Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Tips | Critical Role: VOX MACHINA | Episode 12

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This week’s adventure was a side one shot story featuring yours truly. I was hired by some weirdo warlock tiefling named Snugglelord, and he hired some sailor Dwarf named Salty Pete. I like calling him Sam, though. Sam is a name I can get behind! Anyway, Snugglelord promised me riches unbound if I followed him in search of some mystical land called “chat room” so, I did it. For the money. Salty Pete kept harping about a ship he had from his sailing days, I’ll probably have to steal it and sell it later. The boat flipping market is HUGE! We get to this barren village that Snugglelord promised us would be bustling town. We find some people, but they ran away. Probably knew to step away from a boss fighter like me! We find out they were standing in front of a well, but we quickly found out that there wasn’t water in there, it was like some kinda evil juice! We find a house and burn it down. (Don’t be a snitch, though!) The person in the house led us to the leader of the town who tasked us to fix their evil juice problem. Salty falls down a pit for not letting the hero (me) investigate. I try to save him and am sucked in as well. Snugglelord follows. We see our lord and savior Bahamut and almost die. After falling through the other side, we see a gem. Snugglelord does something useful for once and finds out that the place is booby trapped. I use an ancient Dwarven rope technique to activate the trap and we fight this big ole golem. Oh yea, we accidentally cut off Salty Pete’s fingers, but he’s being totally cool about it. ​
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[@Eleven_Random_Letters]

I never thought of Vox Machina as brave, coordinated heroes until I met Salty Pete, Snugglelord, and Ulfgar.

[@TheTjedge1]

These are the types of players I've always DM'd, lol.

[@ScreamsGeo]

It's all about perspective.

[@karmadollie8063]

Why do I feel like Salty Pete made his way somewhere else?

[@allenqueen]

Vox Machina are an orchestra compared to these guys

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

If I make it though this whole thing, it’ll be amazing. Reminds me of the games I’ve run for teens at my work.

[@douglasphillips5870]

37:30 Regarding low stats. Travis plays Grog's low intelligence score so awesomely. It has become one the highlights of the show for me.

[@unsubme2157]

Douglas Phillips sometimes the group consults him for his vast knowledge of shapes, colors, and ale.

[@mattsnyder4754]

Having a comedically low stat makes life so much better. I've got a guy with 18 wisdom and 6 intelligence. Makes for some really convoluted dialogue

[@SpySappingMyKeyboard]

Also Tiberius's terrible wisdom. I loved when he pulled out the bottles of infinite water (forget the actual name), and thought it was self-explanatory what it was.

[@MikaruXDenka]

"I have an intelligence of 6, I know what I'm doing!" is still my favourite quote ever

[@TheLuckySpades]

@@SpySappingMyKeyboard I thought it was the air bottle that appeared empty to everyone

[@VoixMortelle]

"Usually when two people are trying to convince me to do something and THEY'RE not trying to do it, that means I shouldn't do it." Ify knows what's up. It usually takes most people WAY too long to learn that lesson.

[@Konuvis]

Hi deadly voice ;)

[@jcody66]

I recognized ify's voice without seeing him

[@chriscanfly6386]

to be fair he wanted the gold they didnt lmao

[@lenore-bw6qz]

I'd like to think that while Vox Machina is somewhere in this universe saving the world, Salty Pete, Ulfgaard, Snugglelord, and the old crone with the violin are still having their own hilarious adventures. Awesome one-shot!!

[@mynkir-sol2150]

For my Exandria, i have them turning Rockmarr into D&D's Las Vegas!

[@ruzzyshuya4832]

Oh man I was keeled over for pretty much this entire thing. "Who's Sam?" "My man Money Sam over here" "It's Salty Pete but Sam's me nickname", and the whole "Oh no I'm gon' deal with this house real quick". In tears.

[@Denemil]

RuzzyShuya Just re-reading it made me snort

[@Javierm0n0]

The house had it coming.

[@nick1wasd]

"Or great old one, like Cthulhu, hi, Cthulhu, give me magic, what could possibly go wrong" That killed me, Matt's humor is amazing.

[@WeWereTheStorm]

I call on Cthulu! Giant abortion comes from the sky and slowly rips you in two.

[@wldnrkls]

Abortion really should stop one from being ripped in two, not the other way around. If you know what I mean

[@ladyalfhildrforestofvioletmist]

I think you meant aberration?

[@IaIaCthulhuFtagn]

You rang?

[@LordZanas]

I just read that as Matt said it.

[@cervie77]

The d12 is super handy for determining the month your character was born.

[@spacerbreaker]

an an and that’s all folks!!!

[@awaytoanywhere699]

some random tables for a dm. or chose an hour of day.

[@xEvilRaptorx]

But... theres more than 12 months in Alexandria isnt there?

[@achimsinn7782]

I used to play a german system called das schwarze Auge (translation would be "the black eye") That system used the D12 almost exclusively for any rolls. You can imagine how strange my first tries on D&D were with all those different dice.

[@pallasproserpina4118]

xEvilRaptorx There are 11

[@GalianMode]

It was definitely cola in that well. Citrus~y smell, turned the rope dark, acid damage, cleaned the coins. Plus the players were drinking cola, I got Mercer figured.

[@romulus2473]

DUDE.

[@GalianMode]

@@romulus2473 BRO.

[@Nixahma]

@@GalianMode This feels like a rehash of the “it’s party rock is” meme and I’m here for it

[@MxCAT7]

omfg

[@isaacalien]

The laughter of the Crit Role crew as Vox Moronica struggles mightily with a door, blissfully ignorant of what Epics of the Doors awaited them.

[@trautsj]

Not even gonna lie, hearing Matt explain how he approaches Dm'ing and his way of interacting and coaxing the best out of the players/story is fucking beautiful.

[@sailtheplains]

Monks, represent! Snugglelord: And I draw my power from the overlord of Geek and Sundry Matt: *totally straight faced* okay. That would fall under infernal. That made me burst out laughing. I want Percy as my coach Oh man, wow. Being a Dungeon Master sounds amazing. I love world building.

[@trevinchadilla419]

sailtheplaint of trust me,it's fun as all hell tbh. But be warned! You must take in the rules for calculating damage and stuff. Other than that though,it's as fun as all hell tbh

[@CountryMusicMann]

The fact that Matt did this entire game improv is unbelievable.

