I look more like fat weird al GRIM HOLLOW, THE PLAYERS GUIDE: bit.ly/35RlYPr Merch, Discord, the Quest-O-Nomicon, and everything else: linktr.ee/XPtoLevel3
when he said "fanangaly teeth" i died. i love matt mercer, but his occasional word mangling/swapping always gets an eyebrow raise from me, was wondering how many others noticed it.
Im crying all of the sound effects and descriptions are so incredibly accurate, this feels like if Matt was trying to run a campaign but nothing interesting was happening so he was just thowing in all the details he does for intense moments into the meaningless ones.
Our dm is a CR fan. She’s really good at making the sessions immersive like this. We all love her and she’s absolutely wonderful. Happy to have her as a dm 😊
@@bradenvankirk291 the entire point of this video is saying that matt is a great dm, but you don't have to copy him to have a good time. in fact that's a paraphrase of his exact sentence that the player says. how tf is it a hater channel?
@bradenvankirk291 hes just having fun, dude. hes not bitching hes just making videos poking fun at certain dnd things or certain dnd players. he isnt saying upright "dont play like this"
@@jelliebyte I got that vibe too. Actually it was our dm herself who posted this video link in our memes section of the d&d channel. She’s aware she’s doing this. Just the way she plays and it’s fun lmao
I know the vid was lampooning DMs who ape MM, but honestly I'm with you. That was amazing! I would much rather play with a DM that hammed things up a little than one who responds with. "The bartender gives you a kill quest and the wench gives you a fetch quest".
This was exactly the comment I was looking for. I know the vid was a fun slight at the idea, but I honestly just enjoy the immersive roleplaying so much more when he DM is doing his best to actually flesh out the world through performance. I can agree that sometimes it can be too much, but I personally prefer this storytelling approach to a matter of factly one.
That is the thing tho, many people who copy matt have the capability to use what he does to their advantege and make their personal games wayy better then before, but they never experiment, they mostly literally just copy matt from his behaviours to his voices
I know!? right? What's bad in being descriptive. I guess he didn't say it's bad, just saying if you're doing great, having fun you don't have to... what? try harder? I don't really get the message here. I already doing these things for years and I love it. Can't speak for my player though, they never mention anything about it.
Rob Schwalb had a nice rule for describing rooms. One sentence about the nature of the room (smithy etc.) . One sensory impression (light, smell etc). One sentence about the creature/riddle that thy meet to get them started.
1st Session with a new NPC: Wow, I really nailed that voice, and the players loved it! 2nd Session: I have no idea how to speak in any voice other than my own, and I'm so thankful my players aren't attentive enough to notice.
My DM has a very unique style. It is incredibly slow. Like every hour of every day gets played, from having breakfast to reports to captains and bedtime routines. At first I didn't love it cause I wanted to rush to the action and plot but now it is my favourite campaign ever. We each have very close and complicated relationships to the npcs and eachother. The interpersonal drama makes it so much more impactfull when something plot related happens or when something dramatic happens to an npc who is a close friend or personal nemesis.
Right? I was just about to say that! Good pitter patter sound effects from Jacob as the shrouded goblin. I also make all my goblins sound like they’re spewing out gibberish
Squeaky-clean glass won me over. I've been Dming for close to 40 years, and Matt has a bit of this effect even on me. Somewhere between, "oo! I should try that!" and "I am a rank amateur..."
Didn't realize up until this point that my friend talks like Matt Mercer... no not when he is DMing, he has never DMed in his life, he just speaks like that casually.
@@Neo2Rus ikr, my only thought was.. this dm wanted to try to use some descriptors for the world that he previously had a hard time explaining, using Matt as just a bit too much of inspo, and the players just decided to shoot him down and belittle him for being "too much like Matt" like even tho the one guy says he liked the old style of DMing, the other guy just was super rude to the DMs attempts to world build, and immerse the players (even tho they're all played by the same dude, i was feeling bad af for the Dm for having such asshole players)
This honestly made me question my DM skills for a minute there lol. I very much do what he does here but to a lesser degree, I try to give every NPC a different voice and I might do sound effects and try to describe everything to my players. Then again, my campaigns are usually very jokey so we don’t take them seriously, hell it’s become a inside joke among my group where NPC just acknowledge the fact I can’t keep certain accents going for long, usually I’ll get a minute into my British accent and I start to go Scottish before the NPC will just blurt out mid-conversation “oh sorry there lads, I drank some tea this morning.”
Don’t worry about it, the issue here was the interrupting and the players not being into it, if you and your players don’t interrupt each other and you’re all having fun then you’re doing great! My group is heavily into roleplay as well for the most part and we all have fun being descriptive and doing fun voices, even if we’re not actually good at it.
