Better tell them thank you

Same shit happened to me. Shitty GM railroading so we PCs play his fanfic made me start GMing cuz that shit sucks.

It's kind of the antithesis to Hitler being a failure in art and becoming a tyrannical despot.

No lie, had a buddy whos campaign i loved, but the ending sucked soooooo bad a vowed never to do that to my players. So i get this sentiment

@@matthewheade9788 ye, I feel this happens a lot. I started DMing before my first campaign has ended. But gosh its ending sucked. Basically out personal stories never went anywhere, none of the hooks I left in my backstory ever made any impact. Two of the characters backstories literally burned down with a couple of cities before they even had a chance of doing anything in there. I vowed that I would never disregard my own players in such a horrible way. Most of my setting is built around their characters. I have this crazy player who wanted to be 3 million old godlike dude who ruled the most advanced planet in the universe etc etc. Okay, let's do this, all we need is a reason for him to be lvl 1. The next campaign we went into with my old DM we had to argue and fight for ANYTHING we wanted. I wanted to make a magic domain cleric. "Nope, I don't think there are any fitting gods, screw you". I fucking google his damn warhammer fantasy battle setting and find myself fitting gods. I'm going to shower my players with all kinds of stuff they want and fuck it if it unbalances the game in some way, I'll handle it.

@@defaultthedude8164 absolutely rock solid

After that is the economy of of the upper south west of the plane of fire

@@parrottarot995 That's essential btw, really sets the mood

🤣

Me too. It's important for the map to make intuitive sense.

I'm a little kid in a Miyazaki movie: I'll never die! I'm a little kid in a Miyazaki game: I'll never be allowed to die...

Hahaha.

OP hasn't seen Grave of the Fireflies yet....

@@cultistsash Nope not yet, but I'm planning to

Obviously and understandably xD

I mean we all feel that way, Matt is a legend in voice acting and rightfully so because he is an amazing voice actor, but ever since I started watching Critical Role, I got to see him on a more grounded level and now he’s just Matt to me now, although I’m a fan of his at heart because he’s been in so many of favourite series and video games like Jojo, Resident Evil and Overwatch

@Tad Cooper Edgy!

@Tad Cooper I thought it meant being a grumpy prick. So yeah you are pretty edgy.

@Tad Cooper lol you are the gift that keeps on edgelording!

@Tad Cooper bro you good? you wanna talk?

@Tad Cooper Go get laid bro you sound grumpy

I'm making a world rn, and it helps sooooo much! Basically, it helps you answer the question "Why do people do the things they do? because it provides the setting for why

He also started with a hole with a hobbit

Iron-town. It is little more than a small mining village sitting in the bottom of a crater in the desert. Families grow their own vegetables in the crater dirt irrigating what fresh food can be grown while they delve the cracks and fissures below the crater rim for any and all minerals they can get their hands on. The only trail out of town leads up the increasinly steep rise to the east until it reaches the mill. Here the winds that blow across the desert will slowly turn an ore crushing stone wheel reducing ores to a powder that can be sorted by their attraction to a lodestone. The powders are bagged in 40lb sacks and sold for 4gp each to passing merchants headed toward the Civilized world. The PCs were born in this village. They are members of one of the following families: Family Race PC class starting equipment 1. Cressbone dwarf Dwarves warhammer 2. Wutherin halfling Halflings small hammer 3. Greelish human Clerics, Fighters, Thieves pick, 50' rope 4. Doscar-Greelish Half-Elf Magicuser, (Half-)Elves lantern, dagger There is a tremor and the entrance to the mine collapses while you are filling a bucket with iron ore below the surface... your family members are struggling to dig you out but unless you find a new way to the surface you are going to die down here.

Well as much as I love the master of worldbuilding, he wrote novels. He wasn't designing a living world that his players were going to wreck havoc in xD

And guessd what, most of that geography did not make sense and the story itself is more important than the map.

Penguins fly in the water not the air. And they go quick underwater.

Penguins also walk faster than people do, so theres that.

@@callumhearne6936 on slippery ice, maybe. There's no way a penguin can walk faster than me on grass or gravel.

​@@__Stitchy You're on, motherfucker 🐧

I love this hahahahaha

They are also the dumbest one. But fly silently.

Yep. Definitely need to have contigencies and be flexible.

Unless it’s a flexible story, with base central requirements that can be sought out in different ways at different times, but remain constant.

Amen

It's all about how you present the avenues the players can take to begin the plot line you woven into the world you've created... if you do not have an interesting enough plot line to begin with no player will ever initiate it.

Con confirm. I had a "Quest-Giving version of an ATM" character planned to give the party a series of small quests. The first female player I've ever had in my group basically just swiped that all out of the way for a werewolf thread, just latching onto one small thing in one of those quests, and it was a case of "keep up or shut up" with her, in the best way. (she did heavily consider including "werewolf hunter" in her background, but it was already pretty eventful for 1st-level, so I figured what the hell, reward her for toning it back.) Players will fuck your plan up. And you'll love them for it. :)

Yyyyeeeeesssss

I'm Taking that character idea for myself tbh

but, but, but Dead-Eye Cyban. . .

I had a character like that once, I called him Blandor Lukewarm

Eldritch Knight fighter Brennan Lee Mulligan

Feels very "me" right now. I'm not able to output creatively in most of the traditional senses, but here I feel like I can make something work and click.

I mean, sure, but what do you mean by "... is literally everything." ? Isnt it, that nothing except everything is literally everything? Or do you mean "is everything to me" ? Sorry, Im really confused by that.

i wanted to make a godamn animated serial as a kid, and this is honestly the close i can get at my current level. someday...

@@calcifieddirt4120 I believe in you man, for whatever that's worth

Something special about the purity that is the medium of the mind

Sounds like you've got a pirate campaign.

That is _incredible!_

Lol, just play Stellaris, then copy paste

Use that world building and write a series of novels in it

Well, in one of my very first excursions into the PnP world i bought a beginners adventure for me and my group, very basic stuff, the adventure started out with an old poor man who asks the heros to save his daughter. and my players decided that they dont work for free and wont help cause theres no money in it. 25 euros well spent on my part xD

Also, I love it when people are capable of liking something yet still finding the things about it that don't work. These days, there's so much "I like x, x is perfect. If you say something bad about x, I will send you death threats!" Because yeah, stuff is complicated. I like Harry Potter but I can also say that some stuff about it is horrendously stupid, some stuff is great and J.K.Rowling is a fucking TERF and thus a horrible monster who negatively affects so many human lives.

I think the point was that logistics are not always for the players. Not that they always aren't. I know some players that absolutely love when I have detailed logistics on the economy of a town or something similar.

When was that?

@@akiratoro840 Two years ago.

I think he meant time in the video

I hope to see your name on books one day, man. That's an author's name right there! *

Then you're doing something right. Doesn't matter who you are, or who the player is, if they tell you that, you're doing something right.

My first time DMing two players said they had fun and I had to excuse myself so I could happily tear up

I tried that. It didnt take. So now I go mapless. If it aint a dungeon or a town, chances are that it aint getting a map.

"i hate you in the best way possible"-pc i loved that cause it showed i made them feel with my story telling.

Brennan and Matt are DM gods essentially, so the vast majority of people comparing themselves to them will feel lacking - better to admire their work and take inspiration than try to be better.

The power of almonds .

@@bonzupippinpaddleoxacoppil484 this guy knows how brennen ascended^^^^^^^^^

@@bonzupippinpaddleoxacoppil484 Is it possible to learn this power?

@@a.pigeon This is brilliant

I am in love with the poetic phrasing of this oml

Dark Souls.

Disco

Mork Borg could be a thing you like then. The apocalypse will happen, there's no way of stopping it. So what does the players do, in the final days.

The first Mad Max

This, right here 100% The first thing I learned and absolutely my favorite thing of all time in learning to refine.

And one I run with!

Municipality I grew up in is called Malilipot, which came from the word 'Lipod' w/c means cover, because the mountains we have block the lava flow everytime the nearby active volcano erupts.

Love it. Writing it down. My future homebrew world might have a tiny town called Ayden in it.

Plot twist. A band of brigands led by a warrior named Abah Ting established a stronghold nearby. Although at first antagonistic to each other, the town and the brigands joined forces after learning the local lord, fed up by their activites, decided to eliminate the threat. The combined forces defeated the lord and secured control of the area thereafter called Ayden and Abah Ting. This led to the creation of the phrase "aiding and abetting". 😄

Prescott was where a guy named Prescott owned all the ranch land, sold it off piece by piece, and they named it all after him later, which he disapproved of

There's a town in South Carolina called travelers rest Literally because originally it was the last good spot to stop before going over the Appalachian mountains. Now the only reason why people know about it is because it's close to a "big city"

Lol. Did you even remember much about the Original at that point?

