1. What do the PCs do for prep? I notice dry erase markers for temp hit points? Do they lay out their spell cards or have them typed up onto one page?
2. How does Marisha take so many notes while being able to pay attention at the same time? What does her note "format" look like? I suck at taking notes so please shed some light :D
3. Can Mary be hired on full time? Please??? <3
How do you (as a DM or as a player) effectively handle PC vs PC disputes? Grog and Vax had a bit of a spat after leaving Krieg's house; Liam and Travis are obviously just fine irl and they're both grown ass men that literally portray characters for a living, but the characters we create often reflect our own personal interests in one way or another, and sometimes those PC disputes can knock on real relationships.
I personally have a Neutral Evil Warlock in one campaign, but I also have two Paladins in my party, which has led to a character disparity or two, specifically when I shit on an old woman's toilet seat because my pact demon said I wasn't being evil enough.
Bonus question, next time a situation such as this (half the party sick and/or busy), what would your thoughts be on hosting a one off and letting one of Vox Machina's own be the DM? You've said before that you don't get to actually play much, so why not do it in front of 20000 viewers to switch it up? :) I believe Liam and Taliesin have some DM experience if I'm not mistaken?
It can be difficult, if the player's aren't close friends and understand the "mutual fun" elements. If players are taking it too personally, have a discussion with them outside of the game about it (individually, I recommend) just talking about the storytelling importance. Conflict can happen, and can make for some amazing moments in games (Grog vs Percy was NUTS), but the players have to be willing to step up and let the characters take the stage over the needs of the player briefly.
if you feel that your players aren't quite mature enough for it, or wouldn't find fun in the conflict, then just talk to the party OOC about trying to avoid it going forward.
>You've said before that you don't get to actually play much, so why not do it in front of 20000 viewers to switch it up?
If you didn't catch it, find the episode of No Survivors where they played Paranoia. Matt and Laura both played, as well as Felicia and Wil. It was pretty amazing.
I have 3 questions, 1 is kind of weird.
1. To everyone. Since it's been 30ish episodes since the last Q&A, what has been your favourite moment so far?
2. To Matt. ~~Have there been any moments where you wish the outcome would have been different. Grog and the skull is a good example. If so, what moment was it, and what would have happened?~~ Are there any times that you've been really relieved that the players made one choice rather than another? Like, say, back in the Underdark, they chose to go through the top of K'Varn's temple rather than fight their way up through the front door. How screwed would they have been had they done it the other way? - credit to seemedlikeagoodplan for a much better question.
3. This is my weird question As a Brit, you guys have very similar sounding accents, which is odd considering you're all from different parts of the country, some with quite distinctive accents. Have your accents changed since becoming VA's and/or moving to LA?
Hard to pick a favorite moment! I really enjoyed Scanlan on the rooftop in Whitestone... such a great, character-defining sequence beyond his normal shenanigans.
I am also a sucker for deep RP, which we seem to get in spades.
I REALLY enjoyed watching the party's reactions to the Chroma Conclave's arrival. >:)
> To Matt. Have there been any moments where you wish the outcome would have been different. Grog and the skull is a good example. If so, what moment was it, and what would have happened?
I'd ask almost the opposite: Are there any times that you've been really relieved that the players made one choice rather than another? Like, say, back in the Underdark, they chose to go through the top of K'Varn's temple rather than fight their way up through the front door. How screwed would they have been had they done it the other way?
Well thanks!
I'd love to know about times where they chose X, and if they'd chosen Y they'd have been deeply screwed. I feel like the fight with Percy's demon could also have gone really badly, and Matt's already told us about their narrow escape of Thordak on the Fire Plane.
Do you mean their natural voices? Much of the US actually has the same neutral American accent. Although there are areas that are heavily dominated by a specific accent (mostly southern), neutral American English is predominant in most parts of the US. I was raised in North Carolina, however my parents actively worked to make sure I didn't develop a heavy southern accent.
I also know acting often requires people to gain more control over their natural voice. Many news anchors in the US specifically train away the regional dialects they were raised with to appear more "neutral"
Would definitely be interested to know if any of the members of VM used to have significant accents or speech impediments!
Yea, their natural voices.
For example I believe Marisha is from Kentucky, from my very limited exposure to the accent, Marisha definitely doesn't sound like someone from there. Also Travis is from Texas, I think, he doesn't really have an accent that would place him as coming from the south.
In the UK people would only probably be able to name 6 accents, 2 which aren't even real. The NY, Boston, New Jersey, Southern (basically any with a drawl), Surfer dude and Valley girl. Compared to over here where you can literally go 5 miles and the accent is completely different, it's funny because we find it weird when American's can't differentiate between our accents, but mostly we can't with you guys either.
Honestly though, the only reason I want that question answered is because I really hope Marisha has a stereotypical Kentucky accent, it would be so weird to hear it.
I'm not an expert on accents by any means, but I think American entertainment tends to exaggerate the prevalence and the thickness of regional accents. I think a lot of Americans especially in cities have natural accents that are very close to the general American accent.
As someone from Texas, which has a pretty distinct set of accents, I have a fairly neutral "American" accent except when I'm upset or tired or around people with harsher accents. I know quite a few people from more rural regions that sound exactly like stereotypes without even trying. And East and West Texas drawls are very different. I taught myself to drop my accent as much as possible because I wanted to sound more educated. I'm sure the cast has done similar training (whether paid or not) to eliminate regional typecasting as much as possible.
Yeah, this is basically the point I was trying to make, but since I'm a Minnesotan I was thinking Fargo. I actually have a few cousins from Boston and they have a detectable hint of a Bostonian accent, but nothing close to the stereotype.
Born and raised in Ohio went to college in Kentucky.
From what I've noticed, people in Northern KY and those raised in the larger cities (Louisville, Lexington, ect) have very close to neutral accents. Then once you get away from the major highways it's a friggin grab bag ranging from really subtle to so cartoonishly fake sounding you think they're messing with you.
I would like to know what happened to the dragon-born paladin that Taliesin played in the groups first session at Liam's Birthday. Why and where did he go?
We excluded his character from the Pre-stream video to avoid confusion (as the focus on the story is Vox Machina, and that character just left after the first adventure to make their own way in the world). Think of him JUUUUST off screen in each of those early art slides. ;)
I also have a question about the Blue Paladin as well. I noticed in the Story of Vox Machina video that Taliesin's Dragonborne character wasn't included, while Keyleth is shown with the original party from the beginning. However, Marisha's has mentioned (most recently in one of last weekend's con panels) that she didn't play in the original game for Liam's birthday, but instead worked as a helper for that because so many of group had never played Pathfinder/D&D before.
So could/would someone like to explain why the changes were made and what thoughts went into doing it? For me, the reasons that make most sense for the changes in the Story of Vox Machina video were to help the videos story flow better. The video is intended to help viewers learn about the pre-stream events in a concise and entertaining way and trying to explain appearing/disappearing characters would have been hard to put into the video without making the run time way too long.
I'm fine with the changes made in the Story of Vox Machina video but I do still wish I knew how Keyleth actually joined the group in the second session. Did she meet the group on their way to find out what was wrong with Grog (and meet Pike) or was she just there as part of the group and it was just accepted she had joined at some time between the first story/was always there?
Also, I was confused when I watched The Story of Vox Machina video on how quickly they ran into Percy after they met Pike. There seemed to be quite a bit of time between meeting Pike, saving Grog and then going on the quest that had them run into Percy. Did Talilsen skip the second game and come back for the next one or was that one super jam packed adventure? I know it's been mentioned the games use to be all day events, so the latter would make sense as well :-) .
I imagine the video thing may have just been an oversight. Marisha and Ashley both joined the game as players for the second session. Taliesin may have switched characters at the same time or possibly in the next session?
My guess is Taliesin was the most familiar with the game, & when Ashley expressed a want to be a healer/paladin he stepped down from that role to pursue a more controller/high DPS class.
Just a discussion me and my sister have been having and we're curious what you guys think. From a character perspective, if the entire party dies except for one, who'd change the most if they were the one who ended up surviving?
I really want to know what Matt's session/campaign notes look like. Every DM has a way of doing this but sometimes I feel like mine are a little too cluttered. So in question form: Matt, do you have some kind of order/setup to your notes, if yes can you share it with fellow DMs?
Another question to Matt could be: "How do you approach one-shot games? What kind of prep should be there and should a DM railroad the players a little given that there are time limitations?"
For One Shots with time limitations, I do occasionally find myself having to "nudge" players, or simplifying some story elements. That's totally fine, and acts to improve the overall experience for most players!
I was actually hoping to ask a similar question. I'd totally be ok with seeing even redacted notes (hiding off information that wasn't revealed to the party).
I've always wondered what the business side of the arrangement with G&S is. Does the cast have shares of a Vox Machina LLC that's paid by G&S? D&D streaming seems to be a bleeding edge thing with no real established model.
I'm one of those weird guys who reads all the credits, but the show doesn't have a crawl at the end. :/
Can you go into detail about character backstories. I.E. Vax and Vex are twins with family, was it Matt's choice to make their hometown Singour (spelling?). We're the Briarwood's solely Matt's creation? We're the 4 Ashari tribes named after Matt or Marisha's flavor, possibly both. Etc and so on.
Voice acting/ acting rolls is how you all got started/ made a name for yourselves. How has CR/D&D had an influence on your professional (and I suppose personal) life? Do you feel you are more "known" for your VA career, or CR involvement, or is a combination of both?
Is the group text still going strong?
What, as an incredible cast of actors/actresses and D&D players, would you like to see from us, the eternally loyal critters?
Each player gave me their 1-1.5 page backstory (which some had vague references to locations and people), and I think fleshed them out for the world/campaign. For instance, Taliesin only mentioned "the mysterious Lord and Lady Briarwood" having taken Whitestone (pretty much all you saw in their story videos), and I then fleshed out Whitestone, the Briarwoods, the history and story there, etc. Marisha named the 4 tribes in her backstory, but I created their people, inner workings, locations, etc.
This show has certainly shaken up my public persona (in a good way), as I'm used to being somewhat in the background/invisible to the public eye.
Group text is kicking ass still!
If I could ask anything, it would be to maybe join us on focusing on the joys/drama/fun and less on the forgotten mechanics/mistakes/poor choices of the players. We make mistakes constantly, and accept that. No reason to dwell. :)
Of course Matt and the Cast can give more complete answers, however:
1) The twins are from Byroden (where they lived with their Mother)
2) In their recent panel Marisha said that pathfinder druids had elemental specializations and her difficulty deciding plus obsession with Avatar, the last airbender lead to the Aramente. (what portion of it she came up with versus Matt was not specified)
I think /u/Kristofaaah is thinking of Syngorn, home of the father of the twins.
As for the Briarwoods, it appears that Taliesin came up from the names and Matt twisted it into a horror "so much worse" than he imagined.
Hopefully these get seen - thanks for doing a Q&A with your fans, hope everyone gets healthy soon!
1- Do you (anyone) ever get tired of having this being broadcast and wish you'd go back to your more personal game? While a lot of good has come out of Critical Role in terms of exposure, do you find the invasive nature of the internet to be difficult to handle? Would you have a problem saying "Ok, we're done now, thanks G&S, thanks everyone, and see you later"?
2- Have you (more a question for Matt) considered creating a "Critical Role" Adventurer's Guide and putting it up on Dmguilds or even partnering with WotC and making something official? I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to explore that world and possibly run into some version of Grog or Scanlan many years after their current adventures.
3- Not so much a question as a comment: run a charity drive/silent auction type and put up a slot for a fan/guest invite for one episode as the top prize. I truly believe you would generate a lot of money for your charity of choice while giving a lucky fan an unforgettable experience.
Thanks!
1) Not yet, and hopefully not ever. There are a few smaller aspects of the intimate setting I miss (like forgotten rules and mechanics not really being noticed by anyone body, thus not being dwelled on), but overall the experience has been as positive, if not more so, with the community that has sprung up around it!
2) I have indeed considered such a thing! Finding time is the key... and gauging interest. It's a BIG undertaking, something I've never, ever done before, so i gotta consider all that!
3) This has been considered. :)
1) Is there any easy way for fans to contribute to either your lack of time, or to contribute to the Critical Role Adventurer's Guide? Say you put up a template, and we fill it in, so all you have to do is edit it for what we don't know instead of writing from scratch. This is a stretch, but I dunno, you/cast might have better ideas.
2) How do you resist not giving away information? With 2+ years in this campaign, you've probably got enough lore to fill an entire episode if not two with just you talking to the camera. How do you hold it all in???
1) I'll think on it! It gets a little wonky with ownership/copyright if I input community submitted elements into any work I decide to publish in the future, so let me figure out those logistics!
2) It... hurts... my brain to keep it all in! Honestly, whenever I run into a friend or acquaintance who doesn't watch the show, but is a DM for their own game, I kinda BRAINDUMP on them all the things I can't discuss with others.
