#Taliesin was going through it

[earnthecorruptor]

beauregard lionett, the confident asshole that you are 😄 -> campaign 2, episode 24

#critical role #beauregard lionett #marisha ray #mollymauk tealeaf #taliesin jaffe #c2e24 #cr 2 #the mighty nein #mighty nein #going through some of my fave moments from c2 #beau remains one of my fave cr characters #pop pop #so many top tier moments #it's hard to pick #team fuck off lfggggggg

[c-kiddo]

(about cr2 rewatch again) i litrally love tmn so much i will frow up. theyre so good. the cast are so good at embodying them. they dont sound like people trying to be characters sm of the time they sound like just (weirdo) real people it makes me crazy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#theyre so funny . theyre so real . theyre so the girls. #cad and fjords interactions are going to make me explode the admiration. the gentleness. the warm hug of the wildmother through cad #just like. through the way he talks . the comfort . the vulnerability fjord trusts him with (im deeply unwell abt this) #dont even need to say this but man taliesin is such a good actor T_T like soo committed to the bit. jester bought pastries and passed #them around to everyone and immediately he's talking like he's eating the cupcake at the same time as talking #also lol cad being like 'its vry sweet. hmm . hrmrm mrm' #also got to the bit when cad walks around eating fungi garnish off peoples plates <3 his swag #the way in which hes so odd and gentle and joyous and kind but theres that odd little lingering loneliness in there too . whatever. dies. #kiddo say

[chaosgenasi]

An aasimar is a medium-sized humanoid whose heritage shares a bond with celestial powers or whose soul has been touched by the divine. Most have human parents. . . Within the Kryn Dynasty, aasimar are seen as overflowing with potential, and they tend to be trained essentially from birth as dunamancers and echo knights.

#critical role #criticalroleedit #4 sided dive #4 sided dive spoilers #marisha ray #taliesin jaffe #ashton greymoore #cr spoilers #basil.gif #marisha being a whole mood. so options are ashton was born an aasimar or they are an aasimar by virtue of being plane-touched/eventually #genasi. their mom could've been an aasimar but i don't think aasimars necessarily have aasimar children #also the whole. going through a gateway that potentially sat on a nexus aka leyline/luxon shit = celestial connections #is it just all connected bc of the luxon creating the elements?? [marisha voice] WHAT ARE YOU #also it's lowkey hilarious to me that ashton just keeps getting more and more of a target for the kryn like. they tick all the boxes #a celestial genasi with a beacon for a head like ?? i can't tell if it's intentional or not at this point

[meadowsofmay]

oh my god, tal was going THROUGH it when grog almost died during the k'varn fight, my poor guy

#taliesin jaffe #ep 11 #may c1 watch through #SOMEONE GIVE HIM AN AIR MASK OR SOMETHING #he was going to start hyperventilate #i wanna hug him #vox machina #critical role

[chalkbird]

i'm finally catching up on the last two months of critical role and i just finished episode 79... i am not well... the blindfold game... the directions.....

#i had to pause several times #baileyhams talk you through it #also taliesin with the blindfold was... something #i blushed like a schoolgirl #giggling kicking my feet twirling my hair #“good job” “just like that” “keep going” UGH #how has nobody clipped that yet #forbidden cr audio #critical role #dungeons and dragons #bells hells #cr c3 #cr campaign three #laura bailey #travis willingham #taliesin jaffe #ashton greymoore #chetney pock o'pea #imogen temult #matthew mercer #cr c3 e79 #im so sorry for all of this #i need some less sexy people on my dnd podcasts

[sirtaliesin]

The Demon (1972) - Issue #5

#Jason Blood #comic edit #my edits #Taliesin's favourite panels #Jason's pointy ears #I know why Jason is in great shape #but why is Merlin built like that? #Does he lift weights in Avalon? #Jason's in peril again #and they took his shirt this time #view's great but leave the poor man alone #I'm going through the whole series again #I love Jason swinging wildly between very competent hero and In Distress™

[unsettlingcreature]

i have baldur's gate 3 at home...................

