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dmsden · 4 years

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Killing Your Darlings - How to let go of emotional attachment to your NPCs

Hullo, Gentle Readers. I had the pleasure of running my GM Q&A panel at AnthroNewEngland recently, and one person had a great question for me. “How do you make yourself stop being in love with your villains and let the players kill them?”

A fantastic question, and one I had just recently had to deal with. During the scene where the Tarrasque was released, the party managed to get very fortunate and take out a character I had intended to be one of, if not THE major villain of the campaign. Yes, the Tarrasque is likely the big fight, but I expected to have this fellow bedevil them a bit more before the end. Now, he was bleeding out on the floor. I gave him a good final line - “Let my death be the first!” - and then had him breathe his last.

Now, could I bring him back? Sure. He has allies, and the party actually fled the scene before the fighting was over, so it’s more than plausible that I could bring him back. But I also had to accept that this might be it. I had put a lot of work into this NPC - he had a distinctive look, a tragic backstory, and he was intelligent and calculating. So how did I let him go?

I know it’s not a helpful answer, but I just did.

As much as we love our NPCs, our plots, our setting, and more, none of it is more important than the PCs and, by extension, the story you’re telling. I remember being very impressed when Matt Mercer graphically described the destruction wrought in Emon by the Chroma Conclave. It was clear that Matt had put lots of work into developing Emon, and I knew it had to hurt to damage it like that. I recently did the same thing with the city of Gwyllan’s Watch, a city I very much like in my campaign. I knew I wanted to illustrate the destructive power of the Tarrasque, so I destroyed Gwyllan’s Watch with it - a city I had illustrated as being ancient, full of powerful eladrin, and storied in history. Did it hurt? Absolutely. Would I do it again? You bet.

One of my big axioms in running RPGs is that Story trumps Rules, and Fun trumps Story. In the name of this axiom, I believe just about anything can be sacrificed in the name of telling a good story or running a fun game. Maybe my adoption of this idea makes it easier these days for me to kill my darlings. I just know that, ultimately, the point of playing the game is for everyone to have fun. While I might be briefly saddened to lose a villain I liked, I know that, if the villain constantly outwitted and outpowered the PCs, that wouldn’t be a fun game for my players.

If you find yourself falling in love with something that you think the PCs might come into conflict with down the road, you can start to prepare for the inevitable end. Will there be monologuing? A great final line? Will they pull out a power the PCs have never seen before and throw them into chaos for a bit? While you always need to be ready for the possibility that your PCs will take out the villains and monsters you love, you can give them a great send-off. Sometimes knowing that the villain will have a great last hurrah might be enough to satisfy you if the villain comes to an unfortunate end.

Sometimes the end comes suddenly, and you might not have a chance to be ready for what happens. In a case like this, consider possible alternatives. Does the villain have a back-up plan like a contingency spell, a simulacrum, a clone, a doppleganger, or a catspaw with an alter self spell to explain why they’re not dead? Is this just an illusion? A trick? Does the villain have allies that could have them raised from the dead? Do the PCs have enemies who might bring the villain back in some way for some kind of crazy revenge plot? Could the villain come back in a changed way, such as having become a devil or undead? This is a fantasy game, so use your imagination.

My only warning is just don’t thwart your PCs desires too often like this. It can feel like you’re deliberately rubbing a villain in their face if you keep bringing them back from seemingly final death.

I hope this helps anyone struggling with this issue. Have you ever had someone you loved too much to let die? Tell us a story about it.

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eponymous-rose · 5 years

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E71 (SDCC Edition!)

Tonight’s guests? EVERYONE. This is a recording of the SDCC panel from this past weekend!

There’s a table read of the first three pages of Vox Machina: Origins Volume 2, to be released August 14!

Ashley gets asked about the fate of an NPC from the first campaign. Ashley: “Uh. They all died.” Matt: “That’s your fault now.”

Lessons learned through the journey of CR? Liam: “It’s all about the people you travel with.” Matt: “If you can stick to making friendship a priority in your life, good things will come.” Their friendship has been the most important thing to maintain and check in with. Sam highlights how amazing it’s been to watch the community grow year after year.

Favorite RP moment that didn’t involve their own characters? Sam: “Well, that takes me out.” Travis: “I was such a fan of Vex popping out of the water in the bathtub.” Sam: “Anything Matt Mercer does is a pretty fantastic roleplaying moment.” Liam: “I think a certain pirate woman reaching the end of her line.” Laura: “I think Scanlan’s whole... (gestures) as much as I hated it personally.” Marisha: “There were some Percy-Vax standoffs that were pretty great.” Matt: “Percival and Grog having the fight underneath the Keep shortly after the Chroma fall.” Liam: “I really liked Percy and Vex in Syngorn.” Taliesin to Marisha: “I liked you at the Pirate King, busting out all that Cobalt Soul stuff. I wasn’t prepared.” Marisha: “Neither was I!”

Matt talks about how adapting the show to the animated series involves some creative truncation, but also involves holding his ground about what’s too important to change even if it doesn’t tie a perfect narrative bow. “This isn’t mainstream media, this is Critical Role! Some things should be messy. Some things are their own threads.” He’s enjoyed watching new people come up with new takes, and he’s excited to cast some of the NPCs.

The idea is floated of a full-day Sam Riegel DnD Beyond telethon. Sam: “Marisha, can we--” Marisha, glaring: “Uh-huh.”

What has Marisha taken away from Keyleth’s and Beau’s different experiences with leadership, in her leadership role IRL in the company? "I feel like Beau helps me be more assertive in my opinions.” Travis: “We don’t argue with Marisha very much, because she punches people in the face more now.”

Liam’s spell choices are a balancing act between trying to accomplish his own goals and trying to optimize the group’s performance. He’s taken Seeming for the party, but the opportunity to use it hasn’t arisen yet.

Taliesin gets asked “Is there X number of character deaths that would keep you from playing in this campaign?” Taliesin: “There’s really only one way to find out.” Matt: “Is it double digits?” Taliesin: “I at least have two more undeveloped ideas that hopefully will be used in the next campaign.” Liam: “Let’s get to that fourth character!” Taliesin: “I hate you all.”

Missed opportunities and plot threads? Matt can’t go much into it, because for both campaigns 1 and 2, there’s a chance they’ll wind up going back there. There’s a facet of campaign one’s story they got to continue with a one-shot that will be airing soon. He’d hoped there would be more delving into Thordak’s history, and there is another Horn of Orcus out there. Also the Clasp’s relationship with Emon. Ashley is still haunted by “that gosh-dang box”. Matt: “I answered that already.” Ashley: “I DON’T BELIEVE YOU. I DON’T BELIEVE YOUR ANSWER.”

Was Nott seriously considering leaving with her family? Sam, as Laura slowly reaches for his throat: “Yes, absolutely.” He’d been going back and forth with that for a while now. “Nott loves traveling with this gang, but she really wants to be home.” He called Matt about it to warn him that Nott might not be in the campaign anymore. “But I think what happened on Thursday was right for the moment, and we’ll see how it plays out.”

Matt gets asked about how to avoid min-maxing as an experienced DM when he gets the chance to play in someone else’s game. Matt notes that there’s nothing wrong with min-maxing if everyone’s on board with it, but that, the more that you play, the more you might enjoy trying something off-the-wall. There’s also the importance of respect when playing at the tables of less-experienced DMs, where you remind yourself that it is their table. Taliesin: “Part of the fun of the meta-game of D&D is that it’s changing all the time.” He points out that the Magnificent Mansion used to be considered a dump spell until Sam really showed what it could do. Taliesin highlights the challenge of experimenting in these less explored areas.

Sam gave Nott a kid in her backstory because he loves his own kids so much and wanted some of that feeling in the game.

Matt’s favorite Sorrowsworn? The Lonely, which is why he wanted to use them in the game the first chance he got.

Taliesin and Matt are asked if they might release Molly’s whole backstory at the end of the campaign. Matt: “When this campaign’s over, we’ll definitely do that.”

Caduceus is hoping some of his family’s at the Kiln, and potentially some of the other families. “He’s built of expectations. We’ll see how it plays out if those expectations aren’t met.”