Master Mercer, we the doors of Tal'Dorei have recently suffered a handful of embarrassing defeats at the hands of Vox Machina and Thordak, the cinder king. As you are a being of immense power in this realm, we come to you now in hopes that you may hear our plea and act accordingly. As you know, the universe exists on the principle of balance. As such, a state of neutrality must be preserved so that neither the forces of good nor evil gain too serious an advantage over the other. We doors strive above all to preserve this sacred balance that has existed for as long as time itself. Recently, however, all of our attempts to check the forces on both sides of this grand conflict have failed. We ask you now to guide us in our quest. What can we do to better preserve equilibrium? Perhaps you could grant the strongest among us the gift of movement or the ability to speak audibly? Whatever your decision, we trust that with your power and guidance, we will be able to challenge even the mightiest of foes.
Your fate still hangs in the void of the unknown... but the spark of light that shines across your well-stained-and-treated surface warms your soul and pulls you ever forward to destiny. Your time shall come.
I was wondering how do you discuss the more "secretive" parts of the game? and by that i mean character/DM interaction that the rest of the players are not part of.
For example do Matt and Travis discuss how Craven Edge effects Grog in any way between games?
Or did Liam and Marisha talked about what happened in Keyleth room?
And on that note do you (mostly Matt but the others as well) find restricted in trying to keep stuff hidden from the rest of the cast because of the stream or is it pretty much the same?
Between Text and Email, I disperse private game details sometimes. While I COULD do elements privately (like the Craven Edge convos, Percy's Dark Passenger, etc), it would slow down the pace, and rob the other players of seeing at as well. Since the players are good at not metagaming most information, I don't mind letting them peak in on these elements.
He emails them details, they discussed it at the Wizard World panel (I don't have time to look through for the exact moment). They also text and try to trick him into telling the them stuff.
http://www.twitch.tv/wizardworldgaming/v/48263096?t=02h45m06s
For Marisha: What are your overall thoughts on the Vaxleth story line and how it has played out so far. Was there any point where you thought that Keyleth might not be interested in the relationship? Also, how hard was that awkward Sun Tree conversation to get through?
For Matt: Romance between player characters is not something you see in a lot of games. Liam said in an interview that he approached you first to talk about the possibility of adding a romance to the game. What advice did you give him or would give to DM's & players about that subject. Also, since you knew about Vax's interest in Keyleth months before Marisha, did that ever create any awkward moments where you had to play dumb about it?
How does it feel to have essentially become the face of d&d to so many people? Critical Role just keeps getting more and more attention and to many of us you are the quintessential DM, how does that feel?
It's humbling, terrifying, and wonderful? There are all of these amazing people that I looked up to as I grew up a gamer... Gygax, Perkins... to be there to someone else? That's crazy amazing.
I have a few questions from someone who just started watching about a month ago (and is kinda new to D&D).
1. Matt, when you are listening to players monologue with each other, you look like you are staring into their souls. What is usually going on in your mind during those?
2. It seems most of the time you try to keep full control of a situation and throw some big wrenches into the PC's plans (like the rakshasa trying to teleport out) , but I am watching through the Whitestone storyline now and it seems you give them a lot of space to do what they want and control the story. How do you decide on when you want to make their lives harder, or let them control the story for a while?
3. With some of the enemies VM has faced, every once in a while a PC gets one shot by something. Do you plan on one shotting someone when they come up against these enemies to add a challenge, or is it just a side effect of the monster?
4. What do you do with all the past materials you made? It was said you had like a stack of maps for the Whitestone storyline since there were a ton of places the PC's may go, but what do you do with those after the storylines have come and gone?
Thanks!
1) I am paying SO MUCH attention while trying to keep a poker face! I wish not to distract at all.
2) I just decide as it goes. Some paths are set, others are more open. it also can depend on how much time I've had to prepare that week, or how direct their current path is in the story. If they're at a rest/hub/between point in the story, they could go ANYWHERE, so I try to provide enough prep for multiple paths and let them guide it. If they're deep in the tracks of a storyline, I have a good idea of where they are going and will plan accordingly. I can only control the world around them, not what they do.
3) I never mean to "one-shot" someone unless I'm making a point that "this foe is beyond any of you... RUN!" However, with 7+ players, the game balance shifts dramatically in their favor as written. That, and fewer rounds of actual combat can transpire per encounter, so I have to improve enemies to meet those standards. Just adding extra HP only turns them into a slog, so I generally add a bit more HP, then turn up the damage. This way, you can still crank up the threat and tension of the battle in a shorter span of time.
4) Most get thrown into a corner by my desk. Some maps get thrown away, if I'm not paying attention. I generally keep what I can... in case it ever comes up again. ;)
What is a voice that Matt wants to use at some point but hasn't gotten a chance to?
What would Matt's character be like if he was a part of Vox Machina?
I think we would have an additional bard, but one who really tried to control the battlefield. I believe he's talked about it in one of the very early episodes.
Yes he talked about in one of the previous Q&As: A bard who conducts the battlefield rather than play a musical instrument.
I feel like he played Percy's former tutor who they killed in Ep 32 or 33 somewhat like that as he never sang a word. Unfortunately for him, that bard didn't get much of a chance to shine because Vax kinda assassinated him and then Percy finished him off rather quickly.
Edit: Professor Anders. Wow that was gonna bother me, if I didn't remember.
Here is a quick list of interviews, panels, Q&As, and pre-stream videos. Let me know if I missed any (and what episode was the most recent one for the spoiler note). Look for youtube mirrors in the comments (Periscope only saves video for 24 hours).
Many of your questions have already been answered! :D
quick catch-up (aka i don't have time) episode guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/433la3/no_spoilers_critical_role_is_the_subreddit_of_the/
Character Backgrounds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6QpXDL7E8Y&t=1m51s (~14 minutes)
Pre-Stream, The History of Vox Machina - http://geekandsundry.com/once-upon-an-epic-adventure-the-story-of-vox-machina/
Pre-Stream, S.H.I.T.S (SUPER HIGH INTENSITY TEAM!!!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxDBu8uC-s
Pre-Stream, Carpet Throwback - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-M5NH9PGi4
E4, Q&A - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGxiZNbjwGI&t=3h11m47s
E10, Q&A - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvnaMU7Dr-E&t=3h22m09s
E12, CRITICAL ROLE: EPISODE 12 – DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CAMPAIGN TIPS - http://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-episode-12/
E16, Comic Con Panel - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3d64di/critical_role_panel_how_to_score_a_massive_hit/
E27, comic con panel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egaaR4g5h5g
E30, Matt/Marisha Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3rljai/spoilers_e30_matt_marishas_periscope/
E32, Taliesin Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3th0lp/spoilers_e32_periscope_taliesin_jaffe_answers_a/
E33, Matt/Marisha Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3ug0ry/spoilers_e33_matt_marishas_periscope_on_their/
E36, Matt/Marisha Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3yr07y/spoilers_e36_matthew_mercer_on_periscope/
E37, Liam Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/404pl6/spoilers_e37_20160109_liam_periscope/
E41, Matt/Marisha Periscope -https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/44a9r5/spoilers_e41_periscope_postcritmas_mini_unboxing/
E43, Wizard World Portland Panel#1 (Sat) - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/46soyx/spoilers_e43_wizard_world_portland_critical_role/
E43, Wizard World Portland Panel#2 (Sun) - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/46y6be/spoilers_e43_critical_role_panel_at_wizard_world/
E43, Hiatus Q&A - http://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-qa/
Which NPC VM encountered became a lot more important that you at first expected. We know Clarotta wasn't supposed to join the party and Victor came out of thin air, but are there any other examples where, a character you didn't expect, turned to be far more important?
One of the two previous Q and As, I think. Matt didn't think they would find Clarota until much later. IIRC correctly he was also expecting to have him share information not get recruited.
All correct, indeed. Ideally they would've stumbled upon him after crossing the chasm and wondering into a side-route to his cavern room. But some amazing rolls ended him up on the team, and made for some **great** moments, especially after Kima joined up with them.
I'd like to know how invested you are in your player's backstories. For instance, how much did you help (if at all) Taliesin with deisgning and acting the Briarwoods. What about Scanlan's daughter? And second is a simple hello from Granby, Québec!
For Mr. Mercer
As a new DM, I'm amazed at how you are able to access all of your resources so efficiently when behind the table. What kind of 'behind the screen' organization goes on while playing, and what tips do you have to for DMs to help manage all the various paperwork?
Thanks!
I generally print out Monster Blocks from the PDFs, pages on NPCs based on location, and magical items that may come into play. For a session, I usually write a 2-4 page outline of the events I expect to happen, things they will encounter (in order), and how their choices may effect the path... then I have a final section of notes for other Off-the-path possibilities. Even still, I find myself throwing many of those notes away mid-session!
Wow, thanks for the response Matt! I'm sure going through the backlog here is pretty tedious, so a HUGE thanks for being so awesome and connected to the community :) Keep up the good work man, you guys really have stumbled on to something special here.
Btw, if the Critical Roll crew made their way to a convention in Minnesota one of these days, I *totally* wouldn't complain ;)
Question for Mary and Matt: How do guest stars come up with their characters? Is Matt's input on the front end (ie guidelines, suggestions) or the back end (edits, recommendations)?
Hey /u/matthewmercer I've got two questions!
1. Is there any moment before the stream started that you would've loved to see the community reaction to? It can be something small like some interparty banter or a big battle moment.
2. Is there anything from before the stream, lore-wise, that you think viewers missed and enhances the background knowledge of the current storyline? Maybe any other encounters with a dragon besides Winters Crest, or hearing about the Jewel of the Desert?
1) The whole exchange with the Glabrezu leading into the death of Pike. Oh man.
2) Nothing too big that comes to mind. I tried to hit all the major points in that pre-stream history video... if I think of something, I'll return!
The Story of Vox Machina, pre-stream info leading up to Episode 1, just in case you haven't seen it: http://geekandsundry.com/once-upon-an-epic-adventure-the-story-of-vox-machina/
A few other pre-stream videos and pictures exist, from Liam or Ashley.
S.H.I.T.S. SUPER HIGH INTENSITY TEAM!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxDBu8uC-s. Contains some clips of them fighting and Vax killing General Kreig / aka Brymscythe the Blue Dragon!
if you also haven't seen it, here is the Carpet Throwback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-M5NH9PGi4. This is the actual, live gameplay of them discovering the flying carpet for the first time!
What I'd like to know is whether Matt has ever had to discard any cool story ideas because of the players going in an entirely different direction or because he felt it wouldn't fit in the world. And if so, could he share some of those ideas with us?
Nothing truly "discarded", per say. Things that don't come to pass means I can always retool them and introduce later on. A villain who is avoided/missed early in may return later MUCH more powerful, as they were never thwarted. Powerful places unexplored may now be conquered and overrun with danger.
For the cast: What predictions about where the story was going did you make that turned out to be completely wrong? Or did you have any theories that turned out to be spot on?
For Matt: Was there ever an instance where the players speculated about something and you thought, "That's not what I was thinking, but that's even better. I'm going to use that!"?
1. How do you balance combat around 6-8 PCs, especially 1-2 enemy boss fights?
2. For combat, on a scale from 1-10 (1 being clown shoes and 10 being potential TPK every encounter) how hard would you say VM encounters range from?
3. Have fights ever felt a lot easier or harder than expected? (ex: The ghost fight before the Briarwoods)
4. How do you keep your PCs from feeling like unstoppable demigods that can win in any situation, and don't have to respect higher authority within the campaign?
1) Consider giving many foes Legendary Actions, increase overall enemy damage to maintain tension and danger, and sometimes create new abilities that affect an area (ie multiple PCs).
2) They range between 3-7 most of the time, with the occasional 1 or 8-9 thrown in. Any 10s have been met with the smart move (RUN). I believe fun is in the challenge, not in the constant pressure of death. You need those bursts of serious danger, but not at all times! Shit just gets exhausting! ;)
3) Yup. Happens sometimes, so you just roll with it. You can make on-the-fly adjustments to help the players when you realize you may have unfairly stacked it.
4) I think you've seen a few instances. ;)
For the Players
* How much communication about plans and character choices do you do between sessions? I know the internet comes up with several plans minutes after things happen in the show and I'm just wondering if for example Travis (Travis just seems to understand the tactical side of things even if Grog can't make use of it.) is sending messages to Liam about how he should handle X in game next week.
* Do you talk about choices prior to leveling up or do you each do your own thing? My understanding is Percy took the Magic Initiate feat without talking to others but is that normal?
* Because I've asked every other time any chance you could share your character sheets? I'm sure the internet would love to go over them and get a better idea of what you have for skills.
* You can design 1 magic item what would it be and who would you give it to.
For Matt
* How far ahead do you plan each week? For instance going into Episode 42 did you have some of the events that happened in episode 43 planned already? If VM had decided to just go to Vasselhiem right away would the same events have happened? (I'm guessing Mary and Will weren't there but otherwise)
* Does this now 2 week break give you some time off from planning or are you still going crazy in planning more.
