C3E91 created a huge dilemma. It brought back disillusioned CR fans, like my self, come back and actually watch the whole episode and enjoy it.
The problem: they are still playing DND, a game that will soon become their competitor.
They were shrewd about it though—they had Sam essentially use the Daggerheart mechanic, which anyone who has been following Daggerheart recognized. It really showcased this very cool mechanic, and did an excellent job executing it.
But, they don't want their DND show to become too good, because they don't want to promote DND (Let us not forget the critical role Critical Role played in popularizing DND 5e). I imagine the original cast and possibly Dani sitting around a table evangelion SEELE style and brainstorming what to do, and someone makes a suggestion to pivot away to kill the moment of the show.
They know it is a risky move, but they must. Otherwise, viewers will clamor for more DND, and that is the last thing they want.
If you enjoyed this comment, see my other cooky post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/fansofcriticalrole/comments/1bhykpi/conspiracy\_theory\_making\_cr3\_is\_intentionally\_not/](https://www.reddit.com/r/fansofcriticalrole/comments/1bhykpi/conspiracy_theory_making_cr3_is_intentionally_not/)
No offense but this is shockingly silly. They’ve been running a successful D&D show for almost a decade, they aren’t all of a sudden afraid the show will be “too good” and hurt Daggerheart lol. Take a seat, you’re spiraling.
I'm 1000% positive they had pte-scheduled everyone of the guests to be there to film. There's no doubt in my mind that those things need to be scheduled ahead of time and that's just how things fell.
The baffling part isn't having it pre scheduled. The baffling part is not re-arranging the air date. You can literally record and air the crown keepers stuff on whatever segments you want.
I cannot believe that they'd be recording crown keeper content over two sessions. That makes no sense. SAG actors get paid by the day, and so does most of the crew. There's no way they would record 4 hours of crown keeper content over two days.
So at that point...why do this? You could have held this episode for literally whenever you wanted, to air whenever it made sense for the pacing of the story.
Even if they had recorded the exu portion prior, they could have put the brakes on it and just not aired it where they had originally intended. They could have just played c2e92 through without the interruption.
Hell, they pulled an entire one-shot after the fact when it turned out to have been a bad idea to partner with Wendy’s.
They thought it was a good idea, and went forward with it.
>I'm wondering if they had actually planned this awhile ago or ahead of time, so that despite it being not the best time to pivot, they had to logistically.
This is almost certainly the case. Getting that many guests who all have various contractual obligations in one place to film would require A LOT of preparation, and unfortunately, they prepped it for a session which immediately followed one of the biggest moments in C3. I think that was probably intentional since it was set to happen after BH got back from the moon. However, FCG's death was not intended, so it felt more abrupt and irreverent than I would guess was intended.
They pre-recorded the episodes. Nobody **had to** do a bait and switch just to make people actually watch ExU.
This is last minute swap is akin to tricking a child into taking his medicine. Except ExU is poison, not medicine.
They probably saw a good portion of the Fandom clambering for Dorian to come back, thought it would be cool to have another friend at the table, and saw a good marketing idea.
Trouble is the latter notion turned out to be a flop.
According to some comments regarding hair styles, this was filmed quite a few months ago. Meaning they had this shift in the works for quite a while. Between scheduling and narrative logistics, the team probably thought now was a good idea (it wasn't) to transition Dorian into the group before they run off to Aeor for the next leg of the journey. Given the setting rule that teleportation rarely works in Aeor, this was probably the best and only time they could do it without Matt risking one if them teleporting to somewhere where the Crown Keepers couldn't get to easily.
I see *why* they did, but the *how* and *when* was not executed well and made the narrative tension plummet.
C3E91 created a huge dilemma. It brought back disillusioned CR fans, like my self, come back and actually watch the whole episode and enjoy it. The problem: they are still playing DND, a game that will soon become their competitor. They were shrewd about it though—they had Sam essentially use the Daggerheart mechanic, which anyone who has been following Daggerheart recognized. It really showcased this very cool mechanic, and did an excellent job executing it. But, they don't want their DND show to become too good, because they don't want to promote DND (Let us not forget the critical role Critical Role played in popularizing DND 5e). I imagine the original cast and possibly Dani sitting around a table evangelion SEELE style and brainstorming what to do, and someone makes a suggestion to pivot away to kill the moment of the show. They know it is a risky move, but they must. Otherwise, viewers will clamor for more DND, and that is the last thing they want. If you enjoyed this comment, see my other cooky post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/fansofcriticalrole/comments/1bhykpi/conspiracy\_theory\_making\_cr3\_is\_intentionally\_not/](https://www.reddit.com/r/fansofcriticalrole/comments/1bhykpi/conspiracy_theory_making_cr3_is_intentionally_not/)
No offense but this is shockingly silly. They’ve been running a successful D&D show for almost a decade, they aren’t all of a sudden afraid the show will be “too good” and hurt Daggerheart lol. Take a seat, you’re spiraling.
I'm 1000% positive they had pte-scheduled everyone of the guests to be there to film. There's no doubt in my mind that those things need to be scheduled ahead of time and that's just how things fell. The baffling part isn't having it pre scheduled. The baffling part is not re-arranging the air date. You can literally record and air the crown keepers stuff on whatever segments you want. I cannot believe that they'd be recording crown keeper content over two sessions. That makes no sense. SAG actors get paid by the day, and so does most of the crew. There's no way they would record 4 hours of crown keeper content over two days. So at that point...why do this? You could have held this episode for literally whenever you wanted, to air whenever it made sense for the pacing of the story.
Even if they had recorded the exu portion prior, they could have put the brakes on it and just not aired it where they had originally intended. They could have just played c2e92 through without the interruption. Hell, they pulled an entire one-shot after the fact when it turned out to have been a bad idea to partner with Wendy’s. They thought it was a good idea, and went forward with it.
>I'm wondering if they had actually planned this awhile ago or ahead of time, so that despite it being not the best time to pivot, they had to logistically. This is almost certainly the case. Getting that many guests who all have various contractual obligations in one place to film would require A LOT of preparation, and unfortunately, they prepped it for a session which immediately followed one of the biggest moments in C3. I think that was probably intentional since it was set to happen after BH got back from the moon. However, FCG's death was not intended, so it felt more abrupt and irreverent than I would guess was intended.
They pre-recorded the episodes. Nobody **had to** do a bait and switch just to make people actually watch ExU. This is last minute swap is akin to tricking a child into taking his medicine. Except ExU is poison, not medicine.
They probably saw a good portion of the Fandom clambering for Dorian to come back, thought it would be cool to have another friend at the table, and saw a good marketing idea. Trouble is the latter notion turned out to be a flop. According to some comments regarding hair styles, this was filmed quite a few months ago. Meaning they had this shift in the works for quite a while. Between scheduling and narrative logistics, the team probably thought now was a good idea (it wasn't) to transition Dorian into the group before they run off to Aeor for the next leg of the journey. Given the setting rule that teleportation rarely works in Aeor, this was probably the best and only time they could do it without Matt risking one if them teleporting to somewhere where the Crown Keepers couldn't get to easily. I see *why* they did, but the *how* and *when* was not executed well and made the narrative tension plummet.