Does /tg/ watch Critical Role? Do you think its popularity has

>>44584317
>Does /tg/ watch Critical Role?
I really don't care for most of the campaigns and Felicia Day is kind of annoying.
>Do you think its popularity has had a positive impact on tabletop RPGs?
How am I supposed to judge that?

>>44584317
I watch it, and usually enjoy it. In my game my brother partly based the personality of his Half-orc barbarian "Stronk" on Travis Willingham's Grog.

I think my favourite PC must be Scanlan though, much due to the way the player sings his bardic inspiration out loud.

>>44584317
I've only seen the first 5 episodes. Seemed fun. Made me jealous that the people I have played with can't get into the setting as much as those guys do.

>>44584347
>I really don't care for most of the campaigns and Felicia Day is kind of annoying.
Critical Role is a specific campaign hosted by Matthew Mercer on Geek and Sundry. I find Day annoying as well, but she was only on two episodes out of 35+

>How am I supposed to judge that?
By using the anecdotal data available to you.

>>44584493
>
I think my favourite PC must be Scanlan though, much due to the way the player sings his bardic inspiration out loud.
Grog and Scanlan are most people's favorite, from what I've noticed. I really think it's just because Travis and Sam have really charismatic personalities (they all do to a degree, with the exception of Orion, being actors and all).

Personally my favorite is Liam (Vax, the Rogue), because of his immersion and dedication to the character. I've seen all the episodes, and my wife, who had never played tabletop before, absolutely loves it and is wanting to join the game I DM.

>>44586749
I'll admit that Critical Role is what inspired me to finally sack up and DM my own campaign with my friends, and it was an incredible decision. Matt Mercer was crucial in that inspiration.

Vax normally isn't the kind of character I like, but I love that Liam is so into the character and takes the game so seriously. Scanlan is probably my favorite though when he isn't being too ridiculous.

I used to like Tiberius until the K'varn fight where he acts like a petty child because he couldn't have all the glory to himself, despite taking the killing blow. I'm only on episode 14, but he's turned into such a grandstanding asshole, I'm not surprised at all that he was kicked out of the group.

The players are alright, the only thing particularly special about them is their enthusiasm, which is something that 99.999% of players of RPGs are physically incapable of.

The problem for me is that it, like any popularization of the hobby, attracts a crowd of people who just assume that's how normal game interactions go, and it sets them up with ridiculous standards that they have no intention of meeting themselves.

It's EXACTLY like all the people who started wanting to play D&D because they saw Acquisitions Inc. They see it, say "Wow, that looks fun!", and then just jump into games or form their own groups with other new fans, and then get pissed that their experience is nothing like what they were promised via the show they watched.

And holy FUCK please stop making characters based on characters from the show. Stop it. Everyone hates you for it. Holy shit, what is wrong with you.

TL;DR: The show itself is fine, the people who get into the hobby because of it are always the worst type of people.

>>44587202
Did they kick Orion? As I understood it the reason for his departure had something to do with having is own show on another network.

However, I'd not be surprised if they did and I have to say I agree with you on how infuriating that character became after the fight with K'varn.

>>44587581
He was clearly kicked out by the group. It had nothing to do with Geek & Sundry or even his health. Three whole episodes after the K'varn fight and he's still acting like a cunt. If it continues like that, it's no surprise he was kicked. Everyone is clearly uncomfortable and irritated with his immaturity.

Someone also pointed out that he had been unfriended by most of the group on Facebook. There was a major falling out. I'm assuming there was some sort of ultimatum between kicking him out or losing Travis and Laura (and maybe even more).

He's a stubborn autist that doesn't play well with others. The popularity of his character gave him the validation he needed to become a monster.

>>44587581
Orion is no longer with Critical Role or Geek & Sundry. They never gave a specific reason, but they did say it was mutual on all fronts.

Orion's twitter and recent activity would lead one to believe otherwise.

>>44584317
I wasn't interested and skipped it. It was boring.

>>44587264
>The players are alright, the only thing particularly special about them is their enthusiasm,

That, and the voice acting ability really does help the immersion, as well as the effort to curb metagming as much as possible (Liam and Travis step in a lot on what a character would/wouldn't know).

>>44587870
Which is a major part of the problem when talking about the fans:

The people who watch it have no fucking clue what makes the game watchable, they just see "LOL D&D" and assume that they can jump into a group and have the same experience with no effort.

Spoiler: There are no other players out there like a group of excited, engaged actors who are all well-acquainted friends. You will NEVER experience a group like that.

>>44587918
I think the well-acquainted friends part is the most important thing.

The most memorable campaigns I've had were in large part mostly memorable because they were with good friends. Every group I joined because of a friend of a friend or just random people....usually sucked for some reason or another.

It's the familiarity, which leads to being comfortable and allows for fun to be had.

>>44587972
>I think the well-acquainted friends part is the most important thing.
It's not. I've been playing with my current group for nearly 3 years. They're still not that great. It's not a matter of being comfortable together, they're just never going to be great actors or charismatic and excitable personalities. If anything, players just get less enthusiastic with time.

>>44587765
Keyleth (Marisha) is much worse imo. Takes just as long on her turns, doesn't know her abilities/features as well, and is a typical gamergirl!

>>44588042
I hated Marisha at first, but the more she got comfortable with the cameras, the more I liked her. She clearly legitimately cares about the game and her character. Orion actively tries to be a cunt at every opportunity he gets as soon as the party shut down his stupid idea to have the boss fight outside the temple.

When is a good jumping in point? Rather not deal with fucking petty drama that's been complained about earlier in the thread.

>>44589727
A good jumping on point? Almost any episode really. The "drama" isn't that bad, and the show doesn't really change after Orion's departure (unless you really liked him, then it's noticeable)

There's about 3 different story arcs, with the third one having just been wrapped up so if that matters to you, Episode 13 is the last episode of the first arc, 14~23 is technically the second arc (a few different things happen), and the rest is a single cohesive arc.

If I recall, Tiberius (Orion) leaves at around episode 27 or 28.

>>44589727
The next episode.
They just finished an arc and the last episode was a Christmas special with nothing really important happening. Now would be the best time to jump on.

>>44588020
Get better friends?

I'm approaching a year now with a group of guys (4/7 are married to give an idea of age) where almost all of them except for me (DM) and one other guy had never played before.

It's only gotten better and better for us, and we all recently discovered Critical Role about around October, and that's only helped our gaming out.

We are a pretty close group, that have a wide range of hobbies together outside of gaming (brewing, hiking, obstacle courses etc. ) so take that as you will.

>>44590053
>My group is perfect and only gets better!

No one believes you.

>>44586749
>>44584347

What's she even doing these days. After that whole Dragon Age thing Felecia Day just sort of went quiet

>>44590036
>>44589727
They have this weird setup where on the Youtube channel, it only has up to episode 27 available.

But on the Geek & Sundry website, they have embedded / direct YouTube link to the current episode (37?).

>>44590139
The episodes are on Youtube, and you can watch them via the playlist, they're just unlisted.

>>44590163
That's what I'm saying. Also, even their OFFICIAL playlist only has up to 27 videos. A user has made a playlist with the direct links, but that only currently goes up to 36.

G&S Site has the newest link up.

>>44590080
Don't know, don't care. She was on for like two episodes, so I only have to suffer through that, but the other guest was godlike for a new player.

>>44590218
>other guest
If you mean Mary E McGlynn, yeah she's amazing in general. I saw her at a con and she was legitimately having fun with it and even dressed up at one of the panels. She's so passionate about her work and nerd stuff in general, it's no surprise she's a god-tier D&D player.