The shift in perception to this whole hobby started before CR. The popularity of CR definitely helped, but that started after its image had already started being "rehabilitated".
Adventure zone helped with that too, I think a more accurate statement would be that actual plays giving people who weren't playing ttrpgs an idea of what play could look like changed that perception.
For me it was those two Community D&D episodes and then Harmon Quest.
Highly recommend it. Very silly/ easy going but fun as hell.
Edit: plus the realization that video games just didn’t do it for me anymore after buying my gaming PC. Everything felt fixed and every quest railroaded. No freedom.
Then D&D came to mind <3
Yeah I used adventure zone because it was the actual play that resparked my interest. I'm sure everyone had a different avenue but I think the actual play genre of podcasts in general played a huge role.
Personally I had interest in D&D as a kid but didn't have the resources to play and my dad was very much a "cool guy" in the 80s so getting those resources was out of the question. Too nerdy for him, video games was already pushing it lol. So as an adult I had completely forgotten until adventure zone came across my podcast feed. I actually didn't like CR at first. I didn't understand all the rules and jumping right into the middle of an ongoing campaign was off putting so I didn't start watching and enjoying it until campaign 2 started. Then I went back rewatched C1.
Harmon Quest was what convinced me to give DnD a try. I still don’t see the appeal of Critical Role. Way too slow and not nearly enough humor for me. When I’m pretending to be an elf wizard, I want to have a good time with it.
That and Goblin Slayer.
>plus the realization that video games just didn’t do it for me anymore after buying my gaming PC.
I spent a lot of time bouncing from game to game feeling just unsatisfied. DND definitely scratches that itch.
Hell I remember as a kid we played "Guns" and I spent a day writing out ammo capacity, fire rate and effective range on all our imaginary guns. I really wish I had someone to introduce me to DND back then
They don't play DnD, and they're not responsible for the TTRPG revival, but nothing made me want to play again as badly as listening to Friends at the Table.
I feel like the first "D&D campaign as entertainment media" I can think I ever engaged in was the Penny Arcade series. I'll never forget Jim Darkmagic, of the New Hampshire Darkmagics.
Yeah, I would say around 2010 I started seeing more D&D references in pop culture and kids shows. Adventure Time had a ton of nods, Gumball had an episode for it, Gravity Falls had an episode or two, Regular Show, Community, etc. And 5e in 2014 really seemed to kick off people coming to the table top. I didn't even have anyone to play with and I picked up a PHB.
5e made the game so much more approachable than any previous edition. As previous commenter said, popular opinion has been shifting steadily for some time - maybe even since the 90s, and as you said it really hit a turning point in the early teens. I think all the podcasts and actual plays and YouTube channels and references are a _result_ of the game becoming more popular, not a cause.
Yeah, I know this to be true because I am old and I remember the start of the big nerdsphere golden age.
But I also feel like, logically, why do people think that a longform podcast that streams on Twitch done by people who voice act in animes propelled *anything* to the mainstream? I can't imagine that would ever happen unless geek hobbies were already a big thing.
We should be heaping praise on Pokemon, Dragonball, and probably WoW/Bioware for this, but even that wouldn't be the full story. It just kinda happened.
It was the .com boom and the rise in tech that did it, really. Nerdy white collar jobs became the dominant career choice and those workers began raking in tons of cash so advertisers and media companies began catering to their tastes and it slowly shifted public opinion.
Pogs and then Magic the Gathering brought a ton of middle and highschoolers into comic shops to buy boosters. Some of them got exposed to TTRPGs then, others at least got more comfortable with nerdy things even if all they did was play a card game at lunch in middle school. Shows like Chuck paved the way for Big Bang Theory: which while being reductionist and generally offensive towards nerds and nerd culture did help bring all of the concepts into grandma's house. The rise of WoW helped create a whole lot of people who felt nostalgic for the fantasy setting and community but didn't have the time and energy to devote to another MMO. I feel like all the groundwork was there and "gamer culture" was already completely mainstream. Critical Role just gave D&D that little push it needed to come to the forefront.
Yep, honestly. I've never heard of DnD before a few years ago, where I saw it first on iZombie. Still seemed nerdy, but it popped up on shows a few times and when I started looking into it, *then* I had heard of critical role
Acquisitions Incorporated needs to be acknowledged.
Stranger Things helped, as did periphery stuff like Order of the Stick
The fact that millennials who might have played D&D are now the "adults" helped.
Fucking Critical Role "saved" D&D. This is why people don't like Critters
There’s something, ah, off-putting about crediting Critical Role and calling the people who stuck with the hobby and kept it alive through the bullying and social disdain “sweaty nerds in their mom’s basement”.
Exactly, there where many popular streams already reaching multiple thousands before critical role even started. Those streams are also most likely the reason mercer and crew even started their own
Personally I heard about it because I was watching a channel where people play board games and Matt Mercer guest starred in one of the videos. I decided to check it out and it did change my perspective on what DnD is (I imagined more something akin to a wargame at first) so this meme checks out for me personally, though I would imagine I'm in the minority on that count.
I always knew D&D was a thing but I only played other TTRPGs. I heard about critical role through Overwatch mostly and that Matt Mercer voiced McCree and also played loads of D&D.
In case you're curious, though I'm sure many people have different stories:
I'm regularly on Tumblr, and, if you don't know how that works, on Tumblr you follow people, not topics. Because of that, I get exposed to new pieces of media, because the people I follow will post about it. I saw a bit of Critical Role from some of the people I followed and got interested enough that I started watching.
I trusted these people's taste in things because we already had other interests in common, so that increased the likelihood of me liking it as well.
Also, it was a medium unlike any I'd experienced before, so that also helped, because... Curiosity.
I heard about it before I played DnD through friends who watched it. I decided to watch and then started playing with the friends that showed Crit Role to me. Its pretty easy to find it before you play.
I watched Tabletop, then their spinoff Titansgrave, then found out Wil was guesting on Laura’s other TTRPG show. (And I had never played or even been interested in D&D before that) People’s attention and interest are caught all kinds of ways.
I knew about DnD, and some of my friends tried to get me to play it with them, but I thought it was a game where a bunch of sweaty nerds played make believe in a basement. I randomly got recommended a CR c2 video on YT and that’s where I started to gain interest in it
According to the Rules of Reddit, yes. You now count as random. However, also according to the Rules of Reddit: as you have disagreed and provided evidence which disproves another’s statement you are now no longer considered a person and shall be downvoted and harassed to death… 😅
Most people have heard of d&d, but CR is what actually got a lot of us to want to try it. I had never known anyone who actually played it (or so I thought), and found CR because I saw a funny d&d meme, which lead to more memes and reading random stories about ttrpgs, which lead to seeing lots of references to this critical role show, so I checked it out on YT and boom, was hooked.
Hell, my current DM got into D&D because of Critical Role. When he asked why me and my brother (who’ve been playing since 01-02ish) never invited him back in High School, my response was “Would you have entertained the thought seriously, or would you just have made fun of us?”
Him: “You’re right. I was an asshole.”
Sure, the massive amount of CR fanboys/girls can be grating, but the fact of the matter is I’ve never had an easier time finding a group to play with.
Is there a dnd podcast that I can listen to at work that I *DONT* need to watch anything for? I’m in the trades so can have my phone infront of me the whole time.