[@Laoruperteen18]

with his vast nerdy knowledge and that he is a professional voice actor, whos job is to remember pages of lines and improv by default, its no surprise :P

[@chrish5786]

CountryMusicMann as a dm myself improv is probably my favorite way to run a game since I can create something that's more interesting than what I've previously planned out, it also helps a ton when running one shot games

[@Abelhawk]

It's a lot easier than you might think!

[@chadgeary2653]

you just have to have an imagination. i could see how his thought process worked and how he used what characters he had to write a story for them to flesh out in his mind. yeah he has a lot of technical knowledge given he's played DND and DM'd for quite some time. But overall through all the different groups ive watched play TTRPG's my favorite way of seeing them done is improv. The Third Wheel has an awesome stream of a TTRPG called Spell. I laughed my ass off, yes parts of it were planned. But there was so much randomness that the GM couldnt really keep up with it and had to improv most of the things. So just go into any scenario you have knowing that at any point it could change, and just go with the flow. all this makes me want to do is play DND even more and possibly other ttrpgs because honestly those draw me in a bit more than DND. TLDR: Have fun and an imagination.

[@imhal9000]

Done it a few times and had games run up to 8 hours. Ended up with a headache from it too.

[@DreadGuyTeach]

Two Dwarves and a Tiefling... "It's gonna be a SHORT game!". Really Matt? You had to do it?

[@beargrills3508]

Aren't halflings the short ones though? I thought tieflings were normalish.

[@FlyingDominion]

@@beargrills3508 they are, but dwarves are short.

[@R_Caine]

​@@beargrills35082/3.

[@Canadian_Zac]

Something I live by as a GM "I don't want to kill you. It's far more interesting to give you everything you ever wanted". Don't set out to kill a player. Make them a hero, make them love the character, give the character full resolution for their backstory. Then watch as they must give up their amazing character as their motivations are destroyed, and the character retires to peace. Far more heart breaking than death.

[@TapdotWater]

... And *then* you kill them!

[@Rabijeel]

I go for something similar: - It is easy to acieve "Victory" aka "Fulfill the Main Mission Objective" - It is challenging to achieve "all Mission Objectives" - It makes it easier to do it a heartless bastard. - It make it harder to "do it right" aka be a "good Guy". It is up to the Players if they are "Heroes", "just some Adventurers", "a bunch of Mercs" or plain and simple "evil Bastards".

[@stonehorn4641]

Heroes, not super heroes. I definitely don't give my players even 1/10th of what they want, because that would be game breaking. I want them to feel tension and danger, and explore things about their characters they have never considered. D&D is about far more than heroic deeds. Overly powerful characters are the most boring. There isn’t much about Superman that is interesting to me.

[@DarthFetid]

much like what happens to old old officers who have spent their lives in the military.

[@Reblwitoutacause]

also, kill their parents, tragical Cause. Ya'know. DnD.

[@mirandahatcher5028]

Learning DM things from Matt is like learning to paint from Da Vinci *.*

[@abucketfullofpandas6463]

except bob ross is narrating it

[@oakley5488]

I think it would be easier since Da Vinci's you know Dead...

[@Victor-lu3mx]

Bob Ross is too. I miss the pretty little trees...

[@maninthebox420m]

Victor Alighieri The happy little accidents :.)

[@unsubme2157]

mccree is best dm

[@cho7879]

marisha: making dumb joke about inflatable beard of tentacles being hot matt: openly flirting with her marisha: awkwardly chuckles I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE

[@1234angelbaby1234]

Do you remember the time stamp?

[@sumyungai85]

@@1234angelbaby1234 19:03 ish

[@1234angelbaby1234]

@@sumyungai85 thank you ♡

[@juliadandy6019]

@@sumyungai85 thank you :)

[@volleytheball17]

I just love everything about them to this day. They are not ashamed and that is the BEST.

[@keirantalent]

New show starting soon: Critical fail starring Vox Moronica.

[@MrSeals1000]

Now... after such a climatic ending, Your heros Return with a *New* Season of Critical fail, starring a cousin several times removed! Vox Macarena !

[@Nixahma]

@@MrSeals1000 MACARENA IM CACKLING

[@Drakefance5]

So glad i didnt skip over this episode, hardest i've laughed in a long time.

[@MaxStoryTeller92]

I agree 👍

[@whateverppl1229]

my first instinct is "skip" then im like well 2 more minutes 5 more minutes aaand it's over.

[@MystMarsh]

Same man

[@PlanetXGameStudios]

Agreed!

[@alexfields8700]

I watched it because of your comment so thank you. That was hilarious.

[@EnDSchultz1]

And so begins the legend of Salty Sam Half-Hand.

[@UserDude]

+EnDSchultz1 Classic insult!

[@MessyGamer616]

+EnDSchultz1 With his companion, Mistress Shrill-Tone

[@willowakiokami]

Agh! Classic Dwarven name!

[@NiteSaiya]

1:30:00 I wonder how many marks Grog got for headbutting that giant with a natural 20 over that cask of ale... But damn. This episode was so funny my face cramped from laughing for over an hour at The Good, the Rad, and the Nubly.

[@WeWereTheStorm]

That is one of my favorite sequences in the series so far.

[@svenningen]

Same! that was such a legendary moment!

[@Ebonzai]

Faux Mustache Swear I saw his face and I said at the same time as him I would like to rage. Then he hit that 20 and Matt was like. That son of a gun DID it. Fav moment.

[@Konuvis]

That was epic, great RP moment. You could tell Matt wanted him to go all the way on it and was super excited.

[@matthewcooley2582]

Faux Mustache the good the rad and the cuddly maybe?

[@Molly-bj5gb]

"...by the way... Lily." "OH you have a name!?" "...or a favourite flower?" I lost my shit

[@glassknight2002]

Literal favorite like in the series so far

[@sdagoth3037]

It sounded like Marisha was dying in the background at that bit XD

[@andariousrosethorn]

The mercenary mentality works so easy for an entry level player. I love it. That classic dwarven slang.

