There's no way to say this other than bluntly which is that Imogen is uniquely treated as the main character within her campaign as compared to any other CR campaign and it's either very ignorant, very stupid, or very deliberately obtuse to say otherwise.
Vax's prominent position in the story of Vox Machina is still nowhere near as central as Imogen is to Bells Hells, and is the result of choices Liam made in the story rather than being assigned main character by narrative, but everyone gets a quite satisfying arc. The Chroma Conclave story is specifically designed to tie into every single character (not just through the vestiges, but also with Thordak's ties to the twins, Raishan's tie to Keyleth, Umbrasyl's to Pike and Grog, and Vorugal's originally to Tiberius, with Dr. Dranzel and Kaylie often in the line of fire to heighten stakes for Scanlan and Ripley's involvement to do the same for Percy, who also already had a very central arc with the Briarwoods anyway). Most other plots are similarly crafted to fairly evenly dole out boons custom-made for the characters, because Campaign 1's origins as a home game meant that it was tailor-made to said characters as a party, without any further agenda.
Meanwhile, Caleb and Beau's interests and skills are prominent throughout Campaign 2 because Critical Role had by then pivoted into telling an ongoing story of Exandria, and a major focus of the campaign is the war in which their country and institutions (former or present) were involved, but similarly, everyone gets their moment in the sun even if it is not as obvious and literal as "each of you gets a vestige specifically made for your abilities and character arc." Even if they are less invested in the war, we see Jester learning the truth about the Traveler and deciding what her future relationship with him looks like, Fjord doing much the same with Uk'otoa (and later the Wildmother), Caduceus rescuing his family and expanding his horizons, Veth getting her body back and learning who she can be when given opportunities outside of Felderwin, and Yasha working through her grief. We see the entire party, in the end, return to lives that they have now actively chosen, having gone through this character development, instead of the ones expected for them by default.
Campaign 4 is West Marches; no one is in the spotlight continuously because they're only on screen a third of the time. We are obviously early in that story, but we do know that there was quite extensive pre-game planning such that the characters are prepared for a story that does not focus necessarily on them other than through their pursuit of the plot. They are all connected to Thjazi in some manner, and his death is the domino that sets all of them, with all their own interests and rich connections to the world and to each other, in motion. The characters all have different roles within the story and as we're still relatively early on some have had more to do than others - that's how a story works - but you'd be hard-pressed to argue any one individual is notably more important. Everyone is at this point at minimum deeply connected to either the cosmological or political questions of the story, if not both.
And then there's Campaign 3.
You can pretty much tell the story of Campaign 3 and treat everyone but Imogen as interchangeable or disposable. She is the only main quest character, and everyone else's problems and concerns are relegated to a few sidequest episodes that, unlike C1 and C2 sidequests, do not feed back into the whole and feel perfunctory rather than a digression with meaningful consequences. The elemental/eidolon focus of the Hishari and titan shards; Chetney's (never explained or significantly explored) connection to Ruidus through his lycanthropy; Delilah; even Fearne literally being herself Ruidusborn and the biological daughter of one of Ludinus's generals, barely matter. Orym's past ties him to Ludinus, but gives him no real action items or room to grow unless he forces the decision that no one else wants to make. FCG's arc is strong, but it ends before the final choice is made. Most of the focus on characters other than Imogen feels like it's trying to get their issues squared away as quickly as possible so we can focus on the moon - quickly freeing Ashton of their obligations to Jiana, one-and-done resolving Chetney's struggles with lycanthropy with zero exploration of why Ruidus had any impact on him or why the Weave Mind gave a shit, or having Essek bind Delilah after she barely caused any trouble, just to name a few.
This is not, to be clear, an accusation of main character syndrome. In fact I think one of the biggest reason Campaign 3 struggles as a story is that Laura at no point seems to actually want to be in the driver's seat and the narrative screeches to an interminable halt because of her indecision (and because Matt does not force the issue; a reluctant main character is not an unheard of trope but the decision must be made in the end). But if you're whining about how such-and-such character in another campaign is equally the main character and we're just oh so mean to Imogen specifically...that's simply not true. Every other campaign tells its story either through each of the various characters' arcs (C2), or with the arcs unfolding alongside the plot (C1, C4), whereas Campaign 3 mostly treats everything but Imogen's arc as something to quickly eliminate so we can focus on the Moon Plot, for which only Imogen is really necessary. And then we and the entire world must wait until Imogen makes up her mind, which she doesn't, and so the plot drags along miserably until the Raven Queen sees something that has gone on too long and mercifully severs the thread, freeing us all so we could go watch Divergence and Wildemount Wildlings.
Of course, you can dispute this; but given that pretty much everyone who thought Campaign 3 was good expected there to be significant post-Moon Plot story arcs and pitched a fit about the cast ending the story abruptly to hit their 10 year anniversary, I think it's impossible to now believably claim that other characters (or, for that matter, Imogen as Laura envisioned her) were sufficiently served by the narrative rather than pushed past to tell a story none of them, even Imogen, particularly cared about. For all I have my criticisms, and for all it was pretty clear that the Moon Plot was it, I do wish there had been a Campaign 3 that actually showcased Bells Hells as they were envisioned by the players. But there wasn't.
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
jbbartram-illu
pixelskylines
janainaart
