Reinhard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,674
I subscribe via Amazon Prime on Twitch so that isn't going to change. I am just not that into CR right now due to me disliking some aspects of C3, although I did get some merch recently and I still watch weekly. Otherwise I would subscribe since it is cheap. I am much more into Dropout / Dimension 20 lately, as short form campaigns are much more appealing to me (last night's D20 episode was hilarious).
 

eyeball_kid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,341
What's weird to me is it says, "Beacon is your home for Critical Role" but under Series there's no actual section for the main CR series. I assume that will change with tomorrow's episode, but when you go to the FAQ it says you can watch old episodes on Youtube, including the previous episodes of the Bells Hells campaign. Like what? If I'm going to pay $60/year for the "home" of CR, why would I have to go to Youtube or Twitch to watch past episodes, filled with the advertising they say they don't want associated with CR?

I'm wondering if they're doing this now because, assuming the rumors and speculation are true, that they may be planning to switch away from D&D after this campaign, and know they will probably lose some of their audience and therefore lose some revenue when that happens. Getting all the sub profit instead of a split with Amazon would help offset that. I really don't believe their "we're just doing this for the fans!" appeal, though I do support not giving Amazon money. I ended my Prime sub so I'll have to start paying for CR one way or another.

On the tech front I'm curious what platform they're using under the hood.
 

DrewyMcK

Member
Nov 5, 2017
955
What's weird to me is it says, "Beacon is your home for Critical Role" but under Series there's no actual section for the main CR series. I assume that will change with tomorrow's episode, but when you go to the FAQ it says you can watch old episodes on Youtube, including the previous episodes of the Bells Hells campaign. Like what? If I'm going to pay $60/year for the "home" of CR, why would I have to go to Youtube or Twitch to watch past episodes, filled with the advertising they say they don't want associated with CR?
They're definitely is sections for campaign 2 and 3 under the Series tab that have all of those episodes. The only stuff not up there is Vox Machina, probably because Geek and Sundry still have the rights to campaign 1.

Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein

Explore unparalleled access to Critical Role with a Beacon membership. Enjoy ad-free beloved & new exclusive series, live event pre-sales, discounts, & a private Discord.

Campaign 3: Bells Hells

Explore unparalleled access to Critical Role with a Beacon membership. Enjoy ad-free beloved & new exclusive series, live event pre-sales, discounts, & a private Discord.
 

eyeball_kid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,341
They're definitely is sections for campaign 2 and 3 under the Series tab that have all of those episodes. The only stuff not up there is Vox Machina, probably because Geek and Sundry still have the rights to campaign 1.

Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein

Explore unparalleled access to Critical Role with a Beacon membership. Enjoy ad-free beloved & new exclusive series, live event pre-sales, discounts, & a private Discord.

Campaign 3: Bells Hells

Explore unparalleled access to Critical Role with a Beacon membership. Enjoy ad-free beloved & new exclusive series, live event pre-sales, discounts, & a private Discord.

Ah okay thanks, their FAQ should probably be worded better. It looks like episodes 1-19 of Mighty Nein are also locked on Geek and Sundry's channel as well. They really should renegotiate that contract and buy out those episodes so CR can put them on their site. I can't imagine G&S will be around forever, and it creates an awkward experience especially for people new to CR.
 

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
Ah okay thanks, their FAQ should probably be worded better. It looks like episodes 1-19 of Mighty Nein are also locked on Geek and Sundry's channel as well. They really should renegotiate that contract and buy out those episodes so CR can put them on their site. I can't imagine G&S will be around forever, and it creates an awkward experience especially for people new to CR.
Given the traffic to those episodes is probably the only thing keeping G&S afloat, I can't imagine they'd be willing to ever give them up. Would basically be accepting to end the company for the price of whatever is offered.
 

SilkySm00th

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,857
Blimey. I loved how Brennan
couldn't handle the love child between K2 and Fabian so it is now canon that all Simulacrums are made of stem cells that test positive for pregnancy...

The moment gears turned in Brennan's head about this half insane/mostly broken clone copy doing the unthinkable you could see the fear in him, and then Ally just hammers the absurdity home so hard!

Any other day that ending would have been a half poem, beautiful 3 paragraph banger but the man just had his soul pulled from his body LoL
 

Maximo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,421
It's a good start, but they need to have some home run content to make me consider subscribing. Obviously not a one to one comparison but Dropout is putting out insane content compared to CR, I prefer the amount of editing, props, and flow of Dimension 20. CR is still filmed as a live show...without being live and they really dont take advantage of that.
 