#SLOWLY PICKING UP FOLLOWERS/PARTY MEMBERS #taliesin really likes sticking close. plus he literally threw himself between Ave and a witchman while yelling #something like IF YOU WANT TO GET TO HER YOU'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME #like aw <3 thanks love <3 i love having multiple meat shields <3 #also beyond reach is a SLOG so far i am not enjoying it. it's one of those mods that are difficult for the sake of difficulty so far. #it's not even a skill issue. there is no skill in skyrim combat after a point >:( #maybe a levelling/gear issue................................. hmmmm #oops nearly forgot the important tag of: #skyrim #skyrim screenshots

[shmaba]

I’m going to assume that at this point you’ve all seen Critical Role’s new show Candela Obscura and at least skimmed through the Quickstart Guide (you have done all that riiiight??) So I wanted to compile all the things I’ve done that have been shown so far. Its long so read below the line!

I’m going to try to avoid spoilers. So feel free to read without worry. I’m also going to try and avoid breaking any NDA like a good professional. So I will not be doing some deep dive behind the scenes thing. Only visuals that have already been publicly shared are going to be on here

The very first thing I did on this show was the concepts for the main set. Everything is practical. Nothing is green screen or cg or whatever. Some people think it’s just good cg but nope that's all real. You could touch it! (don’t touch it, there are ghosts)

There were multiple iterations on the design, each with their own vibe and statement piece. CR narrowed it down to what you see in the show: a sort of storage hall with an odd clock contraption behind the GM. I think I called this design version the “Abyssal Hall” or something like that (I gave the different versions names to better keep track of which design was being discussed)

The company Flip This Bitch built the physical set. They turned my silly little art into a real thing. So they did all the actual magic of making this set come together in the end! They deserve a lot of the credit for it looking so good in the end.

Also that little piece of art in the bottom left of the preshow is a section from the final concept art of the set.

That contraption behind Matt is based on astrolabes and clocks. This isn’t really meant to be a literal astrolabe or a clock as we would use them in our world. Narratively this isn’t a device that measures either of the things that a traditional astrolabe or clock does. This is a special magickal tool that does a secret third thing.

Also I did concepts for the GM screen. You don't really see it besides in the fancy-shmancy preshow. There were a number of more intricate designs for it but CR went with the simpler option since the only part that would be visible on stream is the top, so that's where I put the most detail.

I should also note that I did not design the logo! It’s pretty prominent on the GM screen but I was supplied an already existing logo for this.

NEXT is the Taliesin enclosure set that you see in the trailer. This is actually meant to be like the lantern room on the top of a lighthouse, minus the big light beacon (You could say Taliesin is the beacon).

Also in the trailer you see a couple brief sketches I did for some world building concepts:

Speaking of sketches there are a number of art pieces of mine in the Quickstart guide

A lot of my art is sketches. They’re all meant to be like notes and drawings from members of Candela as they travel and notate their findings. Most of the notes on these sketches are my actually my notes when I was doing world building concepts, but they replaced my handwriting with a font because my handwriting sucks lmao (also likely for ease of future localization).

Also the cover of the Quickstart guide uses line art of a part of that astrolabe clock set piece. This line art was part of the deliverables that was sent over to Flip This Bitch for construction. They’re just using pieces of those set concepts everywhere!

As you can see I’ve done a lot of art for this project. I was part of this project when it was still early in development. It’s changed quite a bit from where we started. 

I wasn’t the only one that made all this art happen though. Other artists, writers, and designers got to add their own vision to this. It was very much a collaborative effort that took a long time to happen. It’s very exciting to see everyone’s hard work come to fruition and there is a lot more to come!

#candela obscura #critical role #my art #ttrpg #illustration #art #cr #candela spoilers #I could say a lot about what went into each thing #but that would be too long #this is already too long #more art is coming #you’ll see it in the final release of the rules/setting book #also it’s very likely a significant amount of art won’t ever be show to the public #such is the life of a concept artist

[agarthanguide]

How the heck do you get Ashton to actually look like a rock? Signed, a fanartist who has tried every brush under the sun but still cannot nail it the way you brilliantly have.

ahhh thank you so much for the kind words!

Answer (sort of)- Ash's palette was hugely up in the air for a really long time. I kept pitching random bits of color at Taliesin, but his write up did not have any specific coloring in it from the get-go. And because I knew they were made of rock, I trended towards something to the left or right of grey (his working/code name had the word grey in it, as well, which def influenced me).

