Reacting to VOX MACHINA'S BEST TABLE-TO-SCREEN Moments from Season 1 (Critical Role)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- Our initial reaction to Vox Machina's Table-to-Screen adaptation: It was incredible to see the iconic moments from the livestream brought to life in the show! We've never seen such creativity and role-playing portrayed like this before.
Video Credits: AQ
We ready for Season 2!! 🫨😍 What was your favorite Table to Screen moment?
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Hi Critter Fam!
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Season 2 is around the corner! 😉✨
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There was a bit that I'm curious about. The fight with the Briarwoods that starts with Vax injured, was there a clip about Percy screaming? Because I've seen a clip of just the tabletop scene, but never it's association with the cartoon.
This is a good example of what rp/dnd is
th-cam.com/video/JpVJZrabMQE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=oYBxJ0538YIRsjib
The DM will have tons of notes on all the characters and places, but all the interactions are purely improvised as he'll never know what the players will do
This is so true. I lay out an entire timeline and actions that the bad guys are up to, but the players have to determine where they will go next.
Yeah. Things like the sun tree scene are planned out. Descriptions, interactions with key people they may run into, etc. But most of it is definitely improvised.
I don't think "purely improvised" is entirely accurate. The players and DM should have discussed the character history, goals, and meta intentions for the game at least during a session zero, if not frequently throughout the campaign. A good DM (whom Matt definitely is) will be able to bait and predict the players actions based on this information, although there is no guarantees ever ofc.
5:03 - Matt’s not “reading his lines,” he’s glancing at the villain npc’s spells and abilities that he’ll need to know and possibly have them use in the interaction/fight he sees is coming now. He uses Silas’s vampiric hypnosis on Vax a moment after he looks over those notes. 😊
As a DM, I can promise you that plans never survive contact with players. Sometimes they get little plot points, otherwise, pet the bear!
@@Wraith41186 I love that one live show where Liam Travis and Sam derailed it and Matt just tore the pages up on stage, for the shenanigans they wrought
@@phonmunky He did the same thing when Tal circumvented an entire session-long combat scenario with new, homebrewed mechanics that Matt had planned out and designed the mechanics for with just one move. Matt tore up his combat notes and was like, "Well that's what I had planned for the session. What do you guys want to do now?" Tal felt so bad, but Matt was like, "Nah. It's cool. That was a brilliant move." So that entire session from that point onward was Matt flying by the seat of his pants, reacting to what his friends wanted to do and where they wanted to go.
@@ForeverDegenerate Spoilers for C2 Or the time they literally were like, eh, all of these options aren't really doing it for us, let's just dig a tunnel underground for days and go through the area where, in a video game our characters would absolutely be turned away until we were a much higher level and go to Xhorhas instead lol.
@@mayaenglish5424 "I WIN!!"
Don't worry about trying to be like the cast of critical role: they're professional actors who've been doing what to them is effectively improvised theatre for years.
The important thing is to have fun; do what feels comfortable for you, if voices or actual speech is difficult no one should expect you to do them.
Matt is VERY good at inventing new shop keeps. There have been several who are icons of their own worth, but I believe Vox Machina made multiple trips to Gilmore's before they started streaming.
That's what's missing in campaign 3. They've met some interesting ones, but they haven't lasted more than one session.
@@jonathanhibberd9983
there was Marwa in Jrusar but they never stayed long enough to form a proper bond.
"Where does he get these words from." He's got so many of them. Sometimes he trips over them. Those are the best. For example, in the last episode, he talks about a character's youth, and how she went around "spreading her legs" (mixing up "spreading her wings" and "stretching her legs"). And then there's the classic "Quiver and Shift" that came out as "shiver and queef". That lead to like 10 minutes of the cast just breaking up over and over.
Amaranthine Oubliette
It’s just collaborative storytelling. The DM sets the story, and has ideas of things happening in the world, and if what the player does affects that then it evolves. So no one knows how the story will end till they get there together
*nod nod* the rules are there to adjudicate challenges.
Yeah all the main characters in Vox machina are voiced by their original players. Everyone in Critical Role is famous professional voice Actor. Matt Mercer that DM is really famous, and Laura Baily (who voices Vex) is HUGE in the voice acting, same for Liam O'Brien and everyone at the table.
Liam O'Brien also voices Yasuo in League of Legends.
You've probably heard each of them in a different animation or video game at some point. Especially Matt, Laura, and Liam.
Edit: Oh one last thing. Matt Mercer is married to Marisha Ray (the woman who plays Keyleth), and Laura Bailey (Vex) is married to Travis Willingham (Grog)
And Sam Riegel is married to Liam O'brien!....wait 😂
Laura voices some Miss Fortune skins, Travis voices Talon and Azir and Matt voices Gangplank and Wolf from Kindred.
@@Moon-Goddess isn't laura pretty much new miss fortune va? she voices her in the ruined king game as well
@@danzansandeev6033 pretty much yeah, but they still have the old voice actor for the base and low cost skins
Everytime I talk about Vox Machina as a concept to other people, I always mention Laura and say "You HAVE heard her voice" lmao!
Not only does Matt voice Sylas. But he also voices Orthax (Percy's shadow demon), Umbrasyl (the acid dragon in season 2), and various background characters. Once you learn how to spot his voice he's kinda everywhere
He has such a distinctive resonance to his voice that at this point I can just immediately go “That’s Matt Mercer,” when he shows up.
