How (and Why) to Remind Players of Past Adventures - Vox Machina, Ep. 38 | Critical Role Demystified 

In our first adventure, the party went up against an evil druid who was planning to make nature overtake the world by force, so obviously they had to stop that. In the process, they kinda really pissed off the druid and made him think that there was basically no salvation for the world, which, when the druid was killed, turned him into a Revenant seeking revenge and to end what he started but now with much less savory methods. The reveal when they returned to the place of the first adventure and it was nothing but overgrown dead nature and corpses was majestic.

we played a campaign based on the shackles campaign for pathfinder, set in a modified version of faerun (the continent had been split apart and the pirate islands were in the sea of the fallen stars, which was an ocean in this version). the dm had us play a prologue first, a caravan escort mission from baldurs gate to westgate. in westgate, we got to know the thieves guild and a dwarven clan and took on a mission for the temple of calistria. that mission ended with us getting stabbed in the back, as we were made to fall asleep and found ourselves waking up as slaves on a pirate ship. after lots of adventuring, which involved taking over the ship and becoming our own crew, traveling across the sea, being banished to an underwater city and returning, winning an island in a ship race, ridding said island of gnolls and cyclops and shars corruption, and much more, we made a trip to westgate in preparation for the finale. we met up with the thieves guild and the dwarven clan again, the latter of which was the background for my new character, as my old one had died for the final time in hell. the campaign also had us visit some locations repeatedly, but this was by far the greatest level gap between two times in the same place.

"Improving", (as in "improve," to "make better") or "improvising" (as in, to perform spontaneously without preparation)?

@@Antilles1974 The second. Sorry, it was autocorrect being weird.

It’s also the first moment I think the game really connected in a personal way for Sam. It was all fun and jokes before this, but now he actually has something to ground him as a character and player that isn’t just goofy. We can also thank this for resulting in some of the most heart wrenching moments later…

Me too! I loved their dynamic in this series

I actually started c1 BECAUSE of LoVM. CR was too intimidating for a long time, but the show eased me in. I do find it baffling how many people don’t watch it. I honestly think their most genuine D&D moments come from c1, and it’s really cool to see

Was just going to say that. Granted the mighty nein weren't exactly the best role models but they atleast tried and made a point of not actively putting the kid/non-combatents in danger when possible.

and Alfred Strangetide, the explorer guy

To be fair those were grown adults who just weren't cut out fir combat or dangerous exploration but had some reason to go along anyway.

It comes back into the story. As usual, hilarity ensues.

I have not yet! But hopefully soon :)

Which special? This was a regular episode

you need to stop interacting with content you dont like

Did you not pay attention? It's not "just" recapping the episodes one by one - it's a case study. Every single one of these episodes, Mike has introduced and pointed out an aspect of the CR game that can change up the way you play, or DM your own D&D game.

If you’re looking for a better use of your time, I’d suggest not complaining when you don’t have to. You also missed the entire point of the series…

I'm sorry you have no media literacy

@@Fang1241 What?