What Every Dungeon Master Can Learn from Matt Mercer

[@Tarvvino]

Your game is a gift! I love that sentiment. To quote Matthew Colville (who is in turn quoting Lawrence of Arabia) - be a river to your people!!

[@castlecaster]

TBH I probably learned more from Colville than any other dungeon master out there. Binged his videos back when i was a baby DM!

[@Tarvvino]

@@castlecaster both Matt's exemplify it in spades! Love your content 🙂

[@reydecangrejos7087]

Absolutely second this comment - i'm about to get back into dming, and was definitely viewing it as a project rather than a way of providing fun. That mentality of it being a gift is genius

[@castlecaster]

@@reydecangrejos7087 Good luck!

[@reydecangrejos7087]

@@castlecaster haha cheers - good luck with your channel, already seems to be taking off!

[@paulscott2037]

Just in regards to the end of point 2, if you ever struggle with the personality of an NPC, just take a sec to imagine what they look like in your mind's eye. If you want a shop keeper, decide their age, what sort of shop they run, the clothes they might wear, the people they might serve and how they might hold themselves. Then when you have that image, just to yourself but out loud try to speak as you think they would speak. Just speak a few phrases as though they were greeting someone and you may quickly discover what their over all personality is. You can do it with pretty much any walk of life and it works without fail for me.

[@T0NI_]

I would probably add an asterisk to the "don't include real life traumas" thing with, don't include it *unless* your player specifically wants that. I mean, we already know that Liam has used his characters to work through real life stuff several times, dnd can be therapeutic like that. But again, only if the player *wants* that

[@triggeredfingerprints]

This is one hell of a beautiful video. I’ve been so afraid to try DMing after several years of playing, of not living up to a certain DM standard. I’m feeling like actually trying now. Thank you!

[@castlecaster]

Hell yeah! Definitely give it a try! And don't worry about living up to any standards. Just try and make sure you and your players are having fun! As long as that happens, you're doing great!

[@MyCarnageExtreme]

After one year I'm going to DM again. This is the video I needed.

[@Drakoni23]

So many talk about the negative sides of the "Matt Mercer effect" but in my experience, for my group, getting into CR has been the best thing that could have happened to our game. Because it showed us how much more you can do with it, over just playing essentially a video game. We are currently creating new characters after playing the same ones for 3 years. And everyone's imagination is going wild :D To me the most important thing as a DM is, providing fun for my players. That's the core of what we are trying to do. And it's not different for Matt, even with all the production fluff around CR.

[@riderNo5]

Hi. I love your point about the game as a gift. I'd add as another benefit, that it is a good thing for your own mental state, to give loved ones something to enjoy. It makes you feel better to make others feel better, not only in DnD

[@castlecaster]

Absolutely!

[@RuviGaPo]

Matt's npcs are my favourite thing about cr tbh 🥺🥺🥺 Like.. ik the man hates to steal the show (and i do Adore the pcs ofc) but i just rly like them ya kno

[@CazadorSixFour]

Man, I remember when Matt was the host for Anime Matsuri down here in Houston year after year for awhile, like 2009-2012 or something like that. He'd be roaming the halls with con goers, saying hi, getting pics taken etc etc. He was part of a Resident Evil panel with a few other VAs as well, he was always a funny, easy going dude. I'm not much for most Actual Plays, but seeing clips of Critical Role is a treat.

[@groovinhooves]

Reading is important for absorbing vocabulary and (hopefully) good structural forms. Avoid the pitfall of using the same vocabulary (often inaccurately) by delving into a dictionary, thesaurus and etymologies from time to time in order to ensure you truly 'own' that word you keep using (because you heard or read it once, somewhere, and thought you understood its nuances, but still don't).

[@groovinhooves]

N.B. That's general critique bomb, set for a wide (i.e., just about everyone on the internet) dispersal, not specifically targeted at Matthew Mercer, or even just GMs.

[@ItMeansSun]

Great rundown, my guy

[@castlecaster]

Thanks!

[@tylamcgilverson3923]

I cried when .y character kissed and gave her last breath sp that our qozard could get a dimension door off.

[@Nosmo90]

1:23: More like ‘Matt *Im*-Mercer, amirite? 🤭