[@piabernardino]

some classic lines for when I rewatch: 2:15:37 Sam 2:23:08 smoke em out 2:24:50 horse punch 2:26:50 Salty recounts the horse punching 2:27:15 liam takes a stab at it 2:32:15 "juice" 2:32:58 some dwarf dap 2:36:04 show me mine and I'll show you yours? 2:39:26 that accent's funny 2:45:54 dungeoneer's pack 2:46:36 stone cunning 2:51:36 more classic slang & liam's "it works for everything" 3:05:05 Salty believes in himself 3:08:19 kobe! 3:12:06 Snuggle pulls out his crossbow 3:22:38 classic childhood misery

[@Skoll-Hati]

You are a legend and a scholar

[@IzzyM801]

Boost

[@RuailleBuaille]

Cheers! Bump

[@BigKlingy]

And the whole town burns after they leave because they forgot to put out the house fire.

[@TheDewaker]

As a fan of yours, I find it funny to stumble upon your comment 3 years later haha. Didn't know you liked Critical role :) Keep up the content chief !

[@leefellows8770]

This is my favorite episode so far. Money talks. Bullshit walks.

[@willowakiokami]

We need to get you a fucking business card! 😂

[@StellaBorneWatches]

"They probably will release a gunslinger in the future and it will be vastly different" Unless they are so happy with your contribution to their community that they get you to work with them to release yours, like the rumors floating around imply.

[@30noir]

His is lifted from Pathfinder.

[@pallasproserpina4118]

This comment was prophetic (though they didn’t include the gunslinger in the explorers guide to Wildemount because of licensing issues)

[@Zalied]

@@30noir to be fair pathfinder itself was lifted from dnd

[@carlycchapman]

@@pallasproserpina4118 I think, if you hit "include Critical Role content" on DnDBeyond, you can get gunslinger as a fighter subclass

[@Cyyberslam8]

@@carlycchapman Hell there's even some official and UA rules for firearms WotC has released as well, tho I like Matt's better for the most part.

[@ghostfather1390]

"you show me mine, I'll show you yours, or vice versa" great line!

[@nymeria941]

End of last episode - Matt: I'm exhausted! Beginning of this episode - Matt: I'm going to completely improvise a one-shot on the spot!

[@UnNuclear]

There absolutely MUST be a crossover in the future. That would be a _Classic_ episode.

[@T_Moneyzz]

I'm assuming you've seen more, so tell me: Does it happen?

[@willowakiokami]

I need to know as well.

[@mwjohns4]

let me know, too

[@UnNuclear]

@@mwjohns4 Sadly, no.

[@robertkieran3268]

The epic moments stuff is so true . Our bard asked if he could heal a baby which had been split in half by a gnome in our party who found the crying annoying. The dm said roll a 20 and anything else is a fail. He rolled a 20 and the baby has now become a giant part of our stories

[@Nortarachanges]

..... that sounds amazing! So glad the baby stayed a part of things after the miracle roll, too ^_^

[@Pikuninpizza]

A party member split a baby in half?

[@calebfreeman8284]

@@Nortarachanges king Solomon's guards jumped the gun...

[@Reblwitoutacause]

@@Pikuninpizza wHaTs ThE pRoBlEm? I'm cHaOtiC nEuTrAl!!!"

[@sandman1008]

@@calebfreeman8284 Underrated comment.

[@totem91]

I've noticed that most people that end up DMing are people who've been plagued by bad DMs as players. I've run into my share of antagonistic to straight up killer DMs, so I've ended up DMing my own campaigns. And character creation, which is my favorite part in any rpg, has become an essential part of every session, because NPCs yo! So it worked out fine...

[@legndofphoenix]

This is why I've decided to DM. Too many sessions with little to no story and just straight unfair encounters. Too worried about min maxing and not about making an interesting world to play in. Plus I tend to get talked over a lot as a player, so I never get to do much.

[@AdellRedwinters]

+Sun Praiser I'm right there with you. My friends wanted to play, all of them were either new or didn't want to, so it was me or no game! Over two years later, and I'm still running my campaign O___O

[@partysqu1d]

+AdellRedwinters I am a new DM. Since you also have quite a bit of experience DMing, do you have any advice to offer me that could help? I find difficulty in creating maps and placing hidden treasures and whatnot. I am not yet sure where the balance is because i want some of the treasures to be special, but i dont want them to be overpowered. So any advice you could send my way about these matters would be awesome and greatly appreciated :)

[@partysqu1d]

+AdellRedwinters I am a new DM. Since you also have quite a bit of experience DMing, do you have any advice to offer me that could help? I find difficulty in creating maps and placing hidden treasures and whatnot. I am not yet sure where the balance is because i want some of the treasures to be special, but i dont want them to be overpowered. So any advice you could send my way about these matters would be awesome and greatly appreciated :)

[@AdellRedwinters]

Party Squid Yeah sure! When it comes to map creation, I tend to go with an actual grid map which I usually put together using photoshop, but you could probably do the same just with a basic Paint Program (or, if you have the time, actually draw the maps out yourself on graph paper). I find the maps don't need to be fancy, they just need to be functional. Some games don't even USE maps, going full "theater of the mind," but I find that gets confusing during big battles. Try and think less about it being "puzzle room 1, battle room 1, puzzle room 2" and think of it more as an actual real world location. Like if the party is sneaking into a vampires mansion, the building itself will probably be open-ended, a front entrance and back entrance, a kitchen, a bedroom, a basement , etc. build out the map based on that mentality, and then populate it with traps and monsters as needed. However, I don't always have the time to think things through, when it comes to moments like that, I tend to use donjon.bin.sh/, which is a site that creates randomly generated grid-maps (among other very useful features), and even decides things like enemy placement/traps/treasure based of the party's level. I tend to just use the map itself though, and decide where the monsters and stuff are on my own. As for treasures, I still have difficulty divvying them out myself. If you're playing 5th edition it's not so bad as the game has less focus on hoarding magic items so you can be a bit more lenient, but games like pathfinder are balanced around players having a specific value of gold on their characters. In cases like pathfinder, figure out what the value is of a character (typically by adding together the prices of all their equipment, magic or otherwise) and then compare it to the "character wealth by level" table in the game master section, which should give you an idea of what "wealth value" they should have. If you see that the character is, say, 5,000 gold under what they should be, then you have 5,000 gold to work with in terms of letting them find/earn/stumble across some magic loot and items. Most dungeon master guides also have Loot Tables you can use, where the players (or the DM) can randomly roll for what magic loot is at the bottom of your dungeon. Not as narratively cool, but it gets the job done. Balance is important, but sometimes it's nice to bend the balance if it means a more fun story. Don't be afraid to let your fighter get that epic war hammer if he earned it. It might be super powerful when he gets it, but that'll just make it more exciting when he finally faces something that can stand up to his new equipment. Anyway, I've rambled on for quite a bit now, but I hope what I said at least helps you a little bit. Just remember, you and your players are trying to tell a story together, sometimes the best way to handle things is to just go with the flow and think of the game as a big action movie or novel.

