#travis marisha and liam have such a beautiful dynamic

[meadowsofmay]

i honestly love fjord so much. i do, i do very much love him. he is a gentle man, simple in his desire for family and place in the world. he wants to do things for his found family, he wants to protect them, to have power to do so, deeming himself useless the moment he lost his magic abilities — not realizing how him just being himself did so much for protection of those around him.

i think of it as one of the most adorable traits that fjord has — his unconscious need to see people. making sure everyone is seen and heard and their opinions are taken into account. he has always made sure that caleb spoke up even when caleb was deep inside his shell, not really tugging and pulling to force him out but just asking like it's normal, not making a huge deal. the thing is it might haven't been a huge deal for fjord, it might have been just who fjord is. it has been a huge deal for caleb, beaten and on the run and stripped of any dignity and voice. caleb didn't want to speak. fjord couldn't imagine him not to.

fjord always looked out for beau. like a found older brother, he taught her from a perspective she respected. he knew he could make a change in her — she felt seen and understood. fjord might have scolded but he didn't judge. he was on her side always while calling out her bullshit. beau respected that. she wanted to be like him, or at least to learn more from him. she was thrilled at the idea of becoming his first mate because it would give her an opportunity to be closer to him.

and i just want to point out how both caleb and beau both learn to see fjord, taking after him. how caleb had a reality check realizing the implications of fjord giving himself to avantika and that moment changing the whole course of their behavior and relationship both with each other and others. how beau learned to care for others and made sure to give back to fjord in form of honest worry and care for his well-being.

can we just appreciate fjord — who appreciated people for who they are because he was never appreciated for who he is before. because despite all of cruelty that was thrown towards him he saved his gentle heart. he is not weak for being kind, he is not weak for being hopeful. his biggest power has never been his magic but his ability to give people a chance, to wait.

i just love fjord so much and i want you all to love him too.

[glossolali]

TLOVM Ep 5 Watch Party Summary

- If there's dying guard NPCs it's all of us just screaming in a sound booth alone at home

- Sunil is so good as Gilmore he just gets it

- Gilmore's shop is so gorgeous, critters on the design team put in a million easter eggs. Like Sprinkle!

- IF WE EVER GET MIGHTY NEIN CARTOON, WE'RE SETTING UP FOR SPRINKLE (DON'T TEASE ME LAURA i can't)

- Shopping episodes are the best. Travis hates them, Tal loves them.

- They're big fans of both Vaxleth and Vaxilmore (mica: why not both?, me: Vax has two hands!)

- The cart is so epic and classic as the start of an adventure!

- Percy @ everyone: "You're not old enough to drive."

- Every dog is the best dog even these perfect but disturbing tentacled demon doggos

- All dogs go to heaven, the best dogs come from hell (Taliesin <3)

- They love how overpowered Keyleth is and how she always saves the day as long as there's no planning

- Scanlan and the tentacle: "Maybe I don't wanna be saved..."

- Marisha made a dog growling noise first time she recorded Minxie Keyleth growling (LOL)

- #justiceforthehorses

- "Such a good boy!" @ Necro Dog

- It was terrible and shiver inducing to see the family and the kid before they got Sun Tree'd

- They love the wind downs to balance the action, great opportunity to learn about characters and develop their relationships

- Compressing hours and hours of the stream into a very effective and precise scene or just a few lines to sprinkle throughout the season took hundreds of hours and a lot of work

- The lighting is amazing, the world is very complex and layered, lots of love went into this world

- Keyleth always accidentally killed things, it was a running gag

- The foreshadowing in the twins conversation!!!! :(

- Whitestone is sadly beautiful, beautifully sad

- They animated the reveal of the Sun Tree so that it takes a second, like in the game. Actual chills for the sun tree scene (oof me too even the third time around!), including the creaking in the end credits

Q&A

Q: Vex and Percy, what do they see in each other?

Taliesin: She's hot. He thinks Vex is the only other adult in the room. Vex is so kind to him, especially when he's freaking out

Laura: Percy is hot too. And Vex is interested in seeing what he's hiding, and that's incredibly enticing to her.

Q: And Vax and Keyleth?

