Critical Role Is Critical Role Scripted

[Parmandur]

I doubt that a single person out there thinks that the entire session is read from a script with them memorizing every line - what people mean by "scripted" is all of the plot points are planned out beforehand (generally always true in any DnD game with a remotely prepared DM) and that all the players are aware of the upcoming plot points so that they can "improvise" cool reactions to what the DM throws at them (this part would be unusual of a standard DnD game, and would make it not really be "playing DnD" in my opinion).

It definitely looks scripted if you only watch highlight clips where they only show the epic couple minutes out of a dozen hour livestream, but the video above does a good job of explaining this by just law of averages. If you play DnD for hundreds of hours, some really cool improvised stuff is going to happen even without professional actors being involved. Plus the moments are probably somewhat scripted from the DM's perspective, just as they would be in any normal DnD game with a prepared DM

Yeah, I still don't see how anyone could think the players know anything about what is coming ahead of time.

Certainly Mercer preps well...but the players really, really don't.

 

[Charlaquin]

I believe it was a video with Marisha where she talked about one of the biggest differences between their home game and the game once they started streaming on Geek and Sundry was they had to be engaged and paying attention the whole time with far fewer side conversations. You can still see more of those moments in Campaign 1 than you do now as they have, clearly, gotten better and more professional at it. That said, there are still spontaneous jokes and laughter (and giggle fits), it's just more contained than your typical D&D game.

That makes a ton of sense.

 

[Audiomancer]

Not many people can understand the huge amount of work that would take. I mean, think about it: to write a whole new script for a four-hour episode, and have everyone rehearsed and off-book and performance-ready, and do it again every week for years at a time, and still have it be polished and engaging? That would take far more than "a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors." They would all need to be god-tier screenwriters.

Just to underscores this point a bit:

I’ve been an (amateur) actor for durn near 30 years now. IME, it takes a group of actors about four weeks to prep a two-hour performance. Professionals, of course, would be more adept, and would have the luxury of working at it full-time, so would probably be able to do it faster. But even in professional theatre, you would expect a minimum of two or three weeks prep time. And that’s for two hours of content.

Put another way… American soap operas (do those even exist any more?) put out four hours of content a week, about the same as CR. But to do it, they have a dozen or more cast members, multiple story lines running in tandem, and a room full of writers to keep churning out pages. If eight voice actors on a tiny soundstage are keeping up the same pace, then they are “the hardest working [persons] in show business.”

 

[Charlaquin]

That's quite the hot take to drop into the middle of a post. I can't remember the last time anyone advocated in favor of plotting out a whole campaign, or even an adventure, beforehand.

It depends on how literally you mean “plotting out.” Like, obviously planning out every detail of what’s going to happen and forcing events to follow your plan regardless of what the players do is bad. But, coming up with a scenario, preparing some set-piece moments for significant story beats, seeding the adventure with relevant character spotlight moments, that kind of thing? That’s just normal DMing.

 

[Parmandur]

It depends on how literally you mean “plotting out.” Like, obviously planning out every detail of what’s going to happen and forcing events to follow your plan regardless of what the players do is bad. But, coming up with a scenario, preparing some septicemia moments for significant story beats, seeding the adventure with relevant character spotlight moments, that kind of thing? That’s just normal DMing.

True, but I wouldn't call Gary Gygax's home game "scripted".

 

[Charlaquin]

True, but I wouldn't call Gary Gygax's home game "scripted".

Right. Planning out broad plot points isn’t scripting, and Critical Role isn’t scripted.

 

[Deset Gled]

Is it fair to say that Critical Role is scripted in the same way Jeopardy is? The setup is all there ahead of time, but even knowing everything that's on the board doesn't mean anyone knows how it's going to play out.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is it fair to say that Critical Role is scripted in the same way Jeopardy is? The setup is all there ahead of time, but even knowing everything that's on the board doesn't mean anyone knows how it's going to play out.

I think Jeopardy! is much more scripted.

I can't see Mercer sitting down and saying "OK, and now the players will go to a spa for four hours" or "the Mighty Nein will want to interview every possible hireling in town before heading back to their magical tower."

Heck, both campaign two and campaign three (I only know campaign one via the cartoon) clearly just had everyone wandering around encountering hooks until they finally got excited about one and, once that storyline resolved, wandered off and eventually took the campaigns in wildly different directions.

Even loose scripting would preclude all of that.

 

[Parmandur]

Is it fair to say that Critical Role is scripted in the same way Jeopardy is? The setup is all there ahead of time, but even knowing everything that's on the board doesn't mean anyone knows how it's going to play out.

I mean, would yoy say it is fair to say thwt your home game is scripted...?

 

[Deset Gled]

I mean, would yoy say it is fair to say thwt your home game is scripted...?

It's fair to say my home game has no where near as much prep work as Critical Role, and the players aren't as focused, either. On a good day, we're probably more like Hollywood Squares.