Quote from: Omega;1071228TLDR is Pundit thinks the show is scripted.

Did you even watch the videos?

I explicitly said the shows are NOT directly scripted.

Pundie isn't necessarily wrong in this thread. Go over to r/dndnext and you'll see posts almost daily from new DMs who think they need to run games like they see on the internet to be "doing it right." Example from today: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/afdna3/an_open_letter_to_wotc_about_new_books_from_a/

A response in that thread:

Perhaps he shouldn't try to emulate someone like Mercer or Perkins.

Tell that to my players. It literally keeps me up at night, considering I'm yet to find my style. I've tried telling them, but the looks in their eyes.

Whatever happened to sitting down at the table with some buddies, killing some goblins, having a laugh, and not worrying about highly detailed in depth epic narratives. My best gaming has primarily been improvised on the fly. RPGs are a shared emergent storytelling experience, not a novel or play that you're supposed to elevate to some high art form.

Long string of tweets from Mercer on this subject:

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2019/01/13/every-six-months-or-so-i-see-discussions-pop-up-defending-critical-role-from-people-saying-it-isnt-real-dd/

His response to the "Mercer effect":

https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/a999sd/_/eclht66/

Quote from: SP23;1071288Long string of tweets from Mercer on this subject:

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2019/01/13/every-six-months-or-so-i-see-discussions-pop-up-defending-critical-role-from-people-saying-it-isnt-real-dd/

His response to the "Mercer effect":

https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/a999sd/_/eclht66/

It's pretty much "Response To Pundit".

I also think it's hilarious when people accuse them of staging the game and rehearsing it or outlining it in advance. So stupid...they really are just playing D&D guys. There is no rehearsal of any kind at all. It's just D&D players who also are voice actors and good at improve role playing...that's it. There is no other secret behind the scenes, and it would look good if you were just in the room watching it or playing with them and there was no camera.

There is no such thing as reality TV. If it isn't scripted up front, its edited in the back end. You chop out the boring bits, you add in reaction shots, you add sound F/X here, you use silence noise there, etc.

I feel sorta bad for these DMs dealing with players who can't tell the difference between TV and real life.

My advice? Find other players. You can't fix stupid.

If you taught someone to play Chess, they wouldn't expect you to be Bobby Fischer.

New players shouldn't expect you to DM like Matt Mercer either.

Quote from: Razor 007;1071361If you taught someone to play Chess, they wouldn't expect you to be Bobby Fischer.

New players shouldn't expect you to DM like Matt Mercer either.

I'll let y'all on a little secret:  MOST DON'T!

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1071363I'll let y'all on a little secret:  MOST DON'T!

Seconded. The old adage of it must be on the Internet so it must be true comes to mind imo.

Pundit saw a bunch of Twitter pists or so he claims where some on the hobby expect all of D&D to be run like Critical Role..panicked and did his op.

When the reality is most are intelligent enough to realize that Critical Role is what it is and not the absolute final and only way to play D&D.

As Razor says above if I learn to play Chess it's on me if I expect to be good as a Chess Master and not the fault of the person who taught me.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1071354There is no such thing as reality TV. If it isn't scripted up front, its edited in the back end. You chop out the boring bits, you add in reaction shots, you add sound F/X here, you use silence noise there, etc.

I feel sorta bad for these DMs dealing with players who can't tell the difference between TV and real life.

My advice? Find other players. You can't fix stupid.

My wife was on a reality show (Stan Lee's superhero show - I can tell you stories). I know very much of what you speak. This isn't that (and again, I know one of the players). The editing is bare bones. There are no reaction shots added in post. There are no F/X added in post aside from the silly opening theme song stuff, unless they've changed something fairly recently. There is no silencing done - in fact if you watch it, they speak over each other all the time sometimes to the deriment of the "show". The "crew" is very bare bones. This is a fairly small time streaming operation which you're assuming operates like network television reality shows. It's a terrible comparison. It's not a comparison you'd make to Pundit's videos I suspect, is it? And yet, those are likely more outlined that this thing is. Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar. There is no trick involved.

I've seen Mercer's responses. They little shit just DOUBLES DOWN on saying "we're just a normal but much more awesome campaign, and so you shouldn't be mad at your  inferior DM for not being able to reach our level of entertainment" rather than ADMITTING IT'S AN ACT. That his Player are ACTING as players.

Then to top it all off, because an essential part of Mercer's FAKE PERSONA is being a "nice guy" he tweets about how he just wishes he could sit down with me and talk and then we could understand each other. But he did this minutes after he was just bragging about how he can't see my posts because he has me Muted.

So he's a FUCKING LIAR. And as fake a moralist of the Left as a TV evangelist would be on his side. He's selling this mr.nice-guy act while consistently doing things that are morally abysmal.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1071632... morally abysmal.

That sir was moral hyperbole...  

I supported the crusade against the story games because what you warned about actually happened to me. I survived the bullshit, but barely.  This is just an annoyance at best. Also, a great opportunity for others to jump into the ring and showcase a "real" game. The trick is doing so in a way that is entertaining. Thus far Critical Role, Adventurers Incorporated (??) and LA by Night seem to be the top shows that cracked that conundrum. You may hate them for whatever perceived slights they have perpetrated against gamer-kind but the overwhelming majority of gamers just see them as rpg evangelists and enthusiasts pulling record numbers of people into the hobby.

Maybe there's some spit-polish on it that might otherwise be missing from a non-Hollywood game, but it hardly rises to the energy you're wasting on it. Just my two cents...

Mercer is a hypocrite so are most people imo. Call me a cynic but I have done the same sometimes.

We are not against you talking negatively about Mercer. Some of us are getting tired of the sky is falling, end of the world hyperbole you keep using in videos and posts. It makes me want to listen to you less not more.

"Narrative rpgs will be the end of the hobby"...plenty of people still playing non-narrative rpgs.

"special snowflakes style characters are overwhelming the hobby and will destroy it any minute". I have come across that to the extent it will ruin the hobby. Not even remotely.

"Mercer and Critical Role are ruining the hobby"  No he is not. it's also not my damn problem if gamer xyz is too stupid to realize that Critical Role is not the real thing.

Message heard and received except we are not as worried or want to spend the energy on the subject.

Quote from: sureshot;1071687We are not against you talking negatively about Mercer. Some of us are getting tired ... we are not as worried ...

Is that the Royal "we"? Or are you representing a conglomerate? Who else exactly are you speaking for here?

Quote from: Zalman;1071729Is that the Royal "we"? Or are you representing a conglomerate? Who else exactly are you speaking for here?

Sureshot embodies the General Will of therpgsite - what are you, some kind of contrarian?

I guess I should have written I and instead of we. I suppose some might come across still as speaking for others. Not my intention and I generally agree with Pundit opinion on many subjects.

Between this video, Critical role being porn and his latest which to me at least comes off as "if your not doing it my way it's badwrongfun it just seems like less wanting to discuss and more on gatekeeping and gronardism. Some in the hobby just want to play and run heroic games. Some want to play and run less heroic styles games. Neither is badwrongfun on any remote level. It's just different styles in play. The less heroic is not my cup of tea but I'm not going to say they are playing wrong simply to enforce what seems to be an increasingly narrow and only one way to run rpgs position by the Pundit.