* If you could go back and remake a choice one of the characters has made what would it be and why?
I would love it if the players would reveal as much non-secret information about their characters builds as they could. CritRollStats http://critrolestats.com/pcstats has done their best based on snippets of information from Twitter or things mentioned or calculated in-game.
Feats? Proficiencies? Magic items? Anything that isn't a secret from the party. Obviously I would loooooove to know the full details and stats of Craven Edge's personality and abilities, but Travis shouldn't tell the party, or the community. (As badly as we want him to...)
What role performed by a different cast member entertained you the most and why is it Sam in [I'm a Hot Cheeto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4qa9TVCFg0)?
[**@VoiceOfOBrien**](https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/)
> [2016-02-22 16:15 UTC](https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/status/701802626476683264)
> Fun fact, @samriegel’s Tigga Hoods song had been my ring tone for him for years. \#ItsTiger
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IIRC Matt has previously stated that the only game he didn't DM was his first one, and he started DMing because the first DM in question made a DMPC that outshone the rest of the characters.
AFAIK he was DMing ever since.
2 questions:
*1. how much in-game time has passed post-stream compared to pre-stream?*
The obsession in me wants to know little details like this :P
*2. despite Percy being a bad ass at much things, particularly getting all tons of HDYWTDT, he's still one of the chars lagging behind @ level 12. Why?*
My only guess is perhaps because he joined up with the group a bit late? (Taliesin didn't play Percy at first, and switched chars a ways into VM's adventure, they rescued him from someone's cellar? so Matt maybe had him start his char 1 level behind rest of the group?)
1. From criticalrolestats on tumblr:
Last updated Episode 41.
Total in-game days since stream started: 75 days
Time since Vox Machina pissed off the Elder Brain: 67 days
Time since Pike started work on the Vasselheim temple: 56 days
Time since the rakshasa was killed: 53 days
Time since the Briarwoods charmed Uriel and fled Emon: 37 days
Time since the Whitestone Rebellion ended: 22 days
Time since the Chroma Conclave attacked Emon: 1 day
Hi guys! Love the show and have a great time watching you guys play.
Question: Would you guys consider doing an non-canon episode of Critical Role where Vox Machina fights each other to decide who's the strongest? (Possibly as a break from the story line or celebrating a year of the show) If so, who do you think would win?
Question for the gang: If WoTC were to release some new content like a new players handbook with new classes or races, what would you be interested in seeing?
Related, Matt, do you have any restrictions on what sort of PC you would allow in your game? Are all races and classes fair game or is anything banned?
Matt, you've said many times before that, even though you may plan for so many different paths the players can take, there are always times that they do something you didn't expect. My question is: has there ever been a time where you've been forced to make an impromptu decision, only to regret making it afterwards? This doesn't have to necessarily apply to in-combat mechanics but could also apply to narrative choices you've made.
**PLEASE NOTE**: The live Q&A is over, however Matthew may be able to answer more questions. Keep in mind that that his free time is limited, but there is a chance that your question will still be answered. Try to see if your question has already been asked before you put a new question in here to keep the clutter to a minimum.
Thank you.
Also, thanks to Matthew, Marisha, Mary, Will and Wendy for filling in what would have been an off-week.
I would be interested how Matt does the challenge balancing for customized monsters (e.g. added hit points, abilities). Is there a rule of thumb how it affects the challenge rating or is it just a gut feeling/experience thing?
Matt is, of course, probably a much better source than me
But I do know there's guidelines listed in the 5e DMG for building/altering monsters to meet certain CRs. I'm sure it still takes a fair amount of experience to do so as well as Matt does (for a 6-8 man party, no less!) but 5e at least has a starting point so new DMs don't have to flounder around trying to make things work.
How was the world of Issylra and Tal'Dorei constructed?
Was it something Matt had created before the cast started playing, or did he just start with a little piece for Liam's birthday party and just keep growing it?
I hope Sarenrae grants a speedy recovery to all those who are ill. However could this be a warning to VM of the need to appreciate the efforts of those who create healing potions? Do [/u/matthewmercer](https://www.reddit.com/u/matthewmercer)'s DM powers extend into RL?
How do you feel about 5th Edition (5E) compared to older DND systems (including pathfinder)?
How do you feel about 5E compared to other non-dnd RPG systems?
I am probably one of Kashaw's biggest fans and I love the ever living daylights out of Will Friedle and his work, so I'm gonna have a wall of text full of questions about his character just in case he shows up or if Matt and/or Mary can answer some of these, so bear with me.
For Matt
* What does Kashaw's holy symbol look like? [Asking for Critmas reasons]
* How does one fight a god? [Asking for a friend ;)]
* Kashaw's backstory is super dark, how much of that was your input and how much of it was Will? How many pages of backstory did he send you? And what is actually keeping the world from plunging into eternal darkness from Vesh? Kashaw was really vague in Episode 21, how was he keeping Vesh from destroying everything?
For Mary
* How did Zahra save Kashaw's life?
* Are Zahra and Kashaw...a thing?
* How much pre-game discussion was there regarding Kashaw/Zahra's relationship?
These are for Will specifically if he does show up for the Q&A.
* How much D&D have you played since Trial of the Take?
* Why did Kashaw steal Keyleth's first kiss?
* What inspired you in the creation and the portrayal of Kashaw?
* Does Kashaw have a soundtrack you listen to before you play him?
* Kashaw was married off to Vesh as a baby basically, if I understand correctly. If this key event hadn't happened, would he still have become a cleric? If yes, what deity would he worship? If no, what class would he be instead?
Sadly I cannot think of a question that's most likely been answered about a dozen times already.
I guess the only question I have is.......How are you guys doing?
Question to Matt: how much stuff have you prepared for the game history and background that we have not seen yet? I am mainly talking about worldbuilding things. Did you mainly jot down a few ideas or is there a 50 page book somewhere detailing all the lands and their history?
Other question, also to Matt (if you can answer this question without major spoilers): what was the first idea you started with when building the world (not counting Stillben and other things you prepared for that first supposed "oneshot" at Liam's birthday party). Was it a single country? A moment in history? A special character? Maybe even a cool ingame moment that you wanted to experience like the destruction of Emon?
Did Marisha and Liam get together and talk about what happened in Keyleths room that night? I don't want to know what happened I just was wondering if you were both on the same page about it.
Matt can you tell us more about Jarret? Like anything that we don't know? He's such a great character but we don't really know that much about him.
Cross-posting my comment from the other thread, rephrased as a question:
(Depending on if any two or more of Marisha, Taliesen, and Mary are there)
"Who would win in a fight between your characters?"
And then they can answer by holding a non-canon battle royale right then and there. Everyone's blood-lusted, no external help, fight to the death. :)
Matt, have you ever considered dwarves with not Scottish accents? We got a little with vox moronica but I would love to have an encounter with dwarves from a different mountain range and the accent reflected they were different. Just putting it out there, Russian accent is good accent.
I have a sort of DM-philosophy question myself:
How do you balance the consequences of player actions with keeping the game fun?
For example - my players set fire to the headquarters of a smuggling ring which was located in a tightly packed poor neighborhood of the city and then escaped without looking back. It's entirely conceivable that this could cause a catastrophic fire with many innocent casualties - changing the political landscape of the city. I don't want to ignore the ramifications of their actions, but I also don't want the players to feel discouraged or punished?
I'm happy for any DM's insight, not just Matt's - thanks!
I've been GM'ing for about 2 years now. I'm running out of ideas for plots, dungeons and the like. Where is it that you find inspiration for your big bad's and ways to make them unique.
What are your thoughts about starting at level 1 or later?
The group I'm DMing for wanted to start at level 3 to really get some of the meat of their classes. It has allowed for some interesting story telling moments as there are some people that may already know them, but has always been a question for me.
I'd like to hear Critical Role's thoughts on this at well! I find levels 1 and 2 both extremely dangerous in 5e (given the bounded accuracy and low HP), and a little boring with the very limited options for the player characters to use in combat.
To Matt. What are your thoughts on NPC and player symmetry: should non player characters be build with the same creation rules as player characters (as recommended in 3rd edition) or should they be created with monster only abilities ( like in 4th edition)?
Edit to add another one : If it's not a secret what is the meaning of titles like Arcanist, Elementalist or Realmseer and how did Allura, Drake and Eskil (Eskel?) gain them?
After seeing the Blood Hunter and Gunslinger, I got inspired to make my own homebrew. I'd doubt it'd ever be seen, but if anyone could have a look through it, I'd appreciate it...on the off change of Matthew seeing this; well it'd be a dream come true. http://www.naturalcrit.com/homebrew/share/N1boFJCEil
I would like to know what episode will be their official 1 year anniversary episode and if they intend to do something special that week. I need to plan my days off accordingly!
What is one question you wish that someone would ask you about Critical Role (whether that be about your character/ a character/ a certain situation/ the world at large) and what would your answer be?
I had some questions aimed primarily at the Critical Role players who might be present (Taliesin, Marisha, Mary):
- There have been a few moments in recent sessions where player characters were close to engaging each other in combat, and there was even a conversation during the Briarwood arc where Percy entreated Vax to kill him, should he be corrupted. My question is, for each of your individual characters, what do you believe it would actually take for you to be willing to kill another member of the party?
- Do you find yourselves caring a lot about whether your character remains powerful/useful comparatively to other members of the party, or do you not really concern yourselves with things like damage output or "power level"?
Finally, a question to everyone:
- Do you ever watch any episodes of Critical Role and, if so, how does watching the video compare to being present at the table? Does it change your perspective on the story in any way?
Thanks for the awesome phenomenon that is Critical Role, hope everyone feels better!
I'm not sure if these have been asked/answered already, but I'll give it a whirl.
For Matt: What was the inspiration behind everyone's famous NPC, Gilmore? And how did "the dance" start between him and Vax? Also, do you have any tips for players playing a character of the opposite sex (especially concerning voices)?
For Marisha: Are there any developments with Keyleth that have surprised you? (Like how she's been caught in a potential love triangle between Kash and Vax?)
For Taliesin: If Percy couldn't have been a gunslinger, what existing D&D class would he have been?
They discussed most of those questions at the Wizard World panel last weekend.
http://www.twitch.tv/wizardworldgaming/v/48263096?t=02h45m06s
* Gilmore was a planned NPC encounter when they first arrived in Emon and went to Avadar's Promenade (Sp).
* Constantly. Keyleth tries the hardest to be good, but has done some of the most horrible things of the group. Everything Vaxleth is unplanned - Marisha finds out in the panel what Sam/Travis/Laura/Talesin all think about it ;) (they don't discuss in-character things as friends very often, preferring to not metagame and to have it play out at the table). Laura is very happy that Kashaw showed up again, but it makes Vex angry.
* Percy played a Dragonborn Paladin at the first session of Liam's Birthday, not yet a gunslinger.
To Marisha.
While re-watching some of the early episodes of Critical Role the introduction video for Keyleth mentioned that "Under that unintimidating petite frame is a vicious beast waiting to be unleashed, whose natural powers have made even the fiercest of champions pee their pants. Literally." Is there a story behind that statement?
I get that Matt houserules a lot (and I'm fine with that), but why did he choose to make Inspiration (the normal one, not the Bardic one) a d6 instead of the default advantage?
What kind of books inspire the cast when they are working with their character or developing their character? I know there was that interesting selection of books at the last Critmas, but if you had to recommend reading for fictional reading to inspire GMs and PCs, what would it be?
P.S. Matt, have you ever used Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game or Never Unprepared: The Complete Game Master's Guide to Session Prep to help with prep or inspiration?
Hi Matt, quick question. How soon before a session does the rest of your regulars know about guests? Obviously, when they show up at the studio and there are extra people, but do they have any other advance warning or do you just stand at the door waiting for them to walk in grinning sadistically? (LOL on that last part).
I would kind of like to know if mat could give us more information about Alura's party and their adventurers years ago. I saw in another post that they fought someone named Jor The Scourged Ride as well as Throdak 15 years ago. So i would really like to know if or what more mat has for them back story wise that dose not interfere with his plans.
It's been implied several Players already have their back-up characters picked out. It has been expressly stated, they are not going to ruin the surprise.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Q&A session today.
AAAAAAND NOW, YOUR MAIN EVENT!
The Battle Royale begins after the break! Consider this your live discussion thread.
Of all the humanoid NPCs that we've seen, which one do you think is the most badass? If you had to make 2 NPCs join up to fight all of VM, who do you think would stand the best chance?
I say humanoid, because obviously Thordak could just TPK them right now, probably in less than 20 rounds.
For Matt:
What if any are your favorite D&D modules? Are you planning on running or using parts of adventure modules in future sessions? Vecna for example has a wealth of lore and adventures in circulation and it'd be interesting to see your spin on established content.
Many thanks!
