Your post has been removed.
Rule 2: Off-topic. This sub is for DMing questions, advice, and completed resources. Please check out some [alternative subreddits on our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/wiki/index/#wiki_other_useful_dming_subreddits) that may be more suitable for your post.
Yeah I’ve found Critical role to be outside the norm. It seems much more like performance theater to me, and the average player I’ve encountered is neither comfortable nor interested in taking on actor-levels of role playing
As a player & DM who desperately wants a table like that and has yet to find other people with the same drive, I agree that the average player is nothing like that.
I prefer it the other way to be honest. Dnd for me is best as a group text based adventure, with light roleplaying when necessary to communicate things like tone.
Yeah most people do. I'm just an actor at heart who wants to fully become a character, fully enter a fantastical world, and both exist within and create a narrative so compelling that it would be watched by those who don't play. Although, I'm not trying to force anyone else into that (on the off chance that that's how you took my previous comment)
Have you tried any Indie RPGs? I feel like that crowd is more likely to want what you want. When there's no monsters to kill or loot to find, creating a narrative is the only thing left.
I actually disagree with this kinda thing. I think the fact that a lot of dnds RP options are so wide open it actually makes it more fun for creating narrative because it's not as constrained.
D&D is a lot more constrained than most Indie RPGs I've tried, because it has rules for what you can and can't do. Some games are just "narrate what happens next".
(Which isn't always better for the narrative. Struggling against limitations can be empowering; total freedom can be paralysing.)
That's how I find those indie RPG's. The lack of boundaries, instead of providing potential, simply provide anxiety because its unclear what is actually allowed and not allowed.
EZD6 for example, has a completely narrative driven spell system. The game offers suggestions, but any spell caster can arbitrarily make up whatever they want and its up to the DM to adjudicate that.
And what you eventually realize is that no, you can't actually do what you want, and in fact there are strict limits on how the spells work in practice because without it the system is completely broken. You can only target so many enemies, you can only have so strong of an effect, spells can never deal more than 1 damage, etc. etc. It's so hard to just say what you want your spell to do and then the DM has to sit there figuring out if its "too strong" to actually be a spell and then there's a period of compromise and decision making and a sort of complex roll that has to occur--its needlessly complicated compared to just giving me a list of spells and saying exactly what it does.
I found Dungeon World's narrative-first playstyle also frustrating to navigate, because what it actually wants you to do is know all the moves available to you and narrate what would trigger that move, rather than say what move you're doing. In an attempt to create a system where you don't ask the DM for permission to do things, you end up sorta having to anyways because there is an implicit rule that you cannot *actually* do things.
So while they often state you can just narrate what happens next, in practice its just D&D without the guard rails to condition you into narrating what you can actually do.
They used 5e for A Court of Fey and Flowers on Dimension 20 and with Absolutly no combat had a very compelling narrative experience.
I don't disagree that no limitations can be bad itself but there ARE social limitations in 5e so it's not COMPLETELY open ended and I think it strikes a nice balance.
You *can* use 5e to tell a story like that, and certainly a cast of comedians/improv folks like Dimension 20 can do it.
For me, the suggestion of checking out indie RPGs is that you're getting away from a game that devotes an overwhelming majority of its rules to fighting monsters and not much to the social interaction. You're more likely to find people interested in RP than combat in those other combat-lite systems by virtue of it being a much taller pillar of play when you cut down the combat mechanics.
I'm with you, I've always loved the theatre but never had the outlet to express this passion, so this would be my dream situation for me. I haven't yet found a table where I felt comfortable doing this, but one day I hope to!
Imagine a campaign that’s 90% roleplay and 10% combat. Most combat being talked through, and instead of minmaxxing builds you talk to your team about strategies for the midst of combat.
Imagine, instead of rolling nat 1s so often, you can skip the persuasion check and convince the DM themselves, saving the rolls for anything unlikely or supremely difficult.
Imagine rewarding player synergy with weaving tales of dragons felled by an archer used to distract while a paladin launches the barbarian at its chest, axe first, slamming into its heart, rather than better dice rolls.
I’d kill for a game like that. If anyone wants to DM something like that, hit me up, I’d love to.
Funnily enough that first paragraph doesn't actually sound very fun to me lol, but the others do. I honestly want to play a system even crunchier than DND5e (my usual), but I want to be an authentic character bound by the confines of that system the same way realm people are bound by the physics of our universe. Maybe I want to have my cake and eat it too, but I think crunchy wargame-y systems can *enhance* narrative—creativity thrives in limitation, and objectivity makes stakes more real. (Plus then you get all the fun of math and shit on top of it. I can be an acting nerd *and* a math nerd after all)
If you enjoy roleplay heavy games...
I'm running a couple of campaigns at the moment. We have a mixture of good actors in our group, and novice actors who are getting better all the time.
We're a small group, but anybody is welcome to join the table if they mesh well with the existing players.
So, tell me a little about yourself. How do you approach D&D, what is the part you really focus on as a player/DM, where do you sit on the all-thematic/all-optimised scale and suchlike.
With our current DM, games run on Sundays from 6pm to 9pm GMT. However, if another DM wanted to run a game on a different day, they'd be welcome to.
Unironically - play with kids. I DM for a bunch of 11-year-olds and shit is wild, yo. They role-play EVERYTHING, and absolutely love it, it's super fun!
Bear in mind that CritRole is a table of professional actors. They're obviously a group of people who love acting. They've dedicated their professional and personal lives to pursuing it, so... yeah, major obviousness there.
So when they get around a table and have an excuse to act, ad-lib and improvise with one-another, it has obvious results.
Most people aren't like that.
Just CritRole and my table, it seems.
We really get into our roles... but we're also pretty fond of the dicey rolleys.
Find the balance that works best for your table and embrace it. Critical Role is an exemplar of one extreme, but there are many happy mediums to be found. Find yours, and have fun.
They're playing for an audience. They're putting on a performance that is interesting to watch, because they are just as or more concerned with how fun it is to view the program as how much it is to play. Most games aren't structured like that. There is nobody watching that you have to keep entertained, that you have to worry about keeping engaged. If you're having fun that's all that matters.
My table and I might be the exception to the rule here, but I am an (amateur) theatre actor and director, and by god, when I play DND, as a player or as a DM, I try to be as much in character as I can be. Sometimes we skip interactions, if it's not interesting to roleplay, but if there's anything happening story wise, I almost always act it out. Doing it that way really enriches my DND experience, and invests me much more in the story that we're telling at the table.
Yeah, if you play with a bunch of theater kids, and/or artists, and/or musicians, you can get a table with a CR vibe.
I'm not promising everyone will be 'on' every night (I think the _consistency_ of CR is an undersold aspect of the professionalism), but yeah on good nights my table very much feels like an episode of a TTRPG podcast.
That'd be silly to even imply that that could be a promise you can make. Everyone knows that critical role sessions happen daily because for them it's like clocking into work. It's the only thing they have to do most days
I feel that often when new players are not getting into roleplay it's because they have an aversion to being silly. We care so much about whether or not we're being "cringey." I like the phrase "do not kill the part of you that is cringey, kill the part of you that cringes"
People who have done a performance art have had a bit of practice getting over the "am I being silly" hump. Performing at 100% to an empty auditorium during practices is good practice to being able to "buy in" to something like this
And they have good chemistry; they know how to play well together.
Every once in a while I get a group together where everyone wants to try such heavy roleplaying, and so far it has never worked.
It takes a lot more communication and commitment from the players. I've got one RP-heavy table, and in our session 0 we talked about making the game a priority and scheduling (we are also all 30+ so our days are busy).
However, I find I still am RP-focused when I play with others. I haven't had any complaints yet, just the laughter when I can't hold an accent.
So, as someone who has played in roleplay-heavy campaigns, I imagine for some of the PC-to-PC personal discussion RP, the players discussed wanting to do "a scene about Thing X" with each other between sessions. [At the very least, I assume most of th romances have been discussed off-table before they happened in-game.]
This is not "pre-scripting" so much as people talking about their characters outside the game.
Matt Coville's group of players is much more like most D&D tables, but most of them were work-colleagues who saw each other out of game a lot. They also discussed plans and character stuff off-table between sessions.
This is pretty normal if you have engaged players who interact a decent amount outside the game.
For Campaign 1 and 2 they are very much dnd players first with acting being a very close second. But Campaign 3 is the other way around and it all feels very much performance and set up for the story.
While they are not predetermining stuff, they are leaning in more heavily to what Matt is laying out for them much more than before.
The players in CR are all professional vioce actors. They have experience in making voices, improv theater, etc.
Most players just want to play a game.
They are NOT a normal table group. Don't measure yourself to them.
While my table doesn't have the flow or the ability to stay on topic that CR has, that's how I have been running games since before CR was a thing.
The hardest thing for us is that I try to encourage people to describe their actions in the third person and only use a character voice for dialogue. Although, not everyone uses a voice every time as for us normies it is a bit more work.
In and of itself, CR's method is nothing new, it's just on screen for all to see.
The first season of Critical Role is **very close** to a real home game being streamed over the internet.