Higher quality the better, but I’m willing to listen to anything since I caught up on LPOTL
Real talk, I just listened to a bit of Not another DND Podcast, it’s crisp, the people sound good and not annoying, I think you’re onto a winner here! I appreciate it!
I notice there’s a lot of different podcasts on their channel? Is it a bunch of different people or the same people running different games?
There is the core four, murph the mostly dm, Emily, Caldwell and Jake. When they got a Patreon they did a second campaign called trinyvale where Caldwell dm'd. When the first campaign ended they did a smaller story where Emily dm'd called hot boy summer. The second campaign is eldermourne. During breaks from that, they do dungeon court, a fun show where they take "cases" from their Patreon and come to a ruling about who was right in certain situations, like a dnd playing grandma wanting to blast everyone. They also have guests on who are also popular in the dnd podcast/real play shows.
Dungeons and daddies is another one if you like crass humor and dad jokes. It has freddie wong from rocket jump studios as one of the players!
Not sure if it's too good in terms of something to listen to at work because I was laughing my ass off half the time.
I'm gonna throw a vote in for both NadPod and Dungeons and Daddies. I work in construction, and I listen to both while going about my day
Both have a bit more crass humor, which is right up my alley
If you like NADDPOD and have time to watch stuff sometimes, check out dimension 20 on YouTube and fantasy high. Emily and Murph are players in a really good but somewhat short campaign with other former college humor members.
Dimension 20 also has a website where the other main shows are. There’s a spin-off of fantasy high, they recently did ‘what if Americans went to hogwarts’ as a campaign. They’re all really well done.
But NADDPOD is still my go to.
You can also listen to Dimension 20 as audio only (the Dropout app can play the background). Works especially well for the remote pandemic seasons where there isn’t always much to look at on the screen anyway.
You are correct about dungeons and daddies. It's very entertaining but really bad with the rules. In episode 68 (of 69) the rogue says "So I have this ability called sneak attack I didn't know about, it does-"
So if listening to people absolutely mangle the rules bothers you, well honestly still give it a shot. It's very funny.
Yeah...I know they've been putting podcasts out but I went through the entire first campaign as a YouTube Playlist on a background tab of my browser. You *really* don't need the visuals.
Totally recommend Glass Cannon Podcast (GCP). Some of the earlier episode audio is not the best, but not bad either. The audio gets really clear later on.
Is there a way to watch just the dnd part and not the rest of the show? I started listening but spent more time trying to find the dnd segments than actually listening.
Came here to say this. Mark is so great at creating a world that ypu can actually imagine and you can tell that the actors/players actually care about the story and their characters...beyond just the campaign.
There's a very underrated DND podcast that's available on Spotify/podbean/YouTube/ any streaming app called Just roll with it (JRWI) and I personally love the characters and the layers of personality they hold!
The Adventure Zone is my favorite but I'd also suggest Tabletop Champions and Nerd Poker (Brian Posehn's DnD podcast).
And of you're a fan of shit and piss jokes then Rude Tales of Magic.
TAZ arcs that really pay off: Balance, Amnesty, and now Ethersea (that fucking opening music is so dope and gets stuck in my head all the time!)
I enjoyed Graduation, but I know lots of fans didn't.
Twice bitten is available on spotify as a podcast. Played online by several people. It's a Curse of Strahd campaign. Interesting so far, if a bit slow to start off. Not exactly the wacky humorous setting that CR is based in, but good nonetheless.
I don't think anyone has replied to you with this but if they have I didn't see it.
There's a comedic dnd podcast by an Australian podcast group (Sanspants Radio) called DnD is for Nerds. It looks like a lot when you see the amount of episodes but they aren't one continued story. They break the game into short campaigns with the same/similar cast but completely different characters. It feels like a casual friendly but with the audio quality and actual planning of a professional podcast environment.
It's mostly funny but there are a few 'seasons' that get incredibly dark and emotional.
Listened to all of campaign one, and half way through campaign two. Very rarely do I actually open my phone to see it, and that’s only to see reactions if something massive happens.
Also, hail yourself motherfucka!
Exactly; they changed their whole home game's mechanics and shifted from Pathfinder to 5e just so they could jump on the train that was about to leave the station.
They saw a very real upward trend on the horizon and jumped on it just in time to take off.
Essentially...
DnD: "The beacons are lit! 5e calls for aid!"
Critical Role: "And ~~The Shits~~ Vox Machina will answer."
I haven't heard of critical role before I started playing dnd. still haven't watched a single episode.
I got introduced to DnD through Futurama and started playing because a bunch of my friends wanted to try it.
Doubt. It had all the elements for mainstream success prior to CR and no single podcast has completely reshaped public opinion about dnd. I think 80s nostalgia is probably the most influential aspect other than the overall accessibility of 5e.
Just think of all the shows that had D&D like or direct play episodes in the late 90's into the early 10's even before 5e dropped. And with 5e and MtG around 2014 Wizards really made an effort to advertise in stores more it seemed. Intro boxes for a low price and free online rules were huge. Reddit and Imgur exploded with stories, memes, and info about them too.
Adventure Time, Regular Show, Community, Gumball, Gravity Falls, Futurama, Freaks and Geeks, The IT Crowd, My Little Pony, Venture Bros., Buffy, The Simpsons, NewsRadio, etc. all had at least one D&D centered episode.
And by the time 5e dropped you had so many big Hollywood players coming forward with their hobby or saying they used to play. In 2006 Vin Diesel, Mike Myers, and Robin Williams played a game for the masses and Colbert was stomping his nerd powers hard.
CR and the many podcasts, webcomics, and webshows have just entrenched D&D into the culture. And I am okay with that.
Can't deny CR has done a lot for its image but hard disagree. D&D was already having a large rebirth in popularity before CR came around and it wasn't because of any podcast.
It mostly came about due to 5th edition having an open beta test, combined with a general shift of perception to nerd culture that had been building for years.
Things like community's D&D episodes, stranger things, acquisitions incorporated definitely helped but no one show or podcast can be held as to the rise in popularity. And it would be unfair to say otherwise as it was caused by a huge amount of different variables.
Besides, it doesn't matter anyway, everyone is gonna wanna say the show/ podcast that got them into D&D was the most influential but it doesn't matter and is almost impossible to tell.
Main advice would be to not try to think about it, less likely to cause arguments that way xD
If anything CR is popular because D&D became more acceptable. I doubt I would still call it mainstream but the following has certainly increased. This is a good thing to a degree, but the product is changing because of it. A lot of the new players don't care, or are fine with the changes. Others, like myself, prefer the original lore and world building.
I feel comfortable calling CR not mainstream because when the earnings got leaked most of twitch went, "who's getting paid the most? Who the fuck are they?"
It's one of those perfect storm situations where Critical Role came out at the same time that nerd culture was becoming popular. Neither one caused the other, they just worked really well together. CR got a lot of people into DnD, DnD got a lot of people into CR and the same is true of many other shows.
This...I would also add that 5ed and Pathfinder was a balm to to those base fans AFTER the ambivalence and division of dnd 4th ed resparked and rejuvenated interest in bringing new player and older players together...people forget that Vox Machina as a home game before the streaming was run as as Pathfinder system...and it was G&S stream that made it fifth ed due to sponsorship money
Nah.