UnderSiege

Member
Mar 5, 2019
2,711
So Beacon just means getting more bang for my bucks plus giving CR all those bucks, and not some company I don't care about supporting. Took the free trial and barring any unwelcome surprises I'll switch over from Twitch after that. The Cooldown episodes seem to be pretty fun. Watching the first one now and it's basically them just theorizing and asking Matt questions.
 

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,548
I already moved over to YouTube membership as I just don't really use Twitch anymore, as it's just less available than YouTube being the biggest reason, but I also just like the YouTube player a lot more and too many ads if you don't pay for turbo or a sub on Twitch, which wasn't a problem specifically to CR as they got my Prime sub, but everyone else as I sure as shit wasn't paying for turbo or subbing to multiple channels.

Not sure if I'll move to their sub, but hope it does really well for them and they can be a lot more flexible like Dropout are (who I also watch through YouTube membership instead of their site), throw shit at the wall and see wjat sticks without having to worry about all the usual bullshit that comes with the almighty YouTube algorithm not being impressed with your latest video.
 

birdinsky

Member
Jun 10, 2019
505
For me, it's a no brainer - same price, all of it to CR vs. YouTube or Twitch taking a cut, why not? If you weren't subscribing before, whatever, but if you were, not a lot of reason to be loyal to Amazon or Google. I'm sure there will be some growing pains in like, the video player (which for the app Pocket Beacon isn't great) but in a quick test play of some of the side content, I'm happy enough with where that's at playing on Firefox Mobile (Android, for context).

One note on the moving away from D&D part: they removed all references to D&D classes and races for BH, feels pretty deliberate, so... yeah.

Imogen Temult (https://beacon.tv/content/imogen-temult )
Player: Laura Bailey
Class: Magical Prodigy
Race: Human

Ashton Greymoore (https://beacon.tv/content/ashton-greymoore)
Player: Taliesin Jaffe
Class: Brawler
Race: Terran
 

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
For me, it's a no brainer - same price, all of it to CR vs. YouTube or Twitch taking a cut, why not? If you weren't subscribing before, whatever, but if you were, not a lot of reason to be loyal to Amazon or Google. I'm sure there will be some growing pains in like, the video player (which for the app Pocket Beacon isn't great) but in a quick test play of some of the side content, I'm happy enough with where that's at playing on Firefox Mobile (Android, for context).

One note on the moving away from D&D part: they removed all references to D&D classes and races for BH, feels pretty deliberate, so... yeah.

Imogen Temult (https://beacon.tv/content/imogen-temult )
Player: Laura Bailey
Class: Magical Prodigy
Race: Human

Ashton Greymoore (https://beacon.tv/content/ashton-greymoore)
Player: Taliesin Jaffe
Class: Brawler
Race: Terran
Holy shit. Removing the name of the Gods from the campaign books is one thing but this one feels really wild. It's coming.
 

Reinhard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,674
Wow, that seems pretty clear that campaign 4 will be Daggerheart... Does the terminology match up with that?

I guess the writing is on the wall for D&D with D&D Next's whole purpose of being to take 5th edition, modify it some and remove the OGL so Hasbro can try to monetize everything to an extreme and push fandom further away...
 

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,071
Wow, that seems pretty clear that campaign 4 will be Daggerheart... Does the terminology match up with that?

I guess the writing is on the wall for D&D with D&D Next's whole purpose of being to take 5th edition, modify it some and remove the OGL so Hasbro can try to monetize everything to an extreme and push fandom further away...
Doesn't match with Daggerheart either. Could possibly be placeholder until Daggerheart or an offshoot reaches 1.0., but it just seems at minimum they wanted to put distance property-wise.

Iirc someone during a recent game caught themselves mentioning a deity by name and apologized before switching to the title.
 

eyeball_kid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,341
For me, it's a no brainer - same price, all of it to CR vs. YouTube or Twitch taking a cut, why not? If you weren't subscribing before, whatever, but if you were, not a lot of reason to be loyal to Amazon or Google. I'm sure there will be some growing pains in like, the video player (which for the app Pocket Beacon isn't great) but in a quick test play of some of the side content, I'm happy enough with where that's at playing on Firefox Mobile (Android, for context).

