Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to check back in on The Mighty Nein, our loose assemblage of rebels, rogues, and ne’er-do-wells transposed from the tabletop ramblings of Critical Role to the more focused format of animated adventuring. After several episodes spent introducing the various members of our crew, the conclusion of our last installment saw them at last assembled, as they are collectively accused of engineering a massacre that only some of them were even partially responsible for.
It’s frankly a great way to bring a group together, in my estimation. “You all meet at a tavern” offers neither a collective goal to accomplish nor a reason to act as a unit – “you’re all prisoners who must collectively prove your innocence” provides both, giving your players a strong mechanical incentive to both follow the plot and try to get along while doing it. And though you might think such an approach narrows your players’ range of agency, it’s closer to the opposite; because such a conceit removes your players’ need to follow a specific path purely because the plot demands it, they’re actually more free to react honestly within those limitations, and do exactly what they think their characters would do. Greater degrees of narrative freedom can at times just force the players to do the DM’s work for them, and subordinate their characters’ personalities to the needs of the plot; unless you’re going for an absolutely narrative-free sandbox, it’s generally a smart choice to provide a firm narrative lead rather than force the players to invent one.
Anyway, as you might have guessed from the suddenly craft-oriented nature of my coverage, we have indeed reached the point where The Mighty Nein’s tabletop adventures actually began. Let’s see how they handle this impromptu call to action as the saga continues!