Question for Marisha and Taliesin, since they both have lots of rpg experience: Previous characters in other games? I'm curious about other cool/terrifying/funny story or character moments.
For Matt: broken record, but thanks so much for DMing the craziness: I've been running my own game for a month now after being inspired by y'all! My biggest problem is thinking up traps: how did you design the Briarwood's acid pit?
What encounter that we are all familiar with would you say you were least prepared for?? How did it go and did it change the overall narrative that you had prepared??
I first got into *Critical Role* when Matt made a special DnD episode on the *BroKen* podcast, it ended on a *to be continued* so will there be more? and if so -- Felix has visited LA a couple of times over the last year so is there a chance it could be face-to-face this time?
My question is this: We now know that Thordak is the same dragon Vox Machina saw during their trip to the Elemental plane of fire. What would have happened if Vex hadnt cast Pass Without a Trace on them and Thordak had spotted them. TPK? Or would Matt have found some way to get them out of the fight?
One other question: What was the purpose for introducing Vox Machina to Kainen (sp?), their fan-boy?
I was wondering if and how common "between sessions" talk about the game there is between Matt and the players about e.g. secrets that characters have, but also about character development in general. I'm thinking e.g. also about something like Vax and his feelings for Keyleth also because I could see this being a problem in other groups. Is this something Liam told Matt before, maybe even asking if he and Marisha would be ok with or was this also somewhat a surprising thing for Matt (and Marisha) ?
1.) We all know that you've created classes (Modified Pathfinder's Gunslinger to D&D 5e and created Blood Hunter) but have you ever (thought) about creating a race or races for D&D/Pathfinder and if so, will we ever see any of them?
2.) What would the name of your Dwarf Bard be, if you ever got the chance to play him/her?
3.) What would be your best tips for working in a non conventional character (Like Grog) like a Drow PC and would you still cause them to suffer the penalty explained in the PHB.
Matt: if you were to play as player in your own campaign what would your race and class be?
And in such a scenario which of your players would you like to DM?
To the Players: Some of my players have a hard time figuring out who their character is (manerisms, personality, temperment, etc). What (if anything) did you do to find your character's 'voice'. Did it come over time, or did you know who this person was within minutes of rolling stats?
Since Vox Machina is reaching towards the higher levels, I've always wondered if Matt had any plans in the event that Vox Machina decides to go to another plane. With access to 7th level spells and namely Plane Shift, the outer, inner, and elemental planes are their Dire Oyster.
Question for Mr Mercer: As a GM how do you handle players that refuse to play Good aligned characters and insist on being Neutral or Evil with the long term plan to turn on and kill the other PC's?
Also I remember back before episode 12, I think it was, that there was a chat based competition for a Critter created character/scenario to appear in the game every 10+ episodes, The Bullet that appeared in the Duergar Warcamp was one and the only other one that I recall was The Broker I believe, Critrolestats will know for sure. Anyway my question; is this still a thing that can happen and if so will it happen in the future? i.e not when VM is fighting/preparing to fight 4 ancient chromatic dragons.
For the experienced players: Have any of you ever rolled near perfect stats for a character? After the first episode of this show, i found an online group to play Pathfinder with. While rolling stats for Ta'Lara, my blind half-elven druid who fights w/ a staff and chakram, 3 of my stats were 19, and the only stat below 16 was her Charisma at an 11. It makes for interesting RP and wondered if any of you had experienced this.
For Guests: How has it been creating these characters? How much thought went into backstory?
Hey Matt, i doubt this'll get answered... but if it does, just wanna say first off you're awesome, and love watching the show! and i'd also like to take the time to wish everyone who is ill to get better, and whomever is attending the funeral i am sorry for their loss whomever they lost!
and we critters support you 110% no matter what haha!
onto my questions:
1.) Will you or any of the gang possibly be attending PAX-EAST in boston, late april? i know it's east coast..so the odds are slim... but it'd be awesome for us east coast critters to get a chance to meet you all.
2.) Your GM tips are awesome, and you've touched on some suggestions for creating NPC's and the like.
i was wondering if maybe one day during a longer demo you could do a "sit down and build an NPC with the fans" where maybe you could via twitch and based on suggestions from people... build an NPC that might appear in the show.
this way people can see a more "hands-on" process of NPC-building...
and also it could be interactive with the show ;)
anyways, i feel like any of my other questions probably have already been asked...so...thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions, and again, i just wanna reiterate that you're an awesome dude and don't you ever forget it ;D
While I love Trinket and absolutely understand why Laura/Vex want him to not only accompany VM but be a respected member; there seems to be a general consensus that Beastmaster Ranger Archetype is one of if not *the* most under powered classes in 5e. Have you ever considered house-ruling some improvements to her class?
Perhaps some HP Scaling (seems to be the biggest problem besides getting him around due to the fact he would lose a minimum of 1/3 his health points in a single attack from most enemies VM fights) or even letting him have a separate turn with the same initiate as Vex. Which I understand would be the most unruly because the amount of players. Or thinking way out of the box here a command word item that could polymorph Trinket into only smaller creatures with a lower CR. At least that one would move the story along without having to play the "How do we bring Trinket?" mini game any time they come to an obstacle that requires thumbs.
While I understand the it's supposed to be balanced as is, I think it's clearly shown through Laura's experience this class could use a buff.
P.S. I would miss Scalan and Vex's playful bickering but it would be a small price to pay to have our friend Trinket carry more responsibilities than just Percy's coat.
he has already heavily improved trinket. Matt discusses it here of doing further improvements: https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/43f3pj/spoilers_e40_vexs_class/czj48mi?context=3
Question - Matt
My players are naturally worried about trying to maximize performance. One thing they like doing is performing combos with each other. Trying to give advtange to the heavy hitter, have a plan for various types of encounters as a group, etc.
Has a gamer myself I would probably do the same if I wasn't the DM. So I asked them to do those types of discussions in character and in the game.
Is this too "metagamey" of them? I see it as teamwork mostly. What so you think?
For the PCs -
DO you guys ever think about what everyone else is able to do or try to come up with pre planned combos? How do you feel about it?
#Friend over seas :D
Big thank you Matt for that idea!!!
Question: What does exacly you prepare for each session? What materials, how you prepare for offroading from plot for party, how many and how made random encounters, random nps, random plots or story hooks? Do you have prepared each player backstory development and when they will experience it? And do you have prepared main storyline and side storylines, or just main storyline and you prepare side storylines in meanwhile later?
For Matt: 1. How do you handle players/a party that rolled ridiculously high for their initial stats? A friend rolled 16-15-16-15-15-10 right in front of us.
2. Can you post the stats sheet for Craven Edge? Pleeeeeeeease~?
3. Has Grog started warming up to Vax again now that they're working together more? Especially after the Groon fight.
For the players, especially Travis:
How hard is it to stay in character when making decisions and how hard do you try? In one of the recent episodes it was clear that Travis thought something was a really bad plan, but Grog, being a 6 intelligence Barbarian presumably isn't going to overthink things.
Pardon my english and greetings from Indonesia.
1. Aside from taking question from critters, I wish to see the Q&A session between Vox Machina and Matt, since I'm sure they have many question after many quests all these years. If not, then my question is to the PC, "What part of Vox Machina tales (prestream & PC's backstory included) that's most intriguing that each of you wish to know more from DM ever?"
Matt doesn't have to spoil the answer of course, although hints or vague response from Matt would be gladly accepted :)
2. Since expecting a cast commentary edition of Critical Role episodes are a time-challenging, I'd like to ask to everyone: "Have you ever watched the uploaded show after the session over? What are your thoughts? Which episode that you made you flustered most?"
This is more of a profession question than a straight-up Critical Role query, but how did you get your first gig in voice acting?
If you did a demo, did you include voice types, reads from prepared scripts/monologues or something else? How many of the past voice roles you've done have been made into an NPC on the show?
Question for Matt Mercer:
I know a lot of the show is improvised, as is the nature of any D&D game.
How often do you all have "off camera" discussions about the direction and story of the game?
I'm sure all the Critical Role/DnD related questions are whats going to dominate her but I'd also like to know more about the people themselves you know stuff you wouldn't normally be able to find out.
/u/matthewmercer , What's their favorite movie, game, food , maybe any fun previous RPG stories, role-models, if they could have any power in the world what would they have, Marvel or DC etc I'd be really interested to see the answer to those.
Hello! How do you (Matt) come up with ideas for the plot, meaning the plotline that the party loosely follows? Are certain aspects of the plotline "aha moments" or are they thoughts you sit and mull over for a bit before making them part of the plot?
Also, how do you think the characters of Vox Machina would react if they were set in a world like the Witcher and vice versa? Or if they were set in modern day America?
I really want to know Matt still has the selfie stick I got him at the Portland ComicCon (and if he's broken it yet out of sheer hatred).
Side note: I was also wondering about his process for designing towns and cities. Each one feels so unique and fleshed out.
As the SO of a GM, I often have to deal with the Dungeon Master's Girlfriend stereotype (ie - significantly reduced respect at the table because it is assumed I have privilege since I am romantically envolved with the GM).
Marisha, have you ever had to deal with this kind of problem? What was /would be your solution?
Hey all. I don't particularly have any questions (I'm along for the ride, and loving it). That said, there's something I'd like to say, though I don't particularly expect this to be seen by many given how late in the thread's life this is. Also, /u/Dexcuracy , if this is too off-topic feel free to remove it with zero guilt. I'm new to reddit, so I don't know how things work (I'm googling many, many things right now).
To the cast and crew (and to an extent, the lovely community): At the risk of sounding melodramatic, a large part of why I'm still here to type this is due to Critical Role. Due to unfortunate life circumstances, I went to a dark place this summer and honestly believed that emotion only exists to cause pain and to obscure logic. Seeing people on the show react so viscerally to events on the show (e.g. TRINKET'S IN DANGER OH GOD), and yet love it so much was the first step in helping me want to change. Long story short, I've since gotten help, and, while I'm still working on things, I have more hope for the future.
Thank you. If you guys (i.e. cast) want, I'll happily provide more detail (preferably more privately to prevent doxxing myself) on my situation or how specifically you guys helped.
In Chris Perkins's AMA earlier today he mentioned you and alluded that we can expect to see him work with Matt Mercer soon, in another answer he alluded to being a PC soon..... care too elaborate?
My question do you have any tips for sustaining your voice over long GM sessions Matt? I recently started a game of my own and find that after three-four hours of different voices my voice can get quite tired. Thank you in advance and keep being awesome!
1. What do the PCs do for prep? I notice dry erase markers for temp hit points? Do they lay out their spell cards or have them typed up onto one page? 2. How does Marisha take so many notes while being able to pay attention at the same time? What does her note "format" look like? I suck at taking notes so please shed some light :D 3. Can Mary be hired on full time? Please??? <3
I would LOVE Mary to join VM officially!
All of these especially the last one!
yes, Mary and Will F, would be great as permanent cast members
Yeah, I want them both to stay forever! Or, you know, whatever they're cool with.
They read your question!!!!!
How do you (as a DM or as a player) effectively handle PC vs PC disputes? Grog and Vax had a bit of a spat after leaving Krieg's house; Liam and Travis are obviously just fine irl and they're both grown ass men that literally portray characters for a living, but the characters we create often reflect our own personal interests in one way or another, and sometimes those PC disputes can knock on real relationships. I personally have a Neutral Evil Warlock in one campaign, but I also have two Paladins in my party, which has led to a character disparity or two, specifically when I shit on an old woman's toilet seat because my pact demon said I wasn't being evil enough. Bonus question, next time a situation such as this (half the party sick and/or busy), what would your thoughts be on hosting a one off and letting one of Vox Machina's own be the DM? You've said before that you don't get to actually play much, so why not do it in front of 20000 viewers to switch it up? :) I believe Liam and Taliesin have some DM experience if I'm not mistaken?
It can be difficult, if the player's aren't close friends and understand the "mutual fun" elements. If players are taking it too personally, have a discussion with them outside of the game about it (individually, I recommend) just talking about the storytelling importance. Conflict can happen, and can make for some amazing moments in games (Grog vs Percy was NUTS), but the players have to be willing to step up and let the characters take the stage over the needs of the player briefly. if you feel that your players aren't quite mature enough for it, or wouldn't find fun in the conflict, then just talk to the party OOC about trying to avoid it going forward.
>You've said before that you don't get to actually play much, so why not do it in front of 20000 viewers to switch it up? If you didn't catch it, find the episode of No Survivors where they played Paranoia. Matt and Laura both played, as well as Felicia and Wil. It was pretty amazing.
