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<blockquote data-quote="zhivik" data-source="post: 7899894" data-attributes="member: 6966637"><p>So here are a few words why I believe Critical Role is so popular. Mostly, because it is a group of people who are genuine friends and who enjoy playing with each other. It also helps that they are an extremely welcoming group, and you will never see any negativity from them, which tends to draw people and make them stay. Add to this a compelling story and memorable characters and you may get an idea why this show is popular.</p><p></p><p>The word "show" is very appropriate here, because this is essentially what Critical Role is - a story taking place in a fantasy worlds and driven by D&D rules. It showcases very well what the D&D system is capable of, since as someone very aptly mentioned earlier in this thread, D&D is not a story by itself, it is a toolkit. Critical Role is a show created with that toolkit, and it is the final result that draws so many people, not so much D&D on its own.</p><p></p><p>Of course, it helps that D&D 5e is easy to pick up and friendly for steaming, which is why the Critical Role team picked D&D 5e rather than stick to Pathfinder, which they used in their original home game. So having an easy-to-understand game system, a very welcoming group to introduce you to how the game can be played, and an engaging story and characters is what makes the show special (at least to me). It also helps that the players are all professional actors (voice or otherwise) and it is their craft to create and play interesting characters. It is a sort of improvisational theatre, if you are looking for an exact definition.</p><p></p><p>Now, what Critical Role isn't is a way to teach you the game or give you a display of gaming prowess. It never had the goal to be a purely gaming show. Players on Critical Role do outright stupid things, make mistakes with spells and abilities, forget what they can do - but don't we all from time to time? What draws me is how genuine it all is and how no one makes a big deal when people do something wrong. The point of it all is to have fun, and the cast of Critical Role very much do, which shows. It is how they built a faithful community and their current success is more than deserved.</p><p></p><p>They are also very kind to their community, and they started to include fan art to their streams very early on, which drew even more people. I believe it is amazing that the Critical Role team gives so many people a chance to be creative. The musical theme that you can hear at the start and end of the current campaign was written by a fan, one Colm McGuinnes, an Irish musical student at the time and a fan of the show. They currently run a weekly competition for cosplay and fan art, and they already have two books with fan art published - and it is great art, I must say, especially when you consider the context, as you see the story coming to life. The cast also tries to promote as many independent artists as possible, and through them I've heard about products I would never otherwise see.</p><p></p><p>I see why some would be worried that too much attention towards Critical Role could divert resources from developing the game line further. Yet, I believe Critical Role gives you a very simple recipe of how to be successful - don't be an naughty word, be genuine and offer an engaging adventure. I believe the current WotC team understands that, and I expect we are yet to see a lot more from them. Mind that they aren't so many people, so they cannot produce a lot of content fast.</p><p></p><p>About how much Critical Role can help D&D - I believe it can help a lot. I personally had absolutely no interest in D&D before coming upon Critical Role (by accident, by the way). I am not new to RPGs, but the games I was interested in fell into urban fantasy (like World of Darkness), cyberpunk (Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020) or some weird settings (Castle Falkenstein, for instance). I still don't find a lot of appeal from the current D&D settings except Eberron, which is right down my alley. The thing is, you never know what people are going to like, but the more are buying books, the more likely it is there will be people interested in something else than Critical Role.</p><p></p><p>I get it, a lot of you here are very passionate about the game and have settings you would like to receive some love first. I completely understand that and I am glad there are people who care so much about their hobby. Yet, don't be afraid if someone is doing things differently and being successful in it. The Critical Role community in general is one of the friendliest I've seen and their subReddit is one of the nicest I've visited, which speaks a lot about the people watching the show. I believe Critical Role can only have a positive effect on the entire D&D community and I hope that fewer people will see it as a threat.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="zhivik, post: 7899894, member: 6966637"] So here are a few words why I believe Critical Role is so popular. Mostly, because it is a group of people who are genuine friends and who enjoy playing with each other. It also helps that they are an extremely welcoming group, and you will never see any negativity from them, which tends to draw people and make them stay. Add to this a compelling story and memorable characters and you may get an idea why this show is popular. The word "show" is very appropriate here, because this is essentially what Critical Role is - a story taking place in a fantasy worlds and driven by D&D rules. It showcases very well what the D&D system is capable of, since as someone very aptly mentioned earlier in this thread, D&D is not a story by itself, it is a toolkit. Critical Role is a show created with that toolkit, and it is the final result that draws so many people, not so much D&D on its own. Of course, it helps that D&D 5e is easy to pick up and friendly for steaming, which is why the Critical Role team picked D&D 5e rather than stick to Pathfinder, which they used in their original home game. So having an easy-to-understand game system, a very welcoming group to introduce you to how the game can be played, and an engaging story and characters is what makes the show special (at least to me). It also helps that the players are all professional actors (voice or otherwise) and it is their craft to create and play interesting characters. It is a sort of improvisational theatre, if you are looking for an exact definition. Now, what Critical Role isn't is a way to teach you the game or give you a display of gaming prowess. It never had the goal to be a purely gaming show. Players on Critical Role do outright stupid things, make mistakes with spells and abilities, forget what they can do - but don't we all from time to time? What draws me is how genuine it all is and how no one makes a big deal when people do something wrong. The point of it all is to have fun, and the cast of Critical Role very much do, which shows. It is how they built a faithful community and their current success is more than deserved. They are also very kind to their community, and they started to include fan art to their streams very early on, which drew even more people. I believe it is amazing that the Critical Role team gives so many people a chance to be creative. The musical theme that you can hear at the start and end of the current campaign was written by a fan, one Colm McGuinnes, an Irish musical student at the time and a fan of the show. They currently run a weekly competition for cosplay and fan art, and they already have two books with fan art published - and it is great art, I must say, especially when you consider the context, as you see the story coming to life. The cast also tries to promote as many independent artists as possible, and through them I've heard about products I would never otherwise see. I see why some would be worried that too much attention towards Critical Role could divert resources from developing the game line further. Yet, I believe Critical Role gives you a very simple recipe of how to be successful - don't be an naughty word, be genuine and offer an engaging adventure. I believe the current WotC team understands that, and I expect we are yet to see a lot more from them. Mind that they aren't so many people, so they cannot produce a lot of content fast. About how much Critical Role can help D&D - I believe it can help a lot. I personally had absolutely no interest in D&D before coming upon Critical Role (by accident, by the way). I am not new to RPGs, but the games I was interested in fell into urban fantasy (like World of Darkness), cyberpunk (Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020) or some weird settings (Castle Falkenstein, for instance). I still don't find a lot of appeal from the current D&D settings except Eberron, which is right down my alley. The thing is, you never know what people are going to like, but the more are buying books, the more likely it is there will be people interested in something else than Critical Role. I get it, a lot of you here are very passionate about the game and have settings you would like to receive some love first. I completely understand that and I am glad there are people who care so much about their hobby. Yet, don't be afraid if someone is doing things differently and being successful in it. The Critical Role community in general is one of the friendliest I've seen and their subReddit is one of the nicest I've visited, which speaks a lot about the people watching the show. I believe Critical Role can only have a positive effect on the entire D&D community and I hope that fewer people will see it as a threat. [/QUOTE]
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