[@cjustcathy]

I nearly skipped this to get to 13 for the campaign story. I'm so glad I stayed. Informative for beginners whether playing or just watching; then the cherry on the cake the improv was hysterically funny. Great entertainment. IMPROV STARTS 2HRS IN

[@kenisz3n377]

Great video! Matt's discussion on treating rules as guidelines is probably the most illuminating principle that I'm only now just embracing as a fledgling GM.

[@RHCP1031]

2:36:09 "Show me mine and I'll show you yours." Had me dying!

[@diarmuidbalfe7264]

"Vehicular manslaughter, ha classic!" Marisha Ray 2016

[@bickflick]

Oh god, I should not have watched this while people were asleep. Listen to my door and you would have heard incessant, wheezy laughs as I try desperately not too laugh out loud. This was fucking hilarious, more so than is normally so.

[@ruzzyshuya4832]

Man I was in tears, it was so funny!

[@IcoKirov]

bickflick i watched it with my gf sleeping next to me. i was smart enough to stop it, after the first two times i almost lol'ed

[@elminsters]

14:38 - It's Liam's birthday 16:05 - The Snugglelord 1:54:40 - Marisha [edit] calls BS on Matt 1:56:28 - Matt improvises a short fun roleplay with Liam 2:03:15 - The side one-shot story begins 2:08:54 - Snugglelord blames the voices in his head (leading to a very funny conversation) 2:09:46 - Salty Pete tires of Snugglelord's outer monologue (this is part of the conversation mentioned in the line above) 2:12:05 - Liam loudly whispers that the music has changed which is a clue that something may happen 2:13:12 - Snugglelord pays with shillings, which is a local currency 2:17:13 - Salty Pete never backs down from a challenge and thrusts his hand into the well water... except the well is 7ft deep as Matt kindly points out. 2:19:24 - Another very funny conversation! 2:22:11 - The door is the hardest foe yet! 2:41:38 - Salty Pete asks his comrades for help! 2:54:46 - "You ain't no Elf"..."I know, i wake up everyday ashamed" lol 3:21:25 - The side one-shot story ends (and it was an awesomely funny story!!!!) This was a really fun episode! 3:36:10 - Everyone sings happy birthday to Liam

[@BiggySn1p3r]

+Blake Dale It's actually Marisha.

[@elminsters]

BiggySn1p3r I know, the name is on the screen, this is just me typing whilst watching the action on screen. #TyposHappenAndWillContinueToHappen

[@vikedorge8066]

+Blake Dale Classic timestamp post!

[@austinwoodward8829]

47:00 matt gets a little salty that the group killed his beholder so easily

[@bozieu]

+Blake Dale 2:15:37 Classic nickname.

[@ScorchHellfire]

I love that through all that silly nonsense, Matt was still trying to push forward with a serious adventure. Such a professional.

[@i.oshunsar7930]

Best comedy is taken serious

[@LootFragg]

@@i.oshunsar7930 Yea, the straight-man rule applies to this as well. The more sincerely Matt does the game, the more the guys can shine with their jokes. Although the tiny violin bit was funny. :D

[@simulatedscholar6303]

So that means this is episode would be the 3rd anniversary of them playing together since the first session was also on Liam's birthday?

[@aarondavis7391]

To qoute one of my players from our last gaming session "When the DM smiles it's already to late."

[@TJCID22]

Once I played 3.5 DnD monk that optimized in breaking. It was hilarious because he could punch through anything. "A mage magically sealed the door? No problem, I'll just punch through the wall!" You have no idea how much of a tactical advantage it is when you can attack a room from anywhere.

[@GamerNxUSN]

you were the kool aid man...

[@megavore97]

Haiiiii Y- Ohhhh yeaaaaah

[@unsubme2157]

After the Rage you smart good.

[@arztfritz3803]

@@GamerNxUSN it took 3 years, but your Kool Aid Man finally got it's 69th like (me)

[@guyfromdubai]

ONE PUUUUUUNCH!

[@alphabetbeer]

Ify is an absolute treasure to D&D. I loved his character in Bloodkeep and this feels almost like a prototype of that piratical rogue.

[@jime7001]

The best roleplayers would have their character do what their character do, rather than what they want their character to do. That's something I know.

[@GamerNxUSN]

and the best dm's reward that

[@TildaM1994]

Yeah I did that but go so into character that while she was rendered heartbroken and screaming I myself started bawling and had to leave the game for a minute XD always sad when someone you view as your baby melts into a puddle of blood in your arms O.O DM cried when I and my character broke down but now he has to figure out how my ranger can rage at the sight of Drow XD

[@SadCheetah]

LightningIgnitor you could really tell he was thinking "I shouldn't...but Grog would!" and it just really pulls you in because you we all know Grog would do that

[@captaincrash9002]

Usually those two things should be the same

[@fernandod4046]

Yeah, until everyone in your group is metagaming and the DM rewards that and punishes you for being in character and responding accordingly to the story and situation.

[@bonepaste_3336]

“I play a mean flute, but it’s sharpened at the end” *gasps in band nerd*

[@chalupathulu_5092]

I love that the normal cast or Critical Role is just losing it across the room

[@laneroadhighway]

Link to the 2nd part of this one shot, since it's unlisted! Takes place after episode 25ish I think? kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5vMnpSYd9uNndk

[@cjustcathy]

Thank you.

[@lordluceus]

As hilarious as this oneshot is, the one thing that really cracked me up was "We want the crone with the violin." I don't know why, but that killed me.

