Great video as always I agree that there's no reason to skip these episodes, Brennan is probably my favorite AP DM. For the record, I also enjoy Aabria as a DM, I just think that her style is a little further afield from Matt's, making the transition from him to her a bit more jarring than going from Matt to Brennan may necessarily be. The actual point I wanted to address was about the actual plot of the upcoming episodes. You're saying you think this will follow Aeoreans in a similar manner to how Calamity followed folks from Avalir. Can I ask where you got that impression? From what Ludinus before activating the device, as well as what Brennan's outro & the preview said, I got the impression that we'd be getting the perspective of the gods, or at least powerful servants of the gods. Ludinus mentioned specifically that the device recorded the memories of not only Aeoreans but also the memories of those who brought down Aeor. Aeor was brought down by the gods, so I thought the implication was that we'd get the gods' perspective and Ludinus believes that sharing that perspective will win people over to his side opposing the gods. Any thoughts on this possibility?
I assumed from the fact that we were looking into a machine that has the memories of the people of aeor we’d be following them but I just rewatched the announcement video and does say the story follows 6 divine figures which makes no sense based on what Ludinus said about the machine but hey it’s a misunderstanding I get the feeling we’ll still see a lot about aeor and it’s people but I figured it would be about the people there not the ones trying to destroy it
As far as Ludinus showing this perspective maybe whatever these 6 figures do is truly horrible and maybe he’s partly correct but we don’t know which divine figures were going to be following
My read was that Ludinus wanted to show them the crimes of the Gods from the perspective of Aeorians. From a practical POV I just don't see Matt giving players the preassure and responsibility of potentially fundamentally redefining canon by playing actual Gods. Like imagine bringing in new players and giving them a character sheet with basically infinte 9th level spells and effectively no mechanical limitations in a world setting they've never played in before, I personally just don't see that happening. I think they will leave the Gods side to Brennan who we already know from Calamity will take incredible care to intimately learn and preserve the world as Matt created it. And then the players will play high level characters within a system they already know.
@@ZodiacBandit Oh interesting point. I am very curious as to how they will pull that off, champions need to know their deities pretty intimately so I hope the players really commit to the lore. But I trust Brennan implicitly tho so I'm sure it's going to be amazing. After Calamity I started going through his D20 catalogue and he is honestly my favourite GM at this point, and as a massive Mercer fan I don't say that lightly!
Nick Marini has played in Brennan’s home game for several years. There’s a great adventure academy ep with him on the dimension 20 RUclips page. I feel like in a similar way to Lou Wilson’s CR appearance, it’s going to be interesting to see a player that has a deep understanding of Brennan’s bag of tricks. With how in-depth and character driven Brennan’s approach is to storytelling I expect the Downfall cast to become instant fan favorites.
For the record, I just finished calamity... HOLY fucking shit! Brennan is fantastic. This side story will not be long, and it will tie up alot of C1, C2 and C3. Edit: I don't like Aarbria as a DM, as a player I think she is much better. Brennan is a fantastic DM, both him and Matt in my eyes are the best DM's I've seen
@@ZodiacBandit I think people will be missing out HARD if they skip. Maybe they'll be brought back in when they hear how awesome the first ep of Brennan was?
I would like to push back a bit on the Aabria as a DM part. In my opinion she is a very good DM in certain settings and systems, Misfits and Magic and D&D Chaos is honestly amazing. However her style just doesn't work in Exandria. The stakes are too high and the rules of the world too established for her to suddenly come in and do chaotic rule bends and take her patented antagonistic approach. And I do think a lot of the criticism from how she handled the Cyrus encounter is 100% warranted. But yea, I see a lot of people saying she is just a bad DM which I personally don't think is true. I think she is great in the right settings, but lacks she the versatility that Brennan has and just couldn't adapt to the requirements of running something in a massive high stakes world like Exandria.
@@noone-ld7pt I honestly haven't seen her DM anything outside of CR/ EXU so you may be on the money there. It just rubbed me the wrong way of how hostile she can be towards the players. It's not my cup of tea, not that she's bad- just personally not my style
Here's to hoping for a second coming of Asmodeus. I actually prefer Brennan to Matt in some aspects. Matt's long term story and world building is incredible. Brennans emotional highs (as a DM) hit harder. He can surprise his players like no other.
So well put! Brennan doesn't have emotional guardrails when he DMs. That being said, in Calamity, this is why he was the best choice--it was a tragedy and the outcome was known, and he had to usher the cast there in the most interesting way. And he did. It is much different than Matt's task of leading a full campaign, with his close friends--their happiness is more important than rushing through to a conclusion. Not that Calamity was rushed (that hour long six minute fight!) but I hope you get my point.
I bet that for the first two episodes we will be all high on Ludinus' coolaid only for him losing the narrative in the final episode, much like people were believing the Betrayers were in the right up until Asmodeus showed His true colors as the Father of Lies...
Brennen killed it with Calamity. I'm excited to see this mini and how it affects our team. Fun fact: Abubakar played Zanror in LoVM and was in Stray Gods (awesome video game) with Laura and Ashley. Can't wait to see their in-character chemistry
I was so fking hyped when I saw him walk onto the stage, i watch Dimensional20 and Brennan is such a good fking DM. Calamity proved it and i’m so happy he is DMing yet another Exandria Unlimited series
The problem I had with the Aabria episodes was not Aabria (I LOVE HER!!). It was the fact that bringing in a side story in the middle of an episode with no warning felt like someone walking up and changing the channel. Bonus irritation points for having that story be basically the finale of something we were told was optional content, so I had no idea what was going on. It would not have been a problem at all if they had done it like this - tell us at the end of an episode that the next one will be something different. In any case, I am looking forward to Downfall!
Aabria tries too hard to be "the DM" and to be a badass all the time, and she literally is a badass and does not need to do that. She will be better if she relaxes a bit while DMing.
Yeah, Future/Retro Steampunk with a bit of Crystal Mysticism is definitely the Aeor vibe, with a Militarism bend as well. Aeor was the city that sent out Spy and Assassin automatons all over. I always get the feeling of a deep rooted evil from that place.
i've seen people saying in reddit they're getting tired of another hiatus from BH, this being the fourth keeps dragging and slowing the campaign even more, losing the momentum the party just got in aeor + waiting to see more of sam's new character. personally, Calamity will always have a place in my heart because it was my introduction to Critical Role and what made me dm again, so i will enjoy downfall no matter what. and i agree with you that brennan is a better dm and is more similar to matt's style of storytelling than aabria's.
As a one piece fan seeing stuff like these breaks don’t bother me there’s been times where one piece shows a flash back for 4 weeks in a row and this is just like that It’s funny people want to see the bells hells I remember a time when people really wanted to see anything but the hells
There’s also a difference between the 2 DM shifts. This one is way more integrated into the story and very likely won’t require you to have seen any exus to actually care about what is happening. I fully skipped Aabria’s episodes and got back into the main campaign np. I have a hunch that skipping downfall will leave you completely lost when the main story returns.
Brennan Lee Mulligan is one of the best DM's out there. He's personally my favorite, and he definitely gives Matt a run for his money. EXU Calamity is a MASTERCLASS! I absolutely love that he's going to be DMing more in Exandria, and I know for a fact that he's going to knock this side story out of the park! I for one can't wait for these upcoming episodes!
Aabria is great for fun, goofy moments and her light horror moments are fantastic. I feel like Aabria DMs like she is from the Faewild. I love her, but is not everyone's cup of tea all the time. Brennan can do the goofiest moments, to high drama, to horror. He does it all so well. If you watch the Dimension 20 Escape from the Bloodkeep (where Matt Mercer is a player) it is a series set in the nine hells. The scene where the demon lord is killed and the halfling is trying to kill the party with a frying pan, is some of the greatest D&D moments I have ever seen. Haha People who actively skip Downfall are doing themselves a diservice.
