Inviting Players to Join Games Remotely - Vox Machina, Ep. 32 | Critical Role Demystified 

One of the really great things I noticed in this episode was how considerate the live cast was when Ashley would speak. You notice it right away. They jump straight into their loud, rowdy, friendly selves but quickly realize Ashley is trying to speak and they all quiet down so that she can be heard. It's a huge thing with virtual tabletop gaming that I, personally, struggle with.

I was VERY sad that we didn’t get the illusionary scene of Ripley in the animated series.

My personal philosophy after playing D&D for so long: You don't chastise the fighter for going headfirst into combat. You don't chastise the wizard for wanting to ritual cast. You don't chastise the rogue for doing recon.

Marisha's reaction to Ripley is still one of my favorite parts of C1. The moment the penny drops shegets so giddy and excited.

Pike’s entrance felt epic for me when I watched this. It was so fun.

Liam wanting to not metagame is bordeline masochistic at some points ^^

I think you’re a great addition to the CR community and tabletop RPG RU-vidr community. Thanks for doing what you do with such gusto and passion and consistency.

Unrelated to the content of the video, I'd just like to shout out the subtitles you put on every video. It helps so much! I've got sensory processing issues and subtitles keeps me with the rest of the class. So thank you so much 🥰

They REALLY NEEDED A CLERIC TOO!!! Oh my GOD That NAT 20 was EFFING AMAZING!!!!

I was the player who moved away from my group a whole 14 years ago, when technology wasn't where it is today. I didn't have a webcam, but we set up a Skype audio call to have me join in. We had a perfectly normal game session... which is why it was a disaster. Cross-talk, side conversations, organic pauses to just joke and converse as friends, all the things that made it such a fun part of our social lives. But for me sitting at my desk, seeing nothing, straining to hear what was happening, it could not have been a less engaging experience. I think we tried it all of twice before I gave up. I actually had an in-person visit not long afterwards, so I organized with the GM ahead of time for my character to be corrupted, have a short "infection" period, transform into a monster and be the big final battle of the session. Everyone in the party lost it and raved about how freakin' cool it was. I got to go out like a boss (pun intended), and they had a whole new motivation to carry on without me and my character. Nowadays, we are all better equipped to handle that kind of setup, but there are important lessons to keep in mind, which you touched upon. Also worth noting that having one player join an in-person game remotely is a very different experience than everyone playing remotely. You're not all in the same boat, so be mindful how easy it is for that person to feel left out. The solution isn't to eliminate all the party elements that make in-person D&D so much fun; it's to shape that fun to allow the remote player to be a part of it. A big part of that has to do with the environment in the room (making sure they can hear & see clearly), but it's also being conscious that it's just a lot easier to get distracted when sitting in a room alone with your computer. Be patient with explanations, provide prompts and reminders of what the situation is when asking for their input, and above all, be kind in appreciating that it's really hard to give as much focus and attention when you're not right there in the room.

It’s funny: this single episode was the one that convinced to continue watching the show. Bringing back Pike/Ashley was the light and boost I needed (the characters were making choices I wasn’t vibing with and I nearly gave up). Seeing her dominate and just be there with the rest of the cast visibly moralized them which just proved how vital the whole cast is. I’m so glad I stuck with it ❤

Something I remember very clearly from this part of the story (possibly even this specific episode? It's been a couple years) is the party demanding they go rest because they'd used their resources and Keyleth breaking off from the group and running into the fray after she pointed out repeatedly that the townsfolk were fighting and dying RIGHT NOW, not tomorrow morning (but people seemed unmoved by her words alone). And after she runs off, everyone sort of curses and follows her. I've always really loved that moment because she seems like the only one who cares about the nameless NPCs in the town. I always you're l think about this moment (and Keyleth, who is unfairly maligned) as a moment where a player is really leaning into the idea that the world is living and breathing and doesn't hit pause at the players' convenience. Love it. This whole part of the story is also a great resource management lesson - if the players go nova early on, making it so they can't just take a nap and have to keep going really makes for creative play, and helps with the issue where characters who are fully fresh are capable of taking down much more powerful boss monsters without breaking a sweat if they throw all their highest level abilities at the problem.

This is one of my favorite episodes... I feel like Ashley and Pike didnt get to be badass as much as she wanted bc * gnome short feet * cleric gotta heal * too much work, dont remember how to.... But this.... this was epic, Pike at her best, I love that little one so much

Just have to tell you, that glowing pike running through the crowd gave me an idea my dm is going to hate me for 😂 thank you very much, need to annoy my dm immediatly asking to make that a thing

Thank you for being one of the few people who didn't give Marisha shit for blurting out the revelation about Ripley. Those kinds of lightbulb moments are SO hard to avoid in D&D, and for all the screaming we do about metagaming, you the player are going to figure things out when your character doesn't. It happens.

