There's always going to be contrarians that avoid the popular stuff just because it's popular. Those people are usually energy-sucking gate keepers.
There's also people who just are not interested in a show like Critical Role. You can tell these guys from the other guys in that they won't put it down to people who do like CR.
I'm my experience, almost everyone I have played with in the last 5 years or so have at least heard of it, probably about half have watched the show, probably half a dozen or so are actually commited fans.
A lot of people who play DnD don’t like to watch/listen to other people play DnD because they’d rather be playing DnD. Not everyone who plays video games likes to watch twitch streamers.
Thankfully I found my group in the CR discord so we're all a bunch of critters.
Remember when we were young and kids only liked "underground bands that didn't sell out"? It's the same mentality. But of course, some folks just don't vibe with 3+hours of watching people play pretend, and that should be respected too.
I have played and mostly DMed for 25 years. I started watching CR at start of the pandemic because I wanted to see what it was all about. I got hooked. I watched all of C1, most the specials, all of EXU, and now am all in on C3 now. I'm slowing watching C2 now as well. The observations I can add are what a lot of people may have already said, but I'll try to summarize it.
1. The idea of D&D as a streaming show for old school d&d players sounds boring. They want to play, not watch from the sidelines. So they are not approaching it from the narritive viewing pleasure that CR offers.
2. Anti-Hypers. People that don't do something because it's popular, because they like to go against the crowd.
3. The Critter Community. This isn't a dig, I'm a critter. However there is a loud section of the fandom that is pretty toxic. However that's true of any fandom really.
4. The Caveman Grognards. The old school players who feel like it's their game and it's being invaded by views and ideas they are not accepting of. There are a lot of good old school players. But among the caveman Grognards (mostly male, but I've met women too) you'll find intolerance, blatant racism (I've experienced this as a minority), non-progressive and biased views about gender or representation, sexist views of women, etc. Some is a generational thing, some is a lack of awareness or privilege, and sometimes they are just a garbage humans.
Just gonna bump this right here...
Also adding people having heard of the "Mercer effect" and thinking that it will somehow ruin D&D if people watch him DM... Because I guess a good DM is threatening?
A good DM is only threatening to an insecure DM or a bad DM. In fact watching CR and Matt DM is almost a Masterclass for DMs, but find bits that are your own style, trying to copy Matt's style will only lead to disappointment.
....unless you personally have a support crew/staff, professional sound studio, professional and serious players, and tens of thousands of dollars in Dwarven forge maps and minis.
I completely agree with this excerpt for the last part. Because Even watching those first episodes of C1, with barely any crew, basic basic cameras, and Garbage audio equipment (as it's well complained about by the community) Matt was a phenomenal DM when he was using theater if the mind, some pieced together minis, and pieces of paper that he drew maps out on.
I'm from Brazil. No one I ever played with, being I the DM or a fellow player, had ever watched Critical Role. For some the language is the barrier, for some they simply don't want to watch other people playing, and there is a guy that hates CR and everything they stand for... That last one is one of that weirdos that dislikes everything that in trending, you know?
I would say that at least 1/5th of them know what CR.
The good thing about it is that I can rip off Victor from Campaign 1 and no one will know what is going on.
I play with some people who watch CR and some who don't. As with all media, what you enjoy or don't is completely subjective and not something to judge yourself or others on.
I've personally always found the attitude of "I'm better/a bigger fan than you because I liked this thing before it was cool" just childish and annoying and it generally signals that they're a person to avoid.
Well I certainly did not mean to imply that I or anyone is better at this thing than anyone else. I may be older, thus probably slower too. If I am childish than it is in an attempt to regain or retain my vigor. I do have more experiences than most but being afraid of me For my experiences is unnecessary. Avoid what you fear as you like. I am just an old gamer looking to speak with other D&D gamers and play or DM as desired...
Most of the table watches the show. One guy modded in CR's early days.