Anyone who is skipping Downfall, they're going to have no new CR content for a whole six weeks, aren't they? June 27th off, final Thursday of the month. 4th July off, holiday. 11th, 18th, 25th Downfall. Campaign 3 doesn't come back until August 1st.
I have to rank Brennan at the same level as Matt. I think they both are equal with storytelling and bringing emotional and dramatic moments to the game, just in different ways. They are both 11 out of 10.
Brennan is probably fine and Aabria was too (In the parts that I saw), but for me each DM should be given a separate campaign, so the audience can choose what they like. RUclips is full of RPG-channels, so I whenever I want see another DM, then I can just go and watch one of the other RUclips channels. For me, they should just put the main campaign on hold when Matt cannot particiate.
I get this but they are about story telling something tells me it’s not something to do with Matt not being able to do it that’s why they only do 3 episodes a month now to give themselves time for other stuff (he might not be able to tho) they just like different perspectives
I was planning on skipping the episodes, but that was because I'm not caught up. However, you have kinda convinced me to stop where I am, watch Downfall, and then go back to where I left off.
I can't seem to reply or like any comments but 1) Great video 2) Brennan and Abria are both great, I prefer Brennan though. 3) Calamity was amazing. 4) very excited to see these episodes
I'm only upset that Liam won't be in it, but maybe they will have a 3 or 4 shot on what happens after the downfall. I also wish there were more episodes, but that is just me.
It was stated that Liam is in the chamber for a 3rd prequel run. He even has a character idea already prepared. According to Marisha, he was simply busy shooting another CR thing which stopped him from join Downfall
I do understand why people are not liking this downfall special given that it's so soon after the 2 episode derail that didn't give us anything other then Dorian coming back that really could have been a EXU one shot. But this is setting up actual information about one of the big bads, seeing the gods differently than we have been, and might even course the party to switch sides. And unlike abria's 2 episodes that could be a EXU one shot I really can't justify this not being in the main campaign as this is being shown to the whole party and has a big impact on where the campaign goes from here.
I’m not skipping these episodes either. Calamity was great! I liked EXU 1st season as well. Morgan never should have changed her character to something she and us the audience was unfamiliar with. Could have saved an hour and a half and left her character out. I loved the concept of the memories battle though.
respectfully i disagree with a lot of the points you made in this video. yeah the recent crown keeper episodes in campaign 3 didn't hit the mark, and kymal had a literal brand new player with 0 d&d/roleplay experience, but by NO means does that make her a bad DM, or a worse DM than the others. before you say anything, thats a slight misconstruction of your words and i know that, and you're entitled to your opinion. but at least you're a better sport than some of the comments i've seen in this circle and other circles that ARE saying exactly that and you're actively giving them a platform. actively giving me the ick for shitting on someone just because her single encounter didn't go as planned, going as far as to belittle aabria personally for it. i think people just forgot how hype and cool the original EXU was when it came out, and how ANY of the side stories would not have come out without her huge success with EXU. aabria is a brilliant DM that has a much different vibe and flavor than matt mercer, brennan is just better at masking himself to better suit that style. a lot of fans just dont like change i think or dont listen to any non-cr content or play in any games with non-cr fans. which genuinely sucks to see because there's an extremely vast world out there beyond than the small scope of critical role.
Like I said this the video I love the original exu the only thing I didnt like that Aabria did was Kymal that was rough. I have a whole video talking about kymal so I won’t be talking about it here but I liked a lot of what she did in her episodes of C3 aside from the slow rounds and the over descriptions of unnecessary things what happened within the episodes were good imo it’s literally just those 2 things in those episodes I didn’t like that’s it that’s why I said she’s a 8/10 dm. I get people not liking her in some regards but the hate she gets is total bull shit
@@ZodiacBandit i'll have to watch that, i only got into your videos recently. fair enough, people have their own opinions, what i do hate is people taking this and spinning it negatively. not just on this video specifically but also whenever aabria is brought up in the CR space in general. other than that i don't really have any problems with your take. but you've seen me say this in several other comments you've hearted so i'll just leave it at that. cheers
So happy to get more Brennan as a GM in CR! My only fear is the result of this 3 ep "massage" for the main game.. would the bells hell get split up after this show of Ludinus? Some of them looking to kill him yea, but they are not really 100% after the goal of not killing the gods.. some of them might be "turned" ? we the watchers might be in for long time hurt as the party seem more divided then ever, questioning anything they do and being really unsure about anything after FCG death.. yea some of them have anger and want for revenge, but Ludinus are sure that this will show them the truth! and Brannan is really good at hammering the point when he put the gloves down. Really think the break is good think for all player and matt, and anywhere this story goes if super happy to be a watcher.
I get the feeling this’ll backfire for Ludinus he thinks close mindedly he hates the gods from what he saw and was told in his early life if he should hate anyone it’s the betrayer gods but the fact that the prime deities helped the betrayer gods destroy aeor kinda backs up him hating both sides
@@ZodiacBandit 100%! Like its kind of known that the gods came together to take down aeor after the first test of the key. cant wait to see the twist, was is the betrayal gods idea to team up? was it the people from inside aeor that seen to much? so many theory's! cant wait!
It’s set 100 years into the calamity and i actually made a mistake we’re going to be following 6 divine figures and the role they play in the destruction of aeor
nah, some of the fanbase is extremely insufferable and flat out miserable. people really need to keep an open mind to new things, even if it deviates from the matt mercer norm. @@irishbullmatt
I never had a problem with Aabria but for some reason Downfall doesn't interest me as much. I just want Ludinus dead and don't care about his origin story.
It’s not his origin we’re seeing we’re seeing the fall of aeor through the eyes of 6 divine figures who play a big role in its fall Ludinus is showing the bells this to try to show way he’s correct which will hopefully backfire
Great video man! Will Ludinus sway our belief of his master plan, in his favor? I hope not because I want him to die to otohan thull sword, wielded by Orym ;) ;)
Lol people who skip these episodes are going to be missing a LOT of context, Brennan is superior storyteller than Matt but Matt is a superior DM. For context episodes (calamity and downfall) i think Brennan is perfect for these high stakes high roleplay scenarios where everything is on the line. Aabriya is good at being a player, i just dont think she has a metric buttload of DM experience
Respectfully I disagree I’m not sure if Brennan could keep me around for 100 plus episodes he’s good a shorter stories which is why most d20 series are shorter
@@ZodiacBandit currently listening to Worlds Beyond Number, which is his long form podcast live play, so good, still very early, but so much fun. But I understand where you are coming from. Matt Mercer is the GOAT currently for multi-year campaigns
I tried to but I couldn’t get into it the only reason I said 9.5 which isn’t harsh at all is because he doesn’t voice act like Matt does everything else they are equal
Am I the only one who kinda hopes there's at least 1 unannounced actor (hopefully 2). We are going back to the fall of Aeor, it would be so cool to see the original versions (obviously with different names) of FCG and FRIDA before their memories were wiped.
I'm gonna be watching it, Infact I'm looking forward to it MORE THAN THE ACTUAL CAMPAIGN, and the only reason im upset about this announcement, is that SHIT JUST STARTED GETTING INTERESTING WITH THE MAIN CAST, And we're leaving them on a cliff hanger, "AGAIN?" within such a short time span. It's frustrating because the main campaign constantly feels like it's just barely moving at times. Also, we just got Sam back.