“I feel that Yasha is obviously in the best hands with Matt. I, personally, I love the storyline. It’s so much to play with, and it goes with a lot of the backstory that I wrote, and a lot of what Matt prepared, and stuff that I don’t even know, and stuff I do know. I love it! I feel really good about it, but I can’t wait to come home and see what’s going to happen if Yasha comes back.” Matt: “Depending on when you come back, there’s a good chance you’ll have to make a new character.” (The general tone here is that it would be an in-the-meantime thing.)

Matt gets asked how he makes sure everyone in the party gets their time in the spotlight. “It doesn’t always work out, but trying to consider what aspects of the story can play to their individual strengths. You can offer opportunities for each of them to shine, hopefully.” He also highlights that a lot of it is the players respecting each other at the table and being comfortable with the expectation of equal time to shine. “Communication is the key to a good, healthy game group.” Laura also highlights that you as a player can engage other players’ characters if you notice they’re fading into the background a bit.

There’s a brief foray into Evanescence. As you do.

What advice would Matt give himself if he could go back to the first campaign? “Don’t stress so much about what people on the internet think about you. Guard this wonderful little lightning-in-a-bottle family and you’ll be fine.”

If Beau were a druid, what would her go-to wildshape be? Marisha: “I shouldn’t curse. A DAMN OWL. Take that, Thaddeus.”

Marisha: “I feel like the Mighty Nein has turned into fighting for the everyman.” Laura: “I feel like Vox Machina, though, we felt we knew who the good guys were. As the Mighty Nein, I feel like everything’s so gray, and it’s harder to make that choice, and therefore what steps up is everything around us and needing to protect the people who are victims of the bigger picture.”

Matt gets asked how to manage his DM-life balance in terms of parceling out prep time. “It can vary. Whenever I’m driving somewhere, if I have more than 20 minutes of a drive, that’s usually my brainstorming period.” He also tries to keep weekends free with no prep and instead reserves a couple evenings a week to prep, although it sometimes bleeds through to early Thursday morning. “I prepare more than I used to,” largely because of the Internet’s watchful eye in terms of continuity.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

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c-is-for-circinate · 5 years

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If I could ask Matt Mercer one question, be it on Talks or at a panel or in person or what-have-you, I’d ask him to talk about how he balances the love he has for his friends, his pride and joy in their successes, and the honesty with which he actively attempts to destroy them at so many turns.

It’s a hard thing to do, as a DM! It’s fun to frustrate your friends, and it can be really rewarding to make them cry over fictional characters, but facing a table full of anxiety, the nausea and the fear and the very real threat that with a few rolls of dice, something Matt created might very well take away something his friends care about deeply--that’s hard. It is rough going, to be in that position.

And the thing is, the players on Critical Role like it rough (yes, yes, I know, hush). They like the game to make them feel things. They like it when their characters argue and strive and hurt, and the fact that Matt is willing to create a world and run a game that puts them through all of those paces is part of why they have so much fun. They loved and hated and loved every resurrection ritual, all the pain and growth and drama of Molly’s death, the horrorterror of the Chroma Conclave, the boundless uncertainty of Xhorhas, the adrenaline and anxiety and fear. They’re actors and they love this because it stretches them all over. (Never mind how we as an audience feel--we as an audience contain multitudes and there will never be a consensus, too much death or not enough, what melodrama we want to see, what stress we’d rather avoid. There’s no pleasing us-en-masse, though he could theoretically disappoint the whole lot of us. But first and foremost Matt is doing this for his family/friends, who love and live these characters more even than we do.)

But in my experience no matter what your players signed on for there’s always that space for anxiety, that worry of am I going too far? It doesn’t seem to hold Matt back, and I think part of it must be experience, not just with DM’ing but with DM’ing for these specific people and knowing their limits. (I forgave Matt whatever grudge I bore him over Molly watching the Talks for episode 26. Taliesin talked about characters of years past that Matt had killed and I figured out what Matt had already known, that this hurt and would keep hurting but it wasn’t too far to push, it wasn’t too much or too awful, it was an agreed-upon risk with full consent and everybody was going to be okay.) Part of it is just knowing his players very, very well, enough to realize that he can kill a PC but not a weasel and the game is still fun, enough to know where to draw some lines.

I would love to hear Matt talk about it himself, but I suspect there’s another specific thing he does to stave off that anxiety, and it’s to dive into the realism of his setting and characters as hard as he possibly can. Matt commits. It’s part of what makes him a great DM. You can sometimes see it even more clearly in the one-shots when Matt’s playing just a single character. He’s all in on whatever person or premise he’s playing from the word ‘go’.

There’s a sort of safety in that: you’re not being too hard or too easy on your players if you just create an interesting world and populate it with interesting people and then stay as deeply true to them as humanly possible, right? I don’t think Matt would ever use, “I didn’t do that to you, this character did that to you” as an excuse if one of his players were actually hurt, but I do wonder if he uses it to reassure himself, sometimes. Nobody’s going to get really mad at me for this choice if I just stay completely true to the character making it. It’s the sort of thing I’d do, the sort of refuge I’d try to take. I’d love to hear Matt talk about where it falls for him.

I always end up thinking back on this when things happen in the show like last night’s episode, which could have gone a thousand different worse ways. Matt could’ve killed half the party, and he would have, and I can only imagine he’s grateful and relieved that he didn’t. My guess based on everything I know of him and how this crew plays this game is that he’s grateful and relived that he didn’t have to. And of course he wouldn’t have had to, this is a fictional made-up world that he makes the rules for, but that’s so much responsibility to carry. It doesn’t work unless you’ve got an ironclad ego and you’re sure you’re always right, OR you make a certain number of rules for yourself, to guide your judgment in moments when your friends are on the edge of tears and you’re the one putting them there.

I have a lot of respect for Matt Mercer and his ability to walk that line of torturing his friends to exactly the right degree that they’re still happy they signed up for this.

#critical role #cr spoilers #vaguely #DMing #driveby meta attack

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cattraxneedsfood · 4 years

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1, 22, 24, and 27 for the critter asks!!

Ooooooo yes!!

1. okay okay okay so i can’t remember exactly why i got into cr, just that i’d seen posts about it and it seemed interesting and have always been super into fantasy and had been interested in playing dnd, BUT THEN i found out that matt mercer was the dm and i become VERY interested in watching! see the year before i had gone to an anime convention in the city i was going to university in and who did they happen to invite that year, none other than our very own matt. at the time i had no idea who he was but my friend knew him from anime voice acting and we decided to go to his panel. it was an 18 and over panel and it was so fun and he talked about gaming and he was so passionate so when i found out he was the dm for critical role i absolutely had to try it! ALSO cool thing i figured out, the weekend of that panel was the same week as the first cr stream! it was destined to happen

22. Oh this is easy, Jester, hands down. I freaking love Jester so god damn much it’s not even funny. One because Laura Bailey is a goddess and two because she is the cutest most adorable character ever and I love how she can both be a bubble happy-go-lucky character and at the same time have so much depth and sadness within, just, god i love jester

24. Essek. I love that stupid evil drow! He will be the death of me.

27. Ooooh so i’m pretty bad at paying attention to combat because it I get distracted pretty easily and it’s the hardest part for me to focus on so I don’t have a huge depth of knowledge for this, BUT i’ve been rewatching vm and I recently watched the ep where they deal with grog’s old herd in westrun and when he pops out of the necklace to get the HDYWTDT, I just, chef’s kiss because that shit was amazing

#asks #ask game #storybook-souls #critter asks

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loquaciousquark · 6 years

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E26 (July 17, 2018)

Tonight’s guests: Matt Mercer, Ashly Burch, and Taliesin Jaffe. Heck, I’m nervous for all three of them.

Announcements: Critical Role will be at the San Diego Comic Con on 7/21 in 6BCF at 6:30pm. The panel will be aired next Tuesday during the TM time slot. They’ll also be at NYCC in October!

