Critical Role came out swinging from the get-go, with its new dungeon master Brennan Lee Mulligan introducing the epic new world of Aramán, with all the bells and whistles expected from a fantasy Dungeons & Dragons campaign. With its 13-player cast however, the group has adapted a West Marches-style approach, splitting the players into three different groups after its four-episode overture.
Since Nov. 6, we’ve been following the Soldiers table — featuring players Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Sam Riegel, Robbie Daymond, and Whitney Moore — but it’s only this week’s episode that we feel that Critical Role Campaign 4 has finally hit that sweet spot where the real adventure begins.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for episode 1-6 of Critical Role Campaign 4]
While you may argue the previous episode would be the place to start, as it’s the first episode outside of the 4-part overture and the beginning of our Soldier’s table adventure, a lot of that episode was tying up loose ends with the other tables (the Seekers and Schemers). However, episode #6 is the first to focus purely on the Soldiers, and it feels like a much stronger start.
Image: Critical Role
As a chronic completionist, the idea of skipping an episode of Critical Role is enough to make me shudder. But for any fan or casual viewer who was perhaps turned off by the change of approach in this new campaign and just want to fall back into a familiar style of the previous campaigns, with a smaller table, episode #6 is a great place to jump in without feeling too lost.
For one thing, it starts off with the group waking up, and with Mulligan re-establishing their goal: the hunt for Teor’s brother, Cyd Pridesire. Cyd’s been on the run since stealing a deed from Casimir, an old buddy who gave up Thjazi Fang (the NPC that ties every character in the party together) to be executed by the Sundered Houses. (If you need a refresher on the complex lore of Campaign 4, we’ve got you covered.) While you may miss the smaller details starting here, it’s easy enough to pick up that the group are on a search-and-rescue mission, while also looking for payback on Casimir.
Better yet, with just five players at the table, all the Soldiers get a chance to shine. One of my biggest complaints about the previous episodes was that, with so many big personalities, it was easy for certain characters to get lost in the background. In this episode alone, we establish that Tyranny (Whitney Moore) is struggling with her own cruel tendencies due to her demonic nature, Thimble’s (Laura Bailey) grief is all-encompassing, the origin of Teor’s (Travis Willingham) control of the light is being set up as mystery, Kattigan (Robbie Daymond) has a stronger moral compass than we previously thought, and that Wicander’s (Sam Riegel) crisis of faith has big consequences. More importantly, we get to delve deeper into those moments and see what makes these characters tick without that scene losing significance because we’ve got to move on to another one with different characters.
Image: Critical Role
Episode #6 also has a far superior pacing to previous episodes. It’s got a beginning, middle, and an end — albeit one that leaves on a cliffhanger. The group starts travelling from Ulbid’s house, arrives at Hawthorn Glade, and ends up discovering that the fae settlement has its own inner darkness that puts them in danger. It’s a structure that feels familiar to us as Dungeons & Dragons players and makes the episode stand out from its predecessors.
While there’s still plenty of adventure to go — Critical Role campaigns usually last a couple of years at minimum — episode #6 has easily shot to one of our favorite episodes. It’s a much tighter, cohesive episode that still manages to surprise and delight. It also brings back a style of play reminiscent of the previous campaigns, with a traditional D&D adventure unfolding at the table. While the lore and intrigue we’ve got in Dol-Makjar were great, it felt a little overwhelming after a while.
While the three tables will reunite eventually, and with it will come the inevitable swapping of seats like a game of musical chairs, it’s the smaller, more contained episodes like #6 that will be the flesh and blood of Campaign 4.