Liam: It happened over a long time and there was 30 pre-stream games to represent in the development of Vaxleth's relationship and do it in a way that makes sense with the other relationships' development

Q: The twin's sibling dynamic and Vaxleth, why is Vex feeling threatened by Keyleth?

Laura: They've always had each other's back, this is the first time she's seeing the vulnerability of her brother and what could happen. The terror of being left behind is what makes her give Keyleth the cold shoulder, shittiness, pushing away the thing that's putting me at risk and Keyleth's coming between the most important thing in her life. But she loves Keyleth and is kind of forcing herself to dislike her. Would love to be a perfect person, but it's a really honest emotion.

Liam: Vax understands where she's come from but wants her to feel supported and loved, not abandoned. (CRIES)

Q: The incredible chase scene! Let's talk about it.

(Over the cliff draft animatic plays!)

Sung: Chase scenes are challenging, keeping track of speed, momentum, etc. the horses were difficult too and that's why they had to die! Initially dogs were weird creatures but too hard to animate so they did an in-between with the dog and the weird frankenstein creatures

Q: How long did TLOVM take to sink in?

A: It's still a fever dream, hasn't sunk in yet. Feels unreal, but we're very happy with it and proud of it. That's all artists want is to have people enjoy and feel something about their work. We feel very fortunate, and we get to make people forget about their lives for just a little while. (CRIES) The opportunity to open up the story to a brand new audience is so great. We wanted it to be accessible, it was always on our mind. Like 'this doesn't make sense unless you've seen the game' while also rewarding long time fans. Friends, family finally watched what critters have loved for years.

Q: Can we talk about the sun tree again? Comparing the stream and the show

A: Brought back all the feelings of the original stream. It's a bit of a warning for watchers like "you can get off the ride still!"

[captainsspnanon]

C2E60 - A Turtle By Any Other Name - rewatch

It’s odd.  I hated the HP trackers in CR, but I love the HP trackers in D20.  *shrugs*

Did I just watch the episode with the origin of “Hoot Growl” in D20? (or at least the episode where it comes up the most?)  Yes.  Am I jumping back into CR for now?  Also yes.

(I used to watch things that weren’t dnd, you know.  Like, tv shows and shit. *sighs wistfully*  ...then again, I’m very much a creature of habit.  Fell in love with Leverage?  Let’s watch Hustle, and White Collar, and Person of Interest...and not finish any of them.   EVENTUALLY.)

……...is this the episode which starts Fjord’s fear of turtles?  OH YES

Or, I suppose, Fjord’s fear of any creature Polymorphed into a small should be harmless thing that still decides to attack him.  *cough purple worm bunny cough*

Damn, looks like top table’s going to be a bit fuzzy again.  Hopefully it’ll get back to clear soon.  (from later on, it looks better now?  Can’t tell if the switched that cam with the standing Matt cam?  I give up XD)

Fun fact!  By watching C2 before C1, I had NO CLUE that Travis and Ashley are as close as they are, especially since Yasha and Fjord don’t interact too much until later on in the campaign.  So moments like now, when Yasha uses Healing Hands on Fjord, and even moments of Travis getting excited when she rages, I never got the unspoken background like I do now.  Very similar to not having the experience of having the twins first before Caleb and Jester, or Vaxleth before Beau and Caleb. Watching it know with the knowledge of all the relationships beforehand, I won’t say it impacts my watching greatly – because these are all professional actors and the PC relationships are so distinct, but it instead triggers small flashes of tie ins.  Was the Healing Hands a ‘Buddy!’ moment from C1?  Are Fjord and Beau so close because there was a layer of Keyleth and Grog that they didn’t get the chance to explore (I’m still fascinated by the fact that Marisha was considering a level of barbarian for Keyleth)?  It’s a unique undercurrent, because it’s not subtext in the campaign, it’s not anything layered in there from the cast.  It’s a fans-eye-view perspective of the dynamics.