It's a great thing to see them use their platform to give a boost to people their community might not know about, or might be less familiar with. Not that many people are unfamiliar with Brennan and Aabria, but with them, and the new players in CO and Exu bring different perspectives and experiences to CR. It's not the end of any worlds. CR have been doing this for a decade, and the company wants to stretch it's wings a bit.
Your remarks are extremely fair. I sometimes tune out when Aabria DMs, but I would go further and say that Brennan is just as great a DM as Matt in some ways, and some people even think he is better than Matt. Personally I think Calamity was just a perfect storm of story and skill from all involved, but for the type of content that Downfall will be--part of a real game, but with definite limits--you are all in for a real treat.
For me, the exploration of the motivations of the major players in the Calamity is totally on brand for Matt Mercer. Finding out the reasons why those involved did what they did and not being able to say that they were wholly good or evil is a recurring theme in all of these campaigns. As a side note, I think that Brennan has more fire in his GM style than either Aabria or even Matt. Aabria is fun and, make no mistake, Matt is a story telling genius ( I an totally certain that he has orchestrated this from the beginning) and I have no doubt that, yet again, he has coordinated this to completely blow our minds.
I'm going to say that I'm an Aabria Lyengar fan, but I do understand what you are saying. I enjoy 95% of what Aabria does, but I do see that 5% of what you see, and it " bothers "me to that all I'm going to say about Ms Lyengar... I don't understand the people who will skip 3 episodes ?? If you are a true Critical Role fan/Critter, then you will understand that the story changes and evolves. That being said, I'm looking forward to all 3 episodes of Downfall.
Makes me wonder with the cast and the entire population of the planet watching this happen, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the party maybe look for a old chamber or part of Aeor, perhaps holding an artifact or 2 from before the fall, perhaps even the weapon or weapons they were afraid of. As for giving us side stories, I feel Matt is building for a huge change within his world, perhaps even setting the grounds for the group switching over to dagger heart after this campaign ends. Magic and other elements may function much differently after the dust settles from this campaign. Just enjoy the ride y’all!
Will be watching. Not a fan of most of the series Brenan dms, not because of his style but because of the genre, magic high-school and the produce. I heavily enjoyed calamity and escape from bloodkeep and him as a character in candela. Part of me hates the cliffhanger.
I’m not a big fan of D20 myself they do have heavily produced moments and I couldn’t get over that but I very much enjoyed calamity him dming with a critical role production works really well
I agree with you 💯. EXU: Calamity was one of the best nonMatt-Mercer-GMd TTRPG CR ever produced. Because of Brennan, I kinda wanna watch Dimension 20 now. I already know some of their regulars anyway. They were fantastic guests on Critical Role. Frankly, I'm excited to see BLM as guest DM again. The emotional damage he dealt on Calamity broke me. Can't wait to see what he's got cooking for Downfall. For those who say they will skip the next 3 episodes will be missing out. Just saying. Besides, Matt and Marisha are prolly the hardest working members of CR, being the top executives in the company and all. They deserve a long break. As for Aabria, I too am not a big fan for the same reasons, but she makes a delightful PC and has wonderful chemistry with the CR cast. I'm also not a fan of EXU (watched the first and didn't continue for Kymal) or even Candela Obscura (but I still watched a few episodes, esp. those with Liam and Laura in it). Keep it up with the recaps and updates. Just subscribed. Cheers!
I might not watch these episodes because BLM is *too* good at what he does. I didn't finish Calamity (and don't really intend to) because it was too intense. That sort of thing was fine when I was younger and still pushing boundaries but now I just like CR as something I put on in the background while I'm doing something else, and I suspect BLM is going to demand too much commitment and investment.
Way to be as long winded as possible about how much you love Brennan and don’t like Aabria, as a dm. You complain about how long Aabria took for combat but you wasted half this video repeating yourself. Funny thing is I agree with you about her dming, but also don’t like Brennan, so to each their own.
Each to their own I prefer Brennan for the reasons you heard and I repeated myself to really drive those reasons home I don’t dislike aabria I just don’t like those 2 things she does and they are unfortunately stuff she does a lot and it drags her stuff down
I hadn't seen anything about this yet so when I saw the title CR "Downfall" I thought this was going to be a drama video, like they did something bad and are getting canceled or whatever. This is much better; Calamity was great so I'm betting this will be too
My only problem is the logistics of why would Orym or any of the crew listen to this guy tell them a story when he was behind the murder of Will and actively killed FCG? It doesn’t make any sense
They’ve wanted answers about this stuff as well a lot of them don’t care fire the gods I don’t think this’ll help Ludinus but we’ll learn some fun ass shit
I have a feeling we’re going to see the gods in an incredibly bad light if Ludinus is so giddy to show them this. Like if they invented some kind of tether to the heavens or something crazy like that, idk. Like maybe Aeor despite its reputation created some sort of utopian device that challenged the gods because it would simply remove the need to worship them by making life on exandria utopian or some literal way to just go to the heavens. Sounds pretty stupid but Brennan’s intro sounded like it was in one of the heavens, maybe the everlight’s personal palace? or the dawnfather?, so that instantly made me think of reasons that place would be relevant to the story and remember the wording being that Aeor invented some device that could kill the gods, but maybe it wasn’t literal, just sap their power by removing the need for them, thus reducing their number of worshippers, and removing their power that way. absolute crackpot theory but just wanna share just in case
I think we might get another calamity special at some point, maybe another city where they found how the gods sealed away predathos. And the hells go there to get that method, then they get another flashback/special where Liam Matt and Robbie are the players with 3 new players, so then everyone has had a calamity game.
I thought calamity was great. I liked all of the EXU series. However, I don’t like change. I don’t like change without a heads up. I image a lot of people who are upset about it are similar. The DM change mid episode is kind of jarring for me. However, I’ll be watching downfall because it will be important back story to the main campaign. The announcement of Downfall after the DM change doesn’t go well with people who want to know what’s coming next.
But this one wasn’t like the mid episode change and acts as a warning that he’ll be dming he took the last 2 minutes of the episode it’s a lot more natural then stepping in half way
With Sam's recent announcement/Explanation video that CR just dropped, a lot of questions about FCG's ending and Sam not stepping back in so quickly. And Downfall part 1-3 should give him more time to heal and recover. All the people complaining about Downfall need to understand that it is for Matt and his story BUT, also for Sam as well.
@@ElijahKRichmond after watching that video i think There’s a chance fcg’s death was planned between Sam and Matt but it also felt real and spontaneous so who knows Hearing about what Sam has gone through makes me incredibly sad and angry angry at those who didn’t respect his time away and were getting angry he wasn’t there ik that’s knowledge with hindsight but it shows the lack of respect from some of the critical role community
@@ZodiacBandit I wonder if Sam gave Matt the heads up that he may pull the pin so to speak, and so Matt might have known it was a possibility but, not sure when Sam was going to do it.
While I love brennon and thoroughly enjoyed both EXU spin offs for the world building they brought, I'm not a huge fan of this decision. I think they should've done this either as a side show alongside the main story or as a mini series after the campaign wraps up. My issue isn't that we're getting this content, it's that we're getting it at the cost of the main campaign and it's not the first time something like this has happened. Not only with abria taking over a couple sessions but splitting the party mid campaign and the faewild team building exercises are just two more examples of times they've tried something new and all it's done is ruin the pacing of the show. It's also important to consider that the cast are the busiest they've ever been with comics and novels and merch and content and the 2 animated shows they're producing so it may well be that they keep doing this to combat scheduling issues but that doesn't invalidate fans disappointed. I will be watching these episodes but I understand why others may not want to.
I think that in this instance for Downfall it won't hurt the main campaign. If anything it will fit right in with the overall story for Campaign 3. Now, I will be a little sad that I have to wait 3 episodes before we all get to see Sam's new character again. But, we are going to get 3 really awesome episodes.
