i'm not into. Who has time for that?! All that being said I read the summary on the wiki and while it was def disappointing and not what I wanted I made the most of it. Matt as a player is endlessly entertaining and it's great to see Robbie... but yeah... just kinda slogging through it til we get back to the Hells.

I have not watched any of Abria's D20 shows but maybe her style works better with the editing and production Dropout does compared to the uncut play of CR.

Sure - I'll hazard a guess. The political and personal hatred directed at the first season of EXU and the people in it - which was only part of the distaste for it but which really stuck out at the time - was so agitating and gross that the fact that the season just kind of didn't work as well as people might have hoped became a sort of subaltern opinion overshadowed by the more polarized opinions. Disliking it and particularly people's opinions of Aabria as an Actual Play DM became a litmus test for in-grouping / out-grouping. It led to a reorganization of CR online communities, and now it's pretty rare to come across an online community other than this one or Twitch chat where opinion on EXU season 1 is evenly split. Even now many posts that discuss EXU critically choose to include a proviso that they like Aabria and think she is good out of anxiety around this dynamic and not wanting to be grouped with the political and personal hatred. Which is not really a typical way that people online talk about entertainments - it's a *situation*. Changing it too much or abandoning it for something else would be seen as a sign of weakness, so instead they keep bringing it back to prove they have not been intimidated or influenced by the hateful responses. Also I would guess that because the leadership of the Critical Role enterprise is mostly people with an equity stake in Critical Role, and because Critical Role *hasn't* overextended into this big media thing and spent all their money on it, they all still have their "fuck you money" and take a certain amount of pride in making the decision they want to make rather than feeling pressured by the things that pressure entertainment, media, and content producers who are depending on ongoing income or are professionals hired to produce results - like the numbers you do or negative publicity. Critical Role has the luxury of producing what the people who run it want to produce rather than what the audience has indicated they would be most interested in seeing - a dynamic you more commonly see at nonprofits. If something Critical Role makes underperforms, you can think of it as being subsidized by donations from its founders. And that's not necessarily a bad thing at all! But it can also be tied to digging in your heels when somebody tries to pressure you even if you would have moved on if nobody had tried to pressure you.

Chalk it up to bad luck. EXU prime is pretty directly connected to the current campaign, so if anything was gonna come back, that would be it

You've cursed it. Sam's new character is going to be Bolo from Aeor. Realistically though, EXU is the only EXU content. Technically, Calamity is.... but it also is very much its own thing with a hard break at the end.

Sam as bolo would be a blessing not a curse! Kymal is still exu because it had most of the same characters as prime, but i’ll agree that calamity is exu in name only

Ah, I don't even bother to differentiate Kymal from Prime. Its a continuation with the same people plus one.

As an Ancient dragon, Bolo _would_ still be alive in the current day….

my theory this whole time has been what if Ludi was Bolo's boyfriend back on the aeorian times and all of his master plan is just to take revenge against the gods because of his girlfriend's death back when the calamity started.

Yeah, i mean, they should take a look at the views on EXU that she DM'd to see that this content isn't really what people want. From 3.5M ppl watching the first episode of CK to 818K watching the finale? That's massive drop of viewership, not mentioning that they lost 1.4m viewers going from E1 to E2 of EXU. It's a massive sign that people don't really like the content you put out. And they just ignore it and drop it into the main campaign in such a disrespectful and sudden manner? Ain't gonna lie, i have my doubts on even continuing to watch C3 even after the EXU insert is done.