*just heart-eyes Caleb’s description for Flaming Sphere*  I’m currently playing a Circle of Stars druid, and I’m flavoring a lot of my spells to be star-related, and I’m taking SO MUCH influence from how Liam played Caleb.  Throwing in a ton of flavor, but just over the span of a few seconds so that the rest of the table doesn’t feel like they’re sitting through a spiel.  (my Thorn Whip is a thin rope of inky darkness studded with pinpricks of starlight that pierce the target with flares of white.  Still piercing damage, still a cantrip, but flavored for funs.  No material components though, got my star map focus as a long dangling multi-disc earring)

First Making My Way!!!  Though in this case (and for a bit yet), they sing more of the song before they start shortening it up.  Two running jokes in quick succession for episodes!

Caleb killing the goblin and Matt tearing up the NPC sheet while the cast cracks up is the BEST.

lol Laura doughnut craving and then basically everyone jumping in quietly with an order

POLY MORPH POLY MORPH POLY MORPH

Huh, I forgot that the fear effect may be why Fjord is so frighted of it.  I’ll have to see if he makes his save or not.  REGARDLESS, I love that it becomes a running joke even without the fear effect.

Ah the Giant Tortoise vs having to use stats so Giant Snapping Turtle which suddenly is much more violent

Nothing as beautiful a representation of the top table by having Marisha hold the box of doughnuts and Travis and Liam LUNGE to hide the logo at the exact same time.  OH THE CHAOS.

LIGHTING GLOVES!!!! I don’t have much to say because just extended combat which is...yanno, just combat, but there’s still a lot of fun moments happening.

Huh.  Being more familiar with the rules of dnd now, it is interesting to see Matt make some weird calls that really make no sense.  Fjord can’t take the dodge action because he’s up against the wall?  I get that it’s a very funny moment and they’re all cracking jokes, but I can’t really see a mechanical reason that he wouldn’t be allowed to take the dodge, especially because he’s actively not doing anything else.  Doesn’t ruin my enjoyment!  But I’m definitely seeing things that I super didn’t notice the first time around because I didn’t know enough.

IT’S A REGULAR FUCKING TURTLE I love every aspect of this with my whole heart

holy crap I forgot that Matt really doesn’t let them rest!  This’ll be the third initiative of the day.  I know there’s a lot of debate in the dnd community about the 6-8 encounters per day and possible misunderstandings thereof, so I know that this is actually fairly reasonable, but also OOF.  They don’t even get a short rest in between any of these.  Then again, I’m also very low level right now in my game, so I wonder how something like this would play out for me when I’m at the equivalent level.  I’m not used to have lots of spell slots yet, I’m not even sure how many I would HAVE. Sadly, won’t be able to share anytime soon, I don’t expect to be around this level for half a year at least.  (infrequent games, sadly)

I love that Beau’s turn this combat is just to explain her notes to Caleb.  We’re getting into bookish!Beau territory, which I fucking love.  Still a good 21 episodes from where she gets her headband of intellect though.

LOL Now that I know who set the rift making machine, I am completely thrown by the fact that they suspected Dairon.  It makes complete sense!  I’m sure I agreed when I first saw it!  But now it’s just so unthinkable to me.

Alright, time to watch the last hour of this before I watch the two part finale of Fantasy High.  (still not fully vibing with this one personally, but I want to watch all of them in order, and they have a second run for it, plus I think The Seven is also set in the same world?  So watching them all.  Very much looking forwards to the second campaign for Unsleeping City, and I have a feeling I’ll probably end up loving Crown of Candy considering all the shit I hear about it?)

I feel so bad for Soorna, she feels so responsible for not being able to save her people.  :(  Visions have never been easy to interpret!  You did the best you can!

Beau and Caleb are knowledge buddies it makes me so happy you have no idea

YASHA DREAM YASHA DREAM YASHA DREAM

OH MY GOD we have our introduction to Obann in the dream AND IT NEVER CLICKED FOR ME UNTIL NOW by the time we meet Obann I’ve completely forgotten the dream BUT HE’S RIGHT THERE AND FULLY DESCRIBED