CR Stats! Episode 26 had 14 natural 20s, the most of the new campaign. This was in no small part due to Ashly borrowing Tal’s dice because she doesn’t own her own dice bag. There’s so much dice karma happening in that sentence I don’t even know how to handle it. It ties with episodes 55, 61, and 100. Keg has the most natural 20s of any single-episode guesting with 4. Molly got the M9′s 100th kill. He leads the party with 21 kills in all. “Hot murder streak.”

We’ve seen seven of Molly’s cards so far: the silver dragon, anvil, serpent, eye, moon, shadow, and the chariot. Tal says the serpent may be the same as the dragon, but he’ll check.

This was Ashly’s first time guesting on the show proper--previously she’d only been on oneshots. Biggest difference? “There were less people dying on the oneshots!”

Matt and Brian both take a moment to applaud Ashly’s characterization and sticking to the true roleplaying of her character over any min-maxing of the dice she might have done otherwise. Tal says the math would have come out either way as it was. It’s the first time she’s ever done something like that in a D&D game.

Matt always prefers roleplaying over what’s strategically optimal, especially since the moments where you falter and fail often lead to the true “hero” arc for your character. “It was very wild and unique to watch the cocksure exterior crumble.”

Everyone’s been kind to Ashly directly since The Incident. It’s only whispers she’d heard indirectly.

Tal already hadn’t slept the night before; he didn’t that night either, just curled up and thought until dawn. He realized in panic that he’d never come up with a backup character as Matt had asked months ago; he has rolled a new one since then, but he spent most of the weekend coping with making a new character in three days after spending six months on Molly. Bless.

Brian woke Ashley up during the live show when he heard Taliesin say “my Blood Maledict’s going to kill me” so that they could watch the rest together. He realized that Matt was hesitating a lot more than usual as things went on, that Matt seemed to be hinting more and more strongly that the impending encounter was about to go very badly for the M9.

Matt designed the Iron Shepherds to be a very dangerous, powerful group when they are all together (as they were that night). He’d planned for several options: the M9 following and never catching up, waiting to gather intel until Shady Creek, catching up but only observing from a distance, and for the actual battle itself. He tried to give them clues about how dangerous they would actually be: that there were more than five enemies, that Ashly’s character knew how dangerous they were, that they were prepared and tough-looking. However, he never wants to be too heavy-handed in guiding the players’ hands. His intent with the battle was to show some surprises and that the M9 didn’t know what they were dealing with, and had hoped that the M9 would take the hint and back out sooner than they did.

Brian could tell that Matt was very visibly affected as the fight went on, which Matt points out was in part due to how late it was. He allowed the battle to occur because he didn’t plan for it to be a long one (the Iron Shepherds were going to speed away...until the M9 dropped the tree across the road). Then he had no idea what was going to happen during the battle. He adds that DMs sometimes end up with encounters harder than they’d plan, and it was nervewracking because as much as he cares for these characters, he also has a responsibility to be true to the strength of the enemies and the realities of the dice. There were a lot of ways the fight could have still gone, but didn’t (parlay, discussion, more ambushing, better dice rolls).

If Keg hadn’t stepped up and used her relationship specifically with Lorenzo to halt the battle, it would have gotten way, way worse for the M9, including the kidnapping of more of the M9 to be sold.

Lorenzo has a specific vanity and enjoyment of power over other people, and Keg’s intervention played straight into that. It’s the only reason that encounter didn’t go more poorly.

Some of the Iron Shepherds’ background information was known by Keg; some was deliberate misleading on the part of the Shepherds to keep Keg in the dark.

Keg wasn’t happy about Caleb’s charming, but Keg knew there was no way she could take on the Shepherds on her own. She has a facade of being cocksure and proud but is truly a coward, and knew that taking them on alone would kill her. The charming was a “necessary evil.”

Taliesin knew the risks of the Maledict but planned to give Lorenzo disadvantage, hopefully dodge the next two attacks, and escape as soon as Lorenzo engaged with Beau. Then the dice came up with the rest of his HP and that was that.

Matt did in fact roll the Golden Snitch for the bad guys this game. Brian: “Let’s not give him the most powerful die in the game next time.” Tal: “Oh, it’s going to go mysteriously missing any day now.”

Lorenzo was not visibly afraid at any point during this fight. Matt declines to elaborate further.

GIF of the Week! u/rndmanswrs4rndmqstns from Reddit, for a gif of the battle map from last episode superimposed with a tragic news ticker footage of the slaughter.

Molly’s final words were an easy choice. “He’s not complicated in that direction, and his feelings on violence and death are easy.” Tal says it didn’t fully hit him until hours later. Still, Molly never really felt ownership of his own self; it all still felt borrowed. He knew death would come eventually and probably earlier rather than later. “As ways to go existed, I think that was a very Molly way to go.”

Matt thinks these reminders of mortality are important...depending on the type of story you’re trying to tell. Their game needs the stakes of having the risk of death, although that’s not what would be fun for every game and should not always be on the table. However, they know each other so well that he feels it’s an important reminder that there are consequences for their actions and that it suits the world they live in. Tal points out that the same thing is true for so many types of fiction: “they’re only fine because they’re not real.” Sometimes these stories happen in a vacuum and the hero is immortal...and sometimes, as in their game, they’re not. Matt thinks it’s important to be able to grieve and feel catharsis for even a fictional character (and cites a particular death from C1 as an example for himself). Matt: “In a weird, macabre way, I’m excited to see where the story goes from here.” Brian: “Me, too.” Tal: “Me, too. I mean, at first I was panicking, but now I have a pretty good idea.”

Ashly initially panicked when Matt revealed the Iron Shepherds’ abilities (since she thought she’d misremembered what Matt had said), but then felt even more justified in her RP. Everything felt worse because so many people were gone, including Laura and Travis. “I felt like the babysitter who dropped the baby.” She felt the whole time during the fight that they shouldn’t be engaging the way they were.

Molly’s final thoughts were “easy and simple and base...the immense, reasonable, and wonderfully sustaining emotion of ‘well, fuck you, too,’ which is the righteous and more reasonable cousin to ‘fuck you.’“ No fear, no panic.

The Iron Shepherds existed as part of the worldbuilding in the northern region and were intended to be a later issue, but Matt wove them into the story soon since Laura & Travis had to leave. He wasn’t intending for them to become such an immediate, intense antagonistic force, but DMs have to adapt to the situations and this one felt natural.

Cut to Dani Cam, who had a very hard Thursday night ( :( ). She asks Ashly how Keg, someone very self-preservational, decided to sacrifice herself for the M9. Ashly remembered that in their discussions, Matt characterized Lorenzo as someone who liked to make examples of people, and thought that if she prostrated herself in front of him, he might maim her but not kill her, which turned out to be accurate--so it was still fairly self-preservational on her part. They’ll find out more next week. Ashly will be with us the next two sessions and will be joining the crew at GenCon! Heck yes!!

As much as Tal likes Matt’s Lingering Soul class, he would never consider it as an option for Mollymauk. “There’s no version of Molly coming back as a ghost that doesn’t end with him desperately wanting it to be over.” Matt designed it more narratively to be a person whose sheer force of will keeps them from accepting the moment of death due to unfinished business or the pure determination to live...which they both feel is the exact opposite of Molly.

Matt liked how Taliesin showed that all personalities can play the Blood Hunter, not just the edgy grimdark type.

Fanart of the Week! @jesttothenines, with this pain. Ow.

If Molly hadn’t run to Lorenzo, Beau would have likely been his example instead. Molly was an easier target, though, because he was closer and more hurt. If Beau had been unconscious instead (and not dead) when Keg made her plea, Lorenzo might have asked what she was willing to trade to get Beau back.

This is the second of Tal’s characters Matt’s killed. The first one was a mad monk who liked to set things on fire who was eaten by ghouls.

Dani: “Why can’t this campaign be happy? And fairies?!” Matt: “We had the fairies last campaign in the Feywild! They murdered the pixies! They sided with the werewolves!”

After last campaign, Tal and Dani hugged while Dani cried pretty hard. Then Tal went home and cried himself. He left the table during the episode because he was on the verge of having a panic attack and couldn’t handle watching everyone else panic as well.

