From \"The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road\" by Abbie Bernstein

If you like Laudna please read this book omg. Its so good I loved it so much. I’m the slowest reader you’ll ever meet but I finished it in 3 days!! I’m so rereading it with the audiobook. It’s narrated by Robbie Daymond, Marisha Ray and Grey Delisle. If any of you have read it already what did you guys think!?

So, what’s your opinion on the raven queen? Your thoughts on her motivations and history and what she said?

Personally, the explanation on how she became a god didn’t surprise me. I never believed she became a god out of ambition or selfishness, she cared too much about her domain and other people. And well, a god of death falling in love(in some form) isn’t a unpopular trope.

Her basically telling Bells hells to choose their own ending, whatever that might be, and nothing is off the table, while in character for her, is a bit less interesting or thought provoking. Her wanting to be mortal in some regard is nit unexpected to me.

Idk if this is the best place to go, but I’m a new-ish player of DnD but have been watching Critical Role since the beginning of C2 (three episodes before Molly…)

I’m wondering if anyone is looking for players to be part of an Exandria campaign. I’ve played mostly homebrew stuff but used basic mechanics and am pretty familiar with DnD Beyond.

Any recommendations?

• Chetney, the vaguely creepy/sex pest~y joke character with "a heart of gold"?
  • That's mild Scanlan, ready to pop those gags at a moments notice.
• Laudna, violent/troubled past and a connection to a dark and powerful entity that makes her do things?
  • That's Percy, including the Whitestone connection and the woe is me attitude.
• Fearne, head high in the air, fickle and full of pranks, general mischief and shenanigans?
  • That's basically Jester, without Laura's acting chops and 'win the game' attitude.
• Imogen, unsure about the extent of her own powers, with a deeply troubled family history?
  • That's almost Caleb, with the 'dark tutor' Trent replaced by 50% Liliana and 50% Ludinus.
• Ashton, antisocial, physically and verbally violent, rebelling against any perceived 'authority'?
  • That's Beau, including a variation of "separated from family at a young age"

(( excluding Nott, FCG, Braius, Tary etc. because those are IMO variations of Sam's favourite, the sad clown ))

Some will say that the cast looked at the most TikTok~able moments from previous campaigns, and created new character around those performances. I won't go that far, but the more the current campaign progresses, the more i see the connections and understand where those people are coming from.

It's one thing to rely on well known tropes (horny bard, dumb barbarian) if you're trying something new (live stream a D&D game), just so you have something to fall back on. But especially the C2 characters had something of an original spark to them, even though i didn't like 'em all equally (different tastes). Like the cast felt save enough in their proverbial saddles to experiment. With BH, i does sometimes feel like like this spark was thrown out the window, in favour of a neverending source of TikTok/YT shorts.

Do you agree or disagree?

How (if at all) do you think BH's characterisations will be altered for a potential animated series?

Hey, so I bought the book The Nine Eyes of Lucien and I have vague knowledge what it’s about😅 I don’t know much about Molly or Lucien and I don’t want to spoil the show. I’m on campaign 2 episode 70 and was wondering when you guys would recommend reading it so it won’t spoil the show. Or is it back story? I don’t even know😂

I’m scared to google because I might read spoilers. A cheap hardcover found its way to me that’s why I already have it. Any suggestions on when to read it is welcome!

... the absence/non-function of healing/resurrection magic in C3?

I remember certain kinds of magic not working after the Solstice, old magic seals broken, teleportation being very wonky, and (IIRC) Matt saying (via NPC) resurrection not working anymore. How was that solved? There was a fight involving the BH where Sam/FCG kinda bargained with Matt wo have Revivify, and it seemed to work, but i don't remember if there was a clear narrative between "oh shit, these spells don't work anymore" to "oh well, it works" and "here's why it's working again"?

I've been listening to CR Abridged regularly for quite some time now. 1.2x speed on Spotify means that one episode is exactly one daily commute for me. It focuses on the important bits of the story, and - for the most part - it's editing is brilliant (i could live with just a tiny bit more actual D&D in the edit).

But it obviously focuses heavy on the character of Imogen. What she's saying, doing, thinking. Her contributions to scenes are rarely cut short, the dream sequences are there in full glory, and (that might be unintentional / something they can't edit around) Laura's prefered style of roleplaying - being involved in as many roleplaying scenes as possible - is very, very appearant.

"You hear in your head" and "i'm opening my mind to read thoughts" are plenty, and feel more plenty even especially when fluff inbetween is cut out. When they're planning to get information via a social encounter, Dorian the Bard is chosen for obvious reasons. He often doesn't even get to roll a charisma check, because Laura makes Imogen take over the scene with her mind reading abilities - with little to no of the established drawbacks, even in the very early episodes.

