Curmudgeon's Corner: So, what's the deal with Critical Role?

[Umbran]

And, more importantly, why would I want to watch others play a game that I can play myself?

I think it is an excellent question. A little while ago, I taught my de-facto goddaughter how to play D&D - she went on to run D&D for her friends. She is/was also into Critical Role. I'll ask her, and get back to you about what she says the appeal is. It may take a day or two, but it might shed some light that speculation by The Ancients cannot.

 

[GreyLord]

I'm not one that likes watching Critical Role or other things like it, but I have a faint idea why some may enjoy watching it.

I think many of us are DMs and so we are used to running a game. We don't really enjoy watching others run games unless we are actually participating in it.

As DM's we can prepare, look over, or run campaigns and adventures almost any time we wish to as long as we have either materials or players.

On the otherhand there are players out there that LOVE D&D. They LOVE to play the game. They want more of it...BUT...they can't have more of it. They don't DM, they don't want to DM, they just want to play. They may want to play everyday but their group only meets once a week. They may want to play every week but heir group only meets once a month.

Whatever it is, they can't play as often as they want and so they look for the next closest thing. Other people playing. They may not be playing themselves, but they can put themselves in the eyes of another and participate vicariously in someone else's adventures and campaigns.

Critical Role (from the little I've seen) has some theatrics in their games and such which can also make it a little more interesting for those watching.

Thus, I can see why some may be very into these shows even if I don't really enjoy watching them in the least.

(and in a similar vein, can't understand watching golf, bowling, or darts. I ADMIT I HAVE watched darts up to the championship at times when I literally had nothing else to do and everything else on was even worse...for a while I even knew the best contenders and champions...a few years ago).

 

[jasper]

I have watched one of the 20 minute game uploads. Not impressed. The other helpful or interview uploads are great. I recommend my new players look up Handbooker Helper.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For me, the length of a Critical Role video is the big barrier. I just don't have the time to sit down and watch it for four hours. Even spread out throughout the week, that's a significant commitment.

I will say that I've had better luck with Force Grey and Titansgrave, which have vastly shorter runtimes.

As for the thought that that time could be spent gaming instead, I will say that live streaming gaming gives one an opportunity to observe and learn from other DMs. I'm always trying to grow as a DM, and these shows are just one of the many tools available.

 

[Maestrino]

Critical Role is popular because the players are talented voice actors, they tell a good story, and they have good chemistry as a group. People get invested in finding out where the story goes because they like the characters and the players.

Do they have some boring episodes? Sure. Do they have some characters that get annoying? Sure. But then they'll go shopping for health potions and turn it into an hour-long slapstick manhunt after the barbarian's persuasion checks go bad.

If you want to give it a try, watch one of the one-shots. I'd recommend the "To the Poop!" all-goblin one-shot, though the cast isn't quite as good as the regular crew. "The Night Before Critmas" is also a ton of fun. And "Grog's One-Shot" (where the dimwit barbarian teaches his companions how to play Bunions and Flagons) is also great fun.

 

[Maestrino]

For me, the length of a Critical Role video is the big barrier. I just don't have the time to sit down and watch it for four hours. Even spread out throughout the week, that's a significant commitment.

I will say that I've had better luck with Force Grey and Titansgrave, which have vastly shorter runtimes.

As for the thought that that time could be spent gaming instead, I will say that live streaming gaming gives one an opportunity to observe and learn from other DMs. I'm always trying to grow as a DM, and these shows are just one of the many tools available.

Side note - the videos are four hours, but each video has a good 20 minutes of announcements and sponsor thanks at the top you can skip (though Sam's D&D Beyond ads are insane and fun to watch) - there's always another break of 20 or 30 minutes in the middle you can skip, and a bunch of fan art tacked on the end. There's probably only three actual hours of session in a four hour video. And you can turn your podcast player or YouTube to 1.25x playback speed to shorten that further without much issue. (1.5x and higher starts to sound hyperactive.) And in the first campaign if they start having a drawn-out angsty character moment, just skip over the next half-hour or so and jump back in.