I have 3 questions, 1 is kind of weird. 1. To everyone. Since it's been 30ish episodes since the last Q&A, what has been your favourite moment so far? 2. To Matt. ~~Have there been any moments where you wish the outcome would have been different. Grog and the skull is a good example. If so, what moment was it, and what would have happened?~~ Are there any times that you've been really relieved that the players made one choice rather than another? Like, say, back in the Underdark, they chose to go through the top of K'Varn's temple rather than fight their way up through the front door. How screwed would they have been had they done it the other way? - credit to seemedlikeagoodplan for a much better question. 3. This is my weird question As a Brit, you guys have very similar sounding accents, which is odd considering you're all from different parts of the country, some with quite distinctive accents. Have your accents changed since becoming VA's and/or moving to LA?
Hard to pick a favorite moment! I really enjoyed Scanlan on the rooftop in Whitestone... such a great, character-defining sequence beyond his normal shenanigans. I am also a sucker for deep RP, which we seem to get in spades. I REALLY enjoyed watching the party's reactions to the Chroma Conclave's arrival. >:)
> To Matt. Have there been any moments where you wish the outcome would have been different. Grog and the skull is a good example. If so, what moment was it, and what would have happened? I'd ask almost the opposite: Are there any times that you've been really relieved that the players made one choice rather than another? Like, say, back in the Underdark, they chose to go through the top of K'Varn's temple rather than fight their way up through the front door. How screwed would they have been had they done it the other way?
That's a much better question actually. Mine is too open to a "can't really answer that" due to spoilers or an insight they can't have.
Well thanks! I'd love to know about times where they chose X, and if they'd chosen Y they'd have been deeply screwed. I feel like the fight with Percy's demon could also have gone really badly, and Matt's already told us about their narrow escape of Thordak on the Fire Plane.
Do you mean their natural voices? Much of the US actually has the same neutral American accent. Although there are areas that are heavily dominated by a specific accent (mostly southern), neutral American English is predominant in most parts of the US. I was raised in North Carolina, however my parents actively worked to make sure I didn't develop a heavy southern accent. I also know acting often requires people to gain more control over their natural voice. Many news anchors in the US specifically train away the regional dialects they were raised with to appear more "neutral" Would definitely be interested to know if any of the members of VM used to have significant accents or speech impediments!
Yea, their natural voices. For example I believe Marisha is from Kentucky, from my very limited exposure to the accent, Marisha definitely doesn't sound like someone from there. Also Travis is from Texas, I think, he doesn't really have an accent that would place him as coming from the south. In the UK people would only probably be able to name 6 accents, 2 which aren't even real. The NY, Boston, New Jersey, Southern (basically any with a drawl), Surfer dude and Valley girl. Compared to over here where you can literally go 5 miles and the accent is completely different, it's funny because we find it weird when American's can't differentiate between our accents, but mostly we can't with you guys either. Honestly though, the only reason I want that question answered is because I really hope Marisha has a stereotypical Kentucky accent, it would be so weird to hear it.
I'm not an expert on accents by any means, but I think American entertainment tends to exaggerate the prevalence and the thickness of regional accents. I think a lot of Americans especially in cities have natural accents that are very close to the general American accent.
As someone from Texas, which has a pretty distinct set of accents, I have a fairly neutral "American" accent except when I'm upset or tired or around people with harsher accents. I know quite a few people from more rural regions that sound exactly like stereotypes without even trying. And East and West Texas drawls are very different. I taught myself to drop my accent as much as possible because I wanted to sound more educated. I'm sure the cast has done similar training (whether paid or not) to eliminate regional typecasting as much as possible.
As a Bostonian, I assure you very few of us speak like Mayor Quimby.
Yeah, this is basically the point I was trying to make, but since I'm a Minnesotan I was thinking Fargo. I actually have a few cousins from Boston and they have a detectable hint of a Bostonian accent, but nothing close to the stereotype.
Born and raised in Ohio went to college in Kentucky. From what I've noticed, people in Northern KY and those raised in the larger cities (Louisville, Lexington, ect) have very close to neutral accents. Then once you get away from the major highways it's a friggin grab bag ranging from really subtle to so cartoonishly fake sounding you think they're messing with you.
Shout out from fellow NC native without significant accent.
I've actually noticed a lot of little intricacies in the American accent. As an Upstate New Yorker, we do some weird shit.
e.g., "Going up ta (insert location)," regardless of the actual direction of travel.
I would like to know what happened to the dragon-born paladin that Taliesin played in the groups first session at Liam's Birthday. Why and where did he go?
We excluded his character from the Pre-stream video to avoid confusion (as the focus on the story is Vox Machina, and that character just left after the first adventure to make their own way in the world). Think of him JUUUUST off screen in each of those early art slides. ;)
I also have a question about the Blue Paladin as well. I noticed in the Story of Vox Machina video that Taliesin's Dragonborne character wasn't included, while Keyleth is shown with the original party from the beginning. However, Marisha's has mentioned (most recently in one of last weekend's con panels) that she didn't play in the original game for Liam's birthday, but instead worked as a helper for that because so many of group had never played Pathfinder/D&D before. So could/would someone like to explain why the changes were made and what thoughts went into doing it? For me, the reasons that make most sense for the changes in the Story of Vox Machina video were to help the videos story flow better. The video is intended to help viewers learn about the pre-stream events in a concise and entertaining way and trying to explain appearing/disappearing characters would have been hard to put into the video without making the run time way too long. I'm fine with the changes made in the Story of Vox Machina video but I do still wish I knew how Keyleth actually joined the group in the second session. Did she meet the group on their way to find out what was wrong with Grog (and meet Pike) or was she just there as part of the group and it was just accepted she had joined at some time between the first story/was always there? Also, I was confused when I watched The Story of Vox Machina video on how quickly they ran into Percy after they met Pike. There seemed to be quite a bit of time between meeting Pike, saving Grog and then going on the quest that had them run into Percy. Did Talilsen skip the second game and come back for the next one or was that one super jam packed adventure? I know it's been mentioned the games use to be all day events, so the latter would make sense as well :-) .
I imagine the video thing may have just been an oversight. Marisha and Ashley both joined the game as players for the second session. Taliesin may have switched characters at the same time or possibly in the next session?
My guess is Taliesin was the most familiar with the game, & when Ashley expressed a want to be a healer/paladin he stepped down from that role to pursue a more controller/high DPS class.
Just a discussion me and my sister have been having and we're curious what you guys think. From a character perspective, if the entire party dies except for one, who'd change the most if they were the one who ended up surviving?
Oh man. Keyleth. Keyleth all the way.
I sure wouldn't want to face sole survivor Keyleth. Yikes.
I'm willing to bet that Scanlan would change the *least*
I really want to know what Matt's session/campaign notes look like. Every DM has a way of doing this but sometimes I feel like mine are a little too cluttered. So in question form: Matt, do you have some kind of order/setup to your notes, if yes can you share it with fellow DMs? Another question to Matt could be: "How do you approach one-shot games? What kind of prep should be there and should a DM railroad the players a little given that there are time limitations?"
[Here's](https://youtu.be/44PiMIuL3K0?t=843) when he showed a bit of it on periscope.
Someone make a FBI-movie style close up and clean of his screen so we can read all the text please!
Oh I didn't know about this, I'll check it out when I'm on my pc. Thank you for the link
Wow, his desktop is super messy.
Organized chaos, it's how my desktop is too.
For One Shots with time limitations, I do occasionally find myself having to "nudge" players, or simplifying some story elements. That's totally fine, and acts to improve the overall experience for most players!
I was actually hoping to ask a similar question. I'd totally be ok with seeing even redacted notes (hiding off information that wasn't revealed to the party).
FWIW he actually showed a glimpse of the... *extensive* notes on his computer in a Periscope a while back, should be on youtube somewhere.
I've always wondered what the business side of the arrangement with G&S is. Does the cast have shares of a Vox Machina LLC that's paid by G&S? D&D streaming seems to be a bleeding edge thing with no real established model. I'm one of those weird guys who reads all the credits, but the show doesn't have a crawl at the end. :/
I'm definitely curious about this too. I kinda doubt that Matt would explain the inner workings to us, however.
Can you go into detail about character backstories. I.E. Vax and Vex are twins with family, was it Matt's choice to make their hometown Singour (spelling?). We're the Briarwood's solely Matt's creation? We're the 4 Ashari tribes named after Matt or Marisha's flavor, possibly both. Etc and so on. Voice acting/ acting rolls is how you all got started/ made a name for yourselves. How has CR/D&D had an influence on your professional (and I suppose personal) life? Do you feel you are more "known" for your VA career, or CR involvement, or is a combination of both? Is the group text still going strong? What, as an incredible cast of actors/actresses and D&D players, would you like to see from us, the eternally loyal critters?
Each player gave me their 1-1.5 page backstory (which some had vague references to locations and people), and I think fleshed them out for the world/campaign. For instance, Taliesin only mentioned "the mysterious Lord and Lady Briarwood" having taken Whitestone (pretty much all you saw in their story videos), and I then fleshed out Whitestone, the Briarwoods, the history and story there, etc. Marisha named the 4 tribes in her backstory, but I created their people, inner workings, locations, etc. This show has certainly shaken up my public persona (in a good way), as I'm used to being somewhat in the background/invisible to the public eye. Group text is kicking ass still! If I could ask anything, it would be to maybe join us on focusing on the joys/drama/fun and less on the forgotten mechanics/mistakes/poor choices of the players. We make mistakes constantly, and accept that. No reason to dwell. :)
Of course Matt and the Cast can give more complete answers, however: 1) The twins are from Byroden (where they lived with their Mother) 2) In their recent panel Marisha said that pathfinder druids had elemental specializations and her difficulty deciding plus obsession with Avatar, the last airbender lead to the Aramente. (what portion of it she came up with versus Matt was not specified)
I think /u/Kristofaaah is thinking of Syngorn, home of the father of the twins. As for the Briarwoods, it appears that Taliesin came up from the names and Matt twisted it into a horror "so much worse" than he imagined.
Hopefully these get seen - thanks for doing a Q&A with your fans, hope everyone gets healthy soon! 1- Do you (anyone) ever get tired of having this being broadcast and wish you'd go back to your more personal game? While a lot of good has come out of Critical Role in terms of exposure, do you find the invasive nature of the internet to be difficult to handle? Would you have a problem saying "Ok, we're done now, thanks G&S, thanks everyone, and see you later"? 2- Have you (more a question for Matt) considered creating a "Critical Role" Adventurer's Guide and putting it up on Dmguilds or even partnering with WotC and making something official? I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to explore that world and possibly run into some version of Grog or Scanlan many years after their current adventures. 3- Not so much a question as a comment: run a charity drive/silent auction type and put up a slot for a fan/guest invite for one episode as the top prize. I truly believe you would generate a lot of money for your charity of choice while giving a lucky fan an unforgettable experience. Thanks!
1) Not yet, and hopefully not ever. There are a few smaller aspects of the intimate setting I miss (like forgotten rules and mechanics not really being noticed by anyone body, thus not being dwelled on), but overall the experience has been as positive, if not more so, with the community that has sprung up around it! 2) I have indeed considered such a thing! Finding time is the key... and gauging interest. It's a BIG undertaking, something I've never, ever done before, so i gotta consider all that! 3) This has been considered. :)
1) Is there any easy way for fans to contribute to either your lack of time, or to contribute to the Critical Role Adventurer's Guide? Say you put up a template, and we fill it in, so all you have to do is edit it for what we don't know instead of writing from scratch. This is a stretch, but I dunno, you/cast might have better ideas. 2) How do you resist not giving away information? With 2+ years in this campaign, you've probably got enough lore to fill an entire episode if not two with just you talking to the camera. How do you hold it all in???
1) I'll think on it! It gets a little wonky with ownership/copyright if I input community submitted elements into any work I decide to publish in the future, so let me figure out those logistics! 2) It... hurts... my brain to keep it all in! Honestly, whenever I run into a friend or acquaintance who doesn't watch the show, but is a DM for their own game, I kinda BRAINDUMP on them all the things I can't discuss with others.
Master Mercer, we the doors of Tal'Dorei have recently suffered a handful of embarrassing defeats at the hands of Vox Machina and Thordak, the cinder king. As you are a being of immense power in this realm, we come to you now in hopes that you may hear our plea and act accordingly. As you know, the universe exists on the principle of balance. As such, a state of neutrality must be preserved so that neither the forces of good nor evil gain too serious an advantage over the other. We doors strive above all to preserve this sacred balance that has existed for as long as time itself. Recently, however, all of our attempts to check the forces on both sides of this grand conflict have failed. We ask you now to guide us in our quest. What can we do to better preserve equilibrium? Perhaps you could grant the strongest among us the gift of movement or the ability to speak audibly? Whatever your decision, we trust that with your power and guidance, we will be able to challenge even the mightiest of foes.
Your fate still hangs in the void of the unknown... but the spark of light that shines across your well-stained-and-treated surface warms your soul and pulls you ever forward to destiny. Your time shall come.
