For people who are new to TTRPGs (especially d20 games like D&D, Pathfinder, or Tales of the Valiant), it’s hard to know how long a story, or campaign, should be. Newbies only have two examples: Actual Plays on YouTube and Twitch or the campaign books published by Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, and Kobold Press. Campaigns published for 5e tend to be (in my experience) 8-12 adventures long. The time required for any given tale to finish a campaign depends on how long each session is. (At the fastest - one session per adventure you’re looking at about a year to finish the campaign) Alternatively, looking to Critical Role as an example finds the gang playing campaigns (Vox Machina, Mighty Nein, Bells Hells) that are years long each. This is why I subtitled the post “A Different Kind of Mercer Effect” (in reference to the original Mercer effect - where inexperienced GMs try to mimic his voices, accents, and GM style) I do know that there are other campaigns that go for a long time - including the GRRM campaign that led to Wild Cards, but most new TTRPG players and GMs will have more of a chance of having come to the game after having seen Critical Role vs those other examples.

Story

After defeating the giant, The Pyros broke up. Scrabble joined a pirate ship (the Flying Harpy) at Messori Harbor. On the ship Scrabble met Flint, The Red Moon Reaver. They engaged in some pirating off the coast of the Magocracy of Allain. After a year they have found themselves at pirating the Nieder Straits. Scrabble and Flint are friendly, but not close friends; they work together well. The Flying Harpy attacked a research vessel and Treb and the rest of the crew of the research vessel. Treb was just on the research vessel to get away from his past so he signs the book and joins the crew of The Flying Harpy. Treb is at the bottom rung of the crew as the newest member. The ship has pulled into port at Stannisgard and the crew is on shore leave.

Gameplay

As the crew leaves Mossbeard’s forest near The Smithy, Jackal looks up and sees a Ratatosk in the trees. It jumps down in front of them and it’s wearing a uniform and has a cylindrical container on its back. It casts a verbal and somatic spell to identify which of the heroes is Appaluna. As she glows, he knows to give her the letter.

She reads the letter from her patron inviting her to the palace of Countess Levosu, mentioning that she needs to come right away, and it tells her to go via the River Styx and also includes the fare for 3 folks to ride. Appaluna finds a dwarf within The Smithy and asks how to get to the River Styx. She’s told to go to the Five Ways Bridge. When they get there they see a few piers on the banks near the bridge. There’s a robed man with a bluish tinge to his skin on a gondola-style boat. They pay for passage and find out his name is Thomas.

Gameplay

(started off with the following flavor-text)

“Ariana, as you look around at this verdant forest you’ve entered by the use of the Portal Key that belonged to your parents, you feel a deeper connection than you’ve ever felt ever since you chose to become a Leaf druid after becoming an adult. It is not just an ancient forest, but it also has a certain vitality and magical quality you’ve never felt before.”

A month ago I posted about how TTRPG editions don’t truly die. Then I went down a Matt Coleville rabbit hole and discovered this video. I think it adds a lot of historical context to what I was writing about as a TTRPG newbie.

Matt brings a lot to the table: his great conversational style, his history with the game, his reasonable opinions. I think the fact that he’s seen this happen a few times before gives the best perspective on what it means for new D&D editions to arise.

Gameplay

Grif the Kobold from the Keeper of the Keys meets the adventures as they cross a bridge into The Smithy. He expresses happiness that they found their way to The Smithy after the attack. They give him a summary of what they did. Eventually Griff tells them he will take them to meet Kontak Tekar (head kobold mechanist of the Keepers of the Keys) to repair Ariana’s key.

As they walk around they see steam and multicolored smoke bellowing out of various workshops. They head towards the hill at the middle of the city where the Citadel of the Keys is situated. As they walk to the citadel they see mechadron caravans and celestials bargaining with fey over goods.

Gameplay

The adventurers had landed on a ship when they fell out of a portal. Captain Catapult interrogated them about where they came from and what they wanted to do. The team is able to convince him that they are from another world and need help getting back. Captain Catapult knows a powerful priest who has happened to have given him a letter to summon his friends (meta: the characters from the Dungeon in a Box campaign). The captain says she doesn’t know what they look like, only their reputation so he gives them the letter and sails them to the town of Bloom.

Gameplay

Now that Ariana has her parents’ key, the team returns to Rava’s temple and is escorted to the high priestess’ chambers. The high priestess introduces them to Griff the mechanist who examines the key. Unfortunately the key is spent, but the team is in luck as he explains he just made a new key to The Smithy yesterday. Griff explains that he is in a secretive organization called the Keeper of the Keys which is allied with the church of Rava. He puts his new key itno the air to open a portal.