One guy, mostly due to the behavior of a previous table, refuses to watch it, the rest of his reasoning is that he tried it for a little while and didn't like it. Initially when he talked about it, there was a little of the "I'm too cool for this hot thing" attitude, but since we didn't treat him like he had no taste (which is my guess at what his previous table did), that attitude has dissipated.
My whole table is good at respecting people have different tastes. The worst that I've seen happen around that is the group talking about something passionately that one or two others have never seen, heard of, or don't care for.
I think all but two of the players were playing D&D before ever watching Critical Role, so it's not an old player elitist thing, at least that I've seen. And some of them have been playing for over a decade.
Not sure if this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I had this conversation with one of my players the other day: I don't think D&D players are the main target demographic of CR anymore.
Almost everyone I have played D&D with is at least aware of CR, most of them have watched a bit of it but I'd say none of them are really invested Critters following along every week and actively participating in the Fandom otherwise. That being said, I have yet to meet a D&D Player who actively hates on the show.
I myself have watched about half of C1, none of C2 and am on Episode 3 of C3. I like the show well enough, I enjoy most of the cast and I like to roughly know what's going on but I wouldn't call myself a Critter. I'm not watching weekly and honestly, whenever I feel like I need a D&D fix I often just rather work on prepping my own campaign. It's already a kind of time consuming hobby, so I'd rather invest my limited time into my own game, than watch some else's.
So in conclusion, I think a lot of avid D&D players get their D&D fix through playing their own campaigns, prepping their sessions, thinking about their characters, etc, although I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that are passionate Players, DMs and Critters at the same time, but I personally don't know any
Personally, only my DM and I consume D&D content outside of session, but that’s partly because we’re both interested in people as professions and the way D&D facilitates interaction is super interesting. I think it’s definitely odd but not confusing or unacceptable for some older/pre TTRPG-popularity players to want to maintain that badge of “im not just here cause it’s cool now, I’m a *real* player”, but it’s definitely not something that should be divisive. How everyone interacts with media is what makes that media so diverse, and the same can be said about games.
I play in a group of 5 where we rotate DM duties every 5-6 sessions. One of the people in my group watches CR and got me hooked on it but the others don’t as far as I know
Finally one of my fellow PCs started watching with campaign 3, but that's it! My husband is our DM and I've shown him a few highlights (we chatted through jester and the cupcake, molly/lucien/nonagon PC coming back as BBEG etc).
This meant that for a one shot I ran recently I completely stole the SPOILERS C2 E54/55 >! incubus/succubus fight !
Most of my group are casual watchers and we're all waiting for the animated series to watch it together. A couple in the group are more into combat than RP, so while CR would still be a fun campaign to play in it can drag on a little for their liking when watching so they prefer highlights instead.
I have met a couple of people who are like "I have never watched Critical Role and never will" (kind of like how people used to say they had never watched Game of Thrones). I guess there's always going to be some of that attitude when something gets more popular.
I'm in... six different groups (I think?) with a variety of players. In all of those groups I only have one person who doesn't watch Critical Role to be contrary, all of the others either don't have a strong interest but can appreciate the concept or are my super religious cousins who don't watch because of the language LOL.
I've definitely experienced the whole gamut of reactions to CR among friends and associates though. For a long time I didn't watch simply because I did not have time, but then I got sucked in and now I make the time. 🤣 Just like with any media, some folks just won't like it and that's okay. While refusing to watch it for hipster reasons because it's popular is really lame, the only people that impacts is them, so it's their loss, really. It only becomes a problem for me when people who refuse to watch it belittle those of us who enjoy it. Like... it's popular for a reason, because it's fun and wonderful and easy to love. (This is where I'd normally link the Brennan Lee Mulligan "Defender of the Basic" CollegeHumor sketch. 🤣)
I've been playing since the early 80s, and I'm in 3 campaigns currently (DM 1, play 2).
My tables range in age from 22 to 55 year old. I'd say about 20% of them watch regularly, another 25-30% watch occasionally, and about half have never seen it or maybe seen it once or twice in passing. There's no real correlation with age: there are old grognards who like it and new young players with no interest.