 

[dragoner]

People watch golf, which I give a solid meh to even playing. Everyone has their own tastes; the only things I am going out of my way to watch right now is Press on Masterpiece, and Mr Robot. Charlotte Riley was awesome as a journalist who just destroyed some rich guy who messed with her, and she runs into him in the hall of the paper she worked at saying: "It's magic." This though I'm sure would bore everyone else to tears, I know it, no accounting for taste though.

 

[Undrave]

The title pretty much says it all.

But to elaborate-

I love all the attention that TTRPGs get. Even if they aren't TTRPGs, they are just RPGs. Yeah, you heard me, CRPGs. You can just go straight to H-E-double hockey sticks, so long as you take your C with you!

So I appreciate podcasts, and shows, like Critical Role for developing more of an audience.

...but I just don't get it.

I've tried to engage with it (Critical Role, that Dan Harmon one), but it's just not for me. If I wanted to watch a show, there's approximately 5 billion shows and movies to watch; I'm literally DROWNING in content.

And, more importantly, why would I want to watch others play a game that I can play myself?

I have the same, strong, revulsion to most Twitch streams; why would I watch someone else play a videogame that I can play myself? That's, you know, weird.

Look, I get that this is the classic, Old Guy Yelling at Clouds argument ("What's with the kids these days, riding around in their funny cars and blasting their hip hop music and shooting the jerbs????"), but I don't get the appeal.

Also, I understand that people can make similar arguments about, say, sports or music (why watch football when you can do it? why go to concerts that you can play?) .... to which I have two answers: A. Shut Up. B. It's difference.

...ahem. Seriously, though, is this something I'm missing? Can someone explain the appeal to me, or how I might get to understand this?

Or am I doomed to forever not be able to waste hours of time watching other people play, and be forced to play myself instead?*




*Yeah, I did that. What are you going to do about it?

I getya!

I know, I tried to engage in the Hyper Force thing because I thought it would be cool but I couldn't last for more than one hour (THREE HOURS is way too much to ask of me). I watched maybe one episode of Geek and Sundry's Star Trek play and I could have seen myself watch another but it never happened.

I watched a few let's play from time to time, but mostly if the person playing is funny and usually a game I know (I'd rather not be spoiled by some random Youtube dude) but, again, not super long ones. Like I've watched Pokémon battles, Duel Links duels, Mario Maker levels, some Smash Fights with a gimmick... I've also watched recaps of Pokémon challenge runs, but I wouldn't sit there watch some doofus grind for an hour because of his stupid Randomizer run (Randomizer Pokémon run are the dumbest thing ever! Everything's just luck based, there's no way to plan anything or prepare yourself it's pointless!)

Also I don't get the interest of Twitch itself. The chats because useless the moment there's too many people and it's impossible to conduct any sort of interaction or conversation with anyone.

I'm glad it exists but I just can't get into watching people play RPG. Though I admit Dimension 20 might be fun...

 

[Retreater]

Critical Role is not for me. Watching any live streams of D&D is not for me.
I tried to jump into CR 3/4ths of the way into the first campaign, and couldn't follow it. I didn't want to "catch up" (I just don't have that kind of time. I tried to get into the second campaign, and it was too slow to start and I just generally didn't like the play style.
When Matt Colville started his Chain campaign, I tried to get into that too. I tended to really like his DM advice videos (I'd say he's closer to my style of DMing than Matt Mercer is). But I thought the campaign and his DM style on the stream was just awful.
So I don't like it. I don't watch it. Anything created for it (campaign books, comics, etc.) is an automatic pass for me personally.
That said, it really brought my fiancée into the hobby. It helped her D&D group come together, and I'm glad she gets to experience this hobby too. I know there are countless other gamers who have been brought to the hobby by CR and other streams. So I don't dislike it. It's just not for me.
Beyoncé also isn't for me.

 

[Parmandur]

Critical Role playing Vampire: the Masquerade helped me understand that game for the first time in my life. Their playing Call of Cthulu seems to have had a material effect on the popularity of that game.

Actual play can be a huge, huge boon to entering these games.