This went on for a while, until one day Tal did his Tal thing and just sent me plans for the finished Ashton. He painted over one of my sketches with the colors he wanted, included refs of some textures. The textures for the skin included nephrite and serpentine (nephrite is one form of jade, serpentine is a whole other thing.)

The serpentine reference had these really bold lines running through it, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to replicate them, so i just... dropped the texture into the sketch. I think I was just checking to see if it was gonna make them unreadable, but it actually looked pretty great. I painted over it a bit to work out where the lines should fall and how to get them to bend around the figure. And then when I was doing the final render, I made a brush that made the fucky line effect. There's one key element to the brush that I will show you-

The shape of the brush is just a random splatter shape, but the angle, size, and roundness change in response to pen pressure, so that as you draw, you can increase the size with added pressure, and some lovely, 3-D helix shapes will start appearing as you go.

From there it's easy- Make an extreme dark and an extreme light in your little texture space, then paint over in variations of green to push things deeper into Ash's "skin" while maintaining a slight transparency.

Here's some other little tips- - Before you add intense, lined texture, start with a textured base. This can be anything. Once I used a picture of the amazon rainforest with heavy color correction. Sometimes I use sponge brushes. Have fun with it. - Try to make the larger textures support the underlying figure. My go-to is large, lazy spirals that shimmy up and down their limbs. - Don't fight the lighting too much. To increase readability, try to use elements of higher or rougher texture to frame the features, while keeping the immediate area of their eyes, for example, less busy.

Good luck, and thanks for the ask!

#my art #critical role #asks

[utilitycaster]

Talking as players outside the game is an incredibly important part of having good PC/PC D&D relationships, and obviously the characters involved in the relationship talking to each other in meaningful ways is crucial, but I think the importance of talking in-game in depth to other people is really underrated, in that it not only tells the other player what your character is feeling without having to reveal it in-game to them, but also serves to engage other characters in the story and deepen those platonic bonds to the point where they might even serve as confidants or wingmen. To give a bunch of examples and what they achieved:

Vax telling Gilmore he didn't want to string him along made it clear out of game that his feelings towards Keyleth were his priority, even though it happened where the other characters were not able to hear.

Similarly, Vex giving her blessing eventually after her initial resistance signaled to Liam that this would not be a major break between the twins.

Vax asking Vex what she intended to do about her feelings for Percy served not only as an opportunity for her to voice them to someone; it also serves as a big green light for Taliesin as Percy to kiss Vex later that episode (which he had already from Vex's resurrection ritual, but it underscores it).

Pike talking about Scanlan with Keyleth and Vex allows her to make it clear that she does ultimately like a lot of things about him despite sometimes being annoyed, and her talking to him through her earring while Scanlan is very much not there but Sam is at the table also serves as this kind of green light.

Jester asking Veth about kissing in relationship to Fjord lets Travis know where Jester is at and invests Veth in-game in the relationship.

Caleb asking Jester if she's "sweet on [Fjord]" lets her openly reassess her feelings after an intense arc and also indicates in-game that Caleb has noticed.

Beau waiting to hear the sound of thunder signals to Ashley (who was not at the table but who was presumably staying updated on events) that Beau has feelings for Yasha; it also allows those playing Yasha (often Matt for pure RP and Travis in combat) to return that flirting, since the baseline was already established.

Possibly the most obvious example, but Beau and Fjord's conversation on Rumblecusp not only clarifies to the whole table where everyone is (opening the door, for example, for the scenes in the beer garden a few episodes later of Caleb having Fjord and Jester dance together and Caduceus encouraging Yasha to pursue Beau) but very much serves as a green light to Ashley and Laura respectively. This is then mirrored by them talking after Beau has asked Yasha on a date and Fjord and Jester have kissed, and everyone involved can "debrief" with their partners not present in-game.

As mentioned, this is mostly about PC/PC relationships because PC/NPC is an inherently different dynamic mechanically though still should be a conversation, but Veth describing Yeza and Jester asking Caleb about his feelings about Essek both give Matt clues for playing these NPCs and how things might be received.

FRIDA mentioning their crush on FCG to Deanna means it's not a complete surprise to Sam, since it is a very sudden relationship, and lets him prepare and decide how FCG would feel in the moment, and also establishes how Deanna will feel about it.