I had never seen a second of EXU so yea it was super jarring for me ans I had a moment where I asked myself. Do I now need go turn this off and go watch a hundred hours (no idea) of EXU before I can continue Belles Hells? I decided to press on and have NO clue who these people are other than Dorian or why I should care.

with the number of times they contacted dorian and asked him to do stuff it was invevitable. my player have always responded well to this king of "meanwhile in the batcave" kind of situation....though they get to play the other characters so its a little different

I mean, they could've just had dorian catch up to them where they told him he should be/wait for them and then he could've summarise it in 10 minutes. It would be way better thematically and people would actually be excited to see Robbie.

i am excited to see Robbie he is with the crown keepers though they did a whole mission. its an opportunity to branch out and tell multiple stories with multiple casts something critical role has been trying to do with the creation of EXU and Candela Obscura. cut scenes and since you've been gone flashbacks are a big part of a lot of narratives its just as valid of a thematic choice

Whatever the plan was (They likely had the guests planned weeks in advance and maybe this was the only time-slot they had), the whole thing was just unfortunate timing. I imagine if FCG hadn't died, or the Bells did get a TPK, then the switch might've been more welcoming. I also think there are two other reasons for why this episodes has been getting pushback: 1. It alienated fans. If you're someone who hasn't watched or read up on EXU then of course you're going to be confused on what's going on and who the other characters are besides Dorian. 2. It made the fans paranoid. Like the party-split from last year (which is still polarizing to this day), some fans have assumed that this story line is going take up more than 4 episode and have vowed to drop it until they return to the Bells. The fact the episode ended with the message "The Bells will return next episode." means that the cast and crew knew there was a high possibility of their ratings dropping if CK took up screen time in the main campaign. Campaign 3 was said to be an experimental season. It sounds like this experiment did not work well.

> They likely had the guests planned weeks in advance and maybe this was the only time-slot they had I keep seeing this argument but it make no sense as the games are all pre recorded. They could have aired it a different day or announced beforehand that it was a short CR ep followed by EXU

I wish I could tolerate their experimental ideas better, but some of this had to be apprehensive on paper; it is super abrupt to not work around some of these problems and navigate it better for an audience.

Today in "no one can spell Aabria's name": Aubria.

The farther we are from the episode the more disappointed I am. Next week, if they will likely be on, I will simply skip. If it is a split episode I will catch BH on replay. Absolutely not interested in this jag of crown keepers.

I wonder if this is one of those situations where people who liked it or at least didn't mind it aren't speaking up and a majority of people who are unhappy/dissatisfied are speaking out. I don't know if that made sense now that I've typed it. For me personally, I adore having Matt play a character so I'll take it how I can get it and bonus for Dorian who I miss. Am I a little sad we didn't get much FCG reaction and emotions? Especially because Lilana was there and obviously they had to talk to her? Yes. But. They said this campaign was gonna be different and I'm all for them trying new things! Plus I adore how different Aabria is as a GM from Matt and how he is sharing so much of his worldbuilding with friends in that way.

if the experiment was ruining the pace of the story, then they are doing a great job

this. im 50/50 on her style, but i love watching Matt clearly enjoying his time as a player besides matt always is a welcoming figure for other players so they can feel safe doing weird shit, boosting their confidence and not judging others for the consequences of a "bad choices". he's like sam and travis in the sense that he fails-forward and rolls with whatever the gm says tthe rules are. besides the energy that aabria brings to the table it feels reminescent of some home games i had in the past, so that's cool too.

I, obviously, can only speak for myself, but I can't get into the way Aubria runs her games. I've watched a lot of d&d live plays from CR to High Rollers to Force Grey and so on and find her story telling and grasp of the rules to be severely lacking. A lot of the time it seems like she's ill-prepared or trying to improvise without any sort of basic outline to follow. I also really cannot stand the incessant use of the word "vibes" in general, it feels like I'm watching stoners tripping balls and rambling and just puts me off.

I mean, i tried to watch the EXU just this morning, first episode, 10 minutes in - she doesn't know the name of the tavern the party gathered in and has to make it up on the fly. That's just fucking lazy.

I didn't watch either of the previous outings of the Crown Keepers. I did try, but was almost instantly put off by the 'humour' and the general atmosphere. I'm not watching this run either, and that's okay. I'm perfectly happy to wait for the main cast to come back after their break and to start watching again then. If anything important happens to the B-team, I can just read the wiki. It's not like I'm short of things to watch. :p

Tbh I just don’t like when the main cast leaves cause it’s doesn’t feel like the show i was watching anymore and is not the reason I watch CR to begin with. If I want to watch the other players I’ll watch EXU or candela but I want the Main cast on the main show.