I had a campaign where the players renamed everything I did, to the point I stopped naming things and just let them do it. I also had some giant half mile long lizards running around a level of the Abyss, and thereafter all travel distances were measured in Lizards. Their defense of the Elfamo was final straw.
It's exaggerated for effect, but honestly the whole video I was just thinking "is this not... Good?" I'd kill for a DM that puts this much effort into things.
Honestly i'd appreciate if my DM got into the game that hard. It's a lot more fun than having a bulletlist of things that are in the tavern and all the roleplay that happens is "The Bartender pours you a drink."
I know I am late to comment on this video, but being a DM for 40+ years and a Critter for 4 years this video says it all about the influence Crit Role has had on the D&D Community. Mercer and crew have had such a huge and in my opinion positive influence I hope it continues. Truly Mercer and crew are genuine and accepting of all. "We love you very much" at the end of each video says it all. Thats what gaming is about, DM however you like, as long as everyone is having fun. And oh yes, spot ON with the Mercer imitation. Im surprised you didn't use the word "purview" as Mercer loves to use. WELL DONE young man :)
@@spoofilybeloved6729 and remember its very subjective, if one finds something of his goood or bad doesnt mean the players or even other dms find the same things bad or good
Alternate Title: DM realizes they don't have 25 years of experience, a professional grade budget, years of acting and voice acting experience, friends with years of acting and voice acting experience, thousands of fans with support, and aren't being paid to be good at what they do
@@BubblingBrooke Or just: DM realizes he doesn’t have to emulate Matthew Mercer and can be his own DM, for like, a week till’ the next episode of Critical Role comes out.
@@andrewlance3898 You say that as if you're tricking the players into doing the work for you, rather than inviting them to help create a world together :P
Even Mercer will tell you that half the battle of being a good GM is allowing the players to run the campaign. GM fills in the gaps and adds details and help create the world. If you actually watch the CR campaigns, he spends an awful lot of time just sitting there listening. And if you listen to him talk, he rushes through his explanations. He is very aware that he doesn't want to be like this video suggests he is. And the one characteristic I love about Mercer is he is not afraid to say "you cant do that". He plays mainly with friends and people he has played with for a long time so it is very easy to communicate with them. But he is so knowledgeable about the game that nobody ever really questions his judgment when he makes a ruling. My point is that this is why players try to copy him. People call is "Mathew Mercer syndrome", but I don't see what wrong with trying to hone your skills against who is actually the leading authority of GM's in todays game. A group of astrophysicists would put down a guy for trying to use Einstein's equations.
I think a really important thing to note is that Matt, along with the rest of the CR cast are professional actors that are not only playing D&D, but putting on a show for us all to watch, all of which influences how Matt DMs. His style is specifically and intentionally tailored for the special context of Critical Role. Likewise, you have to get a read on what your own game is going to look like when you decide how you want to do this (pun intended).
See, now here's the thing, I have a friend who had never DM'd or even actually played D&D in his life, but he was a huge Critical Roll follower. I didn't even know him at the time, but when a roommate invited me to join in on this newbie DM's campaign, I was absolutely floored. The guy only had a loose grasp on the rules in general and had to look through the handbook and DM guide more then anyone else I've ever seen, but he went HAM on his worldbuilding and campaign that he built from the ground up. A great continental map with individual region maps, all drawn from scratch, races and politics splitting it apart. Since we only had the regional maps he drew, he always made sure to put an absurd amount of detail into describing new areas and places we visited, but he honestly did it so well I was hooked on every word like I was a kid listening to a reading in a library. He also seemed to able to come up with a backstory for any NPC on the spot, and with AMAZING voice delivery. Dude could do everything from a country boy to an old lady to a half-fish man that legitimately sounded like he was gargling bubbles and I still don't know how he does that. Was an absolute joy to play in that campaign, and he's even more fun to have as a player.
HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing 0:23 intro 0:52 recap ends 1:13 a jolly tavern 1:25 a drink 1:58 curious questions 2:32 a soul with a history 2:46 still a better Irish accent than Taliesin 3:39 comprehend languages 4:28 Toothy maw The upload date is 22 January 2021. Sam’s flask has nothing attached to it as Sam is not in the video. Jacob wears a wig. Stay safe out there, especially You Flando, the critters appreciate you very much. Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?
@@RaptorRocka Yeah it just never occurs to me to do them. I kind of want to get better at monster noises and voices, so they don't sound so close to human ones. So far my party likes all the different voices and description though.
I think the level of detail and passion brought by Matt (and DMs who emulate him) is entirely fine! My personal style moreso relies on player interaction and deep world lore - but I've always done my best to keep things like consistent accents for different groups of people. I think its totally fine to bring those elements into your DM'ing - just always make it your own.
