What do you fa/tg/uys and ca/tg/irls think about the state of tabletop roleplaying in the post-Geek & Sundry/Critical Role era?
Few could argue the popularity of such podcasts has impacted the Veeky Forums scene, with thousands taking to tabletop roleplaying for the first time, though their expectations of Veeky Forums are certainly skewed based on the expertise of Mercer, Marisha, Felisha and other experienced and talented role players.
So why are your thoughts?
Also Critical Role general...?
Is Yasha the ideal mating partner?
>not played by Laura
She can't be ideal for mating.
I prefer a better, more feminine waifu.
enjoy your frail and weak offspring that won't last one winter
Human filth. DM is a pathetic cuck, his wife is an irritating cunt, and the only likeable person is Joe Manganiello whose only a guest since he's too busy playing games with his friends in privacy for fun instead of shekels while in his literal dungeon he had built in the mansion while his hot wife bakes him cookies for every session.
>He needs to use his breeder's genes to make up for his own pathetic genes
>nat 20
>roller goes hogwild
>DM rips his shirt off with a scream
>players slowly begin to accept that a less then 1% chance event has just happened
>they tip the table over to execute a frenzied chance dance
>DM still beating his chest like Tarzan
>IRL, towed howitzer barrages are being fired in honor of the roller, a mic is placed at the muzzle of each gun for the viewers
>roller ritually eats the dice of the other players, it's his right
>awareness roll
I think its fucking gay and it produces bad DM's and players as a side effect of its faggotry.
Who cares?
I love this completely over the top hatred. Most of the shit is scripted before time. But the fact it is helping more people get into pen and paper. So I can overlook that part.
That's the best kind of offspring, desu senpai.
>Imagine being this upset you don't make a living playing dnd
I prefer to wear the pants in the relationship. Enjoy being a cuck and/or having your wife's strap on in your ass.
Joe is the only rich one anyway. He doesn't have to earn money with Day's shitty website.
This guy gets it.
>helping more people get into pen and paper
>they all expect every session to just be like their favorite scripted TV show with EPIC FTW xD every time they roll a 20
Yeah, and Big Bang Theory gets more people wearing Batman shirts.
>implying I'd want to
Nah, I'll take a stable career and playing DnD with my friends and for our own enjoyment instead of cash any day of the week.
True enough. Strange how the most relatable and genuine person is the one that's just there to shitpost and laugh at the soyboys.
I enjoy it. I love Mercer's voices for NPCs (his gnomes amuse me more than they should). I'm not a fan of Marisha, and Liam is grating with his emo in both seasons. I loved Grog and Pike from the first season, but I only watched bits and pieces of season 1 on youtube. Thus far Mollymuck is turning out to be my favorite.
It's not exactly high art-form D&D, Mercer is decent as a GM, but it's mostly the social and non-mechanical interactions that keep it entertaining rather than the combats or any real hardcore dungeon running.
If anything, I think the greatest take away for any GM is Mercer's ability to improvise and keep the store or scene flowing, how that can hold a game together on it's own.
I feel I would respect them more if they played something other than 5e. Or, more specifically, I feel that them playing anything other than 5e would help newbies branch into other systems and make it possible to recruit for campaigns other than D&D 5e.
Tried to watch the first ep of the new campaign and it was... relatively okay? First thing I realized is that I'm not too keen of 4-hr long Youtube eps, so I might have to break it up in chunks. There was some good banter between the PCs, especially the dudes playing the human mage and his goblin girl companion.
Guess my issue was with Matt himself who, while good with voices and tone, does the annoying GM thing of nudging character reactions where he needs them to go. That might just be a Live D&D Stream thing, though.
It kinda breaks the core contract of GM and PCs: The GM showing a situation and the players answering when asked "What Do You Do?". In a Matt Mercer campaign, the answer is apparently "I don't know Matt. Maybe you should roll for me."
Its sort of an awkward thing, I relatively enjoy it but Liam's emo af character throws cold water on everyone elses mood and since that doesnt seem to be changing any time soon its gunna get annoying.
Generally I'm not a fan of taliesin because he's an irl edgelord but his new character is actually fun.
Laura is turning jester into a very very fun character and travis and sam are solid. Marisha though...I mean...idk
You're one of those.