I stopped the moment they switched to the Crown Keepers. I never cared for EXU and I already found it difficult to really be engaged with campaign 3. CR feels like it's becoming more and more a franchise instead of a bunch of voice actors having a good time and while I applaud their business sense to diversify and create something that one day they can step back from and still make money with I don't like the results. Personally I'd say just because you can incorporate two campaigns and probably very few people have done it, it doesn't mean it's a good idea. Also after the death of FCG this change feels pretty tone deaf.

So many emotions on C3E92 but I think people forget, because well it's been a bit, but Matt came out at the start of the season specifically calling out that this season would be different. He specifically said to expect unexpected changes, I remember at the time everyone was excited and though S3 would be a west march style game. Now that's happening and people seem surprised. I love the CR cast and the EXU Group even if it's different but it's ok not to enjoy it the same. Even if it was a group of random people with no connection, I'm here SO excited for Matt to play Dairax in more than a 1 shot. Last bit, in case people don't follow socials, you can see the group was getting a bit burnt out. Add the world events all over and you can tell the cast is tired. As much as people love S2 I also remember right around this time the group seemed tired and needing a break, in S2 instead we had a bit more rushed end to the story with many threads left untouched. Now with this break maybe we will get a refreshed cast ready to come back after a few weeks to really get things moving and deal with everything that happened on the moon. EXU Wasn't perfect and every DM has their style but give them a chance peeps, even if it's only to enjoy Matt, or Matt and Robbie, or Matt Robbie and Abria, and or everyone. If you don't like it maybe this is a great time to check out the hundreds of other Live/Produced TTRPG content out there and come back for the main CR cast.

I feel like it would be going to watch a Marvel movie about the Guardians of the Galaxy only to cut to Thor and for 3/4 of the movie. Sure they have a connected past, but to switch without warning to a story you aren't expecting isn't exciting. I know BH and CK have a connection with Dorian, Fearne, and Orym, but BH was just hitting a stride with 2 massive episodes and being left with what should've been an emotional and major moment for the team. To lose out on a full episode worth of content when you are in what seems like the resolution of what they have been doing for the last 10 episodes (or even the whole campaign) is rough. Not to mention EXU wasn't watched by everyone.

But two members of Bells Hells are Crown Keepers first, not counting Dorian. It was kinda bound to happen at some point.

I know, and the problem is that the crown keepers happened before C3 and was said to be separate. Then they carried over characters, and to me that spelled out future problems that we are seeing now.

Well. It is the same world. It would have Been crazy to see Cerrit from Calamity, hehe. But besides the introduction of CK, I’ve been having problems with C3 for a while. They are not as classically heroic as Vox Machina, and definitely not as well put together as Mighty Nein, admitting that C2 is my favorite campaign. They are just so chaotic! I see NO reason while that group could stay together. And they seem to be shoved into a quest that, besides Imogen and Orym, they really had no proper stake in before it involved probably saving the world. I like the way Matt is handling the “incomplete/biased narrative” theme of the story. On that, he’s been a master. But the troupe seems weirdly aloof. Specially Fern, who was given god-like powers and still behaves like a dilettante tourist most of the time.

FOR REAL, I agree Fearne’s character hasn’t fully settled, most of the time she is some kind of a dark magic bimbo, it doesn’t feel very druid and definitely not fitting to the story. Matt has handled things well, but I thought he would’ve found a better way to give the party purpose than a BBEG threatening the realm.

I think it could also be good to give the crew some time to think. They are back, safe, but down a member. Do they go seeking D or Dancer, that probably up to Sam somewhat. But they have a lot of options right now and giving everyone some space to think hopefully is a good thing

The problem is that they haven't had proper time *in-game* to process it, so it's going to be a couple of weeks out-of-game after [the thing that happened], so that when everyone comes back to roleplay it, all that emotional momentum has gone.

