Candela Obscura: Game Master Roundtable

[@Awkward_Ramble]

Dream table: All GMs. Brennan as lightkeeper, Matt, Aabria, B Dave Walters, Becca Scott, and Spencer as players. I can already imagine how tense and heavy they could make those games. (Chef’s kiss)

[@mishking9547]

Just gonna leave Liam out of this? :O

[@Awkward_Ramble]

@@mishking9547 I mean, he’s already been a part of two full runs, one as a GM and one as a PC. Other than Matt’s live show performance, no one on the list I made has been in a full six on both sides of the screen. That and five PCs seems like it’s brushing the boundary of manageable already.

[@musstakrakish]

I'd say Taliesin DMing the others

[@SuperEdvinsson]

B Dave Walters would be perfect for Candela Obscura. I'd also like to see Satine Phoenix as a GM. I also think Skid Maher, Joe O'brien and Sydney Amanuel from Glass Cannon Network would fit right in at the table. I highly recommend their Get in the Trunk game sessions if you're in the mood for some David Lynch-esque TTRPG.

[@RealKeetz]

I NEED this to happen!!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍

[@kenzieduckmoo]

i know it was a joke, but id totally be down for Circle of the Spooky Fritata where the Circle has to stop some artifact or whatever that makes people gorge on their greatest desires till they die.

[@jetvulcan2020]

and some where a 10 butted spider monster shows up.

[@yomogami4561]

we need 'spooky fritata' tshirts

[@phobiawitch835]

*yoinks that idea for my folder of Inspiration*

[@Sirfinchyyy]

The idea is great IMHO, it just needs to be presented in an interesting way. (The Cardinal Sins manifesting as a force of nature can make for some amazing story settings.)

[@iriandia]

Yeah, like the myth of Erysichthon who was cursed by the goddess Demeter with eternal hunger and ate himself in the end. The myths that remind us that greed is bad exist in many cultures.

[@stacieransom5677]

Also, I secretly wanna see Sam DM one. His creative brilliance is second to none and I secretly wanna see how dark he can get. We're used to clever, goofy Sam but can he go dark? I have to know! Lol

[@p.cornielius3332]

I would too. His games are always goofy but so chaotic its hard to focus cause your laughing so much. He'd prolly do the opposite and make me lose focus cause ill be screaming and actively sobbing.

[@mriepi]

True! He'll ask about their mothers' names.

[@michellev9906]

I think it was Sam's Instagram takeover for EXU: Calamity, where one of his questions was how was Brennen Lee Mulligan as a DM, and he said it amazing to see how funny he is when he needs to be and how dramatic and dark he can get. I think the same can be said about Sam.

[@Evildaddy911]

I think that would be the most horror-y games. Because a big part of horror is the unknown and suspense, and nobody would have any idea what could possibly happen next

[@Furryfattal]

​@@mriepithen make them "friends" of Scanlan's 😂

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

I really appreciate that we've gotten to see how different people GM this game, and specifically 'episodes' in the same setting, anthology-fashion. I've been hoping we'd get something like that since the ESO Blackwood three-shot (where Matt, Marisha and Liam GM'd three episodes of the same story with the same players! highly recommend). I hope they keep doing this with other games that come out of the Illuminated Worlds system. And with Daggerheart, actually - I would LOVE to see everyone's take on running that!!

[@elyjahhunt]

I love critical role! Thank you all for all of your time and energy. Please continue to do fun and unique styles. Please continue to be your fun and unique selves!

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

Future Candela GM wishlist: Taliesin, Brennan, Ivan Van Norman, Jasmine Bhullar

[@hellamarama]

I've been thinking about Ivan and Jasmine gming Candela since CR announced the third chapter

[@mashak.5384]

Ohhhhh Jasmine would knock it out of the park

[@hellamarama]

@@mashak.5384 her Coffin Run is my favourite of all the D20 guest campaigns, and the horror moments she introduced there even though it's mostly fun... Oh my

[@Dimloep]

Jasmine would absolutely crush it.