Taliesin's aggressive blinking when he hears the Briarwoods' names is one of my favourite moments XD you can watch his brain melt in real time
Ashley was in New York filming Blind Spot for all of the Vox Machina campaign and the start of Mighty Nein, so she was in and out frequently. Sometimes she was able to fly back to California for an episode and sometimes she could Skype in. A lot of people gave Ashley shit because she didn't really know her character's abilities well or didn't really know what was going on in the story because she was away so often. But the absolute love and joy from the rest of the cast any time Ashley is able to make it just makes my heart so happy every time. These people love each other so much.
Honestly from experience, it's very difficult to be "bad" at DnD. I mean there are problem players, but those usually have an inflated sense of ego making them difficult. If you're a team-player and are ready to have fun getting immersed into a fantasy world, you're set!
It's important to remember the cast of Critical Role are all seasoned voice actors so of course they're... above average, to say the least, in terms of RP. I've met people who get into their character and roleplay, and others who prefer to go for a more descriptive approach, like "my character is hitting the goblin", "my character is asking her where the tavern is", without ever doing a voice or speaking in first person, and it's no less fun!
I hope you two give it a try at some point, I'm sure someone among critters can hook you up with an experienced DM! We're all just nerds playing make-believe, there's truly no pressure aha!
Just FYI, Scanlans Player/Voice Actor, Sam Riegel, recently had to step back from playing and production for a few month. He fought and (for the time being) won his battle with cancer.
We all hope it won't ever return.
Matt is really amazing at being a DM. Did you see how he just casually mentioned the Briarwoods were at the party knowing that Percy/Taliesin would pick up on that and react. You see in the live show Taliesin perked up. Matt often does not force anything in his stories. He gives the players options and the story evolves based off of that. At the end of each campaign they do a Q&A session when the actors ask Matt about those moments what could have happened if they choose differently.
Most of the live clips were at a time when Critical Role was an experiment. All of them were doing it as a side gig on Thursday nights. That is why they are often seen snacking as they had just worked a fullish day job beforehand and drove in LA traffic to get to the studio to film for the night. Often going 3 to 4 hours. Often the people watching the live show would buy them food and snacks.
16:23 This moment takes on a whole different feeling when you know that A. this is the first romance ever in their game between characters, and B. Marisha (Keyleth) is Matt Mercer's wife. You can see how flabbergasted the entire cast is, and Liam is SO proud of himself for doing this.
Not wife yet, but they'd been together for years at that point, so close enough.
They changed it up in the animated version for several reasons. One important one was the fact that he kissed her without consent. I think the rewrite was handled very well
In the early clips, the bald man between Keyleth and Scanlan's player is Orion Acaba. He played a sorcerer dragon-man name Tiberius Stormwind. He was kind of a "that guy" with main character syndrome. Which led him and the others to go their separate ways.
I remember an interview with Talesin, Percy, about how he felt when the briarwood names were dropped.
His blank stare reaction was part acting and part actual "blue screening" from panic.
A good DM does definitely keep notes about all the NPC's they've made that are important or that become important, and their setting and plot in general, and usually things are a little pre-planned by a DM, yes. But the players can definitely find ways to go 'off the rails' accidentally or on purpose and leave a DM having to improvise a bit harder to figure out a new plan for them to get closer to the goal or big bad guy or what have you that they've been trying to get the characters to as a story beat. I was never very good when I tried DMing at improvising super fast when my players decided to come up with a plan Z compared to the plans A-F I'd thought ahead for and thought they might take.
(editing to add, players usually find keeping notes to be pretty important too for any in-depth campaign. it's hard otherwise to remember a lot when you only meet once a week or once a month or what have you. Marisha and Laura tended to be the note-takers in CR)
Sam and Travis are both great Note Takers as well. I suppose, for Travis, that skillset kinda comes with the job since he's the CEO of Critical Role. And Sam, as a Songwriter, is probably used used to taking notes while writing his music (or "notating" his compositions, as we say in the music world). Also, as an Emmy Award Winning Director, I have to assume Sam takes copious noted in his copy of any script he's directing. Heck everyone at that table are excellent Note Takers. But because they know certain members have a proclivity toward Note Taking, the others get lazy. Kinda funny too because Liam and Taliesin, the two who take just enough notes to keep themselves on track are the most well known directors at that table (aside from Sam, of course). In fact, Taliesin is probably more well known for his directing and writing than he is for his Voice Acting despite the fact that he's had many notable roles.
You will also see Matt's face appear attached to various NPCs throughout the series.
And that was just the first campaign... you need to see how they have evolved and are incredible professionals and how the quality of the channel is much better.
Matt Mercer has talked before about his prep for an episode and how he often has to toss all his work aside and improvise because the table went in a direction he hadn't anticipated.
I remember one of the behind the scenes shows (possibly Talks Machina?) where one of the behind the scenes crew would see Matt happily bringing in a map under a sheet that he clearly worked hard on and couldn't wait to show the gang, and then sadly bring it back out with him after the show because the gang didn't go that way. The poor guy.
Talesin most definitely caught on first, you can see it dawn on his face. He at least suspects during "Scanlan"'s descriptions, but it is confirmed once Matt gets to Keyleth, the slow closing of his eyes and then he announces he's walking away. He knew.