I haven't seen Critical Role but if all DND sessions started with a moody, and concise recap, and the DM did sound effects That's an absolute improvement
First time I watched this I've only seen a couple episodes of CR and didn't really get this. But now, after over 180 hours into Campaign 3, I get it. And it's beautiful
"All four of us head off in completely different directions in the city. I'm going to go get a pedicure!" "Great! Since we've already established that you're all wanted criminals and agents of evil are lurking everywhere, this is going to go so well for all of you."
This honestly just makes me want to see Jacob run for Matt with Jacob doing this parody of Matt, and Matt doing a parody of Jacob. Get some other D&D streamers to parody each other as well, do it for charity, and call it a day.
@@MagileineTopDeckToFullField True, if I wanted to DM Matt style after all the CR I have seen its not tough to nail the impression. I like a lot of detail and great NPCs and brutal narration and stuff so I already have a somewhat similar DM style but I wouldn't ever want to copy another DM while running a game. I have my own ways I do things, my own style overall, every DM should be their own person.
@@upsidedownpyramid7617 yeah but if you have never dm’d or even played, copying another’s style is a great way to start playing and in doing so, learning.
@@gabrielchovan-spence4215 Older post but I want to put in my two cents. I don't completely agree with you here. I feel taking inspiration from another DM is a great way to get started but flat out copying another dm is just going to cause problems in my experience. Inspiration is one thing because thats how you get ideas, but trying to be someone else will make it harder for someone to find their own styles.
@@d3monicwolfI'll give you some sound advice that is fact, not opinion. If you want to develop something new, you do not re-invent the wheel. You copy the available material and adapt it according to your mission or goal. Copying a DM is absolutely fine, because you will never be verbatim. It's the same reason why we have homebrew, because we have rules. We followed the rules at first, then homebrewed. Going the other way around, is a fools gambit at authenticity.
I think it's the editing, really. That's what the point of the video is I think, like how the music is just suddenly THERE when it goes back to the DM character.
Technically speaking, the players actually interrupted the DM. There's a fine line between either interrupting the other and realistically, if the DM is describing the scene, you want to let them finish. If it gets to a point where you're regularly being interrupted though, you're probably overdoing it!
@@Grigeral my last GM was very "on the clock" (time always passed in game) so if you didnt interrupt him, the moment to act wouldve passed long ago xD realistic i guess but also quite stressful because i dont like to interupt but he also had quite the pokerface so he never gave away that shit was going to hit the fan (except when lore friendly in the story ofc).
@@Ntwister I don't mind things like that occasionally, but I prefer it to be the exception rather than the rule. My players like to plan for things, sometimes they can spend an hour planning how to do something, so I'll take bits of what they come up with and insert it into the encounter if it fits etc. Each group to their own of course, but when 'everything passes as it is!' you can't really do things like that in the same way. The only time that it flows fluidly is in combat, say they break combat to speak, they get enough time to say something reasonable in 6 seconds, then it moves on (I play it losely, I don't time them). I do find that more strict way of doing it also punishes character stats because the player doesn't match it. An int 20 character would be able to think things through a LOT faster than the majority of people for example.
This is obviously exaggerated for the joke, but I actually love more narrative DMs. I don't need every little thing to have a sound effect, but a really good description and a FEW sound effects really add to the experience for me.
Time and place. Not every setting or NPC needs an in depth intro. At a certain point I feel I'm just being taken hostage to someone can tell me their terrible fan fiction.
I usually have some folders full of audio files for sound effects, such as forest ambience, that I use occasionally. I also run RGB ambient lighting with a spotlight on the table.
@@Jacob-sb3su And you've never heard the sound of a squeaky glass right? It is _paramount_ that the GM make the proper sound effect or you wouldn't be able to visualize it! Describe everything in as excruciating detail, as if you were Charles Dickens and being paid by the word! Detailed descriptions are good, so OVER-detailed descriptions must be even better!
I also love very narrative DMs 😊 I want to hear all the details so I can use them to shape my character. It’s super helpful to get good descriptions, it really puts me in the world. RP is my favorite part of D&D so the immersion is always what I look forward to the most!
I played dnd and dmed very descriptive and in character for decades before critical roll but it did help me so much seeing what I was doing wrong and needed to work on i dont think anyone should compare themselves to Matt or anyone else as long as u and ur players r having fun and get to escape this crappy world for a bit cheers mates u do u.
@@Elenrai Legend has it that it's been over a year now since Matt started crying. Scientists predict that by the year 2057, water levels in the ocean will have risen 5.2% as a result, if the trend remains the same.
I honestly don't mind when a DM does that. It tells me that the DM is putting in a little more effort to make it fun and immersive for their players. As long as it's to a moderate degree. Otherwise it just wastes too much of the little time we have to play.