@@thedarkbard yes, picked up right where we left off

@@verrucktish wow. I could never without reading all of my notes.

@@thedarkbard we got together for a refresh on the notes about 5 minutes before session

@@verrucktish ah.

That's so amazing! I hope you'll be able to enjoy it for many more years

thats basically what my homebrew is like, each campaign sees the players adding and changing the setting i made so many years ago, and let me tell you it is awesome!!! nothing is better than getting your players to love your setting as mich as you and watch it grow, but i bet its pretty cool for them too lol, they have had characters become gods, race each other for that god hood, bought and waged war with armies, and changed the timelines and the planar realms to their own whims. aaand then i make a new campaign in that setting and i get to go mwahahaha as i make them deal with what they have given me

That is the sweetest thing

Wanted to say I loved hearing this.

@@Adam_Wilde You will be pleased to know we are still going strong a year later! We are using Discord at the moment but it's still fabulous. 😊

Woaaaahh, that's super interesting, I've never heard of that being done in a campaign! Were the PC's all like, childhood friends for a bunch of sessions and then got time-skipped into adventuring age? Did they have any character abilities or were they just normal children until they aged up? What kind of plot did you have for that part of the campaign? I wanna know because I'm super interested in this concept and kinda wanna try it for a campaign I may be running soon...

​@@cronsola1357 It's fun to do! Difficult when involving short-lived and long-lived races, but for a bunch of short-lived (Humans, Orcs, Half-Elves, etc.), it works pretty well. For my own homebrew, I made each player make a level 1 character who was essentially "Level 0" with the following stats: -1 to each stat for each year of age under 18 (minimum = 4) From 0-12 years old: +0 Proficiency bonus, 1/3 movement speed, 1/4 base HP (minimum 1 after CON mod). No spellcasting or Bonus Actions. Base Disadvantage on every d20 roll. From 13-17 years old: +1 Proficiency bonus, 2/3 movement speed, 1/2 base HP (minimum 1 after CON mod). No leveled spellcasting, but known cantrips (including any racial) may each be cast once per short rest. Any damaging cantrips are capped at 1 damage. Disadvantage on any d20 roll made without proficiency.

@@SomeKZfaqTraveler This sounds incredibly fun omg

We're currently playing what we call the "Child Campaign" which is a similar premise. We've been playing in the world for a few years and so had acquired a few "Legacy characters" essentially old PCs which survived their campaign and went on to become NPC in later on. We got to choose one of our legacies to be the parent of our current characters, we're playing from age 12 to adulthood and having a blast. Its very interesting to play currently level 9 children, we have reduced stats because we're children but I, a 14 year old Tabaxi Wizard can throw around 5th level spells, shits fun.

Nice!

Mayyyybe someday 😉

@@umactually ok so it's basically been confirmed

@@activistvoorrechtenvankaas2810 Matt was announced to be in the Dimension 20 Side-quest series!

Or either on Not Another DND Podcast!

Brennan please please go onto Critical Role!

I'm stealing this

So, the Doctor.

i just clocked that.

Connor McGregor

@@addamsixx7915 Molly was not just a song about an Irish girl selling cockles.

"Would you like kindly grab that sword and stab that kitten?"

"Bad guy with an irish accent" is kinda racist

Gonna steal that so hard

@@cholulahotsauce6166 please do, lol

And funnily enough, I’m playing a Drow with the same joke

@@MementoMorrigan yup, that's what I play my half drow as. An arachnophobic aussie.

ouch def not how we talk

Tell me, I forget, was March 2020 a happier time?

@@matthewletexier No. Everyone’s already forgotten Australia was on fire. And now it looks like I have to quarantine for 2-4 weeks. Bummer. Wait... does 2020 get worse????

@@GordyByGordy wha...no....maybe....yeah

@@GordyByGordy Narrator - "It did."

I was like, "Same." until I realized it isn't 2020 anymore.

@Hokusai i think stefano is right, it only makes sense.