D&D has its faults, but it is still the most popular for a reason.
I think 5e is an excellent window into the genre tho.
Because it's D&D, and the only table top RPG that's actually know by even non-players, and is a cultural phenomenon stretching back decades?
I've been part or have run a D&D 5e campaign for the past 3 years, I don't hate the game. It's just that I feel it has a narrow scope of genres you can run with it, and I'd like to run something outside of it. It's just difficult when everyone is a little too into their comfort zone with 5e and doesn't want to learn something new.
Well they did run a few one shots that stepped outside the typical setting/system
What game would you possibly run?
Yes
I like it. It's fun to listen to at work. Once in a blue moon their liberal bullshit shines through, but that's better than most big online presentations these days.
They all seem like pretty cool people, even Marisha though I would get irritated with some of her shennanigans if I was playing with her. I like her Monk better than her Druid.
Scanlan goes between funny and stupid. The goblin girl is much more interesting.
Travis's characters are always cool.
I like Laura. Jester is the best of the new season and way better than Vex.
I thought Percy was a cool character, Talisan's a little too elitist and full of himself sometimes but it worked for Percy.
Matt's character voices are all great. Sometimes his "don't mess with the DM" jabs get on my nerves and would genuinely be the worst trait for a DM to adopt if they feel inspired.
Objective power ranking
Travis > Laura > Sam > Liam > Ashley > Taliesin > Matt > Orion > Marisha
>Marisha
>experienced and talented role player
You fucking cuck. Enjoy your wife's biceps, farts and general lack of hygiene.
I started playing with my group before CR was a thing and tabletop is really secular so it doesn't make a difference to me.
You are objectively correct. Although I would say that Laura is starting to push ahead of travis with Jester. But I still agree in general. Good call
At least Liam's playing off Nott now, so we've got an easy "in" to drag him out of his typical edgy monologues.
>Jester is the best of the new season and way better than Vex.
Not only is Jester the best of the new season, she's the biggest improvement over that character's previous character.
>Liam "I'm so edgy I shit knives" and Ashley "I showed up for fewer sessions than the guests" are better than Taliesin
What are you smoking, user?
What do I think? Besides it being shit and containing fake reactions and shitty writing?
Taliesin's RL shaking during serious events always kind of freaks me out
>Most of the shit is scripted before time.
It observably isn't. They spend 40% of their games spitballing what to do, 15% on directionless roleplay and 10% trying to figure out what the fuck Marisha is doing. They're four episodes into the new campaign and they've already had one really boring episode where the players spent 4 hours going everywhere but the place Matt wanted them to, and the last hour and a half of the newest episode was them just prodding Matt for NPCs.
>Shitting on Liam for being edgy
>liking Taliesin
I like Tal but he's the edgiest of them all
Savage Worlds, Mythras, M-Space, JoJo, SWoN, or Genesys. Lot of systems and settings I want to try.
I was more freaked out the way Taliesinand Marisha cling to each other on camera. I mean, Matt's right there and doesn't seem to mind.
And the whole thing where the three of them go to Burning Man together. Is Matt actually gay for Taliesin and Marisha's just an accessory to their forbidden love?
I mean he wen't to highschool with a bloodlines masquerade book. He's so edgy it fucking hurts. But I do appreciate that he goes to edgelords anonymous once a month and is recovering very slowly. also yeah. Also yeah, sam playing nott is great and it barely keeps liam from being too much. Also I will say that marisha ( dont hate me for saying this) did actually a pretty good job roleplaying the secret tutor encounter in the last episode.
oh they went to burning man? jfc well I mean I guess you guys are right, they're totally fucking retarded
Tal gets a lot less edgy after the Briarwood story arc is over, but Liam obsessively seeks out excuses to be edgier and edgier. His character literally becomes a paladin of death half way through the series.
>his "don't mess with the DM" jabs
Clue me in?
Yeah, maybe, but I liked Vex more or less. I think Caleb has a lot of potential if we get more Episode 3/4 and less Episode 1/2. He started off as Vax without the edge, but now he's becoming more like the Medic from TF2. His interactions with Nott and RPing his spellcasting have been really entertaining.
