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Critical Role: Voice Actors Playing D&D

F

Famassu

Member
Alpha Centauri said:
Agreed Travis ribbs people for funny/stupid shit, but it's always in a jokey / positive manner. Except with Orion of course. With Sam, they'll shittalk each other about football.

Can you give some examples where he just straight up insults someone? I really can't remember anything like that. Maybe making fun of Keyleth's goldfish stunt?
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He's been a bit of a dick towards Marisha (and not in a similarly joke-y fashion he is towards Sam, for example), but yeah, he was the worst towards Orion. Don't remember the exact episode(s) or moment(s), but he reeeeeally got impatient with Orion's antics (I think one particularly moment was in Orion's last or second to last episode when they were preparing for something in the city) and acted like a big fucking baby a few times, especially around the time of Orion's last 5-10 episodes. He wasn't, like, "you dumbass, GTFO" to him, not THAT direct, but rude still and might've said something like "oh for fuck's sake", though that might've been under his breath so I'm not sure if Orion even heard it.

His behaviour kind of soured me on him & Grog as a character altogether for a while. Really started to dislike him as a person, though what he did as Grog was still funny. He just came off as the stereotypical jockey type who lashes out with his patience of a 1 year old. He hasn't been as bad since Orion left but sometimes he's still clearly a bit needlessly harsh/impatient towards Marisha at times. Other people can take jabs at her too but those feel more like "ok, Keyleth, let's hurry things along, get to the point" whereas Travis is reeeeally bad at hiding his frustration towards her. Not necessarily verbally so it's easy to miss unless you're paying attention, but still, I think Travis is easily the worst when it comes to being rude as a person.
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
Oh hey, looks like a lotta Critical Role conversation this week, let's just see what they're ta...

giphy.gif
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
They're all a great bunch of people, and we've all watched literally hundreds of hours of them interacting with each other at this point.

The fact that we just have small quibbles about very occasional behavior speaks volumes about their quality as people and about how petty and unnecessary fan forum disputes can be.

#Let'sPositiveThinking!
 
R

Rockin' Ranger

Member
Famassu said:
Again, I do share a lot of your criticism. His game was too tightly structured and did leave too little agency to players and didn't really have any way to affect anything in the outcome. But the players seemed to enjoy the WTFiness of it and yours is a particularly cynical way of reading the end. I don't think there was much "look at how awesome I am for giving this kind of selfless speech" to it. Liam just seemed to think it'd be fun to put his friends into nightmares he's had and the finale to be a twist that allowed him to show his appreciation. He just should've planned a bit more to allow for a bit more flexibility & chances for the players to affect the game.
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The structure and story are why I watched a bit of the first episode he DMed before deciding to skip it. It seemed like a fun one shot for his friends to go through but not something that was particularly entertaining to watch as an outsider.
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
Famassu said:
think you're reading too much into looks & tone. He can be a bit insisting but that doesn't equal rude. Perhaps a tiny bit snippy if he's a little disappointed he can't do something cool he had thought for his turn & Matt shoots his attempt down due to rules (who hasn't had those moments when rules get in the way of awesome and been a bit pissy about it :p ). Don't think his attitude, even when he has been a bit frustrated, has ever been directed at Matt, more just general frustration. Again, Travis has been far worse an asshole towards people; with actual meant-to-insult words too, not just looks and tones.


Again, I do share a lot of your criticism. His game was too tightly structured and did leave too little agency to players and didn't really have any way to affect anything in the outcome. But the players seemed to enjoy the WTFiness of it and yours is a particularly cynical way of reading the end. I don't think there was much "look at how awesome I am for giving this kind of selfless speech" to it. Liam just seemed to think it'd be fun to put his friends into nightmares he's had and the finale to be a twist that allowed him to show his appreciation. He just should've planned a bit more to allow for a bit more flexibility & chances for the players to affect the game.