@@Thecodytree It makes sense, and it's probably a very correct way to approach this, but I also agree with Hokusai. The two positions are not mutually exclusive. Anyone who has traveled a little bit, not much, just a little bit, knows for a fact that there are good and kind people everywhere, just like there are bad and shit people everywhere. Anyone who needs to promote that kind of "no we must fight stereotypes at all costs" mindset clearly hasn't traveled nearly enough. Sometimes, someone who has a southern accent is a proper shithead. I love Matt as a DM, but there is no doubt that the whole crew of CR is stuck way too deep in the left-wing identity politics, which are just as bad as the right-wing identity politics, not one bit better. They can't control it when it perks up, and it does perk up quite often, and it's annoying. It's a form of catering to their overwhelmingly progressive audience, and I understand it from a marketting standpoint, but you know it's religion at this point.

@@lonewaer fair enough

@@lonewaer fr

​ @lonewaer Left wing identity politics are basically "let's listen to what scientists have to say on this matter and not hate people because of their race. Also, let's not sweep under the rug the discrimination of the past." Gender identity? Science supports separation of gender and sex, as well as gender change. Homosexuality? Science doesn't see anything terrible and disgusting with it. Being non-white? Science has time and time again debunked racist claims about some racial groups (race in itself is quite a bad concept, but hey, it had a strong affect in the past, so lines drawn by it are still affecting society) are biologically superior to other racial groups. While some people think left wing positions are like religion, it just shows that those people think that objective thinking is a religion. Of course, left wing positions aren't always objective, but there is a reason why left wing positions are most popular in academic circles. Most aligned with facts and least bound by prejudices. Also, comparing right wing identity politics to left wing identity politics is just foolish. Right wing's stances are, quite often, just objectively evil. Like denying the strong lingering effects of past racism to uphold racial inequality without announcing that you want to uphold racial inequality. Or even better - wanting to make homosexuality illegal due to your religious feelings. (funny how right wing is all about "common sense" and "religious feelings". It's almost as if right wing has about zero care about facts and logic.) Of course, there are bad leftists and good right wingers, but it isn't hard to understand that left wing is just objectively better than right wing, unless you want only your rights to be protected. To be honest, i don't thing most right wingers operate on malice though. Just ignorance. That's why right wing hates education so much. Hard to push ignorant positions to knowledgeable people.

I was laughing for a solid minute. Especially at the mention of theraimel (cannot spell the name). A hilarious reference to sophomore year.

It's an easy start: just dial back history to somewhere around 700ish BC, throw the geography in a blender, name-swap stuff and ladle in fantasy races & beasties ;)

Sounds like Tyranny the game

What the fuck? I'm sorry what is the context of that ?

@@ducdantalion2317 player vs DM expectation of the game

@@vishrutwatcheswhat the worst mindset.

24:06 That should help context.

Exactly what I'm experiencing right now. Our group of friends has played WFRP 2ed for a looong time, so stuff like this was perfectly fine in this grimdark world, but recently we've started trying out dnd 5e, me wanting to experience heroic fantasy, but our DM is still in the grimdark mindset. You want to heal a child's sprained wrist with Lay on Hands? That's at least 5hp. Darkvision doesn't see in complete darkness. You were attacked once during long rest? Guess it was interrupted. Stuff like that. I got frustrated enough with it that I decided to DM myself.

Thats a sad story... Sweet Wildmother, that's a lot of sad stories.

Caduceus is losing his home and didn't know where his family was. I think that's pretty bad. I'm also sure we don't know everything about Caduceus' backstory.

@@ThorsShadow true, but none of that really bothered him

@@ssfbob456 are you kidding me? He was sad af.

We dont really know everything about caduceus yet... he could have the worst of it, and just has a good mind set.

yeah, by the looks of it the process does take a fair bit of time, though.

@@dsblocks As someone trying to write a story / book / build a world, it does. And not only does it take time, it takes organization. A ton of noodely filing systems and programs and maps and stacks of paper. A lot of energy, and random ideas that don't fit but you want to make them fit and in the process you rui something else and then you want to go back to before you had that idea and it doesn't quite work. It is hell on earth, but when you're in that zone, it is the most beautiful thing.

That's 100% true. I make 5 important NPCs that want something badly, an environment, and reasons they are having a hard time getting what they want. INSERT PLAYERS: Things happen, goals change, and the story writes itself. Seriously, if you can make NPCs that want things that conflict eachother, give the players the ability to decide how to change things, and live with the repercussions of the players and NPCs actions, the game will run itself.

Same energy as "Have you seen my wife?" "I have bad news and a snack for you"

... How else would they look? It’s a lot of information, and it’s a narrative. Do you want that NOT to be a book? Genuinely curious here.

