Brennan Lee Mulligan is a bard in his own right. Weaving worlds and stories around the decisions made by players to craft an epic tale across genres. “Dimension 20” has shown his ability to play in fantasy, sci-fi, and action with TTRPG newbies and veterans alike. With “Worlds Beyond Number,” Mulligan devised a world and story through three characters created by his closest friends and creative collaborators. Critical Role’s Calamity trilogy showed his ability to regale audiences with an epic fantasy saga within a world designed by Matt Mercer.

Mulligan builds worlds with and around the characters created by his players. Critical Role Campaign 4 will be his most impressive example of this yet. With a 13-person cast playing in a West Marches style. Mulligan has constructed the world of Aramán around each of the 13 characters and what the players hope to explore.

During an interview with Temple of Geek, Mulligan broke down why he built “Worlds Beyond Number’s” first major campaign around the three main characters. He specified that a three-person story is unique and that the title “The Wizard, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” was purposefully chosen.

Players Are The Key To Great Game Master’s World Building

Now, Mulligan breaks it down further, specific to the world of Aramán. He explained how important players are to the world-building process for Game Masters as a whole. But he then narrowed the field to how it relates to Aramán and what aspects of the world he focused in on.

Brennan Lee Mulligan: 

“The way I most like to work is to make enough of a world that you’re not offering people a blank page. I think it’s really hard to be creative given endless possibility. So, you wanna develop enough of a world that people have something to fall in love with, something to attach to. After that, you wanna define, like, I don’t know, that demons in this world, or I don’t know that fairies in this world, or I don’t know that whatever it is in this world would be as defined as they end up being without the choices made by players of what they want to focus on in the world building.

So around all of that, you find yourself often—I’ve said this before—that the focus and attention of players generates more world-building than is generated solo by any Game Master… Player love and attention is the most critical component of world-building because that’s where the focus of the story goes, right? What PCs fundamentally have is the camera. It follows them. The focus of the story goes where they go.

To that point, I’ll say this: Aramán is slightly more established in terms of its breadth and scope as a campaign world because of the feeling that you want to create in the PCs of living in a moment of grandiosity and significance… The tone or feeling of the world called for that moment where the people of Aramán are literally walking in the shadow of great decisions that came before them. I think that feeling of looming importance was like an important thematic kind of aroma for this first outing in this world.”

The world of Aramán remains largely a mystery. However, small aspects have been revealed through character art and the trailer. Chiefly, Campaign 4 seems to be kicked off by a man named Thjazi Fang, who is marked for death. Individuals from across his life, both friend and foe, must work together to discover the truth behind the mystery of his fate.

What Critical Role Campaign 4 Could Explore Throughout Aramán

Aramán seems primed for mystery, action, adventure, conspiracy, and intrigue. A world where the Gods are dead and the world has been fractured by not only this but also rebellion. While the lack of Gods would be interesting on its own, the mechanical aspect of Dungeons & Dragons adds an extra layer. Certain magic users gain their power from Gods which leaves the question, where will their power come from?

Thjazi Fang’s narration in the trailer also sets up many enticing possibilities with the trouble he alludes to. Why was he marked for death? Who are his enemies? The Falcon Rebellion, the Sundered Houses, and the Revolutionary Council all seem to point to political intrigue. This could potentially play a major part in the campaign. Meanwhile, the other piece worth noting is the Gods haven’t been gone too long, with Fang referring to grandparents rising up against them.

This means that the world is likely still dealing with the aftermath of this monumental shift in the world. How did it shift the power in the world? Who rose? Who fell? Did more rebellions kick off in the aftermath of this? Mulligan will no doubt answer these questions in epic fashion during the campaign. But perhaps even more fascinating is how each of the 13 characters plays into these corners of the world that Mulligan has forged.

Campaign 4 of Critical Role premieres on YouTube, Twitch, and Beacon on October 2nd at 7pm PT.