Similarly in the C3 Uthodurn arc, Fearne going to Chetney about Deanna is an incredibly good move from Ashley (to the point that talking about this is what led me to write this whole post). It lets Travis play out where Chetney is. It lets Aabria therefore hear not only where Chetney is, but also know that Fearne is potentially interested. It establishes a ton of the dynamics for a relationship that out of game everyone knows will not have a full campaign to play out since one of the characters involved is a guest. And finally, it signals to Christian as FRIDA what the situation is in case Deanna confides in them.

#critical role #genuinely this came from hearing snippets of rose city and Ashley's choices as fearne and thinking through some of her greatest hits #and also just thinking about how like...and this is a separate post #but how silly little small talk and joking and tiny reciprocated moments are so much of the connective tissue of a relationship #like...there's a reason why ashley's characters' relationships are good even when she wasn't around a ton in past campaigns #and it's because she does try to make the characters have moments when they can so it will count #the i've seen you a lot line or like that awkward watch early on are tiny but do so much and let Marisha as Beau know to keep going

[dent-de-leon]

I could be wrong, but--just thinking about how the twins assumed it was obvious Mollymauk was heading to a brothel. How he clearly knows that, lets them believe that--"I know what the others think, but..." And all this time when he sneaks out in the dead of night, he's really playing the hero, running off to protect someone in need.

And just, I don't know. I think about how Mollymauk was so devoted to Lestera, and we never see him actually indulge in a relationship with anyone else in the comic. How he's still so lonely, and tells Yasha so in a moment of vulnerability--when she catches him in the midst of Choir Practice, this side of him he doesn't let anyone else see. He admits to her that, "The world is harsh and cruel, and I don't seem to be able to just walk on by. You see a wrong? You fix it."

And then when Yasha says she'll stay with him, help him, that's when Molly lets a bit more of his true feelings bleed through. "Suppose I could use the company. I am recently out of a relationship the hard way..." He lets it play off like a joke, but it's incredibly sad and personal. I've lost someone too, he says. I'm lonely too. He doesn't quite know what Yasha's been through, but he can feel the kind of grief and pain she carries. Knows enough to know she's also been dealt a harsh loss, that they both know what it means to feel Empty and lonely.

Thinking about. Molly being a tease and a flirt, but never seeming to commit. Jester listening in on his antics in the Pillow Trove, and Taliesin saying, "It's mostly ridiculous conversation through this whole thing."

Thinking about Caleb and Fjord watching Molly flirt in Hupperdook, both of them assuming he'll run off to have some fun for the night.

Travis: "I turn to Caleb and go, 'I think I may be regretting my roommate choice for the night. It's just a hunch. I think he's in his element.'"

Liam: "Well, the odds are that you're not even going to see him in your room tonight, so I wouldn't worry about it so much."

Travis: "You think? He'll just like, tear off into the night and not come back until the sun comes up?"

Liam: "He's like a coyote. You know what that is?...Yeah, they like to fuck a lot, is my point--"

And they're being ridiculous and half joking, and Molly happily encourages it, but--it still feels like how Mollymauk lets the twins make assumptions. Like the most he does is a bit of playful teasing and some charming words. At the end of the night, he's still back in his room with Fjord--carrying Fjord to their room, because the poor guy's passed out drunk.

Thinking about how Lucien's personality was another facet of Molly's, how they can both be so silver-tongued and disarmingly charming. How Lucien cared for his late lover so much, and how he never found another partner. (He still flirts with Caleb though. Molly's still a part of him, so of course he does. But that is something Lucien also tries to keep his distance from, to keep fun and teasing. Trying so hard not to think about how the forehead kiss Molly gave his wizard feels far too much like his own goodbye to his fallen partner--)

And Mollymauk absolutely having those feelings for his magician. Those feelings ever enduring, even after Lucien, even after another death and rebirth. "Oh, you're cute, Magic Man--" And even then, Molly never actually gets to take that chance. To tell Caleb how he feels. It means something, I think, that he becomes bolder and more forward with his wizard when he wakes as Kingsley. No longer carrying his past lives' loss and grief and painful memories.

I think that's where Molly was always headed, honestly. There's so many parallels to how both Molly and Yasha lost their partner before the campaign, how they each try to cope with that in their own way. And, like how Yasha eventually opened up to Beau, eventually healed to the point where she was willing to start another relationship--I think Molly was gradually warming to that point with Caleb.

Realizing there was someone else he wanted to let into his heart, that he could find happiness again and it would be what Lestera would have wanted. It also seems like Molly was holding himself back from that a bit because he felt Caleb wasn't ready; still so withdrawn and closed off, not yet ready for the pain and vulnerability of another relationship. But, he wants to wait. For Caleb, he's willing to wait. For lifetime after lifetime. And that to me is the proof that Lestera and Caleb were Molly's only true loves, I think. Aside from dear Yasha, of course--his kindred spirit, platonic soulmate--

But romantically, I don't think he ever gave his whole heart to anyone the way he did for them. It speaks volumes to me, that when King wakes with little to no memories, it's still Lestera and Caleb his heart longs for. When he dreams of the circus, he immediately starts asking about her, over and over, "There was a--oh. There was a circus. And a...a beautiful woman, in a red coat. She was telling me secrets, showing me how to keep secrets. Show secrets--I...Where's the woman? No, not her...where's the woman--"

Thinking about how Kingsley still woke with feelings for Caleb too. Immediately told him he was cute, started biting his lip. Can't help flirting even in their last scene together, "Magic Man. Looking good." How Caleb was someone Molly ached for even when Lucien had his soul caged and tormented, "Caleb. Softness and light."

Like, I could be wrong, but. I don't know. I just don't think Molly had quite as much relationship experience that everyone imagined. And instead of having a string of lovers, it feels more like he just liked to give the illusion of it. A romantic who loved with his whole heart, and only really gave it to a close few--

#mollymauk tealeaf #caleb widogast #critical role #lucien tavelle #mighty nein origins

[revvethasmythh]

I can just hear taliesin's caduceus voice in the back of my head going "everyone is about to learn a valuable lesson" and that lesson is jesus fuck don't go after the werewolf when he's rampaging through the forest actually

#cr spoilers #cr3e52 #critical role #bells hells

[big-moon-little-moon]

#just for shits and giggles #this may be one of my favourite episodes in all three campaigns #c3e77 #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #cr cast #cr ashton #ashton greymoore #cr campaign 3 #bells hells #taliesin jaffe #laura bailey #travis willingham #marisha ray #sam riegel #ashley johnson #liam o'brien #matt mercer #c3ep77

[your-turn-to-role]

do people who haven't seen campaign one know that percy grabbed the magic initiate: warlock feat during their level up halfway through the briarwood arc (where his corruption was a lot slower than in the show, and took place over about four days of percy just getting gradually worse), so taliesin could freak out his friends with "you don't know what's going on with percy, but whatever that dark smoke is, it's casting spells now"?

and because that was taken during a legit level up, it didn't go away after percy got unpossessed, matt just explained it as a scar on his soul

so percy, right up to the end of the campaign, and possibly to this day (i haven't seen s3), still has just a little bit of demonic magic at his disposal

#the spells were friends minor illusion and hex if you're curious #and while tieflings don't get 1st level spells as racial traits so no hex #friends and minor illusion are both innate tiefling abilities depending on the subrace #so you know maybe he gets to share one of those with his daughter #cr1 #percy de rolo #cr thoughts

[centaurianthropology]

My thoughts on C3E77

So apparently this one was controversial?

I'm going to say right now, I really loved everyone's decisions. They all fit the characters, but more they fit the players. I know that there are claims that Tal ignored all the warnings, but I actually think Matt may have misjudged the situation going in.

Ashley made it clear on 4SD that she did not want the shard. I think she's not really feeling the Dark Fearne storyline (and that's fair), and Matt seems to have missed that she genuinely didn't want to go down that route. Maybe he thought she was playing coy? Maybe they've been playing together so long he thought he knew a story she'd enjoy and missed her signals that she wasn't into it. I've done that before with some of my long-term players.

However that went down, Tal and she had a conversation after 4SD about what they wanted to do, and it was clear going into the episode that they at least had it planned out who was taking that shard, and it was going to be Ashton from the off. The fact that Matt was not expecting that somewhat surprises me. As Taliesin said: he put a big red backstory-shaped button in front of Ashton, and Ashton is terrified of losing people. If Fearne didn't want the shard, Ashton was going to dive on that grenade head-first. And part of Ashton wanted it. They are told they can't do something, and they will go about proving that old tree and everyone else wrong in the most self-destructive way possible. They are intensely punk in that way.