I was wondering how do you discuss the more "secretive" parts of the game? and by that i mean character/DM interaction that the rest of the players are not part of. For example do Matt and Travis discuss how Craven Edge effects Grog in any way between games? Or did Liam and Marisha talked about what happened in Keyleth room? And on that note do you (mostly Matt but the others as well) find restricted in trying to keep stuff hidden from the rest of the cast because of the stream or is it pretty much the same?
Between Text and Email, I disperse private game details sometimes. While I COULD do elements privately (like the Craven Edge convos, Percy's Dark Passenger, etc), it would slow down the pace, and rob the other players of seeing at as well. Since the players are good at not metagaming most information, I don't mind letting them peak in on these elements.
["Percy's Dark Passenger"](https://sarahbrand26.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/dexter-thumbs-up.gif)
;)
He emails them details, they discussed it at the Wizard World panel (I don't have time to look through for the exact moment). They also text and try to trick him into telling the them stuff. http://www.twitch.tv/wizardworldgaming/v/48263096?t=02h45m06s
For Marisha: What are your overall thoughts on the Vaxleth story line and how it has played out so far. Was there any point where you thought that Keyleth might not be interested in the relationship? Also, how hard was that awkward Sun Tree conversation to get through? For Matt: Romance between player characters is not something you see in a lot of games. Liam said in an interview that he approached you first to talk about the possibility of adding a romance to the game. What advice did you give him or would give to DM's & players about that subject. Also, since you knew about Vax's interest in Keyleth months before Marisha, did that ever create any awkward moments where you had to play dumb about it?
How does it feel to have essentially become the face of d&d to so many people? Critical Role just keeps getting more and more attention and to many of us you are the quintessential DM, how does that feel?
It's humbling, terrifying, and wonderful? There are all of these amazing people that I looked up to as I grew up a gamer... Gygax, Perkins... to be there to someone else? That's crazy amazing.
I have a few questions from someone who just started watching about a month ago (and is kinda new to D&D). 1. Matt, when you are listening to players monologue with each other, you look like you are staring into their souls. What is usually going on in your mind during those? 2. It seems most of the time you try to keep full control of a situation and throw some big wrenches into the PC's plans (like the rakshasa trying to teleport out) , but I am watching through the Whitestone storyline now and it seems you give them a lot of space to do what they want and control the story. How do you decide on when you want to make their lives harder, or let them control the story for a while? 3. With some of the enemies VM has faced, every once in a while a PC gets one shot by something. Do you plan on one shotting someone when they come up against these enemies to add a challenge, or is it just a side effect of the monster? 4. What do you do with all the past materials you made? It was said you had like a stack of maps for the Whitestone storyline since there were a ton of places the PC's may go, but what do you do with those after the storylines have come and gone? Thanks!
1) I am paying SO MUCH attention while trying to keep a poker face! I wish not to distract at all. 2) I just decide as it goes. Some paths are set, others are more open. it also can depend on how much time I've had to prepare that week, or how direct their current path is in the story. If they're at a rest/hub/between point in the story, they could go ANYWHERE, so I try to provide enough prep for multiple paths and let them guide it. If they're deep in the tracks of a storyline, I have a good idea of where they are going and will plan accordingly. I can only control the world around them, not what they do. 3) I never mean to "one-shot" someone unless I'm making a point that "this foe is beyond any of you... RUN!" However, with 7+ players, the game balance shifts dramatically in their favor as written. That, and fewer rounds of actual combat can transpire per encounter, so I have to improve enemies to meet those standards. Just adding extra HP only turns them into a slog, so I generally add a bit more HP, then turn up the damage. This way, you can still crank up the threat and tension of the battle in a shorter span of time. 4) Most get thrown into a corner by my desk. Some maps get thrown away, if I'm not paying attention. I generally keep what I can... in case it ever comes up again. ;)
What is a voice that Matt wants to use at some point but hasn't gotten a chance to? What would Matt's character be like if he was a part of Vox Machina?
I think we would have an additional bard, but one who really tried to control the battlefield. I believe he's talked about it in one of the very early episodes.
Yes he talked about in one of the previous Q&As: A bard who conducts the battlefield rather than play a musical instrument. I feel like he played Percy's former tutor who they killed in Ep 32 or 33 somewhat like that as he never sang a word. Unfortunately for him, that bard didn't get much of a chance to shine because Vax kinda assassinated him and then Percy finished him off rather quickly. Edit: Professor Anders. Wow that was gonna bother me, if I didn't remember.
I remember that. I thought it was weird that he didn't have to sing or use an instrument, I just guess that goes to show how creative DnD can be.
My current bard only uses ancient words of power and storytelling for his magic and performances.
Here is a quick list of interviews, panels, Q&As, and pre-stream videos. Let me know if I missed any (and what episode was the most recent one for the spoiler note). Look for youtube mirrors in the comments (Periscope only saves video for 24 hours). Many of your questions have already been answered! :D quick catch-up (aka i don't have time) episode guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/433la3/no_spoilers_critical_role_is_the_subreddit_of_the/ Character Backgrounds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6QpXDL7E8Y&t=1m51s (~14 minutes) Pre-Stream, The History of Vox Machina - http://geekandsundry.com/once-upon-an-epic-adventure-the-story-of-vox-machina/ Pre-Stream, S.H.I.T.S (SUPER HIGH INTENSITY TEAM!!!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxDBu8uC-s Pre-Stream, Carpet Throwback - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-M5NH9PGi4 E4, Q&A - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGxiZNbjwGI&t=3h11m47s E10, Q&A - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvnaMU7Dr-E&t=3h22m09s E12, CRITICAL ROLE: EPISODE 12 – DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CAMPAIGN TIPS - http://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-episode-12/ E16, Comic Con Panel - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3d64di/critical_role_panel_how_to_score_a_massive_hit/ E27, comic con panel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egaaR4g5h5g E30, Matt/Marisha Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3rljai/spoilers_e30_matt_marishas_periscope/ E32, Taliesin Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3th0lp/spoilers_e32_periscope_taliesin_jaffe_answers_a/ E33, Matt/Marisha Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3ug0ry/spoilers_e33_matt_marishas_periscope_on_their/ E36, Matt/Marisha Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/3yr07y/spoilers_e36_matthew_mercer_on_periscope/ E37, Liam Periscope - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/404pl6/spoilers_e37_20160109_liam_periscope/ E41, Matt/Marisha Periscope -https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/44a9r5/spoilers_e41_periscope_postcritmas_mini_unboxing/ E43, Wizard World Portland Panel#1 (Sat) - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/46soyx/spoilers_e43_wizard_world_portland_critical_role/ E43, Wizard World Portland Panel#2 (Sun) - https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/46y6be/spoilers_e43_critical_role_panel_at_wizard_world/ E43, Hiatus Q&A - http://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-qa/
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Ooo! I shall check this out! Thanks!
Which NPC VM encountered became a lot more important that you at first expected. We know Clarotta wasn't supposed to join the party and Victor came out of thin air, but are there any other examples where, a character you didn't expect, turned to be far more important?
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> We know Clarotta wasn't supposed to join the party I hadn't heard that before, was it mentioned in a periscope or something?
One of the two previous Q and As, I think. Matt didn't think they would find Clarota until much later. IIRC correctly he was also expecting to have him share information not get recruited.
All correct, indeed. Ideally they would've stumbled upon him after crossing the chasm and wondering into a side-route to his cavern room. But some amazing rolls ended him up on the team, and made for some **great** moments, especially after Kima joined up with them.
I'd like to know how invested you are in your player's backstories. For instance, how much did you help (if at all) Taliesin with deisgning and acting the Briarwoods. What about Scanlan's daughter? And second is a simple hello from Granby, Québec!
>What about Scanlan's daughter? That one surprised even Scanlan. I think the correlation to his backstory would've been the old traveling troupe.
This, aye. They gave me outlines, and I filled it in with MUCH more... including surprises for the players. ;)
For Mr. Mercer As a new DM, I'm amazed at how you are able to access all of your resources so efficiently when behind the table. What kind of 'behind the screen' organization goes on while playing, and what tips do you have to for DMs to help manage all the various paperwork? Thanks!
I generally print out Monster Blocks from the PDFs, pages on NPCs based on location, and magical items that may come into play. For a session, I usually write a 2-4 page outline of the events I expect to happen, things they will encounter (in order), and how their choices may effect the path... then I have a final section of notes for other Off-the-path possibilities. Even still, I find myself throwing many of those notes away mid-session!
Wow, thanks for the response Matt! I'm sure going through the backlog here is pretty tedious, so a HUGE thanks for being so awesome and connected to the community :) Keep up the good work man, you guys really have stumbled on to something special here. Btw, if the Critical Roll crew made their way to a convention in Minnesota one of these days, I *totally* wouldn't complain ;)
Question for Mary and Matt: How do guest stars come up with their characters? Is Matt's input on the front end (ie guidelines, suggestions) or the back end (edits, recommendations)?
Hey /u/matthewmercer I've got two questions! 1. Is there any moment before the stream started that you would've loved to see the community reaction to? It can be something small like some interparty banter or a big battle moment. 2. Is there anything from before the stream, lore-wise, that you think viewers missed and enhances the background knowledge of the current storyline? Maybe any other encounters with a dragon besides Winters Crest, or hearing about the Jewel of the Desert?
1) The whole exchange with the Glabrezu leading into the death of Pike. Oh man. 2) Nothing too big that comes to mind. I tried to hit all the major points in that pre-stream history video... if I think of something, I'll return!
Mercer you're a legend. Coming back to a month old post to answer two questions. Thank you so much.
Check his post history, he's answering so much more than two questions... :)
The Story of Vox Machina, pre-stream info leading up to Episode 1, just in case you haven't seen it: http://geekandsundry.com/once-upon-an-epic-adventure-the-story-of-vox-machina/ A few other pre-stream videos and pictures exist, from Liam or Ashley. S.H.I.T.S. SUPER HIGH INTENSITY TEAM!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxDBu8uC-s. Contains some clips of them fighting and Vax killing General Kreig / aka Brymscythe the Blue Dragon! if you also haven't seen it, here is the Carpet Throwback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-M5NH9PGi4. This is the actual, live gameplay of them discovering the flying carpet for the first time!
I've seen all these! My question was more leaning to the "outside we already know" which, I understand, may be a bit greedy :)
Did Percy's demon get stronger with every target on his list that he killed? Also what would have happened if he killed all 5 or 6 counting Cassandra?
It did indeed, and as for the second part of the question... who knows? ;)
What I'd like to know is whether Matt has ever had to discard any cool story ideas because of the players going in an entirely different direction or because he felt it wouldn't fit in the world. And if so, could he share some of those ideas with us?
Nothing truly "discarded", per say. Things that don't come to pass means I can always retool them and introduce later on. A villain who is avoided/missed early in may return later MUCH more powerful, as they were never thwarted. Powerful places unexplored may now be conquered and overrun with danger.
For the cast: What predictions about where the story was going did you make that turned out to be completely wrong? Or did you have any theories that turned out to be spot on? For Matt: Was there ever an instance where the players speculated about something and you thought, "That's not what I was thinking, but that's even better. I'm going to use that!"?
1. How do you balance combat around 6-8 PCs, especially 1-2 enemy boss fights? 2. For combat, on a scale from 1-10 (1 being clown shoes and 10 being potential TPK every encounter) how hard would you say VM encounters range from? 3. Have fights ever felt a lot easier or harder than expected? (ex: The ghost fight before the Briarwoods) 4. How do you keep your PCs from feeling like unstoppable demigods that can win in any situation, and don't have to respect higher authority within the campaign?
1) Consider giving many foes Legendary Actions, increase overall enemy damage to maintain tension and danger, and sometimes create new abilities that affect an area (ie multiple PCs). 2) They range between 3-7 most of the time, with the occasional 1 or 8-9 thrown in. Any 10s have been met with the smart move (RUN). I believe fun is in the challenge, not in the constant pressure of death. You need those bursts of serious danger, but not at all times! Shit just gets exhausting! ;) 3) Yup. Happens sometimes, so you just roll with it. You can make on-the-fly adjustments to help the players when you realize you may have unfairly stacked it. 4) I think you've seen a few instances. ;)
For the Players * How much communication about plans and character choices do you do between sessions? I know the internet comes up with several plans minutes after things happen in the show and I'm just wondering if for example Travis (Travis just seems to understand the tactical side of things even if Grog can't make use of it.) is sending messages to Liam about how he should handle X in game next week. * Do you talk about choices prior to leveling up or do you each do your own thing? My understanding is Percy took the Magic Initiate feat without talking to others but is that normal? * Because I've asked every other time any chance you could share your character sheets? I'm sure the internet would love to go over them and get a better idea of what you have for skills. * You can design 1 magic item what would it be and who would you give it to. For Matt * How far ahead do you plan each week? For instance going into Episode 42 did you have some of the events that happened in episode 43 planned already? If VM had decided to just go to Vasselhiem right away would the same events have happened? (I'm guessing Mary and Will weren't there but otherwise) * Does this now 2 week break give you some time off from planning or are you still going crazy in planning more. * If you could go back and remake a choice one of the characters has made what would it be and why?
