Worlds Beyond Number: The Children's Campaign Review

Our players built their characters for the main arc of The Wizard, The Witch, and The Wild One in this campaign. The Children's Campaign is a beautiful story only for the patrons of Worlds Beyond Number.

I had finished listening to it before starting the primary campaign. You don't have to do as I did. I just wanted the broader context.

Let's dive right into it!

The Ghibli Vibes

There's something about this entire first campaign that feels like a Ghibli movie. At first, I did not know if that was correct because I only heard people say it. I heard Brennan mention one of his favorite movies, My Neighbor Totoro, on the internet. So I watched it and could see where the Ghibli vibes came from.

The swift actions of people, the fast magic, and giving children a hard time are staples of Ghibli's films. The Children's Campaign is a testament of love from the cast to those movies.

Story-Driven Character Creation

One thing I loved to see during this campaign was the character creation process. Brennan took the players through story events. After each of these events, he would allow them to roll their next ability score.

The campaign is only eight episodes long. The players build their character sheets through the campaign. It allowed them to decide what they take into adulthood.

The Prequel to it all

There's mention of the beginning of a multi-year story throughout this arc. I loved how you can already see the ripples of this campaign in the first episode through the main story.

This campaign also set the traditions at this table, like whether to use a dice that fell on the floor.

If you haven't started listening to the primary campaign - I recommend you start with this one first. We'll talk about that more below.

There's Still Darkness

These are children, so you'd think the world would be kinder to them. But no, just like a girl sees her parents transformed into pigs and is forced to work in Spirited Away, this campaign isn't "easy" on the children either.

Some moments made me weep.

There was always another step forward or some growth from those situations. Sometimes, it seems like children are more hardy than we give them credit for.

The World is Rich In Opportunities

Although the campaign is set only in one place, it's evident how small the world of children is. We viewers get a sense the world is rich and vibrant. Once we leave this place and get to the primary campaign, there's much to explore.

Whether it's the people the story introduces to us or the items we interact with, the world is vaster than it seems.

The Main Campaign Will Hit Different

I put off listening to the main podcast episodes until I finished the children's campaign. And it's July as of writing these words - it's been five months since Worlds Beyond Number launched. And it was totally worth the wait.

There were SO many tiny details I wouldn't have connected with had I not listened to that campaign.

This Campaign Only Lives on Patreon

This article is a review, not a recap, like I do for D20. And you may have noticed I did not include a spoiler warning at the beginning either. This campaign is a Patreon project that lives only under the paywall. I want to honor the cast's decision to share this campaign only with their patrons.

If you are interested in Worlds Beyond Number and the children's campaign, please visit their Patreon and give them some love.

What did you think about this mini-story? Do you agree it makes the primary campaign hit differently? I'd love to chat with you in the comments about WBN all day!