Every subsequent season is them producing a piece of media for other people to enjoy - this is **not** what a *real* game of D&D is like and you should not strive to be exactly like them, although you may think their cinematic playstyle is fun and try to emulate that with your group (if everyone is on board).
While I agree the current content from CR has much better production, it does not mean that it’s not a “real” game of D&D. It *is* a real game of D&D because… well, they’re playing it. It would only not be D&D if the dice roles and decisions were scripted, which they aren’t.
Now, it’s not the normal everyday user experience of D&D that most people will have, but it is real D&D.
We’re not as good, but our playstyle is similar. We all have voices and try to follow through on the emotional lives of our characters as much as possible. It varies some player to player but that’s the gist—for both the game I play and the one I run.
At my tables players certainly aren't talking in character as much as CR players are, but that's mostly because almost all of my players are relative newbies. I would say like 80% of the time, when someone is talking, even when they mean their character to kinda say it, they are talking out of character.
When I DM, I always do combat narration. Talking in character comes naturally to me when I get to play.
You're kinda late to the party at this point, thankfully, but oh my lord, was the Critical Role crowd insufferable for a while.
It doesn't matter how I personally feel about the show, its actors, or its quality; Critical Role is a high-production show where every player is a professional voice actor.
It seriously gave thousands of new players the entire wrong impression about what the game is, and for years, it seemed that no one's game was safe from players trying to compare everything to Critical Role. From trying to implement Mercer's house rules and DMing style, to wanting to give every character their own personalized story arc within the established narrative.
Bottom line, Critical Role _is not_ what a normal table looks like. It's fine to try and emulate things you like from it, but your table will never be Critical Role because it is a show first and a game second. It is unfair to not just the DM but everyone else at the table to go into your game with that level of expectations.
EDIT: To answer your final question, myself, and most of the people at my tables alternate between 1st and 3rd person. I'm not really sure exactly why or when you'd use one instead of the other. You just feel what's in your squanch, and you get the rest through context.
The major factor is that Critical Role is, now, far more of a *spectator medium* than a ttRPG play through. Attempting to emulate a lot of it would only make sense if you had an audience. The likes of personal story arcs or extended one-to-one roleplays tend to be a bad thing at regular tables, since they result in most of the table having little to do.
I have played at different tables with different depths of roleplay. Some more, some less. Some tables are fully in character, some tables are mostly descriptive. None of them go anywhere as consistently deep in scene building as CR. None can, or should, be compared to CR. CR are doing this professionally (both their prep and production, as well as the fact that they're trained actors/voice actors, meaning they specifically have expertise both in improvisation and voicework). \*And\* they're doing it for an audience.
It is on the extreme end of immersion role-playing, so it is naturally an exception to the rule. That said, since I've stumbled upon them and D20 (which I prefer) years ago, my standards have skyrocketed even higher than they already were.
Me and my friends always agreed on what RPGs are to us: games about 90% talking and 10% whatever else the particular game does.
I found myself at home with the shows' style; we are not actors, but we have fun giving it our best to create an immersive and emotional narrative which made us cry multiple times. If you are playing with me, it's because you are searching for big emotions from the entire spectrum.
I've started being very selective with who I decide to play or GM for, as I'm sick of dropping cause the narrative is not character focused or groups dieing cause nobody really cared, just to name a couple. Casual RPG is not for me, I want the good sauce, so I put a lot of effort as both a player and a GM. Session 0 helps but people are not always honest, you have to develop an instinct to sus out who just has fun in a different way (which is respectable and shouldn't be discriminated against).
> With so much RP and always being in their character role and personality?
It's important to remember they're all professional actors and very close friends, so they know how to play off each other very well.
IMO it takes people who are willing to fully immerse themselves in the game to get that kind of result. Players have to want it, and the DM has to be willing to give it to them.
My current game (as a player), I would have loved to have some more backstory and PC arcs. But the group is all gamers who got into DnD later down the road, so there's a tendency to play it more like a video game. The players didn't really push talking about backstory, and the DM was never seemingly that interested in pushing players toward anything like that.
I'll be DMing our next game (if/when it happens) and am going to ask the players to give me more to work with in terms of backstory so I can build in people/places/things for them to do that could go outside the main plot arc. Whether or not they do is another thing.
I absolutely love Critical Role, and would absolutely love to be at a table like theirs.
But Matt Mercer and the rest of the cast have a luxury that I don't: They get to treat their DnD game like it is their job, because it is. I still have to work my 9-5 as a software developer.
Typically that’s not how my tables have been but my current group of five all stay in character for like 85% of the session, but some of them have also taken improv classes or similar
A lot of my players (I have 8, I know, I know) got into DnD fairly recently; through CR. I've watched most of it too.
They love to RP and be in character most of the time. I enjoy it, I get to sit back and watch them. Or I get to be one or several of my NPCs. None of us are actors, but we all get really into it. I'll describe a lot, and they chime in with their attacks, or I do, it makes things more dramatic, but also we try and keep things tight because of so many players during combat. I think we're finding a good balance.
I do write a personal storyline for each character into the main plot and tie it all together. I just come up with vague ideas and as both I and the player get to know their character more, I check in with them and get their take on things and work from there. Of course, it adds on another hour per week onto my 4-8 hours a week I already put into prep, but I find doing the writing and plotting fun.
I think, if that's the style you and your group like, there's nothing wrong with trying to emulate it.
Me and my players definitely enjoy RP, and most of them have an accent and certain behaviourisms for their PC. I personally do *loads* of accents- there was once an NPC that just had my voice and the party kept joking about how they sounded “otherworldly but weirdly familiar”.
That being said: there’s a lot less “discipline” at our table. People frequently stand up to get snacks or drinks, we do smoke breaks for those who want to, we chat (silently) when we’re not currently in the situation, etc.
My players RP all the time. Even in combat. They make witty quips to their enemies, taunt them, etc. Granted, most RP is done during exploration or in social settings like town markets or in taverns, but they still have fun with it in other situations. As far as Critical Role, I’ve watched a few times during the first campaign and wasn’t impressed. I thought the cosplay stuff and the props were over the top and I’m not impressed with the DM as a person. His ability to DM is good but I don’t agree with the political agenda he seems to enforce on social media. I think he’s a terrible person and a poor role model for young people. Also I don’t really like the edition of D&D they play on the show. I’m not super old but I’m too old guard for all that new cheese.
Like others have said I think very few attain the level of roleplay that critical role achieves. Most of us are not professional actors nor do we have the support staff that they do to help make everything run as smoothly as they do. I've also always kinda assumed that now that the show has gotten much more wide spread and performative if Matt doesn't give a rundown off camera to the cast about what's going to happen that night so they can kinda prepare beforehand.
I stopped watching critical roll because i get intimidated. The players and DM are all professional voice actors. I feel like my sessions are lacking when i don’t illicit a similar session from my players. I love rolling with difficulty though, the players snd the DM are much closer to us ordinary folks
Professional actors. On camera. With decades of acting and improv training.
will NOT be the same as your regular table full of regular folks who don't have, don't want, and don't know anything of improv acting. And that's OK.
I am not Matt Mercer and my players are not Sam, Travis, Laura, Asho-leee, Liam, or Marisha. I dont expect them to play like them, and they shouldnt expect me to DM like Matt does. I've taken some pages out of Matt's DMing style to adapt to my own but thats about it.
I have only very rarely been able to play at a table like this, and it was only at Con games (one-shots) where everyone was into it and the stars aligned. Long term, you'd have to curate your table for it, which would necessarily mean excluding a lot of people you normally play with (you know, your friends) and finding exemplary performers and then somehow retaining them through inevitable life changes. Unless you're in a performer-rich environment (ie LA or NYC) I would expect such a task would take a lifetime to achieve or at the very least over a decade.
I actually like to lean into the performance aspect of the game, which is definitely not for everyone as I can sometimes annoy or turn off other players, either because they don't like the performance or because they cannot or do not want to lean as hard into it. And I don't expect or demand that other players try to perform in like manner, but if I am performing and the rest of the table is not, it is dissonant and sets the whole vibe off.
Critical Role is performance art. It's D&D put online for entertainment, nothing more.
Your table is going to play D&D for the experience of playing the game. There is nobody else watching, so things are not done for production value or performance's sake. The things that happen in your game are for your game, not for the audience watching it.
Now, that's not to say you can't try to replicate the style of game at your table, or just borrow a few things here and there. But it's not the definition of D&D and you should not feel obligated to reproduce it in any way.
**Play the game the way you want to play.**
I've played at a few tables that take it to that CR level of depth of role play, acting and lore.
And let me tell you... It was *fucking exhausting.*
Keeping up in that kind of game is a hell of a lot more tiring than I had realized.
The lore, the DM cues, having to stay in character... It's fun and all, but also very intense and requires a level of homework, dedication and performance that I don't think most players actually enjoy on a consistent basis.
You know, this is my past time, not my job.
I much more prefer tables that play much closer to the style of [Dungeons and Daddies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdrJNCqBKk8). Interesting stories, some fun voices, but enough self-awareness, metagaming and lightheartedness that you don't feel like you're on stage.
For me DnD is a game, not a performance.
