Critical Role Campaign 3

Themes:

  • Abandonment: Characters explore negative feelings of having been left by or separated from loved ones. Sometimes they are reunited and confront the person about their resentment.
  • Adult humor: Jokes are often raunchy or deal with bodily functions. There is a lot of swearing.
  • Ageism: Many jokes about dying from old age and what age effects.
  • Alcohol: Characters frequently drink, and many scenes take place in bars. Sometimes alcoholism is depicted or discussed.
  • Assassination attempt: A character's backstory involves being present for an assassination attempt on their leader and losing people in the attack.
  • Black goo: A black goo substance is part of a character's monstrous transformation and frequently described.
  • Blood and gore: Frequent scenes of injury or combat, often to the death.
  • Body Horror (Form of Dread): A spell is used that transforms the character into something horrifying of their choice and is described when used.
  • Body horror (transformation): Character backstories involve unwanted body transformations that occurred after traumatic events.
  • Class divide: The story highlights the way opportunities for people change based on their money and connections.
  • Complicated family relationships: Many characters have complicated relationships with their families, including abuse and neglect.
  • Conspiracies: Many in-world conspiracy theories are discussed. Some turn out to be true conspiracies affecting the characters.
  • Corruption: Certain powers cause a distressing progressive effect as the character levels up.
  • Creepy Whispers: When using mental communication spells, Laudna's words are echoed by the cast collectively overlaying their voices to make ghostly whispers.
  • Death, dying, and grief: Many character backstories deal with death, and characters lose people close to them during the story. Characters often discuss their grief and how they're processing it.
  • Debates about personhood: A character questions when a conscious being qualifies as a person and the nature of agency and consciousness.
  • Dislocations, breaks, and decay: A character's body is partly decaying and frequently breaks down for comedic effect. This includes weak joints that frequently dislocate and are quickly reset and broken bones that quickly heal.
  • Exotic pet: A character has a dangerous supernatural exotic pet with some intelligence.
  • Experimental medicine: A character's backstory involves having experimental medicine used on them.
  • Exploitation (debt): Substantial debt is used as leverage against a person, forcing them to repay it in labor.
  • Fear of crowds: A character expresses distress at being in crowded spaces.
  • Flesh Tongue: Running joke that FCG has a fleshy tongue.
  • Food: Frequent scenes set at restaurants or during mealtimes. Often players snack at the table.
  • Guns: In Campaign 3, gun usage has become common knowledge and characters outside of whitestone now use and reference them more than before.
  • Heights: Frequent scenes where characters are on tall land formations, in cable cars, flying, or otherwise far above the ground.
  • Horror monsters: Many different kinds of horror creatures appear. Including corrupted creatures, creatures that mutate, ghosts, giant insects, carnivorous plants, things that aren't animals, undead, werewolves, and more.
  • Inconsistent time: Time in different planes working differently causing gaps in experienced time for characters.
  • Institutional childcare: A character's backstory involves growing up in an orphanage.
  • Kleptomania/petty theft: A character steals very frequently for the thrill of it, sometimes endangering the group.
  • Law Enforcement: All cities have been shown to have armed guards with law enforcement powers.
  • Loss of control/compulsion: Occasionally characters experience moments where they lash out without conscious direction. Repeated conversations happen acknowledging the possible triggers and mitigating tools to help each other manage it.
  • Lying: Characters frequently lie.
  • Mental magic: Characters can shape the thoughts of others and control their behavior.
  • Mind reading: Psychic powers are used to read and speak into other people's minds. Sometimes this is secretive or unwanted.
  • Misogyny: Repeated jokes that use sexism and alpha male beliefs to highlight that they are harmful and incorrect ideologies.
  • Missing time: For various reasons, characters lose long stretches of time in their lives and are separated from their past because of it.
  • Monstrous transformation: Characters transform into monstrous forms. Sometimes this is in their control and sometimes it's not. The transformations are often described in graphic and unsettling ways.
  • Near death experience: Characters experience close calls with death. Their experiences and visions are described.
  • Queer death/spouse death: A character's backstory involves their queer spouse dying.
  • Reoccurring nightmares: A character experiences a recurring dream that is frequently distressing and expresses doubt about what is real.
  • Self-harm: A character's class abilities are activated through drawing their own blood.
  • Self-sacrifice: Characters frequently put themselves in serious danger to protect other characters. Some characters have game mechanics that encourage this.
  • Social isolation and persecution: Characters share experiences of being ostracized, socially isolated, or forced to leave towns due to the circumstances of their upbringing and innate traits.
  • Survivor's guilt: Characters express negative feelings about making it through traumatic experiences when other people they cared about did not.
  • Taxidermy: A character has a puppet made of remains from multiple animals are stitched together that they frequently play with and perform for others.
  • Therapy: Poorly done therapy and positivity are used by a character to resolve conflicts and hard feelings. Sometimes this is unasked for. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vibes but not practices.
  • Toxic positivity: A character uses relentless positivity to respond to all situations. This is discussed with them.
  • Toxic work environment: A character's backstory includes a workplace where owners disregarded the feelings and expertise of workers to the point of violence.
  • Trauma: Characters frequently explore the trauma they've endured, how it's affected them in the past, and how it's affecting them currently.
  • Traumatic Injury: repeated discussions about the event and the long-term physical effects.
  • Undead: A character's backstory includes details of dying and being revived in an incomplete way through necromancy.

Visual appearances:

  • Flashing lights: Effects on projections screens, post-production effects, and in many ads.

Critical Role Logo

Time: 0:16

Visual appearances:

  • Flashing lights and fire: The logo has a fire effect flaring up on a dark background.

Campaign 3 Intro 1:

Time: 1:44

Visual appearances:

  • Colonialism: Costumes based on late 19th century to early 20th century British explorer stories.
    Flashing Lights: Lanterns carried in dark scenes throughout, camera flash at 1:11, and fire effects at the end.
  • Fire: Fire effect on ending logo.

Sound effects:

  • Repetition and whispers: Opening starts with ghostly whispers repeating the same words over and over before the lyrics start.

Campaign 3 Intro 2:

Time: 1:47

Epilepsy and light sensitivity

  • Rapidly alternating colors: High contrast bright colors, often on bright white, that rapidly shift with frequent jump cuts.
  • Flashing motion effects: Low frame animation without blur frames. Motion blur at the beginning Jumping stills with bright white lines on a dark background appear to flash as they change.
  • Jumpy rotoscoped shots: Short cuts for rotoscoped animation with a lot of movement can appear jumpy and disorienting. May affect motion sensitivity.

Episodes:

Campaign 3, E41: “Call of the Wild”

December 8, 2022
Travis Willingham poses like a howling werewolf against a neutral watercolor background in this thumbnail for Campaign 3, Episode 41.

Recurring Themes:
– Self Harm: The episode is about the training and use of blood hunter powers.

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Campaign 3, E42: “The City of Flowing Light”

December 15, 2022
Sam Riegel and Taliesin Jaffe pose against a yellow and red watercolor splash background in this thumbnail for Campaign 3, Episode 42. Sam is holding the lapells of his sewater and looks scared. Taliesin has his arm around Sam holding each shoulder and looks confident and protective.

Recurring Themes:
– Gambling: Part 2 takes place in a casino with characters playing games for much of episode.

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Campaign 3, E43: “Axiom Shaken”

December 23, 2022
Travis Willingham and Liam O'Brien pose against a blue and green watercolor splash background in this thumbnail for Campaign 3, Episode 42. Travis has one eye closed and is pointing at the camera. Liam looks apprehencive. Each has an arm around the other.

Recurring Themes:
– Paranoia/Conspiracies: Characters discuss at length the ways in which individuals or organizations could be working against them.

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Campaign 3, E44: “Bawdy Basement Belligerence”

January 5, 2023
Marisha Ray and Ashley Johnson pose against a rose and red colored watercolor background in neutral gray and black clothing in this thumbnail for Critical Role's Campaign 3 Episode 44.

Recurring Themes:
– FCG Flesh Parts: Sam’s gas can has a picture of FCG with a giant tongue.
– Nudity/Sex: Nudity and reference to sex acts takes up much of the episode, far beyond the usual level of lewd jokes for the franchise.

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Campaign 3, E45: “Ominous Lectures”

January 12, 2023
Matt Mercer poses like a goblin next to a surprised Ashley Johnson against a neutral watercolor background in this thumbnail image for Critical Role's Campaign 3, Episode 45.

Recurring Themes:
– None

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Campaign 3, E46: “Night at the Ligament Manor”

January 27, 2023
Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and Marisha Ray pose like they're casting spells against a pruple and rose colored watercolor splash background is black clothing in this thumbnail image for Critical Role's Campaign 3, Episode 46.

Recurring Themes:
– Horror Imagery: This episode takes place in the Feywild in the house of an archfay/hag. Includes unnatural animals, body horror, extreme taxidermy, and repeated discussions of people imprisoned in objects and plants.

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Campaign 3, E47: “The Fey Key”

February 2, 2023
Liam O'Brien and Marisha Ray stand back to back in neutral charcoal outfits against a faded watercolor background in this thumbnail for Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 47.

Recurring Themes:
– Unnatural Animal: Episode takes place in the Feywild and monstrous creatures are described multiple times.

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Campaign 3, E48: “An Exit Most Fraught”

February 9, 2023
Laura Bailey and Matthew mercer pose in neutral charcoal clothing against a blue watercolor background in this thumbnail for Critical Role Campaign 3 episode 48.

Recurring Themes:
– Parental Conflict: Episode repeatedly touches on the emotions and circumstances of a character’s strained relationship with their parents.

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Campaign 3, E49: “The Aurora Grows”

February 16, 2023
Marisha Ray and Taliesin Jaffe and in charcoal and black neutral outfits against a red and grey abstract watercolor background in this thumbnail for Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode 49.

Recurring Themes:
– None

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Campaign 3, E50: “Red Moon Rising”

March 2, 2023
Liam O'Brien, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, and Taliesin Jaffe stand in a line shoulder to shoulder looking determined against a neutral watercolor background in this thumbnail for Campaign 3, Episode 50.

Recurring Themes:
– Lying: Recurring lies about the effects a plan will have on someone else, even when asked directly.
– Sacrifice: Many discussions about sacrificing things for a cause.

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