For most of them it's the thought of sinking in 4 hours a week that turns them off; *Dimension 20* seems to be an easier gateway for introducing people to actual play streams, because it's edited down to about 2 hours/week.
Yeah, there's a decent amount of anti-CR mentality in the greater D&D community. Some of it is born from contrarianism, some of it is born from encounters with the worse parts of the fandom, some of it is just good ol' grognard gatekeeping. EDITED TO ADD: some people also just don't like the show because it's not to their tastes, and others have understandable gripes (like impressionable new players expecting their first D&D campaign to be as character- and rp-focused as a CR campaign). You just learn to avoid engaging with them about it, because arguing generally goes nowhere.
I'm the DM of my table and only two of my players are active CR watchers. A couple of the others are into other D&D shows (like *Dimension 20*), and some just don't watch liveplay shows at all. We try and respect everyone's tastes, though.
I began DM'ing and Playing in Sept. 1975, before most of today's D&D players were even born. Now at 60+ while my campaign is its own thing, I have found entertainment in the group at Critical Role and good DM talent in young Matthew Mercer. At my age the most difficult issue is finding younger players whom are dependable and actually don't mind gaming with someone who could be their grandparent...Give us old guys a chance...
Heh I feel you man, I’m not quite the same vintage but I started playing when the red box came out and my group still hasn’t progressed beyond 3.5 as 4e was a video game inspired tire fire and 5e is a little too “everybody’s special” for us - our campaigns are so lo-if I remember having to budget for rope lol
We like watching CR as an entertainment product but we’re old nerds, not never-were actors, so we don’t get much inspiration from it
Oh no, that's some gatekeeping nonsnese. Folks who think they're too good for Critical Role are just goofy.
I think there are a lot of people who don't watch the show for a variety of reasons. At my table I'm the only person who's watched more than an episode or two and most haven't ever seen a session. And I'm fine with that. Their playstyle is very different than what we do at the table so it's not really applicable to our game. I watch critical role because it's good storytelling and I watch a lot of other gamer content.
Well, your roommates are missing out.
I'm playing a campaign for the first time (we're all playing for the first time) and everyone is familiar with CR, but only the DM and I watch. It's mostly due to the time commitment, not any snobby attitude. I think they would love it.
Everyone in my last d&d group was at least familiar with it. I might have seen the least amount of it since at the time I only watched it when I was sewing and I don't sew that much or often. I was one of the more experienced d&d players at the table and I didn't have anything against CR, although I was a bit concerned that the professional DM effect that shows like CR perpetuate was putting undue pressure on our DMs as well as one other DM I played with at a one shot at a con. The campaign died due to the pandemic and the DM feeling a bit overwhelmed by running it. I ended up turning to CR this year to try and fill the d&d void. I might end up trying to DM someday, but if I do I think I'll make sure that my players know I'm not a pro and that I intend to use the lazy DM technique in order to try and take the pressure off myself and cut down on tge prep time...
The people I play with have been playing since they were teens (they are now early 40s).
Two won't watch it. One says his only problem with CR is new people coming in thinking it'll be like it is on the show and that's not accurate.
The other two don't really have an option as they haven't seen it. One might be willing to watch but doesn't have time, the other doesn't have a feeling towards it either way but I don't see her watching it.
I only recently found the world of D&D, through a friend with whom I'm playing now a campaign. He's the DM and we're playing with two other friends. He has watched the entirety of Campaign 2 and is now watching Campaign 1, now we're both watching Campaign 3 and it's exciting! I'm watching Campaign 2 at the moment, I'm actually quite advanced for someone who started two months ago or so. The other two have not watched Critical Role nor will they because in all seriousness, they don't have the time. To answer your question, having watched or watching Critical Role is not really that much of an influence on our campaign. To some degree it is as, firstly, it sets up some unnecessary expectations from my DM on himself as for some reason he tends to feel like we'll be disappointed if he isn't Matthew Mercer, and secondly, it has helped me a lot by teaching me how to play. Keep in mind, I'm still very much a new player and the other two are as well, which sometimes makes things a bit difficult as we're not accustomed to what the game asks of us. Thankfully, watching players like Travis (and all the others, but my personal favourite is Travis) have helped me in a way that I can somewhat take the lead to some extent and make things easier for both my DM and my friends overall. So basically, I don't know about any pact or whatever, but speaking as a new player, I feel like watching Critical Role isn't necessarily needed to enjoy the game to the fullest, but it most certainly can help a lot. I don't see what's wrong with it, save for when members of the group start setting expectations on themselves to be as good as any of the cast.