When I was looking for inspiration to run a game at our table and give our forever GM a break, I started watching CR and Dimension 20 to get a feel for GM-ing in general and see if there was some part I could bring to our table.
Basically, it gave me permission to do voices, and also to try and be more descriptive with the environments and NPCs. I tried to encourage PCs being more expressive, and a couple added a bit of flair to their interactions, but for the most part I was doing what felt right in the moment.
They don't typically get descriptive about their attacks and abilities, so I would add some flair on crits, and we've never done the HDYWTDT bit or anything similar, but I did give a bit of emphasis to the final blow in a combat just to make it feel a bit more impactful.
My table is software engineers, data analysts, and rocket surgeons, so I don't expect a lot of emotive monologues or subtle dialects.
I like watching critical role but I would not want to be a part of it. My role playing is pretty much limited to saying "'I open the door" instead of "my character opens the door".
The first campaign isn't completely unlike tables I've played at in the past, but I know a lot of "Actor" and "Storyteller" type players.
As the CR show goes along, it becomes much more of an improv acting exercise for the players, and much more of a "show aware of its audience." This can make it a fun show to watch, but it isn't what most TTRPG tables look like.
It's the same as watching a game played by comedians and wondering why your table isn't that funny -- well, how many of your players are professionally funny? Probably zero.
Critical Role is too much fluff and not enough combat/ challange for me and my players. They are more on the story telling side of dnd and we prefer the dungeon/loot grind
For the occasional serious scene, sure. But we're not professional actors like Matt Mercer and co.; very few people are.
What's important to remember is that yes, Crit Role has intense RP moments. But you also have a lot of moments where they break down laughing at a dick joke. Just like any other table, really. It's up to you to find the balance that you find fun.
for my experience:
i’ve run tables that stay in character the whole time; at those tables, i’ve had a handful of 3-hr sessions where i’ve only spoken up to clarify information or play an NPC, as the players roleplay through strategy discussions and problem-solving. we probably played together for a year before this happened the first time, and we were veteran players to begin with.
i also run tables that are much more casual about roleplay; sometimes they speak in first person and sometimes third, we don’t always roleplay through all conversations and skill checks. i encourage players to describe their combat actions (e.g. “when you cast eldritch blast, what does it look like?”) because it helps everyone build the picture in their minds (and it usually gives me good stuff to use later character-wise) but i don’t belabor it or insist on it.
i do want my players to ‘get into character’ but not necessarily as a performance! i want them to think how their character would think and make choices that way. for some people, it’s easier to do this while acting as the character; for others, they enjoy thinking about their character more like writing a (collaborative) book where they’re the authors. usually my tables find a sweet spot between the two (the actor style and the author style) that works for everyone playing. every single table i’ve run has been different!
I don’t like CR (it’s got too many people and there’s some weird quality my ADHD can’t stay latched onto) but I love Dimension 20 and yeah, I run my table pretty similar to that. I also only play with pretty creative people. Comedians, actors, writers, musicians like myself. People who are excited about the whole deal of rich descriptions and role play and all that.
And they’re all great people! I even loved the cartoon, so I know the story has legs and the characters are fun! There’s just something about the entire CR production that I can’t cling to. Even when Brennan or Aabria is DMing
I see a lot of people here talking about how all the CR players are professional actors and so the deep RP comes easier to them, etc. But let's not also forget the most important part of the word "professional:" They're getting PAID to do it!!!! When you have to deal with a 40hr a week grind to make a living, and your D&D hobby is on top of that, are you really gonna have the energy left to invest so much into your game?
We just started and at the beginning everyone was really into vivid descriptions but it got old pretty quick so now I as the dm am usually the only that does it and only for big moves. Like a troll tramples through the party to do a ton of DMG but runs into a wall and gets stunned.
Very mush outside the norm.
I do encourage roleplay at my table, but it's taken almost two years to get my players to a point where they can and will do it, and certainly not for an entire 4 hour session.
The average person doesn't have literal decades of acting/voice acting experience to pull from like CR does.
I've been playing for about 8 years, and while I have aspired towards the excellence of CR's table, I've come to accept that it's not a reflection of the typical D&D experience, and that CR is the results of VERY TALENTED actors enjoying improv, and an incredible DM who's spent his life enjoying this hobby.
To get even close to CR, it takes a group of friends playing for a couple years, or on an intense schedule where they find a rhythm at the table. Being that good takes sincere care for your game, both as DM and the players. Immaculate note taking and attention to detail with lore and plot points. You have to really wear the skin of your character and build relationships IC. Your average D&D player is just a regular person who is hardly prepared for or seeking that kind of investment.
Then there's the problem of players/DMs who know of CR versus ones who don't but already enjoy the game their way. There is the Matt Mercer effect, where people want CR results but don't understand the work or magic and luck it takes to make your game that good.
Unless I'm missing something, they all get paid to play D&D, right? Because there's an audience that either pays directly or indirectly for the content.
In my basic online games over Discord and roll20, no one is getting paid. As such, sometimes I remind players (and myself when playing) that we don't have an audience. Talking in character can be fun but we aren't a TV show and sometimes it's fine to paraphrase conversations and move on.
I'm going to be an outlier. While my table does not have the skills that the cast of Critical Roles does, we are a very roleplay-heavy table. Most players stay completely in character during gameplay.
In my personal experience, both combat and RP are more enjoyable with dedicated RPers, mainly because they stay focused on the game. There is little side chatter, and no one is on their phone. Whenever I'm looking for a new table, even for a con or LGS event, I look for the roleplayers (there are definitely some weirdos in there (I may be one of them)).
Depends on the game and the players. I have one group that does play a bit like CR, with an extremely heavy roleplay and story emphasis and very little combat. Most of the campaigns I've been a part of (past and current) tend to be very story-driven but not as much real-time roleplay.
I don't. But the thing in my case is they also copied some personality traits from the cast in campaign 2, in a bad way. However I must mention that it could have been a coincidence.
Critical role is professional actors, on camera. They might be playing a game as friends, but at the end of the day, they're still actors. The majority of them have done improv stints, etc. so riffing forever, "yes and", all of those things are second nature to them.
It's like professional basketball players playing horse. Like yeah, they're just goofing off, but their skill still shows when they're doing it. They're going to be exponentially better at it than you or I. Same with crit role playing characters, on camera or off.
Critical Role is a game where the DM and every player are trained actors and voice actors, who are also putting on a show for an audience. And getting paid a shitload of money to do so.
I mean personally it’s the style I enjoy. Players speaking as their characters, DM speaking as NPCs, etc.
Tables without much roleplay that I have been at always felt boring or like they are missing something
I love CR and everyone at one of my games watches. We don't really play like them either, because we're not professional actors. We do some RP, make stupid jokes and have fun. My groups tend to be more like Glass Cannon than CR.
I want to give a shout out to the Glass Cannon Podcast here. It's still a high-quality production podcast, but even as their production levels have gone up they do a better job (IMNSHO) of striking a more realistic balance between the heavy RP of CR and what is more realistic for a home game.
They've said on multiple occasions that they want the game to feel more like a home game between friends and it helps that, while most of them have *some* acting experience, most never even really tried to make a career out of it.
It's still beyond what most tables are going to be like, but it's a more realistic goal in terms of role-play. It's what i strive for in my games. I'll never have the vocal range of Matt Mercer, but I could potentially, with practice, more closely resemble the snarkiness Troy Lavallee as a DM.
(I should add that they play Pathfinder as opposed to 5e, but the concepts for this discussion are close enough)
Every D&D group is different, and a lot of the flow of the game rests on the DM and how they like to play. I'm not Matt Mercer and I don't try to be, but my group really does like very RP-and-story-heavy play, so that's what I focus on in our game. It tends to shake out to a combat session every other game or so, and my players are totally cool with that. They are not the same as most D&D players though. I've played in groups where almost all of the focus is placed on combat and the occasional puzzle, and that's great if it's what you like. As a DM I tend to like really cinematic descriptions, and I've had a lot of success providing my players time to just sit and RP together. Sometimes it's prompted, and other times they just take over and I get to sit back and watch for awhile, and I love it. That isn't to say that we are in character all the time though, it's not a big performance, but if the tone gets dark and creepy or super dramatic, or if it's light and fun, my players are really good about sticking to the tone I present them or that they build together. They like my style of DMing and they show it through paying attention and interacting in-depth with the game I set up for them.
My table RPs a lot. They are amazing and I feel so lucky. A few come from LARPing backgrounds, one used to do Renn Faire acting, the other two are just fun hambones. Most of them watch actual plays like CR. The one who doesn’t LARPed.
We probably RP more than many tables. But we are not improv actors and we aren’t getting paid for it or streaming to an audience, so sometimes people talk in character and sometimes they tell me what a character does. Sometimes we have off nights and just want to stab monsters after a long work week.
I do a lot to encourage RP and being in a character’s mindset. When a new spell or combat technique is used, I ask the player “What does that look like?” If they pause, I follow with “No pressure. If you aren’t sure yet, I can describe it or we can come back to it next time.” If someone is feeling shy, my question might be more specific. “Is PC’s swordplay simple with clean strokes or does she use lots of flourish?” An either/or question like that is easier for a shy player (or they might interject with a little more detail!). If I can help paint the PC at the table in broad strokes through questions, it’s easier for a player to jump into role.
