D&D General Critical Role Ending

[BRayne]

Weird idea I had reading this thread:

It might be possible to make a fun and entertaining D&D stream while also living a busy life while also somehow grasping he rules after playing for so long.

It might be. Probably not though. Apparently not knowing how to play the game is the appeal to a lot of people, and looking at CR's success, it makes me wonder if they just know something I don't.

When people are saying "not grasping the rules" here, they're talking about not playing their character ideally or mishandling a spell every so often not "which one is the d20?" to be clear

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Regular mentions/appearances in:
The Big Bang Theory
Stranger Things

BIG BANG THEORY never really gave a good idea what it was
And STRANGER THINGS really moved away from it in season 3, suggesting the kids had outgrown it

Episodes in:
Community
Freaks and Geeks
The IT Crowd

From 2011, 2000, and 2010 respectively
Not what I'd call "modern"

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Marqet is pretty unexplored by any PCs, so far. We have seen basically two locations.

Still, yeah, maybe he will surprise us all and start things in a different world. What I’d love to see is a game that is set on the moon, but you don’t realize that until at least a few episodes in.

They might skip Marqet because it might feel like cultural appropriation to have an all white cast speaking in imitations of minority accents for a couple years

Might end up being a new continent or an unseen part of Taldorie
Be a nice excuse to redo the first book that has been out of print for years

 

[Seramus]

When people are saying "not grasping the rules" here, they're talking about not playing their character ideally or mishandling a spell every so often not "which one is the d20?" to be clear

I think they are talking about not knowing your To Hit, your weapon damage, your Spell DC, and things like Invoke Duplicity & Pass Without Trace both being concentration spells after the DM has reminded you 6+ times. That kind of stuff.

But Mercer has personally responded to similar concerns in the past.
"---shrug--- Meh. I'm ok with it. So long as they're having fun between work, babies, stress, responsibilities, etc. "

 

[Khelon Testudo]

All the folk in Critical Role come from theatrical careers or backgrounds, not a group known for their love of math or rules. And the game may be broadcast to entertain us, but it also has a major goal of entertaining the players and DM.

 

[overgeeked]

Weird idea I had reading this thread:

It might be possible to make a fun and entertaining D&D stream while also living a busy life while also somehow grasping he rules after playing for so long.

It might be. Probably not though. Apparently not knowing how to play the game is the appeal to a lot of people, and looking at CR's success, it makes me wonder if they just know something I don't.

Apparently, yes. They know that it’s a game and you’re meant to have fun playing it. The point is to have fun, not memorize the rules. They’re having fun and their DM seems okay with their level of rules mastery. So do the few million people who tune in on a weekly basis. Story and fun first, rules mastery and the rest a distant twelfth.

 

[overgeeked]

When people are saying "not grasping the rules" here, they're talking about not playing their character ideally or mishandling a spell every so often not "which one is the d20?" to be clear

Yeah, most of the complaints about the cast “getting it wrong” come from the crowd that prefers optimization and rules mastery over story and fun. The people screaming about how a 2d6 sword is objectively better than a 1d12 axe are not, I think, the show’s target audience.

 

[overgeeked]

Apologies for the hat trick, but: Long May He Reign.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Apologies for the hat trick, but: Long May He Reign.

My wife and I are like...halfway through last week’s episode...

“We don’t steal from nice people.”

 

[Azuresun]

So, with that out of the way. I honestly think most of them perform at a lower mechanical level than they should be at this point (certainly lower than my own players). Ashley has the most issues - it's a good day when she remembers to reckless attack, a great day when she remembers her Aasimar form deals bonus damage, and she promptly forgot the whole tutorial Matt ran for her about deathless frenzy. I'm honestly not sure why she has so much trouble, when she's clearly a really bright person (and funny as heck).

I too have had a barbarian player who regularly needed to be reminded about reckless attack, and was obviously overwhelmed when he played a paladin. Mechanics were simply not what he found entertaining about roleplaying.

Players like this are why I'm....sceptical of the forum consensus here that what everyone secretly really wants when they play D&D is for every character to have the complexity and fiddliness of a fully optimised wizard or sorcahexadin.