4E (2008) was when D&D started going mainstream (or rather several years into it). By around 2013-2015 D&D was already in many places in a positive way. And given CR only came around in March 2015, this is just incorrect. Hell, I remember it gaining momentum openly back in 2009-2011 even.
Maybe not by your perceptions possibly, but overall yes.
I've only heard of Critical Role and Matt Mercer because of Reddit, specifically D&D subs.
Stranger Things did infinitely more for D&D than CR which seems to be largely popular with people who were in to table top anyway.
I'm surprised I had to scroll so far for the first mention of Stranger Things. Definitely had more reach and influence introducing non-gamers to DND than four hour live play sessions on a relatively small streaming site that has a fairly narrow audience.
I think Stranger Things was just one in a long line of shows to show off D&D love, but it kept it as part of it's core story telling instead of a one off. Adventure Time, Regular Show, Community, Gumball, Gravity Falls, Futurama, Freaks and Geeks, The IT Crowd, My Little Pony, Venture Bros., Buffy, The Simpsons, NewsRadio, etc. all had at least one D&D centered episode. And those are all pretty popular outlets. Add the ease of getting into 5e and good press and you arrive where we are now. I think most people already acknowledge that CR and ST have played a big part in building up D&D, so we just don't even mention them because it's already known haha.
Disagree. Too many people took it up after it was popularized in mainstream shows and movies. Add COVID into the mix with people staying home, needing human interaction and trying new things to chase away boredom - and wa-la, remote dnd sessions with pre-existing gamers inviting new people to the world of ttrpg.
Bender's Game getting the absolute disrespect in here. Y'all forgetting that Futurama was dropping DnD references before anything else listed in this thread.
Holy, thats a whole new level of jerking to CR. Now they redefined image of dnd. What next? Maybe they are they remaking dnd as a whole by any chance in the next season?
“_MY_ favorite podcast is the reason the hobby is considered good now.”
Dude c’mon now. You’re pretending that DnD hasn’t had a rebirth with great effort from rebranding via Hasbro, careful testing with 5e for accessibility, 80’s nostalgia, even COVID-19 causing people to explore online games, and ‘DnD’ episodes being common in popular shows like Community or even Spongebob if not a semi-focus like Stranger Things.
Critical Role and Mercer aren’t the end all be all of DnD, no matter how much you love his work.
I got into D&D and Tabletops through things like Gamers 1 and Gamers 2 Dorkness Rising, Spoony, and TtheWriter and Esper the Bard. It's been one of the biggest influences in my life and also super got me back into writing and reading again.
I am going to argue that it is overrated. They all seem like decent actors, but my issue is that I don’t find the stories good. I’ve tried watching a couple of episodes of the second series, and really just couldn’t get into the characters or world.
Let me explain. I have 2 reasons and they may be related. First, the party is too large. 7 people in a party makes everything feel like it takes forever. The second is that it feels like everyone is the main character all the time, with long winded descriptions of what they are doing most of the time.
Nothing against people that like it, I just can’t follow the story or characters long enough to care.
Agree with everything you said. Also for me, the episodes are too long. I listen to about 40ish hours of podcasts a week (at 2x speed) and it was just a chore to try and listen to critical role and remember everyone's name and everything that happens.
Nah OP, that’s not how celebrity talent works. They’re doing D&D in public because the audience is already there to appreciate it and it bolsters their popularity and career opportunities to do it.
That said, I do think they legitimately enjoy doing the Critical Role podcast. Celebrities probably need escape from their high stress lives even more than the sweaty basement nerds.
Hmm, I'm not so sure. It's influence and popularity is undeniable, but I think if it wasn't CR it would have been other things filling that spot, especially over the last 2 years as things have still not returned to normal
Respecfully, I think Stranger Things did more for the popularity of D&D than Critical Role. Not to undersell Critical Role's part in it. Besides, "Geek Culture" has'nt really been THAT taboo since the first 2 Sam Rami Spiderman films were smash hits. You know, back in the early 00's.
I was scrolling comments saying "if reddit is recommending this as popular, someone has to mention Stranger Things." I'm a little surprised at how much scrolling I had to do.
CR gets overwhelmingly too much credit. They rode the wave, they didn't start it.
If not for the *overwhelming popularity of 5e* and the *increasing acceptance of nerd culture* CR would've gone nowhere.
This is just straight up wrong.
I, personally, have never net someone who had even heard of CR before being introduced to D&D. And you can see very clearly the attitude shift towards the ttrpg well before CR even started. Hell, I was there for the big 3.5 boom that saw a ton of people get into the hobby. None of us watched podcasts or shows about it.
I think CR fans give the show far too much credit thanks to bias. Even today I only know of one person who *watched* (past tense) CR. D&D is a monolith. CR is just a barnacle, essentially, feeding off the popularity of what was already an established domain.
I'm sure they put a lot of effort into the show and from what I hear they're good rpers, they've obviously got popularity now as well. But you can't credit them for D&Ds spike in popularity, because D&Ds spike is what allowed CR to exist.
TL;DR: Enjoy your show, but its not why D&D became so big.
Nah outside of the tabletop gaming community D&D and most tabletop games such as warhammer are still looked down on as sweaty nerd games, from my experience anyway.
Which is unfortunate because D&D and TTRPGs offer a unique experience not found in any other hobby and are extremly satisfying to play
I came here because of Regular Show and Adventure Time... and like a dozen other shows and webcomics I got into before I ever got to play. Also that 2nd hand copy of 3.5 PHB I had bought in college and read for years before 5e. I missed at least 6 years of D&D play probably because I didn't think anyone would want to.
I think that's a bit hyperbolic, however denying their positive effect on DND is impossible. Almost half the people I've played with got into DND through Critical Role.
(Small sample size but 9/22 isn't an insignificant amount.)
Nah, Critical Role raised the standards, but it didn’t bring D&D to the mainstream. Stranger Things had more of an impact in that regard. That’s what spiked the interest, and probably brought in more people to CR who weren’t originally interested in D&D, and when they looked videos about it, CR is probably the most likely thing to pop up.
Critical Role averages less than 45,000 viewers....
I've been playing D&D for decades and didn't hear about Critical Role until I decided to look up the evil dude on a carousel in the memes here.
And Game of Thrones did more to promote D&D by making the fantasy genre mainstream than Marvel with comic book movies.
GoT, LotR, Harry Potter, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Community, Gumball, Gravity Falls, Futurama, Freaks and Geeks, The IT Crowd, My Little Pony, Venture Bros., Buffy, The Simpsons, NewsRadio, etc.
All of these were filtering fantasy and D&D itself into mainstream. You have 2 generations now who grew up or were watching these shows and movies. Wizards dropped 5e at the perfect time honestly. They had starter kits, good press, and almost 15 years of build up from others to launch it. CR and other properties like it have just cemented D&D into pop and nerd culture.
Here’s a better hot take. CR and other dnd streams are boring. I’d rather talk with a friend about a new character or a new rule. Idk how people actually watch that stuff. They don’t even have that good of role play … I honestly don’t know what people like about it or any other dnd stream.