@@emilysmith2965 i think they mean that the way the books are organized makes the campaigns feel very linear at least thats how modules feel to me

That's why I like Curse of Strahd. All it does is give the DM the locations, the characters, the motivations and a list of monsters the party may encounter. Everything after that is up to the party. There is no written story.

I feel that way as a player actually; it's too hard for me to ignore the fact that my choices don't matter, because it's all been planned ahead. I know that homebrew games work that way as well to some degree, but it's just not as apparent.

@@emilysmith2965 "and it’s a narrative" Yeah, that's the problem right there. It's a cooperative game, and the book is supposed to describe game setup - not tell a story. Most modules have no ability to handle any sort of actual player choice, so most choices don't matter. And WOTC has made it no secret that they sell more modules to players and people who'd like to play but don't than they do to DMs - so their goal is to make something fun to read, and not something that is easy to run.

Me emulating his game style of campaign 1 REALLY helped me develop my bullshitting skills for my own game and now knowing he was winging it, makes me feel sooo much better and really made me realize how possible it is to make a campaign work.

@@beaug.2326 i can definitely say that a year later he still continues to amaze me. i however have definitely improved from it. the man is an inspiration and hes helped so many people into the community as opposed to the gatekeepers who say its "probably too hard for you to do." im glad your games have gone well! fair sailing to you!

From what I understood, he was winging it early on, then started setting things out in advance after it became clear it wasn't just a one-shot anymore. You can see it in the later episodes too from the way he pulled the various plot threads and setting details he laid out in the past together. It's a treat to watch unfold now that I'm finally getting around to watching it (as of this comment, currently on episode 49).

Listen to The Adventure Zone. It was how I got into dnd and it made it seems much less daunting. I didn’t know I didn’t have to be technically proficient to start dming. You just do it and try and have fun and hopefully your players will too.

Any beginning resources please?

@@ncpolley KZfaq tutorials.

@@PoorMustang so helpful wow.

@@ncpolley Sorry but yeah. There are like 3 guys that have great vids.

@@PoorMustang Sorry for the snark. What guys are you thinking of? If you remember? I don't want to just go with what thumbnail looks good.

Sigil. But yeah for sure.

I cant wait for the first time the city of Sigil comes into the CR canon and someone comes at Matt with a "Um, actually, it's pronounced 'Sih-jill'", and Matt finally gets his redemption as the city is actually pronounced "Siggle."

@@stevenrichardbarnett a statue of the lady of pain was seen in the search for bob one shot. It was never named because everyone failed their arcana check but everyone knew who it was.

Nobody: Matthew Mercer: Hogwarts is the Illuminati J.K Rowling: *pulls out phone and opens twitter* Imma end this man's career

@@H2OHydraulic "He stole MY idea to randomly publish on social media, goddammit!"

I when and press tell me more

Does that mean the Illuminati elite take invisible poos in their sanctum?

TELL ME MORE

to be fair, critical role exists because of that guy

@@mothblood877lol True

+15 Seduction

It's a lot more than +2 charisma. Try +22

You forget the +50 to performance.

+10 to intimidation against targets who have done a McCree impression.

Bruh yes

Pretty racist tho

These 2 should do an entire video on it

Hogwarts and the wizarding world is very well built. The rest of the setting is just us.

@@bookworm3696 it's definetly not well built at all, one of the most common criticism towards HP is that the world build is complete trash, is just a bunch of fantastical things mashed together because they sound inspiring for kids. Rowling's strenght is her characters, everything else is really bad.

@@CharroArgentino no one is saying it makes sense, they’re saying it’s well built. Like they said in the video, the logistics are nonsense, but the vibe is entirely on point.

@@joeyfromschool thats.....thats the point.... Did you not read the comment, or are you just unable to grasp the concept because the language hurts your feelings? It seems like you may be falling prey to something I learned when I was much younger: Just because I enjoy something, does not mean it is built well. IE a movie can be objectively bad, and also entertaining.

Wait, this is literally me

Matt has good chemistry with literally everyone

@@karmacharma8526 few can match his back, through, and Brennan shines. :D

Karma Charma he’s so handsome, and charming, and lovely...

@@darkartsdabbler2407 that 100% true yes

Thank you so so much

Thank you for this, this helps me so much when my DMing gets rough; and this comment just makes things so much easier for me. *hat flourish and bow*

ty

Your amazing, thank you

Do you know if this interview has matt talking about using the strength check to an intimidation as a barbarian instead of charisma?