[@sdagoth3037]

I was crying when Lily was trying to escape that burning building but couldn't get out because they accidently jammed the lock in the door XD

[@mintyalpaca]

The DM tips were super helpful and the one shot game was hilarious, their characters interactions are amazing.

[@ietjesiobhan]

Currently binging and sort of desperately falling in love with Matthew Mercer, as one does.

[@Nixahma]

*incoherently sobs in bisexual*

[@masquerademage]

pleaseee this is me right now 😭

[@juliadandy6019]

Same, folks... Same...

[@JoshuaGoudreau]

Aren't we all... I'm gay as hell but I'd make an exception in his case

[@x9n_]

he's so attractive for no reason

[@Metalloid702]

I've only recently began watching Critical Role. My old roommate would watch them on the living room TV and I always thought they were funny but only recently got into it myself. I also only recently got into DnD which of course helped peek my interest [always wanted to play but only recently found/convinced friends to play with me]. Even though I'm, what, 5 years behind and starting on season one, it's been fantastic. Scrolling through the comments, new and old, the community has been so fantastic and nice. I'm really glad to have started watching :)

[@williegraas2451]

I love the nature of this game. It's literally directed storytelling, and it's so easy to become enthralled. For instance, at first the guys were yelling and making jokes and kind of doing the first impression thing of, "Oh, hey, look at me we're playing pretend! Let's see what kind of dumb stuff I can do!" but as Matt started creating this scenario and the world around them, you can see and hear them change from goofy to genuinely inquisitive and almost careful. It's just so awesome! I can't wait to recruit some friends so we can start our own stories. It's an awesome outlet for me to be creative but with a little bit of guidance.

[@x907xYouCantRun]

I'd love to see Matt play as a character instead of a DM and see crazy decisions he has.

[@i.oshunsar7930]

Hopefully you have seen Undeadwood by now, his best PC role so far.

[@benvoliothefirst]

@@i.oshunsar7930 Or Escape from the Bloodkeep!

[@crystalharvey4330]

@@benvoliothefirst thats the one i was going to recommend.

[@ShengFink]

He’d die too quick to get anything done lmaooo

[@saxhleel1230]

I have come from the future. In 2021 we get a Critical Role mini-campaign, Matt plays a dwarf sorceror and it is one of the most fantastic things to watch unfold.

[@_UPRC]

Critical Role: Three Stooges Edition. Man, I laughed my ass off at this episode.

[@user-kt9mu2fo7f]

Goddamn, Matt is an incredible DM as well as an improviser, it’s amazing, he spent like 5 minutes coming up with an entire interesting set up for an interaction and encounter

[@Johncornwell103]

The rope test is actually pretty smart.

[@xEvilRaptorx]

Reminds me of an old tradition. There's a rope nailed to a board with a legend next to it.. If the rope is... Wet - rainy Moving - windy Hot - sunny Cool - cloudy Stiff - cold White - snowy Gone - seek shelter

[@becomingsentient1208]

​@@xEvilRaptorx Works better with two walnuts on a string.

[@vikingfitness7013]

Anyone else really want to see an entire story with Edge purely based on the 20 minutes he took to create her and how the party meets her.

[@elmencos3335]

Yes! Her whole charismatic character was so interesting. And it's made even better in my mind by imagining her played by Sophia Lillis from the new DnD movie. Love that woman and her tiefling, Doric, was so great.

[@romulus2473]

Okay, so I've been watching this during the lockdown, and playing in a couple campaigns as well. I love Vox Machina because everyone's amazing and its so polished and professional and well done, but oh my GOD this session feels like every session I've ever been in with my friends and I love it so much.

[@XadeChronos]

1:57:27 hearing them talking about lighting and setting the mood for the game, knowing what their set for campaign 3 looks like is pretty cool to see where they came from and where they are now.

[@niamhcorrigan3972]

My favorite stuff was the rivalry. The tiefling being a dick, the dwarves being dicks back. "Classic dwarven maneuver!"

[@hh-ck6ko]

2:29:42 I love how Matt tells us what the npc sees in front of her. I wouldn't trust them either :D

[@bigbalticbox]

This entire one-off was like a comedic slapstick movie

[@AgentPedestrian]

this entire adventure was just pure comedy i'm still giggling so bad -wipes a tear-

[@EdwardHowton]

When creating characters and locations, the DMG gives really good advice and even has random tables where you can roll and manufacture NPCs from scratch, but I like the one word approach. For instance, when I was designing a sailmaker/tailor character, I used 'eccentric'. From there, I picked a name at random (the thing I have most trouble with) and went with Rodrick. He's eccentric. He makes sails. He wants people to call him 'Gust', because billowing sails. Sails, lots of sailors, he named his shop The Lucky Albatross, because albatrosses are a bad omen according to some sailors. He's eccentric like that. Never shares his last name, he's too eccentric. He's a bit foppish and quirky, because eccentric. The kind of slight figure with round glasses that immediately comes to mind when you think "slight figure with round glasses". Do you envision the bald spot on his head? Yeah, he has a bald spot. He's always smiling, and occasionally greets returning customers by name with a song, because he's eccentric. All that came naturally from one word. I did the same thing with Jimothy Francine Quarnsworth, a joke character I added because I liked his name when I thought of it. For him I used 'bullied'. He ended up being an inept failed wizard who ran away from his teachers and wanted to ally himself with a white dragon by bringing an offering made up of crappy iron utensils and worn copper pots and pans out to get revenge against his bullies. The same works with cities. For Widow's Point, I used 'corrupt'. From that single word, I got a city rife with crime, split into three distinct areas called the Front Quarter, the Gold Quarter, and the Must (because of the smell), currently practically owned by a gang of were-rats called the Black Widows and lousy with an inhaled drug in the shape of treated bark that you throw into a campfire called Ghost Smoke. A dirty city with ooze-infested sewers and myconids enslaved by a tiefling alchemist and a drunken dwarven sewer druid named Gherkin Gravelmuncher. All you need is to find one word to describe something in short, and build on top of it from there, always keeping the original word in mind. You'll eventually surprise yourself with how some of the details come to life on their own and you end up with a *sewer druid*. I don't even know where he came from, but he just made sense at the time, and so I added him into the story.