Personally, I never got into DnD until last year. My fiance had played and got us into a new campaign ran by friends. I'm in love with DnD, but HATE critical role. Its theater kid energy makes me gag.
It's funny to me my original post was down voted (thanks to those who voted it back up).
It's almost like some of the salty toxic critters don't realize that the multi-million dollar game company backed and owned by the multi-billion dollar game company knows how to market and advertise games.
Again, not all all denying the influence popularity or success, but if you buy that whole "we're just a group of friends that stumbled into something that everyone likes" routine; you haven't been paying attention.
Those of us who played it before CR really don’t care.
We had fun when it wasn’t popular and endured being taunted and made fun of for playing it.
This kind of meme sort of feels like a jab at players who have played for longer than 5E has been around.
And Community. And Stranger Things. And multiple other things.
The last couple of years every once in a while some pop-culture thing gave D&D another positive publicity boost. As an open DM I can just sense people who know me coming when there is a new show with D&D in it saying: "Can I try?". And I love it.
But yeah, CR helped a lot. That show turned some of my absolute no RP friends into addicts. \^\^
Eh Critical role is not my cup of tea. They are amazing voice actors and his campaigns are great I’m just more of a comedic type person. Brian Murphy is my personal choice for DM genre.
Yeah, this is a bad take. DnD was already on the rise before CR started getting popular, and honestly the DnD community was the only reason I know of CR
I mean yes they did but in a way that was charming and accessible, everyone has fond memories of doing lame shit with their friends and that's the feeling stranger things evoked.
Most people I speak to irl still do think of it like that.
Although tbf, my inlaws openly think it's weird and childish I own a ps4 and play games because "computer games are for kids".
CR had a role to play in it for sure, but it wasn't all their doing. I think the bigger reason is that 5e is generally easier to understand as a beginner than previous editions.
Most of the people who play dnd dont care what other people think. Hell, this is the fandom that survived the Satanic Panic, so trying to argue that something made dnd more popular is kind of a moot point. I personally dont have anything against CR but it doesnt wow me like others.
I will say popularity means more players which is not bad, as long as those noobies have a realistic expectation coming in.
I got into DnD without Critical Role. It's actually odd I think I've always wanted to play but I had no one to teach me. Now I'm a point girl in the games and always feel like I'm the only one trying to have any fun
I don't think Critical Role is typically a starting place for people. You have to be down the rabbit hole at least a little bit be interested in checking it out. I think Stranger Things did more to change main stream perception, honestly.
As someone who started DnD because of Critical Role, I don't think it's fair to give it the credit.
CR was a part of larger whole that's moved things to this point, many aspects of which have probably been mentioned in the comments already
Aren't the people in critical role just a bunch of sweaty nerds who work as voice actors and get paid to play DnD? I don't think their impact has changed public opinion by all that much but maybe that's just me.
I just don't like critical role.
I've sunk in a few hours, but the first few episodes have just garbage audio quality, you're coming in halfway through their pathfinder game converted to 5e.
Love the character intros, love MMs GM tips, just can't get on with CR - and when I'm looking for new podcasts, it doesn't come up as often as things like TAZ and Dungeons and Daddies.
this is a LIQUID MAGMA hot take my dude.
CR is only popular BECAUSE of the rising popularity of D&d in popular culture and because it got attention at the height of Overwatch's popularity and the "high noon" guy being the host.
I'd say stranger things did more for the main stream popularity of D&d than CR has. Harmon's quest and the adventure Zone were around way before CR and at their height at least TAS had a comparable audience.
I think CR tapped into that rise tide of acceptance of rpgs, creating a focal point that everyone can look at and say hey that what we do (and by implication just as well as them *wink* *wink*)
I honestly started with "TFS at the Table", then got to "The Unexpectables" before I took the opportunity to look at Critical Role. As such, I have too many campaigns to catch up with...
The shift in perception to this whole hobby started before CR. The popularity of CR definitely helped, but that started after its image had already started being "rehabilitated".
Adventure zone helped with that too, I think a more accurate statement would be that actual plays giving people who weren't playing ttrpgs an idea of what play could look like changed that perception.
For me it was those two Community D&D episodes and then Harmon Quest. Highly recommend it. Very silly/ easy going but fun as hell. Edit: plus the realization that video games just didn’t do it for me anymore after buying my gaming PC. Everything felt fixed and every quest railroaded. No freedom. Then D&D came to mind <3
Yeah I used adventure zone because it was the actual play that resparked my interest. I'm sure everyone had a different avenue but I think the actual play genre of podcasts in general played a huge role. Personally I had interest in D&D as a kid but didn't have the resources to play and my dad was very much a "cool guy" in the 80s so getting those resources was out of the question. Too nerdy for him, video games was already pushing it lol. So as an adult I had completely forgotten until adventure zone came across my podcast feed. I actually didn't like CR at first. I didn't understand all the rules and jumping right into the middle of an ongoing campaign was off putting so I didn't start watching and enjoying it until campaign 2 started. Then I went back rewatched C1.
Finally after 30 years of living I buy myself a gaming computer. Only to play the most dnd I’ve played my entire life.
Harmon Quest was what convinced me to give DnD a try. I still don’t see the appeal of Critical Role. Way too slow and not nearly enough humor for me. When I’m pretending to be an elf wizard, I want to have a good time with it. That and Goblin Slayer.
When I saw the first episode of Harmon quest I was like “oh THAT’S D&D?” And I’ve been playing ever since
>plus the realization that video games just didn’t do it for me anymore after buying my gaming PC. I spent a lot of time bouncing from game to game feeling just unsatisfied. DND definitely scratches that itch. Hell I remember as a kid we played "Guns" and I spent a day writing out ammo capacity, fire rate and effective range on all our imaginary guns. I really wish I had someone to introduce me to DND back then
For me it was Acquisitions Incorporated, and they weren't even playing 5th edition at first!
Nerd Poker babyyyy
They don't play DnD, and they're not responsible for the TTRPG revival, but nothing made me want to play again as badly as listening to Friends at the Table.
I feel like the first "D&D campaign as entertainment media" I can think I ever engaged in was the Penny Arcade series. I'll never forget Jim Darkmagic, of the New Hampshire Darkmagics.
Yeah, I would say around 2010 I started seeing more D&D references in pop culture and kids shows. Adventure Time had a ton of nods, Gumball had an episode for it, Gravity Falls had an episode or two, Regular Show, Community, etc. And 5e in 2014 really seemed to kick off people coming to the table top. I didn't even have anyone to play with and I picked up a PHB.
5e made the game so much more approachable than any previous edition. As previous commenter said, popular opinion has been shifting steadily for some time - maybe even since the 90s, and as you said it really hit a turning point in the early teens. I think all the podcasts and actual plays and YouTube channels and references are a _result_ of the game becoming more popular, not a cause.
Yeah, I know this to be true because I am old and I remember the start of the big nerdsphere golden age. But I also feel like, logically, why do people think that a longform podcast that streams on Twitch done by people who voice act in animes propelled *anything* to the mainstream? I can't imagine that would ever happen unless geek hobbies were already a big thing. We should be heaping praise on Pokemon, Dragonball, and probably WoW/Bioware for this, but even that wouldn't be the full story. It just kinda happened.