[@nblank]

the eternal plague of Polish last names is always funny to witness. i also LOVE these roundtables, rewatched the CR one so many times

[@stacieransom5677]

Power table: Taliesin as GM, Matt, Khary, Alex, Noshir and Aabryia and Spencer as players. I wanna see this so bad!!

[@mishking9547]

What about Liam?

[@angelicalicari8355]

Omg, I want to see Khary and Noshir play off each other!! They both made such incredible impressions in so little time!! (Khary in C2, Noshir in Candela #3)

[@Sirfinchyyy]

​@@mishking9547 to be fair Liam had one of the best PCs and an ultimate 4th wall break in a live show that would make any Sam Riegal jealous... so yeah what about Liam?

[@Crucine]

It's awesome to hear Matt mention Beskinski as an inspiration as he has also been a major focus for a lot of horror ideas for ten candles and candela most horror settings. Also, to note: beskinskis work is based on his views on world war 2 and the horrors therein.. I believe?

[@MokoPress]

I’m planning on running my first Candela Obscura game in a week, so this could not be better timed. I have adored each chapter and every GM style you’ve shared so far.

[@pjhunt4135]

I love the creative genius of these 4 around the table. The live show in la was absolutely epic. Cant wait to see the new circle....and who will gm??

[@kenzieduckmoo]

To touch on that last bit about problematic things that crop into the game because it was part of the setting and not questioned, i think its perfectly ok for players and characters to treat problematic things as problematic. Nothing says "this was ok in that era so you have to be ok with it narratively". If the players are going down the plot path against the BBEG then suddenly want to take out some rage and frustration on an NPC whos running a dog or rooster fighting ring, thats totally ok. If a certain NPC uses inadvertent racial slurs its ok to react to that and do what you feel led to do. Not that things should be added to the game world intentionally, but its completely ok if they do end up happening and can give people a way to stand up to it that they might not actually get in our society

[@OwnyOne]

Beksinski is my favourite artist and lately I'm finding him mentioned everywhere and that makes me happy

[@jasonmd2020]

Atrium Carceri is a great choice for spooky background. Their lable Cryo Chamber is full of dark ambient artists. There's even an ongoing album series where each release is named after Lovecraftian deities!

[@Draedaja]

Oh, Cryo Chamber? I recognize that name! Can recommend indeed :D

[@zaandarbrow]

This definitly inspires me to create a table top short film

[@Anna-ps1us]

Beksiński is incredible! I recently used his art as a reference to inspired my description of the lower planes.

[@UponThisAltar]

You should give the work of Lewandowski a look as well!

[@nullpotato]

On lighting - we were playing 10 candles on the dark, and the peak stress point was ruined by fireworks in the park opposite...

[@stacieransom5677]

I love everything CR and I truly hope we get more CO. I want to see Brennan and Taliesin DM games. It wouldn't be right if Taliesin didn't do one and Brennan is so good too.

[@AttackPoodle]

From what Taliesin said, he is planning on DM-ing one at some point, but he just doesn't feel it's time yet. He wants to tell the narrator's story when it feels right.

[@TheGrapeFairie]

10:25 Atrium Carceri mention The entire Cryo Chamber library is the best! I use that type of music all the time when I run a game.

[@Sirfinchyyy]

At 55:25 i feel like Spencer is trying to say "take the ideas that your players come up with and are afraid of and make them happen." Good advice for any game setting in that it allows the player(s) the chance to overcome what they fear. That victory is felt on a level that a generic room of enemies can't easily achieve.

[@cryochamberlabel]

Thanks for the Atrium Carceri mention! 🙏

[@bassetthound1394]

I GOT THE BOOK YESTERDAY FOR MY BIRTHDAY AND I CANT WAIT TO PLAY IT

[@yomogami4561]

got mine recently too

[@bassetthound1394]

Another thing, my input based on the video above, I usually have a point A and a point B and I use what the players give me, let it be their action, intentions or something in their backstory, to get from one point to the other

[@MulberryDays]

aww hey merry daything! 🎉

[@wantcookie]

ohhhhh this could not have been posted at a better time; i'm prepping for a candela oneshot as we speak lmao thank you for all your insight and suggestions!! ♥

[@Yorimotashi]

This is amazing advice, thanks so much for putting this roundtable together!

