let's get the dungeon crawling out of the way

[amovingtarget]

First watched 15 - 20 January 2018


Critical Role 1.01
watched 25 - 26 February
- So incredibly weird to watch. Old school hand drawn maps! The old ugly cluttered interface! The distracting chat window! Short episodes! Zac! Taliesen appearing in the guise of an average person! The old set! The tables facing each other! And goodness, they look so young! I admit it's a little uncomfortable seeing Orion there.
- The twins getting the kills on the ogres! I love it. And I forgot that they houseruled short rests as ten minutes, I wonder if they changed that somewhere through campaign one or was it when they started campaign two.
- That reaction from Scanlan when the goblins pour out of the mine, oh man, I wonder if anyone at all knew then the reason for it.
- Feel little sad that I...maybe didn't enjoy this episode as much as I did the first time I watched it in January last year. Still, it seems that I've somehow ended up with more bookmarks (I save a little list of timestamp links to my favourite moments - part of the reason I'm rewatching is because I didn't start doing this until around episode 50 and it would be nice to have a full set) than any other episode I've watched! I suppose there were a lot of firsts here that I wanted to preserve.



Critical Role 1.02
watched 26 - 27 February
- Sam's first singsong! I miss Scanlan so much! I can't wait to see The Search for Grog whenever that gets captioned.
- This was a pretty bad session for dice rolls. They finally managed to steal some of that fancy wine and then it was all downhill from there.
- The battle was pretty cool though, Liam punting that snailed umber hulk into the waterfall is still fun.



Critical Role 1.03
watched 27 February
- Travis's X'd out sunglasses are another fond memory, and I still think that they should have a pair of those on whenever their character is unconscious! And food donations! I really miss those for some reason.
- Oh my god, how did I miss it the first time that Laura kissed Travis in this episode! That was so cute!
- I would like to thank my repeated playthoughs of FF15 for the fact that I knew Liam was talking about a mindflayer. And listening to them planning their attack on the warcamp, luring across the bridge and all that...they've gotten...marginally better at planning their tactics...if I squint. They're ridiculous and I love them.
- Matt's mindflayer voice is still incredible, as was the way the ladies just said fuck it and hopped down there to find him.



Critical Role 1.04
watched 28 February
- That section of discussion between (primarily) Liam and Clarota was really cool. I think Marisha got a good bit of roleplay in there too. I love how a whole half of this episode was talking to a mindflayer and making zany plans. The whole bit of them trying to get the flying across the chasm sorted was adorable.
- And I really miss Percy, needing to know how things work, and building lots of things, or just wanting to.
- The shit and stab plan! Still so tense and hilarious. "You're not proficient with goblin shit buckets, unfortunately." but he still makes it, and it's incredible how everyone is just yelling and jumping to action and Matt's just orchestrating this whole thing. I don't remember if I found Vax assassinating that mindflayer leader hot last year, but boy I sure do now.
- And the bullette battle! I can't believe I forgot Taliesen being like sure I'll just leave my hand in it's mouth, no problem, I can shoot like this. And then the banishment cuddle! Man this was such a fun battle I can't believe I forgot all this.



Critical Role 1.05
watched 01 - 02 March
- Ah, interrogation the duergar general and trying to make him leave without his clothes. Fun times, fun times. Taliesen was deeply into this idea.
- That freefall though...a mess. But I'm amused that Grog can hit the ground like that and not die.
- Pranks between Vax and Grog, ah, more innocent days.
- Matt inhaling food while the players are busy planning or computing is something you never get to see any more either.



Critical Role 1.06
watched 02 - 03 March
- I love them all ribbing Sam about not being there and asking questions about things that Scalan would know and playing it into the game. And everyone's reaction to Pike kissing Scanlan on the cheek!!! I love them so much! I totally forgot it didn't work! Come on Matt, he critfailed a stealth check, she doesn't need to roll to perceive that!!!
- More ridiculous plans, trying to take out those patrolling duergar and they make it worse, don't ever change guys :')
- Ashley's spirit weapon lasso was fucking cool! Even if it rolled too badly to work.
- The first intro, these nerds, I love them.
- When they get inside the Emberhold was definitely one of my favourite early sections. The map all covered with paper. I have been wanting to draw Vex and Vax stealth killing those two prison guards since I first saw this episode over a year ago, and the image of Percy vaulting over Trinket is pretty cool too.
- I do love the way they all just start jamming to Sam's song. I miss those so much.
- Oh shit, the stand off between Clarota and Kima. Yikes! The tension! Scanlan saving them with his +13 to persuasion?! Um, goals.



Critical Role 1.07
watched 03 March
- Keyleth gave Vax a rotten dwarven heart, that actually happened. I don't remember that at all.
- The t-shirts being sold out in five seconds and them all flailing about it, my heart!
- Watery Sphere > Call Lightning > Vicious Mockery chain attack was fucking awesome then, and it's still fucking awesome now.
- Sam being like, fine I'll stab him it's not going to do anything, and then he rolls a natural 20, and then he manages to make the second attack and he kills the king. Incredible!
- I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT THAT THE QUEEN TAKES GROG!!!
- Matt apologises that the game ran a little long at four hours. Sweet summer child.



- It's only been...thirteen and a half months since I watched these episodes for the first time, and the difference is still kind of staggering. Obviously they've been playing for so much longer than I've been watching, and they've grown so much as both a cast and as players. The early episodes feel so much less gripping, so much more silly and fun and random. They feel more in sync with each other now, so much more focused, so much better at keeping their crosstalk and asides quiet (this is something that's actually making the early episodes a little hard to follow, I think). I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for when things started to kind of knit together, my suspicious is around episode 40. There was a fair amount of seriousness during the Briarwood arc but I don't think it truly came together until the dragons arrived.

Comments

[enemyofperfect]

I love your Percy love. In the bit I'm watching, he's more about demons and aristocratic maneuvering than tinkering, but the tinkering is so cool!

Ahh, the innocent days when I thought Clarota would stand by them. Admittedly, mindflayers can't actually survive without eating other sapient beings, so that was probably optimistic of me. But I have to at least kind of love any character who's discovered sad and starving in a hole!

Matt inhaling food while the players are busy planning or computing is something you never get to see any more either.

How does he avoid that anyway? Carb load before sessions? Tell us your endurance DMing secrets, Matt.

[amovingtarget]

I can't wait to see his smarmy aristocratic maneuvering again. :')

How does he avoid that anyway? He's learned to effectively subsist on the emotions of his players.

[enemyofperfect]

He's learned to effectively subsist on the emotions of his players.

OMG, I laughed out loud. Yes, that must be it. :')

[amovingtarget]

>:E