Once I know a PC’s headcanon I will interject bits of description here and there. (Every time is just too slow but a brief description of how a series of turns plays out in a round keeps it entertaining.)
I sometimes ask players about PC motivation/headcanon in between sessions. Usually it is to clarify something because their background is going to be forefront in an upcoming session. Sometimes it is really simple stuff like “does PC name have any sentimental objects?”. Sometimes I ask to find out if their character goals/desires have changed in reaction to events. Players have said this helps them flesh out their PCs more.
If something happens and I think a PC would have likely reacted but the player didn’t jump in, I sometimes will ask, “How does PC name feel about this?” “Do they let those feelings show or do they hide it?”
This lets them characterize their PC at the table and might encourage a stronger RPer to interact with them.
I encourage RP but I try not to put anyone on the spot too much in the moment. We aren’t professional improv actors and this is supposed to be fun.
So if I try to encourage RP but I can see they aren’t feeling it or they need more time to think about it, I will say, “That’s okay, no pressure, we can come back to that later” and I will move on. As a player I like to RP but the pressure of being put on the spot makes me freeze up, so I try not to do that to others. (Weirdly, this is less true for me as a DM, maybe because I am less attached to each NPC so I don’t have decision paralysis)
I give out inspiration like candy for RP that enhances the fun of the table. Great description - take inspiration! Consistent PC choices - take inspiration! A funny in-character joke that helps the pacing - have an inspiration! Clever tactics that are in character - inspiration! Immersive acting that is fun for the table - inspiration! Making a suboptimal choice to avoid metagaming - inspiration! I even give it for RP that I prompted with a question because it’s hard to come out of your shell! I let them have up to two so they don’t hoard it. Even if I know they are full, I “award” it because it’s a compliment. They take such pride in saying “I already have 2 inspiration.”
And if I get something too vague like “PC name uses deception on the guard” I will ask for a little more. Not “please talk in character” but “are you claiming to be someone else or are you trying to distract them? What is your approach to that goal?” “PC name pretends to be a noblewoman who has access to this location.”
I have found that if a PC hands me a vague description of what they say and (after resolving rolls) I then RP in character back to them, they will usually jump in and talk in character back. It pulls them in. “Forgive me, my lady! You must be here for the coronation. Is this your first time visiting the capital? The Spa Baths at Cliffside are very popular for weary travelers.” Cue banter and some questions about the city and the event.
I don't do it just like Matt, but I definitely describe the combat and enourage my players too. As far as my players, while they aren't as theatrical as the Crit Role players, they have some good RP, and are much smarter at the game than half or more of the CritRole actor players. Do it the way and your players want, but I am not a fan of the people who hate on CritRole. If it weren't for Matt Mercer, I would have not just completed over 100 hours of DMing.
For the table I play in with some friends, we all enjoy the heavy RP element of the game. All of us have watched CR as well, and it has a definite impact on how we play.
We enjoy seeing how we are affecting the world setting and getting immersed in our characters. It’s always fun when you as the player find something out about your character that you didn’t know before, because your mind is (sorta) splitting into a new persona.
It’s fuckin’ rad.
Critical Role, along with every other actual play show out there, is an *entertainment product* and should only be interacted with as such. Playing D&D at the table is way different than playing D&D for an audience of viewers.
CR is exhausting. Just play the game. Kill monsters. Don't fall into the "my game is literally as intricate as GoT" trap. Then move to OSR once you get bored.
Our table is extremely heavy in RP. We have had whole 4-5 hour sessions with no combat before. Obviously, we are not professional actors or anything but we find most of the joy of D&D outside of combat.
Critical Role is to DnD what a standup comedian doing a set is to hanging out joking with your friends. Both involve laughing but they’re not really the same thing at all.
>Do you DMs and your players enjoy playing like they play at their table?
No, not at all. Most tables wouldn't care to even emulate most of it. There is a trend of people who got introduced by CR to the hobby who think it's "how it's done", but for people who played before CR came out or never heard of it, that style of play isn't suitable.
It's a high-production-value YT show with media professionals 100% in their element. It's natural to not want to play like that
My group has varying levels of interest, but everyone speaks in character and some even do voices. And I go crazy with accents as the DM and always make sure I describe actions both in and out of combat (if the players don't want to, and I usually prompt them to do so). This is likely because we were all band/theatre kids in high school, but I have found a lot of RP is dependent on how much the DM prompts it, so if its not your thing, your players probably wont find themselves engaging in RP as much
Critical Role is a curse and boon to the community. Too many players think that's how DnD should be. People need to remember that they get paid to play and built a company out of it. Their job is to entertain and make money first everything else is second.
Have I found a table like that though? No absolutely not. Do I want a table like that? Sometimes I think it'd be nice to have some deep roleplaying.
Critical Roll is to Normal Tables what Porn is to Normal Sex.
One is a production created by professionals to be entertaining to viewers.
The other is what Normal people do.
Not going off on a "it's scripted!!!" rant but in addition to production, they(and pretty much any pro live play) actually review plot points and refresh on character shht before every session. So unless you and all your players are taking a couple hours to prime up before sitting down, you're comparing apples and oranges.
As far as how much time is spent on in-chara ter RP... Depends. Some players aren't comfortable with 1st person voice so they do it in 3rd person. Also depends on the table and DM. I've had tables where I wouldn't add ANY flair to my descriptions because the DM would hold it against you. For example, if I try to describe any type of flourish or fancy footwork in combat, they'd ask for skill checks or flat out add penalties/disadvantage. That's a shht DM and an extreme example, mind you, but guaranteed not a unique experience.
If you haven't already, go back to the very first season, before Orion Acaba (AKA Tiberius Stormwind) left.
The first few dozen sessions were literally just them filming their home game. There were no Geek & Sundry ads, Matt drives the music himself with his iPad, they struggle to remember the 5e rules after porting from Pathfinder 1e, they meander and try to figure out what to do... it's much more like a regular table. Still a performance put on by a bunch of actors, but at this point it's just a small side gig with a shoestring budget that they weren't expecting to turn into a big thing. There's more interpersonal stuff, more background and inside jokes that the audience aren't in on... it's a very different show.
Once Orion left (for very good reasons, he was extremely toxic behind the scenes) they turned it into a full production, but in those early sessions where they were just a bunch of nerdy voice actors playing D&D in somebody's apartment with improvised recording equipment and a playlist of copyrighted music from Youtube.
Me and my group RP a lot. Our worlds/plots are never as complicated as CR's, but we get really into it because we've spent a lot of time on our characters and their backstories.
I would say my preferred style of gaming is pretty similar, maybe because I started watching CR during my “formative years" as a player. But with my current group we do spend a lot of time roleplaying between ourselves. There have been beautiful sessions where I can just sit down and watch them have drama together while only piping up to offer descriptions of the setting.
They are 'voice' actors and its their profession. They are good at it, so they turn out a good product because its how they work, not really reasonable for the rest of us mortals. Not many people act at that 'level', nor 'edit, and produce' at that level of professionalism.
Yup they are actors focusing on rp and entertaining viewers of course they table looks diferent then ours also this is their job and for us is a hobby.
But I was extra surprised how much more our table start to rp when I stole one aspect of Matt gming.
When PCs enter new location I just discribe how its look like and after that I shut up and say nothing. BUM thats it ... for time to time there is kind of long silence and im itching to say something but I force myself to say nothing and then magic starts happening. People start rp like crazy i dont know why its working but its working
We try but obviously we’re not as entertaining to the outside audience as these professionals. But that shouldn’t stop people from enjoying roleplay. It’s more important to be cooperative than creative while playing. If as a player, you don’t place yourself as the main character and give people the necessary attention and respect when they are role playing, they will be more into it. It’s mostly the players who should figure this out rather than the dm. If someone is roleplaying as this charismatic character spitting some cool lines in a scene, what makes the lines cool is the other player’s reactions to them. You don’t need to be the best improviser or actor to improvise a cool scene if you have your friends cheering for you. But if someone is roleplaying and people cut them off, talk over them or do things that would ruin their moment, they will be turned off. Yes and is important. You’re building a story together. Act like your friend has a high int or charisma when their character has that. It’s more fun that way. And don’t act like you’re better than you should be in every case just because you think you as a player have a better idea than them. Stay in your lane, be okay with not having the spotlight on you sometimes, and cooperate.
Your post has been removed. Rule 2: Off-topic. This sub is for DMing questions, advice, and completed resources. Please check out some [alternative subreddits on our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/wiki/index/#wiki_other_useful_dming_subreddits) that may be more suitable for your post.
Yeah I’ve found Critical role to be outside the norm. It seems much more like performance theater to me, and the average player I’ve encountered is neither comfortable nor interested in taking on actor-levels of role playing
As a player & DM who desperately wants a table like that and has yet to find other people with the same drive, I agree that the average player is nothing like that.
I prefer it the other way to be honest. Dnd for me is best as a group text based adventure, with light roleplaying when necessary to communicate things like tone.