Isn’t the moment of realization by the cast of what is going on during the livestream fun?
You’ll notice they took some of the same lines they said in the livestream and used them in the show. It's worth noting that were references to Critical Role dropped into Blindspot which Ashley was filming during this time.
Matt Mercer is a professional actor as well as a professional voice actor. Improvisation and drama are his bread and butter. In fact, Matt Mercer is so good at running a role-playing game that a situation known as the Matt Mercer Effect was named after him. Players new to the game, inspired by watching Critical Role, anticipate an experience just like what they see on the screen watching the CR cast play and they end up disappointed because the DM running their game doesn't do dramatic exposition, or accents for NPCs, or ask "How do you want to do this?" when a killing blow is landed. This effect has caused some to walk away from the game, feeling let down by the fact that their DM wasn't Matt Mercer. So, if you do decide to play, keep in mind, not everyone has the same skillset, or does the things they do the same way Matt does. And if you should feel like you're being let down, also take note that you are no Laura Bailey or Sam Riegel.
Also, Matt is a third-generation D&D player/dungeon master. He learned the game from his mother and grandmother.
If you guys don’t understand check our Jon Bernthals podcast (the punisher) he has an actress named Debrah Ann on the podcast he knows that she’s into D&D and he asks her to explain what it is to him and the way she explains it is amazing the most simple way to explain it is by having him play it so she basically puts him in a scenario and he gets into it..
One thing to be aware of, is that these are extremely talented voice actors and players/DM.
There is a big likelihood that a role-playing session is going to fail if they try to mimic what they do in Critical Role and other channels that broadcast their sessions.
Matt Mercer is SO good at adapting on the fly, improvisation, and detailed descriptions, but imagine a game where the players can go anywhere and do anything. There is just no way to account for everything with notes.
All I am saying is that while sessions can be extremely exciting and very awesome, it is usually more... limited in scope. As a DM, you have to limit choices in many cases.
Also most people are not professional voice actors and many people aren't able to 'live' their characters as they do in CR.
So if you ever try it, don't be discouraged if it is different than CR. It is still so fun to do.
Don't miss Scanlan's recap video before diving into Season 2. You might not need the info, but will love the delivery, another Scanlan bop!
3:08 - *“Ohh, 'cause that's when he realises the Briarwoods are coming.”*
I love this clip, and Percy's shocked reaction in the show is a great equivalent to Taliesin's reaction when he realised that Matt was bringing the Briarwoods from his backstory into the main campaign. It wasn't the first time Matt had an NPC casually mention their name, but this was the moment, where Taliesin caught it.
You can really see his mind racing, trying to figure out what this meant. "But the Briarwoods are from _my_ backstory! And now Matt is bringing them into the _main campaign!_ I expected that, sometime in the future, I might be able to ask Matt to do a small side-adventure, related to my backstory, in between chapters of the main campaign - and now they're going to be _ right here!_ What does this mean?! How do I react?!"
Those sweet summer children hadn't yet learned that when they hand in their backstory documents to Matt, they're handing him the hooks and torture implements that he'll use later to _tear at their souls._
7:50 - *“Wonder how long it took them to realise.”*
You can tell that they're all tense, trying to work out what Matt is telling them, because it has to mean _something._ Matt wouldn't describe these hanged people in such detail, if they were just gruesome "set dressing". Marisha starts writing things down, because she's the champion note-taker of the group, often able to pull out her notebook and reference things that happened _weeks_ ago. And then you can see the moment when she realises what this is, her mouth drops open and she freezes. She starts making "warding off" gestures with her hands, "No no no no no no no."
And there was still that moment of uncertainty: were these people who happened to look similar to Vox Machina and got mistaken for them? Nope! These were innocent people whom the Briarwood murdered, dressed up, and hung here, just to send a message: We know you're coming, and _we know what you look like!_
13:28 - _"A rising staircase that divides into two separate staircases that go around a second level…"_
Here you can see that the architecture and guard trap that the show used for the main group storming Professor Anders' house was actually from Vedmeyer's house, when Scanlan infiltrated it. Note also that the polymorph spell was _already_ part of Scanlan's repertoire before this event, not something he learned from a scroll, on the spot. In general, the solo mission that earned him the name "Scanbo" was much more a display of skill and improvisational talent than sheer luck, as in the show. Sam used a bard's powerful battlefield and crowd control magics to evade or temporarily neutralise larger groups of guards, while moving quickly through the house, to cause maximum confusion, chaos, and damage.
21:02 - *“ ‘Who cares?’ He said, I can take it!”*
Note Travis's shirt here. That's a joking reference to a pair of matching shirts that Liam and Laura wore in earlier episodes of the campaign. Liam wore a shirt saying "I'm Vax. [Arrow pointing to Laura] She's Vex." and Laura wore the reverse message. Then sometime later, Travis rocks up with _this_ shirt that says, "I'm Grog. [Arrow] I'm Grog."
