Rockin' Ranger
Member
Grog and Scanlan really need to do things on their own more often.
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Critical Role: Voice Actors Playing D&D
- Thread starter Henchmen21
- Start date
Alpha Centauri
Member
I love that the first thing they think to do is lie. Especially Scanlan. He isn't wanted or anything, why make up random shit haha
This is great. They just keep digging
This is great. They just keep digging
Stream Of Annihilation was on recently and there were some neat games with other cool GMs. Even more if you start looking for Podcasts where people are playing D&D hitting the ground running and manage to make things work
So if Matt were playing in a game it wouldn't be enough for you?
Scanlan is going to get 2 big sacks of fake drugs before the night is out.
edit - oh, Greg.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
And here I thought Matt would reel it in for the apocabattle.
Henchmen21
Banned
When they do make new characters, I hope Travis plays a wizard. Not only so he can learn to do spellcasting in D&D but the fun of watching him go from big meat shield to can die from a sneeze will be fun.
Rockin' Ranger
Member
I hope he plays a smarter character because Travis seems like he's one of the best in the group at planning things but doesn't really take part because Grog is dumb.
Feels like sometimes people forget this is a game a bunch of friends are playing that they graciously let us watch and not some invention of G&S. Matt can't leave Critical Role, he is Critical Role. If he leaves the show leaves. Next campaign can't have a new cast or new DM because this is their game and will continue to be.
She's actually cried. Not even close to being the most invested she's been. I'm surprised how lightly they all took to Vax being turned into dust, really. No one was bawling their eyes out. Percy's death was far more emotional & shocking to them.
Henchmen21
Banned
Well Wizards use Intelligence for their spellcasting so that would be a given.
edit: What Szeth said. This is their thing, it's not going to be other players or another DM. If anyone leaves (assuming no bad blood happens in the interim), they all leave.
Alpha Centauri
Member
It would be an uphill battle, but I'd try to give the new DM a chance. For me specifically, I don't search out any and all things DnD. I've never played Pen and Paper, although I certainly am interested in trying it some day. I have seen a few videos of people like Satine, Chris Perkins, Matt Colville, etc. and they all seem great in their own right. I would probably LOVE to play a game DM'd by them. But watch 100+ episodes of a show with them as the DM? I don't know but I doubt it. I hope we won't have to find out in the case of Critical Role.
I think they struck gold here and it's not easily replicated for the masses. Inserting a new DM would be one of the riskiest things you could do to the show in terms of stability.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Yes and no. I don't believe that G&S would just let it go.
Henchmen21
Banned
Doesn't matter what G&S/Legendary think. Matt has said early on that he & the rest of the cast own the rights to the show so if they want to leave, G&S can't stop them.
Yeeeep this is the most important thing to remember. Matt was smart enough to keep the rights to everything. Which means no dumb executives to meddle with stuff like in TV or movies, thank god.
Jest Chillin
Member
More specifically, they can't have their show dicked around like Wil has had happen to both Tabletop and Titansgrave.
At one of the recent cons or another Matt was asked about if he wanted to move onto the side of PCs in Critical Role and the answer he gave made it sound like he much prefers to be the GM. So I don't think that he'd permantently move on to be a player, other than some one-shots here and there.
What's this about?
Henchmen21
Banned
The short of it? Blame Alpha
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
That was smart.
Jest Chillin
Member
Whoever it is that makes the decisions over at G&S time/pay gated Tabletop episodes behind Alpha's so that the episodes hit Youtube literally months after Alpha. And with Titansgrave, there's literally zero information. There was supposed to be a Season 2. The story was written and set to be played then released as a supplemental book just like the first season. And then... nothing. Wil comments on it on Reddit when people ask but all he says is he doesn't have any information on it. It's like they either won't tell him or he's contractually obligated not to speak about it.
Okay I don't want to yuck your yum but if D&D were TV Critical Role is more or less a soap opera in the teir of Young And The Restless/Bold And The Beautiful
This isn't a bad thing, but D&D is more than what you see on Critical Role; people in average games typically don't act out minutia scenes or spend hours on the interpersonal conflict that create tention but never actually affect gameplay. One of the reasons why I like the Scanlan player is that he actually tries to push against his character and play the role in a more grounded manner, retiring a character is not unusual but from a spectators point of view it's madness- But that's D&D! Characters can die, heroes can retire, the bad guy can win, the world and explode- that's why I like it so much because you can't expect anything, plans change and things fly out the window even at the best of times.