[@tymboslyce8487]

those are fabulous cups

[@kaniamia]

The esthetic of this roundtable is on point in every way.

[@megankrahl1182]

I was so excited when I saw this! So happy we have another gm round table!

[@Sirfinchyyy]

Can we get a Candella campaign where our 4 GMs are the players? With Sam as the GM?

[@OdinsSage]

Circle of the Spooky Fritatta (sp?), here we come

[@GatesGameTirade]

I am starting a new game in just a few months and am so happy to get this out there to help along the thoughts I have been having.

[@cogthegreat]

Liam has been the best GM out of the four Candela Obscura campaigns hands down. Liam has the best storytelling skills out of the four DMS

[@kaniamia]

Personally I love Spencer’s style. The way he opened Chapter 2 was, to me, the best way I’ve ever seen a TTRPG start, with all the characters already knowing one another and Spencer saying things like “One of you is in a gun fight on top of the train; who is it and what do you do?”

[@zlatan_2197]

@@kaniamia Yes, cinematic style really works well with Candella

[@yomogami4561]

enjoyed this roundtable and i hope for more need to address advisories that is something lacking after reviewing my copy of the book we probably would appreciate something more then just names and descriptions that said i need to rewatch the circles again

[@leonqubick7716]

No Ma, I don't want to play soldier anymore. That still gives me chills and tears when i think about that line 😭

[@annemariewindhorst6308]

This gives me a great starting point for my own game of Candela. Gives me a lot to think about. I wonder if there is a way to visit what happened during the war. One of the things I'm interested in is the strange phenomenon that happened during the world wars. Was the Angel of Mons real or a hoax. Can you turn the Battle of Osowiec Fortress in a new terrible horror direction or just leave it as horrific as it actually happened. Did the Red Barron actually see and shoot down a UFO? If so, what happened to it and the creatures inside? There's a lot of those stories.

[@bigsarge2085]

100% round, so you know it's authentic!

[@lughness3382]

1:12:46 hey does anyone know what he’s talking about when he says crystal balls are problematic? I’ve never heard of anything on that and I could find it online but I was curious on it

[@opscontaylor8195]

I have run 6 games so far and really enjoying how easy this is to get into (even with 38 years of playing/running game) but still looking forward to the rest of this video.

[@thenineofgossamer]

The Beksinski mention YES YES YES 👏 incredible stuff

[@keepperspective]

Love the GM tables-more of this please and thank you. 🙏

[@stacieransom5677]

But I also wanna see a table with Anjali, Alex, Matt, Laura, Khary and Noshir and Liam. Maybe with a new GM.

[@stacieransom5677]

Could be a cool opportunity to bring in someone like B Dave Walters as GM.

[@ryuzakidestiny]

My favourites moments of CO were the Brennan's character arc and the part one of Liam's sesions as DM.

[@IronRanger132002]

I 'd like to see a dual GM run game maybe ran by Khary Payton and Anjali Bhimani. Have Matt, Aabria, Liam, Spencer, Becca, and Brennan as the PCs.

[@elisabethpihlkonstad6404]

Jason Carl(From LA by Night) or Alexander J Newall(from The Magnus Archives(who also DMed a hprror campaign called Rusty Quill Gaming) are GMs that would be awesome to see have a shot at it.

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

Jason Carl has such a different style, it would be fascinating to see his take.

[@Velanaris]

UGH, AABRIA HOW ARE YOU SO PRETTY I SWEAR TO GOD

[@jaybeck3803]

I'm now so insanely curious what the issue with crystal balls was.