I don’t think this’ll take away from c3 at all story or time with the bells I think you could just add 3 episodes to however long you thought c3 was gonna be I mean the bells might see something in this vision and go after it adding tons of stuff for them to do in aeor
I think they are equal across the board the only thing Matt has that Brennan doesn’t is voice acting to add to each characters personality that little bit more all Brennans characters sound the same…. Expect bolo
@@ZodiacBandit Matt is amazing with voice acting no doubt, i mean far as ROLE PLAYING. After seeing him in the candela obscura as a character, I was blown away.
Over the years I have really gotten the idea that a lot of the knee jerk complaining fans that can't stand ANY change that CR does or even watch anything other than the main series, dont understand that the CR cast and all their guests are friends and will do what ever they want first THEN bring in the fans along for the ride. I have watched every one-shot, mini series, and other offerings that CR has put out as far back as the Geek and Sundry days and can only remember one two-shot that I could not finish. Over all the other stuff they have put out with different game systems and different GMs/DMs (cast members or guests) I like that they are showing the fans that there are different ways to play the games and different styles to run those games. If it was Spencer Starke being the guest DM for this 3 episode run, I would be just as happy but, the fans who feel that the show is theirs and should be made happy like a CW show to keep up the ad revenue would cry about him too since many of them dont even know who he is. I should get off this soapbox and get back to the Candela Obscura GM round table video. Here is the GM round table video I was talking about: ruclips.net/video/CunX0vpkm5k/видео.htmlsi=Xw24qlTN0Mp3S8PL It is a discussion pertaining to mainly running Candela Obscura and other horror themed games but, it is still a good watch.
@@ZodiacBandit I could totally go on about how to this day CR has an amazing fan base but, like all fandom's you will have trolls and gatekeepers (one of the reasons I am liking them turning to Beacon is that they can now police the bad actors in the fan base better) who may or may not understand that this is not just an individual experience but, in fact a (world wide) group experience.
@@ElijahKRichmond I think gatekeepers in any fan base are the worst “it’s our thing fuck off” this is D&D in the main stream people no longer see dnd or ttrpgs are something only losers do but people like the gatekeepers don’t seem to want to world to have the fun they do it’s gross
@@ZodiacBandit Also on the note of the 3 DMs that you spoke about with who sits in which order of the "better" DM, the viewers probably don't realize in the view of experience and not just DMing styles, Abria has the LEAST years of experience while I think Matt started around 14 years old and Brennan started around 10 years old (and then graduated college at 17). Just in years of experience, Abria is still honing her skills compared to the other two DMs that are being mainly talked about. For those that have not watched the round table with the 3 of them: ruclips.net/video/LmZSWKPXhZ4/видео.htmlsi=_FiDr1F38_ncoySL
Aabria, Matt and Brennan are probably the best known GMs right now and they all have their own style- do I think Aabria tends to have awesome games that are fun to play in- yes but are they awesome to watch… depends on the person. Out of all of them, Brennan just does the best straight up entertaining low and high emotional story telling. Big swings and very rarely is there down time that you have to push yourself to watch D20- where Aabria and Matt you’re there for the long haul and are invested in the full series even if this ‘chapter’ of the story isn’t your cup of tea to watch.
I don’t think you need to ask live show watchers to give BLM a chance. Calamity has been the biggest success in this new phase of CR, arguable better received than C3 itself. Anyone who is hesitant for this next mini series shoupf just miss out on what will be an amazing expling of role-play and DMing
Yeah you're totally right that's because of Abria, but Brennen is god tier DM I would even argue Calamity is the best content CR has ever done tbh. I also agree first EXU was great idk what happened from then to now but her DM style changed for the worse.
Aabria went above and beyond for the first EXU and then after that she got comfortable I don’t think she’s awful far from it but she did a lot of good to make exu worthwhile as it was the first attempt at something different
Great video as always
I agree that there's no reason to skip these episodes, Brennan is probably my favorite AP DM. For the record, I also enjoy Aabria as a DM, I just think that her style is a little further afield from Matt's, making the transition from him to her a bit more jarring than going from Matt to Brennan may necessarily be.
The actual point I wanted to address was about the actual plot of the upcoming episodes. You're saying you think this will follow Aeoreans in a similar manner to how Calamity followed folks from Avalir. Can I ask where you got that impression?
From what Ludinus before activating the device, as well as what Brennan's outro & the preview said, I got the impression that we'd be getting the perspective of the gods, or at least powerful servants of the gods. Ludinus mentioned specifically that the device recorded the memories of not only Aeoreans but also the memories of those who brought down Aeor. Aeor was brought down by the gods, so I thought the implication was that we'd get the gods' perspective and Ludinus believes that sharing that perspective will win people over to his side opposing the gods.
Any thoughts on this possibility?
I assumed from the fact that we were looking into a machine that has the memories of the people of aeor we’d be following them but I just rewatched the announcement video and does say the story follows 6 divine figures which makes no sense based on what Ludinus said about the machine but hey it’s a misunderstanding I get the feeling we’ll still see a lot about aeor and it’s people but I figured it would be about the people there not the ones trying to destroy it
As far as Ludinus showing this perspective maybe whatever these 6 figures do is truly horrible and maybe he’s partly correct but we don’t know which divine figures were going to be following
My read was that Ludinus wanted to show them the crimes of the Gods from the perspective of Aeorians. From a practical POV I just don't see Matt giving players the preassure and responsibility of potentially fundamentally redefining canon by playing actual Gods. Like imagine bringing in new players and giving them a character sheet with basically infinte 9th level spells and effectively no mechanical limitations in a world setting they've never played in before, I personally just don't see that happening.
I think they will leave the Gods side to Brennan who we already know from Calamity will take incredible care to intimately learn and preserve the world as Matt created it. And then the players will play high level characters within a system they already know.
@@noone-ld7pt I think by saying “6 divine figures” it sets up the players as champions of the gods not necessarily the gods themselves
@@ZodiacBandit Oh interesting point. I am very curious as to how they will pull that off, champions need to know their deities pretty intimately so I hope the players really commit to the lore.
But I trust Brennan implicitly tho so I'm sure it's going to be amazing. After Calamity I started going through his D20 catalogue and he is honestly my favourite GM at this point, and as a massive Mercer fan I don't say that lightly!
Not sure how, but I want a canon ending for Bolo. 😅
Oh I’m sure she can get some sort of mention lol
I'm kinda hoping one of the cast is her. Laura would be hilarious. lol
@@vobgreat this is 100 years into the calamity so unless bolo is a lich i doubt we are going to see her again
@@vobgreatLaura could definitely Bolo the fuck out of the Calamity.
yeh Calamity was some of the best CR content ever produced - i WILL be watching
Calamity is amazing if this is half as good it’ll still be great
Two of the best CR content creators in one location ❤ thanks for what you two dooooo
Ditto.
@@RussianBearMafia thanks homie
Nick Marini has played in Brennan’s home game for several years. There’s a great adventure academy ep with him on the dimension 20 RUclips page. I feel like in a similar way to Lou Wilson’s CR appearance, it’s going to be interesting to see a player that has a deep understanding of Brennan’s bag of tricks. With how in-depth and character driven Brennan’s approach is to storytelling I expect the Downfall cast to become instant fan favorites.
For the record, I just finished calamity... HOLY fucking shit! Brennan is fantastic. This side story will not be long, and it will tie up alot of C1, C2 and C3. Edit: I don't like Aarbria as a DM, as a player I think she is much better. Brennan is a fantastic DM, both him and Matt in my eyes are the best DM's I've seen
Exactly this is why I’m confused with people saying they are gonna skip these episodes
@@ZodiacBandit I think people will be missing out HARD if they skip. Maybe they'll be brought back in when they hear how awesome the first ep of Brennan was?