She's up there with Caleb's "i'm walking by and overhear that conversation", Orym's "passive perception of 350, i obviously heard everything" and Ashton's "yeah, i was just around the corner the entire time". The difference - in my opinion - is that other character with a similar trait often waited for the scene to end, and then added what they wanted to add.

Imogen on the other hand takes over a scene that is still ongoing/unresolved. It was appearant during regular C3, and is super appearant in the condensed version. And i still wonder why Matt was unable or unwilling to say something along the lines of "we're coming to you in a bit, let's finish what's going on here first".

If CR Abridged is a gateway drug to a future C3 animated series, it does drive home the point of "this is the adventure of Imogen Temult and her merry band of adventurers". Which might be something they're actually pushing?

Team Name Ideas for the Cobalt Reserve's fancy secret spy group

• Indigos
• Dark Blue
• The Cerulean Crew
• The Blaupunks (Blau being the German/Zemnian for 'blue' ) also blaupunkt being a car audio brand
• Covalt (Covert and Cobalt mushed)
• Gunmetal (More Percy's style, but hey)
• Rotguss (German/Zemnian for "gunmetal")
• Das Nebelblau ("The Blue of the Mist")
• The Ultramarines
• Fon’s Navy (play on McHale’s Navy)
• The Azure Razors (PITA to say, I know; part of the charm)
• Gemstones: The Aquamarines, The Hawk's Eyes, Sapphires, Tanzanite (Tanza-knights?) The Lazurites (also sounds like 'last rites' a bit), The Indicolites (which Jester turned into “The Dics”)
• The Cornflowers (lol)

I want to hear your ideas. As BLeeM would say,

Get in the Comments!

ᕕ( ᐛ)ᕗ

I want to discuss Liliana(imogen’s mom) I general. I find her a very interesting character, with many flaws but good aspects.

In my opinion, she is one of those people who are “I have dug a hole I refuse to escape because I means I cannot justify bad decisions”. She abandoned her family and refused to face them because every moment she is away from them the more she feels she needs to justify being away(instead just being happy). She obviously doesn’t feel like she belongs or has a place in this world, and that is why she is pro Predathos because is it is bad, if it is evil and cruel then she will have no home, no place to belong.

And then Imogen goes “stop working and helping the war criminal” and since Imogen is quite literally the only person Liliana will even comprehend listening too, she is forced to actually accept her actions and that trying to constantly justify them doesn’t help.

Also(and this got on my personal nerves), she can’t leave ruidus because children will definitely get hurt by ludy lu if she doesn’t do what he says, at the moment were he isn’t on ruidus, has the ability to teleport to multiple people, and is the reason these children are even here. That got one my nerves very badly, which I should state is probably intentional.

Any ways what are your thoughts on Liliana?

Hey y'all!

Folks were asking how to prep assignments, or how to flesh out the assignments in the Core Rulebook. I've crafted a couple Assignments that have gone well, so I took a swing at creating a guide!

Candela Obscura Assignment Planning guide is here: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/how-to-plan-candela

There's a similar resource in the Candela Obscura Core Rulebook, that's under the heading "Assignment Structure" if you want the deep-dive on the subject.

My thought process here: the Core Rulebook has a bunch of great recommendations for how to run the game, complete with narrative examples of play and sample Assignments to see the recommendations in action. I just wanted an easy-to-follow, step-by-step sort of guide, something that ideally was short and sweet.

So, that's why I created this, hope it helps you get started!

While we're at it, I have a few other resources I like for GMing the game.

Those are here:

• GM cheat sheet: A one-page GM screen, explaining the GM-facing rules and tips for running the game: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/how-to-gm-candela
• Player cheat sheet: A one-pager for the investigator, explaining the rules they'll need most often in any given session: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/how-to-play-candela-one-page-guide
• Setting cheat sheet: A one-pager that gives a quick setting intro for Newfaire, so that PCs can create characters that mesh with the setting: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/candela-setting-guide
• Candela Obscura GM Roundtable Video: The Critical Role dream team gives tips for how they run the game, absolutely worth the watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CunX0vpkm5k&t=2s

So yeah! Hope y'all had a ball with Candela Obscura Games Week!

If you're wanting to GM, but not sure what mystery you want your investigators to solve, I have a handful of free homebrew Assignments, feel free to take a look here: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/

... seem to regress to a might makes right, almost facist society which elevates the wealthy/influencial/powerful, and oppresses the working masses (see Aeor). I'm trying to think about one society (present or ancient) that a) separated themselves from a "godly" higher authority (either the protean gods or a lesser divine entity) and b) is/was what we could call enlightened.