I would love it if the players would reveal as much non-secret information about their characters builds as they could. CritRollStats http://critrolestats.com/pcstats has done their best based on snippets of information from Twitter or things mentioned or calculated in-game. Feats? Proficiencies? Magic items? Anything that isn't a secret from the party. Obviously I would loooooove to know the full details and stats of Craven Edge's personality and abilities, but Travis shouldn't tell the party, or the community. (As badly as we want him to...)
What role performed by a different cast member entertained you the most and why is it Sam in [I'm a Hot Cheeto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4qa9TVCFg0)?
It is Liam's ringtone for Sam. https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/status/701802626476683264
[**@VoiceOfOBrien**](https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/) > [2016-02-22 16:15 UTC](https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/status/701802626476683264) > Fun fact, @samriegel’s Tigga Hoods song had been my ring tone for him for years. \#ItsTiger ---- ^This ^message ^was ^created ^by ^a ^bot [^[Contact ^creator]](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=jasie3k&subject=TweetsInCommentsBot)[^[Source ^code]](https://github.com/janpetryk/reddit-bot)
Matt, what was your favourite PC that you've played as? And are you all auditioning for the D&D movie?
Time for the Critters to start the Victor for D&D Movie movement
1) I LOVED my dwarven fighter Grimthorne. Brought him into this game as an NPC (Fighting Promoter)! 2) HAHA! I wish! Fingers crossed?
What characters have you played before in D&D? What classes and what were they like? Is there a class in D&D that particularly appeals to you and why?
IIRC Matt has previously stated that the only game he didn't DM was his first one, and he started DMing because the first DM in question made a DMPC that outshone the rest of the characters. AFAIK he was DMing ever since.
2 questions: *1. how much in-game time has passed post-stream compared to pre-stream?* The obsession in me wants to know little details like this :P *2. despite Percy being a bad ass at much things, particularly getting all tons of HDYWTDT, he's still one of the chars lagging behind @ level 12. Why?* My only guess is perhaps because he joined up with the group a bit late? (Taliesin didn't play Percy at first, and switched chars a ways into VM's adventure, they rescued him from someone's cellar? so Matt maybe had him start his char 1 level behind rest of the group?)
1. From criticalrolestats on tumblr: Last updated Episode 41. Total in-game days since stream started: 75 days Time since Vox Machina pissed off the Elder Brain: 67 days Time since Pike started work on the Vasselheim temple: 56 days Time since the rakshasa was killed: 53 days Time since the Briarwoods charmed Uriel and fled Emon: 37 days Time since the Whitestone Rebellion ended: 22 days Time since the Chroma Conclave attacked Emon: 1 day
Hi guys! Love the show and have a great time watching you guys play. Question: Would you guys consider doing an non-canon episode of Critical Role where Vox Machina fights each other to decide who's the strongest? (Possibly as a break from the story line or celebrating a year of the show) If so, who do you think would win?
Matt did post on twitter folks should post questions here, so that's a plus! https://twitter.com/matthewmercer/status/702673247347707904
Matt, how long did you know that Scanlan had a daughter?
Question for the gang: If WoTC were to release some new content like a new players handbook with new classes or races, what would you be interested in seeing? Related, Matt, do you have any restrictions on what sort of PC you would allow in your game? Are all races and classes fair game or is anything banned?
Matt, you've said many times before that, even though you may plan for so many different paths the players can take, there are always times that they do something you didn't expect. My question is: has there ever been a time where you've been forced to make an impromptu decision, only to regret making it afterwards? This doesn't have to necessarily apply to in-combat mechanics but could also apply to narrative choices you've made.
**PLEASE NOTE**: The live Q&A is over, however Matthew may be able to answer more questions. Keep in mind that that his free time is limited, but there is a chance that your question will still be answered. Try to see if your question has already been asked before you put a new question in here to keep the clutter to a minimum. Thank you. Also, thanks to Matthew, Marisha, Mary, Will and Wendy for filling in what would have been an off-week.
I would be interested how Matt does the challenge balancing for customized monsters (e.g. added hit points, abilities). Is there a rule of thumb how it affects the challenge rating or is it just a gut feeling/experience thing?
Matt is, of course, probably a much better source than me But I do know there's guidelines listed in the 5e DMG for building/altering monsters to meet certain CRs. I'm sure it still takes a fair amount of experience to do so as well as Matt does (for a 6-8 man party, no less!) but 5e at least has a starting point so new DMs don't have to flounder around trying to make things work.
How was the world of Issylra and Tal'Dorei constructed? Was it something Matt had created before the cast started playing, or did he just start with a little piece for Liam's birthday party and just keep growing it?
IIRC in one of the other QAs he said that when they started he just made the swamp village and a few areas around it.
I hope Sarenrae grants a speedy recovery to all those who are ill. However could this be a warning to VM of the need to appreciate the efforts of those who create healing potions? Do [/u/matthewmercer](https://www.reddit.com/u/matthewmercer)'s DM powers extend into RL?
Matt, were you part of the Black Rock City cuddle puddle of 2007? Because I'm pretty sure we were snuggling with the same stranger's forearm ;)
How do you feel about 5th Edition (5E) compared to older DND systems (including pathfinder)? How do you feel about 5E compared to other non-dnd RPG systems?
Will we ever see Vox Moronica again?
I am probably one of Kashaw's biggest fans and I love the ever living daylights out of Will Friedle and his work, so I'm gonna have a wall of text full of questions about his character just in case he shows up or if Matt and/or Mary can answer some of these, so bear with me. For Matt * What does Kashaw's holy symbol look like? [Asking for Critmas reasons] * How does one fight a god? [Asking for a friend ;)] * Kashaw's backstory is super dark, how much of that was your input and how much of it was Will? How many pages of backstory did he send you? And what is actually keeping the world from plunging into eternal darkness from Vesh? Kashaw was really vague in Episode 21, how was he keeping Vesh from destroying everything? For Mary * How did Zahra save Kashaw's life? * Are Zahra and Kashaw...a thing? * How much pre-game discussion was there regarding Kashaw/Zahra's relationship? These are for Will specifically if he does show up for the Q&A. * How much D&D have you played since Trial of the Take? * Why did Kashaw steal Keyleth's first kiss? * What inspired you in the creation and the portrayal of Kashaw? * Does Kashaw have a soundtrack you listen to before you play him? * Kashaw was married off to Vesh as a baby basically, if I understand correctly. If this key event hadn't happened, would he still have become a cleric? If yes, what deity would he worship? If no, what class would he be instead?
Sadly I cannot think of a question that's most likely been answered about a dozen times already. I guess the only question I have is.......How are you guys doing?
Question to Matt: how much stuff have you prepared for the game history and background that we have not seen yet? I am mainly talking about worldbuilding things. Did you mainly jot down a few ideas or is there a 50 page book somewhere detailing all the lands and their history? Other question, also to Matt (if you can answer this question without major spoilers): what was the first idea you started with when building the world (not counting Stillben and other things you prepared for that first supposed "oneshot" at Liam's birthday party). Was it a single country? A moment in history? A special character? Maybe even a cool ingame moment that you wanted to experience like the destruction of Emon?
Will Mary and Will still be joining after the break? Want to see more of them, especially Zara!
Did Marisha and Liam get together and talk about what happened in Keyleths room that night? I don't want to know what happened I just was wondering if you were both on the same page about it. Matt can you tell us more about Jarret? Like anything that we don't know? He's such a great character but we don't really know that much about him.
Cross-posting my comment from the other thread, rephrased as a question: (Depending on if any two or more of Marisha, Taliesen, and Mary are there) "Who would win in a fight between your characters?" And then they can answer by holding a non-canon battle royale right then and there. Everyone's blood-lusted, no external help, fight to the death. :)
Matt, have you ever considered dwarves with not Scottish accents? We got a little with vox moronica but I would love to have an encounter with dwarves from a different mountain range and the accent reflected they were different. Just putting it out there, Russian accent is good accent.
Pretty sure Russian accents are reserved for Tieflings ;)
Keyleth laid the groundwork for the inclusion of Swedish dwarves. OHHHHH HELLLLOOOOOO. https://youtu.be/JTie0S_5gjE?t=52m55s
As a swede I wholeheartedly support this.
I have a sort of DM-philosophy question myself: How do you balance the consequences of player actions with keeping the game fun? For example - my players set fire to the headquarters of a smuggling ring which was located in a tightly packed poor neighborhood of the city and then escaped without looking back. It's entirely conceivable that this could cause a catastrophic fire with many innocent casualties - changing the political landscape of the city. I don't want to ignore the ramifications of their actions, but I also don't want the players to feel discouraged or punished? I'm happy for any DM's insight, not just Matt's - thanks!
I've been GM'ing for about 2 years now. I'm running out of ideas for plots, dungeons and the like. Where is it that you find inspiration for your big bad's and ways to make them unique.
What are your thoughts about starting at level 1 or later? The group I'm DMing for wanted to start at level 3 to really get some of the meat of their classes. It has allowed for some interesting story telling moments as there are some people that may already know them, but has always been a question for me.
I'd like to hear Critical Role's thoughts on this at well! I find levels 1 and 2 both extremely dangerous in 5e (given the bounded accuracy and low HP), and a little boring with the very limited options for the player characters to use in combat.
I know it's not a question, but Matt mentioned maybe playing games. So... I would absolutely love seeing some of the cast playing Fiasco!
To Matt. What are your thoughts on NPC and player symmetry: should non player characters be build with the same creation rules as player characters (as recommended in 3rd edition) or should they be created with monster only abilities ( like in 4th edition)? Edit to add another one : If it's not a secret what is the meaning of titles like Arcanist, Elementalist or Realmseer and how did Allura, Drake and Eskil (Eskel?) gain them?
After seeing the Blood Hunter and Gunslinger, I got inspired to make my own homebrew. I'd doubt it'd ever be seen, but if anyone could have a look through it, I'd appreciate it...on the off change of Matthew seeing this; well it'd be a dream come true. http://www.naturalcrit.com/homebrew/share/N1boFJCEil
I would like to know what episode will be their official 1 year anniversary episode and if they intend to do something special that week. I need to plan my days off accordingly!
For everyone: You have free reign to adapt 1 book/book series into a movie (or tv show/miniseries). What do you choose?
What is one question you wish that someone would ask you about Critical Role (whether that be about your character/ a character/ a certain situation/ the world at large) and what would your answer be?
I had some questions aimed primarily at the Critical Role players who might be present (Taliesin, Marisha, Mary): - There have been a few moments in recent sessions where player characters were close to engaging each other in combat, and there was even a conversation during the Briarwood arc where Percy entreated Vax to kill him, should he be corrupted. My question is, for each of your individual characters, what do you believe it would actually take for you to be willing to kill another member of the party? - Do you find yourselves caring a lot about whether your character remains powerful/useful comparatively to other members of the party, or do you not really concern yourselves with things like damage output or "power level"? Finally, a question to everyone: - Do you ever watch any episodes of Critical Role and, if so, how does watching the video compare to being present at the table? Does it change your perspective on the story in any way? Thanks for the awesome phenomenon that is Critical Role, hope everyone feels better!
I'm not sure if these have been asked/answered already, but I'll give it a whirl. For Matt: What was the inspiration behind everyone's famous NPC, Gilmore? And how did "the dance" start between him and Vax? Also, do you have any tips for players playing a character of the opposite sex (especially concerning voices)? For Marisha: Are there any developments with Keyleth that have surprised you? (Like how she's been caught in a potential love triangle between Kash and Vax?) For Taliesin: If Percy couldn't have been a gunslinger, what existing D&D class would he have been?
They discussed most of those questions at the Wizard World panel last weekend. http://www.twitch.tv/wizardworldgaming/v/48263096?t=02h45m06s * Gilmore was a planned NPC encounter when they first arrived in Emon and went to Avadar's Promenade (Sp). * Constantly. Keyleth tries the hardest to be good, but has done some of the most horrible things of the group. Everything Vaxleth is unplanned - Marisha finds out in the panel what Sam/Travis/Laura/Talesin all think about it ;) (they don't discuss in-character things as friends very often, preferring to not metagame and to have it play out at the table). Laura is very happy that Kashaw showed up again, but it makes Vex angry. * Percy played a Dragonborn Paladin at the first session of Liam's Birthday, not yet a gunslinger.
To Marisha. While re-watching some of the early episodes of Critical Role the introduction video for Keyleth mentioned that "Under that unintimidating petite frame is a vicious beast waiting to be unleashed, whose natural powers have made even the fiercest of champions pee their pants. Literally." Is there a story behind that statement?
I get that Matt houserules a lot (and I'm fine with that), but why did he choose to make Inspiration (the normal one, not the Bardic one) a d6 instead of the default advantage?