[@AdamBuxton-challand]

Me too

[@Mingronator]

same

[@Chaos_Alfa]

I assume it's related to stereotypical being used by Romani people

[@jaybeck3803]

@@Chaos_Alfa That's the only thing I could think of. And I looked into it a little bit, just some cursory Googling. Which honestly only made it worse, because I learned crystal balls, and scrying via them, has been around since at least the 5th century and utilized by a sizable number of cultures. I'm going to just assume it's somehow related to palantirs, and they didn't want to get sued by Saruman. I hear he's rather litigious. That makes the most sense to me.

[@kristyl933]

Same, I googled for quite a while and came up with next to nothing.

[@ChasingDeathbeds]

Not Spencer mentioning the park in Denver Colorado that used to be a cemetery👀

[@orboles13]

The VVitch Soundtrack is absolutely great for this! I'm glad Liam feels the same. I listen to it while I'm reading sometimes. Slewfoot by Brom goes really well with it.

[@MrSHADOWANGEL999]

A truly wonderful table

[@Casey2007]

Now I'm curious as to what the problem with crystal balls is?

[@richardlanglois172]

Can someone explain to me what's culturally problematic about crystal balls? I was utterly unaware of any unpleasant history, and my googling is just going on about not leaving them in light because they magnify and can cause fires, which I'm sure is not what he's referring to...

[@ruairidhbulger8514]

Also want to know.... Anyone?

[@Nariasan]

The way Matt Mercer describes the KZbin rabbit holes he goes down with Marisha before bed sounds like my routine with my own husband... I didn't know we weren't the only weird couple like that 😅

[@deathpunchdingo2981]

Liam O'Brien's was the only one I made it all the way through. His style just speaks to me. Plus his cast...mmmmm...divine.

[@eldritchhistory]

The story Spencer was telling about the removal of remains sounds like Cheesman Park in Denver. The old cemetery was to be cleared out to make room for a park so they hired someone to move the bodies to the new cemetery. Unfortunately he realized that utilizing child sized coffins would maximize profits on his per coffin contract. Hence the desecration of the the remains.

[@christophersteeves9435]

Dude these 2v2 and 4v4 games have been great! Sorry about the shit rolling Mikey. You'll get em next time

[@3dprintingwithageek]

I really hope for an adventure book! As a GM who mostly follows campaign books and putting my own twists on it, running Candela is quite challenging. An adventure book would be incredibly helpful!

[@UltravioletRay]

Shout out to Aabria for mentioning the atrocities committed on Black people in order to create central park. The razing of the land of colored and indigenous people is subject to heavy erasure within American history. You have Central park plus the Tulsa and Lake Lanier massacres among MANY that are barely mentioned, but carry so much weight historically. So it’s a great theme to use as inspiration for crafting a horror story that builds on a world where there’s so much buried and tragic history.

[@LiathLaVerneHawke]

More respect to Matt for mentioning my favorite horror artist!

[@PeterSahlins]

Nordic Dark Ambient (Atrium Carceri, Lustmord etc.) is awesome to use in dark games.

[@NeedleHair]

the circle of the spooky fritata would be a good Sam episode

[@rosesleeps]

This was so amazingly fun and informative. Some great advice for burgeoning DMs.

[@BethStar11]

53:18 honestly this is so helpful, in dnd I had to start putting animals in places, my druid pc always walked into a place and looked for something to use speak to animals with.

[@BrassMountainLion]

Does anyone know the reason behind avoiding the use of crystal balls?

[@hrani]

It's a common trope used with Roma, Romani and/or Traveller "fortune tellers" that are either a form of exotization or allusion to scamming people as a stereotype for female members of one ethnic group. I think? Also absolutely never use the G word please!

[@SuperEdvinsson]

Any time Liam mentions cyberpunk I just wish we could take part of his sci-fi home game (assuming he runs one) Quite frankly, I'm getting kinda bored of Exandria and it looks like Daggerheart will be high fantasy as well 🫤

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

I'm hoping one of the other game settings for Illuminated Worlds will be sci-fi-y of some kind. Either from CR themselves, or (once the base system is fully released) some 3rd party creator making one that gets traction.

[@kayleymiddleton2024]

It's really cool! Keep up the good work! R u sure aabria and Spencer will play out as candela investigators in the next chapter? Along with dani carr too?