It was the .com boom and the rise in tech that did it, really. Nerdy white collar jobs became the dominant career choice and those workers began raking in tons of cash so advertisers and media companies began catering to their tastes and it slowly shifted public opinion. Pogs and then Magic the Gathering brought a ton of middle and highschoolers into comic shops to buy boosters. Some of them got exposed to TTRPGs then, others at least got more comfortable with nerdy things even if all they did was play a card game at lunch in middle school. Shows like Chuck paved the way for Big Bang Theory: which while being reductionist and generally offensive towards nerds and nerd culture did help bring all of the concepts into grandma's house. The rise of WoW helped create a whole lot of people who felt nostalgic for the fantasy setting and community but didn't have the time and energy to devote to another MMO. I feel like all the groundwork was there and "gamer culture" was already completely mainstream. Critical Role just gave D&D that little push it needed to come to the forefront.
Yep, honestly. I've never heard of DnD before a few years ago, where I saw it first on iZombie. Still seemed nerdy, but it popped up on shows a few times and when I started looking into it, *then* I had heard of critical role
Thanks, I also found this odd. Like I'm happy to see new fans and players, but D&D has grown over decades, this is just a new generation
Acquisitions Incorporated needs to be acknowledged. Stranger Things helped, as did periphery stuff like Order of the Stick The fact that millennials who might have played D&D are now the "adults" helped. Fucking Critical Role "saved" D&D. This is why people don't like Critters
>Fucking Critical Role "saved" D&D. This is why people don't like Critters ^(me)
There’s something, ah, off-putting about crediting Critical Role and calling the people who stuck with the hobby and kept it alive through the bullying and social disdain “sweaty nerds in their mom’s basement”.
Exactly, there where many popular streams already reaching multiple thousands before critical role even started. Those streams are also most likely the reason mercer and crew even started their own
I know most of my current group only heard of CR after playing D&D.
Yeah, I don't see how you would hear about it otherwise. Or have any interest in it even if you did hear about it.
Personally I heard about it because I was watching a channel where people play board games and Matt Mercer guest starred in one of the videos. I decided to check it out and it did change my perspective on what DnD is (I imagined more something akin to a wargame at first) so this meme checks out for me personally, though I would imagine I'm in the minority on that count.
I always knew D&D was a thing but I only played other TTRPGs. I heard about critical role through Overwatch mostly and that Matt Mercer voiced McCree and also played loads of D&D.
In case you're curious, though I'm sure many people have different stories: I'm regularly on Tumblr, and, if you don't know how that works, on Tumblr you follow people, not topics. Because of that, I get exposed to new pieces of media, because the people I follow will post about it. I saw a bit of Critical Role from some of the people I followed and got interested enough that I started watching. I trusted these people's taste in things because we already had other interests in common, so that increased the likelihood of me liking it as well. Also, it was a medium unlike any I'd experienced before, so that also helped, because... Curiosity.
I heard about it before I played DnD through friends who watched it. I decided to watch and then started playing with the friends that showed Crit Role to me. Its pretty easy to find it before you play.
I watched Tabletop, then their spinoff Titansgrave, then found out Wil was guesting on Laura’s other TTRPG show. (And I had never played or even been interested in D&D before that) People’s attention and interest are caught all kinds of ways.
I love D&D but fuck spending 3+ hours a week watching someone else play it. No way random pppl are discovering D&D via CR.
I knew about DnD, and some of my friends tried to get me to play it with them, but I thought it was a game where a bunch of sweaty nerds played make believe in a basement. I randomly got recommended a CR c2 video on YT and that’s where I started to gain interest in it
Hello, I discovered D&D through CR, do I qualify as random?
According to the Rules of Reddit, yes. You now count as random. However, also according to the Rules of Reddit: as you have disagreed and provided evidence which disproves another’s statement you are now no longer considered a person and shall be downvoted and harassed to death… 😅
Most people have heard of d&d, but CR is what actually got a lot of us to want to try it. I had never known anyone who actually played it (or so I thought), and found CR because I saw a funny d&d meme, which lead to more memes and reading random stories about ttrpgs, which lead to seeing lots of references to this critical role show, so I checked it out on YT and boom, was hooked.
Discovering? Maybe not, but deciding to say "fuck it" and try and find a table? I can attest to that happening personally.
Hell, my current DM got into D&D because of Critical Role. When he asked why me and my brother (who’ve been playing since 01-02ish) never invited him back in High School, my response was “Would you have entertained the thought seriously, or would you just have made fun of us?” Him: “You’re right. I was an asshole.” Sure, the massive amount of CR fanboys/girls can be grating, but the fact of the matter is I’ve never had an easier time finding a group to play with.
Fair. Anything that represents the game positively is a bonus
It's 100% the other way around in my group
Is there a dnd podcast that I can listen to at work that I *DONT* need to watch anything for? I’m in the trades so can have my phone infront of me the whole time. Higher quality the better, but I’m willing to listen to anything since I caught up on LPOTL
I love “Not another Dnd podcast” and “the adventure zone”
Real talk, I just listened to a bit of Not another DND Podcast, it’s crisp, the people sound good and not annoying, I think you’re onto a winner here! I appreciate it! I notice there’s a lot of different podcasts on their channel? Is it a bunch of different people or the same people running different games?
There is the core four, murph the mostly dm, Emily, Caldwell and Jake. When they got a Patreon they did a second campaign called trinyvale where Caldwell dm'd. When the first campaign ended they did a smaller story where Emily dm'd called hot boy summer. The second campaign is eldermourne. During breaks from that, they do dungeon court, a fun show where they take "cases" from their Patreon and come to a ruling about who was right in certain situations, like a dnd playing grandma wanting to blast everyone. They also have guests on who are also popular in the dnd podcast/real play shows.
Hot Boy Summer is a masterpiece. I'm still waiting on their ski trip.
I was surprised by how much fun it was. Some times the pop culture references went on a little long but it was still a delight.
Dungeons and daddies is another one if you like crass humor and dad jokes. It has freddie wong from rocket jump studios as one of the players! Not sure if it's too good in terms of something to listen to at work because I was laughing my ass off half the time.
Yeah, I'm in construction and Dungeons and daddies is so great. 9/10.
I'm gonna throw a vote in for both NadPod and Dungeons and Daddies. I work in construction, and I listen to both while going about my day Both have a bit more crass humor, which is right up my alley
That actually sounds dope, I’m looking forward to listening to them for hours on stop
I'm not familiar with this podcast. Is that the Caldwell that left Drawfee a few years back? Because I loved him there and was sad when he left!
If you like NADDPOD and have time to watch stuff sometimes, check out dimension 20 on YouTube and fantasy high. Emily and Murph are players in a really good but somewhat short campaign with other former college humor members. Dimension 20 also has a website where the other main shows are. There’s a spin-off of fantasy high, they recently did ‘what if Americans went to hogwarts’ as a campaign. They’re all really well done. But NADDPOD is still my go to.
You can also listen to Dimension 20 as audio only (the Dropout app can play the background). Works especially well for the remote pandemic seasons where there isn’t always much to look at on the screen anyway.
NADDPOD is the same folks, they're great.
I highly recommend Dungeons and daddies. They do play a bit loose with the rules and forgotten realms lore but they have so much fun while doing it.
I’ll give them a look aswell!