Low key? A DM like that would actually be pretty dope. "You arrive in town" what do I see? "a building with a man standing in front of it" okay, is there anybody else around or anything in this entire town? "not that you can see, just this man and the building" *sigh*
I think it's a question of preference. Personally, I'm leaning more to the Matt Mercer side than what you're describing there. Only thing is, I have only played DnD myself twice, and one of those times our DM accidentally let us chase and kill a group of irrelevant barbarians, resulting in us getting no progress done after an entire session - they were pretty unbalanced. So I don't have a lot of experience, you could say.
Yeah honestly it may probably feel awkward at first but is a roleplaying setting so having a DM thats super into it I feel will eventually get everyone into it making the sessions alot more immersive and fun. If I wanted to ignore all immersion and just fight stuff I'd play a RPG video game. I feel like DnD really shines when its immersive, breaking people out of their comfort zones acting out various characters they've imagined.
As a DM I try to be more descriptive during non-action scenes. All the descriptions make fights drag on, so I try to only do it for critical hits and such. None of my players want to spend 2 hours on a fight scene, which is seriously how critical role gets sometimes, and that's my only drawback. Also sucks being totally keyed in, doing accents, putting in the work, and your players don't do character voices, don't know their sheets, and aren't curious about each other. It makes for really easy burnout.
@@ablazingcloud2980 As a DM, what I find fits for battles is instead of constantly going "okay you miss" "it hits" etc, I like to add in the flavoring of what's happening. Don't have to be super descriptive, but just enough so that instead of looking like a numbers game, it adds scenery to the fight.
this is so spot on lol.. but u gotta admit. it's so much better than: you walk into a town, here's a map. you want to go to the blacksmith? heres a chart of what you can get. k, subtract that from ur gold. you wanna sleep for the night? ....
Personally, no. Feels like time wasting. I don't need to know the intricate details of every single npc I come across, nor do I need to know what it sounds like when their ass cheeks hit the chair they want to sit on. I'd rather do a dungeon delve for the 800th time.
@@ivansmirnoff6987 so, go play an rpg videogame I guess? I mean, dnd is both things, it's dungeon delving and fights and looting, but it's also roleplaying, putting yourself in another world. It's immersive to hear the door creak or the people talk loudly in the background if it makes for nice roleplaying.
@@csharponlinux4670 I'm not saying CR shouldn't exist, I just don't care for the over acting or sound effects as that takes me out of the experience. I actually enjoy rp, just not rp that tries so hard.
That reminds me of when I desperately wanted to do an Irish accent for a particular character, even though I am possibly the worst person ever at accents and very very Canadian. Queue the character going through five stages of different horrible mashes of Irish, Canadian, British, and maybe some Texan as I slowly went through the five stages of grief. In the end I did learn a pretty passable Irish. And now I’m trying for a Japanese accent for another character because I enjoy torturing my players TwT
@@cloudGremlin I feel for you, I'm Canadian too and I'm trying so hard to do a French accent but it goes from french to German to southern to Canadian back to southern
Honestly i would 100% enjoy a DM like this. Don't even need to tone down the accents. Like, go for it, man. Immerse me. I'm here for the story, the world, and the characters
I'm not hear to hear a story. I'm here to play a game, and in that game I can murder things for shiny stuff. There is a good balance of setting the mood with talking, and just wasting people's time with nonsense.
@@fuckgoogle6716 realistically, you're sitting down at a table for probably a few hours, what's so problematic about an extra few sentences of dialogue and descriptions
It all depends on what group you're in. Some love this kind of stuff, some want the bare minimum between combat sessions, and there's a group for every step of the scale in between.
@@UCvow2TUIH0d2Ax2vik9ILzg they are a show, over detailing everything and vivid description is Matt's charm. He's also a voice actor who knows when too much is too much, so when trying to copy him, many people just keep doing it until its annoying.
What I've learned is that Matt isnt a great dm because of what he does specifically but because he takes a back seat to the players giving them the opportunity to do what they want, if you watch him enough he actually sits quietly quite often and only speaks up when he needs to.
OMG, I just found you by accident. Loved the Video. Bless your Bride and hold on tight to her brother, ones like her, that love the geek in us, are far more than Rare. They're Epic drops that you hold onto for life! Peace.
@@lucy_Bad_Bunny just like the players shouldn't interrupt the DM, and the players shouldn't interrupt other players, the DM shouldn't interrupt the players. Seems like a DM that is way into his own storytelling instead of playing D&D
A npc having 4 accents could be a very unique npc. Like, imagine if there was a npc who traveled the world, and picked up on many different languages, and while speaking to people he can say different stuff, like, “Hola, everybody! I’m just passing through to the next room over. Sayonara!” That would be a wicked awesome npc which attracts players by sheer weird + interesting factor.
I feel attacked XD the first part sounds like some of my Streamed CoS sessions. I completely get the jist tho. Mercer effect in full swing. Love the content Jacob