[@Sirfinchyyy]

I'd love to see the 4 current GMs as players together, with a GM that has a very different style. (Maybe Sam??)

[@kaniamia]

Aabria, where did you get that top? It’s amazing!

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

That's CR merch: Beauty of Exandria: Creation - Mollymauk Tealeaf Camp Shirt

[@kaniamia]

@@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEllAwesome, thanks! 😁

[@VikingMale]

I keep getting unsubscribed…. And I have been subscribed for many years.

[@antsarespicy]

All over a cool thing to listen to and gather ideas and knowledge from.I am very confused though why is the crystal ball problematic? Spencer mentions it

[@octolingo1892]

I have a feeling it has something to do with the popularized, westernized image of what a crystal ball is used for, and that its original use/purpose is associated with a specific culture and has more nuance-I don’t know enough to be sure, but I’d wager a guess that’s why

[@zenith110]

I'm here to be a better, spookier DM - cheers fam

[@PhilipDudley3]

At 28:00, All I got was I need to learn how to social engineer my friends to have them tell me what they want in an end game.

[@EncontheCrow]

Anyone know when another chapter or season starts? I checked back in after all this time and even looked at the gaps of previous sections and its been 3 months since they last uploaded. Unless did the new series Moonward take up this slot and they have like a rotating side game series?

[@richardhealy]

What's the issue with Crystal Balls?

[@nicman3110]

Love the insight! Was always nervous about GMing horror

[@skudmulldreams8970]

11:00 i feel like Matt def watches wendigoon, or has at least seen his vids somewhere down a rabbit hole :)

[@chubby_deity3143]

Pure speculation but I think Aabria watches CZ's, XD

[@SnareGG]

i kinda wanna play phaseball

[@darcybhaiwala7057]

I want Aabria to be a high school social studies teacher

[@Zevrael]

I wouldn't call any of the Candela Obscura stories that have been presented here horror. They were dark supernatural investigation thrillers. The players succeed too much for a horror story. In horror, there are no happy endings, just less horrific ones. "Making it through to the other side" is specifically not the thing that is supposed to happen in horror.

[@Dimloep]

Not *all* of the player characters made it out alive, but this is an entirely fair point.

[@OdinsSage]

The game with Spencer and Brennan is definitely the campaign which leaned hardest into the horror based on this standard. That ending was just absolutely heart wrenching and tragic.

[@ArtisticEndeavors]

So much good GM advice here! ✌🏻🎨☕️

[@fabiolosoproducoes1707]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH

[@AP-qt4mt]

Snack This looks fun to join!

[@2paintN01]

What’s the piano piece which opens the roundtable?

[@EksperHotelkin]

Здзислав Бексиньский)

[@joywoolums7944]

I am excited because I get to run a game of this for my mom and boyfriend and (hopefully) dad and sister and we (me my mom and boyfriend) have our first session zero soon and the excitement is overwhelming (dad and sister's is separate annoyingly because it was decided that stupid pictures were more important ugh)

[@thelemon0001]

Brennan isn't in this video, I must protest

[@Dimloep]

Which CO game did Brennan run?

[@thelemon0001]

Touché

[@JJJJJJJJJAAAAAA]

First

[@ManifestingLucidly]

I hate Horror. Everyone thinks they're scary and it ain't even cute anymore.

[@kaniamia]

The type of horror that they’re talking about in this roundtable is the right kind of horror: the kind that takes societal/human faults and holds a big dark magnifying glass over them.

[@lordpepper6932]

Man just once id wish Aabria would leave CR alone, but nope

[@TojiChiba]

Well sucks to be you, then.

[@samsur4654]

Shut up. Aabria is amazing

[@evetobe]

Go back to your fansofcriticalrole playground, kiddo

[@Dimloep]

Sorry Matt invited his friend to his show? I guess?

[@masterofskillz14]

Yeah it's definitely big bad Aabria muscling her way into Critical Role, the large company with heft and industry weight. Definitely thats what the dynamic is!