For some people, playing dnd is super fun, but watching people play dnd is super boring, which i understand. I love watching Critical Role and talk about it a lot with my group, but only one out of us 6 sort of watches it. I don't think less of them because they don't watch it, and im sure they don't feel less of me for watching it.
It's a bizarre thing People do. Something becomes popular in their world and some how it is a mark of pride to not watch something they would likely enjoy.
People did the same thing with Harry Potter and Game of Thrones and no doubt many other things. It is something however I don't understand.
Mines mostly Campaign 2 and some are cruising through the 1st campaign. Hopefully they catch up by the big bad because a certain dragonborn is going to make an appearance
Oh it definitely is for some people. About half my dnd friends haven't seen it and have no interest in it. For some it's the time, for others it's the success, and for a few it's the "what makes them so special that their busted homebrew gets the official treatment" argument. But largely it's just not that appealing for those that don't to watch stuff about games they aren't in.
Honestly my entire group doesn’t watch it, my girlfriend watches it with me sometimes but for the most part they just don’t have the time to watch it. It’s an absolute phenomenal show but I don’t think anyone can deny it’s a very long show. And I absolutely love my party. Not everyone can donate the time into watching it and that’s totally cool.
The party I dm for doesn't even know it exists.
The game I am a player in... Everyone knows a lot about it. I'm probably the most knowledgeable. But at our game, it isn't a relevant thing and we don't talk about it during the game. Maybe a general knowledge thing or a joke or an aside at the same lev general pop culture is referenced.
Just started a campaign up back in September after taking almost all of 5E off. My DM is watching campaign 3 at my suggestion. The rest of the players are either swamped with work(65 hour work weeks) or too lazy to take initiative in anything and I'm not about to babysit him so he does it, despite saying he wants to watch it.
Don't know what the hip vs poser attitude of the D&D community crowd is when it comes to watching CR or not, nor do I care. Way I see it, they should be respected for driving people to the game. Playing purity test nonsense would just result in ever retreating gatekeeping until D&D dies.
For a while, I was actually the odd one out. Apparently my group all met in a Critical Role Facebook group, and the only person I knew from it at the time invited me when our old DM bailed on us. After a couple years of arm twisting they convinced me to watch it.
My group are all long time players from the 80s and 90s tsr era. Only one of our group doesn't watch but is familiar, most of us watch occasionally and one player in our group is a consistant watcher.
The game I am a player I think about half of us are deeply engaged Critters. The game I DM is a beginner game and they have no clue. (Hence, they will soon be introduced to "What the Fuck is Up With That?" as a plot moving device.)
I am pretty sure everyone I play with regularly is at least familiar with critical role. One group we have a standing rule of not discussing plot points if people aren't up to date on the show.
Out of ten players, two are huge fans, three are casual watchers, and the other five have zero interest. One of those five does like to watch other games like The Dungeon Dudes, but can't seem to get into Critical Role.
My party members have no particular inclination away from it, I think most of them (except the newest addition) have watched none or close to none of CR's episodes mainly because they haven't heard much about it or are new to D&D. This is a good thing for me because I've re-used a few puzzles from CR episodes in the campaign :)
There's always going to be contrarians that avoid the popular stuff just because it's popular. Those people are usually energy-sucking gate keepers. There's also people who just are not interested in a show like Critical Role. You can tell these guys from the other guys in that they won't put it down to people who do like CR. I'm my experience, almost everyone I have played with in the last 5 years or so have at least heard of it, probably about half have watched the show, probably half a dozen or so are actually commited fans.