Ashly thought she was going to have a limb lopped off at minimum when Lorenzo had her kneel. She didn’t expect to be let go unscathed.

Molly would have considered his death “worth it” if he knew it meant Beau was spared. In a way, it helps that he now has an “eternal one-up” on her. Matt: “That’s very Molly of him.”

The persuasion success from Keg was a chief reason Lorenzo spared them, but it was also because the rest of the M9 were insignificant gnats to him. Keg’s reaction was the only one he cared about, so as soon as she gave in he’d gotten what he wanted. Then he just wanted to set the example and spread the word.

Ashly hadn’t meant to let them know she’d been part of the slavers until Shady Creek, but actually likes how it came out.

Matt really doesn’t think it was an overall bad plan. It was just a few strategic missteps, some very bad dice rolls, and an enemy that outmatched them.

Dani recalls to us all that Molly had told us it would be a cursed trip.

Molly’s parting advice to the M9: Tal declines to think about it much in depth. “Life’s short, eat a bagel. Join the circus. Lighten up. Life’s short; do something to a bagel.”

The illusion that cloaks the cages under the tarp means that even if the missing three of the M9 are in there, they wouldn’t have seen Molly’s death.

Molly is no different in Taliesin’s head than he was last week, which is why he's having a slightly easier time with this than everyone else. “He’s no different for me, I just don’t get to trot him out on Thursday.” He was based off of several friends, some who have passed away, and several experiences he had as a teenager and places and people he knew that profoundly affected him. He mentions a song off the soundtrack for Wristcutters: A Love Story, since that movie had a lot of “good carnie family vibes” about weird people taking care of each other. There was an archetype in film that was very much Molly which Tal hasn’t seen in a long time, and he explains: there’s a way of living a life where you don’t give a fuck about what people think but you do give a fuck about people. He never needed to be fixed and he never needed permission for anything. He’s not Iron Man where you’re waiting to see him become a good person, and he was never a creature of profound change like Captain America, where you watch to see the good they make on the world; his unfinished business was in each interaction he had with the people in the world and making them deal with him, but making sure that dealing with him was always a positive and kind experience. Matt gets very emotional at the description. Me too, friend.

His favorite part of playing him was being a teenager version of himself; the art and cosplay were spectacular. And the terrible accent, of course.

Brian takes a moment to thank Taliesin for making memorable characters and memorable choices that have a bigger impact than what only they can see. He looked at all the tributes for Molly this week because he wanted to get a feel for how the community was feeling so that they could hone the questions for the show. The character meant a lot to a lot of different types of people, and it’s a testament to Tal’s heart that people connected so much with this character.

Brian, Matt, and Tal are all crying at this point. Ashly starts reactive-crying. Dani’s crying on the Dani Cam. This is AWFUL.

After Dark: QQ Edition

We open laughing (relieving change) since everyone’s hurled obscenities at Brian just before the show went live. Matt enjoys being on the other side of that for once.

Beau is the member of the M9 who’s best earned the right to wear Molly’s coat. “She’s the one who needs to lighten up. Caleb’s never going to lighten up and that’s okay. Jester doesn’t need it. Fjord doesn’t need it. That’s not Nott’s problem.”

Keg is super interested in Nott’s never-ending flask. “I’m abandoning this super dramatic narrative. I’m going for the flask.”

A TPK was possible if the M9 kept throwing themselves at the Iron Shepherds, but Matt knew they were smarter than that and would either flee or give themselves up as Keg did. “It relied on the players’ actions at that point; that’s why I was so nervous. I was like, this is the scenario I built and now we have to see it through.”

Tal honestly doesn’t remember what Liam said to him when he left the table right after him. It was mostly a “well, that happened,” and Liam just refilled his drink before going back to the table.

Tal went home after the show, cried in bed, and then the sun came up and he realized he had no idea for a new character. He spent so much time working on Molly that he never got around to making anything else. He came up with his next idea in about thirteen-fourteen hours, and he’s very happy with it. Matt points out he was explicitly clear about how they needed to come up with backup characters when the campaign started. “These low levels are dangerous!”

Everyone addresses the new studio in terms most respectful and patient, asking it to be benevolent now that it’s had its blood sacrifice.

Keg’s going to grow a vengeance beard.

Brian talks about Ashley’s reaction on the couch; she leaned forward on her knees, looked over at Brian, and said, “I’m gonna kill that motherfucker.” Brian said, “Yeah, you probably will.” They now have a formidable villain for the early campaign.

Tal can’t even answer the question about how Yasha will react when she finds out. “Oh, no. Oh, no.”

Matt and Brian have a retrospective moment of panic about how good it is Yasha wasn’t there that night, since she’s a rage-based barbarian. Matt, wide-eyed: “There would have been no parlay. Oh, no. Next question.”

Keg’s favorite moments were the secret-sharing with Nott and the conversation with Beau. Matt loved their meeting: “When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. It was beautiful.”

Brian’s first desire after the show was to rage-tweet Matt Colville. He, apparently, refrained.

Matt thinks the threat of death should be present and played out when it happens, but he never likes playing DM-vs.-player.

Tal smiled when Molly was being killed because that was both Molly’s reaction, and because Tal himself is a nervous smiler.

Matt doesn’t consider this revenge for Tal killing him off so soon in the Vampire oneshot; Tal reminds us that he knew Matt knew about the very specific subclass he’d given Matt and they both knew what would happen when he went outside.

Tal and Matt reminisce about early PC deaths. “What was that, 2012?” Ashly: “Aw, you guys have killed each other so much!”

They’re asked about the best lie they’ve ever told. Tal convinced someone a nonsense Pirate Queen existed; Matt doesn’t really lie, but when he senses gullibility he doubles down until reality’s rearranged.

Tal started wearing black when Jim Henson died...except that he forbade black at his funeral. The camera zooms in on Tal’s iridescent loafers & his peacock paisley shirt: “This is Molly’s funeral shirt.”

Ashly will definitely be back on Thursday; Tal will be back as soon as the narrative allows it. He’s prepared for Thursday if it works out.

And that’s where it wraps up tonight. Be good to each other; it’s almost Thursday.

#critical role #talks machina #critical role spoilers #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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thessalian · 6 years

Text

Thess vs MCM Comic Con, Day 3

Good news! There was a second Critical Role panel and they moved it to the main stage to at least try to ensure there’d be enough space for all the people who missed the first one! It was shorter, I couldn’t have got near the microphone if I’d tried and I had to stand, but I was really close to the stage and there were only, like, two people from England in the ten or so questions (I recall a couple of Germans, a Swede, a Spaniard, and someone who came all the way from freakin’ Malaysia) which explains why it was so packed this year. I mean, London’s way more convenient for European Critters than anywhere in the US - for now, anyway, at least until whatever fuckery Brexit throws into the works - so we didn’t just have the UK’s Critters; we had a fair number of Europe’s Critters as well. Also, Matt Freakin’ Mercer blew a kiss in my general direction on his way offstage so I’m just going to quietly bask in that. (Okay it might have been nice if it had been Taliesin but Matt’s second on my priority list for ace-crush shenanigans, leave me alone.)

In the queue, I struck up a conversation with this really awesome person - we spent the hour-long wait talking D&D campaigns and favourite Critical Role moments, and afterwards I got us both engaged in a conversation about stage makeup tips with a pretty good Caduceus cosplayer. That drew in a D.Va cosplayer and a conversation about how that kind of stage / Halloween makeup feels and stuff and I abetted some really cool dialogue and it was actually really cool.

See, I was making it a point to talk to people this time around. Not, like, intrusively; just ... if there was an opening, I’d say something nice about their cosplay or if I was waiting in the queue for something I’d say something encouraging to the staff. At the end of the afternoon, for example, I stopped to talk to the three security staffers at the entrance - two of them were clearly old hands and were trying to encourage the newbie third to speak from the diaphragm. They seemed amenable to conversation, so I asked the most senior of them - this older but still fit gentleman who looked like he defaulted to ‘grumpy’ on his best day but probably just has that kind of face - “You’ve clearly done these events before; do you enjoy doing them?”