The possibility of player romances came completely out of nowhere for _some_ of the players, and you could tell that they were like, "Wait, we can _do_ that?! That's a thing?!" and they certainly went for it with gusto in their second and third campaign! Laura, unlike her character Vex in the show, was all for the Vax/Keyleth romance, and she had picked up on Liam's earlier, subtle hints, long before he had Vax make an overt move on Keyleth. When Marisha asked something like, "Where did _that_ come from?!" Laura answered, "Honey, that's been going on _for ages!"_
It also shows what a close-knit and loving group they are. In a normal group, it either takes a lot of trust or _balls of titanium_ to let your character romance the character of your DM's _girlfriend/wife!_ But these guys are professional actors; they know what it's like to play a believable romance in front of the camera, and then go home to your real-life husband or wife, without letting the make-believe get mixed up with what's real.
i dont think people realize just how GOOD Matt is at being DM. he is waaaaaay above anyone else as a storyteller.
When Liam-Vax confessed his love to Marisha-Keyleth, I imagine Taliesin-Percy just started surprise choke coughing. XD
The funny part is throughout the live shows... the most famous lines are almost always done by Taliesin. He's really good. And Sam (Scanlan) actually makes up a crap load of songs off the top of his head every time he gives Bardic Inspiration (a bonus). So the entire campaign is Sam making up songs off the top of his head using lyrics/songs of real songs.
The best way I describe Critical Role to my friends who don't play DnD is like you're watching an improvised table read of a fantasy soap opera, and sometimes you roll dice to see if you did good or bad.
Aww, I was hoping there'd be a clip of Ashley's skype call dropping and showing Pike on the show fading out.
You guys have a solid grip on the role-playing aspect of D&D. DM has all the info, and the players decide what to do. The game itself works on a D20 system - which means most of the game relies on a 20-sided die. Whenever anything wants to attack, resist a magical effect, try to find clues, do a backflip, w/e... you roll a 20-sided die. The roll of the die and bonus' from the stats of your character determine if the action was a success. This system is another part of what makes D&D so awesome.
If you play it right, even the more "Gamey" side of it can carry narrative.
Sometimes the players are fully confident, think they have everything planned, but the dice rolls just don't work out. They lose. Maybe they're smashing a fight, no worries in the world, and a 99% likely to succeed roll fails and a player dies. Maybe a fight was bad from the start, and some unbelievable rolls save the day from impossible odds. Those moments can truly shape iconic moments in campaigns.
Oh. And if you want to watch more live D&D, I know Critical Role can be daunting because every episode is 3 or more hours long, there's several other streams or shows out there that are shorter per episode- my favorite of those is Dimension 20, most of their seasons you have to get Dropout TV for, but there's some seasons/campaigns free on TH-cam, and their DMs, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Aabria Iyengar, and their players have recently been doing team-ups with Critical Role, like Brennan DMing "Calamity", which some people conside to ber one of the best D&D live-plays to have been played to date. Other people probably will be happy to list their favorite live-play shows. I hear Dungeons & Daddies is really good but haven't watched or listened to them yet myself.
For campaign 3 they also started to release abridged versions of the épisodes, an hour and a half long
Matt voices Gangplank and Wolf from Kindred in League of Legends. Liam (Vax) voices Yasuo, Travis (Grog) voices Talon and Azir and Laura (Vex) voices Miss Fortune in some Riot games like The Ruined King and some skins in League.
Ashley Johnson who plays Pike isn't in the campaign streams a lot because she was filming.
There is another player at the table that isn't in the animated series because he was a problematic player. He left shortly after episode 26 or 27 of the campaign.
19:38 well, a couple of things:
1) he's Matthew fucking Mercer
2) he's an incredibly talented actor with an improv background
3) he prepares for each session they do with the things/people/monsters/events the party might encounter
4) he's been DMing since he was 13 years old.
For some context at where season 1 leaves off in the live stream, it was around the middle of episode 39 of the livestream where the first season of the show ended. There are 115 episodes in the main campaign with each having an average of about 4 hours.
You might have noticed a small difference on Scanlan's favorite spell, in the actual play the spell was called Bigby's Hand, but that being official D&D content, they turned it into Scanlan's Hand and therefore avoided some copyright issues
yep, same reason they refer to Grog as a half giant instead of a goliath
It's so cool how every time you pick up a franchise you treat the material with so much respect, love, and care. You enter a new world and go beyond just an episode on a show. You both are so amazing! ❤❤❤ Much love to you both.
I hope you both get to play in a game of some sort, and soon. I think you'll love it.
When you get to season 2, you'll get to see amazing moments from all the cast.
Remember Matt had been doing this for decades, and he's a third generation D&D player, as both his grandmother and mother have played. And he'd played previous campaigns with Taliesin and Marisha. Liam had played as a kid, but Sam, Travis and Laura were brand new to it. It was Laura who popped immediately into character in their first session.
Acting ability is a nice plus, but not necessary for playing DnD or other tabletop rpgs.
The CR cast are all actors and have lots of practice at improv so they often come up with responses or lines that seem rehearsed but it's just talent and lots of practice.
Speaking of, it's worth mentioning that Matt has played DnD since his teens and even when CR started he had almost 20 years of experience being a dungeon master. Combine that with being an actor who is good at doing voices and you get impressive results.
At the same time, despite those 20 years of experience I've also seen Matt improve a lot as a DM over the ten years CR has been going on.
As he often says: It's never too late to start playing, and you never stop learning.