[@psychocomytic9778]

EdwardHowton my process for characters comes naturally, so no help there. designing the world however, i find throwing on an hour of atmosphere music, sitting back, looking at your characters or character ideas, and thinking about their goals and what and where you want their adventure to lead them helps massively. from there, think about the dynamic you want your world to have and shape the landscape partially around that, fill in cities, then trade routes and roads, finally moving down to the smaller villages and towns that support these cities, building military positions - strongholds, forts, battlefields - whenever you chose should they be necessary. dungeons and encounters are fairly easy after that, the layout of the dungeons is easy to make up and you can set them in any free space you have, letting you decide what they are used for. maybe dungeons near towns have some sort of monster or bandit menace set up camp and attack a town randomly, or a large cave system in the woods could be home to some harrowing creature(s). meaningless bullshit you can skip past this. with all that i had the setting of gothrisea fleshed out in 12 hours on an off day. an archipelago stretching from one pole to the other surrounding a large donut of an island on the equater, unaware that on this massive world there are three large continents separated from them by a massive sea that would take over a years travel to cross that are partially colonised by dozens of races that cohabitate. further within gothrisea, specifically essealand, the large island in the centre (listening to a lot of sailing themed music at the time) there live a large portion of humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, etc that believe the things they hear about dragonborn, tieflings, voch'khar, etc are just myths. and that even if these creatures did exist they would be nothing but evil and abhorrent. coming about from wanting to make a party that was minimally humanoid and maximum reject that all wanted to explore the world primarily. ultimately ending up with a dragonborn, jackalfolk, voch'khar, lolthan, bluevein, an elf, and a dwarf that all for one reason or another wanted or needed to explore everything they possibly could.

[@RuailleBuaille]

This was a great piece of advice. Thanks for sharing it!

[@EdwardHowton]

@@RuailleBuaille Remember that there's no 'right' way to design characters, places, or stories, though! Any trick that works for you is the correct one.

[@meerkatphantom5499]

i hope these guys get characters get referenced in the main campaign

[@Marshall-tn1sz]

MeerKat Phantom did they eventually?? I would like to know

[@capwithoutacountry]

I choose to believe that Lily went on to become a renowned bard who told and retold and embellished the tale of the Heroes of Roch Mar until it became legend. Completely and utterly fabricated legend, but legend nonetheless.

[@RPGtourguide]

Ahh, watching Critical Role... Classic Dwarven pastime!

[@scedobear9628]

Ahh, liking comments... Classic Dwarven pastime!

[@cappinjocj9316]

I am a Dwarf and I’m Criting a Role, Critty Critty Role, Critty Critty Role!

[@alphaarcher4723]

I had a paladin in my game who, when entering a new town, the first question he would ask was, "is there a church". He burned many churches

[@benvoliothefirst]

1:43:24 Orion: "I gave away a bit of my good fortune for the mending wheel." Marisha: "One of these days something terrible is gonna happen." ::cries in Tiberius::

[@jammygitz]

I actually took detailed notes while watching this. Neeeeeeeeeeerd

[@CrookieMonsterr]

JamesS yo i'm gonna need a copy of that

[@MrANDRESFP]

*scratches neck feverishly* y’all got any more of dem notes?

[@shannononeill482]

So glad I'm not the only one who was taking notes during the first half.

[@friendlyredneckneighbor4326]

About the time I start thinking HOW how the hell can the party extort edge like this, her fears and vulnerabilities how can they. Matt: And that’s a character that I just fleshed out on the spot. Me: o yea this is an example....... BUT WHAT ABOUT EDGE 😫

[@hellvaliant]

"They'll probably release a gunslinger in the future and it might be vastly different" Little did you know Matt

[@wizkida981015]

Liam: "i fully expext you to kill me" Matt: *mentally puts a pin in that*

[@hypnoticbat3080]

The foreshaodwing

[@elmencos3335]

Hahaha I thought the same thing. "Knowing what I know now...this is hilariously foreshadowy"

[@birdscritters]

Do you mind if I make a video about this?

[@misc.5428]

*TIMESTAMPS* I made this for myself, but I figured I should post it on an old video for newcomers like me lol Character creation: 24:55 A Dungeon Master's role: 42:00 Dungeon Master TL;DR: 50:45 - 51:15 Tips on being a DM 53:33 Salty Pete's character background 1:34:40 Start: 2:03:15

[@seamustheshameful9498]

Super helpful thanks

[@seductivegreenbean8269]

Boosted

[@Fat_Panda_Gamer]

Two dwarves and a tiefling walk into a tavern.... (go wild guys)

[@an1m8r]

+Kyle Vanderhoof They don't get into the tavern. They can't open the door. They burn it down.

[@Fat_Panda_Gamer]

an1m8r Quickest escalation I've ever seen.

[@strawhatleon]

+Kyle Vanderhoof *can't open the door* "I would like to rage."

[@cyrus147]

i love that all the main players know most of matt's tells and get excited when he does them

[@DePieks]

Vox Machina losing their shit over this was very amusing.

[@jackoster7115]

I'm very happy with how Orion addressed the last episode and how Talisien helped redirect him. It was sad and kind of jarring to see Orion act so harshly when he's not normally like that, so it's nice that everyone could address it and not hold it against him and they could all grow because of it

[@MrRJPE]

I call bullshit on his excuse. They had been playing for 2 years before doing it online. Do you really believe he'd been playing that long and never figured out or was told that Matt wasn't trying to murder them all? If you believe him then let me tell you about this bowl I have for sale that turns copper coins into silver.

[@shubidoe]

@@MrRJPE c'mon man. i dont think he's fricking evil. the guy has problems, cut him some slack. openly admitting to being a dick takes vulnerability, i can respect that.

[@Logan_Baron]

Whether admitting to being a dick takes vulnerability, regardless of not being fricking evil, doesn't change the fact that there's no way he didn't know that Matt's purpose was not trying to murder them all.

[@VTGN-II]

@@MrRJPE is it a nice bowl?

[@TamaraWiens]

I call BS as well. If anything, orion saw the livestream as a way to up his profile, so he went all MCS and asshat. So happy it backfired on him, and we got to see the depths of his shitshowness (yup, that's a word, I just made it up).

