Whats wrong with this show?

Whats wrong with this show?

I've got an invite to jump in with a DND game soon, I've had zero experience in ttrpgs, and all these guys are also first timers having been playing about six months. Their experience prior to this was based entirely on watching critical role. As a guy with no history in dnd, can you explain why is there so much distain for this show?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=PTHFBxwJoZg
youtube.com/watch?v=AW_ASUL0k-Q
twitter.com/AnonBabble

It's a pretty broad mix of things.

Some people just don't enjoy the type of game they play, the comedy focused and jovial sort rather than really getting immersed in the game.

Others are annoyed that it's acting as a flagship for the hobby, disliking the impression it gives people of what roleplaying 'should' be.

And some people just hate it because its popular and its bringing 'normies' into their super secret club.

Personally I don't find it particularly offensive, but I've never really enjoyed watching people roleplay, regardless of who it is or what style they're using.

It's scripted. It's like the pro-wrestling of RPGs.

It might be what you enjoy, but don't take it as an example of a good organic roleplaying game.

Sets an unrealistic expectation of what every game will be. Also people often forget they are using a heavily modified version since they ported from PF.

Couple that with perpetuating the nat 20 meme and most of the characters being bland because their voice actors aren't the greatest at the game and you have a recipe for hate.

While I enjoy the show immensely it is the big bang theory of Veeky Forums related shows

False.

They're professional actors though.

It's not a good example of a general play session.

The people who do it are famous for playing games while the people who complain about it are not.

It's a gateway show to actually playing D&D, which means newbies, and Veeky Forums hates newbies. We'd rather the hobby die out with this generation than see newbies playing 5e and, heaven forbid, actually having fun.

Oh, and the show is a pre-scripted overblown not-actually D&D pile of crap, like others will say on here.

The show is just kinda 'meh.' The Penny Arcade podcasts (the older ones with Wil Wheaton, not Patrick Rothfuss, in particular) are much better.

>anything with Wil Wheaton
>better
Is this real life?

Travis is the best and if you disagree you are patently wrong.

Where did it come out critical role was scripted?

Wil drags the whole thing down but only a little. On the whole it's pretty good.

The only reason to watch Critical Role is to lose your last miniscule speck of faith in humanity before killing yourself. It is a gathering of hipster nu-males and screeching whores they plop at a table, add a ton of boring shit on the screen, and then proceed to laugh autistically over inane shit for 2.5 hours. It is basically a RoosterTeeth video, except with a D&D session attached. These people are the biggest faggots on the planet. Matt Mercer's homebrew is shit, he's passable at best as a DM, and the women can't do anything except make fart / period jokes because they are disgusting whores. The other fat-asses aren't much better and are likely just there for the free attention and a chance at scoring with used up voice actress cunts. If you spend your free time watching D&D, it is because you are a fucking social reject. Because you clearly cannot find a game. Because if you could find a game you would not be watching 2 to 3 hour episodes of these fags' "banter". I cannot think of anything more boring than watching some other people I don't give a fuck about, playing D&D. I'd rather paint my toenails with my dick cheese. What a fucking waste of time. I seriously hope Critical Role charters a bus and the bus crashes and they all fucking die. I am not even memeing, I fucking hate these cocksuckers, they are more obxnoious than the Yogscast/Roosterteeth, and they are flooding our hobby with these autistic youtube gaming addicts who will fuck up your D&D campaign and whine that it should be more like Skyrim.

>I've never really enjoyed watching people roleplay
Honestly I just don't like watching other people have fun. I don't like watching people play video games or RPGs or even sports. Sure I will watch a bunch of short clips of video game antics or the last five minutes of a football game, but watching people have fun just makes me wish I was playing football or dark souls or DnD.

>Sets an unrealistic expectation of what every game will be

No, I would say it sets a pretty solid expectation given that the chucklefucks who watch Crit Roll proceed to bring the retarded lol-randumb antics, and nat20 shrieking, to the games they play in. Also, "unrealistic expectations" makes it sound like Critical Roll is somehow better than your average RPG session. It isn't. If you find a DM with even a modicum of talent, he can do descriptions similar to Matt Mercer's, who isn't even that good. Really, the only good thing about Critical Roll is the voice acting. Right? Right? So that you can hear that dried up roastie cunt shriek when she rolls a 20 on whatever the fuck stupid antic roll she's making, but at least it will be in the voice of that chick from that videogame that was also in that TV show no one watched playing that character no one remembers.