I do admit, there’s a part of me that really wishes that more of Yasha’s backstory got discussed.  She’s been designed to be super metal and badass, with the RP that then turns her to softness and gentleness.  Hell, she has the name Orphanmaker!  But we don’t really get to see in campaign too much that actually ends up backing that up.  The Obann arc and her tearing through the Cobalt Soul is pretty much the extent of it, with then the tiny tiny bit of her meeting her tribe in the very last episode (which I don’t even remember if I figured out that they were implying she killed the previous Skyspear with maybe more members of her tribe, or if I read a comment that said that).  I don’t know.  There are several good moments of RP for it, her guilt, some conversations with Caleb (well, one.  I NEEDED MORE OF THIS), her deliberate loss of the fight, I don’t want to lessen those moments, but I do wish we’d gotten more.  First watch through, I only really started to get Yasha once she was back full time (though got a bit more of her during this stay).  With this second pass through, I’ve got her from the start, but I still wish I knew more.  I do know that her comic just got released, but I have mixed feelings about the comics anyway.  I only read Caleb’s, but I saw enough of Jester’s to see just how many things in it contradicted things that were stated multiple times in campaign, so I don’t quite consider them full canon?  ...i think I’ve just gone in circles and not actually said anything this entire paragraph.

Mmmph…. I don’t get why Cad and Jester are awake.  Honestly wish this moment could have just been a Yasha and Nott moment.  I get that Cad has very high passive perception, but still.  I don’t know.  It leads to the great moment of Yasha in the storm trying confront her god, which is fantastic, but I still feel like it was a bit of inserting yourself into someone else’s moment.  Then again, they’re all so close at the table, AND they know that Ashley can get overwhelmed when the spotlight is on her (especially when she’s been away for so long!!).  ….once again, going in circles, not saying anything. Good thing the episode is almost over.

I feel a tiny bit bad for Matt.  Over the course of his campaigns, he has his gods do things in mysterious or interpretive ways, and the players are all like ‘spell it out for me plz I didn’t get it’ and then Matt has to have the gods come out and speak much more clearly than planned.  I think the most he really got to enjoy with his vagueness was with the Wildmother for Caduceus.  Poor Matt trying to Raven Queen for Vax and Liam just being ‘wut? explain plz, i am confuzed’.  I’m sure this is a pain most DMs end up feeling.  I still dread when my DM is going to put down a puzzle for us to solve and we’re probably gonna stare at it for hours not being sure what to do

“where do you find your strength” it makes sense that the Stormlord would still ask that of his followers, but it feels almost like someone asking you a riddle that you’ve already read the solution to online.  Not quite as earned.  I don’t know if Yasha WOULD feel like she gets her strength from her friends at this point.  (again, due to Ashley not being there so still restricted RP moments)

Ashley’s face when Yasha starts getting her feathers back.  I think she’s on the next Talks, and she mentions how she never thought it could happen.  They dissipate again by the end of the episode, but I suspect only a nat20 could have broken the shackles at this point.  Which I agree with, both in the moment and with hindsight.  Yasha needed more time to process, to accept, to struggle, and to heal.  Having the chains break now?  It just doesn’t feel right.

@suicidallyreckless

[uselessgayshit]

Campaign 3 Episode 8 Liveblog

-I predict that Imogen says something very gay about Laudna

-i love that they all know Travis creating Chetney was stupid and they will drag him

-no one jumped on "it's been awhile"??????

-Marisha/Laudna scaring every single one of Travis' characters is beautiful

-"TELL US YOUR STORIES GRANDFATHER"

-laudna and FCG going in on chetney

-"i switched to toys" TRAVIS... you do NOT have to be an elf. you can act like that never happened... yet here we are!

-i live off of 4th wall jokes

-just think that chetney isn't here to stay

-oh my god, they can't remove chetney from chutney

-MARISHA RAY WHAT

-"robbie's just dying inside"

-liam and taelisin cuddling because this is ridiculous

-SAM tell me what the LAUDNA whisper was even if it was just an ad

-FCG just throwing it all out there. a compulsion or is this a deep issue

-sam and his impetus to be scanlon

-every time imogen wants to do anything, she HAS to check with laudna

-ORYM IS MY VERY GOOD FRIEND... dorian that is gay

-travis is a straight up troll. like yeah dorian is on some shit but travis is being a metagame pigeon to the max until he's like never mind pretend nothing ever happened

-HE JUST DROPPED IT. HE JUST DROPPED IT!