And also again, Liam has gotten far better at actually interacting with people rather than monologing at them. I don't even remember the last time he did the whole "and then I walk away" thing seriously. After the other players started doing it as a friendly jab at him, he mostly stopped doing it after awhile and the couple of times I do remember it more recently ( like, episode 50 recently), it was as more of a joke acknowledging his past silly tendencies to do so, not as overly dramatically as before.
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Even though I was just trying to smooth things over earlier today, I'm a base creature. I was just watching some pretty recent episodes today
Scanlan's departure and the episode after
and he displayed some nonsense.

Scanlan talked about not feeling like the party really knew him or appreciated him and only kept him around to provide for them. Vax's responses were all about how he (Vax) felt and how depressed he had been. You might say, "What's the big deal?" but within the context of his self indulgent navel gazing throughout the game, the fact that he tried to make Scanlan's outburst and departure about himself was par for the course and a bit annoying.

Then in the next episode when they were going to charter a boat, he went up to the guy on the dock and basically just said "can we have a discount?". Matt responded, "discount?", in character (as in, "let the haggling commence"), and then Liam immediately got all pissy and says, "Never mind, you guys do it. I just got shat upon. There was no roll at all, the dice are necessary all the time except for when it comes to me! Go, go!". Matt says, "Alright... Vax walks off before making his point and doesn't make a roll" and Liam responds, "Yeah, whatever Matthew. What roll!?". All with lots of eye rolling and dirty looks included. Everyone was actively trying to laugh it off so things wouldn't get awkward, but it still was, and Matt honestly looked confused and offended. That's the sort of behavior I'm talking about. Is it world ending, or enough to make me hate the guy? Not at all. But I do feel he displays some obnoxious behavior in and out of character.
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
.JayZii said:
Even though I was just trying to smooth things over earlier today, I'm a base creature. I was just watching some pretty recent episodes today
Scanlan's departure and the episode after
and he displayed some nonsense.

Scanlan talked about not feeling like the party really knew him or appreciated him and only kept him around to provide for them. Vax's responses were all about how he (Vax) felt and how depressed he had been. You might say, "What's the big deal?" but within the context of his self indulgent navel gazing throughout the game, the fact that he tried to make Scanlan's outburst and departure about himself was par for the course and a bit annoying.

Then in the next episode when they were going to charter a boat, he went up to the guy on the dock and basically just said "can we have a discount?". Matt responded, "discount?", in character (as in, "let the haggling commence"), and then Liam immediately got all pissy and says, "Never mind, you guys do it. I just got shat upon. There was no roll at all, the dice are necessary all the time except for when it comes to me! Go, go!". Matt says, "Alright... Vax walks off before making his point and doesn't make a roll" and Liam responds, "Yeah, whatever Matthew. What roll!?". All with lots of eye rolling and dirty looks included. Everyone was actively trying to laugh it off so things wouldn't get awkward, but it still was, and Matt honestly looked confused and offended. That's the sort of behavior I'm talking about. Is it world ending, or enough to make me hate the guy? Not at all. But I do feel he displays some obnoxious behavior in and out of character.
Click to expand...

Here's the moment in question (Episode 86 "Daring Days"): https://youtu.be/OrOZRVxyR3I?t=3h29m26s

And he's smirking and laughing. And as everyone else is laughing he plays into it more joking even more about it. Matt is laughing even before Liam goes into it initially. Liam even cites the ongoing gag of "And I walk off."

In fact, the whole incident is sparked by Talliesin ribbing Liam by saying "She's much better at this than you are."

Honestly the more you talk about Liam the more it seems like:
offensive-crackers1vsi8.jpg
Click to expand...

You've unknowingly developed a bias my friend.
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
Jest Chillin said:
Here's the moment in question (Episode 86 "Daring Days"): https://youtu.be/OrOZRVxyR3I?t=3h29m26s
Click to expand...

No, Jay has a point.