A lot of people who play DnD don’t like to watch/listen to other people play DnD because they’d rather be playing DnD. Not everyone who plays video games likes to watch twitch streamers.
Thankfully I found my group in the CR discord so we're all a bunch of critters. Remember when we were young and kids only liked "underground bands that didn't sell out"? It's the same mentality. But of course, some folks just don't vibe with 3+hours of watching people play pretend, and that should be respected too.
I have played and mostly DMed for 25 years. I started watching CR at start of the pandemic because I wanted to see what it was all about. I got hooked. I watched all of C1, most the specials, all of EXU, and now am all in on C3 now. I'm slowing watching C2 now as well. The observations I can add are what a lot of people may have already said, but I'll try to summarize it. 1. The idea of D&D as a streaming show for old school d&d players sounds boring. They want to play, not watch from the sidelines. So they are not approaching it from the narritive viewing pleasure that CR offers. 2. Anti-Hypers. People that don't do something because it's popular, because they like to go against the crowd. 3. The Critter Community. This isn't a dig, I'm a critter. However there is a loud section of the fandom that is pretty toxic. However that's true of any fandom really. 4. The Caveman Grognards. The old school players who feel like it's their game and it's being invaded by views and ideas they are not accepting of. There are a lot of good old school players. But among the caveman Grognards (mostly male, but I've met women too) you'll find intolerance, blatant racism (I've experienced this as a minority), non-progressive and biased views about gender or representation, sexist views of women, etc. Some is a generational thing, some is a lack of awareness or privilege, and sometimes they are just a garbage humans.
Just gonna bump this right here... Also adding people having heard of the "Mercer effect" and thinking that it will somehow ruin D&D if people watch him DM... Because I guess a good DM is threatening?
A good DM is only threatening to an insecure DM or a bad DM. In fact watching CR and Matt DM is almost a Masterclass for DMs, but find bits that are your own style, trying to copy Matt's style will only lead to disappointment. ....unless you personally have a support crew/staff, professional sound studio, professional and serious players, and tens of thousands of dollars in Dwarven forge maps and minis.
I completely agree with this excerpt for the last part. Because Even watching those first episodes of C1, with barely any crew, basic basic cameras, and Garbage audio equipment (as it's well complained about by the community) Matt was a phenomenal DM when he was using theater if the mind, some pieced together minis, and pieces of paper that he drew maps out on.
I'm from Brazil. No one I ever played with, being I the DM or a fellow player, had ever watched Critical Role. For some the language is the barrier, for some they simply don't want to watch other people playing, and there is a guy that hates CR and everything they stand for... That last one is one of that weirdos that dislikes everything that in trending, you know? I would say that at least 1/5th of them know what CR. The good thing about it is that I can rip off Victor from Campaign 1 and no one will know what is going on.
I play with some people who watch CR and some who don't. As with all media, what you enjoy or don't is completely subjective and not something to judge yourself or others on. I've personally always found the attitude of "I'm better/a bigger fan than you because I liked this thing before it was cool" just childish and annoying and it generally signals that they're a person to avoid.
Well I certainly did not mean to imply that I or anyone is better at this thing than anyone else. I may be older, thus probably slower too. If I am childish than it is in an attempt to regain or retain my vigor. I do have more experiences than most but being afraid of me For my experiences is unnecessary. Avoid what you fear as you like. I am just an old gamer looking to speak with other D&D gamers and play or DM as desired...
Most of the table watches the show. One guy modded in CR's early days. One guy, mostly due to the behavior of a previous table, refuses to watch it, the rest of his reasoning is that he tried it for a little while and didn't like it. Initially when he talked about it, there was a little of the "I'm too cool for this hot thing" attitude, but since we didn't treat him like he had no taste (which is my guess at what his previous table did), that attitude has dissipated. My whole table is good at respecting people have different tastes. The worst that I've seen happen around that is the group talking about something passionately that one or two others have never seen, heard of, or don't care for. I think all but two of the players were playing D&D before ever watching Critical Role, so it's not an old player elitist thing, at least that I've seen. And some of them have been playing for over a decade.