Honestly who gives a fuck.

Tell me how you really feel.

I mean they've said in the past they're super hesitant to actually kill any of the PCs since their campaign has become a business and the fanbase is crazily attached to them. So other than them having a ton of plot armor, nothing really.

You say that, and then Matt literally kills Keyleth because she jumped off a huge cliff and splatted against the rocks. Granted, Vex Revivify's her shortly after.

Matt has actually instituted mechanics that make it easier for death to be permanent, where he rolls a die whose DC can be effected by checks performed by the party, with the base DC getting higher after every death. They're just at the higher levels of the D&D where death isn't really a problem anymore.

Mostly this. Why watch it when I could try doing it?

Also the whole thing where people think their game should be just like that style of play since that's all they've ever seen comes into effect. It can really lend to a lolsorandumb playstyle.

I don't know where you get your info, buddy. They openly discussed having new characters in the upcoming new campaign (starting at level 3) after this arc finishes, this Tuesday on Talk Machina.

Nothing wrong with it provided people don't just assume it's how everything should be.

They house rule some things, they over act in regards to some stuff and what not, but if people don't try and carbon copy it, especially Scanlan as most people don't have the charisma, it'll be fine.

I can't stand the over acting. I know that's kind of their thing, since they're all some kind of professionals, but it's extremely grating to me.

Much prefer Acq Inc (old and new) where they just act like a bunch of pals having a good time, with the exception of some of the stage shows but those are a different kind of fun. Plus Perkins and Holkins are amazing DMs.

Can someone recommend some actual good shows?

Role Playing Public Radio used to be pretty good, their stuff around 2013-2014 was probably the best AP stuff I've ever found.

They did a Candle Cove game that I remember was godlike.

I had to stop listening in cause of Caleb, who just sort of grated on me with the way he would shit on everyone.

When I tried to watch it, it was very clusterfucky, too many people talking at once.

Also, a lot of the characters are these very cliche weeaboo types that, granted, are super common in the actual gaming community, but which don't appeal to me.

But I mean, try it out and if you like it, watch it. Don't worry too much about what people on this board think.

>can you explain why is there so much distain for this show?

They try too hard to be entertaining instead of just playing the game and enjoying it.

it's an entertainment program

And as such it fails at it's other premise and ends up like Big Bang Tory on a shoestring budget.

>Caleb
The Better Angels campaign that he ran was pretty good, never really listened to anything else he did though.

Another point in Wil's favor, he's only the SECOND worst guest star Critical Role has had! First place goes to the person who did it with him, Felicia Day.

>Why watch it when I could try doing it?
I watch stuff like this in bits of 30-60 minutes between doing other stuff. Or when I'm sick.
Also, as I get older it's getting more and more difficult to make our group's schedules match

>Some people just don't enjoy the type of game they play, the comedy focused and jovial sort rather than really getting immersed in the game.
In 10 years of D&Ding I have never encountered a game that wasn't this. Critical role's probably better than any one Ii've actually been in.

Here is the obligatory post about High Rollers being better.
>Slightly more jovial attitude
>More guest characters
>Episode one is actually episode one and not jumping into an already-running campaign part-way through
>Mark (The DM) specifies when he's using custom rules
>Fanbase is slightly less cancerous

Obligatory Hulmes and Mercer:
youtube.com/watch?v=PTHFBxwJoZg

It's mushy lowest common denominator drama.
It's basically wish fulfillment fantasy. Like one of the characters wrote they were heir to a kingdom and now they are queen of that kingdom in game. They've all had unlimited money since episode 10 onwards etc.

I'm not against this stuff but find it far from entertaining. A lot of those players would not make it into my game because I'd realise they're cunts based on their character creation.

It's not actually terrible, it's just not for everyone.

You're not entirely wrong but:
'Adventuring Prince(ss)' is a common enough trope. Them becoming an actual lord of the land is also fine at higher levels. In fact, that was something expected in earlier editions.
Pretty sure they only had ludicrous amounts of money during the whole Dragon shebang, after they killed the white one. Before that they only had money to spend on anything due to Laura's extreme jewing

I just started watching this, and while Mercer is an asshole of a GM who fucks with his players for no reason, I don't see much wrong with the game itself, if you're into that sort of thing.