Matt may have designed the shard for Fearne, but this is not the first time that an item meant for one player ends up with another. Deathwalker's Ward was made for Percy, but through the events in the Sunken Tomb, it ended up with Vax and led to a hell of a story. And now something meant for Fearne goes to Ashton, and I have a feeling we're now in for another hell of a story. Because Ashton is now, essentially, a lava genasi, with three impossible things crammed into their broken body. Will they survive the campaign? I have no idea, but it has become clear that they don't expect to.

And honestly? This may well be what the Hells need, not in terms of power, but in terms of really realizing how self-destructive they all are. Marisha may say that no one loves a martyr, but Laudna was very much ready to play that role earlier this episode. Imogen is very self-destructive. So is Orym. So is FCG. The only two who have shown any degree of self-preservation are Fearne and Chet. The rest are bombs waiting for the most poetic moment to go off.

And today one of them did for a moment. They finally saw the end result that their self-destructive tendencies get them: Ashton blown into a thousand pieces, scattered across the top of the ziggurat. Deanna's ring saved him. Fearne's Aura of Life and FCG's Aura of Vitality saved him. Ashton could only roll and take damage.

Matt may have not designed it this way, but this was absolutely Ashton's 'where do you get your strength from' moment of the campaign, but in a very different way than Grog or Yasha experienced them. Because Ashton might just need this realization slapped into them by all their friends: this was dumb and they would have died because they didn't trust their friends. Because their strength and their salvation truly came from the people that love them.

Ashton has been, up until this point, a bit gung-ho to die for his friends. Honestly, they all are, and it's about time he and all the others learned how to live for their friends.

Anyway, hell of an episode, and a brutal but thrilling last hour. I was grinning right along with Sam. The mad fucker pulled it off by the skin of his teeth and by the grace of two friends dumping every bit of healing they had into him.

#critical role #ashton greymoore #taliesin jaffe #I love how this complicates everyone's relationships #and may actually make them talk about self-destructive bullshit #good #this was needed #and honestly good for both Ashley for sticking to not wanting a storyline she wasn't jiving with #and Taliesin for taking that lack of interest and running with it #cr spoilers #Ashley Johnson #Fearne Calloway

[glossolali]

HELLO GRABS YOU (WIDOMAUKERS AND SWMers) BY THE CHEEKS HELLOOOO

WhYYYyyy are we not talking about the ECCC CR panel and how Liam and Tal basically said if molly didn't die Caleb and Molly would have been a thing????? 😱🥺🥺🥺💜💜💜

Here, it's around minute 49:15...

And here's the transcript!!!

"Fan: If Molly didn’t die, would Caleb and Molly be a thing?

*crowd oooohs, sam and laura lean forward and stare at liam lol*

Liam: We would have needed more role play time to figure that out

Taliesin: Define thing, I suppose, I mean... In a perfect world, I feel like Molly would have slowly made his way through most of the group, like: "It's been great, anyway, yeah"

*crowd claps, whoops, laughs*

MOOD CROWD. MOOD

Matt: That's valid

Mica: It would be a situationship, lots of situationships

Tal: Yeah! Yeah, it's not complicated it's just chronological

*crowd laughs*

Matt: Or maybe even alphabetical?

Liam: I think– I mean potentially with enough roleplay time– but when Molly expired, Caleb was still very tightly bottled up so I don't think he was in a place to do anything with anybody, but give it another 50 more episodes with Molly...

SCReaming 🥹💜

Tal: It would have been a lot of: "We need to get drunk and get laid and get this out of your system, yeah would have been a very heavy role of like "No, no, no more of this– we need to go make some friends"

Fan: I mean Caleb's technically canonically poly sooo... two purple guys and caleb!

Liam: Why stop there?!

Tal: And Fjord

Mica: Polycule, polycule, polycule

widomauk and swm and fjolly and polynein stonks thru the roof boys!!!!!!

#widomauk #swm #Shadowidomauk #caleb #molly #mollymauk #ECCC panel #ECCC #CR #CR spoilers #critical role #cr 2 #mighty nein #fjolly #polynein #glossopost