-"silas and dorian... brothers... yes, dorian. that's my name... dorian" I'M CACKLING

-ashley johnson coming in with the right hooks

-orym looks like he's about to kill during this entire dorian backstory part

-this cannot be his character... like whether or not its far from the christmas oneshot or not... he straight up cannot keep this character for longe it will not work

-imogen taking over the description for laudna when she gets a LITTLE bit on the aggressive side

-imogen and laudna will really do whatever the other one wants and that isn't good for my mental health

-this sibling dynamic is coming for me and i don't appreciate it... i mean I do cause its a wonderful story but also.... GAY... like gay so hard...like telling dorian to kiss orym

[fragilefears]

Cheers to 5 years of Critical Role!

I want to say something about what this game, this show, these people mean to me - but I don’t really know what, or how, to say it. So I’m tempted not to. But I don’t want to bail on this because I feel some very strong things and I need to get better at expressing that.

It hasn’t even been a year since I began listening to the first episode of Vox Machina, downloading it on my phone while I waited for my very delayed flight to take me to see my family for Easter.

A friend of mine at work was (is)a huge fan and had been playing D&D for about a year before this - I was interested but also very busy and unable to take on any new commitments. But in the new year I joined a weekly D&D game with them and some other friends, a few who watched CR. It was a lot to get used to, but so much fun. I intended to try to watch CR, but sometimes I’m weird about trying to consume new content if it’s unfamiliar... It was a few months later - sitting in the plane, realising that my flight was delayed hours later than scheduled, further prolonging the long 10 months I’d been away from my family, and quietly sobbing with homesickness for my sister - that I thought what the heck, I’ll give it a go. And it was so much fun! It was slow going at first... but within weeks it all but consumed me. (Oh also i eventually got to spent Easter with my family and it was very good)

When I got home, it wasn’t long before every waking hour that I wasn’t required to speak to someone, I was listening to Critical Role podcasts on my headphones (I only really watched the live shows, and watched more of C2 as I caught up - these days I watch the new episodes each week.) It was crazy, and fun, and dramatic, and interesting, and my ADHD hyperfocus had never found something so engaging and utterly expansive to latch onto before. Everything else is so limited - movies run for a few hours and then you’re rewatching the same thing again... books can be re-read (but also you can’t read when you’re grocery shopping or crafting or paying bills....) tv shows are ok but not many are long enough to keep you going before you have to make another decision of What To Watch Next, then I’m left with a space where that world, those characters, are absent.

Not so with Critical Role! The sheer wealth of content is breathtaking and it’s wonderful.

However the volume of content is such a small aspect of my love for this show. There’s also:

THE STORIES

THE CHARACTERS

THE IMPROV

THE BEAUTY

THE COMMITMENT

THE FANTASY

THE DANGER

THE COMEDY

THE EVER-EVOLVING DYNAMICS

THE REAL LIFE FAMILY OF FRIENDS who demonstrate love and acceptance and community and joy and pain and commitment to each other and to empathy... that’s where I became hooked.

I’m not one to have or keep very close friends. And for a long time I thought that was a Horrible Thing about me as a person, but the harder I tried to force myself to Be A Better Friend the more neurotic I became, I let down others, I felt fake and pushed myself to be something I’m not.

At the time I started listening to Vox Machina I was about... 2 years after a mental breakdown, 2 years into understanding and managing my adult adhd diagnosis and monthly therapy to learn how to not hate my entire being. Which had improved over the 2 years, but just months before Easter last year, things were Very Bad and all the work I’d been trying to do to manage my shitty brain felt all for nought, and so I had just begun anti-depressants - which I swear, changed my life.

But I also attribute that life-altering shift to becoming someone who actually wanted to live; who discovered who she was at the age of 31; who stopped hating herself and stopped trying to be everything to everyone... I attribute who I am today to the influence and inspiration of the love and creativity demonstrated by a bunch of nerdy voice actors playing dungeons and dragons.

I now understand that you can say dumb things and not be rejected by the people who love you. I realise that making mistakes actually IS the best way to learn. I discovered that it’s absolutely ok to not do everything, and if you need to become obsessed with a podcast about dungeons and dragons to actually start saying no to things, that’s ok too.