@@buddybleeyes hopefully but there are people who just hate to hate these days
I would like to push back a bit on the Aabria as a DM part. In my opinion she is a very good DM in certain settings and systems, Misfits and Magic and D&D Chaos is honestly amazing.
However her style just doesn't work in Exandria. The stakes are too high and the rules of the world too established for her to suddenly come in and do chaotic rule bends and take her patented antagonistic approach. And I do think a lot of the criticism from how she handled the Cyrus encounter is 100% warranted.
But yea, I see a lot of people saying she is just a bad DM which I personally don't think is true. I think she is great in the right settings, but lacks she the versatility that Brennan has and just couldn't adapt to the requirements of running something in a massive high stakes world like Exandria.
@@noone-ld7pt I honestly haven't seen her DM anything outside of CR/ EXU so you may be on the money there. It just rubbed me the wrong way of how hostile she can be towards the players. It's not my cup of tea, not that she's bad- just personally not my style
Here's to hoping for a second coming of Asmodeus. I actually prefer Brennan to Matt in some aspects. Matt's long term story and world building is incredible. Brennans emotional highs (as a DM) hit harder. He can surprise his players like no other.
Oh if there’s another amazing performance from Asmodeus I’ll be so happy
So well put! Brennan doesn't have emotional guardrails when he DMs. That being said, in Calamity, this is why he was the best choice--it was a tragedy and the outcome was known, and he had to usher the cast there in the most interesting way. And he did. It is much different than Matt's task of leading a full campaign, with his close friends--their happiness is more important than rushing through to a conclusion. Not that Calamity was rushed (that hour long six minute fight!) but I hope you get my point.
I bet that for the first two episodes we will be all high on Ludinus' coolaid only for him losing the narrative in the final episode, much like people were believing the Betrayers were in the right up until Asmodeus showed His true colors as the Father of Lies...
Ohh very interesting thought
Brennen killed it with Calamity. I'm excited to see this mini and how it affects our team. Fun fact: Abubakar played Zanror in LoVM and was in Stray Gods (awesome video game) with Laura and Ashley. Can't wait to see their in-character chemistry
He also played in that Candela arc that Liam ran
I was so fking hyped when I saw him walk onto the stage, i watch Dimensional20 and Brennan is such a good fking DM. Calamity proved it and i’m so happy he is DMing yet another Exandria Unlimited series
The problem I had with the Aabria episodes was not Aabria (I LOVE HER!!). It was the fact that bringing in a side story in the middle of an episode with no warning felt like someone walking up and changing the channel. Bonus irritation points for having that story be basically the finale of something we were told was optional content, so I had no idea what was going on. It would not have been a problem at all if they had done it like this - tell us at the end of an episode that the next one will be something different. In any case, I am looking forward to Downfall!
Aabria tries too hard to be "the DM" and to be a badass all the time, and she literally is a badass and does not need to do that. She will be better if she relaxes a bit while DMing.
In that scene didn't Asmodeus cast timestop which kinda explained all the stuff that happened?
It’s part of it I don’t want to spoil to much even though I said something I shouldn’t have lol
Yeah, Future/Retro Steampunk with a bit of Crystal Mysticism is definitely the Aeor vibe, with a Militarism bend as well. Aeor was the city that sent out Spy and Assassin automatons all over. I always get the feeling of a deep rooted evil from that place.
i've seen people saying in reddit they're getting tired of another hiatus from BH, this being the fourth keeps dragging and slowing the campaign even more, losing the momentum the party just got in aeor + waiting to see more of sam's new character.
personally, Calamity will always have a place in my heart because it was my introduction to Critical Role and what made me dm again, so i will enjoy downfall no matter what. and i agree with you that brennan is a better dm and is more similar to matt's style of storytelling than aabria's.
all CR Reddit does all day every day is complain
As a one piece fan seeing stuff like these breaks don’t bother me there’s been times where one piece shows a flash back for 4 weeks in a row and this is just like that
It’s funny people want to see the bells hells I remember a time when people really wanted to see anything but the hells
There’s also a difference between the 2 DM shifts. This one is way more integrated into the story and very likely won’t require you to have seen any exus to actually care about what is happening. I fully skipped Aabria’s episodes and got back into the main campaign np. I have a hunch that skipping downfall will leave you completely lost when the main story returns.
100% on everything you said
Brennan Lee Mulligan is one of the best DM's out there. He's personally my favorite, and he definitely gives Matt a run for his money. EXU Calamity is a MASTERCLASS! I absolutely love that he's going to be DMing more in Exandria, and I know for a fact that he's going to knock this side story out of the park! I for one can't wait for these upcoming episodes!
Abubakar Salim is currently in house of the dragon! he’s a new character and hasn’t had too many scenes yet, but he’s been great so far.
I haven’t started that show yet I should
He was utterly charming as the 4Sided Side host.
I will say...I am a huge fan of Matt Mercer, I am likewise super pumped for the return of Brennan Lee Mulligan to the Calamity!!! C'mon!!!!!
It’s gonna be sick
Aabria is great for fun, goofy moments and her light horror moments are fantastic. I feel like Aabria DMs like she is from the Faewild. I love her, but is not everyone's cup of tea all the time.
Brennan can do the goofiest moments, to high drama, to horror. He does it all so well.
If you watch the Dimension 20 Escape from the Bloodkeep (where Matt Mercer is a player) it is a series set in the nine hells. The scene where the demon lord is killed and the halfling is trying to kill the party with a frying pan, is some of the greatest D&D moments I have ever seen. Haha
People who actively skip Downfall are doing themselves a diservice.
I have tried to watch that series 3 times I just can’t get into for some reason idk why
Anyone who is skipping Downfall, they're going to have no new CR content for a whole six weeks, aren't they?
June 27th off, final Thursday of the month. 4th July off, holiday. 11th, 18th, 25th Downfall. Campaign 3 doesn't come back until August 1st.
Calamity is the absolute best dnd viewing experience I’ve ever had
It impressed me so much I told everyone I know that it was the greatest thing I had ever seen in any media...lol
Now, i can understand why some don't like Aabria in criticle role as a dm, but let's not slander her! Shes a great Dm on Dimension 20!
I loved the Candela arc that she ran.
I have to rank Brennan at the same level as Matt. I think they both are equal with storytelling and bringing emotional and dramatic moments to the game, just in different ways. They are both 11 out of 10.
Brennan is probably fine and Aabria was too (In the parts that I saw), but for me each DM should be given a separate campaign, so the audience can choose what they like.
RUclips is full of RPG-channels, so I whenever I want see another DM, then I can just go and watch one of the other RUclips channels.
For me, they should just put the main campaign on hold when Matt cannot particiate.
I get this but they are about story telling something tells me it’s not something to do with Matt not being able to do it that’s why they only do 3 episodes a month now to give themselves time for other stuff (he might not be able to tho) they just like different perspectives
Plus, I think there is a certain con coming up at the end of July
@@Zortbrain comic con? I don’t keep up with con news lol
@@ZodiacBandit Yup. San Diego Comic-Con on July 25th.
I was planning on skipping the episodes, but that was because I'm not caught up. However, you have kinda convinced me to stop where I am, watch Downfall, and then go back to where I left off.
I don't know why we should doubt Brennan when he's the one only good thing about EXU.
The crown keepers, the ring of brass some sick ass lore
watched the first thirty seconds as im still behind and didnt want any spoilers. Brennan is an amazing GM so im not worried.
I can't seem to reply or like any comments but
1) Great video
2) Brennan and Abria are both great, I prefer Brennan though.