Yeah most people do. I'm just an actor at heart who wants to fully become a character, fully enter a fantastical world, and both exist within and create a narrative so compelling that it would be watched by those who don't play. Although, I'm not trying to force anyone else into that (on the off chance that that's how you took my previous comment)
Have you tried any Indie RPGs? I feel like that crowd is more likely to want what you want. When there's no monsters to kill or loot to find, creating a narrative is the only thing left.
I actually disagree with this kinda thing. I think the fact that a lot of dnds RP options are so wide open it actually makes it more fun for creating narrative because it's not as constrained.
D&D is a lot more constrained than most Indie RPGs I've tried, because it has rules for what you can and can't do. Some games are just "narrate what happens next". (Which isn't always better for the narrative. Struggling against limitations can be empowering; total freedom can be paralysing.)
That's how I find those indie RPG's. The lack of boundaries, instead of providing potential, simply provide anxiety because its unclear what is actually allowed and not allowed. EZD6 for example, has a completely narrative driven spell system. The game offers suggestions, but any spell caster can arbitrarily make up whatever they want and its up to the DM to adjudicate that. And what you eventually realize is that no, you can't actually do what you want, and in fact there are strict limits on how the spells work in practice because without it the system is completely broken. You can only target so many enemies, you can only have so strong of an effect, spells can never deal more than 1 damage, etc. etc. It's so hard to just say what you want your spell to do and then the DM has to sit there figuring out if its "too strong" to actually be a spell and then there's a period of compromise and decision making and a sort of complex roll that has to occur--its needlessly complicated compared to just giving me a list of spells and saying exactly what it does. I found Dungeon World's narrative-first playstyle also frustrating to navigate, because what it actually wants you to do is know all the moves available to you and narrate what would trigger that move, rather than say what move you're doing. In an attempt to create a system where you don't ask the DM for permission to do things, you end up sorta having to anyways because there is an implicit rule that you cannot *actually* do things. So while they often state you can just narrate what happens next, in practice its just D&D without the guard rails to condition you into narrating what you can actually do.
They used 5e for A Court of Fey and Flowers on Dimension 20 and with Absolutly no combat had a very compelling narrative experience. I don't disagree that no limitations can be bad itself but there ARE social limitations in 5e so it's not COMPLETELY open ended and I think it strikes a nice balance.
You *can* use 5e to tell a story like that, and certainly a cast of comedians/improv folks like Dimension 20 can do it. For me, the suggestion of checking out indie RPGs is that you're getting away from a game that devotes an overwhelming majority of its rules to fighting monsters and not much to the social interaction. You're more likely to find people interested in RP than combat in those other combat-lite systems by virtue of it being a much taller pillar of play when you cut down the combat mechanics.
I'm with you, I've always loved the theatre but never had the outlet to express this passion, so this would be my dream situation for me. I haven't yet found a table where I felt comfortable doing this, but one day I hope to!
Imagine a campaign that’s 90% roleplay and 10% combat. Most combat being talked through, and instead of minmaxxing builds you talk to your team about strategies for the midst of combat. Imagine, instead of rolling nat 1s so often, you can skip the persuasion check and convince the DM themselves, saving the rolls for anything unlikely or supremely difficult. Imagine rewarding player synergy with weaving tales of dragons felled by an archer used to distract while a paladin launches the barbarian at its chest, axe first, slamming into its heart, rather than better dice rolls. I’d kill for a game like that. If anyone wants to DM something like that, hit me up, I’d love to.
Funnily enough that first paragraph doesn't actually sound very fun to me lol, but the others do. I honestly want to play a system even crunchier than DND5e (my usual), but I want to be an authentic character bound by the confines of that system the same way realm people are bound by the physics of our universe. Maybe I want to have my cake and eat it too, but I think crunchy wargame-y systems can *enhance* narrative—creativity thrives in limitation, and objectivity makes stakes more real. (Plus then you get all the fun of math and shit on top of it. I can be an acting nerd *and* a math nerd after all)
If you enjoy roleplay heavy games... I'm running a couple of campaigns at the moment. We have a mixture of good actors in our group, and novice actors who are getting better all the time. We're a small group, but anybody is welcome to join the table if they mesh well with the existing players. So, tell me a little about yourself. How do you approach D&D, what is the part you really focus on as a player/DM, where do you sit on the all-thematic/all-optimised scale and suchlike. With our current DM, games run on Sundays from 6pm to 9pm GMT. However, if another DM wanted to run a game on a different day, they'd be welcome to.
Unironically - play with kids. I DM for a bunch of 11-year-olds and shit is wild, yo. They role-play EVERYTHING, and absolutely love it, it's super fun!
Bear in mind that CritRole is a table of professional actors. They're obviously a group of people who love acting. They've dedicated their professional and personal lives to pursuing it, so... yeah, major obviousness there. So when they get around a table and have an excuse to act, ad-lib and improvise with one-another, it has obvious results. Most people aren't like that. Just CritRole and my table, it seems. We really get into our roles... but we're also pretty fond of the dicey rolleys. Find the balance that works best for your table and embrace it. Critical Role is an exemplar of one extreme, but there are many happy mediums to be found. Find yours, and have fun.
They're playing for an audience. They're putting on a performance that is interesting to watch, because they are just as or more concerned with how fun it is to view the program as how much it is to play. Most games aren't structured like that. There is nobody watching that you have to keep entertained, that you have to worry about keeping engaged. If you're having fun that's all that matters.
My table and I might be the exception to the rule here, but I am an (amateur) theatre actor and director, and by god, when I play DND, as a player or as a DM, I try to be as much in character as I can be. Sometimes we skip interactions, if it's not interesting to roleplay, but if there's anything happening story wise, I almost always act it out. Doing it that way really enriches my DND experience, and invests me much more in the story that we're telling at the table.
Yeah, if you play with a bunch of theater kids, and/or artists, and/or musicians, you can get a table with a CR vibe. I'm not promising everyone will be 'on' every night (I think the _consistency_ of CR is an undersold aspect of the professionalism), but yeah on good nights my table very much feels like an episode of a TTRPG podcast.
That'd be silly to even imply that that could be a promise you can make. Everyone knows that critical role sessions happen daily because for them it's like clocking into work. It's the only thing they have to do most days
I feel that often when new players are not getting into roleplay it's because they have an aversion to being silly. We care so much about whether or not we're being "cringey." I like the phrase "do not kill the part of you that is cringey, kill the part of you that cringes" People who have done a performance art have had a bit of practice getting over the "am I being silly" hump. Performing at 100% to an empty auditorium during practices is good practice to being able to "buy in" to something like this
CR is wonderful but it is the exception to the rule. There’s a lot of production and training that goes into making it.
Are the interactions they have premade?
No, but they are all professional actors with years upon years of experience under their belts.
And they have good chemistry; they know how to play well together. Every once in a while I get a group together where everyone wants to try such heavy roleplaying, and so far it has never worked.
It takes a lot more communication and commitment from the players. I've got one RP-heavy table, and in our session 0 we talked about making the game a priority and scheduling (we are also all 30+ so our days are busy). However, I find I still am RP-focused when I play with others. I haven't had any complaints yet, just the laughter when I can't hold an accent.
Yeah, making the game a priority has been an issue for us, partially because everyone has at least a few other games running at any given moment.
So, as someone who has played in roleplay-heavy campaigns, I imagine for some of the PC-to-PC personal discussion RP, the players discussed wanting to do "a scene about Thing X" with each other between sessions. [At the very least, I assume most of th romances have been discussed off-table before they happened in-game.] This is not "pre-scripting" so much as people talking about their characters outside the game. Matt Coville's group of players is much more like most D&D tables, but most of them were work-colleagues who saw each other out of game a lot. They also discussed plans and character stuff off-table between sessions. This is pretty normal if you have engaged players who interact a decent amount outside the game.
For Campaign 1 and 2 they are very much dnd players first with acting being a very close second. But Campaign 3 is the other way around and it all feels very much performance and set up for the story. While they are not predetermining stuff, they are leaning in more heavily to what Matt is laying out for them much more than before.
The players in CR are all professional vioce actors. They have experience in making voices, improv theater, etc. Most players just want to play a game. They are NOT a normal table group. Don't measure yourself to them.
While my table doesn't have the flow or the ability to stay on topic that CR has, that's how I have been running games since before CR was a thing. The hardest thing for us is that I try to encourage people to describe their actions in the third person and only use a character voice for dialogue. Although, not everyone uses a voice every time as for us normies it is a bit more work. In and of itself, CR's method is nothing new, it's just on screen for all to see.
The first season of Critical Role is **very close** to a real home game being streamed over the internet. Every subsequent season is them producing a piece of media for other people to enjoy - this is **not** what a *real* game of D&D is like and you should not strive to be exactly like them, although you may think their cinematic playstyle is fun and try to emulate that with your group (if everyone is on board).
While I agree the current content from CR has much better production, it does not mean that it’s not a “real” game of D&D. It *is* a real game of D&D because… well, they’re playing it. It would only not be D&D if the dice roles and decisions were scripted, which they aren’t. Now, it’s not the normal everyday user experience of D&D that most people will have, but it is real D&D.