Thanks to these guys - Matt, Marisha, Liam, Sam, Taliesin, Laura, Travis, Ashley, Brian and the whole team - for the first time in my life, in this past year since I began watching Critical Role... I learned that I kinda like who I am and that as long as I stay true to that, and love others in whatever ways I can, that I can actually relax and there’s a lot of fun to be had (and in a shocking turn of events, I no longer believe that I would be better off not existing! So that’s good!)

The stories they have created, the community they have grown, the love and affection they have for each other and the absolutely joy they have for their game and all the crazy risks they’ve taken and meaningful statements they’ve made - Critical Role is... I just don’t think I’ll ever have the right words to express what I’m trying to say. They just speak to my heart and soul - not just the two campaigns, but so much extra content - namely Talks Machina & Between The Sheets & All Work No Play - that have branched out from the original game (to be fair, Critical Role technically spun off from All Work No Play...) seeing and hearing and being inspired by the Actual Human Beings is such a beautiful thing.

So. Anyway. This got out of hand, but it was either this or giving up and not saying anything at all. And i think maybe they’d prefer we shared things we are grateful for, the things that inspire and change us.

There’s still so much I could say, but instead I’ll just say this: my very first memory of Critical Role is @assuredgrave turning to me at work, in fits of laughter, telling me about how a certain gnome bard ran alone into a house full of enemies, transformed into a triceratops up against a household of crossbow-armed guards and a Goliath, gets stuck in a door turns back into a gnome, slides across a table, dimension doors onto the roof, turns invisible, drinks a fire-breathing potion, and spewed fire from off the roof, before using a giant magic hand to swat the bad guy away, then falling into it to carry himself away from the burning house. What utter chaos and hilarity and adventure to be discovered.

Thank you Critical Role.

[truthbeetoldmedia]

The Critical Role of 'Critical Role'

It’s any given Thursday night, roughly 9:50 pm Eastern Standard Time, and my house is filled with the scent of oven-fried chicken and the driving thrum of Celtic percussion and string instruments. The PS4 Twitch app is open, streaming an impressive flow of themed fan art over-scored by the aforementioned tune. My loved ones are gathered; we hunker down with our meals, eagerly anticipating the clock’s turn to 10 pm. It’s time for Critical Role.

Critical Role is a weekly Dungeons & Dragons campaign livestream, currently available on both its own Twitch channel Critical Role, as well as the Geek & Sundry Twitch. The series features live gameplay of a home-brewed world, created and made manifest by the talents of popular voice over artist Matthew Mercer, acting Dungeon Master, and featuring live unscripted performances by his equally-gifted friends. The core players are Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham; special guests also occasionally join in, such as Khary Payton, Mark Hulmes, Sumalee Montano, and Ashly Burch, who've all appeared briefly in this campaign.

If some of these names are familiar to you, that’s because the talent involved in Critical Role are renowned, tested, and aggressively committed actors/members of the production, animation, television, film, and gaming industries. Their varied skills, gravitas, and dedication combine with Matt’s ceaselessly creative mind and quick thinking into an amalgam so dense and compelling that it’s hard, as a viewer, to escape the show’s pull. Not that I’d want to; I’ve long since passed the event horizon and I’m in it until the end.

Currently, Critical Role is on its second iteration. Campaign 1 ran for several years as a private home-game amongst friends, then was translated into a format fit for livestreaming. It followed the heroic band of adventurers known as Vox Machina,  made up of characters birthed from noble archetypes; imperfect yet admirable individuals with the heart and skill to face world-rending, inconceivably fearsome enemies; a story intricately laced with nuance and lore, but grander and more sublime for it.

Campaign 2 is quite different in flavor, though still seated in the same world as its ancestral adventure, some 10 years after the fact. The team is now The Mighty Nein, a name blithely transplanted from an in-joke made by the Twitch chat and the cast themselves. The new characters are deeply flawed, broken, and self-centered individuals brought together by aligned goals and a specific brand of apathy only possible in jaded, wounded souls who just want to do at least a few decent things in their blighted lives. Despite this somewhat bleak tapestry, Matt and the Players have managed to weave in glittering threads of love, charity, hope, and devotion. It's tragic and beautiful; both rough and soft to the touch, depending on which swatch you feel.

