Critical Role Critical Role Campaign 2

[Jester David]

Last night, the 5e Dungeons & Dragons live-stream game Critical Role started its second campaign. Upwards of 100,000 people watched it live!

They've been talking about the new campaign for several weeks now, and have posted teaser images of the player characters. Last night it was confirmed who was playing which silhouette and most of the classes.



From the Geek & Sundry Website:

As #SilhouetteWatch draws to a close with just one day left before we learn who all the new characters are, we have some updates on how you can watch and listen to Critical Role: Campaign 2!
If you prefer to catch up with Critical Role in audio form, Campaign 2 podcasts will be released a week after the episode airs. That means you can listen to the very first episode of the new campaign on Thursday, January 18.
Critical Role will be available for VOD instantly for Twitch and Alpha subscribers, and will also be available on Geek & Sundry’s YouTube channel and right here on GeekandSundry.com on Mondays — meaning that we will not keep the video unlisted on YouTube. So if you can’t watch live with the gang, head to one of those channels on Monday, January 15 for the first episode of the new campaign.
And of course, you will still be able to watch Critical Role live on YouTube (yes, we’ll stream on YouTube for this campaign!), Twitch, and Alpha at our normal broadcast time, Thursdays at 7pm PT.
What’s your preferred method of enjoying Critical Role? Let us know in the comments below and make sure you tune in Thursday, January 11 (tomorrow!) for the debut of Critical Role: Campaign 2.

[h=3]WANT MORE CRITICAL ROLE?[/h]

• Start the adventures from the very beginning with the Critical Role Podcast.​
• Show your love of Vox Machina with Critical Role dice, apparel, prints, and more!​
• Tune into our official after show, Talks Machina, live on Alpha and Twitch, Tuesdays at 7pm PT.​
• Follow the Critical Role crew on Twitter for news about events and signings.
  
  And don’t miss new episodes of Critical Role LIVE on Alpha, YouTube, and Twitch, Thursdays at 7pm PT!​

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While not the first livestreamed D&D game, Critical Role is easily the most popular with tens of thousands of dedicated fans (known as "Critters"). Its first video has over 6 million views on YouTube, while the finale of the last campaign has over 290,000 views on YouTube alone —a number comparable to the total members of ENWorld—and likely many, many more tuned in live.
For those of you curious about CR but intimidated by the continuity of 115 episodes and probably four-hundred hours of programming, this is the perfect time to jump into the show and engage with the fanbase.
If you're a subscriber to G&S Twitch stream you should be able to watch the show immediately (remember: if you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you get one free Twitch sub with that).
I recommend watching at 1.25x or 1.5x speed on Twitch or YouTube, and you can blow through an episode in 3 hours.

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[machineelf]

The first episode was so amazing. It did not disappoint.

 

[robus]

I'm interested - I feel to far behind on the original campaign. I kind of wish the non-live versions would be edited down though

 

[Mort]

The first episode was so amazing. It did not disappoint.

I thought the new characters were great - I liked that all the players really changed up from their prior characters.

The setting, ambiance and the action (by the end of the session) were really good.

My one quibble was how Matt started the cast in 3 different groups. This means for the first hour (at least) 2/3rds of the cast were just sitting around staring at the camera.

I often point DMs looking for inspiration to Critical Role (just tell them to stream an episode or two) because Matt is such an amazing DM and the players are all so game/into it. But in this case, I would tell anyone starting a new group/game to do the exact opposite of the way he ran it here.
This group is not new and very comfortable with each other - so it worked fine, but in a new group with new players - that's a good way to get very bored/very annoyed players.

 

[Olive]

How PG is the language? Could I watch with my kids around?


Sent from my iPad using EN World

 

[BookBarbarian]

One thing to remember is that Mercer is the DM but he also playing a part in a show. Creating a good episode can often take precedence over having a good game session.

So what I like to get from Mercer, what he is really brilliant at is taking the player's wild approaches, deciding if the succeed or fail or if they need to roll for it. If so calling for a check, determining a dc, and determining if advantage or disadvantage applies. When it comes to the basic conversation of the game, he is really, really good.