I will remember his response for the rest of my life. He said:

“I entirely do, and I'll tell you why. People come here and they pay to have fun. But me? I come here and they pay me to have fun. I see all the people and the celebrities and sure, sometimes a couple of people get a bit lagered up, but they’re just here to have a good time and there’s no real trouble. There are people who are nervous about coming to these things and I always tell them: ‘go to just one; I guarantee you’ll be hooked’. And everyone’s walking around smiling; if I can put a smile on someone’s face before they even get into the hall? That’s the best part of my job.”

I shook his hand, and those of his associates, and thanked them for everything they’ve done for us this weekend. I meant it, too. The security guys deserve all the props.

Beyond that, my new t-shirt I picked up yesterday (D&D dice solar system; it’s a thing) got three people complimenting it. I’m flattered that people bothered with all that awesome cosplay running around. Also, I am reliably informed that @vehlr delivered my gifts of perfume to Marisha Ray, and thus to the Critical Role cast. On top of that, I picked up a spoon that is perfect for @fauxfire76 ‘s sweetheart ... and I got myself a Chewbacca plushie.

I have also filled myself with a good steak dinner, so I am feeling at least a little less fragged. My feet still hurt, mind. Once I’m done here, I’m going to grab a shower, sit down for awhile, and mentally prepare myself for the D&D session I have in just under two hours. Fucking Daylight Savings Time; I can but apologise to the Cupcake Coterie for not being able to stick with 5pm EST because there’s no way I can start running at 11pm with my current work hours. I should have taken tomorrow off too.

Finally, the last thing I treated myself to:

Meet Thessalian, First of Her Name!

#mcm expo

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strangefellows · 6 years

Text

SO I MET MATT MERCER TODAY AND HE IS AMAZING AND I LOVE HIM

He was super nice when I got to talk to him and I got a selfie with him and I #die, and then I went to his panel and he was amazing and cool and so many people asked DnD/GM advice and he’s so good and cool and I love him and NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY CRITROLE IS SO POPULAR.

I need to catch up to the first campaign, but at least there’s a brand new campaign so I can keep up with that from the beginning. :’)

(Fun story: a girl dressed up as Laura’s new tiefling today and Matt literally was like “OH MY GOD WHAT??? ALREADY?? HOW???” and had her get onstage so he could take a picture of her for Laura.)

(now who do i have to sacrifice things to to get taliesin to come down to florida)

#IM DYING #I LIKED HIM BEFORE BUT NOW I MET HIM AND I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING

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theinvinciblenoob · 6 years

Link

Industry vets and students alike crammed into UCLA’s historic Royce Hall last week for TC Sessions: AR/VR, our one-day event on the fast-moving (and hype-plagued) industry and the people in it. Disney, Snap, Oculus and more stopped by to chat and show off their latest; if you didn’t happen to be in LA that day, read on and find out what we learned — and follow the links to watch the interviews and panels yourself.

To kick off the day we had Jon Snoddy from Walt Disney Imagineering. As you can imagine, this is a company deeply invested in “experiences.” But he warned that VR and AR storytelling isn’t ready for prime time: “I don’t feel like we’re there yet. We know it’s extraordinary, we know it’s really interesting, but it’s not yet speaking to us deeply the way it will.”

Next came Snap’s Eitan Pilipski. Snapchat wants to leave augmented reality creativity up to the creators rather than prescribing what they should build. AR headsets people want to wear in real life might take years to arrive, but nevertheless Snap confirmed that it’s prototyping new AI-powered face filters and VR experiences in the meantime.

I was onstage next with a collection of startups which, while very different from each other, collectively embody a willingness to pursue alternative display methods — holography and projection — as businesses. Ashley Crowder from VNTANA and Shawn Frayne from Looking Glass explained how they essentially built the technology they saw demand for: holographic display tech that makes 3D visualization simple and real. And Lightform’s Brett Jones talked about embracing and extending the real world and creating shared experiences rather than isolated ones.

Frayne’s holographic desktop display was there in the lobby, I should add, and very impressive it was. People were crowding three or four deep to try to understand how the giant block of acrylic could hold 3D characters and landscapes.

Maureen Fan from BaoBab Studios touched on the importance of conserving cash for entertainment-focused virtual reality companies. Previewing her new film, Crow, Fan noted that new modes of storytelling need to be explored for the medium, such as the creative merging of gaming and cinematic experiences.

Up next was a large panel of investors: Niko Bonatsos (General Catalyst), Jacob Mullins (Shasta Ventures), Catherine Ulrich (FirstMark Capital), and Stephanie Zhan (Sequoia). The consensus of this lively discussion was that (as Fan noted earlier) this is a time for startups to go lean. Competition has been thinned out by companies burning VC cash and a bootstrapped, efficient company stands out from the crowd.

Oculus is getting serious about non-gaming experiences in virtual reality. In our chat with Oculus Executive Producer Yelena Rachitsky, we heard more details about how the company is looking to new hardware to deepen the interactions users can have in VR and that new hardware like the Oculus Quest will allow users to go far beyond the capabilities of 360-degree VR video.

Of course if Oculus is around, its parent company can’t be far away. Facebook’s Ficus Kirkpatrick believes it must build exemplary ‘lighthouse’ AR experiences to guide independent developers towards use cases they could enhance. Beyond creative expression, AR is progressing slowly since no one wants to hold a phone in the air for too long. But that’s also why Facebook is already investing in efforts to build its own AR headset.

Matt Miesnieks, from 6d.ai, announced the opening of his company’s augmented reality development platform to the public and made a case of the creation of an open mapping platform and toolkit for opening augmented reality to collaborative experiences and the masses.

Augmented reality headsets like Magic Leap and Hololens tend to hog the spotlight, but phones are where most people will have their first taste. Parham Aarabi (Modiface), Kirin Sinha (Illumix) and Allison Wood (Camera IQ) agreed that mainstreaming the tech is about three to five years away, with a successful standalone device like a headset somewhere beyond that. They also agreed that while there are countless tech demos and novelties, there’s still no killer app for AR.

Derek Belch (STRIVR), Clorama Dorvilias (DebiasVR), and Morgan Mercer (Vantage Point) took on the potential of VR in commercial and industrial applications. They concluded that making consumer technology enterprise grade remains one of the most significant adoption to virtual reality applications in business. (Companies like StarVR are specifically targeting businesses, but it remains to be seen whether that play will succeed.)

With Facebook running the VR show, how are small VR startups making a dent in social? The CEOs of TheWaveVR, Mindshow and SVRF all say that part of the key is finding the best ways for users to interact and making experiences that bring people together in different ways.

After a break, we were treated to a live demo of the VR versus boxing game Creed: Rise to Glory, by developer Survios co-founders Alex Silkin and James Iliff. They then joined me for a discussion of the difficulties and possibilities of social and multiplayer VR, both in how they can create intimate experiences and how developers can inoculate against isolation or abuse in the player base.

Early stage investments are key to the success of any emerging industry and the VR space is seeing a slowdown in that area. Peter Rojas of Betaworks and Greg Castle from Anorak offered more details on their investment strategies and how they see success in the AR space coming along as the tech industry’s biggest companies continue to pump money into the technologies.

UCLA contributed a moderator with Anderson’s Jay Tucker, who talked with Mariana Acuna (Opaque Studios) and Guy Primus (Virtual Reality Company) about how storytelling in VR may be in very early days, but that this period of exploration and experimentation is something to be encouraged and experienced. Movies didn’t begin with Netflix and Marvel — they started with picture palaces and one-reel silent shorts. VR is following the same path.

And what would an AR/VR conference be without the creators of the most popular AR game ever created? Niantic already has some big plans as it expands its success beyond Pokémon GO. The company which is deep in development of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is building out a developer platform based on their cutting edge AR technologies. In our chat, AR research head Ross Finman talks about privacy in the upcoming AR age and just how much of a challenger Apple is to them in the space.