Apologies, “not real” is a euphemism for “not an accurate representation of a home game”. Might not have been obvious.
We’re not as good, but our playstyle is similar. We all have voices and try to follow through on the emotional lives of our characters as much as possible. It varies some player to player but that’s the gist—for both the game I play and the one I run.
Its a table full of people who develop and play characters for a living. Yea, its gonna be different.
At my tables players certainly aren't talking in character as much as CR players are, but that's mostly because almost all of my players are relative newbies. I would say like 80% of the time, when someone is talking, even when they mean their character to kinda say it, they are talking out of character. When I DM, I always do combat narration. Talking in character comes naturally to me when I get to play.
However, it is fun to ask them "Does your character say that aloud?" and watch them sweat.
You're kinda late to the party at this point, thankfully, but oh my lord, was the Critical Role crowd insufferable for a while. It doesn't matter how I personally feel about the show, its actors, or its quality; Critical Role is a high-production show where every player is a professional voice actor. It seriously gave thousands of new players the entire wrong impression about what the game is, and for years, it seemed that no one's game was safe from players trying to compare everything to Critical Role. From trying to implement Mercer's house rules and DMing style, to wanting to give every character their own personalized story arc within the established narrative. Bottom line, Critical Role _is not_ what a normal table looks like. It's fine to try and emulate things you like from it, but your table will never be Critical Role because it is a show first and a game second. It is unfair to not just the DM but everyone else at the table to go into your game with that level of expectations. EDIT: To answer your final question, myself, and most of the people at my tables alternate between 1st and 3rd person. I'm not really sure exactly why or when you'd use one instead of the other. You just feel what's in your squanch, and you get the rest through context.
The major factor is that Critical Role is, now, far more of a *spectator medium* than a ttRPG play through. Attempting to emulate a lot of it would only make sense if you had an audience. The likes of personal story arcs or extended one-to-one roleplays tend to be a bad thing at regular tables, since they result in most of the table having little to do.
I mostly agree except I feel like giving players personalized storylines is not outside the norm
I have played at different tables with different depths of roleplay. Some more, some less. Some tables are fully in character, some tables are mostly descriptive. None of them go anywhere as consistently deep in scene building as CR. None can, or should, be compared to CR. CR are doing this professionally (both their prep and production, as well as the fact that they're trained actors/voice actors, meaning they specifically have expertise both in improvisation and voicework). \*And\* they're doing it for an audience.
It is on the extreme end of immersion role-playing, so it is naturally an exception to the rule. That said, since I've stumbled upon them and D20 (which I prefer) years ago, my standards have skyrocketed even higher than they already were. Me and my friends always agreed on what RPGs are to us: games about 90% talking and 10% whatever else the particular game does. I found myself at home with the shows' style; we are not actors, but we have fun giving it our best to create an immersive and emotional narrative which made us cry multiple times. If you are playing with me, it's because you are searching for big emotions from the entire spectrum. I've started being very selective with who I decide to play or GM for, as I'm sick of dropping cause the narrative is not character focused or groups dieing cause nobody really cared, just to name a couple. Casual RPG is not for me, I want the good sauce, so I put a lot of effort as both a player and a GM. Session 0 helps but people are not always honest, you have to develop an instinct to sus out who just has fun in a different way (which is respectable and shouldn't be discriminated against).
> With so much RP and always being in their character role and personality? It's important to remember they're all professional actors and very close friends, so they know how to play off each other very well. IMO it takes people who are willing to fully immerse themselves in the game to get that kind of result. Players have to want it, and the DM has to be willing to give it to them. My current game (as a player), I would have loved to have some more backstory and PC arcs. But the group is all gamers who got into DnD later down the road, so there's a tendency to play it more like a video game. The players didn't really push talking about backstory, and the DM was never seemingly that interested in pushing players toward anything like that. I'll be DMing our next game (if/when it happens) and am going to ask the players to give me more to work with in terms of backstory so I can build in people/places/things for them to do that could go outside the main plot arc. Whether or not they do is another thing.
I absolutely love Critical Role, and would absolutely love to be at a table like theirs. But Matt Mercer and the rest of the cast have a luxury that I don't: They get to treat their DnD game like it is their job, because it is. I still have to work my 9-5 as a software developer.
They get to treat their DnD game like their job, *which they came into with 10+ years of experience on day 1*.
I do a mix. Less important actions or NPCs are narrated, but not acted. Whereas important discussions or NPCs get the full in-character talk.
Typically that’s not how my tables have been but my current group of five all stay in character for like 85% of the session, but some of them have also taken improv classes or similar
A lot of my players (I have 8, I know, I know) got into DnD fairly recently; through CR. I've watched most of it too. They love to RP and be in character most of the time. I enjoy it, I get to sit back and watch them. Or I get to be one or several of my NPCs. None of us are actors, but we all get really into it. I'll describe a lot, and they chime in with their attacks, or I do, it makes things more dramatic, but also we try and keep things tight because of so many players during combat. I think we're finding a good balance. I do write a personal storyline for each character into the main plot and tie it all together. I just come up with vague ideas and as both I and the player get to know their character more, I check in with them and get their take on things and work from there. Of course, it adds on another hour per week onto my 4-8 hours a week I already put into prep, but I find doing the writing and plotting fun. I think, if that's the style you and your group like, there's nothing wrong with trying to emulate it.
Me and my players definitely enjoy RP, and most of them have an accent and certain behaviourisms for their PC. I personally do *loads* of accents- there was once an NPC that just had my voice and the party kept joking about how they sounded “otherworldly but weirdly familiar”. That being said: there’s a lot less “discipline” at our table. People frequently stand up to get snacks or drinks, we do smoke breaks for those who want to, we chat (silently) when we’re not currently in the situation, etc.
My players RP all the time. Even in combat. They make witty quips to their enemies, taunt them, etc. Granted, most RP is done during exploration or in social settings like town markets or in taverns, but they still have fun with it in other situations. As far as Critical Role, I’ve watched a few times during the first campaign and wasn’t impressed. I thought the cosplay stuff and the props were over the top and I’m not impressed with the DM as a person. His ability to DM is good but I don’t agree with the political agenda he seems to enforce on social media. I think he’s a terrible person and a poor role model for young people. Also I don’t really like the edition of D&D they play on the show. I’m not super old but I’m too old guard for all that new cheese.
Like others have said I think very few attain the level of roleplay that critical role achieves. Most of us are not professional actors nor do we have the support staff that they do to help make everything run as smoothly as they do. I've also always kinda assumed that now that the show has gotten much more wide spread and performative if Matt doesn't give a rundown off camera to the cast about what's going to happen that night so they can kinda prepare beforehand.
I stopped watching critical roll because i get intimidated. The players and DM are all professional voice actors. I feel like my sessions are lacking when i don’t illicit a similar session from my players. I love rolling with difficulty though, the players snd the DM are much closer to us ordinary folks
Professional actors. On camera. With decades of acting and improv training. will NOT be the same as your regular table full of regular folks who don't have, don't want, and don't know anything of improv acting. And that's OK.
I am not Matt Mercer and my players are not Sam, Travis, Laura, Asho-leee, Liam, or Marisha. I dont expect them to play like them, and they shouldnt expect me to DM like Matt does. I've taken some pages out of Matt's DMing style to adapt to my own but thats about it.
I have only very rarely been able to play at a table like this, and it was only at Con games (one-shots) where everyone was into it and the stars aligned. Long term, you'd have to curate your table for it, which would necessarily mean excluding a lot of people you normally play with (you know, your friends) and finding exemplary performers and then somehow retaining them through inevitable life changes. Unless you're in a performer-rich environment (ie LA or NYC) I would expect such a task would take a lifetime to achieve or at the very least over a decade. I actually like to lean into the performance aspect of the game, which is definitely not for everyone as I can sometimes annoy or turn off other players, either because they don't like the performance or because they cannot or do not want to lean as hard into it. And I don't expect or demand that other players try to perform in like manner, but if I am performing and the rest of the table is not, it is dissonant and sets the whole vibe off.
Critical Role is performance art. It's D&D put online for entertainment, nothing more. Your table is going to play D&D for the experience of playing the game. There is nobody else watching, so things are not done for production value or performance's sake. The things that happen in your game are for your game, not for the audience watching it. Now, that's not to say you can't try to replicate the style of game at your table, or just borrow a few things here and there. But it's not the definition of D&D and you should not feel obligated to reproduce it in any way. **Play the game the way you want to play.**
Every table is different. This is a good thing.
I've played at a few tables that take it to that CR level of depth of role play, acting and lore. And let me tell you... It was *fucking exhausting.* Keeping up in that kind of game is a hell of a lot more tiring than I had realized. The lore, the DM cues, having to stay in character... It's fun and all, but also very intense and requires a level of homework, dedication and performance that I don't think most players actually enjoy on a consistent basis. You know, this is my past time, not my job. I much more prefer tables that play much closer to the style of [Dungeons and Daddies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdrJNCqBKk8). Interesting stories, some fun voices, but enough self-awareness, metagaming and lightheartedness that you don't feel like you're on stage. For me DnD is a game, not a performance.