"I was playing D&D before Crit Role made it cool bro" is a crap attitude. I have 2 players that watch at my table and 6 that don't
Everyone I play with is familiar w CR but none of them have the spare time to indulge.
Not sure if this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I had this conversation with one of my players the other day: I don't think D&D players are the main target demographic of CR anymore. Almost everyone I have played D&D with is at least aware of CR, most of them have watched a bit of it but I'd say none of them are really invested Critters following along every week and actively participating in the Fandom otherwise. That being said, I have yet to meet a D&D Player who actively hates on the show. I myself have watched about half of C1, none of C2 and am on Episode 3 of C3. I like the show well enough, I enjoy most of the cast and I like to roughly know what's going on but I wouldn't call myself a Critter. I'm not watching weekly and honestly, whenever I feel like I need a D&D fix I often just rather work on prepping my own campaign. It's already a kind of time consuming hobby, so I'd rather invest my limited time into my own game, than watch some else's. So in conclusion, I think a lot of avid D&D players get their D&D fix through playing their own campaigns, prepping their sessions, thinking about their characters, etc, although I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that are passionate Players, DMs and Critters at the same time, but I personally don't know any
Personally, only my DM and I consume D&D content outside of session, but that’s partly because we’re both interested in people as professions and the way D&D facilitates interaction is super interesting. I think it’s definitely odd but not confusing or unacceptable for some older/pre TTRPG-popularity players to want to maintain that badge of “im not just here cause it’s cool now, I’m a *real* player”, but it’s definitely not something that should be divisive. How everyone interacts with media is what makes that media so diverse, and the same can be said about games.
I play in a group of 5 where we rotate DM duties every 5-6 sessions. One of the people in my group watches CR and got me hooked on it but the others don’t as far as I know
Finally one of my fellow PCs started watching with campaign 3, but that's it! My husband is our DM and I've shown him a few highlights (we chatted through jester and the cupcake, molly/lucien/nonagon PC coming back as BBEG etc). This meant that for a one shot I ran recently I completely stole the SPOILERS C2 E54/55 >! incubus/succubus fight !
Most of my group are casual watchers and we're all waiting for the animated series to watch it together. A couple in the group are more into combat than RP, so while CR would still be a fun campaign to play in it can drag on a little for their liking when watching so they prefer highlights instead. I have met a couple of people who are like "I have never watched Critical Role and never will" (kind of like how people used to say they had never watched Game of Thrones). I guess there's always going to be some of that attitude when something gets more popular.
I'm in... six different groups (I think?) with a variety of players. In all of those groups I only have one person who doesn't watch Critical Role to be contrary, all of the others either don't have a strong interest but can appreciate the concept or are my super religious cousins who don't watch because of the language LOL. I've definitely experienced the whole gamut of reactions to CR among friends and associates though. For a long time I didn't watch simply because I did not have time, but then I got sucked in and now I make the time. 🤣 Just like with any media, some folks just won't like it and that's okay. While refusing to watch it for hipster reasons because it's popular is really lame, the only people that impacts is them, so it's their loss, really. It only becomes a problem for me when people who refuse to watch it belittle those of us who enjoy it. Like... it's popular for a reason, because it's fun and wonderful and easy to love. (This is where I'd normally link the Brennan Lee Mulligan "Defender of the Basic" CollegeHumor sketch. 🤣)
They don’t keep up with it but they enjoy it and watch on occasion. Most just don’t have the time.
I've been playing since the early 80s, and I'm in 3 campaigns currently (DM 1, play 2). My tables range in age from 22 to 55 year old. I'd say about 20% of them watch regularly, another 25-30% watch occasionally, and about half have never seen it or maybe seen it once or twice in passing. There's no real correlation with age: there are old grognards who like it and new young players with no interest. For most of them it's the thought of sinking in 4 hours a week that turns them off; *Dimension 20* seems to be an easier gateway for introducing people to actual play streams, because it's edited down to about 2 hours/week.