The only thing I dislike about Taliesin is that I think he thinks he's a lot smarter than he actually is; I also don't really think Mollymauk is that different from Percy. There's a Percy he has on paper, but after 114 episodes + 3 battle royales, I don't think that's necessarily who he was playing. I think he honestly just RPs as himself most of the time and, unlike Marisha, it actually works out.
Is there a JoJo other than the manga you may or may not have just reference?
They're touchy-feely drama kids. Sam doesn't appear to be, though, which is weird since he probably has the biggest stage career.
See I always saw it as Taliesin went out of his way to create the most edgy character possible, whereas Liam just kind of ran with what the story presented. Idk I think some of my Tal hate comes from the fact I didn't really like the character of Percy that much.
>whose
Nope, manga. The number of Systems that have been converted to do Stands is staggering, including Savage Worlds and currently an Alpha build for Genesys.
Every now and then, the players will have fun and crack jokes about something, such as an NPC's name like Pervus.
They'll giggle and Sam will do wordplay and then Matt says something like "Keep laughin guys...I'm the DM, the guy who decides how tough Pervus is."
For some reason I can't stand all the sound effects that Mercer does.
I started listening to this podcast with season 2 on my commute to work and the overly-flowery descriptions make it hard to follow what's going on... and also that horse whinny by Mercer in episode 2 made me almost spit my coffee out because of how ludicrous-sounding it was.
I went in with high hopes, but I just can't do it... I prefer simple straightforward English and sound effects and accents used with restraint.
>I also don't really think Mollymauk is that different from Percy.
Me neither user, but I'm hoping that changes.
Sounds like he's joking back instead of being a small-minded vindictive pussy like you seem to view him.
It's funny how most common, sensible people will watch Critical Role and just enjoy it as a 3ish hour show. Then there are those new people who watch Critical Role and consider playing d&d because of it. But then theres tumblr.
dnd is srs bsns no joking allowed at MY table
This is a Critical Role thread, not a Godsfall Podcast thread.
I think what bothers me is that Vax's backstory was literally exactly the same as Vex's backstory, but he's this melodramatic mopey bastard throughout the series while she's perfectly normal aside from being a bit greedy.
That's really interesting. I'm a huge fag for shounenshit, but I don't know if I could play a ttrpg of one because I can be a pretty big Nazi when it comes to the realistic viability of fanmade content. Not that I'd give people shit over it, but it just bothers me. Sometimes I do see something believable, though; like someone in that One Piece thread the other day came up with the onion fruit and that legitimately sounded like a Devil Fruit.
He's just kidding, user. They're teasing him.
If it's his sfx being bad, that's interesting, because the group always comments on how much they like them and they're all voice actors; but if it's also the prose and accents, then yeah, I bet it's terrible to listen to.
The only other DM I watch is Perkins and for comparison, while I love Perkins, I find combat in his games pretty boring since he just goes through the numbers with no attempt to really sell me on these things "actually happening." I don't like his Hollywood cutaways, either. But, oddly enough, I think I actually like his NPCs more than Matt's.
Some of his foley work in the first campaign was mind blowing imo
JoJo tends to be a bit of an excersize in how to implement rule of cool. Most systems tend to boil down to using JoJo Logic to make a case with how creatively you can use your powers, and then make a dice roll on it. Let's say your stand has the power to make things "sweat" you could argue that you could make a person sweat the fluids out of their body to kill them, or you could "sweat" the electricity out of a power line until it forms pools of deadly liquid energy.
Is there a good GURPS podcast? I wanted to listen to one to help me better understand the system in practice.
Didn't think ZOMG Natural 20 was an actual thing until I saw that. Sadly, Travis/Fjord didn't become Dungeon Master as a result of his awesome roll.
As much as I dislike normies who keep infesting my games with their casual manner and inability to stick with a damn game because their interests die out after a few sessions, Critical Role is healthy and needed for D&D.
I dislike the show myself. Everyone laughing at the dumbest joke, Matt Mercer letting people get away with stupid shit. And personally I don't know how people can actually watch D&D without getting bored out of their mind. But again its good for the growth of the game.
...
Overheard a couple episodes by happenstance- I think it's interesting if you give a shit about the VA's themselves (as a gay-ass nerd, I sort of do) but don't "get" the popularity.
...
>Yasha will never hug you for 5 gold pieces
I roll to shuffle around all the items in the store well the owner is distracted.