What he might be good at in just a game but it doesn't come through in the show is spotlight management. Making sure each player gets equal time to shine, and switching between them often, is IMHO the best way to keep players engaged in the game.

I haven't caught Yesterday's episode yet, but I look forward to it. Especially since this campaign will be starting in 5e, not converting from a previous system, which brought some baggage I think.

 

[hutchback]

How PG is the language? Could I watch with my kids around?

Sent from my iPad using EN World

Not PG at all. The language can get so expletive laden at times that it borders on incoherent. It's my only real beef with Critical Role. One would think that such creative people wouldn't rely on such banal language.

I won't watch it with my kids around.

 

[Tormyr]

How PG is the language? Could I watch with my kids around?


Sent from my iPad using EN World

Depends how you feel about your kids listening to f-bombs. They do not use "adult" language a lot, but I would say it is definitely not a kids show. I do not let my kids watch. There are also points where kids would possibly get bored.

TL;DR: Watch a couple episodes yourself first.

What is Critical Role?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXu7W44rWbg

 

[machineelf]

How PG is the language? Could I watch with my kids around?


Sent from my iPad using EN World

If you have to ask the question, my guess would be you would not approve for your kids. Different people have different viewpoints and tolerances, so I'd echo that you should watch the episode yourself first and then make the decision.

 

[Jester David]

Been avoiding talking about D&D online for a while for personal reasons. I decided to start this thread because I was actually kinda stunned it wasn't a major news story and ENWorld wasn't getting into the pre-campaign hype.

Dungeons & Dragons is currently undergoing a surprising revival. And no small part of this renaissance is online streaming of games. Streaming makes it easier to get into D&D: explaining what the game is and how it plays far better than any number of in-book descriptions. And it's a way to play the game without playing, to engage in the hobby between sessions or when a group is lacking. At the vanguard of streamed D&D games is Critical Role.
One of the barriers to watching Critical Role has been the massive back catalogue of shows coupled with how there wasn't really a "start" to the campaign, as there was several years of play & story prior to the stream. This new campaign (in the same setting) is an easy entry point for what is already a hugely popular show. This is when a wave of new people can jump into the show. It's where new viewers or people curious about D&D will be directed.
Or... it could be an easy off ramp. A time for people to stop watching CR now that its main story has ended, freeing them to move onto other campaigns or shows. Which will free up the audience's time for other shows, creating ripples throughout other fanbases and generating new D&D streaming celebrities.
But either way this is big news.

It's January and I'm going to call it here: the start of Critical Role's new campaign is potentially one of the top twenty D&D events of the year. If not the top ten!
You can guess some of the others. The biggest one will likely be the June announcement event for the summer & fall releases, with associated hype on the new Neverwinter expansion, minis, and board game. The smaller announcement of the spring release (likely in a few week!) will be #2 news story. The release of the three books themselves will be news events #3 through #5. And I'm sure some other surprises or news will catch the interest.

But a new campaign with new characters, stories, enemies, and locations for the biggest streaming show on the net? A flurry of new fanart and a wave of fans trying to get jump in on the ground floor. Hype for an inevitable sequel to the bestselling campaign book? That's huge! And somehow absent on ENWorld…


As a couple points of data on the influence of CR on the hobby, last year it released its first RPG supplement, the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting. It's regularly in the top 5000 books on Amazon and consistently been in the top 25 gaming books since its release. Two months after its release, and it's currently outselling several D&D books and every Pathfinder and Starfinder book. (And I'm sure Green Ronin is moving a few on its store as well. Plus retail and game store sales). As a point of comparison, Starfinder peaked at #89 while the Tal'Dorei book peaked just a little lower at #110. It's very possibly Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting is one of the best selling RPG books of 2017.
And anyone who visited the Dungeon Master Guild during its first year knows how the gunslinger subclass and blood hunter class dominated the sales chart. (With the classes in the new campaign, I wouldn't be surprised to see the blood hunter class make a sales spike on the Guild.) It's also worth noting that CR's homebrew content was also deemed important enough to be added into D&D Beyond, while CR is being used as a marketing platform for that service.

just some thoughts ratting around the brain I wanted to get out...