It's also worth mentioning that even with 30 years of experience he still looks up rules, spells and abilities, because noone can keep everything in their heads. Never be afraid to ask questions or for clarifications. :)
14:28 Matt is truly a master of his craft. He’s unbelievably talented
16:42 didn’t do a dice roll. He just kissed her. Happened a couple times to Keyleth where someone surprisingly kisses her. My guess on why they didn’t do it on the show was they wanted to move away from kisses that didn’t have consent.
19:16 When Matt says “How do you want to do this” it means they just took out an opponent and he wants them to describe it so they always celebrate.
Great reaction as usual. Some crazier table to screen moments in se2. Can’t wait to see your reaction to it.
I’m so glad you guys are enjoying the show so much that you’re diving into how it all came to be! Quickly becoming fully fledged critters, it’s great!
I can’t wait to watch your reactions to season 2, also to their new series for the 2nd campaign - The Mighty Nein (my fave) which I think is currently in production!
Anyway I’m pretty new to this channel but I basically binged all your reactions and frankly am now obsessed. Keep up the good work guys :)
Marisha, who plays Keyleth, tends to figure a lot of stuff out quickly, like she did with the Sun Tree. Partly she takes a lot of notes, partly she knows Matt's brain really well because they're married, but also she's just super smart. She's actually the creative director for Critical Role and does tons of behind-the-scenes development on all the different shows they put out. She used to get a lot of crap from (mostly male) fans during campaign one, and Keyleth was a lot of people's most-hated character, so it's been really great to see people love Kiki in the animated series, and see her get a bit of a redemption.
I saw the whole Briarwood arc live. LOVM did a great job of bringing it to life. Great reaction/review.
D&D is super fun, and anyone can play it. Gotta remember that these are all trained, working actors so of course they're roleplay is going to be incredible. Also for everyone except Matt, Taliesin and Liam it was their first campaign of D&D too!
Good catch with Taliesin(Percy) and the Sun Tree. I also think he got it first. Tal and Liam(Vax) are the best at being hard to read when exactly they realize something big is happening. Liam especially drops into character at the beginning of a scene and tends not to break. On the flip side, Marisha(Keyleth), Laura(Vex), Ashley(Pike), Travis(Grog), and Sam(Scanlan) tend to more openly show their emotions on their faces unless they're directly part of the scene.
Not that it matters one bit, but I think the order of 'getting it' was:
Taliesin (started suspecting during the 'Tiberius' description, confirmed during the 'Scanlan')
Liam (about the same time as Taliesin - he's got such a poker face that I can't tell exactly when it fully clicks)
Marisha (starts to suspect between 'Vex' and 'Vax' because she was writing them down and saw the pattern)
Sam (after 'Trinket', and Marisha starting to freak)
Laura (after Sam starts to speak)
Travis (about the same time)
They talk about how the Suntree incident and another one really changed the players' understanding of what D&D can truly be.
Your question about Matt's word usage and knowledge... it's amazing!!!!! He's a walking dictionary and encyclopedia!
These are my favourite types of videos to watch!! Thank you for reacting!
Glad you like them! 🥰
one of the popular "play styles" in the game community is "Drive it like you stole it" as in, don't worry about the consequences, the consequences are fun!
Ohh man I love your reaction! You should watch their making of their intro to their show, they actually sing it themselves. I think you’ll love it!
I’m happy you guys are enjoying this journey! ❤
I would love to see you watch a compilation of all the sound effects/voices Matt does throughout the campaigns - truly hilarious and terrifying; he's legendary.
As a Dungeon Master, it's all Improving. You will create notes for important things to remember, but you having every conversation from the character's point of you. But you can have so many characters that you keep notes to remember what each character is like.
I also think that you both would be able to play, players come in all sizes and nobody is perfect, even including Matt Mercer. I think that you would both love it in your own way
The easiest and best way to DM fight scenes like Matt does is to see it playing out in your head like a cartoon, action movie, comic book, etc. It's pretty much just what kids do on the playground playing as superheroes and describing the badass moments that they have in their mind. "And then I run up the wall and jump down on the bad guy and I'm all like 'Ohhh take that!' and I stab him', and for Matt, who lives and breathes this stuff, it's basically second nature to organize it all in his head which is why he's currently one of the highest regarded DM's today.
The key is that you don't have to actually invent a whole lot because the mechanics of the game, the players' personal flavor of their character, and the outcome of the dice rolls all infer what's happening. Matt is just taking in all that information presented to him and regurgitating it out the 'cinematic version' that's playing out in his head as he builds and embodies the world, using the parameters of the game to do the hard work for him. He just adds the cool visual flare. Of course that's just one piece of a very complex job as a DM, but it's the easiest way I've found to describe my fight scenes the way he does.
I love that you went there. Jumping into that campaign with no idea about the mechanics of a tabletop rpg was cool choice but could have have left you pretty bewildered and unimpressed. That is a lot of content to wrap your head around. I am so glad you got it and liked it. I will be watching you watch.
the thing about the suntree is that in the campaign Matt included Trinket (the bear) which made it 8 boddies on the tree. So both Percy AND much of the audience immediately assume that its his family on the tree
Also btw you should check out the compilation of scanlans songs, they are not original like in the show but dnd covers of popular songs Sam just comes up with himself. It's really good
Because everyone else improvises Matt also has to improvise. He has characters created and written. But he cannot predict what the player characters will do so he can’t exactly script the game. Some monologues like ones from villains may be written but the thing about DND is that everything can change in an instant based on the players actions. He plays the world and it’s characters and he has to adapt and he’s brilliant at what he does
No you're right, Percy (Taliesin) got it first with the Suntree. He just let Matt finish his description.