The sequence of events as I see them:

1) Liam tried to ask for a discount, clearly thinking he'd get a dice check.
2) Tailesin made an in-game comment about Liam's attitude, to which Liam hushed him to imply that he wanted to see if it would work.
3) When Matt immediately did not gratify Liam's request, Liam got pissy, and it seems like he stealth accused Tailesin of influencing Matt's RPing.
4) Everyone treats this as a joke - except Liam. His body language suggests that he is pissed off.
5) Tailesin laughs at him for being pissed off, to which everyone tries to laugh it off. Liam implies that Tailesin is Matt's favorite.
6) Liam looks at Laura, stone faced as she laughs it off. When she turns and sees how ridiculously fucking serious he is, she instantly recognizes how childish he is being and her entire attitude changes.
7) Matt then tells Liam point blank that he was going to get a dice check if he just had stuck around. There's a bit of authority in Matt's voice, letting Liam know that "dude, it's just a game".
6) Everyone is laughing again as Liam asks "what roll?" and Matt responds with "alright" in the tone of "we're not fuckin' doing this right now".

So, yeah, Liam was rather pissed off in that moment. And he made Matt, and it seems Tailesin and Laura, rather uncomfortable.

For someone that reminds the audience and his fellow cast members that it's just a game (remember: he literally took Laura's dice from her when she was upset that Percy died), he likes to fuck around at the expense of it.

Now, would this be considered nitpicking or imposing my views? Maybe. But I will much rather discuss this than another human's private fight with chemical dependency.
 
B

Brashnir

Member
Are we really going over this old incident like it's the Zapruder Film?

And if so, if Percy was in the book depository, who was on the grassy knoll?

Back. And to the left. Back and to the left
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
HP_Wuvcraft said:
No, Jay has a point.

The sequence of events as I see them:

1) Liam tried to ask for a discount, clearly thinking he'd get a dice check.
2) Tailesin made an in-game comment about Liam's attitude, to which Liam hushed him to imply that he wanted to see if it would work.
3) When Matt immediately did not gratify Liam's request, Liam got pissy, and it seems like he stealth accused Tailesin of influencing Matt's RPing.
4) Everyone treats this as a joke - except Liam. His body language suggests that he is pissed off.
5) Tailesin laughs at him for being pissed off, to which everyone tries to laugh it off. Liam implies that Tailesin is Matt's favorite.
6) Liam looks at Laura, stone faced as she laughs it off. When she turns and sees how ridiculously fucking serious he is, she instantly recognizes how childish he is being and her entire attitude changes.
7) Matt then tells Liam point blank that he was going to get a dice check if he just had stuck around. There's a bit of authority in Matt's voice, letting Liam know that "dude, it's just a game".
6) Everyone is laughing again as Liam asks "what roll?" and Matt responds with "alright" in the tone of "we're not fuckin' doing this right now".

So, yeah, Liam was rather pissed off in that moment. And he made Matt, and it seems Tailesin and Laura, rather uncomfortable.

For someone that reminds the audience and his fellow cast members that it's just a game (remember: he literally took Laura's dice from her when she was upset that Percy died), he likes to fuck around at the expense of it.

Now, would this be considered nitpicking or imposing my views? Maybe. But I will much rather discuss this than another human's private fight with chemical dependency.
Click to expand...

I rewatched it, again, and I can't think of anything to say other than that is a seriously bad read on the situation. And looking up at the page previously... yup, you also seem to be carrying some negativity towards Liam for whatever reason. Literally everyone is laughing the whole time. The chat during the live show was also laughing.

I feel like perhaps you guys are missing the fact that these are all extremely close friends who give each other shit all the time. Like Vax vs.Grog prank war is clearly an extension of Liam and Travis' relationship outside the game or Percy and Keyleth's friendship being an extension of Talliesin and Marisha's friendship outside the game. As a result you're reading far too deeply into what is primarily friends giving each other shit while they're playing a game.

For example, in the same episode you have this: https://youtu.be/OrOZRVxyR3I?t=3h3m4s

Where Matt mentions that it's "Noonish" and Liam mentions Mcree's iconic line (It's High noon time) to Laura (so low the mics barely pick it up) and Matt immediately interrupts his own narration with "Don't you even go there" and again.. the table that heard it laughs and Matt jokes about it as well. Matt's comment is obviously defensive in this instance, yet nobody mentions it in the thread but a moment where Liam jokes about not getting a roll in the same episode turns into "man Liam is such an asshole." And remember, these are all VA's who have all undoubtedly experienced the "can you say ____ line?" numerous times in their career, so Liam is not making some taboo comment by whispering under his breath to Laura.