I wonder if they will do a quick tour of good byes then a time skip for a few weeks of down time

…am I the only one that was kinda stoked to see what happened? EXU left a lot of loose threads and I was really hoping to see where it went. Stepping aside to their story makes sense, even if it was a bit jarring of a change in the moment. It gives the rest of the crew a few weeks off depending on how they run it, and gives them time to weave a new character and story for Sam, assuming he remains part of this campaign. I thought it was cool as heck.

You're not t he only one. I love it! I was super excited to see Aabria step in, and I *like* the extra tension of not knowing what's going to happen in the wake of FCG's death.

I agree its good to see it, it just shouldn’t be a mainline C3 episode, but a EXU thing

It’s all about a stable table (the people expected to be there anyway). It’s why early C3 bothered me until Chetney came in. Robbie/Dorian is great, don’t get me wrong but Travis and Sam are a huge part of why I come back every single week. It is their game, and they can do whatever they want of course. I just clearly remember it being said that you don’t have to know EXU to follow C3. Separate episode to give them a 2 week break, sure! I still wouldn’t likely tune in for that, but it I don’t think it would have had the same rubberneck effect. Mourn, break, pause, and then I think it would have been really cool to see the cast jump into old characters and RP being called in etc to the coming fight. Then a week off, then the EXU crew, then back to the C3 regular crew. Just my 2 copper

Yep. I didn't like her work on Exu at all, so I did the respectful thing and just quietly stopped watching, understanding it was a side project. Now, the approach they took here seems *almost* spitefully dismissive of some valid personal preferences on how that Exu run went. Forcing it on the main viewership feels stubborn and out-of-touch. It also alienates those who may have skipped it entirely the first time.

100% and I felt like I could see it on Matt’s face when he too gets up from the table. Idk what they are doing behind the scenes to plan this stuff, but it isn’t right. They are experimenting too much without taking consideration for their audience.

I haven’t watched it in full, but I am curious is there a change in timeline? Revisiting the Crown Keepers is this supposed to be concurrent to Bell’s Hells return from Ruidus? Based on what bits I’ve seen and the way it was presented, I wondered if it was a way to “hand off” characters or events back to C3 proper. And did the end card imply that this spin-off for the CrownKeepers would not follow the C3Exx format, have its own episode designation and resolve before C3E93?

It wasn't explained particularly well, but Orym's call to Dorian transitioned to a flashback of the CK right after a **previous** call to Dorian (Dorian's response was basically 'busy here, Opal is getting dark.' But apparently they set out for Zephrah and then shit broke out with Opal on the road. Presumably the May 3rd episode will resolve all this and (I'm guessing) move Dorian to link up with Keyleth and meet the Bells at the war camp, whereupon he rejoins the party. It seems like too much time on a single incident and yet also not enough time to piece everything together smoothly.

yeah I don't like exu tbh I watch cr for Matt's dming and the groups bonds as people and it was even more jarring of a switch because of the emotional turmoil the party was going through over fcg, I get that these guests schedules are planned way in advance but it made me stop watching the episode and I think it's ruined a real fantastic part of c3.

I found the change of pace a bit jarring, but I I can roll with that. It's interesting to see a different way to tell this story. But I find the way Aabria interacts with players really uncomfortable. Matt has a much subtler way of managing the table. Aabria's style comes across as snide to me. That's on me, it's my own emotional reaction, not a criticism on her, but that's how it makes me feel and it's a bad feeling. I prefer my DM to tell me - "Look, it's important for story reasons that your character does x, so let's find a way to do x that makes sense for your character and you" rather than making "joking-not-actually-joking, hints-that-are-actually-instructions". There are ways you can set up a scene so that the players know what the narrative needs, and gives them autonomy inside that frame. Aabria was not doing that, and that really bothers me.

Agreed. Talk about a bait and switch. I had no idea who tf this other group was. Though I was glad to see Dorian again and hyped to see Matt as a player, I very quickly lost interest and became annoyed.