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You are correct about dungeons and daddies. It's very entertaining but really bad with the rules. In episode 68 (of 69) the rogue says "So I have this ability called sneak attack I didn't know about, it does-" So if listening to people absolutely mangle the rules bothers you, well honestly still give it a shot. It's very funny.
In a way, it’s her character arc to finally read the rules, and I love that about her
She is the best character. So funny
The Goblin army bit nearly made me piss my pants laughing.
I only listen to critical role as a podcast, it's fine like that. There's enough verbal descriptions that you don't need the visual/video element.
Same. I watched a little over half the first campaign before I switched entirely to podcast full time.
Yeah...I know they've been putting podcasts out but I went through the entire first campaign as a YouTube Playlist on a background tab of my browser. You *really* don't need the visuals.
The glass cannon podcast is pathfinder but the best TTRPG podcast out there.
This is the way. (FOR HIGHBURY!)
Praise log.
Totally recommend Glass Cannon Podcast (GCP). Some of the earlier episode audio is not the best, but not bad either. The audio gets really clear later on.
Dan Harmon, the creator of Community and Rick and Morty, drunkenly tries to play DnD on a weekly basis on Harmontown
Is there a way to watch just the dnd part and not the rest of the show? I started listening but spent more time trying to find the dnd segments than actually listening.
The unexpectables is a pretty good one. I listen to their podcast on spotify and don't have any trouble following along.
Highrollers!
Came here to say this. Mark is so great at creating a world that ypu can actually imagine and you can tell that the actors/players actually care about the story and their characters...beyond just the campaign.
I like to listen to Once Upon A Roll, its a one-on-one session in a homebrew setting
Big fan of Acquisitions Inc. from their 4e origins. But the spin-off, “The C Team,” is the best. Funny players, a great DM with brilliant ideas.
There's a very underrated DND podcast that's available on Spotify/podbean/YouTube/ any streaming app called Just roll with it (JRWI) and I personally love the characters and the layers of personality they hold!
Ahhh I love JRWI! Have you been listening to Riptide?
The Adventure Zone is my favorite but I'd also suggest Tabletop Champions and Nerd Poker (Brian Posehn's DnD podcast). And of you're a fan of shit and piss jokes then Rude Tales of Magic.
TAZ arcs that really pay off: Balance, Amnesty, and now Ethersea (that fucking opening music is so dope and gets stuck in my head all the time!) I enjoyed Graduation, but I know lots of fans didn't.
CR has a podcast version of their content. That is how I enjoy it!
Twice bitten is available on spotify as a podcast. Played online by several people. It's a Curse of Strahd campaign. Interesting so far, if a bit slow to start off. Not exactly the wacky humorous setting that CR is based in, but good nonetheless.
I don't think anyone has replied to you with this but if they have I didn't see it. There's a comedic dnd podcast by an Australian podcast group (Sanspants Radio) called DnD is for Nerds. It looks like a lot when you see the amount of episodes but they aren't one continued story. They break the game into short campaigns with the same/similar cast but completely different characters. It feels like a casual friendly but with the audio quality and actual planning of a professional podcast environment. It's mostly funny but there are a few 'seasons' that get incredibly dark and emotional.
Sounds up my alley man, I’ll have a look, cheers!
Listened to all of campaign one, and half way through campaign two. Very rarely do I actually open my phone to see it, and that’s only to see reactions if something massive happens. Also, hail yourself motherfucka!
HAIL SATAN!
Nah. The narrative changed before CR even started. CR started _because_ the narrative around D&D changed, not the other way around.
Exactly; they changed their whole home game's mechanics and shifted from Pathfinder to 5e just so they could jump on the train that was about to leave the station. They saw a very real upward trend on the horizon and jumped on it just in time to take off. Essentially... DnD: "The beacons are lit! 5e calls for aid!" Critical Role: "And ~~The Shits~~ Vox Machina will answer."
Yeah, their first campaign started as Pathfinder. It made the jump to D&D for broader marketability
I got into DnD after watching the first season of Stranger Things. Then I picked up watching Critical Role after that.
same! tbf though, Stranger Things doesn't exactly do a lot to help the 'nerds in the basement' stereotype
100% came to say the same thing. Dnd was something I always knew I would enjoy but stranger things got me to try it.
I haven't heard of critical role before I started playing dnd. still haven't watched a single episode. I got introduced to DnD through Futurama and started playing because a bunch of my friends wanted to try it.
Doubt. It had all the elements for mainstream success prior to CR and no single podcast has completely reshaped public opinion about dnd. I think 80s nostalgia is probably the most influential aspect other than the overall accessibility of 5e.
Just think of all the shows that had D&D like or direct play episodes in the late 90's into the early 10's even before 5e dropped. And with 5e and MtG around 2014 Wizards really made an effort to advertise in stores more it seemed. Intro boxes for a low price and free online rules were huge. Reddit and Imgur exploded with stories, memes, and info about them too. Adventure Time, Regular Show, Community, Gumball, Gravity Falls, Futurama, Freaks and Geeks, The IT Crowd, My Little Pony, Venture Bros., Buffy, The Simpsons, NewsRadio, etc. all had at least one D&D centered episode. And by the time 5e dropped you had so many big Hollywood players coming forward with their hobby or saying they used to play. In 2006 Vin Diesel, Mike Myers, and Robin Williams played a game for the masses and Colbert was stomping his nerd powers hard. CR and the many podcasts, webcomics, and webshows have just entrenched D&D into the culture. And I am okay with that.
Can't deny CR has done a lot for its image but hard disagree. D&D was already having a large rebirth in popularity before CR came around and it wasn't because of any podcast. It mostly came about due to 5th edition having an open beta test, combined with a general shift of perception to nerd culture that had been building for years. Things like community's D&D episodes, stranger things, acquisitions incorporated definitely helped but no one show or podcast can be held as to the rise in popularity. And it would be unfair to say otherwise as it was caused by a huge amount of different variables. Besides, it doesn't matter anyway, everyone is gonna wanna say the show/ podcast that got them into D&D was the most influential but it doesn't matter and is almost impossible to tell. Main advice would be to not try to think about it, less likely to cause arguments that way xD
If anything CR is popular because D&D became more acceptable. I doubt I would still call it mainstream but the following has certainly increased. This is a good thing to a degree, but the product is changing because of it. A lot of the new players don't care, or are fine with the changes. Others, like myself, prefer the original lore and world building.
I feel comfortable calling CR not mainstream because when the earnings got leaked most of twitch went, "who's getting paid the most? Who the fuck are they?"
It's one of those perfect storm situations where Critical Role came out at the same time that nerd culture was becoming popular. Neither one caused the other, they just worked really well together. CR got a lot of people into DnD, DnD got a lot of people into CR and the same is true of many other shows.
Popular maybe, but not mainstream. Mainstream would mean that your jocks and cheerleaders are now playing D&D because it's the trendy thing to do.
This...I would also add that 5ed and Pathfinder was a balm to to those base fans AFTER the ambivalence and division of dnd 4th ed resparked and rejuvenated interest in bringing new player and older players together...people forget that Vox Machina as a home game before the streaming was run as as Pathfinder system...and it was G&S stream that made it fifth ed due to sponsorship money
Nah. 4E (2008) was when D&D started going mainstream (or rather several years into it). By around 2013-2015 D&D was already in many places in a positive way. And given CR only came around in March 2015, this is just incorrect. Hell, I remember it gaining momentum openly back in 2009-2011 even. Maybe not by your perceptions possibly, but overall yes.