So at this point, how much of this is Liam actually being an asshole and how much of it is internal bias?

As for bringing up Orion... I'm not sure why you mention that at all tbh.
 
Z

Zod the Bear

Member
Just to weigh in on Discountgate, it seemed pretty clear to me that that was faux-outrage as Liam was doing a bit.

I joke similarly every now and again with friends...works well with long running friends, doesn't always land with people that don't know me.
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
Is anyone else still wondering if there is another shoe waiting to drop with Scanlan? I feel just as paranoid as Vox Machina and keep going back and forth between "Awesome he's totally back" and "Is this a long con?". I'm 95% sure he's done throwing curve balls, but with Sam it's hard to know for sure.
Jest Chillin said:
I rewatched it, again, and I can't think of anything to say other than that is a seriously bad read on the situation. And looking up at the page previously... yup, you also seem to be carrying some negativity towards Liam for whatever reason. Literally everyone is laughing the whole time. The chat during the live show was also laughing.

I feel like perhaps you guys are missing the fact that these are all extremely close friends who give each other shit all the time. Like Vax vs.Grog prank war is clearly an extension of Liam and Travis' relationship outside the game or Percy and Keyleth's friendship being an extension of Talliesin and Marisha's friendship outside the game. As a result you're reading far too deeply into what is primarily friends giving each other shit while they're playing a game.

For example, in the same episode you have this: https://youtu.be/OrOZRVxyR3I?t=3h3m4s

Where Matt mentions that it's "Noonish" and Liam mentions Mcree's iconic line (It's High noon time) to Laura (so low the mics barely pick it up) and Matt immediately interrupts his own narration with "Don't you even go there" and again.. the table that heard it laughs and Matt jokes about it as well. Matt's comment is obviously defensive in this instance, yet nobody mentions it in the thread but a moment where Liam jokes about not getting a roll in the same episode turns into "man Liam is such an asshole." And remember, these are all VA's who have all undoubtedly experienced the "can you say ____ line?" numerous times in their career, so Liam is not making some taboo comment by whispering under his breath to Laura.

So at this point, how much of this is Liam actually being an asshole and how much of it is internal bias?

As for bringing up Orion... I'm not sure why you mention that at all tbh.
Click to expand...
Joking around like that is totally fair game, it just depends on whether the person doing it can pull it off or not. Context and execution of these things matter. As I've said, the behavior is occasional and I don't find it world ending or Liam to be a terrible person because of it. I do feel that his self seriousness a lot of the time makes me find his behavior a bit annoying to me. Kind of an "I can joke when I feel like it, but nobody joke at my expense or one-up my scenes" tone. Another example would be Laura's amazing bathtub scene at the end of a trademark go-nowhere Vax conversation that seemed to genuinely bother him. Like he brought it up for weeks on Talks Machina and the show proper afterwards, and not in a "haha that was funny" way. Maybe I've known people in the past whose self seriousness led to a walking on eggshells mentality around that person that Liam's behavior reminds me of. Maybe that's biased, but what are opinions if not biased? I'm bad at expressing it, but something about the vibe Liam has under the surface (not the superficial "see he is physically laughing right now so everything is cool" part) does get under my skin a bit. Maybe I read into the entire casts' facial expressions and body language too much? Maybe he just needs to work on his resting bitch face and it would solve my perceived issues?

Now let's move on because I can literally nitpick and argue unnecessary bullshit forever. None of this actually matters much and this extended discussion of it makes it seem like a much bigger deal than it actually is to me.
 
N

NewGame

Banned
HP_Wuvcraft said:
That would be the worst.
Click to expand...

my character is a half elf half vampire half dragon who is a warlock/fighter and he has a big anime sword and when he enters the room he kills a guy and says 'nothing personal' he also rides a giant wolf that is also half dragon and vampire and also-
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
HP_Wuvcraft said:
You know, for a planning episode, this was actually really good. Probably cause it's near the end.
Click to expand...
For sure. I think being at the same table actually helped the planning session. They were within arms reach, could catch each others' glance more easily, and generally felt like they were working together more since they didn't have to shout across the room to do it.