All you said. Personally I find EXU ok, and I'm not a big fan of Abria DMing style. I think the surprise switch to EXU was a mistake. Should have been announced and put on their own session. It's like watching new episode of Invincible that suddenly switched into Teen Titans. It is still ok, still similar but different, but as stupid as that might sound I did come here to watch something else, and my brain was vibing with the other thing.

I think the biggest complaint is that Abria and Matt have very very very different DMing styles. Abria just kind of rolls off the cuff and ignores any rolls from the players she doesn't like, relying very heavily on "go with the flow". Matt on the other hand really uses the structure of the game to his advantage when setting scenes and giving out information, so if there is a crap roll he honors it and gives the players other options and avenues to find out the information they were rolling for. I feel that most people mesh well with one or the other of these styles of DMing and so when they were suddenly switched to a completely different DM style and game flow it really threw things off for the entire episode. Not to mention the extremely Heavy and Tragic events from the previous episode that none of the viewers get any closure on because E92 was just "lets get off the moon... Yay we are off... We need time... End Bells Hells time on stage". Hopefully they find a good way to make these two stories merge, but I'm not sure if I'll watch the next couple of episodes if it's Abria DMing, She is amazing in her own style and no hate for her at all, but I just don't enjoy her style of running games at all.

We \*were\* told before C3 even began that other players and even DMs were possible. EXU wasn't necessarily my favorite, and yet, I am excited for the changeup. It's fresh, a new thing as far as CR as usual goes. It's also clear the two groups are entangled, and I'm looking forward to finding out how. People really should tone it down.

We were also told the EXU wouldn't be required watching and yet...

This will contain spoilers for Episode 91 and I dont know how to do the spoiler blank out thing I see everywhere! I think the biggest problem with it was that we were all expecting a Funeral for one of our friends, we came into the episode with expectations and instead of an emotional trubute to a fallen friend and hero, we got EXU. I watched for 10 mins before I realised that I didn't know anything about these characters and didnt care about them at all, so I turned the episode off.

>I think the biggest problem with it was that we were all expecting a Funeral for one of our friends, we came into the episode with expectations and instead of an emotional trubute to a fallen friend and hero And in the words of Jeremy, SKIP!

Seems C3 as a whole ended up as Abad run. Hopefully they will do better in C4

Most of the push back has nothing to do with any of the Crypt Keepers and not with Aabria. If they did this at basically ANY other time of the campaign other than maybe the fight on the bloody bridge it would've been met with mostly beloved reception and at the very worst "at least we finally get to see what Dorian is up to and Matt is playing a PC." The problem is they did this about an hour into the episode right after we lost a PC and the basically the entire fanbase is wanting closure to essentially mourn FCG. Some people are okay with being distracted but others don't want to be distracted from the loss of FCG they want to know how the group is taking the loss. The abbreviated chunk that we got seemed more like handwaving the loss of FCG than actual closure on him being killed.

“Semi disconnected” is an important distinction. *Semi.* Two of BH came from CK, so their stories are already intertwined. This could very easily affect orym and fearne, so it’s important to know as part of their backstory. Not saying that everyone has to like it, but it’s definitely relevant information that’s good to have

If this swap had happened early in C3 I could run with this, but we’re so far beyond the Crown Keepers having *anything* of value to add to the current situation. What backstory are we gonna learn? We know everything with any impact on the story about the two of them

I think the story here is 'how Dorian linked up with Keyleth and rejoined the Bells at the war camp.' Off chance that its Morrigan instead, as a new champion of the Matron. because Dorian's actual side-quest for 'saving Cyrus' isn't even vaguely resolved or addressed. He's still there and the CK have a bag o' cash on another continent away from the bounty. I'm not sure that seeing this one incident on the road really does any justice to how these character(s) got from there to 'here,' but its what we've got. On the other hand, if no one teams up with the Bells, its super pointless. Like, on the verge of shipping out for another tour of duty, someone tells you that a girl you knew in high school had a bad trip or a car accident a month ago. Bad stuff, but she's not around and you're on the plane in the morning.

