It’s been five months since Aramán began. In that time, there were four Overture episodes introducing the world and the characters along with two table wrap ups, Soldiers and Seekers. The Schemers first episode is set to air this Thursday. This West Marches style campaign is different from anything that Critical Role has done and I’m enjoying it thus far. Since it’s been a while since I talked about Aramán, I wanted to share my thoughts about the episodes and the campaign thus far.

Aramán is Lore Heavy

Do we really expect anything less from Brennan Lee Mulligan though? I am listening to Worlds Beyond Number, his TTRPG podcast and that podcast is also heavy on the lore of the world. One thing I did a few weeks ago was expanding on my Aramán Google Doc. I have several tabs that help consolidate the information from the episodes. This has helped prevent me from getting lost and keeping everything straight. I have a list of all the characters, their relatives or NPCs that are big to their journey along with a tab of NPCs and important terms. One other thing that’s helped me with the lore is reading Dani Carr’s recaps and watching Luboffin‘s video recaps. She takes a three and half or four hour episode of Critical Role and summarizes it within twenty to thirty minutes on average. That’s impressive. This has helped me become more immersed in Aramán without getting lost.

The Soldiers Table Started Off With a Bang

The Soldiers Table was the best table to start off with. Their goals were clear: Thimble (played by Laura Bailey) wanted revenge on Casimir after he betrayed Thjazi leading to his execution. Teor (played by Travis Willingham) wants to find his brother, Cyd. Wick (played by Sam Riegel) is grappling with learning the truth about his family, House Halovar. Tyranny (played by Whitney Moore) tries to support Wick where she can. Then there’s Kattigan (played by Robbie Daymond). There’s a lot more to Kattigan that we don’t know yet and I like the element of mystery. I’m curious to see what Kattigan is all about. The episode where Thimble absolutely crushes Casimir, it was savage. It’s fun as a viewer to see the dice rolling in favor of the story and that’s what happened when Thimble confronted Casmir. Also, the Soldiers find Cyd, but not in the outcome they expected. It leaves intrigue, so when we revisit the Soldiers table, there’s still a lot to explore which I think is needed for this style of campaign.

The Seekers – Bring the Popcorn

When I say bring the pocorn, I meant it. The Seekers, arguably have had the most conflict thus far. As a side note, let’s talk about conflict in TTRPGs. I find it hard to believe that when you bring characters together in a campaign, they will magically get along. Everyone has different motivations and wants that may clash depending on what the other characters have going on. With that said, conflict in TTRPGs should always be a topic for a session zero. Some players may not want conflict in their games, and that’s okay! I love conflict because I think it can be an interesting story to tell. I feel fortunate that at my current table we are able to handle conflict maturely and we don’t hold it against the players playing as the characters. Getting back on topic, I think what makes this table interesting is how at odds everyone is. Julien’s (played by Matt Mercer) father was killed by Occtis’s (played by Alex Ward) family. Julien isn’t going to get over that and why should he? However, there was a moment in one of the last episodes where Julien sticks up for Occtis when the group comes after him. That shows growth in Julien for being able to separate Occtis from his horrible family. Thaisha (played by Aabria Iyengar) has had tough conversations with Vaelus (played by Ashley Johnson) as it’s unclear if Vaelus wants to resurrect her god. If she could, should she be able to? There was another conversation between Thaisha and Occtis that as a viewer, I enjoyed watching. Thaisha is on the defensive when it comes to a theory Occtis brings up and Occtis rebutts with feeling attacked by Thaisha at every turn and how he isn’t his family. Both characters are right and have valid reasons why they feel the way they do.

I think that if the Seekers can get through their personal conflict, they will come out as stronger allies for it. It will take time to get there.

The Schemers – Predictions

The Schemers table hasn’t started yet, but my prediction is that Bolaire (played by Taliesin Jaffe) will be my favorite out of the four. Bolaire’s story is fascinating to me with the association with the mask on his face. We have seen bits and pieces of the other three and I hope that Azune (played by Luis Carazo) will be spotlighted as I feel like I know the least about his character. With that said, Azune was featured in some of the intros before the episodes which has helped provide more back story as to why he is who he is.

Aramán has been such a delight to watch. I mentioned this before, but I genuinely look forward to new episodes every week. There’s so much to unpack with the world and the characters. I feel like I have so much more that I could say, so I might save that for a blog post to write in the future.