3) Calamity was amazing.
4) very excited to see these episodes
That’s odd that you can’t like or reply maybe a connection issue and thanks for watching as always
I'm only upset that Liam won't be in it, but maybe they will have a 3 or 4 shot on what happens after the downfall. I also wish there were more episodes, but that is just me.
I think 3 is perfect for now as long as not much is left open
It was stated that Liam is in the chamber for a 3rd prequel run. He even has a character idea already prepared. According to Marisha, he was simply busy shooting another CR thing which stopped him from join Downfall
@@yiklongtay6029 fair enough
Really had me thinking with that title that something was wrong
Well some people are giving him the chance to show what he’s got “I’m skipping these episodes” has been said a lot unfairly
Kinda sad we didnt get another D20 member come over like last time.
I kinda want more Critical role members like Matt or Liam there
@@ZodiacBandit agree!
Was anyone else hoping he'd start off with "AIR"
Every exu with Brennan will eventually go through all the elements
@@ZodiacBandit Matt already did Water and Aabria already did Earth in different campaigns.
brennan: (pauses... lets the music and environment effects settle in...) "..... Ice...."
im jk but it would be poetic for sure
I do understand why people are not liking this downfall special given that it's so soon after the 2 episode derail that didn't give us anything other then Dorian coming back that really could have been a EXU one shot. But this is setting up actual information about one of the big bads, seeing the gods differently than we have been, and might even course the party to switch sides.
And unlike abria's 2 episodes that could be a EXU one shot I really can't justify this not being in the main campaign as this is being shown to the whole party and has a big impact on where the campaign goes from here.
We still dont know what caused that big hole in the middle of the city right?!
Correct
I’m not skipping these episodes either. Calamity was great! I liked EXU 1st season as well. Morgan never should have changed her character to something she and us the audience was unfamiliar with. Could have saved an hour and a half and left her character out. I loved the concept of the memories battle though.
I wonder if Matt will be an unexpected player.... As Ludinus
respectfully i disagree with a lot of the points you made in this video. yeah the recent crown keeper episodes in campaign 3 didn't hit the mark, and kymal had a literal brand new player with 0 d&d/roleplay experience, but by NO means does that make her a bad DM, or a worse DM than the others. before you say anything, thats a slight misconstruction of your words and i know that, and you're entitled to your opinion. but at least you're a better sport than some of the comments i've seen in this circle and other circles that ARE saying exactly that and you're actively giving them a platform. actively giving me the ick for shitting on someone just because her single encounter didn't go as planned, going as far as to belittle aabria personally for it. i think people just forgot how hype and cool the original EXU was when it came out, and how ANY of the side stories would not have come out without her huge success with EXU. aabria is a brilliant DM that has a much different vibe and flavor than matt mercer, brennan is just better at masking himself to better suit that style. a lot of fans just dont like change i think or dont listen to any non-cr content or play in any games with non-cr fans. which genuinely sucks to see because there's an extremely vast world out there beyond than the small scope of critical role.
Like I said this the video I love the original exu the only thing I didnt like that Aabria did was Kymal that was rough. I have a whole video talking about kymal so I won’t be talking about it here but I liked a lot of what she did in her episodes of C3 aside from the slow rounds and the over descriptions of unnecessary things what happened within the episodes were good imo it’s literally just those 2 things in those episodes I didn’t like that’s it that’s why I said she’s a 8/10 dm. I get people not liking her in some regards but the hate she gets is total bull shit
@@ZodiacBandit i'll have to watch that, i only got into your videos recently. fair enough, people have their own opinions, what i do hate is people taking this and spinning it negatively. not just on this video specifically but also whenever aabria is brought up in the CR space in general. other than that i don't really have any problems with your take. but you've seen me say this in several other comments you've hearted so i'll just leave it at that. cheers
I’m totally watching it! If the three new people make it too serious, I’ll watch the RUclips updates/breakdowns.
For some reason I doubt it’ll be to serious
So happy to get more Brennan as a GM in CR! My only fear is the result of this 3 ep "massage" for the main game.. would the bells hell get split up after this show of Ludinus? Some of them looking to kill him yea, but they are not really 100% after the goal of not killing the gods.. some of them might be "turned" ? we the watchers might be in for long time hurt as the party seem more divided then ever, questioning anything they do and being really unsure about anything after FCG death..
yea some of them have anger and want for revenge, but Ludinus are sure that this will show them the truth! and Brannan is really good at hammering the point when he put the gloves down.
Really think the break is good think for all player and matt, and anywhere this story goes if super happy to be a watcher.
I get the feeling this’ll backfire for Ludinus he thinks close mindedly he hates the gods from what he saw and was told in his early life if he should hate anyone it’s the betrayer gods but the fact that the prime deities helped the betrayer gods destroy aeor kinda backs up him hating both sides
@@ZodiacBandit 100%! Like its kind of known that the gods came together to take down aeor after the first test of the key.
cant wait to see the twist, was is the betrayal gods idea to team up? was it the people from inside aeor that seen to much? so many theory's!
cant wait!
Here's my question is this going to be truly the fall of Aeor or are we going to get right before the fall of Aeor and the series ends
It’s set 100 years into the calamity and i actually made a mistake we’re going to be following 6 divine figures and the role they play in the destruction of aeor
Go ahead and let them skip the best arc of the series. Let them complain when they didn’t know what’s happening in August.
Gonna be sweet seeing people ask so many questions
I really don't think that's the right attitude to have.
nah, some of the fanbase is extremely insufferable and flat out miserable. people really need to keep an open mind to new things, even if it deviates from the matt mercer norm. @@irishbullmatt
@mac_sour but to relish in their confusion?
@@irishbullmattI’m sorry! What attitude should I present to insufferably pedantic fans who don’t understand D&D?
Aabria is waaaay at the bottom. 8 is too generous. no more then 7
Idk she’s had 11 episodes worth of dming for CR and I only think 2 are bad both Kymal I thinks it’s fair to say she’s done a good job when it counts
I never had a problem with Aabria but for some reason Downfall doesn't interest me as much. I just want Ludinus dead and don't care about his origin story.
It’s not his origin we’re seeing we’re seeing the fall of aeor through the eyes of 6 divine figures who play a big role in its fall Ludinus is showing the bells this to try to show way he’s correct which will hopefully backfire
I firmly believe the only people who are upset are the folks who didn't watch calamity.
Calamity is the best DND I've ever seen.
Marisha explained in yesterday's Fireside chat the reason Liam is not in Downfall
I have to watch and see why
And....
@@theshadowfax239 he wasn’t able to for scheduling reasons and will be in the next one of these they do
Great video man! Will Ludinus sway our belief of his master plan, in his favor? I hope not because I want him to die to otohan thull sword, wielded by Orym ;) ;)
This is my hope as well I’m tired of the villains being kinda right in recent media
Lol people who skip these episodes are going to be missing a LOT of context, Brennan is superior storyteller than Matt but Matt is a superior DM. For context episodes (calamity and downfall) i think Brennan is perfect for these high stakes high roleplay scenarios where everything is on the line. Aabriya is good at being a player, i just dont think she has a metric buttload of DM experience
Who said they are skipping? This isn't Abria...
There’s been some people saying it on some of my videos and on that episode of critical role
@@ZodiacBandit crazy. Brennan is great.