That wrapped the show; you can see more images (perhaps of yourself) at our Flickr page. Thanks to our sponsors, our generous hosts at UCLA, the motivated and interesting speakers, and most of all the attendees. See you again soon!

via TechCrunch

#IFTTT #TechCrunch

0 notes

fmservers · 6 years

Text

TC Sessions AR/VR surveys an industry in transition

Industry vets and students alike crammed into UCLA’s historic Royce Hall last week for TC Sessions AR/VR, our one day event on the fast-moving (and hype-plagued) industry and the people in it. Disney, Snap, Oculus and more stopped by to chat and show off their latest; if you didn’t happen to be in LA that day, read on and find out what we learned — and follow the links to watch the interviews and panels yourself.

To kick off the day we had John Snoddy from Walt Disney Imagineering. As you can imagine this is a company deeply invested in “experiences.” But he warned that VR and AR storytelling isn’t ready for prime time: “I don’t feel like we’re there yet. We know it’s extraordinary, we know it’s really interesting, but it’s not yet speaking to us deeply the way it will.”

I was on stage next with a collection of startups which, while very different from each other, collectively embody a willingness to pursue alternative display methods — holography and projection — as businesses. Ashley Crowder from VNTANA and Shawn Frayne from Looking Glass explained how they essentially built the technology they saw demand for: holographic display tech that makes 3D visualization simple and real. And Lightform’s Brett Jones talked about embracing and extending the real world and creating shared experiences rather than isolated ones.

Maureen Fan from Baobob Studios touched on the importance of conserving cash for entertainment-focused virtual reality companies. Previewing her new film, Crow, Fan noted that new modes of storytelling need to be explored for the medium, such as the creative merging of gaming and cinematic experiences.

Via Devin Coldewey https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

0 notes

touristguidebuzz · 6 years

Text

TravelCon Update!

Hey everyone!

As you (may) know, I’m hosting a conference in September called TravelCon.

For a long time, I’ve dreamed of organizing a conference in conjunction with our Superstar Blogging program. Something that would take everything we have online and bring it to life. I want to bring our students, other travel bloggers, and industry experts together to learn, network, connect, and, overall, have a ton of fun! I love the web, but in-person events are 10x better for learning and networking. This is where you can make the most lasting connections and relationships.

TravelCon is a three-day conference in Austin, Texas from September 20th to 22nd, 2018. It will feature keynote speakers, workshops, networking events, writing sessions, photography walks, and opportunities to pitch yourself to brands and tourism boards. This is a conference for people who want more than free stuff. This is the conference for people who are looking to get serious about turning their blog into a business.

With beginner and advanced sessions, we have tracks and tips for people at all levels of success. At this conference, you’ll learn what is currently working right now and what you can do over the long term to create the career you desire. I believe the best conferences have people of varying skill levels so everyone can interact and learn from each other. For too long, travel media conferences have been only geared toward newbies. This conference is really about leveling up, no matter where you are in your blogging journey.

Today, is the last day for early, early bird tickets! The prices go up tomorrow! The early, early bird ticket price is only $249 USD. Your ticket includes lunch each day of the event, coffee and tea, all keynote speeches, networking events, workshops, breakout panels, evening parties, and whatever other cool activities we add later! Tomorrow, the price goes up $50 USD!

And we only have a 140 tickets left!

So if you’ve been waiting, don’t wait much longer!

You can get your ticket and reserve your spot by clicking here.

Speakers

Here’s our awesome speaker list:

Kristin Addis

Be My Travel Muse

Gloria Atanmo

The Blog Abroad

Alex Baackes

Alex in Wanderland

Glory Ali

Muslim Travel Rock

Derek Baron

Wandering Earl

Nathan Barry

ConvertKit

Carol Cain

Gone Girl Travel

Liz Carlson

Young Adventuress

Chris Christensen

Amateur Traveler Podcast

Jason Cochran

Frommers

Dave & Deb

The Planet D

Brian Dean

Backlinko

Torre DeRoche

Writer, Love With a Chance of Drowning

Julia Dimon

Freelance Writer

Jodi Ettenberg

Legal Nomads

David Farley

Freelance Writer

Rachel Friedman

The Good Girls Guide to Getting Lost

Pat Flynn

Smart Passive Income

Brenda Gahan

Epic Signal

Adam Groffman

Travels of Adam

Matt Gross

Runner’s World

Pete & Dalene

Hecktic Travels

Dani Heinrich

Globetrotter Girls

Ryan Holiday

Writer, Ego is the Enemy

Steve Kamb

Nerd Fitness

Matthew Karsten

Expert Vagabond

Peep Laja

ConversionXL

Cory Lee

Curb Free with Cory Lee

Kristin Luna

Camels & Chocolate

Jaume Marin

Costa Brava Tourism

Liam Martin

Staff.com

Neville Medhora

KopywritingKourse

Chris Mercer

MeasurementMarketing.io

Angkur Nagpal

Teachable

Elena Nikolova

Muslim Travel Girl

Laurence Norah

Finding the Universe

Dan & Audrey

Uncornered Market

Cailin O’Neil

TravelYourself

Angie Orth

Angie Away

Sam Parr

The Hustle

Rolf Potts

Vagabonding

Mari Ramirez

CPA

Oneika Raymond

Oneika the Traveller

Kiersten Rich

The Blonde Abroad

Chris Richardson

Nomadic Matt

Annette Richmond

From Annette

Kristen Sarah

Hopscotch The Globe

Nadine Sykora

Hey Nadine

Brent Underwood

Brass Check

Ryan Whaley

Greendoor Media

Ernest White II

FlyBrother

Amanda Williams

A Dangerous Business

Siya Zarrabi

Good News from Around the World

Big conferences can often seem impersonal, which is why we’re focusing on small discussions, panels, workshops, and mentor sessions. We want you to walk away with actionable advice. We want you to think, “Wow! I learned so much!” We’re going to have writing, tech, video, and photography workshops were people will edit your work, solve your tech issues, and help you improve your photos and videos. We don’t want people to feel lost in the crowd.

There’s plenty of room in the travel sphere for an event where media professionals and bloggers can go to learn and share the nuts and bolts of the business — the real, nitty-gritty stuff that separates people from the pack and allows them to build sustainable, profitable, and impactful online travel businesses.

So let’s do this!

– Matt

P.S. – If you want to be a sponsor of the event, we have a few slots for brands at our expo center! Email me at [email protected] and let’s chat!

P.P.S. – Here’s the link to getting a ticket again! Can’t wait to see you there!

The post TravelCon Update! appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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eponymous-rose · 6 years

Text

Talks Machina Highlights - WonderCon 2018 Panel

This week’s episode is the Talks Machina Live panel from WonderCon 2018, with guests Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Sam Riegel, Liam O’Brien, Laura Bailey, and Matt Mercer!

This episode (and this recap) contains spoilers for the first campaign.

Meanwhile, back on the TM set, Max is keeping busy...

Gif and fanart of the week are awarded before the panel! An attempt at information-gathering and a steamy romance novel cover are featured. Congratulations to the winners!

Brian: “Look under your seats, everybody. If anyone finds Sam, let us know.”

Biggest adjustment in the new campaign?

Travis: Starting from scratch and not knowing how everyone else would react to their characters. Even 11 episodes in, only a tiny percentage of their backstories have been revealed. Sam hopes the fans are cool with the slow burn.

Matt slips into McCree voice. Brian: “That’s all you get. If you ask a high noon question, you’ll get a water bottle thrown at your fucking face.”

Brian, on Taliesin’s careful planning: “Yeah, Taliesin started working on this character when he was 12 years old.” Travis: “You mean when he was 1,200 years old...”

Marisha: “We’re all frickin’ liars right now.” Laura: “Not all of us.”

Travis: “I have not told a lie yet.” Everyone else: doubt.

Matt points out how weird it is that the Trickery Domain cleric has been the most up-front and honest thus far.

Sam had no idea Mollymauk had the Charm Person ability and wasn’t expecting to reveal that much of his motivations so early. Sam: “We all have to spill the beans at some point, so why not by magical means?”

Sam wonders why Jester hasn’t been using Zone of Truth constantly. Laura, bitterly: “I’ve gotta save my spells for healing.” Also Laura, positively exuding bitterness: “I’m not bitter.”