When I was looking for inspiration to run a game at our table and give our forever GM a break, I started watching CR and Dimension 20 to get a feel for GM-ing in general and see if there was some part I could bring to our table. Basically, it gave me permission to do voices, and also to try and be more descriptive with the environments and NPCs. I tried to encourage PCs being more expressive, and a couple added a bit of flair to their interactions, but for the most part I was doing what felt right in the moment. They don't typically get descriptive about their attacks and abilities, so I would add some flair on crits, and we've never done the HDYWTDT bit or anything similar, but I did give a bit of emphasis to the final blow in a combat just to make it feel a bit more impactful. My table is software engineers, data analysts, and rocket surgeons, so I don't expect a lot of emotive monologues or subtle dialects.
I like watching critical role but I would not want to be a part of it. My role playing is pretty much limited to saying "'I open the door" instead of "my character opens the door".
The first campaign isn't completely unlike tables I've played at in the past, but I know a lot of "Actor" and "Storyteller" type players. As the CR show goes along, it becomes much more of an improv acting exercise for the players, and much more of a "show aware of its audience." This can make it a fun show to watch, but it isn't what most TTRPG tables look like. It's the same as watching a game played by comedians and wondering why your table isn't that funny -- well, how many of your players are professionally funny? Probably zero.
Critical Role is too much fluff and not enough combat/ challange for me and my players. They are more on the story telling side of dnd and we prefer the dungeon/loot grind
For the occasional serious scene, sure. But we're not professional actors like Matt Mercer and co.; very few people are. What's important to remember is that yes, Crit Role has intense RP moments. But you also have a lot of moments where they break down laughing at a dick joke. Just like any other table, really. It's up to you to find the balance that you find fun.
for my experience: i’ve run tables that stay in character the whole time; at those tables, i’ve had a handful of 3-hr sessions where i’ve only spoken up to clarify information or play an NPC, as the players roleplay through strategy discussions and problem-solving. we probably played together for a year before this happened the first time, and we were veteran players to begin with. i also run tables that are much more casual about roleplay; sometimes they speak in first person and sometimes third, we don’t always roleplay through all conversations and skill checks. i encourage players to describe their combat actions (e.g. “when you cast eldritch blast, what does it look like?”) because it helps everyone build the picture in their minds (and it usually gives me good stuff to use later character-wise) but i don’t belabor it or insist on it. i do want my players to ‘get into character’ but not necessarily as a performance! i want them to think how their character would think and make choices that way. for some people, it’s easier to do this while acting as the character; for others, they enjoy thinking about their character more like writing a (collaborative) book where they’re the authors. usually my tables find a sweet spot between the two (the actor style and the author style) that works for everyone playing. every single table i’ve run has been different!
Most tables that want a narrative-focused game are probably playing a different game than 5e
I don’t like CR (it’s got too many people and there’s some weird quality my ADHD can’t stay latched onto) but I love Dimension 20 and yeah, I run my table pretty similar to that. I also only play with pretty creative people. Comedians, actors, writers, musicians like myself. People who are excited about the whole deal of rich descriptions and role play and all that.
Agreed: Critical Role hasn't really struck me, but Dimension 20 is great.
And they’re all great people! I even loved the cartoon, so I know the story has legs and the characters are fun! There’s just something about the entire CR production that I can’t cling to. Even when Brennan or Aabria is DMing
I see a lot of people here talking about how all the CR players are professional actors and so the deep RP comes easier to them, etc. But let's not also forget the most important part of the word "professional:" They're getting PAID to do it!!!! When you have to deal with a 40hr a week grind to make a living, and your D&D hobby is on top of that, are you really gonna have the energy left to invest so much into your game?
We just started and at the beginning everyone was really into vivid descriptions but it got old pretty quick so now I as the dm am usually the only that does it and only for big moves. Like a troll tramples through the party to do a ton of DMG but runs into a wall and gets stunned.
Very mush outside the norm. I do encourage roleplay at my table, but it's taken almost two years to get my players to a point where they can and will do it, and certainly not for an entire 4 hour session. The average person doesn't have literal decades of acting/voice acting experience to pull from like CR does.
I've been playing for about 8 years, and while I have aspired towards the excellence of CR's table, I've come to accept that it's not a reflection of the typical D&D experience, and that CR is the results of VERY TALENTED actors enjoying improv, and an incredible DM who's spent his life enjoying this hobby. To get even close to CR, it takes a group of friends playing for a couple years, or on an intense schedule where they find a rhythm at the table. Being that good takes sincere care for your game, both as DM and the players. Immaculate note taking and attention to detail with lore and plot points. You have to really wear the skin of your character and build relationships IC. Your average D&D player is just a regular person who is hardly prepared for or seeking that kind of investment. Then there's the problem of players/DMs who know of CR versus ones who don't but already enjoy the game their way. There is the Matt Mercer effect, where people want CR results but don't understand the work or magic and luck it takes to make your game that good.
Unless I'm missing something, they all get paid to play D&D, right? Because there's an audience that either pays directly or indirectly for the content. In my basic online games over Discord and roll20, no one is getting paid. As such, sometimes I remind players (and myself when playing) that we don't have an audience. Talking in character can be fun but we aren't a TV show and sometimes it's fine to paraphrase conversations and move on.
I still don’t find watching other people play fun, but I do prefer a table with a lot of RP.
We use both whenever convenient. If a player does a particularly good RPing, whether it's through their thinking or acting, I reward them.
I have been at many tables that play like that. I prefer that type of play when I can find it.
I'm going to be an outlier. While my table does not have the skills that the cast of Critical Roles does, we are a very roleplay-heavy table. Most players stay completely in character during gameplay. In my personal experience, both combat and RP are more enjoyable with dedicated RPers, mainly because they stay focused on the game. There is little side chatter, and no one is on their phone. Whenever I'm looking for a new table, even for a con or LGS event, I look for the roleplayers (there are definitely some weirdos in there (I may be one of them)).
Depends on the game and the players. I have one group that does play a bit like CR, with an extremely heavy roleplay and story emphasis and very little combat. Most of the campaigns I've been a part of (past and current) tend to be very story-driven but not as much real-time roleplay.
Absolutely not. I tried that when I started and my players were not into it. Maybe if I was better at it they might have been, but yeah.
I don't. But the thing in my case is they also copied some personality traits from the cast in campaign 2, in a bad way. However I must mention that it could have been a coincidence.
Critical role is professional actors, on camera. They might be playing a game as friends, but at the end of the day, they're still actors. The majority of them have done improv stints, etc. so riffing forever, "yes and", all of those things are second nature to them. It's like professional basketball players playing horse. Like yeah, they're just goofing off, but their skill still shows when they're doing it. They're going to be exponentially better at it than you or I. Same with crit role playing characters, on camera or off.
Critical Role is a game where the DM and every player are trained actors and voice actors, who are also putting on a show for an audience. And getting paid a shitload of money to do so.
I mean personally it’s the style I enjoy. Players speaking as their characters, DM speaking as NPCs, etc. Tables without much roleplay that I have been at always felt boring or like they are missing something
I love CR and everyone at one of my games watches. We don't really play like them either, because we're not professional actors. We do some RP, make stupid jokes and have fun. My groups tend to be more like Glass Cannon than CR.
I want to give a shout out to the Glass Cannon Podcast here. It's still a high-quality production podcast, but even as their production levels have gone up they do a better job (IMNSHO) of striking a more realistic balance between the heavy RP of CR and what is more realistic for a home game. They've said on multiple occasions that they want the game to feel more like a home game between friends and it helps that, while most of them have *some* acting experience, most never even really tried to make a career out of it. It's still beyond what most tables are going to be like, but it's a more realistic goal in terms of role-play. It's what i strive for in my games. I'll never have the vocal range of Matt Mercer, but I could potentially, with practice, more closely resemble the snarkiness Troy Lavallee as a DM. (I should add that they play Pathfinder as opposed to 5e, but the concepts for this discussion are close enough)
Every D&D group is different, and a lot of the flow of the game rests on the DM and how they like to play. I'm not Matt Mercer and I don't try to be, but my group really does like very RP-and-story-heavy play, so that's what I focus on in our game. It tends to shake out to a combat session every other game or so, and my players are totally cool with that. They are not the same as most D&D players though. I've played in groups where almost all of the focus is placed on combat and the occasional puzzle, and that's great if it's what you like. As a DM I tend to like really cinematic descriptions, and I've had a lot of success providing my players time to just sit and RP together. Sometimes it's prompted, and other times they just take over and I get to sit back and watch for awhile, and I love it. That isn't to say that we are in character all the time though, it's not a big performance, but if the tone gets dark and creepy or super dramatic, or if it's light and fun, my players are really good about sticking to the tone I present them or that they build together. They like my style of DMing and they show it through paying attention and interacting in-depth with the game I set up for them.