Don't get me wrong, I love Matt, but I honestly think Brennan is a better DM than Matt
Respectfully I disagree I’m not sure if Brennan could keep me around for 100 plus episodes he’s good a shorter stories which is why most d20 series are shorter
@@ZodiacBandit currently listening to Worlds Beyond Number, which is his long form podcast live play, so good, still very early, but so much fun. But I understand where you are coming from. Matt Mercer is the GOAT currently for multi-year campaigns
have you watched dimension 20? calling brennan a 9.5/10 is harsh lol he's a 10 bro lol
I tried to but I couldn’t get into it the only reason I said 9.5 which isn’t harsh at all is because he doesn’t voice act like Matt does everything else they are equal
I personally am not fond of Brandon style of dming
That’s fair not everyone’s style is for everyone
Brennan is fantastic! Anyone who hasn't seen Calamity, is a damn fool. They can take their negative comments and shove it!
Brennan coming in is fantastic
Very excited to see what he has cooked up
Am I the only one who kinda hopes there's at least 1 unannounced actor (hopefully 2). We are going back to the fall of Aeor, it would be so cool to see the original versions (obviously with different names) of FCG and FRIDA before their memories were wiped.
That would be interesting
That's brilliant, but I think we may just see cameos. Maybe manufacturing. Probably not needing of a player.
I'm gonna be watching it, Infact I'm looking forward to it MORE THAN THE ACTUAL CAMPAIGN, and the only reason im upset about this announcement, is that SHIT JUST STARTED GETTING INTERESTING WITH THE MAIN CAST, And we're leaving them on a cliff hanger, "AGAIN?" within such a short time span. It's frustrating because the main campaign constantly feels like it's just barely moving at times.
Also, we just got Sam back.
Yea the timing is weird but it’s been interesting the whole time not sure what you’ve been watching
Does anyone else think there is a chance that fcg or FRIDA may show up as guest characters
Maybe Frida when protecting whatever device they were protecting in their memories but I’m not sure about fcg
It's a great thing to see them use their platform to give a boost to people their community might not know about, or might be less familiar with. Not that many people are unfamiliar with Brennan and Aabria, but with them, and the new players in CO and Exu bring different perspectives and experiences to CR. It's not the end of any worlds. CR have been doing this for a decade, and the company wants to stretch it's wings a bit.
Your remarks are extremely fair. I sometimes tune out when Aabria DMs, but I would go further and say that Brennan is just as great a DM as Matt in some ways, and some people even think he is better than Matt. Personally I think Calamity was just a perfect storm of story and skill from all involved, but for the type of content that Downfall will be--part of a real game, but with definite limits--you are all in for a real treat.
For me, the exploration of the motivations of the major players in the Calamity is totally on brand for Matt Mercer. Finding out the reasons why those involved did what they did and not being able to say that they were wholly good or evil is a recurring theme in all of these campaigns. As a side note, I think that Brennan has more fire in his GM style than either Aabria or even Matt. Aabria is fun and, make no mistake, Matt is a story telling genius ( I an totally certain that he has orchestrated this from the beginning) and I have no doubt that, yet again, he has coordinated this to completely blow our minds.
I'm going to say that I'm an Aabria Lyengar fan, but I do understand what you are saying. I enjoy 95% of what Aabria does, but I do see that 5% of what you see, and it " bothers "me to that all I'm going to say about Ms Lyengar... I don't understand the people who will skip 3 episodes ?? If you are a true Critical Role fan/Critter, then you will understand that the story changes and evolves. That being said, I'm looking forward to all 3 episodes of Downfall.
There’s been a lot of people like this this campaign which is funny as before hand people hated the hells and are now getting upset they aren’t around
I think he will be a great gm, I always have, he's amazing, but damn it man he will kill some people off lol
He killed 5/6 members of the ring of brass who knows what’ll happen in this one
If he has his way, he’ll go for TPK every time. 😉
I like abria. I just dont think her gm style is compatible with Cr
Makes me wonder with the cast and the entire population of the planet watching this happen, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the party maybe look for a old chamber or part of Aeor, perhaps holding an artifact or 2 from before the fall, perhaps even the weapon or weapons they were afraid of.
As for giving us side stories, I feel Matt is building for a huge change within his world, perhaps even setting the grounds for the group switching over to dagger heart after this campaign ends. Magic and other elements may function much differently after the dust settles from this campaign. Just enjoy the ride y’all!
Brennan is great, not a fan of aabria dm or playing style takes me out of the story
Will be watching.
Not a fan of most of the series Brenan dms, not because of his style but because of the genre, magic high-school and the produce.
I heavily enjoyed calamity and escape from bloodkeep and him as a character in candela.
Part of me hates the cliffhanger.
I’m not a big fan of D20 myself they do have heavily produced moments and I couldn’t get over that but I very much enjoyed calamity him dming with a critical role production works really well
I agree with you 💯. EXU: Calamity was one of the best nonMatt-Mercer-GMd TTRPG CR ever produced. Because of Brennan, I kinda wanna watch Dimension 20 now. I already know some of their regulars anyway. They were fantastic guests on Critical Role.
Frankly, I'm excited to see BLM as guest DM again. The emotional damage he dealt on Calamity broke me. Can't wait to see what he's got cooking for Downfall. For those who say they will skip the next 3 episodes will be missing out. Just saying. Besides, Matt and Marisha are prolly the hardest working members of CR, being the top executives in the company and all. They deserve a long break.
As for Aabria, I too am not a big fan for the same reasons, but she makes a delightful PC and has wonderful chemistry with the CR cast. I'm also not a fan of EXU (watched the first and didn't continue for Kymal) or even Candela Obscura (but I still watched a few episodes, esp. those with Liam and Laura in it).
Keep it up with the recaps and updates. Just subscribed. Cheers!
Calamity was the best live play event in terms of story telling and tone. Brennan is a master. Do not skip this!
I might not watch these episodes because BLM is *too* good at what he does. I didn't finish Calamity (and don't really intend to) because it was too intense. That sort of thing was fine when I was younger and still pushing boundaries but now I just like CR as something I put on in the background while I'm doing something else, and I suspect BLM is going to demand too much commitment and investment.
This is fair
Way to be as long winded as possible about how much you love Brennan and don’t like Aabria, as a dm. You complain about how long Aabria took for combat but you wasted half this video repeating yourself. Funny thing is I agree with you about her dming, but also don’t like Brennan, so to each their own.
Each to their own I prefer Brennan for the reasons you heard and I repeated myself to really drive those reasons home I don’t dislike aabria I just don’t like those 2 things she does and they are unfortunately stuff she does a lot and it drags her stuff down
I hadn't seen anything about this yet so when I saw the title CR "Downfall" I thought this was going to be a drama video, like they did something bad and are getting canceled or whatever. This is much better; Calamity was great so I'm betting this will be too
What’s funny is downfall being the title of these episodes sets up really good click bait even when it’s technically not
My only problem is the logistics of why would Orym or any of the crew listen to this guy tell them a story when he was behind the murder of Will and actively killed FCG? It doesn’t make any sense
They’ve wanted answers about this stuff as well a lot of them don’t care fire the gods I don’t think this’ll help Ludinus but we’ll learn some fun ass shit
And now I wanna rewatched Calamity. Thanks! I thought I had my addiction under control.
Come back later when you need another hit lmao
I have a feeling we’re going to see the gods in an incredibly bad light if Ludinus is so giddy to show them this. Like if they invented some kind of tether to the heavens or something crazy like that, idk. Like maybe Aeor despite its reputation created some sort of utopian device that challenged the gods because it would simply remove the need to worship them by making life on exandria utopian or some literal way to just go to the heavens. Sounds pretty stupid but Brennan’s intro sounded like it was in one of the heavens, maybe the everlight’s personal palace? or the dawnfather?, so that instantly made me think of reasons that place would be relevant to the story and remember the wording being that Aeor invented some device that could kill the gods, but maybe it wasn’t literal, just sap their power by removing the need for them, thus reducing their number of worshippers, and removing their power that way.
absolute crackpot theory but just wanna share just in case
I'm thinking the device that Aeor created is a means of freeing the God Eater
I think we might get another calamity special at some point, maybe another city where they found how the gods sealed away predathos. And the hells go there to get that method, then they get another flashback/special where Liam Matt and Robbie are the players with 3 new players, so then everyone has had a calamity game.