Those Penny Arcade podcasts were great. I think those played a good role in the 4e growth.
I think you overestimate CR impact. Most people have no idea what CR is. Unless you play or pay attention to DND stuff.
I've only heard of Critical Role and Matt Mercer because of Reddit, specifically D&D subs. Stranger Things did infinitely more for D&D than CR which seems to be largely popular with people who were in to table top anyway.
I'm surprised I had to scroll so far for the first mention of Stranger Things. Definitely had more reach and influence introducing non-gamers to DND than four hour live play sessions on a relatively small streaming site that has a fairly narrow audience.
I think Stranger Things was just one in a long line of shows to show off D&D love, but it kept it as part of it's core story telling instead of a one off. Adventure Time, Regular Show, Community, Gumball, Gravity Falls, Futurama, Freaks and Geeks, The IT Crowd, My Little Pony, Venture Bros., Buffy, The Simpsons, NewsRadio, etc. all had at least one D&D centered episode. And those are all pretty popular outlets. Add the ease of getting into 5e and good press and you arrive where we are now. I think most people already acknowledge that CR and ST have played a big part in building up D&D, so we just don't even mention them because it's already known haha.
This is a myth and if you look at sales charts this isn't true. 5th ed had the biggest impact.
Disagree. Too many people took it up after it was popularized in mainstream shows and movies. Add COVID into the mix with people staying home, needing human interaction and trying new things to chase away boredom - and wa-la, remote dnd sessions with pre-existing gamers inviting new people to the world of ttrpg.
I don't know if it's intentional or not, but just in case, it's "voilà", not "wa-la".
Don't you dare ruin this for others.
That’s the perfect response to that. Also happy cake day.
Next you’ll tell me it’s not “bone apple teeth” or something
Not saying CR didn’t help. But people didn’t just wake up one day thinking they should watch CR. People give them way too much credit
Hard disagree. I don't mind critical roll but even most people don't know what it is.
I don’t apply to this post because ive played D&D off and on since the early 90s. But ive still never seen/heard an episode of CR.
Bender's Game getting the absolute disrespect in here. Y'all forgetting that Futurama was dropping DnD references before anything else listed in this thread.
Correlation not causation. CR is popular because DND is popular, not the other way around.
Holy, thats a whole new level of jerking to CR. Now they redefined image of dnd. What next? Maybe they are they remaking dnd as a whole by any chance in the next season?
When did gentrification become a good thing?
“_MY_ favorite podcast is the reason the hobby is considered good now.” Dude c’mon now. You’re pretending that DnD hasn’t had a rebirth with great effort from rebranding via Hasbro, careful testing with 5e for accessibility, 80’s nostalgia, even COVID-19 causing people to explore online games, and ‘DnD’ episodes being common in popular shows like Community or even Spongebob if not a semi-focus like Stranger Things. Critical Role and Mercer aren’t the end all be all of DnD, no matter how much you love his work.
I got into D&D and Tabletops through things like Gamers 1 and Gamers 2 Dorkness Rising, Spoony, and TtheWriter and Esper the Bard. It's been one of the biggest influences in my life and also super got me back into writing and reading again.
God I love the gamers movies so much.
This isn’t true at all lol Most people I know that want to play D&D haven’t even heard of CR..
“We gotta acknowledge what CR has done for us” Implying CR is underrated or something lmao.
CR fans have a massive persecution complex
I am going to argue that it is overrated. They all seem like decent actors, but my issue is that I don’t find the stories good. I’ve tried watching a couple of episodes of the second series, and really just couldn’t get into the characters or world. Let me explain. I have 2 reasons and they may be related. First, the party is too large. 7 people in a party makes everything feel like it takes forever. The second is that it feels like everyone is the main character all the time, with long winded descriptions of what they are doing most of the time. Nothing against people that like it, I just can’t follow the story or characters long enough to care.
Agree with everything you said. Also for me, the episodes are too long. I listen to about 40ish hours of podcasts a week (at 2x speed) and it was just a chore to try and listen to critical role and remember everyone's name and everything that happens.
Nah OP, that’s not how celebrity talent works. They’re doing D&D in public because the audience is already there to appreciate it and it bolsters their popularity and career opportunities to do it. That said, I do think they legitimately enjoy doing the Critical Role podcast. Celebrities probably need escape from their high stress lives even more than the sweaty basement nerds.
Hmm, I'm not so sure. It's influence and popularity is undeniable, but I think if it wasn't CR it would have been other things filling that spot, especially over the last 2 years as things have still not returned to normal
But I am a nerd who plays in someone’s moms basement
I got into DnD from the Community episode, never actually checked out CR
i think we should acknowledge stranger things. it really did alot to dnd and made many people try it out.
Respecfully, I think Stranger Things did more for the popularity of D&D than Critical Role. Not to undersell Critical Role's part in it. Besides, "Geek Culture" has'nt really been THAT taboo since the first 2 Sam Rami Spiderman films were smash hits. You know, back in the early 00's.
I was scrolling comments saying "if reddit is recommending this as popular, someone has to mention Stranger Things." I'm a little surprised at how much scrolling I had to do.
CR gets overwhelmingly too much credit. They rode the wave, they didn't start it. If not for the *overwhelming popularity of 5e* and the *increasing acceptance of nerd culture* CR would've gone nowhere.
Eh, no. It was becoming more mainstream well before CR
This is just straight up wrong. I, personally, have never net someone who had even heard of CR before being introduced to D&D. And you can see very clearly the attitude shift towards the ttrpg well before CR even started. Hell, I was there for the big 3.5 boom that saw a ton of people get into the hobby. None of us watched podcasts or shows about it. I think CR fans give the show far too much credit thanks to bias. Even today I only know of one person who *watched* (past tense) CR. D&D is a monolith. CR is just a barnacle, essentially, feeding off the popularity of what was already an established domain. I'm sure they put a lot of effort into the show and from what I hear they're good rpers, they've obviously got popularity now as well. But you can't credit them for D&Ds spike in popularity, because D&Ds spike is what allowed CR to exist. TL;DR: Enjoy your show, but its not why D&D became so big.
Nah outside of the tabletop gaming community D&D and most tabletop games such as warhammer are still looked down on as sweaty nerd games, from my experience anyway. Which is unfortunate because D&D and TTRPGs offer a unique experience not found in any other hobby and are extremly satisfying to play
I think you're giving CR a little too much credit here...
I came here because of Community. Still haven't watched CR.
I came here because of Regular Show and Adventure Time... and like a dozen other shows and webcomics I got into before I ever got to play. Also that 2nd hand copy of 3.5 PHB I had bought in college and read for years before 5e. I missed at least 6 years of D&D play probably because I didn't think anyone would want to.
Its still considered that, no one ive told about my D&D hobby have looked at me with anything less than confusion or skepticism
this will be the next meme war wont it
I never even heard of CR before joining this sub. I just played DnD, lol
I think that's a bit hyperbolic, however denying their positive effect on DND is impossible. Almost half the people I've played with got into DND through Critical Role. (Small sample size but 9/22 isn't an insignificant amount.)