>nat20
this is grossly unfair Fjord has 11 strength
Right? Jester would be a much better opponent for Yasha
>Ashley's character
>Marisha's face
what the fuck is going on user.
I liked Titansgrave better desu.
No it wasn't, it was a shitshow for a shit setting for a shit system.
It's overrated,and some of the players are cunts; with that said, I don't get the hatedom it has
like you wouldn't fuck ashley
I said I liked it better, I didn't say it was.
Yeah....like I was simply enjoying the show and then got caught up in the rather extreme hate of marisha and i was like holy shit this is pretty toxic.
>extreme hate of marisha
lol, deserves that shit
You'd think Marisha shows up to their games, steals all their dice, and rips up their character sheets.
Ashley hasn't had much of an impact so far in the game. Yasha feels like a outlier to the group. Pike still felt like part of things, Yasha just feels like a drifter than sometimes crosses your path and hangs out with you.
Don't get me wrong. I don't disagree :^)
it just gets annoying after awhile of trying to enjoy the rest of it.
Yeah the Marisha hate can get out of hand, she does have some really bad moments and honestly to me she seems to put in the least effort in learning her characters. However some people will fly off the handle about anything she does, even if another person had just done it ten seconds ago.
So I get why people hate her, if it were up to me she would have an ultimatum of put up or shut up. Everyone else is at least trying to improve, it's early though so I'm willing to see if she can be a better player.
She had like 400 hours to get better, and didn't, if anything she got worse
I'm not saying the hate isn't a bit out of hand, but don't get your hopes up for her actually improving
I said this earlier but I honestly do think she did okay recently but ...idk I feel like its a mixture of not learning characters, overacting/excessive snarkiness and a generally annoying tomboyish style personality.
BASED CUTENESS GOD LAURA THO
They started with Pathfinder, ironically. What's wrong with 5e, though? It's the perfect gateway into tabletop.
It's a shame because I loved Yasha in episode 1 but her reintroduction in the last episode was super awkward and she didn't really have the chance to do anything and now she's gone again.
I think overall its a good thing. I had a couple of players who started because they heard of it, and they were the most enthusiastic, constructive motherfuckers I've ever played with.
Also Talesin is horribly underrated,
he's easily top 3
I know I expect nothing but I'm a man who has learned patience dealing with people who you wonder how they function daily. After this long though it is definitely wearing thin.
dude same, and it was really awkward when she did her "oh sorry i can't come along for adventure" because everyone wanted her too and they made them rp it out
Is Taliesin not gay, or something? He always struck me as being super, super gay. Besides, the three of them are super close. I think Taliesin and Matt have known each other the longest out of any of the cast members and used to play DnD together before CR.
Why are their ability scores so high? It seems like nott and fjord are the only ones with normalish ability scores.
Did Matt really have them roll down the line for them?
Everyone is drawing Fjord as huge because Travis was Grog, but I don't think he's played Fjord in a super strong, big guy kind of way.
He probably just gets this kind of fanart because of well, Grog, and the fact that he's also pretty huge himself.
ah of course, a classic mistake. You see, he's not actually gay! He's just trying to hide his edge which keeps poking through. Quite a similar phenomenon desu
He mentioned having a girlfriend at one point in a episode like 2 years ago but I don't think they're still together.
this is something i've always wondered. I'm pretty sure its something like a 5d6 minus lowest 2 and then fill in as desired. its for tv hero stats methinks
yeahhhh I mean I don't mind it but you are right. I'm just happy with the amount of quality nott and jester art
He seems like a guy that is at least bisexual though, or am I the only one picking up these vibes? The touchy-feeliness of Taliesin and Marisha always struck me as a girl and her gay friend.
He's just kinda camp and in to things that are stereotypically gay
I watched one episode of the Wednesday Club where he went on like a 20 minute rant about his knowledge of magical girl manga.
Are you sure, user? Because that's pretty gay.
4d6 drop the lowest as normal but Matt lets them reroll if their total isn't above a certain number. 75 I think?
I've never seen it, but I had a DM who was inspired by Matt Mercer and he did a great job for his first time and seemed to learn from his mistakes. It's obviously bringing new people into the hobby so I can appreciate it.