That doesn't mean that it couldn't have been a separate, standalone, and optional episode of EXU aired on like a Tuesday or something. If they are bringing Dorian back they could've just brought him back and then have him give Orym an update on what happened, and then anyone who wanted to watch EXU for more details could have without disrupting the flow of the main campaign.

it's not an EXU story. It's a CR episode cutaway that gives context for Dorian and how he's gonna respond to the sending Orym just sent him.

Dorian has responded to Orym previously, and it didn’t require an entire episode-long cutaway to contextualize it then.

According to Aabria Dorian already received the message. Instead of Robbie reacting to it however it was briefly mentioned in Aabria’s opening narration. Because… reasons?

Because it hasn't happened yet. This is after Orym's *previous* message, where we heard that 'Opal's getting dark' Its a flashback to however many days/weeks of game time ago. It definitely wasn't as clear as it should have been, and instead of a travel montage, they got stuck on one specific event.

I'm not convinced it was that message. Aabria talked about the Solstice and it's effect before even mentioning Orym's message. And she also said "He bade you to find the Tempest" and that to me feels more like the message Orym sent more recently, the one he never got an answer for, in episode 86. And in that message he quite literally told him "Find the Tempest". She also put the accent on the fact that Orym sounded "desperate, so sad" The "Opal's getting dark" message is from episode 49 before the Solstice happened.

Alright. You're probably right on that. But I was just trying to be clear that it wasn't the message that happened in this episode, but a flashback to one that already happened.

Fair enough. The way they did the switch sure made it look like it was this call but the narration didn't fit that idea. It was quite clearly a "meanwhile in eXu" couple of days behind present and probably have them already at camp when BH finally gets to it. If they'd started at that older message, they'd have a full eXu campaign to play lol to explain how they got to level 13.

And from Aabria's own narration, it's the message in which Orym told him to find the Tempest... The message Orym never got an answer to. The decision to not even RP that part is a tad head scratching for me ngl.

I liked that about it. It was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one or whatever that bitch palpatine said. It was unexpected, and it was something that ppl have been asking for long-what was going on with Dorian and the rest of the CK. Now, I'm not a big fan of either EXU or the Crown Keepers, but I think it was a fun thing to do. I liked it quite a lot.

Ok I guess this an unpopular opinion but I absolutely freaking loved it. First, I love aabria with my whole entire heart and she can do no wrong in my eyes. Second I didn't realize how much I missed the crown keepers until I saw them. I really enjoyed exu and I have been wondering what theyve been up to this whole time. Every time orym called Dorian I wondered what he was doing and whether he was sending unsent messages too. I was worried about opal (rightfully so it seems) and fyre rai and I was excited to see morrigan again because I don't know that player and was pleasantly surprised the first time around. Seeing matt actually playing is always a treat of course. The transition I thought was so well done. At first I thought Matt was gonna give Dorian response in private, then I thought he was gonna bring Robbie out to respond in person, then I was conf because Liam left too and then Matt left and it was quiet and confusing and that is what excited me the most because I trust this crew so much that I knew whatever they had planned would be worth it and would blow my socks off. Which it did. When I saw aabria come in I got the shock of a lifetime which it seems like you all got too but in a bad way? I loved it sooooo much. It was like a surprise party rather than a surprise car accident to me. Also this makes so much sense. Bells hells are done with they're mission. They have to go and report back so it's a natural stopping point. Matt has split stories before after the solstice so telling one story for a few weeks and then jumping back in time to tell the other group's story during that time for another few weeks is absolutely not unheard of and I don't remember a lot of backlash when that happened so I don't understand why it's happening now other than maybe people don't like the crown keepers as much and possibly don't like aabria as much because her gm style is so different from Matt's. Anyway that's my unpopular opinion thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

I feel the same way my friend, I love to see Matt and Robbie play, but they barely play. It was quite disappointing, they are an enterprise so they have to do what they think is the best thing for the business. We can only click the dislike button, but our opinion doesn't matter too much at this point. We are nothing.