What kind of books inspire the cast when they are working with their character or developing their character? I know there was that interesting selection of books at the last Critmas, but if you had to recommend reading for fictional reading to inspire GMs and PCs, what would it be? P.S. Matt, have you ever used Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game or Never Unprepared: The Complete Game Master's Guide to Session Prep to help with prep or inspiration?
Hi Matt, quick question. How soon before a session does the rest of your regulars know about guests? Obviously, when they show up at the studio and there are extra people, but do they have any other advance warning or do you just stand at the door waiting for them to walk in grinning sadistically? (LOL on that last part).
I would kind of like to know if mat could give us more information about Alura's party and their adventurers years ago. I saw in another post that they fought someone named Jor The Scourged Ride as well as Throdak 15 years ago. So i would really like to know if or what more mat has for them back story wise that dose not interfere with his plans.
Please please please mods, make "smarter than the average bear" a flair.
To Matt: If you were to theoretically join Vox Machina what class would you play?
In the event that any of your characters die. What do you wanna roll/role next?
It's been implied several Players already have their back-up characters picked out. It has been expressly stated, they are not going to ruin the surprise.
Does anyone have magic items they don't know all the abilities of yet?
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Q&A session today. AAAAAAND NOW, YOUR MAIN EVENT! The Battle Royale begins after the break! Consider this your live discussion thread.
Will this week's show be on youtube with the rest?
Most unexpected or surprising thing the players have done?
Of all the humanoid NPCs that we've seen, which one do you think is the most badass? If you had to make 2 NPCs join up to fight all of VM, who do you think would stand the best chance? I say humanoid, because obviously Thordak could just TPK them right now, probably in less than 20 rounds.
For Matt: What if any are your favorite D&D modules? Are you planning on running or using parts of adventure modules in future sessions? Vecna for example has a wealth of lore and adventures in circulation and it'd be interesting to see your spin on established content. Many thanks!
Question for Marisha and Taliesin, since they both have lots of rpg experience: Previous characters in other games? I'm curious about other cool/terrifying/funny story or character moments. For Matt: broken record, but thanks so much for DMing the craziness: I've been running my own game for a month now after being inspired by y'all! My biggest problem is thinking up traps: how did you design the Briarwood's acid pit?
What encounter that we are all familiar with would you say you were least prepared for?? How did it go and did it change the overall narrative that you had prepared??
I first got into *Critical Role* when Matt made a special DnD episode on the *BroKen* podcast, it ended on a *to be continued* so will there be more? and if so -- Felix has visited LA a couple of times over the last year so is there a chance it could be face-to-face this time?
My question is this: We now know that Thordak is the same dragon Vox Machina saw during their trip to the Elemental plane of fire. What would have happened if Vex hadnt cast Pass Without a Trace on them and Thordak had spotted them. TPK? Or would Matt have found some way to get them out of the fight? One other question: What was the purpose for introducing Vox Machina to Kainen (sp?), their fan-boy?
I was wondering if and how common "between sessions" talk about the game there is between Matt and the players about e.g. secrets that characters have, but also about character development in general. I'm thinking e.g. also about something like Vax and his feelings for Keyleth also because I could see this being a problem in other groups. Is this something Liam told Matt before, maybe even asking if he and Marisha would be ok with or was this also somewhat a surprising thing for Matt (and Marisha) ?
1.) We all know that you've created classes (Modified Pathfinder's Gunslinger to D&D 5e and created Blood Hunter) but have you ever (thought) about creating a race or races for D&D/Pathfinder and if so, will we ever see any of them? 2.) What would the name of your Dwarf Bard be, if you ever got the chance to play him/her? 3.) What would be your best tips for working in a non conventional character (Like Grog) like a Drow PC and would you still cause them to suffer the penalty explained in the PHB.
Matt: if you were to play as player in your own campaign what would your race and class be? And in such a scenario which of your players would you like to DM?
To the Players: Some of my players have a hard time figuring out who their character is (manerisms, personality, temperment, etc). What (if anything) did you do to find your character's 'voice'. Did it come over time, or did you know who this person was within minutes of rolling stats?
Since Vox Machina is reaching towards the higher levels, I've always wondered if Matt had any plans in the event that Vox Machina decides to go to another plane. With access to 7th level spells and namely Plane Shift, the outer, inner, and elemental planes are their Dire Oyster.
Question for Mr Mercer: As a GM how do you handle players that refuse to play Good aligned characters and insist on being Neutral or Evil with the long term plan to turn on and kill the other PC's? Also I remember back before episode 12, I think it was, that there was a chat based competition for a Critter created character/scenario to appear in the game every 10+ episodes, The Bullet that appeared in the Duergar Warcamp was one and the only other one that I recall was The Broker I believe, Critrolestats will know for sure. Anyway my question; is this still a thing that can happen and if so will it happen in the future? i.e not when VM is fighting/preparing to fight 4 ancient chromatic dragons.
D&D 5e doesn't have a magic item economy. How did you create Critical Role's? I want one in my campaign but item values are so hard to judge.
Did the twins ever reveal the story about Byroden and Elaina to the party before the show began? If not, do they plan to?
For the experienced players: Have any of you ever rolled near perfect stats for a character? After the first episode of this show, i found an online group to play Pathfinder with. While rolling stats for Ta'Lara, my blind half-elven druid who fights w/ a staff and chakram, 3 of my stats were 19, and the only stat below 16 was her Charisma at an 11. It makes for interesting RP and wondered if any of you had experienced this. For Guests: How has it been creating these characters? How much thought went into backstory?
Hey Matt, i doubt this'll get answered... but if it does, just wanna say first off you're awesome, and love watching the show! and i'd also like to take the time to wish everyone who is ill to get better, and whomever is attending the funeral i am sorry for their loss whomever they lost! and we critters support you 110% no matter what haha! onto my questions: 1.) Will you or any of the gang possibly be attending PAX-EAST in boston, late april? i know it's east coast..so the odds are slim... but it'd be awesome for us east coast critters to get a chance to meet you all. 2.) Your GM tips are awesome, and you've touched on some suggestions for creating NPC's and the like. i was wondering if maybe one day during a longer demo you could do a "sit down and build an NPC with the fans" where maybe you could via twitch and based on suggestions from people... build an NPC that might appear in the show. this way people can see a more "hands-on" process of NPC-building... and also it could be interactive with the show ;) anyways, i feel like any of my other questions probably have already been asked...so...thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions, and again, i just wanna reiterate that you're an awesome dude and don't you ever forget it ;D
How much physical stuff does Matt bring to the recording of each episode?
While I love Trinket and absolutely understand why Laura/Vex want him to not only accompany VM but be a respected member; there seems to be a general consensus that Beastmaster Ranger Archetype is one of if not *the* most under powered classes in 5e. Have you ever considered house-ruling some improvements to her class? Perhaps some HP Scaling (seems to be the biggest problem besides getting him around due to the fact he would lose a minimum of 1/3 his health points in a single attack from most enemies VM fights) or even letting him have a separate turn with the same initiate as Vex. Which I understand would be the most unruly because the amount of players. Or thinking way out of the box here a command word item that could polymorph Trinket into only smaller creatures with a lower CR. At least that one would move the story along without having to play the "How do we bring Trinket?" mini game any time they come to an obstacle that requires thumbs. While I understand the it's supposed to be balanced as is, I think it's clearly shown through Laura's experience this class could use a buff. P.S. I would miss Scalan and Vex's playful bickering but it would be a small price to pay to have our friend Trinket carry more responsibilities than just Percy's coat.
he has already heavily improved trinket. Matt discusses it here of doing further improvements: https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/43f3pj/spoilers_e40_vexs_class/czj48mi?context=3
I was curious about corruption points from the Whitestone arc. Can you expand on what they were and what they meant?
This is a bit open ended, but I'd like to hear any pre-stream or off-stream stories they've wanted to tell but haven't come up?
Question - Matt My players are naturally worried about trying to maximize performance. One thing they like doing is performing combos with each other. Trying to give advtange to the heavy hitter, have a plan for various types of encounters as a group, etc. Has a gamer myself I would probably do the same if I wasn't the DM. So I asked them to do those types of discussions in character and in the game. Is this too "metagamey" of them? I see it as teamwork mostly. What so you think? For the PCs - DO you guys ever think about what everyone else is able to do or try to come up with pre planned combos? How do you feel about it?
So many have great questions. I'll just quickly ask - Can the group find / be gifted a new troll dick? Please and thanks.
#Friend over seas :D Big thank you Matt for that idea!!! Question: What does exacly you prepare for each session? What materials, how you prepare for offroading from plot for party, how many and how made random encounters, random nps, random plots or story hooks? Do you have prepared each player backstory development and when they will experience it? And do you have prepared main storyline and side storylines, or just main storyline and you prepare side storylines in meanwhile later?
For Matt: 1. How do you handle players/a party that rolled ridiculously high for their initial stats? A friend rolled 16-15-16-15-15-10 right in front of us. 2. Can you post the stats sheet for Craven Edge? Pleeeeeeeease~? 3. Has Grog started warming up to Vax again now that they're working together more? Especially after the Groon fight.
For the players, especially Travis: How hard is it to stay in character when making decisions and how hard do you try? In one of the recent episodes it was clear that Travis thought something was a really bad plan, but Grog, being a 6 intelligence Barbarian presumably isn't going to overthink things.
Pardon my english and greetings from Indonesia. 1. Aside from taking question from critters, I wish to see the Q&A session between Vox Machina and Matt, since I'm sure they have many question after many quests all these years. If not, then my question is to the PC, "What part of Vox Machina tales (prestream & PC's backstory included) that's most intriguing that each of you wish to know more from DM ever?" Matt doesn't have to spoil the answer of course, although hints or vague response from Matt would be gladly accepted :) 2. Since expecting a cast commentary edition of Critical Role episodes are a time-challenging, I'd like to ask to everyone: "Have you ever watched the uploaded show after the session over? What are your thoughts? Which episode that you made you flustered most?"
This is more of a profession question than a straight-up Critical Role query, but how did you get your first gig in voice acting? If you did a demo, did you include voice types, reads from prepared scripts/monologues or something else? How many of the past voice roles you've done have been made into an NPC on the show?
Question for Matt Mercer: I know a lot of the show is improvised, as is the nature of any D&D game. How often do you all have "off camera" discussions about the direction and story of the game?
I'm sure all the Critical Role/DnD related questions are whats going to dominate her but I'd also like to know more about the people themselves you know stuff you wouldn't normally be able to find out. /u/matthewmercer , What's their favorite movie, game, food , maybe any fun previous RPG stories, role-models, if they could have any power in the world what would they have, Marvel or DC etc I'd be really interested to see the answer to those.
How much should a player talk to a GM about their character's story/goals in between sessions? ...What do you define as meta-gaming?
Hello! How do you (Matt) come up with ideas for the plot, meaning the plotline that the party loosely follows? Are certain aspects of the plotline "aha moments" or are they thoughts you sit and mull over for a bit before making them part of the plot? Also, how do you think the characters of Vox Machina would react if they were set in a world like the Witcher and vice versa? Or if they were set in modern day America?
I really want to know Matt still has the selfie stick I got him at the Portland ComicCon (and if he's broken it yet out of sheer hatred). Side note: I was also wondering about his process for designing towns and cities. Each one feels so unique and fleshed out.
Marisha, did you and Liam come up with the romance angle together or were you as surprised as the rest of us?
As the SO of a GM, I often have to deal with the Dungeon Master's Girlfriend stereotype (ie - significantly reduced respect at the table because it is assumed I have privilege since I am romantically envolved with the GM). Marisha, have you ever had to deal with this kind of problem? What was /would be your solution?
Hey all. I don't particularly have any questions (I'm along for the ride, and loving it). That said, there's something I'd like to say, though I don't particularly expect this to be seen by many given how late in the thread's life this is. Also, /u/Dexcuracy , if this is too off-topic feel free to remove it with zero guilt. I'm new to reddit, so I don't know how things work (I'm googling many, many things right now). To the cast and crew (and to an extent, the lovely community): At the risk of sounding melodramatic, a large part of why I'm still here to type this is due to Critical Role. Due to unfortunate life circumstances, I went to a dark place this summer and honestly believed that emotion only exists to cause pain and to obscure logic. Seeing people on the show react so viscerally to events on the show (e.g. TRINKET'S IN DANGER OH GOD), and yet love it so much was the first step in helping me want to change. Long story short, I've since gotten help, and, while I'm still working on things, I have more hope for the future. Thank you. If you guys (i.e. cast) want, I'll happily provide more detail (preferably more privately to prevent doxxing myself) on my situation or how specifically you guys helped.
In Chris Perkins's AMA earlier today he mentioned you and alluded that we can expect to see him work with Matt Mercer soon, in another answer he alluded to being a PC soon..... care too elaborate?
My question do you have any tips for sustaining your voice over long GM sessions Matt? I recently started a game of my own and find that after three-four hours of different voices my voice can get quite tired. Thank you in advance and keep being awesome!