Brilliant idea
I thought calamity was great. I liked all of the EXU series.
However, I don’t like change. I don’t like change without a heads up. I image a lot of people who are upset about it are similar. The DM change mid episode is kind of jarring for me.
However, I’ll be watching downfall because it will be important back story to the main campaign. The announcement of Downfall after the DM change doesn’t go well with people who want to know what’s coming next.
But this one wasn’t like the mid episode change and acts as a warning that he’ll be dming he took the last 2 minutes of the episode it’s a lot more natural then stepping in half way
@@ZodiacBandit 1000% agree
With Sam's recent announcement/Explanation video that CR just dropped, a lot of questions about FCG's ending and Sam not stepping back in so quickly.
And Downfall part 1-3 should give him more time to heal and recover. All the people complaining about Downfall need to understand that it is for Matt and his story BUT, also for Sam as well.
@@ElijahKRichmond after watching that video i think There’s a chance fcg’s death was planned between Sam and Matt but it also felt real and spontaneous so who knows
Hearing about what Sam has gone through makes me incredibly sad and angry angry at those who didn’t respect his time away and were getting angry he wasn’t there ik that’s knowledge with hindsight but it shows the lack of respect from some of the critical role community
@@ZodiacBandit I wonder if Sam gave Matt the heads up that he may pull the pin so to speak, and so Matt might have known it was a possibility but, not sure when Sam was going to do it.
Lubinus said he saw it hapend so i woud love to see Matt play as him in this series like some aprentes of some powerful other player mage
While I love brennon and thoroughly enjoyed both EXU spin offs for the world building they brought, I'm not a huge fan of this decision. I think they should've done this either as a side show alongside the main story or as a mini series after the campaign wraps up. My issue isn't that we're getting this content, it's that we're getting it at the cost of the main campaign and it's not the first time something like this has happened. Not only with abria taking over a couple sessions but splitting the party mid campaign and the faewild team building exercises are just two more examples of times they've tried something new and all it's done is ruin the pacing of the show. It's also important to consider that the cast are the busiest they've ever been with comics and novels and merch and content and the 2 animated shows they're producing so it may well be that they keep doing this to combat scheduling issues but that doesn't invalidate fans disappointed. I will be watching these episodes but I understand why others may not want to.
I think that in this instance for Downfall it won't hurt the main campaign. If anything it will fit right in with the overall story for Campaign 3. Now, I will be a little sad that I have to wait 3 episodes before we all get to see Sam's new character again. But, we are going to get 3 really awesome episodes.
I don’t think this’ll take away from c3 at all story or time with the bells I think you could just add 3 episodes to however long you thought c3 was gonna be I mean the bells might see something in this vision and go after it adding tons of stuff for them to do in aeor
@@ZodiacBandit True. The Bells could easily see something important that Lu could see as insignificant.
Brennen is a much better gm than Matt.
I think they are equal across the board the only thing Matt has that Brennan doesn’t is voice acting to add to each characters personality that little bit more all Brennans characters sound the same…. Expect bolo
Brennan is Equally as good as Matt, however he is a far better actor and player than Matt.
You think he’s a better actor than Matt? I’d have to disagree with that one
@@ZodiacBandit Matt is amazing with voice acting no doubt, i mean far as ROLE PLAYING. After seeing him in the candela obscura as a character, I was blown away.
Over the years I have really gotten the idea that a lot of the knee jerk complaining fans that can't stand ANY change that CR does or even watch anything other than the main series, dont understand that the CR cast and all their guests are friends and will do what ever they want first THEN bring in the fans along for the ride.
I have watched every one-shot, mini series, and other offerings that CR has put out as far back as the Geek and Sundry days and can only remember one two-shot that I could not finish.
Over all the other stuff they have put out with different game systems and different GMs/DMs (cast members or guests) I like that they are showing the fans that there are different ways to play the games and different styles to run those games.
If it was Spencer Starke being the guest DM for this 3 episode run, I would be just as happy but, the fans who feel that the show is theirs and should be made happy like a CW show to keep up the ad revenue would cry about him too since many of them dont even know who he is.
I should get off this soapbox and get back to the Candela Obscura GM round table video.
Here is the GM round table video I was talking about:
ruclips.net/video/CunX0vpkm5k/видео.htmlsi=Xw24qlTN0Mp3S8PL
It is a discussion pertaining to mainly running Candela Obscura and other horror themed games but, it is still a good watch.
Stay on your soapbox
@@ZodiacBandit I could totally go on about how to this day CR has an amazing fan base but, like all fandom's you will have trolls and gatekeepers (one of the reasons I am liking them turning to Beacon is that they can now police the bad actors in the fan base better) who may or may not understand that this is not just an individual experience but, in fact a (world wide) group experience.
@@ElijahKRichmond I think gatekeepers in any fan base are the worst “it’s our thing fuck off” this is D&D in the main stream people no longer see dnd or ttrpgs are something only losers do but people like the gatekeepers don’t seem to want to world to have the fun they do it’s gross
@@ZodiacBandit Also on the note of the 3 DMs that you spoke about with who sits in which order of the "better" DM, the viewers probably don't realize in the view of experience and not just DMing styles, Abria has the LEAST years of experience while I think Matt started around 14 years old and Brennan started around 10 years old (and then graduated college at 17).
Just in years of experience, Abria is still honing her skills compared to the other two DMs that are being mainly talked about.
For those that have not watched the round table with the 3 of them: ruclips.net/video/LmZSWKPXhZ4/видео.htmlsi=_FiDr1F38_ncoySL
Aabria, Matt and Brennan are probably the best known GMs right now and they all have their own style- do I think Aabria tends to have awesome games that are fun to play in- yes but are they awesome to watch… depends on the person. Out of all of them, Brennan just does the best straight up entertaining low and high emotional story telling. Big swings and very rarely is there down time that you have to push yourself to watch D20- where Aabria and Matt you’re there for the long haul and are invested in the full series even if this ‘chapter’ of the story isn’t your cup of tea to watch.
I don’t think you need to ask live show watchers to give BLM a chance. Calamity has been the biggest success in this new phase of CR, arguable better received than C3 itself. Anyone who is hesitant for this next mini series shoupf just miss out on what will be an amazing expling of role-play and DMing
Have fun man ^^ !!! i gonna watch you recaps about those episodes, but not gonna see them myself.
I’d say it’s probably mah-ree-nee (Marini). But yes, very excited for this series.
FYI: From what I have hear Nick Marini plays in one of Brennan's home games. But not from Dropout.
Yea I didn’t see him on d20 anywhere I was curious what his connection was
Yeah you're totally right that's because of Abria, but Brennen is god tier DM I would even argue Calamity is the best content CR has ever done tbh. I also agree first EXU was great idk what happened from then to now but her DM style changed for the worse.
Aabria went above and beyond for the first EXU and then after that she got comfortable I don’t think she’s awful far from it but she did a lot of good to make exu worthwhile as it was the first attempt at something different
@@ZodiacBandit 100% agree with all your points man you're always on point with your discussion videos, keep up the great work!
I will be watching these episodes, I just don't want to wait 3 more weeks to see bells hells.
3 episodes with 0 sex jokes will be a breath of fresh air for the show
But the bells hells are seeing what we are gonna be seeing they are “there” watching it as well
@@VeryAbsurd I’m seeing more people say stuff like this but people seem to forget how horned up the other campaigns were especially C2