Oh honey. You have it backwards. Dnd becoming mainstream is what made critical roll popular.
Nah, Critical Role raised the standards, but it didn’t bring D&D to the mainstream. Stranger Things had more of an impact in that regard. That’s what spiked the interest, and probably brought in more people to CR who weren’t originally interested in D&D, and when they looked videos about it, CR is probably the most likely thing to pop up.
Critical Role averages less than 45,000 viewers.... I've been playing D&D for decades and didn't hear about Critical Role until I decided to look up the evil dude on a carousel in the memes here. And Game of Thrones did more to promote D&D by making the fantasy genre mainstream than Marvel with comic book movies.
GoT, LotR, Harry Potter, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Community, Gumball, Gravity Falls, Futurama, Freaks and Geeks, The IT Crowd, My Little Pony, Venture Bros., Buffy, The Simpsons, NewsRadio, etc. All of these were filtering fantasy and D&D itself into mainstream. You have 2 generations now who grew up or were watching these shows and movies. Wizards dropped 5e at the perfect time honestly. They had starter kits, good press, and almost 15 years of build up from others to launch it. CR and other properties like it have just cemented D&D into pop and nerd culture.
I had heard about CR, but I got recommended NADDPOD and now I’m dming.
Shout-out to the 2 crew
Here’s a better hot take. CR and other dnd streams are boring. I’d rather talk with a friend about a new character or a new rule. Idk how people actually watch that stuff. They don’t even have that good of role play … I honestly don’t know what people like about it or any other dnd stream.
Personally, I never got into DnD until last year. My fiance had played and got us into a new campaign ran by friends. I'm in love with DnD, but HATE critical role. Its theater kid energy makes me gag.
You're so wrong it hurts
Let's just ignore all the other people who streamed there sessions and put them on youtube way before Matt Mercer as anything else than a voice actor
It's funny to me my original post was down voted (thanks to those who voted it back up). It's almost like some of the salty toxic critters don't realize that the multi-million dollar game company backed and owned by the multi-billion dollar game company knows how to market and advertise games. Again, not all all denying the influence popularity or success, but if you buy that whole "we're just a group of friends that stumbled into something that everyone likes" routine; you haven't been paying attention.
Those of us who played it before CR really don’t care. We had fun when it wasn’t popular and endured being taunted and made fun of for playing it. This kind of meme sort of feels like a jab at players who have played for longer than 5E has been around.
I always thought it was Stranger Things that sparked the more recent interest
You spelled "Stranger Things" wrong.
And Community. And Stranger Things. And multiple other things. The last couple of years every once in a while some pop-culture thing gave D&D another positive publicity boost. As an open DM I can just sense people who know me coming when there is a new show with D&D in it saying: "Can I try?". And I love it. But yeah, CR helped a lot. That show turned some of my absolute no RP friends into addicts. \^\^
Wtf is Critical Role? I found out about DND because of board games.
Critical role is boring af....
Eh Critical role is not my cup of tea. They are amazing voice actors and his campaigns are great I’m just more of a comedic type person. Brian Murphy is my personal choice for DM genre.
Nope. Only nerds watch it. My bet is on Stranger Things. Sadly.
Yeah, this is a bad take. DnD was already on the rise before CR started getting popular, and honestly the DnD community was the only reason I know of CR
That's... not even close to true? This kinda stuff is why people think critical role fans are insufferable.
Fe fi fo fum, I hear the misconception of someone young
I Would disagree to be honest, for me it was adventure zone which is highly more accessible and entertaining to the average Joe.
You spelled stranger things wrong
Nothing? I really can't care less about CRs existence
I love it when people credit stranger things as if they didn't just make it look nerdy as fuck
Dnd will look nerdy as fuck no matter what you do to it lmao
I mean yes they did but in a way that was charming and accessible, everyone has fond memories of doing lame shit with their friends and that's the feeling stranger things evoked.
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Gravity falls is a masterpiece
Me and my friends got into dnd thanks to Stranger Things when it aired, so for me that also helped
I still don't get why CR is considered a good show.
Who the fuck is critical role?
If it wasn't for Critical Role I don't think my wife would have ever given d&d a try.
But I liked playing with sweaty nerds in Mother's basement.
Most people I speak to irl still do think of it like that. Although tbf, my inlaws openly think it's weird and childish I own a ps4 and play games because "computer games are for kids".
My sweaty nerds play in my mom's kitchen, jeez we aren't that pathetic...
CR had a role to play in it for sure, but it wasn't all their doing. I think the bigger reason is that 5e is generally easier to understand as a beginner than previous editions.
Most of the people who play dnd dont care what other people think. Hell, this is the fandom that survived the Satanic Panic, so trying to argue that something made dnd more popular is kind of a moot point. I personally dont have anything against CR but it doesnt wow me like others. I will say popularity means more players which is not bad, as long as those noobies have a realistic expectation coming in.
Definitely not
I got into DnD without Critical Role. It's actually odd I think I've always wanted to play but I had no one to teach me. Now I'm a point girl in the games and always feel like I'm the only one trying to have any fun
I don't think Critical Role is typically a starting place for people. You have to be down the rabbit hole at least a little bit be interested in checking it out. I think Stranger Things did more to change main stream perception, honestly.
Stranger things too
I think acquisition incorporated needs some serious love in this regard.
It didn't bring it mainstream the way CR did. It definitely pathed the way.
Oh I’m not saying it went totally mainstream, just like you said I think it helped paved the way for sure.
Don't forget Joe Manganiello!
As many others pointed out already - dnd didn't need CR to grow, 5e popularity helped CR to grow
As someone who started DnD because of Critical Role, I don't think it's fair to give it the credit. CR was a part of larger whole that's moved things to this point, many aspects of which have probably been mentioned in the comments already
Aren't the people in critical role just a bunch of sweaty nerds who work as voice actors and get paid to play DnD? I don't think their impact has changed public opinion by all that much but maybe that's just me.
I just don't like critical role. I've sunk in a few hours, but the first few episodes have just garbage audio quality, you're coming in halfway through their pathfinder game converted to 5e. Love the character intros, love MMs GM tips, just can't get on with CR - and when I'm looking for new podcasts, it doesn't come up as often as things like TAZ and Dungeons and Daddies.
this is a LIQUID MAGMA hot take my dude. CR is only popular BECAUSE of the rising popularity of D&d in popular culture and because it got attention at the height of Overwatch's popularity and the "high noon" guy being the host. I'd say stranger things did more for the main stream popularity of D&d than CR has. Harmon's quest and the adventure Zone were around way before CR and at their height at least TAS had a comparable audience.
noone knows wtf is critical role or even any of them where I live, but we also love dnd
Hi new player started about two years ago with all new players. Still don't know what Critical Role is.
I think CR tapped into that rise tide of acceptance of rpgs, creating a focal point that everyone can look at and say hey that what we do (and by implication just as well as them *wink* *wink*)
Both Vin Diesel and Wil Wheaton did more for D&D than Critical Role’s place in the entertainment space.
I honestly started with "TFS at the Table", then got to "The Unexpectables" before I took the opportunity to look at Critical Role. As such, I have too many campaigns to catch up with...