I am hoping they'll either get better microphones or stop screaming with laughter every time something moderately amusing happens. My eardrums can't take much more.

Probably the most erotic moment of Hulmes' life.
And that's saying something given how attractive his GF is

>Mercer is an asshole of a GM who fucks with his players for no reason
Huh. I've been under the impression a lot has changed since the beginning of their streamed game, apparently I wasn't wrong

No woman can be as attractive as Matt Mercer
but yeah, Nina is pretty ridiculous

The One Shot Campaign is by far the best, even though I hate every single person involved in it. Fortunately, on the girl really lets her real-life personality bleed into her characters. Unfortunately, she is the most hateworthy member of the cast.

Uh, I might. I have only watched 11 episodes so far - it's a lot of hours of gameplay to get through.

The question is, if you could be watching it instead of doing it, why is streaming so popular?

Because clearly some people disagree.

And even then, I do enjoy watching people have fun doing things I can't or don't want to do. Playing competitive esports or horror games, for example.

I'd argue that Caleb is one of the best parts of RPPR. His campaigns tend to be the best remembered or received, like Know Evil, his Delta Green Campaign, and Red Markets campaign.

This is false, retardedly so.

I started watching that from the start, got to just after the Tiefling got some kind of magic plot glove that owned a Gorgon before life went all busy. Did she ever get a bit less annoying? Because I really liked literally everything else about it and need some stuff to watch while painting.

Kim can be pretty annoying but thankfully she's silent most of the time

>watching other people play RPGs isntead of playing them yourself

Don't give me the "work schedule" or "live in bumfuck nowhere" excuses either, because I have both and I still find time to play. The only person I know who watches Critical Roll has two children and a fat-ass wife and he plays it on his TV when I am there because he barely ever gets to roleplay due to having to work 60 hours a week to support his wife and shitspawn. Critical Roll is truly the saddest fucking shit in existence, you are watching people play D&D, it's like a paralyzed man watching golf on TV cause he can't play anymore. That's the only fucking reason to watch other people play D&D. Hell, 90% of the RPG's appeal is that it's YOU. Almost everything else about the medium sucks dick, but YOU get to control YOUR character in a story you share with your friends. THAT is why RPGs are good and critical roll destroys the entire raison d'etre of roleplaying games and desperate faggots watch it anyway. Makes me sad as hell, honestly. It makes me want to run a game for Veeky Forums just so some of these sad cunts can actually get to play in a game, but I'm running like four different campaigns right now so I don't have time for that.

Who hurt you user

It will be alright, you're safe now

No one hurt me? I'm running a couple of good campaigns right now, my life is going fine for the most part, I just feel sad for my friend who ruined his life to get pussy. Now he's stuck watching Critical Roll and playing D&D 5e with us once a week because that's all he has time for.

Playing once a week is pretty normal pham.

>My friend got a girlfriend and now he can't play TTRPGs with us multiple times a week
>His life is ruined

Pro-wrestling isn't scripted half of the time.

e-celebrities. also, it's pretty gamist but then again it's D&D and thus par for the course.

Shit copypastas, I didn't laugh once.

You run four campaigns, he has a wife, a kid, and a job. And somehow he's the loser of this story.

Ok

desu senpai I've never watched this show but you all sound like autistic babies

>desu senpai I've never [...] but you all sound like autistic babies
Now it applies to every thread on the board.

It's popular. That's it. The game being run is virtually identical to a large portion of the games played by people everywhere but critical role is televised so everyone can watch it. This gives it the illusion being bigger or more defining than it actually is but the truth is we've all been in games with groups just like Mercers. If critical role is anything it's the average game with players better than most at doing funny voices.

seconding old RPPR. if you need visuals, these guys are just as good:
youtube.com/watch?v=AW_ASUL0k-Q
highly recommended

What is it about D&D that attracts randumb players?
I have never had a game where at least someone didn't try some silly shit that wouldn't make sense outside of the context of it being a game and it being an actual world.

While I do enjoy the show and most of the cast, my primary gripe is their personalities can come off as inauthentic (which frankly I get from most Californians). Travis is the only character who seem chill as fuck.