You don't have to be a great actor or excellent role player to enjoy playing D&D. At its heart, it's about hanging out with friends and making up stuff on the spot to make each other laugh, cry, etc. It doesn't have to be epic, just you. One of my favorite reoccurring gags is Laura (voice of Vex) tells a story of the most impressive thing she's ever seen - an ant carrying a huge crumb up a set of stairs. It's a dumb story lasting 2-3 sentences but her friends love hearing her tell it and that's good enough.
You might notice that they drop names in the campaign videos that had to be replaced with titles or other names in the cartoon because of copyright. Even though they're in Matt's homebrew world, he carried a lot of general DnD and Pathfinder lore over into it.
Bigby's Hand -> Scanlan's Hand
Sarenrae -> The Everlight
Pelor -> The Dawnfather
Vecna -> The Whispered One
If you have any interest in playing D&D, definitely try it out! I started playing during quarantine and fell in love immediately. Matthew Mercer is an awesome DM and I love this group so much. Brennan Lee Mulligan, Aabria Iyengar, and Deborah Ann Woll are also amazing DMs to watch play.
Oh, Dungeons & Dragons is so fun. Great escapism. I'm sure you'd enjoy it. It really is collaborative storytelling.
I used to run campaigns as a dungeon master. Some will have full detailed scripts and scenarios, but i generally had some point form notes, character sketches, and improvise the rest.
Yeeesss I've been waiting for this! haha omg i need to rewatch the campaign and the show again now haha but yes Matt Mercer is so good at being a DM (many consider him one of the golden standard dms out there!), watching the campaign was my first experience with dnd and now its like 90% of my life haha
Also if yall ever want to watch Critical Role, they have lots of like cutdown episodes and everything so you can experience the campaigns without you know spending the next year of your life watching 1 of 3 campaigns haha
The DM is (typically) responsible for pre-planning / writing the whole campaign (especially locations & non player characters), but of course due to the nature of roleplay and the other players decisions there's a lot of improvisation too. D&D itself provides the massive rule book, which determines how to play and gives you all the spells, skills, etc. that the DM can use, as well as the general lore of the standard campaign setting (The Forgotten Realms, Critical Role differentiates itself a little bit from it though). (Other campaign settings and even other tabletop RPGs besides D&D do exist though!)
As a player you don't have to be super creative, especially not in the beginning of learning the game, as it is the DM's responsibility to play things out based on how the dices fall and how they compare to the stats & equipment of the characters. The more important part is the roleplay, to immersive and imagine yourself as your character inside of this world, and decide based on what they would do in whatever situation they find themselves in, based purely on their knowledge, but not your own (out of character knowledge). So the most important part here would be to have a good DM and possibly some experienced players who can hold your hands when it comes to the technical aspects of the rule book.
17:52 Laura & Ashley are good friends. :)
I really wish I could already explain what that meant for The Last of Us Part 2 motion capture & voice acting because there's a great making of / behind the scenes type video for that too. T_T
For a little D&D history and general information, the current version of the game is the 5th edition. The first two came out in the '70's, third in the '80's, and the fourth in the '90's. There has generally been a rule book for the Dungeon Master -- the one that runs the game, then one for the players, and another that deals with monsters. The game is played with dice, 4-sided, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-, and 20-sided, some ground rules and lots of imagination. You start as a Level 1 Character, roll some 6-sided dice for your Ability Scores (3-18 each), choose a Race (Human, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Halfling or Hobbit, etc.), a Class (Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, etc.) and create some sort of backstory after consulting with the DM as to what kind of world you'll be adventuring in. Game sessions generally go for many hours each, and there are rarely any regrets for time spent. I hope you both have a chance to try it.
Essentially, the way D&D works (and i'm being VERY general here, but that's a good way to see the whole series through) is that you, as a player, make your character, and then you have to decide whatever you do whenever something happens. If it's obviously possible, there's no need to roll dice. Talking to people, writing something down, having a drink, obviously possible. If it is NOT obviously possible and there's some kind of obstacle in the way (your own skills, someone does not want you to do that), then you have to roll dice. There's MANY specific rules about what KIND of dice you should roll and what other things contribute to your success, but to enjoy the show, none of those details really matter. The point is, if it's a direct action that might not succeed, like attacking someone, lockpicking a door, finding a trap, or staying hidden somewhere, then there was a dice roll, and the result was randomly determined.
That's what makes this show, and d&d in general, so great: it's that most of the amazing things that happen were VERY LIKELY not to happen. All it would've taken was different dice result.
Oh I love these nerdy ass voice actors playing dungeons & dragons. The quality of the stream greatly increases as the episodes go on, probably in the season 2 moments it is already better. I'm very glad you guys watched this after the first season. If you guys enjoyed watching them play I reccomend watching Campaign 2 - Mighty Nein. It was my introduction to critical role and there is a new show coming based on it, AND, you don't have to have watched Campaign 1 to understand anything. Although it would also be cool to get you guys' first reaction to the Mighty Nein in animation and then watching the highlights as well LMAO Great video as always!