Given that Campaign 1 is so voluminous in its scope, breadth, and tenure, it is understandably overwhelming as a starting point for the uninitiated. For this reason, I recommend diving in at the beginning of Campaign 2, launched on January 10, 2018 and available for free on Geek & Sundry’s YouTube.

I’m aware that modern media is crawling with genre stories: you can’t walk three feet without banging your toe on some phylactery or superpowered humanoid. And while Critical Role takes place in an indisputably fantastical setting, where the characters level up and come into powers which they often don’t initially comprehend, this is not a “coming of age” tale. There are no “Hero’s Journey” tropes. The growing pains explored are generally relegated to the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. The Mighty Nein learn and develop in tandem, outside the constraints and moors in which storytelling often entrenches itself. That’s the beauty of Dungeons & Dragons. Regardless of what the Dungeon Master has planned for each session, if they’ve given the Player Characters enough freedom, the emergent narrative is wholly original.

Being a Dungeon Master is famously likened to wrangling cats, though I find it more like wrangling cats who’ve learned to use laser pointers and Roombas on their own. One of the areas where Critical Role shines is that Matt is always over-prepared for whatever path the characters may choose, not to mention remarkably quick on his feet in adapting this sandbox he's established in response to how the Players decide to play, and the Players do him the courtesy of self-regulating their out of character moments and the silliness which often accompanies the excitement of roleplaying with your friends. Each session accumulates calculable progress.

But now that I’ve described the scaffolding on which Critical Role is built, I’d like to talk about the more abstract reasons I feel the series is so important, and why it’s absolutely worth your time.

One obvious benefit is that the series is live. Live broadcast media, in recent memory relegated mostly to sketch shows, soap operas, and the exhausting 24-hour news cycle, has been reinvigorated by the podcast, vlogging, and gaming communities. It’s a special joy to be present when something momentous occurs — a precious time-locked thing you share with a community made up of those who love what you love. An intangible communion of experience: in this instance, one where you cannot rely on your knowledge of narrative structure, because not only are we learning new things about these characters with the passage of time, but the actors who portray them are learning as well; all of which is packaged in breathtaking improvised acting.

The Players who make up The Mighty Nein are unafraid to make bold choices, to do things which until that precise second they didn’t know their characters would do. They don’t pander to the audience in order to provide the story beats which will make us comfy and complacent; these actors are so dedicated to maintaining organic character growth that, on occasion, some of their actions will frustrate, annoy, or anger the audience. However, the beauty in this is that none of the Players’ calls are pre-fabricated to elicit a specific reaction from the audience. You’ll love some stuff and hate some stuff, but there’s no onus, no learned helplessness, no pretense or smugness or hubris: those very things which can drive us up the wall when dealing with a lot of media these days.

Like most fandoms, there are some bad apples here and there, but Matt and the Critical Role team are dedicated to creating and maintaining an inclusive, intersectional environment where we can all thrive. The Critical Role cast and staff do everything possible to step in on behalf of their core players, special guests, and fans alike, in order to defend against, mediate, and mitigate the sporadic flares of anger, cruelty, and general suckiness which pervade so many other fandoms. They are humble and grateful and express it often, with deep sincerity.

Fan artists and other creators are welcomed, embraced, appreciated, and encouraged. Cosplayers are readily provided reference images and showcased on the official series Twitter. The Critical Role production group is even working on programs meant to provide new players and novice DMs with guidance for the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game system, as well as help navigating the more complicated aspects of RPG group dynamics. Every Critter is celebrated and bolstered in an open-source, accessible, super-fun community.

This show has brought pure, distilled hope and joy to so many, while also maintaining its initial purpose: a group of close friends who nerd out roleplaying and having a blast. The only thing that’s ever changed is that now we get to be part of it, too.

Critical Role airs Thursdays at 7 pm Pacific Standard Time on either the Critical Role or Geek & Sundry Twitch channels.