[@Orceh]

Omg. This is was so great. First the instructions were great (like when you watch the behind-the-scenes specials on a DVD) and then the actual game was so hilarious. I love Snugglelord. lol I would love to try this kind of roleplaying eventually. I don't know if I'll ever find a group though where I am.

[@UnNuclear]

Orceh there are a lot of websites where you can hook up with other players and get games going. I can't recall any of them off the top of my head though.

[@E-Lykos]

Orceh Try the web based table top program Roll20, It's very popular and with a bit of effort you can find and begin playing with a group of people online. Plus its free (with a few ads here and there).

[@sky0kast0]

I recommend nearbygamers.com... good luck hope it helps you adventure

[@Loydem02]

+Orceh I'm just going to throw this out there. This could just be a wasted comment and in that case, just ignore it. XD Now, I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet that there are quite a few people like me; that is, we're lingering in the shadows watching the comments possibly waiting to see if there is a group that could potentially be forming here? It wouldn't be any different than going to one of the said websites looking for a group. After all, we would still all be strangers, but at least here we would know that we at least share one thing in common: we are Critical Role fans, which would make us slightly more like 'allies' ( Sorry Clarence moment XD ) than going to other websites, no? Besides, look at all those likes! 23 of us, that could be nearly 6 groups, all in one fell swoop. The only major problem that we all would face is fulfilling the role of the dungeon master. Unless I'm forgetting something. :| By the way, I'm sorry for the length of this post. >Clicks the reply button and scurries back into the shadows

[@ringrust8308]

+Loydem H. Yeah, I'm pretty much a tad like you. I have no idea how to play D&D although I'd love to and have next to no chance of having a session of it, especially considering I'm only 15 and I'm quite shy in front of people I don't know especially behind a keyboard. I would love to learn D&D with one of my best mates.

[@johnterry7593]

Just recently starting my adventure of listening to you guys. a player of Palladium for over 13 years (And some AD&D here or there) I have had so many laughs listening to your podcasts at work. You proceed to make my day every time. Hearing the general chaotic mess that is a party truing to figure out how to NOT DIE or the hilarious attempts at trying to persuade/convince NPC's brings back soooo many fond memories of games past and gives me a new insight into my current games. I can't wait to continue this journey of hundreds of episodes through your three campaigns, no doubt bringing endless hours of laughter, screams, nail-biting and most of all that grin from ear to ear. I look forward to the further adventures of Vox Machina!!! Also side note, so cool seeing you guys pushing to hit that 3150 sub mark, when now you're sitting at 2.28M Subs. You just gained another!!!

[@ghostfather1390]

regarding NPC's; I would add to your "list of what you need for any given NPC" is their appearance. height, coloration, and a general sense of their fashion. are they well dressed, slovenly, armored? I would also suggest that it is not necessary to place an NPC in Every Single Building, even in some smaller towns or villages. Some NPC's will be location specific, but if you have a loose pool of bartenders, merchants, and inhabitants of a place you can put them wherever the players decide to visit. A DM can, and yes I did, spend months worth of hours populating a small city with detailed NPC's for the players to only actually meet 3, and cry themselves to sleep that night! lol

[@Edithae]

+Ghostfather If you're writing detailed characters to populate an entire city you might as well write your own "Monster Manual" style NPC manual to build up a library of fleshed out NPC's to use in future campaigns.

[@ghostfather1390]

Ka MiK I did end up reusing most of them elsewhere, but it changed how I went about it. I think my point was more that it is good to have detail, but to keep it somewhat flexible. Players rarely, if ever, follow the path you have in mind for them exactly, if at all. Inevitably you will waste some preparation time, so you it as wisely, and with as much adaptability, as possible.

[@practicaldeduction6862]

As a GM myself; who started watching this show to learn how to improve my own skills, I'm glad I didn't skip this episode like half of the audience did. Finished this episode on February 16th, 2021.

[@CptDewFu]

Happy birthday Liam aka Vax!!!!! Also your improvisational skills are hilarious whem Matt put you on the spot for an example with the tavern scene whe describing events made my day! This episode was awesome. "The good the rad and the nubbly" need to appear in town at some point cause it would be hilarious as an encounter or two lol

[@SoulstealerTTV]

1:47:45 This is a part that really... gets to me. Not necessarily because of how the things being said relate to DND in general but because of Orion and Tiberius. He essentially says: "I was unaware of what the DM is trying to achieve und because of that I have been playing wrong, been a huge dick and I'm really sorry". To which Taliesin responds with "shut up you play awesome!" Like you really get a perspective for why Orion was so on edge in the last session and was playing so differently from what we previously saw. And watching this you think to yourself "Oh cool, they sorted that stuff out, hopefully everything's cool from here on out." But everyone who watched the next 20 or so episodes knows this isn't the case. And it just makes me sad because he seemed to enjoy playing Tiberius so much and like he seriously reflected on how he played the game here, being too scared etc. I think Orion just got too much into his character and couldn't deal with the idea of Tiberius dying or not being heroic. So much that even after this conversation, he still didn't trust Matt enough with handling things. Since he was taking drugs at the time, maybe those made him more paranoid as well. Maybe he was even thinking of Tiberius as an extension of himself. If he can't be a hero in his own life, maybe he can be one through his character and if that were to be undermined or taken away from him, he wouldn't be able to handle that? Obviously, I know too little about his and their situation to really assess it but it's just a real shame how things ended up all in all, cause at his best moments Tiberius was just a lot fun and quite enjoyable to watch. 😢

[@Dracon350]

i feel bad for orion, i really do. i think back at all the missed opportunities there were when he was removed from the show. there was so much lore potential in draconia, plots hooks left unexplored like the remaining artifacts, or the fact that he bartered away some of his luck away to a hag for the mending wheel. this campaign could've turned out so much different if orion could've recovered from his problems. but he didn't, and while i can say i do feel bad, i also say that i can't give him any more pity other than i would've loved to see more of tiberius acting as tiberius, and not orion. that all also said, i'm happy with what we got - not to mention he got a pretty damn good sendoff.

[@SebasTian58323]

Glad to see more positive comments about Orion and that whole mess. While there are some serious problems with how he acted and stuff he did, I did enjoy his character, and I hope they he's doing better now.