Yeah, the DM will have outlines of scenes they have in mind. The more they expect it to happen, the more specific some of the notes will be. If they players do something unexpected, the DM has to improvise more, or change their plan to have some of the planned events still happen. It's all collaborative and when it works well, it's great!
Did they do tbe door? Because that's actually really good example of how the game is played
FYI: That IS Matt doing Sylas’s voice in the animated series.
It took me a long time to get a handle on this game since each version has changed quite a lot over the last 20+ years. The one thing I know for new players and even players who are getting back into the game after a while is you have to have a good table. If you can, have someone to help who knows the rules with your group specifically to just help new players (Marisha did when Matt first GMd their Pathfinder game, and Taliesin already was seasoned, with Liam knowing a little but he hadn't played TTRPGs since high school). A patient, knowledgeable GM/DM is key.
I hope y'all can get into the game someday. It doesn't take someone smart to play a Percy, or musically apt to play a Scanlan. That's part of the magic of roleplay!
D&D is so much fun. It's great to play an interesting character where you can really explore other sides of yourself and just live and act in an interesting world together with friends. I have characters I played 15 years ago that I still get excited about when I remember them
Ya'll should totally play some Dungeons and Dragons! It's one of the most fun experiences you can possibly have. If you know anyone who has ever played, ask them to run a game for you. It's completely improvised collaborative storytelling and it's amazing.
this was INTERESTING! 😯 thank you for sharing how the creative process works 👍☺
Fun reaction!
As a side-note to the discussion on whether or not you would be 'good' at role-playing: every table will be different, If you and your friends around the table are having fun, you're doing it right! Looking at a show like Critical Role with professional voice actors, it's easy to think that that is how you need to do it, because it's entertaining to watch. But a home game doesn't have to be entertaining to watch - it only has to be entertaining to play. And the criteria for it being entertaining to play is way different. If you think you would enjoy making up a story with your friends, and letting some of the outcomes of your actions be left to the dice, to keep it interesting, then you would probably be good at playing role playing games. Like playing amateur sports it can be fun to do, and your can be relatively good at it, even if you're not drawing a crowd (that last thing would probably be the wrong reason to pick up a sport).
Far more important than being able to make a voice, act, or even to come up with creative things in the moment, are soft skills like active listening, being able to take turns in having and receiving the spotlight, and recognizing when a scene giving your friends an opportunity to shine or discover something about their character. If you're watching a show on a streaming service, and you can feel the build up to a character having an awesome moment, those are the intuitions that can be helpful, but those will also come with playing and engaging with the story. You don't even have to play in first person if that feels daunting. Many players describe their actions in third person: "Browind goes up to the door and feel if it's locked" - and it's just as valid of a way to play.
Sorry if it got a bit long... just my two cents on 'being good' at role-playing games.
Matt, the DM, gets the words from reading a lot. Sometimes, this leads to mispronunciations (the funniest was when he mispronounced "sigil" with a hard g, but to be fair, there IS a city in D&D called Sigil, with a hard g.)
You guys would be good at D&D! Many people get by just by doing what they always wanted to do in that situation, and that sometimes works out surpisingly well! If you were in Chicago, I'd offer to DM for you.
The main mechanic of D&D is this -- when you try to do something that could potentially fail, roll a 20-sided die and hope you roll high! 20 means you succeeded with style; 1 means you fell on your face. You don't need to roll to walk across the room or say what you want to say, but major actions often have a die roll involved.
It was very definitely not Marisha's first campaign. She's probably the third most experienced player at the table behind Matt and Taleisin.
I smell an awesome DM here ;)
Nice to see ya here my guy!
@@hungryrabbiddawg Heya hiya!!
Okay but, I cannot wait for you guys to meet the Mighty Nein in the new show!!
In case it hasn't been mentioned, Matt and Marisha are married, as are Laura and Travis. But really they're all friends who like flirting with each other in this wonderful silly game.
They should watch Sam's re-enactment of Laura giving birth. That was hilarious. Also, the campaign/show comparison of The Door.
Just a hint: Don't watch campaign 3 yet, it has spoilers for Legend of Vox Machina.
Y'all would be a little shocked by how easy it is to get into a DnD game with people who 1) are roleplayers and 2) are super down to help new players figure things out with kindness. I mean, I've DMed for a queer-only table for the past seven years, and a bunch of players are new to DnD, and a bunch are experience DnD vets, some who were new and learned how to roleplay from the other players. So I'd say, try it out for a couple of sessions with a number of DMs, because they all DM differently - some prefer the number crunching of combat and dungeon crawling, and are light on roleplay, some are the exact opposite (like me!), and some are Matt Mercer, who do both - and see how you're feeling about playing DnD then.
I enjoyed the campaign from the beginning because I wasn't playing at the time and I missed it. The early videos are rough compared to what they produce now but I didn't know any better. However, the Sun Tree episode was what made me dig in and think "this is some legit story telling". It is one of the more twisted things Matt has ever done, and that is saying something. The next thing that made me pay attention is what is represented in season 2, episode 1. I won't spoil anything, but buckle up!
critical role and deminsion 20 campaigns legit give me life.