I also think this user has a point. There are easily thousands of people who joined the hobby because of the show. It's lazy to throw them under the bus for their flaws, I can't deny that they're part of the reason DnD/5e is as popular as it is.

I like film reroll - they play through classic movies using GURPS.

it's gamist, not simulationist. even genre simulation is only a comparatively small part of its design

Pro-wrestling is only scripted in the sense that someone decides which wrestlers will wrestle, and the wrestlers generally decide amongst themselves how it will go, and play along with the moves of the other so neither of them gets actually injured.

>Projecting this hard

Jankcast's original Apocalypse World campaign was fucking fantastic.

10 years of D&Ding doesn't mean that much, you could be playing it with the exact same people all 10 years. Some people do serious campaigns with less comedic focus. Some people have fun by actually getting into character, and not giggling at whatever reference they thought was just so pertinent and hilarious that they had to share.

>He started a family and only plays D&D once a week and HIS life is ruined
>I-I swear it's HIS life thats ruined
>I'm running a couple of good campaigns my life is going f-fine for the most part

HAH! This is an old Virtpost. Remember when he denounced marriage and kids, basically saying that prostitutes and floozies were all you needed if you wanted to be "Dedicated" to the hobby?

Did antone actually pay attention to what he was saying?

Dice, Camera, Action! is a better example of a "real" game with a good DM. I'm running CoS and I can attest to how well Perkins uses the module to run things his way with the player's moving along naturally. Really inspired DMing.

He was annoyingly incorrect. He didn't try for being right, he tried for being 90% right in such a manner that you knew he was ultimately wrong, but he was using somewhat sound logic. Ultimately they're some of the most enraging statements you can write.

You make it sound like you can't duplex a vampire out of a window unless you're playing Dungeon World.

*suplex, fucking phone

>Being a GNStard

I saw a negro on there once

yes, it's very useful for classification

>after this arc finishes

Do we know how long that'll be?

Film Reroll is fun. I really liked their Halloween session

>Pro-wrestling is only scripted in the sense that someone decides which wrestlers will wrestle, and the wrestlers generally decide amongst themselves how it will go, and play along with the moves of the other so neither of them gets actually injured.
The booker also decide who is going over (winning the match), and how. Also, some spots are planned too.

But most of the match is improv, like a jam session

People might get the wrong impression that roleplayers are capable actors, when they really... really aren't.

But all in all, I don't hate the show: I just don't care much for it, is all.

>People might get the wrong impression that roleplayers are capable actors
>capable actors
>in Critical Role

Yeah pretty much.

I got out of RPGs because of teenage comedic antics and people not taking it seriously. It hasn't been till now in my 20's that it finally satisfying to play, since people are so keen on making dick jokes every 10 minutes.

Since this is somewhat a CR thread

Are there any places that reupload the twitch VODs before Monday?

I heard that Tarryon Darrington won the battle royale and I need to know how in the fuck that came about

I hate the impression it gives people about how the game is supposed to be played. It's obviously scripted. Even if there's not lines to read everyone clearly knows what to expect and when to react and sessions are planned to appear energetic, appealing throughout, and break at proper times never going too short or too long. It's a business and a tv-show. The primary purpose is to entertain those watching at home, not the "players". It's as close to a real D&D game as House Hunters is to buying a house.

>Dice, Camera, Action! is a better example of a "real" game
Up to an including the one faggot who has zero interest in the game what-so-ever and spends the entire time paying no attention to what's going on at all and just fucks around on their computer for the entirety of every session that they actually bother to show up for, and the LOLRANDUM That Girl who shits all over any kind of mood or immersion the DM is trying to create with her "soooo funneh" and "quirky" antics that no one will call her out on because they're too afraid of triggering the potential drama queen.

I dunno, I like the idea of hitting a vampire with an entire duplex better

Veeky Forums hates everything. Especially if it's related to what it loves. Never make the mistake of assuming you can judge whether people like or dislike something (even Veeky Forums) from what people say about it on Veeky Forums.

It's much more legitimate to be critical and cynical on Veeky Forums, so the people who don't have critical or cynical opinions on a topic usually just lurk.

Is this bait?

It's annoying. And attracts the wrong crowd. Simple as that. People don't watch it for the game they watch it for the personalities and that just invites cancer.

Why are you here then?

>never going too short or too long
You're an idiot

Because Sam's a fucking god.

No I don't, sorry.