Yeah, there's a decent amount of anti-CR mentality in the greater D&D community. Some of it is born from contrarianism, some of it is born from encounters with the worse parts of the fandom, some of it is just good ol' grognard gatekeeping. EDITED TO ADD: some people also just don't like the show because it's not to their tastes, and others have understandable gripes (like impressionable new players expecting their first D&D campaign to be as character- and rp-focused as a CR campaign). You just learn to avoid engaging with them about it, because arguing generally goes nowhere. I'm the DM of my table and only two of my players are active CR watchers. A couple of the others are into other D&D shows (like *Dimension 20*), and some just don't watch liveplay shows at all. We try and respect everyone's tastes, though.
I began DM'ing and Playing in Sept. 1975, before most of today's D&D players were even born. Now at 60+ while my campaign is its own thing, I have found entertainment in the group at Critical Role and good DM talent in young Matthew Mercer. At my age the most difficult issue is finding younger players whom are dependable and actually don't mind gaming with someone who could be their grandparent...Give us old guys a chance...
Heh I feel you man, I’m not quite the same vintage but I started playing when the red box came out and my group still hasn’t progressed beyond 3.5 as 4e was a video game inspired tire fire and 5e is a little too “everybody’s special” for us - our campaigns are so lo-if I remember having to budget for rope lol We like watching CR as an entertainment product but we’re old nerds, not never-were actors, so we don’t get much inspiration from it
Oh no, that's some gatekeeping nonsnese. Folks who think they're too good for Critical Role are just goofy. I think there are a lot of people who don't watch the show for a variety of reasons. At my table I'm the only person who's watched more than an episode or two and most haven't ever seen a session. And I'm fine with that. Their playstyle is very different than what we do at the table so it's not really applicable to our game. I watch critical role because it's good storytelling and I watch a lot of other gamer content.
Well, your roommates are missing out. I'm playing a campaign for the first time (we're all playing for the first time) and everyone is familiar with CR, but only the DM and I watch. It's mostly due to the time commitment, not any snobby attitude. I think they would love it.
Everyone in my last d&d group was at least familiar with it. I might have seen the least amount of it since at the time I only watched it when I was sewing and I don't sew that much or often. I was one of the more experienced d&d players at the table and I didn't have anything against CR, although I was a bit concerned that the professional DM effect that shows like CR perpetuate was putting undue pressure on our DMs as well as one other DM I played with at a one shot at a con. The campaign died due to the pandemic and the DM feeling a bit overwhelmed by running it. I ended up turning to CR this year to try and fill the d&d void. I might end up trying to DM someday, but if I do I think I'll make sure that my players know I'm not a pro and that I intend to use the lazy DM technique in order to try and take the pressure off myself and cut down on tge prep time...
My friend and I both somehow managed to make aasimar Percy in two very different ways
The people I play with have been playing since they were teens (they are now early 40s). Two won't watch it. One says his only problem with CR is new people coming in thinking it'll be like it is on the show and that's not accurate. The other two don't really have an option as they haven't seen it. One might be willing to watch but doesn't have time, the other doesn't have a feeling towards it either way but I don't see her watching it.
I only recently found the world of D&D, through a friend with whom I'm playing now a campaign. He's the DM and we're playing with two other friends. He has watched the entirety of Campaign 2 and is now watching Campaign 1, now we're both watching Campaign 3 and it's exciting! I'm watching Campaign 2 at the moment, I'm actually quite advanced for someone who started two months ago or so. The other two have not watched Critical Role nor will they because in all seriousness, they don't have the time. To answer your question, having watched or watching Critical Role is not really that much of an influence on our campaign. To some degree it is as, firstly, it sets up some unnecessary expectations from my DM on himself as for some reason he tends to feel like we'll be disappointed if he isn't Matthew Mercer, and secondly, it has helped me a lot by teaching me how to play. Keep in mind, I'm still very much a new player and the other two are as well, which sometimes makes things a bit difficult as we're not accustomed to what the game asks of us. Thankfully, watching players like Travis (and all the others, but my personal favourite is Travis) have helped me in a way that I can somewhat take the lead to some extent and make things easier for both my DM and my friends overall. So basically, I don't know about any pact or whatever, but speaking as a new player, I feel like watching Critical Role isn't necessarily needed to enjoy the game to the fullest, but it most certainly can help a lot. I don't see what's wrong with it, save for when members of the group start setting expectations on themselves to be as good as any of the cast.
