You're Not Matthew Mercer, Unless You're Matthew Mercer

Of course, I say that with love. Though, it shouldn't take some guy on the internet to tell you that. You should know that. Although, why am I so audaciously pointing out your flaw of not being voice actor, gamer, and DM of Geek and Sundry's Critical Role? I'm not. It's not a flaw. It's a good thing. You may have a style of GMing liken unto Matthew Mercer, hell you may even sound like him, but I will tell you something that will radically improve your life: It's wonderful that you are not Matthew Mercer. But if you are Matthew Mercer, that's really fricken' cool that you're Matthew Mercer! Only Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Sam Riegel, Liam O'Brien, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Ashley Johnson, (and also Orion Acaba for a good part of that) have and can regularly play Critical Role. Your game that you play in and GM for is its own thing. It may or may not have a live stream, but it's still not Critical Role. Even if you buy the Tal'dorei Campaign Guide and run a game based on it, you're not playing Critical Role you're playing a game based on it. Your game will always be unique and belong solely to you and the friends you play it with. That is ultimately the point; your game is your game. Whether you are a GM or player, know that you contribute to the identity of that game. Without you, the game is definitely not the same. Tabletop roleplaying games may be played with dice, and sometimes grids, maps, minis, and more, but the main components are the people in them. Anyone can play The Witcher or Dragon Age because those games and other video games don't need you to exist, but you make the game happen and help define it.

Learning from Critical Role

(All D&D groups wish they looked this good. Critical Role, Geek and Sundry)

Even though your game is unique, you can learn from watching Critical Role.This is not a criticism, but a few recommendations of what might be good to learn from the show. What can we learn from Critical Role, or even from just Mr. Mercer's style of DMing? Mind you, these are my opinions. You know, opinions? Those things people love raiding the chat with on Thursday nights because Matt has made a different ruling than they would have? Yeah, those. These are my opinions of what are good to learn from and take away from Critical Role or Matt's DMing style. Details The details that both Matt and the rest of the cast use to describe the world in which the story take place add life to it to a great degree. Details are hard. Especially when you have been playing for a couple hours already and you are getting tired, details become tedious. However, if you and every other player including the DM add to the details of what is happening in your game, that "immersion" that everyone, especially CR fans, crave will have a greater effect. One of the key pieces of what makes CR seem so intricate is because each of the cast members contribute with details. Defined Characters How is it that I can very accurately describe Taryon Darington as opposed to Scanlan Shorthalt? They are both played by Sam Riegel, and they are often two characters that are great sources of comedy- this probably because they are both played by Sam Riegel. Though, the reason why we can define the differences between Tary and Scanlan is because Sam takes the time to demonstrate their character's personality through acting and roleplaying. Remember, roleplaying is making choices while acting is filling in the character's thoughts, actions etc. Each of the other cast members does this, and Matt also breathes life into each NPC he creates. This may count as the details of the game, but games can lack this entirely. I have played with GMs who tend to let their NPCs seem like all the same people. Some people might not mind this, but if you are a player hoping to really be able to dig deep into interaction, especially with a social character, they'll feel like they hit a wall.

Rulings Matt is a GM that runs the game with the rules pretty well in mind. He isn't a rules lawyer GM by any means, but he seems to hold the rules in a particular regard where if something falls outside of them, he will try to quickly sort it out. He definitely doesn't seem afraid to make a ruling. That is a key piece of this outfit. The players may be pretty familiar at the rules at this point, but like any human mind, they don't stop their thinking simply at the end of the Player's Handbook, and Matt doesn't restrain the decisions the players can make to the text in the book. Many GMs are afraid to do this. Hell, even I, at times, am nervous to make a ruling when that gray area does come into play. Normally when we are going to make a ruling, we are afraid that our player's won't like the ruling we make. If you are nervous about that, I have good news: Your players are your friends! You can definitely talk about what you feel constitutes the answer. Matt does. He will explain what he thinks makes sense for his ruling, and then the player can agree or disagree. Of course, time constraints are on Matt's side and thousands of people are watching. They can't have it out right there and then, but that is a good thing. They can get through the next moment and Matt can think it over for a week, talk to the players and then say, "From now on this is how we handle it." I encourage my fellow GMs to try this, it could very well help you expand the way you run games and further increase your players' sense of freedom at the table.

Team Gaming The cast of the show, the players, play Dungeons & Dragons as a team game. There may be moments where that isn't always the case, but the cast knows they can't split the party for four episodes on end. That's a nightmare. The players know, and make the choice to work together. When a player decides their character goes and does their own thing for almost a year, a new potential member of Vox Machina arrives in their stead as their new character. Matt doesn't have to suddenly run a game for the departed character simply because it is what the character would do. The players are aware the the pretense of the game is to play the game together.

Keep these in mind, and you may have more of that je ne sais quoi that Critical Role has that you want to bring to your game. Talk about these with the other members of your group, and good things could come about because of it. Just remember that it is your group's game. Use the strengths of your group. Special Thanks

A special thanks goes to Matthew Mercer and the rest of the Critical Role cast for taking the time to not only take the time to do what they do on a weekly basis for our entertainment, but adding to the Dungeons & Dragons experience. Gaming is not something comes easy, but the cast of Critical Role puts forward some of the best sides of Dungeons & Dragons and makes it look accessible to everyone. Matt is probably one of my biggest inspirations to my own GMing style, but I realize that I'm not him and I don't always agree with absolutely every ruling or comment he makes as GM. GMing belongs entirely to the individual, and he proves that on a weekly basis, just as the whole cast proves that tabletop games entirely belong to the community, i.e. them and all of us. It is a shared experience but it doesn't need to be the same experience. So thank you, Matt, Marisha, Sam, Ashley, Taliesin, Liam, Laura, Travis, and Orion, for making our hobby even more fun. You guys always have me asking, "Is it Thursday yet?"

Announcement

Speaking of Thursday! I am headed to Sterling Renaissance Festival this weekend and leaving Thursday, I will try my damnedest to get all four articles out this week, if not, you will have a double Monday feature to look forward to. Happy gaming, everybody!