Molly was so startled by Pumat because he’d never encountered anything like this before. “Taste is so rare in this world, and you come across it, and you’re like, ‘You’re delightful!’”

Brian asks if Pumat is “the new Gilmore” and the cast does not take it well. Taliesin: “You’re not my real dad!” Sam: “But yes.”

Laura and Liam realize they accidentally wore very similar outfits, in true twinnie fashion.

Laura is about to reveal Jester’s age, then thinks better of it. “But if I say it now, I can’t change it later...”

Matt pre-prepared about five smutty novel titles (including the infamous Tusk Love). “I was like, that should be plenty...”

Liam mentions that he and Sam don’t know each other’s character backstories at all. Caleb and Nott broke out of a podunk jail together and wound up just sort of sticking together and eventually running scams to get cash. Sam: “And make sweet, sweet love every night. ...that’s Liam and Sam. Not the characters.”

Fjord’s both trying to trip Molly up by making him redo the praying-over-his-swords ritual and kind of hoping to figure out what’s up with his own sword in the process. “I was hoping it would turn into a waterpark.”

If they had Frumpkin as a familiar IRL, what animal would they have him be? Travis instantly goes for an otter. Marisha wants a wolf. Taliesin wants a big bird of some sort. Sam wants an octopus, since he knows it’s possible. Laura wants a raccoon, unless red pandas have opposable thumbs. Laura: “But pandas are stupid...” Brian, taking his life into his hands: “Oh yeah, because Trinket was a genius.”

Favorite part of making a new character? Travis: the ability to do absolutely anything you want, change it, make it anything you want to be. It’s what sucked him in at the start of the first campaign.

If she could play a D&D monster, Laura would want to be a succubus. Travis: “No, what kind of villain would you want to be?” Laura: “You have to drive home with me.”

Laura put together a loose backstory for Jester before the Kinda Funny oneshots and picked the Traveler as her deity then, but she and Matt wound up adapting him to the current campaign when they transferred Jester over. The Traveler’s not the deity from D&D canon.

Taliesin’s advice on playing a gunslinger character: “Don’t be cautious. Wait, what level are you going to be at?” “Level 3.” “Okay, no, be cautious.”

Marisha is enjoying getting to just punch things instead of dealing with so much magic.

Taliesin hates that he has to take notes again now that he’s no longer sitting next to Marisha.

Sam sings some of his D&D Beyond jingle again!

Liam: “Maybe campaign 2 will just be the D&D equivalent of Cheers and we’ll never leave the Leaky Tap.” Matt: “We’ll see how long that tavern lasts...”

Laura’s stricken look every time Matt hints at having to plan for the possibility of player character death is priceless and also relatable.

Travis talks about how much more responsibility there is now that he’s not playing INT 6. He’s still working based on instinct, but now he’s tapping into his creative side this time around.

Matt loves the side of DMing that is creating something for his friends and watching them get immersed in it. “It’s one of my favorite forms of gifting that exists out there.”

On dealing with unruly players as a DM: communication outside the game is key, as is knowing when to bring up that this might not be the game they’re looking for.

Brian asks about who everyone would cast as Senokir (his favorite character from last game) in a movie. Matt: “Willem Dafoe.”

Sam: “A pile of dirty diapers could be Caleb.” Liam: “...what changes?”

On minimizing paper-shuffling as a DM: Matt organizes his notes with bullet points and bold font, notecards taped to the back of the screen, etc. Liam: “I snuck a look at Matt’s notes recently, and it’s just the word ‘Pumat’ over and over.”

Caleb’s main focus going to Chastity’s Nook (Caleb’s focus; Liam was mostly just wanting to troll Matt) was swap-meet searching for magical stuff. Laura wonders if Caleb was just thinking about porn when he was staring into the fire. Liam: “Tusks...”

After episode 68, Taliesin came up with the idea for this carnival barker character telling a “monster story about Percy, who had just died. I thought that would really fuck them up. They’re going to hate him immediately.” Marisha: “Vox Machina didn’t have a history of dealing with new people well. Sorry, Sam.”

Travis on lifting at the gym and playing a tabletop RPG on the internet: “I’m my best me when I’m working out or staying active or pushing myself physically, but it lends itself to D&D specifically, because I love the physical imagination of melee combat and things like that. I think people can be as many things as they want to be.”

Matt points out that lower-level D&D has a lot of action on the players’ parts as they putter around, whereas higher-level D&D starts getting into reaction to major events that have been unfolding without their knowledge.

Liam: “The part of Caleb that I can say is I was curious about making a character who is his own worst enemy.”

Matt talks about juggling the desire to bring back old guest players while at the same time wanting to bring on the new guests they’ve been trying to schedule since last campaign.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

822 notes · View notes

vidovicart · 6 years

Text

TravelCon Update!

Hey everyone!

As you (may) know, I’m hosting a conference in September called TravelCon.

And we only have a 140 tickets left!

So if you’ve been waiting, don’t wait much longer!

You can get your ticket and reserve your spot by clicking here.

Speakers

Here’s our awesome speaker list:

Kristin Addis

Be My Travel Muse

Gloria Atanmo

The Blog Abroad

Alex Baackes

Alex in Wanderland

Glory Ali

Muslim Travel Rock

Derek Baron

Wandering Earl

Nathan Barry

ConvertKit

Carol Cain

Gone Girl Travel

Liz Carlson

Young Adventuress

Chris Christensen

Amateur Traveler Podcast

Jason Cochran

Frommers

Dave & Deb

The Planet D

Brian Dean

Backlinko

Torre DeRoche

Writer, Love With a Chance of Drowning

Julia Dimon

Freelance Writer

Jodi Ettenberg

Legal Nomads

David Farley

Freelance Writer

Rachel Friedman

The Good Girls Guide to Getting Lost

Pat Flynn

Smart Passive Income

Brenda Gahan

Epic Signal

Adam Groffman

Travels of Adam

Matt Gross

Runner’s World

Pete & Dalene

Hecktic Travels

Dani Heinrich

Globetrotter Girls

Ryan Holiday

Writer, Ego is the Enemy

Steve Kamb

Nerd Fitness

Matthew Karsten

Expert Vagabond

Peep Laja

ConversionXL

Cory Lee

Curb Free with Cory Lee

Kristin Luna

Camels & Chocolate

Jaume Marin

Costa Brava Tourism

Liam Martin

Staff.com

Neville Medhora

KopywritingKourse

Chris Mercer

MeasurementMarketing.io

Angkur Nagpal

Teachable

Elena Nikolova

Muslim Travel Girl

Laurence Norah

Finding the Universe

Dan & Audrey

Uncornered Market

Cailin O’Neil

TravelYourself

Angie Orth

Angie Away

Sam Parr

The Hustle

Rolf Potts

Vagabonding

Mari Ramirez

CPA

Oneika Raymond

Oneika the Traveller

Kiersten Rich

The Blonde Abroad

Chris Richardson

Nomadic Matt

Annette Richmond

From Annette

Kristen Sarah

Hopscotch The Globe

Nadine Sykora

Hey Nadine

Brent Underwood

Brass Check

Ryan Whaley

Greendoor Media

Ernest White II

FlyBrother

Amanda Williams

A Dangerous Business

Siya Zarrabi

Good News from Around the World

So let’s do this!

– Matt

P.S. – If you want to be a sponsor of the event, we have a few slots for brands at our expo center! Email me at [email protected] and let’s chat!

P.P.S. – Here’s the link to getting a ticket again! Can’t wait to see you there!

The post TravelCon Update! appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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tamboradventure · 6 years

Text

TravelCon Update!

Hey everyone!

As you (may) know, I’m hosting a conference in September called TravelCon.

And we only have a 140 tickets left!

So if you’ve been waiting, don’t wait much longer!

You can get your ticket and reserve your spot by clicking here.