[@nosiree7104]

That's a really long winded way of saying he's a cunt

[@Sabasanosiss]

I model the way I DM, as a brand new D&D player, after Mercer.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

Always learn from the best.

[@tiatrips]

I did too with both of the systems I'm running. Hopefully, it's working out well for you.

[@Sabasanosiss]

@@tiatrips Haha thanks, but unfortunately D&D no longer satisfies my friends and I. Now we're playing needlessly complex systems like Shadowrun just for the run of it.

[@allmybasketsinoneegg]

Man I'm so happy I didn't skip this, it's hilarious.

[@LittleBitVic]

The loud and comical reaction shots from the Vox Machina peanut gallery unexpectedly added hilarity, given how laugh tracks seldom do, to what was already a stupidly funny setup. Lmao. I'm so grateful for the pretty good intermittent live camera switching -- assuming live because I can't detect any edits -- especially when the timing was perfect enough to record the split second before the reaction, e.g. the spectator cam capturing the surprised, hysterical laughter when Dan announces Salty Pete rolled a one on unlocking the first door of the game that Ulfgar also failed to bust open.

[@justprivatelywatching0293]

That one-shot was frigging ridiculous... I love it! XD

[@Hot_Lemons]

I'm currently volunteering in Mongolia. The Tiefling Thieves' Guild master's name cracked me up. In Mongolian, "Eej" means "Mom", pronounced exactly as Matt said it.

[@phoenixdzk]

Ify & Matt are incredibly good in Escape from the Bloodkeep

[@Bambbax]

I havent laughed this hard in a long time. Snugglelord should have a cameo in Matts campaign.

[@MGC-XIII]

Bambbax I ship Salty Pete aka Sam and Ulfgaard! Best Dwarven duo I have seen for a long time!

[@jc.i.m.e3652]

Oh god yes. the whole lot are such a good mix. their characters gell so well actaully

[@TamaraWiens]

Zac and "snugglelord" are srsly creepy

[@AllThingsClara1]

I know this is from 2015 but I wanted to say I love it too mat that you talk about your campaigns like it was something you personally experienced. Just resently found critical roll just a few months ago.

[@JorisScrolls]

"WHAAAT? HE'S TRYING TO KILL US!" This video teached me so much hahaha!

[@sumnergurl19]

is it weird that when Matt shushed the others at 54:00 that I immediately thought, "he and Marisha would be such amazing parents one day"? I kinda want to see the little geekling Mercer-Ray children learn how to play D&D from the group :D

[@bickflick]

Give them a little shirt with uncle or aunt placed at the front of every name of the group, like the first Critical Role shirt. That'd be adorable.

[@sumnergurl19]

+bickflick oh my flipping gosh, it would! _~imagines all the cute Critical Role/D&D-themed clothes those kids would end up with~_

[@Eszra]

Well they did just get engaged, so who knows. Fans are wondering who's gonna end up having kids first. Liam and Sam have kids, and so it's only a matter of time before we might get a little Mercer-Ray and/or Willingham-Bailey. That would adorable fan art. Grog and Vex and Keylith and the Suntree.

[@sumnergurl19]

I LOVE how KeylethxSuntree is the in-show thing for them, it's just too funny and I seriously hope they know about it! XD and you're right, I'd totally forgotten about this comment in light of the engagement #SoExcited but I hope they don't feel like the fandom is pushing for geeklings sooner than they're comfortable! I still hold to the ideal that Critters are one of the nicest fandoms in general, and I hope we stay that way even when we're excited that some of our players are engaged or might have kids one day

[@Eszra]

LadySumner13 No, no ones really pushing them. Hell someone once told Travis and Laura not to have kids ever because then the fans will feel less important. Something like that, it was cuter and funnier when the said it. But no one is gonna tell me they won't be the cutest parents ever. I mean Laura is gonna be the funniest mom, look how she treats an imaginary bear. And then Travis is gonna be one of those fun days. For Matt and Marisha I see, a lot of laughter in the fact that Marisha comes off as a little worryful so she and Laura will be like two peas in a pod. Poor Matt will have to lock up all the mini's and dice until after the kid is 5, but I have no doubt that bed time stories aren't gonna be the greatest thing you ever heard.

[@shadybrain3424]

this reminds me if those tv episodes from shows like dr who or supernatural where the main characters are in the background the whole time and they make a short story for one episode.

[@ScaryWombat]

+shadybrain3424 Those end up being my favourite episodes, actually. Not because I dislike the regular cast, but because the change of pace is so lovingly created, and fleshes out the world in a way that I rarely see shows do.

[@shadybrain3424]

i agree totally AllannaXD

[@limealemur]

Wish this one had been presented the same as the normal episodes (with all the cameras visible at once). Would have loved to see the vets reaction the entire time. Them laughing so hard was the best part.

[@BooksToAshes]

What a cute interlude, it's nice to see everyone relaxing after such a big battle!

[@weebwari287]

I feel like I'm never gonna catch up lol But I love the fact this exists. I miss playing D&D, haven't played a ruled game since my dad introduced me to the game as a kid. This is the closest I can get atm and I'm so grateful to listen :)

[@psycopuppy3047]

Reddit.com/lfg There are huge online groups out there, or if you want in person games you'll have to do a little more research.

[@RainaThrownAway]

You guys are killing me! I laughed so hard I coughed out a lung.

[@gabissj10]

Matt is a fucking genius, man, he does so many things in so little time

[@kennethturner8290]

Mercer is an amazing DM, making for a good game. Good useful episode..!

[@woodbbl]

"you decide [...] how they would react to that circumstance. Favorably, unfavorably." Instant flashback to last episode's "you grabbed that horn, Grog!" And of course it works both ways, as evidenced by that poor giant who just wanted to have a nice, quiet life murdering and eating people, maybe squashing the occasional dwarf, but unfortunately made the terrible mistake of being rude to Grog over his ale. I wish we could have had insight into his POV from when he gets enslaved to the point where he's turned into a mouse to the point where he's turned back into not a mouse right at the worst point in time to not be a mouse. It made me think of the whale & petunia contemplating life for the few mere moments they get to experience it bit in HGTTG.

[@becomingsentient1208]

Oh no, not again!