It's like playing some sort of team game like Overwatch, Dota2 or Counter Strike. When you watch professionals and organised teams play that is going to be far different than what you'd get if you just joined the game with randoms on a public server.
Ever since I started running 5e games I've found some random players who get angry because the other players at the table aren't just like the actors from Critical Role, while I love the surge in popularity I can't help but feel like the wrong impressions are being made. Oh well, the hobby still has a bright future and I'm sure things will only get better.
Change is good. Let there be change. Let Matt play the game he so often has to work for. I know the feeling of always the DM and never the player, always the host and never the guest.
all while still insinuating that it still exists.
That sounds like it could be NDAs. Like Alpha wants to make a big announcement, but doesn't want to announce it months in advance, and before it's officially announced, no one involved can say anything about it.
If it wasn't NDAs I'd imagine Wil could be more open and be all "yeah, it's coming but we just haven't been able to get around to film it yet due to schedule conflicts/there being some issues with production" or whatever is holding it back.
Alpha Centauri
Member
I absolutely agree. But that's partially my point. Critical Role is a soap opera. It's what allows them to have 25k live viewers, and the largest subscriber count of any channel. IMO there is a reason that something like this is succeeding vs a more traditionally standard dnd approach. I know that Critical Role is the bubble-gum pop version of DnD. Making it meatier or stronger might be a boon for more serious players, but for the average pleb like me? That's not what I'm looking for.
Not exactly apple-to-apples here, but the worst part of the entire series to me was the min-maxing of Tiberius. I'm legit in it for the storytelling, twists, and emotion that is evoked through their acting. The game portion of it is just a vehicle.
Maybe that's why The Witcher 3 is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Gameplay is just a vehicle for me unless I'm playing a MOBA or competitive shooter, etc.
Jest Chillin
Member
It's definitely NDA's or something along those lines. Wil has always been super upfront about it. However, since the Dalian Wanda acquisition of Legendary, there's been quite a lot of shuffle behind the scenes (damn near full staff turnover) and it just leaves questions. Maybe it's all internet conspiracy theory but from a viewer standpoint it looks a whole lot like the things we like are getting jerked around in an attempt to extract as much money from us as possible.
Edit:
Crit Role's appeal absolutely is the acting and atmosphere. The vast majority of DnD games are not fun to spectate or listen to. It's like Baseball if all the baseball players were murder hobos who wanted to sleep with everything in sight. I'm exaggerating. Mostly. The enjoyment of DnD for me, as both a viewer/listener and player is always the interaction. The dice rolls and gameplay are fun to an extent but the draw is always the interaction. Co-authoring the story with the game mechanics helping to keep things moving along.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Where is the lie?
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Yeah, Matt didn't just handwaive it like he's handwoven death fifty million other times on the show. He very clearly let Liam know that not only was this it, but that he had to choose to come back, and that choosing was attached to a few major strings.
Sam and Travis adventures are so much fun. I actually wanted to see them talk to the wish dude, but oh well. The "Sure... take this hat." moment killed me.
I can't believe people are suggesting they switch out Matt as DM or change players in the group.
They have an amazing dynamic that they've built up over years and that's not something you should mess with or replace on the fly. Just ask every other D&D or other tabletop game actual play show on the internet with nowhere near the chemistry. Why replace them if they are still interested in sharing their games? There are other shows out there you can watch if you want to see a different group of people playing. I'll take all I can get of this group of very likable and talented voice actors and improvisors doing their thang, thank you very much.
I can't believe people are suggesting they switch out Matt as DM or change players in the group.
They have an amazing dynamic that they've built up over years and that's not something you should mess with or replace on the fly. Just ask every other D&D or other tabletop game actual play show on the internet with nowhere near the chemistry. Why replace them if they are still interested in sharing their games? There are other shows out there you can watch if you want to see a different group of people playing. I'll take all I can get of this group of very likable and talented voice actors and improvisors doing their thang, thank you very much.