One note on the moving away from D&D part: they removed all references to D&D classes and races for BH, feels pretty deliberate, so... yeah.

Imogen Temult (https://beacon.tv/content/imogen-temult )
Player: Laura Bailey
Class: Magical Prodigy
Race: Human

Ashton Greymoore (https://beacon.tv/content/ashton-greymoore)
Player: Taliesin Jaffe
Class: Brawler
Race: Terran

I think a lot of people are probably using their Twitch Prime free sub for CR. I certainly was. So it's not a question of just migrating platforms, it's a question of how do they get people who are paying $0 for their CR sub right now to paying $60/year on Beacon. I'm not sure the extra content right now is enough to get a lot of people to spend that cash.

Interesting catch on the class and race names, and just backs up my theory that they're doing this now because they know they're going to lose some amount of audience revenue once they switch away from D&D.
 

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,071
Those abridged episodes are going to be handy for newcomers. I didn't realize they were adding in NPC/creature official art and commissioned/approved fan art too.
Doubt they'll be quite the Dimension 20 approach some ask for, which I maintain kinda misses the point/draw of CR to become the norm, but it's a good alternative.

App is clunky AF, but I do like there is video-less/closed window playback supported.

Only just started Cool Down for #92 since it's Crown Keeper crew and it's nice to see the vibes they have away from the drama and adjudications that get read into.
 

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,548
I'm much more interested in what the future is for Exandria than I am if they stick with D&D or switch to Daggerheart, as ultimately don't care that much what they play and either way probably a system change with the next edition of D&D being soon™️ it or DH wouldn't care either way.

I feel like if they switch they don't port Exandria over as that would essentially become the "official world" of Daggerheart, which not sure if they want. If they do go new setting I think D&D show can exist in the form of more EXU stuff.
 

eyeball_kid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,341
Clicking on the iOS App Store link on the Beacon site tells me that the app isn't available in my country, which is odd since I'm in the U.S.
 

Duxxy3

Member
Oct 27, 2017
22,131
USA
I don't think I'd watch a Daggerheart campaign. I don't have a huge background in TTRPG, but what little background I do have is in D&D. Every time they've used a different system for their one shots I've bounced off of them.

As for this campaign... anybody wanna bet that Sam comes back at the live show?
 

Cybit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,349
For me, it's a no brainer - same price, all of it to CR vs. YouTube or Twitch taking a cut, why not? If you weren't subscribing before, whatever, but if you were, not a lot of reason to be loyal to Amazon or Google. I'm sure there will be some growing pains in like, the video player (which for the app Pocket Beacon isn't great) but in a quick test play of some of the side content, I'm happy enough with where that's at playing on Firefox Mobile (Android, for context).

One note on the moving away from D&D part: they removed all references to D&D classes and races for BH, feels pretty deliberate, so... yeah.

Imogen Temult (https://beacon.tv/content/imogen-temult )
Player: Laura Bailey
Class: Magical Prodigy
Race: Human

Ashton Greymoore (https://beacon.tv/content/ashton-greymoore)
Player: Taliesin Jaffe
Class: Brawler
Race: Terran

That + it allows Matt to give everyone homebrew abilities without having to deal with viewers trying to reverse engineer what class abilities people should use, etc.

But god, that OGL mistake by Wizards is going to have such long-term repercussions...
 

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
I don't think I'd watch a Daggerheart campaign. I don't have a huge background in TTRPG, but what little background I do have is in D&D. Every time they've used a different system for their one shots I've bounced off of them.

As for this campaign... anybody wanna bet that Sam comes back at the live show?
I'd try it but I'd be unhappy. Can't blame them tho.
 

eyeball_kid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,341
Just a warning, the Beacon site doesn't stream the current CR episode live as Twitch/Youtube does, it's a full drop of the whole episode. So there may be spoilers floating around on social media or even in chat. Not sure how they thought this was a good idea to launch with, putting aside the obvious issues with trying to watch it live with other people.
 

laoni

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,747
Wow, that seems pretty clear that campaign 4 will be Daggerheart... Does the terminology match up with that?

I guess the writing is on the wall for D&D with D&D Next's whole purpose of being to take 5th edition, modify it some and remove the OGL so Hasbro can try to monetize everything to an extreme and push fandom further away...

