One of the factors getting a lot of new players into D&D is the videos of groups like Acquisitions Incorporated or Critical Role they see on Twitch or YouTube. As a result, many of these new players think that what is shown in these videos is “how D&D is played”. But as a veteran D&D player, I can’t help but notice that these public games in the videos frequently proceed at a much zippier pace than what I am used to. For example the series of videos showing Force Grey playing Tomb of Annihilation goes through that whole campaign in just 15 hours!
Sure, some of that is visibly the result of video editing. And every D&D player knows that in every real session some time is lost with talking about stuff that has nothing to do with the game. But still, the whole play style exhibited in these videos appears very fast to me.
Is that just me? Are by freak chance all the players I have played with extremely slow? Is this some old school vs. new school thing? Is this the new D&D for the attention deficit generation? Is there some speed D&D “should” be played at, or does it vary widely from table to table? What do you think?
Sure, some of that is visibly the result of video editing. And every D&D player knows that in every real session some time is lost with talking about stuff that has nothing to do with the game. But still, the whole play style exhibited in these videos appears very fast to me.
Is that just me? Are by freak chance all the players I have played with extremely slow? Is this some old school vs. new school thing? Is this the new D&D for the attention deficit generation? Is there some speed D&D “should” be played at, or does it vary widely from table to table? What do you think?