It's convenient how Pike had an existing connection to a Deity that would easily be able to astral project Pike to the party, but I wonder how inserting a player that doesn't have this kind of connection would work?

Something that frustrated me to no end was when me or another party member would describe something super detailed about what we do in a situation, and the DM goes, "so you do that," and it feels like all of the wind has been taken out of our sails during a combat

I’ve only seen the animated adaptation and I love the creativity of having a character who’s player can’t join in person be astral projecting. It makes me want to go back to watch the streams

I'm figuratively becoming Ashley Johnson, as I'm moving to NYC for my master's and I'm going to play remotely with my party! Fun times ahead.

In the campaign I'm a part of the first time we had a player coming in remorely due to feeling sickish they raised their hand to signify when they wanted to say something. While simple, I feel it does work wonders

I had a friend join in remotely on a tablet. At the end of the fame I grabbed the tablet and started spinning it and asked him to say " you and one day your heirs"

Please give us the video you mentioned on Matt's style in acknowledging what their players are doing even when it seems too goofy or gross, or the DM just doesn't vibe with it. If you could add a section on how to describe hits and misses, that would be a bonus as well! 🙏

the i need a hero edit of pike entering the fray changed my brain chemistry i recommend everyone sees it

Im the only remote player in my party since i moved and they have been so incredibly accommodating. They added a conference microphone, an additional camera pointed at the miniature setup (battle cam), and are so good at making sure i can tell what's going on (stage whispers, etc.). I'm very lucky

The comedic timing on that Vax joke was impeccable, I almost spit out my salad 😂

15:00 - now i want a t-shirt with this phrase 🤣

I loved watching them fight over Vax always sneaking off without telling the party first. It was some of their most hilarious roleplaying and the door thing was even funnier.

Well telling them is common courtesy - so they're watching out for him. When he just goes off and doesn't say anything... You can see why they get pissed it's totally reckless, I'd actually get ticked off out of character too.

So many amazing things happened during this episode.

Great video Mike 👍

Re: acknowledging player action, I'm a big fan of honoring character skill/attitude in failure. It makes failure feel less terrible and more engaging, especially when there's some kind of (still bad) interesting or fun result from it, like with the cutting words whomp. I think it may also help connect the DM with the player, like the DM is along for the ride and cheering the party on even through failure. That's something one of my DMs got a lot better at through running call of cthulhu, which has a really great system for encouraging players to just...try things, as a single failure never leads to something terrible, but if you reroll the check through pushing, something terrible ALWAYS happens. I think this approach makes rolling skills so much more exciting, for both successes and failures. You can commiserate over a failed roll more easily, and you can cheer all the louder for successful rolls. I'm not sure this directly relates to your question, but I was reminded very strongly of it when the cutting words roll was disappointing.

I've become such a big fan of this series! I've never found the time to watch through every episode of any of the CR campaigns, and I've been really enjoying following along with you. You mentioned that the party got stuck behind a door, with multiple players rolling until one of them rolled high enough to succeed. Do you see this sort of situation as an issue to avoid? How can you get around obstacles being resolved by repeatedly rolling until somebody happens to succeed?

I would like to request an episode where you discuss your setup for your online game sessions, and the rules you use to help control things like character cross-talk, keeping the flow the game running smoothly, and if you incorporate things like an online "players gazetteer" of the region/city that players can access during downtime or between game sessions. I would be especially interested to know if you use a program such as Fantasy Grounds or Foundry VTT & any benefits to them, as well as challenges you encountered, and how you solved them.

These videos are why I sub to your channel

I haven't watched the live game, but I was vaguely aware that Ashley played remotely a few times. When I saw Pike astral projecting I was really hoping that's what this was about. Just one of many scenes that made me feel like this was a great adaptation despite not knowing the source material. Almost made me feel like I had been there all along.

I just watched C2E93 and I'm excited for that distant day you make a video on that legendary moment Matthew Mercer is genuinely beat at his own game. As well as C2E96, i wonder if you would agree with the comments on that one about the cast's alleged attitude that night.

That name jumble gag was good

"*pause* Tee Emm" You can learn more than just good D&D skills from watching Critical Role :D

When you're talking about Matt honoring Sam's choices, do you mean adding the note with the comical *ping* as playing into and honoring Sam's choice to play his character as comic relief?