I'm excited to see a battle using the new setup. I think they'll be able to strategize and work together more by being able to see the board clearly and point out exactly what they want to do. Sometimes they just kind of told Matt what they wanted to do and hoped for the best when their view of the map across the room wasn't great.
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
.JayZii said:
I'm excited to see a battle using the new setup. I think they'll be able to strategize and work together more by being able to see the board clearly and point out exactly what they want to do.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that with the new set up too. Having to do everything through monitors and long distance laser pointers was kinda rough for them.
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
Jay Shadow said:
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that with the new set up too. Having to do everything through monitors and long distance laser pointers was kinda rough for them.
Click to expand...
I think it will add something for the battles to be more "players vs DM" rather than "DM vs players but also the DM is helping them out with positioning and tactics because they can't quite tell what's going on on the map".
 
M

Maximo

Member
.JayZii said:
I think it will add something for the battles to be more "players vs DM" rather than "DM vs players but also the DM is helping them out with positioning and tactics because they can't quite tell what's going on on the map".
Click to expand...

Im honestly surprised it took them this long to just make one table.
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
Evolution of Table Setup:

Home Game:
critrolehomegame7ispb.jpg


First Setup:
Can't find a picture of but it was 3 tables. Two tables placed back to back lengthwise and a third table pushed against those two at the "head" position for Matt to use. They later split the two player tables to allow space in the middle for camera positioning seen below.

Second Setup:
Can be seen in this video (Link is timestamped). Same as the first setup but, like I mentioned spaced further apart for camera placement.

Third Setup:
Can be seen in this video (Link is timestamped). Places Matt across the room from the players tables, which are slanted.

Fourth Setup:
critrolerecentoldsetu43s23.jpg
Click to expand...
Similar to the third setup. This is after the Geek and Sundry studio redesign and has the first Crit Role specific Set dressing. In the blurry foreground you can just see Matt's table and DM screen. You can also see the Monitor the players were to use to see the board.

Bonus Vid: A day in the life of the old Pit Crew (GnS crew) on a Thursday and what they go through to set up the various shows. This is after Legendary bought Geek and Sundry and the production moved so they have a bigger studio space with multiple sets. It gives a bit better of an idea of Matt's spot and the set dressing that went behind him.
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
Jest Chillin said:
This is after Legendary bought Geek and Sundry and the production moved so they have a bigger studio space with multiple sets.
Click to expand...
Legendary buying Geek and Sundry predates Critical Role. It predates the twitch channel completely. Geek and Sundry at the time of purchase was just a Youtube channel looking for crowd funding after Youtube bailed on funding content creators.
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
Jay Shadow said:
Legendary buying Geek and Sundry predates Critical Role. It predates the twitch channel completely. Geek and Sundry at the time of purchase was just a Youtube channel looking for crowd funding after Youtube bailed on funding content creators.
Click to expand...

You're right. It was the Dalian Wanda acquisition of Legendary that I was thinking of, which relatively quickly resulted in a a change in direction for the Twitch channel and big turnover with the staff.
 
J

.JayZii

Banned
What are peoples' theories on the
Delilah resurrection? Clone spells? Is she a Lich herself? Some sort of illusion when they thought they killed her? Just some Vecna non-Player's Handbook spell hijinks?
 
M

Maximo

Member
.JayZii said:
What are peoples' theories on the
Delilah resurrection? Clone spells? Is she a Lich herself? Some sort of illusion when they thought they killed her? Just some Vecna non-Player's Handbook spell hijinks?
Click to expand...

Believe she was high enough level to use the clone spell, when they first met she already had access to a 8th level spell.
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
Gotta compliment Laura on the complete lack of meta gaming. For as many times as she's been hit by finger of death, she still had no idea what the ultimate full effect was.
 
A

Arrrammis

Member
So many "that's what you get for not preparing" thoughts going through my mind here, but let's see where this goes.

Fingers crossed for Grog pulling a bunch of cards
 
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