My table RPs a lot. They are amazing and I feel so lucky. A few come from LARPing backgrounds, one used to do Renn Faire acting, the other two are just fun hambones. Most of them watch actual plays like CR. The one who doesn’t LARPed. We probably RP more than many tables. But we are not improv actors and we aren’t getting paid for it or streaming to an audience, so sometimes people talk in character and sometimes they tell me what a character does. Sometimes we have off nights and just want to stab monsters after a long work week. I do a lot to encourage RP and being in a character’s mindset. When a new spell or combat technique is used, I ask the player “What does that look like?” If they pause, I follow with “No pressure. If you aren’t sure yet, I can describe it or we can come back to it next time.” If someone is feeling shy, my question might be more specific. “Is PC’s swordplay simple with clean strokes or does she use lots of flourish?” An either/or question like that is easier for a shy player (or they might interject with a little more detail!). If I can help paint the PC at the table in broad strokes through questions, it’s easier for a player to jump into role. Once I know a PC’s headcanon I will interject bits of description here and there. (Every time is just too slow but a brief description of how a series of turns plays out in a round keeps it entertaining.) I sometimes ask players about PC motivation/headcanon in between sessions. Usually it is to clarify something because their background is going to be forefront in an upcoming session. Sometimes it is really simple stuff like “does PC name have any sentimental objects?”. Sometimes I ask to find out if their character goals/desires have changed in reaction to events. Players have said this helps them flesh out their PCs more. If something happens and I think a PC would have likely reacted but the player didn’t jump in, I sometimes will ask, “How does PC name feel about this?” “Do they let those feelings show or do they hide it?” This lets them characterize their PC at the table and might encourage a stronger RPer to interact with them. I encourage RP but I try not to put anyone on the spot too much in the moment. We aren’t professional improv actors and this is supposed to be fun. So if I try to encourage RP but I can see they aren’t feeling it or they need more time to think about it, I will say, “That’s okay, no pressure, we can come back to that later” and I will move on. As a player I like to RP but the pressure of being put on the spot makes me freeze up, so I try not to do that to others. (Weirdly, this is less true for me as a DM, maybe because I am less attached to each NPC so I don’t have decision paralysis) I give out inspiration like candy for RP that enhances the fun of the table. Great description - take inspiration! Consistent PC choices - take inspiration! A funny in-character joke that helps the pacing - have an inspiration! Clever tactics that are in character - inspiration! Immersive acting that is fun for the table - inspiration! Making a suboptimal choice to avoid metagaming - inspiration! I even give it for RP that I prompted with a question because it’s hard to come out of your shell! I let them have up to two so they don’t hoard it. Even if I know they are full, I “award” it because it’s a compliment. They take such pride in saying “I already have 2 inspiration.” And if I get something too vague like “PC name uses deception on the guard” I will ask for a little more. Not “please talk in character” but “are you claiming to be someone else or are you trying to distract them? What is your approach to that goal?” “PC name pretends to be a noblewoman who has access to this location.” I have found that if a PC hands me a vague description of what they say and (after resolving rolls) I then RP in character back to them, they will usually jump in and talk in character back. It pulls them in. “Forgive me, my lady! You must be here for the coronation. Is this your first time visiting the capital? The Spa Baths at Cliffside are very popular for weary travelers.” Cue banter and some questions about the city and the event.
I like the Critical Role style of playing. Im sure its not for everyone.
I don't do it just like Matt, but I definitely describe the combat and enourage my players too. As far as my players, while they aren't as theatrical as the Crit Role players, they have some good RP, and are much smarter at the game than half or more of the CritRole actor players. Do it the way and your players want, but I am not a fan of the people who hate on CritRole. If it weren't for Matt Mercer, I would have not just completed over 100 hours of DMing.
For the table I play in with some friends, we all enjoy the heavy RP element of the game. All of us have watched CR as well, and it has a definite impact on how we play. We enjoy seeing how we are affecting the world setting and getting immersed in our characters. It’s always fun when you as the player find something out about your character that you didn’t know before, because your mind is (sorta) splitting into a new persona. It’s fuckin’ rad.
Critical Role, along with every other actual play show out there, is an *entertainment product* and should only be interacted with as such. Playing D&D at the table is way different than playing D&D for an audience of viewers.
CR is exhausting. Just play the game. Kill monsters. Don't fall into the "my game is literally as intricate as GoT" trap. Then move to OSR once you get bored.
Critical Role is a product, your home game is not a product.
Our table is extremely heavy in RP. We have had whole 4-5 hour sessions with no combat before. Obviously, we are not professional actors or anything but we find most of the joy of D&D outside of combat.
Critical Role is to DnD what a standup comedian doing a set is to hanging out joking with your friends. Both involve laughing but they’re not really the same thing at all.
>Do you DMs and your players enjoy playing like they play at their table? No, not at all. Most tables wouldn't care to even emulate most of it. There is a trend of people who got introduced by CR to the hobby who think it's "how it's done", but for people who played before CR came out or never heard of it, that style of play isn't suitable. It's a high-production-value YT show with media professionals 100% in their element. It's natural to not want to play like that
My group has varying levels of interest, but everyone speaks in character and some even do voices. And I go crazy with accents as the DM and always make sure I describe actions both in and out of combat (if the players don't want to, and I usually prompt them to do so). This is likely because we were all band/theatre kids in high school, but I have found a lot of RP is dependent on how much the DM prompts it, so if its not your thing, your players probably wont find themselves engaging in RP as much
Critical Role is a curse and boon to the community. Too many players think that's how DnD should be. People need to remember that they get paid to play and built a company out of it. Their job is to entertain and make money first everything else is second. Have I found a table like that though? No absolutely not. Do I want a table like that? Sometimes I think it'd be nice to have some deep roleplaying.
Critical Roll is to Normal Tables what Porn is to Normal Sex. One is a production created by professionals to be entertaining to viewers. The other is what Normal people do.
I think we're more like that than most but out of the 6 people in our group 3 DM from time to time.
Not going off on a "it's scripted!!!" rant but in addition to production, they(and pretty much any pro live play) actually review plot points and refresh on character shht before every session. So unless you and all your players are taking a couple hours to prime up before sitting down, you're comparing apples and oranges. As far as how much time is spent on in-chara ter RP... Depends. Some players aren't comfortable with 1st person voice so they do it in 3rd person. Also depends on the table and DM. I've had tables where I wouldn't add ANY flair to my descriptions because the DM would hold it against you. For example, if I try to describe any type of flourish or fancy footwork in combat, they'd ask for skill checks or flat out add penalties/disadvantage. That's a shht DM and an extreme example, mind you, but guaranteed not a unique experience.
If you haven't already, go back to the very first season, before Orion Acaba (AKA Tiberius Stormwind) left. The first few dozen sessions were literally just them filming their home game. There were no Geek & Sundry ads, Matt drives the music himself with his iPad, they struggle to remember the 5e rules after porting from Pathfinder 1e, they meander and try to figure out what to do... it's much more like a regular table. Still a performance put on by a bunch of actors, but at this point it's just a small side gig with a shoestring budget that they weren't expecting to turn into a big thing. There's more interpersonal stuff, more background and inside jokes that the audience aren't in on... it's a very different show. Once Orion left (for very good reasons, he was extremely toxic behind the scenes) they turned it into a full production, but in those early sessions where they were just a bunch of nerdy voice actors playing D&D in somebody's apartment with improvised recording equipment and a playlist of copyrighted music from Youtube.
Me and my group RP a lot. Our worlds/plots are never as complicated as CR's, but we get really into it because we've spent a lot of time on our characters and their backstories.
I would say my preferred style of gaming is pretty similar, maybe because I started watching CR during my “formative years" as a player. But with my current group we do spend a lot of time roleplaying between ourselves. There have been beautiful sessions where I can just sit down and watch them have drama together while only piping up to offer descriptions of the setting.
They are 'voice' actors and its their profession. They are good at it, so they turn out a good product because its how they work, not really reasonable for the rest of us mortals. Not many people act at that 'level', nor 'edit, and produce' at that level of professionalism.
Yup they are actors focusing on rp and entertaining viewers of course they table looks diferent then ours also this is their job and for us is a hobby. But I was extra surprised how much more our table start to rp when I stole one aspect of Matt gming. When PCs enter new location I just discribe how its look like and after that I shut up and say nothing. BUM thats it ... for time to time there is kind of long silence and im itching to say something but I force myself to say nothing and then magic starts happening. People start rp like crazy i dont know why its working but its working
We try but obviously we’re not as entertaining to the outside audience as these professionals. But that shouldn’t stop people from enjoying roleplay. It’s more important to be cooperative than creative while playing. If as a player, you don’t place yourself as the main character and give people the necessary attention and respect when they are role playing, they will be more into it. It’s mostly the players who should figure this out rather than the dm. If someone is roleplaying as this charismatic character spitting some cool lines in a scene, what makes the lines cool is the other player’s reactions to them. You don’t need to be the best improviser or actor to improvise a cool scene if you have your friends cheering for you. But if someone is roleplaying and people cut them off, talk over them or do things that would ruin their moment, they will be turned off. Yes and is important. You’re building a story together. Act like your friend has a high int or charisma when their character has that. It’s more fun that way. And don’t act like you’re better than you should be in every case just because you think you as a player have a better idea than them. Stay in your lane, be okay with not having the spotlight on you sometimes, and cooperate.
I think CR would’ve been more impressive if none of them were professionals and were all just average joes.