Ludinus' entire plan boils down to "yeah, mortals are flawed, but if the gods are away, at least we get to make our own mistakes". What i don't understand is what experience/lore is he coming from to think that's a good thing? What's the x factor that makes a potential society a'la Ludinus in any way, shape or form better than a society that even only slightly follows, let's say, the Everlights commandments:

• Lead with mercy, patience, and compassion. Inspire others to unite in fellowship.
• Aid those who are without guide. Heal those who are without hope.
• Those who are beyond redemption, who revel in slaughter and remorseless evil, must be dispatched with swift justice.

Ludinus' repeated opinion is that exandrians are overall better off without the prime gods. What is the thing that would offset loosing benevolent guidance from afar, divine powers to heal and restore, and the knowledge of ones soul being shepherd to a nice afterlife?

Thinking about what Ludinus is, and what he does, all this feels like a super rich person saying "money doesn't matter" ... you know what i mean?

Looking at the discussion threads in other CR subreddits, it seems like Downfalls story was nuanced enough to not give the audience a 100% clear "good vs evil" view on things. Many think that Downfall confirmed their opinions about the prime gods being "actually evil", while other say Downfall humanized them to a point where "they did the best they could".

So who's going to decide which interpretation BH will work with in the next episode? It's Matt, obviously. And it all hinges on his recap. Heavily reminds me of how he treated the Hearthdell episodes. Painting on broad strokes here, but the whole Abadina / Loam & Leaf / Dawnfather Temple situation was controversial among the fans, to say the least. Matt however recaped the episode with something along the lines of "now that you've defeated the poor villagers from the evil temple, what are you going to do now?" The players went with that sentiment ever since.

What will Matt's recap of Downfall be? To be honest, if it's something along the lines of "now that you've watched the evil prime gods kill thousands of people in cold blood, Bells Hells, what are you going to do?" i'll be having a hard time continuing with C3 ...

Nothing of too much substance here really, just wanted to say that i think each and every player of Downfall is nailing their performance. Even (or especially) the ones who take a unique approach to it, or are (from what i know) relatively new to the hobby.

It truly feels like this group of players (under the guidance of one fantastic BLeeM, of course) is encouraging each other to go "all in", immerse themselves into their characters and treat the whole thing as serious (meaning their art/craft, not the tone of the game, or the occasional levity) as they can.

For me, Abubakar Salim, Nick Marini and Noshir Dalal are at near Robbie-Daymond-levels of "regular cast energy".

That's it. That's the post.

https://preview.redd.it/rjl50thr4aed1.png?width=1066&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4d67f2c6905db67d8052287961403976df95e5f

In the last episode, BLeeM described Exandria prior to the arrival of the gods. He talked about how "chaotic and destructive" the primordial planet was, before the Wildmother created nature itself. I wonder if this puts an end to the "the primes are colonizers" argument?

I believe that was the first time Exandria was canonically described as being "destructive chaos" before the gods came and actually created stuff?

Hey y'all!

I've been playing Candela Obscura, and as I GM, I've been collecting resources to make the game easier to run.

Those Candela Obscura resources are here if you're looking to get started with the game but aren't sure where to start:

• GM cheat sheet/GM screen: A one-pager for the GM, explaining the most commonly used rules: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/how-to-gm-candela
• Player cheat sheet: A one-pager for the investigator, explaining the rules they'll need most often in any given session: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/how-to-play-candela-one-page-guide
• Setting cheat sheet: A one-pager that gives a quick setting intro for Newfaire, so that PCs can create characters that mesh with the setting: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/candela-setting-guide
• Candela Obscura GM Roundtable Video: The Critical Role dream team gives tips for how they run the game, absolutely worth the watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CunX0vpkm5k&t=2s

There's also a similar resource to the GM cheat sheet from Darrington Press, an official "Field Guide" for GMs. That's here, under "Reference Sheets": https://darringtonpress.com/candela/

So yeah, Candela Obscura Games Week is one week away, so if you were thinkin about playing, there's never been a better time to pop onto Discord and check out the Looking For Group channels!

If you're wanting to GM, but not sure what mystery you want your investigators to solve, I have a handful of free homebrew Assignments, feel free to take a look here: https://nostromosreliquary.itch.io/

This is so random but it happened again (watching campaign 2) and they are in a bookstore and the people who work there are always reading!? While working!? Fucking jealous. I work in this super old tiny bookstore. Most days are super slow not a lot of costumers. Been working there for a year now and only 2 days I was allowed to read. This is in no way hating but every time I’m like “whyyy I wanna read toooo”

This post is just for funsies haha, do you guys have moments like these?