FWIW, it's already confirmed that the SRD is being updated to 5.2 with all the 2024 changes and remaining on Creative Commons, so it's all staying as is. Announced a few days ago.

Also, the terminology doesn't match up with Daggerheart's, no.
 

Reinhard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,674
FWIW, it's already confirmed that the SRD is being updated to 5.2 with all the 2024 changes and remaining on Creative Commons, so it's all staying as is. Announced a few days ago.

Also, the terminology doesn't match up with Daggerheart's, no.
Shocking that Hasbro will allow that. I wonder if there is an out or something that will allow Hasbro to monetize virtual tabletop tools exclusively? One lame change is D&D Beyond no longer allowing stuff being bought piecemeal.
 

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
Just a warning, the Beacon site doesn't stream the current CR episode live as Twitch/Youtube does, it's a full drop of the whole episode. So there may be spoilers floating around on social media or even in chat. Not sure how they thought this was a good idea to launch with, putting aside the obvious issues with trying to watch it live with other people.
Oh weird. Hopefully they change that moving forward.
Though... it is a little tempting to sub to be able to skip ahead on certain filler combat or ad breaks... and be able to pause live too...
 

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,548
Oh weird. Hopefully they change that moving forward.
Though... it is a little tempting to sub to be able to skip ahead on certain filler combat or ad breaks... and be able to pause live too...
Yeah, I rarely watch "live" nowadays (basically just when I'm hard at work during the night shift thing), but being able to pause and rewind and what have you is actually pretty tempting over YouTube (where it's disabled) or Twitch (where it was never an option).

Edit: those who have it does their player have different speeds? I usually put combat or shopping (which C3 hasn't really had) segments at a higher play speed wherever I'm watching the VoD on YouTube.
 
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Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
Pretty good episode. Feels like we walked right back in C2 in a lot of ways but I'm not entirely against it. Really feels like we're having a Greatest Hits tour before the book is closed on this setting, though. lol

Yeah, I rarely watch "live" nowadays (basically just when I'm hard at work during the night shift thing), but being able to pause and rewind and what have you is actually pretty tempting over YouTube (where it's disabled) or Twitch (where it was never an option).
Yeah I like to watch live personally and I actually used to watch on Youtube for the ability to pause and skim stuff already aired. I'd often come in late or have to pause the episode and then make up that time by skipping the break or skimming combat. Being able to do that again is actually the most tempting thing about Beacon so far. Though again for the sake of spoilers and stuff I think they should probably change that moving forward in some way.
 
OP
OP
Uzzy

Uzzy

Gabe’s little helper
Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,961
Hull, UK
Shocking that Hasbro will allow that. I wonder if there is an out or something that will allow Hasbro to monetize virtual tabletop tools exclusively? One lame change is D&D Beyond no longer allowing stuff being bought piecemeal.

Their own VTT will be an environment entirely under their own control, it'll be up to Hasbro how much outside stuff they'll allow.

Other VTTs are in an awkward legal space but they usually have licensing agreements anyway, Foundry recently signed one for instance, which really quite surprised me.
 

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,548
Yes, it has the standard 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2x speeds.
Hmm, will wait to see how available it ends up being here, pretty much impossible to beat YouTube in that regard, but if my TVs get app support might switch over from YouTube to it if they keep that stuff for when it's "live". Though can see them changing that.

Thanks!
 

birdinsky

Member
Jun 10, 2019
505
Yeah, they're definitely going through some growing pains on the tech front (captions are gone when they were there before the episode, the android app is currently constantly crashing, etc.) so I wouldn't blame anyone giving it some time to settle.
 

SilentMike03

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,180
Good set up episode. I did think some of these characters showing up was a little bit out of nowhere, but it didn't bother me too much. Matt has mentioned this Aeor stuff a couple times now so he must really want them to go there. I'm curious as to what Ludinus is trying to do there, so I hope it's worth the side quest.
 

Reinhard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,674
Good set up episode. I did think some of these characters showing up was a little bit out of nowhere, but it didn't bother me too much. Matt has mentioned this Aeor stuff a couple times now so he must really want them to go there. I'm curious as to what Ludinus is trying to do there, so I hope it's worth the side quest.
I imagine all these side quests is to level them a bit so they can handle the final battles. But since they just hit level 13 not that long ago, he needs to spread out level 14 and 15 a bit. Plus, more chances for Sam to rejoin, although if it is Aeor he would almost have to be another robot...
 