Speakers

Here’s our awesome speaker list:

Kristin Addis

Be My Travel Muse

Gloria Atanmo

The Blog Abroad

Alex Baackes

Alex in Wanderland

Glory Ali

Muslim Travel Rock

Derek Baron

Wandering Earl

Nathan Barry

ConvertKit

Carol Cain

Gone Girl Travel

Liz Carlson

Young Adventuress

Chris Christensen

Amateur Traveler Podcast

Jason Cochran

Frommers

Dave & Deb

The Planet D

Brian Dean

Backlinko

Torre DeRoche

Writer, Love With a Chance of Drowning

Julia Dimon

Freelance Writer

Jodi Ettenberg

Legal Nomads

David Farley

Freelance Writer

Rachel Friedman

The Good Girls Guide to Getting Lost

Pat Flynn

Smart Passive Income

Brenda Gahan

Epic Signal

Adam Groffman

Travels of Adam

Matt Gross

Runner’s World

Pete & Dalene

Hecktic Travels

Dani Heinrich

Globetrotter Girls

Ryan Holiday

Writer, Ego is the Enemy

Steve Kamb

Nerd Fitness

Matthew Karsten

Expert Vagabond

Peep Laja

ConversionXL

Cory Lee

Curb Free with Cory Lee

Kristin Luna

Camels & Chocolate

Jaume Marin

Costa Brava Tourism

Liam Martin

Staff.com

Neville Medhora

KopywritingKourse

Chris Mercer

MeasurementMarketing.io

Angkur Nagpal

Teachable

Elena Nikolova

Muslim Travel Girl

Laurence Norah

Finding the Universe

Dan & Audrey

Uncornered Market

Cailin O’Neil

TravelYourself

Angie Orth

Angie Away

Sam Parr

The Hustle

Rolf Potts

Vagabonding

Mari Ramirez

CPA

Oneika Raymond

Oneika the Traveller

Kiersten Rich

The Blonde Abroad

Chris Richardson

Nomadic Matt

Annette Richmond

From Annette

Kristen Sarah

Hopscotch The Globe

Nadine Sykora

Hey Nadine

Brent Underwood

Brass Check

Ryan Whaley

Greendoor Media

Ernest White II

FlyBrother

Amanda Williams

A Dangerous Business

Siya Zarrabi

Good News from Around the World

So let’s do this!

– Matt

P.S. – If you want to be a sponsor of the event, we have a few slots for brands at our expo center! Email me at [email protected] and let’s chat!

P.P.S. – Here’s the link to getting a ticket again! Can’t wait to see you there!

The post TravelCon Update! appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/2FE28rN via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

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melissagarcia8 · 6 years

Text

TravelCon Update!

Hey everyone!

As you (may) know, I’m hosting a conference in September called TravelCon.

And we only have a 140 tickets left!

So if you’ve been waiting, don’t wait much longer!

You can get your ticket and reserve your spot by clicking here.

Speakers

Here’s our awesome speaker list:

Kristin Addis

Be My Travel Muse

Gloria Atanmo

The Blog Abroad

Alex Baackes

Alex in Wanderland

Glory Ali

Muslim Travel Rock

Derek Baron

Wandering Earl

Nathan Barry

ConvertKit

Carol Cain

Gone Girl Travel

Liz Carlson

Young Adventuress

Chris Christensen

Amateur Traveler Podcast

Jason Cochran

Frommers

Dave & Deb

The Planet D

Brian Dean

Backlinko

Torre DeRoche

Writer, Love With a Chance of Drowning

Julia Dimon

Freelance Writer

Jodi Ettenberg

Legal Nomads

David Farley

Freelance Writer

Rachel Friedman

The Good Girls Guide to Getting Lost

Pat Flynn

Smart Passive Income

Brenda Gahan

Epic Signal

Adam Groffman

Travels of Adam

Matt Gross

Runner’s World

Pete & Dalene

Hecktic Travels

Dani Heinrich

Globetrotter Girls

Ryan Holiday

Writer, Ego is the Enemy

Steve Kamb

Nerd Fitness

Matthew Karsten

Expert Vagabond

Peep Laja

ConversionXL

Cory Lee

Curb Free with Cory Lee

Kristin Luna

Camels & Chocolate

Jaume Marin

Costa Brava Tourism

Liam Martin

Staff.com

Neville Medhora

KopywritingKourse

Chris Mercer

MeasurementMarketing.io

Angkur Nagpal

Teachable

Elena Nikolova

Muslim Travel Girl

Laurence Norah

Finding the Universe

Dan & Audrey

Uncornered Market

Cailin O’Neil

TravelYourself

Angie Orth

Angie Away

Sam Parr

The Hustle

Rolf Potts

Vagabonding

Mari Ramirez

CPA

Oneika Raymond

Oneika the Traveller

Kiersten Rich

The Blonde Abroad

Chris Richardson

Nomadic Matt

Annette Richmond

From Annette

Kristen Sarah

Hopscotch The Globe

Nadine Sykora

Hey Nadine

Brent Underwood

Brass Check

Ryan Whaley

Greendoor Media

Ernest White II

FlyBrother

Amanda Williams

A Dangerous Business

Siya Zarrabi

Good News from Around the World

So let’s do this!

– Matt

P.S. – If you want to be a sponsor of the event, we have a few slots for brands at our expo center! Email me at [email protected] and let’s chat!

P.P.S. – Here’s the link to getting a ticket again! Can’t wait to see you there!

The post TravelCon Update! appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Traveling News https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/travelcon-update/

0 notes

theladyjstyle · 6 years

Photo

Hey everyone!

As you (may) know, I’m hosting a conference in September called TravelCon.

And we only have a 140 tickets left!

So if you’ve been waiting, don’t wait much longer!

You can get your ticket and reserve your spot by clicking here.

Speakers

Here’s our awesome speaker list:

Kristin Addis

Be My Travel Muse

Gloria Atanmo

The Blog Abroad

Alex Baackes

Alex in Wanderland

Glory Ali

Muslim Travel Rock

Derek Baron

Wandering Earl

Nathan Barry

ConvertKit

Carol Cain

Gone Girl Travel

Liz Carlson

Young Adventuress

Chris Christensen

Amateur Traveler Podcast

Jason Cochran

Frommers

Dave & Deb

The Planet D

Brian Dean

Backlinko

Torre DeRoche

Writer, Love With a Chance of Drowning

Julia Dimon

Freelance Writer

Jodi Ettenberg

Legal Nomads

David Farley

Freelance Writer

Rachel Friedman

The Good Girls Guide to Getting Lost

Pat Flynn

Smart Passive Income

Brenda Gahan

Epic Signal

Adam Groffman

Travels of Adam

Matt Gross

Runner’s World

Pete & Dalene

Hecktic Travels

Dani Heinrich

Globetrotter Girls

Ryan Holiday

Writer, Ego is the Enemy

Steve Kamb

Nerd Fitness

Matthew Karsten

Expert Vagabond

Peep Laja

ConversionXL

Cory Lee

Curb Free with Cory Lee

Kristin Luna

Camels & Chocolate

Jaume Marin

Costa Brava Tourism

Liam Martin

Staff.com

Neville Medhora

KopywritingKourse

Chris Mercer

MeasurementMarketing.io

Angkur Nagpal

Teachable

Elena Nikolova

Muslim Travel Girl

Laurence Norah

Finding the Universe

Dan & Audrey

Uncornered Market

Cailin O’Neil

TravelYourself

Angie Orth

Angie Away

Sam Parr

The Hustle

Rolf Potts

Vagabonding

Mari Ramirez

CPA

Oneika Raymond

Oneika the Traveller

Kiersten Rich

The Blonde Abroad

Chris Richardson

Nomadic Matt

Annette Richmond

From Annette

Kristen Sarah

Hopscotch The Globe

Nadine Sykora

Hey Nadine

Brent Underwood

Brass Check

Ryan Whaley

Greendoor Media

Ernest White II

FlyBrother

Amanda Williams

A Dangerous Business

Siya Zarrabi

Good News from Around the World

So let’s do this!

– Matt

P.S. – If you want to be a sponsor of the event, we have a few slots for brands at our expo center! Email me at [email protected] and let’s chat!

P.P.S. – Here’s the link to getting a ticket again! Can’t wait to see you there!

The post TravelCon Update! appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

TravelCon Update! http://ift.tt/2FE28rN

#Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site digital nomad

0 notes