You should look for Scanlan Sing Compilation
As a DM, and as several other's have stated, we have frameworks/notes/ideas written down. A few words sometimes just to describe something. The maps we create/draw/borrow help flesh out what we are trying to provide visually as opposed to it being strictly Theater of the Mind. He might be looking at notes, or using it as part of a delay as he thinks while in character. Like something to touch/fiddle with as he thinks. But the vast majority of everything is made up on the spot. We might have a script for a monologue or to describe in vivid detail the scene to describe what the players see (room, landscape, individuals, etc). But other than that, it's all improv. We create a world, and the players are the ones that exist in it and drive the story. We give hints or ideas or problems called "hooks", and usually good players will bite them to follow that path. But HOW they do it is entirely random. The DM's have to just go with the flow of the Players. It's a collaborative game of storytelling, where the dice impact the direction at specific times. You want to hide... roll the Stealth Skill. You want to attack.. roll for Attack. You want to try to talk your way out of a situation... roll for Persuasion. The dice are your fates and determine the outcome of your decisions. The DM is the main storyteller and putting encounters, events, scenarions, stories, etc in the Players' way for them to have fun with. Some DM's play DM vs Players and try to kill them outright. Others love more of the Role Play aspect and Story parts of it. Then there are some that are more intersted in just doing combat.
As a DM I have my notes, but you can only plan so much when the players are complete wild cards. I have notes for talking points from some npcs, I have notes for locations and the rest is improv.
And yes, all hail our mighty Eldritch overlord, Talasin. May No Mercy Percy bless you.
I think y'all are gonna like mighty nein, its based on the campaign after vox machina, they're working on the animated show right now.
There are many different kinds of TTRPGs, not just D&D,
and they all pretty much work as collaborative storytelling.
So if fantasy isn't your thing, find a genre you're interested in & find a game.
D&D is just the oldest & more accessible, but not necessarily the simplest.
It is a good introduction to role-playing games, and watching
a couple of older episodes of CR can teach you how it works.
Matt's always been a proponent of anyone being able to play &
insisting on running the game so everyone has a good time.
Matt doesn’t write anything down aside from maybe certain bits of information about characters the group may run into. I don’t think he even has the time to be writing dialogue pre-session lol. Especially during their first campaign when they were all busy filming/recording things and Critical Role wasn’t as big as it is now. They’re all incredibly talented and great at improvising. However Matt does have to create and memorize the whole entire layout of Exandria lol. As you may have seen he has maps prepared for almost any chance encounter the group may have. He’s on another level of preparation lol. One of the best DM’s I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch.
He defhas pre-written stuff prepared, probably more than he actually has an opportunity to use, due to character choices. You can see him looking down when he has info dumps or monologues. He has also shown his extensive notes on Twitter in the past,, they're a bewildering tangled mess.
best scene was when they could not open the door
25:06 Taliesin (Percy), Sam (Scanlan), and Liam (Vax) ARE amazing actors and players.I think this highlight reel neglected Travis (Grog) who is also just great, so I understand why you didn't think of him, but hey, that's Roy Mustang you're ignoring! Silliness aside, Travis is an MVP, understanding how Grog can help other characters shine in their moments as opposed to stealing spotlight, using Grog's low intelligence as a lever to push the game forward when the rest of the party is stuck in indecision, and also in making a big, dumb, badass a very lovable character without compromising on making him vicious. Honestly, the whole cast is really great. And I'm not even a CR fan, just someone who's watched clips because of other videos.
Ok... I've watched the show, watched your reaction and only now I've noticed Percy's shadow in that scene (12:46)
Ahhhh I love your reactions ❤😅 I am critter for many years now. I'm basicaly obsessed with their shows. You shoud chect out Critical Roles abridged episodes. They make shorter videos of their episodes. Its really awesome for fant that dont have time for 5h long episodes.😂🎉
I really hope you both find an opportunity to play. There is no level of imagination requirement. I liken it to going to a karaoke box for the first time. So many people say "I can't do karaoke because I don't have the voice for it." But when they finally agree to go, they find that not only does no one care, lots of people who do karaoke don't have a great voice. Having fun with your friends is the point, not impressing everyone with your skills. The more you do it, the easier it gets. In the same way, so many people say "I can't play roll play games, I don't have the imagination for it." But when they finally do try, they find that no one cares if you don't do the silly voices, or if you don't try to play a character vastly different from yourself. Everyone's there just to have fun and create and great story together. Find a group of friends you feel safe being a little silly with and just enjoy the ride.
Dee You'd do great! It may seem confusing at first, but once you understand the mechanics and get comfortable with the other players, you'll be able to create epic moments in your storytelling. I'm an introvert and have social anxiety and I thought I would never be able to do something like this, but I actually realized that playing D&D helps a lot. The thing is, I'm insecure but the character I created wasn't, and I needed to work hard for her story to be well told so I got into the character without even realizing it. You think you have no creativity, but believe me, you will be surprised at what you're capable of doing once you get attached to your character and want to tell a good story. 😊
Wow this is such a sweet comment! Hearing your own personal story and how D&D has helped you come out of your comfort zone is amazing 🥹🫶🏼 thank you for sharing this with us! We love hearing about the critter community and so glad to be on this journey together!
Maybe one day we’ll play D&D together 😉💘
@@MeeshDeeReacts I love your channel and I'm so glad you guys are reacting to Vox Machina. I hope you guys get to play D&D someday, you'll see how much fun it is and how different it is from anything you've ever seen.
PS: In addition to the third season, they will release the first season of the animated series from their second campaign. I hope you guys can react to this one too💕