No. I don't drop my dog off at a shelter every couple years and go get a new one, either. Why fix what isn't broken with this show before they even try out some new characters?
Why is it important that Critical Role have a completely new cast when you can literally just watch another show, instead? These people are Critical Role. Dismantling it early just sounds like change for the sake of change to me.
Jest Chillin
Member
Matt literally spent years of his life creating Exandria. He's not going to hand the reins of it over to someone else while he takes the role of the player. It wouldn't work.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
What the fuck demands that kind of hostile response?
I've never really understood why it's a new world but still confined within D&D.
Pilgrimzero
Member
I found it funny that they were all so happy to have Vax back but where like "OK" after he told them it was temporary.
I assume it was to give him something to work off of, as well as giving people familiar with D&D something to latch onto. Total newbies find it all new anyway.
I'm curious to see if Matt strays further from the WotC material in the next campaign. We might even have a new pantheon depending on how this campaign ends.
Even they have their limit on melodrama.
Jest Chillin
Member
Well the game was Pathfinder previously. It's really not confined within DnD as much as it's just standard High Fantasy. The world itself is original as are a majority of the characters. The only thing standard-ish is the Pantheon but even the Pantheon varies from edition to edition of DnD. He uses the DnD Pantheon in name and theme but they aren't really straight versions from DnD and he had to abandon even those things for the Campaign Book.
Everything else that DnD is, is just a combat system. Pretty much anything could be plugged in, in that regard. 5e is just very straight forward and relatively fast. That's why he went with it.
Pilgrimzero
Member
Marisha laughs in the face of your melodrama limits!
Flying Toaster
Member
5E is stupid easy to use as a DM and a very good base system for players. The new direction they are going with (Wizards) makes the need for endless amounts of books a non issue now.
A lot of DM's myself included have merged previous RPG systems into 5E or have used just base 5E for mechanics and then added a hybrid the world around it.
People wanting to see a new DM for this game I don't get it. Matt is the soul of the game I don't think CR would work without him at least not the way everyone enjoys it at the moment.
AND HER MIC IS TOO LOUD WHEN SHE DOES IT!
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Matt leaving GM would be like a staple character leaving the show after six seasons for literally no fucking reason.
It seems incredibly unlikely to happen, so it's probably not even worth going into why it wouldn't make sense.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go back to eating muh Lucky Charms.
littleworm
Member
I guess Liam won't have to make a new character, after Vecna kills all of them. It'll be super emo Vax and a new band of heroes.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
New RPG show premiered tonight. Star Trek. Watching it now, it's pretty good. I'm willing to bet that this is the new show they intend to do between the Crit Role seasons. Otherwise, they have, what, 4 RPG shows?
Wow that's quite the set and costumes they have. The GM even has the gray Picard action jacket. I might have to give this a watch later.
Henchmen21
Banned
Crap. This thread just reminded me that Matt was going to be on the wednesday club. I don't watch it but was curious what they were going to do with him on
edit: That's not the Picard season 5 action jacket. It's an FC era uniform. The only TNG uniform is the girl in the Dr. Crusher garb. Everyone else is wearing DS9/VOY era uniforms.
edit: That's not the Picard season 5 action jacket. It's an FC era uniform. The only TNG uniform is the girl in the Dr. Crusher garb. Everyone else is wearing DS9/VOY era uniforms.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
The GM sets it in a very interesting and pretty much uncharted point in Trek history, and makes it seem like actual history instead of the usual Trekkie Fanboyism of "oh fuck, yeah, and then this happened". It's not a "you know Star Trek, this is the point in which our game is starting" rundown. He makes it seem very real, very tangible, and extremely small and personal.
This is very much a "normal people living in New York with superheroes" type feel.
The guy playing the captain definitely goes into Liam mode at one point, though.
Take my nerd card. I was just seeing what I wanted to see.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Ah, yes. The "this is a serious film" uniforms.
It doesn't help that Starfleet is a military organization with like 5 different uniform styles that may or may not simultaneously be in play at any given time.
The era when Picard dropped all that silly diplomacy nonsense and just started murdering people.
The era when Picard dropped all that silly diplomacy nonsense and just started murdering people.