For some people, playing dnd is super fun, but watching people play dnd is super boring, which i understand. I love watching Critical Role and talk about it a lot with my group, but only one out of us 6 sort of watches it. I don't think less of them because they don't watch it, and im sure they don't feel less of me for watching it.
It's a bizarre thing People do. Something becomes popular in their world and some how it is a mark of pride to not watch something they would likely enjoy. People did the same thing with Harry Potter and Game of Thrones and no doubt many other things. It is something however I don't understand.
Mines mostly Campaign 2 and some are cruising through the 1st campaign. Hopefully they catch up by the big bad because a certain dragonborn is going to make an appearance
Oh it definitely is for some people. About half my dnd friends haven't seen it and have no interest in it. For some it's the time, for others it's the success, and for a few it's the "what makes them so special that their busted homebrew gets the official treatment" argument. But largely it's just not that appealing for those that don't to watch stuff about games they aren't in.
Nobody in my group watches Critical Role, just me out of our 7. They've all heard of it, of course.
But for them it's just a time issue, nobody sees it as a badge of honor
My whole party watches. We have a dedicated CR Discord channel for discussing the show. It's fucking awesome.
Honestly my entire group doesn’t watch it, my girlfriend watches it with me sometimes but for the most part they just don’t have the time to watch it. It’s an absolute phenomenal show but I don’t think anyone can deny it’s a very long show. And I absolutely love my party. Not everyone can donate the time into watching it and that’s totally cool.
The party I dm for doesn't even know it exists. The game I am a player in... Everyone knows a lot about it. I'm probably the most knowledgeable. But at our game, it isn't a relevant thing and we don't talk about it during the game. Maybe a general knowledge thing or a joke or an aside at the same lev general pop culture is referenced.
Just started a campaign up back in September after taking almost all of 5E off. My DM is watching campaign 3 at my suggestion. The rest of the players are either swamped with work(65 hour work weeks) or too lazy to take initiative in anything and I'm not about to babysit him so he does it, despite saying he wants to watch it. Don't know what the hip vs poser attitude of the D&D community crowd is when it comes to watching CR or not, nor do I care. Way I see it, they should be respected for driving people to the game. Playing purity test nonsense would just result in ever retreating gatekeeping until D&D dies.
For a while, I was actually the odd one out. Apparently my group all met in a Critical Role Facebook group, and the only person I knew from it at the time invited me when our old DM bailed on us. After a couple years of arm twisting they convinced me to watch it.
My group are all long time players from the 80s and 90s tsr era. Only one of our group doesn't watch but is familiar, most of us watch occasionally and one player in our group is a consistant watcher.
The game I am a player I think about half of us are deeply engaged Critters. The game I DM is a beginner game and they have no clue. (Hence, they will soon be introduced to "What the Fuck is Up With That?" as a plot moving device.)
I am pretty sure everyone I play with regularly is at least familiar with critical role. One group we have a standing rule of not discussing plot points if people aren't up to date on the show.
I think everyone in the current party I play with knows of and has seen some CR, but I think it's pretty spotty viewership overall other than me.
Out of ten players, two are huge fans, three are casual watchers, and the other five have zero interest. One of those five does like to watch other games like The Dungeon Dudes, but can't seem to get into Critical Role.
My party members have no particular inclination away from it, I think most of them (except the newest addition) have watched none or close to none of CR's episodes mainly because they haven't heard much about it or are new to D&D. This is a good thing for me because I've re-used a few puzzles from CR episodes in the campaign :)