SilentMike03

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,180
I imagine all these side quests is to level them a bit so they can handle the final battles. But since they just hit level 13 not that long ago, he needs to spread out level 14 and 15 a bit. Plus, more chances for Sam to rejoin, although if it is Aeor he would almost have to be another robot...
I'll be honest, I didn't miss Sam at all. If Robbie replaced him for the remainder of the campaign I'd be cool with it.
 

Reinhard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,674
I'll be honest, I didn't miss Sam at all. If Robbie replaced him for the remainder of the campaign I'd be cool with it.
Yeah, 8 people just feels like too much. Plus, I get annoyed whenever Sam brings a self-nerfed character for high level play when you need characters to be capable against powerful bad guys like Otohan. Obviously, Taryon was a joke character who was probably meant to die in 1 episode, but at least the Alchemist class is now in a decent place unlike when he first beta tested the class. FCG was just a poorly designed custom class with his reliance on low str/dex, and it didn't help that he refused to use cleric's most useful spells like bless (which seems like a no brainer for someone like FCG to want to use).
 

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,548
I think Sam will return, I just don't think they are in any rush, like if not while they are still in civilisation I can see him being gone for months.

I kinda want Sam to come back as a high level Paladin, just to see what he would play that character like. Think it would add another needed beefy HP character to BH too, who will probably overall always be very squishy even if they go to Level 20. Also can't really get more pro a God than that, he could probably even do some fun stuff with his Paladin oath.
 

Juryvicious

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,958
I don't think I'd watch a Daggerheart campaign. I don't have a huge background in TTRPG, but what little background I do have is in D&D. Every time they've used a different system for their one shots I've bounced off of them.

Likewise. I understand the whys, but I cannot say I am to thrilled with the changes. I'll most likely bounce altogether.
 

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
I feel a little bad for Robbie. Early C3 had so much callback stuff to C1 that he always clearly felt a little outside of compared to the rest of the cast. We finally get him back and IMMEDIATELY are thrown into heavy C2 callbacks. They really should have... thought that out a bit more. But oh well.
 

eyeball_kid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,341
FYI it seems that Beacon is now streaming episodes live instead of dropping the full VOD, as they did last week. Glad they listened to feedback on that.
 

Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
FYI it seems that Beacon is now streaming episodes live instead of dropping the full VOD, as they did last week. Glad they listened to feedback on that.
Can you pause it and skim what's aired like you used to be able to on youtube or like you can (with some effort) on a twitch vod?

I love that they always order custom winter clothes in these campaigns.
It's generally fun though Tal is kinda awkwardly forcing them into his ideas in a way that's not working for me.
 

Reinhard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,674
Like why isn't anyone calling Laudna out for Delilah, seems the rather obvious thing. Also, casting identify on a new weapon is a no brainier anyway.

Dorian calling out some truths lol.
 
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Ashes of Dreams

Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve
Member
May 22, 2020
15,067
I thought that episode was great. Fun magic shopping. Then we finally get a moment I've been waiting for since forever ago. I'd have been disappointed if she never actually went for something in this intense of a way. Marisha and Liam both killed it, I was super invested. Best episode in awhile. Loved Dorian's interjection too.
 

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,071
Tuned in right when Orym woke up swinging, so that was intense being caught up in that few minutes of confused chaos until Marisha's turn came and put it together.

Like why isn't anyone calling Laudna out for Delilah, seems the rather obvious thing. Also, casting identify on a new weapon is a no brainier anyway.

Dorian calling out some truths lol.
Could be for that last bit. They may have wanted Robbie to have an opportunity to be a bit more involved than what he's mostly been, playing catch up. Especially when Dorian has that experience with Opal to bring to the table.

Could also be character-wise they'd feel Orym would be an easier path to deescalation than the volatile flight risk that's Laudna if that suspicion was front and center for them.

Edit: Screaming Needle was a +2 dagger that could double the DC of concentration checks of the concentrating caster it hit. Absorbing it gave Laudna advantage on Intimidation (Charisma) checks, and 3 times per long rest can summon a screaming spirit as a bonus action with 30 ft range and up to 1 minute duration. Can move the spirit 30 ft on her turn. If she casts a spell at a creature within 5ft of that spirit, the target has disadvantage on the saving throw against that spell.
 
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