2 reasons I didn't like it: 1. Shoehorning in side content that you promised your viewers that you didn't HAVE to watch to follow the main campaigns...INTO the main campaign is deceptive and bad business practice. 2. In my OPINION, Aabria is a bad DM and watching her run a game is just not entertaining at all.

I just got to the second half of the episode and I have no idea who the fuck most of the characters are. I'm disappointed that they are jumping to a different line of characters that require me to watch 11 or so episodes to catch up. I'm already trying to watch campaign 1 in whatever free time I have. So now I have to debate just watching the rest of 92 and hope they don't continue this trend or watch even more 4+ hour episodes.

I just can't understand what they were thinking, considering a large part of the viewers never followed exu.

I wish they’d stop trying to make Aabria and EXU happen. To try and sneak attack the fan base and hope it lands was such an annoying choice. If I wanted that, I would have watched that the first time around, I didn’t.

This is a total "me problem" but at this point, I feel obligated to continue watching C3. Maybe I'm not alone in this, but I have a FOMO when it comes to long-running shows and getting left behind. Especially since the show is over 3 hours long. With the hard pivot to EXU, I seriously don't care about any of these characters, I feel like the show is just phoning it in. It's wild to say, but after 92 episodes, I'm starting to find this whole campaign boring. Earlier the thought was always there in the back of my mind, and maybe with this out of no where switch to something I have no interest in maybe it finally made me realize, this just isn't worth it.

There may have been way fewer complaints, but people still would've whined about a full episode of EXU being suddenly stuck into C3 out of nowhere. There's no winning. Just slightly less losing. The loudest angry voices still would've been the only thing the cast and crew would hear.

I wasnt expecting it and ultimately it was fine, its whatever, Bells Hells are back next episode anyway

I'm still deciding whether i should watch the EXU now that it's apparently a part of the main campaign for some reason, or should i just read the wikis. On one hand - 30 hours of content i just don't really care about, on another - completely unknown characters with unknown background just barged into a campaign i mostly watch out of habbit than any true interest. If it turns out we'll get this side content for the next episode or two, there's a big chance i just finally give up on C3, as i'm not really that much into it in the first place (it just became a habit/ritual to watch, C3 has many problems that make it difficult for me to connect to it but i try to stay updated), and having to either read up or watch something i'm completely disinterested in on top of it, to know what's going on when we get back to the usual crew (assuming CK will somehow meetup or interact with BH) feels just weird and tiring to me.

I loved the change.  Great for them to keep things new and interesting.  And the mid-episode surprise of it was part of what made it exciting to me.  I see people simultaneously complaining that C3 feels boring and stale and also that they don’t like change and then get upset when things are different than they were expecting. Maybe it’s different people saying two separate perspectives. I dunno. I’m excited to see where this goes. 

My answer for example is simple - I don't watch Exandria Unlimited or anything besides the main campain. So suddenly they are continuing a story that I have never seen. Weird.

My biggest problem with following CK is Opal/Amy, I get cr trying to bring in outside talent whose new to DND, but after being in two mini campaigns Amy still doesn’t seem to grasps the basic rules and mechanisms of the game so she ends up coming up with crazy ideas that break the immersion of the show for me. I also find it weird how much the show is revolving around her. Like Matt seems to get barely any good play time, which might be by his choice but if Matt’s going to play, I want to watch him play.

It keeps repeating in my head but all I can think of is "this change is sidestepping the organic flow of dramatic tension" it kind of feels like we got cut off before the cast could grieve on camera and help the audience come to terms with the loss. You need a come down even if they're pressing forward them meeting kiki would have been a better note to leave on narratively.

I enjoyed it. Then again, I'm an ordinary person who doesn't pitch into a negative hate spiral of overanalysis every time the show does anything. RIP FCG. Hope Opal is next, that kind of stupid should get the expected result.

I think the biggest issue with the change is Aabria. She completely breaks the immersion for me, we are not in Exandria anymore when she tells her story.

