Critical Role

For whatever reason, I started watching a bit of Critical Role again. I'm still not very far in, relatively speaking, although by hours in, I've seen more than an entire season of TV show. On episode nine. That's what happens when they tend to average over three hours each, I guess.

I probably said this before, but I'll say it again: they're not playing with the right system for the kind of show that they're trying to make. It really needs to be a system that's a bit more unobtrusive, so that they can just keep the narrative moving without constantly stopping to check rules, check character sheets, discuss how a spell or class ability or feat or whatever works, etc. I've never played 5e. I've never even read 5e. But I can see how it's not really different enough from 3e to make play more smooth. Especially when you have a number of players who aren't really the serious gamer types who really know the rules well and know how to play their characters well. And I don't give them any grief for that; I actually think being actors and actresses makes them better at what they're doing than if they were just gamers. They're much more charismatic to watch—mostly—and they have a better instinctual (as well as trained, I'd wager) feel for what makes for entertaining showmanship to watch. But if they were playing a much more rules-lite, narrative approach to the game, where mechanics were able to sink into the background and combats weren't long, drawn out rules-lookup affairs, it'd be a lot smoother. I can barely imagine what it was like when they were doing it with the Pathfinder system.

And some of the players are better than others at keeping it moving and fast-paced and entertaining. Travis, who plays Grog, is by far the most charismatic person of the bunch (I mean actual Travis, not his character) so on the episodes where he's missing, he's sorely missed. The game isn't nearly as fun nor as funny without him. Laura, his real-life wife, is probably the most charismatic of the girls; her over emotional reactions to everything actually come across (most of the time) as kind of charming and likable. Orion's character, as a kind of almost C-3PO-like, stuffy sorcerer is mostly fun, when he's engaged in the game enough to be acting a bit more than he sometimes does, and I know that he'll eventually part ways with the group as the actor goes on to do other things and can't commit to continuing with the group. Sam's the one who I'm less sure about; sometimes he's kind of funny, sometimes he's too try-hard, and sometimes he comes across as downright creepy or cringey, and I wish that he'd keep his mouth shut. Marisha sometimes comes across as pushy or too try-hard, but it's not likely she'll miss much, since she was the DM's girlfriend (now wife) throughout the show. Part of that may be the character too, but we'll see if I ever make it to season 2. Liam and Taliesin are both quieter; I don't really have a grip on what their characters are actually like. As players, they tend to be the ones who know the rules the best, but play low-key characters who kind of fade into the background a bit, or if they do do stuff, it's kind of metagamey pushing the game forward a bit here and there. Ashley's character is also a bit more on the quiet side, but Ashley herself comes across as quite likable, so there's that.

But they'll all have a chance to grow on me (or not, as the case might happen to be) because there's a lot more to watch. Whether I'll actually watch it all or not, I don't know.

I guess my point is, as a GM, I really appreciate a character like Travis'. From my perspective, he's the ideal roleplayer. He makes the game fun without turning it into an outright farce. He's got a sense for pacing and keeping the game moving, and when the rest of the group gets bogged down in debate or indecision, he's often the natural leader who takes them out of it. Not because of his character, who he plays as a pretty stereotypical dumb jock archetype, but because of the player just being that kind of guy. It's probably no wonder that when they organized into an actual corporation and started doing Critical Role really professionally that they chose him to be the CEO. He's got charismatic, natural leader written all over him, and you can see that just in the way that he plays the game. 

Laura doesn't really do that, but she's so into it all the time that it's hard not to find her enthusiasm for the game as kind of infectious, which makes her a desirable player type to have in one's group if you can have one. Liam and Taliesin are also solid. Honestly, I prefer smaller groups than 7-8 anyway, but you've got to admit that more characters equals more roleplaying opportunities for the kind of group that does them. Not saying that I'd ditch the others, but in an ideal world, I'd get maybe one or two more players, actually, and then divide them into two groups of 4-5. Like a Monday and a Wednesday night group who roleplayed in parallel in the same setting. Chris Perkins did that in the Io'mandra games he ran which he discussed in his DM Experience column when he was writing that, and I admit that I've found the concept intriguing ever since.

I admit, I like the use of that one track by Midnight Syndicate over and over again during combat. It's just unobtrusive enough to not get on your nerves, even with the constant repeats. And it's probably better than what I often do with movie soundtracks, which come in many themes, tones, moods and whatnot, not always what you want when gaming. I've gotten a little bit turned on to the RPG ambient sounds concept, by guys like Michael Ghelfi, but I haven't actually used them in a game. (Yet.)

UPDATE: Some of Keyleth's unlikableness appears to actually be in character, I've now discovered, as some character development has come out. Well... that's good, I suppose. It makes Marisha herself more likeable compared to what I'd previously interpreted. 

My biggest problem with Critical Role is how self-referential it is with regards to D&Disms. Everything is D&D jargon all the time, which is funny because clearly many of the players are new gamers and this is their first campaign. Yet more reason that I suggest an old school, rules-lite, narrative game which allowed for players to just describe natural things to do in naturalistic language rather than always and constantly referring to special abilities on their character sheet by jargon specific labels would have not only made the game itself better for most of the players, but it would have done so for most of the audience as well.