Thank you so much

You are the G.O.A.T

thanks flando

praise be your kind soul

THANKS!

lmao

dont talk abt alfonse like that!

Yeah. There was no meat on anything he said!

What the fuck i didnt even notice him in the background until now 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Have you got a bone to pick with him???

Petré van der Merwe same reaction i had

He's done it a few times on the show too! Took me a bit to see that' the accent he was going for but it made me really happy too, I love the sound of Afrikaans and the accent in english too. I'd give a link and timestamp if I had a clue, just figured you'd think that was neat!

Awe!

Jen: "Why are there never any Cockney goths?" Richmond: "They're too cheerful."

Oi! Gov! You wont to cach one of ese firebolls!?

@@NorthWriter is that a mother fucking IT reference???

@@beaug.2326 You bet it is!

Respect. Hags are incredible as villains, patrons, erstwhile allies... they’re fundamentally unsettling beings.

literally the crossover we always wanted, and the one we deserved.

I came from HeroQuest. I have an idea: Your alignment is whatever you play as. No need to codify it. As long as the players are forced to deal with the logical consequences of their actions.

@@benvoliothefirst yeah it would be nice if that worked, but in practice all arguments about alignment boil down to two or more players at the table having conflicting definitions of these 4 arbitrary words. They either have diametrically opposed and mutual exclusive definitions of lawful, childish and cookie cutter deffinitions of good stolen from crappy Reagan era cartoons, no deffinitions whatsoever for chaotic, or even more narrow and childish deffinitions for evil. Yeah, if you want to give the snide useless answer then "play whatever you want." But that doesn't address the issues around alignment that actually spark conflict in play groups.

One of the guys I played with thought if there were a LG character and they were on a quest and passed by a burning building with people screaming in it that the LG would pass right on by because he was on a quest and couldn't be bothered by anything else. That just doesn't sound right to me.

@@rolindahlquist3124 in my book any good character, many lawful or neutral caracters, and most chaotic characters would stop and help. Unless they were enchanted to be stoic and useless. Hell, most evil characters would stop and at least check out the show, or see if anyone or anything in the fire caught their eye. Some Chaotic Evil characters may even jump in to "help" save the people screaming if doing so amused them, aroused them, or profited them in some way.

@@CitanulsPumpkin that's what I'm thinking too! Saving the burning building is more about the good/neutral/evil than the Lawful/chaotic side.

Have you never heard of the how to be a great GM videos?

Man that sounds so fun! Do you know of any dnd discord community that I could join?

I know im a little late to this party, but Im currently in 2 groups of the same homebrew campaign by the same DM. Originally I was in only one, but the DM came to me and said "Hey, someone bailed and i need a fourth player. Can you help me out?" The next 10 minutes was me quickly making a cleric and trying to think of why they were with the party. I left him more on the mysterious side and for the time being played him as a gospel preaching cleric that believed in the all power of his sacred deity. After session 1 the DM told me the voice i lent him gave off serial killer vibes. So I took that and I ran. "What would make a holy man get twisted?" "How would i explain the mystery he brought to the table and most importantly, "Why is he going to stay with the group?" I ended up going on a really dark and twisted backstory that gave me the chills just thinking about. Right now out of all the characters Ive ever had the pleasure of playing, that one is by far my favorite. And ive taken others on long journeys that ended with one becoming an immortal lich like being that eventually got his own tomb/dungeon.

I remember that the Boston marathon bomber legitimately had twitter fangirls that wanted to marry him. Oof!

@@hahmann I mean, people on death row get surprisingly many of those too.

Your story reminds me of something (kinda) similar from an old campaign of mine, where an offhand real-world accent became a defining aspect of an in-game culture. A player loosely based his Wood Elf Rogue on Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday from "Tombstone"; languid and jaded but shockingly dangerous. He hadn't intended to speak with a Southern accent, it just happened. The other players gently teased him at first - "an Elf from Georgia" and such, but we ran with it. I'd already made a recurring NPC foil who was also a Wood Elf, so I gave her a southern accent too, harsh and intense in contrast to his laid-back vibe. It didn't take long before that became the way that world's Wood Elves spoke, but and it worked great, becoming the "emergent accent" that everyone could identify,, but divorced from actual historical context.