Creating Characters Matt Wants to Kill: Age of Umbra Session Zero

Creating Characters Matt Wants to Kill: Age of Umbra Session Zero
"Creating Characters Matt Wants to Kill: Age of Umbra Session Zero" (AUx00) thumbnail featuring Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, and Sam Riegel.
Episode	Age of Umbra,​ Episode 00 (AU1E00)
Airdate	2025-05-22 19:00 PDT
Running time	2:06:10
Episode link	VOD
Transcript	Transcript
Game system	Daggerheart
Starring
Taliesin Jaffe Ashley Johnson Marisha Ray Sam Riegel Travis Willingham and Matthew Mercer as the Game Master
Order
Next	"Age of Umbra: Desperloch" (AUx01)
Airdate Order
Previous	"The Elder Scrolls Online One-Shot" (Sx96)
Next	"Age of Umbra: Desperloch" (AUx01)

"Creating Characters Matt Wants to Kill: Age of Umbra Session Zero" (AUx00) is the Session Zero for the eight part Age of Umbra miniseries, featuring five of the Critical Role founding cast creating the characters they will play in it and tying them into the setting by creating "adventure hooks, locations, and campaign elements that will reemerge throughout the mini-series."

Synopsis

“

A century has passed since the god-king Othedias betrayed the Pantheon, referred to as the Veiled Gods, provoking divine punishment and abandonment by these gods who then left the realm that was and is known as the Halcyon Domain shattered, desolate, and eternally cursed. Throughout this shadow-choked land of decaying fortresses and dreadful monstrosities, surviving communities [the Enduring] cling to hope in the face of lightless oblivion. In an Age of Umbra campaign, you'll play as heroic survivors who protect their community from the terrors beyond their walls, venture out into the unknown to hunt the nightmares that twist and grow with each fallen soul, seek answers to the curses that corrupt this world, and perhaps even discover a way to change its fate, should you survive.

”

– 

Matt's introduction of the campaign frame.

[!h]

The landscape grows ever darker as the Umbra expands, an amorphous dark cloud-like entity with an unknowable intelligence that unpredictably sweeps through the land, destroying anyone not near a Sacred Pyre (massive bonfires providing safety which require constant tending). Ancient relics called Blessed Branches can create (or re-create) a Pyre. The ever-present storms and gloom only break over hallowed ground, or on mysteriously unpredictable days where the sun- or moon-beams grant boons or curses. Some believe the highest mountain peaks impossibly far away rise through the clouds, offering potential new homeland. The dead can be transformed by the Umbra into horrifying monsters. The Old World was toppled by the Veiled Gods when they departed a century ago, leaving the ruins which The Enduring now pick through. Although magic, called "Aetherweaving", exists in this world, it is regarded with deep suspicion by most as being responsible for the wrath of the Veiled Gods.

Relevant game mechanics:

• The Strength of Hate: Umbra-Touched creatures crit on a 19 or 20. When a PC dies, they can choose to take a Scar, permanently losing a Hope, but doing more damage based on the number of scars they have. On getting their last scar, the PC joins The Umbra.
• Sacred Pyres: Provide the only safe place to either short or long rest from the Lurking Darkness. PCs can Keep Watch instead of resting to roll to stave off this danger. The brightest, most visible Pyre is called Okros.

Created characters

Note: The characters' names weren't revealed until "Age of Umbra: Desperloch" (AUx01).

Actor	Character	Heritage	Class	Weapons	Armor	Experiences
Taliesin Jaffe	August	Underborne faerie	Wizard (School of Knowledge)	Wand, grappler	Gambeson	More Hands Make Less Work
Ashley Johnson	Misty	Highborne clank	Bard (Troubadour)	Returning blade	Gambeson	Soothing music
Marisha Ray	Brixton	Orderborne orc	Guardian (Stalwart)	Greatsword	Full plate	Historically Inspired, Calloused Hands
Sam Riegel	Snyx	Ridgeborne faun	Ranger (Wayfinder)	Boomerang (Glowing Rings), crossbow	Gambeson	Well-traveled
Travis Willingham	Idyl	Slyborne human	Seraph (Divine Wielder)	Halberd	Leather	Splendor

Created places

Player	Place	Description
Everyone	Desperloch	Settlement with a Sacred Pyre located on the outskirts of the Jungles of Aveidoora.
Sam Riegel	The Ever-Shifting Sinkholes	Series of ever-moving sinkholes where Snyx lost someone during a run.
Travis Willingham	Lumon Ruins	Ruins of an old temple on an island in the middle of water.
Marisha Ray	Firmament's Harrow	High peak within the Griefcleft Mountains.
Ashley Johnson	The Astrofoundry	An observatory located atop the Amber Reach.
Taliesin Jaffe	The Screaming Forest	A haunted forest located East of Okros with no sound within it and leafless trees that look like people frozen in place with their mouth and eyes wide open with terror; when the wind picks up, they make a sound like flutes.
Sam Riegel	Floating Orchard	Located off the coast near the Desperloch settlement; it is a mass of seaweed and kelp with berries in it but difficult to reach due to the sea creatures.

Quotations

• Sam: Matt, which one of us is going to die?
  Matt: You, Sam. It's always you.

Trivia

• Because Travis Willingham loves the show, "Lumon Ruins" is a reference to the TV series Severance following employees of a biotechnology corporation called Lumon Industries.

References

Art: