Critical Role Critical Role's Sold Out Wembley Arena Show

Critical Role played London's Wembley Arena this week to over 12,000 people, and folks on social media shared images!

Built in 1934 next to the famous Wembley Stadium, Wembley Arena is the UK's 9th largest indoor arena and has hosted acts such as Queen, ABBA, Beyoncé, and Madonna.

From Rachel Romero who posted on Twitter
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From Rachel Romero who posted on Twitter

From Castfireballminiatures




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[MichaelSomething]

They did Savage Worlds for a four shot game. They're now doing an on-going series of three-shots with Candela Obscura. Most everything else is 5E. Their one shots vary a bunch. Ashley's not-Aliens game was something they cobbled together. The Legend of Zelda game was PbtA. They've run Honey Heist 2-3 times.

Don't forget "Feast of Legends," the TTRPG inspired by the food chain Wendy's.

 

[overgeeked]

Don't forget "Feast of Legends," the TTRPG inspired by the food chain Wendy's.

No. It's best left forgotten.

 

[Seramus]

Don't forget "Feast of Legends," the TTRPG inspired by the food chain Wendy's.

Genuinely hilarious episode!

 

[Clint_L]

It's really hard to tease apart the popularity of Critical Role in general from the popularity of CR playing D&D, specifically. Yes, viewership is lower when they play other systems, but those are A) one shots, B) usually not the exact same cast, and, most importantly IMO, C) not part of the regular continuity. So if you are invested in the ongoing campaign story you have much less incentive to watch an unrelated one-shot that likely has a somewhat or entirely different cast.

So I agree that moving away from D&D would represent a significant risk for them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The original one-shot game Matt ran for Liam's birthday used a toned down version of 4E. Once they decided to keep playing together they switched to Pathfinder. Just prior to the stream they switched to 5E.

They did Savage Worlds for a four shot game. They're now doing an on-going series of three-shots with Candela Obscura. Most everything else is 5E. Their one shots vary a bunch. Ashley's not-Aliens game was something they cobbled together. The Legend of Zelda game was PbtA. They've run Honey Heist 2-3 times.

Candela Obscura is one iteration of a generic system they're designing called Illuminated Worlds. Chances are they'll use that going forward for one-shots regardless of the genre. Unless the paying client wants something specific.

They've also run Tails of Equestria more than once, I believe, and ran a fantastic one shot of Monster Hearts that led to that game instantly selling out.

Nothing about their track record suggests they're into highly crunchy games that aren't particularly in the public consciousness any more, like the two cyberpunk games mentioned.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is me. I can't count the number of times rules have been forgotten, often far far more than my own players.

The funny thing is that they're all Chris Perkins compared to the McElroys on The Adventure Zone, who have had an actual play longer than Critical Role but still seem flummoxed by nearly every aspect of any RPG they play. But again, they luckily have charisma for days.

 

[jgsugden]

From the creator's POV sure. That's fantastic. But from the new fan's perspective? Not likely. It's also a common thing for people trying to get into comics, manga, anime, etc. There's just so much that it's overwhelming.
...
But it's already clear we're not going to agree on most of this, so this is where I bow out.

For the rest I agree - we're on different pages. For the first point - I agree that the reluctance is there ... and it makes sense in environments where you don't have total access to the entire run easily, or there is such a huge variety from which to choose ...

But Critical Role is the flagship live play game, and their entire library is available for free. If you start it and don't like it, you can drop. Watching the first episodes won't really be dated like it would be watching Grey's Anatomy's first seasons. There are obvious jumping off points and no risk.

I'm not saying the mentality is not there - I agree it is. It is just ... nonsensical in this instance, more than pretty much anywhere else.

 

[Gammadoodler]

For the rest I agree - we're on different pages. For the first point - I agree that the reluctance is there ... and it makes sense in environments where you don't have total access to the entire run easily, or there is such a huge variety from which to choose ...

But Critical Role is the flagship live play game, and their entire library is available for free. If you start it and don't like it, you can drop. Watching the first episodes won't really be dated like it would be watching Grey's Anatomy's first seasons. There are obvious jumping off points and no risk.

I'm not saying the mentality is not there - I agree it is. It is just ... nonsensical in this instance, more than pretty much anywhere else.

Sometimes it's not really a matter of whether you think you'll like it or not. Sometimes it's a matter of whether you have room in your life for it, and the more content that exists, the harder it is to make fit.

Casually setting aside 4 hours worth of attention for something new is a big ask. Knowing that the "full experience" means doing that 300 or 400 more times makes it even bigger.

 

[Clint_L]

Yeah, it's quite a time investment. I got into Critical Role because I spend a huge amount of time painting my miniatures and terrain, and it (or other actual play shows) are a perfect accompaniment for that, or sometimes for a workout, depending on my mood. So for those kinds of situations it works really well, but I seldom just sit and watch it by itself.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sometimes it's not really a matter of whether you think you'll like it or not. Sometimes it's a matter of whether you have room in your life for it, and the more content that exists, the harder it is to make fit.

Casually setting aside 4 hours worth of attention for something new is a big ask. Knowing that the "full experience" means doing that 300 or 400 more times makes it even bigger.

Yeah, I can listen to four other great actual plays each week in the same time a single Critical Role episode takes.