You may have covered this in a future episode, but I wanted to ask if you'd make a video expressing more opinion on the nature of incorporating sporadic players, with particular reference to the impact on the party and overall dynamic. For context, I am disabled, I spontaneously pass out for hours at a time. The D&D group I run in the last 50 booked games I've successfully attended 28 of them. However I've joined groups in the past who simply couldn't handle a player not being consistent, treated me as an NPC rather than a player (which is kinda fine if planned in advance), or got audibly annoyed whenever they had to recap information I'd not been present for because it was cutting into valuable game-time. This was a particular issue for one group because they hated the fact that my character was just auto-leveling even if I hadn't attended for 3-4 sessions in a row and it was breaking their version of immersion. No doubt there are a lot of other issues that arise when a player cannot be consistent for any reason, and there are a number of potential solutions that will vary from group to group. But I'd like to hear your take on this, assuming you don't have a video for this out there already.

Good piece. I think you could have covered how crosstalk can be a problem with a remote player. First, and most obviously, there can be lag, which means two people might start saying something at the same time, but it takes a moment for them to each realize that the other is talking. This happens IRL, but even a small amount of lag makes it a lot more awkward. Less obviously, but perhaps more problematic is the lack of visual cues that someone wants to say something, or hasn’t quite finished what they were saying. These cues are much harder to pick up even when everyone is on camera.

good video

On respecting player choices even if they're not the sort of thing you'd have done yourself - It's a fairly minor example, but I was running Escape from Dino Island recently and wound up improvising a mating ritual between microraptors before having them glide off to fornicate because of the ability of the palaeontologist to instil simple emotions in dinosaurs that they can spec into midway through the game.

I wish we had official guidance on "Narrating hits and misses" I've seen someone talk about adding a Dodge class, just 10+Dex (and inherit armor dex restriction). If an enemy rolls under that you dodge, over that it clangs off your armor, over AC "the enemy finds a weak spot in your armor. With that no one misses attacks, either they are hits with or without damage, or the target managed to dodge.

If you have an NVIDIA RTX graphics card, you might be able to use NVIDIA Broadcast's AI noise cancelation to remove music from some scenes.

How else would you write in a player character who can’t be there every session?

Ok, I'm not a doctor or anything but in my mind know it will forever be referenced as people with low circulation (cold hands often or feet) have a point of corruption.

Today’s lesson with Liam really highlights why he’s always been my favorite player at the table. He’s a bigger fans of his friends’ and their story than himself or his own characters. Liam doesn’t want to retcon because he’s never once thought of himself as *too* important. Sometimes he’s the star of the session, absolutely, but he’s so good at putting the spotlight on everyone else, too.

we figured out to use a lazy susan with the laptop on top of it to swivel it around and face whoever they needed to

13:00 I have an interesting system I use for this if one of my players does something there character would know is a bad idea like cast a spell that makes the ground difficult terrain on a flying enemy I’ll have them role a dc 10 intelligence saving throw if they hit it I’ll let them retcon the move and do something else saying the idea flashed in their head but they realized how stupid it was If they fail the spell is cast the action is spent deal with it

Its improtant to remember delays and sound/mic quality is so important a mic that breaks everytime you peak or sounds like you are running back and forth past it as you talk makes dialog really freaking hard and frustrating.

"I have a point of corruption. That explanation makes me feel better." It makes you feel BETTER to have a point of corruption? 😂

Hmmm… I may also have a point of corruption

If your hands and feet are strangely cold, try adding an iron supplement. After a surgery I had, my hands and feet were cold all the time and they told me it was because my iron was low. Can attest the problem stopped after taking a multivitamin with iron in it. Just fyi

just commenting for the algorithm

This is probably a odd opinion, but I was actually a bit disappointed that they kept Pike's projection in the animated version. In the original it was an awesome way to celebrate that she could actually join them that time, bit in the animation it felt more like an unnecessary bit of mess that was only there to help resolve something that didn't need to be there. On the subject of contacting previous players for input, I had a try at that for the finale of my first 5.0 campaign. I wanted to include cameos of a bunch of old PCs in the big final battle scene and I'd just got back ion touch with a player who'd moved to the other side of the country for work. I asked if it was okay for her old PC to lead the others in a hold-the-line moment and if so when would she like to do it (giving her a choice of three encounters to cancel). She thought this was cool and the other players loved it when they realised who was helping them out.

I will never not enjoy Pre-Cov being referred to in a "post-apocalyptic we forgot some of our words after the big disaster" way like The Before Times. And comparatively referring to post-cov in a similar way. 10/10 would recommend that silly joke. It's already terrible when the boom booms blow up all the wordy word books from the Before-fore as Rick and Morty put it