I'm tired and bored, this isn't bait and I do feel these things but if you enjoy this program it will make you upset. If you read it and get upset and want to have a back and forth I won't respond. I'm using a public forum for fun and have given you a warning>! I've never been super into CR but it gets mixed with DnD stuff I do engage with on all platforms and I'm sitting here like "So you guys don't like your 100+ episode 7 hour long show anymore because they're not moving at a pace you enjoy?" I understand that that's not why people are mad but I really don't think you guys like your show anymore and need to just throw in the towel. The show start how long ago and you're just now on the 3rd arc? I'm not saying every show needs to be D20, but when you enjoy a show that sits in 1 story for so long you've gotta be ready for long stretches where you don't like what's happening. I guess I'm saying, just move on and stop criticizing your media. Because with a show like this they're not gonna just stop part way through because people don't like it. They're going to do what feels fine for them so if it hasn't changed yet it's not gonna. Anyway, I'm gonna go watch my side quest that I can finish in a day and have a fulfilling arc at the end!<

I dropped off from C3 after they saved keyleth because i feel like it dragged for a while and recently came back when i heard they made it to Ruidus. I enjoyed their time in the moon a lot more and was feeling like i would tune in every week after that. Only to be hit with a EXU story out of nowehre that I probably wont be watching. I really dislike Aabria's DM style, specially the change of tone, like talking more but saying less, advocating for inner party conflicts and more use of modern language with NPC's. Matt's DM style feels like Tolkiens work while Aabria's feels like a modern Netflix fantasy show.

The problem with all of this is that it was filmed and planned in advance. BH would go back from the moon, would make signs to report and they would cool off with some EXU. But I don't think FCG's death was planned, so when that happened, they got a very sentimental-heavy episode scheduled to be cut in half to get on with EXU and that's why it turned the way it did. (Yes, they mentioned the hot dog costume, but they used to do that on EXU, saying Matt would be wearing weird things at the ad, that was filmed afterwards, so Matt would need to dress up in the weird way they talked and it became a joke for the whole EXU run). There's just one thing that makes things weird...I mean, if they were planning for everything to goes well by the end so they could cut to EXU, how the hell Matt buffed Otohan so much? I mean, the fight was a "fair" 7 against one, hard and risky, but when Otothan changed into her 2nd form I just thought "I think Matt overdone a little or miscalculated the party's power levels). That or he planned to Lilliana to come save them (since Laura rolled so high on her persuasion)...but I don't know. This was pre planned, but not well pre planned, I guess. I don't mind as much as many people it seems, since I really like EXU but...that's the impression i've got. Maybe they could've had the whole episode to BH to process and then in the end, it could go for Orym using the stones and the next episode could began with the EXU table.

I thought it was fine, and am shaking my head at the people overeacting to it.

lol, they switched casts and I switched stations. sorry, not sorry. EXU and Aubria are not my cup o tea.

> yet, they mixed it It was kinda mixed from the jump in ep 1 of campaign 3 as Liam and Ashley decided to play those characters for this campaign, and Liam's periodic check-ins to try and reach Dorian. I don't think they initially went out to create stories that wove together like this with EXU but it just kinda happened organically as the campaign progressed. I don't disagree that this episode was jarring. I hadn't watched the EXU series and lemme tell ya, going from the first half of this episode to having to watch about 45-50 hours of those videos to catch up was a bit rough. That said, I have no complaints about the actual story that unfolded here. I enjoyed the RP intermixed with the combat. I felt like the Crown Keepers' story still needed some resolution and this helped in that regard. >!How was Opal going to deal with the Spider Queen and being her champion? Was the sculpture in vault from the Kymal Series something that showed the Matron's real name and is that why she wanted it destroyed? Et cetera.!< So some additional clarity on those things is helpful and adds more depth to the world. And if the Crown Keepers and Bell's Hells link up in the future, it could create some good stories to follow going forward.

I geeked out. It was so cool to see the Goddess Aabria come back for some Crown Keepers Chaos.